2010

Two-thousand ten was quite a year for the Jones Family Zoo! So much happened, that we don't even know where to start so we might as well start with how 2009 ended. On New Year's Eve, we had a nice dinner at Benihana:



The rest of the winter and much of the spring was spent studying and gardening. Matt was finishing his Master of Global Management degree at Thunderbird and Brandi was turning the side of our house into a garden paradise. We had sunflowers, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and many other vegetables:



Brandi also spent part of the spring learning about herbs and essential oils. She made cleansers and creams, masks and steams, and other natural products that helped us avoid chemicals and other nasties...

In early April, we spent the weekend in Sedona with some old/new friends, the Blooms. Matt and Gregg were childhood friends and neighbors. Hiking in Sedona (and by The Grand Canyon), the next generation started their friendship...



On April 30th, Matt graduated from Thunderbird School of Global Management. It was the finale of a nearly two-year journey that took him to Santiago and Prague last year. More importantly, though, it introduced him to new friends and ideas...



Our biggest project in the spring, though, was planning our road trip for Matt's second Intel sabbatical, which began the Monday following graduation. Here is a map of our trip with each over-night stop:



We were on the road for over seven weeks and had a GREAT time! We spent time with friends (both long-time and new) and family, visited some places again and saw many others for the first time. We're still sorting through and posting photos, so rather call any particilar experience out, suffice it to say that the whole trip was life-changing. Kathy, Brandi's mom, stayed at the house to care for the zoo...

While still on the road, Matt started interviewing for a new job at Intel. He got an offer in July to join the Global Trade group as a Technology Advisor and started on August 2nd. As big as this change was for Matt's career, it meant a bigger one for the family since the job was in Santa Clara, California! For about the first 10 weeks of the job, Matt commuted daily or weekly while we looked for a place to live. It took a while, but our search finally ended on Valdez Road in Lompico and we moved on October 23rd.



Please read Matt's post about our moving day. It was quite an adventure!

All in all, 2010 was an exciting year for the Jones Family Zoo. We expanded the zoo (adding several species of lizards and toads), traveled to new places, made new friends and reconnected with long-time ones, and learned new things... However, we did end the year in a way very simliar to how we began it...eating at Benihana! This time, with the Loucks family, whom we met at the LIFE is Good Unschooling Conference in May in Vancouver, WA:



We hope you all had a great 2010 and wish you all the best in 2011...

Love,
The Jones Family Zoo

Matt, Brandi, Joshua, & Jacqueline - the humans
Oscar, Casanova, & Bluebell - the dogs
Lucky & Cowboy - the cats
Sephira & Katara - the bearded dragons
Lizzy & Bizzy - the green anole lizards
Toad & Toadsworth - the fire-bellied toads
Spike - the corn snake
Sakana - the betta fish
Hissy & Family - the Madagascar hissing cockroaches

Cartoons

Yesterday, I posted the following as my status update on Facebook:

Change your profile picture to a cartoon character from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same. Until Monday (Dec 6) there should be no human faces on facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is a campaign to stop violence against children.

Many of my Facebook friends did something similar... The picture I chose was Phineas, from the Disney Channel show "Phineas and Ferb." Here he is:



Now, I had to admit that this show isn't technically from my childhood. However, I claimed "childhood reprise" in honor of my kids. Anyway, that's not why I'm writing this. I'm writing this because of a comment someone else made.

I'm confused about why cartoons as a fb profile picture help fight against Child Abuse. Particularly since cartoons aren't known for lack of violence or the proliferation of peace and respect. Perhaps posting a picture of yourself as a child might remind everyone of how children are people, too. Why would we want to remove the human face as a message?

I totally agree, but would like to explain anyway. Cartoons are a great escape from reality. Whether that escape includes violence isn't really the point. If someone's reality includes violence, then maybe seeing cartoon violence (where the characters are always whole again in the next scene) is just what they need.

A childhood picture might be a reminder of a time that wasn't that happy. Personally, I'd rather be reminded of a time when I was able to escape from my childhood than of a time that's actually from my childhood. It's not that my childhood was bad...let's just say I'm glad it's over and I'm REALLY glad to have the opportunity to reprise it with my own kids...

This brings me to Phineas. I chose Phineas because he's an inspiration to me. He's smart, caring, imaginative...all of the qualities I admire about my kids. If you've never seen the show, here's the opening sequence:





Because the show takes place while the kids are on summer vacation, there's no school dynamic interefering with the fun. Phineas and Ferb learn what they need to know in order to do what they want to do...it's a lot like unschooling.

Thinking about cartoons, especially Phineas and Ferb, I'm reminded that my role as a father is to provide my kids with a safe environment in which they can grow. Not just physically safe, but also emotionally safe. Anyone who knows me also knows that I'm against any kind of physical child abuse, but I'm just as against emotional abuse...which is much harder to identify, especially because it's a matter of perspective.

In my every interaction with my kids I try to see from their perspective, beyond the moment and into the future. This is because in the future my kids will look back on these interactions to define our relationship. If, in 30 years, they're asked to choose an image that reminds them of a childhood memory, I hope they want to choose one that reminds them of me.

