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.