THE KUMQUAT

      Lookin' good little bugger! 

OH HAPPY DAY

January 17th 2011 marks the date of our discovery.  Hello little one.  Hello new life.  Though we have quite some time before we meet... we smile when we consider the moment, the hour.  We pray for you daily, your big brother too, because we are so very glad you have come into our lives.  Thank you Lord for our newest member... watch over him/her... and have your will in their life starting now.  We are grateful beyond measure!

EYES FOR YOU

Gabriel's secret admirer sent him a lovely package on Valentines; shark swim trunks, a reef shirt, and these wonderfully intense swimming goggles. NOW he is ready for summer! bring on the swim session... and the daring reptiles.

THEATRICAL ON THEATER LANE...

BELIEVE IT OR NOT - Part II

swap meet-saturday, august 27, 2010: finding what we could find we stumbled upon a kitchy, green, unassuming guitar. little did we know it would be touched by a genius, it would become legendary. gabel a huge fan of all things music, drew near to the instrument like flies to dung and what he did next may surprise you. looking up he closed his eyes... as if channeling all great guitar legends at once... he smirked... a ray of light cast over him... i believe the clouds had there been any parted, but i can't be sure. he was all there was in the swap meet... all else was no longer and he rose above all the nothingness. and he strummed... he strummed i said... and it sounded something like this...

BELIEVE IT OR NOT - Part I

so the gabel, the duke and myself found ourselves in sunny santa barbara on business... monkey- business that is... and while meandering along the boardwalk we stopped at the skate park to take in the talent. before long little gabel had hopped up on the park wall to take a closer look at the gravity defying spectacles before us. a twinkle in his eyes... a tremor in his legs... and a hint of mischief written on his face. off he ran, into the skate park, into the mayhem of screeching wheels, into the tumult of teen spirit, enveloped by adolescent body odors laid out like a wall of smokescreen, never to be seen again. ...but if you could have seen him on the other side you would have seen a toddler defying all odds... aquiring a stray board... dropping into the bowl for a warm-up-sesh... careening in a perpetual motion... carving effortlessly... like a hawk, soring tirelessly... and finishing with a kicktail wallplant. ...transitioning into the stairs and landing a half cab impossible... followed by a basic fakie ollie and finally pulling off a truckhook impossible and a finger crusher. he completed the course tic-tacing toward a ramp and in honor of Andy McDonald he pulled off a wicked backflip! phenomenal skate sesh... phenomenal phenom.

CHEESUS

so i'm relaying chunks of cheese into the tots anxious little paws... assuming he is enveloping them as fast as i can cut them. to my surprise he had toted his mexican cross out of his room and into the paint zone of the kitchen. with great persision he placed his cross on the step ladder and proceeded to lay out bits of cheese on top of it. i looked at the adorned cross and then at him with a blank look on my face and he simply said with a grin, "cheesus".

HOME SLEEP HOME

HALLILUYAH... SNAGGED THE PAD!

it was a miracle... a factual miracle... May 1st our anniversary and move in day! a sigh of relief could be heard up and down the california coast... and the clank of keys rang through the valleys! we salivated at the thought of ripping out carpet... painting walls... and basically begining thee most extreme transformation this world has ever seen. (...or at least the most extreme for the block... certainly for this street.) in any case we worked tirelessly... contracting family members... our thanks to all... and we are now in the final stages of completion. we look forward to your stay. our doors are opening to the public this summer. reserve a room today and make memories for tomorrow. [space is limited.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE RETREAT AT MASTHEAD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ONE ROUND

...with a coffee table, a desk, and tiled floor...

let's just say... they won.

A CHILD IS BORN

JOSHUA JONATHAN BOYENN'E IS HERE!

O-10

new years at 288 was family fun as usual... dick clark and his now oddly familiar slow & groggy voice puts you into the most perfect slumber after the ball drops. rock band rocked our night away with mommy givin' the drums a scandalously loud vocal try, mika monopolising the mic, and everyone else rotating on and failing on the guitar... unless of course they were under the age of 16. a home cooked meal, champagne and party poppers to follow... who could ask for anything more. a solid antm shoot (you were missed kook), the missing of one toasting glass and the retrieval of another one later and all was right in the world.

[for the record: babe did not make it to midnight on account of a punctual 9:00 bedtime.]

[...not to mention a punctual daddy.]

NOT HIM AGAIN...

i can't believe i subjected poor gabriel to the perilous lap of dear old santi-claus again. ...and as the little bugger began to pout, the biggest bottom-lip curl you've ever seen, a tear welling up in his little eye... i was overcome with regret. you would've thought we sent him to hades or at least Joann's possessed by the forelorn chef. dear ol' santi-claus weathered the storm and waved a fond farewell complete with complimentary candy cane. no freaky "hooooo hoooo hooo" and "you'll poke your eye" and yet gabel acted as if he'd sat with lucifer himself, disguised in white trim. well a few tears later and we were back on the train... back in daddy's arms where fun could be had... amid the christmas lights of the irvine park... amid the clamor of his cousins. and in the end fun was had by all... thanks to the fact that santa is heading aaaaaaaaall the way back to the north pole.

CANDID CHRISTMAS

thanksgiving has come and gone... christmas is on the way. the gift list for 18 nieces and nephews looms on the horizon... but how fortunate we are to have a big family... we press on... fascinating ourselves with the annual gifting brainstorm. the gabel's toys are getting sparse... what, oh what will santa bring him this year? i was thinkin' we'd make him a sea-saw. what could be better, right? ...was always a major favorite of mine. plus it seems simple enough... one long plank and something it balances on. yeah... my projects always seem sooo easy... in theory. well the hunt for just the right baby-gabey present continues. ...hmmm, and yet the more opposing question... what to get mr. claus???

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN... Part II

...the wine-stainer treks into the room carrying a giant tupperware bowl containing one, small, bite-size piece of beef and a measly pile of mashed potatoes. i'll tell you what you do: you instinctively furrow your brow and trek right back from whence the toddler came. there you will find a spotted dog in the process of consuming (and by consuming i mean sucking down whole) an entire 8 inch NY strip steak. you pounce on the dog, yell "drop it" about 58 times to no avail, and proceed to pry open his jaws and pull the darn steak from his gagging throat... (refer to christmas rule #4 of: how to retrieve tinsel from a cat's gullet). once you've got it... you then hold up what's left of the soggy steak, stare at it for a good 10 seconds and wonder "now what the heck do i do with it". (with inflection on the 'now'.) finally you set it on the kitchen counter (out of babe and ravenous-mongrel reach) where the deprived pup can smell it and suffer... some advanced form of disciplinary measures you tell yourself.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN...

...the little bugger attempts the ol' pump-fake with your obnoxiously full glass of wine? i'll tell you what you do: you watch in horror as about 2.5 measuring cups of darn good red wine dance through the air in pain inducing slow motion. myocardial infarction... that would describe the pain in your chest... you are experiencing a mild heart attack. you do nothing but shriek a single expletive while watching the air dance conclude upon the very pride and joy of your very adult living room... pottery barn's loop jute, boucle-woven by hand, all-natural Rug. there's no reversing the clock. there it is purply red... expansive... and stomach turning. try as you might you can not get it out... not with oxy which you have to rush out to buy at that very instant, and certainly not by blotting with a white cloth as directed on the rug's tab. did you know water stains this poor-doesn't-stand-a-chance adornment... how miserable is that? ...and so you strongly consider taking it to the driveway and oxy-bleaching the entire thing... but until then it sits rolled up in the living room as befuddled as you yourself... awaiting the day when it has a formal room to itself.