Let's Take a Little Break to Bust Out In Song

My niece loves to sing, and she makes up her own songs.  This one lasted for close to 10 minutes.  I don't know how Beth keeps a straight face while this is going on, though I know it needs to be that way for Sarah to keep singing.  I'm glad I was around the corner because I couldn't keep it in.

What I Did During My Summer Vacation: Part 3

Disneyland.  It was the reason for the trip.  It took us a few days to get there, but the next two days of the trip were thus spent.  John Stephen came with us the first day.  The kids were told we were going on a hike, and had been told so many times that we WEREN'T going to Disneyland this trip, that when it was finally revealed they (especially Rori) were argumentative as they thought they were being teased.  We brought lots of snack and PB&Js and grazed all day long, eating in line most of the time.  It cut down on our need to get out of any lines and spend more money.  Beth, John and I all downloaded apps that helped us maximize our time, spending less in line and more time on the rides.  It was also nice having one adult per child, a blessing, really, with no whining.  Let me repeat that - NO WHINING.  We had a great, exhausting, fun-filled day.

Day 2 was our first experience visiting California Adventure.  This park has such a different feel, and often felt like I wasn't in a Disney park because of the lack of fairy tales. The rides are a lot more mature - roller coasters, Tower of Terror, Soaring Over California, etc - but it was fun and always a surprise.  I really struggled getting the hang of the layout too, though Beth seemed to get it.  We were still pretty tired from out 10+ miles of walking at Disneyland the day before (thanks FitBit) and we didn't have John Stephen with us, so tempers were shorter and whining picked up a little.  But considering how tired all of us were, it was a great day and the kids were eager.

One of my favorite rides included Cars. We were wisely advised to get a fast pass for this ride before we did anything else.  When we got the the park at about 9, there seemed to be nobody at California Adventure (we went on the rapids ride three times in a row with now wait), but our fast pass time was for around 5 in the afternoon! That part of the park in general is the greatest thing - it looks just like Radiator Springs, and car characters from the movies are driving sporadically around it.  It was delightful!

 I also loved the Little Mermaid ride, Tower of Terror, the rapids, and (not a ride) the Disney animation experience, where a Disney animator teaches you how to draw a character.  While Sarah had an audible meltdown because she couldn't keep up and her pic didn't look like the one the animator was drawing, the animator then came and gave Sarah the drawing she was doing in front of us all after the session was over.  I wish we could have spent more time in that building, exploring the exhibit.

I also had a fun time with Sarah, and one of my favorite parts of the day was just with her.  She is actually quite a little daredevil, wanting to go on all of the wildest rides she could.  Unfortunately, she wasn't tall enough to go on the big roller coaster in the park, despite her wearing her shoes with a wedge heel.  While Beth took Mikey and Rori on the coaster, Sarah and I headed over to the not-as-tame-as-it-looks Ferris wheel.  The cars are on a rolling track, and when the wheel hits 1,2, 4,5, 7,8 10 or 11 o'clock, it will whip down the track, tipping back and forth.  I was nervous.  Sarah squealed with delight.

What I Did During My Summer Vacation: Part 2

After church on Sunday, we parted ways with the Clayton and Haley's family and headed to lovely San Juan Capistrano to visit with John Stephen.  John lives right on the edge of Dana Point, a relatively quiet beach town (at least during the first week of June).  And the beach is just what we did to start this portion of our visit.  Before heading to work, John took us to the Dana Point Harbor's Kiddie Beach so we could try our legs at paddle boarding.

 

That's me - I did it, didn't fall, and loved it!

 

We continued by walking around the harbor and heading to the actual harbor front.  The kids were stunned - there were WAVES!  It was ROUGH!  They had fun chasing and screaming (why?) at the receding waves, and running away as they crashed back on shore.  It was lovely listening to the sounds of the ocean, looking for shells,  and watching the pelicans fly by.  

After seeing the waves, the kids had no interest in returning to the safety of Baby Beach.  While John had to go to work, he showed us how to get to Strands Beach and we spent the rest of the afternoon there.  The kids were in heaven, but so were Beth and I lounging in the sun.  

Strands is a huge beach with a huge free parking lot, but it isn't as well known by tourists.  While school in California hadn't ended yet, we were surprised how few people were at the beach on this perfect day.  To get to the beach, one must actually hike down a lot of steps and in between a few huge beachfront homes, but once there, this clean, soft beach is so worth the hike (even the hike back up the stairs!).

Mikey couldn't be persuaded away from the water and waves.  

This girls is more of a daredevil than one might expect.  I had a lot of fun swinging this girl into the oncoming waves.  I think she liked it too.  

After this beautiful day and the days that followed, Dana Point is my new favorite spot for a California beach vacation.  I had never been to this area before, but am so glad that I know of its existence.  I would highly recommend this are for a beach getaway.  

What I Did On My Summer Vacation: Part 1

On a cold afternoon sometime in the middle of winter, my sister Beth turned to me and expressed her desire to take her kids on a real vacation, something she hadn't done in a few years.  Disneyland was on her radar and probably the beach.  Time with her in-laws for time with the cousins would also be on the docket.  Would I be interested in going along?  Um, YES!

