My 4 yr old monster

Four years ago this little creature entered our world. Life has never been the same.

All hallow's eve

All Hallows Eve

Spooky. Scary. A night intended to scare off the demons.

But what I finally realized tonight, is that it is anything but.

I've never been a huge Halloween person. I've had my share of parties and been to my share, but if it didn't happen, I probably wouldn't have missed it. But now I have kids. And they're All. About. Halloween.  Dressing up, getting candy.

Sami, Will and Lenaïc 2010

But now, what I realize Halloween is really all about? Neighborhood. Community. What is "trick or treating" if not a way to become part of the neighborhood? And the way we do it, Lavaca style, it's all about the 'hood. See, when we first moved here, there weren't many kids and it was not exactly the coolest place to be. Halloween saw precious few kids. Around the same time, the trend for kids to trek to the "cool" neighborhoods became the norm. And by "cool" I mean where they could get the most loot. But while our closest neighborhood is THE place to be, some years ago we realized that trick or treating with truck loads of roving teens was not so fun for 2-4 yr olds. So a few neighbors decided it was time to Take Back Our 'Hood.

2011

And so we did. We started with a pre-party for the kiddos to get fueled up on "healthy food" (i.e. something that wasn't candy), check out costumes, take a group picture, and head out. The neighbors, long since accustomed to so few kids coming by, were THRILLED.

Lenaïc, Sami, and Will 2011

2012

Attempting to herd cats, 2013

And here we area, 4 years later. It was our turn to host the pre-party. We saw old friends and made new ones. We connected with our usual neighbors, we made friends with new neighbors, we sent kids out trick or treating, and then with friends to our next-neighborhood to pass out candy to the masses. I sat, realizing, that Halloween is really just, or most importantly, about community. And oh, how lucky my kids are to have that.

Will, Sami, and Lenaïc, 2013

 After all, what is Halloween, without friends and neighbors?

KWAKs!

KWAKs are our King William Area Kids. We parents, I like to call "SAPs" - Southtown Area Parents.

Because one can have too many parties, every year during Fiesta (a city-wide, 10 day series of events), our KWAKs participates in the King William Parade. The http://kwfair.org/parade/>parade
kicks off the King William Fair a sort of arts gala and tribute to the funky and weird that is my neighborhood (King William is the fancier side of Southtown). The local newspaper described the parade as "geared towards families." And it is, if your family enjoys drag queens. My family does, so it's all good.
Ok, not ALL drag queens, but the KW Parade is all about anything goes. Quirky, funky, strange, serious, funny, real, and unreal. For a number of years now, the kids in the 'hood jump on the trailer made into a float and sing, cheer, and sometimes pout.







Needing to get things off to a fun start, we decided to merge our Friday playdate (just a few kids...) with the float decorating party and move it all to our house.




While the kids played, the parents worked, then the kids worked, and despite the drizzle off and on, we created a float.

 And on Saturday, the kids went wild. And then we all partied some more. These days, we don't bother going to the Fair itself. After the parade we hang out at our friends' house along the parade route, enjoy our neighbors, then stumble home.

We didn't get too many pics of the actual parade, but we got the important part - the KWAKs! 
Click HERE for more

Kids in the 'Hood - Easter

Every year our neighborhood has an Easter Egg Hunt. A wonderful family who live across from Upper Mill Park collect eggs all week (every family is asked to leave 1 dozen per kid) then spend the wee hours of the morning hiding them. This year they brought some bunnies too. And it was a record year - well over 100 eggs to be hidden!

The 3 yr olds and under go first, then they big kids count down 60 seconds, and race off.

I cheat though. While I left off my 2 dozen eggs, I brought another dozen in my bag. Having seen my own kid confused my the whole "race to get as many as possible" idea, and there are usually a few late arrivals, I keep my stash and hide one at a time for the little ones. After awhile, I was re-hiding Lenaïc's own eggs, since really all he cared about was finding eggs. And it helped to have a few to hide for his buddy Will.

The kids have a blast hunting for eggs and playing with friends.

For more pictures of the Hunt, click HERE


The Egg Hunt was followed by two birthday parties and a dinner party. All the better that none required getting in the car!

So we spent Easter Sunday relaxing, well, until Angelina went next door and found they were going to another egg hunt and invited herself along....Oh, and if you consider my working 6 hours in the yard as relaxing.

What a great neighborhood!

Why I Love Lavaca part XXIVI

Yesterday was another regular sunny Sunday with no commitments. Well, that part was unusual as we often have some local activity happening. But anyway...

