Game Day ON!!

Once a month we get with a group and play games galore... Spoons, Settlers of Catan, Munchkins, Apples to Apples, Pokemon, different ones each time... today Luc learned to play Clue Jr, so much fun.. and Reese bought his first D&D set complete with characters and played Dungeon Master for the group. We usually have 25 or so kids of all ages learning and playing and since we are at a game store.. we shop a bit too. We also play Go (incredible strategy game) at the library every Sunday, both of the boys are playing now, and Reese is also back enjoying Chess club. I definately see games as one of the best natural "learning" venues especially for those who want to play all the time.
The game Reese is very into now is Runescape, an online adventure game, where they hunt, cook, trade, battle, sell and barter, work together and extraordinary. It's facinating to watch his passions soar and to follow and track how resourceful he is and how his mind works. Luc has his own Club Penguin account now and at 5 he is so confident and such a bundle of joy in everything he does.

Japan & the young thespians..

We connected with some homeschool friends in Denver to do a study on Japanese culture. We played some games, made origami wrestler guys and bounced them to see who falls first, ate some rice with chicken & egg soup, talked a bit about customs & currency & history and had an American woman who grew up in Japan tells us stories about her experiences there and lead us in some games and we wrote and shared Haiku poems.
Afterwards the Young Thespians met and we stayed and played lots of improv types of games with them. The best things about these events are always the amazing kids, they are so fun to watch, such imagination, I deeply appreciate this community.

Just to be content..

Living in a new place (still feels new even after a year) we've definately spent more time just the kids and I ... and when its cold outside, so often they just want to stay home and play. Even when we venture out, they are so content to just be together, best friends these boys are, it is so beautiful. This is one of the greatest gifts of homeschooling, being together..
Today we went to the aquarium in Denver, just a 15min drive from our house. Great place to run wild and watch the sharks and turtles and tigers!

Beautiful Santa Fe, NM

In early November I headed to Santa Fe for a week.. on my own.. what a treat, it had been a long time since I've had this kind of alone time. I headed for Santa Fe to attend a 5 day retreat with Neelam a spiritual teacher I'd been working with and prior to the retreat I had 3 days in a beautiful condo right downtown Santa Fe to relax and explore, it was heaven. I called a guy from AA who used to live in Hermosa Beach who has been in Santa Fe for 15 yrs or so and he invited me a meeting and to speak at the meeting, that was a nice way to roll into town. I spent 2 full days walking downtown and leisurely exploring the hundreds of art galleries in Santa Fe, the creativity and beauty were very inspiring. My condo had a great jacuzzi so I soaked under the stars every night and spent time in silence preparing for my retreat with Neelam.
The retreat was amazing, Neelam is incredible how she works with people, healing trauma and allowing all unresolved emotions, fears, hurts, etc.. to surface and resolve. Truly she is a master and it was such a gift to be with her and the 22 other folks at the retreat. We chanted, meditated, did inquiry work together, sat in satsang, did yoga and walked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery around Neelams house. I was overwhelmed with gratitude to be in my first 5 day retreat (i'd done several 2 day retreats with Adyashanti prior) and felt myself drop to a very deep place of resting and trusting in the unfolding.
Truly my time in Boulder and the satsangs i have attending with John Taylor, Sharon Landrith and Neelam have been remarkable and transformative. I think it is why I am in Boulder, for sitting with a life teacher in satsang is really an incredible gift in realizing the truth of your being.
Sitting in partner inquiry was really powerful in the retreat. I felt such inner aliveness, radiance, truly knowing my inner source and feeling deeply that life comes from the inside and radiates outward, it is about expressing what we are, not getting, achieving, acquiring, etc.. I feel deeply that we are here to BE what we are, simply that.

November 2008

We took some very fun field trips this month, one to the pumpkin patch, on a real working farm of course, played with animals, spent well over an hour wandering the corn maze, Luc and I, Reese is too cool to hang out with me this day, all his buddies are there and he is off with the big boys..

