Dream Vacation, Coming Soon

See these cute girls? You can spot them soon in California. If we are lucky, you might even be able to see them on television. They are just about to embark on a fabulous California vacation.

Anna just turned 13 a few days ago. Her Uncle Michael and Aunt Diane invited her and some friends to come out for a visit. That visit has turned into a dream vacation. I wish I was going to join them. Here is the scoop. Early Saturday morning they are flying out to California. They will arrive there at about 8:30 a.m. From the airport they will go to get the place where the Kid's Choice Awards will take place. They even have tickets for the Orange Carpet. They are all wearing very bright neon punkish outfits (very 1980's punk rock style, if you ask me)in the hopes that they will be noticed.It was kind of fun shopping for the outfits. Ellie ended up with black and white checkered sunglasses just like the ones I had when I was in high school. It seemed natural to me that she would then need the checkered Van tennis shoes to go with them, but that was not in her plan.

That night and the next few nights they will stay at the Disneyland Hotel. The next few days will be spent having a blast at Disneyland and the California Adventure Park.



As if that was not enough, they will then hit Hollywood! I am not sure what is planned for that stop, but I am sure it will be wonderful. I think Michael is as excited as the girls are. He called his sister, Laura (Anna's mom) several times and asked if there was anything else that she could think of to make the trip even better!

By early next week they will be in Oceanside, CA for a little R&R. They can swim, go to the beach, hang out in the hot tub, you've got the idea. They will also spend a day a the San Diego zoo where they are going to ride segways.



There is even talk of maybe going to Seaworld. We will have to wait and see if that one happens. Either way, those are such lucky girls. They will have such a great time. I am can't wait to see the photos once they get home!

The Many Interests of Ethan

Last week Calvin was in town for Eleanor's funeral. He love skateboarding. He even convinced Ethan to give it a try. Ethan looked very serious as he tried it, but he did enjoy it.

Since bike practice started on Thursday, Ethan decided to give his bike a complete cleaning. It was great to see how lovely the cassette looks when it is all shined up. I sometimes forget how messy Cyclocross is.

Ethan has wanted to learn to weld since he was about ten. It is a natural fit to go with the blacksmithing he does. Until now he has been limited to reading about it and watching videos on how to do it. Our neighbor, James, just purchased a welder and invited Ethan over. I think James got to use his new stuff for about five minutes before everyone else moved in to take it over. It was great to see Ethan using his new chaps that we got for him for Christmas. He had a grand time!

In Need of a Bit of Diversion...

For the last three or four weeks I have had a nagging headache, sitting on the back of my brain like a monkey clutched to the peanut vendor. What with the funeral and the upcoming final project for a class I was taking, I could not escape stress. By 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday I was finished. I checked over my final project and sent it in. The funeral and all that goes with it was complete. I felt, very suddenly, like I was a marionette released from its strings - exhausted- more so than I had expected. By Wednesday I have developed a small little fantasy where I would pick up something for dinner (not made by me) and a few movies. We would enjoy each other's company, the take out food and some movies. I picked out a few. The reality was quite different, but at least I did start a movie or two. I watch "Happy Go Lucky" because it had been nominated for so many awards. I was not sure why it showed up there. The acting was fine, but the story left some to be desired. The movie I finished today was the one I enjoyed. That would be "The Duchess" starring Keira Knightly.

It started a bit slow, but then drew me in. It is the true story of Georgiana Spencer, The Duchess of Devonshire. She was a lovely, interesting woman with a smashing sense of fashion and a tragic life. The story was moving and the film is worth watch just for costumes alone. It is not a feel good movie, but one where you can loose yourself in thinking about the time period. Next up I am looking for something a bit more upbeat, but not too stupid as so many of those films tend towards.

Let the Races Begin!

These past few days were busy,busy, busy. Last Wednesday and Thursday we had a ton of family members come to town for Eleanor's funeral. Thursday I was a wreck. The anticipation of the funeral was terrible for me. Friday went better than I expected. The funeral was really lovely. My DH and his older brother spoke. The church was filled nearly to overflowing and the lunch reception put on by the members of the church was grand. I will write more about it on another day, maybe. Friday was the only day when everyone was in town so we celebrated Elli's 12th birthday by playing putt-putt golf in a glow-in-the-dark course. That was fun, too. I thought it might be weird to celebrate on Eleanor's funeral day, but it was actually okay. It was us enjoying each other and Eleanor loved that.

Saturday was the first race of the season. This time Ellie was the only one to race and that felt weird. Ethan spent the day with Keenan who is leaving for the Marines today. It may be years before we see him again so I understood Ethan's reason for skipping the race. Ellie was amazing. She finished the 14 mile time trial in 39 minutes. That comes to an average of 2.78 minutes per mile. Her very fastest TT time per mile last year was 3.10. Last year her fastest ride for 10 miles was 37 minutes. This time she did 14 miles in 39 miles. And she could have been faster. Half way through the race her racing shoe broke and her foot came out. She was forced to do the last half powered by one leg (can you imagine?) When she was done she said, "Mom, it was really good to go out and be fast again." I love when things like that happen. We celebrated her first place win with giant cinnamon rolls from Johnson's Corners, a place famous for them. We then stopped and used our REI dividend to get her new shoes. We may yet try to get the others fix since they are still under warranty.

