7/24/2011 Swim Day

Not them -- me! I went swimming this morning, for sadly only the second time this summer. What a great way to think things through -- I did 1800 yards without stopping, and had time to squeeze in another 50 of butterfly and backstroke before lap swim time was over.

During that time, I gave a lot of thought to my work and life situation while in a semi-out-of-body trancelike state. Even running, which in many ways I like better, doesn't give me the same mental peace and sense of well-being that a good swim does afterward. I was in a decent mood all day, and had the energy and optimism to tackle a most dreadful and inertia-inducing task: resume updates.

Friday's Dilbert. This is so close to home that I wouldn't dare post it in my cubicle.


Last Friday was the kids' last "regular" swim lesson, but I think I will schedule a few one-off private lessons for them (and me!) in August, same place. I'm really happy we've found our swim-lesson place.


But I'm also happy there are no lessons next week. That will give me a little logistical relief, but not entirely, because Gabriel will be at a Y Archery camp while Julian and Katrina are at Collins. And I have a conference to attend in San Francisco for three days, that will make things extra-interesting, but I'm happy to be pulled out of my regular context.

Still, I could use one more weekend day and a few more good swims this week!

7/24/2011

7/23/11 Kitchen helper

I bake a lot. As such, there are a few tasks I've grown to dislike: #1 is measuring flour. #2 is cracking eggs. I'm fast so it's really not a problem, but I'd just as soon delegate. Most of the time, kids "helping" is more for fun and bonding, but isn't really help.

This morning I needed about 4 eggs cracked for scrambled eggs, and Katrina enthusiastically volunteered for the job. She'd done so well the last time she "helped" me that this time, I just set her up and let her go!


Then she added salt, pepper (milling it from the grinder), paprika and half-and-half; then she mixed it all up.


If she could reach things on her own, I could probably just ask her to prepare and cook the scrambled eggs herself! I also love her enthusiasm and just being with her in the kitchen.

7/23/11

7/21/2011 Almost swimming

Last summer, I had to pluck Katrina out of the water when she went horizontal and didn't know enough to put her feet back down.

Last week, she was barely OK with putting her face in the water for a moment -- a decent first step thanks to months of the previous swim place, but a far cry from where her brothers were thanks to their Water Babies experience (one that she never took to).

At age 4-1/2, Katrina was starting at a huge deficit compared to her brothers, but at least had been in water before and was OK with getting her head wet. I described her swimming level as "drowning hazard," but at least she was past the crying and refusing stage of many 4-year-olds. Not much comfort to a mom who'd like their kids to actually swim.

Today, Katrina is almost -- not quite -- but almost -- there!


She loves it and is SO happy and proud of herself.

Unfortunately, only one more swim lesson tomorrow. Still, this "immersion" (no pun intended) plan has worked well -- a lesson 3 days last week and every day this week (instead of one lesson a week all summer) has been far, far more effective, despite the logistical challenge.

Plus the quality and method of these lessons is night and day. Part of that is because of our quasi-private lessons -- not because cheapie me paid for them, but because no one else signed up for this time slot.

And though this is a selfish aspect, I SO much prefer outdoor pools. I love to swim myself (and have only gone once this summer, wah), but I can't stand indoor swimming -- or watching swimming indoors, as it turns out. I really like hanging around the outdoor pools and watching everything. I'm not alone in this; an extremely athletic swimming/marathoner friend also won't go near indoor pools (Helen Barker for those of you know who her).

Katrina's teacher seems to really enjoy teaching her; she's so enthusiastic and happy about it. She isn't usually a gushy kind of person, but you can hear her giggling and shouting happily from all the way across the other pool during her lesson.

But aside from joy in the water, Katrina's turnaround is nothing short of amazing. She was by far the most reluctant baby-swimmer I had (and frankly has never shown much athletic talent), but now she is by far the most enthusiastic swimmer. Gabriel was by far the most capable baby swimmer I had (and he has some natural athletic ability), but is unfortunately by far the most reluctant swimmer now.

Katrina is still in "drowning hazard" territory, but she's come so, so far. I wish she had another week of lessons, I think she'd actually be swimming, but we just can't make it happen. Still, I think her teacher will enjoy her last lesson tomorrow just as much as she will -- but no one moreso than me!

7/21/2011

7/20/2011 Swimming?

