LAST Weekend Happenings

So many things, so little time....

So this happened last week....

 

I know this borderlines on rude, and I acknowledge that I am his mother and should love him regardless of anything...and I do, but a missing front tooth is never the look anyone should strive for.  And to make matters worse, it seems as if the other tooth is now a little longer and protruding more forward and he looks....like....a....carnie.  There I said it.  It's off my chest and I feel better. 

 

And while we are having courageous conversations...I have one I'd like to get off my chest.  This is for all of those parents out there who make a call to the Tooth Fairy and "pay her" 20 to 30 times the amount that should be paid for a tooth.  This makes the rest of us look bad.  And cheap.  When Ryan came home the other day and said that his dollar was NOTHING compared to the twenty and thirty dollars other kids said the Tooth Fairy left them, I was literally at a loss for words because in his mind...How is the same Tooth Fairy giving other kids so much and he has a buck under his pillow???  I tried telling him that the Tooth Fairy probably gave the kids a dollar or two, and the parents gave them the rest.  He was NOT buying this at all!!!  So, if you live in the Parkwest--Evergreen side of town, the Tooth Fairy is apparently VERY CHEAP in that area and you have been warned.

 

Saturday was my annual day before Mother's Day spa day.  That's all.  Just pure bliss in Heatherland.

 

And Saturday afternoon, the other Marini Family came to town to celebrate Papa Rich's birthday and Mother's Day.  These next pictures are the best.  These were given to us on Saturday night.  The plates are Rich and Mike's when they were 8 and 5, I believe.  And on the right, were all the plates all the cousins made.

 

So, from left the first row is Mike's, then Mason and Mikayla's.  Middle row is Rich, and the last two rows are Matt and Ryan's.

 

 

 The top two basketballs are Matt's.

And these two are Ryan's. (I LOVE the Thunder Mountain plate)

 

On Mother's Day we spent the morning with the Marini's and then came back here to rest and have no plans at all.  I downloaded a new book, read about 50 pages of it and then napped for three hours.  Yep.  Three hours.  I would like to say I am terribly embarrassed by that, but I am not. 

 

So, what do you do when you know a bed time is nowhere in your near future?  You spend six hours at the kitchen table working on your class video.

 

This is the ninth video I have made and it is a labor of love.  From start to finish, I would say I have logged about sixteen hours putting it together.  And that all started last Thursday night.  On Monday night I sat at the table until 11:20pm waiting every nine minutes for the DVD to pop out and for me to stick another one in until all thirty-two were made.  I was exhausted Tuesday morning, but when Tuesday afternoon came and I played it for them and they screamed and sang at the top of their lungs and told me I picked the perfect music for every part of the video...it reminds me why I do it and it is worth it every year to see their faces.

 

And finally, this week was Open House.  Which is the most exhausting week of the year.  It's like a dog and pony show at our school and getting everything ready is a nightmare.  Matthew had two fun events this week.  He had his tasting tea for the state he did his state report on and he had his biography performance.

 

 

Mr. Paul Revere.

Matt's class set up in the cafeteria and were "on display" for people to come and push "their button" for them to perform.  Each kid was dressed as the person they chose for their biography and had to memorize a speech that they had to say over and over at the request of whoever wanted to hear them.
The entire thing was amazing and the kids did such an amazing job.

 

 

Here are a couple of my other students.  LOVE THEM!!!!

 

(Left to right)  Noelly was Ann Sullivan(who was Helen Keller's caretaker) and signed the first part of her speech.   Then Katie, who was Babe Ruth.  Savannah was Annie Oakley.  And the cute astronaut is Tabitha, who was Neil Armstrong.

Ryan was Wayne Gretzky...the Oilers years.

Lauryn as Amelia Earhart.

And Victor as Elvis.  By far the crowd favorite because there was a routine and everything to his speech.



 

Two more weeks of school.  Counting the days....

Chaperone Envy

Ever since the boys started school at Reese, every one of their teachers have stopped me in the staff room at the beginning of the school year and said, "Let me know what field trip you want to go on, and I will make sure there is room for you."  I seriously tried not to laugh in their face because the absolute last thing I am interested in doing is taking a day off from work and chaperoning a field trip for one of the boys.  Judge me.  Talk about me behind my back.  Make comments to whomever you want to about my lack of involvement.  I HATE field trips and the thought of watching out for other kids who did not come from my classroom set of rules is not my idea of a fun day.  I know, mother of the year---again, I could care less.

Until yesterday.

