A Great Day!

Today was one of those days that just went so well I have to share it! Yesterday we started painting the house. Yes, I said painting the house. The boys and I are starting with the trim and working our way around with primer, then again with paint. Then we'll start again and paint the walls. The boys and I scrape the old paint of the trim (some of it is pretty bad) for 45 minutes and then I go over it with primer. It takes a little more than an hour. This we will do every day, maybe even a little more on weekends. I've done some pretty big projects this way. It takes a long time, but does get done. It sure beats the heck out of waiting for a week   I can set aside to do it. It never gets done that way. It's what I did at our house in Anaheim. 

The day started with me getting a crap load of reading done. I do that every morning when I get up. I'm not much of a get up and go person. I like to sit around and drink my coffee for several hours first. I used to watch tv or play on the internet but last year I decided I'd get more done if I read my book in the morning. I fall asleep if I read anything too deep in the evening, so I have a lighter book for bedtime. Right now it's Harry Potter. The boys are insisting that I read them all. In the morning, I'm reading a book about Judge Taney and Lincoln. Love that book. It's great. It's fairly neutral, not idolizing Lincoln and not demonizing the Confederate States. 

Then I get my chores done. Shower, laundry, bed, pick up around the house. I have a couple of things I do each day like vacuum the living room or clean the bathroom. I didn't get those done today because I'm obsessing over a patchwork bag project right now. I think tomorrow I will have to do some catch up on the cleaning.

Then the boys finally get up. I made them breakfast and read our book. We finally finished "The Indian in the Cupboard" today. I try to pick a breakfast book that they probably wouldn't read on their own. I'm looking into what to read next. I'm thinking some poetry. I have the captive at this time, so I like to use it wisely.

They did their chores and studies. Tom working on Latin still. Today there was diagramming sentences. Looked interesting and I had to hear all about it while Jake and I did the dishes. Jake finished his Greek book and is waiting eagerly (and I'm not exaggerating here) for the next one to come in the mail.

I didn't some of my patchwork project while they finished up. I'm making awesome grocery bags out of the piles of scraps my Grandma gave me. It's turning out beautiful and I'll post pictures of them as they come out. 

Off to work on the house. That was fun. "Family Bonding" time!

When I came in from finishing the painting part, Tom was at the computer. There has been a resurgence of interest in Flight Simulator X and I'm getting weary of who's turn it is to play. I love this game though. Tom and Jake love flying all over the world. They look up places on the map and try to find things they fly over.

Jake was reading. He has been sucked into the 5th Harry Potter book and reads more during the day than Tom. He likes it quiet to read and that works out well when Tom is playing on the computer.

I worked on my project after lunch. We watched "How the States got their names". I love that show. I forgot that I promised pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and so had to whip those up at 4pm which led to that being dinner. But what they heck, right?! It has pumpkin and oatmeal in it and with a glass of milk makes it complete, in my opinion.

Dan's done working so we're off to watch Doomsday Preppers. We'll all retire to bed with our books around 9pm. Tom will be up after midnight still reading and Jake will fall asleep hiding under a blanket from Tom's book light.

Good times.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving weekend is almost over and I thought write down a few thoughts.

My brother!

Thanksgiving day was awesome! We spent it at my brother's house with his family and our Dad and Step-Mom. This is the second year we have done this. Growing up we always went to my Grandma's house or my Mom's sister's house, but we have found this to be increasingly difficult the past few years. I think part of it is that after my Grandma passed away everyone was pretty shook up about it and without her there to keep the peace, things just got ugly. Besides that with so many of us kids married and needing to spend time with our own families and in-laws, not to mention those of us who are divorced and need to ferry kids back and forth, it just got to be more of a hassle than a happy family event. So the family has splintered into smaller groups. I'm sure it happens in every family and has happened in this one before. You can only have so many generations in one house at one time maybe. My only regret is that I miss the happy times we had and wish that we could maybe pick another day to get together with whomever wants to be there and enjoy each others company, without having the "this isn't a real holiday" feeling. But, that is not to be, so onward and upward!

And his lovely wife!

Thanksgiving at my brother's house is the best! His wife is fun to be around and is a great cook (even though she thinks she isn't). She had her brother and his girlfriend there as well and they are great fun too. We played corn-hole, drank beer, and harassed each other children all day. Good times we had.

Since my Mom moved up to Fernley, she wasn't able to come, but the boys and I sent her a Thanksgiving box with some knit socks, a Christmas ornament, and some jellies. We all miss them at the holiday's but it's ok, because we talked to her on the phone and we will see her again soon. Thanks to Facebook and blogs, it's like we all live next door to each other!

