Pinewood Derby!

Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats! The race is about to begin! But before the cars are lined up and the lever is pulled, let's journey back in time a bit to see how we got here...

As any scout mom knows, a pinewood derby event begins long before race day--in our case, months before. Lawrence got his car kit back in March, but there was no date for the race set. Even so, we took initiative and started to get to work on his car. Back in April, the same weekend as the quarry climbing in Sacramento, we brought that pinewood derby car kit to Uncle Weston's house... for he is endowed with many woodworking tools, yea, saws of all kinds hath he in the garage. 

 Lawrence sanding his axles on the drill press! Perfectly safe, I assure you.

 And here's Lawrence cutting his car shape out on the band saw, which is a significantly scarier instrument...

But don't worry, daddy's fingers are there to take the fall if something should go wrong...

The sisters of the cub scout hanging around that day could not resist trying to tell Larry what he should do to make his car fancy and awesome! Larry was not particularly interested in their wild ideas. But thanks again to Uncle Weston, he found scraps around the garage and helped each of my girls design and cut their own cars. 

Dawna made an awesome pickup truck. Xochitl designed a classic race car with fins going up the back and everything. Jade wanted a little truck, and so she got a little half-sized flat bed to call her own. The cars got painted; we ordered extra pinewood derby car wheels for the girls' cars, and waited for a date to be set for the big day!

Finally, June 3 was date decided upon. But there was just one minor problem... our troop had no pinewood derby track. 

Somehow, I volunteered myself to find out what track the other troops around the stake had used and where they were stored and figure out how to get one.  My phone scavenger hunt led from Becca S. to Jeff A. to this guy named Larry S. 

Larry S. was an electrical parts store owner in Fremont, getting ready to retire and downsize his shop. Way back when, he was involved in cub scouts and had stored in his shop for many years a pinewood derby track.  

And as it just so happens, our troop was on the hunt for one at the same time that he was trying to get rid of it. Perfect! And so it was that literally one week before our pinewood derby, I went to pick up a very fine hand-crafted track, along with loads of other goodies such as a winner's podium, cones, signs, and all manner of decorations. 

All in all, thanks to Larry, S., we actually had a very nice pinewood derby. Had it not been for this fortuitous meeting, our derby would have been much less fancy... or may not have happened at all... Our little troop of ten boys was delighted by the event. The following Sunday, one of the boys even gave the event a "five star" rating.

So, was this meeting Larry S. and finding a track at just the right moment a miracle? Well, that might be too strong a word to use. I sometimes like to call it a stroke of "guk," (rhymes with luck) meaning God Understands and Knows. He understood what we needed and understood how the parents and leaders of the troop were doing their best. And He knew how to align the timing to fill the needs of both parties. God indeed Understands and Knows what we need.  As we are obedient, He'll nudge, align, and arrange things to make our life just a little easier. And that's what happened with this pinewood derby track thing...

So in the end, Troop 197 got to have their pinewood derby. Lawrence, with some assistance from dad's YouTube research on how to weight cars and bend axles, got second place for speed out of the ten boys!

And after the event, many many races were carried on late into the night! Fun times on the race track! Can't wait for next year's derby... and this time, we won't have to go on a wild hunt for a track :)

Goodbye July Stop 3

After a lovely camping trip to the Tetons, our next stop was Garden City, UT to enjoy a few days by Bear Lake!

It started a little rough... we didn't have an address for the cabin, and poor Cheryl and kids were waiting for us to arrive for several hours... but once we all got settled in, we fell in love with that cabin!

The cooks loved the kitchen:

The runners loved the local trails: 

 The kids loved the swings, the fire pit, and the amazing willow good for climbing and swinging:

And everybody loved the close proximity to Bear Lake, just out the back door and across a field!

 On arrival evening, we played family Jeopardy! We got to learn about Koberstein family history, which was fun! Then we got Weston on skype and he officially announced his engagement to Myra! YAY!!!!

 The first full day dawned cool and wet... but luckily, the plan for the day was to relax and hang around the cabin. The kids all enjoyed playing and Aunt Karla opened up her hair and nail salon!

After some lunch, we biked/drove to Jake's Shakes, which was also a fun family history sites. Mom K showed us around the little house turned shake shop and showed us where her old rocking chair and Cuckoo clock used to be... it was her grandparent's house. I thought that was super cool! And the shakes were amazing also! Famous for raspberries! yum!

We spent some time out on the lake that day, but the rain brought us in earlier than planned... but no matter... cousins + cabin + board games = fun no matter what the weather!

That evening, we had a wonderful family fireside. Each of the siblings had been assigned an ancestor from Garden City or Montpilier to research. I thought it was a great assignment! Our family got to learn about Naomi Phelps Jensen, my kid's great-great-grandmother. It was fun to remember her so close to her home!

