Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Baja del Sur



Another first. I landed at an international airport! After leaving Palomar airport, Robert, DJ, Holden and I flew to San Felipe Airport in Mexico. We were greeted by armed, friendly soldiers who showed us where the fuel station was and directed us to the administration building.

Inside the administration building, we filled out some forms, paid some money and used the bathroom. My passport had expired so I had some 'splainin' to do but everyone was extremely friendly.

The flight to Mulege was only 2.5 hours. Because highway 1 is on the West side of Baja in Baja Norte, there isn't much to see on the Sea of Cortez side except beaches, mountains and islands. It was beautiful.

When we arrived at Mulege I found my mom's beach and did some slow flight above her cove to let her know we were about to land. We landed at La Serenidad, the local hotel that has an attached airport. It is probably the nicest hotel in the area. Again, we were met by Federales and had to show them our permit. No money this time. Don Johnson, owner of the hotel and honorary mayor of Mulege came out and helped push the plane back.

While staying in Mexico, we flew to several destinations just for kicks. My favorite was a little place on the Pacific side called Campo Renee.

We were sent by pilot friends in Mulege to get some oysters there. As promised, we were able to taxi from the air strip to the restaurant. We had seafood cocktails and sent someone for six dozen oysters at the local oyster farm.

The boys never asked to watch TV or movies the entire time we were there. They had too much exploring to do. Plus, there was Nana constantly keeping them busy with fun activities and making them pick up after themselves.

On New Years Eve we had a feast at an international survival school down the beach. They had no students, but the staff and others from the beach brought in food and lots of expired flares to light off.

On January 1, we flew direct from Mulege to Tijuana Airport. Robert dropped us off and flew to Brown Airfield in the US. We had to walk across because my passport expired. The kids had to come with me because I held the permission slip from their mother. On the way from the airport to the Otay Mesa pedestrian crossing, we ate genuine street tacos and sugar sweetened Mexican Coke. Both boys said the tacos were the best they ever had.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

My Mom's Christmas Letter

Feliz Navidad!
There is no way to send Xmas Cards out from here so this will have to do. We are at our palapa in Mulege Mexico for Christmas this year for the first time. It is a beautiful 78 degrees as I look out on the water where the dolphins are playing. A totally different Christmas for us. We are keeping plenty busy and having lots fun making memories here in the Baja.  Last night we had 34 friends over for Christmas Eve dinner & a "white elephant" gift exchange. What a great time we had! 
 
Our year ....
The first 3 months of 2010 we were living at my brother Roy & Kristy's guesthouse while I went through daily chemo, &  radiation. The next 2 months we lived in our motorhome near Scottsdale AZ for more treatments. Finally we moved home to Show Low AZ  in June for the rest of the summer, only commuting for occasional treatments (2 1/2 hrs). At home once again, we enjoyed camping and ATV riding in the mountains with friends. David, Viki , Chance (10) & Vaughn (6) came up for 8 days camping. Dustin, DJ (13), Riley(9) and Holden(6) joined us at  Lake Roosevelt  for boating and wakeboarding. This is the first year I had to give up waterskiing. bummer! We were able to get to Calif a few times where we visited with friends and family. Our youngest grandchild Jimmy is now 4. Where does the time go?!  Nov 1st we moved down here to Mulege for the winter. Ed keeps busy building something or doing palapa maintenance when we aren't playing Texas hold-em, kayaking, fishing, reading, or partying with our friends. My friend Melissa and Ed had a surprise B-Day party for me in Nov. There was dancing and even a PiƱata!  It was so much fun!
 
"Living life to the fullest" has never meant more to us than in the year 2010. One year ago I wasn't expected to be around to see this Christmas and here I am!  (and feeling good too). I know in my heart it's because of all the prayers, love, and support from our family and dear friends. We have so much to be grateful for this season.
 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
 Wendy & Ed
 

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Riley's Soccer Season Ends

Riley really loves soccer. She had her after season party at a local pizza place.

Dustin from his Droid

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Breakfast On The Way To LAX

We ate at The Pantry on the way to LAX to return Nana to Mexico. DJ remembers The Pantry but Riley and Holden don't. I knew they would like it!

