Cub Scout Den Visit to Pixar

Ethan's cub scout den was invited to a tour of Pixar.  Talk about exciting, huh?  Here are some photos from the visit.

Spring Break - Animals!

An afternoon visit to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco included neon colored animals, some good food and a visit to the Morrison Planetarium. Here's a video recap:

Best Fries?

On a story about "best fries" was an entry for one Bay Area location called Frjtz in SF. They have burgers, sandwiches, crepes, breakfast and even mussels on their menu. Will have to go check it out one of these days. Do you have a favorite place for fries?

And Now Here's the Original Version...

"Somebody That I Used To Know"
(feat. Kimbra)

[Gotye:]
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

[Kimbra:]
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
Part of me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know

[Gotye:]
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and I feel so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

[x2]
Somebody
(I used to know)
Somebody
(Now you're just somebody that I used to know)

(I used to know)
(That I used to know)
(I used to know)
Somebody

Another Current Favorite

Remembering Uncle John

We visited Uncle John earlier this year.  He was the biggest Cal Bears fan that we knew.  Red flowers are very common at grave sites, but blue ones are not.  So we took some pictures and touched them up just for John.  First here is the untouched picture.

The following are the touched up photos.  Just what did we change?

Five-person Band...just one guitar

...and now the parody!

Reagan Doodles

A page of ink drawings among personal papers from 1981 released Saturday March 17 2012, by the Thatcher Archive at Britain's Cambridge University. Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was so fascinated by U.S. President Ronald Reagan that she snatched and kept this page of his doodles at a G7 summit, the former British prime minister's newly released papers reveal. Reagan left the piece of paper sitting on a table at the meeting near Ottawa, Canada in July 1981, adorned with a scribbled eye, a man's muscular torso and several heads including one that looks like a self portrait. (AP Photo/The Thatcher Archive)

Talk About Down to Earth...

Mariner Baseball!

If You Have a Little Time to Kill...

If you're curious about what's inside an iPad, check this out.

2012 Pinewood Derby Races

This was Ethan fifth and final pinewood derby since he will be moving up to Boy Scouting later this year. He came into this race as the defending champion and probably was rooting more for his brother than for himself. He had a fast car, hitting a top scaled speed of almost 201 mph, and had Spider Turtle in the cockpit

This was the second pinewood derby for Ryan. Last year he finished just off the medal stand. This year he surprised all of us and took home top honors. It's hard to say what he did right, maybe a little help from mom, dad and our cubmaster. Ryan's car reached a top scaled speed of over 203 mph.

Is "Fashiony" a Word?

Ryan: Mom can I wear this to bed?

Mom: Yes, I guess that's okay.

Ryan: I like it. I think it's "fashiony."

Ryan was referring to wearing a white t-shirt under his pajama top.

Senior Day at Cal

It was a memorable day for us in more than one way. It was Senior Day at Cal with two of the more popular Bears in recent memory playing their last game at home.

Harper Kamp after five years and countless bumps and bruises, one missed year due to injury and the firing of the coach, Ben Braun, who recruited him to Cal. When Braun was shown the door after Kamp's freshman year, Harper almost followed Kamp out the door to UNLV. He decided to stay with the Bears and the rest is history.

Jorge Gutierrez was Montgomery's first recruit at Cal. It was a lucky break for both sides as it turns out. There was a slot open for Jorge only because another player had asked out of his scholarship when Braun was fired. Jorge was available only because he was not highly recruited out of a prep school in Las Vegas.



The part of the memory will be our luck to be chosen for the pre-game experience to take in the Bears' pregame practice from court-level. The only way this could've been better was if they allowed to remain in the court side seats for the game.

This means that we also got our photo up on the big screen during the second half of the game. The kids were pretty excited about it especially Ryan. At first when I told him that we were going to be able to see ourselves on the big screen, his reaction was, "I don't want our picture up there." Later during the game, he kept asking when our photo would appear.

