The last few days before opening a production at the theater are just crazy. It is all-consuming. We're all taking care of what needs to be taken care of in the moment. And reassuring each other that after this weekend, our home life will return to normal. Thankfully the kids have been around it their whole lives, so they roll with the chaos.
Now I need to find something extra-special to reward their patience and understanding.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Happy Birthday to John!
It's John's birthday today, and it has been too long since I have blogged!
We tend to spread our lives out on Facebook which is actually very convenient. One of the reasons I weaned off the blog was because the family members I was writing "towards" weren't even reading it. They even asked me to contact them to let them know when I updated the blog...which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the blog. If people can't be interested enough in the goings-on of their own family to pick up a phone, or check out a webpage on a regular basis....but I digress!
Our lives are a whirlwind of activities. School, work, theater, writing, hiking, etc. We have a home in the mountains which has been a wonderful retreat for our family. Our kids are awesome. Life is as good as it can be.
And another adventure to Europe is in the works!
We tend to spread our lives out on Facebook which is actually very convenient. One of the reasons I weaned off the blog was because the family members I was writing "towards" weren't even reading it. They even asked me to contact them to let them know when I updated the blog...which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the blog. If people can't be interested enough in the goings-on of their own family to pick up a phone, or check out a webpage on a regular basis....but I digress!
Our lives are a whirlwind of activities. School, work, theater, writing, hiking, etc. We have a home in the mountains which has been a wonderful retreat for our family. Our kids are awesome. Life is as good as it can be.
And another adventure to Europe is in the works!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Christmas 2010
Pop Art Ornaments Christmas
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
Alot of catching up to do
Crikey! It has been over a year since I've updated this blog! That is CRAZY! I blame Facebook! It is so convenient, and so interactive...like a younger, hotter, come hither blog! Your friends are already there, you don't have to train them to check your blog, whatever you update gets slapped onto their wall and they don't have to expend any effort. Still, you are limited on the length of your status updates, and I tend to be verbose...so I should get back into the practice of updating this family friendly place.
It has been a doozy of a year. We went to China (awesome!). We bought a cabin in the beautiful San Bernardino mountains. Our eldest graduated high school. We became Uncle John and Auntie Lisa with the arrival of our beautiful nephew, Lincoln. We co-founded a writer's group. John produced a play. I wrote and actually shared some stories and poems. John is writing, writing, writing again (I love it!). And, now he is directing a play. Those have been the highlights of the year. Yeah, we dealt with some crap, too, but we dealt with it together, united in purpose and love. Being parents is hard (what the heck were we thinking?!?) Still, we breezed through our twentieth wedding anniversary.
So now I am going to try to piece this stuff together, with photos and narratives. But not tonight. I'm tired...
It has been a doozy of a year. We went to China (awesome!). We bought a cabin in the beautiful San Bernardino mountains. Our eldest graduated high school. We became Uncle John and Auntie Lisa with the arrival of our beautiful nephew, Lincoln. We co-founded a writer's group. John produced a play. I wrote and actually shared some stories and poems. John is writing, writing, writing again (I love it!). And, now he is directing a play. Those have been the highlights of the year. Yeah, we dealt with some crap, too, but we dealt with it together, united in purpose and love. Being parents is hard (what the heck were we thinking?!?) Still, we breezed through our twentieth wedding anniversary.
So now I am going to try to piece this stuff together, with photos and narratives. But not tonight. I'm tired...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Work hard; play harder
This is adding up to be a pretty fun summer! My boss has been very okay with me coming in a lot later than usual, so I get to lounge about with the kids in the morning, and since John is telecommuting a couple of days a week, it usually means my folks can get a bit more of a break. In other words, they can sleep in a bit as well, and plan their own days more often. Still, I can tell they miss hanging out with the kids on the days the kids stay at home!
So this weekend, we decided to ride the trail between Ventura and Ojai. I had never done it before, but the boys had years ago, with my sister and my folks. I didn't know John had recently purchased his own mountain bike (yes, sometimes we have little lapses in our communications), and by the time I found out, it was too late to reschedule with all the others. So we went on Sunday, while he was at work. What a beautiful, fun day! The weather was gorgeous, and it is very liberating to be riding on a paved trail and not have to worry about street traffic. It was 24 miles round trip. Yes, twenty four! Luckily, the trip back from Ojai is mostly downhill! My mom took the city bus into Ojai, with her bike, and met us for the trip down, so she didn't have to do the uphill trail. And, this time, my cousin Danny and his wife Debbie joined us! I was very proud of myself! And, very proud of my girls, since they still don't have bikes with gears! They are so strong and don't complain one bit. The whole day took much longer than we expected, with stops to repair flat tires (Viviana had four!), and even take a dip in the river....this mom never refuses her kids a chance to swim in a swimming hole! The car ride home was the quietest ever...everyone was quite worn out! But I am not sore at all, not even my bum! I had a nice saddle on my bike this time! I can't wait to do it again, with John in tow!
