this is the basement at our house. There is a wet bar, a couple utility rooms/closets, family room, office, illegal bedroom, bathroom. They had carpet down, but ripped it out after the massive rain/flooding in June. So we will be putting new flooring down some point soon :-)
The upstairs... kitchen, living room, 3 bedrooms, and a bathroom. Gabe's room is the purple one - we've already painted it :-D
Outside - 2 decks (small one off the living room not shown in the video) . The garage on the left side of the back is the neighbors. We have a swing set, garden area and large garage in the back right of the yard. (The round sand area is where they had a pool)
So I think the "preset" radio stations in the van are still set to Duluth and Minneaoplis radio stations. :-) Where we are at in CA, we don't get many radio stations that come in - the mountains interfere a lot. So you are lucky if you can listen to a whole song before the station starts cutting out. And of the few stations we get, at least half are in Spanish. So not a whole lot of options. So I don't listen to the radio very often - usually get Pandora or Cities 97 through my phone.
Well not really. But he was recently on a postcard, and now he was on the Bakersfield news. His teacher won a grant from the news station, so they suprised her one day during class and filmed a little interview with her. It was funny because she had no idea what was going to happen - just that her boss asked her to have kids stay a little later than normal. And for some reason they had just gone through all the kids' files and Gabe's photo release permission slip was not in his file, so they had me sign another one that morning - having no clue that we would actually be needing it. lol.
So check out this link to see Gabe on the news: Gabe's News Spot
He's stuffing his face with food - but what else is new. :-)
So here are some more details about our big move....
When we came to CA it was with the expectation that the company would be relocating by the end of 2012. (which was down to California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas or Florida) But they have yet to make the decision of where they are going (so it will be at least another 18 months before they move). Most of the engineers want to stay in our current town, which is not what we want. The services Gabe receives are very minimal and to get any private therapy we have to go somewhere 60 miles away. And our insurance would only cover a limited number of sessions. It's also 60+ miles to Target / Walmart / Malls / decent priced grocery stores. Plus there is minimal fishing and hunting out here - and it's expensive if you can get tags. And we love 4 seasons (although they call our town the land of four seasons - only because they get a couple inches of snow 2 or 3 times a year, but then everything shuts down)
But we really weren't looking to go back to MN yet. Adam loves his job out here and there were really no jobs available in MN in his field. Plus there was no way we could afford the moving expenses to go back, so we were planning to stick with it for a few more years at least, until Gabe got in to school, at which point we wanted to try to be back.
But then about a month ago Cirrus and Kestrel both announced they were funded and were hiring engineers - lots of engineers. So Adam mulled it over for a few days and talked to a few former co-workers to see how things were going at both places. Eventually we decided that if we do want to be back in MN, this may be our best chance, so what can it hurt to apply. So he applied to both. Had phone interviews with both. Both said no reason for him to come up for in person interviews because they knew him already. And both presented really good offers (good salaries and moving bonuses) to him. So then it was decision time... It was a tough decision, but he decided to go back to Cirrus. He'll be going back to working on the jet - which has always kind of felt like unfinished business. And Cirrus seems a little bit more stable from our persepective - which after the big risk we took coming out to CA, we really want stability.
So this has all happened in a matter of a few weeks. He got the job offers a couple weeks ago, accepted one last week, gave his notice this past Monday. And we leave June 2nd. Holy moly. Thankfully we are having the movers pack us up this time - can't imagine trying to pack up the whole house in this short amount of time with Gabe underfoot.
So, speaking of stability... We are also planning to try to buy a house once we are back. So Gabe & I are going to stay at my parents house for a few months while we try to get a mortgage and find a house and close on it. And Adam is going to try to find an inexpensive room to rent (so if anyone reading this has a room or knows someone who does, please let us know!)
So, we are leaving California. Leaving the desert. Leaving the mountains. Leaving the 60+ miles to the nearest Wal-mart / Target / Mall. Leaving the sub-par services the county provides for Gabe- which is the bare minimum federally mandated - so basically nothing. Leaving ICON.
