11.30.18 - November 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.

Bedtime stories

I remember being a kid and resting against my mom while she read us stories. And I've enjoyed reliving that nostalgia by watching Jill read storeis to Harrison, Sola, and Rocket. But now I get to enjoy the other side of the equation by having Clara cuddled up on me watching the pages turn as I read her stories.

More days than not I read her a few books throughout the day, and every night we read 3-4 books together as part of bedtime routine, always including "Blueberry Girl" and always ending with "It's a Wonderful World" (which, since it's a singing book, serves as kind of a lullaby).

I love reading to her. I love how she can be making all sorts of loud, bored baby noises until I pull a book out and then she gets quiet and attentive. I love how she kicks her legs when she gets excited from recognizing one of the books or from me singing parts of it. I love how she holds her breath for a secon and then coos "Ba!" when she's happy about what we're doing. I love how sometimes she very suddenly turns to look up at me, as if surprised to realize I'm the one she's sitting on and that it's not some disembodied voice reading the story to her.

And of course I'm happy to be (hopefully) setting the stage for her to have a lifelong love of reading herself. I think about how someday we'll probably read the first Harry Potter book together, and maybe when she's a preteen she'll be curled up in a chair in a living room of a house we live in (that would be amazing) reading Calvin & Hobbes. And who knows what books will come out during her youth that we'll be life-shaping for her. I am so looking forward to it!

Kid Snippets

During my Colorado trip last week, I got to visit Rocket, Sola, and Harrison, and all of them cracked me up at different points. Here are a few samples:

Jill told Rocket she was going upstairs to take care of a few things, and when she came back down he either had to have finished his lunch or he'll get a spanking. After she went upstairs Rocket told me he'd rather have the spanking then finish eating. I told him to go tell Jill that. As he got off his stool he said, "Okay. I will try not to cry, but I might cry. But then I will just say GET BEHIND ME TEARS!" and when he said this last part he leaned toward me with very wide eyes, so emphatic. It was hilarious.

At one point Jill and I were talking about how delightful snow days are, and Sola (11 years old) pointed out that they are also dangerous because of falling icicles. She stated, matter-of-factly, "I have to watch Rocket and Zoey and make sure they don't play under the icicles, because they don't know what it means to be killed."

One evening Sola read to me from the Calvin & Hobbes book I got her for her birthday. Harrison (12 years old, amazing memory) came in and asked us to turn to page 194 because that's the strip where Hobbes says "Heck no!" For whatever reason Harrison thinks that's hilarious, and I think it's amazing that he remembers the page number.

3.27.14 - Spring Break So Far

Well, it's been nice to be done with grading and have that one thing off my to do list. I also had a chance to run some errands on Tuesday. I went to a craft store to get supplies for a paint party with my family (who are visiting the area over break). I love craft stores. Aisle after aisle of cute and creative ideas. I often feel I don't understand the idea of "retail therapy"--I don't really like clothes shopping and I especially dislike spending money, ha, but when I'm in a craft store I get it. If I had more money, that's where my shopping spree would be.

Anyway, so I went to get canvasses, and they happened to be 50% off for the week (woohoo!) As I was checking out, the clerk asked if I would like to by a $1 book to donate to the local Boys & Girls Club. The books were pretty nice looking for only a $1, so I bought five of them, and felt good about it. And the clerk seemed really happy about it too--you could tell he wasn't pushing the books solely as a part of his job, but that he really cared about the Boys & Girls Club.

So I felt great leaving the store.

Jack came home on his lunch and we practiced swing dancing again. I love dancing with Jack. It's so fun and energetic, and it makes me feel very close to him at the same time. We often end up laughing a lot at our mistakes, and then we get slap happy and have a hard time continuing without giggling, it's hilarious.

After he went back to work, I drove the couple of hours to San Francisco to meet up with my family. Side note: I love the view of downtown San Francisco when driving over the Bay Bridge. So magestic.

It's always nice to see my young step- and half-siblings. My step-brother (age 11) was very excited for me to show him the home videos from our Disneyland trip last fall. I love taking and editing home videos, and I really enjoy when other people seem to really enjoy them, as he does. So that was fun.

Also that afternoon, a friend of mine had a podcast debate, and he did decently well. More importantly (to me), my youngest sister called in during Q&A and asked some great questions of the debate opponent. I found that extremely satisfying and was really proud of her.

