Shootin' Hoops

We now enter the world of team sports! Took us quite a few years to get our first taste of this as parents since our oldest didn't have much interest in sports involving balls... but Lawrence decided to try it out this year! 

He plays with the City of Newark's CoEd recreational basketball program. There's not even any practices to go to, it's just come and play on Saturday morning. There's a group of about sixty kids split up into six teams; Larry is on the Bulls!

He wasn't so sure about being on the Bulls... that is, until we read about Michael Jordan. Now he's all about the Bulls... I've loved seeing how he really gets into the game, running back and forth across the court, posting himself under the basket and trying to remember all the rules! We've also been having fun practicing at the church after scouts on Thursdays and at Paulecca's house on Wednesdays.

And yes, I've discovered I'm one of THOSE moms... the ones who cheer too much... and too loud! But Larry doesn't mind having a silly mom there :) So GO 11 BULLS! THAT'S MY BOY!!!

Goodbye July Stop 1

July in California is so last year. This year, July is anywhere but! 

Step 1: thirteen hours to Logan, UT to visit Louis and Camille. We enjoyed the time with cousins with all kinds of outdoors activities, including...

Hike to Tony Grove Lake around the Nature trail. There were many beautiful wild flowers, bridges, and lots of time to bond with cute little Chloe, my 2-year-old niece I just met that day!

 The kids atop one of many large rocks to climb--straddling the Crack of Death! (so named by Charles)

 Jon had no problem conquering the largest of the climbing boulders.

 Kaylee and Dawna had a great time swimming and exploring... so much fun in fact that they informed us that their hearts were too heavy to go home (get it? Their hearts are stones??)

 And Jade will not be left out: "Picture me!"

 Love the quality cousin time!

 The next day began with a 15k race down Blacksmith Canyon with Louis and Camille. Louis came in second for his age group, Jon came in fourth.  We were very proud of our boys!

 Later that day, we went with Gwen and Mike to the Cache Valley car show. Larry could not be contained! He ran excitedly from one car to the next!  All the kids got to build their own little car and see a variety of fun vehicles--like the Batmobile!

 One Corvette Larry we got to sit in! Larry was pretty excited about it!

Larry in front of a 1929 Durant: it's a car with wooden spokes! Very rare, very cool!

We also enjoyed fireworks and Fourth of July neighborhood BBQ! A great start to our epic July out!

On Broadway!

Friday was our piano recital! This year's recital theme was "Name that Broadway Musical and Tune!" The recital audience all got programs with only the student's names on them. Then, as they listened to the song, they had to try to name that tune and musical before the song was over and the student announced the answer! I always really enjoy watching the audience at these kinds of recitals.  Generally, there's a moment of confusion and intensity as the student plays an introduction, then it's as though a epiphanic light bulb goes on and everyone scribbles down the answer as they recognize the tune! (I may have made up that word...epiphanic... epiphany-like... get it? Well, hey! I can make a noun into an adjective anytime I want! It's English!)

Anyway...
See if you can guess what Larry and Dawna played before they get to the end and announce it in their speech!

 I'll bet it was easy to tell what they were playing right away!

After the recital, as per tradition, we enjoyed ice cream sundaes and each student got to take home a silver or black star balloon with their name and piece on it!

Larry and Dawna both did an excellent job practicing and memorizing and performing! I love so much seeing my kids' musical talents improve!

Happy Whatever

It's that time again! Family camping time, that is! This weekend, Jon finally took US to a place he's been many, many times with the scouts: Pinnacles National Park!

We left after dinner (we had planned and prepared tinfoil dinners, only to have that plan foiled by fire restrictions at the park.  No fires whatsoever, only propane stoves allowed this season, so we cooked the tinfoil dinners in our oven) and arrived after dark at our site.  It was very welcoming and comforting to see our name posted on the site: 

The site was spacious, but not ideally located... we were right on the bend in the road coming into the campsite, so we got a lot of headlights late into the night.  We also decided we need to get Jade those light-up shoes for camping... she wandered away with no flashlight and ended up in the site across the road.  We could hear her, but not see her... slightly frightening, but fortunately, almost all campers are wonderful people who hold onto lost children :) So, thank you, our neighbors in site 7!

