2.5 or, Where the Sidewalk Ends

Dear Miriam,

This month included many days of playing outside, a few days of camping and Cowboy Tunes every single night.  I came home the other day and you were sitting at the top of the stairs singing, "Home on the Range."  I have a feeling that your Apocalypse Survival plan will eventually be, "Just stay home and enjoy my grass-fed beef."

Grandma and Grandpa took you camping for a few nights up to a campground called Rancho Oso.  You came home with a new little stuffed horse, who you call Rancho Oso Pony.  You liked to watch the horses that they had, and the big pig named Bob.  I'm not sure if you knew why the rest of us thought the big pig named Bob was quite so funny, but we were all very amused.

We took Dad to the South Coast Botanic Garden.  He was the only one who hadn't been there yet.  We spent a few hours there, walking around the various gardens.  We walked up to see the lake, but they had drained it to do maintenance, so that a bit disappointing.  We'll have to go back in January, when they say they'll be done and the lake will be re-filled.  For someone who grew up around natural lakes, it's very odd to think that you might empty a lake for a few months.  Very odd.

We also discovered a new place to visit, the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.  They have exhibits on all kinds of things--whales and dolphins, geology, Native American history, Spanish and Mexican American history.  It's a neat museum.  Hopefully, we'll be able to go back this winter when the whales are migrating and do some whale watching from shore.  They also have a hiking trail, which would be fun to do when you're a little older.

One day this month, I got home from work after you were done with dinner.  You were playing in the living room, but then came around the corner to where I had just walked in the door.  You said, "Oh! I thought you were at work!"  Which made Grandma laugh.

The big news this month is that we found a new house to buy.  You are just a little bit younger than I was when we moved into Grandma and Grandpa Lam's house in Madison.  I have a memory of someone driving a blue pick-up truck to help us move.  I don't know if that's an accurate memory, but it's in my head.  I wonder how much you'll remember of the past year.  In some ways, you've been the luckiest one of us all.  You probably won't remember how stressful this whole process has been, and you're too little to carry any boxes.  You should probably be careful about that karma, though.  My childhood was all spent in the same house, and then after college I moved 5 times in 4 years.  And that doesn't count the number of times I helped other people move, which was many.  Hopefully, we will not move again for a long time, partly because it's much harder when you're older and partly because it's a really nice house.  It's well put-together, in a good school district.  There is a dog park a few blocks south and a playground a few blocks north.  It's a much quieter neighborhood, too.  The only drawback might be that the sidewalk goes all the way down the block, which means when you're teasing us by running off, you'll be able to go that much farther.  That's a problem I'm willing to have.

Love,
Mom

At Rancho Oso:

Bob the Pig:

The new house:

5.6 or, Positively Prepped

Dear Corbin,

This month, we got you ready to start school.  At the beginning of the month, you and I went to Target to do your school shopping.  For this year, that consisted of a new lunch box and a new backpack.  You did manage to talk me into new light-up Batman sneakers, but you were disappointed when I denied you new How To Train Your Dragon dragons.  You settled on a Spiderman lunch box and an Angry Birds backpack.  Someday, you will need a real backpack, a travel-to-different-continents backpack, and then we will truly shop for a backpack.  Because happiness is a great backpack.  A great backpack will be there with you when you need it, won't mind your baggage, and will give you hugs whenever you pick it up.  A great backpack will smell like that lunch you ate on a beach in Australia, will have that grease stain from your bike chain when you rode to classes in college, will have more miles on it than your first car.  A great backpack is a thing of beauty and comfort and pleasure.  But I suppose until then, Angry Birds will have to suffice.

At the end of the month, you had a two week session of morning classes called Jumpstart Kindergarten.  You got to meet your teacher for the year, Ms, Kawaguchi, and get to know your classroom, Room 13.  You brought home a plethora of worksheets, practicing writing your name, practicing cutting and pasting, practicing story comprehension.  It was a very useful program, and a good way to start the school year.

During the month, we went to the South Coast Botanic Garden.  Dad hadn't been there yet, so we had fun showing him the Children's Garden with the tunnel and the troll under the bridge.  I thought it would be a good time to walk up to their lake, since it was just the four of us.  We brought the wagon and the map and went searching for the lake...which they had drained in order to do maintenance.  So, all we saw was dry lake bed with tall lake plants wilting in the sun.  It was very disappointing.  But, we did get to see a huge beetle and a praying mantis in the Rose Garden, and brought home yet more toy lizards, and it was a nice way to get some exercise.

Grandma and Grandpa took you and Miriam up to a campground called Rancho Oso for a few days.  It seems like somewhere we should go back to when you're both older and do the horseback riding.  Miriam liked looking at all the horses, and the other animals in the barn.  They even had a big pig named Bob, which we all thought was a funny name for a big pig.

We discovered a new fun place to visit: the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.  It explores the history of whaling in the area, as well as the whales themselves.  It also has exhibits about the Native Americans who lived there, the Missions that came in to colonize the area, and then geology underlying the whole region.  It's a very nice museum inside, but it also has a hiking trail outside which looked like it might be fun to do.  Cousin Sue Yen has told us that she goes whale watching there in the winter, so hopefully we'll be able to do that, too.

The real news this month was that we put an offer in on a new house, and it was accepted.  So now there's lots more paperwork and things, but hopefully that will all go well.  Moving will be awful, it always is, but then we'll get to settle in to a much more comfortable place and hopefully live there for a long, long time.  The house itself is nice, with four bedrooms, a nice living room and a large dining and family room.  The kitchen has been updated nicely.  The garage is small and needs some work, but we've decided to park the RV in front of it and use it as a workshop instead of parking.  The backyard isn't large, but it's nice and has nice plants in it.  It's large enough for a bigger climber, which will be nice.  There is a dog park two blocks South, and a kid park three blocks North, and we won't have the terrible noise from the traffic any more.  We are all looking forward to getting all of our stuff out of the storage units, both here and in Madison.  It will be a process, but it will be worth it.  I'm saying that now, because I'm sure what I say during that process will not be worth saving for posterity.  Let that be a lesson to you: put positive energy into the world every chance you get.

Love,
Mom


At Rancho Oso:

Bob the Pig:

The house we all liked: