Saggy sock to be?

I knit a sock. I'm not happy with it. Well, it's just fine. But, isn't a sock supposed to really hug your foot?

Yes, I checked the gauge. I spent an entire evening knitting swatches with various needles, measuring, ripping, etc. I was obsessive. I even stretched the swatch and measured the gauge, as suggested in one book. I knit the sock, put it on and while I'm basically happy, I get the feeling that with time this sock will slip down my ankle into the shoe.

I've decided to go ahead and knit a second sock and if worse comes to worse, shrink them a bit. Since I have plenty of yarn left over, I'll knit the next pair in smaller size needles.

Any suggestions? What size needles (in millimeters) do you use?



*ps, after some research online, I'm beginning to think this particular yarn is too small for these needles.

*pps, I just realized this yarn will not shrink. Some ripping may be in my future. *sigh*

You say tomato, I say tomahto

Today Simba and I were stunned to learn a rude lesson in needle sizes. It seems that, like shoe's or bra's, not all needle sizes are actually the same.

If that doesn't make much sense, check this out: Clover's bamboo double pointed size 2 needle is 2.75 mm and size 1 is 2.25 mm. But, other brands (and this seems to be the norm), like Knit Picks size 2 dpns are 3 mm and size 1 is 2.5 mm. This may not seem like a huge difference, but when you're knitting with small yarn and need a gauge like, oh, 7.5 stitches per inch but end up with something more like 6.5 stitches, that extra stitch adds up quickly. In fact, it could add something like an extra 10 stitches to your sock. NOT GOOD.

So if a pattern says to use size 2 dpns, one cannot assume that they will meet the appropriate gauge. One cannot also knit a quickie swatch and assume that the variances she see's are just fine and start knitting with the supposed "correct" needle. No, this is not what one should assume.

You'd think that after all this time, I'd have learned my lesson by now. I'm just not a fan of gauge swatches! I can admit that. Especially when it's a yarn like the one I'm using today that's multi-colored and hard to"read."

Thankfully, Simba gave me some moral support by being equally enraged at these needle size differences.

More movies!

Now that blockbuster.com is allowing us to exchange our movies at the store, and of course working at home helps, we're seeing a lot more flicks these days. Today I saw 2.18 movies.

DaVinci Code: Eh. I read the book. It was much better and even different. I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater, it didn't live up to all the hype.

See No Evil: We shut off the movie 15 minutes after it started. It was turning out to be one of those horribly acted, typical horror movies. Dumb.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: I really enjoyed this movie. It was a little sci fi mixed with some drama and love. It was confusing in the beginning but after a while, you'll understand what's going on. See it.


Simba keeps standing in my way, I can't see the tv.

Sock it to me!

It seems I've been on a self imposed yarn-diet these days. Sure, there's a yarn-diet going around on the net and while I seem to be a contributing member, it's not by choice. Nope. I have run out of money. The good thing is it's forcing me to go through my yarn supply and get rid of stuff I have been collecting since the turn of the century (I can't believe I can even say that) but really don't want.

Speaking of age, have you noticed your joints aching, creaking or grinding more lately? I have. Damn this aging crap!!

Have you seen Little Miss Sunshine? I saw it today. Sure, it's endearing and definitely has it's funny parts. But I don't understand why it's been nominated for four Oscars. To me it's just one more reminder of how I've entered a whole new age group or...have left the age group for which these kinds of movies are trully high quality entertainment. Damn, I feel so old.

Dust mites and so on

With a new AC unit being installed at work and my expectation that the guys will be fighting over climate control, I decided to make some fingerless mitts. I've made some minor changes to a pattern found online and if all goes well, I'll make some for Mom too. And maybe Faythe too if she asks nicely. I'm happy to finally use this yarn I received from a Secret Pal exchange. It's Landscapes Fire Island, 70% alpaca, 30% silk. And believe me, it's nice and soft and shiny.

So you know, I've been sick for a little over a month now. I even worked from home for almost a week because the AC at work was causing me to become even more congested. I was beginning to think I was a sad, pathetic, sickly person. After a while, I wondered why Apollo hadn't gotten sick too. Of course, I didn't want him to get sick but I thought it was odd. I finally put two and two together and realized that I'm suffering from an allergic reaction to dust mites caused by a construction site near by (bastards!). Oh sure, I had a cold for a couple weeks but I'm now convinced these damn mites that are now the cause of my suffering. I started taking Claritin D yesterday and already feel tons better. I still have "issues" but hopefully with my new drug, they'll be cleared up by Monday and not affected by AC War. Hopefully.

