Hilstrong Adventures

Isaac "graduates" preschool

2008-06-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

Isaac "graduated" from Casa dei Bambini today, complete with a ceremony and "diploma". A bit over the top, but thankfully they didn't go so far as to wear caps & gowns (maybe for Kindergarten??)

In other news, we are looking for a new school for Jake. His super active, very social, quintessential "boyness" isn't quite a match for the Montessori way.

Isaac turns 5

2008-05-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Isaac celebrated his 5th birthday! Hurray!

Both sets of grandparents, Tio Dan, and many friends were there to celebrate with us. He asked for a "Panda Theme" party. I baked a (very dry) "panda mountain" cake and made a little "panda activity booklet" for the kids to do. We had a "bamboo forest" in the family room (tons of green streamers hanging from the ceiling)...but the highlight was when Jay put on a Panda costume and hid in the park. Then we let loose the kids on him! It was quite a sight to see Jay running thru the park chased by a pack of wild preschoolers.

Instead of presents, we had a little "Panda fund" and collected contributions for WWF's conservation projects.

Jake potty trains himself!

2008-04-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

Jake decided he'd had enough of diapers and that he wanted "big boy" undies. So over about a two week period he basically trained himself (with a few gentle reminders from me but he really has done it almost completely on his own).

He is such a determined little man! We are very proud of him :)

Also, he looks so darn cute in his "vroom vroom" undies with is chubby little legs and boom boom.

Ni Hao baby

2008-02-21T21:30:00.001-08:00

Isaac's card got drawn for the Mandarin Immersion program! We are very excited. There were hundreds of applications for the lottery but only about 15 spots (for English speaking kinders--even fewer for Chinese speaking kids) so we feel *very* lucky. Isaac was thrilled when I told him he'd be learning Chinese.

So, I'm embarking on an adventure to learn the language myself...there are lots o' resources out there. It is a bit overwhelming but very exciting too!

Hurray! Palo Alto is the best!

Jake starts preschool

2008-02-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Jake started preschool this week, attending the same school as Isaac with the same schedule (M-F 9-3). We knew the transition would be a bit easier than big brother had when, half way to school, he started chanting: "Jakey 'kool, Jakey 'kool!" and erupted with a huge "Yeeeah!" as we pulled into the parking lot. He practically bolted from the car and barely gave a backward glance as he ran to the playground. Isaac was the proud and protective big bro --making sure Jake had his lunch box put up properly and darting after him to show him around the playground.

The only sad aspect of this milestone is our having to give up the best nanny in the world - Keila, who has been a wonderful addition to our lives. Not only is she full of love, energy and loads of artistic craft ideas, she kept the house in ship shape too. She will still come on Fridays and evenings babysitting because none of us can possibly live without her!

Kindergarten Registration

2008-01-23T22:54:00.000-08:00

I registered Isaac for Kindergarten today! We are applying to two of the charter schools (Ohlone and the Spanish Immersion program at Escondido), so we needed to be in the "Priority 1 Group" to be eligible for the lottery.

As far as I can figure, there are about 13 spots at Escondido and maybe 17 at Ohlone and an estimated 100+ applicants. :(

The lottery is on February 21.

Marathon

2007-10-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Jay Simpson, Mary Penix and I all ran the Bizz Johnson Marathon Sunday Oct 7. It was Jay’s 3rd; the 1st for Mary and me. Going in, my main goal was to finish w/o hurting myself, secondarily to finish in less than 5 hours.

The first few miles, we were mainly just trying to warm up (it was 36° for the early bird 7:30 AM start). Mary and I ran together at a pace where we could still chat. There was a positive vibe to the whole race. The other runners were supportive, generally giving an encouraging word as we passed each other or met at an aid station.

The landscape is beautiful. The trail winds along a river canyon, past meadows , over wooden bridge river crossings, and through forests with loads and loads of pine and fir trees. I felt pretty good until a little hill at mile 20 crushed my soul. At the top, with just 6 miles to go and a 3:30 time, Mary felt jazzed and could taste a 4:30 finish. I started to lose steam and by mile 22 was bonking. My legs felt like jello. I knew I would finish, but was fighting the urge to walk the last few miles. Mary talked me through it and we finished together in 4:34.

Why
I’m one of those people who needs a goal. I’m not about maintenance. So last December when our Jay was talking about his Honolulu marathon and trying to convince Dave that he could run one too (those who know Dave will know he has no interest whatsoever in such things),well, that put the idea in my head. I did some research on-line and decided to give it a go. I was originally hoping to run the Rio Marathon in June, but due to a non-running related injury, had to postpone. When I found the Bizz Johnson I knew that was the one: mountains, trees, mainly downhill, mainly dirt. What could be better?