Here are some pictures:
Stopping to visit the alpacas!
Fixing a flat...
Swimming hole!
Rest break at Foster Park, plus fix another flat!
We are gearing up for another cabin getaway in the Western Sierras at the end of the month, I've already got the hikes all mapped out! I can't wait!!!
Dyl and Zack are going to Tennessee in August! I am pretty nervous about it, since they have quite a few layovers, and I'm not sure they know what a terminal or a gate is...so we are going to have some "practice" runs around here. I keep trying to prepare for anything that could go wrong; it just feels so uncomfortable to send them off and know I can't get from here to there (Chicago!) in an hour! What if they miss their plane?; what if the flight gets canceled and they have to spend a night somewhere? what if they need ID (all they have is their school ID)...what if they actually had a great adventure together, and then they all grew up and didn't need their mommy any more!?! Yeah, deep down, I think this might just be the kind of thing they need, a shared experience without mom or dad around.
Happy 1st anniversary to Miles and Julie...yay!
And if you haven't been following along with Jess' and Malin's incredible adventure, be sure to check out their travel blog: www.travelpod.com/members/jessandmalin
So this weekend, we decided to ride the trail between Ventura and Ojai. I had never done it before, but the boys had years ago, with my sister and my folks. I didn't know John had recently purchased his own mountain bike (yes, sometimes we have little lapses in our communications), and by the time I found out, it was too late to reschedule with all the others. So we went on Sunday, while he was at work. What a beautiful, fun day! The weather was gorgeous, and it is very liberating to be riding on a paved trail and not have to worry about street traffic. It was 24 miles round trip. Yes, twenty four! Luckily, the trip back from Ojai is mostly downhill! My mom took the city bus into Ojai, with her bike, and met us for the trip down, so she didn't have to do the uphill trail. And, this time, my cousin Danny and his wife Debbie joined us! I was very proud of myself! And, very proud of my girls, since they still don't have bikes with gears! They are so strong and don't complain one bit. The whole day took much longer than we expected, with stops to repair flat tires (Viviana had four!), and even take a dip in the river....this mom never refuses her kids a chance to swim in a swimming hole! The car ride home was the quietest ever...everyone was quite worn out! But I am not sore at all, not even my bum! I had a nice saddle on my bike this time! I can't wait to do it again, with John in tow!
Here are some pictures:
Stopping to visit the alpacas!
Fixing a flat...
Swimming hole!
Rest break at Foster Park, plus fix another flat!
We are gearing up for another cabin getaway in the Western Sierras at the end of the month, I've already got the hikes all mapped out! I can't wait!!!
Dyl and Zack are going to Tennessee in August! I am pretty nervous about it, since they have quite a few layovers, and I'm not sure they know what a terminal or a gate is...so we are going to have some "practice" runs around here. I keep trying to prepare for anything that could go wrong; it just feels so uncomfortable to send them off and know I can't get from here to there (Chicago!) in an hour! What if they miss their plane?; what if the flight gets canceled and they have to spend a night somewhere? what if they need ID (all they have is their school ID)...what if they actually had a great adventure together, and then they all grew up and didn't need their mommy any more!?! Yeah, deep down, I think this might just be the kind of thing they need, a shared experience without mom or dad around.
Happy 1st anniversary to Miles and Julie...yay!
And if you haven't been following along with Jess' and Malin's incredible adventure, be sure to check out their travel blog: www.travelpod.com/members/jessandmalin
Friday, June 27, 2008
Jess & Malin's big adventure
Jess and Malin left last Saturday (6/21) for their 11-week motorcyle road trip - Los Angeles to Panama and back! If you would like to follow their journey, they are keeping a blog on travelpod; it is a public blog, and they have invited us to share it with anyone who might be interested:
www.travelpod.com/members/jessandmalin
I am surprised at how unworried I am about their trip. While I know that my brother-in-law loves adventure, he is not someone I would ever classify as "reckless". Always big on safety and preparedness (he is, after all, an Eagle Scout!), I am confident that he will be able to deal with pretty much anything that comes their way. He and Malin make a great team.
