V-Town

Last week, the kids and I got outta dodge for a few days and visited my parents. It was an incredible week for all of us. My parents are awesome. They did so much for me, allowed me to have some adult only time, and helped out with the kids in many ways. When we arrived at my folks' home they had multiple kid-friendly toy/activities set out and the kids were in Grandparent heaven almost instantaneously. The kids rode on this sweet little plastic train borrowed from Larry and Kathy Hemphill. We swam in the pool. I didn't prepare a single meal (imagine me singing the little Mermaid song: Ah ah ah, ah ah ah ah ahhhhhhh). Mom you rock my world. Mom prepared several spots in her amazing garden for the kids to plant bulbs for the spring. J and Z loved to stand at my folks' shorter water fountains with cups to play and eventually get drenched in. I got a haircut, attended my mom's PEO luncheon (so fun, such neat ladies), and even got to go to lunch with my dad and Grandpa at their Downtown Rotary meeting.

Melted cheese and pickles on a Ritz - a Sullivan family favorite. Try it sometime, you might be suprised.

Methods of Transportation

This morning as I drove S to Kindergarten, it was typical busy morning traffic with lots of cars.

S: "Mommy, why do people drive cars?"
Me: "Because it's a popular way to get around. Some people ride the bus, take a train or ride a bike..."
S: "Or use stilts?"
Me: (Trying to stifle a laugh.) "Yes, of course."

Please email me if you used stilts as your method of transportation this week. I'd love to know. Apparently S would be interested as well.

Fireproof

I will be seeing Fireproof at some point in my life. Hopefully in the next few weeks or months, but don't hold your breath on that. It opens today. I'm super excited and hope it does well in the theaters.

Girls Weekend in Balboa

The devoted Mr. Garland gave me a wonderful gift: an entire weekend away with my girlfriends Trisha, Krista and Anne Marie. (They all live in Northern CA and flew down for the rendezvous.) You ladies are the best. It was wonderful.

I took naps every day. We ran 3-4 miles every day with Krista our personal trainer. We ate Anne Marie's Green Pie and Trisha's amazing cinnamon rolls. We read. We chatted. We rode beach cruisers to the Jetty. We played skee ball at the Fun Zone. We watched movies. We walked on the ocean. Anne Marie and I even jumped into the bay (we heard the water temp was 69 degrees - yeowza). We made bead bracelets.

We saw these funny videos on Trisha's iPhone (Those iPhones are pretty slick):

Mahna Mahna
Elephant on a Trampoline
Elephant Song (for younger folk)

I have to admit, I didn't miss my kids as much as I thought I would. I enjoyed not having to prepare snacks or meals for 3 little people. Don't get me wrong, I love doing it normally, I just didn't miss it when I didn't have to do it. I missed my husband, and I loved being reunited with all my family. It was a good, healthy break and I am now relaxed, refreshed and rested.

Cul-de-sac Bike Club

The verdict is in: the bike riding will continue. Ahhhh... yeah God. About a week ago I wrote about a neighbor who wasn't pleased with our children riding bikes in the cul-de-sac near his home. After calls to our HOA and city police department last week, it's okay for kids to ride bikes in a cul-de-sac (that almost felt silly to write).

HOA response:
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The Board of Directors appreciates you taking the time to make them aware of this situation. Your activities do not violate the CC&Rs or Rules & Regulations - as long as the children are supervised closely for their safety, residents' driveways are not blocked for ingress or egress, and you accommodate the flow of traffic. From the information that you provided in your email, you are sensitive to all of these concerns and already practice caution and courtesy.

At this time there has been no written complaint regarding this issue from the resident. If and when a written complaint is submitted, the Association will respond accordingly.
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How wonderful is that? We've already been back to the cul-de-sac on our bikes, so the bike club lives on! We'll continue to be respectful towards our neighbor and his property and hope he will do the same.

Anne Marie's Green Pie

Put the following into blender or food processor:

1 bag fresh baby spinach or 1 box frozen spinach, drained
6 green onions, chopped
6 eggs
8 oz feta cheese
8 oz cottage cheese
1/4 c milk
fresh basil to taste
garlic salt, pepper to taste

Pour into crust or muffin cups & cook at 350 degrees until set; about 20 minutes for muffins or 55 minutes for full-size.

Yummy and healthy. If you make it, let me know how you like it.

Fall 2008 Seasonal Garlands

Roadtrippin’ and Homeschoolin’

Jeff, Z (in backpack), S and J on the blue diamond trail in Breckenridge, CO.

