Christmas Chaos

Greg and I sit, exhausted and sugared up, thinking back on the events of the day: our 7th Christmas day as parents. Last night we reminisced about our first Christmas with two kids, back in 2009. Teia was only 2 months old and Kai was 2. We shook our heads remembering that crazy day as we cooked a turkey and tried to do all the things we wanted to do to celebrate Christmas and were so busy we didn't even sit to exchange gifts until 10 o clock that night. Things have gotten a little bit easier since then.

Our first Christmas gift today was our blessed little angels sleeping until past 7 am. This was really quite a surprise as they've been pretty excited. Teia in particular has been all about Christmas and has been wearing Christmas headgear pretty much all of December.

Teia woke first, in bed with us as has been her habit of late. She wanted to know if Santa had arrived, scampered to the living room and returned with the proof: an empty plate of cookies and one piece of nibbled on carrot. Somehow the fat stockings and piles of presents under the tree had escaped her notice. A few minutes later Kai arrived in our room and the excitement level went waaaaay up, particularly since Teia had declared that we'd be opening presents "as a fam-i-ly" which meant she was happy Kai was not going to be keeping her waiting with one of his legendary sleep ins.

We did stockings first and the kids were thrilled to find new jammies stuffed in there and promptly changed into them. 

Then the rip and tear began. Kai was really hoping for a lego airplane set and was reading labels on all the boxes large enough to possibly contain his gift. About 2 gifts in, he was in luck. He immediately opened the box and started to pull out the bags of Lego and began to open those, spewing some of the 658 pieces on the floor. His plan, to build that Lego airplane, right then and there. Somehow we were able to distract him and get him to back to opening gifts. Teia had a strong lead and we were worried she'd be finished about 3 days before Kai, as usual. Luckily she got distracted by the assembly of her My Little Pony palace and Kai was able to make up some ground.

The kids were solidly spoiled as usual by family, friends and Santa. Teia's stuffed animal collection multiplied. Santa brought her a leash and a comfy pet bed and she spent the next hour leashing and dragging her dinosaurs, cats, dogs, seals and anything else with a plush neck that could be leashed around the living room, then putting them down to nap in the comfy little bed. She even tried it out for herself but found she was a little too large. Kai's airplane collection also expanded and he got a good start on his new Magic School bus DVD and book collection. Santa didn't forget mom and dad either, the dear fellow.

It was a summery day in San Diego so we spent a quick hour at the beach. It seemed like just any other day at the beach except for the couple of people surfing in Santa hats and two wahine surfers wearing mu'u mu'us wrapped in tinsel over their wetsuits. And this guy....

Post beach-time we prepped Christmas dinner and then spent a lovely evening with our dear Haligonian friends who are visiting (this refers to people from Halifax, not people suffering from chronic onion breath as the name might otherwise suggest - especially if you spell it Hali-g-onion). There was another mad flurry of gift opening and a delicious dinner that the parents eventually sat down to after begging, threatening, negotiating, and strong arming some dinner into the kids (except for Harry who does a very impressive Fred Flintstone at the dinner table and can really wield a turkey leg - I'm a little disappointed I didn't get a photo of that).

Our children feel entirely differently about dessert though. We served our usual Christmas day dessert fare of chocolate mousse. After polishing off his portion, Kai asked "who wants more dessert?" This was an entirely rhetorical question he was asking himself in the hopes that someone would provide him with another bowl of mousse. The mousse was yummy and served with fresh whipped cream this year instead of canned whipped cream. This was my idea as I'm trying to get as many preservatives out of our diet as possible. Greg loves his whipped cream. Like really loves it. So he wanted to make sure it was perfect and even chilled the mixers and mixing bowl before preparing it. He grumbled about all the effort but I think even he agreed, it tasted better in the end.

Bedtime wasn't without its challenges, not too surprising after such a sugar and excitement filled day. But the kids were pretty tickled with their new alarm clocks that projected pictures and the time onto their ceilings. I asked each of them what was their favorite part of the day. Kai said he liked receiving his Lego airplane best of all. Teia chose her alarm clock, sleeping in bed with Mommy and Daddy and "the fam-i-ly" as her favorite parts of the day. Awwwww.....I love Christmas....now that clean up that awaits us in a week or so, not so much. But we won't think about that quite yet.

