06.27.07
Posted in Family, Holidays, Outings, Travel, Work at 4:12 pm by Christina
Jeff has finished up a big push through April and May and June that is finally over this week. We had hoped actually to go away for a few days of vacationing, but eventually decided that would be impractical given other constraints and obligations. So we decided that we would vacation from home, which gives us a lot of the pleasures of vacationing, but still our own beds and pillows and none of the hassles of a large vacation prep.
We decided that we would have an activity day followed by a rest-at-home day, with a lot of time spent together as a family even on the at-home days. On Monday we did our outing to the county fair which I’ve blogged here and here. Tuesday we took Cissa to the airport, caught up on a few chores around the house, and worked on getting the new bookshelfs braced (for earthquake safety). We got about two-thirds done and finished up today, Wednesday. First on Wednesday, though, we went to the Oakland Zoo and stayed about four hours, letting Jamie walk through a lot of it (although his favorite parts were the dirt and the pebbles and not any of the animals). I’ll post a few pictures of that once I get them off of my camera.
Katie would like to go on a nature hike; we will likely go to Garin Regional Park in Hayward, which has a creek, but I’ll research a bit to confirm a location with water as that’s important to her. (It could be a hunt; the bay area is very dry and we are seeing daily wildfires out our back windows turning many acres black.) Jeff would like to spend a day at the beach; we’ll need to decide which of the many great Pacific beaches to enjoy. I think I would like to do a bike ride. We’re also talking about seeing a baseball game.
Now that the bookshelves are braced I am going to set up our Library Thing account and we’ll start cataloguing the books and emptying boxes. That is going to be exciting; I got us some custom stamps to label the books once we’ve input them and the girls are looking forward to turning the process into a bit of a game.
It’s wonderful to have Jeff mostly off from work (he’s still participating in a few regular status calls and the like); he’s been working really hard! Still, it seems to be paying off with repeat clients; Genentech just contacted him today to negotiate for a new project.
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05.14.07
Posted in Holidays at 9:30 am by Christina
Holidays and celebrations are not too important to me, personally. I enjoy planning celebrations for my kids’ birthdays, and I certainly enjoy getting together with our extended families and spending time with them, which activity generally surrounds holidays. But my birthday, Mother’s Day, and so forth are generally just ordinary days to me.
My own mother, however, very much enjoys holidays and special celebrations, and I must say I am generally a poor supporter of that need. I am good at calling and spending that time with her on special days, but I never make the effort to send cards, flowers, gifts…
Recognizing that deliquency on my part, I made a serious effort for Mother’s Day this year. We invited my parents to spend the weekend with us doing fun, mom-centered stuff. On the side, I asked my brother if he would come up from LA to join us, and he was able to do that and surprise Mom with his presence. While my mom did some fun stuff with her grandkids, my dad and brother built our bike rack and checked over our bikes, we got rental bikes for the visitors, and on Sunday morning we went to the Sawyer Camp trail in San Mateo for a beautiful 12-mile ride along Crystal Springs Reservoir and the associated wetlands.
I think we all had a pretty great time, although with nine diverse participants we were not able to maintain one group the entire time. Emma insisted on riding her own bike and not the trailer bike, so she was very much on the slow side; additionally, she doesn’t trust the use of brakes to stop, and had an accident because of that (rolled across the trail and did a somersault into the wild carrots). At that point, the half-group that was with her split into two groups itself, with Jeff staying with Emma and the rest of us moving forward to catch up with my dad and Katie. (Emma was not at all injured beyond a few scratches; she was very scared, but I took over the initial recovery and when she was calm again handed her off to Jeff. They relaxed at the stop for a while, building little fire rings from pebbles; eventually Emma was ready to get back on her bike and work her way back to the trailhead. I think she did a bit over 4 miles.)
The group moving forward did the entire trail, with the exception of myself and Jamie. I was hanging back from the rest a bit, processing the situation with Emma and doing the usual motherly post-mortem on whether I’d done the right thing and enough of it. There’s no pass, no “get out of guilt free” card, not even for Mother’s Day! (Emma and I had a conversation on Saturday about the trailer bike, at which time I did my best to describe the activity and my opinion that the trailer bike was the right way to go, but she was beyond adamant that she wanted to be on her own bike.) Eventually I felt I had done enough for my level of fitness (4.5mi) and I pulled over at a bench, at which time Jamie woke up and was unhappy. I rocked him for a bit, and after a little bit my mom and brother came back – this was good because they had the snacks and Jamie’s bottle! Then they went on ahead, and after some more relaxing Jamie and I turned around for the trailhead.
I eventually caught up with Emma and Jeff, and we got back to the trailhead together; fortunately, Jeff had kept a set of keys, and he was able to change Jamie’s diaper and so forth while we waited for the trailblazers to get back to us. This was Katie’s longest ride yet, and she had a great time. She (and Emma too) is definitely ready for a larger bike. That probably means two new bikes; Katie had a long hiatus between the bike Emma’s using now, and her own bike, so we actually skipped a size (from 16″ to 24″). I’m not sure if Emma is big enough for 24″ yet; it would also mean a switch to gears AND hand brakes simultaneously, which is likely too much at once…
We stopped for a deli lunch on the way back, and then it was time to drop Joe at the airport. The CRV went that way, and the van headed back to return the rental bikes before the shop closed. When we got home, it was time for the Warriors basketball playoff game, and I escaped to a hot bath and a book while everyone else hung together. Although I was outgoing and “effervescent” as a child, as an adult – and certainly as a parent! – I never feel like I get enough peace and solitude, so that’s always my preference if I’m given a choice.
In honor of my mom, we also went out to a fancy dinner at a local vineyard on Saturday evening, on recommendation from some chorus friends who have lived in the east bay almost 50 years: Wente Vineyards. We had a terrific dinner, complemented by Jamie’s extraordinary behavior: he was in the high chair for more than two hours, and we got compliments from adult diners (who I’m sure were nervous at being so near a toddler for their nice dinner!).
And lest you think we were one-sided, we did celebrate with Jeff’s mother as well. They live here, just one town over, so we see them regularly and spend many of these minor holidays with them; we didn’t feel it problematic not to see them on Mother’s Day itself. We had a nice luncheon with them on Friday, including Jeff’s 90+ grandmother.
I hope YOUR Mother’s Day was full of love, too!
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03.24.07
Posted in Holidays, Photos at 4:04 pm by Christina
We celebrated another quarter of Terra’s revolution around Sol this week. The kids’ equinox baskets are packed away in the garage, but my own childhood (Easter) basket was available and so while I had the kids at choir and orchestra on Wednesday, Jeff prepared it with shredded green paper and the nice treats I picked up (decorated egg and flower cookies, and yummy filled chocolate eggs). We’d made no mention of the event, and the girls were nicely surprised when we got home!
We waited until Thursday to color and hide the eggs. (There’s a lot to be said for doing things in due time, rather than cramming everything in at once. I enjoy most holidays more when there’s an agreement not to rush…) We tried a marbling kit this year as well as the regular dye tablets (which were 1/3 dud – only three colors, and the pink wouldn’t dissolve). We have a lovely backyard this year and had fun hiding the eggs for a hunt. We scattered a few on the grass for Jamie to find, too. In fact, when we hid all the eggs a second time at the girls’ request, Jamie found several of the actually hidden ones!
Here are some great pictures – Jamie was very photogenic. The girls were moving too fast during the hunt to get anything good.
(That’s a carefully placed cup – no willy pictures on the internet!)
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