We have a couple of glorious hydrangea bushes along the side of our house. I caught my landlord's wife (and next door neighbor) snipping some roses from one of our bushes. So I thought, why not do our own pruning?
They are so bright and brassy. I am used to to the sedate whites and pale blues and pinks.
My brother- and sister-in-law and niece and nephew arrived from Texas, after a hellish delay and flight. They ended up taking a cab from LAX to their hotel here in Burbank, since they arrived at 2am instead of 7pm.
It was The Goose's last day of school. I dropped her off at 9, picked up the Texas Metcalfs at the hotel and delivered them to our house. Oscar came tearing out of the house screaming HAAAAAAYDENNNN! and Hayden welcomed him with a huge hug. Arlo hid for a few minutes and then emerged out of the woodwork: "Hayden, do you want to see my room? Hey, Kendall, do you want to see the book I have? Hey Hayden, do you want to hold my frog?"
Kendall and Hayden are superior sports.
I dropped them off at Evan's office for a tour. They were suitably impressed.
I went to The Goose's school for her end-of-the-year party. I was presented with this artwork:
It's really lovely. Layers of paint, and tissue paper, and beads and shards of shiny things. Gorgeous.
The Goose had her face painted by one of her teachers.
We were also given a DVD with lots of pictures of The Goose over the year, some prints, and a 5x7 of her class. She is three rows up to your right. Man, I love these kids. And I love these teachers. We are so lucky we discovered Grandview.
After lots of hugs we picked up half the Metcalf crew and went to Bob's Big Boy for lunch. I tried to lecture Kendall on Googie architecture, but it wasn't working.
I herded the little guys at the house and Evan brought the Texas Metcalfs on a tour of the WB Lot. I would have never pegged Evan as a born tour director, but he does a great job. As a huge movie geek, he has internalized all those tiny stories about the lot, and he loves bringing people around it. It's like his life's dream to know this much about this historical working area, and every so often, family and friends show up and are thrilled for him to show off his knowledge.
My daughter loves her big cousin. She still is crabby.
The boys made a big old fort in the boys' room. Man, I love cousins.
Hayden stayed overnight and the boys fell truly, deeply in love. The next morning I texted my sister-in-law and begged her for donuts.We packed up the cars and took off for Leo Carrilo State Park.
This is my 13yo niece. She is impossibly beautiful, smart, sharp, and has a sharp, cutting wit. I love her.
This is the picture I am going to picture in my head when I die, many many years from now. Kendall was my first niece/nephew, and when I saw my future husband interact with baby Kendall, I knew I wanted to have a family with him. Kendall and The Goose adore each other. They are the bookends of my in-laws's grandchildren: Kendall, Hayden, Oscar, Arlo, Lucy. I know my beloved mother-in-law always wanted a daughter, She ended up with two doting daughter-in-laws and two granddaughters, nine years apart.
Arlo is a climbing fool. Hayden scrambled right after him.
Hermit crabs!
Here's me hauling the Goose around the rocks. The tide was coming in and she was feeling teetchy.
My beloved brother-in-law, my gorgeous sister-in-law, moi, and my sweetie. Good genes, amiright?
After dinner we went for a swim in their hotel pool.
Evan tells me that parts of True Romance were filmed here.
We went home to shower off. We met at our favorite chain place, El Torito.
We stuffed ourselves with rice and beans and went home for Family Movie Night. We watched the Peter Jackson 2005 KING KONG, The Goose melted down and passed out during the movie. Oscar and Hayden loved the movie. And sweet Arlo? Evan and I plotted on hiding his eyes during the yucky parts. He would have none of it. There were parts (face eating worms) that I had to hide my eyes from, and yet Arlo was all over it.
The next day was my 42nd birthday. Happy Birth Day, Mom!
