Update 12 August 2012

I spent this week preparing for the start of school through long but helpful orientation meetings.  Meanwhile, the kids attended a super fun summer camp at the Encino Presbyterian Children’s Center. They made lots of crafts—water bottle holders, cup coasters, magnets, bookmarks, and boomerangs. On Wednesday they went on a field trip to Disneyland, which gave Kirk and me the very rare opportunity to go on a date without having to worry about the kids. We saw a film that other French attendees at AP by the Sea had highly recommended, “La fille du puisatier” (The Well-Digger’s Daughter). Based on a movie by the French film icon Marcel Pagnol, this remaking perfected both the story and the art form.

After so many visits to Kazakhstan, Kirk welcomed an envoy of Kazakh colleagues to Los Angeles this week. He returned from a business dinner Thursday night with a camel skin vest and slippers! Although we are glad to have him working in a more domestic role, Kirk still appreciates the many friendships he made through his travels across the world.

On Friday we drove to Las Vegas. We joined other relatives and friends for my mom’s vocal concert, which was filled with beautiful and touching solo work. Of course it was a pleasure for Kirk and me to hear the gorgeous arrangements, but I was especially pleased that my kids got to attend as well; I hope that they will always have rich memories of my mom’s many talents. 

This coming week signifies my first official week employed as a “teacher of record:” classes begin on Thursday. Fasten your seat belts! 

Update 5 August 2012

This week, the kids stayed with our friends Jared and Eva while Kirk and I traveled. The kids adored being big siblings to Baby Drew. They also spent a lot of time swimming, and Carlos now reports that he is “ready to win the kid Olympics.”

Mohawk buddies

Kirk was working in Indiana while I attended the “AP by the Sea” conference in San Diego. It took place at the breathtaking USD campus, which is not far from Sea World.

all of the buildings reflect this style

USD cathedral

I represented my school as its AP French teacher and became friends (or in business language, “networked”) with other French teachers from California. I got a lot of excellent ideas from the conference, which proved to be both intense and well organized. For me, the most important take-home message was the advice to begin grooming students for AP French on day 1 of French 1; the themes and strategies for AP students should be the same for students in French 1, 2, and 3. The message seems obvious, but I know that my high school French classes did not reflect that kind of cohesive “vertical” planning—and I doubt that my experience was rare. I feel incredibly grateful to my principal and department chair for facilitating this unique learning experience, and I hope to measure up to their expectations.

the "frenchies," in our Medieval-themed classroom

On Friday I drove the kids to the San Francisco area where we met Kirk (fresh from Indiana). Saturday was a heart-wrenching experience, as we mourned the sudden death of Kirk’s cousin Matt Lyon. Despite the many beautiful comments at his funeral, many of us could not shake the feeling that “this is not supposed to happen” (as one speaker repeated). 

Matt, on the left; dad Mike and brother Nick; daughter Sierra (Easter 2012)

Since Matt died a bishop, hundreds of parishioners joined the family for his funeral service; it was amazing to see his impact on so many people. His young widow Eleanor was gracious and stalwart throughout the day, setting an example of faith for all of us. 

Of Kirk’s abundant relatives, Matt and Eleanor proved a perfect match for Kirk and me. Rarely have we found a couple that we relate to so perfectly and enjoy so thoroughly; finding such a unique friendship in cousins made the connection even more meaningful. Their friendship has blessed us greatly throughout our years in California, and—along with our grief for Eleanor and her kids—we shed many selfish tears as we considered the ramifications of Matt’s loss.  
https://plus.google.com/photos/113547050139096971693/albums/5773422161274787969?authkey=COje-92bgvuzBA

we miss you   :-(

Today proved my claim that my life is an exercise in futility: we spent 9 hours driving a 6-hour route back home, and we had purposely selected that route to bypass the construction on the I-5 that slowed us down on Friday’s drive north.  Still, it is good to return home. I begin new teacher orientation this week, and the kids are ecstatic about the summer camp they’ll start tomorrow. All these changes are sure to hamper out quest for that elusive notion of “normalcy,” but we are excited to see where this new normal takes us. 

Carlos, hiding under Blanky, so we won't know that he's watching YouTube on my phone during our long drive

Update 22 July 2012

We were privileged to spend most of this week in Indiana with the Rytting-Monson Clan. We passed a lot of time together playing games, but the highlight of the week came on Friday when we visited the Indianapolis Speedway Museum. Despite the fact that almost all of us had lived in Indiana for multiple years, none had ever entered inside Indiana's iconic stronghold. We enjoyed a tour around the track as well as the many spectacular vehicles--including the 1909 winner of the first Indy race.

