Fanfare

School is in, and we are all struggling to get our routine straight. Example: On the past three Thursdays, our school has had three different dismissal times. No one is quite sure yet when we are supposed to be where. Exacerbating that issue is the fact that our weekends are no longer special times for relaxation; we have been gone and/or busy for 7 out of the last 8 weekends. We are loving all of the adventures that life throws our way, but we don't yet have much of a routine down.

Zach has a complex web of support at school and at home, and he is thriving with all of the attention, and loving first grade. Of course it helps that he is always positive, super-confident, and extremely outgoing. (On the day before school started, he walked right up to the principal, greeted her by name, and gave her a blow-by-blow description of all of our vacations.) Some social interactions are still a little rocky, but he has a few nice new friends, and of course academically he is rising straight to the top. I think it also helps that he is somewhat (I can't believe I am saying this) tall for his age. He had a playdate the other day with a kid who had turned 7 in June, and the boy's mother simply could not believe that Zach wasn't going to turn 7 until next April.

Watching videos with the cat

Luke is having a little roller coaster ride at school - some days he loves it, and some days he hates it. But in general it is a much better year than last year, and we've seen Happy Luke more days than we've seen Sad Luke. Did anyone know he is playing trumpet this year? He's managed to get a few notes out so far, and I think it's only a matter of time before he can serenade us all.

Most people know that I spent the summer in emotional turmoil over the fact that Luke decided to play soccer this year. My issue was that most of the soccer-playing kids spend their summers and off-seasons doing soccer camp and club teams, and I hated the thought of him getting out there after not playing for a year and being at the bottom of the heap. Man, was I wrong. He LOVES it. Loves, loves, loves it. He might not be the best player on the field, but he is out there having the time of his life, and after every game it is hard for him to contain his enthusiasm. "I LOVE this game!" True story: At one of his games the other day he played goalie and one of the shots got right past him and the other team scored. One of the dads on our team yelled out, "It's alright, Luke! With your good looks, you're gonna be a star no matter what!"

Dave is carrying on and working as hard as ever to develop his growing little business. After more than a year of serving clients, we've noticed a trend: The people who love his blog and turn to him because they trust him entirely, seem to be mostly...engineers. He just completed one transaction with perhaps the most difficult client in history (software engineer), and Dave seemed to be the only agent in town who a) understood this guy and b) was able to endure all of his quirks of character throughout the course of the escrow process. Believe it or not, he has more engineer types lined up to work with him. I have to laugh... but truly, anyone who loves and appreciates Dave is OK in my book.

Last week, following parents' night at school, Dave and I took advantage of the all-adult crowd to celebrate my birthday and the start of the school year with a few friends at our local wine bar. Not much more to say on that for now, except that it was absolutely perfect evening and it was a joy to be able to ring in the "new year" with Dave.

Now for the really cool part. I've spent many days, weeks, and months building my blogs and my social media presence. When I applied to be a social media ambassador for Terranea, I thought it was a shot in the dark. When they picked me as one of the top 10 finalists to experience an all-expense-paid weekend, I was completely shocked and humbled. And when I learned about my competition among the top 10, I thought, "I don't have a prayer in the world."

But they put us to work over that weekend, and I worked non-stop, from morning until night, trying to create as impressive an impact as possible. Here's just a sampling of what I did on Saturday: Got a wardrobe makeover, took a yoga class, swam and went down the water slide, hiked four miles, learned about falconry, toured the residential sale properties, watched golf videos, and ate at four restaurants. I was so bone-tired on Saturday night I literally fell asleep at 8:00 pm, only to force myself to wake up again at 10 pm because I wanted to finish a blog post before morning.

All in a day's work

 By Sunday morning, I was positively morose. I wanted to win so badly, but I was exhausted, and I knew I had no chance of winning. Then they made the announcement, and I shuffled back to the room to talk to Dave and the boys. With a long face and a heavy sigh, I told them, "Well, I worked really hard, so that's why it's hard for me to say....I WON!!!!!!!!!"

Total joy, bedlam, and jumping up and down ensued.

I am now proud to be a social media ambassador for Terranea for 2014, which essentially means that I have unlimited free stays there as long as I continue to write and share my experiences. 2014, you'd better be ready for us!