Rox and Roll

My Wild and Wonderful Family

Yesterday, a host of family members gathered at my house for a celebration.  Almost all of them were originally from my home state, West Virginia, and are now scattered to the winds.  In attendance were my parents and sister from Florida, uncles and aunts from Florida and South Carolina, an aunt still in West Virginia, a cousin from the greater DC area, a cousin from San Diego, and some local cousins as well ... also friends who are local but share a WV tie, friends who are still in WV, and friends who live among their houses in FL, NC, and Colorado.  It was a host of fun!

One uncle brought letters that I had written to him as a child, including one in which I referenced receiving a letter from "Chip," who said I was pretty.  The funny thing is that no one can remember who Chip was!  I was probably 6 at the time and must have been some kind of heartbreaker!

A friend whose five children I babysat (starting at age 11) told my daughter a story of getting my mom drunk when I was three.  Mom had been nervous about leaving me with her mom while she went out to party.  She ended the night saying, "Well, she's 3 years old, she can take care of herself."  Today, my daughter reminded me that if I could take care of myself at 3, then, certainly, she can walk around the block at age 9. 

Until a governor changed it (and it may have changed back since, I just don't know), every entry point to West Virginia bore a sign that read "Welcome to Wild & Wonderful West Virginia."  I think I should have made t-shirts about my Wild & Wonderful family, welcoming them to CA.  For now, we have some great pictures and some great memories, and, most importantly to me, my kids spent most of a day with people they don't usually see, getting some insight into what my tighter-knit life, closer to family, was like.  They loved it, and so did I.

And the light bulb goes on...

I have some friends who, like me, are at-home moms with a mere two kids, and yet, they have nannies.  There are some whose life situations necessitate it: the kid who takes dance class three times a week an hour away, the other family who has a special needs child, etc.  But there are others a lot like me (minus my medical issues, I guess), who don't have any "exceptions" and still outsource some childcare.  I don't judge them for it -- hey, if I hadn't just quintupled my mortgage, I might try to buy some more me-time too!  But I fundamentally didn't understand it until both kids started playing sports this week for the first time ever.

Petunia's first-ever softball season is upon us, and Dash's first-ever t-ball season is here, too, on top of everything else.  Beyond school, this week involves: a Girl Scout meeting, two big cookie order pick-ups, two cookie booths, two dental appointments (both kids), one guitar lesson, one medical appointment for me, one shift in Petunia's school library, one stint co-oping at preschool, and five -- FIVE -- softball/t-ball practices and games.  FIVE.  This is on top of some major extra homework for Petunia including the science fair the following week and a month-long book project in the works.

And the Guv's heading to NOLA to golf.

And I'm sick.

And I'm working.

And now I understand why so many of my friends have nannies with "only" two kids.

I'll get through it the old-fashioned way; I can send Petunia along to softball with another parent at least one of the three times.  When I have to be there, I can sit and relax on the bleachers, coordinating the snack schedule for each team and maybe even squeezing a little work-planning.  (My "real job" work will get done while the kids are in school.) 

What I don't know how we'll handle is the seven times this season where the kids have to be in the same place at exactly the same time.  Sometimes, the Guv'll be around to help with that.  Sometimes, not.  I'm going to have to get a lot better at carpooling!

In any event, this is all good stuff, though: stuff I signed up to be doing, not stuff I don't want to handle.  And that will make the difference between me keeping my sanity (and my health) solid through this manic upcoming week.  It's a great thing to see both kids enjoying sports, something in which I wish I'd have participated more as a kid.  They love it, and I love watching.  These are the times I'll remember, I believe -- not the chaos of running around so much as the big, huge smiles that come from their joy. 

And their joy?  That's what it's all about, not in small part because it's a big source of my own joy.  So let's play ball!  I'm ready!

In the Sunshine State

The kids and I are far from our California home right now, enjoying a week with my parents, my sister and their two poodles in the Sunshine State.  Florida is a very different place from California.  I would compare and contrast the two, but that might get me into trouble.  In general, though, I am glad that my parents live in Florida, because I get to visit and take the kids to cool places like the Kennedy Space Center.  I am glad that we live year round in California, because my hair?  It can't take this humidity.  I look like an ad for Zotos perms, and I don't even have one.  It's a sad hair week for me.