Drat, I didn't get video, but I saw Katrina do something that remotely resembles swimming today! It involved being underwater, horizontal, moving all limbs with just barely enough rhythm to pass for "swimming" for a second or so, then popping up and laughing, "SEE Mommy, I'm SWIMMING!!!" She's still a drowning hazard, but she's come SO SO far from being pulled around on a barbell and doing the hokey-pokey in a swim floatie under a tunnel.

Logistics of swim lessons have been tough, but I'm almost wishing I'd signed up for another week, if just for Katrina. She's close to a breakthrough. Yay!

The boys....ugh. Gabriel is famously exceptional at resisting instruction, and he mostly does. He's improved a little, but only against his will. If he'd apply his extraordinary attention span and determination to swimming instead of not swimming, he'd be doing laps and flip-turns now. Julian is much more willing to learn and has made a lot more improvement, I'm happy to say. He too could benefit from another week. Maybe I can fit it in somehow.

Next year I'm certainly going to call this same swim school (really a members-only country club that lets the rank-and-file scrabble in for swim lessons) earlier and find a way to get them all there for longer!

7/20/11

7/19/2011 Attitude Improvement

Instead of working from 3:15-4pm before I had to leave early to get kids to swim lessons, I played ping-pong with a coworker. And I went running at lunch today, which takes 1-1/2 hours. And got to work late, partly because of horrendous traffic on a local street. AND, I didn't work tonight. Nyah.

Instead of working tonigh to make up for all my deliquencies, I watched the rest of T2 with my young impressionable children. Great parenting, huh!! It's R-rated and fraught with violence!

I was amused that Katrina had made a comment about Winnie-the-Pooh being scary, but nothing about Terminator 2. Well, at least it has some positive themes: giving up things you love for the right reasons, mother-son bonding, obedient capable kids. Not to mention the mind-bending theme of time-travel. Gabriel especially is moved when I say that I'd do anything to protect him, just as Sarah Conner would die to protect her son (though she was a little better-prepared than I am).

I could use some lessons from the Terminator myself. Hasta la vista, baby.

7/19/11

(p.s. welcome back from music camp in Vermont, Mom!)

7/18/11 Wrap-up

A black day for me. It's clear the work problem is here to stay, and I have just learn to live with it, or leave.

The bigger problem is within myself. Why do I care so much? How can I let this cancer eat away at me? Why can't I compartmentalize, put it in perspective, set it aside? Why can't I adapt as others have; accepting the futility of resistance and settling for "good enough" -- do just enough to make the proper appearances, and get real work done under the radar. Why does staying silent when I disagree or see something done wrong feel so wrong, why can't I learn to live with that? Why don't I "just leave" ?

Today at least, it feels like a lose-lose. Leaving is retreating from a situation I overall really like and am unlikely to duplicate elsewhere. Turning into a sheep burns at my very core; speaking up and pushing for what I think is right is one of my few assets.

I know the best approach is to take this as a learning experience and find a way to rise above: to work effectively, despite my Director's efforts against that; and to continue to build solid relationships with others. And try not to get frustrated and feel like a victim: I didn't start this. This man got away with unprecedented verbal abuse, yet I was the one who ended up under the microscope.

And most of all, have faith that the truth will come out. That faith has been seriously rattled -- nothing substantial has come from my efforts to escalate and publicize the problem, except directing much unwanted scrutiny at me. 10% of my angst tonight is about the loss of that faith; the other 90% is just that I can't turn this OFF like I know I should.

OK, one more day of futile fretting, then it's time to do some emotional damage control!

7/18/11

7/17/2011 Movie Day

This is rare -- we all went to see a movie in a theatre today! Dave's idea actually: Winnie-the-Pooh. We met up with our friends Sara and Saul, who is 10 weeks older than Katrina. Saul laughed a lot through the movie; Gabriel chuckled a bunch of times (and enjoyed it; apparently he's not getting too old for animated movies), and Julian and Katrina were riveted.

I'd also rented some decidedly un-kid movies: Terminator and Terminator 2. Wellll....what can I say. I'd been telling Gabriel about some of the great scenes in the beginning of T2, which led to renting both. The boys and I watched the beginning of Terminator yesterday, then the beginning of T2 today, with Katrina.

I know, I know, really not kid-stuff. On the other hand, the motorcycle chase scenes in T2 with a 10-year-old boy are the sort of thing most 9-year-old boys live for -- lots of stuff blowing up, after all.

