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Finally we approached the end of this crappy year. Well, the last few months were not that bad, but I think the first few definitively were enough for considering this one of our worst years.

The last few days were not too hectic, fortunately. Matt had to work pretty much the whole Christmas break, so Keegan and I spent a lot of time together. He was pretty good overall, even “allowing” me to take afternoon naps, which were very necessary, since he brought home some nasty virus. buycbdproducts course he overcame it in a day, but I got a massive cold that lasted more than two weeks. Blahhh…2015 gave me one last gift!

The weekend after Christmas was nice and quiet. We went to the beach for a while, but even if it was sunny, it was very windy, so we did not stay long. It was still long enough to get our fill of sun and beautiful ocean.

The week went by fast, also thanks to a playdate with Ezra and Quinn at the Natural History Museum. The kids ran wild, but at least they entertained themselves. Their favorite part: riding the over-sized Dung Beetle of course.

When I got home, my ears were ringing, and I was so exhausted, from the cold and the kids, that I took a nice, long nap.

We finished the year with a bang. Matt still had to work, but at least only for half day, so Keegan and I got everything ready and clean for the evening. Keegan’s biggest contribution: he took a nap, so I could clean and prep undisturbed. (-: Dave and Jennifer came over to celebrate the end of the year. It was so nice to have friends over. We decided on a meat fondue, so we had plenty of time for chatting and eating. Keegan had some food with us as well, and enjoyed the company.

We watched the New York Ball drop live at 9pm with Keegan, wishing him Happy New Year, and putting him to bed and then went back to OUR party.

Time goes by fast when you are having fun, and midnight was upon us before we knew it. We watched the Ball drop, again, and cheered the new year with sparkling cider for the boys, and champagne for the girls.

2.59 minutes to the new year

Dave and Jennifer stayed for another hour or so, and we ended up in bed by 2am! I don’t even remember the last time I was up so late (not counting the ER visit). We felt so young and vibrant.

So, here it is. 2015 is finally over. Bye bye, we will not miss you. Welcome 2016!!!

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You all know that last year, with Matt’s hospital recovery on December 9, we did not have much of a Holiday Merriment. Therefore, this year, we were determined to celebrate, not only the season, but the fact that Matt is healthy and can enjoy it with us (well, work aside). The only hospital we got to see was the place where Matt had his colonoscopy (everything was normal).

While we did not do anything spectacular, just living this time without worries was a blessing. As always, the season kicked-in in high gear the first week of December, intermingling with Keegan’s birthday celebration: on December 1, Keegan opened his first birthday present, from his grandparents: the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar.

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The annual Winter Wonderland event at Keegan’s school was on December 4th. We visited the vendors, got some snacks and of course, Keegan had a blast sledding down the snow.

On December 6, after our Christmas tree shopping, the infamous La Jolla Holiday Parade took place. Keegan was there with his school band, wearing a spiffy uniform.

he looks so grown up in real clothes

It was an interesting event, and I loved to watch him, with his trumpet. He looked so serious and mature.

Keegan and I also got to walk behind a second group, later in the parade: his Italian School. The group was led by an awesome Ferrari, owned, curiously enough, by a British guy. Too bad he did not offer rides, but I did get to sit in it for a minute. It was pretty awesome!

Keegan enjoyed goofing around with his friend Ale.

It took me a while to get motivated to decorate this year, but I still got it done on time. I even did some small crafts. I was happy with the results.

my reindeer wreath

Christmas kitty

Holiday cards make for a cute decoration

I was even happier when Matt and Keegan helped me decorate the tree, something I really hate to do (but I can’t live without a Christmas tree).

We participated in my annual work brunch, which was delicious as always, and a great excuse to dress up for once.

not the best photo of us, but nice to see us dressed up

We also doubled up on school shows: since Keegan is in band, they had their own end of year concert…Keegan looked adorable, but the show was atrocious.

The traditional winter show was a lot better. The costumes were very cute and it was not too long.

A momentous, long awaited moment, happened this year, during the holiday season: Star Wars VII, The Force Awakens got released after a two year wait.

getting ready

We bought tickets in advance, but we were still lucky to find decent seats, even showing up 30 minutes early. The theater was already full. Granted, it was not the most original movie, following a very similar story line than Episode IV, but I loved it. There were even a few surprises. Now building the new Lego sets will be even more fun, since we remember where they were in the movie.

It must have been a very exciting morning, because Keegan crashed out in the afternoon on our new Papasan Chair. I do not blame him: it is so comfortable!

That weekend we went to watch the Boat Parade of Lights, which features many boat parading around San Diego Bay, all decked out, and the boys worked on a Minions Ginger Bread House.

We introduced Fireball to the outdoors, since he was dashing out or at least attempting it, at any occasion. Because of the canyon and the fear he would disappear there, we got a leash to keep an eye on him. I can’t say he loves the leash, but it is the only way to keep him safe, at least for now. He does love the outdoors…

Keegan’s school closed, “conveniently” after Thursday, December 17. Who decides the schedules??? Matt and I both had to work till the 23, so, Friday he came to work with me and then we signed him up for three days of Science Camp. He actually had a great time. At the end of the first day, we went to Ezra’s and Quinn’s house for some cookie decorating fun. It was great, and I ate so many cookies…I also had a delicious healthy dinner, in my defense. Keegan got invited to stay for a sleepover, so we had the evening off and relaxed.

The last couple of days before Christmas went by quickly, with last minute preparations and even a girls’ night out with Sara, eating hot pot at a Mongolian restaurant. Then it was finally vacation time!

Christmas Eve was a little crazy, especially because Matt had to go to work for a bit. Keegan was bouncing off the wall from excitement, but we were finally able to calm him down. After he went to bed it was Wrapping Time! I actually enjoy this part, and choosing which movie to watch while getting everything ready. This year we chose The Ref, which is quite entertaining. No cookies for Santa this year, but Fifi, our Elf on the shelf, was still there, watching. Keegan still enjoyed the tradition even if he knew we were the ones to move it around. I finally headed to bed around Midnight.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with a touch of the tropics

Keegan, not surprisingly, woke up bright and early and rushed into our room. In a flurry of paper and ribbons the presents were opened in record time.He was very happy with his loot.

rocking out with the new headphone, that kitty promptly destroyed.

This year, Keegan participated in the gifts exchange, and actually used his allowance to buy us a gift: how cute! We did direct his purchases, but he still paid for them with his own money. Daddy got an Oreo Cookies dipper (with cookies) and I got a pretty necklace we chose together at the craft fair held at his school. Everything there was created and sold by the kids. Impressive.

We called my parents and Skyped with them, and my sister and her family was there too, so they could watch Keegan open their presents: another Lego set, of course, and the full series of Percy Jackson books.

After all was said and done, we went back to bed, while Keegan watched his movie. Two more, blissful hours of sleep. The afternoon was pretty mellow, even if Keegan was cranky. We easily convinced him to take a nap, and we enjoyed some warm sun outside on the deck. We concluded the day with a Movie Night, watching The Book Of Life while munching on delicious home made pizza.

We had a very fun day, and we could not have asked for a merrier Christmas.
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November flew by and we found ourselves immersed in the crazy holiday time, which for us includes, of course, the big Birthday of our not-so-little-anymore boy.

The mad rush starts early, well before Thanksgiving, with gifts choosing and party planning , and this year the latter particularly complicated. We decided to have a movie theater party, thinking it would be simple. Ah: how mistaken I was! After a little back and forth, we settled on The Good Dinosaur, the last Pixar’s adventure.

That was the easy part: deciding the date was the almost impossible task. We chose Sunday morning, December 6. We sent out invitations and started collecting RSVP…till one other mom reminded us that it was the same day of the La Jolla Christmas Parade, and that many of the kids, Keegan included, were  participating with the school band. Panic! I scrambled to find alternatives: Saturday morning was already taken by another birthday party from one of his classmates.

Saturday afternoon was conflicting with other kids’ engagements (plus it was more expensive). However, in the end, we did settle on Saturday pm, and sent a flurry of new emails to let everyone know. New set of RSVP started arriving. To make things more complex, for an anxious person like me, the theater would not announce the final schedule or allow you to purchase tickets more than 4 days in advance…so here goes  another set of emails were sent with the final time, and one more to tell everyone to ignore the automatic reminder, that still showed the wrong date. Phew, that was quite the undertaking.

All the while, the preparation for the actual big day were happening in the earnest. Keegan went to bed excited, after cuddling with Fireball.

We got everything ready on the nick of time.

Keegan woke up bright and early, and rushed into our bedroom to see his presents: what a loot! He got a skateboard, a Star Wars Lego set from each us and his grandparents, some catching game from my sister, more Star Wars 7 stuff, and cards. He was very happy.

