The Three August Birthdays

Three good children born in August. At LEAST three. Daisy turned 17! Her sisters made her a birthday crown.

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The gnome spectrum, goodbye to Seb, &c.

 

Let's just start right out with a gnome: A gnome with a gnome-ball on his hat, to be precise. (Something's weird about his hands too. Are they also gnomes? Or bunnies?) Gus drew this gnome.

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Denver trip with Seb

So…Sebastian took a job at the Denver Airport and moved to Denver! It was all quite sudden. When we were in Oregon, Seb was still working at UPS Cargo in Salt Lake and trying to decide if he wanted to work de-icing again this winter. When some jobs came open at United in Denver, he applied just to see what would happen. He has wanted to work for an actual airline (they have better benefits than the contractors he's worked for) but it's hard to get hired here in SLC because they don't have as many employees here. He was kind of surprised when he got offered the job! He was considering it, talking over pros and cons with us, and then suddenly the next day he told me he'd accepted the offer! We were surprised and a little taken aback because it happened so quickly, and he would have to move in a month! But we were also glad he was being brave and moving forward. He'd been wanting to make a change for a while and this was a great chance for it!

Seb found some apartments for rent online, and we narrowed them down a bit, but felt like he really ought to see them in person. He had to go to Denver for a badging appointment and drug test at the airport anyway, so I decided to go with him for a quick overnight trip so we could check some places out. I felt sort of underqualified to help, since I have never apartment hunted before myself! I lived at home in college, then in London, then with Rachael in her grandpa's house while he was living elsewhere. And then I got married! So I don't know anything. But I could provide moral support (and the benefit of my years of wisdom of course🙄). Oh, and unlike Seb I'm old enough to rent a car. So that was something.

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Birthdays, Buildings, and Back to School

There's always some birthday or other going on here. Since we were in Oregon on Sebastian and Clementine's birthdays, we saved their presents until we got home, and they had a joint birthday dinner. Seb gave me a guava cake recipe he wanted me to try, and since Clementine had asked for "strawberry cake," we just put those on top! It also felt appropriate for us to wear gnome hats for the occasion.

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III: Wings, Waves, and out to the coast

We celebrated two birthdays on this trip, Sebastian's and Clementine's. For Seb's, we had crêpes and strawberries, of course, which even by itself is the best birthday meal ever. Seb also requested that we go to a waterpark he had heard of called "Wings and Waves." It wasn't far from where we were staying and it was on the way to the coast, so we thought we could fit it in on the day we changed houses!

The main attraction of this waterpark (definitely for Seb, but presumably for everyone else too) is that the waterslides come out of a real 747 which is parked up on the roof! It is quite a sight to see when you drive up!

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Abe and Seb visit

When we said goodbye to Abe and Seb and left for Quebec, we were hoping maybe they could come visit us sometime while we were gone. Seb can fly free on standby because of his job with United, and it's great, but it's not really the same as having a ticket! You have to be flexible, and you have to be at peace with maybe getting stuck somewhere for longer than you'd like! It's a little nerve-wracking when you have a schedule to keep to. 

Still, there was a week in August before school started where Abe thought he could take a day off work and then maybe work from Quebec for a few days. (His MTC job is all online, working with missionaries in other parts of the U.S. and Canada.) And Seb thought he could switch shifts with a few people to get some days off. And Seb is able to get Abe on flights free too if they fly together! So they picked a week, and Seb pored over the standby schedule. There are no direct flights from Salt Lake to Quebec, so they would need to get to a hub somewhere that could get them to Newark or Chicago, and then from one of those two airports to Quebec. And they needed to do it all in one day so Abe could be somewhere to work (remotely) the next day! I know Seb was really worried about making it all work out. He figured out how to get to the right places at the right times so there would be two flight options in case they missed one. And then he figured out contingencies in case they ended up getting stuck overnight somewhere. Worst case scenario, he thought, they could turn around and fly back to Salt Lake and just try to come visit us another time.

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Adventures out of the nest

The older kids don't get much press around here these days, but they do in fact continue to do good and interesting things! :) Sebastian has been doing a lot of stuff with his little siblings, trying to pack it in before we go off to Quebec for Sam's sabbatical leave in a few weeks. He was headed off to the Hill Air Force Museum a few weeks ago with the three little boys, and Clementine went racing SO excitedly down to her room saying "I'll get my shoes on!" Of course he couldn't leave her home after that! So she got to go too!

Seb said that Clementine sat exactly like this on every single bench at the museum.

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Seb really wanted to take Teddy on an airplane for the first time, so he planned a trip for them to L.A. on a cheap flight. They rode Trax to the airport and flew out late in the evening, then slept at LAX, walked to a nearby park Seb had heard had good planespotting, watched and took pictures of the airplanes all day, ate at In-n-Out, and flew back home!

Teddy loved it so much, and Seb loved enjoying it with him. Seb is training Teddy up to be quite an airplane-lover himself!

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Part V: Existential Gardening Questions and an Ideal Birthday

We loved the place we stayed in Luquillo. The guy who owned the rental house lived in another house on the property, which can be awkward, but it was fine and we didn't feel that "barely-sanctioned intruder" feeling you sometimes get. He was the epitome of the expat high-powered corporate lawyer who left it all behind to live on a mountain top and do organic micro-farming. (I don't know what his real story is, but I'd put money on it being something like that.) When he showed us around, he had a sort of proud-but-also-laid-back vibe: "So here's the passion fruit vine; it's kinda taking over the place, ha ha." It made me wonder how one even has a yard in the middle of the rainforest. What IS a yard, really? How do you "plant" a garden when everything just grows? Does gardening consist mainly of fighting off the plants you don't want? How many months can you go before the rainforest starts encroaching on you with its own ideas? 

