California

Summer has officially begun. The boys had school until Thursday and Rick had school the following Monday so we decided we better take a quick trip with the little break. We had the boys miss the last day of school and left Wednesday right after school. We arrived in Fountain Valley Thursday early afternoon and headed right for Huntington Beach.


Zane and Isaac with Huntington Beach Pier in the background.

We buried Isaac in the sand.

Rick and Isaac helped me harvest shells for my shell garden.

A fun afternoon in the sun!


Friday we spent at Magic Mountain. Online tickets were only $33, so we opted to that instead of Disneyland. We enjoyed some seriously scary roller coasters. Good times!!

Saturday we headed to LA to take in some sites. The boys have never been to Hollywood. Here they are outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Zane was stoked to find Robert Downey Jr. It was just added a couple of weeks prior.

We stopped to see the La Brea Tar pits then walked to a letterbox near a turtle pond. Hidden with the box was some food to feed the turtles. I was hoping to do a lot more letter boxing on the trip but we couldn't find the other one we looked for, and didn't have time to look for others.

Turtle pond.


We ended our LA excursion at China Town. Here we are having a little snack at the Phoenix bakery. I've been to SF and NY China Town and have to say LA was a little disappointing.

We ended our evening at the Holbrook's (who were excellent hosts the whole week) playing Rock Band.


On our drive home we stopped in Las Vegas and went to the M&M store (4 stories of M&M paraphernalia)

We also went to the Coke Museum. For $7 you can taste Coke products from all over the world. Rick was happy we all got to sample the icky, bitter Italian drink; and I was happy my favorite Fanta from Central America was included. Vegas was insanely hot though and neither Rick nor I enjoy it as a destination. An hour or so was plenty to stretch our legs enough to finish the car trip home.

Thanks my fun family for a great trip !

Ready for Summer

We are officially ready for summer. It has been a crazy week. The last full week of school. The boys actually have to go to school for a couple of days after Memorial Day. So weird since they seemed to have a bunch of random vacation days through the year. It seems like they could have saved a few up and just been done at the end of this week.

We had something going on every night this week and multiple things many of the nights. Isaac finished Spring soccer. We are so proud of him for getting out and trying something new. He made a goal (which is great since he mainly played defender) and his skills and confidence really improved. Most importantly, he had a lot of fun. Here are a few shots from a game.


My camera has a big delay so it's hard to get a good action shot.







Zane had both his play performance and choir performance this week. Zane, who seems to like a lot of attention everywhere but from his parents, surprised us with a speaking part in the play. When I asked before, he said he just was a guy in the background. His role was small but he was the comedian in his scene and very funny.

He also had a solo in the choir concert. They did a rock concert which was fun. It was mostly a Beatles tribute, and they had a rock band accompany them. Zane had a verse in Paperback Writer. We are proud of him and his talent.

I can't believe we have a full school year behind us in our new house. I think the change was good for the boys to get them out of their comfort zone, even though the transition was a bit rocky. Isaac told me this was one of his favorite school years. That made me happy. I've been impressed with his school and teachers this year. He is changing schools again next year to be in the accelerated program. He is excited about it and really wanted to be in the program. (My only problem with the accelerated program is that they often put the programs in the poor-preforming schools; apparently it brings up their test score average. His new school is in sort of a ghetto neighborhood. Isaac is the most pure and innocent kid ever so I worry about him and the affects a harsh environment could have on him.)


And finally- we couldn't be ready for summer without Glitter Toes! I held a party at my house last week and Stephanie came over to sparkle us all up. It turned into a kind of mother/daughter evening. Avalon and her friend got matching red sparkly toes and silver sparkly nails.





If you're interested in a glitter toe party- see Stephanie's blog here.

Bring on summer!!

Finally moved in

While we still have a long way to go until all the moving-in projects are done, we finally unpacked the last box this week. This is thanks to Rick, Ikea and Craigslist.

First Rick: After building the sturdiest shelves in the world in the garage for practice, Rick spent Spring Break building these shelves in our family room for all of our games.

It was so nice to be able to unpack the boxes of games sitting in boxes in the room. It inspired us to get on the rest of the shelf acquiring.

After scouring the internet for inexpensive, attractive shelving for the movie collection, a quick trip Ikea solved the problem. We were so exited to find DVD depth shelving at a very reasonable price.

I guess officially we aren't completely unpacked because some of the actual shelves are out of stock so we can't fill up the final case.

