Why I Oughta...

If you are a Howard Stern fan, you can't go to a Carvel stand and not seek out a Fudgie the Whale cake, right?   On our trip last week, Nat and I took the kids to get cones and while I was there, I grabbed this photo of the cake.  Alas...I didn't get the cake, though.  For shame, right?  For shame. Fudgie the Whale has his own Wikipedia entry where celebrities of all kinds pledge their undying love for Fudgie.  From the post: According to his wife Beth Stern, radio host Howard Stern considers Fudgie the Whale his favorite Carvel product. She discussed this with Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Andy Bernard, a character on the show The Office, requested a Fudgie the Whale cake for the group birthday celebration in the "Survivor Man" episode.

That pesky 'e' at the end of *my* version of Jacobe. Yeah...that's right.  I'm Thomas Jacobe Parrillo. I endured many a first-day-of-class roll call that included plenty of "Ja-co-bee's", so by now I'm used to it.  But... hey Coke ?  Can a brother get a little love for an odd spelling of a biblical name?!

Before the month gets away from us - and I have to turn over the wall calendars to August - wanted to call out this little Disneyland history nugget.  60 years ago today - July 31st, 1955 - the Casye Jr. Circus Train ride opened at Disneyland. That's exactly two weeks after the park opened.  Wonder why the train wasn't ready? As a side note, we've been to the Disneyland Resort three times and have yet to ride this thing.  Check out this POV video from MouseSteps:

Getting him started right with the Good Guys on the South Side - as any good Dad would do, right? He'll have no memory of this night we spent together, but I will never forget it.

We have one of those plastic kid kitchens.  You know the type. Ours was, unfortunately, scrawled with crayon marks from one of the coloring rages that The Bird is prone to do.  Scribble here.  Scribble there.  Mark the fridge door with purple crayon.  Scribble in the microwave with red.  A real art-ist! Anyway...here's a tip for you:  spray a little WD-40 on wipe it with a paper towel and it comes clean in a second.  For some, this may be old news, but not for me.  Also...to be clear....I'm not the first guy to figure this out, just check out the ole' Google for other folks' take.

What is this, the blog of a tween who has a ridiculous Instagram name and uses 12 emoji's per post?   Nope, just that of a upper-thirty year old suburban Dad who's wife gave him a limited edition Disneyland Jungle Cruise t-shirt.   First selfie taken and posted anywhere.  Let's not get too used to it, mmmmkay ?

You can't send us to a Sox game and not have us seek out the big Mickey Mouse up by the Fundamentals level out in left field.  That's what every family does, right?   The Bird here can't read so the big 'please keep off' sign didn't stop her from posing with her guy all dressed up in White Sox colors.   We arrived about 45 minutes before the first pitch and did a tour around the lower bowl concourse before settling into our seats.  It was hot.   Like sweaty hot.   And we lasted about 1/3rd of an inning before one of the girls started to complain about being 'bored'.  Seriously.  1/3rd of the FIRST inning.  

In the garden, we have about six of these pale green pumpkins/gourds of some sort growing on the vines.  These were part of a white pumpkin seed packet that we planted earlier this summer.    They're about the size of a 16" softball currently. As they grow and fatten up, I'm thinking they'll get brighter white.  But...I'm not sure they'll be a part of *our* Halloween festivities this year.

Back on Wednesday, I posted about the wall calendars this month.  The image on the Disney D23 calendar was worth a closer look.  If you're at all into Disneyland, click on the image and zoom in to see how Disneyland was *supposed* to be built.  Plenty of changes were made when it came time to build starting with the castle!

Back in 2011, we discovered the 'original' Pequod's Pizza up in Morton Grove.   I posted about it here on the blog . Nothing has changed at the place. But, plenty has changed on our side.  We went from a family of three to a family of five.  And we arrived in style in our minivan.  Yeah...that's right.  A van. I went with the usual sausage and pepperoni combo and it was delicious.  I have no idea what Nat and the kids ate because I was so focused on my part of the order and shoveling this tasty stuff into my piehole. Those of you who have been to the Pequod's in the city wouldn't be surprised by the pies dished out in Morton Grove.  They're basically the same.  But...for those of you who like to make pizza pilgrimages (like me!), the OG Pequod's is worth the trip.  Just to say you've been to the place where it all began. Look at that beautifully caramelized crust.  Burnt?  Not one bit. It wouldn't be a pizza post without the