Somewhere Over the Rainbow..............

Who says we don't have weather in San Diego? Yesterday it got downright chilly, dipping down into the mid 70's. It was beautiful out, and the kids were all out in the the front being young artists with sidewalk chalk. The sky was beautiful.....with actual clouds. I was gabbing with my friend Lisa when she looked up and noticed a rainbow. My kids have never seen one, so I was quite excited for them to see it. I'm sure it was more exciting for me to watch them see it. What a "mom" thing to say. I wonder when I became a dork.

I'll get you my pretty....and your little brother Joey too!" (This happens to be the same wind spinner we got my Mom for her birthday last week.)

Our version of the Ruby Slippers

It doesn't take much to get me excited about weather....I love beautiful clouds!

It's So Noisy at the Fair, But All Your Friends are There..............

Last Friday was Midland Elementary's Country Fair at school. This is a fund raiser for the PTA and school. Boy, they start pumping you for money early. School has been in session for little over a month and they have already had the gift wrap sale fund raiser and now the country fair. A good mother would fill her children up with a nutritious meal before heading to the event. I let my kids show up starving, knowing there would be plenty of crap I could fill them up with, thus, alleviating the need to feed them dinner later. It was a nice HOT day, leading up to a HOT evening. They had the fair out on the black top at the back of the school, which was still in the full sun for a good 2 more hours. I'm not a genius, but perhaps they should think about moving it 50 feet over to the grass, which would make it at least 10 degrees cooler. Perhaps I should join the planning committee? Black top it is! It was wretched hot.... but how is it that kids don't really notice or care? Anyway, a good time was had by all......my kids and niece & nephew won the cake walk, they played tug of war, sack raced, hula hooped, danced, they got their fill of snow cones, cotton candy, candy, popcorn..... and other good crap-ola! I got my fill of the free chili at the chili cook off, so there was dinner! What more could I ask for? Now.... the kids didn't fall asleep until.....well, I was asleep before them , so the sugar high was really Andy's problem, now wasn't it? Bring on the Spring Carnival!!

She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes.....

The weather has been pretty hot this past week with temps around 100 most of the days. When it's this hot, we pretty much stay in the house all day. You go stir crazy after a while..... the boys try to kill each other a bazillion times an hour. I can't take them to the park, they would burn their appendages on the screaming hot playground equipment. It's probably like places where it rains all the time and you are stuck inside. Thursday, I thought I would take the boys on an adventure. Rose is in school full day now, so we have time to do things. It was a beautiful, clear day as we've been having Santa Ana winds. It's hot, dry and uncomfortable on these days, but it sure makes for BEAUTIFUL views. We got in the car and headed out for some fun. We drove and drove and ended up at Palomar Mountain, to the top where the observatory is. The observatory is probably best known for its 200 inch Hale Telescope. There are more telescopes there too, a total of 7, but the most impressive has to be the big one. I think you probably have to be a little older to appreciate what an interesting thing the huge telescope is. The boys did think the pictures of the stars in the museum were pretty cool. They humored me while tried to talk up how amazing seeing the telescope was....but I think the highlight for them was watching the movie Kung Fu Panda on the ride there with all its awesome kung fu fights. "I'm Kung Foo Panda! No, I'M Kung Foo Panda!...no, I'M Kung Fu Panda.... no, you are BOTH Kungo Fu Panda!" It's a beautiful drive as you head up the mountain.....but very twisty and turny towards the top. At one point I looked back at Joey when we were almost there. He looked back with a stupor sort of stare in a delightful shade of gray. I knew I was in trouble when I noticed even his little lips were gray. My kids have never been car sick, so I was pretty surprised he looked so bad. He held on for a few more minutes and we made it to the observatory. We got out of the car, it was a FABULOUS 81 degrees, and he was fine.

