Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas everyone!

Over the past year we have had many experiences that push us towards reflection.  My daughters are eight and ten and getting too tall to carry comfortably.  We lost a beloved pet (Skitter, a guinea pig).  Emily kicked the soccer ball between my legs and nimbly stepped around me in a scrimmage, proving that her soccer skills are in the ascendancy while mine…well, it’s not polite to use the terms I am thinking of.  Father Time marches on, and it’s our job to adapt.

Claire still has a wonderfully bubbly and undefeatable personality.  We were out selling Girl Scout cookies door-to-door in the neighborhood when a very nice older woman opened the door.  She immediately sensed our intentions (the wagonload of Thin Mints might have given it away) and was crestfallen, “I’m so sorry—I don’t have any cash.”

Claire responded, “That’s okay,” and the woman got her smile back, assuming she was off the hook, “you can write a check.”  She laughed for a moment and then bought four boxes.

During Spring Break Emily and Claire travelled north to San Simeon to tour Hearst Castle with Holly and Rich.  Rich took a hilarious twenty-second video of Claire up to her chin in short rib bones (and up to her eyebrows in barbecue sauce), still chewing and yet reaching for more.  We have an agricultural balance among our daughters; one wants to raise livestock, and the other wants to eat them.
See the rib eating video - click here 

Morro Rock

Claire played on the Lavender Lava under 10 girls AYSO soccer team, and I was the coach.  We learned how to win and how to lose.  Claire made many friends and is getting better all the time.  I still have a long way to go in knowing what nine-year-old girls think is important—it took two days and three rounds of voting to come up with “Lavender Lava.” Yet we struggled with keeping both feet on the ground on throw-ins all year (sigh).

Emily moved up to the much bigger field with the under 12 girls, and I had the pleasure of watching her score the winning goals in two games (I can describe each one in less than ten minutes if I leave out the details, ask me).  Her team is undefeated and will be participating in the playoffs in January.

Soccer is the confirmed favorite outdoor activity of Emily and Claire, which is a relief because I secretly believe it means a lot to my wife.  Just because I played and refereed for years and think it is the greatest game in the world don’t think I’m the one pushing them to play.

Other competing outdoor activities this past year included playing in the snow up at Mt. Pinos in January where I learned that repeatedly crashing your elbow onto ice will cause it to swell no matter how cold you keep it.  We got some sliding discs and whiled away a Saturday—only stopping for lunch.

Wisconsin during the summer with my parents is also very outdoor heavy.  Emily water-skied around the lake for the first time.  We actually ate some of the fish we pulled out of Leader Lake, thanks to the deep-frying maestro, Uncle Matt Ryder.  Speaking for all the girls in the family, Claire said,” I don’t really like to eat fish…unless it’s deep fried so you can’t really taste it.”

We took our annual expedition to Wilderness Walk, half a zoo for woodland creatures plus one Bengal tiger and half a collection of themed shacks (maze, tilted, jail and the like): very unpolished and very fun for us.  While we were watching the wolves a passing ambulance siren set them off to howling and all the game animals got very alert all of a sudden; very fun to watch.  At the end of the day the girls all had a memorable time on a trail ride outside of Hayward.

Jenn and I returned to the scene of childhood memories by taking our girls up to Gooseberry Falls, fifty miles northeast of Duluth near the northern shore of Lake Superior.  We had a very nice two hour hike and played in the water; no rangers and no safety railing nearby, just one warning sign and an ethos of personal responsibility. Jenn likes to contrast that visit with the inanity of some of the visitors to Disneyland, “I didn’t know I could be hurt if I put my hand between two moving pieces of metal.”  She says that something about overpaying entrance fees turns off parts of people’s brains.

Gooseberry Falls

Speaking of childhood memories, at Claire’s birthday party we resurrected a game my grandfather used to organize for my cousins, brother and me: a kind of scavenger hunt in which we would discover rhyming clues and eventually discover the grand prize.  Everybody loved it and Claire’s group did too.