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

Little Runners

We have some friends in town: Shannon and Kip and their little ones, Harry & Piper (tho I've petitioned to officially change her name to "Pipes", its way more SoCal).   They're hanging out in San Diego for about a month on sabbatical.  While I always thought sabbaticals were just times for professors (of which Shannon is one) to ponder great things related to their field of study, apparently they're also a time to kick-it LARGE in Sunny San Diego while their hometown of Halifax does its best to single-handedly counter global warming.

(by way of comparison, yesterday, I provided a brief to about 400 surly shipyard workers on why they shouldn't drink & drive while the Sabbaticalites explored tidepools and beaches.  I'm in the wrong business, apparently).

Its been great to catch up with them and see the kids bond.  5 days prior to their arrival, Teia had already declared Pipes her new BFF.  (she neglected to inform her former BFF, Ale, so Louise & I foresee a storm a-brewin' in room 20, Kate Sessions Preschool.  Stay tuned).  Pipes also shares Teia's propensity to spontaneously declare herself a different animal/machine/geographic feature every 30min.  First, both T and P are puppies.  Then one is a puppy and the other a cat (they still get along during this phase shift, thankfully).  Then both are cats.  Then one becomes a crocodile and the other a sand dune.  Then the sand dune wallops Harry and chaos ensues.  Meanwhile, the parents inch their way further & further away from the shape-shifting Battle Royale to catch up on old times.   Life is good!

This weekend had planned a fun-run & parade in Pacific Beach.  A one-mile fun run out & back along Garnet Ave (the main bar/taco stand/tattoo parlor strip in PB).  We headed out with great hopes for our younglings to enjoy the run along the strip and sit through a short parade.  Amazingly, things pretty much went to plan!!

Harry & Pipes decided to sit this one out (a wise financial decision, it would turn out) and initially only Teia agreed to sign up.  But one look at his intrepid little sister, suited up and ready to take on the world, and Kai was not about to let himself get one-upped!!

The only downside was the entry fee.  The race advertised $20/person.  No problem, kids races are ALWAYS cheaper.  Sometimes free!  

Except.In.Pacific.Beach.

So $40 later, we lined up at the end of the group, warming up to some dance music.  With a "Ready!  Set!  Go!!" we were off!  And..... kept going!!!   The last running race we had done (on Wolfe Island), we spent the better part of 200m cajoling/pleading/prodding/pushing our little runners along.  The bar was set pretty low for a race that was 8x's longer, so Louise and I already planned to cut the course whenever was convenient.  But as we cruised past 400m with hardly a break in stride for either, we started to wonder: are they going to make it the whole way???
























Yes, yes they are!!  Kai took a short walking break (his first official timed fartlek), but after I broke out the "wings", he found a second wind and screamed home.

T's shorter legs needed just a few more seconds of rest and she rocketed in right after.  Both received their prizes with reserved humility, thanking their parents profusely, the crowds for their support, and their corporate sponsor, Nutella.


We cruised down to the beach then back for the PB parade.  Unfortunately, I spent the majority of it in a sandwich shop called "Which Wich?"   A better name might be "When Wich?" because I was beginning to wonder when the hell I was ever going to get something Louise & I could eat.    The parade was an eclectic blend of marching bands, convertibles with Miss Teen riding onboard, and what I can only guess were 'bandits': local flora & fauna who randomly inserted themselves into the parade and everyone figures "Well, they're probably too stoned to cause trouble and too slow to suddenly run anyone over".  This included a minivan covered with buildings, a motorcycle gang of 60-somethings, and a couple preschools (only the parents were stoned for that one.  I think).

After such a day, we'd normally call it success to simply make it home and crash; T on the couch watching TV, Kai playing with planes, and Louise and I commencing our nightly russian roulette of "What will the kids actually f*#&*ing eat tonight?"  But there were bigger plans afoot:  Teia was having her first dance recital!!  

