Oceanside and Disneyland

I've been wanting to visit Oceanside for quite awhile but it hasn't quite worked out until Thanksgiving week.  The Worldmark had a couple nights so we went there before Disney.  What an awesome little place!  We thoroughly enjoyed the condo and amenities, shopping at the pier and going to the beach.  Ainsley and I played tennis for hours while the boys swam, played football and basketball.  We saw the movie Frozen one of the nights and visited my cousin, Kirsten and her son Rowan and she ended up saving us because when we opened the back of the car, Reggie knew immediately that he'd forgotten his suitcase!   She had a client give her some teen clothes, so we snatched up some t-shirts and bought some underwear, socks and a couple pair of pants and he was good to go.  But, kind of annoying.  We also saw my cousin Ben and his wife Andrea!  It was a nice relaxing couple of days which was much needed.
They've got some practicing to do:

 View from our balcony.  First time we've ever had a view....

And then, we headed to Anaheim.  We used Marriott points and stayed at a Residence Inn.  Not exactly the best set-up but we made it work.  We woke up bright and early and headed to the park in the rain.  It rained the first half of the day, but then it cleared up and we were able to ride all the ride more than once with relatively little waiting.  It was great, but we did learn that Cars does not run in the rain.  Many of the rides broke down and when they get up and running all the fast passers have priority so it was a bit crazy.  We didn't even use our fast pass on cars because that line was ridiculously long.  It was also a challenge to find gluten free food for dinner for Ryan, but he finally found a Mexican restaurant and what a find.  They had these cinnamon tortilla chips that we had everyday :).  We stayed until about 9 that day and walked almost 10 miles!
New star wars ride:

We were going to try to do the Magic Morning the next day but we didn't quite make it.  It was pouring down rain and pretty chilly.  Khalif and my feet were wet for 2 days and it was miserable.  There were a lot of people that decided to go on Thanksgiving even with the rain and we rode many of the rides but left at 2 after going on Splash Mountain, a ride I had to force Reggie and Khalif to go on.  Khalif had a lot of fear and was nervous about almost everything we did.  I made him go and although he wasn't happy, it turned out to be his favorite ride.  Lesson learned!  Unfortunately, Ainsley lost her prescription glasses in line on that ride so I filed a report and they were very good at communicating that they hadn't found them.  But 5 days later, I got a note that they did find them, so they are on their way in the mail.  She also forgot her snacks that day, but lucky for her it ended up being a short day.  We had a little downtime before dinner, so of course, hit the Black Friday shopping!  We barely made it to dinner at the Golden Coral...they locked the door right after we got in.  The food was awesome but they ran out of mashed potatoes and the environment was terrible.  I guess people don't see anything wrong with letting their kids roll around on the floor!

 A surprise favorite, It's a Small World

 Miserable!  Somehow my feet still got soaked :(

We were very excited for the last day and the good weather, but it was clear right away that there were exponentially more people at the park.  We wanted to hit cars first since we didn't get to do that at all on Thanksgiving, so we went there right after Soarin which broke down right before we got on. Luckily, it was our 2nd time, so it wasn't as bad.  We got a free fast pass, but so annoying.   Ryan and I went to the bathroom and the 3 took off for Cars but unfortunately the ride broke down right before the kids got on.  Khalif couldn't wait any longer so he took off for the bathroom, but didn't quite make it so his souvenir was a pair of Mickey sweats.  The day didn't start off so well, but after lunch it got a bit better.  Still super long lines and tons of people but somehow our fast passes came together and we were able to ride several rides.

 Apparently the characters don't like the rain either.  These were the only 2 we saw besides mater and Lightning McQueen

 Reggie was hoping there was a way he could sleep in Star Wars land.  He went back by himself once and again with Khalif.  He loved it!  They are building a Avengers area, so he wants to go back when that opens...maybe in a few years!  That place is exhausting!!!

KOA and Halloween

KOA was a couple weeks before halloween this year and we decided to do an 80's theme.  Ryan was smokey and the bandit and had we been more organized, I could've been Sally Field but it just didn't happen.  The kids scattered shortly after we got there and we didn't see them except when they were hungry!  It was a wonderful weekend to relax and catch up with friends.  

There was a little bit of drama with the older girls this year and I'm hoping the younger girls will learn from their mistakes.  We certainly don't want any of that in years to come!  Reggie did a lot of homework since his buddy couldn't make it.  Unfortunately, he is the solo guy in the group and not really much of an extrovert, but we made him go to the beach and he willingly went trick or treating!  That kid has always loved Halloween :).

