Happy summer solstice

Well, it's here. The official start of summer and the longest day of the year. The summer solstice is, astronomically speaking, when the North pole is at the most extreme tilt toward the Sun as it spins on its axis. It also means the apparent position of the Sun in the sky is at its Northernmost track. What it means to me is longer, warmer days and more swimming.

If you haven't already seen over at Mama's blog, I am officially a Tiny Tot Seal. It is an intense 8-session class concentrated over the course of two weeks. We are learning to dunk our heads and kick with our straight legs. We even get to retrieve toys off the pool bottom. There are only three kids in my class and my instructor keeps a watchful eye on all of us. After a refreshing thirty minute swim, we take a warm shower and get bundled up for the short drive home. Yay summer.

SoCal weather patterns

We are officially in the beginning of summer, but down here in the Southland we have lots of grey in the mornings. They call it "June gloom." Sort of reminds me of when we lived in Montara. I guess the difference being the clouds usually burn off by midday so at least half of your day is nice. Actually, this year we've been having unusually grey days and sometimes it does not clear at all. Harrumph.

Today was a good day and we woke up to sunshine. Mommy had a business trip to the SF bay area, so she hopped a plane from Burbank meanwhile Daddy and I headed the opposite direction to Ventura. There's a long wooden pier there and we went to investigate. We found lots of fishermen and crabbers. A lot of sand, seaweed and a playground was also encountered. Maybe we'll have to come back with our fishing rods.

On the way home, we stopped off in Oxnard/Camarillo for some Vietnamese pho. You know, the big beefy, salty broth with slices of steak and rice noodles? We used to eat it all the time in the bay area, but have yet to find a good spot down here. This place was pretty good, probably not worth the drive specifically for it, but serviceable if you happened to be in the area. There's a sneaky little back entrance to our neighborhood from the Western side. It made for a pretty direct route back home for a big nap.

Home at last

You just know it is a good day when it starts with pancakes. Pancakes and maple syrup. The disadvantage is getting hungry way before morning snack time. That's ok, Daddy just gave me a bowl of cut strawberries and yogurt. Then we had In-N-Out burgers for lunch (oh and a granola bar on the way to the restaurant), a big container of milk for afternoon snack and a mess of Chinese dumplings for dinner. I seem to be hungry all the time, but I am a growing boy and need the nutrition.

We are definitely settling into the new neighborhood. Our block had a birthday party for one of the residents last night, complete with potluck (Mommy made a 5-cheese macaroni casserole). It is so nice to have been invited into their homes and warmly received. I like it here and hope we stay a while.

What's in the field of green?

Huh? Don't bother me, I am picking strawberries. There were fields and fields of them at Underwood Farms. Different species too. We had to walk down the long rows and find only the biggest and reddest of them (they were the sweetest, most perfect ones). I know I tried them myself. Over and over again. Strawberries are my favorite.

The best thing about fresh picked strawberries is their texture. Even the very sweet ones are still somewhat crisp. So yummy and so plentiful. After the hay ride and strawberry picking we were allowed to see all of the resident farm animals: donkeys, horses, goats, geese, peacocks and peahens, cows, pigs were all represented. I liked them all, even though some were stinky.

I am not absolutely sure, but I think this picture is of the biggest berry I found. It didn't make it back home because it was eaten promptly in the field.

Finding Jane Seymour

We tried. We really did. But ultimately, we failed. We spent a sunny Saturday at the Paramount Ranch in the hopes of seeing Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. You see, this is the site in Agoura Hills where the bulk of the 6-year long TV production was filmed. It was used for many other important Western films since the 1920's, but we were mainly interested in seeing Dr. Quinn. Daddy has always had a thing for her. I think she's a pretty lady too.



Ok, I'll confess. The real reason we were there was to meet other kids my age. It was one of the Amgen Transitions events. There were other kids there, but most of them were older and playing too rough for me. However, we did go on a short hike and we saw some cute rabbits (aha, that's why the named it the Conejo Valley). We had a nice picnic and then went looking for Jane.

There's a downtown area complete with saloon, and an old train station but no Dr. Quinn. Apparently it was quite a bit more built up during filming but several buildings were razed after filming ceased.

Jane Seymour, er Dr. Michaela Quinn, Medicine Woman - Where are you?

