SchlegelRock

The first couple of paragraphs of Breaking Dawn were released on EW.com today. To get the entire first chapter and the cover art you have to check out the Eclipse Special Edition tomorrow (Saturday). I am sorry to say that I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the bookstore tomorrow to check it out. A shame, I know. Believe me, I’ll do everything within my power to make it to Borders to read it. This little taste definitely whet my appetite. I’m hooked already! It was really fun to picture the scene playing out in my head in the real Forks. The gas station at the end of the main road. The shops lining the street. I still think about the boysenberry cobbler. (Totally off topic, I know, but yum.) I can’t wait until August 2nd.

Since I’ve told you about a bad day as a parent that I’ve had I thought I’d tell you about a good one.  Yesterday I picked Tru up from a birthday party and started driving home past Steven’s Creek Trail.  Max and Tru recognized it from when our Ward had a walking group there and started shouting out that they wanted to go for a walk.  My initial response was to keep driving but then I thought, what the heck?  So I pulled around and we started down the trail.  When we got about a mile in I remembered that Linkedin is right off of the trail about another mile down.  So I asked the boys if they wanted to see Scott and we took off.  My only mistake was taking the lower trail for the last mile.  It ran across two “streams” and one fallen down tree.  You can see the tree from the vantage point of the main trail in the picture.  The kids did great.  Since it was spontaneous I didn’t have water or a snack or anything so we had to wait ’til we got to Scott.  The sun was warm but not hot and there was a fabulous breeze that kept us cool.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect if I ordered it myself.

Then we got to our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Scott was there waiting for us (that was lucky indeed since he easily could have been in a meeting.)  He gave us water and pop tarts to fuel us on our way back.  It was a really great trip that we all had fun on.  By the time we got back to the car the kids were exhausted which made me warm and fuzzy inside.  They went to bed so easy last night it was comical.  Both Oli and Tru were asleep before I even finished reading from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  Now I know  that they can handle long hikes I think I’ll head up to Rancho San Antonio with them once school gets out.  What a wonderful world is opening up to us.

btw I know that the rock star theme has nothing to do with hiking or pots of gold, I just really liked it. And yes, Tru is wearing Batman pajamas with a cape.  It was a themed party.

Lance and Amanda N invited us to a Memorial Day BBQ at Golfland in San Jose.  The weather was nice but too cold for the water slides.  Not that that stopped others from going on.  After the BBQ we played golf and talked with friends.  It was a great day.

Since my mom outed me on my own blog, everyone knows it was just my birthday. I actually don’t mind at all.  Thanks for all your birthday greetings by the way. I’m 31 now and it feels great. I just wanted to share the fabulous gift that Scott got me. It’s a stereo for my van that works with our iPod and my iPhone. Not only did he buy a great stereo but he installed it himself!! My man can install a car stereo! I love it when he does manly things like this. I’m pretty stoked about it. Now I can listen to Harry Potter in stereo. It doesn’t get any better than that. Oh, did you think I was going to use it for music or some adult book (get your mind out of the gutter) reading. Nope, I’m all about HP, over and over and over again. It’s a sickness. I heard the audio for Lord of the Rings is pretty good too, maybe I’ll check that out next. Those are my loves, HP, LOTR (and The Hobbit) and Twilight. I just can’t get enough of them.

Thank you Scott, I’ll see you and your manly hands tonight.  Ooh baby!

Our trip to Forks was amazing. Everything seemed to fall into place for us and we even had great food along the way. If you stop by Forks go to the Coffee Shop and order the Blackberry (or Boysenberry, I can’t remember) cobbler. It is so yummy we almost went back a second time to just have it again.

Here’s the best part of the trip. Julianne was running and listening to the local Forks radio station when they announced the Prom was being held that night. She came back to the hotel room and we were so excited by the news. We went out Saturday night and hunted down the Prom which was held above a Mexican restaurant. We didn’t sneak upstairs for a peak, but when we got to the front of the building there was a silver Volvo just waiting for us. Could we have better luck or what? That was my favorite moment from the trip because it meant that some lucky girl had a guy that was willing to play along with her Twilight fantasy. Good for her. I just hope he was as virtuous as Edward. What are the chances of that though?  I tried to get Scott to buy a Volvo S60R but he’s not having it. He’s set on a Mini. I guess that’s OK too though.

You’ve got to love the theme of the prom: “Above the City Lights”. There’s seriously one main strip. But, they were above it, so it counts.

If you want to check out the photos from our trip, including one of the Elks Lodge and the church building we attended that didn’t make it to the blog, you can check out the photos here:Flickr

And Laura H. you give me a few months to save up some money and I’ll gladly go back with you. I never did find Jacob’s house or really get to hang out at First Beach. Plus if you go on Bella’s birthday the Quileutes will do a wolf dance and the town is set up to celebrate Twilight. And I would totally have more cobbler and fish and chips. I’m in!

