gypsy mama

it takes a village..

2011-05-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

When we came back to Boulder in December... i've never been more aware of the value of my "village" ...
two of my oldest dearest mommy friends live here in colorado now.. my good friend Ali had just bought a house and was
planning on renting the back unit behind her house.. to us! we had a homeschool community here, i had a satsang community, an AA community, a dance community, great mom friends, both of the boys had made such good friends here.. they played sports, and we involved in many activities they loved.. combine that with the beauty of Boulder, the seasons, and the small town feel... it was an easy move.. parenting and homeschooling mostly on my own has been amazing and challenging, the support of a village and ideally a community of fellow inspired homeschooling families is so where i long to be be...

So we got to live next door to the Zeljo's.. an homeschooling family of 4 boys.. such a beautiful gift..
When I really boil it down.. the most important thing really is the village.. how rich is our relating? what is the quality of our friendships? I feel like it's my job to share my kids with the world.. to have a very rich experience with them.. which seems to be mostly about really knowing who they are, their innate beauty and perfection. To remember .. who I really am, who they really are.. beyond the current description of the moment.. big picture.. really remember the essence, this is the key to all really consistent joyful relating, the key to real love, it's the key to trusting in the unfolding..

the village is a metaphor ....for the model of trusting and relying on source, presence, well being, awareness, clarity, God, whatever you want to call this... that always is here, always on, fully expressing.. it's that on which we can always rely..
it takes a village.. it takes this tremendous trust in our own capacity to fully know ourselves, to recognize that all that we are just an expression of all that is .. so in this realization of what we actually are.. we are in unity/village awareness.. once more it's the work is within.. here first.. what is realized here can outpicture in our world..

Unconditional Love and Physical Education

2011-04-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

LIfe learning is so different than the way we learned in school ... learning by subjects.. now we'll do science, math, english, social studies.. life really is not divided up like that.. it's all mixed up together.. and there are so many "subjects" that we did not cover in elementary school.. like how to love yourself and others.. how to live from your heart, to really know yourself, to live from your own internal guide.. how to listen to yourself, your own interior guidance, to really feel deeply into yourself and be true to that.. nope i did not learn that in school or college or church. I am trying to model this for my kids, to encourage them to tap into their own gifts and talents.. to give them the space, support and encouragement to even know that they do have unique things to offer and to celebrate that we all have offerings, gifts and the beauty is in the diversity.. not in us all being the same, comparing ourselves to each other and competing..
One of the best parts about living next door to the Zeljo family is that they have 2 wonderful things.. puppies and babies.. I love other peoples dogs and other peoples babies!! Who better to learn this most valuable lesson of unconditional love from than animals and babies.. huh??? It's been such a joy to share space with this most wonderful family, we are so grateful..
While it's not easy to live your whole life at the beach and then move away.. the mountains here in Boulder are a pretty reasonable replacement.. here's Luc rock climbing at Mt Sanitas.. that's physical education right.. ok cross that off the list.

Luc reads a book..

2011-04-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

One of the most interesting parts of unschooling (flying without a curriculum) is wondering when you child will actually want to read.. don't get me wrong... there's necessary reading and well.... book reading.. Reese learned to read kind of when he was 5, he started reading (or memorizing) Yu gi oh cards.. he memorized 100's of cards, but he didn't pick up a book and read it till he was 8. or 9.. the book was Diary of a Wimpy kid.. it was Kaia's book, she left it in my car, Reese picked it up and read it.. in a day I think.. in the last 2 years, he's maybe read 10 actual chapter books.. not the hottest topic around.. of course Luc must copy everything Reese the magnificent does.. even resisting reading.. Reese once said.. when i told him we were going to the library.. NOOOO the library is worse than the dentist... OMG we laughed about that for months..
Well I am happy to report that Reese got the newest Dairy of a Wimpy Kid book for Christmas and low and behold.. Luc picked it up the other day.. and started reading it.. and he's only 7... so go figure he beat Reese by at least a year.

Ali my neighboor and I hosted a fun Science class for the kids.. it went pretty well.. we had about 14 kids, 7 of them were into the science (none of ours mind you.. actually the were doing Physics - making a sailing paper airplanes) and I had a ball doing Wizard to attentive other peoples kids, while my wild one's did their own thing entirely. Here is beautiful Gianni.. in the Wizards hat.
Yes there is a reason that we homeschool. They are freestylers.. in life.. reminds me of Luc when he was 4 and i tried to teach him to ski.. there we were on the bunny hill.. i am telling him to do the pizza (wedge stop) and french fries (straight skies), he was not having it.. "I am not doing pizza or french fries!" and off he would go down the hill, really fast, at the bottom he would spin around several times and stop. this went on all day.. an instructor skiing by took one look at him and summed it up with one word.. "freestyler"! Yeah i replied.. in life!

Parties, Aerial Arts and Knex

2011-04-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

There's nothing better than packing up all your stuff and digging it all out 6 months later, it's like rediscovering your old toys.. All of our Legos, Knex, beads for jewelry, if that was not enough, there was all the Christmas gifts too.. remote control cars... such abundance.. Reese built some amazing swords out of Knex.. then of course we had a battle.. Most of the fun involves some type of battle, wrestling, tickling, some kind of game that we are playing.. currently Reese is very involved in Maplestory, Runescape is out, Magic the Gathering is in, Luc also likes Maplestory, but he also likes Club Penguin again.. we've also rediscovered all our board games, Settlers of Caton, & Florence. We pulled out art sets out cause we had to make Birthday cards.. for Reese who turned 11 in Jan, NIckie, our neighboor, and Jon Jon who invited us to a Zip line party.
Luc got to have a private session at Frequent Flyers an aerial arts studio in town.. He loved it.. we definitely want to take some classes there soon, what a great work out too.

January in Boulder

2011-04-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

After an amazing Christmas, we hit the road for Boulder, we had a great 2 day drive, got very excited when we saw the snow and arrived on Dec 27th at about 3pm.. i had a friend (the best kind of friends.. they ones that show up and help you move!) meet me at storage, i got a truck, we got my bed, couch and coffee table out of storage.. and i was moving into our new place by 6pm.. It was impressive, me and Shawn moved a king size bed up stairs.. i felt very proud of myself. Our new little apartment is a cottage behind my friend Ali and Jon's house in North Boulder, they homeschool their 4 boys (11, 7, 2 and 5 mos) and they got 2 puppies for Christmas, what more could we want. Our place is 2 blocks from a great park and even more important we are 3 blocks from Gamers Guild where Reese can walk and play Magic the Gathering with other kids (and adults) everyday. Yes Reese has made good friends with Budge the owner, a dad of 3, who seems to love to play Magic with Reese every afternoon, Reese had died and gone to heaven!
Luc was very happy to reconnect with his buddy Eya, a friend we met 3 years ago here in Boulder, they are Lego and game fiends.. with big off the chart energy... friends are what it's all about!
We took a great trip to the Denver Botanical Gardens to see a very famous sculpture exhibit.. the kids were a bit perplexed at the giant abstract sculptures, but we still spent an hour in the snow freezing our butts off seeing everyone of the pieces and doing our scavenger hunt, we made totems, played with clay and of course spent time in the hot house garden room. playing chase..

Thanksgiving in Colorado, Christmas in LA

2011-02-25T14:10:00.000-08:00

two weeks in Boulder got us fired up to go back to colorado.. they highlight for the kids was the endless play with Kaia, Noah, Conner and Ryan, Devin and Luka.. and that's just the start... the highlight for me was watching sunrises over Machintosh Lake, a definite spiritual experience! We had a great two weeks in Colorado and made plans to return here for several months, kids really wanted to do christmas in LA, so we spent 4 weeks back in CA staying with Judy and Grandma Lynne.. We made loads of Christmas crafts, Luc and I beaded many bracelets for gifts, Reese made earrings and necklaces, we spent christmas eve with Dean in his old house where his boys were born, david and suelyn came as well as dennis & claire. It was so nice to be with so much of my moms family!! Hope and Austin came for a short visit, but that was the best part of the day!! We got to spend lots of time with Kiki and Myev before the holiday, Luc and Myev did some cooking, decorating together. Chirstmas morning was awesome... Steve spent the day with the boys, Luc was building legos galore.. spaceships that we had to try to transport to Colorado in tact, boys got lots of great clothes for Christmas! Early the next morning we packed up and hit the road.
We arrived in Boulder on the afternoon of the 27th, I rented a truck, called a friend, got our bed and couch out of storage and we spent our first night in our new home in North Boulder. We rented a guest cottage from my friend Ali, so we were next door to this wonderful family with their awesome 4 boys.. ages 11, 7, 2 & 5 mos. they had puppies and a baby.. I was in heaven. Their boys love nerf wars and legos too.. what a gift.

HS Musical, Soccer.. fall in Ojai

2011-02-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

We went to Magic Mountain 3 times this summer, this was my favorite activity when i was a kid.. nothing has changed, my kids love roller coasters, what makes roller coasters better, having your friends there.. we went in June for Lucs bday, I surprised myself, Reese asked me to ride the Riddler with him and I did, i loved it, I road X2, Terminator, Tatsu, a few more.. we went back 2 mos later just cause and then again in Sept for Zane's bday.. this time it was kids and dads, but they had fun without me.. Zane and Reese played Soccer together.. it was an ironic year, Lucs team the Golden Jets, kicked butt, they were undefeated, Luc scored 2 goals in the season, he was very happy. Reese's team went the whole season with out a win, but they did tie an undefeated team which felt like a victory.. The good thing about soccer in Ojai is all the games are at one location, not like in boulder where i am driving around trying to be in two places at one time.. we met so many nice parents and kids playing soccer, it's was Luc's first season and he loved it. Luc made a good buddy Cash, Reese connected with Zane and Phoenix, such nice kids..
Both of the boys were in High School Musical the play, Reese played Troy Bolton, the jock who wants to also be a singer/actor, Luc played a basketball player and a skater, they did an amazing job, Reese had several solos, the main male lead, i was so proud of him.. he also did some voice lessons and piano with a cool teacher we met at Burning man..
We got to spend lots of time with Judy, Sierra, Canyon and Chloe, we even got to adopt Chloe for a week or so and pretend that we had a dog, she is an angel.. We went rock climbing, lots of time at parks and beach in Ventura, of course we spent some time with them up in big bear too... Luc and Canyon are best buds..
We tried out a new program Grounded by Nature, a kids wilderness program, did not quite work out for Luc, these boys just don't want to do structured activities unless they are really into the activity.. the homeschool charter worked out better, they boys got to take 4 fun classes a week, tennis, art, lego engineering, wilderness survival, etc.. they had some friends there and really enjoyed it. Reese especially liked tennis..
Kaia and Noah and Lex came to La for Halloween, of course we went to Grandma Lynne's party and handed out 5 million pieces of candy to the masses of kids.. Reese was Gangster Elmo again, Luc wore his Ninja outfit that he got for Burning Man, he looked very cool. Mid November we headed to Colorado for 2 weeks to see all our friends.. Lex was off to Peru so we got to hang with Kaia and Noah for 10 days.. Of course Martha made the best Thanksgiving dinner ever..

Bhaktifest and Homeschool Camping trip in Carpinteria

2011-02-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

So it's 5 months later, I'm catching up and that's great right? We has such a fun summer and the end of the summer was spectacular.. we went to Burning Man, next weekend we went to Bhakti Fest.. and I have to say I had some very peak experiences there, sitting 10 feet in front of Devi Premal and Mittin.. heart to heart with so many lovely souls.. Krishna Das was totally beautiful... the entire weekend was very fun, 3 yoga classes a day, Donna De Lory was there.. nothing I love more than Kirtan and Yoga.. Kaia and Noah showed up the last day and kids played in the fountains and Reese the entrepreneur made necklaces and earrings and sold then and made $160 in one day.. he was so cute camped out in front of the water station, beading away, taking custom orders and talking to so many people.. he was in his element.

