Yesenia Gets a Job!

Today was the first day of work for Yesenia. She is working in midtown Sacramento for (you guessed it) an optometrist. The Dr. was impressed with her background and expertise. She passed the intensive interview process (with 3 interviewers). The office is on Capitol Avenue and within walking distance of trendy shops and fun restaurants. She was a good sport posing for pictures at 8:45 this morning before walking upstairs.

Deke

Gio

halloween costume and surf in the Fall

It's hard to see, but Robby's on the blue longboard.
I decided to make a Halloween costume for monet this year.  She's a mermaid.  Not to be cheap (because I definitely am) but I couldn't find anything I really liked.  The thing that does bug me is that it ends up costing almost more to make clothes these days, but I had so much fun.   
I love the change of seasons.  It's been foggy in the mornings in Huntington.  I took these of Robby longboarding by the pier.  I rode my bike down with monet in the bike seat.  The waves were mellow and perfect for walking the board.  It would have been a perfect day for me to surf, but my stomach is a little too big.  If it were really perfect, I guess I could knee paddle.  Robby's pretty excited to be able to walk backwards on his board and not fall off.  
He's the one on the right in this one.  

My very own little prince

The Little Prince is one of my favorite stories ever. I never thought I'd have a son with blond curly hair like the little prince. I do! yay! and I want to dress him up as the Little Prince for halloween. Any suggestions on how I can make this happen? I looked on line for costumes but didn't find any.

By the way if you haven't read the book Christian left the copy I gave him in Hawaii. You should read it. If you haven't watched the movie I also highly suggest it. I have two copies of the movie at home and will gladly lend it.

anyway, if you come upon a little prince costume for some crazy reason let me know.
thanks.

Mimi Report

"How is Mimi?" I get this a lot. She is comfortable and content. She chooses not to worry and to be happy. She enjoyed the visit to the blog just now. Switzerland,Brasil, and Capitola, CA. She finds us funny (in a good way.) Keeps up with the Sunday School lesson, not to mention local and world events. Laughs out loud at the funnies; works the daily crossword puzzle and always has at least one book going. Watched the debates and the commentary. She is easily amused AND never takes herself too seriously. She is living long and living well. Mimi is "moving through space with beauty and grace". (From a bumper sticker that was posted on the fridge at the Sacramento Ballet studio.)

Bubbles

Little waimea cliff diving

Capitola Beach gives back

 

 When I returned from Hawaii I checked our answering machine and sure enough our bags were found. The police department from the next town over, Capitola, found our bags in some garage of rental apartments. Luckily they identified it was ours by Enzo's prescription fluoride that was in there. On Monday I went to pick up was was left. Anything that was worth $anything$ was gone including a lot of clothes. However, we did get some clothes back and our suit cases, so we were happy. Unfortunetly, other cars were broken in to that same night here at family student housing, including our good friend's car that had his windows broken. I guess it was a good thing we left our doors open after all. Anyway...going to Capitola to pick up our bags was a good experience because I got to see the town a tiny bit. Right before our trip Christian had gone there to look at a long board and kept telling me how cute the town was and how we needed to go have a beach day there. Yesterday we went and it was a lot of fun. I love all the colors and quiant arquitecture.

 

It's been super hot here. Let's see how long it will last...

New Tie Dye

Here are the boys modeling their newest tie dye. Zeke knows how to say cheese for the camera. He is learning a lot of new words. He is really starting to talk a lot. He sounds more like a baby than Gio ever did though.

Herzogenbuchsee, Bern, Luzern - Switzerland

Hallo! (one of the only words I learned in German. Well, that and 'Ja'.) Here are some photos from my visit to Switzerland. It was beautiful (as expected), green, had lots of cows (their bells were so melodic) and horses, and the cheese was amazing, but smelled pretty intense. I had a lot of fun visiting the Romers. We went to a chocolate factory and a cookie factory and they had to introduce me to the world of Swiss sweets, which is much better than it is in the U.S. I ate way too much chocolate (as expected), but it was worth every bite. I think I gained 1 kilo and some change while I was there, which I have come to know is actually 2.2 lbs. (My weight gain is pretty apparent in photo #7.) I'm learning the conversions slowly, but kind of surely.

North Park Drive

Brothers!

tony loves fruit

tony was super excited about this fruit that we bought at the market. it was really cheap and they had these bananas de leite (milk bananas) here that tony has been craving for like six years. not to be confused with apple bananas or bananas de ouro (gold bananas). but the bananas here are good. i don't really like bananas on the mainland. but i still like hawaii apple bananas the best. i guess it's just what you are used to.

It's so much easier being a twin

You can click on the image to enlarge it, but if you don't want to, the answer is always Christian. Unless he's wearing a different color and then it's Adam W.

