Yesterday was a long day for Da Chimpz. Alane had to go to work in the morning, so I took them outside where the rain had finally subsided. Cookie wanted to try out his new bicycle -- the raffle-prize from least year, the bike that is still too large for his little legs. But he would not be stopped: he'd fall off in a crumple of tubing and spokes, then get right back up and try again -- often enough to fall again without even having gotten on board. But when he did get rolling, he did very well.

While Cookie worked on that, I somehow convinced Mojo to try it. His training wheels came off weeks ago, but after a few Mojo-attempts he gave up and insisted on riding only his scooter since. He tried it first on Cookie's bike, running up and down the sidwalk holding the back of his sweatshirt. It didn't take many runs until he could make it for long stretches without falling. And once he got that, he learned how to get himself started from a stop. By the end of the day he was zipping up and down the sidewalk with that unique look of Mojo-satisfaction on his face.

After their swim lessons we took out baseballs and gloves and taught them a little about catching in the glove -- they were pretty good at it (though we were tossing the ball right into their open gloves). And after all that I got ribs going in the new grill.

That's right, people: a new grill that Alane got me for my birthday. That means I'm ready for anyone who wants to visit Berea-Rose -- because if yesterday taught anything to anybody, it taught me that this new grill can roast the zucchini, the peppers and the baby eggplant like a champ.

Now I gotta figure out this voicemail from Airport Guy -- part of it is garbled, so I'm playing the ad-lib game, filling in the unintelligible part with radom words to see if I can stumble upon what he's trying to tell me. I'll call him later.

Speaking of later, I'll be spending most of the day on Interstate 80; it's last call at the Tuckahoe apartment. I'll need the week to clean appliances, patch walls, and get everything else in shape before turning in the keys.