The very next weekend we went on a homeschool camping trip to Carpintera.. my girlfriend Nancy went to Italy and her 5 yr old Evan spent the week with us.. my boys love him, we hula hooped, did some acro yoga, played with the 4 kittens the Judy and company brought, met a wonderful new friend who is a tantrika, shaman, doula homeschooling mom of 5 .. , played games, saw old friends.. such a fun time..

Burning Man - Metropolis.. the new earth..

2010-09-27T12:55:00.001-07:00

Yes, we left in late August for Burning Man for our forth year in a row.. we we have an RV, we have NO excuse not to be there..
this year my cousins son Nathan rode up with us, that was a real treat.. he is 21, really alive and fun, he's been to 10 festivals this summer and he was on fire about Burning Man.. he'd been making necklaces and jewelry to offer as gifts and Reese got inspired and I bought him a bunch of beads and he started making necklaces, wire wrapping beads and making earrings, it was very cool..
We picked up a couple from Winnipeg in Reno (they spent 3 days on a bus to get to Reno) and they rode 7 hours into the burn with us. I drove up from Ojai, picked Steve up at the Reno airport and we drove in together.. Reese and Luc had a ball sharing stories of past burns with the 3 virgins ( someone who has not been to Burning Man before) and we happily arrived at Kidsville (our camp where we stay every year with 100 or so other families) early Monday morning.

The boys had these amazing custom Ninja outfits that Steve bought for them this year, I think they wore them almost everyday! Reese got to fire spin for a second time when a group of performers came to visit kidsville, he was a big hit. both boys also got to spin some fire poi (as well as the 2 other boys that were their friends that we claimed to be their parents.. haha) We had a blast roaming the playa, climbing on art, oohing and aahing at the amazing creativity, hooping at various camps, eating dinner as we roamed various camps and we were offered Bacon, turkey dinner and most exciting Top Ramon (offered in a giant tub), we played on a great obstacle course, battled with giant turkey legs, and watch the grown ups act like kids at Thunderdome bashing each other with foam bats! All over the playa, folks took our photos, gifted the kids cool stuff, offered us rides on art cars .. the usual gig..

I did some late night dancing, checked out the big rave camps, did some yoga, learned some acro yoga, thai massage, had a reiki session, did the human carcass wash twice (that's a blast you wash others and get washed using squirt bottles), did some contact improv, and some other cool adult activities that I won't write about here..

We had great weather this year and as usual got our hearts very filled up with all the love on the playa..

Elevate Party - Reese the fire spinner!

2010-09-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Just a week or so after we moved to our new home in Ojai, the Elevate crew (the is the company Steve works for now, www.elevate.us ) threw a big party at Glen Muse (our new home). Amazing party, see some great photos at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=14220060&id=634875642&ref=fbx_album
met incredible folks, we had some amazing fire spinners on hand, and Reese got to twirl a fire hoop, a dream of his!! Top notch entertainment, singers, DJ's, sweet kids and loving heart centered folks.. that feel like a new family coming together!!

CA Homeschool Conference.. what a blast..

2010-09-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

We were so fortunate to not only spend the summer in the South Bay and be able to see all our friends, including Colleen and her brood who were in LA for a month.. It's amazing how the kids are growing up.. her baby (that i was graced with attending his unassisted home birth) is 5, her oldest is 18, got to spend a few days with him and take him to a few meetings, that was a treat! Reese loved seeing NIgel, Janina, Iman and baby Andre! We took Colleen to the contact improv in Santa Monica and boy she loved that, such a beautiful intimate dance!

We spent 3 days in Ontario at the CHN conference, Steve came with us, hooray, and my mom came out for a day also!! Such an impressive line up of talks, my favorites were a mom who talked about a book group for kids (thats on my list of things i want to do.. can't wait to do a poetry discussion and read Rumi), another talk called WIld Days, that was all about nature exploration and letting kids explore and discover, an expert on green living & urban gardening, Laura from MBNS our old nursery school gave a great heart centered communication workshop and Steve raved about the dads panel. We want to host an unschooling panel next year! Reese gave an amazing performance at the talent show hooping as well as hosting and teaching Magic the gathering duals. Luc spent 8+hours a day building Kapla blocks creations alone, with friends, with daddy and grandma.. whatever..
So many of our friends were there, it felt like a family reunion, without the drama..

Hermosa, Manhattan, Big Bear, San Clemente & RV trips.

2010-08-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

Quite the summer adventure and it continues.. We packed up our apartment in Boulder end of May, we had a great winter and spring there, loved our place on Mapleton Ave (even with the 2 month roof construction project), we loved being in our own space, we loved our roomates Daniel and Scott, we had lots of kids over and stayed home and played games a ton.. the highlights of Boulder were Magic Tournaments ( 2 nights a week and Luc got to play legos with Tris and mommy got time alone, of course i went to yoga... ), Kids Night Out at the Longmont Rec Center (and of course time with our best buds Ryan, Connor, Kaia and Noah), Sleep Overs with Tim, Joey and Miranda.. oh how I miss them, 3 of the most beautiful and amazing kids I know, rock climbing and hiking at Mt Senitas, Clay Class with Mira at her awesome house up Boulder Canyon, Improv Class at Rocky Mntn Theater for kids, hanging with our friends Eya, Oliver, Levi, Jaylin, Tony & Hattie, Will and Nickie, our unschoolers park day, visiting the Planetarium, dancing at Rhythm Sanctuary on Thurs nights and the kids who showed up to play legos!!

But Daddy was in California and had only seen kids for a few days at a time on visits so we had to come out and have more daddy time and visit all the relatives in LA. We started with a week in Hermosa Beach, took a 12 day RV trip with my sis Melinda and her kids Hope and Austin up to Santa Rosa, camped in Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay on the beach, went to SF (melinda had not been there before), visited the Exploratorium (the most fun Science Museum in SF), saw the Redwoods, swam in the Russian River and went to the Harmony Festival (great music, shopping, eco green village, lectures, dancing, frolic, hooping). Reese was Mr Independent, he had his own phone and was off and exploring on his own most of the weekend.

We spent a very relaxing week in San Clemente at our timeshare, did very little, played at the beach, shuffleboard, ping pong, swam, chilled and played lots of games with my mom & Bryan, Mindy and kids.. my boys had a blast with Daddy playing games, they love beating him ...

We rented a studio apt in Manhattan Beach for a month and really enjoyed the beach, homeschooler park day, beach day, speech club (yes Reese made quite a showing one week when he won all 3 awards in one day, best speech, best impromptu and best evaluator!), my girlfriend Colleen who moved her brood up to Canada was in town for a month visiting and we loved seeing them!

Highlight of the summer were the 2 productions the kids got to do: Sleeping Beauty (Reese played the Prince Philip who delivers true loves kiss to awaken the princess and Luc played a goon working for the evil Malificient, he was a scream! Also got to do Annie and Reese played Rooster Hannigan the down on his luck brother of Ms Hannigan who pretends to be Annie's parent to collect the reward, Luc played a dog catcher (his big line.. seen any strange mutts around here? ), a policeman, a laundry boy and a servant of Oliver Warbucks.. he was a busy little guy. The boys were both amazing, they spent 40-50 hours in rehearsal time on each show in just 10 days each! They made great friends, showed great maturity dealing with all the down time as they rehearsed multiple casts and of course memorized every song and everyone's lines in both shows! Mommy got a few hours to herself and enjoyed lots of Bikrim Yoga, runs on the beach and time with friends! Nothing quite like the joy of watching my kids work really hard, be really passionate about something and perform so beautifully on stage!

singing the songs..

2010-08-06T11:20:00.001-07:00

One of the best parts of spending the summer in Hermosa Beach is the family theater group we've participated in the last 3 summers. Thanks to Alexis the boys got to do High School Musical 2 summers ago and fell in love with musical theater! Reese will be playing Rooster in Annie next Saturday and he is thrilled to always be cast in lead roles. We listen to the songs non stop, they practice for 5 hours a day for 2 weeks straight and then the performance. Luc will be playing multiple roles as a cop, laundry man, dog catcher and radio station worker.

Last night Luc and I lay in bed and he was singing one of the songs in Annie that has a line "I'm richer than Midas", Daddy Worbucks sings the song after his heart has opened finally as Annie enters into his life and he realizes how lonely and unhappy he was (despite his wealth and success) when he had no one to truly love.
"Who's Midas?' Luc asks and we have a whole discussion about King Midas and how love makes you rich not possessions. But money is useful for getting stuff you want, luc commented.. but we are rich in love, that's for sure.. then he started asking about President Roosevelt (who is in the Annie play). "We're white right mom? yes, "was President Roosevelt white?" yes, but Obama is not right? right, "who is the second black president mom?" well there is no second, Obama is still in office and he is the first.. "there is a lot of brown people in the world huh?', yeah.. then he sings 3 lines from "Tomorrow, tomorrow I love ya tomorrow, you're always a day away".. and sings himself to sleep..

radical neglect is all i can say..

2010-02-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

In May of 2009, we left Boulder mid month headed to Nevada, picked up our RV and drove it to Portland for the Life is Good
Unschooling Conference. We ended up spending 2 full weeks hanging with the unschoolers in Portland, who by the way have an unschoolers park day every day of the week in some area of Portland.. wow..

The parks in Portland are amazing, huge, the most beautiful trees I've ever seen.. we went to a different park everyday, exploring many areas of the vast city of Portland and really enjoyed our time connecting with many we met from the conference. I also had several nice visits with my great aunt Louise, my Grandma Dorothy's only living sibling.. they are the 2 youngest of 5 kids and it's just them still here..

We left Portland and headed south to the coast to visit my friend Lily who lives at the beach, got craving seeing our friends and family in LA and dropped our RV off and headed for Southern California

loving this traveling..

2009-05-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hermosa Beach, Ventura, Carlsbad, Arcadia, Boulder.. I am loving this .. after 7 weeks in LA, so much fun with friends at the parks and beaches, several visits with Grandma Dorothy, helping her get packed to move to her beautiful new 2 bedroom mobile home in Thousand Oaks, moving away from LA has made me REALLY appreciate the wealth I have here! We headed back to Colorado and busied ourselves with a fun history class one of the homeschool moms is teaching, Reese played in his first GO tournament, we attended Homeschool Day at the Denver Botanical Gardens, fun afternoons with our homeschool tween group, and a field trip to an Alpaca farm (that also had a camel and several Llamas -who act as guard dogs for the Alpacas). We got to watch the babies nurse!
We squeezed in some sleepovers and played in beautiful sunshine as well as several snow days and then mommy drove to Santa Fe for a long weekend of satsang with Neelam to renew and rejuvenate and come back centered, present and smiling!!

Then I got an email invitation to go camping with 20 or so homeschool families in Joshua Tree and I quickly ditched my ideas of home the RV had spoiled me on tent camping.. and off we went for some outdoor adventure.
All of our camping gear was packed away in a garage in Hermosa Beach, so we bought a $20 tent from Walmart and a $20 air mattress, borrowed a few sleeping bags and were just fine thank you very much! Tons of rock climbing, awesome community meals and relaxation and hiking and the highlight was one of the dads organized a Magic cards tournament (got decks for all the kids) and Reese has a new passion..

Legoland rocks!!

2009-03-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the awesome Homeschooler Discount we got to spend a day playing at Legoland which was Luc's greatest wish after missing out on the Reese and daddy day at Disneyland on his bday. It cost us $50 and the normal cost was about $150, so already I was in a good mood. Being almost 6 Luc got to drive a car in the big kid driving school, that was fun to watch. It was empty so we rode every ride several times without even getting off to get back in line, you just can't beat that. We are so spoiled always going to amusement parks mid week off season, that waiting in a 5 minute line seems like forever!
One of the real treats was waiting for us in miniland, they had a lego creation of the Obama Inauguration at the Capital Building, Reese loved seeing that. We watched the event just a few days prior at Judy and Sierra's house and the kids were really impressed with all of the emotion with seeing Obama sworn in. We saw a very cool 4D Lego movie and of course stayed until the park closed and we were all worn out.

