Beach Surprise

We had a last minute really great invitation to go with our friends to their beach house this weekend.  We almost didn’t get to go because Alyosha had the freakiest illness Thursday evening that led me to calling missing persons and the pediatrician on call in the emergency room.  Well, it turns out that Roma was out ‘socializing’ with his professor and Alyosha hallucinates when his fever gets over 101. 

Friday morning everyone wakes up like they are fresh picked roses and my mind was still spinning from the drama of motherhood.  We had to keep Alyosha home because of the swine flu rules—24 hours no fever—and turned down our invitation to the beach.  But, by next morning, we realized that the illness was only a Thursday night one to make me crazy and was totally gone so we packed up in an hour and headed to Lincoln City to spend the evening with friends.

We stayed at Sky and Itzel’s house which is on a little bay in Lincoln City.  The bay is shallow enough to almost wade across and is littered with huge tree trunks each with a great maze of roots showing off their complexity. 

The cool thing about the view and the landscape is that from the windows of their house, there is always a new view to observe.  Either just the tides coming in and out, or with each storm bringing in 100 mile an hour winds that move around the huge trees—every venture is a new discovery.

 For the girls this was a mermaid castle and for the boys it was a pirate ship with 3 captains—neither boy or girl had any qualms about climbing to the top.  I think this makes a better jungle gym than the artificial ones on the playgrounds in the city.  I say we do an experiment and place a huge tree like this next to the playground at Chapman and see which one gets used more.

Kids get to eat first-shell pasta macaroni and cheese with peas and broccoli.  The adults had the real thing; Peter made clams with linguini.   I can’t personally say that it was delicious because I have a mental block towards most slimy things that come from the sea, but looking at the stacks of emptied shells around me, I can assume that Peter did another amazing job in his capacity of chef.

Here you can see the view from the picture windows.  In this picture, the tide has come in and the beach we were playing on earlier disappeared.  Niki assumed his new position on my back.  I think he likes it in the front better because he can see more, but he'd better get used to my back because I think he will be spending the next year or so there! Family portrait with a bit of the Pacific in the background. You can’t see it here, but the waves were huge and our brave Luka was afraid for anyone who was more than 2 steps away from him.Kelp tug-of-war.  The kelp won, it is one tough plant!

Playground talk

Who knew seven kids could fit on one tire swing?

The other day Alyosha woke up in the morning and the first thing he announced was that he didn't sleep all night long. I said that was too bad because his body won't be able to run and play so much because it needs to sleep every day. After that, he amended what he said to say "My body was sleeping, actually, just my brain was awake all night. And in the morning (at 6 am--the new normal) my brain started screaming at my body to wake up."

Luka always defends me to say that my eyes are blue while Alyosha and Roma make fun and say they are grey/green. Luka was mad at me for some reason or another the other day and he said with a squished angry little face that " Your eyes are NOT blue!"

On the slide after school today I heard Alyosha say "I am so tough I beat up a seven year old and now he is afraid of me" The friend he was playing with on the slide said he was 5 and a half and he is the oldest and toughest in his family (he has a 2 year old sister and a 10 month old sister). Alyosha said he was 5 and a half and the biggest and oldest brother in the family too. Why do little lion cubs have to prove who is the toughest?

Luka came up crying and saying "my elbow, my elbow!" I looked at both of his elbows and there was nothing there. He continued to cry and say he got a bobo on his elbow. Finally he pointed down to his knee and with a sly smile and tears still running down his face he said "my elbow has a bobo!" He calls his legs his 'arms' and apparently his knees are 'elbows'. But, with the smile, I know he knows the difference, it is just his joke. I tell you though, he can keep it pretty straight because he consistently calls them his 'arms' and now, 'elbows'.

Alyosha got in a wrestling fight today--it was playful but his necklace broke. He has gotten into a habit of fighting on the side of his friend Amelia against an other team of boys. They wrestle at soccer practice and, as I learned today, at recess too. When his necklace broke, the participants helped him pick up the beads and they are all friends now; especially Amelia, she might even be his best friend right now he said. On the bike ride home Alyosha had a question that he almost didn't ask me because he thought it was too funny. I got him to ask and he said "Mama, do you think it would be funny to marry your best friend?" I said that I thought it would be a great thing to marry your best friend--but asked him what if his best friend was a boy. He said, no that isn't possible then started naming off the names of all the girls he knows. "Amelia, Hailey, Sofie, Milana, Danicia--I have five girlfriends!" He was so happy that he ran into a parked car--no damage done, physical damage that is!

Spending time in the beautiful outdoors

Well, this one isn't outdoors, but I just like this picture.

Our friend, Anna, let us come to her backyard orchard and pick pears from her trees. They are so delicious-even Niki is having a taste. It looks like he is sneaking one!

Here is our sweetheart! Sitting up on his own like a pro.

Alyosha is a great big brother, taking care of the other two. I can't believe that he is starting Kindergarten in a few weeks.