Monkey Joes

Dad had to go into work on Wednesday, so mom took the kids to Monkey Joes. Austin had a blast jumping in the all of the different blow up activities. He made friends quickly and they were all racing up the slides together.



Jennifer stayed with mom in the baby area and played with some toys. Monkey Joes has Pizza Hut pizza for lunch, so mom and Austin each had a slice. Jennifer had some of the pizza crust.

Jennifer is chewing on everything right now. Her two bottom, front teeth are just poking through the gums now. She is growing up so fast. She will be 7 months old on July 31.

Jaws of Life aftermath

As we drove around today, we came across the Cornelius-Lemley Fire Department and they were displaying some of their work! Man this is wild!!! These folks just do not get enough credit. If you get a chance, stop by your local fire department and say, “Thank You”

Garage Sale find

Jenny and mom fell in love with the chair. So up it went in the truck!

Yummy Jenny!

The kids were being good and Austin was really stepping it up today. He had eaten all his breakfast, lunch and was getting some chores done without issue. So we wanted to stop and reward him. It looks like Jennifer took the limelight with her first ice cream lick. As you can see, she is hooked! She couldn't wait to get the next lick in. She would wiggle and grunt if we weren't fast enough. It is the most I've seen her want anything.

JNZY upgrade

This is a great picture. Does anyone know why?

What time is it?!?

What a day, and it started last night. Not sure what is going on. Let me ramble here and see if it spells out on the keyboard. Last night started out like every other night. Mom works Jennifer to sleep and Austin and I just keep to ourselves till mom emerges from the baby’s room. Austin and I usually catch AFV. Laughing is a great way to relax before or for bed. Then, if mom can, she’ll join us for story time. Last nights book was “Sleepy Boy”. All went well as we turned out the lights to get some sleep. But Jennifer robbed us of that great deep sleep, she was crying around 2230est. Mom was determined to let her cry it out, as she should. It is tough parenting 101, synonymous with class Tough Love 101. However, my stomach started to feel funny and I wasn’t able to lie there any longer. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with Jennifer crying, but I wasn’t going to lay there thinking about it before I tossed the cookies. Ok, gross. Sorry! So I had to get up and pace the room. It wasn't too much longer until my brain woke up and discovered that I was on idle. So all the work related items came into play. Thanks neurons! So off to work I got, downstairs in the buff. Well, after some coding I had to take a break. I was stuck on some formatting issue when passing a few parameters to another process. It is always great fun trying to figure that out. So I hit the web and did some leisure reading. I thought maybe I’d come back to the code that had stumped me and get a fresh idea. Well! It is now 0518est and I’ve got to get some sleep. And that sleep will be short lived! Whoa is me. Thank God I love myself!!!

Oh, grammar checker didn't like my use of 'ourselves' up there and suggested that I use 'us'. As I tried that aloud, you can see which one I picked. So did I was the wrong grammar?

Family time

Just took a few hours off to play at the park this week. We try to hit the park a few times a week, early before the sun comes up. It gets above the 90's today. There are a few new sets of fledglings and they are cool to watch grow up over time. Plus, we have a few minutes to catch the great swan of the lake. Not to imply it is an elusive animal, but it is a parade of its own accord. It is a very relaxing time to stroll around the lake and get a few moments of piece and tranquility, serenity that only I can understand.

Old Friends - Kim Young

OMG! What more can I say. I just got a surprise email, which I thought was coincidently spam, from a good old friend of mine, Kim Young. Blast from the past as some may say. What a great day. He is doing fine and has 3 kids now, wow!

Up to play

I'm up early as usual. It is my wife’s doing. She loves, or needs, to be in bed by 2000hrs every night and I'm not ready. Never have been, but I keep trying. However, I can't blame her right now. She gets up throughout the night with the baby to breast feed. This morning we decided to let our newest gem, Jenny, put herself back to sleep. This is a bitter sweet proposition. In the long run, the baby will learn to put herself to sleep and stay asleep. But right now, she is loud and it last a good while. Nonetheless, I'm up early as in most days, before the sun is out.