He was particularly excited about the skateboard, a present he asked for repeatedly (and that he has barely touched sine, of course).

He asked to blow his candles over sugar sprinkles pancakes.

Then, off to work and school. December 3rd fell on a Thursday, which meant two separate set of snacks: gelato and strawberries for his classroom and cookies and Nutella croissants, lovingly filled by me, for his Italian class.  I met him at MBMA for his special celebration: I was a couple of minutes late, but still got the enjoy it. It is great to see him being celebrated. He talked all about him, via a large poster he made, and blew out a huge candle.

Then, he got to choose which friends would get dessert first, based on their behavior, I guess. It was sunny, so they all ate outside.

After school, I met Ana, Alessandro’s mother, by a struck of luck, and knowing how stressed I was , she offered to take the kids to Italian class AND bring them back, so I could take a breather! What a great gift! So I went home, and relaxed a bit, and of course, also tried to get caught up.

When both of my boys got home, we had another small celebration, and posed for sweet and silly pictures. Fireball wanted to be part of the celebration as well.

Matt had to go to LA for the night, but he helped me getting the goodie bags ready before he left. Of course the party theme was Star Wars VII

Saturday morning, I went shopping, and got the house ready, while Matt had party duty.The other boy’s party was at…Pump It Up, where Keegan, originally wanted to have his celebration, again.

Finally the time had come, and we met everyone at the theater: 15 kids total, 5 girls and 10 boys…and three moms to coral them all. We settled on the top rows, Keegan’s favorites, and got all the kids settled in with their snacks. Keegan got called down, to his great embarrassment, and the whole theater, which was mainly us, sang happy birthday to him.

The movie was cute, and the kids, for the most part, behaved. It was hard to drag them out of the theater though, since all the boys were glued to the preview for Star Wars VII The Force Awakens.

After the movie, we carpooled to our house, and the kids ran wild, and played with the cat. We calmed them down with snacks, pizza and cake…well, donuts cake to be exact. Keegan insisted on it, so donuts cake we got, decorated in the Star Wars VII theme.

It was a success. Keegan even got to open his presents with his friends, which he always wanted to do, and boy, did he get a lot!

By the time the last kids left, Keegan was so tired he was basically ready to bed…and so were we. We were happy that all the hard work had paid off and he had a wonderful birthday. We were even happier, thought, at the thought that, for another year we do not have to worry about it!

Happy birthday, my little, big boy!!!!

 
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Thanksgiving has come and gone, but the desire to give thanks remains. We are feeling so fortunate to be able to celebrate the holidays, and every other day, with loving families and friends (and this year even a furry friend). Of course, seeing Matt healthy and thriving feels like our greatest blessing this year.

We started our holidays early, on Wednesday, when Keegan got invited for a sleepover after school, to celebrate his friend’s Quinn’s birthday. Love, love, love these sleepovers! This is definitively something I was thankful for: a nice free afternoon, and a date-night with Matt, and of course a quiet, sleeping in morning- cat notwithstanding. We had a mellow time, with breakfast outside and relaxing.

Keegan came back in the early afternoon, as we were getting ready for the feast. We celebrated the holiday, as always, with a nice dinner at our house, with Daniele and her daughter Gaia, who is growing so fast, and is now a lovely pre-teen.

Matt cooked an amazing dinner, as always. A new entry, this year: corn bread shaped as the Millennium Falcon. It definitely turned out better than the ice cream we tried.

The evening was very nice, and we all had a good time.

The rest of the weekend was relaxing but fun: napping, reading, movie night, boys play at Belmont park, catching up, and we finished strong with a birthday party at Shelter Island, for one of his classmates. It turned out that his mother  and I have a few common friends: what a small world!

It was hard to go back to work, but we had a wonderful weekend, with lots to be thankful for. Now, on to the next big (stressful) thing: Keegan’s special day. We got this, we will make it through, I know it. Oh, well, in the vein of being thankful, I publicly admit I am aware that ours are just First World Problems…still the week that was waiting for us loomed large!

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So…we caved, and we got a kitten. I know…I can’t believe it either. Keegan has been asking for a pet for as long as I can remember (as an alternative to a sibling), and we have been always postponing the pet issue. Obviously we did not want to be stuck with a pet WE have to care of (like the fish). However, our little Dart met an untimely death, probably due to chemical shock, and rekindled all hopes. In fact, when we broke the news, Keegan actually cheered. R.I.P. Dart.

We started researching, since I have never really owned a pet, and definitely not a kitten, and tried to get familiar with adoption rules, which pet are the least allergenic (Matt is slightly allergic to some animals), which ones are the more cuddly, and of course, what kind of modern, designer accessory I can buy for a kitten. That’s the best part, right? Of course, just like babies, they usually do not like your cool accessories…

An awesome littler box, a cool tree and a fancy cat bed

We had just started our research, when, on the fateful day of October 24,we took Keegan to get a haircut.

As we were having lunch afterwards, we decided to visit the Humane Society shelter, to see what we needed to do to adopt. We got to see lots of adorable kitties, and we asked to speak with an adoption counselor, who could hopefully stir us in the right direction…well, stir she did: as we mentioned we wanted a young cat to grow up with Keegan, she immediately took us in the kitten room, where many adorable little furry balls were playing. She helped Keegan play with them, and interact with them, and…it was all over. How can you spend time with kittens and not bring at least one home??? Keegan immediately liked an adorable orange tabby, which was exactly what he wished for. It was very outgoing, friendly, and at 2 months old, irresistible.

We rushed to buy a couple of toys, and food and litter, as I ordered my cool accessories, and took him home. His name was Mandrill (which I found hilarious, especially because he had been neutered 5 day earlier. Go look for the meaning in Italian) and his estimated date of birth is August 23, 2015, exactly two months old.

first close up

Despite his constant mewing on the car ride, he felt quickly at home, and loved the toy we got him. Keegan promised to take care of him, feed him, clean his little and sleep with him. So far, so good. We kept him confined in Keegan’s room to give him time to adjust.

playing with Keegan

 

But our little guy adjusted quite quickly. He was already potty trained, and we only had one accident, when we bought the wrong litter for him.

We gave ourselves a day or so to choose the perfect name, and boy did we choose right! We named him Fireball. Very quickly we noticed how appropriate the name was. He has boundless energy, he is stubborn, and loves to play. No wonder his personality was rated orange at the shelter. We also noticed so many similarities with Keegan: he is amazingly curious of everything around him, he is super friendly and loves to cuddle, he needs lots of physical contact, he loves to wedge himself in between us, he is stubborn, and defiant: often he would look at me and then go ahead and try to eat my plants, or drink from a pot or toilet…

He also loves screens of all kinds, again, just like Keegan, and would often perch on my desk when I am trying to work. He needs company and attention at all time, so he often keeps me “company” in my office.

He loves chewing on cables (thanks for destroying my keyboard) and walking or sitting on the keyboard, as long as it is connected to he screen. We set up one keyboard for him on the floor, but it does not satisfy him. It is way more fun to walk on my keyboard, so if you receive a weird email, with gibberish, you know where it came from.

did you notice the irony of the title??

He seemed to be a Martha Stewart fan as well: he is transfixed watching Martha explain how to make a cat toy.

Fortunately, after being a pest for a while, he usually crashes and takes a nice long nap, so I can actually get some work done.

Of course, as soon as he wakes up, he is fully ready to play.

However his favorite sleeping spot is Keegan’s bed, even when Keegan is not there. Maybe all the soft stuffed animals make it particularly interesting. He obviously totally ignore the cool bed we bought him…

He is also keen on sniffing, and eating any food WE are trying to eat, and drink from any container, except for his food bowl.

Whoever said cats are aloof has never met Fireball. Of course he is a kitten, and can completely change his personality, but for now I enjoy the sweet snuggling when he is sleeping in my arms, and petting his fur, that is getting softer every day. Do not worry, I am not tuning in crazy cat lady, and after this post I will restrain from posting adorable picture of Fireball, but let me indulge at least once.

Keegan loves to cuddle with him as well, and he is learning the hard way not to grab him roughly or hold him when he wants to get down and play. Interestingly enough, Keegan usually talks to him in Italian when he wants to cuddle him.

cuddling with mini Joda

cuddling inside Joda’s robe

my handsome Jedi struggling to choose between the dark side and the light side

Fireball discovered the pleasure of warm laundry

Fireball is really funny to watch, especially when he does his acrobatic, and crazy running, or when he is chasing his tail, or playing in his tree.

He seems to really like us all, and we are all smitten (despite the many scars all over our bodies). We enjoy watching his antics and looking forward to seeing our two babies grow together. Welcome home Fireball!

