Musings of Amy

It was a crazy,kind of lame July fourth, I have to say.  I tried to organize some kind of get together with all our American friends, but very few were able to make it, and then most of them went ahead and planned their own party without me, so yeah, a bit of a let down.  Also, Noah had a piano recital that evening, which limited our ability to invite others over, or join a bigger group.

Also, this was the first year that I just didn’t feel that into it.  Normally I play the Star Spangled Banner in the morning and get all teary eyed.  And I talk to the kids about some aspect of American history and get a bit emotional again.  But this year, it was like Eh, whatever.  The America I grew up in seems so different from the America that exists now.  Perhaps if I lived there it wouldn’t feel so dramatic because the changes would have happened gradually , or because I only hear about the sensational changes that are big enough to merit international coverage.  Whatever the reason, the old zing just wasn’t there.  Maybe it would have been better if we were able to celebrate with other Americans, I just don’t know.

Still, I made our traditional Fourth of July lunch of hamburgers, potato salad. and I even made some Jello, which is an imported specialty. 🙂  And of course, we made the traditional red, white and blue drinks that sometimes work and sometimes just end up purple! That evening we went to Noah’s piano recital. We got there just before it started,since I first had to take Sarah to her violin lesson, then come home and pick up everyone else, and so found only a few seats in the not-quite-big-enough room.  Some of us had to stand in the back the whole time.  This is him waiting to go on.  Because of where we were sitting, we couldn’t even get a photo of him actually playing,  And I admit that as soon as Noah had finished playing his piece, we motioned for him to come join us and we all snuck out the back and went home early.  Normally when the kids ask to leave a recital early we tell them we need to stay and support the other children but no one was feeling it this night, so we just bailed.  There were even a few of our kids’ friends who were playing, but it was hot, uncomfortable, and it was a holiday, so we left.  Noah played very nicely, and there is something awfully cute about seeing those little spindly legs dangling from a piano bench.   🙂

In writing all these posts so long after the fact, I remember why I got so behind on my blog in the first place. We were BUSY!!!  It’s nice to have so many fun activities to attend, but holy smokes, it takes over your life.  Whew!

Anyway, the next day after Noah’s play, we went to the farewell party in Kindergarten.  It is what they do instead of a “graduation”.  The kids all made these adorable flower hats and sang a little song.Here she is waiting to perform.  Aren’t they so cute?  There was also a delicious potluck buffet.  I love these things, cuz Swiss women can cook, and some of my kids really like trying out new dishes. (Not all, sadly, but some.) It was quite the spread, and we all sat around eating and talking for quite a while.

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One thing that I had to learn very quickly was that all school functions involving buffets require you to bring your own stuff to eat off of.  Plates, cups, silverware, the whole shebang.  Providing paper plates for everyone is way too environmentally unfriendly, and so you bring your own dishes and take them back home to wash them.  There have been a couple incidences where I forgot, as I am so used to them being provided, even at church.  And then they did magically have a few throw away utensils for us stashed away, but only in case of emergency! 🙂 One of the best purchases I ever made were these tin plates the girls are using.  They are sturdy, lightweight and the best thing ever for when we grill or go to buffets at school.  Plus they have English writing on them, so no one ever gets confused about which ones are ours. ha!

After dinner, while the kids were outside playing, the adults chatted for a bit.  Normally, I know more of the parents and don’t mind this bit, but Alexandra hasn’t been on many play dates and most of the kids in her kindergarten are the oldest in their families, so I don’t already know the parents through the other kids.  Makes it a bit awkward, and of course, Chris hates socializing anyway, so he is always looking at his watch and wishing they would just finish up already so he can leave.

It started to rain, so the kids all came back inside, which helped to get things moving along in the right direction. 🙂  All the parents lined up to do the traditional kid tossing.  If the child is a second year Kindergartener, they get “tossed” into first grade, and the first years get to run through the archway of parent hands into the second year.  If any child doesn’t want to participate, they are not forced to, but most of these kids were game.

Some parents were getting way too into it, and the kids kept getting tossed higher and higher.  Finally, one child did a sort of half flip in the air, and landed on a parent’s shoulders instead of the criss-crossed arms.  That frightened everyone and they were much calmer about tossing afterward.  Alexandra was so happy to become a “Grosse”, or big Kindergartner!

