Gottschalks on the Go

WOW! 4 Gottschalks, 4 schools, many interests and talents, and a logistic nightmare. We have always felt so fortunate that all of our sports are so close to home. The kids have always had practices close by and games are usually within walking distance. Even with that being the case, it seems that we are really on the run this year. Lauren is on the water polo team for her high school and playing AYSO soccer. Jason is playing soccer and taking piano lessons. John has decided that being a soccer ref just wasn't enough so he has added water polo ref to his list. All I can say is at least he gets paid for the water polo refereeing. If he took on one more volunteer position... Anyway we are busy people.

This weekend started out like any other, girls' night out for Lauren and I with another friend at the mall on Friday night. Saturday morning I couldn't sleep so a quick work out (running 5 1/2 miles) for me and then to Lauren's soccer game. They turned the game around when Lauren scored a goal and ended up winning. YAY!!!! Then off to watch the boys frosh/soph water polo tournament. We got 3 games in there, John reffing 2 of those, before we had to rush to Jason's soccer game. That one was played in 90 plus degrees of miserable heat. They tied. Then back home to rest up a little bit before heading off to a friend's surprise 40th b-day party.

All in all we were exhausted by Sunday but that didn't stop Jason from joining a friend at Knott's Berry Farm for the day. So that is how we spend our weekends, and why the blog just doesn't seem to get updated very often. Once the girls' water polo season starts I hope to post tons of pictures. In the mean time - Love to everyone.

Lauren's #14

Lauren is 14 now. She had a fun, beachy birthday. She took up skimboarding this summer and asked for a skimboard for her birthday. We went with friends to Laguna Beach (Crescent Bay) to skimboard a couple times this summer and loved it, so we put it all together for Lauren's special day. We spent the day before her birthday with Tess and Chloe and Lauren's new skimboard down in Laguna. After a day of skimboarding for Chloe and Lauren, (and John's couple of attempts), and sandcastle building for Tess and Jason, we returned home to quickly shower so we could have some more of Lauren's friends over for a bbq. Of course it turned into a slumber party for those that did not have to go to school the next day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Lauren got to spend her actual birthday registering for high school and shopping at the mall with Jessica. Then she chose to have tortas from Casa Playa for dinner followed by the cake that Jason decorated for her for her birthday. Happy birthday baby!

Our Vacation (Without Kids)

The Hearst Castle Pool

John and I on the grounds

Posed Hiking pictures


The waterfall

Napa Artwork

The kids both went to camp this year, the same camp, at the same time, for a whole week. That left John and I with a week together. We decided to make the most of it and take off. We have not been away from the kids more than 2 nights in a row since they were born (and Lauren turns 14 next month.) We planned to drive up the coast and see central California. We spent the first night in San Luis Obispo. There we visited the Madonna Inn and saw the famous waterfall urinal in the downstairs men's restroom. We also had a great Italian dinner that left us very full.

The second day we toured Hearst Castle and checked into the Ragged Point Inn. Ragged Point is very rugged as well. There are no phones in the rooms and there is no cell service for about 10 miles. Here we relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful rocky coastline. We even saw some whale spouts on our second night.

Hearst Castle was beautiful in an overdone kind of way. We fell in love with the two swimming pools, both indoor and outdoor. We asked our guide if anyone was ever allowed to swim in the incredible pools (it would be really sad if they were never used) and he told us that employees were allowed to use the pools on certain nights after work. The remaining members of the Hearst family also use the pools even though they no longer live on the grounds. Now John and I have a new goal. We must become tour guides for Hearst Castle.

We spent a day hiking while staying at Ragged Point. We found a trail head just up the highway from our Inn and decided to give it a go. About a quarter of a mile up we saw a great little waterfall. We took a few photos and looked around and then headed on up the trail. After about 2 miles of straight uphill the path evened out a bit but really seemed to be heading nowhere. After hiking for nearly 2 hours, we saw another sign for the trail that let us know that we were really headed nowhere. When we found Salmon Creek, we stopped and took some pictures and decided to head back down the mountain. We were hot and tired and getting pretty hungry. The brutal uphill climb turned into a brutal downhill retreat, but we made it. Our muscles let us know the next day that we had really done some work.

The next day we found our way up the coast to San Francisco. After lunch of clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl at the Blue Mermaid, a tradition that we will not be giving up anytime soon, we headed to Ghirardelli Square for John to get some ice cream. Of course as we were waiting, someone walked up and said, "Are you Mr. Gottschalk?" John was discovered by a former student. Seems to happen more and more. After a walk (hike) around San Fran on tired legs from hiking the day before, we headed up to Napa for the next leg of our trip.

