Final Reunion for the School Year

Go Fish! (Swiss style):

My family's memory game:

These friends are on the way to exciting summer internships, travel, work, etc. back home & far-off. Elle is off to Boston L'Abri.

Jeff at a Target Minneapolis internship; Alex packing cherries then off to a Swiss farm; Chris to Nestles in Vevey, Switzerland; Cecily off to a NGO in Kenya.

Our postage stamp yard works in a So Cal climate; over 30 people!

Jack has coccinellidaephobia (fear of ladybugs), so he ate his watermelon indoors; doesn't have anthrophobia (fear of flowers). Those oriental lilies are AMAZING; picked them up at Shigeru Nursery's stand at the Thousand Oaks Farmer's Market - Shigeru turned out to run a nursery in Gardena (my hometown) when I was a child - now resettled in the farming community of Oxnard.

AJ, Adrianne, & Tyler

Michael slapped hands with AJ

while Carolyn reconnected with Chantel and Joanne. Roland & Israel of El Tapatio, a local taqueria, helped us out beautifully, serving up pork, beef, & chicken tacos for 50, complete with beans, rice, chips, salsas, and, importantly, those pickled veges. They actually toasted the tortillas!

We saw this done at a baby shower recently and wanted to give it a try; freed me up from cooking to do more visiting; sadly, I think I just ate a lot more than I would've normally. I found myself a bit lost, looking for a job! Reminded me of a guy I once saw meticulously arranging his purchases on the Costco conveyer belt like a jigsaw puzzle. Was he working? playing?

We plan to be around mostly for the summer for a change, - swimming and just being hot - although will head up to Whidbey Island in July. Have a wonderful summer everyone!

Jack's Birthday Safari

Jack's preschool munchkins came over for a Jungle Safari. Carolyn REALLY gets into this kind of thing and, while I was initially skeptical, I have to admit the kids REALLY loved it. Upon passing the front door...

each child goes through the Depot, reemerging as a pith-helmeted, bandana wrapped hunter,

completing stations of...

Archery

"Pin the Tail on the Elephant"

"Catch the Tail" (aka "Duck, Duck, Goose")
Musical Chairs

Egg and Spoon Race -

- a personal favorite of Jack's, featured in the delightful story(teaches the virtues of sacrifice and sibling friendship),

each child's passport got stamped

Then on to sandwiches

and chocolate cupcakes (mocca butter frosting) topped with exotic animals

& the group shot

I'm not sure anything has made me as happy and sad as being a dad; experiencing the passing of time through seeing one's children captured in photo frames. We're either collecting all these memories or they're slippping through our fingers, right? Not a moment too soon for Easter!

Jack Turned 4 on Easter!

Busy week at work and now - before Jack's 4th birthday posts begin - here's to Easter.
Arguably the least "paganized" holiday compared to Christmas, Easter still has its moments - admittedly, the pagan stuff is often the most fun.
Jack with Nathaniel at our church's Easter breakfast. BTW, I discovered a KILLER cinnamon roll recipe. Sadly, no visual proof.

Then home for our own baskets! Carolyn's tradition is to hide baskets outside for the kids to find.

Eggs, eggs, eggs!

More eggs.
This is another church's egg hunt - more kids - which we took in on Saturday...complete with craft.

Hope your Easter was very enjoyable, but, for us, the day doubled as Jack's birthday.

The boys dove into homemade chocolate marshmallows - a Jack favorite.

donned Thomas caps

Erika, Mic, Cecily

and Elle joined us for Easter dinner

and to celebrate this little guy's day. A long way from Deyang City to Westlake Village (both desolate in their own ways).

Soccer

Michael, Jack, & Carolyn have been spending Tuesday afternoons at a neighborhood park for soccer practice...

with Coach Rubin - a Walter Matthau-esque figure
who masterfully gets the kids motivated to do all kinds of exercises:

such as balancing on one leg. I was intrigued by the girl who insisted on playing in her purple dress and street shoes.

Michael - a natural jock - represents a great divide in our family. Often said that children look up to their parents, but I do admire Michael in many respects - sports being one of them.

It's a delightful way to kill 90 minutes; Carolyn's life is all about schedule and keeping up with appointments, but, sometimes, there's this beautiful lull and pleasure in experiencing the day. Switzerland had this nice rhythm worked into the day, as well as the year, when you figure mandatory vacation days. Makes me wonder if I should start attending the Tuesday faculty lunches - lousy fare, but subsidized - rediscovering that staple of work days of old called "the lunch break." (Btw, that fold-out chair w/ cupholder from Costco is a great back-in-the-van item).

Latino Market, etc.

I was despairing of food options out here until stumbling across the Latino Market the other day.
Under this California oak canopy, we explored this strip mall and - besides some great marinated carne asada - came across
the biggest fried pork rind in the world, actually protruding beyond its heat lamp case, in an alien life-form kind of way. Stepping out to lick our ice-cream cones, we turned right and found a Mexican version of Jamba Juice.
On the counter - while I, still in Turkish Delight/Aplets & Cotlets mode - sat this candy dish. Offering a free sample, the owner said, "It's good. Has tequila in it," reminding me of Swiss winos getting buzzed from Grand Marnier-filled crepes.

***

I leave you with some pics of Michael playing with a fire hose

and our recent gardening venture. I urge Michael not to do likewise when watering our tender plants, though I fear some seeds may have been hosed from their earth. We also went shopping for vegetable plants, coming up with...

Dwarf lemon

Nasturium and basil

and grass, to fill-out Michael's Nile River and the Great Pyramids landscape.

Back in January, Tom & Meina gave Carolyn this Japanese camelia for her birthday. Camelias were the floral link to the samurai, since, like the fallen heads of warriors, the flower, in its entirety, falls to the ground, unlike others which scatter by petal by petal.