Death to Ivy

We just got to spend a few days with Nana and Pop thanks to Hope's graduation from law school. This was such a great time, because it's so great to be around all of them, and it's so good to be back in Virginia. Flying in over all that green after the plane change in Philadelphia...it just does something to me. It's calming.

Then there's the mosquitoes.

For the most part it's great though. The quality time with family truly rocks, as does the quality time with family dogs. One of the truly cool things about this trip has been watching Kiernan totally get into hanging out with Nana and Pop's dogs, Holmes and Rapha. Especially Holmes, the more indoor of the two dogs. Holmes is an extremely affectionate Shepherd/Rottweiller/Whatever mix. In the past Kiernan has showed trepidation around dogs. This visit seems to have broken him of this. The first thing he wanted to do each morning was go to the door and let Holmes in the house; he would then spend the day lavishing attention upon and playing with the dog. This was a great thing to see.

Monday, once I eventually got up, we (me, Nana, Kiernan, and Holmes) went for a walk in the old neighborhood. This did me a lot of good, being out in green Virginia. There's a weight to the woods here that feels different than California. Something Wendy described as beautiful when we were driving down to Mom's house. Kiernan looked out the car window and said, simply, "I think it's creepy."

Different strokes, as they say.

As we started down Mom's long driveway for our walk, she spoke of her gardening plans. She told Kiernan that she wanted to do some planting with him, since they'd had fun gardening the last time he visited, but first they would have to kill a bunch of ivy.

"Kill ivy," he repeated.

Seemed innocuous at the time, but these two words would become something of a mantra in the days to come. Every time we left the house Kiernan would utter these words either alone or as some part of a request. What can I say, he's into super hero battles right now. And my mom clearly presented ivy as a nemesis to be vanquished.

This morning the two of them got around to putting the hurt on some of the driveway ivy, so our story has a happy ending. What's happier is that they followed up the destruction by planting some new plants, so Kiernan sees that there is a flip-side to the world-rending power that gardeners wield. Thanks to Nana he may still be a force for good in this world.

After planting and watering the new plants the three of us all got to go out on the creek in the kayaks. Kiernan sat with me in the red kayak and did his best not to turn the thing over--sort of--while Mom took the blue kayak and acted as tour guide. We loved this part of the day, and hope to do that again for even longer next time we visit.

Picture For This Day

My sister Hope graduated law school on Saturday. I took this right before. We were all pretty excited.


Virginia Beach, VA
Saturday, May 8, 2010

Picture of This Day

Outside Ken Matthews' Garden Center with my boy. Inside we would see the biggest Koi I have ever seen in my life. It may have been a manatee, actually.


Yorktown, VA
Tuesday, May 11, 2010

[Picture taken by my mom.]

Observe and Report

Last Tuesday was a special day for Kindergarten: field trip to the California Science Center. As with the other two field trips this year--pumpkin patch and zoo--I elected to be a volunteer driver. They don't do buses for field trips around here.

It was a wonderful day, if way too short. We got down to the Science Center late, but that was to be expected. Los Angeles freeways at nine in the morning...what are you gonna do? The kids played for awhile in the area in front of the box office while we waited for four classes worth of kindergartners and their teachers, conveyed in various vehicles, to arrive. Then we headed upstairs to check out the new Eco-Systems section of the museum.
We didn't have time to explore much, but it was pretty neat just the same. The little group of kids we were with all went to look at a water/ocean oriented exhibit. They got to touch some starfish and watch the way tidal movement affects sea creatures and plants. Kiernan caught a glimpse of a small shark and a ray moving along the bottom of the tank.

Here's our little group (I will provide names as I get permission from parents):


After lunch outside, the kids all headed over to another building for their lab time. I thought we had missed this, as we had missed our initial morning appointment because of the aforementioned traffic. As it turned out, the teachers had called while in traffic and rescheduled our lab time for the afternoon. Yes...our teachers rock.

Our afternoon time was spent in this interesting indoor/outdoor lab area where the kids were able to observe some creatures in an environment similar to nature. It was pretty neat, although sadly not very challenging. Note to museum tour instructors: if you begin your talk with a group of five/six-year olds by saying, "The three parts of an insect are--" and the kids all call out, in unison, "Head! Thorax! Abdomen!" And they do this before you can even begin to say the words. Don't spend the next twenty minutes doing a spiel on these things. Here's a hint: THEY ALREADY KNOW THAT.

You may have guessed that this was a somewhat frustrating part of the afternoon. Mainly for a few of the parents and the teachers, because the museum instructor was not prepared to adjust to the kids. Oh well. We still had a great time, and Kiernan and his lab team had fun interacting with ladybugs. His favorite insect...and mine.

They also got to see a really cool turtle. She's over there on the right. Okay, I'll be honest with you. If you stick your finger out, she'll probably bite it. This does not mean she doesn't like you. She wants to be your friend. Trust me. She just thought your finger was a worm. Or something.

Overall the trip was a success. We returned to school with all children intact. Even more surprising is the fact that we returned without losing any adults to sharks, or nervous breakdowns. What's best is that I can't wait to go back to the Science Center. There's so much more to see. We were down there last fall to see the Natural History Museum, which is in the same little area. This was during Kiernan's dinosaur phase--I'm still in mourning that the dinosaur phase has passed--and while we stopped by the Science Center for lunch, we didn't really check it out. Now that I've gotten a glimpse of it, I definitely want to take him there again. Much more to explore. And I'm grateful for that.

In the meantime...how about one more picture of my favorite insect. On my favorite boy.

Another Picture for This Day

A little preview before the Science Center post:


I'm working on a post about last week's trip to the California Science Center. This pic doesn't fit into the post, but I wanted to put it up anyway. I just love the way he looks. So thoughtful. What you can't see in the picture is the ladybug that's crawling around his hand and up his arm.

Stay tuned for a more complete explanation.

Picture For This Day

Our bookstore of choice is usually Borders. This is basically due to convenience--it's in the same shopping center as my second favorite pet store and a good wine store--and the fact that their membership club doesn't require you to pay twenty-five dollars a year* for the privilege of buying things at their store. But on this day we went out of our way to go to Barnes & Noble because Sandi's school in Virginia was doing a fundraiser there. A portion of any purchase we made on this day went to Magruder Elementary. I had to get some journal refills anyway, so off we went.


Saturday, May 1, 2010
Woodland Hills, CA



*Seriously Barnes & Noble. What the heck are you thinking still doing this? No wonder Borders is kicking your rump around here.