One Week Down

Was it just a week ago that winter break started? That last day of school seems like a distant nightmare.

On Friday morning we got the kids dressed for the Magellan Winter Concert (yes. doesn't Evan look excited) and drove down to Norris Conference Center (the school has outgrown their "auditorium" facilities) and dropped Vivian off and waited with Evan in the car while he sang Spanish holiday songs.

And waited some more while other people's children sing badly. Then Vivian class arrived and they sang three songs that seemed to take forever but not as long as when other people's children sang their songs. Then more waiting while Evan went "backstage" and Vivian joined Jo and me in the audience. By the time Evan's class climbed up on to the risers and he was almost completely hidden behind an oafish child in front I had no energy to lift my phone up for a photo and hardly enough to carry on living.

Now in triage mode, we broke a few school rules and collected Evan after his set and skipped out for lunch before the 7th graders performed their Chinese tongue twisters. Afterwards we went to Evan's classmate Krish's cookie exchange party where mothers exchanged cookies, kids decorated them, and I ate the cookies with a vengeance,  trying to blot out the morning with sugar, and surprisingly succeeding at it.

The next morning, Saturday, we woke up slowly. Vivian convinced Jo and me to read her two chapters of Nancy Drew aloud in bed. Evan fidgeted and made a royal nuisance of himself. The kids and Jo made a huge sugar cookie ginger bread man and decorated him. They also made cookies and decorated them for the neighbors. I took the kids to see Guardians of the Galaxy (second time for Vivian) and Evan kept showing his middle finger all the way back (thankfully he's forgotten all about it). I read more Nancy Drew and the kids fell asleep with a smile on their faces. No school for two weeks and some change. Oyster and whiskey party at their friend's, and their Clovis cousins arriving the next evening.

And that was a week ago tonight. Time flies when you're having fun. And fruit flies like a banana. 

Christmas Dinner

After a wonderful Christmas Eve evening at Nicolle's (Nicolle's special bean soup, tortilla soup, Aaron's butter chicken, and Nicolle's chocolate pecan pie, and a nap on their living room carpet), we drove back into town and while the kids were getting ready for bed. I brined the bird.

Next morning the kids dived under the tree and ripped open their gifts (Evan is very careful with the wrapping and tries to undo it without a tear). While Jo and Aaron were fixing pancakes and bacon for breakfast I browned the lamb in the oven and put it in the slow cooker and washed the brine off the turkey and tossed it in the oilless frier on the back deck. Carol and Nicolle and Michelle and the kids arrived from New Braunfels with more gifts. More chaos though all of it in a nice way.

Because it wasn't 14 degrees Fahrenheit outside the turkey got cooked in time (and two hours before dinner because I was still a bit gun shy from Thanksgiving in Nebraska). I popped it in the oven to keep it warm and the rest of dinner resolved itself around us. Guests arrived bearing food. In all eleven adults, twelve kids and Zenia asleep on a pillow.

The kids ate outside on the deck. We dined at the kitchen counter and dining table. I tried to stay up and chat but finally threw in the towel and wandered off to nap. When I woke up hours later the party had moved to the living room. Zenia was still asleep (though I supposed she must have woken up and been fed and then gone back to sleep).  The kids were running around in the back yard and on the trampoline and watching movies.

When it was time for Carol and the New Braunfels contingent to head home we sang Happy Birthday to Grandma. Evan sang it over again in Spanish. Then he sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. And then he turned and asked for dinner. We said "But you've already eaten dinner".

"But that was lunch". So we fed him leftovers and pie.

Clovis Cousins

Evan and Vivian have 11 cousins (Jo's family has kindly provided them all). They see their six New Braunfels Cousins most often, though clearly not often enough. In the last year they've also seen their Clovis Cousins (they are only temporarily in Clovis, New Mexico but it's got a nice ring to it) more often they usually do. And then there are a couple more cousins who are shrouded in mystery. 

On Christmas Day all but the Mystery Cousins were under one roof. But no one took any photos. But here are some photos of Vivian and Evan and Ava with the Clovis Cousins from the days leading up to Christmas. The second photo was taken and texted by Aaron in Gusto, an Italian restaurant up the street from us.

Aaron and the boys were at Gusto for lunch. Jo and I were at Whole Foods buying stuff for Christmas day dinner. And Beth had taken Peyton and Vivian to Target.

