san francisco: guest author!!!!!

i have made a tradition of taking each child on a trip just by themselves. it started with L going to nyc, then big S going to boston, then little S got a trip to the LA american girl store…

and this time it was D's turn. and we chose san francisco.

she (and i) documented the trip and wrote a story about it.

so here is the trip from her perspective and in her 9 year old words…

  SAN FRANCISCO

My mom and I went to San Francisco in October 2014. All of my siblings have taken a trip just with my mom  as a special tradition. We flew out late at night and arrived in Oakland to visit our friend Liz. She has 2 kids, Dominik 3, and Maksim who is almost three weeks old. I love little kids so I played with them all day. I also held the baby. I played the piano, it was special because it is a Steinway baby grand piano. Then we went to the pumpkin patch. It was unique because there was a corn pit. Also there was a giant hay stack that had a tall tunnel in it. I couldn’t believe how many different kinds of pumpkins I saw!                                         

The next day we drove into the city and went to Fisherman’s Wharf and we saw and smelled Crabs then I had to go on a boat to use the restroom. The boat’s name is S.S. Jeremiah O’ Brian boat. They had the real boat to remind us of all the soldiers that died. 

Next we went to Pier 39. We saw some seals. We went to a candy store that had salt water taffy. YUM!! Then we walked to a merry go round. It went way too slow. We stopped at a magic show. The magician kept calling me “child.” It was still fun. We went to our hotel. It was fancy but a little old. It was cool. We had our own beds. Then we headed out for some night activities. 

We bought tickets for the cable cars, they are also called trolleys. They ride on cables up and down the hills. There are no windows just poles, you can hang on them its real fun! We got off the cable car on Lombard Street, which is known as the most crooked street ever. We walked 3 steep blocks in order to get there. From there we walked to Fisherman’s Wharf again to get some fresh sea food.  I got fish and chips and my mom got clam chowder in a bread bowl.We walked to Ghiradelli square and watched them make chocolate.  I got a mango soda since I can not have dairy, my mom got a mint chocolate hot fudge sundae. We got back on the trolly car and I kind of wanted to go to China Town, but we were too late. It was night all the stores were closed and it was very desolate. We got a cab right away and we went straight to bed!

We woke up and had a delicious breakfast at Dottie’s, I had a cinnamon roll and pancakes. My mom had the same - actually we shared. Then we went to Golden Gate Park. It was funny because we did not bring the right amount of money so the bus guy let us go for free. We went to the Japanese tea garden, it smelled good. There was a bridge it was called a drum bridge it was very round. There were lots of fish and stepping stones and a cool statue of buddha. Then we walked with squirrels to a dahlia garden, there were hundred of different kinds of them. Then we got a cab to Crissy Field.

Crissy Field is right by the golden gate bridge we were so close. We walked down to a pier and saw some fisherman catching crabs and we saw a giant sea lion. We learned that The Golden Gate Bridge is red to stand out from fog. We got cold water and a donut to prepare for a long walk to the palace of fine arts. We saw lots of dogs on the way and a great view of Alcatraz. We finally  arrived at the palace,  it was beautiful. It had lots of columns and pretty birds. We thought we saw swans but they might have been geese. We waited forever to get a cab, then went straight to the hotel because it was time to go home. We rode a train that went under the ocean and got to the bus that took us to the airport.  I was so glad to go to San Francisco with my mom but I was ready see my brothers and sisters, mostly my baby brother. 

The end!!!!!!!

fall break 2014

this was one of my most favorite fall breaks ever. the whole week was very spontaneous but relaxed at the same time. my favorite combo.

we started the week off with a cousin slumber party and then lunch with noni at the farm. it was a beautiful day minus the mosquitos.

we decided on a quick last minute deal for a beach trip with friends. Paul found a house available right across from our friends and the guy made us a deal we couldn't refuse. it ended up being so so so fun. we were so relaxed and removed from daily life, it was amazing. we were totally unplugged. i only had my phone by the beach 1 day, so i didn't get very many photos.

this was the kid crew….

