The Fun in Sun Valley Continues

The kids are taking turns sleeping in until 9. Yesterday it was Jake and today it was Tanner. It's been great because the mornings are peaceful and we get some one-on-one time with whoever is up earliest. Yesterday I played some Crazy 8s with Tanner and this morning Jake and I read for awhile and went in the hottub. The view outside the windows is beautiful and serene, plus the hottub is a pretty nice day to greet the day. 

We rode our bikes downtown for breakfast once everyone was awake. We stumbled upon a place that happend to have a putting green (like mini golf) outside. While Brian and I had our respective morning drinks and waited for the food, the kids occupied themselves with golfing. We thought it was a genius of an idea and asked our waitress about it. She told us it is actually part of a larger town-wide drinking game involving several local bars and a putting green challenge involving beer or wine. So, entertaining the kids was not its intended purpose... but still... it made our breakfast experience even better- and it was already pretty good since we were able to ride our bikes there, sit outside, and enjoy their special Blue Corn Pancakes. Yum. 

After breakfast we wandered around town a little more then headed home to pack up a picnic lunch for a noontime fishing trip to Penny Lake- a rainbow trout stocked pond about 4 miles outside of Ketchum. It was Faith's first time really fishing, but the boys were experts at casting this trip.  The only person that caught anything was Brian- and it was too little to do anything with (not that we would have kept it and cooked it anyway!). I still don't get the allure of fishing, but I played the photographer for this portion of the trip and enjoyed being outdoors and watching the kids get all excited each time they got a nibble. 


We went back to the house and enforced a mandatory one hour rest time (all 5 of us) prior to going back out in the hottub and then back into town to get me a latte and to visit the local independent bookstore. Great place! Had fun wandering around there for a while as it was raining outside. The pizza place we had eaten at the night before had given us free movie tickets to see Epic at the Sun Valley Opera House theater, so we headed back there and enjoyed Happy Hour before the 6PM movie started. Still raining... so it was good timing. 

We finished off the day with a stop at LeRoy's ice cream- a non profit ice cream place in the middle of town that serves Toni's Ice Cream (a Sun Valley speciality). Both Brian and I are in the middle of good books, the kids have created a game called "Hide the Tape" (I'm not entirely sure of the rules, but it involves hiding a piece of duct tape somewhere outside and giving clues to the other two kids as to where it is) that  keeps them happy and entertained for hours on end, and there's still some Circus Animal Cookie Ice Cream in the freezer. Life is Good. 

Sun Valley Vacation - Days 1 and 2

So we are in Sun Valley for the beginning of the week. Just a little low key, stay in Idaho vacation. Marisa's boss was cool enough to let us use their families vacation rental in Sun Valley. Aside from driving through, we have never really spent any time here. 

We got up on Saturday and kind of took it easy getting on the road. We mowed the lawns, cut Jake's hair, visited with friends, dropped the dog off at the kennel and lazily packed the car for the trip. We got on the road about one, with almost everything we own. We brought warm weather clothes, cold weather clothes, pool clothes, work out clothes, books, electronics, movies, board games, baseball gear, football gear, fishing gear and our bikes. It was a really easy trip up and we got here a little after three o'clock. We went out to a great Mexican place referred to us by our Chiropractor, whom we lovingly call "Hippie Jim".

The house is great, really close to town and fully set up. There is a hot tub, which we have already been in several times. We are within walking distance to the lodge and it's an easy bike ride into downtown. We took advantage of everything today it felt like. 

The kids slept late, so no breakfast out. It was a lazy, mountain cool morning of reading, breakfast in, hot tubs, red bull (for me) and coffee for my better half. After we all got our gumption up, we got the bikes together and headed downtown for mid morning coffee (and yes for those who have followed our vacation exploits before - browsing thru various shops with coffee in hand). We rode down to the river and the ski area, which were both pretty deserted and then headed back home. This is our first trip with Tanner exclusively riding his own bike, and while we weren't really all that far away he was pretty tuckered by the time we got home. 

We made "mandatory rest time" a thing again and Marisa got to read her magazines and relax while I went for a great run. There are a ton of bike paths here. I ran out to the Sawtooth National Forest then up some mountain bike tracks into the hills. I came back out onto the golf course and wound around a REALLY expensive neighborhood back down into the resort and home. It was overcast and the perfect temperature for a run. It ended up being my second favorite run ever (the 1st was in Kauai, coming down out of the mountains towards Anahola Bay where a whale was breaching in the distance -so cool). I came back from my run to find them in the hot tub again. 

Once I cooled down, and they dried off, we were off to the ice skating rink at the lodge. Tanner was all fired up to try skating (why I have NO idea) and had mentioned it several times over the course of the first couple of days. It is a really nice outdoor rink and, like Squaw, is so stupidly expensive, I was a little concerned we were paying $80.00 for what would be 4 minutes of ice skating.....and for Faith it was. So got literally about 25 feet and was done. Luckily, they gave us a refund for her fees so she became official family photographer. I love to skate and have been doing it my whole life. Marisa likes it, but in the "elephants from Fantasia" sort of style. The boys really gave it a good go for quite a while...we got our moneys worth. 

We came back home and got changed and walked, yep, walked to dinner. We ate at the pizza place in the lodge and had some really expensive pizza. Luckily, it was REALLY good. We ate out on the patio and had a couple of beers (thus the desire to walk) while the kids played around on the lodge grounds, looking at the ducks (they could have been COOKING the ducks for all we cared at that point) and just leaving us alone to enjoy a beautiful evening. 

We came back to the house and read for a bit, then went in the hot tub again. Tomorrow we're thinking fishing, maybe hiking, maybe swimming. We'll see. We're supposed to get some rain tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. We're having a great trip so far and are really enjoying ourselves. 

