Airborne

Luke is great at so many things, but (deep breath) he does not seem to be the biggest sports guy around. Sure, he's good at baseball, and he loves his team, but in this sports-crazed town he doesn't seem to have the interest or coordination to become part of the basketball or soccer cliques. This is a little sad for me to write about, but when I took him to a birthday party on Sunday at a big indoor sports training facility, he recoiled when he realized that it was basically one big basketball game. "Why did we come here? I don't know how to play basketball, Mom," he whispered, trying to hide behind me. "This is so embarrassing." Eventually he got out there and hovered around the outer edges of the court, and he seemed to start enjoying himself once they started doing soccer, football, and dodgeball. It was only after the party that I was crushed to learn that some of the kids were teasing him while they were playing basketball. What is wrong with people? If you're 7, it's too late to be a beginner at something? Now I'm afraid Luke is going to carry lifelong scars when it comes to basketball. There is a camp this summer that has a morning dedicated to Legos, chess, and basketball, and Luke declared there was no way he was going to do it because he didn't want to be involved in basketball at all.

When Luke and I got home from the sports party, we decided to unwind a little bit by playing badminton together. I found some really nice-quality racquets and birdies at the 99-cents store, and strangely enough, this is our new "thing." It only took him a few sessions to get pretty good at it and he gets a real thrill when we can have a volley that lasts for more than three consecutive hits. He started tallying our consecutive hits and announced that when we got to 100 total hits, we would have a huge party. And sure enough, when we got to 100, we whooped it up and danced all around the yard. Luke is very excited about our progress and keeps talking about how in about "eight weeks" we are going to be so good we're just going to stand there hitting it back and forth to each other for hours at a time. Maybe there's a racquet sport in his future; or maybe (like when I was a kid) just some long summer nights of badminton.

Last night my friend Andrea (Declan and Chloe's mom) and I took an intro "aerial fitness" class. It came about by way of a Groupon; I wanted to try the class but I didn't want to do it alone, and Andrea was a willing volunteer. We both agreed that we weren't exactly in top gymnastics shape, but the class sounded like fun, so we'd give it a whirl. As I was getting ready to leave the house, Luke said, "Mom, are you nervous about it?" and I responded gaily, "No - of course not! I love trying new things!" But when Andrea and I walked in to the class, it was another matter entirely. The facility is basically a wide-open, high-ceilinged gym with long silks hanging down from the ceiling, and all of these Cirque de Soleil muscle-bound gymnastics-type people standing around. "Now I know how Luke felt walking in to that basketball game," Andrea muttered.

There were seven of us taking this "intro" class, with Andrea and I the only pure beginners. There was at least one other student who was absolutely an expert, whirling through the air with incredibly graceful and athletic stunts. Was it fun? Er...Let's just say it made me a little more aware of my own limitations. I didn't quite have the upper body strength or coordination to do some of the most basic moves or shimmy up the silk. But I was able to secure my foot in the silk and do this one move that kind of made me feel like I was the mermaid at the front of a ship (pictured, although not me). Does that count for anything?

As we were leaving, the instructor and one of the students were talking about how they were going to be auditioning to be aerial artists for Taylor Swift's upcoming North American tour. Andrea and I had to stifle a laugh; we were happy enough to have made it through the hour without breaking anything. But we agreed that we both must have some pretty healthy self-esteem to have put ourselves through that. Next time we'll take a yoga class. And maybe our kids will pick up on some of our (clearly outsized) self-confidence.

Ev-ry-thing's coming up purple

Ohmigosh, we hosted the Best Shabbat Ever on Friday night. No, wait, it isn't a competition. But still... it was so great I somehow feel like I won something. I spent all day cooking an entirely purple feast ("purple" turkey, purple wild rice, purple potatoes, purple cabbage, purple beet salad, blue cornbread, purple grapes, and purple blackberry cake) and it was magnificent, I am proud to say.

Why purple? No special reason, just a sudden inspiration. And it's been five years - five years - since we've been doing Shabbat with this particular group of friends, so we've already cooked just about everything else in our repertoire. The best compliment of the night was when Julie groaned, "How are we ever going to follow this up when it's our turn?" - followed by much discussion of what their "color" should be.