Still looking for things to do. I've looked at all the usual websites and nothing jumps out that is family friendly. If we can't do it as a family, what good is it? Austin and I did catch a movie, Jimmy Neutron. But it started with the whole family. Jenny started to act up after a good 45 minutes. So it did start off as a good family pick. We'll just have to keep working with her.

Vegetable Garden???

We have been tinkering with the idea of planting a garden. Seriously, how cool would it be to eat the items you've grown? I'm really stuck on the idea. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure why I haven't thought of it earlier, seeing that I'm such a miser. We figured on a 10'x10' rectangle garden up against our fence with about a foot or two around the perimeter for walking. We'd like to plant some, carrots, squash, peas, pumpkin, etc. Since it was such a small garden, we thought we'd plant a few of each. No need to plant more then we can eat. Being wasteful is not cool. But mom told me we used to have vegetable parties with the relatives. Believe it or not, my father had us growing all kinds of vegetable in Phoenix, AZ. What an odd place to have a garden. But if it can grow there, it should grow anywhere. Well, except for those pecan sticks my dad bought. They were suppose to trees, but ended up being a victims of circumstance.

Thursday, July 13th - Sariah's leaving

Well, we took Sariah to the airport. It never is fun when she has to go. We love to have her here. All the neighbors love to have her over. She is a very good natured child and genuinely loves to help others. Austin really misses her too. He does pick on her a lot. But that is his way of showing he loves her. He only plays with people he loves to be around. Sariah is his best friend. Got to go before I get mushy!

Warts

It seems like every kids gets a wart or two, or more! We just took Austin in to take a look at one of his. It is on the inside of the right knee. Normally, we wouldn't care to really address it at all, but it is getting caught on things and has bled a few times from that. We have tried to talk to Austin about the procedure, but he doesn't want to do it and ends up on the crying side. Tough choice for most parents. The emotions of the child usually undo the corrective action needed.

Unfortunately, as I’m sure Austin would view it, Dad was in charge and it was going to be taken care of. As Austin and I went to the waiting room, he was pretty good about it. He even told the nurse about it. Although, he did reinstate the fact that he'd rather just leave it alone. Too funny. The doctor and I agree to freeze it off. Later, in a couple of days, we can follow up with good 'ole compound-w. I haven't heard that for a while. As the procedure started, Austin was fine. The wart turned white as explained and then the intense sting set in. That wasn't fun at all. We had one more application to go and Austin was done. He was out of there. But as a parent, I had to do the right thing and hold him in place so we could finish up. I was making sure the doctor didn’t drip any of that on my finger, or we’d both be crying! I know it sounds tough, perhaps cruel to some people, but it is the right thing to do. It is usually lost in translation, or just evolution of a slang phrase, but that is just 'tough love'. These are the hard times. You have to persevere and do what is better for your love one, even if they strongly disagree!

Firewood anyone?!?

We ran across these folks cutting down a large tree today around lunch time. We stopped by to ask if we could have some wood and the owner said to help ourselves and tell others! Well, cool! They had a few more cuts to make and the big tree was coming down. There was a rope tied to the top and 4 guys holding it taunt at the other end while one chain sawed threw it at the base. The tree was positioned right near a house, so hence the rope and my eagerness to watch how it all unfolded. It went as planned and missed the house, but I was rooting (pardon the pun) for the tree.

Since the excitement had settled down, we went about our day and meet Mom’s twin sister at the local strip mall for some shopping. On the way back home, around dinner, we drove by the house with the tree cutting going on and now saw a large pile of wood and a sign that read, "Free Wood". I debated with my wife if I should stop by or not after dinner. I figured sometime after six this evening should be fine. My daughter piped up and said that it might be gone. Let me tell you folks, it was a large stack of cut wood. It might have been a little over 2 cords. I told her that it wouldn't be gone by the time we went back after dinner. Well, my laziness was winning over at first, but will power jumped in and took the helm. I decided to get my truck and head over. So mom and I unloaded the kids and stuff. Mom was taking Jennifer up to feed and the kids were coming with me.

