US Air is Worse than Words Can Describe

Its 4:45 pm, I was scheduled for a 3:10 de3parture. They delayed boarding the plane for 25 minutes bc they had to wait for a part to fix the AC. When I got on, it was hot as hell...mind you it is a balmy 110 or so today in Phoenix. I sit on the plane for a good 10 minutes & they say that we will be running with only 2 AC's today instead of 3 bc they couldn't fix the one. Wonderful....oh wait....no....10 minutes later they tell us we need to unboard bc one of the two they were relying on IS NOT WORKING! So...off the plane we go. Sit in the terminal for 10 minutes or so & then reboard. Being informed that they can't fix either of the broken ones, but that we can run with only one, but will probably have to stop to refuel somewhere. My patience has run out, I need to pee, I'm hungry & I just want to go home!!!!!

Bittersweet

Well today I fly home. I spent a little time this morning squeezing all of my stuff back into my suitcase & successfully did so. No checking luggage for me! I will be heading to the airport for my 3:10 pm flight in about 2 hours.
It has been a long & adventurous 2 weeks. Matt & I have been together essentially non-stop, except for when we use the bathroom & every second has been absolutely amazing. This two weeks has been even more reassuring that we truly do complete eachother. I don't think I could spend 2 weeks straight with anyone except him. What a great honeymoon that neither of us will ever forget. We don't regret one second or one penny spent because we have created an amazing memory to share forever. (Sorry...feeling a little mushy today)
Yesterday we bummed around, watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape," went swimming, Chris's mom brought us all a delicious Vietnamese dinner, had Coldstone & then to bed...in a bed, which we haven't had in awhile.
We had an interesting experience the night before, after I had blogged. We took Aura's (Chris' sister) car to get some to-go from Rock Bottom. While we were waiting for our food to come out, a woman at the bar struck up a conversation with us & she ended up insisting on paying for our dinner, as a wedding gift. How nice was that?!? Matt & I agreed that it is good karma.
So...what lies ahead?!? Ha, tons....Matt will be touring for the remainder of the summer, but not to worry, Cameron & I will be going to visit him & my parents in Florida in a little more than a week. Then, about a week and a half after that, Matt will be touring locally. We will also be sure to get some video-chats in a few times.
Me? I will be keeping busy getting stuff done around the house, hanging out with friends, working at Iron Hill & last but certainly not least, spending TONS of quality time with my precious Layla-girl. Ah....summer, gotta love it!
Thanks to everyone for checking in with us throughout our adventures, we have looked forward to everyone's comments as much as you have looked forward to reading about our adventures.
Oh, and one more thing, PLEASE say a little prayer for me that I have a successful, non-delayed, non-complicated, non-dying woman on board flight!
Love,
Ki & Matt

110+ degrees in Arizona

We had a very long day today, but it is ending nice & relaxing. We left Ventura early this morning & arrived in Phoenix, Az around 2 pm. Matt & I went for some lunch at Olive Garden, then hung out & read some magazines at Border's until Chris's (bass player) sister could pick us up to bring us back to her place. When we got back Matt & I went swimming in the community pool, which was awesome bc it is so unbelieveably hot out here. Then back for showers & now I'm laying here on the floor being serenaded by Matt & Fred geeking out on the acoustic. We are still missing home a lot & can't wait to see everyone soon. We are trying to imagine how Layla is going to freak when I walk through the door early Thursday morning. I had a dream last night that she didn't freak at all & just walked right past me. I think that's my "mommy-guilt" for leaving her for so long. But she's in good care, I just can't wait to see her. We miss Cam a lot too. We've been talking about how fun its going to be to have him in Florida with us in a few short weeks.
What an amazing little family we have!

Ventura.....Yaaayyy! Showers!!!

