missoni madness

if you happened to visit target's website last week on the day missoni launched his target line,
you probably got frustrated like me.  there was so much traffic it brought their website down.

i wasn't one who was trying to snap up this italian designer's more affordable line 
i was visiting the site to purchase a pair of replacement frog rainboots for scoutie.
he outgrew his and of course he needs a new pair for the 10" of rain we get a year. *grin*

i finally made it into a target store over the weekend and there were just a few
pieces of anything missoni left.  everything was selling like hotcakes.
i saw just a handful of random items, then i spotted these cute missioni ballet flats.

i snagged them knowing how quick they'd go, and threw them into my cart.
they were tiny (size 1) and i contemplated purchasing them for my niece maya
who just celebrated her 8th birthday.

the problem? i had an outfit for her wrapped and ready to be taken to the post office in my car.
i briefly considered unwrapping and returning it and purchasing these little lovelies instead.
in the end, i chose to keep what i had for her and put these back on the shelf.
{moms of little girls beware! missoni has the cutest leggings and sweater sets}

have a fantastic friday!

~ race report:  i didn't do as poor as i thought in last weekend's bootcamp challenge.
i finished at 28:58 - almost a minute earlier than last year.
{it's not much, but it's a nice surprise as i thought i'd done worse}

rube who

finn could barely wait until i stepped through the front door last friday to tell me
he learned about rube goldberg in his science class, and that c said he could
build his own 'rube goldberg' in his invention room.

he was bubbling over from excitement,
so i sat down next to him to give him my undivided attention
and to learn more.

i asked who is rube and what are you going to build?
he gave me a quick explanation on rube then said
"dad, why don't you just pull up an example for mom on youtube".

after watching a 3 minute video of a fantastical contraption,
i got it and knew why finn was so excited about today's science lesson.
building his own rube goldberg machine is exactly something
that finn would enjoy - building, creating and inventing.
i can think of very little that would excite him more.

he spent several hours working on it.
reminding us that ALL scientists fail,
they just have to be persistent.

here he is explaining his contraption {unsuccessful attempt}
 

and finally SUCCESS

he shared these videos with his class the next morning,
as well as his science teacher, mrs. hutchins.  he was so proud and excited.
his teacher said his excitement carried over to every kid in the room.

this is our finn oliver.

saturdays = soccer

after watching scout's first soccer game last weekend,
finn got the bug and asked us if he could play.
we were already a week into the season,
but i called the director of the ymca, and he was able to get him on a team.
finn is now playing and in the U8 (under 8) division.

this means every saturday for the next 7 weeks,
the gerber family will be on the soccer field anywhere from 9am to 2pm
for not just one game but two games.  *whew*
lucky us, the field is literally just across the street from our home here in point loma.

finn took a break from soccer last spring,
so it's been a whole year since we've been away from it.
i had forgotten how much we all enjoyed it!!  it's truly the best hour of my week.
we all cheer from the sidelines and i become the family sports photographer
(which is much more difficult for me than portrait photography).

i missed scoutie's saturday morning game because i was at this year's bootcamp challenge.
i was really bummed i missed it, but i had registered c and i for the race months ago and
it's been a tradition of mine now for years.  i couldn't miss it. 
i was able to find a great dad to fill in as the coach.

as for the race, i don't think i did too well. i was tired and didn't have alot of stamina.
c missed it altogether because he's been under the weather for a week.
i thought i was lucky and had evaded it, but i woke up today feeling congested and icky.

it's time for bed, but before i go, i have to include photos of my favorite little soccer players.
i don't think i could love them anymore than i do.

i love how the smallest jersey and shorts just hang off of scout

spreading the love

when my little sis told me some of christi and tyler's wedding photos were on FB,
i jumped on as soon as i could to take a peek.

when i saw the photos, my heart skipped a beat.
everything was exactly how i imagined it - the vintage feel, the color pallete, and the location.
the sweet cheeks winery in eugene, oregon provided the perfect backdrop.

though i could almost be christi's mother, i've always thought of myself more like a big sister to her.
when she joined our family in 2006, she was only 18 - so young.
seeing photos of her all grown up and getting married brought {happy} tears to my eyes.

