Playgyms, Gymnastics, Tumbling, Oh My!

It's time to sign up Zach for an activity class! I've been wanting to do this forever, but wanted the summer to end before we committed to something. I've been able to audit several different places and take a free class! Zach has been having so much fun! We tried a Gymboree class a while ago, and that was really fun. The right amount of free play as well as some structure time. I think it's important to teach Zach to sit with Momma (struggle!) and take turns and share. We went to an actual gymnastics place last week. Don't worry, he wasn't during double backflips off the uneven bars just yet. They had a "tumble track" which is a loooooong runway type thing made out of trampoline material. It ends with a big, squishy cushion surrounded by a net so you can't fly off. Let me tell you....Zach loved it, I loved it....it's so great to have a little kid and use them as an excuse to run down trampolines and catapult yourself into big, squishy cushions! We went to My Gym on Monday, which is like Gymboree but with a little older equipment, not as spiffy, but the same idea. Sit and sing time on the mat with everyone else (struggle!) and then run and play in the ball pit, or the slide or the balance beam. Then you all come back to the mat and do puppets! Then more free play. This is for an hour. I like this place because it has a good balance of play and structure. Today was another gymnastics place. It was pretty much the same set up as the first gymnastics place, but even though the woman running the show said "Don't make Zach participate if he doesn't want to, don't force him, etc..." I felt like she kept trying to make him adhere to the group, which is great, but...he was the only boy (meaning he was all over the place while the little girls were obedient) and they were all older than him by at least a year. He didn't want to hang on the bar (nor could he do it!), he wanted to roll around under the parachute or run to the far end of the gym. Also, none of the other moms seemed very friendly. There was no chatter, hardly a hello, even. Didn't get a good vibe.
I'm leaning towards My Gym or Gymboree. Depends which one is cheaper and whose schedule is a match with ours (naptimes and such).
It sure has been fun trying all these places out! If anyone wants to borrow him so you can run down trampoline alley, let me know!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark on Saturday. It's a working farm so throughout the year they have a "picking schedule" where you can go in the fields and pick what's in season. I wish it were closer, I'd go more often. In October it turns into pumpkin patch mania, complete with farm animals, pig races, live music on the weekends, haybales to climb and trains led by tractors to ride. We didn't do any of the rides because truly, Zach has more fun when he can run free. He loved pushing the pumpkins down and rolling them all over the place. It was hot, which makes it a little odd to go get your pumpkin in a tank top and flip flops. We had a good time, and of course there were photo ops to be had.

Karma

Apparently, (well, not apparently...I remember doing it all the time) in my preteen and teenage years, I was adept at making a hairball sound in the back of my throat when I was annoyed, frustrated or simply awake. It was usually accompanied by a rolling of the eyes move. I call it the "hairball eyeroll move". It was often used when asked to do something by either parent or when I thought either parent was as dumb as a doorknob, which was all the time. Teen girls are so much fun.
Well, I'm getting some major karmic payback. My son, all 18 months of him, has perfected the hairball sound...no eyerolling (thank goodness). He does it when I ask him to do something, or when I pick him up and he doesn't want to be picked up or when he runs into a wall or when he drops a toy he meant to throw. Mostly, he does it when I'm trying to get him to eat. When he doesn't want any (which is all the time) he puts his hands up, shakes his hands and goes "kkkkkkkkkkkkaaaaahhhh".
Ain't karma grand?

No on Prop 8!

I have noticed a HUGE amount of "yes on Prop 8" signs around my area. It makes me so sad to know that there are so many scared and ignorant people in my city, in my neighborhood. For those of you who don't know, Prop 8 basically is an anti gay marriage proposition. Some time ago, it was legalized by the state for gay marriages to be performed and recognized in the state of California. In November, we will all vote on this Proposition again (I don't understand why it's legal one minute and the next it could be a different story). The "Yes to Prop 8" signs state "Protect Marriage". I'm so curious, what does it need to be protected from? What is the big deal? Protect marriage from two people who love each other, are commited to each other? That just doesn't make sense. Besides, isn't the divorce rate nearly 50%, so obviously the heteros aren't doing such a bang-up job at "protecting marriage". I just thought we had come a long way in recent times, especially in California. Apparently there are still a huge amount of homophobic people who are intolerant to anyone who is different than they are. So sad. I thought we were more evolved.
Zach and I went to a wedding today. Our friends, a lesbian couple got married. They have been together for over 15 years and they have two beautiful children, who they raise to be wonderful children. I was truly honored to be there for two reasons. I was honored to be a part of my friends' special day and witness them becoming, legally a team, a partnership. Secondly, I was honored to be able to see two women join together in matrimony, and I was thankful that I got to see a part of history happen before my eyes. How amazing!
Congratulations, Kelley and Julie. We are all so happy for you and your family!
*Please, say NO to Prop 8. It's simply about human rights and equality.*