Old....I'm just so very, VERY old....

So some backstory....

A few weeks ago, I was out back mowing the lawn and listening to my iPod, when "Big City Nights" by the Scorpions came on. I had a vivid memory of being....I don't know how old, and mowing the lawn while listening to that same exact song on my.....must've been walkman at the time (I just googled it, release date 1984....so yeah, walkman.). I then realized that I have been mowing the lawn and listening to that song for almost 30 YEARS!

That right there was almost enough to make me lay down on the lawn and cry. Then, when relating that story to Marisa later, Jake piped in (as he ALWAYS does), that he wanted to start mowing the lawn. I immediately told him he wasn't old enough, to which my better half asked how old I was when I started mowing the lawn....so there you go.

If anyone needs me I'll be on the front porch in the rocker with a glass of lemonade....

End of School Year Wrap Up

It's official. I now have a first grader, a second grader, and a fifth grader. And I'm old. Summer vacation has begun.

The year started to wind down 10 days ago when we had the year end carnival at school. It was lots of fun and the kids all hung out with their buddies all night while Brian and I volunteered at one of the stations and chatted with our friends. We barely saw Tanner all night.  He walked around the carnival with his "gang of three" and clearly wanted to be entirely independent. Jake hung out at the karaoke booth (this year it was Train instead of Nickelback) and the dunk tank (where he dunked both his fourth grade teacher and his PE teacher). Faith and her friend spent most of the time eating lollipops and cotton candy.  They all hung out at Nana's afterwards while Brian and I helped with clean up.

Our trip to CA for Kerri's memorial followed quickly after that. It probably deserves a post all its own but suffice it to say that it was emotionally draining- but luckily the kids got to spend lots of time with cousins and I got to spend lots of time with my sisters and that made it OK. The highlight of the trip, at least for me, was going back to our old house in Saratoga where I grew up. I absolutely LOVED seeing it again and reliving old memories. Jake especially enjoyed crawling under the staircase into the "secret room" and reading the stuff Kim and I had written all over the walls in there when we were 10. Another reminder of how fast time flies.

Today was Kindergarten graduation. My last and final Kindergarten graduation. Sigh. Faith was very excited for the event and had been practicing her songs for weeks. The boys were undecided on whether they would attend or not (it would mean missing out on some of their last day festivities in their own classrooms). In the end, Jake came to watch and take pics while Tanner opted to stay in his room to play games. It was a lot of fun and I only shed a few brief tears. After graduation Faith's best friend Abby came over to play and I headed over to Tanner's classroom to help with his pizza party. Now we have 5  extra kids over here playing for the afternoon. Gotta kick off summer vacation in style. Tonight we are headed to the Merc for dinner, drinks, and more playtime.

Summer vacation is always a mixed blessing. On one hand I love that there is no homework and less structure. On the other hand there is the delicate balancing act of working from home and having three kids around all day....every day.  Not that there will be a ton of down time. The kids are going to Emerald's three days a week for 5 hours a day, Jake has basketball and baseball, and Tanner is playing Summer Ball, too. Brian is coaching their baseball team.  Faith has gymnastics.  I plan on lots of summer reading and shanging out in the yard with our new neighbors (Sheila and Wayne).  We also have lots of trips planned (Sun Valley, Redfish Lake, The Lagoon in SLC, and Lake Tahoe) and random days on the boat. Still, I am counting the hours (or will it only be minutes?) until I hear, "I don't know what to do, Mom. I'm bored!".

It is hard to believe another year has sped by this quickly. Class assignments for next year will be posted next week and the kids all have hopes for their favorite teacher and getting in the class with their buddies. I'll keep my fingers crossed. The fact that we have made it this far with all of them loving school is such a blessing.

So, here's to a summer full of popcicles and cold beer,  long days at the pool and long nights in the yard, books and movies and friends and shave ice and bike rides. And, here's to giving Brian and I the patience and ability to enjoy it even when we hear the likely refrain of, "I don't know what to do today...." for the hundredth time!

Baseball Wrap-Up (kind of)

So we played our last Spring game last night. Tanners team lost, only their second loss of the season. Probably a game we should have won. Our first loss was to the division directors team. She is a great coach and had a bunch of good kids (we will get to face them next year in AA as both of us and most of the boys are moving up). But last nights game was a frustrating way to end a great season. We just didn't hit and made some fielding errors that we normally don't. Oh well. We went to Sonic for the end of the season party and like it does for most kids, ice cream eased the pain. 

I had a great time coaching this group of boys and all of them want to play for me again in AA next year, so that is a plus ( alot of them are REALLY good for this age - Tanner included). 

Jake had a very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of season. His team stunk on ice this year. He had too many boys who hadn't played enough baseball, where things that should be ingrained by this age weren't (IE. when you pick up the ball in the outfield you don't stand there with it while the runner is rounding third etc.). There were some much better teams and they just got pounded on. They could play some good baseball but not consistently enough or for long enough stretches to keep themselves in games. HE on the other hand played played lights out. He pitched (and was the best pitcher on the team - I think he started every game he was eligible), played catcher, 1st, 2nd and short (no outfield this year) and hit well (not strongly, but consistently). He also played EVERY PITCH of EVERY GAME. That was the big key for him this year. He could have moved up, but would have seen a lot of the bench. Staying down gave him the chance to play all the time, shine a little bit and get his confidence. He just loves baseball so much, all the other coaches and parents say to me all the time, 'Is that your kid? I just love watching him play.', which is great to hear. 

We are ramping up for Summer Baseball and AAU Summer Basketball for Jake. Jake and Tanner will play on my Summer Ball team (The WARRIORS - yep, we get to pick whatever we want for Summer), but we have a couple of weeks downtime while I get the league up and running. So I'll unpack my baseball gear for a few weeks, get the garage organized and jump back into it for another six week season. 