Under construction

You may see some changes that are temporary or permanent here over the next couple days. I'm doing a little editing.

Ugg Booties

Pattern: Suede Booties

Yarn: Berroco Hopalong Cassidy, Wild Bill Hickcock and Plush Crema

Notes: I used smaller needles (sizes 2 and 3) and took creative liberty with the Plush decoration. They were surprisingly easy to knit. I'm thinking of adding an I-cord drawstring to help keep them on the baby.

Another dud movie and some fun knitting

Since I have the plague, I don't have the energy to get all crazy and finish these booties tonight. I really only have a few finishing touches to make but didn't want to rush into it. I'm also thinking about adding an I-cord to help keep the booties on too. In either case, here's what the bootie looks like after the knitting is complete. It's knit flat and seamed together on the bottom and up the back.

Today I was talking to Yaya about this bootie, trying to convince her it isn't hard to make at all. Even though I've have a little more experience then she does, I stand by my claim. I dare say it's fun to make. I'm definitely going to make more. For you crocheters out there, there is a crochet pattern and in fact, I believe it existed first. You can find it in Candi Jensen's book, Candy Babies: Cute Crochet For Wee Ones. If curious, Faythe posted a couple pictures from inside the book on her blog.

Here it is pre-seaming. After seaming, all you have to do is add the Plush for the decorative element and you're done!

So while working on this part, I watched another movie. Undisputed 2. *sigh* I never thought it was going to end! OK, here's the story line. Tell me if you think it sounds all too familiar:

• Good guy framed and goes to foreign prison
• Good guy must fight evil bad guy
• Good guy faces hardships in prison and is mistreated
• Good guy beat down in first fight
• Inmates do something nice for good guy
• Good guy stops being selfish and does something nice for inmates
• Good guy "trained" by crusty old mistreated inmate
• Good guy fights bad guy again
• Good guy wins
• Good guy helps crusty old mistreated inmate get out of prison
• End

My rating: Dud.

The only cool thing about the movie were the accomplished martial arts talents of Michael Jai White, best known for his role in Spawn. His acting, I'm sorry to say, seems typical of even some* Hollywood A-listers these days. As far as the film goes, it was typical. I didn't even have to look up from my knitting and chatting online to know what was going to happen next. There was also some Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon type filming going on. If you like that and are into these Man type films, you just may like this flick.

*I'm sorry, but isn't the moustache and girly makeup distractingly silly?

Quick booties

I watched a couple movies tonight while knitting these booties. Unfortunately, Apollo didn't read Yaya's comment about The Wicker Man on her blog and brought it home from the video store.


She's right. It sucked. It could have been better with a different cast and someone who could tell a story better. Or some cohesiveness. Or even someone who can edit. Nicholas Cage's forced acting has gotten on my last nerve.

I also finally saw The Break Up. Sure, I've seen it several times at work on the monitor on the wall but I've never heard the audio. I liked it, but I wasn't really happy with the ending. This kind of movie begs for a happy ending, not reality.

I should have photos of the completed booties tomorrow.

Can't stop

After shipping out the Matinee Coat, I was feeling a bit of a let down. After all the excitement of knitting, completing a project and giving it away (probably never to be seen again), I felt sad. The solution? Cast on, baby!

I learned from my mistake with the coat (I didn't bother with a swatch, I figured the baby would grow into it someday anyway) and decided to knit a swatch for the booties. It seems to be a waste of time but I know it's important. My next project uses Berroco Suede and so far it's interesting to knit. I can feel a bit of a tugging sensation with each stitch.

Zoe was such a good kitty too. She didn't even try to play with the yarn. As long as I pet her once in a while, she's happy to be at my side.

Meanwhile, I figured out the proper gauge (one needle size smaller) and had a good proper crack, I mean, Knit fix. I feel better.

It's in the mail!

Update: There will not be a better picture. I seem to have lost any photographic skills I might have had. I know, I know, this is the second picture of the same item on the same day. Look, I haven't really accomplished a lot in knitting lately so I have to make myself feel better with multiple photos!

Jen recommended not using a ribbon since babies tend to pull at them. I decided to go ahead and use the ribbon for this size since it's intended for a 0-3 month baby. I figure the baby won't really be pulling at the ribbon much at that age. I may be wrong. Either way, the ribbon is integral to the design. Maybe later I'll figure out how to work it in along with a button.