Thursday dawned bright and beautiful and begging for adventure, of which we had plenty! 

In the morning, we biked/drove to the Garden City Cemetery, where we found grave sites for several Koberstein ancestors. In this picture, Daniel Joseph, Weston, and Joseph are all sitting by their namesake ancestor: Joseph Weston Gibbons.

On the way back to the cabin, we indulged in several rentals of watercraft! Jon and Lynn rented Ski-Doos and Grandpa rented paddleboards and kayaks for the day! It was an adventure getting from the rental marina back to the cabin's sandbar...

Dan and Wes found a groove on the paddleboards and taught us all how to stand and maneuver them. So much fun!

Everyone enjoyed the little kayaks, especially the little people, for whom the loud Ski-Doos were a bit much... It was a perfect day on the lake... until it was time to return the Ski-Doos... My adorable and adventurous (aka reckless...) husband wondered what would happen if you take the Ski-Doo at top speed (50mph) and then turn as sharp as you can... twice... Answer: severe pain in the ribs after smacking water that feels more like cement... luckily, no bones were broken, no internal bleeding, but Jon is facing a long, slow, painful recovery of severe rib bruising.

Later in the evening, we enjoyed a mission report and pictures from Grandma and Grandpa!

And the next day...checkout at 10am. Bidding a fond farewell to our seven bedroom, seven bathroom cabin! I would go back in a heartbeat! It was lovely!

View from the cabin...

...and the view from the lake.

As one last bit of awesomeness, Dan, Jon, Grandparents, and grandkids 12+ got to go to the Logan temple to do baptisms. A fitting end to our great reunion!

This little guy wanted to be an honorary Koberstein :) We said it was ok.

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!

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 :)

A Little Christmas and Beyond!

 School starts again tomorrow... back to the old grind...
So let's take a moment and review the few pictures I got from Christmastime...

Grandma and Grandpa Koberstein's traditional Christmas gift to the grandkids is a science present. It's amazing that they kept up with the tradition even while on their mission in Japan...

Xochitl was the thrilled recipient of an indoor gardening kit.  She could not wait to put it all together and plant the seeds, which I am happy to report are sprouting beautifully in the dining room window.

Dawna received a solar power robot, which also got put together right on Christmas Day, which fortunately had enough sunshine to make our little dinosaur walk outside.

Larry got a Crazy Flippy car, which runs into walls and flips over to keep on going! Many happy giggly children chased this around the house, but mostly back and forth in the hallway, where it kept flipping over and returning back where it came from

Our kids were surprised on Christmas Morning by a beautiful new sandbox in the backyard, complete with digging trucks! It's been a little chilly since Christmas (you know, CALIFORNIA chilly, all the way down to 45...) but the kids have still loved playing around in their new sandbox :)

December 29, our actual 10th anniversary, previously celebrated with the aforementioned, to be posted about soon Caribbean cruise, we enjoyed lunch at Jon's work together. We thought it inappropriate to be alone, so Emily came along as a chaperone. After lunch we enjoyed a biking tour around the campus. Note Emily's cute skinny jeans and sweater :)

SO much more happened over Christmas Break that is not pictured here, including, by not limited to: Lynn, Weston, and Myra joining us for Christmas day, Christmas caroling around Lansing court with half my siblings and nieces and nephews, my oldest nephew getting a drivers license, surprise baby announcement from Joe and Cami, shopping and shopping and shopping with Emily, and countless hours of fun with cousins! What a year!

Random Reunion

 It all started when Joe H. had a conference in San Francisco.  Cheryl H. emailed us and asked if she and the kids could hang around for a couple weeks.  Naturally, we said of course anytime and every time you're here!!

So they were coming to visit! Yay!

And then Lynn and Weston, the local boys, said they weren't going to miss out on the fun... they wanted to come play with Cheryl and Joe and the kids...

So they were coming, too! Yay!

And then Dan and Karla had this cute baby boy to introduce to his many aunts, uncles, and cousins... and the Bay Area is at least a little closer than Oklahoma... They got tickets to fly!

So they were coming, too! Yay!

And so we were all here in Newark/Antioch having a grand old time...
When the phone rang...

And then Louis had some work testing to do in Milpitas; just for a day and a half... and wondered if he could stay at our place... Bring It On!!!

So he was coming too! YAY!

And somehow, for two days, six of the seven original Koberstein Kids were all together in one humble home! Oh the fun! The Games, the Music, the Museums, the Laughter, and the food we all shared! It was an awesome impromptu family reunion!

BUT WAIT!!!

Where is Gwen?

Apparently she didn't get the memo... So sad... We would have loved to complete the picture...

Can't wait to see all of the Kobersteins--including two RETURNED MISSIONARIES-- next summer at the actual Organized and Planned reunion...