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Resolution #1: Stop ignoring blog.

Holidays are the best and worst times to have a blog. They’re overflowing with all the kinds of activities I like most, which means I have plenty to talk about but no time in which to say it. We were a whirlwind of seasonal festivities. My lists had lists.

Now that the wrapping paper has settled a bit, I’ll put up a few posts with highlights and nonsense from the past couple of weeks.

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Say no more, right?

Double chocolates (some with sea salt for an extra bit of happiness).

Gingersnaps

Ginger trees (Hot Wheels helped me ice these with white icing and sparkling sugar to look like they had snow on them, and then we stood them all over a chocolate cake with white frosting sprinkled with coconut to make a woodsy scene. Lesson learned: ginger and chocolate? YUM.)

Christmas cookies in process.

Christmas cookies in action. And upside down. And on a plate. And in a house. This is fast becoming the Dr Seuss cookie edition.

Absent on photo day:

- massive chocolate chips

- meringues

Let me tell you a quick story about those meringues, actually. They were my Christmas Miracle Cookies. (You’d think if they were that significant, I’d have gotten a photo of them, but no.) I’ve been having bad meringue karma around here. For years, I made them without a thought. Just whipped them up when necessary and never had a problem. Lately, I haven’t been able to make them work; I’ve been cursed by the sticky meringue gods and every attempt has been a flop. Or a glop, if you were to try them.

So when I found myself the night before Christmas Eve with three egg whites and no plan for them, I thought, “Don’t do it, Laura. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment.” But it was Christmas, by gum, and I was armed with my new Baker’s Illustrated cookbook. I followed the instructions to a T. The meringues actually held their form while I attempted to shape them into little trees (for the aforementioned cake tableau). I baked them super slow, and didn’t open the oven until it had been off for about 5 hours. I tasted them… sticky. Rrrgh. I went to bed Scroogily.

The next morning I complained to Tom that yet again, I messed up the meringue and didn’t know how. “Where are they?” he asked. “In the oven. I’m not talking to them.” Tom pulled them out. “They look good!” he said hopefully. “That’s what they want you to think.” I grumbled. He snapped one in half.

He snapped one in half. It snapped!! It was dry, and light, and just right – cue the choir, people, we have liftoff! What’s Christmas without a (albeit very very small) miracle?

Here’s a shot of the table from our Christmas Day open house:

Holy potato chips, Batman! That’s a big bowl. I didn’t realize how huge it looked. Of course, they were gone in a heartbeat, leaving that poor glass jar of celery and carrots to wonder if they’d every be asked to dance. Seriously, though, I don’t know why I ever bother with celery. Does anyone eat it? We put it out just to feel noble, I think.

What you can’t see, on the very edge of the table, is the ricotta pie. Oh yes, I did it, and it isn’t even Easter! (For those of you who’ve never heard about Lena’s Ricotta Pie, you can check it out here.) We never used to get this treat on a non-Easter day, but I broke that tradition wide open, I tell ya. A couple of our guests asked me what was in “the giant pop tart,” which momentarily offended my childhood sensibilities, but then I was forced to admit the resemblance. Poor pie.

I hope you also had a wonderful holiday filled with sweets and relaxation. Hmmm, that said, it looks like celery might just have its day, after all!

Well kids, it looks like we have some catching up to do. All the way back to Thanksgiving, if you can believe that. Do you remember Thanksgiving? I know it’s hard to think with all the carols of the bells ringing in your ears from every store you entered this week, but see what you can come up with. My favorite line from this Thanksgiving came from our neighbor, who is eight. That Wednesday, he strolled over to us outside our house with his hands in his pockets and casually asked, “Where are you guys going for Disneyland?” It’s difficult to describe the “aw shoot!” moment when he realized he’d blown the reveal. We just glossed over it, though, and focused on how excited we were for him.

Turns out we went to Burlingame for Disneyland this year. We’d made plans with our friends from LA to meet along the coast for Thanksgiving, but then it turned out we were all hoping to head to the snow this year, and in the end we decided to meet after Christmas instead. So on a whim, we searched the prices of every Embassy Suites in the Bay Area, and came up with a scorcher of a deal down by the airport, and we decided to just go there for the night. We didn’t tell the kids because we really love watching their faces when they get surprised.

Thanksgiving morning, Tom and Honey did a Turkey Trot – about four miles through the valley to the beach and back. While they were gone, I surreptitiously packed the necessities – a board game, some movies, snacks, and a changes of clothes. We stopped in San Francisco to have lunch at a diner and walk around a bit, and then we headed down to the hotel. When we pulled up and Tom said, “What do you say we stay here tonight?” the kids went bazonkers. And rightly so – it was awesome.

