we have a new "skill"...

Removing clothes while "napping"... yaaaaay :}

lunchtime reading

Interesting op-ed in the NYT by (who else) Michael Pollan. Yes, I'm totally his groupie.

He discribes an amusing scenario: if we manage to pass the type of health insurance reform that would require insurers to accept everyone, not just the healthy (i.e., cheap to insure)... then they would have an avid interest in everyone's health--including the growing obese population.

And, what would happen to our food industry--that obesity-creating junk food juggernaut? Pollan argues that the insurance industry would probably find it in their own interest to take on the farm/junk food lobby... perhaps they'd use their might to enact healthy school lunch reform and a general healthy-eating push for everyone. Kind of like how the insurance industry took on big tobacco, he says.

Imagine that, one hulking industry taking on another, for the good of our health.

new LMNOP!

Hey moms (and all other kid groupies), you know about LMNOP, right? New issue is out!

For those not in the know, it's a cute, fresh Australian (I love all things Aussie) kid mag that is free, quarterly and distributed via non-tree-killing PDF only.

Go download your copy here.

The weekend: Begonia madness!

A great time was had down in Happy Cappy... here's a sneak peek at the float-building action I hinted at last week. For more, check 'em out on Flickr.

Oh, and we won the grand prize! 3rd year in a row!

traffic jam on Soquel Creek... all the floats lining up for the parade

our float, celebrating the "Capitola in Flight" theme, and the city's 60th anniversary

each flower is attached one at a time... Paula getting started on the plane's landing gear.

working on the upper wing of the biplane

our plane's crew, getting ready for flight :)

Gettin' him started early...

At least he's pulling up on good stuff :)

Weekend preview

We're getting out of town this weekend (*yay!*) to go build a float made of begonias. ("huh??") It's the Begonia Festival. This is something my Mister has done for decades, and I've joined in just about every Labor Day weekend for the past eleven years, ever since we've been together.

We're headed to Capitola (just south of Santa Cruz), where Toby grew up... where they have this delightfully hokey, small-town festival around the begonia flower (they're grown nearby). Think canoe races, sandcastle building, horseshoes on the beach. Afterall, this is the part of California (semi-)famous for its festivals: garlic, artichoke, etc... Ah, if only begonias were good eats.

Anyway, my father-in-law, Nels, has been working hard on the framework for a fabulous biplane (the festival's theme this year is "Capitola Takes Flight") -- see photo above with kids for scale :)

Soon, it will be covered in chicken wire, then absolutely smothered with begonia blossoms, and then set afloat on the Soquel Creek (it's a nautical parade). Saturday morning, our crew will go and pick every single flower (I'll be on baby duty) in the nearby fields. It's a lot of work--we need about 20,000--but it's a labor of love. Every so often, the number of floats declines and the end of the Begonia Festival is predicted. Thankfully (for I love a small-town festival), that hasn't happened yet.

If you also love a little local color, check out the article about our float and the festival.

(And if you're around, stop by!)

photo from Nels, featuring The Two Zacks

Ta-da!

Went in to get Jacky up from his nap yesterday and he was fairly beaming with "hey, I stand up now mommy!" pride. Funny little monkey.