:Simpson Family Blog

www.therealsimpsons.com

Okay… I’ve not been very good about writing anything this year.  I’m afraid life with a 5yr old and 2 yr old have taken over!  But Jason has posted some of our 2009 pictures to our other site.  Check them out!

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Oh, the Thinks you can Think!
Oh, the thinks you can think, if you’re willing to try.
Think a trip on a ship to the Vipper of Vipp or to Solla Sollew.

Sophia and I immersed ourselves in the world of Dr. Seuss this fall as I directed the All-Campus Musical, Seussical.  I spent two and a half months working with 94 students including Sophia (our littlest “Who”) and all the way up to our High School Seniors.

It was exhausting, but it also ended up being a fun show for all.  I fell in love with the music over the course of the process (can’t always say that about the shows), and its a good thing too since Sophia made me play the CD in the car for the last month.

Sophia has really come a long way in just the 6 months since “Wizard of Oz” when she was the littlest Munchkin who had a habit of wandering offstage on a whim.  This time she was completely engaged in the story and made sure she could see the action whenever she was onstage.  We brought the “Elephant Bird,” clover, and Egg home, and she has been playacting several scenes from the play.

As Dr. Seuss would say:
From there to here and here to there,
Funny things are everywhere!

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This past November 7th, Jason and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary.  We packed up the kids and sent them off to my friend Toni’s house.  Then we packed ourselves and headed off to Wine Country.  Specifically we visited Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley.  Jason found a LOVELY  B&B, the Bella Villa Messina, run by Jerry and Harold.

On Friday night we arrived in time for Cocktail hour.  Jerry and Harold set out a good selection of cheeses and other hors d ‘oeuvres and liberally poured the wine as we visited with them and 3 of the other 4 couples staying for the weekend.  That nigtht we went to Bistro Ralph and when we took a moment to toast ourselves we were both kind of amazed that 10 years have already passed us by.  It doesn’t seem like its been that long (I guess that’s a good thing?).

After a yummy breakfast, Jerry marked out a route in the Dry Creek Valley for us.  We stopped at the local deli and picked up sandwiches for a picnic lunch and then hit the wineries!

Throughout that morning and early afternoon we tasted our way through 6 wineries.  We started up at the Sbragia family vineyards followed by Ferrari-Carrano and Bella Wine Caves (where we ate our picnic lunch).  Then we wound down the road to Lambert Bridge and then back into town to Seghesio and Simi.  We bought a bottle of wine at each stop and even a few souvenir tasting glasses to add to our eclectic glassware collection (Jason started collecting Belgium Beer glasses a few years ago).  Although the morning had started out with heavy fog and some drizzle, it cleared up in the early afternoon to some lovely blue skies.

After a delicious nap (on my schedule — not the kids!), we awoke to a torrential downpour of rain.  It was almost poetic in the storm’s brief intensity.  It also made curling up in front of the in-room fireplace very attractive… but we did rouse ourselves to go down to the parlour for the private wine-tasting (Jerry brought over Mazzocco Winery for the guests to enjoy).  It may have just been that it was so nice to be able to sit and taste the wines while talking to the other guests (rather than standing at the tasting bars all day long), but we counted that as a highlight of the day.  We did go to a nice restaurant for dinner… but we were both so stuffed from cocktail hour and the other wines that we overdid it (think Monty Python’s Meaning of Life… good thing there was no after dinner mint!).

Sunday was pleasant in the way we could lazily get out of bed when we were ready (rather than getting up with Ash or Sophie).  We had another great breakfast (their blueberry pancakes are like none I’ve seen before — think cross between pancake and biscuit… yummmmmm!), and then we spent the rest of the morning wandering around downtown Healdsburg.  It was quite charming and had a very eclectic mix of stores that were fun to peruse.  We ended the trip at the Bear Republic Brewery just so we could taste the local Beer and Cider before heading back to reality with our souvenirs!

It was a perfectly lovely weekend.  And the kids had fun with Toni, Sara, and Matthew too!  (Although all three of them were exhausted from the effort of keeping up with our two.  We owe them BIG time!)

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Anma Kathy came for Halloween weekend.  She flew in on Thursday night and was able to visit Sophia’s class on Friday morning to read a book and see the Preschool Halloween Parade (after 12 months of planning and changing her mind on a daily basis, Sophia finally settled on being a witch this year).  Sophia loved being able to show off her Grandma to her classmates.  I think that Kathy really enjoyed Sophia’s obvious delight in having her as a class visitor.

Kathy the shutterbug also caught me in my own costume (promoting the Fall Musical!) as we met up for the Preschool Halloween party.  I’ve never heard so many pumpkin or bat counting songs!  Sophie was a cute singing bat.

On Halloween night Anma had some quality time with Asher while we hosted a slew of our other friends for dinner and trick-or-treating.  We had a fun time with the parents while all the kids played so very well together.  Prior to trick-or-treating they were all excited about sharing their costumes and taking turns answering the door and giving out candy. And afterwards you would never know that they each had full bags of sugar just waiting to rot out their teeth!  They played so well together!