The first week in July Noah’s class put on a play, The Lion is Out.  It was such a fun little story about a lion that escapes from the traveling circus that is in town.  All the townsfolk want to help catch the lion, but tell the children to stay indoors where it is safe.  Naturally, the kids have plans of their own.  They sneak out and end up finding the lion before any of the grown ups, but this turns out to not be such a good thing as they don’t know what to do with him once they find him! Noah played the farmer who caught a glimpse of the lion in his barn, and was not happy about it. 🙂 Fortunately none of the village children were eaten by the lion and he eventually made it safely back to his cage.

When the play was over, the kids put on a little circus of their own.  There were kids doing tricks on a mini trampoline, including flips.  There were kids doing cartwheels and somersaults, and Noah showed off his awesome balancing skills.  He can balance on a large ball,  unassisted, with only one foot. He was also the lion tamer, whip included.  It was an adorable little play and you could tell the kids had had a lot of fun practicing for it and performing it.   We forgot our camera, and only had a few blurry camera shots, not even worth sharing.  There was a dad who filmed the whole thing, but I have been unable to get a copy and decided I should just get this posted and can upload a bit of it later.

For about 2 months, Alexandra would come home every day from kindergarten full of excitement to tell me something new she had learned about Vincent van Gogh.  One of the first things she told me was how to properly pronounce his name.  Apparently most of us Americans say “van Go” when in actuality he would have said his name “van Goch”, with the “ch” sounding more like you are softly prepared to hack up a logie.  Gross explanation, but the best I can do.

The teacher, Frau Meier, read excerpts of his letters to his brother, Theo, to the class,  and also bits out of a biography she had.  They also studied several of his most famous paintings, first learning about what was going on his life when he painted it, and then discussing the different techniques he used to make it.  Then they made their own version of it.

Finally, it was time for an art show so all the parents could enjoy the beautiful art.  We went down to the school on a Saturday morning, and were blown away by the beauty of what these little 5 and 6 year olds had done, and the amount of work and preparation it must have taken on the part of Frau Meier.  These are all of Alexandra’s version of his paintings, but all the kids’ were gorgeous.

Learning about Vincent was pretty cool!  It made me feel a tad ashamed that my youngest knew more about him than I did.  But I remedied that by listening to everything she told me and then watching a movie about him with her.  She is absolutely fascinated by him and wants to now know more about other artists.  Good job, Frau Meier!

Her landscape is the one above her head.  Here the teacher gave them a black and white copy of one of van Gogh’s paintings, and they colored over parts of it with pencils. This one is Alexandra’s. This was just an outline copy, and they painted it all in, trying to make it look like his.  We now have these pieces of art hanging up proudly all over the house.  And whenever she sees a painting by Van Gogh when we are out and about, she immediately points it out and tells us what she knows about it.  Who says nothing academic gets taught in Swiss Kindergartens? Not me, that’s for sure.

Alexandra, also known on a frequent basis as Baby, lost her first tooth in June!  She was soooo excited! She had been wiggling that thing for a while, so eager to be like the bigger kids and get some permanent teeth.  Or maybe it was just the thought of cold hard cash from the Tooth Fairy that made her so excited.  Either way, we had a very happy little girl on our hands.

This was the second annual Pinewood Derby our ward sponsored for the surrounding communities.  Along with the actual races there were games and food and displays set up around the church explaining what we believe.  The Primary kids had a big hand in creating them, including 2 of our own.

It’s a really big production, which means everyone in the ward helps out.  Whether we want to or not….And since I have a tiny problem with not being asked, but rather informed what I need to do, I politely declined the opportunity to be used as slave labor this year. I promise I will be better next time. ha! But I did donate the game I had made for the Halloween carnival. 🙂

They even rented a bouncy thing for the day.  It was super fun.

There were a few games where you could win prizes,and Sarah won socks! Finally it was time to watch the races.  The kids had so much fun designing and making their cars.  Some chose to use the same ones they used last year, and some made new ones, hoping for better results.

Once again, the young men helped run the races.  Some got the cars ready to race at the top of the track, others, like Nick, collected them at the end and brought them back to the table.