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Matinee Coat
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Sport

2nd Matinee Coat

It's late but I wanted to post a photo of the Matinee Coat for Stephanie's unnamed baby. It's blocked, dry and now with the ribbon thread through it, is ready for a quick snapshot.

I'll try to take a better shot tomorrow with natural lighting before I ship it off to Mom.

Pink socks

Sometime before Christmas, Faythe decided she wanted to try her hand at socks. Since she hated socks so much, I didn't want her to have to purchase a pattern (egads!) so I faxed her a pattern to try out. I'd never used a pattern with worsted weight so I decided to knit along with her. Well, with Christmas looming, I had to put the partially knit sock away.

This weekend I found the sock and finished it up Sunday. Figuring I might as well make a mate (no sense in just one sock), I started on the second sock and finished it today. These aren't the colors I would choose for socks but I don't mind. They're nice and warm and perfect for this weather.

Did you hear that eastern parts of San Diego county are experiencing all time lows? Oranges and avocados are freezing through and dropping off trees. It'll be interesting to see what the agriculture is like this summer, especially since there are already predictions of it being a very warm season.

Meanwhile, I have my wool Cascade 220 socks.

All cracked up

I've had a cold for three weeks now. I'm getting sick and tired of it. OK, I'm already sick so I guess you could say I'm just getting tired of it. Could it be allergies? Is there something new in the air?

Sometimes a nice hot cup of tea will help clear my sinuses so I decided to make myself a big mug of tea. Yeah that's right Faythe, a mug. I mean serious business here!! I put the Tazo Tea bag in the cup (Bring it on Faythe!), poured in the freshly boiled water from the kettle and heard a cracking sound! I quickly put down the mug (why I was holding it in the air while pouring the water and talking to Apollo, I don't know) and saw this huge crack appear! As I watched it, it traveled to the other side and created a bunch of baby cracks. The crack is so big, you can even see through it!

GAH!

This is no joke

I don't know what to say. I guess if you want to sit and knit on a cruise, it's January 15-19th. Though, after having seen Poseidon, I'm not interested in a cruise to any location.

Boomer

I would have posted this last night after work but we had a power outage for five hours. Some people suggested it was because it was so cold that everyone was using their heat and the local electric company can't handle the overload. WELL. If they can't handle a bunch heaters turning on for a mere 48 degree's (yes, 48 f) then there's a serious problem! I eventually went to bed and hoped it would be on by the time I had to get up in the morning for work. I do think that "dark" is different in the city than in the country, if not only because there are still city lights around that make the electricity free areas look even blacker. Also because large business near by were out of electricity and people here in the gay-toh get crazy when there are no cameras or anything to remind them about the difference between right and wrong. Anyway, back to my original post...

Thursday I worked from Shawn's place. He and his roommate have a new puppy, Boomer. Boomer, a 12 week old bulldog puppy, is the cutest little thing...with many pointy teeth!


I totally forgot about Boomer until I saw her little face. Look! Look how adorable! Look at all her wrinkles, and that face! I think I got her a little riled up. It may have been related to all the kissing and snuggles or maybe even the high pitched voice I used when talking to her. OK I realize she doesn't look excited here. But believe me, this is her excited expression.


She's actually pretty small. She's shorter than my cat Simba, but much bigger around. Here she is with Shawn getting some lovin. All day long she suffocated Shawn by trying to lay on or next to him.


On my lunch break, I took her outside for a walk. It was at this time I learned the major difference between owning cats and dogs: warm poop in a bag.

I don't really think bulldogs are big fans of walking. It may also be because she's a baby. Either way, this issue was eventually remedied when Boomer realized my pant leg was a great toy.

There was quite a bit of growling and tugging going on. Check out the size of those paws! Her dad is 68 lbs...

I grabbed a stick and used it to entice her off my pant leg. She ate it, another stick and some leaves. Though she has a lot of teeth, most of them are tiny. Tiny but sharp.

When we got back in, Boomer wasn't done. She tried to chew on my laptop, cords, pillows, shoelaces....ok well anything that was in her field of vision. Thankfully Shawn had a whole slew of puppy toys for her to chew on. Despite the chewing, I still think she's cute. :)

Disaster averted!

After some thought, I decided to do The Right Thing and knit several more rows in each panel so the sleeves would fit. While seaming, I realized that I still had to do the edging and I had very little yarn left! I decided to start the edging and use the left over yarn, or even scraps, to seam the rest of the sweater. You can probably imagine how upset I was when I realized I wouldn't even have enough yarn to do the edging! It seems doing The Right Thing solved one problem but created another. I was bitter. Bitter and moaning "Why me!!" in my head. (I didn't want to disturb Apollo with wailing and moaning about yarn.) I did remember knitting a baby bootie with the yarn at one time so I tore the house apart looking for the bootie, thinking I could frog it and use the yarn to finish the sweater. But it was no where to be found. Being 1am and a full day of work ahead of me, I went to bed and sulked myself to sleep.

