Mother's Day 2009

Kiira asked me the day before Mother's Day - what would you like? I said breakfast in bed. The morning of Mother's Day I woke up to a crash outside my bedroom door. No screaming....this was a good thing. Next thing I know the door is cracking open and Kiira is coming in with a tray of a mug, a package of watermelon and a yogurt. Bless her little heart, she couldn't open any of the packages but she put them on the tray anyway. Turns out the coffee mug held only water so that spill was not a biggie at all. She made me this card on the computer at school. Such a good girl she is!!! It's a good thing I paid attention to this treat because she was the only one that actually remembered Mother's Day in our family.

Bigelow

Another one of my staging jobs....
This is a lovely Craftsman style home in the heart of Mill Valley. I love being able to use reds!!

I Love you monny

There is nothing that brings greater joy to your heart than hearing your child tell you they love you. Evan and I were walking through Strawberry Village the other day and, being the rascal that he is, he picked a flower out of the planter box. I gave him an eye that said, "you are NOT supposed to be doing that!" To which he replied to my telepathic message, "I love you monny" (monny translates to mama in Evan talk). Well, if that doesn't make the world right, I just don't know what does. I know I am biased (and he has me wrapped around his little finger) but that kid is CUTE!

It is easy to lose track of moments like this and the saying on this vase gives me a gentle reminder to try "not to sweat the small stuff" and just laugh. After all, there's ALWAYS small stuff.

Spring Sing

Kiira's school does a Spring sing each year. This was out first one so I wasn't sure what to expect. Kiira told me she wasn't singing and that I had to be surprised. So, I patiently waited until the day. Ok - not only one of my favorite songs was played but I also was so impressed by all the kid's moves! No lack of excercise here! Go Room 1!

Fleetwood Mac

So as I am driving home from the airport around 10 pm that eve, I get a message from my friend Mona Helen - "do you want to go see Fleetwood Mac tomorrow night - I've got two tickets". Well, it's 10 pm and too late to call her so I scratch my head and figure what will be will be. Upon arrival home and debriefing of said Disney trip, Alan says that Mona Helen had talked to him and I was indeed going to see Fleetwood Mac.

So, therein a plan was born. Mona Helen picked me up and we were off to do some reminiscing of our youth. While I was sadly disappointed by Stevie Nick's lack of energy, Lindsay Buckingham MORE than made up for it in his singing and insanely good guitar playing. That man ROCKS! Four of the originals were there - Stevie, Lindsay, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood. A 10 piece band overall and they really sounded great!



Talk about burning the candle at both ends......up early the next day to install a staging job. It's ALL worth it thought! Youth is but a stage of mind.

Disney!

Monday, May 18

Dear diary, I woke up today and....

6:45 am - read email from Nancy saying that her husband is not going to Disney as planned for their family trip. Hmmmm....interesting I think as we had planned to do a girls trip (mommy and daughters) awhile back.
7 am - make lasagna for person in need at our temple.
8 am - Take Kiira to school.
8:30 am - Get coffee on way to Evan's Yad b'Yad class
9 am - Call Nancy to see if I can borrow her van to pick up a large piece of furniture, casually ask to confirm if Gideon is going with them or if June and Nancy are going solo
10:45 am - deliver meal to fellow Temple congregant
11 am - call Nancy again to further inquire about Disney
11:15 am - call United to inquire about tickets to Disney....hmmmm...reasonably priced....ask United to hold two
11:30 am - inquire with babysitters to see if they can stay later today and tomorrow. they can. Hmmmm......Disney idea budding further......
11:45 am - stop by Nancy's house to inquire with their babysitter that in fact middle child IS sick and Gideon IS staying home. All true.
12 pm - pack bag thinking that when I pick up Kiira from school at 1 pm - if she is feeling good, I will confirm airline tickets to Disney and we will drive straight to airport. Hmmmm....still no word from Nancy.
12:30 pm - surf internet for backup accommodations if we can't stay with Nancy.
1 pm - pick up Kiira - she feels good. I ask, "Do you want to go on a special trip on an airplane with mommy?" She says, "Yes", i say "we are going to Disney!"
Yahoooooo!!!!!!!!!
3:30 pm - United calls our section to board - Nancy calls - SO excited that we are coming and confirms we can stay with them.
Voila - a plan is formed. Viva spontaneity!

Yes, it's true. Despite the Waldorf schooling and the aversion to commercialism (ie alot of Disney) I took Kiira on a surprise trip to Disneyland. With all the negative talk we have heard about Disney - I actually found it REALLY fun. Some myths:

- food, in reality, is REALLY good and really healthy. If you sit down at a restaurant, you can get a good salad and a good piece of salmon - even for the kids.
- going on a Tuesday - we never waited in lines for more than about 20 min. Fastpass works great.
- we had heard that getting off rides, they funnel you RIGHT through the stores. NOT true. You can, in fact, exit a ride, withOUT going through the store.

