Our 'baby' is 7! Happy Birthday Zachary

I have always thought that 7 is the quintessential age for a "big kid".  It came up too fast for us!  Happy 7th birthday to our first son!

As always, Art likes to have the kids wake up on their birthdays to balloons.  However, suspecting that Z would be up before us, we put the balloons in his bed while he was asleep.

Here is Zachary when he woke up to see all the balloons in his bed!  After this, he turned into a hoarder and wanted all the balloons in his bed only - none on the floor etc.

Last night, Zachary got to choose what he wanted for breakfast the next morning.  I was thinking he would say one of his favorites biscuits or cinnamon rolls.  However he threw me for a loop, requesting donuts.  I had to make a run to Lucky to get some...and the selection at 9pm was not so great, but I got some of differing kinds, cut them up in munchkin size pieces to share in the morning.

Here is Z with a slice of cream-filled donut.  As you can see, his chair is decorated by us, with a new twist by Art.  He made a Z out of ribbon.  

We were running late to school, but we got there, and Z remembered to bring his goody bags for his class.  I let him know he should not ride the bus today because we would pick him up for his birthday. He prefers to be picked up, so this was a big surprise for him!

While he was at school, Wyatt, Yannick and I ran to the party store after the gym to pick up a helium balloon to surprise him with at school during pick up.  I put the boys down for an early nap so that we could go get Zachary from school and Yannick would still get a decent nap.

It was fun to watch the kids come out of his class with their goody bags.  Then our birthday boy came out and he was very excited we were there.

Next stop, 7-11, as Z had requested we get Icees for his birthday.  He also conned me into getting him a medium size one, AND buying the cool straw to go with it for an extra $1.  I ended up getting yannick a chocolate milk because he seems to hate Icees.  Z picked out a movie from redbox (Koala Kid) to watch tonight with - of course - pizza.  Then off to Apple to celebrate a bit with Art.  I brought some cookies along with us (left over from Fun Wednesday) to have as a special snack.  They all played in the courtyard for a bit before Art had to get back to work.  Then home, but first a stop at another redbox, because we saw that they had the sequel to How to Train Your Dragon, which we were going to watch either tonight or tomorrow night.

Then home, for real this time.  

The boys watched their movie while eating pizza while I worked on the calzones for Art and I.  I had never made calzones, but wanted to give it a try.  Turned out awesome, and so so tasty.  Very easy.  not sure why we had never made them before!

After the movie, it was time for bed, but we let Z open the presents he had.  He did not get cake with his presents, he got cookie ice cream sandwiches!!  So yummy!

He was very excited to get a Lego at-at walker from Poppi, and semi excited by the wii controller lightsaber accessory, and excited to get the $7 from Mimi.  

As we put them to bed, he was a bit disappointed that we were not having a sleepover with him ON his birthday, but we promised to have one the next night.

A day full of junk food (at least he had to eat veggies with his pizza!), and his favorite things!

I hope we were able to make his birthday a nice one!

A week from tomorrow is the boys joint birthday party.

Birthday Prep

In Zachary's class, when it is a person's birthday, the birthday kid brings goody bags for all the other kids in the class and they sing to him.  No parents, no treats, etc.  I have to say I preferred the King Lab way where the kids were allowed to have parents and treats.  Alas, it is what it is.  So today Zachary is assembling his goody bags for all the kids in his class.

One goody bag had a fruit snack, a Star Wars pencil, a bag of fun size m&ms, and a rubber insect.

At one point he was able to get Wyatt and Yannick to help him.  Despite the fact that I opened all the bags for him, purchased all the items, opened the pencils, insects, and treats, I was admonished by Z for "not helping".  Sheesh.

His good buddy Aidan is out of town and won't be there, but the other 23 kids should be.  Zachary is very excited!

Yannick's class

Nick has been wanting his own class.  He talks about Wyatt's gymnastics class being on Thursday, and how his class is on Tuesday.  I didn't think he would care WHAT his class was for, as long as he got a class that was his.  This is not entirely correct.  Today we went to the library for toddler story time.  We have only been one other time, because the class meets at the same time as Wyatt's gymnastics class.  However, since Wyatt is done with gymnastics until the fall, we now have the time available for other things.

Yannick was very into the class at first.  Most intrigued by his name tag necklace.  He was clapping and listening for a bit until he realized that Wyatt was not with us, then it was all over.  He did not want to stay with the group, he wanted to go look at books with Wyatt.  I kept reminding him that this is HIS CLASS, but no luck.  He was done!

Here he is during some of the interacting part of the class.

Happy and attentive, but just briefly.

After that we looked at other books until the story time was over and they brought out the toys...then he was keen to get back into the group. :)

All the time at the library must have inspired him to spend more time with his books.  He was unable to put his book down, even while being changed.

