Soccer Season

Two weekend ago was the opening of soccer season and the first regular games were this past weekend. Andrew is playing on a team for the first time (he made the age cutoff by 11 days) and I am one of the coaches for his team while Gina has moved up to U8 girls. For Gina this means practice once a week, longer games on a bigger field, six players per side and a larger goal, but still no goalie.

Both Andrew and Gina got blue uniforms, Andrews team is the Rhinos while Gina's team is the Sharks. Andrew was really excited to get his own uniform and play in a game like his big sister. For the opening weekend, they have the under 5 and under 6 kids play some fun games with the coaches and then they spend about 20 minutes playing small games. The whole setup was fairly chaotic. They ended up pairing Andrew's team up with an under 5 girls team. It might have worked except that a couple of the boys have a clue about the game and none of the girls seemed to know what to do. Several ended up crying, I felt really bad about that. Hopefully the rest of their season will be better.

For opening weekend, Gina's team played two twenty minute games on Saturday and a longer game on Sunday and they won all three games. There are a couple of girls on her team that are really good. This past weekend, I didn't get to see all of Gina's game since I had to go coach Andrew's game, but apparently they won 9-2 and Gina scored a goal. It is really tempting as a parent to coach from the sidelines, yelling at your child to kick the ball, but I am really trying to resist the temptation and just watch the game and let her learn as she plays.

For the under 5 teams, they have half an hour of practice and then a half an hour for a game. We had the boys running around, practicing throw ins and dribbling. Then the team is split so that there are two 3 v 3 games going on. I didn't get a chance to really watch Andrew play but he said that he had fun.

First Day of 1st Grade

I know I am very behind on updating this blog with all the things that have happened this month, but I am getting to it.

Today was the first day of school and Gina is starting first grade. I don't know what time she woke up, but she was in my room at 6:45am with her dress on and needing me to zipper it up in the back. Andrew was up with her and they did a good job of waking Dylan up too.

I had figured out that Gina's school is only a mile away from our house, a reasonable walking distance. Gina's former preschool teacher doesn't drive and used to walk a mile with her son to school every day. If she could do it every day, I decided that we could do it at least a few times a week. Gina was all for it.
Andrew and Dylan got to ride the whole way. I ended up carrying Gina's backpack and pad of paper but she was a real trooper, keeping up with my quick pace. We left at 8am and got to school at 8:25am. I was busy handing out first day packets to all the parents and making sure Andrew didn't tip the stroller over with Dylan in it. It wasn't long before the 2nd bell had rung, the door opened and the kids started to go inside. I quickly got a few shots of Gina going into her classroom.
This year, she is in a 1/2 combo class and it is taught by two teachers: Marile on the right has taught for 35 years and teaches in the class 3 days a week. Jennifer, on the left, has been teaching 7 years and is in the classroom 2 days a week. There is also an aide who works 4 mornings a week.

When I picked Gina up at 2:30pm she was all smiles. She said she enjoyed coloring in her name tag best and she likes having her own desk. The school year is off to a good start.

Coming Home from Montana

A few more pictures from our vacation in Montana:

Above is Dylan looking out on the porch. A deer was in the yard but was gone by the time I took this picture.

One of the highlights for Gina and Andrew was going into town for ice cream. Here they are enjoying their cones after playing in the nearby park for a while. 

A highlight for Dylan was the cat, Hollyhock. She wasn't crazy about all the new people in the house. Initially she was under one of the beds and would come out at night once the kids were asleep. Once the kids figured out where she was hiding and chased her around the house, she felt safer in this cabinet in my dad's room. So Dylan would wander into the room every so often to look a the cat and the cat would stay huddled in the corner of the cabinet.

Going home was a two day ordeal. It would have been better to spread it out over three days. Once we got to Twin Falls Idaho, we stopped at a bookstore. I had wanted to get a book on tape but the only decent one for kids was Anne of Green Gables. Gina enjoyed it though Andrew got tired of it sooner. It did help the drive though to give them something else to listen to and give us a break from the Summer in Andyland CD.