We had plate-sized pancakes, biscuits and gravy, bacon, omelletes, potatoes, and grill toasted sourdough bread! So good. The line to get in moved pretty fast so we ended up at the airport thirty minutes early.

Dustin from his Droid

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Great Park

The Great Park is a community development project on the site of the shuttered El Toro Marine Base. It is inexpensive to visit, large and usually has a festival or two to visit. They also have a tethered helium balloon, the Orange Ball, that goes up 400 feet with a large circular basket underneath for carrying passengers. The balloon was closed on the day we visited due to high winds, but we walked around a farmer's market considering eating lunch there from the various food trucks.

This looks like I ordered the kids on the tubular bike sculpture for a picture, but it was completely impromptu. They love running around the Great Park because it is so big. It was nice to capture the three kids playing together like this.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Annie

Kids and I saw Annie at the Rose Center Theater. The cast was great as were the sets. Riley liked it the most and asked to get a picture with Annie after the show. The picture came out blurry but I'll post it here anyway. Holden was well behaved because he had a nap before we left home. DJ enjoyed it but he will probably opt out of the next one.The theater is right by our favorite dim sum place so we ate there before the show.

Of course, I was reminded of the period of my life where I was doing one show while rehearsing or auditioning for another. This show had a mixture of adults and kids, just the like the musicals I did. I'm sure the cast went to dinner after the show, putting street clothes on and not being able to calm down for hours after the performance.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010



This is a video from 2 years ago that many of you have seen already, but I mention it here because it really shows how fast the kids grow up. Holden was trying to keep up with the rhythm with his older brother and sister. Riley had long hair. DJ still performed in his deadpan way. But look! This video went nearly viral with over 2800 views!  I need to post another one just like it with the present-day kids. That would be funny and maybe we would do it every other year until the kids are grown.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

DJ Finally Gets a Pistol

DJ got to fire the pistol he got for his birthday. His grandparents and my friend Jisselle all chipped in so he could get this. It is a Browning Buckmark Camper, a .22 pistol.

Now, he just needs to get his grades up and he can have it back. :-)

Daddy/Daughter Weekend

This weekend was Daddy/Daughter weekend. Each child gets a weekend with me every 12 weeks. Riley and I watched a movie together, had Mexican cocoa, played Scrabble, and read in front of the fire. We also went to dinner with friends where Riley had Korean food for the first time. I am sure we went to Starbucks a couple of times as well. I taught Riley how to boil eggs and make Kraft macaroni and cheese.
This picture was taken today. We went to the Fullerton Arboretum. I have taken DJ and Holden there but never Riley until today.

We had a great time this weekend. Riley is really fun to be around and talk to, especially when her brothers aren't around.

Dustin from his Droid

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Riley is a happy girl.

Riley was quietly reading in a loud restaurant when one of her favorite boy classmates came in with his family and he came over to say hi.

"I knew it was you when I saw the open book", he said.

Dustin from his Droid

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Riley's Soccer Team

Riley's pictures came in. The 2010 Blue Panthers are nearly undefeated!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Medieval Times by Holden

I am drinking out of my flag straw from Medieval Times and I wanted to bring it home but I couldn't because it was already too late. I was sad. My favorite part was when the green knight kept winning because our team was green. The food was really good. Goodbye.

Holden from his Dad's Droid

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Holden is The BEAST

Holden earned a coveted practice jersey on Thursday by playing hard and tackling anyone with the ball. The coaches all stopped by to ask me if I had been working with him or feeding him something different. He was unstoppable that day.

Dustin from his Droid

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Green Mill

I write from inside the famous Green Mill in Chicago IL. It's famous for me because it's where my favorite jazz vocalist, Kurt Elling, earned his chops. It's more famous for many of the other people who hung out here a lot, like Al Capone.

Dustin from his Droid

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Newport Beach

Today, we went to Newport Beach and rented a boat to go around Balboa Island. Dad packed salami and cheese and crackers with drinks for the trip. We kept getting mad at Holden because he was catching seaweed. It was a great trip. I am writing this from Starbucks, Dad's favorite.

