(March)
(Sian)
So Ste 'brickwall' Mole comes home from 'soccer' one Monday night looking distraught. Yes, they had won but there had been a suggestion that the team play in Man U shirts. I think I'd be right in saying that Ste would actually prefer to cut off his right arm than play in a Man U shirt. He's currently on a mission to change the idea to wearing Bolton shirts instead. Not sure its going to happen. Whilst Ste has been teaching the Americans how you really play football I've been busy helping organise a family concert and silent auction for an extremely unappreciative preschool (I'll not be doing that again!) and therefore Ste has to spend his birthday in the company of the bubble lady. He'll love it I'm sure. I also volunteered to teach an 'early literacy skills' class to a group of women in transitional housing. Its been a quite daunting task as they are a formidable bunch of woman but it's been great and has actually shown me how the other half of California live, and how lucky my family is.
After our taster of Big Sur on T's birthday weekend, we had fallen in love with the place so much we felt a return journey was required. Having sold the idea to Shay and Lorraine we decided to go for the weekend and booked some cabins on Big Sur campground. At the time of booking I had no idea how luxurious these cabins were but when we realised there would be toilets, bedrooms and kitchens in each one I knew we'd lucked out. So definitely my kind of camping or should I say Glamping :)
We meet up we the Greenes on Pfeiffer beach and had a picnic and illegally shared a bottle of wine (the adults not the kids!) We then (well Shay did) decided to trek up the really large hills. Quite a climb (of which T enjoyed not one bit!) but the views from the top were breathtaking. The kids then had lots of fun rolling down the sandy hills to the bottom. That evening, safely deposited in our wonderful cabins, we did the typical campers experience. We lit a fire, had a bbq and toasted marshmallows. The 4 kids played happily together. Having found the 'Game of Life' in the games box in the cabin they were happily getting married and adopting children. They changed tack for short while, inventing their own rules to a cribbage game. When they eventually went down around 9 they all passed straight out. The adults continued to sit round the fire with a beer – a perfect evening.
The next morning we decided to do some more exploring and go on a mini hike. The first thing that meet us was a large expanse of water that it soon became obviously we were going to have to wade through. The men tried it out first, closely followed by Lorraine, Natalie and Hannah. Myself and S and T were not so sure. It was bloody freezing!! S and T managed to hitch and lift leaving me to fend for myself in the icy waters! Still, on the other side a lovely walk to another beach waiting. T stopped frequently to write his name in the sand and Natalie and Sophia became obsessed by collecting woodlice but it was all worth it when we eventually got to the beautiful and almost deserted beach. We looked for some shelter out of the wind (having to wade through another god damn river) and had a picnic on the beach. The children then went off to play treasure hunts. It was a really happy day.
We all left already making plans to return. The spectacular scenery and peacefulness of the place really is quite magical. A fabulous weekend.
The next mission in March was to take the T man for his eye appointment and see what the results would be. After being so sure I was going to hate the American system I was actually really pleasantly surprised. Sophia safely ensconced in a playdate, T and I headed to Santa Clara (the home of the coin swallowing incident) for his appointment. We were seen straight away and T had to have 'some raindrops in my eye' which he didn't like much. The diagnosis was clear that he is far sighted and was going going to need glasses or contacts for the rest of his life. It was not the best outcome from my point of view but I suppose it could have been a whole heap worse.
(Steve)
We went to two shops to buy some glasses for the little man and decided after much deliberation to get relatively cheap ones, with the idea they'd probably get broken pretty quickly. We went to Costco first and, having been a bit worried about how much the person on the eyewear section knew, went to a place called 'For Eyes' (geddit?) and chose some glasses for T to choose from. While he was a bit reluctant, he quickly picked up that Sophia was a bit jealous about the attention he was having and hammed it up to the extreme. This had the consequence that Sophia was seen poking herself in her eye after being told she couldn't have glasses because her eyes weren't poorly. Great parenting skills. Anyway, we chose to get two pairs of some nice blue glasses which Tommy has since lost, eaten, bent and covered in snot to the extent that he couldn't see through them. I've superglued the little nose bits twice to repair the worst damage. On the very first day, Tommy lost his glasses in the garden and insisted on taking them off regularly while walking so 'I can see where I'm going'. The mark of a true genius.
Well apparently the area around Lake Tahoe we went to is known as 'The Galaxy'. That and Sian was going for the alliterative title and we needed another 'g'.
Our next door (kind of) neighbours very kindly shared their fantastic apartment at Northstar resort with us for a great couple of days. Sophia was quite dubious that there was snow to be found in America and both S&T were a bit taken aback when they dragged themselves away from childrens' telly to take a peek out of the window at the snowy landscape.
On Saturday, Sian, Andrea and the 4 kids drove off to another nearby resort to do some tubing while Mike and I went skiing for a few hours. It was great to do some skiing again after a five year (I think) absence . The beer was nice too.
(Sian - I would like to point out that as Andrea had baby Liam strapped to her front I was responsible for getting 3 children and myself up the moving elevator and down the slope in a tube all in one piece. As snow is not really 'my thing' I was very proud of myself for doing this :) T had soon had enough and waited it out with Liam but Phia and Francesca were unstoppable – they loved it. On my last run down I very nearly came out of my tube so enough was enough and we went off to find lunch in one of the lovely restaurants in the village – much more my kind of thing! )
The following day, we hired some of the worlds' smallest skis and boots for Sophia and Tommy to have a go. Sophia was very interested but a bit overconfident. Tommy was kind of interested in skulking around in the background but was adamant it was 'too cold, Daddy' and preferred sitting on the snow getting wet or running around like a crazy fool. I was very pleased Sophia was interested and have made firm mental plans to sign her up for ski school when we go again.
We drove there in our fifteen year old Dodge Disaster and the road back to Mountain View is a main thoroughfare but basically a mountain pass that goes over 7000ft (according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia). Needless to say, I was a bit worried about the consequences of the combination of these two facts if it started to snow. After reviewing the weather predictions, we decided it would be okay to stop at a different resort on the way back for another bash at tubing. Phia was well up for this but Tommy had decided he'd rather have a kip. So Phia and I got changed into our snow clothes and paid our fifty (!) dollars to have a go at sliding down a hill in an innertube. Sophia was kitted out in a borrowed but absolutely cute purple hat, coat and gloves. I'm not sure if it was the clothes or the snow but she was loving it. We decided that Tommy and Mummy would be okay in the car while we had another five goes.
I was beginning to regret my footwear choice after a few 'Bambi on ice' moments but Sophia found it amusing. We were getting on brilliantly and Sophia was enjoying a new tactic of 'sliding like a pencil' to avoid the bumpy ice bits when a stupid boy knocked Sophia flying off her tube. She was fine but sensibly decided to call it a day. I would have been angrier at the boy but we got our money back from the people running the thing after I pointed out the staff responsible for co-ordinating were busier playing 'Angry Birds' than co-ordinating or being responsible. Bruises heal, we got a free go, so all in all a grand day out! :)
After spending the majority of my birthday with the bubble lady (don't ask), we had a nice day out at Gilroy Gardens which is a kind of mini Alton Towers for kids. It was April the first, the sun was shining, the risk of sunburn was high and we had a great day. The highlight (for me) was riding on Swan pedalos and persuading Tommy that we should bump Mummy and Sophia. The conversation went something like: Daddy: 'Shall we bump Mummy and Phia?'; Tommy; 'Yeaaaah, let's bump!'. I think Tommy's highlight was a reprisal of the Disneyland cars ride where small people can drive cars which Tommy does in his own, inimitable way.
