Castle Park

(image not INSTAGRAMMED. Southern California just has a way of looking like that, naturally)



Speaking of fathers on Fathers Day - last October, Missy and I had the pleasure of going to CASTLE PARK, in Riverside, California, with my brother-in-law, Shawn, and my nieces and nephew, Julia, Lillian, and Evan. We were in California, to celebrate my birthday with my family, and I wanted to hang out with the kids, but also, I wanted to share with Missy a place that I would frequent during my junior high and high school years. There's not much in Riverside, but there is Castle Park...arcade, amusement park, and most importantly, one of THE BEST MINI GOLF COURSES in the country. As is the case with awe-inspiring landmarks, pictures just don't do it justice, and certainly, not these...

Oh, My Papa

I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to my DAD to wish him a very happy Fathers Day....HAPPY FATHERS DAY, DAD! LOVE YA! Here's a photo that my sister, Cynthia, took of him recently, organizing his massive CD collection, which he keeps stored in boxes. My sister had mentioned to me, "Now I know where YOU get it from!". It's true, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I also organize and store my massive CD collection in a similar fashion, but in plastic tubs (I'll have to post about that sometime).

There are certain characteristics that I definitely got from my father, proving that I am my father's son: 1) a love of music; 2) a passion for "collecting" (not hoarding!); 3) organizational skills and a predilection for archiving everything (good traits, especially if you make a living as a librarian, which I do); 4) photographing everything (see #3); 5) an appetite for traveling and sight-seeing (instilled in me and my sisters from many family vacations and various long-distance moves across state lines); 5) a dark sense of humor; 6) an all-around "TAKE NO BULLSHIT" attitude, which has served me well throughout the years. Thanks, Dad, for passing down some awesome DNA and for raising me right!

Love, R A O U L

Eclipse

I stole these photos from my sister Belinda's "Timeline" on Facebook...it's my niece, LILLIAN, wearing her daddy's super cool WELDING MASK so she can look at the SOLAR ECLIPSE this past weekend. I just really like the juxtaposition of the SKULL with her shirt that says, "It's Not Easy Being Cute"...

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom! She is the best. Here we are at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens sharing a good book with some frog friends.



Raoul here - just wanted to give a shout out to the two mothers in my family: my Mom and my sister, Belinda. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! Here's my Mom hanging posing with my nephew Evan, and my nieces Lillian and Julia. Below is Evan holding up a photo of his mom - my sister - sporting the standard issue bowl cut that my dad liked to give to us when we were very young. As you can see, the apple don't fall far from the tree!



Happy Mothers Day, mothers everywhere!

Love,
Missy & Raoul