I also got to visit with Rosalie Vermette, my former French teacher at IUPUI. Not only was she an excellent teacher, but she also gave me a mentoring position in 2005 that set me on the path to teaching French. I cannot express how grateful I am for her example and support in helping me to discover my career path.  

On Saturday, we traveled to Santa Claus, Indiana, for a special day at the Holiday World and Splashin' Safari theme parks. Other adoptive families--graduates from our beloved agency, Families Thru International Adoption--converged from all over the Midwest for FTIA's annual reunion. We didn't run into any old friends, but it was fun to celebrate adoption with so many families. The leader of our agency, who helped guide the 2007 Hague decision, reported the sad news that he does not expect Guatemala to ever reopen to adoption. In fact, his friend and lawyer Pedro "disappeared" in Guatemala two years ago after openly advocating adoption. We are so fortunate to have gotten Carlos when we did, and we see God's hand in leading us to him at just the right time; only one year later and the opportunity would have closed to us forever.

The "Wildebeest" water slide--unlike anything you've ever experienced!

Holiday World itself is a unique anomaly in our politically correct world. As you might expect, this Bible Belt theme park has a Christmas Land, but certain other religious holidays are noticeably absent, LOL. Also, its southerly location naturally attracts America's redneck population, which results in a pretty appalling skank factor (read: people that smell and look like the cows they raise). So, along with celebrating our multicultural family, we enjoyed an unusual cultural experience. But we were impressed by three positive aspects of the park: (1) sunscreen was free and plentiful; (2) beverages were free and plentiful; and (3) the water was pleasantly warm--like, in the 80s. 

With all of the new teacher meetings I have in August, this coming week essentially marks my last week of summer. It has been the shortest of my life, and I sincerely hope that time will slow down once the school year starts (or I will have no way of keeping ahead!). Happily, these past few weeks have afforded us lots of great opportunities with relatives and friends--good times and good memories. 

*I don't have my usual access to pictures, so the pics in this blog are all from Wikipedia.

Update 15 July 2012

Happy birthday to our six-year-old Carlos! He milked his birthday privileges on a tyrannical scale but somehow managed to still be cute at the end of the day as we celebrated at Chipotle. Many thanks to the many people who made his day so special!

On Wednesday, the kids went swimming with friends while I trekked to Santa Clarita to sign my teaching contract. Happily, my credential program translated into enough post-baccalaureate work that I am not starting at the bottommost rung of the humble salary scale.

 

I am now manically alternating between waves of excitement and panic as the school year looms ever closer. I will be teaching all four levels of French, including AP Language & Culture. I am grateful to my principal who enrolled me in an AP conference at the beginning of August; I look forward to picking the brains of veteran teachers. I begin work on August 8th, so it feels like summer is about to end as quickly as it began.

 

 

Other highlights of the week included a visit to the Skirball Museum’s exhibit of Noah’s Ark and a couple of very sweaty hours at Sky High Trampoline Park. 

 

much-needed refreshment after so much jumping!

And, of course, though we can’t claim credit for the work, we were thrilled to welcome David and Heidi’s little girl, Elise Bayles on the 12th. She looks so kissable!

 

Saturday was jam-packed full of parties. We kicked off the day by hosting Carlos’s friends to an Angry Birds birthday party. 

   

Next, we drove to Santa Monica for a falafel party with some Palestinian friends. Mmmm! 

Nagat

 

Bader, Carla, Kirk

Finally, we returned to Encino for a Pioneer Day party at our church. Phew!

Arianna & 

 

 

This coming week, we are off to Indiana and Carlos’s adoption reunion. We are excited to meet Dayne, the kids’ new Monson cousin, for the first time and look forward to catching up with Kirk’s siblings.

Update 8 July 2012

Happy Independence Day!

We spent this week in Las Vegas, as July is a big birthday time for my family. Andrew, Carlos, and I have birthdays within the same week—along with various cousins and other relatives. My mom worked hard to recreate my new favorite dessert, a heavenly rendition of Strawberry Shortcake that I discovered at Bea’s Bakery in Tarzana. 

  

While most of the country baked in record-breaking heat and power outages, we (ironically) found ourselves trapped indoors for most of the 4th thanks to a very unusual summer rainstorm that cooled the Las Vegas Valley. The clouds cleared just in time for fireworks, and Kirk transformed into his blowtorch-wielding pyrophillic alter ego. 

 

"expecto patronum!"

On Thursday we saw Disney’s new movie “Brave,” which tells the story of a headstrong Scottish princess. After the movie, my mom (whose family is Scottish) showed our family tartans and broaches to the kids.