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This year, Halloween really sneaked up on us. Maybe it was because Keegan is growing up and he is too big for the rides at the pumpkin patches; or maybe it was because we had multiple heat waves back to back, and the hottest October in history: great for hanging out in the pool but not as good for getting in the Halloween spirit. In fact, this year, we did not even carved a pumpkin: I guess that if you try to get one the night before Halloween, there are no pumpkins to be had. Oooops.

We compensated by visiting the Rise of The Pumpkins, a great “art exhibit” of more than 5000 pumpkins decorated and lit up by artists. It was set up at the Safari Park, along a trail, and it was amazing. I really want to go back next year. Many of the creations used multiple  pumpkins to create complex figures, but there were also many, many single pumpkins scattered everywhere: a great source of inspiration…for next year I guess.

Most of the pieces where arranged by themes and there was also an amazing dragon, created by hundreds of pumpkins. It is the symbol of the event.

Can you guess what are you looking at in the photos below? Don’t peek.

an octopus

jellyfidsh

apatosaurus and a screaming Keegan (giraffe in the background)

triceratop

a tarantula and its web

Other creations were more “traditional”, carved directly on the skin of the pumpkin. There were famous movies characters, politicians, and of course The Star Wars pumpkin, a crowd’s favorite

It was really fun. I did some decorating in the house, and even at work. Yep, I get to do arts and crafts at work…but do not be fooled: creating the window decor was not as easy as it looks, and the window is about 4 feet in diameter.

Other than that, though, the only other pre-Halloween event was the annual Halloween Carnival at Keegan’s school. The biggest preoccupation for the Halloween Parade was trying to find enough tents to shield the kids from the hot sun! Only in San Diego… It started with the band playing music. Keegan was participating too this year, even if he just started band and he is in the lowest level, cadet. The cadets were responsible for playing a random, loud note, to punctuate the punch line of various Halloween jokes. He was very excited about it, and took it very seriously.

After the performance, each class paraded down the courtyard to show off their costumes. It is always nice to check out all these kids and their creative get ups. Keegan, this year, chose to go as Comm. Fox, head of the Clone Troopers.

typical Keegan’s expression…

After the parade, it is fun time for the kids – and a lot less fun for the parents – and the kids spent time at the various attractions, including the hunted house, and the various booths. Fortunately, they were a little more independent this year, and I did not have to safeguard them any minute. But…what happens when I do not check on Keegan every minute? He comes back with a HUGE teddy bear he won at one of the games. And I mean HUGE! Almost as tall as he is!

That, of course, did not stop him from taking it to bed with him, to join the ever growing collection of sleeping buddies. It is amazing he finds any space in his bed to sleep at at all.

We finally went home by late afternoon, and rested. The following day, Halloween Day, was a quiet one. We actually convinced Keegan to break with tradition and to go to some friends’ party instead of trick or treating in the neighborhood. It was a tough fight, but he finally agreed. The only catch was WE had to dress up too. I have not dressed up for decades, but I dusted off an old costume idea, the horn-y angel, and updated for my new body. Matt went as a devil, a quite popular costume this year…maybe because it is the easiest one to pull off?

So we all got ready, and headed over Ezra’s and Quinn’s (Keegan’s friends) house for the big night.

The party was fun, and it was nice, for once to be involved in the festivities, as adults. There was great food, nice conversation and great candy. Good thing we get along well with Shelly and Danny, the parents. Shelly was a devil too, so we made a good couple.

Matt and I make a better couple, though, don’t you think?

what a handsome devil!

We trick or treated in Ocean Bach this time, and, even if we did not get quite the loot we got last year, it was still fun. The kids played and we had dinner and relaxed. It was a really nice evening.

We capped the Halloween weekend and the Day of the Dead by going to the beach. It was sunny and warm, so it was a wonderful way to spend November 1 (yes, we are rubbing it in again). We headed to La Jolla Shore in the morning, so we found parking pretty easily, and the beach was not too crowded.

Keegan brought his wetsuit and body-board and he had a blast catching the good size waves with Matt. In fact, the water was so “warm” (72 degrees), that even I ventured in…and this makes it twice in a year, record! It was great, very invigorating (I did not have a wetsuit) and fun. A great workout too, right?

With Halloween firmly behind us, we are diving head first in my “favorite” time of the year: the Holidays. Wish me luck!

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The calendar may say Fall, and Halloween may be less than 2 weeks away, but it sure does not feel like it. Mind you, I am not really complaining, but we never left summer temperatures, and I do not mean, a regular, warm San Diego summer; I mean scorching HOT and humid.  I can’t even count how many heat waves we had: it is more like a never ending heat wave since July, with short, brief pauses. So I have been feeling tired, cranky, and sweaty non-stop. Of course, there are benefits to this as well. I have been able to use the pool and exercise in balmy 85+ degree water, and the ocean is so warm, even I could not resist getting in. Oh well, since the forecasts call for many months of heavy rain, I guess I should enjoy it (or at least endure it) while it last.

Even if the temperature reached 90s, Keegan still started Second Grade at the beginning of September. He is now in Room 3, a 1-2 grade combo, again with two teachers for all the rambunctious kids.

The school does not have air conditioning, so massive fans are deployed in the classrooms. That made Open House a little more tolerable. We got to meet his teachers, Ms. Irene and Ms. Denice, and we are pretty happy about his class assignment. Most of his friends are with him, and the two teachers seems firm but loving. They immediately assigned seats, so that all the “trouble-makers” were not sitting together. Again, they are stressing personal responsibility: students are supposed to clean up their desk, put the chair away, and all their tools. Each is also given a daily planner to mark personal assignments.

yes, it is misspelled, but I alerted the teachers right away and they are fixing it…

So far, Keegan is doing well. We had a bit of a rough beginning, with a couple of visits to the principal at the beginning of the semester, but things are better now. Fortunately, this year we have a new principal, who was Keegan’s Science teacher for the past two years, and lucky for us, she likes him. I met with his teachers for a goal setting conference, and overall they are pleased with his improvements. We discussed area that he can work on, but they both said “they are enjoying him”…It sounds like an euphemism.

He also started playing an instrument: this summer, he surprised us all saying that he did not want to play the drums after all, and he wanted to learn… the trumpet! I am not sure if it is because some of his friends play it, but he seems convinced. So, we enrolled him in the band program, and he is actually excited enough to give up part of his recess twice a week for band practice. Of course he just started, but occasionally I can recognize a note or two among the sounds coming out of the trumpet.

Matt tried to channel his trombone knowledge from his elementary school days, but with little success.

The beginning of the year also means birthday parties. We started big: we are only in the middle of October, and Keegan already had 5 since school started, including Zara’s birthday party. She specifically insisted on inviting him, because he is her best friend, even though, as Zara readily admits it is not the other way around. So far, the most original has been Aiden’s party at Solid Rock, an indoor climbing place. The kids get to free climb and also rappel up lots of different surfaces. What I did not know was that the adult had to be the “anchor” and help them up and down…it was a lot of work, and I was a pool of sweat; and let’s not even talk about how sore were my arms, or the blister I developed on my finger.

waiting to climb

Fortunately, after the climb we could relax with delicious Bronx Pizza and snacks. However, we were both s tired when we got home that we took a nice nap.

Now, it must have been the warm weather, but naps has been a little more frequents lately (for Keegan I mean…I never have trouble sleeping), and if he shares the bed with one of us, it is even more likely.

Keegan also had a Friday Fun Night at school, and got invited to two sleepovers, which meant, more date time for us! Sleepovers are especially nice for us, because we can sleep in and take it easy. We spent most of the free time just having good food, walking on the beach, or simply hanging out in the pool, like old days (B.K.).

Ahhh, this is the life!

The only drawback to all this sleepovers or nights outs means there is a surplus of junk food and sweats…ho well, we can’t win them all. After all, we even succeeded in having Keegan eat a spinach salad with eggs and tomatoes, ONCE. We documented the momentous event. He does not seems happy, but he did like it. Vbesides, there is no way we can force him to eat anything he does not like.

This extended summer also means more blooming, more butterflies and more birds (and grasshoppers too, unfortunately). We finally started replanting our wasteland yard, and this time we are going for succulent, so they will not die of thirst.

Lots more of fun stuff to report. We went to the Air Show once again, and this time it was not quite as hot as last time, and still entertaining. There was also a new group of acrobatic planes from France that was really amazing.

marines hanging on the helicopter

the amazing Blue Angels

Sean Tucker, the biplane acrobatic pilot

The only bad part was the return home: it took us 1.5 hours just to leave the parking lot! Can you imagine how much fun it is to be stuck in a parking lot with Keegan in full meltdown????

