Movie Review

So Sunday we get up slowly since the kids were at Grandma's house. I found out the the Q Collective is coming to the house on Monday and not on Thursday like I initially thought. So we decided to get the house cleaned (at least picked up) for their visit. We decided this early, but weren't able to actually get our butts out of the chairs until 10:30 or so. It's so nice to clean house without the boys "help". Around 1:00 Jen got ready to go to work. Christopher and I ran over to Walmart to buy an air mattress. We need one for the Q's visit, but we can think of a couple other times where it might come in real handy. We get there and I just totally luck out and find where they are hiding these things since it is in the absolute back corner of the store. I kind of remember air mattresses being pretty expensive when we priced them before, but find a pretty nice one for only $17 which blew me away. Next I looked at a pump. I could have gotten a mattress that included the pump, but it was battery operated and I really didn't want to try and keep 4 D cell batteries around for the couple of time a year I would need it. I looked for a plug in pump and it was $18! I finally decided to go for the old fashioned hand pump, but we will see how it works. After that Christopher and I picked up the boys at grandma's house. Overall they did real well for grandma. They had fun playing in the new inflatable pool that she had bought and ate just about everything in sight. We went home and I put Christopher and Andrew down for naps, which they both needed. After naps, grandma Sue showed up to watch Christopher and William and Andrew and I took off for the theater. They were real excited to see Wall-E. I showed up and bought tickets as we waited for Jen to get off of work. Actually we were seeing the movie with other Disney Store employees (case members) so I had a chance to chat with them while we were waiting. The boys were eager to get inside. I was getting worried that we wouldn't have a chance to get a good seat if they were sold out. We have done this before for opening weekend with her co-workers and had to deal with very crowded shows, but one of her coworkers came out and told us that the theater wasn't crowded at all. Whew. I hate a crowded theater and its even worse since I will need to get something on the isle for the potty breaks. So Jen shows up and we go into the show. I try to get a picture of the boys with the cardboard cutout in the lobby, but I think they were a little scared of it. As we were walking to our seats the theater goes dark for the previews. Whew, that was just in time. This was Andrews first trip to a movie theater so I wasn't sure how he would like it, but he seemed to like it alot. He spent the entire movie in my lap just staring at the screne. I wasn't sure if he liked the movie or was just so tired for the lack of sleep. William must have liked it too since he didn't take any potty breaks at all during the movie. Overall it is a pretty entertaining movie. I was trying to avoid any reviews about the movie, but I had heard that it actually had a " eco message" to it, crap. I don't mind movies with eco messages in them, I just don't want to see them in a cartoon. I loved the movie "happy feet" a lot, right until they got to the eco message in the movie. That was quite a bit of an "in your face" message how humans were bad. I was hoping this didn't turn that way too, and lucky for me it didn't. The movie went very fast and both boys enjoyed it alot. I took the boys home and quickly into bed. We decided to put both boys in the same room to get them ready for bunking together for the Q's visit and they did pretty good about not messing around too much. Of course the stupid garbage truck comes around at 5:30am and wakes both of them up, so they had an early start today. They will need to pace themselves for the Q's visit...

We actually left the house on a saturday night !!!!

