Not that I have anything against stripes; as you can see, both Bonnie and I are wearing them. But stripes don’t have anything in particular to do with Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I saw at the theater today with Bonnie, her friend Kathy, and Katie.

We agreed that (1) Harrison Ford is hot; (2) Raiders has held up remarkably well, considering it’s more than 30 years old; and (3) the “scary” part at the end isn’t so scary anymore.

When I was a kid, **SPOILER ALERT** the melting faces scared the pants off me. Today, we had to laugh at how much the effects in that scene resembled Ghostbusters. And the melting faces weren’t nearly as gory as I remembered. Those special effects were the only part of the movie that seemed dated to me, though. All the practical effects in the rest of the movie were fantastic. Even the lengths of garden hose that doubled as snakes in the map room scene.

Later, we went to the beach with the Jay family, who—in a marvelous bit of synchronicity, or serendipity, or something-ity—are back in San Diego now too. The photos above are actually from our beach visit two weeks ago, though. When we all lived in Virginia Beach, when Joe and Nina were younger than Annalie is now, we often used to go to the beach together on Sunday evenings in summer. Someone would pick up a party pack from Taco Bell, and someone would bring drinks, and we’d eat and play and it was a lovely tradition. We’re hoping to keep that tradition going here in San Diego.

Today I mostly took photos of things silhouetted against the sunset.

And then we went to Krispy Kreme, because if you go at that time of the evening you’re usually rewarded with hot doughnuts.

Tonight we had the fun of watching a bunch of mangled doughnuts try to make it to the glaze shower. None of them did, sadly.

Old friends and old traditions in a new city with new little kids. I’ll take it, with a full heart.

And then Elliora rode home in Aurora’s carseat, which we still have not taken out of the minivan. It was an adventure because it’s front-facing, unlike her own carseat. (Elliora is old enough and big enough to legally ride in a front-facing carseat, but we’re leaving hers rear-facing for now because it’s safer.)

It was way past Elliora’s bedtime when we left Krispy Kreme, and just about Annalie’s bedtime. They had been running around on the beach and playing in the waves, so we weren’t surprised when things got very quiet within minutes of heading home. We assumed E had fallen asleep, but eventually we realized we hadn’t heard a peep from Annalie, either. Close to home, Troy jokingly asked, “Annalie, are you asleep?”

We both had to laugh when Elliora’s completely-awake little voice answered, “Yep. Annalie’s asleep.” I’m only surprised she didn’t say, “Annalie is, like, totally asleep.”

1. The gentleman we saw today driving south on 144th near West Dodge, singing along with his radio and chair-dancing his heart out. Sir, ROCK ON.

2. Elliora walking through the mall with me, rhythmically moving her arms in front of her, and cheerfully telling me, “I’m swimming!” The cute! It just about killed me.

3. The much-needed rain that Omaha got today.

4. Tomorrow morning I’m flying to Chicago to attend a Harry Potter fan convention with Rainbow. I’m thinking that’ll be pretty interesting, no?

Tooth #6, the space on the bottom left as you look at the photo. The tooth on the bottom right is starting to come in. Annalie said, “I can’t believe I finally lost that tooth the same day that Bug lost her tooth!”

Annalie and Elliora have been playing together beautifully the last couple of days, for hours at a time. This is what Annalie has been waiting for her whole life, I think: a sister to play with.

Annalie said to me, “I have everything I need for the pool: swimsuit, towels, sunscreen, sketch book…” She cracks me up, this kid.

Hello, summer!