Sea Monkeys

More swimming. I think my kids are growing gills. Today I was woken up with: "Daddy, get up, we need to go swimming!" I must admit I love the pool. It's expensive to maintain (cause you all know I'm too lazy to do a good job with it myself so we have to pay someone to come out and keep it clean.} And we can't use it for 8 months out of the year, but in the summer... it all seems worthwhile. No matter how stressed or tired I am, after getting wet, swishing around n the 88 degree water, and watching the kids have fun, all the troubles wash away.

We have been listening to an 80s station while we swim (go go Sirrus Satellite Radio.) We have some speakers set up out back. I am properly brain washing my kids with the dulcet sounds of Men at Work, The Police, Madonna, U2, and the other 'classics'. It's funny when you see Katie starting to sing along now that she has heard a few of them multiple times.

Who ate all the Entenmann's...

This morning I had an early work call and I decided to call in from the home office. Being the caring father that I am, I set-up Katie and Andy with a couple doughnut-holes each, clicked on the TV for them, and headed to the den to settle-in. The last thing I said to them was, "Hey guys, if you are still hungry, there are more doughnuts in the cupboard, but don't eat too many..."

About 15 minutes later, I come out to check on them and I find this empty box on the floor... (keep in mind, this box had about 20 doughnut-holes in it when I last saw it...)

Me: "Guys! What happened to all the doughnuts?!?"

Kate: "Ummm, daddy... we accidentally ate all the doughnuts..."

Me: "..."

Accidentally? How do you accidentally eat a whole box of doughnuts? Hey wait a minute, maybe this excuse will be good for me at work... "Yeah boss, sorry I'm late, I accidentally drank all the beer last night..."

Recital Video

We finally got Katie's Ballet Recital Video in the mail. Here is a clip of her performance for you to enjoy...

Little Miss Muffet Video

Marine Camp and Aqua-Man

Katie recently went to a really neat-o marine camp at the Scripps Birch Aquarium. She had a blast and although it was very short, she really got a lot out of it. Here is a picture of her and the zillions of crafts that they created in the week-long camp.

On another note, Mr Andrew Sandwisch is now officially swimming! He has been using a floatie-body suit for the last couple of months to learn his dog-paddle. Then while we were int he water the other day, he says to me, "Daddy, I need to go potty..." So I help him out of his suit and he runs over to the bushes to do his business. Well as soon as he was done, the kid runs back to the pool and jumps in naked... His eyes got very large as he realized that he did not have his flotation, but he improvised and kept his head above water while swimming back to the steps. He is already going across the pool without assistance and is well on his way to becoming fish #2.

Petco Premiere

We took the kids to thier first Padres game today at Petco Park. (I cheated and lifted the picture as we didn't bring the camera.) It was a good time. Cotton Candy, some close flys, and the Padres won 8-5, holding on to the division lead.

Katie's favorite part: "When they make the scores and then the fireworks."

Andy's favorite part: "Digging in the sand with my friends"

To Andy's note, we sat in an interesting field-level bleacher area that was designed for kids, with a giant sandy area that allowed the kids to get right up to the fence. Hard to see the batter from out there, but you do get a few spectacular outfield catch close-ups -- such as when Giles slammed into the fence a few feet from the kids while going for a long fly.

Attachment

Here's a non-posed shot from our photo shoot. During the shoot rotations, the kids stopped for a little rest and some gummy worms. Added trivia: I used to work in the building in the background in my first internship. Trivia #2: This location used to be the old UCSB campus circa 1971.

SB, the Shubies and the 4th

Whew we have been busy.

Sorry for the black-out. We have been all over the place lately. Spent the last weekend in and around the SB area. Started up on Friday to meet our friends “The Shubies” and spend a couple nights with them. We had a great time as we always do when visiting with their family. Meeting with the Shubies is always punctuated by a contest of wit, resolve and card playing skill as we battle for rights to the Shanghai “Crown”. This trip was no different and there was much of the usual smack talking and chest puffing. I am sad to report that after many terms of service, I must relinquish my royal position -- Daddy Shuby de-throned me and has now taken his rightful place as king of Shanghai. (Shuby actually made a crown constructed of playing cards a ways back that we wear when playing.) Sadly, Jen and I spaced out and forgot to bring the crown with us so Shuby will have to wait for his official inauguration until out next meeting…

The second half of our 4-day weekend was spent in SB. The Andersons met us there with Mom and Dad for some nice family time and a barrage of family photos. The photo shoot went very well I think. Ill post some more image from it soon. Thanks to the women for organizing this, its going to be great to have these pictures for years to come.

Finally, we spent some good ol’ fashion West Coast 4th of July ‘Beach Time’ in La Jolla with some friends on Wednesday. We got started early with a morning session north of Wind and Sea, took a break in the afternoon, and then headed out again for an evening party. I came away from the day with the worst sunburn I have had in about a decade. Other than that, we had a great time. Thanks everyone for all the hard work and prep.

Ill post pics soon.