Sunday, May 31, 2009

Memorial Day Weekend Getaway

We took a trip out to "The Desert" as they refer to the Palm Springs area around here. I pricelined a couple of nights at a resort in Rancho Mirage early in the Memorial Day weekend. we headed out Thursday right after school for a break. The hotter it gets in Palm Springs, the lower the prices are because most people like to go in the winter when there is snow at their houses. Since our activities involve early morning golf before it heats up, and the pool, that works out great for us.
(The pictures are a bit out of order because I don't know how to move them around in the blog-post format.)
Here's Chris and Nathaniel as Ben and Jerry. If we find a Ben and Jerry's when we are on a trip we try to hit it as often as possible (it is a vacation after all.)

Davis had just received the game "Go" for his birthday and brought it along to the pool. The directions were not written by a native english-speaker and there was more strategy to the game than I could grasp. I'll have to look up the rules online, but for this game, Davis creamed me.
The rows of windmills are always neat. I think wind power should be used more. Think of all those windy canyons that could be producing clean energy. (Brett, you should set up a windmill in your yard.) We arrived in time for dinner and a swim before bed. Bedtime came early (it always does at our house anyway) because Chris had a 6:30 tee time the next morning (aka - sleeping-in for Chris).

Friday morning I rode along with Chris as he played at one of the resort's golf courses. He was the only one for the first tee time and we didn't see another golfer on the course the whole 18 holes. It was really fun riding along and watching him play. I have started to hit balls at the driving range. I'd like to learn how to play but I would be way to slow to play on a real golf course now (searching for balls in the rough, hitting 12 over par on each hole...)

Here's a shot of Chris in a power swing. Look between his ankle and the rock in front of him and you can see the tee flipping up into the air after he hit the ball. The course was beautiful too. What a fun morning. The course was really nice, and they drive your breakfast out to you on the next hole after you place your order at the 9th hole snack shop.

This is Chris lining up his put. Not really. He was just goofing around because there was no one on the course but us and herds of cotton tail rabbits, some jack rabbits, a gaggle of road runners, and some other birds we would have needed Davis to identify.

We were back to the boys (who ate Cap'n Crunch cereal in the room and watched cartoon network) by 9:30 and changed and went to the pool for the day. Armed with sunscreen, magazines, an audiobook, and a game, we headed to the pool for the day. Since it was a vacation, we indulged in smoothies on the lounge chairs under the sun umbrellas and the boys ordered lunch which was brought to them poolside. Palm Springs has a Knott's Soak City water park, but the resort pool had a slide that we enjoyed for no extra cost.

Above was Nathaniel, and immediately above, Davis on the slide.
Here's a shot of Chris flipping Nathaniel in the air. I think the stream of water being flung from his britches is pretty funny.
The blur above the pool in this shot is Davis in mid-air. This is our evening swim after dinner Friday. As you can see, we pretty much had the resort to ourselves all day Friday. Holiday weekenders showed up on Saturday, which wasn't quite as fun, so I'm glad we went out a bit early. Next time I think we'd go the weekend after Memorial Day.
Saturday morning Chris played the other golf course at the resort. Davis wanted to ride along with him. He was unhappy that we didn't bring his clubs, but he's not ready to keep up on 18 holes yet, and the course was fully booked this time. He cheered up when Chris told him he could drive the cart. He had a great time with Chris and Nathaniel and I ate breakfast by the pool, swam, and saved some lounge chairs until Chris and Davis could join us. We went home after having Ben and Jerry's for lunch and had Sunday and Monday to relax before going back to work and school.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

We Have a Teenager in the House

May 14 is Davis' birthday and this year he turned 13! He is really showing teen tendencies. He is so much more responsible (he's babysitting to earn money, he walks home from school to be here when Nathaniel is dropped off on the days that I'm not home yet) and way less responsible (he puts off homework until the last minute, he forgets to turn in completed assignments) than he used to be. I'm so proud of him. I'm so frustrated. Here are some pictures from his birthday.
Davis and his new wave board. I tried it out and could just get across the driveway. Chris didn't dare try more than just trying to stand on the board (there are only two wheels that swivel and the board swivels in the middle). Davis just hopped on and started going.
Apparently teenagers don't smile for pictures anymore. And they like dolls, but they have to be Ugly Dolls.
Nathaniel gave him the Ugly Doll. Davis liked it - go figure.