Otherwise mostly putzed around the house and tried not to think about work too much today.

7/17/2011

7/15/2011 Do It Anyway

I need to get OUT of work mode. WHY does this matter so much?

A coworker suggested that our mishmash (diverse?) modern society has few rite-of-passage rituals, such as Bar/Bat Mitzvahs for 13-year-olds in Jewish culture, or Quinceanera for 15-year-olds in Mexican culture. Instead, we get our sense of hierarchy and advancement from work. And indeed, I know in my heart that a large part of the reason I wanted to go back to work after having babies was for the structure, the sense of accomplishment, the belonging.

But it's hard to satisfy those basic needs in a foreign culture in which advancement, recognition and contribution is about people, relationships and loyalty; rather than intrisic work. I'd expect a great deal of subjective judgement in an artistic environment, but in a literal engineering one? That's odd. As regular readers know, I struggle routinely with a boss who values impressions, appearances and loyalty over quality of work and facts.

Yesterday my job changed dramatically. I was instructed to start working on a software application that does failure analysis on IP networks. Actually, it's right up my alley, normally, but it's not close to what I've been doing or want to do. More importantly, it's not in my team's set of responsibilities.

Do It Anyway, I was told today. Never mind that the group that is responsible doesn't need or want my help. So instead of doing in my job description, I've been instructed to duplicate work in another group..."just in case." I hate being given busywork that others have already covered and being told to "do it anyway" with little purpose beyond "just in case."

I don't know...do I trust the CTO's sincere-sounding words that he wants to hear about problems like this? Or will I come off as a whiner? How do you convey that this really isn't your job without sounding like you're trying to slough off??

Speaking of dysfunction, thank goodness I had to leave at 3:30 today, to deal with a wacky kid-pickup schedule that involved kids in a pool on a field trip just before a swim lesson. Somehow I got them all to swim lesson on time. That by itself proves how capable I am!!

7/15/2011

7/14/2011 Thursday night

This has been a really remarkable week so far, and not all in good ways. I made an important and good discovery at work, then my job was almost pretty much re-assigned yesterday. And today I looked our CTO in the eye and told him that his Director is technically incompetent and that people don't understand why the CTO tolerates him. I think I used up a year's worth of courage in saying that.

I need to work tonight, but you know what? There's a new episode of Burn Notice on in 10 minutes! Forget work!

7/14/2011

7/13/2011 takeout!

Swim night, and I have a ton of work to do tonight due to an unexpected re-assignment at work today. I will NOT let Mr Horrible keep me from doing real, good work, so that means extra work. It's serious, because I even missed a regular Coffee Night with friends!!

7/13/2011

7/12/11 MWF swim

Whew. No swim lesson today -- no trying to coordinate Gabriel and Katrina's field trip with getting them to swim lesson on time. They went ice-skating. Julian left his knapsack that I'd so carefully packed at the CDC and so didn't skate, but Katrina remembered hers and she had a great time!

Tomorrow, Gabriel's field trip is going to some marine lab, supposedly back by 4:30. A few wrong traffic lights will make us late for a 5pm swim lesson. Summer is stressful!

7/12/11

7/11/2011 Swim Lessons

Two weeks of swim lessons for all 3 starting today!! New place, great reputation.

Scheduling constraints meant that Katrina had her own lesson at 5pm, then the boys together at 5:30.

Katrina loved her teacher; I could hear her giggling from far away. For her, it turns out her swim lessons at the previous lame place did pay off to some extent, because she was willing to put her face in the water. The boys have always been fine with dunking their heads due to their early Water Babies lessons in Campbell, but Katrina never took to swim lessons as a baby.


During Katrina's lesson, the boys had fun playing ping-pong by the pool.


This place is a genuine "country club" with a hefty initiation fee to join, but it does allow the rank-and-file scrabble like us to pay for swim lessons without joining. They're not cheap, but swim lessons never are, and most aren't very good.

The boys were next, in a lesson together, against my better judgement. The swim class director assured me they could handle brothers. I was skeptical.


And I was right. Not these brothers. I had to intervene several times to threaten Gabriel (and carry out twice) with the loss of coveted computer-time for every time the teacher had to tell him to quit messing around (splashing Julian, blocking Julian when it was his turn to swim, going underwater and kicking his feet at the teacher). By the end of the lesson, the swim class director (not their teacher) suggested that next lesson, we split the boys up 15 minutes/15 minutes, so they're not in the pool at the same time.

