The Before Pictures

So we finished moving into our new apartment today. It looks like a storage contain thew up in it--which is actually pretty close to the truth since we had most of this stuff stuffed into a storage unit for 2 weeks. It's about half the size of our last place but I think once I've gotten it organized and cleaned up a bit it'll be great. We've actually managed to get all the furniture we need online from craigslist and freecycle. I love that people give stuff away all the time. Our most expensive purchase was the ikea bunkbed (you can't see it yet cause the kids are sleeping in them right now--so cute in their matching Thomas bedding) because I can't haul away a fully assembled one. That huge corner sofa you can barely make out beneath the clutter and the kitchen table and so much more were all free. Exactly what the drowning-in-loans family of 4 need. Anyhow, I really should get to bed. Gotta get an early start for more unpacking tomorrow. I'll post some After Pictures later.

BTW, the Richards and the Johns rock for helping us move this weekend. Amy John is superwoman because even though we'd previously made plans for one of them to come over while the kids slept Sat. night so we could see Batman in IMAX (a whole nother post, she also offered to watch both kids (she has 2 of her own) while we moved. And then she said if we needed Natlie's help in addition to Cameron's she could watch little Samuel as well. Ummmmmm, I have trouble with my 2 and she's offering to handle 5 by herself? That's above and beyond. I responded that I thought Natalie would probably go help her out instead. Then she offered us dinner for Sunday night. The woman is Santa Claus on steroids. And did I mention the outstanding scones she handed me as I handed off my kids to her? Cinnamon chips. It's all about the cinnamon chips.

So that was a long BTW and I do have to go to bed so here are the pics finally.





Can you tell which room I worked on? Actually that tall stack of boxes in the kitchen area is empty, too.

Procrastination

This is a very big weekend for me. We're moving into our new place--meaning uhaul truck on Saturday, clean up on Sunday, and check out Monday, Iz and I are talking in sacrament meeting, and I've got sharing time--my first one here. There are a million things to do and yet here I am on the blog. I just posted, what, 4 new messages including this lame excuse of a post. I just checked on a few other people's blogs and still can't seem to pull myself away to get to my to do list. But I guess when I'm writing about procrastinating as a way of procrastinating I've really hit bottom and it's time to get back into the thick of it. Sigh. Wish me luck.

Oh and as another not productive--but very fun--maneuver, we went to the Bronx Zoo today with Nicole and little Caleb. So yeah, I'll be back later tonight to blog about that. Tomorrow's looking busier and busier.

What the....

This bug is freakier than anything I saw in Grenada. Keahi loves seeing these around the house. I am less thrilled. 10 points to anyone who knows what it is. Yes, that would be "Whose Line is it Anyway" type of points.

Coney Island beach

A few weeks ago some moms from the ward hopped on the subway to Coney Island for some fun in the sun. It was our second time on the subway and it went very smoothly--and loudly since the boys are still very amped about it. It was kind of surreal for me to stroll along the boardwalk and see all the iconic sights that I'd previously only seen on screen. We didn't shell out the money for a Nathan's dog (though we did this past Tues. when we went to the aquarium--so yummy), instead we lunched on the ubiquitous pb&j. It was one of those perfect, blue-blue days with very cold water--very different from Grenada. Jarom was nervous about the ocean at first, but then joined in the splashing merriment. We even got to see a jellyfish up close--without being stung. It was a great day with great friends. NY rocks.




Jarom running


Jarom "all fall down"


Keahi trying to coax Brooklynn into the water

water dragon

 

I forgot to post this picture from our Prospect Zoo visit. In the amphibian and reptile house we saw this lizard labeled Water Dragon. When Keahi saw it, he shook his head and said, "That's not a real water dragon; it's too small. It's a fake one." I guess he was offended that his namesake was such a tiny creature compared to the magnificent Chinese drawings his popo showed him. Obviously, this pitiful lizard was a fake.