We also had some grown up time, sleepovers aside. We had a quiet anniversary celebration at home on October 5. Matt brought me beautiful flowers and we had a romantic dinner when Keegan went to bed.

Also, both Matt and I got to enjoy a fun concert: Matt went to see Van Halen with his friend Eric, and I went to see Duran Duran (of course) with my friend Lidia (of course). She actually spent the weekend at our house, and we were able to have a nice breakfast with our friend Nancy: the three of us used to work together at the Ticket Office at SDSU during college.

The concert was fun as always: Simon Le Bon is definitively the one who aged the best, and we had great seats, thanks to our old boss, who got us free tickets! It was really fun.

They still got it!

OK, we were not quite that close, (power of the zoom) but still great seats

guess what are they playing now?

a grand finale!

Just in time for Matt’s birthday, October 18, the weather cooled off a bit, and clouds and even some drizzles showed up. It is still warm and humid, but definitively a welcome respite. Despite being Sunday, we could not really celebrate in the best way because Keegan had two friends sleeping over, and Matt promised them to take them to the movies watching Goosebumps (and honestly, I really do not think he minded), and in the late afternoon we have Hannah’s birthday party at the Laser Tag place. We are hoping it is a drop off party, so Matt and I can enjoy some quiet and peace. However, We still celebrate with with my temporary gifts (the real ones didn’t arrive in time, because SOMEONE was procrastinating deciding what he wanted), and cards.

Keegan made his own, and he wrote it all by himself, and very quickly. At least his handwriting is not too sloppy.

my super handsome guys!

handsome then, handsome now

His sister Sue sent some beautiful balloons and a teddy bear, delivered by a very cute girl (I am not sure if it was part of the package). Too bad he was too busy on the phone to see her. (-:

Then, at night, after Keegan crashed exhausted after 2 birthday parties and a sleepover, during which he woke up at 4am, Matt got a final celebration.  He chose a chocolate-raspberry cake, and blew the candles and made a wish. While I do not know, of course, what he asked for, I am willing to bet it was to have a better year than last. (-:

We started fall in the best way. Now we are looking forward to a fun Halloween, when Keegan will be dressed as a Star Wars Clone Trooper, and we are already bracing for the onslaught of the holiday season…not hard to do, since all store have plenty of Holiday stuff for sale…and I hate to admit I did buy some (but for my craft project). Onward!

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We finished off our Summer with a BANG: a long weekend in New York City! I planned the trip because Cinzia and family were stopping there to visit an old friend on their way home from South America. Erroneously thinking it was an holiday weekend, I figured it would be fun to meet them there. Keegan would be thrilled about seeing his cousins and I was very excited, beside the chance to spend time with my sister, about going back to the City, a place I really like but I have not visited in 15 years.

It turned out that it was not a holiday weekend after all, but by then we already bought our tickets, so we went for it. Cinzia was arriving, conveniently, on a Thursday, so I took a red-eye flight in Thursday night, and had the chance to spend the whole day Friday visiting the city with them. And I survived their Tour-De-Force. Matt and Keegan flew in the following day.

I had a good flight, and was even able to sleep about 4 hours. I arrived around 7am, and easily made it to the hotel with the subway. We chose a place that was very close to Cinzia’s friend, in the financial district. It was off Broadway, yes the famous Broadway, but way south of Times Square.

It turned out to be an amazing hotel, opened a few months ago, with a large room and a pretty affordable rate for NY.

I was able to check in even if it was only 8.30am, and relax in my room. It was beautiful!! I really liked the mural on the wall.

I met everyone about an hour late, after enjoying my complementary hot breakfast (!) and we quickly headed out. The first place we went to was the 9/11 Museum, just a short walk away. The first thing you see of the new WTC is the One Trade Center Tower, originally dubbed Freedom Tower. In fact you can see that tower, pretty much from most of Manhattan. At 1,776 feet tall, One World Trade Center  is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the fifth in the world. Its height in feet is a deliberate reference to the year when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The first thing I noticed in New York was the incredible amount of construction everywhere, and the WTC was no exception. I guess they are building a new pedestrian connection that will also host shops and restaurants. From what is visible now, it will be stunning.

We immediately went in the museum. It was completely underground, since they wanted to incorporate the existing footprints of the Twin Towers within. To say it was overwhelming is an understatement, both for its sheer size and for the poignancy of the exhibits themselves, which included many artifacts—including part of the beams from the towers, an entire firetruck, pieced of airplanes, and personal effects— recorded calls, diagrams, videos, etc. The unidentified remains of the victims are also buried there, in a private part of the museum, behind a beautiful art installation. One of the volunteers on staff that day, was a first responder, a construction worker that came over to help after the attack. He talked about his narrowing experience, including talking on the phone with a woman stuck on the upper floors. He also shared the joy of finding a survivor under the rubble the following day, thanks to a cadaver dog. It was very touching. We spent many hours inside, just absorbing everything.

Outside the museum we admired the park: lots of beautiful trees, including one of the surviving trees form that day, and many peaceful resting places. The most impressive features, or course, are the memorial pools, built on the exact footprints of the towers. They are made by cascading waterfall the disappear in the darkness.

All around the pools, the name of the victims are carved in a way to leave space to place a flower within the name itself.

view from the top. Not my image

We spent so much time at the museum, that it was already lunch time. After a quick lunch, we headed to mid town, intending explore the city a bit, and then visit the MoMA. Waked and visited we did, including Fifth Ave, Rockefeller center and other famous places, but when we went to the Museum, we were surprised by the huge crowd snaking all around the block. It turned out that it was Free Friday Night, so we turned back.

We finally headed home, exhausted, and after a quick refreshing, I headed over Cinzia’s friend Micaela’s apartment. The apartment was pretty, modern as I like it, if a little small. We had a wonderful dinner on the roof deck, celebrating my sister’s 50th birthday. Micaela is a great cook, and she prepared lobster sauce pasta, Ahi with sesame seeds and of course salad. A chocolate cake completed the evening.

I went to bed completely spent, and I soon headed to bed. I had a nice rest, while Matt and Keegan were flying. Unfortunately, the subway had a different schedule on Saturday, so they ended up way off course, and ended up getting a cab. It was nice to see them. We headed for breakfast, and quickly met everyone. It was a very happy reunion! We did not waste any time, however, and we soon jumped on the subway. Keegan had a love/hate relation with it.

My favorite part was the Courtesy Counts campaign we saw everywhere.

I thought that maybe Keegan may enjoy the MoMA, since it is basically a Hall of Fame for famous artists, artists he read about it. So, we bravely took him with us. I have to say he was pretty good for the first hour as we admired the famous painting, including Starry Night by Van Goth, or one the beautiful pieces by Gaugin. He liked to hear the story behind the paintings and artists, so I had to dust off my remote memories of art classes.

I really like Klimt.

The next couple of floors tested Keegan’s patience (and ours with his whining) and we finally went to get some lunch. While Cinzia and Sandro went back home to pack, the cousins headed to our room and we all hung out for about an hour, mainly playing Minecraft. Sadly it was time to say Goodbye, but we were so glad we got to see them, even for a short time.

Once they left, we all planked in bed and took a sublime, 3-hour, nap!

When we got up, it was late afternoon, and against his complaints, we dragged Keegan out for a walk. We started at the WTC: I did not believe Keegan would handle the Museum, and I think I was right. Even without the visit, he talked about the Twin Towers, the attack and death A LOT.

someone did not want to take a photo

From there, we walked toward the Hudson river and took a beautiful walk along the river. It was almost sunset, so it was even more magical.

When we reached Battery Park I was surprised to see a stunning sculpture, honoring the Korean War soldiers.

The original World Trade Center Sphere sculpture, that used to be in the middle of the center, has been relocated right behind it. You can still the damage that it suffered that day.

Despite the complaints, we kept walking: we really did not have choice since we were half way from our hotel, and I wanted to see the Financial District. With the promise of a pizza, we dragged Keegan along. Of course there is a Moore street! It seems like every city has one.

The New York Stock Exchange looks very awe-inspiring, with the dramatic lighting, and of course it is located right off Wall Street.

On the other hand, the Federal Reserve building, modeled after renaissance palaces, does not look like much. It is, however, by far the largest (by assets), most active (by volume) and most influential of federal Reserve. he Federal Reserve Bank of New York maintains a vault that lies 80 feet (24 m) below street level and 50 feet (15 m) below sea level, resting on Manhattan bedrock. Currently, it is reputedly the largest gold repository in the world (though this cannot be confirmed as Swiss banks do not report their gold stocks) and holds approximately 7,000 tonnes (7,700 short tons) of gold bullion ($415 billion as of October 2011), more than Fort Knox. (Wikipedia). To think we were sleeping only blocks away from all that gold…

We finished the night by eating pizza and watching movies in bed, and then we all crashed, exhausted, but ready for the full day ahead.