We also visited a wild bird refuge where they capture & tag wild birds to study and learn about them, where they migrate to and how many of them show up from year to year, how they are eating, etc.. We got to hold and touch several wild birds and learn about how the insect eaters migrate and the seed eaters stay for the winter.

So far the fall is mild, warm weather and we are enjoying as always lots of sun and outdoor activities. Our tween group is having fun get togethers, we made homemade swords and even had a pool party at our place (not bad for November).
Luc has made a great new pal Aspen and he has been hanging out with us a lot. So nice when the younger kid finally makes a friend on his own. Poor Luc, Reese got all the baby photos, early team sports, classes, nursery school, Luc missed out on all that, but he did get an awesome big brother who teaches him everything and that is a pretty good trade off. Luc now has his own Club Penguin account and he is learning to play D&D and Runescape, amazing..
Reese has had a Runescape acct for 2 mos now and his sophistication on this game is remarkable, it has really enhance his reading and comprehension and I can't believe all the things he has memorized. More and more I am trusting the natural learning concept, let them follow their interests and learning is automatic and really enjoyable. Reese is writing stories everyweek at his Options program as well as doing art, science, history & geography and I am really only working a bit on spelling with him so he is finding writing much easier as his spelling confidence grows. Our homeschooling is still very relaxed and it feels like we are in a great flow. Enjoying being together, playing games, reading together, making fun playdates and enjoying life.

The amazing colors of fall..

Fall here has been an amazing show.. the most incredible clouds I've ever seen, wide sky, incredible patterns that change every half hour, sunsets like i've never seen.. we spent the day at a farm in North Boulder today, feeding apples to a horse and some sheep. The hillside views are are beyond the beyond..

Crazy Pumpkins..

We searched on the internet for ideas.. mom roasted the seeds and we ate them all week.. the boys had a blast carving their pumpkins and then turning them into scary scenes.. we lit them up on the mantle and enjoyed the glow..

For Halloween we went to Kate & Matt's and trick or treated with Max & Zane, they live on a golf course community and the boys got enough candy to last for months and months..

The rest of October..

So many fun things.. we saw the musical Suessical with our homeschool group and played on a 100 foot long dragon whose head is 9 feet high, we celebrated Timothy's 7th birthday and played 3 games of laser tag (the boys said it was the absolute best birthday party ever!!!) We went to another birthday party for a girl grace and got to dress up in our Halloween costumes (yes Reese dressed in a devil costume as we went to this nice Christian family birthday party - so lovely), we met several times with our new tween group, had a swimming party at our house and hosted a sword making workshop (better than guns).

We made several trips to the aquarium and the children's museum.. and i still had time to read my ballot and vote (by mail) and attend 8 or satsangs, do a little spelling with Reese, read a great book Arthur & the minimoys with Reese, take 12 or so yoga classes... and...
oh yeah btw.. I did a 25 day detox on the advice of my Natropath/chiropractor/nutritionist and eliminated sugar, flour, cow dairy and caffeine from my diet. For 20 days i did not even eat fruit in an effort to get off of all sugar. So as of today it's been over 30 days and I am still mostly eating chicken, fish, salads, rice, fruit and veggies. I feel great, i've had no coffee, only decaf tea, no sugar or processed foods, only whole grain flourless bread and goat cheese. I've eaten a lot of nuts and nut butter, when you want to get off sugar, fat is a good substitute. A few less nuts and a bit more exercise and i'll have it down.. I am not sure what i'll actually do when I get it all together.. not worried though, probably will never happen!

Red Rock Park & Ampitheater

Our Roots & Shoots group (nature club) took a field trip about 45 minutes South to visit Red Rocks. Nestled in the Rocky Mountain Foothills fifteen miles west of Denver, there stands a symbol of nature's unparalleled majesty. Red Rocks is a geologically formed, open-air Amphitheatre that is not duplicated anywhere in the world. With Mother Nature as the architect, the design of the Amphitheatre consists of two, three hundred-foot monoliths (Ship Rock and Creation Rock) that provide acoustic perfection for any performance.

