Javelinas

DominicsMom related a short anecdote to me this afternoon. Papa Frank was reading a book to Dominic and the book featured a pig. Papa Frank asked Dominic, “What’s that animal?”

“Don’t know!”
“Is it a pig?” asked Papa Frank.
“No, it’s a Havalina!”
“A what?”
“A Havalina! Not pig!”

We both got a kick out of the story and talked about where he may have learned the word. So I turned to Dominic and asked him what a Havalina was. His reply, “Don’t pick your buggers!”

What? (DominicsMom had almost fallen off her chair at this point laughing.)

“Dominic, what’s a Havalina?”
“Don’t pick your nose buggers!”

DominicsMom & I almost died laughing. We have no idea where he got the word Havalina from, probably one of the lessons from school. (As a note, Dominic had his finger up his nose when we were talking about where he may have learned Havalina. At some point DominicsMom told him to stop picking his nose.)

After a bit of google-fu, I found out that Javelina is the Spanish term for Peccary, which look a lot like pigs. It all makes sense now...

DominicsDad

Cole vs the Watermelon

DominicsUncle Lee relates this story about DominicsCousin Cole and his introduction to watermelon. (Ok, the title of this post doesn't make any sense, but I was at a loss for words...)

Cole recently discovered the joys of watermelon, and in the last 2 weeks has devoured a watermelon twice his size. He usually double-fists stuffing pieces into his mouth, and doesn't worry about chewing the first piece - he just continually stuffs the melon in his face. We were at Sweet Tomatoes (our local version of Fresh Choice) and he finished the watermelon on his plate. Before we can get more, we look down and he is face first in his plate, sucking the juice off the plate....ahhhh - definitely my son!

He did get very confused though when Rebecca stuck a slice in my mouth, and I stuck half of it out of my mouth.. guess it looked a lot like my tongue because he didn't want to bite it at first. Then he did and slurped it up, and then he kept opening my mouth with his hands so he could peer in and either (1) see if more watermelon was inside, or (2) to verify he didn't just eat Dad's tongue...

Cole's doublefisting technique of stuffing the watermelon into his mouth does sound a bit like Jocelyn's habit of stuffing a too big bite of food into her mouth. I guess they are related!!

DominicsDad

More SeaWorld Photos

I still haven't finished going through all of our SeaWorld photos, but here are some more...

Dominic and DominicsMom watch a shark swim over their tunne.

Joss eats a snack. What a silly expression!
Dominic checks out the Dolphin show. He left the hat on for the photo and then ripped it off.
DominicsAunt Laurie and Cousin Jake check out the dolphins. Is that baby from Australia or what?
Jake gets a ride.
DominicsDad

San Diego County Fair

This weekend we packed up the kids and drove over to the Del Mar Racetrack where the annual San Diego County Fair is held. It was a bright sunny day and the kids were excited. We entered the fairgrounds where the big kid rides are located. Dominic was getting excited and he wanted to try all of them. Unfortunately, he was too short to ride any of them so we headed on over to the livestock showing area where we met up with our neighbors and their little girl, Brianna.

The first thing that we saw were the little piggy races. Four little pigs raced around a small racetrack to the cheers of the crowd. Dominic thought it was the greatest thing! Jocelyn was a little scared by the cheering crowd.

Here the piggies are loaded into the starting area.

We then headed into the barn-style buildings where the cows and goats were kept. Dominic and Brianna had a good time going from cage to cage petting the goats. BriannasMom and I had a good time rounding up the two kids and washing their hands afterwards...

After lunch (which include hot dogs, chicken nuggets, fries, fish & chips, BBQ sandwiches, and some dancing by the kids) we crossed over the racetrack to the inner field where all the kiddie rides were located. Dominic and Jocelyn rode on the boats first. Dominic first rode these boats two years ago, before Joss was born.

Joss rides in the wagon.

Other rides included the carousel, a ballon ride, a train (twice), and a car ride. All three kids are with DominicsMom, but you can only see the top of Jocelyn's head... Poor Joss, she was too little to go on all but a small number of the rides. So everytime she was able to go on a ride and we pulled her off when it was over, she cried a little. She wanted more! The other two kids sometimes complained, but they generally stopped when we told them that there was another ride (and no Papa Frank, the last ride is not the one home!)