Reese turns 9!!!

2009-03-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Before we headed back to Colorado, we spent a few days visiting Grandma Dorothy helping her pack to move to her beautiful new mobile home and also visiting Judy, Sierra & Canyon in Ventura. The downtown area of Ventura is so cute and we had a great time playing at the beach there watching the surfers and building forts out of giant sticks. Sierra invited Reese to attend her homeschoolers art class and he came home with some beautiful watercolors. When we arrived Sierra had made a cake for Reese to celebrate his 9th birthday, such a warm welcome and we can't wait to visit again. Our big adventure was a day trip to Ojai and a relaxing soak in the woodsy hotsprings.
My big score was picking as many tangerines as I could carry on one of our walks and I ate them for the next 2 weeks.
OH I miss picking fruit off a tree in the middle of winter.

One big party here..

2009-01-31T18:11:00.000-08:00

The 6 week trip we had in Hermosa Beach was one endless celebration! My sister Keyanna turned 18 in December! Then Christmas of course, we had Christmas eve with mom's family and Christmas day with my stepmom Lynne and a huge dinner for 30 that she prepared on Christmas night, oh and we also celebrated Hanukkah since my other sister Myev had converted to Judaism (she cooked Ladkas and said all the prayers and we lit candles every night), Then in January... Myev's birthday, Lynne's birthday, Reese's birthday and on the same day my 17yr AA birthday! We had 3 different parties for Reese's birthday, two with family and one with friends and then he played lazer tag and also went to DisneyLand on his actual birthday.. for free of course! How cool is that. All of this occurred in just one month, I am exhausted just writing about it.
We also planned a memorial for my Grandpa Bill who died the day after Christmas, it was moving and lovely and it was very good to gather with my Grandma, her sister and all their kids and the kids kids, my sister Myev sang Amazing Grace, I read a poem that I wrote, we told stories and ate of course. My grandpa was ready and I was glad that he was able to move on to the next big adventure, whatever that is.

Luc is in the game!

2009-01-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

Sure enough, Luc is playing Go with the big kids at the library on Sundays.. my baby.. it's wild, this is a sophisticated game..
I finally played a few games with Reese and as of yet I have not really grasped it. These kids are really open to so much, mostly I am blown away about how they grasp "being" in the world, they are so open when I talk about Unity - Oneness - the interconnectedness of all of life. Sensing that God is everything, the divinity of all of life, how everything is as it should be, yeah, they get it, they are open little beings constantly amazing me, delighting me, inspiring me and mostly entertaining me, the greatest show on earth!

Hanging with the family in Hermosa..

2009-01-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

So great, my Mom, Bryan and Melinda came down and we spent the late afternoon at the beach, the lighting, the ocean breeze, the relaxing vibe at the beach.. loving being with my family.. we laughed and goofed and played like kids.. good times..

It's snowing in Las Vegas..

2009-01-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

Once again I am reminded that buying my timeshare 11 years ago was such a gift! We booked a gorgeous condo in Las Vegas and invited my girlfriend Colleen and her brood to join us. I had checked the weather and knew that that December in the high desert was expected to be cold, but we were in for a surprise when it started snowing, apparently it has not snowed in Vegas for 2-3 years, it was quite a sight, palm trees covered with snow. they got 11 inches in Henderson which is just North of Vegas. Since my boys were still recovering from Chicken Pox we were still laying low, playing lots of games and making daily ventures to the jacuzzi. It is always awesome to hang out the the Krueger family, I pretend i am in a large family (since I grew up an only child) and I love it until it gets too loud and overwhelming and I run to my room and take a break.

After a few days of quiet, I piled 5 of the kids in the car and we headed out to the strip to explore the free kid shows and activities. We saw the tigers at the MGM hotel, visited the M&M store - 4 floors of M&M branded products and a 3D movie that we are enjoyed on their theater, We walked and walked, saw the Eifel Tower at Paris and a great show at Caesers Palace, played in the Apple store in the forum shops and the amazing FAO Schwartz store with a 2 story Trojan Horse that you can walk through! We wore ourselves out walking and the kids were tired and our car was some 2 miles down the road. When i tried to hire a taxi I was told one taxi could not fit all 6 of us, we'd have to get 2 taxies, I did not want to split up our group as I was the only parent. I remembered the train that runs down the strip and we walked a long was to access the train only to find out it would cost us $30 to take the train, more than the cost of 2 taxies. What to do??
I approached a big van and asked a guy to give us a ride, but he said no! Reese was really not feeling well and complaining, I was stressing.. I walked out a side entrance to the hotel we were in and a man approached me, can I help you? .. I desperately
tried to gather myself, i was panicking a bit.. we need a ride, just a mile down the road, to the MGM hotel..
I'll give you a ride he said.. he was standing nearby a massive Limo I realized.. it looked like a truck from the front, it was a Ford, i'd never seen anything like it. I'll take you .. for $20. ok, lets go.. the kids went crazy.. he opened the door and we piles in.. wow.. it could hold at least 15 -20 people, it had disco lazer lighting throughout, amazing music from every direction.. and get this.. a pole to dance around. The kids could stand up in it, they could not believe it.. none of the kids had ever been in a limo and for the next 20 minutes (there was a lot of traffic) we were pop stars! Janina Colleen's 9 yr old daughter kept saying "I'm a pop star!" All the kids took turns dancing on the pole, we sang to the music and I took lots of pictures. It was the highlight of our trip.
Yes I spent a week in Vegas, did not gamble or see a show, but lots of deep relaxation .. very nice after our 12 hour drive from Colorado.. after 6 days there, we headed to Pasadena to see my mom, sister, cousin & niece & nephew. It's been 6 mos since seeing our family, can't wait.

Thanksgiving 2008 at Martha's house

2009-01-01T11:16:00.001-08:00

Yes, it is officially a tradition for have Thanksgiving at Martha's house, we've done it for 2 years in a row now. We celebrated in her brand new house, that she bought just a few months ago and Timothy and his boys are all moved in now and it's one big happy Brady Bunch family. We also had some friends from CA in town and both the food and fellowship was grand! I ate my first homemade cranberry sauce, yummy.. I had been on a no sugar no flour diet for 45 days and set it aside for the day and enjoyed it very much. As much as I love and appreciate my family, it is so nice also to create new traditions with friends in new places just to affirm that the love is alive and well where ever you are and I so appreciate the liberation of knowing that "it" can be Anywhere, anytime, and can look anyway.. such a gift just to be Present.

Gotta love the Apple Store!

2009-01-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

Our local homeschool group descended on the Apple Store for an awesome field trip to learn to play Garage Band. There is so many things I don't know how to do on my Mac, this was one of them. We had 30 or so kids and they had at least 5 "geeks" there to teach the kids how to make their own music, it is a virtual composer game and really fun. What's more is that they gave us free online training for a year just for setting up the field trip, what service. Luc played the games on the new iphones, he is amazing, just logs on by himself and can entertain himself for ever.

Game Day ON!!

2008-12-24T13:11:00.001-08:00

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..

2008-12-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

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..

2008-12-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

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..

2008-11-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

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..

2008-11-14T20:59:00.001-08:00

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..

2008-11-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

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!!

2008-11-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

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..

2008-11-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

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..

2008-11-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T18:53:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-14T18:15:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-14T18:09:00.001-08:00

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"

2008-09-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-09-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-09-16T17:04:00.001-07:00

8/8/08 Arches National Park, UT

2008-09-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-08-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-08-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-08-18T12:41:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-06T10:35:00.001-07:00

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!

7/17/08 Chilling at home..

2008-08-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

We had 9 days to relax at home before we loaded up the RV and took off traveling for another 6 weeks.. it was very nice, I went to my morning meeting everyday and connected with friends, we threw a pool party and had 20 or so friends over to swim in our pool and played chicken foot (dominos), we had a few playdates with our pals Joseph & Kelly and played in the Boulder Creek, we attended a 3 day satsang with Sharon Landrith that was absolutely fantastic, and mostly we just enjoyed each other and were very grateful to be living in Colorado and have such rich friendships come about so quickly.. thanks to AA.

7/14/08 Back to Colorado..

2008-07-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

My last 5 days in Hermosa Beach, I was alone.. well not really, but Steve & the boys flew back to Colorado, so I was kind of alone.. This is new for me.. first my kids went to Yosemite with Lynne for 6 days, had a blast and that was the first time our kids have been away from both Steve & I for more than a night ever..

So now I had 5 whole days.. to do whatever.. I went to yoga everyday, went blading on the strand, went to meetings everyday, walked with friends, talked on the phone a lot.. I've been continuing to work with sponsee's in Colorado while gone and it has been so wonderful.. I have been so enjoying working the steps, doing Inquiry work (Byron Katie style), practicing directing awareness into the body, I am so loving what God is sending my way... who God is sending my way.. so much gratitude!

I spent my last day having lunch with my buddy Kevin in Hollywood, having dinner with cousin Dean talking about Life, the future, what it all means anyway?? Then I spent the evening with my sister MIndy, my mom and her hubby Bryan, telling them the whole story about how exactly Steve and I got back togetherr.. leaving nothing out.. My mommy gave me a great massage, I slept like a baby and I left Monday morning at 4am and arrived in Boulder by 8pm.

7/4/08 Happy 66th Anniversary Bill & Dorothy

2008-07-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

In May my Grandma Dorothy turned 84, which is great, but on July 4th, she celebrated 66 yrs of marriage to Bill. that is pretty amazing.. I have a small inkling of just how remarkable that is....
on June 21st, Steve & I celebrated our 10th yr anniversary.. and there've been some ups & downs let me tell ya.. long term relationships with children are no easy task.. most of my friends have not made it.. I am feeling very grateful to be in such great appreciation for my relationship..

Just after their anniversary I picked Grandma up and arranged for a visit at my cousin Teresa's and had my Great Aunt Ruth (grandma's sister) show up for a surprise visit with Dorothy.. it was great, we spent the whole day, my boys and Teresa's kids played Lego's & swam, we talked and ate.. about family, traveling, the works.. it was so good to be visiting with Ruth & Dorothy together, they had not seen each other in many months.. Of course with Ruth there, we got talking about God, service, & gratitude with so much passion and fire.. such a gift to share this intense passion for living life with such immense God awareness and appreciation.. thanks Ruth for always being such an incredible example for me.. I love you so much!
My Grandma and I laughed and shared so much on this visit, we got to see each other 5 times in the month.. making up for lost time in the last year.. and we went to visit Grandpa in the home he is staying at, showed him lots of photos.. he enjoyed that very much.. 66 years.. wow...

7/5/08 Round Up 08

2008-07-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

7/4/08 Happy 4th of July!!

2008-07-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well of course we spent the 4th of July weekend at the Torrance Marriot at the AA Round UP.. partying with 4,000 of our closest friends.. My kiddos were celebrating with Grandma Lynne in Yosemite, so for the first time in 8 years I got to actually relax, go to meetings, have uninterrupted adult conversations, yeah it was strange but wonderful. There was an extra bit of celebrating going on since we did miss the round up for the first time last year, in the last 17 yrs, but mostly cause Steve and I are back together after some time apart and we are both very happy about it! New love, deep love, such gratitude, amazing appreciation, what can I say, totally a gift!

So yeah.. and Steve's new best friend in Colorado, Brian.. flew out for a week and hung out with us, we meditated, listened to Adya, went to a crazy amount of meetings, danced, heard some great music, laughed a lot, hugged a lot of friends, played at the beach, stayed sober, and celebrated life!

We also had a party at Lex's, her whole family was in town, totally fun, love hanging out with other peoples families, especially Jewish women from Florida, yeah we laugh a lot, hula hooping, poking fun.. it's all good!