We had a wonderful 2½ week roadtrip in August from San Diego to Littleton, Breckenridge, Denver, Littleton, Centennial, Frederick, Westminster, and Ft. Collins. In the car, our kids enjoyed listening to Adventures in Odyssey, watching cartoons, and seeing the beautiful Utah landscapes. We spent time with Wendi’s parents in Breckenridge where we hiked, went swimming and had loads of fun.
We took mini-trips to visit Jeff’s folks in Littleton (and celebrated their 40^th anniversary with Jeff's sister Julie), attended Jeff's 20th high school reunion (Denver Christian HS class of 1988), met our newest cousin B, born to my brother James and Lauren in August, and stayed with my sister Stacy’s family in Ft. Collins a couple of nights. We had hoped to meet up with friends in Westminster at an outdoor gathering, but a deluge of rain unfortunately canceled that engagement (and caused it to snow in the high mountains – snow in August, you gotta love it). We visited our old church, saw our dear friends’ new home in Frederick, and had an overall wonderful time reuniting with family, friends, and beautiful Colorado.

Z behind the wheel.

Roadtrip lessons learned: bring a potty in the car with you for little ones; go swimming a lot; bring snacks and more snacks; cousins are the best; friends are awesome; wives love to talk, men like to drive, what a great combination; and finally, don’t forget your car phone charger (like we did). Road trips are a great source of inspiration, taking us out of our normal routines allowing us to see those we love in their own elements. It was awesome.

J and S working hard on their schoolwork.

S is the only "official" Kindergarten student, but J likes to think otherwise.

Kindergarten is in full swing at the Garland Homeschool. Our dining room has been taken over by magnetic calendars, counting charts and colorful alphabet posters. Every day glue bottles come out as we clip magazine photos and assemble homemade books. We use plastic knives to cut cheese sticks into halves, then quarters then eighths, and so on. S and J love to work on projects together. Z does too but that’s not always a good thing. We are learning to balance learning with family, fun and love. S also attends Kindergarten classes at her school part-time that enhance the subjects Wendi teaches at home.

With 3 young children, we are completely exhausted each and every night, but we also continue to be overwhelmed by God’s blessings. Jeff loves his job, we love church, AWANA, school, neighbors, friends, town and family. We're so very blessed to have wonderful family and friends like you.

Bring on the pumpkins, costumes, crisp apples and falling leaves... welcome to fall.

We send out these family updates 4 times per year (one per season)... if you're not on our emailing list and would like to be, just shoot me a note.

Avacado Heaven

A while back, my parents gave us a housewarming gift of two avocado trees. My dad didn't think it was right for us to live in southern California and not have avocado trees. They're in the ground (front yard) and doing great. Thought we'd snap photos of the trees (with my two good-looking models) when they were in their infancy to compare with in a few years of growth. We love avocados... thanks mom and dad!

Cul-de-sac Confrontation

For about 8 months now, I've been taking the kids down our street about 3 houses to a small cul-de-sac to ride bikes in the afternoons. It's a great level area for the kids to ride around with little to no traffic. I often take some cones to set up a mock race course for the bike racers, and it's a hit. We've had several of the neighborhood kids come and join us for these afternoon rides. We always have an adult present, and we've never had any trouble with anyone... until yesterday.

An older gentleman who lives on the corner lot of the cul-de-sac entrance came out with his camera, and started snapping photos of the kids. I asked what the photos were for, and he bluntly replied "I'm filing a complaint with the HOA board that you're out here riding bikes." As it turns out, he is not happy that we ride our bikes in this cul-de-sac because he says we're blocking resident egress, and it's not safe. We're no where near his driveway, and if other cars pull into the cul-de-sac, the cones usually tip them of to slow down a bit, and we quickly make room for them to enter/leave their driveways. No biggie.

During our brief conversation, I was very calm with him as I approached him, and politely introduced myself and proceeded to discuss his qualms. Boy did I get an earful, and each complaint made me sad. I tried to emphasize to him that it would have been better to have had a simple conversation about his grievances instead of coming out "shooting" with his camera and threats.

After processing the conversation for 24 hours now (I was hurt at first to the point of tears), I have a few thoughts. I think this man has been letting his frustrations fester over some time now and he simply exploded yesterday. I don't think he's crazy about kids. I think he's fine if residents of 'his' cul-de-sac play in the street, but not okay if kids 'up the street' (like us) play there.

I'm sad that our cul-de-sac bike riding times may come to an end. I've got a call into our HOA with the simple question, "can kids ride bikes in the street if we maintain egress?" (which seems like such a simple no-brainer question to me) and "what can I do to address my neighbor's concerns?" If he doesn't like the cones, no sweat, they're gone. We're willing to work with him, but I really hope we can continue to ride bikes.

I'll post again when I have a verdict on the cul-de-sac conundrum. I hope and pray that God softens this man's heart and that we can all find a happy medium. I want to be respectful of him and his wishes, but I would also be sad if he's the reason that neighborhood afternoon bike riding comes to a complete halt. We'll see.

Marathon Musings

I'm thinking about running a marathon.

May 30, 2009 San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon.

42.195 kilometers. 26 miles and 385 yards.

I'm thinking I'm crazy. I'm not a runner. I'm tall, lanky and slow. I have 3 young children.

