5.17.20 - Best of the Missouri trip

The weather was excellent. Everett and Mom couldn't stop commenting on how nice it was that cooler spring weather was lasting so long. In fact we only had any humidity in the last 3-4 days I was there. Before that there wasn't any real humidity, and typically the weather was in the mid 60s to mid 70s. Maybe one or two days in the high 70s or 80, that's it. Best of all, there were thunderstorms maybe 5-6 times. I love thunderstorms so much. I love the smell and sound, and I love the nostalgia. They remind me a little of when I was a kid and a lot of Missouri summers in my young adulthood (late teens and early twenties).

One of my favorite moments of the trip was sitting on Don & Merlene's front porch with all three kids watching a huge thunderstorm roll in. It really was a little awe striking and beautiful watching the clouds swirl around each other. Clara observed the dark clouds coming in on her left and pushing out the white clouds on the white. The fishing-themed wind chimes were playing and the American flag was whipping around, as were the branches in the big tree in their front yard. Don & Merlene joined us after awhile too. I was glad to really get the most out of that thunderstorm.

It was cool to get to be in Missouri in the spring. I don't think I've done that since Easter of 2009. Mom's yard in particular had a lot of blooming flowers and the gorgeous Japanese maple trees out front, plus her Easter yard flag and other décor. Just super cute. And when we went on walks around Don & Merlene's neighborhood there were likewise a lot of flowers in bloom--even one tree that had white petals falling all around it which the girls stopped to observe. Also robins everywhere. Just kind of cute.

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It was great to see Eddie and Elisabeth a few times. I saw them three times in 4 weeks, which is about the same average as when we typically visit Missouri. In particular, the first time I saw them I walked around Don & Merlene's neighborhood with Elisabeth, each of us pushing our babies (Eva and Calvin) in strollers. Then we sat in the front yard (at least 6 ft apart) and talked longer, and eventually Eddie joined us because he got off work early. Elisabeth took Eva home for lunch and a nap but Eddie stayed and we chatted longer. I'm always happy to see those guys but in this specific instance it had been only a day since my lowest point of the quarantine, and I was so relieved to see and visit with other people. Felt like a bit of normalcy, and socialization can make a big psychological difference.

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Speaking of walks, I thought we'd be walking around the neighborhood all the time, but we ended up doing so only a few times. Still they were really enjoyable. The first time I took all three kids to try to give Jack some space, and I tried to make the walk last as long as possible. We walked slowly and stopped to look at everything I could think to point out: trees, flowers (especially dandelions), different types of mailboxes, robins and other birds, rabbits, squirrels, storm drains, cute porch décor, house numbers, the sun. The girls enjoyed making countless observations, and Clara picked a lot of dandelions. We walked around the block we usually do, but then kept going up into the coldasack just to keep it going. It was nice to spend peaceful time with them. I also thought a lot about owning a house someday as I considered what I liked or didn't on each porch. We saw one or two signs announcing that FZS 2020 graduates lived inside, and like so many other things in St. Peters, it was nostalgic. I thought about high school and how I have memories in this same neighborhood from that time.

Over the trip Clara and Jane also went on a few walks with Mimi and Gpa, which I think gave them some nice bonding time and change of scenery while also giving us (Jack and me) little breaks.

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It was great getting to spend so much time with Everett. We spent a lot of afternoons sitting in the basement, him playing Kingdom Hearts and me trying to get work done, but all while chatting casually with each other. We made fun of Kingdom Hearts a lot (Sora is kind of an idiot) but we also enjoyed the animation and soundtrack. And more generally it's nice to visit without feeling pressure to hurry and make the most of it. During other Missouri trips I would have packed the schedule with social events, but we couldn’t' do that this time, and while it means we saw fewer people, it also means I was more relaxed with a more flexible schedule. And in the case of Everett, social distancing from everyone else made it easy for me to spend a lot more time with him than I normally get to.

We also did go have cigars on the DuPre bridge, twice. I love that tradition. We talk a lot more there, I assume because no one else is around, there are no other distractions, and it's usually relatively dark which means we aren't even distracted by what we're looking at. Both times we had more substantial conversations than we do when working/playing Kingdom Hearts, of course, and I think the bridge & cigars tradition gives me an unusual change to really hear how he's doing. Plus we always talk about the memories with that creek and the path to it and the DuPre neighborhood generally. It's nice to have someone that remembers that shared history.

I also got to spend Everett's birthday with him, which is very unusual. We went with Mom and picked up sushi (Wasabi, but at the wrong location of Town & Country, oh well) and then ate it at a picnic table near the Missouri River in old town St. Charles. Mom laughs so easily she encourages me to try to joke more often which makes her laugh more often. And of course she thinks Everett is hilarious, and he thinks her laughing is itself funny, so yeah, lots of laughing. After we visited for awhile at her house, and then way later Everett came to Don & Merlene's with his laptop so we could play Catan online with Jack and Neil (Neil and I had figured out how to set it up earlier that day). Don & Merlene even sang Everett Happy Birthday. Catan was a blast. We played two games. Calvin stayed awake through all of the first but just sat on the couch between Everett and me and hung out. He really wanted to hit Everett's laptop but eventually got it out of his system. Poor little guy was exhausted by the end of the first game and fell asleep almost as soon as Jack took him. Then we played one more game, probably a mistake because we were up too late, but we were all joking around the whole time. Neil (the only one not physically in the room) kept playing the devil on the shoulder trying to get everyone to go after each other. I also had some candy and chips around to snack on while we relaxed. It was a fun evening.

