One of the things that has helped me to like living here more is biking. Joe and I have been biking a LOT more lately. When we're short on time, we go on the trails near our house. But most of the time we like to ride along the coast in Monterey, past Fisherman's wharf,
past Cannery Row, and down to Lover's Point.
There is a plethora of sights, sounds, and smells that I will never tire of. The smell of the pine trees across from the Post Naval Graduate School, the smell of the ocean, the smell of clam chowder on the wharf, and other goodies sold along the way. Seeing kites against the blue sky, seeing the sail boats out on the water,
seeing the sea lions and seals sunning themselves,
seeing the cute otters floating on their backs,
seeing the big pelicans congregating on the rocks, seeing all the way to the other side of the bay on a clear day, and seeing all the other people kayaking, surfing, running, biking, swimming, picnicking, and playing volleyball. Hearing the street performers (a.k.a. homeless people) sing and play guitars,
hearing tourists ooh and aah about everything,
hearing the sea lions and seals barking at each other, and hearing the waves crash into the rocks along the shore. Feeling the wind at my back, feeling the sun on my face, feeling the thrill of riding fast, and feeling happy to spend time with Joe doing something we both enjoy. It never gets old.
The other day they were having a sand castle building contest, so we stopped and took a look around. I wished that the kids were with us, because the next time we went, they were gone. But we got some pictures.
Winter is coming, and that means lots of rain, and that means we won't be able to ride our bikes as much. Boo. Well, for all I know we might be moving in December, and we won't have these lovely rides anymore anyway. I will try to appreciate them while they last.
As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't been as good at keeping up on the blog lately. This is largely in part because I don't have as much free time as I used to. This year I have taken on the insane task of homeschooling ALL four of my kids. Seriously, the craziest thing I've ever done. Why am I doing this? Well, for one thing, Joe is supposed to finish up school here in December, then on to Texas for a few months of more training, and finally to our next station, wherever that may be. We wanted to be able to stay together - no separations, not even a few months - but I didn't want the kids to have to be in three different schools in 1 year. Homeschooling gives us the flexibility we want. We could even take a month of leave in between stations if we wanted to.
Ultimately, though, I made it a matter of prayer.......a LOT of prayer, because regardless of all the good reasons, the idea of homeschooling four kids was not appealing. More like terrifying. Or appalling. Perhaps unhinging.
But there was a moment. A moment amid all the praying. A moment that was just for me. A moment when I felt a profound sense of confidence in my ability to do this. Thank you God. So I dived in.
Day one - There is a certain little girl, who will remain nameless, that I'm going to kill. This is not going to work. What was I thinking?
Day five - Okay, things are getting a little better. Nobody has died. We just need some better organization, and we might be able to make this work. Maybe.
Day ten - I think this is going to work. Sure, I barely have time to use the toilet, let alone shopping, cleaning the house, or taking a shower......, but I think this is going to work.
And so it goes.
The kids are doing great. Everyone is on track. My mind is still functioning properly;)
The annoying thing is, now we don't know for sure if we're going to be leaving here in December or not. Joe has been struggling with his reading - nothing new, he's always displayed signs of dyslexia (so has Cora). In fact, they almost tested him for it, but the guy who was going to do the test actually talked him out of it. Apparently it could get him kicked out of the military. Instead, he wrote Joe a recommendation to be rolled back. That means that Joe would go into another class that is a few months behind his. He'd be repeating some of the same material, and have more time to master it. This sounded great to us, and all of his teachers were on board. They made it sound like a sure thing. We figured we'd be here until June. Well, it wasn't a sure thing. There are no open slots in any of the other classes. If a slot doesn't open up in the next 3 weeks, Joe will have to go ahead and try to test out of Iraqi. If he passes, great - we move on. If he doesn't pass......we have no idea. They could keep him on here as an academic advisor. They could send us back to Korea. They could do whatever they want. We have no idea. Aaaaahhhhhhh! The not knowing is a killer.
In other news, Cora learned to ride a bike a few years ago, but we failed to teach any of our other kids - until now! In one weekend the other three kids were mobile.
Since that video we got rid of the rusty, noisy pink bike that Alex was riding, gave him the one that Madelyn was riding, and gave Madelyn Cora's old bike. The all love it! Madelyn LOVES it. She is a natural biker. She loves going really fast, and then breaking hard and squealing to a stop. She's go the balance, the coordination, and the moves of a pro. She was giving me a heart attack, and I told her that she needed to go slower and be careful. She came to me after a while, with tears in her eyes, and said, "When I go really fast I just feel free." I didn't say anything after that. How can I take away her freedom? If she crashes, she crashes - it'll build character, right?