She has been going to dance class for the last few months, practicing a routine for the Nutcracker.  Specifically, the Dance of the Reeds.  Kai wasn't interested in the opening sister-less acts so we explored the darkened alleyways of a high-school while T & L watched other kids dance.  During T's routine, Kai was the very supportive bigger brother, cheering and clapping his little Peachy sister dance, tap, and twirl like she had parents who could actually dance, tap & twirl (without a white-man's overbite, to boot)!!  She did fantastic, tho her flexibility was called into question when she lined up next to an unfamiliar girl for the 'twirling-pair' portion of the dance.  Instead of grabbing that girl's hands, T grabbed her friend Edie's hands instead, leaving the other girl a little confused as T & Edie spun around longer & faster than anyone else.

 We gave our proud dancer a rose, befitting for a beautiful performance!

All were beyond tired by the time we got home at around 8pm.  A few bowls of cereal, milk & books later and both kids were sound asleep while the proud parents got thru a few more holiday-routines to get ready for the week.  Exhausting but well worth the efforts for all!

Idle in Idyllwild

We escaped the big city this year for Thanksgiving. We thought it would be nice to enjoy some pine trees and cooler weather. So we packed up the mini-van with our Littles, some woolies and even an organic turkey (in a cooler). We didn't exactly escape the Thanksgiving traffic, but we did escape the congestion and same old, same old weather.

Our 2+ hour drive took us from sea level to 6000 feet and from chaparral to pine trees. It is cool to watch the landscape transform so much over such a short distance. By mountain town standards there isn't too much to do in Idyllwild with no ski hill, but there are plenty of hiking trails in the San Jacinto mountains, cute restaurants and shops, and an amazing playground.

This was the kids' favorite hang out at 6000 feet. The concrete slab in front of the playground made for hours of scootering. The kids favorite game (when they weren't pretending to be planes from the disney movie) was catch Daddy. At least Greg got in some altitude training. 

On our one rainy day we tried out a paint your own pottery studio where Teia painted a puppy and Kai created a plane on a plate :-)  They were such focused little artists. 

We also let the kids drink way too much hot chocolate. I guess we got carried away with the novelty of the cold weather. 

We did a little hiking where Greg found some snacks along the trail.

Our Thanksgiving dinner turned out pretty well, all things considered. We baked our pumpkin pie for twice as long as normal and peeled the butternut squash with a cheese shredder; but kitchen challenges aside, it was still yummy. And the kids actually ate turkey yet again. But first of all they subjected us to the usual refrain of "I don't like that, and that, and that....." Holiday meals for them consist of a little turkey, fizzy juice (aka apple cider), pumpkin pie, whipped cream and peanut butter on toast. 

Because Idyllwild is such a cute little town, we had to do some window shopping. It quickly turned into real shopping when Teia the Determined absolutely had to have a pair of fuzzy slippers. We agreed, thinking that we'd be able to pick some up for $10. Apparently not in Idyllwild. The only two pair we could find were $30 and that was after checking out just about every store. Greg declared Kai "husband material" as he patiently followed little sis and Mommy in and out of every store. She did end up with a very nice pair of slippers. 

Probably the most remarkable part of our weekend was Kai and Teia sleeping in the same bed. Our little cabin had 2 bedrooms, each with a queen bed. We decided to give the kid co-sleeping thing a try, fully expecting 3 nights of musical beds. We were pleasantly surprised. Each night we'd listen to some chatting and some giggling and then nothing...the sweet sound of babes asleep. Each morning we'd hear the same, chatting and giggling and then little feet walking around the cabin. It seems we solved the problem of the Teia alarm clock - put her in bed with her brother. Unfortunately, then he loses out on his beauty sleep. So now that we're home she is back in her own bed, sleeping solo, and we're back to enjoying our 4 year old human alarm clock. 

Traveling with kids is never relaxing. I read somewhere that you should never refer to a trip with children as a "vacation." It is always just a "trip." Agreed on that one but there is something refreshing and rejuvenating regardless about "getting away from it all."