City Sans Twins

Luke checking out the Bay Bridge in San Francisco

Last weekend, the twins went to a youth group retreat, leaving the house too quiet. Katie was home, but she is always fairly quiet, keeping to her room or hanging out with the neighbor kids.  The twins, on the other hand, raise the noise factor considerably!  Part of that comes from practicing their instruments (Steven practices clarinet and sax, and Isabel the trombone), but most of their noise  is from the constant back and forth chatter about all the middle school drama that is going on all the time.  So much drama.  Just, don't even ask.  Trust me...  It's dramatic.  

Steven and Isabel enjoyed the retreat, but they thought there was too much free time.  Steven, my introvert in training, felt like there wasn't enough to do during the free time.  Isabel, a definitive extrovert, thought the free time made the weekend go by too quickly!  I am sure the leaders needed the afternoon time to recover from the late evening activities.  The kids stayed up until 12:30 or later every night, playing games and just being middle schoolers.  They came back exhausted after the 3 night long retreat.  Steven said that he rarely got a chance to check his sugar, since he was snacking so much, so he pretty much just took insulin with every single snack.  I guess that's better than no insulin at all and sugar levels in the 600s...  This was a very different experience from diabetes camp!

In the meantime, Mac and I tried out what it would be like to have only 2 children.  We took Luke and Josie in to San Francisco to go to the Exploratorium.  This museum is basically a hands-on science museum geared towards elementary school aged kids and their parents.  I'm sure that Steven and Isabel will enjoy it when they go as well, but they might just not be able to admit it due to the "cool" factor.  The first display we came upon was fairly clever...

"You want me to do what?"

This display explored a social experiment comparing drinking from a toilet fountain vs a regular fountain.  Josie was skeptical, but Luke simply shrugged and went for it.  He reported that the toilet fountain water tasted like regular water.  Phew.  

After Luke finished his drink, a cavalier man elected to fill his water bottle from the toilet fountain, even though the other fountain was available.  I think I'll stick with the traditional fountains!

The museum was filled with clever displays.  Luke really enjoyed working with mirrors and light beams the most, and Josie seemed to like the climbing structure outside.  It was a beautiful day in the city, with temperatures in the low 70s, clear sky, and lots and lots and lots of tourists visiting for the Veterans' Day weekend...

A bridge outside the museum gets covered in a thick fog periodically.  You literally can lose your children in this fog!

After the museum, we walked (and walked, and walked) to Pier 39, which is an extremely touristy area on the wharf.  After lunch and a little bit of people watching, we headed home.  It was a fun day, and an interesting experience for Mac and me to NOT be outnumbered by children.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...  If you use your imagination.

Not much else happened this week.  The dog continues to heal, and to find inventive ways to remove his cone of shame.  The twins are preparing for a swim meet this weekend, and they are back in their regular school and swim routine.  Mac has brokered a deal which will allow him some O.R. time starting in January, so he's happy about that.  Kate was selected at the last moment for a camp through her school.  It's some kind of a leadership camp, and she's been gone since Wednesday and will come back tomorrow.  I'm sure she'll be ready to take over the world!  But hopefully she will finish her college applications first.  I have been trying to get over a cold and nasty cough...  It's been a tough fall.  The kids have brought home way too many germs this year.  Mom and Dad come to visit tomorrow, which is always very exciting for everyone!   Maybe they will bring some of our germs back home with them after their visit...  I hope not!

Doctor, Doctor, Doctor...

Luke and Pekoe both injured their left "arms" this past week.  One of them is feeling very very sorry for himself!  Can you guess which one?  Man or Man's Best Friend?

So many DOCTOR appointments lately!!  Even the PET DOCTOR!  Ugh...

I just can not get away from medicine...

The first doctor visit was a standard follow up for Steven at the diabetes clinic.  His numbers look much better than last time, so of course now his doctors are concerned that he is running too low.  Well, ok then.  It's amazing the effect of swimming on his A1C (basically a Blood Glucose average level over a period of 3 months).  The last time he had his A1C read, he wasn't swimming quite as regularly due to various vacations and camps over the summer months.  For this current A1C reading, he's been swimming 5-6 days a week since mid-August, and his A1C value was 2.2 lower than the previous reading.  Now he is on the low end of the target for his age, and so we have to be concerned with running low...  Such is it with diabetes.  You never can get a formula that "works" because physiology is far more complicated and dynamic than that.  Too bad!  Anyway, that was Doctor Appointment number 1, which took up an entire afternoon.

The next series of doctor appointments were not on the master plan...

