Camp

Taylor's Hawaiian Luau 10th birthday sleep over party

Taylor spent her first long overnight away from Kong and I last week. Her school took her to a camp four hours north. She was gone for five days and four nights. As we packed and got things ready for her trip I didn't have any emotions about her leaving nor did I cry. In fact, I didn't think about it until I spoke with other moms who talked about how sad they were or how they wanted to cry. I wondered why I did not have the same emotions.

I am generally very emotional about my children, the idea of them growing up and about letting them go. Why wasn't I sad about my baby leaving for nearly a week? What kind of mother does not cry when her first born goes on her first, long, extended overnight?

All I know is that drop off was at 9:00am that Monday morning which was perfect because I had a 10:00am call. I anticipated a quick drop off but things didn't turn out as I had planned. I helped Taylor haul her things into the school atrium. Then I found myself waiting around until the children loaded into the bus. I was one of the handful of straggling parents who stayed around to help load their child's things into the coach bus. Next I found myself standing outside in the frigged temperature for 45 minutes until the buses pulled away. Before I knew it, it was 10:15 and I was late for my call. As the buses pulled awy I waived to my child even though I had no idea if she was even looking at me (the bus windows were tinted).

With no tears or sadness I got into my car and went on with my day. I am still reflecting and wondering what this experience and how I responded means. Not sure if I'll ever find the answer.

Princess Spaghettios

(Pooped out after a day of make over, luau and dancing)

Over the past few years I have slowly changed our family's eating habits. We have cut out red meats and do as much organic as possible. Aside from the cartoon "Arthur", there is not much partnering between organic brands and popular images like transformer, bratz, barbie, etc...What this means for the girls is that they miss out on the awesome power of branding on the most popular images and fads.

What's the significance of all of this? Well, Ayden's gymnastics has been collecting dried goods for a food drive. When I was at Cub Foods I picked up some canned spaghetti along with a few boxes of mac-n-cheese. The spahettios happened to be Disney Princess shapes. When I showed Ayden the items I had bought for her she asked me, "How come you buy Princess spahettios to donate to other children but you don't ever buy them for us?"

I went into an explanation of why. I know she understood but in her six year old mind it just didn't seem fair. You think as a parent your children will understand one day why you made the decisions you did for them. That or you hope they find a good therapist who will help them sort through how you denying them princes spaghettios at six is the underlying reason they need to validate their worth with brand name clothing and food. Ugh!

What is wrong with our society?

I was on a business trip this week and I was reminded of what an entitled society we live in. "Business trip?" you ask. Yes, I'm still working even though I quit my job. The only difference is I don't get paid anymore to work. Anyway, that's another post for another day.

When I landed at Midway in Chicago I took a cab to my hotel (which by the ways was beautiful Palace House Hilton, a historic hotel). When I told my cab driver that I would be using a credit card, he let out an audible sigh of discontent and reluctantly took me to the hotel. During the ride he was rude, almost got us into an accident because he gawking at another accident and he was talking loudly on his cell phone. When we reached the hotel I paid him using my Amex card (never leave home without it) and did not give him a tip. He boldly pointed out that I had not tipped him to which I replied, "No I did not." I'm not sure if he thought complaining would somehow change my mind about tipping but he made comments under his breath until he pulled a way.

The nerve of people. Is it just me or do people seem more entitled now? People expect extra money for performing the minimum requirement of their job. Am I the only person who thinks this is absurd? I am a generous tipper but I am not about to give the money that may family has worked hard for to someone who couldn't even pretent to appreciate my business for the 20 minutes he spent with me.

I'm sorry but if you work in a job that relies on tips then it is your responsibility to conduct yourself in a manner that is deserving of the tip. I was a waitress for many years and no matter how crappy the customer was, no matter how overworked (which I was because I worked for my father) or tired I was, I served my butt off for my tip. If you have an opinion on this I would love to hear about it.

Anyway, it's been a long time since I have blogged so here are a few recent pictures.

Working on the Schmidt Farm Butchering deer at the farmThe end of summer...monkeys playing

Are you here to fix the copier?

So with all the media coverage of the Gates/Crowley incident, I can't help but have my own feelings, emotions and judgements. I have read many people's comments on numerous articles about this incident and am so disheartened. There are claims of racial profiling as well as claims that racism is only alive and well because people of color won't let it die. For all those that don't feel race is an issue or that the only people who are racist are the people of color themselves, I'd like to share a story that happened just the other day.

About a week ago Kong came home and shared an incident with me. Kong had been working on a large, time sensitive and highly public transaction. He needed to consult with the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) on the information he was working on so he headed to the CIO's office. Upon nearing the office an Admin (who happened to be a white woman) stopped him and asked, "Are you here to fix the copier?"

