little drops of sunshine from a sweet-tart family

Lemmon Drops

My son has a bad habit of getting into everything no matter how tightly we lock things down.  Here he has managed to open the freezer and get himself some delicious goodness… Can’t say that I blame him, but yeah… if he weren’t so cute he’d be in BIG trouble.  Notice the ladle he’s using to dish out the ice cream… Just like Mommy.

Nothing says “Family” like competition.  This year, it was Wii Sports.  Bowling, baseball, tennis, and Raymon’s Raving Rabids…   Fun Fun Fun!!

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 DC really liked Thanksgiving and playing with his cousins.  He’s a big fan of food.  He likes to put it on his plate, but not in his mouth.  To him, food is more about the anticipation than the actual consumption.  I have NO idea where he learned that, but it’s not appropriate behavior in this household! img_0256.JPG

After staying with my brother’s family, we traveled back to California over the course of two days.  We stayed in a condo in Cedar Brakes near Brian Head.  We took this opportunity to take some family pictures and some shots of what is perhaps the most beautifully rugged country anywhere in the world.

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No trip to the mountains would be complete without the customary shot of deer: img_0306.JPG

While I was out taking pictures of my boat today I noticed some interesting things on my passion fruit vine.

As a gardener (if you apply the term REALLY loosely) I HATE caterpillars.  They are immensely destructive.  At this point, however, the vines seem to be doing fine, and my attention was diverted to something else that flitted by.

 and

These beautiful things were once caterpillars too, and now they are not only beautiful but beneficial pollinators.  Just goes to show you that things change…

Against the advice of friends, relatives, neighbors, strangers, and just about everyone on the planet I bought a boat.  It’s not a big boat, well, not comparatively.  At only 18.5  feet (the guy who sold it to me swore up and down that the specs are wrong and it is really 19’) it’s a decent size for ocean fishing and on the large side for lake fishing.  It takes a bit of doing to launch myself but I think that’s just my inexperience.

At any rate, here for all to enjoy are some pictures.

Now all I need to do is learn to fish…  Any takers?  I’ll even supply the boat!

Perhaps one of the most traumatic experiences in any child’s life is Family Pictures.  I remember having to dress up, play nice with my siblings, listen to someone bark out instructions and mess with how I was standing or sitting, and that was just the car ride to the studio!  Looking back, I wish my parents had continued that tradition more consistently.  We did it a lot when I was young, perhaps every year or two, but once I was in Jr. High it kind of stopped.  As such I don’t have a lot of pictures of myself in High School.  Given how sexy I was back then and how.. uh… un-sexy I am now it’s probably for the best.  I’d hate to dwell on what I’ve lost over the years.

At any rate, this is something I have committed our family to do and because I’m cheap we’ve been going to JC Penny for the pictures and although their photographer is actually quite good, the store policy of over-booking and failing to keep appointments means that after our one year sitting fees expire I think we’re going to find another photographer.  Small children can only tolerate so much incompetence before core meltdown.

ENOUGH TALKING!  On to the pictures!

He only LOOKS sweet.

In reality he’s an atomic fireball of energy, only more destructive.

 Even at this young age Kate can sense the danger she’s in.

Yes, she is usually this peaceful.  Until her diaper is the slightest bit wet, then all bets are off

Look at those tiny feet!  And those hands aren’t even my huge mitts!  They’re Kerri’s!

Yes, yes.  Quite the little angel isn’t she?

I have no witty caption for this moment.

Kerri’s getting everything she ever wanted, fully documented in this photo.

That’ll do pig.  That’ll do.

So, it’s been a L-O-N-G time since I posted something, but finally something has happened that’s large enough to grab my attention and make me put thoughts to paper.  On April 15, 2007 at 18:27 (that’s 6:27 pm for all you non-military types), after 3 hours of moderate to severe contractions and 15 minutes of pushing her into the world Kicking and screaming, Kathryn Ava Mitchell joined the Lemmon clan as its newest member.  And there was much rejoicing, from both her father (glad to have his wife get her hormones under control again) and her mother (glad to have the alien out of her body) and her grandparents (inexplicably basing their self-worth on the quantity of progeny produced by their progeny, as if that makes any sense…) Many digital images captured this moment, and those to follow, and for your viewing pleasure I am including a brief sampling of such images (note that “brief” is a subjective word, directly proportional to the pride of the parent(s).)

Mother & Child, doing fine after the delivery.

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The whole family together after 9 long months of waiting.

The precious child.

… with Dreidel-spinning Santas and Christmas trees hung with tiny Menorahs.  Welcome to Southern California and the secularization of My Religious Holiday, yes MINE.  I own it.  You didn’t get the memo?  No wonder all these stores aren’t paying their royalties on time!

I’ve been verbally molested, frequently, and not in the way that makes me all gooey inside, regarding an itemized list of my innermost capitalistic wishes wants and desires.  Not being one to disappoint I reached for my trusty Wish List; the one that could be counted on all year long to satisfy anyone’s desire only to find that in the most recent Frankenstinian experiment on my server certain parts of my data decided to pull a William-Jefferson-Clinton-during-the-Vietnam-War and move to another country.  I have been attempting to locate the draft dodger, but my current attempts have been unsuccessful so I have lamely cobbled together the high points of what I can remember and what I can steal from a beta version of the final.

One may say “Well, if you don’t know what you want then you must not really want it…” May I remind these detractors that Einstein had to write down his own address and phone number, does that mean he never owned a phone or a house?  Now get back in the kitchen and make me some pie!

