while finn was away....mom and scout played

with finn was enjoying 6th grade camp,
scout and i enjoyed something special too.
i proposed we have a mom/son date, as it had been
a few months, and scout got to chose the activity.
he chose belmont park, an amusement park just 10 minutes
away from home and located right on the boardwalk.
he specifically chose this place because he is now tall
enough to ride the rollercoaster that he has been so patiently
waiting for. over the years, he has watched his dad and i ride it
countless times, his aunties, his big brother and cousin soren.


his day FINALLY came.


first we rode something called the octotron.
i can't begin to describe this ride.  i just remember scout insisted on
controlling it and he kept it rolling us upside down the entire time.
i screamed, he laughed, and we both came out with crazy hair.


from here, we moved on to the giant dipper, the historical rollercoaster
that has been in pacific beach since 1925.  scout has  been waiting for YEARS
to ride this {he's been fascinated it with it since he was a toddler}, and at 51"
he made the height requirements {50"} and was literally squealing with excitement.


this time, he screamed and i laughed and we when it was over,
we bought one more tickets and rode it again. scout would have loved to have
stayed and ride it 10 more times, but it was a school night.


we ended the night eating ice cream sundaes and with smiles on our faces.
i don't think either of us will ever forget this night. 

finn: 6th grade camp

the words 'free at last, free at last, are going through my head right
now as i sit down to write tonight's blog post. my firstborn is away at
camp all week and i wonder if something similar was running through his

head on monday morning when c dropped him off at school with

his backpack, pillow, sleeping bag and his giant lifeguard hat.

he's not 18 yet, so that desire for freedom and to spread his wings

might not be there quite yet, but then again, he's finn.

{he was born a little man} 

still, that old soul was extremely excited to go be a kid and attend camp.
he was even more thrilled when he learned he would be in a cabin with his bestie.
apparently, the kids got to put in 'preferences' for bunkmates a week prior to camp.   

it's now his 3rd night away, and i'll be honest, i miss him,

but not too much. i don't mean that in a bad way....i love that

child fiercely, but i know the experiences he is getting from being

away at camp are valuable and can't be duplicated at home.

while he's having the time of his life, his younger brother is

thrilled to be an only child all week. he's being spoiled with

movie nights {at home}, a trip to in-n-out and tomorrow night, he and

i have a special night planned. he gets to chose the activity.

our home is much quieter with just one kid home, and we are all

enjoying this special time...with scout getting us all to himself and us him. 

come friday, i am sure we will all be so ready to have finn home.

{i hope he will feel the same}

~ parents were given the camp's address and a fax number so we could send

letters to our children.  i sent my first {and only} fax to finn today to say

'hi from home'.  i kept it short and sweet  as i've learned teen boys get
embarrassed quite easily.  *grin*

easter: 2016

easter came so early this year and it almost caught me by surprise!
i had tucked away a few items for baskets weeks in advance but had
forgotten the date.  c reminded me by pulling out the easter bin from the
garage rafters.  a few days before, i picked up a 3 dozen eggs and dye.
scout and i love eggs, so i wasn't worried what we would do with so many. *grin*
i decided on the same theme as their christmas ornaments this past year
since the boys' interests are still the same.  star trek for finn oliver, and
soccer for scout. once i have a theme, the rest comes easy.


since i don't do a lot of candy in the boys' baskets, i try to be creative
with what i put inside. since aunt jen wasn't with us this year, i used
her easter basket for my biggest boy, filling it with chocolate and wine.
if ice cream didn't melt, i would have included a pint of moose tracks in it.


this year, we celebrated a friend's birthday over easter brunch so we missed
the hut at the hilton. scout participated in the hunt at the tennis club the day
before which seemed to make up for it.  finn opted to stay home, reminding us
that he was 12 and in middle school. he said he would hunt eggs at home. 
whether he enjoys hunting eggs or he knows his mother enjoys hiding and
watching him hunt egg, made him say this, i couldn't say.
{either way, i'll take it}


both boys asked that the eggs be hidden 'really' well, although there was
no creative scavenger hunt like year's past with auntie jen. they received just
ONE clue to find the golden egg. overall, i believe they were satisfied with my
hiding skills. {scout doesn't even believe anymore....a bunny is even a harder sell
than santa}. as typical with scoutie, he had me hide eggs several times around the
house after the initial hunt for fun, and he insisted on hiding eggs for me too.   

