Saturday, November 25, 2017

October 2017

Disneyland and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Because of the continued strength of Harry Potter’s presence in our lives, we decided to tack on a little 10th-birthday surprise to our Disneyland trip this year: a day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (in Los Angeles). They were unfazed by the fact that we landed at a different airport, but it wasn’t really until we were checking in at the Hilton Universal that Annika was like … waaaaaaaait a minute! this isn’t the Grand Californian! She was THRILLED, though she’s not really the type to enjoy surprises (even if they’re good). We had a great time in the Hogsmeade replica town (including a great lunch at the Three Broomsticks, eating fish and chips and drinking butterbeer, and an hour inside Ollivanders choosing wands that didn’t entirely work on the things they were supposed to but … ), although a day really was all anyone needed there, and we were happy to catch our Lyft down to Anaheim. The next day, we went at it: our plan, as usual, included early morning starts and midday breaks, and this year the new MaxPass (and R’s mastery of its use) meant we got to ride everything we wanted and we never waited more than ten minutes for anything. Everybody loved Space Mountain — including Lukas, who was finally tall enough to go on it!), Annika conquered California Screamin (and persuaded me to go on it more times than my old noggin could really handle, LOL), Guardians of the Galaxy became a new fave (it took over the Tower of Terror and was, IMO, a much better ride — we only did it the once, on the last day, but it’ll be a priority next time); we all liked Splash Mountain; Annika (influenced by Vines and YouTube) kept doing bits for the ride photos and getting us all into it; Cars Land was in full Halloween dress (very cute, but tbh we missed the song “Sh-Boom,” which used to play during the light-up of the area at dusk), and of course, we got Ghirardelli on the last night. Till next year, Disneyland & California Adventure! Yo ho ho ho, pirates of the bean!
Annika’s birthday
She’s TEN, and if that ain’t a big deal, I don’t know what is! Our girl wanted a sleepover party, so that’s what she got (albeit with a smaller guest list than last time … hoo boy). The theme was “foxes,” as in the woodland creature — we put up fake vines everywhere, she made signs, etc. They watched a couple of movies, went swimming for a couple of hours in the pool (which we heated this time, LOL), and ate a million pounds of Pirate’s Booty again; the only crisis was glow-bracelet-related (a couple of the cheap glow bracelets broke open and glow liquid was flung everywhere, including all over Annika’s arm and into Niamh’s eye). In the morning, I made pancakes … and the toilet overflowed, soaking the bathroom, pantry, and hallway (which was fun to deal with as the parents arrived to pick their girls up, yeah). Lukas sad to not be a part of it, but R. managed to console him with their two-dudes sleepover upstairs, so all was well. 
Halloween
Halloween is never at its biggest when it’s on a Tuesday, but that’s how it fas sometimes. This year, the kids had a minimum day (it was during Parent/Teacher conference week), so they really didn’t have much of a school day once the parade was done — which was fine by them! Lukas was a ninja (with long swords he wasn’t allowed to bring to school), and Annika was a golden phoenix. We all went to the Marshalls’ house for pizza and to go out trick or treating, during which we were joined by Raina and her mom and grandmother. R. and I had biffed it, costume-wise, but he got inspired by a kid’s costume from the parade, and — thanks to a desperate sprint through the mall by me — we managed to put together a Clark Kent for R. (with a Superman T-shirt peeking through an unbuttoned dress shirt) and Lois Lane for me (trench coat, reporter’s notebook, PRESS i.d. card on a lanyard). The kids got TONS of candy, which really is the only criteria that matters. 
Fun stuff
—Pump It Up! and up, and up: All the TK kids have their birthdays right around now, so we are spending a lot of time at parties on weekends, including Jacob’s PIU party (for which we showed up at the local venue, only to discover that we were supposed to go to Morgan Hill … Lukas rolled with that one better than I thought he might!), and Manir's PIU party (during which Annika & R went together to Color Me Mine).
—Dandy Day: Another fun time for most everyone … Annika ended up doing 72 laps (entirely on her own, no help from a pusher/greyhound, and no extra credit from my volunteering … which I did not do) and Lukas bettered his record despite frequent breaks for acting a fool with Lawson. We had great weather (cool and slightly overcast for part of it, never hot as in years past), and I did not win too many items in the silent auction …
—Annika’s swim school finish line is in sight: Annika earned her Flying Fish II ribbon! That means just one more ribbon till she “graduates” (her term, LOL) the program!
—Lukas pumpkin patch field trip: The kinder and TK classes went to the Uesugi Pumpkin Farm again this year; I saw the email too late to sign up, but I’ve already been on this trip twice (once with each kid) so I was ok with letting someone else, ah, experience it. Heh. He loved it, of course, and came home with a mini-pumpkin of his very own. 
Quotable
—“Seven hundred o’clock" (Lukas reads time on a digital display)
—“I’m the Principal!” —Lukas sitting behind the executive-looking desk in our room at the Hilton hotel
—“It’s spicy and I love it!” —Lukas trying Coca-Cola for the first time
—“Ya look like ya takin a DUMP!” -some rando kid, re: his mom’s face in one of the post-ride photos
—“Yo ho, ho ho, pirates of the bean!” Lukas’s mondegreen, which we all picked up and probably will be singing for the rest of our lives 

