Golden Gate

Your last chance to exit before hitting the toll plaza on the Golden Gate Bridge is at the Marin Headlands. On our way into San Francisco to meet Jed & Joette, we pulled over there for a brisk walk up the hill to see if we could catch a glimpse of the bridge through the bay fog.

We couldn't see much.  It was VERY foggy.

See what I mean?

We enjoyed the walk up the hill. The girls had been very excited about seeing the Golden Gate Bridge in person. The shot above was actually a lucky shot since most of the time we couldn't even see the bridge that well.  It was so foggy!

Still, it was nice to get out and stretch our legs in the crisp air before hopping back in the car to meet up with the JAWs.

 

Fun at the JAWs' House

After spending the night at Jotham's and Dana's house we met up with one of Damon's old friends, Huck, who lives in Palo Alto. We went to the park with his family and our kids got some great outdoor time. After lunch we headed out again to visit Jed and Joette at their house before returning to Damon's parents' that night. It was quite a day, that took quite a toll: we left a sippy cup and nightlight at Jotham's, our travel wipes container at Huck's, and a pacifier at Jed's. We had to make a stop at Target before heading north again.

Jed and Joette have a lake in their backyard! It's a manmade lake in the center of their housing development. When their neighbors moved, Jed and Joette bought their paddleboat. They keep it tied up at a gate in their backyard and anytime they want they can step out for a little trip around the lake.

One great part of the lake is that it's really just a few feet deep. Gunnar and Holly wore life jackets, but we were at ease knowing any rescue attempts would be relatively easy since both Damon and I could stand in the water. (Fortunately, we all came back dry.)

Off we go! The kids also took turns paddling. I'm sure we looked pretty comical switching places on the boat. We tried to at least do it by the side where Damon or I could hold on and keep us a bit more steady. Steering was a bit of a challenge, but eventually we made our way back to the right gate.  Then Jed and Damon took Christian, Kiera, and Anya.

Maggie, er, Cupcake the Clown, got some one-on-one time with Cotton Candy for some clown training.  They did her hair in fun pony tail and Joette gave Maggie a few new tricks.

Here's Cotton Candy at our house in July 2010.

Then Maggie got to practice face painting with Joette giving pointers. 

This tiger was a big improvement over her first attempt on Christmas day.

Maggie also did this butterfly on Kiera's face.

 

We wish we could have spent more time with the JAWs. We're excited to have them living closer (14 hours! It's all relative; San Antonio and Colorado were much further) and hope to see them more in the next few years.

San Francisco with the JAWs

My brother Jed and his family are now living just outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.  This is the same brother that we visited in San Antonio in April.  The Air Force keeps them hopping.  We used our holiday trip to CA to visit Damon's family and see Jed and Joette (known as the JAWs for their matching initials).

We rendezvoused on the south side of the Golden Gate Bridge and then drove through the Presidio and down to Ocean Beach for a little adventure in the sand and surf.

The aunt &uncles: Jillaire, Damon, and Jed (Joette was the photographer, obviously.)
The cousins: Gunnar, Holly, Maggie, Adah, Anya, Christian, and Kiera

Everyone stayed dried--except Christian's pants and shoes--and was happy enough to run from waves . . .

. . . and write in the sand.

After the beach we found lunch at a little bagel and sandwich place across from the San Francisco Zoo. We didn't see any lions. Then we drove to Golden Gate Park to the Conservatory of Flowers.  What a beautiful building:

Gunnar picked me a poppy. (Surely against the rules, maybe the law! I don't know. Utah's state flower is protected, but is this a California poppy?)

Hey, as long as it was picked, Adah was going to work it.

We wandered through the conservatory looking at interesting plants and flowers. 

In one wing they had an exhibit that was a tribute to Funland, an amusement park/midway/carnival that used to be on Ocean Beach.

These fun house mirrors were a big hit. Check out Anya!

Once we'd seen all the plants, flowers, and wacky mirrors, we decided to call it a day with the JAWs. It was probably only about two or three o'clock, but we knew the kids weren't up for too much more. We send them on their way and we continued to drive through Golden Gate Park and eventually found a spot to get out and go on a little walk by a lake. The kids tried to feed animal crackers to some squirrels.  One took a cracker right out of Adah's hand! Then Maggie gave it a try and ended up getting scratched on several fingers. She's not such a fan of squirrels anymore.

