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These shopping carts at Target are a blessing in my life. Z doesn't like to follow me around stores and will either complain the whole time about having to walk or will just all of the sudden stop following me so if I don't keep a constant eye on him he'll suddenly be gone and I'll have to back track. Az would rather walk, and spends her time trying to stand up in the cart or grabbing me to jump out. Once out she wants to go where she wants to go. But with the Target carts Z can sit down and draw, as he planned to do this night, or just give me a constant running commentary. With her brother sitting next to her Az is content to sit and be pushed around. On this night we ended up spending almost four hours in Target, just walking around, sharing a bag of grapes, looking at things, and talking while we waited to pick Miguel up from work. I had no idea it had been that long until I got back to the car and looked at the clock on the dashboard because the entire trip had been so painless.

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Cat naps. It turned out to be an exhausting day spent cleaning the house in anticipation of my god-daughter coming to stay. After 9PM, when we were winding down for the night, her father called to say that she was sick and wouldn't be coming after all.

We decided to head to Safeway to pick up something quick and easy for dinner since it had gotten so late. The trip was largely uneventful until we were waiting in the check out line to pay and a staff member came up and started speaking about Z very rudely to the checker, in a very loud voice. She claimed that she had snatched the computer out of Z's hand that they have out for customers to use to sign up for Safeway's reward cards. I was in shock at the time and didn't say anything to her, but after she had gone and I had processed that a grown woman whom worked there at Safeway no less I asked for the woman's name and asked who her superior. The checker told me she was her superior, and said, "Well, did you see the way he looked at her?!"

The woman then came back and proceeded to argue with me for a good 15 minutes while I waited for her to give me the number of her regional manager. She never gave me the name. When I was incredulous that she had yanked the computer out of Z's hand she went back on her story and said that she hadn't after all. The entire time she only apology she gave me was, "I'm sorry your son is autistic." Her superior's only contribution was to yell over insulting things about Z and myself. The entire thing was shocking and left me feeling sick. I worry about Z having to deal with a lifetime of people like that, he doesn't have the skills to defend himself. He doesn't pick on people or understand people who do. He does things that upset people and then has no idea why. Luckily for him I do, and I will most certainly be placing a phone call in to the manager of the store bright and early tomorrow morning.

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Today Z had a dental appointment in San Francisco. They were recommended for kids with special needs and the local ones we've been going to have not been working out for Z. He continues to refuse to get fillings that he needs. Luckily all of his cavities so far have been in his baby teeth and have eventually fallen out but Z is running out of baby teeth. That combined with a few other dental-related issues made it seem like a trip to San Francisco was well worth it, even with the $6 an hour parking fee.

Z's appointment lasted three hours. It was with a dental student (which I'm pretty sure is why we can afford it) and while she seemed very sweet, she just was not prepared for Z. When she would give Z directions like, "You have to let your mom brush your teeth for you" Z just shook his head and said matter of factly, "I'm not going to do that." The poor girl seemed shock that Z would just outright refuse, "What do you mean? I tell six year olds what to do and they do it! I'm the dentist!" She had to walk away at one point because she was so frazzled. I was ever so slightly amused because Z was actually on very good behavior but she had no idea the depths of Z.

The appointment was not a total loss at all though. Even if Z wasn't agreeing to follow all of the dentist's advice, with three hours of mostly just sitting and talking it was inevitable that Z got a few things out of it. While we were there the dentist ran a lot of tests I'd never heard of, which gave her cold hard data. Z responds well to cold, hard data and some of the tics and issues we've been battling with disappeared immediately. Z left still refusing to let me brush his teeth but he also left with some disclosing tablets that will show him which areas he has to rebrush. We have an appointment for a cleaning next week so we'll see how it goes. I definitely don't think today's appointment did any harm.

I didn't want to just go home when it was such a beautiful day so we headed down to Pier 39. I thought the kids would enjoy all of the spectacle and shops, and they did!

 Az loved the Rainforest Cafe, especially the moon mural. Az is a girl whom appreciates the moon. She even distinguishes between full moon and crescent moon. I've joked a number of times that we should have named her "Luna." (Although no one has ever laughed.) What she did not fully appreciate were the animatronics. Whenever she was brought too close to one she would cover her eyes. I finally got her to touch an elephant's foot, but she immediately covered her eyes afterwards.