From Zach's perspective, the best part was the fact that we had Turkey With Bones for dinner, something he hasn't had a chance to enjoy since Thanksgiving. In fact, when dessert was over, he asked for more Turkey With Bones (the drumstick). Then in the morning, when he woke up, he wanted Turkey With Bones for breakfast. Clearly this is a kid who knows what he wants. And all day long, whenever I kissed him, I could smell the turkey on his face.

Yesterday when I was skating I slipped on a sandy patch and tore up my elbow a little bit (Mom - don't panic! I'm fine!). When I got home, the boys all rushed to my rescue. Dave got me the Neosporin, Luke cleaned the wound and got me Band-aids, and Zach soaked the blood out of my shirt and brought me a full bag of dried cranberries. Do I have the best urgent care center in town, or what?

I spent most of the day today working on a video project (more details to come soon!) for the Jolly Tomato. While I wrote the script and did the storyboarding, Dave did all of the splicing and editing. Then I picked the music, and Dave wrapped the whole thing in to perfection. It turns out, even though he's never really done this before, he is a video GENIUS.  So right now we are watching the little video over and over again and patting ourselves on the back. Now it's off to the wrap party...

Ray of light

Did anyone happen to hear that Dave absolutely killed it yesterday in the marathon? At 3 hrs. 43 minutes, he destroyed his personal best by 17 minutes, and he ran a full 40 minutes faster than he did last fall. Not to mention that he did it all in the pouring, freezing rain. As Dave observed at the finish line, "When you run faster, it's over faster." Today he is justifiably basking in great feelings and somehow that has propelled him to make it through the day without a single complaint except for the occasional wince. I would say this could be the beginning of a whole new marathon career, except that he's sworn off marathons for a while. Probably for the best. Oh, and I don't have any pictures because it was pouring so hard it wasn't even possible to put down the umbrella long enough to take a picture.

Well, OK, I do have one picture. This is from the lobby of the Georgian Hotel, which graciously opened its doors to the chattering runners, and I took this shot after Dave had dried off and changed into warm clothes. After I took this picture we looked all over and could not find any explanation for what would have cause this glowing white orb to appear on his chest. I actually believe it is some sort of otherworldly mystical spirit that he carried with him, allowing him to finish the race. I am willing to entertain alternate explanations, but that's what I'm going with for now.

Yesterday afternoon after a little R & R we all packed up and went over to Katie's 40th birthday party. Katie is Luke's best friend Shane's mom, and her vision for the perfect party is something like what Dave's would be: a house full of happy kids, and a taco truck pulled up to the front of the house. Even though he had every right to bow out, we had no problem luring Dave "You Had Me At Taco" to the party.

The front room at Katie's house has been totally converted to kid use: The floors are covered with mats, and there is a swing, rope ladder, set of rings, and a hammock all hanging from the ceiling. Oh, and tons of toys too. At any given point during the party it was quite literally a three-ring circus, with kids hanging from the ceiling and flying through the air. Toward the end of the party the boys turned on the CD from Luke's birthday and all of a sudden an elementary school version of slam-dancing broke out. They were all jumping around, singing along, happily bouncing off each other, and for a few moments it was total kid paradise. When we got home, Luke told me, "Shane and Ty and I are going to be rock stars. We're going to have a band called 5-7-7 because Ty is 5 and Shane and I are both 7."

The day before I had taken Zach to the nursery to buy a plant for Katie for her birthday. After we found a pretty lavender plant for her, Zach noticed a small dead plant in a half-gallon container under one of the tables. He immediately glommed on to the idea that it was the perfect present for him to give to Katie. So he carried it up to the checkout counter, they shrugged and gave it to us for free, and then Zach proudly carried it home. All day long he talked about his present for Katie, and how it had "grey sticks, brown leaves, and green balls" (in the potting soil). When it came time to leave for the party, he made it clear that he wasn't going anywhere without his special present for Katie.