Nutty kid.  Preparing himself to spend long periods of time in the bathroom with a good book! :)

Fun Wednesday

The Headley family was off today enjoying the aquarium and meeting friends in Monterey and in Santa Cruz. Zach is at school and Wyatt is bummed his good friend is not here to play with.

Tonight we signed up for our bible study group's Fun Wednesday activity coordinator. As we are super lazy,  any activity we plan will be for an activity very near our house.  Luckily, we have a great park by our house, so no problems there.  We planned for everyone to bring picnic food followed by a game of kickball.  I love kickball.  Nearly everyone can play without too much skill involved.  I was a bit nervous at the start of the evening because both softball fields were being used by games.  Rarely are both fields being used.  However, since we took our sweet time eating an socializing, and watching Shea make it his personal mission to catch a loose dog (he wore the dog down in the end then boasted "and look, I'm not even winded!" so funny!), that the games were over when we were ready to play!

I wish I had taken pictures but I did not have my phone on me.  Part of what was fun for us was that Zachary played the entire time.  Near the end of the game, he even pitched for a bit.  I got nervous my last time up, because I did not want to kick the ball at him.  A few people before me, Jenny hit a line drive and hit her husband right in the head.  Very amusing - I am chuckling now as I write it - but I did not want to do that to Z!  W played for a bit, but then went off and ran around with the younger kids.  Zachary is getting so big!  

After the game, everyone came to our house for dessert (I made a Heath Bar Trifle and bought some cookies).  First, though, we all met in the living room, using up every available chair in the house, to hear a bit from Annie before she left to go work in an orphanage for a few months.  Then everyone sang happy birthday to Zachary, which he loved.  He also loved his singing card and personal birthday cake.

While everyone was still around chatting, the Headleys came back.  They were relieved that our kids were still up and awake since Joaquin had been asking to see them for hours and hours!  So we were able to put all the kids down together with the instruction that it was late late late, and only 3 jokes per kid were allowed.  Zachary said he didn't want to tell any because he was so tired!

It seemed as though everyone had a good time, and I hope we'll use our park again for kickball.

The Great Lasagne Bake Off

I have to start by saying we are terrible friends.  Why anyone wants to hang out with me I don't know.  Last night when we were chatting with Daniel and Bethany, the subject of favorite foods was brought up, and Art of course has a crazy love affair with lasagne.  Which made B say she makes an excellent lasagne, which prompted D to say he thinks his might be slightly better.  So they argue, which is fun, and then I suggest they each make one, and we'll vote to see whose is better.  AND THEY AGREE!!  Crazies!

So today after lunch with Art, we head to Lucky, the grocery store, and let them pick out their ingredients.  Daniel at this point is feeling the heat of competing against his wife, and is asking a bunch of questions regarding spiciness, feelings about mushrooms, basil etc.  Bethany confident in her meal asks no preferences, and will make exactly as she pleases.  Bonus, I get my normal grocery shopping done too.  They have a car shaped cart w/ Wyatt and Joaquin, and I have one with Eliana and Yannick.

Back home for naps.  Joaquin does not take one, so I don't make Wyatt, then I head off to get Zachary.  Eliana wakes around the time D and B need to start preparing their dinner so I take 4 out of 5 kids (Yannick is out cold) to the playground to give them some peace and quiet and kid-free time.  They were super nervous about E being too upset without them and crying etc etc, but she did just great.  A bit of complaining, but nothing a nice animal cracker couldn't solve.  Food = Love. :)

I stayed gone with them for an hour, then it was time for me to prepare dinner for the little ones.  We decided we would make dinner for them, and let them watch a movie while the adults ate.  Better for the judging.  Bethany declared the judging would be like Iron Chef, and we would rate 1-5 on taste, texture, originality, and plating, and something else too, which I don't remember.  I kept adding things to rate actually, a bit of a pain, but I was having fun.  

Here are the two nobel contestants

Yummmm....looks good!  A blind taste test, no idea whose this is

And the second.  That is a LOT of lasagne!  Art will have lots of leftovers while we are in Georgia.

It was so close.  So so close.  like 17 to 16 close.  But, we both picked Bethany's.  Eek.  Art was destroyed.  He really wanted to pick Daniel's!! :)  Bethany said she also won for ease of preparation, and simplicity of ingredients.  Hers was super easy to put together and Daniel's was a masterpieceof differing   flavors and ingredients, requiring much much prep time.

Still, Bethany's won.  Girl power!!!

It was fun for us...I hope it was fun for them!

Lazy Day!

Today, after getting Art off to work and Z off to school, it was a lazy morning.  The H family and us just hung around the house playing a bit until about 11:15.  They wanted to have lunch with Art and see Apple, but he had to have an early lunch at 11:30.  We did our usual which was me watching the kids while they ate their lunches I packed for them, and the adults (with Eliana) went to get food from the cafe.  The MacCafe gets a lot of publicity for being so good, and for once, I have to agree.  Apple puts out a super tasty spread for super cheap.  And everything you eat off of (if to-go) is compostable.  I stayed with the kids so they could intersperse running around wild with taking bites of their lunches. Art showed them around a bit, including the cool trees in the lobby, the visitor entrance that is on some tour bus stops where someone is always taking a picture of the "Apple 1 Infinite Loop" sign.