Messing around before chow.

Black Friday! I get so tired of hearing about the deals on Black Friday. I swear it's a load of people buying things they don't really need just because they are on sale. I'm a downer though, I know. I've gotten up early and done the stand in line early thing with some friends a few years back. It was fun. Not because of the sales, but the fun of hanging out and shopping with friends. We could do that any day though and with a more relaxed atmosphere. On our way home on Thanksgiving we saw the lines of people and cars at the Outlet Stores in Cabazon. What a zoo! And what a way to spend your evening.

My SIL's brother and his girlfriend watching football.

On Friday, Dan and I thought we'd run in and get a couple things we needed at Wal-mart. That place was nuts. No one seemed to be there having a good time, shopping for deals. It seemed like they were desperate to get a good deal on a Furby toy, as if their life depended on it. Yuck. They didn't have any of the crafty things I needed, so I'll have to go into the city. And they didn't have the part Dan needed either, so we left empty handed. We stopped at Big 5 to see if they had any knives the boys wanted for Christmas. They didn't. So we went on to Home Depot to get some electrical stuff for the bug. I thought I'd get some Christmas lights to add to my LED collection, but I couldn't remember what kind I got last year. We did find something we "needed" though. I can't say though because it's a Christmas present for the boys. But I found some cube shelves on sale that would be a perfect fit for my new craft room. I got them. Now Dan doesn't have to build me something like I asked him last week. He's happy.

Getting out the bird.

Saturday was spent playing video games, working on the bug, and organizing the craft room. We watched "The Big Lebowski" because we saw a bumper sticker that said "The Dude Abides" and so we had to introduce the boys to that. Hilarious.

Today, I didn't sleep well and I think I might be coming down with something. Dan is going to continue work on the bug. And the boys and I plan to start working on the scraping and painting the trim on the house. We are going to spend an hour or so doing that every day until it's done. I have to go to the grocery store.  I'm worried there will be nothing left or that the price of milk went up again. Planning menus is the bane of my existence.

Jake, Dan, and Me!

Oh! One more thing. Dan says the best part about Thanksgiving for him is that he gets to have a holiday of eating with family and then a day off to recover AND THEN a weekend. It's nice after all the years and years of working holiday weekends!

My Dad "at the well".

Tom playing games on my phone.

My lovely Step-Mom.

Chow Time!

No, I don't need you to cut my food, Mom!

Carson and his Mommy

Tom, Carson, and Grandpa Bob 

Throwing the baby down!

A game of corn-hole.

Good times with the baby cousin.

Studying Biblical Greek

That's right! Biblical Greek. Jake decided that would be something fun to do a couple months ago. I personally think it was in response to his brother learning Latin. Tom decided to learn that after reading the Percy Jackson books. He's a fan of anything Roman now, so Latin it was. He's been using Lively Latin. That's been awesome for all of us because he shares everything he learns. We're constantly reminded of everything Latin all day, every day.

Back to Greek. Greek is hard! It's a whole different alphabet. I'm reminded how hard it must be for kids to learn to read in their own language and at least they had the help of others who know the language speaking it to them. He started with lessons on YouTube. There were lots, but he wanted more of a classic lesson book, so I found "Greek-n-Stuff". Very cool. Here's the funnier part. I showed it to Jake to see if that's what he wanted and he was thrilled it was "biblical". "Maybe I could translate the bible for myself some day!" My kids are strange.

So he's added it to his list of things to do each day. He really does it every day, unless we are leaving early to go somewhere. I have to clarify though. Some people may think that he "studies" like you might do in school and that isn't what's happening here. He's made a plan to do two pages of the workbook every day. Sometimes he does one because he's excited about going to play the new video game at Grandma's house. He does what the book suggests and goes through the flashcards every day with the pages he does. It takes him about five to ten minutes a day. He's interested and loves it. He's internally motivated. And he is learning it. If I need to know what a Greek letter is, I just ask him and he can answer immediately. And he points out words in English that he knows come from Greek. He loves to wow us with that.

Today, I was making chocolate chip cookies for breakfast because he asked me to...yes...and he came in and told me that he was nearly done with the workbook and may need the next one pretty soon. Forethought. I looked it up and asked if he wanted the copybook that went with it or anything else. Just the workbook, please. We looked at a sample page and the list of skills taught. "Cool. Conjugating verbs. Perfect!" He's excited about verbs people.

