Evie's new do

When I was a girl, I used to cut the hair of my Barbies.  With their homemade, stapled together dresses and their unfortunate haircuts, they ended up looking somewhat like scarecrows who had been attacked by birds and had most of their hair pulled out or chewed off. Later in life, my sister asked me to even her hair out...and then had to go to the hairdresser to get it fixed.  With all of this history, you would think that I would know better than to attempt a haircut on my children.  The problem is that I had experienced some luck, having twice cut Millie's hair into a bob and having trimmed Evie's hair and bangs with success.  But last night I went too far.  It was supposed to be a bangs trim followed by a tiny tidying of her straggly and tangled hair, but she kept moving and Millie kept trying to get the scissors and then Evie started crying and I just hacked her beautiful hair off in a desperate attempt to get it over with.  Horrified, I immediately burst into tears, which obviously didn't help the situation.  Poor Evie was crying that she wanted her hair long. I was crying because I didn't mean to do it and MIllie was crying because I still wouldn't give her the scissors.  

This morning I briefly contemplated trying to even Evie's hair out, but then I came to my senses (plus, she firmly told me "NO MOMMY. I DON'T WANT YOU TO CUT MY HAIR ANYMORE.") and made her an appointment at Yuhei (http://www.yuhei.co.uk/), a Japanese hair salon in Hampstead, which had been recommended by one of my friends.  Yuhei, had some very cool shoes on and settled Millie down with some paper and crayons (which she proceeded to dump on the floor and scatter all over the salon).

                          

Then he set Evie up with Kay, who was very sweet and worked her magic on Evie's hair.  Evie was thrilled to get to sit in a special chair (pictured here with her butchered hair and Kay):

She got a very nice shampoo with special Japanese hair products and giggled through the whole wash (unlike when I wash her hair. You would think I was torturing her.):

Then she sat quietly and happily in the chair, while Kay clipped her hair up and started to cut:

Millie was fascinated by the Japanese hair straightening that was going on in another chair.  All of the stylists were very patient and sweet with her and I did my best to minimize the destruction she was causing. Mostly she was VERY good...especially if I kept feeding her.

Meanwhile, Evie was getting the finishing touches before having her hair blown dry with a pink hairdryer. 

Here she is with her bob (and a mouth full of rice cakes), doing some coloring before leaving the salon (because if Millie gets to color then Evie does, too).  Kay straightened her hair, but Evie, who is proud of her curls, went straight to the bathroom sink at home and put some water on her hair to make it curly.  And now that I'm over the shock of her short hair (but not quite over the guilt that I caused the short hair), I can say that she still looks as adorable as ever.  Maybe even cuter!  I solemnly swear that I won't be attempting any more hair cuts during my lifetime.  Not even on Barbies.

A Most Unfortunate Fishing Excursion

It is inevitable that when you go someplace with vast ocean all around, men will want to go fishing.  Dad chartered a boat and all the men got up during the pre-dawn hours, took their dramamine, slathered on their sunscreen, and headed out for what they hoped would be a fun filled day of fishing, beer drinking and male bonding.  As I was not there for the all male deep sea fishing trip, I will share the story told to me by Jim.

It was a beautiful and warm morning in the Cabo marina and despite having been up very early, Dad, Andy, Will and Jim were in good spirits.  They clambered aboard their trusty, chartered vessel and headed into the Pacific. Will was looking a little pale, but that was mostly because of his very thick sunscreen.

The boat crew were cheerful and helpful and seemed competent, if a little crusty.

In the East, a beautiful sunrise and the hulking figure of a gigantic new cruise ship (maybe the Disney Cruise!!???).  All was well.  The men breathed in the beauty of the morning and felt the rolling ocean beneath them.

A fishing ship was beset by seagulls.

And then, about 8 miles out, things got a little choppy.

Suddenly, it wasn't just the sea that was rolling.  Jim realized that he was going to toss his cookies...imminently.  So he headed down below to vomit into the boat toilet, which had recently been filled by the urine of the captain and left unflushed.  Obviously, Jim would have preferred not to vomit into someone else's urine, so he flushed the toilet using a pedal system.  This only resulted in all of the urine flying out of the toilet and into Jim's face...which also unleashed the contents of his stomach.  Looking and feeling like a wet noodle, Jim decided to lie down in the bottom of the boat, which even I know you're not supposed to do when you are sea sick.

Above deck, things were not going so well for Will, who also was feeling a bit unsettled by the rough seas.  Because the toilet was now clogged with Jim's vomit, Will was forced to throw up over the side of the boat.

In the midst of his misery, he got a bite!  There was no option but to stop throwing up and reel in the fish.

The fish fought a good fight, tugging and pulling down and back, jumping out of the water in a desperate attempt to free itself from the hook.

But in the end, the men won and Will caught a 10 foot Marlin, which he threw back into the sea (because Will isn't really the type to put his fish on the wall of his house).

After all the excitement, he went back to throwing up.  Who could blame him, really?

Down below, Jim missed the other highlight of the fishing trip when a humpback whale jumped out of the water.  Poor Jim.

Spared the horrors of sea sickness, Andy and Dad remained happy throughout (but still didn't want to eat their Mexican lunches).

It was with great relief, that they decided to end their fishing adventures early and head back to the marina, where they were greeted by many a pelican.

Back at the homestead, having recovered from his rough morning and taken a shower, Jim fascinated us all with his woeful tale of fishing.  I sure am glad I didn't go!