Let's see, what else? Our Relief Society presidency got released, so I'm not longer the 3rd counselor. My new calling is primary teach for the 8-9 year olds. Joe is still the 1st counselor in the Elder's quorum. Cora got her first calling too - 2nd counselor in the Beehive presidency;)
I guess that's about all. I will post later about some of the field trips/outings the kids have done for homeschool.
My kids have wanted to be in a play for a long time. Obviously, they're nothing like me - that's all the Liddell side;)
Being in the military, we have had a couple occasions to watch plays put on by the Missoula Children's theatre, which is a company that tours around the country, as well as the world. They come into a community or a military base, hold auditions on a Monday (all children who audition get to participate in the play), practice all week, and do a performance on Saturday. It's always a musical. It's a great introduction to theatre for kids, and it's a lot of fun.
We've watched their plays, but my kids had never actually been in one. The first time we were in Texas, and we didn't even know about it, and the second time we were in Korea, and the kids had other obligations. We almost didn't hear about it this time, because it wasn't very well advertised, but we got lucky.
The kids did great at the auditions. The musical they chose this year was The Wizard of Oz.
Can you see what parts they got?
Alex was a Fierce and Ferocious Flower,
Madelyn was a Munchkin,
Joseph was the Tin Man,
and Cora was Dorothy.
Pretty exciting:) It's not the best video in the world, and it took me FOREVER to upload to Youtube, but here is what we recorded of the play (broken up into 6 parts).
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
The Play was put on at the Porter Youth Center, and their flyer had this on the front cover this month.
We're glad that our kids had this opportunity, and they all want to do it again...especially Cora:)
We took a quick trip to Utah over Labor Day weekend. Two reasons.
1) Madelyn's one request for her birthday was to go swimming with the cousins at the pool in Lehi, UT. It was two months late, but she didn't care. At one point we were all going around the lazy river, and all the kids decided to pile on top of me so that I could pull them around. After two times around I was exhausted. I suggested that Rebekah should then carry me around. She had me in a vey strange hold, and I realized how ridiculous I looked, and I started laughing until tears were running down my face. It wasn't that funny, but it was.....ya know? We also went up AF canyon and had a BBQ. Everywhere we went, all of the cousins wanted to ride together in "the bus" (our new bohemeth of a van).
Look, there's still one seat open for A.J. when he grows up;)
Look at that face!!!
2) Grandpa Liddell turned 90 years old this summer, and we wanted to celebrate! Despite BYU's first game being a loss (Liddells are HUGE BYU fans), we had a wonderful day with the Liddell clan, and Grandpa hung in there the whole day - actually, I don't think he wanted to go home at the end of the night;) This man has lived quite the life (officer in the Army Air Corps, newspaper reporter for Deseret news, etc.), and it's always fun to hear his stories. Reminds me of my Grandma Petersen, who would be 101 this year;) We got our traditional four Joseph's photo...
....and then Grandpa insisted on one with just him and our Joseph.
I think Grandpa sure loves the fact that we named J.T. after him (Joseph Thomas). I think they look a lot alike too:) I hope J.T. always knows what an honor it is to be named after him.
The kids cried when we had to head back to California. It broke my heart. Quick trips like that are always hard, but worth it. We love our families!
So two of my sisters came out for a visit - Lorraine (and her kids) and Rebekah. They didn't want to do the same things they did the last time they were here, but lunch at Fisherman's Wharf is a MUST, no matter how many times you've been there.
We were lucky enough to see a bunch of jelly fish swimming around in the water while we were there - big ones too.
Sorry about the side-ways video. My movie-making program won't allow me to turn the videos, and I kept forgetting to take videos side-ways on my phone, ugh.
We also took them to Phil's Fish Market, and they liked it so much that we adults went a second time:)
Rebekah is making a short documentary about "The Clam Chowder Incident", but until she publishes it on Youtube, I can't go into it, other than to say that, in my defense, they have dang good clam chowder there!
The BIG thing that we did was go to California's Great America, which was very fun, and also very sad because Joe couldn't go with us. I wish that I had known about this place sooner, and how awesome it is.