I also have to add that I didn't ask them what language program they wanted to learn this year. I didn't suggest that they take any classes. The requests to learn a new language came between trips to Disneyland and the latest video game obsession. Tom also is requesting more "Life of Fred" books, especially if they explain magnetism. 

Yes, Disneyland Again!

When we decided to get Disneyland annual passes, we looked at the cost of the pass and budgeted for gas and at least one trip per month. That actually gave us a couple trips in some months because of black out days for our passes. So we're starting to wind down. We got the passes for Christmas last year and our first trip was in January, so we only have a couple more trips ahead. Tom is a little sad. It's not going to be fun the last time we go and will probably end up being a VERY long day. Jake is easier going. He enjoys going and loves all the fun, but is perfectly fine with doing something else and looking forward to the next time he may or may not get to go. Polar opposites those two are, on just about everything.

So why do I like Disneyland so much? I really couldn't say. I grumble and complain and say I wouldn't go if they boys didn't want to, but then I'm there and it's fun and there are the memories, and I'm teared up at the fireworks show. It's strange. The down side parts are the cost (we could spend that money on doing things we've never done before), the crowds (not just he amount of people but the quality, blach!), and the sheer overwhelming-ness of it all. The drive down, the drive back, the bustling about all day, and then there is the recovery day after. But then there is the up side parts! Spending the day with my boys. The drive there and back is filled with singing, talking, and laughing. Riding rides I remember as a kid, getting churros, telling stories about going there when I was little and when I worked there. The conversations we have in line are probably pretty bizarre to those around us, they pretty much cover just about everything; the physics of the ride, the capacity, when it was created, what used to be there, the theme, crowd control, funny stories of when we worked there, books we're reading, movies we've watch, people in line, plans for the rest of the day, etc. I wish I could record them all! All the while I'm thinking how many people get to run wild through Disneyland so many times with their 10 and 12 year old boys? I'm not dragging them and they're not dragging me. We are having a blast together and there is no where else we'd rather be. The only thing that would make it better is if Dad could come with us. Poor guy has to work! But we always try to bring him home some candy and tell him all the stories.

I guess I've gone on long enough about this, so here are the pictures from our day!

On the tram again! My sons cannot just look at the camera and smile. Really, it's physically impossible for them.

Ahh the traditional picture in front of the big Disneyland Christmas tree! They were blind from the sun. It was 85 degrees out! So much for the Christmas feeling.

 Hey! Wait just a cotton-pickin' minute! This tree is FAKE! What happened!? This prompted a half hour "In my day.." diatribe, which again made me feel old. I can't wait to do this to my Grandchildren!

This is Tom trying to figure out what the crests mean on the Matterhorn while stuffing a pretzel in his face. I'm proud of this picture because it's natural. This is what Tom looks like pretty much all the time. There is not a moment that goes by that he isn't trying to figure something out. On a side note, the figuring things out gets crazier in the evenings just before bed. It's as if he has to finish every thought through before going to sleep. Poor Jake has to hear them all even though he is trying to go to sleep. While we were waiting, Tom noticed a couple things on the cars that he didn't know about. He asked me about it, but I didn't know either. I've never worked on that ride. I thought he forgot about it, but as we got into the car he stopped the ride operator and quizzed him about it for the few seconds before the ride started. He got his stinkin' answers! :))

Splash Mountain. The plan was to go on this and then the Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc., but it was broken when we got there so we went on Haunted Mansion first. Waiting for that, I got quizzed about why "splash was down" and what could have gone wrong, how long would it take, who would they call, and if it would be closed for the rest of the day. You could tell Tom was worried that the plan would be altered. I understand though, at least this time. This is his favorite ride. So we waited around for a minute or two to see if is reopened. He wanted to ask the ride operator about it, but I told him he wouldn't give him any more information besides "Soon." or "Later." and "Technical difficulties that will be resolved shortly" I know this drill. Thank the maker, it opened up and they went running off. This is a ride that I do not go on. I hate getting splashed wet and then walking around cold for hours afterward. The pretty of the ride is not worth the misery, in my opinion. So I wait for them at the exit. 

Notice the white sky? The boys did too. This is something that always bugged me in the OC. They sky is such a pale blue that it almost always comes out white in pictures. Must be something to do with the moisture in the air? Don't know. But it makes for some ugly pictures.

We stopped for some dinner at the Mexican place, per Jake's request. My boys LOVE Mexican food. The bummer is that they've never been partial to kids meals (seriously, kids meals should be smaller versions of what is actually served at that restaurant, but don't get me started) and they've outgrown sharing an adult meal. The cost of feeding these buggers has gone up tremendously!

