Disneyland (or The Mouse's Frontal Assault on our Wallets....)

This is a tag team post, you try to figure out who wrote what.....

That week between Christmas and New Years Eve was the longest of our lives, I think. As if the holiday excitement wasn't enough, the anticipation of our visit with Mickey was almost unbearable. The 26th-28th I was afraid they wouldn't make it (alive, at least) but there was a light at the end of the tunnel by the 29th so the next three days passed a little quicker. 

We left Boise on an 8AM flight and arrived in OC at a little after 10AM. A short taxi ride later, we arrived at our hotel where we checked our bags while we changed from heavy pants and sweaters into shorts and tank tops. A quick lunch at Subway (conveniently located directly across the street) and we were in the park by 12. Not bad!  We used this "half day" to scope out Disneyland. We rode a few rides, including Buzz Lightyear, the rocket ships, and Star Tours (I sat out of that one due to my terminal motion sickness). I was worried about Faith and Tanner on Star Tours, but they LOVED it. The joy on the kids faces throughout the first day was priceless. Faith, especially, was just amazed by everything she saw and all the rides.  The Finding Nemo Submarine Ride was a highlight the first day. On the way out of the park, back to the hotel, we spotted a churro cart and, not having eaten in quite awhile, and still being on a Disneyland Day 1 High, I bought 18.75 worth of churros that we ate on the way back. We took a nap, then headed back into the park for the evening. This time we explored CA Adventure. I am amazed at how cool it is all lit up. We all went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure, which Faith LOVED, we rode the air bumper cars and wandered the streets of Radiator Springs (which is really awesome and looks EXACTLY like it does in the movie). We ate corn dogs for dinner and had cotton candy for dessert.  For anyone that is keeping track that would be about a million dollars on junk food for the day. We were all in bed and asleep by 9PM. 

The next day we started out trying to follow a "plan" that we found online for riding the rides and using FastPass effectively, but it was quickly discarded due to the fact that the park was SO CROWDED. In all our planning for the trip, the one thing that we neglected to take into consideration was that the Tournament of Roses Parade AND the Rose Bowl Game were the day before. Still, the longest we had to wait for a ride was 50 minutes (The Jungle Cruise) and 45 minutes (Peter Pan). The later was a huge waste of time, in all of our opinions, as the ride lasted about 2 minutes long, kind of dated,  and wasn't very interesting. The Jungle Cruise was great, though. Really silly but a great change after the Haunted Mansion (Faith cried and Brian had to carry her) and Pirates of the Caribbean (Faith hid her face in my sweatshirt the whole time and sobbed).  We quickly discovered that Faith was great with rides that were fast, spinning, loud, or  bumpy but she was easily scared by the visuals and dramatic, scary music.  We all loved Splash Mountain but only some of us enjoyed Space Mountain. Jake had to ride by himself, Tanner liked it but was pretty scared, Faith rode it and was scared but OK, and I was so nauseous I was planning where to throw up and how to blame it on my seat mate (Faith). Again we headed back to the hotel for a long nap (actually we all slept for almost 2 hours). For dinner we headed to Downtown Disney, not realizing that Downtown Disney isn't really Disney at all, but is instead a really big really crowded outdoor mall. The kids had, out of parental desperation, smoothies and pretzels for dinner, while the grownups had more churros. I don't know why, but the churro is available every 15 feet or so in both parks and it's the only food choice that doesn't have a huge line. The kids all found a "ropes course" that is built right next to the Grand California Hotel (in the middle of CA Adventure) that they played on and wanted to back to the next day. It was really great and they had fun, even with their father accusing them of "playing on the swings" in the middle of Disneyland.

The third day we actually set an alarm to wake up and get to the park early.....I know, I hate myself for that already. But we wanted to get on a couple of the big rides and the only way to do them was to get there right when they opened. "Radiator Springs Racers" literally had a two hour wait the second the park opened (and for all of you "Yes, but the FastPass" people...the wait for a Fast Pass was also two hours long.....so YEAH, might not be doing that ride). We were able to get Fast Passes for Soaring over CA for the five of us. Marisa jumped out of line at the last minute, scared by the warnings on the ride, so the kids and I went. It was amazing and totally a ride she could have done, so we went out and got more FastPasses for the same ride so that she could go with us. She went on it, didn't vomit and thought it was amazing. After that we switched parks and grabbed some lunch. We did some souvenir shopping back in Tomorrowland and saw Captain EO (which should have been in the part of the park called Bad 80's-land), which Marisa loved as it took her right back to High School. As I was pretty happy to leave High School the first time, it didn't do to much for me, but the kids enjoyed it). After mandatory family naps and an actual outside the park dinner, we're going to head back and go on "It's A Small World" (which you might be surprised to know I had to fight for - but how can you bring your little girl to Disneyland and not go on Small World with her?) and spend sometime in Toon Town tonight. Then tomorrow it's another alarm and another go at Radiator Springs Racers with a brand new plan of attack. If we don't get on it tomorrow morning, then it's not meant to be.... 

....So we had a plan. But, as we all know, "you plan... God laughs" (or something like that). We woke up at 650, arrived at the D-land gate at 725 and headed into the park right when they opened. The official announcement from Mickey that the park was now open was met with screams of glee from those around us. We showed the man at the front our passes, then I collected them all and sent Brian and the kids out to IHOP to get breakfast while I sprinted down (Ok... so it was more of an amble) to the Fast Pass line for the Radiator Springs Racers. It was a really long line but once they opened the actual ride area (another 15 minute wait) the line moved quickly. Within 10 minutes I had 5 fast passes in hand. I went back out of the park and met Brian and the kids with the Fast Passes in hand. They allowed us to board the ride anytime between 10 and 11 AM which was perfect timing since we had to leave the park at 1130 in order to check out of our hotel at noon. So we spent the 90 minutes prior to our ride time wisely and rode a really cool ride called Midway Mania which is Toy Story themed. It was my favorite ride in the park- it was so much fun. You got to shoot these little blasters at all these different 3D carnival games throughout the ride itself and earn points for different shots. I giggled like a kid throughout. Then we checked our handy app that tells wait times for different rides and saw that the holy grail ride at Disneyland was CLOSED. Shut down. Not functioning. Ummmm... we had fast passes in hand for a ride that was not working?? So we headed over to the ride to see what was up. Yup. It was down. The helpful gentleman at the gate told us that it would be down for "at least an hour" but they had no way of knowing if or when it would actually open. That was at 10 so we headed over to the Muppets 3D show and rode the Monsters Inc ride with the intention of checking in at 11 to give it one last ditch effort. Well, we arrived back at Radiator Springs Racers and 3 minutes later they opened it and we were the FIRST IN LINE with our fast passes. Woo hoo. Major victory. The ride was really fun, we all agreed it was one of the most fun in the park that we had experienced, and joyfully celebrated our good luck. If only we had known then that that would be the last piece of good luck for the day.