Luke, in his quest to actually FLY for REAL, had a series of hard falls on his left wrist.  The first one happened about two weeks ago, on the playground at school.  He told me about the fall, after a failed attempt at flipping off of the monkey bars, and that his wrist hurt, but he had full range of motion and no swelling.  And the injury didn't slow him down, so we just decided to watch it.  I also told him to NOT try to do flips off of the swings and monkey bars at school...  but, you know, Luke really needs to defy gravity...  So, a week after that he injured himself AGAIN.  Same spot.  Same lack of dramatic evidence of injury.  Then a couple of nights ago, he decided to try to take flight off of the furniture in our house.  I was able to hear the cries of agony with my very own ears...  So I decided to take him to the doctor the next day.  Five hours later he was given a nice, fresh-smelling, indigo cast.  He is thrilled, full of images of collecting signatures.  For a fourth grade boy, a cast is "way cool".  He can't swim or do taekwondo until he's all patched up...  He thinks he's going to have SO MUCH TIME to play video games...  Maybe not, Luke.  But maybe, just maybe, he will give up his quest to fly...  I'm not really holding out hope on this one, seeing as he dislocated his shoulder (or something) almost a year ago trying to fly off of the bathroom sink...  Ouch.

At the same time as Luke was busy doing his thing, our dog Pekoe has been up to all sorts of puppyish antics.  Pekoe is almost 15 months old...  Shouldn't he be a little bit...  calmer?  We can't be sure how he injured himself, but one morning, the same morning as Luke's Last Big Fall, Mac took Pekoe on the morning run and all was well.  When they came home, Pekoe did his usual routine of trying to capture the light reflection that hits the fence in the morning whenever we open the back door.  This is his absolute favorite game in the world.  One of these days, he's going to catch the light reflection.  He just KNOWS it.  And then he will chew that light reflection up and it will tease him no longer.  Anyway, he was busy slamming into the fence trying to catch the light, and I noticed that he had a bloody leg...  Mac, who had JUST left for work, came back to look at his leg and "didn't see any laceration" so we just tried to clean it.  Good old Pekoe kept on running after the light, albeit with slightly less enthusiasm.  We tried to apply some ointment to his wounded leg, but over the course of a couple of days, he became more and more hostile towards our healing attempts.  So, finally, I took him to the vet.

Of course, I ended up taking Luke to the doctor for his hijinks on the same day as I took Pekoe to the vet for his hijinks.  This made for a very busy day.  But it was the one day in the week that I had a few spare hours...

The final diagnoses:  Luke has a buckle fracture and is in a cast for 4 weeks; and Pekoe tore his dew claw from the base and had to have it removed, and he needs to be in the Cone of Shame for 4 days.  Of course, the vet said that if I think he won't mess with the bandage on his foot, he doesn't need the cone...  Ummmmm, that would be a "not a chance."  Pekoe is the dog that managed to USE his cone when he was neutered to mess with his laceration, causing a secondary infection.  Why do people get dogs?  I ask myself this A LOT.

Last weekend, before all the doctor visits, we were all feeling pretty healthy and so we took the opportunity of a weekend free from a swim meet or other obligation to do something "fun".  Pekoe went to the doggie daycare to hang out with the Big Dog Pack, which is just about his favorite thing to do.  The rest of us headed to San Francisco.  I even made Katie join The Family for our visit to the California Academy of Sciences.  This is so rare for her to come to a museum with us...  But she did, largely because she did not have a choice!

These huge toads were pretty interesting.  

The kids looking at the Living Roof of the Academy.  Grass, weeds, and some wildflowers actually grow on the roof.  The kids were all pretty interested in this.

We arrived early for the "members only" access.  We found many years ago that it is more economical for a family of our size to just buy a membership for places like this, since individual tickets usually are about the same price as a family membership.  So we have LOTS of memberships.  We are such a CULTURAL family.  We have memberships to the Monterrey Aquarium, the California Academy of Sciences, the San Jose Children's Museum, the Oakland Zoo, and soon we will add the Exploratorium.  We are just so very cultural I can barely stand it...

We saw a very cool show in the Planetarium about earthquakes, which Josie loved.  Planetarium people are always nervous about young kids in the theater, but she's a pro.  We also went to the earthquake simulator, the rainforest, and we even dragged Kate to the aquarium exhibits.

Before we left, we decided to try the 3D show about the last coral reef.  We all found this one a bit confusing.  The premise of the show was that humans are destroying the coral reefs due to carbon emissions, but the show led with a description of how a coral reef rebuilt itself into a vibrant ecosystem after being destroyed by nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s.  The ending scenes of the movie showed a coral reef growing around a shipwreck site with all sorts of statues on the bottom of the ocean.  The reefs were growing off of the statues, which made for some very interesting images.  Again, the resiliency of coral reefs was highlighted. Steven surmised that the way to save the coral reefs is "to throw statues in the bottom of the ocean." The carbon emissions link to coral reef destruction was not explained at all...  This was a strange movie if it's purpose was to motivate some type of lifestyle change.  Cool 3D pictures of fish in the coral reefs though.

So, that's pretty much what has occupied us for the last week.  Steven and Isabel are off to a youth group retreat this weekend, which should be interesting.  Hopefully they will have a good time, and Steven will "be good" with managing his sugars...

Halloween 2013

Trick or Treat 2013

I dressed up for Halloween in my TaeKwonDo uniform...  just because I came straight from class with no time to change before the trick-or-treaters descended!  Josie trick-or-treated at our house a few times!

