Day 18: The One With The Mustache Is Always The Spy

This rainy windy winter storm hit it's peak today. Winds are fierce, the county is flooding and we are battening down the hatches, folks! 

A couple of weeks ago I had bought some synthetic snow and we had a great time with the arctic Legos in the "snow" on the dining room floor. We had scraped up as much of the snow as we could and stored it in a couple of tupperware containers for a rainy day. 

Guess what? It's raining. 

I didn't like how hard it was to clean up the snow off the floor last time, so this time I decided to bring in Rebel's little kiddie pool inside, clean it off and plop it on the floor and dump the snow in to contain it. 

It was a runaway success. The snow only covered a fraction of the pool, but that gave room for the boys to sit in it. They decided this time around that they were going to play Star Wars, specifically the planet Hoth style of Star Wars. They brought down their Star Wars Legos, and aircraft hangar and some arctic ice pieces (for the Rebel base, of course). 

When your living room is turned into Hoth

An AT-AT was attacking but Luke Skywalker and his twin Otto were battling to beat the onslaught of stormtroopers. There's ALWAYS two of the favored character in our house, so instead of fighting, there's always twins - Camden named Luke's twin. 

Yes, I know Luke Skywalker actually has a twin (Leia). But when you have two boys, NO ONE is going to be willing to be the GIRL. Darth Vader also has a twin in this story, named Darth Hater. 

There was also an Imperial Spy infiltrating the base. This sparked a debate on whether Imperial Army even had spies, or if only the Rebels had spies. But of course the Imperials had spies, look at Lando, Calen says. 

This is what we talk about as a family. Y'all are out there discussing Fortnite and the Kardashians, we are discussing Rebel vs Imperial Star Wars spies. 

We win. Sorry-not-sorry. 

Anyways, Calen declared this one mustached Lego guy the Imperial Spy. He's the spy because he has a mustache, of course. You can't trust anyone with a mustache. 

I love how their minds work. 

The Imperial Spy!

Also tonight, Camden brought home a little 100 piece Minions jigsaw puzzle that he won as a prize at school, and asked if I would help him build it. Of course I would! So we built it together at the table, and then during a movie tonight (Incredibles 2) he asked if I'd help him build it with him again. I've been feeling the dread of them growing up lately, so when I hear a still-tiny voice asking "Mommy do you want to help me make this again?" I will always jump at the chance. 

Day 17: The Jungle Books

It's been record breaking rain around here. Like, biblical, Noah needs to build another ark kind of rain. So Pinterest and craft supplies have been the word of God lately. 

One of my kids' favorite things is Family Movie Night, and that can be anywhere between one or four nights a week, depending on sports schedules, and especially crappy weather. 

Tonight was most assuredly a Family Movie Night, but since it was pouring rain I thought about adding a craft to the fun too, because why not? We're all stuck in the house anyways.

The boys mentioned yesterday that they wanted to watch The Jungle Book, so I did a little digging on Pinterest to find a related craft. Because everything has to relate nowadays, doesn't it? Luckily my digging lasted about 5 minutes, and I found this great idea to have the kids make their own Jungle Books. 

This is a very simple project. I took construction paper (3 or 4 sheets) and stacked them, then folded them "hamburger style" into a book, and then used a single hole puncher to punch a couple holes in the spine and added ribbon (Christmas ribbon, because that's what we have) to create "binding" (solely for decoration in this case). Then I went to the dollar store and snatched a couple sheets of jungle-y themed stickers (these are mostly for Camden, since Calen is quite the little artist). 

I guided the boys a little on how to write a Jungle Book story by asking them what would happen if they were orphans living in the jungle. What would they eat? What would their house be like? What animals would adopt them?

Calen wrote a very wordy, thrilling epic about a boy named Silver Fang that was raised by wolves, attacked by a 40 foot anaconda that killed his pack and his dad, and then he went to fighting school taught by an orangutan so he could fight and kill the anaconda. He even added a little "also written by Calen Hansen" on the back as an advertisement of a story he's writing at school called "Throwing Smoke" - about a Little Leaguer becoming a star pitcher. 

Camden's book was about a boy that lived with foxes in a den and was attacked by a cobra (see a theme here?). His monkey friend "Monk" threw turtles at the cobra (like you throw shells in Mario Kart, he says) and they bounced off the cobra's head. Then they tamed it and taught it how to do tricks (by reading a book called "How To Be Respectful"), and then had a big jungle party with lemon and lime cake with coconut frosting and coconut balloons. 

