#1 Zarina came home tonight hungry and now kind of spunky and antsy to get back out. Our theory is that she was trapped somewhere, in a garage or something and after the kids put out 50 signs our neighbors opened some doors or heard her...anyway, she's home and we missed her and we are so relieved. Now vacation can commense.
#2 Ry and Silas had some fun (in between ridiculuous quarrels about who could be Zerg. Not entirely sure who that is...) Matt put up the tent and Ry impressed us with his climbing while Silas liked to spin around it again and again.
#3 This zucchini got this big in 3 days. I wish we took pictures of it every 3 hours. I am sure we would see a difference. Plants just amaze this time of year. That's Mac's hand!
Getting out of the car in Palm Springs, 1:00 p.m. , 115 degrees, checking out the view, the outside of the condo, kinda excited...and..."oh-my-heavenly-desert-oasis, Batman!" we are in the coolest modern retro condo ever!!!!! ...everyone freaks out and within minutes is in swimming gear...Papa goes Hawaiian, Mac's got wetsuit chic...
...(above, must zoom in for this one) the boys are all about wearing 'em low ...(below) mama, kinda hollywood glam (suitable for the awesome 1945-48 condo, architect Albert Frey) and of course we can't forget goggles...OFF TO THE POOL!!
This "trip" was just amazing for being so short. Since we had to cancel our original vacation plan because of Matts promotion (yes, he is in charge of 80 men!) we had to do some rescheduling and fun-maximizing. We are still on vacation this whole week while papa works, but for most of it we are home so... San Diego, here we come! We have so much planned its sick... or is that sic?? (Megan?;) Next weekend we will do another short away adventure. And how grateful we are to get to do all this.
JOHNNY AND GEORGE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS PERFECT PLACE WITH US. Did we tell you that Silas called the condo "the trip" because all day we talked about the trip, the trip...so when we walked in he said, "is this the trip?" So, to us your condo has a name. The kids are already saying, "when can we go back to the trip?" Anyway, it was great experiencing Palm Springs this way, from the tram ride, to the architecture and history to the chaos of Soak City....
...who said this morning (when I dropped off Silas at preschool) that she loves to walk on the beach everyday watching children do the happy-wave-wind-in-the-hair-dance...
I do realize that he spends most of this interview talking about vegetarianism and not his books at all but he is just the opposite of what I expected a "literary genius" to be like. Very approachable and unpretentious seeming. Yes, Marty/Paul Simon/Matthew Broderick etcetcetc. (and some Dmitry in there too!)
PS Just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. So so so good.
I made a felt story of it when I was in 6th grade...cut out monsters and all the scenes and even small felt letters... I performed it for the kindergarteners and 1rst graders (got to skip class to do it too) and I still have the felt-boy in my trunk.
I mean this is just a great book.
And now, with Silas, I even have my very own little wild thing. I can't believe how good this movie looks but even if it isn't, the trailer is awesome. watch it ---> HERE. The music sounds great too.
We went to see Harry Potter (and we are taking Nana again tonight!) and this was my very favorite movie so far. But what is really interesting to me is that I am in love with the characters so much, as is the world, that I cry at the drop of a hat thinking about them. Just weird. For instance, my throat gets tight when I think of them leaving Hogwarts or growing up. It's like a little bereavement thinking of there being no more books or movies. I was very happy to hear that the last book will be two movies. Of course much of this is tied to our kids and their friends and all the growing up that has happened since we stretched out to read the first book...changing right along with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny...and Luna, and Neville and Hagrid and Dumbledore (waaaaaaaaa!). They are so damn cute in this movie.
#1 I watched "A Little Romance" with Mac and Emmett tonight and just went back in time. I saw the movie for the first time when I was 11 or 12...as Mac is...and the main character played by Diane Lane is turning 13. Lawrence Olivier is also in it. Such a sweet movie. And half way through we had an amazing realization. The boy in the movie looks so very much like Pablo it's crazy...without the curly dark hair.
#2 is about a book... "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer that I am reading thanks to Caline's recommendation is soooooo good. The first chapter is hands down the funniest first chapter ever and the rest is completely wonderful and beautiful and hilarious. Too good not to share!
#3 is another first in the family... I am not supposed to make too big a deal of this but Mac babysat for the first time tonight at someone else's house for someone else's kids. (Thanks Polly!) She is so incredibly ready and prepared for being a great babysitter (she has had Megan after all!) and we are just P-R-O-U-D!!
So Mama, Mac, Emmett, Silas and I went to San Marcos for the 4th of July fireworks party we have been going to for many years. Lauren, Eduardo, Pablo, Aida, Rachel and Miles joined us there. We had some food, lots of laughs, the kids ran around and we had a great time. Silas hid under a blanket during the show but was okay because he could see the show, filtered by the blanket. We know this because a bunch of us got under and watched the show with him.
The crazy part of the day was on the way home, across the street from Lauren's house we witnessed a robbery in progress when we saw a bicycle hurled into the middle of the street and two guys attacking a girl on the sidewalk. Annie, the super hero super mom, started yelling out the window for the robbers to , "Stop It!" Then she tried to get out of the car, soccer ball in hand (no kidding, she really tried to get out of a moving minivan with a soccer ball in hand and break up the robbery). I yelled at her to get back in the 'effin car (the kids were making fun of me later for dropping the F bomb) and I got out. The robbers, two juveniles most likely, had run off. The victim was a 27 year old lady bring some beer over to her friends house. She said that while she was getting robbed, she saw the silver van go by and a woman yelled and the robbers ran off. Go Annie! Lauren and Eduardo pulled up, got some ice for the victim, she was okay, Lauren drove Annie and the kids home while I waited for the cops and helped the girl make the report. What a day!
Nana treated us to a photo caravan at the Wild Animal Park. The kids have gone with her before but it was a first for me.