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I'm glad the kids got to spend so much time with Mom.

We went to her house a bunch of times, and it was really helpful to me because it's an extra pair of hands, helpful to Jack because he gets a more relaxed break to study, helpful to the kids because it's a change of scenery and they love their Jama. We played in the backyard a lot, particularly with her hose. Clara liked to "paint" the entire back wall of the house with water. Jane liked to water the plants. And her back patio furniture makes it easy to just feed them outside, if we want.

I also love Mom's front porch. It's very cozy and well decorated. Once or twice I got to sit peacefully up there with Calvin in my lap as he watched cars drive by and cooed. And one time Jane and Calvin took naps at the same time, so Mom played with Clara in the house and backyard and Everett and I sat and chilled on the front porch for probably over an hour.

Mom and I also took the kids to All Saints twice. The first time we went to look inside the church. The girls were very impressed and at first kept calling it a castle, saying it was just like in Beauty and the Beast. We also took them to the playground, of course, and especially the 2nd time we went they had a blast. The weather was great and Mom and I took turns (mostly Mom) chasing them all over the playground while they giggled and shrieked "You can't catch me!!" I so enjoy how much my mom and my kids like spending time with each other.

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Also glad the kids got to spend time with their cousins. This took longer because we waited until we had been in MO at least 2 weeks, but then we had a playdate with the Jacksons all over to use Mimi & Gpa's new playset. There was also a kite, sidewalk chalk, and bubbles, and they loved it. It's so good for kids to get to spend time with other kids, and I'm glad all of our kid are roughly the same age.

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And of course Don & Merlene were fantastic hosts, as they always are. Paid for our groceries, made countless meals, clean every night (we tried to be better about cleaning up as part of night time routine, but it's still never the same as if there weren't a bunch of kids in the house), did laundry, babysat so Jack and I could go on dates, etc. They are ceaselessly generous and kind.

11.25.19 - (Early) Thanksgiving in Colorado

The travel day was not bad at all. Calvin slept on the way to SMF and we made it through security no problem. At the gate he hung out with me watching out the window while I messed on my phone. Once we boarded Neil and Emily were already on the flight because they very graciously left Portland early so they could help me with him from SMF to DEN.
Emily slept most of the flight and Neil and I visited and did crosswords together. He helped me a lot by holding various items while I adjusted Calvin. It makes a big difference. Once we landed they helped watch my stroller and things while I changed Calvin and got readjusted. We met up with Everett, then Henry, and all drove back to COS together chatting happily and driving carefully because it was snowy. Calvin slept the whole way. What a good traveler.
It was great to get to Tejon and not be concerned about gluten. Matt made a bunch of pizzas in the brick oven and we enjoyed those with some wine. Miss Kristin took Calvin and we all went to early karaoke (we arrived about 7pm). It was also great to go out and know that I wouldn't have to wake up, move, and try to get back down two toddlers at the end of the night. Getting a little baby to go back to sleep is a bit easier. So I really enjoyed the karaoke night. I just had a few Angry Orchard's and tried a few new karaoke songs (some worked (Ruby Baby) and some didn't (Written in the Sand), but it was good to try), and just generally enjoyed myself.
Afterward, we all traipsed to the Air BnB. Actually we drove because it was pretty cold out, but the place is so close by (half a block) that we probably could've walked just as easily. The Air BnB was adorable - a little cottage with a cozy bedroom downstairs and several more beds in the A-frame attic. We set up the pack and play in the downstairs bedroom and Calvin and I slept there peacefully. And because it was just me, there was plenty of space to bring Calvin in bed through the night and nurse him while half sleeping, which is something I always really enjoyed with Jane and was glad to get a chance to do with Calvin for once. In fact in general it was great to get to spend so much time with Calvin, just the two of us. Now that I'm back at the lab I don't see him as much during normal weeks and it was good to get lots of cuddles in. It doesn't hurt that he's mostly very easy and cheerful and everyone else also enjoys seeing him.
It was great to stay at an Air BnB so close, because I could just walk Calvin and me back and forth whenever I needed to without impacting anyone else's schedule or needing to borrow a vehicle.

[This as far as I was able to write at the time, the rest are just my quick notes.]

--Our Air Bnb is adorable and cozy, with plenty of space for Calvin and me to have our own room. Plus it's less than a block from Dad's house, so we can just walk back and forth.

--Emily took Calvin so I could take a much needed nap. I slept peacefully on Dad's huge bed for probably 1.5-2 hours and the other adults just took care of Calvin, feeding him and keeping him busy. It made a huge difference in the overall day.

--It was the most relaxed Thanksgiving day we've had, probably because there were fewer people, especially children, and because Matt did all the cooking so Dad wasn't stressing about it.

--And so of course the food was especially amazing, including bacon wrapped turkey stuffed with rum-soaked fruit or something.

--Calvin fell asleep right before it was time to eat dinner so I got to eat the whole dinner in peace. In fact I specifically remember sipping lavender wine (weird but delicious) and telling the room in general that I was in such a good freaking mood because I felt well-rested and was about to eat an amazing meal and Calvin was being very easy and I got to hang out with everyone.

--Then I got to sit on the couch and cuddle and play with Calvin while most of the other adults cleaned up the mess of a kitchen.

--Everett took Calvin so I could play the Paper Game, and I got through almost the entire game before needing to tend to him. When it was time to read our cards and I was taking care of Calvin, Rocket was very happy to read my cards for me, which was sweet.

--Henry went ahead of me to the Air Bnb to set up the pack and play, so when we got home I was able to sing to Calvin to calm him enough to nurse him lying down (my favorite, and something I've really enjoyed on this trip) and then put him to bed.