But I think it'd be fun to say that I've run one. Notice it will be fun only after it's all done with. If I run I can eat more of the foods I enjoy (read ice cream) which is fabulous. I run a 5k at the gym about 3 days a week, but a treadmill run is nothing compared to the endurance and strength needed for a full blown marathon.

If I do this, I'm going to need to train a lot, and have accountability. In this light, I joined a runners group this morning at 7am for a run in San Elijo. Seems like a great group - there were about a dozen of us. Spencer, my running friend, has a slick GPS watch that tracked our pace and mileage - he tells me it was 6.8 miles. And there were hills. The up-hill kind.

I'm sore.

Maybe I should just run a half marathon. I think I might be able to live with that.

Maybe.

24

A few years ago, some friends turned us onto the television series '24' with Keifer Sutherland. We watched series 1 through 5 on dvd (borrowed from friends) and really enjoyed the shows. Sidenote: I prefer 'guy' movies so the devoted Mr. Garland loves that he never has to sit through any chick flicks with me. And when I say 'guy' movies, I don't mean sci-fi or gore or ick. I enjoy action, a mild amount of blood and guts when it's necessary, and sports flicks. I love any thoughtful movie or show that has a happy ending.

I'm a library junkie (read frugal), and we've been on the 'hold' list for Season 6 of 24 for probably at least 8 months now at the San Diego Public Library. (We have no cable or dish television at our home - vhs and dvd only.) Well, glory be, our turn has come! We checked out the 6-DVD set yesterday and we get to keep it for a whoppin' 7 days. Let's just say we'll be 'busy' this entire weekend, staying up way too late having date nights every night. 7 consecutive date nights with my hubby and Jack Bauer - what could be better?

Family times

Last weekend we went for a walk/run/jog/bike at the beach near lifeguard station 36-38 (I think) in Carlsbad. I wish I could find a stretch of sidewalk on the ocean where we can all ride bikes, but I don't want to worry about it being too crowded or being near street traffic. This area was too congested and bikes weren't allowed at all on the sidewalk, but we weren't about to make S ride her bike on the PCH. Sorry. If any locals have any ideas, let me know.

Z is now 14 months old and isn't walking yet... but I feel it's a'comin. Our offspring are often slow to crawl, walk, talk, etc. But we eventually get there...

Curly Jo's 2 cents

This gal at CurlyJo's 2 cents cracks me up and inspires me. She wrote in a recent post that she and her husband were enjoying a cup of coffee in their living room. They told their 4 kids "we're on a date; pretend you can't see us." How cute is that?

On our outing at a large amusement park today, I saw some small kids with their parent's cell phone number written on their upper arm. What a slick trick. I immediately got out my ball point and labeled my kids with the appropriate digits.

T-Ball

The Garland Family tried something new on Saturday: T-Ball. J is on a YMCA league team that had their first practice and game yesterday. It was so cute. The 6 boys on the red team practiced fielding the ball ("chomp" with your hands) and batting for the first 30 minutes, and then play a "game." It's so sweet to watch these 3-5 year-olds swing the heavy bat, actually make contact with the ball, and then in all the excitement, they remember that they're supposed to run, but can't remember where 1st base is, so they just run in who knows what direction. Everyone is hollering at them to run to first base while cheering the hit. J had a grand time, and can't wait to go again next week.

1st base runner.

Ready to bat.

Before game practice.

Monthly Shots

I snapped monthly photos of each of our kids for their first year. I made custom mats for S&J's 12 photos, only because I was taking a photoshop class at a junior college in Colorado and had access to their mat cutting equipment and work area. It was great fun. But I no longer have that so I'll have to come up with something else. I've got Z's photos all ready... we'll see what happens.

Shelves

The devoted Mr. Garland finished our office closet shelves... yeah! They look great and I can't wait to load them up! Jeff had lots of good helpers this weekend as you can tell. The last closet to tackle will be our master bedroom... that's gonna be a biggie. Thanks Honey! You da best.

D is for Dirt Dessert

Homeschooling is humming along... we're 3 weeks in and doing fine. We've got the dining room set up with two tables - our adult size large table, and a kid size table with chairs. It's become the hub of our house. Every morning we do our math lesson using the magnetic calendar, then work on writing, and always head into the family room couch for some reading. J is going to learn Kindergarten by osmosis. Whenever S has a worksheet to do, I usually whip up something for J to work on that's similar but more at his level. S & J both love school time... so far.

Yesterday, our letter of the day was "D" so of course we had to make "dirt dessert." (Smashed oreo cookies in chocolate pudding.)

Labor Day at the Zoo

We wanted to get in a last visit to the San Diego Zoo before our annual memberships expire, so we headed out today. I was worried that it was going to be too crowded or hot, with it being Labor Day, and it turned out to be neither. I think the key was arriving at opening time. We immediately hopped on the gondola which whisked us across the park to the polar bears and zebras. Check out our photos and see if your kids recognize any of our furry friends. The SD Zoo is simply amazing. And yes, I'm having fun playing with the sepia setting on my camera.