Today I tortured friends and family with stories about my quandary and options I had. I even made Shawn, who cares nothing of yarn and barely pacifies me with feigned interest, listen to my woe. You see, because I'm using Knitpicks yarn, it's not like I could just go to the store and pick up another ball of that very same yarn. Plus, I'm working against a deadline here! I eventually decided to go to a yarn store and look for a substitute that would be suitable for the edging but could also be tied into the sweater elsewhere, you know, to make it blend.

You can imagine my happiness when I discovered, during a desperate search through handbags tucked into handbags tucked into handbags into handbags, a small plastic bag with half a ball of The Yarn and not one but TWO booties! Poor Mom was on the phone with me at the time and kept yelling, "WHAT WHAT!" while I screamed.


So no Faythe, I won't have to frog anything to get more yarn. And the rest of you, well, you can rest assured I won't be bothering you with any more incessant questions like, "What would you do?" and me telling you why your idea won't work. At least, for now. I'm sure there are more potential disasters in the future.

La, la, la, la, la....what's this!? GAH!

The Matinee Coat was moving along quickly until I hit a snag. I'm the first to admit it was definately my fault. First, I substituted Knitpicks Shine Sport for Baby Cashmerino. Yaya recommended it since is machine washable. It's a wee bit thicker than the cashmerino and apparently, one should take these things into account. *sigh* I also knit the sleeves in the round and the panels were knit flat. When it came time to seam the sleeves to the rest of the sweater, I encountered a problem.


Well, it seems that the sleeves are bigger that the actual arm hole. This may be, as Faythe pointed out, because knitting in a round produces different gauge. It may also be because I didn't account for the stitches that would have been folded under when seaming. Or it may be because I measured the panels in inches as if I was using smaller cashmerino while the sleeves are measured in accumulated stitches. Either way, I have a problem. As I see it, I have two choices (frogging is not one of them): I can either add on to the sweater panels to make them larger so the arm hole will be larger or I can squeeze the sleeve into that arm hole. This will, of course, require some creative seaming. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. I really don't have that much yarn left so I have to be careful.

On the I-Don't-Know-How-To-Relax front, I broke a needle last night.


In my defense, this needle was really soft to begin with! It was always bending this way and that. But I liked it because it's much smaller than the other sturdy needles I got on clearance. Not only did it snap in half but a couple months ago, the eye split in half as well. I worked around this because I loved it so much but now with this broken tip, I think a replacement is due. Oh, and the eye wasn't split that wide. I just opened it up so you could see it.

Darn, I think a shopping trip is in order! hehehe This time I'm going for the metal needles! And when I get back, I'm going to try the Seinfeld puffy sleeve look.

It's not so bad

I received Faythe's yarn in the continuing saga of Yarn War. I think she posted pics of the yarn when she first purchased it, so I wasn't too surprised when I saw the CiCi (the two on the right). It's kind of weird but after a while, they've started to grow on me. I don't find either one shocking! Is it possible Yarn War has caused a numbing?


Now, I did take offense at the Red Heart on the left. It's so coarse! And the colors, what am I going to do with this? At first I thought it was camouflage yarn. But the greens aren't right. It's a mixture of frog-green, dark and light brown, a yellowish color, a tan, a gray, and maybe some others I'm forgetting. I already have an evil plan for this yarn and some ideas for the Ci Ci. muWAHaHaHAhAHAhaaA!!

My cable and internet just went off. Apparently there's an outage in my area so you'll see this post after I have service again. Meanwhile, I sit here freaked out cause I'm supposed to be online in ten minutes to start work! I'm not in any shape to drive in to work and besides, by the time I get there, this situation could be resolved. Grrr! Despite the convenience of combining all my services into one huge package with one company, I now can see how it's a bad idea.

update: I'm now back on!

LaDainian Tomlinson

This morning Apollo and Big Mac were bodyguards for LaDainian Tomlinson. OK, if you don't know who LT is, let me educate you. A San Diego Charger (we're talking football here people), he's this years MVP. That means he's the best in the NFL. He beat and exceeded the league record of touchdowns in one season, previously set by Seattle's Shaun Alexander. With 31 touchdowns so far this season and a ton of other amazing stats, he's known for his modest and humble attitude whenever interviewed or talking about the game.

