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This year Easter came really early, on April 8. As always, we found time to celebrate and have fun.

We had an early eggs hunt the last weekend of March at the YMCA. We met Alyce, his gym buddy, and they had a lot of fun sliding and jumping on the bouncies and playing on the playground.

Keegan and Alyce watched Alyce’s sister Betty collecting eggs. They were cheering for her from the sidelines, holding hands.

Then it was finally time for their eggs hunt. Keegan and Alyce were ready. For the first time, Keegan actually jumped right in and started collecting a lot of eggs…

…then “tragedy” struck. Somehow (according to Keegan a big kid run into him), Keegan stumbled and fell, spilling all his eggs on the ground. Of course he immediately started crying, while all the other kids kept on picking up his eggs. Poor sweetie. I went to help him and comfort him, and grabbed some eggs to put back in his basket: after all, it did not matter how many eggs you got, you still received the same goodie bag. The YMCA attendant was very nice and helped him gather more eggs, and then one mom gave him one of the special eggs, that provide an extra prize. I guess her daughter got two, so she shared one with Keegan, since he was so upset. It was so sweet of her…it really touched me.

So, he dried out his tears, collected his prizes and went back playing. How fun.

The following week was spring break, but fortunately Keegan’s school stayed open. We did have a play date with Alyce, though. We went to her house to do some eggs coloring and playing. It was fun. The kids had fun, and the adults enjoyed quiet time and a nice glass of wine. Keegan even got to share a delicious dinner of mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.

Incredibly, turns out that Keegan likes hard boiled eggs, a lot, and he gobbled 2 the next day, and 4 more within the same week. Well, this is an easy lunch to make.

The same week, there were more Easter celebrations at school. On Thursday, the Easter bunny itself came to visit and to do magic tricks, and Keegan was one of his assistants (I hope to get some pictures to post from school). The kids also baked Easter cookies and Keegan helped decorating them.

On Friday, they kids had an egg hunt, after painting and decorating hard boiled eggs we had provided. Keegan sent home a nice note he decorated himself to remind us.

The weekend was pretty mellow. We did not make too many plans: Matt was not feeling well, so we took it easy. I took Keegan to the gym and then he wanted to go straight home to play. He was simply not interested in the Clairemont Easter celebration, since he has already seen the Easter bunny at school.

So, when we got home, we did some more eggs coloring.

Keegan and I created a few, short lived masterpieces: we ate right at lunch time.

I spent Saturday evening filling eggs and preparing the basket. Just like last year, most eggs included some little surprises and very little candy.

On Sunday morning, after I woke up from my nap, it was eggs hunt time!. We placed the eggs in the yard, and this year we hid some of them a little more, but they were still very easy to find.

check out the big green one under the plant

what a bootie…

We had a few small eggs for his yellow basket, a large Easter basket with surprises and a few over sized eggs. It was fun to watch. He tore through all of it really quickly. He was particularly happy to get some new cars — Nigel, Shu Sudoroki and Grem, as well as a smaller Francesco and another lemon—new books and the Cars soaps.

While Keegan ate some candy, he did overdo it, and we all avoided the sugar rush. And after tasting some plain chocolate (and the good kind, straight from Italy) he affirmed that “chocolate is not really my favorite. It does not feel good in my tummy”. Oh darn, this means more chocolate for us. (-:

We called and Skyped with my parents and Keegan’s little cousins, and he proudly showed off all his new things, and we spent the rest of the day at home, playing with the new toys and reading  the new books. We even tested out our new tent, since we were planning on going camping the following weekend (which did not happen, since it was storming). Keegan had a lot of fun playing in his side of the tent. Hopefully we can reschedule soon.

Birthday season is officially over…at least for a month or two. From January to March we are usually involved in a whirlwind of birthday celebrations. Fun for Keegan, but a little exhausting for us.

We usually start with MacKenzie’s and Calson’s birthdays, but this year we missed the combined celebration since we were in LA.

Next up was Van’s party. This is usually a very fun affair. This year, the theme was super heroes, and all the kids were wearing some kind of super hero shirt. There was games and food and a real Batman, who walked in at the sound of…the Star Wars music (uh?). The kids were excited. He did some games and blew up balloons. Keegan wanted a sword/gun.

He then posed for the obligatory pictures with all the kids.

Then there were more games, the Batman pinata…

and the awesome Batman cake and cupcakes

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and we all had a great time. The chilled wine helped.

Next up was Rozelin’s party. She had her celebration at the skate park, right next to our house. Despite a very early morning rain, the clouds quickly moved away, and we were still able to have fun in the grass. There was a flower bouncie, which was Keegan’s first stop.

A red haired local clown also showed up and brought a little, soft, cuddly friend with her. Very cute!

The kids had fun fighting with their balloon swords, and climbing in the nearby playground. Then it was pinata time! Rozelin actually had 2 different pinatas, so all the kids had the chance to hit with abandon.

Then, it was cake and cupcakes time. Keegan usually only eats the frosting, leaving plenty for me.

The good thing about all this morning parties is that Keegan usually gets very tired and fall asleep immediately for his nap.

Next on the list was Elliott’s party. I was really dreading this one, and not only because of parties burn-out. Keep in mind these festive occasions happened almost every week. This particular party, however, was to be held in the early afternoon, on Saturday, at Chuck.E. Cheese. I could not imagine a worse place to be on a weekend afternoon. Fortunately, Matt volunteered to go. Seriously! I have been on party duty for most of them, but I guess he does not mind Chuck. E. Cheese as much as I do, since there are lots of games to play. Regardless of the reason, I was grateful. I also had lots of work to do, so it was a win-win situation for me. I only have one picture of the party. Look at how Rozelin and Keegan are focusing on a shooting game, while Erik is looking on.

We had a couple of weeks break, and then there was another combined birthday party: Julia’s and Erik’s. This time, the party was in Mission Bay, on a chilly, but clear afternoon. Keegan took a very long nap that day, of course, but we still made there in time for all the fun. A slide, dolphin bouncie was there, as well as crafts, such as “make your own kite” kits. Keegan loved flying the kite. It is incredible how many variations you can have on the classic “bouncie at a park” theme.

Julia’s mom made some awesome “cake pops”, which looked as good as they tasted. Lighting candles was a challenge, but we gave it a shot anyway.

As the sun went down, and the fog started rolling in, we lit up a bonfire. I did not have a bonfire in a long time, and it stoked many memories…none including kids or bouncies, of course. We cooked some s’mores. This was Keegan’s first, and of course he really loved it.

Matt is in charge of preparing s’mores…

and distributing them

Julia, Keegan and Rozelin with theirs’mores!

This was fun. It was worth getting to bed a little later.

Last but not least, it was Markus’ turn, one of the neighborhood kids. The party was at his house, which was great, so we could walk to it. There was the obligatory bouncie, and soccer goals set up for impromptu soccer games. There was also a fum stormtrooper mask to play dress up with.

The kids were able to hit the pinata just in time, before the storm arrived.

As soon as the rain started, we all run inside for cake time. I am not sure if you noticed, but there is a common thread in all these birthdays photos. When is cake time, Keegan is always next to the birthday child, first in line for the goodies. Pretty smart, eh?

So, we can now finally rest. The tour de force is over. No parties for a few months, just regular weekend activities and fun.

March 2 was Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) is probably the best known children’s book writer here in the States, and he is even more beloved in San Diego, since he lived in La Jolla for many years. Keegan loves his books, so we decided to have a little bit of fun this year with his “birthday” (he died in 1991). Of course, school celebrated by reading his books and making related art projects. We were planning on making some green eggs and ham (the title of his most famous book), but we ended up going out for dinner with our neighbors, which was a lot of fun. The next day, though, we took Keegan to watch his first movie at a theater. We had been reading the Lorax, Dr. Seuss’s environmentalist book, and he loved it, and since the new movie came out the previous day, we took him to watch it.

