ROAD TRIP to Canada Day #1

Every five years, our family makes the trek north to our homeland Canada where we met and fell in love with starry eyes and warm hearts.  Crosby Family Christmas was occurring in Abbotsford, B.C. at my brother and sister-in-law’s house.  Three out of the four siblings arrived with kids in tow along with Rick’s folks…. 15 of us in all.

We never leave on time for road trips.  Various circumstances contribute to this, mostly, however, is my dear husband’s tendency toward tardiness.  Day #1 had 12 hours of driving on the agenda, but there was not an impending arrival time that we were aiming at.  This was a godsend because my great aunt and uncle are staying in our house for us and watching the doggies…. which translates to the house needing to be spotless… way beyond the normal “leaving on vacation” level of cleanliness…. causing three of my four children to roll their eye balls at their mother.

Soooooooo, departure time was chosen for 7:00 a.m.  At 9:15 a.m. dusting and mirror cleaning were still in progress.  We pulled out of the driveway at 9:38 a.m. BUT there were three scheduled stops before we could leave town.  Rick had some checks to drop off, his work truck to take to the mechanic and we still needed gas for the trip.  At 10:27 we pulled into Circle K in downtown Phoenix and Rick announced to his wife and four children, “Everyone go to the bathroom because we’re not stopping for a long time!”   Into the gas station we obediently traipsed.

11:01 a.m. we officially left Phoenix and began our trek westbound.  At 11:18 a.m. Rick mousily squeaked from the middle row of the van that he needed to go to the bathroom….. so we turned into another Circle K in Buckeye, AZ!  And thus began our 3,400 mile ROAD TRIP to the Great White North….  only 3+ hours behind our scheduled departure.  Not bad.

Nine-Year-Old Tales

I bring to you today MORE Nora-isms.  Our beautiful little Colombian princess says PRICELESS tidbits daily!  They bring joy to my heart and a smile to my face…. and often a giggle to my lips.

1.)  Nora, to her 7-year-old cousin, Luke, “Hey, my friend’s dad has a truck just like that one!”

Luke, “Which one, the Dodge?”

Nora, “No, the blue one.”  (Same truck!  hahahaha!)

2.)  When we just had Christmas in July with family friends, Nora opened the fantastic purple girl’s Lego car from the Friends collection and was THRILLED!  When asked how much she liked it she replied, “A million!“

3.)  Tonight at the dinner table Nora said, “I was looking out the window and I think that giant white rat, Stuart Little, is out there watching us.  I think he is saying, ‘That is a nice family!’  Mom, we should adopt him.”

4.)  Nora:  Mom, did you just say anniversary?

Me:  No, I said birthday.  Do you know what an anniversary is?

Nora:  Yea, it’s a big party with rocking and roll.  (She experienced our 25th Anniversary party!)

5.)  Nora tells me her dreams often…. her latest one:  “Mom, I had a dream that you were down in the ground and we pulled you out and you had no legs but you were still alive.  ……..  Do you like that?”

6.)  “Mom, I’m going to ask God when I go up heaven why we have dreams.  Dreams are awkward.”

 

Beachcombers R Us

We spent last week at Monterey, California and God blessed us with unbelievable weather for April on the coast!  Sunny and gorgeous!  My friend, Connie, got our whole family hooked on searching for sea glass…. I’m not quite sure why it is so addicting.  Possibly because it is FREE and the colors of glass are so amazing.  We found this little cove, after much climbing and crawling over large rocks, where the waves were bringing new pieces of glass with each crash and roll.  After my entire tennis shoe went under the water, in pursuit of a huge green treasure, even I joined the freezing barefoot ranks and took the plunge.  Usually I prefer to view the water, not feel the water.

The majority of our discoveries were green and brown….. 7-Up and beer bottles in past lives.  But we did find some rare gems in PINK!, red, yellow, white and royal blue.  My 15-year-old son saw a shining royal blue bottle in a thrift store and asked if we could buy it and throw it in the ocean…. for our next visit in three months!  GREAT idea!

