The molt is on...

I knew the day would come, M&M, our only laying hen surely could not keep up with our family's egg needs by herself. But I have to say, the girl did an admirable job. We have not bought eggs since April. For a few months, up until Dog Attack v2.0 she had the help of Butterscotch and Fillet. But even when they were still helping out, she laid most of the eggs.

But now, with the longer nights and cooler days, egg production has stopped altogether- interrupted by her first molt, the periodic loss of old feathers and growing new ones. While molting chicken either stop egg production or lay much more infrequently.

We haven't seen an egg from the coop in a week. So this morning I had the sad duty of buying eggs at the grocery store, since the wife needs to bake for a work lunch tomorrow and she will be bakin' like a toasted cheeser for the family feed next week.

Boring white eggs, because if I want the $$$ eggs,
I'll just wait on M&M to quit molting.

Network this!

I know, I know. Blog postings have been painfully infrequent and sub par around here. But life hasn't been that interesting lately.

Still, if you can't get enough of AtHomeDaddy know that I am available to you in real time elsewhere.

On Facebook http://www.facebook.com/AtHomeDaddy

On Twitter http://twitter.com/1stAtHomeDaddy Because some jackhole has already registered AtHomeDaddy. Dude better take care of MY brand. Of course, he was quick enough to jump on athomedaddy.com when it opened up...

No Mercy Rule here

I was out in the backyard, cleaning the chicken coop and patio with the power washer. (Yes Mom, I was wearing The Hat. And Sunscreen.)

While I was working, The Princess was up in the playscape, playing dolls and The Talker was holding one of his imaginary baseball games. This afternoon he was staging a rematch of Game 7 of the 2004 World Series.

And along with no Mercy Rule, I gotta tell you, there is no Curse of the Bambino in play on our home field either.

The final result?

Boston Red Sox 100, New York Yankees, 0. (And one clean chicken coop.)

The Mommy Speaks...

"Good morning, guys. Would you like me to take you to school today?"

"No", said the girl.

"Oh, that's OK", said the boy.

And mommy said, ""Well, then, let me rephrase. I am GOING to take you to school. So there!" as laughing daddy was running out of the room.

I did not know that The Boss was going in late today, so I could be annoyed that I am missing out on sleeping a little late, but then I would have missed that conversation. Which makes it worth giving up a few extra minutes of shut-eye.

Plus, I knew that The Boss would soon be stealing the only Dr Pepper in the house, so today was not the day to sleep in.

Facing up to the whining and bitching (and burning and itching).

A followup to a post I made almost two weeks ago:


The short answer: Yep. Still burns like a @#(*_@)$*)(#%&(*^@*&^# !

The long answer: Yep. Still burns like a @#(*_@)$*)(#%&(*^@*&^# ! And it hurts like a @#$)(#&% when ANYthing touches my face. And anything includes stuff like pillows, clothes, air. You know, stuff like that.

In the next two weeks I have been assured this will get worse. So much bitching and moaning to look foward to!

Let's get cooking!

After almost seven and a half years at home, you might think I have this house husband thing down pat. But one of the many domestic duties I have still yet to master is cooking for the family. Oh believe me, I have cooked enough food during my time that we are not starving. Far from it. I just have not gotten GOOD at it. But now the kids are gone to school 8 hours a day and I have been trying to step up my kitchen skillz.

Let's start with the House specialty. After years of resisting, I bought a crock pot a year ago. I wanted it for a specific item, pot roast. Now my pot roast is finally good enough that I served it to my own mother. I have pretty well conquered the gas grill, too. Burgers, hot dogs and chicken are no problem. Sometimes I even branch out a little and grill some veggies. I bought a smoker last year and I can crank out a pretty good smoked chicken.

I even do pretty good when it comes to putting an entire meal together. Fruits, veggies (almost always green beans) and other sides. But I seem to be in a cooking rut. We eat the same things frequently. The biggest problem with that is that the kids have grown resistant to trying new foods.

Recently I have brought out some new meals, baked potatoes and all the fixings and several different stews. The black beans I made from scratch tasted blech. Tonight we are eating chicken fajitas and I just finished a batch of home made re-fried beans. They turned out OK, but hopefully a second effort will be a little tastier.

When I turned into AtHomeDaddy I looked for a cooking class. Never did find one that wasn't geared at gourmet or specialty cooking. But now, after all these years of trial and error, I seem to be getting the hang of the kitchen.