And then it was evening and the lights came on! That's my favorite. I love Christmas at Disneyland at night! I swear that just seeing Main Street, the Castle, and Small World is worth the price of admission at Christmas time. Luckily, Tom and Jake still like the kids rides so we went straight to Small World when the lights came on. 

Here are the highlights...

And the GRAND FINALE! The family behind us in line at Space Mountain laughed when I told the boys we had to see the fireworks from in front of the castle or I was going to cry and not be consoled. They would have to drive home because I would be crying so hard I would not be able to drive. As if I were exaggerating! Every time I try to see the fireworks close up, it's way too crowded. I cannot sit there holding my spot for three hours. Actually, I just refuse. But the park attendance was so light, I just knew we'd get a good spot this time and we did. Here's my view...and I'm not zooming.

I didn't bother taking pictures of the fireworks since they never look good that way, but it was impressive even if I have seen it a million times from my spot light. It's pretty much the same show we did back then, but with more on the castle, no tink, and Christmas music. But, I'll admit, I loved it. The best part was watching Tom and Jake look back at me with the "Did you see that?!" face. Totally worth being sardined.

I planned on leaving at 8pm, but the fireworks were at 7:45 and then the park closed, so we were stuck in the mass exodus. Kinda fun swimming through that. And we got a cinnamon pretzel for the road because my friend was working at the Wetzel Pretzel stand. Then we got to listen to people fight, push, and scream at each other getting on the tram. :))

It was another great day at Disneyland. I'm going to miss it. Passes went up $100 per person this year, so it's not going to happen for a long time. But there are other adventures to be had!

Halloween!

I finally cleaned out all my Halloween decoration boxes from storage! I had so many because our front porch in Anaheim was perfect for a huge fall display that I put up at the beginning of October and left until the end of November. It was gorgeous. On Halloween, I'd change it over to spooky for Trick-or-Treaters and then back again the morning after. It was fun.

But now I don't have Trick-or-Treaters or a big front porch, so there is nothing to really decorate up. I did make this small display though! The raven on top used to sit on my chandelier in the livingroom year around at our old house. Now he sits there, guarding my front door. His name is Nevermore.

So the boxes and cleaned out and the stuff I'm not using anymore is off to the thrift store. And the boxes are packed away in the greenhouse (turned storage room). I do have my fall display still out and there is only box for that!

Our Halloween tradition since we moved out to the desert is to make a costume the day before and then go to Great-Grandpa Ray's on Halloween Day.

We headed out early, since we had a couple stops to make on the way. Chili thinks that she is going too! We took her camping with us, now she jumps in the truck if we start loading things.

We stopped at Dowling's Orchard in Beaumont to get some pumpkins for carving. This is also tradition. They only have about fifteen big pumpkins left and I'm always disappointed that they don't discount them on Halloween day. Two awesome things happened while were there though. There was a cyclist there that was biking across California and asked us to take a picture of him at the pumpkin patch. AND we sat and watched what we thought were two hang gliders twirling above us, but turns out they were huge white and gray birds! We couldn't figure out what they were, but they were hanging on thermals for the longest time and never flapped, so we thought they were hang gliders. Then the flapped their wings and took off. Crazy.

Next stop was Barnes & Noble. It's on the way and I needed two books for my book club. Tom and Jake are always up for B&N. Jake was looking for a specific Beatles album he doesn't have yet, but they didn't have it. He was on his way out and found a book called "Splinter Cell". It's based on Tom Clancy characters from a video game. Doubt that it is really written for ten year olds, but he has been sucked in and loves it. He says he likes it because it has a lot more details and descriptions of scenes than books for younger audiences.

When we got to Grandpa's house he was decorating for the evening's festivities. We brought him the big Jack-o-lantern balloon that we used to have in our yard. I think it actually belongs to my Mom. It fit perfect! We got to carving pumpkins and had our usual fun with that.

Grandpa got the seeds all out so he could bake them up. I love pumpkin seeds!


 Jake was having a hard time getting the top off his. It was really thick! But he did the entire thing all by himself. Even most of the guts.

Tom with his creation!

Jake with his pumpkin man!

After carving, we cleaned up and got some sandwiches from Subway and had a big dinner. Then the waiting for nightfall began....

Tom giving Mickey a lobotomy.

Jake getting sucked into his new book.

All costumed up and ready!