What made the evening perfect was that the Bears won!

Everyone went home happy. Even the larger than life posters of Jorge and Harper.

And also the large contingent of Jorge fans who were at the game wearing yellow matching T-shirts. In the group were Jorge's parents with his father trying to capture the moment with a video camera. That's his mother holding up the Mexican flag and his father to the left of the flag in the photo below.

Glee

Ryan signed up for the after school Glee program at our elementary school this year. He's been busy practicing these songs:

"Don't Stop Believing"

"Total Eclipse of the Heart"

"Defying Gravity" which came from the musical Wicked.

Cal Wins Thriller

Ethan and I were on-hand for this thriller that featured three technical fouls called and a game of "I can do better than that" between two former Golden Gopher teammates. Joseph of Oregon won the scoring battle, but Cobbs' Bears won the game. Ethan says that this was the best game that he's ever seen in person.

Valentine's Day

Faces of 2011 Holiday - The Video

Sights of 2011 Holidays

Although mostly rainy, we did manage to get out and about the Seattle area.  The Seattle Sheraton had its annual Gingerbread House display to raise funding for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  On the flight to Seattle, we took in the sights from 30,000 feet to spy Crater Lake, Mt. Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier.  Although Christmas evening dinner was the height of food smells and sights, we sampled small and large bites at:

Locol Barley & Vine in West Seattle where Chuck had a gig playing jazz adaptations of tunes by local grunge bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden to name a few as part of a keyboard, drums and bass trio; the atmosphere was local, the food was good (we sampled kale chips, a beet salad and a spicy corn and chicken chowder), and the music was a hit;

boom noodle at the U Village (which is no longer the U Village that I remember from my days as a kid going to the Village to bowl); while walking to the place from where we parked a horde of young men only wearing underwear crossed our path (didn't get this photo);

Red Mill Burgers in the Magnolia area; drive by this place several times as it is near where our relatives live; we first heard about this place on a show on the Food Network; the burgers and fries were terrific;

Kaname Izakaya in the International District that we visited for Happy Hour and consumed way too much food, the idea was to go and eat a little bit of this and little bit of that off their Happy Hour menu; we continued onto order ramen, soba and donburi; the food was good but the service was a little off;

Blue Star Cafe & Pub in the Wallingford district that must have one of the largest selection listing of scrambles and omelets known to humankind; I think I already know what I'd order for the next 10 times that I visit; not only is the menu large so is the establishment itself;

Stell's Burgers and More across the street from Seattle Pacific University is another place that we drive by frequently but had never tried; we tried the gyro sandwiches and Greek fries and were pleasantly surprised; the pita bread used for the sandwiches were warm, light and fluffy;

Old Mill Cafe outside Sequim where we stopped on the way back from our visit to the Olympic Game Farm; another stop being the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and Spit (could see Canada across the way!);

Getting to the Olympic Game Farm included crossings of Puget Sound on the Washington State ferries.  In all the years going to Seattle, this was the first such crossing for our kids.

Mixed into this fun was two movies with the kids:  The Adventures of Tintin in 3D (we even convinced Ojiichan to see what was his first or second movie ever) and Arthur Christmas.  The parents had a movie night too and took in the latest Sherlock Holmes offering.

The Adventures of Tintin was at the IMAX theater at the Pacific Science Center which we visited a second time to see the exhibits.  Finally, we hiked over the Fremont district on two occasions - the place has really grown up to have an interesting mix of restaurants and eclectic shops.

But really for the kids the best times seemed to be when they were just hanging out.  They built forts with the bedding.  They built their own arcade and shops.  They played games and discovered a new favorite game called Forbidden Island that was actually based on the need for teamwork to succeed rather than on winning or losing.

Perhaps that should be the message for all of us in 2012 - let's succeed together.

