Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

I didn't realize I could be nostalgic about something I never experienced until the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The bombardment of movies and pop culture references to boardwalks, Coney Island, etc., etc. had a strong effect on me. I did go to Cedar Point as a kid and plenty of smaller fairs in Germany, but this is different. Something about the beach, the boardwalk, the rides, the grossly entrancing deep-frying capacity of this great nation. The most amazing find: deep-fried cheesecake.

Palomi loves the rides. The faster, the better. And the merry-go-round! The trip was worth it just to see her hop in excitement at seeing it. She looks serious in the pictures because she takes the rides, especially those where she's steering, very seriously. The plane and helicopter rides, in particular, require her complete focus. She lets loose on the roller coasters, as long as they're fast enough.

Flying with Eli












The beloved Merry-Go-Round:


































And a few more rides:

A little jumping video

Random Pics

I Don't Love You (Spider), March 27, 2008. Black ink on paper. Courtesy of the artist.

(Re)Naming

Palomi is into renaming things right now. Her all-purpose identifier is "Dooda". Sometimes its an out when she's asked about something she isn't sure about or doesn't want to answer. "Who else did you see at the playground?" "Dooda!" Sometimes, though, it's a specific thing that gets renamed (I have been "Dooda" for a short period of time). She also insists that it's called the "Golden Gray Bridge" and emphatically (and slightly mischievously) corrects me when I call it the "Golden Gate Bridge."

Another first

Palomi did her first real solo somersault this evening. Two in a row, beautifully. After that it was a bit more haphazard, especially as she doesn't see the need to have a clear path ahead of her to do a somersault. Aside from being generally physically precocious, she has an amazing ability to gauge her abilities; there was no warm up, she hasn't been practicing them in weeks (there's a somersault bar at her gymnastics class with which she always needed help), and out of the blue she says "Purzelbaum" (you can guess what that means in German) and does it.

Palomi followed that up by hopping nonstop for literally five minutes - go ahead and try to do one minute! Of course, this was as I was trying to get her in her pajamas for bedtime.

Easter...

... is for children. Palomi, Owen and Ben spent the morning hunting for Easter eggs, playing with bubble toys from Ben's Grandpa, and generally having a good time. A two-year-old Easter egg hunt is quite amusing - after finding an egg or two, it's time to sit down and inspect the loot, despite the adults exhorting you to find more eggs, pointing out where they are, and generally bothering you in your discovery of jelly beans and chocolate.

Check out this Easter video from Ben's (and Eleanor's) blog.