That doesn't mean the BASEBALL is over however. The league is in the middle of All Star craziness (Jake ISN'T playing this year), hosting a District Tournament, getting Summer Ball up and running and trying to re-fill board positions and chase down volunteers for next season already. I am one of the few returning Board members for next year and am trying to change the league into more of a year round commitment for people so we can continue to grow. THAT is taking a lot of my free time these days. I'm sure it's the same in all all-volunteer organizations, but 20% of the people involved do 90% of the work. We have some creative solutions that we are working on, but we are still struggling to get parents to realize that you don't get to just drop off your kid and NOT get involved. For boys anyway, the Little League experience is such a touchstone as they grow older, it's important to make it as good as we can, for as many kids as we can. 

So for those following at home, it goes; baseball, baseball and basketball, football, basketball, Christmas.....break for Dad. 

Mother's Day

So I should probably just say up front as a warning to anyone that reads this (including my future self and my middle-aged children) that this is gonna be sappy. But I can't help it. At the risk of bringing huge doom down upon the House of Alan, I have to say that I have been feeling just so damn happy lately. So content. Job is great. Kids are great. Marriage is great. Life is in balance.  Now, don't get me wrong... life isn't perfect... but I'm thinking that it's about as perfect as life should be. You know? I mean, any better and I guess I'd feel guilty or wouldn't appreciate the little things.  But seriously. I just feel so blessed.

I realized today,Mother's Day, as special as it was, just really isn't THAT much different than my average Sunday these days. I mean, yeah... I got presents from Brian and the kids and maybe everyone tried extra hard to get along and be nice. But like most Sundays we hung out together, and played at the pool.  I read my book, and we watched some Giants on TVwhile Brian did the laundry.  The Warriors won Game 4 so that was nice of them. And the season finale of Survivor  Season 26 is on tonight so that's a bonus. And the mimosas I made my mom and I for brunch aren't the norm in my household.   But overall the day was much like a lot of Sundays. And how cool is that????

I started my day around 8AM when the kids ran into the room and bombarded me with hugs. Tanner ran in saying, "MOM, I HAVE A PRESENT FOR YOU IN MY MOUTH!". Ummmmm. OK. What in the heck does that mean, Tan?? He said, "You are the BEST MOMMY in the world! See? It was in my mouth!". Love that kid. Faith read me her Kindergarten portfolio that she had made. Jake gave me a book with the words to "It's a Wonderful World" and a CD with that song on it. He also made me a beautiful pendant at school that really looks like it came from a high end jewelry store. Tanner had a poem that he wrote for me (the focus of which was what a good cook I am... WHAT? What mom are these kids really living with? All of their preschool and preK and Kindergarten notes mention what a great cook I am. I guess they really like frozen pizza, grilled cheese, and PB and J! LOL!  In my list of things I do well as a mom, cooking isn't one of them!!)


Later in the morning Mom came over for mimosas and mixed berries and the kids bounced on the trampoline and played basketball in the yard while Brian went for a run.

We went to the pool and played there for a few hours then came home to watch the Warriors take game 4.  I went down to Starbucks and got an iced mocha and got to sing along loudly to all my favorite songs on the way with the windows rolled down. We topped it off with dinner out. A pie is in the oven and Survivor goes on as soon as the kids go to bed and Brian hides in the bedroom to avoid having to hear or see any part of what I lovingly refer to as "my date with Jeff Probst".

Now I am going to go knock on a lot of wood because now that I've put down on paper just how great life is, something bad is bound to happen. But I guess if it all goes to hell tomorrow I will have this as a reminder to how wonderful things can be and will be again. Right???

Father/Daughter Dance 2013

Faith was old enough this year for us to go to the annual Father/Daughter dance at the Merc together. We talked about going a few weeks ago and she was so excited ever since. Any excuse to wear a fancy dress and shoes is going to make a big impression on Faith and this event fit the bill. Marisa took her out to pick out a new dress and fancy shoes. She chose one with a huge bow in the back and a layer of tulle underneath the skirt so that it stuck out all around. Her brothers went upstairs to help her get ready: Jake zipped her up, Tanner held the bracelet and necklace. It was very sweet. 

I got ready and we left about 6:30. It was a tropical theme so when we arrived we both got leis. We got pictures taken and then had some dinner. Steak and salad for me, chicken nuggets, tater tots and ranch for her. She had sherbet punch to drink and then the DJ started up. 

Faith was VERY unsure about the whole dancing concept. She was looking around with VERY BIG eyes and seemed a little taken aback by the crowded dance floor and loud music. She spent the first few dances barely moving and just looking at everyone on the dance floor. I took some video and it's a little heart breaking to see how nervous and tentative she was. 

Well what to do? We couldn't hit the bar, so we did the next best thing, drugs for kids....sugar. We hit the dessert table HARD. Faith had more sherbet punch, a couple of mini cupcakes, cookies and a handful of skittles. After that we went outside, where she ran into a bunch of her friends from school. They then proceeded to run around, swing on the stair railings and just generally let the sugar work them into a frenzy. 

I kept asking Faith if she was tired and ready to go home (it was way after bedtime at this point), but she kept saying no that she wanted to stay. She and her friends then decided that they wanted to dance more. This time, she was all good to go. She and her friends all danced together in the corner song after song- YMCA, Moves Like Jagger, Hands Up... all the pre-teen favorites. By this time it had devolved into a dance floor full of girls while the Dad's stood around drinking beer and talking about baseball. 

Once it got dark, we headed home. Faith was very excited to tell her Mom and brothers all about the dance. It took her quite awhile to settle down and get to sleep. I think she had a great time and is already looking forward to next year. 