Mexico City

I am finally getting around to posting about the International AIDS conference in Mexico City. It was four crazy days of talks and seminars with a little sightseeing thrown in. This conference is always fun to go to though a little overwhelming. There is a little bit of science, a lot of stuff on policy, social issues surrounding HIV and AIDS, and always a little craziness. There were 20,000 scientists, doctors, nurses, drug reps, people who work for non-government organizations (NGOs), activists, all from countries around the world working on the problem of HIV. I got to see Bill Clinton speak on the second day and he always gives a good speech. I didn't even realize he was on the program until someone mentioned that he was speaking in half an hour, but I rushed over and got a good seat in front of all the media cameras. There were the usual protesters and activists. Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera. But here is photo from the AIDS 2008 website:

I spent the last month working on an oral presentation given by a former student in the lab. The presentation was on her honors thesis from a year ago and since then she has been working at the NIH back East. So I got to rework her data into a 10 minute talk and then she got to get up in front of everyone and deliver it. She did really well and I'm just glad that she was able to make it so it wasn't me on the podium. Then we went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday and the talk. We went to a great Mexican restaurant that served huge margaritas. We split 3 of them between 8 people. I don't usually drink but I had margaritas and/or wine three nights in a row.

This picture above is from the opening ceremony. They had wonderful dancers and musicians doing traditional dances. Then there were a lot of speeches that went on for a bit, but I did get to see the Secretary General of the UN and the president of Mexico speak. 

The conference wouldn't be complete without giant walking condoms (below).  This area is where all the companies have their booths and the posters are in the back of the hall (I think 1000 posters were presented in all). There is another area called the Global Village where there is a lot of artwork, different kinds of media presentations and booths from groups mostly from developing and third world countries selling stuff to support various organizations. I bought a bracelet for Gina made in South Africa to support orphans and a beautiful pink and purple scarf from Thailand. It would have been very easy to spend even more.

I did get one chance to do a little sightseeing. One afternoon I headed over to the Anthropology Museum and wandered around for three hours. While I was there, it started to pour and then hail. I was definitely glad to be inside. Below is a huge stone tablet from an Aztec altar. It was originally thought to be a calendar and is often referred to as the Sun Calendar but now they think it was part of an altar where sacrifices were made.

Overall, I really enjoyed being in Mexico City. There are parts that are definitely beautiful but you don't have to go far to find parts that are very poor. The drivers in the city are insane. We had to take taxis a number of times and it is amazing that there are not more accidents. The cars just zip in and out of lanes, sometimes paying attention to lights and signs. In the evenings the traffic was incredibly bad. One evening it took over an hour to get to a place that normally should take 15 minutes.

In 2010, the conference will be in Vienna. I hope I get to go.

A $500 Mistake

I'm trying to catch up with all the events of the past month, so these posts are a little out of order. This post is about the end of my trip to Mexico. I'll do another about the rest of my visit to Mexico City.

My plan for leaving Mexico City was to take a 7am flight directly to SFO which would arrive at 9:45am which would leave plenty of time to go to San Jose to get a rental car for our trip to Tahoe the next day and then run a few errands before having to pick up the kids.

The bus service that I had paid for picked me up at the hotel at 3:30am, very early considering that at that time in the morning it took all of 15 minutes to get to the hotel (normally it can take up to 1hr to get to the airport in rush hour traffic). So my bags and I arrived at the airport at 3:45am and then had to wait 20 minutes for the United check in counter to open up.

Once I got up to the counter and handed over my ticket info and passport, the woman asked for the departing form. FORM?? It was the piece of paper that they tore off the entry form when I first arrived. I remember that form and I distinctly remember tossing it away the day before. Usually I save all that kind of paperwork, but this time I wasn't thinking. Fine, the woman said, you then need to go to immigration downstairs to get a new form. Immigration opens promptly at 7am. 7AM???!!! Exactly when my flight was supposed to leave and at 7am, it wasn't likely to be delayed. The next flight is at 6:30pm and gets into SFO around midnight. I felt my stomach sink. This would ruin all of my plans for the day, all over a stupid mistake.

