The rest of July

Zoe going to town on breakfast in Arizona. Photo courtesy of my mother-in-law.

My babies returned from Arizona!

RSVP’d for the cutest wedding in a delightful part of California I have never been to. Drank Cartel coffee while Nicole did the heavy lifting (made the reservation over the phone).

Then Nicole was off somewhere and we watched the Dora where Dora’s mom had a baby, and it triggered maternal feelings in my little buddy.

I bought a fun castle for Zoe, and we took it to the park, and every child there needed to play with it. We learned a lot about sharing over two days.

[Target sent us some circular about back to school savings, and on a two page spread of shame was everything¹ we fed Zoe: mac and cheese, various forms of orange crackers, “fruit snacks”, and other things not on the proper food pyramid.]

¹ In reaction to this, she’s only been fed quinoa and zucchini this week.

Zoe. Work. Zoe. Park. Zoe. Work. Zoe. Park. Zoe. Work. Zoe. Park. Fruit snacks.

“Put your socks on. Do you want a waffle?” That’s what it sounds like in our house when Nicole goes away.

Zoe and I do a nighttime ritual: She pretends that she is going to fall asleep, but then gets ultra chatty and full of energy (or “pepper”), all of which she gets 100% from me. She also likes to sleep in my bed with me, two inches from my face, with her head using my left forearm as a pillow. I wake up oddly exhausted, hotter than usual, and feeling a bit like a failure of a parent.

My goal this week, while Nicole is in Texas, is to not stress eat Cheez-It®s.

My friend Dina, who seems to be doing exciting things in exotic locations, sent some tastes of the local wares.

The container veggies are coming in nicely, but there’s a lot I don’t understand: how to properly support my tomatoes, what overgrown zucchini looks like, and if I should just start over, minus the zealous overplanting, that marks the sign of a rookie gardener.

Nicole returned home and we had an unusual night to ourselves which we shared with tiki drinks.

Obama came to Oakland! Later in the day, supporters of Harborside raised awareness of questionable politcal tactics that would close them down.

Getting ready for a rainy day with Scott on The Island.

Another Sunday, another fist-bump.

When Subpar Mini Golf opens, we’re going the play the fuck out of that course.

That is all, July. It should be noted that the Lifeproof case made my lightly cracked phone completely usable, but I’m very excited about how the game is going to change. I’m not the least bummed out by how elated the new doc connector makes me feel. Maybe a little.

Let’s go, August.