Napa was different from what I remember from our trip 15 years ago, but a fun place to visit without kids. We enjoyed a tour of the Sterling Vinyard and found a new favorite, Clos Pegase. Of course the old favorite, Mondavi, was still there with beautiful grounds. As we were leaving Mondavi, we saw a section of grapes that had been planted the year that we were last there. They were quite mature plants, let me tell you. We spent a second night in Napa before heading home on Thursday. We stopped to visit friends Matt and Shelley and their kids in Pleasanton (They were visiting her family) and went to a great brewery for lunch. Then we settled in for the drive home. Thanks to a sig alert on the freeway, that was a longer drive than we were ready for, but we made it home, grateful for our own bed and our own pillows.

Lauren's Promotion

So I realized that I had not posted the pictures from Lauren's 8th grade promotion. (In our school district we are not allowed to call anything a graduations except at the end of high school or it detracts from the accomplishment of graduating high school - right.) There was a dance right after the promotion, so the girls are quite dressed up. While I was shopping with Lauren for her dress, someone asked me if she was my youngest. How old does dress shopping with a teenager make me look? Anyway...she looked beautiful and had a great time at the dance. On to high school now.

Jason's Masterpiece

Jason was in the mood to do something "crafty" yesterday and decided he wanted to make firework cupcakes. He made a shopping list of everything he would need and we went shopping. He has never really shown an interest in cooking, so I was a little nervous. He did all the work on his own and did a great job. The finished product was nothing like I thought it would be from his description to me, but they turned out so cute. I do not know what happened to the top picture, somehow when I uploaded it it turned it from landscape to portrait. I tried to delete it and upload it again, and it did the same thing. I don't get it.

"The Rash"

Photos of the rash. It looks much worse in person.

5th Grade Recognition Tea

Well, my baby has finished 5th grade and will now move on to The Big Bad Middle School. I will try to be a big girl about it, but I will miss having one of my kids at Hickory. The Recognition Tea was very nice, but I feel like I missed the whole thing. Being a 5th grade teacher, I had to be Mrs. Gottschalk, and did not get to be a mom. Jason did very well, earning not only the Student Choice Award for Math, but the Excellent Citizenship award. As a teacher, I appreciate the citizenship awards the most. Right after the tea we noticed a rash on Jason's chest. I couldn't leave school yet, so I sent him home with John to take some Benadryl and see what happened. We thought it was because he was wearing a new shirt that had not been washed yet. Then this morning he woke up COVERED in a rash that was so extensive the dots were clumping together. John took him to the doctor this morning and found out that the antibiotics that he was on for his sinus infection were to blame. He is officially allergic to the "icillin" drugs. Poor kid. He really is covered and itchy. His face is even a little swollen now :(

Janine and I

Janine and I took a much needed drive up the coast over Memorial Day Weekend. She flew in on Friday night, rented a convertible, visited a friend, and then on Saturday morning we were off. We started by meeting Janine's friend, Matt, in Malibu for brunch. Then we went to Ojai to ride horses with her brother. We got off to a rocky start, but enjoyed the ride tremendously. After riding, we continued up to San Luis Obispo (spelling of all names is dubious at best). We found a great Italian restaurant and enjoyed dinner and good Italian wine. They even had a fabulous bread pudding, my favorite! The next morning, after a quick Starbucks stop, we continued up the coast. It was an overcast day which, in my opinion, made the drive even better. We refused to put the top up, so we had the heater blaring the whole time and huddled in front of the vents. My favorite little stop on the drive was at Ragged Point. I look forward to going up there with John to take advantage of the hiking trails. Anyway, that is where I took the picture of Janine. Eventually we ended up in Livermore to stay with another of Janine's friends, Jean. She had other friends visiting also. We went out to a Mexican dinner where they told the waitress that it was my birthday and I got sung to by an older gentlemen. After a long night on the fl0or, we spent a lazy morning with Jean, and then drove on to the Oakland Airport to return the car and head our separate ways home. I love my little trips with Janine. I always come back feeling refreshed.

The Family Pictures

I was so excited when the disc of family pictures reached me by mail. I had thought they would turn out well when they were taken, but have been disappointed by professional pictures in the past. They are everything I could hope for and more. I am so happy with them. Thank you Heather for arranging the photographer and thank you to all the Parry's for showing up with your gorgeous smiles.