Back in school, Emily decided she wanted to run for treasurer but she lost to a sixth-grader: disappointing but not crushing.  Now this particular sixth grader had the good sense to up and move just two weeks after the election, so Emily was appointed the post.  I asked if the horse’s head she put into the sixth grader’s bed affected her decision to leave, and she just looked at me funny.  Now she gets to count up the Santa-gram money.  Sonny would be proud.

Jenn is moving up through the ranks at Disneyland—every couple of months she comes home talking about new training and responsibilities and yet is still in a good mood.  She really enjoys it and is looking forward to more training this year.

I’m still trying to land a full-time teaching job and occupy myself with substituting.

We were just invited to go on an evening boat cruise with Ryan and Angie Balius.  We cruised around Huntington Harbor to see all the lights while sipping hot chocolate and eating cookies. The electric power went out on one side of the harbor, obviously an overloaded transformer.  We gleefully indulged in speculation about the owners of waterfront mansions not being able to afford that month's electric bill.  After an hour SC Edison must have taken pity on the paupers and turned the power back on. This trip can put even the most convinced Scrooge in the Christmas mood.

Disney Family Chistmas Party with Jenn's parents

That’s about it.  See you all soon,

The Leebs

Soccer 2011

Got to see both girls play today.  They both had games at 8:00 but since it was one of my few Saturdays off I had to make the best of it.  I stayed with Emily and her Toxic Tacos for the first half of their game.  They went up quickly 2-0 but the other team rallied back 3-2 at the half.  I ran over to visit Daddy and Claire at their game.  The Lavender Lava was out scored but Claire was running like a champ and got several nice touches on the ball.  When their game was done I ran back to Emily's field (they are on opposite sides of the park!) where I learned that the girls were up 4-3 and that Emily had scored the winning goal!  *insert proud mama here*

Wisconsin 2011

We're here!  It's been a long day starting with a red eye overnight with Greatmother and Uncle Henry but we are here.  It was muggy all afternoon but that didn't stop the girls from getting in the lake after we took a nap.  While John and the girls were setting up Bongo, a pair of loons surfaced no more than 10 feet away from them.  Both humans and birds spent a moment staring at each other wondering where on Earth the other had come from.  The loons didn't seem particularly worried though and kept swimming and diving near them.  Eventually they kept going but it was cool to see them close up and realize how big they are!  It's finally raining tonight complete with lightening and thunder.  After a good night sleep tonight we can really start our vacation filled with energy!

8/ 2:
We had a pretty slow start this morning.  Time change, little sleep the night before and an overcast morning all conspired to keep us in bed as long as possible.  We found out that the storm last night dropped nearly 4 inches of rain!!  Once we got going Emily found a puzzle that we worked on for a good part of the day.  While we were working Joe and Aunt Cheryl came to visit.  The girls took off to play with Joe at the beach then at his cabin.  After lunch Joe came back down to the beach with his dad.  Claire went fishing with Joe and Uncle Matt while Daddy, Emily and I checked out the new kayaks.  We paddled down to Paddocks and passed by the fishing boat.  The kayaks are a great way to see the lake.  We saw the loons up close and could stop paddling at any time and just enjoy the quiet of the lake.  We all played in the water, on Bongo and in the kayaks for many hours this afternoon.  When we were thinking of drying off and getting dinner started Karl and Margarida showed up!  They will be here too for 10 days.  It's a full house in both cabins!  We all had a dinner together and got caught up.

