Tobias Scott turns 4 years old

It has been a marathon of West Coast birthdays...Madeline turned 6 in August, Grey turned 4 in September. And now, "the baby" of the family, Toby turned 4 the end of October. It was an totally excellent time in San Diego. The weather was perfect. The kids were so fun to be with.

I was super impressed with the kids on a little experiment we did. Each kid had to plan a treasure hunt. Put clues around the house that leads to some presents for their sibling. It started with a blitz shopping spree - 10 minutes in Target & $10 limit. Each of them totally got into being generous and thoughtful for the other. It was really fun, so we'll definitely try it again in the future.

The weekend was chock-full. I got to see Toby's school, take them to a movie, do a walk on Coronado, lunch at a Brewery, stories and games. Once again, Maddie let me share her room and sleep in her bed. Here is a link to Picasa photos. Below are some highlights from the weekend. Hugs and kisses to the Brewsters for making it a great time for me.

Toby at Stone!

Lunch Stone Brewing Co. 

Fuzzoodle face

Arts!

Did arts and crafts







Played spider man

Caught in Toby's web

New folk duo?

Celebrated Toby's birthday






Helped out with the chicken coop

Maddie in the coop

Had treasure hunts. 

Looking for clues

Saw Flight of the Butterflies  at the Fleet Science Center, Balboa Park.

At the Science Center

Ireland 2012

Inishbofin

 

My Mom's family comes from Ireland somewhere around the Galway area. Peg tells me Richard's family comes from Sligo, which is a little further north. This is my second trip to Ireland. Both times, I got an overwhelming sense of "coming home." A warm feeling, comforted by the lilt of the Irish brogue.

Its tough to explain, but walking the windswept trails of Inishbofin did my soul a lot of good. Peg and Dan are, as my Mom would put it, "The salt of the earth." I am blessed that they are in my life.

Here are some photos from the trip that covered Galway city,  Connemara, and Inishbofin.

picasaweb photos Ireland 2012

Apologies in advance for the volume of pictures. The landscapes and seascapes were stunning and I just kept snapping away. I couldn't pick out my favorites so I posted the whole lot.

Greyson a.k.a. Incredible Hulk turns 4

Happy Birthday to my beautiful Greyson Matthew.

This year it was a super hero birthday. Greyson was hulk, Ani was a female Thor (Thorina?), I was Bat-nana!

I am so incredibly fortunate to be able to participate in these special days. It was wonderful to see everyone including Amanda's mom, Maureen, sister, Nadia, Gramma Shauck (who turned 90 :) and Matt and Amanda's friends.

Here is a link to photos from the weekend.

Grey's birthday photos

Video of Grey blowing out the candles

Happy Birthday, Princess

Madeline Grace Brewster is six years old!

I spent three days in San Diego with Anastasia, Chris and the kids. The weekend started off with a lovely princess birthday party. Anastasia and Laura Brewster put together a simple, yet elegant, celebration for Maddie at Laura's condo downtown. It was super-sweet cuteness attended by a small group of extremely well-behaved little girls, plus a very grown-up Toby.

Lunch included cheetos, sandwiches and birthday pudding. Activities included princess puzzles, doll dress up, hair, makeup, jewelry, dancing, and a carousel ride. After the carousel ride, the Grannies decided to run with scissors. Laura, Toby, Madeline, Me and Lucy-the-dog enjoyed a pedi-cab ride back to Laura's house through the city streets of San Diego. I'm glad it was spur-of-the-moment because any time to consider it and I would have chickened out. I only wish we had a photo of it. Hillarious!

As far as the rest of the weekend, we spent time at the house playing, reading, making videos, cooking, eating, swimming (at Laura & Scott's), hanging out with the housemates and friends; and also enjoyed a couple of meals with the Brewsters.  A lot of fun crammed into three days. I cannot wait to return in October and do it all again for Toby's 4th birthday.

Love, hugs, and appreciation to Anastasia, Chris, and Laura for taking such good care of me during my visit.