Later that night after the kids went to bed I got to hang out uninterrupted with my stepmom for awhile and visit, which was also really nice. We get along very well.

So that was Tuesday.

Wednesday (yesterday), my sister, her husband, and my niece arrived. Then we had our paint party, woohoo! I love paint parties. I got the idea from last New Year's, when we had a paint party at my youngest brother's place.

We don't even bother with junk tshirts for the youngest ones.

My painting, beginning and end. :)

During the paint party my step-brother continued to watch home videos, this time switching from Disneyland to last Thanksgiving. At some point one of the videos had a song from The Little Mermaid on in the background, and I started singing along from the other room. My step-brother ran into the room, gave me a huge grin, and then ran back to continue watching the home video. It was adorable.

So spring break is going great so far. The only downside is I have a lot of work to get done in between classes, but I plan to start making a dent in that as soon as I post this.

Thanksgiving 2013

(Written 11/28/13:)

• Jack and I are staying in Sola's room for this trip, and she told me we are welcome to read any of her books. 
• Yesterday I played an excellent game of Tichu. Everett and I beat Neil and Jack, and it was close. Close games are more fun.
• Dinner was delicious, and I like our annual tradition of singing along loudly to music (especially Disney music) while cleaning up after.
• Then Jack and I got to swing dance a lot, and I also danced a lot with Sola and Rocket. That was my favorite part of the day, to be sure.
• I love that Jack likes to dance.
• Harrison has clearly watched my home video playlists a lot, which makes me so happy. He can quote from home videos from several years ago, and he knows exactly which video is the first one in a playlist.

(Written 12/2/13:)

• We played many Tichu games. During some of them I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.
• I also made 5 Tichus and broke none, upping my record (hooray!)
• A bunch of us went and sang karaoke at a local bar.
• There were just the right amount of people to make it feel happening, but still few enough that we had plenty of room to dance and we got to sing many songs.
• I love that my family likes to dance.
• I also love that my boyfriend likes to dance.
• He and I did a bunch of swing dancing and a random stranger complimented us on how well we dance! I think we practiced more during this trip than we have in months.
• I got to sing "Son of a Preacher Man" which is one of my favorite songs, and my siblings did back up.
• Another random stranger bought our whole table shots that tasted like pineapple upside down cake. It was his way of thanking our group for making the bar so fun that night.
• So we all ran over and gave him a group hug, pretty funny.
• At the end of the night we all sang "What's Going On" by 4 Non Blondes, then the karaoke DJ announced our departure and a bunch of people clapped and hugged us and shook our hands as we were leaving.
• We also got some great videos and pictures of it.
• The next day was more chill--we got to hang around the house and play with Rocket and Zoey and play cards with each other.
• I also had time to work on the ever-increasing home video collection for our family a lot throughout the trip.
• In the evening Denny and I watched Zoey and she was very cute for a long time playing with poker chips.
• I also shared a bowl (two bowls) of Corn Pops with Rocket, each of us taking turns taking bites and then slurping the milk. It was a nice bonding time.
• We stayed up late enough to see Julie after work and we watched the "Goats that sound like humans" video and laughed a lot.
• Yesterday we got to the airport in plenty of time and even though our flight left late, we still arrived in SF on time.
• Oh, and on the way through security I was behind the most efficient passengers I've ever seen. They had their shoes and belts and etc. off and their laptops out and everything ready to go so far in advance that I was struggling to keep up, haha. It was kind of cool.

30 Days of Thankfulness, 2012 - relationships

11.29.11 - Visiting the Kiddies, Tday 2011

This note is not in chronological order!

This Thanksgiving trip was awesome.  I'm always very happy to be with all 4 of my siblings simultaneously, and now I have a separate, additional joy of seeing my step-siblings and Rocket.  Sola and Harrison are very sweet kids and I spent as much time as possible with them over this long weekend.  

Jill and I went with them to the playground most days.  The first time Sola offered me a kiss if I would push her and Harrison on the tire swing.  I figure that's a good deal.  Also a good workout, which in no way negated the massive quantities of Thanksgiving/junk food I had all week, but whatever.  Anyway, Harrison liked for me to watch him on the monkey bars.  Another day Sola and I went on the "big kid" swings for a long time, just talking about her Girl Scouts troop and who knows what else.  Sometimes she asks a lot of questions.  It's very enjoyable.