Saturday night there was a surprise birthday party for Jen's uncle Ken. We worked out an overnight stay for the two boys at grandma Diane's house which worked out well since mom and I had been talking about doing another overnight try. Jen had to work (big surprise) so after church I met up with Jen at home and we took the boys over to grandma's house. After dropping them off we headed across town. The party was being hosted by Ken's girlfriend at her house near 469 and hwy 27. We pulled up to this old farm house on 5 or 6 acres with no one else near. It is a fantastic party place that is very secluded so you didn't have to worry about annoying or being annoyed by the neighbors. Anne had a DJ for the Hawaiian themed party. She did a fantastic job decorating her garage and the surrounding area. By the time we arrived, Jen's parents were there along with her brother and some other aunts and uncles. Anne put out quite the spread with all kids of snacks and munchies. I tried to stay away form the nuts since I don't need them for my stomach, but they were so good and it has been a while since we don't keep nuts in the house on account of William and my stomach. So I go for a beer, which I know there would be plenty of. Hmmmmm which of the 12 coolers should I go to for my beer. You know it's a good party when there are 12 coolers. So I am walking around and talking and snacking when Anne tells me about another fire pit around the corner of the woods and that she wants to start it. I tell her that I am more the qualified to burn sh*t, so I offer to start it. The challenge is that I am trying to start wood pallets on fire (it's a big fire pit). she doesn't have any kerosene, but she does have some gasoline. Uh no on the gasoline. So she finds some torch fluid and I figure that would work. So I douse the pallets and try to light them, no good, finally I grab some cardboard from the cases of beer, put a little fluid on those and it starts really well. I had it going real good with 3 pallets on it, but almost no one saw it. The weather was fantastic and the bugs weren't too bad.... oh man, I just thought I could have started the fire by lighthing the spray of the bug stuff.. . About midnight the party was still going well and the dancing started to begin. We decided that it was proabably a good idea to head home. I just heard that the party broke up around 6:00am, but I will have to get confirmation on that. We stopped by mom's house to pick up Christopher on the way home and leaned that the boys were behaving pretty good, but they were up very late. After putting Christopher to bed I was feeling very awake and turned the TV on. As soon as my head it the pillow I was asleap. Even though I had the opportunity to sleep in without the boys waking me up, I still was looking at the clock at 7:00 am, but forced myself to stay asleap until after 8:30. ahhhhhhh. Grandma was not as fortunate as both the boys were up and in her face by 7:00am. It was a fun night.

Here is a video of us singing happy birthday to uncle Ken and in keeping with the Clymer family tradition they sing it badly.

the winds might be changing

For a couple of years now the absolute favorite cartoon character for the boys has been Lightning McQueen. They don't even watch the movie that much but they love the character. Now the winds of change might be in the air. The boys have seen a few previews for the new pixar movie Wall-E and they are freaking out excited. I told the boys earlier this week that we will be going to see the movie this weekend and now they can't stop talking about the movie... and they haven't even seen it yet. They ask me just about every day if it is time to see the movie. Both the boys are imitating the character and they are making the noises that he makes. "Cars" was the first movie that we took William to in the theater. "Wall-e" will be the first movie that we will be taking Andrew to in a movie theater. This should be interesting. William was three for his first movie and Andrew will be 2 and a half, but I think he is a little more ready for the theater experience. Hopefully seeing this movie won't require me to redecorate any bedrooms. I am trying not to read any reviews to taint my movie going experience. Stay tuned for a movie review.

That was kinda funny

I have seen the previews for this new "wipeout" show for a month or so now. It's similar and probably a pretty blatant rip off of "most extreme challenge" (MXC) that is filmed in Japan and has english over dubs. This show usually airs on spike TV. Anyway, the show features people trying to get through an obstacle course with difficult challenges that is pretty physically challenging. Basically its people getting the crap beat out of them on national TV. The show itself is very entertaining, but the Japanese version is still funnier. The part that was a little annoying was that almost every contestant wasn't in any physical shape to complete the course. Now I like to see people hit the mud every once in a while, but I also like to see people complete the course or at least have a chance to complete the course. Luckily they edit out the larger contestants taking 10 - 15 minutes to complete the course. There were some later challenges where a group was on a course at one time with the challenge to get to a finish line first, and they took turns at the challenge. No, the object of the game is to COMPETE for the challenge and not be so friggin nice about it. Overall a very entertaining show and it did very well in the ratings so we will hopefully see it for the rest of the summer.

Maybe the 5th time is the charm... it better be..

I love the new van. It's comfortable, all the kids fit in perfectly (with room to spare), and it has a very nice ride.... BUT... it is starting to vex me a little bit. After purchasing the van we noticed a few small problems that it had. Nothing major but stuff that should work in a new (er) van. There were two things we took it in for. One was a non working vent window in the back and the other was an airbag problem. If there isn't at least 45 pounds in the passenger seat the airbag should deactivate, I guess in case there is a child in the front, but it never deactivated. Well first trip into the place we bought it both problems were diagnosed, but no parts were on hand. Second time in they fixed the vent window, but got a defective part for the airbag and it wasn't fixed. The third time back, when Jen arrived for the appointment the part wasn't delivered yet. We probably should have called to make sure the part was in, but usually that doesn't fall us to track down a part. They called 3 hours later in the day to tell us the part was in, but by then Jen was doing other things. So that brings us to today. Jen takes the van in for the 4th time. They install the part, but the electronics don't hook up. They figure the wrong part was put in the correct part box. So I am sitting here trying to figure out how pissed to be. I am not really that put off since there isn't any cost on our end for the service (warranty), and we like the place we took the van. But Jen has wasted 4 (going to be 5) days tracking down babysitters (again free, but still) and burning gas to take it across town and wasting her time. Jen was close to going off on them today, but I think she has alot of the same thoughts that I do that it is just unfortunate circumstances. If there is a problem the next time I am going to make some phone calls to managers and such for sure, but for now I will just believe that the 5th time is a charm and hope this is the last problem we will have for a long time.

