Halloween at the Village!

Hello again!

So October has come and gone here in Bonita. We did several Halloween themed activities this year. We went to the Family Matters Halloween Carnival again and had a great time like always. Each year Jane and her army of Red Shirt (volunteers) out do themselves and this year was no different. We had rain at the last moment and they magically shifted everything from outside (games, craft tables and prize booths) to upstairs in the LGBT Center. They had an awesome DJ and face painter along with delicious gourmet pizza, salad and pasta for dinner. They had an event where the kids got to make their own cupcakes. They did the costume contest and parade - which our kids really love. The prize booth was well stocked with toys and games. It was great to see all the families and meet new ones. We've had so much fun at the Halloween event we are seriously considering adding the Christmas one to our list of must do events.

This year we outdid ourselves with the pumpkin carving. The top left pumpkin eating the other pumpkin along with the fleeing one next to it was done by the dads.  The one in the far right was drawn (all by herself) by Siddha who decided to help the dads with theirs. The bottom row far left was done by Miss Nani and the one in the middle is the moms contribution to the scene. The last one was Tre's super mutant and scarred offering to the Halloween spirits this year. We got the pumpkins just around the corner at our local pumpkin patch. We had the Grand Queers (Grand Dad Don & Papi Micheal) over for dinner then headed over for hay rides, feeding friendly livestock, and of course picking pumpkins! This year we had two witches and a ninja - I'll ask Leng to get some pictures up here on the blog shortly. The Moms sewed up a storm one solid weekend and got all the costumes done. They love that part of costumes and look forward to it every year.

We went trick or treating with the Musico family since our neighborhood is very light with the houses that participate. We drove our way into Kensington with a side dish and drink to have dinner with them at their house then went from house to house. They really do it up in their part of town. They had one house that was converted into a castle along with games that the kids could play by paying candy - they had a bowling game as an example. We saw another house that was playing old black and white horror movies on the side of it. Another place had a giant spider made out of lights that was strung up between two palm trees a good 30 feet up in the air. The kids were awed and amazed - they were a little too terrified of some places but over all I think they had a great time.

We also went to Sunnyside's Halloween Carnival this year. The kids had fun doing the host of games they had including a Hospital of Horrors, Lollipop Tree, Cake Walk, Maze and Miniature Golf. Lisa baked several sheets of creepy cupcakes with eyeballs on them. Some of us manned booths for the event and others escorted kids around from booth to booth. They had a taco plate for the dinner options there along with pizza (always a safe bet with kids). It was great to see the decorations the kids helped make for the event and to see the poster's Lisa made as well for the school.

Just before that we dropped them off at Leng's work (KPBS) for her work party (they had a very full Halloween season) where they got pizza, some games and another costume contest followed by a parade. Leng got to be a proud momma of three very energetic and articulate kids. They always love being in what they perceived as "adult only" places and getting to see where the working parents spend their time. Leng also got bond with other working moms and see their families.

This month also had a flood of birthdays - Uncle Dan's, Larry, Don and Lisa to name a few. Larry's birthday this year was a brunch out at Park House Eatery with a bunch of friends and the kids. It was lovely - we haven't done that in a while with the prep for the move, the move and then the aftermath. Lisa's birthday we gathered at Stacked - a great place where you order your food through iPads (kids loved that) and literally can customize almost every part of your meal. We gathered with family & friends and took over a couple of tables. Don's birthday was very low key since he has been hosting a grip of boat racing events so we dropped off a lovely little cake, card and gifts with a promise to get together when he's had some more rest and celebrate properly.

We had two bouts of house guests this last month as well. Christine and Hia (school friends of Leng's) came out to visit for about 5 days and it was lovely. It was great to see them with the kids (they have superior Auntie skills) and it was delightful to have the adult time after the kids were down for the night. They brought yummy asian desserts to the house almost every day which was a big hit with the parents and it was great to see Leng reconnect with old friends.

Stephen and Jenni also came down to stay for a week unexpectedly. Stephen had some family business to take care of but we still found time to hang out and chat. They too brought tasty treats - baked goods - to share with the house so it was a nice change. It was good to get time to talk more with Jenni as well  since we haven't had as much time with her as Stephen. Both of them staying really highlighted how great our new set up is for having house guests for extended stays. They have their own room and bathroom so they can keep their own schedule without anyone getting in any one else's way. It was easy to keep the kid's schedule going and still let our guests follow their timetables.

