Shave & a Haircut, 2 Bits

Ryan took one of his first steps into the path of manhood on Wednesday. He got his first haircut. OK, except for the fact that his mom took him to get it cut, and that it was at a salon (not a barbershop), it was a step toward manhood. A man’s gotta look good right?

Apparently Ry was all business. And from the looks of it, his bottle kept him busy for a majority of the event. Nothing like a good bottle of milk to keep your mind of other serious matters. Sonya said he didn’t cry, which makes us two-for-two in the child not crying at their first haircut experience.

Karsyn was all business as well back when she got her first haircut.

Sonya actually clipped Ry’s bangs right after his first birthday, because his mop was hanging down in front of his eyes. I wouldn’t let her touch his head before his first birthday, because it’s bad luck to cut your child’s hair before they turn one.

No, this isn’t a Korean or German superstition. In fact, I don’t know where I heard that it was, but I vowed that I would abide by the laws of good superstition and heed them all. You’ll never catch me stepping on the chalk at a softball game, I don’t walk under ladders, and I rub my earlobes regularly.

You can ask Sonya about that last one. It’s a superstition my grandmother passed on to me when I was a kid, and I have faithfully followed ever since. You may notice that I have very nice detached earlobes, not the kind that are stuck to the side of your head. Those are just plain wrong.

Most people don’t realize I’m as superstitious as I am. I’m not religious, but I’ll be damned if I don’t rub my earlobes at least once a day.

Anyway. Ryan got his first official salon trim, and his mother is all the happier for it. That’s all that really matters.

More [Haircut Photos]

Meatballs III

Sonya and I took the kids camping this past weekend, to Pinecrest Lake up in the Sierras. We were joined by four other families (Adults = Roger, Joanne, Robert, Shari, Jim, Rosalie, Eric, Danielle --- Kids = Amy, Laura, Allison, Justin, Zachary, Rylie, Spencer, Cole, Whitney and Megan). That was a 22 person camping clan, spread across four campsites. Give the moms credit for booking these sites back in November. The crazy thing is, you have to make reservations that far in advance to be able to get a camping site in California these days.

Everyone trekked up to Pinecrest on Friday afternoon, so we were all able to enjoy the park for three days and two nights. Everyone congregated to the center campsite each evening, huddling around the camp fire.

If you’ve never been to Pinecrest, it’s about 150 miles east of the South Bay on Hwy 108 (about 30 miles east of Sonora). A small granite range that makes up the eastern edge of the lake, which juts out into a dam on the north end. The campsites are nestled on the western shore, and are a small hike to the three beaches that provide campers with lake access.


Kid Campers
I fondly remember trips to Pinecrest with my parents and sister when I was a kid. I can still picture images of my then three-to-five year-old kid sister playing in the water. The images were duplicated by Karsyn playing in the lake this past weekend. I was really happy to get to relive some of those experiences with my kids. We’ll certainly be returning for future camping trips.

We all spent the better part of the day lounging by the lake, and playing in the water, then rented two party boats and took them for a spin. One boat took a handful of kids fishing out near the dam, while the other boat headed to one of the tributaries for an early evening swim.

The lake boasts an outdoor amphitheatre, which shows first run movies on the weekends for $5. Jim, Rosalie and Danielle played chaperone to the 11 kids, while the rest of the parents partook in Margaritas and poker for a couple of hours. The kids soaked up “Herbie Full Throttle” and plenty of sugar, while the parents got a little “quiet time”.


Kids Afloat
It was shorts and t-shirts evening in the evenings and we probably could have all done without tents, because the temps stayed in the 70’s overnight. The kids seemed to have a great time, doing everything you’re supposed to do camping (roasting marshmallows, rolling around in the dirt, etc.). It was hands down one of the most fun camping trips I’ve ever been on.

Checkout my [Pinecrest Photo Album]

The Govenator Visits Yahoo!

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke at Yahoo today. It was good to see the Governator on the day he signed California’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. It was the quickest signing of a state budget it 5 years I might add. Go figure.

Schwarzenegger’s speech last about 45 minutes long, ranging from his accomplishments as Governor, some of the things he would like to see passed into California law, and some of his headaches as the state’s top dog.

I think his position on clamping down on state employee pensions is dead on. If you pay attention to all those protestors, it amounts to three groups of whiners:

- nurses
- firefighters
- teachers

Three noble professions, but three special interests (yes, these are special interests), that are only interested in taking while everyone else in the state chips in to clean up Grey Davis and the state assembly’s mess. Seems to me that nurses, firefighters and teachers all have a hell of a lot of time on their hands. I get to seem my kids one, maybe two hours a day during the week, but these people have time to bitch and moan in front of every television camera within 250 miles of the state.


Body language school
Originally uploaded by George.

His drive to make California school teachers accountable for the educations that they foster on our children is also something I support. Where else on the planet can you earn tenure after two years on the job? But yet, California ranks near the bottom of all state’s in the quality of education our children receive. This a sticky subject for me, because my sister is a school teacher, but she’s the first person to stand up for accountability in our schools.

Ask not what California can do for you, but what you can do for California.

4th of July Photos

Some photos from the 4th of July:

[Yahoo Photo Album]

[Flickr Photos - tagged 4th of July]