Alan Family Update April 2013

I can't believe it's the end of April already. The kids only have four weeks of school left and spring has officially arrived. Baseball is in full swing and even though it makes week nights kind of hectic we are all really loving it. Even Faith. She spends most of the games on the playground finding friends to play with, creating "cities" in the tanbark, practicing on the bars, etc... Tanner meets his friend, Gus, during Jake's games and the two of them play catch for hours on end. Brian coaches Tanner's team and is helping with Jake's team doing whatever needs to be done. Usually it is first base coaching and field prep. So our lives these days are governed by baseball- which in my book isn't such a bad thing.

Also on the sports front….the Warriors are in the playoffs for the first time since Faith was born. I vividly remember watching the playoffs with Auntie Sue and Mary here and holding my little baby girl in my arms. That was six years ago so having the Warriors in the playoffs again is pretty fun. Game 5 is tonight and the boys will be able to watch at least some of it before bed this time since it starts at 6. They all love seeing Uncle Eric on the sidelines and watching Curry- who Jake got to meet when he turned 8 (we still have a picture of the two of them together) hit his 3 pointers.

Faith is still loving Kindergarten and is an avid reader. She is reading chapter books now- crazy- and will read for long stretches on her own. I got her a "reading pillow" for her bed so she can sit up while she reads each night before going to sleep. Her latest favorite is the Princess Posey series. She is ready for first grade.... but I'm afraid I am really not ready to move past this Kindergarten milestone. She is still doing gymnastics right now but I finally had to bite the bullet and let her sign up for Optimist Cheerleading for the fall. This is the third year she has asked me to do it and I finally had to let go of my bias against cheerleaders and let her give it a shot- even though in my heart I really think it is silly. She will be cheering for Jake's team- the Blue Thunder. She loves art and doing crafts and bouncing on the trampoline. She likes to spell and write notes and recently I found this sign posted on her bedroom door: “No boys alowd! (ecept Dad)”.

Yesterday Faith's best friend, Abby, gave her a BFF necklace. So cute. Faith didn't even know what it meant so I had to explain it to her. But she loves the necklace. She and Abby are inseparable. In fact, she had Abby spend the night a few weekends ago. That was her first sleepover and she loved it! She is growing up so much- she is getting so tall and so independent. She is still her mama's girl, though, and loves snuggles and kisses and tickles. This Saturday she is going to the Merc's annual Father Daughter Dance with Brian. I took her out to get a special new dress and shoes for the event. She is really excited. They will have pictures first, then dinner with fancy drinks, then the dancing begins with a live band. I wish I could be a fly on the wall. I know they will be so cute together.

Talk about independent.... Tanner has really grown up a lot this last year. He has his core group of buddies and they are like the Three Amigos. They are always together. Lately he is into playing kickball and comes home with the absolute dirtiest knees you have ever seen. I guess he slides a lot. But, seriously, I can't keep up with the dirt. He often comes home from school just filthy from head to toe. I let him ride his bike to the Merc and the library this weekend. It was the first time I let him do it without an adult. I made sure Jake knew the rules: wait up for his little brother, stop at all intersections, and walk your bike across the streets. In a weak moment of "helicopter parenting" I have to admit I got in my car and watched from a few blocks back to make sure they were being safe. But after seeing that they were following my directions really well I regained my senses and went home. They never saw me and never knew that I was checking up on them.

He, too, is an amazing reader and reads every night at bedtime. Lately he likes the books by Andrew Clements (Frindle, The Report Card, etc...). Brian is reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe out loud right now and he is really into that story, too. Last week he won the character trait award for the first grade: Perseverance. Two students from each grade are picked to win and they are given an award and some cookies during a little after school celebration. 

He loves math and art and baseball and bouncing on the trampoline.  He is loving playing on the Yankees machine pitch team this year. His group of buddies are all on the team for the third year in a row and Brian says he will keep coaching them until it no longer works for Tanner. Jake stopped being able to be coached effectively by Brian around age 7 but so far Tanner seems to really like it still. Their team is so good- all the boys can hit and most can field. They are turning plays at first and second on a regular basis. It's so much fun to watch because he just so obviously loves it. He decided to play flag football in the fall and he is excited to give that a try. He spent two years watching Jake play Optimist Flag and has been anxiously awaiting the day when he would be old enough to join. That's going to make September and October REALLY BUSY with both boys playing football and Faith cheerleading. Wow. I'd better start gearing up now!

Jake only has four weeks left in fourth grade. Fifth grade just seems SO OLD and it is killing me.  He has had a great year at school and has loved his teacher, Mr. Borjian.   He still loves math and while he is a great reader, it is hard finding books that he likes. He's still not into fantasy but has at least branched out of just sports books into realistic fiction and is willing to listen to some fantasy when we read out loud. His anxiety is mostly behind him at this point (keeping fingers and toes crossed).   Mostly school for him is social, though. He has his group of friends and it's a round robin of who is his best friend any given week. They all play kickball together and, from what I can gather, talk about which girls they like. He is still quite the ladies man- he gets notes passed to him from girls all the time telling him how cute, funny, and nice he is. It is so funny to me to see these girls with crushes on him and I am loving the fact that he will still share it all with me. Oh, my… I know we will have our hands full with that one in just a few years time. (Oh, wait... our hands are full with that one NOW... just not with regards to dating and girls yet!). 

He is really enjoying playing AAA baseball again this year. I am so glad we encouraged him to stay in AAA instead of moving up to Majors. He gets to play all of every game in key positions: pitcher, short stop, second base, catcher instead of playing right field for a few innings every game like last year. He is definitely a leader on the team and it is great to watch him rally his teammates, cheer his team on, etc... A lot of the games are held up here at Hidden Springs which makes it easy and fun since Tanner and Faith can have the run of the school playground and keep themselves entertained during the games so I can actually watch. He won't play All Stars this summer, but will play Summer Ball, coached by Brian in late June and July.  