We were fortunate that Weston decided to join us on our camp out! He's always fun and helpful to have around! (Sorry we kept him so long, Myra!)

In the morning, we had a lovely relaxed breakfast (I tried to stay in bed as long as possible after a bathroom trip and several small visitors to my sleeping bag in the middle of the night...), packed up, and got ready for a day of adventure! 

But.. our day of adventure started a little too late.  It was a fee-free weekend at Pinnacles... it was a holiday, I suppose... so Happy Whatever Day it was... but the park was extra crowded because of it.  We didn't make it in time to park by the trail head, so we had to park down by the campsite and take a shuttle back in. Not so bad, really, just a little extra time to get going. 

Once we did get going, we saw some awesome things! We started at Bear Gulch cave, where bats were roosting! It was a hot day outside, but stepping into the caves was a breath of cool stagnant air...

 We passed by many beautiful cascading waterfalls along the way!

 We have some pretty awesome hiking kids!  They were happy and excited the whole way!

  Jade did her part to help the hike go smoothly:

 Since we were there the day before Xochitl's birthday, she got to choose the next activity. She decided she wanted to try rappelling! Sweet! Jon borrowed some static line, a couple figure 8's and set us up! Xochitl tried to go first, but, as anyone with rappelling experience knows, that first step and lean back over the edge can be a bit much, so it was actually Dawna who made it all the way down first:

After watching Dawna go, Xochitl decided it was ok and took her first turn... 

 ...which didn't go exactly perfectly... just after getting over the edge, one of her shoes slipped off and went bouncing down the cliff... fortunately, it didn't go over the pitch where I was belaying down below, so  it was just a matter of fetching it after the fact... still, I love this picture... one striped sock and one look of indignation...

But after that first descent, Xochitl was unstoppable! She ended up going down four more times, despite a long pokey hike back to the top.  And we tied her shoes tighter.

 Many thanks to Weston! This kind of activity is nearly impossible with four kids and only two adults... he spent a lot of time shuttling kids through the brush and herding kids on the trail and feeding hungry kids.  But we did convince him to go down once.  And even Jon and I got a chance to rappel also! 

As a bonus, we got to see a cool stick bug! That was Jade's favorite part, along with all the "bebe-biders" and "bebe-bugs" (baby spiders and lady bugs...)

You can't see everything at Pinnacles in one trip... we'll be back again for other hikes and climbs and rappels! We love being outside!

Things I am Grateful for...

Things I am Grateful for this week:

• Great sisters-in-law who buy cars close to my house so they can come visit for a weekend and eat Japanese Ramen and stay up late with me watching Leverage and eating pickles. Unfortunately, all pictures of said fun times are on her camera/blog/instagram... I refer you to her electronic records for your viewing pleasure...

• Real displays of confidence from my spunky 4-year-old with her impeccable sense of style: polka-dot satin skirt, striped shirt, princess warm-up jacket... I know I couldn't get away with that...

•  Aiden's amazing birthday party put on by darling mama Becca! The kids enjoyed games like Thor's hammer throw, Kryptonite collection, pin the star on Captain America, and decorating your own superhero mask and cape. Jade had hers on for a full ten seconds, and luckily, I snatched a picture

•  Tenacious little boy who relentlessly wiggled and jiggled and pulled until his first front tooth came out on Wednesday! 

•  Evidence that Dawna DOES like some things that I cook! Unfortunately, her tongue could not reach the bottom of the bowl... can't believe we had to waste all that batter down there...

• Friday the 13th is over!!! I was stressing/dreading that day because of the enormous amount of preparation that had to be done for my Lincoln Leopard Choir. I know, I know... I completely brought it on myself. I take full responsibility for it... but I will also take full credit when our Operetta in April blows your mind with awesomeness!!!  You see, on Friday, all 46 kids were split into 6 feature groups; each group had to learn a solo singing or dancing part with a volunteer parent. I was ready and organized with recordings, YouTube videos, speakers, and portable electronic devices... and it all worked out! WHEW!!!