We started the day with a large breakfast, and we left early for the Empire State Building. We could see it right away as soon we go out of the subway.

We walked past the famous Madison Square Garden, where Duran Duran had their famous concert in 1984, the one described by my favorite book, which is very much responsible for teaching me English.

We bought a combo ticket, so it included also a simulated helicopter ride, narrated by Kevin Bacon, highlighting all the sights of New York as seen from the sky. It was a fun and unexpected experience. We were very surprised by the short wait…The Empire State view is just as you expect it: familiar and spectacular at the same time.

From so far high, the famous yellow cabs look like toy cars.

After the tower, we walked to the Highroad Park. It is an urban park built on an elevated, abandoned railroad. It is very crowded but also very beautiful.

It affords beautiful views of the city and some great street art.

Unfortunately, someone was loudly complaining, so we only got the chance to see a small part of it, missing the best part, overlooking the Hudson. Oh well, a reason to come back to NYC.

It was already lunch time, so what says New York more than a hot dog stand? It is amazing how many there are…

After lunch we took the subway and headed to Central Park. The first spot we stopped was of course 1 72th Street, the Dakota Apartment Building, where John Lennon was killed on December 8, 1980. I have few memories of my childhood, but I do remember that day, and how my sister’s friend was so distraught by what happened. It was a holiday for us, and she came over and gave us the news.

We crossed the street and headed to the park, where a tribute to John Lennon stands right at the entrance, in the Strawberry Field section.

The park is huge, so we only saw part of it, but we wanted, for sure, to see the statue of Balto the dog. Keegan read a story about him at school last year, so it was a must….but finding it was not as easy as we though. Add a bathroom emergency, and the difficulty of finding a restroom and we had a few tense minutes. We finally found it and took the mandatory photo.

We then headed down 5th Avenue and went to the Rockefeller Center. We lured Keegan with the promise of an amazing Lego store and possibly a present. The store is, in fact, right in front of the center, and it is amazing.

The logo in the window is created by thousands of mini figures painted in the familiar white, red and yellow colors.

We perused the store for a while and, sure enough, there was a full wall of Star Wars Lego. We promised him a souvenir, and we marked a few of them down: I really did not want to bring it back on the plane, and besides, each set was at lest $10 more expensive than Amazon. Keegan made one of the sets come alive: the Cantina that nonni gave him for Christmas.

My favorite part was the color separated bins of bricks… can I have one for my house, pretty please???

Once we made it out the store we went to see the Square and statues. I loved comparing the real thing with the Lego version.

The Atlas Statue

30 Rockefeller and its square

One other thing I really enjoyed in new York, was seeing vehicles that feature so prominently in movies and TV. For example, a NYPD car (they chose and interesting motto: Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect…hum, not sure it fits) and a firetruck.

It was already mid afternoon, but we still had one thing to do: the Statue of Liberty. We took the subway, that should have been a direct shot to the Pier…but nothing is never so easy on the subway. This time the line was interrupted because of construction, so we had to get off and wait for a shuttle, that took forever to come. When we finally sat down on the air conditioned bus, we could enjoy the ride across Manhattan. We passed the Trinity Root, a bronze cast from artist Steve Tobinof of a sycamore root from the WTC. I could not get a picture, but this is what it looks like.

We even passed  Raging Bull statue in the Financial district: another check on the list of things I wanted to see. Once again, not my photo.

We finally made it to the Pier, and headed to the free Stanton Island Ferry. It is really cool: it runs every 30 minutes, it passes really close to the Statue of Liberty and offers great views of Manhattan, and all without paying a cent. Private companies offers similar tours for lots more. We were lucky to board in the late afternoon, so we enjoyed the sunset from the bright orange ferry.

 

Once arrived in Stanton Island, we had dinner. Keegan did not like the restaurant menu, so we got him some New York pizza, and he ate it like a real New Yorker, folded in half. It was pretty good.

Afterwards, we could have our dinner too. We ate at the restaurant right on the Pier, on a terrace overlooking Manhattan. The food was great and the view unbeatable. Thank you to Star Wars Angry Birds on Matt’s phone, we enjoyed an almost peaceful evening. We caught the ferry back when it was already dark. Keegan was really tired and we enjoyed a magical view of the city all lit up.

When we finally made it to the hotel, we all crashed immediately. Our flight was in the mid-afternoon, so we were able to do more sigh-seeing. It was getting stifling hot and humid, but we still pressed on. After an abundant free breakfast, we headed out: first stop was the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way we found this really cool, tiny, urban park, with interesting sculptures.

We even passed in front of the courthouse, and saw throngs of reporters in front: it turned out that Tom Brady, the football player, just left his hearing for his role in “deflategate”. Too bad we missed him.

We finally made it to the bridge: cars, bicycle and pedestrians are kept separate, with cars running below, so you can leisurely walk on the old wooden walkway. The view is impressive.

Just as we were wondering about bridge maintenance and construction, we saw 2 workers climb up the cables, quickly and with agility. It was scary just to look at them. They, however, briskly walked all the way to the top, and disappeared from sight.

Despite Keegan’s wish of “seeing as much as we could since it was our last day”, he quickly got tired of walking in the heat. We were able to drag him to Confucius Square and Chinatown: not that impressive, compared to San Francisco Chinatown.

Then we walked to the adjacent Little Italy. Again, not very impressive, nor particularly well signaled. However, when we saw the fliers for San Gennaro celebration, we knew we had arrived.

It was an interesting contrast to see the Italian establishments at the bottom of the traditional New York outdoor fire escapes.

We also walked by Engine 55 in Little Italy, one of the busiest in Manhattan. It is also famous because successful actor, writer and director Steve Buscemi worked there between 1980 and 1984 as a New York City Firefighter. What I did not know is that the day after 9/11, despite his success and fame, Steve Buscemi rejoined Engine 55 to help in the rescue operations at the WTC for several days. He worked 12-hour shifts alongside other firefighters digging and sifting through the rubble from the World Trade Center looking for survivors. Very few photographs and no interviews exist because he declined them. He wasn’t there for the publicity. (you can read the whole article here). I have always admired him as an artist, and now I admire him even more as a human being.

After Little Italy we could not push Keegan any more, and it was getting late, so we headed back to the Hotel to grab our bags. This beautiful arrangement welcomed us in the lobby area.

Keegan got to enjoy his last New York ice cream of the trip. They are everywhere, just like the hot dog carts, and they serve soft serve ice cream, single and double, with all sort of toppings. I have to admit they are delicious, and even Matt and I indulged in them occasionally. I think that ice cream trucks were one of his favorite things of the trip for our little guy; that and the hotel, that he liked because it was “so fancy”.

I loved the huge clock at the hotel entrance.

It was time to leave. We boarded the subway, and this time we made it to the JFK Airport without any problems. We were all hot, tired and cranky, which made the waiting particularly challenging. Once on board, though, Keegan settled with his movies and I was even able to catch a short nap.

We had a wonderful time overall: New York was as beautiful and fun as I remembered it, even if there were obviously many changes since my last visit 15 year ago: lots of new building, no more Twin Towers, and towing a sometime disgruntled 7 year old around. However, I loved it all: I got to see lots of places I never been before, and I checked basically everything off my list.

What a wonderful way to conclude the Summer season. Now, let’s gear up for a new school year! Not much to wait: Keegan’s class started bright and early the following morning. Wow, is already a second grader!!

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Since we went to Italy really early this year, we had basically the whole summer ahead of us when we got back. The coldish June left the place to a really warm July and August, with more than one heat wave, completed by high humidity. My favorite weather…

Keegan spent the first 5 weeks at his regular school, attending Summer Camp. He loved it! They got to choose 4 different classes each week, and so they had a lot of different activities to do. Some of his choices: Lego, Field & Track, Music and Tag. Some of his friends were at Camp as well and this enhanced the fun.

He spent the last three weeks at different camps at the YMCA. He was a lot less enthusiastic about those, but considering they were Robotics, Lego and Waterpalooza, I don’t think anyone will call CPS on us for torturing him.

After camp, of course, we still had time to enjoy the good weather. We were able to schedule a few playdates, so we went to different parks as well as Inflatable World, where, once again, Keegan enjoyed the HUGE water slide.

We also went to visit the great exhibition about the Maya at the Natural History Museum, allegedly the largest ever in North America.

Just like the King Tut exhibit, it was mainly based on faithful reconstructions. The replica, however, were excellent, and visual effect augmented the experience.