Not sure if you can see it, but Alexandra and Chris made a Thomy mustard car together, and this is it in action.It is on the far left lane, and came in second, at least in this race. 🙂  None of the kids were very successful, but they all had fun and that is the main thing.

One of the best side activities was face painting.  The ladies doing it have some serious talent, look at these beauties!  They were so sad to have to wash it off at bedtime. There was a great turnout, although smaller than the year before, which was a good thing in my book.  I like a bit of elbow room. 🙂

While I was off having fun in America, Sarah went on a trip to Beatenberg with her class.  She had a great time and had lots of fun stories to share when she got home.  She took about 200 pictures, most of which were either blurry or only of things that she would find interesting, like the underside of chairs?.  But still, the sheer volume ensured that there were plenty to document the experience.  Their first stop, before they even arrived at their hotel/house was Ballenberg outdoor museum.  We have been there a couple times as a family, and it is a great way to get a feel for all of Switzerland in one day. They have taken authentic old houses, like the one pictured, and moved them from their original location to this park.  They have houses and barns from all over Switzerland, and they put ones from the same region together.  Inside some of the houses there are people weaving rugs, or making cheese or baking bread.  And there are also animals, like these adorable piglets! That evening they arrived at their house.  They had to take a mountain train, and then walk from the last station up a little path.  They were really up there.  But the higher you are, the better the view.After all that outdoor activity, the kids were a bit tired.  But just to make sure they went to bed without too much silliness, they had soccer and ping pong tournaments after dinner.  Her teacher is one smart cookie. 🙂

The next morning they played several organized games with the goal of bringing the class closer as a group.  Then they built a fire and grilled sausages for lunch.  In the afternoon they walked up the “Beatusweg” which has lots of signs along the path telling about St. Beatus, the patron saint of the area. There were also gorgeous wooden sculptures carved from fallen trees along the path.

That evening they played some “courage testers” designed by the teacher.  There were Mohrenkopf’s filled with spicy onions, strange concoctions of fluids, and other odd things to eat and drink.  Nothing dangerous or illegal 🙂 but just yucky enough to make the kids unsure if they wanted to try them or not.

The next day they woke up to snow! That’s weather in Switzerland for you. Herr Trinkler took that opportunity to give the kids another courage test; walking barefoot in the snow to the bus stop.  But no one made it, it was just too cold. They rode a boat to the other side of the lake and hiked up to the Beatus cave. On the way there was a beautiful waterfall.Sarah really thought it was beautiful because she took about 20 pictures of it. 🙂

St. Beatus was a monk who fought and destroyed a dragon, thus freeing the people in the area.  As a reward they offered to build him a grand house, but being a humble monk, he chose to live in this cave instead.  And thus he is now the patron saint of the area.

He is also buried here, and Nick’s greatest frustration is that Sarah’s picture didn’t get the complete inscription.  He can read most of it, but there are a few important words missing.

On the way back home they stopped to play at the lake shore.  There Sarah found these beautiful stones, but she left them there for someone else to have the fun of finding.

The next day they went down the mountain again to the big indoor swimming pool, complete with waterslides.  Sarah wisely did not bring along the camera. 🙂  That evening there was a “dance”, which basically meant that music was playing while kids stood around and chatted.

On Friday they spent most of the morning packing and cleaning.  Sarah took this opportunity to document every single thing about the house, including the art on the walls, and many of the door handles.  She even managed to get a couple shots of the outside. (And yes, I have permission to tease her about that.  In fact, she asked me specifically to mention it.)

I am glad she had such a great time.  Much better than Nick’s experience, or mine.  I came home after the first day with a fever!

Back in St. George, I packed up all the many treasures I had acquired on my trip, and began the crazy task of weighing the luggage to make sure I wouldn’t go over on the weight amount. That is always fun, not.  I ended up having a carry on that was about 35 pounds, so that my bags would be light enough.  heehee I did have fun shopping for it all, though. 🙂

On Sunday, Mom and I took a walk while my dad had a nap.  On my first night at their house, there had been ambulances and sirens going down the road for what seemed like several hours.  We found out at church what had been the cause of all the commotion, a motor home had run off the freeway, broke through the fence barrier, jumped the sidewalk and crashed through someone’s house. We went to see the damage.