Faces of 2011 Holiday

We had a memorable time with family over the holidays. The following is a compilation of our many faces from the holidays. The fish eye and other effects were the courtesy of our new camera. We played with many of the settings - perhaps too many of them. It was only on our return that we discovered that we had shot all of our photos in compressed mode using a lower resolution. And we thought that there was something wrong with the camera...

Happy New Year!!!

We rang in the new year this year, just barely filling our glasses before the end of the countdown to midnight.  Then it was back to a game of bowling on the Wii.

Christmas Dinner 2011

The menu included: lasagna, turkey, scallop casserole, soy chicken, corn casserole, green bean casserole, mash potatoes, sweet potato rolls, green salad, rice, homemade chow mein noodles, strawberries and pear...and for dessert: apple pie, pumpkin pie, ice cream and creme brulee.

Afterward, we had a friendly round of a white elephant gift exchange that included coffee, a stick of beef salami, CD of Christmas music, that Drew Barrymore smash "Ever After," a multitool, a note tablet, chocolate turtles, a magic set, an LED headlamp, UNO card game, chocolate candy assortment, a puzzle, and window crayons.

After the game, there was a round of friendly bartering where that Drew Barrymore fan (Tatsu) traded up for the movie by giving up his UNO game. Ryan surprised his parents by giving away chocolates for window crayons. Naomi to the surprise of some secretly coveted the LED headlamp - perhaps a new instrument to read in bed after "lights out." The three most stolen items for the night were: an assortment of chocolates, coffee and a stick of salami - who would've thought in Seattle.

Neil Young, Bob Dylan and others

Can you name all of the performers?

Bob Dylan and Neil Young

This apparently was from something called the SNACK concert at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco in March of 1975.

Life Imitates Art...Sort of

Watch this video first...



Now read these lines from the song "Highlands" by Bob Dylan from his Time Out of Mind album:

Then she says, “I know you’re an artist, draw a picture of me!”
I say, “I would if I could, but
I don’t do sketches from memory”

“Well,” she says, “I’m right here in front of you, or haven’t you looked?”
I say, “All right, I know, but I don’t have my drawing book!”
She gives me a napkin, she says, “You can do it on that”
I say, “Yes I could, but
I don’t know where my pencil is at!”

She pulls one out from behind her ear
She says, “All right now, go ahead, draw me, I’m standing right here”

Ethan and Friends

Ethan has been able to develop close friendships in elementary school, but now that part of his life is coming to a close as he will be heading off to middle school next year. The sad part is that the new face of education in a large school district has kids likely at different schools as they move from elementary school to middle school. Here's a picture of Ethan with some of his closest friends. From this group, perhaps one or two may end up at the same middle school as Ethan next year.

Go Bears!

The Bears are winding down their football season that has AT&T (home of the SF Giants) as their home field with Memorial Stadium under renovation. They have their last home game tomorrow against the Oregon State Beavers.

At their home game last week against the Washington State Cougars, they had Tony La Russa of the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals on their sideline sporting a Cal lid. He was on hand promoting his Animal Rescue Foundation located in Walnut Creek, California.

As he has announced his retirement from baseball, the words out that he's looking for a new gig. He announced that his first job offer was one to be an elephant trainer.

Wave Your Flag

This is a current favorite video in our household. It was the official theme song for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

CYO Falcons Cross Country Running

We had all three kids run cross country once again this year. They each showed improved throughout the just completed season. The CYO program is through our neighborhood Catholic church/school, St. Francis.

Cross country running is somewhat less time demanding compared to other sports. First, the season is relatively short. There are two practices per week and there's one meet per week with the meet usually running about an hour and a half.

Ethan and Ryan ran in the 1st through 5th grade division while Naomi ran in the 6th through 8th grade division. Depending on the course the kids run any where from just under a mile to a little over a mile. Their meets this year were in Oakland, Danville and Alameda.

Here is a write up about cross country running by Matthew Keenan of the Kansas City Star that was placed in our kids' end of year packets.