Baby boy

These photos were taken yesterday.  Pretty exciting.  Ultrasound machines are amazing.  The tech looked at the heart's four chambers, the kidneys, fingers, toes,  facial structure, and a lot more.  Everything is normal and for sure it's a boy.  Of course we didn't care either way, but I feel pretty lucky to be having one of each.  I asked monet if she wanted her baby brother to be Eli or Isaac and her answer was, "I want my baby brother to be.....a turtle."  Which name do you like?  We're leaning towards Isaac, but Robby's not totally jazzed about either.  We do not have the same taste in names...at all.  But those are the only two we somewhat agree on. 

Remembering Summer

Yesterday morning marked the autumnal equinox: day and night being equally balanced for one day. As we forge ahead (falling forward, as it were) it is sweet to reflect on summer days past.

FYI on reading the OED

Visiting Stanford 1960

For anyone who likes words, this is a Sacramento Bee article about a guy who devoted a year to reading the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary (all 29 volumes, over 21,000 pages of 59 million words).

First Day of Preschool

Enzo started preschool today. We feel so lucky to have gotten into this school. Thanks to ward family nepotism my friend who takes care of enrollment got us in. It's a co-op that started in the 70's and has an awesome facility, awesome teacher, and awesome resources. There are 12 kids enrolled in Enzo's class which meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. Half of the parents work on Tuesday and the other half work on Thursday. There is also a teacher whom Enzo liked right off the bat because she sings and plays the harp. She also liked Enzo and said he was so sweet when we left and she heard him say "bye-bye teacher" He was actually saying "bye-bye choo-choo" but whatever.

He loves playing house and putting thngs away especially in small containers or baskets.
















I love this picture of him and two other little boys playing dress up and house.

Home Sweet Home

we've been back for 24 hours and I've already managed to

1. Call Christian on the phone at least 10 times. This is what happens when you don't get to hear your husband's voice for over 2 weeks. If I wasn't his wife I would definitely qualify as stalker. He takes this gracefully whereas my sisters tease me every time I call.
2. See at least 100 Obama signs and t-shirts. I want to convince the mayor to shut down the town for the next couple months and force every one to move to a swing state.
3. pick up 3 hitch hikers.
4. been asked if I needed a ride. When I'm alone I hitch hike all the time. With Enzo it's a different story.
5. remark repeatedly "the view from this place (parking lot) is insane!" We have a fabulous view of the bay.
   
6. make my immaculate house (thank you awesome subletters) into a ginormous mess. I'm blaming it on the unpacking process and Enzo's ecstatic state of seeing all his toys and his need to pull them out and have them all sprad put on the floor.
   
7. take Enzo to music class where we got to sing songs about peace and tofu with fellow hippy parents.
   
8. Get in a fight with a hippy mom. Luckily this family does not live here but they visit often. Their 5 year old son always hits Enzo whenever he's around. Today Enzo was sitting inside my house eating a granola bar. The kid saw Enzo from the window came inside my house and hit him almost knocking Enzo out of the chair. All this in front of me. I yelled at the kid and when I went to talk to his mom she said I should lock my gate. Hummm "your stupid son opens the gate" and then I procced to get in a fight with her. I love this place but I hate how parents around here believe that raising free spirited kids means that they have NO limits. The kid never got a time out or had to say he was sorry. Next time he came by I pulled him aside and wispered "if you hit Enzo again I swear I will hit you so hard you will no longer be able to ride that stupid tri-cycle of yours" sure I said it in a moment of rage but I meant every word of it.
9. have a total melt down when I realized that the poopy smell in my room was poop. Enzo took off his diaper in the closet pooped his pants and smeared it mostly on the white sheets that I was about to put on the bed. He also got it on the walls, and on a bunch of clothes that were just out of the closet.
10. commit myself to a union meeting tomorrow after church. I'm so exhuasted what was I thinking? I'm off to bed. Good Night!
    

sao paulo

we made it to brasil. here is some proof. we had a fun day in the city despite the constant drizzle. i guess it is our fault for coming in winter. wish you could be here.

Corumbau Marine Extractive Reserve

I got back from the two weeks in the Bahia in northeastern Brazil doing preliminary research for my doctoral dissertation. I talked to lots of people, took lots of notes, and walked on the beach to get between towns. Most of the towns have dirts roads, just got electricity a year or two ago, and are nice, peaceful, and beautiful. Besides missing Damaris and Enzo the whole time the trip was interesting and productive. I camped ou the whole time and found a nice lake with a diving board. It was a good trip and I have 400 more pictures to show anyone who is interested.

Is this Adam?

I am hoping that someone (Pam?) can identify this baby. Colleen and I are not 100% sure.