The baby in the top photo is my grandfather, Bunny. In the second photo, from Melanie's naming, he's on the far right of the middle row with his arm around his wife, Gene.

I just wonder if one day, eighty-six years from now, someone else will look at this latter photo with the same fascination I have for the former.

Surrounded by girls, of course!



The pools in Scripps Ranch opened this weekend and thanks to our friends, the Kleins (who also took the majority of these photos), we got to visit several of them. They also met us at the community pool across the street from us. Now I understand why one moves to the suburbs!


With Zoe and her grandparents.






With the Jacobson twins, Lily and Nathan.

We started the weekend with a trip to the Zoo and got to see the brand new Elephant Odyssey.



Of course, we had to take the SkyFari ride up to get there.







We had a good time at the zoo, and even ran into the Gardners.



However, the whole thing left us a bit exhausted.





We also had dinner with the Ditters at Pizza Port.



And Jenna got a new toy from the machine.



Finally, or actually first in real-time, I had taken Friday off from work.  After taking Emma for a long walk around Lake Miramar I met Laura for lunch before we picked up the girls from school.  As is her fashion, Jenna had to give everyone hugs before saying goodbye.



And she does this in both her and Melanie's classes.

Whew!  That was a long post for a long weekend.  Happy belated Memorial Day to everyone.  Here's looking forward to a great summer.

A one act play, presented by the Oakfort PLayers.

Melanie [getting up from the dinner table]:  *fart*
Laura:  Melanie, you need to go potty.
Melanie: No, I don't.
Laura:  Melanie, you need to go potty before bath so why don't you go now.
Melanie [stomping towards the bathroom and moving around the step stools for maximum "bang"]:  Other people don't have to go.
Laura:  What do you mean?
Melanie: I was talking to my friends and they don't go pee pee before bath and they don't poo poo before bath.
Laura:  Melanie, A) I'm not really sure that I believe that you just had that conversation today, and B)...
Melanie:  But my friends, they say that they don't have to go potty before bath!
Laura:  Melanie, I happen to know that your friends frequently pee in the bath and drink the water!

Today we were sure that we took good care of ALL the mothers in the family. So it was off to South Bark to wash Emma.






Then brunch at The Big Kitchen.

There is a place where the hills that slope down to the rolling Pacific are a manicured green, a place from whose estates the well-to-do can see forever, from whose celebrated schools the offspring leap to their Ivy League careers, where even nature has conspired to roll out a town-sized climate sweet spot here above the storied surf in the jewel by the sea: La Jolla, Calif.

The book of crime is thin here; bad things surely should happen in less rarified zip codes than this. And yet, of course, happen they do. And here he is: the California golden boy, bursting with his possibilities, ignorant of his imminent fate.

Thus begins "The surfer and the Bird Rock Bandits" a Dateline NBC special produced by my sister-in-law, Ann Preisman. It's a really interesting story of crime and punishment.  The show was the result of her over two years worth of work in putting it all together so mazel tov to her.  A job well done.