The Chargers are 14-2 with the best winning record in the NFL right now. This weekends playoff game against New England is highly anticipated, as Chargers fans gaze at the light at the end of the tunnel: the SuperBowl.

This morning the guys were his bodyguards while LT worked out. It was some sort of media event of which I'm unfamiliar with. Being the friendly, talkative guy he is, Apollo and LT hit it off. They talked a lot, Apollo invited him over to eat southern food and gave him our phone number. Then, LT signed his jersey.*

When we get some extra cash, we're going to figure out how to properly display it. EEEEE!!


*Yes, that's our Christmas tree in the background, it's a long story.

The buck, or frog, stops here.

I knit the back panel of the Matinee Coat while visiting Faythe this last fall and finished the front panels today. While comparing the front panels to make sure everything matched up in length, I noticed a mistake! ARGH!


It seems I knit when I should have purled. So now there's a tiny blip in the pattern. Because it's almost in the middle of the coat, I'm not frogging, I refuse! I've tried dropping seed stitches before with utter failure. So I'm not doing that either. Desipite my usual ease with frogging anything that irritates me and Faythe's mocking me with, "Where there's a will, there's a frog!" I will not frog. I've put my foot down. It will be our dirty little secret.

Is it the end for the Man TV?

Tonight my quiet systematic knitting was interrupted by Apollo discovering a problem with the TV. Instead of being bright, it was cloudy. It was as if the screen was blanketed with a layer of chalky dust. This was clearly a problem.

You see, this is not just any TV. It's a gigantic Man TV which takes up more room than His Chair. When designing the layout of the furniture in the apartment, the Man TV must always be taken into consideration. Plus, it is very important for things like video games, football, basketball, etc. Some people might even consider it's size essential to maintain a certain standard of living. So you can imagine his distress when the video seemingly kept resetting itself even after being edited. When suggesting that it's possible the Man TV may be ready for retirement, I was met with what one can only describe as anger. Maybe I sounded too excited at the prospect of retirement.

Hopefully when the opportunity strikes, we'll have the funds for a suitable replacement.

"Bypass"

Check it out, Grumperina figured out how to fix a hole in her sweater using a bit of yarn from a different part of the sweater. I thought it was pretty clever. She likened it bypass surgery, when a vein is taken from another part of the body for the heart, instead she took yarn from a different part of the sweater. Click here for more info. I hope she doesn't mind that I borrowed her photo. You can read the rest of her blog here.

Just a little tense

I noticed that certain bamboo needles are...well, bent.

It appears I sometimes knit with a death grip, or am at least a tiny bit tense. When I lay this needle on a flat surface, it flops over. Flops! Granted it doesn't look so bad in this photo but it's really obvious when I'm holding it. Do you think this affects my knitting? I didn't think it would but you never know. Oh, and I also have some dpns that are bent.

Out of control

Today Yaya requested a replacement Matinee Coat for Peanut, who is tall for her age and quickly grows out of her clothes. Because Peanut is The Best Baby in the Entire World (and cute too), I'm more than happy to make her another coat.

After I agreed to make it for her, I realized I was in the process of making the very same coat for my cousin Stephanie's unborn child, due in February.

Christmas projects pretty much put a stop to everything else so I decided it was time to pick up the needles and get going. The hard part is trying to find all the yarn and needles for it. ARGH! So, I turned to my new "knitting storage unit."

Well, that turned out to be a challenge. Needles are everywhere. Yarn is scattered. My knitting storage unit is in total disarray.

See, I had this extra dresser and I thought it would be great to use for yarn storage.

My original plan was to put all acrylic yarns in the bottom drawer. Yes, acrylic (bite me). The middle drawer is for wool and alpaca. The top two drawers are for specialty yarns of great variety.

I've managed to squeeze my swift and ball winder along with other accessories into the drawers as well. One of them won't shut correctly. OUT OF CONTROL.

It seems that I have underestimated the power of yarn crack! I keep finding random balls of yarn around the apartment either in or out of bags. I even have other storage containers with yarn stashed away that is only discovered when least expected. And of course, you know I can't find the yarn I need when I'm looking for it. You can ask Zoe, I've been looking for the 2nd ball of Nora Kureyon so I can make her Kitty Pi for at least 2 weeks now.

I'm thinking I just may need to get rid of some yarn.

