Our Last Day

I have a vacation hangover. Mia and I both caught Gavin's chest cold and I feel like crap. I decided to spend the afternoon looking through my photos from our last day in San Diego rather than at the snow on our front lawn. Mother Nature insists on torturing me.

We spent Saturday in our familiar stomping grounds, La Jolla. We spent the afternoon at La Jolla Shores and headed to Nana and Papa's for dinner. As always, the kids had a fabulous time on the beach. The weather was a bit cool but they didn't notice. They worked on their sand castles and before long Tristan and Jolie were swimming in the ocean. Our land-locked garage houses two boogie boards so they have to put them to use when they have the opportunity. I also enjoyed watching Mia play in the surf, running away from the waves as they rolled in.

Dinner at my dad and Nancy's was a highlight. We had pizza off the grill (if you haven't tried it you're missing out), a great salad and brownie sundaes. The kids hit the hot tub and caught up with Nana in the kitchen. We love being invited to their place!

The Sun is Our Friend

Gavin has been asking questions lately about the sun. What would happen if the sun exploded? What would happen if the sun burnt out? How many million degrees is the sun? Being the excellent physicist that I am, my standard reply is that the sun is our friend. There would be no life as we know it without her.

There's nothing that reinforces the value of the sun more than living in a cold climate during a long, never-ending winter. That's why we come to places like this in April (The Welk Resort, Fallbrook/Escondido area). We like it here because there's a lot to do and it's HOT. We were here three years ago at spring break and we noticed it was a good 10 degrees warmer than being right on the coast. Perfect for April if you want to swim and hang out at the pool.

Disneyland

We spent yesterday at the Happiest Place on Earth. This was no casual day in Disneyland. We went with a plan and a purpose. We had just one day (more about that later) so we had to make the best of it. We got up at 5:00 am, left just before 6:00 and were standing at the turnstiles before the park opened. We met up with Grandma and Aunt Lisa in Fantasyland and with Dan and Grandpa just in time for Pirates of the Carribean (they ran into some problems parking.) We were able to ride several rides and get some valuable FastPasses before the park got CRAZY busy. We partied all day long and finally left about 10:00 pm as the fireworks were going off. We all fell asleep within minutes of our heads hitting our pillows around 11:30. What a day!

We booked this vacation through our timeshare exchange in protest to not getting our exchange for Hawaii (we ended up having to rent a Marriott timeshare in Kauai). I challenged the guy on the phone to find us a place in SoCal over spring break. He came through so we scheduled it. That was last year about this time. A few months ago we heard about Disney and their "Give a Day, Get a Day" promotion. We each did volunteer work (we made blankets for Project Linus) and got a free pass to Disneyland. So despite the spring break crowds and the hour and a half drive, it was a great opportunity.

Now onto the hightlights:

Tristan: Indiana Jones (he got to be in the driver seat of our Jeep), Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Tristan also got a big rush out of being our runner for FastPasses. Throughout the day we sent him across the park with our entrance passes and a cell phone to get FastPasses to use later when the lines were long. I think it made him feel very grown up to do this on his own.

Jolie: The "teacups" continue to be Jolie's favorite. She's our notorious scaredy cat. I'm actually starting to wonder if she has a legitimate fear of heights. I've learned not to push it. Later in the evening we split up and I took Mia, Gavin and Jolie to Mickey's Toontown because Jolie wanted to ride little kid rides with Mia. When we got there we disovered there was only one actual ride. It was a little roller coaster. During our 45 minute wait to get on the ride I could see that Jolie was getting more and more nervous but we were too far in to get out. We stayed through the line but opted out when it was time to climb in the car. We did end up meeting Mickey Mouse in Toontown and had our photo taken with him, so I guess it wasn't a total waste.

Gavin: Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. I loved watching him on his second trip through the Haunted Mansion. He was mesmerized! I'm not sure if it's his BIG imagination that made that ride a hit or if he was fascinated with trying to figure it all out. Gavin is also a thrill seeker. He went on absolutely everything (Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain...) I'm still trying to figure out how a kid can be afraid of the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp and can't watch Finding Nemo but is ok to have ghosts flying all around him and can go down roller coasters in the dark. It's all quite baffling to me.

Mia: The moon and the dancing girls in Small World, the teacups (we had to get back in line after Dan told us to go ahead without her the first time around), King Arthur's Carosel and the CONCEPT of meeting Mickey Mouse. Ask her what happened when she saw him up close and personal and she'll tell you... she "FREAKED OUT".

Grandpa: The Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room

Grandma: Small World and avoiding lines by sitting with Mia.

Lisa: (I need to ask her)

Dan: Splash Mountain (anyone have a petition for bringing back "Song of the South?") He also enjoyed pointing out that we were in the Happiest Place on Earth every time a kid melted down or there was unease in the universe.

Me: "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears..." Did you know they've redone Small World? It's even better than it was before. My #2 favorite is Splash Mountain (we got stuck halfway up the big hill due to mechanical issues) and ofcourse just watching everyone have a magical time. That's always the best part.

