Asian Invasion

Buck and I were just talking about how nice it is when our friends' kids and our kids like each other and enjoy each others' company. We've visited these three boys in their home in Arizona and then met at Legoland in So. Cal (five years ago?), but collectively, the kids haven't exactly spent loads of time together. Now that Jen's twins are about to turn into teenagers (putting them age-wise right between our boys, though they look like they're 16) the cumulative boys had a great time eating, playing football, playing baseball, and well, eating :)




The AZ boys were wowed by our backyard. Buck kept asking if they were used to seeing all the trees yet :) Jen said, "You have so much grass, and it is so soft!" A more accurate description would be, "You have so many types of weeds that together they look like grass, and in most places are walk-on-able in barefeet." But we're glad she enjoyed the experience :)





I love that the goofiness and silliness in fully embracing cultural stereotypes has been passed on to the next generation in my friends' family. These boys were more than happy to take a picture next to the sign and giant arrow indicating they are Asian :) And then I had Jen pop in to be the touristy Asian mom taking pictures of her touristy Asian children. It is good to laugh :) And the weather was beyond perfect!!!



We told Graysen he could stand with the Asians for this picture, he wasn't sure if he should, lol :) Brennen is smiling with the red panda, who promptly went into that little shed behind him.



Not a lot of animals were out enjoying the lovely day, but we did find an elephant checking the space in front of his indoor enclosure for treats.



I had to talk a picture of our kids and Jen's kid in the penguin enclosure. Back in San Diego, Buck and I took Jen and her husband-to-be (neither of them knew it yet) on a double date with us to the zoo. Jen answered a question about a penguin and we all four got to go into the enclosure and feed the penguins. So, the first picture Mark and Jen have together is in a penguin enclosure. I always think of them when we visit penguins :)



They all felt pretty accomplished running through he jungle. I was just glad we got there before the bat feeding (shudder!!!!) Happy kids, having a fun day together :) 

Later, Buck took all seven of them to youth group, so Jen and I could hang out together at home and talk. One of Jen's kids came in with a leg injury, Buck was bleeding from his arm and had road rash down his back. "Game night, tonight?" "Yup." Eeek. I gave them candy bars and they felt better :) (Do you remember the after school special where kids were rewarded with cookies when they fell down and got their knees scraped? Even then I thought that was dangerous food habit to get into, sheesh!)







I heard giggles from downstairs when I went to switch laundry and find my phone (I'm always missing my phone). Interestingly Jen handed it right to me . . . and I noticed the camera was on :) Goofballs were taking selfie photo bombs. I've never had that happen to my own phone before, but I thought it was pretty funny :)



The next morning they snuck out so quietly, I wouldn't have heard them preparing to leave if the garage door hadn't opened. Jen said, "We're Asian . . . ninja is in our blood." Lol :) She's texted me a few times since they left and said her boys wish they could have stayed at our house longer. Love that! Happy travels, friends!

Talented Chickens

I saw the idea for a chicken xylophone coop activity on facebook at least a year ago. I even saved one on my Amazon list, planning to snag it if the price dropped to a reasonable price for a chicken toy :) My mom spared me the purchase by finding a suitable rainbow of musical fun at a thrift shop. Graysen not only installed the new instrument, but gave the chickens a lesson in musicality. They actually did (accidentally) peck it a few times in order to make musical notes. Stay tuned for our circus act, "The Marvelous, Musical Performing Chicken Troupe!" (I'll work on the name :)

Gettin' Learned

Learning is more fun with friends! So is eating :) We stayed home for the boys' baseball game on the first day of the homeschool conference, which meant that we had to be up early (like in the sixes early!) the next day to get to the conference sometime before the morning sessions were through. Our new good friends and their two oldest were about 10 minutes behind us on the road :)

When the kids were little, which was the last time we went to homeschool conference, we decided when they were older they could choose their own curriculum (to an extent). This being the first conference they could attend, they were a little unsure of what this process would look like. We said, "Go be free! Report back if there is something you cannot learn without." They headed off in a group of six and would come back as they found interesting things. There are so many things (a whole room that SMELLS like BOOKS!!) that we decided to ruminate while we consumed some food.

Table for ten please! I know, an unusually small group this time :) The waiter joked with R that he'd get him a glass of fresh pond water. We all joined in saying it was "Organic" and "only filtered once." To our surprise, the waiter later brought back a murky colored glass of liquid with some floaters in it. At that point, we basically peer and parent pressured the poor kid into trying the "pond water." It turns out, it was really good! Just to be funny, the waiter mixed lemonade, iced tea, and root beer, then dropped in a few peppercorns. Everyone (except Caelan and me) sipped it and got a "wow, that's really good!" look on their faces. "Tangy lemonade, with a hint of mint aftertaste," was the general consensus. The manager came over, after hearing our reactions, and I would not be surprised if "Pond Water" appears as a summer drink option on the menu sometime soon :)

We learned SOOOOOO much at this conference! Day one, the kids made friends with the quizzing kids, and ended up talking to them the next day too (and attending their seminar on how to start a quizzing team near you!) 

