Easter and Spring Break 2015

Begin Spring Break! Ben's cousin Jeff was in town for work and wanted to meet up with Uncle Dan and us for dinner. So we headed up early to beat the traffic (taking 6 freeways in the process) and visited this place, and got a tour. They make one of the most popular video games on the planet. 

While waiting for Uncle Dan to get off work, we played around on Uncle Dan's fat bike. 

 The only person who could really ride it was Dad, because the rest of us can't reach. The day prior to this, Ben had ridden his bike up Onyx Summit, a 7200' climb, with his cycling buddy Chuck Bramwell and others. 

With Saturday came General Conference, and out came the Legos. Ben and I are able to listen, but the kids don't, so I think we'll need to remedy that a little bit come next conference. 

Easter morning, keeping it simply and lower-sugar. Bike jerseys for the kids and a little egg hunt around the house.

Funny candy courtesy of Grandma Chickens.

More General Conference. I think at this point Jilly was whining about why there was so much of General Conference, as I had told them they couldn't play with Legos during the Sunday morning session. That was the session I remember sitting through as a child when everyone had to go to the church building to watch the sessions. 

Later in the afternoon after conference had ended, we had an Easter potluck with neighbors and the kids had an egg hunt. Lots of candy and even a few $1 bills. 

During Priesthood session, I met up with our friend Emily and her kids at a park where the girls discovered how to fly off the swings and Jilly created this "natural food" dinner. Emily had made little rice crispie treat bird's nests with chocolate eggs inside for the Easter holiday. 

The ward Easter egg hunt was held on the last weekend of March, and the kids had plenty of fun with that one as well. 

Our friend Talia tagged along too. 

The week of Spring Break we hung out at home, rode bikes to a local community park, and Evelyn became a royal homebody who only wanted to build with Legos all the time. I did get them to practice some music and do some workbook stuff during the week. When I told them it was time to help with chores they all told me at various times, "But it's Spring Break! We're supposed to have a break! Why do we have to do chores?" I replied that a "break" from school only meant time away from school and homework, and nothing more. Grumpy faces and short lectures on "you live in this house and mess it up, so you can help clean it up too" ensued. 

This last weekend Ben and his friend Mike, who recently moved south towards San Diego, planned a big bike ride up Palomar Mountain. We drove down on Friday and decided to meet Mike and his family for tacos at Tacos El Gordo, Ben's favorite taco joint. We were stuck in far more traffic than we had planned for and didn't make it to any touristy stuff except for what follows below. 

Traffic began clearing the further south we headed, so we decided to go see the international border between the US and Mexico. The above picture shows Tijuana in the background. There's a bull-fighting arena on the hilltop, and to the right of it, the International Park. We didn't have time to walk to it, (it would have been about 4 miles round-trip), so we took the path headed for the beach.

On the right side of this picture, you can see a road winding its way up the hillside. The fence is to the right of that road, which the border patrol uses. There is a road to an international park that is right next to the fence where it goes into the ocean, but since 9/11 they only open it on Saturdays and Sundays.

One of the Channel Islands out in the distance.

There's Tijuana in the background again, and the border fence going out into the ocean. The kids had questions about why there were two border fences, and why you can't just go back and forth across the border. It led to a conversation on passports and what it means to live in a land of opportunity.

The beach was really soft here, more so than in Orange County.

It was a nice walk, and we passed several horseback riders on the way. The path cuts out through the Tijuana river estuary, and this area is a natural preserve. On the way back, we encountered the first mosquitoes we've seen since last summer. Ben and Gordon both got bit.

Yum. Except we forgot to leave off the spicy green salsa on the al pastor tacos, so the kids wouldn't really eat them. They drank a lot of horchata instead to wash the heat away. Then Ben ordered a quesadilla, and they wouldn't eat that because it was too cheesy. We just rolled our eyes and ate too many tacos. Later in the car, Ben made up a song in spanish about how the kids were complaining about the cheese and the kids rolled their eyes and laughed back. "¡El queso, el queso, se queja del queso!"

Good taco shops always have long lines! 

While Ben and Mike went on their long bike ride on Saturday (77 miles and a 8,786 feet of climbing) the moms took the kids to the Miramar area and walked around at the Flying leatherneck aviation museum. Lots and lots of airplanes, helicopters, fighter jets, along with some tanks and artillery equipment. 

The girls were kind of bored by the end, but the boys really liked it.

This was one of the stops on Ben's bike ride. It's at a gas station outside of Harrah's Resort Southern California, on the Rincón Valley Reservation. He took the picture because that big mountain back there is Palomar Mountain, and he was about to go up it.

A mexican coke, which tastes amazing on a long ride. Especially after a brutal climb.

They rode up to the observatory we visited last year on our camping trip. Such a crazy amount of climbing to get up this mountain!

Ben's friend Mike.