Well, I woke up this morning (this is Matt) at around 8 to go to the stage and load in. I left Kirsten the bunk to herself so she could catch up on her sleep. I found that sleeping on a moving bus is not one of her favorite things to do. Its definitely something you have to get used to. I walked out the door of the bus and realized what a beautiful day it was. Sunny, cool, and just a little breezy....blue skies, and the ocean right next to the venue. Pretty amazing. We both hadn't had showers in a few days, so we were very happy to hear that there were showers here. We quickly got our toiletries together and walked to the shower facility before it was used by 600 people. We were a little scared of what we would find, but it wasn't bad. It felt so good to be clean again, and put fresh clothes on. We played early today, at around 12:30 and that was great because it felt like we had all day left to do whatever we wanted. Kirsten and I saw Everytime I Die, From First To Last (My old band) Angels and Airwaves, and Anberlin. We took in quite alot of music. We also played our first game of "Cornhole" haha. We didn't know what it was at first either!! Its basically horshoes but with little sandbags that you try to throw in this hole 20 or so feet away from eachother. Tons of fun. Well we are just hangin out on the bus right now, veggin out on the computers because we have internet for the first time in while. Off to Phoenix for two days off now.....what will we do to kill the time. Who knows.

Shoebox on Wheels

...That is what it feels like to sleep in a bunk on a bus. I did not enjoy it at all. Fortunately I was able to take a nap this afternoon once we parked in downtown San Francisco. The show was right along the river on a pier, which was cool. The guys did a good job. Today all in all for them was better. We didn't do much else exciting except hang-out & eat.
Our trip from Pomona had a little excitement, a bus from the same bus company lost their trailer in a ditch. Our bus driver stopped to help to no avail. Off to Ventura tonight for the show tomorrow. Wireless still doesn't work, hence no pictures.

105 degrees & Freshly Shampooed Feet

What a great day. I got to spend the day with a great friend (Missy) & enjoy my first experience at Warped tour. It was hot as hell today, topping out somewhere around 105 degrees. Missy & I spent a lot of time cooling off on the bus while Matt busted his butt getting ready for his first show as a married man. They did great & I think it will get better & better with each show. We ate some food (protein so I didn't pass out) & tons of water. We also kind of saw Gym Class Heroes & Angels & Airwaves. My Layla checked in with us today via Dad Fleischman. We were glad to hear that she is being spoiled as she is used to :) Bus call is in about 30 minutes for our long drive to San Francisco. Yes....we were already there a few days ago. I just took a Warped tour shower, which was basically me washing my hair/face in a sink & wiping down with wet papertowels & shampooing my feet. Yes, shampoo, I couldn't reach the soap once my foot was in the sink. Lol. No sweat...its been a blast so far. We can't wait to snuggle up in our bunk & snooze. Sweet dreams!
Oh, and we are working on the pictures...wireless here is non-existant on Matt's laptop.

We're not in Disneyland anymore...

Today started the cross-over from honeymoon to Warped Tour. We drove 2 hours to Pomona so Matt could help get stuff ready for tour. I relaxed a little in the bus & did LOTS of people watching. At one point I was sitting watching people walk by, just searching for one person (out of thousands) without visible tattoos. I saw one.
Not much else exciting. We went to Walmart to get some stuff, El Pollo Loco for some dinner for everyone & then I headed back to SD. Missy & I are driving back down this morning. I can't wait to see Matt perform....and Angels & Airwaves!!!
So...it should be a long couple of days, but its going to be fun. I'm trying to think of it as a "camping trip" but on a bus.
Momma Clair...we promise to get some pictures up later today/tonight!
We love & miss everyone....especially my Layla girl.
Oh real quick...we saw 2 weim's the other night. I stopped the guys in their tracks to pet them...but they were not even close to as cool or loving as my Layla.

Mean Marine

We started Wednesday morning packing up & heading out of Laguna. We searched for a McDonald's only to be led to an empty open lot where an McDonald's had once been. GPS is not always reliable. Upon trying to get back on the highway, we encountered Camp Pendleton, where Matt almost got arrested. Lol. He thought the marine waved him through the entrance, but he quickly let us know that he did not & that we were to stop. Matt explanined that we just needed to turn around & we quickly got the heck out of there! The man was NOT very nice to us. We finally found a McDonald's in Oceanside, but it was not your typical McDonald's. It was a like an ice cream shop windown...no inside, no tables, only egg mcmuffins...literally. Good enough!
Then to drop off our rental car, when Fox (don't ever use them) screwed us again, then to hang out at Missy & Emmer's for a little. Once they got home from work we all went out for dinner at Baja Betty's, which was delicious, then to Alibi for a few drinks, pool & a juke box that was Matt's new best friend.

