California!

It had been a few years since we had gotten on a plane and headed west to visit our friends Kerri and Jeff, and Jon's brother's family, out in California.  Then Ildar moved in with us and we started talking about what parts of ye olde USA would he love to see.  Turns out he had been California dreaming.  So we booked us some tickets and snuck out of icy Minnesota over a long MLK weekend.  We absolutely lucked out on the weather, with every day reaching the mid-70's and the sun shining from dawn until dusk.  It was a welcome break from the dark cold days we had been having at home.  One of the first days, as we were driving up the coast in our rented wheels, Ildar took out his earbuds and said, "You know, my music just doesn't match the mood out here."  I haven't ever listened to his music, but I think he tends toward darker, angstier artists than say, the Beach Boys.  Theo quickly queued up the tune California from the O.C. for Ildar and then we introduced him to Jack Johnson, which apparently worked better.  Now that we are back in MN, he has apparently downloaded a bunch of Beach Boys tunes and is addicted. 

Anyway- our trip was a hootenany with lots of beach time, good laughs with good friends, and some quick peeks into the world of LA.  20 minutes at Venice Beach was enough for me, perhaps I would have liked it more if I would have taken up any of the hundreds of offers to buy me some medical marijuana.  Clearly I was showing some symptoms of chronic illness, because many people tried to treat me.  And this comes from a person who spent two years on the beaches in the Caribbean without ever being offered drugs.  I did enjoy watching the roller skating dancers and the amazingly skilled skateboarders.  There was one little guy who was about 4 who amazed our entire family.  Universal Studios was entertaining, as long as I didn't dwell on how much we had paid to be entertained in such a fashion.  But we spotted no stars.  I was longing for a peak at Johnny Depp.  I do adore him.  Jon, my own personal guide to the stars, informed me that Johnny lives in France, so I should stop rubbernecking, hoping for a glimpse.  We took the twisty road up to the Hollywood sign (well not all the way up, but close enough for me to get a little carsick) and strolled on the walk of fame for a while.  There was a big event happening with spotlights and crowds and I got a little excited, but once we got close enough we found out the stars being photographed were.....muppets.  I saw Kermit, but couldn't get close enough for his autograph.  shoot. 

A highlight of the trip for me was watching my boys delight in their 2 year old cousin Dara.  One morning Eli was sitting on the couch, all plugged into his ipod, earphones and all, playing some game.  I swear if I had tried to ask him a question, I would not have penetrated his cloud of concentration.  But little Dara came over, put her hand on his knee, looked up into his face, and in two seconds Eli had unplugged and engaged with his cousin.  His game forgotten on the couch.  Loved it.  I have to admit, I would unplug from almost anything to spend some time with that little ball of energy.  She is something special. 

And now we're home.  When we landed in St. Paul at the dinner hour it was dark and icy and below zero. But there are still Beach Boy tunes being played, we still have a little excess vitamin D pumping through our systems, and still are getting some laughs over our memories from last week. 

The bonds of childhood friends

The other night as Theo was getting ready for bed he was giving me the inside scoop about why he liked his friend Lowell so much.  Here's his monologue:  "It's just that Lowell and I are so much alike.  I mean, we both like nature so much.  We both have plans to live out in the woods when we are older.  And we love animals.  And we both think that money is what is corrupting the world."  That one caught my attention.  I had a little laugh to think about these sweet 8 year old boys bonding over money corrupting the world.  Not baseball, or worms, or even a shared love of noodles.  But the corrupting power of money.  I suppose Theo should know, because he has in his long and storied past fallen under money's captivating spell, wanting, needing, pining for the next thing he can buy.  But now that I think about it, we just got back from a trip to California without Theo spending too much time, and NO money, in gift shops.  Maybe a tide is turning.  I bet he wouldn't mind at all if we stopped giving him an allowance....

Fact or fiction?