--Then I got a good 2.5 hours sleep before I needed to pump again, which is when I took the chance to write all this out real quick. And of course then go back to sleep.
--We made no plans for Sunday so we were able to lounge and play games and pivot at our leisure.
--I got to play a game of Catan while Emily and Henry kept Calvin busy/happy.
--I laughed a lot at how one-sided the game was and, actually, how good Rocket was and how he kept accidentally trash talking.
--I enjoyed Thanksgiving leftovers all day, especially cheesy potatoes.
--I got to visit with Ellen for awhile. I don't get to talk to her as much anymore because she's so busy with residency so it was good to chat one-on-one while we unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher.
--We rewatched all of Dad's 60th Birthday video and then decided to watch the 50th one as well.
--I got to play two games of Quiplash while Calvin leaned against Emily and happily hung out with everyone. I laughed very, very hard, especially when Everett answered "What should the next Lucky Charms marshmallow be?" with "Hot sog mmmm burger meat so good marshmellow." Seriously. Laughed until I cried.
It was such a fun and relaxing trip.

10.31.19 - joy statuses

 

11.21.18 - Thanksgiving (for us)

Because Neil, Emily, and the Wolks had to leave Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Wednesday.

First of all, it was great for my family to stay at the Air Bnb. It's like a two minute drive from Dad's house, as opposed to a 40 minute drive between the ranch and Dad's house. We got to sleep in until the kids woke up naturally, and when they did wake up we didn't have to worry about waking anyone else up. I gave them a bowl of Cheerios which they happily ate together and we turned on the big screen TV for them to watch Super Simple Songs. They both seemed pretty impressed with that huge TV, which is on a table only a couple feet off the ground. For them it's probably like a mini movie screen. We got ready to go in our own time and then drove the very short drive back to Tejon.

When we arrived Dad was making pies. Zoey, Rocket, and Sola were cutting hearts, stars, and flowers out of extra pie dough to make pretty pie toppings. There was a lot of flour around, and I let the kids know that because Clara has celiac she can't touch the flour and if she does she has to wash her hands. They seemed to understand and take it seriously. I like when kids get to the age where they feel sort of honored at being given real responsibility.

I was also gratified to see how seriously Dad was taking it. A year ago when we arrived for Thanksgiving he went to hug Clara while he was covered in flour (he just didn't remember), but in contrast this year when the older kids were done with pie decorations he instructed Rocket to go to the master bathroom, change all his clothes, and wash off his hands and arms. He also had Rocket get Zoey a chance of clothes, all so that they wouldn't likely get flour on Clara. Dad still had several hours to go in the kitchen, and so he kept reminding people to please keep Clara out of the kitchen because of the flour. It is a relief to see the people around us take her Celiac seriously and make sure she's protected. Of course when she's a bit older it will be much easier because she will understand and keep an eye out for herself, but right now when she doesn't get it the extra eyes help.

Not long after we got there, Jack took the kids and Julie and I walked to Safeway to get contact solution for her and gluten free pizza for Clara. After we walked past her old house and then back to Tejon, visiting the whole way, mostly talking about marriage and kids. It's good to have a sibling that can relate on that level.

The next few hours were actually pretty relaxed. I visited with Dad and Jill and whoever was in the kitchen/dining area while helping Dad prep different dishes. Jane napped for a long time on Dad's bed. Clara played very happily either directly with the other kids or near them with the fake food, especially the ice cream scoops and cones, which she loved. Jack even found time to do a couple quizzes.

Clara and Malcolm dump clementines out of their truck.

Eventually everyone arrived from the ranch (Neil, Emily, Ellen, Everett, Henry) to help out. There was a bit of chaos as Dad tried to make sure there were enough ovens to keep everything warm, and Jack and Everett ran some dishes to our Air Bnb to use the oven there. I mostly watched the kids and stayed out of it. When Jane first got up from her nap she was a bit stoic but she warmed up eventually.

I was also kind of excited that this year we officially had a kids table. We pulled the coffee table from the front living room into the dining room and Zoey, Malcolm, and Clara sat at it. For a second Clara was upset because she wanted a chair, but we found a step stool for her and she was fine with it. She ate her gluten free pizza and didn't care in the slightest that everyone else was eating other stuff. I guess she's used to it. Even better, Jennifer brought individual gluten free pies, so after dinner Clara got her own apple pie. I thought that was really sweet, since she'd been pointing out the pies all day.

At the grown up table I got to eat in relative peace thanks to Julie taking Jane for a while and then Jane eating happily from Jack's lap. There were waaaaay more cheesy potatoes than we could possibly go through, but that's a good problem to have. There was also rare steak, which was awesome, and Jennifer's cranberry sauce was excellent! It's some kind of finely diced fruit salad type recipe including celery for crunch and nuts. Really the best cranberry dish I've had for Thanksgiving. Neil and Emily made a lot of vegan food and their vegan "cheesy" potatoes were pretty good. Their vegan spaghetti (zoodles = zucchini noodles) and sausage was delicious too. I wouldn't have even known it was vegan if Julie hadn't told me.

After dinner there were plenty of hands to help clean up and Dad was playing a lot of very cheerful dance songs he likes. Jane had really started to warm up and would kind of sway to some of the music. She also does this little move where she puts one arm behind her back and the other across her stomach and kind of bounces her knees a bit. It was a big hit, especially with Paul and his parents. Paul seems to really love little kids.