We hit Fantasyland, Toontown and part of the other adventure parts of the park. We did Buzz Lightyear, Nemo's Submarine, Dumbo, the carousel, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, It's a Small World (my favorite), Alice in Wonderland, Jungle Cruise, Storybook Canal Ride, and Kiira's favorite - the teacups. We stayed at the Grand Californian which is right on Disney property. This worked to our benefit for two reasons - ONE - we could walk into the park - TWO - we got to enter the park 1 hour earlier than the general public which translated to NO LINES on the really popular rides.

After arriving late Monday and getting up early Tuesday - we flew home on an 8 pm flight Tuesday night. A quick but FUN, FUN, FUN trip.

And I can be proud that my daughter did not buy into all the commercialism as we had worried. When given the opportunity to pick out one special thing from the trip, she did pick anything Disney at all. She picked a rainbow teddybear that she had seen in the Build a Bear store. Awwww.....makin' your parents proud!

Line of the trip: while having dinner the first night, a nice guy in his 20's came over to make the kids balloon animals. Kiira wanted a chick. The guy paused, thinking, and said he'd never done a chick. Nancy exclaimed in amazement, "You've never done a chick!". At which time she and I burst out laughing at the double entendre. And said nice guy got bright red.

Look for more photos on this link in a bit - I haven't uploaded them yet.

Reed Regatta

Carnival. Who wouldn't want to see what this was all about right? So, we, as virgin Reed regatta parents, signed up to see events, to see the other parents, to see what trouble we could get into while bidding on items to raise money for Reed Schools. Personally, I was hoping that the project I helped the kids make (the Blackie watercolors) would go for a HUGE amount - one of the main reasons I went. As well, many of the parents of the kids Kiira has become friends with were going and we were all sharing a table. Before we headed off - the kids were fascinated with the masks we brought along - in true Carnival fashion!

For those of you who don't know Tiburon, there seems to be a pretty split opinion of its residents. One that I, too, share. There are the "I am perfect with the perfect hair, nails, teeth, bag and shoes" type aaaaaaand.......there is everyone else. It can be hard to dig through the aforesaid in order to find some semblance of normalcy. It is an affluent town and as much as I don't want to admit it, THOSE people do exist. However, if one puts their "likeyouandmeter" on, you can find some good souls. We had a toe tappin' good time watching some serious hip shaking and then doing a little ourselves as the night wore on.

Pixar Studio

Today I got to tour Pixar Studios, located in Oakland. Last year when Kiira was at the Mountain School, our good friends JJ and Danny bid on a tour there (one of the Mountain School parents, Guido, works there) - and consequently won. They asked me along for the tour. I willingly obliged! It was pretty amazing. The building itself brought back wobegone memories of the successful dot.com era. Big, soaring spaces with "cool" materials. Being a designer, I can't help but notice all of this.

The content of the tour - also pretty spectacular. Guido has worked on a variety of Pixar films, the Toy Story's, Cars, Ratatouille, Up and several that I haven't heard of because our kids are too scared of movies yet. Scattered along the halls were memorabilia that was part of the movie making.



Also scattered were one of a kind drawings that employees, very talented employees at that, displayed. We saw screening rooms, the huge server room (and I mean HUGE), campus amenities (think pool, volleyball court with sand, workout room), and general workspace. Along the way we learned about making a movie, editing a movie and the unexpected joy of being IN a movie (Guido ended up being the voice of the the car "Guido" in the Cars movie). Apparently they often just leave the "scratch" voice of the character - ie. the voice of one of the employees. Soooooo cool! Thanks JJ and Danny for including me!

Portfolio Tea

"Dear Family,
Please join me for the portfolio tea on Friday, May 15 at 8:30 am. Love, Kiira"

We received this letter in the mail. What IS a portfolio tea you ask? Well, as we entered the classroom, our child asked if we would like refreshments. "Yes, thank you", I replied. Kiira escorted me over for coffee while she fixed me a mini bagel with cream cheese. She then took me over to a binder filled with her work from the year. It was fascinating to see the progress. Sometimes you can't see the wonder before you eyes, however, when it is paraded in slow motion before you, you can't help but feel as if you are seeing a slow motion movie of a child blossoming. I loved every moment of it. My favorites? Seeing her pride as she took me through each assignment, each project, reading me what each contained. 6 years old - reading. So much more than I ever imagined kindergarten would be!