Boys in Bed

Jarom and I weren't feeling well yesterday and me and the boys climbed into bed for some Baby Einstein time. Note Jarom's rapt attention. The boys looked so cute I had to document it. Then Keahi asked if he could take pictures. I love digital cameras cause now I can let him take whatever pics he wants.



He liked this one but then asked to take another one. When he saw how his second picture turned out he couldn't stop giggling over it.

Egg Flower for Breakfast, Anyone

 

I should make these more often. The boys ate them up like candy...protein rich candy.

Ranting for Life

I rant. A lot. It's like my thing to get irked by something--usually people I feel are incompetent or deliberately rude. I think I need to find a constructive--and preferably profitable--outlet for my outpourings. I'd like to be so well known for my rants that when I enter an establishment, workers start sweating and falling over themselves to attend to my whims. It'd be like being a food critic who gets all the best and largest portions only it'd be for everything from state run facilities to customer service at the local department store. I think that would be my dream job. Alas, until I find a way to be paid for my rants, I'll have to settle for ranting on my blog for all of you. I'll think of it as my bit of service to the community to warn you away from places on my X list. It could be like the opposite of Oprah's Favorite Things list. So here's my latest rant.

I ran what I thought would be a five minute errand to return a pair of shoes I'd recently purchased from Marshalls. I had bought 2 pairs of sandals for Jarom (while he was blessedly at home with daddy since I had spent 3 hours with both boys the day before searching for sandals) that were labeled size 6 but were about 2 cm. apart in length. Non-uniform sizing of children's items is a whole other rant in itself so I'll try not to get distracted. Anyhow, I figured one of them would fit him and I'd return the other. Simple, right?

Well, the larger 6 fit him very loosely and he couldn't even shove his foot into the other size 6. So the kids and I took it back and was happily surprised by the lack of line in the customer service line. Only later do I realize it's because most people must simply not have the fortitude to go head to head with customer service for half an hour.

I hand the girl the shoes (with tag still attached with that plastic ring thing) and the original receipt. She looks over the sandals, gives me a suspicious glare and declares that these sandals have been worn. A bit shocked, I tell her that my son has never worn them because they didn't fit and she stares at me and insists they've been worn so I can't return them. So she finds some other worker elsewhere and explains that there's a woman saying the shoes haven't been worn when they really have been. Now I've got 2 girls glaring at me.

I take off Jarom's sandal (who then freaks out at the indignity) and show it to them, telling them that I bought these 2 pairs of shoes as listed on the receipt and that clearly if the larger one fit then there's no way the smaller one would have fit in order for my son to wear them anywhere. Instead of apologizing to me for the accusations, they go and get 2 other workers. Now 4 workers are gathered around these sandals all insisting that they've been worn. I'm getting pretty ticked and am proud of myself for keeping my cool but there's no way I'm backing down now.

That's it. Gauntlet down.

I would have stayed there till closing to get back my $20. After I tell them that this is exactly the condition in which I purchased them, the workers all agree that there's no way these sandals would be priced at $20. One goes to look for others like them and eventually returns to say they're on clearance for $10. I put my foot down. I don't care if they're $10 now, the price tag and the receipt say $20 so I'm expecting to get the full amount back.

"These aren't $20, ma'am. Those other sandals must have been the $20 ones. Let me look at the receipt. See, these ones must be the $15 ones." Okay, now they're accusing me of, what, magically removing the plastic ring from one shoe to the other?

"I'm sorry, it didn't occur to me that I'd have to bring the original tags for the shoes my son is wearing. Aren't there item numbers on the receipt? Look, 200453 on the receipt next to the $20 sandals and look, 200453 on the price tag attached to the sandals. We've got a match."

Now they just mumble amongst themselves and look at the receipt while I silently fume and try to keep Keahi from climbing all over the stroller. At last, they admit defeat and one girl asks if I want cash or credit back on my card. Transaction completed and without an apology or a have a nice day they walk away. I clutch my intangible $20 credit in my victorious fist and leave that place for good. I had eyed a winter jacket on the way in, but now there's no way I'm going back there.