I took my bags downstairs to immigration and sat by the door. I started to think about when I actually threw that piece of paper away. Maybe it was in the afternoon, after the maids had come in to clean the room? I was actually near the taxi stand and as it turns out, I had an extra ticket to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel. So I grabbed a taxi and headed back to the hotel. Fifty dollars later, I was back to the airport but no departing form. I was feeling just a little panicky just now. I went to the ticket counter to see what else I could do.

The ticket counter lady confirmed that the next direct flight would be at 6:30pm at an extra cost of about $200. Wasn't there anything else, even something that would go through Chicago or some other big city? She indicated that it could cost up to $700 more to do something like that but then she started looking at different options. The first option she came up with would take me through Washington DC and get me into SFO at 7pm. Well, that was better than midnight. She did some more checking. Finally she came up with a 8:30am flight on Mexicana airlines to LA and then LA to SFO, getting in at 2pm. Great! And how much extra was this going to cost? An extra $400. Definitely better than $700, so I booked it.

Then I got to wait in line at Immigration. It took another 20 minutes since I was no longer first in line, plus I had to go to the ATM just outside the office to get more money to pay the $50 to get a new card. But I was able to make my new flight. I got to sleep a little plus they served breakfast (green tamales) which I wouldn't have received on United. A short stop in LA with time to get lunch and I was back in the Bay Area around 2pm.

It then took 2 hrs to take a shuttle bus down to San Jose to pick up the rental car. I had just enough time to swing by the house and pick up my car which has all the car seats, get a few things for the kids to eat and then go pick everyone up. I had planned on taking them to the park to eat dinner so that part went smoothly.

Since we were headed up to Tahoe the next day, I was up until about 11pm getting stuff together. I think I was up for about 22 hours in all, a very long day.

Off to Montana

Back to a recap of our vacation.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Just over the border from Washington, Coeur d’Alene is a very nice vacation spot. We got to see the hotel and eat at a nearby shopping center. We got to see the lake from the car but didn’t have time to see any sites. It looked like they had a nice play area by the lake, definitely worth checking out if we go through there again (hopefully with better planning).

Mullan, Idaho

This is a little town of about 800 with a tiny downtown. They did have a small park and museum in the town center. When Andrew started saying: I WANT OUT NOW, this is where we stopped rather than going on another 10 miles to the next rest stop. We checked out the tiny museum and the kids had fun climbing on the stuff in the park. A brief but necessary stop along the way.

Darby, MT

When we first arrived at my dad's it was late in the evening so we headed out to a nearby resort for dinner. Here is Dylan taking a look at the bear in the dining room.

On our first morning at my dad's house, the kids were up and busy. My dad kept them entertained by taking them out to feed Buck the horse and explore the creek and pond. They came back in their pajamas, wet, muddy and happy.

In the evening, we grilled sausages and hot dogs on an open fire and then made s'mores for dessert. Gina and Andrew had fun turning marshmallows into charcoal though it was a little stressful keeping Dylan away from the campfire.

Here is Gina swinging on a rope that my dad put up in a tree.

While on the trip I discovered that I needed to put some money in my checking account. So where do you go when you are far from a city? It turns out there was an ATM where I could deposit a check in a little town called Stevensville, about 35 miles from my dad's house. Far, but not as far as driving back to Missoula. So we left the big kids with Boppa and took Dylan with us to Stevensville (the same town where SF mayor Gavin Newsom just got married). After driving 45 minutes to deposit a check that took all of 2 minutes, we had time to explore the town. We ended up at a very nice cafe and had a delicious lunch and then bought pastries and freshly made bread for the next day.

On our third day in Montana, we visited Big Hole Battlefield Museum, a memorial to the people who were killed during the Nez Perce Indian War in 1877. Our visit to the museum coincided with a visit by a member of the Nez Perce tribe and so the kids got to hear some of the stories that are told by the tribe, handed down to each generation. Andrew and Gina were fascinated by the stories, while Dylan was not about to sit around so I only caught pieces of the stories, mostly involving Coyote and other animals of the area and how the Nez Perce came to be. They both said that they really enjoyed listening to the stories.

