Eli turned ten yesterday... double digits. I feel like he should be seven. He had a good birthday. I got him (and Ben) donuts for breakfast and his teacher let us bring in cupcakes to server after lunch, and his class sang "happy birthday" to him. He'd made the cupcakes himself too, the night before. He really wanted to make them himself - you could tell it was important to him. I'm not sure if it's because it was for his class, or if it's just another facet of him growing up.
We had asked him where he wanted to eat out, and initially he'd liked Joann's suggestion of Sonoma Chicken Coop (since he loves chicken), but Sunday night he asked if we could stay home, bbq burgers, have banana milkshakes, and watch a movie. I always knew he really like "movie nights" but I was surprised that's what he choose for his birthday. But he had a great time - we watched "Inkheart" and had Godiva Chocolate Cheescake (with 10 big candles on it that Ben picked out). Ben gave him 3 Legos sets (in the morning, so they could play with them after school) including one Eli really wanted, and Joann and I, and Tim and Trina, gave him a Nintendo DS Light, with games and accessories. I think he could hardly believe his eyes.
Eli, for a long time, cannot resist getting in on a good hug. He is something of a home body, and some of his favorite things are a good meal, and comfortably watching a movie with his family. So, along those lines, often when he sees Joann and I hugging, he'll say "Me too!" and come over to make it a group hug. And then Ben's response is to kind of worm his way inside the group hug, so he can be in the center.
We went camping with friends last weekend, right before school started. It was fun, though the weather was a bit uncooperative (cool, damp at times). Was great fun watching all the kids doing kid things... some of them tried new things (Phoebe and Isabelle tried body surfing and boogie boarding), and we found a couple of geocaches.
We just had a pretty good heat wave - strangely it got even hotter on the coast than here (which is completely backwards - I'd love to understand how that happens). We went to the beach yesterday - it was 99 degrees F in Santa Cruz, but perhaps 10 or 15 degrees cooler right on the beach. Was a great day for going in the water... except for the jellyfish that stung Eli. Scared the hell out of me at first, because we're all in the water having a great time, and all the sudden he just completely loses it. So I kind of snap at him and tell him he's got to stop and tell me what happened. He did a pretty good job at that, considering he was in a lot of pain, so I tell him not to worry (while I'm worried) and walk him over to the lifeguard (because I have no idea how to treat jellyfish stings, or even if I should be worried). The lifeguard asks him about it, and gives us a spray bottle of vinegar to spray where Eli's stung. Yup, vinegar. I do this, and Eli says it helps.
The lifeguard says the jellyfish has little stinging cells that break off and embed in the skin when the tentacle brushes on you. He says not to mess with skin where it's stung, because it will irritate it more, unless you're going to wash the area with soap and water (to remove the stinging cells). He tells us once he got stung in Costa Rica and tried scrubbing his skin with some sand. He says Eli should feel better in about an hour, but to watch for allergic reactions - if Eli has shortness of breath or anything like that, to take him to the hospital or come back. I ask him if he has Benedryl, and he doesn't, but they have oxygen and stuff. He says allergic reactions are rare, but to be careful.
Eli is feeling a little better, but still in pain. We go back to our beach blanket and he lies down, and I try to distract him by talking to him. His stung areas welt up a bit, but after a bit (about an hour), he feels better. He's not keen on going back in the water, but we all build a huge sandcastle, complete with moat, tunnels, and turrets.
Then, we come home and play in the pool for a bit, and read Harry Potter before bed. I try to put them to bed, but it's too hot. Eventually we all come sleep in the living room on the floor in front of the fan.
Today it was much cooler - high of 85 maybe. Played in the pool, did chores, and tie-dyed shirts with the tie-dye kit they got me for father's day.
Oh, and I should mention they started back to school last week and that seems well. Ben has Mr. Hill, who Eli had for second grade and we loved.
Tonight the boys and I watched the Perseids. It's been smoggy here
the last couple of days (pretty bad, too) so we drove up Hwy 9, over
the summit, and went to this great vista point that overlooks the San
Lorenzo Valley, and on a clear day/night, you can even see out to Santa
Cruz. It was clear (no smog over the hill) tonight, and we could just
make out the city lights along the coast.
