December 21: Sea World

The 19th was spent prepping for vacation (including making two types of biscotti—I haven't made biscotti in years, and because of how my oven was cooking, I had to scrape the bottoms of one variety when it burned; it took forever! but the dried apricot-pistachio turned out very well). The 20th was spent getting to Florida. We so love flying out of Charlottesville: with five sons and no checked baggage, we have extra help from the staff. And a friend from church happened to be on our first flight, which was extra fun. (I love how often I run into people I know! I love Charlottesville!)

Eventually our vacation with the extended family would take us to St. Augustine, but since the rental house wasn't available until Saturday afternoon, we planned to fly into Orlando on Friday and spend Saturday in Orlando.

I will just say up front that I hate Orlando. Considering that the wealth of the world flows there, the overall feel of the city was seedy. The roads were patched; the traffic lights badly timed. It took us 40 minutes to go 8 miles on the main road.

But once we reached the hotel, we had a fun time with the children in the pool. One uncle helped Isaiah learn to float, and after an hour of instruction, he swam across the pool unaided. What a relief! He might not be perfectly safe by himself, but, like Jadon, he can dog paddle around. Phew! Even Abraham, not a water baby at all, seemed to enjoy himself.

We are not Disney people, but I remembered loving San Diego's Sea World, so that was our Saturday destination. My sister and I had gone to Whole Foods (worst Whole Foods in the world!) the night before, and purchased breakfast foods. That expedited our morning, and, incredibly, we managed to get all 17 of us out of the hotel and on our way by about the time the park opened at 9am.

Sea World has something for the whole family, I think. Some of the thrill seeking adults went on both the major roller coasters. (Jadon joined them for the second ride, Kraken, and he had a great time. We were very proud of him.) As a huge splurge, our family got to pet the dolphins. This was really unbelievable. One dolphin, if you made a thumbs' down sign, somehow made a farting sound. We thought that was hysterical.

There is a viewing window to see those dolphins underwater, too. It is amazing how precisely they move, how perfectly in control they are.

We went to see Shamu first. That was an impressive performance, and some of the family came away soaked. I remember hearing about Shamu as an elementary student, so it is fun to let the boys see Shamu as elementary students, too.

Then we went and saw a show with trained seals, and even a walrus who wiggled his bottom. The boys laughed about that for days.

Next we went to see a dolphin performance, and that was one of the most magical things I've ever seen: an enormous condor swept down at one point, and with divers and parrots and riding the dolphins and aerial stunts with beautiful costumes—it was so lovely that most of us came again and watched it a second time.

We saw the slow-moving manatees and went through the shark exhibit, and ended the day with a Christmas light show.

I think all 17 had a good time.

December 19: Caleb Photos

December 19: Kitchen Fire

On Monday the 16th and Tuesday the 17th, the boys spent hours putting together Lego sets. They have a large enough space to assemble several dozen sets. We have city sets and Star Wars sets predominately, and they used both in their play. To store, we put the sets into plastic Ziplocs. Many sets fit while still fully assembled; a few need to be broken down just a bit, and only one or two need to be entirely dismantled. It takes some time, but not as much as we might fear. I'm so happy they are getting use out of them!

Caleb is solidly into six month clothes. Although he isn't as chubby as some babies, I certainly admire his chubby cheeks!

Most babies do not pee in their sleep. They wet first thing on waking, but while they sleep, they remain dry. To potty train, I've had good success in the past making sure I put a recently-woken infant over the toilet and making a "sss" sound, then praising the baby for doing what comes naturally.

I don't really have a toilet, of course, but I do have a sink, and Caleb had a historic day on Wednesday the 18th: he peed where I wanted him to, when I wanted him to. Yay!

That was good.

There was bad on Wednesday, too. We are getting ready to go on vacation and had 16 Granny Smith apples, ready for pie. Rather than hope the apples won't go bad, we figured we would make pies and enjoy them all day tomorrow as we pack and such.

Phil didn't think the five apples I had used in pies last time was sufficient. Also, he doesn't like the cut of the apples from the peeler-corer-slicer: they are flat, as opposed to wedges. (I am not as opinionated about my apple shapes: I just want to eat any kind of pie!) So we embarked on a pie-test.

I had over made pie crusts, doubling a recipe that was already doubled (oops). I didn't allow enough time for the crusts to thaw, so the rolling out was a bit frustrating. Phil was doing all the apple prep, which was good, but since the crusts took so long, we didn't try to fill the crusts until all 16 apples were ready to go.

That was a disaster. Way too many apples for the pans.

So we ended up making one thin slice pie, one wedge pie, and one pie with a crumble top. Now my issue was that I had three pies to bake, but only one cookie sheet to put below the pies to catch drips.

I stacked the three pies on top of each other in my oven. It was only my first or second time using the larger oven, so I expected some smokiness.

About ten minutes later, I noticed that the smokiness, rather than abating, increased. I asked Phil if he would check, and when he opened the oven, smoke poured out, and my top pie had flames shooting up off the top crust. (Did I mention that none of the pies was supposed to be flambe?) The top pie was, apparently, touching the heating element. Oops.

Phil blew out the pie. I grabbed pot holders and pulled the blackened top crust off and tossed it outside. Then I put the filling and bottom crust back in the oven (on a lower rack this time; I had lost enough of the pie that I was no longer worried about it spilling over the sides, so the cookie sheet protection did not matter any more).

