August 29, 2010

August 29, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a busy week. We have managed to get a lot of work done, and at least towards the end of the week have been able to have some fun too. Monday was a beautiful day. Not nearly as hot as it has been. After grocery shopping and such I had a quick doctor’s appointment for a shot. I took the boys since it wouldn’t be worth finding a sitter for such a short time. After the doctor’s we went to a park that is a little further from our house that B-man loves. I called M who met us there right as we were pulling into the parking lot. The boys both had a great time, but the humidity seemed to be rising as we were at the park and we left. For FHE that night we went swimming at the pool. J decided that he wanted to be walking more than crawling and put on an impressive display while at the pool. I think the rough concrete encourages him to walk, and the smooth surface makes it easier.

Tuesday was a quiet day until M got home. He came home a little early so that he could set up the bunk beds that we purchased to go into B-man’s room. Originally we bought them thinking we could hold onto them for a while and keep an eye out for something cheaper at a garage sale or on Craigslist. (They are from Costco.) But the boxes were so heavy that M didn’t want to carry it downstairs, and then have to carry it back up two flights of stairs. It has been sitting in our main room ever since, and it is two LARGE boxes. Saturday I had found a mattress at a garage sale so we decided that it was time to set it up. Setting up furniture is not the most fun job in the world. It’s stressful because you want everything to be perfect, undamaged, etc. Plus we were adding in the stress of managing two very active boys. B-man ended up being very helpful, but J was quite the opposite. It is hard to hold a headboard, and a one year old at the same time. Eventually I had to go to mutual. I felt horrible leaving M in the middle of a project with a messy house (we had to completely empty the room of everything, plus all of the cardboard etc…) and two awake children. While I was at mutual we taught the girls a “Survival Course” on how to lead music, give a good talk, and pray in public. Sadly the girls that needed it the most weren’t there… When I got home M reported that we had put the bed together wrong, and needed to fix it. It was just short of starting all over (including undoing the work we had done). Eventually we got the bottom bunk put together and B-man back into it for bed.

Wednesday was a crazy day. It started with us going to the farm. The weather at the farm was really quite lovely. We met a friend there and had a great time. We got home and had lunch and then I decided that I was going to do my first canning. I had found a recipe for “Ginger Garlic Dilly Beans” which are pickled green beans. I love pickled green beans; they are like small crunchy pickles. You don’t think it is a green bean at all. I had never done it before and quickly realized that I knew nothing about canning. I pulled out a comprehensive cookbook that had a section on canning and was able to decipher some of the instructions. For example a hot water bath means that it needs to be completely submerged in water… I discovered two problems, one I didn’t have a pot big enough for the hot water bath, and two dill seed is different from dill weed. Luckily I only had to make one phone call before getting access to someone’s canning equipment, and I was able to run to the store for the dill seed. I had everything ready to go by this point, I put J down for a nap and then started filling the jars with liquid, sealing them, and then giving them their “bath.” I was so excited that they actually sealed, and B-man kept asking if they were pickles yet. Honestly I didn’t even know… We decided to wait a few days to see if it really worked. Canning done, M came home and we started working on the upper portion of the bed. We discovered that B-man’s room was BARELY big enough for the two beds to sit right next to each other. M barely had room for his legs on one side of the bed. It was very tricky to say the least. We took a break at one point to have a friend of ours over for dinner. His family is out of town, and we wanted to make sure he was still eating. The house was a complete disaster between the canning and the bed project. I should have taken pictures. Luckily while we visited after dinner I was able to pull the kitchen back together. Once he left we headed back upstairs to finish the bed. It went faster once J was in bed. B-man was so tired by this point that he actually fell asleep in his bed while we were putting the finishing touches on the second bed. We were even able to lift the bed up and put it on top. It was such a relief to be done. B-man woke up a little and was so grateful and excited that his bed was all done. It made the project worth it.

Thursday was a slower day. We didn’t do much during the day that I can remember, but that night we had another bachelor over for dinner. Pretty quiet day and night.

