Since we had the Red Egg party on Saturday, Dave didn’t want to drive down right after, so we waited until the next morning. We had everything packed up and on the road by a little after 8 am. We had a smooth drive down, and we stopped for gas and lunch around noon. But the lines were so long at the one particular stop that we were going to make, that we decided to forge ahead. We ended up getting all the way to our destination, stopping at a Cuban sandwich place to pick up lunch and some treats for our hosts. We picked up a dozen dulce de leche kisses, and each kid had a tuna melt. I had a caprese, while Dave had a Cubano. I laughed that only Dave’s meal was truly Cuban. We also picked up some empanadas and some croquettes to take along the ride. We headed straight to Dave’s parents’ house to hang out for a little bit before heading over to the Shih’s house. They graciously hosted us for the week, since baseball camp was closer to them than Dave’s parents. We knew it was time to leave Dave’s parents’ house after Brandon was playing catch in the backyard and took out a terra cotta pot. He nailed it! Dave said we should have taken him to the carnival for those games that require one to throw a ball at a target. We hit a bit of traffic heading over to the Shih’s, but nothing unexpected. It was really quiet in the house until we arrived. 🙂 The cousins started to play with one another, and they did so until it was bedtime. Since we’d had a late lunch, the kids weren’t hungry. I was surprised they survived on only 2 meals for the day, but it was a travel day.
We all had a long day ahead, so we didn’t stay up too late. Since our kids were sleeping in the same room, it required us being in there to settle them down. They can’t be in the same room while trying to go to sleep. Inevitably, Brandon is tired and wants to go to sleep, while Peyton keeps him awake. Both had slept on the drive down, but it had been awhile since they had napped. Finally, they went down to sleep, while Dave and I chatted with Meg, and Jeff’s parents. Jeff was working all week, so it was just the 5 of us adults. The next morning, Meg got the girls off to school, while the four of us headed in a similar direction to the baseball field. We’d never been there as undergrads, but it’s a great place, in the middle of my old VA grounds. Dave and I each had history at the VA, so it was definitely nostalgic being back there. Brandon was concerned that he wouldn’t have friends, but I was not at all. After we’d checked him in, he was whisked off on a team and sent to play stick ball. The 2013 college world series was playing in the background. Peyton, Dave, and I hung out on the field while the rest of camp showed up. We then walked around a bit, before settling into the stands to watch the camp. I was armed with things to do for Peyton – her workbook and ipad. She toggled between the two of them, and the first day, I’d gotten dressed ready to run. Not knowing the area as well, I didn’t want to just set off, so I did stairs with Peyton. She actually was able to do a few sets before saying that she was tired. She let us watch the drills, while she did a few pages at a time. We headed off to lunch when the boys all were eating. The first day, we headed to WF to get some food to bring back with us. Peyton made her own dish from the prepared salad area, choosing sesame noodles, pieces of chicken, broccoli, tomatoes and mangoes. The mangoes were marinated in a raspberry coulis, and I didn’t think she’d like it. She ended up eating the two slices that she’d requested, and saved me the piece I’d asked for. We’d already gotten our dessert, so I knew to choose more wisely for lunch. We ended up with quinoa salad, while Dave ate chicken. Dave and I shared a piece of “red, white and blue cake”. It was delicious! Peyton and Brandon are both on a dessert ban for different reasons, so Peyton knew she wasn’t allowed any to share. We ate in the stands and watched the kids after they had their lunch. It worked out perfectly, as we were in the shade. Peyton took a nap on my lap for about 30 minutes while we were watching the afternoon scrimmages. Brandon was done by 3pm, and he was already telling us how much fun he was having. There was trivia right after lunch, with chances to answer questions. The coaches were all part of the UCLA coaching staff and/or players. Brandon’s particular coach was from the 2013 CWS team, so Brandon thought that was pretty cool. He was definitely looking forward to the week. We took the opportunity Monday to head to the student’s store. We wanted to gear Brandon up with t-shirts, and we knew we had a football game to buy up for. The kids enjoyed walking around the store, and we stopped for a veggie snack of carrots. Things have definitely