The next ride was a small caterpillar roller coaster. Dominic did not want to go and DominicsMom almost had to drag him on. Brianna and her dad also went on the ride. Both kids had a blast and Dominic was throwing his hands in the air like a champ. Dominic wanted to go again and since it was his first roller coaster, I took him again.

The next ride we were not sure about, but Dominic was tall enough and some of the kids lined up looked smaller than he did, so we let him go on the bumper cars! It was hilarious. Imagine a dozen small bumper cars filled with kids, probably none over 6 or 7 years in age. Most did not know about the gas pedal (a big red button on the floor here - easier to describe to a small kid!) and steering was a giant mystery. The whole affair was characterized by some driving around (usually by kids not looking where they were going), a small crash, and the resulting huge traffic jams as the two fair workers struggled to get things moving. The two gentlemen working the floor had to have to most athletic and dangerous job in the whole fair!

Hey buddy, you are geting a little too close!

Dominic in an airplane ride.

Dominic's last ride was a little NASCAR ride, you didn't steer but the cars went around a little track. DominicsMom gave him the typical Mom advice, "Remember to wear your seatbelt! Don't drive too fast! Keep your eye on the road. And wear your mittens!"

Here Dominic wishes he had paid more attention to Mom!

Both kids had a great time and Dominic put up a huge fit the whole walk back to the car (at least a half mile walk with him howling and clutching my hair as he road on my shoulders.) He was out within a couple of minutes when we got in the car...

DominicsDad

A Little CopyCat

This evening I was looking at pictures with Jocelyn and Dominic before they went to bed . After awhile Dominic wanted to watch a couple of Thomas the Tank Engine episodes on the computer (he begged and begged and begged and we gave in. We know better...) Joss went to read a book with DominicsMom. After the second episode was over, I told Dominic that Thomas was over and I stopped the video and shut down the computer. Dominic wasn't too happy and we had a meltdown on our hands as he began to wail, tears appearing in his eyes. I picked him up and put his head on my shoulder as he continued to cry.

Jocelyn stood up from where she had been reading on the bed with DominicsMom and wandered over to see what was going on. She looked over at the computer with its dark screen and said, "Ma? Ma?" This is her phrase for "More more!" (She wanted to look at more photos.) Joss looked back at me and I told her "No more..." I wasn't loud or harsh, just matter of fact. Joss looked at Dominic, still crying on my shoulder and decided that perhaps Dominic had it right. Her face screwed up and she sat down on the bed and began to cry. She then stood up and tottered over to me, hands in the air and I picked her up too. At this point I had both kids with their heads on my shoulders, wailing and crying... DominicsMom and I could not help but laugh as both kids slowed their wails to faint snuffling...



Dominics "the Grinch" Dad

Another Fire in Mira Mesa

Today we had a little excitement as another brush fire ignited just 1/2 mile from our house. We were never in danger, but two fires near us within a month is very unusual.

This time the winds and terrain were somewhat against us as we were down wind and uphill from the fire. Luckily, the wind was light and there was a lot of space (i.e., other people's houses) between the fire and us. We were still treated to a show as no less than three helicopters and three fixed wing planes fought the fire as well as numerous firefighters on the ground. From the local news, the fire got within 20 yds of two houses.

I first saw the smoke around 530pm as I drove home. It wasn't too near us and wasn't too big yet so I wasn't worried. As we ate dinner we could here the fire helos pass overhead as they shuttled between the fire and the Miramar lake resevoir. One of our neighbors called us to ask about the fire and so we decided to take a walk after dinner and see what we could see. I took a couple of photos and a neat little video of a plane dropping fire suppressant. Here's some of the photos:

Dominic thought it was a blast, but was a little disappointed that he could not see any firetrucks. They all chose routes to the fire that did not take them by us. He did have a good time watching the helos.