But seriously, I am so glad God worked out the timing that He did on this conference because there is a whole lotta stuff Caelan needs to be doing her Junior year that we would have found out about too late. Wow, so glad we went!! I attended every high school informational class (as did the girls) and every college prep class (as did the girls). Caelan talked to recruiters at at least one Bible college booth, we went to a financial planning for college seminar, and Gabby got to ask questions about a couple summer government opportunities. Graysen learned about a Lego robotics club and Brennen found a Tim Tebow devotional book. Who am I kidding? We found a lot of books! Including some cool hands-on electives for Brennen and some CLEP prep courses for the girls. Hello, college credit, here we come! :)

Our night of sleep at my parents' house was challenging. Mom flew to CA to help with my dad being in the hospital. My graduated brother was there to welcome us, but my youngest brother was at a school competition with his team. We sleepily scattered throughout the available rooms only to hear, "Yip, yip, yip" at about 2 a.m. I finally took the upstairs dog, downstairs and put him in that bathroom with one of his puppy pads for company. No sooner (so it seemed) than I fell back to sleep, then my brother's alarm started HONKING . . . it was 4:30 a.m. I tried to shut it off, but it was only on snooze mode, so 15 minutes later HONK HONK HONK. I went back into my brother's room, accidentally (but helpfully) turned on his touch lamp, slid the thingy on the clock back all the way over and . . . quiet . . . until 6 a.m. when BOTH dogs started, "Yip, yip, yipping." Oh my carrots! I asked the kids individually, including the one who was IN THE ROOM with the alarm and lamp on at 4:30 a.m. how they slept. "Oh fine, no problems here." For Pete's sake. :)



Buck and the boys attended some different sessions than the girls and I did, so Buck had a minute to run and grab sandwiches. He and Graysen ate, then the three boys (B with sandwich) headed into a manly talk, while the girls and I had our sandwiches. Gabby suddenly said, "Oh no!" and her glasses were in half. I said, "Where's the screw?" She said, "I don't know, I can't see anything!" Caelan, laughing, found the screw on the floor and we then attempted to find something in our purses that would be small enough to turn the tiny screw to temporarily fix the glasses. I found a nail file, Caelan found a guitar pick. We went with that and it worked, ha! Homeschool ingenuity at the conference :)

More Fun with Friends

Birthday party time--teen boy style! B and two other friends were invited to R's birthday celebration. I invited myself along to hang out with my new good friend, while all her littles hung out at my house with Gabby and their big sis (I guess this got a little loud after Buck left for work). The teen boys, however, had a marvelous time. They ate burgers and fries. Then they had unlimited access to everything from bounce houses to put put, but they mainly chose to ride the wheels off the go-karts and to laser tag until the guns broke :)



The guy in the green car (the birthday boy's uncle) has been driving farm equipment since he was eight. He was literally driving circles (or at least driving in the circles) around the other cars. Brennen was so frustrated with the little kid in the number six car. The small driver masterfully cut off every attempt at passing B could summon, completely unbeknownst to him. We mamas got the giggles watching B and R, helplessly, politely, keep trying to pass Mr. Slow Car :)





The very next day, three of the four guys, joined by Graysen and two dads went to see Godzilla at the movie theater. It was special because Buck's new good friend took a very rare day off of work to spend the morning making memories with his son and his bud. The boys were like, "Eh, it was pretty cool." Buck was like, "GODZILLA!!!!" the rest of the day :)

Dressed for Success

Gabby wants to know . . . what did YOU wear to work this week? She wore this 80s inspired getup, and then her pajamas twice. Best job ever?? :)

Grandpa

My last grandparent passed away this week. He was tired of his body and ready to find out what comes next. Many emotions surface when a loved one dies, and you don’t know ahead of time what those will look like. Because I’ve had living grandparents well into my adult life, it’s like a chapter in history has closed. The adventures of childhood were largely wrapped up in family time with my nearby grandparents and road trips to visit my distant grandparents. While even one remained alive, those memories still felt re-creatable (in some way). Now, a historical anchor seems to be missing. The last remaining patriarch, the one who survived more than any of the rest of us—a harsh upbringing, the Great Depression, World War II, the loss of friends, family, and his wife—there’s a grounding and security in knowing that person is still around. I didn’t realize it until this morning. Grandparents are a comfort just because they’ve lived through so much for so long, in Grandpa C’s case, nearly 96 years. I don’t know how to describe it, other than we (our family) feel a little less attached to the planet because the one who lived here longest has let go. Our roots are shaken, because they no longer reach as deeply. I don’t know that it is specifically because of grandpa, or because of the station he held, the position in our family tree. He grew in love and caring as the years softened his heart, his mind remained sharp until the end, and he was bid farewell with an American flag draped over his body as Taps played in the VA hospice ward where he said goodbye to this world and all its troubles.

Baseball

Hey, finally not a rain out! The weird part was that parks and rec delayed the game by two hours at pretty much the last minute. And because it is the fifth week of the month, our small group doesn't have a "normal" meeting plan . . . I suggested baseball! I had to re-suggest the new time, too. 

Due to some significant rainfall earlier in the day, the fields were boggy and buggy. When we arrived, one of our small group families and a high school student were already at the ballpark. Thankfully, they had a bottle of essential oil bug spray since we totally spaced (again) bringing our own. Unfortunately, her son fell and scraped his knee pretty bloodily, so the five of them decided to scoot before our boys' game began.


But that didn't mean we were lacking in spectators! Our new good friends showed up with their crew, the boys' buddy Isaiah came with his dad, Caelan's prom date showed up--with candy for the girls and beef jerky for the boys as rewards for continuing the push-up/plank/sit-up? challenge he has half the karate school (and his parents) doing :) And eventually, Miss Lisa showed up to take in the night air and watch the fog roll in across the outfields.



The boys had a good game. Graysen had a hit to get on first, which also scored him an RBI. He eventually made his way home to add to the team's total score of five :) Brennen pitched three innings. He threw 50 times and struck out nine batters. He says there is a lot of pressure in that position, which is true. But it was the best he's pitched yet!



Above: B pitching. Below: G stealing second.



Final score 5-1. It was cool to see the boys have some victories on the field and for them to get a win on small group night at the ballpark :)