Cliff the Condor

Our local Trader Joe's hides a stuffed condor named Cliff somewhere in the store everyday. Every time a kid finds Cliff, he gets a small treat-- a piece of candy for Todd tonight! Here's Cliff sitting on the windowsill near the checkout lanes.

Magnetic Dartboard

Birthday gift from Grandma. The magnets stick very strongly, and Todd enjoys tossing them at the dartboard from my bed.

Canadian Geese

A flock of Canadian geese graces our lake. Here they are in a neat row formation. I think they're studying the seagulls, figuring out how best to oust them from the water. Honk, honk!

Door Nameplate

Still feels kinda strange to not only have my own office, but actually have my name on the door like that. But this is what greets me every morning when I come into work!

New Bedding for Allan

Light brown, 200+ thread count comforter cover + pillowcase, and a reversible (dark/medium brown) satiny bedspread + cushion cover, folded to show off both colors in this picture. The green Android Squishable adds a nice little color accent, don't you think?

New Bedding for Helly

After a big shopping trip to Ikea today, here is one of our purchases: a new duvet cover + pillowcase for my comforter and pillow. The dark blue color is very bold!

Kitty on Deck

A cat, presumably a neighbor's, decided to visit us and hang out on our front deck. He was a bit skittish, so I took this photo from inside our living room, through the window. Evidently he still heard me anyway, and turned to look!

Broken Downspout

The downspout at the end of our driveway is flattened, the brick cover shattered. Apparently our neighbor across the way ran over it in the night. Our next-door neighbor witnessed it and left a note. No, the culprits haven't come forward yet. Not holding my breath, either!

Hot Chocolate Smiley

We got to Todd's karate class early the other day, and whiled away the time in the adjacent coffee shop, where we did homework and drank hot chocolate with a syrupy smiley face in it! :-)

Tazo Teas

Another perk I miss from the Citrix days... a large variety of teas! And plenty of piping hot water to brew it in!

Dinosaur Egg

Look what hatched out of this giant egg at the zoo! A little two-legged dinosaur! Oh, wait...

Making Ice Cream

Todd and Grandpa take over the kitchen as they make ice cream from scratch with Grandpa's ice cream maker. Yum!

Spackle, Spackle!

The boys spackle some spaces in the window frames where the ants have been crawling in and invading our home-- not just in the kitchen, but our bedrooms and bathrooms! Let's hope this will help quell future invasions!

Hawaiian Dancers

Our park held a Luau on the lake at the pool/clubhouse today-- complete with delicious Hawaiian food, native music and dance! Great way to while away a Saturday afternoon and meet some of our neighbors!

Weight Lifting in the Park

Todd exercises in a park that's equipped with a variety of weight-training machines (where you bear your own weight) instead of the usual playground fare.

Webcam Lunch

You get two pics today! Allan and I had lunch together... remotely! We ate in our respective offices and chatted via GoToMeeting with HDFaces (webcam). Saves time and money, not having to drive places to meet up, and was actually a ton of fun!

 

Chicken Enchiladas

Allan's homemade chicken enchiladas. Creamy and delicious and easy to eat! :-9

Jack In The Box

Took me ages of staring at this poster-sized ad at JITB to figure out that the thing in the foreground was a lobster, not a roach. But I still can't figure out what exactly Jack is supposed to be doing and why!

Bacara Pool

Gorgeous view of the courtyard and one of the pools at the Bacara Resort. The picture doesn't do justice to the opulence that was the rest of the entire resort!

Escaping Birds

These big blue fellas hopped through the little fence of their habitat and attempt to escape by casually strolling down the walkway for the humans. Fortunately, the whole area is enclosed, and none of us humans were fooled into opening the doors for them! ;-)

Swimming Kids

Todd and a bunch of classmates enjoy climbing on a capsizing surfboard at a friend's birthday party. Nothing quite like the sight of shrieking, happy, rambunctious kids!

Plush Angry Birds

Spied these cute little critters at Ralphs the other day. Todd, who plays Angry Birds frequently on Daddy's device, really appreciated them!

Mystery Bird 2

Anyone know what it is? This one alighted on a patio umbrella at the zoo. I think it's safe to say that it's not an egret, like the one I wondered about at Willow Springs! ;-)

Reading the Business Section

Todd carefully peruses the business page of the LA Times, tracing the graphs and murmuring things like "S&P 500" out loud. I'm sure he has no idea what it all means, but it made for a cute photo op!

Sticker Mouth

Here's one way to keep a hyper kid somewhat quiet-- tape his mouth shut with a nametag sticker! So much the better that it also happens to be his middle name! ;-)

Dinosaur at the Zoo

A friendly dino entertains the kids after pooping on stage at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Todd is the kid in the olive shirt, raising his hand. Rawr!

Todd Gardening

Here is the little man, hard at work, helping Mommy in the garden by diligently pulling up weeds. So helpful!

Couch Fort

Todd and Allan fashion a fort by rearranging our couch. They then guard it with their weapons: foam sword and Nerf gun. Outsiders beware!

Citrix Swag

The last vestiges of Citrix-Online-themed office items that I'm still using: recycle box, mug (yes, I paid for it!) and pen from a Career Fair at UCSB. The nameplate off my cubicle is just for memories :-)

Parking Permit

Finally got my staff parking permit! No more getting up early to visit the parking office or parking far away in the visitor lot!