Melissa Jones

We just got in from a 9-day family road trip on Monday. Travel sure is different once you have kids, especially little ones. We had some good times though, and we'll eventually only remember the good times, not the fits and meltdowns and tantrums...so that's what matters.

We got to ride an elephant at 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom. That was cool. They have such massive strength as they plod along. 6 Flags always makes us miss Disneyland though, other than the elephant there's no comparison, especially with small children. My 5 year old can ride Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain (I think, though it was too cold last time to try it) and a host of other exciting rides at Disneyland. At 6 Flags he gets turned away from all the real roller coasters and even some of the kiddie rides. The workers all seemed a bit more helpful and friendly than last year though, still not on the level of Disneyland, but it was nice. It was far too hot the day we went, so we didn't spend as much time as we planned there.

We also went to San Francisco, where we saw the Exploratorium, a big hit with the kids, and Marin County where we saw Muir Woods and Muir Beach. We hit Cafe Gratitude a couple times, and I found something there I really like, the Yo Soy Mucho, a quinoa bowl with a couple gatherer black dots (but hey, it's a vacation, and I did a lot worse elsewhere)...quinoa, fresh tomato salsa, awesome guacamole, kale, and pea shoots. Their key lime pie is also awesome, we've sampled many of their desserts (my celiac egg/milk allergic son doesn't have that opportunity elsewhere) but that one is by far my favorite...it may have avocado in it, I'll check my cookbook for a recipe and post back. My 5 year old doesn't do well with Carageenan, so I was a bit concerned about the irish moss (the source of carageenan if I understand correctly), but it worked out fine or him.

Tomorrow I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and starting Taekwondo. I've done Pilates, Aerobics and Yoga (though none of it recently), but I've never done any martial arts. They have a babysitter there, as lots of moms take the class. It promises to be a good workout that may help me break out of the box in other ways as well. I'm soft spoken and I avoid confrontation far too often, so getting out of a rut should be a good thing. As a gatherer, and a human, I have more potential than I'm using.

I still get in an emotional rut sometimes over whether or not to have one more child. I'm and InfJ, and the J is very strong, so I hate having a decision just hanging out there to be decided later. My decision is to live for the two amazing boys I have, and focus only on them, and of course my husband. I know I can always change my mind about having another child, and I'll know if I need to reevaluate that, but my J side is decided now. I really put a lot of focus and attention into each child, with just having two, and I do like it this way. There are so many things to look out for in raising children today, I can hardly bear to take my eyes off of either of them.