Wow...he's dead?!

Michael Jackson - Dead at 50


My wife and I heard about it a few days ago, and like others, were quite shocked. Farrah Fawcett (yes she was hotter) didn't seem to get as much attention as the gloved one.

However, something very interesting happened as my wife and I let our son (7) and daughter (9) watch some video retrospectives on him, Sunday, 6/28/09.

Our kids could have played the part in the classic Master Card commercial.

Michael Jackson music video $2,000,000.
Michael Jackson often denied plastic surgery $4,000,000
Look on kids face when Michael grabs his crotch no more then 20 times in his music video...priceless...

For everything else, theres...
Our kids jaws just dropped when seeing any number of his videos.

They really liked the music.

However, they kept asking which one was Michael in the videos...see they were confused with all the girls in the videos...they were not sure if MJ was a boy or a girl.

My wife and I would just look at each other and do sort of a smile/giggle.

My son kept asking if it took a lot of practice to be a singer and to be able to dance like the gloved one... We both said yes.

My son said he wants to be like MJ...and make lots of money.

All of a sudden a cartoon bubble appeared above my head..

"Will my son say I beat him growing up like MJ's dad did"?
"Will my son buy some tanning products to make him look well you know different"?
"Will my son buy Dorney Park or something like that"?
The bubble popped...at the same time the "Bad" video came on...
My wife and I went on to explain what music videos were.
They did really like the "Thriller" video by the way.
Sad to see you go MJ.

Rest in peace

Update: Billy Mays has just died...

Mexico - an update

We finally realized we went on 2 vacations -
1 a rest and relaxation vacation complete with sun and surf
2 a food vacation complete with surf and turf.

The food was just simply amazing.

So, we said our goodbyes to the staff, Joyce - our concierge and our chef Emilio Talancon

Read a blurb about his black sapote - muy bueno
http://www.biteofthebest.com/black-sapote-casa-del-agua/

One of Emilio's recipes for tequila shrimp
http://www.goodcooking.com/gest_rec/tshrmpgr.htm

We are hoping Emilio will post more recipes...

Our flight was almost uneventful except for almost missing the flight in Charlotte.

I was able to bring back some Cuban cigars bought in the duty free shop. That was nice.

We got home late, the kids were pretty tired. Opened the fridge only to find out it had been emptied. The work of thieves you ask?
Also the pantry and cabinets had been relieved of their contents?
Mice?!

Na...it was the tricks our neighbors play on us when we go on vacation.

You may ask are they immune from the same hijinks?...nope.

One year these neighbors were coming back from vacation, and we decided to have a party in their front yard. The look on their face was priceless when they saw all of us eating and drinking in their front yard.

Another time, we set alarm clocks to go off at 9 pm the night they arrived home from vacation. To see them running around on their house looking to turn off the alarms was priceless. An added bonus, we hid a walkie talkie in their sofa so we could also yell at them when we saw them running around. We also set a boom box to go off and start playing the "Halloween" movie theme at the same time. Some good laughs.

Since we have come back, we are all sad, we have no one to wait on us and serve us awesome food. Oh well...we can only dream and until next time.

Mexico

Mexico - fantastico!

From our sunny patio, there was a warm breeze blowing all day.

We are in Puerto Adventuras area. http://www.puertoaventuras.com/

Love the house.
Villa Zacil Na
http://www.luxuryretreats.com/villa-page/index.aspx?vid=109769


Our chef - Emilio Talancon - is outstanding. Emril who? Wolfgang Puck unh? Gordon Ramsey loud mouth...


Every day we had an authentic Mexican meal.

When tacos were served one day, everyone was expecting the bastardized version of what Taco Bell shoves down our throats...not even close. These were gently fried rolled tortillas (the size of spring rolls) that had lightly seasoned chicken inside. We were then encouraged to top with cheese or tomato's or lettuce. Muy bueno...

More to come after the trip...

Chore follow up

Ok ok you may ask what has happened...


Well I wanted to show the boy that I could put this chore schedule together. I asked him and his sister to come up with a chore list so that they could earn money. I definitley did not want him and his sister to accept money from other children at school for simply pushing a child on the schoolground swing.


So I put a list together of some simple chores. Sure I could give them a dollar each on Sunday evening like I agreed to do. But I wanted them to be able to do a little manual labor and get their hands a little dirty. Any chore they could do that was somewhat simple and would not require me constantly looking over their shoulder.

So I make the list. My daughetr is all gung ho about wanting to do the chore assigned to her...but would you believe - after all the chop busting my son did about wanting to make money (I mentioned earlier in my Chore posting) my son dragged his feet in wanting to complete any of his chores!

Chores

My kids are accepting money from people at school, and they don't feel guilty one bit! Maybe it's because I give money at church once a week, and maybe they think they are helping me out by getting it back from some of their friends.



My son came home from school waving a dollar in his hand. Normally our kids don't have access to real dollar bills. Loose change, yes, whole dollars...no.



I proceeded to ask my son where he got the money, and the below conversation ensued:


I said son ( don't want in insert his real name due to fear of retribution from his first grade friends). "Why are you taking money from some of your classmates at school?" "Dad...these girls wanted to pay me a dollar?!" {the boy is becoming slightly agitated...} Of course I follow up with, "for what?" And his reply, "To push them on the swings!" Inside, I could not contain the laughter, if the wife also had heard this she also would be howling. I had to keep the straight face. I had to play the serious dad. "Son, (name again protected...ok its Mike) you can't take money from your friends." "But dad they wanted to pay me..." again chuckling inside..." Initially, I didn't think there would be to much harm here. The economy is tough, we could all use an extra buck now and then...but the better side of the lesson dad took over, not the to be confused with the lecture side of dad. "But Mike, we just don't charge our friends to do stuff for us." "How would you like it if you got pushed on the swings and your friends wanted a dollar then you don't have a dollar to give them. I don't think they would like that to much do you?!" "But dad, they wanted to pay me!" ...My boy can beat you down. I knew this type of conversation could continue on for at least 10 minutes, but it was bed time for him and I needed to put him to bed. "Mike, you want to make some money, lets have you start doing chores around the house. I have plenty of dollars to give you to help out with chores." "But Dad, you never put the chore list together that you said you were going to. 1 for the boy 0 for dad. "OK, Mike, let's start on the list this weekend....