Growing up, I loved the rare Twinkie or Hostess cupcake.  Are they healthy to eat?  Not by a long shot.  Are they as good in quality as a fresh baked treat?  Of course not.  Still, there’s something special (and nostalgic) about opening that package and eating those cream filled cakes.

When I heard that Hostess was declaring bankruptcy, I felt a wave of sadness.  I hadn’t eaten one of their snack cakes in years.  I couldn’t even remember if NHL or JSL had ever eaten one.  I know that the bankruptcy will likely just be a reorganization of the business, but I decided to introduce my kids to this snacking phenomenon.

We went to the grocery store and stopped by the display.  I let the boys pick out a box each.  NHL decided he wanted Twinkies.  JSL chose the chocolate-y Suzy Q’s. (I was secretly hoping that they would pick the cupcakes so I could show them how to peel off the fudge-like top to save for the end.)

When snack-time rolled around, the boys were highly impatient.  They wanted to dive right into the snack cakes and didn’t appreciate that dad was taking so long with the pre-snack photographs.

Up first was the venerable Twinkie.  Introduced in 1930, it’s a snack cake that many generations have enjoyed.  My boys loved seeing the little yellow cake come out of the package and get unwrapped.  To better take a shot of the cream in the middle, I split the Twinkie in two and showed the boys the delicious filling.  As a bonus, this meant that I could give each boy a half of a snack cake.  They could each try both cakes. This way.

NHL seemed to love the Twinkie.  At least, that’s the impression I got when, after an initial bite, he nearly shoved the remaining Twinkie in his mouth whole.  JSL seemed to savor it more.  He liked it but wasn’t as enthusiastic.  (He really is a chocoholic and Twinkies completely lack chocolate.)

Up next was the Suzy Q.  Suzy Qs are much younger than Twinkies (introduced in 1961).  To be honest, I don’t think I had ever eaten one.  After taking my picture, I split the cake into two and gave the pieces to the boys.

NHL and JSL both loved this one, but their levels of appreciation were reversed.  JSL loved each and every bite of the chocolate, cream filled cakes.  NHL, meanwhile, liked it but wasn’t as enthused as he was with the Twinkie.

In the end, the boys loved the cakes.  B and I split one of each of the cakes also.  They were good, but I’ve got to admit that I remember them being better.  Perhaps the haze of memory and nostalgia has enhanced how I remember them tasting or perhaps my tastes have simply grown up.  Most likely, a combination of both of these.  Still, they were good.  I’m not going to make eating these a daily routine, but as a once in a very long while treat for the boys, they aren’t too bad.

Do you buy Hostess (or similar) snack cakes for your kids?

This year, NHL was able to join his school’s band and choose an instrument.  He decided to select the drums.  Last night, he had his first concert.  The days preceding it were filled with him getting more and more anxious about the big day.

I tried to calm him down with a tale about one of my concerts when I was growing up.  I quickly realized why this wasn’t a good story and shortened it.  I told NHL that I was very nervous and my orchestra teacher gave me the option of not going onstage.  I decided to go through with it and had a great concert.  All this is true, but (for NHL’s sake), I left out the part where my nerves overwhelmed my stomach and I hurled in the hallway.  I don’t think that detail would have helped him any.

Even NHL’s fortune cookies seemed to be telling him to push through.

In any event, the big day came and NHL went off to his band.  Up first was the orchestra.  While they played, memories began flooding back.  As I mentioned above, I was in the orchestra.  I played violin for many years.  I was actually kind of coerced into playing.  My orchestra teacher at the time seemed overly anxious to get me to join.  He asked me how I would respond if, in a future job interview, I was asked what instrument I played.  Naive kid that I was, I didn’t want to risk my future employment by not being able to play a violin.  (You’d be surprised how rarely that question came up in my job interviews, though.  It’s almost as if employers don’t care whether their web master can play a violin!)

In any event, the orchestra at NHL’s school began to play a tune pizzicato.  This means that they didn’t use bows, but instead plucked the strings during the songs.  Suddenly, my fingers began tingling.  I could almost feel those thin, metal strings digging into my index finger with each note played.

Then, watching the kids’ fingers move, I remembered the anxiety I felt over my finger placement.  There are about 8 different places your fingers could rest on the strings (including one position with no fingers on the strings).  Each finger-string placement results in a different note.  There are also 4 strings.  Which string to play and which finger placement to use is represented by one note.  Just one.  When you look at the sheet music you need to see the note, remember that this means to play this particular string with these fingers in place, get them in place, play the note, and then move on to the next note.  I was never very good at this.  I just could not do all this fast enough.