Moving Day

October 23, 2010 was the day that the JFZ moved from Chandler, Arizona to Felton, California. What follows is the story of that day written by me, Matt...

Here's what we looked like at around 5:00 in the morning. Our plan was to hit the road by 5am so that we could make it to Felton before nightfall.



We took three vehicles. Brandi's mother, Kathy, drove her car and Joshua rode with her. Brandi drove the van and Jacqueline rode with her...along with the dogs. I drove the Jeep containing the rest of the zoo (including two VERY pissed off cats) and pulling a 12x6 U-haul trailer. By 5:15, we were on the 101 heading north and the trailer started oscillating to the point that it would have been suicide to drive at highway speeds. I pulled over and discussed the situation with Brandi. Our options were:

1) Wait for U-haul to open at 7am, swap the trailer for a truck, and tow the Jeep behind it. (This would delay us for several hours...not ideal.)

2) Wait for U-haul to open at 7am, buy a hitch post for Kathy's Nissan, and have that tow the trailer instead. (Her Murano has a higher towing capacity than my Jeep, but then I'd have to drive her car and her mine...not ideal for either of us.)

3) Remove some weight from the trailer and try again.

We decided to go for option #3. The trailer had a lot of heavy stuff in it near the back, so we moved that to Kathy's car and tried again. By 6am, we were on the road and everything seemed to be okay. By around 9am, we were crossing the Colorado River into California!



Our M.O. was for Brandi and Kathy to get ahead of me so they could stop longer for the kids and dogs. I'd pull over whenever they called, but only stay still as long as necessary. Our first stop was for breakfast at Denny's in Blythe. This gave us a chance to stretch our legs, get some food (and coffee!), and walk the dogs.

It was pretty ridiculous to think we could get all the way to Felton (just north of Santa Cruz) before dark since it took us until 3pm to make it to Santa Clarita (just north of LA). However, we didn't want to stop for the night because of the animals. Leaving the cats in their carriers overnight was just as unappealing as letting them out in a hotel room and trying to re-capture them in the morning. By 6pm, the clouds on I-5 were looking very ominous and it was raining steadily soon after.



By around 10:30pm we were in Santa Cruz. Kathy was staying at a hotel there, so the plan was for Joshua to ride with me in the front seat of the Jeep the last leg of the trip. At around 11:00, roughly 18 hours after our initial departure, we were on Lompico Road and getting ready to go up the mountain to our new home.

The trailer had other plans.

Watch the video below and imagine that drive in the dark, in the pouring rain, and after 18 hours on the road. The turn at the 1:22 second mark is where the Jeep's tires started spinning and I said to Joshua, "I think we're in trouble, pal."





Of course, I didn't mean "WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!!!" but that's how Joshua interpreted it and he looked pretty scared. In hindsight, I should have been more clear: "I don't think that the Jeep is going to be able to pull the trailer up the mountain in the rain. Let's make sure we don't slide back into Mom." We pulled off the main road onto a side street that was fairly level.

Brandi and Jacqueline left to get help. Joshua and I tried to figure out what to do...

Unable to turn around, we decided to unhitch the trailer and leave it there. No one appeared to be home at the nearest house, which was just as well. I borrowed a heavy metal pipe that was leaning against a shed to lever the trailer off the hitch.

Meanwhile, Brandi and Jacqueline went to the Trout Farm Inn (a bar on E. Zayante Rd.) and called us from someone's cell phone. (The proprietor told Brandi that "normally, she wouldn't introduce her to these people" which made us wonder...) Joshua and I drove down to meet them and we all headed up to the house.

We arrived at around 11:45, let ourselves in using the key that our realtor left for us, and got the animals inside. We put the dogs in Joshua's room and the cats in the master bathroom. (They're going to be VERY hard to get into their crates for their next visit to the vet.) The others were brought upstairs.

We slept for about four hours (more than the night before) when I woke up concerned that "these people" might think that taking our trailer would be a good idea. While still dark (and still raining, of course), we started unloading the trailer a carload at a time. It took until about 3pm to empty it completely, which left just enough time to get it returned to U-haul in San Jose...

By this time, Kathy was at the house, so Brandi and I could leave and get this done. Not able to just hook the trailer back up to the Jeep and turn it around, I used my trusty metal pipe to lever it around about 45 degrees. This was all I could do as it was starting to slip off the road. Fortunately, it was enough. I hooked the chain to the Jeep's hitch and pulled it around the rest of the way. After a little trial-and-error, we got it re-hitched and were on our way!

Later that evening, Kathy took this picture of us getting ready to walk the dogs. Note that Brandi and I were still wearing the same clothes we had on in the first photo...



Well, we made it and we're glad to be home! No matter what happens to us while living in this house, it seems unlikely that we'll have a tougher weekend than our first...

I'm That Mom

This post was inspired by Ronnie's blog carnival that was started by Flo's post!  Thanks Ladies!

