This is now my all time favorite store and I haven't even shopped there yet.

It’s easy to play. The only thing you need is a bag of smore-sized marshmallows. Pick one person to go first. They stick a marshmallow in their mouth and have them  say “chubby bunny.” ( No chewing! Just leave it there.) Then you do that over and over until their mouth can’t hold any more marshmallows and they start laughing and spit the slobbery marshmallows all over the place. Now that’s what I call entertainment.

Here are the totals:

Suzanne: 5 marshmallows. She went first and she couldn’t stop laughing. I think that’s why she got last place.

Zach: 6 marshmallows. It was a dream come true for him. His parents laughed and cheered while he crammed as much sugar into his mouth as he could.

Abby: 7 marshmallows. In this sport, missing teeth is almost the equivalent to steroids.

Me: 13 marshmallows. Ohh yeah!Uh huh! Chubby Bunny champ! I had a little time to taunt my wife and kids. Then I scooped out a sink full of  slimy marshmallows before giving in to the sugar coma. Yeah, my jaw is sore from stretching like a python. And the cavity monsters in my mouth probably feel like they just won the lottery. But that’s what it takes to be a champ. Maybe in another 22 years (dentures out!) I’ll be ready to defend my title.

update september 15 2011

i just read about people dying playing chubby bunny. no more chubby bunny for the munsons.

this art was rendered in plastic, soy milk and cap’n crunch

Cereal dust- is there any sugar like it? Maybe I’m running in the wrong circles, but it seems to me that the stuff at the bottom of the box is WAY underappreciated. Frosted Flakes crumbles into a candy sand. Lucky Charms melts into a fine powder that borders on intangibility . Each one unique and awesome. Each one pretty and yummy and freakin’ rocket fuel! They’ll send you to the  stratosphere when you’re still in your pajamas, then send you crashing back down to Earth while you are… uhhh… still in your pajamas. Froot Loops. Fruity Pebbles. Crunch Berries. Cocoa Puffs. Trix! In the darkest corners of a cardboard box lies a gift from the sugar gods. Reach it and you can go from barely awake to cuckoo for cocoa puffs instantly.

A few years ago I gave a spice rack filled with 6 different cereal dusts at a white elephant Christmas party. Today it’s art and who knows what’s next? Maybe a story character who sells lucky charms dust to the healthy kids at the bus stop. This stuff is an untapped gold mine. So many possibilities. And with rocket fuel, the sky’s the limit.

Ladies and Germs, boys and gulls, I present to you….

Crunchberry Warfare!

easy pickin's

She’s a ruthless campaigner. She’s pulling out every trick in the book:

FALSE PROMISES

"ultra family time." seriously? MAYBE mega family time, but ultra?! come on.

consider my more honest pledges:

i am running my campaign on food and hygiene

SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISING

conveniently posted on the most used door in the house...

oops! accidentally left on the kitchen table- the #1 surface space in the house. coincidence??

SKETCHY ENDORSEMENTS

I could go on. But the sheer volume of campaign materials she has created is too much ground to cover in one election cycle.

But the point is this. I fancy myself a good leader. Sure I have no experience at being a leader, but she’s not that far ahead of me.

Nonetheless voters- I’m leaving it in your hands. Vote Dad for Mayor!

i guess the only pic i took of the scenery was in the background of this plant

The kids, the dog and I went to Orcas Island for our last trip of the summer. We met up with our good friend Steve D’Amico and daughter Olivia and camped out at Doe Bay.

This trip was a necessary trip. Last month I took the kids on a spontaneous camping trip that sucked. It was a mile long uphill hike where I forgot the sleeping bags and water. We ate lucky charms and drank 7 up and slept under a shared blanket and the tent’s rain fly (until it started raining.) Both Abby and Zach told me they never wanted to go camping again. But after some bargaining, they decided to give me one more chance.

The Doe Bay Resort is a fascinating place. It’s kind of like a commune with short term residents. Yurts and tiny cabins and tents. An organic garden that feeds the restaurant guests. A community fire pit and (gasp!) clothing optional hot tubs. It was a unique experience and we had a blast.

We played a lot of Yahtzee and Farkle, and collected a bunch of rocks. The kids wandered around with newly made friends, Stevie D and I kicked it, and I spent lots of time (all of it, really) sharing a leash with our dog Roger. Any time I tried to leave him in the car or at camp, he yipped away the surrounding serenity. But that was nothing really.  Our first morning there, at 730am, Abby went to the car to get Roger’s leash and accidentally hit the panic button. Since we were staying in a “natural amphitheater,” the sound bounced and echoed throughout the bay. I had to run across the gravel road, half dressed and in bare feet, to help Abby turn it off. Ahh good times.