The area of Red Rocks, originally known as the Garden of Angels, has attracted the attention of musical performers since before the turn of the century. The majestic setting of the Amphitheatre, along with the panoramic view of Denver, makes for a breathtaking scene.

And we took a tour and got to go back stage to where the artists hang out before and after gigs.. many of the biggest music acts had sat in this room, in this massage chair, and there we sat, imagining that Tom Petty and Sting were hanging out with us..

The moms were more thrilled than the kids of course.. everyone is a fan of some sorts! And did I mention that you can't actually climb on any of the rocks at this park.. no this was not the best field trip for the kids.. check out these awesome rocks.. no climbing though.. thank goodness for the massage chairs!

Connor is 9!!

Just like family (without the drama), our favorite activity is hanging out at Martha's and playing with Ryan & Connor. Reese & Connor met when they were 3 at Manhattan Beach Nursery School and were fast friends, as were Martha & I. Martha in fact was my Leche League leader and here we are almost 6 years later still so grateful to have each other in our lives..
So what a blast to celebrate Connor's 9th bday (he is first, our other best friends Kaia next in November and Reese turns 9 in January).
Reese drew Connor a picture of a Pokemon card (he has been drawing for all his gifts lately, so awesome) and Karina made a homemade cake that everyone raved about! Martha got him his favorite gift, a skateboard and of course padding for every inch of his beautiful body!!

It just keeps getting better & better..

What luck, another great friend has come to live in Boulder!! Rebecca arrived in October and we were so happy to have her here. After a few weeks with us, she found a place to stay and we've been having lots of fun ever since.. playing on Pearl Street, visiting a farm in North Boulder, going to Kirtan & satsang (without the kids of course) and lots of laughing..
One of the highlights was the annual Open Studios in Boulder, it's a 4 day event where local artists open their homes (& studios) and show all their work. At many of the studios they had activities for the kids to paint, draw, and even work on a weaving loom.

The best job in the world..

I do often wonder about going back to work.. yes my mind does take me there.. wouldn't the money be nice? some nice breaks away from the kids, a chance to use any number of my gifts and talents, coaching, therapist, teaching, many jobs I could do..

Then I wake up from the dream.. I look at my amazing angels, so big yet still so small, and I count my lucky stars that I get to spend everyday with them, read with them, play games, go to the park, museums, classes, endless discoveries & adventures. I get to be with my children, everyday, exploring the world together, watching them learn, bloom & blossom. They are so alive, so passionate, so amazing and I get a front row seat.. yeah it's the best job in the world.. a homeschooling mom!

Our new best friend Sam

The little Entrepreneur decided he needed more spending money and mom was not indulging him as she used too, so he got himself a dog walking job, a sweet little 10 month old Boston Terrier puppy. It was the best, we had our very own dog for 2 hours a day 3 days a week, we got to liberate him from his crate and run him at the park and bring him home and like all puppies he licked and bit whatever he could.

A few months later, Reese has a few new games that bought with his own money!

Fall visit to Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park

We've been in Boulder for 8 months or so and not yet visited Estes Park, only 45 minutes away,
the entry point to Rocky Mountain National Park. We found out that we have access to a
timeshare there and so we booked a stay and invited out friends Lora, Joey, Miranda & Tim
to join us. It's great hanging out with other unschoolers, easy to chill out, we played games
and of course played in the pool & jacuzzi. We did get into the park, we played for a few hours
at the creek, pretended we were beavers and built an awesome dam, ate our picnic, and
went for a hike in the rain. We also saw some very comfortable with being photographed Elk,
and remarked about how many girls each male had to manage.
We walked a bit through the town of Estes Park, great for shopping, eating and browsing,
we avoided the shops and hung out at the park and the Dairy Queen! Just 2 days away
but it felt like a vacation just as well and an overnight with the MIller's was great!

