Happy Halloween 2010

Rite of Passage

Annika reached a new milestone today taking off the training wheels on her bike.  She's cautious about it and we blocked off the cul-de-sac to let her practice.  After a few tries with Mom (more like sprints for me), she was balanced and riding - just not stopping.  The whole family was outside this evening - the weather perfect - playing badmitton and riding bikes.  Erik's got a great arm thowing a football and rubber ball.  We're impressed.

Back to Annika.  We have a girls 16 inch bike that was Morgan's.  It's pink.  Annika is happy enough to learn how to ride on it, but hates the pink.  Luckily, it's getting to be small for her anyway.  Ingrid may get longer use out of it.

We finished playing well after 6 PM.  Too tired to cook any of the meals - and both were hour long cooking ordeals, we set out for some sushi.  I didn't realize that all six children like sushi.  That made it a great meal.

Annika can't wait to get out tomoorw and carve pumpkins and ride bikes.  Sounds great to us.

Wednesday's Miscellaneous Photo Essay

Woody prepared all of the ingredients for homemade Belgium waffles this morning.  It was yummy and fun to have the kids help.  The pre-measuring work done the night before made this a snap.

Erik is not into eating protein.  We were a little worried.  Then we discovered how much he likes the Boba straws.  A little mixing of our homemade chicken and wild rice stew in the blender and Erik finished a meal.  Yeah!

I met up with some folks to study the three classes of levers.  I bet you're wondering why.

Risen Savior Lutheran School Fall Festival

Festival Number 2 was this evening at Ingrid's school, Risen Savior.  The event was catered by Jason's Deli, and we enjoyed yummy box dinners and drinks in the Fellowship hall.  After dinner we headed out to the back parking lot for some fun - Trunk-o-treating, bouncies, games, dancing, firetruck viewing, and the mad science lab.  Erik was in his element, dancing around and staring at every costume he saw.  He looked darling in his Dr. Seuss hat and painted overalls.  His actual Halloween costume is still in production, so this served as a comfortable festival outfit.

The silent auction had several items that we bid on, so we'll see on Monday if we won any of them.

The kids loved the mad science lab, where they stuck their hands in the guts of pumpkin people, touched chicken bones, and made plaster.  The other half of the lab included face painting and fingernail polish.  Guess where we found Ingrid planted?

Desert Botanical Garden's Autumn Festival and Monarch Butterfly Pavillion

We set out at 12:30 this afternoon for the planned autumn festival at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  As members, we get free entry into the festival and monarch show.  This is our first year.  As we drove near the gardens, the nearby Phoenix Zoo was flashing capacity signs.  The nearby Botanical Gardens had cars parked in the winding drive leading up to the parking lot.  It looked liked it was going to be a full festival.  We snaked through and found parking in the lot close to the entrance.  The festival was off to the side of the gardens and included a wagon/hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick out a free pumpkin.  The line was very, very long.  Erik was sleeping in the stroller which wasn't allowed on the ride.  We decided to skip the ride.  Maybe next year.

We watched some professional wood carvers use their tools on pumpkins.  They made some great faces.

We left the pumpkin area and followed the path to the monarch pavilion.  The girls were excited to see so many butterflies up close.  Ingrid was nose to nose with one butterfly.  The pavilion was full, but we still enjoyed watching the male and female monarch butterflies.  The volunteers really knew a lot about the butterflies and the girls listened and asked questions.  Outside of the pavilion was the kids activity tent which had great educational activities for kids about butterflies. After a few minutes looking at butterfly parts through magnifying glasses, we left to view the rest of the botanical gardens and the off to home to rest before our second festival of the day. Busy!

Wednesday's Miscellaneous Photo Essay

Apparently this plant was a little upset it didn't get to go to California with us.

Look!  Nice and empty.  Schools back in session!!

If you turn on the TV, run the dishwasher and close the door, it sounds pretty good.

Most Accidents Occur Close to Home

That makes statistical sense - people spend most of their time near their homes.  The probability weighs heavily that accidents will occur where the car spends most of its time.  So how is it that you can travel over 1,800 miles and then be involved in an accident one mile from the freeway exit to your house?

That's exactly what happened unexpectantly to us on our drive home after our two week California trip.  With the car loaded down with two weeks of luggage and lots of fresh food, we came to a stop on the freeway in the Friday evening rush hour.  Typical of this area near our home, the freeway switches from three lanes into two lanes and it bogs down.  Only the guy behind us must have forgotten that as he barreled into the back of our car.

There was lots of screaming from the four kids and lots of glass.  The car seats did their job because the kids stayed put.  That really means the steel cage surrounding the interior of the car did a great job absorbing the accident.