Matthew has basically been talking about the fifth grade Alcatraz field trip since the first grade.  And because Rich LOVES field trips, all Matt has talked about is spending the day with Rich in San Francisco and doing the whole Alcatraz thing.  Rich has equally been just as excited.  He shows it in other ways, like printing out coupons for some of the parents he knows that are also on the field trip.  (And yes, you just read that and yes it happened, and yes the other parents were thrilled.  Why me?)  All in all, it was going to be a great day and I was excited for both of them because I know this day so well, and I was so excited that they were going to finally enjoy it.

I have said it before, I have a love/hate relationship with this field trip.  A parent asked me yesterday how I was doing, as he was boarding the bus behind 30 students at 6:10am, and I said ask me when we have pulled back up to the curb at the end of a safe trip.  He laughed and said, "Yeah, I don't envy you."  I never want a field trip to be over as soon as it starts like I do this one.

Yesterday, watching Matt and Rich get on the bus, I was worried that I wasn't going to see them because we were on a different time schedule due to the different classes.  Kim, my teaching partner and Matt's teacher, told Rich he could ride on the bus with me if he wanted and he laughed in her face.  When she told me this later I said...I would have kicked him off of my bus because he was already complaining about the route we were taking and that our bus drivers didn't know how to drive.  If I had had to sit next to him and listen to it instead of read it on multiple texts, I would have hurt him. 

When we finally arrived, I was able to snap a picture of them before they got on their boat.  Because we have two separate groups, we would be going on two separate boats and I would be about a half an hour behind them.

Here they are right before getting on the boat.

 

 

When I finally got over to Alcatraz and got my class situated, I was on a hunt to try and find Rich and Matt.  I wanted to walk with them a little bit and see where they were in the tour, talk to them about what they were learning, and show them the cool stuff  I had learned about.  When I finally found them, they had no time for me.  They were in their own little world and asking them to pause for a picture was like passing a bill through Congress.

 

 

They look sweet and smiling, but the eye roll I got from both of them right before was rude. 

 

 

 

Okay...could not have had more perfect weather!  Gorgeous!



 

 

As I was walking around playing teacher and photographer, I get a text from Rich and Matt to meet them in the bookstore ASAP.  Matt wanted to buy a book and get it autographed by the author.  Who knew the author was a former "resident"???  I was super excited because I have never been there when a former inmate has been there and I thought it was a cool experience for him.

 

Here he is.  #1259

I am totally okay with this and thought it was a neat opportunity.  Some parents did not find it appropriate.  Second chances are only for a select few apparently. 

 

The dagger in my heart was when I was still on the island, waiting for my class to be done with their tour, and I get a text from Rich and Matt who are dining at Fog Harbor at Pier 39.  

 

Their view from their lunch table.

Look at that background.  Screams field trip, doesn't it?

 

Not only was I not able to spend the day with them and experience Alcatraz with them, they threw a nice grown up lunch in my face as I was munching on granola bars that I has stuck in my backpack at 5:15am!  To quote Matt, "This didn't even feel like a field trip. This was like the best day with dad and we got to have this nice fancy lunch by ourselves."  Cue tears from the "I never want to be a chaperone" mom.

 

 

 

 





Ballpark Saturday!!!

Last Saturday we went to an Oakland A's game to support their day for Autism Awareness.  It was a great day and nice to be able to sit with other families with kids with autism and know that we probably had the most patient section of stadium seats in the ballpark.  We get it, we understand it, and we accept it.

Nana and her boys.

View from our seats.  Not bad...but you will soon see, it will change just a bit.

Notice anything different?  We are now under the overhang and in jackets where the coldness has taken over our body.  Our seats in the above picture were smack dab in the sun and 70 degrees in a concrete jungle feels more like 90.  So, we headed up to the top of our section, through on our jackets and the free blankets they were giving away, and enjoyed the rest of the game.

Nana treated everyone to snow cones in a cup.  Best silence money can buy.

If you don't photobomb a selfie...you're just lame.

Fun day, fun people, fun game.  See you next year!

Hook, Line, Sinker.

I think I should write a book that is titled...You Know Your Boys Have Been To Nana's Bobbie's House Because________________. 

I imagine that they secretly get together and draw up their proposals on how they will pitch her their next big idea or plan.  Who will say what?  Who's in charge of internet research that will be presented?  Who comes in at the end to close the deal?  And, really, why wouldn't they?  I am pretty sure she has NEVER said no, which makes this whole process basically a sure thing. 