Summer is coming up fast. The kids will spend 15 hours a week with Emerald and her family. We are so lucky.  Emerald is the mom I always wished I would be but rarely come close to approximating: She does cool  arts and crafts like paper mache and lets the kids get the house messy and muddy and takes them to the creek and plays game after game with them all. She is the mother of 4 boys and my three love hanging out there with them. She makes things for lunch like Kale Smoothies (and they actually like them!). We all love Emerald and those 15 hours a week help Brian and I keep our sanity while trying to work from home full time and have all three kids off school. In addition to Emerald’s we have lots of little trips planned. In June we will go to Sun Valley for five nights and stay at my boss’ house. In July we are heading to Redfish Lake Lodge for two nights with Sheila, Wayne, and two of their grandkids. In August we head to CA for a Giants game, Train concert, my b’day, and Mary’s 70^th bday celebration.  In between we hope to take our boat out for Happy Hour and Sunday trips to the lake.  I already know how fast the  summer days are going to go by and am already trying to figure out ways to make them last and last and last.

Easter 2013

The best part of Easter this year was the neighborhood party. Brian and I volunteered to hide eggs first thing in the morning so we left the kids at home and went down to the Merc for a quick breakfast before heading to the field to hide (literally) thousands of eggs. While we were there we were visited by the neighborhood red fox. He has an injured leg and limped around the area, coming as close as 10 feet of us and ultimately stealing a couple of the eggs we were hiding, going back up on the hill, breaking them open and eating the candy inside. Clever little guy. We went home and  brought the kids down so they could see him and also so they could  help  with the rest of the set up. They had a very important job of “Bunny Wranglers”. There were 4 bunnies set up in a hay bale arrangement and they kept trying to escape. We knew Faith would be all over that job!

In addition to the Easter Egg Hunt there was face
painting, a bounce house, craft stations, a sack race, and a tug of war. We all had a really good time hanging with friends and playing together as a family.

Easter morning brought the traditional Easter egg hunt with too much candy and the written clues in eggs leading to a fun present (Alan Family Tradition). The clues this year led them to a water mister system for the trampoline. Since they always want to pour water on the tramp in the summer, we thought a mister might be fun for them and allow them to bounce even in 90+ degree weather.  Nana gave them a trip to the movie theater to see The Croods (we were supposed to go Easter Day but Nana was sick so we postponed it for another weekend).  A trip to the “REAL” movie theater downtown is always a treat!!

It was a gorgeous weekend- 70 degrees and sunny. And, once again, I was amazed by how wonderful the first beautiful, warm weekend of spring is after a long winter. The Hefeweizen came out, lawn chairs were dusted off, and the yard work began.  The kids played outside from morning til night (when we had to drag them in to get them ready for bed). This is just a sample of things to come in the months ahead. I love it.

Leading off and playing 2nd base.....

Another baseball season is underway. Jake is playing AAA again this year, while Tanner has moved up from TBall to Pitching Machine. Faith decided mid way thru last season that she really didn't like baseball and didn't want to play again. I think she's too much of a free-spirit for the stuctured game that baseball is. 

I am also on the board of directors this year as the information officer. It has been an eye opening experience how much work goes into playing a kids game. As the information officer, I am responsible for the league website, all the schedules and scores, all the league communication and database and this year I handled our registration as we tried to re-build the process to make it easier on the parents. Needless to say this is a lot or time and work. But I am a big believer in the power of youth sports to shape character and baseball in particular that it feels good to help out by giving back. I have met a bunch of great people and made some great friends in the process of getting the season started. I am the division director for Summer Baseball as well, which is a skeleton program so it's basically just  me and I can do what I want. This year I am going to let Tanner play up and he and Jake will be on the team I coach, so that should be a lot of fun also. But in the immediate future, I am the Pitching Machine Division coach for Tanner's Yankees team. 

His team is the Yankees (at Tanner's insistance) for the third year in a row. It's a few of the same boys from last year, with a couple of additions from the Y Basketball team I coached this last season, plus a couple of new kids. We have just had practices so far and games don't start until next week. Tanner is playing catcher and loves it so far. He did take a pitch off the arm the other night and it hurt. He is number 8 and his new favorite player is Yogi Berra (also a Yankees catcher who wore #8). Proud dad aside, he's also the best player on the team by a long shot. I thought it would take him a bit to adjust to the machine, but the first time up he was driving balls back up the middle and into the outfield on the fly. He's going to have a great season, but I can already tell that this is going to be his only season in Pitching Machine. Next year he'll move up to AA kid pitch. 

Jake is in AAA again this year. At 10, you have to try out for Majors, which he did, but you have the option of requesting to stay down in AAA. I know a couple of the Majors coaches and he would have gotten drafted up if we wanted to, but that likely would have meant less playing time, against bigger pitchers and a lot of bench time, just given his age and size. By staying down in AAA, he'll play more, he'll pitch more and he'll be one of the better players in the league. The only downside to this plan is he got drafted by a team that's not very good. Our first game was the other night and we lost 8-0. But Jake got to catch, play shortstop and close the game out on the mound. He played the entire game and did really well. His team may not have such a good season, but he will I think. 

We had our opening day yesterday. As a board member I was at the field ALL DAY helping with the festivities, but I really enjoyed it. We are talking about making a bunch of changes next year and I will be one of the few returning board members, so I am trying to get some new ideas up and running. I love baseball, and I love little league. 