Despite all this, much swim-learning actually occurred. Julian used his arms, and was introduced to the concept of intermingling breathing with actually swimming. Gabriel showed that he had learned something at our previous swim place, but really really needs to reinforce it, since he gives up after only a few strokes. I had to face the fact that at 9 years old, despite having started at 4 months old, he really can't swim.

I was struck by how much nicer it was to deal with an outdoors pool than indoors. It's SO much nicer to wait and watch -- downright pleasant, in fact. No surprise; I've grown to truly dislike indoor swimming myself, and haven't done it for years. I've swum outdoors in the rain and dark in 52-degree weather, but not indoors.

(Actually, I have not gone swimming myself for months until yesterday, when I really felt like I needed to -- and had a horrible swim for the first 20 minutes, then the endorphins kicked in and I felt phenomenal and drove home in a great, inspired, uplifted mood as I always do after swimming.)

3 kid swim-lessons this week, 5 next week. Despite the logistical challenges, I already totally enjoy not cringing at their lameness!

7/11/11 (cool date!)

Death Valley Writeup

FINALLY! I finished blogging our Death Valley National Park Trip (April 17-19, 2011). You've already read about it, just check out the photos.

There must be a better way. Next time, photo book!

7/10/2011 The Piano

We've been thinking about upgrading our practice piano. What we have now is a programmable one with 65 keys, a shade up from toy status, but definitely not a real piano.

Dave has an 88-key keyboard that's been in a box since we moved out to remodel, one with weighted keys to give a more piano-like feel. I convinced him that it doesn't need protection from little kids anymore -- so, let's start with that one.

Though we're thinking that a more integrated electronic piano would be better, one that doesn't need separate speakers, metronome, music stand, pedals and tangles of cords, for now Dave's 88-key piano tells us how much of the whiz-bang electronic features we do need. The kids make ample use of the pre-recorded tunes and various playing modes on our semi-toy piano...but we can always keep that one and find another place for it.

Meantime, Gabriel has been enjoying getting to know 88 keys. I'm very curious to see if the better feel and sound of this piano will outweigh the lack of whizzy features for him.

(lots of mistakes at first but he gets his groove on.)


Julian and Katrina have been enjoying freer access to our littler piano, which clearly needs to be in a different room from the 88-key one. And bonus: now Dave wants to play again too!

In other breaking news, it was time to get the kids haircuts. Their hair is never quite in sync -- Gabriel's could have gone longer, but Julian is getting downright shaggy and Katrina's bangs could use a professional touch-up from the occasional hacking I do.

They weren't thrilled about a "before" shot.


And less so about an "after" shot, but there were lollipops at stake here. The boys didn't like the itchiness so took their shirts off.


The lady who did Katrina's hair did a wonderful job. A little layering in the back, giving her thick rich hair a lovely swingy quality. And she did a very nice job angling her bangs in the front.


Katrina actually asked me to take a photo of her haircut afterward.


Gabriel's is inexplicably short, but he doesn't mind, because he says that means he won't need a haircut for longer now. I didn't have the heart to remind him that it's really Julian's hair, which was cut much longer by a different person, that will determine when our next trip to Great Clips will be!

7/10/2011

7/7/11 too much to write

...whew. I am really tired. just a few notes before going to sleep. We got the kids up to bed early for once, and I ended up working late. But late tonight, a very strange stiffness all across my heck and back make me feel like I'm carrying a piece of plywood strapped to my back. This better not be a reminder of who's really in control of my mobility: my trick back. I don't think it's because I haven't stretched right after a run...?

7/7/2011

7/6/11 The Helper

What a change -- it's actually a joy to pick the kids up now! The teachers are happy and have cute little stories, we chat a bit, the kid in question cooperates with getting ready to leave. This is great!

The CDC taking care of Katrina is adjusting a little to her though. "She doesn't really want to participate," one teacher reported, apparently expecting that I'd perceive this as a problem. Uh-huh. "She likes to play on her own for a long time. Uh-huh.

Another time, Katrina refused to answer a question and just stared ahead, so the teacher called Gabriel over to "translate." They went on a field trip today, and apparently Gabriel was by her side the whole day -- on the bus, at the pizza restaurant where they made their own lunch, back at the CDC. Gabriel commented, "I'm making sure nothing happens to her -- except good things."