There isn't a Target in Clovis. The nearest is a couple of hours drive away. I try not to go shopping. But imagine being two hours away from the nearest sashimi place. Or a breakfast taco bar. I feel your pain, Beth.

Vivian was warned that this trip to Target could be longer than normal. But she was ready. She took her purse with $13.25 in it to spend on herself. Once she got there, she had an experience like never before. When Jo or I take her to Target, she usually rides in the cart so we rush from one aisle to another and out the red doors as fast as we can. Apparently it was different with Beth. They visited various sections. And lingered lovingly and browsed and learned the joys of the "price checking machine".  She loved it.

But Vivian had an ulterior motive. She wasn't just there to have fun. She picked out, with plenty to help from Beth and Peyton, a Christmas gift each for her parents, Grandma, Evan, and Carol's three dogs (yes, even despicable Sadie). She knew exactly what each of us would like. She shopped and debated and listened to advice and decided. And she returned home with $3 still in her purse.

Next year I'm taking Vivian Christmas shopping.

Sand Bags

As we were getting ready to leave Fredericksburg after a great day at Enchanted Rock and up and down Main Street, the seat moving switch on the passenger seat of the Subaru flaked out. With the seat stuck in the position where it is pushed as far forward as possible. On the drive back the kids got plenty of leg room in the back while Jo up front felt she was on an American flight. So next morning I took the car to the dealership and then Jo dropped me off at the gym. When she came to pick me up, Vivian and Evan had a go at the climbing rope. Vivian makes it look easy. Evan wasn't so sure.

The kids got to see me finish my workout. My last thing was 20 sand bag get-ups with a sixty pound bag. I felt like a roach on it's back. Jen took this photo at about number 17.

That evening Mona dropped off my birthday gift. Her special cake, except they keep getting even better. I wasn't home ("Hobbit" with Aaron and Gage). Jo took the photo and texted it to me to make sure I hurried home. And the bottom photo was at 1am. Now getting off the couch feels like that sand bag workout. It's called functional fitness.

Zenia Photos

No words necessary.

Enchanted

Aaron, Beth, Peyton, Gage and Logan arrived in Austin while we were finishing up at Field's and Hyder's parents' oyster and whiskey party. The next morning we went to Juan in a Million for breakfast. Then we agreed to take advantage of the fine weather and go to Enchanted Rock. Aaron, Peyton, Gage, Vivian and I got ahead of Beth, Logan, Jo and Evan and we had some time on our hands at the top of the rock.

It's been a decade or two since I've been in the "cave" on the back of the rock. I remembered that it was well marked, though utterly dark. We decided to give it a try and everyone slithered down the hole into the first chamber. Aaron turned of the flashlight app on his phone and by then it was too late to turn back around because four boy scouts who were camping there had lined up behind us.

It took us about half an hour of moving, climbing, creeping, belly crawling, and back sliding to get to the other end. I'd say everyone was glad to see the proverbial and literal light at the end of the tunnel. As we climbed out into open air, I was amazed that Vivian had taken it so well. Just another adventure.

We met the mothers and the rest of the kids at the bottom of the Rock (they had climbed up, looked around, waited, given up and started down before we got out of the cave and back into the world of cell phone reception). Then we drove to Fredericksburg for a lunch. Later we took a stroll up and down main street where I took this photo of some of the crew in a huge well polished mirror in a store. We ended the evening watching a spectacular sunset at the Christmas tree at Marktplatz.

Evan was sound asleep in the back seat before we left city limits. Even Vivian - who never sleeps in cars - nodded off as we got to Austin. 

The Marriage of Knife

Vivian, Ava and Evan play on the trampoline for hours. Or it seems that way but then it turns out that my children are actually at Ava's house using her bathroom.

Sometimes they run around and do something other than jump on the trampoline (or go to Ava's bathroom). Like they borrow my shoes.

This morning when Ava came over they changed into their pj's that Jo got them for Christmas and then Vivian officiated while Ava and Evan helped and they got Vivian's Big Dolly married off to Knife, her new boy dolly that she got from Santa. 

A few days ago, Jo had overheard plans for an earlier wedding.

Vivian: "Evan - will you be the ring bearer when my dollies get married"

Evan: "Sure"

Vivian: "OK - we are ready. Can you bring the rings?"

Evan: "Sorry - my dolls are at a meeting and I have to take care of them"

Vivian: (distraught, verging on bridezilla) "No! I need you. You are the ring bearer!"