Multimedia stations gave us an in depth look at several aspects of the Mayan culture. They even rebuilt an ancient rubber ball, the May being one of the first civilization documented to be playing ball. Sometimes it was a life and death match. Man, it was really heavy.

One station allowed us to choose a Mayan name, and wrote in the ancient language. Guess which one is which?

Well, Keegan chose Blue Jaguar, I chose Radiant Sky and Matt chose Star Shield. You could also try to add typical Mayan embellishments to your photo. I chose to adorn myself as a noblewoman.

We had the chance to celebrate our friend Dave’s 40th birthday. Jennifer threw a great party for him, with catered Mexican food and a huge cake. Happy Birthday Dave!

They also rented a karaoke machine and the guests took turns singing aloud. Of course I skirted it.

We got to see them one more time. They decided to stay at the Princess Resort Hotel for a night, right on Mission Bay, and invited some friends to join them in the afternoon at the beach. They rented a paddle board and the kids took turns trying it.

For as fun as paddling while standing up was, the boys (of all ages) found a much more fun game to play: standing on the board, they were trying to catch a football. I have to say that in many attempts from kids and adults alike, we only got a successful pass. Keegan gave it a shot too. He almost caught it one time.

We made it to the beach exactly 1 time, on a warm but foggy early morning. We were very grateful for our usual marine layer, since we were again in the midst of a heat wave, and the cloud were the only way to survive. Matt went surfing with a friend, but frist gave Keegan his first surf lesson.

See? He is a natural! The rest of the time he had a blast body boarding, and the Ocean was so warm, even I got in and played n the waves.

Thank you to modern technology, we kept in touch with family, this was our favorite Selfie: keegan doing “Macho Man”.

Part of the beauty of the season is to admire such a lush surrounding: even in the mist of a 4-years drought, beautiful flowers and plants are everywhere. And we can’t forget the wildlife: birds, butterflies, lizards and of course hawks. I think this year we had two new babies, but it was almost impossible to see them. However we did have a close encounter with one type of hawk. It came crashing against our glass, and ended up resting, disoriented, on our patio for a while. Quite majestic…and yes, it soon flew away unharmed.

We also had momentous event: Keegan lost his 4th tooth.

Even more momentous, however, was our midsummer date, that lasted from mid- afternoon to night. So many hours of freedom! Such a rare occurrence! So, what did we do with ourselves with all that time?

We went first to the horse races at Del Mar. We bet on a few horses, and we even won one race, so we only lost a few bucks. It is always fun.

The main reason we went to the races, though, was the free (with races admission) concert afterwards: Offspring. Yes, we saw them before, more than once, but it is always a fun concert, and you can’t beat the price. Being on a Saturday night we could not refuse. We had a lot of fun.

As always, the summer seemed to go by way too fast, and with September approaching, Keegan was more and more nervous about the new school year, since he did not know which teacher he would get and which of his classmates would be with him. We found out just a few days prior the starting day, and while this calmed him down a bit, he was still nervous, and so were we. Let’s cross our fingers for an happy new school year.

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We gladly got in the car directed to Sestri Levante, because the temperature in Milano was moving from hot to sweltering. The drive was fast, without much traffic, and soon we were back to my childhood beach town, and more importantly, for Keegan at least, back to the the awesome Vis-aVis hotel. I guess he learned from me to love fancy hotels, or maybe we simply spoiled him by always going to nice hotels.

I love the Aperitivo Time at the hotel: whether poolside or on the amazing deck, I thoroughly enjoyed a few of them and so did Keegan.

Sestri was mostly the same, with two big exceptions:
• our favorite focaccia place, Tosi, a Sestri’s istitution closed for good. This was devastating news, because no other place in town is able to replicate the perfect recipes, and the wonderful mix of savory and sweet treats.
• There is now a fisherman statue in the Baia Del Silenzio, a wonderful addition to the fisherman bay.

I even met a couple of childhood friends, Leo and Roberto, the latter I have not seen in almost 10 years. It was nice to catch up, even if briefly.

The week was perfect. The weather was sunny, and even if it was a little too hot for my taste, we spent so much time in the water and in the air conditioned room that it did not matter. Cinzia and Nara reached us on Saturday, and Samir and Sandro arrived on Sunday.

As always we ate too much and consumed too much ice cream and sweets. What a tough life! I was a little sad Matt was not with us, but we managed to have a great time anyway. Mandatory pedalo’ day was Wednesday. It was strange to be the only adult. We had fun, but again, the novelty gone Keegan, got a little tired of it.

If nothing else, we got to swim in  clean water, and it was a great excuse to take pictures with the kids.

On the last day at the beach, we spent a long time swimming, diving and playing in the water. Samir was able to grab two hermit crabs from the bottom. I have learned the name for them is paguro in Italian. We watched them for a while before sending them back to their home.

After lunch, I usually spent a little more quiet time, alone, at the beach, swimming, sunbathing or reading. It was very relaxing and very welcomed.

As always, I do think that the kids had the most fun at the pool. This year there were more kids, even a couple of American ones, and Keegan and his cousins were always willing to invite them to play along.

Keep Away was one of the favorite games, like the traditional girls vs. boys fight for the ball. I can’t deny the adults joined in quite often.

Human towers were also a big hit. Even Keegan tried to lift Nara: he was able, at least, to emerge from the water.

Diving, however, was the all time favorite, and the old diving board saw a lot of use and inventive dives.

The inflatable dragon was brought to the pool especially as a photo prop on the last day. He made it safely to San Diego with us. Will we use it again?

Pool time often meant a reading break for me, when not busy exercising with the daily Aquagym program. I also enjoyed looking at clouds and guessing what they look like. Check out this one below: what does it look like to you? See my interpretation below…no peeking!

To me it looks like a chubby guy, facing left, reading a book!

The food was as always delicious…you can get use to be served appetizer, first, side and second and dessert, all washed down by a great glass of wine every night. And what incredible sunsets we got to see! They even moved us to the window table after the first two days for a better view.

two of the amazing sunsets at Sestri Levante

The only “negative” was the length of the meals, which was very difficult for Keegan. We all tried to entertain him, especially the cousins, with different games. When everything else failed, goofing around worked well.

The elegant restaurant gave us the chance to wear different, nice clothes every night and to try new hairstyles… well at least us girls.

We even convinced Keegan to wear something that was not soft pants and a t-shirt for the last dinner. Sandro’s mom gave him this outfit: isn’t he dashing in it?

This dinner was a special one, not only because it was our last, but also because we were all present to celebrate my dad’s 78th birthday!! We all got a special outfit on, and took lots of pictures.

Picture time for the cousins as well

After dinner, it was present’s time.

 

Cinzia choose a great photo with my parents and all the kids, and made it into a pillow. The kids positioned themselves just like to photo: is this a start of a new tradition? We will try to create those never-ending pictures…

The last night was special for a couple of other things: Keegan got finally to play “macho men” with Samir. They have been too busy playing Angry Birds and Star Wars Angry birds to have time… If you ever need inspiration, just look at this photo: don’t you feel like you are ready to conquer the world?

Also, that night, Sandro, I and the kids went out for a walk: Keegan went out the previous night and loved to be out after dark, so we had to go out again. Besides, my mom promised him he would try the jumpy ropes on the beach, and once a promise is made, he will never forget. Both Nara and Samir joined him.

In the background, some amazing fireworks were going off, for the third day in a row: I guess a celebration of a saint of some kind. Well, we took them as an early 4th of July show, since we will be missing the real thing.

And just like that our beach vacation was over, as was our Italian vacation. We spent Saturday driving back to Milano, shopping for the last few things and packing. Birgit, Giada’s mom came by to say goodbye and brought a beautiful photography book and a cool Milano mug for Keegan.

As always, leaving was very difficult for everyone. At least the trip went well, and Keegan was pretty good and even caught some sleep, on his own initiative.

We landed almost an hour early, so for the first time, we were the ones  waiting. Even with sadness, it was good to get home, and especially to see Matt feeling a lot better. While is taking us a few days getting adjusted to the time and our new routine, the happy memories will help us in the transition. Looking forward to fun summer camps and onward to Second Grade.

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2015 is a very important year for Milano. After years of fervent preparations, discussions, and controversy, the Milano Expo 2015,”Feeding the Planet – Energy For Life” opened its doors at the end of May.

Of course, this being Italy, not everything was 100% ready, and the site for buying tickets had lots of glitches. Plus, the protesters that started with pacific demonstrations turned violent on opening day, starting a real riot, that burned and destroyed stores and streets.

Despite all this, the Expo went on as scheduled, and you could feel the excitement everywhere. Many areas of the city were decorated with flags or banners, and many signs were spread all over the city to direct visitors. New project were finished, like the Darsena or the improvements at the Malpensa airport. New structures were created for info and shopping in front of the Castello Sforzesco, where last year grew a corn field, to kick off the final preparations. I am not sure they really add much to the square, so hopefully they will be gone after n this year.