The CDC teachers who are used to Gabriel are blown away by this side of him. I'd told them that he was very sweet with her, but they seem really surprised, and delighted. Indeed, Gabriel with Katrina is totally opposite from Gabriel with Julian.

I never worried about the boys when they started at the CDC, and I'm overall not worried at all about Katrina, but I do think about her a little more. She's just so young, so little. She was in preschool just a few weeks ago, and now has been thrust into the big-kid world. She doesn't even think to close the bathroom door yet, for instance. But she's fine. Anything she can't handle, Gabriel can. I just love how he loves her.

Ah, the magic of summer -- and fraternal separation!

7/6/11

7/5/2011 CDC!

Katrina's first day at CDC!!! She was very excited -- but no more so than I was.


(Gabriel is carrying his new favorite book, "The Winn Rosch Hardware Bible" about IBM PC hardware -- he's back on his electronics kick.)



So funny the difference between preschool and school-age care. I brought some extra shorts and underpants because of her "leaking" issue (which has been much better the past 2 weeks). At preschool, it's: "OK! Put it in her marked cubby!" At school-age care it's an apprehensive, "uhh....why don't you stash that in her brother's knapsack so it doesn't get lost," and a deserved 'oh brother' look. School-age camps are way past potty-training. Fair enough.

Julian went to a different CDC today!


He said it was "1/4 bad and 3/4 good," because kids were "tricking" him about computer games (~irritation~ about computer games at daycamp), but he ran into some friends he knew too. Julian is the only child we have out of the 3 who truly seems to care about these things. He had a good time though.

Most importantly, picking them up today was easy because of the lack of reports of behavior problems, spending playtime in the office reading, interventions, letters of apologies to teachers, lengthy discussions about how to keep troublesome boys apart...ahhhh. Everyone is loving the boys' separation so much that I'm actually starting to dread them being all together in August for 2 weeks before school starts (ick!).

Collins CDC has "culinary" and "performing arts" camp, and since I didn't cotton on to the different specialty camps this year, I didn't sign Katrina up for either camp. Somehow she got put into "performing arts" by default, which would be singing today, so I told the P.A. teacher, "Er, you might want to move her to Culinary...." -- which apparently happened quickly.

How is it that our nearest CDC ended up being Culinary and Performing Arts all summer?! Hello CDC, we working parents choose you based on location, not specialty camp! I wish they'd go back to their most excellent week-by-week themes. Our closest CDC happens to run the Culinary and Performing Arts specialty camps, neither of our top choices.

Next summer, I'll have to rethink daycamps. But next summer is a world away.

Right now, I'm keenly aware of how little and young Katrina seems, though she wasted no time this morning at CDC finding a bucket of dinosaurs and making up games with them. She's not a super-sensitive child, but I'm surprised at how aware I am that she's not even 5 yet and still a very very little girl. Emotionally it involves some letting-go that I didn't have to do with her 5-1/2yo brothers; objectively I know that if any 4-3/4yo can take being plopped into a new big-kid situation, it's Katrina.

Being back at work today should have been a fun catching-up with coworkers, plowing through hundreds of emails, and gradually transitioning back into Work Mode after 10 days away. But instead it was a stressful slam back into the dysfunctional world working under the Taliban mentality. I learned today that "respect" is an important quality for Silicon Valley engineers -- silly me, I thought things like resourcefulness, tenacity, thoroughness and problem-solving were the tops.

What would I say if I were asked if I "respect" my Director? I act respectful, I don't say or do anything unprofessional or inappropriate, that's just wrong and unnecessary and falls outside what I believe to be correct professional decorum. But if I were asked point-blank if I respect him in my heart, I would be compelled to state the truth: No.

Katrina said tonight, "Tomorrow is my SECOND day at CDC, then another day, then another, then I'll go to COLLEGE!!!" Reminds me of my all-time favorite academic geek cartoon with Step 2 saying "Then a miracle occurs...


I could use a miracle!

7/5/2011

7/4/2011 The Americans

We went to see fireworks tonight, but that wasn't the most "American" thing that happened here today. Actually, it was something that is very common to most of the world except here, but still struck me as being so basically American anyway.

And that was Julian's friend from across the street coming over and asking, "Can Julian come out to play?" and Julian playing with his neighbor friend for the better part of the afternoon. Without the grandmother or father following them around!

Also American is the minor irritation that Julian went into the neighbor's house without telling me, then got cookies right before dinner and spent time inside watching a movie on a beautiful day. Alas, I hear that's all part of this thing about having kids on the block to play with -- overall a win.

