2006

Tuesday 10.31.06 - Happy Halloween

Jasper (on Halloween); circa 1999

This will just be a quickie to get some media and thoughts out there. First of all; I am a lover of holidays. Almost every one gets me excited, but my favorites tend to come around this time of year. However, I was so sad to be walking through my favorite store today to buy Halloween candy and the employees were putting up the ornaments and other Christmas decor while "Jingle Bell Rock" was blasting. For fudges sake, give me the chance to get sick off my trick or treat candy before I have to start thinking about sugar plums. Speaking of sugar plums:

Anyway, there are some slideshows on the media page of our trip to Laguna last week as well as our prep for All Hallows Eve. Hope you pull tons of sweet booty tonight.

Wednesday 09.13.06 - Queen of Corn

So, one of our recent discoveries is that Laura loves corn on the cob. I mean, it is a borderline illness. Cornophilia or something. We have not had to instruct her at all in how to eat it: she knows to grab the ends and twirl it so she gets a good clean shot at the kernels, then she totally destroys it. All the while keeping a lookout for more cobs that may not be attended to:

She enjoys it almost as much as the water. To see what I mean, check out the movie page for some metal tub action.

Saturday 09.09.06 - California Dreamin'

All the pregnancy books I have read mention how women may have some strange dreams when expecting. Some may be a little racy compared to normal, some more like nightmares. Holy crap, if I have one more dream about going shopping with Paris Hilton I might have to slit my wrists. Last night we were at a posh boutique looking for some "hot" pajamas to wear to a party. And seriously, this isn't the first time this has happened. Lame. Here's Laura's "Paris Hilton Lazy Eye" impression:

Here are some shots from our outing today at Happy Hollow. Laura and my Mom have been having tons of fun, and getting into all kinds of trouble (and learning some bad habits along the way, as my Mom enjoys the spoiling of the granddaughter).

We were much more brave on the merry-go-round this trip:

Where they rightly belong:

Laura at Lunch:

Nature Girls:

Tuesday 08.29.06 - Emerging Artist

Here is Laura's first attempt at painting. She chose to use Crayola Kids Paint on Target brand drawing paper for her media. Her technique is a mix of 49¢ paintbrush as well as finger. Enjoy.

We are very much looking forward to a long weekend in Laguna, I think Bob is super excited to have back-to-back four day work weeks. We are also still enjoying the notion of having another girl (and knowing ahead of time, although I wouldn't change Laura being a surprise!) and Bob is coming to terms with the fact that pink will be a very dominant color in his life for years to come. I don't think he minds as long as the pink princess TV comes in HD plasma form and gets all the football games.

Friday 08.25.06 - Plumbing Saga

So, who wouldn't want to buy this lovely property:

Seriously though, it has been an interesting week. When the plumbers came out on Tuesday and did about an hours worth of digging and then left to go get the saws all for the tree roots I started to "be concerned." Then, they didn't show up until the next day. Oh, and this job was promised to be finished by Thursday so it could be cleaned up for any interested real estate showings. At about 10a.m. I walked out to get the updates. There were 5 men standing, looking into the vast hole, and shaking their heads. I became "more concerned." The city had been summoned, and we were waiting for a supervisor to decide how to proceed. My level of concern was approaching the current Terrorist Warning Level of scorching scarlet. The supervisor explained that something mysterious was happening under the sidewalk.

The next day at 7a.m. the sidewalk was being jack-hammered. Then the big trucks came in. The one in the picture with the big spool on the front end had a water power jet to cut through the roots, and a vacuum to suck up the debris (that part was pretty sweet). To make this long story as short as possible, the plumbing from about 15 feet away from the house to the city connection has been de-rooted (lovely redwoods), re-engineered and in some places totally replaced. AWESOME! I plan on never again having to stand over the toilet to make sure my flush doesn't come back to get me.

At this very moment, the last of the city workers just drove off after protecting his beautiful job of pouring new concrete for the sidewalk (so tempted to stick Laura's hand in it). I think we may be done. My concern level is back down to lime green. You know, like the margarita I wish I could drink.

Wednesday 08.23.06 - It's Gonna Be Maybe A ....

Little sister for Laura. At the ultrasound on Monday we were pretty sure (as the baby was spread eagle) it will be another girl. Of course, the doctor never will say 100%, but he seemed pretty sure as well. This means I have some quality time ahead of me in the storage unit digging out Laura's hand-me-downs.

In other news, we are back again from a busy weekend. This time we went up to Lake Tahoe for a great getaway. Originally we planned to camp, but instead we stayed at a friends cabin (which my back is very thankful for, I don't know if the camp air mattress would have gotten the job done). It was awesome. We spent Saturday at a spot on the Carson River fishing and playing in the water. Be sure to check out the media page for evidence of our adventure.

After all of our fun, we wound down a bit the other night with a little art:

Thursday 08.10.06 - Done Went Commando

So again it seems I'm working on a monthly installment to this website. I hope that I can get to it a little more often, but there is always something going on to keep me away. This time it was yet more travel, and then some unexpected (like you ever expect a pipe to collapse) plumbing issues.

We did spend another week in Laguna to keep the house kid & dog free while on the market. It was a great excuse to break in the new Jeep.

We hit Pismo Beach on the way down, drove out on the sand and Laura loved the shallow baby waves. Once we got to the OC time was spent at the beach and in Grandma and Grandpa's garden visiting Buzzy. We also took a trip to Scripps to run in the lawns and check out the fountains. Be sure to see the media page for new slide shows.

Monday 07.17.06 - Independence Week

I'm finally back at the computer after a great holiday week and then another week to catch up and get back into the routine. It was a wonderful, long week in OC with the families. We spent the 4th of July at the beach and then ended the night with an awesome fireworks display. Laura loved the beach, especially rolling around in the sand, and then jumping waves. I was preparing her all week for the fireworks - I didn't want her to freak out. I would ask her, "How do the fireworks go?" and she would open up her hands and say "BOOM!" Of course, she partied all night long, and then about 15 minutes before the fireworks started, when she crashed out hard. We pinched and everything and she wouldn't wake up. Until right after the grand finale. Then she was ready to rock again.

We spent the rest of the week dodging the heat in various ways. Some not attractive but incredibly efficient. Check out the media page for new slideshows.

This past weekend I finally was able to find a car I could upsize to that wasn't totally huge but that Bob could still fit into - hooray!

If you can understand the thrill of buying a car, just quadruple that. We test sat (for fitting purposes) test drove, re-sat and looked at almost every car out there, and finally decided on the Jeep Commander. http://www.jeep.com/commander/index.html

Of course, when we go anywhere now I say we are "Goin' Commando!"

We spent yesterday driving around running errands, and then finished the night with a bbq and Bob doing a little babysitting. Yes. The hat says "Daddy's Buddy."