Here is my attempt to capture the kids on film

Only J attempting to cooperate.  And yes, Wyatt is wearing baseball pants.  I think he wanted to have on the same colors as Joaquin.  OR, all his athletic pants are in the laundry.  Side note, I was SOOOO  relieved to meet another kid who is obsessed with athletic pants, and wants to wear nothing else.  Zachary's aversion to jeans and pants is trying at times.

Then off to the store to buy sundries for the BIG LASAGNE BAKE OFF!  WHAT you say??  Next blog entry will give the details. 

First though, is the only pitiful attempt at taking another picture of our lovely friends.  What in the world happened to me - my picture taking desire vanished!

Yup, that's it.  One terrible blurry picture of Eliana and Yannick near each other, the cute thing they were doing is over.  Sheesh.

Counts - Headley Reunion

We have not seen the Headley family since they came to our vow renewal in Vegas (baby).  They had been in CA for some days already and stayed with us as their final leg of the trip.  Good thing today was a holiday and Art and Z were home.  Art was able to help get the house clean and ready for our guests in record time.  They arrived early afternoon while yannick was still sleeping. Z W did not have much interaction with Joaquin in Vegas, so they did not have a particuar affinity for him a year ago...now however, the three of them were fast best buds!  We sat around and chatted for a bit until I finally had to go to the store.  What started off as a procrastination trip ended up in being a little break for the moms, as Bethany went with me.  The dads took the 5 kids to the playground and still were able to make it back to start the grill right on time.

I should have taken a picture of the table - it is always fun to have a bunch of people around it.  9 this time.

The kids got along so well, that Joaquin seemed to have no fear of sleeping on "the mattress" in the room with our three boys.  The spent a good 45 minutes in bed telling jokes and giggling.  One from J that both my boys liked "where does a pencil go on vacation? Pennsylvania"  har har.  And of course, the Yannick staple "knock knock (who's there), baboon, (baboon who?), baboon xxx (insert any object in his field of view).  They loved it.

The adults sat around and chatted and stayed up too late...

Nana Visit - last day

Sunday.  A nice relaxing day.  Art and I got to sleep in which is always lovely!  After breakfast Art decreed it was time for Z and W to finish their Tower of Babel project.  They had been working on the tower for a few days, and parts of it were scattered everywhere.  Their goal was to have it touch the ceiling, but had given up on it for awhile.  This morning was THE morning for it to happen.

Art posing with Zachary and Yannick

The two creators - this is also the picture we used to send to Lego Club Jr. magazine, hoping to get in.

DaU.  Why none with Mommy, who helped considerably with the base??  Probably because I had not yet showered!

Art trying to balance it while it touches the ceiling

And finally my artsy looking up from floor to ceiling picture.  Which I think is cool.  And it's my blog so I can have it on there if I want.

And finally a close-up of the base (my contribution), and the guys that guard the tower.

Those are some serious guards!

The day was pretty relaxed after that.  The kids went to the playground with Art and Nana while I made lunch, but that wasn't so great because the boys only wanted DaU to do stuff for them, and not nana, who had been their great buddy all week.  Kids.  Sigh!

After lunch, Nana caught Yannick in a cute place, reading books

Doesn't everyone read Sammy the Seal in an emptied out toy box?

Such a funny little guy.

During naptime Mom and I made yet another run to Michael's for another frame (big frame sale, today is last day!), then off to get our nails done.  Mom only wanted the manicure, but i opted for the special, $25 for a mani-pedi.

The pedicure was heavenly - I think I have convinced Mom to do it next time.  A sea salt scrub, a hot stone massage, a spa massage chair.  Can't be beat!  Plus the lady was so awesome.  I smudged my thumb getting my cash tip out, and she fixed it, THEN, mom accidentally stepped on my toe as we were leaving, killing my nail polish on that toe, and she fixed that too!  So great!

By then it was nearly time for church.  Art got picked up by the Dowlings, and I drove mom and the boys.  She did not get to hear our usual pastor, but did get to see him.  We spent some time on the church playground and headed home for dinner.  After dinner and a game of Sequence for Kids, it was time for the kiddos to go to bed and me to take Nana back to the airport.  Too quickly!

