8/20/12 First day of school!

First day of school -- summer is officially over!

No dorky "Varsity" shirts this time....I just didn't order any in time. But I also didn't want to struggle with getting them to wear the shirts. Then, it turned out, Gabriel asked me, "No 'Class Of --' shirts this time?"

Nor new backpacks or lunchbags either, which they all desperately need. And I just missed a Land's End 25% off -everything sale. Sigh.

But I don't know what to do about lunchbags for Julian. Today he got one of Gabriel's old lunchbags with a piece of blue tape covering the stitched "Gabriel" name -- and he lost it. First day of school! He lost 4 lunchbags just in the last 3 weeks of school. The other two kids combined don't lose stuff at nearly the rate Julian does. There just doesn't seem to be any point in sending him into school with anything of value.

At least I wasn't so lame that I missed the essential pre-class photos.

Katrina outside her new 1st-grade class. Unlike most of the other 1st-grade parents, I had to abandon her to check in on the boys.

Julian's 3rd-grade class, with plenty of doting parents there watching their every move.

Gabriel's 5th-grade class. By now, teachers have all but abandoned smiling apple signs that announce the grade and other cutesy decorations. Not that Gabriel minded.

I had just enough time to scootch back to Katrina's class after dropping the boys off, and remind her to walk to CDC herself after school (in kindergarten, CDC picks them up). There I saw her teacher calling out each child's name and handing them a nametag and sending them into the classroom. Katrina was at the head of this line, waiting patiently.

I was amused as the teacher struggled with the names, mostly multi-syllable elaborate Indian names. Then she came across the name "Tara" with visible relief, and looked furtively toward Katrina. Nope! The only Caucasian child in line wasn't matched to that particular Western name; another Asian girl was. So when the nametag "Katrina" came up, it was pretty obvious who that was. I never think of Katrina as being a stand-out blonde, but in her first-grade class she sure is.

Katrina's turn! She didn't even look back.

First grade is tough for parents, kids and teachers: they're getting used to a regular school schedule, but are the youngest ones who do so. Some 1st-graders (not mine) are not used to a full day of anything, and some even still take naps. I find 1st grade to be brutal in terms of work expected versus what a 5 or 6 year old can do.

But Katrina? I'm really not worried. Guess it's a girl thing.

She brought home a paper-bag bunny puppet project that they did in class today, promptly put it aside, and set to work on a far more complex wooden craft project of putting together an airplane. Since I'm Bad Mom and don't sit and do these things with her, she reads and follows the instructions herself, even including waiting for painted-on glue to dry, and comes up with an entirely credible result at the end.

Yeah, I'm not worried about her in first grade. Though I do wonder if nowadays with the law advancing cutoff dates, that during transition, some 1st-grade teachers could dread having 5-year-olds starting class.

We had a terrific "last-hurrah" camping trip last weekend! It was at a state park in Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco -- not far, but still, worlds away.

It was a "walk-in" campsite, which meant a lot of hauling of Stuff to get our camping equipment from the car in the parking lot to the campsite, but it also made for a much more pleasant campsite. Our neighbors had dogs, including a charming 9-week-old fuzzy puppy, and Gabriel especially was entranced.

Mostly I wanted to hang around the pretty campsite and study, but a short nature trail beckoned and we all did that, before going to the pebbly beach on San Pablo Bay. After that, Julian and Katrina and I left behind a whining Gabriel to find a sand beach -- and other coastal fascinations along the way.

Saturday Night we attended a campfire talk by a Ranger -- the scheduled speaker on Reptiles had to cancel (much to Julian's regret), but Ranger Tom and the hefty lesbian camp-host pair filled in by talking about the park animals. Gabriel was interested but nonchalant; Katrina tired and holding back whines; Julian entranced.

I'm working on the photos, but I'm getting so far behind on photo projects that I'm starting to have to give them up. I wish I could scrapbook every camping trip, or at least highlights of every summer, but no way. So I'm working on a Facebook album -- if only I can get it done quickly!

Is it really possible we were all there just yesterday?! Life is so different now....