I have so many questions.

We had bananas, papayas, passion fruit, star fruit, and pineapple in our yard—those were just the things that were ripe. There may have been more. And speaking of strange gardening issues, I learned that a banana tree CAN ONLY GROW ONE BUNCH OF BANANAS. In its lifetime! That's it! Then it dies! But a new banana tree (and technically speaking they aren't even called trees) can sprout up from the side, out of the roots, and grow next to the old one. So, does a banana orchard just…migrate over time? If you want to plant bananas do you have to clear a whole row for the your one tree to proceed down over the years? If your neighbor plants a banana tree will it eventually be in your yard?

Also, do you feel bad that the tree which produced your bunch of breakfast bananas is now deceased, never to bear fruit again? Tropical fruits are so weird.

That's the passion fruit vine, growing up the tree

Star fruit tree

Close up

Baby pineapple

Our host said we could pick whatever fruit we wanted, and when we arrived at the house there was already a bowlful of fresh fruit there, so we got to try everything. There were also some flowers from the yard in vases. What would it be like to just go out and assemble a bouquet like this from your own yard??

Fruit cut up for breakfast. The star fruit is really good—I had it in Hawaii too but I thought it was better here. It reminds me of kiwi, a little. The passion fruit you think is going to be weird because you can eat the seeds, but they are just nice and lightly crisp, like poppyseeds or something. And the pulp around them is good and sweet. I like papaya but Seb thought it tasted deeply "wrong" somehow—not spoiled or anything, just strange to him. And of course the tiny bananas are so delicious. I wish we could grow them here! (One tree at a time.)

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San Diego with Seb

My mom has such a fun tradition she started several years back of taking her grandkids who are seniors on a trip somewhere. And her kids who are their parents get to go too! My first time doing this was with Abe a few years ago, when we went to Philadelphia. 

This year Mom had three graduating senior grandchildren, which I think is the most there will be in a year! Sebastian plus my niece Lucy and my nephew David. Mom took me, my brother Kenneth, my brother Karl, and those three grandkids to San Diego! We had a great time together. The cousins didn't know each other very well and it was fun to see them have a chance to become friends. And I don't get to see my brothers very often either! So this was such a fun thing to do. 

Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

 

The Mormon Battalion Museum was really good! I had never been before. The tour was interactive and really cute (without being annoying). I learned a lot! And it was fun because I had Abe on a call from his mission while we were there, so he got to be there "with us" for a while.

Big succulents!

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Graduation Festivities

Herriman High had a graduation parade for the seniors on the morning of graduation. It's weird being part of all these public school things suddenly, after feeling so apart from them most of the time! (Seb has been in public school from 10th-12th grade.) For the parade, the seniors just get in their cars and drive (or get driven) slowly around the block to the high school. Some cars were sort of decorated…but mostly not. Ha! I thought it was going to be dumb but we went anyway because my kids might like it. And it was fun! Surprisingly fun. Lots of the seniors threw candy (which I don't think they were supposed to, but oh well) so the kids were super excited about that. And there were lots of police cars and police motorcycles, which put Ziggy in heaven. 

Bubbles

The parade cars were going so slowly and the street was so small that we could wave and talk to the students in each of them. The kids waved and said "hi" to everyone. It was cute.

"Hiiiiii!"

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Senior Pictures…second edition

I thought I already took Sebastian's senior pictures in November…but a few days before graduation he suddenly took it into his head to make some graduation announcements, and he wanted me to take more pictures for them. I was happy to. I love going out picture-taking with Seb!

We went up to Blackridge Reservoir for most of these. Everything was so green! I love this rainy Spring we've been having!

And now…I guess there's no way to sugar-coat the fact that now we're just going to see about a thousand pictures of Seb with varying poses and facial expressions. So. 

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Sebastian in his element

A few weeks ago, when the leaves were still pretty, Sebastian said he wanted me to take some pictures of him on his bike. You can bet I jumped at the chance! Last time I did this was…well, at least 6 years ago! It was so fun to drive around with him and hike through crunchy leaves and watch him do tricks on his bike and laugh about things together. I guess we can call these his senior pictures. (Incidentally, I have never been an unmitigated supporter of long hair on boys—it so often looks stringy—but when I compare Seb's hair now with his hair when it was short—I do really like it like this. I think he looks so handsome!) 

And he does love this bike of his! I hope he has half this much love in his eyes when I take his engagement pictures…haha.

This reminds me a little bit of when Seb was tiny, and I'd get him to talk to me while I took his picture so I could catch his different expressions.

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Last Race

Seb and Malachi had their last cross-country race of the season…Sebastian's last race ever! Well…they actually have a race in Arizona in a couple weeks. And who knows, maybe Seb will run in college. But it felt very final nonetheless! My brother Philip and my mom came to cheer the boys on too. It was a lovely, beautiful Fall morning, just what you want for a race. And it was at the bunny park (but, sadly, we saw no bunnies). Here are a few pictures of the day.

There was a long delay at the starting line…issues with the timer, or something. So everyone was standing around waiting and jumping around to keep warm.

Clementine managed to lose her shoe, of course, but Junie found it.

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