NHL, luckily, chose the drums.  Although this entails playing the bells (aka the xylophone), for which he does need to hit certain keys at certain points, the drums mainly require him to keep a steady beat.

When his time came, NHL went up with 2 of his drumming classmates and played Mary Had A Little Lamb.  He did a fantastic job and we were all very proud.  NHL realized that his nervousness before the concert faded away and he had a blast.

When you were in school, did you play an instrument? If so, were you nervous before performances?

I have many good memories of my father growing up.  One of the big ones involved wrestling.  For a time, we were both big WWE (then called the WWF) fans.  We would watch Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, George “The Animal” Steel, Andre the Giant and many others tangle and try to be the best there was.  We even went, on more than one occasion, to WWF wrestling matches when they were close enough.  One of my best memories of these was the time that my father (through connections of his) got box suite tickets.  We got to sit in nice, comfortable chairs and watch the match through either a glass window, looking down on the arena, or via a television screen.  To my young mind, it was like sampling the ultimate in luxury.

I’ll admit that I thought that wrestling was real for much longer than I should have.  Perhaps I was holding on to the fantasy to preserve a common interest my father and I held.  Or perhaps I was just very naive.  (Probably a bit of both.)  Either way, my interest in wrestling faded.

Although I’m not a wrestling fan currently, I still have fond memories of wrestling.  When I heard of the WWE Defining Moments figures (ARP: $22.99), I was interested in just how realistic the figures would be.  There are many different figures including “Macho Man” Randy Savage (from WrestleMania® VII), Ultimate Warrior (also from WrestleMania® VII), Shawn Michaels (The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania®), and The Rock.  I received Macho Man and Ultimate Warrior to review.

The boxes themselves were impressive.  They showed off the figures quite nicely and had detailed description of the match they were from on the back.  I’ll admit that I considered leaving them in the box for display.  In the end, though, I figured that I couldn’t review them properly if I didn’t remove them from the packaging.  Besides, NHL and JSL were chomping at the bit to try them out.  (I did wind up saving the description on the back of the box.)

Removing them from the packaging, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were extremely detailed.  Ultimate Warrior’s knee pads and tights, for example, feature images of him and his opponent (Macho Man) from their match in WrestleMania® VII.  The figures are also highly articulate.  Knees bend, ankles turn, midsections move and heads turn.

My boys, although not wrestling fans (JSL refers to Ultimate Warrior as “the cowboy”), immediately claimed the figures as their own and had some mock-fighting sessions with them.

Of course, the details on these figures is impressive enough that they could be displayed prominently in the display case of any wrestling fan.

Disclaimer: I received the two figures mentioned above to review.  All opinions mentioned above are my own.

If you saw my Wordless Wednesday post, you know that I have a lot of ties.  70 just in those photos, in fact.  Growing up, I didn’t like wearing ties.  As I got older, though, they began to grow on me.  Part of this might be that my father has a lot of ties and seeing my ton of ties reminds me of him.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What items remind you of your father?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #92

Thanksgiving always brings back so many memories.  Refusing to eat the sweet potato casserole that my mother made every year because I insisted that I didn’t like it.  Until that one year that I ate it and realized that I loved it.  NHL’s first Thanksgiving when we went to my sister’s house and he fell asleep on the floor.  My sister’s dog (on the big side) walked over, sniffed him and then walked over him taking extreme care to not touch him at all despite her paws being right next to his face.  All the gatherings of family that didn’t see each other many times during the year.  Thanksgiving seems to be a time for everyone to slow down and enjoy time with our families.

I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.

This is a special post not only because it is my 50th Aloha Friday, but also because it is about a place that is special in my heart: New York City. I’m writing and scheduling this from my house, but by the time you read it, I’ll be in NYC attending BlogHer 2010.

Growing up, my father worked in the city and every so often we would get to go to his office. I remember excitedly riding the train and subway. As we walked down the streets of the city, my sister and I would twist our necks to see the tops of the gigantic buildings. (By contrast, years later, when B showed me her home city, I felt let down as I grew up thinking city = towering buildings.) When we got to my father’s building, we would run up the steps, through the revolving door, through the revolving door, through the revolving door…. well, you get the point.

When we were done with the revolving door (or when our father said we were done), we would go to the elevator. Up we would go about twenty or so stories, the exact floor escapes my memory at the moment, and over to my father’s office. He had a big window to look out of and boy did the people and cars look tiny.