After the park we took a drive through the city and headed over to Chinatown. It was dark by the time we arrived there. We were pretty worn out, and 3 of the 4 children were asleep! We opted to continue our sight-seeing from the car and head out of the city for dinner before bunking at Jotham's and Dana's house for the night.

To Grandmother's House We Go

On the day after Christmas we headed to California for a visit to our family there.  We spent the night in Medford, OR and arrived at Damon's parents' in Redwood Valley, CA well before dinner on December 27.  We were happy to find Damon's entire family there: Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Justin, and Uncle Jotham, Aunt Dana and cousins Cassie and Braden.

Everyone was eager for "second Christmas" since none of us had given our gifts to each other yet. It was a mess of packages, wrapping paper, and ribbons, but so much fun.

[hoping to insert photos here from Dana's camera; come visit again!]

The next day was Cassie's birthday, so we started the day with more presents after breakfast--and cake! That afternoon Damon's parents hosted a party for many of their local friends. We enjoyed all the excellent food Joanna (Damon's mom) made and also meeting and visiting with people with whom Damon grew up.

Jotham, Dana, Cassie, and Braden had to leave after the party so they could be back at work the next morning. We were lucky to have the rest of the time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Justin. We went into Ukiah for some shopping and sightseeing. Damon and Justin showed us their high school. We also just did lots of playing and relaxing around the house. The kids got plenty of fun new toys for Christmas and Justin gave Damon a video game unit that plugs right into the TV and has a bunch of 80's arcade games on it. There was no shortage of fun things to do on this relaxing vacation.

The kiddos loved helping Grandma in the kitchen. On New Year's Day they prepared a salad bar for dinner and the kids helped chop and arrange all the vegetables so that everyone could make their own custom salad.

 

 

We sure enjoyed spending the time with all of Damon's family that week. It's possible that it was our last visit to Redwood Valley and Ukiah. Damon's parents are building a new home on the central California coast and hope to have it finished in 2012. So, maybe next time we're all together it will be at the beach!

Christmas Day

We begin our Christmas morning each year with kids waking us up around 7:00. (They're not allowed to come in any earlier, but there's always some mishap where we're woken earlier and have to tell them to come back later.) Then we read the Biblical account of Christ's birth in Luke 2.  This is the culmination of 12 days of scripture study centered around Christ's birth and the prophecies and events leading up to it. After this time to pause and remember why we're celebrating Christmas, we head out to the tree for the fun of Christmas morning presents.

This year, Christmas was on a Sunday and we had church at 10:00. At our children's suggestion, the plan was to see what gift Santa had brought and to open our stockings before church. Then we'd come home after church to really dig into the rest of the pile.  As Maggie put it, "I don't want to be interrupted."

Everyone bounded down the hall upon this scene.  Santa Claus brought Gunnar a wooden workbench with tools and nails, and a real retracting tape measure; that's what he's looking at in the photo.  Holly got a collapsible tunnel.  It's the green and pink hoop at  Adah's left. 

Maggie and Adah were looking everywhere for their gifts from Santa. It seemed that perhaps he'd forgotten, until we spotted the note on the piano pointing them into the family room.

In the corner of the family room was this desk and a note from Santa indicating that the box by the other wall held a second desk that their handy dad could put together:  one desk for Maggie and one desk for Adah. I wish I'd had a video camera set up to get Maggie's reaction. She screamed, ran over to the desk, then ran back and collapsed in some kind of ecstasy on the couch. In the photo below she has returned to the desk and is happily pounding on it while yelling something about being so excited to have a desk. These girls have been wanting their own desks forever, but have such a small room that it didn't seem possible.  However, with a little creative rearranging, we made them fit. It's snug in their room now, but they can both sit and draw and write.

We also opted to open one more gift before going to church. Adah got Legos. That was a big surprise because we'd been telling her that she couldn't have them until Holly was older. I loved the look on her face when she realized what she'd opened. I love making my kids happy.

Maggie's pre-church gift was her first Barbie. We've been able to avoid that route for awhile, but last Christmas she got a Barbie-sized ballerina doll and I wanted to find her another ballerina so when she has a friend over they can each have a doll. (As it was, she would never play with her stage and ballerina when friends came over.)  Barbie was the only ballerina I could find. So, now we have a Sugar Plum Fairy Barbie.

Here Maggie and Adah are inspecting the Phineas & Ferb toothbrushes that Santa put in their stockings.  Gunnar's still inspecting his tools.

