Beach Camping in Malibu

We just got home from camping at Leo Carillo State Park with my parents and my sister Lisa's family.  We had a great time.

The boys set up their tent all by themselves, which was almost unnecessary, since the kids immediately took up residence in the tree above their tent.  But the tent was useful in breaking the fall when kids fell off the tree.  

Within minutes of getting there Dylan made himself a crown and designated himself "Monkey King"...

...swinging through the trees with the greatest of ease.

 Food was fabulous!  The men did the cooking - man style - hot coals and cast iron of course.  You can cook anything in a dutch oven: soppy joes, cheesy potatoes, peach cobbler, mountain man breakfast, stew, and cherry chocolate cake.  Yum!

A towering inferno.

When I said the men did the cooking, I was including Luke, of course.  But he had to work with only cold coals - mom's orders.

Lukie also helped with the clean up.  No need for a dishwasher.

Um, I think you missed a spot their Luke.

Camping in Leo Carillo was pretty good.  The nights were not nearly as cold as they were in Yellowstone, which was great.  And with no bears, our biggest nuisance were fearless squirrels, seagulls, and crows, which dug into everything.  The campsites were large, but the bathrooms were nasty.  I've really had my fill of camping for a while, I think.

We brought along our scooters and bikes and we could ride right to the beach.  Derek handles his new scooter like a pro.  Notice his outfit - swim trunks and a raincoat.  He wore this 3 days straight.  That boy has his own sense of style (or none at all).  The swim trunks are obvious as we were at the beach, but the rain coat?  He says its to keep his shirt clean.  It worked.  After three days his shirt was still spotless, but the raincoat on the other hand....

Lukie catches a ride  from Dylan.  To the "beeesh", as he calls it.

Of course we spent most of our days at the beach - that is the point of beach camping.  

OK.  This is hilarious.  You'll want to blow this picture up to get the full effect.  Grandpa was just lounging on the beach watching everyone else out in the water when - swoosh!  The lesson: if you don't get in the water, the water will come to you. 

SANDwich anyone?  Crunchy!

We played beach volleyball. Man, it is tough to get around on that sand.  Luke is a good spiker!  He just needs to grow about 6 more feet and he'll be burning up the court.

The sand is as much fun as the water.  Alex loves building sand structures, and Luke loves to un-build them.

Luke is ready to hit the waves - only he doesn't like the water one bit, so he just stands with the boogie board to look cool.

Nathan, also looks cool with the surf board, but he actually got in the water with it and gave it a shot.
My sister Lisa brought her surfboard and gave my boys a few lessons.  Derek catches a wave.

Here Dylan shows us his stuff.  Kowabunga!

Dude, those are some cool surfer twins.  They love it.  Now we have to get a few surfboards of our own.

And in case you are wondering, yes, I did a little surfing as well.  Lisa and I both took surfing when we were in college at UCSD, but that was approximately 100 years ago, and I have forgotten everything (not just about surfing, but about EVERYTHING  I learned in college.)  I did get on my feet this time, but never had control.  Lisa is much better than I am - she's the one with the board.  I decided 3 things.  1) I need a longer board.  2) I have to start doing more push-ups (I decided that after my grueling push ups at my belt test last week, and had it confirmed when trying to jump up on the surf board).  3) I need to get to the beach more!  It was so much fun!  I did a lot of boogie boarding on this trip, but it isn't nearly as much fun as surfing.  Besides, I can't let all that college tuition money my parents paid be a compete waste, can I?  I should have majored in surfing.

We thought this was so funny.  We found Caleb passed out on the beach like this.  He had played hard, I guess, and was just OUT cold.

I snapped this picture of Dylan with Luke at the showers.  I love these brotherly moments!

And what ends a day of sand and surf better than s'mores? 

 I like my marshmallows crispy outside, but not black; gooey in the middle.  I have to have the graham crackers and chocolate all ready, so when the marshmallows are all done, I can make the s'more immediately and the heat will melt the chocolate.  I gotta have warm chocolate.  

How do you like your s'mores?

Gettin' Cultured at the Getty

On our way home from Malibu, we stopped at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles for a day of art and cultural refinement.  

The Getty is a great world-class art museum, architecturally exciting, family friendly, houses famous works by renowned artists, and best of all, its FREE.  My kind of place!

The boys participated in a hands-on art project where they learned about symbols in some old tapestries, then made their own block prints of their  own symbols.  

In the "Family Room"  kids get to play with art.  Here the boys are lounging on an elaborate bed.  Comfy?
Caleb copies and colors a butterfly.

One exhibit the kids really had a blast with was called "Please Be Seated."  When you sit in a chair, you see yourself on a monitor above you and it looks like you are sitting in a fancy room.  The kids had to try all the chairs and make funny faces.  And if you were wearing white you looked like all but your head and hands were invisible.

Too Cute!

Here is King Caleb sitting in his virtual royal bedroom.

The gardens at the Getty are art in themselves.

My favorite gallery of the museum was the 18th and 19th century paintings.  It has great works by Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Renoir, and the like.

I got excited when I saw this painting, entitled "Spring".  When I was in high school I went on a field trip to the other Getty, the Villa in Malibu. I loved it, and my favorite piece in the whole museum was this large painting of early Romans celebrating spring.  The photo is bad, but the flowers are perfectly detailed and literally pop off the canvas.  I loved it so much back then that I actually bought the poster there at the gift shop (not cheap for a teenager) and had it hanging inside my bedroom door for years.  Seeing it brought back a lot of memories, and I was surprised that I still liked it as much as I did then.  Its Italy, its feminine, its romantic, its flowery, its detailed - everything that I love!

The twins had to sit to take in this piece - there is a lot going on.