Date Night - no pics

We had date night planned for tonight, but the Jantzens offered to take the boys early, feed them pizza and we could pick them up by bedtime.  That worked out perfectly for us.  Art dropped them off around 5:30, picked up Mom and I, and we went to Famous Willy's Real Texas BBQ.  We had never been, and had wanted to take mom there, so it worked out well.  We drove over to a speciality coffee place where we ordered a yummy chocolate mousse with hazelnut cake to share for dessert and some coffee.  We ended up eating the cake and taking the rest of the coffee to go though, as we were cutting it close to pick up the boys by bedtime.  We dropped mom off, and then went to pick up the boys, then back home to get them in bed.

And of course more Sequence for the adults!

Nana Visit - Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve

Counts5 has been here before, but today, with Nana here, we decided to try something different.  All 3 boys brought their bikes for the hike.  It was a gamble over the stroller, but we wanted to try it, and might as well when there are 3 adults to lug stuff.  First off, Wyatt orchestrated a whole-family tie dye shirt wearing, meaning we even had to dig Yannick's out of the dirty clothes!

The park is very close by, on the other side of Foothill from Z's school, so we took a chance and put all 6 of us in the Fit.  I acted as Zachary's booster seat.  Praise The Lord, we easily found a parking place - not so easy here.  We set off with all of our stuff - packed lunch, bikes, helmets, etc.

There is a steep hill at the start, so we had to walk the bikes down for the kids, then Nick threw a major tantrum about not wanting to go to the bathroom with me, and i thought, great, a disaster approaching.  But everyone was able to get it together and off we went.

Here are the boys on their first big bike outing.  It is a mile to the little farm.  An easy mile, but none of them have gone that far on their bikes.  Yannick and Wyatt practice a little bit every day, but Zachary doesn't get on his bike all that much.  That soon became obvious. At the start though, before the long bike ride, is a little place where they have enjoyed walking down to the creek and throwing rocks in.

I love that they still have their helmets on for playing in the creek - safety first! :)  We taught Zachary how to skip a rock, and after some practice, he finally got one to skip twice.  Big accomplishment!

Then off to the farm.  Wyatt and Yannick did great - very little complaining.  Wyatt only really complained at the end when we were nearly there.  Zachary however, was a big complainer.  His legs hurt, he did not like his bike, it was too heavy, legs could not make it, etc etc.  To be fair, I would probably feel the same way as I am not great on a bike, b/c my muscles are not used to to.  the little boys have had so much more experience, mainly back and forth in front of the house, but Zachary clearly needs to develop those muscles a bit.  It surely does not help that he rarely plays any running games at school.  he mostly only plays four square, which is doing little for cardio and leg muscle building.  But, he made it.  Right at the entrance to the farm were two wild deer, standing in the clearing.  We knew there were plenty here, because we had seen a bunch about 200 feet away last time, but this time there were two, and pretty close until they finally got spooked.  We got to watch them "run" away, which is so much more dainty and graceful than running.  More like hopping on all 4 hooves.  So pretty.  We looked at just a bit of the farm as we walked to the pavilion area to enjoy our picnic lunch.  There was a family of 4 kids sitting next to us.  The oldest daughter clearly wanted to get on stage, as did Zachary.  After finishing lunch, they could no longer resist.  here are our 3 guys "performing" on stage

Yannick doing his "peek-a-boo-boo" dance, and Wyatt and Zachary, OF COURSE, doing a bit of a "shake-your-BOO-dy" dance.  Zachary is obsessed with his billa and thinks that everyone else should be as well.

It all breaks down into wrestling and tattling eventually.

Then off to look at the animals.  The pigs were HUGE.  Seriously HUGE.  I don't remember them from last time.  I don't know why I did not take a picture of them.  Grossly huge.  Then off to the ducks, cows, sheep, rabbits, and finally, our favorite.  Earlier this month were born two sets of twins and one set of triplet goats.  So so cute!  We went over to look closer (but still behind the fence) at one of the baby goats that was right by the fence, and Wyatt got down very close to it, and it TOLD ON US!  It let out the cutest little baby bleat, with its tongue sticking out, and looked over at its mom for help.  So so cute!

By then the boys were tiring, especially Yannick who was going into his manic happy phase.  It was about 1pm, and we needed to get home for naps.  Plus we still had a mile to go back.  Zachary and Wyatt did much better on the way back.  Zachary had gotten a little scratch on his arm though, and was having a hard time riding, because he kept seeing his wound, so I got out the receiving blanket we use for changing Yannick and tied it around his arm (familiar to anyone?) and then he was able to ride again.  Yannick was noticeably more tired, but did great.  I would give him a big push every now and then, but he had no problems.  We stopped again at the little stream, and after that Yannick was done riding.  Art carried him the rest of the way.  But we were at the end, so it was not too bad.  Loaded all the kids up, W having a minor temper tantrum b/c Nana moved his bike when he wanted to ride it.  Instead of using words and communicating, W would prefer to melt down into tears.  Sigh.  That got worked out and we made it home safely and put everyone to bed.

Mom and I ran to Michaels to buy a poster frame since all their frames were on sale.  