Then we went to a swimming pool filled from a mineral spring at a nearby resort. Dylan walked around the shallow area while Gina and Andrew tried to swim a bit. I really should have gotten them into swim lessons before vacation so they would be more comfortable in the water. I’ll have to remember that for next year.

Andrew is now 4

Last weekend Andrew turned 4. Unfortunately he started out in a bad mood. Nothing was right and he was grouchy all day. My sister Alice came and that brightened him up for awhile since he got more presents but by the time dinner rolled around he was in no mood to go out. So instead, I went out to dinner with Alice and my mom, as well as Gina and Dylan, while Andrew stayed home with Vic and they worked on his legos together. He probably did have more fun playing with Vic than he would have sitting in a restaurant so it was a good call.

Last Saturday was his birthday party. Four of his friends from preschool came as well as another friend from Las Madres. With a couple of additional siblings, it was still a pretty small group compared to Gina's last two birthday parties. From this party I have learned that small is good. Andrew had a great time interacting with his friends, the jump house never got too crowded, and it was fairly easy to keep track of all the kids.

Here is Andrew surveying all his presents:

I made a rocket shaped cake for the party. The details of the cake are here. It turned out pretty well and tasted good too.
So far, 4 hasn't been much of an improvement on 31/2. He is easily frustrated when things don't go his way and then he becomes nonverbal, expressing his feelings in screeches and screams and refusing to talk. I'm hoping things will improve when he moves to the PreschoolIII room in a week. I am also working on how I deal with him before he gets to the frustrated part, emphasizing the positive when he does something correct. It is not easy being 4.

Off to Woodinville

Our first destination for our vacation was Woodinville, just north of Seattle, home to our friends Tom and Jone and their two kids Tom and Alex. I had the idea that we could get up early and get the van packed and leave at a very early hour. However, Vic ended up with a lot of last minute stuff from work, stayed up until 3am and so we didn't get on the road until 11am. This meant that we didn't make it as far as I had hoped and we had to search for a hotel at 9pm around Ashland Oregon. Ashland was of course filled, but we found a small motel outside of Ashland.

The next morning the kids were up early, Gina and Andrew got dressed right away and we were able to get on the road by 8am or so. One of our stops on the way was a small museum in Roseburg, Oregon. It was a nice little museum with lots of animal diorama exhibits as well as old tractors and cars. The kids had fun running around and it was a nice break. Of course, I discovered that my camera was out of batteries at this point so no cute pictures. We drove through Portland, then through a bit of rain, and headed for Seattle. We arrived at our friends house after dinner, definitely a long day of driving.

We spent our first day hanging out at the house with the Vrhels. Tom's parents also joined us as well as Tom and Vic's friend Matt with his family. It was full house with lots of kids. They had fun playing soccer outside, putting trains together inside and video games. Andrew and Gina had a great time playing with Alex who is 12 and is very good with little kids. I hope they didn't wear him out.
Our second day was spent visiting my friend Ruthann who lives about 40 minutes away. I hadn't seen her since our wedding and now she has two kids: Ingrid age 7 and Dan age 2 1/2. The kids had fun playing in the yard, making bubbles, and watching a little TV (so we could get lunch together). It was fun catching up with Ruthann and comparing kid notes. I hope it won't be another 7 years before we see each other again.

The picture below is supposed to include all the kids, however, Gina and Andrew decided that hiding behind me would be more fun.

Next, off to Montana.

Home from Vacation

We were gone a long ten days with a whole lot of driving. Way too much driving. For only a half an hour on the entire trip were all three kids asleep in the car. Dylan was often asleep as we were driving past some interesting place, so we often just kept driving only to have Andrew start complaining fifteen minutes later and wake Dylan up from his nap.

I loved seeing the countryside along the way. We drove through California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Nevada and it was interesting to see how the terrain changed along the way.

