Beat the Heat

Our week started with this.

An ominous weather report AND a little seven year old pouring over her birthday book (a book of drawings and notes from all her friends in first grade) and sobbing:  "I. Miss. My. Friends!!" while listening to sad songs on her CD player.  Yah, that happened.

Splash!

So what's a Mom without a pool to do?  Well, I guess schedule a play date with our first grade classmates at a local splash park.  So, I sent a quick evite to both first grade classes and 8 friends responded plus little siblings and visiting cousins making it a healthy expected 25 total attendees and we had ourselves an impromptu "Summer Party" - (which just happens to be #4 on Athena's Summer Adventure List).

We acquired a couple of tables under the shelter to keep our shared fruit, cookies, gatorade and juice boxes in the shade.  Each Mom brought lawn chairs, blankets, unbrellas and shelters which we combined to make our "Tent City."  And we filled a cooler full of ice cream sandwiches, popsicles and ice cream cups to enjoy throughout the afternoon.  Did you know that a block of dry ice will keep your ice chest as cold as a freezer for hours on end?  I did not, but now I do.

 The little siblings and proud, soon-to-be-kindergartners gathered for a photo.

 We had bubbles,

and sidewalk chalk that quickly turned into body art,

and dollar store sprayers,

and lots of wet water spray toys.

Jack was right in the thick of things and looked just like a little boy.

It was a great way to "beat the heat," reconnect with old friends we were missing...

 and make this little seven year old (and her siblings) very, very happy.

A Midsummer's Day

Athena's summer adventure list has been an awesome guide steering us through our otherwise quiet summer.  Every other day I'll ask her "what are we going to do today?" (ala Phineas and Ferb) and she'll thumb through her book and find one or two possible options.  Many are very easy to accomplish, like "Go to the Pool" or "Make cookies" (check and double check) others require a day's outing.

Today we went to our Kern County museum.  Athena remembers this museum from the time we went with our old CoOp preschool and put this on her list because it has been years since we've gone.  Jack and Zoe were both eager to go too, but upon clarification thought we were going to the awesome cool children's museum in the desert.  No, this is a very different children's museum, far less interesting as I remember, but something to do on a hot summer afternoon.  So off we went, though not after I tried to persuade them to go to the dollar movie theater instead.

It turned out to be a fantastic experience.  I remember the kids discovery center, the only part of the museum we visited last time, as being quite lame and even though it had a paint job since our last visit it still was completely unimpressive.  But, the rest of the "museum" was new to us and really cool.  It's not just one building but 50 or so stand alone structures that reflect the pioneering, gold mining and oil drilling history of Bakersfield.  Actual pioneer log cabins were resurrected here, transplanted from their original locations and lovingly restored with artifacts from the day.  It was like going back in time.

We couldn't walk freely through the buildings, but we were allowed to open doors, stand behind plexiglass and peer inside how Bakersfieldians lived a hundred years ago. Each house was an everyday still life of a variety of different homes, from massive Victorians to one room cabins.  Each home had a plaque describing the people that used to live in them.  One family raised eight children, right after the civil war, in a log cabin smaller than our living room.

Beyond the residences, there is also a whole little village of public buildings which helped us really get a glimpse of how people lived when Bakersfield first began.  We explored a train station (Jack's favorite), a general store, a dressmaker, a bank, a post office, a slaughter house and sausagry (ick), a drug store, a chinese tea house, a school (Athens's favorite), a church, a restaurant and hotel, and an undertakers (Zoe's favorite).

The kids learned so much in the hour we spent running around the Kern County museum, like where "old" water comes from, that lunch boxes used to be tin pails, and what an outhouse is.  We saw about 75% of the whole place, but will definitely be back.  It was just so hot today we pooped out without exploring every corner.  I still can't believe it has taken me four years to get here and am so embarrassed that I completely dismissed it when my adventurous friend Jill suggested we go during her visit last year. 