Stevie D rockin' the bay

TOO MANY PICS! I've earned the nickname papa razzi

It’s been a wild summer, full of great things and tragedies. It’s so nice to have such awesome people to be with through it all.

Zach and new friend Sten landed some serious jumps!

Pusch Ridge is at the highest point on that there mountain.

We are down in Tucson Arizona right now, celebrating the life of my mother in law who died unexpectedly last month. As we had done with her husband 10 years earlier, we set out on a hike to spread her ashes on the peak of Pusch Ridge. One big difference was that last time it was on a pleasant spring day in May. This time we were pretty much in a sizzling frying pan. Another big difference? 10 years of chasing nana’s grandkids around!

So four 40+ year olds headed off on a hike that climbed to a mile high peak. It was a 2600 foot elevation gain in a steep and short 2 miles. The beautiful views were well earned, with pokey cactuses (cacti), and temperatures over 100 degrees, and tricky loose rock sections and questionable footing. Way down below at the house, we had a telescope all set up so the kids could see us at the top of the summit. Amazingly, nobody bumped it and it actually worked.

the temp hit 111 degrees fahrenheit on the day of the hike. (this thermometer is in the shade.)

The temperature that day hit 111 degrees Fahrenheit (this thermometer is in the shade.) We came home exhausted, drank gallons of water and took baths in ice cubes. All worth it for Nana Lydia.

Thank you Lydia for all the beautiful things you put into my life.

the grandsons were stylin' at the memorial service. and Suz gave a beautiful tribute speech about her mom.

Our families have a total of 10 kids, all between the ages of 6 and 10 (9 girls and 1 boy). Our friends the Corley’s own some amazing property on the island. One of the lots has a cabin where we eat our meals. But aside from eating, we’re outside the whole time. Our hosts are a fascinating family, with a legendary history of camping that has been carried on, generation after generation after generation. We stay in meticulously kept canvas tents (30+ years old) on tarp-covered platforms in the woods, about 20 feet from the beach. It really is paradise, fun and awesome and relaxing and fun (and awesome.) It’s totally safe too. The kids can run around on their own for hours and the water is cold enough to discourage deep swimming. The biggest danger they face is a bee sting.

Every year there is a scavenger hunt. The pioneers, or the natives, or the pirate Blue Beard will leave behind all kinds of clues. It is definitely NOT the dads or moms, no matter how much evidence suggests otherwise. The first year’s hunt was about an hour long. This year, it took two days for them to finish. My favorite clue this year had the kids putting kayak paddles end to end for 10 lengths on the sandy shore. They couldn’t believe it when they discovered that 10 lengths was buried in 3 feet of sea water. They complained to their moms that the dads forgot to check the tide charts. They just couldn’t believe  that ancient Indians would do something like this on purpose. So they impatiently waited.

The next morning, after breakfast, the tide was low enough to resume the hunt. A corner of the lock box was sticking up out of the sand, holding the next in a series of clues that had them running up and down the island for hours. They dug up pirate skulls. They found pieces of a home made wooden jigsaw puzzle (on two different islands!). There was a code to crack from the pages of 4 different books, and ultimately there was a trail of jewels that led to a real live treasure dig. They found a treasure chest filled with $1 coins, chocolate coins, and (almost) real jewels!

But my favorite part of the trip was yelling over at the kayak campers on nearby Posey
Island. The first night we yelled “HEY POSEY! We got spirit, yes we do! We got spirit, how about you!?”
And when they didn’t respond, we booed them. All great fun for the kids.

pirates night out

On the last evening there, we tried it one last time. And miraculously, they responded! “Hey Pearl!….” The kids went into a frenzy. I think it blew their minds. I bet every island in the area could hear their laughing and cheering, they were so excited. So cool that the kayakers did that. I’m guessing we’re looking at a very loud new tradition.

This trip is so amazing every year. Here are some pics that almost capture the paradise.

zach earned his rock-skipper badge this year

our little mermaid

Ray Bradbury = magic. And Dandelion Wine is profound. He had a blast writing this book and it shows. I love his rhythm- not just with his prose, but with the way he summons the senses and makes me hear the bees and feel the sunshine, and how he can even make my mouth pucker at the taste of imaginary almost-ripe blackberries. When I read it, I want to be a writer too. Immediately. So I put down the book and pick up a pen. I do this year after year and I still halfway believe that someday I will actually finish the book. Honestly though, that could ruin everything. This book is an eternal childhood summer and I don’t want it to end.

(Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine is now being made into a movie. I probably won’t see it, but man is it tempting…)