Since I landed in Milano, everyone, and I mean everyone, was urging me to go visit it. Honestly, I was not that interested. It seemed to be a big waste of time, and I postponed it. On the last day in town, before the beach, I finally decided to go. Thank you everyone who pushed me to visit, especially dad, who also provided me with a very useful guide. Thank you dad!

The expo was really amazing. The architecture alone was worth the visit. Between individual countries and clusters there were about 96 pavilions. Click the map to see all the participants or go to the participants link.

On the official site you can also read details on each participating country, in the countries link. While most countries completely ignored the theme and used the expo as a chance to display their main products and to encourage tourism, the few pavilions I was able to visit were very interesting. My criteria for choosing what to see, was: no line, I am going inside.

Though I did not really planned it, I arrived, with a comfortable subway ride, around 1pm. I guess that is the dead hour, because there was no line to buy tickets or to enter. My visit started, as recommended, from Padiglione 0, where different areas showed some of the issues we are facing as we try to feed the planet. I loved the wall of seeds: different sized cases, each containing a different seed. It is a cool idea I would like to try at home

After a great start, I took the free shuttle bus and went all the way to the end, trying to go against traffic. I guess it did help a bit, but of course there were still plenty of people and that turned into a real river, after 7pm, when prices drop to 5 Euro. All pavilions are flanking the main road, Decumano, where parades, installations and special events happen. It was covered, fortunately, as it was absolutely sweltering. I do have to admit that, even if the signage was horrifying and impossible to decipher, the organization was excellent: shuttles passing every few minutes, lots of free water stations (including sparkling water), lots of clean bathrooms, and plenty of food.

Marocco’s was one of my favorite pavilions: besides the beautifully detailed outside building, and garden, the interior was a feast of colors, produce, and wonderful smells that immediately immersed you in the beauty of country.

My absolutely favorite was, however, the one from the Republic of Korea.

Unfortunately it was difficult to take pictures to capture the feel of this pavilion full of amazing technology, so I resorted to the web to grab some images.

It felt like a modern art exhibit, and it followed the expo’s theme to boot. This youTube video gives you an idea.

There were many other interesting pavilions. The Netherlands created a carnival like exhibit, Oman recreated a traditional building, inside and out and Poland created its area out of “apple crates”.

The Italian pavilion, situated at the middle of the Expo, close to smaller, regional exhibits, was a beauty from the outside, but the 2+ hours necessary to visit it made me skip it.

Other pavilions I would have liked to see, but I had to skip, due to huge lines, were Germany, Japan, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and  Arab Emirates. France, instead, had no lines, and I can see why: it really wasn’t much.

I also liked the Indonesian pavilion, both for the architecture and the interior design, even if, like many others, it looked more like a tourists’ office.

The British pavilion was supposed to make you feel like a bee, starting with an eye-level flower garden, and finishing with a structure that was supposed to make you feel inside a beehive. Mah! Maybe if they had added buzzing sounds…

A special mention must go to the Nepal’s pavilion: it featured incredibly detailed carvings, and detailing, that really made you feel like you were there. It would have certainly been the most beautiful one, but it was sadly left unfinished, when the earthquake hit, and most of the artisans had to go back home. Even in its unfinished state it was really impressive and a real work of art.

What about the USA pavilion? I have to say that, although it had much welcomed misters and presented an extraordinary vertical garden – even if not quite as impressive as Israel – the American pavilion really disappointed.

Following a sloping walkway, you were met by Obama’s message about the importance of the Expo’s theme. A good start.

However, it was not followed up by anything substantial. A few multimedia screens that offered almost no info, and a Walgreen display (?) was pretty much all there was to see, if you exclude the nice terrace overlooking the whole expo. Very disappointing. Almost as disappointing as seeing mcDonald’s and Coke’s presence at a fair centered on food as energy for life.

A curious exhibit I got to visit was the New Holland’s Pavilion, which is actually an American company, supposedly dedicated to sustainable farming machines.Outside the slanted wall, sported a green grass field, a fake pond and a tractor, perched at an impossible angle.

Inside, they had three huge machines to display. and climb on, including a combine (hello Frank): how could I resist?

Another great feature of the expo was the tree of life. An inspiring structure in its own right, it presented water shows throughout the day. The fountains and decorations were coordinated to music.

It was way more impressive at night, I suppose, but I could not stay that late, so I settled on watching the show on youTube

All in all I was there for almost 8 hours! Not bad for something I was not interested into seeing! I got home exhausted, but I really enjoyed myself. After some packing for the beach I could finally rest. So, take it from a skeptic like me: if you are in Milano before October 10, do not miss the Expo 2015.

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Keegan’s school ended on June 17, and we did not waste any time: the same night we boarded a plane for Italy. The flight was smooth and uneventful: we even landed almost on time. I left a little worried, because Matt had not been feeling very well in the previous few days, but fortunately his sister Mary was able to extended her trip and stayed with him the whole time we were away.

We spent the first week in Milano. Incredibly, jet lag was not a huge issue this year, for neither one of us. Keegan slept with me the first night, but it went ok. It was only a few days, but we managed to live them to the fullest. On the first day, I got to see Loredana and Francesca. Loredana gave me a wonderful, long, reflexology massage, while the kids were quietly watching Tv. She is really good.

Mom cooked many delicious meals, and we were even able to enjoy a few all together.

My Milano visit included nice evenings out with old friends, apreretivis, trying delicious food from Valtellina and Milano, and of course Italian pizza. I had a nice dinner with my sister, to chat and catch up. I met a preschool friend for lunch, I went window shopping and of course I spent time with my parents.

Loredana took us to the “Luna Park of idroscalo” (basically like a permanent fair). It had lots of rides, very similar to the ones at the San Diego fair and Keegan had a blast but he only lasted a couple of hours.

Water Rollercoaster

flying ride

Water roller, Keegan’s favorite

Keegan really enjoyed the free fall ride. It consisted of jumping off from a ledge, landing on an inflatable element. He enjoyed it so much he insisted I tried it too. I did, as I do enjoy jumping from high places: it bring me back to my memories of diving off the high rocks at Sestri, when I was a kid. Unfortunately, a few years had passed, so when I landed, I ended up breaking some blood vessels in one of my toes, and, three weeks or more later, it still hurts.

Loredana’s husband, Carmelo, picked us up, and he took us for a little ride, first to see the airplanes land at Linate, and then to check out the Castello Borromeo, an ancient castle just outside Milano, at Peschiera. It is a private property, so we could not visit it, but we posed for photos.

Keegan was somewhat bored, but he immediately perked up when Carmelo asked him if he wanted to drive. Reluctant at first, he accepted and actually drove for a few meters. He was so excited!

One day I was able to drag Keegan for a long walk in the old Milano. We started with the newly restored “darsena”, a mandatory stop, at least according to my parents and all my friends. Its reconstruction restored to the City its harbor and an historical, symbolic site in Milan. I have to admit it is beautiful, both by night and by day, and, at least for now, it seems to be quite a popular spot for the Milano by night.

Besides the harbor itself, the project included the creation of a park and plenty of walkable areas. It also included lots of huge, plastic animals in bright colors, part of temporary exhibition, I believe. Well, the kids loved climbing on them.

colorful snails invading Porta Ticinese

From there we started a long trek to the Duomo, passing for many historic places, like the St. Lorenzo’s columns, moved from an ancient roman site.

We walked, and even shopped, as Keegan became increasingly cranky and hungry. We calmed him with the promise of a nice ice cream after lunch. We stumbled upon a large, stuffed minion, so he had to pose with it.

We finally stopped for lunch at Panino Giusto, a Milano institution. With our stomachs full, we walked some more, and lo and behold, we discovered the relocated Magum Milano Store. It must have been Keegan’s luck, since we had no idea where it moved to. Keegan was blown away. The ice cream was so big, he had to save the chocolate covering for later. I got my usual: vanilla ice cream dipped in white chocolate and pecans and chocolate bits, and drizzled in milk chocolate. Mmmh, delicious!

We also took a ride in the old trolley, the same orange ones you see in San Francisco. It is hard to see from the photo, but the sign above keegan says: Non Sputare” (do not spit). Somewhat, it seemed appropriate.

We walked so much we ended up in Piazza Duomo, which inspired him to go on top, but we postponed it to the next day. We were able to push him till Piazza San Babila, but we had to get on the subway at that point…still very impressive. Click on the map to see the full path.

The next morning, Keegan, my dad and I went to see the Duomo. We got on the elevator and checked out Milano from the top. It is always breathtaking.