So, Operation Crab Fishing was brought to the boardroom (that's the kitchen table on a Thursday night at her house) about a month or so ago, and this was the text I got after the monsters laid out their spiel.  "Do you have any time over the break that you aren't doing anything?  The boys want to go crab fishing.  And Leath's friend lives in Half Moon Bay and people go crab fishing there."

Boys---67   Nana Bobbie---0   (I'd play those odds as well)

Bright and early---we are set to go!

So last Friday we (Nana, Aunt Leath, Matt, Ryan, and Mom) set out for a day of crabbing.  And because we are  "beginners", this is what we had in our car:

Lunch--check
Snacks--check
Fishing poles--check
Tackle boxes--check
Bait--check
A collapsible crab cage that we don't really know how to use--check
Refrigerated chest to bring home dinner--check
Change of clothes--check
Optimism--check

When we got to Joe and Karen's (friends of my Aunt's who live in Half Moon Bay and a block from the beach, who's jealous?), we soon realized that we would need to stop at a bait store just to make sure we had everything that we would need for the day.

When we arrived at the bait shop, it was clear that we needed "stuff".  Stuff like crab snares, bait, hooks...want me to keep going?  We had "rookies" written all over our faces, almost like a neon sign above our heads flashing, "They know nothing, sell them everything!"  However, the damage was not too bad and the man was super nice and helpful.  I think he felt sorry for us and customer service is obviously important to him.

We headed down the street to the Pacifica Pier.  Did I mention how gorgeous the day was?  We had originally planned for Wednesday, but had to postpone because of a storm.  So glad we did, because it was a perfect day.

So the nice man at the bait place told us to load the bait, drop the snare, wait 7-10 minutes and then pull up.  No joke....within 10 minutes of being there, we had hooked our first crab.  You would have thought we were filming an episode of the Deadliest Catch and the single crab we pulled in was what we were all retiring off of.

Squid.  Crabs snack of choice. 

Don't let that smile fool you.  He is here for the snacks only.

His fishing photo-op of the day.

All business.  Reeling in his first crab.

 

 Hey look....those $7 snare traps actually work.

After that first one, it was addictive.  I was grabbing squid, folding their little bodies in half like they were gummy worms, and stuffing them into the bait holder so that we could drop it as many times as necessary.  I think we counted a total of seven crab that were caught.  The first one was too small, so back to the drink it went.  And then we caught our keeper, that we "measured" so it would be an "acceptable" length to keep (we were keeping it regardless).  All others either broke free before they reached us, or crawled to their safety by taking a suicidal plunge back in the water on their own.

The money shot.  See this face folks?  This is the face of a happy boy.  A happy boy who is holding up a crab with a kitchen oven mitt.  We're professionals now, people....deal with it.

"Mom, stick the squid in quick.  The crab are eating!!!"

Just a peek over the ledge.  Gives you an idea of how high up we were and how we lost a few as they untangled themselves and dropped to safety.

Finally.  A keeper!

We kept telling each other to not look to closely at him because guilt could make us set him free.  "Don't get attached.  Don't get attached.  Don't get attached.  And whatever you do--don't name him!"

 Dinner. Party of One. 

 Aunt Leath---you are a rock star!  She was such a good sport to join us and we loved having her there.  And we are so sorry we couldn't share the crab due to the fact there wasn't enough to share....

 On to the next spot!  This place we would have never found on our own.  It pays to know the locals!

It was like we had the place to ourselves.

And who's grateful for the pair of boots my mom ordered and didn't fit in????  MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Were you curious at all as to why we brought a change of clothes?  Curiosity, meet Ryan.  His mother knows him well.

So happy.

Ryan was obsessed! Hermit crabs galore!

Crab fishing in water that is 8 inches deep.  Go ahead and try and tell him it won't work.  Go on, I dare you.   He's exhausting some times.

 Final crab of the day.  He was so tiny.  This guy could have been a pet. :)

THANK YOU NANA!!!  WHAT AN AMAZING DAY!!!!!   WE LOVE YOU!!!

 And then this happened......

Is it me, or is he basically staring me down?  I can almost hear the thoughts going through his head and they aren't kind.  (As the song from the Little Mermaid is blaring in my head)

Don't care.  He was delicious!

We eat what we catch in this family!!!  (Okay, that was funny to write and funny to read)

So...what will our next adventure be?  What I don't understand is why they haven't asked to do a more in depth study of the migration patterns of the orca whales in the Pacific Ocean.  I mean, when is THAT going to be brought to the boardroom?  I am almost positive they have Carnival Cruises for things like that!!!!