On the way back to the hotel I found out this info:  Faith's favorite part of the trip was meeting and greeting with Mickey and riding on It's a Small World. Tanner and Jake voted for Radiator Springs Racers and Star Tours. Brian picked Star Tours and my favorites were Midway Mania, the town of Radiator Springs at night, and Soarin' Over California. Souveniers were interesting. No surprise from Faith- she got two stuffed cats, one small (baby) and one large (Mama). Tanner got a Darth Goofy doll, a build it yourself car from Cars land, and an Etch a Sketch from the Toy Story area. Jake picked out a Chewbacca stuffie, a large jawbreaker, and a Disney 2014 mini basketball. When all was said and done there was a total of .48 cents left on the Disney giftcards that Nana had given them. For myself I got a small Beaker doll (from the Muppets).  That's what Brian calls me sometimes and it's the picture that comes up on his phone when I call him. I had to have it. 

We made it back to the hotel and checked out at noon. Got a taxi at around 1230, arrived at John Wayne at 1 for our 4:00 flight. We were early but we had no rental car this trip so we didn't have a lot of options. Discovered immediately that our flight was delayed by an hour. No big deal... so our 3 hour wait in OC turns into a 4 hour wait. Quickly found out that our connection flight in Vegas was delayed by 3 hours and instead of getting in at 930 PM (already late with 3 tired kids and 2 tired grown ups) we would be getting into Boise at 1230AM. Bummer. Not happy about it but it is what it is, right? We got to Las Vegas airport  and made the best of it. We fed the kids cheese pizza from Sbarro then plugged them into a movie and sat them on the floor outside the restaurant where we could keep an eye on them from our window seat while we had a beer and really bad, really expensive nachos at the bar. All moods were still pretty good, considering. But then our flight got pushed back again. 930 turned to 1020 turned to 1050 and now is tentatively scheduled to depart at 1140PM. We are scheduled to arrive in Boise at 230AM now and I am sitting in one of the less crowded sections of the SW terminal typing this while my three very overtired children try to keep from killing each other over who got the most Pringles (the snack they picked out during hour 4 at McCarran). 

PS. Home and in bed at 3:16 AM. 

Christmas

It was a mellow holiday with just the 5 of us. We went to a movie in the morning, hung out during the day and then started Christmas Eve festivities around 430 with a trip over to the neighbors house for a cocktail and appetizers. They kids played for an hour and we socialized, then returned to our house to do our make it yourself pizzas again. The kids opened their Christmas Eve jammies and their family game (this year it was Spicy Farkle and Quelf).  We also played Clue (The Office version) that I had found at a thrift store while Christmas shopping the week before. Although the kids had no idea who Toby was or why someone named Angela might want to kill him with a Dunder Mifflin trophy in the break room, I laughed the entire time.  We watched The Grinch and then the kids went to sleep together in the bonus room. It was a really fun day. 

Brian's new found love of vinyl brought last minute presents for the kids from Santa: record players and one record for each of their bedrooms. Faith got a rainbow stripe turntable and the Matt Nathanson album, Jake got a black one with Mumford and Sons, Tanner got black with the FUN album. They all got new headphones. They were really excited and have been playing them every day since then. A few days after Christmas Faith asked my why her record only played half the songs over and over again. She had no idea you had to actually physically turn the record over in order to hear the other half of the songs. I find it so funny that in this day of digital music the kids have record players- just like I had when I was their age. I didn't have cool music like them, though. As I recall I had the Grease soundtrack and the Muppet Movie. Actually, to be fair, I kind of want the Grease album for our collection!

Like usual, we spaced out Christmas morning by starting with stockings, taking a break and having a snack, opening a few presents, then getting breakfast started, opening a few more and then eating breakfast, etc.... It was fun and peaceful and the kids had a great time playing with things as they opened them. Faith got a new doll from Auntie Sue and roller skates for her Build-a-Bear from Grandma Mary. Papa got her matching outfits for her and Julie (her American Girl doll).  They all got rainbow looms from Uncle Eric. Jake got UnderArmour gear from Auntie Sue and Tanner got Star Wars legos, the Star Wars movies, and a lego carrying case from Auntie Sue. They both got Air Jordan sweatshirts from Grandma Mary.  Their book from me this year was Harry Potter,  as I know they have just as fond a memory of reading it together this fall as I do.  I was surprised by a present from Jake: he had bought me a necklace I had seen in a store in Truckee when we were there in August. He used some of his own money and then paid Nana back for the rest of it by working around her house a few times.  He was so excited to give it to me and I was so touched.  

The kids present from us this year was a trip to Disneyland. They had no idea. We have never been- well, that's not true... we took Jake when he was about to turn 3. Tanner was 3 months old. It rained the entire time. The only picture we have is of the four of us on the train with Mickey Mouse ponchos (mine is covering the baby bjorn that Tanner is riding in).  In any case, we have been talking about the best time to take the kids, wanting them to be old enough to want to ride the cool rides but still young enough to want to hang out with us- LOL. We decided this is the year. 