More on my window shade project. This one room, I took a big leap with the color, since I'm usually very wimpy and chicken about color. But I love the sun coming through this "coral" color, and it matches the bedspread and pillows (all of which I sewed myself so I guess they're staying).

Best of all, when the sun is usually blaring through this window, the shades give the room a lovely warm pinky glow.


Now I really hate the wimpy white shades I put in the family room!

Back to work tomorrow, and two kids are starting at two new CDCs (to them) tomorrow as well. Julian will be going to Eaton CDC, attached to the next school over; and of course Katrina will start at Collins CDC, where Gabriel will go too. And I have to brace myself for the usual weirdness at work. A big adjustment for three of us!

7/5/2011

7/3/2011 Hot day

What IS this? Rain, humidity, and now heat? We live with high prices, traffic and crowding here in the SF Bay Area just to avoid all that with the world's best climate. It was almost 100 degrees today -- no FAIR!

The kids spent most of the day (mostly) quietly indoors.

My sense is that they truly miss their cousins. It was so fun having them here, that a day at home doing nothing just isn't the same. Plus it was really un-fun hot outside. So, lots of reading and music-listening (and some playing) happened inside.

But all was not lost -- thanks to the generosity and thoughtfulness of a good friend, we went to a neighborhood pool for nearly 3 hours this hot afternoon. For once, good timing occurred between the weather and our plans, because this was the day to spend hours in the water.

Photo first. Not as good as last year's!


My #1 Prime Objective this weekend has been installing window shades in most of the downstairs (minus the tilt-n-turn windows, the patio doors and the historic dining room window). I'd placed a huge order at Smith and Noble some weeks ago during a 40% off sale, and the boxes have been awaiting me on our porch to install. It took hours just to unpack everything and get rid of all the boxes, straps, bubble-wrap and other assorted packaging.

Then -- install. As usual, numerous problems abound: broken drill bit, shades that don't fit as I'd measured, the intended spot to drill a hole turns out to be on a seam, goofy instructions. My wrist is tired from all the screwing and drilling today, but I'm happy that this is finally getting done. Next time we remodel and design rooms, I'll start with the window treatments and work backward from there!

The biggest success is in the office, where we spend a lot of time, and that has a prominent street-facing window. I'm sure our neighbors are just as glad as we are not to have a view into our office at night anymore!


I'm barely halfway done with the installation. Tomorrow, more drilling, measuring, fitting, screwing...I mean, measuring, fitting, drilling and screwing tomorrow -- hmm, maybe that's my problem. Ready, fire, AIM!

7/3/2011

7/2/11 Playing The Blues

We really need a new electronic piano that has more keys, but still has all the other features too.

The piano we have now has a recording feature that Gabriel uses a lot. First he records something:


Then he plays it back and plays another part. Sort of like being your own band.


I'm really at a loss how to help him develop this interest. Piano lessons seems the obvious choice, but he doesn't want lessons, or thinks he doesn't need them. His playing is pretty sporadic anyway -- he goes in phases in which he plays a lot, then doesn't, then a whole bunch of new compositions come out (like in the videos above). Piano lessons are more of a regular, committed thing. He would benefit tremendously from the training, but we're not going to force him. I regularly remind him that if he wants to take lessons, we'll totally support it.

It was really fun watching him sort-of jam with his cousin playing on recorder.

Though, his cousin is really more of a front-man vocals guy, and prefers Guns'n'Roses to blues.

I wonder if there are kid-blues guitarists and singers out there who'd like to start a kid-jam band!

7/2/11

7/1/2011 Summer Family Visit

We had such a nice visit with East Coast cousins!! There's a whole photo book waiting to happen, but here's a rundown of each day.

Saturday, Laura and Ryan were here and played with all five kids all day. It was great! More aunts! More uncles!


Sunday morning, Gabriel and I ran in the Summer Scamper 5K. In the afternoon, we set up my new 4-man tent in the backyard in preparation for our camping overnight later in the week.


Monday, we took the kids to Rinconada pool in Palo Alto. This was a huge hit! They had a great time in this shallow, diverse and fun pool.

(Heads left to right: Gabriel, Aidan, Julian, Remi, Katrina)

Tuesday morning we packed up the minivan -- and not easily -- for our much-anticipated campout night. We were delighted to find the campsite spacious and the entire campground empty, though the clouds and sprinkles were threatening as we were setting up and making lunch.


