One day we went to the beach with the Dubovisky's. Vicki and Olivia swam and swam and finally they build one sand castle each. Both had a moat and a swimming pool. Vicki's had a feather flag and Olivia's had a diving board. We are talking about real kids stuff here folks. These are the days that makes me think that I want to be a kid again. I think tomorrow I am going to build my own sand castle with a flag and a moat and a bell and a... and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow (W. Shakespear)
Vicki and Olivia crouch down for a photo with their castles. The tide is coming in and they won't last long.
Nevermind the tide, incomes Vicki the magnificent quickly followed by Olivia the great to do the job of the tide. Before the tide. Yes, the castle met a quick and dirty fate, crushed to smithereens by enormous feet.
After the beach we went to the Majori fun park. This little carnival is near the beach with bumper cars and other attractions. Here Alex does his strong man imitation as he winds up to ring the bell.
Alex brings down the hammer like a project manager that is two weeks late (bring down the hammer, work with me here folks). And of course the bell responds like a programmer full of two week old pizza. Not exactly the resounding sound of success.
Alex laughs as dad tries his hand at ringing the bell. And, like a seasoned programmer working with new technology, he is no better than the guy with the two week old pizza. As Nelson on the Simpsons would say, "Aha!"
It seems that almost every time we go passed the carnival Olivia jumps on the trampoline with guide ropes and takes instruction from her proud father about how to do a back flip. Well, look here folks, she can do it!	Olivia does back flips.avi (2.25 MB)
After one extremely find day on the beach Denis, his son Vincent, Dan, his wife Marina, his son Earnest, daugher Eve, Kiril (finally got the spelling right), his wife Veronica, and two kids thomas and (still can't even try to spell this one) their other son (appologies) got together for a beach day and then a sea-side dinner. It was a truely awesome day. The water at 10PM was still 24 degrees celcius. After a wonderful meal we walked home on the beach back to Dubulti. Olivia swam as we walked. Marianne and I fell in love again and again walking hand in hand. This is the real thing.
Here is a shot of Thomas's tricycle sitting on the beach at 11PM. The kids all decided to go for a swim. There are still many people on the beach and the water is great. It is very hard to resist getting wet.
	Today we went to the beach with Slava and Vicki to watch Kiril play in a beach football (soccer) tournament. At one point Kiril came over and pointed out that one of the players was Arturs Irbe the NHL goalie. I went over and introduced myself and we had a conversation about: The lockout: He was one of the NHLPA player participants. He was concerned that some of the players were working for the owners and did not negotiate with the unions best interest at heart. He felt that the players were impatient and would have done better if they had just played in europe or stayed with their families. Tod Bertuzzi: Definately a hot head but everyone new that Steve Moore had it coming. Moore could have just stood up for himself then none of this would have happened. It is very questionable wheather Steve has his or hockey's best interests at heart. There is no doubt that the game has suffered. Vancouver: Vancouver loved Archie and Archie loved Vancouver. He has a lot of admiration and respect for the fans of Vancouver who always treated him well. He asked me to say hi to Vancouver for him. This is a big job but I will try my best....HELLO VANCOUVER....