I will post more about the trip is a day or two with pictures, once I've recovered. The last two hundred miles home were particularly hard. Andrew fell asleep while we were driving in the mountains and woke up in Sacramento soaking wet (this after 3 bathroom stops within 20 minutes). He was completely unhappy at this point and it never really got better.

Last Day of Kindergarten

Thursday was the last day of school for Gina. I had her quickly make thank you notes for her teacher and teacher's aide last night. I had also bought some gift cards from Peets to put in the cards but when I went to get them, they were gone. I asked Vic at least three times if he had seen them and I checked all the usual places, but no gift cards. So in the morning before the kids were up, it was back to Peets to buy two more. Here is Gina showing the cards that she made to her friend Aidan.
After dropping Gina off at school, I went back home to take the boys to Dylan's daycare. Vic handed me an envelope that Andrew had decorated and had given to Vic as a present, complete with two Peets gift cards!

After recess, the parents were invited to join the class for the last hour of school. I got one last picture of Gina playing in the dirt,Gina's teacher had made a video of the kids saying the alphabet letters next to a page that they had made from their alphabet photo books. It was very cute. And then it was time to sing songs, including This Land is Your Land, Puff the Magic Dragon (luckily Gina was sitting on my lap, that song always makes me cry) and Hush Little Baby.Vicki gave each child a little bucket with crayons, a lucky penny, a chocolate kiss and a packet of forget me not seeds, and of course a big hug. And then the school year was over. Gina is excited about summer vacation but sad because she misses her teacher.


She has grown a lot in the past year. Besides growing about three inches, she started out the year reading simple words and now she wants to read books. She picked up Harry Potter today and tried to read the first few pages on her own. In the fall she didn't want anything to do with team sports and now she is really excited about playing soccer. I've enjoyed spending a few hours each week in Gina's class, seeing how she interacts with the other kids. Kindergarten has been quite an adventure and 1st grade promises to be just as interesting. We find out next week which class she will be in.

A Whole Lot of Driving

I've been doing a lot of driving the past four weekends. It started with my mom breaking her hip. Since she was going to be recuperating for an extended period of time, I didn't want to leave her car sitting in Sacramento. So we loaded up the kids and drove up to Sacramento. I then visited my mom with her car while Vic drove the kids back in my car.

Then the following weekend, we visited my mom up in a Rehab place in Petaluma. I took the kids by myself. Luckily my mom didn't have a roommate at the time so it was fine to hang out in her room for a while and then wander up and down the hall way. After about an hour I took the kids to a nearby park to run around for awhile before heading back so they slept the whole way home.

Last weekend, my mom got to go to her sister's house in Santa Rosa so we took the kids up for another visit, and this time Vic came along. Gina was getting antsy while we were driving through the City so I suggested she look for signs with the letter A. Her response was : Why should I do that? Obviously we haven't played too many games in the car.

And now this weekend, we drove up to Sacramento to celebrate Vic's father's 80th birthday. We actually got on the road before 9am which was a record and we made it up there just before noon, in time for lunch at the Red Lobster restaurant. We made our usual stop in Fairfield, more coffee for Vic and me and a trip through Petco for the kids to look at the animals The kids were very well behaved at the restaurant though Dylan was getting tired at the end. Once he had finished eating, he did not want to sit at the table so we visited the lobster tank and the fish tank a lot.

Hopefully all these car trips are good preparation for our big driving trip in July: up to Seattle for a few days and then to Montana.

Fathers Day Coffee

On Friday, Gina's class held a Father's Day Coffee for all the dads. I got to help out since it was my aiding day so it was fun to see all the dads with the kids. I spent the first part of the morning in the staff kitchen heating up the scones the kids made in cooking class.
The first part was in the courtyard with the kids singing songs and then everyone got to take part in a reading of Good Night Good Knight. The kids were the three different dragons and the dads got to read the part of the Good Knight. The kids enjoyed it, especially when they got to roar really loud, and the dads seemed to enjoy it as well.
Then it was time for coffee and juice. One of the dads also brought a crock full of sausage to make sure the spread wasn't too girlie, ie scones and fruit. Vic hasn't had much chance to visit Gina's class so he had fun seeing all the art on the walls and meeting some of the other dads. After eating, it was off to the playground. Gina got to show off on the monkey bars. Some of the dads got a chance to play four square with the kids and others climbed up on the play structure.