The human part of the story is sad and uplifting at the same time.  An older couple was taking several of their children and grandchildren to Disneyland for Memorial weekend, and while the Grandma was driving, one of the tires blew.  Normally in a situation like that, your first instinct is to brake, which can cause the vehicle to roll.  But she knew that would most undoubtedly result in injury or death to her family who were all in the back, so she somehow managed to keep a hold of the steering wheel and keep the vehicle upright.  To slow it down, she left the road, but the speed was too great, and the motor home couldn’t stop until it ran into this house.  The people in the house were all in their bedrooms, and she hit the garage of one house, and the kitchen area of the other house, so no one was hurt there.  Unfortunately, she died in the accident, but her family were all safe in the back.  What a story of amazing courage, presence of mind, and sacrifice.

That afternoon, my brother Pete and his family came down to visit from Salt Lake.  My camera battery died right after this, so it’s the only picture I have of them.  I was very touched that both of my brothers and their families were willing to make the long drive down from Salt Lake just to see me. Sure love those guys.

Tuesday morning my parents got up really early and drove me to the shuttle that would take me to the airport in Las Vegas.  They were willing to drive me back, just like they had picked me up, but it was such an early flight, I felt like it was enough of an imposition that they just take me to the shuttle.  It was hard to say goodbye, but I was so thankful I had been able to spend this special time with them.  Can’t wait for this summer and our big family reunion where we can see everyone all together!

Thursday morning we visited my Aunt Mary.Her daughter was supposed to come over also with her adorable little boys, but she wasn’t feeling well and had to stay home.  Driving to her house was fun because we went on so many familiar streets that I remembered going down for various reasons over the years.  I don’t think I could have found my way around by myself, but my dad never faltered.

I really wanted to visit Old Town so that is where we headed next.  The restaurant I remembered was no longer there, or I couldn’t find it, but we still had some delicious Mexican food for lunch.  And right next to our restaurant was an old fashioned candy store, where all items were stored in wooden barrels.  You just filled up your basket and paid by the pound.  I was so excited when I saw they had root beer barrels, and bought several handfuls, plus some other treasures, to bring back for the kids.  Yes, that’s right, for the kids. 🙂

We wanted to do some more sight seeing , so didn’t go into the Mormon Battalion visitors center there in Old Town.  When my dad worked for the church, that was one of the visitors centers  he designed and built.  But the displays he designed are gone now, as they have updated the building at least twice since then.  Still, we always got a kick out of going there as kids and seeing the things that Dad had made.  And we loved watching all the old Mormon commercials in their theater.

In Hillcrest, we drove past where Dad’s old office used to be. I remember coming to visit him a few times with Mom, and I always loved the smell of the ink and paper.  The other smell I love and have always associated with my dad is fresh cut sawdust.  He used to have lots of woodworking tools in the garage, and would often be out there working on some project.  Walking in and smelling that sawdust will forever be associated with me sneaking some alone time with my dad.

We then went over to Pacific Beach and Dad pointed out where he had first lived, where he had always wanted to have an office and told stories the whole time about how he first came to visit San Diego, his first job here, how he joined the Church, etc.  I wish I could have had a tape recorder running to capture them all.  A short one I can share here was about his first time in New York City.  He was driving right downtown in his black convertible Thunderbird, just enjoying life, when he was surrounded by several taxi cabs.  One of the drivers leaned out the window and yelled, “Ah, get outta town!”  Apparently they didn’t like tourists doing their own driving.  He has used that phrase my whole life, but I never knew where it originated from.  It was just something my dad said.  Now I know.

We went up to the Cabrillo Monument, where we also spent many family home evenings as a kid, but it was closed for the evening already. And in Mission Bay Dad pointed out the bridge he was driving across while he prayed to know if the Church was true.

We were meeting Aunt Wilma, Uncle Brian, and my cousin Dusty and his family at DZ Aikin’s for dinner, so we needed to head back, but Dad got a bit confused on the highway, the one and only time it happened the whole trip, and we ended up at La Jolla Shores and then had to turn around in rush hour traffic to get back to La Mesa.  Didn’t get to see the beach where I spent so much of my summers, but just driving to the exit was fun.  The same bougainvillea plants were growing on the side of the road, with their beautiful blossoms, and lots of happy memories came rushing back.  I really did have a magical childhood, despite the fact that we had so little money.  My parents knew how to make the most out of our surroundings, and we took full advantage.

