Birthdays (and silly songs)

As we celebrate our nation's birthday--an impressive 232 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence--with the usual mix of summer parade and picnic fun (see photos above), we also will be celebrating tonight the one-week birthday anniversary of our new nephew/cousin: Nate. Congratulations again to my sister, Kari, and brother-in-law, Eric, and buon viaggio to them both as they embark on the amazing adventure of parenthood. How long before Nate and his cousins start singing this unforgettable diddy?

Thanks, Wikipedia! You can learn even more here and here. Funny this song is indeed, especially to the Captain Underpants crowd. But I have to confess I'm still partial to the only slightly more subtle stylings of Benny Bell:

Sorry for the digression; this started out as a sincerely joyful post. So let me at least end on a relatively high note: Happy Fourth of July everyone! And welcome to the world, Nate!!

The Year in Pictures: November 2007

Another month, another birthday. This time it was Everett showing off his candle-blowing prowess...twice. First came a modest true-birthday cake, then came a big weekend party, during which his candle-blowing technique became more, ummm, saliva-ey.



November also brought the culmination of the soccer season, and I finally got around to catching some photos of both boys in action.



And November, of course, concluded with Thanksgiving. It was a smaller-than-usual celebration for our family this year, but the SoCal branches of the extended Hoereth family did manage to get together for a good time, both in Diamond Bar and Long Beach.

The Year in Pictures: October 2007

October is the beginning of birthday season for us. Well, September is actually, if you include Audrey's, but somehow the boys' birthdays somehow warrant more attention than our own. Tony opted out of a conventional party this year in exchange for a family day trip to North County San Diego and Legoland. This proved to be a refreshing change of pace for all of us, and the fact that we could conclude the day with a dinner at Pizza Port Carlsbad certainly gets me on board with the idea. We did manage to also hold a small cupcake celebration at home on Tony's big day itself. Despite a momentary flare-up, he was able to extinguish all eight of his candles just fine.



October also brings what is fast becoming one our favorite weekend events of the year: a block party of sort at Burton Chace Park in Marina del Rey. Tony's cub scout pack passes out free hot dogs, which are always welcome, and there are fire trucks and other cool equipment on display, but the real highlight is the extensive collection of blow-up "bouncers". For the second year in a row, the boys' favorite was the giant red slide, and it proved to be a great spot for action shots.



The cub scouts also organized a return trip to Tanaka Farms in Irvine, this time for pumpkin picking (what else?). While most agreed that May's strawberry trip was better, the pumpkin patch did at least help get us in the Halloween spirit. And we managed to get in and out of Irvine just ahead of the horrific wildfires that engulfed much of interior highlands of Orange County and the rest of Southern California for the following weeks.

The Year in Pictures: March 2007

March was a landmark month for me, with the occasion of my 40th birthday. I know I'm hardly the first, or last, person to make this observation, but an age that once seemed so old, now seems quite normal, even young. Having a pair of active young boys around, and staying in shape with a regular program of bike-commuting, also help slow down the aging process (although there are moments with both the boys and the bike seem to speed up the aging process, too.)

While an otherwise ordinary month of school, work, etc., it was a bit more noteworthy for Tony. After taking a group, general music class for a couple of years, he graduated up to individual lessons on the guitar (which continue today). It was also Pinewood Derby month for Cub Scout Tony. And his first Derby car performed quite well. A model of a hot-rod San Francisco garbage truck, it flew down the track to consistently finish in the top 2 or 3 of all of its heats. The real highlight of March for Tony, though, would have to be his school's fund-raising beach clean-up. It was a chance for Tony to lead his fellow first graders in an activity that all knew was close to his heart.