Well, it has been a LONG time since I have updated here.  We have been very, very busy.  California living has been an adjustment.  One major adjustment:  no school bus transportation!  This makes a big difference to me, since I need to drive the twins to middle school, followed by Luke and Josie to elementary school.  School for the twins starts 40 minutes before school for Josie and Luke, so that means a lot of wasted time driving for dropping off kids to school and picking them up!  I have found that I have very little time for anything; however, I will ENDEAVOR to update this blog on Fridays!

Regardless, today I will talk about Halloween.  There were some minor pre-Halloween events  (such as trick-or-treating at the Great America amusement park, and trunk or treat at the church), but the kids really only were excited about Halloween on the actual day.  (By kids I mean Josie, Luke, Steven, and Isabel... Kate is not really considered a "kid" anymore, sadly.)

Since we needed to be out of the door by 7:35 AM on Halloween morning, the kids had to get ready in a hurry.  Isabel, who usually sleeps in until the last possible minute and then runs to the car with her shoes in her hand as I am just about to give up waiting for her, woke early to perfect her Harry Potter look.  Steven chose to wear a Hula skirt to match his girlfriend (AAWWW, how SWEEEET!).  Luke, dismayed that no masks were allowed in school, went with the old standby:  Padawan, otherwise known as a Jedi Knight in Training.  Josie, dismayed that she was not allowed to wear makeup (also due to a school rule), chose a fairy dress from her dress up box and was convinced she looked "ridiculous" in her outfit...

Steven and Isabel had normal school days (they are both in seventh grade).  Luke and Josie were allowed a little more fun though, since they are in elementary school.

Luke and Josie before school and all the festivities.

For Luke, Halloween at school is old hat.  He's in 4th grade this year, so he is practically the King of the School.  He relishes being a big brother at school, and loves it when he happens upon Josie during the day.  Josie is in Kindergarten.  Everything is new to her.  

Upon arrival at her classroom, Josie at first proclaimed to any child within earshot the she looked "so ridiculous" but soon she got into the spirit, lined up with her classmates, and prepared for the main event:  the Halloween Parade.  

Josie and her best friend marching in the parade

At Monta Loma Elementary School, Halloween morning starts with a parade.  The whole school gathers on the playground, and the kids march around by grade levels so that everyone can see the costumes.  Josie marched along with her best friend, Batgirl, and was adored by the entire student body.   After they marched, the kindergartners sat down to enjoy the rest of the parade.

Luke went through the motions...  He was a very focused Padawan...

After the parade, the kids went back to class for a couple of hours of learning...

The next big Halloween event:  Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood.

Since we live in a military housing community, there are a lot of houses with a lot of children packed into a small area.  These are ideal conditions for trick-or-treating.  We started getting trick-or-treaters at 5:30 PM!!!  These early birds were mostly parents with small children who were afraid of the dark and scary Halloween decorations.  Steven found this wizard's robe in our Halloween Bin of Random Old Costumes, mostly acquired or even sewn back when I had a little bit of motivation for that business!  I think it looks like a choir robe actually.

Anyway, when Mac FINALLY got back from work, the kids were able to start trick-or-treating.  Luke, Steven, Isabel, and Isabel's friend (who happens to be Steven's true love) took off on their own.  Josie stuck with Mac.  The dog, Kate, and I handed out candy.  It was a busy night!

Luke as Ash Ketchum, the master Pokemon trainer...

Beautiful (definitely not "ridiculous") Rapunzel from Tangled

Izzy as Harry Potter, and her friend Claire, the Hula Dancer.

I don't know what Steven is going for here.  Choir-wizard robe, tiny angel wings, and a cat mask.  It's totally Steven.  More is always more with him...

Anyway, that was Halloween.  It was busy, chaotic, and just another late night in the Camacho household.  Our dog, Pekoe, did better than last year, although he did need to be taken inside if another dog came near our house.  (He's too friendly with other dogs, but since he weighs nearly 80 pounds and he's full of puppy energy still, his "friendly" is way too much for most people and dogs!)  Kate went trick-or-treating with a friend during the late rotation after most of the real trick-or-treaters had passed through. (Lest you think Kate is too old for this, take note that in our neighborhood even adults go trick-or-treating...  adults without children!  It's a truly unique social event.)

Scary jack-o-lanterns.  Mac only helped to carved these (the older kids took over in places).  Clockwise from the top left:  Isabel (the biggest pumpkin), Steven (I think he carved it himself), Luke (who needs a nose?), and Josie (every good jack-o-lantern should have eyelashes).  

In all, it was a fun Halloween.  We don't know where we will be for Halloween next year.  We do know that things will be different.  Kate will be in college, it may not be 70 degrees outside, and we will live in a different part of the country.  Alas, many of our costumes will be the same.  That's the one constant-- there will be capes, there will be a padowan, there will be a character from Harry Potter, and there will be a hodgepodge of pieces from costumes from years past.