Los Angeles

The other night I was standing in my Dad and Karen's kitchen, making dinner for my family, listening to Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar playing on the radio and my catching snip-its of my Dad and Jack's conversation upstairs about basketball and I felt peace and happiness.

There is so much change for us right now, but so much of it is good and familiar.  While there are so many reasons why couch-surfing with a family for ten weeks is difficult, I wouldn't give up this experience for a summer mansion of our own.  A few weeks ago I saw my dad and Jack become real buddies.  Soccer buddies, basketball buddies, reading buddies, talking buddies, Deda and Grandson.  It made me remember my Deda, who although he had no real family of his own, alongside Baba, created an amazing life centered around family.

Last week we are at Baba's house.  The house that I spent so many afternoons in growing up.  Learning to subtract by eating french fries, watching movies and reading books, me on one sofa, Dani on the other, and Tai in the recliner in between the two of us.  Everything is so familiar to me, and I love that this summer, it has the chance to become familiar...home...to Jack.

Baba has an amazing ability to patiently play whatever cockamaney game Jack can conjure up, and boy does he love her for it!  One morning while sitting at breakfast, he looked up and declared that he loved it here.

Right now, Tai is playing the piano and Jack is running around like a maniac shaking maraccas.  She has taught him how to find all of the Cs on the piano and to play a scale.  Now Jack has found a little stool to stand on and is conducting Tai on the piano with a baton.  These two make the perfect play mates!

Last night Zack told he how amazing my family is.  

Other then that, we spend our days running around LA, playing, visiting, and swimming.

If our apple hadn't finally given up and died thanks to Jack falling on it during a rousing game of Super Mario Brothers on Wii with Zack and Jonathan, I'd have picture proof of our summer madness.  I'm going to see  if I can't find a way to upload pictures off my iphone soon...

...oh and I turned 30.

Yikes...

Grandma came to visit

I love my mom.  I love how she will drop everything in her life to be there for me and Dani, and now for our children.  When the doctor called and gave me the option of converting to IVF or walking away from 16 eggs, I immediately called my mom and asked her if she would fly out to watch Jack during the surgery and help me recover while Zack went to San Diego for an interview.  There was not even a second of hesitation.  Even though things didn't turn out as we had prayed, she was there to play Monopoly with Jack and to help comfort me through my heartache.  Jack was sad to have her leave, but the thought of having Grandma back in only 10 days made the separation a lot easier (a trip she had planned before all the IVF drama).

So 10 days later, Grandma came back, this time I was determined to make it more fun (her previous trip having been a dud, and the one before that Jack threw up through and she helped us do 10 loads of laundry).  Here are some highlights from her trip.

We finally rode the Duck Boats!  If you are ever in the Boston area these are a must!!  Aunt Rachel had told Jack the story of her getting to drive the Duck Boat in the Charles River, so he was totally thrilled when he got to drive them too!

 We went to Boston Public Gardens and rode on the swan boats.  Grandma was in this photo, but her eyes were shut so I cropped her out...

 Jack the photographer took a picture of the Mallard's Island.

Jack takes us on a photographic journey of the Gardens.

We visited Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau spent two years living in isolation.  This is a replica of the house he built. 

Walden Pond was beautiful.  I could see the draw, although it's ironic that he lived here in isolation, but now it is so much of a huge tourist location that no one can get a taste what that isolation would have been like.

We "hiked" around the trails, and despite the bugs, it was glorious.  Jack kept asking to be carried (he is so my child), but promises of fresh baked cookies back home kept him on his feet.  I told him my story of being tricked up a mountain with the promise of a cookie that turned out to be raisin and not chocolate chip.  Since then, I am always unreasonably disgusted when I am offered a raisin cookie. 

Grandma played Ice Cream Shop tirelessly with Jack, was awakened every morning at 7am and let us sleep in, and was the best. 

This time when Grandma left, Jack asked if she was coming back in 10 days. 

I wish she was.

Ant Rachel came to visit

 A few weeks ago Rachel came out to Boston to visit.  It was a great trip and we loved having her around.  It was particularly awesome because she lived here for a summer so she was able to introduce us to some Boston treasures, such as Anna's Taqueria.  

We stopped at Flour, a local bakery that Bobby Flay lost a Cinnamon Roll Throwdown with, loaded up on cinnamon rolls, Boston Cream Pie and a number of other goodies, and headed over to Louisburg Square (pronounced with the s by locals and cool people in the know) to have a picnic.  You need a special key to get into this garden, but we were lucky and found it unlocked.  The Make Way for Ducklings book was the first thing that got Jack excited about moving to Boston and he literally has been asking to find Louisburg Square all year.  Thank you Aunt Rachel for going on a Ducklings adventure with us!