On the drive back down, we stopped at a cute little restaurant we passed on the way up for lunch. I was sure this would be a great meal.....little hole in the wall places always seem to have the best food. I forgot to bring glasses in with me, but I was able to make out a club sandwich on the menu. I was pretty sure they would have french fries.....a staple in every kid's diet. Turns out they didn't......so we had to make due with tortilla chips. We were the only ones in the place, which didn't really surprise me. There were barely any people at the observatory either. Nice and empty....just the way I like it. We headed out back to some tables in a nicely wooded area. It really is pretty up on the mountain. It always amazes me what a diverse area we live in.....mountains, desert, beach, all within less than an hour or 2 drive. Our lunch came and my sandwich looked amazing. When I ordered, the gal told me they were out of sprouts, and would shredded lettuce be alright? (Sure! I didn't even know it was supposed to have sprouts!) Wow, this looks good, avocado, tomato, artisan bread....how interesting.... this has some interesting looking red crumbly things on it. It KNOW this is going to be GREAT! I took a bite and realized my awesome sandwich wasn't the standard bacon, turkey club...... this was made with genuine, from a jar bacon-bits! I ate the whole thing, so obviously I am not such a food snob that I won't eat Bac-os, but I don't think this sandwich even had any turkey. Had I had glasses with me, I would have read the fine print on the menu to find out what it was supposed to have on it. Perhaps it was a veggie club sandwich? I don't know.... but I recommend you get something other than the club sandwich if and when you eat at Mother's Kitchen Restaurant. No offense Mother!

There are still a LOT of burned trees on the mountain from a few years back when wildfires tore through here. I don't know how a forest recovers from that sort if thing. I guess it will take MANY years before it's green and lush like it was. I saw a firetruck up at the observatory. They have them spread throughout the county right now as it's just the start of wildfire season here. I don't ever remember major fires around here when I was a kid like there have been as of the last 6 or 7 years. Maybe my parents just never told me about them? Or perhaps it's all this global warming? Let's get Al Gore on it...........

Happy Birthday to my Supergreat Mom!!

Today is a very important date....my Mom's birthday. If not for her, there would be no Supergreat Me! Today Barbara Jean Edwards Heffernan turns 76. She is really a remarkable person. She travels more than anyone I know. Whenever anyone asks me about her, one of the first things they ask is where is going next? She has been to more countries than I can count. When I was just starting college (the first time around) she went on a safari..... Tanzania and some other countries, I think. This was a hardcore-carry a backpack and tent-it trip. She has the greatest picture that she took of the rear end of a lion taking a crap right near her tent. That picture hung in her house for the longest time amongst others from that trip. Her latest love is the cruise. She has been on MANY and is going on another in a few weeks. She watches my kids when not travelling so I can be a participating parent for preschool. I will start doing this for kindergarten soon too....we just need to work it out.

The boys and I took lunch to her yesterday as she had a doc appointment today. I feel a little bad that Rose didn't get to come and celebrate her birthday too, but it was a good time to go, so we took advantage of it. The boys picked out an adorable Halloween Wicked Witch on a bike wind spinner. I forgot to take the camera with us, so I don't have a picture to show.... but it's great. She really is amazing and I love her very much. Thanks for being my Mom, Mom.....and not stopping after 3 boys! Happy Birthday!! (The picture above was from her 72nd birthday celebration)

Mom with her brother-in-law, Carl. He and my Aunt LuAnn share the same anniversary as Andy and myself. LuAnn is my Mom's youngest sister....and Mom is the oldest. Can you tell she's my Mom? Bottle of Sierra Nevada in front of her? At-a girl, Babs!

Are You Ready for Some Football???????????????