We had chocolate black-out cake which is the cullinary equivalent of mudpies. It's basically layers of cake (very moist) and pudding, covered with cake crumbs.
Davis requested steaks for his birthday dinner, but settled for tri-tip. We ate in the back yard since the weather was so pleasant. In a couple weekends Davis is inviting friends to go to a movie with him to celebrate his birthday. This weekend was Fathers and Sons and next is Memorial Day, so he'll wait until the following when there is slightly less going on.

Friday, May 8, 2009

When was the last time you foraged for your supper?

When I was a kid my dad would forage for food and feed us what we called "Weed Salad". I amused my high school friends by describing the dandelions and purslane he'd collect from between the rows of "real vegetables" and around the edges of the alfa alfa field behind our house. Or, when he'd stop the car to climb down into an irrigation ditch and come up with handfuls of watercress. (I have to say I always liked the baby cattails because you boil them and eat them with butter like baby corn.)
Well, little did he know that he was a rustic gourmet. Today, I will be feeding my family weed salad. I will just call it "Tiny Spicy Salad". I planted watercress at the point where the soaker hoses fork off the garden hose and its always damp there - kind of like an irrigation ditch bank. I also have purslane growing as a "volunteer" plant in between the rows of conscripted vegetables. It has a lemony flavor. I took the opportunity to thin the lettuce and cilantro seedlings and add them to the mix. I have a sweet but very light honey-pear salad dressing that will balance the flavors I think.
These are the first radishes of the season. I'll chop them fine and add them to the salad for color and zing. I love how pretty they are. They make a great bouquet for giving away. Looks like Nathaniel's teacher will get a bunch of radishes Monday (since we forgot to bring flowers for teacher appreciation day this week.)
Speaking of flowers - these are the blooms that were intended for teacher appreciation week. The are Amyrillis. They are the bulbs that many people buy at Christmas and grow indoors because their long stalk grows so quickly. They grow right behind the house and appreciate the regular water we provide for the lawns. There are more blooms every year. I need to divide them and share the wealth.

Monday, May 4, 2009

JPL Open House

Saturday Nathaniel and I headed up the Arroyo to the open house at NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL). Its an annual event and I expected to walk through one building of JPL scientists with posters demonstrating a few rovers. It was actually a huge event with more than 20 buildings on the college-sized campus hosting displays. We received an id-badge style lanyard in which we put the activity cards we collected at different stations throughout the displays.
We didn't wait in any of the long lines (for the robo-dome that was demonstrating hovercraft rovers) but we saw some cool stuff. Here's Nathaniel in front of a giant rover prototype that easily rolls over this little boulder and turns on a dime.
Don't we look like we're having fun?
Chris has been working on some industry report for sustainable energy companies. He had asked how electricity is used to turn water into hydrogen fuel. They had a display sitting on a table doing just that. This is a little solar panel which makes electricity that is channeled through the column of water (electrolyzer chamber) in the background. We could see bubbles rising in the water which was hydrogen and oxygen gas. I don't know how they separate the hydrogen and oxygen, but the hydrogen can be stored for use later in a fuel cell to re-create electricity.

Here's the diagram for those of you who want to build your own "storable" solar energy system.
And I couldn't resist taking a photo of the working lego-model of the solar system. The battery operated drill on the right is the motor running the gears.

We had a great day with all the cool stuff to see and the soft pretzels and kettle corn. A fun mother-son outing!

So so, soak your toe...

Davis had another ingrown toenail. Last Novemeber when he had one during soccer season we spent weeks trying to clear up the infection at home. Ouch! This time it was right back to the podiatrist.
Davis used my phone to take some pictures. Sorry, they're a bit gross.
First they numbed his toe with a 3 inch long needle - no kidding. And then they disinfected it with some iodine. Davis thought it looked like chocolate and Nathaniel thought it looked like soy sauce. Mmm... want a lick?
Then the doctor cut the nail down the length and used a forceps to yank the piece off. Here's the bandaged result. When it heals up and isn't infected I'll take him back and she'll do the same thing but then cauterize that edge of the nail so it doesn't grow back. He doesn't need this every 6 months. Yikes!