Marshalls is on my X list.

More reasons to love New York

Yesterday four SGU moms got together in Manhattan to reconnect with fellow single-mothers-spouses-of-a-med-student and have our kids get reacquainted. We had planned on going to the kids section of MoMA but when Natalie and I arrived the people at the counter told us the exhibit had been closed down but that we could pay $20 each to enter the main museum. (Later when I talked to Amy about it she said it was a permanent part of the museum and it was free. ) So we waited for Camilla and Crystal to get there and headed over to Central Park. There are a few attractions in NY that really seem like NY institutions that I've always thought of with the Big Apple: the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and Central Park. It's just so cool that I actually get to see all these places now. And on the way we saw FAO Schwartz--the store from the movie Big with the floor piano--and we had to stop. From life size lego statues of Darth Vader to creating your own Hot Rod (which Keahi really wanted to do but it costs $22 per car so, uh, no), this store is crazy. We played on the piano and watched a worker zoom a model air plane in loops and twists. Then far too soon for Keahi and Jarom's desires, we left for the park.

When I first saw the sandpit and tiny play structure, I was a bit disappointed. But then we saw that there were interweaving paths sprawling out with cool bridges and hills and a mini mountain with a stone curving slide. Some kids had even brought pieces of cardboard to accelerate their slide. All in all, I think this is one of the coolest playgrounds I've ever seen. We all had a blast and the time went by too fast. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the station so the NJers wouldn't miss their connecting train back home. A long walk (and lots of people staring at the mom brigade) and too many subway flights of stairs later, we all made it safely home. When I showed the pics and vids to Iz I know he was jealous of my day. But, of course, my day didn't end there. As soon as we got back, Natalie stayed with the sleeping kids while I went to Costco during high traffic time to pick up the food for Saturday's primary activity. I got back a bit after 5, go the kids up, (thankfully Iz walked in surprisingly early so I could leave the kids and) took Natalie home, came back for dinner and the bedtime train with the kids and headed over to the Johns to watch their sleeping kids while they got to be a couple again out on the town. I got back at midnight, checked Jarom's bed that was drying outside which I forgot to remind Iz to bring back in before leaving for the Johns, which, of course, was now soaking wet, dismissed it and all other prep work with a wave of my hand and got some much needed zzzzs. And now I better stop writing and go get ready for the primary activity. It's a busy, busy weekend and I won't get to see Iz till tomorrow afternoon. Sigh. So this started off as reasons to love living in Brooklyn and meandered its way to my woes at being an SGU SO. But I really do love living here. Oh, and a highlight of Keahi's day was when he got to touch the whiskers of a squirrel at the park. I have no idea how he even got close enough without the bugger scampering away.

And the primary activity was also a hit with the kids. We made pinwheels and ate muffin and fruit. We ended up axing the planned games which was fine because I jut took the kids to the playground for a bit. Plus, I also found out that some members of the ward play ultimate frisbee at the park every Saturday. Score!

Dylan in the Park

This is why living in Brooklyn is so cool. I was supposed to have a primary presidency meeting on Tues. night but one of the girls said she'd like to postpone it because she was taking her newborn son for his first concert: Bob Dylan at Prospect Park. So I jump on the idea and our little Temple family joined them for our first concert in the Park. When I say "in" the park I mean within the park at large but outside of the bandshell perimeter. There were strategically placed trees blocking our view and I think they did something that muffled the sound because I know Dylan's voice is rough but it's not that bad. But it was still awesome to sit with family and friends, eating greek pasta salad, watermelon and apple pie while listening to Dylan groove. We also noticed that the commencement of music was immediately accompanied by another ubiquitous concert experience--the smell of pot. Incidentally, we also got to see about 6 cops busting a guy about 5 feet from us. The boys were mostly really good except that Keahi started asking to go home at about 9:45. We didn't get home till 11pm and the kids still woke up at 7am the next morning, but it was still awesome. I love living here.

