Time Off

Parents don't get a whole lot of "time off". There's no big revelation there. There are a few oh-so-lucky couples who have family willing to take the kids...or even clamoring to keep the kids so the parents can go out of town for a weekend...or even a week in some cases. We're not one of those couples.

But my mother did offer, about three years ago, to take the kids for the weekend for our 10th anniversary. We took her up on that without hesitation and had a wonderful time in Carmel. I'm not honestly sure anything will ever rival that trip in a lot of ways. It was such a huge relief to leave both kids at home with trusted caregivers after seven years of occasional babysitters.

We managed to get away for a single night last year. It was nice, but really didn't cut it.

This year, Daddy got a special offer from the same hotel we'd stayed at for our 10th, begged my mother for mercy and booked us for another weekend.Truth be told, this place is gorgeous, but not altogether my kind of deal. I'm uncomfortable with valets who open the car door for me, having my napkin placed in my lap for me, putting things on "my tab". Nonetheless, it not hard to appreciate getting the heck out of Dodge and away from children and obligations for just a little bit.

Soon after we arrived, we drove to Carmel Valley and had dinner at a cute little place called Café Rustica. It's a warm, snug little place with some super tasty Italian food. I enjoyed my dinner a lot, including the first wine I'd had in months.

Having had several discussions lately about just what is my thing, Daddy and I used Saturday to go for a hike above the ocean. We arrived at Garrapata State Park...one of the 70 slated for closure...to find that the trail I'd hoped to take was closed, but we decided to go for a walk up the canyon anyway.It was a good choice. On a not-so-warm, overcast day, the canyon was beautiful and green. There were some little waterfalls...and lots of ferns.We walked and walked until the trail started going significantly uphill. We'd passed a blank sign that had almost certainly said "Trail Closed", but since it no longer said anything, we hiked right past. Before we knew it, we were out of the canyon and on the steep trail that had been closed, for obvious reasons, like it was really washed out in spots.I was secretly kind of thrilled that we got to go that way anyway, with a viable excuse. We reached the top and had a snack overlooking the ocean. It was cold and windy up there, especially after getting all damp and sweaty on the way up, but the views were still pretty impressive.We took the steep and sandy route down. The trail really took it out on my knees, but we made it to the bottom with time to spare and took a little walk around the shoreline before heading back to the hotel and showering for dinner.

This hotel has a very nice restaurant ($$$) where we had our official anniversary dinner. I had some tasty things I'd never tried before, including a butternut squash tart with arugula. And naturally, we had some decadent desserts, including this carrot cake with cream cheese mousse on top and blood orange sorbet on the side.I'm sure it was all too pricey and I'm glad I never looked at the bill. It all just went on "the tab" anyway, right?The hotel hosts a lot of weddings. Saturday was no exception, even though there was a storm blowing in. I'd forgotten that our room (which was the same one we'd had a year earlier) is way too close to wherever they load up the delivery trucks with wedding supplies at 1:30am after the festivities are over. Between that and the wind, rain and hail, we didn't sleep terribly well. So when it was raining the next morning, we went for breakfast, then went back to our room for a nap. Later, we headed into Carmel to pick up some trinkets for the kids and their babysitters.

We took a windy little walk along the tidepools at Asilomar and headed home with that same feeling kids get when a particularly fun playdate is over. Coming home was way more of a bummer than it should have been. At least the kids were happy to see us!

Hippity, Hoppity Holiday

If you're not the religious sort, Easter is pretty much all about the Easter Bunny. That's sort of silly when you think about it, but it gives the kids something to look forward to. Mam started asking about Easter at least two weeks before the day arrived.

The kids woke up early and took it upon themselves to dress in their Easter best...which was pretty cute and pretty funny. Probably not quite what I would have chosen, but then, my parents decided to go to San Diego for Easter this year. That meant it was just the four of us. And it meant that no one was here to be disappointed that I hadn't cooked a breakfast extravaganza or used my best china. There was no pressure and it was a decidedly low key day...except for the egg-hunting, that is.We didn't dye eggs this year. I'm the only one who will eat hard boiled eggs, so I didn't see the point in wasting them. The Easter Bunny left markedly fewer plastic eggs around the yard than in previous years. There were complaints that there wasn't enough candy. There was plenty of candy. I still anticipate throwing out the majority of it, like every other year.