We wrapped up three mini Mickey Mouse dolls and the tickets and it was the second to last present that they opened.  I think they were shocked. The excitement took a few moments to kick in but once they all realized that we were leaving on Jan 1, they were pretty psyched.  One of the things in the box with the tickets was a Disneyland vacation planning DVD so we stuck that in the player and the kids got to see what it looks like and got to see a few of the rides. They really didn't know much about what Disneyland is (the product of having grown up in Idaho and not CA???).  Much of the last week has been about planning the trip and also keeping the kids hyper/exhausted behavior in check so that they are still alive to enjoy the trip on Wed. We will be there part of Wed, all day Thurs and Fri, and half a day on Saturday. We bought a planning app called "RideMax" to help us figure out how to get on the most rides with the shortest amount of wait time. Disney in the digital age! We kind of wanted to just go and wing it but everyone we talked to said we have to "have a plan" and use the Fast Pass system and all that, so we'll see how that goes. The last present the kids opened was from Nana who got them all Disneyland gift cards so their souveniers are taken care of! I have a strong feeling that if we compare the time spent riding on actual rides to the time spent shopping with that fifty dollars, I know which one will come out on top! 

Given how much a trip to D-land costs for a family of five, (so ridiculous)  this is the one and only time they will go to Disney on our dollar so we want to make the most of it. We are all excited and the kids are counting the hours until our flight leaves (37).  

We got all of our Christmas stuff taken down yesterday and will spend New Years Eve with Sheila and Wayne- just hanging out at our house with a bottle of champagne and some good music and/or movies. The kids will be in bed extra early since we leave for the airport at 6AM the next day. 

Christmas Prep

As we quickly speed toward Christmas I figured it was past time for me to post about the Alan Family Preparations. With Thanksgiving being so late this year and our trip to CA ending on Dec 1st, we were lucky to get the advent calendar up only 2 days late and not forgoing it all together. Not that the kids would have let us forget about it all together...they love that thing and look forward to it all year. In any case, we got our tree on the 8th (while driving down to Home Depot to pick our our tree we discovered that The Merc was selling trees this year so we stopped, found one we liked out of the 5 they had, and called it good). We decorated it last weekend. The annual "oohing and ahhing" over the old ornaments occurred and the typical stories that surround each one were once again told as we took turns hanging them on the tree.  Our snacky dinner once again included pigs in a blanket but this year I also made homemade asian meatballs (not so good) and homemade jalapeno artichoke dip (yummy). We followed the tree decorating with our annual watching of Shrek the Halls.

All in all a night full of Alan Family Traditions. It was supplemented this year with a brand new Christmas album. And when I say "album" I don't mean mp3 or CD. I mean ALBUM. When we stayed at Sheila and Wayne's house in Oakland last month Brian rediscovered his love of vinyl. Sure enough... Black Friday found my husband ordering a new turntable on Amazon and his new hobby has been born. I found him an old compilation Christmas album at a thrift shop and so we listened to old favorites by Ella Fitzgerald, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Nat King Cole, and others.

Last week we took the kids to Target to do their holiday shopping with their allowance money. They each picked out a toy to donate to Toys for Tots and then shopped for their siblings with Brian and I's help. In the interest of full disclosure and honestly...unfortunately I happened to be at the end of my emotional rope that day (really stressful week at work and other personal issues) and I was far less patient and enjoyed what normally is one of my favorite holiday traditions far less than I normally do. During showers that night I accidentally dropped Jake's piggy bank that we bought for him before he was born.  It shattered and that was basically the straw that broke the camel's back. I LOST IT. The kids were worried by my tears and Tanner, bless his heart, climbed up onto the couch with me, laid on my stomach and patted my head and just kept saying, "It's OK Mommy. You're the best mommy in the world".  He later wrote me a note that included, among other sentiments, the line, "It must be hard handling everything". Hoping a little reality that mommy has a breaking point doesn't send all three into therapy later in life!

Jake's band performance where he played a solo on the bells for Jingle Bells. It was actually a pretty good performance, as far as first year band performances go... but I think my favorite part was watching Jake help and joke around with his buddy, Anthony.  Anthony has downs syndrome and he and Jake have been good friends since the first week we moved here. After the performance Anthony's mom approached me and told me that she had gone in to watch band practice the prior day and had been so touched by how good Jake is with Anthony and she had baked him cookies and written him a thank you note for his kindness.

In the midst of all the festivities, Faith lost her two front teeth. One day apart. So she is now the living embodiment of "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth".  She looks too cute... and too old. She also sounds a little lispy!

This weekend Brian and I spent two nights "away" in downtown Boise at this weird little Bed and Breakfast off the beaten path. It honestly took a military-like maneuver to make it happen. And we owe friends and Nana a HUGE thank you for working with us to cover the kids for two days. It couldn't have come at a better time. I feel well rested and much more centered now and ready to hit the last 10 days before Christmas with optimism and joy.  We spent Friday night out to dinner with good friends and then, after meeting up with the kids for Tanner's last basketball game  (where he was on fire and hit 3 layups in a row) and party, we headed out for a full day of Christmas shopping.  Sunday we woke up late and lounged around the room for awhile before heading downtown to try a restaurant called Bacon that we've wanted to try for a year or more. It lived up to it's name.  We followed up breakfast with some used vinyl shopping at The Record Exchange where Brian got me in the spirit of his new hobby. When we got home Brian dug out his dad's collection of 45's and we reminisced and played song after song of mostly 50's and 60's stuff. We found some original Beatles, Elvis, and others that we couldn't believe were in there.

Tonight is the season finale of Survivor. A bittersweet night in that it marks the end of my Wednesday dates with Jeff for awhile....but a great end to a much needed great weekend- 3 hours of pure SURVIVOR. Poor Brian will be hiding in the bedroom.

and for the Thanksgiving part.

So we headed out of Oakland and up to Sacramento on Thanksgiving. In orde for us to feel right back at home in the Bay Area, we hit MASSIVE traffic up until we got to Dixon, turning a 1.5 hour ride into a 3 hour odyssey including gas, bathroom and snack stops. 

We got to Lisa and Clarks house an hour or so before dinner and all the hard work was done! We got to see their new kitchen and basically sit down to dinner without doing any work. Dinner was great, it was our whole family along with theirs as well as Auntie Sue and Grandma Mary. I tried to enlist all of Lisa's kids into helping me wash the dishes (I KNEW none of mine would help me), but got nowhere. Auntie Sue, Grandma and I did the dishes while everyone else hit the park for some after dinner football. 