—“Twinklebell” (Lukas’s interpretation of the fairy character’s name)

Sunday, November 19, 2017

September 2017

Labor Day weekend
The month got off to a bang with an absolutely ferocious heat wave — well over 110 for several days in a row, hitting a high of 113 on September 2. Good thing we had the pool — we pretty much lived in it, and what socializing we did, was out there as well — the Carneys came over, per tradition, for grilling and chilling. On the hottest day, we knew the kids weren’t getting to sleep in their oven-like rooms, so we had a late family movie night with family sleepover, in which the kids slept in sleeping bags on the floor of the movie room and R. and I huddled in the guest room with fans on — if you don’t have AC, laying low, literally, is the only thing to do in a situation like that. The next morning, the kids discovered a massive ant infestation in the dining room and kitchen — so that was the next couple of hours, killing, cleaning up, setting traps, etc. Ugh. So — fun, minus the ant army … 
Fun stuff
—Girl Scouts Coastal Cleanup Day:
Annika’s troop joined a big volunteer day effort to clean up the waterways around the area. They were assigned to a park that had a creek, and spent a Saturday morning picking up garbage — educational and useful!
—Lukas and daddy start piano: Now that Lukas is the same age Annika was when she started learning piano, we signed him and R. up for the parent-participation beginning keyboard classes at the community center on Saturday mornings. He did really well, and seemed to enjoy it — he was really proud of what he’d learned.
—Art and Wine Festival: This year, we knew to go early, and Manir’s family (Ami & Ritesh, Manir, and Amira) came over and walked to it with us. It was easier and so much fun to go as a group — the kids really had a good time, and we grownups sampled the beers and turned into easy touches for buying the kids stuff. Heh. 
Travel weekend
The second-to-last weekend of the month found us all over the place. Annika’s Girl Scout troop went on their big weekend camping trip (we packed everything according to the list, including food and equipment, etc.), and she had a great time (and fell asleep in the car on the way back, according to the troop leader). I went to Portland with Anne, a long-delayed girls’ weekend that we planned just for fun; we ate well, slept relatively late (8:00 a.m.!!!), and I got to go to the greatest bookstore of all time: Powell’s City of Books. R. and Lukas stayed home, having a good time on their two-dudes weekend, mostly eating pretzels and watching Star Wars. 