Atop Palomar Mountain before an 11-mile descent on bumpy roads.

They made it down the mountain in one piece and we all met up in Santa Ysabel at the Julian Pie Company. They make some seriously good pies. I think the secret is in their crust, and it's the best pie crust I've ever had. Even my kids ate it, and liked it. 

Ben is really tired and relaxing in the surprisingly comfortable chair. Or maybe he was just so tired that sitting in anything was nice. He said he was really glad to see us at the Pie shop. They had originally planned on riding further, but by the time they got to the top of Palomar, the decided that they would call it quits in Santa Ysabel.

Two dutch apple slices, one dutch apple with caramel sauce, and one apple mountain berry slice. Yum!

We headed back to our friend's place to eat dinner and so the men and the kids could hit the hot tub before heading home. They had a nice elliptical machine in their front room, and my kids couldn't get enough of it. If we end up in a cold, snow-bound area, we're going to have to get one of these for them to burn some energy off on. 

We got home kind of late, and the kids crashed really hard. It was a fun little trip and a great way to end Spring Break. Back to the grind tomorrow!

Gordon's 6th Birthday

This 6 year old boy 

had a Lego birthday in which he watched the Lego movie and had a chocolate Lego cake with friends. 

A very chocolate-y cake with ice cream. 

Then opened a few gifts, among which were a Lego sticker book and cycling gloves. 

Then he got more Legos, because we obviously are lacking in that department (we have 8 large-ish toy containers devoted to Legos. We should just buy stock in Lego. And Costco).

Lego Chima has been his thing lately, so he got the eagle flyer and eagerly put it together with his friends. Later on he needed Ben's help. 

He had asked for Navajo tacos for dinner, but by the the time all the friends left, I realized I had forgotten to prep the dough and there would not be enough time for that meal. 

So the boy defaulted to In n Out, and he lived his birthday happily ever after. 

January and February

As a teenager, I remember the first three of the months of the year as boring. No holidays, no vacations, not too much going on. Now I wish this was still the case, as it seems life will never be boring ever again. When the kids start complaining that they're bored, they get, "It's not my job to entertain you. Go find something to do or I can find work to keep you busy." Life is too full of work, church, school and kids to be boring!

We got out on a couple of hikes in January. This first one was up to the top of Turtle Rock, a hill near our neighborhood. It's a good viewpoint for sunsets.

When it's not smoggy. 

 The smog is so gross when it gets really thick like this. You can see me making a face. It smells and it makes me feel like I'm going to contract lung cancer just for breathing it. The hike was a good one for our kids and we went to In 'n' Out afterwards (calorie replacement ;).

 The next week, some friends we had just seen in Utah surprised us with an invite to our favorite beach area. They were in town visiting family. It was such a gorgeous day, no smog, and not too cold. When we drove over the last hill before the beach, we could not believe how clear it was and how far we could see on the horizon - all the way out to parts of the Channel Islands we had never seen before. Lots of people were out taking advantage of the superb weather.

After saying bye to our friends, we drove up to a different lookout point to watch the sun set. Once again, we were able to see parts of the landscape we can't see very often due to smog. The kids loved being able to see the barges out on Long Beach Harbor, and you could easily make out downtown LA and Malibu. We talked a little bit about perspective with the kids and how important it is to take time out of the routine to get a little perspective once in a while. Problems don't seem to be so overwhelming when you're standing on a hilltop with a great view. 

Maybe you knew it was coming: Bike pictures. Because that's our family's hobby. That and playing Mario kart on the Wii. I think the former is a better hobby.  

Ben and I took advantage of the clean skies the next day and rode our bikes out to Newport Beach where we could see the ocean. 

 Right now coastal Orange County is a beautiful place to ride bikes. It never got green like this last year in Bommer Canyon due to the lack of rainfall. Ben is finding some fun rides in there.

Panorama of inland south Orange County. Ben is doing a lot of hill climbing in preparation for the 'Breathless Agony' bike ride on May 2nd. 12,000 feet of climbing spread over 100+ miles. Whoa. 

Christmas/New Year's Trip to Utah

For only the second time since we moved to California, we took a Christmas trip. Uncle Ryan was entering the MTC on December 31st, so we decided to head up to see him and make a little vacation out of it. I spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking about how cold it was going to be and how unprepared we are for snow, and we still ended up being a little unprepared for the brutal cold that greeted us in Utah. 

 Gordon's first time seeing lots of snow in the cold. The only other time he'd seen snow close up was in July of 2012, when we saw remnants of the winter's snow at Mt. Rainier National Park. 

 They were all thrilled to have snow to play in and didn't complain too much about being cold. We spent the first couple days of the trip staying at Great Grandma Green's house in Davis County. Grandma and Grandpa Chickens drove down from Idaho to hang out with us for a day and a half. 

