KIDS BARE THEIR SOULS

K. Noel's kids were dropped off by Kimi who went to the beach. They wanted to spend the weekend with their grandma, but we had other things in mind, or at least I did. I wanted to have a talk with them about exactly what happened last night. It turns out that Jared had thrown a party without his dad's permission at his dad's house. Over 150 people showed up and by 10:30PM, the cops had come to and break it up.

Jared called me last night, but I didn't really get a chance to discuss it with him. It was just too fresh and his mom had just picked him up. The cops were cool with Kimi and were used to this sort of thing. No one got in trouble and no one got hurt. So I told Jared that I thought it was pretty cool that he did such a thing and no one landed in jail, but I told him he had to be careful because the downside is that if someone did get hurt, it'd be him and his parents that would have to pay the piper.

As we talked about what happened, the conversation shifted into talking about their relationship with their father. They talked about how unhappy they are and how negative he is when they are with him. They were all upset and I could see that they weren't just feeling sorry for themselves. I really wanted to just hug them and tell them everything would be ok, but I just sat there frozen not knowing what to really say. So I tried to lighten the situation by just summarizing the point of the discussion which was that it's all Jared's fault.

Then the girls and I left to buy some ingredients for our taco feast. Kylie made the salsa, Jared cooked the meat and I prepped all the tidbits that would go on our tacos. I didn't think we had enough food since I only purchased three pounds of meat, but three pounds went a long way and we still had plenty left. I guess a good rule of thumb is one pound for every man and half a pound for every woman. That's more than enough and that would also translate to a good amount of leftovers.

Moms wanted to go to San Diego, but I didn't know what to do out there if we dropped her off at Valley View. Instead, we decided to watch a double feature at the Mission Tiki Drive-In. I screwed up because the guy asked for $14 seeing only Karina and me, but I gave him $60 since I thought it was $5 per person. He obviously didn't see everyone in the back and I could have gotten away with paying admission for just two people, but I blew it and ended up paying full price.

The front row seems to be the best seat in the house and if you're going to sit outside, it's best to have some headphones or other device that will allow you to have better sound than just hearing the speakers from the car. Still, sitting outside under the stars and watching movies with all kinds of chips, drinks and popcorn is something I just love. I don't know if it's because I remember watching Star Wars in the drive-in or if it's the cheap cost, but I really, really love it.

We watched Conan the Barbarian and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Both were pretty good, but Rise was really good. I'm amazed how realistic the computer graphics are when it comes to motion capture. The apes on that movie were incredibly life-like and displayed emotion that is pretty shocking. I was impressed and the movie was really good too. It wasn't James Franco that was the star, it was the monkey.

(written 8/21/11)