Spring Break 2019 - Day 3

Monday was our chill day at the beach.  The girls wanted to do a little shopping as well, so we scouted out a few tourist shops.  We turned right out of there condo complex, but we should have gone left.  We drove around for about a half an hour when we decided to find the Harbor Shops.  Turns out it was just around the corner from our apartment complex—we could have walked there.  We took our car back to the complex to park it and then walked over to the shops.

We walked along the beach to the wooden pier where the girls were more than ready for lunch at Ruby’s on the pier by the time we arrived.

It was spendy and the service was slow but a fun place to eat.  I had been there during a college trip 30ish years ago and didn’t realize that Oceanside was the place where Ruby’s was located.

We spent the afternoon at the beach.  Our condo was well stocked with beach chairs, sand toys, towels, and boogie boards.  Misha soaked up some sunshine while Amy and Kristen took a few tentative steps in to the chilly Pacific Ocean.  It didn’t take long for them to take their boogie boards into the bigger waves and have some fun riding the waves.  Chris and I sat on the beach with our jackets on.  It really wasn’t terrifically warm, but the girls enjoyed themselves.  

We watched a dad and his teenage son build a huge sand castle and finally give it over to some young boys when it was time for them to leave the beach.  The boys destroyed the sand castle in no time at all.    

Amy and Kristen retired their boogie boards.  Amy lay in the sun alongside Misha, though I don’t know that she ever warmed up as she had goose bumps all over every time I looked over at her.  Kristen played in the sand, but got bored after awhile and headed back in to the ocean.  I don’t know how she handled being cold for so long, but she had a great time catching waves.

We were all in agreement when I finally suggested we go back to sit in the hot tub at the apartment complex.  I limped along all day as my feet hurt more and more throughout the day.  Some of us had to change in to our swim suits to enjoy the hot tub, but we met the girls there and relaxed in the warmth.

The girls still wanted to do a little shopping, but by the time we found some other tourist shops to peruse, most of them were already closed for the day.  Amy wanted me to take some pictures of her by the beach as the sun went down.  Not sure how great they will turn out, but I always enjoy trying.  We were close to a fast food type shop and all got fish tacos for dinner.  

We returned to the condo (thankfully Chris brought the car closer to the restaurant so I wouldn’t have to walk so far).  He and I worked on making travel plans for our summer holiday.

Spring Break 2019 - Day 2

We were looking forward to spending the day with Grandpa Kline and Christine.  He had rented a boat, and we all planned to spend the day sailing in San Diego Harbor.  Before our arrival, we stopped at Safeway to pick up some fruit, veggies, and snacks and then made another quick stop at Subway for sandwiches for lunch on the boat.

We had a fun day together on the water.  Grandpa started out by teaching us about the boat and sails.  Misha took the wheel for about an hour and of all the girls loved driving the boat the most.  We motored through the harbor and then picked up some good wind for sailing a couple of times.

It was lovely just to enjoy the sunshine—I ended up with this funky triangle-shaped sunburn on my hand.

We docked around 4:15 pm and Chris offered to take Christine and Grandpa to the airport so they could try for a standby flight at 5:30 pm.  It only took about twenty minutes for him to get them to the airport and then return for us four girls. I didn't realize the airport was so close and thought he would be gone about an hour, so we were in the process of settling into lounge chairs for a nice wait.

The rest of our evening was spent driving to Oceanside.  Traffic was fairly backed up for most of the drive, but we finally arrived at the condo we had rented.  We were just a half a block from the ocean.

We drove around a little to tour the town and then stopped for dinner at Knockout Pizza.  Walmart was our next stop to stock up on breakfast items, snacks, fruit, and drinks, before returning to the condo to settle in for the evening.

Spring Break 2019 - Day 1

Our flight to San Diego was a late one, so we had plenty of time during the day to get stuff done. We stopped first at Costco to find some flip flops for Kristen and then at Macy’s to check out prom dresses for Misha. We found one, but I will wait to post on that.

We decided to eat dinner at the airport before our two-hour flight on Southwest. Amy arrived in San Diego much earlier in the day and Chris helped her take her first Uber drive to the hotel to drop off her bags and then another one to Belmont Beach where she spent the day lounging in the sun. The weather wasn’t terribly warm, but 65 degrees is plenty warmer than the 40 degree weather in Rexburg.  This girl couldn't wait to get to the beach.