The boys seriously spent at least two hours working on this project, and enjoyed it thoroughly (a Jungle Book soundtrack on my phone added to the mood too). I loved how these little books turned out. They are definitely keepsakes for life. 

We finished the night with popcorn and The Jungle Book (animated version). 

Day 16: The Name Game

Today was a horrific 3am wakeup for Cam and I as we went to hockey practice. 

While the world sleeps, we play hockey. 

In between his hockey practice and hockey camp, there's an hour and a half break. Of course we aren't going to go home, it's 6 in the morning! So usually us families that do both activities bring breakfast from home and stick around in the ice rink's cafe (called the Warm Puppy). 

Camden wore his Lake Tahoe invitational tournament shirt, and it has every team and every rostered player listed on the back of his shirt. Of course, as seven year olds do, they want to find their names on their shirts. 

Cam's best friend Tyler starts reading the back of Camden's shirt. But Cam wanted to see it too, so naturally he spun his shirt backwards and they spent a solid 20 minutes - which might as well be four months to a 7 year old - finding their names, their friends' names, and every other name of every other player on the roster at that tournament (like, 150 names). 

Who needs TV when you have a roster shirt anyways?

Day 15: If We Aren't Home Check The Rink, Or The Ballfield

Today I was the quintessential "Mom Taxi". I didn't really spend time at home today - it was an entire day of driving so-and-so to whatever practice. 

We started at hockey, because we always start at hockey on weekend mornings. It wasn't practice this morning but a super fun event called Try Hockey For Free. This is a pretty self explanatory public event that encourages new potential youth hockey players to come out to the ice, borrow some gear and learn how to skate with a stick. 

Even though this is an event way more geared towards beginners, Flyers team members are invited to come out and help the new kids learn to play. Besides, it's free ice time, right? So Camden and several of his teammates came out this morning to join in the fun. 

Cam picked out one new kid in the crowd and spent a good long while teaching him how to pass, and then even tried to teach him how to "set up" for a goal by placing him near the goal (literally, pushing the kid to where he needs to be, because the kid was so uneasy on skates he couldn't move his legs), then backing up and passing to the kid and telling him to shoot it, and then celebrating with him when he scored. 

Being a patient helper is not really Cam's thing, so it really was a great sight to see. 

Cam teaching "the setup"

For his efforts, we "celebrated" with hot chocolate with his hockey BFFs, and a Costco pizza lunch date with just me and him. We had a great conversation about Kodiak, the bears, the bald eagles, and whether he's allowed to carry a rifle to school or not (he's not). The best thing about Costco pizza is that the slices are bigger than Camden's face. 

Will, Tyler, Luke (Ty's brother) and Cam Bam. Best 

We were home for like, an hour, and then we traded places - Cam stayed home with Dad and now I had Calen packed up and heading to baseball practice. We got there a little early and watched the team before us practice, and then after practice headed back to Costco for a dinner date with just me and Calen this time. We also took some time to meander in the Target Lego section, where Calen effectively gasped and talked about every.single.Lego set on the shelf. 

His enthusiasm for the simple things is so refreshing. 

Watching a rival team practicing

"WHOA MOM LOOK!!"

And then, to home and bed, because guess what? We have hockey practice in the morning. 

I need one of those signs on my door that says "If we aren't home, check the rink or the ballfield" 

Day 14: Of Pizza And Playdough

I had a rough day today and was feeling a little clingy to my growing-up-too-fast boys. So I had a moment in Walmart and spontaneously bought some Playdoh and pizza ingredients. We were going to have some family time today!

 I hung out with the boys from the time they got home from school all the way until bedtime, and it was wonderful. We sat at the dining room table and played Playdoh for a solid hour. Unstructured, no themes or Pinterest projects, just us and 3 dollars worth of Playdoh and endless conversations. We made "galactic cheeseburgers", and alien spaghetti to feed the dinosaur salt and pepper shakers. We made planets, 6 sided dice, and Calen even made a tooth with cavities to fill. It was so much fun just hanging out with them and playing and chatting.

