Updates

Josie on a mushroom at the zoo eating cheese. Another cheese-lover in the family.

Josie loving the dwarves at Fairyland.

Josie kicking it at home.

Josie playing rock band.

A rare photo of Lucy, "I hate the paparazzi" Allen. Seen here holding her speed demon tray.

Lucy and Tyler sliding down the astro turf hill at the zoo.

The little house with two new windows up top. It is hard to take pictures of clear glass...

Last week was a busy one with a three day trip to Oakland to work on the Pacific West Region Science Strategy and then a two day weekend full of work on the little house and exciting kid activities. The Oakland trip was fine. I got some work done and Mitch and the girls went to Fairyland (a big hit again) and the new Cal Academy of Sciences. Mitch is a bold stay at home dad, willing to brave the wilds of BART and the SF subway with the stroller and two children under five. By the way, if you want to read a hilarious essay about camping in Fairyland, you should check out Michael Lewis' new book, Home Game (the whole book is pretty darn funny).

One of the more hilarious moments of our Oakland trip involved the early morning disappearance of one of my shoes on our last day in town. I couldn't find it anywhere (thanks to Josie who had hidden it behind a curtain) and so I had to go to work in Mitch's flip-flops. They were the only extra shoes we had with us. They went smashingly with my button up shirt and slacks...

The weekend was good but too short. I took the kids for some significant portions so that Mitch could work on the little house. He installed two out of the three upper windows so we only have one hole to the outside left in the building. I had the girls for long enough to totally mess up all of Mitch's systems such that I am sure he was cursing my name this morning. We went to the mall and the park solo on Saturday morning and then went to the Santa Barbara zoo and met up with Ray and Tyler and Chloe on Sunday. It was hot for Ventura this weekend so I was glad to return to the air conditioning of the office today.

That's about it for now. I'm ready to go back to laying on the couch drinking my tea and reading my book (Run). By the way, if anyone wants to come over and find whatever is generating the evil smell in my kitchen and get rid of it, that would be fantastic.