Sunday, June 22, 2008

But Wait, There's More

Jacob hit the big 1-1 on Friday, and after we came home from grandma's house, we celebrated by going out to the movies, dinner, and then back home for chocolate cake and presents.
Saturday we spent the day at Bolsa Chica, and after a great BBQ dinner we held our awards ceremony and graduation. (It was much much warmer this weekend, so we left the blankets and jackets in the car.)

Matthew got his Wolf badge, along with a few other arrow points, belt loops and such. We have a great group of kids and parents, it was fun to be the den leader for the year.

Here Matthew gets his scarf and book for the next rank, Bear. He was mad at me all afternoon since he wanted to stay in the water and swim, and I was making him get out. I finally compromised by telling him he could get back in after we were all done if the sun was still up.
It was. Barely.

Sunday we went to a retirement party for Ms. Sylvia. She was Sammys teacher 13 years ago, and we had kids in that preschool for the next 10 years. We have actually kept in touch since then as we live in the same housing tract, but it was good to see other old faces again and to officially say "thank you".
I had a softball game tonight...first one in a couple of years, but fun, mostly because we were playing a lower level team.

A friend was telling me about the senior league she joined. She's all of 38. She said the rules are a lot more relaxed, especially with base running. If you get to a certain point on the base path, it is assumed you are safe at the next base as they don't want anyone sliding and getting hurt.

I gotta join me one of those leagues.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Fathers Day

We took our annual jaunt to the beach for Father's Day. Some years it is blazin' hot, others freezing cold. This year it was hot inland, but I was skeptical as we were driving there at 11am and there was still a slight haze (read: cold).

The sun kept hiding behind this big cloud and would peek out periodically. Water, of course, was freezing, that never changes.

Never stops the boys from going in, either.
Picture of dad with Jacob - one of the more photogenic kids. Notice the blankets, and the windbreaker on my chair. We took down the umbrella later in the day to take full advantage of the sun. When it started to warm up a little more, I got out from under my blanket (still wearing two shirts) to mug with Kevin:
Jacob hates the sand, absolutely hates it. Whenever we go to the beach, he has to have his little buckets of water so he can wash off his feet, his hands, his toys. But he will also bury himself in it, or make "sand angels", or dig big holes..... then turn around and wash it all off when he realizes it's everywhere he doesn't want it to be.

Here's his "bleech" face, probably from having sand on his body. Now sand doesn't stop Matt, especially when he can make big boobies for himself:A much nicer picture of Matt, taking a break from the surf and sand. Dang, he's not looking so small any more!!
At the end of the day, we walked down Main Street, ate at Ruby's on the pier, and cruised through Jacks Surf Shop looking for skateboard stickers.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Week of June 5

Another few days of activities a go-go around the house.

This week started with the usual Scout night on Monday night. The next night Kevin received two awards from school, a Brookhurst Service award, and a Most Improved in History award. When I asked him what he did to get the service award, I got a shrug and a nasally "I don kno..." - the typical Kevin response to everything nowadays. Not even an official teenager yet, but he sure has the vocabulary of one. But he still let me hug him, so he's not completely lost.

He also had his spring band concert the following night. Here is the picture of him and his friend Thomas. I guess you could call them best friends, but I don't think the boys are all into that "we are sooo BFF" stuff like the girls are.

And for the fourth night of activities in a row, tonight I took the boys to ride the new Toy Story Mania ride at DCA. It's not open for a couple more weeks, but we got some cast member preview passes. Totally awesome ride - it is similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride where you shoot for points from your car, but way better.

I made the boys stop for another group photo in the park. I figure I better take what I can a) while there are some pretty spots left before they start demolishing and re-habbing things, and b) while the boys will still actually stand still next to each other and smile. It's getting harder and harder anymore - this is like one of three that I took - somebody always has to make a goofy face, or puts bunny ears behind their brother's head.

We met up with my friend Margo and her family in Bug's Land. Her two girls latched on to me and made me go on two rides with them. Which was fine, except the boys decided that these little squirty blasts of water were pretty darn fun to play in. Which was also fine, but I wasn't there to tell them to stop before they got completely drenched (deliberately) in about 2 minutes.

OK... poll time: Who do you think will get sick first???

Sunday, June 1, 2008

May 31

Yesterday we went to the annual BPPD Open House. The only thing the boys remembered from last year were the helicopter and really fast police car rides. Since Jacob is a major helicopter freak, we had to go again.

We came at the very end of the Open House, so we were one of the last to take pictures and peek inside. The boys insisted that I take a picture of the helicopter as it was taking off. They were jealous of my sunglasses since it kicked up lots of dirt and dust.
The SWAT team must have remembered Matt from last year since all he wanted to do was touch the guns. He went straight to the table again this year.They even let the boys try on a gas mask, helmet, and an empty, but still very heavy, flak jacket.
Since we didn't do the tour last year, I made the boys go this year. Just like mom said, there was a picture of grandpa in the lobby (sorry for the glare). I think that is the scariest picture I have ever seen of him. We got to walk into the booking area, the jail, and see the shooting range underneath the building. Ground-breaking for the new police dept. building starts next week, so time is ticking for this plaque with his name on it.