Fun Five

One.

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Dinner last night was at Fenton's (did you see the movie Up? well, Carl and Russell's fave ice cream place is a local spot...Pixar is very close by). Sundaes all around...I took a 'pass' knowing that at least one kid would not be able to finish. Three people had vanilla ice cream. Three people had whipped cream. Two people had marshmallow topping and two had chocolate fudge. One person had peppermint ice cream, and one person ate all 4 maraschino cherries. I was the cherry-eater. Yeah, dessert for dinner. Sometimes you just have to say, "What the heck?"

Two.

After eating sundae remnants, I met up with RoseRunner and did hill repeats. Ha. We ran up a hill and then repeated...once. So up the hill two times. Doing something twice = repeat.

this one...it's my favorite

Next week, we're shooting for a three-peat. You know what that means? Yep...three times.

Three.

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I climbed with Tarzan again this week. And we got in trouble. Well, actually he got in trouble. He was doing dangerous things, and the gym manager ran over and spanked him...verbally. It was pretty freaky. He was 'speed' climbing, and I could not keep up with him on belay. There was way too much slack in the rope. If he'd fallen, he could very well have cracked his head open...for real. Meanwhile, my instructor-turned-friend was over to the side beating on her chest and silently doing Tarzan yells to the point where I was stifling laughter so hard it hurt.

Four.

My longest workout in months occurred on Wednesday. Two hours of nonstop cardio, HR zone 2...or maybe zone 3. I'm so old that the HR thing gets me kind of confused. It felt pretty amazing, but I sure wish I could run outside for that long. I really miss being outside! Away from Gaggy Perfume Lady next to me on the stairmaster who started coughing and sputtering extensively mid-workout. I was trying to figure out if the coughing was from her own perfumery or because maybe...ummm...I was the one who was stinking? Well, if it was me, I surely got karmic payback when Patchouli Girl hopped on the elliptical next to me at the very end of my workout. Who the f*ck wears patchouli anymore? Stoners back in the 70's used that potent biz to cover up the smell from all their pot-smoking. I'm guessing that I now probably know who has access to weed should I ever need to score some.

Five.

Today is the last day of school. This is the first time I can recall being excited about it since I was in school myself. I usually dread having all the kids home all day for days on end. Days turning into weeks. Weeks turning into months. Whining refrains of "I'm bored." Bickering ceaselessly. When I put it that way, it starts to sound so unappealing :P  Okay...the good parts... no homework! No need to get to school on time! Leisurely days :)  

Now I just need to come up with some fun activities that four kids between the ages of 3 and 13 will all enjoy. Lots o' luck is what you're saying, I know. 

Looking forward to another kick-ass weekend and wishing one for all of you as well :)

Hairy Dinos and their Fossilized Poop: Visiting the Lawrence Hall of Science

An eleven-day school vacation in the end of October is never easy... for the parents. Are we done yet?

I'm hanging in there!

Two more days. 

I feel like my brain is mush. The difficulty lies primarily in stringing together two coherent thoughts in a single sitting with four belligerent bossy active kids demanding my attention. We did luck out on the weather this past week, though, which saved my mommy-hide hugely. We got out of the house and did super fun stuff like visit the zoo, throw a football around, explore the Wild West, and take on the...

Lawrence Hall of Science

We pulled up to this place and were greeted by the sight of 7... yes, SEVEN... school buses. I instantly thought of the movie Madagascar, because almost everything that happens to me triggers some quote-index directly linked to kids' movies. Friday. Field-trip Day. Total mob-scene. 

Once the hundreds of field-trippers went inside, we had the outside attractions all to ourselves...more or less.

I know you're wondering...

After climbing around on the double-helix for a long time, 

they decided to play Whale Rider...

...and Whale Walker...

We rode the whale and climbed the DNA for a good 30 minutes or so, and then we braved entry. The changing exhibit this season is a dinosaur extravaganza. We were greeted by a life-sized Triceratops and her baby...

And there was a mini dino-dig where kids could practice their paleontological skills...

I cannot remember what sort of dino bones these were supposed to be. 