Evan: "Sorry - my dolls are in a meeting" (as he arranges two dolls across a desk from each other)

A minute later, still completely unaware that Vivian is about to unravel,

Evan: "Oh - I'm ready. My dolls don't need me at their meeting"

God

A few day back we took Vivian, Ava and Evan to Maudie's for lunch. While we were munching on chips and salsa Evan and Ava decided to play rock-paper-scissors. Evan won many a round by yelling "God!" - who is invoked by apparently placing one's hands above his head. As expected, God trumps anything.

I thought I'd tell him that it wasn't very fair to win by claiming God's on his side. But then, he'll learn soon enough. 

The Day After

Aaron and his family left right after Jo got back from the gym on Boxing Day morning. Vivian and Evan took a bath. Finally. Due to lax parenting the kids had neglected getting in contact with water for God Knows How Long. The bath water was a disgusting brown when they were done.

Once cleaned up, we drove to Tatsu-Ya's and got bowls of Old Skool ramen just before the lines started forming outside the restaurant. Then we napped till 5ish before finishing the day at the Shahs. The kids got their Christmas gifts, including those those drawing books with black paper that you scratch off to expose the underlying "rainbow" colors. They haven't stopped drawing.

The 2014 Christmas Letter

Jo and I began 2014 on the dance floor at the main lawns of the Secunderabad Club. And now, suddenly and unexpectedly it's coming to an end. Here's what we did between the beginning and the end, in excruciating detail.

Early in the year, Vivian turned seven at a geeky science party. She learned to ski in a one morning and wowed her mother and her class with a presentation about the birth of stars and galaxies the following week. But her teachers complained that she didn't have focus which she apparently saved for the monkey bars and for when she danced at a couple of events towards the end of the school year.

Evan turned four in a light saber-filled Star Wars affair and got himself a big boy bike with no training wheels. He developed a "cool" face - a smoldering look he usually directed at admiring ladies, and he told everyone who cared to listen and then some that someday he was going to be a "cooker". Jo and I, taking an uncalculated risk, had agreed to move him for the next academic year from Grace Garden where he knew and loved everyone, to a school filled with strangers where they only spoke Spanish. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about summer vacation next.

As summer began, Vivian went off to her very first sleepover camp with her cousin Ava. She cried when camp was over and wished that it had "lasted for six weeks more". She loved Slumber Falls and is ready to go back there next year. And I quietly disposed off some of my prejudices about Jesus camps, or at least this particular one.

Evan, in Grandma's pool, learned how to swim, though he specializes in the underwater kind. We had a wonderful 4th of July celebration with friends and family. The night before, after Vivian and Evan went to sleep at Grandma's, Uncle Tom & Co. arrived from Nebraska. Apparently at 4am, Evan woke them up (Uncle Tom and Aunt Anna were sleeping in the room where Jo and I normally sleep at Carol's) and told them that he didn't like his bed. No sooner than Aunt Anna offered, he jumped up and found himself a nice spot between them and went off to sleep, where a worried Jo found him in the morning.

A couple of days later we embarked on a trip that started with a week at Uncle Alu and Aunt Michelle's in Rhode Island. Lazy walks on the beach and Vivian boogie boarding for hours. And treasure hunts, campfires, piano time, English muffins, riding lawn mowers, art shows, and ice creams. Then we went off to Iceland, Amsterdam, Paris, the Faroe Islands and Copenhagen for a month.

Iceland was a blur of waterfalls, rain, icebergs, miles upon miles of emptiness and moss covered lava rocks, volcanoes, horses, fjords, black sand beaches, and midnight trips to the park in daylight. In Amsterdam Vivian and Evan ran past every painting in the van Gogh museum, completing the world's fastest trip through the museum. We rode bikes like locals and the kids swam in the rooftop pool at the Nemo. Paris was hot. Evan and Vivian took turns being sleepy or grumpy as we dragged them to the top of the Sacre Coeur and up 700 steps to the second observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. The Faroe Islands were stunningly beautiful and remote. We took ferry boats to even remoter islands to hike down sheer cliffs, lay on our bellies and stare at puffins who starred back at us with little silver sand eels between their orange puffin beaks.

On our last morning in Torshavn we traded our remaining Faroese currency for chocolate bars. The kids sat in the back of the bus to the airport and devoured the chocolate. I noticed that Evan had messy fingers.