But in all honesty, I had only been to the kids section, which is still pretty drab.  Even so the kids LOVE it, one big room with a variety of little cubicles representing "Kid City."  An auto repair shop (Jack's favorite), a theater (Zoe's favorite), a fire station, a restaurant, a jail, bank and television studio (Athena's favorite).

 

I lured them away from Kid City after an hour and a half with promise of Tutti Frutti, and as he slurped the last bits of his Rocky Road frozen yogurt with rainbow sprinkles, Jack declared today the "best day ever."

So another adventure for the book.  I am so thankful for my fun, venturesome little seven year old getting us out of our usual Saturday routine and I vow to be more of an world explorer, even with three little ones, like my friend Jill.

 Oh yea and post script...not only is everyone now asking or assuming that Zoe and Athena are twins...they purposefully dress exactly alike these days and pretend to be twins.  Ah...sisters.

What Zoe Wrote...

Zoe lost her second tooth today and felt compelled to write to the tooth fairy and cut a deal.

She woke in the morning with the tooth gone and two dollars inside her note.  The tooth fairy, she surmises, flies around collecting teeth and taking them back to build things with in tooth fairy land.

Summer so far

 

 Here that?

crickets

That is the sound of our summer...

...a very quiet summer of very little going on.  No big trips to New York planned.  No weddings to be in.  Not even a July 4th road trip on the horizon.  I'm a little sad about our blank calendar, but its also easier to be home bound and so necessary this year - both for monetary reasons and work, it takes focus to build a business.

I do worry that the monotony will get to the kids and they will turn on each other, or us.  And I wish we could plan trips to Hawaii, or Disneyland, or dude ranches or frickin' Africa like Facebook tells us their friends are enjoying.  But that is just not possible this year.

Luckily we have lots of friends and family not too far away and we can plan a couple of weekend getaways or have them visit to break up the everyday.  Instead of traveling we are keeping busy.  The two little ones are in day care every morning

and Athena is LOVING her morning art camp.

 I pick them up at noon, then typically we go on an excursion, errands or grocery shopping,

or a visit to the "liberry"

the playdates at friends' pools are the best.

If a pool isn't available, a sprinkler will do. 

 After afternoon activities, we come home for quiet time and naps, dinner and bed.  

Pretty boring.

 
But when I get to spend nearly every waking moment (exceptforthoseblessedthreehourstomyselfinthe morning) with the people that I love, its also pretty awesome.

Even a quiet summer can be a happy summer!

End note: Every 2:45 my phone alarm goes off, my reminder to "pick up Athena" from school, since there is no school now Athena just jumps into my arms and I "pick her up" for a kiss, followed by Zoe and then, of course Jack.  A nice reminder of what summer is all about.

Who's taller?

 

 Zoe ate three tacos at dinner last night.  

I think she is going through a growth spurt.  

Gonna leave Athena in the dust soon.

Summer Adventure Book

#24 Make a Bouquet

Summer is here and we have one bored 7-year old.  Jack and Zoe have day care through the summer, but Athena is out of school - no more uniforms, no more schedules, no more homework...totally care free!  She wakes after her siblings are already dressed, fed and on their way.  Bed headed and groggy she'll flip on a program, collapse on the couch and eventually make her way to the breakfast table.

Even though her school is out, I'm still working, so unfortunately our mornings can't be filled with one on one special mommy-daughter outings as much as I would like them to be.  I need her to find quiet, independent activities and to turn that television down please.  Luckily, her art camp, the only camp we can afford this summer, will start in two weeks and then her mornings will be full of painting and drawing and sculpting on the University campus.  Until then we have to make do.

But I believe in boredom, and usually about mid-morning I make her turn off the television and do something else.

Not really sure what to do at first, Athena has come up with a "To Do" list for summer (um...who is this child).  A "summer bucket list" - before summer bites the dust.  She's up to 44 things she wants to do and adds more each day.  Each one has a number and is written neatly on the top of a blank journal page. 