As we turned the corner to the area were the cut trees were, there must have been 2 cars and 2 trucks there getting wood. Damn! If I had not let my daughter stir up my will power and squash the laziness, I would have eaten my words about it not being gone by dinner. Man was I wrong.

We scarfed up that wood as if we were a pack of hungry wolves in the dead of winter scrapping over road kill. We loaded up BigUgly, my 454 Suburban, and headed home with a few more scarps, bumps, and bruises. I took most of mine on the arms, Austin took one in the forehead (I almost pissed myself laughing), and Sariah had a few on her hands; she did most of the stacking.

Rum Monkey Car Show

Today was an awesome car show. I love all kinds, but one stood out. There was an 1937 logging truck with the period tools. It was great. We had plenty of excitment to last the whole day. Ausitn had a great time with all the cool colors! Take a peek around.

Disney Live! Mickey's Magic Show

WOW! We had our little own Disney right here in Charlotte!!! Mickey's Magic Show was a blast, even Jennifer enjoyed the first half! It was really exciting. The kids were great. They were captivated the whole time. Mickey, Minni, Donald, Daisy and Goofy were all there. There were even some cameos of Snow White, Cinderella, and . . . Ooopps. I forgot.


We took a few photos outside, as it was prohibited inside the theater. What a blast!

Is this a Sin?

Ok, Austin and I are taking a leak in a church parking lot. The boy was doubling over in laugher and stated he needed to pee! I wasn't going to test him, so we pulled over. Mom so graciously snapped a shot.

Garage sale hopping

Title was coined from my wife, Krissy. Today started at 7 in the morning! We just got in and started lunch. It is frantic around here. Mom told us we have to leave again by 1230. We aren't sure what is going on, but we have to be gone! So it is rush, rush, rush. The sales were cool. Mom only had two to go too, but we found at least 6 more. Turn here, turn there, get lost in the development, wishing for a GPS, and then finally find a road that looks familiar for you to get back on track. The girls found some clothing and Austin found a few toys; even a laser tag game he got working. It was $3. All and all it was good to run around and see new people. I even swapped a few stories with a gentleman that had a rotator cuff surgery. Nice.

Messin' with James!

During some garage sale hopping, term coined by Krissy, we thought we'd stop by and see James' house. Krissy ask as I took a wrong turn and ended up near his area. Once we stopped by I couldn't help but to think up some devious act. So I asked my daughter to jump out and move his VT flag and bumper magnet. All good fun. We got caught!!!

Blowing for Fun and Sore Thumbs

We took a few after work days to hit the lanes! Dad needed to relax and the kids needed and outlet. We all thank Mom for the wonderful gift of love she selflessly spreads on us! We didn't know it would be two days in a row, but mom works in mysterious ways! Thursday we did Northcross Lanes. Not a bad joint. It was nice. Had the usual snack bar, lots of lanes, arcade area (do they still call it that), lounge, and I believe I also saw a daycare area in side. That was new for me. I see even the bowling alley is trying to accommodate the working parent(s). We had gotten two lanes, one with bumpers and one without. Austin was on the bumper lane with Sariah. Mom and I were on the other. As we finished each game, we would switch. Austin, and mom, Sariah and I, so on and so forth. It was fun to watch the kids play. Sariah is really good! She got a few strikes and spares. Austin did great too for 4. He would walk up there and heaving the ball down the lane. No, he doesn't use the holes in the bowling ball. He just throws it down the lane as if it were a basketball. Yes, it bounces a few ties, but it is funny! He even got a strike! Mom was showing us her stuff too. Strikes, spares, splits, and a nice butt! The whole experience was relaxing for me, expect for mom's butt part! That was doing the opposite for me. The turmoil!!! You know, Jennifer helped out too by sleeping. So it was all good.

