Chase at 9 years old

[Previous Chase updates: 8 years, 7 years, 6 years, 2nd year of school, 5 years, starting school, 4 years, 3 years, 25-32 months, 2 years, 15-20 months, 1+ year, first four months in Cambridge, data analysis from first 2 months, first few months]

We flew back from San Diego on Chase's birthday. Since Nate had to work, the idea was that Chase would see him on his birthday as well. Unfortunately, our flight got severely delayed and we didn't end up landing until after midnight. Chase still had a chance to open some gifts in the car on his way home so it ended up ok. 

A few weeks later, Chase had a birthday party in the backyard. He specifically wanted to do the crafts that we had prepared for the party last year. We also had a bunch of lawn games and a bounce house. Chase invited all the kids in his class and a bunch from his previous classes. It was a bit cold, but everyone had a great time. Chase asked for a Klein Bottle cake and made everyone 3D printed favors that included some fidget spinners and tiny Klein bottles. 

San Diego for Spring Break

[Previous trips to San Diego: 2021, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, beginning of 2017, end of 2015, 2014, 2x in 2013]

This year, we decided to take Chase to San Diego for his spring break. Chase and I went with my parents and did all the touristy San Diego kid things we could. We went to the beaches in Coronado, La Jolla, and Del Mar. We did the Safari Park, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World. I had never actually been to Sea World even though I grew up in San Diego so it was a fun first for me also. We got some boba from a few different places and walked around downtown La Jolla, Coronado, and the Del Mar Highlands. We even went back to our old church for Easter (and saw the pastor that married Nate and me), and showed Chase where my grandparents are buried. A very busy and fun few days exploring San Diego. 

Left: On the beach in Coronado; Right: Boba in the highlands with Mika.

At the Safari Park

Left: At the zoo with the elephants; Right: At Seaworld, having the nibble fish eat dead skin off of our hands.

Top: with Pastor Bob after Easter service; Bottom: Showing Chase where my grandparents are buried.

Winter Crafts

For Christmas, Chase received a 3D printer from Ivan. He has been finding lots of things to print and designing lots of cool stuff for himself and his classmates. 

Top: Left: Chase designed a maze and then took out the scaffolding; Right: Chase made a fidget that he downloaded online; Bottom: Left: For Valentine's Day, Chase made keychains for all his classmates with their names and some moveable hearts; Right: I designed these two-toned names for me and my colleagues to put up in our cubicles. 

Just like last year, I participated in February Embroidery Bingo from BonnahCo. This time, it was a flower pattern, and while I didn't win bingo, I did have a lot of fun and got Sakina into it. 

Top: I decided to stitch on the opposite side of the fabric so that my stitches would stand out more; Bottom: Last year's on the left and this year's on the right -- let's see what next year's will look like. 

Edit: Just like last year, I am editing this to include a BonnahCo ornament I did at the end of the year. For the next few years, they are doing a polar bear theme so this is the first of a few similar ones, but for now these are the two I have so far together on the tree. 

2022 in Review

[Previous years in review: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013]

This year, I am finally returning to the theme of this blog! Lots of crafts and home improvement projects! I did some embroidery, Chase and I made an octopus, a halloween costume, and some Christmas ornaments. We also did many crafts not mentioned here such as beading, pom-poms, and lots of drawings. We reupholstered our dining room chairs and did a lot of gardening. We also got solar panels on our roof and did a lot of small energy-related improvements on the house: updated the thermostats and switched all the bulbs to LED. There was a lot more maintenance related tasks that we first anticipated: dealing with the yard work, cleaning the gutters, dealing with random ants, checking our boiler and sump pump, etc. We had hoped to install some air conditioning before the summer but for various reasons didn't get to it. That may be a project for next year. 