Riley from Dustin's Droid

Holden #9

Here's a good picture of Holden taken by another parent.

Don't forget to watch his team's YouTube channel here. Holden is #9 in the green game jersey and #14 in the white practice jersey.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Johnny Bravo

Jisselle says I am Johnny Bravo. I think she is referring to my top-heaviness, but I am taking it as a compliment because she smiles when she calls me Johnny Bravo. I like it.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Commenting Enabled

I just enabled commenting on this blog by anyone. Commenting was allowed before but you had to register, which is a pain for people who don't already have a Gmail account. Now you can comment on any post and it will appear almost immediately.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Starbucks Refill Policy Problems

This has never happened to me before and I am flabbergasted.

At least twice a day I go to Starbucks and get the same Tall coffee. I usually end up getting a free refill, too, which is part of my benefits of being on the Gold Card program. If I know I can't stay, I order a Venti.

Today I went to a Starbucks that I've been to before but is not my regular Starbucks. At 8:40am, I ordered my coffee, got a receipt, looked around for a seat, found none, and stepped outside. I drank my coffee while I made a couple calls, went back inside and got in line to get my refill at 9:00am. The manager said that the refill policy is for in-store refills only. I told her I was on the patio and offered to show her my receipt which said 8:40am. I'm sure they get people trying to get a refill from hours ago or days ago, so I have no problem showing her my receipt. She didn't need to see my receipt but said that since I went outside, I wasn't entitled to get a refill. She says the policy is the same at all Starbucks.

Of course, I know this isn't true because I do this twice a day, like I said before. I rarely stay inside the store as I prefer to make my calls outside. I called Starbucks Customer Service from inside the store and explained the situation. The rep checked with a senior rep for a few minutes and then offered to call the store to find out why I didn't get a refill. The store manager said that I went outside and that it's her policy to not offer refills to people that go outside. She also said her store doesn't have a patio. It just so happens that this store is next to a Borders under construction so that have temporarily removed the chairs, but it is still a patio. You can see the umbrella stands in front of the store on the attached picture. Even so, I never left the front of the store.

The rep came back on the line with me and said that there is nothing he can do. The store manager can have her own personal refill policy for her store. I am really confused now because I thought the purpose a a published refill policy was to standardize across all stores. The policy is "You must use your registered Starbucks Card to purchase a hot or iced brewed coffee or tea and then present that same card for the refill during the same visit. Offer valid at participating U.S. stores and is subject to change."

I asked, "Since each store can set their own policy, I need to ask when I order my coffee what their store's policy is about refills?" He said that would be a good idea.

He took my address and phone and said the District Manager would call me but I haven't received a call yet.

What has happened to this Starbucks? I usually get above average service at any Starbucks.

UPDATE: I copied my favorite consumer-oriented web site Consumerist with my story and they posted a version of it here. Read the funny comments. 

Monday, September 13, 2010

Riley's Birthday Party

Each child gets a big party when they reach an age divisible by 3. Since Riley turned 9, she got to have whatever she wants. She asked for a pool party with unlimited friends.

Lots of people came. I made too much food but that allowed me to send care packages home with people. I did run out of wine. Riley got a great doll house from Jisselle and a Kindle from me. Many of her other presents pertain to these two gifts.

Riley had a permament smile on her face all day which made all the work and expense worthwhile.

Dustin from his Droid

Saturday, September 11, 2010

9 Year Anniversary of Attack Against American Freedom

If Riley just turned 9, that means it's the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the USA. I don't need to comment much about this except to say I am at a park watching my son play American Football with other Americans of all different colors and religions, and life is good.

Dustin from his Droid

Friday, September 10, 2010

Watch "Holden stole the bacon!" on YouTube

Holden's team had a good practice. They started and finished with enthusiasm. As a reward, the coach let them play Steal the Bacon. The players are divided into two teams and one player from each team is called to try to steal the bacon. Sometimes Holden gets creamed, and other times he does better. Tonight he did great. I caught it on video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=E-huwm-ovc0

Dustin from his Droid

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Holden's Football Team

Here is Holden's football team, the Brea Bengals, Tiny Mite Division.