The long anticipated event came this past weekend......the NY JETS vs. the New England Patriots. It was the home opener for the JETS against their biggest rival. Andy decided he would be on good behavior and invite some friends over, so Llewellyns and Doubravas plus kids came over to spend the day with us. I actually like to have friends come over on Sundays, it puts Andy on his best behavior, ok.... more like fairly decent behavior. These 2 families are old neighbors and good friends from the Pacific Beach days, so they understand Andy's "enthusiasm" for all things JETS and Yankees. Anyway.....it was a great day for the JETS, not so good for the Chargers. We all had a good time regardless of the poor San Diego outcome. Hurray for football season! Feels like fall. Now, if only it weren't 102 degrees out today...........

I like to pretend I don't need the reading glasses sitting on top of my head, but in reality, they are almost always on. Time to schedule an appointment and get some real ones. I always blamed my deteriorating eyesight on being pregnant, but in reality I had just turned 40, and they say that's when your eyesight starts to go. Poor eyesight along with being asked if you are your kid's Grandmother are fun parts of living life in your 40's! What the hell does that have to do with football? Focus Ann, FOCUS!!

I think the pilfered JETS pint glass might be the good luck idol this year. I think Andy was singing some ditty about what a great wife he has. He cracks me up, always doing sweet things like that.......


Pete & Jason whooping it up...... they are maniacs!

The day turned ugly when Pete couldn't escape his appointment at Rose's House of Hair

Alex & Joey racing Hot Wheels


The girls headed to the garage to watch something superior to football,like Hannah Montana, Face the Nation, or something equally terrific

Here are some oldies but goodies of the kids in all their JETS finery. Guess they need some Chargers gear........

Start Spreading the News, I'm Leaving Today......

Normally when you hear the song being sung in this house, it has something to do with the Yankees. This time it's just to tell you about our weekend in NYC. Andy has a great friend named Morgan Powell. To use Andy's phrase, Mo is one of the Best Guys Ever. He really is. He and Andy were neighbors, then roommates in Pacific Beach years ago. They have remained close friends and see each other pretty regularly, considering Mo lives on the East Coast now...and has for while. Anyway......Mo got married to a really nice girl, Janice, whom we met a year ago when they came out here on vacation, got engaged and went to the JETS / Chargers game with us. (The Chargers won that game, for anyone wondering) They live in Manhattan, and so off we went to share their special occasion with them.

Usually Andy goes back to NY alone as I'm home with the kids. This time we made arrangements so I could go too. (Aunt) Helene came down to stay with the kids for the weekend. We left EARLY Friday morning, so Helene had to get the kids up, ready for school, scoot Rose out the door to walk to school, then take the boys to drop David off at school. I got a good report back from a mom in David's class that she handled it with flying colors! Andy and I flew without incident to NY. We got our nifty rental car, a Jeep Compass, and headed out in the rain to meet Roz (Helene's sis) and her step-daughter, Jamie, for dinner. We went for Chinese food.....because the Chinese food here just isn't any good, just like our pizza, pastrami or bagels. (I'm sure I'm forgetting something......EVERYTHING is better in NY.) Anyway, we ate dinner and Andy and Roz watched Derek Jeter get his hit to pass Lou Gehrig as the all time hits leader for the Yankees. It was nice to visit with Jamie who recently got engaged to her fiance, Dave.....good name. She has a ROCK for a ring. It's BEAUTIFUL! I digress..... After dinner we headed to Roz's house where we spent the night. We had bagels for breakfast the next morning... REAL bagels according to Andy, got to visit with Roz for a little while, then headed to Manhattan for the rest of the weekend. Driving with Andy was a running commentary on his entire life. He got off at this exit for this, used to get off that exit for that, St. John's is over there, so-and-so went to some place off this street to pick up whatever for whatever reason.... I'm sure he rattled off every friend he ever had regarding an event in relationship to an exit or area we were passing at the time. We stopped at the Roosevelt racetrack (where he used to go with so-and-so MANY times to bet on harness racing, and where he went w/Jeff Cooper the night before his 2nd SAT's) which had turned into a shopping center so we could hit up Target. We had to get a present for a 4 year old's birthday party Saturday afternoon.

