Off to California

Steve and I are leaving really early Monday morning to go to California, and we'll be gone for two weeks. The 12 hour car trip ought to be interesting. Sophie did OK on our trial run up to Idaho Falls, so hopefully she'll just sleep most of the way there. Here's what we have planned:

1. Suzuki Teacher Training in Oakland

Unlike other cities where this training is held, the Oakland location decided to spread the class out into two weeks. We didn't particularly want to stay in California for two weeks, but I guess it's better than buying airfare to St. Louis, which was my second option. Class starts Tuesday and goes until Friday, then resumes again the next week Monday through Thursday. I have a 4-hour class each day followed by a 2-hour observation session. Luckily there's an hour break where I can nurse Sophie. We're trying to figure out how we're going to feed her during the 4-hour session because right now she only goes about 2-3 hours between feedings during the day. It sounds like the class will be relatively small and maybe all female, so I might be able to bring her. That would be lovely.

2. Checking Out Our Apartment

I had originally signed up for campus housing during our stay at Oakland, but our apartment suddenly opened, so we decided that we'd stay there instead. Staying in a totally empty apartment is a little trickier than I had originally thought. I got to thinking about little, everyday things that hotels have that we wouldn't, like a shower curtain, toilet paper and hey, a BED. So, we're going to be sleeping on an air mattress and Sophie will be in her pack n' play (no change for her :)). We had thought about getting a new mattress for a few months now, and since we're going to be there for a couple of weeks, we decided to have one sent there so it'll be one less thing we have to move. It's one of those memory foam ones. I was sort of skeptical about it in the beginning, but I'll let you know how it sleeps.

3. The Scooter

Another item of business we're taking care of is Steve's mode of transportation while we're down there this fall -- and for the next 3.5 years. We've decided to sell our beige Honda (if you know anyone who's interested, let us know. It's a great car :)) and get Steve a scooter for commuting to and from school. We're going to be living about 2 miles from his school and he doesn't have to take the freeway, so we thought it would save us some money on insurance and gas (90 miles to the gallon, baby!). He found the one he wanted at a scooter place in San Francisco, so we'll go pick it up and leave it in our apartment when we come back to Utah. (Again, one more less item to have to worry about transporting later.)

4. Free stuff

Because our apartment will be bare, we would have been deprived of cable TV (I can handle), and the Internet (Harder for me to handle). Cable is still out, but we managed to find a way to have the Internet for two weeks relatively cheaply. We went over to the Sprint store yesterday and signed up for their mobile broadband service. Because the first month is a trial, we'll just keep it as long as we're in California and cancel it when we get back. They'll just charge us for the usage while we were away, which will be around $40. Not bad. I've never had Internet access in the CAR before, so this will be a thrill for me. Plus, I'll be able to blog about our trip and not have to wait until we get home :)

One of my friends introduced me to something called Freecycle. If you haven't heard of it, it's pretty cool. (Chelsea aka the greatest bargain shopper ever: you will love this!) It's similar to Craigslist, but everything on there is given away. TOTALLY FREE. I signed up for the SF Bay Area Freecycle and have been watching all kinds of free stuff come and go. We're thinking of getting a free table or some other kind of furniture just for our stay in Cali, then giving it away right before we go home.

5. The In-laws

Of course, we can't make a trip to California and not see Steve's family. We'll go to Sacramento over the weekend during my break so they can all dote over Sophie. Oh yeah, and see us, too. Isn't it funny how you suddenly play second fiddle to the loudest, messiest, most high-maintenance member of your family? :) Speaking of . . . we were at my grandma's house last night and usually when we come over, the first thing my grandma does is hug me. Well, the first thing she did last night was take the baby from me, talk to her for a second, then turn around to go back into the kitchen. I had to ask for my hug! Oh, well. :)

Well, off we go! Maybe I'll something to post in Reno . . .that's our first hot spot after Wendover. Nothing usually happens before Wendover anyway. Come to think of it, nothing really happens anywhere in Nevada. I may just blog because I CAN!