We think this must be Louis

We had fun shopping on Newbury Street, where I may or may not have fallen asleep on the floor of Borders like a hobo (I blame the anaesthesia from earlier in the week).  And then found our way over to the North End where Rachel introduced us to a delicious Italian restaurant.  Our food was fantastic, but that night all of Boston's water became contaminated.  For three or four days we had to boil all water to even wash dishes.  Thank heavens for our water storage because within hours of news of the contamination, every store for miles was sold out of water.  Yikes!

Jack convinced Rachel and Zack to play Monopoly with him, and was even a gracious loser (Jack not Zack :)).  He even filled out the Trophy for "Ant Rachel."

We love you Rachel and hope you come visit us again soon!

Adda, Papi and Mads visit to Boston

One of the highlights this year was when Adda and Papi and Mads made it out to Boston for a visit.

Maddie had been going through normal stranger anxiety, so Dani and I were anxious to see how she would react to me.  Dani handed Mads over immediately and she acted like it was no big deal.  I think my favorite memory from this week was on their last day in Boston when I came around to help Dani get Mads out of her carseat in back and Maddie literally did a quadruple take, looking back and forth between Dani and me over and over as if she finally got a punchline to a joke someone told days ago. I love being a twin!

We walked the Freedom Trail (well a lot of it at least).  I love this picture!

We visited the Bunker Hill Monument.

Somehow I outsmarted the group and babysat the stroller while Sean carried Mads, Zack carried Jack, and Dani carried herself up the 294 stairs to the top!  (Zack just informed me that Jack walked about 50 steps on his own).

Views from the top...or so I'm told!

And views from the bottom...

We ate lunch at the Warren Tavern where George Washington and Paul Revere used to eat.  

We went candlepin bowling.  Jack was hilarious to watch as he insisted on making the ball do a loop before throwing it.  (Candlepin bowling is different from regular bowling because both the balls and the pins are small.  Perfect for little hands!)

Mads drove us around Boston

We sampled Boston Baked Beans at Faneuil Hall.   **Dani makes this picture doesn't she?

 

Jack and Papi played football at Harvard University, ate ice cream in Harvard Square, and bought books from the Curious George Bookstore.

It was drizzling a bit during our visit to the Boston Public Gardens, but we didn't let that stop us. 

And in an apparent attempt to play football in as many places in Boston as possible, Jack and Papi played football in Gardens as well.

We took a drive down to Plymouth Rock.  We were literally outrunning a massive storm all the way there.

A group shot on the Mayflower!

Then we made a mad dash towards the pavillion that now houses "The" Rock.  

And we beat the rain there.

But the rain beat us back.

The Rock that started it all...

Zack sacrificed his raincoat in to the straight hair cause.  What a lovely man I married!

Papi treated Zack and Jack to their very first Red Sox Game.  Go Sox!!  (incidentally it was Jack's very first baseball game ever.  He was a bit hesitant to go strangely enough, but was lured in with the promise of a big foam finger!)

We had a great visit with the Powell Family and can't wait to be together again soon!

Monopoly

It should be recorded that most of our last few months here have been consumed by playing Monopoly with Jack.  The kid is obsessed with Monopoly.  Sometimes when Zack and I are too busy to play it with him, he asks us to set it up for him to play both players by himself.  My mom did some research and even found an online Monopoly version that the two of them play while on i-chat so they can see and talk to one another while they play on the internet. 

Serious cuteness.

Cancun

This year we threw good fiscal and common sense to the wind and three moms and five kids boarded an airplane headed to Cancun Mexico for Spring Break. Dads showed up the following afternoon, looking well rested and unencumbered.

Here are some highlights...

Mealtime with nine children was amazing.  Luckily we were good tippers so the waiters didn't hide when they saw/heard us coming.  I think we probably eat 5-6 meals a day.  All of which featured guacamole, avocado salsa and virgin pina coladas heavily. 

The beach was perfect and the waves were awesome! 

 

We spent the entire week going between the pool and the beach.  It was pure Spring Break Heaven.

There was mattress surfing thanks to the Galbraiths who lugged an entire blow up mattress all the way to Mexico.

Me and my girls.  Seriously I love these amazingly talented kind hearted women. (and Laila :))

Jack looks slightly insane here, but he had a blast playing football on the beach with Zack.  There was only a slight altercation when another family on the beach found Jack's ball and decided to write their name in Sharpie all over the ball.  Seriously people?  They admitted they just found the ball and gave it back, but come on!!!