Michigan Trip

We were in Michigan for a week for my cousin Christopher's wedding. We had the best time! I'll start with the plane trip out. We were supposed to get into Detroit via two planes at 4:30pm on Tuesday. Instead, we got in at 11:00am on WEDNESDAY via THREE planes, plus a hotel room in Chicago. Two of our planes had mechanical problems....ugh. Needless to say, I don't think we'll ever fly American Airlines again. During our 7 hour layover in Vegas, Zach was a dream. In fact, he was a dream on every plane we took. The plane would take off, he would promptly fall fast asleep. I worried and stressed and got bleeding ulcers thinking about this trip for 5 months...I just wasn't sure how my active, maniac child would do being...(gasp!) CONSTRICTED! I tell ya, he couldn't have been better. And, throughout the entire trip, he was just a trouper! Goes to show, I underestimate him every day.
The trip was a lot of visiting with family, it was pretty much a family reunion with Aunt Tina and Uncle Paul's house as base camp. We ate and we ate and we ate some more. The kids (and Jeff) all loved to sit at the top of the basement steps and throw 8,956 golf balls down the stairs...sometimes all at once. (Thanks, Uncle Paul). Thursday was the rehearsal at the church and the dinner following at a Greek restaurant in Greektown. The church was beautiful...it was established around 1860 and the architecture and details were amazing. Dinner was fabulous. Greektown is in the heart of Detroit and connected to a casino. I had to take Zach out to stretch his legs in this hallway that has restaurants on one side and the casino on the other. There's a sliding gate that you can see through, but separates the casino. Zach was enjoying looking through the gate at all the slot machines and the music and lights, when all of a sudden he let out a whimper. His head got stuck in the gate! Like a staircase banister! Luckily, I'd had some wine, so I didn't panic. (Ok, I was slightly numb, whatever). It took me a second to realize I just had to bend his ear back and his head would slide out...a security guard got to witness all of this go down and once Zach was free he just looked at me and shook his head...like I was the dumbest Mom in the world. Stupid guy...like I could foresee my kid's cranium getting stuck and I'd just sit back and watch it happen. Oh well...no harm, no foul.
Friday was the wedding and it was just beautiful! Short and sweet, the best kind. Chelsea (the bride) looked ravishing and Christopher dresses up very well, too! The beautiful coupleWe were worried about keeping active, maniac child quiet through the ceremony, but it all worked out. We just kept feeding him his favorite snacks and he watched his Baby Einstein on the portable DVD player with his headphones on.

After the ceremony, we decided it would be really fun and touristy to get lost on the side streets of inner city Detroit. I wish I had some pictures to share, but I'll just have to paint a picture for you. Picture a street. Now picture the homes on the street. Now picture 80% of the homes on this street burned out, boarded up, the home's guts in the front yard. Oh, and 40% of the homes are now just empty lots, but you can see where the outline of the house used to be. Holy smokes. I've never seen anything like it. Even in the center of Compton you don't see that...not that I take joyrides in Compton very often, but you catch my drift.

Once we ended our scenic route to the freeway, we went to the reception. It was so much fun and so many cousins and old neighbors and people we haven't seen were there. Zach was yet again a champion and when he was getting tired, there was no muss or fuss, he just lay his head down on Jeff's shoulder with his paci and fell asleep, and slept for an hour or so in his stroller. He was ready to party when he woke up...playing with glowstick necklaces and confetti. And, I must say, he had the cutest damn outfit on, really dressed to the nines! Party animalNanny got loaded. We cut her off at 11:00.Saturday, my Aunt and Uncle had a BBQ at there house, and that was a great time. Their neighbors make these fabulous jello shots in big plastic syringes and they are so much fun!! On Monday Jeff, Aunt Tina, Zach and I went to a cider mill in the country. They had a pumpkin patch, big haybales Zach could climb, so many farm animals to pet and feed, and in the big red barn they made apple cider and fresh donuts. It was a crisp fall day, and it was so much fun! I truly could have stayed there all day, and I know Zach loved being outside. It was in the low 50's for most of our stay, so us Californians froze our little dupas off and didn't do too many outside activites!
That was our trip in a nutshell. I really wasn't ready to come home. Aunt Tina tells me that the fall colors are in full glory now...a week after we leave. Bummer! We got to see alittle, though. I don't know, I think I could live there, but Jeff would never live in the snow...So Cal native = Pansy. Who knows, though. The idea of living in the snow and actually doing it are two completely different things, eh?