And a big THANK YOU to Scott for holding down the fort while I was gone. Laura and Julianne, I had a great time, thanks for inviting me!  Too bad all the Volvo’s were already let out when we got to Seattle.  That would have been over the top cool.

Anyone for a Harry Potter sight seeing trip? Not that I have the means to make this happen but wouldn’t it be fun? l just like imagining it.

This is the last stop on our trip; Forks itself.  This is an interesting building.  It’s the grocery store, outfitters (clothing and camping), and the hardware store all stuck together.  It’s kind of like a Super Walmart (or whatever those are called) only the three stores are separated by walls having access through doors through the whole thing.  So this would be where Bella shops for groceries and Newton’s store all in one.  You can see MIke’s Suburban in the first shot.  He must have been working that day. What luck!

Now we have Forks high school and guess what?  Mike followed us and pulled in to the student parking lot!  Can you totally see Tyler and his van careening towards Bella, Edward stepping in just in time?

We didn’t exactly find Bella’s house but we found a house on a lot that could be hers.  It’s the top picture with the forest encroaching on the yard.  There weren’t too many two story houses at all in Forks so we couldn’t find the exact thing.  Plus this house only has one access road into it and Bella’s has to have two since Edward is always driving off before Charlie comes around the corner.  Or at least that’s how I picture it.  The bottom pictures are on the way to the Cullen’s.  The river that runs past it and the dense forest surrounding it and the road leading to it.  Can you believe how dark it is?  We didn’t find the Cullen’s house, but I definitely think someone should build one.  I’d go back and visit if you do!

So I have one more picture to show you and it is so much fun.  I’ll post it tomorrow hopefully.

First Beach was tricky to find. We found it at the end of the day after finally asking how to get to it. We didn’t even end up finding the main access where all the people (way in the background on the left) were playing on the beach and if you can believe it, surfing. It was so cold and the wind would not stop, I think they definitely were werewolves out there in the water. If you look in the background on the second picture you can imagine what the cliffs would have looked like that Bella jumped off of.

Access to First Beach doesn’t go through the trees, but since we spend most of our day at Second Beach (because it was clearly marked and easy to find) I thought I’d share it with you. It’s about a mile hike in to the beach up and over some hilly areas; they’re were some killer stairs at one point. It was an absolutely beautiful walk with lots of mud on the ground even though it wasn’t raining. You’ll see in the next pictures what I mean by, once we got to the beach, but once we did Julianne and I found a huge tree to climb up in to. This has nothing to do with the book, but it was fun.

Once we got to the beach we were met by a surprise. The entrance to the beach is covered by trees that have washed up in to piles (First Beach was the same way). We had to pick our way over and through the massive trees to get to the beach. Second Beach was much smaller than First Beach; a small crescent. The pictures on the top are a sort of panoramic view from the beach. On Second Beach we were protected from the wind, but when we got to First it let loose with a fury.

La Push was absolutely gorgeous, with the living situations being as simple as you might imagine on a reservation. They are building on to their resort though so hopefully it will bring more business in for them. I could definitely imagine Jacob and the pack running through the forest and swimming in the freezing water and protecting the reservation.

I don’t have too many pictures from La Push and I’m not sure why this is. We spent most of our time at the beach and did visit the store there in town where Jacob buys all his warm soda he has lying around in brown paper bags.  What a fun trip!

Forks tomorrow if I can get it together.

This is me, Julianne and Laura at Second Beach in La Push, but I thought I should start out with a picture of us together. This is our trip to Forks, Port Angeles and La Push to find the sights from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. This was one of the funnest things I’ve done in my life. What a silly thing to go looking for vampires and werewolves in real life America. We didn’t find any but we found pretty much everything else we were looking for.

Port Book and News is the bookstore that Bella was looking for and never found. We didn’t find a new age bookstore to visit nor did we wander back alleys trying to get attacked. I tried to buy Wuthering Heights but they were out so I settled on Sense and Sensibility. I did end up finding Wuthering Heights at the Borders Bookstore at the airport. You’ll remember these were some of Bella’s favorite books. I also got Dracula for my birthday from Laura and Julianne so now every time I read these books I’ll think of our trip. What great souvenirs. Thanks you guys for the unexpected birthday dinner and present!!

Bella Italia (also known as Bella Vino) is where Edward takes Bella for dinner. The food was actually really good my only complaint being that they didn’t have mushroom ravioli (what Bella ate) on the menu. I mean if you’re going to go along with the whole book thing by changing your menus and windows why not add the ravioli to the menu? The place was a lot smaller than I imagined it from the book. They did have a back corner booth though that Bella and Edward could have sat at. I wanted to take a picture of it but was too chicken to ask the older couple sitting there if I could. Of course I had a Coke but didn’t ask for all the refills Edward got for Bella, I just can’t handle that much caffeine.