8/20/12

8/14/2012 The Dinosaur

I did something tonight that used to be completely usual, and now is very unusual: I worked late, and didn't even see my children tonight.....eeeps! Verry strange. And hard to believe that someday, that will be the norm.

Actually, I feel pretty good about all the work I did tonight, because it's the sort of work that takes a ton of concentration, and that my actual day-to-day job just doesn't allow.

As much as I like my job, one of the hardest parts is being constantly torn between doing what I know is needed, and doing what's needed NOW. I have to be responsive (i.e. drop everything now and respond) but I also have to be timely (i.e. drop nothing now until the customer is billed for this complex configuration). A competent experienced professional can juggle these competing objectives, but me...? Not so much yet!! I'm getting better at it by leaps and bounds though.

So sometimes working late gives me a much-needed boost. And it's my favorite kind of work, the down-n-dirty icky-sticky details, with some lifting and running cables involved. Overall, super-cool stuff -- it doesn't get better for a network engineer than to be handed a pile of Stuff and be told, "go make this work together!"

Something that's also so cool about my not-so-new company is that if you're still at work at 6pm, you are the last one out the door.

But once at home, somehow tonight I found myself cleaning up my ancient bayarea.net account, one I've had for years, and still actively use -- and now even moreso than usual, because it's a useful resource for work sometimes. (Those of you who know what a "shell account" means might relate -- they used to be normal but are nowadays nearly nonexistent.)

And I came across this message, excerpted below. Just in case you were wondering how truly ancient I am when it comes to Internet and computer things!

January 25, 1995

Re: Internet dial-up account

Dear Noemi:

I want to personally thank you for selecting Bay Area Internet Solutions.
...
Modem Flow Control:
Flow control is the method which the modem starts and stops sending data.
It is essential that flow control be enabled.  If your PPP communication
package does not use hardware flow control, (sometimes referred to as
CTS/RTS flow control), you will need to use software flow control
(XON/XOFF flow control).
...
==============================================================================
  _           _                                     _
 /_) _       /_/ _ _  _    / _ _/_ _  _ _  _ _/_   /_` _  /   _/_ . _  _   _
/_) /-|/_/  / / / (-'/-|  / / //  (-'/ / /(-'/    ._/ /_// /_//  / /_// /_)
       _/

George E. Navas                 navas@bayarea.net
Voice: (408)447-8690            Fax:(408)447-8691       http://www.bayarea.net
==============================================================================

You caught that date? 1995!! Dialup!! This was my connection to the world then!!

I've been with the same ISP for 17 years now. I think that's a record. This is all pre-Google, pre-broadband, pre-cable, pre-wireless, pre-everything days. And I stay with them for the "shell account," something that used to be totally normal, and now is only grandfathered in for total dinosaurs like me.

The funny thing is that I only picked this ISP is because I knew George Navas, who started it -- we both worked at NASA at the time. He left to start his own business, bayarea.net, which to this day continues to thrive.

In fact, to prove how small Silicon Valley is, now bayarea.net is a customer of Dasher's, my new employer, and I've talked to their new executives. George Navas is now a long-gone legend, though he'll always be known for his fantastic salsa dancing; he was from South America, I think Venezuela but I could be wrong.)

How's that for history and ancient-ness!! "...back in my day...." -- start the creaky sound now please -- " 'tech-savvy' meant a whole lot more than knowing how to download videos to an iPhone!!"

8/14/12

8/10/12 The Indirect Heat

I've had an unusual week schedule-wise, so called Bonne Maman late this Friday evening, a time I don't usually call. Katrina said she wanted to talk to Bonne Maman too, but suddenly cut the conversation short to go work on a "wood craft."

She did this thing entirely on her own, following the instructions to put it together and paint it all on her own! She was very proud of herself, so I took a picture.

Meantime I got to talk to Bonne Maman, and while chatting, prepared a marinade for some rarely low-priced bone-in chicken breasts from Whole Foods. Finding high-quality meat at Whole Foods is expected, but for $1.99/lb?! That's so rare it's actually worth blogging about.