This Sunday is Tre's 8th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Grammy Jo flies in this Friday afternoon to attend the event and spend a week with the grandkids. This Monday will be a movie night to see Wreck It Ralph with Grandma Graham and Grammy Jo for the actual day of Tre's birth. I suspect we will have some baking going on as well like we do when Grammy Jo visits along with some great home cooked meals.

That's our month and like I said earlier - house guests are so doable with the new place sooooooooo please come on down or over or up for a visit. Drop us a line and let's get something on the calendar. Love to you all and see you next month for the next update.

Heading into Fall

Hello all!

This last month has been pretty sedate for us here at the Queer Village. We are still doing little things here and there to get the house finished. We are down to the final touches like art, photos and knick knacks. We are getting ready to tackle the backyard next month and get the water features fixed up and working again. We hope to have our Koi fish nursery back up and running before we have another wave of little ones. We are also planning to set up a table and chair area by the pool so we can hang out there comfortably while the kids are swimming. Wish us luck.

The older two kids had their 1st quarter parent/teacher meetings and everything is on track. Mrs. Casena is very clear that Nani needs more challenging material to cover in class and she is aware that she also needs some help getting more comfortable with putting herself out there socially. Mrs. Gray was perfect for Tre. She is concerned and present but keeps a professional level of detachment with her students so her assessment was even and objective. I love that she sends a great deal of information home so we are informed about what he is learning about and how we can assist that process at home. Overall we are enjoying our year at Sunnyside.

Siddha is in the transitional cottage now at the SDSU Children's Center and she seems to be rolling with the changes with no problems. She has started potty training in earnest now and seems ready for the shift. I think in a few more weeks she will be a pro at using the potty, her's sings to her when she uses it and talks which while would freak most of us out - makes her smile and clap. She is continuing to make connections with her internal and external world, She shares something every few days like this is our house and then telling you where everyone sleeps. Or explaining how to get dressed or take a bath if you're dirty. We are still having a little difficulty with sharing and negotiating with her other two siblings around toys, activities or time with individual parents but nothing that doesn't seem pretty normal for a 3, 6, and 7 year old.

Tre has started basketball on every Saturday and really seems to like it. He has been asking us for awhile but we wanted to wait till we felt like he had a little more focus and body control. Well he is there and it seems to be a good match. He loves the ritual of it all - putting on the uniform, doing the drills and playing the actual games versus the other teams. Our plan is to let this run out and see how it all goes and if it keeps like this, add different sports over the year.

Nani is getting ready to join a Girl Scout troop early October. She wants to try it and it's our hope it will help build some of her confidence in being more social and plug her into a larger social circle as well. She also just finished an art camp last week - which she loved - and starts a gymnastics camp this upcoming week with Tre. She also attended her first birthday party of the school last weekend and had a good time.

All the parents are doing well and we are really getting into a good rhythm with the household and the kids. We are systems in place and great ways to keep everyone in the loop. There is the occasional hiccup but overall it's working. It's been fantastic to have the resources and energies of five adults to draw on. I am looking forward to the upcoming holiday season with all the family and people.

As usual we are here and visitors are welcome - just give us a call or drop a line. Love and kisses to all and everyone!

We've Moved!

Just so everyone's aware, we've shifted (since the name doesn't work anymore) over to Queer-Village.blogspot.com.

Come see us and bookmark us at the new address!

Just a quick followup...

Since Grandma Grahm was nice enough to send me a few pictures she snagged at the waterpark (the rest of us were too scared to pull out the electronics!) I wanted to toss them up here:

Lunch for the kids this year came in a smart little plastic lunchbox (nothing worse than soggy PB&J's), and Siddha and the rest of the kids decided to keep theirs as souvenirs.

Somewhere in this pile is Daddy Larry (me!) and Tre. We were warming up after some time in the Lazy River. Behind us you can see the structure that sits in front of our choice cabana location. It's a great space, very isolated from random traffic, and right by the kid's place space, so it's practically custom made for our kid-heavy family outings.

