Best Dad

 Saturday mornings consisted of us kids watching cartoons, while Dad made fluffy pancakes; the "man killer" kind. As a little girl, I enjoyed watching this cooking process. Dad would lift me up, setting me on the kitchen counter where he spoke to me in German and whistled to his pet parakeet (Donny), who sat in a cage suspended from the ceiling over the sink. My favorite part of this father-daughter time, was eating the "tester pancake". Dad always made a small pancake to test the readiness of the griddle. For some reason, that miniature sized pancake always tasted better than the others.

(Me and Dad pinning the corsage on for my Presentation Ball. March 28, 1992)

I am grateful for those rare moments that Dad and I had together. Moments that as I grow older, I treasure more and more. Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you!

Nativity Sets

Slowly but surely, I'm getting the Christmas decorations up. The first to make it out of the storage bins are always our nativity sets. Dave-o is enamored with the Precious Moments set.

AFHV

(Picture taken of Dave-o in Jan, 2011 at the Carmel Mission)

Before Family Night was to begin, we watched a few episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos. This was Dave-o's first time viewing this show and immediately he became a fan. Right when I turned it on, we saw a home video of a cat (who had been jolted from a deep sleep) falling from the top of a television. Dave-o burst into a hysterical laughter. This reaction continued with each and every clip. It got to a point where he was obviously forcing a laugh out, but it was still funny to watch.

The Power of Chocolate

(Dave-o licking the chocolate frosting spoon from Mom Zinn's birthday cake)

Have I mentioned that Dave-o LOVES chocolate? He even loves to say the word "chocolate" (chawchaw). David keeps a special stash of Hershey Kisses in our closet just for his namesake. The moment David gets home from work, Dave-o yells out, "Daddy's home!"
Dave-o lifts up his arms to be held and whispers to his dad oh so reverently, "Chawchaw?" They both smile: Dave-o because he knows he's going to get chocolate and David because it's his special bonding moment with his son.

Shoe Obsession

Dave-o LOVES putting on and walking in his siblings' shoes. Kirsten's boots are his favorite to stomp around in. It's hilarious to watch the entire process; from putting them on (which can be a struggle), keeping balance while taking steps, to figuring out how to get them off.
I can remember James doing the same thing at this age. In fact, I have a picture in my scrapbook of him wearing my high heel shoes.

He has some BIG shoes to fill!

Outdoor Weather

(Steven skateboarding on his ramp)

I am thankful that my children love being outside. The weather was a warm and sunny 60 degrees. Yesterday I was cold for the entire day. So, seeing the sun today was a welcome sight for me.

Steven is still enjoying his birthday presents. The skateboard and roller blades keep him busy. James dusted the cobwebs off his scooter and had some fun as well. Dave-o wants to do whatever the boys are doing at the time. He chases them up and down the street calling after them ("Guys"). Once they have abandoned their play equipment, Dave-o is first at the scene. He tries real hard to use their stuff.

Dave-o loved a game that James played with him. James would first chase a laughing Dave-o (who was holding a noodle). Then Dave-o would aim the noodle at James and make a gun fire sound (pshoo). James would fall to the ground dead followed by a very happy Dave-o.

Poisonberry

David: Do we have any jam other than Grape?
Me: Yes. There's Boysenberry in the pantry.
Kirsten: How do they get the poison out?
Me: (Thinking...What? Then laughing as I understood what she meant.) It's Boysenberry with a "B" not a "P".
David: (Laughing)
Kirsten: Oh...
David: I used to think it was Poisonberry too, Kirsten.

Mr. Fix-it

David made an eight year old girl very happy today. He finally fixed Kirsten's tire. Hooray! David also tried to fix Steven's remote control car. He has spent countless hours and days trying to figure out what is wrong with it. So, hopefully soon you will see pictures of an equally happy 11 year old boy.

Thank you, David, for keeping a promise to your daughter.