Rick has cataloged all of our movies on an on-line data base that you can view here. Rick has edited most of the rated R movies to family friendly versions. We need to do some work on the categories as I see 101 Dalmatians listed under Action/Adventure movies. I'm guessing many are listed in more than one category as the movie total is at least double our real collection. Minor details.

Finally- my favorite. Our bedroom. We've had a corner full of boxes in the master bedroom since we've moved in. We donated our bookcase to Isaac's room and put a new bookcase for our room on the wish list. I wanted something large and semi-nice (i.e. not Ikea) for the bedroom. Rick found this on Craigslist.

It is the perfect size for the wall and our books, not to mention the color matches our other bedroom furniture quite well.

It's funny how happy it makes me to walk into these rooms and see things organized instead of stacked in boxes. Progress on the new home is slow but steady. We spent all of yesterday in the yard. I'll post some pictures once everything starts to bloom (which hopefully- with my brown thumb they will).

A Saturday in Spring

Ah, finally, warm weather. Right now all the windows are open in my house and I'm loving the fresh breeze. My feet are a little better so there's hope for hiking, tennis and biking this season.

Yesterday we took advantage of the great weather and went to watch my brother fly radio controlled airplanes. A few years ago, he got with a couple of his flying friends and starting an annual "Civil War". It has grown to a pretty significant event. Yesterday they had at least 30 planes and a number of different events. Here are some photos/videos.

First they did the "Limbo" event. You earned two points for flying between the two strings, one point for flying below both strings. First person with 10 points wins. This was really fun to watch. (The video only stays sideways until they launch the planes)



Zane and Isaac each got their first try at flying. Here is Darren helping Isaac.


Here is Zane with the plane he crashed. It was beautiful- he went into a dive and part of the wing broke off. Then the battery starting smoking. It spiraled to the ground smoking the whole way. Definitely the best wipe out of the day. Zane was famous as everyone came over to see the plane ruins.


Darren's flight of his newest plane.


Mom brought lunch for our family.


Just a few of Darren's planes. My dad also brought his fleet.



As we were leaving they had just started this event. Someone was flying a regular plane and all the smaller planes were trying to either rip part of the streamers off or knock the plane out of the sky. Someone took it down just as we were leaving.


The event went all day. We only stayed for a couple of hours. They also did some contests to win planes. It was really fun. We'll definitely be at the next one.

My Funny Friend

I am so amused by Afton's last comment on my Facebook status that I have to explain it here so everyone can know how funny and clever she is.

First a little background on my post...
I'm not a bath person. Kramer's comment, "Sitting in a tepid pool of your own filth", describes how I feel about bathing. Also, I get kind of bored just sitting there. But every once in a while, I really enjoy the hot soak. (However, I will never see it as an effective method of cleaning myself)

Two nights ago, I had about 3 hours of sleep. All of yesterday I was tired and sore. With the snowstorm, I got a chill and just could not get warm. Hot bath seemed like the answer. I needed something to read but was too tired for anything that would require a long period of concentration. I wasn't in the mood for brainless fiction. I settled on a book of Billy Collins poetry.

If you aren't familiar with Billy Collins, you are missing out. His poetry is so accessible. I love his imagery and humor. I've posted several of his poems before. Below is a favorite. I went to hear him read at the library a few years ago. He explained that he wrote this poem to mock a bad poem he had read.

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine...
-Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker,
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I'm not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and--somehow--the wine.


Back to last night- After my bath, I felt great. Chill gone, totally relaxed, ready for an insomnia free night. I posted this on my Facebook.

I just had a steamy bath with Billy Collins. Very satisfying.

I thought I was pretty clever. I checked my account this morning and saw this comment from Afton.

You are the lighted candles
and the scented bath salts waiting to sooth tired muscles.
You are the mirror covered in steam
and the fluffy towel still smelling of fabric softener.

You are not the shiny hot water faucet,
nor are you the thread bare bath mat.
You could never be the thread bare bath mat.

It might interest you to know that
I am the cozy slippers
waiting patiently by the wall heater.
I am also the rose water tangerine bubble bath
that costs $15 a bottle at the fancy store in the mall
and the well loved copy of poetry, waiting to be read.

But you are still the lighted candles.
You will always be the lighted candles,
and the scented bath salts waiting to sooth tired muscles.
(With apologies to Billy Collins)

I’ve read it over and over. I’m so amused. Afton always cracks me up with her smart and subtle humor. This one may take the cake!