6/28/08 flying to Catalina Island..

2008-07-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

one of the highlights of our trip to California.. was one day a friend called up and said how'd you like to fly to Catalina?
Sounds great but I have my kids.. I replied... great bring them was the response! After I asked how long my friend had been
flying .. we set a time and off we set. Leaving from Hawthorne airport... I did not even know it was there.. it took longer to get the plane ready and do all the safety checks then to actually fly there. The best part of the flight for the boys who rode in the back of the4 seat airplane was the speaker headsets, they sang, yelled, talked to themselves, etc.. fortunately for us, we could turn them off to our headsets!

We circled around the South Bay, checked out Lex's new house on 20th street where we were staying and headed out to sea for
Catalina, yes, I got to fly the plane for 20 minutes of so, piece of cake.. it is really only taking off and landing that are tricky. Just a little tiny airstrip to land on, don't blink or you'll miss it.. we had a great lunch of buffalo burgers and took a bus down to Avalon.
The boys were very excited to see the mini golf course, so we played this very technical course, most are par 4 and 5.
Then we headed for the beach, sun & swimming and playing in the waves. After ice cream we headed back for the bus, Luc
was fast asleep in my lap as we rode the 30 minutes back up to the airport. You get a bit of a tour of the interior of the island
heading to the airport that normally you can't see as it is protected area.
I was remembering the 2 bike fundraisers I did riding from the Isthmus to Avalon, some 17 years ago, got to see the whole interior of the island, such beauty, great memories. Rich full life.. oh yeah!

6/24/08 WE are Rich with Friends!!

2008-07-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

6/21/08 Rockstars in the making..

2008-07-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Technology is amazing.. one of the funnest new things we discovered at Alexis's was the game Rockband! You need a singer, a drummer and a guitar player.. and the songs they perform are all old rock songs, like Creep, Wanted Dead or Alive, 29 fingers, MIssissippi Queen and the like.. The kids were amazing, you actually learn to play instruments and follow the words and they score you on how well you do.. oh and it's also about reading, so technically it is educational and super fun.. right up our alley!

We got to have my niece Hope for a whole week, we had a blast playing at the beach, going to homeschooler park day, celebrating Luc's birthday, attending Jenn's 7th birthday party and of course playing Rockband! Hard to believe Hope will be 11 in September, I still remember Steve and I were celebrating his birthday at a sushi bar in Manhattan Beach when we got the call that Hope had arrived, we drove straight to the hospital and had her in our arms 45 minutes after she was born.. that was the best birthday ever. For the next 2.5 years, Hope spent the weekends with us, giving her mom (who was 21 and just a bit overwhelmed with motherhood) a needed break. Her Aunt Jojo who was 31 and oh so ready to be a mom was so thrilled to pick her up every friday afternoon and play mommy every weekend. What a gift that was to share such amazing time with baby Hope and every summer she gets to spend at least a week with us.. life is groovy!

6/20/08 Hanging out with Aunt Keyanna

2008-07-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

The best part of being "home" is spending time with our family... especially Aunt Kiki.. we had so much fun playing at the park, Kiki brought her guitar, which i'd never heard her play, she sung us some of her songs and best of all she brought the tape recorder! Keyanna hangs out at coffee houses, poetry readings, writing and playing music with friends is a major interest, it was very cool to connect with her and hear her music. Yes I did feel inspired to start writing again, after 3 years of guitar lessons and writing and playing music, I have not picked it up in over 10 years..

What a great plaything for the kids that tape recorder, they never grew tired of singing sillyness into the recorder and listening to themselves. Great day with Kaia & Noah at Valley Park, we hve missed being with our bestest pals. It's amazing though the kids pick right up where they left off, never missing a beat. I feel so lucky that we have friends all over the place, Hermosa, Boulder, Maine, Oregon, and it's only going to get better as we continue to travel the world!

6/13/08 THIS is what we came for.. the BEACH!

2008-07-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

A gorgeous day in Hermosa Beach, we picked up Dillon, Reese's best friend, my sister Mindy came down with Hope and Austin and we headed to the beach. The house we are staying at with Alexis is only 5 houses from the ocean, how much better could it get? My kids just dug in the sand, buried each other over and over and rode their boogie boards in the surf.. Mom sat in her comfy chair reclined, taking in the ocean smells and sounds, heaven. My sister Melinda and I got to share and catch up, very nice, we spent some time doing spiritual inquiry work, looking deeply into our beliefs, asking is that true? really powerful work, nice to share it with my sister.
A huge blessing, feeling very relaxed, went running on the beach today, what a treat. Ran 4 miles, pier to pier, nothing like running on the beach, cleansing mind, body & spirit, so healing.

6/12/08 Family Time..

2008-07-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Oh sweet times, baseball games, pizza parties, sleepovers, game night playing apples to apples with the family. We all headed to cousin Deans house, trampoline, jacuzzi, nice time to celebrate Luc turning 5, Grandma Judy turning 60 something and my Nephew Nathan turning 19! Nothing like being away from your family to really make you love and appreciate them. I think Luc had the best time, he jumped and jumped and jumped on the trampoline, played ball with Duke & Ginger, gave a long drum concert, had a long massage in the massage chair and still had energy to burn.. Of course he wanted Pokemon cards, a razor scooter, tech deck dudes, and Legos... that will keep him busy for awhile..

6/10/08 California here we come..

2008-07-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Summer Vacation.. the boys and I hit the road this morning headed West for the mighty Pacific and of course all our friends and family. It has been a whole year since I've been "home" and that's definitely too long! The drive along Highway 70 west is really spectacular, especially along the Colorado River and in Utah near Bryce Canyon. The boys were great in the car, hooray.. we can do long drives in the car, they are old enough, that feels very freeing. We pretty much drove straight to Vegas got a beautiful condo at Worldmark and headed for the jacuzzi, so relaxing after 10 hours of driving. We spent the next morning swimming and playing in the pool, making friends and soaking up the sun all for only $35, what a bargain, gotta justify that quarterly $200 fee.
Around noon we jumped back in the car and headed to LA to attend my nephew Austin's final baseball game... nothing like driving into LA at 4:30pm on a friday night, hello massive traffic.. but i did not mind, so excited to see my family!

6/9/08 Sacred Sharing..

2008-07-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

One of the most amazing things about being in Boulder is the connections I've made in AA here. Shortly after arriving i met several women in AA who wanted to work the 12 steps and we jumped right in.. 2 of the women i've been working with have made it all the way through step 4 writing out an inventory of resentments, fears, sex, hurts, etc..

Today I had an opportunity to sit with both of them and do the 5th step and review the inventory, this is a sacred healing journey of mass proportion. I don't think i'll ever forget today, the heart connection, the openness, the intimate loving exchange was more than remarkable, healing, transformative. Deep inquiry into fear, willing to walk right in, be with it, embrace it, willing to drop all resistance and allow it to offer it's gifts was so expansive i was literally beyond myself for hours afterwards..

There is a line in the Prayer of St Francis that states .. it is by self forgetting that one finds.. it is so true..

Thank you Alice and Margo.. I love ya!

6/8/08 Our best buds.. Ryan & Conner..

2008-06-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Before leaving Boulder for the rest of the summer, we spent 3 days with Ryan & Conner.. my kids best friends here. Lots of legos, swimming, hiking, biking, Wii games, hooping and of course hide from Luc and plot against him, the best game.. Reese and Conner met when they were 2 and have been friends since of course coming to Colorado was a much easier sell since they moved here a few years ago, nothing like best friends for years and years.. oh yeah and i am in love with Martha their mom too.. she has great stories of law school, her new internship and being in love.. i really like those stories.. it's so nice that we don't talk just about breast feeding and nursery school anymore.. we've blossomed!

6/6/08 Homeschoolers go hiking..

2008-06-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

A spontaneous hiking trip posted on our homeschool loop, we showed up ready for fun, excited to explore a new hike in North Boulder (thanks to Sarah Kate) and got to bring Ryan & Conner (our best buds) who are out of school. We had 15 or so kids aboard for a nice 3 mile hike, it was ideal, mostly shaded, creek crossings, and we found and caught a snake! Well Reese was not up for the whole hike, he made it a little over 2 miles.. good that he made us turn back early as i had to carry Luc on my shoulders most of the way back.. better at the beach than on the trail these boys are.. But I still completely enjoyed myself and plan to come back without them to make it all the way to the waterfall at the top.

6/3/08 It's Summer!!

2008-06-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

We headed for the park today and ended up swimming in the lake! Yes, technically there are signs saying no swimming.. but it was hot and we had these inner-tubes in the car.. and well no one seemed to mind, especially my boys.. they had a great time!
They are definitely in their element in bathing suits and bare feet, much preferred to thermals & a snow suit! It is so nice to just to hang out the 3 of us.. mom gets to read a book and they play so nicely with each other, then we made bows with sticks and fishing line.. natures treasures!

5/30/08 Boulder Creek Festival

2008-06-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

A 3 day huge affair.. the best shopping.. great kids games and fun, live music for 3 days, yes a good time had by all! Luc was a total stud on the bungee trampoline and Reese and Martha were big hits at the Henna booth. We ate, we walked, we chilled for a few hours one afternoon at the Tea House, Martha & I.. great girl talk, i cried.. all in all a great day!

Have I mentioned lately what incredible friends I have.. truly.. I feel that this last year has been so healing for me.. and I have been so blessed with loving friends who listen & hold the space for me to really feel the feelings, talk all about what is happening, unravel completely.. all the stories, beliefs and judgments that are no longer serving. Yeah.. lots of unraveling.. lots of crying.. it seems to be what opens the heart..

Recently I've had a few massages and had full on crying sessions on the massage table, very healing, great release, lots of letting go, feels great!

5/22/08 International Towne

2008-06-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Reese had such a great experience with Ameritowne a few months ago, we were very excited to do the next event, this one was much more advanced and we spent almost a month learning and preparing for the day long event where the kids are in charge of running the globe. We studied global economics, trade, tariffs and embargo, natural resources and the lack thereof.. They have 4 regions representing 13 countries and the kids do currency exchange, buying and selling and exploring each countries cultural activities. Reese was in Greece and they were in charge of shipping products to every other country so he was a man of many travels. We learned a lot about geography, population and the vast disparity of wealth and resources.

We studied the material just about every day for a month and it was awesome. Reese was given a special acknowledgment for his awesome customer service and attitude. Luc got to join in the fun and his big brother bought him some great gifts to remember the day.

5/19/08 Miller Farms

2008-06-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Yes! I finally set up a Homeschool field trip and we had a blast, 20 or so of us.. wondering around Miller Farms, a real working farm with lots of fun stuff for kids.. they have awesome tractors the kids can drive and race around a track, a model plane & many giant tractors they can climb on, a pond full of mating frogs (that was fun to watch), a giant dirt mound and a sled to slide down it (that was the big hit, kept them busy for over an hour), .. we got a tour of the farm, they grow vegetables and sell to 25 local farmers markets. We planted flowers, visited the huge greenhouse and watched the kids have a ball for hours.. a perfect field trip.. relaxed, unscheduled, flexible, rollin... and best of all, we shared it with NIcky, Will, Tim, Joey, Miranda, Ali, John & Lora..

5/5/08 Mango & Arugula and Inga & Valentine..

2008-06-12T17:35:00.000-07:00

We've made some very special friends here in Boulder.. my girlfriend Ali for one.. a true unschooler who actually cooks complete meals every night (that don't come out of boxes and are not frozen.. truly inspiring) .. who has 2 amazing boys Nicky & Will both born with days of my boys.. their house is just blocks from ours and we spent lots of time at their house shooting baskets, playing legos, shooting marbles, building tracks for cars & trains, buying & selling whatever with the 100 million tickets they had, burning stuff, hula hooping (mostly me), hiking up the hill into Chautauqua Park, digging for worms and climbing on the roof.