Don't forget to look for number 9 in videos of the team. Grab the link from an earlier post.


Yesterday was Holden's first real game. The previous two games were scrimmages. This game had two officials, a real score board, penalties, and a chain gang.

We had to be on the field at Los Alamitos High School at 7am, so I woke Riley and Holden up at 6am. Holden jumped right up and immediately started putting on his uniform. He couldn't wait to play. This is a good sign because currently he is not better than the average player on the team. However, he never complains, enjoys hitting, runs everywhere and does his best at every practice.
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DJ Line Art

DJ Borklund 10-26-2010
While I was watching Holden's football practice, DJ was spending a lot of time with a pad and this fine point Sharpie he just got. Normally he sits by me but this time he was 50 feet away drawing something. This looks like it took some time. Maybe he will be an artist for the Wall Street Journal or Sunset Books.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Ex First Lady Promotes Exchange Student Program



Many of you know I had an exchange student, Philipp Pretz, living with me this last school year. It was a great experience for both of us and I encourage anyone to try it out.

I am still a volunteer for Youth For Understanding even though I am not hosting this school year. Two students from Germany just arrived and have been placed with nearby families. My job is to check in on them once a month. Maybe I will provide more details about them in an upcoming blog post. I haven't met either of them yet.

If you ever have questions about the exchange student program and how we go about matching students to families, please contact me.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

DJ Had Some Free Time

DJ and his friend Taylor had some free time last night after playing poker and trying to stay up all night.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Brea Tiny Mites Channel

The Tiny Mites channel for Brea Bengals is up on Youtube here:

Holden is #14 in the white practice jerseys and #09 in the green game jerseys.

Enjoy!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Opening Day for Brea Bengals

This is great! Six or seven different sizes of Brea Bengals, football players and cheerleaders take the field for OPENING DAY, along with motivating rock music. Later, Holden's team will scrimmage Anaheim. Holden says they will CRUSH them!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

DJ Completes Junior Sailing Program



After more than 24 hours of instruction spread across 6 weekend days, DJ completed the Junior Sailing program at the Shoreline Yacht Club in Long Beach, California. His team also won the final race, with DJ as the Skipper.

I don't have any pictures of DJ sailing, but if you look closely at the sailboat on the certificate, you can see DJ.

This first course qualifies DJ to be a crewmember. The next step is an intermediate course which would qualify DJ to do more and I believe the class after that qualifies him to be the captain of a sailboat. Let's hope he sticks with it! I wouldn't mind sailing somewhere with DJ in charge!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Wee Man!

My friend Kurt and I were having dinner at this Italian restaurant hidden in the industrial center of Gardena called Eatalian when I recognized Wee Man from the Jackass movies. His real name is Jason, I think.
I used to see celebrities all the time when I worked in West LA but I rarely approached them. This time Wee Man said hi to me when he saw that I recognized him, plus I knew DJ would love a picture, so I went over after we ate and introduced myself.
He said "Nice to see you again!" and we chatted about the food and the housemade gelato for a while.  I got this picture for DJ and sent it to him immediately. Like many 12 year old boys, DJ is a big fan of the Jackass movies. I am too.
Dustin

Holden's First Football Practice

Holden didn't know what to expect for his first practice in the Tiny Mites division of the Brea Bengals. The entire field was covered with football players of various ages, all with the same helmets of the Brea Bengals.

Holden brought his helmet as instructed but didn't get to wear it because a teammember didn't bring his and the Bengals do everything as a team. The coaches are great. They introduced competition immediately as players tried to outdo each other during the conditioning exercises. Even at 6 and 7 years old, this is real tackle football.

Practices are every weeknight from 6 to 8:30 and they are pretty much nonstop with a few 2 minute water breaks. Holden did very well following instructions and he never got tired. He will.

The first few practices are conditioning and then they can start contact with helmets, pads and a cup. I can't tell yet if Holden is going to enjoy the contact or not. He is strong but he might tend to get out of someone's way rather than hold the line. We'll see....