• Unbelievable fun at Bay Aerials gymnastics! Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout March and April, they are promoting with free open gym! So naturally, we're going to go every time. Becca and Henry and Zoey and Conrad joined us on Thursday for a climbing, bouncing, flailing good time :) Later on Thursday, Dawna and Xochitl had their first gymnastics lessons there.  They loved it, of course...more lessons to come...

• Loving husband who made my dancing daydreams come true! Again, I'm sad I have no photo or video verification of this... yet... 

PS: Why are those letters so big? Google "Acrostic" if you can't figure it out...

One Week.

In case you were wondering what's happened this week, 

Enjoy these small couplets and come take a peek!

Weston and Myra came down for a day,

his birthday to celebrate, to hike, and to play.

 Grandma and grandpa and Lynn came on down, 

with oranges and cake from their Antioch town. 

 Our little fishy, who we call Xochi, 

earned a preschool ribbon for the style free! 

 A Jade and a Sage, two little green girls, 

teasing and playing and spinning in twirls.

 Look out! Number Four is up and away

on cupboards, on playgrounds, all hours of the day. 

 A John Deere machine keeps catching his eye,

we must take a picture before passing by!

Nothing outrageous, or wondrous, or grand, 

just fun happy moments from Koberstein Land :)

First Grade Field Trip Frenzy!

And now, A Post Featuring our Son:

Larry's first grade class has been busy... very busy... enjoying events and field trips this year.  Their class has had three field trips in the past three months! Talk about a good time!! I got to go on two of them with him and had an exhausting, but good time :)

The December field trip was a trip up to Ohlone Community College to see the play "The Shoemaker and the Elves." That happened while Jon and I were on the cruise, so I couldn't go along... sad day...

But then, in January, all the first and second grade classes at Lincoln went to see the San Francisco symphony in a program called "Play me a Story." The program itself was incredible! The symphony sounded so so so beautiful! 

I'm not entirely convinced the kids enjoyed it as much as I did... in fact, by the end of the program, several of the kids on my row were fast asleep... can't really blame them; the journey to get to the concert hall was a little insane. We left first thing in the morning once school started, loaded up in parent cars, drove to the BART station, rode BART into San Francisco, had to wait at the station for 20 minutes since not everyone in the class got on the first train, then walked 3/4 mile to a park, ate lunch, then waited in line for another 20 minutes or so to get into the building... we all may have experienced some sour grapes as we watched the private school charter buses pull right up to the curb and drop off their students... grr... 

Even so, I think the trip was worth it for the exposure to such amazing professional musicians! The kids enjoyed hearing different instruments sound like animals (from Peter and the Wolf), like toys (a doll and a bouncing ball), and ride along with the "Flight of the Bumblebee." The concert hall was packed with kids from all over the Bay Area. 

It was a little nerve-racking to travel in and out of the BART stations with so many little kids, but the day proceeded without incident and I even got back right on time to pick up Jade and Xochitl from my friend's house before school got out!

The February field trip took us much closer to home (thank goodness!). We went to Tule Ponds in Fremont to enjoy a day learning about nature! We started the field trip with lunch by the pond and then went into the visitor's center for a presentation and hands-on  learning.

The kids got to see two monarch butterflies emerge from their cocoons and be released out the window! That was pretty cool! Larry insisted on wearing his "Safari Vest" that he got for his birthday from Nana and Papa. It was the perfect getup for the day and he used his magnifying glass on almost everything!

 Outside, the naturalist showed the kids many interesting things, including Tule reeds, a beehive in a hollow tree, a raccoon den, a skunk den, and bird and squirrel nests.

All the kids were captivated, excited learners, even if they were a little rambunctious by the end of the day.  We were a little late getting back from the trip; we were parking at the school just as the bell rang.  It was a little stressful getting the six first-graders I had taken in Eva, all carrying their own booster seats, to walk through the parking lot with parents pulling in and out... all well... the important thing is that they all got to make their Elder wood necklaces.