She is taking her journal, her Summer Adventure Book, everywhere with her and after looking it over for a bit in the morning she'll say "Mom, I know what I'm going to do today!" and then try to accomplish one or more things on her list.  The plan is to write about each one, pasting pictures if there are any.  With only 70 days left of summer vacation (I counted) she's now got quite alot to fill up her time.

So far, she has:

#29 Fly a Kite

#18 Make Dinner

# 33 Have a Princess Dance Party

I'm looking forwarding to posting about "#1 Go horseback riding" and "#2 Camp in the backyard" and "#42 Swim in Baba's pool" and many, many others. Guess someone will soon be taking over the blog.  Good thing too, seeing as I am such an unreliable manager (9 posts so far in 2012...ugh!).

*****

And because I have been such a poor steward of the blog lately, every time I post a new post I am going write a pre-dated post to fill in the gaps (uh, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, Easter and Halloween).  I'll  put a link on the bottom of the new post for anyone who wants to go back in time with me.   Even though I lost my "voice" lately, this is such an important record for our family, we refer to it all the time...and I don't want this year's blog book to be 12 pages long!

First pre-dated post is ... Jack and Lil' Leo, a post I started weeks ago but only just completed.

Run, Julie, Run: Chapter One

I never imagined I would ever be a runner.

I know it is one of the best and quickest ways of getting in shape, but I didn't want to do it - my knees hurt, it was hot, it was boring, I didn't like it and a million other excuses.  But we had to cut our gym membership (and many other "necessities" like our house cleaner gasp) out of our budget so that we can survive that much longer as Chris builds his business and my days of paying $80/month and planning to go the gym (but rarely ever getting there) are over.

What am I going to do without my gym membership?  I whined to Chris.  You could finally start running? said the seasoned runner and convert since before Athena was born.  I'm still hanging on to 20 pounds from my pregnancy with Jack, and they are not going to go away by themselves, so I finally said okay.

The day after I agreed to start a running program, Chris signed me up for a 5k, printed a training plan and put it on the refrigerator.  The race was weeks away, but I would start with run/walks that gradually increased the amount of running time.  The first run/walk had two minutes of run time.  I didn't think I could run the whole two minutes.  I ran down the dirt road into the carrot farm at the edge of our neighborhood for one minute and ran back, gasping and huffing and puffing the last few seconds.

But its amazing how quickly your body can adapt.  Days and weeks passed and my runs incrementally increased.  I even started to kind of like it.  There is a simplicity to running.  All you need is your shoes and the workout begins the minute the sun hits your face as you open your front door.  No need to pack and prepare and schedule and loose hours out of your day.  It's quick and efficient and I like that.

Still running an entire 5k seemed like an impossible task and all too quickly the day came for my race.  I had only run a whole three miles once so far in my training program, and 5k is 3.1 miles.  On the day of the race, I woke up before the kids, got dressed, fueled with coffee, banana and granola bar and went on my way.  The kids weren't even up yet, but Chris would get them up and meet me at the park.  I didn't want to be late, I left early.

Chris gave me the lowdown on appropriate race conduct and some final coaching.  Don't put the race tee shirt on, that's a rookie mistake. Sign in get your swag and take it back to the car.  Tie your car key to your shoelaces.  Stay in the back of the pack.  Don't run too fast to start.

It was exciting at the park, lots of runners (250?) with their various running gear and dogs - a canine run to support a local no-kill dog shelter.  Next year, I may bring Tess.  But not this year, I'm too green and she runs too fast for me.  At race time, I got in the back of the pack, there was a countdown and we were off.  My first observation is that I run slow, really, really slow.  Even at the back of the pack, everyone was passing me.  A family with two beautiful long haired huskies.  A mom with her five year old daughter.  An elderly couple.  A passel of chatty Kathys - some Moms group I assumed - who looked as new to this as me.

