Airport Run

"Can we go somewhere?" is a common James question these days.

On early evenings like tonight, this is still our go-to spot:

For those of you at home who answered "Airport" - you win!

Santa Rosa still has a pretty sleepy little airport, despite recent growth. The REACH helicopters continue to be fascinating. The blinking blue and red lights are fun, and when the sun goes down, the colours in the sky and surroundings are magnificent.

We watch the planes take off and wonder where they are going. We wave them goodbye and tell them we hope they have a good trip. It feels like our family airport.

Then we take the back roads for the short trip home.

Five 'til Midnight: Favourite Things

The airport, airplanes, and helicopters are all still favourite things and destinations for James. We are lucky to live near a small regional airport that allows us to easily watch aircraft take off & land. Sometimes we watch from the car. Other times we check out the action from just outside the airport itself. Other times ... we head to the museum that is located right down the street:


James loves bike riding. He has outgrown 2 trikes at home, so finding out that the second preschool has not only larger trikes but a large riding ring around the playground has filled us all with glee. James at times cannot contain his joy -- he must howl!


Water. Rocks. Add James. Prepare for a long afternoon of rocks being thrown in the river, with intervals of James wading in the river to find more rocks. Lather, rinse, repeat. Hey -- he's looking like a southpaw, suddenly!

School: The Preshow

Mornings like this are when I suspect that the high points of James' day may come at the beginning. He continues to be interested in all kinds of things in the air. Aren't we lucky that there's an approachable airport on our morning school route?

Here is what we saw this morning (all pictures taken with cell phone on side of road, parked):

A hot air balloon at the airport!

Down for a landing. Time to look for REACH helicopters.

Only one on the pad today. Found out later there was an early morning transport call for a snake bite victim.

Hey wait - the hot air balloon is up in the air again?

Look! A bird, a plane, a hot air balloon!

Postcard-perfect morning in Sonoma County.

Aaaand down for the landing in a field, right on our route to school!

The hot air balloon festival comes to town tomorrow. I can hardly wait!

Packing Lists ... the Shorter Version Rules!

Even though it means more travel time, I prefer to drive down to the LA area from the Bay Area. Honestly, I do not think James could wait successfully in the security lines, and all the noise and people would freak him out. I am sure that just as we made it to the head of the screening line, he'd bolt. Yeah,   I so don't ever want to test that paranoid fantasy ...

Also, I have more freedom to PACK. Airline weight restrictions aside, many items we used to entertain the kids (or keep them fed & clean) involved Prohibited items (milk, water, nail clippers, scissors, food). Besides, by the time we got to the airport, parked the van, took the shuttle to the terminal, got through security, and checked in, and flew into a SoCal airport (assuming the plane was not delayed a couple of hours or oversold) we'd be in Bakersfield or further south. Trumping everything else is the fact that James cannot stand random up & down motions and has extremely sensitive ears.

But back to the packing list. Clothes are the easy part. Food is pretty easy because our kids are picky eaters. I usually do the weekly shopping at Trader Joe's and shlep it with us and we're good for most meals. Equipment is my Waterloo. It's getting much better. I used to pack 2 bags per child for special toys/comfort items. Of course they were items used daily, so it had to be done at the last minute, while taking care of home chores for the week or so we'd be gone. Recipe for stress and cortisone overload: Bing!

Here's a sample of what we packed this time:
@ Daughter: conditioner, brush, sparkle hair spray, nail polish, tooth brush, paste, flossers, mouth wash, Chapstick/lip gloss, plug-in nite lite

@ Son: pull ups, Balmex (hands-down my fav to deal with any kind of rash), powder, wet wipes, tooth brush, nail clipper, tooth brush, paste, floss

We had some extras in there because we had tickets for Trick-or-Treating at Disneyland. When in Rome ... eh? The exciting part was that everything fit in 1 bag per child. If not for the costumes, it would have been 1 bag for both kids ...