So what's the big deal about this comment? Only that Kong was not there to fix the copier. What about him would have triggered her to assume he was? Could it be that she judged him and what he was qualified to do because of the color of his skin? An Asian guy on a floor with all of the executives? There's no way he's there because he has any real business with the executives. Of course not so he must be here to fix the copier.

Never mind the fact that Kong is only one level removed from the CIO. Never mind that the finance executives often speak and work with Kong. Never mind that Kong works with billions of dollars. Never mind that Kong teaches finance at the university level. No matter how much money he makes, no matter the status he achieves in life or the titles he earns, he will always be judged and viewed as only qualified to fix copiers.

If he were white would she have made the same assumption? Are people of color the ones keeping race alive? Do white people no longer see color? What do you think?

Summer Camp

Taylor and Ayden started nature camp today. When I signed them up for the program there was no information on where the camp was being held. I just assumed in St. Paul. It turns out that it's about 25 miles away and a school bus would pick them up everyday.

I'm sure to most people this is no big deal. For me, when I was told that I couldn't drive the girls, I had very mixed emotions. As I put them on the bus this morning and blew kisses to them I could not help but feel sad that they were leaving. I realized that this is the first time ever that I walked them to a school bus stop and watch them drive away. I have been driving both girls to day care and school for nine years so I never did the whole, putting them on the bus for the first day of kindergarten. Am I sad or what?

Anyway, here are some old pictures from when when they were small.
Taylor was day time potty trained at two. One day, when she was about two and a half, she said to me that she didn't want to wear a diaper at night anymore. Taylor was as a very mature child so I trusted that she was ready when she told me she was. This picture was taken the day after her first night without a diaper. She woke up dry. I love the expression on her face.
Taylor was about two in this picture. She was the best child ever. She never went through the terrible twos, she never threw tantrums and she was always pleasant and well behaved. She was an early talker so it just seemed like there was never a time in her life that she wasn't communicating with me.
Ayden is almost two in this picture. She was a really small child (still small now...don't let size fool you!). The outfit that she is wearing is size 6-12 months. She was a little fire ball. Lots of time outs already at this age. She had a "naughty step" that I use to set her on. I'd tell her two minutes and she would start out sitting but I would inevitably find her laying down or sitting on a different step just to defy me. We had many struggles until she learned that mommy is the boss. My will was just as strong and I was extremely persistent when disciplining my girls. Her cuteness got her no where with me.
Ayden is about 1 1/2 in this picture. I love it because she fell asleep eating. I can't remember what we were doing or why she fell asleep. I just remember she was trying so hard to eat but she kept nodding off. You think that you will never forget the details but you do : (
The girls helping me make cup cakes. To be fair both the girls had to be helping equally and simultaneously. That's what they agreed on. Ayden didn't like fire or loud noises when she was small. That's her scared face.
The benefits of helping out. Cleaning up!
This is from the days when Ayden wasn't evil to Taylor and Taylor still wanted to protect and help her little sister do everything. Ayden was 2 and Taylor was 6.

I love them so much!

End of the 2008/2009 School Year

Ayden graduated from Kindergarten this year (tears). I accidentally deleted some of the video footage from her graduation (more tears). It makes me so sad to see my baby get older. She'll be six in a few days (tears galore). Below are a few pictures from her graduation ceremony.

Waiting to for her turn to accept her graduation pin.

Miss Khou putting on her pin.

All giggles with Mika, one of her best friends.

Each year JJ Hill has a year end assembly for all of the students. Taylor was asked by her music teacher to sing in the final assembly song. She did such a great job. Taylor has been very into performing. She just loves to do anything in front of people. She just finished a summer course in theatre at Stepping Stone Theatre. More to come on that.

Lastly, tonight Kong let the girls watch the prefight stuff for UFC 100 which happens on July 11 (same day as Ayden's birthday party). He is usually very strict about bed time but when it comes to UFC staying up until 9:30pm is not an issue. No photos of this family time but Ayden did say to Kong that she is getting into UFC so if he wants to make her birthday a UFC theme, it's okay as long as she gets to stay up to watch the fights. Unfortunately Kong already told his friends and colleagues that he would not be ordering the fight so the UFC theme won't be happening.

Roan

We brought Roan back from WI/IL on Sunday and it reminded me to post the photos I took the last time we went to the Children's Musuem. Roan loves the girls so when we see him, we like to spend as much time as we can with him. On this particular day, it was one against three so I sort of let them do what they wanted. We all had a great time.

Now that he's back permanently we'll be able to spend more time with him.