photos for daddy

this is pretty much photos for rich, who is touring europe with his band carlton melton for almost a month. he is living the high life in europe, staying in castles, being fed gourmet dinners and fine wine, not doing dishes or laundry or homework help. but look what he is missing!

we survived out first trip to disneyland. it was a fine road trip with our friends nancy and angus. nancy and i blasted satellite radio rock and roll on the rented mini-van stereo and reminisced about our long-ago childhoods. disneyland was hot with long lines but not horrendous, and chock full of glorious people watching opportunities. lots of 'mericans and many tantrumming children in the happiest place on earth.

here are the kids with some pirate bling on huck finn's island.

and here is maya, who had a very crummy cold but who rode big thunder rollercoaster twice anyway, as minnie the bride.

back to the city we were lucky enough to stumble upon the caesar chavez day celebration on 24th street this weekend as we walked back from dance class. some kids in miles' class marched by in the parade as well as many upbeat labor union members.

cowboys who were actually carpenters rode these lovely horses through the mission. i love this picture, taken through some flowers which are part of the extensive sidewalk-scaping around 23rd and harrison streets.

and yesterday we were treated to a fantastic bike ride at sunday streets on the great highway. we arrived early and scored free rentals on bikes, one for miles and a bike with a kid's extension bike on the back for maya and i.

things are a little scary lately with earthquakes and the horrible california budget situation. hard not to think in terms of apocalypse, and disappearing to farm some land and become a survivalist in alaska. but look at this place! the great highway closed down, we rode our bikes south for a while and then turned around. we stopped at this activity area run by a group of teenagers in a group whose name i sadly can't recall. they were smart and nice and gave the kids books and brownies for participating in bean bag tosses and twister games. they all went to sf high schools, public i think, and their group raises funds and travels to other countries to build schools for kids who need them. some of the kids had just returned from a trip to help build a school in bali and they were now collecting funds to build a school in haiti. i made sure miles noticed how cool and awesome they all were.

there were remains of a ship sunk long ago poking out of the sand where ortega meets the beach. we pedaled right by it, maya saying "this is great, i love this day."

look at that blue sky. things are bad but could be worse. ride a bike, grab a hula hoop. build a school.