Desperately Seeking Sunshine

Travelogue Day 0: 19 degrees fahrenheit.  Ice and Snow covered windows, stairs, sidewalks and roads.  No plans.  Wondering what we will do with our children for the next 7 days.  Outside time is not possible in current conditions. Must find way to get out of house.  Cabin Fever settting in. 

Travelogue Day 1:  Left frozen north on a whim.  Too cold to enjoy our time off of school and work.  Decided to head southwest towards sun.   Closest destination with actual warmth-- Los Angeles.  Heading South on the I-15.  Ice melts off the car in St. George (and not one mile before).  Stopping off in Las Vegas.  Kids love Circus, Circus midway.  Kids hate smokey casinos.  Enjoyed view from the top of the Stratosphere.  Dinner with sister.  Short overnighter.  Warm enough not to need a big coat, but jacket still necessary.  Heading further South.

Travelogue Day 2:  Water and warmth have been successfully located.  Checked in to hotel and walked across the street to enjoy the sand and water.  Spent a couple of hours and then went to join other snow birds (Amy) at Anne's home for dinner and a visit. 

Travelogue Day 3: In effort to soak in as much sun as humanly possible spent morning on the beach and headed to Pasadena to Huntington Library and Gardens.  Spent entire day outside running, walking and strolling around some of the world's most beautiful gardens and appreciating classical art. 

 

Travelogue Day 4:  Offered children access to any amusement park they could think of.  They were not impressed.  Craved more sun and sand.  Spend entire morning at beach in the water.  Built sand castles and fought the ocean (the ocean won).  Entirely waterlogged and sand-coated.  Joined Anne and Quentin and went to a great park and dinner.  

Travelogue Day 5:  Drove to LAX and met brother after two years in Japan.  Then drove to THE CUBE discovery center.  Learned about solar energy and bats and gravity, etc.  New Year's Eve.  Staying in with Anne and Q and blogging.  Reviewing photos from the trip.  Dreading driving home to snow.  May not go home.  Would miss family.  Would not miss the gray, cold snow.  Contemplating. . . 

Wish you were here...

Last minute decision to hit the beach for the week. We also may make a last minute call not to come home (at least until the snow melts.)

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas from the boys in new Christmas pajamas.

Peace on Earth

Raising two young boys in a world as volatile, at present, as ours is often times a frightening proposition. My ears are often filled with tales of good guys and bad guys battling violently to the death. I have read many parenting books that assure me these stories fall into the "normal and healthy" category for boys my sons' ages. (Nevertheless, it never fails to disturb me on an emotional level.)

Every now and again something will happen that will remind me that my boys know the difference (at least to some degree) between the reality of war vs. the romanticizing of war. Tonight I had one of those moments with William. At a cub scout pack meeting the scouts were asked to write a letter to a soldier serving in Iraq. I was a little nervous about what William would produce. He wrote a very lovely letter telling the soldier "Thank you for serving" and "Please come home safely". He did at one point ask if he could write "Sorry that President Bush even started this awful war." (Have I mentioned he is not a big fan of our current President.), but he decided to leave that part out.

He finished his letter and drew an illustration to decorate it. It started taking the form of a tank and I braced myself to see bullets coming out of the tank's gun and perhaps stick figures lying in it's wake. I let him keep going without interfering (as my feminine side was pushing me to do). Thank goodness I did. He finished the tank and drew a flower in the gun of the tank and an American flag with a peace symbol on it.

What a beautiful Christmas wish from my son to the world. Peace. I will do my best to not be too disturbed tomorrow when he once again fills my ears of tales of battles and brawling, knowing there is a little pacifist in there too.

Magic Grow Capsules

Sex is funny. Sex is especially funny when discussed with a six year old. Romney has decided he wants to have "infinity" kids. (Good luck finding a wife who is on board with that, buddy). He was telling me that his wife "would hatch the egg in her". Bill and I have always felt it was important for the kids, when they were curious, to get actual facts of life and not "stork tales", if you will. (Parents out there who are thinking about taking this same path, a word of caution: This has backfired several embarrassingly public times on us.) So, when I hear the word "hatch", I feel it is necessary to talk to him about how the egg grows. I tell him it doesn't hatch, but kind of transforms into a baby- sprouting arms and legs and growing a heart, brain and spine, etc. He looks at me and lights up and says: "Oh, so like a capsule that transforms into a dinosaur in water". Ummm... closer than "hatching". He then wants to know why we need a "Daddy" to make a baby. I tell him, the Daddy's sperm is like adding water to a grow capsule. Without it, the egg won't grow into a baby.

I will never look at those things the same again. (And now thanks to this post, neither will you.)

Christmas Shopping?

Anyone out there looking for a creative gift to give to friends and family? What is more original and unique than giving the gift of art. I am selling prints of my art work (either framed or unframed) for very reasonable prices (don't forget to ask for the friends and family discount if that applies to you :)

Interested? Check out www.lookalittle.com for available prints, pricing and contact information. Framed photos would be $10-$20 more than the print price (depending on size)

Don't see exactly what you were hoping for or unsure what to give? Contact me (either through the blog or the website) for information about special orders and gift certificates.