I also got to accompany them to the library on the way home one day, which was very nostalgic.  I've always loved libraries, including when I was a kid.  I also loved being read bedtime stories, and I find nowadays I love listening to Jill read the kids bedtime stories.

That's another thing I got to do--Sola and Harrison share the fold-out bed in the living room when they're in town.  One evening Jack and I sat by the fire listening to Jill read them a book about a clever little pig tricking a fox, and then a book about...Nuffle Bunny?  Or something.  And while they were cuddled up listening to her, Rocket kept going up to Jack, pointing to Jack's apple, and making the "more" hand signal.  Jack would say "What do you say?" and Rocket would make the "please" hand signal, and then Jack gave him a piece of apple.  Then Rocket would climb into the folded-out couch, climb out the other side, walk around the coffee table and the chair I was sitting in, back to Jack, and repeat.  Rocket seems to like eating and then circling things.

On Saturday Dad, Jill, Jack and I took the kids to the Redwood Railway, which was a huge success.  Harrison was especially excited to be there, and the place was great.  Beautiful redwood scenery stretching almost as far as you could see, a steam engine with a great whistle, and young boys--maybe 12-ish?--collecting train tickets and oiling the tracks.  You could tell they loved their jobs.  How cool of a job would that be for a 12-year-old?  Sola was concerned about the steep cliff drop that Dad kept insisting was coming up.  She suspected he was lying but just wasn't entirely sure.  I taught her to call him a "charlatan" and she liked that.  Later we rode the train without Dad and made a devious plan to tell him that therewas a huge cliff and we jumped it and it was so much fun!  She told him that and he clearly didn't expect it.  It was pretty funny.

During one ride it was just Jack, Sola, Harrison and me, and I kept singing parts of this very cool version of the ABCs, and Harrison really liked that.  After awhile it went from "I say 'A'!" to "I say 'Harrison'! I say 'Sola'! I say 'Pet pals'!" and whatever else the kids wanted to sing.  They thought it was hilarious.  I also showed them Mahna Mahna for the first time, and they loved it and watched it all weekend.

Another theme of this trip was chess.  Sola was examining a chess game Neil and Everett had been playing and exclaimed that two pawns directly in front of each other were about to kill each other.  So I explained that's not how pawns attack.  And it went from there.

I taught her and Harrison together, but Harrison kept interrupting the instructions to ask when we could start playing.  Ah well.  I helped them play a full game against each other and it was filled with anticipation and anxiety and delight and heartbreak!  In fact there was a point at which each of them was ready to cry and I had to pause the game.  I turned to Harrison.

"Are you going to get upset?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, then we aren't going to play anymore."

"No!"

"So are you going to get upset?"

"No!"

"Okay, good." 

Then I turned to Sola.

"Are you going to get upset?"

"Well...I might be a little disappointed, but I'll be okay."

"Okay good."

Haha.

So they finished.  Sola won, but Harrison seemed mollified by them shaking hands and saying "good game." 

Harrison played one or two more games with Sola over the course of the trip, but he wasn't into it and didn't really understand.  So I started playing Sola.  It's tricky playing at the right level to where they are learning and you aren't just crushing them, but I think I got it.  We discussed a lot of strategy and it was just completely delightful to watch her grasp the game more fully with each session.  She wears everything on her face--intense focus, fear, surprise, mischief, everything!

However, she lacks the necessary killer instinct.  Once I showed her the 6 places her knight could move: 4 places in which I could kill the knight, one place in which the knight was safe but useless, and one place in which the knight would take my pawn and fork my queen and rook.  She chose the safe, useless spot.  She said the knight was afraid and wanted to stay closer to its side.

Another time we traded queens.  I killed her queen first.  She apologized as she killed my queen.  Haha.  I said "You don't have to apologize, Sola--this is war!" She said "Yes, but we're step-sisters!"

During other times she would take captured pawns and pretend they were flying above the board, talking to the live pieces from heaven.

I decided to go ahead and drive up to SF after work last night (Monday) to hang out with them one more time, and Sola and I played two chess games.  She seemed to be thinking very hard about the entire concept.  She asked "Why do we have to kill the pieces? Why can't we just hurt them?" She went on to ask questions about real war, such as whether our soldiers keep white flags with them in case they don't want to fight.  She was emphatic that if she ever had to be in a real war she would surrender right away.  And that she'd rather be a teacher.  Not sure where that came from.  