After football and cleanup, it was over to Grandma Mary's house for Tanner's final birthday party. It was a surprise (we delayed our arrival by a few minutes). He was truly surprised, and not doing well with being the center of attention, was happiest when the party moved on to the gift opening. He got more great stuff from my side of the family, AND had more cake and candy. After part of a movie, the kids all collapsed. 

We spent some more cousin time today and set off for home about 2:00. It was great seeing everyone, but we are getting ready to be home. We made it to Reno and stayed in the Peppermill, where we both got to have a great workout in the huge gym and a good dinner with the kids. They are watching a movie as I type. I'm hoping to get another workout in tomorrow before we get on the road and then it's a long day's drive back home to Boise. 

Tanner and I have been gone for 8 days and he's really tired. A night in our own beds is being much looked forward to. Vacation is always great, but it's always awesome to be back home. 

San Francisco Tourists

I have been wanting to take the kids on a cable car for years now. I had built it up in my mind to be "The Ultimate San Francisco Experience". Out of this entire vacation I think the cable car thing was what I was looking forward to most.  Brian was pretty sure I would be disappointed. You know when you hear so much good press about a movie before you see it that when you actually see it the movie doesn't live up to your inflated expectations? That DIDN'T happen here. The cable car ride yesterday was AWESOME.

We met Kylie and Lisa in Union Square and bought our tickets. We got on the third car and all 7 of us stood up and held onto the outside of the car (even Faith!).  It was kind of hectic getting on, as we were the last 7 people. Brian had Tanner and Faith and I was with Jake, Lisa and Kylie. The conductor spaced us out so there was an adult next to each child so Brian and I were separated by 5 people and it is a really narrow space and you are supposed to stand looking forward. About halfway through the ride Lisa asked Brian where Tanner was and he told her I had him.... ummmmm NOPE. A moment of panic ensued (probably only a half second) until Brian realized Tanner was in fact on the car with us, just a person or two back from he and Faith.  Tanner wasn't scared though and we all had a blast. It was a beautiful day and the moment when the car rises on the hill and you see the Bay below was really cool. Just like in the Rice-a-Roni commercials.


We spent the next few hours at Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. All of us loved watching the sea lions sumo wrestling in the sun and the kids, of course, loved shopping for their souveniers. Faith, no surprise here, picked out a stuffed kitten.  Tanner and Jake shopped at the sports store and picked out Warriors, Raiders, and Yankees gear.  We sat outside for lunch, walked to Ghiradelli Square, and finally took a cab ride back to Union Square where the kids and I watched the ice skaters while Brian did a little shopping. I had my turn to shop while Brian took the kids to the Disney Store and Adidas and Oakley. At about 6:00 we took 3 very tired kids back on BART to Oakland where they collapsed in front of the TV prior to falling quickly asleep.

City life is pretty fun.

Tanner Turns 8

The first of what will turn out to be several birthday parties was Tanner's "friend" party on November 16th. We took his three best buddies to Jump Time- an indoor trampoline place that has a dodge ball court, a basketball hoop, free jump area, and more. They bounced for two hours and then we headed to a local Italian restaurant for pizza, followed by frozen yogurt at U-Swirl (he didn't want a cake). Tanner claimed it was his best birthday ever. The boys all had fun. It was a long fiesta- the boys were dropped off at our house at 930AM and we brought them home around 2 that afternoon.

Next up was the "family birthday".  Since Tanner and Brian were leaving on his actual birthday we did the present opening on Wednesday evening. His favorite gift, by far, was the stuffed Bronco football thingy that Nana got for him. It is a zip up stuffed football that reveals the Bronco mascot if you unzip it. Whatever it is, it came along to CA with us and has been functioning as Tanner's pillow ever since. We got to sing Happy Birthday to him on Thursday morning before school, with a single candle in his birthday donut.

After he and Brian finished the Warriors portion of his 8th birthday (see next post) we spent a few days in Mountain View with Kim and Bill and Abby and Aidan. My dad came to visit for an afternoon and Kim and I tried our best to spoil him with good homemade food. Joe, Suzie, and Jasper came the next day and we all caught up on each others lives while the kids played outside and ran back and forth to the park.

Now we are in Oakland, preparing for several days in SF.  We are spending 3 nights at Sheila and Wayne's condo and pretending we are "city folk" instead of the country bumpkins we seem to have turned into since leaving the Bay Area 8 years ago. Did you know that the population of the Bay Area is over 6 times greater than the population of the ENTIRE state of Idaho???  Coming back here is culture shock in a lot of ways. I like to refer to this trip as "Diversity Training 101". I have been reminded in the last 24 hours that my children are so, so white. There is zero diversity in Boise so this is like a crash course in "people come in all colors,  religions, sizes, and states of sanity".  Tomorrow we are taking BART to Union Square so we can take a cable car down to the Fisherman's Wharf area. Wednesday we plan to take the ferry over to SF and maybe go to the new Exploratorium.

Thanksgiving Day will find us driving to Sacramento and celebrating Turkey Day amongst all of Brian's family- Grandma Mary, Auntie Sue, Lisa, Clark, and their five kids. Our kids can't wait to see the cousins and are all dying to use their swimming pool (what a treat to get to swim in November!!).

Tanner's 8th Birthday Road Trip

Tanner and I took off on his birthday road trip halfway through the day on Thursday. He has been looking forward to this trip for the last couple of weeks. He was very insistent that I pick him up at 11:40 EXACTLY because that was right before he went to lunch. I recently looked up his birth time on his birth certificate for him because he wanted to wear his new stopwatch to school and announce to his class the MINUTE he turned 8. We joked that he would turn 8 at 11:32 and then he “was outta there” right after.

Anyway, I picked him up as directed. We got a quick lunch and hit the road for CA. We drove to Winnemucca, NV the first night and got a hotel room. He got his traditional birthday dinner with Dad (Roundtable this time, pepperoni and bacon deep dish). Followed by a box of candy and The Hobbit on HBO in the hotel room. I was freezing and windy in Winnemucca, so we got on the road pretty quickly the next day. The drive was easy the whole way, no weather to speak of.

