Jackpot

 

When did I know I hit the jackpot with Todd? I knew pretty quickly. 

I knew I had hit the jackpot when I met him.  I had never met anyone so sweet and thoughtful, I had never met anyone who could make me laugh so hard or try things I had never considered.  I had never met anyone with so many friends I actually liked. I had never met anyone whose family I truly loved being around.

I knew I hit the jackpot when we got married.  I couldn’t imagine being happier than I was on our wedding day 6 years ago.  I was so excited for our future – even though I really had no idea what our future was. 

Todd wrote me the most beautiful letter on our wedding day. Boy, did I cry.

I hit the jackpot when I married Todd.  I really didn’t know how big a winner I was, though  Every year on our anniversary, I think about how I was truly blessed when I met Todd and I had no idea.  I “knew” – but I really didn’t know.  I love him more today than I did on our wedding day .  I am still excited for our future – every day is a new adventure, especially since Luke joined us.

When I look at our wedding rings, they’re not the biggest, they’re not the fanciest, but they remind me everyday of hitting the jackpot.  I am so blessed to be your wife, Todd.  You are the most amazing husband and father, beyond any expectation I could have ever had. 

To the best six years of my life and to all the years ahead.

Gilroy Gardens

After returning from San Diego, we still had a few days left of Spring Break. We decided to hit up Gilroy Gardens with the Gartin clan as Luke hasn’t been since he was 7 or 8 months old.

We we a little suspicious of Garlic Man. But Luke was willing to take a picture with him.

Took a trip on the carousel

We took a twirl on the Strawberry Whirl!

Rode in a fish . . .

Drove some cars. Drove some cars lots and lots of times. Did not get off the ride until he had ridden 5 times straight. He absolutely adored it. Why? Because the steering wheel actually WORKED. The car turned in and out, though at a certain point, it came back in automatically on a hydraulic system. Every time it came back in, it hit with a little bump, to which Luke would proclaim in his loudest voice, “OH, FOR GOODNESS SAKES.” Thanks, Luke.

Please note the serious determination.

Luke has some crazy mad driving skills.

Luke and his buddy, Jake. Woe to their preschool teacher this summer . . .

We attempted to see a butterfly release, but the scheduling didn’t work out so well. But the boys LOVED the waterfalls!

Oh, the tears when we had to get off the train. Luke loves all things trains. I’m sure you already knew that though.

The last ride of the day was the toddler version of the rapids rides. Mostly it just spun us around and showed us pretty scenery.

Done and done. We had to take a few laps to give the boys a little more nap time. We ordered pizza, drove through Starbucks, etc.

We found more energy after the nap and pizza. These boys freak me out when they push each other on their trikes. Yikes!

So much love.

“Brothers don’t shake hands. Brothers gotta HUG.” – Tommy Boy

Jake’s Birthday Party!

 

For buddy Jake’s 3rd birthday, the Gartins got a bounce house! Woo hoo! Tire them out! Tire them out!

Gifts, of course.  We had to do gifts.

The opening of gifts can be rough for a three year old to watch.  Luke, though showing some signs of envy, did pretty good.  We avoided tears, though repeatedly ask to open the presents to play with them.

 

 

Note to self: bring nicer camera to bounce house parties!

 

 

Buddy love!

Happy Birthday, Jake! It’s fun to be three with you!

Luke’s Obsession?

Yeah, Luke still likes trains.

Obsession.

I am totally obsessed with Coffee Bean.

I worked at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf when I was in college in LA and of my “non-career” jobs, it was by far my favorite. I loved wearing a hat (LA food code!) and not worrying about my hair, I loved wearing a uniform that wasn’t ugly, and I discovered I was a morning person! I had no problem with my 5:30 am start time!

The shopping area that it was in had a theater a couple of doors down that would show cheap-o movies, too. So I would finish with my early morning shift, walk down, get a student rate for a cheap-o movie and see a movie before class. I loved doing that.

I loved tips. I LOVED tips. I mean, I worked at the exceptional rate of $6.25 an hour, so tips were a huge part of my pay. Since I worked in a wealthy part of LA - Marina Del Rey (not fancy shui shui Beverly Hills, but better than where I lived) the tips were awesome. They weren’t like Starbucks tips – which are all collected and then separated based on number of hours worked. Every time someone left a shift, tips were dumped and separated into tubs for each employee working on that shift. Every time someone came on shift, tips were dumped and separated. So you got the tips that you actually worked! I always worked mornings, when business is busy and tips are generous. So I wanted THOSE tips – the ones I earned. I had a huge change jar at home and would empty my pockets every day. Daily pay? I loved it! In fact, tips were my gas money every week. I paid for an entire trip to Vegas on tips. (I am always very cheerful in the mornings)

I love the Coffee Bean coffee. I always have it at home. My friends and family know to get it for me when they see it. Frappuchinos have NOTHING on Ice Blendeds. I adore the coffee, the espresso – everything!

