Separate Ways

This week is spring break for the grand babies and they’ve all gone in different directions.

 Such a good patient!

After Donovan went to the dentist Monday, 

he and his mom headed to Arrowhead to play in the snow,

while his sissy, Leia, is spending 10 days touring

Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Krakow and more with a group of high school kids,

waving to King Charles (not kidding!)

and hanging out with her brother, Miles, who’s also on the trip. 

Poor Leanne and Jaclyn are stuck with me and Pop . . .

making resin jewelry, 

bathing indulging in ice cream, 

and petting sharks,

anemones 

and more 

at the Santa Barbara Sea Center,

Jac and Fang, the Shark 

which is now, apparently, a port of call for cruise ships. Who knew??

Jac’s favorite part of the Sea Center visit? Not the sharks or lobsters or microscopes … she said playing in the fancy sand pit topped everything.

Thursday - weather and traffic gods willing - we’re heading to La Brea Tar Pits. Pretty sure I’m more excited about that than the girls. Can.Not.Wait!

No Fooling

No (April fool’s) fooling - the Colorado grandchild is a crocheter!

This is 5 (6?) skeins of yarn so far and Lukas is still going strong. I’m so proud. And I love the colors too.

Belt Me

Donovan got his first belt!

Excuse me, he “earned” his belt, as he tells everyone he knows. 

Having to wait an extra two weeks after Jac got hers made an impression (which was probably the instructor’s intent.)

They both are loving taekwondo and learning a lot. 

Like how to stand still while at attention

and the importance of a serious face. 

In class this week:

Master: who tied your belt?

Donovan: grandma did

Master, retying it: I’m sure she did the best she could. 

😳😂 (I’ll be looking up how-to vids on YouTube …)

Buggy

I got the bug to make something new.

This is the start of something for my quilt guild’s annual member challenge, 

based on this ⬆️ FPP pattern.    

A little color coding (because I kept mixing up the colors in the teeny tiny eye and ear sections), a bit of stitching …

Lots still to do but I have until mid-May to finish. No sweat, right???

Hippo

Running and Writing and Aerial Spins

This isn’t quite a photo dump but it is a bit of catching-up. 

Photos by her dad, through a waiting room window

When Jac and Donovan started taekwondo, I asked Leanne if she wanted to join too. 

Turns out she’s interested in aerial gymnastics … 

and today she got a chance to try it out in a one-on-one lesson. 

Looking forward to hearing how she liked it tomorrow. 

I gave Donovan a box and some crayons … and got this. Hulk Donovan! (Looks more like a ghost to me. Don’t tell Donovan …)

I love that Jac’s school posts event photos on FB, and that somehow Jac usually manages to get in at least one shot. This was the St Patrick’s day obstacle run. 

Leia is playing club volleyball 

and got to go to Vegas for a tournament. 

Team didn’t do all that well but she had a blast. 

Pretty sure the chocolate store stop was her favorite part. 

Jac said I could borrow her glasses …

Donovan stayed late when his dad had to work OT, telling Pop complicated stories (loooooooong stories - the boy likes to talk!)

and cuddling in with his favorite blanket (favorite grandma too.) He was so tired but wouldn't go to sleep … he told me he was afraid if he slept his dad would forget to come pick him up. Poor tired, but very comfy, baby. 

. 

Paper Treasure

A few treasures from the King branch of the family - my MIL’s father’s side.

The 1911 England census is the only one where the respondent filled out the form, rather than the  enumerator (census taker.) 

So this beautiful handwriting was done by either hubby’s great-grandparent or great-aunt. Also,  the questions changed for each census - this census asked not just who was residing there, but for the # of children born and the # still living. In some cases, where the child died young and wasn’t yet baptized, this could be their only record of having lived. Interesting note - every other document I’ve found lists “James” as “Charles”. Since someone in his immediate family filled in this form, did he actually go by James? Or is it a mistake? So fun finding these little quirks. 

Marriage record for John Foster and his first wife, Damaris Hind, dated 24 December 1795. Both were able to sign their name so I think it’s a good bet they were educated. Many people back then, especially women, couldn’t read or write, so made their “x” mark on documents instead (note the 2nd record on the right-hand page above.)

Birth record for Samuel, son of Samuel and Ann West, dated 1656. I found this by accident - it was attached to a family (same names) from the 1700’s. Don’t know yet if it’s part of hubby’s family, but it’s super cool!

Bucket Brigade

We had our high tech rain measurement system in place again for this last storm.

Predictions were as high as 4” but we “only” got 3” total, as measured by our highly trained technicians.

Not bad for a semi-desert!

Stirring up a whirlpool

Since February 25, we’ve measured over 10” of rain (we didn’t put the bucket out for every storm), which has our area headed for the record books. 

 

Watering my poor drowned succulents 

Last I read, we were in 12th place for most rain received YTD since record keeping began. And it’s not over yet. CA’s 10th atmospheric river is scheduled to arrive next Tuesday. Partyyyyyyy!

6 Gen Goal

Making progress!

I was hoping to go back 6 generations on each branch of hubby’s tree, and got my hopes up for going even further when the first branch was so easy to research. (Several cousins* had been there before me, highlighting the way.)

But on the second branch - hubby’s paternal grandmother - I’m hitting dead ends a lot sooner. Could be because Smyth/Smith is a common surname? Or record keeping was done differently in Ireland than England? Plus, it appears to have been tradition to name boys after the dad, and girls after the mom. Which is great, until you get 3 generations of “John Henry” and two of them married women named Hester. Confusing! Planning to try this one again after I finish the last two branches. 

Favorite finds - probate records for Henry Broadway Foster, farmer and woodsman, from 1873,  - hubby’s 2x great granddad on his mother’s side - 

and marriage records for Benjamin Foster and Sarah Davis, from 1764, Henry Broadway’s grandparents, so hubby’s 4th greats? So amazing. 

* I’m digging through all the available records, one by one, to make my own accurate (as possible) timeline. But it’s nice to see what others have put together as verification (or for laughs. A couple have gone waaaaaay off the rails. See 3 consecutive John Henry’s, above.)