Also now that Dad was finally not covered in flour he was able to play with Clara. She had been calling for him ("Papi! Papi look!") all day to show him what she was doing but he had to watch from a distance because of the baking. But now he could play. He went down to the family room and danced with Clara, Malcolm, Zoey, and sometimes Rocket. Malcolm in particular was getting waaaay into the music and just going nuts. Apparently he especially likes 'No excuses' by Meghan Trainor, because when Julie put that song on he sort of froze for a second in a look of delight and astonishment, and then started dancing crazy fast. It was great. Clara had a similar reaction to the recent favorite: 'I've been everywhere man' by the Road Hammers. They sing the verses very quickly and she marches her feet up and down as fast as she can while yelling 'Faster!' It's awesome.

The day before Sola had asked me if we could play The Paper Game or Quiplash and I told her not that day but probably on our Thanksgiving day. She had mentioned it once or twice during today also, and Harrison also asked about it, so clearly they were excited. Neil kindly set up Quiplash on his laptop (hooked up to the big screen) and a lot of people got to play. It was a big hit. It's great to have a game that allows you to sit still on the couch and laugh, and in our big and chaotic family it's also great to have a game that can keep moving along even when various people get interrupted and have to leave and come back to it. It also worked out well that my siblings were playing but so were Harrison, Sola, and even Rocket (Emily lent him her phone) because there were sort of two groups of humor and it caused a lot of split votes, instead of one side dominating with only one person the odd man out. It was also a good way to wind down as the music is a lot more low key compared to the dance music Dad had been playing.

After a few rounds of that it was time for those of us with small children to go back to our Air Bnb's and put them to bed. I helped Jack get our kids to bed, and then I went back to Tejon and Dad and I drove up to the ranch to join Neil, Ellen, and Everett for DOOM! (Neil had been trying to get the DOOM network working with a lot of frustration, and he had previously mentioned he didn't know what the point was since we'd never get a chance to play anyway without me staying at the ranch. I told him I would absolutely make a trip to the ranch to play DOOM, which I think is extremely fun, so he felt more motivated and figured it all out). Dad watched us for a good hour, and we of course were laughing our heads off. At first there were some settings issues with this version of DOOM and none of the guns were reappearing, so we were having a lot of pistol fights which we still found hilarious. Neil fixed it eventually though. Also this version allowed us to change the colors of our players to anything, so I was black and Ellen was purple. This version also showed your rank (X out of 4) and the spread between first and last place, which was kind of cool. We played for a little over two hours. There were at least two points where I was laughing so hard I had to stop playing and just get it together. I love it.

I was pretty exhausted when I got back home so it was good to get into our already warm apartment and pass out. Overall an excellent Thanksgiving.

7.10.18 - Favorite parts of the Field Day trip

Dad: the balloon fight and karaoke with Julie

Sola: Egg toss and three-legged race.

(Because she crushed it.)

Jill: My favorite part of Field Day was Harrison singing.

(I don't have a pic of Harrison singing but here he is playing hot potato.)

Everett: Henry telling me he's going to give me his super awesome phone come October because he's going to get a new one then.

Henry: water balloon fight

Henry cleans his glasses while Dad takes the fight up a notch with the hose.

Me: Everett singing Led Zeppelin

Neil: I'd say it's tie between the Betrayal game with Ellen where Dad became stupid Ox and bringing Clara in from the car while she was passed out. Beating Everett in chess is a close second. Clara being excited about the plane taking off was also great.

Bryan: My ultimate victory in Munchkin.

Me: I love how much Clara enjoyed the bubble machines and four wheeler and everyone singing karaoke.

Ellen: Dad being dumb Ox was soooo funny. I also really enjoyed day 2 of just hanging around talking.

Julie: Not in any particular order: driving the jeep at the ranch, karaoke, watching my kids run around the ranch, meeting Emily, the five united.

6.17.18 - My birthday & Father's Day

A few days before Father's Day I was working at Picasso's and decided to walk down Main Street and see if I could find any good gift ideas for Jack. I went to this really charming bookstore called Main Street Books and they had all kinds of unique, thoughtful, and funny greeting cards. I picked out a sweet one for Jack and then also found a pair of Hungry Caterpillar socks, which I figure is kind of Father's Day-themed since our kids love that book. I imagined him wearing the socks and pretending his feet were caterpillars. Who knows if that will ever happen but it was the best idea I had so I got them.

Anyway so this morning I gave him those gifts before he took the girls to church, and he seemed to like them.

While everyone was at church I relaxed and enjoyed the quiet and time to myself. I made a plate of nachos (with the mango peach salsa I have been really loving this trip) and watched 2-3 episodes of The Office uninterrupted. Frankly it was awesome. I also tried to remember Pachelbel's Canon on the piano but I couldn't quite get the whole thing. Still enjoyed playing it without little hands pounding the keys on either end.

I went ahead and got dressed and prepped a couple things to take to Mom's house later. Jack came home with the kids and the sermon had been Father's Day related and church had given all the dads bags of M&M's with a little card, so that was sweet.

We all caravaned to Mom's house for my informal birthday potluck. Jack dropped us off and ran to Costco to get rotisserie chicken (from us) and canned chicken for Everett's buffalo chicken dip. (Side note: I like how proud Everett is of that dip. It's freaking delicious and all of it always gets eaten at get together's, which he likes to point out.) Ellen made Sunshine fruit salad and she was so thoughtful as to make one version completely gluten free, which means a lot to me.