Jen's Birthday weekend

Jen's birthday was Saturday, but I tried to make the whole weekend of stuff that she wanted to do or things she enjoyed. She had to work both Saturday and Sunday, but we threw in alot of stuff around her working.

Friday night we took up Jeff's invite to go out to Jefferson Point for the free concert thing that they have. I had never really been to one of these things so wasn't sure what to expect. I figured that there would be a small crowd with shoppers stopping occasionally to hear the band, but it ended up being a HUGE crowd with probably a couple hundred people sitting all over the place. They rope off the area around the fountain and it turns out being a beer/wine garden where you can get an adult beverage. We show up around 7:00 and run into friends we know and catch up with them. What a perfect night with temps in the mid 70's and a clear sky. After talking with our friends a while we walk around trying to find Jeff and whoever else. I finally had to call his cell since I couldn't find him and they were in the food court, but unfortunately they had to leave shortly after we got together. The boys were more interested in running around then actually sitting there and visiting or listening to the band, so we spent most of that time running to both ends of Jefferson point. At one end of the run we decided to stop for dinner since Jen and I hadn't eaten. We ran into Panera's (one of Jen's favorites) for a sandwich. The sandwich that I had was pretty good, but I am still not a huge fan of this restaurant. Little pricey and the bread is always tough. (I know it's supposed to be that way, for some reason) The boys did rather well just watching us eat and playing. After that we went to get Jen a black and white truffle (again a fav) from Debrands. On the way home we stopped by Zestos and got some ice cream. Andrew is a bigger fan of the cone than the actual ice cream and doesn't get the fact that it has to be eaten right away or it melts. He will milk his lunch for half an hour if we let him. We got home around 9:30 and put the kids to bed.

Saturday morning was another 6:50am wake up from the boys. Jen went into work early so she could have the night off. The boys and I just played around the house and did stuff. Jen got home from work actually on time (big shock) and not too long after that the in-laws showed up. We arranged for the in-laws to watch the kids while we went over to Cinema Grille to see the new "Get Smart" film. I had heard mixed reviews about this movie so I was a bit hesitant. We haven't been to the Cinema Grille in years so I was a little surprised by some of the cost. It was $7 a piece just to get into the movie. I remember it being alot cheaper the last time. The dinner was a bit pricey for what it was too, but it's a splurge on our part. The movie was actually very good and I recommend it. Some of the funnier parts were in the previews like to be expected. I wish I wouldn't have watched the previews beforehand since those scenes would have put me on the floor in laughter rather than just a good laugh. There are more parts that are just as funny. Overall the Cinema Grille experience is still a good one and alot of fun to do. After the movie got out we decided to run over to Ritters for more ice cream (two nights in a row is a record). It was another fantastic night outside that was a little cool, but very comfortable with some thunderstorms in the distance making for quite the show. I have found that when Jen and I do these date nights without the kids I find it hard to actually take a moment to enjoy myself since it like I am always in a hurry to get home and take care of kids or worry about the grandparent taking care of them. I guess we will just have to do it more often. We get home to a quiet house and visit with the in-laws for a bit. You might as what did I get for Jen? I got her a salt dispenser from the Food Network that she has been wanting for a while now. Big fan of Alton Brown's salt dispenser. And I got her some new pajamas since she commented about them a couple of weeks ago. Around birthday's and holidays I usually make a trek to the Disney store to see if Jen has dropped any comments about what she wants to her co-workers. I am very lucky to know the manager and assistant manager really well so they can be my spies when I need :)

Sunday we got up (another 7:00am morning) and went to church. After I cut grass while Jen gabbed with Carrie, almost forgetting what time she had to be to work. The boys and I played all day and Jen brought home a pizza for dinner. Overall we did quite a bit this weekend, but it was alot of fun. Happy Birthday Jen!!