Last night as I was driving Eli and Theo, and their pal Theo (gets a little confusing at times...) home from fencing, we got a serious case of the giggles.  It started with pal Theo talking about the song Greensleeves.  He was telling some story about music class.  Eli then piped up from the back seat with something like, "You know, according to Dr. John Dee, Greensleeves was actually a code name for Queen...." he was just starting to get into a serious monologue when I interrupted and asked how he knew this.  From a book he was reading.  We mentioned to him that the book was fiction.  To which he asserted, "I DO know the difference between fact and fiction." and then jumped back into his Dr. John Dee speech which included the somewhat shady info that the good doctor was actually an 'immortal humani'.  So I then asked him if immortal humanis were fact or fiction and he yelled out 'FACT....Wait!  I mean fiction....wait! I got confused.'  Which seriously damaged my confidence in him as a fact finder.  Eli then took my phone and looked up Dr. John Dee, who supposedly was a confidant of some queen back in the day.  But not, it appears, an immortal humani because his death was centuries ago.  Somehow the conversation then changed to Anne Boleyn and from there to Marie Antoinette.  Friend Theo brought up the phrase 'Let them eat cake' to which Eli quietly added, "Actually, there are two words for cake in French and for some reason the word attributed to Marie Antoinette is the more common word, which makes one think..." That's where we intterupted him him, demanding a source.  He of course claimed another book of fiction.  We gave him more crap, which he clearly deserved, but I must say, the kid does have a good memory for trivial details.  We dropped off brother Theo at home to get a jump on his homework, and Eli rode along to friend Theo's to give me some company.  After dropping the second Theo, I was saying to Eli how much I enjoyed laughing with him, and that I loved his wit, and his ability to laugh at himself, and especially how he can come up with a quick...quick....quick....I just could NOT come up with the word 'rebuttal'.  On my fourth repetition of the word quick Eli just about died laughing because he knew, of course, what word I was looking for and loved the irony of the situation.  Which made me love him even more. 

Purple Wax Perfection

I admit that I am somewhat of a cross-country skiing geek.  I'm not anything like some of those lycra-ed guys with the yellow lenses in their goggle/glasses (...jon...cough...) but I do know my kick waxes.  I am starting to feel like I am one of a dying breed of classic style skiers as everyone around me converts to skating, and I do skate ski when classic is impossible, but I try to stay true to my 17 year old pair of waxable skies.  I can walk outside in winter, take a sniff of the weather and tell you what wax would be best on your skies.  They come in a range from white (polar!) to the warmer tones in the rainbow- the reds and purples.  Each wax has a corresponding temperature range and if you put on the wrong wax  your ski turns into either a slip sliding dangerous flailing, or a sticky grudge with no glide whatsoever.  So you have to get it right.  Most waxes have a range of 10-15 degrees, but then there's the purple.  It is from -1 to 1 degree celsius.  There are not many purple wax ski days.  But when one rolls around, I hate to miss it.  Yesterday was a glorious purple wax day.  The sun was high and almost felt hot, there was no wind, and the snow was in top condition.  I didn't have time to sneak away to the woods somewhere so just bolted down to the golf course for an hour, but it was a lovely hour indeed.  In November when winter is just starting up, it's hard to believe that you would ever venture outside at 31 degrees in just a long underwear top- but indeed I did.  And I got sweaty.  Love that. 

Today looks like it will hit the purple zone in an hour or so, but by afternoon warm right over into the red zone.  I stay away from that- that red wax has the consistency of bubble gum and once it is on your skies you find it everywhere- your coat, your boots, your hair, your steering wheel. Plus, once we hit the red wax it means the snow is starting to melt, which hurts my heart.  Just checked- it's 25 and rising.  I have five degrees before go time!