Its supposed to be a bad year for fires. Last year was wet and so the undergrowth grew up. This year was dry and so everything is brown an flammable.

DominicsDad

Recent Photos from this Weekend

Enjoy!

We put Joss in this cute dress for a birthday party.

Joss brings her own particular technique to eating ice cream to the table. She had ice cream all over her face and in her hair. She got a good bath tonight...

DominicsDad

Swim Lessons

Dominic has been taking swim lessons at a local facility (ok, someone's house...) He seems to really like them and is quicker and quicker to get used to the water and want to stay in. He still won't duck his head underwater in the bathtub, but he doesn't put up too much fuss when he gets dunked in the pool. DominicsMom plans on placing Jocelyn into the next class as they take toddlers. She will probably enjoy it!

Ok, get ready!

Here I go! Splash off!

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Here's a cute picture of Joss, Dominic, and little cousin Jake during their last visit. Our two kids are actually smiling for the camera in the same shot! Wonder of wonders!

This is a cute photo of Joss. From her expression, you can tell she's just trouble!

Nana gets a little crazy with Dominic!

More trouble! Joss has always somewhat liked her glasses, although it is only lately that she has taken to wearing them for more than a couple of seconds. Dominic has decided that he likes his too. He's actually demanded that we bring and give him his glasses when we leave on a car ride.

DominicsDad

Wild Animal Park

We made another journey to the Wild Animal Park last weekend. As always, the kids had a blast. And, as always, we saw some meerkats. One of the meerkats was running up and down in front of the glass and Dominic chased him back and forth. It was really cute to watch, unless you were one of the other people trying to get close to the meerkat enclosure...

The Park had a small lagoon and a point where you could buy some .50 cent feed for the ducks and geese. I was amazed that the goose let Dominic pet him, most geese have a nasty temper. Shortly after this photo was taken, another pair of geese came along and chased all the others away. This pair was not as friendly and one of them hissed at Dominic when he tried to approach them...he got the point.
The old tram is gone and has been replaced with a truck drawing two trailers that take you on a tour of the park. Dominic got a kick out of seeing all the animals, cheetahs, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, water buffalo...
Lunch at the Park got a little crazy at one point. DominicsMom had Jocelyn and she was in line buying lunch. I had Dominic and the stroller and was setting up the table. Dominic was sitting across from the picnic table from me when he suddenly stood up, started to do his "I have to pee badly dance." Before I could do anything or ask more than "Do you have to pee?", he jumped down off the bench and then pulled his pants and underwear down to his ankles. At this point I was up off my bench screaming "Noooooooo!!"

Yep, he let fly and proceeded to whizz in the middle of the picnic area. He didn't bother moving to the bush near him or trying to find a bathroom. He just let go. He was grinning broadly when I got to him and as I proceeded to scold him a bit, the grin just got bigger. He absolutely thought it was the funniest thing.... Little bugger!

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Sunday I blew up the inflatable pool and filled it up for Dominic and Joss. They had a great time splashing each other and otherwise causing trouble.

Oh yeah, flash works great for getting rid of all the sharp shadows...guess I ought to remember that for more high noon outdoor photos!

DominicsDad

Long time no post

Wow, I'm sorry. It's been almost 2 months since my last post. We've been busy with a lots of stuff going on, lots of guests, and lots of fun.

Our guests! DominicsUncle Andy & Cousin Jake hang out with Dominic.

Wagon ride with Jake. Dominic is giving directions. He better get it all in now because soon Jocelyn will be giving all the directions...SeaWorld! It was our first visit to SeaWorld and we all had a blast! Here Pat and Dominic check out Shamu's tank.
Petting the dolphins!
Both kids are pooped out at this point and taking a break. They did rally and keep going after this short break.
Dominic has started swim lessons! He's had two lessons so far and he really seems to enjoy them. He's not so fond of getting his face wet, but he is being a real champ about it.

And here is the fire that we had behind our house! Thankfully the wind was blowing away from us as the fire was only a little over a 1/4 mile from us.
The kids hang out...

I'll try to finish organizing the rest of the photos and put them up soon!

DominicsDad