That’s actually an understatement!!
So, I was the parent volunteer for Friday’s garden club, so that set me back a few hours in terms of my Friday “me” time, but I was looking forward to my participant day. I ran a few errands to get us ready for the weekend, then I headed to Brandon’s school. Only another mom and I were on time, which kinda sucked, since that meant more prep stuff for us to do. The leads were a bit worried and started making phone calls to the other volunteers who just rolled in whenever they were ready to work. We did have enough volunteers to go pick up kids, so that worked out. I was going to be in charge of a station and was briefed by two of the volunteer leads. One was funny because she was telling me all about the station, and in doing so, she asked if I could tell if she was a scientist. I didn’t let on that I, too, was in science until later. Turns out, she is like Dave, in that she was a former bench scientist. I felt pressure to perform, not by the kids, who were great, but by the other parents, who were watching. I channeled my former Unicamp self, and all went well, except Brandon didn’t want to be at my station. He didn’t really raise his hand to do any of the other activities, and then he was assigned to the camping one, which I knew he’d like since we’d just been camping the week before. A firefighter was in charge of the station, and he was very charismatic. The kids all partnered up, but Brandon was left without a friend. That meant he got to partner up with the fireman until another boy joined the group. It was fun watching the kids at the station, and then when they were done, some of them headed over to me. I think we had about an hour or so with the kids, and by the end, I was tired! We were measuring their strides, both walking and running, hopping like bunnies and stalking like wolves. It was pretty physical, and I don’t think I’d thought about that when dressing the part. Luckily, I was in comfy shoes, but my jeans were definitely not the clothing of choice had I known what I was getting myself into. We wrapped up, and Brandon and I came home to do some homework. He had some reading and math facts to review before finishing for the weekend. I didn’t want to bring anything to my parents’ house, so he finished up before we left. We stopped by two places on the way to get to Peyton, since I wasn’t able to do so earlier. Then we picked Peyton up to head out. My family was taking me out for my birthday, even though it’s now a couple weeks past. This was the first chance we had to do so since my mom was in town, so we went to Chevy’s. Dave was getting a ride from work, as he’d had his bike that he rode (via the train) to save a car for the weekend (and so I could drink!). We all got there first, since my grandma, aunt and uncle were at my parents’ house already. We started with a pitcher of Midori margaritas, and then Dave showed up. My grandma was telling me that I was that much closer to 40, and I groaned at her for reminding me. Then she told me, “Well, I’m almost 90, so you can’t complain!” Touche, Grandma, touche. I was also telling her how my cousin in Korea (he’s there for a year teaching English) wished me happy birthday, and hoped all was well. She said, “He didn’t call me!” I told her it’s because she didn’t have FB 😉 She laughed, and I think she understood what I meant. At least she sounded like it.
So we headed back to the house to have pie that my mom had brought down from home, and then we got the kids to bed while we played MJ. Dave was tired, so he slept with the kids, while I got some spending cash 😉  The next morning, I was supposed to run 10 miles, and I was determined to do my time. Since Dave had his bike, I convinced him to go with me. We left the kid with my parents, then ran around our neighborhood, which is GREAT training for the hills I’ll encounter next week. We headed to my first elementary school, did a few laps, then decided to head down to the shopping center. I wanted to avoid seeing anyone I knew, so we ran the backside, past our town’s lake. I’d never been back by the lake, as there was a murder of a boy back when I was in grade school, and the body was found at this lake. It was a bit Stand By Me feeling, and I am/was a scaredy cat. But I convinced Dave to come with me, even though he wondered what HE was going to do if we encountered trouble. Actually, the only immediate danger would be mountain lions and rattlesnakes. In any case, we headed in. The first stretch was uphill, but it was good for me. I was using my mileage counter on the ipod to help us keep track of distance. Turns out this area is pretty remote, but there are lots of homes that have their backyards lead into the trail. And it turns out, part of the trail is pretty steep! Like, Dave got off his bike and walked up with me. He was supposed to be helping pace me, but we took a wrong turn, and we were off the trail. It felt a little “Deliverance”-y, even though I’ve never seen the movie, but there was an old car wrapped around the tree, along the trail! In any case, we made our way out, got back on the trail. Since the first half of the run was uphill, I enjoyed the second half, as it was downhill. We were going to come up about a mile short if we headed back home, but Dave made the decision he was done. I didn’t really want to run around for another mile, and I figured what we didn’t do in distance, we made up for in elevation, so we called it a day. As soon as we got home, my parents took off to the office. We got the kids cleaned up, dressed, and ready for Matteo’s party. We got ourselves showered up and ready as well. Matteo was having a Star Wars party, so Brandon had his Lego Star Wars shirt on in that spirit, and since I thought Peyton may be the only girl (via the invite list), I wanted her to fit in somehow, too. So we did this:
 She fought me, and felt her buns, and cried. She didn’t want it, only the”buh-raids”, but I told her to just keep them in until we got to the party. She finally stopped crying about it, and kept them decent. We headed over early, as I’d wanted to let Peyton warm up a bit. Brandon took off with Matteo into the playroom. Peyton was staying closeby. Roy Roy was eating, and Peyton was still a bit fascinated with him. I wanted to acclimate her by showing her around at the decorations. They were all awesome! Definitely very in theme, with the “Wookie Cookies” and the wall paper that was up, and we found the movie posters in the family room. I found a picture of Princess Leia, and showed Peyton. She knows who Darth Vader is, and Yoda, but not Leia. Brandon doesn’t talk about Leia much. So I pointed her out, and showed her the signature hair. She touched hers, and said, “It’s the same!” We had lunch, and while we were eating, Luke and Leia came in the door. Peyton was sitting next to Brandon at a small round table with all the other boys. Luke was very loud, and enthusiastic, and pointed Peyton out to Leia telling her they were the same! I think Peyton wanted to melt into the floor, but she appeared okay. Luke and Leia crossed the room, ushered all the kids into the playroom, and when they cleared where Peyton was, she ran over to me. I picked her up, and she wanted to follow the other kids, but just wanted to watch. Another boy was the same way, he stayed with his mom. Luke and Leia played some games with the kids, and were really engaging! They were like a Disney/Pixar film – appropriate for kids, but relevant for parents, too, as they’d get some zingers in that only the parents (and die-hard Star Wars fans) would only get. After three games, Luke made jedi hats, while Leia painted lightsabers on all the kids. After she was done with all the eager kids, Leia asked if anyone else wanted to get a lightsaber. I told Peyton now was her chance, and I asked her if she wanted one, and if she wanted me to go with her. She did! So, I walked over with her to Leia and asked her if Peyton could have one. Brandon, who doesn’t like FACE painting, asked for it to be put on his hand. Peyton did the same. Except she rocked a PINK lightsaber. She was the only one who had a PINK one 🙂 She was given her own cloak, too, but she didn’t wear it. (Btw the way, the host/hostess MADE all the lightsabers and cloaks for the kids, and they were AWESOME!) The birthday boy had his cake, and both kids had a piece. Brandon got a smaller piece, but ate all the frosting, while Peyton got a bigger piece, but agreed to have me take her in between frosting pieces.
We had to head out shortly after cake, as we were headed across the bay for our next event. I was very proud of Brandon’s behavior at the party. He was watching as others were fighting with lightsabers, but he knew he was the oldest. It also helped he only knew Matteo, so he wasn’t “too familiar” with the other kids. He definitely had a fun time with the games, and interacted without needing us. He followed all the rules, except for the “Luke and Leia says” game, when he smiled when he was told not to smile 🙂  I let him know he would be rewarded for his behavior at the game. Peyton fell asleep on the way over to the game, but Brandon stayed up though he was tired.  I sent the picture to Carolyn telling her it was a great party, and this was evidence: 
 Brandon was the one who alerted us to her like this. Later, her head flopped forward, and Brandon was the one who put it back. We arrived in the East Bay, right behind my aunt! What were the chances. She had my parents in the car, too. We coordinated with the Kao’s who were about 15 minutes behind us. It was all working out! Dave was very stressed out worrying about parking, and how we were going to get up to the game with these kids, so late at night. But turns out, my parents clued us in to the shuttle that the restaurant offered to head up to the stadium. We all had dinner, and the girls say together again and colored. Brandon was sitting next to my mom and was very content. Both kids had their goodie bags from the party, and were going through it. My parents took Brandon with them, since they had an extra ticket. We were happy to have only one to worry about 🙂 After dinner, we waited about 15 minutes or so for the shuttle to head up to the game. Brandon lucked out, since my parents have parking with their season tickets. We had to walk a little way, but at 1030pm, it would have been too far for Brandon, or we definitely would have heard about it. We made it to our seats right after the National Anthem was sung. I’d come prepared with snacks – grapes, cut apples (for the kids), and Chex mix for the adults. I’d forgotten, too, that we had pirates booty! Because we didn’t have Brandon and the kids are still small, we had tons of room to spreadout. We also had the first row, or like the “bulkhead” of seats, so we had plenty of room in front, too. At halftime, Peyton asked me if the game was over. Since we were getting blown out, and we wanted to make sure we were on the shuttle without waiting, we left with about 7 minutes left to go in the game. Mckayla was funny in that she wanted to stay until the end, and she was convinced that the game wasn’t over, even though Michelle told her it was. Peyton didn’t complain. Marcus was riding on Ted’s shoulders, then Peyton wanted to sit the same, then started calling Marcus’ name. I think Peyton