Over the years my kids have played all the sports. At last count the number was nine...but only with the sport they picked last - cross country- did I gain an epiphany about what I - and they - had been missing. It's the sheer simplicity of a sport that has the complexity of putting one foot in front of the other. A sport that celebrates something you can do for a lifetime no matter the weather. A sport removed from parent politics, coach substitutions, or relying on a portly man with a headset calling an ill-advised fake punt that costs the game. Where the word "bench" never crosses anyone's lips. Where spectators cheer most loudly for those who finish last. A sport where the competitors are challenged to improve their last, best time.

Naomi won the Spirit Award for the 6th through 8th grade girls on the team. There wasn't a specific race that was mentioned, but for me she showed incredible spirit at her last race in Alameda when she ran when she easily could've opted out because she was getting over a bad cough. This was probably the toughest race she has ever run, but she fought and finished the course.

See if you can find Naomi, Ethan and Ryan below.

Or how about here?

Ninja Soccer Highlights

Ryan completed his first season of soccer competition in the Mt. Diablo AYSO U8 Division.  His team, the Ninjas, were a good group of 7 and 8 year old boys that all got along quite well with one another.

Ryan is playing competitive soccer for the first time this year. He's playing in a Under 8 Division of the Mt. Diablo Soccer AYSO. His team is the Ninjas. Ryan says he came up with the team name.

Lyrics for Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki
Kyu Sakamoto

(Words by Rokusuke Ei, music by Hachidai Nakamura)
- released in Japan as "Ue O Muite Aruko" (I Look Up When I Walk)

ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
omoidasu harunohi
hitoribotchi no yoru

ue o muite arukou
nijinda hosi o kazoete
omoidasu natsunohi
hitoribotchi no yoru

shiawase wa kumo no ueni
shiawase wa sora no ueni

ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
nakinagara aruku
hitoribotchi no yoru

whistling

omoidasu akinohi
hitoribotchi no yoru

kanashimi wa hosino kageni
kanashimi wa tsukino kageni

ue o muite arukou
namida ga kobore naiyouni
nakinagara aruku
hitoribotchi no yoru

(whistling)

-----------------------

Translation:

I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Remembering those happy spring days
But tonight I'm all alone

I look up when I walk, counting the stars with tearful eyes
Remembering those happy summer days
But tonight I'm all alone

Happiness lies beyond the clouds
Happiness lies above the sky

I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Though my heart is filled with sorrow
For tonight I'm all alone

whistling

Remembering those happy autumn days
But tonight I'm all alone

Sadness hides in the shadow of the stars
Sadness lurks in the shadow of the moon

I look up when I walk so the tears won't fall
Though my heart is filled with sorrow
For tonight I'm all alone

--------
The story goes that the song was written by Rokusuke Ei when his heart was
literally broken by a Japanese actress, Meiko Nakamura.

Two Versions of Sukiyaki

Here's the original:


Here's a version used for a Suntory commercial that includes Tommy Lee Jones singing:

Kids on Bikes!

I think we broke a record for spontaneous bike riding on our street today!  We had kids on bikes with and without training wheels, scooters and even a motorized four wheeler.  This totally unplanned!

After this, our kids got so jazzed we went on a bike ride on the canal trails in our county through Concord and Walnut Creek.  We rode past Heather Farms, near John Muir Hospital, past Arbolado Park and underneath Ygnacio Valley Road before returning home.  The ride included a crossing of one major signalized intersection in a bike lane and two other mid-block crossings.  We even got a complement for safe biking from another biker on the trails.

Go Bears!

This is for you John...

http://www.yahoosportsradio.com/shows/rivals/jeff-tedford-7229/

Be Gentle, Kind and Beautiful...

... yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically.

The following is an article from on-line Shine from yahoo!

Is earning a black belt on your life list? Then this elderly woman in San Francisco just might be your ultimate hero.