Of course, like an idiot, I didn't take any pictures at the park. So here are a few pics from the car ride home. The kids are wired, I'm tired, and Iz is silly.

Scorpions Explode

I've gotten used to Keahi asking me random questions at any time of the day. Or sometimes he'll run out of his room to inform me about something he just read or just figured out. It's almost annoying when he's reading something about science or nature because every 2 minutes he's interrupting me to tell me each new fact. Or sometimes he bursts out of his room to tell me that 10 sets of 3 is 30 or some other mathematical fact. And just now after dinner he randomly asked me what "burst" meant. At first I told him it meant like explode but then he immediately followed up with "Like scorpions explode." Ah, what? "Scorpions' new shells burst out of their old shells." Ohhh, so then I told him it meant more like something couldn't be contained so it had to break out. Then I asked him if that was something he had read and he said yes. I asked if he'd read it today and if that was why he'd asked about that word. But no, he didn't read it today. He read it back in Hawaii at popo's library. So he remembered that little fact about scorpions from months ago and decided to ask for the specific meaning of an unfamiliar word. Wow.

Rants and Amusing incidents in Brooklyn

While we're waiting for Iz to post about his amusing yet inconvenient anecdote, I figured I'd share a few of my own choice experiences here in Brooklyn.

Missing Boxes:
Before we so hurriedly left Hawaii we mailed off 3 large boxes of books and whatnot media mail by way of General Delivery (which is a way of sending something to a post office when you don't have an address yet). I had checked out the how-tos online and then taken everything to the Laie PO. I specifically asked if there was a particular PO I needed to send it to and was told that every PO accepts Gen.Del. and to send it the closest one to our probable address. I was also told to go immediately to the PO to fill out any forms for getting G.D. mail. When I got here I went straight to my local PO and was told that I didn't need to fill anything out but to simply wait and check back in a few weeks. Easy peasy. A few weeks go by and I check to see if anything had arrived. After a 20min wait in line I was told that it hadn't yet. I wait another week and go back to wait in another long line to finally be told the following: this PO doesn't accept Gen. Del. mail and only the main branch in Brooklyn Heights does and anything not addressed to that one would be sent back immediately. Huh. So after contacting Laie PO the supervisor there gets into contact with 2 supervisors here both at the PO the boxes were addressed to as well as to the main branch. He tells me that they will look out for my boxes and should call me when it arrives. OK. Crisis averted. Except when I finally get a hold of someone at the main branch I'm told that since I didn't fill out some very important papers that I wasn't on the correct lists and that they would be sent back to sender immediately upon arrival. And yesterday I discovered from my mom that the boxes had arrived back in Laie. Now it all has to be sent again and will take another month to get here. I should rewrap the DVDs and give them to Jarom for his birthday again. Plus there's the problem of how my mom will get these boxes back to the PO since she can't lift any of them herself. Sigh. I love our postal system.

Postal Worker:
Here's a less stressful incident related to postal workers, specifically the 3rd person I talked to at the local PO about the boxes who finally informed me that they don't accept G.D. mail. I told her I had sent 3 boxes from HAWAII. I believe I said Hawaii 2 or 3 times in the course of her questions. Then when she got back from talking with a supervisor she asked me, "So when did you send these boxes from JAPAN?" Seriously, I know I look Japanese but please listen to the words coming out of my mouth. Hawaii sounds nothing like Japan.

UHAUL Worker:
Here's a related experience this time with a UHAUL worker. Yuki Tano and I went to pick up the moving truck and the woman was very sweet and helpful if incredibly slow. I seriously felt like I was back in Grenada as I watched her type in my phone number (incorrectly twice) with one slow, wandering finger. When she saw that I had a Hawaii driver's license she Hmmmmmed and wondered aloud if the computer would have this information as she scrolled down a drop menu of state abbreviations. Yuki and I looked at each other and commented that we both thought the 50th state would be listed. After taking down my license info she asked if I had a passport and then corrected herself as she slowly realized that travelers from Hawaii don't require passports in NY.
All we need is some of that green paper stuff instead of the usual coconut currency we use back home.