 We took the Frontrunner train into Salt Lake City and visited the Clark Planetarium and ate lunch at Costa Vida. The kids were all excited about the train ride. Jilly's face here is funny. 

 Serious conversations with Grandma and Grandpa Chickens. 

 The Clark Planetarium was a lot of fun, and a great place to visit on a cold day. We watched an IMAX movie there as well. The kids liked playing in all the exhibits. 

 Waiting on the train platform to head back to Davis County. It was below freezing outside, windy and snowing, but Gordon and Jill were determined to finish their ice-cold drinks from lunch. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Grandma Green and staying warm. Soon the wind was blowing hard out of the canyon her house sits underneath and the temperature was dropping fast. We kept her walk shoveled for her and the kids spent small amounts of time out in the snow. 

 Later on we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Cows, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Nicole and Uncle Tyler and the cousins for a day of sight-seeing on Temple Square. We stayed at the Salt Lake Plaza hotel just across from Temple Square. By this time it was only 5 degrees outside. 

 We did some very brisk walking in the morning, taking a tour of the Conference Center, the Visitor's Center, and getting a peek at the sound mixing studio underneath the Tabernacle. That was courtesy of Ben's friend, Jason Graham. He mixes sound for many of the performances that come from Temple Square. 

 We took everyone to the Clark planetarium again, and discovered the third floor exhibits, including a Mars and Moon landscape. It was a fun photo-op. After this, we ate lunch at Tucano's. 

 I really wanted to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square, and we did. We honestly couldn't spend a whole lot of time out there because it was so, so cold, somewhere around zero degrees and the wind was blowing. We all lasted about 30 minutes, and then went back to the hotel to thaw. 

The next morning, we said bye to everyone, including Ryan, who will be nice and warm on his mission in Sydney, Australia for the next two years. We spent two more days visiting friends in South Salt Lake (the Wards) and Utah County (Lanengas, Wilsons, and McCullochs). I love seeing old friends and I love seeing our kids get along with their kids even better. 

 Pretty snowscape in Hobble Creek Canyon, Springville. It was a great trip, not too short or long, and we got to see and do a variety of things and visit lots of family and friends.  

The craziest part of the whole trip for me was driving home, and how instantly warm it was. With no snow. And how the kids went out and built box forts on the grass the next day for hours, and we couldn't spend more than an hour outside on our trip without heading indoors somewhere. Winter is real! Just not in SoCal. 

Merry Christmas!

 Our most recent family picture at the church Christmas party

What have each of us been up to in 2014?

Gordon: Learned how to ride a bike without training wheels, learned how to swim, started kindergarten, is learning how to read and write, and loves being outside. He is definitely the most active of the kids and needs lots of time outside to expend his seemingly endless amounts of energy. We are seeing sports in his future. He is showing interest in music as well, like his sisters, but doesn’t have the attention span for it yet. He has made leaps and bounds this fall in kindergarten and is loving learning right now. With his emerging writing and drawing skills, he will sit alongside Jillian and draw and color with her. 

 Jilly: Turned 8 and got baptized, started 2^nd grade, improved as a swimmer, started piano lessons, and loves to draw and write. She still loves miniatures and anything with chickies or duckies. She remains the more cautious and conscientious of the kids. If she’s going to do anything, she’s going to do it 100% and correctly. She is very empathetic and makes friends easily.

 Evelyn: Started 4^th grade, lost two molars (with more to follow soon), started playing the viola and piano, improved as a swimmer, and enjoys reading books and writing poems. She comes up with new rhymes all the time and amazes us with her budding literary skills. She started calling herself “Queen of the toddlers” this year after finding that toddlers seem drawn to her and enjoy her company. She’ll make a great babysitter in a couple years.

 Shaunie: Got a road bike last spring and occasionally joins Ben on some rides (which, Ben thinks, is the most amazing thing ever), and continues work part-time as a member of the administrative staff for the housing community in which we live. She is also coming up on four years of teaching beginning piano to several of the neighbor kids. When she has a bit of spare time, it’s usually occupied by practicing the piano, sewing or staring at cookbooks or blogs to come up with new meal ideas. Volunteering at the kids’ elementary school is also a rewarding outlet. This year, she is teaching art to Gordon’s kindergarten class about once a month.

Ben: Lost a few pounds (and kept them off!), continues to enjoy cycling, and thinks that bikes are the most amazing thing ever (other than his family). More than a few times this year he wished he’d majored in computer science. Ben enjoyed the World Cup this summer and finds soccer as exciting, if not more so, than baseball. When he’s not researching, writing that darn dissertation, or taking care of teaching responsibilities, he can be found on his bike, playing with the kids, grooming his beard, or feeding his love for movies and music.

Two of the many highlights this year:

 Having cousins come to spend a week with us in August enjoying the beach, pool, In n Out, and Disneyland. 

Having both sets of grandparents visit for Jillian's baptism in November.