If you would like to see our league website and what I do, click here . You can also see the schedules and follow Jake's team in the scores and standings. Tanner is the Rookie (Pitching Machine) Yankees and Jake is the AAA Rockies. We'll get some photos posted soon. Until then, PLAY BALL!

Labor of Love

Our youngest child seems to take after her mother in terms of organization: she throws everything onto the floor, mixes it all together, and sees no reason to pick it up or organize it even if no one can step foot into her room. I grew out of it…(editors note. ummmmm...., I'm not so sure you did)... I know she will too. However, in the meantime, Brian and I figured we might be able to help her a bit by giving her a little more to work with in terms of places to put things. So we began our hunt for new furniture for her room. I use the term “new” very loosely as we were following Craigslist. Whatever we bought would be new to her, but not new per se. In any case, we found what looked like a perfect fit for her on Saturday. Unfortunately it was way out in Nampa- a good 45 minutes away- but we headed out there anyway and after viewing it, Faith fell in love with it, and we decided we’d come back the following day to buy it, take it apart, and lug it home. As you can see in the picture it is BIG. And it has MANY pieces. I actually had difficulty sleeping Saturday night worrying about if it would fit in our two cars and whether or not we’d have to head back out a third time in order to complete the mission. We discussed, briefly, whether it wouldn’t just be better to go find a similar bed at a local furniture store (and pay 3 times the cost) but decided that buying used teaches the kids so many good lessons: saving money, helping the environment, the pay off of hard work, the satisfaction in a job well done, etc… so we decided it made sense to devote what we knew would be a large part of the weekend to this project.

Anyway, Sunday morning we headed out again, in two cars. We left the kids in the Suburban with video games galore while Brian and I went inside the tiny house full of people. I’m not sure but it may have been a polygamous household- 6 children, two women, 1 man and many, many pets (2 dogs, 4 cats, 2 bunnies). The house stunk to high heaven. We proceeded to break the bed/desk/dresser/fort into about 50-60 smaller pieces, all of which were then lugged outside and divided between the two cars. They barely fit- each car was packed to the rim.  This part of the process took almost 2 hours.  For those of you keeping track, we were now at 1.5 hours driving time on Sat, 1.5 hours driving time on Sunday, and 2 hours to take bed apart and load it into the car. And the hard part was yet to come. 

Brian stopped at the nearest gas station to wash his hands in scalding hot water, then changed out of every last bit of clothing and threw them immediately into the washing machine. Cat pee. UGH!

We arrived back home at 1PM on Sunday and proceeded to pull each and every part out of the cars and lay them on the lawn for disinfecting. The kids and I wiped down every single piece, both sides, and sprayed them all with Lysol, prior to carrying them up, one by one, to Brian who attempted to put them all back together in the right order. Let me tell you… I had my doubts that it was possible. But we kept at it and put the puzzle back together one piece at a time. Mom arrived when we were about ¾ done and provided wine to keep my energy up (you can always count on Mom to bring the wine!). We ordered pizza partway through the process and although I sat down to take a break, Brian worked through dinner. Finally, at about 630 that evening we had the bed up and ready to go. 11 hours of labor. That’s how spent our Sunday.

However, it was all worth it. Faith LOVES her bed. There are nooks and crannies to store things in, a desk to do art on, a place to store her toys, and the bed is up high (which she thinks is the coolest thing ever).  As soon as it was put together all the way, she and Tanner set about “organizing” it.  They threw all her toys and stuffed animals into the fort under the bed, put special things on the shelves of the desk, filled the desk drawers with various items, decided where to store her underwear, socks, jammies, and tights, etc…. It was about the cutest thing to watch ever. Faith was clearly in charge and Tanner was clearly her “helper” and the way they worked together was amazing. Mom and I just stood back and let them have at it, listening in as Tanner asked for direction and Faith hemmed and hawed about where things should be placed. That night they both slept on it together (Jake was at a friend’s house for a sleepover).

Watching them work together for hours was the sweetest thing.  Brian and I went to bed exhausted but feeling pretty damn good about the work we had done as a family and the lessons that we hope were passed onto the kids through the effort.

10 going on 17

For the first time in a few years, Jakes birthday was going to be short this year. Normally the kids birthdays fall mid-week, so they have a friend birthday party on the weekend, then their real birthday party during the week on their actual birthdate. It has a tendency to become Mardi-Gras like in duration. But this year, Jake's birthday was on a Sunday, so it was all encompassed in one weekend of birthday-ness.

He had six friends over for a sleepover on Saturday night. Then we had our birthday dinner and birthday party as a family on Sunday. BOOM. Done. 

There are other ways it was different though. None of them as easy as scheduling. 

He's getting so old. It's become instant teenager around here, just add water. He's cross and scowling most of the time at home. You can see him with his friends and he's laughing and having a blast, but then he gets in the car and it's like a blast of cold air comes in with him. He argues, he sulks, he's sarcastic (yes I KNOW - that's my fault) and he spends a lot of time in his room (not his choice most of the time - I just banish him there). But it's more than just the attitude.

He would rather be almost anywhere than with us. He goes out to play with his friends and is just GONE for hours at a time. Up in the foothills, down at he creek, at his friends houses, anywhere but home. It used to be for his friend birthday party, even as recently as last year, we scheduled events and games and movies. This year we didn't do a thing. They just came over and went upstairs. The few times we went to look in on them we got an embarrassed stare, an eye roll and quiet derision until we closed the door and came back downstairs. 

There are glimpses that our real boy is still in there however. He has always been friends with a boy with Downs Syndrome at school. Really since right after we moved here. Anthony may have been one of his first friends in the neighborhood. Jake invited Anthony to his party this year, which thrilled Anthony and his parents. He couldn't stay for the sleepover part, but he had a good time at the party and left at 7:00 or so. Jake was so great with him (and always is) that you can't help but be proud of him. He instinctively knows how to interact with Anthony, doesn't talk down to him, makes sure he's doing okay and having a good time, and keeps him in check behavior wise. It really is amazing to watch and gives me hope that he'll come out of this phase and go back to the wonderful boy he was just yesterday it seems like. 