Quotable
—Sparenheit and Celsius
(the two temperature scales, according to Lukas)
—"Is he in heaven already?” (Lukas upon seeing an ‘80s picture of Elton John; Annika likes him now because of “I’m Still Standin’”)
—“Lydia Lemon Markoff is your name.” (Lukas the human mashup-maker)

Monday, November 13, 2017

August 2017

School days are here again
—Last day of summer:
We were invited to a summer’s-end party at Anna & Ella’s, which went pretty well for Annika but involved a lot of crying from Lukas … [sigh]. And then we went home and I dyed the kids’ hair again — Lukas’s an allover bright red, and Annika’s just a few inches of bright turquoise at the bottom; both very cool looks that got a lot of fun attention the next morning.
—The first day of school: It was a good first day for both kids. Lukas liked his new classroom and teacher (Mrs. Goldman, formerly Miss Emmons), and there were 8 kids from his TK class there, so he had friends already. Annika went in with the confidence of knowing all there was to know about her class and teacher, so she was just excited to see her friends again. That afternoon, we went for ice cream in Willow Glen (and met up with the TK friends), skipping karate just this once. 
All-Around Annika
—Harry Potter event at Hicklebees:
A local independent bookstore had a Harry Potter trivia contest for all ages, so I took the kids and they were on a team with a half-dozen other kids from Annika’s class — all in their House robes, with wands at the ready. The team did well but didn’t win any prizes (unless you count the books we bought at the end, lol).
—Hiking Quicksilver with Mr. Dinh and classmates: Early in the month, Mr. Dinh organized a hike for whoever was around, and so Annika and I joined them; Raina and her mom and sister were along for what turned out to be a 5.5-mile loop that we (mostly) got in before the worst of the day’s heat … whew!
—Girl Scouts Camporee: This was a kind of trial run for the camping weekend coming up in September. The troop went for an entire day, returning well after 10:00 p.m., and hiked, ate s’mores, etc. Annika really enjoyed it and is looking forward to the longer trip. 
Lukas Life
—Emmett’s birthday party:
Emmett’s party was at one of the neighborhood pools, and was on a long hot afternoon. Lukas did great, even if I did have to yell at him a time or two for playing too rough.
—I’m back: A couple of weeks in, I started volunteering in Lukas's class on Wednesday mornings. I am one of two parents helping with the small groups, and it’s really good to get to know Lukas’s classmates and see how his teacher works. 
This & that
—Solar Eclipse 2017!
We kept the kids home for the morning to view the eclipse — you don’t get 78% coverage every time this happens, so it was worth it. They were very good about abiding by the safety rules, and it really was just so cool!
—A visit from the Lendlers: Our friends came down from San Rafael on a little end-of-summer tour of their own, and spent the afternoon hanging out, swimming, grilling, etc. As before, the kids had fun left to their own devices, and we adults got to talk and catch up.
—Aunt Lesley visits: My sister came for a week, and mostly we just bombed around, ate at Mo’s a lot, and chilled — good times! She came with us to back-to-school night since we’d already arranged a babysitter, heh. 

Quotable
—“Take a picture - knock yourself out!”
(Lukas, hilariously direct0
—“lime-onade” (what he called the beverage we made from the abundance of ripe limes dropped from the neighbors’ tree)
—“Doesn't Annika's hair look like she's queen of the world?” (Lukas making an admiring observation one morning — he was right, too!)

July 2017

Summer fun
We have been all over the place this month, with the only regular stuff being karate and swim lessons. We had a park afternoon with Manir’s & Brayden’s families, we had Alana’s family over to the pool for an afternoon and the Carneys over for another, spent another pool afternoon with the TK families at Manir’s. We got the Summer Games pass again, so we were back to bowling once or twice a week. We went to Niamh & Lawson’s joint birthday party, got into Power Rangers and Pee-Wee Herman, had a really good two-night Sauce at Mike & Heather’s. Annika got into latch-hook in a big way, the kids both went to karate camp at their studio for a week (day camp, not a sleepover thing), Annika and I left Lukas with Grandma & Grandpa for a couple of hours and went to the new tea party restaurant at Santana Row. And of course we all had a great time on the Fourth of July — the parade was fun, the pool was necessary (it was a hot one!), and the cousins came over later in the evening to walk over and see the fireworks with us — Murica!
California on the horizon
Moving to California has long been the plan for Grandma & Grandpa, and we decided it was time to put some weight on that lever. So, P&A and the two of us agreed to just … get them a place to live. That will be in The Villages, a 55+ community they’d toured and really liked some time ago. We contacted our realtor and started shopping, discovered that this really was a viable option, and started planning. When G&G came out for their summer visit, we had a little party on their wedding anniversary and told them our plan to make a gift of it — they were, understandably, quite surprised and thrilled! So now we just have to find the right place. Stay tuned for updates!