Bonne Maman got me a grill book that she has also, about two summers ago when we both got hooked on grilling -- and it turned out we'd bought almost the same exact grills! So it's been fun learning about grilling together.

No wonder our Weber grill book called for grilling this particular chicken recipe for 45 minutes: the book recommended indirect heat. I had no time or energy to find out exactly what that meant, let alone set it up, so I set the hapless poultry straight on the direct grill. I knew the thick breasts might burn to a crisp on the outside and stay raw on the inside this way, but tried to compensate with low heat and an open grill for some of the time.

(A new self-invented anti-stick trick: grill the "bottom" side first, then the "top" side last when the food is already partially cooked -- seems to stick less on the side you want to show that way.)

I was prepared for disaster and my secret grilling-mistake compensation (the microwave!).

But to my amazement, the thick chicken breasts were done as perfectly as grilled chicken could ever be expected to be: moist, perfectly done but not overdone, perfectly seasoned. 5 minutes either way could have totally changed the outcome, but I got completely lucky this time. I was thrilled -- I've come to dislike white meat, but no wonder -- unless it's drowned in sauce, it's always dry and tough from being in the now-ubiqtuitous "boneless skinless" form.

White meat, especially grilled, is far from my favorite (I've always preferred dark meat), but I'm easy. I don't cook for me! But Katrina .... she's my toughest customer, especially when it comes to chicken. Though nowadays she claims she'll try drumsticks on roasted chicken, in practice she doesn't eat very much. All other chicken, and most meat, she refuses on principle.

But tonight, to my amazement, she asked for this white meat. And loved!! it?! She ate all I put on her plate, then seconds, then thirds, then so many extra helpings I lost count. She couldn't quit talking about how much she liked this chicken!

I knew a big part of it was the huge deal I made over her actually eating chicken, so of course I ran with it. But I didn't have to work hard: she even forewent corn-on-the-cob, a genuine favorite, to eat serving after serving of "Bonne Maman's chicken."

I had a lot too -- best white-meat chicken I've ever made! I'm so done with boneless-skinless filets: bone-in is way, way better. Especially since my avowed picky-eater wouldn't quit with it.

I told Katrina and the boys (who'd downed their food before I even sat down) again and again that this was the same chicken that Bonne Maman made for her aunt and cousins recently, and that we'd talked about it together, and that I thought I'd messed it up, and that Bonne Maman would be so psyched to see how much Katrina loved "her" chicken. (Julian had seconds of chicken, and five corn on the cobs?!!)

I guess I got away with the direct heat method after all. A remarkable dinner, spanning 3 generations of grill-loving girls!

8/10/12

8/9/12 Haircuts

School is right around the corner!! Time to get new knapsacks and lunchbags (what they have is pretty destroyed), toenail trims, dorky Varsity "Class of...." T-shirts, and haircuits. Not to mention all the school supplies we're supposed to bring.

Naturally, I've decided to put off most everything until the last weekend -- and then go AWAY for the last weekend! We have our last hurrah for the summer scheduled, a camping trip at China Lake State Park, just north of San Francisco.

On impulse I decided it was time for the boys to have some semblance of respectability though. I'd done Katrina's bangs about a week ago, so she didn't really need a cut herself. Mostly she just wanted the lollipop.

They were going to Great America the next day, so were sporting their new matching T-shirts when I picked them up from camp.

Plan flaw: haircuts in new shirts mean the shirts have to get washed, or they'll itch all day long tomorrow. We made it happen somehow.

Julian in particular asked for gel in his hair to make it spiky-stylish. So cool!

I've been at home the last 3 days, doing a training class that starts at 6:30am, for something I'm not all that interested in, and with the sole objective of passing an exam that means nothing to me -- but it's important to my company to have a certain number of people on staff with this exam behind them. And that's more motivating than anything. Can't you tell? I'm procrastinating by blogging!

8/9/12

8/4/12 Pie Date

I'm really not sure how this started, but somehow earlier this week, Gabriel and I got talking about pies.

