Sokitomi Family Blog

Carlos builds a railroad

Carlos builds a railroad in the backyard before dinner.

First Day of School

It's the start of Second Grade for Carlos. New Year, New School. We
moved on from Farallone View to The Wilkinson School (a local private
school). We'll miss our friends and teachers, but the budget cuts at
Farallone were just too much.

Wilkinson seems great. Very friendly and (we hope) perfect for Carlos.

Good luck CFCD.

Moving blog

Just moving the blog, might make the rss feed go crazy.

 

Leah's Birthday

Symmetry demands that we also wish Leah a Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Leah! Today was coloring day, so Carlos decided that this was the best picture to scan and give to Leah. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Dean

here if Wordpress doesn't inline it. The eye roll at the end?  Yea I taught him that.

First Tooth

Carlos lost hist first tooth while eating a corn on the cob on Saturday.  The tooth fairy left the traditional first tooth gift in his bed.

The Ashes are Out to Sea

After Dad died, we siblings, John E, Margaret, and I, agreed that we would put his ashes out to sea together with those of Mom. Nearly nine years later she died and we could fulfill this romantic and symbolic act, joining them with some of the wonders of life which they so loved.

Margaret and I drove out to nearby Half Moon Bay Harbor before 4 p.m. on 28 December 2009, and watched the charter fishing boat, Huli Cat, come in with a load of 11 fisherpeople and 3000 pounds of Humboldt squid. We watched the huge squid, 25-45 pounds each, being unloaded, some of it for scientific research. We learned a lot about these squid, a tropical animal with an abnormally huge population in this area and making its way towards Alaska. Some of the reasons are natural, some may be due to global warming. Their life styles and possible impact on other sea life is being studied by the man we met. The squid isn't the tastiest of its breed, but is an excellent and plentiful supply of cheap protein. The squid live only 18 months before they reproduce and then die. See Squids4Kids and http://www.reelreports.com/humboldt-squid-below-san-francisco-11508.html where you can see a tiny picture of our captain too. We learned that these squid are great for dissection purposes in high school, even the ganglia are easily visible. Ok, now I am sounding like Mom. Pelicans flew overhead. These were the first of things which we experienced which Mom and Dad would have loved. The boat was finally washed down and we boarded for our exciting ride out the harbor. After a slow start because crab line was being dropped, we went up to 13 knots and up and over the waves. What a thrill! Dad would have been in his element! We thought our brother JohnE, who could unfortunately not make it today, would have loved this ride too. The boat turned to one side and then the other as it fought its way over those tremendous waves, well, tremendous enough for a calm day! Hold on tight!!! One of the crew of two chatted with us to keep us distracted, sort of! This was not a ride for little ones, and most people would have had to hold on to the side, wondering if the next crash and roll would take them with it. Soon, however, we were past the breakers and could bring out the camera again. The timing of our somewhat belated trip was perfect! The lighting, the weather, the rainbow, the sunset - how symbolic, the seals resting on the buoys, the waves and their rooster tails near Maverick's Point, even the surfers out there catching waves. By five o'clock we had reached the sea across from the tide pools at Moss Beach Mom so loved. And there we idled. The chatty crew member cut open the plastic bags containing the powdery ashes of our parents. He told Margaret how to dump them overboard and I photographed. They entered the sea so quickly from the bag, but we watched them as they floated upon the water a while longer, drifting away.. Margaret poured some Big House Red into the sea as a libation, to toast the physical remains of Mom and Dad as they joined with the sea. Then Margaret took a box of Mom's sea shells and drift wood collection and tossed them gradually back into the sea. Will I find the driftwood swan on the beach in a few days? The skipper gunned the engines and twenty minutes later we were back in the slip as the moon rose over the harbor, the return ride over the waves more harmonious than the ride out. We joined Chris and Carlos in a harbor restaurant for dinner, the kind of place Dad would have felt comfortable in, especially with the good beer to quench his thirst. Adios, Mom and Dad! Anne C. Ruecker

Fran Thomas 1923-2009

Margaret's Mother passed away this morning. She has been living at our house for the past 3 weeks while Marghie and her sister Anne cared for her. Fran has been suffering from late stage Alzheimer's for many years now and we're glad that she could pass on surrounded  by her family.  We all loved Fran very much and will miss her.

First grade

Carlos started first grade this year.  He has hist own workspace/desk and everything.  Our little boy is growing up! Chris is still volunteering at the school.  This year he is doing the weekly psycho-motor class.  What's psycho-motor you ask?  It's PE.  So that's a funny train wreck every week. Carlos likes it.  It's "pretty good" and "cool".  I think recess is still the best part for him. One funny thing is that teachers all go by their first name (different than in kindergarten).  Miss Thea is our teacher, and I sometimes teach in Miss Linda's class. Elementary school has become such a profound part of our lives that it impacts everything we do.  Our social circle, schedule, and conversation all revolve around these people who we (mostly) didn't know two years ago.

San Diego Road Trip

In August Carlos and I left Marghie and the dogs at home, piled in the car and headed to San Diego.  We like to visit my parents at least once a year and this time we decided to take our time and drive down.  This was Carlos's first big road trip. We did many things, and had great fun, but the highlight of the trip for Carlos was staying at a Courtyard Inn with a nice pool.  Go figure. How did we go?  We went as God intended and drove down the 101. We headed to our hotel in SLO just to get us used to driving together.

Pretty soon we settled into a routine -- we would talk until we got bored, and then Carlos would watch videos on my phone until I couldn't take the noise anymore, and then I would listen to the radio for a while until Carlos was bored with my selections. Once we got to the hotel we ran to the store for the few things we forgot and then goofed around the pool until dinner and bed.  We stayed up far too late watching cartoons on the hotel TV. We headed down to visit Uncle J. and Kim in Ontario.  We spent a couple days there -- pool, mini golf, etc.  They were starting school so we went down the 15 into San Diego.  It's been a decade or more since I went through Temecula and the scenery has changed pretty drastically.  It used to be just empty stretches down the 15 and now it's developments with enormous house, Walmart, enormous houses, Best Buy, enormous houses, Walmart, repeat. Lunch at Trader Joe's and then we went to my parents' new house.  I'm so proud of them that they bought their own house.  Woot!  The house is pretty neat, it has this older galley kitchen with a stove that pulls out and a huge backyard.  They are saying they want to keep the fake grass in the front yard though. Big mistake. We did the normal San Diego routine of the Zoo and Sea World.  My Mom couldn't really deal with changes at Sea World.  It has gone from this great non-profit to a straight-up amusement park.  But with fish.  Carlos and I loved it though.  We're starting to have the same schedule -- only stay for a while and then go back to the pool or house and zone out for a while.  After a few days of that we kissed them goodbye and headed out. We did stop at the Point Loma national park where the Cabrillo Monument is and tide pools are.  Carlos had been a real trooper through the whole trip and I gave him a Nintendo DS to play Super Mario Bros. on.  I was worried that he wouldn't be able to play it by himself, but he had absorbed enough from Allie and Adam that he played it no problem. We still did a lot on the way back.  Stayed the night in Anaheim at a hotel with a nice pool.  Visited with Dean for lunch, when to that nice park in Irwindale, stayed with my brother again.  Most of that is a blur.  We were lucky enough to visit with Celeste and her parents and spend the night. Back up through San Luis Obispo and then home to Marghie and the dogs.  Hurray!  Carlos played Mario the entire time.