Playdoh! Making "galactic pizzas", as Calen called them

This "Earth sandwich" even had an olive skewered to the top

As dinnertime rolled around, we abandoned our Playdoh cheeseburgers and moved on to actual edible pizzas. I had pizza crust in the fridge and tomato sauce in the cupboard, voila! Let's make a pizza! So earlier at the store today I bought some fun toppings - pineapple, mini pepperonis and salami. The boys love making their own pizzas and were extra excited that today I let them put them in the oven themselves. 

We picnicked on the living room floor for dinner and watched Calen's movie choice: Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, and then some Mickey Mouse shorts.

It was a great - and much needed - quality time with the kiddos. 

Day 13: Underwater Explorations (Conversations With Cam)

We've been fielding a lot of questions this week. From friends, from family, from ourselves, and especially from our kids. Most involve Alaska. Actually, all of them involve Alaska. 

As Camden came downstairs for a snack today, he suddenly had a burning question. 

Cam: "Mom, in Alaska do they have underwater explorations."

Me: "Do they have....what?"

Cam: "You know (every answer with him starts with "You Know"), where you were those suits and the mask thing and go underwater?

Me: "Oh, scuba diving? Yeah probably, if you really wanted to there". 

Cam: "Yeah that. We should do that there. And we can go under the ice and go really down deep and see the narwhals."

Me: "...narwhals..."

But Cam didn't have anything to say about it to me, instead he was already halfway up the starts shouting at Calen about narwhals and underwater explorations. 


Endnote: Narwhals live nowhere near Alaska. But I'm not telling Camden that. 

Pic of the day is Calen getting ready to take the field for his first practice with his Triple-A spring ball team! He's SO excited to be playing ball again. 

Day 12: Killer Instinct

Tonight after hockey practice, Camden told his head coach that he was moving to Alaska. 

Coach is the quintessential hockey coach - short, hyper, kind of intimidating, you know. 

So upon hearing the news, Coach (who's always on the move and in a hurry to go from one hockey practice to the next), suddenly froze, changed his whole demeanor to a complete downcast face. 

"Oh....MAN." and then he looked at me and says "I'm going to miss that kid's KILLER instinct!"

Coach isn't someone to hand out big compliments if he doesn't mean it, and for a B-Team first year kid to receive one from him, that says something. 

Cam might not ever be the best player on the ice, but he has a very acute defensive talent (and instincts) that leave an impression whenever he's out there. 

Day 11: I Just Need A Little Private Time

Tonight just before bedtime, Brad asked Camden to come into the bathroom to clean up his towels and clothes and crap. Cam's eyes were big and extremely suspicious. 

"Umm, okay, but I just really didn't want to right now."

And then, he pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pants, and announces:

"well, I just got this Valentine letter from (name removed to protect the little lovebird classmate), and I just needed some private time to go and read it since I haven't read it yet."

And, mouth agape and dumbfounded, Brad goes "oh....okay then!" and puts the love letter on Camden's pillow. 

It was nothing more than a "you are really nice and funny and I like being in class with you" but apparently it was a life changing little love letter for our resident 7 year old. 

Day 10: Yukon Ho!

Well, the day arrived. It's a big day, probably the biggest day of the year for us. It's kind of like Christmas, only less magical. 

We got orders today. 

(Actually, we got orders 2 days ago. But we announced it today). 

What orders means, for us, is where we are going to live our lives for the next 2-4 years. We pretend that we have control over where we are going to live, but we really don't, especially this time around, where we were basically just sent after being told twice that our wish lists were all unavailable and here's a leftover list of complete garbage places to live, so which would be your number 1? And we still didn't get it. 

So "where are going?" has become the biggest question of the last six months. 

So, where are we going?! Drumroll please...

We are going to KODIAK, ALASKA. 

And now, for that collective cloud of quiet voices from across the world whooshing by, whispering "Whoa...WOW!" Which has literally been every reaction from every single person that I've told. An entire jetstream of "wows" blowing through the fields of Petaluma right now. 

Can you hear it? It sounds like wind but it's really "wooooooooooooooow". 

Our reaction is quite literally the same. Wow. Alaska. Not just Alaska, Kodiak Alaska. A remote(ish) island, on a remoteish part of the world. We aren't even talking about the "lower 48" United States here, this actually forces you to turn that globe of yours ever so slightly. According to Google, we are closer to Russia, than to Seattle. We are closer to the North Pole than to Los Angeles.

We might as well be moving to Mars. 