One neighbor posts a note on Facebook that his kid wants to kick around a soccer ball. A few of us say we'll join them. After playing an hour or so and all are ready to stop, Angelina yells "every one over to my house!"

Parents conferred and agreed it was ok. An entourage of kids head over, on the way we see another neighborhood family on the river, invite them to join us.  Soon we have 9 kids playing in the yard.

Frederic reminds me he wants to drive out to see the comet - west of here, where the viewing is better.  The other parents wanted to see it as well. We also realize it's dinner time.  Though I haven't gone shopping, I scrounge up everything in my pantry and fridge while others run home to see what they can bring from their fridges and gardens. We manage a feast for 6 adults and 7 kids (plus one baby). We eat and caravan to the west end for comet viewing.

Just another day in the neighborhood.

Southtown Kids, take 2

I sit here in my partially renovated 1880s-era Southtown house, soaking in the quiet.  So calm and peaceful with no kids in the neighborhood. Well, that’s because it’s 10 am and they’re all at school. If I were to write this at 3:30 pm, well, I wouldn’t. There would be too many distractions - kids laughing, kids playing in the street, kids chasing the dog in the yard, kids playing on our trampoline, or slide, or playhouse or, in the summer, our pool, kids going back and forth between houses on the block, like they’re all part of one family.

But, “No families live downtown.”

And so, coming back to my computer late at night, it went today. By 4pm, at least 10 neighborhood kids were in our yard playing, and a few non neighborhood kids who come to Southtown because “this is where all the fun is.” In the summer this is a weekly event. In the winter, it’s about once per month, not including all the other impromptu events with kids.

Every day we walk our older child to the neighborhood school, with smiles and cheers for our beloved crossing guards.  We watch a neighbor ride his bike to school, another ride his scooter with his dad – a teacher at the local school, and 2 younger sisters, while my 3 year old follows along on his tricycle. Just a few of many kids on foot or bike.

But there are no kids in Southtown.

And then there’s KWAKs – King William Area Kids, a group organized to get parents in Southtown together for fun and kid activities. These include bike rides on the Riverwalk (we don’t even have to get in a car), nature walks and scavenger hunts along the river, Easter egg hunts, picnics at Chris Park, and, for the one activity that requires getting in a car – a neighborhood campout.  The first campout was so much fun, that the second annual campout spots filled up in a matter of hours.     

I wonder if the kids I see every day are really invisible, since one reporter believes, from driving around, that “no kids live in Southtown.”

If we “young professionals” or “aging hipsters” fancy a beer and a bite, we head over to The Friendly Spot.  So friendly it has a playground and on any given day a ton of kids running around. Or to Alamo Street Eat Bar, where the neighborhood kids come up with elaborate, creative games while eating gyros or bahn mi. Or we walk for a taco at Taco Haven.  And then, we walk home. Walk? You know, that thing you do with two feet, that doesn’t require a vehicle, gas, emissions and all that fun stuff.

I think Southtown must be filled with aliens under 4 ft tall, since no human kids live here.  Or so says one local reporter.

For those of us who come from far away lands, with no family nearby, we learned the value of a community. We know that, should I require an emergency hospital stay while the other parent of my children is out of the country, there is no hesitation. My children have “extended” family – not blood relations, but neighbors, friends – who will take them in in a heartbeat.  We know that, when we have other health or family crises, or when we just need a mental health break, our neighborhood community is there to step in and help – so many in fact that we have to say “Thanks but we’re covered for now.”

But there is no “community” in Southtown,  “it's basically an apartment complex spread across several blocks of tree-covered lots. It will not evolve.”

I moved to Southtown as a single young professional, when it was far edgier and far less hip than it is now.  I later met someone, fell in love, bought a house around the corner from my rental in Southtown; had kids, and am now raising them in our beloved Southtown, among what my 6 year old describes as her “family.” In her mind, Southtown is one big commune, and all her neighbors – including those without kids, including those straight, gay, single, married and all colors of the rainbow  – are her family.  

Southtown has evolved. It has evolved back to what it was in its earliest days: a community of people who share their lives, and a place where my kids know they belong.  It will continue to evolve. It will evolve so that our kids’ kids can live here too.

But, apparently none of us really exist, since “there will never be herds of little kids riding bicycles to the corner store or playing street football.” Except, oops, there go those kids riding their bikes and playing football in the street.

Southtown Kids!