We made our traditional pit stop at Scheels in Sparks, NV for lunch. We did a little shopping. Tanner got a new pair of shoes, I was able to contain myself which was pretty impressive in the presence of the largest collection of Under Armor gear in the Western Hemisphere. After lunch we finished up the drive to Grandma Mary’s in time for dinner. We went to Leatherby's where Tanner got a burger and I got an awesome crab sandwich. After dinner he wanted a banana split, which was the size of another meal. He order ½ chocolate and ½ vanilla and he and I didn’t finish it, but we did some serious damage.

We watched the first half of the Warriors game on TV  and then I put him to bed. He was exhausted. He slept from 8 to 7 the next morning. We got up and hung out with Grandma for a bit and then hit the road to Oakland. Uncle Eric hooked us up (as always) at the team hotel and practice facility. We are on the 20^th floor looking out on the Tribune building. We got to go down and tour the practice facility and got to shoot around on the practice floor. While we were there, Coach Jackson came in and introduced himself. He talked to Tanner about his basketball team and was just an awesome guy all the way around. Eric gave us the rest of the tour and then Tanner and I hit the town.

It has been a long time since I have been back in Oakland in a car and it was great to drive around and revisit all of my favorite hometown spots. Tanner said he wanted hotdogs for lunch, so I promised him the best hotdogs in the world. We went to lunch at Kaspers Dogs on MacArthur and Fruitvale. It hasn’t changed AT ALL since my grandpa used to take me there for lunch when I was Tanners age before we picked Grandma up from work. I got my childhood favorite; a cheese dog and a root beer. Tanner of course opted for ketchup only, but agreed that it was the best dog he’d ever had.

After lunch we drove around Oakland for awhile. Tanner was very concerned about all the graffiti. He kept saying, “Dad, I see vandalism!”. I explained that it was a kind of art, which he seemed to appreciate. He has been really in to drawing lately and so I think he looked at it through those eyes. We came back to the room and he spent some time at the window, drawing the Tribune building outside our hotel room window. We’re going to take BART to the Warriors game tonight.

We had a really good time at the game. The Warriors lost unfortunately, but Tanner had a really good time.  We stayed out WAY past bedtime and didn’t get back to the hotel until after 11:00. Uncle Eric hooked Tanner up with some great Warriors gear, including a basketball autographed by the entire team. Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue came to the game as well so we got to spend some time with them also. Tanner woke up this morning at 5:30 with an upset stomach (probably from the dinner of pizza crusts and ice cream). He proceeded to be able to go back to sleep, but I was up at that point. I got an early work out in, we had some breakfast at the hotel and met with Uncle Eric to say goodbye. We got a tour of the rest of the facility and Tanner got to say thank you to his Uncle for a great 8^th Birthday!

......and Basketball

Jake started his AAU season last weekend.....and it's going to be a long one. They had enough boys to form two Boise High AAU teams. Jake is on the White team with a couple of his buddies. This is real basketball, with High School rims and rules and a coach who played Women's BBall at Oregon State, so it's no more messing around. They spent the first few practices learning offense and defensive plays, positions etc. and then proceeded to get blown out in the first weekend of play, losing both games by at least 20 points. They were painful to watch. So coach stripped the offense and they have started all over. We'll see how successful that is. 

Jakes coach is great. She was coached AAU for the last 8 seasons or so and has gone to the finals a couple of times in this age group, so we were looking forward to the season. As with all his coaches, she immediately fell in love with Jake and he played all but a couple of minutes of the games this last weekend. He did really well and she likes him as a player, shooter and ball handler. He was really disappointed how much they struggled, but I reminded him that this was just like his little league season last year. The team may not be very good, but it's a great year for him to get a lot of playing time and improve as a basketball player. Last practice, his coach had her Dad come in (a lifetime basketball coach) and guest coach. He was a VERY old school coach, sprints, fingertip pushups for not listening etc. I figured Jake would be all upset at being yelled at for an hour and a half, but to my surprise he dealt with it just fine and didn't even mention it afterwards (other than how sore his fingers were). He has never had an actual COACH-Coach like that, it's just always been some kids (most of the time his own) Dad doing it. But as he continues to play, he's going to have to get used to some stronger authority. It was good to see he could handle it. 

They play two games every Saturday at two middle schools over in Meridian. The schedule is just brutal. Most weekends we have an early game (8:30) and a late game (4:00 or so), which gives us just enough time to drive back and forth across the valley to get to Tanner's game (which is right down the hill) and back. 

Tanner's second grade team is pretty much the same team that I had last year and is more of less just the same group of kids I coach in baseball as well. There are a lot of natural athletes on that team and they're pretty easy to coach. Our first game was this last Saturday and due to some gym screwups we were only able to have one practice beforehand. No score is kept still in this league, but the dad's on the sidelines like to keep score and we beat the other Hidden Springs 2nd grade team 30-8. So it's going to be a pretty easy season I think. Tanner loves to play basketball and he and his buddies have a really good time. It was good to sprinkle that level of fun competitive basketball in-between Jake's two frustrating games. 

We all went out to dinner after Jake's late game and it was a lot of fun. It looks like that's going to be our schedule for the next couple of months or so. If you need us on a Saturday, just know that we're at some basketball gym somewhere in Idaho......

Halloween......

As the massive bin of Halloween candy is starting to dwindle down at an alarming rate, I thought it was time to write the Halloween post. Halloween was a lot of fun this year. It rained during the day which didn't forecast a fun night of trick or treating, but it held off the entire time we were out. In kind of a tone setter for the next couple of years, we just had the little kids for trick or treating. Jake went to a pizza party, trick or treat, sleep over with a bunch of his friends. We figured we would see them out trick or treating, but ended up missing them all together. He left after dinner and we didn't see him again until we picked him up the next morning with his pillowcase of candy. 

