Today we went to Connor's Birthday Party for an Old-School Pre-School reunion. Afterward the three of us sat in the garage watching the Chargers game because, for whatever reason, the inside TV wouldn't show or record CBS (it didn't record the Gator game yesterday, which was a blessing)). We brought Dash's art table to the garage and we all got a lot of stuff done. We might make it a weekly habit.
Yesterday we went to Alex's BMX Birthday party (I'll have to do a write up of that) and Chase and Chance's Birthday Party.
| Here's the initial drop off the big hill. | |
| Here's Dash doing a complete course. | |
| Here's Greg helping Addison. |
September 7, 2011
Pictures Posted of Florida Vacation
Dash started 1st Grade yesterday. None of the boys from his kindergarten class are in his class; we think this is an attempt to keep him better behaved. So far he's had only nice things to say about things, no specific complaints about anything.
I was bummed because school is in, summer is over, at it was drizzling. But it's been really hot, so all is not yet lost.
We had a nice last weekend of vacation, starting with a bonfire at a fire pit on South Mission Beach. Dash, Alex, Julianna, Daniel and Kyle all had a great time, s'mores, tackling each other in the sand and riding a knocked over trash barrel for two hours.
Saturday, we headed to DeAnza Cove for some volleyball, the first I'd played with Leigh in a long, long time. Dash and Jake played together at the park well, for quite some time (it's nice to have Jake and Janis back).
Saturday night, Dash spent the night at Alex's and we dined with Marissa and Bob on his Birthday.
Sunday, a nice day at the beach, with some body surfing.
Monday, garage cleaning, and a bit of Sea World.
August 30, 2011 - St Joe, MI
Drove down to St. Joseph, Michigan to see Leigh's good friends, Missy and Tony. St. Joseph has lovely little "Main Street" with all those little touristy shops.
| Missy and Tony co-own Silver Beach
Pizza, a roaring success abutting an
Amtrak station. It's adjacent to
this monster interactive fountain
bordering the beach. Totally
happening, with all sorts of really nice
touches (a cool mural, super bars,
frozen "schooners" for your beer, great
pizza, etc.). A two hour wait in
the summer. Awesome little place,
and it was pleasure to bask in their
success. The restaurant and train station is at the bottom of a bluff. Click here for Dash's little introduction to hitting the slopes without snow or skiis... You know how, sometimes, you enjoyed something far beyond your ability to rationally explain it? Our short time with Missy, Tony and St. Joe's was one of those experiences. |
 That's Dash, Leigh and Tony at the table (Missy is walking towards it in the distance) Missy and Leigh having lunch below. |
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August 27, 2011 - Traverse City, MI
| The requisite, last-minute "hey, I don't think we have any pictures of all of us together" shot. |
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| Dash and Buttons |
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Learning to Ride a Bike
| First attempts Thursday on a bike too small for him. | |
| Friday morning on a new proper 16"
bike. Note the "dismount" at the end. |
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| Saturday morning on the slalom
course.
By Saturday afternoon he got his self-starts under control. |
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| What is Dash doing here? | |
| Or is it even Dash?
Click on the picture to find out.... |
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August 20, 2011: Whale Watching
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August 13, 2011
| Dash went to a lot of camps this
summer. His favorites were
Superhero Camp, Sea World Camp,
Mountaineering (rock climbing) and Water
Sports. He learned to Paddleboard
at Watersports.
We picked up a used board. Here he is paddling Juliana in Mission Bay. |
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August 2011: Debacle in the Desert #3
This one went alright, with no major debacles, other than the speeding ticket on the way home...
June 18, 2011: Dash's 1st Concert: U2
U2 Saved by Angry Birds
Technically, U2 was his first concert where he was awake through any portion of it. We took him to a small old theater to see Fleet Foxes, but it was on a Friday night after school. He was asleep, hard, before the opening band started. We were really worried about driving to Anaheim and spending the money on a concert that he would sleep through. He's pretty serious about getting his sleep (consistent protest to the contrary).