He was excited. Now,  since we are dealing with Keegan, we did not dare take him to a regular movie theater, let alone a 3d one. Last time I tried to take him, he talked the whole movie, and would not stay still at all. So, we went to a drive-in, which I love. I was surprised they showed the movie at the same time it was released in regular theaters, but happy it was. So we headed up to Santee and secured our spot. The wait was a little difficult for Keegan, but we had a picnic and that killed time. The movie started at 7.30, a little late for our little guy, but Keegan staid awake. He loved it and really enjoyed the experience. In fact, despite the fact that he was so tired he was almost falling over, he wanted to stay and watch the double feature. of course that was a NO.

I really liked it too: definitely a lot more than the original TV classic (which Keegan hated). Great animation and very fun voice-overs. I could have done without the singing, but overall we had fun.

The next day, was another fun, if not Seuss-related, day. We bought 2 for 1 tickets for Legoland in December, and we need needed to use them before they expired this week. So we headed up to Carlsbad, and had a fun day at the park. The weather was beautiful, and Keegan showed an amazing resistance.  We went to many rides, and he mostly waited patiently. We started with the boat tour which was a great way to kick the day off.

looking stylish with his tiger glasses (the only ones he would wear)

Then it was off to the roller coaster, which he loved…even if he was literally speechless on the first high speed dip. He still seems to be an adrenaline junkie, so I am looking forward to visit Magic Mountains with him.

He also had fun in the small driving course, and on the sky rider, which is, somewhat the most popular ride. Not sure why: it does not seems worth 45 minutes wait to me.

Unfortunately the Star Wars area was under construction, but we had time to squeeze in lunch and a few more rides in. On the way home, he wanted to pose with the Lego Family.

After a great nap, we just relaxed at home, and concluded the weekend with our planned Dr. Seuss meal: green eggs and ham. Keegan helped prepare them, pouring green coloring into the eggs.

Finally it was time to eat. I have to say it does looks weird to eat green eggs, and it took a couple of minutes for Keegan to try them out. But at the end, he realized the he did indeed liked them. … “I do like green eggs and ham…thank you thank you Sam I am.”

In San Diego, February is Museum Month. This means you can get a pass to visit 40 museums in San Diego for half off. This could not come at a better time, since it gave us lots of opportunities to go and visit San Diego attractions when the weather was not always beautiful, and Matt got to take Keegan to many different places when I had to work.

Keegan and Matt went to the Railroad Museum, the Downtown Children Museum and the Museum of Man. Together we went to visit the Midway and the Maritime Museum.

The Midway is a retired air carrier that is anchored in the San Diego Bay and it now being converted into a museum. I was actually interested into visiting it, since I have never been.

There was a huge line to get in, since we picked the most popular time, mid-morning. Keegan was incredibly patient, and we finally made our way to the entrance, about 45 minutes later.

As soon as we got inside we did not know where to start: there was so much to see. We got the audio tour, so we can understand as little more about what we were looking at. There were airplanes, helicopters, engines, and all sort of fun stuff to see and to climb on.

Keegan is still mesmerized and fascinated by headphones

He really liked to climb in the cockpit of various planes and pretend to be the pilot. The one with the teeth was my favorite one.

We were then able to visit the inside of the ship, including the living quarters. Pretty amazing that people could live in such small spaces for such a long time. Definitely not a job for me.

After the inside tour, we went on deck to see the planes still “parked” up there. Real retired pilots and sailors were at hand to explain in detail how you land and take off from the ship. It does not sounds easy…I can’t believe there are not more accidents.

And of course, there were more photo-ops available. I really hope he will not want to be a pilot when he grows up.

Keegan seemed very interested, and since he is in his “shoot-up everything” phase, he was fascinated by all the “shooters” on the plane. When he asked me if bad guys were flying these planes, since they all had bombs in them, I deferred the question to Matt… (-:

The following week, we moved to different kind of boats at the Maritime Museum. Two traditional sailboats, two submarines and a ferryboat are part of the collection. Keegan wanted to start from the submarines. The smaller one still had a working periscope. Pretty nice. His favorite one, though, was the one from the former Soviet Union, which was huge.

Before getting in, you can try going though a circular opening, which is the exact size of the doors inside the sub. Keegan fit perfectly.

Inside it was almost claustrophobic. Again, it hard to believe being in such close quarters, with lots of other people, and UNDER the ocean. Even after so many years, the smell of diesel permeated the sub. Keegan did not mind. He loved going through the small openings and playing with all the knobs and levers.

After the sub, we went back in time, visiting two beautiful sailboats, the “pirate Ship” and the Star Of India. Keegan was trying to fins shooters on the boats, and was quite disappointed when we told him there were none. We did show him the cannons, and that helped.

the pirate ship (but no one in custom today)

He was only marginally interested, but I loved moving about the ships.

Inside the Star of India, the biggest one of the two, they had a small exhibits on the immigrants, showing their cabins  and describing their lives during months long trips. At the bottom, there was a small play area, with  a tiny sailboat replica, where Keegan could pretend to steer the boat to safety and lift loads on board.

All this excitement really got him tired, so he usually passed out in his car seat on the way home. Lucky for us, he still finds the car seat comfortable… and even luckier for us, he is still taking solid naps!

To conclude the month, I went to visit the special exhibition in honor of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. While not as large in scale as the ones planned in England, it was very interesting. You were given a replica of the boarding pass, with a passenger name, and you followed all phases of Titanic’s short life, from design to sinking. Many real artifacts were shown, as well as recreated cabins and rooms. You could really get a feel of what must have been like to be on board. At the end, you could check to see if “you” survived the journey. I guess, my passenger was Mrs Annie Margaret Hold, traveling in second class, and she survived, while her husband died.

It was definitely an interesting experience, especially in view of the recent, similar sinking, of the Costa Cruise Ship off Italy, which fortunately had much less severe consequences…and which will definitively will not inspire any Hollywood movie.

Happy Valentine’s Day! (a little late). In the past couple of years, Valentine’s Day has been a lot about Keegan and his little friends, and one of the “candy-eating” holidays he is looking forward to.

I was planning on making my own cards for school, but then life happened, with my car breaking down, and requiring time and effort (and lots of money) to get fixed. So, we bought cards instead, and we filled little goodie bags. Keegan, in the spirit with his Chick Magnet shirt helped out a lot filling in bags and adding cards, and personalizing cards for his friends.

This was supposed to be the photo fir our custom made cards, with a real lollipop included…oh well, next year.

On the big day, he brought his little gifts at school, and he was happy helping distribute them.

He really is a little heartthrob…

He came back from school with lots and lots of candies, cards and little surprises. The only thing he did not bring home was the card he made for us, since it mysteriously disappeared. Oh well, Matt helped him make a really nice card for me, so I was happy anyway.

When Matt came home with some pretty flowers for me, we had a small celebration. Keegan got a couple of books and an inflatable Toy Story punching ball, which he loved. He loved it so much, in fact, it immediately got a hole in it.

I guess we should invest into a m ore permanent one, since it really helped getting some of his energy out.

After he went to bed, we had our own grown-up celebration. Matt cooked an amazing dinner, and we talked about our 10+ year together (and 11th valentine’s day). We wrote our best memories and thoughts about each other in a set of two little booklets, called the State of Our Union, and it was really fun to read it and see how much we know about each other (and to still be surprised what how much we don’t know) and what great memories we shared. It was beautiful and very romantic.

I am happy to be married to such a wonderful guy.

So, we are a “little” behind in our posting. January/February were crazy busy work-wise and I did not have much time to do anything else. I have to prepare three new classes by June (1 down and 2 to go) and in January I also attended a class. I have a few days break, for now, so I am trying to catch up. (and yes I will lie on my date, for archival purposes).