8/3
We went to Hayward today.  The girls stocked up on candy provisions for the trip.  They each got new tee shirts too.  Claire's reads: I'd be a vegetarian if BACON grew on trees.  Perfect for her!  Actually we saw it in the store window and when I asked if they came in her size the guy said, "No but I can make it in her size." Sold!  Emily was allowed to pick out something too.  Since hers wasn't so obvious it took a bit longer to find something she liked.  She wound up with a cow shirt since cows are her current favorite.  Karl and Margarida were in town too and we met up with them at about this time.  Karl had been looking for a shirt for Lowell and finally found it in the same shop.  Lowell's reads: Finish your beer!  There are sober kids in Africa.  hahaha  After a quick trip to Subway for lunch, we were off to Wilderness Walk.  The girls visited the nursery area first.  There were baby skunks there!  eek!  After they spent some time there we followed the trail around to see all the animals.  As we passed the wolves an ambulance passed by the road out front.  In response to the siren the wolf started howling.  It was amazing being 10 feet away from a howling wolf.  It was so loud!  A little further down the trail were the red deer.  They are bigger than the usual white tail deer that we see around here.  The girls each got a quarter to feed the deer and we were pretty excited to watch them all get up and start coming over to see us until we realized that the keeper had walked over too and was getting ready to feed them their real meal.  They weren't too particular and were still happy to take the special treats from the girls.  We watched what they were being fed and realized that bagels and day old bread were part of their diet.  The keeper said they bought their feed from the local store and that they threw in the day old stuff too as a treat.  While we were watching we noticed a doe that was playing with her roll.  She bend down and dipped it into the mud puddle at her feet. We laughed thinking she was like everyone who likes to dip their donut in coffee in the morning.

8/4
We canoed the Namekagon River today.  Since Karl and Margarida were with us we could take 2 cars and 2 canoes.  It make getting picked up so much easier to take care of it ourselves!  And each girl got to have her own canoe.  Since there has been so much rain here this year the river is the highest its been in years and certainly the highest I've ever seen it.  All those places where we've practically had to get out and carry the canoe over the shallow spots were at least 15 feet across and 2 feet deep.  There were a few rocks that made their signature ripple on the surface to be avoided at all costs but for the most part we just sat back and enjoyed the ride.  We steered of course but it was a lazy trip.  We stopped for lunch at a really pretty campsite.  The girls and I walked ahead to check it out while the canoes were being pulled out of the water.  After we went back to help carry the lunches and get everyone else the whole group walked back up into the woods on a narrow footpath.  John was the last of the line.  He asked if any of us had noticed the poison ivy growing near the trail.  No one had.  Fortunately we didn't touch any of it either because no one reported getting itchy later in the day.  Phew!  There wasn't much in the way of wild life to see and despite their best efforts Karl and Margarida didn't catch any fish.  We all figured it must be because of the high water levels.  After we got off the river Karl and Margarida treated us to ice cream at the Village Scoop.

8/5
Finally a quieter day.  The girls played with Joe and spent a lot of time fishing with Matt and Henry.  After all the fishing that had happened all week it was time for a fish fry!  We all headed up to Bob and Sheryl's for dinner.  Matt did the honors with the frier.  We all brought something yummy to share.  In all we wound up with 19 for dinner!  Lowell came over for awhile and David, Magda and Natalie showed up in time to join us too.  It was really incredible to have so many together at once!  Joe shared his kid sized ATV with the girls - big and small.  They took turns riding laps around the driveway between the two cabins.

8/6
I was gone for most of the day today.  I drove down to Wausau to have lunch with 3 other moms from the March Mommies board.  It was a lot of driving - 3 hours each way but worth it to catch up with the moms.  On the way back I was intrigued by a sign that said "Geographical Marker". So I took a 4 mile detour to see what it was about.  Turned out to be the exact location of the 45th line north and the 90th line west.  Kind of a 4 Corners kind of thing but a good excuse to drive out into the middle of a corn field in an unknown little town in Wisconsin.
Meanwhile back at the cabin... It was a cousin fest.  Besides Magda, Natalie, Joe and our girls, Zach and Mara showed up too.  I'm not sure of the exact order of events but there was time in the lake until a rain storm forced everyone inside.  There was a puzzle done.  The Awesome Club was invented and all in the area were made members and given jobs to do.  Sounds like everyone had a great time.

