For the third time in four years, I took home the honors in our annual family Burger-Off. While normally a two-way race between Kathy and myself, this year saw the inclusion of Ken as a third party candidate. I went with the Sweet Hot Thai Burgers, one of my personal favorites. I didn’t have time to go big on presentation like in 2010…
A lazy Saturday afternoon plus recently cleaned floors = endless fun.
Please do not call CPS. This was filmed for the good of humanity, so that others may learn from my mistakes. Now I know, toddler with fork = bad. Toddler with large blunt object = worse.
We took a nice trip to Avila Beach over the 4th of July weekend. Melissa found a killer place to rent right on the beach, which just happened to have a perfect dual kitchen set up for the impending Burger-Off™. The girls had a nice time overall, but definitely preferred to hang out in the house or at the park rather than at the beach. They had a big problem with walking around in the sand for some reason.
The night of the 4th was the big Burger-Off™ showdown between me and Kathy. I offered my twist on the classic American cheeseburger with patriotic bun treatment and Captain Morgan chocolate shooters while Kathy countered with her Napa Valley Basil Burgers. Due to a grill malfunction we both had to share a grill, which didn’t affect the competition too much even though Kathy used a grill pan (the grilling equivalent of training wheels). In the end, both burgers turned out great but there could only be one winner. See if you can guess who won…
Ok, so I know you’ve all left us for dead. We’ll see if anybody actually notices, but I’m going to post a bunch of catch-up articles to get this blog up to date. Years from now, no one will ever know this blog wasn’t updated for a year. Here’s the latest video, where the girls display their extensive knowledge of human anatomy:
March Madness from Layne Lev on Vimeo.
This year, we spent Easter at No-No and Ga-Ga’s. It was quite different from previous years, the children almost outnumbered the adults. The girls got their first taste of hunting for Easter eggs and we caught a very cute moment:
The rest of the good pics:
The girls had their first birthday party, which was attended by the whole family. Each of them had their own cake, and while Kaitlin eventually got into the spirit, Ella would have nothing to do with hers. Something tells me she’ll get on the cake bandwagon one day soon.
Please be careful when making emotional bets involving your favorite team. You could end up like this Dodger fan:
The girls went on their first vacation, thanks to grandpa Warren. We spent three days at Seascape Resort on the coast near Monterey. The girls had a great time playing on the beach, and Ella even tried her first beer (joking – don’t call CPS).
Well the girls’ first swim day started out a lot better than it ended. We had a lot of fun dressing them in their new swimsuits and doing an impromptu photo shoot. The actual getting in the water part? Not so much fun. Neither Kaitlin or Ella were having any of it. Oh well, we’ll keep trying.