The terrible thing about it all? Coffee Bean and Tea Leafs are really only in Southern California. So I become obsessed anytime we start heading towards LA or SD. I have been to many a Coffee Bean in the So Cal region now. Poor Todd – he finds himself driving all over for my obsession. But it’s so yummy!

Now, there is a Coffee Bean in San Fran, but I’ve never been there. Apparently, I find it easier to go to San Diego than San Francisco.

Lucky for me, my MIL has a Coffee Bean not to far away from her!

San Diego Zoo

We decided to take another shot at visiting the San Diego Zoo now that Luke is older and can see the animals a little bit better.  He doesn’t need to have the animals moving quickly to be excited about them. 

Luke was very concerned about the map.  He spent a great deal of time looking at it to determine where we would go next.

Luke absolutely LOVED the snake house – he ran from one snake to the next, each time more and more excited.  He was frustrated though, when the snake’s camouflage worked too well and he couldn’t find the snake.

Just like Pokey!

“Hi, Pokey. How are you?”

Just a moment . . .

It is the night before the last day of school for the 2010-2011 school year and I am sitting here surrounded by papers. I just spent a few hours at Starbucks grading, grading, grading, till I closed the place down. I still have a ton to do, but I thought I'd reflect on the week, month, school year for just a moment or two.

I'll be honest: it was a really hard, frustrating year. I thought I had a few tough kids last year, but it was a cake walk compared to some of my class from this year. Instead of focusing on that mess (which I had to for most of the year) I need to focus on the really good stuff. You know, the stuff that reminds you why you do what you do.

1. All of the last week of school is spent on dressing up for different themes. (much like high school "spirit week.") Today was "Idol Day" - to which we laughed about dressing up like a "golden calf." Har de har har. I dressed up as Ramona Quimby. She is pretty rad.

One of my 3rd grade girls dressed up as President Barack Obama. In a sea of Hannah Montanas and Taylor Swifts and little girls in booty shorts, my little one was dressed up as the president with a tie and her dad's old cell phone. I couldn't have been more proud. I don't want to forget about the good kids that often were not focused on as much as my discipline and academic issue students.

One of my 3rd grade girls dressed up as . . . me. Yeah, I got pretty teary there. Really all it came down to was sticking a big ol' flower in her hair and calling herself "Mrs. Bickel." But everyone got it and I just hugged the living daylights out of her. I really needed that. I needed to see that I'm not just the "mean" teacher, but I am appreciated. Just a little bit. What a sweetie pie.

Field Day (Wednesday) can be quite a blessing - I get to see my old students that have moved on to the older grades, which so much fun. But really, my class from last year, when they came to my station, all started running and just about knocked me over with hugs. I was so glad to see them - they were such an awesome, talented, sweet class - even my "tough" ones were happy to see me! Talking to one of the 4th grade moms, she said her son came home so excited to get "lots of hugs from Mrs. Bickel." Hey, if I can get a 4th grade boy to give me hugs, I think I'm a winner.

So I'll keep slugging through this mess of grading. I will laugh at the statement that "Mercury is actually bigger than it appears from Earth" on a research report. I will take a deep breath and move on. I will finish my grading, go to school and be ready for my final day of the school year. I will hug all my kids and tell them how proud I am of them, because in reality, they have improved and they're better leavin' than they were comin' in. I'll give "I'll miss you" hugs to the ones that I had fun with and I'll give "I'm glad you're going into 4th grade" hugs to the ones that made my days tough.

And just like every year, after they're all gone and they've taken every last art project and writing assignment and workbook we almost finished, I will sit quietly in my chair that I didn't get to sit quietly in all year and I'll take 5 minutes just to think about me having an end, with a new beginning waiting for me in September.

And I will start praying to the Great Enrollment Gods that I can dodge a few of those 2nd grade students that I know are tough and pray pray pray that I won't have them.

I did not pray enough last summer. It was a rough rough year.

**Next time, I have pictures. I swear.**