Pinkberry :)

We had a slow start on Tuesday. Matt had a sour tummy & we wanted to just enjoy not having to do anything. We bummed around, wathced some tv, then finally got ready to go. We drove to Santa Monica & walked around the pier. Paramount was actually wrapping up filming a movie, which was pretty cool. We never figured out what they were filming or who was in it, but it was cool none the less. We saw all the equipment & trailers. We then checked out the 3rd Avenue Promenade. Its a huge outdoor mall. Then....drum roll, the place I've been looking forward to forever...Pinkberry! Its kind of like ColdStone, but they have frozen yogurt. It was sooooo delicious! I want to have it again before we leave California. I got original with chocolate chips & yogurt chips & Matt got original with cocoa pebbles & chocolate chips. After that we headed down PCH to check out the coast. We drove through a ton of beach towns & stopped in Huntington Beach for some sushi at Sushi on Fire. We've always wanted to have fresh California sushi together, so it was really fun. They were having a street fair too, which was neat. Then, home & to bed for our early morning wake-up to head to San Diego.

Beach Day

Today was a relaxed day for us. We needed it after yesterday. We started the day getting some groceries, including some eggs & english muffins for breakfast. I learned my lesson. We came back, made breakfast & then headed down to the beach. We walked through Montage Resort which is a multi-million dollar resort that is absolutely amazing. Then down to the beach for some rest, playing in the water, frisbee, some reading & Matt even went & got me some lunch & brought it back to me. We were there for a few hours & both managed to get sun burned feet. I even put sunscreen on, but he can't say the same. Tonight we are making some fake-chicken tacos & then heading out to see "The Happening" & maybe for some ice cream. Oh, we made a little friend here, Rosie. He is the ownwers cat. He comes to the door looking for treats, but we gave him all of them yesterday so I think he's a little upset with us now. I just had Matt try to give him Cheerios, but he sniffs them, puts it in his mouth & then drops it. Oh, the top picture is a view right from our front porch out on the Pacific Ocean. Breathtaking.

Mickey Mouse says "Don't wait until it's too late to hydrate."

Mom, take a seat for this one. Our trip to California Adventure today (sister park to Disneyland) turned out to be quite an adventure. After a nice short drive, we arrived, got our tickets, our "just married" buttons & Minnie bride ears for me Our first stop was the Orange Stinggers...simple swings. We then headed over to the appropriately named "Sun Wheel" which is a ferris wheel with cars that slide on their tracks while going around. We were almost to the front of the line (after 30-some minutes of waiting) & all of a sudden I felt like death. Attempting to get out of line with Matt's guidance, I passed out cold. Thankfully Matt was right behind me to lower me down to the ground safely. I quickly came to, but still felt like death, was as white as a ghost & sweating like it was 100+ degrees out. Meanwhile it was a beautiful 75 degree day. I walked up the exit ramp & sat down on the ramp, then proceeded to lay down on the ramp. Some workers brought me water while my poor husband sat there as worried as can be. Since I wasn't getting better, they called a nurse who took my vitals...I had super-low blood pressure, so they proceeded to wheel me, in a wheel chair through almost the whole park to the first aid center. My wonderful husband got me some food & I drank a bunch of water and wa-la...I felt better. We enjoyed the rest of our day at the park, going on some easy rides & drinking plenty of water. We just rounded the day out with a yummy dinner at rainforest cafe. Back to our studio to fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean waves...no joke. Our place is beautiful & overlooks the Pacific Ocean.
Lessons learned today....1. A few cheerios & a mini can of diet 7-up do not cut it for breakfast. 2. My husband did really mean "in sickness & in health" & he reminded me today once again one of the many reasons why I married him. 3. California "Adventure" is no joke & Mickey knows what he's saying on those signs at the entrance that suggest staying hydrated.