What do we do with the sea litter, you ask?  There are mini jars at the beach house that have sorted-by-color sea glass…. so I added my finds to that happy color display.  For homeschooling we count this as math…. sorting.  :o)  It could also be categorized as history, science and social studies.  Whatever we call it, it was the BEST kind of schooling, in my humble opinion.  The rest of the family brought home their glass pieces …. I’m not sure why.  Possibly because they were FREE and the colors of glass are so amazing!

And no, we didn’t color coordinate our clothes with the ocean… it simply worked out that way.  It was a matchy-matchy sort of day all the way around.

Happy New Year!

From the SIX Crosbys to you and yours!  May the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Linda be ever present in your thoughts and abundant with blessings and guidance in 2012!  Make this next year ROCK for Jesus!

Family Pictures….. ugh.

This pretty well sums up our family picture attempt.  We laughed.  We cried. It moved us, Bob.  (sorry… Veggietales does it to me every time.)  The sun was too bright.  The shadows were too dark.  We squinted too much. And on and on.

It started at 10 a.m. when I realized that it was the only day in the following six that we had a chance to take a family picture when the sun was still up in the sky.  I picked light blue for everyone to wear… but this did not go down without major whining from the chillins.  Good grief. Calm Down.  We did have to borrow a shirt for Larisa from her cousin… and jeans for Keeve from his cousin.  I’m very thankful our cousins live across the street and are relatively the same sizes as most of my kids!  Also, my sister-in-law, Julie took the photos for us. 

After the clothing issue was settled (at least in my mind) and the fronts of all the shirts were ironed…. we moved on to hair.  Two haircuts were had by the shaggiest members of the clan. And showers were had by most.  By then it was noon.  Off to the park… where the sun was shining so brightly we could barely open our eyes.  It was awesome!  Not really.

That was as good as that pose got after 17 tries…. good grief. Calm down.  The shadows were just too harsh and we moved to the shade, much to my husband’s chagrin as he loves sending pictures of green grass in December to his friends and family in the frozen north.  We moved to the back of the community center cement sign… so it looks like we’re in the hood.

Finally, at least most of us are smiling half-normally.  And a family photo shoot would not be complete without some planking……

2:00.  Bam!  Family pictures done for another 12 months.  Only took four hours.

C R I S I S!

The computer is such a marvelous device when combined with the internet (thank you, Al Gore) and Skype.  We have been able to see our family back in the USofA and in Canada.  We’ve introduced them to their new Colombian family member and Nora has seen her Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins.  It makes South America not seem so far from home.  It has made this stressful-happy time not so stressful and more happy.

Then two nights ago our computer charging cord gave up the ghost.  Died.  Kaput.  Do not resuscitate.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.  I had a bit of fear and misgivings about three more weeks without contact with home.  How would we know how much weight our dog has gained at our friend’s house? And how would our family know if we were alive or dead?  Yesterday our guide took my teenage daughter and myself way across town to the north side of Cali.  There is a mall there that is solely filled with electronics stores.  EVERY single store had computers for sale…. and cords.  Thank God!  We were able to find the one we needed… and it wasn’t even a fake brand made in Taiwan!  It was an original Compaq brand made in China!  We were only without contact for 24 hours, and our family didn’t even know there was a crisis.  They thought we were ignoring them.  :o)

We also took the Colombian princess to buy some tennis shoes.  The shoes we brought are all too small, with the exception of the sandals that I bought for her four years ago when we started the adoption process.  We were at Payless Shoesource in 2006 and it was B1G1 50% off.  Larisa picked out a pair of shoes and I couldn’t find any for myself…. so I wandered over to the little girls section and found these gems:

They have been sitting on the computer desk all this time…. collecting dust… waiting for the princess.  Her little brown toes look adorable in them!

Back to the story, we were buying shoes and explained that she needed warm shoes for when we go to Bogota in a couple of weeks.  It is cold and rainy there and the elevation is 8,355 ft.  COLD especially after being in balmy Cauca Valley her whole life.  After we picked out the shoes, she asked, “What clothes are we going to buy for me to wear in Bogota?”  HAHAHA!  A true shopper!  But, sorry, sweetheart, mommy brought warm clothes for you!

