Please Come to Boston

Hola!

It's been a roller coaster few months, and I don't believe that will end anytime soon, actually! We consider it a huge blessing that Frank has been working since we returned to California. He has also been looking for a job. Amgen has given us some great experiences during the past 8 years. The available opportunities there, however, have kind of reached a plateau, so we decided that now it's time to look elsewhere for experiences that will lead us to where we want to be in another 10 or 15 years.

The next opportunity has presented itself in the Boston area. Here's the link to that awesome song from the 70's, "Please Come to Boston" by Dave Loggins. The very funny thing is, as the song goes along and he asks his girlfriend to join him in different places, WE have lived close to the other places in the song: "...please come to Denver... and please come to L.A." His girlfriend each time says no, and asks him to return to Tennessee. (Rest assured, I can pretty much 100% guarantee that these Whitesells will never live in Tennessee. But Boston? It's our Next Chapter!)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UDRLZFgEoGw&feature=related

And, of course, here's a map for those of you who wonder what shape the state is. This map also shows which states border Massachusetts. The winters are not enviable--go ahead, laugh! I've turned into a complete wimp in SoCal's "cold" 55-degree winters--nobody is FORCING us to move to the North Pole--this is a choice we are making--I know, I know!! But you are definitely invited to come visit us -- it's a good reason to plan a spring, summer, or fall trip to New England.

We can take you to see Paul Revere's house, look at the official "Plymouth Rock," and walk onto a replica of the Santa Maria. We can all explore Cape Cod! Frank and I actually honeymooned in Cape Cod, and did the walking tour of downtown Boston, "way back when." We liked it.


Shopping will be similar to here, in the Boston area, yet different…I checked online for Target, Kohl’s, and Costco, and they all exist in that area! No Kmarts, and one Walmart that is 14 miles away. Hmmm. (Oh well, I haven’t had those closeby here, either.)

There are many places you could move to, FROM southern California, that would be less expensive to live. Boston is NOT one of them! Ha. (Seems to be our trend, though…let’s move to a more expensive place than last time.) Home prices are higher in Boston than here, by about 10%. Gas prices are slightly cheaper: $2.99 per gallon this weekend, while I think I just filled up at $3.19.

One big plus is that public schools are ranked much better in Massachusetts. (There is a website where you can rank schools, by state...California is #43, Massachusetts is #1.)

So anyway, we continue to research! Frank starts Feb. 18, and the family will move when school gets out, in late June. The saga continues... :)

Guess Who Came to Dinner...

Aloha!

OK, here’s your EEEEWWWWwww for the day. Let me preface this story: Years ago, I lived a semester in Oahu, Hawaii. In that glorious place, we learned through various friends who worked in the restaurant industry, that restaurants there have rodents. Yes, it’s true, it’s a lush, beautiful, green island with LOTS of life, including mice and rats and cockroaches, and those are just the well-known critters. Don’t go back into the kitchen, we were warned, or behind the restaurant where they put their trash…you will NEVER want to eat at McDonald’s, other fast food, or even a “real” restaurant again! So, we didn’t. I have found that in certain circumstances, ignorance is, indeed, bliss.

So, fast-forward to yesterday, when I take an innocent trip to Costco. Get the film processed, pick up a bag of rolls. (I love their rolls.) Get them home and put them on the table as part of dinner. Yummmmmmmmmy.

Then it’s AFTER dinner. I reach into the roll bag to have another one before I clean up. Hmmm. This one looks like it’s already been chewed on. Wait a minute, here’s another one with bits of it missing? AND it looks like little teeth marks, around the edges of it. Further examination of the bag reveals small tears in the bottom of the bag. Oh dear, I believe we are not the only ones who had these for dinner.


Gross.

Cleaning Up Puke and Eating Gravel

Hi! I can’t believe it’s the 20th already. Wow!

Last week was a little blurry and threw me off—Kara had stomach flu from midnight to 11:30 a.m. (It was brutal. Brutal for HER, for obvious reasons...brutal for ME, since cleaning up vomit is right up there on my list of Things I Wish I Could Do Daily. Just second to Sticking Needles In My Eyes.), so I kept her home Monday and Tuesday. I was up for the “Really Good Mom Award” when I waited the full 24 hours from the last time she puked, plus some, before I let her go back to school. She went back Wednesday, yippee, normal, playing, eating, then…later Wednesday night she started AGAIN. (Who gets it AGAIN??) Start all over. She stayed home with me again Thursday, and went to school Friday. I still can’t figure it out.