the boys and i  looked through all the wedding photos together and i said outloud i wish we
could have been there celebrating with them.  they all agreed, then finn reminded me about the cost.
(we had checked fares several times leading up to the big weekend)

fortunately, we will see these newlyweds next month when they are in san diego!
for now, i'll just enjoy these gorgeous photos taken by kaela.mey photography.

i hope you enjoy them too!

celebrations

there are exactly as many special occasions in life as we chose to celebrate.
- robert brault

these past few weeks have been full of things to celebrate, and i wanted to be sure i recorded them:

first, my sweet s-i-l heather is finally home from the hospital.
she contracted viral meningitas and had a very rough hospital stay.
she gave us all quite a scare, but made it home and is on her way to a full recovery. 
her feeling better and coming home are things to celebrate! 

my niece (kristen) turned 15.  i remember when she was a toddler. oh how times flies.

a few weeks ago, the boys and i were at bonnie and marty's home for a pancake breakfast.
we celebrated with them as they shared news they were expecting a baby in march!

and there's MORE to celebrate...

my girlfriend charlotte is going back to school.
although she is a licensed architect here in california, she decided she wants a new challenge.
she's chosen to study textile design at the fashion institute of design and merchandising and
starts school in a few week.

i received a sweet email from renae a few nights ago, 
she was just saying hi and letting me know she has settled into her new home right next to campus.
she was happy to tell me she had just gone through her White Coat Ceremony,
where she took a pledge as she entered pharmacy school and got her coat.

she sent this photo taken just after the ceremony. 

renae (and her boyfriend mark)

last, scoutie played his first soccer game ever last saturday
while i coached my first game ever.

we were both a little timid going into it, but as the game went on, 

we both started to get the hang of it and enjoyed ourselves.
it's going to be a really fun season with the sharks (our team name). 

big or small, there's always something special to celebrate if we look for it.

lovin' minnesota lakes

did you know minnesota's nickname is the land of 10,000 lakes?
i didn't until i saw it on the back of a minnesota license plate one day.

i've never bothered to look that number up, but from my visits there over the years,
this seems like a reasonsable number.  there are tons of lakes and they are beautiful!
these lakes don't have alligators and c tells me they don't have snakes either.

i didn't look that up, but i chose to believe this so i wouldn't worry to death when
he told me finn and scout were in a lake every day while they were on vacation. 

one of grandpa gerber's dreams was to vacation at lake vermillion and stay in a cabin
with his boys and grandkids. last month his dream came true. 

here is where they stayed - they had this entire structure reserved for them. WOW!

isaac and finn being pulled behind a boat
(finn giving a thumbs up which means go FASTER)

scoutie, maya and finn

grandpa g with his grandsons: isaac, scout and finn



the clan (from left): greg, heidi, christopher, sheila, john, jason, jordan, luke, nick, shelley, trevor + shannon
bottom row: scout, finn, maya and isaac



christopher said this was one of the best trips he's ever had with his family,

and after talking with the others that seemed to be the consensus.

i asked what the highlight was for him and without hesitating he said
"being with family and watching finn and scout experience nature".
sounds perfect to me.

coach gerber

do one thing every day that scares you.
- elevanor roosevelt

i wish i could say i do something every day that scares me,
but the truth is i don't.
i did however, sign on to do one thing that scares me this season.

i am officially scout's soccer coach through the peninsula ymca

coaching soccer hasn't been a lifetime dream of mine,
and although i played years ago (ok, decades ago),
i remember very little about soccer and know nothing about coaching.
it all came to be when the director of the y sent an email to parents
asking for more volunteer coaches.

i couldn't resist.

the director assured me that i already know more than 4 and 5 year olds
and offered up a coaches clinic for me to attend.  i went on saturday to learn
basic fundamentals of soccer and some fun drills to do with the kiddos.
our practices start wednesday, and our first game is saturday.
there will be more to come on this and the adventures i'll have. 

i'm able to cross item 11 off from my promise me list. 
coaching isn't wasn't what i originally had in mind, but it qualifies.