Mother's Day Tea

Last Thursday Gina's kindergarten class hosted a Mother's Day tea for all the moms. They have been preparing for this for weeks. Every time I've been in there aiding, I've had to remember not to pay too close attention to some of their projects. The teacher has even sent the moms outside to wash tables while the class discussed the upcoming day.

Each mom received a yarn flower corsage out in the courtyard and then the kids led us inside to the tables that they had set and decorated. They had worked hard all morning. I had brought teacups from my great-grandmothers china collection. I had to dig them out of a box in the garage, they don't get used very often (or never). Gina had decorated the placemat and made a napkin with her handprint on it. There was also a card with a drawing of me and why she loves me (SO CUTE!). The kids had also spent some time in cooking class making some of the cookies.


Next, it was time for the entertainment. The kids sang a Mothers Day song and then Hush Little Baby (definitely time for some tissue). Then they sang a third song and recited a poem about mothers.

There was plenty of tea to go with the cookies as well as lots of strawberries and lemon curd (YUM). Even though I spend a lot time in Gina's class working as an aide, my focus is not on her and she is usually off doing something else so this morning, it was fun spending time with Gina in her class.

After we finished eating, it was choice time and I figured hanging out at the playground would be a popular choice. The girls in the picture are trying to jump up and grab a flower off the tree. This kept them busy for quite a while.

Queen for a Day

Or at least 30 minutes. Today was Gina's birthday celebration in her kindergarten class. They make a big deal about each birthday and there is a special ceremony. I had to bring flowers and a snack for the class. Gina had requested that I make the snack so I was up very late last night baking. The request was for a healthy snack, ie not cupcakes, and so I made blueberry breakfast bars which did contain oats and a lot of blueberries, but were also loaded with butter and sugar. They definitely tasted good but I don't know that I would call them healthy.

When I arrived at school Gina was out on the playground playing circus with two friends. Then it was time to go inside for the birthday celebration. Gina put on her crown and cape and picked out a sceptre and then was led to the center of the class by the helper.


The kids sing songs about having a birthday and turning six. Then Vicki reads about each year in the childs life. After each year, Vicki led Gina around the table and then put one of the flowers in the center vase as the helper rang the triangle.


Here is what I wrote about Gina's 6 years:

Birth: Gina was born at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford on Friday May 3, 2002 to Betsy and Vic White.

1^st Year: During Gina’s first year, she enjoyed going to the park and to music class.

2^nd Year: During Gina’s second year, she went with her family on a long drive for vacation in Colorado; she learned to walk on this trip.

3^rd Year: During Gina’s third year, she welcomed her brother Andrew into the family.

4^th Year: During Gina’s fourth year, she flew on an airplane to San Diego; Gina loved visiting the San Diego Zoo.

5^th Year: During Gina’s fifth year, Gina welcomed her brother Dylan into the family and enjoyed going to Lake Tahoe for vacation.

6^th Year: During Gina’s sixth year, she started Kindergarten and learned how to ice skate.

Next, each child came up and handed Gina a paper star with a birthday wish in exchange for a blueberry bar. Every time someone said Thank You, Vicki rang the bell. The kids couldn't eat the snack until everyone had one. I had made a few extra so each of the parents got one as well. Then Vicki told the kids to take a bite and make a wish for the birthday girl, take a second bite and make a wish for the birthday girl's family, and then take a third bite and make a wish for themselves.

It was very cute and special. This was definitely a fun part of Kindergarten.