I was thrilled to see our big rose bush had burst into bloom right on cue. This has got to be one of my favorite plants in the whole yard. It's just so darned pretty and I do very little to keep it that way. Our cat, Oliver, was fairly desperate to join us and since he's learned to open the back door, he almost did...I didn't take any pictures of breakfast. We'd picked up some cinnamon rolls and bear claws at the local bakery. I scrambled some eggs and Daddy cut up some fruit. We ate on our everyday plates. It was yummy and totally nausea inducing. I had to take a nap afterwards.

Daddy and I fully enjoyed the day. No baseball games, no practices, no one to entertain. But at the end of it all, Mam declared, "It didn't even feel like Easter!" I don't know what was missing for her, exactly, but I'm inclined to try and keep it this low key. My gosh, it was a nice change...and honestly, I think the kids had a pretty good time, don't you?

Blah, Blah, Blog

I don't know what it is about this time of year exactly. Maybe it's the relief of having the birthdays over with. Or maybe it's the craziness of baseball and softball season. I took a hiatus from blogging about this time last year as well. But this year I also have a job and I've been working out like a crazy woman. I'm not totally sure what's up with that either, but the bathroom scale? It's not up at all. In fact, it's down, so I feel the need to keep working out like a fiend. I doubled down on yoga this week, made it to pilates, ran about 10 miles (total). I've also been at school a lot, taking kids to the library, helping kids with writing, helping kids with reading, helping them construct bird nests, serving lunch.

At the same time, turning 40 doesn't seem to be agreeing with me very well. I'm facing a very classic mid-life crisis and dealing with it poorly. Here I am at 40. I've achieved most of what I set out to do. I'm in desperate need of a second act, but I don't know what that is and I'm not willing to do less parenting to achieve it. Hmmm.

Anyway, so where were we anyhow? Well, there was this:Smunch started his baseball season as a member of the Phillies. He has a nice team. I like them. And, much like last year, he's one of the better players on this team, where he's one of the weaker players on the club team. It's probably good for him to have the contrast.

And there's this:Mam seems to be enjoying playing with the Pink Butterflies. And I'm enjoying being the team manager again, but parents really are crazy. I feel ridiculous having to tell another mom that her 5-year-old daughter canNOT play with those big earrings in her ears because she really might tear her earlobe off. It's very obvious. It's not my kid...and yet, I'm responsible. And I ask them not to bring snacks for their kids to eat during the game because it's very distracting both to their kid and to the other players. The game is only an hour. I think they can wait. FEED them before you come for heaven's sake! But several parents don't take my pleas to heart. Their children are a problem. Apparently, I also need to ask them not to bring toys for their daughters to play with during the game. Ugh. At least the girls themselves are fun.

One of my other high school buddies finally saw fit to turn 40 as well, so my group of friends all attended her party in The City. It made for some fun photo opportunities.And all of us were there...which is always nice. This will be a fun year that way.Got to hope it's this good ten years from now!

Spring break came and went. I took the kids up to the zoo for part of one day, but mostly we were at home, waiting for Smunch's next baseball practice to occur. So, it wasn't quite the fun spring break one might hope for. We spent the final weekend in Manteca, playing at at baseball tournament with the Mavericks.

There's not a lot to do in Manteca, but they do have one heck of a baseball facility there. Each field was built as a replica of a famous ballpark. On Saturday, the Mavericks played a double header at Yankee Stadium. Apparently, the tournament organizers weren't really up on the habits of 9-year-old boys because their games were scheduled back-to-back at 6:30pm and 8:30pm. Although they didn't get back to the hotel until 11 that night, they were all psyched to get to play under THE LIGHTS at least.Now, the day before the tournament, the coach sent the parents an e-mail saying that not everyone was going to be in the starting lineup this time around. This time, he said, he was going to field the most competitive team he could. I knew what that meant. It meant we were driving to Manteca to see Smunch play just a few innings of three long games. Bummer. That's pretty much the way it played out too, but the Mavericks played respectably. The mercy rule was never invoked. They always played to the time limit. And Smunch even managed to walk, steal second, have a short conference with the coach...steal third,and finally score the tying run by stealing home.He never actually got a hit during the tournment, but he had a good time, even though he didn't play much. And the hotel had a pool, so he and Mam got to swim with the rest of the team before their lackluster game at Fenway Park on Sunday. Who could blame them? They were tired. They hadn't slept well at the hotel. Their opponent was relatively local and their team got to go home early and sleep in their beds Saturday night.

