Rinehardt visit/Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, for the Rinehardt’s trip started out with a delayed flight which threw everything off a little bit and they ended up in some San Francisco traffic but made it home in time for dinner.
We woke up bright and early the next morning to turn right around and go back to San Francisco to visit Alcatraz, Lombard Street, China town and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was absolutely pouring down rain!!! The rain was much needed to dissipate to smoke in the air but it wasn’t so fun. We were all soaking wet. I think everyone enjoyed Alcatraz but Maggie not so much. It was enlightening for sure.

 Ainsley with former inmate William Baker.  He was in for making counterfeit money and then escaping from 3 other prisons.  Pretty smart guy.

We cut it close in the morning and thankfully there wasn’t traffic so it all worked out but leaving in the afternoon is a bit of a nightmare. Waze routed Ryan all the way up through Vallejo and back down.... probably 40 miles out of the way. Our route seemed much simpler but when it took us an hour to go 2 blocks I wanted to jump out of my skin. Took us 3 hours to get to sweet tomatoes. The boys beat us by at least an hour! I won’t be returning there anytime soon. That might be the dumbest city exit ever...only one way out.
The next day was Thanksgiving and the turkey was in the oven by 8. It was a beautiful day and we could finally see clearly (the smoke was gone). We decided to play a little beach volleyball. The girls made a comeback and we ended up tying. It was fast and furious when we got home. Linner was delicious and we were all stuffed. Somehow the kids were able to jump on the trampoline with full stomachs. Adults were comatose! A few hours later we ventured out to Walmart and Kohl’s for Black Friday. What a mellow, quiet year. I didn’t have much on my list but it was worth going there. We were able to get the good stuff online and maybe that’s why the store was quieter. Lots more online shoppers!

 Working hard on one of his favorites!  He was also our potato peeler...

 We went and saw the fantastic beasts movie and The Rinehardt’s were impressed with the reclining seats and ability to pick your seats when you buy the tickets. We don’t really think about it much but I guess it is pretty cool. Apple cup was later that day ....ouch for Ryan!  Oh and I almost forgot that Wade and Ryan put up the Christmas lights!

We were supposed to go to the jelly belly factory on Saturday but I read online that none of the machines would be working so we all voted that was not worth it. We decided that might be a good parents night out! The kids also had kids night out and walked downtown to get dinner and Menchie’s. It’s good for them to have a budget, make choices about where they want to eat and have some freedom and responsibility at the same time.
I’m pretty sure they made better choices than we did!!! Lots of drinks and food (we got warm maple bars from the donut wheel 😋). We really enjoyed Paxti’s happy hour. Then we went to the escape room and failed miserably. We contributed quite a bit (we were with 6 strangers) given our condition and thought we were doing great until he showed us how much we had left. It was still really fun. From there, we Ubered back downtown to the beer Barron. That was memorable...Liha was asked to dance by a lady!!!! She wouldn’t do it, but it made us all laugh. The DJ started the music awhile later and the place was absolutely packed and we danced the night away. We walked home and arrived around 12:30! There’s still some young in us!

Everyone was hurting the next day but I pounded the water before we left and stuff with lemon drops and I felt great. I think that’s my new favorite drink! Makes me happy but doesn’t seem to make me pay later.
Sunday we went to church and then headed to the pool for some time in the indoor therapy pool (96 degrees). They have family day on the weekends and they were a lot of people there so we decided to go outside. The pool was empty and it was beautiful!!! The kids swim and we soaked up some sun, maybe snoozed a bit. It was glorious! That night we celebrated Reggie’s birthday at Red Robin for the last time (slow service), but we all left very full.

 We all walked to school on Monday.  I think Khalif is going to miss Spencer...

The kids spent hours in the secret room, playing a Overdrive (racetrack game), jumping on the trampoline and the girls did nails and played barbies and watched a lot of the carbonero show. Fun times for all!!!!

Ryan's back

Well, he finally went in and had the MRI. The results came later that night and turns out he has a bulging disc and a pinched nerve. He didn’t think I was serious 🤔. He's been wincing when he gets up and making noises at night when he moves, so I had a good idea there was a problem.  We don’t know exactly what all the jargon means and he just finally made an appointment today so we’ll know more in about 2 weeks. My nurse friend kind of interpreted and she said it wasn't good.  Here’s the summary:

Projects

We are about 95% finished with the pantry project!!! Last weekend we spent some long hours working on it and it is finally usable and looks great! Reggie, Ainsley and I assembled the shelves but Reggie did the last one by himself. He’s so good at that kind of thing!
Laundry room wall:

We added 3M hooks so we didn't have to put holes in the nice, new wall and they are working great.

 Pantry wall

 Finished pantry wall

 So happy!!!

 New door into pantry (that's where the electrical panel used to be.

Ryan arrived Saturday morning and we moved our trampoline into the neighbors yard to make room for the new one. Our black Friday special from 2 years ago did not last like the last one 👎🏻. Around lunch we drove to disassemble the trampoline on craigslist. It was a beast and not super easy to take apart. I was dreading putting it back together but the kids were on us to get it together. We got most of it done the next day but we needed a few straps.

It was an exhausting weekend and my back flared up so I could hardly walk. I used the CBD cream that we had for Ainsley and I have to say it really helped. Ryan has been using it on his back and has felt some improvement. We are quite the pair. It’s not fun getting old!!!
And, today the HVAC people came back to tweak the furnace because it was overheating and shutting down before it reached its desired temperature.  Hopefully, this is the last time they have to come.  It has not been the best experience, but they have been very responsive and they are super nice.  Praying it is finally finished!