This is us after we went on Rip Roaring Rapids.
This picture does not do justice to how soaked we were. I couldn't have been more wet if I had actually jumped into the water. I love Madelyn's and Alex's faces. Guess which one said, "I want to go on that all the time forever!", and which one said, "I am never going on a water ride again!"
The way they go about getting you soaked is very calculating because at the end of the ride is this....
....in which you can pay $5 to get somewhat air-dried out.
The wooden roller coaster was my favorite, but the most thrilling was the Drop Tower - 227 feet with a top speed of 62 mph.
I pretty much screamed the whole way.
Alex loved the water rides, but he wasn't much into the "thrill" rides......if you want to call "The Mouse" a thrill ride;)
And finally, I like this stop-motion sequence of how big of a geek my sister and daughter are. It speaks volumes:)
I made Cora's blessing dress, and bought her baptism dress. I bought Madelyn's blessing dress, and always told her I was going to make her baptism dress. Talk about leaving things to the last minute....but Madelyn did not let me forget;) I finished it up Friday night, just in time for her baptism on Saturday. We were both pleased with the final outcome.
No white shoes were to be found, so pink shoes were the obvious choice for this girly-girl of mine;)
She wanted a big bow AND a flower. I obliged.
We were grateful that Joe's parents were able to make it out for the day. Madelyn's grandpa played the piano for the program, and her grandma gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Madelyn was joined by 2 other children in the stake that day, and it all turned out nice. The one thing.....I've often heard of the water being too cold, but never too hot. Madelyn's face coming up out of that hot water was quite the picture - poor girl;) But no worries, she had a wonderful day.
Here are 8 things that Madelyn thinks you should know about her:
1) I like ladybugs
2) I love my family
3) I'm kind to my dad
4) My mom spoils me
5) I love my dog named Bo
6) I like to go swimming
7) I love to play Big Brainz math games
8) I love going to Activity Days
Here are 8 things that I think you should know about Madelyn:
1) she likes to be right
2) she REALLY likes to be right (yep, that deserves repeating)
3) she thinks she's right ALL of the time
4) she is Miss Silly McSillypants, most days of the week
5) she loves dresses, skirts, dress/church shoes, purses and other accessories
6) she's self-motivated
7) she's determined/stubborn
8) she tells the weirdest jokes
1) When people save seats - could be at the movie theatre, could be at a school program, and the very worst is at church. And I don't mean people saving 1 or 2 seats because somebody went to get popcorn, or talk to the bishop, or the one person is running late but everyone else in the group is already there. What I'm talking about is when there's one or two people saving the entire row/bench, or when nobody is even there at all, just all their stuff (this does not apply for parades). If I get there before you, why should you get a better seat than me? Better yet, if I'm on time, and your late, why should you get a better seat than me? Why?! And don't hate me for saying this, but I find that people in Utah are the most guilty of this. I'm sorry Utah people, but it's true. The last time I went to sacrament meeting in Utah I walked in and saw several empty benches. I walked up the isle to the one closest to the front. It was being saved with the usual pile of coats, scriptures, etc. I walked back to the next one - taken. Next - taken. Next - taken. Our family ended up sitting in the overflow section, and watched as those other families came in after us to take their saved seats closer to the front - some even showed up after the meeting had started. This has NEVER happened to me in a ward outside of Utah. Just sayin'. Several years ago, in my parents' ward, the bishopric even had to address this issue because it was getting so bad. Honestly, I wish that more bishoprics would do that. And I noticed that a lot of the new theatres in Utah have assigned seating now. They obviously recognized the problem too. ***Update. I wrote this, but didn't post it, a week before a man was arrested in UT for fighting over saved seats at church. When I read that news article it made me laugh, and laugh, and laugh.
2) Any movie with John Cusack that is rated R. I don't watch rated R movies. They're just not for me. But I just want to see every movie that John Cusack is in, and I get mad if I can't. I don't know why, but I don't have this reaction with any other actor/actress, even though there are many that I like just as much as, if not more than John Cusack. I can't explain it.
3) Food that is assembled sloppily. A pizza that has a whole bunch of pineapple on one slice, and only 1 or 2 on another slice. A burrito that has a huge glop of sour cream on just one end. A sandwich that has three pickles stacked up on top of each other, instead of spread out. I am notoriously known for rearranging my food. I want each bite to be what it's supposed to be. I know, from having worked in the food industry, that it doesn't take any longer to assemble food correctly than it does to throw it together in a jumbled mess.