Karate

So many activities, so little time. Evan will have to pick his favorite one when the time comes. Lately, besides trying to hit, kick, swing at or even pummel any ball that comes toward him - he is trying his hand, as well as his feet , at karate. A preview of what's to come.......

Kittens, kittens, kittens

Ever since Calvin and Bullseye passed away (1 year ago and 2 years ago respectively), I have really missed having a cat or two around. I have been trying to be patient and let Alan have some no kitty time but I think he has finally acquiesced to my (and Kiira's) not so veiled hints in wanting some more furry friends. We do love our dog Rennie, and he does try to sleep on your lap like a cat would - however much I love his 65 lb furry body on my lap, a 15 lb furry body would be more comfortable. Cal and Bull were some sort of Maine Coon mix I think so I've contacted a few rescue groups to see if they could find me something similar. This past weekend we went and looked at some kitties. They were all TOO cute. I would take them all home if I could. The following are two distinct possibilities.

It's a beautiful day

Mt Tamalpais before the fog lifted



Mt Tamalpais after it cleared



Richardson Bay shrouded in fog



Richardson Bay as fog is lifting

If I could add the music "It's a beautiful day" by Ziggy Marley, I would. That's what these pictures would be playing to. For now though, I'll let you play your own in your head. There are days when you just wake up and see the wonder outside. This day was one of them. I wish those days could be everyday but alas my head gets stuck in the day to day grind and I often can't see the forest within the trees.

For anyone that knows the San Francisco area, we have fog. For those of you who don't - we have fog. Normally our fog balances over the bay, under, around, the Golden Gate bridge. Rarely does it creep its powdery paws out and over Richardson Bay. This particular morning, we woke to our normal landmarks shrouded in our old puffy SF friend. It really was magical to see it slowly slide down Mt. Tamalpais and lift from Richardson Bay. It was almost like an unveiling, slowly revealing our minds picture as we knew it. I found, as it happened so slowly, it gave me a chance to see things in a new light. I couldn't stop watching.

i movie, take 1 rhett and heidi

Yes, imovie. I what you ask? imovie. I am learning how to put videos together on the mac in their imovie program. I have signed up for some lessons so here is my first attempt at putting something together. Hope it works. I've uploaded it on youtube. just in case the below link doesn't work.

Spring break Santa Cruz

Our other adventure during Spring Break was to venture down to Santa Cruz to spend some time with our friends and neighbors the Renney's. Claire is Kiira's age and Jack is just a little older than Evan.

We left on a Friday (it's only an hour and a half drive down the coast) and arrived without fuss. The house was wonderful and we had our own little guest house in the back. The beach was about 20 yards from the front door so the kids were thrilled.







You can check out many of the beach photos (more beach photos) or boardwalk photos here.

Saturday we did the boardwalk and the kids had a blast doing all the kiddie rides.







Claire and Kiira were so sad to leave each other Saturday that Kiira and I stayed.



Alas, Alan had a tennis match on Sunday so he and Evan headed back to Tiburon for a boys night Saturday and Sunday. Fun, fun, fun till my daddy takes the T-bird away....to steal a quote.

Sprink break and the City

Although spring break was a few weeks ago, I am just now getting around to posting our adventures.

I think it is easy to forget we live in an area where there is an abundance of activities for kids. Especially in these economic times, we opted for a fun filled close to home adventure for spring break. We live just far enough from the city to make it feel like it's a world away, yet close enough that most of the day is not eaten up in traveling to it. We are blessed. So....we journeyed in on one of the spring break days and fit in MANY of the kids favorite activities.

First stop - the ferry. It was a windy day which made it exciting to see the waves hit the windows of the ferry.



Once we got to the ferry building we took the "train" aka the F-Market Muni to Fisherman's Wharf. We went straight to the aquarium where the sharks were the biggest hit.





When Kiira was a baby I tried taking her to the Rainforest Cafe - she was scared and we had to leave just as soon as our bums hit the chair. Not so this time! Rainforest Cafe is pretty cool actually (and the food was surprisingly good). They have huge elephants, butterflies, gorillas, cheetahs, huge tanks of fish, vines on the ceiling, a big waterfall, twinkling lights on the ceiling, and best of all, they simulate a rainstorm like you'd have in the rainforest about every 20 minutes. The kids were mesmerized.

After lunch and some renewed energy it was off to Pier 39 to see the Sea Lions.



Then to the boardwalk to do the Carousel.



Back to the "train" (Evan's personal favorite).





A quick pick me up at Pete's Coffee while we waited for the ferry (and some bird watching).



And finally the ferry back home with some tired kids.



Yeah!!! Thankfully our babysitter Sarah came too to help with headcount so I actually went home with the same number of kids that I came with. Phew.