The actual event of trick or treating was again a fun adventure.  We have a short (and manageable) path around the local block.  It is safe enough that the kids can run from house to house and back to us on the sidewalks.  I don’t think Sophie double-dipped at any houses this year, but she definitely loved the thrill of running up to a house and being the first in her group to ring the doorbell.

On Sunday we tried to go to the Academy of Sciences but found that too many other people had found it a good day for museums as well… so we just made it a nice afternoon drive instead.  We’ll get there one of these days.  Asher tried some skydiving instead:

On Monday, Sophia spent a special day with Anma and shared all of her dances and songs.  She performed in each outfit from her dress-up box (which is quite the collection these days), and they read books and played games all day long.

I think that although Kathy was sad to leave the grandkids behind, that she was glad to go back home and rest up after all the non-stop activity at our house!

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The day before Asher turned one he took his first steps! He loved his accomplishment and clapped for himself everytime he made it another 4 or 5 steps on his own.

The look of pure joy on his face at his little moments of discovery were just priceless.  Its a good thing he did that the day before his birthday, because the day after his birthday he came down with Croup.  Yikes!  and Ick!  Luckily we were already scheduled to see the doc, so she prescribed some steroids to open his wind pipes a little wider.  He was finally himself by the end of the next week.  But being down on his health didn’t stop him at all from enjoying his birthday cupcakes (he takes after his mom in the sweet tooth department!).

While Jason was away to Vegas one weekend, the kids and I ventured out to Great America for a little early Boo-fest activities (or Nick or treating as the Nickelodeon character interactions were called).  Sophie also discovered that the chair ride is one of her new favorites.

Asher enjoyed the people watching even if I didn’t let him out to try out his new walking skills.

And Sophie also enjoyed the giant Bubble Maze that they had in place of some of their water mazes.  She and the other kids were simply COVERED – head to toe – in bubbles.  I made her walk it off before she could get back in the car for the drive home!

Happy Fall!

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We had a fun visit with Anma Mary and Anpa Walt in early September.  we lucked out that a family friend from the area had a daughter getting married, so it brought my parents out to visit.  Side benefit of the wedding was getting to spend more time with the grandkids.

Sophia enjoyed her time being pampered and Ash enjoyed all the attention.

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Testing out Smug Mug and its potential integration into the blog.  To see the new family gallery in Smug Mug, click on the “Smug Mug” link in the right hand menu (near the top).

Example of Importing Smugmug Photo Album

Individual Photo

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Sophia has begun to take a real interest in letters and writing them on paper.  The other day she brought me a paper that had S-U-N (imagine the N backwards) and she said, “Look Mommy, Sun!”  She must have seen it spelled out on one of her educational programs (Wordworld or Superwhy are two current favorites).  I was so thrilled that I got out another sheet of paper and spelled out some other three letter words for her (cat, dog, cow, mom, dad).  She dutifully copied them and was very pleased with herself.

She later wanted to share her discovery with her Dad.  So the two of them went to her white board and began again with some of her letters.  She looked at her list of three letter words, and wrote out C-O-W on the board.  Dad praised her, “Very good Sophie, what does that spell?”

Without hesitating, Sophia glanced at her list of words and proudly said, “Mom.”

Yeah… Dad laughed… I grimaced… and Sophie beamed.  What are ya gonna do?

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…Jason was a very busy boy! More on that in a moment. And of course you have to start a blog with a picture of one of the kids….

This past week I went to the AATE (American Alliance for Theatre and Education) conference in Atlanta. The kids came with me and my parents drove down from Indiana to watch them while I attended the conference events. In addition to reuniting with dear friends from around the country, I also attended some great sessions with fabulous tricks I’ll be able to use in my own classroom! The kids had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa each day, although each one had a bit of a shock at the separation from Mom since they had been spoiled having me on a 24/7 no-rest-for-mommy-basis. Pics of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Prouty will come later when I get copies of their photos.

I also needed to watch the conference with an eye for the overall organization of the chaos because somehow I got roped into being the co-chair of the 2010 conference which will be held in San Francisco. For years the prez of the org has been saying to me, “San Francisco would be a GREAT place to have a conference.” And for years I’ve been nodding my head and smiling while being extremely non-committal. Well, all of that ended when my friend and colleague Stacey Ardelean said “yes” for the both of us. It’s a good thing she’s such a good friend!

Meanwhile, back at the homestead…. I thought Jason was originally going to go and play with his friends at Comic-con in San Diego. When he decided to put that trip on hold, he was going to go and visit his good friend Aaron in Seattle for a quick weekend. Finally, in the days before I left for Atlanta he told me that he wasn’t able to get good fares and so he was just going to stay home and rest/refresh after our chaotic summer. Well, some of those scenarios may have been true at one time, but what happened in reality is that Jason was busy the whole time I was away re-doing the Master Bedroom!

I was simply astounded to walk into my bedroom late on Sunday night (after a wearying 5 hr flight from the east coast with two kids!!), to find that it had been transformed into a beautiful and restful Adult retreat!

