Easter Baskets!

Jack is a little stunned that the rabbit has left him a Qui-Gon Jinn (along with a Darth Maul).   Elle scored with a Disney princess scooter!

Happy Easter!

Reese's Easter Rap!

Here's one we'd like Aunt Jasper to learn and perform.



Happy Easter!

Welcome Baseball Season!

Last year was a big success because those Yanks were sent packing by the Tigers (again!)

Counting Fun!

Jack helps Elle learn to count during dinner!

Snow is Accumulating Rapidly!

Odd weather for the 'boro considering it is late March!

She's Tourney Time Again!

Go Blue! Go 'Hawks! Go Sparties! Maybe next year for Jackets and Hogs....

Blue Oak Tree

NCAA TOURNEY CHALLENGE PICK'EM!

The challenge is up. It is through yahoo.com's fantasy site. You should have received an email inviting you to make your picks. Group name is Tangeman. Password is Tangeman. Group ID# is 100622. If you're a blog reader feel free to sign up for the challenge! Note, this year we are going with a weighted scoring system that rewards upset picks. Here are the scoring particulars: Scoring Settings Round of 64 Correct Pick 2 points Upset Pick Bonus 4 points. Round of 32 Correct Pick 3 points Upset Pick Bonus 4 points. Reg. Semis Correct Pick 5 points Upset Pick Bonus 2 points. Reg. Finals Correct Pick 8 points Upset Pick Bonus 1 point. Semifinals Correct Pick 13 points Upset Pick Bonus 1 point. Championship Correct PIck 21 points Upset Pick Bonus 1 point. Maximum Possible 231 points -- GOOD LUCK!

Are There Coasters at Legoland?

This is their "big daddy" and it isn't one that I'd want to get on.  Jack and Mom did twice.  This is the second time and you can see the fear in poor Jack's face on the big drop.  Afterwards he declared "No more" The dude behind them was having a good time.

More from Legoland!

Here are a copule of my favorite snaps from the lego trip!   We went to the beach the afternoon we arrived and walked arround looking for shells and getting wet (at least the boys did).  Elle was generally kind of scared of the beach though a few days later she wanted to go back.   As an aside, it was the same way on the elevator at the hotel... the first few rides terrorized her and Mom had to hold her.   Then she began standing and declaring "This is fun".

Not bad for a non-kid shot!

Jack doing his lifeguard impression...with no shoes but long pants and a coat!

While the weather wasn't perfect..think cold (for Southern California with some rain) it kept the people away. We got to ride whatever we wanted with zero lines. In one instance Jack went around aroller coaster 6 times in a row! Here Jack is super excited before we go in...and then planning our route.




Just after lunch Elle and I had a great little mini-session above mini-land. She was rejuvinated and in great spirits.




An encounter with Darth Maul (made from legos) had Jack and Elle on the run!

Comet Pann-STARRS!

Maybe we'll go take a look tonight.  We can get to some good Western views rather easily though we'll be staring into the lights of Sacramento...

Beaver!

Legoland!

We're back...it was fun though we are all kind of tired.

Here's a quick collage..will post some real pictures later and maybe upload an album to Snapfish

Folsom's Rainbow Bridge

Taken by me!

Cartoon

Ice Skating = Exhausting

Steph comes to terms with the fact that Jack is a California boy and didn't inherit her ice skating prowess earning from growing on on the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

Tracking finances...bye bye Quicken

I was probably one of the last users of Quicken but I'm finally giving up on it. I'd always upgrade to the new version when I bought Turbo Tax (am I one of the last Turbo Tax users?) Anyway, I've migrated to mint.com for asset tracking purposes....made by the same folks but does about as well with no screwing around with linking accounts that never seemed to work with Turbo Tax.... Speaking of finances if every year performed like 2012 retirement actually wouldn't seem so far away! Here are the various personal rates of return on various groups for year. 401k: 14.3% Intel Contribution: 10.5% IRA: 16% Not too shabby but needed after some big decreases in the prior few years.

Jack's "First" Bike

When Jack turned 5 we told him his main present would be a new bike - but only after he learned to ride without training wheels.   The day has finally arrived.  We took him to the bike shop and he picked out a 20" Specialized HotRock bike.

He loves the new bike and while it is a little big for him now, he can still ride it and it will be a great bike for him to grow into.

Hostess Twinkies - Last Holiday Box Style!

One of the neatest Christmas presents we got last year was one of the final box of Hostess Twinkies. The box even featured a holiday theme.

Flight Test

I found a remote control spy plane in the deep discount bin at Target. The Air Hogs Hawk Eye equipped with a digital still camera and video camera originally sold for 50 to 80 dollars. I picked it up for 17 bucks. When my pal Mullins visited for the Super Bowl recently, we took her out for a test flight. It was a little too windy for a stable flight, but we still had a lot of fun and got some good footage. Special thanks to my neighbor Jim Stevens who helped me out by retrieving the plane off of his roof. Special apology to my neighbor Jim Stevens for nearly cutting his head off with the plane!