Christmas Fun

Here is the tree all ready to go with presents under the tree and cookies and milk ready for Santa. Gina even made sure there was a table cloth on the little table for the milk and cookies.

It took a while to get the kids settled at night since they were so excited. But at least they didn't get up at the crack of dawn. Instead they let us sleep until 8:30am.

Gina got her roller skates which she has been talking about for months. Andrew got several lego kits, including one from Star Wars. Dylan got a Mr. Potato head and several other toys but his favorites were a bag of M&Ms and a pack of gum. He carried them all morning, and wouldn't open his other presents without help. The writing on the package of M&Ms was starting to disappear before he finally got to open it up and eat a few.



The kids enjoyed playing with their new toys all afternoon though Gina didn't get to try out her skates until the next day because we couldn't find her helmet.

After Dylan's nap it was off to my cousin Mollie's house for a delicious Christmas dinner of coq au vin.

The kids had fun playing with their cousin Declan's new toys and he was great with sharing.
The blue ukelele was his favorite present, he even took his nap with it. Eventually all the other kids got a turn with it as well and Declan didn't complain. Gina led them on a merry game of hide and seek and then chase through the little house.

Christmas Eve

We finally got our Christmas tree up on Christmas eve. We had bought the tree over the weekend but didn't put it up until Wednesday morning. Vic had to go to work so he set it up in the stand and then the kids and I set to work putting on the lights and ornaments.

Gina was very excited about Christmas coming. When she first got up in the morning, she set up a small table in the living room and put out the cookies and milk for Santa. Of course, Dylan came along and ate the cookies. Then all day he talked about "ate Santa's cookies". Then just before bed, Gina set up the cookies again and once again Dylan came along and ate the cookies. Finally, Gina got to put the cookies out when Dylan was safe in his crib.

The Nutcracker

Today I took Gina and Andrew to see a performance of the Nutcracker along with Nana. It was a children's matinee so it was only the first part, about an hour long. We saw the same performance last year and Andrew was scared of the loud canon.

Out in front they had the performers. Both kids loved to see them up close but didn't want to get close for a picture. I loved seeing the Nutcracker as a kid and it is fun going again with my own kids. Gina enjoyed the performance but announced it was too short. Andrew on the other hand, once again was really scared by the loud cannon (It is really LOUD) and started crying at that point. He seemed to enjoy the other parts of the performance but announced that he wasn't going to go next year. I guess next year I will take Gina to a full length performance and see if we can find one with a cannon that isn't as loud.

Visit with Santa

On Sunday we went to Los Gatos so that the kids could tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. All three were very excited. Of course, it was a little wet out but the rain held off for the most part while we stood in line. For 40 minutes. I bought some kettle corn to munch on while we waited and Dylan was happy to sit in the stroller for most of the time.

Gina walked right up when it was her turn and listened carefully and then told Santa what she wanted for Christmas. Then Andrew walked up, a little bit more tentatively but he was eager to ask for his Star Wars lego set. He even smiled when I took his picture. Dylan walked up on his own as well, but wouldn't say a word or smile. Then I got a picture with all three. Overall, a successful outing to see Santa.

Dylan is now 2

Dylan had his 2nd birthday this last weekend. He seemed very excited about it. We had a small party for him with a few of his friends and their siblings as well as Uncle Rich and Aunt Toni. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time playing outside in the front and back yards.

I had grand plans to bake a cake but it didn't quite happen. So plan B was going to Baskin Robbins for an ice cream cake which turned out to be very popular. I should have bought a bigger cake (or an extra quart of ice cream) because it was gone with several kids asking for seconds.


After the party we opened up a few of his presents. Big brother and sister were very eager to help. He definitely likes this talking Elmo toy but his favorite seemed to be a carmel lollipop that Gina gave him. It was the first thing he asked for after his nap.

Dylan is turning into an interesting little kid. He has some similar characteristics with Gina and some with Andrew. He can be so serious sometimes and other times his face lights up with joy. He has started throwing tantrums too. Sometimes he will just put his head down and refuse to look up. Other times he starts biting my pants or kicking. He wants to be included in what ever big brother and sister are doing.

On Monday I brought cupcakes to Dylan's daycare for snack time. The kids sat outside to eat them. Dylan took one bite and then just held his cupcake and wasn't interested in eating it. Maybe it had too much frosting. His friend Katrina though thoroughly enjoyed hers.

Growing Up

Last Monday this is what I saw when I got up at 7am. Gina dressed, with her hair (mostly) brushed and in a ponytail, and busy making her lunch of peanut butter and huckleberry jam sandwich (her favorite at the moment). Andrew had also figured out how to get dressed ALL BY HIMSELF. I think that was a first. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself with all the extra free time. Of course everything was back to normal the next morning, though Andrew did decide to pick out his own clothes and get dressed without any fuss.

I would love to have a few more of these mornings.

