The Wade Family

Ainsley girl

2012-02-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Gymnastics

We’ve been doing pre-team for a little over a month now and it is quite a jump from the recreational class. My eyebrows were raised during the warm-up when they were doing burpees and push-ups, along with pike sit-ups. Whenever she looks over, she has a big smile on her face, so she is really liking the pain! She has a bit of catching up to do, especially in the flexibility department, but has made huge strides already. She practices at home all the time and overdid it a few weeks ago. Too many backbends will give you a back-ache, so we took it easy and it healed quickly. The doctor said to try and moderate her at home and maybe that will keep her from overdoing it. I hope so! It is not a good feeling to know your child is having back pain :o(. She goes 2 days a week for 2 hours per time and it absolutely starving when she’s finished. We quickly learned to snack on the way and have part of dinner on the ride home. It is amazing that a 5 year old can do what she does and have the attention span for that long. It is really fun to watch her and I am glad she loves the sport :o).

She does this all over the house, every single day.As you can see from her attire, Ainsley is quite into fashion (usuallly her own fashion). Skinny jeans are her favorite and her latest interest is belts. She had to go to the bathroom yesterday and put her belt over her shirt (not even attached to her pants) and came running to me with her underwear and pants around her ankles...."Mom, I can't get this belt off and I have to go to the bathroom." I tried explaining that she had a bare bottom, but it wasn't clicking, so I had to quickly take the belt off :o). Did I mention she is very stubborn???? We go round and round with hair on gymnastic days but I think she has finally figured it out (she had to learn the hard way that a pony tail really hurts when you are doing backward rolls and handstand forward rolls).
We babysat a friends’ 2 month old the other night and Ainsley was very excited. Unfortunately, the baby was pretty fussy, so Ryan and I had her most of the time, but Ainsley fed her and was happy to entertain her with cartwheels!

Gymnastics video (go to www.arrtwade.blogspot.com to view):

Fun Times....

2012-02-10T21:07:00.001-08:00

Before braces: After braces:

We picked Reggie up from school early yesterday to get his braces! We finally get to retire the dreaded retainer :o). We saw his original molds and his mouth has widened a good 1/3 of an inch, but he still has a crossbite on one side and if we didn't do the braces, his top teeth would hit the bottom and cause problems. He was very nervous and complaining about his ear when we got him. Poor thing looked like he was going to cry. We stopped at home and gave him some Advil. He was much better after the braces were on and was great the rest of the night...happy that his teeth didn't even hurt.

At 5 a.m., he crawled into our bed and Ryan noticed he felt warm. Sure enough he had a fever and was still complaining about his ear. First thing in the morning, I made an appt. and we headed out to get in the car. As I was grabbing for my keys, I remembered I left them in Ryan's car, but since we had a spare, I just got that. The car turned over and started a couple times, but would die immediately. I knew I had to get him in because he was complaining of his stomach and just looked terrible. My friend Laura came to the rescue and we were only about 15 minutes late. The doctor said there was a virus going around with ear ache, cough and fever and I was so hoping that wasn't what he had. Luckily, it was a double ear infection that gets better quickly with antibiotics. It was a pretty nasty one and Reggie never complained about his right ear, which was much worse than the one he was complaining about. It was already deformed due to the bulging (not sure what this means because we've never had ear infections before, but it didn't sound good at all!). It is strange because he had one last year or the year before and it came out of the blue like this one. The kids have had colds, but nothing major, so it was a bit of a surprise. He never had a single ear infection as a baby, so it seems even more strange to me.

We finally got back to the house just in time to send Ainsley off to school. Once she was off, I had to figure out what to do about my dead car. I called Ryan and he was wondering if it was the key. A quick call to Honda and sure enough if the key isn't programmed the car won't run. Only $160 to solve that problem!

Once Reggie started feeling better, he noticed his teeth really hurt. Thank God for Advil!!! I looked at his teeth tonight and I can see why they were hurting....the gap in the first picture is completely gone and the tooth is pulled forward, matching the other side. So, I guess we can get them off now???? I'm actually not sure how long we are going to be able to keep this up with the braces because Reggie has the perfect space in his back molars to collect anything and everything. We have always flossed because he has a second meal sitting back there almost every night. We've been spending a good 20 minutes the past 2 nights trying to floss the 2 upper back molars and we haven't been all that successful. So, we might have to decide, good bite or rotten molars....such fun we've had since yesterday.

Weekend Away-Clear Lake, CA

2012-01-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

Ryan gets a few more Holidays off with his new company and we decided to take advantage of MLK day and have some good family time! It isn’t often that we get to stay in a hotel and we were all looking forward to it.
We started out early Sat. morning to get to the Petrified Forest by 11 for the walking tour. It was a bit close, but we made it and we are so very glad we had a guide to give us all kinds of information that we wouldn’t have otherwise known. At first glance, you would have thought the trees were regular trees, but upon closer inspection, they were rocks! She explained how it happened with the ash, water and perfect climate, but I still can’t quite comprehend how a tree can turn into rock, with such detail (you could see the bark and knots from where branches grew). These trees just happened to be 3.5 million years old. They were very cold and heavy and the kids were pretty amazed. We took a path up to the meadow where we saw an ash mound and the kids found ash rock and petrified wood. Of course Reggie wanted to keep it and is getting a bit more confident and went right to the guide to ask if he could keep it and reluctantly she agreed. Those are the kind of things that make Reggie REALLY happy.

From there we headed to California’s Old Faithful Geyser. None of us had ever seen a Geyser before and it was quite spectacular. Again, seems like the environment needs to be perfect for this type of natural phenomenon. It went off about every 15 minutes, so we got to see it a few times. They also had a little Bamboo trail and Reggie found a Bamboo lightsaber and couldn’t have been happier.
After that, it was time to go to the hotel. We punched in the address and followed the GPS instructions. Sometimes, I think it is a good idea to have an idea of where you are going or to have a back-up map. It told us to turn onto a very narrow, windy road, so narrow it wasn’t meant for 2 cars. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, going nowhere, but 4 super long miles later we saw the highway and I was so happy! When we pulled onto the highway, the GPS picture was just too funny not to take a picture. I have never seen a road look more windy and we were all cracking up (not to mention I high centered the car trying to get off that crazy road). Thankfully, we made it to the hotel without anyone getting sick.

We checked out the place and the kids wanted to go for a swim. Ryan went with them….I put my feet in the hot tub. The weather warmed up to about 65 during our adventures, but Clear Lake was not quite so warm (in the upper 40’s). The next morning we woke up and went for another swim. The water was actually very nice and we went back and forth from the pool to the hot tub. Ainsley took her training vest off and swam the width of the pool!!! She has to work on her stamina a bit, but it is nice to know that both the kids can swim. Once she has her mind set on something, she is quite determined to perfect it. They had a kiddie pool that was one foot deep that was a little warmer than the big pool and she would practice and practice swimming (the tops of her feet were red from smacking the bottom). The kids were a bit grumpy after our swim, Reggie hungry and Ainsley tired. She fell asleep on the way to our nature walk destination. It was cold, but nice to get out and see the lake and some nature. The next morning, we swam again and then made the 3 hour trek home. Ainsley slept at least 2 ½ hours!

Ryan playing in the pool... Clear Lake is the biggest fresh water lake in California, with over 100 miles of shoreline. Feeding the ducks from our room!

Enjoying the hot tub.

Christmas break

2012-01-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

Santa pic courtesy of Southwest Airlines! How great that we got our pictures at the airport for free :o). The kids were counting down the days and were so very excited for our trip. They had some fun classroom parties on Friday and we pulled Reggie out of school a bit early to go to the airport. Ainsley had been complaining of a sore throat the day before, but seemed to be o.k. until we got to the airport, complaining of a stomach ache and her throat. Ryan bought some Ibuprofin (since it was all packed) and she seemed to be o.k. There was a bit of turbulence on the plane and both the kids were complaining of their ears hurting, which has never happened. As soon as we landed we rushed to grab our bags and meet Aunt Pam. Ainsley had to go to the bathroom and they were in there forever. When they came out, Ryan said she tried to throw up! GREAT! So, I called Aunt Pam to see if she had a barf bag in her car and she said she’d work on that. Ryan headed out to the car, while I got the bags. Just as they could see the car, Ainsley said she had to throw up. She held it back and as Ryan was telling Aunt Pam to get the bag, she turned around with it and Ainsley threw up. I’m sure she was so happy to see us! She wasn’t feeling all that well either and I’m sure that didn’t help. We got loaded up and headed to the lake, Ainsley throwing up most of the way. She was also starting to get warm and her fever was at least 103 in the middle of the night. I called her doctor and she said strep was going around, so we took her in and sure enough she was VERY positive. Unfortunately, the earliest appt. was at 4, so she was miserable all day, but thankfully, it was strep and not the flu because she was better the next day! She did miss cookie day and the Children’s Museum (Grandpa and Wade took the kids while we were busy in the kitchen). We baked and baked….ginger snaps, butter cookies, shortbread, almond cookies, etc. It was a long day of baking and tasting. I’m glad we only do it once a year because I would have problems fitting into my clothes!

Monday, we went to get Santa pictures and eat at the Spaghetti Factory. We have to hit our favorites when we visit :o). Ryan worked the first week, so we hung out with grandma, grandpa and the Rinehardt’s and didn’t do too much. The medication was bothering Ainsley’s stomach, so she wasn’t her usual self. We did visit the Warm Beach Christmas Lights. Lots and lots of lights, decorations, festivities and fresh, warm donuts. It was fun, but cold. Spencer was absolutely fascinated by the train and the girls got up on stage and sang and dance in a little show.

The next day, we had a sleepover at Liha and Wade’s, although I’m not sure that anyone slept much. Seemed like someone was up all the time. It would have been fun to have one of those delayed cameras to see all the foot traffic and who went where in the middle of the night. The next day they went to a jump place, while I met up with Ryan to drop his rental car and check on the Kirkland house. They had a lot of outside play time in the yard and it was freezing. I guess when you are having fun, you don’t notice.
The second day that Ryan had the car my dad noticed that there was a dent along the entire front driver side door, along with a big black stripe. Someone had hit the car while it was parked at the Lynwood mall during the Christmas shopping craziness. How could someone hit and run and not even leave a note?? So Ryan filed an online police report, called his boss to let him know what had happened and dreaded explaining this to the rental car company and his own company as he declined all of the coverages when he rented the car. He returned the car and explained what had happened and it seemed everything would be taken care of. A half an hour after he left he received a call from the rental company explaining that the car had already been damaged prior to him renting it and not to worry as they weren’t going to report anything as it didn’t happen under his watch. Relieved, although frustrated that he had to worry about it all week, everything worked out. It’s a good lesson learned to always walk around the rental car before you drive off the lot.
Christmas Eve came quick and we went over to Kim and Shane’s for an awesome dinner and good company. It was good to see everyone and get caught up. The kids were with grandma all night and were happy to have Lemon Lush and then a second desert of ice cream, thanks to Aunt Kim! Ainsley got her DS from grandma and was very excited about that (now she can be just like her big brother!). I guess that’s what the holidays are all about :o).

Reggie hates his hair spiked and we bribed him to let us take a picture.

Christmas morning was early, as usual. The kids crawled in bed with grandma and grandpa every morning between 5:30 and 6:30, but I think deep down they enjoyed it. I’m sure they had some sleep to catch up on when we left. Ryan and I were very well rested-thank you!!! The kids opened their presents and then we just chilled for a bit until the Rinehart’s came. Then, we had round two of presents. Had a little more chill time until all the relatives arrived. Ryan and Ainsley had fun trying out Just Dance For Kids on the Wii. It was busy and loud, with lots of kids, but wine always helps keep the adults happy :o). All the girls were hanging out together and it was pretty cute, until Maggie said there was something on the bathroom floor. Cadia had thrown up all over and had caught the stomach flu that Aunt Jana and Charlie had. This cut the party short for them and it was a bummer they had to go. My cousin Mike flew in from Florida and missed all the fun, but we got to hang out and it was fun to finally meet Daffney and their son Shawn.

You know you're a mom when you cry over a new washer/dryer! Enjoy them...

Cute picture, but terrible shirts!

So fun cleaning up puke!

We did all kinds of rainy day activities, due to the fact that it rained 8 inches the last week we were there….we could actually see the lake water rising! We decorated and ate cookies, built foam Christmas houses, Wii dancing and Reggie and grandma built a cardboard castle and an erector bicycle (this was a few hour project with Ryan and Grandma-not exactly for an 8 year old, even though that is what the box said).

Ryan went skiing with Anthony and Eric (a California friend who was also visiting family) and got rained on all day. It did not sounds like much fun. The kids spent a good part of the day with grandma Peggy. They went to Chuck E. Cheese, McDonald’s and then played at the Big Lake gym. They had a blast-Grandma Peggy needs to get a camera so we can see all the fun they had! While they were having all their fun, I was returning and shopping with dad.

It was another great trip with lots of fun memories, so thanks to my family for putting up with us!

Opening our goodies at home:

Reggie was very excited about his pop-up book.

Enjoying her hula hoop from Reggie.

Interesting Arrival...

2012-01-05T20:24:00.000-08:00

We arrived at the airport to head back to California fairly early because we didn’t know what Friday traffic would be like through downtown Seattle. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:20PM and we got to the airport around 6. When we were checking our bags, the attendant told us our flight was 2 hours delayed. My mind was going to a very ugly place….10 o’clock flight, arrival at midnight and home after 12:30 with 2 kids who don’t sleep in regardless of when they go to bed, 6:30 wake up at the latest. She recommended we fly standby on the 6:50 flight (it was 6:20 at this point), but she wasn’t sure our bags would make it. We raced out of there to get through security and Ryan was lagging behind, so I told him we would meet him at the gate. Just as I was rounding the corner, I heard, stand-by party of 4, WADE, so I ran to the counter, but Ryan had the tickets (it is 6:40) she needed. So, I went out and was flagging him down and he was just walking as slow as could be, not paying any attention. He finally got there and we walked right on. He was so confused, asking me why we were boarding so early…it was only 5:40. A nice gentleman corrected him, letting him know it was 6:40! We got the last 2 sets of seats together and had a nice surprise when we arrived in Oakland…I have never been so happy to see our bags :o). Only God could have pulled that together for us!!!
The next morning Ainsley woke us up bright and early at 4 a.m. (she is going through something right now and we are very tired and unsure how to fix her fear) and I smelled burning paper. Ryan explored, but we assumed it was coming from outside. When we got up that morning, it was pretty cold, the thermostat said 63 and the heat had been on for hours. The furnace was toast and it was a holiday weekend. Someone finally made it out on Sunday, but couldn’t fix it without parts. The kids didn’t seem to notice, but we were freezing. The house was down to 58 on Monday and we went over to the Wiliams to get warm. I’m glad it was pretty warm outside, otherwise, it would have been really painful.
Our sleep situation didn’t get better for me because on Sat. night I heard a critter under our bed. Ainsley and Ryan were snoring, so it was hard for me to tell if I was hearing things, but once you’ve heard a little mouse, it is pretty unmistakable. Ryan had just cleaned Panda’s cage, so I was hoping he got out somehow. When I got out of bed and looked, his cage door was open and he was nowhere to be found. I shut all the doors in our bedroom and put some food in a bowl to entice him. I laid patiently and finally, after about 15 minutes, he knocked over the bowl. I jumped out of bed, but could tell he was heading back under, so I grabbed Ryan’s leg and told him not to move or talk and proceeded to tell him that Panda was right next to the bed and to reach down and grab him. It was too late, he got away. It wasn’t too much longer before he came out again and Ryan snatched him up. An hour and a half later, I was finally back to sleep.
Monday night was great, we had heat, Ainsley was dead tired from gymnastics, so slept the full night in her own bed and we were back in our routine. The kids have been happy to be back in school and see their friends and I have enjoyed catching up with friends. Tomorrow Khalif comes for a visit, so that will be lots of fun for sure :o).

2011-12-14T22:19:00.000-08:00

Lights of San Francisco
Last Sunday we headed to San Francisco to tour the city and see some Christmas lights on a cable car. This was highly recommended by some friends, so we met the Williams and headed to San Fran. We were going to have an early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, but it was really busy and the wait was 2 hours! Seemed strange since it wasn’t even dinner time (3:30). It was crazy busy in the city, people and cars everywhere and we were quickly reminded why we don’t live in the city and hardy ever make the trip! I guess it is fun once in awhile. We managed to get a quick bite at a burger place and barely made it to the bus on time. It was a cold evening and much of the seating was outside, so it was good we bundled up and brought blankets. The girls were screaming every time we went down a hill and were really enjoying themselves. They were playing Christmas music and there were lots of lights for the first 10 minutes. Then, our driver must have gotten lost because it became a tour of San Francisco without any lights to see and it wasn’t even a very interesting tour, especially for children. Reggie kept asking where the lights were and after about the first 25 minutes the kids were bored. Thankfully, about an hour in, we got to stop at the Fairmont Hotel to see the biggest Gingerbread house in the US. We walked right through it and Laura didn’t even realize it. So much for that! The tour was about an hour and a half and we were ready to go find some hot chocolate. It was 7:30 and Starbucks was packed. We had a nice view of the ice rink and lights and the kids enjoyed their cookies and cocoa.

Poor Reggie....surrounded by girls. Someday, he'll love it!

Christmas Performance
Ainsley had her Christmas performance tonight and what a difference a year makes!!! No more Agnes face link!!! She actually sung the songs, did the sign language and was really enjoying herself and it was so fun to watch.

Last year...Agnes:

This year:

We found out a couple days ago that Ainsley was invited to pre-team. She is very excited about it and loves learning new stuff. She had only 1 other child in her class today and the teacher did all kinds of new things with them and she had the biggest grin on her face. Here she is practicing her round off (that she taught herself) and split jump. Click link to see video: http://arrtwade.blogspot.com/.

Everyone is very excited to head to Washington....only 2 days left....the kids have been counting down for a couple weeks! We will see many of you very soon....