This picture with my finger in it is on the drive from Port Angeles to Forks which is absolutely gorgeous. Just above the water line there is a line of mist. It really set the mood because it was kind of eerie just sitting there over the water. Also the little picture is of the store Bella went with Angela and Jessica to shop for the dance.

All the pictures from Port Angeles and the subsequent drive were taken with my iPhone. Speaking of which, I used my phone three or four times a day to get directions or look up ferry info or whatever. I can’t tell you how much I love my phone.

La Push coming tomorrow!

Here’s the link to Julianne, Laura and I on the Forks website.  The lady that took our picture was a Twilight nut.  She hooked us up with maps and different Forks memorabilia.  She also gave us a Twilight and New Moon quiz that we took on the way back to Seattle.  We didn’t get all of the questions right so she’s given me some homework.

I have pictures that I’m going to post soon.  We had so much fun.  Also, notice I have my I am Switzerland shirt on which got noticed when we were going through security in Seattle.

I was on the treadmill yesterday with the kids in the front room watching a movie. All of a sudden Oli and Tru come in my room with these big eyes and I couldn’t figure out what they wanted so I told them to go back out to the living room. They wouldn’t budge. Finally, I raised my voice a little and told them they needed to go out and watch their movie. Tru started walking out and then stopped in my doorway and stared at me with terrified eyes. That’s when it finally hit me. Someone was in my house! I turned off the treadmill heart racing and walked slowly out my door. There was a woman.  I relaxed momentarily until all of a sudden she started yelling at me. “I am going to call the cops on you. How dare you be on the treadmill and not taking care of your kids. I’m an old woman and look at me I have goose bumps. How dare you. You should be taking care of your kids. etc.” Needless to say, I was shocked. I had no idea what to do with this stranger standing in my living room yelling at me. What I finally gathered through the screaming is that Oli and Tru had gone out to the street to throw sticks at cars. They were also collecting sticks out of the street. This woman drove past and it scared the begeebers out of her so she yelled at them and followed them home to yell at me. When she finally left the house I called Scott in complete hysterics and he thankfully talked me down to a calmer place. So I get that she was worried. I really get that. When I found out they were outside playing in the street I was quite upset. What I don’t get is why she thought it was appropriate to walk in to my home uninvited and yell at me.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been yelled at either. Once I was yelled at because someone felt my children were walking too far away from me while we were walking home from the bus stop. That was some fierce screaming of obscenities. Then there was the time it was raining and I took my kids to the Target parking structure to ride their scooters in the covered second floor where NOBODY goes. The security guard didn’t even stop his truck to yell out the window about how dangerous this was and how dare I. The nice thing about that one is that he actually came back and apologized for yelling at us. I completely get that these people are concerned about my children’s wellbeing, but when is it OK just to yell at someone? Isn’t a rational conversation more appropriate?

Have you ever been yelled at because of something your kids are doing or is this just a knack of mine?

btw Max took this picture of me tearing my hair out in my favorite Harry and the Potters shirt.

I finally finished it and I love it!!  I will admit that the first half of the book was weird for me.

Even though I was excited about the book coming out I hadn’t anticipated my reaction to it.  I felt betrayed at first hearing Stephenie’s voice come out of the alien Wanderer.  I thought I had prepared myself for this but it took the whole first half of the book for me to come to terms with it.  I also didn’t like Wanderer at first.  How dare the aliens come here and take over our planet and then stifle our voices in our own bodies!!  Then I got to know Wanderer better and realized I hadn’t given her a fair enough chance.  I ended up loving Wanderer and those she is surrounded by.  I loved the ending and really hope that there is a series coming (which I read she does want to do).  I’m not obsessed about this book like I am with the Twilight series but that doesn’t bother me in the least.  I’ve been up all night dreaming about the characters and imagining their lives in the future and where this story line could go.  I will definitely read this book again now that I have the correct perspective on it and probably enjoy it even more.

I totally ordered a great t-shirt from Zazzle.com and it came yesterday!!! It has a “conversation” between Jacob and Edward and they banter back and forth like this: “leech.” “dog.” “bloodsucker.” “pup.” “parasite.” “mongrel.” and then both say, “you smell funny.” I fell in love with this shirt a couple of months ago but just got it because I’m going to Forks!!! That’s right. My friend Laura L. invited me (that’s her in the picture). I don’t know why but I just felt like I needed this shirt on my trip so I got it. As you probably know, I already have my “I am Switzerland” shirt, but this one is just so fun!!

Also, I am reading The Host. It took a while for me to get into it because I’m not big in to aliens but It’s really picking up now and I find myself totally drawn to the main character Wanderer. I did hear Stephenie say that some early readers were routing for the aliens but I’m not with them at this point. I’ll let you know how I feel when I finish the books.

OK. I totally buy Robert Pattinson as Edward. Totally. I’m so excited. I’m still having trouble with Kristen Stewart as Bella but I’m sure I’ll come around. So needless to say I will be watching this over and over and over again.