Thanks to Ellen and Everett the basement was already totally clean and prepped for company. Good thing, too, because Zoey forbid me from going down there while she worked on my birthday gift, haha. But once she was done we all moved all the food and drink to the downstairs table. The Bairds came over with bacon wrapped smokey mini sausages in a crock pot (which also all got eaten), Don & Merlene brought gluten free chips and cheese, and I think Julie brought a bunch of veggies and hummus. Later Linda got there with apple fritters.

Blurry pic Mom took of everyone visiting. I'm having grapefruit juice with white wine, mmm.

We all hung out and chatted, and we played a few games of Quiplash. One of the questions was what to name a cheese shop and I won with "It's all Gouda." Lol. Everyone loves puns. Zoey and Malcolm stayed upstairs for this part because the game is not always kid-friendly. Clara is too young to understand, though, and she stayed with us and happily danced to the background music and watched the animated characters as we entered our answers. At some point Katie Jackson came over and joined us, which was really great because I hadn't been sure if she'd be able to make it (Aaron is home with poision oak, but the kids were napping so she snuck away for a bit). She played Quiplash too and laughed a lot.

Zoey's sweet card.

We were able to play only a few games because the Bairds had to go tend to other things (alas), but then it was time to open presents. I actually wasn't really expecting presents because I'd told everyone not to worry about it, but I had several anyway. Zoey made me a handmade card all taped shut, and inside it was her gift: a drawing! Very very sweet, and she was so excited for me to open it. Ellen got me a stainless steel baking dish (I am slowly converting all bakeware to stainless steel for ease of cleaning and gluten free cooking), Don & Merlene got me a sweet card with some cash, Jack got me a book on teaching our kids to read, and Mom painted me a fresca based on the lyric book "It's a Wonderful World" that my girls enjoy. That was especially creative and touching and she even copied the exact style of the birds and butterflies in the book's illustrations.

We didn't have any cake, but Mom stuck 7 candles in an apple fritter (3 and 3 for 33 and "one to grow on") and then everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and I blew out the candles with Clara's help. I was pleased to see that Clara has evolved from being shy and intimidated by everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to enjoying it and wanting to aslo blow out the candles.

I think it was after that Linda had to get going and so did the Jacksons and the Wolks. Everett, Jack, and I hung out and chatted in the basement for awhile and then quickly cleaned up. Jack and I took the girls back to Don & Merlene's so we could hang out with Dave while he was there after work. At some point Merlene put a candle in half a gluten free fig bar (lol) so that the Jacksons could sing me their much more professional, harmonized version of "Happy Birthday." Clara loved that too, and again helped me blow out the candle.

3/4 of the Jackson singers that night.

Oh and of course I got a lot of well wishes via text and on Facebook. My favorite this year was from Nick Reynosa:

12.24.17 - Christmas Eve

This year Mom's wish list included going to lunch or dinner with the five siblings, so we arranged to go to Bradden's in Old Town St. Charles on Christmas Eve. We were originally going to go to Magpie's, but they aren't open on Christmas Eve. Bradden's would be open but they weren't taking reservations. We knew that "Christmas Traditions" (in which people dress up as famous and historical Christmas figures and act out their roles all up and down the street) would still be going on, and we suspected Main Street might be very crowded. Originally I offered to get to Bradden's at 11:30 a.m. and hold our spot in line, and I asked if anyone would come and wait with me. But it turns out that Mom was going to Christmas Eve mass later in the day (instead of in the late morning, like I thought), so actually all of us except Julie drove to Old Town together.

Mom with Christmas Traditions' Jack Frost

It was snowing when we left Mom's house. In fact I think it had been lightly snowing most of the morning. It was the best kind of snow: pretty and powdery and not really sticking to the streets (perhaps because it was so cold outside!) Not only was the snow pretty but I think it meant fewer people were out and about, so Old Town wasn't as jammed packed as we'd anticipated. There were still a lot of people there, making the place seem bustling and fun, but not so many people that we struggled to find parking or even had to wait long at all once we got to Bradden's. In fact I think we waited less than 5 minutes before getting seated at a round table in the corner by a window.

The place was charming. They had holly and stockings and other Christmas decor over the brick walls. The window next to us was oddly bright because of all the fresh snow outside (still falling as we sat there). From my seat I could easily see the street and the horse drawn carriages and the Charles Dickens costumers and so on. It was ridiculously Christmasy. I loved it.

Carolers

We split some portabello mushrooms and cheese sticks while waiting for Julie to get there (since we had originally planned on meeting at noon and didn't realize we'd be seated so quickly). Our server's name was also Monica, which seemed to delight Mom, haha. Monica the server was friendly but not overly so, just down to Earth and easy to talk to. She was nice. The women (except me) had some wine (I had Diet Coke). Ellen and I had some lobster bisque and I think I had a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. It was all delicious. Julie ate nothing but wine and a piece of lettuce, I kid you not. We talked about kids and Betrayal and the Thanksgiving trip and who knows what else. Laughed a lot. It was a really nice lunch.

Julie talks about Zoey resolving to be good the last day before Christmas.

Afterward we had planned to walk up and down Main Street and check everything out, but it was so cold just walking from the restaurant to the car that we changed out minds. We invited Julie to come back with us to Mom's to hang out a while but by the time she would have gotten there she would have had to go back home in about 30 minutes, so she decided just to go back home after all.