2011-12-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

Gymnastics Program

Last Sat. was Ainsley’s gymnastics performance. They have been practicing a routine for several weeks and she did awesome. Ryan got so caught up in watching that he forgot to record…oh well. I’m sure she will want to be in a performance again. For as quiet and reserved as she is, she absolutely loves it! They gave her a medal and she is telling everyone that she won :o). They had a surprise guest, Carly Patterson, the 2004 Olympic all-around champion. She was promoting the Olympic trials next year in San Jose, which we are planning on going to!!!

Ainsley tried out for pre-team last Wed. and skill wise, she is right on target. Her attention span and listening skills might need to mature a bit as she was watching the older girls and had to be prompted at least once to do what she needed. We’ll find out next week if she made it and what the commitment is.

New car
I’ve been thinking about upgrading for quite some time….my car was getting up there in miles and I’ve been wanting an 8 seater. When you start looking, you are bound to find something! Ryan drove a 2005 Odyssey with 5500 miles and loved it. He said it was basically brand new, but the price was too high. He walked, but they called us back a few days later and we came to an agreement! He was right…it is so nice. We’ve never spent that much on a car, but it was worth it! This morning Ryan had his men’s breakfast at church and I heard my car start….he was stealing my minivan!!! It is fun to drive :o).
Poor guy isn’t enjoying his Prius at all. After the first of the year, we’ll work on that. He has driven several cars and it looks like he’s settled on a Nissan Altima Hybrid.
We sold my car on Craigslist in a couple days. The guy picked it up the same day ours got delivered :o). People are super interested in low mileage (which it had for its age), which is a good confirmation for the car we just bought. It was a bit stressful with Ryan working and me having to do the paperwork and go to the bank and juggle the kids. Thank God for friends!

Birthday Party
Reggie’s party was on Sat. and it went really well. Glad we had the new Honda because we had 6 kids! We went to see Arthur Christmas and then out for ice cream. The movie was really cute and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was the most low stress party we’ve ever had. 5 boys was a little much, but thankfully, they were pretty well-behaved, just a little loud!
Reggie and Colin:

Ainsley enjoying all the boys! We're gonna be in trouble...... Reggie and Tyler

8!!!

2011-12-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

Our little Reggie is not so little anymore. 8 years old….sounds weird to say we have an eight year old. Wasn’t he 4 just the other day??? He had a very happy birthday week. The presents started the week of Thanksgiving when the Wade’s were here and will continue into next week at his Birthday party. We went to his favorite birthday place, Red Robin where he opened his Nintendo DS and games. Let’s just say, we haven’t seen the whites of his eyes in awhile. To our surprise, little Ainsley wants a DS and has been causing quite the stink. Life lessons of a 5 year old.

Reggie lives for toys and has been thinking about them in class, at night and up at 5 a.m. to play with his new Beyblades and DS. His best friend, Colin, is the exact same way…they just chatter back and forth about this toy and that toy. I wonder at what age that will change. For now, I guess it is good he still wants to be a kid.

The actual morning of his Birthday, Ryan gave him a treasure hunt. This has become a yearly tradition and Reggie remembered from last year and asked for it again. So, he went through my stash of presents and found some small gifts and then Ryan stayed home from work that morning to make him some pancakes. Lots of gifts, good food, and early mornings last week during Reggie's B-day week.

The Things we Love about Reggie:

His loving and caring heart

His Love for his Grandparents

His smile with that one tooth

His persistency

His calm Spirit

His creative mind

His playful heart and soul

His love for his Mommy, Daddy, and Sister

His love for life

Favorite toy: Nintendo DS

Favorite food: Mac n' cheese and ice cream

Favorite movie: Star Wars

Favorite place to visit: Grandma and Grandpa's house

Favorite animal: Blue Whale

Favorite subject in school: Science

Favorite sport: Swimming!

Favorite friend: Colin

Favorite car: Camaro (because of Bumblebee)

Reggie's stats: Height-53 inches (size 8-10 clothes) Weight-64 lbs (solid muscle!) Shoe size-2 (small feet for his size).

*Something we learned about Reggie this year is that he is severly color blind.

Visit from the Wade's and Thanksgiving!

2011-11-29T21:32:00.000-08:00

Wow what a flash and what a great time we had with my family. For the first time, both Dustin and Anthony came down with my Mom to visit us. And what better time than Thanksgiving. The trip started with me picking them up at the airport Wednesday night at midnight (who in the world booked that flight – oh wait it was me – Shoot)! It was great to see them. After hugs and a quick update we all hit the sack only to wake up early Thursday morning to put on the coffee and prep the bird for the oven. The kids we’re so excited to see Grandma and their Uncles. Although Ainsley was a little hesitant, she tends to get that way when new faces come around that she hasn’t seen in a while. She loved all the attention and finally came around and warmed up. Anyway, we got everything lined up and before I knew it Grandma Peggy had already given out gifts to the children that she had brought with her. Good thing is that they were books.
After getting organized in the kitchen, we moved onto the next project, THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS! It has become a tradition (starting last year) to have my brothers come down during Thanksgiving and during their visit hang my Christmas lights. I get the lights out and act as a general contractor showing them where to hang them. All kidding aside it’s a big help to me and they do a great job! Thanks to my Bros… After we finished hanging the Xmas lights (only one trip to Wal-Mart as we had some burn outs) we headed into the house to get warm and to prime the stomach pump to prepare ourselves for a great meal.

Trina, Ainsley, and my Mom decided to make their own run to Wal-Mart to pick up some loose ends while we patiently waited by the turkey basting it every 45 minutes. Well of course they ran long and I was scrambling in the kitchen trying to get everything else ready like the mash potatoes, and vegetables. Thank God for Dustin. My man helped me pull the bird out of the oven drain the juices into the pot for the gravy, and started to carve that bad boy while I whipped up the potatoes, got the green beans ready and put the croissants in the oven along with the apple crisp. Of course, Trina and mom walk in just as everything is ready to go other than the gravy (mom whipped that up in minutes) and we sat down and KILLED IT!!! We all got our fill, hung out and watched some football. Later that night, Trina, Anthony and mom went to Black Friday at Walmart. They left at 9 and came home at 10:30 with nothing. A few years ago Trina went at 4 in the morning and didn’t get anything on the list, so I wasn’t too surprised. They were telling us all about how crazy it was with wall to wall people and finally spilled the beans that they got everything on the list! Losers!
Friday came fast and we planned a trip to Six Flags. What a beautiful setting and the weather although a little chilly was great. They had the park all decked out in Xmas stuff and they were singing Christmas carols when we arrived. At Six Flags we (Trina and I), along with my brothers, went on the Medusa (crazy ass rollercoaster with serious GForce and cork screws upside down turns). Needless to say my stomach was doing hoolahoops around my ass for a while there after, but I came around. We saw the Bengal tiger show along with the dolphin show, and last but surely not least, the sea lion show (which was very fun and festive). We ended up staying until 7PM which was pushing the kids’ bed time, so we had to scram as we had an hour drive ahead of us to get back home. One of the funniest moments as we were leaving the park was when we tried to get a family picture taken of all of us from a local worker. Trina kept asking the guy to take different angles, close shots to get the perfect picture and you could tell the guy was starting to get a little irritated. My brother flew off the handle and ran away with Ainsley as he couldn’t take it anymore. We all thought it was kind of funny. The kids had a ball riding on one ride with my brothers and it was just great to hang out with them.

We started out Saturday by celebrating Reggie’s early birthday and let him open his gifts so that he would be able to play with them throughout the day. The erector set was a hit as was the Ninjago, and Bionicles.

After that, I had planned a golf day with my brothers, so we headed to Dublin Ranch. But, before we could go we had to stop by my friend Eric’s house to borrow his clubs for Dustin to use. Well, after getting there, we decided to hit some balls prior to tee off. It only took 3 swings for Dustin to turn to me a say the driver that we borrowed was toast. Big man blew up my friends stick and he felt terrible. Needless to say, we still had a great time and golfed with a stranger named Chuck (old guy from Long Island). It was the first time that I can remember having an outing with just with my bros all alone and it was great! I enjoyed hanging out with them and heckling them on the course. The great thing was that I tied my brother Anthony with an 84 which is a big deal as Anthony is close to being a golf pro. Dustin wasn’t too far behind with an 89. Everyone shot the ball pretty well, but the greens we’re enormous and hilly. Trina, my mom and the kids hit a movie (Muppets) while we were gone and enjoyed their popcorn. After we got back we went to Sweet Tomatoes to celebrate Reggie’s birthday and my mom made him one of his favorite deserts (Lemon Lush). We closed the night watching my Cougs get killed by those bastard huskies (we fired our coach today so I’m happy) and called it a night. I had to drive my family to the airport Sunday morning to catch a 6:30AM flight. It was all good until I dropped them with 1 and a half hours until their flight and saw the security line out the door and down the side of the building. I didn’t think they were going to make it but they did just in the nick of time as they were boarding the plane when they got to the gate. All in all it was a fun action pack time that went fast. Funny story…. when my mom got back to SEATAC she forgot my advice that I gave her in writing down the parking location of her car, so they had to search from floors 4-8 before finally finding it and had some laughs during that time as mom almost peed her pants.
Word of the week “HE MURDERED THAT” (this references someone that has a black car that puts black rims on it which is called murdered).

This and That

2011-11-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Feller’s Cake Bake
Cub scouts does a cake bake every year to raise a little money and get the guys cookin’. Mom’s are not allowed to help (although I think there were a few rule breakers!). Ryan and I were brainstorming different ideas and landed on a cake egg. As he was making the cake I was trying to figure out what to put it on and saw the griddle. He was going to do one big egg, but decided to do 2 smaller ones. I think it turned out pretty good! They won the prize for funniest cake:

Shortly after my parents left, we had K over for a visit and that was lots of fun. The kids had a blast and he got to play with his buddy Fia (Sophia). He has adjusted to life with his Aunt and is doing really well. After we dropped him off, I surprised the kids and took them to the pet store. They have been working hard to earn a Hamster and although they weren’t quite there, I decided it was time. When we got there, I stuck my finger up to the cage and the Hamster bit me and drew blood. The kids were a little freaked out, but I told them we weren’t going to get that one! Ainsley had the most points, so she got to pick out the Hamster and name him. Panda has been a great Hamster, hasn’t bitten anyone yet. He escaped the second day because Ainsley forgot to lock the cage. Thankfully, Ryan rounded the corner as he was making his escape. He’s managed to get out of the ball a few times, but doesn’t run away, so we’ve been lucky and now are very careful about locking the ball. He is very low maintenance and I actually enjoy the little guy :o).

We’ve all been battling a cold the last week and a half. Ainsley woke up with it the morning of her princess tea with Kayla, Dani and Sophia. She crashed that afternoon and we were stuck home the next few days which was good because we didn’t have school anyway. Ryan has a hard time with that, so he pulled out the Christmas tree on Sunday and the kids went to town. She was feeling better by Tues. and since we didn’t have school, we went to the Jelly Belly Factory on Wed. That place was crazy busy, but fun as usual.

Halloween and Grandma and Grandpa visit!

2011-11-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

We had no school on Halloween, which worked out so well, since we could all go to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa. The kids were counting down the days!
Ryan’s new job invited family to trick or treat, so we took the opportunity to visit him at his new office after the airport pick-up. We even scored some pizza :o). Later that day, we headed over to the Williams for a Halloween party. We had a nice time visiting, watching some football and drinking a little wine (that made trick-or-treating a little more fun!). The kids got way too much candy, so I kept some for chocolate emergencies and gave the rest to my mom.

Max

They were in school the rest of the week, so it wasn’t all that exciting. It was conference week, so our schedule was out of sorts, but they got to spend a little more time with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a nice treat for me to be able to go to the conferences without worrying about what to do with the kids! Both of them are right where they should be. Still have to work on Reggie’s speed when reading and doing timed math. He does nothing in life fast, so I think this might be a long term challenge. Ainsley has really picked up reading and loves “playing” school, so I think things will come easy for her. She has the same magic as Reggie, having her friends fighting over sitting by her.

The weather was decent during mom and dad’s visit, so they had their usual Vitamin D load in the afternoon, lounging in the lawn chairs. The kids had lots of playtime, wrestling with Grandpa and doing homework with Grandma (thank you Mom!!!). We didn’t have a single visit to the doctor, so that alone made the visit perfect!

We finally had a little fun on Friday when we got a babysitter and headed to Napa. None of us had been there and Liha kept urging us to go to a castle there. After just visiting Germany and seeing their castles, Ryan and I were not that impressed, except when it came to the torture room….all kinds of fun things in there. Mom and dad thought it was great and I knew nothing about wine, and much of the tour talked about that process, so we all thought it was great! We hit a roadside burger joint for dinner and then we were ready to go wine tasting. We pulled into the first winery and the sign said it was closed. Hmm, I was going to get some wine for my friend, Laura, who watched the kids, so mom and I snuck in the exit. We got a very dirty look, but I explained what we were looking for and we were out of there before the rest of the people in the wine shop. Since everything closed at 6, we headed back to Livermore and I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies, so we stopped at the Nestle Tollhouse Café. It happened to be their 2^nd birthday, so it was 2 cookies for $2 and 2 scoops of ice cream for $2. Let’s just say we all felt sick when we left, but not as sick as the new friend we met who was doing a man vs. food challenge and was eating 2, 9 inch cookies with ½ gallon of ice cream in the middle! That was something to see.

Ainsley had her last soccer game on Sat. She came a long way, standing and biting her nails the first game to scoring goals in almost every game! Later that morning, we went to see Puss In Boots which everyone enjoyed. On the way home from the movie, we finally went to see the oldest working light bulb. Mom has been wanting to do this for awhile and we had a bit of time, so we headed to the fire station in Livermore to see the light bulb that has been working since 1901. It didn’t appear anyone was at the fire station, but I peeked through the window and caught someone in their boxers! He finally saw us and went and got someone to open the door. We got a little history lesson about the light bulb and then got to see some cool equipment and listen to dad BS with the fireman. It is always interesting to see how people respond to my dad…he is a character! The last fun thing we did was visit the Chabot Space Center. There was too much to see and there were a lot of interactive things which required reading, so I think might be for kids a little older. I’m glad it was Bank of America day because all of us adults got in free, just for having a credit card!! We did enjoy the IMAX movies and came away with a little more knowledge about space. It is so hard for me to comprehend the size of space…God has quite the imagination!

Thanks for a great visit!!!

Busy Month

2011-11-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

It has been too long since I updated this....I'll try to be short and sweet.

In early Oct., we went to Ardenwood to pick our yearly supply of popcorn. It was so much better this year! Last year the ears were full of bugs, worms and mold and this year almost everyone was good. It made for a much quicker outing, especially since Ryan was with us this year. We ended up going in the afternoon which was a mistake because by the time we finished picking, all the festivities were over (and the homemade ice cream was all gone-I thought Ryan and Reggie were going to cry!). Next year, we'll have to go a little earlier, so we can enjoy all of the activities.

The next day, we did the cub scout Rocket Launch. Ryan spent many evenings gluing the little rocket together and every morning Reggie would wake up to see the progress. He wanted to play with it so bad. The big blue one was Ainsley's and much, much easier to assemble.

Here Reggie is getting the rocket ready to launch:

Watching it go!

Disappointed with the orange rocket. Something went wrong during construction and it spiraled out of control on both launches, not even getting high enough to open the chute. We found it nose down stuck in dirt, but amazingly in one piece (I guess something went right during construction). Thank goodness we had the big, blue rocket! It did exactly what it was supposed to do. The kids and us had a blast (no pun intended!). Definitely something to do again next year.

The following weekend was the Rancho walk-a-thon and carnival. I decided to get my work-out over early that day and ran with the kids...sort of....Reggie had a side ache that kept coming back and Ainsley's hip was bothering her. She had a soccer game that morning and then ran 2 1/2 miles and I think she overdid it. When she runs, she sprints and then walks, so it was a little much, but she was much better the next day. The hip problem returned the following week after a visit to pump it up and it took several days to go away (I would watch her walk and of course my concern was that it may be early signs of my fun Arthritis). For now, we are going to assume not!

Face painting fun:

Number of laps they ran: Ainsley 10, Reggie 16, Mom 20

The following week Ryan was at his men's retreat and the kids and I had a lot of fun. Usually, I am the boring parent, making the kids do homework and eat their veggies, but I wanted to be the fun parent for once. So, we skipped school Friday morning and went to Pump It Up, we ate out a few times and went to the movies. We saw Dolphin Tale and it was amazing...the kids were glued to the screen.

Ryan had his own fun at the men's retreat, joining a mountain biking group for a 3 hour ride. These guys were real mountain bikers, with thousand dollar bikes. Ryan borrowed all the gear and thankfully, the average age of the group was 55, so he could easily keep up. He really enjoyed it and is thinking of doing it more. He has a little more time on his hands, so we shall see.

That brings us to the Friday before Halloween. Both kids had their class parties and got to dress up. Rancho teachers and staff dress up and do a dance every year and then they have a parade, followed by an assembly. The kids love it! Reggie is absolutely in heaven this time of year.
Princess Jasmine:

Pilot Luke Skywalker (he was the only one with that costume and I found it at the thrift store, score!):

The next day, we had a soccer game at 8 a.m. and decided to do a garage sale after that. It was a last minute thing....was totally irritated by all the mess and things we needed to get rid of. I have never done a garage sale before, but I think it went pretty well. We had it at a neighbor's house because they have more traffic and they got rid of a lot of big stuff and I unloaded most everything I really wanted to get out of our garage. The rest we took to the goodwill and it felt so good and we made over $100! The kids went through their stuff, so it was good for them to participate. Reggie sold some stuff, but surprise, surprise, he bought a sparkly Christmas tree from the Williams. We ended up trading some stuff, which wasn't really the plan, but oh well :o). That afternoon, Reggie decided he wanted to start sleeping in his room, so we put his bed back together and it has been great. Ryan found a Black Widow in his window, so I wasn't so sure we should put him in there, but we think he got in through the hole in the screen and was in between the window and the screen, so wasn't actually in his room. We also took down the crib in preparation for Grandma and Grandpa's visit. We went to church that night and were pooped by bedtime.