Rat's Nest

Not really.  Just looks that way.  This is Nick in the morning.  His cute post-bath curls have revolted.

He looks crazed

I can't help but giggle, even now, seeing the picture!

Nana Visit - No School

Zachary had no school today, and we had kicked around a few different ideas of what to do with his time off.  Originally we thought we would go to the beach in Santa Cruz, but checking the weather showed that it was going to be chilly there.  So we decided to try out a playground that sounded cool. It was said to be a polynesian theme with a boat replica on an island.  Sounds cooler than it was.  I will definitely go back in the summer, because its water feature looks very cool, with fountains, a little stream, and even a rock slide.  So that might be a fun alternative to going to the pool.  There was a little island in the middle of a large area that looked like a wading pool, but with signs everywhere saying "no wading".  huh?  ok.  The entire island was covered in sand.  not a huge sand fan, but the kids had fun digging.  Note to self, take the garden spades out of the sand bucket - they are pretty dangerous when wielded by little ones.

Here is the bridge to the island.  The palm trees are a nice touch.  

Zachary seemed to be in a bit of a funk, not able to maintain a good attitude, or have fun except in spurts.  He started playing a game with the soccer ball that he made up, so that was cool for awhile.  We had brought a picnic lunch with us, and started out at a picnic table, but the boys got too chilly in the shade, so they ate in the grass in the sun.  Wyatt was enthralled with some shoes that were thrown over a branch high in the trees.  Zachary contemplated trying to climb a tree to get them, but buzz kill mom would not allow it.

We ate lunch pretty early, and the boys were complaining a bit, and Zachary wanted to go home to play with his toys, so we finally left.

However, brilliant Nana, on the way home, we stopped at a 7-11 to get Icees.  I had Z come in with me to help carry everything, because I was also buying 2 gallons of milk (why they are cheapest at 7-11, I don't know).  I started to get smalls for everyone, until a nice lady pointed out that the medium size was on sale for $0.49 (instead of $1.50), so of course I had to get those.  Nana got an iced coffee.  This was the first Icee for each of the boys.

Uh oh, I think they may have liked them too much!  It had the added bonus of keeping Yannick awake. I did not want him falling asleep in the car so i could bathe them all when we got home.  All that nasty sand = bath.

We made it home with all awake, and they got clean and into bed.  I also went to bed.  Shockingly, all 3 boys fell asleep.  Zachary was to have a playdate with Jeffrey (his mom coming to pick him up), and I was not thrilled that I would have to wake him up.  But she ended up being about an hour later than she thought (on her way home from work), so Z got a serious nap.  I woke him up, and he was excited to go to Jeffrey's.  Sadly, it was a very short playdate - less than an hour - because his tennis instruction time got moved up.  He got home a little after 5pm, and the two other boys had only just been up for a short time.  They were exhausted!  Helps explain Z's bad mood at the playground.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing Sequence for Kids with Nana.

And of course the evening was spent playing Sequence. :)

Nana Visit - Cupertino Day

This is a no picture post.  Today was a mild day after yesterday's day of travel.  Wyatt had gymnastics at 11:15, so we just stayed around the house reading and playing.  Wyatt's little buddy Eli was tentatively suppose to come over for a make-up playdate from the week before that was only 15 minutes long.  But I never sent her a text to confirm, and she never showed up, so there you go.  House cleaned though, which is always nice.  This was Wyatt's last gymnastics class, so it was good that Nana got to see it.  As always very cute.  This time they used a mat that I had not seen before, but was so cool I want it.  Basically you sit down on a cut out in a mat that rolls backwards to teach you how to do back handsprings.  Boy I hope they boys want to keep taking gymnastics!

We played at the playground for a bit then went home for lunch.

Mom could hardly stand it and was so excited to get the boys their birthday presents, that after naps and snack, we loaded up into the car and headed to Target.  I did some grocery shopping while Nana took the two big boys to pick out their gifts.  She went overboard on gifts, but she and the kids were happy, so who am I to complain??  Both boys knew exactly what they wanted - in the BOOK department!  Zachary was super eager to get the Complete Ninjago Character book.  Dad had bought the boys the Complete Star Wars Character book, and it was a big hit.  After Aidan's birthday party though, Zachary has been into Lego Ninjago.  It is a nice change from Star Wars. :)  So Zachary got that book, and Wyatt got a Ninjago sticker book.  Then they wanted to "just look" at the toys of course.  Mom ended up getting 3 more lego sets, a musical book for Yannick, Sequence for Art and I, and Sequence for Kids for the boys.

After Target we headed to Apple to have dinner with Art.  I was a bit tense about getting food etc, probably because I was super hungry.  The boys played for a bit outside, but Yannick was still feeling a bit off.  We piled back into the car and headed home for bed, while poor Art biked home. 

After the kids were in bed, it was time for some Sequence!  Mom won two games and Art won one.  