played more with Marcus than Mckayla, as she was playing peek-a-boo under his blanket, and even tried to kiss him, too. She is the Cougar of our group, having tried to kiss Connor last week. We caught the first shuttle out, and said our goodbyes to the Kao’s. We met up with my parents and their friends back at the house. They’d driven up from down south just that day to watch the game, stay overnight, and then turn around to go right back home. Both kids were so tired, having fallen asleep in the car. Brandon was so cranky, and I tired to ask him about the game, but he said, “I just want to go to sleep!” Peyton fought getting her teeth brushed. Brandon did, too. I’d planned on bringing a toothbrush in the car, but totally forgot. And now we were paying for it. Brandon was quickly asleep, while Peyton was tired, but couldn’t sleep. I laid down with her, just like in the tent, and told her to sleep since Brandon was already sleeping. She was too tired to argue. I joined the other adults for some more pie. They were gentle with us about the results of the game, not too much ribbing. We called it a night after half-past midnight, then headed to sleep. Dave said he wanted to stay with Peyton, though I’d told her that I’d stay there. I prefer the bed, and Dave preferred the air mattress. Dave said Brandon woke up at 715am, which is late for him, while I woke up with Peyton at 845am! I couldn’t believe it! I don’t remember the last time I slept that long. But at some point, after Brandon left, Peyton woke up and came up to the bed, and fell back to sleep with me. It was all a blur how it happened, but I know, when I looked at my phone, it was almost 9am. My mom had breakfast almost done by the time we’d woken up. We got the kids showered up, and cleaned up ourselves. After breakfast, we said goodbye to the Zimmer’s, and then we headed up to the airport. It’s Fleet Week this weekend, and the Blue Angels were taking off from the airport. My mom checked us in, then they headed back to campus for a reunion event. We got to see the Blue Angels up close and personal, and Dave was geeking out. He thought it was so cool! He was like a kid in the candy store, and didn’t even care to check out all the other stuff that was there, like the airplane tours, kid stuff, and demonstrations. Brandon and I got to see a landing gear demonstration, then we got some lunch to eat on the tarmac. We waited for the Blue Angel departure like we do for a Disneyland parade! Only, Dave was willing and able to do this. We parked behind a row of lawn chairs. Brandon was super tired, and I offered to sit with him lying down in my lap. That worked out for the first 30 minutes; he’d fallen asleep after only 5 minutes or so of lying down. I’d missed him, since he was with my parents last night. (He’d told me he’d missed me, too, but I don’t think so. He had a pretzel without salt as his reward, which was reasonable!) But then, my legs were falling asleep, so I moved him to the stroller. Peyton was cranky, not wanting to do anything, but telling us she was hungry, but then not eating. She was being unreasonable, and finally, we gave her some noodles in a cup, and she ate on her own. After she was done, I picked her up, and started rocking and bouncing her baby-style. She fell asleep within 5 minutes. I continued to hold her while she was sleeping for about 20 minutes, then Brandon woke up, so I swapped kids. I threw Peyton in the stroller, and continued to look for signs the planes were going to take off. Because of fog, they were not going to take off. So, Brandon and I were going to check out the exhibits again, when Dave called me to tell me to come back. I almost couldn’t find him again, but we positioned ourselves next to them. Peyton was still asleep in the stroller, but Brandon, Dave, and I got to see them take off. After we did, we started walking away to check other stuff out. We found some Storm Troopers who we’d seen earlier in the day. Brandon chased after them for a picture. (Peyton was scared yesterday at the party because she anticipated Darth Vader walking through the door – she even told me, “But we didn’t see Darth Vader at Matteo’s.”) 
Not sure why she didn’t look at me. We headed to take a tour of the 747. The kids posed in first class. I don’t think they wanted to leave:
Oh, and they got balloons while we were waiting in line. We headed home after this, stopping at my mom’s to pick up some food we’d left. She gave the kids a char siu bao for the road. I told Peyton that tai-po calls her a steamed char siu bao, but when she is tan, she is a baked char siu bao, but Brandon chimed in, “And when you are old, you will be a pot sticker!”   Then, we headed home to clean everything up from the weekend. The kids were down in bed by 730pm, and didn’t complain, as both need their rest from this weekend.
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Loyalty – prior to the game, Brandon had his UCLA shirt on. When we were out running, my dad told him to take off his shirt. He started crying. My mom didn’t know what was going on, other than Brandon was crying. Later, she asked him, and then relayed the information to me. I was proud 🙂 But then AFTER the game, since he was in their section, he was chanting, “Let’s go, Bears!” His confused. I told the Kao’s how Brandon will look us dead in the eye when he’s mad at us, and say, “Go Bears!” Ted asked what I say in response. I told him, “Go to your room.” It may backfire someday, but at least it’s a good school. I give them that.
Here are the padawans before bedtime (again, Carolyn MADE these-mad props, GF)…
Parents grant the online drivers education to be a serious program