Blue Ribbon, Cub Scouts, and Breathing

Hurricane had a third front tooth. After an x-ray at the dentist, we were referred to the orthodontist then to an oral surgeon. An appointment was made to extract the tooth.

 We asked if he could have the tooth removed with a local anesthetic. The doctor agreed with the caveat that he come fasting just in case he needed to have Hurricane go to sleep. Hurricane was a champion.

His tooth was extracted with a local anesthetic. He was in and out of the chair in about 10 minutes. The dental assistant said that he listened better than most adults. At the grocery store, he was allowed to get any soft foods he wanted. He has healed nicely and his other 2 front teeth have started to grow.

Underfoot has learned how to do flip turns! He aged out of the younger swim group that swims 25 meters for a race. This year he has started to swim 50 meters.

He has made great growth in his ability to swim building up his endurance. Hurricane had a goal to get a blue ribbon at a swim meet.

He met his goal 2 times over by winning his backstroke and freestyle heats. When he finished his backstroke, he immediately looked at the score board and did a victory arm pump!

We have completed our foster care classes. The classes brought great discussion for Sweetheart and I on how we currently parent and how we hope to be better parents. The process to be licensed is long. Just because the classes are finished, it doesn't mean that we are licensed. A home study needs to be done by the licensing agency along with 2 physical walk throughs in our house by the licensing agency and Department of Child Services.
 

Underfoot has invited his Cub Scouting friends over to work on the different required belt loops to earn his Bear rank. He has earned his Whittling Chip which he is most proud of and has taken to carrying a pocket knife with him. As a group, we have learned about knife safety, swimming and boating, contributing Americans, visited a historic site,

learned about the American flag, planned and did a carnival,

learned about plants, researched endangered and extinct animals, cooking outdoors,

and learned about gardening and composting. This has kept our afternoons busy.

Sweetheart took a trip to the emergency room. As we've shared before, he has an allergy to mesquite trees. After a monsoon rain, he started to have trouble breathing in the afternoon.

He used his rescue inhaler a few times, took some Benadryl, showered, tried to rest, and let me use some essential oils. Nothing helped. I kept suggesting that we take him to the emergency room because his wheezing (it couldn't be called breathing at this point) was so scary. At 2:30 am, he relented and decided that we should go. He was seen quickly, given 2 breathing treatments and prednisone, and his breathing resumed.

This event scared us both. He doesn't ever remember an event like this prior. We returned home at 4 and slept.

Our summer reading goal has been for each boy to read 2,000 pages because the Mormon Battalion walked 2,000 miles and did hard things. (Sweetheart and I each have a Grandpa that was in the Battalion.) Underfoot loves to read, and most the time when we can't find him, he is reading a book. Hurricane is still mastering the skill of reading. His reading requirements are a little different than Underfoot. Hurricane is allowed to count pages if he reads them, if they are read to him, and if he listens to an audio book.

I have been taking a sewing class to reconstruct some clothing.

I remade a jumper into a skirt. The jumper was purchased in Panama when my parents took me to visit after my mission. The jumper never fit me well, and I wanted to wear it.

The waist band was the collar on the jumper. I've also been able to put sleeves into a shirt that I wore at my brother's wedding and adjusted a few more shirts. Sewing is a wonderful creative outlet for me.

Be Well.

*****

 Peaches

 Pomegranates

 Sunflower

My Grandma Kirkham loved her type of gaspacho. I cleaned out the recipe box that I had of hers to find this handwritten recipe. It isn't the traditional Spanish gaspacho but what I grew up eating.

Triangle Trip

As we check in with you, we have finished school, traveled 2,108 miles for a family trip to California, attended Cub Camp, attended Junior Ranger Camp, and swam in a swim meet.

The last week of school has a lot of parties so we thought we'd take the party on the road. The boys attended field day. Underfoot thought it was wet.

The local fire department comes and helps with one of the stations. At the end of the rotation, the students choose if they would like to be sprayed down with water. After school, we got a picture with each teacher and went home to leave for California.

We took a triangle trip - Home to San Diego to San Ramon to Home.

San Diego - Sweetheart had a desire to go to USS Midway.

The day we went was also my Grandpa Kirkham's birthday who was in the Navy on LCI 222 during World War II. The parking lot was numbered, and we took spot 223 because someone had parked in 222 already. The boys participated in the Junior Pilot Program which was an audio tour. We climbed ladders and travered all over the ship. We were climbing the ladders, and Hurricane said, "Mom, I can see your tooshie." 

We headed for lunch in Old Town San Diego and ate at the Cosmopolitan Restaurant. Underfoot looked at the menu and saw oysters. He asked the waiter for an oyster that were only to be served at supper. The waiter asked his manager, and Underfoot ate his first (and maybe only) raw oyster. He was so excited and then as the day went along, he didn't feel as well. After a couple of hours, he threw it up.

The Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center was a lot of fun and gave us a perspective that God knows a plan for each one of us even though we can't see it.

The Battalion left Iowa and traveled to San Diego.

Part of the Battalion got sick and were sent to Pueblo, Colorado and learned how to dry farm.

When they settled in the Utah Territory, dry farming is what type of farming they did.

Sweetheart and I each have a grandfather that was in the Battalion. It was fun to look it up.

One of the amazing parts is we saw my Auntie Ann, Uncle Steve, and cousin Morgan in La Jolla. We haven't seen them in many years.

Uncle Steve is a pilot and works hard so we were happy he was in town to see him. They took us down to see the seals. On our way to the hotel for the evening, we drove by the San Diego Temple. It was something I wanted to do.