I wanted her to win at least one game against me, lest she get down from losing repeatedly, but it was harder than I thought because she didn't want to hurt my king.

One final story: last night Rocket kept hiding behind Dad's office chair and peeking out at me.  I would yell "BOO!" and he'd laugh really hard and do it 1-2 more times.  After about the 3rd time he's squeal and run toward me, and then stand right in front of me and turn around facing away from me, prepared to be tickled.  It was the funniest thing.  I'd tickle him a bunch and he'd squeal with delight and wave his arms up and down and then he'd run back behind the chair and start over.

The end.

PS - I also had a great time visiting with my full-grown siblings.  Julie and I especially got to talk when I drove her to the airport.  Neil, Ellen, Everett and I stayed up to around 3am Saturday talking and laughing.  It was great.  The stories just aren't quite as adorable.  Except Everett! *pinches cheek*

11.21.10 - Thanksgiving Weekend

So after waiting impatiently to get out of lab on Thursday, I BARTed over to the city in time to hang out with Jill and the kids before the kids had to go to bed. It was very pleasant.  I had a fun talk with Sola (age 7) about whether parents or kids should decide when kids get to eat Happy Meals.  I told her that out here some people seem to think that the kids decide, and she said "That's really bizarre."  Then she explained to me what bizarre means. :)

Of course the kids went to bed early--8, or something, and Jill wasn't far after since Rocket gets her up early every day.  So I was up by myself for awhile, half-heartedly doing homework.  Dad got back from wherever he'd been pretty late, we talked awhile.  I eventually crashed, hard, in the media room.

I got up early (for me) to hang out with the kids.  Sola and Harrison were pretty excited to watch Rocket in his Johnny Jump Up.  In their efforts to get Rocket to jump, Sola and Harrison did most of the jumping.  We were going to make some popcorn and take a walk to the Palace to feed the birds, but due to a) Safeway not selling any cheap bags of popcorn kernals and b) it starting to rain, we decided to stay home.  Sola and I played hide and seek and then made some Thanksgiving drawings, including "Thanksgiving aliens", which basically means more pictures of Sola's favorite Disney character, Angel.  We also talked about what she does in school, and how she likes math.  She showed me some of her mad addition skillz, and I tried to explain multiplication to her, but I don't think she's ready yet.

Harrison kept calling Sola "Mr. Poopy Pants," which was pissing Sola off.  She would tell Jill, who would tell Harrison to stop, and then half an hour later, repeat.  So I told Sola whenever Harrison calls her a name--or anyone else for that matter--she should just roll her eyes, shrug, and say "Whatever."  So she practiced it with me.  I said "Harrison's trying to make you mad, right?"

S: "Right."

M: "So if you get mad, that's what he wants, right?"

S: "Right."

M: "So you just shrug and say 'Whatever.'  Because you don't care.  It isn't important to you.  It's just silly and it doesn't make you mad."

S: "So...but...if it does make me mad, I can just pretend I don't care, right?"

M: "Right! Exactly. And what's really great about that is if you keep acting like you don't care, eventually you really don't care."

Jill: "And Sola, you can actually use that the rest of your life.  Even if you're a grown up and people try to call you names, you just don't care."

M: "Exactly.  I do it all the time."

S: (concerned) "But why do people call you names??"

M: "Oh.  Because I like to argue about politics."

S: "What's politics?"

M: "Um...you know who the President is?"

S: "Yeah."

M: "And the government?"

S: "...Yeah."

M: "Well there are two types of people in the government: Democrats and Republicans.  And they fight a lot."

S: "Like soldiers?"

M: "No, they just argue.  About politics.  And when you argue about politics sometimes people get really mad, and sometimes they call me names.  But what do I do when that happens?"

S: *rolls eyes* "Whatever!"

M: "Exactly!  Good job!"

It was a fun conversation.  I really like talking to that kid. 