Friday we hit the lanes again. This time, it was cosmic bowling. All the lights were off!!! Now, that was cool. The black light was the only light, oh, and the occasional strobe light. So the pins would be glowing at the end of the lane. It was bowling as much as you want between 2-5 I think. So we let it go. Game after game after game. One bumper lane again, and one not. Instead of switching so much, Sariah and Krissy played on both lanes. Now that was fun. You had scores with and without the bumpers. Let me tell you, the bumper lanes are fun! Once we finished there, the kids had some tokens to burn at the arcades. More tickets. These kids love to get the tickets now! Austin runs around throw his hands in the air saying, “I’m a winner. I’m a winner. Yahoo! I’m a winner!” It’s awesome!

Suck joy

Well, the kids have been bugging to play and it has been hot outside this week. And, to top it all off, rain was on its way. Nice. Hot, humid, and rowdy kids; a receipt for great headache! But I can’t blame them. I can’t be cooped up in the house either! Plus, I've been buried in work and not having much fun there. It is more politically personal then overloaded work. (ok, here is where I get way off track!)

However, like it has been proven, too many meetings is a suck joy for the employee. It's science now. Yes, science has taken the obvious and but numbers to them. You wouldn't believe the number of "duh" studies that have been concluded. The rationale is there will be quantitative analyses in which to improve on. As dumb as this may sound, it is correct. Big business is keying in on this 'phenomenon' and providing solution. I can't wait for the barge of useless study material that will emerge from this lame money making spin-offs. I can only blame. . . us, society, or the way in which we choose to be mediocre in nature. We are too lazy for this or that. We've made a product for anything that 'appears' to have given us time back for our busy day. Sure, like I've got any extra time in the day from it. What time it now, 0342est. Sure, is I'm using all the latest gadgets to trim my time down, but I'm still posting in the middle of the night. And let me tell you, it must be because I've got a copious amounts of time laying around!!!

Lay - Shocking?

The workday started off on the wrong foot after the 4th's events. Really, holidays in the middle of the week are against the gain of American work force routine. And, to top that off with an extremely short weekend, I'm not balanced yet. Today I may get my feet under me. Back to the title, “Lay Shocking?”

Yesterday, a co-worker and I were working together - they had lost internet access. As we poured over our brainstorming activities, I heard on CNN that Ken Lay had died! Dead of a massive heart attack. What timing?!? Just before the sentencing. It must have been the mounting quilt over the Enron debacle, as much as he HAD proclaimed his innocence. WOW, he did pay the ultimate price.

4th of July Festivities

YES

We had a great time! Sariah, Austin and I headed out to Cornelius Fireworks at Kenton Place. We showed up at 1800est. The fireworks weren't till 2130est, but there were plenty of other things to do. They had street vendors, face paintings and inflatable play stations for the kids; car tunnels, obstacle coarse, large slide, and a boxing ring. There were flexflyig too which Sariah and Austin did and rok climbing! It was awesome. The pictures aren't the best, but it was awesome in person. We listened to the band, Smokin.

At first, we walked up and down the vendor alley to the kid area. I got them the unlimited wristbands. I figured 5-7 stations would pay for the band. At first it was cool. The kids hit the small stuff and were zipping through the park. However, as we got further into the play land, the lines grew longer and longer for the big rides. It not only put the brakes on the fun, it also slowed us to the point in which I did think we'd break even. The boxing ring line was the straw that broke the camels back for me. As we waited a good while in line for my two kids to beat on each other (it was fun to watch the younger ones), the generator stopped with a loud pop! The ring started to deflate and we were 4th in line. We must have waiting 15 minutes or more. Oh, did I mention it was around 90 degrees and the sune was down?!? How devastating it was to Austin when I explained it was broke and we were leaving. I'm sure he would have preferred to wait it out, but I wasn't. It was almost 2100est and we needed to get a good spot to watch the big show.

