Homecoming Festivities

My sweet 15 year old. These are the best days of her life! 

Just like the song confirms.

Homecoming began this week. Now that these two (who are more like sisters than friends) are sophomores, they rocked this year's festivities like they owned the school. They got into every dress up day and activity.

This was for neon day. Sophomores wore neon yellow.

This was for cowboy day. Chloe didn't own a pair of cowboy boots. Drama ensued. A simple trip to Goodwill scored her a pair of Tony Loma $20 genuine cowhide boots. You're welcome. I single-handedly saved cowboy day with my shopping prowess. 

Their presence at school was also required two evenings during this week of great celebration. They were in attendance at the girls powderpuff football game and the boys peach fuzz volleyball game. Not a part of the homecoming festivities, but happening anyway, was the Windsor Tennis Invitational. The girls stopped by to cheer Bennett and his teammate, Chance, on. 

Finally, the piece de resistance of the week: The Homecoming Football Game (in which we lost)

These girls were sardined 

Somewhere amongst this sea of humanity. When they all started jumping up and down on the bleachers during certain cheers, I started thanking God for engineers who foresaw this very scenario and added that extra rebar of protection for the anxious parents also in attendance, (but not allowed to sit next to their uber cool kids - because, social suicide).

And then the icing on the cake: The Homecoming Dance. These four went together and boogied the night away.

It brings me such great joy watching these two goofballs make the most of every moment and enjoy this incredible time of their precious lives. Like the song says....15, there's never a wish better than this...

What I Like About You

You know that 80s song: What I Like About You? That's what I think of when I think of this kid. I think my entire blog is a homage to how much I love, enjoy, and admire all my kids. But it's true. The more I know them, the more I'm amazed by who they are and that I have been given the gift of having them in my life all these years.

The thing about Gavin, specifically, that I never ceased to be amazed by his love of learning and capacity to absorb knowledge like a sponge. This has been a consistent character trait of his since he was born. I just thought that's how all kids were since I didn't know any better. I have since learned how unique he is.

As a 3 year old, he loved doing CBTs (computer based trainings - Chuck taught him that terminology) that were actually Bob The Builder activities on their webpage. This was around 2001/2002. He was also begging me to teach him to read, "Teach Nanan (what he called himself) read mom." So I did. That's how we started homeschooling. Homeschooling (in his younger years) seemed the perfect fit for him because he could do interest driven learning and go as deep as he wanted. He's the type of person who loves to learn as much as he can about one subject. He also needed ample time in his day to process this new information, to be creative, and to escape into his own world so he could think. This has always been a keystone in his learning process. Public schools (at the time) were not encouraging this way of learning.

As he got older, he would find books that satisfied his curiosity. One such book, "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking came into his life around 10th grade and quickly became his all-time favorite book. He would always buy it as gifts for friends or to bring to gift exchange parties. He even encouraged me to read it which resulted in the best book talks. We still love to talk about what we're reading with each other, something I treasure deeply.

In high school many other teachers started speaking into his life and opening his eyes to new ways of thinking. He's had several teachers he admired that have fed his constant thirst to go deeper and learn more - about every subject. His U of M Lit and Comp teacher lamented that he wouldn't be majoring in writing somehow because she loved having him in her class and the discussions they would have and the insights he would write about. His St. Cloud State University Physics teacher even came to his graduation party he admired him so much. He loved his AP European History teacher so much him and his friends would hang out in her class whenever they had the chance, he even became her T.A. His Comparative Religion teacher also made a huge impact in his life.

Throughout his teenage years, he consulted YouTube for all his learning how to code needs. He taught himself multiple languages such as Python, C++, and Java. He built his own website. He built his own computer and helped his friends build theirs. As a parent, it's such a joy to watch your child come into their own - to find their passion, their talent, their purpose in this world. 

As he left for UC - Irvine, he was excited about his Computer Science and Engineering major. But after his first year, he realized that he already knew a majority of that stuff and wasn't feeling very challenged or enjoying it as much as he thought. So, upon entering North Dakota State University his sophomore year, he changed his major to Electrical Engineering. When asked "why?" his answer was always the same, "Because I want to major in something I can't teach myself or learn on youtube." Fair enough. 

Just recently, he off-handedly mentioned that he was taking Biology this year because that was one of the sciences he didn't know too much about. I asked, "Didn't you already meet all of your science credits?"  To which he replied, "Yes, but if I want to specialize in Biomedical Engineering, this is one of the requirements." This was the first we heard of his specialization. 

Most people go to college to major in something they already realize they are pretty good at, know more than most people about, or have a passion for. Gavin loves and is knowledgable in such a wide variety of subjects that he chooses to major in the thing he doesn't know much about so he can learn it. That just blows my mind. I love how his brain works. I learn something new from him every single time we talk.