We should have rested the next day, but we hadn't seen K in awhile, so we visited him at his Aunt's house and took him to the park. Since we were half way to Six Flags, we spent the afternoon there, watching a few shows and going on a few rides.

Man, I am tired after just writing all that!

Goodbye K

2011-10-22T22:04:00.001-07:00

Well, Friday was our last day with K :o(. He has slowly been transitioning to his aunts house over the last month, spending half time with us and half with them (being a 1/2 time parent was actually very nice!). I knew the day was coming, but I was still surprised at how sad I was. The kids don't really realize what is going on, which I guess is a good thing. I'm very glad that we have a good relationship with his family and will be able to visit or take him for a weekend visit.

It was a crazy 6 months, filled with lots of love and laughter, but also lots of challenges. Having 3 children is a lot, especially when you are thrown into the 2's, but we all adjusted pretty well. It was fun to see his growth in so many ways, behavior, speech and eating. He is an amazingly smart and happy child and it was fun to live life through his eyes....everything was so new and fun.

Life will be different, lots quieter for sure. We are taking a break until at least after the holidays and then we will re-evaluate where we are and decide if it is something we want to do again. We'll have to see how our kids were affected...time will tell.

And so, the bargain hunting begins

2011-09-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Ryan took the kids to coffee and Reggie said, “Wait Dad, I have to get my wallet.” Ryan was a bit confused and asked him why. He responded, “In case we see a garage sale.” Today I decided to take Reggie with me and we went to a few garage sales. He got some star wars trading cards for $.50 and an erector set. We were looking at the erector set for awhile to see what all was in it and we found lots of pieces and 2 motors, but it was missing all the wheels. Reggie asked how much they wanted for it and she said $5. I informed her that the wheels were missing and I wasn’t sure what he could build. It was quiet for a moment and then she asked what he wanted to pay for it. He thought for a minute and said, “$2”. She was very surprised by his response and said, “Wow, you are a good negotiator.” They settled on $3. Go Reggie!!! I had a big smile inside. He spent all afternoon building and was talking about what he was going to build tomorrow :o). We also ended up getting a free kid’s table that is quite large and decided to put it in his room, so now he has a nice work table. He is very excited about his room now and I’m glad he has a big table to do all his building projects and arts/crafts.

He has been busy having playdates with friends and attending cub scouts since school started. We’ve been trying to get him to play basketball, but he just isn’t into sports. He is still running at school, but I need to sign him up for swimming (the only thing he will agree to do!).

Reggie has been obsessed with Star Wars lately and is ready for Halloween:

Ryan's old star wars toys:

Ainsley wanted to come with us today, but she couldn’t find her money. We are trying to teach them some responsibility, so she didn’t get to go and was very upset. It didn’t help that they had a sleepover last night at a friends’ house and I think she was up until at least 9:30 and then woke up at 6:30. So, it was probably best that she stayed home and took a little nap. Ryan and I enjoyed our free night…went to the movies and relaxed!

Ainsley has been in her own little world the last few weeks; working on school stuff, talking on her “cell phone” and doing really important stuff. It has been great because she has been very independent, but getting her to eat or get ready to go has been a challenge. She is very focused and homework with her is a dream! Reggie has been pretty good lately as well, but he never enjoyed it like she does :o).

Ainsley started soccer and really likes it. The first game, she bit her nails almost the entire time, but has improved quite a bit since then. She has also been going to gymnastics and is really excelling in that. She is super strong and is actually learning some skills now. And then there is swimming. Her lessons were such a struggle in the spring, but a couple weeks ago she turned into a fish while swimming in our friends’ pool. We put a smaller swim vest on her and she has to work a bunch harder now, but I think she loves it even more, going underwater and everything! It will be interesting to see what she chooses to do for an activity next year.

Swimming at Bill and Stacey's (Ryan's old boss):

Ryan started his job a couple weeks ago and life is so different!!! He can actually enjoy his evenings and hasn’t really worked at night yet (let’s hope this continues). He is going through a bit of withdrawal and misses his buddies, but I think he has realized how unhealthy his work/life balance was. It is nice to have him present :o).

First day of school!!!

2011-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

All I keep hearing from people is how tall Reggie got over the summer!

Well, the first day of school was on Tuesday and it didn’t start out so smoothly. I had everything packed and ready the night before and we were going to bike to avoid all the car traffic by biking (no buses here, so there’s a million parents dropping their kids). We were ready early which never happens in this household, but the kids were really excited. Reggie got on his bike and sure enough he had a flat tire. We just cleaned out the garage and so I told him to get his old bike, but those tires were low too. I decided to use Ryan’s new fancy bike pump and couldn’t get it hooked up (come to find out later that it is backwards), so then I turned on the air compressor. Reggie managed to force the air pump on, but it still didn’t work and then I couldn’t get it off. By this point, I’m fuming so I pulled the thing as hard as I could and the plug came out of the tire, so that bike was out. Then I fiddled some more with the air compressor to pump up the other bike tire and couldn’t get it to work (later found out that that is very sensitive). So, we loaded in the car and drove through the surrounding neighborhoods looking for a parking spot. Time was ticking and we would have had to walk 15 minutes based on how far cars were parked away. Reggie wanted to try one more place and thank God, we borrowed my mom’s parking angel and got a spot right by the back side of the school. We walked quickly and made it. I snapped a few pics and Reggie was off. He has the same teacher as last year, so he was excited and has already met some new friends. Usually, I don’t get to hear much about his day, but he was pretty talkative and very glad to see his buddies.
Ainsley’s kindergarten didn’t start until 11:45, so we went home for a bit and then headed back. She was so excited!!! Happy to see her best friends and her new teacher. She came home today and was teaching Khalif all about the calendar and the 2 points of listening? Homework doesn’t start for another week and a half, so we can all enjoy school until then :o). It will be interesting to see how that goes…
The schedule was crazy this week, with drop off and pick-up, assembly schedules, early dismissals. It is amazing someone didn't get left somewhere! My friend Laura and I carpool, so that really helps (2 trips to school instead of 4!). Reggie starts at 8:30 and gets out at 2:40 and Ainsley starts at 11:45 and is finished at 3:05.

Ryan was traveling again this year, so hopefully, next year he will be able to see them on the first day of school!

Happy to be sitting next to Naomi:

Mrs. Gomes:

New Job!

2011-08-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Ryan has been looking for a job for a few months now and came across a position in Seattle in late June for a company he had worked with in the past. We have different views on moving, I feel like we just got settled and the timing just didn’t seem right to me, but he has wanted to move home for awhile. I think he wanted out so bad that he ignored me when I said not to even apply because how much harder would it be to say no if he were actually offered the job. I’m pretty sure he was thinking I’d change my mind. Well, forward 2 weeks and he was offered the position and we were butting heads pretty good. It was very stressful for all of us and we finally came out the other side in California. Ryan was so angry and disappointed, but God had a better plan! Forward 2 more weeks and he got a call from that same company because they had a job in the bay area. This time it all worked out! Had the Seattle job never happened, he wouldn’t have considered the job here (he probably never even would have known about it). So we can all breathe a little easier and hopefully, enjoy life at a slower pace!!!
His company did not take the news well and made him give a 4 week notice, so he doesn’t start for another 3 weeks, but he just got back from Chicago, doing a training for his new company, Avnet Memec. He has been getting lots of calls from people who are sad to see him go, but understand why he's leaving. This job is known within his company as the widow maker...hmmm. It is nice that he's so loved and I know he'll miss his good friends.
The cool thing about his new job is his territory is Seattle, Vancouver, BC and Portland, so he can work in the summer a bit and at Christmas, so we might get to go to Maui someday because he’ll have some vacation left! Or maybe a Cruise? He also doesn’t have to deal with China anymore, so no conference calls at night :o).
For this new position, Ryan had to buy a car, since he has to give back his company car, so we bought a Prius. I have been driving it and it is really fun, kind of a challenge to see how many miles to the gallon you can get, so I think he will enjoy it a lot :o). I’ve driven over 90 miles and still have a full tank of gas…I’m starting to think something might be wrong with the gas gauge!
We are so thrilled….the thought have having Ryan back is so exciting!!!

Ryan's trip around the world!

2011-08-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

Well, my trip to Asia was very interesting and busy.. The calm before the storm started when we arrived at the lake on July 3^rd and I was able to enjoy and beautiful 4^th of July week with the family. The weather was gorgeous and the company was fantastic. (I think we’re going to have a “low key” 4^th next year and just party boat the lake and watch everyone else burn their money up). I left on the 10^th of July and was gone until the 20^th of July. My trip started from Seattle to Taiwan, then to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and finished in India. It was a world wind tour. It was my first time in Taiwan and the weather was hot and rainy. As I was there I started to notice 7 – 11’s everywhere. It reminded me of Starbucks in Seattle as every street corner was covered with these things. Come to find out that there are over 3 thousand 7 – 11’s throughout Taiwan and it’s really not that big of a geographic area. It was then onto Hong Kong. I was happy to arrive because I had been there several times and it almost felt like home just because it was familiar. The highlight of my stay in HK was visiting my boss’s boss’ house and having dinner with his family. He lives in a high rise building that overlooks the Hong Kong Harbor and the rest of the hi-rise buildings. I had a wonderful time with his family (his wife, and 4 children – 3 boys and 1 girl). On Friday I had to take a day trip to Shanghai (2 hour flight); left early Friday morning and got back late Friday night. It was a long day and I was very glad to be back in HK for the weekend. I got to hang out with my quality engineer that is also from California that just happened to be there during my trip. I got another custom suit made during my stay in HK which was a great perk. Sunday afternoon I flew to India (8 hours). The hotel was beautiful brand new 5 star that was placed right in the middle of a very dense and not so clean place. The day started on Monday and traffic was nothing I had ever seen before. People everywhere, cars, tractors, motorcycles (thousands) and even cows laying in the middle of the highway.. It was organized chaos.. The food was wonderful (curry) and the company was great. People in India are very helpful and friendly and are willing to do anything for each other. I visited one of the managers’ homes during my trip and I hadn’t even met him until this trip. He opened up his home and family and they were very generous. The sales person that I was traveling with (Reddy) was very generous too.. Funny story – The last day during my stay in India I wanted to find a gift for Ainsley for her Birthday and found the perfect thing (Barbie –Ken from India!). Reddy insisted to also buy her a gift and wouldn’t let me leave the store until he also bought her a Barbie doll. My trip ended in India as I flew out of India headed for Germany at 2:30AM Wednesday morning. 9.5 hour leg to Germany and then from Germany to Seattle another 10 hours. Being in the air for almost 20 hours straight was rough. I can officially say I went around the world in over 10 days. I can also say I will never do that again!!

Take note of the tractor on the right... Taxi cab:

You can't see it that well, but there were 4 people on this motorcycle!

Cows all over the place....even in the middle of the road! Driving in India was crazy!

Washington-part 2

2011-08-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I flew back home on Monday July 25th to take Khalif to visit his parents. The kids stayed with grandma and grandpa and didn’t even really care we were gone….I guess they love their grandparents :o). They went to a petting zoo and Water park in Everett one of the days and because it was rather cold, they had the entire water park to themselves! They went back to Aunt Liha’s and went slip n’ sliding that afternoon. We were at their house a few times this summer and they love their backyard, hiking around in the wild flower, playing in the little house and setting up multiple slip n’ slides.

Pen make-up. I made her wear it until bath time and I'm pretty sure she won't be doing that again:

Ryan’s birthday was that Monday and he had work people in town and had his Cisco SBR, so it was a crazy day for him and he didn’t get home until after midnight! Khalif and I had a quiet time hanging out. I had no car, so had to rely on my bike which was kinda fun. We went grocery shopping and ran some errands and Khalif really enjoyed riding in the Ibert (bike seat that mounts on the handle bars). He had a nice visit with his family and we met his aunt and cousin at the park one day and they are really great people! We had a playdate with the Williams’ girls and they dressed him up as Minnie Mouse and he was pushing a shopping cart with a purse….his parents would’ve been so proud! The time flew by and we left Wed. afternoon. Ryan stayed back to work.

The kids were really excited to see us, which was kinda fun for me because I don’t usually leave them and they actually missed me :o). I missed them too. The house was very quiet without Reggie and Ainsley. I can see why Ryan doesn’t like it when we are not there. The sun finally started coming out and the kids were in the water or on the beach most of the day. It finally felt like summer, except the water was freezing. I usually do a swim workout a few times a week and I just couldn’t this year…only swam once :o(. Our last week was really busy; we went to the Children’s Museum, the zoo and the Stanwood/Camano Fair. We had a great time at all of those places. Ryan flew in on Wed. so he got to enjoy some sun and the fair. We talked Reggie into kneeboarding and he did great and loved it! The neighbor was nice enough to lend us their kneeboard….they’ve come a long way since our day. Theirs had a hook for the rope, so he didn’t even have to hold on! I went with him and I couldn’t tell by his face whether he was enjoying himself. When we were done, he said it was really cool, but we couldn’t get him to go again before our time at the lake was over. I decided to go again by myself to have my own fun and show him what you can do on a kneeboard. I could still jump, do 360’s and stand up. I’m not sure about him, but I was pretty impressed with myself :o).

Watching the horses at the fair:
Zumba!

About half way through the summer, Ainsley was asking to sleep in the toddler bed up in Grandma’s room (Wade and Liha stay in grandma and grandpa’s room with their whole family when they are up visiting). Grandma is a softy and said o.k. The only problem is that Reggie and Ainsley sleep in the same room and Reggie wasn’t about to get cut out of the deal. So, it became a nice treat for them to sleep in grandma and grandpa’s room. Reggie was very excited to sleep in a sleeping bag and they loved it. Not sure grandpa was on board, but I’m glad they love their grandparents!

What a good cleaner....grandpa loved it whenever Khalif got ahold of the sponge!

Dancing on stage at the Children's museum-Reggie was working hard in the picture above to do sound and lights:

Reggie's old fav. the Comodo Dragon:

Aunt Sue and Uncle Rich’s cabin became one of Reggie’s favorite places to visit. He biked there with Ryan and always wanted to stop there when we were out in the party boat. They do have a fun place….it is really cabin-like with a loft and they’ve made some trails with interesting attractions, like a fairy house. Look what we found on a walk at Aunt Sue and Uncle Rich's...pretty cool:

The kids got to enjoy an adventure with Grandma Peggy and Uncle Anthony. They always do something fun and this year they went to the water slides. This is something I would never do with them because they are water weanies, but I was hopeful that they might be brave. It was good they both went because Ainsley hung out in the kiddie area with grandma and to our surprise, Reggie went on all the slides with Uncle Anthony!!! Way to go! They had an awesome time :o).

Hanging in the little pool:

Go Reggie!

Sat. was a bit of a whirlwind, as usual with Ainsley’s birthday party and packing. I decided to do the Once Around Lake Cavanaugh race. My back has been feeling good all summer and I’ve been running a lot and for long distances, so it seemed like a good idea. My back was a mess earlier in the week, but it quickly recovered and I ran it without stopping (7.8 miles in 1 hour 12 minutes)!!! When we got back, Peggy, Dustin and Anthony came to visit, then Megan and her family and then the rest of the party around 3:30. We had fun watching people try to paddleboard. Some people can do it and others, like Ryan and Dustin, just can’t. Reggie had a blast playing with Lachlan, Cohen and Mack (Megan’s children). Lachlan even waterskied for the first time, so it was good for Reggie to see that a 9 year old can do it. Maybe he’ll try next year??? Ainsley had fun with Cadia and the twins, Stella and Ruby. Reggie had fun with Charlie….it was just a great day! We had a great time visiting with Jim/Ruth, Lacey/Aunt Jana, Kristin, the Boyd’s, and Aunt Sue/Uncle Rich. Thanks mom for letting us host at your house. The weather even cooperated and it was beautiful.More than half way around the lake...

Presents the night before her party...I now know why so many easy bake ovens end up at thrift stores!

Lachlan and Reggie:

Reggie and Charlie :o). He was so glad to have a boy cousin to play with!

We had a great time watching Ainsley open her gifts. She wanted an American Doll this year, but that didn’t seem to make sense to me. She is pretty young and those dolls are $100! Ryan thought it would be a nice surprise to buy her one, so he got on some website and ordered a doll without telling me because he knew that I’d veto it. I’m not sure how many links he clicked on because he ended up getting baby Kevin for $100. He showed up at the lake on party day, so at least the timing was good. We explained to her beforehand that there was a mix-up and she wasn’t getting an American Doll, but we could send the baby back and get one. Of course she opened up Kevin and wasn’t at all wanting to ship him away. The box said, “Not for play. For children 14+ or adults as a collectible.” Hmmm…I’m not thinking the glued on hair is going to make it. Although, we’ve been home for almost a week and baby Kevin has only had about 5 minutes of play time, so he might just be going on a trip back to wherever he came from. It was a really nice thought and we love Ryan for that….the whole scenerio also gave us a lot of laughs :o). Baby Kevin:

Grandma had a brain seizure and thought Reggie was little and tried to pick him up. Thankfully, she didn't hurt herself!

Jumping with Stella and Ruby:

No animals in the house this year....the cats have gotten a little better about leaving stuff outside. Ainsley was very sad to see the dead rabbits...also had a dead duck this year :o(. She did find a live snake to pet though-for some reason it let her do it: Amazing to see a deer in the water! Haven't ever seen that before :o)

We awoke early the next morning and were on the road a little after 7. We stopped for gas and to go to the bathroom at the Costco in Salem and then stopped for dinner in Yreka. We would have made it in just over 14 hours if we hadn’t hit construction traffic. As it was, we pulled in at 9:48, so it took us 14 hrs. and 39 minutes. Not too bad since it took us 16 on the way there and last year 17 hours each way. The kids did much better on the way back and somehow entertained themselves for a good part of the way (only watched 2 movies).