It really was a huge bummer, though. That pie turned out to be inedible: the smoke damage made it unpleasant in the mouth. The wedge pie was mostly fine, albeit a tad smoky in flavor. But the crumble top, perhaps because it didn't have a solid top to make it impervious to smoke, definitely had an aftertaste.

So on Thursday, rather than a day of delicious pie for every meal, it ended up being a day of picking at smoky pies and wishing all had gone better.

December 15: Cleaning the Entry

Because we were all up late last night partying, the boys were still sleeping when we would have had to leave for church. I had contemplated going on my own, but we returned the borrowed Suburban to our friends yesterday and got a rental van. Unfortunately, Charlottesville was out of minivans, and all that they had that would fit our family was a 12-passenger van. To me, it looks like the size of a tank. I have determined not to drive the 12 passenger van at all. Thus, I have no way to get to church with just Caleb. That's okay. An extra day to get my life in order is always welcome.

This would have been a good day for before and after photos. The main thing I wanted to deal with is around the door. There have been boxes there, waiting either to be unpacked or to be removed and put back in deep storage, every day for the last month. Add to that shoes that are coated with mud, and construction material, and clods of mud that periodically fall off of shoes. There were mud spots on the wall up to eye level. I tossed handfulls of mud out the door. Phil had picked up several more entry rugs, which was helpful: the one we had quickly caked over entirely.

Cleaning that entryway was a labor, perhaps not of love, but of necessity. It felt good to be done with it.

I also cleared my stuff off the worktop. Phil still has tools, so it isn't really "clean," and I'm sure I will soon find plenty to cover the worktop again, but for this brief moment, I can enjoy the spaciousness.

December 14: The Nutcracker, Shortened

Saturday evening we had tickets to see our friends (also the daughters of our friends—we like the whole family) perform in The Nutcracker. Caleb continues to grow at a precipitous rate, and the Christmas onesie I squeezed him into for the performance will be the last time he gets to wear that outfit.

It's for either 3 or 6 month olds. He is two months.

I had coached the boys through the music of The Nutcracker. Of course, after the description of Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker's battle with the mouse king and the Sugar Plum Fairy, our friends reminded us that there are no males in the studio. No Drosselmeyer. No Nutcracker. No mouse king. Not to mention, no pit and no orchestra.

Given these limitations, the performance delighted us in every way. At the end, I felt like I relived my wedding, as my cheeks had the same fatigue from smiling so hard. The company had done a good job matching music to a changed storyline. Clara and her mother host a party for their friends (with plenty of visual gags). Two life-size dolls arrive, and they perform (the soldier doll performs during the music for the battle). The party ends and Clara and dolls, now come to life, watch performances of different nationalities.

Because there were only three rows of seats, and the littler boys sat on the floor in front, all the boys were rapt. And as we drove away, they said, "My favorite part was when this happened. Oh, no, maybe my favorite part was this. I loved this, too."

Two Christmases ago, we went to the complete Nutcracker, done by the Colorado Ballet, and although I loved that one, too, Joe, at three, had a hard time sitting still. No problems this year. And the audience forgot that Caleb was there, he was so quiet. "What a good baby!" Indeed.

December 13: Cloth Diapers

On Friday, December 13, I started using cloth diapers again. I love using cloth: the impetus to change wet diapers more quickly because the moisture is actually touching the skin, and not being whisked away by absorbent beads; the ease of later potty training; the reduction of waste to the landfill; the increased need to pay attention to baby. But, without a washing machine, cloth diapers have been a nonstarter since moving to the land.

But I kept my cloth diapers all these years, and a friend from church had a box of prefolds that hadn't worked for her, so between the old and the new, I can cloth diaper again. And there was great rejoicing, at least for me.

Friday also was the day I was able to get in touch with the officer from the accident. He was apologetic: "We switched to a new software package in September, and although I filed on Thursday or Friday, and it looked like it had gone through, I had to spend some time with IT today to try to get it to show up. What do you need to know?"

And who of us has not, at times, had computer issues? How can I be angry over gremlins in the computer? Frustrated by the situation, yes. Furious? No.

The surprising thing, too, is that our van actually isn't totalled. I had assumed, since I couldn't open the passenger door, that the van was a goner. But, apparently, that was just the broken fiberglass pushing on the door, and not a bent frame.

Phil reassured me, too, that it is in the interest of our insurance company to make sure that our vehicle is actually safe, or they will just be dealing with another accident, perhaps far worse, down the road (no pun intended). What an unexpected blessing!

December 12: Light and Little Reader

Phil ran errands for hours. After his Bible study early in the morning, he stopped at the hardware store, picked up groceries, picked up our three overhead lights that had finally arrived, picked up a booster for our internet, which has been spotty, and picked up what he hoped would be high end Christmas chocolate.

Sadly, the chocolate was a bust, as we realized when he came home: artificial flavors in all. Such a disappointment!

He put up one of the lights, expecting it would be a simple installation. It wasn't. He was gasping for air by the time he was done. Yet another set back in his healing process. It looks nice, though!

My favorite moment of the day came when we noticed Abraham had plopped himself down next to Caleb and was reading to him.

Growing up, Dad would read the marvelous picture books by James Stevenson, and here Abraham is reading Could Be Worse! to his baby brother. So precious!