Poor Shayna...the big loser. :(

Bedtime!

Nana's Visit - San Francisco

Nana arrived on a delayed flight last night.  We all went to bed pretty late, but irregardless, today was a big day so we had to get started.  Mom wanted to visit Alcatraz, and today was one of the only times available.  Tours sell out far in advance.  No refunds, no exchanges.  Hard core.  Our tour time was 11:30am, and we left before 10am, so we could walk around and see some other things before the tour.  UNFORTUNATELY, I put the wrong place in my phone for directions, and did not notice it until we ended up at pier 34 in some sketchy part of town for cargo only.  A good 20 minutes away from where we wanted to be.  needless to say, we did not have enough to time to look around once we finally found parking.  When Art and I went in january, we parked at the first lot we found, which cost $50/day flat rate.  Then when Art took his parents they found parking on the street for way cheaper, so I kept driving around looking for street parking until we realized that all street parking is for 2hours or less, and our tour was 3 hours minimum.  So off to the parking deck, that at least charges by the hour.  $8/hr up to $40max.  Still cheaper than the other lot.  We ended up staying exactly 5 hours.  Should have stayed longer just to get our $40 worth. :)  We took the double stroller and walked down to the pier for our tour.  We were plenty early enough to use the bathroom, and get in line.  I knew for sure that this was Yannick's first time on a boat, but I am not sure about Wyatt.  It might be, but I can't remember for sure.

Here the boys are looking out the window before we departed.  They were both very excited to be on a boat.  There was a large Disney cruise boat parked next to us, and Yannick was enthralled.  He kept asking "where dat cruise boat go?" as we pulled away.  We had to walk to the other side of the boat to look out the window to see it.

After the little orientation talk, we went to see the orientation video about the island.  Nick started acting up a bit, and I thought "great, this is going to be a tough day", thinking that he was going to be difficult all day.  I was thankfully wrong.  After the video, we decided to have lunch before going up the long hill to the prison tour.

They only allow food down by the dock, so this was the best time to eat lunch.  The tables were covered in poop and I had forgotten my sheet to use as a table cloth, so luckily the boys wanted to stay in the stroller.  The wind was a bit chilly, but the sun was hot.  See that gull on the table?  He was VERY aggressive and not much frightened of people.  I had a hard time shooing him away, and he would NOT stay away.  One of the park rangers came over to chase him away.  Not the most relaxing lunch ever. :)  But sort of amusing, I'm sure, to see me cawing and waving my arms at this bird. 

Up the long hill.  We stopped several times to look at all the leftover buildings from when it was an army fort.  The boys wanted to walk for a bit which was great because pushing a double stroller straight up is not so easy.  Then we made them walk for a bit.  yannick wanted to walk backwards, like Mater, and that was s l o w  going.  But we made it to the top, and walked in to get our headsets.  I decided to get ones for the boys too (free) in case they might be distracted by listening.  Almost immediately, Yannick hated it.  I gave it back and got Wyatt set up.  he seemed to be enjoying it.  I gave Nick his paci and laid him back so he would (fingers crossed!) nap.

Here is Wyatt deciding if he likes the audio.  He does not trust having Nick behind him, and always sits in the back (yannick hits him on the head and pulls his hair if he is behind), but I insisted because Nick needed to lie down for a nap.  No nap yet.

Wyatt amazingly got very into the story!  He listened intently.  his recording was about 40 seconds ahead of mine, and he would admonish me if I did not move into the right room at the right time.  And he would yell out loudly (because of the headphones) "Mom, this is the Library of the prison.  A library here!!  They had books".  I was so impressed (and relieved!) that he was interested.  It was a 90 minute tour, and he never got bored.

Yea, finally Yannick fell asleep about 20-30 minutes into the tour.  Rest was easy peasy.  He did not wake up until we were back on the boat.

Here is the view from the prison.  How tempting to want to escape.

Those streets going straight up.  Very cool view!

The entire tour was enjoyable, especially since Wyatt was into it and Yannick was asleep!  I had done this tour with Art in January, but there were many parts I had forgotten.  I enjoyed helping Wyatt understand the bits he did not get.

We viewed a few other things one the way back to the dock, but decided we would rather try to catch the ferry in 20 minutes instead of the one in 45 minutes.  Which we did!  Yannick woke up on the boat back, but was in good spirits.  Wyatt was in good spirits because I let him have screen time the entire time on the boat.  Some couple was watching him play games.

Then we walked down to pier 39.  There is no shortage of shops and eateries, but we were mainly interested in what is at the end of the pier:

Here is Nana with the stroller.  The wind had picked up and it was getting chilly.  The boys and Nana all enjoyed seeing all the sea lions.  So loud!  And some are just bullies!