This led to a great idea (for me): let's make a pie together! I gave him my Williams-Sonoma Pie And Tart book with all the beautiful photos, and told him to pick something, and we'd make it together this weekend.

To my amazement, he chose a creamy-looking Citrus Chiffon pie. "Are you sure?" I asked him, "not, like, blueberry or cherry or something....well, more kidlike??" He was certain. Citrus Chiffon it was.

I asked him to pick out and write down any unusual ingredients we might have to shop for, a challenge by itself. What's unusual? But this worked really well, to my surprise: he knew we have eggs, but probably needed to check on unflavored powdered gelatin and ginger snaps.

Friday night, I asked Gabriel to pull out all the ingredients. He took this much farther than I expected, including measuring out 1/4 cup of cold water and measuring out the sugar. "I reduced the sugar like you always do, Mom." Ah, I'm doing something right!

So this Saturday afternoon, I set aside the multi-ton weight of work I must complete before Monday, and said to Gabriel, "Let's have our pie date!" And so we made pie.

This pie isn't baked, but its filling is cooked. But first, the cookie-crumb crust had to be assembled and baked, and this was harder than I expected. Nabisco ginger snaps are hard to crumble! He had a great time pounding the cookies, but we had to resort to the food processor too.

Then there was all the zesting and juicing of the citrus. 3/4 cup of lemon juice, plus orange zest, of course from our own trees. Nothing like a baking project that starts off with "Go pick some lemons from the tree!".

I failed to take a photo, but the cooking was challenging too. It meant slowly warming up egg yolks with gelatin and preventing them from scrambling. And lemme tell you, it's one thing to teach kids to crack eggs, but separating them is a whole other ball game!

Finally, it was time to mix the filling with whipped cream, and spread it into the cookie-crumb crust.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours....takes away the home-baked-pie smell from the house. Actually, this pie was more work and much trickier to make than your average fruit pie, which I usually prefer and can knock out in my sleep now.

The best part was, tonight Gabriel and I shared a few pieces and revelled in it. Though I always cut sugar back, this is one recipe that doesn't really need it, and it was on the edge of being too tart -- but was just perfect.

I told him stories about my father and pie, how much he loved blueberry pie and how he'd make all these sighing noises, and pretend to want to steal someone else's pie, but he wasn't pretending at all.

The irony didn't bypass me though: here I was sharing pie with my son while channeling my father.....though really, the two are quite different in this regard. My Dad would never turn down a dessert, but Gabriel takes after his own father and doesn't really favor sweets or fruit in desserts. Which this pie wasn't, and Gabriel likes lemon-flavored things.

It was the sweetest pie I've had in a long long time -- not just the time spent in a project together, but also the long one-one-one intense talking I had with the baker over the spoils. At age 10-1/2, this is more than just laying foundations of relationships; it could become a fond memory for him. It certainly is for me.

8/4/12

8/1/12 The Loser

I'm at home in a training class this week -- which sounds like it'd make things easier, but instead, it automatically intensifies the workweek.

For starters, these classes insist on using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), instead of POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) (that is a technical term!). I don't care how high-tech something sounds, phones just work better. I especially miss being able to carry a regular old cordless phone around with me, muted, so I can hear the class if I want to run a load of laundry. Instead, I'm bound to my computer and its mike and speakers.

Training classes also means= far, far less time flexibility during the day. Though there's a ton of downtime during the class, like when the instructor runs off with some silly story, I can't count on doing a quick check of something online, or making a phone call -- such as, "Hello, lost-and-found? By any chance did you find a red knapsack with monogramming that says Julian?"

That kid loses SO MUCH STUFF! His record was losing 3 lunchbags in one week during school, but week-by-week, I can pretty much count on something getting lost. Non-parents, or parents with more responsible kids say, "Fine, if he loses his jacket then he goes cold, that'll teach him!"