The course
The marathon was almost entirely on the Bizz Johnson National Recreation Trail along the Susan River in Lassen County, CA (about 90 miles N of Reno). It’s a rails-to-trails conversion of the railroad grade of the old Fernley and Lassen Branch Line of the Southern Pacific railroad, which used to carry lumber from the forests in Lassen to Fernley, NV. In the late 70’s, after over 20 years of disuse, Congressman Harold T. "Bizz" Johnson (rep. 1958-1980) spearheaded the effort to convert it into a recreational trail.

The marathon course starts at Mason Station, elevation 5200’, climbs to a max of 5500’ over the first six or seven miles, and then gradually descends to Hobo Camp (4200’) near the town of Susanville. The exception to the mainly downhill grade is a detour around a burnt out bridge around mile 20, which does a descent to the river and a steep 60’ climb to reconnect to the main trail. A 60’ ascent may not sound like much, but it certainly feels like a bear after 20 miles!

There were aid/water stations every 2 miles, which were well stocked with water, Gatorade, fruit & cereal bars. The Gatorade and water were a bit on the slushy side in the early morning temps. There were bathrooms at the start, mile 14 and mile 26. Other than that, one race organizer announced: “there are porta-pines all along the route”. Enjoy.

The results
Here’s a snapshot of the overall results, including my buddies Jay and Mary, the first three finishers and last one.

Heather Fuhr was the first woman to ever win the overall and she set a new women’s record for the trail. We cheered for her as she flew by us around mile 21 (she, having started at 9 am). We knew she was the first of the elite runners and it was great to see a woman kicking it in! Girl power!!

The third place guy powered by us a mile or so later, saying “Looking good ladies, we’re all in this together!”. I thought it was very cool for him to waste his breath cheering us on!

Jay did a personal best over his previous two marathons. Mary could have had a faster finish, but she wanted us to finish together so she stayed with me during those last 6 miles. What a friend!

Training

I’m not a runner. Until January, I’d never run more than about a mile or so. In fact, aside from High School P.E. (um, 20 years ago), I never really ran at all.

I found a training program by Hal Higdon and more or less followed it. My first 3 mile run was hard. I did it, but I felt like puking afterwards. The first “long” run (6 miles), I pulled a muscle and had to walk the last half mile. But I just kept doing it and it got easier. I sporadically ran some of the program early in the year, did the Santa Cruz Half in May (finished in 2:14), then Bay To Breakers and the Santa Cruz Wharf-to-Wharf. In June, I started following the 18 week training schedule pretty religiously.

I ran while we were in Brazil; I ran along the Santa Barbara coast; I traversed almost the entire city of Pasadena one morning. Mainly I ran at Baylands/Byxbee Park here in Palo Alto. Basically flat, sea-level, mainly dirt. When I started, I’d run at night after the boys were asleep, but switched to mornings by the time I really started training. Mostly, I ran all the mid-weeks alone and did the Saturday long runs with Mary (except when I was out of town).

I really believed in the program. Each week built on the last as the miles steadily ramped. It’s a huge time commitment but the payoff was there. I’d definitely recommend it.

So…
Will I do it again? Yeah, probably. Not for a year or so, but I can see why people get hooked. Maybe I’ll run a Half in the Spring and see how I feel. For now, I’m glad to have done it and I’m glad it’s over!

Parque Zoologico Municipal de Bauru

2007-06-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

We have been to the Bauru Zoo twice now and the boys really enjoy seeing the animals. The entry fee is $1 per adult & kids are free, so as my college friends used to say, you can't afford not to go!

Com cerca de 500 animais de 250 espécies, recebe em torno de 150 mil visitantes por ano.

It is the third largest zoo in Brazil and has a wide collection of native birds with exotic names like urumutum, jacucaca, urubu-rei and jaburu. There are some funkey looking ones! They even have an Andean Condor and we got to see his amazing wingspan on our second visit. Dave and I were lucky enough to see wild condors in Peru 6 years ago. They were soaring high above the canyon cliffs and it's a much nicer way to appreciate them, even if you can't see them so well.

The zoo also has an array of monkeys, including all four species of Micro-Leaos (not sure what they are called in English. They are like spider monkeys but smaller...and very cute!). Apparently the zoo is active in trying to preserve these and other native species which are endangered.

