Ice Cream Headaches
Theo, Ollie, and I snuck out to Bay St. for an afternoon glass off. Conditions were foggy, cold and closing out. Ollie is pictured with his new 5′-8″ Guy Okazaki board he received for his 9th birthday. It was one of those days when even the cold beach showers feel warm compared to the ocean and trying to get your wetsuit off with fingers that feel like frozen french fries is almost impossible.
Vogue Bambini
A few months ago our good friend and extraordinary stylist Micaela Milangri pitched Vogue Bambini to do a fashion story with our family. She has always liked our blog and thought they would like to do something in the same vein. So here’s how this worked. She brought back a big box of clothes from Milan and divided them out amongst our boys. There was about 1-2 outfits per Catanzaro (except for Sam. At 16 years old he’s a bit old for Vogue Bambini) which they sort of lived in for the next few weeks. Sometimes they loved putting on the clothes and sometimes it was a pain to get them to wear them. Anyways, The Nov.- Dec. issue is the result of the shoot. Run out and pick up a copy. But, be forwarned at $29.99 it ain’t cheap!
2 Vogue Bambinis
This is the cover we didn't shoot this, we don't have any girls or Chihuahuas
The boys at the comic book store
Beefcake
Ollie- our supermodel
Days End
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyday could end like this?
A Trip To The Park
True confessions time-I have never liked taking the kids to the park. There is something about pushing them on the swing(endlessly) or being asked(constantly)to climb the jungle gym,or even just sitting on the benches with otheer moms and nanny’s that I detest. Simon,who will be 3 in a few weeks was only taken to a park and “swung” earlier this year,for the first time,by a friend. Yesterday however, on my own accord,offered to take them to the “park”.
The "park"
The “park” is Tunnels Beach, a 5 minute walk past a reef full of sea turtles from our house. Ted and Sam had decided to do the 1/2 mile paddle out from Tunnels to the surfing spot and so I asked the younger set it they wanted to walk down with them to go to the “swings”.
The "swings"
Theo,Ollie & Simon spent 2 hours creating a park of their own. They swung,climbed,jumped,dug in the sand,made a boat out of a log and surfed.
The "bucket" and the treasure from the "sandbox"
Simon's Boat
Theo and Ollie's Boat
Getting ready to jump from the "play structure"
Theo hanging on
Better than a slide
I sat on the beach and took in the beautiful scenery. Nicest trip to the park I’ve ever had.
The Return of the Gambusias
A bag of Gambusia
Last week every day was 1/2 day for our kids at Ocean Charter School. There were parent teacher meetings. This meant only a few hours a day to get stuff done around the house. Time goes by all too quickly when you drop off at 8:00 and pick up at 12:00 especially when Simon is home.
The art scene of the crime
Let’s just say we are thinking of banning all writing implements from him permanently. Speaking of permanent. Simon has covered himself from head to toe with Sharpie markers twice this week. We cleaned the bench with a damp Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge. This is a great product. It gets most any surface clean of most anything. The scary thing is there are no ingredients (active or inactive) printed anywhere on the box. And I think it’s made in Germany.
A big help
Oh yes, I almost forgot about the Gambusia. Back in October I did this post called In Search of Gambusia. This post details our initial quest for the species. These are mosquito fish given out by the Los Angeles County Vector Control to help control the mosquito population. This place is so cool and weird. You pull up to this generic unmarked building, park in the one and only visitor space and make your way to the locked glass doors next to this sign.
Press for fish
So you press the button and a woman’s voice says “Yes, can I help you?” I say, ” I’m here for Gambusia.” She says, “Come in and take one bag.” Inside the foyer is a log book, a small laundry cart lined with towels containing the bags of mosquito fish. This is so weird, and free!
Decisions, decisions
Fed by the fact that the fish are free and there’s 5 kids with me there’s a lot of confusion and arguing going on. When things calm down and a bag (or 2) is chosen we make our way back home to our pond to release the Gambusia!
Come little ones
