What have we been up to?

On Christmas Eve, in the afternoon, we went to Sea World. We saw the dolphin show and special holiday Shamu show. It was pretty fun. Clare did great! It was the first time she ever sat on the bench and watched the animals instead of burying her head in my lap. She talked all night and is still talking about seeing the dolphins jump! I was surprised that Sea World was so crowded because I figured everyone would be home doing holiday stuff. This picture, below, I thought would be fun -- to send warm wishes from San Diego! Also, you can see how big I'm getting. (I'm now just starting the third trimester).


Christmas morning Calvin woke up at 4:15am. This is something he has been doing a lot lately, so we had known it was quite possible. We stuck a little TV in his room with a few movies, snacks and a drink for him. He watched Jungle Book and Toy Story 2 before even trying to come out at around 6:30. Pete and Jessica arrived about that time and were waiting for the kids upstairs. They though it'd be fun to see the kids' reaction to their Christmas morning! The kids were shy of pete and jessica and also in some kind of daze so they didn't react the way we imagined. Calvin was silent and very timid 'til about 7:30 when he was finally excited about it! (by then we were done)! I didn't take many pictures but the one below is of Clare opening the present Calvin gave to her. He helped wrap it in white paper and then colored on the white paper instead of using christmas wrap.




We have a fireplace in our living room that we haven't used much but it recently occur ed to us that we should try it out and see if it helps warm up the house. It seems to help a bit so we've been on the lookout for firewood. The other day we were driving by a house and saw some small pieces of wood out by the road. The man of the house was in the garage so I asked him if he was trying to get rid of the wood and if we could take it. He said, "yes and I have a bunch more in the back, come and take a look." Dave filled up the back of the truck with some wood. The wood was chopped into bick circular blocks but Dave had to chop it all into quarters to burn. He was excited to go get an ax, especially since all men should have an ax!

Calvin!!!

Calvin brought home a craft from school that is supposed to be hung up as a Christmas decoration. It is very cute -- a wreath using their hand print as the greenery. Anyway, Calvin really wanted to hang it lower than some of the options I gave him of nails already in the wall. I was busy doing dishes and not that excited to put another hole in the wall to hang the craft at his eye level so I sent him on a mission to find the hammer out of the car (where it had been left the week before). So, he went away for quite a while and I continued to do dishes. when he came back he was talking about other things so I figured he had been distracted and moved on to something else. I asked him where the hammer was and he said he already hung up the craft in his room. He has some hooks for coats/hats in his room so I figured he hung it up there and told him good job. When I went to bed last night I saw that he had actually hammered a new nail into the wall (and his eye level) and put his craft there. INTERESTING!!! I guess he figured if you want something done right you have to do it yourself.

Dave!!!

This morning we went to the playground and when we were finished I helped Calvin get into his seat and Clare walked around to Dave's side so he could help her into the car. I said, "Dave, here comes Clare, can you help her into the car?" He was distracted reading a book while at the same time opening up the car trunk to put in his sweatshirt. When I finished helping Calvin and went to sit in my seat I saw Clare was not in her seat still. I figured she was still standing on the other side of the car waiting for Dave's help. "Dave, where's Clare?" He looked at his left hand and saw his sweatshirt - "Clare?! Oh, I meant to put my sweatshirt away, I must have put Clare in the trunk instead!"


Disclaimer: Clare did not ever complain about being put into the trunk. She thought it was great fun!

Quote from dave on the event: "It could happen to anybody."

Zoo Trip and Driveway surfing

This week we went to the Wild Animal Park with Calvin's friend Davis (along with sister Hope (2 years old) and Mom Amy). They had a sledding hill that they set up during the Christmas festival. on the way to the park I asked Calvin, "do you want to play in the snow there?" He said "No mom. it doesn't snow here. only in Ohio." I explained that they make fake snow here for people to play with and he thought that sounded pretty lame! As it turned out, it was only open in the evening so it didn't matter much anyway!


Calvin loves the petting zoo -- he is not at all afriad of the deer they have there. He likes to pet them and feed them leaves off the ground.