Friday was another productive day (and my dear mother’s birthday). M had the day off because he had worked so much the last two weeks, and he spent the morning working on projects around the house. The main project was painting the inside of the coat closet on the main level. It has always needed to be painted. We had previously emptied out the closet and M got it all set up and ready to go. After cleaning up and getting ready we went to the circus that was in town. We went to an earlier show so that we wouldn’t have to up too late. We had been given some free tickets from a friend that couldn’t use them because they were out of town. It was a little nerve racking at first. I haven’t been to a circus in years, and it wasn’t quite what I remembered, but once the show started it was actually a lot of fun. They had all the good stuff; elephants, tigers, acrobats, a human cannonball, etc. Even PETA was there protesting when we were leaving. The boys really loved it. After the show we capped off the evening by getting some hot dogs at a local diner. It seemed theme appropriate. We then came home, and M finished cleaning up the painting mess and put J to bed while I took B-man to the pool. They had a movie night at the pool. We ended up leaving early so that we could get B-man to bed.

Saturday I went to garage sales with a friend. Saturday afternoon we spent a lot of time sorting and organizing toys while B-man was at a friend’s house. It’s easier to do when he is not around to object to what is going into “hiding.” We had an early dinner and then went to the pool before bed.

Sunday we had a great morning. M didn’t have meetings so we had a hot breakfast and enjoyed being together with no lessons to prepare for church. J was a stinker during church though. He was so tired and so noisy. I am not sure how we will last until January when he goes to nursery. After church we had dinner and a quiet evening at home.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

August 22, 2010

August 22, 2010

Dear Family & Friends:

Monday morning M got picked up at the airport by a friend who then dropped him off at work. He worked a very long day before finally heading home. He was able to sleep almost all of his flight. While M was working I went up to visit with Jewels and her children one last time. B-man was so excited to be able to play with his cousins again before leaving. We went up earlier in the day and then came home earlier so that we would miss traffic and have time to work on all the packing that had to be done. Packing is never fun, and somehow we collected A LOT of stuff. It was a big pain trying to get it done, and eventually I just gave up once most of it was done.

M got back into Virginia flying in on a red-eye, having a friend take him to work and home.

Tuesday morning I finished the packing and tried to get things organized for the trip. As much as I really tried to be ready well before it was time to go, I was still jamming things into my purse when we were leaving. We were right at the weight limit for several of our bags, and my dad was a little surprised at all of our luggage. It was a good thing I was flying Southwest. I drove with my mom and we picked up my dad from his office. It was nice to have a few more minutes with them in the car, and B-man kept saying the funniest things to try and convince them that it was okay for us to go back to Virginia. For example it was okay because we would be able to chat on the "web cam" and that Grandma and Grandpa would "have more funner because they would be together" just the two of them. It was at least good for a laugh. My dad helped me in with the bags while my mom stayed in the car with the kids. It was a short luggage line and everything went smoothly getting checked in. I have my system down. The flights went fine. Nothing too horrible. Every seat was taken on both legs which meant that J and I got to share... In Chicago we stopped but didn't change planes. I kept asking B-man if he wanted to get off and go walk around, but he just wanted to stay on the plane and walk up and down the aisle. He did go say hi to the pilot, and the pilot let him sit in the "driver's seat" and touch some of the controls and ask lots of questions. I made sure to get pictures. He and J spent the rest of the time walking back and forth up the aisle. Once we got in the air again B-man fell asleep and slept the whole way to DC. It was pretty tricky having J and B-man trying to sleep in my lap. Eventually I had to make poor B-man lean against the window because it just wasn't working. M met us at the airport, I loaded up J in the car and he and B-man went to get the bags. It was very late by the time we all got to bed that night.

Just a glimpse at what our flight was like…

Wednesday M went into work a little later and slept in after the very late night. It was nice to have nothing to do in the morning. B-man slept in way later than J and it meant that I spent the morning unpacking and trying to organize things a little bit. He woke up we had lunch and then headed off to a presidency meeting. After the much needed meeting we had to go straight to a doctor's appointment for J. Then I had to go to Costco so that we had some food in the house. We got home only a few minutes before M, it was a very busy four hours.