We survived!

Ryan was in China and Taiwan all week...he left on Saturday and just got home this morning.  One of the hardest things about his travels is the schedule and tight windows of where kids need to be.  This week had a different challenge...getting Reggie ready for finals.  I quizzed him for hours and hours and he thinks he did well, but we won't find out for awhile.  The saving grace this trip was the smoke.  Unfortunately, California is on fire and it is sad to see so many losing their homes and beautiful places like Paradise leveled by fire.  The smoke has decided to settle in Livermore and particle levels have been off the chart, cancelling all outdoor activities, including swimming!  It is the most smoke we've seen since we've been here.  Thankfully, no one in our household seems to be affected.  Not having swimming was huge for my stress level and things were so much more manageable. 
Khalif is also a challenge when Ryan travels and this was no exception.  He has been so good at school, but this week he had to sit out at recess for talking in class, ugh.  He also had an accident and had to change his sheets which hasn't happened in a very long time (he finally stopped wearing pull ups a couple weeks ago!).  Not to mention his daily behavior and absentmindedness.  I finally pointed it out and asked him if he felt any different and he said yes, but had no idea why...thought maybe it was the excitement of black friday or the cousins coming next week.  It is very interesting how his mind works and the connections he makes.  I've been tracking this for awhile and when Ryan is gone for extended periods of time his behaviors and issues ramp up.  I mentioned that to him and he thought that was not correct (what a surprise!) and seemed to make no sense.  So, he started with a new therapist last week, which he absolutely loved, and maybe she can help us/him figure it out!
As far as Ryan's work/life balance, its been up and down.  When he's home, its o.k., but when he travels weekly or for extended periods, things are rough.  He goes to Mexico after Thanksgiving for almost a week, so we'll be right back in the chaos.  It is hard :(.

Halloween

Halloween is changing a bit these days.  The older 2 wanted to go with their friends, so Ainsley went with her group and Reggie went with the neighbor.  I didn't even see Reggie in his costume!  We had a nice walk around our neighborhood with Khalif and had some nice conversations with neighbors...Halloween is nice that way...brings everyone out!  Not sure why Khalif chose to be an M&M since he has lots of other costumes, but it was easy.  He got WAY more candy than the other 2 and decided to weigh it.  It was over 8 pounds!  He wanted to bring a small bag and then have Ryan carry a big bag where he could dump his goods when it got too heavy.  I think it was a good strategy because he went to many people's doors with little or no candy and they were giving him hand fulls! 
Reggie was impressed with the Batman on our street...his costume was pretty amazing and he talked just like batman.  Our community is awesome and there were so many houses participating and so many little ones running around!
Ainsley discovered she likes chili and she had a great time with her friends...she decided to dress up 80's but wouldn't listen to anything we had to say, so I'm sure people were trying to guess what she was.

Volleyball buddies.  Easy school costume!

 Halloween parade at school

Khalif and his stomach

The boys were hit hard with a really bad cold and toward the end, Khalif was complaining of a stomach ache and didn't eat much dinner.  I had a feeling it wasn't going to be a good night so we reminded him right before bed what to do if he got sick.  And, he followed it to a T.  He came down afterward and told us he got sick and through up in the toilet.  Yay!!!  We have had so many problems with his throw up and where and when it happens and the lack of ability to get the puke in a bag or in the toilet, so this was good.  He woke up the next morning and had a headache and not real hungry, so I told him to sip water, but he only hear drink water and it all came back up about 15 minutes later.  He was thrilled there was so much water because it didn't hurt at all!  He stayed home and started eating a few hours later and was fine.  The following day was good too, but he had pizza at the adoption support group and wasn't feeling all that great.  Well, shame on us for not reminding him, although I'm not sure it would've helped.  When he gets a stomach bug, it can take up to a week for him to fully recover, puking randomly 3 days later sometimes.
Ryan woke up in the morning and the rug by the front door was in a heap, so he fixed that and then noticed a bunch of dried food in the sink.  He just thought the kids forgot to rinse it out.  Then, he heard Khalif from the stairs asking for him.  Khalif said someone had thrown up on the stairs and Ryan said, "Yeah, buddy, that was you."  But he denied it so convincingly that Ryan asked the other two sleeping children and they both said no it wasn't them.  Khalif then suggested maybe it was the cat?  Ryan decided to look at his jammies and there was puke all the way down the front.  He continued to deny it, but it was clear he did it but had no memory of it.  Ugh!  While Ryan was cleaning the walls, I noticed the couch had a mess on it, so I worked on that.  It must have happened shortly after we went to bed because it was all dried up.  This is one of those times where it would have been awesome to have cameras and see the video of what the heck he did., traveling all over the house while depositing puke!
The entire house spelled horrible and we didn't even know where to begin.  So, I called the professionals who apparently have been unusually busy.  He felt bad and fit us in and I have to say it was worth every single dollar!  I have been wanting to get the stairs cleaned for quite some time, so in a way, it was a win.  However, he didn't have time to do the entire top of the landing or the entry into the kids room, so there's an obvious line where he cleaned.  I'm going to see if my carpet cleaner can work magic, but in the past we haven't had much luck with the berber carpet.
Funny, that he thought the cat could create such a mess!

 AMAZING!

 So, I have reminded him again to use his hand sanitizer in his lunch box so he isn't sick all winter, but this wasn't even enough to make him use it!  I ask him almost daily and the answer is always, "I forgot."  So, between that and biting his nails, it will likely be a long season :(.  Thankfully, no one else got this bug!