A Busy January
The year started up in high gear. After the official end of the holidays, and my oral surgery behind me, we started our regular routine. It had been pretty cold, and quite rainy, so we tried to take advantage of any sunny weekend. On one of these chilly, but sunny weekends, we took Keegan to the Safari Park (the old Wild Animal Park). It had been a while since we last came, and this time we took the tram tour, to see some of the African Animals. We were lucky to drive by during feeding time, so we saw giraffes right outside our tram.
After the tour, we had lunch on a bench overlooking a canyon, with a lion and two lionesses lounging around. What a view!
Keegan wanted to go to the petting zoo to play with the goats, and spent a lot of time spinning the world (fountain) around.
January also brings around my birthday, and while I don’t enjoy the thought of getting one year older, it is always nice to be celebrated. And my boys surely spoiled me! This year, it landed on a Thursday, and so we still had to go to work and school. Matt, however, set up the table with presents, cards, flowers and a balloon, so it was a wonderful surprise for me when I got up. Keegan, however, was not happy (and this is an understatement) when I told him I would not open the presents till evening, but surely calmed down when I read the card he “wrote” with dad. It was very sweet. I had a mellow day: it was the first day of a new class, so it was pretty easy. As an added bonus, it was the first day the temperature hovered above 70 since December 11! Nice, this is the San Diego I love. At night time, when Matt arrived, we had the long awaited celebration.
Matt got me a beautiful garnet and silver necklace, and books, and I even received some beautiful flowers from my parents (to complement the gifts they sent at Christmas). Between all the good wishes from family and friends, virtual and not, the gifts, and the overall pampering, I felt very special.
The celebrations continued: the following day, I had lunch with my colleagues, and at night, Keegan went to the Parents’ Night Out at the pool again. So, he had a blast for three hours, and Matt and I had our mini date, eating appetizers at our favorite Argentinian restaurant. We also had a proper dinner date the following week, and we tried an Italian Restaurant right behind Keegan’s school. The food was all right, but we still had a fabulous time, and no talk about Keegan or work was allowed. At the end of the meal I ordered a Limoncello, the lemon liquor usually served in a small shot glass…well, I had to take a picture of this particular restaurant’s version. Italian restaurant or not, this is still America, and every portion is super-sized. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad to get my money’s worth, still, I found it hilarious.
My final present was my day off for Martin Luther King, when Matt went to work, and Keegan was at school, at least for one more year. I thoroughly enjoyed it: even if I mainly caught up on things, but I also got the chance to have a nice conversation with a friend I have not talked to in ages. So, a perfect day indeed.
Martin Luther King’s Day was also the day for the Public Inauguration’s Ceremony for Barack Obama, and I took the chance to take a picture of Keegan during the swearing in, to compare it with Obama’s first inauguration photo…WOW, things have changed. Different tv, different entertainment center (but still IKEA)…oh yeah, and Keegan is a LOT BIGGER too. It is almost incredible to think that at that time he would not really talk yet, and now we can’t stop him from gabbing. (-:
Talking about 5 years old Keegan, he still loves going to school. His new teacher, Ms. Jill is great and he loves her (and so do we). She is loving, fun, affectionate, but also firm. The kids are learning a lot. One of the programs she started is the Mystery Guest: every month, one parents come in and reads to the kids. His/her identity is kept secret till his/her arrival. I went in December and Keegan was very excited. In January, Rozelin’s mom, Ms. Yadira, came to read. She is also a teacher at the school, in the infants’ room, and she used to be Keegan’s teacher as well. She really likes him. The kids had a great time, and especially enjoyed the special treats she prepared.
January also means the start of the birthday season. For some reason, we have a glut of birthdays between January and March. It all starts with Kenzie’s birthday. Even if she is not going to school with Keegan anymore, and she moved to Ramona, she remains close to him and the other kids…and they still want to get married one day. We are now at 7 kids, 5 horses, 1 cat and 1 dog. And according to Kenzie, they will be all living in their old Clairemont 3 bedroom house, with all their kids, animals and Kenzie’s sister and husband. Good thing Kenzie wants to be a doctor when she grows up. Anyway, the party was at Mission Bay, on a beautiful, warm sunny day. The kids had fun running around, chasing each other and playing with kites.
They all had a picnic on the grass while the adults talked and enjoyed the day.
There was cake and cupcakes. It was nice to see them all.
We had been also very busy with our re-financing. I know it hard to believe we were willing to go through it again, after how badly it went last time, but the rates were so low we could not miss our chance. So we spent most of the month just gathering papers, signing, and especially getting the house in the best shape it could be for the appraisal, which went really badly last time around. I know that in theory it does not matter, but a clean house looks better maintained and in better shape than a messy one. It was lots of hard work, and the house never looked better. I guess that was the side benefit: it forced us to get organized. Well, at least it all paid off: the appraisal price was higher than expected, so we got the rate we wanted and some cash back.
Check out the living room. Never been so tidy! I should be doing staging…
So January started 2013 with a bang, and we are looking forward to a great February.
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