So we spread a blanket down on the hood of the camry and laid on our
backs and watched some spectacular meteors against a backdrop of stars
that included the pale ghost of the milky way stretched across the
sky... while eating pringles. Ben loves pringles.
A great memory.
I bought a GPS on Ebay so we can go Geocaching - I got hooked while we
were camping. It's about the closest you can come to hunting for
treasure, I think, and is a great excuse to get outside and go trekking
around.
The last four weeks (and many weeks before that, honestly) have been something of a blur. Joann and I had a nice 15 year anniversary celebration being pampered and eating decadent food in Saratoga (and some slightly less than decadent, but wonderful for the circumstances: I was so happy to find a Domino's pizza to deliver to our room at 11 o'clock at night!).
We had a great, three-day 4th of July weekend camping at the beach. The weather was cooperative and mild (warm enough to know it was summer, but not too hot during the day or too cold at night) and we had a great camping trip and a lot of fun watching people shoot off fireworks from the beach. Eli and Ben and I bodysurfed for hours on Saturday and had an absolute blast. They are really getting more and more confident in the water.
Apparently I lost my glasses - I think I left then at the cabin for our snow-trip - but I was kind of due to get my eyes checked anyway. I've caught myself doing that thing where you hold the book closer and farther trying to find a good distance... So, they've gotten a little worse, and now I definitely need reading glasses - in addition to neading a slight correction for distance (I don't need it, but it's enough to make my eyes get tired faster). So the doctor suggested bifocals or progressives. I feel like 40 is knocking on my door...
The boys are doing well and enjoying summer. I'm glad we've still got a good bit of it to go. For me, it means more flexibility (sleep!) in the mornings, and that they can stay up later and I don't have to worry about the ripple effect of that.
Today he did something kind of cute too - we were playing and lounging in our algae ridden pool (waiting for the filter to catch up with it) and I decided to lay out in the sun and relax a bit, drink a beer, and just take it easy. Ben, after a bit, asks if he can lay down with me. So, he's laying down with me, enjoying the summer day, and he says, "You know what would make this even better?" "What?" I ask. "Some chips," he says. So I chuckle and tell him I agree, and I get some chips and some trail mix and we sit there snacking having a grand time.
Every week at the boys school, they highlight a different life skill. Mr Hayes, our awesome principal, speaks at the assembly every morning, and hands out awards to recognize students, and talks about life skill. This weeks' life skill is "integrity".
We went to see the Disney movie "Earth" last night.
Before that, the boys had a session at "the little gym". When we went
to see "Earth", Eli hadn't quite finished his homework. When we got
home, it was 9pm.
So, Eli got up before I did this morning (this isn't unusual; he likes
to get up a little early and play video games on the Wii) and
completely on his own, got out his homework and finished it (two pages
of math). I hadn't told him to do this - to be honest, I was figuring
"Earth" was a good excuse to miss some homework...
I told him he should be very proud and that he had great integrity.
It's been kind of rainy here the last couple of days, and at the assembly this morning, the school principal asked the kids to stay out of the puddles at recess pointing out that if they got wet, then they'd be sitting in cold wet clothes in class.
Contrast then, the warning of the principal with the story I got from Ben. He asked me if he could wear his clothes to bed, and not change into pajamas (he was wearing sweat pants) because they were still clean. So I asked him when he'd changed. He became quite anmated and told me that he'd changed when he got home from school because his clothes had gotten wet on of the times he was jumping over a puddle at school, and how much fun jumping over the puddle at been, and how sometimes he slid on the wet ground before and/or after he was running up to jump over the puddle. All this re-enacted in our kitchen and dining room in both slow motion and at nearly full speed.
I could only smile and laugh out loud and how much fun it had been. Apparently the wet clothes had been more than worth it. Good for him.
Last night Percival apparently climbed into Eli's bed. Eli says he tried to get him out, but was too tired to make a big deal of it. Personally, I'm pretty sure what actually happened is that Eli called him into bed...
So tonight Eli asked if Percival could sleep in his bed. Up to now, the rule has always been no dogs in kids beds (a long time ago, before kids, we let Ruby into our bed, but she usually left and slept on the couch anyway). So, we're not sure about letting the dogs up into the kids' beds, and said no for now.