September 08

Very exciting news.. some of our best buddies have moved just 40 minutes south of us from Palos Verdes..
more homeschool friends.. Kate & Matt and 3 kiddo's Zane, Max & Charlotte are back in our schedule..
We got to attend their homeschool park day and play at their house after.. the boys rode their electric
scooter.. they loved that, of course they played swords and battle and Luc even got knighted by King
Zane in a very official ceremony..
There is nothing like having friends around that you've known for years, camped with, been to their
birthday parties, had sleep overs with, folks you really feel comfortable with.. yes it's a gift..
it's like family without the drama.. feeling very grateful for old friends and new friends..

8/29-9/7 Burning Man "The American Dream"

We were not virgins this year, we were experienced Burners, we arrived again in the middle of the night, Black Rock Desert here we come. We stayed in Kidsville again, a village of 130 families or so and this year we were very excited that my best friend Alexis was camping with us and bringing her kids. The best news of all was that we were right next to Camp Nectar, yoga every morning at 9 under the big parachute kept me very happy. I did venture out to another camp that had Kundalini one morning, but the teachers at Nectar mostly San Francisco yogis were the bomb! I also got a Thai massage and took a partner Thai massage workshop, lucky me, my partner was a physical therapist from San Diego who uses Thai massage in his practice everyday! He could have taught the class, I learned a lot from him. Camp Nectar hosted an Erotic Tantric Touch workshop for couples that Steve and I checked out, very cool. We survived 2 all day gnarly dust storms, the dust was an inch high everywhere in the motorhome, all part of the complete Burning Man adventure. The boys had a blast playing with the 50 or so kids their age in Kidsville, the trampolines, the mini thunderdome battles, water fights, loads of fun. We hooped, we danced, we explored the playa and watched all the beautiful people express themselves though art, dress, music, fire, it was delicious to all the senses.
One of our neighboors that it would be so fun to blast Eye of the Tiger every morning at 6:30am and wake everyone with a one mile radius up, it was harder to appreciate that expression. I really ventured out and attending loads of fun workshops this year; Opening to the Goddess, Feminine Submission, Eye gazing, Sensual massage, Resistance Play (I got to wrestle with several girls in this one, so much fun!) and a few too spicy to mention here..
Our conclusion was that Burning Man is not optional, we need it, it offers something nothing else does, it is a stripping away of conditioning like nothing else, it frees you, opens you, exposes you, and if you can endure that stripping away.. you discover underneath it all... YOU

the rest of August..

I am officially 6 weeks behind in this blog.. so to catch myself up.. we spent a week or so driving across Utah & Nevada, sweating, it was over 100 degrees and us with no AC.. we went from pool to pool.. air conditioned movie theater to bookstore to children's museum.. we spent several days in Carson City and hit a hot springs there too.
We met up with Steve and headed for Sacramento to attend a 4 day Homeschool Conference that we went to last year. It was so great, swimming, nice hotel room, tons of fun with friends, so many activities for the kids and great speakers for us as well.
We picked up Marcella who babysat for the boys for several years until she moved to Sacramento and she spent a few days with us, that was great. Reese got to do live action role play games, kind of D&D live, with homemade swords and battle plans galore. He also dazzled and delighted at the talent show with his hula hooping and acrobatics.
Luc painted, sculpted and lego'd himself ad infinitum, we saw lots of friends from Southern California and got reconnected to our unschooling peeps.. My favorite were the radical unschooling panels, I got very inspired to let go even more.
Control is a substitute for love.. I was reminded, feels so good to let go of control, most of the time.