I also love how well-rounded he's become, how he goes to the local farmer's market on the weekends, how he still plays Dungeons and Dragons with his friends, how he takes a walk around the park or along the river most nights, how he calls and talks to me for an hour twice a week. I could never have imagined what this time in our lives would hold and am loving every minute of what it has turned out to be. 

Singing

These girls crack me up! Whenever I pick them up from school or drive them anywhere, we have to have music. And not just any music - 80's music. And we have to sing. LOUD. Do you know how much fun it is to jam with two teenage girls?! The other day we were driving home from school with the windows down and the music blaring. The three of us were singing at the top of our lungs to REO Speedwagon: Keep On Loving You and Chicago's: You're the Inspiration. These are the days I never want to forget. 

Adventures in Seattle

Chuck and I got to have another honeymoon adventure in Seattle last week for our anniversary. Since he has to travel to Seattle for work every few weeks, we figured I could tag along for his September trip and call it an anniversary celebration. It was the perfect way to usher in our 23rd year of married bliss.

The first day we got there we ate and then walked around the iconic Pike Place Market down on the pier.

Thankfully, we were there during sunset.

But we didn't want to stay out too late since we had an early morning date with the Victoria Clipper. This was the ship that ferried us 3 hours north to Victoria on Vancouver Island. 

Checking in and embarkment were at 6:45am. It was a 15 minute walk from our hotel to the pier. We were a wee bit tired in this picture, but also very excited.

The very first thing we did after disembarking the ship at 10am (and waiting in line for another 30 minutes to be processed through Canadian customs) was head straight to Murchie's Tea Shop. They have been serving and selling tea for 125 years. It was so delicious. So were the sandwiches and pastries we filled our empty tummies with. 

Then we headed right next door to Munro's Books, an iconic bookstore in Victoria. Tea and books...two of our favorite things. How could this day get any better?

Well, it can start by walking through the beautiful historic district and the grounds of The Empress, Victoria's oldest hotel. Flowers were in bloom everywhere we looked. Here I'm standing beneath a beautiful portico draped with flowers and vines. 

Next, we walked past Victoria's Parliament building (which was closed for tours on Saturdays) on our way to Beacon Hill Park. We spent the entire day walking. We probably logged 10 or more miles walking back and forth throughout the city. 

This was my happy place. Flowers make me so happy and they were in abundance in these lovely gardens. Well tended gardens and beautiful flowers were everywhere on this island. You can easily see the huge influence England has had in shaping British Columbia.

This was a huge 200 acre park (we probably only walked half of it). It was manicured and tended by the same horticulturalist for 40 years. He obviously took great delight in his job because this park oozes peace and joy.

Here is a sampling of the happy flowers.

Colors and fragrances galore.

I think I appreciate these delicate creatures because I am such a horrible gardener and know how incredibly hard one has to work to keep things alive and beautiful. 

This is a massive tree (possibly a Cypress?) that we admired up close. It brought back memories of the giant Redwoods in California. It always humbles you to see how small you are in the scheme of things.

Picturesque.

What an amazing gift to be able to bring such joy to so many through the hard work of your hands.

As we were leaving the park, we saw these stairs, so naturally we had to find out where they led to.

Tada!...they lead to the  James Bay

Which led to a beautiful backdrop for a selfie for remembering this peaceful moment.

Later in the afternoon we walked through this beautiful alley way in Victoria's Chinatown.

We had an early dinner of fish and chips at this gorgeous establishment.

It just drew us in.

And then we found ourselves in yet another bookstore. This place was heaven. Books from floor to ceiling! I think I bought like 3 books on this trip. They had an entire store dedicated to just antique books (which are my favorite).

And then the time came to go back to Seattle. 

Funny story though, as we were waiting to board the boat for our trip back, we were eating an ice cream down by the harbor. As we're sitting there, many of the boats in the harbor start honking their horns. There is even a police boat with its lights on. People on the docks are cheering. We have zero clue what is going on. I go ask a random stranger. They explain to me that a lady by the name of Jeanne Socrates is just now returning from her journey. She is the oldest woman (77) to circumnavigate the globe in a sailboat by herself. And we just happen to be sitting here on her arrival home after a 320 day journey. No wonder everyone is cheering. This is a big deal!

It was quite windy on deck - but also beautiful.

But this sunset though! What a treat! Two gorgeous sunsets in two days. How lucky are we?!

The next morning, back in Seattle, we headed out to explore. We came upon this unique structure in the middle on downtown. It's called the Spheres. It was so beautiful, inside and out, such detail and craftsmanship was put into the gardens outside and inside the building. It housed a working level upstairs, a museum downstairs, as well as some restaurants. Definitely not what you'd expect to see nestled amongst all the high-rises.