Quotable
Q:
What properties describe a jungle?
Lukas’s A: “Vines and sweaty trees and lots of bugs. Oh, and temples."

Saturday, November 11, 2017

June 2017

Potpourri
—Brownies become Juniors:
Annika’s Girl Scout troop had their bridging ceremony in a park near our house, followed by a pool party at the troop leader’s house (the only dry cookout I’ve ever been to … ). She’s not 100% sure she wants to do GS next year, but it was a fun day and the girls & families were all really proud of their growth over this past year.
—Back to the Emergency Room: After years of being allergy-free for milk and egg, Lukas had a reaction to something he ate one evening — the sudden attack of sneezing and welts all over his body was concerning enough to send us to the ER, but as with the other times we’ve seen this, we dosed him with Benadryl and in all the hours waiting to be seen by a doctor, he improved on his own, and so we left without getting him any treatment.
—First belt test: We missed the official belt test night because we were in Hawaii, but on return, we were informed that there was another opportunity to test, so the kids took a private karate lesson to be sure they were ready. We went to the make-up date — and they both got their new belts! They really did so well, and it was such fun to see them demonstrate the skills they’d learned since they started. 
School year ends
The school year was the usual insane blur of activities, with hardly a regular full day in the last month; Annika’s class went to the 3rd grade pool party (at a cabana club pool near campus), I chaperoned the TK/kinder park day (at Parma Park, which had the big advantages of shade and bathrooms, heh), and of course the last day of school was another wild one — short day, with maaaaybe a few tears on leaving Ms. Bingham’s class, followed by our usual treat of ice cream in Willow Glen. 
Hawaii
The biggest event of the summer started just two days after school let out: our two- week trip to Hawaii! There was a bit of drama upon arrival, as the baggage from our flight was delayed by a couple of hours. We ended up borrowing booster seats from the car rental place, and eventually we had all our bags — then it was home to the cation house. We spent almost all of our days at the beach club: I made my long-overdue return to snorkeling (I even bought my own rig, assuming it was going to work out; I needed Annika to swim with me and had to breathe through some would-be panic attacks, but by the end of the two weeks, I was back!). Lukas had his own rig as well, but the red pencil urchins in the water freaked him out completely, so we shelved his snorkeling days for next year. We saw a bunch of turtles sunning themselves on the rocky beach at the Fairmont, and had the rare treat of an in-water turtle sighting at our own little bay. We spent a few days at Hapuna Beach, jumping the waves and swimming in that clear warm water before leaving around lunchtime just as the sun got to full power and the waves got rougher. Thanks to Pokémon GO!, we finally ventured out for a family walk on the fishpond paths near the beach club — that was so cool! Fishponds, weird little cabins, cool plants, different views, and of course, captured lots of new Pokemon. I rented a SUP rig one day and took each of the kids out on it; another day we rented a kayak and paddled around for quite awhile. Annika got sick one night; we tried a new restaurant (The Blue Room) for dinner and stumbled onto a surprise hula show in the shopping center, which was a nice night’s entertainment. We celebrated Father’s Day with cards the kids had made back home, plus a breakfast of donuts from the local grocery. For the first time, we ventured upcountry a bit … and ended up with one of the best dinners of the entire vacation at a place called Pueo Osteria. We spent two mornings building an absolutely epic sandcastle town around our cabana. We had fantastic weather for most of the trip, minus one rainy dinner attempt at the Fairmont … and when we got home, we closed out the trip with a perfect pool day at our house, including a truly gigantic giant pink peacock (quickly named “Peaky” by the kids) R. bought at the pool store that morning. One of the best trips ever … 

Quotable
—Lukas:
“Ma-jeek is Spanish for magic!”