This afternoon we went to play outside with some balls on the driveway. The kids found the boggie board in the garage enjoyed pretending to boogie board and making silly faces.

Surfer Dave

Dave got his Christmas presents (surfing stuff) a little early this year so that he could make good use of them while he is on an easier rotation. Once Jan hits, he'll probably be lucky to make it out to the beach once a month. This month, we've gone several times. Here is a picture of Dave in his new wet suit and with his surf board. It gets dark pretty early -- sunset at 4:30 and on this day we were there only a few minutes before sunset. It was beautiful and pretty chilly. Calvin wouldn't get out of the car. Dave was funny to watch - on his first day. He couldn't even sit on the board and wait for the waves to come without falling off! He has heard from others and is now learning for himself that surfing is hard to do! It is really good exercise and has beautiful scenery so hopefully he'll enjoy the journey, even if it does take him all 7 years!


It was too late and too dark for a good picture of Clare (on my camera) but the sunset in the background is beautiful!

It's only fair!

Well, I usually only post the silly and absentminded things that Dave does but I thought maybe I would share a little story about myself. This week I picked up some cute Christmas marshmallows -- red (more pink) and green Christmas tree shaped. I decided to make rice crispy treats with them. As I melted the butter in the pan I thought to myself "maybe I should make two batches -- one red and one green" but I ignored these thoughts and went on to make one batch of red and green rice crispy treats. But as all of you who finished kindergarten know - when you mix red and green you get an ugly grayish brown color that looks pretty nasty. Anyway, my holiday treat looked a little strange. Clare thought they were chocolate looking and Calvin just thought they were too weird to eat. So now you know I do dumb stuff too. Maybe it's contagious.

California Cold

It is starting to turn into winter. You may think that because we live in SD we do not get winter. Well, we don't get snow and below freezing temperatures (most of the time) but we do get a change in temperature. Right now, at 6am, it is 33 degrees outside. That is a pretty typical night time low for this time of year (mid 30's and low 40's). During the day it warms up to a lovely 60-70 and sunny day. We do not turn on the heat at all so the inside of our house gets pretty cold at night. It would be too expensive and kind of pointless to run the heater because we have vaulted ceilings. Our house doesn't heat well. So, we use lots of blankets and sweatshirts! During the warmest part of the day we go outside and sit on the deck to get some sun and warmth because by afternoon it is 10 degrees warmer outside than inside our house! Recently, we've gone out in the evening to a couple of outdoor activities and I have had to unpack my winter coats and hats! I used to think it was ridiculous, when I lived in Ohio or Utah where it was actually cold and snowy, to see Californians wearing winter clothes! Now I understand and have even joined in!

I thought you might be interested in what it is like here because you may have been like me, thinking SD is always warm. I would say that SD is not always warm but it is always beautiful. And, SD is warmer than many other places (just not in our house)!!

Happy Friday! I hope you have a good weekend!

Dave's keys

A while ago I wrote about Dave having lost his keys (about the same time as the fires). Well, he found them. Here is the story. Dave had his little USB port tied to his keys and on the day that he lost them he remembers using his USB port with keys attached and then getting paged for an emergency. He left them in the computer he was using and ran off without picking them up. Later in the night he went back to look for his keys and they were not there. The computer lab was a Dr's only lab so he figured somebody must have come into the lab and taken his keys. For the rest of the month he drove a different car to work worried that somebody might have taken his keys with the intent of stealing his car. (this had happened to his cousin whose keys were taken out of a dr. locker room and then his car was stolen a week later). So, fast forward a month. Dave got a page from someone at the hospital saying that they had his keys. He went in to talk to them and found that they were in a different computer lab -- still sitting in the USB drive, completely safe and sound. They had been there for a month. So, either someone moved his keys to a different computer lab during that night in October OR dave forgot where he had left them as he ran around the hospital in the middle of the night. My guess is option #2! We are glad they turned up so that we didn't have to worry about our car being stolen and so that we didn't' have to pay to make a backup key (which are expensive these days)!

Christmas time.