Lots-o-Driving

We are almost to Laguna as I write this. We got up pretty early to head out & start off the day with a good ol' McDonald's breakfast. Who doesn't love McDonald's breakfast?! I don't think I know anyone?
Off to Santa Barbara to check it out. Along the way we took a quick drive through Santa Ynez, which was a super-cute town that was having a festival where a band was putting on a full-fledged show on someones front lawn. Pretty cool. Santa Barbara was nice, lots of shops, a nice beach, wharf & lots of restaurants. We had some Wahoo's & spent about 2 hours there & then continued our trek down south. Not much excitement going on today, just a lot of driving...about 8 in all once we finally arrive in Laguna. Oooh, excitement, Matt's brother Rich just called to tell us that he & his girlfriend, Lisa, got engaged today! Yay! So exciting, we are super-excited for them. Love you both!

Can pigeons regenerate body parts???

Once again, we started the day with the breakfast of champions, oreos & orange soda...a tribute to my late grandmother. (Matt is NOT naked in the picture, but he was enjoying his breakfast in bed)
After the very nutritious breakfast, of which I got a temporary sugar-high, we checked out Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. It was a pretty cool place with tons of shops & some cute puppies. Then, we went into downtown San Francisco to take a cable car ride to Fisherman's Wharf to have some lunch-dinner. It was a really cool ride, quite an experience. We had lunch-dinner at Scoma's which was INCREDIBLE. We even got free dessert bc we are newlyweds. The waiter's comment to Matt (when I paid with MY debit card was) "Good start, buddy." Little did he know, I already took Matt's money to put into my account! Ha! Also, while we were there I had a "blonde" moment. We saw a little pigeon outside the window limping down the dock (the second limping bird of the day) & Matt realized it was missing a foot. It was like a bird pirate with a peg-leg. In a moment of absent-mindedness I asked Matt if the poor little things foot would grow back. As if it were some kind of reptile or something?!? Duh, Kirsten. Duh.
The cable-car line was huge, so we walked a little ways, mind you it was up about a mile distance on a 40 degree incline. No joke, it was tough. We then hopped on the cable car for our ride back.
After a very smooth day, Matt decided to throw away/lose the parking ticket, so we proceeded to back up the line to leave the parking garage & Matt freaked out, as he does when minor shit happens. He dug the receipt out of a trashcan (while I sat in the car) & the kind Asian man understood my husband's stupidity. :) I love him.
We called it an early night, grabbed a movie at Blockbuster & I got a book at Barnes & Noble, bc we all know I can't stay awake to watch movies.

$4.55/gallon, but we still love road trips!

Well Wednesday definitely was a "road trip" kind of day. After finding out the rental car company charged my card $200 extra (We fixed it), we started our day with a nutritious breakfast of oreos, lime tostitos & guacamole since we forget to buy eggs & bread on Tuesday night. After getting ready we headed out (drum roll please) to my favorite place, TARGET!!! We both needed some sunglasses & new hats.
We then ventured to check out the Golden Gate Bridge, which is quite a sight to be seen. They paint that damn bridge every week using 1000 gallons of paint. I met a doggy there too, made me miss my Layla girl.
After that we headed to wine country, Sonoma. We hit up Viansa & had some lunch. It was beautiful. Matt made a video of a vulture, I will spare you from the boredom & not post it :)
After lunch, we decided to check out Point Reyes National Beach, only to be disappointed that the light house was an additional 20 miles, after already driving for an hour. We decided to skip it & head to Route 1 & drive down the coast. We checked out Stinton Beach & stopped at a beautiful spot along the way to check out some sea lions in the water...for some reason, they reminded me a Layla & made me miss her again. Matt thinks I am crazy that a sea lion reminds me of our dog, but I seem to think they have similar heads :)

After tons of driving Matt headed toward a "Surprise" place for something to do at night. It ended up being a drive-in movie theater. It was such a cool surprise! We saw (well he saw bc I fell asleep as normal) Indiana Jones. It really was alot of fun though.