 Reggie was the lone Avenger

 These 2 are quite the pair

We had some adult treats and had a great time dancing it up :)

Beach time!

I have trained all the kids to collect my favorites and they really did a pretty good job this year!  I started my Colorado Cleanse the day we got back and went 5 1/2 weeks without a piece of candy but yesterday I caved.  I wonder how long it will take me to eat all of it????

 Halloween was quiet this year.  Reggie and Ainsley went with their friends and we took Khalif around the neighborhood.  He got an amazing loot!

 I wonder how long it's going to take him to eat all of that???

Khalif's behavior

Well, it was a rough summer as far as behavior goes and after we went to Lummi, Ryan was adamant about getting him some help through medication.  My quest to get neurofeedback approved was denied, but through that process it was clear we should be seeing a psychiatrist for medication, instead of his pediatrician.  There is only one in the area that takes his insurance, so that is where we had to go.  It was a disaster from the get go.  She was an hour late to our first appointment and then went on leave.  I was in a bit of a rush because I didn't want his teacher to have the same struggles as the one from last year, but it was not meant to be.  She wanted us to start the IEP process to see if that might make it clear if it was anxiety or ADHD driving the behaviors.  She also recommended getting a genetic test for psych drugs which could guide us in how his body metabolized certain medications.  It took forever, but I finally met with her to discuss the results and she was higher than a kite. It was pretty clear at that point why she went on leave and now that I look back, I think she was altered at one of our other appointments, but I have never been around someone whose mind was so disfunctional.  I can't tell you how many times I sat there wondering how to respond to her without offending her, but then I realized she wouldn't likely remember anything.  Part of me thought the Candid cameras were going to come out because it was so CRAZY.  Once I accepted that there was no hope in her helping me, I made up and excuse to get out of there and told the front desk that she was extremely confused and probably should not see any other patients.  I think they saw it coming because they had already hired someone, but he is relocating from the east coast, so won't be seeing patients for a couple weeks.  So, it was a total bust, but the good news is he is holding it together in class.  The IEP meeting happened and his teacher checked every box within the normal category.  The written report made it sound like everything was great, but then we got in the meeting and they admitted his ADHD behaviors, so it was a bit confusing.  The bottom line is that his behavior right now is not inhibiting his learning, so we settled on a 504.  There were a couple concerning things that came out of the meeting....his pencil lifts (totally weird, but indicative of a problem).  He was so advanced in the academic part, but was in the 2nd percentile for executive functioning.  That is the ability to organize and follow a set of instructions and when asked what we could do to help him, the school psychologist said we'd just have to work around the issues that result from low executive functioning.  We have a lot of tricks already, but he will have to find others to manage as school gets more challenging. 
We went to a foster care training and they were talking about the connection between being born drug positive and low executive function and she said that part of the brain could never repair itself.  But, we had a trial session with the neurofeedback therapist and she said that is not true.  We are on the waitlist for treatment and I'm hopeful she can get him regulated.  There was a lot of "white" on his color scan and that means his brain is functioning in the fight or flight mode and all he was doing was watching a fun movie, comfy in a chair with a blanket on.  It was a little eye opening to say the least and we will keep trying to find ways to help his brain rewire, so that he has the best shot at life.

Respite Foster Babies

We had a couple foster babies this fall.  The first one we had was 10 months old and she looked just like a doll.  We had her a couple times and she was very quiet and easy, peasy.  The kids loved her!  I shouldn't really post all the adorable pictures we have because of privacy :(.  Its fun to see the kids interested in something other than gaming or their phones.  Even Reggie offered to go get her after her nap!

The other one was much younger (3 months) and a bit of a stretch for me...she was medically fragile.  The foster mom is a good friend of mine, so I agreed to take her for a long weekend.  She was also very easy during the day, but the nights were a little rough.  She ate like a champ and thankfully, we had no medical emergencies.  Since she left, she moved in with an aunt and has had her open heart surgery and everything went perfectly!