Let's take the day off

So I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday at 8:00am. The original plan was to just take half a day off and go into work at noon, but a couple of weeks ago I got an email from my cousin Marc asking if I wanted to get a round of golf in. Well let's just turn that half a day into a whole day and have a little fun. And he had a coupon.. Score!! The dentist was pretty uneventful and just the clean and scrape that I go through twice a year. I still get yelled at for not flossing enough. I just love how the dental assistant does all the scraping and cleaning for half an hour and the "dentist" breezes in looks around and leaves. I know the life stories of my dental assistants a whole lot better than I actually know my dentist. So after my appointment I run over to pick up Marc. On the way to his house I stop by the CVS to pick up a brace for my forarm since the last time I played golf it started burning like I was getting tendinitis. Yeah I am getting old. I also pick up a bag of candy for the course too to give me something to snack on and start working on something for the next dentist appointment. I get to Marc's house and we load up his clubs when he tells me that he called the course and they were booked with an outing. Crap. Thank God he called before heading to the other side of town, but crap for not being able to use the coupon. Where to go next. We talked about going to Shoaff park, but that course is pretty short and if I am blowing a whole day off I want to play somewhere with some distance. We played Riverbend a couple times last year so I felt like someplace new. We decided to run over to Cherry Hill. Yeah a little pricey but they run weekday specials and you got to love the GPS in the carts. We pull up and it's not too crowded but we notice alot of carts out with people unloading signs. Another outing. Crap. We talk to them hoping to sneak out ahead of the outing, but to no luck. They look up their sister course, Autumn Ridge, on the computer and they can't get us out until after 1:00. I am thinking of all the other course in the area, and we decide to try Cedar Creek in Leo since it's not really that far. We drive up there and pull into a filled parking lot. Another freaking outing!!! As we are talking to the pro I remember that Deer Track isn't too far away from Cedar Creek and a pretty fun course. The pro graciously calls over there to see if they can get us on, and they have an outing too, BUT, it's not until the afternoon and if we get there right away we can play. So Marc and I bust butt and get over there in minutes. It was a very windy day on the course and a bit cool with temps hovering around 71 that gave us both a bit of a chill on the course. We had kids and seniors playing in front of us slowing us down, but we didn't really care since we were there to enjoy ourselves. Overall I played pretty good for being the first time on the course this year. I had some great shots and some flubs. I was playing my typical bogey golf with a few pars thrown in there. The last three holes Marc and I played against each other for the golden golf ball trophy. Actually it's just a golf ball painted gold that someone found on the course a few years ago. We used to get together with some other guys and whoever won the round would get the ball. I have had this ball in the ash try of the Jeep (now van) for a couple of years rattling around. I don't know if it was the pressure of the contest or the fact that I was getting tired, but I played the last three holes like crap with double, triple, double bogey. Unfortunatly Marc played even worse than that so I am still the keeper of the golden ball. We commented about how we didn't loose too many balls too soon and dropped quite a few in the last couple of holes. After the round we went back to his house for a beer and to look at the challenge ahead for his move to his new house next month. The good part is that my arm never really hurt so I didn't have to wear that brace. I am still going to keep it in the bag just in case it flares up if I play again. I can only think of a couple more opportunities that I might have to play golf this year. One being the outing for work next month and the other is the Night Golf in August that I want EVERYONE WHO READS THIS TO PLAY IN!!!!!!!

Let's give it a try

I know that my dad and some other relatives read my blog. They have made a couple comments that they would like to comment on some of my postings, but they don't have an account to be able to comment. So I have now enabled commenting for anyone to my blog. Hopefully I won't get a bunch of spam comments.

So all y'all go ahead and comment !!!

meh...

Jen and I are trying to get a little more into the gaming thing and actually play our Wii a little more often. We might actually splurge and buy a game for it some day!! One of the features of the Wii is that you can look up your local weather and some other stuff that is built into the basic features of the machine. The other one that peaked my interest is the internet channel. How cool would it be to surf the net on my TV. If it's half as cool as the weather feature then it would be worth it. So Jen and I are sitting around the other night talking and I mention it to her, so we go online and see that we can buy some Wii points and buy the internet feature online. My shaky controller makes entering the numbers on the keyboard a little more difficult, but I finally got it done. (fixing the controller is next on the list). In a few minutes we were surfing the net. Again the shaky controler made entering websites difficult, but we got it done. Unfortunately I don't think the design of the Wii or the browser (opera) were meant to be viewed on a 54 inch screen. It's alright, but not that cool. A big downside is the fact that the wii comes built in with adobe flash 6, but nothing newer and no way of updating it so we can't watch most of the video online. I was hoping we could so we could watch the shows we missed on the TV rather than huddled around the laptop. I still have more to look up and play with with the internet feature, but so far it's just alright..