Van Gogh's "Irises" - one of the most expensive paintings in the world (sold for $54 million, but the guy couldn't come up with the cash).    I love this one!  Close enough to touch - but Dylan knows better.  He should because I said "don't touch" about 13 billion times in the course of a few hours.

I also loved the special traveling exhibit on the marble sculpture of Bernini.  No photographs allowed here.  It was amazing how he could take something as hard and cold as stone and make it look as warm and soft as silk, lace, hair, and human skin.  Remarkable to stand so close and study each piece.

I was really inspired and without kids I would have loved to spent a lot more time there.  I love art, and I want my kids to love art.  They had a really good time at the Getty, so that is a good sign.

Feeding Frenzy

I can't believe I missed this when I wrote my post about our trip to Utah/Yellowstone, but I didn't want to forget this classic Caleb moment, so here goes.

When we were in Salt Lake we went to visit that time-honored establishment of our pioneer ancestors - the Chuck-a-Rama.  Now, I know that as a good parent I should have assisted my 4 year old in his food selections, guiding him to nutritious, well-balanced choices, but I was a little preoccupied with getting my timing just right so I could get the sticky buns as they came out of the oven.  Happily, Caleb was left to fend for himself.  

So as I was merrily chomping away, trying to decide which dish was most deserving of a second helping to fill that tiniest of remaining empty space in my gullet, Caleb came trotting back from the dessert bar with a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream.  I looked at his place - he already had half-eaten chocolate pudding, jello, banana  pudding, and vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.  That was it.  

"Caleb,"  I said, the good mom was kicking in - finally, "you can't have more ice cream.  You've had enough dessert."

"MOM", Caleb said looking up at me.  It was one word, but the tone translated roughly to "How dumb can you be?" the way that only Caleb can say it.  "Mom," again, for emphasis, "this is my DIN-NER," pointing to the chocolate pudding, jello, banana pudding, and vanilla ice cream with sprinkles, "and THIS," holding up the chocolate ice cream, "is my 'SERT."  He rolled his eyes, wondering why such clarification was necessary. 

I couldn't argue with that - just as long as he ate his dinner first.  I got up to get more sticky buns.

Going for the Brown

While the Lopezes were going for the gold over in Beijing, the VanBuskirks were going for the brown, green, and blue with a brown stripe.

Last night six of us had a taekwondo belt test.  Dennis and Alex tested for green belts, Derek tested for senior blue belt, and Dylan, Nathan, and I tested for brown.  Caleb has a yellow belt, but he didn't test this time.  Luke has yet to get his white belt.

The test started out tough for me.  I had to do 55 push ups, stopping and holding push up position between each ten while reciting the Ten Rules of Life (they are like the Young Women values for martial arts - effort, etiquette, character, sincerity, self-control, respect, humility, confidence, discipline, integrity - sir!  Interesting how the YW values and the 10 Rules of Life both end with "Integrity."  We should make the young women recite the YW theme while doing push-ups like that.)  It was brutal!!! No pics of me doing that.  I have them, but you can't see them.

Then we had to show our Poomse, or forms.

Alex and Dennis punching for their forms.

Derek did a great job on his form.

Nathan and Mom testing for forms together.

Then came the part I feared the most - sparring.  I dread it because of the ridiculous gear I have to wear - oh, and the fact that I can get killed!

Derek lets is opponent have it with a side kick.

Nathan attacks his opponent mid-air.

The men fight with so much power!  Dennis insteps right to the chest.

Alex with a nice high kick.  Way to go Al!

It is SO FUN watching Dylan spar.  He is everywhere and non-stop - and so very serious.  Here is is fighting a much higher belt - no problem.  Nice kick to the head.

 Yes, this is me going for a head shot against my friend Bo.   She is shorter than me (who isn't?), but she is a higher belt and TOUGH as nails!  She intimidates me.  But thanks to my long legs I was able to hold my own, and had fun doing it.

Then came everybody's favorite part of a belt test - breaking boards!  There is such satisfaction in hearing that board crack and feeling your foot go through it!  It is something everyone should try - it is such a confidence booster.

Dylan finishes off his jumping spin hook in style.

Look how high off the ground Dennis gets with his jumping front kick.  The instructor couldn't hold the board high enough.

 OK.  I can't believe I am putting this online for all to see, but here is my spin hook.  I don't know how my technique looks, but I think my hair looks great, and that's really what I was going for.

Now ladies, admit it, doesn't that look like fun?  That's why I am always running off at the end of enrichment.  Women's only class: Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30 pm.  Put the kids to bed and come.  I'm telling you - If this gangly, awkward, mom can do this, anyone can.

Group photo after the test.  Everyone did such a great job.  I was so proud of all my guys!

So now I am a brown belt.  For those of you who don't know the belt system, on a scale of 1 (white) to 12 (black), brown is a 9, so it is considered a high belt.  If you would have told me 2 years ago that I'd be a brown belt, I would have thought you were bonkers.  I used to watch the brown belts in awe, and now I can hardly believe that I am one.  I never thought I'd get this far, but I just kept working hard and having fun, and now here I am.  Maybe if I keep at it I can become a black belt someday after all.  Maybe we all can.  But that is easier said than done.  One belt at a time.  Next belt - Red.  I love red!  It's my favorite color, after pink (surprisingly, they don't have a pink belt in taekwondo.  Go figure.)

They say that brown is the new black - but I don't think that applies to taekwondo.

Family photo with Farai and Kylee Muchenje, our wonderful instructors. 

 Why do we do it?  Well, to quote the Visa commercial about the Lopezes at the Olympics:

"The family that punches, dodges, blocks, throws, and roundhouse kicks together...stays together."