Slow and steady, I said to myself and let them pass.  It was weird being used to running alone and then matching your pace against others.  Did I mention how slow I was?

The race took us along a dirt path through the park and then up to the bike path that winds its way around Bakersfield. Watch the bikers, someone to my left told me, they will yell at you if your don't stay on your side.  We trotted about a half a mile down the bike path, and I noticed some people had already started walking and I was passing them, first the Mom and her daughter (five year olds have no stamina), then the chatty Kathys, and finally the elderly couple.  I kept running, my goal was not to run fast, just to not stop running.   I start passing people right and left.  Many were moving much slower because the bike path pavement was too hot for their puppies' paws so they were forced to run in the dirt on the side shoulder.  I passed them all.

With the halfway point in my sight I passed my first really fit guy, he was huffing and puffing but still running, just running even slower than me.  I felt really good about that pass.  Then I heard footsteps behind me and some yoga princess breezed past me only to stop fifty paces ahead and start walking.  Still running, I just about caught up to her and she began to run again as I was just a few steps behind.  Oh no she didn't...it is on.

I chased her down the bike path, but she ran faster than me and easily put distance between us.  At the halfway mark and turn around point, she stopped for water.  Maybe if I don't stop I can catch up?  Oh but the water looked too good.  I stopped to drink my Dixie cup of cool H2O and immediately regretted it.  Its hard to rev up again after you stop.  The yoga princess was way ahead of me now but I entertained myself with counting the people who were behind me as I was now going back the way I came.  Turning back and going the opposite direction was much harder.  It was very hot with the sun directly on my face making my flushed red cheeks even warmer.

I got to a count 55 people behind me, and then saw a crowd of runners stopped up ahead.  One of the long haired Huskies had collapsed and everyone was stopping to offer any water they may have or help.  I see the yoga princess is among them, aha now is my chance, I pass them all.  My heart went out for the sweet puppy as I did...he was breathing, just extraordinarily hot, I'm sure he will be fine after a rest.

At this point in the race I really wanted to rest too.  I see an underpass a little ways away and remember that this was at the start of the turn onto the bike path.   I knew that once I got passed the underpass and back into the park there would shade, blessed shade.  If only I could make it to the underpass.  I did and then saw...another underpass.  I slowed to a walk defeated, I had forgotten there were two.

Catching my breath, I tried to talk down the negative voice in my head that uses words like "can't" and "give up" and "no more."  See, for me, the hardest part about running is not the capacity of my body or my lungs and heart, it's my mind telling me I can't do it or to just stop.  I have to turn off my mind.  I knew that once I got passed the second underpass it was just a short run through the park and back to the starting line.  I could do that I knew I could.  I found my favorite running song "Holiday" by Green Day on my MP3, and my feet start to pound the pavement to the beat, back to running.  ("Can I get another Amen!  Amen!")

Once passed the second underpass and into the park, I see the flags of the finish line!  The return route back wouldn't take us back through the park after all.  This was it, I was finished, much sooner than I thought!  The dirt road led to the park's clearing and I saw four recognizable figures in the distance.  Three of them were very small and jumping up and down at the sight of me, shouting "Go Mommy!!!!"  I got all teary, and started to weep behind my sports glasses, overwhelmed for just a minute.

Chris took the worst picture of me ever and immediately posted it on Facebook, where everyone and their mother has liked it.  Zoe tried to run the last few paces with me and I would have loved to have my final race shot holding her little hand, but my little fashionista had worn clunky boots on this dress yourself Daddy day and could not keep up.  I ran through the finish line alone, handed over my bib number, grabbed a very, very cold water and stopped running.

And that's the best thing about running...when you finally stop.   Wow, it was over and it was awesome.  I did it...only walking a few paces, and it wasn't that bad at all.  I think I might even do it again.

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
This is our lives on holiday !