 

We spent Friday at Lake Mead, which was surprisingly empty and pleasantly placid despite the holiday week. Maren and Kirk impressed us with their wake boarding skills and then piloted the boat around the lake, humoring Carlos’s and my cries of “faster!”

  

  

Carlos had a fun early birthday party on Saturday and then, per his request, we went bowling. (For some reason, he associates Las Vegas with bowling and only asks to bowl when we are there.) Despite not getting a single strike, Kirk won the game—passing up even the amazing Maren of Bonanza’s Bowling Team!

no bumpers for these pros!

Carlos, Arianna, & Lauren: scores with bumpers

It was nice to spend the week with my parents and siblings, and we look forward to further celebrations this week, as David and Heidi will have their baby one way or another (thus sayeth the doctor). Carlos hopes she arrives tomorrow on his birthday so they will name her Carly or Caroline or Carlotta, LOL. 

Update 1 July 2012

This week, we celebrated our first official day of summer vacation by relaxing at Zuma Beach with my parents. We watched dolphins and a seal playing in the surf while we warmed ourselves on the sand. Later Monday, Grandma and Grandpa returned to Las Vegas.

I dedicated Tuesday to knocking off a number of tasks from my hiring packet—requesting transcripts from all 4 of my universities, turning in paperwork validating my medical fitness to work, and getting fingerprinted. I also showed the kids around my new campus and classroom. They were both really impressed, but Carlos became offended when I banned him from racing around the grounds.

The sudden arrival of unstructured freedom wore on the kids’ self control, and by Wednesday WAR had begun. I tried to break up the battles by reading The Lost Hero to the kids, but you can only read aloud for so long (and then you just gotta let them kill each other). We joined friends for swimming on Thursday, and I thanked them for prolonging my kids’ existence.

We used our Disneyland passes for the last time on Friday and Saturday. The Happiest Place on Earth recently opened a new section of California Adventure Land that is wholly dedicated to “Cars.” They did such an amazing job recreating Radiator Springs that the park was super crowded. The three new rides averaged line wait times of 1-3 hours each—maybe not a worthwhile pastime if you plan on renewing your annual passes, but we waited it out since this was our final hurrah.

This coming week we plan to celebrate our many family birthday parties in Las Vegas. Hopefully, David and Heidi’s little girl (due July 4th) will arrive in time to add another party to our schedule. We wish them the best of luck with their foray into new parenthood! Happy 4th of July!

Update 24 June 2012

Arianna’s birthday festivities continued into this week. She awoke on the 19th ready to tackle the many gifts from family members (thank you, everyone!). 

Then her class spent the day on a fun science field trip with other LILA campuses. They returned just before school ended, and I brought chocolate cupcakes for yet another sugary celebration. That evening, we dined at El Torito.

Wednesday found me with even more cupcakes—this time for an early celebration of Carlos’s birthday. 

Arianna and I reported to her allergist on Thursday: the yeast- and dairy-free diet made no difference in Arianna’s health but did leave us all feeling hungry and grumpy.  The allergist decided that there is no point in continuing our torture and affirmed that Arianna will not experience any negative side effects from eating those substances, despite being allergic to them. Oh blessed day!

Thursday evening was a big sleepover event. Arianna’s friend Marotea stayed with us because his mom was in labor with his baby sister, and my parents arrived for a weekend of fun. 

strawberry lemonade slushees

The following morning, we met with other LILA families at Forest Lawn Memorial Park’s Hall of Liberty for kindergarten graduation. Carlos looked simply smashing in his cap and gown and was perfectly behaved throughout the hour-long ceremony. 

It was hilarious to have so much “Pomp and Circumstance” for such little beasties! 

We spent the rest of Friday celebrating the end of the school year at a LILA family’s home, where the kids bounced and played while the parents enjoyed yummy eats.  

On Friday evening, Kirk and I took Marotea to the hospital to meet his newborn sister, who is adorably pink and tiny. Life is such an amazing process!

We enjoyed a serendipitous Saturday at Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa. After many tedious years of construction, California Adventureland welcomed visitors into its updated spaces and just-completed Cars Land. People waited in lines for more than 100 minutes per ride in Cars Land! 

Happily for us, this left Disneyland unusually empty for a summer vacation Saturday: in about 8 hours, we managed to ride nearly everything in the Happiest Place on Earth. It was so much fun to share three generations of Disney love!

We spent Sunday recuperating and napping, but poor Kirk, exhausted from a crazy work week and Disneyland, had to fly to Texas for yet more work. Hopefully his workload will lighten as he gets more footing in his new role. 

no longer virtual! real-life angry birds game!

Well, summer vacation has officially begun for the Monson family, and we are looking forward to lots of visits and downtime. Yay for summer fun!