Happy Memorial Day!

My parents' neighborhood had a picnic that we attended. These veterans played some great tunes. Cadence dipped her feet in the pool. and of coarse there was some great southern grub.

Cadence is Done

We took this a little over a month ago. Cadence had eaten well, but was done by this time. She had just started blowing raspberries, and you'll hear me kind of cueing her to do this. Mind you, this is not really something that's appropriate at the dinner table, so I apologize. Anyway watch it to the end. It's pretty funny.

Stanley turns 200,000

Big day. Our Land Cruiser hit 200K on the odometer this Saturday. I had to run to Chapel Hill in the morning, and had six miles left before the mark. Fortunately, I was able to remember to grab my camera, and was also lucky enough to time a couple of stop lights to grab the shots. We bought Stanley 5 years ago from a guy in Palos Verdes, CA. He was using it to take his girls on surf trips along the Southern California coast. Although, Stanley is quite capable as a daily driver, we also use him as our spare ride. He's not so great on the gas: ~12 miles to the gallon, so he stretches his legs on the weekend.



Usually when I'm at the pump, I'll get folks that will come up and ask one, two or both of these questions: 1. How many miles does it have? and 2. Do you want to sell it? A lot of times these individuals are from overseas (Middle East, Africa or Aussie) where the Land Cruiser is synonymous with durabalilty, dependability, off-road capable. When I say, "He's almost got 200 thousand miles," I've gotten the reply, "Oh, that's nothing. Just change the oil regularly and you'll get 400." Anyway, we have no intention of letting Stanley go. It's clearly Cadence and Raleigh's favorite ride.

Time, Energy, and Creativity

Our friend Andrew sent this to us. Quite an interesting view:

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I really love to stand...now only if I could get somewhere!

1st dip of 08

When we considered moving to California in 2001, it was the possibility of living within walking distance to the beach that clinched our decision. And when we decided to move back to NC, it was the hardest thing to give-up. During our time in Hermosa, I don't feel that we ever took it for granted. It wasn't one of those statements like, "Well, we went to the beach a lot when we first moved there, but then..." Nope. We loved it. It really was ingrained into our lifestyle and the community's. Basically, we miss it. With Corrina being quite pregnant last summer, our beach trips were limited, and it was hard on us. Well we made it back this last weekend, and it was great. We stayed with Corrina's Aunt Patricia on Oak Island. It had what a beach weekend was supposed to have: sun, sand, warm-enough water, a cooler (wink), and this time: a munchkin who undoubtedly will love it as much as we do. The above pic shows probably the biggest difference between the NC and Cali coasts: S P A C E.

Posers

That hat and lycra wetsuit are full-on UV shields. I needed one. Seriously.









She met a boy. I think she liked him too. I'm not all that learned in the ways of baby love. But when a girl repeatedly tries to stick a sandy index finger in your eyeball, then maybe that means she likes you.

A little something she learned from her Uncle Paul Costa: the art of the beach nap.