Rob and the California George Family

Boy do I feel ripped off when I get a haircut. As seen in the pictures below, I have less to cut every year. However, I still have the pay the same price as Andrew, with his full head of hair, when we go together.

I feel vindicated though when I get my teeth cleaned. I seem to be one of those rare people with all 32 teeth (wisdom teeth and all). My price for a teeth cleaning is the same as someone that has less than the full 32.

I guess flat rate pricing can work for you and against you!

Labels: Rant, Rob

My video game prime is behind me. I accept that. However, what happened on a recent trip to Disneyland is downright embarrassing!

Disneyland has a fun new ride called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

I wasn't even aware of this new ride until we came across it on a recent trip to the park. The ride was a lot of fun for the whole family.

Basically, the idea is that you are in a spaceship on a moving track. You have a blaster and you are shooting at targets along the ride. You get a score for how well you do. At the end, you can get a photo of yourself on the ride. There is a way to play this at home teamed up with the riders at Disneyland, but I haven't tried that yet.

At the end of the ride, we recovered our photos. Here is the photo of Hayley and me with our scores. As you can see, my elementary school daughter beat my score.



It gets worse. My wife, who DOES NOT PLAY VIDEO GAMES, and Bethany each beat my score as shown below.



The worst part is that my son not only blew away my score, but he also got more than 50% of my score with a second gun fired with his OFF HAND! At least I had fun. *sigh*

Labels: Disneyland, Family, Games

Labels: Family, Photo, Vacation

Last Fall, I wrote about Hayley and our first foray into youth sports. Now both girls are participating in the same local Volleyball league. Both of them are having a blast! It's great to see them look forward to Tuesdays (practice) and Saturdays (games) so much.

I'm helping Bethany's team as an assistant coach, so I don't get to see Hayley play much. However, what I see and hear looks like both of them are having fun AND doing well.

Labels: Bethany, Hayley, Volleyball

Hayley is spending the night, as part of a 5th grade school program, on the
Brig Pilgrim in Dana Point Harbor. To prepare for this trip, the class reads Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana. The book describes Dana's experience as a sailor on the Pilgrim as it sailed from Boston to California and back.

The kids get to experience life as members of the crew. They are split into groups that have to do a job ranging from line handlers to hide gatherers to galley crew. There were no women, so they are all "men" for this trip. One member of each group is a "mate" and is addressed as "Mr. xxx" (substituting their last name for xxx). Other sailors are just addressed by their last name.

The officers include the Captain and the First Mate. There is also a cook on board. As in historical times, the Captain is stern and quick to give out punishments as needed (no beatings, but swabbing the deck, eating an onion, stuff like that). Each group is assigned a 2 hour shift of standing watch on deck during the night too. They will be very tired tomorrow and, fortunately, don't have to go to school!

Andrew and Bethany both did the Pilgrim overnight trip when they were in 5th grade and had a very memorable time. I tried to sign up as an adult participant this time, but my name was not picked. Celeste got to do it with Drew. Adults are the "tall sailors" and also get chores, punishments as needed, etc. Lots of funny stories come back from this trip.

Labels: Hayley, Photo, Pilgrim, School