Junie B. Jones: Showtime, 567 days later!

 

We have read several "Junie B. Jones" books over the years. While I don't love some of the grammar (which is a bit "dumbed down" for kids) and language some of the time, Junie B. is a spunky little girl (KG- first grade) who provides some laughs and entertainment for young kids. 

Iver and I had tickets to see Junie B. Jones The Musical (put on by Main Stage Musicals, a local theater company that has put on some great shows) in March of 2020, over five hundred and sixty days ago. When the world shut down, the show did, too. It had been tentatively postponed one other time (and then moved again), but our Sunday tickets were auto-transferred to this past Sunday in October, more than a year and a half later, when COVID seemed "safer." I know that many other people have had to postpone much bigger things in their lives than a kids' theater show due to the pandemic (weddings, vacations, celebrations, and more), but knowing that the involved kids, who had worked so hard to practice, with stops, starts, and through all of the uncertainty of last year, could finally get their chance to perform and shine, was a truly great thing. 

The show was held, masked and outside, at Arcata's Redwood Park stage, and was a bit chilly, but "worth it" (per Iver. Kelvin took him since there was the possibility I'd get interrupted and called away as, unfortunately, it was my on-call weekend this month). We haven't done much of anything "show-like" due to the pandemic (except the circus in August), and it was a real treat (I so wish I could have gone!).

I'm so excited to re-enter the world of viewing shows, musical performances, and all other "live" entertainment. 

"The show must go on." Eventually, even five hundred and sixty-seven days later, all life does... 

Someecard

 When your first grade teacher is off for a few days...

 

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

 

Tooth #5 was lost last night (it was getting more and more crooked in his mouth and just dangling by a thread so I was thankful that "Papa just nudged it.").  Iver didn't put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy because I missed bedtime due to a birth and he wanted to show it to me the next morning!

Like & With the Elders

 

Kelvin's parents are again in town!  They always provide much-needed support for our family, from cooking (K's mom basically takes over and cooks delicious Vietnamese food), helping walking the dog while we're working, household maintenance (Kelvin's dad is extremely handy) and just being some more people to love on the kids (they also are here to watch them so K and I can sneak away for a adults-only work-week tennis getaway this week). Iver made the lovely sign above to welcome them! 

"Pretending" to be Grandma! 

Look! A library book by someone who shares Ba Ba's name! 

Iver is really into board games these days and knows a lot of card games as well. Kelvin has taught him to play Blackjack for chips, and here he is in a competitive battle (full of bluffing, "holding," "folding" and "all in") with Ong noi.

Katherine sent Kelvin these shirts for his birthday. As I often feel like during an on-call weekend when K does so much more of the parenting, I joked that my shirt (if I had one) should say the "Nearly Absent" or "The Irrelevant."

While I was managing a labor induction, the kids took the grandparents to another pumpkin patch (Huddie's Harvest).

Niall was very proud of his "tiny watermelon pumpkin."

What a spectacularly lovely fall Saturday it was.

Iver had recently expressed some musical interest at playing the piano. He was recently given the option to participate in after-school violin lessons and accepted!  Kelvin briefly played the violin as a youngster and I'm excited for this journey, although I can't help much. He wrote this all on his own!

Iver's been loving his swimming lessons and little brother also started having lessons "to be like his brother."

It's really striking me that the kids are growing up so fast.  May they always have so much love and respect for their elders! 

Skunk Cabbage Trail

After the week I had at the hospital, I was much in need of some outdoor “nature soul-restoring” time this weekend (as was my solar watch, which just gets further and further behind the more I work!). I talked Kelvin into taking the kids on the Skunk Cabbage Trail, a ~8 mile roundtrip hike just north of Orick on Saturday. Kelvin and I had last hiked it in 2013, while preparing for our Kilimanjaro climb (we apparently brought Pepper that time, but supposedly dogs aren't allowed on this trail so this time [especially as she's old and we had two kids in tow], we left her for the first time, not without some anxiety and an attempt at webcam spying by K, outside on our back deck while we took the day trip. Note: she was totally fine, but extremely happy to see us when we returned, six-and-a-half hours later). Iver showed us back in June that he is quite the capable young hiker, and we shared the load carrying the other one.

This little chatterbox talked and asked questions NONSTOP during the hike. 

One circular conversation went like this:

Me: Niall, the last time Papa and I hiked this trail, you weren't born yet.

Niall: Where was I?!

Me: You weren't alive yet.

Niall: Was I dead?!

Me: No, you just weren't created yet.

Niall: But then where was I?!  Dead?!

This is the "skunk cabbage" plant for which this trail is named (thanks to Kellie who pointed this out on one of our walks).

Clover hearts

Horse-shaped tree!

Iver was on high alert for bears and other creatures. We only saw small critters.... and poop.

"Cuddling" banana slugs (said Niall).

We saw a few small snakes.

Spot the snail!

Lots of 'shrooms!

Lovely lupine

About four miles in, we met the coastal trail to Gold Bluffs Beach.

We enjoyed our packed lunch while we watched the waves through the fog.

Iver's favorite place (making the hike worth it!)-- the beach.

(The kids may or may not have been bribed with Swedish Fish for this picture and the return hike).

This was the only person who walked the whole eight miles without complaining about his legs or back!

We saw a few hikers coming in as we were heading back to the parking lot, but mostly had the whole trail to ourselves. Carrying this guy home was tiring, especially on the initial uphill section returning from the beach (and at one point, I had to play some music on my phone to drown him out since I was physically so tired from the load and couldn't mentally hang with the incessant commentary), but we did it!

It was another successful hike for the family (however, I will be so thrilled once the current three-year-old deadweight is able to hike some on his own!).