His world also has become very weirdly social, like teenage girl social. He gets in spats with his friends, they clique up on each other. He totally avoids someone for weeks at a time, then spends hours and days with that same person, them against the world, friends forever. He had a friend he was on the out's with until the day before the sleep over, then all of the sudden they were best buddies again and the party couldn't happen without Charley. So Marisa had to get involved and go through the mom to get things smoothed out and the last minute invite delivered.

It really has become quite surreal almost overnight, and the party was the perfect example. They came through the door, went upstairs, came down when we gave them food, went back upstairs and totally avoided us until it was time to leave. 

I guess it's just life and I was a teenager myself once upon a time. I DO remember it not happening until high school though. NOT AT 10 years old!

Happy birthday Jake. Act your damn age!

Faith Turns 6

Faith turned 6 last week. I know I say this every single year… but REALLY?? Six?? Unbelievable. She was so excited for her birthday this year- it was really cute because in the past it hasn’t been a very big deal to her but this year she was talking about it for weeks beforehand. Kind of incessantly. She basically wanted everything she saw in every store we went into and on every TV commercial she saw for the two months leading up to the big day.  She wrote out a birthday list that included who she would invite, what she wanted for cake, what she wanted as presents, what would be in goody bags, where the party would be, etc.. 

The night before her birthday I took down the blog and we read together how she was born at 9:29AM. We looked at the pictures of her little bald head with the glued on red bow. We talked about how right after the dr. took her out of my tummy I asked, “Is it really a girl??” because I still didn’t truly believe I was going to have a daughter.

When she woke up on March 6^th she was greeted with huge “Happy Birthdays” from all of us, including Grandma Mary who stayed in town to help celebrate. She was definitely the Queen for a Day. She had a chocolate donut with m and ms’s on top for breakfast and opened one of her presents from Auntie Sue so she could wear new clothes to school that day. She was very excited to bring in her birthday treat to school (chocolate cupcakes made with help from Grandma Mary) and was highly anticipating the time when she would get to stand on one of the tables in her classroom while her classmates sang “Happy Birthday” to her.  

After school Brian took her to dinner at her choice of places- Lulu’s Pizza. They were only gone for about an hour because she was just too excited to come home and open her presents. She got several stuffed animals (a Mama Tiger and a Baby Tiger), some clothes, a Lego Friends Pet Salon from her brothers, and a little pony that walks when you pet its back. She was thrilled with all of her presents. We followed that with cupcakes and ice cream. I tucked my baby in that night and besides being so grateful to have her in my life, I felt very nostalgic for the days of her babyhood.

Saturday was her birthday party with her friends from school. She chose to have the party at the place that she does her gymnastics. The six girls played for an hour on the equipment then had cake (animal theme, of course)and ice cream and opened presents. Grandpa Phil and Joan were in town for the weekend so they got to participate in the fun. 

All in all, I think her 6th birthday was a huge success and I can go back to devising a way to keep her this age forever. 

Last Day

I think we're kind of ready to be home. We are both a little done with the resort, both a little done with the food, and both a little done with the weather. We are having a nice time together and the sounds of the waves as a backdrop to everything is just great, but we miss the kids and are ready to be back home.

Today it rained again. Marisa handled it much better than I thought she would, I was concerned upon waking and hearing the rain falling that I was going to have to play "perspective goalie" all day today. But she got up and went for a walk on the beach after breakfast while I went and worked out and sat in the sauna for awhile. After that we met up for a chilly, but fun, swim. We read for a little bit down by the beach and just had a very low-key morning.

She wanted to go out to lunch instead of eating at the resort, so we walked down to the Margaritaville Restaurant and had lunch and walked back in the rain. We got ice cream in the lobby and then came back up to the room for a nap. Now I am typing this while she is down working out. I think a night in is on the agenda, with room service dinner and a movie. We'll make time for one last walk on the beach tonight before it gets dark.

We've had a great time, and a great break, but can't wait to come back home and see everyone.

Like They Say in Baseball...

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains. Today it rained. All day. After such a beautiful warm Mexican day yesterday it is a little disappointing. Today was start to finish dreary, wet, and cold.  We got all of our souvenir shopping done, though, and took a long nap in our room. I still had the obligatory pina colada- I just had to drink it inside instead of at the pool or beach. I'm trying not to let the weather bug me too much and just appreciate the fact that we are here. 

The picture is me with the Senor Frog's frog here at the resort. Coco Bongo is a nightclub here that is really, really popular. It is advertised everywhere you go. Our resort arranges nightly trips there that leave at 10PM. Ha Ha. We are so old- neither of us can even imagine going out to a nightclub and starting our night at 10 O'Clock. Not at all like the "olden days" of single trips to Club Med! Wow how things change. 

Here's hoping for some sunshine tomorrow. Kiddos- since I know you are going to read this tonight, please do a little "sun dance" for us, OK? You can make it up as you go along... interpretative dance, a nice little chant... that should do the trick. 

Faith- I promised you I'd send you the picture of the towel elephant so here it is. Enjoy!

We miss you guys and love you more than you know. 

Meircoles (Wednesday)

So I have applied all of the quantum physics that I have learned from watching "The Big Bang Theory" and was able to explain to Marisa this afternoon, why the days seem so long here (even though it gets dark at 6:00 PM). We have all day, the same 24 hours that we have at home, but we have them all to ourselves. No, "Tanner is being mean to me!", "I'm hungry", making lunches, doing homework etc. Not that we don't love doing those things for the kids, you just don't know how much of your time they take up until you don't have to do them for awhile.