Dustin

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Holden and I did Magic Mountain

Yes, it was hot and crowded but we did it. Not too many gangsters and illegal aliens (just enough) but I still didn't stop anyone from cutting in line. They make knives and guns out of plastic now ya know.
This was Holden's first time to Magic Mountain and his first time going upside down on a ride.
Everyone asks if we are having a Six Flags Day. If they mean did we pay 4.25 for a bottle of water then yes we had a Six Flags Day.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Queen Mary with Holden and Riley

DJ just started sailing lessons at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach as a result of a scholarship from the Shoreline Yacht Club. Lessons are every Saturday and Sunday for four hours, so I needed to find something to do for four hours with the kids in Long Beach.
For the first Saturday, we had lunch on the Queen Mary and were joined by newlyweds an good friends Ryan and Maria Leylund. Ryan and Maria chose a new last name for themselves by combining their former last names with mine. I feel special.
Sunday we went to the Leylunds house in Bemlont Shores for swimming in the Los Alamitos Bay. The kids loved it and I did too.
I don't know what else we can do next time, but there is an all ages drag show called The Brunchettes that sounds hilarious. Diversity!
Whatever we decide, I hope the Leylunds can join the Borklunds again.
Dustin

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Litchfield Was Hot But Fun



 Our one week trip to Illinois was a success. During the trip we got to...

  • Visit Abraham Lincoln's house
  • Kayak
  • Boat in Lake Lou
  • Tour a lock on the Mississippi
  • Target shooting (.22)
  • Go up the St. Louis Arch
  • Eat a Shoe at Charlie Parker's
  • Play with the neighbor's dog
  • Swing on the big tree swing
  • Roast marshmallows
That's all I can think of right now, but it was a great trip. The kids were very well behaved. Thanks to Dad and Cindy Borklund (Grandpa Buzz and Gramma Cindy) for having us.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Charlie Parker's, Springfield IL

It started when I saw a diner on Diners, Driveins and Dives, or whatever it's called, featuring Guy Fiore. They had a breakfast shoe, which is toast under meat under eggs, under gravy or cheese sauce, or both, under hash browns. I sent a gift cert to my dad for father's day last year and he liked it. So, now that we are near Springfield, we have been here twice.

DJ got the 16 inch pancake, as you can see here.

The pancake was not very tasty, and they don't have real butter, but it was a good enough experience that we have been here twice.

Their cheese sauce and gravy are good. I recommend the shoe and Cindy recommend the veggie omelette.

Dustin

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Prius Reaches 123,456 miles

My blue '05 Toyota Prius reached a milestone with no major problems. I have replaced the tires several times but other than that I have only changed the oil and air filters. It still gets 46.5 mpg. The carpool stickers won't work after 12/31/10 so I will buy something else then.

Dustin

First Stop After Arriving in St. Louis is a Diner

The Goody Goody was on Yelp and we were all hungry, so we went there. It was in East St. Louis.

Delicious. I had a fried chicken breakfast, my dad had a cole slaw bbq burger, and Riley and Holden each had a waffle with bacon. Dj didn't eat.

The Goody Goody is at the site of the first A&W restaurant.

Dustin

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Memorial Day Weekend

We just finished an extended Memorial Day weekend with my Mom, her husband Ed, my three kids and several of my Mom's friends.
We camped at Lake Roosevelt, Arizona. Best part was watching the kids kneeboard. I also got to make Mexican Rice and quesadillas for my contribution one night. Met some new people and got the quality time with Mom and her with her grandchildren.
The drive up was fine. We played enough car games that the kids stayed well behaved for all 7 hours or so. Coming back we broke up the trip by staying at the Blue Water Casino in Parker. Don't stay there until you talk to me first.
Back home I made blackened salmon atop Caesar salad. The kids ate all of it! I need to write that one down.
I have 30 minutes of video to piece together into something interesting and I will post a link here when it's ready. My mom and her friend Tiffany also took video and pictures, so when I get a free half hour I will post those here too. 