I thought this was pretty, it's a simple vent from a parking garage. But I love how they added artwork to the outside of it. I am always so impressed when people are able to make ugly things beautiful.

This is just a small sampling of the lovely flowers around the city. I also love how it captures the rain which was also ever present. But we didn't let that stop us.

We took the subway to Chinatown where we went to the Wing Luke Museum. We had a walking tour of a hotel and shop that immigrants would have passed through and stayed at on their journey from China to America. It was so well done and we learned a ton. Surprisingly, there was also a cultural parade at the same time that we were there. We seem to be ending up at just the right place at just the right time.

We had lunch at THE BEST Thai restaurant in all of Seattle. It was one of my favorite things - and I have a lot of favorite things on this trip! Afterwards, we walked over to this adorable tea shop called: Steepologie. They had 250 different varieties of tea to choose from. We enjoyed a break from all our walking and the rain by visiting over a cup of tea, and of course, a cookie. Because vacation.

We stayed at the most awesome hotel. We have a thing for boutique hotels. This one was phenomenal. It housed a cooking school on the second level. The smells from this place just put a smile on your face. You couldn't help it.

This is the lounge right outside of the cooking school.

This was our little hangout. We would come here to read, eat breakfast and just enjoy the overall atmosphere of the hotel. We typically like to enjoy the whole hotel when we visit, not just our room.

These awesome quotes were lining the wall leading to the cooking school. 

They were too awesome not to take pictures of.

This one is Chuck's favorite. It describes his passion for cooking with onions to a tee.

My last favorite hangout space in the hotel - the fireplace. If there is ever a fireplace, you will always find me by it with a book. Guaranteed. We like to make ourselves at home.

I had to leave on Monday while Chuck stayed and continued to actually work. I was welcomed home by this sight. Doesn't it just take your breath away?! It was good to be home. It made me even more thankful for our special time away. 

Emergency Surgery

We were very lucky to see Gavin for 3 whole weeks this summer! Woohoo! When your adult kid lives in a different state than you, you treasure every second they are home. He had come home to join us on our family vacation this year. He had a few days of free time after our vacation, so I decided to schedule a dentist visit for him. Thus the drama begins...

I have to preface this by saying that we have THE BEST dentist. We all love him. It's a small little office run by him and his wife. You are always the only client there any time you go since it's a one chair office. They are super kind, down to earth, and genuine. Every time I go, they send me home with a single stem rose. He drives a 1990 Ford minivan with rust around the bottom. Zero pretense.

So Gavin dutifully goes for his teeth cleaning. That went just fine. I had also scheduled him to get his top two wisdom teeth pulled since he is long overdue and our dentist said he's done that procedure a million times. Easy peasy. You don't even need to go under since it's just like pulling any other molar.

The first one came out fine, even quickly. The second one - not so much. I was in the waiting room and heard the hygienist come out and pick up the phone and talk to another office. She mentioned something about a stuck tooth and was their surgeon available. She didn't seem panicked, so neither did I. The second time she came out to make another call, I started getting nervous. She explained to me that the Dr. doesn't have a certain tool that only oral surgeons have. It would be helpful to try to get this other tooth out that appears to have "rolled into his sinus cavity."

Hmmmm....doesn't sound good.

The third time she came out to call someone I went back there to check on him. The dentist explained what was happening and said that he should be able to get it out if one of his oral surgeon friends could give him the tool. Gavin was supposed to pick up his phone that was being fixed after this appointment, so I offered to go do it in his stead since I figured he wouldn't be in the mood to run any errands.

As I was out, the hygienist called me and said, "The Dr. is taking Gavin over to the oral surgeons right now. Here is the address." OMG! I zip over there and actually beat them there. After consulting with the surgeon, the surgeon decides that Gavin's jaw can't take anymore right now and that he will perform surgery on him first thing the next morning. I was still confused as to the what/why/how of everything.

On a side note, the other wisdom tooth the Dr. took out didn't even cause Gavin any pain that evening. He felt perfectly normal. That was how the whole thing was supposed to go down. Instead, my son is in major pain with a tooth floating aimlessly through his sinus cavity that may or may not be found tomorrow morning - the DAY BEFORE he flies back to ND. I never would have planned surgery for him the day before he flew home. This was going downhill - fast!

The oral surgeon explained the two worst case scenarios that could happen to Gavin before the surgery: 1) the tooth is completely lost and he would have to wait a month or so then go to the hospital for a CAT scan and have surgery there or 2) the tooth is somewhere in his sinus cavity, but not accessible through the original tooth hole. He explained he would then have to make an incision on the upper jaw and use that hole as another way to explore the sinus cavity to find the missing tooth. Best case scenario: he uses the special tool our dentist didn't have and is able to deftly pull the missing tooth from the sinus cavity through the original tooth hole. Guess which one happened?