Another highlight was playing with their poodle puppies Mango & Arugula the sweetest, cutest, dirtiest, happiest, most alive & lovable dogs ever.. mostly we got to look for them when they wandered the neighborhood on their own.. calling out Mango... Arugula.. where are you????

We also got very attached to the dog who lived right next door to us.. Valentine.. Luc said she was his most favorite dog ever.. he would compare every dog we met to her.. and conclude that yes, he loved Valentine more. She was not used to kids so we decided to socialize her and bring her over to our house for immersion.. she eventually climbed right into bed with us for a big cuddle..

And then there is Inga.. Inga was our friend Zoe's dog who got to live with us for a month or so.. a beautiful boxer with stripes who was the most loving loyal friend you could ever have.. We took Inga everywhere with us.. a member of the family.. she attended every baseball game, AA meeting, hike, park day, you name it.. Reese took her for many walks on his own and it was such a treat for us to have our very own dog for awhile. When we gave up our place and decided to travel for the summer Inga moved on the share her love with another family.. we miss you Inga..

4/30/08 Field Trip to NOAA & Roots and Shoots

2008-05-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

Our homeschool group set up a fieldtrip to the Nat'l Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.. and it happened to be just 5 minutes drive from our house in Boulder. Funny cause NOAA was an endorser of Steve's company Ecozone Media so I knew a bit about what they did. We learned about how they monitor weather, here on Earth and in space, they call NASA everyday to let them know about storms in space. They basically monitor & keep records of the earth, oceans, weather, how it changes, pretty fascinating.. they played a fun game with the kids to learn some of the differences between the North & South Poles, I did not know any of the answers. So much to learn, that's the fun of homeschooling.. we are doing it together.. did I mention I liked the field trip a lot more than the kids did.

We have also started participating in the Roots & Shoots Nature Club, this month we did AIR... they kids wrote poems and illustrated them about air, what they think about it.. Reese got to design the cover of the groups poem book.. poems and pictures to follow... we made pinwheels and talked about air quality and stuff..
I love that we get to do some group stuff, a bit of learning followed by an afternoon of running and playing ... and i love the stuff we do on our own too. We've been playing chess most everyday, reading some books, doing some math, Reese has mostly mastered division now, after just 4 or 5 days of practice. I love that learning can be fun and a natural part of life..
ok i am feeling very grateful and happy about homeschooling and life in general right now..

4/08 Reese is playing for the Twins..

2008-05-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

It's been our best organized sports experience ever.. Reese signed up for baseball in the rookie league, it's for mostly 7&8 yr olds, it's coach pitched, no strikeouts and it's been a blast! Great kids, awesome parents, so much fun, sheer joy of playing baseball.. Every kid has really improved in the last 9 weeks and Reese has not complained a bit about practicing and that's a first. Steve has been one of the coaches which is great and i've even helped out at games, mostly by cheering and yelling RUN!

The team mentality is really a valuable lesson in life, encouragement, not always having to be first, etc.. to be part of something really fun, to work together, i love watching the boys play.

Have I mentioned how much I love to watch my kids play.. actually most kids.. but mine in particular. I learn so much from them, mostly the value of play, it is so natural for them and sometimes so difficult for me.. Yes, i suffer often from seriousitis.. I have cronic grown up perspective.. but never fear i am receiving treatment.. it's called raising children.. they are reintroducing me to my child like sense of discovery and wonder, they remind me daily not to take myself too seriously just by being their happy go lucky selves. I am trying not to infect them with this sometimes flaring virus of being a non playful grown up. Some of the warning signs for me are... caring more about having a clean house than enjoying each other, forgetting how vital laughter is to my daily life, "thinking" I need to teach them something as opposed to sharing, enjoying and loving, nagging and that bitchy mommy tone of seriousness. So I vow today to relax and enjoy them more, play more, share and listen more, have high level connections, in short.. to just be the love that I am all day long.

4/25/08 Four Mile Historic Park Field Trip

2008-05-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Built in 1859, located in downtown denver is a park that lets you relive the pioneer experience. Our homeschool group was transported to the frontier days.. when children actually did chores! We had them beating rugs, sweeping, feeding chickens, getting water from the well, washing clothes on a washboard and churning butter and they had a blast, much more fun than cleaning your room or putting away your toys.. we did get to play with with some of their toys.. wooden toys.. mostly ring toss games and walking on stilts. that was fun. We also panned for gold in the creek nearby.. and like most of the pioneers we found fools gold.. but what fun finding it..

The highlight of the day however was playing in the creek after the tour was over.. the kids built entire cities in mud and sticks, conquered territories, fought battles and melded and divided forces over and over.. just like in real life.. I love to watch kids play for hours and hours with things they find in nature.. it is so satisfying to be reminded how little we actually need.. and how easy it is to forget this and get back in the "I need more".. mode..

ok.. remembering now.. we don't need much.. it is in fact true that less is more.. to be content with what you have is such bliss..

4/08 Easter the best Holiday..

2008-05-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, we celebrated Easter for at least 2 weeks.. we must have hid eggs at least 30 times, just for the sheer fun of finding them.
We dyed & decorated, we drew Easter pictures and ate lots of chocolate. On Easter Sunday Mommy Martha cooked for us and got big baskets for the kids and yes.. we hunted eggs again... for hours actually.. the meal was lovely and the company even better.. if you are going to move away from your family you have to make sure to have a Martha there in your new town so you always have a family home to come to.. after Easter we visited the dentist and both kids had so many cavities... so now we are sworn off sugar.. forever.. Luc is asking 50 times a day.. does this give you cavities? if i say yes, he won't eat it.. he does not want to go to the dentist.

4/15/08 The tulips are blooming..

2008-04-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Boulder has real seasons.. it has been so awesome for me having lived my whole life in Southern California.. not easy, but very rich and I am really embracing the variety of temperatures, experiences and willingness to be indoors or bundle up a lot. My boys are also pretty sensitive to cold, they don't like it much.. they don't like to be in the snow for more than maybe 30 minutes, they don't want to bundle up, sled or ski. Remember these are the kids who did not wear shoes or pants for several years. They are beach kids, river kids, water kids, they love sunshine as much as I do.. and warmth..

So we hang indoors when it is cold, I've never spent so much time indoors, it's been an adjustment, but it's been wonderful..
I love change, it makes me feel really alive, I get bored with the same stuff all the time, even beautiful weather. So again I am enjoying our time here very much!

One of the things Boulder is famous for is the Tulips that bloom in the spring.. and they are blooming.. it is very exciting..
Boulder has a 5 block outdoor walk street with shops, restaurants, coffee houses, water fountains for kids to play in, mini play grounds and climbing stuff for kids, street performers, etc.. it's called Pearl Street and it's very similar to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. There are thousands of Tulips that bloom on Pearl Street in April.. it is incredibly beautiful and exciting. I think tulips are my most favorite flower and I especially love the ones that are multi-colored.

Tonight Martha & I had sushi dinner on Pearl St and as we walked after dinner we saw them.. Tulips.. everywhere.. it was magical.. life is so ... present! so beautiful.. so creative and everywhere..

Hooray the tulips are blooming!!

April in Boulder...

2008-04-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

we basically have it all here in April.. some nights it's 25 degrees.. it snows once a week or so.. some days it's 75 degrees and we are getting sunburned hula hooping at the park.. we bike riding, Reese is getting good on his new roller blades.. we're having snowball fights and 2 days later water balloon fights.. we are hanging at the Farmers Market, Reese had his first art show and sold 5 pieces.. we are donating 20% of the money to a local charity, we are having a ball everyday seeing what mother nature brings and we are enjoying it all!!

3/20/08 Eldorado Canyon State Park

2008-04-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

On our way to attend an event in Denver, we took a new route heading south out of Boulder following the Flatirons Mountains, a beautiful drive .. then i passed the sign for Eldorado Canyon Springs Park.. a week or so later we jumped in the car and headed south just exploring.. and we found our way entering the park.. gorgeous sandstone rocks towering overhead, snow frozen creek, snow dusted trees, red rocks and green trees, we spent the whole day there and saw less than 20 people, we practically had the park to ourselves. We hiked, rock climbed (folks come from all over the world to climb here) threw rocks and broke through the ice, watched hawks and looked for critters, and took in the amazing natural beauty. Did I mention this is 7 miles from our house??

3/9/08 The Big Lie!!

2008-04-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

Since arriving in Boulder, we've discovered a new game called Go! It is an ancient Chinese strategy game, looks like Othello, plays more like Chess and a group gathers every week at the library on sunday afternoon to play. They have adults there to teach and there are usually 30 or so folks and they all play each other for 3 hours or so.. Reese had been attending for 4 weeks or so when they announced that they were having a tournament that the kids could come and compete in. The day of the tournament was a day they were spending with Steve and I gave him all the details so they could attend. Two days later Reese was back with me and I asked him about the Go Tournament, he told me yes they went, he spent 20-30 minutes telling me about each of the 4 games he played, he told me that he beat out his friend Gunner (who is 10) and about his other 4 matches and he said that he placed 2nd overall. He gave me lots of details about each of the kids he played, what happened in the game and so on.

Later that day we had a playdate with Gunner and I asked him about the tournament and he said yes, he really enjoyed it and he told me how he did. I asked him about the match he had with Reese and he said Reese was not there, he had not shown up. I was so surprised!! Yes, Reese has definitely experimented with lying before, I think most kids did, I certainly did probably more than most kids do. But never before had he had such an extravagant lie, so detailed, lasting almost 30 minutes.

Later we talked and I tried to dialogue with Reese and ask him why he told such a tale, what was going on for him.. after much thought, he was blank, unsure so I offered up some ideas and asked him why when his dad asked him if he wanted to go the the tournament he said no, he did not want to go.

After some talk, he admitted that he was nervous about the tournament, he was not sure he'd actually like it, a bit intimidated I think.. it reminded me of our experience with Ameritowne, after 2 days of preparation he did not want to attend the day of the event. I don't know how it will be, what it will be like.... of course you don't .. we never know how things will be before we do them.. so that spurred a great discussion about openmindedness and closedmindedness and contempt prior to investigation. I suggested to Reese that maybe he told the lie to make up for the fact that he missed an event that he really wanted to attend but he let his fear dictate his actions. He really saw it and vowed to be more openminded and more available for life, it was a beautiful moment. I feel like this is really homeschooling, using the activities of life to fuel discussion and learning, learning from our experiences, with counsel and assistance, to see what works well in life and not so well, and be able to adjust and grow. what a gift. I am so appreciative that I have the intimacy with my boys, this open discussion, to explore ouselves, our motivations, why we are inclined in the ways we are and to question our fears and how they operate in our lives and limit us..
what could be more important??

3/3/08 Let's let the kids run the world..

2008-03-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Reese is participating in one big event soon called Ameritowne, (sponsored by a kids bank) to teach kids about money, economics, investing, banking etc.. The kids basically run a town for a day as well the 13 businesses there including a bank, investment company, radio & tv station, parcel service, warehouse, hospital, market, snack shop, college, travel co, auto & appliance repair, Newspaper & Towne Hall. Each child has their own checking account, pays bills, invests in a mutual fund, donates to charity, sells products or services, potentially gets tickets from the police and has to appear before a judge, perhaps gets injuries and has to go to the hospital (and pay the bill), gets a paycheck and deposits it in the bank, gets to shop, & participates in creating a logo and slogan for the business they work for.

We spent 2 full days preparing the kids for the day long event, they all interviewed for jobs, each business had a business manager, accountant, and customer service people. We wrote out checks and deposit slips, studied investments and risk, researched charities, designed postage stamps (for a contest) and learned about profit and loss, pricing and supply & demand.

Reese got a job at the Travel Service selling products (chocolate airplanes, hawaiian leis, bookmarks and compasses) and rides on the flight simulator. He was a bit nervous on the day of the event.. because he did not know what it would be like.. how do you ever know what something will be like before you do it??? that spurred a discussion on openmindedness... ok.. he will be open ..