there was a kayak at the house we rented so P & S decided to take it out to fish. it was ridiculous watching them trying to get out over the waves. S dropped back and P finally made it out. however returned quickly after realizing he could see straight down thru the clear water 30 ft or so. clear enough to see whatever could be down there. so he rode the waves back in, almost taking a lady out with him. luckily he rolled over & didn't hit anyone.

 mermaid sighting…

 my little S loves drawing… she was busy the whole drive home.

and to top it all off, we went to a star wars activity day at the phoenix library. R was in heaven. 

then returned quickly to the daily grind monday morning.

happenings around here lately….

let's rewind all the way back to early september when we had some torrential desert downpours...

 the kids even got to miss school because it was too dangerous to drive. crazy.

  they were not too upset about it, they just put on their suits & rain boots and headed to the park.

we did have some pretty major leaks. we had to wake up the big girls to help us bail out water from the fire escape from 2:30 - 3:30 am. it was a tad frightening. we were able to prevent it from coming in, luckily, however we did have water dripping from the ceiling right in the middle of the basement. this is weeks after we finally got things finished from the big summer leak. good times.

 this guy learned to climb on everything.

R is really into artwork now. he likes to make up games and codes and such. i like it.

D still has her eye on everything...

family traffic jam.

 we attempted to resurrect family game night. we haven't had much luck with this in the past. which is sad for me because i love to win play games. everyone complains and fights and cheats or gets mad if they are out or whatever… it hasn't been the good quality family fun that we had hoped for. BUT, this time it was fun! i guess the kids are getting a little bigger & more mature because we were able to play for quite some time. we invited friends too, which might have made the difference. anyway, i look forward to more of these nights :)

my big one started jiu jitsu. it is brazilian wrestling. i can not for the life of me understand why she likes it, but she loves it. i'm just happy she loves a sport…. so we will see. you don't want to run into her in a dark alley.

p & i got to take a quick trip with our newborn baby to indy for my grandpa's 90th birthday.

it took 5 cakes to get all 90 candles on there.

we enjoyed some late night shenanigans with our dear friends.

and then had lunch with our favorite priest.

 this was paul's way of figuring out the ordering school pictures…

a big shout out to my second born. she is working her tail off at school, just finished up a quite chaotic season of volleyball & is surviving it all.

her 3-d diagram of a cell.

babysitting selfies with her baby bro.

and last but not least, we hosted an oktoberfest block party with our new nieghbors.

 i was having so much fun i fell asleep in this picture. apparently i fell asleep in all of the pictures.

so many delicious german foods to choose from...

blah

i was going to look for a creative/cute /interesting photo to add for wordless or not so wordless wednesday... but i couldn't find one.

R is rambling on behind me about a battle between the dark side and the good side. he's super into star wars and drawing right now. so he has drawn out an intricate game with papers sprawled across the table. he's happy. that makes me happy.

J is slumbering peacefully in his bed.

some god-awful smell is coming form the garbage can {i think} but i'm too irritated to do anything about it.

we have a trillion billion unfinished projects going on and it's overwhelming.

i must be pms-ing.

i am using my iphone calendar like it's nobody's business. we are full fledged into the semester and man oh man is it busy. a very elaborate carpool schedule is in place everyday, and differs everyday. it's quite a dance.

i have been reflecting on my friends lately, not that i have seen anyone in what feels like a long time, and thinking how lucky i am to have such great women in my life. it's so important to be a good listener, to act and remain interested when someone is talking, especially with constant interruptions from small children, or a sound, or a bird flying by... OR CELLPHONES! i digress, i am thankful for my friends who are solid, honest and present people.

ok i am definitely pms-ing.

i've started trying to be really mindful about what i eat during the week. and i started a boot camp 3 days a week as well. this is my second week. oh man is it hard this week. all i want to do/all i think about is going over to culvers and ordering the biggest chocolate custard and stuffing it in my face. it makes me happy just thinking about doing it. not as happy as if i were to actually do it.

i've really enjoyed the daily devotions i've been reading, blessed is she. they are so inspiring and a good reminder to reign it in, especially when my mind is about to blow with the chaos of family life.

