randomly, today is national waffle day.

how embarrassing that I made pancakes for breakfast this morning.

when I was little and we had family gatherings (which was often) the grown-ups would always gather at the table after dinner to play some game or other. shortly after I got married, Grandma and several of her children moved to Alabama, and I never got a chance to learn many of those games. 

so we made Grandma teach us Mexican Train Dominoes while she was here.  We've played it several times since, and even the boys can play. Good times!

When I took her to the airport to leave, Fletcher decided to come with us.  He chatted up people in line, asked questions of the security guards, threw change at random in the gate area; and then when Nana got on the plane we walked to the window to see if we could find her seat. 

We did - 2nd window from the front. "See, there's her white jacket and she is holding her book." But she would have had to hunch way over to look out the window at us, so fletcher just gave a little wave and whispered, "Bye bye, Nana."  It just about killed me. 

Miss you already, Grandma!

"Adventures" with Staci. Also without. 

so. yesterday I headed up to a nice big park so my boys could run off a summer's worth of steam. and my friend staci came with us and the kids had fun jumping in the creek and getting wet from armpits to tennis shoes.  when the low blood sugar and cranky faces set in we decided to head to a place in Culver City to eat. 

a mile or so down the road my phone rang and staci said she'd pulled into the lot of a place called Numero Uno Pizza and it looked fine and maybe we could just eat there so I turned around and we all headed in. the 8 of us were the only ones in the restaurant. It was dingy, and filthy, and smeary.  and then the pizza came. 

on the restaurant's website it says, "The company has built a strong reputation around exceptional food featuring only the highest quality ingredients for our toppings including 100% whole milk mozzarella cheese".

really? hmm. "strong reputation" eh? well I got 3 words for ya. 

NEVER. EAT. THERE. 

and then. Staci hears about this place in Redondo Beach called Seaside Lagoon.  and she was going to head down there with her folks and didn't it sound amazing? sure, yeah, sounds cool lemme call Betsey and it sounds good to her too so we'll see you there yay! 

NO. NOT YAY. 

the first sunny day we've had in weeks had turned cloudy by the time we got there.  thousands of small screaming children ran and played in the shallow waters beneath fountains.  instantly the children were lost from sight. a trip to the bathrooms produced a smell that I hope to scrub from my memory.  betsey said, "at least the water doesn't stink" and we called staci to see if she had arrived yet. 

"no. we're running late. is it bad?"  yes.   "is it as bad as the pizza place yesterday?"  just about.

she laughed. "okay, I'm not coming." 

WHAT?!   so Betsey and I sat on the sand and nursed and talked smack about utah, gave the 10 minute warning and shot out of there like a bat out of some place cold, crowded and briny. 

by the time we got home the water had ripened on my children's skin and clothes and did, in fact, stink. (sulfer, maybe?)

this newfound friendship may be the death of me! staci, next time i get to pick. 

Little Baby Van has a tooth!  and he is determined to eat anything that comes within sight. He got really mad at me for keeping the newspaper out of his reach this morning. 

While Nana is visiting the boys have been sleeping in their sleeping bags. They are in heaven.

It's been a nice visit - despite three and a half days in the hospital for her (THAT was fun) - and the boys are just in love with Nana and full of information for her and questions too.  Connor sits and listens to her stories and our conversations and begs us to keep talking when we run out of ready things to say.  

I've been so glad to have her here, too! I can use my serger now! Still have to study up on all the things it can do but at least now I know how to thread the beast... Thanks, Grandma!

This summer has been a whirlwind! People visiting left and right and activities galore. I'm going to take a deep breath when school starts and hole up for a week to recoup! 

The boys experienced their first baseball game last Thursday - we went and saw the Dodgers play the Braves.  Con insisted on knowing all the stats for each team and all the players; I was unable to oblige with any help and kept pointing him toward the giant screen which would put up helpful facts. 

- and while the "all you can eat" seats were fun, those Dodger Dogs are not all that we were made to expect. I'm just saying. 

Been reading a few entertaining books which makes my last couple of weeks feel more normal. I find that I equate times of my life according to what I was reading then. So when I am not reading anything I feel a little lost. 

Lots of errands today and tomorrow, and then I get my Grandmother's company for a week here.  She's going to show me the ropes with my serger. Hallelujah! 

Progress.

if I'm lucky I'll have the last cushion done today.  A busy weekend and a busy August are coming up and this may be my last day of leisure for quite some time.  Never before have I looked forward to the school season as a reprieve! 

this puff pastry pizza is super easy to make - just take one puff pastry and fold up the edges a bit, add parmesan, zucchini and tomatoes and bake 20 minutes. Its gorgeous and scrumptious. 

and I was the only person in my house who would eat it. 

Hungry?

Are you hungry?
Are you so hungry? 

Those are his favorite words.