Z was dying to go into the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum but at $30 a ticket I told him we were going to have to pass and look for one of the coupons I see around. Az was not thrilled to be there anyhow; there were animatronics. She just wanted to go back and look at the Rainforest Cafe moon again.

We stopped into Musee Macanique, the home to a collection of old timey (some more than others) games and dioramas. Everything was only a quarter so the the change I had already in my wallet lasted us for as long as Miguel could tolerate. He was just dying to get to the Spy Shop (where photos are not allowed, obvs.)

After dinner at Joe's Crab Shack we had to head home because my parking was about to expire. I wasn't completely ready to go but I was less ready to shell out another ten bucks to keep my car parked in the private lot for another couple hours. I told Z that next time we come he had better be ready to hike there from a cheaper place to park.

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I think watching the Olympics is starting to influence our behavior a little.

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Today's photo brought to you by Miguel. We went to my cousin's daughter's second birthday at the Pump It Up in Belmont today. It was a later party, starting at 6PM. Az loves birthday parties; Happy Birthday is the only song she knows most of the words to and she sings it every single day, so she was excited about the party all day and was irritated that we weren't leaving sooner. Of course she fell asleep just before we arrived at the party, and was nice and grumpy when we woke her up and brought her in. She took a while to warm up to the noisy, chaotic room and I didn't help things by bringing her down a jumpy slide before she was ready. I knew she would love the slide once she tried it, but she was still much too tired to be giving anything a try.

After watching the kids climb up one of the slides for a while she decided she would go too, but once up she just wanted to climb back down. I eventually coaxed her into going down the slide again and of course this time she loved it and wanted to go down a hundred more times. Unfortunately she warmed up to the jumpies just in time for the staff to usher us out for cake. Even cake couldn't compare to the fun of a jumpy so she asked to go back to the jumpies between bites. The next morning when she woke up she immediately asked to go jump. Hopefully she'll remember how much she loves them the next time we're near a jumpy so she can get down to business immediately.

Z had a little bit of a rough time at the party as well. The chaos of the party got him over-excited and there was one particular adult not in the family there whom never reacts well to Z. I wish Az had had more time to jump but the party ending when it did was probably best for Z. Once in the car he was immediately calm and compliant. That's the way it always is, I wish he would just realize how much he benefits from a self-imposed time out and cool down sometimes. People always see the overwhelmed part of Z, not the introspective Z that wants to talk about how he could improve things in the future. (Of course as soon as he gets into the next exciting situation he forgets everything we've discussed though.)

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Well at least I can save money on kitty and toddler toys now, right? I don't think Az understands that the new toys in the house are not in fact intended for her.

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Minchi is the sweetest, calmest, most tolerant cat. Rather than run from Az's exuberant attention she is constantly following her around and trying to snuggle up. She slept cuddled up with Az and I all night, and by 5AM both of them were up and running around the house. So far Az has been gentle with the kitten, but I am trying to get her to understand that kitties need space too. I think I made the right decision in choosing Minchi amongst the other kittens, I think any other cat would have scratched and bitten the kids and then gone into hiding. Minchi just seems to want more and more enthusiastic kid love.

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Today Az took a bath. BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY....


Today we got a kitten!

Adding Minchi the kitten to our family was probably the most thought out spontaneous thing I've done. I've been thinking and talking about getting a cat for a couple years now at least, but could never commit to the idea. Lately I'd been playing with the idea of getting a kitten more seriously, but it was still mostly playing. Today we went to the Humane Society just to look at cats and find out more about the adoption process. Az was napping in the van so Z and I left Miguel and her while we went in.

I had a very specific idea of what I wanted the kitten to look like, without knowing what the breed was called. I was surprised to find three kittens that had the exact look I wanted. Z and I went into the first room to spend some time with one of them, and he was cute but not really interested in being handled or pet so we went to look at the other room. In that room the two kittens I had my eyes on were both more social, but they were everywhere; they were jumping and running and attacking my hair and jumping on my head.