Later, during college, I interned at a PBS affiliate in New York City, WNET. Before my first day, my father accompanied me into the city and showed me how to navigate from where my train would leave me off, through Penn Station, to the appropriate subway lines and to my building. Without his help, I’d have likely wandered around for hours on my first day. Thanks to his assistance, I hardly ever got lost. Just one time, really, when I almost boarded a train for New Jersey instead of one for Long Island… Oops!

I know that BlogHer is going to be busy, but there is so much in the city that I’d love to do and see. I’d want to see the Museum of Natural History (would like to see it with NHL as well). I’d like to travel to the Lower East Side to get some of the best pickles around from NYC Pickle Guys. I’d like to catch a Broadway show and see Times Square. I’d like to visit Ground Zero, see the Empire State Building, see the Statue of Liberty and Central Park and …. Well, I guess you get the idea. Luckily, the city is a quick (relatively speaking) train ride from our house. Alternatively, we could visit my parents and take the LIRR from there into the city.

While I don’t think we’ll get to see many sights in New York City on this trip, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of great memories of BlogHer 2010!

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever been to New York City? If so, what was your favorite thing to do/see there? If not, what would you most like to do if you got the chance to visit there?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #50

As you probably read on TheAngelForever.com, we saw Toy Story 3 on Sunday. It was a powerful movie and it is quite amazing how Pixar keeps topping themselves. I keep thinking "There’s no way they’ll beat this" and then they go and beat it. I won’t spoil anything but I don’t think that it’s a spoiler to mention that the movie is about Andy going to college and what happens to his once-beloved toys when he goes. The toys long for playtime and Andy just keeps them in a toy chest, forgotten and unplayed with.

A few days ago, I looked through my office. I have quite a collection of toys, momentos, pictures and other assorted items that I’ve collected over the years. Most of them have some sort of sentiment attached to them. Let’s go on a tour, shall we?

Starting from the left and heading right is the head of Dilbert’s boss. This is actually a "silly slammer." You hit it and it says things like "I’m the boss. It doesn’t have to make sense!" Then there’s Tigger and Pluto from our Disney World honeymoon. Behind them is Humphrey the Bear who was given to us by a Disney World tour guide upon finding out we were newlyweds on our honeymoon. Behind him is a canner penguin from a trip to Montreal we took prior to being married. Behind that is a Long Island Ducks rubber duckie. The Ducks are a baseball team near where my parents live.

Moving on we find the characters from Lilo and Stitch, another Disney movie I loved. Behind them is a Homer Simpson Pez dispenser, Mickey in a car, Dilbert and Dogbert. After them is a stuffed Hershey bar from when we visited Hershey, PA. The photos are B at our wedding and B and I with Mickey on our honeymoon. Finally, there’s the M&M guys from a trip to the M&Ms store in Las Vegas just before finding out B was pregnant with NHL.

Here we have a Mickey/Minnie wedding couple. You can wind them up and they dance. We got them at Disney during our honeymoon. Then there’s Winnie the Pooh in a cow costume. He was handed to us with Humphrey. In the back is Dr. Evil and Mini-Me along with Dr. Evil’s cat. Next to them is a box with Thing 1 and Thing 2. Besides being Dr. Seuss characters, they are also one of our nicknames for the boys. B and the boys gave me this. In the front are various snowglobes and momentos from trips to Mystic Seaport, Boston, Sesame Place, Hershey and Niagra Falls. There’s also a Disney World photo holder from our last Disney Trip (currently sans photo) and a Yoda/Darth Vader mirror toy. (You look in one end and it’s Yoda, look in the other and it’s Vader.)

That crystal and the little "eye guys" are from our trip to Howe Caverns while B was pregnant with NHL. Behind them is a penguin keepsake from our trip to Montreal. Next to them are my Farscape guys: John Crichton, Zhaan, Scorpious (with shrunken Hynerian head), Chianna, and D’Argo. They’re joined by Gandalf and Shrek. Quite the combination, huh?

Not pictured (mainly because he hasn’t been dusted in far too long) is a Spiderman toy perched on a Gargoyle affixed to my wall.  A web head covered in cobwebs is irony not laziness, right?

On top of my computer resides an Easy Button, Super Grover and Oscar from our trip to Sesame Place, a talking C-3PO that I picked up from a going-out-of-business KB Toys, Photographer Goofy from last year’s Disney World trip and a couple of DRDs who wandered away from the other Farscape guys.

Finally, there’s the front of my desk where I have my "Judge Me By My Size" Yoda from our most recent Disney World trip, the first photo of B that she sent me (along with the note she wrote me after we were engaged) and a pinscreen.

And that concludes my tour of my office toys/momentos. Getting back to Toy Story 3, I can’t help but wonder, when I shut the lights off at night, do my toys come alive and have parties?