January was a good month: attending classes instead of teaching was a change of pace, but it was fun and inspiring, and useful. While it did not leave too much free time, we did squeeze in some fun. We celebrated my birthday on the 17. I had my usual (at least for another year) day off alone the day before for Martin Luther King day — an early birthday present— which was very productive. I went to school on my birthday and celebrated in class. Matt, unfortunately, had a last minute meeting, so we had to cancel our birthday lunch…but he more than made up for it with a wonderful dinner and beautiful white orchids (which lasted ore than a month).

Keegan wrote me a nice card (with some help from dad) and we blew the candles and ate a delicious cheesecake that Keegan helped decorate.

Happy birthday mom. I love you

We concluded the celebrations with an official birthday date: we watched the Artist (the best movie this year at the Oscars) and had a wonderful dinner at my favorite steakhouse. It was fun.

Another fun January event: Keegan and I went to LA to visit the Zimmer Children Museum with Jennifer, Hannah, and “baby” Natalie. Jennifer drove in her new, spacious car (three rows of seats!) and we had a great time. I was a little nervous because it required quite a long time in a car, but Keegan did great. I guess sitting in a car seat is something he does not mind at all. The TAG books I brought for the ride back helped too.

We first stopped by Jennifer’s parents for lunch, which broke the trip and had lunch there. The museum was really nice, and Keegan and Hannah found a lot of things to do and play with.

making some music

meeting the museum’s mascot

Natalie, Keegan was here!

Keegan’s favorite thing, though, was the pirate ship/ball pit. He patiently waited to take multiple turns

We did have a great time, even if we had to miss Kenzie’s and Kelson’s birthday party. Surprisingly enough, Keegan was not too upset about it, even if they are basically his best friends. We had a special celebration for Kenzie before the weekend.

Happy Birthday Kenzie

The weather reserved us some very nice days, so we took advantage of it staying outside as much as possible. We took some nice hikes in the canyon nearby, and Keegan proved to be quite the hiker. He took on Matt’s challenge to climb up a very steep hill, and he did it, no problem, 2 times. By the second time, I was coughing up my lungs out, but he loved it. This is great, so we can plan some longer hikes soon. I can’t wait to try out our new tent.

The only sour note was a whole weekend spent nursing my two guys, who caught a nasty stomach virus. As a positive note, though, it only lasted a weekend, and Keegan got quite good at making it to the trash can or the bathroom so the cleaning up was minimal. (-: Look at them, both lying there…looking so afflicted. Good thing I did not get it too.

Wow, another year. 2012 sounds like an important year: no, I am not talking about the Mayan calendar stuff. This leap year marks my 20th year in the US as well as my 10th year wedding anniversary.

I really hope to celebrate this year to the fullest, and to really take advantage of the extra day for something fun. So far the year started quietly, which hopefully it is a good sign.

We ushered in the new year, and kicked out the old one, with a couple of New year’s parties. We started at Jennifer’s and Dave’s house on December 30. Lina and Chuck were there too, and we had a fun afternoon chatting, and watching the children play somewhat peacefully. The dinner was great and the awesome cocktails brought me back a little to my “cocktail Tasting parties” days. Thank you Chuck and Dave. Loved the chocolate martini.

waiting to open the presents

playing with beads in their very own cardboard castle

For the kids, brownies aside, the highlight was probably when Dave brought out his old Star Wars toys…Amazing! I am not even a big Star Wars fan and I was floored. These were incredible and were completed with the figurine set, store in the Darth Vader shaped box. One of them even had a price tag still on: $54 in the early 80s which would make it probably close to $200 now. No surprise that the Lego Death Star goes for $400 now.

It took courage to let the kids play with these treasures, but they did goo. Keegan was Darth Vader of course.It was not easy to pry them apart when it was time to go.

The next morning, Keegan and I headed to a play date with Alyce (from the gym class). Both kids were a little on the whiny side, but it was fun for me and Sara to chat. This also gave Matt some time to prep for the night.

Keegan had a nice nap, and I cleaned up the house, and helped Matt getting things ready. Sometime in the afternoon, Krista, Eric and Torin arrived to celebrate, as always, the new year. Keegan was a little out of control, continuing the trend of misbehavior started in December, and even got a couple of time outs. They two, however, had a good time together.

Eating was as always a challenge, but we finally made it through.

Our original plan included driving down the bay to see Seaworld Fireworks. However, the fog that night was so thick, you could not even see the lights of the houses across the canyon, so we decided to stay put.We try to look outside the window, but we could only hear the noise.

goodbye 2011

They left around 9pm, and we quickly cleaned up a little and settle in watching Donnie Darko, one of the best movies ever; maybe it is not the uplifting movie you want to watch on new year’s Eve, but still we love it. It has a pretty amazing site too. It is an old Flash site but still incredible. If you have watched the movie, spend some time on the site: you will not be disappointed.It actually adds a lot of info to it.

We stopped the movie few minutes before midnight, so we could cheer together, and went back to the movie. We were up till past one…and we did not turned into pumpkins!

The next morning started the same way as any morning: Keegan woke us up around 6.15, and climb into bed with us for his daily milk and cuddles. I am really treasuring these moments as I know he will soon be too old to want to spend time cuddling with us, and he already starting to go play on his own a little bit on some mornings.

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day, and I started with a glorious 3 hours nap. I called my parents and we all ate brunch, while I made mimosas with the leftover champagne. Once Keegan went down for his nap, I jumped in the pool. The water was a balmy 80 degrees, so it was wonderful. We spent the last vacation day (at least for Keegan and I) quietly. We tried to convince Keegan to ride his bike, the one he so desired, with little success. He humored for a total of 5 minutes. Not even his new Batman helmet, which he chose, was motivation enough.

So we just played and enjoyed our time together.

I was sad the holiday were over, but also glad that Keegan was getting back to school. He really needs the structure and his friends, and getting back into his routine, did help. He is slowly returning to his normal self.

We are looking forward to what we hope will be a great year and wishing everyone lots of happiness.

Buon Anno!

We have updated our Christmas post with a few new photos from our visit to Balboa Park’s Museums on Christmas Eve. Just FYI.

After a long wait, we finally made it to Christmas, and the much desired holiday that comes with it.

We kicked off the celebration with Keegan’s school party on December 21.The kids had prepared songs and they all got to their places and sang their heart out.

Julia, Eric, Elliott, Van, Keegan, Ivan Mackenzie and Espi from his class

belching out some tunes

They were adorable, but I have to admit that the songs were unrecognizable…After their show, Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up.

They were the same pair than last year, and again they put up a nice show: they played and sang a few songs, danced with the kids and posed for pictures. It was very cute when they asked the kids to pick a good friend and hug him/her while singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Keegan and Kenzie, of course, picked each other.

After the show was over, it was time for pictures. One more Santa picture to add to this year’s collection.

It was a fun party, and the parents enjoyed the show, as well as the cookie exchange (of course I bought my contribution). Keegan made us a nice card and he also gave us homemade candy cane he prepared at school in a homemade box. I was especially excited they convinced him to try to write his name, since he always refuses to when he is home.

After the party, Keegan and Kenzie played some more outside. It is funny how they get along and how much they fight. And now, since they noticed how much we enjoy them telling us they will get married, they repeat it all the time. Keegan goes overboard, talking about the babies that he will have with MacKenzie, the music that will play at their wedding, etc. So cute.

group photo

This year they decided to close the school early, so we had a little juggling to do for Thursday: Matt stayed home for the beginning of the morning, and I left work early to meet them at 10.30. We went to the library for a Christmas themed story-time, then we met Sharon and Jada for lunch. Keegan was a little out of control, but we had a good time.