We are also returning to traveling and hosting visitors. We hosted 6 different people/families throughout the year, which was super fun! We made many shorter trips: local winter & fall, NYC, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia. We/I also made some further trips: Baltimore/DC, South Carolina, Nebraska, and Bermuda. Chase slightly added to his state count with New Jersey, Maryland, and DC, bringing it to 12 (MA, CT, RI, NY, NE, CA, NV, IA, IL, PA, NJ,  MD [& DC]). He also turned 8. 

As always, here is an Instagram collage of pictures from the last year.

Happy 2023!

Day trips to NYC

This year, we/I ended up with 6 day trips to NYC. While that doesn't sound like a lot, it's not always easy to have a full day of time to travel there and make the most of it.

May: Last fall, before Chase’s Van Gogh obsession, his art teacher showed him a book apparently called “The Big M” (can’t seem to find it by that name though) about the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book prominently featured this blue hippo so Chase has been talking about seeing it for a while. Thankfully, with my mom and Chase, we had chance for a day trip to the Met, not only to see the hippo but also to see his favorites (Van Gogh and Monet). 

August: On another open day, my mom, Chase, and I decided to go the MoMa and the Top of the Rock afterwards. Our library has a cool program where you can check out tickets to NYC museums and enter for free. We took advantage of that this time, even though we had been to the MoMa last fall. The Top of the Rock was pretty cool -- I had never been!

September: Marina visited with Bee and we did a day trip together -- just the 3 of us. We went to the Met, walked around central Park to Seneca village and visited the upper west side (to see the area Taza lived). 

November: Thanksgiving weekend, my mom, Chase, and I had another free day so we decided to go the Hudson Yards area of NYC. We went up to The Edge (such nice views around sunset!), walked the High Line to Little Island and finally checked that out. This area of NYC was built up and opened around 2019 so not a place we've spent much time yet. The weather was perfect! 

The Edge's gimmick is that there is a see-through area going straight down -- but it's quite small and there were a lot of people taking pictures. 

Little Island was so cute! Not much to it but it was fun to check out. 

December: Nate and I traveled to NYC twice in December. Once to go to a reception for our college (HMC), and once to go to a show and eat good food. We saw Book of Mormon (finally!) and enjoyed that, had some yummy dim sum and some cocktails, and walked around the city on a nice night. 

Making ornaments with Chase

Chase was very excited this year to make some ornaments for the tree. Because of my parents' move, I had received some of the old ornaments I made (years and years before I started this blog) so he wanted to make similar ones. Also because of that move, I now have all my old ornament crafting stuff with more than enough materials to make some nice ornaments. We went to Michael's to grab the ornaments themselves -- which are now plastic unlike the glass ones I was using 20 years ago -- and stumbled upon these larger ornaments that looked like snow globes. Chase was super excited to decorate one of them and made a whole wintry scene for a tiny kitty, complete with presents (a yarn ball) and snow balls. He liked making the snow globe so much that we actually went back to get a second one so he could decorate a wintry scene with some trees for two tiny lizard figurines he had. It was so fun to make ornaments together and definitely put us in the holiday mood!

Siphonophore Halloween costume

Even last year, Chase talked about being a siphonophore for Halloween. I didn’t really have the time last year but decided that this year, we could make the costume together. It took about two weeks of evenings, but by working together, we assembled a pretty cool siphonophore costume (with lights!). Chase threaded each needle for the strings (about 270 threaded needles for 540ish strings) that hang off each pompom and made the large pompom on his hat. I sewed on the pompom ribbon and sewed in the lights. It was very fun to make this costume together!

Due to Halloween falling on a Monday, he had three straight days of Halloween and wearing his costume. He was very happy about his costume and wore it on Friday for a trunk or treat, Saturday for another trunk or treat, Monday for a Halloween parade and for trick or treating. The costume held up super well even after hours of after-dark playground playing. It was also very helpful to have him lit up so we never lost sight of him! Chase has loved siphonophores ever since seeing an episode about them on Octonauts. He had to tell almost everyone what a siphonophore was (not an easy task for a super shy kid), but he had a super fun time showing off the costume!