The day of the event was awesome, Reese said it was the best day of his life.. he had a blast. He did get cited by a policewoman (I told her he could not help it, genetics and all), he did go to college and took a 5 minute computer course and got his degree (only slight parental pressure there), he did shop and spend all his money (they were supposed to), and he was awarded Best Employee of the Travel Shop by his business manager for always smiling and being so helpful and good natured.

3/1/08 We're residents now..

2008-03-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

I think it's official.. once you've been here for 3 months, you are a resident.. whatever that means.. officially I've been on Earth for 41 yrs now and I still feel like an alien. We are into a bit of a groove I guess.. we've made some friends and that is nice. I am officially not cold anymore, it took about 6 weeks here and suddenly I was ok with only one layer on, what a blessing. I often get up early in the morning and am out the door, I love watching the sunrise as it lights up the mountain and the sky. It seems to snow once or twice a week and it is the most beautiful sight everything covered with a blanket of white, especially the trees, every branch is lined with snow, everything sparkles, shines, looks alive and vibrant, I dig it..

So I am getting a bit of clarity as to why we may be in Colorado.. to slow down for sure.. more time hanging out just the boys and I, exploring the hills and canyons, reading, talking, the boys playing together. I am so amazed at what fun they have together, they are such best friends, so relaxed together, Reese is such a great teacher for Luc, he loves helping him learn things. As usual we love being very unstructured, each day is a new adventure, we never know just what will happen, we are relaxed and delighted in flowing along and seeing what unfolds. So we've been baking, exploring our neighborhood, meeting friends at the park, playing games, practicing our spanish, going to the Denver Art Museum and Denver Aquarium, swimming, basketball, racquetball, tickle tag, on and on..

1/14/08 Settling in a bit..

2008-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

It's been a good 2 weeks here so far.. We've been checking out all the indoor play places, there are many.. Every town has these amazing Recreation Centers (Boulder has 3) with pools, water slides, lazy river, basketball courts, racketball courts, rock walls, gym.. exercises classes galore, yoga.. etc..
There is also a Childrens museum 15 minutes away in Layfayette, a giant rock gym, indoor soccer, roller skating, and loads more..
Yesterday we drove up the mountain.. and looked out over the Continental Divide (the line that divides North America from top to bottom), it is a line of jagged peaks covered with snow, very beautiful.. on the way down the hill.. we saw a fox walking across the road.. very cool, don't see a lot of them.. nature feels very close here.
Reese is starting a basketball class today, we've been playing lots of basketball! Indoor exercise is the key to sanity here, i am hoping my blood will thicken.. but so far no luck.. it's cold..

12/31/07 New Years Eve in Boulder, Colorado

2008-01-14T12:37:00.000-08:00

I guess i needed a break from writing.. haven't had much motivation.. it was a strange December.. colder than i've ever experienced.. more relaxed and mellow.. beautiful scenery all around.
We celebrated Christmas morning at Martha's house with her and her boys in Longmont, much abundance under that tree.. legos galore.. and games too..

Then we headed up the mountain to Winter Park after picking up Lex, her kids and her mom at the airport. It was snowing and storming like crazy.. I was sure glad to be in my new Landrover (well new to me) with all wheel drive and all weather tires, it carried us safely all the way up the mountain.
We skiied a bit, jacuzzied, played loads of games.. went sledding and enjoyed our friends a lot. On new years eve day, we headed back to Boulder and actually moved into our new little place in downtown Boulder right up next to the mountain. We can walk to the Boulder Public Library and the Pearl Street Mall (when it warms up), very nice neighborhood, peaceful and quiet and only a few blocks from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

For New Years Eve, we went to a dance and the kids had a blast dancing the night away, here's to a great 2008!!

12/15/07 It's Cold Here...

2007-12-15T09:13:00.000-08:00

After 5 months of traveling, it is very nice to be in one spot.. relaxing, peaceful, incredibly beautiful.. and cold...
I skied today and it was zero degrees, 20 below zero at the top of the Mary Jane ski run.. and 40 below at the top of the new Panorama chair (where i did not go). Crazy.. no wonder my kids don't like skiing.. well they don't like all the layers of clothes and the cold and the traversing and walking and flat areas of the mountain.. it is an adjustment to be made with our thin California blood.

But i have enjoyed Winter Park very much, staring out the window, watching it snow, so beautiful. I did less in the last 3 weeks than in my whole life, I just chilled out, played games, watched movies, skiied, jacuzzied, stared out the window, worked out in the exercise room.. very relaxing, kind of like being on retreat, away from it all, quiet, contemplative, peaceful..

We've been playing lots of Legos (shocker!!) and drawing, Reese actually made our Christmas cards this year, very cool. We've been playing Munchkin Bites a lot, such a fun game.. funny and always different.

11/28/07 Denver Childrens Museum

2007-11-30T14:51:00.000-08:00

After the airport drop off, Luc and I headed to the Denver Childrens Museum, 2 stories of fun, fun, fun.. they had a giant train room (we built and rebuilt), a wood working workshop where the kids could saw wood, drill, screw, wrench, and create all sorts of toys out of recycled materials, very fun. They had a wildlife area where the kids could dress up in animal costumes and play in an expanded nest, underground burrow, beaver stick house, and tree. We played on a real fire engine with dress up costumes, ladders, and a line to drive the truck, we painted and Luc told stories about his characters with such detail and passion, the whole room was listening to him (cause he was interesting not cause he was loud!).

Once we exhausted ourselves, we headed back up the mountain, stopping at the ups store to pick up all our ski equiptment we had shipped, hooray we are ready to tackle the mountain now.

11/25/07 Winter Park, Colorado

2007-11-30T14:25:00.000-08:00

It took us 2.5 hours in the RV to reach Winter Park from Longmont, Steve made it in about 1.5 hours in the car, that is with very dry roads and no traffic. We headed straight for town to buy food and then to the mountain to get our ski passes, everything went off smoothly and we arrived at our condo around 4pm. A great fit, so convenient, we parked the RV right outside our door, we are in an end unit and the jacuzzi is a one minute walk. Of course the boys are excited to watch cartoons galore, I am excited to read, relax, ski a bit each day and mostly enjoy each other.

The next morning Luc, Reese and I headed out bright and early at 10:30am.. perfect. It was quite a challange getting them both dressed and ready, on the shuttle, on the bunny hill, Luc was less than enthusiastic and I was more than frustrated. We finally got on the chair lift and I skied with Luc between my legs, which gave him a feel for skiing without really teaching him how to do it. But I had to keep up with Reese too. Reese was doing very well, this is his 3rd year skiing, first year was Christmas in Steamboat, last year he and Steve went to Park City and now Winter Park. He took off and did several runs on his own and Luc and I gave each other dirty looks as i contemplated paying the $105 to put him in ski school for the day.

Day 2 was not much better, Luc and I were battling, and he did not want to be there, I felt like if he'd just pick it up, it would be fun, but not yet..

Reese and I got to take 3-4 runs alone in the afternoon, Luc went back to the condo with Daddy, that was very cool, Reese did his first blue run (green circle is easiest, then blue square, then black diamond), he did great, it was pretty icy, but he just snowploughed straight down the hill, we'll work on turns later. We were having a great time until I accidentially dropped his glove on the chair lift while trying to "help" him put it on, no recovery possible, but he made it 2 more runs and just pulled his hand inside his jacket, this kid is no wimp. It got cold and we headed in..

That night it snowed 5 inches, so pretty, every tree was dusted white. We had to get up at 6am and drive Steve and Reese to the Denver airport cause they were flying back to LA area for 7 days, Steve was working and doing a 3 day retreat and Reese was visiting family and friends. I was nervous about the snowy roads but no problems, the Passat has all weather tires and the ploughs did a great job clearing the roads.

11/22/07 Happy Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-30T13:47:00.001-08:00

Relaxing morning, the usual, legos, building endless star wars ships and having imaginary battles where we die repeatedly and come back to life to battle again. Luc and I bought a few new lego sets and I actually helped him to assemble all of pieces, a diver, a shark, an underwater treasure, and a little guy in a submarine, I guided him through the directions and he put it all together, it took 2.5 hours, amazing.. it was awesome, i can follow directions and we had so much fun!

My girlfriend Martha cooked a beautiful dinner and we had about 13 folks to chow with, it was lovely, no family drama..
Of course the only problem was that I ate too much! We got to play out in the snow, Reese and Connor pulled our boogie boards out and tried to sled with them, very funny! Basically they got very dirty and had tons of fun.

We had 7 boys and no girls and a massive tackly football game in the basement, the kids were very into it and the adults got a little battered. We also broke out the hula hoops, you know traditional Thanksgiving stuff.

For the next 3 days, our boys played and played.. mostly it was fantastic, except when Luc got left out, then it was loud!
We had battles, we built legos, we rock climbed, watched movies.. and just enjoyed each other. Nothing quite like friends that you met when your kids were 3 years old, now they are turning 8.. wow!!

11/21/07 it's snowing...

2007-11-27T07:33:00.000-08:00

We woke up and everything was covered in snow, so pretty, at least 3 inches.. i love it. We relaxed and played in the morning and in the afternoon we went to Denver and visited the Denver Science Museum, huge, we barely covered 25% of it in our 2.5 hours there. Great gem & mineral exhibit, they created a whole cave to show the natural setting, big kids discovery center, learned all about tornados and what do when they hit (they have tornados here in Colorado, never learned about that in California). They had a giant space exhibit, got to play in a space pod, throw moon rocks and see a live "astronaut" living on Mars and talk with him. There was also a Wildlife Hall with tons of wild animals in natural habitat settings (like at the natural history museum), we had a blast seeing them.

Reese is reading (finally) and it is so fun to hear him read all the signs, it takes me by surprise sometimes, I can see how pleased he is to have access to this information on his own. We could have spent hours looking at the gems, Reese has so much fun reading the names of the stones and seeing which ones he has collected or seen before, they have an amazing collection.

That night we were invited to have dinner with Randy, Gail and Katie. Randy and I went to University of Santa Monica some 14 years ago, he is a very interesting guy who has spent the last 25 years teaching seminars on love and relationships. He has also worked at the corporate level training business leaders around the world. We've kept in touch somewhat and it was a real pleasure to see him and meet his wife and daughter. And it was also stressful to bring my boys into a very nice, fancy orderly home (with just one girl), does anyone relate, my guys want to wrestle, jump on the furniture, & be rowdy. They were very good sports about it all.

11/20/07 We're in Colorado!!

2007-11-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

We left our friends house Sunday morning and were in Longmont, Co by Monday afternoon. We were very excited to see our good friends Martha, Ryan & Connor who we knew from the South Bay. Connor and Reese went to nursery school together when they were 3-5 yrs old, Martha moved to Colorado 3 years ago. We had a great time visiting, exploring Boulder, walking Pearl Street, & hanging at the Boulder Library ( a hub of activity when it is cold outside). It snowed on Tues night and we woke up to everything covered in white, so beautiful.

Steve was busy trying to assess what was going on with his knee, he saw an orthopedic surgeon who did an mri and told him cartilage was torn and he would need surgery that would mean no skiiing until mid jan and we were in a condo in Winter Park from nov 25-dec 30th - major bummer. He decided to see some alternative doctors/healers to look at options.

My kids are in heaven with the 50,000 legos and toys Ryan (10) and Connor (8) have at home, they also have a wii (video game player) and basically it was difficult to get them out of the house at all.

I was focusing on getting everything together for skiing, we did not have our ski stuff from California, and were trying to get it shipped (very expensive) and get what we needed besides. I bought skiies for the kids, found ski clothes for myself (consignment store) and we were pretty much ready to go.

