Willie and Teddy's Excellent Adventure

6/26/2011

It was a week full of graduations, or promotions, or whatever you want to call them. Also, we had visitors galore, or maybe it just seemed like it because 11 month old babies really know how to get around. Sugar was another big thing this week. And birthdays, don't forget those. And last, the days are getting shorter, at least according to poor papa who is practically back in seasonal affected disorder mode now that we are past summer solstice. Poor guy.

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Teddy is hilariously making up names for everybody in my yearbook, and speaking in ducky language all the autographs. It's hilarious--you should hear him do it.

C'mon Teddy, do some more.

Teddy's promotion from 5th grade--we're sure his school would not condone using this actual, albeit blurry, picture from the event. Tough beans--he doesn't go there any more.

And I've got the paper to prove it. Hah!

This is baby Lilliana. Why is she so happy? Can you say unlimited lemon wafer cookies and macaroons? Well, she can't either, but it's written all over her face.

She's gonna keep her dad Kevin up really late with all that cookie action. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Mmmmm, I just discovered Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and I don't think I'm ever going back.

Oh ya? Well I discovered Flamin' Hot Rice Krispy Treats, and I'm not going back either.

I wish I had more Rice Krispy Treats. And donuts. And soda. And red vines. And ice cream.

Hooray--my wish come true. Chocolate for me (Teddy), and swiss milk chocolate for Willie. Nobody got hurt, and everybody's happy--especially Papa who finally got to redeem his 3 year old ice cream coupons.

6/19/11

It's the last week of school--HOORAY! We've been arguing about whose school is worse and both of us think that it's ours. Good thing we're both going to new schools next year, not that things will improve, it's still school after all. Commencement ceremonies are Tuesday for grade 5 and Wednesday for grade 8. Then my (Teddy) real birthday is Saturday, and Sunday we're off on our yearly adventure with Papa to his Holy Land.

We're trying to get our internet time back by starting some exercise stuff like running around the block and doing burpees and stuff with weights and sit ups. We'll see if papa notices and changes the password to one our computers understand. We hope so because this will be an awful long summer without internet access.

It was a good eating weekend thanks to mommy's friend Eve and her son Eliot who came to visit. We got bbq'd hamburgers 2 nights in a row, and chocolate and coffee ice cream! Yum! Nothing like guests to undermine food and schedule routines.

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I (Willie) was working on a pixelated 2-D art piece using a 3-D modeling program (google sketch-up). Kind of crazy, but it fits in well with my life philosophy of blowing up mosquitoes with atomic bombs.

Honk land is kind of my (Teddy) nirvana that I go into when I don't want to listen to someone. It's got private parking that only I can use. La la la, I'm in Honk Land now, I can't hear you. One day I'll travel to Honk Land so I don't have to listen to you. I will take this matter to Honk Land so I don't have to think about it. Honk Land would be a place of peace and harmony if you would be quiet.

Last Tuesday papa came downstairs dressed completely crazy. "I'm going to a wedding" said he. The way he's dressed, you'd think it was his wedding, but seeing as he's already quite married, that couldn't be possible. Anyway, he turned heads and caused a bit of commotion over his manner of dress. Somebody had the gall to suggest that he should be wearing a kilt instead of shorts, but he's not into skirts.

This is Eliot--he was on his way to Sephardic Adventure camp. Eve, his mom, made the mistake of asking us what we thought of camp hoping for some positive answers for the first time camper--big mistake. Mommy and papa jumped into the fray to right the sinking opinion ship though, and we just went on with our ice cream.

Ice cream, we scream, no I (mommy) scream for ice cream because a bunch of meany boys (Willie, Teddy, papa) ate all the ice cream while I was out of the house. Grrrrr, remind me not to live with boys in my next life.

Copyright 1997-2011, The Berman Brothers, Willie and Teddy. All rights reserved.

6/5/2011

Huzzah--we're now in the 14th year of the web site. Hard to believe that we've been continuously publishing for 14 years in internet time--that's like 100 years in real time. Okay, it's really like 14 years in real time, but given how much has changed on the interwebz, it's quite a feat. Enough self congratulation. On to business.