After we got back to Mom's, Ellen and I went out to get Mom a Christmas gift. Even though the lunch was supposed to be the gift we wanted her to have something to open Christmas Day. I wanted to go to a craft store and look for some Christmas decor for her, but the JoAnn's fabrics I thought was nearby appears to no longer exist. Instead we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, which was almost a bust. We walked through the entire store pretty much uninspired, but we settled on a Snoopy-themed Christmas welcome mat that was actually pretty cute. (I had noticed Mom's current welcome mat was just plain black.) As soon as we got back to the house I hurried downstairs to wrap it, and it had to go in the largest box I could find. I was a bit tickled by this because I suspected Zoey and Malcolm would be excited/intrigued when they saw such a huge present. They are still young enough the present size equates to awesomeness, haha.

Not too long after that I went back to the Jacksons so I could spend at least some time with the girls that day. I very briefly did a bit of work (construction payroll).

I went back to Mom's around 7 p.m. Ellen was making a potato soup and gooey butter cookies and Julie was cooking wassail (a word she loves to say repeatedly). I finally got around to wrapping my secret santa gift, but we held off on our gift exchange because Denny was coming over with Zoey and Malcolm to say hi (we hadn't seen him yet since being in town). Sure enough, when they got there the kids went into the living room to examine JaMa's many wrapped gifts, and they were excited about the huge present in front for JaMa herself. Bwaha.

We all went downstairs to play some Quiplash and eat too many gooey butter cookies. Julie has pretty consistently answered all Quiplash questions with Game of Thrones references, which has led to her pretty consistently getting dead last in every Quiplash game. She seems to think it's hilarious though, and we tend to think her own amusement is pretty funny. We couldn't figure out how to turn on "family friendly" Quiplash, so if a slightly pervy question came up it became a game of finding the answer to best turn the question on its head. For example:

These answers were especially funny because they are the same exact humor, yet the people answering (me and I forget who now) couldn't have known in advance what similar answers they were putting. We laughed pretty hard.

Soon it was time for Denny to take the kids home to get to bed. As they were getting ready to leave I asked Zoey, "Can you believe tomorrow is Christmas???" And she was so excited she started hopping in the kitchen. She is the perfect, peak age for this, I think. Julie and Mom explained to Zoey that Santa won't come if she stays awake so she has to go to sleep easy.

After they left, the rest of us did Sibling Secret Santa. The best part of the whole tradition is standing in a circle, trying not to look at the person you're about to shove your gift toward, counting to three, and then shoving the gift as quickly as possible. 

Julie had me, and she gave me this lovely poem (helpfully colored by Zoey):

A couple weeks prior Mom had transferred me a decent sum of money she said was anonymously donated by a family member. Turns out that was Julie, out of nowhere. We are very paycheck-to-paycheck right now while Jack finishes his degree, so it meant a lot. Julie told me that evening that she wrote the poem while at work, haha.

I had Everett and gave him the only gift he asked for, which was a large desk calendar that he could actually hang on his wall. He liked it. But even better, Everett had Julie, and he had wrapped a giant box filled with tissue paper only for her to find it had nothing in it at all. She then realized that the bow on the box had a tiny note taped to the back that just said "I donated to the thing" (meaning Amanda Hitchen's CERBC work). It was such a hilarious presentation for a gift Julie really did want. I was impressed.

Everett laughing at his own handiwork.

Not long after gift exchange Julie headed home, but I stayed to play what turned out to be the only game of Betrayal I played the entire trip. It was Neil, Everett, and me, and I ended up being the traitor. I transferred the house to some other dimension filled with poisonous gas, and Neil and Everett had to roll for damage at every turn. Ultimately Neil was so weakened that when he had to try to roll to exit the junk room, it killed him. Everett started joking that he is on the first floor basically punching himself in the face (rolling for damage) trying to get to the organ room to play some magical song that would take them back to the other dimension, and he calls up to the second floor (where Neil's character had been) saying, "Neil can you come help me?" and then he just hears "AHHHH!" *sounds of junk falling all over Neil* *silence*. Both boys were acting out the potential scene (while in the background Ellen kept singing the organ music from Ghost and Mr. Chicken) and we were all laughing so hard. My stomach actually hurt from laughter. It was great.

Goofing around during Betrayal.

By the time we finished the game it was 11:30 p.m. (Betrayal never goes as quickly as the guys say it will), so Everett took me back to the Jacksons. We were going to take Mom's car since it was under the carport and had already been driven that day, but it was out of gas. So we went to Everett's frozen, covered-in-snow car, and with two scrapers we both cleaned it off. Right before Everett got in the car he realized he'd gotten snow all over himself and as he brushed it off he said "Minus two points Sanity" (a Betrayal reference) and we laughed.

Overall it was a wonderful, Christmasy, happy day.

11.23.17 - Thanksgiving Day

We traveled all day yesterday from Sacramento to Denver airport to Colorado Springs to Dad's ranch about another 45 minutes away. I'm sure it was overwhelming for both the girls, but especially clara who (1) is old enough to be more anxious about all the unfamiliarity and (2) had barely slept at all. She did pass out near the end of the flight on Jack, but she woke up not 20 minutes later as we were trying to put all out stuff together to deplane, and then she didn't sleep the whole drive to COS, surprisingly. (Side note: Jack was so sweet on the plane trying to hold Clara still so she could sleep while still gathering our belongings with his feet and whatever.)

Anyway, Clara also fell asleep at the very end of our drive to the ranch. (We got there at like 10 p.m.) Jack took her upstairs and put her in the master bedroom but she woke up, and then he had to take her ponytails out and she was very fussy. I felt bad for her, but once Jack brought our bags up, I remembered we had packed her very favorite Maurader's Map blanket and her teddy bear (Bobo). I got the blanket out and gave it to her and she smiled and smushed her whole face into it. Then I got Bobo out and gave him to her and she gave him a big hug, and held on to both him and her blanket, and kept saying "It's Bobo!" and "It's a blanket!" It was so sweet.