8/7
If it's even possible today was even more of a cousin fest.   There were 10 of them here today at various times down at the lake.  The most at once was 8 when I was able to snap a picture.  Besides my 2, Magda, Natalie, Zach, Mara and Joe there were Ethan and Mikayla (Joe's 1st cousins) and Noah who is cousin Kevin's little boy.  Emily was in heaven playing with Noah for awhile.  After lunch Matt suggested getting the water skiis out and letting whoever wanted to try it.  Claire was first up.  She decided she was old enough to start learning.  Her first attempt ended with the rope being yanked out of her hands.  The second time she spent a wobbly few seconds mostly upright before she flopped.  That was the best she did all day but I thought it was great for a first time out.  Emily's first try was a classic up and over.  Her second time though she was up!  She held on for an entire loop around the lake.  When she got back to the dock she let go of the rope and glided into the water like she has been skiing all her life.  It was amazing!  She floated back to us all grins and puffed with pride.  She tried again later and was not as successful but she knows she can do it now and that is all that matters.  David, Kelly, Magda and Matt also had good turns around the lake.  After dinner we had a fun game of Michigan Rummy aka the penny game.  It was all good until Claire realized she hadn't won all night.  She had gotten cups with pennies but had never been the one to go out and get to collect pennies from the rest of the players.  She'll survive somehow.

8/8:
A day of rest after cousin-palooza!  Daddy and the girls did ATP rides, hung out at the cabin and helped with the plumbing situation at the downstairs cabin while Mommy, Greatmother and Grandma had a "girl cousin" lunch.  There were 9 of us total, all related somehow at a pot luck progressive lunch and dessert.  Besides the 3 of us were: Sheryl, Jill, Beth, Saralyn, Bonnie and Dea.  We had lunch at Saralyn's and dessert at Beth's.  There were lots of stories told and lots of laughs.  It's a nice tradition that they are starting.  At night we had a Michigan Rummy rematch that Claire won.  Go figure!

8/9:
The 4 of us drove up to Gooseberry Falls today.  We took the scenic route out of Duluth so we could stop at Emily's restaurant that we ate at 2 years ago after our Boundary Waters trip.  Sadly it was closed this year. =(  But we did stop at a beautiful spot along the North Shore to stretch our legs and get some pretty pictures.  In Twin Harbors we stopped for lunch.  We hiked all over Gooseberry Falls park.  There was a lot of water in the falls this year which made them especially spectacular.  Claire got a little pooped during our walk but she made the whole loop with us.

School Might as Well Give Up...

It's a total loss at this point.  The official last day of school is Wednesday but things are very well wrapped up already.  The kids are having a ball though.  Today was Olympic Day.  The better part of the morning was spent on the field doing sport activities.  Emily placed 5th in the 4th grade girls' marathon.  She got gold in a soccer accuracy event.  Claire had fun walking around with her best buddies and doing all the events.  (Primaries don't get judged the same as the uppers.)  After school Claire got to stay and watch "Megamind" with her classmates who had mastered their math facts this year.  They put on jammies, snuggled under blankets and had a great time.  From there she changed into her Brownie outfit and received some Daisies who bridged up a level.  She got to be the responsible older girl for once!  She does very well in that role when asked.  Emily walked home after school but then got to join her Girl Scout troop at Jump U for an end of year party.  They got their badges for the year and their cookie prizes.  Homework was over a long time ago fortunately so that didn't have to compete for out time tonight.