I admit it was kind of fun, but I was still left wondering why we bothered. While Daddy kept score on his iPad, I took over the controller for the outfield scoreboard. At least that was mildly entertaining.

And last weekend was Easter. I guess that ought to get its own blog entry. I didn't take nearly enough photos, but that's O.K...

Play Ball!...Again

Last weekend was a super sports extravaganza all over the place. Smunch had two hours of practice with the Mavericks Friday evening, followed by an hour of basketball practice. We started Saturday morning getting Smunch to the tournament ball field at 7am for an 8am game. *yawn* Daddy took that on while I dropped Mam off with a friend so she could make it to opening day for softball. Then I took off for the tournament myself.

It was early and chilly. The Mavericks have been practicing for just a couple of weeks. The other teams at the tournament have been playing together for months...or years in some cases. It was a valuable lesson in humility for a bunch of boys who'd tried out and made the team.There was a lot of stealing during this game. The Mavericks' are Mustang 1 level PONY players...and they've only barely started practicing for their regular season. Mustang 1 is the first level where they learn to steal bases and such. So, it's a little mystifying to them yet.Smunch is attempting a steal of second in the picture above. See the ball? He didn't make it.

I left after that game and picked Mam up, fed her lunch and whisked her off to her last basketball game. Smunch was also supposed to go to his last basketball game...and maybe if his coach hadn't given out trophies at practice the night before, he would have done that. Instead, he decided to play the second game of the baseball tournament...and I made him call his basketball coach and tell him. Unfortunately, the coach didn't answer, so he had to leave a semi-intelligible message an hour before the game and Daddy took him back to the diamond.

The Killer Penguins made their last stand. It was one of their most challenging games of the season and only seven girls were available for the game, instead of the usual 10. The girls played hard and they did well. I don't do a very good job of keeping score, but I think they were probably a little behind at the end.

No matter, I had to whisk Mam off to her opening day softball game with the Pink Butterflies. We weren't too terribly late to the game. Just missed the first inning. Mam seemed to have fun.I forgot to take off her basketball jersey and didn't even notice until the end of the game.

I called Daddy when the game ended to see if I needed to head back to the baseball facility. I didn't. The score was 21-0 and the game was almost over. The Mavericks would have one more game on Sunday. Just about the time we set the clocks forward an hour for daylight savings, I got the e-mail that the game was at 8am the next morning. The boys would need to be there at 7am again...only this time it was an hour earlier.

Daddy got the early morning job again and Mam and I made it there during the first inning...to freeze our butts off in the foggy, breezy early morning while the Mavericks got pummeled one last time. It might just go without saying that we did *nothing* for the rest of the day.

Hasta, Killer Penguins

According to our schedule, last Saturday was the final stand for the undefeated Killer Penguins. I'd offered to make a cake for their celebratory end-of-season party. Of course, I didn't know at the time that the end of season party would be scheduled on Mam's birthday. It prompted us to have her party the previous day. And it prompted me to take the entire week off work to complete two cakes at once.

In typical Killer Penguins fashion, they vanquished the competition.Mam scored three baskets and her teammates scored many more. The other team might have scored three total. I was glad they scored, at least.This basketball season was so much fun. The coaches were great, the girls really enjoyed each other and played really well. Not surprisingly, that meant I wanted to make a really special cake for them.

I started experimenting with making fondant figurines. I'd never tried that before and wasn't the least bit sure I could pull it off. I liked my killer penguins though...and judging by the number of people who asked me where I'd found them, I'd say other people did too.I wanted an "icy" look to the cake, so I chose not to blend all the color into the fondant and make it marble-y. And knowing I had a team and siblings to feed, I put it together just like Mam's ladybug cake.It sat like that for a couple of days, which was a pity because it didn't look nearly as marble-y by the time I got to decorating it. We had to go to several stores before we found an appropriate basketball hoop. I just couldn't imagine making an edible one of those. Store #3, which was out of them, called store #4 and put it on hold for us. I made a little lake and piped on some snow.I added borders to both layers and carefully started placing penguins. Note to self...it's much easier to have a consistent border if your cake is in the middle of the plate.As a final touch, Daddy helped me engineer a dunking penguin.Somewhere along the line, I got an e-mail saying the reservation at the restaurant was for 46 people. I briefly panicked and made a quick sheet cake...which was, um, not particularly attractive, but functional.