Now if it had been for almost anyone else, I would have tried to talk Zach out of it. But the great thing about Katie is that 1) she is the kind of person who would totally love it; and 2) if anyone could bring it back to life, she could. When we got there, I gave her a little warning about the d-e-a-d plant she was about to receive. But Zach wanted to give it to her in person, so he did, and she showed as much joy about that present as any she had received that day. "It looks just like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree!" she cried happily, and thanked him profusely. She thinks she can bring it back to life, and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if she did.

Little Green Man

Dave: "There are just some people in the world, who, when presented with the opportunity to wear a glittery green bowler hat, say, 'Sure, why not?'"

Well-worn path

If anything happened over the past week, I don't know about it. I may have driven my parents back to the airport at some point, but I was in such a feverish haze I don't remember it. Being a sick parent is the worst, because your kids still need stuff from you, even if you've lumped 98 percent of the responsibility on to the other parent. They know you're around, even if you're permanently face down in your pillow, and they seek you out for insanely trivial things that they know only a mom can provide.

So, moving right along, since yesterday was the first day that I was moderately human, that's where my memory begins. I was supposed to run the 5K with Luke while Elizabeth hung out with Zach, but Elizabeth gamely offered to run in my place while Zach and I cheered from the sidelines. To say she and Luke "ran" it was a little bit of a stretch. This year we decided not to put any pressure on Luke to run at all; only to make sure that it was fun for him. So he and one of his buddies brought up the absolute end of the pack, walking, chatting, and collecting sticks along the way. The irony is that Dave was on the completely opposite end of the spectrum, and he would have won the whole race except that he wisely let a speedy 5th-grader, a crowd favorite, come in ahead of him. The final race results will show Dave in second place and me (Elizabeth wore my number) in second-to-last place. Dave was such a whirlwind yesterday; he sponsored the race water bottles and brought them all down to the race first thing in the morning, ran the race, nearly won it, and then helped with post-race activities and cleanup, then took home the box of money for counting. Meanwhile all I could do was rub my temples and mutter, "So many people..."

Later in the afternoon (yes, the day dragged on), Dave and Luke had a baseball game. This one is the first I've seen in the coach-pitch league, and I have to say that Luke was quite impressive. He hit the ball every time he was up - and he made a play that ended the game in dramatic fashion. The last batter hit a ground ball that Luke stopped, scooped up, and threw right into the first baseman's glove to get the batter out. It is such a routine play in the major leagues that you don't think too much about it, but when you see a kid doing it for the first time, it's just electric. And of course our team went wild.

Today we resolved to have a day where we just did nothing, but wouldn't you know stuff just happened. One of Dave's friends gave him a pair of great tickets to a UCLA/USC baseball game at Dodger Stadium, and Luke almost simultaneously reminded us that we had promised to take him to the grand opening of the new Lego store in Orange County. So Dave headed off to have a great time watching some baseball with Zach, while Luke and I piled into the car to make the pilgrimage to Lego Mecca.

The featured activity was helping a Lego Master Builder construct an 8-foot Yoda. I didn't really know how they would pull off the group involvement thing (picturing all sorts of kids sticking random Legos on at different spots while the Master Builder groans, "No - not there! Wait - not that piece!" and so on). But the reality was completely organized and surprisingly fun. They modeled the 8-foot Yoda after a smaller Lego version, so they used regular-sized bricks to build mega-bricks that would create an exact replica, eight times the size. Your job as a participant was to follow the (easy) instructions to make mega-bricks in various shades of brown, green, and tan. It was easy - and fun enough that everyone from kids from Zach's age to grandmas were all sitting there making bricks to hand to the builder. The only bummer was that once it was finished at 5 pm, they only had until 8 pm to enjoy it, and then they had to take the whole thing down. I should have asked how many bricks were involved - maybe 50,000? - because it was amazing to see so much work go into such a detailed project, only to have it then disappear entirely. Hey wait - hasn't that happened at our house before?

Speaking of projects, Luke and Zach both enjoy Angry Birds, but given that their iPad time is limited, they've turned to other outlets. This morning Luke built an incredibly cool Lego structure with dominoes balanced on top to be the "pigs" that would be shot down by marble "birds." But then Luke got furious when Zach later knocked the whole thing down. Zach must have been feeling guilty about it because later tonight while Luke was in the bath, Zach painstakingly built his own version of the pigs' castle for Luke, and he carefully lined up "birds" on a row of domino platforms. Then he ran to get Luke -- "Luke! I built you a new Angry Birds tower!" -- and he watched proudly while Luke shot bird after bird into the structure. And tomorrow it will be all knocked down once again.