We went on a short waterfalls hike, handily accessible right from the campground. It was sprinkling on and off.

By the time we got back from our hike, it was really raining. I drove out to get cell service and called Dave to get a weather report, but it was clear from the skies that we were in for a night and morning of rain from a freak storm. With great regret, we packed up camp, had dinner at a restaurant in Morgan Hill and went home.

Wednesday was recovery day, and we fulfilled our promise that we'd roast marshmallows, with a makeshift firepit from leftover bricks in the backyard.


Thursday we went to the beach! A chilly wind drove us grownups home a little early, though it's never truly warm on a Northern California beach. I assured my sister she wouldn't need a swimsuit.


Friday, today, we went to Castle Rock State Park and did a lot of climbing. The kids loved this.



And tonight after dinner, I took my sister and niece and nephew to the airport for them to be reunited with their father and dog. But the joy of the memory far outweighs the sadness of seeing our family go. And we're determined family-wide camping will happen again!!

7/1/2011

6/30/11 Beach Day

I haven't been blogging this week, since my sister and niece and nephew and my kids have been too busy together and I've been too tired at night.

So this too will be brief: we had a great day at the beach today! We took the kids to the same place we'd been to a few weeks ago for Jake's birthday. This is a darling beach, easy to get to, pretty and very convenient.

As usual, the first half-hour was spent in the water, jumping the waves.




But the water is cold here. The bigger kids retreated to shore and spent most of their time digging in a hole and playing in the sand. Katrina spent the entire time running around in the water. It got really cold, but she didn't quit!



After about 2-1/2 hours, Steph and I got tired of being cold, and just as the chilly wind died down, we gathered the kids to go home. It seemed longer! They'd all had a great time.

The kids entertained themselves the whole way home singing in the minivan. Even Katrina joined in?! (She was pretty out of key though...!).

Aidan, Remi and Julian continued this on our front lawn at home too. SO cute.

Some colorful bee cookies were the incentive for this shot after dinner. This one's for you, Mom!


I'm still blue about the freak rainstorm forcing us to bail on an otherwise perfect camping introduction, but today was so great it almost much makes up for it!

6/30/2011

6/30/2011 Updated Scamper photos

I just updated my post about the Packard Summer Scamper 5K with two wonderful photos that a photographer took along the course. What a treasure to have these of me and Gabriel together!

About halfway through the course. I love this picture!


Approaching the final turn to the finish line, moments before my epic sprint to barely edge out my son by 1 second, probably for the last time ever.


Thanks to Stacey for pointing me to these photos or I'd never have noticed!

6/30/2011

6/26/11 Summer Scamper

Today Gabriel and I ran in a 5K race to benefit the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. Over 1200 participants turned out for a 5K and 10K walks & runs, plus kids' runs. It was quite the event! Steph and Aidan and Remi accompanied us to cheer us on -- and of course get photos.


Gabriel and I had a goal of finishing the 5K in 25 minutes. I thought I was running strong, but he kept up with me the whole way, fading back sometimes, then catching up. That's harder to do!

A photographer was taking shots along the way.

(I love this shot, what a treasure.)

When the finish line was in sight, Gabriel and I were running together, and the photographer was there again.


As we approached the finish line, Gabriel sprinted ahead, and then I pushed the hardest I've ever pushed in my whole life to pass him. I barely did and had to work HARD to keep going -- and Steph got the shot! (That's me crossing the finish, and Gabriel is the next runner behind me, the short one in the white T-shirt).


We were both really out of breath but psyched. What a race!!


Afterward we walked to where the goodie bags and snacks were. A radio station was blasting music so loud there was only one thing to do.


A lady with the radio station came out and gave Aidan a T-shirt for dancing! He was psyched.

Race results were chip-timed with devices we attached to our shoes. In the end, I beat Gabriel by 1 second, for an overall time of 26:33 (pace 8:33 minutes per mile) -- much slower than our goal of 25 minutes.

This race has the strangest age divisions: womens' age groups spanned only 5 years (I was in 45-49), but the younger years (where the most differences are) had only one age category: 19-and-under. What's that about? 19-year-olds in the same group as 7-year olds? I don't THINK so!! I thought they should at least have had a 10-and-under category, even before discovering that if they had, Gabriel would have come in 3rd. He did GREAT. He'll certainly beat me our next 5K, as he should.