"Evan - lick the chocolate off your fingers"
"Daddy - I can't!"
"Why not?"
"I'm sick of chocolate"
"Why didn't you stop when you had enough?"
"The chocolate was controlling me"

There were many a precious moment like this one and when you spend 24 hours a day for a month together, you get them all. But you also glimpse the underbelly of too much togetherness. So we were all happy to get back to Austin and to (as Evan calls it) our white wooden house where Vivian and Evan feverishly spent the last few days of the summer holidays with cousins and friends and neighbors in swimming pools and sleepovers. 

Vivian started second grade back at Magellan and though she still limps along in Spanish, she's a champ in math. Evan joined Magellan and has embraced learning Spanish with a gusto (at the dinner table if he needs water he politely asks "por favor agua"). He has given up wanting to be a "cooker like my dad" and now wants to be a cientifico (a scientist) like his Uncle Alu. Vivian has begun sparring in Taekwondo and found out that she enjoys kicking and punching boys. Evan is the most serious student in his age group and he lives to be called out to say the pledge at the start or end of Taekwondo class.

By October Jo's wanderlust kicked in again and we packed up a minivan with Grandma and the kids and drove around the Big Bend, Guadalupe mountains, Carlsbad caverns, Cloudcroft in New Mexico, the amazing dunes at White Sands, and Santa Fe. We stopped in Clovis and Vivian and Evan spent a happy day with their cousins. And then in November, like Willie, we were on the road again. This time for Thanksgiving in Nebraska with Nicolle and her family, Greta, and Grandma. Eight kids, six adults, four dogs, one house. Seven days. Sounds like a nightmare but we made it there and back with all 72 limbs intact and just a tiny dent in Uncle Tom's liquor cabinet. And talk of making it an annual tradition. The kids amazingly entertained themselves with a piece of cardboard, a patch of grass, a rickety park four block down the hill, an under inflated soccer ball, an iPad, and crunch cones.

One morning on the way to school Vivian asked "So what's happening with chemical warfare in Syria?". It's hard to answer that question without saying how we as a species have screwed up. But just as to err, apparently over and over again, is human, so is to hope. Evan is enjoying every minute of being alive and four years old. A couple of weeks ago he described the entire workings of the human GI tract to us in two minutes. He is serious, funny, turdy, cuddly, and still oh so cute, though that won't last long. Four years ago, when school Santa at Grace Garden asked Vivian what she wanted, she replied "A pair of roller skates, a dump truck, a skate board, a big candy cane, and a nice new shovel." I asked her why. "Because that's what Fields is asking Santa". Yesterday Vivian wrote out her list for Santa. Jo and I pried it open carefully this morning. She wanted a "boy doll like my Big Dolly, a head band making kit, and $55 to donate to the World Wildlife Fund to save endangered African elephants". Like her Santa list, in 2014 Vivian continued to grow into her own person. Thoughtful, confident, creative, caring and loving.

And with that we wish you hope, happiness, peace and a very merry Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Hogmanay, New Year, and Guru Govind Singh Jayanti.

December 2014
Austin, Texas

Fighting Photos

So the results from last weekend's posed Taekwondo photo shoot are in. My kids look dangerous.

Bastrop Wedding

We kept Evan home a couple of days - he is coughing like a old smoker. So Evan is watching reruns of Wild Kratts on Netflix all day. At least they are educational, I tell myself. Yesterday after an extended session, Evan said "Daddy - do you know that those things that stick out in bat's wings are their fingers and the wing is skin that is stretched between the fingers".

Steve got married yesterday and I spent half the day at Bastrop. Jo didn't go because of Evan. Over lunch at China Cafe I asked Vivian if she wanted to go to the wedding with me. She was pretty clear. "Unless I'm going to be a flower girl I'm not interested".

Soon after we left for India in 2011, most of Bastrop State park and several houses in the surrounding area were burnt in a huge fire. The park is still looking very burnt. It will apparently take decades to get back to looking like it did before.

The entire wedding party, men, women and children, including the bride and groom were dressed in black Converses. The bride sang her vows (Freddy Mercury's "You're My Best Friend") and the officiator was an old family friend who was tattooed from head to toe. Funky weird Austin fun.  

Matching Black Cocktail Dresses

Vivian has had Big Dolly since her first birthday. She's had her "black cocktail" play dress for a year or two now. This afternoon she made matching goggles for herself and Big Dolly and they both dressed up in black cocktail dresses. I do hope this is still funny years from now....