Halloween 09

Of course, this year's Halloween had to be a Star Wars focused one. Even Daddy was drawn into the mix as Obi Wan with Ashton as Queen Amidala and Jacqueline as Ahsoka


Having no interest in joining in the Star Wars theme I went my own way getting a Poodle skirt and accessories. You might see me in this outfit again as it was comfortable and easy to wear. I was hoping to skip an outfit all together but Ashton was having none of that and I've learned in the last few years that while masks sound like a great idea they actually make it hard to keep an eye on the kids.Grandpa Bob joined again to help with the chaos that is the Burlingame candy rush. His costume got a lot of positive comments as well with his "H1N1 specialist" name tag and the gloves came in handy for the slew of kids we came in contact with.
Not only did we give out candy but we also had adult drinks to share with the neighbors as well. In addition this year each of the girls had an opportunity to go trick-or-treating with some neighborhood friends. This was an added bonus for all involved.

Halloween continues to be one of my favorite holidays in Burlingame.

KOA Camping

Well calling this "camping" might be a bit of a stretch. Kathi and crew were in RVs and we were in rented Cabins. We were, however, really enjoying ourselves with lots of family to visit with an tons of kids to play with. Add to that a camp environment setup for kids and you have a recipe for a great weekend. Bonus points for it being so easy being between Dad's and Suzie's house in Petaluma.


It was especially great that Grandpa Bob and Auntie Linn joined us a "day trippers".


The highlight of the trip for the girls was the power cars that Kathi brought.


Both girls took several trips around the park and even managed to pick up a few strangers along the way (?!) with a random kid deciding it was her turn to jump on.

We only had to suggest a few times that riding on the top of the car and not holding on was a bad idea.

*photo credits all to Grandpa Bob since it seems I didn't take any photos this trip as my iphone was in use making music to accompany the beer consumption.

h1n1 Attacks

Yup, I guess it was inevitable but the Bear household got the flu. To be more accurate, Ashton did. The rest of us went on Tamiflu and had mostly mild symptoms but as often happens they seem to last longer in adults. For me they included a sore throat and a lot of fatigue.

At the peak she spiked a fever of 103 but seemed to bounce pretty quickly after that. The hardest part was keeping her out of school since she does not like to miss that at ALL. Here is the trip to urgent care where she was not at all thrilled with the flu test.

Fence repair - Grandpa Bob Style

As Murphy's law would dictate we had a big storm while I was away at the OOW conference and Bob found himself without a side fence.

This would be a bummer under any circumstance, but for those who are about to do a large-scale construction project next year it seems even more cosmically obnoxious to us.



Luckily, Bob realized that we had just the right person to call to help repair the fence to hold it together for one more year without requiring a whole new fence to be built.

You guessed it, this was just the job for "Grandpa Bob the Builder". He came the next weekend with tools and supplies and helped us put in temporary supports to hold the fence together. Just the thing! Thanks Grandpa Bob, we are so grateful.

Jacqueline turns 4

There is nothing better than to have an older sister helping you enjoy your birthday. This year Ashton was a real cheer leader for Jacqueline. She started the day helping to get them both dressed up and was very excited to help show Jacqueline the gift we got her, a Barbie bike. Of course, we didn't realize that she would be afraid of actually driving the bike but luckily her sister was also willing to chauffeur.



It's true, we are now without any toddlers in the house. While I had been anticipating this day for a long time (and dreaming about if almost every time we traveled or had to deal with a tantrum) I found myself a bit emotional as it happened.

I also realized I could no longer convince her that a kids party was not important as she is now aware of the whole drill being a regular "extra" at several of Ashton's party invitations and even getting a few of her own.

Since she is four, of course this was a Barbie Princess party -- essentially covering all the required bases for coolness. Auntie Suzie came through with a new Princess dress that was one of the several costumes she wore as the event progressed.

Ashton put on her Mulan outfit and helped to entertain all the kids.

As I began to panic about all the preparation (and cost) of a party, Judy came to the rescue doing all the party work as her gift to Jacqueline. This was a good idea in a normal time, but turned out to be a great idea as I found myself sick on the day of the party itself.

The kids didn't notice with the beautiful party decorations, crafts and Shelly helping with face painting this "low key" party has now set an entirely new bar for the girls. So much for my attempt to reset expectations as to what a birthday party might involve. I guess that idea was pretty silly for me to consider given my personal love of the birthday.

Camping

We were a bit late getting a camping trip together this year and once we did we couldn't find anyone to go with us. I'm happy to report we went anyway and had a great time. We went to Memorial park which is nice and close and convenient.



It was a little late in the year, so our late arrival on friday night had us setting up camp in the looming dark. Since this was only the second time we have used our new tent there was some risk in the process, but we managed.

I did take a photo for next time, to orient ourselves with the rainflap, which is somewhat counter-intuitive for me (something I was convinced was overkill -- thank goodness I'm not in charge as it rained that night!).

This trip was a lot better due to the addition of my mother's day gift of my very own cot. I did feel a little guilty being the only one sleeping off the ground but my back was grateful even if the packing was a bit more of a challenge as a result.



We stayed two nights this time, which makes all the assembly a bit more worthwhile. Judy did all the food prep for us (yes we are spoiled) and Bob did all the gear gathering. I also went a bit wild with the new label maker marking everything easily delegated going forward [grin -- just kidding -- I think].

The big surprise of the trip was how much the racoons were out. The girls and I went to the bathrooms to brush teeth before bed and found ourselves faced with four large ones availing themselves of the water. It scared us a bit, especially when the fourth one did not leave with the other three and we had to go back in to encourage him that people were coming. The girls were mostly frightened and it took a bit of convincing to get them to enter the bathroom after that.


One great thing about Memorial park is that they have a bit of a swimming hole. I think it was at one time an actual pool, but now it's more of a creek. The best thing about this creek is that it can be entered by small kids without parents needing to join. I was especially appreciative of this part.

The only thing I'd change for next year is to hopefully remember to get our reservations in before the start of summer so we can go more than once. The whole family really enjoys the camping experience.

Too much force is with me

I don't know how it happened but some how my life has been invaded by Star Wars (and yes I blame Bob!). First it was the cartoon series, that introduced such complex discussions as "killing droids" and "what color is your light saber" and shouts of "I'm Ahsoka", "I'm Padme".

This quickly graduated to claims that the kids demanded to watch the movies and long discussions about which planet so and so came from etc. etc. For the majority of the discussions, I'm on record about being against this as age appropriate for a 3 year old and yet I seem to have no say in the matter.

We have now graduated to watching history channel programs on the science of star wars and now the girls have even asked Bob to start reading them the Star Wars books at night. We're taking turns where on mom's night we are reading the Little House series and on dads it's Star Wars. When they ask me to read Star Wars I stick to a similar story I used for painting nails... mom doesn't know how. My extended story is that since I don't know the proper names of all the places etc. I am ill equipped to read the books to them (which I might add are NOT children's books but young adult novels)

Today I hit a new low in the Star Wars fad when my youngest upon waking up came out and said "Mom, maybe I can teach you how to read the Star Wars books". Yes, this is now my life, a 3YO trying to teach me how to read a young adult novel. Where was that in the fine print of parenting? I'm seriously considering breaking out High School Musical or Hannah Montanna to fight back, but I know that will backfire!