Pineapple Rings

The other night at dinner, we had pineapple rings as our side vegetable(?). When EJP opened the can, he remembered about eating pineapple rings at the hotel. Pineapple rings were often the best thing available for dinner.

That was 3 years ago, making EJP 1.5 at the time. That's a pretty impressive memory.

Cookies

It is Girl Scout Cookie time. SKGP is happily pushing her wares on everyone. She is doing pretty well; Uncle DMP have her some sales tips.

If you want any cookies, let me know. (Yummy yummy thin mints!)

Note to Self: Less Squash

Our garden is doing very nicely. We have lots of tomatoes and varieties of squashes. We have made one batch of salsa, and we need to do another shortly.

Today, while doing some lawn maintenance, I decided to clean up the garden area a bit. There were lots and lots of large dead squash leaves buried in the middle of other plants. I hacked them back, and moved a large living plant that had decided to grow on top of one of our tomatoes.

While it is nice to have home grown squash, they are not my favorite vegetables, and they take over the whole area. Next year, remember to plant fewer squashes, and don't put them in the middle. Instead, put them on the edges so they can grow outwards.

Picnic Day

Picnic Day is the annual open house at our alma mater, UC Davis. Yesterday, we packed the kids in the van and made the trip back to Davis. It rained. A lot. On the road and on campus.

Highlights include the Doxie Derby, the race of the wiener dogs. Also, lunch at the Coffee House is still very good. EJP got to pet a tarantula, some snakes, and a scorpion. We tried honey based on several different plants. We saw cockroaches race.

We met up with Jon and Jessica, and it was, as always, a pleasure to see them. The twins are coming! It seems I'm really missing out by not watching Battlestar Gallactica.

We had dinner at Dos Coyotes. Yum. Then we drove home in more rain.

A Fun Day

Yesterday, we had a nice family day.

We got up and lounged about for a while. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We went to SKGP's gymnastics. We came home and had lunch, and EJP took a nap. There was a minimum of fussing, yelling, and screaming, which makes any day a good day.

We went to the 4:00 PM showing of The Jungle Book, performed by Children's Musical Theater San Jose. The kids, aged 6 - 13, were very good and the sets and costumes were high quality. This production was the exact opposite of a Little Mermaid show (which completely blew -- we were very happy SKGP chickened out of joining) that we saw earlier this year put on by a Gilroy group. Both troupes ensure all the kids have a part in the play, so it must be the adults who make the difference.

After the show, we went to our favorite restaurant Aqui for dinner, which was excellent. They are opening a Campbell restaurant next spring, so watch for it. I just sent an email to them asking them to open a Gilroy restaurant -- A man can dream, can't he?

After dinner, we went to Sweet Retreat (which I found when RCP was convinced I was going the wrong way) and had really big ice creams. Then we drove past our old house (which is still a work in process), and home, listening to a song about a skunk over and over.

Let's do that again sometime.

Puke!

Act I

On Wednesday, a couple of us went to Sinaloa in Morgan Hill for a margarita after work. Then I met the family at the new restaurant Ragoot, also in downtown MH. I've never been impressed with Sinaloa's food, but everyone told me that you go there for the margaritas. Well, the margarita I had sucked. Their chips and salsa isn't very good either, but that never stops me from eating ton of it. Ragoot's is the right restaurant for Morgan Hill -- its pretty good and hip, but still casual. I had a nice salad.

After I went to bed, I tossed and turned for a long time. I dozed for a while, but I was feeling worse and worse. Then I made the mad dash to the toilet.

Act II

Thursday passed with me in bed. Friday I returned to work. After work, the family drove to La Canada to spend the weekend with RCP's family.

After a brutally tiring drive, we arrived around 11:30 PM. After a struggle, we got the kids into bed. We fell asleep.

At 2:30 AM, SKGP yells for us. We go to check on her, and EJP is swimming in a horrible white mucousy sludge.

We change the sheets and go back to sleep.

Act III

3:00 AM. Another yell from the kids room. Another change of sheets.

We bring SKGP in with us so she can make it through the night undisturbed. An hour or so later, EJP comes in and squishes in with us.