The summers just seem to go quicker and quicker. We slowed down a bit this year and didn’t schedule much, but somehow it seemed to go by faster. I know it is a lot for my parents to have us there for 5 weeks, but I’m glad they let us impose. The kids will always have their memories of summer fun forever…….thank you!

Washington-part 1

2011-08-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

Well, as many of you know the summer started out very cold and rainy. We had sun on the 4^th and we were hoping we brought it with us, but no such luck! It rained at some point almost everyday for 2 ½ weeks! That didn’t seem to stop the kids from playing on the beach and even swimming :o). We went on lots of walks in the woods and Reggie taught the girls how to fly down the driveway on a big wheel and maneuver down another steep hill, using only their feet for brakes. Reggie is very cautious, so I let him keep doing it despite my better judgment. Amazingly, no one got hurt.

Ryan took the entire week after the 4^th off (which means he was still working, but minimally). We went down to our house in Kirkland and did some maintenance, went out to dinner and took the kids to Jungle Playland. We put the Mastercraft in this year and we were hoping to use it lots. Ryan got a tube for his birthday and was dying to take the kids on it. We got one that they could sit in because of our experience when Reggie was little and it submerged and dumped all the kids. So, it was Ryan in the middle and the girls on either side. We weren’t really thinking about the fact that the middle seat was more forward and therefore, a little front heavy. Well, we managed to almost repeat the same incident, but Ryan thought quickly and jumped off. Needless to say the girls were a screaming mess and it will be a few years before they’ll go again :o(. We were able to talk Reggie into it, but it didn’t seem like he had too much fun. All in all, it was a nice, relaxing week. Ryan left Sunday for his trip around the world.

We had a nice BBQ with the Wade side of the family. It was nice to see everyone and meet the new puppy. Ainsley has gotten much better around dogs these days, but wasn’t as brave as Jake, who had no problem getting mauled by the puppy :o).

The kids and I did more of the same when he was gone, playing on the beach, walking in the woods and I almost forgot, lots of party boating! Khalif’s favorite word is water and boat, so I think he really enjoyed it too.

Meal time is a little chaotic, but it is one of our favorite things to do?

4th of July. Lots of food, fun and sun!

Looking at the roman candles:

Fun run in Sedro Woolley. Ryan and Reggie did the 2-mile run without stopping in just under 20 minutes! He never wants to do that again....it was too hard:Lake Cavanaugh parade:

Uncle Wade teaching the kids pyro techniques:

Enjoying staying up late to watch the fireworks. Why don't they sleep in?????

Popsicles on the party boat!

We did take a quick trip to Aunt Pam’s cabin on Lummi Island and the trip could have been really fun or a complete disaster. My sister decided if she went it would be a disaster, so we brought Maggie and Mom, Aunt Pam and myself managed the kids and I have to say it was really fun!!! We turned over rocks looking for tiny crab and explored the beach and tide pools. Reggie found a jar of sea glass in the cabin and decided that was his mission, so they all searched high and low for sea glass. They made several trips down to the beach and brought back all kinds of treasures that they spread all over the deck; shells, dead crab, special rocks, etc. They ran all over the yard playing games and having some kind of imaginary fun. We made a fire in the pit and had smores and got all gooey. We also visited the local school and played on their playground which they thought was the best! While we were waiting for the Ferry, Aunt Pam suggested we get some ice cream from the local store and no surprise the kids were up for that :o). I’m sure they will have very special memories from their visit at Lummi….thanks Aunt Pam!

Smore faces:

Looking for crabs:

Unfortunately, we had to make a run to the urgent care the day after we got back. Khalif was not himself and sure enough, after waiting 2 hours, he had an ear infection. Ainsley wanted to go with us to visit Grandpa Geno, so she and grandma went there and watched some Lawrence Welch. We had to make a run with Ainsley the following week because she had a sketchy bug bite that she probably got up at Lummi. It lasted for 10 days and was starting to go away and then came back bigger on the last day. She had the same thing last year, so we know what to do now and when to be concerned.

Ryan flew back from his trip for his birthday weekend and we enjoyed some great food and had some more fun. Ryan went waterskiing and has decided to get on a health kick so he can actually go for more than 5 minutes. He even bribed Liha to go and she got her $100 because she got up on one ski! Way to go!! Funny story….Ryan saw that my dad had the movie the Great Outdoors and thought it would be fun for the kids to watch it. Ainsley and Maggie sat down and were watching it and shortly after it started, Ryan put in another movie. He told me later that as they were sitting on the couch watching, some inappropriate language was said and immediately, Maggie turned to Ryan and asked, “Uncle Ryan, what is a motha fucka?” (she doesn’t say her r’s that well). I guess PG was different back in those days!

Birthdays:

Dad celebrated his 67th on July 6th:

Khalif turned 2 on July 22nd. Reggie was so proud of himself....he made the cake topper out of legos. Khalif's favorite thing is Sponge Bob:

Ryan turned 35 on July 25th-not sure what the gesture was about....

Summer fun

2011-07-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

Ainsley has been bugging us to get a pool since we’ve had many pool play dates this summer. Ryan went and bought one, but it didn’t have a drain and it was a major pain. We had a playdate with the Bliss’s last week and they inflated their water slide park. It sure was easy to get the water out and kept the kids entertained for hours. So, I started looking for one (they are not cheap) and finally broke down and got one. They’ve been having a blast in it! Reggie knocked out his tooth a couple days ago while playing in it…he’s gotten a bit brave. Our foster child was very nervous, but after about 15 minutes was going crazy. Too bad Ryan didn’t put a swim diaper on him….we had a bit of a mess (luckily I was shopping when this unfortunate event happened!). And Ainsley is happy as a clam, “swimming” and flying down the slide.

Brave little guy!

All last week the kids were at vacation bible school. The theme was Pandamania and unlike last year, they LOVED it! They had so much fun and I enjoyed running my errands with our foster child. The last day, Reggie woke up with a sore throat and it took several days for him to be his normal self. It turned into a mild cold. Guess who woke up with it Tuesday, but decided to add a fever to the equation? Yes, Ainsley has been rather grumpy, so we watched a bit of t.v. this week. Her fever was short-lived, although the grumpiness continued, but we were able to go to Six Flags with our good friends the Williams.

We got a babysitter for the little ones and enjoyed the water areas, rides and animals. It was a hot day and the kids got completely soaked :o). The day went quick, but all the kids were pooped by the end of the day.

I’ve been planning and packing like crazy to get organized for our departure on tomorrow. Because we have an extra person this year, we have a lot less room in the car, but we packed today and everything is in! A big thanks to my mom who has shopped for us….not bringing food opened up a bunch of space in the car :o).

Father's Day

2011-06-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

Ryan awoke to 2 children crawling on him and breakfast in bed (not as elaborate as he does for me!). They were so excited to share the books that they made for him. They spent many hours working on these books. Reggie wrote nice things about dad and then drew pictures. Ainsley was very creative in her art, but needed a little interpretation. Reggie’s book was called, “All about my Dad” and these are the things he wrote:

My dad plays take-out with my sister and me.

My dad cooks good food.

My dad lights the best fireworks.

My dad is special.

My dad plays basketball with me.

My dad plays baseball with me.

I love my dad.

Pretty sweet! We love Ryan for all of the above and many more. He is a great Dad!!!

Reading his Star Wars card that was Darth Vader's voice saying, "I am your father."

First week of summer!

2011-06-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Well, life is never boring here. It seems one child gets better and then another has an issue. We got a little education last week about MRSA :o(. Our foster child had what looked like a pimple on his calf last Sunday and it was pretty sensitive and got a bit bigger on Monday. I have had staff in the past and suspected that is what it might be, so I knew not to wait. His mom called that morning and I mentioned it to her and she told me he had the same thing last year. The doctor agreed it was a skin infection and I told him he had this before and he looked in his chart and saw that it was MRSA. He prescribed antibiotics and sent us on our way. What he didn’t tell me was that it is highly contagious! My sister told me that 2 days later after bathing the kids in the same water, lathering sunscreen over the wound and then on my kids, etc. We didn’t even put a band aid on it! There’s some mixed and really concerning info. out there about MRSA, but I talked to the kids pediatrician and she made me feel a lot better. So far, we are all in the clear and we are being much more cautious now, so hopefully, the kids strong immune systems (after having all the illness this year, they should never get sick again!) will be able to fight it off. They have also spent a lot of time in the pool this week, swim lessons and 2 swim play dates and the chlorine is good for killing bacteria :o).

It has been a bit stressful, but we’ve managed to have some fun on our first week of summer break.

Enjoying the pool at the Williams:
Swinging at the park...fighting over who gets to push:

Who knew I had such balloon skills, with Reggie's help of course!

We've had this strange jet black squirrel that comes by every now and then. It is so weird that I just had to take a picture:

We also have been doing some chores. With everyone home all day, the house gets out of control pretty quickly. We had a HUGE sock pile that needed folding, so we spent one morning folding them. Usually they do the socks all by themselves, but it was a little overwhelming, so I agreed to assist. We divided the socks into piles based on whose they were and Ryan was the winner with 29! We folded 87 socks and our little sock folding became a math lesson. Once we counted everyone's socks, Reggie added them up and then we divided by 3 (to see how much money we were all going to get- $.10 per pair). Reggie was a bit disappointed to get only $2.90. I explained to him that it would have benefitted them more if I were not involved and we divided by 2 and he could see how much more money he would have had. He always folds many more than Ainsley, so we talked through that and he realized he probably would have gotten around $6.00. Hopefully, this math lesson was enough to take me out of the sock equation!!!!

End of the school year for Reggie

2011-06-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

What a whirlwind! We had something almost every night of the week last week of school. Reggie had his singing performance on Monday and did fabulous. Boy what a change from a few years ago. He was singing and doing the appropriate movements. He had a great year and came a long way with his reading and math. He was sent home with a science book for the summer and started working on it right away. That is by far his favorite subject.

Wed. was his baseball team party….we were all glad to finish out the year and be done with that. He had pizza for lunch and for dinner and had a bit of a rough night. He woke up on the last day of school and was complaining of a stomach ache…really??!! He didn’t eat breakfast, so I knew something wasn’t right, but I sent him to school anyway because it was Olympic day and the last chance to see all his friends at once. Ainsley and I went to watch the assembly and he looked a little pale. I was so worried he was going to throw up in the middle (I have vivid memories of throwing up on the school bus as a child). He said he was o.k., but we ended up leaving right after the assembly. He got a low grade fever later in the day, but was able to eat and seemed o.k.

Beginning of the day:
Reggie and his best bud Tyler:

Mid afternoon the same day:

We were supposed to go to the rodeo, but he wasn’t quite up for it, so I took Ainsley and we had a girls night out :o).

Friday he woke up with a stomach ache, but it went away after breakfast and we rode bikes to the park and had a great day. Reggie wanted to picnic, so I put them in charge of making the sandwiches and that went really well. Might happen more often! That evening we decorated the Cub Scout float for the Rodeo parade and ate way too much junk. That seemed to be what did him in. We cleansed and he didn’t eat much, but we stayed within the brat diet. That night he threw up so much Gatorade right at bedtime. He slept with us which is always a treat, such a treat that Ryan slept on the couch. Starting at about 1, he threw up every couple hours, until morning and was moaning and making noise all night. We were all tired the next day, but his stomach seemed to settle and he was soooo hungry. Every time he ate, he felt sick, so we gave him one of Ainsley’s leftover anti-nausea. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to do much. We dosed him with Motrin and that seemed to help him turn the corner. He was much better the next day, but we laid low anyway. This has been such a bad year for illness in the Wade household. Let’s hope this is it! At least we made it through the week!!!

Dance recital

2011-06-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Ainsley has been anticipating her dance recital for several weeks. They handed out there outfits back in March and she's tried it on a couple times and has been anxious to wear it. We didn't really know what to expect from her since she is very anti-attention and gave us her Agnus face at her Christmas performance. She had a Mother's Day program at school and finally said a few lines of the last song, so I guess there was a little progress.

She did great on Sat. and we were very proud of her!!! Ainsley did the things she was supposed to do and seemed to be enjoying it :o). Afterward, Reggie said, "Mom I was surprised she didn't just stand there with her hands under her chin." We celebrated by going out to lunch wherever she wanted to go....she picked Sweet Tomatoes. Here's some pictures and video:

Afterward with her good friend Naomi:

Go Reggie Go!

2011-06-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

Last week, Reggie told me that they had a race in class to see which 2 boys/girls ran the fastest mile and then the students from the other classes would all race off at some point. He likes to run with his friends and that means they chat and don't run too fast. The girls always beat them and that is what he thought was normal. During the race, the girls ran an 8 minute mile and he and his friend Tyler ran a 10 minute mile. I explained to him that genetically boys were supposed to run faster than girls. It was an interesting thought that he hadn't considered. The next time they ran, he told me he was right behind the girls. I encouraged him to move ahead of them :o).

Well, today was the race and it was sure interesting. The Kindergarteners, 1st and 2nd graders all ran together. They took off sprinting and all of us parents were shaking our heads, knowing they were going to gas out. And, they're off:

The interesting thing with Reggie is that he all of the sudden became competitive and ran the entire way, not jogging, but really running. I was very suprised he didn't stop because they don't usually run like that and as we all know, when you run fast, your legs, lungs and everything else hurts. One of his classmates stopped and was crying to her mom that her chest hurt....it made me smile. He finished in the top 10, with a time of 7:24. I'm not sure I could have kept up! I think he was a bit surprised by his ability as he was sharing with a friend all the people he beat. It was definitely good for his confidence :o).

Lap 3-looks like he was pretty tired, but he kept going :o):

Washer/Dryer:

So, we’ve been wanting a new washer/dryer since we moved here, but never got around to buying one. The washer has been smelling like sewer a lot more frequently and bleach didn’t seem to do the trick, so I had been looking on craigslist for a used set. I found one right here in Livermore, but the people weren’t moving for about 3 weeks, so he held it for us and I have been counting down the days. It is sad when you get so excited about a washer and dryer.

Ryan went and picked it up last week and it was going great until they went to load up the dryer and the guy gave him the gas attachment. This was not in his ad and we have an electric dryer, so Ryan told him that it wasn’t going to work. Unfortunately, he had already paid him and the guy was moving the next day. Unkind words were exchanged, but he ended up taking the set because we didn’t really have any other option. He told me what happened when he got home and I was trying to figure out what we could do. We could use the washer and sell the dryer, but it was a nice front-loading set and they really should stay together, so I was thinking, “great, now we have to start over”. Anyway, it was very disappointing.

Ryan got a bright idea of checking to see if there might be a gas line there and God is good because there was!!! We just had to get the connectors and shut off valve and we were good to go. Several hours later and a couple trips to the hardware store and bingo, we fired it up last night. It seems like any house related project we do has more challenges than it should, so it is nice that this is the first one we have had to do here!

Stomach flu

2011-05-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it never fails….Ryan went to Chicago last week and Ainsley started throwing up Sat. morning. It was the worst stomach flu we’ve had yet!!! Thankfully, this didn't happen in Disneyland (we got home on Thurs. night). At least Ainsley is a great puker…she makes it to the bathroom and doesn’t complain too much, unless she is dry heaving :o(. She couldn’t keep anything down on Sat., probably threw up 8-10 times. Sunday was better, only twice, but not interested in food at all. Monday she didn’t throw up at all and had a bit of diarrhea, but still was not able to sit up or walk without getting a stomach ache or turning ghostly white. Tues. I decided to take her in and was given some really bad advice….just feed her whatever she wants…yogurt, etc. Well, she started throwing up again that afternoon and it was a struggle to get her to drink, so I was a bit concerned about dehydration at this point. How long can a person carry on in this state??? Not having Ryan home to give a second opinion was not helping either. I called my nurse friend who recommended I take her to urgent care, so that is what I did. Thank goodness for friends….Laura came over and put the boys to bed while we went in. They immediately gave her some anti-nausea medicine, but thought she was o.k. for hydration. They were shaking their heads why this wasn’t prescribed during our doctor appt. that morning. The day would have gone so different :o(. Anyway, I was able to get some Gatorade in her that night and we drank and drank the next day and had very small bits of food. She was able to walk around and sit up on the couch, so I knew things were improving. Thank the good Lord for medicine! She was still struggling with a stomach ache every time she ate, but that got a bit better on Thursday. She literally spent 5 days lying on the couch, not eating more than a few crackers. We were very careful with what she ate and by Sat., she was about 85%. It was easy to tell when she was feeling better because she was antagonizing our foster child and being her sassy self. We were happy to have the attitude back :o). Now we just have to fatten her up….she is uncomfortably skinny :o(. Given her appetite today, I don’t think it will take long!!!

Feeling good enough on Sunday to pick lemons with dad and enjoy some lemonade:

Legoland and Disneyland

2011-05-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

My mom flew into Oakland on a Saturday and we packed up the car and headed down to Disneyland Sunday morning. We had our foster child, Reggie, Ainsley, Peggy, Trina, and myself. We decided to take my car and in order to fit we had to borrow a luggage roof rack from our friends – Sarah and Eric. The drive was a little rough at times (6 hours) but overall the kids did great. Thank God for DVD players!! We finally arrived at the Worldmark resort condo (thank you Grandma Wade!!!). My Grandma is such a sweet lady. She let us use her time share in Anaheim and it was beautiful! After dropping the family and checking in I went to park the car in the garage. I start driving up the garage ramp and I heard something. I thought to myself hmmm, I wonder if I shut the luggage roof rack all the way after we emptied the luggage?? So I stopped and got out of the car and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. So I got back in the car and kept driving up the ramp and wham, I heard it again! I stopped the car immediately and got out again and realized that the luggage rack wasn’t clearing the cement beams. I had to turn around and try to get back down and out of the garage and as I maneuvered around the scraping of the roof rack was nail biting and I was worried it was going to be ripped off the roof. I finally managed to get back out and parked in the lower garage that had much higher ceilings, but it had cracked in a couple places :o(. Great way to start the trip!