How I Spent My Spring Break

Ahhh, Salt Lake in the spring. The flowers are starting to bloom, the trees are showing their greenery, the snow is only making the mountains look more picturesque, all the roads are under construction. What more could a family ask for? When we heard that Mike and his family would be in Salt Lake, we had to join them. We have not seen them for over 2 years, since my dad's 60th birthday party, and we still needed to meet the newest member of our family, Jesse, Eric and Christy's son. We had a great time visiting with everyone. The kids really enjoyed their time together. Thursday was a busy day with family pictures at Wheeler Farm and then dinner at Dad's house. Steve bbq'd some incredible steaks and Christy made a delicious pasta salad. We brought a cheesecake to top it all off. The good byes were difficult but the memories will be with us for a long time.

The Honorary Service Awards Dinner

As I mentioned earlier, John was awarded the Honorary Service Award this year by the Hickory Elementary PTA. The dinner was a "Groovin to the 60s" theme. Our PTA president, Susan, is the daughter of one of John's good lifeguarding friends, so she brought her dad, Chick, as her date. John and Chick enjoyed catching up with each other while the rest of us caught up on the latest news of our children etc. Sheila and Ken Tiratira were also recipients of the award so I had lots of friends to talk to. We had a pretty good time and here are the photos, as promised.

Brian Head 2009

Cindy and John at the Top

Lauren
Jason

Oh what a beautiful ski trip! We had fabulous weather, beautiful sun, and decent snow. Best of all - no injuries. Jason took his full day lesson the first day, and Lauren took a mini lesson (she aged out of Kid Camp). We skied everywhere, from mountain to mountain and back again. John and the kids even took a couple of jumps. This was Lauren's first time skiing with poles, and with some of the cross mountain skiing we do she was glad to have them. Now Jason wants poles. We did miss the fresh powder that we were skiing in last year, but this was nice also.

Happy St. Patty's Day

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John, The Volunteer

John was awarded the Honorary Service Award from Hickory Elementary School PTA last night. He was recognized for all the volunteer work he does for the school and for the kids sports. I am including his "Bio" that will be included in a program at the District-wide award dinner.

"John Gottschalk is a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, but his heart is here in Torrance where his wife teaches and his children attend school. He has helped out with many Hickory Hoedowns and school beautifications. He spent one weekend repainting the teacher parking lot when the lines and numbers were no longer visible as well as other areas that needed painting. He has been 3rd VP in charge of Health, Safety and Welfare and this will be his second year in charge of the Bike Rodeo.

John has been highly involved in AYSO coaching for 6 years and serving as a referee for 2 years. He is always the dad out there striping the field for his daughter’s team when they have the first game over at Hull, even when he is striping more puddles than grass. He also volunteers his time in the Torrance Little League. He has helped set up and tear down many fields, and is currently on the Board of Directors there."

I am very grateful that we have parents like John around our children, and the fact that I am married to him and get to see him in action all the time, makes me so proud of him.

The Academy Awards

Some people live for the Superbowl, some for March Madness, some the Kentucky Derby - I live for the Academy Awards. Tonight was my night. I thought the awards this year were very well done. I really enjoyed the way they brought out past winners to award the actor and actress awards. I was very touched by many words spoken. I LOVED Sean Penn's words. I thought he was very wise when said "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone." A.R. Rahman, the composer of the Slumdog Millionaire score, said that he is where he is now because in his life he has had many opportunities to chose between love and hate, and he chose love. I am so happy that Kate Winslet won for a role that came from one of my favorite books ever. I teared up when Heath Ledger won his category, and I cheered for every award Slumdog Millionaire took. If you see only one movie this year, it should be Slumdog Millionaire. If you see one more movie though, go see either The Reader or Revolutionary Road. I loved them both.

As far as the dresses go, loved Natalie Portman's dress as well as Anne Hathaway's. I thought Angelina Jolie looked lovely, as usual.

Another B-day Dinner for Jason

Friday night Grandma and Grandpa Gottschalk were in town and they wanted to celebrate Jason's birthday with him. They picked Jason and Lauren up for a game of mini golf over at Mulligans and then let John and I join them for dinner at Macaroni Grill. That restaurant was Jason's pick because they have his favorite shells and cheese and because you can draw on the tables. (see Lauren's artwork) After a nice dinner, we returned to our house so that the kids could show G-ma and G-pa how their Guitar Hero for Wii works. After a couple songs, we decided G-ma and G-pa would prefer Wii tennis. They are both excellent tennis players so I thought they would enjoy it. Grandma's team won both rounds. Once she played with Jason, and once with Lauren. The evening was a nice one. Thank you Eldon and Diana for a great time.

