The Catalina Crew

Well, the much anticipated event has occurred and we are now a family of four!

Tristan William Ruplinger
7 lbs, 6 oz. 20.5 inches

Because there are only limited medical facilities in Avalon, the majority of children are born in Long Beach rather than on the island. After a single false alarm, many trips “overtown” for checkups, and several weeks of waiting, the doc said we had best prepare for an induction as the baby was getting to be somewhat overdue and the risks associated with going back to the island to wait were too high. We checked in to the hospital guest house on the afternoon of the 22nd, took a swim in the pool, and ate some dinner. Jared’s sister Danielle was fortunately able to come up from San Diego to watch Jacob while we were at the hospital. So they went to sleep around 9:30 while Jared & Sue began to get ready to go in and “have a baby.”

It appears that Tristan, like his big brother, is not about to be forced to do anything, so at around 10:15 he decided to get things moving on his own and Sue began to have mild contractions. By around 12:00 midnight when we were walking over to the hospital for our “appointment” to begin inducing, the contractions had gotten much more intense and it was obvious that no induction would be needed! In the 20 minutes it took us to walk the hundred yards from the guest house to the hospital doors, the contractions had increased to only 5 minutes apart and becoming more powerful. We hurried as best we could up to the maternity ward and by 1:00 or so were checked in to a very nice and cozy delivery room. Contractions increased rapidly and were beyond powerful. I was amazed when Jacob was born, and I was even more amazed this time at the strength and endurance that Suzanne possesses and the unbelievable pain that she had to go through to deliver these boys. Although Tristan’s labor was shorter than Jacob’s, I have little doubt that the combined intensity of all 30 hours of Jacob’s labor were packed into the two hours that Sue was laboring for Tristan. Whenever I think about it (many times each day right now!) I am in total and absolute awe. But then, before you could scream the word “epidural” twice, Sue was pushing, Tristan was crowning, and then there he was! (About 5 minutes later, our Doctor made it to the hospital!) We had an absolutely incredible nurse, Evelyn, who was there with us for the whole time and helped with the delivery along with two other nurses who rushed into the room just as Tristan was emerging. It all happened so quickly that even the attending physician did not have time to get to the room.  Suzanne and Tristan are both healthy and doing great, and we all made it back home to our island together.

Merry Christmas everyone! What’s that you say? Christmas is old news? Well, not if you are keeping up with the Ruplingers! Three month old postings are our specialty.

We expected things to be a little different having Christmas over here. No snow, 70 degree weather, and only one Toy store within 90 minutes of travel time! Jared barely made it through that first item, we all reveled in the second, and made due as best we could on the third. We did miss seeing family over the Holiday season, but at the same time it was really nice to spend time enjoying ourselves as a family without all of the other distractions. It made for a very intimate and memorable Christmas experience.

It was interesting ordering our Christmas Tree sight-unseen at the local community church around the middle of November. All of the trees were shipped over during the 2nd week of December when, on an appropriately chilly Saturday morning, the entire town saddled up their golf carts and headed out to Descanso Beach to pick them up. We were relieved to discover that we could pick and choose a little bit and eventually decided to upgrade to a slightly larger model.

All of our Christmas decorations were still in our storage unit in Salt Lake so we weren’t quite sure what to do. However, as we are the luckiest people on earth, the Neff Gang had us for Christmas gifts on the Holt side of the family this year. We received a huge box in the mail from them stocked full of the most wonderful Christmas decorations a person could hope for! The result is one of our best trees ever. Thanks guys!

As I mentioned about Halloween, one of the really neat things about living here is the small-town feel to the holidays. There is a lot going on, and everyone is involved. From Jacob’s school Christmas concert (Which was broadcast on the local cable channel) to the tree lighting ceremony down at the harbor (With Santa arriving on the back of a fire truck) to the open house at the old Wrigley Mansion on Mt. Ada, it seemed as if the entire community together was a part of things. It is also pretty neat when the exact same Santa is at every function throughout the season and knows most of the children by name already. It makes the experience much more real and believable for the kids. By the time Christmas got here, Jacob was on high-five friendship status with the “Real” Santa Claus.

We also had the excitement of getting to see our first ever school performance featuring one of our children! You wouldn’t believe how giddy we were when Jacob’s Pre-School class had their Christmas Music Concert at the City Hall. It was lot of fun and the kids did a surprisingly good job! Jacob sang as loud as everyone and always had a proud smile whenever he caught out eyes. (If you want a copy of the DVD, let me know!)

Before we knew it, Chrismas Eve had come. We feasted on a plate full of fresh from the ocean California Lobster that a friend had caught for us, yummy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and the best Creamed Beans known to the human race, topped off with fresh fruit and a few melt-in-your-mouth Cheese Biscuits. My mouth still waters thinking about it!

After dinner, we sang carols and opened a few family gifts, then settled down for our long winter’s nap.