I'm that mom that my kids never want to leave.  I'm that mom that was told that I make home too much fun when my kids didn't want to go to school.  I'm that mom that loves to do crafts and play with my kids.  I'm that mom that can sit and play video games with my son all day long and do nothing else.  I'm that mom that gets just as excited as my son when a cool new game is coming out, and pre-orders games months in advance while anxiously awaiting for there arrival with Joshua.  I'm that mom that is fascinated by life all around me and loves to collect bugs and watch animals with my kids.  I'm that mom that doesn't say no to new pets (if we can properly care for them) and that might be why we're up to 14 at this time...  I'm that mom that orders ladybugs and praying mantis eggs every year so we can watch them, play with them, and release them into our yard. I'm that mom catching crawdads, fish, tadpoles, bugs and more in pools of water.  I'm that mom that can spend hours on the beach looking in tide pools, playing in the sand, and looking for shells with her kids.  I'm that mom that doesn't say yuck to creepy crawlies except spiders (ewww).

I'm that mom that happily (most of the time) cleans her kids rooms for them when they want it done.  I'm that mom that lets her kids eat when and what they want.  I'm that mom that is working on staying calm on the inside and outside when my very intense, amazing daughter blows.  I'm that mom that traditional parents think should take her daughter in hand when she begins yelling at me and I calmly talk with her and hug her.

I'm That Mom that knows her kids are absolutely amazing people and wants them to enjoy life in the here and now; not waiting for someday.

-brandi

Thanks Ronnie and Flo for getting this carnival started.  It's been great to read all the wonderful posts but it also helped to reaffirm my own beliefs in myself as a mother and that was much needed.  Thanks!

What Families Do

Hi!

The week after Father's Day, we were in Grand Junction, Colorado staying with Brandi's friend, Teresa. Dade, her eldest child and only son, turned 11 in April. One day, Dade was sitting on the couch playing a video game while Joshua was watching, when Teresa's cousin, Connie, came into the house. She was carrying some litter she had picked up outside and immediately commanded Dade to take it to the trash in the kitchen. Dade, hopped to it. Joshua, on the other hand, asked, "Why don't you do it yourself?" Brandi and I kept our mouths shut and suppressed smiles. Connie couldn't answer. Thursday, Connie posted this on Brandi's Facebook wall:



I'm glad that she's thought a lot about it. I'd like her, and anyone else with similar tendencies, also to think about this: "That's what families do" explains why Dade did it, but it doesn't explain why she asked. (This makes the dubious assumption that Dade felt like he had a choice in the matter. It didn't seem to me like he felt he did.) Anyway, Connie could have come in, thrown the litter away herself, and asked Dade, "Can I bring you a drink?" Had she done that, then "that's what families do" would have explained her actions. As it happened, though, it doesn't.

Why is it that adults often feel that whatever kids are doing isn't as important as something they'd like them to do? I'm guilty of this myself sometimes. (For the record, it's not just with the kids. I'm sometimes just as disrespectful of Brandi. I'm working on it.) The heart the matter is respect. I agree that "what families do" is often "help each other out." However, it's more important that "what families do" is to be respectful of each other. What it means to be "respectful" is more than semantics and I agree that respect has to be earned. Unfortunately, if kids always see authority figures as those who can treat them disrespectfully, then they're likely to grow up to be adults who don't expect to be treated with respect -- either by others or by themselves. By doing my best to be respectful of my kids, and any others I meet, I'm preparing them to expect the same from others. We're helping each other out, because, as Connie wrote, that's what families do...

Thanks,
Matt

Gem and Mineral Show

Yesterday, Matt and I took the kids to a gem and mineral show at Mesa Community College.  We love rocks and fossils so we figured we'd have a good time and we were correct.  It was the last day of the show and we were there near the end so the kids got some good deals.  We gave each of them $10 to spend on whatever they chose to spend it on.  Jacqueline's was gone quite quickly and than we got to listen to her beg Joshua for one of his dollars while he decided what he wanted to purchase.  The show had some amazing dinosaur fossils (I forgot my camera, so no pictures), pretty jewelry and lots and lots of rocks and crystals besides some petrified wood.  We saw some petrified wood that had been carved into a big fish, it was very beautiful.  Joshua ended up buying some shark and ray teeth, a quartz crystal, some marbles, some crystal rocks, some kryptonite round large marble shaped rocks that glow under uv light, and he purchased another mineral deposit that he liked (the lady was quite impressed that he picked out such a nice specimen on  his own and gave him and Jacqueline some free amythest beads).  Joshua was amazed at what he was able to buy with his $10.  Jacqueline bought some quartz crystals, a heart shaped stone with a flower in it that goes on a cord for a necklace (the lady gave her the cord for free), and some marbles.  She brought all of these to bed with her in our bed in a bowl and I awoke once when they all spilled and helped her put them away.  They don't make good bed buddies, too hard...  The outing was a success since they've asked to go again when it comes.

Banana Bread

Okay, after a couple of requests made after Matt posted about liking this banana bread, here is the recipe. I can't take full credit as I found it online somewhere but I did add peanut butter to see if Matt would like it. Yesterday's batch I had Matt add the peanut butter and I have no idea how much he added...

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup flour

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350 F. With a wooden spoon (i used plastic), mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. This is where we add peanut butter (whatever amount you'd like). Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve. Enjoy!