January 2019

Jack turned 8 on January 4th. He had his two best friends, Adam and Jonah, over for a casual play date party. They made personal pizzas and also ate the funny pizza cake that Jack and I made. Jack has really grown a lot socially the couple of years, It's fun to see him have real friends that he found and connected with on his own. He is especially proud that he was friends individually with Adam and with Jonah and that he brought them together to make the awesome group of three that they are now. He's like a friendship matchmaker!

Uncle Chris flew in that morning, and Aunt Kathryn that night, and all the grandparents, as well as cousins Carly and Shaylee, drove all day long to be at Jack's baptism the next morning. We had a full house and were so glad they all came out to support Jack.

Jack has taken an interesting personal journey this past year as he prepared to be baptized. He had a lot of questions and wasn't content to hear mine and Todd's answers and believe them. He's worked hard to learn what a testimony is and to start to grow his own. He wondered if God was real, if He really heard and answered his prayers, didn't understand why he had to read the scriptures when he had a hard time understanding what they were saying, and didn't think he had ever felt the Holy Ghost before. There were a handful of months where I wondered if Jack would decide not to get baptized yet. We prayed a lot for and with him, read the scriptures together and talked about them, and had a lot of tender moments where I felt impressed to share my testimony with him and teach him to pay attention to how he felt.  There were several months where he was frustrated because he felt he was praying and not getting answers. There were times I had to hold tight to my faith that Heavenly Father would give Jack answers he could understand, even as I wondered why He wasn't making it simple and easy for Jack to see. And then the answers did start coming, and it was a very faith-strengthening experience to watch Jack start to believe for himself. I love that Jack didn't get baptized because it's what kids his age do at church. He did it because he found out for himself that God is real and wanted Jack to make covenants with Him to be more like Jesus.

Jack played "When I am Baptized" on the piano at his baptism, which ended up being in front of a large audience since there were four boys from the stake all getting baptized. He was super nervous, but had practiced so much he didn't even need his sheet music with him, and did a terrific job. I was glad the piano song was right after the opening prayer, so Jack could relax and enjoy the rest of the experience.

We had about forty people over for a luncheon afterward. I was grateful the rain stayed in the clouds for those couple of hours, so the kids could play in the backyard. That made things lots easier. We served pizza, of course, in Jack's honor. What can I say, the kid really knows what his favorite food is!

Jack and Todd both had a run-in with some poison oak when we went hiking on Todd's birthday. It manifested itself in some seriously itchy rashes about a week later, and made both the boys miserable for quite a long time. Todd's arm was particularly leprous-looking, pussing and enflaming and being totally gross. I think he's going to have scars.

My parents stayed for a week after Jack's baptism. The kids headed back to school, so while we didn't venture far from home, they did get to participate in all our regular activities, like Jack's first Boy Scout pack meeting, gym class for all the kids, piano lessons, and volunteering in the classrooms at Croce. My dad came with me to all the drop-offs and pick-ups and got pretty proficient on the scooter (although he did biff it bad once). 

Mom and Dad both played some on the zip line. What can I say, it's a party in our backyard!

They got to watch Hazel participate in the school spelling bee. Todd and I were so proud of Hazel for participating, both because she's changed spelling from a weakness to a strength over the last few years, and because it was a very big deal for her to speak in a microphone in front of the school. She kept a clear head and was able to make it through several rounds, getting eliminated somewhere in the middle with a word that really did stump her, not one she tripped over because of nerves. It was perfectly satisfying.

Very last minute, I rounded up five of Gemma's best buddies and invited them over for a pajama play date the Saturday before her birthday. She decided she wanted her cake for her party, so Nana was able to help her make it on Friday before she and my dad drove home Saturday. It was made from cupcakes and set up into a horse shape. Gemma had so much fun frosting the cupcakes with the nozzle. And holy cow, it took so. much. frosting! But it sure was cute!

Her buddies came over and Hazel helped me lead them in a few games, but mostly we just sent them outside to play. Play date parties are the best!

Hazel and Jack showed Gemma how to write "poop" and suddenly a lightbulb went off in her mind. Now she writes words all over the place! Sometimes potty talk is worth it. She's really taking off with her academic learning and it's exciting.

Gemma was so proud of this she asked her teacher to text me a picture. Darling! 

Todd didn't go in to work on Martin Luther King Day, but I was on the couch with a yucky cold, so he took the kids out to "the dunes" to go bike riding. But it had been raining the day before, so the place was super muddy. Two hours later, they came home covered in mud. Apparently, Hazel got a little bit wild and started rolling in the mud and throwing it at everyone. The girls were stoked. Jack hated it.