family life.... so rich and draining at the same time. i am so enjoying the sweet and mostly calm mornings with my boys. that's the life man. it's hard to remember why i ever even slightly complained about tough moments with my older kids, when they were little. granted i did have 4 of them home whereas now i only have 2 at home during the day, but still... the time goes by so fast. and you still have so much control over little kids. big kids come with many laughs and many helpful times, not as demanding as when they are little, but also big worries. i seem to worry so much more now. i feel like in the mornings i can breathe and starting at 2:45 i hold my breath until about 11:30 when i collapse into bed.

and for some reason, i wake up every morning, ready and willing, to try to do better than i did the day before.

i always loved, and still do, the first sound of my baby waking up in the morning. i get a little thrill, i run in there and can't wait to kiss him/her and say good morning. that always baffled me, especially on mornings when i had possibly been up all night with them.

that's how my life feels right now. up all night with a baby, but somehow muster up the energy to do it all over again the next day. {luckily our baby is sleeping thru the night now that we switched up the rooms a bit}

it's busy, chaotic, some {very normal, nothing out of the ordinary} worries about the people i am responsible for, trying to come up with new, fresh and effective game plans with my spouse, which is a feat in itself sometimes, forgiving myself when i mess up, forgiving others when they mess up and starting it all over again.

and all it takes is one kind word, the smile on a kids face from a good grade, a funny story, the pride one has from her hand-crocheted yarn panda {little S is really into crochet}, a mastered piano song, a simple hug....
and that thrill rises up inside and reminds me that i am doing a good job.

summer vacay: part 3

after arriving home from our relaxing beach vacation, we got up the next day and headed to the mountains for a little family vacation with my dad and stepmom. i sure am thankful for my family and that this is something i look forward to doing. the kids love playing with their cousins and i love hanging out with my crazy bro & sis.

the cabin was beautiful, a little tight in the sleeping department for the age of kids that we all had, but after a few trial nights, we figured out a system.

we went on family hikes,

 

cousin huddle in a tree. we were on a pretty long hike in search of ice cave, but unfortunately we never found it. such a bummer. the kids were super troopers though, especially the little ones.

R finally caught his first fish!!! it was so exciting! we had hiked to a pretty small pond. the big kids were pretty sure that there were only around 10 fish in there. once we caught them, we thru them back. they were preeeeety small. they would bite in like 1.5 seconds. not the brightest species.
R was pretty pumped anyway.

 his sister not so much.

look at the size of it!! dinner for all!

D didn't mind it at all. she was helping unhook & throw back. that girl can do anything.

my little lion man. my dad called him raggedy andy.

we drove to a stable but found out the boys weren't old enough to ride. they were nice enough to let the kids walk around, pet & even sit on a horse. that was pretty exciting.

 the next day we took the kids to a different stable that kids were permitted to ride. R liked his mighty steed. he looked a little questionable to me. one of the eyes looked somewhat infected i.m.o.

i just love my little handsome cowboy.

next up, i took the bigger girls on an hour ride while paul stayed with the little boys. i got a little nervous. i used to love horses, but now i guess i value my health and questioned the risk i was taking. what if i fell off and broke a leg? what if one of the horses took off with one of the kids? what if one of the kids got hurt? for heaven's sake my horse only had one eye. what was with the eye epidemic going on here? what if our eyes got infected?
i decided to just go with it since the kids were so excited. i did insist that two wranglers go with us though.

it was a beautiful ride. the man from snowy river soundtrack was playing in my head.

sure enough D's horse was a little testy. he took off several times. luckily not too fast. she didn't seem too traumatized by it.

 

we had s'mores galore.

i captured this photo from the loft. my dad has interesting thoughts on babysitting....

 the kids fire safety abilities were questionable. it got a little lord of the flies-ish a few times.

R was thrilled to shoot grandpas bb gun. his favorite part of the whole trip though, he says, was when grandpa showed him a real bullet. more than s'mores, more than shooting the bb gun, more than catching that friggin fish paully worked so hard to line up... his favorite was simply looking at a real bullet.

as much as we dreaded heading back to the heat, it was time to go back and get ready for school. and our summer vacations had come to an end.