Because they can't get enough football

The boys have had so much fun at the San Jose SaberCats arena football games that we treated them to season tickets this year.

I need to point out that in the past we've often walked into the stadium FOR FREE because they're so desperate to get butts in chairs that someone is always giving away tickets outside. But with season tickets, the boys get premium seats in the end zone, so there's that. And there's an annual barbecue with the team, which was held last weekend at a new bar in San Jose that's centered on video games.

So the boys completely ignored the players around them:

Until one of the offensive linemen joined in and totally schooled them in Super Smash Bros.:

Once we coaxed them to put the controllers down, Finn and Calvin brought their football around to gather signatures, including that of Jason Stewart, who is our favorite player because his name rhymes with Mason Stewart:

First home game is next week. You might want to buy stock in green and yellow temporary hair dye.

Soccer season

eager to be in the center of the action

what form!

It's solidly spring here, and we're three weeks into soccer season. (No baseball this year!)

To Finn's delight, his teammates voted to name themselves the Seahawks — that's his favorite team. Doug is taking advantage of his lightened-up schedule these days to coach the team. He has several years of experience coaching baseball, and as he hoped that experience more than makes up for his lack of expertise in soccer.

The team is off to a great start: They have a 2-1 record, and we're especially happy to see how well they play together. They're supportive of each other and very engaged, and they look like they're having a blast on the field.

Not a bad way to spend springtime Saturdays...

making fun of coach

Around the world in 10 days

In the Forbidden City

 Doug knocked some biggies off his bucket list when he circumnavigated the globe on an epic business trip. He left Aug. 26 for Seoul, then went on to Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Mumbai, and New Delhi before returning home via Frankfurt.

Tiananmen Square

He didn't have much time for sightseeing, aside from one free day in Beijing. But he was able to tour Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and spent several hours visiting the Great Wall. A highlight for the kids: talking to him in a video chat while he walked a section of the wall.

Video chat at the Great Wall

 This type of travel is new for him: In the past, he hasn't spent more than a couple nights away, and always domestically. Next year, he'll travel around Europe — and with a little luck, the rest of the family will get a chance to join him.

We survived well enough at home, thanks to the generosity of many friends who fed us and helped us get out of the house and have fun. And the boys were terrific during Doug's long absence. They watched the first two hours of The Last Emperor for a peek at the Forbidden City years ago.

Here are a few more photos from his trip:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

An epic week in California

The cousins were here! The cousins were here! And what an adventure we had... Aunt Cheryl came with them, but the real thrill was to have two pint-size people to run around with and argue with over who would get to sit next to whom and where every time we piled into the car.

There was a lot of piling into the car. We went to Disneyland, the redwoods, the Mystery Spot, the beach, Fisherman's Wharf, the Exploratorium, Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, and even our favorite neighborhood park. But we walked to that last one. There were princesses and Star Wars villains, sea lions and a fruitless search for banana slugs, and chances for everyone to use a bit of Spanish and Mandarin. It was an exhausting week crammed with fun, and it flew by fast.

And there's still so much that was left on the kids' wish lists. (Yoda, sorry we missed you!) Here's a quick pictorial recap. (If this slideshow isn't working for you, click here to see the pix at Flickr.)

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Back to the ballfield

We kicked off baseball season on a gorgeous, 70-degree Sunday. Both boys moved up a division: Finn has left T-ball behind and is playing for the Phillies, enjoying the same coaches Calvin had last year, and Calvin is playing for the Cubs. Opening day was marked with speeches, photos, a hit-a-thon, and a much-anticipated visit to the snack shack for candy. Our first games are next weekend.

Doug is pitching in as a coach on game days but can't lead a team this year because he's too busy earning a living during the week. (And no, I didn't consider coaching!) Our Saturdays are officially booked for the next three months, and most of our weeknights too.

It's a lot of work for everyone, and I know I'll gripe about the frenzied rush of homework and dinner and practices and games, but I have to admit: I love the start of Little League. We see so many familiar faces, both kids and adults, many of whom Doug has coached the past few years.

I'm looking forward to sitting on the sidelines with my toes in the cool grass, squinting in the sun, and watching the boys discover ways to hit the ball farther and take pride in making a play. They griped today too, but I can tell from the smiles on their faces that they feel just as I do.

Bruised and battered, but brave

Thanks for inquiring after his well-being: Doug is doing much better after his bike mishap a week and a half ago. He was commuting home by bike (his convertible was in the shop for all sorts of expensive problems) and the chain slipped. As he maneuvered off the road, he hit a curb and flipped over on his head. The boys — veterans of urgent care visits — fussed over him, offering him stuffed animals and blankets to cuddle.