The Whirlwind Subsides

As I mentioned last post we were living in a lovely new storage unit. Well, we have put away a lot of the boxes and still have a lovely house underneath it all. The house is in the last stages of being put it to rights. I'll see if I can get Leng to walk around and snap some pictures of the place. We still need to give the guest room, meditation room and the sun room a little more love. Then we need to actually get art, family photos and knick knacks up to give it the Queer Village flavor.

We had our first house guest here - Ms. Lena from Santa Cruz and it was a lovely visit. She got to see the wild roaming packs of children we have in the house and a lot of adult hang out time with the parents. Larry and I are heading up to stay with her in early September as well so double Lena action for us. She is always wonderful to talk to and we all miss her dearly. She came with me to try out True Food while she was here - felt proper since she was here from Santa Cruz. The food was delicious and it was a nice change of pace for me. at least. We also got in some movie watching and she was here for our annual trip to Knott's Soak City. 

Speaking of the water park, it was a great time again. We had the Musico family (Lae Lae, Rowena and their two sons Nate & Noah), the Sangha Family (Kathy, Becky and their three daughters), Yoav (a new friend to the Village),  Luisa with her daughter Tara, and Grandma Graham. Taking our number this year to 16 people. We rented a cabana like previous years and it was delightful. The kids had an even better time this year since they have all gotten much more comfortable with water.  I will see about photos - we're still working out the roles with all the adults. Leng is our resident shutterbug and I do the blog so we need to get together and get photos of all these things to the web.

Nani has been taking swimming lessons and really put herself out there. She has been pushing herself and has made tremendous strides. She swims from one end of the pool to the other by herself and is retrieving dive toys from the bottom of the pool. It's been awesome to see her take control of the process and practice everything she gets exposed to in her lessons. We have plans for Siddha to take a swim class in the winter since she has been energized by watching Nani doing her lessons and swimming around the pool. 

We got a chance to go to Disneyland with Stephen and his family (Jen and their two kids Addy & Tanner). We drove up before dawn with the kids packed in the car and spent the day running around the park. Siddha had a blast in Toon Town seeing everything and interacting with the props there. The older kids were much more adventurous this trip and went on a significantly more rides and ones they had flat out refused to try on previous trips. They also got a chance to meet Mickey Mouse himself while we were there. Tanner and Tre bonded over lightsabers and Jedi while Nani was chatting up people left and right. As always it was great to see them and spend time with them. All the kids asked if we could see them again. 

The dads got to go to Gen Con this year and we decided to try the full convention this time by arriving on Wed night and leaving Mon afternoon. In the past we had gotten in late Thur or midday Fri and left Sun evening. It was soooo much better with the full experience. We hadn't realized how much we were trying to pack into the shorter trips and the leisurely pace of this trip has sold us on the concept of doing the full convention going forward. We ate great food and meet some entertaining people. This trip we all learned how to make chainmail and two of us (Larry and myself) learned how to make scale male. We saw a lot of vendors and got the chance to play a few fun games. We saw incredible art and great costumes while walking the convention floor. All in all a fantastic trip. 

We also had a Family Matters bonfire and potluck at Campland on the Bay. This was our first time attending and I think it was great - we will be adding it to our list of events that we attend. The kids ran around playing, made s'mores, and watched a movie under the stars with decked out in glow stick jewelry. The kids are eagerly awaiting the Halloween Festival they put on in October. The parents have starting volunteering every month to help out with the Parent Support Group that Family Matters hosts and its been a wonderful opportunity to show the kids giving back to the community and growing our connection to other LGBT families. 

That's everything for this month and as usual I will close with an invitation to visit us. We love you all and thanks for reading. 

Queer Village Pride!

We are moved in at Degen! As I posted last month we were packing and packing and packing. We're here and it's AWESOME! Everyone has room to breathe and be. The kids are established in their bedroom and playroom upstairs. The moms and dads are happily installed in their suites with attached bathrooms. The kids have their own bathroom as well between their two rooms. We have a family room downstairs (still being put together at the moment) for games, puzzles, arts & crafts, and a media center for kid centric activities (Wii & movies). We even had enough space to set up a little computer desk area for the kids. 