Just two years before her 100th birthday, Sensei Keiko Fukuda has become the first woman to achieve a tenth-degree black belt—the highest rank in the martial art and combat sport Judo. Fukuda is now one of only four living people who've earned the tenth-degree (or dan) black belt. To put the accomplishment into better perspective, throughout history, only sixteen people have ever achieved this honor.

Fukuda began practicing Judo in 1935 and is the sole surviving student of its founder, Kano Jiguro. At her teacher's urging, she learned English to help spread Judo internationally.

During a time when getting married, building a family, and becoming a housewife was the norm, Fukudo bucked tradition, opting out of marriage to pursue the martial art.

"All I did was Judo...this was my marriage," Fukudo reflected tearfully to the San Francisco Chronicle. "This is when my life destiny was set. I just never imagined how long this road would be."

She described the Jiguro’s school, known as the Kodokan, as "old-fashioned and sexist about belts and ranks." In fact, an edict that prevented women from achieving any higher than a fifth-degree black belt kept Fukuda at that level for thirty years. She was finally elevated to sixth dan in 1972 when a woman's division was created.

Fukodo said she approached Judo and her life with the intent to "be gentle, kind and beautiful, yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically." Fukuda says this kind of beauty is decidedly not external. "A compassionate soul is inner beauty," she explained to the paper. "I believe this is true beauty...All my life this has been my dream."

Dream realized, the 98-year-old Sensei Keiko Fukuda continues to teach Judo three times a week at a woman's dojo.

Before You Move to Seattle or If You Already Live There

For those of you thinking about moving to Seattle or already living there check out this link.

Aaargghhhhhhhh!

Ethan: Here's what I look like when I have a bad hair day!

Ethan: Here's my surprised look!

Nuttin' but the best...

We had a simple birthday celebration for Naomi. This is the way it is when you have a good swim birthday.

With swimming into its final stretch with league and city championship meets going on, there's very little time for anything else including birthday celebrations. We'll do something more substantial for Naomi later.

Here's a short video from part of our celebration.

One Year Later...

It has been exactly one year today now since our dear friend John Komaru passed on. Life has gone on, but certainly it has been different without him. We still think about him often and from time-to-time his name will come up in conversation.

One of his colleagues yesterday at John's former engineering firm sent out a very nice email. The email simply stated "All – just take a moment today to remember John Komaru. His unfortunate death a year ago tomorrow was a shock to us all. I still think about the good times we had on the 237/880 project and how John brought so much to our team. He was a good friend to us all and a skilled professional." ~ Jack Tone

In another recent conversation, we were talking about our backgrounds. One person mentioned that she is now a chief deputy in her agency but does not have a college degree. She was able to get to where she is because of a unique state program to train people who have no formal engineering education to become engineers. I shared John's story with the group. His undergraduate degree was also not engineering related, but he did graduate work in an engineering field. John persisted to pass the Engineer-in-Training test, which admittedly is probably the harder exam because it covers subjects spanning a wider range. Following this he sat for and passed the professional civil engineers exam. I always greatly admired John for this achievement.

I understand that John was also remembered at the Institute of Transportation Engineers conference that was held last week in Anchorage, Alaska.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, we were able to visit John at his resting place. Here are a few photos from our visit.











The following are places where donations can be made in John's memory:

Cal Opportunity Scholarship
http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/home/donate.htm

Friends of Rollo
http://www.friendsofrollo.com/

American Heart Association
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

As Good As a Golden Goal

This goal was not the game winner, but it was as good as a golden goal.

Snow in Late June?

On where, on where can this be? Check it out! This is a snow drift almost as high as the building. The picture was taken on our recent road trip.



Take a guess! We'll post the answer in a future entry.

Clover's Home

Clover will be three years old this fall. For those of you who have never seen her home, here are a couple of photos.

She's upgraded her home once courtesy of Dorothy's ingenuity, She definitely has plenty of room in her current digs.

Here's an aerial view of her palatial home.


Here's a close up of Clover in her sleeping room.