WHAT??? Leaving ICON? Yup. Why??? Well two companies just recently announced they are hiring 100+ engineers between the 2 of them. And they are a lot closer to "home" so Adam applied to both and they both offered him jobs. And after a lot of thought (and decision matrices - [yes - he found a way to scientifically analyze the two...] ) he chose one of them.
And so we will be moving to........................... ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Duluth!!!!
WAHOO!!!! Adam is going back to work at Cirrus - doing what he originally started out working on. So he excited about that. And obviously we are thrilled to be going back to Minnesota and our family and friends and church and better services for Gabe!
This past weekend we decided to do a weekend away. We bought a National Park Pass last year at Sequoia, and haven't been to any parks since then, so figured we should get another one in. Adam really wanted to go to Yosemite, so that's where we went. On Friday, Gabe & I picked Adam up from work and then we headed north. We stopped for pizza about halfway and then continued on our way. We spent the night in Mammoth Lakes. Our room was pretty nice (king bed, fireplace, a kitchenette with small stove, fridge, microwave, sink) although a little noisy. Can't imagine what it would cost during ski season - as it was right across the parking lot from one of the lodges and ski lifts.
Saturday morning we were up pretty early. The hotel didn't serve breakfast until 8 and since we were up & ready we didn't want to wait around for that so grabbed some McDs on our way to Yosemite. Gabe was not thrilled to be back in the car, but he did pretty well on on the couple hours it took to get there. We stopped for gas part way there, because we knew it would be higher in the park - we paid $4.95 a gallon!!! Yuck - but it was $5.05 in the park, so glad we did. It was pretty busy once we got in to the valley area, so we had to park in a lot that was further away from the main area we wanted to see. We had lunch in the car before loading up the stroller and walking over to the falls area. It was probably about a mile walk - they had shuttles, but they all looked pretty full and we had our big jogging stroller, so didn't think we'd fit on the bus. We checked out the visitor center and got our Yosemite stamps for our national parks passport book. Then we walked over to the falls area - which was super busy. But incredibly beautiful. It was so refreshing standing on the bridge over the river by the falls - it had gotten pretty warm out - and the water spray from the falls felt really good.
We headed back to one of the stores and got some ice cream treats. Then Adam went back to get the car. We had walked a good 3+ miles and between my knees and the altitude, I was pretty worn out. Of course Gabe fell asleep in his stroller about 5 minutes before Adam picked us up. :-/ We got loaded up in the car - of course Gabe woke up (finally fell asleep after over an hour of driving) - and took off back to Mammoth Lakes. We stopped at a little picnic area and had some sandwiches and stuff part way pack. By the time we got back, Adam and I were both exhausted - Gabe not so much. So Adam and Gabe went outside and ran around for a good half hour to wear Gabe out. Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, then explored a little of Mammoth Lakes. We checked out some shops at the Village, Adam got a few things at the local brewery, and we had lunch at a little deli / bagel shop - which was super delicious! They even had mac & cheese for gabe, which was nice because he had mostly been eating watermelon and goldfish crackers. We also got a dozen bagels to go - yum! After lunch, we got on the road to come back to Tehachapi. Luckily Gabe fell asleep pretty quickly and slept for a good 1/3 of the drive back, so that was nice. It was a fun weekend, and I'm glad it worked out for us to go (which we didn't decide to go until mid-week last week, so luckily we found an available hotel with reasonable rates).
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzww x (Gabe wanted to type...)
r
Yosemite Falls
Cathedral Arches
Adam & Gabe - Half Dome in background
Yosemite Falls
Half Dome
High Sierras
The Lower falls
oh wait....you thought the secret would be revealed? not quite yet....
Partially because it is hard to find time to sit down for more than 5 minutes and upload pictures and type about what we have been up to.
But mostly (at least the last few weeks) because some big changes are coming. As Rusty says in Ocean's Twelve, "Look, it's not in my nature to be mysterious, but I can't talk about it, and I can't talk about why."
Check back soon for more updates.... (those of you who may know, please play along - thanks!)