The kitchen is giant with two fridges and a walk in pantry. We were able to set up a little dining nook for the kids for breakfast and homework. The dining room is set up and the living room is nearly done. The pool has been great and the kids have been loving having the access. The back yard is still needing some love but we're getting there. Front yard is under control and looking grand. Bill's office is coming along and we're all loving not having the nursery in our room anymore.


There was little anxiety over the actual move from the old houses to the new one. Siddha made the switch from crib to bed and sharing a room with her siblings instead of us fairly easily. Tre and Nani are both doing great with co-habitating and sharing parents. I think it helped we brought them most weekends to see the house while the remodel was happening so they could see the changes and really invest in the concept of the new house and blended family. I think they too were also feeling the pinch of not having enough space. 


The kids started at their new school Sunnyside and seem to be doing just fine. There was some anxiety the night before but once they met their teachers everything seem to smooth out. The principal sought us out and made sure we were doing fine. It's a small school so its a shift for us - it's much more intimate than Birney. We're hoping that we'll have a better experience here than there. Wish us luck!


Pride was this month and it was wonderful. The kids were up at the crack of dawn and excited about it. We helped them get their Pride gear on (t-shirts) then went downstairs to get the nieces up to have breakfast. Some of the dads and Becca (one of my nieces) went early to set up Rainbow Base Camp. We had a great spot to watch the parade roll by. There was music, queers and fun all day. My nieces did great at their 1st Pride Parade. Our friend Yoav also joined for the celebration. We cheered and waved - ate and drank! After the parade was done we packed up and sent one group with the kids to the Pride Festival and a smaller group to stash things in the cars.


This was the 20th anniversary of the Children's Garden and it was fabulous. They had rainbow cupcakes to celebrate. They had the usual fantastic selection of craft tables, face painting, games, dance floor and karaoke. As previous years we ate lunch there and then ventured out in pairs or triples as the kids played the day away. We walked around and found a great flag for the house. We got some Pride swag for the kids (rainbow leis) while wandering the festival. 


As before, it was great to see other families (new and old) at the Garden. As the kids get older it's great to see them taking in their culture and its history. How a decade ago we couldn't have formed the families we have now and how brave people are working to make the world a better place for our family. They understand how Drag Queens (blessed beings that they are) started all of this at Stonewall. They thinks they are heroes which they are and it pleases me to no end to hear them talk about these esteemed souls in those terms. 


My nieces were here for six weeks and while I'm sure they were bored senseless at least half of the time but it was wonderful to have them here. We went to Build-A-Bear (kind of a tradition) with the kids and let them loose on the place. We also went to see several movies including the documentary about Katy Perry which the Tre and Nani enjoyed in particular. I think it made them feel cool to go see an "older kid" movie with their cousins. Becca wowed all with her hair styling skills and delicious culinary treats. Toria is an incredible artist - we went to a ceramics studio and she was so talented. They both were great with the kids and very patient with Siddha. A great visit all around I think.


So please come down and visit us amongst all the boxes! We actually have a guest room and bath now so you can even get a break from us and the unpacking madness. I hope everyone is doing well and we miss you all!

We MOVE!!

So I haven't been posting this month and the last month because we made the push! We are moving tomorrow into Degen FINALLY!! The remodel has finished and we are beyond excited to relocate the Queer Village!


I will try to get pictures up of the changes we made and include the original photos of the house. It's been a crazy two months to boot. We have the remodel, moved two households into one and then my nieces came for the summer and the cousins are having a blast together. The day after we move we're going to Legoland for my niece Becca's birthday so we are keeping busy.


I have to go keep packing but I wanted to throw something up here before another month rolled by. With the move we officially have a guest room and bath so after my nieces are done with their visit please call us and schedule a drop in to see us and the new house.

Spring is here!

So April was a little crazy here for me at least. I ended up going to the ER four times and it was stressful. It turns out I had a hormone imbalance and that was causing me to feel like I had mono. I was exhausted and bone tired even after sleeping for 10 hours. I was dizzy and light headed, feeling like I was barely present in my own skin. Good news is I am slowly getting back to normal but it has been a slow crawl back. Everyone in the family was very supportive and pitched in to help out. I have a few more doctor visits next month and this should be all squared away.