Thursday morning I had to go to the doctor's for me. I got a babysitter slightly last minute and was grateful I didn't have to take the boys. I planned it well and got home ten minutes after J woke up from a nap. I was nervous I would get home and he would still be sleeping. That evening I met up with the youth from our ward and drove a car load to the temple to help them participate in Baptisms for the Dead. It was a great experience and everything went very smoothly. While I was gone M took the boys to the pool. Both of our boys love the pool.

Friday morning I had to go back to the doctor (with the boys) so that I could do the glucose test. The rest of the day I spent trying to get caught up on laundry and other things around the house. We had pizza for dinner and then headed back over to the pool before getting the kids to bed.

Saturday morning was a busy but productive day. I spent the morning at garage sales and found several good things. One is a mattress to go on the bunk bed we just bought for the boys. The bunk bed is currently still in the box in our front room, but we needed a mattress before we could set it up. Originally I thought we would just wait and hold it (it's from Costco) until we needed the bed, but when M unloaded it from the car he decided there was no way he was going to carry it down to the basement, and then have to carry it up two flights of stairs. Hopefully we will be setting it up soon. We spent the morning going through some things in the house, taking pictures, and listing things on Craigslist. We also had a friend stop by to use the Internet. He and his family just moved into the area and needed to check some things online. After dinner we once again headed to the pool.

Sunday was pretty typical for us. We started the morning off with meetings for M. I finished my lesson for Young Women's and then when he got home we worked on some dinner preparations. Church went well, and after church we came home and started working on a new recipe that we were making for dinner. We had a family over that just moved into the city and that we knew in Provo. We're so excited to have more people we know in the area. Dinner was great and before we knew what had happened it was time for kids to be put in bed.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

August 15, 2010

August 15, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

I am trying to get caught up with our letters. I hate trying to play catch up because I know I forget so many things. Our last week in California started off on a sad note. J was still having a fever, making it a little difficult to go anywhere or see anything. Monday night M took B-man to Legoland for the last hour before they closed. They got in free and had a great time. B-man only wanted to do this "Driving School" over and over.

Tuesday J woke up with no fever but he had a rash on his mouth, all over his legs, and a little bit on his hands. I didn't officially get it checked out by a doctor but it sounded like a classic case of "Hand, Foot, and Mouth" disease. We get all weird diseases. We were supposed to go to Julie's but obviously had to change our plans. B-man was SO sad that he couldn't go up to their house. It also meant we had another day to do nothing. It was a little frustrating. I had been saving a lot of things to do in this week when M would be here with us. But it was out of our control.

To make matters worse, Wednesday morning B-man woke up with a fever. We were happy that J was feeling better, but once again spent the day at home. M did go to a Padres game that night with my two brothers that are home. They had a great time at the game. While they were gone I had fun with my mom and sister.

Thursday morning we woke up and took an inventory of our children. J was feeling much better, and B-man had no fever and no blisters. We decided that we should risk it and go to Sea World. We have been saving up for many months to go to Sea World, and we had promised B-man that we would go. It looked like it was now or never. We packed a quick lunch and headed out after J's first nap. We figured the day would go better if he had at least one good nap. The day worked out really well. Skate was even able to come with us, which made it even more fun. The park was crowded, but not horrendously. We realized quickly that we would need to get to the shows early for a seat. We had a lot of fun. B-man loved the Sting Ray area where he could actually touch the rays. He also loved the Sea Lion and Otter show. It was hilarious and right up B-man's love of all things silly. J loved everything. He couldn't get enough of the animals. After the last show of the day we decided to run and see the last of the animals, and to ride the roller coaster that they have. I couldn't ride the roller coaster but sent the boys off. B-man was SO excited, and had wanted to ride it all day. I kept watching and watching for them. While J and I waited we watched these dolphins that they had at the "viewing" area of the roller coaster. Eventually we saw them going. Right as they were climbing the hill to come down, the ride stopped! They got stuck at the top of the roller coaster. It was so sad! They had not even gotten to do any of it. Eventually they even had to come let them out of the car and then they had to take a back stair route down off of the roller coaster. B-man was a good sport about it, and at least they weren't stuck upside down. After the roller coaster we hurried over to the Arctic exhibit. It was getting late and cold. We were thrilled to see the polar bears and beluga whales, but the walrus really put on a show. I have never seen a walrus so close and being so active. It was so cool, and it made the day all worth it. We then headed home and were so happy for the warm delicious dinner my mom had waiting for us when we got home.