The matrix is not sand or gravel but a sort of chipped rubber... 

probably a lot easier to clean up and doesn't get in eyes or hair when thrown.

And who can guess what this is?

If you guessed...

POOP

then you're right!

Even juvenile T-Rexes were scary...

...but unlike their adult counterparts, they were also most likey hairy!

We seemed to be about an exhibit or two behind the field-trippers, which worked out well. I did get to watch some of the stragglers misbehave, as stragglers stereotypically are wont to do, and it took a lot of self-control to not do what the chaperones were supposed to be doing. But I held back.

We saw allllllll the dino stuff and then headed outside. 

This is my kids' favorite part of this place... because it involves water. It is a demonstration watershed management display. The kids use the white plastic rectangles to dam up parts of the waterflow. They can see how to divert water, how to increase flow through certain channels, what happens you make a dam... and get wet.

Another water-related first... no one went in this time. 

And probably because it is located a stone's throw a major fault, 

there are some really cool earthquake demonstrations

this was the only one that was visible because it wasn't teeming with kids

Back inside, Baby X loved this 'impressions' board...

And this is the thing I thought was the coolest...

You aim the open end of the drum, whack it with that big mallet, and the soundwaves strike those pieces of hanging fabric. They ripple and flutter. If you get the waves aimed just right, they pop a huge ripply circle in the floating banner. The visual is pretty spectacular.

We were there for about 2 hours. The older three kids had a blast. We had ditched Miss C at preschool for the day so even I got to have fun. (She is a fun kid, but I need to be constantly vigilant and deal with her flipping out tantrums when things do not go her way... she is two, after all). But it did feel good to get home, eat lunch and lay on the sofa. I needed to rest up for Sunday... and Preparing for the Rapture III!

It's coming ;-)

The Wild West, Whistling Footballs, and ... a WINNER :)

What day is it? I forget. They all blur together when my kids are on school break, which they are as I mentioned on Monday.

That was the day they made the fort under the dining table. At that point, I had no idea what we would be doing to keep them from killing each other avoid ripping my hair out amuse ourselves. Luckily, the weather has been very cooperative this week. On Tuesday we went on our exciting zoo outing. We saw all sorts of interesting things like motionless alligators, motionless wallaroos (bigger than a wallaby, smaller than a kangaroo), monkeys involved in giggle-inducing grooming behaviors, fighting bats, and entertaining otters. And we went on rides. Looking at the picture below, you might wonder who it was all for...

"Smile, kid... we're having fun!"

How do you follow up an awesome 5-hour trip to the zoo? With 45 minutes at the funnest playground around, of course! Why only 45 minutes? you might ask. Because it is right near Big G's Wednesday piano lesson place, and that was all the time we had.

Welcome to 
The Wild West

This playground and all these cool Wild West things have been here since I was a little kid. It was my favorite playground... and that was a long time ago. They've given things a facelift and a paint job or two, and some things have been rearranged, but it's still an amazing place for kids.

"Break me outta here, sistah!"

"Yay! We're freeeeeeee!"

Ride 'em, cowgirls... the fastest pink getaway pony ever!

Sweet pic of my gals... Miss C is a might tuckered out.

A 45-minute Fun Blitz. The rest of the day was totally bogus. For me, anyway. The kids got to go out for burritos with dad while I went to my massage appointment that didn't happen due to transportation issues for the masseuse. Such a total bummer. Might be part of why my Thursday run sucked so badly :(

"Playground" was the order of the day on Thursday, too. It was just me and my boys. We rode bikes (against their silly will) to the very, very nearby park. What complainers. Where do they get this from? Neither my husband nor I are like this... really. They are getting good modeling for active, 'tough-it-out' lifestyles. Of course once we got there they had an excellent time. 

Throwing the whistling ball...

And playing some inexplicable 'king' game in which Big G was the king and Q-man was the peon...which clearly didn't sit well with him.

Fortunately, it evolved quickly into some bird-watching thing... 

we were right on the water and the diving pelicans were a huge hit :)

I'll have to share what awesomeness we did on Friday tomorrow... after I attempt a really hard run that is making me nervous already. Hills, hills, and more hills. Keeping my eye on the miles and not on the pace :)

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and that all the racers have great races!