Game night - still going strong, yo. Loving it!

Speaking of dreading the performing arts, Hazel's class has been working on some reader's theater and invited the parents to see their performance. Hazel picked the part with the fewest lines, but still ended up with an engineering masterpiece when it came to the costume. She played a squirrel whose tail curls up for the first time part way through the story (Native American folk tale). She sewed the tail herself using an old pant leg, and rigged it with some stretchy string that she pulled at the right moment, tugging her tail up and surprising all the parents. She made everyone laugh and I was pretty proud her hard work paid off with such a good reaction.

We went on a scout hike in the Marin headlands. It was beautiful outside and was one of those times I just got so excited about where we live. January and February are generally pretty rewarding times to live here anyway, as all our family seem to be getting tons of snow and we're outside basking in the sunshine.

We saw some horses on our drive home, and Todd stopped the car to give Gemma a few minutes up close with her favorite animals. She is holding strong to the dream of owning a horse ranch when she grows up.

We spent much of January with someone or other home sick. We went through a week where all the kids had colds. The entire next week I was knocked out from one. Now this week Jack has been home with a fever that has lasted for days. We've missed a lot of school. Good thing the kids are geniuses and that I like snuggling on the couch. 

December 2018

 Todd's Army family Christmas party was on Hazel's birthday, so we drove up to Sacramento the night before and stayed at a hotel. We brought our swimsuits and played in the pool and hot tub before going to sleep.

The kids all enjoyed the blow up slides and the new friends they made. I was relieved that Hazel had a good time and still enjoyed her birthday.

We got home in time for presents. Hazel got a scooter upgrade. Now she needs to learn some tricks!

The kids turned into monkeys one day after school. It was lovely and warm outside, and they'd just finished running club, but still had plenty of energy. They and their friends all had a blast climbing the poles on the basketball hoops.

I decided not to bake this Christmas season, so I made peppermint sugar scrub to give to friends, neighbors, and teachers instead. It's been really fun! 

The kids and I were checking in on a lady I minister to for church, and found this house across the street super lit up for Christmas. They even had a snow machine and a phone to call Santa. It was super cute!

 The kids participated in a Christmas play for the church Christmas party. Jack asked to be Joseph. He's got a funny mix of shy and bold in him. Hazel asked to be an inn guest because she thought it would be a small part, but so few other kids signed up as inn guests that it backfired and drew lots of attention her way. She pulled even more eyes her way by her antics on stage, trying to hide behind other kids. Gemma was an angel.

Todd and I pulled off the very best surprise (months in the making) when we woke our kids up at 5am December 8th and told them to look under the Christmas tree. They came out rubbing tired eyes and were shocked to find three new suitcases packed and ready to go. We told them to brush their teeth, go to the bathroom, and jump in the van and we'd tell them what in the world was going on while we drove to the airport.

Merry Christmas to us, we took our family to Jamaica for a week! We stayed at Tom's time share, rented a car, and found a perfect balance between chilling at the resort and exploring the island.

We traveled all day Saturday, arriving in Ocho Rios after dark. That was an adventure, with Todd learning how to drive on the right side of the road and navigate roundabouts and try to find our town without any street lights! We stopped for dinner at at KFC and had an adventure right off the bat. First, there was a massive line to order our food - at 9:00 at night.

When Todd got up to the counter, he asked if they had any popcorn chicken.
No.
How 'bout chicken wings?
No.
Uh, what can I have? he asked.
You can have chicken.
Okay, give me two of those.

Aaaaand we waited 45 minutes for our chicken! It was unbelievable. Meanwhile, our kids were looking around and realizing they were the only white people in the place, and starting to wonder what we'd gotten them into. Lucky for us, four other kids showed up and sat near us, waiting for their food. I started playing hand slap games with my kids to pass the time, and the Jamaican kids were watching us with wide eyes. It didn't take much persuasion to get them to come over and learn our games, and teach us theirs. It was an awesome feeling to have my kids laughing with them and talking and realizing we're all the same, even when we're different.

Sunday morning was a painful wakeup, but we wanted to be sure to take the kids to church in Jamaica. It was held upstairs in a shopping center. The branch was super small - 10 or 15 people at the most, counting kids. We stayed for all three hours so the kids could experience Primary in another country, and it was a definite win. They had a great time. Gemma mentioned several times that she wished we could stay in Jamaica long enough to go to church again the next week. The accents were thick, and Todd had a hard time understanding what was being said, but it was interesting for me to hear testimony and think about conversion. It was a great experience.