Running

I finally decided to start running again. It is definitely a love-hate relationship. I love running for the first five minutes or so and then it starts to get hard. My knees start to ache and I can feel every pounding step and then I start looking at my watch every 20 seconds to see when I can stop. So far I am only running about 2 miles at work, running for five minutes and then walking for 2.5 for a total of about 30 minutes. I am hoping it will get easier in a few days.

Gina is now 6

It is hard to believe that Gina is now 6 years old, she is getting so big. Yesterday was her birthday and she had a fun day playing soccer (she scored a goal) and playing in the yard. She requested dinner at Harvest Restaurant and got her usual hamburger.

Andrew got to go out with Vic to pick out a present for Gina. He was so excited, he could hardly keep from telling her what it was (a water sprinker toy for playing in the yard).

After presents, it was time for cupcakes. We had gone to Whole Foods in the morning and Gina loved the turtle cupcakes, so I got one for each. Andrew couldn't wait and tried to open the box before we were ready so it didn't look much like a turtle anymore, just a blob of green and brown frosting. And yes, there are only five candles on the cupcake, it was all I had.


Today was Gina's birthday party with all her friends from school. We had it at a park nearby with a jumphouse. As usual, I had certain plans, then procrastinated and felt very stressed getting everything for the party. On top of everything, Dylan fell down on the concrete in the back and got a HUGE goose egg on his forehead. After some ice, it looked better but definitely bruised.

For the cake, I ordered one from a friend who makes wonderful looking cakes and they taste great too. I asked for flowers and butterflies and got this beautiful creation.

Most of her class came to the party so there were a lot of kids. A few of the boys had to be evicted from the jump house from time to time but overall they were well behaved. Once all the kids arrived, Andrew wasn't sure what to do with himself. Gina was busy with her friends, he didn't want to play with his friend Julian, so instead he followed me around, taking a break every so often to grab a juice box.


Gina had a fun afternoon. Once everything was set up, I was able to relax a little and talk to the other moms. I think next year though we will try for a smaller party.

Weekend Away

This weekend, Vic and I got to go away from home to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. Okay it wasn't quite a full weekend. Gina had a soccer game on Saturday and so we didn't get home from that until 2pm. Then it took another 2 hours to finally get out of the house. It wasn't even a full 24 hours away from home, more like 20 hours, but who's counting. We didn't even go far away, just down the road to Los Gatos. But we had a nice hotel room for the evening, we had a very nice dinner at Forbes Mill Steakhouse, a restaurant we had never been to before, and most important of all, no kids. We got to admire other peoples kids (there is no shortage of kids and dogs in Los Gatos). I thought about calling my mom to see how things were going, but didn't until the next day. Turns out, they were angels, angels who got to go to the toy store. So they had a good weekend too. We need to do this more often.

Soccer Class

Andrew has been really looking forward to taking a soccer class. It must have something to do with watching big sister sign up for a soccer team and wear a uniform. In the morning he was ready to go with his shin guards and soccer socks. He insisted on wearing a shirt with a number on it, because you have to have a number on your shirt to play soccer.

He had a lot of fun running around with the soccer ball. It was a warm morning and bad mommy forgot the water bottle so after half an hour, he was ready to go home and get something to drink. He can't wait until the next class.

Gina and Dylan did a good job playing together during Andrew's class and posing together on a rock for pictures.

Chocolate Milk

With the first kid, you try really hard to feed them only good food and very little junk. I think Gina was three before she started to realize that you could get sweetened milk whenever we would go to Starbucks. At first I only got her regular milk. Then we (thanks to Auntie Alice) would get her milk colored pink with a few drops of raspberry syrup. By the age of 3 she was ordering her own drink: pink milk with two pumps.

By the time Andrew was two he knew all about the boxes of chocolaty goodness that were in Starbucks and he would make a beeline to the case to pick out his box. I would have to make sure he didn't start drinking it right away because otherwise he would be done before my drink was ready. Once the box was empty, it was time to go.

Now Dylan has discovered chocolate milk. At Easter the kids had boxes of chocolate milk and several were left partly full on the table. So he helped himself. Now when he sees one of those boxes of milk, he knows that it is something he must have.