Reading rainbow

Not sure what is more shocking:  that she left the house or that she is reading (voluntarily)!  She's just finishing up Wonder and hopes to read at least 4 more books in August.  And her brother is reading To Kill a Mockingbird for his summer reading (plus doing some math).  Had another beautiful day at the beach - it's always beautiful when I win all the rummy cube matches!

Mo SLO

Class of '84 parties more!

Last night was my 30th high school reunion.  That's right - I'm old. I had pretty much been looking forward to going for about 10 years. Mostly because the "cool" kids keep getting balder and I haven't changed. Well, maybe a little. But then I realized that very few of the very few people that I cared about were actually attending. In fact, there were quite a few I didn't even remember going to school with.  See, I am getting old. But by passing on the reunion, I was able to partake in this rejuvenative weekend along the central coast with my wonderful family.

Where's Waldo?

SLO, I've missed you so...

After turning a 4 hour trip into a 9 hour marathon (although we did visit auntie Beth and take pups for an hour swim at Hendrys), we arrived at our domestic happy place and an upgraded room.  Beelined it to Dels for some za and honey buttered rolls.  

Took Josh on an adventurous trek to a local skim spot:  Thumpers. Steph and Jill visited the farm. Then we went to Justin's for some vino.  Checking out a new sushi spot tonight. 

Funny papers

See kids:  there used to be this thing called the comics.  We didn't have "memes."  And you could only read them is this antique thing called a newspaper - like the internet, but on paper.  My favorites were Calvin & Hobbes, Bloom County, and The Far Side.  Here is one of my favorites:

Weird Science

Bwahaha!

Happy 5th Birthday

Game of Domes

Dome of the Rock

AstroDome

Iron Dome

Cranial Dome

Dome on the Range

Dome sweet dome

Under the dome

Simpson's dome

SpongeBob Dome

Superdome

Thunderdome

Green Dome

Chrome dome

Bear

Me (after some donuts) & the wife (and dogs)

Today's adventure brought to you by Solana Donuts - home of the bavarian cream and cinnamon crumb jelly filled.  Although their new home is my belly.  Took Cubby Bear and Sugar Bear to see the UC San Diego Bear.  Took a little pre-exploratory stroll around a possible future campus of the number one son.  Pretty cool school.  And, they're Tritons!

Talk soup du jour

Took the boy child to see Chef the other day.  Still a great flick, with a tasty soundtrack.  Kid loved it.  The following conversation occurred:

Son:  Mom is such an amazing chef.  She could open a food truck!
Me:  Oh yeah, what would she cook?
Son:  I don't know, like, Jewish food.
Me:  What like Gefilte fish?
Son:  What?  No!  Yuck.
Me:  Then what's on the menu?
Son:  Maybe latkes and Pasta Stephanie.
Me:  Pasta Stephanie is not exactly Jewish.
Son:  Sure it is.  It's made by a mameleh.
Me:  And what should we call this rolling restaurant?
Son:  hmmm...
Me:  We can call it the Schmuck Truck!
Son:  Yeah! No, wait.  That's no good...
Me:  What then?
Son:  How about like that boat in Cabo...the Shalom Truck.
Me:  Ahhh....Cabo.  Shalom, son...

Airplane in the Ukraine

• Not a good year to be Malaysian Airlines.  Yesterday, its flight MH17 was apparently shot down by Russian separatists with a  surface to air missile.  What were they thinking flying over a war zone, anyway?  Was it targeted or randomly selected?  The saddest part:  over 100 leading AIDS/HIV researchers onboard, part of the 298 overall, needlessly perished.  And even worse, the wreckage was looted.  That's how messed up things are in the Ukraine.
• Even more messed up:  the Gaza Strip.  Hamas terrorists hide in schools and churches, using it's people as human shields.  And then cry outrage to the world when civilians get killed.  They even refused a ceasefire.  Bill Maher said, "Dealing with Hamas is like dealing w/ a crazy woman who's trying to kill u - u can only hold her wrists so long before you have to slap her."  Israel, not messing around, launched it's ground invasion, with the primary goal of destroying Hamas' tunnel system, which it uses to launch it's endless barrage of rockets into Israel.  Israel's technological superiority has managed to turn these rocket infringements into a mere fireworks show.  Just when I was over the lame, randomness of Under the Dome, Israel brings us a better show:  the Iron Dome.  (Malaysian Airlines could use a dome around it's planes, or at least some aluminum foil, per the new Weird Al video).
• And speaking of foil:  Jilly's camp season was foiled, cut short in it's prime due to a lack of a uv ray protecting dome around the beach.  Just when she wasn't afraid to get back into the water, the little paleface got severely sunburned, with some scary blisters on her shoulders.  She's under Dr. Dad's order of R & R and confined to her cavelike bedroom.  