Earthquake!

Yesterday we'd just been in San Diego for a few hours when the big 7.2 earthquake hit Baja. We had just checked into our place and Dan and the kids and I were in our living room/kitchen area. We're on the upper floor with windows all along the back wall that look over the golf course. Everything started rattling & shaking & swaying and it continued for what seemed like a long time. (One minute doesn't seem like a long period of time unless you spend the whole thing wondering if the ceiling is going to fall on you and crush you.) It was Dan who first realized it was an earthquake. My first instinct was to get everyone under a table or doorway. Dan had the better instict of getting us all outside. I need to re-program my brain against what I was taught in school (get under your desk). Anyway, no damage here but it was pretty scarry for a few minutes.

We've been getting after-shocks as well. They only last for a few seconds but it's weird to be lying in bed and feel like you're on a wave. I felt two or three last night, one of them was during the middle of the night and it woke me up. I probably should have followed my mom's advice and put shoes next to my bed. The thing is, if there were a big one during the night, my feet would be the last thing I'd be worried about.

April Fools!

No, this is not an April Fool's prank. This is the view from our front porch today. I'm not joking.

There was no shortage of pranks around here today. We were having so much fun playing April Fool's jokes that we were late leaving for school. Each year we get a little more sophisticated. This morning we found celophane taped over the toilets (Jolie), tissue paper stuffed into shoes (Tristan), Jolie and a classmate have been scheming for weeks in order to prank their teacher, and after Tristan and Jolie were off to school Gavin used April Fools Day as an excuse to do all sorts of naughty things, mostly to me. We'd gone outside to take a couple photos of the snow and I found myself locked out of the house (I was in my robe). He also soaked baby wipes in ice cold water and stuffed them into my shoes and he put celophane inside the computer (???). I was surprised when Fruit Loops came out of the Corn Flakes box a little later on (Jolie).

There's been no shortage of surprises today!

Happy V Day

Happy Zillionth Day of Winter!

We celebrated the zillionth day of winter this week by firing up the jet bath. I don't know that Mia has ever had the experience. You have to be pretty hardy to be in there. The water is deep and the bubbles even deeper when you mix bubble bath and high speed jets! Add Mr. Gavin doing cannonballs and it was quite an experience (Gavin's idea of a cannonball, at least in the tub, amounted to him sliding off the steep incline directly into the deep water and yelling "cannonball!" There's no doubt that Mia's going to be a tough little chick.

But then again, watching her in nursery, we already know that.

Sisters

Mia adores her sister. She follows her around when she's home and asks about her when she's gone. Yesterday Mia started crying when Jolie left for school. We usually drive Tristan and Jolie to school in the morning but yesterday my dad picked them up because he was going their way. Mia was absolutely heartbroken to see them walk out the door!

Jolie also jumps at the chance to play the role of adoring sister. It usually takes me a couple minutes to get to Mia when I hear her on the monitor. Jolie, on the other hand, jumps up the minute she hears her, "I'll get her!" Jolie has a special motherly voice she uses with Mia (for which I'm grateful because she often wakes up grouchy). She's always loved showing Mia off. When we've gone to help in her classroom she's paraded her around like her proudest possession. All the other little girls have played right along, oohh-ing and ahh-ing and telling Jolie how cute her little sister is.

Mia also loves to dress up in Jolie's clothes. He favorites are the ballet outfits. Not long ago, Mia actually pulled Jolie's skirt off her body after she arrived home from ballet (and immediately put it on herself). I'm constantly finding Jolie's shoes in the middle of the floor. When it's the snow boots I know that Jolie left them there. When it's her sparkly or fancy ones or her soccer cleats, I know Mia's been playing dress up.

How exactly Felicity (Jolie's $100 American Girl doll) obtained her recent hair cut, is still somewhat of a mystery. Jolie swears that she didn't do it. She blames her little sister. Although it seems to be something Jolie would be tempted to do, she's never lied to me so I tend to believe her. Mia, on the other hand, when asked about the incident, took full responsibility. (Then again, if you were to ask her if she shot Lee Harvey Oswald she'd take responsibility for that, too.) Nonetheless, I think this may be a case of one sister covering for the other.

*Photo taken the Sunday before Christmas. We came home from church early because one sister had a meltdown and the other is 100% unruly on a good Sunday*

Who Else Would Allow This?

Yes, this is my living room. And yes, that's newspaper, timothy hay, brussels sprouts and two guinea pigs (whom, in case you're not familiar with the species, poop a little black pellet every 10 seconds).

I think the fact that I didn't freak out when I came upon this scene this afternoon, not to mention the fact that I allowed it to continue, qualifies me for mother of the year.

O Holy Night

Make a Smilebox greeting

An Image of Greatness

Tristan's ELEVEN years old today!

I can see a lot of changes coming down the pike. He's suddenly very concerned about his hairstyle, his clothes, and how he is perceived by his peers. We have an almost daily battle over his refusal to wear a coat to school. He says he's not cold but I've noticed that a lot of ther fifth grade boys are walking around in the cold without coats like idiots, too. I have a friend who used to teach fifth grade and she assures me it's all normal fifth grade behaviour (the peer awareness thing).