changed from the time we were there. Healthier options, though maybe they were always around, and we just didn’t know it. We had parked by the frats, so we did have to walk in a bit. While we were passing through, we stopped in the Hall of Fame building. I’d never been, since we’re usually there during the weekends or holidays. It was amazing, and the kids enjoyed looking around in there. We took a few pictures, then headed out before they closed. We headed home, and Abby was at swimming practice. The three younger kids all showered up, and they were ready to play after dinner. We got them to bed, but ended up staying in there with them, watching GoT on the ipad. The next day was more of the same, only we went to take Peyton out for ramen that day. I knew what I wanted for dessert, so I had a scoop of spicy tuna instead of ramen. I was saving my carbs for blockheads 🙂 We headed back, and this time, we laid a blanket out for Peyton to take a nap. She slept for 30 minutes before playing catch with Dave in the grass. I had planned to take Peyton to the Getty, but Dave suggested we all go after practice was done. We were meeting up with Mike, but it wasn’t until 6 pm or so. Jeff’s dad was feeling sorry for Peyton, thinking how bored she must be. He kept telling me to take her somewhere, but I really wanted to watch Brandon, too. Luckily, Peyton was pretty okay to stay with us (she had no choice really, but she was a good sport). We didn’t know how the museum would go over with the kids, but I wanted to show Brandon a Van Gogh. I’d read a little bit online about how to engage kids with fine art. It did work, as well as what the museum had for kids. They had some brochures with punch out cards that you can use as a look and find. I also walked around with Peyton and asked her what she thought of some of the paintings. We saw one that looked like a lady was wearing Santa’s coat. It was red velvet, according to the caption, but it had white trim! I was able to distract her long enough to be able to read the caption to myself. There were sculptures there, as well, so I told her the difference between a bust and a full sculpture, so she wanted to take a look at all the busts and who they were depicting. I felt like the guards were profiling us because we had kids with us. I was holding on to Peyton’s hand, while Brandon was roaming about alone. He was making me nervous, too, but he did fine, and didn’t try to touch anything. They were able to explore freely when we walked down to the flower garden area. The walk back up wasn’t as fun, but they managed. We left the Getty after almost 2 hours there. Surprisingly, we missed the crowds that we thought would be there so late in the day. The parking lot was full, but we had no problems exiting. We headed over to meet Mike and Yeonhee. Peyton had a meltdown after falling asleep, and she was a mess heading in to dinner. I ended up taking Brandon with me first, and they joined when Mike had arrived. It was less than 10 miles away, but it took us about 45 minutes to get there. At least I can be assured that Dave won’t want to move back any time soon. It may turn Brandon off of coming here too, if he has to deal with that kind of traffic! I’d brought Brandon’s museum pamphlets, and it was only then he started reading the cards. He’d thought the museum was only okay while we were there, but after looking at the cards, which looked like trading cards, he said he wanted to go back again the next day! Peyton punched out her cards when she arrived, and they were discussing the different cards and if we’d seen them while we were there. We all had yummy bbq, and able to watch some of the Giants game. Dave really wanted to take Brandon to a game, since we were in town, but the Dodgers were out of town all week. Ironically, they were playing SF later this week! We went back home, showered up, and then headed straight to bed. Another late night, and we wanted Brandon to get rest. It was a little easier for the kids to settle down, since it was another long day away. Wednesday was marked by our return to Westwood. We took Peyton to get noodles during lunch, while I held out for a Diddy Reese, which was right next door. Peyton slept again on me, while we watched afternoon scrimmages. Brandon was doing much better this week, and in one inning, he caught a pop fly, and then another, throwing the ball back to second for the double play, as the runner was caught off base. There was a pecking order established, but Brandon managed to play infield. He would go to second base, since first and third were already spoken for. He did make friends with a small kid named Collin. Collin was a great hustler, and he was quite skilled, though he was small. By the second day, Brandon knew his teammates’ names. There was one loose cannon, who had a bad temper, and we knew Brandon knew not to mess with him. They were about the same size, but we could hear the kid say, “I don’t want to play right field!” Brandon and he were both in center, and then all of a sudden, Brandon trotted off to right field. He knows how to pick and choose his battles. In the cages, another kid and he were up at the same time, from different sides of the plate, as the kid was a righty. Brandon stood his ground, and told the kid he wasn’t in line. Luckily, the coach sided with him, and the other kid was asked to leave. It was kind of nice to see the give and take, and all while we were not directly involved. He’s matured a great deal through the game, and we were able to see that. We headed home early on Wednesday, and we had dinner all together after Abby came back from swim. Since it was early, we headed back upstairs after warning the kids to be quiet. Since it had been a few nights already, they got the drill. We didn’t have to go back there and warn them again. They fell asleep on their own, and the adults watched some news and chatted. Thursday would be Brandon’s last day, and it was “competition” day. They would get prizes for various skills. Dave didn’t want to leave at all this day, so we planned to have lunch there. By the last day, we’d gotten to know the “lunch lady”, and I’m sure much of the staff recognized us. I think we were the only parents there all week long. One family we overheard was from NY, and another from FL. While Dave was watching elsewhere, this man started asking me who I was there to watch. Initially, I hadn’t been very friendly, because I didn’t know who he was, and I thought he was going to ask me to leave! He had me point out my son, noticed he was a lefty, and said, “Yeah, he looks like a player!” After he chatted with me a little bit, he stuck his hand out and said, “Hi, I’m the head coach here.” It was then that I was a bit awestruck, but I managed to thank him, and told him how much fun Brandon was having. Dave was excited to hear, and of course thought it was silly that I didn’t know who he was, but I told him of course he was going to say something nice about Brandon! Dave wanted me to remind him how we met the then-head coach of the basketball team when Brandon was just shy of two years.
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This morning, we stayed at home until going over to visit Josephine’s new house. Since Dave felt guilty leaving, we decided to bring the parents with us. He makes fun of other families we see rolling 6-7 deep at costco, and now we were THAT family. We picked up food, and drove it to OC. We all ate lunch, watched Pitch Perfect, which the kids loved, and then got a tour of the house. We then changed into swim clothes, and headed to the pool. At first, there was a padlock on the door, but Brandon scoped out another side entrance, and we were able to enter that way. We had fun for almost an hour in the pool by ourselves. Peyton did two full big laps, the longest she’s ever done. I was swimming alongside with a noodle, to really be safe in case I needed to save her, but she needed no saving! (I swam alongside her at Jeff’s parents’ pool, but since it was shorter, I was able to do so without a flotation device.) She was doing cannon balls into the 6 foot side, too, which is how I got her to swim the length of the pool in the first place. We headed back after rinsing off and drying up. We said thank you and goodbye to Jos, and then headed back through traffic home again. We got home to eat dinner again, and then the kids were put to sleep. Dave got a text earlier in the day that his friends were meeting up at a gym to play basketball. Luckily, we are members of that gym, too, and Dave said he was going to go with them. Up until he was going to leave, I was going to go with him, but I decided against it, since the kids were both still up. Peyton was having trouble going to sleep, while Brandon was almost out. I had to put her in another room, to much protesting, but finally, she was able to re-join Brandon after she quieted down. Both are asleep, while Dave is out there playing basketball. Funny thing is that Dave was telling his mom about the baby party tomorrow and that was the reason we were down here. She (and I) said, “You mean you weren’t down here visiting me?” She play pretended that she was hurt by his statement. And I chimed in I hoped my son wouldn’t do that to me, though Dave reminded me that our son tells us he wants to leave all the time 🙂 So, we’ll go to the party tomorrow, then head back home. Brandon has baseball practice in the evening if he’s up to it, and though we are not running the 10k, we’d still like to be home and settled before the week starts.