Today was a nice day. Dave got home from work at 9am (yes, AM -- it is not a misprint). We drove up to orange county to a rip curl outlet to look at wet suits. He ended up finding one and got it for himself. It is his Christmas present from me. He is very excited to try it out tomorrow so we will go to the beach in the afternoon. Technically, Dave is doing an anesthesiology rotation right now but he does NOTHING when he is there so he is spending most of his time studying for step 3 instead of hanging out in the hospital. It is interesting!

There is a family in our ward that hosts a Christmas event every year. Every night for about two weeks they transform their house and yard into Santa's village. Kids can come and meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus and get a small toy. They have hot chocolate, cider, cookies and crackers. It is pretty remarkable. It is all free. We asked the kids if they wanted to go see Santa and get a toy and some cookies. Calvin said yes but mentioned he didn't want to see Santa. Clare flat out refused to come because she is TERRIFIED of Santa. At the ward Christmas party last weekend she screamed when Dave tried to take her to Santa. Calvin wouldn't go anywhere near him. People keep asking us what we have done to our kids to make them hate Santa so much. We don't know!

While at this Santa event a guy dropped is 1 year old kid onto the driveway. (He was holding him in his arms when his other son tried climbing on a big dragon statue and nearly knocked it over. While trying to help one son, he dropped the other). Dave saw it happen and then heard the parents talking about the kid, wondering if he was okay and embarrassed about what happened. Dave offered to look at the kid and told him he was a "brain surgeon resident". The kid was fine....had a big bump but totally fine otherwise. Later in the evening Dave saw the kid again -- he was eating and playing and so Dave is sure he was just fine. The family was grateful for Dave's help and told friends that their kid was okay and that they found a brain doctor to look at him!

Since Dave is home and available to help, I have been singing in stake choir. Sunday night we had a fireside concert and then last night we had a concert at the San Diego temple. It was a nice experience. My favorite part was the primary choir. It has about 50 kids and they sang three great songs. They had everything memorized -- even part of a song in latin. In my opinion they are way better than the adult choir. We also sang three songs and had nothing memorized. Kids are amazing. I love kids!

Sunday in Primary we watched a short church movie about the nativity. I was struck by the scenes at the stable because in the background was the sound of humming flies. Nativity scenes always make the animals look so cute and cuddly and I think this week was the first time I thought of the stable as such a gross place to have a baby. It would have been dirty and smelly and really disgusting. Truly, He descended below them all with his humble birth. I think maybe I thought more about this because I have had a baby before and will have another one soon.

Great Entertainment

This morning while I was doing a little cleaning up, Clare found a pack of bubble gum and went to town! She chewed each piece for just a few seconds and then would spit it out and move on to another piece. She chewed through about 1/2 the pack in the 5 minutes I was gone! She had a good time.

Canker Sore Cure

First, sorry about the tiny picture --I couldn't find a better one.

Over a year ago, a dentist recommended that I try a new toothpaste to help with cankers. It took a little while to find this but I am so glad I did. I found it at CVS in Columbus and here in SD as well. It has basically cured my canker sores. I used to get several a month and now I get one on a very rare occasion -- I've probably had just a couple over this last year. One time I forgot to bring the toothpaste on a week long vacation and I did end up getting a couple by the end of the week. So, if you are the type that gets cankers I highly recommend Rembrandt toothpaste for canker sores. It is kind of expensive compared to the regular stuff but well worth it!

Dave new love

Ever since we moved here Dave has wanted a surf board. Last week he was finally able to get one. It is an 8 ft. board that he will hopefully be able to learn on and enjoy for some time to come.

Family Pictures

While we were on board we thought it would be a good opportunity to take our family picture. We tried on several occasions and got a couple of 1/2 way decent ones. Most of the time someone was missing or late or not willing to smile!