We had a great Easter here at the house. I will see about getting the pictures from Leng (our resident shutter bug) and get them to Flickr so you all can take a look. We decorated eggs with the kids and they had a blast doing them. They had even more fun finding them after brunch on Easter Sunday. Our brunch was well received and it was great to see the grandparents (Grandad Don, Papa Micheal, and Grandma Graham) there. 


The older kids Tre and Nani have been off for the whole month on spring break. They have been doing "school" with me for 30 mins a day, Monday through Friday. I went to Lakeshore and filled up a box with supplies (markers, dry erase books, games and art supplies) for school. I seat down with them and talked about how to set up their classroom. They gave great suggestions like a chart for stickers for when they finish assignments. I went to Target and put together a prize bucket for them to draw out at the end of each week. We have done some "field trips" to museums, parks and some lunches out. Overall I think it went well and still kept them plugged into their routine for school so when the start back up in May it will be less of a struggle to transition. Hopefully it will work.


I turned 40 this month and it was wonderful. I went to dinner with my dad to Lotus Thai along with the husbands and Monica. The food was delicious as always and I got a print of one of my dad's photos (I am one of his biggest fans of his photography) from a trip he recently went on and Monica got me a heritage DNA test from National Geographic. I am extremely excited about it - my family history is sketchy at best and frankly suspect what I have been told. This test and the database it's tied to traces your ancestry back to a continent of origin. I will post the results in the blog when I get them back.  I also went to see the new Cirque Du Soleil troupe touring through the country.


Totem was incredible! Our seats were great - we were about 4 rows back from the stage itself. It was the usual dynamic and energetic show - incredible costumes and complex music. We ate a great dinner out at Bully's just before the show. It was the dads, moms and Monica. A big part of thrill was having an all adult out night. We had great conversations and it was great to really catch up with everyone. We hit the gift shop before the show and scored some great swag. A cool scarf with pockets , finger monarch butterflies for the kids, the CD & program plus some art prints as a gift for my dad and Micheal for baby-sitting the kids so we could attend the show in the first place. 


Grandma Graham took the older kids to a matinee show of Totem the day before and they had a wonderful time. It was a great dry run to see if we could take the older kids to future shows of the Cirque. They were so excited to talk with us about the show and they were tickled pink that they saw the show before the adults. The morning after our show they talked and talked about the show with us and we pulled out the program so they could show us things and ask questions. So the next time we go we might be taking them as well.


Degen is really shaping up. They have begun the garage conversion in earnest. The sun porch is finished and just needs to be painted. They have almost completed the kitchen upgrades and the rest of the house is painted. They have done about 1/2 of the stairwell as well. We are meeting with the contractor and designer tomorrow to go over the flooring and a few more items left for the house. We are still looking at moving in to the house in June and we're checking out some solar panels for the new house and our current house - it looks promising. Apparently the technology has come a long way and is looking very affordable. I'll see if I can get Bill to take some pictures of the improvements and get them posted up for viewing.


We're still looking for a school for the kids. We are investigating the local schools near our new house. We're still in the early stages so I'll keep you posted. I think the biggest challenge is going to be overcoming the traditional attitudes of the area - we're going to be pioneers again with LGBT visibility. The question is going to be how bad it could get or how much resistance we're going to face. Wish us luck but if it is looking too grim we'll be looking at private school options .


The family is doing very well overall. We're all looking forward to the move and having more space to live and be. The idea of having a guest room is also intoxicating - we could have extended stays with friends and family (hint hint after the move come visit y'all). 


Love and kisses to everyone out there. 

March Madness (Kind Of)

March is here and almost gone. The time has been flying here at the 54th Street Zoo. The work on Degen continues apace. The back patio is now enclosed and we have an all-weather room for entertaining and just giving us more space to breathe and be. The plans have been summated, returned and modified as per the city so we should begin the largest part of the remodel shortly - the garage into a downstairs master suite and the modifications to Monica's room. Here's hoping it goes quickly and smoothly.

The kids are doing great and we just met the other day with Tre's teacher Mrs. Curtis. He is doing wonderfully in her class. He has moved from proficient to advanced in almost every area and has a great connection to her. He really responds to her and she understands him. She has worked with him and has given us great tools to help Tre make this progress this year. He made the Honor Roll (yes they have an Honor Roll for 1st Graders) and received an award for great citizenship but we have little worries about him socially - he makes friends effortlessly.