Domestics in Ikea:
And now for my rant about strangers butting into my parenting sphere. Back in Grenada random people would feel the need to comment on my parenting techniques. My fellow SGU moms can sympathize with me on this one. I know someone told me some people actually stopped their cars, holding up traffic, in order to tell them they needed to protect their children's eyes from the dusty road. Really? We couldn't have figured that one out ourselves? Anyhow, I mistakenly thought I'd left all that behind. But 2 days ago I felt my blood boil when it happened again. I had just picked up Keahi from the play area in Ikea where you can drop off your kids for one hour while you shop. I was putting away my receipts and filling up a water bottle when Keahi ran off from my side to stand next to the escalator coming up to our level. He was in no danger of being sucked into the escalator or whatever people think happens to kids on these deathtraps and wasn't even in anyone's way since he likes to stand to the side and pretend he's making the escalator come up. But at least 3 women had to crowd around him, stopping traffic in their own way, to fuss over the lost child. One asked him where his mommy was and he calmly pointed over to me under the second escalator going up to the third level. I guess they thought I was on the escalator and called up to some poor asian woman going up to see if she'd left her son behind. There was a lot of fuss involved as I tried to wave to the women and tell them it was my kid who was GASP 20 feet away from me and stubbornly refusing to come as I called him. When I got past them and got Keahi, another "concerned" citizen informed me that "You'd better come and take care of your child because I'm from the ACS and I'd hate to have to take away your child because of neglect." She talked to me as if I was some horrible abusive parent with an overlay of nah-uh-no-you-didn't-with-z-snaps attitude that just exuded professionalism. I had to restrain the urge to deck her and shout at her that I'm pretty sure the crack whores and abusive drunks deserved to be ahead of me in this line of parents from whom she was going to liberate neglected children. And at the same time it scared me that someone like her had the authority to rip children away from their families. Fortunately for her health I walked away to fill up another water bottle for Jarom. When I heard a woman's voice behind me say Excuse me, I had to pause to breathe deeply to brace myself for more criticism but it was only an old lady asking me where I'd gotten my shopping cart. Apparently she didn't feel I needed a lecture on parenting. Who knows, maybe in her lifetime she'd even lost a kid or two in a department store. Wonder if someone took away her kids because of neglect.

It's a Deluge of Posts!

It's been so long and I've so many events to document. I've decided to take each Sunday as an opportunity to update the blog since it is my journal and I am supposed to be keeping one. So here's a couple of recaps. I was too lazy to rewrite the one I wrote without pics for July 4th so here it is.

Today was our first holiday in NYC and it's been a blast. We got to sleep in till 7:20am before having to get the kids going with breakfast and preparing for our BBQ lunch plans. We're so glad Natalie and Cameron (and Samuel, of course) as well as Pammy and all the kids could come over and enjoy the day with us. What's more American than a BBQ, anyway. Once Iz finagled a way to make the one working side of the grill to heat more evenly we got to it. We celebrated with italian sausage "dogs" with roasted red peppers and onions, Bruschetta made by our own Italian chef, Israel, Lime-chili chicken, 2 kinds of potato salad (courtesy of our guests), a green salad (that was mostly overlooked in favor of the other tastier things), grilled zuchini marinated in a simple basalmic viniegrete, and grilled mushrooms with a garlic-lime butter sauce. And homemade cookies (thanks Natalie!) and ice cream to top it all off. I only wish I had made more limeade because it was so refreshing. I also thought it amazing that Keahi was the only kid who wanted ice cream. Ada politely declined and Ezra when confronted with chocolate twix ice cream or vanilla ice cream with M&Ms in it also declined. Only plain vanilla for him. And here I thought I had chosen so well. Well, more for the adults to indulge themselves. The kids played darts and snakes and ladders, and then we cooled off in the sprinklers in our back garden. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I LOVE this house. Now the kids are resting up for the big fireworks tonight. Keahi was so excited when I told him he'd get to see the "illegals" tonight. (In the past, he's seen some arials done in our neighborhood so he's excited to see a real show.) I'll post the pics when we have internet on our computer.