Oh, the list.  Yeah.  Before I lose it again… here it is: Don’s List in Support of Capitalism

I have spent the better part of multiple days trying to figure out what is wrong with WordPress and why I can’t get it to send passwords to test accounts when people try to register.  See, there are so many people trying to get a logon so they can comment on this blog it’s getting very difficult for me to keep up with it all.  I would really like it if WP would just do what it is supposed to.
Part of the problem is that Windows doesn’t have a built-in Sendmail program like *nix does, and WP tries to use that by default.  There are sendmail clones out there, but I found a fantastic plug-in called wp-phpmailer that is really slick.  It allows you to specify a SMTP server for WP to use, and there are a number of optional settings that can also be configured to customize it.  In short WAY cool.
Except that it doesn’t work.
Not in a “Aw crap!  This thing is a piece of garbage and it will never work!” sort of way, but in a “This thing is so freaking simple, how come I can’t get it to work?!?”  So after re-downloading, re-reading FAQ’s, forums, groups, docs, SMTP RFC’s, tutorials, Googling everything under the sun and coming to the conclusion that I am an idiot I find something: My ISP blocks port 25 traffic.  THANK YOU VERY FREAKING MUCH FOR PROTECTING ME FROM MYSELF!  If I wanted a wet-nurse/nanny I’d vote Democrat and you would have larger mammaries!  All this time I had been doubting my abilities and my intelligence…  Note to self: Don’t question your genius, question theirs!
Hey SBC, while I realize that many people on the internet have the IQ of burnt toast, please don’t presume to lump me in with them.  Oh, and TAKE OFF THAT STUPID PORT BLOCK!

Kristy (of the “Dan and…” fame) sent me a link to Dan’s latest project.  It’s a commercial that’s airing here in the states.  So, for your viewing pleasure, I’ve included it here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6SK-bcWCU8w

Yesterday was Kerri’s 10 week ultrasound appointment.  “Umm, I’ve been turned into a host for some strange alien parasite… Can I go home now?”  Given how sick Kerri has been it’s no big surprise.  We were both commenting on how this time isn’t as novel as it was with DC.  She was worried she wouldn’t bond with the new baby because it just doesn’t seem real right now.  While we know she’s pregnant, nothing has changed and because life just goes on as normal it hasn’t hit either one of us.  Until now… Hearing the heartbeat and seeing the little punk doing a dance in Kerri’s uterus makes it a lot more real.  It’s still not as “exciting” because we know what to expect but it’s certainly more real.  Anyway… On to the smears!

Yep… not much to see here… Just in case you actually care (implies $gender=”female”), this is a full view of Kerri’s uterus and the baby is oriented head-right.  Compare to the “real thing” at http:www.pregnancy.org.

According to the calculations based on Kerri’s last period, the baby is 10 weeks, 2 days as of yesterday.  According to the ultrasound measurements, it’s 10 weeks 3 days.  Who is right?!?  What will the baby’s real due date be?!?  The suspense is killing me!!!  If I die does that mean I won’t have diaper duty?

When our lives get really crazy, Kerri and I like to take some time and go to San Louis Obispo to see my Grandma Lemmon; Matriarch Extraordinaire of the Lemmon Tree.  She’s an awesome lady with some great family stories.  While we are there invariable we go to two places, both in Pismo Beach, about 15 minutes south of Grandma’s house.

First is Mo’s Smokehouse.  We usually order their Killer Garlic Fries (and yes, they are “killer”) and their pulled pork sandwich.  Mo’s has the best BBQ in the west, hands down.  It’s pretty close to Big Daddy’s BBQ as far as quality goes, though BD is the clear winner, it being the penultimate in the genre.  Second, we go to Splash Cafe and get the clam chowder… Two words: best. ever. bar. none.

Splash Cafe just opened a new location in San Louis Obispo (SLO to locals) with an expanded menu, to include chocolates, fresh baked bread, pizza, and of course the same awesome chowder.

The pizza comes in the shape of a sun, which is kind of a cool presentation, but as you can see, the “rays” of sunshine get pretty dark.  Still it had a good flavor.  But that’s not the reason you go to Splash…

…This is.  This is the goods right here.  The seafood topping (a mixture of chopped shrimp and crab) is an extra $0.50 or so, but well worth it.  If you’re ever in the area, either Pismo or SLO, do yourself a favor and pick up a pint, or do yourself a BIG favor and pick up a quart.

We also like to go to the Farmers Market which is held every Thursday Night on Higuera St.  We missed it this time around because Thursday isn’t normally considered the weekend and neither one of us could get it off.  So we went anyway.  There is some interesting archetecture in SLO.

The modern archetecture contrasts with the older structures and often the two are interspersed among each other.

Bubble-gum Alley is one of those places you have to see to be able to say “Man, I wish I never saw that…”  It’s one of those things that apparently takes on a life of its own and grows into a monstrosity too popular to kill.

Obviously we weren’t the only ones fascinated by this phenomonon.

Another reason we go to SLO is because we love the ocean…

…looking at the boats…

…seeing the kayakers…

—and watch the surfers.  It’s all very relaxing; the rhythm of the ocean and the cool salt breezes… A man could live out the rest of his life there in absolute peace.

Before we left I saw that Grandma had another visitor…

He was very patient as I tried to get my little point-and-shoot to focus on him instead of the things behind the sliding glass door.  For a few moments it was a little touch-and-go there for both of us given my mild arachnophobia and the fact that I was only 8 inches away.  But it all worked out and we left him there to keep Grandma company as we left for home.