Luckily the concert was on a Saturday night and he got a nap in the traffic on the way up.
| We arrived during Lenny Kravitz's
set. We had full-on nosebleed
seats, but, hey, were were there.
I set off on a quest for some souvenirs.
I secured a youth T-shirt after about
forty minutes (they only had a Joshua
Tree shirt for Dash, which is ironic
because that was the first time I saw
U2).
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| When we invited Dash to see U2 a
month prior, he was less enthusiastic
than we anticipated, given his boy-crush
on Bono and his miming Bono's stage
antics during U2 DVDs.
He perked up a great deal after Lenny's set. The shots to the right are prior to U2.
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| The show opened with "Even Better
than the Real Thing" which was good
since he's so familiar with it.
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| He was doing well for the first hour or so, but then started pooping out. After a while he was starting to nod off. Uh-oh. What to do... |
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I break out the i-phone and Angry Birds keeps Dash awake for the remainder of the concert. Good thing, it would have been a shame to miss Elevation, all three of us were belting it out, to the amusement of those around us.
So, I'm not sure what the lasting impression will be, or even if there will be one. But we gave it the old college try. In fact, if it hadn't been for Bono breaking his back and postponing this leg of the tour for a year, we would have missed this go around.
Main Set: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, One, Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name - All You Need Is Love, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots - She Loves You, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stuck In a Moment, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - It's Only Rock and Roll, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - Never Walk
Encore(s): Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender - Jungleland
June 8, 2011: Debacle in the Desert #2
Observations from the Mirage
| Does boating and skiing
middle of a large California/Arizona
desert seem far-fetched at best and
ill-advised at worst? Add in pulling a boat 300+ miles each way through backroad desolation. Now, how much would you pay? Okay, now add to this desert oasis a transplanted historic London Bridge Ahhhh, now it seems like a really good idea. Why would we consider such a thing? Especially since we live a mile from Mission Bay. The answer: Thirty degrees difference in air temperature and twenty degrees in water temperature |
 London Bridge in 1890: in London, where it belongs |
Here are my acute observations gleaned from our three day adventure. This is all true and not even mildly exaggerated.
A three-hundred mile trip through mountains and desert is not going to make an ill five-year old feel less ill.
Do not assume that just because you have removed your long-trip tie-down straps from the boat, that you have put the drain plug IN. Do not assume that just because you have never left the van running and in Reverse in your life that when returning to the recently-drain-plug-installed-boat, that the van isn’t running and in Reverse right now. “Hey, why are the Backup Lights on?” Do not assume that the parking brake will keep the van from backing into the water (it did, Thank God, but never assume that it will).
Never assume that just because that the women and children in the front of boat are seated and safe and ready for a rapid deceleration, that the man in the back of the boat is also. You realize this too late as he goes crashing past you into the front of the boat. It is not because his wife and daughter he is suddenly and urgently missing (those front teeth on the other hand…). Sorry, Andy: My bad.
Do not assume that just because you have never in your life backed over a ski rope, cutting it and fouling the prop, that you will not this weekend.
Do not assume that the kids that have been fighting over the privilege to be the “Flag Waver for Downed Skiers” are actually going to Wave the Flag for Downed Skiers. Do not assume that when the Police Boat with Blue Lights aFlashing approaches, that they’ll be able to find the flag they were fighting over. Do not assume that just because you have in the glove compartment your Owner’s Manual, Shop Manual, Trailer Registration, Bill of Sale, every prior year registration, your Proof of Insurance, etc., that you will have your current registration. Do not assume that just because the Police have no intention of actually fining you that they won’t play tough while you’re dismantling the boat looking for that last piece of paperwork that they really don’t need. Don’t assume that it doesn’t sting when they STRONGLY URGE you, who grew up with boats, to take a Safe Boating Class (find me a class on “Safe Broad-Spectrum Water Activities with two 5-year olds, Four Adults, a Huge Inflatable, Two Wakeboards, a Kneeboard and Boom in a Boat Far too Crowded” and I’ll gladly take it ten times.
Do not assume that the Flag Corp will operate any more effectively even immediately after the Police’s Scared Straight Demonstration.