Meanwhile, Ellen had already gone to school, Jack was on his 11th hour at work (he worked overnights this last week), Julie and Denny were delayed in Denver waiting to fly to SF, and Neil and Everett were heading to Dad's house from East Bay.  Somehow we managed to coordinate these different locations and schedules so that we had our people waiting in line about 5 hours in advance for HARRY POTTER 7 (part 1).  Ellen, Everett and Cody got there at about 3, and by the time Jack, Neil, Julie, Denny and I finally managed to join them (about 6:50), the line they were heading had wrapped all the way around the circular theater lobby so that the end of the line passed those of us in the front.  We basically ran down the hallway and through the theater when they finally let us in.  Our group was first in the theater, getting the middle seats about midway up--best seats in the house--and getting to sit there and watch everyone else excitedly file in.  I thought that part alone--the shared anticipation--was a lot of fun.

First in line for HP7 Pt1!! Good job to Ellen, Everett, and Cody!

The show was supposed to start at 7:30 but they decided to delay it slightly to give everyone time to get seated.  At 7:30 they did turn down the lights and widen the screen curtains, and everyone started cheering, but then they closed the curtains and turned the lights back up, and everyone booed.  It was actually pretty funny.  We all sat there and talked about the books and characters and plots, and the time flew to when the previews started.  Most of them looked unremarkable, although I'm looking forward to Dawn Treader.

I thought the movie was fantastic.  Perhaps it is just because I purposely didn't re-read the book this time and so discrepancies were less noticeable to me, but I felt this movie was more accurate to the book than most of the previous movies.  Without giving away any details, there was even a point when a character made a brief but moving speech and half the audience applauded.  We had a great time.  Jack and I will probably go watch it again for our date night this week.

The next day, yesterday, was (our) Thanksgiving.  During the day their was on-going prep.  At one point Jill, Sola, Harrison, Henry and I went to the Palace to feed the birds.  The weather was rainy and cold (for SF), and we kept a fire going in the hearth all day.  Jack, Henry and I got about half a game of Tichu in between helping with cleaning and food.  The day was actually pretty mellow compared to previous Thanksgivings.  Dad only made about 10 or so pies.  Everyone, including me, paid disproportionate amounts of attention to Rocket and his never-ending cuteness.

After dinner we cleaned while listening to a Disney Pandora station.  Jack and I helped by swing dancing in the middle of everything.  At least she tried.

When we were finished we hit the pies.  French silk, coconut cream, blueberry, apple crumble, and of course pumpkin were divided among us.  I enjoyed a glass of Cabernet with my pie in front of the fire while Andrew, Henry and I (all City College alumni) advised Ellen on her schedule for next semester.  The night naturally ended with some of us (ahem) standing around the kitchen talking/joking about politics.  After everyone left, I fell asleep watching the beginning of Goblet of Fire on my laptop.  Apparently it's the only HP movie we own, a fact I intend to eventually remedy.

This morning Jill and the kids had to leave. :(  I hung out with them as much as possible, showing Sola all the home videos from the last few days.  When they were actually walking down the stairs, Harrison called Sola "Mr. Poopy Pants", and she looked at me, grinned, and said "Whatever!"  It was brilliant.  I can't wait to mold my own kids, ha.

Now the little ones are gone, but Julie, Denny and Everett are still in town, and I'd rather hang out with them then do my homework.  I comfort myself with the knowledge that on actual Thanksgiving break, I won't be busy at all.  I'll do more then.

Julie's Wedding

Last Monday Jack flew into town at about 7:30pm.  I picked him from the airport in the stifling heat, and we drove straight to his parents'.  He never told his mom he would be in town.  Jack unlocked the front door and we heard an uncertain "Hello?..." from his mom in the kitchen.  When he responded "Hello?" she immediately recognized his voice and cheered and ran to hug him.  It was quite cute.

We spent the evening at their place, having hamburgers and watching old home videos and catching up.  Later we went over to my mom's house so Jack could get some much anticipated Tichu in with me and EDIT: Everett and Adam. Happily it was a quick game, since it was already late and we had a full day ahead.  We went back and stayed at the Jackson house that night.  We fell asleep around 3am.

The next day (Tuesday, August 10), I woke up anxiously at 8am.  I was nervous I'd sleep through my alarm or be otherwise delayed from my duties that day.  I came downstairs to find Merlene had set out fruit and cereal and other things for breakfast, which was very sweet.  I then nearly blinded myself putting the wrong anti-itch ointment on my eyes and had to douse my face in water for a long time.  Luckily there was no permanent damage, and I'm still able to see.