11/16/07 Ten Sleep, Wyoming

2007-11-24T15:12:00.000-08:00

A real treat, a girlfriend of mine who used to live in Hermosa Beach moved to Wyoming 4 years ago and we set off to visit her. We headed south 2 hours to Buffalo and then headed West over a mountain pass, through an amazing red rock canyon (some of the rock there was stated to be 3 billion years old), it was a bit scary, it was snowing, icy and windy as we crossed the pass and momma was nervous! But we made it, and landed in a tiny town (population 304) of Ten Sleep, a story in the town told of how the Indians named it cause it was 10 nights travel from their journey from one point to another.

12 miles South and we saw a sign for the Otter Creek Grazing Association. That is where Jessica and Beau live with 5 week old daughter Bree. Some 20 families own the grazing assoc which is about 80-90,000 acres and they send their cows and calves to graze for 6 months during the spring and summer. By late Nov, the cows have all been picked up and taken back to the owners ranches and fed hay (that they grew during the summer when the cows were gone) for the winter. The calves disappear in early November (they are sold) and I was told that the mother cows cry out their sorrows for days. 4 guys work the ranch and they move the cows all over the property during their stay there. They are some 40 miles to the nearest town, it was very cool to learn a bit about ranching life, they get up early, work till dark often 7 days a week. They were very happy folks who seemed to like their peaceful privacy just fine. We sure enjoyed loving on the baby and playing with the 4 dogs and one cat, what's better than babies and animals?

When we headed back over the pass to make our way to Colorado, it was sunny but still lots of snow to enjoy, they boys wanted to get out and play, oh they are sure gonna get their chance soon.

11/14/07 Billings, Montana

2007-11-22T13:43:00.001-08:00

We headed to Billings to avoid a big storm supposedly coming .. but in the end, it was sunny but we had banking issues, rv power issues that were causing our heater to go out (in the middle of the night and we wake up and it's 35 degrees), oil changes, etc.. so it was good that we were in a city. Billings is the biggest city in Montana and we found everything we needed.

We stocked up on movies (we tend to buy a bunch every few weeks), as much as i love the scenery while we are driving, the kids are not so interested, for more than a moment anyways. So they watch videos on the dvd player or draw or play legos while i drive. I hit a great AA meeting on tues night, 30 folks or so, lots of folks who've been around for awhile and when they say the Lord's Prayer at the end of the meeting every man in the room takes their hat off (15 or so hats). cute.

11/12/07 Yellowstone National Park

2007-11-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

yes, we made it, by accident kind of... you know how that goes. my plan was to go to Chico Hot Springs, this upscale she she place with a very high end restaurant.. but.. when i was at Norris Hot Springs a guy mentioned 'boiling water' a natural hot springs just 35 miles south of Chico, so we had the whole day.. so figured we'll just drive to "boiling water" check it out and stop at Chico on the way back to Bozeman. We passed through Granger, very cute town and the next thing i know we are at the gate entering Yellowstone, it seems boiling water is 2.5 miles inside of Yellowstone, so we paid our $25 bucks, even though 90% of the park is actually closed and headed for the hot springs. Just a 5 minute walk and we arrived, boiling water is basically a river of boiling water coming together with a river of icy water and it is pretty amazing you can feel very hot and very cold water at the same time running along your body. As far as scenery, this place is tops, i looked for elk and bison and swam around the 50 foot area checking out the little cave of steam and moving from 110 degree to maybe 50 degree water. The walk back to the RV was cold.

After our soak, we drove on 2.5 miles to the visitors center and Mammoth Hot Springs, we walked around several of the springs and drove a 1 mile loop to view 5 or 6 different types of springs, none of which you can enter as they are too hot. There were amazing colors in the rock around the springs which is tiny organisms that live there, wild. Our plan was to drive west through Yellowstone and exit at the west entrance, but a storm coming made us concerned that the pass would be icy so we drove back to Bozeman and on East to Montana's biggest town of Billings (did i mention that Montana has less than 1 million people in the whole state, and Wyoming has less than 500,000 and i think LA has 14.5 million -yep that is definately part of the appeal).IMG_0515.jpg">

11/11/07 Museum of The Rockies, Bozeman MT

2007-11-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

A bit of Rv drama.. sometimes she just doesn't want to get started in the morning, I relate... so she gave us a bit of trouble this morning.. and I learned something new, a way to not flood the engine and a way to resolve it if it does flood. These older models seem to have little idiosyncrasies and are a bit tempermental.. again I relate, so we learn how to work with it.. and we meet nice folks who offer to help when she has issues..

The boys didn't mind more time to play with the kids at the campground, more socialization!! Then off to the Museum of The Rockies... they had a hands on very cool bat exhibit (seems bats are a lot like bees in that they pollinate and are very important in sustaining and helping plants to grow and keep mosquito populations down), an Ansel Adams exhibit (so awesome.. it was fun seeing which places he photographed that we'd been to. We had actually been to most of them.. Yosemite, Glacier, Sequoia, Mohave).

They also had a planetarium and we saw a great overview of the history of man's beliefs about the stars and space.. how ideas are evolving always.. just like in life.. just when we think we know something.. oops.. gotta let that one go too.. it is just easier i've found to know ... that you don't know, can't know, what's happening, what's gonna happen, what you are, what anything is..
yup, that covers it! Get used to not knowing.. and when you are supposed to know.. you will.. until then... ignorance is bliss they say..

I love going to museums and taking the boys, but i must admit it is stressful, they are loud and rowdy and not always in museum mode. I think i had a bit of a headache afterwards.. but damn it we had some culture.. ok crossed that off the list.

11/10/07 Socialization... Yup!!

2007-11-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

They boys have been playing all morning with some boys at the campground. I got an email from a friend asking about
socialization?? haha absolutely.. as a matter of fact.. right now!!

At the homeschool conference we attended in Sacramento Reese got to do this live action role play game where they
made weapons out of duct tape and they made these little beanbags called spells and they are a character like elf or
goblin and they have this Lord of the Rings type of battle and throw these little spells at each other and on and on..
so Reese made a ton of these spells, we cut up old tee shirts and used rice and rubber bands and he has been looking
to play the game for the last 2 months.. well today he did. They only had 4 kids, but that was enough, they played on a
mini golf course for hours, a game completely fabricated moment by monent, altered by each kid as the game went on.. so cool..

Yesterday Reese and Luc started a game of D & D, a little kids version that doesn't require books or dice, all you
need is paper and pencil, you pick a character, choose powers and the battle begins... It is so funny to listen to Luc
tell about what his character can do and how his powers can morph.. he has no guidelines or boundries, he is a
total free agent, no ideas about what you can and can not do, Reese looks at me, exasperated (he can't do that), i love it.. anything is possible.

This is what i think is so exciting about unschooling and also not putting your kids in places or situations where they
are heavily conditioned, altered, conformed by pressure, or the like. It is a daily discovery to see who they are? what
are they all about? what can come out of them when allowed? See how they interact and perceive the world?
To discover and not dictate, to allow and celebrate and enjoy this is the daily assignment. It is always surprising and
never dull for sure, being with my boys is the most interesting and fascinating journey to date. I love talking with them,
listening to them, watching them play and interact with others, what a ride!

We were supposed to be going to the childrens museum this morning, but it's 4pm and the boys are still playing and I don't
have the heart to interrupt, it has been awhile since they had the whole day to play with friends.

11/09/07 Bozeman, Montana

2007-11-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

We found a $1 store in Bozeman, we love those.. we bought art stuff.. paper, pens, lots of stuff to make Christmas
gifts, and then Luc and I headed back out to Norris Hot springs.. it was family night, tons of kids, i met several
homeschool kids, I can usually spot them, they are the talkative social ones.. haha

It is interesting, this 10 year old boy Tommy told me his mom does not let him play on the computer at all, no video
games, no TV, so he sneaks he says, at his friends house or the library. Another kid i met recently told me his parents
won't let him have any Pokemon cards cause they think they are bad. I love the diversity, everyone is doing what they
are doing, that is really the beauty of homeschooling, every family sharing their own values as they see fit. And the kids
hang out, learn about each other, play, it's all good. I love it. One of the best things about traveling is seeing how people
live in different parts of the country, Reese and I have been talking a lot about hunting and how everyone does it here. It
is a real art to discuss and not sway, explore different views, see how the kids feel and allow for whatever comes.
Sometimes I have a feelings that comes out and often i don't, I can really just see whatever is, take it all in, smile,
not have a preference or thought or judgement about it, not think anything should be other than how it is.. nice..
not in resistance to anything or anyone. sweet.

11/08/07 Norris Hot Springs rocks!!

2007-11-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

Hands down, I found the best hot spring place so far.. Norris Hot Springs in Norris Montana, just 30 miles SouthEast
of Bozeman, Water of the Gods they call it, they have a 30X40 pool they call the Holy Bucket. The scenery is gorgeous
Montana mountains, I showed up at sunset and got to watch the whole sky (big sky) turn pink. The clouds here are a
full time art show, it is really spectacular! At 7pm, the live music starts, they serve drinks and food (folks eat and drink
right in the pool) and the music was great! Bluegrass baby.. 102 degree water, 40 degree air outside to chill you off,
music to fill your heart up and cool clean air to breathe in deeply.. I'm coming back..

11/08/07 Cruising through Montana

2007-11-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

After leaving Dupuyer, we drove through Great Falls, Helena and Butte Montana.. yeah we hit hot springs all along the
way. Luc is an expert swimmer now, the 2 olympic size pools at Fairmont Hot Springs and 350 foot water slide kept the
boys very entertained. Luc went on the slide at least 10 times and he had to climb 5 flights of stairs to get to the top,
he slept very well that night. Seeing his face as he came out of the slide was awesome! My baby.. is going down a
350 foot slide. wow.. he is almost 4 1/2.

We also stopped at Broadwater Athletic Club in Helena, we swam and Reese and daddy worked out in the gym and
them played racquetball, another sport Reese is awesome at.

We found a great park in Helena, memorial park i think it was. The park looks like a castle, all made of wood, a
whole city to climb on and run through. The community pulled together and built the park in 5 days, everyone
donated labor and materials and put their name on what they built. I was remembering Valley Park in Hermosa Beach,
when they redid the park, it took 2 years and they spent millions, I actually liked this park better, more to do.. I like the
community involvement too.

Butte did not have a coffee shop for Steve to work at, but it did have a great used book store where i found lots of
kids books and 8 or so how to draw books for Reese. I tried getting him painting, but he loves drawing with his
markers, so draw I say. He is so delighted that he can follow the steps and actually draw all the characters in Sponge
Bob, mom I can do it! I love watching him learn, teach himself, enjoy it so, spend hours and hours, give drawings away
whenever he meets kids or adults that he likes in the towns we visit. What a cool thing to have something beautiful you
can create and give away as gifts, folks are blown away as his art book that we've put together, he loves to show it to
everyone.

Good news our heater is working great, we've been warm and toasty this last week, (it quit working the first 2 nights we
used it and we woke up and it was 40 degrees in the rv). I am amazed at how i sleep 9 hours at night and lie in bed
till 9am many mornings, then we cuddle and play tickle games and hide and seek (in the covers) for another hour or so.
It can be 10am before we get out of bed! Such a relaxed pace, play all day, see some sights, draw, read, play games
(Reese and I had a Pentago marathon the other day, he is so good at that game). Our other favorite game to play is
Munchkin Bites!, it is so funny, and Reese is so creative, he understands the strategy much more than I do. we got it
at www.sjgames.com , there are many versions and we plan to get another to mix with ours for Christmas. Oh and of
course Legos, we spent $100 in Kalispell and got 3 more Lego sets, now we are building loads of space ships and
Batman vehicles. Both of the boys spend hours playing Legos everyday and the imagination in the play is mind
boggling. We also have Knex and Kapla blocks with us for diversion. What a life.. our friend Bob in Dupuyer asked if
we could adopt him. sure we said!