Father's Day weekend

It was father's day weekend. I am still getting used to the fact that I am actually a father. Yeah I know after 3 kids it should have sunk in, but after 40 years of making sure I did something for my father it's hard to get my mind around the fact that its my day too. Jen has to work all weekend so my plans are up in the air for the most part, but I have a few ideas. Saturday was a very lazy day. I didn't do much of anything except watch TV and play with the boys. I should have run them outside for awhile. After dinner I decided to make some cookies to munch on. I haven't made sugar cookies in a while so I pull out that recipe. As I am putting it together I forgot how much dough it made and how much of a mess went into making them. The boys like to watch me bake and have to be standing on the chair watching me the whole time. Usually they behave themselves, but Andrew was being a little crankier than usual. So I am finishing up and getting ready to put the cookies into the oven when Andrew throws an even bigger fit. I tell him to go into the front room and play. He leaves, but comes back a short time later crying and whining. Just as I am about to tell him to stop crying go play I notice his face. The skin all around his eyes are blistered and red. What the hell did he get into? I start to freak a little bit and give him some benydryl in case it was an allergic reaction to one of the cookie ingredients. I am trying to decide if this is a "take him to the hospital" kind of thing or a "wait and see what the medicine does" kind of thing. I decide to give the medicine a few moments and put a wash cloth on his face to help the blistering. I am thinking that he either rubbed some cinnamon or some nutmeg in his eyes that caused the reaction. I noticed that my eyes kind of burn after putting cinnamon in the mixer. I decide to get a second opinion and call Jen at work and freak her out. She is for taking him to the emergency room, but I am finally starting to calm down a little (and so is Andrew) and am going to see what the medicine and wash cloths will do. I call my mom to make sure she is available to watch the kids in case I do take him to the ER and she ends up coming over anyway. When she gets there, her opinion on ER too, but by the time she arrives his face is actually looking better. Andrew just sits in her lap and is looking better after half an hour or so. His one eye is still watering and bloodshot but it doesn't seem to bother him that much. The boys got to stay up late Saturday so they could watch Monsters Inc. on TV and it gave me a chance to keep an eye on Andrew. Everyone goes to bed pretty well and I can tell Andrew is feeling better with being a little more active during bed time. Still, it's a little freaky on why that happened.

Sunday is another 7:00am beginning to the day. Why don't our kids appreciate sleeping in on the weekends???? Andrew is looking almost normal with just some redness around his eye. We all get breakfast and then head for church. After church mom treats us to breakfast/lunch at the Cracker Barrel. They have real good food there, and the boys acted pretty good for the most part. Of course William has to go to the bathroom just as my food gets there so I get to eat a luke warm reuben, but it was still very good. The boys also did very well at Texas Roadhouse for grandpa's birthday dinner earlier in the week. Maybe there is hope for dining in restaurants after all. After lunch we take the boys back to my mom's house to drop them off for a little while. I know, nothing like celebrating father's day by getting rid of your kids. I thought about taking the boys to the Zoo or something else like that, but there has been a few projects around the house that have been bugging me, and they are easier to solve without the boys under foot. Jen leaves for work and I put on my work clothes. Things I did: mow the yard, wash the van, trim up the magnolia tree in front, trim up the lillac bush on the side and trim up the other bushes in the front yard. One of the bigger things that have bugged me is the tree roots that are above the ground in the back yard. They are definite lawn mower beaters. Taking them out involves axes and other heavy tools, that wouldn't go over too well with the boys around. After 5 hours of hard labor and a little bit of a sunburn I head back to mom's house to play with the boys and visit with her. So far Andrew hasn't had any more reactions to mom's dog, but that's because the usually lock up that dog when he is around. Maybe next time we visit we will see if he reacts to the dog again. We get home around 7:00pm just about the same time as Jen. Bath time and the boys off to bed. Jen and I just crash on the couch. Overall a good weekend. I am tired and the muscles are a little sore, but I alway feel better when I accomplish something.