Nani has her conference tomorrow and I'll make sure to report on her progress in the next blog for April. She is really I think getting her stride at school. While she still seems less than challenged academically but she does seem to be making progress in making and maintaining relationships with her peers. She has been very keen on spending more time with all of us together as a family which I think bodes well for the move to the new house. I think all the kids are going to enjoy (on average) living together - we see some standard sibling friction but nothing that gives us pause or undue concern.

Nani had her birthday this month and it was a great hit. Grandma Graham let us use the community pool and recreation area of her housing community. Lisa had the fabulous idea to set up a drink and juice bar so people could order their own fruit concoctions in fancy plastic ware with little umbrellas and the kids loved it as well as a few parents. There was swimming though not as much since the water was freezing but everyone made ample use of the hot tub. The Dads rented a jumpie with a built in slide and we had a piñata as well. Top it off with great party favors and colorful decorations - that was the fete we hosted. Grammy Jo was still in town on her visit, along with all the parents, helping to make the party a roaring success.

Siddha is on the track to having a bedtime routine that mirrors the older kids. We have been altering her routine slowly like phasing out the bottle and reading more books before bedtime. Larry has started laying her down in bed rather than rocking her in the rocker in the nursery and that seems to be working as well. The hope is to have her on a routine that she can join in with the older kids. Reading a book, calming down and settling into bed then sleep. Wish us luck.

I meet tomorrow with the Upstaged Design team to finalize the last few details of the remodel. Paint colors, wood stains and fixtures. We have gotten all the things rolling that didn't require a permit and it's nice to see the end of it in sight. They built an awesome cubby for the second refrigerator in the kitchen, the enclosed patio, the fence to section off the pool and a list of small changes to the house. I have been very happy with their work and really look forward to be done and moved in.

Next month is my birthday and all the adults in the household are going to see the newest Cirque du Soliel tour Totem. My dad has offered to babysit the kids while we all go out for dinner followed by the show. It should be a wonderful night of hopefully good food, great conversation and a spectacular performance. It will be one of the rare times all the adults in the family get to socialize without the kids since usually one set of parents is watching the kids so the other set can go out.

That's all from us this month - like I put in the title it was sort of busy but nothing too crazy overall. I hope to report a move in date in the next month's post so keep your fingers crossed. As always we welcome any and all guests to come over and visit.

Love to you all!

Leaping Into February!

The work has begun at Degen Drive. They have put up the fence in the back to secure the pool area since we have children. It looks great - a dark wood and bamboo that really sets well with the garden in the back. They have made the cubby for the second refrigerator in the kitchen and they were able to set it up with water so we should have plenty of ice for the many parties we plan on throwing at the new house. They are beginning the work to enclose the back porch to create another space for family and friends to gather. We have the plans for the conversion of the garage into master suite for downstairs and are in the process of submitting them to the city of Bonita then we can start that part.

We go over several times a week to check the mail, feed the koi and to let the kids run around and get used to the new space. They all seem very excited about having a bedroom together and a playroom along with their own bathroom. The downstairs will also have a family room with a set up for them to do arts and crafts. I think the whole big extended family is looking forward to having space to live and entertain. I know I am looking forward to having an all adult bedroom again with Siddha's nursery going away and her moving into the kids bedroom.

Well it turns out that the church children's choir didn't work out as well as I would have liked. Issues came to a head for us and we had a great conversation with Phyllis or as most know her now Grandma Graham. She listened about our concerns, talked back and forth about what was going all for all involved. I think it was handled very diplomatically and the kids are still getting to spend the afternoons with her - we just took out the evening portion with the choir. We felt like it was important to have the time with her be conflict free so everyone could enjoy it completely.

Siddha is talking in sentences and sentence fragments now. Even more cool to see and watch is her forming her own thoughts into sentences. She is moving out of the parrot phase and has been putting together her own sentences.

"Siddha go that way."

"Daddy where are you?"

"Siddha want my jacket please."

Some examples of this new skill. She is getting to be very communicative which is awesome and greatly reduces parental stress since she is child that know what she wants and now can tell us what she wants. Our new policy around toys and sharing seems to be working. There have been significantly fewer blow outs around them and people fighting over possession. We still welcome any advice anyone has so please share away.

