Here is the birthday boy, dancing in his new clothes (from DAV) and celebrating being an "almost teenager," now with his very own recording studio and ipod! and to make it even better, K came over for birthday/passover dinner, making it most definitely the greatest day ever. And Bobbe and Papa were here too! J made him a strawberry/white chocolate cheesecake, as ordered, and much of B's delicious matzoh kugel was devoured. Look for new recordings to show up on E's space very soon!

Yep, E & B are DDRing the rainy day away as I type; G is stripping nude all of the GI-Joes's--all of which, of course, is a warmup for our glorious evening to come seeing HMS Pinafore at the Southern. Chicken and manchego salad for dinner. Once again, not too much to complain about (or at least, not much I can complain about in print).

The boys played their fingers off at the semi-annual recital by Mrs. Singleton's students. Check out their videos (hot on the MTV most-requested charts at last check). A very wonderful end to a weekend of ups (hearing the Artemis Quartet play Beethoven) and downs (two little guys losing their lunch to some gawdawful stomach virus the day before their recitals). But mostly ups, of course.

A lazy day in the desert . . . hot tubs, walks around the cacti, picture taking, reading Hamlet, playing SuperSmash Brothers Brawl, watching BB, and eating edamame while playing w/ action figures, followed by an evening screening of Midsummer Night's Dream, which was a much-needed antidote to the heartbreak of Romeo and Juliet. The only tragedy in our lives is that Beth once again came up just short in the basketball pool with the completely awful play of both UCLA and NC.

Bobbe and Papa took JBEG to our favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, Poca Cosa. We always order the plato, where the chef chooses 4 different dishes. Our favorites were a pollo w/ mustard (Eli's), el pescado w/ mushrooms (Papa's), el pollo w/ epinard y chile (Beth & Gideon's), carnitas w/ peanuts (Bobbe's), and tamale w/ coconut, plums (Eli's). Our foodie tummies very happy, we rolled out the door and over to the 4th Avenue Fair to watch the peddlers hock their goods and the hippies roll their cigarettes.  

So, I went to check in for our flights tomorrow and received an ominous message from the USAir website telling me to call for "changes to my flight schedule." Crossing my fingers that the 5:45AM flight had been moved back to some civilized hour, how surprised I was to find out that our return flight had, in fact, disappeared "for maintenance." Maintenance? The flight is almost a week away? Couldn't they find a new plane, if they couldn't bloody fix the thing in time. An hour on the phone and they finally found another flight the next day, forcing us to reschedule doctors' appointments and meetings. And they seemed to think we should be grateful that they had found us a way home.

No wonder when I ask the kids whether they want to fly to NYC or DC or drive, they hesitate not a moment before picking driving, even though the drive is a boring 9-10 hours. When I was a kid, flying on a place was the biggest thrill on earth; now it is just the epitome of misery for this next generation. I predict we'll be down to one airline, heavily supported with amtrak-like subsidies, by the year 2050.