I entered the room and was immediately welcomed by some beautiful photos from our summer trip to Australia. Great and fun pics of the kids as well as artful pics of Sydney.

I’m afraid we were guilty of remaking other rooms in the house while our Master Bedroom remained unpainted and a repository for moving boxes, ironing boards, and other odd items. Where once there were stacks of moving boxes (that had been there since we moved in almost 5 years ago), a folding table full of assorted items, and bare windows with blinds, now there were beautiful and dramatic draperies.

The dresser was previously full of parental self-help books, pin boxes, scrapbooks that haven’t been put together, etc, and now all of that was nicely stored away in the armoire (where we can close the door on the mess!). I must have strolled around the room with my mouth hanging open for at least two minutes before the wall TV even registered on me!

Jason even got the neighbors in on the surprise as he not only stored boxes and supplies in their houses so I wouldn’t notice anything out of place, but also had one of them run the last minute photo run at 6pm (I was coming home at 9pm) to fill the photo frames.

Anyway… I just had to share my joy with you all.

Here are some other joys:

I call them… “Hmmm what should I do with this Duck?” and “Ahhh…mmmm…. of course!”

Ash took to crawling two weeks ago and now when he hits the ground he is off in a flash! He’s also babbling up a storm and unfortunately exploring the high range of his voice. Sophia just puts her hands over her ears and tells him, “that’s too loud Asher!”

Off to swim lessons!

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Jason took his last Friday off so that we could spend the weekend exploring Sydney before flying home on Sunday. After three and a half weeks of BEAUTIFUL weather, it rained on us in Sydney.

Here we are in Darling Harbour during a brief break in the downpour. In the morning, we headed to the Syndey Aquarium…

Sophia and Dad spent awhile looking at the Penguins while Ash and I checked out the Dragonfish. We also let Sophia play around with the camera… this is a self portrait–

The Aquarium has a great Shark and Ray exhibit where you can walk through giant glass/plexi walkways at the bottom of the tank. Sophia and Dad also got to ride on a special “Shark Boat” that goes out over the Giant Reef tank and you can not only feed the fish, but watch the sharks swim under you on the glass bottom of the boat.

Ash simply enjoyed watching the fish swim by…

He also liked trying to get to Dad and the camera…

We ended the outing with a stroll through downtown Sydney past the Sydney Tower.

That night we had a lovely dinner at The Heritage Belgium Bar (recommended by Richard) in “The Rocks.” The food was good, but the atmosphere and Beer were even better. (I loved the glass floors in the front of the building that showed you the remains of the original building and foundation.)

The next day dawned a little brighter/clearer. We headed out towards Circular Quay towards the famous Harbour Bridge and Opera House. We took a stroll along the Bridge and had some nice views of Sydney

Jason decided to get fancy and take some Black and Whites shots throughout the day.

We then hopped on a ferry out into the Harbour. On the journey, the ferry was joined by a pod of Harbor Dolphins. The captain slowed down while they were alongside the boat so we got to watch them frolicking in the waves and wake of the boats. It was a lovely and unexpected brush with wildlife.

We ended up in Watson’s Bay for their famous Fish & Chips take away. (Jason ate the fish, I had a salad.) We built up our appetite by climbing up to Gap National Park before lunch.

Sophia was worn out by the climb and let us know in dramatic fashion at the top of the Gap Bluffs. Of course she wasn’t the one toting a kid on her front and a backpack on her back… but I couldn’t exactly throw myself on the ground, so I left the dramatics to her.

Dad had an idea of what to do with her though…. The “Gap” is the official ocean entrance to the Sydney Harbour. It was magnificent to see the bluffs with the Ocean crashing itself against the cliffs.

Once we sat down for lunch, Jason was able to catch an Asher phenomenon on film that we call his “Hulk” impression. Hulk Hungry, Hulk getting mad, Hulk Angry, and Hulk Happy Again….

After lunch we played on the beach while waiting for the Ferry to come and pick us up. Sophia enjoyed playing in the tide pools and exploring in the sand. We’ll be saving the next picture to show her friends when she’s a teen.

For our afternoon adventures we took the Ferry to Luna Park (Sydney’s version of an Amusement Boardwalk).

Sophia loved all the rides (even the “Rotor” ride where you sit in a spinning drum and the floor drops out from under you… she wanted to go on everything again, but Jason swiftly diverted her attention elsewhere!).

We ended the evening with a walk around the Opera House. Of course, our camera battery died on the way back from Luna Park, so the rest of the evening was caught on a disposable camera… consequently we let Sophia play around a little more with the camera shots. She requested a funny picture…

So we serenaded her from in front of the Opera House. We didn’t hear any boos, but we didn’t get any coins in our cap either.

The next morning we walked around an Aroma (Coffee and Tea) festival set up in The Rocks before heading back to the airport. And just 14 hours later, we arrived back in the Bay Area. What a trip!!! Thanks for a great time Australia!!!

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