Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Jack at 5

Appropriately, Elle brought candy & prankster gifts

from Rocket Fizz, a retro candy and toy store we discovered in Camarillo, which opened a branch near us, too.

***
Our sweet little imp. Even his attempts at rebellion are kinda lame.
The cartoon characters adorning Carolyn's ice cream cake are from a BBC French language program called Muzzy - one of Jack's favorites. He actually enjoys hearing the French vocabulary being recited!Katherine won't be able to do this much longer. Jack's last doctor appointment had him jump from 25th percentile to 50th!

Friday, April 09, 2010

Resurrection Day!

Carolyn's artwork graced the west wall of our warehouse church, providing a focal point for the Good Friday service & Easter feast; we beheld ham, actually.
The week began with a Passover seder at the Carters', the Jewish symbolism folded within Messianic fulfillment - another non-lamb event, chicken.

I go through this every year. Easter is historically THE Christian holiday, having only been recently supplanted by the double whammy powerhouse of Christmas' commercial & familial values. Scrooge was named Ebenezer as a pointed dig against Christians, who disparaged the holiday. The Puritans, you may know, actually went to work on Christmas.
But the lovely AWANA egg hunt & teaching hit me funny this year. M & J (and we) love the youth focus, but the total event, including the chorus in one of the songs - "God's not dead, I feel him in my toes..." - didn't charm me this year. Christianity is so private in the modern world, so even our more public events come off either as ridiculous or childish or just odd somehow. They seem weightless, culturally speaking.




Monday, March 22, 2010

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Kauai 2010

A rainbow off the Napali Coast while whalewatching. Choppy waves took their toll on the passengers; just ask for the "Aloha bucket," we were told, but it was beautiful, and I saw lots of whales.

We woke up the first morning to a tsunami siren, but Princeville is 200 ft above sea level, so people were calm. We waited 'til 11:05 - tsunami's time of arrival - right after the pool bar opened at 11.

After answering concerned friends via text and email, I tested my underwater camera - loads of fun, btw.
M & J took to surfing lessons..so we went to Hanalei Bay for the real thing...
Michael is addicted, I'm afraid.
We're determined to avoid the only-thing-that-is-important-is-having-fun bohemianism that seems to ooze off the board-sports subculture. Am I mistaken, or did that vibe come across among some of the recent Olympians, as well?
The bay was beautiful, and Carolyn and college friend, Beth, recalled South Pacific, which was filmed there. We took in a live performance of the musical - community theater level - surrounded by busloads of touring retirees with M & J sitting on the floor way up front. When asked to name his favorite thing of the vacation, Michael answers, "South Pacific."

Capt Paul took the boys snorkeling though and everyone loved him and his activities.
Michael stayed up at the tip of the catamaran the entire 4 hours, screaming with glee with each rocking bump, licking the ocean salt off his hands.

Shave Ice was a daily ritual, although this stand's fare was not up to snuff, in my opinion. Hard to find authentic Japanese-style, Hawaiian shave ice; ie extremely finely shaved with azuki beans at the bottom!
Pepperdine's spring break was early, so we pulled M & J out of school. The term is racing along, with graduation ahead, May 2.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Michael and Jeff

Kinda speaks for itself.