Next morning we woke up and traveled further south to Legoland (1 hour). We got there and the line of cars to get in was hecka long. Once in the park we had a great time looking at all of the exhibits. It’s amazing what can be done with Lego’s. The Star Wars exhibit was the best and the kids loved it. We had fun on some of the rides and enjoyed building Lego’s at many different Lego stations that we’re set up all around the park. They also had a small aquarium that we visited. It was o.k., but if you are going there, it isn’t worth the extra money. Grandma Peggy bought Mr. Reggie a Lego kit and the kid worked on it the entire way back to the condo. Within 45 minutes, he had it put together – I think he’s going to be an engineer.

It was in the high 60's, but we HAD to go to the pool. Ainsley didn't want to leave the hot tub. The pool was actually quite nice :o).

Disneyland/California Adventure – Tuesday we awoke to a lot of rain!! Trina, my mom and the kids left a little earlier than our foster child and myself-we were in no hurry! First part of the day we got soaked and then it finally cleared up. During the rain storm Trina and Ainsley waited in line to see the princesses for an hour and a half (Trina wasn’t too happy about that) but Ainsley loved it and got a hug from Minnie Mouse. Ainsley also got lucky and saw Tinkerbell and Mary Poppins. Check it out.

Because of the rain all of the cool rides we’re closed down. No Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, or tea cups. It was a total drag, but we managed. We got to go on the Buzz light year ride with the kids and the entire inside of the ride smelled like feet as everyone was wet. The second part of the day we went to California Adventure. Wow was that cool. We talked to Crush the talking turtle from Finding Nemo. And we went on the Toy Story ride where Ainsley and my mom were laughing hysterically the entire time. They had a cool display of Lightning McQueen and Mater, check it out!!

The second day was much better as the weather was great and all of the rides were open except for Indiana Jones. We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride several times over and the kids had a ball. One of the best parts of the day was when Trina and I took Reggie on the Matterhorn. The entire ride is in the dark and a roller coaster fashion that jerks you around. Reggie was holding on to me with a death grip and didn’t want to go on it again. Trina and Khalif did their own thing in the morning and my mom and I and the kids did our thing and it seemed to work a little better. The second half of that day we also went to California Adventure and enjoyed the rides. The best ride of the entire trip was at California Adventure. It was called Soar’n California. It was a virtual ride where you were strapped into seats that moved in front of a large screen that was filled with different sites in California. And you we’re literally flying through these sites such as Napa Valley, San Francisco, LA, and Disneyland. The kids enjoyed it so much we had to go on it again. It made Trina a little sick. It was amazing and so real!! We also drove the bumper cars and Reggie drove – check it out. A Bugs life was also fun as we flew through the air in a Chinese box, check it out.

That day we also went on the Grizzly Grrrr water rafting ride. It wasn’t that warm by that time and we knew that we were going to get wet. So we put on our ponchos and hopped on with the kids. The guy that we were on with had already been on the ride and told us that we weren’t going to get wet. After going down a couple of drops we came to one of the final drops and wham we got drenched. I think that guys was a bit surprised to be soaked. Everyone was dying laughing because of shock and comedy. It was a great day and it truly was enjoyable. The next morning we awoke, packed up and made our way back to Northern CA. All in all it was fun with a little stress, but I’m sure the kids will have some memories to share.

Foster update

2011-05-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

We were getting about 1-2 calls per week for foster children in Feb. and March, mostly infants, but since we were all so sick, we decided it wasn’t a good idea and since our trip was coming at the beginning of April, we were not open to fostering. They called the week before we left and then it was quiet while my parents and sister were here, not a single call. About an hour after the Rinehardt’s were gone, the phone rang and it was the county. We were hoping to have a little down time, especially since Grandma Peggy was coming in a couple weeks and we are going to Disneyland. I had a bit of a knot in my stomach after our last experience, but I kept thinking about how God has protected us in the past and if it was meant to be, then we would go for it. We prayed and sat on it for several hours and then Ryan observed him for a bit and decided to bring him home. It has been night and day from our last experience. Kinda sad in a way because he hasn’t asked for mom at all :o(.

We’ve had him for 2 weeks now and he is a happy little guy (will be 2 in July) and has us laughing a lot. We had some early tantrums for attention, but after ignoring them, they are virtually gone. I’ve been trying to reward good behavior and it seems to be working; so well that I am now doing it with Reggie and Ainsley. He is a great sleeper….sleeps for almost 12 hours a night (without waking up!) and takes a two hour nap. This is key for the kids because they still have their playtime in the morning while he is sleeping and we still have some time with the kids when he is napping. Reggie is getting more interested and finding ways to interact with him and he loves Reggie and demands hugs, so it is good :o). Ainsley is very interested and we are working to learn how to play with younger children. She thinks it is fun to take toys and get a reaction and I’ve really been trying to explain how that feels. The last couple days, she has made some big improvement. She loves on him a lot and will open herself up to be pounced on. It is so fun to see them show love to him :o). Makes me love them even more! They really watch out for him and are already worried about him leaving.

The first week was a bit hard on Ryan and me, wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into….the loss of free time, extra work, juggling 3 children, etc., etc. Life seemed busy enough without this, but we have to trust God’s plan. It is good God sent him because he puts a smile on our faces and when I look at his big brown eyes, I know we are doing the right thing and that makes it worth it. Just one big challenge to conquer….biting other kids at church and the gym.

Rinehardt's visit

2011-05-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

The Rinehardt’s came Wed. night (2 weeks ago) and unfortunately, the clan was sick with a bad cold which didn’t make sleeping that great, especially for Spencer. He was up every couple hours the first few nights and then had a couple nights that were o.k. The last night, he was up from 3:30-5:30! A strong reminder why we use birth control!!! I have to say, even though his sleep was off, he was still a happy little guy :o). We didn’t do too much while they were here, except a trip to Six Flags on Friday which is always fun. This year was the first year we didn’t have to worry about naps (Spencer was supposed to sleep in the ergo or stroller, but that didn’t quite happen), so we stayed a little longer and didn’t feel as rushed. We saw a lot of animal shows and went on a few rides.

Ainsley touching a Sting Ray (she has been very interested in touching animals and even had a pet worm when Gma and Gpa were here!):

Spencer!

Not a good ride for the stomach :o(

We had a nice Easter, waking up bright and early to do an egg hunt inside the house and open baskets. It was kinda rainy, so we decided to head to the movie theater to watch Rio. It was a good movie and the kids enjoyed their popcorn treat. We had a nice feast that night, steak and potatoes and brownies :o).

What a mess...I'd like to have a chat with the person who thought coloring eggs was a good idea:

The kids had a lot of play time and fun together time.

Maggie enjoyed getting braids which was a treat for me because I have to beg Ainsley.

Story time:

Maggie must have spent ½ her time in the bounce house!

Spencer was spoiled with good fruit eating strawberries from the patch….the oranges on our tree have been fabulous this year and he was loving it (he also enjoyed the ice cream at Sweet Tomatoes!).

Back to reality

2011-04-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy since we re-entered reality. Our vacation was REALLY nice! Mom was especially happy to see us as were the kids :o). We got right back into the swing of things, but had a nice treat on Friday night. We got a babysitter and went to the Children’s Museum donor dinner for Ryan’s work. It was a nice presentation and Kristi Yamaguchi was there accepting her award for her work with children. Steve Wozniak made a surprise visit and they did a little Q&A which was entertaining. The food and wine were fabulous and mom and dad were happy to go home with a signed book and wine openers that they “stole”. Gotta watch those two……

They had just told me about their loot:

Sat. we checked out green almonds at our neighbors prompting. We weren’t quite sure how to eat them, so we googled it and found out you are supposed to eat the whole thing. It was interesting, but I’m not sure you’ll find us on Almond Ave. anytime soon. Reggie had a baseball game that afternoon and we almost fell asleep. The kids pitch, so things don’t move all that quick. Thankfully, Reggie hasn’t gotten beaned yet.

Gma and Gpa left early Sunday morning and we had 3 days to get organized and back into our routine before the Rinehardt’s came! We miss Grandma and Grandpa….for us it seemed like a quick trip….for them, probably not! Way too much excitement.

Reggie eating with chopsticks at Uncle U's and finally feeling better:
Grandpa taking it easy after working so hard on our yard. It is a bit overwhelming for us and we are very glad to have some help!

The kids having a snack at the Bass Pro Shop in a tent....pretty sure that is against the rules:

Hanging out at the hotel in Monterey-thank goodness grandma brought a bunch of Scooby Doo DVD's because there was a lot of t.v. watched:

Aquarium visit-Reggie in his wheelchair:

Ainsley and grandma having a little fun in the hot tub...trying to stay sane:

Rome

2011-04-10T02:04:00.000-07:00

Well, after wandering around a bit, we finally found our hotel. In the process, we learned quickly that Rome is very different than the other European countries we have visited. It is very busy and overcrowded and not so clean (very hard to find a garbage can). However, it was sunny and 75 degrees and is very rich in history which we really enjoyed. We took an open tour yesterday and visited the 10 most popular places to see in Rome. We saw lots of really old buildings with amazing detail and sculptures, Trevi Fountain, the Vatican, Spanish steps, the Capital and Roman Forum, but our favorite, far and away, was the Coliseum and ancient Roman ruins. We must have walked for 6-7 hours today and Ryan is snoring as I type. He doesn’t hold up so well with a lot of walking. We probably spent 4 hours at the Roman ruins and Coliseum. It was amazing to see such a huge structure that was built 2000 years ago, around 72AD! It was used until 570 AD and then it wasn’t as cool to watch Gladiators killing each other or animals killing each other or people! 50,000 people would attend these events. An earthquake destroyed the top layer on the one side and all the marble and travertine were taken off and used in other building projects in Rome, so it isn’t as preserved as it could be. It would have been neat to see what it was like back then. The ruins were also very interesting…much of it was covered by dirt and they have been excavating for many years and will continue for many more. We were very impressed by the size and detail of many of these structures and wonder how they got to the top without cranes! Here’s just a few pics….there are too many to post: Looking down into the Coliseum. The bottom is a series of rooms and tunnels that were originally under a wood floor. They had trap doors where exotic animals popped up out of during events. The bottom of the picture is a floor they added later to show what it looked like. Romans ruins

Listening to our audo tour on the second floor of the bus:Saint Peter Basilica:

View looking down from the Spanish steps-not too many people out and about on a Sat.:

Trevi Fountain Longest building I've ever seen. Not sure what it is, but it was several blocks long:

Dirty feet:

Yum, Yum

We’ve had some pizza, which is different (very thin crust), but really good and absolutely huge, which made us both happy :o). We also had their famous gilatto and that is some good stuff too, kinda like sorbet. We are very happy to have made it through our tourist day….we were lucky not to get run over, pick pocketed or taken. They have street vendors selling all kinds of things. While I was getting some gilatto, a local struck up a conversation with Ryan and when I turned around, he was putting a bracelet on him and wanted over $8 for a piece of string. I told him no way, we would give him 1 euro (about $1.50) which it wasn’t even worth. He said no and I told him to cut it off, which he did, but he told Ryan to get a new one and pointed to me! We both had a good laugh. Our hotels have been very nice, but none have had screens on the windows. We had a huge bug issue in Germany, but not since. The fresh air is a must, but it is kinda noisy-lots of sirens that remind us of the movies. Our hotel here in Rome has a Bidet and curiosity got the best of me and I had to try. Was interesting, but not sure I’d go out and get one! TV has been lacking. Only Norway had English speaking channels. Ryan was just flipping through the channels here in Rome and came across Scooby Doo….Reggie would be happy here, but not able to understand anything! We are having a bit of a lazy day today, heading to Milan later. We found a local market which was interesting to see the lack of choices, but we were happy to get some fruit and veggies :o). On the home front, Reggie is still improving, but will probably be awhile until he has fully recovered. Mom had a little more excitement with dad as they went to the ER last night because dad couldn’t pee. Turns out his prostate is so enlarged that he can’t go to the bathroom, so now he has a catheter for who knows how long. Good thing we’ll be home in a few days…..not sure how much more grandma can take!

From Rome, we flew to Milan. Milan is a very big city and we were on the edge and since Ryan had to work, we didn't explore at all. We stayed at Hotel For You and it was very modern, so much so that we couldn't figure out how to get the lights on and off. I had a very nice, relaxing day, exercising, reading my bible and finding a local grocery store while Ryan worked. That night we went to a real Italian restaurant. It didn't even open until 7:30! There was much more of a language barrier there, but we managed with the help of some nice locals. That was a treat to see. The funny thing was that no one ordered pizza! They were all eating piles of meat, bread and cooked mozzarella. Our pizza's were delicious :o).

Norway

2011-04-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

Reggie is finally fever free….after 7 long days! Thank you for your prayers….God is faithful :o). I can tell mom is feeling much better. She had her hands full with my hypochondriac father who had to go to the dr. for a sore throat (which is a big deal when you are out of state and on medicare) and Reggie who was actually very sick. They went to Monterey for a couple days and Reggie was too sick to do much, but they ventured to the Aquarium where he got pushed around in a wheelchair! Ainsley has been great and keeping grandma entertained and somewhat sane. The morning they were heading home, Reggie woke up with another fever over 103 and grandma had had it. They called the dr. and made an appt., but surprise, surprise, they got lost on the way back. Dad isn’t very calming in these situations (to say the least) and then the gas light came on in the car. They were going to be late for Reggie’s appt., so Dad was speeding (he used to drive soooo fast, but when he retired, he slowed down and mom was making him speed on the way to California). Anyway, long story short, he got pulled over and the cop was very nice, but still gave them a ticket! I’m not sure Grandma and Grandpa will ever want to come and babysit again!!!!

We arrived in Norway in the late evening on Tuesday and were very happy to finally find our hotel and even happier to find a McDonald’s. It is surprising how expensive it is over here…$30 later we were out of McDonad’s. That meal would have cost about $10 in the US! The next day Ryan wanted a Blizzard, so we went back and I spotted the carrots from the kids meal and that was my dessert. When he got the receipt, I took a look and the carrots were 25 Krones which is about $5 and I only got 4 baby carrots!!!!

The next day Ryan had his meetings, so I went to the gym. I took a lifting class the Tuesday before we left and my body wasn’t happy about that and I knew I needed to loosen things up. It worked like a charm and my pains are much better. Then I walked around the city for a couple hours and met Ryan and his work friends for dinner. They were a very nice group and we learned a lot about Norway and their way of life :o). We asked them how they managed with everything being so expensive and it sounds like they just don’t eat out, except maybe once a month. Even so, we still don’t know how they afford clothes/housing/taxes and all the things we are used to buying. It gave me a bit of appreciation for how little things cost in the states. They also do dinner a bit different. We go out to eat for the FOOD and they go for the experience and company. 3 hours later, I was ready to head back, but we went for a short walk and then had a nightcap! Thank goodness they were fun to talk to!!! Ryan was almost head bobbing by the end of it (we weren’t sleeping all that well because our room was very warm, so we opened the windows and heard all the commotion outside…loud people, trains, etc. They don’t have top sheets either, so it was sleep with nothing or have a heavy comforter). I had taken a nap that day, so was feeling pretty good :o).

We slept very well that night and went sight-seeing the next day. We stopped at Viggeland Park which is a park full of fun naked statues. It was very impressive. From there, we went to the ski jump and that was amazing. It was windy, which added to the experience and made me a little nervous. I’m not sure you can really get a feel from the pictures, but it was so high. From there, we took the train, got on a public ferry and went to the Kon-Tiki Museum and learned about Thor Heyerdahl who built a raft out of wood and reeds to show how early migrants settled islands in the middle of the Ocean. We also visited the Viking Ship Museum and saw some amazing boats that were excavated out of farmland. Apparently the ships became coffins for important people and they were buried in the hull with all kinds of supplies and gold. I’m not sure how they made it so far on the open ocean, but they ruled the seas in the late 1800’s. The last place we visited right before closing, so we motored through Polar Ship Fram. It was a cruise ship from the early 1900’s and was pretty awesome in size. We probably know more about Norweigan history than the US! I have to say that Norway was a great place to visit, neat things to see, nice people and an awesome train system! Viggeland Park Ski Jump

View from the top of the ski jump!

Viking Ship

Kon-Tiki raft

Hei from Norway

2011-04-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

The last couple days haven't been so good, worrying and thinking about Reggie. He went to the doctor on Tues. and has Pneumonia. We were all hoping he'd wake up ready to go on Wed., but no luck. The doctor wanted to give the antibiotics a couple days to work, but they aren't working, so he will go back today. He is doing okay, but very quiet and slow moving and even in his voice I can hear he isn't feeling well. I just wish I could give him a big hug :o(. Please pray that he will get better quickly, so we can all enjoy ourselves (poor grandma is stressed out)!!! Even more to brighten your day.....Dachau was disturbing to say the least. It makes me wonder what goes on in people's minds to think that treating people like that is o.k. Many were skin and bones and tried to kill themselves to end their misery. I won't go on too much because there isn't anything good to say., except the US and another country saved the day and shut this place down. Here's just one of the several graphic pictures:

Hallo from Germany

2011-04-05T03:26:00.000-07:00

Well, our trip was a bit touch and go because of our sick children. Thursday morning Reggie woke up with a stomach ache and wasn’t his usual self. I kept him home, but thought I might be able to take him late. No such luck…he then got a fever and cough. Mom and dad made good time driving from Washington and were at our house by 5:30. The kids were super excited!!! Reggie was doing pretty good at that point, but Friday afternoon, he really took a dive and had a fever over 103. Sat. morning was even worse. He couldn’t even walk to the bathroom and had no energy to even move and his temp. was closer to 104. That was the night we were supposed to leave. We made all kinds of calls to see if we could change our flight around or we considered having me stay back for a couple days, but Ainsley woke up with a fever that morning and if I stayed until she was better, there was no point in going. We decided to take Reggie to the doctor, just to rule out an ear infection, strep or pneumonia and found out that there was a 5 day fever virus going around that seemed to peak on the 3^rd day, so Reggie should have been through the worst. This made us feel a little better and we just decided to trust that it would all work out. And thankfully, we did because when we called to check on them, both were doing much better…..God is good!!!

