Six weeks ago, I was complaining, yes complaining, to Scot that he never got to go anywhere for training. The next day his boss asked if he wanted to go to San Jose for training. Wow, if all my problems could be solved so easily! I thought about taking the kids to do sight-seeing, but thought better of it. We got me a ticket, and with the help of my neighbor Kendra, Angie, Carrie, Veronica and Layne, and my dad I got to spend four days with Scot, sans kids.
The first day, I laid in the shade by the pool and read a book. It was a heartbreaking story. Of course, I can't remember the name of it right now, but the author is the one who wrote
The Kite Runner. Being alone, I was able to cry and cry and savor the moments of such extreme sadness in the book. For anyone who likes to read, you should appreciate being able to do that. It just doesn't ever happen when you have 4 kids. After I read I took the train downtown, walked around, bought a Lychee-Almond Slushie with Boba. I had never had Boba before. They're large tapioca balls that they put in the Slushie, then you suck them up with a giant straw and chew on them while you drink. The first 5 were interesting, the next 5 tolerable, the last 30 I threw away. Definitely an acquired taste. Here's a link if you want to learn something new.
http://lollicupboulder.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6Anyway, I then went to Japantown. There are only three left in the US. I found a cute, tiny shop with two little,
old Japanese ladies selling Japanese treats. As a talked to them I mentioned I had four kids. "What!! You married? We thought you be college student from the university!" Thanks, ladies, I needed that. ---About the treats. They look quite strange. They're round gelatinous balls , about 3 inches wide, made of glutinous rice, with sweet red bean paste inside. At first bite, I didn't like it, but it grew on me. I left a tiny bit for Scot to try -- didn't like it either. The next day we went back together. I wanted to buy a package to bring back for the kids. We ate most of it. That's why you don't see a cute pic of my blue gelatin globs with beans. Here's me with one of the ladies.
One evening we had a fantastic dinner at an Indian buffet. Scot went to training with a couple of Indians, and they recommended this buffet. It was fantastic! I took a pic of the giant bowl of Gulab Jamun to make
my kids jealous. Definitely, the best Gulab I've ever eaten. FYI, when Ch. was barely 2, he would always cry, "Yo quiero Jamun" (I want Jamun). I know, my kids are weird. He should have been yelling I want cookie!, or something normal like that.
We spent all day Saturday in San Francisco. We couldn't decide if we wanted to go in the car or take public transp. We decided on the car. Great decision! We had so much fun driving up and down the hills. That morning we went to the farmer's market. Rows and rows of incredible fruit (they handed out samples), organic veggies, homemade cheeses, pastries. Honestly, I had the thought that everyone's idea of heaven would be really different, and this place would be mine.
That evening, we went to San Fran's Japantown. I don't like the setup as much as in San Jose, but we ate a great sushi and ramen seafood soup there. Then for dessert, crepes and hazlenut gelato. Not very Japanese, but the tourists probably don't get that excited about the red bean balls.
On Sunday, we drove back into SF and watched, quite literally, the fog roll over the mountains. I've always read of rolling fog, but had never seen it. It was hot, sunny, and beautiful on the drive down until we hit SF---cold, windy, foggy.
The weather itself was an experience to me. We drove all around the Presidio, tried to stop in Little Italy, but there was NO parking.
We were getting desperate because we needed to eat before we got to the airport. I told Scot to just drive, park anywhere there was a space, and we'd walk to find something to eat. We ended up going to a Thai restaurant that was great. For an appetizer, we ordered a delicious calamari salad. The calamari was large and tender. As we were eating our salad and savoring the quiet moments of eating without children, I had a realization. There was one yummy calamari left on the plate. Scot said, "You eat it." That seems like something small, but I realized that's how my whole marriage is. Scot may sometimes be gruff or short, but he's always willing to do anything to make me happy. He takes the kids to give me a break, he always does the dishes with me, he's my sous chef in the kitchen. That's really what makes a good marriage - two people who each want the other to eat the last calamari.
Here are some pics from our play. We didn't get any during the play, so you don't get to see me in my favorite outfit. The setting of the play was the 50's, and I loved being able to wear the funky dresses. Scot filmed the play so he didn't take any pictures. He also helped with the lighting on some nights. This was an incredible experience and completely a dream come true!
This is to get you guys all excited. We had our first dress rehearsal tonight. Let's just say if we had to perform this thing tomorrow night, you'd all be sorely disappointed and demand your money back! But, never fear, we still have 4 days left. What a fun experience for all of us to do this.
I have been duly reprimanded by a friend to post an update on Ch.'s theater performances. She said I never put an update on Seussical so it seemed he was cut from the cast! The truth is that I didn't get very good pics so I didn't post them. BUT, since I've now been asked to do, I will. A photographer with the group took a lot of great ones of him, and I will try to get a copy of those. Maren and Steve came down, and we all thought he did a great job (of course, I am a little prejudiced!)
