Easter Sunday was pretty much the same weatherwise. I went to the effort this year of buying Easter clothes for the kids, something I have never done before. Having a daughter and the opportunity to buy pretty dresses is very satisfying. When Brian heard that I had Easter clothes in mind he started to worry that I was going to make him dress up, too. He was off the hook this year, but next year I’m thinking that matching bow-ties for the boys will be just the ticket!

Apparently it was the largest full moon of the year. We had the good fortune of seeing it peaking up and rising over the eastern mountains last night and setting through the palms to our west this morning. Adding to the magic of it all was the warm & clear air that we’re enjoying with the Santa Ana’s in town.

It is so deliciously warm outside and with the Chargers in a playoff game right now, we’ve had the town to ourselves. By the noises coming from our neighbors houses, it doesn’t seem to be going so well for the Chargers. That’s ok, San Diego is kicking Pittsburgh’s ass when it comes to the weather.

P.S. Just so you know that it isn’t all sunshine & moonbeams around here, Laurel had some tummy trouble last night & threw up in her crib. We’re especially lucky to have this warm day so that we can comfortably air out this stinky house!

There is also the threat of Santa Ana winds during October and dreadful wildfires. I’ll never forget the way the sky looked the morning after my 30th birthday–orange, black, and gray…nothing like the crystal clear blue of the Sierra sky in autumn.

The trees don’t do much here either. Liquid ambers are basically the only thing that change color, but their colors are pretty muted in my opinion. So that’s not exciting.

It isn’t all bad here in the autumn, though. The weather cooled off this weekend and it was such a relief. The cool down came just in time for our neighborhood’s annual block party–an excellent October tradition. Neighbors and all their kids, a giant potluck, free goodies like snow cones and ice cream, raffles, pumpkin decorating, bounce houses, and more.

We’re also glad for fall’s arrival to cook everything pumpkin. Yesterday it was pumpkin pancakes and last week we made vanilla pumpkin pie. Oscar, Laurel, and I are getting lots of baking practice in before Thanksgiving & Christmas.

Aunt Turtle is also a lover of pumpkin cuisine.

October always ends much stronger than it begins in SD. I’ll steel myself for the next heat wave (I do love the feel of the Santa Ana’s early in the morning, however) with the knowledge that my birthday & Halloween are coming soon. October really is the best month of the year, isn’t it?

In honor of our afternoon adventure, Laurel and I read “Carl’s Afternoon in the Park” before her bedtime just now. The illustrations are based on spots in Balboa Park and the story even includes a ride on the train. It is a very sweet book, even sweeter because of our love for Balboa Park.

Today’s show included an interview with Richard Florida about his new book, “Who’s Your City?”. They talked about how cities develop and thrive and create these megaregions that are responsible for two-thirds of the world’s economic output as well as 90% of its creative innovations while accounting for 18% of the world’s population. That’s great & exciting news. Nice to hear positive information about the state of our world for a change.

Having grown-up in a rural area, I am surprised how well I’ve adapted to life in a city. I know that San Diego can’t compare to a true urban environment (somewhere I heard SD called a suburb by the sea) but it is a heck of a lot more city than Murphys, right? Anyway, I really do love San Diego and consider it home. The author of this book also has a website with some best-of type lists. I was pleased to see San Diego made it on the top 5 of three of the six lists (best cities for mid-career professionals, best cities for families with children, best cities for gays and lesbians). It is great to have a little outside validation of my hometown…especially when home prices are down something like 20%!

After his morning of mini donuts and midway fun we spent the rest of the day playing in his good buddy Sammy’s backyard. On our way home that evening Oscar said out of the blue “I’m not tired.” Uh-huh, of course not.

We sent the flip camera along with the fair goers and Brian put together this highlight reel:

Here’s a quick clip of the fair goers last year. He was so little!

We kept the plan a secret from Oscar and got him in the car this morning by telling him that I was sick and needed to go to the doctor. He sat very patiently in the car all the way up to Carlsbad and it wasn’t until he saw the giant Lego sculptures in the parking lot that he figured out what we were really doing. “You were just joking me, Dad?” he said with a big grin on his face. We played the same trick on him that last time we went there — something tells me he isn’t going to fall for it a third time.

Below is some video of Oscar riding The Dragon which is probably his favorite ride. He got on it twice today, once with Anna and once with me. And as Oscar points out in the video, they did instruct us not to use cameras while on the ride — bad Dad.

“I guess it is like Long John Silvers wrapped up in a taco.”

The two guys then left the store. Their loss…