Pasta Stephanie

My wife is a tasty chef.  She can bring home the bacon and whip it up at the same time.  She's makes a delicious pasta dish that kids love, which she calls "pasta Stephanie."  She tells them that it is a famous dish and that if they go out to an Italian restaurant and ask for it by name, they'll make it.

So, last night the in-town grandparents took us all out to a local ristorante.  (Thanks Mom & Dad)  The kids considered ordering the Pasta Stephanie, but were too embarrassed.  They settled on Fettuccine Al Frendo.  I had the eggplant.  But then, Steph ordered from the waitress (coincidentally, also named Stephanie) a half order of Pasta Stephanie.  Mush to everyone's bewilderment it came and was delicious.  But not as delicious as Stephanie's - the wife, not the waitress.  Buon appetito...

Le quatorze juillet

Jenny Myer: First, we have: Frawnch fries.

Jenny Myer: And: Frawnch dressing.

Jenny Myer: And: Frawnch bread.

Jenny Myer: And to drink: Ta-da! Peru.

- Better off Dead

Viva Le France!  Celebrated with french fries, but no Royal with Cheese.  The Chef Du Jour did up "theme night", whipping up a coq au vin with Frawnch bread and a couple of bottles of Beaujolais.  Crepes for dessert and a round of "the mime game" (charades:  old house = castle.  Bwahahaha.  At least Poppa B wasn't as drunk as Bubbe).  Listened to all the top hits of France:  Vie en rose, the can can, Voulez Vous, My Cheri Amour, and Les Mis.  Bons Moments.  

Turn on your heartbreak hotel

Took in a Elvis/Neil Diamond tribute concert on the bluff overlooking the sea. The bride and the puppies came too. Jilly didn't want to be seen in public after getting many inches of her mane chopped. The lil Dude is on a surfin safari.

In the backyard

Papa's tacos are very good tacos

The blog days of summer

Bubbe?

Posts have been few and far between.  I have been busy working on my sitcom pilot:  Bubbe and the 2 Giants, based on a Yiddish folktale.  The highlight of my day was taking the fluffs to the vet, where they received a clean bill of health - other than their chronic obesity.  Jilly took in a movie that she's seen 36 times, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, with her gal pal Emma.  Josh broke his streak of continuous days at the beach, only to regress into a Mine Craft griefer.  Good grief!  The patient continues to convalesce.  All of which, has allowed me to almost master Two Dots! ..  I am on level 108 out of 110.  Did I mention that someone deleted the app after being passed by her husband and granddaughter?  At least I got that summer accomplishment going for me..almost.

Bubbe and the 2 Giants

or:  The 2 kids and the Elf

Well, you were probably expecting a fairy tale complete with dragons and ogres...instead, just a typical weekend roundup post.  Took in the fire works (and some crab legs) at The Charthouse that sits atop a bluff overlooking Dana Point Harbor.  Beautiful night for pyrotechnics.  Saturday, the kids made a rare (i.e. mandatory) appearance at the Donut Shoppe and dog beach.  We then went over to Pt. Loma for our annual fish sandwich.  Yum.  Josh couldn't get back to the swelling beach fast enough.  Jilly back to the computer.  The wifey and I lucked upon a fabulous find of a local eating and drinking establishment, Star Fish.  Cleaned the carpets.  Met the folks at an outdoor concert and enjoyed the ocean breeze.  But not as much as the linguine spaghetti with clams, prepared deliciosously by the wife, that followed.  Sadly, said wife is now home from work having tested positively for strep throat - not a happy clam.  :(

Annual Update

Happy Birfday 'Merica

San Clemente Times