On May 28th, we hit the road for a week in California, and my, what a packed vacation it was!  We started the trip in Santa Clarita, staying with Clayton and Hailey and their four kids.  For three days we hiked, visited a train museum, and went to the neighborhood pool a few times.  The kids played, the adults talked and shopped, and it was a grand time.

All In a Day's Eat

My sister humors me.  I'm actually kind of spoiled because when I visit her in the Portland area, she asks me what I want to do and, for the most part, we do it.  That doesn't happen all of the time when I visit other people and I pout.

My desires for my trip there in April:  eat, art musuem, eat, finding art to hang on my wall, and...I don't think there was anything else but food and art.  What else is there, really?  The highlights:

First thing off of the plane was to get a French-inspired lunch.  The food was fantastic, but all I have are pictures of the sweets I didn't have.  Next time!

I love art museums, and for all of the times I've been to Portland, I had never seen it's museum.  So out we headed on a rainy day to add a little culture to our lives.  Even Henry had moments of liking the art (though only for moments).  It was a really fun museum in a great part of downtown Portland that is fun to walk around.

Art made us hungry.  Blue Star Donuts answered our calls, and it was a new stop for us.  There were only five donuts on the menu that day, including a lemon curd, a passion fruit, and a chocolate ganache.  The lemon curd was the best. The passion fruit stirred no passionate feelings in our souls.  

Claudia lets me chance my photographic fantasies.  She drove all over town trying to find a place for me to take a picture of the Portland skyline.  I know she loves me because she will honor the most ridiculous requests so I can take pictures in the rain.

Downtown day!  I love downtown day!  But this time, instead of doing some light shopping in the boutiques along 23rd street, it was all about the food today.  Ken's Artisan Bakery, Little Big Burger, and later on the food carts on 9th.  We were STUFFED.  It was the funnest of all the days.

I like doing things I've never done before.  Besides eating, out walk back to the car allowed us to explore a park and the grounds of this beautiful synagogue. 

To go with the bread Claudia bought at Ken's, we also had to stop at the cheese shop to sample and then buy a few varieties (for another day, of course!).  It was just one more food adventure for this trip.  

For my wall-o-art at home, I wanted a piece that was typically Portland, ad the Saturday Market seemed like the right place to look for something relatively inexpensive.  There wasn't anything that piqued my interest for the price, but it was fun to have a half hour with Claudia, running through stalls looking for just the right piece.  The stop wasn't a total bust - the cinnamon pecans were to die for.  

Oh, these kids.  I love them so much.  And they like me, thought sometimes I think it is just because I look like their mother.  I mean, I get bossy (a carry-over from my other nieces and nephew who I used to tend a lot), I don't play with them a whole ton, and I don't spoil them rotten with toys and such.  I'll just enjoy their love for as long as I can until they realize how uncool I really am.  But they sure are fun to smootch and snuggle.  And I'll keep going back to visit as much as their parents will let me.  

On the Edge of 100

I had a nice conversation with my Grandma St. Laurent this afternoon.  She will be turning 100 years old on January 2nd, and I still find it really hard to fathom living that long, seeing that much change, even in this day and age of advanced healthcare and longevity of life.  After my first interview with her, I chatted with her again about her life's recollections, but I unfortunately lost the notes and figured that waiting to document this kind of stuff is not advisable, so I am wasting no time.  Grandma doesn't really want a party or anything, but I think there is a lot to celebrate in her life!

What I learned today:

- Grandma didn't ever really celebrate Christmas or birthdays growing up.  She said that sometimes her sisters (the ones who lived in the same house with her) would save up and buy her a new coat.  

-When Grandma was around 12 she would take her sisters' kids out in the buggy so her sisters could do the housework during the day.  When she was a little older she would hang out at the park with other kids.

- I asked Grandma if her mother or father liked to sing (wondering if they ever sang music from their respective countries of origin).  She said her father loved music, and he had some cousins, also from Armenia, he would get together with and listen to music with them. She went with him a few times, and said she tried to learn a little bit of Armenian but never really did.  

- I wondered how her parents learned English.  While she didn't know, as they spoke English throughout her memory, she did say that her father may have taught -she did say "taught" more than once - lessons at night sometimes, though if they were language lessons or not was unclear.  I asked her about her mother speaking French, but come to find out she spoke German.  Well, Grandma never heard her speaking German, but she did know that when her mother was a child the Germans who had taken over that part of France took away all of their French books from the schools and they had to learn German.  Her mother had a cousin in Braintree (I think) that she would visit, and they may have spoken German to each other.  Grandma remembers taking the train for the visit.  Her mother also had cousins still in France that she would write to in German.  

- Was her mother a good cook?  Yes, she was a great cook!  The meal Grandma talked about was her mother's spaghetti.  She would make a huge pot of it, and her sister's kids would come over and eat it all up.  She used strained tomatoes but not a meat sauce.  Her mother would fry the leftovers in butter (then Grandma did...then Mom did...now we do!).  