The highlight of our trip was ringing in my Grandma Pearl's 80th birthday with extended family.  Present for the party were: my 83 year-old Grandpa Dick, the Birthday Pearl, my mom (almost 62) and dad, mom's sister (my aunt, who's 57), mom's two brothers (my uncles, ages 47 and 59) and their wives, three cousins plus one's boyfriend, my 28 year-old sister, the kids and me.  We spent time looking through family photo albums, and it's hard to imagine how the little ones have grown so big already.  I was the first grandchild for my Grandma Pearl, and I've given her and Grandpa Dick their only great-grandchildren to date.  It was a really cool thing to have four generations in one room.  I wonder if my daughter will remember that moment when I'm turning 80.

The second highlight of our trip was visiting Kennedy Space Center.  The kids got to meet an astronaut, Sam Gemar, who flew three missions.  Petunia marched right up to him and asked, "Why aren't the shuttle wings dihedral?" having just finished a science fair project about how a dihedral affects flight.  He answered her -- something about a shuttle needing delta wings because it doesn't need the stability offered through a dihedral.  She says we have to look into that.  I'm thinking I'm going to need to take some more physics courses just to keep up with her!  Dash ate up the "rocket garden" and wanted to know if we could have one too... I don't think our Silicon Valley backyard could accommodate even one, but I agree that would be cool!

They've been to many more places: the Alligator Farm, the Castillo de San Marcos, and yes, Dunkin Donuts and Rita's Water Ice.  They've even ridden on Grandpa's motor scooter, trapped an anole and kept it as a pet for three days, walked the poodles on the beach, dug a hole almost all the way to China on the same beach, and much more... Something tells me they might be glad of the plane ride tomorrow, just so they can relax!  But I know they'll miss all of the attention, their grandparents, their aunt and most especially the dogs very much.  Thanks to all of them and to lovely Florida for a great spring break!

Forget the Magic Kingdom; Florida has...

The kids and I leave this Friday for a week-long Floridian adventure with grandparents, great-grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins involved.  This is the kind of vacation where I won't see my kids much because so many others will be there to play with them -- otherwise known as a dream vacation that money can't buy!  We are gathering to celebrate Great-Grandma Pearl's 80th birthday, and I'm most especially looking forward to seeing my kids enjoy their great-grandparents and vice versa.  I have my Flip at the ready!

Petunia is excited about this trip because she wakes up earlier than she's allowed to at home and heads to the beach with her grandpa ("Peepaw").  I love that they have that special time together and that she remembers that's what she "always" does when she goes there.

Dash was around 2.25 years old when we last ventured to Florida, so he doesn't remember much.  He has created some great mythology around what he thinks it's like, though (aided by sister's recollections).  He expects to see armadillos (in my parents' neighborhood, sometimes), alligators (we'll head to the Alligator Farm perhaps), rocketships (Cape Canaveral is on the itinerary) and a big, huge white sand beach that is not at all cold (at the end of the street).  

Then today, he started doing something I had never seen him do before.  He started thinking about food!  He wanted to make sure that his favorite stuff would be in Florida.  I assured him that I had already placed his soy milk order with Grandma and that she knew how much he loved goldfish.  I had to call her to make sure she had his "chocolate sandwich stuff" (Nutella) -- check.  

And then we drove in a car to McDonald's in search of Shamrock Shakes (they were already out for the season).  Exiting the parking lot, Dash told me, "They do have McDonald's in Florida, Mom."  I agreed.  Then his eyes got as wide as saucers as he said, "MOM!  I KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE IN FLORIDA!  I KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE THAT THEY DON'T HAVE HERE IN CALIFORNIA!"

"What's that, Dash?" I asked.

Nearly hyperventilating with excitement, Dash answered, "DUNKIN DONUTS!  THERE IS A DUNKIN DONUTS IN FLORIDA!!!"

Though I can't eat them, I share his excitement, for I craved Dunkin Decaf when I was pregnant with him.  Though it can't hold a candle to Blue Bottle coffee, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to my old-skool Boston coffee break, albeit in Florida.

