Octopus

Sam has been asking for years to try Octopus.  I don't even remember what drove this request but it has been a dream of his for quite some time.  I took him to Sushi last week.  He tried Squid, BBQ Eel, a seaweed salad and RAW OCTOPUS.  I wouldn't even try it.  Our friend, Doug shared an order with Sam.  Sam said he loved it.  Doug described it as seafood flavored bubble gum since it was so chewy.  No thank you...but I  love that I have an adventurous eater!

Sorry!

Hi Lam!  I hear you have been checking the blog from Vietnam and are disappointed on a daily basis.  I am happy I still have someone checking the blog!  I have no good excuse other than just being a busy mom.   I will try to update again tomorrow.  Thank you for still checking!

People

I thought Santa came up with a genius idea this year.  He wrote a letter to the kids and beautifully explained the meaning of Christmas.  He reminded the kids that Christmas is not about the gifts we give and receive but more about celebrating life and all the people we get to live it with.  He created a new game and hid lots of little people around the house for the kids to find.  He told them to keep them and play with them throughout the year to remember the spirit of Christmas.  We are to leave the people out next year for Santa to hide again.

I found Elise playing with them the other day...

My heart warmed as I watch her line them up.  She said they were going to the movies.

You can see this group is very diverse.

 But wait...what is that girl in the wheelchair doing?

 I think she had some sort of accident.  Did she knock a few people down?

Ummm...I am starting to think that was no accident.

I think this girl may be evil.  What is she doing?

Now she is picking people up and throwing them off the edge of the table to their certain death and my daughter is smiling.

Not exactly what Santa had in mind I think.  There was total carnage and this girl showed no remorse.  The warmness in my heart turned to a chill up my spine.

There was no discrimination at all.  If you were blind, on crutches, a baby, a senior...it didn't matter she was taking you down.  Elise thought this was the funniest game ever.  I think she may have missed some of the key details in Santa's message.  Well...he tried.

Sick day

The kids had fevers last night so they stayed home today.  I know I am biased but she is cute even when she is sick and stinky.

Working on a Christmas Card

Getting a picture with these two looking at me at the same time can be a challenge.  They instantly become laughing goofballs competing to be the silliest.

In a moment of weakness, I may have captured two smiling happy faces without fingers up their noses.

Baby Teeth

Sam is feeling sad this week. Sad because he has not lost a tooth.  I always told him I did not want him to lose his baby teeth because, to me, that was a bigger deal than him starting school.  It is the last baby thing about him and once he loses those chompers...he is officially a boy and not my baby anymore.  When he pointed out to me that his bottom teeth were slightly loose...and I am talking very slight movement, I made a big deal and told him to slow down and I dramatically faked a big cry and told him that I didn't want him to grow up.  He laughed and told me he had to grow up and that he just couldn't help it.  He liked to tease me and show me the wobbly teeth.

That was about seven months ago.

Those teeth are just a teeny bit more wobbly than they were before.  He is sad because he thinks every other first grader has lost their teeth.  He even knows a few Kinders who have lost a few.  Today he told me he is worried that Elise will lose her teeth before he will.  And that may be a valid concern.  He cried.  I hugged.  I told him when he is 90 all of his friends will be crying because they will be losing their teeth again and his adult teeth will be younger and healthier.  I tried to make him feel better by telling him it is because he is so healthy and strong that his baby teeth are able to last longer.  But mostly, I just hugged him because I know no matter what I say, he still feels sad that he is feeling different and left out of the tooth fairy action.  So...we will just keep wiggling those little, slightly wobbly teeth and hope they loosen up soon.  And we'll keep on hugging and maybe crying a little more but in a few months....hopefully we will have a boy with a funny looking smile.

Camping in San Clemente

We went camping this past weekend in San Clemente.

The campsite was just yards from this view.
This was Elise's first official camping trip although she frequently reminds me that she did camp once in Aidan and Ashton's backyard.  She rolls her eyes in disbelief that I could forget such a night.