I was having a hard time deciding which one I wanted, and my decision was made even harder by this darn kitten that kept sitting in my lap. I would pick her up and put her down away from me so I could spend more time with the two males I was interested in and she would just come back. Twice she stood in my lap on her hind legs and strained the rest of herself up to look me square in the eyes, and then she would settle back into my lap.

Eventually I realized the obvious; this persistent kitten had chosen us. She was social and mellow and ridiculously sweet. I left Z in the room and went to find someone who worked there to ask him what her which of the kittens listed on the paper outside of the room she was. The man I found identified her and then grabbed her and brought her up to the counter so I could adopt her. I was surprised and he said, "Well, you want her right?" I had to nod my head, because although I hadn't been planning on adopting a cat that day I knew that I did want her. The woman at the counter was surprised that the kitten was being packed up to go home because I hadn't even filled out any paperwork yet. Since the ball was already rolling she had me fill out the papers and then handed me the kitten in a box.

When Miguel came in to find a bathroom I sort of laughed and said, "This is our new kitten." He wasn't as surprised as I thought he would be. Apparently he knows me better than I realized.

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Our girl has discovered the joy of hide and seek. It makes shopping trips much more interesting.

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Az was riveted by this book because it was about one of her very favorite things: trucks! Whenever we go out Az is sure to excitedly alert me to any and all trucks within the vicinity.

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My girl and I sleep snuggled up facing each other every night. This is what love looks like.

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My little mermaid.

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She ain't heavy...

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We woke in Richardson Grove and the kids ran around camp since it had been getting dark when we arrived the night before. After we had packed up and vacated camp we stopped at the river for about an hour so the kids could swim. Az found the Eel River and its many many rocks to be a bit more challenging than the more familiar Russian River.

My only definite plan for the day was to head a few miles north to the Benbow Inn for lunch but when we arrived at the inn there was a festival going on and they were only letting guests park there. We weren't sure what to do from there, I had assumed we would continue our adventure stopping at interesting places on our way home but here we were only two hours from home, driving a route we had done numerous times before. I headed north to the town of Garberville but the place we had found online to eat at was no longer open and Az was napping anyhow so we turned around and headed home.

I'm not sure how we did it but with stops at any place that piqued our interest we didn't get home until 9PM. We stopped at more tourist spots, had a barbeque lunch somewhere along the route, went swimming in Lake Mendocino, and took a long-cut to the KOA in Cloverdale to see how it compared to the one in Manchester (it didn't.) When we got home it was early enough for Miguel to give Az a bath and then we all passed out in our comfortable beds.

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When we woke in the morning we couldn't decide whether to stay at the KOA since we had arrived too late the night before to check anything out or if we should continue up Highway 1 like we had originally planned. In the end we decided to continue on since the KOA would be easier to come back to than places north.

The day worked out well considering we had very little plans. When we saw something worth checking out we checked it out. After lunch in Mendocino we headed up to Fort Bragg to visit Glass Beach. I had known I wanted to check out Fort Bragg without knowing much about it because it is a town that gets listed on freeway mile markers a lot. I am kept ever aware of how many miles I am from Fort Bragg, I might as well finally visit the place. When I sent out a Facebook request for suggestions of places to visit everyone came back with Glass Beach in Fort Bragg.

The story goes that years ago the city dumps caught on fire and rather than put it out it was just shoved into the ocean, resulting in all of the glass scattered around the beaches. I have no idea how true it is, and the glass beach is purportedly nothing like it used to be when the place was absolutely covered in sea glass but I had never seen anything like it. The above photo is the glass I brought up in one handful. The beach was a spectacular surprise.

I hadn't realized that when Highway 1 ended it joined 101. It happened to join 101 in a part that we travel often, and which was only about two hours from home. It seemed almost comical to have been driving a large portion of two days and end up only a couple hours from home. We stopped just before Garberville and checked out the touristy redwood spots, where Z got himself a new alpaca hat. The woman at the tourist trap told me a story about the hat being woven by hand in some far off part of the world, but I'm sure it was made in the part of China where all of Z's other hats come from.

By the time we were done playing tourist it was getting dark so we decided to get a camp site in nearby Richardson Grove. We had been hoping to find somewhere to grab dinner but our options were extremely limited. In the end, in the interest of time, we ended up at the gas station nearby. We brought our delicious meal of frozen burritos back to camp and settled in for the night.