We woke up, and have been, at 6:00 am or so, which is just fine with me because I'm waking up when my body wants me to, not to an alarm, or to noise from upstairs, or to the dog. Just me saying, "I've had enough sleep, I'm well rested, I'm good, let's go!" It was gorgeous weather today, not as windy as it has been, no rain and warm. We started our day down at the "party pool" as they have chairs that face the Gulf and the beach. The Gulf was warm enough to swim in today and we dove in before 7:00 am and had a great morning swim before breakfast. After breakfast, it was back to the pool and our books for a bit.

At 10:00 we went down to the spa for our massages. We got massages in the couples room so we were both in the same room which was nice. The massage was awesome (full disclosure it was purchased on Living Social) and about put me 1/2 to sleep while I laid there. After massages it was back to the room for a shower and then we decided to go our separate ways for a bit. Marisa has a bit of "I am woman hear me roar!" in her that shows up every once in a while, today she needed to show Mexico that she could wander around on her own, undaunted. Not being able to keep up with that, and knowing that discretion states that I shouldn't be around when that particular part of her personality is in charge (just cause it does things that don't make sense to me, and I'm not allowed to ask why...", I went for a run on the beach. 

We met up on the beach about a mile from the resort and walked back together, hand in hand in the waves. The water was so great that as soon as we got back we changed and went back down to the beach to swim in the Gulf again. We had some drinks (Marisa more than me, she's still lit as I type), got some pizza, swam and cooled off. 

So now it was all of 1:00. We got some lunch (the pizza was technically a snack) and headed back up to the room for siesta time. We napped for a couple of hours, I don't think anyone needs details on how AWESOME that is. After nap, back down to the other pool for swimming and more boat drinks for someone....then back to the room to shower, write this blog post and get ready for dinner. I'd like to say we're going to go out and hit the disco or whatever, but we'll likely be in bed by nine. Again, just me saying, "enough for today, more tomorrow, let's hit the sheets." Again, our time, our rules, our needs. Awesome.


Tanner asked where exactly we were as he would like to come to Mexico so he can eat bean and cheese burritos for every meal. So the map is for him and the kids. The other pictures don't really need any explanation.

Tuesday

Great day. I can't say we did much- I am pretty sure we took 3 naps. We woke up early- around 6- so the day was relaxed and felt long in the best possible way.  We didn't leave the resort. We sat by both pools, walked on the beach a little, read, ate, worked out, drank tropical drinks.....did I mention that we napped?

Quote that best sums up the day: (Marisa- after getting up out of a hammock and starting to walk into the buffet for lunch):  "Honey, did I wear shoes?".  If that doesn't say "resort living" I'm not sure what does. 

One of the reasons for our multiple naps was the weather. It was beautiful all morning but after lunch- right around 1:00- it started pouring. It rained cats and dogs for about 15 minutes, then rained on and off for the next 2 hours. A perfect afternoon to read in bed overlooking the turquoise blue ocean, nodding off now and then, and finally turning to Brian to say, "Oh my god, is it REALLY 3:45??". 

There are TONS of shells here. Huge ones. They are gorgeous and Brian and I keep wanting to pick them up and bring them home to you guys but we know we probably couldn't get them through customs and neither of us is willing to risk Mexican jail. Sorry, guys. I'll try to get a picture of some of them tomorrow.

Faith- the picture of the kitty cat is for you. When we returned from lunch we found this little towel creation waiting for us on our bed. I instantly thought of you and knew if you'd been here you would have loved it.

Jake- the picture I took for you is of parasailing. There were lots of people out on the water today riding jet skis and parasailing.  Someday we will do that together. 

Tanner- you got the picture of the pelican  yesterday. I'll be on the lookout for a good picture for you tomorrow. On a side note, another indication that I am losing brain cells while I am here in Mexico is that I had to ask Brian what the name of that bird is that dives into the water and has a big beak). 

Si, excepto ella no es facil

Okay so this is a shot of our room in Cancun. Pretty great, right? You sir, would be wrong about that. Because of the above statement. Love her as I do, my wife is not easy, especially about bargains and getting what she paid for.

The room in question, while having an ocean view, had two double beds as opposed to the king bed that she wanted. I was told this was NOT romantic and would tarnish the memories of the vacation…We were told to come back to the front desk the morning to see about possibly switching rooms to get a king bed. We were there bright and early, unfortunately, the front desk operates on resort time (which we kind of expected). So we went and had a great breakfast, wandered around the resort for awhile and went back at 10:00 am.

They showed us a room with a king bed in our same building, with no view. Again, not acceptable. This is when I explained to the bellhop that my wife, while lovely and kind, wants what she wants and not much will dissuade her (using the above Spanish). So, back to the front desk we went. We were told this was the last available room. We then said the magic word, “upgrade” all of the sudden, the red sea parted and there were more rooms available, just not right then.  We had to come back at two when the rooms were clean. So we walked down to the shops and wandered around the hotel zone a little bit.

Back at 2:00 on the dot, we met with our new best friend at the front desk. She had a bellhop take us to a REALLY nice room with a king bed, ocean view, Jacuzzi tub, shower spa, free wi-fi and unlimited access to the gym (hey, you vacation your way, I vacation mine). The free gym swung if for me and we upgraded. We are both much happier.

If you are thinking the whole thing sounds a little orchestrated and planned, yeah you’re probably right. I’m fine going thru the rest of the vacation with “sucker” tattooed across my forehead. My wife is happy. As I also told the bellhop (we were buds by now), there is a saying in the US, “Happy wife, happy life”. Mine is, on both counts.

PS. Hey Tanner - Look at this cool pelican!