Fortunately, the following day we were all off, so we had time to play together. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we went to the Skate park to play, and kick the ball around. On the way home, we saw our neighbors and we did some socializing, so Keegan had a very late start to his nap. The afternoon was mellow, and at night we started the epic job of wrapping presents. ‘

Christmas Eve was quiet. We spent the morning at Balboa Park, vising the aerospace museum and the automotive museum. At the aerospace museum we looked at a lot of very cool planes, many from WWI and Keegan was having fun identifying the good guys and the bad guys, based on the symbols painted on the bodies.We also played in the kid area, where Keegan tried to pilot a plane, jumped on the moon, and experimented with the Bernoulli effect. We even took the obligatory, cheesy, touristy picture on the moon.

The automotive museum had a cool exhibit on VW, and a lot of other fun vehicles. Check out the Rocky Horror Hippy Bus!

Ferrari Testarossa will never go out of style

Italian motorcycles area

Keegan is posing in front of a DeLorean, just like the one from Back to The Future…maybe one day he’ll watch the movie and he will probably think it is totally lame.

In the afternoon,we played and baked cookies. Keegan had fun “impersonating” Santa.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, and enjoyed some relaxing family time…

Keegan shot this picture (I know, I look scary)

…relaxing family time till it was time to go to bed. Keegan, who has been difficult for most of the month, really was out of control on Christmas eve. I have never seen him like this. He risked not getting anything for Christmas (as well as missing the whole Christmas eve traditions). It was so frustrating that he got a note from “Santa” the  following day, saying that even if he did not deserved toys for the way he behaved he still got some, at the conditions that he would behave. Otherwise, Santa himself would take the toys back…

We did got everything ready for Santa, though. One girl from his school got him (and everyone in his class) this awesome kit to prepare for Christmas, including a plate for cookies and a mug for milk. We set up 1 cookie (just like Mrs. Claus asked us to do) , some carrots for the reindeer and and some milk.

After he was finally asleep, our job started. We had lots of wrapping to do, and a new bike to assemble. Of course, the bike, with its impossibly hard nuts and bolts, took forever to assemble, but we had fun drinking wine and watching the Christmas Story marathon on TV.

I finally crashed around 1.30, just in time to hear the inner tube of the bike explode. Ooops.

The next morning came way too quickly, but Keegan’s happiness compensated for the tiredness. He was so excited (even as we read “Santa’s note”).

cheeeeeseeeee. There. Can we start opening the presents now?

grandparents’ musical card from Italy (Santa singing in English…)

And in a flash it was all over. The tornado hit again.

After it was all over, around 8am, Matt went to take a nap, while Keegan and I skyped with my parents and opened one last present. My mom was dressed as Santa, and while Keegan did not fall for it, he thought it was very funny. It was nice to “see” them on Christmas. We do miss them.

My friend Daniele, whose daughter Gaia was in Taiwan with her mom, came by for lunch, and cooked a delicious Salmon pasta for us. We had a very good time, and Keegan was happy to have company. Well, the fact that Daniele brought him a HotWheel track, had nothing to do with it…I am sure.

Christmas Portrait

We all took a nice rest after he left, and relaxed the rest of the day. There were so many new things to play with that Keegan was a little mellower and calmer. Sometimes, looking at kids’ toys (see HotWheel track below) I wonder who design them? Obviously not someone that have to build the darn things or attach 500 little, tiny stickers on them…

The night was not as restful as I wished for because we had to pack for our short getaway. Since Keegan enjoyed so much playing around in the snow at Seaworld and Legoland, we thought it would be fun to take him to see real snow. We had a coupon for Inner Tubing Sliding at Mt. Baldy, so we booked two nights in an Embassy Suites in Ontario, which is only 30 minutes away.

Monday morning was a little hectic, between packing and getting everything ready, but we were finally on the road by 2. Fortunately keen fell asleep in the car, so we had a nice, easy ride to Ontario. He woke up just as we pulled in.

The hotel was surprisingly beautiful: we have been in Embassy suites before, and they all look the same. Somewhat cheesy, and family friendly. We like go there because of the suites, so we have our own private room, and the free breakfast and cocktails. This one, however, was a surprise. It looked like one of the trendy, modern boutique hotels we used to go to BK (before Keegan). Calder looking mobiles, a two sided fireplace, and a modern firebox greeted us in the lobby.

The room also was quite sleek, with dark wood furniture, and a modern sleeper couch.

Keegan really liked the hotel and was excited about his very own bed. We went downstairs for the famous complimentary cocktails, and set in front of fire. I guess one of the drawbacks of being in a nicer, more upscale hotel, was that they did have very sophisticated ou d’oeuvre instead of family friendly pop corn, chips or fish crackers. Keegan was a little (well, very) antsy, so we did not dare going to any restaurants. We instead ordered room service and had dinner in the room.

It took a while for Keegan to settle down for the night, and many getting up from the bed, so by the time he finally fell asleep, we crashed too.

The next morning we all got up early, had some nice breakfast at the hotel (also included) and headed out for Mt. Baldy. It was supposed to be 58 degrees, so we brought all sort of jackets, hats, etc. We got there in about half an hour, and no trace of snow. We still got all dressed up, and headed up to the chair lift. Keegan was excited about his new snow gear.

ready to go

The chair lift was fun, even with Keegan squiggling in my lap, and again, no snow. When we made it to the top, we finally saw some of the white stuff, but mainly corralled in a couple of areas.

We also saw a lot of cannons. So, I am not really sure how much more “real” than Legoland this snow was. Anyway, we went to the inner tube area, and we had a blast. It was so much fun!

Now, 58 degrees or not, it was really warm, so we started shedding layers. The guy working there, was only wearing shorts and a sleeveless vest with a t-shirt. I would not go that far, but it was very comfortable.

We took a small break, because Keegan was quickly getting bored and hungry, for snacks and miniature snowman.

After our time was up, we headed back down. There was no open snow area in which to play or sled, so we went back to the hotel. The view was a magnificent from the chair, even if, without snow, it is a little nerve racking.

On the way back home, Keegan kept up his difficult behavior with a full blown tantrum. It was nap time, so we promised him he could watch TV after his nap, but he would not want to hear it and screamed most of the ride back home. How fun.

We all went down for a nap, and watched his long awaited Toy Story 2 video together. His restlessness did not improve much, so after our hotel cocktail reception, we went to grab some food to bring back to the room. Good thing I saved some of the wine from before.

The next morning, again, we had a whiny little guy at our hands, who did not want to do anything,: he did not even want to go and play in the heated pool! So we checked out pretty early and stopped by Bass Pro Shop, an unbelievable outdoor store. It really does not fit as much in California as it would in some other State, but after tubing, I think it was the highlight of Keegan’s trip. It is a huge wood cabin, chock full of outdoor gear, including ATV, boats and all sort of weird vehicles. The walls are plastered with trophy animals’ heads, and real, embalmed animals are posed throughout the store. There are even aquariums and small ponds with live fish in it. Insane. We must have spent an hour or so there.

Keegan’s favorite part was pretending to ride the ATVs.

After leaving the store we had lunch and hoped Keegan would fall asleep. No such luck. He was awake the whole time, even if he did read his Tag’s books for most of the time. I tried to sleep a little. He finally crashed as we got in San Diego, which was a great thing. We really needed a break from him at this point. So, it was a fun trip, but made a little difficult by his behavior.

While Keegan was sleeping, Matt put a new wheel on his new bike, after the inner tube fiasco, and got it ready for him…of course he refused to ride it, despite the fact he really wanted to get a bike for Christmas. This was a little frustrating for all involved.

Matt was off to work the following day, and I was a little worried about the long two days ahead. Fortunately, we spent most of the following day with Jada and Sharon, which got some of his energy out.

I think this holiday break proved us even more that he really NEEDS school, and being with his friends. He was obviously going crazy with us (and so were we). However, we did have many nice moments and fun memories for this Christmas Holiday 2011.