11/5/07 The Ranch

2007-11-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

The morning we arrived at Bob & Ali's ranch, Bob was out ... hunting.. he came home with a coyote he shot.
They bought this (little tiny) 100 acre ranch 6 years ago and it sits right next door to Ali's parents 3000 acres ranch
(where she grew up) they currently are raising sheep, apparently they lost about 100 sheep to the coyotes this
year (their entire profit), hence the dead coyote. We visited for awhile, got the tour of the beautiful house that the
completely rebuilt their first year here (while the lived in the basement of her parents house), and met the goats
and chickens. Ali cooked us green day old eggs (but not ham) and we watched the 100 or so birds in their front
yard. My favorite was a magpie it was black and white and 3x as big as the little chickadees, beautiful!

After a while, Bob took off to pick up a local boy who was gonna set some beaver traps for them. There is a religious
community nearby, the Heuterites, they are about 125 folks (in this group) who live in a big apartment style building,
they are farmers, have a baptist style religion, are not permitted to leave the community (although some do and they
can come back later if they decide to). They keep to themselves, don't socialize outside the community, although
many of the young boys do work PT for the local farmers. Unlike the Amish, the Heuterites are all about efficiency
and mass production, very nice folks but the women and the animals are not regarded very highly. They get an 8th
grade education and no more and are paid a very minimal wage as food and housing is provided, socialism in Montana.
Emil showed up with his thigh high boots, 17 yrs old, very nice and we got to ask him all sorts of questions about
the community he lives in. He will probably leave one day, as his 2 older brothers have (one has returned though)
as he wants to go to school and is interested in the medical field.

So off we went to trap beavers.. apparently the beavers are very destructive, they take down a ton of trees,
divert the creek, and flood the basement, an inconvenience, hence the traps. It seems that the farmers and the
animals have different agendas about exactly what should be. Emil not only traps the beavers but he skins and
stretches the pelts too. A friend of Bob's showed up later with 8 beavers that he trapped that were destroying a
tons of trees on his property, it seems that whatever was supposed to be controlling the beaver population wasn't.

I just finished reading Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, one of the characters in the book was a wildlife
biologist who studied coyotes and said that they don't feed primarily on calves or sheep, they may take one or tow
but mostly they eat smaller animals, but that was not the case on this sheep farm, interesting..

Wherever you go in Montana, men are talking about hunting, everywhere. Usually there is snow here now, I think
it's delayed for us, gratefully, and the lack of snow is not good for elk hunting, the elk don't run without the snow. The
weather is warm, high 50's in the day, maybe even 60, down to 30's at night mostly. But no rain and no snow, yet.

11/5/07 It's snowing in Dupuyer, Montana

2007-11-05T11:56:00.001-08:00

11/4/07 Meadow Lake Golf Resort

2007-11-05T10:44:00.001-08:00

It was a nice break, we spent our 7 days at the condo, swimming, jacuzzing, ping pong, exercise
room, game room, very nice place.. the kids watched a lot of TV, I cooked and took baths and chased them
around the condo playing hide and seek, we swam in the pool everyday, Luc is such a good swimmer now!
We rented movies, slept in late, and several days we did not even leave the property, it was so cozy and the
views from the room were great meditation material.. We trick or treated in Whitefish, very cool downtown area,
went to a great halloween party at a christian school in Kalispell, games galore, we roller-skated 3 times
where Reese won the limbo contest every-time, and then...then we packed up this morning and
headed out... destination.... Glacier National Park. We stopped at Hungry Horse Dam, very big dam,
and took Hwy 2, Marias Pass and spent the afternoon cruising Glacier from the Eastern entrance,
we were completely alone in the park .. and it started snowing.. beautiful! Reese jumped out with a bowl
and a list of snow experiments in mind. He then wanted snow rolls (snow rolled in seaweed) for dinner.
Glacier suddenly became even more spectacular the mountains and trees dusted in snow I tried to focus on
the scenery and not the potentially icy roads.

So after talking with a few folks, i made an exciting discovery, we do indeed have propane heat in the Rv, just
had to turn the thermostat on, quite wonderful as it was about 27 degrees today, and for the past month we have
been using a portable heater which plugs in and we can only use when we are plugged in.. so funny. So now
we can camp anywhere, we don't need to be plugged in, and we have heat where ever we go which is nice
cause so many Rv parks are closed in the winter.

I am so happy to be back in the RV, i just love it. I love everything about it, it's warm now, I love the views,
seeing new sites everyday, No TV, that is very nice, the kids can watch dvd's but it is not as
compelling as TV, we play games more, they play outside more, the condo was nice, but we spent a lot of time indoors
and i want to be outside, communing with Mother Nature, it inspires me, i breathe better. We are gonna visit some
friends tomorrow who have a ranch SouthEast of Glacier. I spent the evening tonight reviewing my maps,
scoping out hot springs (we have 4-5 on our route through Montana) to visit in the next week, and reading about
the towns we'll visit. My new flannel sheets are feeling very cozy..

10/29/07 Colombia Falls -Meadow Lake Golf Resort

2007-10-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

What an interesting trip, the seasons of life, growing up, buying your first house, pouring all your love into it, painting and decorating and buying furniture, having babies in it, celebrating all the holidays, I remember my most favorite time was Christmas, sitting on my oh so comfy couch watching the blinking lights on the tree, meditation is was, I would sit for hours, early in the morning and late at night, staring at the lights, full of warmth and joy and gratitude. Looking at all the ornaments on the tree, many made by my kids, many gifts from friends, all full of love and memories.

I loved everything about that house, the light that came flooding in from the backyard, all my plants, my beautiful blue tile kitchen, the cooking classes we held there and ginger bread cookie making parties, the awesome playroom we built for the kids, the tree house built with love, the amazing sunsets, the gorgeous french doors that Bill painted so well that glistened, the lilies that Lee gave me from his garden that bloomed year round, the flower bed in the front yard that i put in, labor and childbirth, the red trim around the house and the red front door with the little reminder sign to take your shoes off, the mantle the Johnny built for us, all the parties, Kevin and Edie singing and playing, the house full of love and friends and memories... Everything.. and then the season changes and it's time to let it all go.. my kids have the best memories of that house.. who can blame them for struggling to let it go.. and now we are living in the RV.. life on the road is very different.. simpler, quieter, better views and scenery, more diverse terrain, more adventure, different that's for sure.

After 10 months of vacation renting our furnished house, we found a long term tenant (who may even buy the house), it was a huge task to empty the house, but the good news is we sold a lot and got to donate a ton to the those who lost their homes in the recent fires. It's got me thinking about all I have to be grateful for definitely.

And after 4 months living in the RV traveling from California to Nevada to Oregon to Washington to British Colombia to Idaho to Montana.. we are checking into a super deluxe 2 bedroom condo at the Meadow Lake Golf Resort in Colombia Falls, Montana. They have it all, game room (with playstation, pool, ping pong, air hockey), pool, 3 Jacuzzi's, tv, movies, and a bed! Reese says he had the best night sleep of his life last night. Nothing like 4 mos in the RV to make you appreciate a house huh. I've heard you never truly appreciate things until you lose them. I am totally enjoying our life now and completely appreciating the great life we had in our house too! It feels like a win win plan.
We've got a week to enjoy a home, relax, stay put, and when we pull out, we'll have 21/2 weeks on the road venturing through Montana, Wyoming and landing in Colorado where we'll be staying for 10 weeks. We have rented a condo right on the mountain at Winter Park for a month (I figure the boys will be expert skiers by then), a big house to spend the Christmas holiday with Martha, Alexis and all the kids, we even get Ronnie Alexis's mommy, what's Christmas without a grandma! I am hoping my sister and my cousin Dean will come visit us in December. Then after New Years we'll head for Boulder to a beautiful condo right downtown for the month of January. We'll be able to really check out the AA community, the homeschoolers, the Osho group there and the Adyashanti tape group that meets every Tues night. And we can still ski a few days a week with our ski passes. I am hoping Colleen and her kids will come see us in Boulder! I't gonna be a great winter for sure, different, I've never lived in snow, an adventure i'm sure, something new, new friends, new sights, i am so grateful for it all! And.. you've got to let go of what you have (or who you think you are) to have new experiences, let it go, let it go, open up to what is.. and i'll tell ya, the view from our condo in Montana is something else!

10/26/07 Kalispell Montana

2007-10-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

We got in touch with the local homeschool group here and we headed for the boys and girls club friday to go roller skating, so fun, Reese made a lot of friends, they had foosball and air hockey too and I had a blast skating. It was so fun, we went back for 3 more hours that night, Luc is so awesome, totally picked it up in one night, even found a teenage girl to skate with him. Reese spent the evening hanging with the boys and chasing a girl, a 12 yr old ,he is so cute, she kept saying, ladykillers these boys are gonna be..
brought back so many memories i have of skating as a kid, friday night at the skating rink.. checking out the boys.. so much fun..

We also met some homeschoolers at a local park and spent the day with them. I try everyday to find kids to play with, good thing my boys are so adaptable and can make friends in a minute and play with anyone. That is a gift.

On Saturday morning we headed to a park and they had a candy hunt just like on Easter, we got our booty and momy headed back South to Symes Mineral pools. It got very cold in the last few nights, we've been running our portable heater all night and we bought flannel sheets and an extra blanket as well. But nothing quite compares with soaking for 4-5 hours a day in that hot mineral content 106 degree pool. It really quiets you down, awesome place to get very still, I go deep within, don't talk much and relax very deeply, until i cease to exist.. at least for a little while.

Strange day, i started out going to an AA meeting in a treatment center, it was great, the speaker was a guy with 5 mos sober, the secretary had 13 years and went out and was back 3 years with a totally new appreciation for all of life. He was on fire doing all kinds of service and it was great hearing from the folks in patient too. It made me very grateful, I've also been reading some newspaper headlines lately of moms losing their kids and going to jail and all kinds of drama cause of their drinking and the insanity that follows, but for the grace of god.. I am forever grateful to be sober, what a gift!

10/23/07 Glacier National Park

2007-10-26T09:03:00.001-07:00

We woke up this morning and after several cloudy days it was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. After 3 days of soaking we were in close to a comatose state and well i guess the sunshine motivated me, I knew today was the day to head back up North and visit Glacier National Park. Unfortunately they close a lot of roads (for road repair) in the fall and we were not able to access the most talked about areas, but we drove 16 miles of the Going to the Sun Road, took a short hike and then watched the sunset turn the mountains purple, spectacular!

The next day we went hiking and biking in the park, taking in the full autumn views, it was so quiet and peaceful barely anyone in the park, I had a full on religious experience watching the sunlight on the trees and the reflection on the lake, the boys built rock towers and dams in the creek and we had to rescue Luc when he got in too deep.

I dropped my camera leaning out my window to take a picture, gotta head to costco tomorrow to get a new one.. ouch, gotta love those unexpected expenses.

Good news is I got an awesome camera and a bunch of warm sweaters from Costco and no sales tax in Montana, gotta love that.

10/21/07 Hot Springs, Montana

2007-10-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

After a day in Kalispell we headed south an hour to Hot Springs, Montana. We stopped at Symes Hotel and Medicinal Springs and spent 3 days there. We parked the RV right next to the big pool of mineral water and I soaked 5 hours the first day, it was divine. They had it all, RV hook ups, a restaurant, live music, a big fire inside to sit by, 3 soaking pools, gorgeous scenery, nice folks, really a sweet spot. I was diving deep into my new Barbara Kingsolver book, Prodigal Summer, it's awesome! I just love her books, i bought The poisenwood bible to read next, they are so well writen, great characters, and i learn so much too.

Another great book i just finished was Follow the Cowherd Boy, by JA Joshi. I met the author at a book signing, she said the book was about India and Spirituality and a story about a 16th century princess and her spiritual path, i just loved it, a book about devotion and being truly who you are in the face of great pressure to be who the world wants you to be or to conform and be like others. I related a lot to the character.