Anyway, we got to the restaurant a bit late, and felt bad that everyone had had to wait for us.  Dusty has three of the most adorable children ever, and the nicest wife that we got to meet when we were in the States 2 years ago.

It was so nice to be able to see them again, and I even spoiled the kids dinner by ordering a chocolate mint shake and sharing it with them before their food arrived.   They were so cute, I had to! 🙂  It was a great visit and I only wished we had been able to spend more time with them.  Every time we are in the States, Wilma and Brian make the effort to come up and see us, which means so much to me.  I hope it works out again this summer.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel where I had my leftovers from lunch for dinner.  I know, I know, but DZ Aikins was never a favorite of mine, just my parents and Tom.  That’s why I just ordered the shake to tide me over…

The next morning we packed up and headed out. We drove north to Temecula and Uncle Pete and Aunt Marjorie’s house.  He is my dad’s younger brother.  I hadn’t seen them since before Nicholas was born and they came out to St.George for Memorial Day Weekend and I drove down from Provo to see them. That was a great visit,and this one was as well, even though it was very short.

My cousin, Nicole and her two super cute kids came over and we all headed out to lunch together.  Pete treated us to quite a feast, and a gorgeous view as well.  The restaurant looks out over a large park with a duck pond and lots of trees.  So lovely.

Finally it was really time to say goodbye, and we headed back on the road to St. George. We got home safe and sound and I was sad to realize that I only had the weekend left before it was time for me to leave. 🙁

After driving all over Lemon Grove looking at all the different places Mom and Dad had lived, both before and after marriage, we headed downtown for lunch at Anthony’s.  Every Friday night while we were home my parents had date night.  Sometimes they would see a movie, sometimes they just went for a drive in the car, and sometimes they went out to eat.  Part of the motivation for this trip was to go and eat at all the places they love and remember from that time.  Anthony’s was first on the list. Something new that my dad has acquired since I last saw him is a handicapped parking sticker.  We used it to pull up right to the front of the restaurant and park for free.  So awesome! This is no small feat right on the harbor where construction has destroyed lots of street parking.  It really did make the whole trip more fun, which sounds weird, but is totally true. Anyway, getting lunch at Anthony’s isn’ t just about the good food, although it is delicious.  It is the combination of lunch and the view.You are literally right on the water.  There were seagulls flying and waves splashing and the air was perfect, not too warm and not too cold.  As my dad said, “You feel like a king!”

We walked around the harbor a bit, enjoying the big ships that were docked there and then drove over to Colorado.  We drove past the community where Grandpa Lasko lived, and then headed over to town.  We parked near the Del and walked around for a bit, then headed over to the beach.  Dad was getting pretty tired, so he just walked out until the sidewalk ended, and waited for us, while Mom and I went walking down the shore.  We took off our shoes, rolled up our pant legs and splashed in the water as we looked for seashells for me to bring back home.  We found quite a few, one that seagull had just cracked open for lunch!  (We let him finish before we took the shell. )  There were some tide pools where we saw some cute little crabs and found some more great shells.  We walked quite far, getting almost down to the Del again, before we turned around and headed back to Dad.  It was too cold to go all the way in the water, although we saw a couple crazy people attempting it, but it was just enough of the beach experience to keep me happy.

We headed over to Seaport Village later for dinner.  They have a little restaurant there called Greek Islands, and they have amazing gyros.  I wasn’t actually that hungry, having had a delicious lunch and not being used to eating a large dinner, but the smell was so intoxicating I managed to eat it anyway. heehee  Afterwards we strolled around enjoying the view and browsing in the shops.  Some of them were still the same as I remembered from long ago, most were new.  I bought some fun little souvenirs for the kids, including shell rings for the girls, and a game for the boys. 

We headed back to the hotel eventually and watched a bit of tv before turning in.  I was also able to Skype with the family back home.  We managed to do that at least once a day the entire time I was gone, which helped them all to not miss me so much. 🙂