Sunday afternoon we explored the resort and did some swimming. That night, I used room credits to get a free hot stone massage. It was amazing! I'm sure I left a puddle of drool on the floor.

Monday morning we were all ready to go exploring. From home, Todd had found what looked like a beautiful beach on Google Maps, but it looked like the road leading to it ended before hitting the coast. We set out to try to find it. We drove the road to its end, and then tromped probably three quarters of a mile through straight-up bushes. It was rough going. We all had sweat pouring down our bodies. Hoping the end result would be worth the effort, we forged on.

It was super discouraging to at least reach the coast and find a rocky section of coast with no sand, and the tide quickly coming in. There was literally no section we could even play on for a minute. We turned around and pushed back through the bushes, completely exhausted. Some of the kids were even overheard grumbling that they hated Jamaica. It was so hot and that had been a lot of work, and everyone was bummed.

Well, we got back to our car and started to drive off, thinking we'd go back to the resort and swim in the pool, when this construction truck stopped and the men inside asked us if we were looking for the beach. This fella said we were just one street off and he would show us how to get there if we wanted. We almost passed because, I mean, come on! We'd just pushed through the bush. It was hard to believe there could be good beach one street over. But we decided to take the gamble and told the kids to make room for him in the back seat. He directed us back to the main road and then down the next turnoff, all the way down until we reached a bar blocking the road with a big No Trespassing sign on it. He walked around it and told us to follow. That was a funny conversation, explaining to Jack what trespassing was as we walked down the road.

Still thinking we were in for a disappointment, think how ecstatic we all felt when we came upon this glorious view at last!

We thanked our impromptu guide, paid him a few bucks for his trouble, and then proceeded to enjoy paradise for the next three hours. We were the only people there (obviously, as we were trespassing on private property - land for a restaurant under construction called The Cove). We enjoyed the soft sand, the gentle waves, the beautiful clear, turquoise water, and the snorkeling. There was a reef near the end of the bay that we could swim to and check out coral and fish. The only reason why we ever left was because we ran out of snacks and were starving.

Tuesday morning, Todd used his resort credits to try out jet pack shoes at the resort beach. He had to balance and learn to dive in when he was falling so he wouldn't slam his face against the water. He looked pretty cool doing it and claims it was fun.

The kids and I watched him from the beach. Soooo pretty.

We ate all the pizza Jack could handle, played on the Flo-rider, watched the dolphins the resort keeps for "encounters" you can pay for, and swam a ton. The kids loved having daily access to pina coladas and gelato.

That afternoon, we hopped in the car and drove to Falmouth, a bit over an hour away. Lucky for us, the kids did a great job of entertaining themselves in the car! (Also, we always have a book I'm reading aloud to the family that we bring along for those sorts of times. This time it was Chronicles of Egg. Fun to hear Gemma ask, "Can we have some more Egg?")

We headed for the Luminous Lagoon. Surrounded by mangroves, it is home to microscopic organisms that emit a bio-luminescent light when they are agitated. We waited for the sun to go down, then took a boat ride out into the bay. The water behind the boat glowed a beautiful bright blue. When the boat stopped in the bay, we jumped in the water and swam around. The more we moved, the more the water glowed. It was surreal. When we looked closely at each other, we could see tiny glowing dots all over our skin. It was like we were swimming in a starry sky, completely magical. The only downside was that the longer we stayed in the water, the more prickly it started to feel, until at last we felt itchy and uncomfortable. Truly, that is the only reason we were willing to get back in the boat and ride back to shore. None of us were happy when the boat captain told us it was time to get back in. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of an experience. 

Wednesday morning I took the girls out for pedicures (using room credits). Neither of them had had one before, and honestly, neither of them liked it much. It was kind of a bummer. While we were out, Todd and Jack went shell hunting on the beach and played air hockey at the arcade.

There was lots of silliness at the hotel room and around the resort. The kids were in a continual happy mood. It was so much fun! 

We struck out for another adventure in the afternoon. Todd made me nervous, driving through these narrow jungle roads up the mountain. Crazy!

We found this beautiful swimming hole called Spanish Bridge (because of the bridge built by the Spanish that makes the pictures so absolutely lovely). It had a rope swing and a Jamaican who claimed we had to pay him and he would show us how to use it. After Hazel belly flopped because she couldn't hold herself on the rope all the way down from the bridge, she stuck to swinging from the trees on the side, and we made Jack ride with our Jamaican buddy.

