He's an All-Star

Today was laundry day. It was also the day Dad said he'd take me to meet my new nephew. I brought my laundry over around quarter of 10, and after I put it in the dryer, we were on our way. It was a lovely day for it, too. The sun shown in a blue sky and perfect, mid-60s temperatures as we headed down the highway to Cooper River Hospital in Camden.

Cooper River Hospital is a huge complex with many buildings, but the maternity ward was in the main one. Dad said he and Jodie had trouble finding Rose's building when they visited them yesterday. We had less problems today. He only had to ask one man behind the desk, and he knew right where we were going. We did take the wrong elevator, but it didn't take too long to get turned around and get on the right one.

Rose and Craig were there when we arrived, but Khai wasn't. He was getting circumcised, poor guy. The nurses and doctor wheeled Khai in about ten minutes later. They gave Rose and Craig directions on how to take care of his wound, and then we got to meet the newcomer for the first time.

He was sooo tiny! He makes the cutest faces. His eyes aren't quite open yet. He makes little squeaky noises when he sleeps; Craig jokes that he's snoring, like Rose (and most of our family) does. I got to hold him twice. The first time, he got a little noisy, but I think that was because he'd just gotten through the circumcision and was feeling sore. I held him again after Rose fed him while we waited in the family rooms. This time, he went right to sleep.

Rose said that she's feeling fine and the operation went well. Craig's looking fine, too. He was a big help. He knew just how to hold the baby. They're both utterly thrilled and looking great. I'm so happy for them. Khai's adorable.

After we got home, I went straight back to my place and had a peanut butter and berry jam wrap for lunch. After that, I rode over to Westmont. I stopped at Super Fresh first. They always have good salad dressing sales, and I'm almost out. I bought two of Ken's delicious Healthy Options dressings, Italian with Romano and Red Pepper and Balsamic. I also bought Oat Bran, which Acme no longer carries.

Headed for the Haddon Township Library next for this week's volunteering session. They're in the midst of some kind of survey that doesn't allow you to shelve books, so there wasn't a lot I could do. I did take some things out, though. I found two cartoon DVDs I was interested in, the newest Backyardigans episodes and a childhood favorite, Scooby Doo's All-Star Laugh-a-Lympics. I also took out two more mysteries, the first Beatrix Potter mystery The Tale of Hill Top Farm and an American Girl mystery story, Secrets In the Hills.

I took the long way home across Newton River Park, partially to avoid traffic on Cuthbert Road, since it was about 4:30 then. It was a gorgeous day for it. There couldn't have been a more perfect spring day. There were lots of people out, too, walking their dogs and riding bikes. I made a brief stop at CVS but didn't get anything.

When I got home, I fed my cake craving with gingerbread while watching the cartoon DVDs. The Backyardigans episodes in this go-around were pretty strange. The first one, with rear-end-kicking princesses Tasha and Uniqua breaking out of their tower prison to the sound of girl-group music, was by far the best. The one with Tasha, Tyrone, and Pablo as a marachi band who ends up in space and encounters aliens who want to cover Earth with goo was at least creative. The one about Tasha's pencil jamming up the gears in a sock-making machine was also pretty odd, but very cute - loved all the catchphrases in that one. ("In all my years..." "For the love of socks!")

Scooby Doo's All-Star Laugh-A-Lympics ran on the USA Network's Cartoon Express block in the late 80s and early 90s, and it was one of my favorite shows. It's basically Hanna Barbara's version of Disney's House of Mouse...only instead of just hanging at a club, most of the popular Hanna Barbara characters of the 60s and 70s square off in a massive sports competition set in different countries.

I always rooted for the Yogi Yahooies, the team made up of all the HB funny animals, including the bear himself. The Scooby Doobies consisted of the 70s mystery teams and their various pets - Scooby and Shaggy, Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, Speed Buggy and his humans, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. The Really Rottens were, as you've probably guessed from the name, villains. They were lead by the most famous HB bad guys, Dastardly and Muttley. Snagglepuss and Mildew Wolf were the commentators, and other HB characters would show up as "guest star judges" from time to time.

Unlike most of the HB shows of the 60s and 70s, I enjoyed it as much now as I did when I would plop on the couch for the entire three-hour USA Cartoon Express. These characters can be formulatic and sometimes a bit dull on their own...but toss them all together, with, say, Grape Ape sumo-wrestling Shaggy or the Rottens somehow managing to miss the finish line in a bobsled race, and you have some comic gold.