Oh... and the big announcement!!!!

The winner of the Great Moving Comfort Giveaway is...

Marisa @ The Pace of My Life !!!! (email me for specifics regarding your prize!)

Her "i tweeted" comment corresponded to the random number generated by random.org.

Many thanks to all of you who entered...your enthusiasm was just awesome! I hope you new followers do stick around... it is wonderful to see your comments and visit your blogs :)

Can I call this Manic Monday?

I have nothing planned all day. Knowing this, I rolled out of bed a little before 9 o'clock.

What?

What's that you say?

I have four kids?

Right you are. And they have no school this week. In fact, they are off until November 2nd. Insane, I know. Just thinking about it is making me twitchy. And that's why I want to call this Manic Monday.

My kids seem to have less school than any other kids I know. I wrote about it last fall, and you can read it here.

So back to Manic Monday...

I did wake up early... remember, you reminded me already of the fact that I have four kids... and they are loud. But after the initial cacophony of morningness with four young kids, they simmered down, and I crawled back into bed. I am tired. I ran 11+ miles of hills and trails with my friend Sarah yesterday... and I'm milking that effort for all I can :P

The kids were quietly busy little construction workers... they made a house...

So glad I slip-covered these chairs.

The house under the dining table...

they will be safe if we have another series of earthquakes today.

The only problem... once the house was completed (a little before 9 o'clock), the fighting and screaming commenced. Of course. That's why I finally rolled out of bed. Peace was temporarily restored (because nothing is forever), and my husband, who was working from home this morning, suggested that perhaps I might want to feed them.

So I did.

Lest you think I am a complete and utter slacker mom, I will have you know I made banana pancakes...

And because I'm hip and trendy, they are gluten-free ;-)

What will we do this week to amuse ourselves and hopefully not go completely nuts? I have no idea. We don't need to go Halloween costume shopping...we're covered, thanks to another of their school's quirks. The Halloween Parade was this past Friday. We are set...

Jango Fett

The Invisible Man

A glorious peacock

The peacock is a repeat from last year. I made it then (click the link to see how), but she didn't get to wear it because it was raining. Miss C is still not so into doing what everyone else is doing. She screams at us when we suggest she wear a costume.

I think we will decorate the house. We have 3 tombstones, 2 dozen rubber rats, and some random rubber body parts with bloody stumps. The kids like to make it look like the rats are gnawing on the body parts that are rising from the dead. Yuck.

Perhaps we will carve pumpkins, though the knives factor with my unruly children scares the crap outta me.

Right now, the boys are 'play-boxing' and have an 'understanding' that hurting might happen and is okay. I wonder how long that will last?

We might go to the zoo.

Or maybe I'll make them run with me. I wonder who would hate that more... them or me?

Random Happenings

We had wacky weather the other day... pouring rain that turned into pelting hail!  

And produced this:

This happened right as we arrived at school... without raincoats and only one umbrella for 5 of us! And

 the umbrella broke!  

It was hilarious!  The kids were super troopers about it all... nary a whine nor a complaint... lots of giggles and smiles :)  

LOVE it when that happens 

... not the broken umbrella part; the kids having fun part ;-)

Right now my kids are On Break.  It is a 10-day long Break.  Must be nice...

I have written before about this school's penchant for days off.  This particular doozy is that whole "Ski Week" thing that encompasses the President's Day (or is it Presidents' Day... it is about two presidents, right?).  Oh, and while I am on the topic of President's Day... what the heck!!!???  Remember how I mentioned that I was going grocery shopping with all 4 kids in tow?  So we get all in the car (not easy) and they are all fighting and screaming before the car doors are even closed... actually before I even get into the car myself... I debate whether or not this is such a good idea.  But Monday is Grocery Day and we are down to a "cocktail onions and mustard" sort of situation... hmmm... what can I make with ketchup, unsalted butter, cornstarch and bacon?  We had to go.

It was closed.  