~ in addition to attending the a soccer coaches clinic,
i spent a lovely afternoon yesterday here with my 'serious' book club chickies.
once a year they get together outside our monthly meetings for a day of rest and relaxation. 
though i didn't get any treatments, i thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and the conversation.

sweet memories

a grandma is a warm hug and sweet memories.
- unknown

mom made it safely back to florida and from what she tells me,
she enjoyed her time in california with her (3) daughters and her (4) grandsons,
my two and leslie's two. i hope she knows just how much we enjoyed her too.

i had grand plans on photographing mom (alone and with the boys),
and also to have c photograph us together, but i didn't schedule it, so it never happen.
i was purposefully trying not to overschedule her.  next time...

though i didn't get the photoshoot i wanted, we did squeeze in some FUN activities.

here are some highlights that i either heard about OR witnessed first hand:

- grandma and the boys swimming here in the condo pool
she originally tried to keep finn and scout contained in a round 'baby pool' that was a foot deep,
but the boys quickly jumped into the deep pool to prove to grandma they could swim well.

- scoutie and grandma playing just about every boardgame in our home
(candyland, puppy pals bingo, chutes and ladders, battleship, etc)

- showing mom around point loma and it's scenic sunset cliffs

- finn and grandma reading treasure island together while scout napped
apparently, they got a big case of the giggles reading the words from the infamous song
fifteen men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
(we finished the book together this past weekend - a great tale!)

- a visit to the the stephen birch aquarium

- grandma and the boys foot racing in the grassy area behind our home
(i wish i could have been there to see this and take pixs) *wink*

- girl's dinner out at the boathouse (prime rib for mom and fish for jen and me)

- breakfast at to the point eatery (i couldn't let mom leave without eating here).

- a visit to the cabrillo national monument to see the old lighthouse and the view of downtown's skyline 

















 

at the bottom of the spiral starcase in the lighthouse

 

- a visit to the children's pool in la jolla

(the seals weren't basking in the sun, but they were playing in the surf)







i enjoyed showing mom some sites around the city,
many of which we haven't visited for a while.
auntie jen even got her first visit to the lighthouse.

we miss those warm hugs from grandma

but thankfully we have sweet memories to hold us over until next time.





 

art appreciation

art is when you hear a knocking from your soul - and you answer.
- terri guillemets

grandma is gone now and i already miss her.
she may well be the only person that we can have stay in our home for weeks on end
and not be burdened in the least.  it's just easy with her. i hope she feels the same. *grin*

i will post later on some of the things we all did together but before i forget,
i wanted to be sure i posted about a play i saw last week with my girlfriend charlotte.

we met for dinner at at rock bottom and spent an hour plus catching up one each other's lives.
it had been some time and she shared so many exciting things on the horizon for her.
from there we drove across the street to the la jolla playhouse to see the play, milk like sugar.

 

the play was inspired by the true story of the glaucester high school 'pregnancy pact'

of 2008 where 17 high school girls got pregnant.  somehow i had missed this story even
though it made national news.

it was shocking and disturbing, yet it was sprinkled with humor throughout
(for example, there was a half hour dialogue between the teenage girls discussing their cell phones -
the colors, what they had, what their guys had, etc.) it was ridiculous but believable.

it was an emotional whirlwind - causing char and i to both laugh and cry.
i came away more sympathetic to what life is like for some inner city kids,
how prospects can be so dim that for some, becoming a mother at 15 or 16 actually
sounds pretty exciting.  *yikes*  the cycle these kids are in pulled at my heart strings.

we walked out of the theater almost speechless for a few minutes,
trying to digest everything we had seen and heard.  the acting was superb and we
commented that our husbands would have really enjoyed seeing this.
oh how we wish it had been a double date.

i later told christopher that the season tickets to the la jolla playhouse he
has so generously gives to me as a gift over the last 12 years is SO appreciated.

i come away from every play i see, enriched in some way.
it may be through the music, a visual, the story, or a lesson learned
but i leave with a deeper appreciation of something after each one. 

*********************

i stayed home from work today with my little finney. 
he was running a low-grade fever and felt miserable.
when i put him down tonight, he still had a slight fever. 
if it's there in the morning, he will stay home with c tomorrow.
i never like seeing my boys sick, but finn sure was a cuddle bug today. 
i thoroughly enjoyed it.

scout on the otherhand, is healthy and thrilled to be back at the rock preschool.
he came home today talking up a storm - telling me all about his new teacher miss heidi,
and that he got to see ALL of his friends. he sure has missed them over the summer.