One funny story I need to share before I snap back into reality of not being on vacation any more. The room arrangements for the week were Calvin and Dave together in one room and Clare and I in another room. The first night, Calvin woke up (as usual) around 4am to use the bathroom and beg for food. Dave put him back in bed and then DAve fell asleep listening to Calvin sing to himself in bed. A short while later (who knows exactly how much later), Dave was awakened by a loud knock on the door. He was very confused as he got up to answer the door wondering who the heck would be pounding on his door at such an early hour. Then he was even more surprised when he saw 3 security guards handing Calvin back to him. Apparently Calvin had been out wandering the halls by himself and was found and returned to his room. Calvin was pretty scared and went right back to bed! We figure Calvin stepped out in the hall and then got "lost" because he didn't know which was his room. Later in the week he knew his room number and could have probably found his way back but anyway....that was the most interesting story and poor dave got harassed all week for being such an on-top-of-things Dad!

Puerto Vallarta

By far, our favorite day of our trip was the day we went to Puerto Vallarta. It was thanksgiving day, but didn't feel much like Thanksgiving. Puerto Vallarta is tropical jungle. It is beautiful. We had signed up for an on shore excursion through the cruise but it ended up being full so we couldn't get on. Dave and I went on shore and found someone offering the same small trip for quite a bit cheaper so we signed up through them. It was great. We took a 1 hour catamaran ride to a place called Las Caletas -- a private beach in the middle of the jungle, accessible only by boat. At the beach we had free beer (not a big deal for us, but a big advertising point), food, sea kayaks, and other beach toys. We had a great day.


Dave held a monkey.


We wanted clare to put the bird on her head but she didn't go for it, so this was as close as we could get.







This is Clare and Dave on the boat ride home .. .it cracks me up how crazy Clare looks. She is such a mess and is super tired after a full day at the beach!

Cabo San Lucas

In Cabo we took a water taxi ride around the bay and rode around the famous cabo arches and went through to the pacific ocean on the other side. It was fun. The rocks were beautiful and the pelicans were huge! There is also a herd of sea lions that hang out on some of the rocks. It was a cheap and quick little activity and we really enjoyed it. Next time we go to cabo we will take a water taxi to lovers beach (out by the arches) and spend the day there.





Calvin did not let us take his picture most of the week so he usually has his head in someones lap.




This is a picture of our water taxi driver. He did a good job pointing out all of the rock formations. We saw Scooby Do, a baby, elephant and many more. He didn't speak a lick of English so we did our best to understand and speak in spanish. Dave is actually getting pretty decent at spanish becuase the patient population at his hospital is mostly spanish speaking. We are on the pacific ocean side of the rocks and the little window looks back into the bay.

We're back!

Well, most of you probably didn't notice that we were out of town for a week, but we wer!. We went on a 7 day cruise to the Mexican riviera during thanksgiving week on the Vision of the Seas. We had a nice trip. We spent 4 days at sea and also went to Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta for 1 day each. I will do a few different posts to show what we did.

First, the on board post. Here's what we did on board.

Dave tried out the rock wall several times.



Went dancing


Calvin is dancing like crazy ... it's hard to tell in a still shot but it was pretty fun!




here's Clare just chillin' out on deck.


We brought lots of crayons and other activites to keep the kids occupied at dinner becuase it takes a long time. Usually the kids were so tired by the time we got to dinner that they had a short attention span anyway. Usually they did great for about 1 hour and then started to go crazy. we thought that was pretty good for them but it usually wasn't quite long enough to get through the dinner.


Well, time to go! Tomorrow we'll do Cabo.

It's a Girl!

We had our ultrasound this morning and got to see our baby. It was fun! We had a clear view of between the legs and are sure it is a girl. All looks well with her. We're excited, but Dave is feeling a little out numbered!! So far, the only name that has been suggested is bannana-applehead (by Calvin).

Chapter

While Dave's mom was in town she gave Calvin an electronic learning toy. When we opened it up and put the batteries into it, it didn't work at all. So, we decided to take it back to the store to get a new one. We loaded up the car and headed to target. When we got there, the game was nowhere to be found. We figured Dave had set it down on a table in the garage as he was loading Clare into the car so we did our other shopping and then headed home. Upon arriving home, the game was nowhere to be found. We looked in the garage and in the house -- it had disappeared!! I went into the kitchen to start lunch for the kids and saw Dave walking up the driveway (probably to look and see if maybe he had left it on the roof of the car and it had fallen off as we went up the driveway). I then saw him sprint down the street. I was so curious that I went outside myself and saw him pick up the mangled package off the side of the road. Lucky for him, and his mom who was probably having a heart attack by now having invested a decent amount of money in this present, all the parts were there and it was not beat up. Only the box was completely destroyed. Dave said "well, you can't break something that's already broken" so they went back to target and got another one. They apologized for the state of the box, but did not offer an explanation as to what had happened to it.