Yes, you read that correctly.  A humongous, big-deal-not-mom-n-pop, Whole Foods-ish grocery store was CLOSED for President's Day!  I laughed so hard.  The kids were concerned.  Is mom off her rocker?  So we headed to Trader Joe's and picked up what we could.  

They were perfectly behaved.  

I think the insane-lady laughter may have had something to do with that ;-)

We had lovely weather and headed to the park today to meet some friends.  It was a group of wee ones who are around Miss C's age.  The olders were not thrilled to be going to Totland *snicker, snicker* but since Miss C is forever being carted around to all their goings-on, it is only fair that they need to suck it up on occasion.

Here's Q-Man, all bummed out on the swings:

Baby X climbed to the top of the highest thing, 

setting off a toddler climbing frenzy as they all tried to imitate her... much to their caretakers' collective dismay:

And Miss C was happy to just hang :)

Big G was not there... he was home SICK.  Of course, it is vacation... someone has to be sick.

What would you do with four kids who were on a 10-day Break? And leaving town is not an option.
– we were going to do fun stuff like go to the Children's Museum, the local Little Farm and see the baby pigs, the zoo... but rain and sickness just don't really work with outings.  Today we made pudding and went to the park.  Tomorrow we are going to make teeny tiny cupcakes and who knows what else.


Did you have lots of holidays when you were a kid?
– we had some that other kids didn't get... Malcolm X's birthday, International Women's Day, MLK's birthday before it was nationwide... but that's because it was Berkeley ;-)  And I remember having Lincoln's AND Washington's Birthdays creating consecutive 3-day weekends.  I liked that.  But I'm telling you, my kids' school has WAY more days off than I ever had.

My Longest Run... since having kids

Yesterday I finally got that 8-miler done.  She was a bit squirrelly... but nuttin' I couldn't handle ;-)

The pace was supposed to be "maintenance," which for me is supposed to be 10:00/mile.  As you can see from the numbers below, I was kind of all over the place... that's why I used the adjective squirrelly.  And I must say that I don't really know for certain if those times were taken at certifiable mile marks because I went off of googlemaps and sort of fudged where to gauge the miles would be.  It was an out and back, so I was noticeably quicker over the same distances on the trip out.

This is the farthest I have run since November of 2001.  My legs are feeling it.  At this point in my fitness and life, 8 miles now warrants an ice bath.  Wish I had realized that when I finished the run :P  

The best news is ... my hip did not hurt.  did. not.  Super YAY!  It is feeling stiff and sore now, but no pain at all while running.  I almost cried when I finished... partly because of the no pain, partly because it has been so long since I have run that far, and partly because I was super hungry.  I had to leave before breakfast in order to get the run in before my husband needed to go out for the day.

Yeah, when you are lolling about in bed thinking you have a cush life while your husband makes everyone breakfast, it is a sharp jolt of reality when he comes in to announce that he needs to leave soon so you'd better a get a move on if you're going to fit that run in.  Soon?  How soon?  Like "exactly as long as it takes to throw on the clothes and do the run" soon.  No brekkie... No potty...

As most of you know, running really gets things moving...  I think that is partly why my first half was faster.  I was racing to the portapotty at the turnaround.  I realized I was going to need that bad boy pretty early on in the run. It became my focus... my goal.  Even though it meant running an extra 0.1 mile ;-)  Thankfully, it was still where I had remembered it to be.  And even more thankfully, it was not too nasty.  And it had paper!

Unfortunately, my 'needs' were complicated by another factor.  Let's just say that I am really glad I didn't listen to that ShutUpandRun girl and wear my green bikini even though I was having my period.  If any guys have made it this far, I am sorry if you are grossed out or uncomfortable... but this is what we women deal with.  You have no idea how hard it is to not lose your tampon when you are trying to take a dump... especially in a portapotty.  And speaking of tampons... I am so annoyed... my favorite brand has been discontinued!  As I was lamenting this fact this morning, my husband suggested I look for an online forum that might help me deal with this loss.  He thinks he's so funny sometimes.