Friday morning everyone woke up healthy again. We were so grateful for that. After a lot of debate, we decided to go with E, Skate, and Mom to Torrey Pines State reserve. Most of us had never been there before. It is located right on the cliffs near the ocean and has some beautiful views of the ocean and lots of fun rocks to climb on. We ended up doing a lot more walking than I thought we would. I actually stayed on a bench while the rest of the crew walked down to a vista closer to the ocean. While they were gone I sat on a bench and enjoyed the view. Right as they came back I realized that I was seeing some water spouts from whales. At first I thought they were dolphins, but we figured that since they were SO far away it had to be whales for us to be able to see their spouts. It was a really fun thing to sit and watch for a while. We then walked back up to the car and left. We were supposed to go straight to the zoo from there, but realized we had forgotten our passes, so we rushed back to the house and then turned around and went back to the zoo. We had a great time at the zoo too. We did a very quick tour, and let B-man choose what we went to go see. We saw a lot of the important animals. We have really had great luck with everywhere we have gone, and just as I was thinking that we struck out at the zoo the rhinos started having a party. Seriously these two rhinos (they were brothers) were running laps around their enclosure, splashing through the water, hitting each other with their horns, etc. It was so great! I knew rhinos were fast, but it was impressive to see such large animals running so fast and being so agile. We came home and put the boys pretty much straight to bed. That night after dinner I sat down to wait for others to gather so we could choose a movie to watch and I completely fell asleep. Not just drowsy, but out cold. I finally woke up enough to stumble up to bed.

Saturday morning I woke up and went to garage sales with my mom. It was a slightly slow day. By the time we got home M had left to go snorkeling with Scott and Skate in La Jolla Cove. When they got home they reported that the water was super murky and they couldn't see anything, but they still had fun. The next day a 15-20 foot Great While shark was spotted in the area where they had been snorkeling and the life guards had to clear the water. They were all glad that they hadn't been shark food after seeing that story. Later that day we were able to go to the temple with Skate for his first time. It was a wonderful experience and M and I were excited to be asked to be the witness couple. We were sad that Julie and Greg had missed the session because of traffic, but we were still all able to go to eat together after leaving the temple. It was a really great evening and chance to be together.

Sunday was a busy day. Church was great, and after church we had to hurry home and get things ready for various things. First we had to get M organized and packed for his trip home. We were also trying to get dinner going, and also be able to disappear when my dad had to take care of his church responsibilities. In the end it all came together well. We were able to hide while my dad needed quiet, and then we had enough time to get dinner ready before some guests came over. We had one of my dad's missionaries and his son over for dinner. After dinner and putting the boys to bed I took M to the airport for his "red-eye" flight back to DC. Everything went very smoothly and he was off without a problem. It was sad to see him go and know that our time was coming to an end in California.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J

Emergency!

Another story from our trip...

A couple of weeks ago M and I took my sister Q to the airport. She had to go very early in the morning and we needed to pick up a rental car, so it worked out perfectly. We made sure to leave the door open to our room as we left so that my mom could hear when the boys woke up.

6:15 a.m.: My mom wakes up and double checks that the door is open to our room.

6:33 a.m.: Over the intercom system in our house comes the following message... (Keep in mind that the whole house is sleeping. Even my mom had gone back to sleep, and that B-man was yelling into the microphone and it gets piped through the whole house...