As I am writing just now Dave is ironing his dress shirt for tomorrow. He is spraying lysol air disinfecting spray onto his shirt because it was "where the starch should be". I had already told him we didn't have any starch spray but at least he will smell fresh.

Happy Birthday to Clare!

We celebrated Clare's birthday a little early so that we could do it while Grandma Linda was in town and also becuase we'll be traveling on her real birthday and won't be able to make cupcakes. We had a fun day! It was dark out and my camera didn't do a great job with pictures but I've posted a few. (Can you believe how early it gets dark now -- we had to turn on lights in the house around 4:30)!

Clare loved helping decorate the cupcakes (tasting fosting and sprinkles).


We set the table for dinner at around 5 and waited for everyone to show up at 5:30pm. Clare sat at the table almost that entire time saying "happy birthday to clare" and waiting for us to get going. It was pretty cute. She has been singing "happy birthday" a lot lately, whenever she sees a cake, candles of any kind and even when she saw someone smoking a cigarette the other day.


She was so happy when we sang happy birthday to her -- just delighted.



Calvin helped blow out her candles.





Here's clare opening up a present. You can see the wrapping job dave used for wrapping the dora backpack -- he hid it under his shirt!


She got some fun things -- a dora backpack (like Calvin's batman one), a doll stroller (her favoite thing), a doll, a puzzle, a cute outfit, and a dress. It was a fun night -- we sure love Clare and think she is darling!

Some things about Clare:
-she has a sweet tooth -- loves juice, candy, chocolate, and milkshakes
-she loves her dad
-she has a favorite blankie and loves two binkies as well. She has named them "binkie" and "orange"
-she is a great sleeper and loves to sleep in
-she talks a ton
-she is a great eater as well. She usually finishes her meal and sometimes eats Calvins as well since he doesn't eat much.
-she likes to keep track of where everyone is. She is always asking "where's calvin?" "where's daddy?"
-she loves grandpas
-she likes to take a shower
-she likes butterflies
-she loves to play with Calvin
-when she wants to be picked up she says "I hug you" (who can resist that?)

A Few Pictures

Wind damage to tree and pulled down trellis' in the front of our house.




The pool filled with dirt and other debris.



Clare at the playground one day last week.



I am amazed at how quickly people are getting back to the routine of things. Today the trash man came by and there were trucks out cleaning the streets as well. Many folks are out cleaning up their yards and sweeping garages (I'm waiting 'til the air clears to do that). The stores in town are back open and people are out shopping for food and other items. School doesn't start again 'til Monday. This is life for people who have a home to return to. I wonder what the people without homes are doing today. Many are being let back in to see the neighborhoods that were heavily hit. Some are probably on the phone with insurance companies (and will be for 100's of hours I imagine). People are looking for someplace to live and crying over all the loss. Tonight there is a meeting at our stake center with the stake president and bishops and RS presidents to asses the needs of the stake members and also the ability of members to assist those in need. I will be anxious to learn what we can do to help those who have no home. I can't even think of what to do for them or what I would need if I were in their situation (aside from a place to stay of course). What would you want others to do for you?

We're home!

We are so glad to be home...it has been a long few days. All is well at the house. There is some mess to clean up -- in the yard some trash blew around and leaves and dirt. The pool is black. Quite a bit of ash and dirt blew in through doors and windows even though they were closed so I need to sweep and mop everywhere. The kids and dave are all sleeping in their beds! Dad and Kari are still evacuated but I imagine they'll be allowed home either tonight or tomorrow unless something crazy happens.

update

We are safe and fine and so far our house (and dad's house) are both fine. There are still fires burning near both our homes but so far it seems our houses are okay. We called our house and the answering machine picked up so we know the power is on and the house is fine! Actually one of our neighbors called this morning and said our street is fine and the homes are okay. The fire is about a mile or two down the hill on Espola Rd. (a main road through town). And, the air is black up there.