Jacob usually comes in to our room around 6:00 to make sure we are awake but on Christmas morning he surprised us and slept in a bit. Lucky for Mom & Dad! Eventually, went downstairs to open stockings and see what Santa had brought. Jacob’s Christmas wishes came true when he found his very own skateboard under the tree, complete with helmet and pads.

Because both Sue and I are closely tied to Catalina’s tourism industry and a cruise ship was scheduled to be in port, we would have to finish up presents quickly and go in to work from 10 to 2. But as luck would have it, around 9:00 we got the call that the cruise ship would be postponing its visit until the 26th! Loud cheers were heard across the island as people returned home to spend the day with their families. As soon as all the presents had been opened and our Pop-up Pancakes eaten, Jacob informed us that we needed to head out to the Skate Park to try out his new skateboard. So off we went. We capped off the day with yummy street tacos at Pete’s Cafe and the requisite round of mini-golf. Merry Christmas!

OK, so I am finally getting around to it!

We had an awesome Halloween. It was really fun to have the old-fashioned neighborhood Halloween experience again. With all of the “Trunk-or-Treat” events that people are using lately instead of traditional “Trick-or-Treating” I have really missed seeing kids running around en-masse with friends and family, socializing and making a neighborhood a neighborhood. Avalon is one of those all too rare communities where urban fear has not yet gotten a foothold.

We started out of course by getting and carving our pumpkins. Jacob’s school sponsored a “Pumpkin Patch” where the kids could pick out their own pumpkins instead of going to the super market. Jacob chose a trio of good ones and we set to work making them look great. Jacob designed and helped cut his into a “Silly face.”

Jacob took a while and had several different ideas on what to be for Halloween before settling on cowboy. On Halloween evening, the city had a costume parade down Crescent street with all of the school kids participating. The community TV station filmed the parade and Jacob made the broadcast.

Jacob was a little unnerved by Dad’s costume and realistic looking scars and asked him to take the wig off. After the parade, we went over to Luau Larry’s for the traditional Wednesday $2 cheeseburgers and then hit the streets to gather loot.

By the end of the evening Jacob had filled his pumpkin basket to beyond capacity and Mom & Dad had met several new neighbors. Jacob did not want to stop but eventually we had to call it quits and head back home in time for bed.

Jacob with his friend Cory

OK, so most of you by now who are registered have noticed that our blog got hijacked by a spam robot. Fortunately, our anti-spam engine caught the posts before they actually went live onto the site and deleted them. However, the notification script we were using sent out a bunch of emails letting you know that the spam comments were posted before they got deleted.

Thanks to Karen’s sharp eye, we were alerted and I have disabled that part of the script. Unfortunately, this means that you will not be able to get a notification when someone posts a comment to the blog, only when we post a new blog entry. When I get a second, I will see if I can fix that. In the meantime, I have changed the blog settings to require users to either be registered or enter a valid email address in order to post comments. (You should register anyway so that you will be notified when we post!)

Anyhow, aside from that, we had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Sue and I both took an extra day off to have some much needed family time. We spent Wed evening and Thurs morning together getting Thanksgiving dinner together. Jacob helped out from time to time and while the Turkey cooked, we walked up to the “Net” at the golf course to hit balls around.

“The Net” is one of Jacob’s new favorite places to go. Whenever mini-golf is closed, his first response is “Let go to the net!” After about 30 minutes of watching Jacob hit his balls and playing games like “Dad-you-go-stand-over- -there-and-try-to-get-the-ball-and-I-will-hit-it-away-from-you-ha-ha-ha!,” we came back home to see how the turkey was doing.

MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm! Smells delicious!

Our Thanksgiving feast was nearly ready and once the Potatoes were mashed and yams broiled, we sat down to dinner. Yummy yummy turkey stuffed with the best home-made stuffing ever, freshly made cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes with gravy, yams with pralined pecans, and melt-in-your-mouth rolls, followed by home-made pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. Loosen up the belt!

On the way home from work on Wed, Sue had picked up several dvd’s at the library, so while we digested, we watched movies until Jacob fell asleep on the coffee table where he had piled couch pillows into a rather lumpy “bed.”

Friday we slept in for a change and took the morning easy before hiking out along the seawall at Casino Point to do some fishing. I think the fish were taking Thanksgiving weekend off as well. No nibbles, but it was fun just hanging out and being together.

We finished off the weekend by going kayaking up the coast past Hamilton Cove. Saw a lot of pelicans at close range and a couple of sea lions. (In case you didn’t know… Sea Lions have external ears, Seals do not have visible ears. That is the easiest way to tell them apart!) Jacob was a real trooper and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure despite getting soaking wet. The highlight for him however was when we stopped off at the Hamilton Cove beach for a snack and a side trip to the beach side playground there.

It was a super fun holiday and none of us wanted to get back to the daily routine. There isn’t much that we would rather do than hang out and spend time with each other! …And what a great place to do it in!