Another entrepreneur tour guide was waiting for us as we got set to leave, and we asked him to help us find the Blue Hole on our way down the mountain. Our timing was perfect, as the last of the cruise ship crowds were just leaving and we had the place all to ourselves. We hiked up through the jungle past multiple water holes and waterfalls, until we reached the top. We had multiple opportunities to sit in and walk through waterfalls, as well as plenty of spots to jump from higher spots and swim a little bit, and even climb past a waterfall into a cave.

The highlight of the adventure was the waterfall that we were able to walk partway down, before jumping 10 feet or so into the water. Jack went first and was just absolutely brave the whole day. Each of us walked fearfully down, constantly in awe that we weren't slipping off the rock. Once we were all safely through, our guide took a running jump and swam dived down, looking ridiculously cool.

It was pretty intense for Gemma, and while the rest of us list the Blue Hole as one of favorite activities of the whole trip, Gemma claimed she hated it. She said the jumps made her stomach raise up in her chest (like how you might feel on an intense roller coaster drop).

But she did think this breadfruit leaf was a pretty cool treasure to find!

We mostly played it safe as far as food was concerned, and enjoyed our favorites at the buffet day and night, but we did branch out a little and try some new things. One night we had fried squid and octopus. Hazel was pretty grossed out by it, but Todd and Gemma were doing "tentacle cheers" and chowing down. We tried eating outside the resort while we adventured around the island, but didn't have much luck there, either. Pretty much all we could find was fried chicken.

Thursday we drove to Port Maria to check out a new beach. We ended up at Rio Nuevo beach, which was totally rocky and hurt our feet, but it was a cool sensation to sit on the driftwood and listen to the tide pull the rocks in and out.

We ended up heading back to The Cove that afternoon. It was not quite as picture perfect as it had been on Monday, because it had been a little stormy during the week and the water was rougher and less clear. It made us all the more appreciative of the perfect day we'd already experienced. We swam and lounged and played, and everyone was happy. The highlight of that afternoon was hearing all the happy kids singing, "You have stolen my heart!" again and again, and them discovering that they could carry me and Todd in their arms in the ocean and we weren't too heavy. We all giggled a ton to see little Gemma hoisting Todd around in her arms. It looked hilarious.

That night, we had our best meal of the week at the hibachi grill. The chef was constantly teasing cute Gemma and the meat and veggies were super scrumptious.

Friday was our last full day at the resort. The kids played in the pools a lot.

We went out on a snorkeling tour. Gemma was nervous. It's a different feeling in the open ocean than it is along the beach where she could stand up and feel in control. She did well when she was next to Todd, but when I took a shift, she spent all her time panicking and saying she hated it. Hazel did her own thing out in the water and was always on the outer fringes of the group, looking at things away from the crowds. Jack said the snorkel trip was one of his very favorite parts of the trip. He and I had a good time together. We saw a stingray, a lion fish, a flounder, lots of angel fish, and big flattish blue fish that were cool.

After lunch, we went to Mystic Mountain and took a long sky ride up the mountain through the jungle. From the top, we got to ride a bobsled roller coaster. You could control the speed yourself with a hand break. Gemma was under the height limit by a couple inches, but they just added an extra seat belt across her chest and totally let her ride behind me. She and I absolutely giggled and screamed the whole way down, and went full-throttle, as fast as we could, the entire time. We were happy that our ticket let us go two times, because once just was not enough!

Afterward, the kids played on the waterslide. Hazel and Jack had fun finding creative ways to get down as fast as possible.

At the bottom, the drain was pulling the water back up to the top of the slide, so it created a whirlpool. Mostly, the kids just swam hard across it and were fine, but one time Gemma got stuck in it. She was being pulled around and around and under the water and (thankfully) kicking her way back up to the surface to breathe, but she couldn't get herself out. I was concerned and headed her way to jump in and save her when I saw the lifeguard climb down from his seat and saunter slowly over. He held out a pole, which Gemma grabbed onto and was pulled to the edge, but I couldn't believe how casual he'd been about it. The experience totally scared me, but as Todd and I hurried to Gemma's side to check on her, the first words out of her mouth were, 'That was fun!"

That evening, we did everything we could possibly think of to enjoy the resort. The kids swam in the dark, we lounged in the hot tub, everyone had their last pina colada, and we ended it all with one more gelato.