Legolandia - The boys have been talking about going to Legoland since they learned that it existed.

The boys get a Lego magazine that had a coupon for a free entry for them with an adult purchase. We played and rode rides all day. The little aquarium was nice as well.

We invited my Dad's cousin and her husband for supper. Maren and Danny spent a wonderful evening with us.

We walked down to the beach where the boys played in the ocean.

Coast Travel - We were traveling to visit Grandma and Grandpa Locey . Per Maren's suggestion we went to Carpinteria, CA where visited Reynaldo's for a breakfast burrito

and Robitaille's Fine Candies

where we found High Priest Pep Pills (peppermint candies) that my great-Grandpa kept in his pocket for church. We then went to Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara.

Isaac Fesler Middle School in Santa Maria is named for one of Sweetheart's great-Grandfathers.

Per suggestion Grandpa Locey, we saw this sight.

We traveled to Hearst Castle. The swimming pools were amazing. Underfoot said that there were too many statues that were naked. He didn't see how that was art or attractive. Hurricane liked the 2nd pool because of the gold on the floor. By the time the tour ended, the boys were done with Hearst Castle. I wanted to go around and take photos and look at the different views. The boys finished the Junior Ranger Program while I looked around. The Ranger office was closed when we got to the bottom of the hill so they didn't get a badge.

We continued driving the Pacific Coast Highway. The drive is beautiful! The road is in and out of cell service. At one point I had a message from the adoption agency we had done our home study through. I called her back. She asked if we had adopted or fostered yet. No we hadn't. She said that a little girl was available for adoption and then gave me the details. The baby was born at 24 weeks and was still in the hospital. Doctors didn't know if she could see, and she was on oxygen for an undetermined amount of time. It was likely that she would have cerebral palsy. We were given 12 hours to make a decision. Eleven years ago the calendar was the same dates as when we met in California. Sweetheart sat on the beach in Monterrey and thought about his life. We drove to that same beach area and talked about what an impact this baby would have on us, our sons, and her future. The setting was beautiful. After some intense conversation, counseling with our parents, and considering our sons who would be impacted significantly by this choice, we chose not to adopt this baby.

Alamo - Because of the previous day's events, we were physically and emotionally exhausted. Our plan had been to go into San Francisco with Sweetheart's parents. Instead we toured Sweetheart's home town and saw the home where Sweetheart grew up.

We bought a birthday treat for Hurricane and did some therapeutic thrift store shopping. Upon returning to the Ranch, we spent time with Grandpa and Grandma L. I took a nap and fell soundly asleep.

Later that evening we went to Fenton's for a birthday supper.

Hurricane wore the crown Underfoot had made for him, ate ice cream, and was very happy.

San Francisco - Going to San Fran was a comedy of transportation errors, we got on the BART at one station and got off at the next to ride a bus to another BART to finish our trek into San Fran. Once in San Fran, we got off at the wrong stop to redeem our City Pass which included transportation on MUNI and the Cable Car and multiple exhibits in town. We were all settled on a  MUNI bus that got stopped by a different bus that broke down in the middle of the street. We hoofed it to another bus stop to get to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Golden Gate Bridge was pretty cool. We had learned about it before we went to see it. The boys could point out things that they had learned as we walked to one of the towers on the bridge and returned. We attempted public transit again to get off an hoof it again. The nice part of this was we went to the Patagonia store and got a snack, used the bathroom, and played the "do you know" game with the sample lady. She totally knew our friend.

We met Brian and Kim Cutting, Sweetheart's friend from high school, at the Exploritorium.

Their children and our children played at many exhibits for 4 plus hours while the adults attempted to talk. We went to find food - In-N-Out Burger and Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bowl for most of the adults. After refueling the men folk went to Lombard Street

while the women went to Ghirardelli Square. Free samples ruled the day, and the 2 tribes parted ways.

We attempted to get on a Cable Car. Many passed us. Underfoot said if one more passed us we needed to get on a bus and go home which is what we did. Yet again we missed the correct stop and hoofed it again. The streets are steep so if you've never been to San Fran believe me. In the middle of our wanderings, we made it to a Cable Car stop, and there was room!!!!

We road the Cable Car up an incredibly steep street and were thankful. Our feet thanked us. We had to disembark to then go down the hill on the other side which went through Chinatown.

While taking a picture in Chinatown, a Cable Car passed. We arrived at  BART and did a repeat of our trip into the city.

We were exhausted when we returned home at 11 pm.

Big Bear - Sunday morning we attended church, spent time with Gpa and Gma, and packed the car to travel to Big Bear.

We spent the night and returned home.

Swimming - Underfoot and Hurricane swam in a swim meet the day after we got home. They continue to have practices. Underfoot was concerned about swimming breast stroke and conquered by getting on the block and swimming! Hurricane has a goal to get a blue ribbon.

Cub Camp - Underfoot attended at Camp Lawton. The theme was pirates. He got pirate booty and had a possibles bag to keep the "gold." They did 16 different activities. His top 3 favorites were archery, BB gun shooting, and 3-man sling shot. In the 3-man sling shot, the team shot tennis balls high into the air. Underfoot said, "We shot them high into the air. It felt like a mile."

Junior Ranger Camp - Hurricane's first time at camp was "good" so he says. They went hiking, took apart owl pellets, prepared a presentation about what they saw in nature, and had a lot of fun. He invited friends to do it with him and 4 friends came with him.

Be Well.