Wow, even through the haze of rain, the fireworks were impressive. I was surprised Pammy was so underwhelmed by it all. Though that may have been influenced by Tenney's crying and the other assorted kid-related stresses. Even Keahi was done with it all after about 10 minutes. But Iz and I were mean and made him stay so we could see the whole 25min show. I especially liked the cubes and smiley faces.

Making Connections

Okay so I know people are tired of hearing about my brilliant kid but remember that this is like a journal for me and I don't want to forget things so here's one more example that Keahi must be adopted.

In church last week, Iz was talking to Keahi during the sacrament about Jesus Christ because we're trying to get him to be more reverent and realize what it's all about. He talked to him about how the resurrection, explaining what the word meant, when Keahi chimed in saying, "That just like how in the Chronicles of Narnia when the White Witch killed Aslan, he came back to life." We read that book about 5 months ago. So when someone tells me that just because a kid can decode the words and read the text doesn't mean that they're actually reading and understanding the content, I can look at them and smile. Because obviously Keahi gets what he's reading, remembers it, and can then make connections to new information. Yeah, I love this kid.

Oh and you know how he likes to use new words after he learns them? Now he likes to talk about what's parallel and what's perpendicular.

Our Soon to be Former Residence

So thanks to Shelley I can now show everyone our not-so-new apartment.




So here we see most of our house--but the video accidentally stopped so there are a couple more to go.




Here's the rest of the house.




And here's our back garden area.

Don't you just love all the space? Our new place is going to be about 1/3 of this one but it's in Park Slope next to a great school (that Keahi won't get to attend unless we stay another year), great shops, and, of course, Prospect Park. Plus, having the Dargers upstairs lends itself to convenient babysitting arrangements. So, all in all, we're happy with both places.

Oh wait, here's the car that came with the place.

After Dinner Activity

After a gourmet meal of saimen with eggs and broccoli, my 2 big boys settle in for some after dinner fun--sewing up a banana. Keahi loved helping daddy cut the sutures and listen as daddy explained why this was important practice. Jarom sat in his high chair and pointed at them saying, "Owee banana."

Walking with the Palmers to see the waterfall

Okay, it's not showing up as pictures unless I hit preview which makes it annoying to arrange with captions. So this was the day we went with Pam and the kids to look at Olafur Eliasson's manmade waterfall. It was a long but beautiful walk and the kids were awesome. Keahi worships Ezra and he mostly gets along with Ada. The waterfall, though not up to Hawaii standards, was still pretty cool and the view from the promenade just can't be captured with our low grade camera. We love this part of New York and we loved having Pammy here to ease the transition.

What is Real

Keahi has been driving me crazy with all his questions about simple and complex things. They flow out of him like obscenities out of some of our distant neighbors. And you can't quickly brush off his questions because he'll keep coming at you till you satisfy him. We've talked about why vikings killed people, the difference between tornados, whirlwinds, and hurricanes, and explored the fascinating world of what is bigger than what. His newest kick has been to ask about really simple things like, "Mommy, what is a plane?" of "Mommy, what is the ocean?" At first I was confused by his new fascination with asking questions he already knew the answer to and tried to tell him he knew what a plane or the ocean was. But that just frustrated him and he insisted he didn't know. So when he asked me what a dog was I started to describe its physical aspects. He joined in with me and added that what we were describing also sounded like a cat. So I tried to be more specific. When we'd covered what it looked like he looked at me and asked, "But what IS a dog?" Are you kidding me. Is my kid asking me to define dogginess? Should I delve into Plato's ideas of Forms or something? Or how all the words we use are arbitrary and we might as well call a dog a cat or a ball? So I've a budding philosopher in the family who every day makes me justify why a bridge is a bridge and why not all his questions need to be answered in depth. What's next?