We are enjoying the swimming pool every day for the few hours the sun is shining.  We are relishing the Colombian food!  We are taking naps almost every day!  We could get used to this!  Nora is doing so well with us and the kids.  She SOOOOO was ready for a family!

Dilly Bars

In the van on the way home after the fireworks display on the 4th, our daughter says, “The only thing that would make this night better is if we had Dilly Bars!”  These are fine delicacies from Dairy Queen, in case you haven’t tasted the ambrosia offered on a stick at DQ.  I immediately pulled out the handy-dandy yellow pages that I keep under my seat in the van.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have my glasses with me and could not read a blinkin’ word on the page.  Larisa came to the rescue and started listing the addresses for DQs. Thankfully she came across one that was four blocks from where we were!  Sweet victory!

Dairy Queen on 27th Avenue and Camelback Rd. is not in the nicer part of our fine city, Phoenix.  As we pulled into the driveway, my brave husband spouted, “Let’s go in!”  Three of the four of us simultaneously responded, “NO!”  To match the neighborhood, the drive-through speaker is not of the best quality at the aforementioned DQ either.  We gave up and drove to the window to order our Dilly bars.

Dilly Bars are $1.29 plus tax….. OR six for $6.00 plus tax.  Yes, there are only five Crosbys at the present time.  Yes, that was a steal-of-a-deal to which my dear husband succumbed.  We were happily devouring our Dilly Bars when one of our sons asked who got the sixth stick of ice cream dipped in chocolate?????  And thus began the Dilly Bar Quest for Gold.  “Here’s the rules!” my husband declared.  “I’ll put it in the freezer right in front on the middle shelf.  The first person who wakes up after 3:00 a.m. without an alarm can go to the freezer and move the Dilly Bar to a hidden freezer location.  This way, they can save it for later. If you go down and the bar is moved, DO NOT EAT IT! or you will owe $5 to the winner of the Dilly Bar Quest for Gold!  Remember, you have to sleep first!” The scheming began.

One son said he would eat it all right when he won at 6:30 a.m., our early riser.  The other son said he would save it to eat in front of the rest of us losers.  (How nice!)  Our daughter just sighed, as she is a hard sleeper and late waker.  I thought I stood a good chance as I awake every morning at 5:00 a.m., just to look at the clock and go back to sleep. Just my luck, it didn’t happen last night.

The next morning, at 9:30 a.m. I came out of my bedroom to hear my sons arguing…… “You set your alarm!”  “No, I didn’t!”  “How could you wake up right at 3 a.m. then?”  “I just did!”  “I dreamed of ice cream, but I didn’t wake up!”  and on and on and on it went.  So, the son who wanted to eat the golden Dilly Bar in front of us, did so at breakfast.  Congratulations!

Independence Day!

Fireworks shows are hard to come by in Phoenix, land of the flammable landscape with heat and wind to keep the fire crews busy eternally. Permits are required for pyrotechnics.  My children have never had the thrill of holding a sparkler in their hand, or shooting off bottle rockets, or lighting those gray growing snake dealies or even witnessing the smell of a fireworks stand.  However, we do the best we can to be patriotic and go out of our way to see Chinese-made fireworks in our fair city.  My parent’s church always puts on a grand display so that was our intended destination at 9:00 p.m.  As we were climbing in the car at 8:38 p.m., my dad phoned to tell us the fireworks show was half way through….. it was a 15 minute drive and would be over by the time we arrived.  So we drove a mile from our house to where we could see the tiny fireworks in the distant and stood on a curb watching them in disappointment.

Our youngest son has a gifting toward music and with that came sensitive ears.  He is 11 and has only enjoyed the Fourth of July without a pillow wrapped around his head for four years now.  Finally he enjoys the BOOM in his chest from the firepower, just like his mama.  I have semi-fond memories of sitting in the car with him with his pillow around his head when it was 105+ degrees even at dark, while the rest of the family sat on cool grass to enjoy the show.  Last night he kept asking, “Where are more fireworks?”  and “Can’t we go somewhere else to see fireworks?” and “Are we going to see more fireworks?”  You get the picture.