Tristan is the only 10-11 year old in town that I know of who wears skinny jeans. He had a meltdown when we went school shopping in the fall and I tried to buy him jeans from Old Navy or Children's Place where I've always bought them before. He insisted that he'd look like an idiot in them (I believe there were tears involved in the discussion, too). We ended up going to the teenage store in the mall where one can find skinny jeans. It's a good thing that he's a tall kid, otherwise I don't know they would've had his size.

A few weeks ago I attended Tristan's "Images of Greatness" program at school. He chose Frank Lloyd Wright as the subject of his project (more about the reasoning for that later). Anyhow, when I arrived, I walked over to where the kids were sitting, waiting for the program to begin. I thought I'd let him know that I was there and ask him if he had everything he needed. You'd have thought I'd committed a horrible crime by doing so. He gave me that look that we've all given our parents... go away, you're embarassing me. Yes, that look. Apparently, he didn't want anyone to know that he had a mother that day.

So when Tristan was trying to decide on the subject of his project, he went back and forth between Caesar Chavez (my suggestion), Gus Grissom (Dan's suggestion) and Frank Lloyd Wright. It had to be someone "gifted" who made a contribution to society. He eventually decided on Frank Lloyd Wright because he knew that I'd read a biography about him and he'd heard about some of the tragedies that befell him. That's another thing I've learned about 10-11 year old boys: they're intrigued by violence, tragedies, and the like. **On a sidenote... guess who was just made Cubmaster? I guess I'll be learning a whole lot more about boys =)

Back to Tristan... I have to mention the hair. I had no idea that boys were so concerned about their hair! We've had a couple other melt downs in recent months over my insistance that the boy have his hair cut. I'm talking crying and knashing of teeth in the car on the way to the place. Fortunately, we've found some great stylists who've been able to leave the length of his hair long while cleaning it up along the neckline and thinning it out. He goes through a whole ritual in the morning when he's getting ready. It involves "man" shampoo and combing it all forward. It's not my favorite look on him but Dan and I both agree there are more important things to battle over than hair.

Tristan is a character and definitely his own person, but we love him all the same. I've learned a great deal over the last eleven years, a LOT. One of the most important lessons Tristan has taught me is that we each come here blessed with our own set of gifts. As his mom I know that it's my job to accept him, help him recognize those gifts and hone them so that he can fulfill the purpose he was sent here for. There was a time that I wanted to change him. I wanted to make him more manageable, more compliant, less difficult. I'm glad that I learned that lesson early because he's an amazing kid. He has so many gifts. I know that he's destined to be something great.

Bon Anniversaire, mon fils!

Mia's Two!

I can't believe it's been two years since our little Mia arrived. The time has literally flown by. We've enjoyed her every minute of the last two years, she's our sweetheart.

Mia is talking like crazy. She talks in sentences and paragraphs and she narrates everything that goes on. Her verbal skills developed just like Jolie's: she went from making one-syllable sounds to complete sentences almost over night. This has helped eliminate SOME of her tantrums- if she can gather her wits about her she's usually able to communicate what she needs. Ofcourse, that doesn't mean she gets everything she wants, thus there are still tantrums.

I haven't posted much about Mia's goings-on. It's a full time job keeping her out of mischief these days. She's into everything. Over the weekend she managed to un-organize two drawers of ribbon that I had pain-stakenly wound into little bundles. There must be something fascinating about pulling rubber bands off bundled ribbon. Come to think of it, there are many, many things around here that Mia finds fascinating. I spent this morning baking cakes and I certainly paid the price for that. I talked Gavin into watching TV after his and Mia's help with the cakes became unmanageable. I thought Mia was in the family room watching Dora with him. At some point I realized she wasn't and discovered she had been upstairs in my closet emptying our Cherry Hill bag (water toys, sunscreen, etc.) She had rubbed a stick of sunscreen all over the place. Then I found the trail of peat moss. She had spread little piles of dirt all over the main floor. There was a pile on the sofa, several on the floor, one in the dining room... I had put two amaryllis in the front window because they weren't getting enough sunlight in the kitchen. From the trail of evidence it appeared that she'd used her shoe to transport the dirt to different locations throughout the house. How all of this happened I can only say that I was deeply involved in baking a red velvet cake and a low fat lemon pound cake. And you guessed it... I was on the phone.

We decided to invite our family and several families from our neighborhood over for cake and ice cream. Several of them had things going on (tis the most wonderful and the most busy time of the year) but we had a fun time nonetheless. I was just grateful that some of them came.

Give Thanks

Just a few photos from Thanksgiving. I set our table with my Grandma Ivey's china. Doesn't it look pretty? I was thinking about her all day.

We bought Lego Rockband to play with the family. Mom was pretty good on the guitar and who knew that Lisa was a closet rocker, too? The (grown) men, on the other hand, were occupied with their digestion and reading the newspaper.