Which got me to thinking... what else is in Florida that we don't have?  I do love the Columbia restaurant, I thought, as I made a note to take my sister there for lunch.  And then it hit me:

RITA'S WATER ICE!  I hope it is open for the season already, because there's a mango gelati with my name written on it.

Now I'm hungry, and I'm packing.  Flor-I-Da, here we come!

The weekend that'll make my week

Starting out the weekend, there was a chance it was going to be the weekend from hell.  I braced myself appropriately, apparently, since it turned out to be an absolutely fabulous few days.

Of course (WARNING: EAST COAST FRIENDS, AVERT YOUR EYES!) the weather being around 70 degrees and sunny might have had something to do with it.

Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful as I gathered the kids for a neighbor's Laser Quest birthday party.  Truly, the place was insane.  There were four birthday parties going on at once, and the arcade was in the reception hall.  It would've been easy to lose Dash, who was attached to me while Petunia played laser tag, because of the sheer overcrowding, let alone the poor layout.  Suffice it to say, it wasn't my favorite party ever -- but the kids loved it, and that's what mattered.

The laser tag and arcade party was followed by pizza, etc., though, and imagine the surprise I enjoyed when the party hosts whipped out a gluten-free, soy-cheese pizza!  To some people, this would be far from thrilling, but put yourself in my shoes: I don't remember the last time I ate a slice of pizza.  It has been over a year, maybe two, ever since my wheat allergy became severe enough that I can't even cheat and sneak a bite.  To compound things, Dash's recent diagnosis with a mild dairy allergy has complicated things.  This family eats (ate) a lot of pizza.  So when my neighbor introduced me to Amici's (the one they ordered from is in Mountain View), she greatly improved the quality of my life.  We ordered from there tonight: a soy cheese pizza for Dash, a gluten-free Margherita pizza for me, and a half-cheese, half-pepperoni "normal" large pie for Petunia and the Guv.  The downside was the $53 bill (the GF pizza was $24 of that) -- but my first taste of pizza in over a year made that priceless!  (And it was really, really GOOD too!)

After Laser Tag on Saturday, we returned home to prepare for a visit from my college friend Seamus, his lovely wife, and their two year-old daughter.  Sometimes, these type of visits are more trouble than they're worth -- the work of cooking and cleaning up compounded by constant childcare ("refereeing") can be a real drag.  But not this time!  Our Petunia stepped up to the plate without even being asked, taking over the care of her brother and our young visitor.  Plus, the Guv and I made a very low-maintenace menu of chili, quesadillas, veggie and cheese trays -- that, some wine and beer, and it was a very easy, enjoyable evening.  I don't remember the last time I had meaningful adult conversation with kids in the house.  What a special night!

And then this morning, I slept in... which was actually a problem, since I woke up at 8:35 am and was supposed to be at Dash's preschool from 9-3 for a "maintenance day."  For the uninformed, "maintenance day" is code for "wiping boogers off of toys, tables, etc." and it was totally gross.  My son loves this preschool, but it is just not my bag... too much work, too much cleaning that I don't even want to do in my own house, too much dirt... All that said, the Guv recently figured out that to take my son to the drop-off preschool, I'd have to earn about $12g to pay for it... So we stay at the right school for Dash, the wrong school for me (though I have made some great friends there, so someday I'll stop saying that). 

While I attended Booger Day, the Guv took Petunia, her two friends N and Z, and Dash on a super-long bike ride to Stanford's campus, where they launched stomp rockets, dunked in a fountain (did I mention it was 72 today?) and slurped Jamba Juice.  The Guv is exhausted, and I am hugely impressed that he took that on himself.  When I commented to him that this weekend was like one long playdate for our friend Petunia, he chuckled, "yeah -- just like our life was growing up.  This is how it's supposed to be.  Like the good old days!" 

I'm not sure that I'm up for weekends jam-packed with mutiple others' kids yet -- though breaking it up with some friends and wine sure did help!  And the Guv is right about one thing: these are the good old days, made new again through our young 'uns.  What a fun weekend.  I hope that it's just the start of a magnificent new year in our new California home.