A Fair Time Was Had by All

Took the boys and the Horowitz clan (minus Joel) to the Marin County Fair today. Parked in the Auto desk parking lot and gave the kids a tour of my office. See the picture below of the five of them standing on my desk. The fair was great. For the price of the admission all the rides are free. We arrived early so there were no lines and the kids did one of the fun houses at least 20 times. Got to see some pig races, the Sippy Cups (they rock so hard), and eat plenty of ribs, snow cones, and cotton candy. And as if this was not enough we jetted out in time to meet Ben-O and family at the Balboa Theater to see the new Pixar movie Ratatouille. Great and long day. Read a little Inkheart and we all crashed early.


Silas says: when I was going on the slide it was really fun because I was going the fastest. I got two stuffed animals and one of them was a sea otter and one of them was a bear. That's all.


Jasper says: I liked the hang glider ride and the first ride that I went on, that roller coaster. I liked the Shrek Adventure because I went really fast on the slide and I bounced on the thing you get on the end of the slide. I really wanted to go on the upside down rides, but we didn't have time. That's all.



The kids on my desk in San Rafael


I want, I want some more, gimmie gimmie gimmie I want some more.


Taking a little lady for a drive.


How come the dark side is so attractive?

A Lila Rose by any other name

We had Lila Rose over after school this week and for dinner. Great to have a little girls energy in the house, she is such a sweetie. Silas and Lila bonded reading through his Sunset Coop scrapbook, which I made for him over the past several months. Silas also spent time showing Lila this blog, clicking on pictures and telling her stories. He introduced her to the people in the pictures and told her about daddy's swim. It is great to see him enjoy and share the blog.

DMCs and SFCs in SF

Great weekend with the Del Mar Crockers (DMCs) Andy, Beth, Mia, and Shaq (Hayden) spent three nights at the "Boys Club". Silas and Jasper were here for Saturday all day and overnight and got lots of great hang time with the cousins. Mia is talking up a storm and loves to repeat what you are saying. She adores Jasper and Silas and says their name over and over as she chases them around the house. Several times Mia called across the room "Charlie" and gave me that sweet look only she has. That little girl knows how to connect with people and clearly loves her family. Shaq is a thug-baby in size, but a real calm teddy bear. Joyful on is back watching the swirl of the bigger kids. Silas and Jasper would make him laugh until he was way over stimulated. And Shaq will get the giggles, if you have ever seen a 6 month old with the giggles, it is contagious. One thing very high ion the cuteness meter was Mia sleeping with Silas in his bed and then Jasper, Silas, and Mia all snuggling quietly together in Silas' bed the next morning. CUTE!

Went to a party in San Anselmo and got to see many of Andy and Beth's old friends and make some new ones. And we got to see Hud and his wonderful daughters Hannah and Hayden. Hud and I used to play music together and have not seen each other in awhile. It was a good homecoming.

Mia never stopped laughing.

The Crocker cousins are connected and getting these two families together is a high priority. We can't wait for more adventures to come.


Shaq gets his first taste of Pokemon.

SFCs at the stables in Presidio.

Ten years gone and still in our hearts

Tom Crocker 12/7/42 - 6/16/1997


Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of my fathers death. After his cremation Janice and the Del Mar kids swam out at 17th Street in Del Mar and released his ashes just beyond the waves. To remember Tom and celebrate some of what he loved in life and instilled in us, his 5 children (Charlie, Andy, George, Amy, and Ariel) and his widow Janice along with cousin Ben Weston swam out together at 17th Street to the quarter mile buoy. We formed a circle around the buoy holding hands and talked about our father/husband. On the swim back in the swell picked up and we all frolicked bodysurfing in the shore break as he had done with us before so many times at the same spot. I was sure he was there with us in the waves.

Bop, Noodle, Goober, and Moo

Another great overnight in Santa Cruz with the Gerlach's. We were blessed with sun burning through the fog early in the day and we headed to Cowell's a great longboarding spot with slow moving waves and long rides. Except that today there was no surf. Jasper, Gabby and I paddled out together and enjoyed just being in the water and for Jasper and I it was great recon for our next visit when there is hopefully more surf. Thanks again Gerlach's for your love and friendship, you all mean so much to us!


Bop, noodle, goober, and moo. Girls all dressed up for dance recital pictures.

Silas says: It was really fun when I was at Santa Cruz. Because I got to go to the beach and Maya painted my face. I loved watching movies too.

Jasper says: Cowell's surf was little and I did not like it. I would want to go back some time if the surf was better. We went right in front of there house to the beach and there was big surf. I got really knocked around. I rolled over twice and I hit my head twice and I hit my bottom once. It was really fun. I liked surfing with Gabby and I would like to do it another time.


Goober and Bop getting ready for Cowell's. Note the large surf in the back ground.

Pomp and Circumstance

SILAS - a whiz, curious, imaginative, creative-pattern maker beyond belief, a sweet, cuddly, teddy bear... mini moo.

- Sunset Teachers: Laura, Linda, Jackie, and Andy

Wonderful, emotional graduation ceremony for Silas from Sunset Coop Nursery School. Such a home for us for the last six years and the center of our community in San Francisco. The Master of Ceremonies Laura Ossa knows how to create ritual and ring every last drop of emotion from the community.

Silas' graduating class of 10 people I have come to know and love deeply through Wednesday workdays where I spent 3 hours every week getting dirty and making up silly games. Seeing these proud small human hearts dress up and get their diplomas just cracked me. I will miss these little ones, our times in the sand and with ropes. I also had the honor of playing bass in the house band for graduation. Laura led the songs, all heart wrenching songs aimed at maximum emotion. We will miss Sunset School, but we have summer school so we will be able to ween ourselves more slowly.

Andy, Jackie, Linda, and Laura graduating Silas

Proud and teary Dada

Hats off to Sunset School!

Skatepark Review: McInnis Park Skatepark

*****
Jasper says (and typed): I gave it 5 stars because it had lots of things that were fun. It also had a route that was really, really Fun! I had great time at McInnis Park Skatepark. GO MICINNIS PARK SKATEPARK!!!!!!!!!!

Dada says: Gold Mine! We scored and found this great big gem in a wonderful rural setting. It was quite warm and us fog dwellers really did not know how to handle the heat. We will probably head back hear a lot in the summer to get away from the chill of San Francisco. Jasper loved this park and wants to put Pacifica, the old gold standard, down to 4 stars from 5.


Rules and regulations


Nice long down hill runs


Fun bowls just my size


Silas has his own agenda at the skatepark

Prison Break for Daddy

I had the awesome chance to participate in the Escape from Alcatraz corporate relay doing the daunting 1.5 mile swim leg. I was definitely nervous, because I could not sleep last night, maybe 3 hours. I was up at 4am on the bus at 4:45, on the boat, at 5:30 and jumping in the water at 7:02 am. I just put my head down and swam as hard as I could sighting on land marks and keeping with a pack. I finished in 32:50 which gave me an overall rank of 208 out of 2000 people, albeit I only did one leg out of three and could go all out. This has got me inspired and I hope to do additional open oceans swims this year. Special thanks to Annette at work who got me involved, to Janice and Bob for training with me at the Cove, and for our family uber triathlete George for spending the night with the boys and bringing them down to see my water exit. It was great to give them high fives as I came out of the water into the half mile transition run.


Night before getting gear ready. Thanks for lending me the wetsuit George


The race course and the swim exit


Always great to have uncle George over