Marisa had planned dinner at the Merc for Tanner and his two best buddies and their families and we set off trick or treating from there, hitting our old section of the hood. It was nice to be able to walk behind and talk to the other parents as the kids sprinted from door to door. There was only one house that was scary enough to require parental accompaniment so mostly we just stood on the sidewalk and talked. One of the great things about Halloween in this neighborhood is that everyone is out with their kids. You run into groups of parents and kids that you know and hit that block together before you go your separate ways until you meet up with another group of parents. We have been here long enough that houses have Halloween reputations now. There is the Turners house where they give out cans of Shasta instead of candy (a must hit). The kids know the houses that give out full sized candy bars, the houses that have scary people answer the door. The grown ups know the houses that have fires going in the drive way and parents that are quick to share a glass of wine while your kids hit the next few places. 

The only downside was our house (in the midst of a construction zone), didn't get very many trick or treaters. So not only do we have a massive bin of the candy the kids brought home, we had to add in all the Halloween candy we didn't give away. We put the bin high up on a shelf (otherwise we have found that Tanner sneaks it - ALL THE TIME) and I swear my weightlifting workout extends to the number reps I get taking the candy bin down, rummaging thru it, and putting it back up on it's high shelf. At this rate it won't last much longer any way so it doesn't really matter. 

The kids had a great Halloween; Jake went as an NFL coach, Faith went as a fairy, and Tanner, with a last minute costume change, went as Harry Potter. Next year we might just have Faith and the houses around us will be built out, so next Halloween might be a whole different beast. But for this year, Halloween is over, just the candy remains (for now).

Late October but Pre-Halloween Post

Basketball started for both boys this month and they are both really enjoying it.  I ran my second obstacle race on Saturday with several friends (SO MUCH FUN!) and am already planning for my 2014 races- possibly a few out of state since Idaho doesn't have many yet.  Jake started coaching the girls 5th/6th grade bball team before school, helping Mr. Perotto (the PE teacher). Faith continues to fly through all of the "Fairy" books in the library. Thank goodness she can read them on her own because they are really not fun to read aloud and she reads between 3-4 each week.  Tanner was "Person of the Week" and got to share his slideshow (which he chose to set to "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney).  Jake won the Courage Award for 5th grade. He was nominated by his classmates for the bravery he shows by "not caring what other people think" and "standing up for other people". Brian continues to like working with the North Boise Little League and tolerates his job due to the work/life balance it allows him. My job is busier than normal, and will probably continue to be so as we add more clients exponentially. When I began, 5.5 years ago, we had about 70,000 students in the U.S. This year we just broke the 2 million mark. Crazy. It's fascinating working with a "start up" company and seeing it grow and grow and grow and knowing I have been a part of it from nearly the beginning.

But the biggest news from the last couple weeks is this:  We finished the first book of Harry Potter! Now, to some people this may not seem like such a big deal but Harry Potter holds a special place in Brian and I's hearts. The second book in the series came out a few months after we met and we read all 7 of them together and also saw each movie together. In fact, we saw the first movie with Sheila, Wayne, Sam and Shelby at the Vine Theater in Livermore when I was 7 months pregnant with Jake. We always imagined we'd get to share the HP series with our kids but Jake has had such a difficult time with scary books that we were beginning to think it would never happen. But lately he has conquered this fear and both Tanner and Faith seemed ready, so we have been able to expand our read-aloud
choices to include some of our favorites.  So, we began Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Is there ANYTHING better than a read aloud that ends each evening with all three of your children begging you to not stop reading?? They couldn't get enough of the story. And I loved every minute or sharing it with them.  We finished the book on Saturday afternoon and followed that up by watching the movie that night. They loved to see what each character in the story actually looked like, compared to the visions they had come up with in their minds. We ordered pizza and ate in front of the TV. I tried to find Bertie's Every Flavor Beans but was unsuccessful so had to settle on Reese's pumpkins instead. The kids all slept together in the bonus room that night so that any residual fear would be assuaged by the proximity of their siblings. I honestly was smiling ear to ear watching the movie and was more than a little happy when they all agreed the book was "way better" than the movie. Of course, we started the second book the  very next day and now all three kids are anxiously awaiting to see what happens to Doby the house elf.

I can't believe it is already the end of October and the end of the first quarter of school. Halloween is Thursday and before we know it Thanksgiving will be upon us, then Christmas, and then 2014. Better not blink.

Fall 2013 Update

I know, I know.... Fall only officially started about 20 days ago yet it feels like forever since I have posted. In a nutshell, everyone is doing really well. All the kids are settled into their new grade levels and did a great job balancing a hectic football schedule with their schoolwork. It's been really fun actually, even though I have to admit four nights a week of practice sounded almost unmanagable to me and I was worried that the kids would just be dead tired. But they all loved their teams so much that I never once heard a complaint and we got used to eating dinner by 5PM each night in order to get everyone to the right place by 545. Most evenings had Brian and I going to different fields, driving carpools for other neighborhood kids, and trading off coaching for Tanners team, Jake's team, and supporting Faith's cheerleading squad. The great thing was that everyone practiced at THE SAME TIME on the SAME DAYS. Heaven. Each evening ended with everyone meeting back home around 745, having a heavy snack, reading the first Harry Potter book aloud, and going to sleep. 

Besides football and the start of school, we have had some fun things going on in the neighborhood. In late September we had our last concert of the season on The Green. It was a combined concert and Food Truck Rally and although the weather gave us a run for our money (nearly blowing away our tent structure) the dark clouds did not dro any rain and there was, luckily, no thunder or lightening. We went with some friends of ours and their kids. The kids ran wild for almost 4 hours, checking in with us  periodically for warmth, pleas for more food, or  to show us their goodies (they were giving away light sticks to all the neighborhood kids). Brian and I tried food from the three different trucks, drank some really good red wine with our friends, and hung out chatting with lots of neighborhood people. It was a great end of the summer celebration. 

Last weekend was the second annual Scary Movie Night at the barn. They show three levels of scary movies:  a G movie, a PG movie, and a PG 13 for the teens. We opted for the middle option this year. The barn was decked out in decorations and had a huge bathtub full of candy and another huge tub full of soda. There was popcorn to eat and hay barrels to sit on. We brought our chairs and heavy blankets and enjoyed the show. Brian and Faith ended up walking home early as the movie turned out to be too scary for her, but they waited for us at home, watching The Bee Movie and making some memories of their own.  