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Perfect Storm

On Sunday morning before the kids woke up, I decided it would be fun for all four of us to go up Mt. Baldy, a 10,000 ft mountain about an hour from our house.

After ski season, the Mt. Baldy ski lifts operate on the weekends for hikers and mountain bikers. We had gone up before when we lived in West Covina, probably with only DJ and Dorothy, and I remember it was a nice trip. I was hoping there would still be a little snow up there. “I’m not promising snow, but this will be fun”, I told the kids.

I had them all find their jackets and wear long sleeves because I figured it would be sunny, but cold. They had to wear real shoes, too. We ate a quick breakfast and jumped in the car.

The mountain wasn't visible from the freeway so I told the kids that we were either going to be in the clouds or on top of them. It started getting cold on the way up and DJ and Holden were intentionally fogging up the windows to draw on them with their fingers.

When arrived at the bottom of the lifts, the kids were excited to see some snow gently falling out of the sky. It melted as soon as it landed and there was no wind. The lady who gave us the tickets said it was a dry snow and quite surprising since it was May 23.

We got on the lifts – Riley with me and Holden with DJ – and started up the hill. It’s always a strange feeling sitting on a park bench with no seat belts suspended fifty feet above rough terrain. During the 15 minute ride, Holden and DJ were two chairs in front of us saying hello to hikers down below. Holden, in particular, would keep yelling “Hi! Hello! Can you hear me? I said Hello!” until they looked up and waved. He wasn’t being rude, so I didn’t stop him. I began to wonder why I was sitting next to well-behaved Riley while trusting Holden to remain in his seat the whole way, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it at that point. DJ is sometimes more concerned about Holden’s safety than I am, I rationalized.

On the way up it got colder and the snow came down a little harder but it was still beautiful and fun. The tops of the trees were white and a fog was moving in between us and the restaurant at the top. This must be the cloud I was telling them about, I thought. Still, what a great dad I am, taking my kids on this adventure! Their friends are probably at home playing Playstation or on Facebook.

When we got off the chair lift, snow was everywhere but it was a fine powder like Dippin Dots, DJ said, and Holden started playing in it right away. Our thin jackets weren’t keeping out the cold, so we all went inside the restaurant. I offered bottled water to everyone and Riley bought herself a large hot chocolate. I looked over the gloves and hats they had for sale, considering a hat and a pair of gloves for each of us would be well over $100 I decided against it. I thought of the box of snow clothes somewhere in the garage back home.

With only a dozen people in the restaurant and I let the kids horse around a little. They kept going out into the snow to play, then coming back in to warm up. DJ shot a video of Riley not sharing her hot chocolate.

When it was time to go we all went outside I could tell the weather had changed. Now the snow was coming down hard and from all directions. It seemed colder and windier, too, but maybe it was because we had been inside the warm restaurant for so long. I had all the kids zip up their jackets for the ride down.

This time I chose to ride with Holden because I would think he would get more daring about moving in his seat on the way down and, in general, I try not to make the same mistake twice. Riley and DJ got on first, then an empty chair went by, then Holden and I jumped on. The chairs were covered in snow but we didn’t have time to wipe them off before we hopped on. But that was just the beginning.

Once on the chair we could feel the wind coming up the canyon from down below. The wind carried ice which hit our faces directly and stung like needles. None of us had gloves or hats. Holden had a thin hoodie. DJ had my Hustler hoodie and Riley had a similar jacket. We couldn’t look away from the stinging wind because of the way we were sitting. My body, hair and face were pretty much covered in ice and Holden started complaining immediately. He was in pain. My hands and face went numb and my head started pounding. DJ and Riley up ahead were screaming as if they were being boiled alive. I yelled at them to just hang on but they couldn’t hear me over the wind and their own screams.

I turned to Holden and told him he has to deal with the cold and pain but that we would be at the bottom soon, but at the same time I seriously wondered if anyone would need medical attention at the bottom? How long does hypothermia take? Why do I only hear DJ screaming now? How’s Riley? What are the symptoms of frostbite again? “Holden, we will be at the bottom soon, put your hands in your pockets.” He said his pockets were full of snow and I believed him. I held his hands in mine for a few minutes and then put mine back in my pockets for a few minutes, and then did it again.

