Our preteen kid now has preteen stigmatisims. We discovered this as we used the remains of our American insurance to go to all doctors possible. In a regular eye exam. the doc found minor issues but, given that we only have a few months left of coverage, we decided to plunge in. Miller can now wear his glasses for homework and reading. I cannot tell you how happy Miller was to get these-if kids only knew.
Thanksgiving is gone, Chanucha is almost here and we are on the edge of our first big Bay Area storm. This is normally where I console myself for being freezing by remembering that this means snow in the mountains so we can ski. This year, I am just realizing how utterly cold I am. I know you East Coasters think we West Coasters are wimps-but it is in the forties right now.
My year of warmth has long rubbed off my bones and even non stop packing is not keeping me moving enough to be warm. The chill is only stopped by our hot tub which we brave every evening. I cannot even imagine being in shorts for New Years!
Well, we thought we had or last wine county trip and , thanks to Sue and Kyle, we had yet one more. Mitch met most of these folks in college or shortly after and many of them are his old dead head crowd. Over the years, we have all gotten a lot older, got kids and houses, but still manage to stay in touch for the important stuff-like having fun and saying goodbye for awhile.
We drove up yesterday to their house in Graton and joined up with some friends to take a trip to the near by wine county. We had all loaded up some food and caravaned to Armida's. Can I just say that we somehowh it one of the perfect Bay Area fall days with leaves turning and not a cloud in the sky. We did some wine tasting at Armida where Sue and Kyle are members so they treated us right. We bought a few bottles and sat on their deck which overlooks wine county all afternoon. The kids were perfectly entertained with boccie ball and just rolling like idiots in the grass.
As the sun began to come down, the chilliness picked up, so us wimps packed up. On they way home, we stopped at one more vineyard called Hop Kins. It is in a historic German building and makes food goodies as well so, in addition to the vine, we also got to sample mustards, oils and chocolate sauces-yum. It was truly a Bay Area best day.
Between now and December 18th, we are packed with goodbyes are trying to convince folks to visit. We are also giving away tons of things we hope others will use-and maybe even remember us by. Somehow, in the next three weeks, we will empty the house, clean out my office and hang out with folks we love.
You know the only thing better than shopping with a canvas bag? Making one! I've been working away at a few varieties for holiday gifts. Cannot say or show much more here as I don't want to ruin any surprises.
We are committed to enjoying our time in the great city of San Francisco. On Saturday, we hopped in the car with our friends Julie, Tom and Nate and headed for the King Tut exhibit at the de Young Museum-how cultural. We had spent a few days talking it up with the boys and Tom had woken up early that do to do some research. We were up and out and got there early enough to miss the lines. For those who do not know, the museum was rebuilt a few years ago and is really incredible to see, outside of any exhibit. The exterior is copper and the patina changes annually. There is a nine story glass tower that provides a 360 degree view of the city. On a clear day, you can literally see forever.
We stood in line for a whole two minutes and were admitted to the first room of the Tut exhibit. Just like at Disneyland, the show opens with a two minute video-narrated by Omar Shariff none the less-which gives on overview of The Boy King and what role he played in Ancient Egypt. Did you know that he died suddenly at the age of 19 for mysterious causes (think governmental overthrow....).
We went through a series of rooms which were designed to have the viewer feel that one is walking into to tomb-dark, quiet-okay, a little stuffy. Some nice citizen handed the boys an audio tour of the show so they got to listen to a story along the way. Good call for kids! Let me just say, the Egyptians did it right. They clearly had a good living and focused on art and beauty. It seems like most of their efforts were all about getting to the afterlife, though. So much for the here and now.
About half way through the exhibit, Miller started asking where the infamous King Tut mask was. We were all excited to seeing the mask and, of course, figured it was in the last room. So, we walk into the last room and they have this crazy cool video of how the death chamber and tomb were found. They also had a halo graph of the tomb, mummy and body there. We look around and all notice at the same time' Hey! No mask! No fricken mask! What is up? All I can say is that we consoled our self at lunch.