Here's the bog difference for me, when considering logistics for the trip:
-------- ephemera ----------
• 2 books
• 1 sketch pad
• MagnaDoodle
• phone
• camera & download cable
• chargers for phone and camera
• scissors
• sewing kit
• old crib mattress & sheet
• picnic blanket
• double stroller

The first 8 items fit in one reuseable bag. The next 2 items we use for bunking James in hotels. This is because he rolls off the side of a bed easily, and once he whacked his head. We find a nice corner for him, put down the picnic blanket and then set him up with the crib mattress and his blankies, which he travels with. Sometimes we even use the picnic blanket if we're also stopping at the beach. It's heavy-duty, and lined with this vinyl on the underside. Strange as it seems, I still find use for the double stroller. It's like having a nanny with strong arms while spending 15 hour days at an amusement resort. James still likes to buckle himself in -- it seems to make him feel secure.

This is what we did not bring: box(es) of diapers, special feeding cups and plates, toys that run on batteries and make lots of noise when buttons are pushed, white noise machine, ice, beads on a wire, porta potty chair, booster seat, books that make noise when you push buttons, spinning toys, toy phones, stacking toys, teething toys, portacrib, excessive stuffed animals, or extra "lovey" pillows.

Vacation just got better!

The FAAvourite Fun

Where has James continuously asked to go visit, ever since he started preschool, over 5 years ago?

That's right, the Sonoma County airport, officially known as the Charles M. Schultz Airport.

He loves to watch the planes take off, their spinning propellers, and the observation posts around the field. He likes visiting in December, to catch the tree of lights atop the air control tower ... and visit Santa, who lands from a Sikorsky helicopter.

 At least once a year we visit the adjoining air museum. Their Wings Over Sonoma County air show makes going back to school exciting.

And he loves, for some reason, the red REACH helicopters. By golly, we have sat parked for up to 15 minutes, just observing those babies parked on the tarmac. And if we get lucky and see a take-off or landing? Oh my -- such the ecstasies of delight!

So yes, we went there too, over Spring Break. Several times.

First Passenger Train Ride

James loves trains. He has been on train rides before at Disneyland:

Travel Town:

Little Steamers:

But on the West Coast, there have not been a lot of chances to experience passenger rail. That changed this weekend with the opening of SMART. We took an afternoon trip from the Sonoma County Airport to downtown San Rafael and back. Standing room only, most of the way. Luckily, we arrived early enough and got seats.

What an exciting was to spend a Monday. Here's to more train trips!

FFA Twighlight Parade: Let the Summer Start!

Many small towns have sweet traditions. Healdsburg has the Future Farmers' Association Twighlight Parade. James and I took it in. It signals the start to summer up in our area. As Healdsburg has become "discovered" it has become a big draw for the area.

Luckily, I know how to sneak in some side streets and find parking at a fairly close range, even once the parade gets underway. James' sister has been in this parade three times. This year, just James and I watched from the cur, sharing a bag of Doritos and a huge bottle of water.

There are trick riders:

HOBO Bicyclists (my favourites for this year):

Many dogs, a few goats, and an occassional cow on a float ... everyone from the preschools to the vineyards enjoyed this year's Barnyard Beach Party!

New entry for me this year (which might be James' favourite entry): our local airport. Nice waving, Control Tower! Can you bring the REACH helicopters next year?

Night Swimming

Not only do I like the song, I like to do it too. Which makes it a great posting title, but I digress ...

It's been unusually hot around here all week. Roast, roast, crisp, and schizzle! James does not do well in heat. He melts and gets cranky. The school buses and summer school do not have a/c. Thank goodness he's back home before 12:30pm!

So on Friday, I took he and his sister to the gym's pool after dinner, right about sundown. It was still like 90° and nice without the sun beating down on us. Big sister has been having swimming lessons, so she put on her inflatable ring/tube and hopped right in.