Other than getting too discombobulated by the crowds to meet up with my friends who gave me the idea to do this, it was a terrific time. I'm so glad my sister and niece and nephew were there for us. And what FUN to do with my son!

6/26/11

6/25/2011 Hail hail!

The gang's all here!

6/23/11 2011 Pre-K graduation!

Today was preschool graduation! As usual, our preschool did a nice job of preparing the kids, with the whole group entering one at a time and then performing at least 7 little songs, with enthusiastic hand gestures.

All except one.


Some years there's a cryer, and this year, it was ours. Katrina had refused to sing along with all the practices, her teacher told us, and now she was so mad that she was put in a position to perform (though she didn't have to sing) that she buried her face in her hands and cried. People asked if she had stage fright or was feeling overwhelmed or is sensitive -- hah! No. She was just P.O.'d that she couldn't get out of this. Our little contrarian.

She pretty much went along with the diploma receiving ritual at least, but without the bounding happy proud smile of the other kids.


After graduation, we went to Pump It Up, where I had a a great time scaring other first-time kindergarten parents to death with my tales of woe about school. "What, you can't go to Hawaii for a week?" one Mom asked. Uhhhh, that would be a big fat NO.

Anyway, I'm very proud and happy anyway, despite Katrina's troubles today, that we're done with preschool forever!


6/23/11

6/21/2011 First day of summer

It's HOT!! Usually I like hot, but on Tuesdays I go running, usually with a coworker. We had a heck of a time today running our usual 4-1/4 flat route, talking about motivation techniques and trying to keep each other going. Toward the end, my coworker had to stop and walk; for me that's worse so I finished and then walked back to meet him. We were both dizzy and chilled (like goosebumps) and felt awful.

I'm a summer person, but NO THANKS to 99 degree weather! How many more minutes until ski season??

Busy crazy night...last day of preschool tomorrow (!), cleaners coming tomorrow so tons of cleanup tonight -- AND new episodes of White Collar and Covert Affairs on TV. I didn't even bring my work laptop home tonight!

One thing that keeps the Bay Area permanently crowded is that even on 99 degree days like today, it's pleasantly cool tonight.

6/21/2011

6/20/2011 Mad About You

Good grief. Gabriel has been really easy and cooperative lately, but he reminded us again tonight that when he wants to dig his heels in, he has no equal.

I think it started because I asked him to wash his hands before dinner. He felt he'd washed his hands recently enough, but I insisted anyway. It's a rule, I'm not about to go making judgements on how dirty hands or the length of time or activity engaged upon since the last hand-wash: you wash your hands before dinner.

He was so mad that I had to give him a countdown just to get him to leave the room to go wash his hands, upon threat of losing computer time (something he's been getting daily now that it's summer, a rare thing, and only for programming). Then he sat in the bathroom for 20 minutes until I chased him out with the same threat. Then he sat at dinner and refused to eat for a full 40 minutes, until it was time to clean up. He got a 5-minute respite while Dave to go check something in his car outside, but at the end of that 5 minutes, that was it, dinner's over.

Then he refused to leave the kitchen, put his shoes away, go upstairs to get ready for bath, or do anything without being prompted by the threat of lost computer time. Finally we got tired of pushing him every step of the way and told him that every minute past 8:00 that he's not ready for bed is a day of computer access lost.

He's now 10 minutes past time, with 10 days of computer time lost. Sounds oh so GREAT huh? I can't wait to enforce that one.

An hour and a half long conflict, that's still not over, about not wanting to wash his hands. And don't think for a second that "he'll learn" for next time. Ohhhhh no, if he decides to dig in again, it'll be the same darn thing all over.

That's Gabriel for you. At times like these, I can never decide if I'm madder AT him or madder ABOUT him!

6/20/11

6/19/2011 D-Day

Low-key Father's Day around here. I went running this morning with Betsy, then came home and made Dave's favorite breakfast (with middling success unfortunately!). I wasn't feeling well today, so didn't do much in the afternoon, but found the energy later to do some long-overdue gardening and pruning. Our landscaping really needs regular attention -- it only took half an hour to clip enough stuff to completely fill our huge yard waste bin. At dinnertime, I put out the things the kids had made for Father's Day, and we had a relatively calm dinner and kid-bedtime.

No major blowouts or issues with kids today -- that's the best gift possible for Dad!

6/19/2011