Merlene graciously offered to wash Jack's suit shirt, which had mysterious (possibly wine) stains on it.  Jack and I left for the 20 min or so trek to the lodge so I could pick up a key and sign some papers promising not to run cars over their nice tiled patio or set the building on fire.  When we arrived at the lodge a very friendly ranger was waiting for us.  I got out of the car and he said "Big day, huh?" I grinned. "Yep."  He informed me that they had taken away two of the round tables and three of the rectangular ones, and I said "Uh, I don't know anything about that, I'm just supposed to pick up a key."

"Oh, you're not the one getting married?" 

"Me? No! It's my sister."

Awkward. Anyway.

So we did a walk through, I signed some things, the ranger left, and Jack and I unloaded what had already been packed in our car the day before.  The weather was sweltering, but the lodge was very bright and spacious and air conditioned.  Julie chose well.

Outdoor ceremony location.

So we finished and went back to Mom's house where a lot of other people were already taking ladders, boxes of homemade lanterns and bouquets, tons of alcohol, and a bizarre assortment of other accessories and filling 4-5 cars with it all.  I am continually moved by how many friends we have in MO and how willing they are to pitch in when our family does big projects like a wedding.  Or Birthday Hallow Thanksgiving Eve Party.  Or Olympics.  It was at Mom's house that I also found out a) Julie was nearly killed on the highway that morning by a driver not paying attention and b) the place where Julie had reserved table cloths had burnt down.

Happily, nearly everyone in my social life has FB profiles.  Mom set her FB status to something about the linen debacle, and almost immediately the dear Sarah messaged Mom saying she knew where we could rent affordable table cloths (same place she had used for her wedding, apparently).  So that was a great catch and save.

From Mom's house, we all trekked together back to the lodge and, under Julie's calm and precise supervision, began assembling what ultimately turned out to be a gorgeous reception hall.  She had red, orange, yellow, and blue lanterns strung around the entire room.  Where nearly all weddings I've seen have had a color theme of white and _____, Julie's was much more colorful, with red, orange, and yellow tablecloths, place settings, streamers, etc.  She even bought m'n'm's, skittles, and dum dums and placed them in glass candy dishes according to color.  She had homemade glass centerpieces that contained instructions for The Paper Game complete with notecards, and instructions for our favorite drinking game complete with playing cards.  She had colored index cards at each place setting for guests to write well wishes and other messages to be placed in the her and Denny's time capsule (which she also had stained and honed herself).  They are going to open it on their 10th anniversary.

The whole place ultimately looked fantastic.  I can safely say it was the prettiest reception I've yet seen, and if you factor in the awesome-to-cost ratio, it is even more impressive.  If I ever get married, Julie will probably plan my wedding.

Of course we had a ton of help setting it up.  Tiffany photographed everything as we went along.  Mike (plus Everett, Neil, and others) set up the DJ booth.  Neil carefully crafted the reception playlist according to Julie's specific requests, and he went further and backed up the playlist on to at least two other laptops, to make sure there were no problems.

Julie also had a table covered in board games (dubbed "non-dancing entertainment").  Then there were the long banquet style tables where the guests could put their dishes.  You see, Julie and Denny requested that, instead of gifts, everyone bring a dish, pot-luck style.  She had appetizers ready for beforehand, and coolers full of water, soda, and beer.  Even though the ceremony promised to be a short, sweet one, since it was outdoor in MO August heat, she designed the wedding programs to double as handheld fans.  (I put those together, btw.)

So while everyone was still assembling Julie's dream reception, Jack and I went home to get cleaned up and dressed proper for the wedding.  We first stopped by his parents' to pick up his suit.  Not only had Merlene gotten the stains out, but she quickly offered us some delicious sandwiches for lunch.  Given the business of the day I hadn't even thought about how to fit in lunch, so that was greatly appreciated.  As we were getting ready Jack was feeling pretty smug about how sharp he looks in his suit, and I warned him that he is absolutely not allowed to try to outdo Denny in dress on Denny's own wedding day.

Then we came back to watch over everything (included the rented chairs that had been arranged outside), and everyone else left to get cleaned up.  This meant Jack and I had the entire beautiful reception hall to ourselves for a couple of hours (joined also by Tiffany and Nick later on).  We finished a few odds and ends (sharpening pencils for the Paper Game, adding a few extra place settings, putting out the appetizers) and then we had nothing left to do...but practice swing dancing!  We had the entire dance floor to ourselves with no audience to make us self-conscious and complete control over the music, so we spent the last 30-45 mins before the wedding party started arriving just twirling and jitterbugging and trying the Charleston, and it was great fun.  I laughed so hard.