Thanks to Sariah who brought a blank. She orginally brought it to stay warm. Eventhough I told her that if she got cold tonight, we'd have to take her to the hospital beacuse she would be gavely ill since beacuse it was hot out. Well, unforseen wisdom there! It was nice to pull that blanket out and lay on it since the grass was sparse. We got a good spot and put our stake in the ground. We listened to the band a sang all night. At 2130est, as advertised, the fireworks started to a melody of Great American songs played. It was awesome. We all laid on the blanket and gazed into the sky, even I was a kid again.

4th of July Breakfast

Today is starting of good. Krissy and I thought a good breakfast out would start the day off right. So we rallied up the kids and called a neighbor to join us. I noticed that only Austin and I had American flags on our shirts. Anyway, we headed to Crackel Barrel. It was good. It is funny that 3 of us adults ordered two meals and shared it amongst ourselves. It's good for me, I'm already over 200lbs. So the less food the better for me. Jennifer has been tough at times to stay laying down for any period of time while she is awake. But today, mom had her when she woke up and started to get restless. She is just so happy to be upright. What a great sign.

Now it was time to get the girls some shirts. Wal-mart was a bust. We couldn't find any American flag shirts. Of course I made a point to tell them we were going to Old Navy, which I don't like. Tada! We found great shirts for the girls. Now Krissy and Sariah look cool like Austin and I.

Mondays Events

Jenny's Dr. Appt.
Today Jennifer went to the doctors for her 6 month wellness check-up. She weighs 20 lbs 3 oz (97%), she is 26.25 inches long (75%), and her head circumference is 42.5 cm (50%). She had to have 3 shots. She is starting to eat rice cereal now. She loves it. I think she would eat a steak, if we offered it to her.

I checked Austin's baby book when we got home and noticed that Austin also weighed 20 lbs 3 oz when he was 6 months old.

Chuck E Cheese
After her doctor's appointment we all went to Chuck E. Cheese for some play time and some pizza for lunch. We had so much fun collecting tickets. Our goal was to obtain more than the 475 tickets we got the last time we were there. Sariah and Krissy found a new game that would give you 60 tickets if the token fell in the right slot. Sariah won a couple of times and so did Krissy. When all of our tokens were gone, we had 704 tickets!

Dad's Dr. Appt.
Later in the afternoon it was time for David to go to his doctor's appointment to see an Orthopedic Specialist, Dr. D'Alessandro. We brought his MRI photos with us and sure enough the doctor said that he needs to have surgery. He has a tear in his rotator cuff along with some fluid building up in the rotator cuff. Plus, he suspects a Labral tear as well. This would account for the crippling sharp pains. The doctor is going to call back with a date for surgery. He did inform us that he is already booked up through the beginning of August, so the earliest surgery would be scheduled for late August. It looks like Krissy will be learning some physical therapy.

Play time
After the entire day’s events were done, it was off to the movies! The kids where really good and we are set off to play. We went to the Northlake’s AMC to pick a flick. It was up in the air between Superman and Cars. It was such a toss up; we made up our minds when the ticket person asked us what movie. The kids picked CARS! That was $20 for us three. Then we had some popcorn, $5.50 and a large Coke, $4. Both were allowed a free refill. So that was the only bonus! Now to the movie. I'll tell you what, it was awesome. The animations of these movies are really good. Yes the voiceover are key, but from the concept to the execution of this animated movie was just awesome. Maybe I haven't seen my fair share to have an industry rating, but this is awesome for me! The kids loved it too. Austin likes Lightning McQueen, Sariah likes Mater, and I like Doc Hudson.

The Weekend

This weekend was rather uneventful. We went to some garage sales on Saturday morning, but we didn't find anything worth buying. After that went to Chick-Fil-A for some breakfast.

Saturday afternoon we met Aunt Karen and Uncle Dave at Concord Mills Mall and did some shopping. Krissy got a fancy tank top and we bought a scrub brush to wash baby bottles. We ended our afternoon at the mall at Jeepers where the kids played in the playground. They were playing hide-and-seek in the tunnels overhead.

We came home and played outside with the neighborhood kids and then it was time for bed. Basically we did the same thing on Sunday, except we went to North Lakes Mall.