Option two is what went down, I was informed, after the hour and half he was under. He ended up with 7 stitches in his upper jaw and an open hole into his sinus cavity where the tooth used to be. Thankfully, this time, he was completely sedated. I was beside myself with worry and guilt. I'm so thankful for a friend who is a dentist that spent a large chunk of time texting back and forth with me answering all my questions and assuring me Gavin was going to be okay. Mom guilt is a real thing people! I had a massive migraine for 2 days during this drama.

I was a little upset about what happened. I was never told this was a risk. Come to find out later, Gavin was the one who signed all the consent papers and it was written in there. I completely forgot that adult kids sign all the things that I used to sign. I wasn't mad at our dentist, just that the whole debacle even happened. Gavin and I went on a walk the afternoon of his surgery (he was adamant to prove to me that he is stronger than the side-effects of anesthesia) and he told me, "Don't worry mom, it's ok. I think we need to show more patience to people when they mess up."

Me - *hanging head in contrition*, "Ya, I know you're right Gavin. I'm not mad at the Dr., I know it was a complete fluke. I'm just sorry it happened at all but especially on your last day with us."

Needless to say, he was way more chill than I and even taught me a thing or two about how to handle hard things that are randomly thrown at us. We both felt super bad for our dentist. He said this was the first time it ever happened to him in 35 years of dentistry. They called and checked up on him, apologized, and even offered to pay whatever insurance didn't.

Several people were advising Gavin not to fly out the next day, the oral surgeon being the loudest voice. However, we left that decision up to our grown kid who has a good head on his shoulders and knows himself the best. He decided he could do it. He had no negative side effects just the inconvenience of only being able to eat liquid food for 5 days. He was anxious to get home and back to work and his normal routine. He's a good kid. I'm so proud of him.

Life happens. I hope I roll with it as good as Gavin did.

Our First Quinceañera

This weekend we were invited to celebrate the Quinceañera of one of my student's daughters. It was such a beautiful, incredible event. We had no idea what to expect and we were pleasantly surprised with each new thing we discovered.

This is Anahi. She is the girl everyone is here to celebrate. She is beautiful.

The invitation said that Comida (dinner) began at 4pm and the Vals (waltz) at 7pm. My friend, who I had been texting and who was teaching me about all things quinceañera, told us to arrive at 4:30 since no one arrives on time. She said she knows I'm punctual and that that would bother me, but to trust her. She knows me so well. We listened and were glad we did. We were still among the first arrivers. 

One of the things that shocked me was how incredibly decorated everything was. It took place in the community room at the library. This is actually a huge banquet hall. This had the feel of a wedding reception. There was a serving line of food outside of the banquet room. Delicious food. Mexican food. Our favorite food. We're basically Mexican without actually speaking Spanish. But we're good and Spanglish though.

My friend made all the desserts except for the main cake. It took her an entire week. I am cheering for her to start her own company. She is awesome, talented, skilled, creative, and super nice. And it was all delicious!

We spent most of the evening looking blank-faced as Spanish was spoken in all around us. We got lots of context clues and had the basic idea (celebrating Anahi), but we were lost on the specifics. It made me all the more adamant to become fluent in Spanish sooner rather than later. 

Anahi's family is huge and incredibly loving and accepting. Her mom is one of 7 kids. They all live in the area and were all there. Her dad's side of the family drove in from New Mexico. It was family everywhere - and us. I saw at least 4 of my former students there. They introduced me to their families as their "maestra." I was so humbled and honored. There was so much love in that room. Even though I didn't know the language, I could feel the love.

In the above picture, Chloe and Bennett were drawn into a game. The announcer lady came over to our table and asked them (in English) how old they were. They both answered and she told them to come up. They didn't have a choice. All the teens were up there for a game in which they had to make a bridge with their arms with their partner across from them. Then one girl goes through and chooses one guy and he follows her under the bridge to the end of the tunnel and they make a bridge with their arms. The girl who got the guy stolen then has her turn to go under the tunnel and choose her own guy. Sometimes it was the girls choosing, sometimes the guys. And it was all set to fast-paced Tejano music. The atmosphere was so fun. The kids admitted to actually having a fun time, even though after 30 minutes of making a bridge, their arms were exhausted.

We were so thankful to be included in this incredibly special time for this family. I'm so thankful my student trusted me enough to share this beautiful cultural tradition with me and my family. How special Anahi must have felt being adored by all her extended family. Both of her parents (all of her family, actually) are phenomenal singers and each wrote and sang a song to her. It was all so touching. I just loved getting to meet so many new people and be instantly enveloped in their kindness and acceptance.