We have sticky buns for breakfast on Christmas morning. I prep them (sometimes with kid help, if we remember early enough) on Christmas Eve and then they bake while we open gifts. We eat them while drinking the Martinelli's apple juice from our stockings.  Look at this happy crew!

After a lovely hour or so at church, we headed back home where Damon and I put on some comfy clothes and all the kiddos changed back into their jammies. It was pretty fun to still be opening gifts at noon!  I didn't pull the camera out until later when we were playing with all our toys.

Maggie was so excited to receive a face painting kit, and Damon graciously agreed to be her first victim, er patron.

He's a Dalmatian.  And he wore that face paint the rest of the day, including on a surprise visit he made to some neighbors. He got some pretty funny looks when they opened the door.

Gunnar was a tiger.  Maggie's still learning. She did the black first and then tried to put the orange on top. It comes out looking brown in the photo. Neither of them cared, though. It was so much fun! Gunnar got a Thomas the Train engine to match his other engines and train tracks. He also got more Duplos, a piggy bank, and lion and tiger figures.

Maggie's other fun gift was "clown stuff." She got a colorful shirt, a tiny hat that looks like a cake, juggling scarves, and several magic tricks and pranks.  She wants to be a clown when she grows up, just like her aunt Cotton Candy.  Maggie's clown name is Cupcake (hence the hat). Another favorite present was a pogo stick (a rummage sale $4 find!). She's pretty good at it already.

Adah's number 1 gift was a vet kit. I got her a doctor's kit and added a few extra things, like bandages and a medicine dropper. I also made little patient charts and put them on a small clipboard. It was all inside a bag that I personalized with an iron-on transfer. It says "Adah McMillan, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine."  It was a bit of work, but fun to make and a big hit with the future vet. She gave several check-ups to the stuffed animals of the house on Christmas.

Holly got several dolls. I gave her the matryoshka (Russian nesting) cloth doll that I found on etsy. Isn't it adorable? Maggie bought her the little blue and pink doll without even realizing Holly had pajamas in the exact same colors. Adah made a doll for Maggie using a wooden disk for a face/head, a paper towel roll for a body, and cloth for a dress and hair. It's very creative. 

Damon and I decided to get a new computer for Christmas, so soon we'll be using our new laptop! Damon made me a beautiful hanger for necklaces. It's something to hang on the wall with posts for the necklaces. I need to take a picture to show it off because it's so cool. He put metal posts in a piece of wood, but then put beads on the ends that look like knobs. Really, I should take a picture. Stay tuned. I gave Damon a new fleece (he wears one practically all the time in the winter) and a book on extreme weather.

These are just a few highlights of our Christmas goodies. We feel so blessed to be in a position to get fun and nice gifts for each other. I didn't do a good job of documenting our bounty. I wish I'd documented the kids' gifts to each other, as they each took time to make something for their siblings. They wanted to do it and it was fun to see them thinking of each other.

Christmas Eve Cookies

If you know me well, you know that all my favorite desserts contain chocolate.  Still, once or twice a year I have to make my Aunt Donna's sugar cookies.  They are THE best sugar cookies, and every year my mom returned from her sibling (adult only) Christmas party with a tin full of them for our family.  For me, it's just not Christmas without some of these cookies.  This year, though, I almost skipped them.

We often have a snowy Sunday with canceled church when we stay in and bake and decorate with the kids.  That never happened this December.  For some reason, I just didn't get around to making them early in the month, and the recipe makes so many that you have to give some away.  I'd already distributed goodies to our friends and neighbors and had a kitchen counter full of treats from them. Baking a giant pile of cookies and then loading them with more sweet stuff just seemed like too much.

Yet...it just didn't feel like Christmas without a tray of cookies and bowls full of colored frosting and candy on the table surrounded by the family.  So, on Christmas Eve day I settled in with the kids while Damon finished his shopping (truly) and baked a half-batch of Aunt Donna's sugar cookies.  That didn't seem so overwhelming, and the kids and I had a great time decorating (and eating) these fluffy, yummy cookies.

 

 

 

Holly's First Hairdo

December 21, 2011: First pigtails!

Holly often finds her big sisters' hair rubberbands and then comes to me holding one to her head and making her "uh-uh-uh" noise that means she wants something. This was the first time she actually let me get 2 pigtails in her hair, and left them in long enough to have a photo shoot. Since then she's actually kept in pigtails long enough to leave the house.  It just takes a few minutes of distraction for her to forget they're really there. : )

What a cutie!

Here's the best shot I could find of a non-pigtail day:

 

Still a cutie.