But in practice, it doesn't work that way. You're not actually going to send your child to school in pouring rain or freezing cold (if we had any) for an entire winter, or without lunch for a whole school year -- and even if you did, it likely wouldn't change his behavior at all. With two other kids, I "get" that kids lose stuff -- but Julian goes way way past regular "losing-stuff."

So, despite my super-tight schedule this week, I drove to last week's Y camp location and retrieved a forgotten knapsack. Enabling him, you might say! But he didn't know the difference. Besides, I really wanted to get that knapsack back because I'd rigged a clever way to make sure his sunscreen was usable, yet was attached to the pack and wouldn't get lost.

The good news is, they're all loving the San Jose daycamp. It's much simpler and lower-key than Y specialty camps -- no field trips or fancy outside visits, and no complex pickup/validation process -- but they all seem relaxed and to really like it. This camp costs $242 for two weeks -- pricewise, it doesn't get better than that -- and they like it!

It's hard to believe school is starting in less than 3 weeks?!

8/1/12

7/30/12 Summer Day Campes

Whew! Last week, all 3 kids were in different Y camps -- at different locations!! The logistics were the worst -- but they all liked their camps. And with the boys being apart, I think the time I saved listening to the counselors' stories more than made up for the extra driving time.

Last week, Julian did Lego Robots, which he loved. Gabriel did fencing, which he loved until the last-day tournament, and he tied for last in a group of 18 kids. I don't usually feel bad for him for stuff like that, but I did this time! He took it in stride, but it bugged him. (Still, he's one of those "cheap" competitors -- he likes to win, but he doesn't like to work hard to win.) And Katrina was in gymnastics, which she liked because of the foam pit.

Last day of Y-camp: "linked-in tag" ! It was cute seeing Katrina standing clinging to another girl, who she readily gave up when she saw me -- even cuter.

Outside Julian's camp, an attempt to get all 3. Of course they wouldn't completely cooperate -- these should all be frameables!

Home is always more fun, especially if you bought yourself a remote-control helicopter.
This week, they're in a regular old-fashioned daycamp through the City of San Jose, and I'm thrilled for two very selfish reasons: One, they're all in the same location; and two, it's half the cost of most other daycamps! I just hope the magic persists for two weeks. 'Cause after that, it's another dreaded CDC camp week (through their school's on-campus daycare center, which they've grown not to like for summer daycamp), and then -- SCHOOL. It starts in just 3 weeks, can you believe it?! Agh!

7/30/12

oh no, it's two Uncles birthdays and when I remembered to call was a bad time!! aggggh!)

7/26/12 Y camps

This week is the biggest logistical mistake of the year! All 3 kids are in Y camps, but for some reason, the YMCA really spread out their camps this year. So, all 3 are in different locations, and even in different cities. Yikes!

But they're all totally enjoying their camps this week, and all seem really relaxed and happy -- and I SO enjoy not getting the grim look from the counselors about the boys misbehaving together.

Gabriel is in fencing camp. This was motivated by the awesome swordfight scenes in the move The Princess bride, but actually, he's totally enjoying it. So much that maybe we've finally found an activity that he'll pursue! When I pick him up from camp, he's happy playing some game or messing around with other boys his age. Now that's what camp is about.

This week, Gabriel's been all about ordering a new remote-control helicopter, which he paid for with his own money. It arrived today, and he was thrilled!!!

Julian is in a Lego Robot camp, which we thought would be a semi-bust. It's Lego, but it wasn't the most desirable Lego camp or something...I forget, it was a concession at the time. But he LOVES it. The robots they create have all sorts of cool sensors and remote controls, and need programming and do all sorts of cool things like avoiding walls. He can't stop talking about it and absolutely loves it.

They don't do Legos all day though...after the robotics building, it's easy to find Julian playing a ball game with other kids, controlling the flow of the game, able to dominate and order kids around, basking in his stardom, be as much as he can be -- without the crushing influence of his dominant older brother.

Katrina is in gymnastics camp -- perfect for her, I don't hear a whole lot about gynmastics, but she does happily mention things like jumping on trampolines and into a foam pit. Well, she's only 5, OK!