Dad got right to work mowing the lawn, cleaning driveway cracks, etc. The yard should be looking great when we get back in 9 days. Mom got right to playing with the kids and they have been having fun since. I wonder when they’ll notice we’re gone????

Everything has gone pretty smooth for us so far. Our flight was long and super hot. At one point I thought I might throw up because it was so warm, but I walked to the back of the plane and enjoyed the cool air. They also had a standing area/bathroom downstairs, but it was packed. We watched a couple movies and enjoyed some teriyaki chicken and rice :o). We slept a good amount and when we arrived in Munich, it was 5 ish, so we walked around the Am Tucherpark and went to a beer garden. It was about 75 degrees and one of the first nice days, so EVERYONE was out and about, like 500 people! They had live music and it was a very nice atmosphere, but we didn’t have EUROS, so we went back to the hotel for dinner. It was late by then and time for bed. We slept pretty well considering the time change and were up bright and early to head toward the 2 castles. Our GPS was trying to take us on a bike trail, so we decided change the address to the 2^nd castle and see where it took us. I’m glad we did because we were not going in the right direction. We finally arrived to a very rainy and cold (41 degrees) Linderhof Castle. This was King Ludwig’s castle and it was quite decorative (unfortunately, they don’t let you take pictures), massive wall paintings on silk, real gold accents and a table that went from the bottom floor up to his eating area (apparently, when he got older, he got a little fat and only had 4 teeth, so he didn’t want anyone watching him eat and didn’t really even want anyone seeing him. He slept during the day and was awake at night to avoid contact with people). He sounded a bit crazy and was taken out of office for mental reasons and was found dead the next day. He even made a manmade cave with a lake and boat in the cave. It was pretty amazing to see the structures they build in the 1870’s! From there we headed to the Neuschwanstein Caslte that the Disneyland castle was molded after. These castles are out in the mountains and the roads were windy with no sign of anything….not the best feeling, but we finally made it. Neuschwanstein was huge in comparison, but not nearly as detailed. The view was amazing, along with its location on a steep hillside! Not sure how it was constructed, but it was impressive.

The drive back to Munich was about 2 hours and we were sooo tired and a little goofy. We’ve been laughing a lot and it feels good :o). I had forgotten how funny we are! One of the funnier things is the word “exit”. It is all over the freeways, Ausfarht! Maybe this is where the American term “fart” comes from :o). We also were a bit surprised by the stick shift in the rental car. That has given us a few laughs when Ryan has forgotten to put the clutch in!

This is not our rental car :o(. Ryan is trying to figure out a way to work in Europe so he can drive a BMW, Mercedes or Audi....he is drooling:

We are going to the concentration camp, Dachau, today and then heading to Norway this afternoon.

Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby

2011-03-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

The Car:

Ryan and Reggie started with a block of wood and some wheels and had to turn it into something fast. The boy scouts have clinics with tools to help make these beauties perfect, so Ryan took Reggie, but the line was so long, they left. So, they came home and got to work. Looked at some pictures on-line and then Ryan used his small collection of tools and viola!

The competition:

Each scout event we go to is new for us and always a surprise. It is amazing how much time and energy the leaders put into making things work and how many kids participate. There must have been 40 cars there. The track is metal and the cars line up at the top and race down to the bottom. It is all electronic and the times are posted on a computer screen. They raced several times to make sure the cars raced in each lane and then did some crazy calculation to come up with the 6 finalists. Reggie ended up being one! The six finalist raced 6 times (they had to race in each lane) and Reggie got 2nd 4 times and 4th 2 times, so we were pretty sure he was going to get a trophy. We thought he would get 3rd, but they didn't call his name, so we were worried he wasn't going to get one. We didn't realize there were 3 kids from each group that were racing in the finals and he was the top in his age. Then they called his name for 1st place!!!

The trophy:

Let's just say, Reggie was a little excited and has slept with it at the head of the bed every night!

We're back.....

2011-03-11T20:39:00.001-08:00

Reggie

Lots has happened with Reggie over the last month. Most important, he is finally healthy! He lost 2 more teeth, so 5 total now. One fell out during a game of take-out. Ryan saw Reggie fall and thought it bounced out of his mouth. Reggie swears that dad’s hand brushed his mouth and it fell out. Whatever happened, it was good it was out. No one likes pulling teeth. The second one came out last night while eating ice cream. He was reading a book to me and stopped and was fiddling in his mouth and out came his tooth. I think he almost ate it!

On Thursday night, Reggie was in his first play. The play was about a spider named Anansi. When he first started talking about the play, I thought he said ,”A Nazi”. Glad that wasn’t the case! He was a Zebra and sang a couple songs. He was excited about it, so I think he enjoyed it on some level, although you can see from the pics it doesn’t appear he is having much fun.

Last weekend was opening day for baseball and Reggie has already had 2 games since. He is not too confident, but getting better. He got a hit in the second game and everyone was soooo excited for him. He got the game star :o). I’m still not thinking sports are his thing, but time will tell. After school, he asks to practice and is really enjoying catching and throwing and I’m glad he is having fun.

We had his teacher conference last week and he is right on track. A little slow in reading, but at his grade level, so we are just continuing to practice, so he can get faster. I have noticed a huge improvement in his reading over the last month and many of the words I think he won’t get, he is able to figure them out. He is still having friend issues….they fight over who sits next to him and apparently in the lunch room, his friend Colin has one spot everyday and the other is up for grabs. The lunch monitors have told me that they usually have to step in to sort out the order and make sure everyone gets a turn. Funny thing is that Reggie could care less! I’m glad he is such a good boy and well liked by his friends :o).

We visited the orthodontist at Reggie’s request last week. His loose tooth was hitting the top tooth and he would cry out in pain. All of his x-rays and molds are done and we go back in a week to see how they are going to fix his cross-bite. It was not a fun process, but he did AWESOME! Nothing like bribing him with a meal at Sweet Tomatoes.

Ainsley

Two days after finishing her antibiotics, Ainsley got another fever and sore throat and ended up having strep again. This created quite a predicament for the Dr. and we all got tested recently to make sure we weren’t carriers and giving it to her. Because of her ear infection and then strep, we had to try yet another antibiotic. I think the meds just didn’t work the first time because she has been fine since the second round.

We missed quite a bit of school, dance and gymnastics and are happy to get back into the swing of things. She is in a recital at the end of the year and has the most beautiful outfit, which she shows to everyone and is quick to tell them no one can wear it or touch it until her performance.

We also had Ainsley’s conference a couple weeks ago and I was a bit surprised that they wanted her to have one more year of preschool. She is fine academically, but they are worried because she is so shy. I have been encouraging her to talk to her teachers and ask questions and let them know that she can be herself at school. She raises her hand in circle time and gives comments to her classmates during this time, which is more than Reggie ever did in preschool, so I think it will be fine. She’ll also have a few friends in her class, which I think will help with her comfort level. Amazing that they both are so different in public settings. I have had a couple very surprised parents when the real Ainsley comes out to play at their houses…turns out she isn’t quite as docile as they thought :o).

Sunday we headed to Cal Berkeley for some college gymnastics. Stanford, Cal, Oregon and Denver were there, so it was plenty busy and the girls were in awe of all the flipping going on. Ainsley choked on a pretzel and threw up all over herself, which wasn’t so much fun, but other than that, I think the girls had a good time. Laura brought a portable DVD for the ride, so Ainsley was in heaven!

Oh, I almost forgot, when Ainsley was sick, she crawled in our bed a couple nights and we were so tired we didn't take her back. Then she got better and was still coming in. We had to firmly tell her no more, so she decided to crawl into Reggie's bed. He decided he liked it, so now they both sleep together in a twin bed. It seems to be working, except the morning...when one wakes up, the other does too. And it isn't so convenient when Reggie pees the bed, not once, but twice in one night and the first was so bad that they both had to have new pj's! Ryan took a firm stand that they weren't sleeping together anymore and they cried and cried and after about 8 minutes, he couldn't take it and caved. I think we are stuck with this for awhile.

Trina

Well, I am finally getting back to myself, slowly but surely! The last couple weeks have been great (minus a couple days) and my energy is returning. I’m down to dropping my eye 4 times a day. It has decided to stay dilated for some reason and the doctor isn’t really sure why, but is hoping it will return to normal at some point. My blood pressure is at a much more comfortable level and is continuing to go down, so it will just take some more time. Still a mystery why my body responds this way, but they have ruled out some things, like lupus and RA, so that is good. Even better is that my back has continued to be amazing. When I think back to this time last year, the picture was very different, so praise God for that!!!!

Ryan

Work is still crazy busy for him, although the travel has slowed down a bit which has been nice since we’ve all been sick and I’ve not been myself. We’ve been praying that something changes, so we’ll just be patient and make the best of the situation we are in. I finally had enough of being left home with sick kids, so I will be going with him on his next trip and I’m starting to get a little more excited about it (was initially concerned about traveling with all that is going on)! We leave in 3 weeks and are going to Germany, Norway and Italy. Grandma and grandpa can deal with the sickies….no, hopefully, everyone stays nice and healthy!!!

We’ve also had the babysitter come a few times this last month and have enjoyed going out to dinner, the movies and a basketball crab feed fundraiser. That was sure an interesting event…lots of drinking and dancing. We had a great time people watching and I think we left before it got really interesting.

Multi-tasking

Video of Reggie's play:

2011-02-03T19:36:00.001-08:00

Well, I wish I could write about all the fun adventures we've had the past couple weeks, but our outings have consisted of trips to the doctor.

I am battling a bout of high blood pressure, most likely due to the arthritis flare in my body. Seems that when my body is under stress, that is the first thing affected. On Thursday, I went to the doctor and found a fabulous one that knows about my disease, so something good came out of it :o). Sat. I woke up with a sore throat and didn't feel all that great, but powered through.

We did have about a week where the kids were healthy and managed to squeeze a sleepover in with Kayla and Daniella and the kids had a blast! I was wondering how Reggie would do with all girls, but Kayla had him entertained and she is just as imaginitive, so they were doing puppet shows and building balloon light sabers and fighting Ainsley and Daniella in the bounce house.

Monday afternoon Reggie started getting a fever and Ainsley was complaining of a sore throat. It was a ROUGH night...Reggie slept with me and Ainsley with Ryan. In the morning they both were burning up and Reggie's eye was bloodshot and gooey, so I made an appt. for him. By the time his appt. rolled around, it was clear that Ainsley was in much worse shape, so I had them both seen and she had strep. My throat was still hurting, so it made sense that I was the source. I made a quick appt. and my test was very positive. the nurse was wondering how I was in such good shape and I told her how much Ibuprofin I'm taking for my eye and then it all made sense...kinda scary! So, I had been walking around with strep for 4 days, with no fever, not much pain and my throat didn't even look suspicious and God only knows how many people I gave it to. Unfortunately, Kayla and Dani got it too :o(. They tested Reggie and he was fine.
So, forward to Thursday and Reggie is still sick as can be and I was thinking he had to have a sinus infection or something because he was wiped out and not getting better at all. Then he tells me about a pain on his butt. He had a couple red-like pimples that looked suspicious. So, off to the doctor today. We divided and conquered, I had an eye appt. and Reggie went with Ryan. My eye is getting better, but not gone, so I'm still dropping every hour for another week, but at least I get to stop dilating it. The doctor cleared Reggie's cold, but didn't like the red spots (thinking it could be strep or staff), so he joined the antibiotic club and already seems to be improving.
Some fun during our sick time:
So, this last month, I have been to the doctor 6 times and Reggie and Ainsley have been 4 times and that doesn't include the pharmacy....let's just say I know the pharmacist by name and am greeted nicely. I think we must have spent $350 on copays alone :o(. I thought I was ready for spring a couple weeks ago, but I'm really ready now!!!
Here's a picture of the antibiotic club:

Is this what insanity feels like? Maybe it is the new normal……

2011-01-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

Life has been a whirlwind since we got back (actually since summer!). Reggie had a very difficult adjustment back to reality as did we all. School, homework and schedules just aren’t as fun as grandma and grandpa’s.

Early last week, Ainsley had a terrible cough that was non-stop, which turned into a fever for several days and finally an ear infection on Friday. At the same time, my eye was flaring up a couple and I finally went in on Monday. Sure enough, I was having an Iritis (linked to my arthritis) flare and started steroid drops right away. My doctor tapered me too quickly and I went back on Friday of last week because it felt funny and it was much worse. Ryan left that day for China and it has been a rough go since. Not too much sleep, cranky Ainsley who wants a nap everyday at 4, dropping my eye every hour (and having it dilated) and then Reggie tells me on Tuesday that he was getting a cold, which has ended up being the flu. He threw up last night and has had a fever since. We went to baseball try-outs at the wrong time and when we came back the garage door wouldn’t open. At that point I just had to laugh. God is funny sometimes and humor has helped me get through the week. I took a bath the other night, which I never do, but was feeling like relaxing after a really rough day and when I got out a toy in the guest room said, “Peek a boo I see you.” Totally freaked me out…I was hoping there wasn’t an intruder. I went and checked and shook the toy and then was getting my pj’s on when it said, “I love you.” I felt like God was talking to me, saying I’m watching over you and I love you and I got your back. He knows how much we can handle…we got a call from Children and Family Services the Sunday before Ryan left because a 1 ½ year old boy needed a home. We were just about to head out the door when she called and said he was going back with his mother. Can you imagine if God hadn’t sent that child home. I’d really be in the loony bin!

Ainsley had her first good day today and was entertaining us with dancing/gymnastics and just chit chatting about her crazy stuff. I think it made Reggie feel better…it made us laugh anyway! We will be very happy to have Ryan come home tomorrow!

And to all you moms who go at it alone all the time or did in the past, my hat is off to you :o).

Someday I'll post some pics of our vacation at home, but computer work is really hard on my eye, so it might be awhile.....Here's a video of Ainsley doing a "flip":

Crazy busy!

2010-12-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

It has been a few weeks and life has been crazy!

Reggie’s costume birthday party was a lot of fun for the kids. Ryan and I got into the spirit…he was Darth Vader and I was a witch. The kids weren’t quite sure what to think. Not quite sure what we were thinking have 7 little boys (and 1 girl) running around! Thankfully, the weather was decent and they wanted to play outside, so that worked out quite well :o). They played some basketball, then Frisbee. Ryan went out to referee a bit and make sure they weren’t sending things over the fence. Reggie was so happy to have all of his friends surrounding him in costume. He changed his outfit 3 times and finally decided on Obi Wan Kenobi (we quickly put all the light sabers away!).

Ainsley had Naomi to play with and they were hiding from the noise in her room and were watching with big eyes at cake time. Boys are so much different and so much louder. Here’s a few pics of the fun day:

Excited about his cake:

Posing:

Goofing around this week....Ainsley was pulling santa:

The following weekend, Reggie had 3 birthday parties, one Friday night and 2 on Sat. (he was invited to another one, but the times overlapped-crazy!). JD’s was on Friday at a place called Boomer’s. They played laser tag, mini golf and then Reggie had to leave to get to bed for his big day on Sat. He missed out on the go carts, so we’ll have to go back and use his punch card. He’s decided that is where he wants his party next year! Ryan was happy to hear that because he is not wanting to have it at our house anymore. He had Michael’s soccer party the next morning, which he also enjoyed and then he headed to San Francisco with Caleb. They took the ferry, ate at the Rainforest Café and window shopped. He isn’t usually very descriptive, but I was able to get a lot of info. about his adventure. He thought the painted people statues were really cool :o).

While Reggie was off doing his thing, we got to have Ainsley for the afternoon! It was a nice treat for her to have all the attention. We decided to take her to the movies because we can’t go as a family with Reggie as he gets too scared and we end up in the lobby. We decided to see Tangled and it was very good Reggie wasn’t there because we would have been out of there in 5 minutes. I have to say it was pretty scary and Ainsley completely lost it at the end when the evil mother stabbed the boyfriend. We’ve had many conversations since then about the blood in his stomach and the evil mother :o(. I had heard from so many people that it was a great movie and it is if you are an older child or adult, but I should have read reviews. Not recommended for younger children!

Sunday, we packed our clothes for our trip and relaxed a bit.

This week has been nuts. Ryan has had work activities 2 nights and Wed. night both kids had their Christmas performances. When I was working out at home, I saw her sitting on the couch, looking out the window, practicing her songs and had movements. It was pretty cute and I asked her if she was going to sing this time. “No, mom, my teachers don’t make me and my friends don’t sing either.” I tried to talk her into it, but as you can see, she wasn’t having any of it. I couldn’t get Reggie to crack a smile either…at least he sang. Here’s some pics-I’m not expecting any broadway stars from this household!:

Today has been a busy day, wrapping up loose ends, before we get on the plane first thing Sat. morning! Everyone is very excited to go to Washington!!! We’ll be seeing some of you very soon :o).

Our little troll (she had this expression at least half the time!). Has Agnes returned?:

7

2010-12-01T22:36:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday big guy! Reggie had a very special birthday today, starting with 3 phone calls from the grandma’s and Aunt Liha/Maggie. Ryan was home this morning and made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, along with strawberries from the patch! The kids probably weren’t even hungry at lunch time. No, this is Reggie we’re talking about….he ate all his teriyaki chicken! We played a bit after school and then headed home to do homework. The deal was he couldn’t open his presents until his homework was done, nothing like a little motivation :o). He was very excited to open his presents which made it a little difficult to get out the door for dinner. Red Robin was the restaurant of choice and we all enjoyed a nice meal. Reggie hid under the table when the group came around to sing to him….I’m not sure they even knew who they were singing to!

We love Reggie for lots of reasons…here’s just a few:

He loves being a kid and playing

His ability to make something out of nothing (these creations are NEVER thrown away)

His wonderful imagination

His love for his sister

His quiet leadership

He is so nice…every kid wants to be his friend

His toothless smile (he lost 3 teeth this year)

His mindfulness of others

His love for paper airplanes

He knows right from wrong and usually chooses right :o)

His funny questions like, “Why is it called a sandwich. There’s no sand in it?”

