Tumble the Rocks and Swim in the Pool!

Two days ago, Jase received this in the mail. It's a Lortone Model 3A Single 3 lb Capacity Barrel rock tumbler.

The idea to get a rock tumbler started innocently enough. We were walking on the beach, and he found some cool rocks and shells. He thought it would be cool to make a necklace or two - drill a little hole and thread some leather cord through it.

Then I think I told him he should get a rock tumbler from the brainiac toy store we have by our house. Well, that was just a toy - it was noisy, and after 5 days it stopped working.

Thus the Lortone. It's way quieter than the crap one from the toy store. But it basically does the same thing. You throw some rocks in the barrel, add some water and grit, and you start tumbling. The tumbling motion mimics the waves of the ocean - that's why the stones you find on the beach are so smooth.

Rock tumbling is a very long process. This first batch of rocks won't be finished until around 3 weeks from now. I have been documenting this process and will continue to do so until Batch 001 is completed.

In other news, we went to Joyce and Freddie's house today for a pool party. Joyce and Freddie are old friends of Jason's parents and they have a fabulous house in Rancho Santa Fe, with the most awesome views you've ever seen. The party was in honor of their son, Mark - who with his wife Jo and 2 daughters are off to New Zealand for - get this - at least three years! Jo is a rabbi who will be doing her rabbi thing in Wellington. All of Joyce's kids were there with THEIR kids, 7 grandkids in total - Mark's 2 girls, Robbie's 4 girls, including 8 mo. old twins Juliette and Danielle, and the only boy, Steven's 2-year old son Diego, who is so cute you can hardly stand it. Charlie didn't know what to do with all this activity at first, and clung to me and his Bubbe for the first 1/2 hour. But he slowly got used to it, and by the end of the evening he was running around naked, screaming and laughing while chasing Mark's dog, Moo Shoo.

The highlight of the event for Charlie was, by far, the pool. As I've discussed in earlier posts, Charlie loves all things water. The big inground pool was no exception. I thought it may be too overwhelming for him to go into a big pool with all these new people around. Not only was it not overwhelming, he wanted to swim unassisted. No help from mom, floaties, blow up rafts - nothing. I tried explaining to him that he didn't know how to swim and he would sink to the bottom like a rock if I let go, but for some reason he didn't understand this. Maybe it was the influence of his new girlfriends Emma and Allison, who kept swimming around him, saying "Charlie, watch this!" and then would do three back flips underwater. He was mesmerized, and then pushed off me as if to say, "That looks like fun! I think I'll try!"

We will be swimming again tomorrow, this time in our own pool in our neighborhood - the entire pool is only 4 1/2 feet deep. Let's just hope he'll use his floaties this time.

It was a great day. Joyce and Freddie are so welcoming and friendly - I feel as if they are family. All of their sons and wives are fantastic - even Robbie after a few too many vodka tonics. And their grandchildren are the sweetest children I've seen in one big group together. I had fascinating conversations about bedtimes, bubbles and blue eyes. It's just a great family and all of us were so happy to share their day with them.

Tomorrow Joe and Kris are stopping by and Wednesday the Breedorfs should arrive. YAY!