No vacation will ever be complete again without Nina-bownina.  She brings the par-tay!

We spent serious time in the "hot" tub.  Here's a shot of my boys.  Seriously they melt my heart.

What the heck is this picture of??? 

Thanks to my serious baby craving, I snuggled sweet Rivers while he slept in my arms forever on the beach.  The freakish burn was thanks to the sun hat that kept Rivers shaded as well as small portions of my arm.  Hot.

The moms got to go to the "fancy" restaurant one night.  We pretty much ordered everything on the menu and two of each dessert.

Which leads to...

the chocolate piano.  Which may or may not have caused a chocolate induced sneezing attack for yours truly.  

We can't wait for next year Cancun 5!

Catch Up Coming Soon

I plan on catching up with everything I haven't blogged before we leave Boston for the summer in 9 days.

There it is.  In writing.  Now I can't take it back.

What I've decided

To take a deep breath.

And to count my blessings.  

Of which this guy is number 2 on the list.

How could any family be more lucky then mine to have this hilariously cool little guy to raise?

Not on your life.

Reflecting

As this school year is coming to an end, there are things I have been thinking about this experience that I want to record.

Boston is simply beautiful.  I love it here.  I love the green (yes I fully recognize that I am eating my words when we first moved here).  I love the old houses and the history.  I love the River.  I love seeing tiny buds appear on the trees after long winter months.

I love my friends.   Living on campus, we are all far from our homes, our lives and our families, but we have become family for one another.  Here, we are all raising one anothers children, along with our own.  Here, Jack has dozens of surrogate brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles.   Here the kids run in packs, and have one anothers backs.  Here the moms run in packs, and have one anothers backs.  Here the dads work a lot.

Last week our family was delivered a devastating blow when the doctor called and informed me that the IVF cycle we were in the middle of was over and there would be no embryo to transfer.    The news was heart wrenching, especially because Zack was 4000 miles away in California at an interview so we couldn't experience it together. That's when my friends showed up.  These amazing women arrived on my doorstep bringing flowers, chocolates, gourmet appetizers and desserts and most important friendship.  Meals were scheduled and delivered, cookies made, hugs given, prayers offered, and tears shared.  These women are my rocks, and I don't think they will ever know how much their actions last week meant to me.

A few of these amazing women are moving on to bigger and better things next year and right now my heart hurts thinking of HBS without them next year.  

Summer Plans

According to the President of the San Diego Padres who called and personally offered Zack a spot in their summer internship program, Zack is the first person ever to turn down an internship with them.

It was a long night of deliberation.  I argued for Disney.  He argued for the Padres.  I convinced him and he convinced me.  I argued for the Padres.  He argued for Disney.  We slept on it.  I woke up thinking the Padres, and he woke up singing Zipadee Doo Da to me.

Disney here we come.  :)

Zack's 2005 San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon Video

A friend of ours (Michael Smith) is running the Boston Marathon tomorrow. In his honor, I share my marathon video with the world.

And as a note, I finished the race in 5 hours and 18 minutes. The video says 5 hours and 28 minutes because it took me 10 minutes to get to the starting line with my herd of runners.

I'm planning on running the Boston Marathon next year. I'll probably do fund-raising to secure a spot, because there is no way I'm fast enough.

Well, enjoy!

Jack's 4th Birthday Celebrations (major catch-up)

I used to see kids having their birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese and feel sorry that their parents were so white trash. Then my nearly 4 year old informs me that the only place he wants to have his party at this year is Chuck E Cheese. I even tried to bribe him with Disneyland, but it was a no go. So we headed down to see the big Cheese with 22 of Jack's best buddies. He had a blast! Here are some pictures from the event.

Check out Jack's party face!


Zack and I stayed up late the night before creating a motorcycle racing cake per Jack's request. In truth, about two hours before going to bed that night Jack told me he might actually prefer a soccer cake, to which my reply was "tough noogies"...




In retrospect, I totally would recommend a CEC party. The birthday boy loved it, the kids loved it, and I didn't have to clean up he mess made by 22 three and four year olds!


Jack's real birthday was spent at Chuck E Cheese with his best bud Nicky. The boys played games for nearly 5 hours and boy did they enjoy themselves. Jack's favorite game is Artic Thunder. Here is a picture of the boys racing against each other.



Later, the boys banged their way through a pinata (thankfully the Chirco's mercedes was not harmed although it was often in the line of fire).



Jack was so happy to spend his birthday with Nicky. Theses guys are the best of friends.



We miss you Chirco Family!