At another totally unrelated Lincoln event, the Health and Resource Fair, Larry got to meet a real Newark police officer and explore the police car! The police officer was very lovely.  Larry was excited to meet her because, as he adamantly declared in his "What I want to be when I grow up" paragraph, he wants to be a police officer and marry a lady police officer...and ride a motorcycle. Time will tell if any or all of those things happen...

So, all in all, first grade at Lincoln has been very good to Larry.  When asked, he might tell you he'd rather stay in first grade next year than proceed to the second... Sorry, Buddy, I don't think first grade would be nearly as fun the second time around...

Fix-it Buddies

Gwen and Mike et al have been hangin' out at our house this week.

 Uncle Mike got Larry an AMAZING tool set for his birthday!! It's over 100 pieces of small REAL tools! It came in a chest with 4 drawers and a place for each tool! Very handy... Mike and Gwen spent a long time labeling each piece so we can learn the REAL names and uses of all the tools! 

Then Larry received his first assignment with his new tools: replace the batteries on his orange toy Jeep...

 Step 1: Identify the tools needed; in this case, a precision phillips head screwdriver. 

Step 2: Open the battery cover (which had an exceptionally LONG screw...) and replace the batteries

Step 3: TEST your work! (Mike says it's very important NOT to skip this step...especially when working on involved car part replacements...) If it works, put it all back together!

As you can see, Larry was having such a good time, he couldn't take a minute to look at the camera... Xochitl was also very excited about the tools (and hung very close through the entire repair process).

We're all excited about Larry learning to fix things! Thank you, Uncle Mike!

Honestly...

THWAP! BANG! THUD! Ka-tink-tink-tink...

Those are the kinds of sounds that make you go running towards your children.

So when I heard just that the other night, I jumped up and sprinted towards it, hoping there would be no blood accompanying the destructive cacophony.  Rounding the bedroom corner, I appraised the situation.  Ambulance needed? Band-aids? Well, fortunately, there was no blood, no painful tears, but there were an awful lot of sheepish looks and guilty faces filling the space... I found a couple of my daughters in the palm tree bathroom with the towel rack in their hands, instead of attached to the wall where it was supposed to be.

"What happened?" The question is as natural and obvious as anything.

"It... just fell off the wall," one little one replied.

"It fell off the wall?" I replied, drizzling my statement with disbelief. "You know, you don't get in trouble for breaking something. Accidents happen... but you DO get in trouble for not telling the truth.  Do you want to try again?"

"Well... we were hanging on it and it fell off the wall." Well, that was delicately put, I thought, as two penny-sized holes gaped open from the wall.  Ripped with force beyond all reason is more like it...

"Do you think that was a good idea?"

"No." Good answer. Obviously.

"Remember, things can be fixed or replaced, but telling the truth is far more important..." Then followed a lovely discussion about honesty, and being truthful and trustworthy... And we were all edified and rejoiced together. And then we fixed the towel rack.

Over the next few days, I pondered why my kids thought it was a good idea to hang on a towel rack... too much time on the school playground? Not enough time at the park? Or wanting to be a climber like daddy...

THWAP! BANG! THUD! Ka-tink-tink-tink...

My thoughts were interrupted by a sound that I hoped to never hear again...

And there was my son... standing in the owl bathroom... towel rack in hand, guilty look on his face... "It just fell off the wall..."

[Heave big sigh now...]

Next time I make a public service announcement about honesty, please remind me to invite ALL the children of the household. It will save me a lot of time... and maybe even a towel rack or two...

Installation Art by LXK

We've recently discovered an artistic prodigy in the family...
He creates artistic masterpieces from whimsical moments...
It becomes us to pause and consider the everyday art he has discovered...
His two most recent pieces of Installation art were found in the kitchen...
We call them...

"He clears the table"

 and...

"Clean dishes migrate from dishwasher to counter top, for he hath not height sufficient to put them in cupboard"

Very thought provoking art, Larry :) Please, continue your artistic pursuits :)

In other news on the aspiring young artist, he has lost TWO teeth! He lost one at home by pulling it out with his own fingers in a bloody mess... the second was lost at school. The tooth fairy visited on both occasions :) 

And he is sporting the new toothless look!