www.travelpod.com/members/jessandmalin
I am surprised at how unworried I am about their trip. While I know that my brother-in-law loves adventure, he is not someone I would ever classify as "reckless". Always big on safety and preparedness (he is, after all, an Eagle Scout!), I am confident that he will be able to deal with pretty much anything that comes their way. He and Malin make a great team.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Ready for the summer
What a bluster of activity, as we wrap up another school year! Zack is graduating from 8th grade this week, so he has lots of festivities this week. Dylan has final exams, and the girls had a barbeque with their little buddies (Kindergarteners), and had a field trip to the beach to learn about the Chumash (Ivy got hit in the forehead with a hockey stick - - d'oh!), just lots of fun stuff! So in the fall, I will have two high-schoolers, and two fourth graders! That means just five more science fairs, five more fall carnivals, five more gift wrapping fundraisers, and five more jog-a-thons!
My cousin Rose and her husband Nate welcomed their sweet bundle of love into the world on May 31st. Rose had a home birth, I can't wait to hear the details. Here is a photo of Isaac Wilde Toutjian:
We sold our motorhome to a very nice family in Whittier. I'm looking forward to taking the new rig out for some close jaunts this summer (gas costs being so outrageous!).
I took the girls to Circus Vargas when it was in Ventura a couple of weeks ago. I have always avoided the circus, because I felt sorry for the circus animals (elephants, tigers, etc.). Well, they don't have those animals any more! The only animals they used were dogs, so we had a great time at the circus. Here is a picture of the girls showing their clown hats:
The kids and I took a [mountain] bike ride through Sycamore Canyon last Sunday. My dad, Ellie, and Jesus came with us. I just have to brag and say MY GIRLS KICK ASS! This ride ended up being 12 miles round trip, with several creek crossings, and the girls never hesitated, never chickend out, never got tired, never complained. They loved it! They were exhilarated on the downhill stretches! My dad overheard Ivy shout "I FEEL FREE!" at one point. The amazing thing is, they were riding their little rinky-dink single speed girly (pink) bicycles! I had 27 gears to help me and it seemed I had to work a lot harder than they did! At one point, I just sat and told them to go ahead...my ass had a difficult time getting adjusted to that tiny banana seat being wedged up in there. Ouchy! So we all agree to do this at least twice a month. It's like hiking, but you can go four times as far! Here is a picture of the kids relaxing on a giant Sycamore tree, while Jesus fixed a flat tire:
We're still trying to decide if we can swing another road tip through Arizona this summer. And, I would really like to get back up into the Western Sierras, to do those hikes we could not access in March (due to the snow). The China trip is still on for late October.
Keep in touch!
~L
My cousin Rose and her husband Nate welcomed their sweet bundle of love into the world on May 31st. Rose had a home birth, I can't wait to hear the details. Here is a photo of Isaac Wilde Toutjian:
We sold our motorhome to a very nice family in Whittier. I'm looking forward to taking the new rig out for some close jaunts this summer (gas costs being so outrageous!).
I took the girls to Circus Vargas when it was in Ventura a couple of weeks ago. I have always avoided the circus, because I felt sorry for the circus animals (elephants, tigers, etc.). Well, they don't have those animals any more! The only animals they used were dogs, so we had a great time at the circus. Here is a picture of the girls showing their clown hats:
The kids and I took a [mountain] bike ride through Sycamore Canyon last Sunday. My dad, Ellie, and Jesus came with us. I just have to brag and say MY GIRLS KICK ASS! This ride ended up being 12 miles round trip, with several creek crossings, and the girls never hesitated, never chickend out, never got tired, never complained. They loved it! They were exhilarated on the downhill stretches! My dad overheard Ivy shout "I FEEL FREE!" at one point. The amazing thing is, they were riding their little rinky-dink single speed girly (pink) bicycles! I had 27 gears to help me and it seemed I had to work a lot harder than they did! At one point, I just sat and told them to go ahead...my ass had a difficult time getting adjusted to that tiny banana seat being wedged up in there. Ouchy! So we all agree to do this at least twice a month. It's like hiking, but you can go four times as far! Here is a picture of the kids relaxing on a giant Sycamore tree, while Jesus fixed a flat tire:
We're still trying to decide if we can swing another road tip through Arizona this summer. And, I would really like to get back up into the Western Sierras, to do those hikes we could not access in March (due to the snow). The China trip is still on for late October.
Keep in touch!
~L
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