After the conference we headed for Lake Tahoe where we had a condo booked and my girlfriend Colleen and 4 of her kids came up for a week to be with us. Massive relaxation is what we did, we did not leave the condo for 4 days, we swam, ate and played games galore, that is my kind of vacation. Finally we drive a whole mile away to play at Lake Tahoe, beautiful but chilly. We rented a kayak, a jetski and lounged at the beach.
We also enjoyed a tour of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, learning all about the lake, how it evolved and how they keep it blue.. Colleen and I really enjoyed the tour.. just so happens a reporter was with us on the tour and she took photos of Luc and Iman for her newspaper article.. http://www.newsreview.com/reno/Content?oid=823838

Luc did his first mosaic tile project at our condo, he made a coaster for his dad and grouted it, polished it, the whole deal, it is magnificient! After a week we headed for Reno to shop for Burning Man and on Aug 29th in the middle of the night we drove to the Black Rock Desert .. very excited..

8/6/08 more photos..

8/8/08 Arches National Park, UT

After 2 weeks traveling through Colorado, we crossed into Utah and headed to Moab and passes by Arches.. I had no idea.. The most incredible rock formations, amazing red rocks, I drove through the winding roads in the park with my mouth mostly hanging open. We stopped a lot, had a picnic, played some chess and cards, and really took our time. We spent the night at one of the viewpoints, we were all alone and we sat and watched a 3 hour lightening storm. It was the most spactacular lightening show i'd ever seen, I sat in awe.. saying "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God", the boys loved it too.. truly mother nature doing her thing..

8/5/08 Grand Junction, CO - Dinosaur bones & Colorado Nat'l Monument

Yeah .. a town with morning AA meetings.. those are my favorite, I love early morning folks and the 7am meeting in Grand Junction is fantastic! Such a small world, my 2nd or 3rd day attending the meeting one of the women in the meeting approached me after the meeting, I had really enjoyed listening to her share
the past few days.. it so happens that I am currently in a 6 week teleclass with a spiritual teacher named Neelam that has been really incredible for me.. there are 18people in the class, from all across the US and abroad as well.. well this women i'd been hearing at the morning meeting came up to me and said.. I just have one word for you... Neelam.. yes she is in my class.. such a small world..

Another guy I talked to after the meeting offered me some advice with Luc (I was sharing about some current challenges and it just so happens he teaches parenting classes) and we got to talking and I asked them where we might go swimming and he said how about my place, i have a pool no one ever swims in and so we did. This guy Tom turns out is a jeweler and he has the most incredible collection of stones, rocks, dinosaur bones, metals, etc.. in his house. Reese was in heaven, we spent hours looking at his treasures and then he invited us to go out the next day and look for dinosaur bones & petrified wood and so we did.
We drove an hour of so out of town to a dig site Tom knew of, he gave each of the boys bags for rocks and pick axes, one of which Tom's dad gave him as a boy. It was so cool, we did find several petrified bones and tons of petrified wood and lots of dinosaur bones in the cliffs and canyons, really spectacular
day. Later Tom drove us to Colorado National Monument, just outside Grand Junction, red rocks, amazing rock formations caused by erosion, etc.. I drove around in awe and the boys well they were busy watching a movie.. scenery is ok for a minute of so and that is about it..

Oh yeah ... the real highlight of Grand Junction was getting my tooth pulled.. it took over an hour to get it out, a real ordeal to pull a tooth that you've done a root canal on, they are brittle and difficult! But the real fun was 2 days later when it really started to hurt.. I did end up getting the pain medicine he prescribed
which meant it really hurt cause I do not like talking medication, but tooth pain is some of the worst in my book.

8/2/08 Major Hot Springs pool in Glenwood Springs..

We were ready to soak and swim, it's hot here, over 100 degrees every day, no AC, beautiful scenery but hot..
we are pretty much looking to swim everyday.. or spend the day indoors doing something fun. In Glenwood it's
the hot springs.. Pricey but very fun, all day we soaked, rode the big slides, swam in the biggest pool I think
in the world.. the boys made friends of course and I oohh'd & aahh'd at all the cute babies and little kids. We
all had a blast.
We also had a nice visit with a brother & sister who we met in the am, they were selling jewelry on the corner
that they had made. It was dead bugs in glue, made into necklaces & bracelets, very creative.. I had to stop
cause I could not read the sign they used to advertise cause it was so badly misspelled, so I helped them make
a new sign and we heard just how they caught the bugs and preserved them in the glue. Reese also showed
them some of the beaded jewelry he had made. We bought a bracelet of course and headed for the pools.
I also got to hit 2 AA meetings in Glenwood, very nice folks, so cool to hit meetings and meet folks in so many
different places..