My big event this fall was the Mayhem Mud Run. I signed up with a couple of friends and played hooky for the football games on Saturday. It was a 5K run with 15 obstacles. Now, I am not in GREAT shape.... but I consider myself in DECENT shape. However, this run (or, more specifically, the obstacles) KICKED MY BUTT. The first obstacle we came upon was two walls set up about 25 yards apart. The walls were about 8 feet tall with no footholds and no way to climb up them. My friends and I stood there staring at them wondering how in the heck we could get up there. A nice man came running up soon and sacrificed his back to get all three of us up far enough so we could grasp the top and pull ourselves over. It was hard! And then there was the next one to get over! There was a lot more walls to climb in varying heights, towers to get across (I had to conquer my fear of heights), really high monkey bars to cross, a section where we had to pick up a tire and run with it around a giant building, a water obstacle in which we had to run through ice cold water up to our waists, and more.  It was SO MUCH FUN but I did find myself wondering what the heck I had been thiking actually PAYING to do this to my body! I was very, very sore the next few days. 

The Optimist Football season officially ended today. Uniforms have been turned in and the end of the year parties have been thrown. Surprisingly I was a little sad to say goodbye to this part of the year. I watched all three kids grow up so much in their own ways during the last two months. All 3 showed such spirit and determination, perseverence and hard work. But, October should be a little less busy and we may be able to start eating dinner at a normal hour again!  

Football Ends

Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue just came out for a visit to watch the football games for a weekend. The way the schedule worked out this year, there was only one Saturday where the games ended up being spaced far enough apart that we could see all of both of them. Fortuitously, it was the weekend that Auntie Sue and Grandma were going to be here. Even better, it was a week that ended with two days off school due to teacher inservice, so the kids were home. 

They flew in on a Friday morning and the kids and I picked them up from the airport. It has gotten cold here lately, so I had encouraged them to pack warm clothes, it was in the mid 30's when we picked them up. Once we got back to the house and Jake gave Auntie Sue the tour (she hasn't been here since we moved) they started in on the card games. As usual they player a ton of Old Maid, Crazy 8's, Spoons...you name it they played it. 

Marisa was running in a race on Saturday morning (more in her post) so it was just me going to the football games with everyone. Jake/Faith were the first game, which was at 8:30 out in Emmett. Jake's coach likes the team there an hour before the game, which meant 7:30. Emmett is 45 minutes away, which meant we piled everyone in the car, in the dark and cold of a Saturday morning at 6:45. As it starts to turn towards winter, those last few football games are tough, especially the early ones as it's still cold and dark. Everyone was bundled up with sweatshirts under their jerseys, gloves, extra socks etc. Getting hit under those conditions isn't fun to begin with and the Emmett team is a bunch of hard hitting, BIG kids. It was a rough game. They had been coached to hit hard, in every situation, even away from the ball. They had crack back blocks built into their play. All legal stuff, borderline, but legal, but nothing we have coached our kids to do they weren't ready for it. We had kids getting hurt all game, including Jake two different times. We hung with them in the first half but ended up getting pretty soundly beaten in all senses of the word. 

Faith did really well in the cold. She got some hot chocolate with Grandma Mary and other than some cold toes, did really well. Grandma Mary and Auntie Sue really seemed to love watching her cheerlead. She is REALLY into it. She had showed them all of her cheers in advance at the house. She pays attention and her coach just loves her. Much to Marisa's chagrin, she will be continuing her cheerleading career with a group cheerleading class over the winter while her brothers are playing basketball. 

After the fiasco in Emmett was over, we drove back to town in time for Tanner's flag game. This year the flag teams are playing at the local junior high school and not the optimist park, so parking and moving around are much easier. Tanner's team is about even over the season and played a really good game on Saturday, beating a good opponent pretty soundly. Tanner had played center most of the season and totally loves it. I asked him once why he liked playing center so much, it's not the most glamorous position and he said that he likes not having to block anyone. In his league, this year, the center has to be uncovered by rule. I explained that going forward, it becomes the toughest position to block, which he didn't know. I showed him the nose tackles on some games andTV and that seemed to sober him up. I secretly think he like playing center because he gets to be the person who yells "HUDDLE" each time and the end of the play to call everyone back to the huddle. He does do a greta job snapping the ball and his coach has gone out of his way to thank him for playing center and telling him what an important position it is on the football team. I have asked Tanner if he thinks he'll keep playing football and he told me he'll play his second year of flag, but isn't sure that he wants to continue once he moves up to tackle. So we'll see what happens next year. 

So after our full day of football, we headed back home and met up with a tired and sore Mom for nap time prior to Scary Movie Night (more in Marisa's post). 

Labor Day Sprint Camping

About mid-August we decided that the Labor Day weekend camping trip we had planned to do with Lisa, John, and their girls in Washington was not a good idea. I had remembered that it was a 5 hour drive, but upon mapquesting it, realized it was almost 7 and a half hours of driving. We couldn't leave until after the kids finished school on Friday, meaning we'd have to spend the night somewhere along the way, meaning that we'd only actually be camping for two nights and less than 2 full days. As much as we hated to do it... we cancelled. The kids were bummed. We were bummed. 

So I got on the computer and found a place to camp 1.5 miles from our house. We booked it for Fri and Sat night and figured we'd have Sunday and Monday to recuperate. Well... Thursday came around and all the kids were EXHAUSTED from their first week of school and 1.5 hour football/cheerleading practice EVERY night that week. So, we downgraded our camping trip to one night. Saturday.  

The funny thing about camping, though, is that whether it is a 1 day trip or a 6 day trip the camping and prepping is about the same. Since we hadn't camped yet this year we had to go through all the gear and because we have a new mouse problem, that meant going through lots of mouse poop and dog food that various mice had dragged into various camping boxes hoping to make a home.  Oh, well. It had to be done.  