Soon people started arriving.  First there was Julie herself and her hair stylist (Melissa), makeup artist (Mom), photographers (Tiffany, Katie K.) and general helpers (Ellen).  Julie had also brought some of Denny's things, including the shoes he'd be wearing.  When Jack saw them he announced that Denny had already out-dressed him, in shoes alone.  That's how awesome Denny's shoes were.  Also, Denny had a tux.  I mean, come on.  He looked amazing. 

Others of the helper crew and guests started drifting in, bringing their food with them.  I soon found myself constantly running from the dressing room to the reception hall and back, delivering Julie's instructions one way and other peoples questions and comments back.  That was sort of fun, I was all over the place.

Rain clouds were starting to pile up outside.  I got one or two texts from people not far from the lodge warning that it was raining where they were.  Julie asked me to inform everyone that she was running about 20 minutes late and to apologize.  Some were concerned that it would start raining before we could start the ceremony, but Julie said if that happened we'd just do the ceremony in the reception hall and deal with it.  She was a remarkably relaxed and flexible bride (which isn't even like her, frankly) and I was really impressed.

Happily, it had not started raining by the time she was ready, but the dark clouds had (slightly) cooled things down outside for the ceremony.  Even so, as I walked down the aisle I could see the guests making good use out of the fan-programs.  Excellent foresight there, Julie.

The ceremony was lovely.  Rocket slept through the whole thing, thank God, so there were no screaming babies.  Phil, the officiator, did a great job keeping it short but sincere and sweet.  Julie and Denny had written their own vows, and the vows turned out both humorous and very touching.  Julie cried.  I didn't cry, but I considered it.  From the looks of my family, so did Ellen and Mom.  Everett didn't, though. 

Nope, lost it.

The ceremony was beautiful, but it was still surreal that I was sitting there watching my little sister get married.  I was so absorbed in thoughts about this, in fact, that I forgot the heat entirely until Phil made a joke about it as they were wrapping up.  Julie and Denny walked back down the aisle to "Rollercoaster of Love" (heh) and then we all headed back to AC.

After receiving the guests into the reception hall and encouraging people to start on the appetizers, the families of the bride and groom stepped out for a few quick photos by Mike and Tiffany, who both did a fantastic job. 

Then Julie and Denny had their own photos.  They had just finished and walked back inside when there was an ominous rumble of thunder and it started to rain.  People joked about close they cut it, what perfect timing, etc, and then it started to rain much harder.  Phil said a blessing over our meal, interrupted by more thunder.  He didn't skip a beat, though.  Then the power flickered, but came back on.  Sarah and I decided to go get the candles that were originally going to be set out after dark, just in case.  The power flickered again and went out for good.  The music stopped.  Sarah and I and Troy and some others busied ourselves lighting the candles, and I waited to hear what Julie wanted to do. 

Then leaves and branches and other solid objects started slamming against the nearly-all-windows wall of the lodge, and people started to look truly alarmed (including me).  Julie told me to ask Mike to announce that if there is an emergency we should proceed calmly to the bathrooms, but then I realized Mike had no electricity with which to use the microphone.

The storm beginning to rage.

Luckily, the storm calmed down quickly, and the candlelight looked nice, but we still had no music and no AC.  Mike, being the genius that he is (this is why we continually call on him for help), used some type of power converter and ran the entire DJ booth from an extension chord to his car.  Amazing.  So we had music again, which I really felt was the most important part.  Dad opened the many doors and windows to try to get air flow, and we hoped the power would come back on soon.

Alas, it did not.  I called the ranger and he said the whole grid was down, and it didn't look like it'd be up any time soon.

Still we made do.  Denny and Julie danced together to "Hey There Delilah". 

I *love* the lighting on this one.

Julie and Sola and Harrison danced to "Itty Bitty Pretty One".  Jack and I did some amateur swing dance, and laughed a lot, and sucked a lot, as usual, but it's great fun.  Everyone enjoyed the *many* delicious dishes that had been brought.  The pot luck turned out to be a truly fantastic idea.  Not only was it cheaper, it meant a large abundance of food (my family was still eating leftovers 5 days later) and it meant we could leave the food out for the entire reception, as opposed to some caterers who take it all up after an hour or so.  My favorite was Tiffany's Olympic Soup, but there were many other good dishes as well.