8/1/08 Beautiful Vail..

So we hit Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, what's next.. well Vail of course.. parking the RV downtown was a bit of a challenge so I headed a bit away from downtown (which we explored quite a bit a few years ago when we stayed there) and discovered the Ford Amphitheater, Park & Garden as well as a Nature Center of course with a creek running through it.. all of Colorado actually has a creek running through it. We spent the whole day playing at the park, exploring the awesome gardens complete with meditation pond and benches, and learning lots of cool animal facts at the Nature Center.
They were preparing for a ballet that night and I even got to watch a bit of the practice, very cool, I have not seen a ballet in probably 15 years so every little bit was quite a treat!

7/27/08 The Next Exciting Adventure..

A happy life is about attitude.. let's face it, there is much about life that constantly surprises me.. it is out of my hands.. shit happens.. right.. well some major shit was about to hit the fan.. and truly it was a test of my serenity.. you find out where you are spiritually when stuff happens and I am faced with myself, my discomfort, my fears, that's when i find out if I am truly peaceful from the inside out or am I just peaceful cause I like my circumstances.. what happens when I am not so fond of my journey, how do I respond then?? What happens inwardly when my crown breaks and I have to get to a dentist out of town right away (what is it about vacations that always invites teeth crisis in me?) and the dentist can't fix it and refers me to an oral surgeon to pull my tooth and recommend me to get an implant.. and then the motorhome breaks down, Steve goes back home, I am alone with the kids and the breaks start squeaking on the mountain roads at 10,000 ft and no brake shop in town has time that day to look at my brakes? and the water tank on the RV is leaking and there are no RV repair places for 500 miles.. lucky for me, I got to explore all of this and more.. cause we were also in 100 degree heat with no air conditioning, the icing on the cake so to speak..

So the story goes.. that I waited all day and eventually one guy looked at my brakes and found the problem and fixed it.. i found an oral surgeon, made an appt for a week later to have my tooth pulled, and off we went down the road.. meanwhile i got to get humbled one more time.. seeing really clearly how rattled i can get when life goes "wrong" and how i have to use the tools to get back to the natural state, flowing, and how my kids will forgive me when i fall short and get grumpy.. it's all good..

We went to Breckenridge the boys and I, another beautiful ski village with a river running through it to play in. We rode our bikes, played in the village, found a great park right on the river and went to the community center and saw a children's circus that was awesome!

7/25/08 Fellowship of the Spirit

Well it just so happens that there is this awesome AA convention that happens at Copper Mtn (2 hours from Boulder) and it just so happens that our good friend Bill Cleveland (who Steve worked several years for and who performed out marriage ceremony) is the main speaker Sat night, so of course we wanted to go.. It was great cause 10 or so folks from my morning went along with 3 of the women I sponsor, what fun. Not only did they have terrific speakers, a dance, step workshops and meetings galore, but Copper Mountain has Bungee jumping (both boys can do double flips), go carts (Luc & I won the race), bumper boats that squirt water (oh I have not laughed so hard in ages), rock climbing (Reese climbed a 5.9 & Luc climbed a 5.7), mountain biking down the ski runs (Steve & Reese were the brave one's riding down the blue run), live music every night and mini golf.. we were in heaven, the kids were in heaven, we all had a great time together, Boys rode their bikes a ton and we met some nice new folks too. There were several friends from So Cal there and that was a treat.. and Bill talk was amazing, he brought the house down. love ya Bill!