When we arrived in San Diego, Chris took the shuttle to the rental car place to pick up a car and then come back to the airport to get us. We grabbed all of the suitcases as they arrived in baggage claim and only had to wait about ten minutes for Chris to get back to the airport to pick us up.

As we rolled our suitcases to the entrance at the hotel, Amy happened to be in the lobby and spied us through the front window. Hugs all around. So good to see her. It was pretty late, so we quickly got our luggage situated, made up the roll-away bed in our very tiny room, and fell asleep.

Flower Delivery

Amy was walking home from class this afternoon at BYU-Idaho when a car pulled up beside her and a young man jumped out and handed her this flower wishing her a happy day.  Made her smile.  She facetimed me soon after and said, "Mom, the craziest thing just happened..."

Card for Amy

I found this funny card for Amy and asked everyone to write something in it for her.  Chris made it gross.  However, it is not a booger.  It is that sticky stuff that comes in mailings to attach cards to things.

Spring Formal

Misha got asked to the Spring Formal (a youth dance sponsored by stakes within the region).  Her date, Matthew Lowry, came by on Saturday evening with a bottle of Fanta and roses.  Good guessing for him since orange soda is one of Misha's favorites. "Wanta" go to MoPro?"  That's a shortened version of Mormon Prom.

Snowmageddon

It was hard to imagine on Tuesday afternoon when the weather was a lovely 60° that we could have a blizzard on Wednesday, but that is exactly what happened.  Chris had a flight scheduled for Wednesday afternoon that was canceled on Tuesday afternoon.  He began scrambling to find something sooner.  His only option was to leave the East Coast at 4:45 am (2:45 am our time).  Fortunately he was on one of the few flights to make it in to Denver on Wednesday morning.  He landed around 8 am and was home before 9:30 am when the rain turned to snow.

The school district had canceled school on Tuesday evening, seminary was canceled, and the temple was closed for the day.  Nice not to have to worry about going anywhere as the storm ramped up.  The wind raged all day long as it snowed.

On Thursday evening, we wondered whether the school district would close schools for Thursday.  They hadn't by 9:45 pm when I turned my lights out.  Chris was already fast asleep since he had been awake for so long.  Misha and Kristen were still up at 10:45 pm when the district officially canceled due to bad roads and power outages in some locations.

The sun is out now and hopefully all roads will have all ice melted before too long.

The wind was blowing directly from the north yesterday and the girls could see snow coming in above the front door.  Misha's solution:

Teacher Appreciation

The graduating seniors from the Longmont Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints nominated teachers and educators who had made a significant impact on their life to honor them on a special evening.  Misha nominated her 4th and 5th grade teacher--Mrs. Spong.  While Mrs. Spong wasn't able to attend the Teacher Appreciation Night held at the Stake Center, Misha was one of the senior emcees and still needed to attend.

She has a grace and poise and confidence in speaking that was perfect for the event.

The youth sang "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good".

Interesting note.  The other student host was Parker Steed, son of Ritchie Steed.  Ritchie and I graduated from Stirling High School almost 35 years ago in a graduating class of 13.  We have always found it interesting that both of us ended up in the same stake in Colorado.  Parker just received his mission call to the Baltimore Maryland mission.

Special Effects

Kristen was bored and began following some Youtube tutorials on creating special effects with makeup.  While the outer edges of the "wound" she created were a little obvious, the middle of the wound totally looked like a popped blister or some kind of skin problem, open sore, or other grossness.

AP Psychology Egg

Misha's latest assignment in the Child Development section of AP Psychology involved learning to be a parent by taking care of an egg.

I thought the difference in the care by Misha and Amy (when she took the class two years ago) was pretty indicative of their talents.  Misha created an egg holder for "Margo".

Amy made her egg "Regina" pretty.

Chiropractor

I started seeing a chiropractor last Friday.  On Saturday, my body was feeling better and my feet totally did not hurt any longer.  Sadly, the ache and tightness came back on Sunday so that by Monday when I went again, I was back to what I had been.  I was hoping the adjustment on Monday would help my feet again, but no such luck.  I feel like such a basket case some days and just wish that I could be my old self again.