Contrast: duomo’s guglia and he new skyscrapers

Piazza del Duomo

Palazzo Reale

with nonno

Of course, part of the Duomo was covered by scaffolding: the building is so big that once they finish cleaning it, they have to start again. In fact, it is called “La Fabbrica Del Duomo” or Duomo’s factory. At least the famous, gold plated Madonnina (little Madonna), symbol of Milano, was visible.

We also noticed something new: a few modern sculptures, scattered on the top. It made for a strident contrast, and one, in particular, seemed somewhat inappropriate for the location. What do you think?

Once we got back down, Keegan wanted to see the inside of the church. Well, I do not if it is due to the Expo 2015, but now you have to buy tickets to get inside, unless you are attending religious functions. This is exactly what we told the guards, but it was not really a lie: once inside, Keegan and I lighted candles for Matt…and Keegan lit one for himself, so he could have enough money when he grows up. He has his priorities straight. Maybe our talks about finances have left a mark.

Two of our candles are at Keegan’s left, on the bottom row.

Of course one of our favorites activities is spending time with our family, and Keegan was delighted to be able to hang out with his cousins and visit them at home to meet their cat. Naraiana, who is becoming quite the cook, tried to involve Keegan into making some fresh pasta…

It was absolutely delicious! So the first week really flew by, and we got ready for the week at the beach, at Sestri Levante, the event Keegan has been waiting for the whole yea. And to be honest, so did I.

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Wow, this year really flew by. Before we knew it, we were at the end of First Grade. It is somewhat of a big deal, because Kindergarten and First Grade are called primary, and have their own playground. Starting from Second Grade, he will move to the big playground, with everyone from 2nd to 6th grade.

Serious school work finished at the end of May, and the last couple of weeks were filled with fun activities. MBMA Spirit week meant that every day kids were following a particular theme: opposite day, crazy hair days, twin day (dressing like a friend) and of course, wearing a MBMA shirt day.

They also had a couple of field trips. The fist one was in walking distance: the grandfather of one our the kids had a chicken coop, so all the kids went over to check out the chickens. They also got to visit the San Diego Botanical Garden, a beautiful place, just north of San Diego. It includes many different plant areas, sculptures and kids’ areas.

The kids played, discovered plants, treasure hunted…but mostly they goofed off.

After reading the famous story, Stone Soup, the class decided to make their own. According to wikipedia:

Stone Soup is an old folk story in which hungry strangers trick the local people of a town into sharing their food: a good confidence trick that benefits the group from combining their individual resources. The story is usually told as a lesson in cooperation, especially amid scarcity.

All the kids brought an ingredient, stone included, and they cooked the soup in the classroom, and shared it. Imagine Keegan’s joy in eating a soup containing peas, beans, onions and other stuff. He did try a bite, though. It is probably a coincidence, but check out the face in the photo.

End of school also means celebration. Room 12 won a Jamba Juice party (I don’t really remember why).

Keegan also received two special recognitions: perfect attendance (no absences or tardies) – which came with a shiny $1 coin – and the running club certificate. Before class starts, kids who wants to, get to run some laps. These laps are counted and tallied. Each lap should be about 1/4 mile. (being very generous). Well, Keegan really started enjoying this, and he really pushed himself to run as many laps as he could. So, what was the final tally? 520 LAPS!! This is approximately 150 miles! He run most laps in the school in 2014-2015.

Running club was wonderful for many reasons: he made him use up some energy before school, it made him exercise, and he built up his self confidence. He is so very proud of his running skills. Does that mean that now he will hike or run races without complaining? Of course not. He only likes to run when he runs with his friends…

In any case, we celebrated the accomplishment with a trophy and a medal, and our own award ceremony.

We had our final teacher-parent conference as well. It went great. Both teachers complimented Keegan not only on his great academic achievements, but also on his “growing up”. He is working hard at self control, and he is trying to be a good role model. Both teachers keep on telling him he is a natural leader, that people are drawn to him, and for this reason he should be a good example.

I can attest to that. He does not go by unnoticed, especially by girls. I have witnessed, more than once, girls lunging at him and professing their love. He is usually gets annoyed, but I bet he will miss this when he is older. His greatest fan is a “spitfire” girl, called Zara. She is adorable, and with a strong personality. One day, she told me that she knows that Keegan does not love her as she does him, but that they will still get married one day. During a free work day, she created love cards for three boys, but she admitted she likes Keegan best. This is the card. Note the very elegant writing style: it makes you forget she spelled Keegan’s name wrong.

Keegan insists he does not like her, and that she is annoying, since she is always trying to get his attention by bugging him. He is glad they will be separated next year.

The school year end was marked by the Annual Spring Sign Show. This year the theme was “Great Song Writers”, at least in theory. In reality, it was a strange hodgepodge of songs, from Judy Garland to the the pop sensation, Farrell Williams. The kids were cute regardless. Most of the songs they sang were about rainbows, so their costume included rainbows socks and headbands or suspenders.

with his buddy Francisco

As always, they started the show, since they are the youngest kids. They played three adorable songs. That went by very fast. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the show, that dragged on and on.

After their performance, they quietly exited and went back to their class to watch movies and eat snacks.

And what about the parents? We had of course to sit through the rest of the performance, a good 1.5 hours plus, since all kids would come back to sing the finale.

For the finale, Zara was positioned in front of Keegan and boy did she get into it. She was dancing and shaking, while most of the other kids were as still as statues. What a personality! Next to her, the blond girl is Audrey, another of Keegan’s fans, and another strong personality kid.

The last weekend before the school end, we had a very busy weekend. Matt and I started early. He took a day off, and we spent time together, watching movies, eating out and just hanging out. it was fun. Saturday was San Diego Fair Day. I guess the novelty wore off, since Keegan was not that interested and he got bored quickly. Fortunately there were demonstration from the fire department that kept him very occupied.

On Sunday, we celebrated and early Father’s day, since we were going to be in Italy the following weekend.We cooked a nice crumb cake for Matt, and gave him his presents. He got a couple of Star Wars t-shirts and wore one right away.

We can definitively say we finished the year with a BANG! Onwards to Second Grade!

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May is usually a nice, warm month in San Diego, but this year, we have been experiencing some very strange, winter-like weather. Temperatures dipped to low 60s and we had three twin storms in the past three weeks: starting late in Thursday, and continuing into Saturday. Of course nobody is complaining, since we really need some rain, but we all know that this little rain will not really do much for the 4-year drought. Of course, I have been trying to schedule a sprinklers inspection for the past two weeks, and it has to be pushed back. Fortunately, the weather returned to almost normal the last few days. Typical May gray, we had very thick fog in the morning giving way to warm sun in the afternoon.

Despite cooler temperatures, we still had plenty of sun to enjoy. We attended our babysitter Jennifer’s wedding in the east county. It was a very casual, relaxed wedding, and a very moving one. It definitely reflected the bride’s and groom’s fun attitude and love for country music.

Matt and I had to take a photo under the wedding arch

check out the boots centerpieces. What a cool idea.

Keegan was growing impatient, and we convinced him to play a bit with another bored little boy, but we could only last a couple of hours. (-: Even getting a photo with the bride was difficult.

We also had the chance to attend Keegan’ school Open House. It was fun to see the kids working in their environment, even if Keegan was way more preoccupied about playing with his buddies than showing off his skills. One of his favorite things to show, though, was how he built a roman arch.

Building, be it with bricks, Legos, constructions sets or even baby cubes, is still his passion.

barely shorter than the baby cubes stack, but not for long

May of course, also means Mother’s Day, and boy did I get spoiled. I slept in late, and when I woke up there was a beautiful double orchid plant in the kitchen and Keegan wrapped his present for me. Oh yes, I also got two funny t-shirts.

I received a card written in Italian, a paper flower written in Chinese, and a card written in English.I was only missing Spanish!

At school, Keegan made me a cute pillow filled with lavender that I can use to relax. He did all the sewing and filling himself. He was very proud of it.

Matt cooked an amazing breakfast: as I requested, he made some delicious eggs cups and cornbread, and complemented it with Nutella crepes. What more can I ask?

traditional mom and Keegan photo

Since it was my day, I was supposed to choose what I wanted to do, but my suggestion of going hiking was received with such resistance – guess from whom?- I had to compromise to go to the beach instead…well, not a bad compromise after all. It was a little windy, but la Jolla Shores is always pretty.

the attack of the killer sand crab

No one dared getting in the water, but we had fun in the sand. Fun, if Keegan is involved, must include wrestling with Matt…he knows better than trying it on me.

The rest of the afternoon included relaxing, resting, and enjoying family time. I am very lucky to have two great guys in my life that make me feel so extra special!

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