Bart and Hayden had to leave early that morning for a sports event, which ended up badly. Please note: I love my nephew, who is a sports-savant, more than anything. Fellow sport parents that feel the need to disqualify groups of nine-year-olds because of technicalities --a kid is in two sports teams in the same league because he loves it so much -- you just plain suck. That's why I don't live in Texas. (But of course, I live in Southern California, and my annoying pissy fits are based in my north east background.)
My sister-in-law and niece babysat for Evan and I while we went out for lunch. Please note, that they could have stayed at home, but instead they went -- VOLUNTARILY -- to Chuck E Cheese. God, I love them.
Evan took me to a sushi place that his co-workers had raved about. They weren't kidding.
Creamy shrimp tempura. Imagine biting into a shrimp, with the lightest of fried coatings, and inside -- a cloud of shrimp-flavored love, with a tiny little kick at the end.
Spider roll. It was okay. Now we know to just order off the whiteboard, not the menu.
Seriously, the best sushi I've ever had. And in the top five of meals. We are in a frugal state right now, and wouldn't have been able to afford this celebration if not for my sister-in-law and niece's babysitting. Thanks, ladies.
We came home and I had presents!
Gorgeous necklace from my Goose. I love a pretty necklace that point at my boobs.
Buffy Season 8 in comics. I will ignore my children until I'm done reading this.
Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom CD, with a promise of a babysitter so we can see it in a theater.
From Arlo. A tiny, charming little notebook.
From my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law: a funky steampunk necklace, a cool linen scarf, and a check for a babysitter, Done and done.
From my Texas family: a gift certificate for a mani/pedi and a huge bag of Starbucks cakepops, which made a grand substitution for a birthday cake.
I got a couple of very generous checks from parents and aunts and uncles. I will try very hard to use them for something fun for the family and not for paying the utilities.
From my eldest: four coupons for 15 minutes of silence each.
I took a delicious nap and then descended into Hollywood with Tiff and Kendall. The Playboy Jazz festival was taking place at the Hollywood Bowl, so we hit a lot of traffic. But we made it to the Arclight in Hollywood, and we saw Rock of Ages, which was a gigantic amount of fun. On the way home we dealt with the traffic so Kendall could spy the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood sign.
We got home, had some pizza, and passed out. It was a grand birthday.
The next day was Father's Day. I woke up at the crack of dawn and drove Tiff and Kendall to LAX. Geesh, I miss them already.
On Mother's Day, all I wanted was a bit of time with each of my three kids on our own. It was very successful, so we decided to replicate it for Father's Day.
The Goose made her daddy a picture frame from Father's Day at her school.
Oscar took Evan out to lunch at Islands. We had a certificate for a free kid's meal from school, so I just bought a $15 gift card online for Evan's burger and beer.
The Goose brought Evan to our friends' comic shop, Earth 2 Comics. I had been there with Oscar and The Goose on Free Comics Day, but Evan hadn't ventured out from our local House of Secrets and Emerald Nights. We have become friends with the folks who run Earth 2 and I was so happy to give Evan a bit of cash to spend at their fabulously curated shop. He ended up buying a grab-bag of books for The Goose, including Care Bears, Get Along Gang, Little Archie, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
This, friends, is why my sweetie is a great man. I gave him some money to spend at a comic shop, and he decided to buy a grab bag of stuff that his 4yo daughter would love. Good Father-Type behavior, right?
Finally, Arlo took Evan out for ice cream.
I also got Evan a little gift card for Rocket Fizz, so he can indulge his affection for weird soda pops. He will go there on his own, since bringing your kids to a candy shop to spend money on yourself is a recipe for sheer and utter family hell.
Okay, there is one more thing. Do you know how people have characters on their back windows depicting their families? Stick figures, turtles, whatever. I decided Evan needed to tart up our inherited Lexus with some geek-appropriate graphics.
I actually ordered a daddy Godziila, mama Mothra, and three tiny baby Minyas. My order was screwed up so Mama Mothra and baby Minyas will join daddy Godzilla next week. But I think my husband is secretly thrilled to be driving around in a fancy car with a Godzilla decal on the back.
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