See if you can spot the large sea lion on the second dock from the bottom, on the right...he is laying on his back with his flippers straight out.  So funny! We watched them until Wyatt started complaining of cold.  By then the wind was really picking up.  We made a bathroom stop, and I was just moments too late in changing Nick's diaper.  he peed through his pants, and I only had shorts to change him into.  I had to put my jacket over his legs in the stroller.  We stopped for mom to get us some coffee and hot chocolate to warm up.  It was 4pm, and I wanted to avoid traffic as much as possible so we canned the idea of driving over the bridge, and down lombard st.  Next time.  Good thing, because it took us FOREVER to get out of the city.  A bit of getting lost, not trusting the navigation on my phone, and so on.  Then finally traffic at Palo Alto.  We were nervous about being late for Zachary's make-up soccer game at 6:30, but we made it in plenty of time to eat a quick dinner.  Mom, Wyatt, Zachary, and Art went to the game while I stayed home with Yannick who had been fighting a fever.  Zachary's team won, and he even scored a goal.  Success for Nana to see.  Especially since last time, she got to see Zachary's very first soccer practice while Art was in China, but not an actual game.

It was a long, but good day!

Dig!

A nothing special post...just put here to remind us of all the digging Wyatt has done.  He hops out into the front yard, where everything was torn up for the new water pipe, every chance he gets to just dig in the dirt.  To each their own.

So far he has broken two shovels.  It is not a big deal since I got 3 of them for $1/ea for use in our garden by they boys.  They were used when we planted everything, and have been forgotten since then, except by Wyatt who always wants to dig dig dig.

Soccer Party!

Today, being the last game of the season, was also the end-of-season party.  We all met at Jollyman park.  Only one family was unable to make it, which was really nice to get to chat with the parents and the kids to play something other than soccer...made me wish the season was longer, to get a chance to hang out more with them.  Such an interesting group of ladies.  One other stay-at-home mom, a pharmacist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, an anesthesiologist, and I don't know what one other mom does.  As a side note, two families from Z's soccer team live in Cupertino, land of the best schools in the state, yet send their kids to a non-religious private school that costs upwards of $25k per year.  That is just not my life.   We would consider a private school if 1) the public school where we live was not good, 2) it was closer to affordable, and 3) it was bible based.  Alas, that is not our issue here...perhaps wherever we move next.  I digress...badly.  Soccer party.  NOT surprising is that most of the kids spent the majority of the party playing a version of 4 square.  Sheesh.  These kids cannot get enough.  Some pizza, fruit, veggie, side dishes and drinks, plus about 3 hours at the park, made for an enjoyable night.  PLUS, our family, scored a bunch of free leftovers at the end.  As in "you guys have small kids, you'll use this gallon of apple juice right?", and "none of us like Veggie Straws, why don't you take them home".  I secretly wondered if perhaps we look like "those people", the party moochers who take home more than they bring.  Who care, we scored veggie straws and pirate booty. :)

Art made presentations to each of the kids giving a small speech for each one about them over the season, and I handed out the pictures and medals.

Then, surprise to the coaches, Zachary and Mikey presented gift certificates to their dads, Art and Pancho, the team coaches.  Lucky for us, I was in charge of procuring the gift certificates, and picked a restaurant near us (and Pancho's family) that we really liked.  A mexican restaurant.  

Here is a picture of the boys sitting down at the table clowning around waiting to receive their medals.

Zachary is number 3.  We thought it was funny to see how many of the kids wore their jerseys, having not taken them off after their game 6 hours previously!  left to right: Ethan, Mikey, Nolan, Zach, Dylan...not pictured William (who was there somewhere), and Chirant, who could not make it.

All three kids had a good time at the playground, and were sad when it was finally time to go.  Most of these kids are moving up to U10 division, the next level up, and won't be in the same division as Zachary, U8.  He is extremely bummed about this, but I keep reminding him that he did not know anyone on his team before he started, and now he has lots of new buddies!

Counts5 at Palo Alto JMZ

Yea for Art - finally gets to go to the Jr. Museum and Zoo in Palo Alto!  Wyatt was very excited to show off all the things there.  Zachary had a bit of a slow start with a bad attitude about going, but came around finally (perhaps after I threatened him he had better not ruin this first trip for DaU, who was super excited).

We spent quite a bit of time in the museum, with both Wyatt and Yannick showing off their favorite stuff.

Dress-up is always a favorite.  Here, a praying mantis Z is attacking DaU.

Then, FINALLY, as Art thought, we went outside to the zoo part.

Amazing!!  The bobcats were not only awake, but active!  They even did a bit of wrestling!  I am so glad that Art got to see them awake; especially because they are so often asleep!

Turtles basking in the sun!

And back to see the bobcat!

And more of the bobcats!

We saw the bats, but not the turtle, nor the raccoons.  Not even sleeping!  They must have been inside.  Zachary was most excited to finally see the lizards in the solar desert area.  he was quite proud of himself that he found them.