James was not so sure. He wanted his legs in the water and he wanted to keep his shirt on. After a bit, I coaxed him into going shirtless (this is tough for James). We went slowly down the steps, with James grabbing me as much as I was holding him. He got to watch the kids playing and his sister having fun. The gym is right by the airport, so he got to see a low-flying plane coming in for a landing -- he lit up as he waved to it and yelled "Hi, plane"

After a while, I started getting him a little more wet. James got nervous, and started to talk in babble-speak -- but he liked it too. Then I started singing and moving him. His sister's teacher from last year taught us to slowly tip them side to side, singing "Tick-tock, tick-tock, I'm a little cuckoo clock," so I did that too. He loved that. He even tried leaning over further to drink the water.

We went all around the pool. After about 45 minutes, I got James to float on his tummy, with me just holding him under his arms, and kick with his feet -- yay!!! He even let me float him on his back for a little bit. We all had to leave when they closed the pool.

We all really enjoyed doing this, especially at the end of a long, hot day! It was so hot getting back into the car (in the 80° range) that we stopped off for ice cream on the way home. We were going to get snow cones, but the gym's snack bar had closed.

I am so proud of how much more comfortable James is in the water. I never thought he'd let me float him and start kicking his legs on his own. This is partly because he's been uneasy even in the tub -- he has trouble balancing in the water and doesn't like it splashing on his face. The other part is that I know James has trouble "knowing" where his body is in space, and floating in water would seem to make that worse. Activities that involve the vestibular areas of his brain have been a real challenge for him.

I guess you can never underestimate the power of doing something for fun, and being surrounded by other kids doing the same thing and enjoying themselves.

Air Traffic

What did we least expect to see on our morning drive?

That's right -- a helicopter. James was delighted. He loves the airport, air museum, and machines that fly!

He can say the word "helicopter," with the "l" being a little weak, but in the moment of absolute excitement, it comes out "airplane!"

June Mornings

James has summer school for a month. At first, he was not very happy about this. Now, however, we've found an incentive to make going to school a fun affair -- after dropping Daddy off at work, we head down the road to the airport, to look at the planes taking off and see if the REACH helicopters are out on the tarmac.

One of several craft being fixed up by the Air Museum.

Score! They are both there.

On our driving tour of the airfield, we get to pass by all the wonderful aircraft on display at the Pacific Coast Air Museum. It's been a while since we stopped by. We'll add that to our list of summer activities.

Toward the end of next week, we'll see the hot air balloons practicing for the big annual hot air balloon festival. What a lift for summer school!

Aloha Morning

Yes, it's February in inland Northern California. Mornings are cold and crispish, days have been mostly sunny and mild. Spring is just around the corner, but we'd still enjoy a tropical break, or at least pretend we're on one.

Enter Bad Ass Coffee. Yes, it's a naughty name, but their donkey is cute.  Have you been to one? It's like a visit to the islands. The interior features mock tropical trees and plants, grass and bamboo mock roofs, and there are plenty of island tunes to be had.

When we're on our early morning drop-off schedule, the kids and I like to kill our spare 30 minutes hanging out in the wicker furniture with tropically-inspired upholstery. I get my Kona blend coffee and the kids split a croissant and snuggle with me for a bit.

James either takes pictures with my camera or cozies up with his iPad while I brush Big Sister's long hair and style it for the day. Not only are we a bit earlier than usual for our school arrival, we are usually more relaxed as well.

Some day, I hope we can all take a vacation to Hawaii. I admit, getting James through the lines and airport security is my first worry. Getting him to take a plane ride calmly is another. For right now, this is a nice slice of the tropics in the morning. Aloha!

Movie Review: Peanuts Movie

Wrapping up a long holiday weekend after a super-stressful couple of weeks. We wanted a family movie, and considered The Good Dinosaur. When I looked up the movie times, I saw a reminder ad for the monthly Sensory Sensitive Films. For November, it was the Peanuts Movie. Sold!