The chairlift stopped a couple of times on the way down, probably for a good reason, and only for a moment, but it made me think how long we would last in these conditions if they left us up here. I would say an hour, tops. The cold was already going all the way through my body and the kids are so much smaller. I, personally, have never been so cold as that day.

At the bottom we rushed to the car to get the heater on. The snow was still very light at the bottom but everything was wet and slippery. I turned the heat on over the cries of DJ and Holden. As the feeling came back in their hands and faces, their pain intensified. I know because I experienced the same sensation. Most of the way down Mt Baldy Road DJ was screaming from the pain. I had them focus on the blue sky in front of us.

Turns out we experienced a freak snow storm so late in May. We were there from 9:30am to 11:30am. You can see the temperature drop around 10:30am and the wind picked up at 11:00am.

Before we reached the freeway, we stopped at a Starbucks. The sky was completely sunny, but the kids chose to remain in the warm car for the first ten minutes. I couldn’t get the cold out of my bones either. Even though it was warm outside and I had warm clothes on I couldn’t stop shivering occasionally for at least an hour.

On the way home, the kids said they would never go to Mt Baldy again, or on a chairlift again. Holden said it hurt more than brain cancer, an homage to his Nana. The kids thanked me sarcastically for taking them there to be tortured, which was fine because that’s the sense of humor we all share. They were back to being happy kids by the time we got home and we all went in the Jacuzzi to finish warming up.

Holden ended up jumping off the patio cover into the pool for the first time (a serious milestone for a 6 year old boy) and Riley set up her first web site. You can see her version of this day on her web site.

I will put together some of the video from that day and upload it soon. Look for an update here in a couple of days.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Holden Made a Sign

6 year-old Holden ran upstairs with the scotch tape and this was what he was up to.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Dad Mistakes

What my dad means by "Instead of the Angels Game", we did go but on a different day. We went to Griffith Park on the day that we originally planned for the Angels Game. The next day we went there. Also, my dad made one more mistake. When he said that I was afraid they would throw me out, I wasn't. I was afraid that someone who works there would tell me to take it off. I want to say "Sorry Dad for this", but I just wanted you to understand. Well see ya!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Angels vs. Athletics with Riley

Sitting with Riley in these awesome seats we got through Chris. Sec 129 row R. It is pillowcase night so Riley is using it like a mask. She can see out just fine. We went to the bathroom together and everyone was staring. Riley liked that, but she feared Security would throw her out for wearing a mask.

The seats are great but it seems like no one here wants to watch the game. The lady behind me is listing everything she got at Costco today, and the reason why, to her friend. Everyone else is getting up and down to get a drink or some ten dollar nachos.

We get free buffalo wings tomorrow at Yard House because the Angels found the one team worse then them and scored 10 runs so far. Couple the high scoring game and the fact that Santana was our starting pitcher and this will be a long game. I like it this way though, especially since I am with Riley and she is enjoying herself.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Griffith Park

We were supposed to go to an Angels game but instead we went to Griffith Park.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Have You Seen My Mom's Blog?

I wanted to make sure everyone who reads my blog also knows about my Mom's blog here.

She has been blogging for much longer than me, but I will catch up someday.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Number One Tennis Player in Bay Area and His Fiancee

I got to see Paul (my exbroinlaw) and his cool fiancee Shu twice while I was in San Jose for the Business Forms Management Association Symposium. The first night we had Ethiopian food and the next night we went to a tennis match to see Paul beat the pants off his opponent. We then went to Dim Sum and had a great time. I got to know Shu a little better because we had time to talk during Paul's match. She is a great catch and a perfect match for Uncle Paul.

Will she be Aunt Shu or Aunty Shu? Hmmmm....

Friday, April 30, 2010

Chinese Hot Pot

We are eating Chinese Hot Pot, a mix a various meats, seafood, vegetables, lettuces, balls, and some pasta in boiling cauldron in the center or the table. The sauces served on the side include hot chili oil, sesame, tofu, garlic, and onion.