DJ's Video: Do You Have Any Grapes

DJ made this great animation taking a joke he used to tell as a 3 year old to a new level.

La jolla

Kids and I went Embassy Suites in La Jolla for a short getaway. They don't care if it's 1 hour from the house or 10. It's still a vacation to them. They all like staying in a hotel room and eating a buffet breakfast in the morning, so it's fine. We could have done it in Brea, and it wouldn't make much difference.

But this trip was just far enough and they had never been to this hotel before. It had an indoor pool and an outdoor jacuzzi. Several Starbucks were within walking distance. Next door to the hotel was a PF Changs with a great happy hour deal and kids menu. The kids wanted to stay in the room mostly, but we did a fair amount of walking around, including a trip to the Scripps Aquarium and Torrey Pines State Park. I used Hilton points so it was all free.

Torrey Pines has several trails that end up on the beach or on a cliff above the beach. The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed the hike. We were going to find a geocache, but I couldn't get the maps on the Droid to work right.

It was a great short trip and the kids enjoyed it.

Riley's Letter Appears in National Print

Riley wrote a Letter to the Editor of sorts, answering a question about chocolate milk. Her response was published! See the yellow Mailbag section. Weekly Reader is a kids magazine published by Reader's Digest. Humble Riley says this about seeing her name in a national magazine, "Awesome! My friend Kayla showed me when it came out. I waited for a week, then I showed Mrs. Whitton. I kept forgetting."

By the way, Mrs. Whitton was my fourth grade teacher, too, about 31 years ago.

Try Groupon If You Haven't Already

If you haven't checked out Groupon, please do. It's in most cities now and the savings are great. Basically, a company makes a great special that's usually like a $40 gift certificate for only $20. You buy it from Groupon and they email it to you but only if enough people buy it. If not enough people buy it, they never charge your card. You print out the certificate and use it like a gift certificate.

I have bought about six of these and used them all. I am not buying an Entertainment Book this year because of Groupon.

We were even thinking of doing a flying lesson Groupon. Most Groupons are restaurants, but I am seeing many other things too like Kayak rental, facials, massages, lessons, etc.

If you aren't signed up for it yet (most of my friends already are) please use this link. They say I will get $20 for each person that signs up and uses a Groupon by January 17.

Dustin "Coupon King" Borklund

What Did Holden Want to Do?

What did Holden want to do on his weekend alone with me? Originally, he wanted to go to the motorcross show at Anaheim Stadium, but it was sold out. Instead we stayed home and made cookies.