family field trip to JPL

far better it is to dare mighty things,
to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure....
thank to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much,
because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
- theodore roosevelt


after making a reservation 6 months earlier to tour the jet propulsion lab
located in pasadena, california, the day arrived. the whole family took off work
and school and headed a few hours north to visit a place that has been on finn's
'wish list' for a few years. 



he checked off kennedy space center after his visit there a few years ago with
the shappard men, and the three other places on his wish list to visit were: JPL,
mission control in houston and at the very top of his list is spaceX.
{they don't offer tours at the moment but i'll keep searching}.
he's always dreamed big and c and i do our best to encourage his dreams.
and this trip was one way to do this.


the day was amazing...we got to see the clean room where curiosity was assembled.
{finn's named his stuffed dog after this rover}. we also got to see mission control,
the main communication hub where jpl communicates to spacecrafts.
finn was in his happy place and the rest of us tried to take it all in.
{finn filled us in on what we were unclear about on our way home}.

spring break: 2016, part 2

for the second day of my spring break, and the last of the boys',
we decided to go bowling! christopher couldn't even resist and joined us.
we had a great time and were super competitive.

our youngest family member was a bit too competitive.
he needed to take a break away from us until he pulled himself together.
he wants to be the best at everything and no matter how much we reminded
him we had decades more experience bowling then him, he struggled.
{he's still learning how to be a good loser....}

we packed alot into those 2 days and it though it was wonderful,
it made me wish i had even more time home with them.
{i envy c and his flexible schedule}

the weekend before they started back to school,
we hosted my girlfriend's 8 year old son logan overnight.
she was in florida on both a business/pleasure trip, so i helped
out while her husband juggled their 4 year daughter.

the weather turned out to be beautiful...summer like.
with the combination of the solar water heater and keeping the cover on the pool,
the water temperature was up to 80 degrees so the boys swam for a good portion
of the day. when they weren't swimming, they played in the treehouse.

they had a great time but were ready to go back.
2 weeks was long enough for the gerblets.

spring break: 2016, part 1

this year, i was only with the boys 2 days of their 2 week break,

so for the other 8 days, c kept them busy. he shuttled them to playdates,
hosted playdates, built water and air cannons with them in the garage and
took them to a robotics competition. finn dreams of competing with HTH's
robotics team someday{he's been attending the competitions since he was in
kindergarten {we remind him it's not too far off in the future}

i also learned c created a 'training program' to get the boys conditioned for junior
lifeguards this summer. their 'training' consisted of running around the block as fast as
they can {they timed themselves and tried to beat it every day}, swimming laps in the pool,
doing jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups. while i sat on my butt at work, two boys
were working up a sweat. 

so during the last 2 days of their break, i took off work to spend with 'em and play a bit.
i wanted us to do something active, but bootcamp wasn't what i had in mind. 

the first morning we went hiking calvares canyon, a place a friend had recommend.
it wasn't as rugged as the boys wanted, but it was pretty.

the second day i planned on taking the boys to a surf museum,

but scout insisted we go to the san diego railroad museum since he couldn't
remember it despite that we practically lived there the first 4 years of his life.

he rediscovered it as an 8 year old and finn enjoyed playing tour guide to him

as he knows the museum like the back of his hand.  

on our way out of the museum, we passed the photographic museum,

which i have been wanting to visit for years. when i inquired about pricing and learned 

kids 12 and under were free and it was only $5 for adults, i said "let's do it"...

the artist being featured was flora garduno, from mexico city. 

a young man who worked at the desk whispered that flora was actually in the gallery

so we SAW her {which made it that much more exciting for the boys}. 

after the museum, we had lunch at the cafe gratitude,
a hip cafe right in the middle of little italy in downtown san diego.
i loved the concept of the place - every menu item is titled an affirmation
(example: lettuce wraps = happiness, spinach salad = confidence}.
when one order you, you say, 'I AM....
the boys liked that but the vegan food didn't excited them.