Two Brothers Pizza Shop

It had been a while since the boys and I had worked on some homemade pizzas, so we decided that this afternoon would be the perfect time to make some individual sized pizzas.  Since they are very hands on, both Nicholas and John decided that they wanted to do everything.  If I even tried to do anything, they'd get mad at me.  They are quite tempermental.  Nicholas went a little crazy on the parmesan, but it still turned out quite nicely.  John enjoyed the new pepperoni that I'd just picked up.  It wasn't too spicy, so he added it to his masterpiece.  

Oh Boy, He Was Amazing!

As most of you know, Huell Howser died last Sunday.  I was reading TMZ during lunch on Monday when I came across that story.  I immediately exclaimed, "Oh No!  Huell Howser is dead!"  Two of my co-workers were truly saddened by the loss.  The others were nonplussed because they didn't get him.  You really didn't need to get him.  He was who he was and you either loved him or couldn't listen to him.  I must say that I didn't enjoy his show much earlier in my life (much like talk radio on KFI), but as I kept watching, I grew to enjoy his programs immensely (much like KFI).

Anywho, why did I just post that on a blog about the boys?  If you recall, we went to National Train Day at Union Station because of Huell Howser.  He mentioned it on Facebook since he was going to be there and we thought it would be a good idea to take the boys to see the goings on due to John's love of trains (at the time, Nicholas was only 5-months old).  As we entered the place was a madhouse as the Spirit of Troy was playing and those horns were too loud for John.  We headed toward the platforms to see the trains.  John was ever so excited to visit the train platforms and see actual train cars in motion.  As we were leaving, we saw Huell Howser posing for photos with people, so we waited for our turn.  Maureen asked for a photo and mentioned that John, Nicholas, and she were Dockweilers.  He then asked if I wanted a photo and both Maureen and he cajoled me into a photo.  To this day, John will ask about the man in the yellow shirt from the train station.

If not for Huell Howser, I would not have that nice memory of a day at the station.  Thanks Huell.

A Visit to the Yellow Balloon

It's been about 2-months since the boys have visited Vic at the Yellow Balloon.  John's hair was getting unmanagable as you can see from his cowlick in the photo.  Nicholas was barely able to see through his ever lengthening bangs.  So, it was definitely time to pay a visit to Vic for his tonsorial skills.  Maureen decided that she also needed to sit in Vic's chair for a bit of a trim.

As we were driving to the Yellow Balloon along Ventura Blvd, I noticed a fire copter hovering above a building.  I next noticed that the streets were blocked off.  That's never a good sign, so we had to  turn off in search of an alternate route.  All of that would have been avoided if I had just hopped onto the 101 and exited on Laurel Canyon.  Did I do that?  No, I thought it would be quicker to take Ventura.  Anywho, we arrived about 10-minutes late to our appointments, but still had plenty of time on the calendar.

Maureen sat in the chair first and just had a lovely chat with Vic while I was watching the boys.  Every so often, Vic would ask me if I knew a restaurant or a school since we both grew up in the Valley.  Eventually, Maureen is pleased with Vic's work and it's time to turn his attention to the boys.  Thankfully, they both turned a corner long ago about not liking hair cuts.  The only thing that bothers them is the blow dryer.  It gets a little too hot at times.

So, as you can see from the photos below, I'd have to say that Vic did a good job.  It's a much better job than what Maureen and I did when we butchered their hair.  We even told Vic about our house rule:  Mommy and Daddy can never cut the boys hair.

Los Playeros

Give these boys a beach and they'll go crazy on it.  When the tide goes down, there is a nice patch of beach in front of the Wiseman beach house.  John kept on looking at the tide to see when it was low enough to hit the beach.  Sure enough just after about 1 PM, there was plenty of beach.  Being overly excited, both boys went down to the beach in their sweat pants and long sleeved shirts.  After getting soaked and covered in sand, John asked to change into his trunks and Nicholas still wanted to play in his inapporpriate attire.  He eventually relented.

They spent the next three hours playing on the beach with their friends.  It kind of reminded me of the vacations we'd take when we were young.  We'd spend all day on the beach with our friends/cousins.  As some of you know, I loathe the sand.  It irks me that they love it as much as they do, but I'm not going to stop them from having their fun.

By the way, it was about 60 degrees that day.  Did that stop the boys from playing in the water or sand?  Of course not.  They are true beach boys.

New Year's on Balboa Island

The Wiseman's were kind enough to invite us down to Balboa Island for a New Year's getaway.  The boys were ever so happy to play with their friends, both new and old.  Nicholas was so happy to make a new friend named Elizabeth.  He said that she's a good "gwirl" and wanted to invite himself over to her house.  I jokingly asked if he was Peppermint Patty since he was inviting himself over like PP did to Charlie Brown's house on Thanksgiving.  He laughed and thought that was funny.

Shoobie Doobie Over to Ruby's

We headed to Newport Beach to celebrate New Year's on Balboa Island.  After our obligatory trip to the Fun Zone (ride on the ferry and ferris wheel included), John asked if we could go to Ruby's for lunch.  For those of you who don't know the location of the restaurant, it's at the end of the Newport Beach Pier.  After making the walk down the pier and listening to John whine about how far it was (I warned him), we settled in for a nice meal.  John enjoyed his burger, fries and shake while Nicholas enjoyed his bacon (yes bacon), fries, and shake.  It was fun and ever so tasty.  Those Ruby shakes are just so hard to beat.

On a side note, it got very windy as we were walking back.  Oh course, John complained like there was no tomorrow.  Did our little one complain?  No, he was just ever so happy to run around and have fun.

Bowl Cut Is Back

If there is one thing Maureen and I have learned over the course of our time as parents, I'd have to say that we are horrible at cutting hair.  It has taken 6 months for Nicholas' bowl cut to come back.  We are never going to cut his hair again.  He may be cursed with a very thin bowl cut, but we are going to embrace.  He wears it well.