So, I grocery shopped Thursday, Brian packed up the car Friday night, and we hit the road on Saturday morning at 9AM.  We arrived at Warm Lake around 11AM and everyone helped set up the tent (AKA "The Taj Majal"), ate lunch, and played around the campsite. We headed to the lake for an hour or so and Jake and I hit the rope swing. Once we returned to camp we settled in with our books and a bottle of red wine while the kids played "Duck on a Rock". I joined them for a little Hide and Seek, then the five of us took an exploratory walk around the woods. It was very odd- the campground was on the edge of an old abandoned lodge that used to include individual cabins, a boat house, etc... It was very run down and had obviously been vacant for many years. It was kinda creepy and reminded me of the setting of Friday the 13th. Luckily it was light out or I would have been looking for Jason around every bend! 

We headed back to camp and grilled hotdogs and made giant s'mores for dessert.  The kids played more hide-and-seek and more "duck on a rock". At one point, after exploring in the woods, Jake and Faith ran up to me with a flat brown thing in their hands and said, "Mom, look how much this dried mud  clot looks like a smooshed frog".  Ummmmm... kids?? I hate to tell you this... but that IS a smooshed frog. That flat brown frog went flying and the kids ran to the nearby water pump to wash their hands. Too funny. 

The sky that night was so clear and so beautiful it made the two times I had to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night worthwhile. We actually all slept really well until 330AM when Tanner claimed he was freezing and came to sleep in between Brian and I. I woke up in the morning to a Brian shaped indent in the sleeping bag next to me and the smell of bacon cooking. He had gotten up early, gotten the fire started, and was already cooking bacon and boiling water for my coffee. Lovely!!  Jake continued to sleep, so cuddled up under his sleeping bag and blanket, I had to actually go over and touch him to be sure he was actually still in the tent. 

The kids played some more, we all enjoyed hot cocoa and bacon (oh yeah... and the traditional "camping donuts")  and helped us pack up. We left before lunch and headed home because Brian and I had plans with friends that night and a new babysitter was coming over.  

It was a fast and furious trip but I am so glad we did it. The kids all loved it and we were reminded how much we enjoy camping. We hadn't been in almost 2 years and the kids are getting older all the time. Boy it is a lot of effort, though. When we noticed how much faster our neighbor with the pop up tent and the other neighbor with the RV set up their site, we decided we may try an extended RV trip next summer  instead.  I'd like to head to the coast- maybe coastal WA or even San Juan Islands. Time to start planning!

First Grade, Second Grade, and Fifth Grade Begin

School started on Tuesday and once again all three kids were excited to get another year started. They all got the teacher they wanted, and they all have their best friend in their class. 

Back to School clothes shopping had been completed at Scheels and Gap earlier in the month. This year we gave each kid a $75.00 budget and they were free to use it how they wanted (as long as it was for clothing NOT guys!). It made this coupon-lugging, thrift shopping mother's heart proud to watch as the boys budgeted out how much was reasonable to spend on a pair of shorts and ask themselves if 24.99 for an Under Armor t-shirt was worth it or if they should get the more expensive shoes and the cheaper shirt. It was a lot of fun. Of course, both boys ended up with sport shorts, tshirts, and a new pair of tennis shoes. Faith ended up with two pairs of shoes, two shirts, a pair of shorts, and a belt (that was her favorite part- the belt!). 

There were no visible nerves from any of them this year, until we arrived at the playground and Faith got a little clingy. But she quickly found her best friend, Abby, and the nerves mostly were gone.  No tears! The bell rang and Mr. Forrey welcomed them all back to school and gave his yearly spiel about parents not walking into classrooms with kids. Then they said the Pledge of Allegiance and the Harbor Pledge and they were gone. Brian and I went to celebrate with breakfast at the Merc. 

We picked them up at 115 (short day) and took them to the Merc for the annual "tell us about your first day back" snack extravaganza. We all sat together at a big table and the kids took turns telling us stuff about their day.  Once again Brian and I marveled at how lucky we are on the school front: Great teachers, great principal, kids that like to learn and have good friends... the list goes on.  

The first week back to school also included 3 football/cheerleading practices from 600-730PM  so we had some tired kids on our hands.  But they are all absolutely loving their teams and look forward to practices each day. It's actually been pretty fun for us, too. Brian and I switch off going to Tanner's practice and Jake/Faith's practice. It's great having them all at the same time and all of the practice nearby. It allows us to have an early family dinner together (500 on the dot) and then head down the hill for the evening. 

Faith's cheerleading coach keeps telling me how great Faith is- what a great listener and  how fast she is at learning the cheers. I have never seen her this excited about anything. She loves it. She practices her cheers all the time, even in the shower. And as much as it pains me that it is cheerleading that has turned out to be her first "passion" it is amazing to see how in just a few weeks time she has become more confident, independent, and responsible.  

Tanner, too, has completely risen to the occasion. I was worried that the 3-4 practices a  week would be too much for him, but he is ready to go each evening and works hard the whole time he is there. He, too, is getting so independent. 

After almost deciding against football this year, Jake is having his best year yet. He is really enjoying his team and his coaches and I haven't heard a single, "I don't feel like going to practice" this year. Last Thursday at his practice the Capital High football team was there, too. At the end of practice the Capital head coach talked to our team and gave a very inspirational speech that included everything from  "doing your best" to putting school first to the importance of doing lots of things and not just focusing on football. He even included a bit on staying away from drugs and peer pressure. It was really great to hear and to see Jake listening so intently. 

Summer was a lot of fun this year- we took a bunch of small trips and one big trip to California. The kids had 15 hours/week at Miss Emerald's house (for which we are eternally grateful!) and we had tons of trips to the pool and BBQs outside, etc... But the fact remains that working from home full time with three kids home 25 out of the 40 working hours a week is HARD. Between the inherent multitasking that occurs to the "working mom guilt" that I suffer as I stick the kids in front of the TV for hours while I catch up on emails or only vaguely glance in the direction of the the Lego tower they spent 3 hours completing together.. it's a little stressful. However, this year was better than last year and the kids got along really well (until August and then they were simply DONE with each other and ready to be around other people!). 

So, we are into September and ready for Year 2 of a 3 year stint of having all three of the kids at the same place. We plan to enjoy every minute.