Last summer, we went to Denver for Adam's cousin's wedding. We stayed at The Oxford Hotel, where Adam's sister, Erin, works. It was a really cool, old hotel. While there, their dad had a little photo shoot at the hotel. He got some super cute pictures of Gabe enjoying the claw-foot tub that was in their room. Unfortunately, he was naked, so the hotel didn't want to use the picture for marketing, even though they really liked it. But then Erin came up with this super cute postcard! I absolutely love it and can't wait to get some!
Well I called yesterday and got my jury duty all figured out. Apparently they got one name from the DMV and one name from Voter Registration. So how they got my name 2 different ways, I'm still not sure - because I did all the DMV and Voter Registration stuff at the same time at the same place. So apparently I have to contact the DMV to figure out how to get my name adjusted... I still think it is super crazy that I got randomly selected for 2 weeks in a row.
But anyways, they excused me for the second week and then I mentioned that I had also submitted a request for an excuse. Apparently that had not been processed yet or something, so I explained my reasons and she took care of excusing me over the phone.
When I was in college - probably 2003, I was summoned for jury duty. I got it postponed for when I would be home in the summer. I didn't mind having to do it - except that I was working at a Bagel store that had a small staff, and I never knew until the night before if I would have to go in or not, so it was a little tough from that aspect. (Plus not working = no paycheck for poor college student). I was called in one day and went through jury selection, but didn't get selected. Got called in the next day, went through jury selection, and got selected as a juror. I don't remember if the trial started that day or the next. But it was only 3 days total that I had to go in. The trial was only a day or day and a half, so not too bad. I can't imagine the people who get selected for big cases that take weeks or months. I was totally bored just sitting through one day.
Fast forward to 2009. Living in a different county. I get a letter summoning me for jury duty. My number was selected to report in the second to last day. So I went in and it was odd that I knew 2 other jurors there - one was the teacher I student taught for in college. Sat around in the waiting room for a few hours before I was chosen to go to a jury selection. I did not get selected for the trial. Guessing maybe because it was about a lady who was run off the road by a semi truck and I had been rear-ended by a semi in college...so they probably figured I'd be a little biased... So anyways, I was glad I didn't get selected - they were expecting the trial to take a few days to a week, which I didn't want to do. Plus I was like 8 weeks pregnant and needed to go to the bathroom frequently, so don't think I could have handled having to sit there all day.
So now we are in another county - different state completely and about 10 days ago, I got a letter in the mail summoning me for jury duty the week of April 23rd. So first I was like, seriously? Again??? 3rd time in 10 years? But I decided to request an excuse to get out of it. This stay at home mom wants to stay at home with my little guy - and the friends I have here who watch Gabe for me on occasion have their own kids and schedules, and it would be asking a lot to have them watch him for potentially 5 or more 10+ hour days.. (Plus the courthouse is over an hour away (one way) and I know they are supposed to reimburse for gas/mileage, but that's a lot of time on the road) So we faxed the request to be excused in last week.
Then, 2 days ago, I got another jury letter. At first I thought, shoot, they denied my request or want more information. But then I opened it and it was another jury summons for the week of April 30th. And then I thought, OK, well they denied my request but pushed my time back a week. But then I looked closer and realized that they had my name two different ways. The first one was to: Rietz, Katie Dyanne Sjodin. The second one was to: Sjodinrietz, Katie Dyanne.
So, now I'm really confused. Apparently I am somehow in the system under 2 names. How the heck did that happe???. And how it the world did I "randomly" get selected 2 weeks in a row??? Bizarre... apparently I need to make some phone calls tomorrow to figure this out.... :-/
Well, Gabe & I just got back from a 2 week trip to MN. We had a good time, and of course it went way too fast - as always. :-(
We drove to Vegas on Sunday afternoon and spent the night at a hotel, then took the shuttle on Monday to the airport. The timing of the shuttle worked out so we had about 3 hours at the airport before boarding, so it got a bit long. Luckily we were in the newer terminal and there was a kids play area, that Gabe ran around in for a while. We got to Duluth Monday night, and spent the next few nights at some friends' house. Of course, Gabe was on California time and didn't have his own bed, so I had a few late nights trying to get him to settle down and sleep. Over the next couple days I got to see quite a few friends, went to MOPS (which I really miss - it's definitely not the same here), had dinner with my aunt, uncle & cousin, and got to meet a few new babies!