"Attention everyone! There is an emergency! I can't find my mom and dad!"

My mom hopped out of bed immediately awake and started running to find B-man, my dad was waking up in a startle etc. Then B-man came on again. Not having gotten a response.

"Emergency! Emergency! My parents are missing!"

When my mom made it to the kitchen she found B-man AND J. B-man was standing on a stool to reach the intercom. She told B-man where we were and then reminded him that he could have come into her room. (He certainly wasn't shy about it at other times in our trip. ) When she asked how J was downstairs B-man reported that J had been crying and woke him up, so he picked him up out of the crib, (and obviously that he couldn't find us anywhere...) and then carried him all the way downstairs.

The Force

Lots to come on what we have been up to for the last month... but until then a quick story.

B-man has been having lots of fun with his cousins. Maybe too much fun. One of his cousins came in reporting that he had fallen over and B-man had started laughing at him. Hmmm, not the best attitude to have. When M talked to B-man this is the story that he got from him.

Both of the boys were playing outside. His cousin was on a scooter and had told B-man that it was time to come inside. B-man instead of complying started to run away. When his cousin started to chase him, B-man told M that he put up his hands (think Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader) and started to use the force to stop him. Right at about this point his cousin tripped on the scooter and fell. B-man laughed, he was delighted that his use of the "force" had been successful...

M had to have a little talk with him about how we use "the force" for good and not evil. We don't really want to be Darth Vader after all.

August 8, 2010

August 8, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

We had such a great week in Yosemite, and such a great weekend back in San Diego. The only problem with the week is that the time went WAY too quickly. Monday morning we woke up at 3:15 a.m. and were on the road by 3:30 a.m. We thought that by getting up so early we would miss traffic, the kids would hopefully sleep some of the trip, and we would get all day Monday to play and enjoy with the family. Our plan actually worked very, very well. The boys slept until about 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. The rest of the drive was very uneventful, which is what we like. We made one stop for fuel and breakfast. We hit a little bit of construction traffic in Yosemite, but we were at our destination by 10:00 in the morning. We then met up with M' aunt and uncle who just happened to be there the same week. It was such a happy coincidence. We didn't have to wait too long before the rest of M' family arrived. We then unloaded a few things, changed into our swim apparel and headed to the "Swinging Bridge" a swimming hole that they have been going to for years and years. We had a great afternoon at the water. We ate lunch and just enjoyed being together. On our walk back to the car we did make a few wrong turns, which convinced us to always park at a different trail head for the rest of the week. That night for FHE we had a little competition where we took a test that was on things that have happened in the family in the last nine months or so.

The next three days were a lot of the same wonderful thing. We would walk to the water, spend the day there enjoying the perfect weather, and then head home in time to make dinner. I was usually one of the last ones there every morning because I would try to let J take his morning nap. J and B-man loved the water. J was not afraid, and would crawl around on the rocks to get to where he wanted to be. B-man loved having some of the extended cousins around that he could play with. The days were just lovely and wonderful. Tuesday morning we went to Mariposa grove. It has Sequoia Redwoods that are enormous. The hike around was easy, we were happy to have a backpack to put J in for the walk. That was the day that a group also hiked Half-Dome. Wednesday for dinner we ate with M' aunt and uncle as well. We had a fantastic meal, and then after dinner we had a cross-word game with clues from family history. I didn't do very well on it, but it was fun to learn all the answers. B-man called me over during the evening and asked if he could "close his eyes." Of course I agreed. He fell asleep on the couch with a few pillows on his head. M had also taken J back to our cabin for the festivities. He was just too tired to last.

Thursday there was also a big group that walked up to the waterfall. B-man went up with M, but I stayed back with J. There was no safe place for little children at the waterfalls, and there was no way that I would be jumping off the rocks into the water six months pregnant. I was happy to sit and guard the beach. All that hiking must have worn out B-man because by the end of the day he was toast! He could barely walk to the car to leave. Thankfully Grandma Elna was very good at distracting him from complaining by asking him all sorts of different questions. After dinner that night we played the postcard game. M' mom was the official winner, but since she doesn't "count" I was the second runner up! I was so excited.