We didn't even try to get her to sleep in a bed separate from us. The master bed is king size anyway, so it isn't really difficult to have sleep between us. I ended up sleeping on a matress on the floor most of the night with Jane (easier to nurse her that way without worrying about Clara kicking her or rolling on her or something).

Clara woke up at about 7:30am (which really isn't that bad - over 7 hours of almost continuous sleep is pretty good for me these days). She was fussy and teary eyed, I suspect because she didn't know where she was. But I cuddled her for a long while and she calmed down. Then she layed on her tummy next to me while I checked a few things online and absentmindedly rubbed her back. At one point I stopped rubbing her back to type something and she sat up, grabbed my hand, put it back on her back, and layed back down.

I softly sang "If I Only Had a Brain" to her and when I switched to "If I Only Had a Heart" I had Bobo sing it to her, which made her smile a lot. She eventually took him from me and snuggled him. It was a nice 15-20 minutes of quiet cuddle time with her while Jack and Jane slept.

Even after Jack and Jane woke up, we all hung out in the master bedroom for probably 45 minutes or so just taking our time. Jack built another fire in the wood burning stove and we kept that going for a while. Between that and the electric blanket it was cozy enough, although without those it would have been too cold. Clara had a smoothie and I skimmed FB to see what everyone else was doing to prep for the holiday. It was a pretty relaxing morning.

Eventually we got up and started getting ready to go. It took quite a while, but we left by 10:45 am, which isn't too bad. Henry went with us, and Neil and Emily stayed at the ranch to cook their vegan dishes.

Shortly after we got to Dad's, Dave called via FB (facetime? I think?) and Clara, Jane, and I got to see the Jackson clan at their Thanksgiving. In particular Clara and Naomi got to stare at each other through the phone for a bit. They both said hi a few times. Naomi was impressed with what she thought was a cupcake (actually an acorn) on Jane's onesie. It was nice to briefly see everyone.

It was weirdly calm and relaxed at Dad's. Normally on Thanksgiving it feels like a lot of bustling about trying to get everything ready in time, but Dad and Jill had prepped a lot of their food in advance, and Ellen, Everett, Henry, and my family had all gotten there so early we had hours to get ready. Ellen and Everett prepped green bean casserole and cheesy potatoes while I boiled sweet potatoes Jack, Henry, and Everett all took turns keeping an eye on Clara, and Jane got passed from person to person pretty regularly (and cheerfully). It's a lot easier getting cooking or anything else done with children around when there are so many adults to help look after the kids. It was nice to sip some wine while prepping food too.

After a while, Jill's younger brother Stuart and his family arrived. Jill had been particularly looking forward to this and had told me multiple times what a sweet guy Stuart is, and she was right. He was very friendly and joking around a lot. He was very easy to talk to. His son, Wilder, is about 6 months younger than Clara, so that gave his wife, Alexis, and me common ground to talk about, which was nice. I appreciate how often being a parent has made conversations with new people easier.

Stuart and Jill made a pretty delicious bowl of sangria, too. We had quite a bit of that.

It did start to be a bit of a rush at the end. Dad got into host/solution mode especially regarding the many dishes we needed to bake in only two ovens. He pulled it off well. By the time we were ready to eat we had covered the kitchen island, computer counter, coffee maker counter, and fully extended baker station with food, including sweet potato casserole (one vegan, one gluten free), cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, the turkey, stuffing, vegan eggplant parmesan, vegan Swedish meatballs, vegan mac'n'cheese, cranberry salad, sangria, wine, beer, and of course a whole bunch of different pies...

 including the caramel rose applie pie from this video:

The feast was wonderful. Jane sat in my lap. The last week or so she's shown a lot more attention to my food, so today I decided to let her try the tiniest bit of sweet potato casserole. She seemed really taken aback, but I assume by the texture because sweet potato casserole is delicious. I didn't give her any more at that point. We'll start her properly with rice cereal when we get home. I had made one of the casseroles gluten free and tried to get Clara to try it but she wasn't having it. Amazingly picky eater, that girl, but it kind of works out in our favor.

After everyone digested (and cleaned up) a bit, a whole bunch of us played The Paper Game. I think there were 10 people playing, which is more than enough to only go around once, which is a nice change of pace. Also Sola had this big set of multicolored gel pens for everyone to use, which makes it easy to track who drew or wrote what since everyone has a different color. Neil's drawings are always some of my favorites but I gotta say Sola always impresses me with the Paper Game. She's a lot younger than everyone else playing but keeps up with the humor, both laughing and making others laugh. It's awesome.

Once The Paper Game was done (which gave us more time to digest) we busted out the pies. The caramel apple rose pie was delicious. So sweet. I think that's actually the only kind I ate, although yesterday I did try a slice of chocolate pie with homemade whipped cream. Jill also made a flourless chocolate cake and earlier I ate some of the leftover icing to that, also fantastic. So many wonderful foods.

We went back to the ranch house and this time we put the heater on, which is much more efficient and consistent then the fires. We still made fires in the living room and the wood burning oven of the master bedroom, and they were cozy too. 

7.12.17 - CO July Trip - the rest of the visit

(Written 7/22/17)

I'm glad we decided to stay a full week for our CO visit. Between the length of the trip and all of Kristin's help, we had enough time to do most of the things we'd talked about before getting there. Jill had wanted to play Paper Game (so did I), Everett really wanted to watch Interstellar with me, and I really wanted to play Quiplash with everyone. We hoped to play Tichu too, although we were skeptical it would happen, as it usually doesn't.