Pizza Time

So I am sitting at home on Thursday night with the boys debating what to make for dinner. Jen didn't get a chance to get to the store earlier in the week so the pickings were a little slim. I figured that I would just load up the boys and run over a grab a pizza, but then I remembered that I had the Saturn and Jen had the van. Crap. If I would have been thinking I could have picked one up on the way home. So I am lamenting on what to make. I know the boys would be happy with chicken nugets or hot dogs, but I am not in the mood for the old stand-by's. I decide to splurge and have a pizza delivered. Now we haven't done that in quite some time since most places charge a delivery fee and that doesn't include the driver tip, so we usually just end up picking it up. I am not in a mac and cheese mood tonight so I order it up. It's good pizza and breadsticks. If I would have been thinking I could have gotten my order for $11 ($5.99 pick up special + bread sticks), but it ends up costing me $22. Oh well, it's better than mac and cheese again. Next time I plan ahead and pick it up on the way home.

"I want it all.... I want it all.....and I want it now...."

Yesterday morning I go downstairs on my way out the door to work. Of course the boys are awake and having breakfast with Jen. She is trying to turn on the TV for the boys but it just keeps making a clicking noise and the power light in the front blinks on and off. Crap. I smell an electronic burning around the back of the TV. Crap 2. I unplug the TV and wait for a couple seconds and try to turn in back on again since some electronics require a total power down to reset itself, but to no avail as it keeps clicking and stinking. So Jen has her project for the day. Calling around to see who will service the TV and how much it would cost for a service call. We can't just load up a 55" TV in the back of a car and run it over to the repair shop. The TV is probably 6 or 7 years old and has been through a few moves and in storage so it's not a huge surprise that it is having issues. On the way to work that commercial keeps running in my mind where the wife tells her husband to get a new TV and he goes crazy at Best Buy, and yeah I get a little excited. I start looking at new TV's with all their features and stuff. I could never afford to replace the 55" screen in the front room, but I figure that I would need at least 32" to do the previous TV justice. The prices are around $500 - $600 for something in the 30+" area, which is a bit pricy, but about half as much as I paid for the 55" ( it was a floor model) TV 6 years ago. There is a chance we could fix the old TV so I don't get my hopes up for a new one just yet. I get a call from Jen that has called around to a few service places. The one place says that it would be like $100 for a service call, but if he was there for over 40 minutes it would be another $170. And that's just the trip and diagnostic service, that doesn't include parts!!! Holy Crap I am going into the TV repair business. So I am thinking $270 for a service call not including parts is half the price of a new 32" flat screen plasma, so it's looking bad for the old TV. We decided to make a few more calls before deciding what to do. Jen calls Best Buy (where we bought the TV originally). As she is talking to them and looking up numbers and all the other crap that you go through the person at best buy sees that this particular model, because of it's age, requires you to call phillips directly for service. The person at Best Buy was very helpful to Jen and I have to give them kudos. So Jen calls Phillips and starts talking to their service guy who asks what the symptoms are and Jen tells him. He asks if we have unplugged it and plugged it back in again, where she says yes. But then he asks for how long. "uh, probably 30 seconds to a minute". The TV was still unplugged from the morning because I wasn't a big fan of the electronic burning smell causing a fire. He says to plug it back in again to see if it's still doing it, and Jen does whereupon it fires right up and everything is back to normal. I was right that it needed to be unplugged to reset itself, I just didn't do it long enough. Maybe I will start doing a total power down at night every once in a while to keep from fritzing (technical term) out again. So with just a few phone calls we saved ourselves hundreds of dollars and alot of hassle. Yeah I was kinda excited about getting a new TV, but I am still glad we can get some more life out of the old one. Maybe we can retire it to the basement when I get the remodel done.