Here are some photos from the weekend. I managed to forget my camera when we went to the princess party, so I added some pictures that Anastasia took.

Photos from the weekend
Here is a link to some you-tube videos from a production project we collaborated on!

Toby practicing for his role
http://youtu.be/70XZwsn7oJQ

Birthday tiger
http://youtu.be/ICHAl-c37gg

Escape tiger part 1
http://youtu.be/WfoiUVlZob4

Escape tiger part 2
 http://youtu.be/a8RwIndChYI

Maine. The way life should be

Super successful Cousins' Weekend in Maine. Total attendance....21 adults, 7 kids, 5 dogs.
Thank you thank you thank you to everyone for an awesome time.
I am now the proud owner of a....fence(?) I put it over my kitchen window to remind me that I am a fencer, that my family is silly, that my family loves me.

I've uploaded some videos to youtube. There's more to come.
Check out:

Dog interview (late July)


Singing in the rain


Everyone jumps off (?)


Susan on the tube

Kate and Sherm on tube

Ring toss kiddos

Random silly stuff at water

Grandkids Summerfest 2012

I love my family

The only thing better than seeing two grandkids is seeing four grandkids. Twice the love! Exponential love!  Crazy cross country stuff going on. Matt and Amanda flew east on 6/25 to prep Ani for summer camp at Camp Nokomis. Bear Island camps on lake Winnepesaukee are becoming a family tradition! So far, Matt, Kate, Angela, and Jackie have gone. Now Ani. Who's next :) I flew west to Anaheim for a fencing competition and had an awesome visit with Anastasia & family and George.

Highlights of this time:

• Ani and Grey went mini golfing for the first time and Ani got a hole-in-one on the first hole.
• Ani and Grey visited with Aunt Judy and Uncle Don in Wilmington.
• Ani went off to camp and Amanda did not have a complete emotional breakdown.
• Greyson went with Matt and Amanda to a beautiful vacation home with Pat and the Sorensen family. I'm sure he's not being spoiled there or anything.
• I took 3rd place in the Vet 50 Women's Epee (cheered on by my Brewkids). I rubbed Toby's wiffle cut head for luck frequently.
• Toby and Madeline got introduced to yoga, or as Toby calls it "yugo"
• George took the training wheels off Maddie's bike and she is riding like a big kid.

Update 7/9
I spent a night on the Cape with Matt, Amanda and Greyson. We stayed at the Blue Water in Yarmouth. It was a great setup right on the beach. Grey split his time between the pool and the ocean. His favorite part?
Probably climbing on the sand dune.

Update: 7/16

Over the weekend I picked up Ani from the camp boat. She'll be staying in Boston with me until Wed night, when we fly back to Seattle. On Sunday we went paddling in the Charles. Then we went to the family swim at the YMCA. While I'm at work this week she'll be at Sue DiPalma's house hanging out with all the east coast cousins.

Whew! What a packed couple of weeks. How blessed am I? Here is a link to our photos.

GrandkidFest July 2012

New Zealand

Two weeks in NZ. Just posted pictures. Blog entry coming soon

Here are the family shots. Pix of us We took Becca's flat stanley on many of our adventures. Here are some shots of him! Pix of Stanley

Happy Birthday Aniela Malia

Nine years ago, March 5, 2003, a beautiful baby girl was born.









And look at her now!! All grown up, and what a cutie :)





Aniela turned nine years old. And I was there for the celebration.




I met Amanda and Greyson in Chicago and flew to Washington with them. They had just finished up three weeks in Wisconsin taking care of Amanda's Gramma. Greyson was a sleepy boy on the plane, battling a head cold. But once home, he managed to rally for the party.




It was a busy couple of days that included a trip to the American Girl Store, where Ani got a new doll, some doll clothes and a doll bed.











Sunday's birthday celebration included dancing, crafts, a piñata, and birthday cake.

Youtube - Ani blowing out the candles



Here are some more pix from the trip. Thanks to Matt and Amanda for a great time.