His love for Jesus and songs about God (that he sings with his own rocker spin)

His thinking before doing attitude

His gentle soul

His love for his bagels, ice cream and spinach

His dislike of “bubbles” from soda – the kid hates soda!

His love for his Grandparents

Thanksgiving week!

2010-11-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

The kids were off all week, which worked out great since my brother Anthony and mom came for a visit! My family arrived on Monday Nov 22nd around 11AM. I just happened to be in Chicago for a work meeting so Trina and the kids picked them up. When they got home, they built the ginger bread house and had a blast!! My mom had never done one and was thinking of doing another one when she got home :o). They are definitely not for eating...Anthony tasted the frosting only once and wishes he wouldn't have! I wish I would have been able to join them, but after a 4 hour delay on the tarmac and one upset passenger that was taken back to the gate, I finally arrived at 10:00PM and was so glad to be home.

Reggie admiring Uncle Anthony's work....maybe he found a new profession!!!

Tuesday they all went to Pump it Up. The kids as usual had a blast and climbed & jumped all over the place and really tired themselves out. They spent the afternoon playing :o). I went to work that day, but got home at a decent hour so that I could spend some time with the family. It was time to go birthday shopping, so mom took Reggie to Walmart to pick something out. Ainsley was lucky as she just happened to get something because she was there and looking cute as ever. After shopping, we headed to our favorite place to eat, Sweet Tomatoes. Anthony enjoyed it but didn’t eat any of the dessert afterwards (Anthony’s on a bit of a health kick, which is great as he worked out almost every day while he was here). The rest of us ate until we were sick!
Reggie beating Uncle Anthony at Mario Kart:

Wednesday we headed to the jelly belly factory. Mom and Anthony had a good time and were impressed with the history surrounding the candy and factory. Ronald Reagan was a huge Jelly Belly fan and even had them on air force one. There are also many different art murals that are made out of the famous candy such as Elvis, Donald Duck, and Ronald Reagan. After the tour we bought some candy and headed over to the Budweiser factory for another tour. That was a horrible tour as there was nothing to see or do. The plant was like a ghost town and even if it was busy they didn’t let you see much of anything. I would not recommend that tour to anyone. That night we continued to hit our favorite places and went to Menchies, a frozen yogurt self serve with 15 different flavors and many different toppings to select from :o).

Maybe another job possibility for Anthony?

Thursday morning was turkey day and mom put the bird in around 8AM. The house started to smell like Thanksgiving around noon. There's nothing like the smell of holidays :o). We decided to get the Christmas decorations out and Anthony was a great brother and hung all of our outside Christmas lights and even had to climb up on the extended ladder to reach the highest peaks of the roof (sorry you ripped your pants Bro). The house looks great! During the day we ran out of lights so we made a run to Walmart (can’t believe they are open on Thanksgiving) and Anthony got Reggie a birthday present. Got back just in time for dinner and stuffed ourselves with great food. Our plan was to go back to Walmart that night at midnight for black Friday to shop but once the clock hit 10:30, we were snoring and wussed out.

Girly time-thank goodness for Grandma's!:

Enjoying the park:

We had a great time with my family and time flew! It was so very nice to sleep in and know that the kids were occupied. They had fun wrestling and running around with Uncle Anthony and Ainsley enjoyed playing babies with Grandma, getting her nails done and watching her in the kitchen (I’m sure she learned a lot!). It will be nice to see them again in a few weeks for Christmas as we’re getting ready to come home!!!!

Sorry in advance for the scattered thoughts

2010-11-14T21:39:00.000-08:00

3rd lost tooth:

It is a good thing this happened today because Ryan is traveling and I absolutely HATE pulling out teeth. I had to do one of his other teeth and I about threw up (I don't think I ever got over having to pull my own tooth out at school in 2nd grade)! Today he was eating a bagel after church and started freaking out. There was blood everywhere and it was hanging on by a thread. Ryan tried to pull it, but it wouldn’t come. He was pretty upset, along with me, but managed to pull himself together to eat samples at Costco :). Later in the day, Ryan reminded him that the tooth fairy would come and he opened his mouth and was ready to go. It came out pretty easily, but bled a lot. I think we’ll have a bit of time until the next tooth.

First basketball game today (from Ryan):

It was a blast. Reggie and I didn’t quite know what to expect. Herding cats pretty much sums it up. I’m the assistant coach and there were a lot of kids running in all different directions, all wanting a piece of the ball. After the first quarter they all started to get it. Reggie was hustling and trying to get the ball. He had a couple of opportunities to dribble but didn’t quite get a chance to take a shot. There are a few kids on his team that shoot whenever they have the ball. The highlight of the game is when Reggie got the ball, got spun around and started dribbling toward the wrong end of the court. He had a breakaway but he was going the wrong way. He finally figured it out, but by the time he did a girl stole the ball, continued dribbling to her basket and scored a basket. He didn’t really know what was going on at the time but after the game when I asked him what he did, he got a smile on his face and said “I know what I did.” This is great for him as he’s getting more aggressive and interested in team sports.

Walkathon and carnival

Last Sat. we had Reggie’s walkathon (thank you all who supported him-he raised over $120!). I ran with him, but at a steady pace. The younger kids have such a different running style, sprinting, then walking. He found his friends and they all ran away from me when I got close. Reggie did 17 laps in 1 hour which is over 4 miles! After that, we had some food and played some games and of course, picked out a prize.

Early wake-ups and chore chart

The daylight savings time change is killing us. Reggie was up at 5:15 on Sunday and 5:45 on Monday. We finally seem to be at about 6:30…they seem to have no problem staying up later!!!

We’ve been having some issues lately with attitudes and it has been very challenging to both Ryan and me. It is hard to have a positive attitude toward the kids when we are always asking them to pick up or do this or do that or telling them no all the time. It is exhausting. So, I decided last week to put together a chore/goal chart. They get money for chores and smiley faces for goals (no hitting/shoving, no gimmies, no negative talk/yelling, listening, happy attitude and manners). If they get a certain number of smiley faces, they get a reward. This week is an extra hour of t.v. I put myself on the list too, so we can all participate :o). Reggie was so excited about it that he called Ryan to tell him what we are doing (he’s out of town for a couple days). It has only been almost a week, and Reggie has definitely improved! I’m not sure it will be too successful with Ainsley (she doesn’t really care much about prizes and money), but this is the kind of thing that really motivates Reggie and he’s been more of a challenge, so I’m glad it is helping. Reggie earned $4.25 (he folded 36 pairs of socks, so he got $3.60 extra) and Ainsley $3 this week :o) and I’m sure will be very excited to collect.

Ryan at school (Ryan blogging):

I was able to work it into my schedule to go on the Pumpkin patch field trip with Ainsley. She was very excited to have me at a school event during the day! The kids got to play in the hay maze, corn box, and also got to pick out their own pumpkin. The weather had been terrible the day before, so we weren’t sure we’d get to go, but it was beautiful, although a bit muddy.

Then, last Monday, I took Ainsley to school to present a family tradition. A few years ago, we started doing Operation Christmas Child. They send shoe boxes full of toys/toothbrushes/books to children all over the world who may have never received a present. At first it was very difficult for the kids to go to the dollar store and not want something for themselves, but this year was much better and I hope we are teaching them the importance of giving and being thankful for all the things that we have. Ainsley was very excited, but also shy to have Daddy at her school. I felt very special to be there with her as I could tell she was happy to have me there. She helped me take all of the toys out of the box as I was telling the kids what they were for. It was cute and one little boy raised his hand and asked if he could have one of the toys. A good lesson learned as we had to explain to him and the other children that these gifts were for kids that were less fortunate.

Allergic to penicillin:

I noticed a rash on Reggie during his Halloween party at school, but thought it may have been from his costume. The next morning the rash looked a bit worse and as soon as I gave him his medicine it occurred to me that he may be having a reaction to amoxicillin. I called the pharmacist who said he should be seen, so on our way to Six Flags, we stopped to see the Dr. She asked if he’d ever had it before and honestly, I couldn’t remember. Since he’s never had an ear infection, there wouldn’t be much reason for it. His reactions was not typical (of course), but she was about 99% sure that it was from his medicine. Kind of a bummer….As I’m writing this, Ainsley is changing her babies….her baby has the fots (farts) and air in her boobs!

Making playdough cupcakes (thanks Kirsten!):

Playdate with friends:

Grandma and Grandpa visit :o)

2010-11-08T21:56:00.000-08:00

The kids had been counting down the days until we picked up grandma and grandpa last Wed. evening. They were very excited, so much so, that they woke up very early the first few mornings wanting to hang out with them. We made them wait until 6:45 to visit their room. Of course, grandma brought lots of fun things in her suitcase and they really enjoyed unpacking.

Thursday we dropped Reggie at school and took grandma and grandpa to Ainsley’s gymnastics class. It was a beautiful morning, so we decided to make a stop at Shadow Cliff’s Regional Park. It just happened to be the day they were stocking the lake with fish, so we got to watch them pour 500 pounds (1000 fish) into the lake. Then we walked the trail and learned we could spend the whole day exploring the area. We decided to head home for lunch instead! Grandpa was busy blowing and mowing in the yard, so Ryan had a nice surprise when he got home. That night, we visited our favorite frozen yogurt shop, Menchies :o).

Friday was really busy, Reggie and Ainsley had their classroom Halloween parties, so we divided and conquered. As always, Halloween is so much fun at Reggie’s school and I think this might be his favorite day of the year. They do a parade, assembly and then have a class party. We learned a lesson a few weeks ago at a playdate about eating too much sugar, so Reggie did a good job of limiting his sweets. My mom went to Ainsley’s party and had a good time visiting with 4 year olds. That night everyone (except me and Ainsley) went to Reggie’s cubscout meeting where they had trunk or treating afterward. Sounded like it was quite the event….people had lights/music decorating their cars!

Ironman Reggie:

Saturday, we finally got some rain. We headed for Six Flags anyway, packing our umbrellas :o). Mom and Dad had never been and really wanted to go and since it is only open on the weekend, we didn’t have much of a choice but to brave the weather. The closer we got, the darker it got and it was raining pretty good when we got there. We picnicked in the car and then packed everything in the stroller to go. We got a nice Halloween scare on one of the umbrellas…..a nice large black widow!!! Mom had never seen one, so it was a good learning experience and reminder about how much they like the garage. The weather worked to our advantage because “fright fest” is a big deal at Six Flags and it was the quietest we’ve ever seen it. We were able to see almost all the shows and have front row seats! We did get poured on a few times, but managed to get through the day pretty dry. From there, we went straight to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and the kids ate free since they were wearing costumes :o).

Grandpa playing take-out in the deflated bounce-house:

Sunday we headed for church and then Costco. My parents just light up when you mention Costco. We were there for an hour, sampling and looking at all the fun things. We did haircuts that afternoon and then headed out for trick-or-treating! It was the first time we were home and decided to go through our neighborhood, partly because Reggie’s kindergarten teacher asked if we were coming by. We hit the jackpot….our neighborhood was great!!! There was even a house that had a slow-cooker handing out ribs and pulled pork sandwiches for parents! You can bet Ryan and my dad were all over that :o).

It was a bit of a late night but Reggie didn’t have school, so we just relaxed on Monday. Grandma had never been on the trail, so we took her for a walk and looked for prairie dogs and showed her where we play pooh sticks. The water has been running all summer and since it just rained, there was a big current once we cleared the debris away.

Tuesday was pretty mellow…Ainsley had dance in the morning and then we did a little shopping at the thrift stores, worked in the yard a bit and went out to dinner at Uncle Yu’s (the best Chinese in Livermore!) and then Reggie had basketball practice. I guess that wasn’t really a mellow day after all.

Mom and Dad helped me get the house back in order Wed. morning since we had a break from both of the kids. After we picked up Ainsley, we went out for bagels and then to Target to get Ainsley a toy for being such a good helper in the yard. She decided she wanted shoes instead, so grandma got her the most sparkly red shoes :o). Then we picked up Reggie from school and headed to the airport. The week flew by and we had lots of fun. We will miss grandma and grandpa!

Peace restored!

2010-10-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

What a glorious day!!! We had our first fostering experience this weekend and if you didn't hear from us, that is because we were completely consumed and exhausted....more so than having a newborn. We picked him up on Sat. evening and he was very distraught. He was an 18 month old Romanian boy whose entire family was incarcerated. He was still breastfeeding and had a pretty good cold and mild fever, but it was very clear that he was well taken care of...seemed strange to us how this could happen. He was crying and saying, "mama, mama," over and over for hours on end. The only time he was silent was in the car because he thought he was going to see mom, so we went out, just to go out. He was sooo smart. He'd bring us our shoes/coats and get his ready, so that he could head out the door and find his family. If he could drive, he would've done it. What a determined little boy. This was VERY difficult for us...to watch how sad he was and the longing to be with his mom. The nights were very long and Ryan mentioned to me on Sunday that he didn't know if he could do this. God had a plan and he knew just what everyone in the situation could handle.

I went to pick up Reggie today from school and got a call that he was going to be returned to his family. I cried tears of joy for Avi. What great news :o). She asked if they could come get him with her (to avoid him being handed over to a stranger yet again), so they raced over and it was a joyous reunion, filled with lots of hugs and tears. They were so very grateful. Ryan raced home, but they were already gone when he arrived. The social worker said it was very rare for a child to be released at the first hearing and after the reunion, she said she'd never seen anything like it....the bond they had.

It was so awesome to see the support we got from friends....dinners, baby clothes/gear...thanks guys! The kids did absolutely awesome....I'm so proud of them. Reggie was a little overwhelmed the first day and told us he was ready to go to school so he could have a break....according to him little ones are a lot of work. I think the constant noise was hard on all of us, but they adjusted and after awhile, we got kinda used to it. Ainsley was very motherly and got him to smile several times. He followed them around and they liked that too. Ryan almost got him to laugh this morning, but his happy moments were few and far between. Even the kids were happy that he was going to be with his mom again...they saw how sad he was. Ryan asked them tonight what they thought and if they would like to have another foster child and they said, "yes." Of course Reggie wanted an older boy that he could play with :o).

All in all, I think that most foster children are not like this little boy as most are neglected and don't have that strong determination to get home. Hopefully, timing will be a little better next time...Ryan was pretty jet-lagged and I was still recovering from his trip too (I don't think I posted that the night before Ryan came home, Reggie had a double ear infection and we were both up most of the night. He's NEVER had an ear infection before, so I took him in just because and the Dr.'s face said how bad it was). We'll just wait and see who God has next for us.....

Ryan Asia Post

2010-10-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I wanted to give you all an update regarding my Asia trip.

Singapore – Started my trip in S’pore last Monday and it was more like a resort type city.. very clean and didn’t have the feel of Malaysia as the City had more high rises than Seattle and Portland combined. The building architecture was tremendous and one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen was in the heart of the city. It was a hotel/casino that had 3 high rise towers that were all connected with sky bridges. Then on the top they had build what looks like a cruise ship that spans across all of the towers. They charge the tourists $100 US to enter the monstrosity. The weather there was very hot (90’s) and the humidity was probably 80%+. I ate Asian Fusion while I was there which was a little tough/chewy and not very good. Didn’t realize how close it was to Australia (probably a 2-3 hour flight). The airport in S’pore was the best as all of the security is located at each and every gate. So you check in, and make your way to the gate without any delay. And then each gate has glass doors and windows that opens once your flight is ready to board. At this time you go through the security line. Pretty slick but I’m sure expensive to do.

Penang – Its about an hour flight from S’pore. I took a day trip to see customers (its kind of like a trip to Spokane). It’s amazing what a one hour flight can do to the scenery. Penang is what I would call “real living”. Very busy with people, but our Molex people were very willing to accommodate. The weather there was even hotter than S’pore and more humid. I was drenched all day and every time I would enter a building I would start freezing because of the air conditioning and wet clothes. I went across a bridge that connects the main land of Penang to the Island which was about 2.5-3 miles long. It was huge. I was glad to fly back to S’pore that night only to have Pigeon for dinner with my colleagues.

Hong Kong – I flew from S’pore to HK (3.5hour flight). I got to the airport and low and behold my driver was nowhere to be found. Then I called the Sheraton and they said my reservation had been cancelled. At that point I didn’t know where I was supposed to go. So I called our admin in HK and she explained that they put me in a different hotel. Nice if someone would tell me. After I found out where I was supposed to stay I went to the hotel counter at the airport and requested limo transport. They told me that they were backed up and I should take a cab. So I took a cab and all was good until I got dropped off at the hotel and was told by the hotel concierge that I was ripped off. Evidentially I paid the cabby double what I was supposed to. They told me I should call the police and report it but I was way too tired. Once checked in it was all good. I was upgraded to the lounge floor where they treat you like kings and the food is very western and very good. The next day I had meetings all day at HK Cisco and the day was a success. After that I was taken to a local place to get a suit. Needless to say I stood out like a tall fat white guy that was going to get ripped off. But what they didn’t know is that I was with my local posse. I (they) negotiated a wool suit for $185.00 custom fit. All I did is pick out my material and color and they made it in 2 days. When I showed back up they had another suit that just happened to fit the same as the other one. So I negotiated to buy it for around $80.00. So I got two suites for cheap, did I mention that their custom fit, pretty cool. Friday night I went out with my colleagues and we had some fun. New York on steroids is how I would describe HK. Light when it’s really dark and people everywhere. There are so many people, cars, buildings, etc… Then I was taken to the local market. I got a bunch of knick knacks for friends and family and had fun negotiating with the locals. Again I was with my local posse and had them translating for me.

Chengdu – took a flight from HK to Chengdu China Sunday morning and I’m now here for 2 days. I’m sure I will see some interesting local food. I’m going to walk through our plant there tomorrow which is 1 million square feet in size. The hotel is beautiful and probably the nicest one so far, right behind S’pore. After this I’m on my way to Shanghai to finish off my trip where I will look to buy movies, and more gadgets. I miss all of you and especially my babies (including my lovely wife and sweetheart) Hope everyone is doing well. Love ya..