I wanna be a fireman

A totally random event occurred on the way home from school today. We stopped off at the store to pick up some food for dinner, but I spied a little red truck. Daddy proclaimed it was a fire truck. I decidedly said, "it is not." There were no ladders nor hoses. Daddy said that indeed it was a fire truck again and there were firemen standing nearby in the parking lot. Why don't you go ask the nice firemen if it was a fire truck or not.

Glad I did; they were so pleased I was wearing my firetruck T-shirt and willing to ask them about their truck that they let me drive it. Well, maybe I overstated my case, they let me sit in the driver's seat. Nice guys, they said to come by their fire station over the weekend if I wanted to see the really big fire engines and ladder trucks. Good stuff.

Life is good

I had an extra special day last week. First my daycare had an impromptu face painting day. Every day should be like this, especially when I can become a bee, bzzzz bzzzz. Then the Transitions group (Amgen-sponsored community integration team) hosted a weeknight out at the Chuck-E-Cheese in Thousand Oaks. I have never been before, but I'm sure I'll be back. We had pizza and a sickly-sweet Hi-C drink for dinner. Then we spent most of the evening being maniacs with the different activities. Skee-ball, whack-a-mole, water pistol game... You name it, we played it.

What did we get for our troubles? A stack of paper tickets which were counted in a special machine in exchange for a printed receipt. I took my receipt to the counter and was able to afford a curly straw and a very small tootsie-roll pop. I was happy. Daddy thought it was a total scam.

Anyway I had a good day. See you next time.

Happy Easter everyone

It seems some very large lagomorph with long ears came by the temporary housing while we were sleeping. He left a basket filled with jelly beans, chocolate and other dental destroyers. Mommy has fond memories of her early Easter career and decided to let me eat all I wanted on Sunday, ad libitum, ad infinitum, but not quite ad naseum. That's right, handful after handful after handful. Daddy usually follows suit on childhood behavior and parental disciplinary tactics. He did so today, but he's not plussed about it. Who knew Peeps' alarmingly fluorescent-dyed exteriors were so crunchy sugary too? How's that about white chocolate? Mommy likes it, Daddy thinks it is dark chocolate with the soul sucked out.

We spent the afternoon at Grandma Martha's house with Pop-pop, Pat, John, and Patti. Cousin Jacob was there too; he was my competition for the Easter egg hunt. Plenty of more candy. A big ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans comprised the only real food I ate today. Zoom-zoom. Jacob and I found an unattended parents' basket after dinner, we got grandma's couch all covered with contraband chocolate. Sorry grandma. We couldn't control ourselves, we were out of our minds.

Yay soccer

I had my second day of sports camp this week. Last week was T-ball, this week was soccer. I think I liked T-ball better, apparently I am not allowed to touch the ball with my hands in soccer. I didn't know these rules, and besides it's much easier than trying to use your feet for everything.

Mommy and Daddy both played soccer before I was around, so I think they have high hopes for me. I am not so sure about the sport. It wasn't nearly as fun as T-ball last week where one was expected to use their hands. Sure I can run around and kick the ball, but there are lots of other kids running around and trying to kick the same ball. So confusing.

I think I'm tired and I think I am going to sit out this one. Maybe I'll go home and practice a bit. Mommy and Daddy will understand, right?

In Toddler We Trust

So I did a little research on the web the other day. They say the average age of a US coin is about thirty years. Sometimes, if I am good, Mommy or Daddy will give me some coins to put in my cat-bank. Why be normal? A piggy bank would have been a bit too pedestrian. The penny you see in the picture has an entirely different story.

I found it in my bedroom in the corporate housing where we are staying. I like it when I find neat shiny things like coins. If you look closely at the picture, the minting year is 2002. That suggests the penny should be in existence until about 2032. This will not be the case because I accelerated the aging process. You see, I ate it. Even after Daddy just asked me to not put it in my mouth. It just went down and it was gone. Daddy called Uncle Misha (the Emergency Room Physician) to see what we should do. He assured us that most times it would simply pass and we would just have to monitor the, erm, output.

Well - Daddy found it tonight. The penny was in the bottom of the potty after a careful poo-poo dissection with the blue silicone spatula (also supplied by corporate housing). I am not even sure it was in tonight's delivery. We've been dissecting poo all week so it may have come out earlier and we missed it. All I know is it looks worse for wear, all nicked up and considerably shinier than when it started. Who knows, maybe its lifetime will be extended. I overheard Mommy thinking of making a necklace out of it for me to wear. I can hear it now, "ask me about my penny."