Mom/Dad visit

Ryan traveled overseas to Taiwan for over a week and thankfully, mom and dad came for part of it.  I'm severely outnumbered when Ryan isn't here and it definitely has its challenges!  I made a list for my dad this time because when he doesn't have something to do, he can get in trouble.  He pressure washed and scraped the driveway cracks from all the years of him trying to repair the cracks.  Then he came up with his own concoction for putting in the cracks and for whatever reason it doesn't appear to be water proof, so lesson learned, use products the way they were intended!  Mom and I also came home from meals on wheels to find dad in the tree.  It was very scary watching him try to get down.  I asked him to trim it but didn't think he would cut the whole thing in a 2 hour span.  It was quite a mess but with the use of ALL the neighbors green bins, we were able to get it cleaned up in one weekend.  Next year there will be clear communication!  The other thing we worked on was the attic.  I got an attic ladder installed and dad and I put in the plywood, so there was a nice base and moved all the Christmas decorations out of the garage.  It just happened to be the hottest of days, so we were dripping with sweat, but I wanted to surprise Ryan so we had a deadline.

The old timer car show was in town, so that was a fun walk through history.

 Lunch at a new restaurant, Monica's.  It was o.k. but not likely a place we will go back to.

 Reggie had a swim meet....grandma looks so little

 One must take a snooze in the sun :).  Lots of closet Trumpees came out of the woodwork to chat with dad.

 Ryan and Ainsley went to the Eric Church concert and we had movie night...dads pick, Aladdin, hmmm.

Summer Fun

We were gone from Livermore for almost 8 weeks this year!  The kids flew to with grandma and grandpa to Washington straight from New York and Ryan and I drove up a few days later.  The weather was not quite summer for a few weeks but it finally came around and we were able to enjoy the lake in all its glory!  We did tons of tubing, bonaire riding (looks like a big banana in the water), kneeboarding, Reggie did a little wakeboarding and Ainsley got up on a single ski this year, but didn't find it to be much fun.  We did lots of paddleboarding, jetskiing and beaver hunting (Khalif and I saw him down the outlet at a very close range and I was stalking him as he swam by several times a week, but somehow never was able to capture him on video, but my mom did after we left).  We also did a little hiking, exploring the log jam and further down the outlet (thank you mom for coming to guide us out of the forest by honking her car!  We would have eventually made it, but we were getting eaten by deer fly and happy to get out as quick as possible...thankfully I had my cell phone and good it was waterproof because we got very wet and dirty and lost a couple inner tubes!).  The girls did a volleyball camp at Sedro-Woolley high school, we horseback rode at Lang's pony farm, we jumped at Altitude in Marysville a couple times and went to Wild Waves and had a blast.  The boys had a sleepover at Grandma Peggy's, Easton came to the lake to visit a few times, we got to see Anthony and Emily's new house and Ryan tracked down his dad and visited him for the first time in years!  We celebrated Dad's, Khalif's, Ryan's and Ainsley's birthdays, had a couple family BBQ's, hosted Ryan's work party (and had a painting place come!).  We had an afternoon of flyboarding thanks to Mike Renstrom and everyone enjoyed that :).  We had our annual trip to Lummi Island, but Ryan and Dad joined us this year and that was fun to mix it up a little.  It was a good summer!!!!

Crossing the log jam

 Dad's 75th!

 Getting tricky on the kneeboard.  Reggie did it too and lots of 360's!

 Ryan won the height contest by far, but Reggie won for picking it up the easiest.  He even did a dive and came out and kept going!  Ainsley probably had the hardest time and was disappointed that she wasn't successful but thankfully, we had a very patient teacher who took her again and she left feeling much better about her efforts :).

I almost forgot....Ryan's brother went to Livermore for a boys weekend and they went to the comedy club, golfed, ate and drank a lot!

Ryan's work crew

 Mom and Ainsley dancing away....

 Interesting experience Khalif had on the horse...That night at prayer time, he told me his mind was so still on while riding.

 Adults drinking a little too much!

 And everyone started playing Donkey Kong.  Amazing how terrible these kids are at old fashioned video games!  I made it farther than I ever have and its been years since I played consistently.  I win!

Lummi

 Rock target game-this kept them busy for way too long

 We found a treehouse at the rock beach

Our special friend Ethan got my phone and took quite a lovely picture.

 Oh the laughing we did :)

The day before we drove home, I was getting a glass out of the cabinet and the top glass fell on the bottom one, broke and sliced the crack of my hand.  It was deep and painful and in a place where there's lots of movement, but I really didn't want to go and get stiches.  The kids were a bit freaked out, but hopefully, they learned if you remain calm and use logic it'll be o.k.  We ended up calling the local EMT and he stopped by and said I needed a couple stiches.  Ugh, we decided to go with superglue and a butterfly bandage surrounded by waterproof tape.  Thankfully, I had already done most of the packing, but it really made it difficult to do anything and it was pretty sore on the drive.  But, it healed up nicely several days later thanks to my mom's handy butterfly skills.  Never a dull moment!