An ignorant reporter recently wrote an article about our neighborhood, claiming there were no kids, and therefore the "hip" neighborhood would eventually die as the "young" professionals who live here would eventually move out to the suburbs once we married and had kids.

While I like being referred to as "young,"  this poor piece of journalism could not be more wrong.

Just another summer day in the 'hood (literally, this was a weekly event this past summer)

July 4th King William Celebration - apparently these kids are invisible

And fun isn't only in summer - this was December

Hipster kids at an Election Night Party

Quotable Quotes

There will be many more coming, but for now, here's one:

Upon seeing a police car on the road, Lenaïc shouted, "Look! Police! Woo-Wooo. Wooo-Wooo!" (imitating a siren). Then it passed us with no lights or sirens, and he said "The police car must be out of batteries."

An Advertisement for L.L. Bean

More stories of California adventures to come, but for now, a mini-advert.

In February 1992, I took a ski trip with my sister and her family to Colorado. Her son Richard, 2 years old, wore a lovely green snow suit and jacket from L.L. Bean.  A few weeks ago, digging for snow clothes for Lenaïc in Chris and Debbie's storage, I came across the very same outfit. Not only has it lasted 21 years, but it's gone through at least three Rohr kids, and probably the two Bowen Boys in between, and maybe a few more. If that's not an advert for quality, I don't know what is! Rich, now 22, all grown up and visiting with his girlfriend, was happy to see his name still marked inside the jacket.

And of course they're pretty darned cute.

THREE Years Old!

It's hard to believe that three years ago today I was wondering if these little pains were signs of early labor.  I'd already decided to work from home that day, but couldn't focus. Should I cancel the girls' night I had planned to host that night? Should I send the construction worker finishing a room in our house home (we had planned a homebirth, didn't fancy him being around during labor)? Nah, it was too early. Just under 38 weeks pregnant. Surely this baby wouldn't come now? I'm too busy!  Well, one little boy had other things in mind, and over the next 12 hours or so, we brought him into this world.

And what an amazing kid he has become. Lenaïc is so full of laughter and love. He has a light that shines in his eyes when he smiles. He has a spirit that's irresistible.  He has a sense of empathy that warms my heart.  Often he reminds me of his Uncle Albert, sometimes his Uncle Chris, sometimes Papa, sometimes me. But mostly, he is Lenaïc. The unique, fascinating, wonderful Lenaïc. So full of life.

Our world is a better place because he is in it.

Ready to Rock N Roll 13.1 Miles

There is something very special about your first time.

I always walk.  My aim is to walk or cycle if I can avoid using the car. That’s one of the advantages of living where we live. Not fully urban, but I can do a lot of errands on foot, including taking the kids to their respective schools.

Every November for the past 4 years, we’ve watched the participants in the San Antonio Rock N Roll Marathon and Half Marathon run, walk, or stagger past our street, cheering them on. Every year I think “That would be fun to do.” Except, I’m no runner. I can’t run. I can barely make it a mile when I try. But walking? I can do that. I walk 2-3 miles without even thinking about it. I’ve hiked with a backpack 10+ miles (admittedly, in my younger days).  In May, while walking the kids around, I decided I’d set a goal of walking the San Antonio Half Marathon (13.1miles). I wasn’t entirely convinced I could do it.

I started walking more and more. With the new Museum Reach  of the San Antonio Riverwalk and then the Mission Reach opening, walking in San Antonio was easy. Well, except when it was 90F+ at 8:00am. But, that was useful too….one never knows how warm it’ll be on a November Morning in San Antonio.

Waiting to start

A friend pointed me to a training website.  Though my schedule, Frédéric’s travel and Lenaïc’s  unwillingness to sit in a stroller for more than 45 minutes, I couldn’t stick rigidly to the training schedule. A week before the race I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it. My normal pace at 4 miles is about 15:30 per mile (walking!), but I assumed it’d be much slower when I was walking 13.1 miles. I was hoping for close to 3:30, would be ok with 3:45, and was just praying it’d be under the 4 hour limit.

Well, I did it! 13.1 miles walking, 3hours, 19 minutes, 52 seconds.

Just finished and got my medal!

Calling Erin at mile 9.5 to tell her when to bring the kids out 

Walking faster than ever

Looking up at the only "hill", just before mile 13

 

Breaking into a run

By my GPS watch, I walked 13.32 miles in 3:20:00,
thanks to lots of zig zagging

After crossing the finish line I wanted to jump up and down and cheer. This was way more fun than I expected.  Three days later I’m still on a high. And now I understand why people do it.  It’s an addiction. I’m already planning my next one.