It is the most wonderful time of the year…or so they say. As you are well aware, if you know me, I can’t stand the holidays: by December, I am already sick of the holiday music, displays and fake “happiness”. I don’t like the stress, the pretense, the feel good commercials, the lack of time. However, having a young child does bring back some of the holiday magic, as there are so many activities and events to go to and just looking at Keegan’s eyes light up at the light makes my cynical heart a little softer.

It has been a busy season: three weeks packed full of fun stuff. We kicked off the season with Christmas tree shopping the day after Keegan’s birthday. We stuck to our little tree format (5-6 feet). It is so much easier to decorate and deal with, especially since it is MY job to prepare it. Of course it sat naked for a few days, but we got it under control. We used the same color scheme than last year: blue, white and silver.

Since Keegan made a few foam ornaments, we got him his own little tree to decorate. It was on his room, and it looked really cute.

This year I even did some small decorating in the house, and outside. We bought some lights to complement the modern tree (that Matt does not really care for) and I hung some tinsel, wreaths and snowflakes…Not much, but a big step for me.

Of course we brought back our Elf On The Shelf. You may remember him from last year: it is a creepy little doll that supposedly spies on your kids for Santa, and then report back every day to the big man. Every day he needs to be moved in a different location, since he flew back in from the North Pole. A major pain. I know I am not alone in feeling this, as you can read in this really funny post on overachiever Elf on The Shelf moms, from the blog People I Want To Punch In The Throat. ( a really funny blog, by the way).

the night before Christmas. Bye bye Fifi.

I have to say that this year it has a little less effect, as Keegan was not convinced he could really see everything he was doing. However, he is attached to the little guy, so we will probably bring him back again next year.

To avoid the huge crowds, I decided to bring Keegan to see Santa early on, on December 8. I am not really sure what Keegan makes out of Santa. He knows about him, but I am not really sure he believes in him 100%. He asked me one day, why a Santa we saw looked different from the Santa we took picture with, and at Christmas he thanked us for the presents. In any case, we went for the obligatory picture. Santa was bored out of his skull, being Wednesday afternoon, and was very friendly and ready to talk. Keegan was a little shy, but loved the candy cane.

We made an afternoon out of it, since Santa’s cottage is next to the kids’ area, complete with little trains and bouncies. This was one of the many Santa’s we posed with this year.

The following weekend, we went to Legoland. It was a beautiful, warm sunny San Diego day, but they set us a snow zone, so Keegan got to play in the real snow (well, probably blown in, but so it is the snow at most California ski locations anyway). He had so much fun throwing snowballs, building a snowman and sliding down a small slope.

There was also a Lego Santa Claus, and we just had to take a picture with him.

We stopped by the Star Wars area to check out the amazing reproductions. Amazing…

like father like son…

Keegan even got the chance to drive his own Lego car, and received a “driver license”.

We had the chance to watch some amazing light displays as well. Even if we missed the Del Mar display, we stopped by our Clairemont ones, and enjoyed the show. This is the third year we are going, and it still amazes us. We also went back to watch the Parade Of Lights, the boat light show. We set up on the Shelter Island beach and watched the amazing boats floating by.Unfortunately, due to the recent litigation, there were no fireworks, but we still enjoyed the show.

We attended all the holiday office parties this year: we were lucky our sitter was available for both, back to back. First, we went to Matt’s office party on Saturday night. It was in a posh downtown hotel. A good excuse to get dressed up. Amazingly enough we won a prize in the raffle. Granted, it was a digital camera (and not the blue ray player our table mates got or the Ipad2), and we already have more than two, but still it was amazing to win anything at all. We NEVER win at raffles.

getting ready for a night on the town

The following morning, we headed up to my company party, an elegant brunch in another posh downtown hotel. It was, as always, great. Amazing food, good company and free flowing champagne. It was so good, I crashed as soon I made it home. (-:

We could not leave Seaworld out: they had special decorations and shows for Christmas. They also had a snow area, but it was not quite as fun as Legoland. Mainly, they did not let kids younger than 5 slide down, so Keegan got bored pretty quickly.

how should I play with this white stuff?

oh, I get it. I will just throw a huge snow ball

We watched the sharks, and the cool decorations, including the over-sized sleigh and Christmas tree, we hugged mascots, and checked out real reindeer.

Christmas Otter

Santa’s sleight

real reindeer

We also watched the Christmas Shamu show, at the light of the huge luminaries. As always, I was taken aback by the highly religious tone of the show.

This year, we also went to another Christmas celebration, a new event in Liberty Station, right where we had Keegan’s birthday party. I had a discount coupon, so we headed there one afternoon. They had many booths, food, a Christmas tree forest, a couple of stages, a small snow area and a kid zone. Once again, Keegan had a blast sliding down the small slope and he did it over and over and over again…till he got a little hurt, and then refused to do it again.

flying down the slope

We watched some girls sing and dance, and even a little piece of the Nutcracker. In the kid zone, there was a really awesome ride: huge, inflatable balls, floating on a pool of water. Keegan got inside, they blew it up, and he rolled and played, and rolled on the water. It looked like a lot of fun. I wished I could be in there.

We also watched a live nativity scene, which really impressed him. He really liked it, maybe because by now he is pretty familiar with the story of baby Jesus, also thanks to a story my mom recorded for him. It was definitely an interesting event, but it felt a little overpriced for what it was.

We also dedicated ourselves to “Christmas activities”, like decorating an over-sized gingerbread cookie, a present from his friend Van, and baking sugar cookies. While our baking was not too sophisticated, it was still fun.

I can surely say that this year we lived the holiday season much more intensely. Keegan was a lot more excited about it…in fact, he was in an over-excited state since his birthday, which also meant a lot more acting out and misbehaving. However,  it was a lot of fun to share so many interesting activities together.

We have finally uploaded the pictures from the Thanksgiving Hike. Sorry it took us a while, but they are now there in all their glory. Thank you Sharon for taking such great shots.

It is hard to believe, but our little guy has turned 4 years old. Wow. He has been looking forward to turning 4, and he was really anticipating the day and the party. It is also the first time he asked for a specific gift, more than one time at least.

We are excited for all the milestones he reached as well. We had all his basic check ups, eye doctor, dentists and regular doctor and everything is good. He is now 40 and 3/4″  high: passed the 1 meter mark (103 cm). He weights 34.4 lb (15.7 kg). His hearing, muscle tone, reflexes, and everything else is good. We all know his language is very good. How couldn’t it be? He is CONSTANTLY practicing: while he plays, while he is in the bathroom, any minute he is with us, at school. He even talks in his sleep. And yes, once again I get blamed for it. (-:

One thing he really refuses to do is drawing or coloring (and puzzles are really not his cup of tea either). We would be worried about his fine motor skills, since most of his friends, especially his female friends, are great at drawing, but he is doing fine with Lego building, even the smaller blocks, and he can button and unbutton his own PJ, so, he must be doing fine. Plus, if you find the right way to ask, he would draw faces or recognizable forms: he just chooses not to.

As soon as the Thanksgiving holiday weekend was over, we dove in, head first, in the big birthday celebrations. The week between the two events has been particularly stressful for a combination of factors, including a freelance deadline, regular work stuff, work open house, and of course birthday planning.

the evite for the party

We planned the party at the same park we had it last year. And learning from last year’s experience, we did come up with a plan B: in case of rain, we reserved at Chuck E Cheese , the place I swore to myself I would never go to, but also the only indoor place that required a very cheap deposit. However, plan B notwithstanding, the week was incredibly stressful. The weather forecasts changed daily, or hourly, with various verdicts: clear, cloudy, windy, rainy (on Wednesday!), and I checked them all religiously. I wonder what do they even publish forecast for… We had an even larger number of kids this year, since we invited Keegan’s whole class, and the park was really the ideal solution.