Ani's birthday pix on Picassa

Tucson

"To walk alone is possible, but the good walker knows that the trip is life and it requires companions." - Dom Helder Camara

This quote appeared in my Sojourners daily email the day I returned from a three-day hiking trip in Tucson with my friend Bev Groff. How fitting! Both literally and figuratively for nearly twenty years, Bev has walked with me through life’s journeys. I am blessed to call her my friend.

During our three days on the trails there were some challenging moments, but we didn't rough it in the back country. Rather, we launched our adventures from the comfort of the Best Western on Oracle Road (clean, affordable, free breakfast and happy hour!). Oro Valley has gotten a much busier and developed than the first time I saw it. But ten minutes into any trail, the serenity of the desert landscape overcomes any sense that one is minutes from a major city. Here is a recap of our hikes:

Saturday - Pusch Peak
Bev's trail name is "The Hungry Tortoise," but I think she should be called "Brave Billygoat." Pusch was a surprisingly tough, with false trails, loose dirt and rocks, and heart-stopping vertical scrambling. We did OK, but my lack of preparedness, combined with ominous rain clouds stopped us short of the summit. If at first you don't succeed, try try again. I will summit Pusch someday in the future. Who's with me :) ?
Sunday - Romero Pools at Catalina State Park
The Romero hike was a true "walk in the park" compared to Pusch. We spent about five hours on this trail. The out-and-back hike is about 3 hours. There are some breath-taking vistas overlooking Oro Valley, but the best part of the hike is lounging by the mountain pools and waterfalls.
Monday - Blackett's Ridge at Sabino Recreation area
This was a gem of a hike. Not too difficult, but definitely challenging. Six miles out and back, approximately four hours of hiking. The trail ends on a steep overlook of Sabino and Bear Canyons. The trail is impeccably maintained, and features a number of vistas.

I was in search a peaceful place that would help me heal. Each day moved me incrementally towards my goal.
Here is a link to some of our photos. I will post a youtube video as soon as I get it uploaded.

Tucson Hiking pix

Sunny San Diego January 2012

I spent "Little Christmas" with Anastasia and family. As always, we packed a lot into three days!

Saturday:
Christmas presents, Natural History museum at Balboa Park, and Babysitting!
Since the visit was so close to Christmas, we waited on presents until I got there. They were hilariously enthusiastic over some pretty modest gifts. Too cute! The big hit was a book titled, Chalk, a simple wordless story about a magical day in the park.

We spent the afternoon at the museum. Its a real kid-friendly place with some hands-on (and belly-on) exhibits. I took in my very first 3-D film, SeaRex . Toby and Madeline gave the movie rapt attention.

On Saturday night, the kids were all mine. Anastasia and Chris went out to celebrate 12 years married. We stayed home, read Chalk, and played Headbanz ;)


Sunday:
Church preschool, Chalk in the park, dinner with Laura and Scott
Sunday morning I got to see Anastasia in action as the Church preschool teacher. Her lessons use the alphabet, stories, and games to teach lessons from the bible. Patience and Quickness to Forgive were the lessons of the morning. Later we went to the park and did chalk drawings and conjured up some creatures the emerged from the sidewalk.
Sunday night, I headed over to Little Italy with Scott and Laura and had my very first polenta.

Monday:
A visit to Madeline's school, excursion to San Diego Safari Park
Monday, Maddie was back in school. I got a quick peek at her kindergarten classroom, and was blown away by how grown up she has become overnight.
Toby, Anastasia and I headed north to the San Diego Zoo Safair Park. Toby was our wildlife photographer, snapping away at animals, birds, and occasionally his feet.

Thank you Thank you Thank you to the Brewsters for a really great weekend!

Click here to see: Photos on Picasa

Mike starts 2012 with annual icy plunge

2012 started with a morning trip to Southie. I am a witness that Mike submerged himself not once, not twice, but three times into Dorchester Bay. I would have done it too, but someone had to hold the bathrobe and take the photo.