Yep, there were these mammoth trees filling the atrium of the building. There were glass elevators. There was a pool and two jacuzzis. There were koi swimming around in these little ponds and streams that you could walk along to watch them.

Check that out – do you see the little tables and bridges? Can you find the waterfall? Any second now, Snow White will appear.

This is what I’m here to tell you – hotels rock. So do overnights when the kids can basically do all the things they love best in the world. We were right next to the airport, for crying out loud – we just sat on the bed and watched the planes come in. Most of all we were hugely, happily thankful to be together. I hope you all had a wonderful time as well – I’d love to hear what your favorite Thanksgiving foods are. Hands down, mine is apple pie. Although I made Mum’s sweet dinner rolls that week as well just because it’s plain wrong to have a major holiday without them. What makes Thanksgiving for you?

That’s right – there he is, with his ‘worker pajamas’ and birthday toast. He’s six. Crazy. (Let me add that I’m fully aware that toast looks pretty dodgy. It’s vegemite. He loves it – what can I say?)

Never have I seen anyone relish a birthday like Hot Wheels. First there were the weeks of counting down. Then on Monday he started singing songs about the wondrous day. On Thursday, as we left school he informed his sister and me that he wanted his birthday to be perfect. “I want it to be perkect,” he said, and suggested that Honey finish all her homework and that I “do the dishes.” I informed him that it was in fact a birthday, not a coronation, but he ignored me.

Friday morning, I heard his feet hit the floor at exactly 6:15, and we were off. What a great day. He loved his presents, he loved his birthday crown at school, he told me incredulously that people kept wishing him a happy birthday! It was awesome!

As I’ve mentioned before, our elementary school has suspended edible treats for birthdays, so put away the cupcake tins, people. However, instead of just stopping there, they tell parents that “most” people bring in a non-edible treat for their children to hand out to classmates. And they do. That means no child wants to be the one killjoy not to bring something in. With Honey, we got around it by handing out daffodil bulbs. Hot Wheels had other ideas. He wanted to give out, well, Hot Wheels.

Shocking, isn’t it? We found a great deal on one of those big packs, so they were inexpensive, and I’m hoping that the other families will like them, despite the fact that they’re not biodegradable. We have these sheets with photos of the students in the class, and Hot Wheels spent a lonnnng time matching kids to cars. (That will probably be the next facebook quiz – “What Hot Wheels car are you?”)

The great thing about having leftover fish-costume fleece is that it’s super easy to whip up into gift bags, and now I have less leftover fleece!

So today we had a small party with six friends. It was a – brace yourselves – Color-Changing Hot Wheels party. Surprised?

Here he is, waiting for his friends to arrive. (At this point, the party was still over an hour away.)

We kept it casual with a bunch of track set up in the driveway, and a lot of just playing around the house. It was really fun, and although he didn’t quite explode with happiness, it was darn close.

Sorry to leave you all hanging there with the Halloween business. What happened with the fish? Was it finished? (Ouch. That was for you, Kevin.) Well yes. We made it. Of course I don’t have very good photos, but here they are:

I messed up the proportions a bit in the back and made it a tad too long, but frankly it’s a bit of a miracle that it has any resemblance to a fish at all, so I shouldn’t pick at it. You know those test questions where you had to look at a 2D image and pick which 3D shape it would make? Those weren’t exactly my strong suit. So pattern making is a bit of a stretch for me. I’ve been attempting to sew for years now, and every time I take pattern pieces and stitch them together correctly, I get a thrill. (WOW! Look what that made!! I can’t believe it!) The fish was cozy and comfortable and Hot Wheels was happy with it, so it’s all good. Here’s our wood fairy:

Fortunately this was a very basic setup – we bought two fallish sprays of fake plants from the fabric store and hot glued them to a pair of old brown pants and a tunic stitched up from a curtain remnant. My kind of sewing! She wanted an acorn bag and elfy shoes, so I used scraps from the American Indian princess outfit from the second grade. Hands down, my favorite part of any fairy/princess outfit is the headgear. This one was made from a ring of brown fuzzy pussy-willow-like stuff, twirled with this super thin bronze colored wire. The wire had the quality of a line drawing in her hair – I love that. If I were a jewelry designer, I think I’d just make crowns and tiaras all day.

On Halloween night we had an amazing chili dinner with our lovely neighbors. The girls were a cupcake and a queen.