We have been staying in San Marcos with Kari's parents. It is so nice of them to put us up...and bob and kari and all the kids. There are 8 adults, 3 cats, 4 dogs, 6 kids here! It took us 2 hours to get here because the roads were so busy.

I doubt we'll be allowed home today, but we'll just see what happens as the day goes on. Dave is one of the emergency preparedness people in the ward so he'll be trying to head back to poway to do an assessment this afternoon. Dave is not working today -- it is his day off. So far, we heard that 2 homes in the ward burned down and there are several that still don't know as the fires are still very active in a couple of neighborhoods. They said 50 homes in poway burned and also at least that many in RB (where dad lives). Schwarzenegger gave a newscast from RB this morning.

The weather is supposed to continue to be really dry and windy today (it was 85 when we woke up this morning) but tomorrow is supposed to be much better.

I'm so nervous about the fires that I need to write....so i'm writing ....It is 6am. Looking out my windows I see every house in the neighborhood has lights on as people are up packing and watching the news.

Here is a fire update. There are now 8 fires in SD county. There are 2 fires somewhat close to us buring towards each other and they are concerned that they'll merge. They have evacuated all of a neighboring city (ramona) and a pretty significant section of our town (poway), which probably includes 20 families or more in our ward. I have loaded up the car with food and clothes and a few items like pictures and documents. just in case we have to evacuate. Right now the evacuation line is a couple of miles from us. You never know what will happen -- the fire can keep moving this way or the winds can carry it off another direction.

Meanwhile, dave is at the hospital downtown. He called last night to tell me his keys had been stolen and so he will need a ride home. I honestly don't even know if I can make it to him with the road closures, plus the freeway going south (towards dave) is packed. I guess he might have to spend another night at the hospital. Their hospital is filled to capacity with burn victims and other fire-related injuries so who knows if he'll ever get off anyway. Most of these are not neurosurgical, but they may have a need for all availible hands to keep working.

What is the worst about all these fires is that the fire crews are basically helpless becuae of the fierce winds. The gusts range between 40-80 miles/hour (hurricane force winds) and the winds combined with the darkness make it so they can't use the airplanes or helicopters to fight the fires. Everyone is basically at the mercy of the wind. I keep thinking of that hymn - master, the tempest is raging where it says "the wind and the waves shall obey thy will . . .oh, hasten and take control"

It is supposed to be in the mid 90's today and tomorrow so the weather isn't helping much either.

The people say that there isn't really hope of containment today, they're just waiting to see what happens. The winds are supposed to continue to be strong today and will hopefully abate during the night tonight or tomorrow.

One of the fires is right next to the wild animal park...I wonder what it is like to try to evacuate all the animals (or if they even can).

This has all happened in less than 24 hours. When we went in to church yesterday at 11am it was a beautiful day and there were no fires burning.

Real Quick

GO BUCKEYES!!!

Yesterday we got the game on the TV (which we haven't so far this season) and had a good time seeing some of the game. Hopefully they'll do well in the big games they have coming up.

Oh, and I sure miss Columbus. It made me tear up to see the arial views of the stadium and surrounding areas.

More Great Grandparents!

This week Dave's grandparents stopped by to see us. We enjoyed a nice visit with them and were so happy they were able to come down from Reno.

Air Show

Last weekend was the Miramar Air Show. It is a big event at the marine base every year. Most years the blue angels come and fly for the main event. This year, for the first time, it was the USAF Thunderbirds celebrating the 60th anniversary of the air force. It was fun to see them fly. It is really loud and the kids both covered their ears! It is neat that they come and show us some of the power of the jets. It is inspiring and always makes me proud to be an american!








Dan came with us and is always a big help with the kids.





This is a cute one of Calvin one day when we went to feed the ducks. He doesn't usually like his picture taken and this one is really good.