Debris from Japanese Earthquake Tsunamis to Hit West Coast

The experts are saying that debris from the Japanese earthquake tsunamis will eventually hit the west coast of the U.S. It's just a matter of time. We've bookmarked a site called "Beachcombers' Alert!" that can be found under our Links that has information on this subject. Check it out.

One of Us

Traffic

3-Way Street from ronconcocacola on Vimeo.

We Was Flocked!

We awoke to a flock of flamingos on our lawn one morning.



They were everywhere!



Yes, that's right. We had been flocked! This is a school fundraiser.

Drug Relapse

Edgar Hansen on the Northwestern talks about a close friend and crew mate who missed "shove off" due to a drug relapse:

Shame
Guilt
No Dignity
Remorse
Lost
Sounds like someone coming off a relapse

Cal Bears Baseball - Team of Fate?

Cal Bears baseball was on life support earlier this season due to the university budget cuts. Although the program has been reinstated because of fundraising and generous gifts from alumni, it seems that the team is still playing as if these are their last games.

The Bears don't seem to care to do things the easy way. In the regionals at Rice University this past weekend, the Bears promptly lost their first game to Baylor with their ace pitching. This meant that to advance to the super regionals, the Bears would have to play their way out of the losers' bracket in the double elimination format. They proceeded to advance by beating Alcorn State and Rice only to find the undefeated Baylor Bears waiting for them. In this double elimination format, the Cal Bears would have to beat their brethren Bears from Baylor twice to advance.

The Bears won the first game 8-0, a game that was not a must win game for Baylor. In the nightcap game for all the marbles, the Bears again with their ace on the mound promptly worked themselves into a 7-1 hole. The sun seemed to be setting on the Bears' season. No amount of fundraising would help them this time.

But due to a series of fated, fortuitous events that included...

1. With the Bears still down 7-3 to start the 8th inning, the first Bears quietly were retired, arguably two of the Bears' better hitters.
2. That's when the Bears sprang for a single and a home run to quickly make it 7-5.
3. But in the top of the 9th, due to 2 errors on one grounder, Baylor gets one run back to make it 8-5.
4. In the bottom of the inning the Bears get a lead-off single, a crack in the door.
5. The next Cal player hits a perfect double play grounder that goes through the legs of the Baylor infielder. More fate?
6. Now the Bears have runners on 1st and 3rd.
7. Next batter hits another ball that has double play written all over it.
8. To start the double play, Baylor throws to 2nd base for the first out; but as Baylor starts the second throw to 1st for the double play, the Cal runner on 3rd breaks for home.
9. Baylor catches this and charges the runner headed for home to get him into a rundown. Being that Baylor was up 3, the correct play for them would've been to complete the double play and let the Bears score their one run.
10. So the rundown ensues, but Baylor makes another error by forgetting to cover home plate. Cal gets a gift without getting the 2nd out recorded against them. Still 8-6 Baylor.
11. Cal scores another run to get to within one run.

The Bears find themselves in the situation in this video:

Weeds Rule!

Yes, Ryan played a weed in the first grade school play. He wanted to be a weed and his wish came true. One of the rules was that the kids could not ask for a part. The teachers decided who was going to play which part.

The play "How Does Your Garden Grow" is a play that the first grade class does each year at our school. The weeds are always boys. Probably not too many girls if any at all who want to play the part of a weed. But the weeds usually steal the show because they get to do a rap song during the play.



Ryan played the role of the stubborn weed.

Uncle Chee's 70th!

Happy Birthday Uncle Chee!

Ryan: Who's Uncle Chee?

Me: One of Mom's uncles.

Ryan: Oh...

Me: Remember Tyler? He's Tyler's Ojiichan.

Ryan: I think I remember Tyler.

Me: I think when you see him you'll remember who he is.

One More Human Totem Pole

Here's a silly human totem pole!

Human Totem Pole!

In the day time and at night!

Who Can Go Higher Ojiichan?

A once in a lifetime photo?

Ryan: I wonder how high I can get in this swing?

