Happy Birthday MOT

I called Kim to see if she had some pix of the birthday boy to post, as she was looking through her files, trying to find the most humiliating photos, we had this discussion:

Me: How old is Tom today, 35?

Kim: 37.

Me: No, are you sure? 37?

Kim: Yes. I'm going to be 40 in November, he was born in 71, he's 37 today.

Me: No way.

Kim: I know, I don't want to talk about it, we're so old.

Alas, it's true, our baby brover is 37 today. But we will always remember him like this:

Caption written by Dad: "Wanna see me do a George Washington?" 6-16-73

And this:

His post about the rocks didn't surprise us in the least, he has a lot of experience to draw on: Tom and Jeff Campbell used to knock their heads agains the huge boulders in our yard on Ambassador Drive. We hear that Jeff recovered.

Some other things we remember about Tommy:

He liked to eat the turkey leg at Thanksgiving because it was "the only piece thats smaller."

The time his leg got burned by the lightbulb and it blistered up like a water balloon.

Nikki was his best friend.

Beaking his leg while riding a bike in the empty pool in Cicero.

His parakeet Junior never learned how to say his own name, despite the tape Tom made and played for him. Incessently. Joooonier. Joooonier. Jooooonier..........

"Watering" the trees.

The coffee can on car trips.

Big Wheels and his inability to whistle.

Deeply enamoured with Bambi, whenever Kim or I suggested that we all play house, Tom would volunteer to be the deer. Despite our best logic, we couldn't make Tom understand that a deer was not a member of the typical American Family. He dismissed our arguments, dropped to all fours at the foot of my canopy bed and said, "Pretend I'm the deer and I pee on your bed. Psssssss." What do you think he was trying to tell us?

Happy Birthday, Tommy. We hope that all those years of playing Barbies and sleeping between your sisters prepared you well for the house full of women you have now.

Free Rocks

As you all may know, we just bought a house. It is a nice little Ranch in Elk Grove, CA.

We love it.
Unfortunately, the previous owner could not afford a lawn in the back yard, and he put in rocks...

We are talking about A LOT of rocks. 1100 sq ft. - 11 tons.

Dorie and I were going to work this weekend to move some of it around the yard so we could put in a lawn, but we did not know what to do with all the extra rocks.

So...I put an ad on Craigslist.com. "FREE GRAVEL". Within 20 minutes, the phone started ringing. Within 2 hours people showed up.

As of today, my yard looks like this:

Not bad considering I was just quoted $500 to just pile it up out front, and I was responsible for getting rid of it. They are still out there cleaning out the rest of the gravel.

I am now going to post an ad: "Need to put down Sod - FREE BEER."

All in a days "getting out of" work,

Tom

Pepper wants a treat. Where did Nana go?

Pepper Anne wanted to be sure she was featured with her favorite Nana and Papou. Thanks for visiting! We loved having you here.

November is too far away.

WE MISS YOU!

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

Barbara and I went out to Elk Grove (Sacramento), California, to visit Tom, Dorie, Hollyn and alexis in their new home. Naturally we had a wonderful time and Tom and Dorie took us to Lake Tahoe and the Napa Valley wine country. That was just for starters!

Lake Tahoe was just beautiful! We went to Harrahs where George quickly dropped $100 on the slots but - not to worry - Barb won $700 and we left rooolling in cash. We drove all around the lake and took lots of pictures.

Hollyn and Alexis were really glad to have Papou and Nana Visit them. No, I'm not bald, my hair is just blending with the snow-capped mountains (really).

The wineries in Napa were fabulush (hic!) and we tasted lots of fine wines. This one happens to be owned by a Persian (Iranian) who came to the states 30-some years ago and made a fortune in the grocery business. Excellent architecture and very tastefully decorated inside.

Male bonding with a fine cigar - Tom's treat!! (Whoda thunk). Tom took Friday and Monday off and we got to spend some quality time together.

As usual, Barb was a big hit - and Hollyn, Alexis, Grace, and Kelly helped her make Biscotis and Pizza for everyone.

Katie, Tasha, Dorie and Barb doing wine tasting above and beyond the call of duty.

What's a visit without a major feast? Extra thick filets, dungenes crab, and shrimp scampi rounded out a great evening with new friends. In the foreground is "Uncle Phil", Dorie's brother - who couldn't wait for us to leave so he would have the bedroom! To Phil's right are Tasha and Tony Vruvides (yep, big Greek guy). Next to Tony are Katie and Mark - who belong to Gracie and Kelly.

Oh, I forgot, we also went to Old Sacramento and did some geo-caching and shopping - Barb's winnings were burning a hole in George's pocket.

See you again in November guys!

What kind of animal makes that sound?

Have you ever heard the sound of a peacock. Its not pretty. We have them at our local zoos roaming around, regular and leucistic...Lately, in our neighborhood, we have been hearing this horrible noise. Its the call of a male peacock...the other day, I heard an answer. On our way to Lowe's we had to turn around because I had forgotten something. There in my neighbors driveway was the PEACOCK. Yes, a Peacock, just roaming the neighborhood. They are lovely birds, but, boy, do they have an ugly cry. Click here to hear what I mean.

Not as cute....

nor as well groomed as Pepper-Ann, but we clean up pretty well, I guess. Here we are at dinner aboard the Norwegian Pearl. We went to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Mark and I weren't too sure if we'd enjoy cruising, but we really loved it. You can see the ship's wake in the water behind us. It took me about two days to get my land legs back.

Pepper gets groomed.

It has been a few months since you all had a look at our new addition, Pepper Anne Karounos. We thought you would all like to see how she is growing up.

Pepper at 7 months.