(By the way, these are NOT my children jumping bikes...I just like the picture...) Yesterday was a “scouting bike ride” (in quotes for a reason) for David, and since Frank went too, Teresa tagged along. Two people in the group went to the wrong meeting place, then they all putzed around waiting for everybody to show up, adults to talk, etc. FINALLY they got things underway, and 5 minutes into it David (12) wiped out, ate a little gravel, then shortly therafter, one of the leaders’ tires blew, and they had to go back. All told, in maybe 2 hours of other “stuff,” there was approximately 15 minutes of actual riding.

Tomorrow the kids and Frank have the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It’s supposed to be cold and rainy!

Ugh. We’ll see what we can come up with to do.

Kari

One More Page

Hello!



I like to learn, and this has been a good couple of days. I am learning Photoshop, so you are the recipient of my experiments (digital scrapbook pages), and I am also learning to better use Microsoft Excel. (You'll probably be disappointed, but I'm NOT going to post my latest Excel practice chart from the tutorial...)



BUT...I will show you the fruits of yesterday's efforts, based on a mini-trip the kids took during Christmas Break. They love to bike with their dad, and had been begging to ride with him to our favorite little donut shop closeby. It was actually cold here during the break, I know you don't think it GETS cold here, but it does! In the morning the van temperature gage said 42 degrees or something, so when you see the kids riding bikes with gloves and coats--it is SUNNY, but it's COLD! ha.

More to come as I learn more........................... :) Kari

Back into the Swing of Things

Hi!


The kids have been back in school a week now. Back to waking everybody up early and making lunches, you know the routine!
Before Christmas, all the 5th graders had a "Fruit and Vegetable Derby." In teams of 5 or so, they could use any fruits and vegetables they wanted and 4 toothpicks or something, to make a car that would go down a ramp in the auditorium. Awards were given for distance and most colorful, and a few others. Teresa had a lot of fun with it. Here are a few pictures of the day. (As you can see from her Derby Team group shot, Teresa is very comfortable "Playing with the Boys...) :)

Then, I took a few photos from Kara's events of December. There's a Santa shot, games we played after Christmas, and one from the ward Christmas Breakfast, where the kids could do crafts.
Have a happy weekend! Love, Kari

The First 5 Days of the Year

Hi and Happy New Year!

Well it has definitely been a week! Kind of reminds me of summer. I just love not having to get up early to pack lunches and rush everybody out the door! Interesting how the time flies right by, whether the kids are in school or not.

Highlights for the week include watching the Michigan game and (gasp) they WON!!!!!! Yes! We went to the Peterson’s house since we don’t have cable…and often when we make the effort to get to a house to watch the U of M play in a bowl game, they do not emerge victorious. (Frank is then crabby the rest of the afternoon…) I think they may have won in spite of themselves, this time: 4 turnovers, how embarrassing. But, the final score warrants an imported picture of the big block “M.” Go, U of M!

We also met up with Kathi and her gang to go to Medieval Times for dinner. (They drove ALL day, then watched the knights battle each other in the arena.) Pretty impressive jousting and horsemanship—we hadn’t been before, and it was very fun. Best of all was spending the time with the Griffiths, as we ate chicken and baked potatoes with our fingers (eeewww...).

Friday, David and I received an education about the FoodShare program they have in Ventura County. He and I spent the afternoon filling orders for groups of individuals in need of food. It’s kind of like the Bishop’s Storehouse they have for our church. We put sacks of potatoes, cans of green beans and applesauce, and crates of oranges onto palates for them to load onto trucks and deliver to people in our county. Then we sorted a monstrous vat of oranges, weeding out the bad ones and storing the good ones. For David’s Boy Scout “Citizenship in the Community” merit badge, he needed to research a local charity organization and serve a number of hours with them. We will probably go 2 or 3 more times to fill the time requirement.

Well, the first 5 days of 2008 have officially flown by. Hope you remember some of it! Have a great week, love, Kari