Luckily the X-rays came back fine and he was sent home with painkillers for a sprained shoulder. Turns out, sprained shoulders really hurt. After a painful week, he's regained mobility and is doing much better. And the convertible ... good riddance to bad rubbish. He's driving a Prius now and everyone is happy.

Friday morning, however, Doug was back at urgent care — this time with Calvin, who wiped out on his scooter on the way to school. He got a nasty cut near his eye, in addition to some big scrapes, and his arm hurt. X-rays of his cheek and arm showed no damage and the cut didn't require stitches. He made it back to school that morning, sore and ugly but fine. He's sporting quite a shiner now.

He's a little uncomfortable with the attention he's getting: Strangers at the market winced and asked what happened, and several kids at school Friday ran to me to let me know Calvin was hurt. (Did they think I was unaware?)

Crossing our fingers we'll get through the coming week without another trip to urgent care.

Totally rad

Doug has gotten back into running and the kids have been enjoying racing challenges — so we accepted a friend's invitation to to run the Color Me Rad event on Saturday.

It was our first family 5K, and it was a blast! It was all about fun (no finish times). The basic idea: Run, jog, or walk the course and get doused in colored powder. Silly, yes, and lots of fun.

We set our timers: Calvin, who mostly walked and wanted me to stay with him, finished in just under an hour. Doug took off at a run and finished in 24:30 (he suspects it was a slightly short 5K). And Finn, who took off with Doug but soon fell behind, ran the entire way all on his own and finished in 32:00!

It took a good scrubbing to get the color out of our hair, ears, and nails, but no one minded at all. We tried to preserve our colored shirts but the powder washed away. We might have to do some color-bombing of our own at home...

Yes he can!

We thought our Playstation was a goner. It overheated and stopped working, cutting off access to Netflix, DVDs, Amazon videos, games...

But Doug fixed it, with help from the Internet, thermal compound, and my hair dryer. The man has never before fixed an electrical device: I'm surprised he even tried and am so happy he did.

Perhaps we should have spent less time globe-trotting this summer and more time chipping away at the to-do list.

Doug's 40th in New England

It's official: After years of joking he was old as the dirt, Doug really is. After a festive surprise party with West Coast friends, we celebrated a life being well lived by visiting friends and family on the East Coast.

Doug's mom treated him to dinner and birthday cake, and the kids — jet-lagged, overtired, but happy to have the flight behind them — burned off some energy playing baseball and exploring anthills in the yard. (A novelty: I don't know why, but we don't see many back home.)

We stopped by Doug's old high school, a sprawling campus near his home, where he made many lifelong friends:

Then it was time to go south, for an awesome day at the Boston Museum of Science, followed by a rather unexpected Red Sox victory — the boys' first visit to Fenway! It was very hot and humid, but still fun. Most of my Fenway memories involve losses and rain, so clear skies and a win were a treat.

With a game at Fenway checked off the bucket list, we wanted to steep the boys in some New England history. Aboard Mayflower II, Calvin was surprised to find the ship was so small. He liked hearing about mischievous boys who fired a musket, starting a small fire — why does it always come down to explosions?! (Thanks, guide, for adding Guy Fawkes Day to the list of holidays Calvin would like to celebrate.)

Calvin's been an avid photographer lately, experimenting with his rediscovered camera. He's looking forward to making his own photo album. 

Doug marked the last night of his 30s with high school and college friends in Boston. Dan brought Pinkerton yearbooks, one featuring a sprawling note from a very teenaged Doug, and we shared stories of past and present over food and wine. We're hoping teleporting becomes a viable option soon: The two coasts are much too far apart.

Doug, Dan, Darienne, Finn, Amy, Lydia, Jenn, Jon and Calvin

For his birthday Saturday, we returned to our old stomping grounds: Jon joined us for a trip to the beach in Newport, R.I. The kids had a blast: Finally, water they could actually enjoy! Doug and Jon played football and ran around with the kids, and we left as the wind kicked up and the kids got fed up with sand in their eyes. (Travel stress caught up with them this day: To say they were a little on the cranky side is putting it very nicely.)

Megan and Walter overcame impressive challenges (car failure, packing to move) to trek out to Providence and join us for a wonderful meal at the Capital Grille.

We headed outside just in time to catch the lighting of WaterFire, an art installation in its infancy when we lived in the city 15 years ago. More than 80 bonfires are lit along three rivers downtown, with music and art and performances.