Using My Christmas Present

(Pictures above - on the subway and at Union Station. Left at Pantages)

Last night we got to use my Christmas present, 4 tickets to Phantom of the Opera at my very favorite theatre - Pantages. This was the first time that the kids got to go to the "real theatre" (meaning anything aside from the local theater). We decided to go all out and make an adventure of it. We started out with a local dinner at Lazy Dog Cafe. Lauren was mortified because we insisted on dressing up for the night, and then went to the restaurant at the mall where she could be seen by real people. I am not sure what her fear is - people will find out she has parents? that she eats? that she owns a skirt? Oh well. Then we drove downtown to Union Station and took the Redline subway to the theatre. We just did not want to deal with any parking issues in Hollywood. The subway lets you out directly across the street from the Pantages so it worked out perfectly. We got there just in time to find our seats, get settled and then the musical started. John and I saw Phantom several pre-children years ago. We were very anxious to see it again and were not disappointed. The kids enjoyed it as well. Jason and I left humming away. The subway was a little more stressful on the return trip. I will just say that not everyone on the subway was a suburbanite out with the family for an adventure. But we made it home. Now we are suffering from post-much-anticipated-event-stress-syndrome. We feel let down and have nothing to look forward to. Well, there is that ski trip in March.

If You Can't Reach Me. . .I'll Be Out Exercising

Mark and Barb dancing to their song.

Valentine's Day is very cruel to the teacher trying to lose a few pounds. The day starts out with all those fabulous chocolate candies that are impossible to pass on. My gift to John also happened to come from Hershey.com, and John made me homemade chocolate raspberry truffles, and that just describes the day before Valentine's Day. For Valentine's Day we went to Mark and Barb's house and were treated to a culinary wonderland. James brought a double cream Bree topped with caramel and candied almonds served with apple slices AND bacon wrapped pan fried scallops to go with the veggie trays for appetizers. Then we had shrimp in mop sauce served with sour dough and/or french bread. The salad was also passed around at this time. Then Mark brought in his Fillet Mignon and Barb brought in her pan baked baby potatoes. Kirsten also made her famous chocolate dessert, I can't remember what it is called but I think it has the word gnosh in it. We had song dedications to our loved ones and played the Newlywed Game. James' parents are in town and their 47 years of marriage proved to be too much for the rest of us. They won, hands down. I did not add up all our minus points, but I am pretty sure that we lost. Now I am suffering from another food hang-over. If you can't reach my, I will be out exercising. Check the gym. We hope that you all had a wonderful day, full of loved ones.

This is What a Decade Looks Like

Yesterday was Jason's birthday. Yes, my baby is 10 years old. Mr. Decisive had a really difficult time deciding what he wanted to do for his birthday, but finally settled on taking his friend, Brian, to see Pink Panther 2 (If you are thinking about seeing this movie DON'T DO IT!). Then we went to a late lunch at Sammy's so that we could get a Messy Sundae. Jason got a new marble track with suspension bridges, a Wii zapper, and money to spend on more video games. All in all, it was a nice day, made even better by the "no school" (thank you Torrance School District).

My Book Club Weekend in Palm Desert

Last weekend was my annual Palm Desert weekend with my book club. There are 8 of us in the book club, but Teri was not able to make it due to her new busy work schedule. I know that I have mentioned before how important my book club is to me. This is a group of amazing, beautiful, strong, educated, involved women. Everyone comes from a different state/country, and has different life stories leading up to this time. We all worked together at some time or another on the Hickory Elementary PTA. Only 3 of us have students left in elementary school, and now a couple have college students, Lyn even has a graduate school graduate. It is so nice to take a weekend out of our busy schedules and enjoy the relaxing company of each other. We read, ate, sat out by the pool or saw a movie, and played charades. With the exception of me, the whole group does the "Relay for Life" which is a 24 hour walk that you do in teams to raise money for cancer research. One person from each team has to be on the track at all times for the duration of the event. To raise money for this event, the ladies knit scarves, baby hats, and other items to sell. They have named the movement, "Knitting for a Cure" so there was a lot of knitting going on this weekend. I am so proud of the work that these women do.

Oh My! Nathan, check this out.

Oh My! Nathan, here is your goal by age 13. She could only find 15 with such short notice. Congrats on the Stealers win. I am sure you guys are overjoyed!