Brody: Look mom! Let’s get this! Pleeeeeease! It helps you run! Look!
Melanie:  ………

Memories of parties with friends while License To Ill and Paul’s Boutique blared on the stereo. Always having a B-Boys CD in my car… and nowadays, never missing their music on my iPod or iPhone.

My kids were, and still are, exposed to them on a regular basis. Lauren used to ask me to play the “drop song” (Intergalactic) while driving in the car because; she loved the part where the music stopped and they said “mmmmmm, drop!” She’s now 16 and not too long ago texted me that she loved the song Funky Boss because those are basically the only lyrics in the whole song. A few months back I played some B-Boys songs for Brody (3 years old) which included So Whatcha Want, Body Movin’, and Intergalactic. Afterwards I asked him which one he liked best… he said “All of them!!!”

In 2007, Melanie and I were lucky enough to be able to see them live at the Greek Theater. It was a super fun show, and we had such a fun time.

This will surely keep the Beastie Boys from ever creating any new music. I can only hope that they have some unreleased work that includes MCA that will be released some day. There’s no doubt that they’ve always been a 3-man team, and that they’re just not the Beastie Boys sans Adam Yauch with his gruff voice and unique delivery and style.

Honestly, I don’t think there is another musical act that has been such an important part of my life. Beastie Boys For Life

Melanie: Thank you, what’s this?
Brody: Soda, with some funk in it.
Melanie: Funk?
Brody: It has funk in it.
Melanie: … that’s not what I ordered.

Brody: I here!!
Me: Either come in or go out so you can shut the door! Are you coming in?
Brody: … Nope, too stinky.

(translation: Can I help you?)

Hey everyone!! Another year has gone by as we’re ready to get 2011 wrapped up and over with.

The Bernharts would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or happy any-other-holiday-you-celebrate … in other words: Happy Holidays to all our family and friends!!

Some highlights of our year:

• Melanie finished radiation therapy, started the reconstruction process, and has been given the “all clear” from her oncologist that she is currently cancer free!!
• Melanie and Lauren took part in the opening ceremonies of Supercross in Anaheim Stadium in February for their Breast Cancer Awareness event.
• Lauren started 10th grade, passed the 6-foot-tall mark… and made the Junior Varsity volleyball team at her school.
• Brody is still trying to decide on what he wants to be when he grows up. The choices he’s mulling over (so far): waiter, break-dancing bowler, or sound effect impersonator.
• Neil organized Octobeardfest for it’s second year, and with help from Melanie and many, many other friends…  raised $1,180 for cancer research.
• Melanie took a bartending course and passed to become a certified mixologist.
• My friend Tim invited all four of us to be on the Cancer Assassins float in the Chino Christmas Parade. Survivors and families were on the float, and Cancer Assassins raffled off a fully decorated tree that raised over $400.

Special thanks go to our good friend Mike Flores for having the patience to take our group holiday photo, which is not easy with a 3-year-old running around (as you can see in one of the pics below).

Here are some other photos from our holiday season for you to enjoy!

We were on a float in the Chino Christmas Parade this year. My buddy Tim has a cancer fundraising group and he asked for local cancer survivors and their families to be on the float. It was a great time… Brody really loved it, but said that his arms were tired from waving to everyone.

Brody: Daddy, you get a medal… for eating.
Me: Wow, really? That’s… awesome.

He made me put it over my head. So I obliged, then finished my meal.

Brody: I want some runch!
Me: Oh, you mean breakfast?
Brody: Yeah… my tummy wants food in it.
Me: Is your tummy hungry?
Brody: My tummy is mad at me… it goes like… “GRRRRR”

Me: Here you go buddy, have some yummy waffles
Brody: I want some ketchup on it!!

Not quite sure if he was serious or not.

Me: Oh man, that trash got out and it’s all over the street. Maybe Mr. Trash Man will pick it up?

Brody: Yeah, it’s yucky trash.

trash truck comes by for the other side of the street… and does nothing about the trash that got out.

Me: What? Mr. Trash Man didn’t pick up the mess. Shame on him!!

Brody: Yeah, he’s got shame on the truck. We put shame on him (making a throwing motion with his arm)

Me: Let’s have a snack and then we’ll go to the park and play baseball

Brody: OK

Me: What kind of snack do you want?

Brody: Beer!

It gets less comfy every year… for me at least since I’m at the bottom. But, it’s so worth it!

One of my most vivid memories of NYC was from a trip into the city to visit the World Trade Center. I’m sure it was not long after we moved back to NY that we went to visit the city, I’m guessing ’78 or ’79 (I think I was 8 or 9 years-old at the time). I remember seeing the Statue Of Liberty from the car as we drove to the Twin Towers.

Most likely from the Brooklyn bridge as we made our way to lower Manhattan. I haven’t been to NYC since we moved out to CA in ’81, but I can still remember seeing those twin towers dominating the skyline.

We were there to go to the top of the one of the towers. Back then it was open to the public to actually go out onto the top of the towers. I can still picture the view from the top; the observation deck was sort of a small area far away from the sheer edges of the tower. But, believe me… I still felt the rush of being so high up in the sky.

The most memorable part was not being up at the top, but rather at an observation level that was on the way to the top. I think it was part of, if not an entire floor, dedicated to tourist activity. I recall stopping part-way up to get to this level and walking up near the windows.

On some windows, they had stickers on the windows that were outlines of city landmarks and other buildings… and if you lined up your sight just right, you could position the outline around the actual object in the distance. I remember my dad lifting me up to help me do it. I think it was the Chrysler build off in the distance that I was lining up.

He put me down and I was maybe a foot away from the glass. I was frozen. It seemed as if I was floating above the city. That wasn’t even the part that was most memorable. Here’s what happened next: My oldest brother pushed me from behind and my heart skipped several beats as I almost hit the window. I don’t think he let me actually hit the window, but it was close enough that I came close to soiling my underpants. Brotherly Love.

Whenever I see images of the Twin Towers, I remember that trip to the city. Seeing the Statue Of Liberty, being on the top of the Twin Towers, my dad helping me learn as he always did, and my brother scaring the living crap out of me.

Those Towers will always mean something to me. I can’t wait to go back to see the memorial.

Brody: (watching me finish a glass of beer) What is dat?
Me: It’s beer
Brody: Beer? Where did it go?
Me: I drank it… it’s all finished.
Brody: Oh
Me: What should I do now?
Brody: Get more beer!!!

So obvious, that a 3-year-old knows what to do!