Did you ever read that Calvin and Hobbes collection "Yukon, Ho!", where they decide that they're moving to the Yukon with nothing but a ray gun, a sled and a space helmet? Because that's the first thing I thought of. Especially since, whenever the boys ask which car we are riding in that day and we happen to be taking our Yukon, I shout: YUKON HO!!

And thus, a Calvin and Hobbes themed announcement photo shoot was necessary. The boys were careening down a mountain completely out of control, complete with bomber jackets, flight goggles, eskimo hats, a paper tube telescope and a paddle, just in case. 

No, they weren't out of control. They weren't even moving. Fake news. 

I mean, of course we would do a Calvin and Hobbes style photo shoot announcement

If you ask me how I'm feeling about it (which a lot have), I haven't decided how I feel. I feel like I'm literally moving to another planet. I feel like I have a lot of preparation to move to said planet. Instead of space suits I'm buying high quality rain gear and expensive boots. Instead of loading up my space shuttle and flying through asteroid belts, I'm going to be driving my GMC Yukon (how fitting?!) and pulling a trailer through gravel highways in the Yukon. But then, I go back to Calvin and Hobbes. 

That seems like the most sensible plan for this. Throw caution to the wind, grab our ray guns and just go for it. Life is an adventure, and so we shall be adventurous, embrace it and have an absolute blast doing it, even if we are eaten by bears. And we better pack a sandwich, in case we can't catch a walrus. 

Day 9 - The Curse Of The Golden Gate Park

This (very early) morning brought us to the heart of San Francisco for a hockey tournament. It's the second to the last tournament of the season, so Camden and his Flyers were stoked about this one. 

Cam (who isn't a high goal scorer and plays a much better defensive role) came flying out of the gate during a shift change and caught the other team by surprise with a one-on-one against the goalie and took a shot, missed, and scored with the rebound. It's only his 7th goal of the season, but man was he excited (it's also the first goal for the entire team of the day). He walked away with the one goal and also an assist, and had a great defensive showing as usual.

San Francisco certainly isn't the furthest we've driven for a tournament, but we don't find ourselves in the City very often, so we decided to attempt to make a day of it. What we didn't know, was today was completely and absolutely cursed, and it started with an omen. 

After the games (four of them) were finally over, we headed to Costco for a very cheap hot dog lunch.

The omen, as I've come to realize, was when I went to pour myself a delicious Pepsi from the fountain drink stand. Well first, the ice was out of order. And then I realized, there was no Pepsi. There was Pepsi Zero, and Diet Pepsi, and Diet Mountain Dew, but no regular soda anywhere. 

Just what the heck is going on?

I had no idea at the time, but apparently this is an actual thing in San Francisco, where there is some kind of sugary drink tax and so Costco decided to do away with regular soda. 

Come on. If I feel like sinning, let me sin all the way. I don't order a soda to get a sugar free completely disgusting Pepsi Zero. I want all the sugar, all the caffeine, all the time. Judge me somewhere else. 

Remember that scene in Inside Out where "Anger" yells about the broccoli pizza? "Congratulations San Francisco, you've managed to RUIN pizza!" I feel like Disney-Pixar was on to something. San Francisco managed to ruin Pepsi too. 

So after a botched lunch, we headed to today's destination: Golden Gate Park. We've done the Park before, but since we're due to move out of the area this summer we put it back on our bucket list. We wanted to see the Japanese Tea Gardens, and the Pioneer Log Cabin, Spreckels Lake with the RC sailboats and the model sailboat museum, among just walking around the pretty scenery. It's a weekend and the first nice day in weeks, so the Park was packed. We literally dove into the first street parking spot we could find, a solid mile away from the Tea Gardens. No matter, it's a pretty walk, right?

We walked through a memorial garden and some beautiful grassy knolls and reached the Japanese Tea Garden. I had remembered this as a free little self-guided place, and was perturbed to find out that it was in fact NOT free, it was only free on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. 

Today is Sunday. 

Today's budget for sightseeing was $0, so we decided to skip the tea garden (since we've already been there anyways) and come back on a free day. We had so much else to see anyways!

Strike one. 


We walked even further and made it to the Pioneer Log Cabin. It's a pretty big cabin, and we were excited to see what it looked like inside. 

The Log Cabin is closed on Sundays. 

Strike Two. 