Well the day after Field Day (Sunday), we got the girls ready and drove down to Tejon for the afternoon and evening. Kristin watched the girls and we were able to play Quiplash for a couple hours, and it was as funny as I'd hoped. At one point Everett named his character "Ed's goatee" so I named mine "Ev's goatee," and whenever we voted the same way on a question we made a big deal about it. At another point the room code was MOME, so someone named their character that, I named mine "MO' MONEY" and Everett named his "MO' PROBLEMS" and Eric the DJ (who had come by) named his "E MO MONEY," so again we all joked that we were teams.

There were definitely parts when I was crying laughing, although sadly I can't remember most of them now. I know Neil won a round by saying that Willy Wonka's bank statements included an entry for "Billy Bonka's Vanilla Factory." Everett won a round saying the Bible should be renamed to "The Life of Jeezy Creezy." During one game, Bryon named himself "Last Place," and his answer to the final round question was "Don't vote for this! I want to lose!" He won, of course. Jill played too and, as I hoped, she really enjoyed it. Even Dad stayed and watched for a long time and laughed along. There's something very appealing about a game where you can just sit on the couch as you play.

The leisure of Quiplash.

We played Quiplash again I think both the next day and the day after. Eventually Sola got in on it and even Rocket (with his Aunt Jennifer's help) played some too. So I'd say it was a hit!

Anyway, after a lot of Quiplash that Sunday, Neil, Everett, Henry and I played Tichu, but Neil and Henry completely stomped us.

But Everett keeps a positive attitude.

Then Dad took Neil and Emily to the airport to go back home. Everyone wished they'd be in town longer but it was still great to see them. Side note: that was the first time everyone had met Emily, and she was a hit! Friendly, easy to talk to, and she laughs so easily, which I love. So that went well.

When we went home that night the girls fell asleep pretty easily and slept in the next morning. It was a huge relief. Amazing how much better the entire day is when you get enough sleep.

The next day, Monday, we stayed at the ranch. Kristin came up to help out and eventually the rest of the family joined to hang out. The weather was spotty with rain off and on frequently enough that it was hard to get out and do things. Even so, Sola, Henry, and Jack all got some time with four wheelers and dirt bikes, and later Henry and Jack did some trap shooting while Everett and I watched and commentated from the truck.

Everett telling Jack he's supposed to shoot the clay pigeons.

Everett decided to stay the night at the ranch with us so we could play Tichu one more time before Henry left the next day. Jane cooperated and slept in her swing for almost the entire game, and Kristin was putting Clara to bed for a lot of it too, so we played nearly uninterrupted. We drank Diet Coke and ate Hershey's bars (from the ranch s'mores supplies in the upstairs kitchen), and Henry also warmed up a bunch of leftover ribs. Dinner of champions.

Everett trying to keep Jack from looking at Henry and non-verbally communicating their strategy.

Jack not at all sure he should've called Tichu.

Everett and I were winning by quite a bit, but we didn't quite finish the game before Jane woke up -- we were over 900. If I had just remembered to call Tichu on my very first completely overpowering hand (the 1 and a huge straight and the dragon!!) we would've already won. Alas.

The next day (Tuesday), Henry headed back home. We all went to Tejon and for a little while Clara enjoyed the backyard, particularly climbing up the slide and then sliding back down by herself as well as watching Sola on the trampoline.

I love this photo.

But the girls, who had slept terribly the night before, wouldn't really go down for naps either. I was getting pretty frustrated but the day was saved when Kristin took the two of them for a very long walk and I was able to sit on the porch swing with Everett and chat with him, Jill, Dad, and Ellen and have a glass or two of wine. The weather was great too - not raining, but overcast so it wasn't too hot. That porch swing is one of my favorite places to be.

Eventually my friend Jen and her incredibly smiley 6-month-old James joined us. Jen even brought lemon cheesecake (which was excellent) because she'd been practicing different recipes to make a great cake for her mom's upcoming birthday. We drank and ate on the back porch and then moved inside to play paper game, also with Sola and Jennifer (Jill's sister). James was surprisingly cooperative while we played, and Jen is a pretty good artist, which makes it more fun. Jennifer is also fun to play with because she compliments almost every single drawing she receives as well done. She's just such a cheerful laid back person.

Jen and incredibly smiley James.

Finally, on Wednesday we somehow managed to watch the nearly 3 hour movie Interstellar all the way through. Everett had been pushing me to watch it for months but it was enjoyable to watch with him. It was a pretty thought-provoking movie and I was glad to watch it on a (bigger than my laptop) screen with decent sound.

That day I also did the annual kid interviews, which were fun. Sola's interview was kind of through-provoking too, because she's about to start high school and I can still remember pretty clearly the summer before I started high school. Not long after the interviews I went on a long walk with Jill and the dogs and we talked about it, and we both think Sola seems pretty well equipped (in terms of friends and her own maturity) to deal with whatever comes up. Guess we'll see.

On a final note, I think staying at the ranch this trip worked out really well. It gave us time in the morning to get up and get going without things being too crazy, and it gave everyone else a break from the chaos of little kids around all the time. I didn't mind the drives back and forth either, because mostly the girls fell asleep and Jack and I had a chance to talk with each other one-on-one. Plus it's a very pretty drive. And staying at the ranch gave us a bit more control over feeding Clara with a bit less worry about cross contamination or other issues. Spot on, good choice. I expect next time we're all out we'll stay there again.

Clara has plenty of legroom on one of the drives from the ranch to Tejon.