As soon as we saw the skyline for the city, I saw the Empire State Building and told Andy I wanted to at least go there and to the top as we had no time to really do anything touristy over the weekend. We headed to the hotel, the W on Lexington Ave. right across the street from the back of the Waldorf Astoria. It was a nice place, but sort of funky and very minimalist. For the longest time we couldn't figure out how to turn lights on. We got ready and headed off to some fitness club for Sydney Kaufman's 4th birthday party. Sydney is the daughter of Mike Kaufman, one of Andy's old NY friends he has known since elementary school. If you don't know Andy well, he makes a friend and keeps them forever. He is still close friends with so many guys he went to school with, from elementary school through college. We got to see Mike Kaufman and Jeff Futoran and family, another old friend. Jeff was Andy's best man at our wedding, and he and his wife Sandra share our anniversary. We visited for about 2 hours, then headed off the Empire State Building. It was raining, so I didn't get any pics of the outside of the building. We took a virtual skyline tour of the city (like a helicopter ride) then went up to the top to the observation deck. It was socked in with clouds, so we didn't get a whole lot of good viewing of the city, but now I can say I've done it. We headed back to the hotel, got ready and were off the wedding. The reception was in an old warehouse converted into a cool / trendy event place overlooking the Hudson River. We had a great time. Mo and Janice have a lot of great friends, so even though I didn't know very many people, I had a great time. After the reception, we headed to a bar where we met even more old friends. We were early, so we went to a deli right down the street. For the first time in a long time Andy had good pastrami. I had a pretty good Reuben sandwich. We then went down to the Black Sheep to meet everyone, including cousin Eric Stitzer. We had a lot of fun. I know Andy was happy to hang out with his friends...and it was nice for me to get a chance to spend some time with the guys. I really don't know Andy's friends (who don't live out here) very well. As a stroke of good luck, Andy's first beer was served in a JETS pint glass which later some how slipped into my purse. (I don't know how that always seems to happen to me.) A good time was had by all and we all headed back to our hotel. Eric came back with us and spent the night on our floor.

Morning came all too soon (for a drunk girl) and we got up and said goodbye to Eric. Andy then took me on a driving tour. We drove over the Brooklyn Bridge through Brooklyn....then I don't know the specifics of everywhere else. We saw the Statue of Liberty from across the water from many different angles. Even from far away, Ms. Liberty is pretty impressive. I am determined to see her up close next time I get to NYC. We went to Rockaway Beach and saw the old houses where Andy grew up. He pointed out every house he knew in Rockaway. I got to get out of the car and see the beach very briefly....then headed off to the local diner, which was torn down and turned into a bank, so we went to the diner in the next town over instead. It was all so relevant to Andy, but was lost on me. After that it was time to head to the airport. We got there in plenty of time to watch the JETS beat the Texans in their first game of the season. We lucked out and were asked to take an earlier, direct flight to San Diego, so we got in a few hours earlier than we were supposed to. Helene did a GREAT job with the kids, but was out the door about 2 seconds after we came in. Well, she lasted a little longer than 2 seconds, but she did tell us as we walked in the door that she was done. The kids had a great, busy weekend and really didn't miss us at all. I take that as a sign of success! Helene is the BEST!! We couldn't have gone without her! I understand she is sick now.....a parting gift from the kids. You are welcome! We really had a good weekend. It was FAST....but a whole lot of fun!

Ava & Cossette Futoran

Jeff & Sandra Futoran

Observation Deck of Empire State Building

Andy & Mo

Paul Zamoyta, Andy and Dave from Toronto

Eric Stitzer

2 guys from sleepaway camp and Michael Honig on the right

Mike Kaufman, Andy & Eric

Michael Honig, Eric Stitzer, Andy, Bobby Honig, Mike Kaufman, Andrew Flum

Flum, Honig, Stitzer, Kaufman, Stitzer

Andrew Flum & work chums

Mike Kaufman, Me, Bobby Honig