Friday we were sad because we had to get up and pack the car to go home. We made excellent time and were able to get out of our cabin way before check-out time. We said our goodbyes to all of the family and then M' parents headed to Yosemite Valley, and we headed back to San Diego. The trip went very well, but we hit a lot of traffic. It was a good thing that we had left so much earlier than we planned. The trip took almost three hours longer than we had anticipated. It was painful actually. If I had known to plan on it taking that long than I would have been more prepared. Poor J was very done with the car. We needed to pick up a bike for M' race, and were rapidly running out of time, so we drove straight to the bike shop and I dropped off M with my brother, and then drove the kids home. I unloaded the car and let the kids run around while we waited for M to come home with his bike. That night my brother Lance and his wife Nicole also arrived from Arizona. The racers did a lot of preparation for the race the rest of the night, and M went to bed early.

Saturday morning M left with the racers. I got up and got the boys going so that we could be there when the race started. Once the race starts you have to park much further away. Q, Nicole, the boys, and I all drove to Camp Pendleton for the race. We were there in time and got a good spot to watch the race. We were standing up on a ridge that let us see the bikers as they left and returned, and then twice on the run too. The weather was cloudy and cool, which was perfect for viewing and racing. Because everyone was so split up in the start times it made for interesting viewing. Everyone was pretty evenly spaced and it made it so that we didn't get too bored. M did a great job! I was so impressed. He swam 500m, biked 30k (18 miles), and ran a 5k. He finished the race with a time of 1 hour 55 minutes. I was very impressed. I was also very happy that everyone finished and no one got a flat tire on the bike portion.
After the race we had to slightly hurry because we had a family reunion to get to. The reunion was at a park in San Diego, and was for my mother's side of the family. Some of the family had to go all the way home before heading to the park, but we were able to just go straight to the park. The reunion was great! Lots of great food, and good conversation with relatives. The highlight is always the water balloon toss. My partner was King (my nephew) and we did pretty well. Although poor King got a face full of water when he caught the balloon and it exploded. B-man was out pretty quickly, and M volunteered to hold J. After the reunion we came home and most of the people took naps. We decided that it would be a good time to return our rental car. Q was very kind and volunteered to watch J and B-man so that we wouldn't have to take them with us. We drove to the airport, returned the car and made it back in very good time. We were so happy not to have traffic. I hate traffic. The rest of the evening was very relaxed and nice. We ate leftovers from the reunion for dinner, and my cousin Jon Shill and his family came over too. It was a great, great day.

Sunday was another fast and furious day. My brother Skate was speaking in church that day. He is getting ready to leave for his mission very soon. It was clear that J was not feeling well. We weren't really sure what was wrong, but he had a fever. We decided that we would go for Sacrament, and then come home. We made it to church with enough time to save seats for our enormous family. This is the first weekend our entire family has been together in a very long time. We are missing Spencer on his mission, but it was very close. The meeting was excellent, and not just because my brother spoke. He and the other speaker did a very, very good job. I then took J home and while he slept I worked on some things for dinner. The rest of the day was just a house full of people and fun. Just like any large family. It was a wonderful day. We even managed to take a family picture. Too soon it was time for people to start heading back home. Before everyone was gone we did wishes for Greg. His birthday had been over the weekend, and we wanted to make sure he got his wishes from the whole family.

We love you all! It has been a great week for seeing family. It makes me wish we lived much closer...

R, M, B-man, and J

Yosemite!

The first week in August we drove from San Diego to Yosemite to meet M’s family there for the week. We left super early in the morning and were thankful that the boys slept half of the way. The drive was very easy uneventful. Then we got to where we were staying, and were able to hook up with one of M’s aunts and uncles that just happened to have reserved the same week as his parents. We waited Grandma and Grandfather to arrive and then changed and headed down to the water. B-man was thrilled to be in Yosemite. We all were!