All you need is GPS, a Sidekick....and a sweet ride

To pick up where were we left off....we went to pick up our correct rental car, a convertible PT Cruiser. We got the keys and to our surprise it said "Overheating" on the windshield, had a unfinished cup of tea in the cup holder, dirty floors, and a half a tank of gas. Long story short we made a pretty big stink about it, Kirsten definitely got a little loud with the guys there, and we ended up with a black 2008 jeep wrangler...pretty bad ass. I want one now. We then went to check in to our villa in Berkeley. Its pretty amazing...small, but very cozy. It took a little bit of searching around the winding and steep roads to finally get there...even with the help of our GPS. After relaxing there for a while we left to go check out the fisherman's wharf, and pier 39 in downtown San Fran. We could see Alcatraz in the distance, which we hope to get a tour of later, and found some fat lazy sea lions resting on some docks in the marina....that was Kirsten's favorite part for some reason....im not surprised...doesn't take much. They were funny to watch though, one kept kicking the other one off of the dock.
We then went to eat in the Haight Ashbury section of town. I took Kirsten to a place I had gone on tour called El Balazo, one of the best burritos I've ever had. When I was there in March on tour I left a little note for Kirsten to read when we came back. I was pretty confident this was going to be one of our stops for the honeymoon at the time. I think she liked it. Man the burritos are so good there, I can't believe I ate the whole thing.
After that we went driving around again and watched the sunset somewhere along the bay, not sure where. Finally we ended up at Cafe Du Nord to see a show later that night. We went to see Jeremy Enigk give an acoustic perfomance there. He used to be in one of my favorite bands Sunny Day Real Estate, and Kirsten liked one of his songs in another band called Fire Theft. It was really cool, we could't stay for the whole thing because we still hadn't slept since Monday night, but still cool.

We made it!!!

...many hours later. Our plane finally took off (after returning the sick woman to ther terminal, only to move us from 1st to take off to approximately 10th to take off) at 10:40 pm last night. We toughed it out. It was a long flight of trying every sleeping position possible, to no avail. When we arrived in San Francisco, we got a voucher for 50% off of a $200 room...no thanks. So we tried to take a snooze in the food court until 5 am when we could pick up our rental car. Little did we know they wouldn't have the keys for our car. So we took a substitute for a few hours to go to Walmart. We snoozed a little more in our incredibly comfy car at Walmart (yeah, that's how we roll & we don't mind!) then picked up some stuff for our trip. We are now headed back to pick up our actual car, a convertible & then to check out our "villa."
Regardless, all is well & we both agree that eventhough it hasn't been the perfect travel situtation thus far, we wouldn't want to do it with anyone else :)

What a fabulous start?!?

Yes...it was. I took myself to the outlets bc what new bride doesn't need a new Coach purse for her honeymoon?!?! Then I couldn't find my car in the parking lot...then I found it. First crisis averted. I had called Matt & made him panic b/c he thought my car got stolen. Lol.
Then we got to the airport in plenty of time, ate some dinner then got on the plane.
Well, now its 8:45 on & we've been sitting on this wonderful plane for nearly 3 hours. Our take-off was scheduled for 6:15 pm, but bc of storms we have been delayed. Its so fun to be jammed in a plane seat with wet feet (I spilled a whole glass of water) watching "Fool's Gold" (of which I do not reccomend).
Trying to be optimistic, hopefully we miss our connecting flight (which we don't intend to catch anyway) & can get a voucher for free food & a hotel for the night!
Oh this is a little more excitement for you, they just paged for a doctor/nurse bc someone is ill, but a few minutes later they just paged for someone who speaks Russian, Polish or Ukranian...wow.
Back to the wonderful movie...hopefully we leave sometime tonight.

Getting ready!!!

Tomorrow we are off for our honeymoon! Once school is over for Kirsten we will be heading to the airport for our flight to Portland, Oregon. Conveniently with a layover in San Francisco, where we will be getting off the plane & staying off of the plane. Don't ask...it was just cheaper to book a flight with a layover than a direct flight to San Francisco. Hopefully that goes as planned. We are almost all packed & ready to go & looking forward to a great week+. We are starting our honeymoon in San Francisco for a few days where we rented a condo/apartment. Then we will travel to Laguna Beach & stay at yet another condo/apartment. We will round out our actual honeymoon visiting some great friends (Missy & Emmer) in San Diego. We are planning on doing & seeing some great things while we are out there. We haven't planned ahead much, so we are just going to "wing it" & see where it takes us. We are both super excited to just be away together for awhile without worrying about work or any of our other daily stresses. Wish us luck & we will try to keep everyone posted throughout our travels!