Maybe this too, like fencing for Gabriel, will be her one outside activity. My friends' kids all have 2 or 3 activities; mine have 0, 0 and 1 -- only Julian has Kung Fu, which now he claims he wants to quit. Gabriel and Katrina are a lot harder to get interested in things; if it's fencing and gymnastics, so be it!

When not at the gymnastics academy, Katrina's camp does regular daycamp stuff, like play "link-tag". Katrina always seems happy when I pick her up, though if she's playing with anyone (and she usually isn't), it's older boys. Sheesh, doesn't she get enough of those at home?!

At least at "link-tag" she got linked with another girl.

This morning I ran into Gabriel's 2nd- and 3rd-grade teacher this morning at the Y. In addition to being a 3rd-grade teacher, she'salso a Mom, and expressed consternation about school starting so soon.

And it IS soon! We have only 3 more weeks of camps before school starts. It's not even August yet, and school is right around the corner!

But I have one more camping trip in me this summer -- minor considering I'd expected to camp 4-5 times this summer -- so it's time to start planning. Fast!

However, I'm also feeling intense internal pressure at work. Not only to complete numerous tasks for customers -- at my old job nothing I did mattered; now customers actually care -- but also to complete some classes and exams. I'd set myself up mentally to work every weekend the next 4-5 weekends, but that takes us past school starting, and conflicts with another camping trip.

To make matters worse, school starts on a Monday this year. It used to start on a handy weird Thursday, making a long weekend a natural outcome. Certainly it meant a "day before school starts" outing, which the past 3 years have meant an outing to some sort of vintage military museum.

But this year? School starts on Monday? Seriously?? Now what?!

Being almost 49 years old, I know what's truly important, what will really stick in the end. A summer camping trip will last in my -- and their -- memory and psyches FAR FAR longer than me finishing some online course. So even if there are only 3 summer weekends left, a forest getaway is far far more important than passing Hewlett-Packard Training Exam HP0-Y43. But -- I need to do that too!!

(It'll be hard to top our Mom's camping trip of 2 weekends ago though -- even Gabriel said, out of the blue, "When to do get to do another 'friends' camping trip? That was SO FUN!")

Camping, work, planning for winter (that's a whole other story...!) -- I think I'll fall back on my all-time favorite character's philosophy: "I can't think about that right now. I'll think about that tomorrow."

7/26/12

7/22/12 The Weed

Well, I've heard of weeds creeping in, but this is ridiculous!

Today we pulled this vine out of the backyard, and off a tree it had entwined itself around. This must be at least 20 feet long!

And apparently it's a squash plant of some sort. It had this squash on it.

No idea what this thing actually is, even after opening it.

Our neighbors grow some pretty funky vegetables, so maybe this one escaped -- but how did it get this big without our noticing?! Wow!

7/22/12

7/21/12 The girls are back!

I feel like I need to make a confession.

Bless me mother, for I have sinned....it's been over a week since I've last blogged....

I'd claim lack of material, but that's never stopped me before. I did spend two days in the city for a training class, staying overnight at some longtime motorcycling friends' house. That was really nice -- but I didn't know what to do with myself when I first arrived. I'm not used to "relaxing" after work!

The great news for is us that my friend Kristi's family is going on an Alaskan cruise for 2 weeks, and we get to rat-sit! The kids are thrilled at having the girls back.

None moreso than Gabriel, who says he never ever tires of having a rat in his pocket.

Sigh...we need a pet -- but for the next two weeks, we've covered!

It was super-hot today, unusual for here. Thank heavens for our pool membership!

7/21/12

7/15/12 Uvas Canyon Camping

Twelve children...

And four moms....

tackled camping together in a lovely county park, less than an hours' drive from the Bay Area. Two of us had tried camping here before, and both got rained out, but this time, the weather was with us.

No shortage of water, however, and the favorite activity for all kids was creek-climbing. This included face-painting, getting doused in waterfalls, finding wildlife (including a baby rattlesnake and lots of very very cool banana slugs), some booooring hiking, and of course, lots of climbing.