We woke up early Saturday morning to travel home. Todd was going about double the speed limit on the highway when he passed a dinky car with a light on the top and two people standing beside it, waving him over. Thinking of the story of our brother-in-law getting scammed by the police in Nicaragua, Todd ignored the car and kept clipping along. Well, the Jamaican police got into their vehicle and followed us for 15 minutes before asking Todd to pull over. Todd was a little bit skeptical and they never even flashed a badge at us or anything, so he wasn't sure how seriously to take the TWO tickets he was issued - for speeding and for ignoring the officer. Getting pulled over cut us close on time and we were worried we were going to miss our plane, but we just made it. Todd asked the guy at the rental car desk how he was supposed to go about paying the ticket fee, which was supposed to be paid in person and in cash at an office in Jamaica. The rental car guy told Todd they had no way of tracking him down and he shouldn't worry about paying it. So now Todd is an international fugitive! We should be fine as long as we don't get another ticket in Jamaica...

The kids headed back to school for a few more days and all had fun at their class holiday parties. After school was out, I geared up for a good week of sleeping in, snuggling in pajamas all day and reading tons of books with my kids. That dream got shot down pretty fast when I let Jack take a bath and he and Gemma turned the bathroom into a bubble disaster. They cleaned it up and washed a load of towels, but I realized pretty quickly that they were going to need some real structure from me in order to not spiral into chaos over the break.

Todd and I went to his company Christmas dinner. They had a good turnout. Of about 50 employees, only a couple didn't make it. It was fun to see him chatting with all his workers (many of them in Spanish) and being such a friendly leader. I often wish he had a job that didn't keep him so busy, and dream of doing something simpler. It was sobering to me when he leaned over at the dinner table and said to me something like, "Look how many people are depending on me for their livelihood." I just love him. Of course, he's thinking of others and how he's responsible for so many other heads of households to provide for their families. That never crossed my mind before. Todd does so much to teach me to be less selfish.

We filled our days off with lots of work and lots of play. We cleaned the church building, reorganized our garage and shed, did lots of yard work with the kids, went to the library, invited our neighbor to come to our Christmas worship service, and made gingerbread houses.

We have a neighbor who was recently divorced and was having her first Christmas without her kids. We decorated her door with snowflakes and made her cookies and left it all anonymously.

On Christmas Eve, we made cards wishing people a Merry Christmas and went to the mall. We left them on windshields for frazzled shoppers to find on their way home. Then we went inside and had a scavenger hunt, Todd and Hazel vs me and Gemma and Jack. We were on the hunt for people in Santa hats, presents bigger than Gemma, frogs, something with hair for sale, jingle bells, and other things. We had an hour to hunt, and then met up for cinnamon rolls.

Christmas Eve, we read Luke 2 and watched the Nativity, and also enjoyed our tradition of watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Santa brought all the kids hover boards. For the next 48 hours, no one stepped foot on the floor of the house. It was like we had robot children, gliding all over the place! Our floorboards took a beating, and now the hover boards are only allowed outside. This has been a win-win, as the kids have played outside a ton even though it's cold outside! 

We went for a hike to Little Yosemite in Sunol on Todd's birthday. It was a beautiful day. Sadly, Todd and Jack evidently had a run-in with some poison oak, as rashes started appearing a couple of days later.

We went to the Oakland Zoo one more time before our membership expired. We had a few ride tickets we got when we bought our membership that we had never used, so - now or never - we tried out the roller coaster, which everyone liked, but was the only ride that didn't look babyish. Yay! So my kids realize we don't need to be going on the rides whenever we go to the zoo.

On New Year's Eve, we went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Saulsolito. We got a family pass during the summer reading program that was about to expire, so it was time to use it! On our way, we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. We parked on the other side and walked partway across. It was super windy and cold!

The museum, sadly, was kind of a bust. Actually, the museum itself was awesome. Super cool exhibits and plenty to do, but there was no denying it: our kids have aged out of this sort of thing. (Frowny face.) Gemma was in heaven, but the other two were pretty bored and definitely a head taller than almost every other kid there. We played hide and seek in their cool outdoor area, and there was a live DJ playing dance music and they dropped a ball at noon and tossed confetti and balls into the air. It was a really fun atmosphere. Just would have been more fun if our kids weren't asking to go home.

Lucky for them, there was something super awesome to look forward to at home that evening. The Hope and Dix families came for our annual New Year's Eve party. Everyone had a blast. We had pizza and cheesecake and played lots of games. The kids watched a movie while the adults played board games, and then we played some fun group games all together: Hunter and the Deer, the egg blowing game, and flashlight hide and seek, aka Follow the Leader.

We called it a night at 10:00 and sent all the kids outside to bang pots and pans.

And then dealt with the meltdown aftermath with the exhausted kids. One thing we haven't been doing enough of this break is going to bed on time!