National Napping Day

I don't always keep up with the National "Days" but heard on the evening news that today was National Napping Day.  I texted Amy:

Mom: Amy!!! Today is national napping day.
Amy: I HAVEN'T HAD A NAP TODAY
Mom: Slacker
Amy: I HAVE DISHONORED MY FAV HOLIDAY
Mom: What a waste of a National Day.  What did we even send you to college for?
Chris: To get her out of the house!
Amy: Waste of money.

I'm sure she'll do her best to make up for it.

Sickness

It took forever for whatever crud we all had to work its way through our family.  Kristen was sick for two weeks in February before she felt as though she was on the mend.  Then Misha got it.  Chris succumbed next and sadly had to fly to New York.  I thought that after a month of dodging germs, I would be home free, but not so.  After spending the day chaperoning Kristen and her friend at All-State Choir, I came home feeling like crap.  Sadly, my flu or whatever it was, kept me home from Kristen's performance on Friday evening.

All State Performance

Since I came down with some sort of crud, I wasn't able to attend Kristen's All-State Choir performance.  Chris and I had originally planned to drive to Denver together with Brynlee John's parents (Jarom and Jamie), so Chris went without me.  He still had a great time.

The kids were divided in to three different choirs and each choir had four to five songs to sing.  Chris said the kids sounded amazing.  I had only heard them in their practice and snippets of songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", but even then they sounded phenomenal.

What an awesome experience for Kristen to have.  She loved it but was pretty wiped out by the day's end.

Misha picked up some roses for me on her way home from work for Kristen.

All-State Choir Chaperone

Out of the 1000+ students who auditioned state wide for All-State Choir, only approximately 450 students were selected to participate.  I was asked to help chaperone on Thursday.  Originally Mead MS had three girls attending, however, one of the girls got sick a couple of days before and couldn't attend.

So, I met Kristen, Brynlee, and their teacher, Larisa Somers at the school early on Thursday morning to travel to Denver.  The girls rode with Ms. Somers while I carried cargo.  Ms. Somers was on the directors board for the event and needed to be at the Convention Center in Denver early on Thursday morning, which meant that we were there early as well.  We dropped off some of the supplies for registration and then tried to find parking (we may have gone around blocks a couple of times before finding the right street, but at least I was following Ms. Somers and not the lost one).

Since we had so much time, Kristen, Brynlee and I headed out for the morning to check out the 16th Street Mall and to get lunch at Subway.

By the time the event finally got started at 2 pm, the girls had already spent most of the day just hanging out.  The Convention Center was packed with kids.  I listened in with their clinician as the first workshop started and was immediately impressed by his skill and by the kids' musical talent.

For most of the afternoon, I worked on my garden plan outside in the lobby area where they had comfier seating.  I wasn't able to sit for too long on those hard chairs.

The first workshop session last 2 1/2 hours and the girls were tired, thirsty, and hungry.  We gathered overnight bags from the cars and headed over to the Hilton Garden Inn to check in.  Kristen and Brynlee were in room 1210 and Ms. Somers was next door in 1208.

We had dinner together at Modern Market (Ms. Somers had food allergies so we had to pick a place that she could find food as well).  On the way back to the hotel, they all picked out some breakfast foods for the morning since their hotel did not include a free breakfast.

I dropped the girls and Ms. Somers off at the Convention Center for their evening workshop and then drove home.  I was grateful that I didn't have to wait until 10 pm before being able to leave.

New Beginnings 2019

Kristen helped to plan her Young Women's New Beginning program this year as part of a Personal Progress project.  The theme for the evening was "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

Snowboarding Queen

Liz taught Amy how to snowboard at Kelly Canyon Ski Resort!  There were a few falls, but Amy seemed to catch on pretty quick.  Looks as though the weather cooperated nicely.

-20° Was the High

I chatted with my parents on Saturday when the high for the day was -20° C in Southern Alberta.  That's minus 20 folks.  Celsius or fahrenheit, either way that is cold.  So freezing cold.  My dad had just come in the house from getting some more firewood and this was the hat he put on to warm up once he was inside again.

Who Names These Things

Chris ran into Home Depot for a quick minute and returned with this crazy item.  Seriously who names these things?