We have Grammie Jo down for a visit right now for 10 days. She timed her visit so she would be here for Nani's 6th birthday which was awesome. As I mentioned before she is coming out near each child's birthday this year so they are all very excited about it. She is staying at the Mom's house for half the trip and then at our place for the 2nd half so all the kids get some morning and night time with her. We're doing more baking and cooking while she's here and I look forward to the delicious food. Since she's going to be here a little longer we're going to set up some adult time with her - dinner out and a movie. We're also going to take all the kids out to see The Lorax while she's here.

Lisa and I were able to sneak away for a long weekend up in Portland with Dan and Megan. We flew up on a Thursday morning and came back home on Sunday afternoon. We had a fantastic time!! The weather was a pleasant change from down here in San Diego. We got to eat at several great places (Cuban eatery, dim sum, food trucks, and Thai) and it was Lisa's first trip without a kid since Nani was born so it was a special treat for her. We watched movies, shopped Powell's books and had got to see their new place which is quite the leisure pad. Sorry to everyone we didn't get a chance to see but the focus of the trip was Dan and Megan. We extended the offer to fly them down for all the major holidays so they can keep in touch with the kids and we all get the chance to see them more often. Portland is definitely the place for them to live - it is a city of Dan and Megans! They also introduced me to Portlandia while I was there and now having watched the show and walked a good part of the city - it is spot on!

Our search for a new school for the older kids continues. Sadly both of the charter schools we applied for we ended up wait listed. Birney won't have their auditorium and cafeteria rebuilt till the next school year in addition to needing to raise 25k to fund Art, Spanish and the library next year. They had a fire that gutted both buildings and the structure was so out dated that it had no fire suppression system so the damage was extensive. Things are looking grim for public schools here in San Diego. We may have a good school in our new area though we need to check out the LGBT and diversity angle still. The school is called Sunnyside and its scores are high for education and rated highly by parents with children enrolled. Another school (Valley Vista) scored slightly lower and is our home school though we can apply for a zone transfer to go to Sunnyside. We are actually meeting up tonight with all the parents to talk more about school and the kids. Wish us luck!

That's about it for now from us for now. The beginning of the year tends to be a slow time for us with events and outings so not much else to report. As always please feel free to set up a visit or drop a line. We love you all and miss you (especially those far flung friends and family)!

New Year, New Post

Hello all!

Time has slipped away again here at the 54th Street Zoo with the holidays, vacations and parties. Let me first throw out there that Seminole is no more. We tried everything we could think of and then a few more things but it never gelled. We have officially left escrow with the property and YWCA. The decision was met with mixed feelings here - some sad, other angry and even some relief. The property is just too unique for us to get financing as a residential property. I can honestly say we did everything we could to try and make it work so it was not from a lack of effort.

The good news is we are scheduled to close escrow on Saturday January 7th on Degen Drive. Once it became clear we had finally run out of options with Seminole we talked with our incredible real estate agent Recheal Stewart-Brown (we highly recommend her - she is aggressive, very well informed and has been our champion in every quest to find a new home) and asked for a listing of all the houses that met our needs and starting looking again. Degen Drive was the result and we are happy as can be. Some of the family had some grieving to do around Seminole but everyone agrees the house is more than adueqate for our needs. There's rooms a plenty, five in total with us converting the garage into a downstairs master suite for the dads. Three bathrooms with another being added to the master suite and a pool. A beautiful garden space, front and back yard with space to build granny flats for parents to retire to. The sellers are a wonderful couple who built the house from the ground up to raise their own family in. If we can swing the improvements we want before we move in, we'll even have a guest room for people to use when they visit.

The kids are doing well and had a busy time the last few months. The older kids (Nani & Tre) joined the children's choir at Grandma Graham's church where she is the director. They have been really enjoying the time spent with her and the opportunity to perform for the church for their Christmas programs. The religious element has caused a stir and some tension with the parents and some of the grandparents but I think we've worked it out. We are balancing them spending time with their family and keeping the matter of religious education firmly in the hands of the parents. I was surprised to find I had the least anxiety and stress over all of this. I think I have my father to thank for that (yet another thing). I feel very comfortable discussing the matter with the kids and drawing firm boundaries about the issue. Wish us luck.