It's Good Bye for Now, That's All

We had to say good bye for now to our friends the Parras tonight.  They are moving to West Virginia.  They leave on Friday.  It was good to spend time with them tonight but it makes me think back on all the other times we've spent with them over the years.  We first met when Emily and Natalie were about 18 months old.  It was the Halloween party for the Mother's Club we belonged to.  The girls became insta-friends and remained inseparable for the next few years in playgroup.  Along the way our families became friends too.  Stacie and I each had another baby.  We exchanged "date nights" where one family would take all four kids so the other couple could get out for the night.  We spent weekends in Big Bear sometimes playing in the snow, other years just enjoying being in the mountains even without snow.  The kids have done Vacation Bible School together and had countless playdates.  Even though they never went to school together they have always remained very good friends.  So we will miss them and write to them and phone and look forward to when they visit so we don't really have to say good bye.

 Spring of 2003 ~ Claire is the bump in my belly, Caleb is still a few month away

Spring 2011 ~ funny I'm still sitting closer to Natalie!

Time Flies...

We've had quite the interesting weekend. Well my weekend any way. I'm still getting Fridays and Saturdays off pretty consistently so I have to remember to shift the days for everyone else. I really needed this weekend too. I've been training to be a Lead in the booths which has been awesome! I love learning the new stuff and getting more responsibility. But it's been long hours and my brain is tired after learning and doing new stuff all day!

We had our first mini heat wave of Spring Thursday and Friday. Thursday the girls were disappointed that they didn't get to go to the beach with Magda and Natalie (visiting Grandma and Papa for their Spring Break). So Friday the three of us went. The girls have decided that they have "graduated" from Mothers' Beach and want to go to the "big beach". I liked the area of Seal Beach that I visited with the Volunt-ears (Disney group) last summer. It wound up being absolutely perfect! The waves were fun to play on but the water wasn't too deep. We brought along a kick board that they took turns using like a Boogie Board. Claire even tried body surfing when it wasn't her turn with the board. I thought the water would be freezing this time of year but once you were in it a few minutes it wasn't bad at all. Daddy joined us after he got done working (subbing at Los Al). The girls played in the sand for a little longer. We all walked to the jetty to see the real surfers. After about 3 hours it was time to head home. It was an absolutely lovely afternoon.

Today started with a soccer game for Em. She's on the Wildcats this season with Natalie P. We weren't planning on spring soccer but the P's are moving to West Virginia in June so this was the girls' last opportunity to be on a team together. So bittersweet after them being friends for so long. Emily loves playing goalkeeper but it may be the end of me. She was doing great in the 4th quarter when there was a breakaway. The girl on the other team kicked a line drive right into the goal. Emily blocked it... with her face! It bounced off her and slowly rolled into the goal. But my girl was down and in pain. It took everything not to run out onto the field. After what seemed an eternity, the designated parent went out to check on her. Apparently the ball smacked her in the jaw and neck and not straight on like it seemed. It stung but she hung in. Later that quarter there was a penalty kick so it was her and the same girl again. She didn't shy at all and made her best effort to save the goal. Penalty kicks are almost impossible to defend unfortunately. She's amazing though. At the end of the game she was feeling better from the first shot (though she had a big red mark on her neck) and not down at all about the second goal.

After the game the girls and John headed to church immediately to start getting ready for Living Pictures. I got to watch them in the premier show. They did great! Emily and I kept catching eyes and she would smile at me =) It seemed like each of Claire's scenes she had her back to me. John was threatened with having to dye his hair but in the end he prevailed. They stayed for the second show but I came home to get dinner ready. As I was finishing up Emily walked through the kitchen and said she thought Skitter might be dead. I thought she was kidding because he hasn't been acting funny. John went out with her to check and sure enough, no more Skitter. She burst into tears as John grabbed a bag to pick up the body in. We gathered Claire so she could say good-bye too. More tears. Tomorrow will be the burial under the tangerine tree. We watched "G Force" in honor of Skitter tonight. RIP Skitter.

Lots of highs and lows in two days. I wouldn't trade it for anything though.

Emily hits Double Digits!