I know you can't see much in this picture. I tried to take a couple with the night setting, but they were worse. I was also in a hurry because they were kicking us out.
My poor husband - maybe's he's getting too old for all this yard work! Last month we had curbing done. C. loved talking to the workers and making new friends. He has to go over and inspect the work and see how it's done. Of course, they all think it's cool he can speak Spanish to them. I like that because it's a motivation for him. Another group came 3 weeks ago to hydroseed. They said we'd be mowing in 3 weeks - not hardly, but there is grass growing.
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So we get out the hot rollers (I'm an 80's girl - I love those things!) , then they take pictures. To spare you the worst, I deleted most of them :-) I love having little girls. They both love me to put makeup on them, and we have a great time. M. is definitely still working on the eyeliner and lipstick placement!
After having her makeup done S. knew the routine. She did a complete pose with her hands together and her rear sticking out in the air and said, "Mommy, take my picture."
Raita - a yogurt sauce with toasted cumin seeds, cucumbers, and carrots
Restaurant-style Cauliflower and Potatoes
Having curdled the whole milk, it's now draining. This truly was very easy!
The girls came in their regular clothes, then I made them clean, like Cinderella. They loved this and all cleaned and giggled continuously, as I yelled, "Faster, This isn't clean enough!" Then there was a knock at the door and a messenger from the king brought news of a ball. They all knew what to do! They ran upstairs to put on their dresses. One by one they walked down the stairs as the "messenger" called, "Princess S. from Lehi" most of them took this in all seriousness which was absolutely adorable. 
Then, Ch. and C. , also dressed up, took them to the waiting room. Scot was at the house to help, but , of course, he was on call, had to work, and couldn't do much. So the boys helped me out. Ch. did the makeup station, and C. did their nails. Grandpa John made and cut out heart-shaped sandwiches. I made the cake and was VERY proud of myself! Of course, the "BIG" princess really enjoyed getting dressed up! 
That's the dress I wore for the 8th grade band banquet (FYI --in the pic I put a tank top on underneath). I'll have to try to find an old picture to scan. 8th grade was a bad year - bad hair, glasses, braces, ugh!!! 
A couple of months ago, Scot went backpacking with the boys. Dan (Angie's husband) and Angie's dad invited them. Of course, Scot wasn't very excited because as we all know having a condo has warped his sense of "camping." He now says "camping" is going on a hike at Snowbird and coming back to look at the mountains while you sit in the hot tub! Anyway, I thought this would be a cheap activity for them to do together, wrong! A $100 later, they're ready for their trip. As he left, Scot said he thought he might actually have fun. I've been waiting 2 months for him to blog this, 
but I'm giving up. --The highlight of their trip was that after fishing for hours and catching next to nothing, a small stream was found where the fish were just sitting in the water.
I'm so tired of dirt. Dirt in the house, on the house, in the garage, in diapers, in C.'s ears...We've had dirt delivered on two different days. Both days we allowed C. to play to his heart's content. No pics, but he rolled in it, did somersaults and filled his clothes with it.
old Japanese ladies selling Japanese treats. As a talked to them I mentioned I had four kids. "What!! You married? We thought you be college student from the university!" Thanks, ladies, I needed that. ---About the treats. They look quite strange. They're round gelatinous balls , about 3 inches wide, made of glutinous rice, with sweet red bean paste inside. At first bite, I didn't like it, but it grew on me. I left a tiny bit for Scot to try -- didn't like it either. The next day we went back together. I wanted to buy a package to bring back for the kids. We ate most of it. That's why you don't see a cute pic of my blue gelatin globs with beans. Here's me with one of the ladies. 
my kids jealous. Definitely, the best Gulab I've ever eaten. FYI, when Ch. was barely 2, he would always cry, "Yo quiero Jamun" (I want Jamun). I know, my kids are weird. He should have been yelling I want cookie!, or something normal like that.
The weather itself was an experience to me. We drove all around the Presidio, tried to stop in Little Italy, but there was NO parking. 
We were getting desperate because we needed to eat before we got to the airport. I told Scot to just drive, park anywhere there was a space, and we'd walk to find something to eat. We ended up going to a Thai restaurant that was great. For an appetizer, we ordered a delicious calamari salad. The calamari was large and tender. As we were eating our salad and savoring the quiet moments of eating without children, I had a realization. There was one yummy calamari left on the plate. Scot said, "You eat it." That seems like something small, but I realized that's how my whole marriage is. Scot may sometimes be gruff or short, but he's always willing to do anything to make me happy. He takes the kids to give me a break, he always does the dishes with me, he's my sous chef in the kitchen. That's really what makes a good marriage - two people who each want the other to eat the last calamari.