Retraction

According to Wikipedia, "A retraction is a public statement, either in print, or by verbal statement that is made to correct a previously made statement that was incorrect, invalid, or in error. The intent of a public retraction is to correct any incorrect information."

Well, that is what I'm going to do now. I have been getting a lot of negative feed-back from my most loyal readers (my children) on a particular paragraph that I recently wrote (the blog about our snow trip). Here is what I wrote that caused hours of backlash and offended feelings in our home:

David took Justin, James, and Steven to the bunny slopes to teach them how to snow board. By the time we met for lunch, they were all snowboarding down the hill with ease. David said that Steven caught on the quickest and easiest. Probably because James and Justin didn't stick around to hear the rest of their dad's instructions. They were impatient to hit the slopes. Because of this choice they fell a lot more than Steven.

Corrected version (with the help of David, who witnessed it all)
David took Justin, James, and Steven to the bunny slopes to teach them how to snow board. By the time we met for lunch, they were all snowboarding down the hill with ease. Steven showed the most patience by sticking around for his dad's lesson and mastering all the basics. James and Justin felt more adventurous and abandoned Dad's lesson in favor of adding their own personal style to their repertoire. By the end of the day, each of the boys possessed the skill-set of a seasoned pro.

Snow Boarding and Tubing

It finally happened! For a month, we had been planning a family ski trip. But bad weather or other unforeseen events prevented us each time.

This past Saturday was the day! At 6:30am we loaded the Durango with our winter gear along with tons of food.

Our destination? Soda Springs

It was a three hour drive, but it was three hours of beauty. The hills and mountsides were green with wildflowers scattered about. We even saw Bluebonnets, which is the state flower of Texas. I had always assumed it only grew in Texas. (Note to self: Never assume anything).

We arrived in Soda Springs at 9:40. After spending ten minutes getting everyone's snow clothes on, sunscreen applied to faces, and chapstick on lips, we rented our gear and headed out.

David took Justin, James, and Steven to the bunny slopes to teach them how to snow board. By the time we met for lunch, they were all snowboarding down the hill with ease. David said that Steven caught on the quickest and easiest. Probably because James and Justin didn't stick around to hear the rest of their dad's instructions. They were impatient to hit the slopes. Because of this choice they fell a lot more than Steven.

While the boys were snowboarding, I took Kirsten snow tubing. I was fooled into thinking that Kirsten would be able to do it by herself. My plan was to watch her and take tons of picture. I was so wrong!

First of all, the inner tubes were big. With every step forward, the tube pulled Kirsten two to three steps back. So, I stepped in and helped her pull it up and onto the conveyor belt.

Once we reached the top, I had to hold the inner tube, push her off, and walk all the way down the hill to do it over again. Wew! The combination of being pregnant and not being used to the high altitude (6000 ft) made this task very difficult. Kirsten was having a blast though! The scarier and bumpier the course, the better. She especially enjoyed riding down on her stomach. I silently rejoiced when lunch time came.

After a much needed break of refueling our bodies with food and water, we went our separate ways again. By this time, it had really warmed up (58 degrees). People were stripping down to t-shirts and tank tops. The snow was becoming mushy, which resulted in slow tubing. Kirsten quickly became bored of her sled not making it down the hill, and I didn't have the energy to haul that darn thing up the hill again.

Then a miracle happened. The employees brought out saucers. This solved all our problems. I was no longer needed to help Kirsten, and she was able to go down the slushy hill faster.

By 3pm, Kirsten and I met up with the boys and we all agreed it was time to go home. Our energy was spent. We were all exhausted beyond words.

On the ride home, David and the boys and Kirsten began planning the next snow trip. I was silent. Exhaustion had left me speechless and motionless.

P.S.
When I looked through the pictures of our snow trip, I was shocked at how much Justin looks like me. I think it's the smile. What do you think?

Unbeatable?

Battleship is one of our family's favorite game. It requires a lot of strategy and a little luck. David will not play games based solely on luck. So, Battleship is right up his alley.