I don’t do kids’ faces here, so you’ll have to imagine how insanely lovely they were. Didn’t Joan do an incredible job with these costumes? That cupcake just turned out magnificently, from the felt flower decoration to the perfectly pleated wrapper. Fantastic. Too bad they had to walk around with these clowns…

Tom made himself into a cool jelly fish, using an old shower curtain, some balloons and a string of lights – he was a big hit. I decided to go with gothick this year – basically a goth outfit with a lot of bugs thrown in. Hard to see here, but I hot glued spiders and other plastic bugs onto hairpins and put them through my hair, and just used false eyelash glue for the ants. It was so much fun – I think my favorite part was cutting up the t shirt and stockings with patterns. Even Hot Wheels thought that was cool.

The whole goth look was a blast, but man! what a lot of work. I practically needed a brillo pad to get that lipstick off. Yoikes. And it had the unintended consequence of completely freaking one of my young neighbors out – when we went over for dinner she just had to leave me for a while because it was all so horribly wrong. Fortunately, she came around and we had a great night.

In other good news, after a loooonnnnngggg week, Honey is finally looking and feeling more like herself again. Turns out that when you take Motrin for a long time it does a serious number on your stomach. But it looks like we’re out of the (knock on) woods – her mouth is back to mild discomfort and she’s much, much happier. It’s fantastic!!! Here’s to a great weekend, everybody!

This is the post in which we attempt to return to our usual programming. Honey was back at school today, although she called to have us bring her medicine at lunchtime. Hot Wheels stayed home but is feeling much better. Tom is starting to look sideways at me, which for once is actually a good thing. With everyone attempting normalcy, it was time for me to start panicking about Halloween.

Halloween is technically four days away, but in reality it’s only three, since the school costume parade is on Friday. Honey wants to be a wood sprite, which I’m not particularly worried about since I have bags of green and brown fabrics and sprites are not known for their tailoring. We could throw that one together the day before. In fact, I’m sure we will. Now Hot Wheels is a different story. He wants to be “a fissy.” Not just any fissy, mind you. THIS fissy:

Say hello to Bubbles. I’m actually very fond of this guy.

Yeah, I’m talkin about you.

Anyway… I’ve never made a fish costume before and I have to say I didn’t exactly excel at that portion of the SAT where you had to picture what 3 dimensional shape would be made from what 2 dimensional drawing, which regrettably goes for the reverse as well. I’ve been in deep denial on this costume – look how much I’d done up till this morning:

Pretty smart looking, eh?? So today I faced the music and started cutting and sewing. Please think positive thoughts towards this fish, and if you have detailed diagrams that’d be great too.

This past weekend we were lucky enough to go camping with our friends Amy and Peter and their boys. Tom took great joy in telling our local friends that we were going someplace incredibly exotic – perhaps they’d heard of it… San Rafael. For those of you who aren’t from our neck of the woods, it means we were camping about 15 minutes from home. In essence, it means that the campsite nailed my all-time favorite getaway goal, which is minimum travel distance for maximum effect. It might have been close to our home, but we were surrounded by campers from all over; our neighbors the first night were from Chile! They were on a bike tour starting in upstate Washington and traveling the way to San Francisco – with no set route or plan for each night’s stay. Suddenly our back yard camping felt a bit more exotic.

I’ve decided that camping is really a Virgo’s dream scenario. Think of the lists! The careful minimizing of supplies! It’s euphoric. Our friend Peter is just one badge shy of an Eagle Scout, and Amy is a list maker like me, so it’s insanely satisfying to talk to them about what they bring and the solutions they’ve come up with for comfort vs. carrying, in terms of what to pack. Peter even had his Boy Scout handbook with him – it has illustrations on how to pack your bag, people. Pages of knots and tent styles and fire structures. I get light headed just thinking about it.

We were staying at China Camp State Park, and on Saturday we headed over to the beach to play by the water and explore around a bit. I hadn’t been there in years, and it was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy the bay. The area was named after a Chinese shrimp fishing village from the late 1800s and you can stroll through some of the old buildings that still stand along the shore. Now it’s pretty quiet except for the day visitors and the mountain bikes whizzing along the trails nearby. The kids love, love, loved it. And of course you know what the whole weekend is about. You pack, and plan, and anticipate, just for this moment:

mmmmmmmmm.

That’s what it’s all about. Ok, that and the beautiful moments falling asleep and waking up in a tent, listening to the sounds around you and bathing in that gorgeous filtered light. Sunday morning we woke to a quiet warbly scratchy bird sound outside our tent. Tom thought at first that it might be quail. Turns out that instead it was….

The blurry turkeys of San Rafael!!!! I just poked the lens of the camera out of our tent to grab this photo of them pecking around the fire pit before they scuttled off into the woods again. I know you’ll all think I photoshopped this just to get fame and fortune, but I swear the blurry turkeys exist in the wilds of China Camp.

