Sunny Days: October 2006

First Hooptie, circa '89-91

I saw this van and had to stop to take a picture.

It looks exactly like my first "car". A Tradesman 100 my dad gave to me for my high school graduation gift.

I drove it up from San Diego in a 24hour marathon that consisted of no-doze, and pepsi, listening to The Police, Ghost in the Machine and Zenyatta Mondatta.

Of course, my van was nicer, and had a rectangular window right about the middle of the cab. I think the wheels were more enduro, and it was jacked up all Enumclaw style. It even had a 6 foot dune-buggy antenna off the back.

It made it through high school summer, and a year of college before I had to get rid of it. The van needed alot of work, and didn't fix up well. I finally had to sell the hooptie in 91 as it was parked at my girlfriend's house (Now my wife) for two months. My father-in-law was getting ready to sell it because he thought I had abandoned it.

Waxin' nostalgic...

Marris Farms Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday we went to the Marris Farms pumpkin patch with Keri's Mom's daycare group. 16 kids running around a farm, with 6 parents chasing after them. It was mayhem. Chaotic fun. Actually, it wasn't that bad.

There was plenty to keep the kids occupied;
They had a tractor that pulled 12 little cow cars around a psuedo-bmx track,
a giant milk carton that the kids could climb up into and peek out the top,
a giant corn maze that had a secret shortcut for the little ones,
a quarter-mile hay ride around the pumpkin patch,
and a petting zoo.

Here is our family picture.

This was the goat walk. See the goat at the top of the picture? They have a little feed vending machine at the bottom of the picture to the right. Plop in a quarter, get some feed, put it in the cup, and run it up the flagpole to the goat. The girls are here with Auntie Trisha doing the hard labor around the farm.

And then a great picture of Allie picking out her pumpkin.

It was such a great day. We couldn't have asked for a nicer, warmer day in October.

They've graduated

I told the girls that if they passed their swimming class, P1, we would go to Applebee's for dinner and a Garbage Sundae.

I also got them a little present for graduating. Kiki got Cat Butt Gum, and Allie got pop rocks.

Allie's lost another tooth

I don't know what it is about loose teeth, but it really gives me the goose bumps when Allie starts to lose a tooth. This one is her second one so far.

The Tooth Fairy left a trail of pixy dust out the window (and also a trail into mommy's room according to Allie.)

Grass!!!

Finally we have grass growing in our front yard. This picture shows the yard about 3 weeks from the time that I seeded it. We still have a long way to go. But it does feel good that it is finally coming in.

I had to prep the yard with topsoil. That was a joy. It took about two weekends to get the topsoil, and level it out. The yard has to be really level or else you get puddles when it gets wet (learned by experience). I then laid down some seed and covered it with peat moss. We were disappointed that the seed didn't come up within the first week, but slowly, over about three weeks, it is finally becoming green if you look at it at the right angle.

Keri likes how she doesn't have to water it anymore now that it is raining so much. But there are still some bare spots that we'll have to patch up next spring.

Blackberry Bricked Badly

While we were in San Diego, my BlackBerry stopped working. I think it was because it had gotten wet while we were at Aunt Nancy's (by the jacuzzi, incidentally, but long story). The scroll wheel and the keyboard stopped working. After much fiddling, I ended up giving up on the darn thing. It still had power, and I could receive calls, but I couldn't access my email or make calls. It was basically worthless. It was a work phone, so when I came back, I ordered another one. Two days before my new BlackBerry came, this happened.

I was constantly fiddling with it hoping that the phone would start working again. I had the phone in my right hand and pressed the cancel button on the right hand. I guess I squeezed too hard and the screen popped, went blank, and then this 'burn hole' showed up on the screen. It was bricked at this point.

You really get a feeling how addicted you are to your phone when you absoluetly have to go without it for an extended period.

San Diego 9/15 through 9/25

It's been awhile since we got back, and I've wanted to update the blog but just haven't found the time. So, here are a couple of pics that might get me motivated to write a bit more.

This was at my Aunt Nancy's house in Alpine, CA, just east of San Diego. We love it there and the girls could swim all day. Here is one of the pictures of 'The Flying Orozco's'.