Fire, Fire, Fire

So last week I decided that it was time for a party. The weather is getting nicer and we don't see our friends enough. It was all started in a conversation that I had with Lori of the fun time we had when they would have a "fire pit" at her house. SoI figured it was time to get the usual cast of characters together but also invite some other friends that we haven't seen in quite a while. I figure that we can play cards and get the Wii out and also I can initiate the fire pit that I got for Christmas and get rid of the twigs and stuff that have accumulated in the back yard for the past year. So Jen and I go into typical planning mode with conversation about the menu and other stuff. I tore apart the front room and cleaned the carpet for the event as well. We decided to just do a snack kind of thing to make it quick and simple. Even though I sent out an email invite to everyone that I have an email for, we still ended up calling some people Saturday at the last minute since we just kept forgetting. We had a pretty decent crowd with at least 3 couples not making it due to being out of town on that night. It started out pretty slow (which the usually do) but it gave us a chance to catch up with a friend of ours who we hadn't seen in years. For the menu we had Carries chocolate chip cookies, layer dip, shrimp cracker spread, chips and dip, and the required carmel corn. We also bought a case of beer and the makings for margarittas since you never really know what people would want to drink. Even though in this day and age with all of our friends being older and having kids they usually stick to pop. We made the party kid friendly since we have kids and alot of or friends do too. The kids seemed to have a blast outside on the playset and all played well together without any major incidents or injuries. Since Keith has a Wii also we had him bring over his games to play. He brought over guitar hero. This is my first chance to actually play this game on the Wii. It's a pretty fun game and I can see how people really enjoy it, but I am more into the racing and shoot em up kind of thing. So the adults are trying guitar hero out and trying to get through one song when the kids realize that we are playing games and now THEY want to play games, so yeah we lost control of the Wii shortly after that. So I am walking around and talking to people and being the good host and realize that it is getting pretty dark outside. I wasn't sure about starting the fire since everyone seemed to be happy playing the Wii and talking. I was going to start a card game on the kitchen table, but it was being used for a conversation area so I just put the cards in the middle of the table and if a card game broke out, so be it. But I finally decided to start the fire up. I had been putting in limbs, twigs, and leaves in this above ground fire pit all year and decided that if I could at least get rid of that it would give me more room for the next couple of weeks. I had filled the fire pit almost up to the top with stuff and didn't think it would be that big of a fire, but after finally getting it started it turned into a HUGE ass fire with flames at least 7 feet high (oops). My brother in law Jim said that my father in law would be proud for the amount of flame. Lucky for me I had it situated the fire pit so nothing was near and I had planned ahead and had a garden hose handy, just in case.


The children in the background look closer than they actually were so don't worry. So the flames finally calmed down and I was standing out there drinking a beer and tending to the fire. I had a garbage can of other twigs that I had collected last year so I had some extra ammo in case we wanted to hang out a little longer. Nothing like a roaring fire when it's 80 degrees outside. People drifted in and out of the house and the party started breaking up after a while. But Keith and I kept watch over the fire and worked on solving the world's problems. At one point Andrew picked up my empty beer and tried to hand it to me. I told him it was empty and to put it down. He instead took the beer into the house and told Jenny "empty". All I heard was laughter from the house for a while and Jen yelling at me since she thought I sent him on a mission for more beer. That was just a bonus that happened. A little while later we sent Keith's son Charlie and Jarod on a mission for more beer. It's great having kids. A while later (and a few more beers later) Keith and I still hadn't solved the worlds problems, but we were running out of stuff to burn and beer. I counted 9 soldiers from the battlefield that I bought back into the house between the two of us. Man I haven't done that in ages. So it's after midnight when everyone decided to call it a night. Keith gave up his keys so don't worry about that, and I was home so I didn't have to worry about that either. So we put the kids to bed and did a quick clean up and put anything perishable away and fell asleap downstairs. I woke up around 5:00am and went to bed whereupon Christopher wakes up at 6:00am and then for good at 7:00am. Wow that's early. I am tired and have a little bit of a hangover, but I get ready and go to church. The rest of the Sunday was playing with the kids and trying to catch a nap when I could. Overall I think everyone had a good time. Those event are fun to do, and maybe we can do it again in a while.

Wunderbar

Man it's been busy at work. I am getting behind on my blogging.