I’ll leave you with the obligatory morning toast shot with vegemite. These were some happy campers. (I stuck with the muffins, though.)

Birthday! Sing it with me!

Well, actually, it was yesterday, but what the heck. Sing it anyway. Who cares if you’re at work? Take a chachachachance.

What an awesome day – you wake up in the morning and you think, “It’s my birthday!” Or, if you’re particularly fortunate, you have a 5 year old waiting for you to wake up so he can whisper in your ear, “It’s your birthday.” You can have an extra [fill in the blank - croissant, coffee, cocktail...] without looking over your shoulder for witnesses, because well, hey – it’s your birthday. You can do all your chores and still have fun, because it’s your birthday. It’s GREAT.

Have a look at the cards the kids made for me. Bet you can’t guess who did what!

That’s me in the front of the bottom car. I think it’s a vintage Jag. I think I need a stylist.

Check it out! “My love for you is Explosive” – with volcano!!

I also had four birthday serenades – all amazing, and dinner out with wonderful friends. It was actually warm last night (because our summer always starts in September) and we were able to sit outside. I’m so grateful for all our family, friends and where we live – days like this are real reminders of our good fortune.

The other good news Dad and I figured out on the phone yesterday? I’m 39 – I’ve finally caught up to him.

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks here. The cousins are all having a great time together and we’ve just run from day to day, trying to cram a year and a half apart into a few weeks’ visiting time. Not easy, folks, but we’re doing the best we can.

We spent an overnight at the hostel up at Point Reyes, which is right up the road from Limantour beach, where Tom and I got engaged. We scored a perfect weekend there, which is a feat considering how unpredictable the coast can be here in the summertime. I don’t have good photos of the hostel, but here’s one shot of the bunkhouse that our party shared:

We had this building to ourselves at night – it had two big rooms that each slept ten people in bunk beds, and one common room filled with couches. The main hostel building had the typical huge shared kitchen with 543 rules but 1 very lovely hostel worker who explained them all to us quite nicely. There are some really nice shots of the place up on their website, and I’d highly recommend a stay there. We spent one beautiful afternoon on the beach, then went up to the hostel for a big dinner together, and then back to the beach at 9:30 for a bonfire and stars and smores. Gorgeous.

The next morning we found out that the local raccoons had a blowout party on our cars during the night. They didn’t get any snacks, but it looked like they’d had a terrific time just prowling around on the roofs and sliding down the windshields. I don’t have good photos of the evidence, but maybe you can see the prints in this shot (if you can look past the sun spots and tree reflections and even my hand & camera, that is):

That morning we took a two mile hike down to the beach – a beautiful, relaxing walk on another sunny day. A seal swam in to check out the kids playing in the surf, and we managed in an overnight to feel like we’d been away for a week. Tom loved this sign in the parking area at the beach:

Nice shot, Tom!

When I was a kid in Needham, we used to take swimming lessons at Rosemary Pool. There’s a lot to be said for this pool; it’s big, it has a sandy ‘beach’ all along the shallow end and it’s nestled at the base of a small hillside, on the edge of a lake. You can bring your dinner and sit up at picnic tables or on lovely grassy terraces and look out over the pool and lake as the afternoon slips away. There’s even a concession where we used to occasionally get candy, like those ufo-shaped lollipops that were the same consistency as smarties – do you remember those?

Well it turns out that my sister and my cousin bring their kids to Rosemary pool now, and it’s just like the old days. In fact it’s EXACTLY like the old days. The pool is the same color blue, the lifeguards still sit in their chairs and twirl their whistles the way they used to, the metal dock makes the same sound when people walk on it, sand inevitably makes its way into the shallow end and grits under your toes the way it always did. At the end of each hour, a lifeguard drones into a megaphone, “It is now time for a 15 minute rest period. All swimmers under the age of 18 please clear the pool.” They haven’t even changed one word of the announcement in over thirty years.

Our first morning in Needham, we got to accompany the cousins to their swim lesson, and as it turns out, there’s just this one other thing that hasn’t changed since we were kids – that pool is still f-f-f-freezing c-c-c-cold. Now it all comes back to me… the blue lips and chattering teeth and ice blocks bobbing past as you shiver and pray for the lesson to please, please end already.

Doesn’t that look fun?! Yay! You can see how they lift their hands so no part of them touches the water until it absolutely has to. We stood there watching them shiver and couldn’t help reliving the misery. My cousin made a crack that she’d waited her whole life to be on this side of the equation, but we sure felt for them as they shook away. They got some serious consolation when they got out though.

Plus, they’ll surely have character – not to mention the hope for the day that they’ll be the parents on the beach!