The best part of the zoo is a lake on the periphery which has two little islands. Each is a home to a little monkey (one Spider Monkey and one Micro Leao). They are the luckiest little captives. The rest of the cages are a bit on the depressing side.

For his part, Isaac was very excited to see the (non-native) Peacocks. They have three kinds: green, blue and white! Jakey enjoyed seeing the various animals, but was also quite happy when we stopped for a picnic lunch outside the little cafe!

Festa Junina

2007-06-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

Jakey got to stay up late tonight to attend a neighborhood party for Festa Junina.

This is a traditional Brazilian celebration that apparently lasts all month, with many parties and festivals to celebrate rural life. People dress in rural/country style costumes, have BBQs.

Isaac was excited to light sparklers and ride on the mechanical bull. Jakey and Tio had a grand time together. He is trying mightly to get a taste of Tio's Brazilian cerveja!

Reginopolis

2007-06-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we visited Reginopolis, the town where Angela and most all her cousins grew up. We spent time with Paula, her mom, step-dad and brother, who have a little farm just outside town. They have chickens (to Jake’s delight), a half tame/wild parrot that lives in one of their trees, bell peppers, coconuts, bananas, and eucalyptus trees. Oh, and also, snakes, scorpions and stinging ants, which Jakey sat in a mound of (ants that is, not the snakes and scorpions ;)

Paula´s brother Joao (age 7) is a shy and he and Isaac took a little while to warm up to each other. But by the afternoon they were playing cards, basketball, soccer, video games etc. together laughing and giggling. One speaking in English, the other in Portuguese and neither understanding a word the other was saying, but they seemed to get along quite well. As Isaac says

We play joga bola. That mean ball in English.

Paula´s mom fixed us a wonderful vegetarian lunch, which Jakey and I enjoyed very much. Isaac ate white rice. But later one of the chickens laid an egg so Isaac had the freshest boiled egg of his life…very exciting.

We visited Tio Pedro´s shop in town and stopped in for a quick “Tudo Bem” to two of his sisters. To round out the day, we visited Tathi´s Grandmother and Tia and all had ice cream together near Tiavo´s house before heading back. It was a nice day, but long for Jakey and he had a hard time on the way home. First thing this morning Isaac said he wanted to go back to Prima´s and bring his new Xuxa DVD to watch w/ Joao, but that this time we should leave earlier because the ride home was a "ninemare" :)

We arrive in Brasil!

2007-06-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

The boys and I set off for our 5 week adventure in Brazil.

We met up with prima Paula at LAX and flew together to Sao Paulo by way of Lima. Let's just say the flights and transfers were less than magical. Here we are at LAX with all the carry-on luggage, car seat, stroller, etc. transferring from the American Eagle midfield to the Bradley terminal. Nightmare!

On our flight from LAX to Lima, Jakey cried non-stop for almost 2 hours and I believe we sufficiently traumatized the young couple in the row in front of us so as to pretty much guarantee they won't be having kids anytime soon...just a little service I like to provide. A mere 20 hours later, we were in Brazil. Ole!

It was all worth it to see Isaac and Tathi's reunion at the airport. They ran and gave each other a big hug and kiss. It was a 4 hour drive to Bauru, where we made the mandatory stop at the Castelhinho Pamonha (Corn Castle) for Guarana, Brazilian sweet tamales, and corn ice cream. Yum!

We were all pretty trashed by the time we arrived, but are happy to be here and have of course received a wonderful welcome from Tathi's whole family.

Jenny

2006-10-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

Isaac started preschool at the end of August. He is going mornings 5 days a week at a little school in our neighborhood. The first week was definitely a challenge, with many tears shed (especially at the morning drop-off, which I cleverly assigned to Dave). Jake and I pick him up, and lemme tell you, I don't think I've felt so appreciated as those first few times I "rescued" him :)

Anyway, during Isaac's second week we were still new and adjusting to it all. One day as we were leaving, a very plus sized older woman was walking toward the school office. We were about 100 feet away and headed in the other direction, but Isaac strained to see her, obviously curious, and said I want to see dat lady!. I quickly moved on, thinking to myself, good lord, is it starting already? I was worried he would make some terrible comment to her.

A few days later, the same lady was again walking towards the office and Isaac again said - I want to see dat lady! I asked him why, hoping to have the conversation about body types out of earshot of this woman.