It was an endless week, checking the weather, waiting for RSVP that did not arrive, preparing goodie bags and buying supplies… On Thursday night, we filled bags and baked chocolate chip muffins to bring to school.

Getting ready for the goodie bags.

We chose a monster theme.

Finally we made it to Friday. Most forecast agreed on party cloudy, so the park was a go. Keegan got to celebrate with his classmates one day early, with muffins and grapes. He was excited, and he had his picture posted in the classroom birthday board.

Friday was a busy day: besides the big day preparations, I also had a work event that evening, so I was rushing the whole day.

On Saturday, we all got up early (well, our normal 6.15 am wake up time). We had all the presents lined up in our bedroom, and Keegan had fun opening them.

Presents from Italy

My parents sent a massive package with lots of presents for both Christmas and birthday. Keegan’s cousins drew some beautiful cards for him, and Naraiana even crocheted a card for him.

He loved them all: the books, the clothes, the vibrating bug…but he was especially excited about getting his roaring dinosaur. It is the first time he actually asked for something: he saw a working model at Target and it was mesmerized…well they actually recreated a whole scene, with many different beasts, fighter guys and an “erupting” volcano…who would resist?

oh goodie, the roaring T-rex is here!

the morning loot…or part of it

There was no time for an early morning nap, so we watched some TV, Cars 2, another birthday present, and got ready for the party. We stopped by to pick up the cake…and they spelled the name wrong, despite my very clear printing. Fortunately they quickly fixed it and off we went. Keegan was very impressed by the cake. After excruciating deliberations, he chose a surfing Mickey Mouse cake. Don’t ask me why. He had been wanting a Nemo cake forever, and then, he just changed his mind. It did looked nice, though.

When we arrived at the park, the bouncie was already set up, and Keegan did not waste any time.

It was the same one from last year, and again it was a big hit. His friends started trickling in, and at the end I think we had between 20 and 25 kids, including siblings…wow. Good thing that, despite menacing dark clouds, the sky stayed clear, and we had the whole park to play in.

We also brought a soccer goal, bouncing balls, crafts and we were very close to the playgrounds, so it worked out great.

Hannah plays the goalie

Leave it to the boys to use the bouncing balls as weapons…

In fact, it went better than last year: there were very few tears, no fights and no throwing up. Keegan, being bigger, also was able to hold up for much longer, with minimal whining.

I guess the only big “drama” of the day was when all the kids gathered for cake, and just as Keegan was getting ready to blow off his candle, Torin “helped” him and blew it off. We did have to do a repeat. (-:

stealing a hug from the birthday boy

Most kids left between 1 and 2 pm. Since we had the bouncie till 3 pm, we waited at the park till they came to pick it up. With only a couple of kids around, the adults took turns jumping and sliding: what a work-out. I am always amazed at how the kids don’t get tired. Keegan was still going strong even in the afternoon…with occasional breaks.

We even had some “party crasher” who asked us to join in.

As we were waiting for the guys to pick up the bouncie, Keegan opened the presents. This year he was a lot more excited about them, so it was not easy to “hide” some away, but some clever organizing helped.

Admiring Alyce’s hand made wrapping…pretty impressive

Despite being exhausted, Keegan did not fall asleep in the car and it took some convincing to get him to sleep. He finally went down for an almost three hours nap. Matt followed suit, and I enjoyed the much needed peace and quiet.

Keegan woke up around 6 pm and he immediately proceeded to play with the new toys, even if it was hard to pick with so many good choices.

Is this a toy store display or our living room?

With the party and the celebrations behind us, now it was time to throw ourselves head first on the next big thing: Christmas. Yeah! (and yes, this is sarcastic).

I love this holiday: 4 days we all have off. This year the weather has been  absolutely gorgeous, which allowed us to take full advantage of our beautiful city. We began with a Thanksgiving Feast at Keegan’s school. Fortunately we were charge with bringing vegetables, which made it easy. We all ate, even Keegan, and the kid played outside.

Keegan and MacKenzie: self professed future husband and wife

And to complete the kick off the for the holiday season, my parent’s package arrived that day as well, stuff to the edge with Christmas and birthdays presents for all of us.  — thank you for all the goods (-:

The following day, after the regular early morning nap, Keegan and I met our neighbors for a fun hike in the Canyon nearby. The sky was cloudy, which made it perfect for walking. We had fun collecting acorns and leaves and throwing rocks in the puddles and streams. I was impressed Keegan hiked without complaining almost a full mile.

The kids playing and hiking together

Afterwards, we played at their house, and then we had lunch together. When Keegan went to take his nap, I started my holidays shopping…from home. Lots of great deals out there and with both a birthday and Christmas coming up, I needed it. We found a good bike for Keegan and a few other goodies. In the afternoon, Matt started cooking our feast, and our friend Daniele and his daughter Gaia came over to share it with us. The kids, despite the three year’s difference, played well together, and got to jump around and run. They had fun building a fort out of our bean bags.

Did Keegan have the holidays mixed up…or was he just trying to impress the older woman with his supernatural powers?

Dinner was excellent as always, and we savored all the food and the wonderful pies Daniele brought.

This is exactly how we felt afterwards.

Keegan was exhausted and crashed as soon as they left, and we finished our evening quietly.

The next morning, Keegan fell back asleep till 7am. Wow: sleeping in! It was a beautiful sunny day. Around lunch time we went to the Clairemont Square shopping center to see the arrival of Santa: this must have been the shortest parade in history, but it was still fun to watch, with the vintage cars, marching band and the ancient firetruck carrying Santa. Keegan and Matt missed most of it, but I took pictures.

Definitively much different from the Mother Goose Parade we watched the previous week, that lasted a good three hours.

The line for Santa was too long, so we just strolled around, and got some pizza and ice cream. And this made Keegan’s day. As Keegan slept, I did my own black Friday, by surfing the internet for gifts. I am sorry, but I really can’t fathom waking up at 3amor staying up till midnight and brave huge crowds for deals…

Saturday was an exceptionally warm day: I think we broke a record, with highs in the upper 70s. We took advantage of the weather to go visit the Chula Vista Nature Center, that sits on the 316-acre Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. It was beautiful, with plenty of animals to see. We even got to see the rays and the sharks being fed.

In the afternoon, the tides were exceptionally low, so we headed to Tourmaline Beach Park, in Pacific Beach, to check out the tide pools. I have to say that as far as sea life is concerned it was a little disappointing: we only saw a few anemones/ like plants, and  little crabs, but the beach itself, with the huge stretch of sand exposed was magical at sunset.

How can you avoid falling in love with San Diego in moments like these?

Sunday was also a very warm day: we pumped up the water heater a little so Matt and Keegan went splashing in the pool, and I got my swimming exercise done too. It felt good, and the water was a nice 80 degrees. We took it easy the rest of the day: eating and reading in the sun, while Keegan napped, then playing together and preparing some snowflake shaped banana nut muffins. We had dinner together, and played some more.

everyone knows how to relax in style in our house

All and all it was a great Thanksgiving. We are grateful for everything we have and for all the people that surround us with their love and support. In the craziness of the routine it is easy to forget how blessed we are, and we are trying to instill a sense of thankfulness in Keegan as well.  So, a wonderful, relaxing, 4 days weekend. We really needed it, to recharge and store energies to face the following week, which was a crazy, busy, stressful one.

A real girls weekend…what a concept! It has been a long time since I took a trip on my own, so it was sorely needed. It all started when my good friend from college, Lidia, asked me if I wanted to go see Duran Duran together. We went to one of their shows many years back, in the mid-nineties, and I have to say it was one of the best Duran Duran concerts I have ever been at. It was basically a greatest hit show, so we danced and sang like 14 years old…except that at the end of the show we were exhausted, and completely aching… The last time DD played in San Diego it was on my due date…if Keegan would have been born late, I probably would have gone, but he was early. Thanks Keegan!