It wasn't quite as peaceful and romantic as I remembered it being — it really couldn't be with two tired kids shooting noisy, glowing bubble guns — but it was still a treat. I'm glad they do this regularly: Check it out if you can.

We didn't take in much beyond the riverfront: It had been a long day. The kids enjoyed the fires but we were ready to pack it in ... and get ready for the next day's adventures.

A weekend in wine country

On Monday, the holiday week seemed to stretch out endlessly — but soon enough, it was speeding by.

Doug had to work on Presidents' Day, so the boys and I journeyed south to Natural Bridges State Park, hoping to catch a glimpse of the monarch butterflies before they left town. Not much luck there — we spotted just one lonely remaining butterfly — but we enjoyed good company and a great beach. The kids happily ran around in the frigid surf and were delighted by waves crashing into the rocks as the tide went out.

Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz

Pull a Calvin out of the hat...

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur. Calvin spent the afternoons at magic wizards camp. (If you look carefully, you might see him hiding in his hat over there.) He learned a bunch of tricks and has been wowing us with his tricky skills. If you're lucky, he might show you a trick or two!

We marked Mardi Gras with a lavishly lurid king cake, our first one ever. Lessons learned: Make a smaller cake and have friends over to help eat it. It was pretty tasty, but it took a day for Finn to finally find the Playmobil "king" hidden inside. (Actually, it was some sort of Roman figure. An accidentally insensitive choice.) If you make one yourself, don't use Playmobil figures. The head melted a little bit. Oops.

Finn finds the king in the cake

Saturday we headed north to Sonoma and Napa. We managed to blend wine-tasting with family fun, wildly surpassing our modest expectations. We visited the Infineon racetrack, where new IndyCars were going through test runs; the Charles Schulz museum in Santa Rosa; and Traintown.

And we managed to visit three tasting rooms, two old favorites and a new one, with the boys playing on the iPad while we sampled bottles. The kids were happy to taste special Gamay grape juice at one winery, and we brought home a bottle just for them.

We really enjoyed this time with the boys. They were shockingly well-behaved: considerate, generous, flexible, and polite. We made sure they knew how proud we were and today they declared they were due for a reward promised long ago: Doug said they could buy new Lego minifigures if they could behave well for seven straight days. And so they managed a quick trip to the Lego store after dinner this evening. Well earned.

Here's a slideshow from the weekend. (If it doesn't play for you, click here to go straight to the album.)

My funny valentines

I'm trying something new, seeing as I still haven't polished and uploaded my birthday letter to Finn, or even photos from his party over a month ago... I'm going to try to post something every weekend or so. (See how I give myself a little wiggle room there already? I'm a slippery one.)

The boys were full of love and happiness on Valentine's Day, thrilled with a heart-shaped box of chocolates and special pancakes for the day. We even had steak with chocolate sauce for dinner: très elegant!

They did a lovely job with valentines this year. I thought they'd want to buy superhero cards or something, but they both opted to make their own. Finn stamped hearts and signed his name to each one, and Calvin folded, addressed and signed some neat standing cut-out creatures we downloaded.

The munchkins recently discovered Photo Booth on my computer, yielding such treats as these shots:

(There's plenty more like those if you have an hour or two to sit through a slideshow.)

Finn has been rearranging the furniture, pushing all the chairs together in the kitchen for various adventures. There's a clip of him "flying" this structure while listening to "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron," featuring enough butt-wiggling that I'm leery of putting it on YouTube. I will have it ready, however, when I meet his prom date a dozen years from now. Here's the house he built — note the "game room" on the left:

Calvin sweet-talked me into helping him whip up some ganache last week, and this morning he rolled his own truffles. He's decided they would make perfect gifts. (If you want one, however, you'll need to visit because they require refrigeration. They're worth the trip though: so good!)

We kicked off a week without school by literally forcing the children out of the house. They hate the idea of a hike. We didn't tell them what we were up to when we left the house. They realized what was up as we pulled in to the parking lot of Rancho San Antonio and the whining began. The lot was overflowing, so we headed over to the Dish at Stanford — no parking there either. And no break in the whining.

So we headed to Shoreline Park in Mountain View, and the kids kept whining ... until they got out of the car. And we enjoyed a wonderfully windy mini-adventure by the bay — and the boys asked if we could go again, soon please. We will. And they'll forget how much they liked it and whine all the way there, and we'll do it all over again.

Our house in Lego

We finally received -- and built -- my Christmas gift from Finn: our house, made with Legos! He proposed the idea to Doug, who used Lego's program to design and build our floor plan. It's pretty awesome. The boys added the hot tub in back, and I'll soon add the landscaping.