Sadly we didn’t get nearly enough pictures of the boys with Aunt L and Uncle S. They were so helpful all week, and I really felt like I had a vacation too.

B-man loved playing on the inner tube that we brought. He had all sorts of fun with it. He was also thrilled to have some cousins there to play with that were near his age. He had so much fun all week. We also wore him out. He played hard and long hours. One day he was so exhausted after walking up to some waterfalls that were about a mile from our normal camp he almost had a breakdown because he was so exhausted. But thanks to a great Grandma E, he was distracted enough to make it through the walk back to our car.

B-man played with this little boat he made for several days…

We also made a little trek to Mariposa Grove. We did a small easy hike to see the best of the giant redwoods and then headed back. B-man shadowed Grandfather C all the way back to the car. He and Grandfather even found a great stick (for a bow) and an old trunk that looked like a great place to use the bow to kill the bad guys.

J thought all the rocks made tasty treats and toys. I quickly gave up on not eating the rocks. Although I think most of the rock eating happened on the first day.

Yosemite is so great. There is nothing better than a week of swimming, reading, eating, playing cards, and enjoying family company and conversation. The only bad thing is how quickly the time went. Before we knew it we had to go home.

Triathlon

Remember how I was going to do a triathlon? I even joined a gym, took an adult swim class, and was really training. I had to put that little goal on hold since Baby #3 decided to come.

M decided that he would do it instead of me. I was really jealous at how quickly M was able to get the swimming down. He didn’t do a lot of training but apparently just enough for the event. For the race each participant had to swim (open ocean) 500m, bike 30k, and run 5k.

The race was held at a military base, and had a bunch of hover craft parked around that we could look at. The finish line was on one of the hover crafts actually.

This is M just as he was getting ready to finish…

We rented him an awesome bike, and I was praying the whole time that he wouldn’t get a flat. Or anyone else in our family either. Getting a flat would be catastrophe.

B-man had a great time cheering everyone on. He would even sing a little “Yankee Doodle Dandy” as motivation for them. Not sure where that came from. I cheered with Q and my brother’s cute wife. Eventually the rest of the family met up close to the finish line to watch them finish.

M finished along with everyone else. I was super impressed with everyone, and more excited and nervous than ever to do it next year.

P.S. My brother got everyone matching shirts for the race. It was the best thing ever as a spectator because we could see where our people were coming towards us. And the racers loved them because it made them look hard core.

August 1, 2010

August 1, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

M and I are so happy to finally be back under the same roof. The week started with us still apart. I can’t remember much from the week. Monday we had FHE, etc.

Tuesday and Wednesday were a bit of a blur. I can’t remember what we did those days. There was lots of playing with cousins and having fun. B-man loves having so many people around to play with. We did go to some free museums in Balboa Park on Tuesday. We went to an Automotive Museum, and the Air and Space Museum. The kids all loved the interesting cars and airplanes that they got to see. I think one of the favorite things was a helicopter that had its rotors just barely spinning. It was very cool.

Thursday we got up and got going. We were all ready and practically out the door to go to a Padres game, when we discovered that they were sold out of the tickets that we wanted. We made a last minute change of plans and decided to go the next evening instead. Because the afternoon was then freed up I went up with B-man, J, and my mom to San Clemente to see my nephew test in Tae Kwon Do for his next level. It was fun to see how seriously he took the testing. He even broke a board with his head! Once we left we got a call letting us know that my father had some church responsibilities at the house. We had forgotten that was the case, but were sure that by the time we got home the guests would be gone. Once we were home we parked and quickly realized that my dad was still involved with his church stuff and we needed to be SILENT going into the house and upstairs to bed. My mom got B-man in safely, but I had J and he is a bit louder. My brother Skate was outside and suggested I give him something to eat. He was so smart. I gave J a Skittle and then while he was busy sucking on his treat we tip-toed upstairs and avoided detection. I then put J to bed, and got B-man all cleaned up. Once my dad had finished I fed B-man and then got him in bed too. It was a funny way to end the night.

