Our Neverland (PG&E's Tricks, and Treats during Halloween Week 2019)

This weekend, we were warned (with 48 hours' notice this time) of another PG&E "public safety shut off" planned for Saturday night (with an estimated outage 2-5 days) due to concerns of the power lines with respect to raging wildfires in Sonoma county south of us.

As was the last outage, it was inconvenient and mildly stressful with two little kids, but not terrible. Our next-door neighbor, whose husband is machine-dependent, allowed us to run an extension cord to her generator, which allowed us to plug in our fridge (and alternate the hook-up with plugging in the hot water heater to bathe) and which was a total life saver (I HATE to waste food and breastmilk). We were able to heat up food on our gas-range stove (although the hood didn't work so we still set off the smoke alarms) to eat, but sent the kids with "cool lunches." The power returned on Monday afternoon while we were at work, after a 40-hour outage. We were warned that another outage was to occur on Tuesday morning at 4 a.m., possibly for another couple of days, which then got postponed until Tuesday night ("TRICK!"), but it didn't happen, so we got to keep our power for the rest of the week ("TREAT!")

What didn't go as planned: the "hot dog mummies" that I planned to make for Iver's Halloween school celebration didn't happen because the local  grocery stores were all out of perishable food as of Monday (and were still out later in the week!). I scrambled to make some no-bake chocolate/fruit/nut clusters, which were just "eh." We've been eating frozen vegetables with most meals.

The up-side: Niall learned several new words/phrases: "fash-yight" (flashlight) "no yight" (no light), "dark," and "batteries." He enjoyed reading by lantern-light.

Things that went on as planned: Mandy and Sam's weekend Halloween party (which was to be a "go" with or without power, she said!)

The hosts

Mandy and her aunt, Tammy

 

I made these pizza ghost bagels to bring. They certainly aren't pinterest-worthy, but they tasted ok! 

 

Mandy's bloody punch...

... and spooky wines

Iver chose to be Peter Pan for his costume this year and thus our family costume revolved around this idea.  

(Niall had, but didn't want to wear, the croc costume. Here's Peter with Captain Hook).

 (I'm Wendy)

Boo!

with bud, Connor

with buddy Ben and Noah

The littles (Noah, Milo, Niall) at Mandy's

 "Off!"

(Trying to get infants/toddlers to look at a camera is impossible)

Iver and Niall both had school celebrations/Halloween parades (which we couldn't attend due to work schedules), but we saw some great photos and video from other parents.

Niall with beloved teacher Gloria

Sean & Jenna joined us for neighborhood trick-or-treating with their kiddos.

 Family Halloween photo (me as Wendy holding the Darlings' nanny-dog, "Nana," Niall as croc, Iver as Peter Pan, and K as Hook)

The kids had a blast toddling around. Niall was a bit overtired at the end, but Iver enjoyed two precious pieces of candy and went to bed without a fight.

The week was a bit of a stressful one, in part due to work inefficiencies and in part due to the running around before and during the outage, but the lights were back on for dark-and-spooky Halloween. That was certainly a treat!

Back-2-school

Iver has been in "Pre-K" for just under two months, and is pretty settled in (despite some obvious anxiety and corresponding behavior in the first few weeks).  There are two classrooms and the one that Iver is in had an evening "Open House" on Tuesday where they got to show us around their classroom (including with a scavenger hunt), say hi to their teachers (for more than the brief hi/bye during drop-off or pick-up) and the class pet, a bearded dragon named "Spike," and to socialize with some other parents. 

While we heard (from some other parents, who are both elementary school teachers) that some schools' back-to-school nights are supposed to be kid-free (i.e. they left their four-year-old with a sitter at home, thinking she wasn't allowed to come!), this was open to kids and siblings! Niall had a grand old time playing with the (new-to-him) toys and playyard equipment.

 

Some of Iver's artwork 

 

Iver loves playing on the school's jungle gym (one of his teachers says he makes her nervous when he does the upside-down tricks, but we've not had any major injuries...yet).

 

We love the kids' (daycare) "schools." The teachers/staff at LL are truly excellent people and caregivers who always make me that my kids are loved, which frees me to relax and do my day job without guilt or worry.  It's hard to believe that in one year we'll have an actual kindergartner (and almost preschooler), and this is the start of many more back-to-school nights and years!

Auntie & Uncle out west! (& Niall turns 20 months)

My sister Vanessa and her husband Marco took a trip out from Virginia to the opposite, west coast last week. They attended a friend's wedding in San Francisco and then drove the 5 hours up to our neck of the woods for their first visit to Humboldt (ever, and since we've lived here for 8 years) to stay with us for three nights.

It was a pretty mellow but nice visit! It rained about half of the time they were here. I took Wednesday off work and we hiked Trinidad Head and ate a nice seafood lunch at Seascape.

 

 

 

There was lots of reading time with the boys.

Niall really took to Uncle "Marto" (he is still struggling with the "k" sound) and every morning asked where he was (trying to sleep in the guest room next to the boys' room!).

Iver and Vanessa got lots of board-game-playing in. We busted out Bazaar and (Iver's favorite) Enchanted Forest from my childhood.

Nephew snuggles!

Marco and Vanessa explored some of Eureka's old town on Thursday, enjoyed more local seafood at Arcata's Salt Restaurant, and joined us for park time at monkey-bar-heavy Redwood Park.

Niall turned 20 months last week during their visit, and here are some recent photos.

Looking like such a big boy!

This little guy is quite the chatterbox, with many two-word phrases now and hundreds of words. He knows his colors, and can say red, blue, green (geen!), blue (boo!), yellow, white, black ("back"), brown, and "purple." He's thriving in the toddler room at school. He has a great appetite (his latest favorite food is salami!) and is still nursing twice a day. He has been doing some early morning waking, but sometimes makes it until 6 a.m. He is definitely throwing some more tantrums than previously, and is very mischievous, but is still more easygoing than our firstborn (currently!).  He loves mimicking and playing with his brother.

Caught messing with Papa's computer

Lying in front of the vent heater, which Iver also loved to do!

We'll see Vanessa and Marco again in December around Christmas time. The growing boys can't wait!