After a visit to the tower, we went into the Sunset for lunch and ended up at an old Italian place that Mitch and I were familiar with. Mitch had been watching the Soprano's , so we had a very mafia inspired lunch of pasta and gravy, pizza, salad and even vino.
All in all, a successful day. Let me leave you with this thought-one that we did not think of until last night, "Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonya...King Tut.........". Brings 'ya back, huh?
So you think it was crazy to pack up, rent the house and go to Mexico with our kid for a year? Hope you are sitting down....
We are moving to Sayulita, Mexico for good. We leave the Bay Area December 19th, having some various family stops along the way and arrive on December 29th to our new, permanent home. FAQ's:
House? Sold
Stuff? Combination of Craig's list, Goodwill and friends. We are also working with an international moving company to bring some things with us.
Miller's School? He will return to Costa Verde International School in January, which is a bilingual, green school about 2 blocks from our house.
Where? Sayulita, silly. We have been visiting for 8-9 years and built a house there almost 5 years ago.
Lina's job? I will work remotely for my current job part-time and will begin to look into opening a private practice in PV.
Mitch's job? He has to finish teaching this school year as he was on sabbatical last year. From January-May, he will come down every month and live in SF with a friend. He will move down for good in May.
Why the hell would we do this? Well, that's a good question.
The easiest way to explain it is that we are lucky enough to leave one good life for another. In this one, we have great friends, good jobs, a nice home and a great school system. In that one, we have all of that AND time to enjoy it. Life is simpler in a small jungle town-not easier, but simpler. While we were not able to understand the rationale of the local government and were not able to find many of the luxuries that we all take for granted in California, we did learn the pioneering spirit of making due with what we had, creating what we needed and having fun along the way. Miller is able to attend a local green school that boasts a garden and chickens and focuses on experiential learning-and Spanish. We can walk on the beach every day and watch the most amazing sunsets ever. We can grow our own food, be surrounded by friends who are looking for the same thing in life and take on a sense of adventure. You only go around once, so there you go.
As we have been sharing this huge news with others, it has been amazing how much others have said that they have fantasized about doing something similar, but just did not make it happen. Well, we are. Taking visitors starting January, 2010.
'Tis another year. Miller gets older and we refuse to. At 11, we are somehow entering early adolescence as he is going off to parties, spending time in his room, negotiating for himself, sitting in the front seat of the car and NEEDING to shower every day. However, like any good pre-adolescent, these times pass and he wants us to read to him, take a bubble bath and still wants us to turn his light on in his room.
For the last several months, he had really been wanting a remote plan. Not a little kid airplane-a real one that teens and adolescents alike take out to parks and fields to fly and do tricks. Independently, he did research to find out what would be a good introductory plane, rallied his grandparents to chip in and called and placed his order. He showed up at the store and asked all the right questions about how to put it together and fly it, then he came home and did what he needed-carefully and thoughtfully. Yesterday, Mitch took him to the park to do the voyage flight. Within two minutes, the plane broke. The interesting thing is that Miller took it in stride-picked up the pieces and came home. He then got on the phone with the toy store, explained what happened and asked if he could bring it in the next day to exchange. All was good when I got home from work and they explained to me what had happened. Miller said he was disappointed but that it was a complicated plane and that he could exchange it the next day. Very impressive-right?
About an hour later, we were finishing dinner and he fell apart. The artichoke did not quite taste right and -that was it-like any true blue pre-adolescent-he crawled up in a corner and cried for about an hour. He was only consoled by my reading him Harry Potter. Ah, it is going to be long way until we reach college.
You guessed it-we exchanged the plane for slot cars (think pre-pre-adolescent).
Our preteen kid now has preteen stigmatisims. We discovered this as we used the remains of our American insurance to go to all doctors possible. In a regular eye exam. the doc found minor issues but, given that we only have a few months left of coverage, we decided to plunge in. Miller can now wear his glasses for homework and reading. I cannot tell you how happy Miller was to get these-if kids only knew.
Posts