Oh you, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

One of the favorite gifts I received when Ethan was born was a "Billboard's Greatest Hits: Lullabies" tape. I am pretty sure we played that old tape for Ethan and then Ellie until it became so stretched and funny sounding that it threatened to become completely wound up in the cassette player. Alternately, I sang most of the songs to the kids many a night. Now my friends at work are becoming new parents and I want to set out and make a "tape" (or rather CD) of many of the songs for their little ones. That led me on an interesting path. I found that certain songs can only be purchased from ITunes if you buy the entire album. "HushaBye Mountain" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is one such song we love. Since I did not want to buy the entire album from ITunes I found it through my library instead. I thought I would just grab that one song and go, but I find myself almost entranced. I can sing along with nearly every sound.


Between many of the songs are little memorable soundbites. Listening to the song hearkens me back to when I was very young. I loved to swing and sing. You can picture it. I would have my long dark blond hair in two tight pigtails that most likely had matching ribbons in them. I would pump on the swing to get myself going as high as our little backyard set would go. (I always had visions of pumping my feet hard enough that I would eventually fly over the top and make a complete circle - I think nearly every kid dreams of doing that.)Chances are that I would have no shoes on. My cute shoes ( I am sure they would be cute because my mom LOVES cute shoes)would have been cast off to the side. I would swing and sing as loud as I could. I imagine that I must have both embarrassed and amused my mother as I sang, "Oh You, Shitty Shitty Bang Bang, I love you..." You see, at the time I could not really hear the difference between "Chitty" and "Shitty." I would finish up with that song and launch into "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree." From there the mix was varied. I loved "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Alone Again" by Gilbert Sullivan. Then I might go back to more Chitty related songs. The one thing missing from the otherwise wonderful and complete album is a small sound bit from the Candy Man & Child Catcher, " Candy" he would call, "Candy for girls and boys. All free today."


All of this makes me think of my days of my childhood. How I loved "Green Acres" and "The Flying Nun." I could sing along to the songs in "The Sound of Music." I would dance to the Charlie Brown specials and look forward to watching "Witch Mountain," "Escape from Witch Mountain" and "The Trouble with Angels." I find it funny and fun how creating a present for one person actually created one for myself...

Alien Invasion Cupcakes

Things have been crazy busy since I posted last. I had Parent/Teacher conferences which means I was at school on Thursday from 7:15 a.m. until almost 9:00 p.m. On Friday I had one of my Face two Face meetings for the online ed. classes I am teaching to other teachers. It was fun, but stressful as my material did not get released from the developer, but it did get released to everyone else. Since I don't write the course I walked into a day long class dealing with some stuff I could only guess at. The other instructor had rights so it worked out okay. The developer felt bad for forgetting to add me in. From there I picked up Ellie, had dinner with a lovely friend and then zoomed off to spinning practice. The girls' coach, Luwanna, had a guest speaker who deals with sports nutrition. It was great information that I may post here some time soon. While they were spinning I worked with Coach Bill to order new cassettes for Ethan's and Ellie's bikes. I am thankful for Bill. He and the bike mechanic seemed to be speaking a foreign language but the best ones I could afford got ordered. Then we waved good bye and sped off to a dinner party. It was fun, but I was pooped. We played "Buzz Word" and Rock Band. I think I most likely simply fell into bed around midnight.

So, you might be saying to yourself, What does this have to do with the cupcakes at the top of this post? Well, I'll tell you. Ellie wanted to do something unusual for her 12th birthday. At first she was not going to celebrate at all, but then she changed her mind. She had a small, fun party which I will post about later. Part of the fun was the cupcakes. She found inspiration in the "Hello Cupcake" book I got her for Christmas. Here's how you do them. You make regular cupcakes and freeze them. Once they are frozen you build up the shape. We used minidonuts, donut holes, cupcakes and a can of frosting. You use the frosting like mortar. This gets frozen, too.

You tint another can of frosting and put it in a thin, small glass measuring cup or wide mug. You cook it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so, just enough to make it the consistency of syrup. Then you dip the cupcakes into the frosting. It coats nicely and drips off the extra. Next, you put on eyes made of jelly beans. The antennae was a bit more challenging. I found I had to sort of dig a hole with a pastry tip, stick in the licorice and push it in with a toothpick. The end result was very cute and very popular. They reminded me of Lilo in the Lilo and Stitch movie.

The kids were excited and declared them a success. In reality they were a bit too much and no one could eat the entire thing. The squirrels were happy to help by carting them off. We hope they are not allergic to chocolate. Happy Birthday party, squirrels! Ellie sends her best wishes to you!

Boy Scout Rank Advancements and Honors Awards

Things have really started to pull together for Ethan. On Monday night we attended his Boy Scout Troop Court of Honor. First he received quite a few merit badges including Railroading, Model Building, Family Life, and Woodworking. He was also awarded the Star rank. We were proud of the hard work he did to get to this level. He has one rank left before he can begin is Eagle project.

Next he was elected to the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader position. This will be a good fit for him, allowing him a chance to put his leadership skills to the test.
The biggest surprise of the evening was his election as a candidate for the Order of the Arrow. This is a service oriented honor society. Each troop can only put one or two boys up for consideration each year. Next he will have to complete an OA Ordeal to be accepted into the order. If you look closer you can see the sash they wear that indicated their life membership in the order.