These are my rockin' splits from my X-Treeemly long run:

9:25
9:50
9:43
9:54
10:15  – post-poo... I think everything was readjusting...
10:02
9:56
10:08  – I hit my Wall at 7.8 miles... I almost stopped... I think it was lack of food more than anything
______
1:19:13 total time (this factors in the 2:40 potty break... I always subtract those)




Now I get to go grocery shopping with my kids... o, yay.  This is bound to be exciting, and I'll tell you all about it later ;-)  What makes it all extra exciting is that they are off for 10 days.  TEN days... in a row... right now.  You know better than to get me started on their school and days off.

Who doesn't need a day off?

My kids, that's who.

Strangely, I am always caught off-guard when they have ANOTHER day off.  We have been at this school for 7 years now, and I still get surprised.  This last week was no exception.

They started school September 1.  Labor Day on the 6th was a holiday... as it was for most people.  No surprise.  And the rest of the month was solid with school every weekday.  Okay.  Then came October.  SIX days off... and an early dismissal!  There was a Faculty In-Service Day one Monday that coincided with "Indigenous Peoples/Columbus Day", I think.   There was the early dismissal one Friday for a teachers' meeting (which, apparently, will be happening once a month every month).  And there was this special thing our school has... Fall Break.

Fall Break lasts for a week.  It happens every year during the week leading up to Halloween, which means the kids have their Halloween festivities a week early (meaning costumes need to ready a week early).  After being at the school for 7 years, this oddly-timed week off is no surprise.  And last year I finally found out why we have it!  The school is an "international" school and teaches a bilingual curriculum.  They are accredited by both the state and the foreign country's Ministry of Education.  The foreign Ministry has in their requirements that the children have a week off after every 6-8 weeks of instruction.  (At least this is what I've now been told).  After looking at the calendar, I see it.  It's hard if both parents are working.  And it's hard as a parent who is not... but at least I've got the whole childcare thing handled ;-)

So this brings us to last week.  For some reason (probably they didn't want a bunch of sugar-hungover kids at school) the 1st of November was designated as part of the Fall Break.  That was Monday.  Alright.  Kind of nice to not have to think at all about getting the kids to bed at a normal time on Halloween night... a little relaxed on a fun, crazy night can be a good thing.  Then two days later on Wednesday, I was having a conversation with another parent.  At some point, she tossed in, "So crazy to have such a short week... especially right after Fall Break, eh?"  I was puzzled.  A day off doesn't make for "such a short week" in my book.  But she is new to the school, so I just shrugged it off.

The day before, I had made my appointments for Parent/Teacher Conferences to be held on November 5th.  I was stoked because I got them all lined up... all three ... bam, bam, bam... no muss, no fuss, no return trips, no excessive waiting between meetings.  STOKED, that was me.

As I was lying in bed Wednesday night...

It

Hit

Me

November 5th would be Friday.  Parent/Teacher Conferences are usually held on a day when there is to be no school.  And it is "so crazy to have such a short week."  Leading up to...

Another day off.

Can you believe it?

Where was he when I needed him?

Monday is grocery shopping day.  I think I mentioned that last week.  Well, today I could have really used that grouchy mean old man.  My kids have this WHOLE week OFF.  Their school is weird.  I think I mentioned that before, too.  Anyway... took the whole crew on the shopping excursion.  I don't have very cooperative children... when they are all together.  Individually, they are fun and helpful.  All together, they are off the charts.

How many times do I need to say, "This is NOT appropriate grocery store behavior!"

After about the umpteenth time, I referenced the mean old man (they all heard the story).  Oddly, mentioning him seemed to get them in line.  So they'll toe it for a stranger....

The thought of a WHOLE week OFF was really bumming me out.  And there is rain in the forecast.  I don't think I can handle anymore water balloons in the bathroom.  So I decided we are going to Disneyland.

Yes, I decided this afternoon.  Tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. we are getting in the car and driving ALL day to Disneyland.  For one overnight... so 2 days of Mickey and the Happiest Place on Earth.  Then driving back.  It is a looooooooong car trip.

Wish me luck.

I am hoping this act of insane spontaneity doesn't result in spontaneous insanity!