How One Loses His Transportation

Have you ever done it?  Lost your transportation?  I have to pause to laugh...

This afternoon the boys and I went to the garage to mount our bikes and strollers for an excursion uptown.  Peter declares, "I can't find my bike.  My bike's not here."  Hmm.  He's totally right.  Bike gone.

My first thought was that someone stole it.  But then I remembered that he is his father's son.  So I asked him, "Did you ride it somewhere recently and leave it there?"

He thinks for a moment then replays yesterday's solo trip to the market.  "I rode my bike to the market to buy meat for dinner...  And then I walked home."  I smiled hugely in disbelief that he actually did this.  Because...

More than once, Paul has been out and about driving somewhere and he ends up at the local cafe, which is a two minute walk away from our house.  After spending hours solving the world's problems with the farmers, he heads out and, forgetting that he drove the car, he walks home.  Then later in the day one of us goes to use the car and we don't know where it is.

"Oh, heh heh, I left it at the cafe."

See how funny and ridiculous this is?  It brought great humor into my life that Peter, never knowing that Paul is also prone to losing his transportation, took a one-way trip on his bike.

The truly sad part of the story is that his bike is gone.  It was not at the market when we went to retrieve it today.  I'm hoping that it will magically reappear, but I imagine one of the nocturnal youth who traverse our town in the darkness of night took it for a joy ride.

Cue Reuben's act of mind-blowing kindness.  He told Peter that he could ride his bike any time he wanted and that he would ride his scooter.  Yes, Reuben.  You're amazing too.

Reuben's Birthday

Six!  He's six now, which makes me want to quote from A.A. Milne's When We Were Six.  But instead I will show you how we celebrated our Reuben's day.

The night of September 10th, while he was sleeping,

we hung up streamers and banners and balloons.

This tradition is no longer a surprise to the boys,

but something special they look forward waking up to.

 Peter got to work making a "Reuben style" family portrait as a gift to him.

The kind of drawings where the head is also the body so the arms and legs stick out from the head and it's very cute.

 Good morning!

Let's make cake!

 He ordered a tall rainbow cake.

So here he is mixing small bowls of cake batter with various colors.

We poured it into the pan to bake

then we cut it into squares to stack up.

Look at this cake!

Like no other.

He loved it.

And we did too.

Greetings from Charlie

 Peter made him his birthday crown.

Recognize the shirt, Craig?

Korean snacks we bought last summer while in Korea to meet Charlie.

Past the expiration date, but we still ate them.

The resident Koreans enjoyed the fishy tasting fish crackers the most.

More presents - a bow and arrow set

 It was fun for all.

 Airplane card from Granny and Granpa,

along with dollars for Rube to shop with.

He loves having dollars and spending them as quickly as he can.

 Birthday card turned airplane.

 A grand finale treasure hunt to find a new BIG bike, in the basement.

I sent the camera down with Paul

as I avoid the dead-bird dungeon as much as possible.

 He really wanted a "big bike like Peter's"

and I'm a sucker for making birthdays special.

 A happy birthday Momma

 Now on to Target so he could spend his fresh birthday money.

So many Nerf weapons to choose from.

And then there's the Hot Wheels aisle.

Many moons later we left with Legos, guns, and a race track.

 Charlie's sitting right here next to me, pointing to the screen saying "Granpa, Granpa."

Not Granpa, but Rube is handing over Granpa's money to someone else's Granpa.

This was all in one glorious day.

cake making

present opening

treasure hunting

bike riding

money spending

play, play, playing

love, love, loving

In California

(The computer I'm using doesn't like blogger as much as I do, so the format is a bit funky.)

Day 1

                                                                Paul so lovingly escorted us to our gate.
                                                                       He's joining us next week.

                                                   Mini M&Ms, mini muffin liners, and pipe cleaners = fun on the airplane.

Charlie took the initiative of wiping down the seats at the Phoenix airport while we waited for our next flight.

Day 2

No pictures.

We went to Target, did our school lessons, and ate tostadas.

And rode bikes.

