Battle of Midway Dinner in San Francisco

Every year the navy puts on a special commemorative Battle of Midway Dinner. If you're not familiar with the Battle of Midway it took place during WWII halfway between here and Japan. It was the battle that turned the tide for us and we started winning the war. Marcus has always been very interested in the military and until recently has wanted to be a marine. After spending several years reading about the military and all that it requires he has changed his mind. Now he wants to go into film. I'm not surprised. We've always told him to do whatever he wanted to do because we don't want him to do it just because we think it's a good idea. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are good friends with a retired Navy captain and when she found out that Marcus was interested in the military she invited them all to this special dinner. It's a black tie event so last year we got Marcus a tux and all the accessories-bow tie, cumberbun, cuff links, black dress shoes and socks, all the things most 13 year old boys do not have in their closet. The tux was huge on him last year when he went the first time but this year it barely fit him. He did look handsome though. The thing about 14 year old boys is that they give you attitude. I remember giving my parents attitude when they wanted to take my picture so I know it's part of the deal but I still don't like it. I was embarrassed and felt like everyone was looking at me. I'm sure he feels that way too but I still wanted a good picture. It's not everyday that your boy is in a tux. This year Lauren, Marcus' cousin went with them. She's 23 and an absolute doll to be around. I love her and her sisters dearly and I was glad she was able to go to. Maybe she'll find a nice man in a uniform there. Oh I do hope so.

History Park

Yesterday we went on a field trip to History Park in San Jose, California. I had never heard of it before but my friend who is always doing research found a website for it and thought it would be a fun place to visit. Since we homeschool we do a history co-op together. We use a certain set of books written by Genevieve Foster and they were written in the 40's and 50's. I love them so much and history makes sense and is interesting now. I was so bored in school during history class and I still don't understand why they don't teach history chronologically, it makes so much more sense that way. We finished our recent book so we thought it would be fun to go on some historical field trips on our normal co-op days, Tuesdays. Originally we were going to go to Columbia, a gold rush town in Northern California. Supposedly you can pan for gold and visit old time buildings like a candle making shop and the old candy shop. It's closed on Tuesdays so we decided to go to San Jose instead. History Park is a little town where historical buildings and houses have all been moved into one area. They had an old post office, fire house, gas station, dentist, blacksmith shop and lots of houses. Unfortunately we didn't arrange to have a docent ahead of time so all the buildings were locked and we couldn't go inside but we could still walk around and enjoy the town. The ice cream and candy shop were open so the kids were happy. After we walked around the little town we headed to Happy Hollow Zoo which is right next door. It's an old zoo but it's been completely redone. The kids loved it even if they were a little old for it. I used to take my boys to the zoo every year but once we had Breanna we stopped doing it so I didn't feel bad that the boys had to go to the zoo with their little sister. After the zoo we walked back to our car and had to walk through the Japanese Friendship Garden. That was awesome. It was so beautiful and we definitely want to go back so the boys can film there. Marcus has a movie making co-op and he's always looking for great filming locations. We decided the moms would have a picnic and knit while the boys film. Sounds good to me. Overall, a lovely day with friends exploring just some of the great things this area has to offer.

Justin turned 11!

Eleven years ago my heart was healed when my second child was born. I had a miscarriage before being pregnat with Justin and was afraid I wouldn't have any more children, but God blessed us with Justin. He is so creative, so full of life, has so much character and always keeps us on our toes. He wrote the book on being the middle child. I'm the baby and so is Bryan so we don't really understand this middle child thing and we don't tend to be too compassionate to his cause which probably just adds to the situation. I see so much of myself in him and I am constantly reminded that I still have a lot of work to do. He is rarely satisfied with what he has, always wants more, is always asking for more, wants a better explanation, wants it done his way. See, I told you he reminds me of myself.

He comes up with these great characters and will dress up and act the part. He does get shy when I try to take a picture or record any of it. I just want everyone else to share in the joy. He makes me laugh so much when he's in character and he constantly amazes me with his artwork and creativity. He can be very resourceful when he needs to be and often times he'll come up with some pretty cool costumes that he designs and makes out of cardboard, duct tape and paint. He loves to play with his legos but that seems pretty common among boys his age. He'll get a lego set, come home and put it together in record time. It'll stay that way for a while and then slowly migrate to the lego bin. Eventually he'll create something new out of the pieces. He loves to get the lego figures and found a website where he can order all the little accessories for the figures. That's what he wanted for his birthday so he made a list after spending days online perusing numerous websites. He also wanted a rubix cube cake. Sounds simple enough right? No. It was so hard to frost because the colors kept running together when they would touch. I accidentally added too many lines but everyone liked the cake, especially Justin and that's what matters. We just had a small party with the kids from our writing co-op since they were going to be here anyway on his birthday. They had a great time but of course it wasn't enough.