The other day, Kirsten asked her dad to teach her how to play. Of course David said, "Yes!" The word "no" is not in his vocabulary when it comes to Kirsten.

About an hour later, I heard footsteps running downstairs. It was quite a commotion with everyone talking at once. Kirsten, James, and Steven were all trying to tell me that Kirsten beat Dad! This was a first! No one has ever beat David at Battleship.

At first, I thought that David must have let Kirsten win. But, then I saw a confused and beaten expression on his face as he joined us downstairs.

Once the excitement died down a bit, Kirsten said,

"Finally, a little girl beat you at Battleship!"

David and I looked at each other and laughed. It took a smart little girl!

Shhhhhh! It's a Secret!

All week long the kids and I have been planning a surprise for David's birthday. We had to keep reminding Kirsten not to tell David what we were going to do (she almost let it slip a couple of times). But Saturday finally arrived. As soon as James got back from his camp out, we blindfolded David and drove to Sea Bright Beach (next to Santa Cruz Boardwalk). This is the same beach that David and his friends went to as teenagers. It is also the beach where he almost drowned when he was a teenager. When we were halfway there, David started moaning. I asked him what was wrong and he said that he was feeling sick. This is coming from a guy who I have never seen get motion sickness. So, in order to keep the birthday boy happy, we removed the blindfold. The surprise wasn't completely ruined. Once we parked the car, we gave David his presents. The kids bought him a boogy board and I added a wet suit to his gift. Watching David have so much fun in the water was a joy. Ever since we moved here, he has wanted to stay in the ocean longer, but it was too cold for him.

He and Justin spent a couple of hours riding the waves even though the red warning flag (strong rip currents) was flying above the lifeguard station. David even commented on how warm he was in the suit. In fact, at one point he was too warm! James, Steven, Kirsten, and I played in the sand trying to keep warm. It looks like we all need a wet suit so that we can keep up. It was an awesome day! I enjoyed watching other families up and down the beach flying kites, having bon-fires, playing catch, and enjoying the frigid water.

A Baywatch moment. Watch out David Hasselhoff!



Today was David's real birthday! I cooked him bacon and banana pancakes. After Stake Conference, Michael (David's brother), Stacey(Michael's wife), and Emily (their daughter) came over. We ate dinner and cake together and just "hung-out". The boys adore Emily who is 4 years old. She has them wrapped around her finger. Actually, she has all of us wrapped around her finger. She's a cutie!

Happy Birthday David! I love you!

Umunhum

After reading the title of my blog, you might think that I were writing about Obama's horrible speaking abilities when not using a teleprompter.
Actually, this is the name of the mountain that the "mysterious building" sits on top of (Mt.Umunhum).

Wikipedia gave David the answer to his life-long question. (See my blog below titled "What is This?") The building used to be an air force station. It was a US Air Force early warning radar base in operation from 1958 to 1980. Located on the summit of Mount Umunhum in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the station is a few miles south of San Jose, California and sits about 3,486 feet (1062 m) above Almaden Valley. The station was constructed in 1957 to keep watch over Northern California's airspace as part of the NORAD defense system. A GATR (Ground Air Transmitter Receiver) was located about a mile (1.5 km) away on Mount Thayer. The station was manned by the 682nd Radar Squadron, and at its peak housed about 120 people in eighty four buildings. The Air Force Station was closed down in 1980, and in 1986 it was acquired by the MROSD (Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District). The base is now a part of the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve although it is not yet open to the public because of environmental hazards (asbestos and lead-based paint). The MROSD estimates it will take about US$2 million to clean up the base for public use.
Now we know!

What is This?

While on our hike, I took a picture of this building for David. Ever since he was a little boy, David has always wanted to know what this building was. What is it's purpose? Since we've moved back here to San Jose, we see it everyday. And everyday we wonder about it. David's even googled it...zooming in as far as the satellite would allow. But, it's still a mystery. Now he is trying to find a way to hike up the mountain that it is on. David will not rest until he finds out what it is.
Do you have any guesses? (Click on the picture to make it larger.)