At home, after the miniature disappointing distant display, my husband scoured the newspaper for fireworks show listings.  I searched the web.  We discovered that the BIG Phoenix display was downtown at 9:30!!!  We could make it! We jumped back in the car again, with our 3-D glasses for fireworks enhancement, and headed down the highway.  We arrived just in time and after three or four attempts at finding the right side street that faced the display area, we scored!  Only one billboard slightly off to the left, but we had a grand view.  The picture above is proof that we were in Phoenix, see the flammable palm trees??

Fourth of July checklist:  watermelon - check, bbq burgers – check, cheesy $4 Walmart flag shirts – check, fireworks – check.  Job well done.

Tahoe Day 8: Hiking

Fallen Leaf Lake, just east of Emerald Bay, has a flat and easily hiked trail that leads from campsite 78 to the lake.  It wasn’t until 4:00 pm that we arrived… it was a bit further than it looked on the map.  Personally, I don’t think the map was drawn by anyone who understands perspective or proportions.  Anyway, despite the 45 minute drive, the scenery was spectacular.

There were two paths that diverged in the woods from which to choose, and yes, we quoted the Robert Frost poem.  Being a lover of safety rules and caution, we took the one most traveled… AND marked with orange and blue plastic streamers so we couldn’t get lost unless we really tried.

No matter where we go, or what we do together, there is always much laughter and frivolity… especially with these three giggly girls. Can you guess which one is a forest ranger?

With seven kids between our two families, we do much switching and swapping of children when traveling together.  We had the boys the first half of the day and then Austin moved to the other car, or so I thought.  The last time I saw him, he was heading to the bathroom (term used lightly) at the Fallen Leaf campground with his father.  I only witnessed his father’s return, but was informed the my eldest son did indeed trade vehicles.  Forty-five minutes later, we are in the Safeway parking lot in Tahoe City and I watch the other car drive by and I don’t see Austin.  As any good mother, I was sure that we had left him back at the campground.  I texted my friend to ask if they had Austin.  It didn’t go through.  Patiently I sat in the van awaiting my husband’s return from the grocery store…. to inform him that we are horrible, no good, very bad parents and left our 13-year-old son FORTY-FIVE miles back, and didn’t notice until now.  Then Austin came out of the store with his dad and all was well.  I’m still an OK mom, who has only left one child one time in the McDonald’s playland… but that was YEARS ago.  Don’t judge me.  It’s not like I drove away.  A kind lady came out of Micky D’s holding his 2-year-old hand and asking if he was mine.  I said yes, and tried to convince her that I would have figured it out when I did up all the car seats.  See!  Only once in 16.5 years.

Happy New Year Twenty-Ten!

We started the New Year with Nikander family pictures with the whole crew.  My sister’s family is only down here in the desert every other Christmas, so we take advantage of every blinkin’ minute.  We’ve done red, white and black…. blue and browns… and this year black, white and hot pink.  We actually had everyone participate with the correct colors this year!  There’s a first time for everything!  We’ve come a long way, baby, because this was the first year we did not have to schedule pictures around naptime!  Whoopie!

I always try to make sure we have pictures of each kid individually with Rick and I as well as their grandparents.  Neither Rick or I have photos like that from our families.  There’s the odd one, but nothing like our kids will have.  We almost succeeded yesterday, but with 17 people wandering around, we did miss a few.  I’m not sure why I think it’s so important to have those mom/kid pictures, but I do love having them down the road at scrapbook time.  Call me a sentimental fool… and I’ll gladly agree.

This one has been my favorite since we started this pose with daddy and daughter about eight years ago.  So cute to see our little girl turn into an amazing woman of God!  We are so blessed.

One more and I’ll be done…..

It seems Rick and I are getting shorter and shorter.  This may be our last New Year picture without a kid taller than us.  Time is sure flying while we are having fun!

Make 2010 a great year!