For you runners, I’m a slow poke, but for walking, and my first, I’m pretty proud!

Teaching kids about the Elections

Angelina, in first grade, has spent a lot of time lately learning about the electoral process. The school set up voting booths, discussed the candidates, the kids voted. I think just for President, they didn't go into various other elections, which might have been funny as one of her classmate's dads is up for re-election to the state legislature.

She's been coming home every day talking about the election, asking who we're voting for and why, and just overall very excited. I'm excited for her. It's been fun to see this little person with a big mind learn about the democratic process.

Our school is on a busy street near downtown. Lots of (slowish) traffic. Today, as kids entered school, there were kids with signs saying "Get out the vote!" and similar. All non-partisan, no reference to one campaign or another, just encouraging people to vote.

And even the candidates made a little visit..... that's Angelina with the pink headband, looking down, just to the left of "Mitt."


Whatever happens tonight, we have exercised our right and responsibility to make educated choices for leaders for our country. Many people in many countries don't have such a right.


(And lucky us in Texas, we have early voting so we voted last week)

Kids in Motion

If I haven't posted in forever, here is why:

Two kids, constantly in motion, almost always airborne.

I'll catch up soon... 

World Wanderings....With Kids

In my various world wanderings, I dealt with travel glitches, delays, and the like by telling myself “It’s just all part of the adventure.”

Travelling with two kids, that becomes a little harder. Amazingly, though, the kids dealt with it all better than I. And what did they deal with? A simple 15ish hour trip (including time to the airport, actual flights and layovers) became a 45 hour ordeal.

Day 1

10:00AM – leave home for our 11:55AM flight

11:00AM – attendant announces flight is delayed “but not to worry, no one will miss connections.” (our connection in DC is ~1hr 40 minutes

12:00PM – airplane arrives. Phew. If we board now, we’ll make it. In all my years of travelling, usually when there’s been a delay, the attendants work like crazy to board and move the plane fast to make up lost time.  Nope.  12:30PM and still no sign of movement.

12:40PM – FINALLY we board. Only, the attendant hadn’t a care in the world, as she took FOREVER to board. At least 1 minute for each passenger just scanning the boarding pass. Lucky there weren’t that many passengers or we’d have still been there when the bomb threat was called in and the airport closed. Lucky us, we missed that.

1:00PM – we take off. As Lenaic says “woo-hah!!!”

5:40PM (DC time) – we arrive, gate D10. Phew, our plane leaves at 5:55PM, and it’s at D5. We can make it.  In all my years of international flying, there have been many many times when they’ve held the flight – last flight out for the night, know they have a handful of passengers who will arrive with only minutes to transfer, it’s generally in everyone’s best interest to hold the plane 5-10 minutes to allow them to board.

5:42PM – arrive at gate D5 for our Geneva bound flight. Plane is still there. They’re loading luggage. Passenger doors are closed, no gate agent in sight. Finally find someone who says “Too bad. You missed your flight. You have to go to gate C20 to find another.” We try to argue that the plane is still there. They are still loading luggage!!!! Nope.

So we trudge down to C20, stand in line with about 100 other people in the same boat (multiple missed flights, not all Geneva-bound).  Lenaic  finds a kiosk to run under, playing “keep away” from me.  Thankfully, I was not travelling alone with these two.   Finally talk to someone, after 10 more minutes of searching [by now, it’s about 6:30PM) she says “oh, maybe the plane is still there and I can get them to open the doors.” Too little, too late. Of course it’s gone.  All remaining flights to Europe are full, except a 10PM flight to Manchester, England, which would require 2 stops on the continent and an arrival at 6PM the next day. Or we can wait 24 hours and take our same flight the next day. Kids are tired and grouchy – parents are tired and grouchy.  I tried to tell Angelina about my “adventure” theory. She wasn’t buying it, but to be fair, she didn’t complain much.

After much debate – and a promise from United of hotel and food vouchers, we decide to stay overnight.

On the plus side, our friends Neil and Jen live in DC, we haven’t seen them in awhile, and maybe they’re home.  Hooray, they’re free! So we trudge to our hotel, drink some wine (well, I drink some wine), get some food, and try to enjoy a nice comfy bed. 

Day 2

Met Jen and Neil the next day for lunch and spent some time at the Air and Space Museum. See, we can make lemons out of lemonade.

