For Kelly’s last summer day before she had to officially step into school, I took her to the beach. I let her choose the beach, because while my favorite is the relatively quiet New Brighton Beach, I though Kelly might have her own preferences at this point. And she did.
She asked me to take her [...]
Peter took a day off work so we could visit the California State Fair on Thursday. It’s one of our regular summer highlights, a fair that celebrates all things Californian in such a big and spectacular way (and changes up its entertainment every day) that it’s impossible to take it all in.
This year’s theme was [...]
Until last Wednesday, my children had never seen a circus. But when I had an opportunity to buy them preview night tickets for $15 apiece, I bought three: one for each child and one for the accompanying adult. Both Peter and I had low expectations, I have to say. Neither of us had been to [...]
In May, I wrote about my neighbors, who despite having low-end blue-collar jobs, had managed to pay $869,000 for the gorgeous house across the street. As it turned out, they didn’t pay at all, because they’d been given a loan with no money down and no questions asked by the underwriting genius I dubbed Happy [...]
Kelly had her kindergarten orientation this morning, while the older classes had their first day of school, and Peter and I are still ambivalent about sending her off.
There was a lot to look forward to with being at a neighborhood school instead of at the science magnet where Neil went. The school is only half [...]
The Santa Clara Valley used to be known as Valley of the Heart’s Delight for its great farmland and rich orchards. They’ve pretty much been taking over by business and housing, but when summer time comes, I look forward to August, because that’s the time of year my neighbors come knocking on my door carrying [...]
When I started hanging out with homeschoolers last summer, I wondered openly why so many of them took their family vacations during the summer time, when everyone else in the universe does. Travelling in the summer means having to pay top dollar, face crowded attractions, and compete for lodging: so if you’re not bound to [...]
When I found out that the pyramids of ancient Egypt were originally white but their limestone facing was taken off and reused during medieval times, I realized Peter, in making my birthday cake, revealed the secret for why the pyramids were built in the first place.
After all, he’d muddled over what color to make the [...]
Kelly’s storytime hero, Andrew from Borders, instructed his fans to watch the Olympics after they began the following week. I didn’t intend to watch the Olympics, but for Kelly’s sake we did. And I am surprised at some of the Olympic sports. Kelly saw synchronized diving, which is cool, but who goes in for synchronized [...]
It seems that there are some household goods being made these days with the manufacturer’s expectation that the owner won’t use them for more than a few months. One example of this is Peter’s treadmill: within a month, the arms on it broke, and when I was using it, about 8 months after we bought [...]