Two more weeks of school and then freedom to go to bed late and sleep late and watch movies and just generally hang out. We went to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada last week over memorial day. We went for a bar mitzvah and a bunch of parties and gatherings. We liked the hotel okay, but we prefer separate beds--it's always nice to get home after a trip.

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Even though it isn't my real birthday yet, because I have a summer birthday, I got to bring in birthday cupcakes for the class. This batch we made to look like apples.

Mmmmm, cake.

They just looked like apples. They were really yellow cake with red frosting and sour patch leaves.

We took the longest ferry ride we've ever been on. It was 3 hours from Anacortes to Sidney, British Columbia. We had ipod games and food and not so comfy chairs, but we made it, and the customs guys even let us in the country.

The next day we decided to take a hike up a mountain, at least what passes for a mountain in Victoria. Noah had the good idea (which didn't seem so good at the time) to follow an 8 inch wide deer path up the mountain--it really was a 750 foot hill, but we'll just call it a mountain for excitement's sake.

Nothing like being out in nature to improve our dispositions.

The higher we got the more water and scenery we saw.

At last we got to the top and there to greet us was a huge TV/Cell tower.

Then we moved over to the real top of the hill where they had this turret thing that showed the direction and how for away were cities as the crow flies.

Below is the entire panorama from our view point. It was pretty impressive, especially when you consider that we had to slog all the way up to the top.

5/22/2011

Papa was having computer problems, and who did he turn to? Well, lets see--he's old, so he turned to US! Two young fellows that know more than him about this newfangled computer stuff.

Okay, so you open the tools section from the view menu and delete this option here then press save. Then you quit the program, and re-launch it. You got that?

Hey look, it didn't work. Give a younger buck a try!

Yes, hooray for the youngest buck! Wait a second--it didn't work. I give up. Papa, fix it yourself. [Editor's note: Get off my lawn.]

Ahhh, provender! Lemme at em.

Behold, the icosahedron with subdivided faces and it's been cut in half. Even after papa thought this project was impossible, I managed it due to my youth and determination--stop dwelling on that software thing above--that wasn't my project, and frankly my dear, I didn't give a darn.

Now, leave me alone, I'm off to the 21st century. You can keep your lawn.

Copyright 1997-2011, The Berman Brothers, Willie and Teddy. All rights reserved.

5/8/2011

Mmmm, bi-color mousse--best one yet.

But darn those infernal unblowoutable candles.

HAHA! Gotcha!

No equation is safe, or unsolvable!

That's all folks...

This little guy (it was about 1/4" long) is a pseudoscorpion. Too bad papa didn't know it was a good guy before he smashed him.

Portrait time for 5th grade commencement. Which one shall I choose? Silly face?

Serious reader?

Amused reader?

Mommy's sittin' pretty on her new birthday glider. Thanks Grandma!

4/24/2011

How much matzoh pizza can one family eat? Less than you might think because mommy in her lactose intolerance just looks longingly as papa and I (Willie) eat our daily rations. Teddy has had it a couple of times but tires of it quickly. I have perfected the four spices of the apocalypse for my matzoh pizza. It's got cayenne, chili powder, chipotle, and crushed red pepper--mmm mmm good.

Our crossword ability is rising meteorically. Both Teddy and I helped mommy on her harder crossword puzzles--we both scored really tough words for her.

I (Willie) had an overnight at my friend Andrew's house. We did the typical stuff--played video games, ate weird food, watched his annoying little brother hurt himself badly demonstrating tae kwon do. It was pretty funny.

Boo hoo--back to school tomorrow--breaks just don't last long enough. Next year it better be two weeks at spring because we need an extra week to recover from our week off.

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Grandma and Grandpa went back to Connecticut before seder, but not before unflattering pictures could be taken of me. Humpf.

Speaking of unflattering, how's this?

Flattening? Hey look, I'm on TV. SMASH!

Crash. The other thing I was doing that doesn't come over too well in still photos was getting under the box and navigating it around the house. Bumping into stuff, chasing Teddy, bumping into stuff. You know, doing what boxes do.

Why I'll box you.

Okay, silly face into the ipod camera time.

Angry face into the camera.