Friday morning we were all excited because M was finally coming! We spent the morning working on various things. Cleaning the room, washing the car, running some errands. At one point in the morning B-man brought me a lizard that he had caught by the tail. He carried it all through the house by the tail, and I screamed when I saw it. Thankfully Scott was there to appreciate it and help teach him. The tail did break off, and the lizard escaped for a few minutes but Scott helped him catch it again and then taught him all about “Blue Belly” lizards. I was SO happy that he was there. The lizard was safely returned to his home too. I can remember catching lizards as a child, but I would not be brave enough anymore. I could barely look at the lizard! Eventually it was finally time to go get M. I drove to the airport with the boys and picked him up. B-man was very excited to see him, and to get his prize that he knows he will always get from M after a trip. J didn’t really know what to make of M. He wasn’t scared but he just looked at him with a fairly blank expression on his face. We had planned on going to the Padres game, that evening and it didn’t really make sense to go all the way home, and then drive back to downtown, so instead we headed over to Cabrillo National Monument. It is out on Point Loma and I hadn’t been in years. We didn’t have a ton of time before it closed, but we first went to some tide pools. It was the perfect thing to do. The weather was slightly chilly (it has been a very cold summer in San Diego) but the boys still had fun throwing rocks and walking on the cliffs. Once we left the tide pools we then drove to Visitor’s Center. We walked around the monument of Cabrillo and enjoyed the view of the bay and ocean. It was fun to watch a large ship come into the bay. We then checked out the gift shop and found some great post cards before it closed and we had to leave. It was the perfect way to spend a few hours. We then drove to Costco for gas and snacks before heading downtown to meet my dad and the rest of the family. We ended up parking at my dad’s office on the street and then going up to meet him in his office. Sadly we had a bunch of trouble with the elevators. I felt so unsophisticated because we had a lot of trouble getting to my dad. Finally we figured out that since it was part a certain time he had to come down and sign us in before we could use them. We went back to his office and were there a few minutes before heading back down to the street. We rode the trolley to the stadium from his office. I had never ridden the trolley before and both boys seemed to enjoy it. This was also my first time at the new stadium that the Padres have been using. It was a beautiful stadium, and I was so happy that our seats were slightly protected from the cool ocean air. Eventually all of the family made it to the game. We had sixteen people at the game. It was such a fun night. All the kids were so happy despite the late hour. Even J was a trooper. I had expected a meltdown and that we would leave early, but he was never sad at all! I loved having M around too. We stayed the whole game, and were sad that the Padres lost. Luckily it wasn’t too hard to get back on the trolley and back home quickly. B-man got to ride home in Grandpa’s car and he was so excited. He talked about it for a LONG time afterwards.

Saturday morning I went to some garage sales with my mom and sisters. I found a few fun things. Later that afternoon we ran some errands and then headed over to the beach. J and B-man both love the beach. It was so fun for M to see how brave J is about the sand and waves. M swam 500 meters to see how the ocean swim was going to be for the upcoming sprint-triathlon. We had a big crew there with cousins and all. After the beach we came home and had a barbecue of delicious hamburgers before the kids all went to bed for the night.

Sunday morning M and I woke up early so that we could take Q to the airport and pick up our rental car that we would be driving for the week. Everything went very smoothly dropping her off and getting the car. Once we got home we started getting ready for church. We finally made it to church early enough so that we didn’t have to sit in the noisy back in the gym. I was so happy. It was able to go to all of my meetings and didn’t have to wander the halls at all with J since M was there to help out. It was great! After church I quickly fed B-man and worked on dinner a little before we had to clear out so that my dad could work on church responsibilities. B-man went on a walk and a car ride with his cousins, and M helped my mom with some computer things. After a few hours we headed back downstairs for dinner. We made sure that before we went to bed that night we were all packed and ready to go because we were heading out very early to Yosemite in the morning.

We love you all!

R, M, B-man, and J