'cause she so beautiful! was his answer, his eyes shining bright. My heart melted (and what a terrible mother for thinking the worst of my little man!). She wears long, very colorful dresses and that is what Isaac noticed about her. So, I went into the office where she had gone and said, "Excuse me, my son wanted to say that he thinks you're beautiful." She sort of looked at me funny and smiled a little.

The next day, Isaac wanted to see his 'fliend' again. Turns out Jenny works at the school with the infants and her lunch break is right around the time when I pick Isaac up. When she saw us she said, "You know, when you told me that yesterday, I thought you were talking to someone else! He really brightened my day."

So now every day before we head home, Isaac goes to say hi to Jenny. He runs into the office and to the back to where the staff eat lunch. All the ladies know exactly who he is looking for. He just says a little hi and gives a smile and then we're off. Sometimes she is still in with the little ones, in which case we wave through the window.

The other day we were at the store and Isaac said he thought it'd be nice if I got a 'pletty' dress like Jenny's. :)

Isaac loves his primas

2006-10-04T01:05:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know her, Tathi is one of Dave's Brazilian cousins (her father, Gilberto, and Angela are first cousins). She lived with us last year for 8 months and really became part of our family. We first met her on our honeymoon when she was just 13. She has grown into an amazing young woman: warm and caring and the calmest person I've ever known. She was a tremdendous help to us. She and Isaac have a wonderful bond, and Jake was born on her birthday! He is her xarazinho ("little birth-sake").

She is back in Bauru, Sao Paulo teaching at a preschool (those lucky little kids). She was recently engaged to be married! When I first told Isaac, he got so excited and asked: to me!? He was a little dissappointed to learn that someone else had won her heart. But, was reasonably contented with knowing that we'd get to see her when we go to the wedding in April.

The other day, Isaac and I had this little conversation:

Mommy, I miss Tathi.

Me too.

When Tathi get ...what dat called? [married?], yeah, when Tathi get maweed, she going to be a baby or she going to have a baby?

Sweetie, she's not having a baby right now. Getting married means you choose a really special person to spend your life with. Like mommy and daddy did.

It going to be a boy like me or a girl baby?

Well, she's not having a baby yet, but when she does have a baby, I bet she'll be a great mommy.

Yeah, I love Tathi.

He is so sweet.

Now prima Larissa has been with us since July. (Her dad, Amancio, and Angela, and Gilberto are all first cousins.) We first met her when we visited Recife during our trip to Brazil in Dec/Jan 05 (album).

She has been a lot of fun: full of energy and love for the boys. She will be leaving next week to return to Brazil. Yesterday, he told her he would go visit her at her mom's house every Tuesday, o-tay plima? And he gave her one of his stuffed animals so she could remember him.

Bisa 'ta visitando

2006-09-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Angela brought her mom, Dave's grandmother, up to visit for the weekend. We call her "Bisa", which is the Portuguese for great-grandmother.

Bisa lives with Tia Denise in Florida for most of the year, but spends about a month or so in So Cal with Dave's folks each year. Isaac has seen her three times already, but this was her first time meeting Jake-ibod.

Bisa and Isaac enjoyed seeing each other again. Jake was instantly intrigued and crawled right over to her with a big smile. He sat on her lap and she sang to him. On Monday before they left, we walked up to Isaac's preschool together, with Jake in the stroller and Bisa in the wheelchair. Isaac was very excited to show Zo and Bisa his classroom.

Bisa is 84 now and has some memory trouble. She asked me almost every hour to remind her of the boys' names. All our conversations are in Portuguese, so I got plenty of practice with describing how various family members were related to each other. She never tired of asking, or correcting my mistakes ;)

With prima Larissa here, we tried to get Bisa to relate some memories of Larissa's grandmother, Teresa, who was one of Bisa's older sisters (she had 5 sisters and 6 brothers). Teresa died at a pretty young age (40?) from the bite of some insect. Larissa never knew her. At first, Bisa didn't want to think about it. She is the only living sibling and it makes her sad to think of her sisters and brothers now that they are all gone. But, after some coaxing, Bisa was able to remember some details about Teresa and even her husband. Larissa was very happy to know some little stories to help her feel connected to her grandparents.

Bisa then gave us (with a lot of help from Angela, who has an amazing memory) a bit of a Cinel family tree, which is huge. Most all her siblings had large families themselves, so Dave's got tons of 2nd and 3rd cousins, many of whom we know. I tried expressing to Bisa how interesting it was to me. My own grandmother was also a farm girl (from Pennsylvania) and had 12 siblings, but the big difference is that only 4 of them made it to adulthood and only 3 had children. So the Noel family tree is quite sparse really and I only know 4 cousins on that side.