Anyway, DD were touring again, to promote their new album, and playing shows both near San Diego and in Las Vegas, where Lidia lives. Luck, once again was not on my side: I was in Italy at that time. Then Lidia came up with the prefect plan: they had a show in Boston, at the end of October. Lidia lived in Boston for 5 years, so she would be happy to go back, and I have always wanted to visit, plus the show was on a Friday night: I could not pass it up.

First I had to make sure it was OK with Matt: after all, he is the one that would have to be with Keegan for two and half days. After getting the green light, we bought tickets and booked the flight. I was very excited and a little nervous, just because Keegan is still in the “mommie” phase, and always wants me around.

We both left on Thursday night, with a red eye flight. Going at the airport alone, with only carry on luggage for a “short” 5 hours flight was a dream! I flew Jet Blue that, when not keeping passengers hostage on the tarmac for 7+ hours, it is a really “comfortable” airline. I was able to catch a little sleep, and met Lidia at the airport.

I got all my warmest clothes on and I have to say I was able not to freeze…but man it was chilly!

some cars had snow on them…welcome to Massachusetts

We immediately got a nice, warm breakfast and headed to the hotel. We were able to get an early check in so we snoozed a few hours, to get ready for the evening. When we woke up, the sun was still shining, and we went for a walk to the beautiful Public Gardens. We enjoyed the mild temperature and catching up: we have not seen each other in a while.

real fall and Autumn leaves

We had the mandatory stop at the Ducklings statue, and a photo-op at the Cheers pub.

We walked the replica of the London Bridge…we both have been at the one in London: now we are only missing the real one in Arizona.

We got an early dinner in an Irish pub, where I could taste an awesome cup of clam chowder, with mussel and fries, and of course a Samuel Adams OcktoberFest beer. Maybe not the best combo, but still delicious. Now that I have a smart phone, I had email a picture of it to Matt right away. (-:

We walked home, and watching the lit up marquee got us excited for the show that was only few blocks away, at the Wang Theater.

Needless to say, the crowd was the same exact crowd of 30 years ago: a bunch of teenage girls, now 30 years older, and with husbands and kids in tow. Quite interesting. The show was great: it is a small theater, so even if we were sitting in the balcony, we could see quite well. The show focused on the last album quite a bit, which fortunately I have bought and listened to (and it is pretty good), but of course they played many old hits, which are always more fun.

This was definitely not your 80s concert:
• we had assigned seas, instead of waiting for hours outside, and then fight to the death for getting access to the first rows
• no injuries or burns
• Simon made a lot of jokes and I can now almost fully understand
• The security was not only not searching for hidden cameras or recorders, but getting out of the way when you were taking pictures or video with cameras or smart phones

You can see a lot of them on YouTube, and Lidia made amazing pictures.

• the hysterical screaming was almost non-existent (thank God)
• I only spotted 1 real lighter during slow songs. In fact, even Simon le Bon asked the crowd to turn on their cell phones, and lighters. It prompted me to download the Zippo app…so very sad!

John is still hot…

… even if Simon is the one who aged the best

guess what song are they playing now?

What did not change:
• my determination to see them again next time to come
• it was a fun show, and we had a great time
• the songs still sounded great
• Simon still missed a few notes
• my determination to see them again next time to come
• the show was packed with enthusiastic fans, despite my parents guess that by the nineties nobody will even know who they were. (-:

I guess you can’t deny your past. I tell this to my students all the time: choose your band wisely, because these will be the bands you will listen to for the rest of your life. You can like more, different bands— and I do — but there will always a soft spot in your heart for the music of your adolescence and early twenties.

The next morning we woke up under gray skies and ominous forecast: an apocalyptic storm was coming, and we better be prepared. This was a major bummer, since we had the full day for exploring the city a we wanted to go to Salem for the annual Halloween celebration. Anyway, we took it as it came, and we went visiting the city. Lidia was an excellent tour guide: we walked most of the freedom trail, we say the Paul Rivere’s house, and Samuel Adams’ grave, with a couple of detours to Dunkin’ Donuts, Lidia’s favorite coffee shop.

We visited the Main Public Library, which is amazing: it looks like a classic museum, and it is so beautiful. They have several special room, including a map room, with little nooks for children to read themed books or play related activities.

It also had a wonderful courtyard, with a Mother and Child statue fountain.

I crossed the finish line at the Boston marathon, the closest I will ever be to the actual event.

We just meandered the street, catching civil war impersonator at any corner.

We saw Samuel Adam’s grave and Benjamin Franklin’s statue: I had to get a picture of him since he was born on my birthday…or is it the other way around?

In the same square there was the democratic Donkey, and a place to stand in opposition.

a cool bridge, but I don’t remember the name

Boston is definitely a beautiful city, and I do want to come Back sometime, to spend more time here.

We had lunch at Regina’s Pizzeria in the Italian neighborhood, North End.

Just as we finished up, it started raining. And we are not talking about San Diego rain: it poured. We quickly caught the subway, and headed to the Samuel Adams Brewery for a free tour. We had to wait a while, but it was warm and dry, so we did not mind.

The tour was fun, and pretty short and lead to the tasting part: we tried three different beers, and we enjoyed them all. Samuel Adams is one of my favorite beers anyway.

With rain still pouring we headed back to the hotel to rest and relax. Salem was out of the questions, and the train to Cambridge, our alternate location, was under construction, so taking the alternate buses in this messy weather was not an option. So we walked to a nice, warm, Irish pub for a great dinner. We relaxed and chatted, and then watched the first snow fall down. It was cold, and windy but it was fun to see snow falling: I am not sure when was the last time I saw real snow.

We slowly walked back, watching all the “kids” heading to their parties in skimpy clothing. This made me realize that young people are crazy everywhere: in San Diego you see them walking on the boardwalk in t-shirt, shorts and sheep skin Uggs boots, even if it is 70 out. In Boston, you see them wearing coats, dress clothing and flip flops even if it is 50 outside. Or you see them wearing shorts and skimpy dresses even if it is snowing…like the famous Italian verse says: quant’e’ bella giovinezza… (how beautiful is youth).

The next morning, bright and early, I headed to the airport (thank you Lidia for riding the bus with me). Of course the sun was shining and the weather was mild. I had to be in Boston the only night they had a major storm! Oh well, it does not matter: I had a wonderful time, and it went by way too quickly. Thank you Lidia for coming up with the idea and thank you Matt for encouraging me to go.

The flight back was unremarkablele, except for the mad rush to board: despite being at the airport 1.5 hour early, I was the last one to board. It took 50 minutes to clear security, including having to wait to for the result of the full body scan. I still made it in time to buy a small replica of the airplane I was flying in for Keegan, and then I settled in. The flight was quite pleasant. Free xm radio, synced mostly on 80s and 90s music, and I even caught a video of Wild Boys on Vh1 classic…I had the chance to read uninterrupted for hours—which was a wonderful vacation in itself— a very interesting, if haunting book, Room, which I really liked.

We landed early, and I caught a cab only to arrive at an empty home: Matt and Keegan were at the zoo.

It was great to see them both, and even greater to know that Keegan was very good, and he had a great “guys’ weekend”.  Matt kept him busy, and while he was very happy to see me, I sighed with relief, knowing that, despite his mommy phase, I can leave him without worry…

Does that mean I can do more girls weekends?????

It has been only 6 weeks since we got back from Italy, but it feels like the trip was a very long time ago. Maybe this is because we have been so incredibly busy in these 6 weeks that time flew by. And with the holidays coming, including someone’s big 4th birthday, I don’t see any slowing down.