A little later I went in to check on some laundry and just about tripped over something. Eli had made a bed for Ruby and Percival (out of the two thick comforters) and was laying on the floor with them, only having the somewhat thin blanket for himself. And he was so crowded his knees are doubled up against his bed.
So, he found the loophole in the rule and took the opportunity to use it to cuddle the dogs. A kid after my own heart.
A friend of ours, a little girl, was Darth Vader for Halloween. She told her dad she wanted one of those Darth Vader voice changer things, and that she wanted to say, "I find your lack of candy disturbing."
We spent a big part of yesterday working around the house. Eli and Ben and I spent a lot of time organizing the playroom, then working in the yard, and finally I went out back to put up some rope lights around the patio cover. Eli offered to help me with the lights, and wanted to go up the ladder. I let him go up the ladder, and he helped put up some little clamps to hold the rope lights. At one point he stopped and thanked me for letting him help, and he said it made him feel (and you could see him grasping for a description) good to do something. I think he was enjoying the sense of productivity and belonging. I need to try to find more opportunities to work on stuff with him. Though I already know he's not too fond of helping clean up after the dogs and put away dishes...
My birthday was Monday (I turned 39) and as usual, what I really wanted to do was spend the day at the beach, doing all kinds of fun beachy things, with my family. Since the kids have school on Monday, I had this crazy idea that I could stitch together one perfect day from two or three days at the beach. So, Saturday (while Joann was visiting her cousin) I took the kids to Manresa State Beach. It was a little cool, and a little windy, but pretty okay all in all. And we had a great time.
Over the summer I got the boys each a short sleeve wetsuit, which we put to good use with it getting cooler. The tide was low, and the swell almost non-existant, so there were lots of little 1-2 foot waves rolling in - plenty to be fun for kids, but nothing big enough to be intimidating. And since we were at Manresa at low tide, you could walk out 20-30 yards and still only be in knee-high water (the slope of the beach there is very shallow, unlike a lot of other beaches around here, and so it's great for kids). These factors together let the boys feel a little brave, and they both tried riding a could of little waves on my boogie board, and had a great time.
(To be continued... roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire, watching the sunset playing frisbee, buying a Jawa costume the next day, and going back to the beach for more boogie boarding on Monday)
The boys often lay in bed and talk for awhile (too long) when they go to bed. Sometimes they're playing, just imaging stuff and telling each other stories, etc. Tonight they're talking about whether they believe in aliens and God.
The boys love Legos, so I subscribed them to the Legos club, which means they get a little magazine/catalog in the mail. One came, and they went all through it showing me all the stuff they like (pretty much everything).
One of the things was a "knights and trolls" chess set. Ben like this (they both play chess a little). A little later he tells me, "I saw a chess set in the Legos magazine and I was thinking I could make one." So I say, "Yeah, sure you can do that! Great idea." and offer to help him.
So yesterday I dug out a bunch of little squares for the board while he made "Lord of the Rings" (we just got the cartoon from the library and Eli and Ben both like it a lot) themed guys. Ben didn't have quite enough guys for all the chess pieces, so Eli lent him his. And we played chess with Legos guys. Way cool.
On the other hand, recently Ben also got quite frustrated because Eli "just wanted to build stuff" and "that's boring". I think the was on the 4th of July, which we spent at the beach. I'm farly certain it had to do with building sandcastles and Ben wanting to have a battle.
The 4th of July was great. The weather was nice (little windy, but not bad) and we played at the beach all day. The boys even did some body surfing. We stayed until dark and watched fireworks - predominantly ones shot from the beach by locals. There were an amazing amount of fireworks being shot off the beaches, in spite of signs warning of one thousand dollar fines and a fairly impressive presence of park rangers, private security, county sheriffs, and even some firefighters. (I'm not kidding.) And we were at a relatively less crowded beach a little ways down the coast (though it was still the most people I've ever seen at that beach). The evening was beautiful, with clear skies, a crescent moon, and an orange sunset fading into a purple night sky. And then the fireworks, while we ate BBQ hamburgers.
Ben Riding his bicycle (well) for the first time (on July 1):
And Eli is getting quite good and pretty confident by now. Only thing was, he tried to zoom past Ben on the track at the school where we were riding, just as Ben was getting kinda wobbly and they had a pretty good crash. We've got it on video. Maybe I'll post it later.
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