Emily had a great 10th birthday celebration.  On her real day we got the family together at Grandma Wendy and Papa John's house to celebrate.  Emily got to choose the menu... Italian.  I got to choose the cake... Angel Food. My mom made it and covered it with sliced strawberries.  Yum!

Later that week we celebrated 5 birthdays with the Parras.  We met up after soccer practice at Red Robin.  I'm not sure they totally believed that so many at the table were having birthdays but they brought sundaes and balloons anyway.

Finally Emily got to have her party with friends.  She invited girls from school over for a slumber party.  They played at the house and at Garden Park (where they ran into even more friends from school).  We went out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe and watched "Alpha and Omega" (Romeo and Juliet of the wolf/dog variety).  After the movie I turned the lights out and told the girls they were allowed to talk for awhile.  Emily decided at some point that she was done with the talking and wanted to sleep.  So she slipped downstairs and went to bed in her room.  Since Sierra sleeps at the foot of the stairs and the rest of the girls were not interested in finding out how friendly she is in the middle of the night, they left Em alone.  But she was up bright and early and went right back upstairs to join her friends.  We had breakfast and did manicures while we waited for the parents to arrive.  It was a perfect low-key party for Emily.

Girl Scout Cookie Time

Going door to door with Claire... lady says no because she doesn't have any cash. Claire doesn't miss a beat "That's OK. You can write a check."

Kid Space Museum

So I had a Saturday off but John had to meet all day at church so the girls and I decided to meet Grandma Holly in Pasadena the the Kid Space museum. None of us had ever been so we weren't at all sure what to expect. We were very pleasantly surprised by how much there was to do and how long the girls stayed engaged in the activities. On the way there we were all pretty excited to find ourselves along the Rose Parade route. The girls practiced their princess waves to the long gone crowds. We beat Grandma to the museum by a few minutes so the girls got to play at the park next door. Emily finally got to show me her "flamingo" move on the bars.
Once we got inside it was hard to decide what to do first. Everything looked so interesting. We figured out that the main theme of the building was bugs. Everywhere we looked there were real bugs to look at (in boxes of course) or bug activities to do. The girls favorite was the two climbing structures that took them 2 stories above the floor in tree type fashion. I even got talked into joining them. It was a tight squeeze through some of those twists and turns!

Outside there was even more to check out. The girls very quickly met a new friend, Jane, who they stayed with most of the day. Here they are acting like orangutans:
There was a trike roadway to play on. Emily has gotten to the point where she is too big for some of the activities. When she was riding, her knees kept hitting her chin and she wound up being one of the slowest trikes on the road. We called her the "Little Old Lady in Pasadena". She still found a way to participate:
Back inside at Bugsy's Diner:
I called this the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Roaches
On the spider web climber:
Rock walls are always a hit now
Later in the day we were in the "Research Room" and kept seeing point values next to different rocks and shells. We found out that there were scavenger hunts that the girls could do to earn points and the items. The girls were all over it. They ran around outside following the instructions and finished the scavenger hunt in no time. They wanted to do another one but the museum was out of age appropriate hunts for them. The guide put together another project for them so they could earn more points. They turned on their best student faces to do some research. At the end of the day they each walked away with a bag full of pretty shells to show for their hard work.

I can always tell when it's been a successful outing when they are asking when we will return before we have even left. I think a spring or summer return will be perfect. There were lots of water features that would be really fun to investigate too. The signs all said that swim suits and sandals are acceptable attire for a visit.

Happy New Year!

We went to our friends house for New Year's Eve. The kids ran around and played while the grown ups played games. We toasted the new year on East Coast Standard time so we could be in bed at a decent hour. (Darn 7:00 start time for work on New Years Day!)


After we got home the girls decided they really did want to stay up until midnight. They started a movie and I fell asleep on the couch. Just before midnight they woke me up. I thought they wanted to watch the ball drop or at least yell Happy New Year again. But no they were just tired and ready for bed. We listened to fireworks around the neighborhood just as we were drifting off in bed again.