Wednesday, April 23, 2008

For Sale: Kawasaki GPz 750...and Tom's youth

In his 20's, Tom enjoyed riding his Kawasaki GPz750 through the California countryside. But when California instituted a helmet law, Tom found himself spending more and more time in his convertible...so he sold the bike to his good friend Adrian. Besides, Tom had just (personally) finished rebuilding the engine after blowing out a piston on the way home from Laguna Seca Raceway (in the middle of the dessert). He wasn't very confident in the bike after that.



In January 2007, Tom and family went out to visit CA and stopped in on Adrian. While there, Tristan was able to test fit the bike. He seemed to understand the thrill.

Well, Adrian has decided to sell the bike. He is advertizing it, but doesn't expect to get many offers for a 1989 sport bike. Jennifer is quite happy that the bike is all the way on the left coast, so there is little chance Tom will just drop in to pick it up.

Tom said good bye to the bike a long time ago, but there is a certain sadness in this second goodbye. A lot of good times were had with that bike...memories now confined to a scrapbook.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Big Boy Bed

Tristan has a new "big boy" bed. Thanks to good friend Andrew, Tristan has a really cool race car bed, made by Andrew's dad, Roger. The bed looks like a fire engine red Formula 1 racer complete with wheels, exhaust and a huge storage trunk.



Tristan was so excited about his new bed that he had to jump in right after his shower...before putting on any PJs.



He even let his little brother, William, take a spin in the race car.



It took Tristan quite a while to get to sleep for the first time in his new bed. First the excitement needed to wear off...and then he realized that the crib he had used for the past two years was missing. He asked for his crib back a couple of times, but eventually fell to sleep. When he woke up this morning, we still wanted to know what happened to his crib...but he was very excited about his new race car.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

April in Paris

"April in Paris" was the theme of Gab's Bat Mitzvah Saturday night. The invitation read "dress to dazzle", so Tom and Jen showed up in their best...Tom in his tuxedo and Jen in a cute cocktail dress. The artist of the picture below must have been colorblind...as both Tom and Jen were dressed in black.



Iris and Wayne know how to throw a party...with lots of novel ways for their guests to feel like they are in Paris...or at least look that way. No, they didn't fly us to Paris...or have the Eiffel Tower moved to NYC. It's a digital backdrop:



And, oh yeah, there was this video:



Jennifer thought it was so funny to see Tom dressed up as something out of a Village People video that her head litterally fell off.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Junior League Wine Tasting

Jennifer had been working with the Junior League Fund Raising Committee on the "Around the World in 80 Wines" for quite some time. Once the event was successfully in motion, Jen and Tom had some time to enjoy the wines...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Harold and Mikey

Jen's Uncle Harold came to visit The visit was prompted by the need to escort grandson and future West Point cadet Mikey up to the famed military academy. Harold is the brother of Jennifer's mom and this was his first chance to meet William. (He first met Tristan in January 2007).


The whole family is very proud of Mikey. Jennifer's family has had a long association with the Point...while Tom's family has more famility with Annapolis...and look forward to many visits...and at least one graduation!



Mikey got to spend a night with some current cadets at the Point. Apparently, they were happy to have him as they got to miss inspection that day. He thought it was a blast.

While Mikey wasn't at West Point, he was acting as a big brother (or big third cousin) to Tristan. Here is is tormenting Tristan with an electic (toy) drill:



...but Tristan turns the table quickly:



Word is that Mikey will start at school in June and then "graduate" from boot camp some time in August. We can imagine a whole troup of West Coast relatives coming out at that point. Until then, Mikey has a room reserved right here...