So, let’s recap:the trip back was probably the best and easiest to date. While I still had to deal with a few issues in regard of the car seat, no one questioned Keegan’s age (and I event told him to lie..) and we were able to get the seat on both flights. And this meant, he stayed in his seat…buckled…without protest! For the short flight, Keegan fell asleep as we landed in London, seriously, but he woke up easily. On the long, intercontinental flight, Keegan stayed seated the WHOLE flight (except for potty breaks), and mainly buckled. We are talking 11+ hours, in his seat…The headrest TV helped a lot. He watched two movies back to back, including Cars 2. He never watches a full movie, and here he is, watching two back to back on his personal entertainment system. Great! So I got to read and watch movies too. Falling asleep took a while, but covering him with a blanket did the trick. He slept a few hours and so did I. So, all in all, despite the serious hassle, the car seat was a great thing. I am worried what I am going to do next year without it!

Matt picked us up with a nice bunch of flowers and a big smile on his face. At home, I have found a clean and tidy house and a beautiful vase of “anniversary” flowers. This years were the best one yet!

After we got married, I told him I would like to have for our anniversary, the same flowers that were in my bouquet, and every year since he bought them. Not an easy task, even with a labelled photo: of course, I chose flowers for my bouquet that are completely out of season, so he needs to order them in advanced. What a great husband!

Keegan was not disappointed either: there were “welcome home” gifts waiting for him.

He was excited to see all his old toys and books, and to show daddy the new ones he got in Italy. But he was absolutely ecstatic when he saw his Halloween costume: Dash from the Incredibles. He tried it on immediately, and kept on wearing it almost every day since.

Is it Halloween yet?

Back in San Diego it was Fall time. Let me start by saying that is absolutely not true that San Diego has no seasons. It is pretty obvious when it is Fall time: the days are shorter, it is not quite as warm, especially at night, the occasional rain falls and the marine layer is a very rare affair. And for you skeptics, here it is: we do have deciduous trees too.

There. So don’t talk to me about leaves or seasons. And no, I don’t miss the cold and snow, AT ALL.

Of course it took Keegan a good week to get over the jet lag — and therefore it took us a whole week to be able to get any sleep at all —but this has not stopped him a bit. As soon as we got back, we started up our social life. Hannah’s birthday party was set for the Saturday after we got back, and we headed there after an epic nap (courtesy of jet lag). It was a nice way to start out the routine. Keegan was very shy at first, but quickly warmed up with cupcakes.

He also went back to preschool, the very next day after we arrived. He got readjusted very quickly, and it felt like he never left. His friends had been asking about him, and missed him, so they were very happy to see him, and so was Keegan to see them. I got the cutest picture of him and two of his girl friends. That was the day he could not leave without kissing them.

MacKenzie, Julia and Keegan swinging away…

…and joking around

The following weekend we went to “night-time beach”, as Keegan calls it. With shorter days, it is pretty easy to stay past sunset. It was quite chilly, but we still had fun running around, playing with the sun toys and even dipping our (well, theirs) feet in the water.

There were a few things going on that night: one environmental group was…well, we are not sure exactly what they were doing, but it was interesting to see them. The group created a maze of luminaries and then invited everyone to walk through the maze. Strange but fascinating.

There were also people creating memorials for Steve Jobs on the sand.They drew a large Apple logo and wrote messages.

It was moving. Being a Mac person, Steve Jobs’ death affected me deeply. Not sure why. His genius and his creativity will be sorely missed. Obviously I was not the only one. All the Apple stores became shrines, with flowers and thousand of colored sticky notes attached to the window, carrying messages and memories. In UTC someone even brought an old Mac II. So sad.

Even Keegan got “involved”; when he saw the memorial website, and asked me about it, and we talked how Steve Jobs is not here anymore. He became very serious and he said “how sad”. He knows Steve Jobs as the guy who helped design his iPod. Keegan has been talking more about death lately, but while he does seem to understand what it is, he does not seem too scared or worried.

On October 18, we celebrated Matt’s birthday. Keegan was excited, told everyone at school and could not wait for the evening so we could open the presents. We went out for dinner, and as a “birthday cake” we had ice cream. By the way, Matt expressly requested ice cream and not cake. I was not trying to escape my responsibilities as a wife. (-: And Steven Colbert AmeriCone Dream is probably one of the best flavors yet. Try it out.

The end of October means only one thing: Halloween!!!! This year must have been the best one yet. Keegan was so excited about it, and could not wait. He chose his costume, and he had a few test runs, literally… Halloween also meant Pumpkin Patch, or a bunch of rides with a few pumpkins thrown in for good measure. This year MacKenzie came with us, so it was twice the fun. The kids tried a lot of rides, and the train, and of course the super huge slide.He was not quite as tiny this time around, so I did not get any weird stares.

Enough pictures, I am ready to go in

They had so much fun together, and we got quite a few picture perfect moments. Aren’t they adorable?

Of course the pumpkin patch is mainly for the rides: the pumpkin themselves are a little overpriced. We got ours at the grocery store, a week before Halloween. Bad idea: the pumpkin molded, shriveled up and died well before the big day. We even tried to torch the inside…no luck. Oh well, Keegan got to enjoy two different pumpkins. He “helped” decorate the first one.

The second one was quickly (Keegan was not helping) carved the day before Halloween.

This year, I even added a few decorations, getting carried away by my little guy’s enthusiasm. Nothing over the top as the inflatable ghost some of our neighbors had, but it made the house look more festive. And it was a great way to show off our new grass and curb plants. So nice not to have to look at dirt anymore.

We had one more social event, Alyce’s birthday party. Keegan met Alyce at gym class. It was at Boomer’s, a cute place with rides and mini golf. Keegan tried all the rides and even tried mini golf, something I am absolutely horrible at.

October 31st finally arrived. Keegan could not contain his excitement. He started the day by wearing his Incredibles underwear and donning his costume for school. At 10.30, I met him at school for the annual Halloween Parade: walking around the block, in costume, and going Trick or Treating at the local stores.

waiting for the green light from their teacher

The mask lasted only the time it took to take the picture

Dash-Keegan and Puss in Boots-Kelsen. In the back Woody-Van

A candy break followed.

When I picked him up in the afternoon, we played a few carnival games and went home to get ready for the big night.

To complete his costume, we had to style his hair back. Not an easy task. Even with a maximum hold gel, his hair would stick straight up.

we are ready to go

We arrange to meet the neighborhood kids: it was a group of 7. They had a great time, and I have to say that this year there were a lot more kids in the neighborhood, walking around in costume.

He got so much candy, his pumpkin was too heavy and I had to empty it out in my bag. After a full hour, Keegan and the other kids could not take it anymore, and headed back home to sort out booty.

Keegan organized all his candies in categories and picked his favorite 5. Of course he chose all the pack containing many pieces, like M&M and skittles. The rest will go to mom’s workplace…except for white chocolate Kit Kats, my absolute favorite. Amazingly enough, he went to bed easily, despite the sugar high…

These 6 weeks were pretty full of adult fun as well. Matt and I went to see two of my favorite shows: Hair and The Rocky Horror Show. I have never seen Hair before and I was impressed: the production was great and still moving after all these years, even though very different from the movie. The fact that the Occupy San Diego encampment was just outside the theater, made it more poignant, even though, I do realize that 60’s anti -war protest cannot even compare to the Wall Street protest of today.

On a lighter note, the Rocky Horror Show was amazing as always. We got our prop bag and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I still think is an amazing show. The actors were great, and there were a few in the public shouting comments and come-backs like in the movie theater. The actors often improvised based on these audience participation. This is definitely a show I will watch again and again.

Finally, I had my girls’ weekend in Boston, watching Duran Duran. I will talk about it in a later post, but let me just say it was GREAT (even with the storm of the century).

So, all in all, it was a great way to get back into our routine here in San Diego, and now, after taking a deep breath, we are getting ready for the crazy holiday season.