Spring Concert 2.0

Was it really just a year ago that we went to Athena's Kindergarten Spring Concert?  It seems like the blink of an eye.  I looked back at the photos from last year and I know all these kids, but in the photos they seem so small.  Tonight was our 2nd annual K-2 Spring Concert with our little hammy center stage act in the role of first grader this time.  Watching tonight, the Kindergarteners seemed so little and tiny (and the 2nd graders impossibly big).

The theme was "Music From Around the World" and the kids learned an impressive array of songs from other countries.  The Kindergarteners sang in French and Spanish, Athena's class sang in Hebrew and Nigerian and Filipino (oh yea and "Australian") and I don't remember what the 2nd graders sang. 

Before the concert, they had an art exhibit for the kids.  The pictures are the answer to the question "Where Do I Find Love."  Athena's answer:  Dasher and Tess.

Zoe found her best friend Caitlyn at the event (as "Kate" has a 2nd grader sister names Alexandria, or "Allie"- anyone who lived in the 80's will get that reference!).  But Jack could not be wrangled to take a decent picture with these gorgeous girls.  How many pictures do I have of this kid with a sister or someone holding him down?



Athena was dropped off in the sanctuary and quickly found her closest buddies, aka Wyatt (her "boyfriend") and her sweet friend Jeaninne who is sadly moving to Orange County after the school year
 and, of course, her very BFF (going on three years now) Amelia. As I was taking this picture, Athena's newest friend (she just moved here last month) jumped in.  
MacKinley is fast becoming a very good buddy.  We are loving this darling girl lately (and her Mom too).

Of course I tried to take pictures of my girls together (I bribed them with marshmellows) but they have little patience for me and my camera at this point.
 And THIS is my favorite pic of the night - random spinning after the concert.  Can I tell you about the dress?  I found a perfectly lovely pastel pink eyelet and satin dress on sale (for $7! 80% off Easter dress) perfect for the event which requires "dressy" dress.  But Athena tried it on with a sour face and said it was too "babyish."  She begged me for something turquoise instead and when I found this the next day (it wasn't $7) she declared me "the best Mommy ever!" 
And luckily, only one other girl in the concert was wearing the same dress (sigh) - we all shop at Target.

And then I took this shot.  Oh I know it's not that great. But the colors and the light and the background tulips struck me and reminded me of a minute seven years ago when Athena was just a few months old and MorMor and I tried to take a few photos of her propped up against the Spring flowers.

 

And my heart aches.  

Not only in remembrance of this sweet funny little baby,
and for that day (which doesn't seem very long ago)

but in pride for the beautiful being she is now.

Sassy Little Fox

For her Spring school performance, Zoe became a little Fox tonight.  From the moment she put on her costume she totally inhabited it, she was a fox and a sassy one.  Swishing her tail and jutting her hip out for photos, she completely transformed.  "It's the commitment to character!" Chris and I always say to each other when observing her impressive pretend play.

Hardly anyone but us and a few good friends ever get to see this talent of hers.  She is terrible shy, when she wants to be.  She says she "gets embarrassed" and won't perform on command.  But tonight, as the Fox #3 in SJCC's "The Little Red Hen" she was a shining star.


This is how my crew rolled in after a rush of after school stuff and homework and baths and dinner and costuming and hair.  We were out the door again en masse (it takes alot of effort to pull this off) and made it in time with minutes to spare.

 Just enough time in fact to snap a few pictures of Zoe with her best buddies, aka "Fox #2" and "The Cow".

During the bulk of the performance the little foxes were hidden in their "Fox Lair."  Zoe peeked out the side.  When they were called up for their songs, Zoe didn't walk, Zoe pranced...



and pawed the air...

and snarled..

and licked,

stealing the show from the other foxes who just kind of wandered onto center stage and stood there.  There was no shyness onstage, just a crazy little fox where Zoe used to be.  It was hilarious, seriously.  Well, at least I thought so. 

We're totally buying the DVD.  Anyone want a copy?