!
Today I was telling Faythe about some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that I am hoarding and due to lack of space, also is not in the knitting storage unit. This just happens to be the yarn I bought while visiting Faythe in Spokane. I totally binged and spent a significant portion of my car payment on yarn I had absolutely no plans for! But I couldn't help it, it was beautiful AND hard to come by in my region. The very thought of actually knitting it up and giving it away makes me feel anxious.

Meanwhile, like a pretentious pre-school, my knitting storage unit now has a waiting list full of yarn wanting to join the security of its drawers.

I think I need to join a Yarn Crack 12 step program. Maybe I'll meet someone there who has some tips on knitting storage solutions.

USS Midway, Star of India, a submarine and the ship from Master and Commander

When Mom and Liz were here, we had planned on going to Disneyland on Friday but it had rained all over the place...I mean, the ground was WET! Oh, the woes of winter in San Diego! So we put off the trip and instead went to the bay to check out the USS Midway, the Star of India and some other miscellaneous ships. Of course we didn't know this until we got there. It seems the ship from Master and Commander (yes, from the movie) was there as well as a Soviet submarine. Somehow, I don't have any pictures of the Master and Commander ship, which turns out to be a Hollywood replica of a real ship.


I can't seem to find a photo of the M and C ship, but Apollo took a lot from inside the ship. I thought this was the most interesting. It's the bathroom! Nice bucket.

They both went on the sub of course. It looks like it's been sitting there, or somewhere, for quite a while. Look how rusty and gunky it is at sea level. Mom and I didn't go on any of the ships. Well, I popped onto the Star of India just so I could take some pictures of the two kids, but other than that, Mom and I just walked around talking and taking pictures. Oh and Mom waited obsessively for planes to fly in so she could get that perfect photo of planes appearing to fly into buildings.

Liz spent a lot of time playing with the various objects on the Star of India. This retired guy whose job it was to inform us about everything on the ship told us how parents love this thing (sorry, don't know the name) since it tires out the kiddies. That didn't work with Liz. She had a lot of energy.

Speaking of retired guys, they were definitely dedicated to their jobs. You didn't even have to look one of them in the eyes, they honed in on you as if their life depended on reciting every fact they knew about the ship. Fortunately, Liz just ate it up. Here she is asking one of them about the ropes. He just loved that.

Apollo and Liz. Oh look, there's the Master and Commander ship behind them! Maybe I'll go take a better one later. Sorry.

Liz made a Mexican lady very happy by paying too much for a necklace. She didn't even try to bargain with her.

Apollo met someone at the ticket office who was also from Detroit and cut a sweet deal for a few bucks off his and Liz's tickets to go on the USS Midway. These tickets were separate from the other ships at the bay and were spendy, despite the "discount." They're normally $15 each.

I found this photo online somewhere (obviously, since I haven't been flying above San Diego lately...or ever). To the very left you see a bunch of boats docked, then a bit of land, then the first ship is the USS Midway. If you look carefully, you can see the runway for the jets.

Bunks and lockers from within the USS Midway. I was surprised at exactly tight the quarters were.

Liz playing with the switches inside one of the jets on the Midway. About six jets were set up as simulators for people to play with. From what I hear, it was a lot like playing a video game.

Some of the dials and buttons.

Meanwhile, remember that bit of land I described above in that aerial shot of the Midway? Well, Mom and I were standing on it when suddenly the wind started getting crazy. We were freezing cold! Again, GAH! to you wintery San Diego!! hehehehehe We tried huddling up to the tree's to block out the wind. After one particularly ferocious blast of wind involving a bunch of palm leaves, Mom huddled under a limb, curving her body to fit it. When I went towards her to huddle in for warmth she said, "Get your own limb!" WELL, there's motherly love for ya!! :) We later discovered the thorns on the tree (yes, thorns!!) had ripped a hole in Mom's shirt.

After calling Apollo around six times, apparently he was enjoying himself on the simulator during each call and couldn't hear the ring, we got the "kids" to come to the top where we could zoom in and get a photo of the two of them together. You can't tell but Liz is trying to rabbit ear Apollo.

After a brief situation involving police sirens, Liz being left alone at the carrier, Apollo knocking someone over while running back to the carrier to find her, and a teary eyed teenager, we went to Coronado. This pigeon landed on Mom's hand and stayed there long enough for me to fumble at my camera in my purse and take several pictures. Seems he was picking at her rings. Gold digger! And no, Mom's not that big. The wind was blowing like crazy and poofing out her coat.

Though we hung out in San Diego and did this touristy stuff, I think Mom, Liz and Apollo had a great time.