Tooth Fairy Declares a Snow Emergency

So last weekend in Minnesota we had a full on blizzard.  There was so much snow in the cities that the school districts closed both Monday and Tuesday- even though the snow came through on Saturday.  That is unheard of and I do believe that school officials got us confused with somewhere like Kansas for a while.  But I must admit it was fun.  And in the middle of it Eli bit down on some candy and popped out a tooth.  This one came out whole, unlike the half tooth he spat out a week earlier, and he quickly tucked it into an envelope and stashed it under his pillow.  Where he found it the next morning.  And the morning after that....  It took 3 whole days for the tooth fairy to get here and claim it.  Seems as if she too declared a snow emergency that weekend.  And then there must have been an awful backlog of teeth to collect because it sure took her awhile to get over here.  Theo did thoughtfully point out that our windows were frozen shut after that blizzard, which he happens to know about because we tried to open one so we could jump out of it and into a gigantic drift during the storm, and maybe that was holding up the poor fairy.  Whatever the case, it seems that she is back on schedule now and probably ready for any other teeth that might go missing over the holiday break.  Whew. 

International House of French Toast

We suddenly became the proprietors of a youth hostel last night.  The blizzard that struck the cities actually shut the buslines down, which in turn stranded Ildar and 5 fellow foreign exchange student friends at the Mall of America.  We had several phone consultations, and at one point the 6 teens were going to try to stay overnight at the mall.  But then they learned everyone was getting kicked out by 9, regardless of if they had anywhere to go.  Or that was their understanding.  So we needed a plan B.  Our car was snowed into the alley and there was going to be no getting it out, but Jon happened upon a lovely neighbor who was up for an adventure.  The two of them took about a half hour to get the two blocks to Snelling Avenue, but from there were in the clear.  So I called Ildar and told the crew to hop a train to the 46th street station- which it turns out they did, only they shot right past the stop and had to get out a ways down, run across the platform and jump one coming back south.  But on pass number two they all got out and trudged through the hip deep drifts to a Walgreens where they huddled until Jon and Pat drove up in an SUV.  All 6 piled in and they made it back here with only having to get out and push twice.  They came in relieved to get out of the cold, and a bit damp- so we dug out sweatpants and socks for all takers and threw a load into the dryer.   We were able to find enough sheets and blankets and blow up mattresses to get them all mostly comfortable so that after a game of monopoly and a movie they were all able to get some sleep.  Except Theo- who was so keyed up to have a houseful of teenagers that he had real trouble turning it off for the night. He was right in the middle of their game, abusing power as the banker, attempting to give secret loans to his new best friend from Ukraine. 
In the morning we burned through 3 (small) loaves of bread at the International House of French Toast to feed the troops and then we were able to find enough winterwear to outfit our own private shovelling corps.  The five guys tackled the snow with much vigor, helping several neighbors and pushing out lots of stranded cars.  I think they enjoyed themselves.  I would have been out there too, but the boy from Yemen was wearing my boots, the Ukrainian was in my mittens, and the Moldovan was wearing my snowpants.  That left me and my boys, plus a Ukrainian girl, inside getting some tea and cocoa ready.  By noon they had all been picked up and our house almost echoed with the silence after being inundated with teens for the past 18 hours. 

All in all, it was great fun to have them here.  Even if they did demolish almost all of the four dozen cookies I had made just that afternoon!  I suppose that when you look at the hours of shovelling help we got out of the deal this morning, we got off easy.  Eli summed up the experience by saying, "Well, I guess you just never know what you are agreeing to when you say you will host an exchange student!"  But after watching Theo basking in the glow of his six new best friends, I'd say that it still seems worth it.

Kato is in the house

Last night when Eli slipped into the bathroom before bed I took the opportunity to sneak into his room and hide under his covers.  He has one of those huge comforters and I was hoping that he would not notice that I was under there.  Sure enough, he came in, leaned over on the bed, resting his hand on my covered face, in order to turn on his reading light and didn't notice a thing.  He left again to find a book and when he returned sat on part of me.  I got the serious giggles so couldn't really attack him like I had planned, but I still was able to procure a pretty good scream.  Ildar never knew of this chain of events because he was downstairs talking with Jon.  But somehow he got the same idea.  Tonight the boys were all hanging out in the living room and when Eli came in to help me with some biscuit making Ildar burrowed under the couch cushions and some blankets.  Five minutes later when Eli returned to so some more reading, Ildar pounced. 
I don't know what it is about Eli that elicits this desire in people, but the good thing is, he doesn't seem to hold a grudge.  Which is good, because I'm heading up to get under his covers right now.