Let's start with last week. Wednesday I took the day off work so I could go down to Germanfest with the family. My mom likes being there for opening day of Germanfest and always invites the kids down for a little music and food. I decided to take the day off the join them. The day didn't start out that promising with an icky looking morning and the threat of storms in the area, but it cleared up as it came closer to head out. We headed out almost on time and I was trying to get down there before the big downtown lunch crowd descended upon the tent. It took me forever to find a parking space downtown. I usually pay the $4 and park right next to the tent, but that lot was full. I could have paid the $5 at the gas house since you get that back with a food purchase, but I wasn't planning on eating at the gas house in the near future. So I drove around a little bit and all of my usual hidden gems were gone, but then I decided to try the meters by freiman square and there was a ton of them. Lucky for me I threw a little change into my pocket on the way out the door so had enough for an hour and a half. I figured that I could find change and come back if we were still there or borrow some change from my mom. I set the alarm on my cell phone to remind me. Even if I did forget, the $5 parking ticket would still be the same as paying for parking. So we pack up the crew and start walking to the tent. For some reason Andrew is in a real foul mood. He insists on being carried, which is fine, but man he is getting heavy. So we get to the tent and meet up with mom and her friends and have a nice lunch. It's still great food every year and again one of the festivals that I don't mind going to. Mom and I got a pitcher of beer but I only had a few and I think mom gave away the majority of the rest since she is still in recovery mode from her back surgery and doesn't need a bunch of beer, (but it was cheaper than buying by the glass). Andrew is still real touchy, but the boys run around a little bit fingering up the cars and trying to get to the rides outside the tent. As we are walking around I run into a bunch of people that I know from my old radio days, Captain Chris, Chris and Lisa Underwood, and Kent Horman. I hadn't talked to them in years. So after a while we decided to call it a day and head for home and put the cranky boys to bed. We go outside the gates to where the rides are to look around and the boys want to ride the stuff,but it was getting late and the rides didn't seem to be worth the couple bucks apiece to ride. We get back to the van and no ticket (yeah). We had talked about trying to hit the zoo after the festival, but with the boys being cranky and the weather still being a little iffy we decided just to go home chill.


Here is video of the boys, hopefully you can hear a little of the umpaa paaa music in the background

Lights Out !!

So we are sitting around the house on Friday night and getting ready to put the boys to bed and in the distance we hear the rumbles of thunder. This goes on for a while with the thunder getting louder, but there isn't any rain. I am thinking, Great, now the boys are going be freaked out by thunder all night long. Then the lights flicker. Then all the power goes out in the house. Then back on for a second and then out again, then back on again for a second and then out again for good. Crap. I always try to have a plan in place for such occasions, but usually the power comes back on in minutes. So I grab the big flash light that the boys have been playing with a little bit and sure enough it's dead. Then Jen grabs for her flashlight that is plugged into an outlet. I knew that it was dead too and had told her months ago it was fubared, but she claims that I never told her that. I only pointed to the wind up flashlights twice at Walmart, but I think she thought I was just looking for a new toy to play with. So I grab the old reliable mini mag-lite that I use for my night golf because I tend to keep that one away from the boys. It's not much, but it works. It is dark in the house but still dusk-ish so not pitch black dark yet. So I am trying to find batteries for the big light or try and think of a toy that I can grab batteries from, or maybe a toy that lights up. My little Shoq Box radio is still running, but getting low on battery. After that dies I grab the wind up/solar battery from the garage. As I am trying to get this stuff together Andrew is insistent on being the keeper of the flashlight. I don't think he was scared of the dark, he just wanted to play with the flashlight. So he is screaming because he doesn't have the flash light, I am trying to find stuff, and it is getting real dark in the house. At this point I look outside and see that the people across the street have power ! WTH. But I see that the people behind us don't have power and see flashlights in their windows too so it's just out little area. At least it's not just our house. The boys weren't as freaked out about not having power as I thought they would be. William was having fun pointing out all the stuff that wasn't on anymore, which was everything.

Lucky for me I have a wife who has a candle obsession/compulsion/fetish so in no time we had candles all over the house. We give both the boys their own little candle as a nightlight and they go so sleep pretty fast. We are trying to decide what to do next. Its not bad enough to warrent packing the kids up and heading to a grandparents house, it's actually very nice outside, but I notice that it's started to rain hard. No power mean no sump pump (NO I haven't installed the battery back up yet), but I have a backup plan for just such an occasion. We have a dc/ac converter and the plan is to plug in one of the cars and run an extension cord down to the basement to power the sump pump. I checked a couple times and there isn't any water running on to the sump which is due to the fact that the ground is dry and it might take a while for water to reach the basement. But I want to get ready so I take the flashlight into the garage getting the extension cord to get everything set up. As I am grabbing the cord the power comes back on.

It was only an hour, but still an hour of a lot of scrambling. Just showed me how I wasn't really prepared, so probably a trip to the store to get a few things to throw into a box for just such an occasion and keep it away from the boys. It was actually kind of nice just sitting around with the candles and just listening to the radio.