We saw the peacock in the tree a few times, checked out the bunnies, the birds, the ferrets (asleep), the rats on the wheel, and even got a peek at the parrot hiding out in the curator's office.

Then off to the park where we had a picnic lunch.  Wyatt took so very long to eat his food heonly had   about 5 minutes to actually play on the playground, which was sad!  I hope he can speed up his eating speed before kindergarden.  Though Z was the same way until school cured him of his slow eating.

Soccer at Stanford

Today we finally have to travel for Zachary's soccer team.  All his other games have been played at his elementary school, Stevens Creek, but the last game of the season, today, was played on the Stanford campus.  There is a team from Palo Alto, but there are not enough players to make more than 1.5 teams, so they have to join the Cupertino league.  They travel to us ever week, and now they get to stay at home.  I was hoping to get there a bit early so Art could drive around the Stanford campus a bit , since he has not been there yet.  Especially Palm Dr., which I think is so pretty!  However, Google maps did NOT do us right this time.  It got us close, but not enough.  Uggh.  We left plenty early to get there on time, and nearly did not make it.  The road it was on is blocked in the middle, so you cannot drive through it.  Once we finally figured it out, it was easy enough, but there was some definite tension in the car.  All of this lead to Art leaving the car keys in the ignition in his haste to get the boys out of the car and the ball bag out of the trunk.  I went around to lock all the doors, thinking Art had left it unlocked again, not knowing the keys were in the ignition.  YIKES!!  Turned out to be a very very minor deal - I could not even muster enough energy to be irritated at Art about it, despite my desire to be. :)  I called the number for our roadside assistance, and they had a guy there in less than 40 minutes.  It took him about 2 minutes to unlock the door and me to sign the paperwork.  I missed just moments of the uninspired soccer game.  Easy peasy.  Good thing we noticed before the game and not after it!  THEN, that might be annoying, to sit around and wait.

Z's team was much more interested in playing four square during half time than they were in playing soccer today.  Odd.  Maybe because it was their last game?  Maybe because they were not at "home"?  Maybe because they were using small goals instead of the traditional size.  

Here is Zachary playing though.

Zachary is number 3 in the orange jersey.  I think he looks just like Art on the field.  He carries himself in the same manner.  It is so interesting to me!

After the game, and some four square of course, and snacks, our little family of five decided to visit the Palo Alto Jr. Museum and Zoo.  The kids and I have all been there several times (ok, Zachary only once, but the other two several times), but Art has never been.

Finally getting moved in!

Tonight is Date Night for the Jantzen family.  So we have 6 kids running around our house after dinner. This of course seems like a GREAT time to start hanging pictures right?  YES!  All the kids are occupied with each other, and we have 30 good minutes before we need to start getting them ready for bed.  I am ready to put pictures on the walls, and Art is a bit of a slow-starter in this arena.  I know I have 6 months to get it done, and then all motivation will seep out of him and he will refuse.  Sigh.

So here we go... We made one wall off-limits to four square practice by hanging this in our foyer

It looks like orange paint, but I think it is more of a tan.  The lighting is just bad here.

This one was easy peasy.  Now to the next one with was my latest framing project - the big fram w/ the Mother's Day pics in them to be hung next to the old staples of the pics of the boys as babies of the same age (roughly).  Some arguing about this, some measuring, hammering, and here we are, in the dining area,

Not too bad for date night!  I did feel the wrath of Stephanie Watson coming down on me, as there was nothing to "anchor" these photos.  They are above nothing but the bare floor.  Eek. :)

Still, I was happy!

Then, several days later, and two trips to Michaels, we finally got these hung

anchored by the unseen couch!

Yea us!  Now I have one major picture project in mind and several minor ones.  Only 2 months left before I lose Art! :)

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Stretch!

There is a new game that the kids at Z's school play before school.  It is a take on the old favorite, rock/paper/scissors.  They have added a new component to the game since MY DAY.  They line their feet up, one behind the other, facing each other.  Whoever wins gets to put their front foot directly behind their back foot.  The loser must keep the front foot still and "stretch" the back foot to meet the winners front foot.  Lose too many times, and you end up in a big split.  Game is over when someone falls.  Boys and girls play this.  It is amazing how flexible some of these kids are.  The very short kids, like Zachary's buddy Pranai, have a distinct disadvantage.  Funny to watch tall Z and short P play the game before school.

Pranai is on the left, Zachary on the right, Yannick in the middle cheering.

Now the tables have turned and Zachary is losing...not out of the game yet, but very close.  You can use one hand to stabilize yourself, but a fall, or two hands means you're out.  

He was so into this game, that he started playing the exact moment he arrived at the line for his class - not even pausing to take off his backpack.

This game is easier on the ears than Four Square, but unfortunately it has not caught on at home, and Z continues to rain down on the house with his bounce-thump of four square practice.