Woody immediately called 911 as the other driver got out to come over to our car - we were able to pull over to the grassy median.  A Pinal County SWAT vehicle witnessed the accident from the opposite lanes and quickly lit up sirens and circled back to us.  DPS, Gila River EMS, and Chandler Fire also responded.  Ingrid and Morgan were in the third row and were evaluated by Chandler Fire.  Erik was checked over by Gila River EMS.  Everything was complicated by the fact a major dust storm hit the area just after the accident.  We had a hard time talking in the median.  Finally we went to the back of the ambulance to do the requisite paperwork.  DPS cited the other driver for failure to control his speed.  The girls were calmed down by the paramedics.  After which they re-told our entire vacation in great detail.  The paramedics were only happy to listen.  With kids, they said, "Conversations are much better than extracations".

Erik, once determined to be OK, really liked all of the lights and sirens and being in the ambulance.  It was his second ambulance visit in one week. (See our visit to the Monterey Fire Department's Open House).

We are now having to deal with the other party's insurance, body shop and getting a  rental vehicle, etc.  What we didn't expect is the tiny glass shards that are everywhere in the car - on our clothes, bags, food, books, toys, and garage floor.

We thank God it was not a more serious accident and that we are all safe and OK.

The Surprise Disney Day

Woody and I woke this morning with one question to answer.  Should we head back to AZ or surprise the kids with one more vacation day?  You can see by the pictures we chose the latter.  We woke the kids and dressed them.  They were under the impression we needed to go to the box factory in Orange County.  It was plausible.  The box warehouse (Papermart.com) is a mere 15 minutes from Woody's parents.  The kids still weren't certain even as we arrived in the Disneyland parking lot.  When we got on the Toy Story 3 shuttle, after parking in the Woody lot (where else would we park??), they finally got big eyes and realized they were going to spend the day at Disneyland.

It was a great day with perfect overcast weather.  We took a relaxed approach which was the perfect style for the girls.  Not racing from one ride to the next, we explained to the older girls that this visit was for Ingrid.  We have been to Disneyland twice before, each time taking one of the girls for a special day.  Ingrid really wanted to see the princess and in no way wanted to see any character in costume.  Sometime during the day, we met up with Mary Poppins and Bert.  They were so kind to Ingrid, spending time talking to her about everything on Ingrid's mind.  When we next saw Jessie and Woody from Toy Story, Ingrid was ready to talk to Jessie.

Morgan was a great help by reaching the milestone height of 54 inches.  That meant she could drive an Autotopia car by herself, and more importantly, she could accompany Annika on the tea cup ride without getting her parents sick.  Yeah Morgan!

We never thought we'd stay long enough to hear the announcement that the park is now closing.  But our kids must have had enthusium overdrive.  At 11 PM we went into the Mad Hatter shop to pick out Mickey ears for Morgan and Annika.  Ingrid got hers earlier in the day which she proudly doned.  Three minutes in the car and the two younger girls were off to dream about their Disney day.

Farmers Market Chino Hills, CA

Our first full day back in L.A. was spent doing laundry, resting and reading, and going to the Farmer's Market in Chino Hills.  It was a nice chance to stretch our legs at a leisurely pace.  The market was teeming with fruits and some vegetables.  But the overwhelming smell was the kettle popcorn.  The aroma was too delicious to pass up.  After buying grapes, peaches, apples and strawberries, we settled into a hotdog joint for dinner followed by a shared bag fresh kettle carmel popcorn.

I love the picture of Erik - so grown up.  I bought the "Tractor Pull" shirt from Gymboree because it reminded me of Watermelon Days in Kellogg with my cousins.

P.S. The fruit is so fresh and yummy!

Solvang Pumpkin Patch

"Next time you see a pumpkin patch (or anything else where people are just being together)stop...play..have fun! "   

 Doug Shade

Good advice.  While driving from Solvang to Santa Barbara, we stopped at a local farm and pumpkin patch and let the kids run in the pumpkin patch.  The farm was full of pumpkins, squash, and goards.  Erik wasted no time and without any instructions walked up and started "picking" out pumpkins by rolling them.  No size was too small for this boy.

We picked out some fresh tomatoes and small pumpkins to take back to L.A.    After our stop we started on a very scenic drive from the valley through to Santa Barbara.  The valleys we passed over the week included a cornicopia of horticulture.  We saw almond trees, date and fig trees, citrus, apple orchards, multiple vineyards, avocado farms, giant artichokes, berries, cotton, corn, lettuce, and grains.  There was a little of everything.  It was a great lesson for city kids who only see most vegetables and fruits at grocery stores.