- Another favorite was her mother's apple pie. She repeated multiple times how she could still smell her mother's pie - the cinnamon, the brown sugar, and she would put butter on the top of the crust.  Grandma would climb to the top of the apple tree in their yard (she kept saying what a tomboy she was) and pick the apples.  She would bring baskets of them over to the firefighters at the engine house across the street - they would call out for her to bring them apples.  She was not afraid of falling, and she never did.  She would hang upside down from the branches.  There was a pear tree too.  Grandma doesn't remember her mom making jam, but Grandma did once.  She said the pear jam was delicious and she brought some to her sisters and her mother. Great Grandma didn't make cookies, from what Grammy remembered.  She did make a yellow cake - her own recipe - but Grammy didn't like it as much as the boxed mixes.  She can't remember why, but she liked those better than her mother's cake.  

- As I wrote last time, her father worked for the city repairing roads during the Depression when the factory jobs were dwindling.  Her brother did too.  He had also worked at the shoe factory with her father but had bad allergic reactions to the chemicals used at the factory, so he got a job at a grocery store, and also worked repairing roads when economic times were bad.  Her mother would watch the grandchildren and clean the house and do dishes for everyone during this time because her sister's were also doing some kind of work.  Grandma got a job during the Depression sewing baby rompers because there were no other jobs to do.  It too was a government job, and she got paid $8 a week.  They worked from 8:30 to 4 pm sewing.  Grandma really liked it and liked to sew a lot.  The job didn't last long though; it was cut.  She learned to cook and sew in middle school.  She remembers making aprons and such.  

- Her love of sewing continued though.  After she got married, Grandpa bought her a sewing machine.  She made pant suits for herself - "one in every color." Their kitchen was cold, so Grandpa brought home a kerosene oil heater.  Even though the suits were in the closet, the smoke from the heater ruined all of her suits.  She was heartbroken because she had worked so hard on them.

- I asked her her thoughts about WWII, when it started, etc. or if her mother felt any animosity toward the Germans.  Grammy couldn't remember and asked me when it started. She didn't add anything, so I let it go.

- Grandma doesn't remember when exactly her family got electricity, but her family was still using gas lamps into her early teens. 

 Grandma isn't able to do a whole lot anymore, and I know she fears the day her license will be taken away from her.  She is very aware of all of her great grandchildren, and looks at their pictures often because she commented on a lot of them.  I wish I were there to sit with her, take her out on drives, and just be around so I would know more of this without having to do stealthy interviews (not that Grammy minds, but I feel like it is very deliberate).  She really only has her cat to keep her company most of the time.  I guess I am kind of a loner too like her, but I know it is a lot different for Grandma.

I used to think that all old people were the same and didn't understand when Grandma wouldn't go to the community center anymore because there wasn't really anyone there for her to socialize with.  Then it dawned on me - while a 70 or 80 year old may look the same to a lot of people (especially to young people), a lot of the other people in her community are from a different generation than she is - those 20 or 30 years separating them are pretty big, and it clicked how isolating it can be to be as old as Grandma is.  I wish she knew how interesting she is, how valued she is, and how loved she is.     

Seeing My Favorite Band Of All Time

In 2007 Nickel Creek, my favorite band, went on indefinite hiatus.  I think I died a little inside, and I continued to die for the next 7 years.  But then they got back together to celebrate their 25th anniversary of performing together (they've done so since they were kids), going on tour to promote their new album.  I was thrilled and bought tickets without wasting any time, dragging my sister with me to Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City for the show. It is one of the best concerts of my life.

They played songs that make me laugh and cry, and of course there was a LOT of singing along.  One of my favorite songs of theirs is a song that isn't really a concert song - religious in theme - but they played it.  It was dead silent for about 10 seconds after they finished.  I've never heard anything like it, but it was so appropriate.  And I got to be there with my sister, who actually introduced me to the band.  It was delightful.

The next day, Beth and I wandered around downtown Salt Lake and enjoyed the spring weather.

Beautiful blooms at the Salt Lake City Temple

 After lunch al fresco at Blue Lemon and a leisurely stroll through IKEA, We called our mid-week getaway quits.

Remembering Fall In the Middle of Winter

I spent all substantial time I had to enjoy the fall in Portland, Oregon.  Here's to remembering my favorite season in one of my favorite places!

Out in the country

Multnoma and Bridal Veil Falls

At the coast

 Voodoo Doughnuts

Goorin Brothers Hat Shop on 23rd Street (LOVE< LOVE

Remembering Summer In the Middle of Winter

My brother's wedding in Wisconsin, August

Trips to the zoo, Bay Beach Amusement Park, and the back yard in Wisconsin, August

Zion National Park in Utah, July 

Zion National Park in Utah, August

With Megan and her family in Midway and Park City, Utah in July

With Libby and Lisa in Cedar City and around Panguitch Lake, July

Just a few more months and it will be spring.  I am ready.  So very ready.