Lots more pictures, and many from my photographic friends with good cameras that I don't have yet, so consider this a preview.

Still, how can you go wrong with that many children? (Five 5th-graders, five 3rd-graders and two 1st-graders). This was such a wonderful time that we're talking about making it annual! At least for the next few years, before our now-10-year-olds become too-cool teenagers to bother with us :).

7/15/12

7/8/12 Training Wheels??

We're done! Katrina learned to push-start herself on a bike without training wheels! After a lesson at a nearby park with Dad, she practiced all afternoon around our yard, with varying success. But at least she knows what to do and is motivated to do it. Yayyy!

This is yet another milestone to brush off the last bits of baby/toddlerhood, and I say, thank goodness! I'm so excited she has this in her rapidly growing big-kid repertoire.

Not sure where this fits into stereotypes, but Katrina was well behind her brothes in relative age giving up training wheels. Julian was 3-1/2, Gabriel was 4-1/2 and Katrina was 5-1/2. Just a data point, and in our case probably mostly dominated by personality -- for instance, Julian had no POINT to prove when he was learning, he just wanted to learn to ride, and did.

In any case, I'm thrilled they're all on two-wheelers now!

7/8/12

7/5/12 Farewell Cousins!

Even though we squeezed in another glorious day in Arnold, we had to face reality eventually, and drove home Tuesday night July 3rd.

The long drive stinks no matter what, so might as well make the day about a visit to darling downtown Murphy's, an afternoon outing at the lake, and another big dinner scramble, instead of about driving home/. It was super-busy packing up after dinner, but we pulled it off and had a traffic-free hiccup-free drive back to sea level.

But not before I got another coveted photo of the whole crew! On the deck of our temporary home in Arnold.

Too bad photos can't capture scents. The woodsy, earthy, almost balmy scents of the redwoods and sequoias....absolutely glorious. If there is a Paradise in Heaven, it smells like this.

I absolutely loved Arnold -- at 4000 feet, it's just upward of the foothills, but it's still low enough for manzanitas and to be accessible and not risk being closed due to snow, though it does snow there. I've been through Arnold many times, but never spent any real time there. I have such a sense of belonging in that area. Gold Country -- figures!

But flatlands and reality had to interject, and two sisters and five children in a rented Toyota Sienna arrived in Sunnyvale around 11pm. We whisked kids off to bed fast, ready for a relaxed day at home the next day.

July 4th day, we went to, what else, the pool. I'm so happy I joined this pool! I thought it'd never pay off, but July is barely underway and it already has. If nothing else, just to see our five children bouncing around like crazy in the water today (well, 4 in the deep end) was worth it!

Steph and I marvelled at how our children worked out. Our lives have led utterly divergent paths, yet somehow we ended up having our first babies, both boys, within 5 days of each other. In the end, all 5 kids were born within 5 years, and it would have been under 3 years if not for Katrina. And how incredibly fortunate for all of us!

Each visit as they get older, the cousins have so much fun together. And me too. This year especially, I can't think of a better way to explore and enjoy my favorite things and places than with family. We shared a mountain cabin, a lake, a cavern, a state park with massive trees and lots of good food and tons of great fun with kids, together. (I'm so proud that my niece and nephew think I'm a great cook!)

Meantime, lifetime family relationships continued to be forged...Julian indulged in hours of imaginative play with his cousins....Gabriel sucked his like-aged cousin into gun wars....the girls did endless girl-things together when not playing with or fending off brothers (both girls have only older brothers and no sisters).

More as more as they get older, personality trumps age and we can see real relationships forming based on individuals, as well from the juxtaposition of genes and history. Nothing makes me feel more like I've done something right in life than when I see and hear these children playing, talking, arguing, laughing together.

But today, it came time for the Engels to fly home.....still, we were all happier about our fantastic time together than sad about saying goodbye.

Aunt and East-coast nephew/niece...

The boys...

The girls...

The 3rd-graders...

The 5th-graders...

Aunt and girls...

The sister grownups who made it happen....

....and our kids we made it happen for!

7/5/12