With helmets on.

Day 3 - Today

Reuben wanted to climb the mountain outside Granny's window.

So we did.

At 8am.

Three hour time zone change means we're up at 5am and ready to go.

                                                                                   They live in the desert.
                                                                        We kept an eye out for rattlesnakes.

                                                                                       Water break.  It's hot.

                                                                    Stopped to throw rocks down the hill.
                                                     I just kept thinking about the sleeping snakes they were waking.

                                                                                      Totally asleep.

This afternoon we went to play at the community pool.
Splash pad, large pool, and playground.
And clean bathrooms.
And a friendly lady named Chris with whom we chatted with for hours while our kids played together.
And misters.  Not men, but things that spray mist on you as you recline in lounge chairs.  Not that I got to recline much with Charlie roaming.  But still.  I imagine the misters are very nice.

                                                            Debbie - Thanks for the cute swim shorts for Charlie!

Charlie's current status.

Totally out.

Which is a total bummer because he conked out at 4:30pm,

which is his exact bedtime at home (7:30pm),

but could result in an unfortunate wake up call in the wee hours of the morn. 

Oo, time for turkey burgers!



Photos of the Boys

If he becomes fluent in Turkish before the rest of us, we'll know why.

 He's loves this little Turkish dictionary.

 Ice cream!

 Brothers in the sand box.

How the sand got on Reuben's head.

 

 Brothers in bed.

Brothers in the kitchen.

Charlie likes to eat peanut butter by the spoonful.

 

 Making a sassafras burger.

(grilling dinner at Turkey Run)

 Um, sassafras please.

(Sassafras is a tree out in these parts.

The leaves can be 3 shapes:

a dinosaur footprint, a mitten, or a football.

Isn't that neat?  A tree with 3 different leaf shapes?

The boys look for them when we hike and snack on the edible leaves.)

 Brothers all together.

When I Was Adopted

The other day Reuben asked me about when I was adopted.  I think he wanted to know where I lived after I was adopted.  I don't remember exactly what he asked because I was trying to quickly take in the idea that he thought I was adopted.  Which makes me wonder if maybe he thinks everyone was once adopted.

I replied to him, "Remember, I grew in Granny's womb.  Granny is my mom."

Rube - "Oh, yeah.  Then where did you go/who took care of you when you came out of her womb?"

Me - "I lived with Granny and Granpa.  They were my family and took care of me."

I think his five-year-mind moved on to something else and our conversation ended there.  But what a realization for me - to know what he is thinking and how he is trying to figure out the world.

He was adopted, not being raised by the woman whose body he came from.

He knows that Peter grew in my womb, that the doctor cut me open to retrieve him, and that he still lives with us, his birth parents.  I guess that's why I was surprised he was globalizing adoption.

I hope he will continue to verbalize his thoughts to me and that I will be able to help him make loving sense of his world.

Chase and Carly AND Reuben and Candy

Once upon a time my cute sister and her manly man came to visit.  And we went bowling...

 

A natural

So sad my sister is blurry here.

Soon-to-be-a-dad Chase chillin' with Charlie.

I think he's bowled before.

Here I go...

I could not find a ball light enough with finger holes big enough.
So heavy.

Thumb up! Thumb up!

The stealth bowler, giving a silent shout-out to Encinitas.

Valentine's Day snuck up on us while they were here.

Chase, Peter, and I put together pixi stick cards during breakfast the morning of.

Valentine's Day is what led me over the edge to declare No Sugar March.  It seems like we have had a constant stream of candy since Halloween.  Reuben is a sugar maniac and pesters me constantly about wanting to eat candy.  No mas!

No Sugar March was so fabulous we are extending it to all the other months.  Welcome to No Sugar April.

Paul's mom created a very fun candy-filled egg hunt for all the kids yesterday.  I told my boys that they could eat all the candy they wanted before we left Nana's house, and then leave any that's left at Nana's to eat when they visit her again.

So this morning what does Reuben ask?  "Mom, when can we go to Nana's again?" Ha.