Driving the cake over to the pizzeria was a little dicey and dunking penguin didn't show up entirely intact, but it was easy to fix and the cake went over well. The crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to Mam and most important, she got her trophy, as the coaches described her as a "little fireball". Ah, yes. Fireball, indeed.Naturally, it turns out that the coach's schedule was wrong. The Penguin's last game is this coming Saturday, overlapping with Mam's first softball game. There won't be any more cake.

Turning 7

I'm finding that it's hard to plan anything truly special for my daughter's birthday. I don't necessarily do a whole lot better with her brother, but as soon as his birthday's over, it's already too late to start thinking about hers from scratch. So, it was several days after Smunch's birthday that I sat down with Mam to talk about a guest list.

I don't know where this child came from. I really don't. She isn't a thing like her mother. I can tell you that. I always had a few really good friends and some peripheral friends, but I wasn't friends with everyone. Mam, is friends with just about everyone. There are some notable exceptions, but there are 24 kids in her class. Even if she's not fond of a quarter of them, that's still 18 children to invite. In the end, she invited 17, including a kindergartner from down the street, a friend who goes to another school and two girls who aren't in her class this year...in addition to a full half of her first grade class.

I made a snap decision that if we had to have that many children at our house, they were going to watch a movie. I chose "A Bug's Life". Despite the ladybug in the movie being a rather surly male, I figured it was probably as close to "on theme" as I was going to get.

The kids started arriving at 4:30. By five, they were sitting down creating their own mini-pizzas out of English muffins and all the fixins I could come up with. Pizzas were flying into the oven and flying right back out.It was complete chaos. Kids were loud, kids were crazy, some kids were grumpy. Prodded by her current "boyfriend", Mam announced it was too loud. I suggested she rethink inviting so many kids next time.

Once kids started finishing their dinner, we sent them off to play Twister in the family room with Daddy.With 15 kids, it was still crazy. Not too many kids can play Twister at once.

Mercifully, we started the movie as soon as 5:30 rolled around. And a beautiful silence filled the air as 15 children became complete zombies in front of the TV. Of course, there was plenty of giggling, but relatively speaking, it was so under control!When the peace was finally over, at least there was cake to keep them occupied.Naturally, half of them complained about either the fondant or the strawberry filling. Cake never occupies kids for as long as you'd hope. We ended up having Mam open her presents...something children rarely do at birthday parties anymore.

When that was over, they all went HOME. And that was the best part of all! That and the next morning...Mam's actual birthday...when she got her brand new bike, which she already loves.Funny to think there was a time when I was near certain that she'd never be able to ride a bike...much less have a crazy birthday party.

Ladybug Birthday

Mam decreed that this year would be a ladybug year for her birthday. Well, O.K., I thought. I had visions of an oval-shaped cake that I could decorate as a ladybug. That's a lot of red stuff. It's hard to color things red. It takes a lot of coloring. It took a long time for my vision of this cake to finally take shape. As always, it had humble beginnings.This was a white cake with strawberry filling...as requested. Naturally, upon actually tasting it, Mam decided that she doesn't like strawberry filling. Such are the whims of a 7-year-old.I wasn't so sure what color I wanted this cake to be either. I wanted it to be bright and cheerful. Ladybugs make me happy. I wanted this cake to have that same effect. After seeing Mam's rather extensive guest list, I also decided it needed two tiers.And now it was yellow. It wasn't quite the bright, cheerful yellow I'd been looking for, but I decided to go with it rather than doing anything rash, like making a whole new batch of fondant...because yeah, I make my own fondant and color it myself.I added grass. Lots of grass. As much grass as I thought I could add without turning it into a jungle cake. The grass is just rolled out fondant, cut with a pizza cutter. I added a leafy fondant border...because it just needed a border.I made daisies out of gum paste and let them dry so that they curved just so. I made ladybugs out of red fondant, rolled into egg shapes and cut in half...then added heads and spots with a FoodWriter pen.Last, but not least, of course, I had to add the flowers and the ladybugs to the cake. It was looking promising, but it was hard to know for sure until they were on.I always take a picture at this step because I'm so worried that I'll write on the top of the cake and that'll ruin everything. Honestly, the writing, while being elementary school perfect, turned out oddly centered. Fortunately, a few strategically placed daisies and ladybugs seemed to make up for it.I admit I was pretty proud of this one. It turned out every bit as cool as I'd envisioned. Mam loved what it looked like, even if she's refused to eat any of the leftovers. Of course, I don't want to be stuffing myself with them either. Maybe next year, I should just whip out the canned frosting and a box of cake mix!