Elise in the tent in her cousin's backyard in Utah.

The kids had a blast with a little more freedom than they get at home and explored the campgrounds on their bikes.  Sam met two boys from the site next to ours and we did not see him much after that.  They hit it off instantly.  I quickly grew fond of these boys too...they were very sweet, had great manners and the ten year old took the natural role of the leader and the protector of the younger boys.  That meant Mama could relax and have a drink!  We enjoyed the time with our friends and enjoyed meeting the parents of the nice boys.  We kept a safe distance from the extremely friendly crew at the other site near us.  If I could whisper in text I would guess... swingers.  I can't confirm this, thankfully, but individually, several of our party came to that assumption.  Isn't that veird?  

More camping is in our future.  We had so much fun.  

Milestones

This vacation was all about milestones.  It was our first family vacation.  It was the first time travelling without baby things like strollers and pull ups and pack n plays.  Sam has been riding his bike for a while now, but this trip offered him his first time riding through trails...mountain bike riding "like daddy does."   This stroller free living offered us the opportunity to conquer this bluff in Sedona. 

We started at the white arrow and hiked and climbed our way up the switchbacks and rocks to the black arrow.  It was about three miles round trip and the kids loved it.  It was like a giant, orange, dirty jungle gym.  The weather was perfect.  Big thunder clouds over head kept us cool.  No one asked to be carried, no one complained and I did not hear one bit of whining.  It was just a fun family adventure.

Keith and the kids checking out the views from the top.

A view of the bluff from the next trail we attempted.
(Attempted being the key word here.  We discovered were a little over confident after the first hike.)

Hiking and Biking in Flagstaff

Every day in Flagstaff we went on a hike or a bike ride or both.  It really is a beautiful area.  There are lots of kid friendly hikes and perfect beginner bike trails.  My girlfriend loaned us a tandem bike attachment for Elise so we were all able to ride together on the trails.  There are pictures of the bikes in action at the bottom of the post.  I don't know how I ended up in a family of early risers...but these three were up every morning by 6 - 6:15.  I was the lazy bum staying in bed until 7ish.  Not totally what I thought would be the schedule on vacation but I have to admit it made for long, enjoyable days.

Flagstaff

Isn't Flagstaff the city where Aunt Edna gets dropped off in Vacation?  Or was it Phoenix?  I think it was Flagstaff.  Anyway...that is my only frame of reference to Northern Arizona.  I never thought of it as a vacation spot.  Keith's parents generously gave us a week of their timeshare for us to use at any of their locations.  We picked Flagstaff because it was close enough to drive to and we wouldn't have to spend the money on airfare.  We figured we could easily visit the Grand Canyon and Sedona as well.  To be honest, I had low expectations.  I knew there was a space observatory there so we had that too if we needed something to keep us busy.

After driving seven hours through the desert we started our approach to Flagstaff.  About 10-20 miles from town, the landscape changed suddenly.  As soon as we hit about 5000 feet up, pine trees popped up around us.  Closer to town and we started to notice yellow patches in the mountains.  The Aspen trees were changing.  I was happy we did not miss the fall show of color.
 
We went to dinner that first night downtown.  Right next door to the restaurant was a theater.  Above the theater was a sign.  A sign that said Colin Hay was playing there that night.  We like Colin Hay.  It didn't look too crazy so we asked if there were tickets still available and if kids were allowed in the show.  We were surprised that they said yes to both questions.  Since we were in vacation mode we decided we'd be a little crazy and go for it.  Colin Hay put on a great show.  The last time we saw him perform was at The Belly Up and he didn't talk that much.  This time he was like a stand up comedian between songs.  And there were a lot of F-bombs and references to weed.  Lucky for us, his Scottish accent was so thick that Sam asked what language he was speaking.  He couldn't understand anything he said.  That relieved me because I was starting to doubt my parental judgement.  I was picturing Sam going back to 1st grade telling everyone he went to his first F%$#ing concert in F*$%ing Flagstaff.