My sister came up and picked us up Thursday afternoon and brought us down to C.R. While home, I got to see a few more friends and lots of family, go to a Tupperware party (I love love love the new bowls I ordered!), go to a benefit for a friend's sister's baby (whom I also got to meet the next day!). Also made a cake for my cousin's daughter's birthday party, which was also a good time. The cake didn't turn out quite how I wanted - I had planned to spend more time on parts of it earlier in the week, but wasn't feeling the greatest for a couple days, so wasn't in the mood to work on it. But it turned out pretty well and everyone said it tasted good.
After a quick 2 weeks, my mom brought us back up to Duluth to fly back to Vegas. The Duluth airport was a bit of an experience - it's very small and kind of old. And once you go through security, you are stuck in a glass panel enclosed room. There were no bathrooms (And I am one of the people always running to the bathroom right before they begin boarding - but not this time...) . And no food. Just a vending machine with pop and water. There weren't enough seats for everyone. And it had to have been at least 80 degrees in there. To make matters worse, the plane was late arriving, so we had to wait an extra half hour. And of course Gabe just wanted to run all over the place. He befriended a few older couples and tried to take their watches.
We finally got going about 8:30pm, and unfortunatley, Gabe was wide awake. Actually he was exhausted, but overstimulated, so would not sleep. So that made for a long flight. He was so close to sleeping so many times but then would start throwing a mini-tantrum to wake himself up. Finally about 20 minutes before we landed, he fell asleep. We had to sit on the runway a while waiting for our gate, so he got to sleep awhile longer. Surprisinly our luggage was at the baggage claim by the time we got there (last time we waited close to an hour for our luggage). Then we found a taxi and got back to the hotel by about 11pm. I was exhausted. Gabe was wide awake. So we had to do his whole bedtime routine to get him settled down - oatmeal, bath, and a bottle of milk. Which was fine, because I like to get him washed up after being on planes - he crawls all over everything and licks half the stuff he can reach, so good to get the germs off asap. lol.
Tuesday morning we went to the buffet for breakfast and then loaded up the car and headed out. We stopped at an outlet mall on the way and walked around and had lunch. Was kind of nice to break up the drive a bit, but wish it would have been more towards the middle of the drive instead of at the beginning. Gabe took a good nap during the ride. Got back to our house around 5pm. Gabe was happy to be home and wandered around for awhile checkiing on all of his toys.
Wednesday we went to Bible study and got together with a friend in the afternoon. When we came home, we went to get the mail, which took forever, because Gabe had to splash in every puddle - and it was pretty much a continuous puddle for 2 blocks... Then when we got back to the house, he decided to play in the puddle that the dripping water from the car port was making. He loved it, even though it was cold....
He wasn't too happy when I made him go in after this. But he needed some warm, dry clothes.
Ok, so that is the past couple of weeks. Will try to update more often... ;-)
So, lately Gabe has turned in to a possessive and jealous little guy. A friend and I started a little 'kid-swap' a couple days a week where we watch each others kids for an hour or 2 a couple times a week so that us moms get a few hours to ourselves to get stuff done or just relax. She has a 1 year old(Sam) and a 5 year old(Zoe) (also a 6 year old(Presley), but she's at school), all girls, that I watch. They are great kids and Gabe really likes them too. Except when they play with his toys. It doesn't matter if it's a toy he never ever plays with. Suddenly they are playing with it and it is his new favorite. But when they play with his favorite toys, sometimes he's ok with it, but most of the times it is freak-out time for Gabe. But he gets even more jealous when I play with the girls. Especially if I pick up / hold Sam. Talk about a tantrum. He just glares at Sam and looks at me bawling and screaming. It can actually be slightly entertaining. I admit, I have picked her up a couple times just to provoke him. Plus he needs to learn to share. Lately, even Adam can't give me a hug with out getting the skunk-eye from Gabe and a slight tantrum. It's getting a little ridiculous. But kind of funny. Hopefully this phase doesn't last too long...
