when in rome...

do as the romans. And when in san francisco...
well, here's Heavy-D and Ryan doing their best.



And here are some of the tortilla mosquitoes I mentioned

it's been one year today...

since dad passed away. we've definitely not forgotten him, in fact we paid homage to his memory by uniting all of us in San Francisco and running the Bay to Breakers this weekend. We even got shirts (which we promptly turned into muscle T's) with his picture on the front and our favorite quote from him on the back.

Here's a few of the highlights:

Dad welcomed everyone to America if they had any accent at all. And sometimes even if they didn't. Dad: "Where's that accent from?" taxi driver:"New Jersey" Dad: "Welcome to America!"

It's no secret that dad did his fair share of drugs growing up, so there's no way we could have used them and had him not know. the old man loved to threaten all of ali and chelle's boyfriends with his shotgun, hence "how fast can you run boy?" this phrase took on a different meaning in the rainbow city.

Dad loved to protect ali as you can see. And he was born with no shame, he once explained to BJ, who was dating my very tall cousin, the benefits of dating a taller woman.... "brr-imsky!" wow. zero shame.

Heavy D's shirt also took on an unintended meaning in San Fran. Jodi's shirt in the group picture says jailbait, because that's what he first called her on the day he met her.

i like to call this one "A Scholar and a Gentleman." Here are the girls getting ready to run!

There were tortillas EVERYWHERE! They were flying around like mosquitoes! You could get nailed with one at any time. We'd all take turns chucking them at people packed all around us. I nailed a reporter right in the head while she was on camera! Notice the cool front side of dad's shirt!

For some reason heavy-D figured he'd blur himself in this picture. Me and Ry-guy getting our practice jumps in.

Ryan put on his best running jorts. Alicia had to give the stink eye to every gay guy she saw checking him out.

More practice jumps.

This race was absolutely insane. It makes Isla Vista during halloween look so tame! Here are of the best costumes, floats, beer bongs, naked people and protesters we saw.

pirate themed group. and the olympic torch group.

elvises and the bay bridge

the salmons running the wrong way down the big hill (they do it every year). And the viking floats were popular this year.

Cry to God protesters. Naked people (there were LOTS of them)

more vikings... and some weird 8 foot tall thing...

There were bands all along the way too!

and of course, since Dad loved baseball, we checked out a Giants game at AT&T stadium... too bad they got pummeled by the white sox.

We sure love you Dad. We still remember you.

CAST YOUR VOTE!

that's right. calling all judges! We held the first annual "San-Francisco-Sparks-Family-Bed-Jump-Olympics" (props to michelle for being our awesome photographer)
We picked a category and each jumper had to best exemplify it with a bed jump. Cast your votes for each category and the "Best in Show"!

NOTE:(blue-gray shorts with jeans=baby aaron
khaki plaid shorts green shirt =me
green shorts, grey shorts, 17 feet tall=hercules
hot pink muscle-T, black shorts=heavy-D)

category #1: The SleeperCategory #2: Superhero
Category #3: The Golfer
Category #4: Dead
Category #5: The Cowboy
Category #6: Big AirCategory #7: Specialty Jumps
#1 - The Indian
#2 - The Salesman
#3 - The Gentleman
#4 - Air Guitar
#5 - Big Serene Dude
#6 - The Kiddie Candid
#7 - The Gentleman Strikes Back!
#8 - The People's Elbow
#9 - The Torpedo

CAST YOUR VOTES!
(PS many many more pictures of the wildest marathon ever are coming soon!!!)

ñaco

So lately we have finally gotten our food storage going. But what do you do with pounds and pounds of wheat? Make ñaco! (wheat coffee) This little guy named Hermano Bravo taught me how to make it when I was living in Bahia Blanca Argentina (rama la falda).His instructions were:
1- separate the wheat from the husk
2- cook the wheat in a pan until it turns brownish and smells "nutty"
3- grind wheat up. (use a blender if you don't have a grinder, they work fine) It doesn't need to be fine, in fact 2 minutes for a cup of wheat in the blender on low should be fine.
4- mix about 3 or 4 heaping spoonfulls with boiling milk or water in a mug and add sugar to taste. Voila, ñaco.
Note: it will not mix homogenously like hot chocolate, but rather will have a cream of wheat like layer at the bottom of the mug so keep mixing while you eat it.

Superdelegates... votes from super people?

ahhh glenn. you're the only one who keeps us sane these days.

enjoy.

Heavy Von Deezy part II

further proof that my brother is the friekin man. Here's a video of their latest escapades. Wakeboarding during winter in Utah... brrr... sound cold? I bet it was. That's sure one way to have the lake all to yourself. Here's a video of Heavy D and Hambone. Check out how thick the wetsuit is!
Keep tryin

freeb!rds

wow. The "Monster Burrito" that was bigger than my head. it was like a baby wrapped in tin foil. And it was delicious too. I ate 3/4 of it and was totally stuffed. Then when I wrapped up the leftovers I still had a softball sized wad of heaven. I may have a new favorite restaurant. You gotta face the wrath of downtown Isla Vista, but well worth it.

obamanation

here's a great article I read today on National Review Online

and here's another one from Politico.com

and yet another one on CNN.com