Do not assume that a final day where the boat gear is trimmed down to a manageable toddler-ski and kneeboard only strategy will result in an outing resulting in anything along those lines. Actions instead revolve around bodily proof that your boy actually was sick two days earlier and the efforts to salvage his wetsuit for ultimate reuse.
Do not assume that a bottle can’t reach and rupture the unrepairable sidewall of a car tire. Do not assume that getting the “space saver” tire out from its stash beneath the floorboard between the driver and passenger seats is only moderately exhausting even when there is clearance between the running board and the 140-degree asphalt. Do not assume that the new van’s jack points can be found. Ever. Even with the Owner’s Manual. Do not assume that once when squeezing your head under the car to locate a jackpoint, that 1) you’ll be able to find one, 2) that you’ll be able peel your now Dali-esque face off the hot asphalt without a hard, sharp tug. Do not assume that the first jack point you guess at can hold the weight of the car. Do not assume that the scissor jack can has sufficient height at Guessed Jack Point #2 to get the inflated spare tire back on. Do not assume that you can put the original flat tire back on so that you can change the jack point (the tire has equalized to its original round shape and won’t fit back on). Do not assume that letting the car rest on the wheel hub itself will ever let you get a jack underneath anywhere, much less a jack point that will allow more clearance. DO assume that the trailer jack can be lowered to support the trailer tongue thereby supporting the van from the hitch while you switch the jack point. Do assume that the van won’t lever the trailer up into the air (I got a couple lucky breaks there). Do NOT assume that if you attempt these operations in sandals you will finish with the same number of toenails as when you began.
Do not assume that finding a new tire on a Sunday in a city that has the chutzpah to have its own authentic London Bridge will take you less time than it took you to replace a trailer axle, wheel and bearings, a drum brake and two backing plates two days earlier. Really. Do not assume that Mobile Tire Repairman, Benny (Bless Him!), and you understood each other when you told him the size of the tire needed to be 225 65 R16, even though you went over it many times, because you wanted to be sure. The tire his son Benny Jr. brought was a smaller 225 55 R16. Fifty/sixty is less distinct that cincuenta/sesenta. Close enough, it will get me home.
Do not assume that a loose, flappy, boat cover at 60mph will induce any sort of comfort at any point in a 600-mile round trip. One size does NOT fit all. Three sizes does not fit all. In four weeks and $400, I’ll discover if “Custom Fit for your Model” actually fits my model. The worry about having to unstrap the finally-secured boat cover at the Border Patrol checkpoint is no longer a worry once the four-foot tear in this twice-used cover is noticed in the mirror. Any “undocumented workers” stowing away have been sucked out by now. With such a hole, the cover, at speed, looks very much like a Para-Sail parachute at speed. “Dang, I could barely stretch that thing across the boat, but now it has no trouble billowing up into low bridge overpasses…”
Do not assume that “boat” means anything other than its acronym, B.O.A.T., which stands for Break Out Another Thousand (dollars). And that was just for trailer and tire repairs, not even touching the replacement cover and a much-needed counseling program…
Don’t assume the 2010 Toyota RAV4 that was behaving flawlessly Thursday night when you parked it in the driveway would not need to be towed to the dealership Monday morning.
Do NOT assume that I’ll be in a hurry to do the Havasu Havoc again. I think I’ll evolve and adapt to San Diego's water and air by regrowing my nice warm layer of fat. Better make it a double…
In all honesty, there was a lot to be thankful for on this trip.
- the trailer wheel didn’t burn through or fall off in the middle of the desert; everyone got to boat while I found the
- repair shop.
- the tire didn’t blow out on the road in the middle of the desert while pulling the boat.
- The parking brake held and the van didn’t go boating.
- No one got hurt. Other than Andy, that is. Andy didn’t actually lose teeth; only a series of internal, legally-unenforceable injuries.
- Dash’s evidence of illness were sinkers, not floaters.
- The billowing boat cover didn’t actually catch on lower overpasses (that was an exaggeration).
- The Toyota only needed minor work…
- Apparently, Andy, Chantelle and Julianna are still talking to us.