May 2017

All-Around Annika
—School talent show:
Once again, Annika decided she wanted to be in the Los Alamitos talent show, and this time, she recruited her friend Jasmine to dance to a Justin Timberlake song. They spent an afternoon choreographing at our house, then practiced every recess and break they had — and in the end, it was such a cute performance, with both girls in white sundresses and black ballet shoes and a version of the song edited to just under two minutes. Bravo!
—SF zoo field trip: The third grade went on buses to the San Francisco Zoo, which she hadn’t been to since she was not quite three years old. They weren’t there for long (due to the length of the trip) so everyone planned in advance what exhibits they wanted to see and grouped up based on that. She loved it, and now keeps asking to go back! 
Lukas Life
— Mother's Day Tea:
Lukas’s class had a special Mother’s Day tea, to which they invited all the moms and gave us presents and performed a couple of songs — it was so sweet, and the kids were SO excited! Really fun for me and for him.
—Lukas open house: The TK/kinder/1st grade open house was separate from the older grades this year. Lukas was psyched to show us all the work he’d done, and lead us around to all the stations to tell us what they do in each one, and we met some of next year’s TK kids and of course told them all about how awesome Ms. Bingham’s class is.
—TK/Kinder musical performance: The big show of the year! They had a half dozen songs, done on the risers outside on the blacktop. Lukas did great and had a good time.
School Days
—Karate:
So at the Multicultural Fair at school, Lukas “won” four free classes at Victory Martial Arts, and this month he started to use them. He loved it right away, and Annika — who had not planned on that, at all — decided she might like to try it — so she did. The regimented, belt-earning part appealed to her (Lukas liked the outfits as well, heh), and they both liked getting to punch and kick without getting in trouble, so we have signed up for a seven-month term; they’ll go twice a week, and are in the same class, which is nice for the logistics. Fun, fitness, and kicking ass …
—School art show: Both kids had two pieces in the year-end art show. This year, we palled around with the TK gang and made an event of it, with dinner out after — high-energy and kind of exhausting, but a good time nonetheless. 
Family Fun
—Mother’s Day:
Annika was fully in charge of the holiday this year: She planned and helped make breakfast in bed (“eggs on the go” — scrambled eggs with spinach and feta, in a pita), got me flowers, and made lunch. In the afternoon, I took the kids on what actually turned out to be a thoroughly disastrous hike in Quicksilver (they bitched and moaned the whole time, were afraid of wild animals — of which we saw precisely zero, and both fell at least twice … [sigh]), but while we were gone, R. made me his awesome spaghetti sauce with the little savory breadcrumb pancakes for dinner; also they got me a heart cake, and made a poster for the door). I think Mother’s Day gets better every year …
—Daddy’s birthday: It’s hard to do a lot when your birthday is on a Wednesday, but we made a good time of it — the kids and I baked the chocolate-raspberry cake, wrapped presents, and made dinner for R. :-)
—Lendlers visit: The first pool weekend of the year, we had the Lendlers over and enjoyed some of R.’s margaritas while the kids swam and played. Beautiful weather (though not too hot) and a really nice day with friends.
—Memorial Day weekend: It was a big holiday weekend for us. First, my friend Amanda from high school came out to California with her family (husband Drew, daughter Audrey); they stayed the night with us before continuing on their road trip (and our kids fought for Audrey’s attention, of course) — awesome to see all three of them. Then, more or less per tradition, the Carneys came and we grilled out and swam and had another chill good afternoon. 

Quotable:
—“I'm not afraid of spiders. I'll kill it with my Maui hook! We've never had a spider in our house before. They crawl in our water pipes, like the itsy-bitsy spider!" (Lukas tackling the big issues)
—“Hetched it means wenched it, and wenched it means ... got it.” (Lukas explaining his unique terminology)