What is a sensory sensitive movie showing? It's:

• Leaving the lights partially up ...
• Turning the soundtrack much lower than regular showings ...
• Creating a welcome environment for families with members who cannot tolerate loud noises, sit still through a movie, or have verbal stims to help get them through something exciting like a movie out in public.

Our local theatre provides this on the last Saturday of each month at 10:00 am, and I salute the heck out of them for this!
Back to the movie ... James knows the Peanuts gang. He may not have grown up reading them in the newspapers the way I did, and we don't have TV, so he's missed the TV specials on holidays, but the Vince Guaraldi soundtrack is a perennial favourite at home and on car trips. Every week on our shopping trip, James looks for Peanuts character dolls in our local Trader Joe's -- James has friends among the crew members, who "help"him look -- he loves his lollipop reward for finding their hideout in the store. We've visited Snoopy's Ice Arena, toured the Charles Schultz Museum (which also sponsors traveling Science Exhibits for our schools), and cursed the Red Barron in the skies overhead during our annual air show at the Charles M. Schultz airport -- of course we wanted to see this movie!

Two thumbs up for a well-done tribute to the series and characters. I was not sold on the 3D-ish animated treatment until I saw it onscreen -- it's a simple (to look at), charming mix of old and new that I think works very well. The characters look, sound, and feel very true to what I grew up with. Snoopy, who I feel became much larger and complicated than originally intended, was, to me, very recognizable. All his personae were there: good dog/Charlie Brown's ally, WWI Flying Ace, Joe Cool, Dark & Stormy Night writer, and Woodstock's friend. Charlie Brown's honesty, compassion, and staying true to himself despite all his bad luck shines through in a very refreshing way that I think has been missing from recent Peanuts animations.

The plot is simple, like Peanuts was written/drawn for the newspapers, and the kids are refreshingly kid-like and timeless, without being cloying or too mature. A lot of familiar and well-loved themes are woven into the simple story in a way that feels like snuggling down in a familiar patchwork quit that visually cues happy memories. If you like the Peanuts gang, you should definitely see this movie. If you are looking for modern re-imaginings classics, like Cat In the Hat, The Grinch, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or the Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, this is probably not for you.

Speaking as a parent of sensory-overloaded kids, having the soundtrack down low was a big help. I really liked the way the dogfights were not too loud or chaotic and the planes sounded realistic, but reproduced on a muted level. While James squirmed and started asking if the movie was going to be over before we hit the 2/3 way through mark, the vignettes were short and attention-getting. I enjoyed being able to redirect James by connecting his local experiences with the Peanuts characters to the characters onscreen, without feeling like I was detracting from the movie experience of the rest of the audience. Twice, James had to use the bathroom, and because the lights were partially up, this was not a big deal. A couple times we heard verbal stims from other audience members, and felt right at home.

Definitely, I give the movie, theatre, and film series two big Thumbs Up. We plan to return for next month's movie: The Good Dinosaur.

SOOC Saturday: The Riled One

Our family accomplished a lot on Saturday. There was a birthday party, Santa landing in a helicopter at the airport for a meet and greet, a trip to the huge Salvation Army Center and one final surprise later that evening.

For James, with immense reserves of pent-up energy and some frustration of being completely thrown off schedule for over a week, he loved the row of stationary bikes at the Salvation Army yard:

It was really hard to get him off these machines. Especially after he found they had dial timers. OMG, why did we buy him a bike last year? This is what he needed.

After dinner that night, we took a walk in our neighbourhood to look at all the decorations. I'd heard a rumour that Santa might be making a visit, so we set out for what has become known as Helicopter Santa's House:

Two Saturdays ago, during a full moon.

Sure enough, he was there! James was overjoyed. He gave Santa the biggest hug and when Santa asked him what he wanted, James said "A space station!"

Once again, it's not Saturday but it's still the weekend!
There's still time to check out the SOOC action at Marvelous Mommy's blog.
Come on over to see more or join in!