New endeavor...

M4 asked about violin lessons somewhat out of the blue. So of course I wanted to take advantage of his interest! He has only had two lessons so far, but he looks kinda cute with a quarter size violin:
The tae kwon do is not new, but I don't know if I've posted any pictures? And this was a good flying side kick I caught. Both Ms have been taking for a while. They have their yellow belts now. I'm tempted to join them!

Northern CA

I realized I never finished my California series! We had such a very, very good time visiting our old friends and drinking in the beauty of Northern California. As luck would have it, all our friends live in amazing spots, and I begin to understand how someone would brave the ridiculous cost of living to make their home amidst all that natural beauty. And did I mention how much I miss our friends? Of course, it gives us the opportunity to visit these amazing places, but it means we are too far away from each other. Drat. This applies to East Coast friends, too. :-)

Not far from Scott and Charis's at Muir Beach overlook...spectacular!! We hung out at the beach, and we all had a blast playing in the sand and climbing rocks. Scott and I went photo crazy, I think...I have the most pics from there.

With Scott and Charis and the kids (who all got along famously) in front of their favorite breakfast place in Fairfax. Scott and Charis live tucked away in a hill. We went to the top and had views for miles!
At the Gravenstein Apple Fair in Sebastopol with Tina and Adam's oldest. Tina and Adam live on a lovely little farm with chickens and gardens...including grapes, which is only fitting since they are in Sonoma County, I think!

At Steve and Lucy's, the twins and M and M put on a whole play in very short order, called "How to be a Nerd." This was the bow. Steve and Lucy live on top of a hill with spectacular views. They have put in a tremendous amount of work to make their house beautiful! And they have a pool! The kids were in heaven. By the way, Steve and Lucy look exactly the same...not fair!

One thing that was so lovely to me on this portion of our trip was how well all the kids got along. At home where the kids have lived their whole lives, they have certain established dynamics with their friends. On vacation, there is none of that. There are no preconceived notions...they all just had a fantastic time with each other. We all need to be free of our usual roles once in a while, no?

The Spirit of the Fall

The Spirit of the Fall by Danske Dandridge

COME, on thy swaying feet,
Wild Spirit of the Fall!
With wind-blown skirts, loose hair of russet-brown,
Crowned with bright berries of the bitter-sweet.

Trip a light measure with the hurrying leaf,
Straining thy few late roses to thy breast,
With laughter over-gay, sweet eyes drooped down,
That none may guess thy grief.
Dare not to pause for rest
Lest the slow tears should gather to their fall.

But when the cold moon rises o’er the hill,
The last numb crickets cease, and all is still,
Face down thou liest on the frosty ground
Strewed with thy fortune’s wreek, alas, thine all—

There, on a winter dawn, thy corse I found,
Lone Spirit of the Fall.

Super Hippie

M4 is currently writing a comic strip about a character named Super Hippie. He is a blue hamster who packs a magic wand and a very large gun. In his headband.

Whee!!

My friend and colleague Jenny, who takes gorgeous photos (go see here) took this pic:


P.S. I asked her to take some photos that I could use for my little website I'm setting up. Plus I've never seen myself do any yoga, y'know.

More CA

If you are ever in the LA area, you must...you MUST...visit the Getty Museum!! I think it could be one of my favorite places, and I've barely been inside a gallery! I've mostly been outside...but look at the outside: on a hill, Pacific Ocean to the west, LA spread out below you, amazing gardens and landscaping, amazing architecture. You only pay to park, then you take a cute little tram up the hill and voila! My only regret is that we had very limited time there. We shall return.

CA part 2

DISNEYLAND!!! OK, I was the one who lobbied most for Disneyland, because I love amusement parks and Disney is supposed to be the Holy Grail, right? Well, it's not exactly the Holy Grail, but it was very fun despite being hella crowded. The weird thing is that it's quite quaint. There are attractions that I'm sure have been there since the place opened in 1955! The Enchanted Tiki Room for example. And "It's A Small World?" That is seriously 1955...although they may have gotten rid of some of their more offensive ethnic stereotypes. But you can look up as you're floating through and see the warehouse-y ceiling, which is just kinda weird for a park that charges you an arm and a leg to get in. But it definitely feels like the same warehouse Mr. Disney himself approved when he first opened the joint.

Who would have thought I would find Disneyland sweet (in the old-fashioned-Pollyanna-sweet kinda sense, not in the "suh-weet!" sense)? And it doesn't really have that many "big" rides. I should probably write about the "big" ride experience later as I don't have time now. As well as how impressed I was with the way they run things there.

Apparently, though, I was having too much fun to take pictures, because I didn't get many:

The cool riverboat, which we HAD to make Noelle ride. Cuz she loves riverboats a real lot.
On Pirates of the Caribbean, which was probably one of my favorites.
Impressionistic shot on the Monorail. M4 looks slightly crazed.