 3:15PM – make our way back to Dulles Airport for our 5:55PM flight. We had already been there in the morning to check in. Now, the problem with getting moved around on flights: seats. We weren’t seated together. Yes, like anyone is really going to want to sit next to my toddler… Agents could do nothing. So, we head to our gate.

To find that our 5:55PM flight is now delayed until 8pm. Why could it not be delayed the day before?

For a couple of hours, Lenaic runs wild in the airport. Fortunately the terminal is relatively empty.  Not sure if anyone was too bothered, many many people laughed and commented on how cute/funny he was, so we let him. … Of course Angelina has not been sitting still either, but she wasn’t squealing with loud laughter like he was.  I see all the other kids waiting patiently and wonder if they will rub off on Lenaic. Nope. Other way around, soon the other kids waiting join the fray.  (No pictures of this, since we were more focused on chasing them down)

For a short time, we tried to distract them with a movie

Movie didn't last for long before he was ready to run again

7PM – “our” plane arrives. Phew. That means we’ll leave. Nope. Announcement: “All on flight to Geneva, this is not your plane. Your gate has been changed to C4. We do not know when it will leave. We’ll know more at 7:30 or 8:00PM.”  (Interestingly, the Munich bound flight that was at gate C4 was moved to our gate – D7, and it DID leave. For whatever reason, United decided the Munich flight was more important – maybe it had more connecting passengers).

Oh, and our seat assignments were still screwy – we managed to get 2 sets of seats together, so no kid would be left alone, but still far apart. They claimed the  plane was full.

8:00PM – no word.

8:30PM – Announcement: “Still not sure when we’re leaving, they will tell us in 40 minutes.” At this point, it was looking doubtful if we’d fly at all. Problem was, there were other flights to Europe, last one leaving at 10PM. If they don’t tell us until 9:15PM that our flight is cancelled, we ALL (300+passengers) have to walk over to one customer service counter in a different area to get help with reassignments. Yeah, not making any 10pm flight…. At this point, we’re already a day delayed, are we going to be 2 days? Do we spend another day in DC? I had about 24 hours supply of diapers, fortunately a change of clothes for kids and I and my toothbrush. I’d been frugal on diaper changes and thankfully no diaper blowouts. 

Meanwhile, about 20 kids (ages 2 up to about 8) were running wild. Ours were not even the wildest. In my childfree days, I’d have sat in the wine bar with my book and just ordered another glass. Not an option with the kiddos (and Lenaic never had a nap that day…).  Fortunately, most people were understanding – happy laughing kids running wild was much preferred to tired, cranky, screaming kids forced to sit still (after a 4+ hour wait).

9:10PM – We can board. The cheer rocked the airport. We board quickly – tons of free seats (I presume some passengers who would have missed connections had already been rebooked elsewhere). Lucky us, we manage to find 4 seats together without much effort.  People happy to oblige.

10:00PM – plane doors closed. Eventually we taxi. Plane starts its rumbling as we speed up….for 2 seconds, then stop. Yup. Stop. Now, since I’d rather not die in  a plane crash, I won’t begrudge them holding back for maintenance issues. But really, the number of maintenance issues on United flights lately has been more than I’d ever seen. We weren’t the only ones delayed – at least 25% of the flights out of DC that night were delayed due to “maintenance issues.” (We were never told why our original San Antonio flight was delayed).  The pilot does a U-turn. We’re convinced we’re going back to the terminal to de-plane.

10:15PM, pilot lets us know it’s a minor issue. It’ll be fixed. “5 more minutes.”

10:55PM – we take off. All is well, and since I’m writing this the maintenance issues were resolved and we didn’t crash.

Day 3 - 12:30PM – we arrive (our scheduled arrival had been 7:40AM the day before)

 Just 45 hours after we started.

       

I understand flights get delayed, glitches happen. But UA, an airline with which we travel frequently and have never had any significant problems, was a mess. We have flown all major US carriers and many foreign ones. All have their issues, but overall, UA had been pretty good. Not so since their merger.

 *Staff was rude, with the exception of one person. I know they work hard and deal with a lot of stressed out passengers, but it’s their job.

 *Multiple delayed flights, some with explanation, others not.

 *Poor planning – while I know there’s often a narrow window for flights to depart, holding a plane for 5 minutes for passengers they KNOW will be late due to a late connecting flight makes more sense than rerouting people. At least, that’s what they all used to do.

 *And just general suckiness All in all, though, thanks in large part to the kindness of other passengers and the friendliness of their kids while waiting, Angelina and Lenaic managed it all very well. And we made it to Geneva safely, if late and tired.