Anyway, it was great for the boys to get to see their Bisa.

Nana returns!

2006-09-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

This morning at 7 am we got a call from Bill and Marla of local radio Mix 106.5. Marla had seen the 11 news and wanted to know if we'd found Nana. They were really funny about the whole thing and gave me crap about my description of him as "well loved", which they correctly determined is just code for tattered and dirty. So they kept calling him that "dirty little monkey" and Bill admonished me for being a very, very bad mother for losing my son's favorite animal. A lady called in to say we really needed to get over it already and teach our son that life is tough. (Dude, he's only 3.)

Anway, the awesome news is that the coverage has paid off!! I got an email early this morning from a young man who claims to have found Nana. We arranged to meet at Mitchell park, and Norbert and Alexa met us there to wait for the reunion. They took pictures and ran the story.

Thomas and his girlfriend had seen Nana on the side of the road and picked him up. Then the girlfriend's mother saw the News segment and they decided to give him back. I pitched it to Isaac as them having "rescued" Nana. They were pretty embarrassed about the whole thing and also couldn't believe it was on the news (along w/ the rest of us). Isaac drew them a picture and we gave them a $30 reward. Isaac was a bit disconcerted to see that they had washed him, but I assured him Nana would be 'good as old' in no time.

Isaac is very happy to have his Nana back.

Thanks to Norbert, Alexa, and George!

Where's Nana?

2006-09-13T23:58:00.000-07:00

Last week, I popped Nana, Isaac's beloved stuffed monkey, into the double stroller next to Jake and we headed out to pick Isaac up from preschool. When we arrived, Nana was gone, apparently he'd fallen out of the stroller on the way there. I was sure we'd find him on the way back (it's only a 20 min walk), but we had no luck.

Isaac was pretty inconsolable so I created some "Missing Monkey" signs to put up in the neighborhood. Isaac had fun helping me hang them up and wondering where Nana might have got to. Then a lady came up to us to say she'd seen the whole thing: Nana fell out of the stroller near Alma and someone pulled over, got out of her car, and took him! Nana is, let's say, well loved. Seriously, he is battered and dirty and I really can't imagine why anyone (besides Isaac) would want him. Of course, Isaac heard her: why mommy? why that lady take my Nana? Then he thought about it and got excited: that lady going to come to my house and give Nana back mommy? No, sweetie, she doesn't know where we live. Then he kept constructing more elaborate ideas: maybe she'd give Nana to Graham, and Graham would give him back since Graham loves Isaac so much. Or maybe she'd give him to Zo and Zo would mail him back to Isaac. It was so sad. I had to tell him that probably she saw Nana and didn't know who Nana belonged to but that since Nana is so beautiful, she decided to love him and is now taking good care of him. Yes, Nana misses you too. And, it isn't right to take things that don't belong to you...

Anyway, today I got a call from the Palo Alto Daily, our local paper. Someone had seen the signs and thought it was cute, so Norbert and Alexa wrote up a front page story.

Later in the afternoon, I get a call from the Bay Area's NBC11. They had seen the story in the Palo Alto Daily and wanted to come talk to us. Of course, it's like 4:30 in the afternoon, we've been at the park playing in the dirt all afternoon, the house is a mess, I'm as mess, Isaac is asleep. So I make a mad rush through the house, shoving stuff in closets, fly into the shower, feed Jake and call Dave so he can come help me find photos of Isaac w/ Nana. All the while, I'm thinking ...sandwiched in between stories of Darfur and Bagdad, they are going to run a story on a lost stuffed animal!?!

Sure enough, George & cameraman show up at our doorstep to shoot a full-length news segment for the 11 o'clock news! They were really sweet and spent a lot of time with us. Isaac was very shy about the whole thing and only warmed up to them after they'd run out of film!

They wanted to know about the "reward" we offered. Honestly, I hadn't given it much thought so I said we'd maybe do $25 or $30. George said, you see some people offering $100 or $1000 sometimes. I assured him that we might be a little nuts but we're not crazy!

I was worried that all this might traumatize Isaac even more. I asked him if it made him sad that the news crew was there and we were talking about Nana. He said,

No mommy, I not sad. I happy. Cause they gonna help me find Nana and me love Nana so much.

Well, at 11 pm we sit down, Tivo ready to record, to watch the news. I was dying of embarrasment. They did a "Live" segment in front of our house! Here is the news segment