Ryan is on a plane as I write…only 11 hours…finally!

Random post

2010-10-19T22:14:00.000-07:00

Train ride to pick popcorn:Last Sunday, we headed down to Fremont to Ardenwood farms to pick some delicious popcorn. Our good friends, the Penner’s, were kind enough to share some popcorn with us last year and let us tag along for the picking this year. It was a pretty hot day, but we were able to find some shade thanks to the corn stalks. Ainsley was my little helper and Reggie had a bag of his own. We picked several ears and shucked them right there. A few had worms/bugs, but most were in pretty good shape. The bummer of it is that it has to dry for 6-8 weeks, so we won’t get to enjoy it right away. The kids had a ball hanging out with their friends and enjoying all the sights. They had all kinds of farm things going on…apple pressing, ice cream making, corn milling and many things we could sample :o).

So heavy Reggie couldn't lift the bag of corn:

Little inventor

Reggie’s little mind is always going, creating one thing or another, with paper, lego’s or whatever he can find. He prefers to build with wood, but that is too difficult for mom and dad. His room is filled with the clutter of all of his projects, but I thought his most recent was worthy of a picture….

Reggie’s ipod holder:Clowning around

I’ve been waking up the past two mornings to a couple of clowns wanting their costumes tied. I’m glad they have some time to play in the morning because with school and activities, it is hard for them to have much time together. For some reason they are thinking it is really fun to go outside at 7 in the morning and play in their playhouse. Keep in mind that the weather has really cooled down, so it is probably in the high 50’s. They had all summer to play out there and I think they only did a handful of times….go figure?

Athletic girl

Ainsley has been going to a new gymnastics place and she has been challenged a bit more than before, but is really picking it up quickly. Last week, I had one of the girls’ nannies ask me if I knew who the mother was of the little blond girl. She went on to say that she would be the next gold medalist and she loved coming just to see what Ainsley would do next :o). Too bad she really likes dance! We had her dance class today and she is so focused on getting in the right position and she just lights up when she is there. I’ll cross my fingers that she’ll like gymnastics that much some day, but if not it will be a good place for her to build muscle, flexibility and coordination for awhile.

"Flying" He bounces them up from lying flat on the tramp and then tosses them into the pit.

Video of the girls dancing at Ardenwood Farms:

Flying solo

2010-10-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ryan has been gone to China since last Sat. and things are going surprisingly well. We have been really busy, so the days are passing quickly....I'll post about our corn picking adventure later. I had a lot of things I planned on getting done, but I'm pooped by the end of the day and usually don't sit down until 9. It will be sooo nice to have Ryan back home :o).

Ryan has been busy traveling to Singapore, Penang and now to Hong Kong. He's eaten all kids of new things and has been having stomach issues because of it! His favorite thing was a glass of West Melon juice (tasted like watermelon). He has been very impressed by the airlines there, one was called Silk and he said it was so nice; video games, movies, etc. And, he's had a hot meal on every flight and he isn't even flying that far! He is doing a bit of shopping this weekend with some locals (so he won't get ripped off), so we'll see what goodies he brings home. He got fitted for a custom cashmere/wool suit yesterday that cost $180 :o). There are a lot of people from Molex US that are there right now, so he's having a nice time catching up with old friends. He travels to a couple more sites and returns on Thursday, so it is a long trip. He'll have just adjusted to the 13 hour time change by the time he comes back, just to do it all over again :o(.

The kids got a new cold earlier in the week, so sleep was a bit of an issue, but I got one really good night with 7 hours straight and that recharged my batteries. On Monday, I had a bit of a stomach bug. Thankfully, the intense part passed in a couple hours...God knew mom couldn't be sick! I kept waiting for the kids to get it and thought we were out of the woods, but last night Ainsley was complaining of a stomach ache and threw up at about 8:45 last night and again at 12:00 and again at 2:30. I felt so bad for her because the last round was the dry heaves and that really hurts. She was up several times in between thinking she was going to throw up, but couldn't get it out. She ended up sleeping with me and it was a long, rough, night, but she woke up feeling much better. I'm not sure if it was the whole experience and the smell/lack of sleep, but I'm not feeling very well today. My bout earlier in the week was GI related, so I'm hoping this isn't a different bug. I'm also wondering if Reggie man is going to get it. I kept him home today, so we are having a nice relaxing time reading books, watching t.v. and doing crafts :o). I hope they decide they don't want to be sick a lot!

All caught up, just in time!

2010-10-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

Life feels pretty good these days. My to do list is very short and I’ve been able to volunteer in Reggie’s classroom and have some time to work-out/grocery shop during the day. It is nice having some free time to knock things out, but that is all going to end soon. We are officially certified Foster Parents and already received a call last Friday. Unfortunately, Ryan left for China (for 12 days) the next day and we didn’t think it was a good idea for all parties. It has been a pretty long process, so now that we are nearing the end, it is a crazy reality to think how different our lives could be in just a few weeks! The kids keep asking when we are going to get our new kid. I’m glad they are excited and hopefully, they are going to be good helpers :o).

Trip to Lake Tahoe

2010-10-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a spontaneous trip to Lake Tahoe. I’ve never been there and wanted to see what all the hype was about. On Wed., I got on-line and found a hotel for $44.00! It had the same review stars as hotels 3 times the cost, so I figured why not. We left Sat. morning and got there around 1:30. We left in a hurry, surprise, surprise, so I didn’t even know what time check-in was. The Blue Lake Inn is a smaller hotel, so he said if the room was ready, we could have the keys. As Ryan was checking in, I could hear him telling Ryan that he didn’t know how we got that rate, but since that what it said, that is what he would charge us. Since Ryan has traveled a lot recently, he has become a hotel snob and was not impressed with our room. Reggie, however, walked in and said, “this is the best hotel ever!” Ainsley was also excited about our home for the night.

Enjoying our hotel room:

The weather was beautiful, so we got our suits on and headed to the pool. Reggie has turned into quite the swimmer and was having a lot of fun. The princess was in the hot tub because the pool was too cold. Thankfully, it was a relatively cool hot tub…she would have stayed in there all day if we would have let her. After that, we decided to head to the beach to check out the lake. The location of the hotel was great! It was about a block off the busy strip and a couple blocks from a semi-private beach that we were given passes for. The kids dug in the sand, threw the frisbee with Ryan and played on the play structure a bit. It was record breaking hot weather there, which thankfully was only in the high 70’s, but it felt really warm. We went to test out the water and quickly realized we’d just be looking at it. It was freezing! It was fun to watch the parasailers and be amazed at the size of the lake. Reggie called it a sea-lake, as big as a sea but really a lake! By the end of our play time, no one could walk on the sand because it hurt our feet so bad. It was like tiny, tiny pebbles and our feet got some exfoliation. We like the smooth sand at Lake Cavanaugh much better :o).

Ryan’s favorite part about heading somewhere new is eating out. Since we were in South Lake Tahoe, which is technically Nevada, we were going to go to a casino buffet, but decided not to take the kids through the smoky, game-filled casino. We ended up at Denny’s and haven’t been there in a long time, so it was REALLY good and it happened to be kids eat free night, so that was a nice bonus. By the time we got back, it was movie time and then to bed. Bedtime is always a bit challenging and since Ainsley’s took a little snooze in the car, she was up until 9:15.

They were up bright and early at 6:45, but played quietly so mama and papa bear could get a little more sleep. That morning, we decided to ride the gondola up to the top of the hill. It was very expensive, but worth it! Reggie was pretty nervous (he doesn’t like heights), but ended up doing great. There was a nice viewing area at the top where we took pictures and had a snack. We rode it a little further where we got off and went for a little hike and spotted some big prints, but thankfully, we didn’t see what belonged to those prints. The top is over 10,000 feet and it is a little crazy on the way down. The gondola stopped a couple times and I could see the panic on Reggie’s face. His thoughts seem so much older than the thoughts of a six year old. He’s recently decided he won’t sleep in his room and Ainsley told us it was because he was afraid someone would come in the front door and take him and we asked him if that was true and he said no, he was worried the spider’s were going to get him. So, I guess Ainsley has some big thoughts for a 4 year old! Before I had kids, I thought they had to be like 8 or 10 before they understood things, but now it know it is more like 3!!! It is pretty amazing how smart they are :o). That was a bit of a tangent….we headed out after lunch and both slept a good amount on our 3 ½ hour drive home.

Eye aches/headaches and more

2010-09-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

Enjoying Sam's birthday party at Springtime Trampoline:

Reggie has been having eye aches that sometimes turn into headaches for about 7 months now and I decided to take him to see our Cranio-Sacral (CS) person in Kirkland. I wasn’t expecting her to find anything, but she said his neck was really stuck. She wanted to see him again before we left, but we ran out of time, so I was hoping she fixed it. He’s had a few more since we’ve been home and these seem to only be in his eye. I took him to the eye doctor and everything checked out fine. But, I was a little worried for a minute when the nurse asked him to read the letters and he said he couldn’t. She kept making them bigger and bigger and he still couldn’t read them, so she switched to numbers and he did fine. I was cracking up when I realized he was trying to make a word out of the letters!

We had only 2 visits with the CS person here in Pleasanton and he hasn’t had an eye ache in 2 weeks :o)! She found some stuff in his shoulder and scar tissue around his lung that she worked out, so he should be all fixed up now. Sad to think that he already has “stuff” at such a young age. I’m glad we are taking care of it now and that we know where to go because it would be a whole lot worse when he’s older. I guess all my crazy physical therapy has not only benefitted me, but everyone I meet and tell about this other option for good health. Doctors these days just want to give you a pill and I’m so thankful there are other great options out there. I just hope someday they are covered by insurance!

Trina health update:

God has been faithful…I am so thankful he gave me the answer to my arthritis pain!!!! My back has been better than it has been in years!!! There is about a week a month where I have some discomfort, but it has gotten better every month and hopefully when I take the birth control pill continuously, I won’t have any pain :o). We just went to Sam’s birthday party this weekend at a tumbling and trampoline gym and I was drawn to participate. It was really a stupid thing for me to do, but I couldn’t resist. It has been over 10 years since I’ve flipped and it took a couple of back tucks before I knew where the ground was and then it was like riding a bike! I had SO much fun and felt like a kid again :o). 3 months ago, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of doing anything like that….the thought would have made me cringe. The true test was waking up the next day with no pain….God is good and his timing perfect!!! I was nervous about fostering, given my pain, but now that burden is off my plate :o).

Doing a Brody (no handed round-off):

I saw my OB about my fibroids and she didn’t feel anything, so I just had an ultrasound and they saw the ovarian cyst and one fibroid that they felt wasn’t big enough to do anything about, so for now, I’m officially done going to the doctor!!!!

Ainsley's Birthday party in Livermore

2010-09-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

Ainsley and Claire working on decorating their wooden purses:
Dancing with the Fairy Godmother:

Patiently waiting to be crowned princesses:

Having tea and tea-type kid food:

Anxiously waiting to open presents:

Last weekend we had a joint birthday party with Ainsley’s best friend Naomi, and it was a blast. However, the morning started out a bit rough. Everyone thinks Ainsley and Reggie are so mellow and usually, they are, but the 2% of the time they are not, they can be a real handful. We’ve been having some listening issues and it exploded, when, after almost 2 hours of asking, Reggie wasn’t dressed, hadn’t eaten breakfast or picked up his room. I warned him that I would clean up his room (which means I get my bag and take everything I pick up to be earned back at a later date) and he still didn’t move. So, I got my bag and collected quite a few toys. Reggie was screaming, grabbing my arms and then Ainsley got upset and was scratching me and screaming (she gets VERY distressed when Reggie has a fit). They were out of control and I ended up running and hiding in the bathroom while they both had fits. It was like 10 minutes of screaming….I’m sure the neighbors thought someone was dying!!! Thankfully, that doesn’t happen very often, and I’m thinking next time I give a warning, it will be taken seriously.

The day could only get better after that and it did :o). Ryan came home from volunteering at church and I took Ainsley over to the birthday tea party. Libby had done a beautiful job decorating and taking care of every detail and after doing some last minute things, like frosting the cake, the girls arrived. They decorated their goody purses with rhinestones and then some girls painted nails in anticipation of the fairy godmother arriving. The girls were in awe when she showed up. They danced together, painted nails some more, ate lunch (with real tea) and then each girl was crowned a princess. Any of you who know me, know that my party for Ainsley would have been much different, so I have to thank Libby for giving her a beautiful day. I hope she remembers it because she’ll probably never have a party like that again!!!

Ryan and Reggie had some good quality time, riding bikes to McDonald’s, enjoying a nice meal and ice cream and then heading the 3 ½ miles back. At the end of the day, Reggie, said he really enjoyed hanging out with just dad, so we’re going to make an effort to have more one on one time with the kids.

Cub scout event and camping

2010-09-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

Raingutter Regatta

We had a cubscout event a couple weeks ago and it was really fun. At the first June meeting, the scouts were given little wood boats to put together and decorate for this event. They raced them in raingutters. I wasn’t at all sure what this meant, but you can see from the picture that they blow on the sail and the first one to the end wins. It was a riot! They had brackets set up and if you lost, then you raced again in the losers bracket. Reggie did great, he won, then lost, then won, then lost. He was a good sport and had fun. We had a BBQ lunch there and then they had an award ceremony, where all the kids got squirt guns! Even Ainsley got a little one and there was even a hose at the park to fill the guns. Let’s just say Reggie didn’t leave very dry and to no surprise, he loves being a cub scout :o).

Group picture....you can tell the new ones because they wore their special shirt/hat:
Camping in the backyard

This was our adventure over the 3 day weekend. We set up the tents and invited Caleb and Naomi over for a sleepover. They’ve never had a sleepover at a friends’ house before, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect, but they did great! The girls were all in one tent and the boys in another and everyone made it through the night. Sleeping in a tent isn’t that comfortable, so Ryan and I were pretty spent the next day, but it was worth it….the kids had so much fun! The best part was taking a shower and using our bathroom in the middle of the nigh-now that’s camping in style :o).

It was even better to be greeted in the morning by Libby and Scott, who brought us donuts from the Donut Wheel. Naomi’s actual birthday was that day, so they thought it would be fun and special and it was a hit.

First day of school!!!

2010-09-14T21:59:00.001-07:00

The 23^rd of August came pretty quick. During the couple weeks we were back and before school started, we hung out with friends, enjoyed the sun and moved Reggie in to the “office”. It was a mellow couple weeks, but went way too fast.

The week before school started, we found out who Reggie’s teacher was. To my surprise, it was one of the Kindergarten teachers from last year. She is teaching the combo class (1/2 1^st graders, 1/2 kindergarteners). I was a bit surprised and a little disappointed that he would be in the same place (there is a separate building/play structure for the kinders). Reggie was super excited because he knew the teacher and would be in the same classroom setting (he is very reserved in new settings, so we got to skip those nervous feelings this year!). This option had never even crossed my mind, but, once I started thinking about it, I realized it will be a really good thing. The kinders go home half-way through the day, so he has only 12 children in his class for part of the day! He has absolutely loved it so far and has ventured out to the big playground to find his friends on recess and at lunch. For me, it has been a little adjustment. Last year, we were overloaded with information and this year, we don’t get much, just drop the kids and go. I'll be volunteering in his class this year, so I'll get to see how it all works :o). Reggie’s friends are scattered in other classes, so it is more difficult to hang out and visit with mom’s, but we are figuring it out.

We’ve been exploring with lunches…today, I sent teriyaki chicken and rice. Those thermos’s really keep things warm. I made a deal with him that if he eats his vegetable, he can have a small treat and so far, he's mostly been eating them after school. I don’t think his friends will be wanting to steal his lunch anytime soon….they probably wonder why he is eating a spinach salad with croutons! It is always interesting to see what is left at the end of the day. He is a good eater :o).

There are 2 boys in his class from last year and they have an interesting dynamic, so we are learning about bullying and how to pick your friends wisely. Some of the conversations we are having seem crazy for 1^st grade, but Reggie is doing the right thing and being more confident in standing up for what is right. Reggie asked if we could call one of the boys mother’s to explain something that had happened in the classroom, so we did and she was very appreciative.

We haven’t been doing much extra activites because we’re still trying to get into a routine, but we’ve had fun biking to school and playing with friends on the playground after school (except the the several days that were over 100 degrees!).

The 12 first graders:

Ainsley and I have been very productive while Reggie is at school. We’ve been grocery shopping several days, thrift store shopping, cleaning, doing laundry, etc. Ainsley is very good about playing by herself, so I’ve been able to get caught up on a lot of stuff (she is having a tea party as I write). We did take one day last week to do something fun and it about killed me. We went to pump it up and I was her friend, so I ran around with her for an hour and 15 minutes! I finally had to ask her if she was getting tired or hungry, but her response was no!!! We went down one more big slide and she decided she was hungry :o). It will be nice to have some time with her to work on letters and play babies.

Ainsley started school on Sept. 8th and is having a bit of an adjustment period. I think she has a bit of social anxiety. I’ve been noticing it more and more, starting at her birthday party, now church, gymnastics and school. It is pretty obvious she’s nervous because she puts her hands together under her chin. As time goes on, she relaxes, so I’m hoping this is just a phase. Reggie was very similar, if not worse and he is much different now. I just don’t understand how both of them are like this. I’ve asked myself if it is something I am doing and her teacher assured me that they are the way they are, but it is hard to watch her struggle :o(. Time will tell….I’ve seen just how far kids can go in just one year :o).

Signing in:

We just started homework this week and so far both kids love it! I have several workbooks that I was hoping to use someday and I’m finally using them! It is a bit tricky for me to work with both of them, especially keeping Reggie on track because he loves to “help” Ainsley. She is doing great with her writing and starting to learn letters/sounds. If we keep this up all year, she’ll be reading by Kindergarten! Reggie has already noticed an improvement in his reading and that is giving him a desire to read more!!!!! Cross your fingers that this lasts more than a week......