4) How lazy I'm being this summer. I had such promising plans for this summer (I always do - sewing, crafts, science experiments, reading, day trips, etc), but this is by far the laziest summer I've ever had with my kids. We've hardly done anything. I don't even want to think about it.
5) Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts. I realize this is like opening a huge can of worms, and some people might think I'm apostate, but there it is. I've said it. It's out there. I own it. Let me just start by saying that Joseph is in scouts, he likes scouts, we support scouts, and I don't see that changing as long as the church supports scouts.....but sometimes it's like fingernails on a chalkboard. My grievances? 1) The cost! If I had a dollar for every dollar I've spent on scouts, I'd be.....well, I'd have a lot of money back;) Seriously though, this is supposed to be the equivalent of Activity Days for the 8-12 girls, and Personal Progress for the 12-18 girls. Having been both Primary president and Young Women's president, I know that the budget for scouts far exceeds anything else. Plus the out-of-pocket cost for the parents is higher too. You buy a shirt, a bandana, a book and a couple of badges and BAM, you've just spent $70. Day camp also cost me $75 for a week of cheap crafts and lame activities (okay, there was SOME good stuff), and that didn't include lunch. I personally priced out all the materials for crafts, T-shirts, rental fee for the park, etc. and I was having a hard time coming up with $25 per boy, let alone $75. I'm wondering how much of that money went to the Boy Scout council. There's no overhead for Activity Days and Personal Progress. 2) Why is Cub scouts every week and Activity Days is every other week? Anyone? My daughters have asked me that, with no prompting on my part. They see the discrepancy, and they don't think it's fair. Have your girls asked about that? What do you tell them? 3) There is supposed to be a correlation between Cub scouts and the Faith in God program (the church manual says, "To maintain a gospel focus in Scout activities, leaders use the Faith in God for Boys guidebook as one of their resources"), but I have yet to be in a ward where that was actually put into practice like Activity Days. I've never had a scout leader ask the boys to bring their Faith in God booklet with them, or passed any of them off. The focus is on passing off scouting requirements, period. 4) FYI - If you know Joe and his 4 brothers, you know that they are smart, talented, successful, and honorable men. NONE of them are Eagle scouts. Just sayin'. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. That is not my intention. Yes, I can see and appreciate the good things that the scouting program does offer. We've had some great scout leaders that I love and appreciate. I'm just getting stuff off my chest. Still going to support the scout program;)
Okay, and now I'll counter those things with 5 things that I do like:)
1) My current nails. They're not perfect, but those black tips were dang tricky.
2) Watching my kids grow. I took this picture of Cora in a skirt I helped her make, and I was like, I can't believe how grown up she looks?!!! And tomorrow I'm taking her to her first girl's camp for Young Women. Exciting times:)
3) This series of super heroes and villains that Alex drew.
That last one is Lex Luther;)
4) The four seasons. I know a lot of people appreciate milder climates, like the one we have here, but I prefer a wider range of temperature and weather. That's why I like Utah so much, and that's why I like South Korea so much. I want to be hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I want sun and snow, and fall foliage and spring blossoms. I want fabulous rain storms, with thunder and lightning, - in the spring when it makes everything smell so good and clean, and in the summer when it's warm enough to play in. I want to delight at the beginning of each season, and complain at the end of each season so I'm ready to welcome in the next one, and so on and so forth;)
5) Good food. I've been having some dang yummy food lately, either made by myself (pat on my back) or at new restaurants we've tried. I tried a new recipe for pork chops with apples. I'm not usually fond of mixing meats with fruits, but it was good. I finally got Joe to take me to an Indian restaurant. He thought it was as good as I knew he would. And yesterday our family went to Phil's Fish Market and Eatery in Moss Landing. Partly because we heard it was good, and partly because it was featured on The Food Network, which we are big fans of. You can watch the episode (Throw Down with Bobby Flay) here.....if you like that sort of thing;)
Of course, I had to order the Cioppino, and it was very good, and so was the clam chowder bowl, and so was the fried squid and shrimp. It was all good. Apparently, a LOT of people think it's all good, because the line was out the door when we got there, and it was out the door when we left. A bit pricey though, so we won't be taking the whole family back....but definitely for a date;)
We definitely need to find and try more places featured on the Food Network:)
