Late October is Upon Us

And now, for the late October festivities!

Super Kids! Click on these links... Super Nathan, Super John , Super Liza and Super Caroline to see a stunning portrayal of of our SUPER KIDS!





Fun Swing. We have a gynormo huge Oak tree on the side of the dry creek in the backyard. Enter a brilliant idea--we tied a 200 foot rope to a baseball bat and chucked it over one of the highest branches.
We just happened to have a playground swing seat so a few knots later we were in business! The kids even kicked a few holes in the fence for easy access. You've got to come try this. It is a magnet for all the kids in the neighborhood!

John Gets Ink. Recently John was featured in a walk to school initiative that is being sponsored at CC Elem (their school) right by our house. He even got his picture in the paper! Needless to say, he's the talk of the town. Click here to read the story!

On the Tarmac With The Blue Angels. Last week was Fleet Week here in the Bay Area. Tradition has it that the Blue Angels come, all kinds of Navy ships come into the Bay and there is a big air show.
This year we had a special treat. An awesome friend of mine from work got us four tickets to what I'm calling "behind the scenes" with the Blue Angels. (United Airlines hosts the Blue Angels and provides maintenance support, etc. at SFO.) This is normally just for United employees and their families so it was a real cool, dazzling thing to do.

We toured the hangars, saw how jet engines work, toured a double decker huge jet, saw a classic car show, storm troopers (go figure) and of course the Blue Angels--up close and personal.

The precision with which they do EVERYTHING from getting into their planes to putting on their helmets, to signaling each other and ground support, is FASCINATING. I've never seen anything more precise (except for my brother in law Mark Crane loading silverware into the dishwasher--now that was precision!) I guess that translates to the amazing things they do in the air. Nate and John even had front row seats!

Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta. We're rookies at this--we've never even made a boat before! Apparently there are the directions in the box and there are directions and designs that actually make it go fast. We chose the latter. Nate ended up winning 1st amongst all the Wolf Scouts and 2nd overall. I was surprised that thing would even float!

A Break. John & Ann, Tom & Hil gave Julia and I a HUGE break and took the kids (minus Caroline) Friday and Saturday. We went down to Santa Cruz, Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur and Hwy 1 where it of course is beautiful--one of our favorite places on earth. I (Dan) had the flu all weekend but it was fun anyway.

We're not sure how this tradition started, but we have taken every 3 month old we've had to a lookout just past Bixby Bridge and taken a picture with them. This really doesn't surprise me because well, we take a lot of pictures. The kids had quite a vacation as well--Nate and John went golfing at Round Hill CC with Julia's brother John. They drove the golf cart, and Nate apparently high centered it. Nice. They went to In N Out and watched Star Wars on John & Ann's big TV. Liza (who is really into horses and ponies right now) went to ride real horses (Cinderella, a small pony) with Ann. Talk about spoiled kids. Compared to all that it's like they're doing time in the slammer with us. Fun stuff.

Gotta run. Chaos erupting. Caroline screaming, Chatty Liza is singing, John's practicing the piano and Nate is determined to master the Recorder. Anyone know where we can get a deal on bulk earplugs?