At that point, we had already walked a mile and a half, and Spreckels Lake was another mile and a half still. But, our little trek into Golden Gate had been so fruitless so far, we couldn't give up, right? We're not quitters! We're going to find adventure! And so off we went through the park, marching along, stopping at little ponds and playgrounds, and finally, FINALLY, made it to Spreckels Lake. 


Fun fact: the model boats only run Thursday-Saturday, and the model boat museum had an unplanned closure that day. 

Strike Three. 

Completely and utterly defeated, we skipped a few rocks into the lake, cursed San Francisco for being Sunday-Haters, and surrendered to the 3 mile walk back to our car on the far side of the park. 

Calen making a model "barge" out of driftwood

It was still great family time, and we joked it being a "planned nature walk" in the middle of the city. 

But next time, we go on a Friday. 

Day 8 - Moustrap Is Rigged

You know what board game should be amazing by concept but is totally stupid? Mousetrap. 

Yes, this so called classic has been fooling us into thinking it's this innovative masterpiece since 1980-whatever. And since I had never actually played it in my youth, I thought scoring it for cheap on Black Friday this past year was going to be a great addition to our game night library. 

In my head, I envisioned it where you actually design and devise your own mousetraps. You know like a build your own marble tower chain reaction type game where you try to catch a mouse with different pieces. I didn't realize that your fellow players are the mice, the trap is premade with no alternate designs and your only hope is to land on certain tiles that will trap the mouse. 

Stupid. 

Oh well, the boys found it amusing for half an hour or so, so I guess that's a win for us, all the while I'm mumbling under my breath at how much better it could be with some freelance pieces and a "draw a piece" card deck. 

Day 7 - If The Boot Fits

So the boys ride their bikes to and from school (a mile each way), as I've stated before. And since all the neighborhood kids (Calen included) have these "kid smart watches" where they can call us parents if there's an emergency on the bike path. It's literally the best hands off non-parenting-parenting-win in the universe. 3 o'clock rolls around and you don't have to run out the door to school pick up, you just hang out in your sweats on the sofa and wait for them to arrive, and if they don't make it home by 3:20, you start to wonder if they took the "shortcut", which is actually the three-times-as-far route around the lake on base.

Today, Calen left his watch at home, because of course he did, and I got a text from a neighbor who's kid called saying that Camden's rain boot was stuck in the chain of his bike and he was stuck. 

Man, I actually have to put on real pants. 

So I put on some jeans and started walking down the bike path towards the school. Calen rolls up on his bike and announces that Cam is fine and is heading home, but I decided that we needed to stick around just in case. Nothing is ever normal with Cam, you know. 

Sure enough Camden and his buddy roll up on their bikes. I asked Camden if he was okay and if he figured out how to get his boot out. 

"Yeah, the boot kept getting stuck, so I just took it off and threw it in my backpack so it wouldn't happen again!"

And sure enough, I looked down, and he was riding his bike a full mile home from school with ONE boot on, and ONE sock. 

I told him he could put his boot back on, but he blows me off with a "nah, I'm good!" and took off in his socks on his bike riding home. 

That's one of those mom moments where you just throw your hands up and go "whatever". 

Day 6 - St Valentine's Day

It's the official holiday of romance! Love and mush and all that yucky stuff. 

Look at these little hotthrobs

I don't dislike Valentines' Day, but it's never been my favorite either. Brad and I consider our anniversary far more important (when it comes to a love and mush holiday), and neither of us were feeling super well today anyways. But, every holiday is fun with kids, even boys who think love is totally and completely disgusting. 

This morning before school the boys got to "open" a little hand made love note from Mom, and some new books (because love is reading? Or something. In honesty, I thought I had some little Hot Wheels cars floating around in a closet to give them a little treat, but didn't, and instead found new books so I called it good. Fake it till you make it, you guys).

We also found a completely ridiculous Valentines filter on my camera phone. 

I mean what is this even. 

At school they had their little class parties, and after school we did a little craft and made animals out of heart-shaped construction paper (thanks Pinterest!) that turned out SUPER cute. 

Calen made a dog and a fox!

Camden made a panda

The boys also helped me make homemade meatballs for a fancy spaghetti and meatball dinner, followed by family night movie night: Lady and the Tramp. Because nothing says love like cocker spaniels and spaghetti.

As far as totally gross mushy holidays go, we had a great one.