Another sweet note: periodically people kept coming up to me and saying "I know we weren't *supposed* to bring gifts, but if, hypothetically, we did anyway, where would we put them?"  I found out later that Julie and Denny were really surprised and moved by how generous the guests had been, even after being asked not to bring gifts.  Apparently they went home and went through each card and note and gift together and it was a wonderful experience.  So thank you, everyone.

Julie and Denny cut their bizarre wedding cake (based off of this disturbing youtube video).

Denny didn't trust Julie to not shove the cake all over his face, so he heldher wrists while they exchanged bites. Heh. He was probably right.

Sola just wants to eat the cake already.

Finally, Dad and Julie decided to do their father/daughter dance.  I was standing at the DJ booth when Dad asked Neil to play Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart In San Francisco".  I was videotaping when the song actually started skipping, despite it not being part of a cd.  I felt so bad for Julie.  First the power goes out and then, during one of the only two special dances she does for the evening, the song keeps skipping.  Dad and Julie ignored it at first and kept dancing, but then it got worse and worse.  I looked over at Neil and he gave this helpless but slightly defensive shrug like he just couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.  I found out later that Jack, Eddie, Katie Kaiser, and I (and probably several other people), despite all being across the hall from one another, all simultaneously thought "Oh wow.  Neil is so dead."  Dad finally gave up ignoring the skipping, stopped dancing with Julie and walked over to Neil to see what was wrong.  Julie looked really pissed.  Tony Bennett stopped playing, and then "Zoot Suit Riot" started and stopped, then Tony Bennett for a second, something, I don't know, confusion!  I tried to cheer Julie up by shouting to her "Julie, it's cool!  This is where you and Dad do all the swing moves you secretly know!"  Of course, I was just kidding.

But then "Zoot Suit Riot" started playing for real, and Dad and Julie started snapping and dancing towards each other.  I still thought they were just making it up as they went along, and simply being gracious about the ruined Tony Bennett song.  I thought this all the way until Dad dipped Julie and she did a really high kick, and then I realized: they actually did take secret swing dance lessons.  Wha...?!  WHAT?!

After that *incredible* event, there was still much fun visiting. 

As the evening went on it got warmer in the reception hall and most of the guests went out onto the deck to enjoy the breeze.  Neil or Mike, not sure which, rearranged the speakers to play the music outside.  Lots of the younger guests (and by younger I still mean early 20's) were blowing bubbles (there were bubbles for everyone that ended up being used throughout the reception, rather than just as the bride and groom exited...actually some bubbles were used while the ceremony was still going on (Ben!)).  The bubbles filled the deck and floated out over the field next to it--very pretty in the sunset.

And then it occurred to us: sunset.  We had no electricity and once the sun was down we wouldn't be able to see a thing cleaning up.  We decided to cut the reception short by about 2 hours (alas!) and pack everything up immediately.  We still weren't fast enough.  Soon we were trying to clean everything by candlelight (and one heavy duty flashlight provided, of course, by Mike).  Thank God we have so many good friends--we had probably a dozen or so non-family members stick with us to the end packing up the abandoned potluck dishes and all of the decorations and etc.  People were continuously coming up to me asking "What else do you need?  What else can I do?"  Besides Julie and Denny exchanging vows, *that* was the most moving part of the night for me, to have so much help and so many people who care about our family.

Julie and Denny finished collecting the notes for their time capsule and then were free to go.  The rest of us finished cleaning and then a different friendly park ranger came down and signed off on the job so we could get out deposit back.  THEN most of the younger guests (again, those in their 20s) retired to the generous Pat Spencer's house for the after party.  That was the right decision.

 We took all of the alcohol that hadn't been consumed at the reception and had drinking games, Tichu (Jack and Troy's first showdown), and *lots* of dancing.  I danced until I couldn't any more--which for me is quite a lot.  It was a great party, and I'm so glad we did it.  At the end of the night, most of the alcohol still hadn't been consumed so I guess we'll have to throw another party next time the Snyders are in MO together.

Overall, a fantastic day.  If I ever get married, I hope my wedding is as excellent.