Siddha is continuing to talk up a storm here and we've been encouraging her to grow her sentence length when talking with us. She is steadily warming up to Auntie Monica which has been awesome to watch. She is still having some difficulty playing cooperatively with her older siblings. We've started a new set of rules/guidelines that will hopefully help with that. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to pass them along. We have an aggressive toddler and two older siblings who don't always share well when playing together. At least part of it is Siddha's limited vocabulary which will keep growing. Please send any and all ideas my way.

They all went to the Botanical Gardens again this year and walked through the lit wonderland. We also got to go to Legoland with Uncle Stephen, his fiancé (congratulations again) and their children. It was a grand old time with lots of chatting, laughing and fun for the kids. Grammy Jo was here at the same time and got to join us as well. Tre and Nani went with Nia and Auntie Katie to see Santa Claus and have dinner with him. They also got to go to Camp Cahito again for a week over Christmas break so as you can see it was a busy time for the kids.

Speaking of Grammie Jo - she was down again for another week stay and once again filled the house with delicious baked treats. She did cookies with the grandkids, hung out with the adults and was as always a pleasure to be around. We once again made our pitch for her to live with us when she felt the time was right. We can a chance to spend some adult time with her as well which is always nice. She is planning on upping her trips to San Diego from three times a year to four which is awesome. The current plan is her to come down near each child's birthday then one more between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The adults were busy as well with Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Graham's. It was strange not hosting or cooking up a storm for the dinner but we enjoyed it none the less. Grandma Graham set a wonderful table and it was lovely to share the day with more extended family then usual. The kids got to run around and spend time with more of Lisa's family. I have to admit it was nice to have less clean up and work to be done after the meal was over. We just packed up our left overs and went home.

We followed that up with our Tree Decorating Party. The tree was put up, decorated and lit with good cheer. Tre got to put up his little blue and silver tree in his room then all the kids helped decorate sugar cookies. It was an added bonus that Grammy Jo was still in town. We snacked on food throughout the night and had great conversation with the other guests. We're all looking forward to hosting this event in the new house this year with the added space.

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner here with my the whole family. This year we did lamb and ham as the main entrees and came out fantastic. For the last several years Bill's sister Carol sends us a GC for Whole Foods which we use to buy the ingredients for the meal. Almost everyone made a great side dish to bring or pitched in with the prep and clean up. We had an added bonus of Megan flying down last minute to the spend the Christmas weekend with us. We ate and ate then opened gifts with the folks we wouldn't see the following day for Christmas. The kids got us up bright and early the next morning to see what Santa brought. Tre's beyblade collection has grown considerably and Nani has gotten more make believe wear along with Alien Invasion Legos.

An awesome thing to point out from the morning gift opening was Siddha. While this is indeed her second Christmas it was the first one where she could really participate in the process. She opened each gift and then spent 20 to 30 minutes playing with and examining the gift. It was awesome! She was so mindful of the gift and spent time really developing a relationship with the item in question. It was wonderful to see and I hope she keeps that habit for the foreseeable future.

As with every year we went to my father's for Christmas Day dinner with his friends and a few of our own. My dad and Micheal have really made their home welcoming to the adults and the children. They had recorded the old claymation Christmas specials for them to watch while the dinner was being prepared and then we all sat around talking and eating. In the theme of friends and family coming at the last minute - Micheal Mosher joined us for dinner and it was great to see him. He and my father hadn't seen each other in over a decade - they spent time catching up and chatting. It was comfortable and familiar - everything I associate with being at my father's home.

After all the meals and out of town guests we went straight into preparing for our kid friendly New Year's Eve party at the house. We lay out a spread buffet style and made room for kids to run and play. We watch the ball drop live from New York at 9 pm ensuring the kids get to bed at a reasonable hour. We had eight kids total and it was wonderful to see them playing while getting another chance to catch up with friends. Once again we're looking forward to hosting this event in the new house this year with more space and more amenities for throwing big parties.

That catches us up to now with it being January. We have two birthdays this month Bill's and Leng's. I am woefully behind on getting pictures uploaded to Flickr which I will try to do in the next few weeks here before the move. As always we welcome any visitors to the region and I hope everyone had a happy and wonderful holiday and a great start to the new year.