Halloween Fun

Yesterday was one long day of costumes and sweets. In the morning, Andrew had a Halloween parade at his daycare. Every year, all the kids walk to the eagle in front of the VA Hospital and the doctors and nurses come out to watch. The police even escort the kids. Even though we have been there 6 years, this was the first year I got to see the parade and Vic came as well. It was a little wet, but the rain held off long enough for all the kids to walk to the eagle and back without getting wet. Here is Andrew Superman with his best friend Colin. They were very cute holding hands during the parade.
In the afternoon, Gina's school had her Halloween carnival. Because of the rain earlier in the day, all the activities were in each classroom instead of outside but they still had the parade out on the blacktop. Below is Gina's class. Gina and her friend Noya were both Supergirl. Usually the parade consists of the principle called out " All Superheroes" and all the superheroes run around on the field. This year they didn't have the microphone set up so each grade paraded around the circle. It was still fun.

Then at night it was time for trick or treating! The two superheroes and the baseball player were ready to go. Dylan followed big brother and sister up to each house and then was very excited afterwards and showed off what he got each time. Boppa came with us while Vic manned the candy bowl at home. The rain held off and the kids got plenty of candy.


Last year they ate some of the candy and we ended up throwing a lot of it away in the end. This year I've convinced them to save their seven favorite pieces and then we are going to send the rest to a soldier in Iraq to share with his buddies. So hopefully this year the candy will all be enjoyed.

Pumpkin Carving

After putting off the kids for several days, we finally got around to carving one of the pumpkins. Last year we carved it several days after Halloween so this is an improvement. Gina was very excited about scooping out all the goop and then roasting the pumpkin seeds. Andrew was more interested in tasting the raw pumpkin flesh which he says he liked. Dylan wanted to help, put his hand inside the pumpkin and then decided he didn't like the gooey stuff and demanded that his hands get washed. Andrew was happy to just draw a face on his pumpkin.

The Age of Realization

Dylan has finally recognized that he has to take a nap in the afternoon and his brother and sister do not. He is not happy about it. Yesterday, I put him down for his nap and he cried and cried. He finally seemed to settle down but only for an hour. Normally, he takes at least a two hour nap. Then today, I tried to get him down just before taking the other two out. Again, he cried and cried. I left and when we returned two hours later, no nap. Vic said he cried for about 30 minutes and so he got Dylan up. He seemed fine though he fell asleep in the car on the way back from getting groceries. He did go to sleep a half hour earlier today but he started out crying "No nap." After a couple of minutes he had a change of heart, asked for a toy car and lay down in the bed. I guess he is really a toddler now.

Pumpkin Patch

A week ago on Saturday we visited a nearby pumpkin patch with some friends. The kids were very excited to dress up in their costumes. Gina is Supergirl and Andrew is Superman (Lame mom forget to check on the battery for the camera so I was dependent on others for the pictures). Below is Gina with her friend Gabriel. I also have a Giants baseball outfit for Dylan. It was originally bought for Gina but she never wore it and neither did Andrew. I bought an official baseball cap to go with it as well (I actually went twice because he apparently does not have a toddler size head). But when it came to putting on the outfit, he refused. He also turned down the giraffe costume that has been handed down from the bigger kids. So he wore the hat for a while but not for any of the pictures. He may end up going out trick or treating dressed as a toddler, we will have to see.

Haircut Day

This morning we were all set to go to Andrew's soccer game. I was dressed, Andrew had his uniform, I was looking for his shoes (which I never did find) and then... it started to rain. Five minutes later there was a notice that the soccer fields were closed because of the rain. So no soccer. If this had happened 30 minutes earlier I could have gotten the kids into their Halloween costumes and headed over to a Halloween party. Instead, the kids wanted to play in the rain. The rain only lasted about 15 minutes so they were happy to play in the mud. As always, they became covered in mud, even Dylan. Now he wants to be part of whatever is going on.

While Dylan took his nap, I remembered that Andrew has school pictures on Tuesday. Gina wanted a haircut and Andrew was looking a little shaggy so we were off to the haircut place with Nana. They ended up being busy but could take all three kids later in the afternoon. So we went back two hours later with all three kids. The kids played upstairs since it wasn't quite time but then Andrew started calling: Mama! Mama! Accident time. Of course I had forgotten a change of clothes so I rushed Andrew home to change while Nana looked after the other two. When we returned, Dylan's hair was done. My mom was a little shocked at how short they cut it, but it looked similar to his last haircut. Gina was happy with her hair especially since they put glitter and a new clip in it. Then it was Andrew's turn. I told the woman I wanted his hair curly but not so fluffy. In the past that description has been fine. She even asked if I wanted it as short as Dylan's and I said No, longer. This time though she took out the clippers and the next thing I knew, blond curls were falling to the floor. His hair ended up being very short. And no curls. Next time, I will insist on only scissors.

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.