The sun finally went down and the children descended on the neighborhood! Tom and Jake did half a block on their own (without parental supervision!) and came back. Grandpa and I sat on the porch handing out candy. There weren't as many this year. Last year, we ran out of candy by 8pm and we had a lot of candy. This year I took some home with us. I did go around the block with the boys. As usual, Jake was done in about four houses and Tom wanted to go on forever. Not because he wanted more candy, but because he didn't want the fun to end. We negotiated a few more houses and agreed on hitting the road by 8pm.

We cleaned up, said our good-byes, and hit the road. On the way back to the freeway, we checked out a "Haunted Yard" up the street. It was packed up there, so we didn't stop. Leaving much after 8pm would get us home pretty late and I need to be awake enough to drive. There were tons of people up there though and lots of great costumes.

Dad was still up at 10pm when we got home and the boys related all the highlights. We all went to bed happy. I love spending Halloween with my Grandpa. It gives us plenty of time to catch up and he is the center of this holiday for the boys. They love it too.

I can't help it...here are a couple pictures of the boys from years past.

2003

2004

2006

2005

Another trip to Old Dale...a long one.

We left on Monday after Dad got off work and come home Friday morning. Dan had to work during the day, but we got up early and took some drives with the bug and did some skeet shooting. While Dan worked, the boys and I took some hikes, read books, and played games. 

One morning we went for a drive and then walked around. Dan and Tom were looking for gold but Jake and I got weary and went for a walk with Chili. Check out this weird strip of different rock.

The weather was perfect. I love the desert in the fall. It's cold at night and warm during the day. If you stand in the sun it gets hot but you step into the shade and you need a sweater.

We took a walk up to our "Monument" and checked it out. No one has been there, but that isn't surprising. It's been way to hot out there for the last few months. We are going to register it as a "geocache" so more people find it. We found eight geocaches while we were out there. There are about 40 to find. 

This was a geocache we found only a few hundred feet from our camp!

This pumpkin was convicted of crimes against the pumpkin patch so he was scheduled for execution. That shotgun does some serious damage! Dad took a video.

 This is the second geocache we found. It was called "Escaped Altoids". There was a severed hand with handcuffs on it nearby. Hilarious!

Time to play some Monopoly! This travel game has come in handy in the camper. We have plenty of time to play, but not quite the attention span.

Check out this ant hill! Harvester ants are very busy stock piling seeds right now. It's so cool. In the spring, they are digging out their holes. The piles around the hole are sand and pebbles. But in the fall they are harvesting. Some ants are bringing in the seeds and others bring them down into their holes. It's pretty stinkin' cool. And the big black beetles seem to like these piles as well.

Tom and Jake playing "King of the Hill". Tom's king. Jake is bowing down to his greatness. And Chili doesn't really know what the heck they are doing on this hill, but she can see a rabbit and needs to chase it.


Another sweet geocache called "Blood Sucker". There was a vampire mask in it.





I took this picture because Tom was telling me about the bullet casings he found and the gun they came from. His look was so typical Tom, that I HAD to take a picture of it.

On another hike into the claims. I love these walls along the washes. I want to dig around and find fossils. They look like tiny cliff dwellings. Jake is trying to put his jacket into his backpack.

Jake and I took a long walk up out of the wash and up a couple hills. We found lots of great rocks and took note of some other places to hike next time.

Tom panning for gold in the wash. Dan and Tom worked at that for a couple hours. Jake found a bullet with the metal detector.

Jake caught a grasshopper! These things are everywhere this time of year. They completely blend into the ground and when they fly are bright yellow and black.

Who's this handsome guy? He's using that rock as a slide. And I'm thinking, now I'm going to have to buy another pair of jeans for him. 

And Mom's dead. Chili is going to stand guard. Actually, I'm sunning myself like a lizard.

Another geocache called "Widow". That white spot is a bleached out stuffed spider hung in the creosote bush along with the cache bottle. It was just a tiny one with only a log book but fun to find.

We found this piece of metal sticking out of the ground beside the road. It's big and goes far back off the road. Weird. We have no idea what it could be.

Dan drove us out to the Virginia Dale mine and we went geocache hunting from there and walked back. Total was about three miles. Chili was along with us the whole time. She's a great hiking dog. She stays just ahead of us and can drink water right from the water backpack. Tom just leans over and sprays water and she laps it out of the air. She was pretty tired when we got back. She isn't used to all this exercise!

And then the week was over. We were running low on water and the boys had baseball practice on Friday, so we headed home in the morning before Dan started work. It was a great week. Dan said he'd rather go on the weekend so he could play more, but it was fun to be out there anyway.