Ojiichan: Watch how high I can get!

Ryan's Family Circus Trip Through Lawton Park

Ryan scooters down a path....
.....up the path.....then down a path...whoa, that was too fast....have....to....bail out!
Push the scooter over to the playground....
.....drop scooter and helmet.....and run up the slide!
Scoot through the play set over to the climbing ropes....bounce, bounce, bounce.....
.....keep talking to oneself....and hop, hop, hop.....
......through the second play structure to jump off....ooofffff.........
.....Mom, I'm thirsty!

Clover Gets Nails Clipped

The one activity that Clover is not fond of is getting her nails clipped. Dorothy is the nail clipper in our home. Here are a few photos from today's nail salon session.

Dental Visit and Ebisu

Dorothy and I had a chance to get away from the kids for a short while today. It didn't matter that this was only made possible because we had a dental appointment in San Francisco and Dorothy's sister was able to watch the kids for us. After the appointment, we sampled a trio of edamame, maki sushi, chirashi shushi, and shioyaki salmon at one of our favorite restaurants in the City, Ebisu. We actually tried to get a table at Hotei which is a noodle restaurant owned by the Ebisu owners just across the street from Ebisu, but the place was full. If your appetite is for ramen or other noodle dishes, then Hotei should be your destination. Ebisu does not feature much in the way of noodles. The one new item for us was the trio of edamame which featured the usual salted edamame, and then two variants: togarashi lime edamame and lemon garlic edamame. Our usual use of togarashi is on udon or other noodle dishes so having it on edamame was a first. The lemon garlic edamame reminded us of eating garlic fries. Thumbs up from us!

Mission San Francisco de Solano

In California, one of the subjects covered in fourth grade is the history of California missions. These missions were significant in the early history of what is now California. The establishment of these missions led to missionaries being sent to California by the Spanish government and forever changing the state's history.

The teaching of this part of California's history in schools has not been without controversy. Critics have pointed out that in instances the teaching has been sanitized of some of the less palatable elements of the relationship between these new Americans and the Native Americans. Missionaries converting the natives to Catholicism using techniques viewed by as being overly coercive. Natives attacking missions and then suffering for such actions.

General Mariano Vallejo was responsible for establishing Mission San Francisco de Solano in what is now Sonoma, California. Later in life, Vallejo played a key role in the conversion of California from a Mexican district to a State, including naming of the counties in California.

It turns out that Mission San Francisco de Solano would be the last of the 21 missions established in California. It was also the only mission that was established after Mexico's independence from Spain. It was the last mission established because of the secularization of the missions.

Ethan along with the other fourth graders visited Mission San Francisco de Solano. The field trip included sketching the mission, a visit to the barracks, a visit of the mission, lunch in the town square, and a short walk to Vallejo's home. The interesting aspect of the field trip was that Ethan's class only saw one of the other two classes just once until the end of the field trip when it was time to re-board the buses.

The songs in the slide show below are "El Album" by Aterciopelados (a folk band from Columbia) and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" by Green Day. Enjoy!

2011 Little League Opening Day

After a hiatus from baseball, Ethan is giving baseball another try. His team is the Double A Cardinals. Ethan is playing at the level where the players are pitching to each other for the first time. This means that there are many walks and lots of runs scored.

Ryan is playing for the first time and his team is the Single A Nationals. Ryan's league is a coach pitch league which means that your coach pitches to you. There are no walks, but there are strikeouts.

The league runs to about mid-June. Below is a little slide show of the Opening Ceremonies for the league with the Mayor on-hand to throw out the first pitch. Let's play ball!!!!

Family Dinner

We had a nice night out with Dorothy's sisters and some of their family at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants in the area, 3 Brothers from China.


This was the first time for some of us to meet the newest addition to the family, Kalista!


Cheese!


Kalista making the rounds to visit everyone!


Checking out Naomi's sketching!


Ryan ate so much that he decided to do some push ups to work off the food!