Comfort

Oasis

What is it about Palm Springs that keeps us going back again and again? Clearly it's not the heat alone, because on this trip it didn't go above 70 degrees. My vote (and I think many in Dave's family would agree) would be that it's the feeling you get when you pull off the 10 freeway onto Highway 111, and you start seeing the palms coming into view, and you just throw all of your cares away. It's like a drug; you need to come back for more and more.

What made this trip great was that (despite the threat of rain) we spent almost the entire time outside. The boys set the tone as soon as we arrived, when they discovered a prolific olive tree in the front of the house, matched by fruit-heavy orange and grapefruit trees in the park-like backyard. Tip: If you balance a kid on your head and they manage to pick a grapefruit successfully, there's a good chance that they will immediately drop it and the grapefruit will come down and BAM! you right in the eye. So I saw stars within minutes of arriving. Lesson learned.

I guess it's no secret that I'm not much of a hiker. Looking at tree after tree in a forest doesn't do much for me, and desert hikes just make me tired and thirsty. But doing just about anything with a kid automatically makes it more interesting. "Look at that rock! Look at that stick! Look at that lizard! HEY - Don't climb on that - Aaaaagh!" Plus there was something about the hiking this time (not too hot? good company? interesting, changing views? plenty of snacks?) that made it much more tolerable, perhaps even...er...fun?

On our first day we did an "easy" one-mile loop. On the outbound route, it followed uphill along a mountain stream and under the shade of palm trees; on the return it was a wide-open descent with spectacular views. Between us we had a "real" camera, an iTouch, and a BlackBerry, so a wide variety of media was used to record the event. (Here is my dad getting a closer shot of a cactus). Even though the terrain was rocky at times, no one had too much trouble with the hike - my mom was OK, my dad was thrilled, and Zach was fine, even though he straggled a little bit with all of the rocky distractions.

On the second day Dave took us out to the San Andreas fault, which turns out not to be a single big crack in the earth (as I was secretly hoping for) but more of a series of weird ridges where tectonic plates bumped up against one another. Again, the hike started out through an oasis. We kept saying it felt like we were on the set of some cheesy pseudo-prehistoric Land-of-the-Lost-type movie, with big clearings, droopy palm trees, and ridiculously chunky walls of rock. I like to call the pic on the right "Snacktime at the O-a-sis..."

At the end of all of that time on our feet, we headed back to the house and enjoyed the heated pool, even if only for a short time. I have a great pic of my mom sitting out in the sun, wrapped in towels from head to toe, but I will not post in in the interest of family harmony. 

"How come when we go somewhere we only ever go for two nights?" Luke complained. Workin' on it, bud. Workin' on it.

Last and completely unrelated: I took the boys to a new dentist on Monday. I was just getting tired of the old dentist and the cranky hygienists and the waiting room with one kids' book that Luke read over and over again. So I took them to a new dentist at this swanky kid-friendly office and the difference was incredible. It was the fanciest, most well-appointed place I've ever seen, down to the exquisite bathroom tiles. The waiting room had a movie going, along with plenty of toys; plus there was a separate video game room. They brought us to a "family" exam room where two hygienists worked on the boys simultaneously and talked to me while they were doing it. They had a separate kids' brushing area with free toothbrushes and big mirrors for them to practice their techniques. The dentist was nice, thoughtful, and took time to answer my questions. And the boys got their choice of a toy at the end. How to gauge if it was a good visit? Zach came out the door crowing and running in circles: "Teeth! Teeth! I LOVE this place! I LOVE this new toy!"  OK, then.

Oh, and moderately related, in terms of health and hygiene, Zach is headed back to the hospital on Monday for a surgical-grade ear-vacuuming so the doc can clear out all of the mess in there and figure out what's going on once and for all. Let's hope he comes out of that with the same level of enthusiasm.