The clone should watch his back. Might be spies nearby

The Talker hit the Mother Lode a couple of nights ago. Halloween costumes on a 90% off sale at Target. He scored a Star Wars Clone Trooper costume for $4 and a Darth Vader for $2. Needless to say, the boy can hardly be talked out of his new gear.

This morning he wanted his Clone Trooper picture taken. While I was trying to snap a decent shot, I noticed that we had an extra set of eyes watching our every move. M&M the Hen may be a double agent for the Jedi. Because, as The Talker just informed me, "the Blue Clone Troopers are bad guys and they fight the Jedi. When Anakin Skywalker was a..." (At that point I just sort of quit listening since his Star Wars talk can go on for a while.)

A Clone Trooper can not be too careful around here!

The eyes are watching. Always watching.

Random notes from the AtFarmFam

Life is kind of status quo around here lately. The kids and chickens are cute. The weather is perfect. The Boss Lady is working hard and I still have a face that feels like it is melting off.

Not that any of those thing are bad (OK, the face thing sucks a lot, but I have always been ugly.) But there just isn't a lot of blog fodder in the normal routine.

So here are the pictures:

Chickens!

The earlier dark hours have cut into M&M's egg production, but the other hens should be starting to lay in the next month to six weeks.

This may end up being my new favoritest picture of the brood.

The Princess, ready to go to her cheer leading gig at the high school football game.

And now the video:

Just to prove that she really is my kid.
(There are a couple of other vids on my Facebook page
if you are a glutton for the cuteness that is my daughter.)

And the teasing shall begin in 3... 2... 1...

Having the doctor scare the pee outta me in regards to my chances of developing skin cancer, has made me do some strange things. For example, I spent money on myself at the makeup counter this week. Which is something I hardly ever do. Plus, I have been slathering sunscreen on day and night.

Finally, this morning I have been out on the hunt. Big game was not my prey. Instead, I have been stalking big hats. The likelihood of me staying inside all the damn time is slim. So I need to do the next best thing to keep the sun offa my face and neck. Luckily, I live in Texas, so even if I look a little a whole lot silly, I can still get away with wearing a cowboy hat.

OK, remember, this thing is a precision medical device. So be gentle and don't hurt yourself laughing. Dr's orders.



On a little more serious note, you can see how the medicine is starting to tear up my skin pretty good in that first picture. That is, if you can get past the laughing...

Clean up day

Here is how the modern, urban chicken farmer rids himself of unwanted post-Halloween pumpkins.

Happy Trick or Drunk!

A year or two back I stole Halloween back from the kids. I started serving frozen margaritas to the parents as they cruised by. Honestly, we have to have some gimmick. We live on the "retired end" of a long cul-de-sac and never have gotten many Trick-or-Treat-ers. Last year the word was out and we were a hit!

The neighbors seem to have either gotten the idea or they got offended. There are several other outdoor parties tonight. So I had to find a niche once again. The hook this year? 2 TVs for college football AND margaritas.

Oh yeah, there is some candy, glow sticks and plastic bugs for those of the non-drinking age, too. Also, just to be safe, Bugs Bunny isn't drinking tonight, so he is driving the bar.

Scared Shi*less on Halloween

The pic of my face is not SUPPOSED to be the scary part, but there you have it. This week may end up going down as one of the scariest moments in my life. And in the grand scheme of things I pretty much hope it does not get worse than this.

Anyways, after ignoring some raw, sore spots on my ugly mug for far too long I finally hit up the dermatologists office this week. Didyaknow it is a bad idea for a guy with pale skin complexion to be outside all the damn time for almost 40 straight years? Yeah, I knew that too.

Of course, I have also known for years that I should wear a hat, long sleeves and sunscreen. And I have been doing all of those things since I was born since I left the dermatologists office with a prescription for a creme that will hopefully help keep these pre-cancerous spots on my face from developing any further into cancer cells.

The downside of the medicine is that it basically burns your face off for a month or two, causing the bad skin spots to die and slough off. So for the next two months or so I am going to look like The Boss Lady finally threw that vat of boiling acid that she keeps on the stove, on me. Which may not even be much of a change. Also, the medicine buns like a mother @#*)&@#$)(!

I have used it for two nights and so far I have managed to sit an whimper for two or three (or four) hours after slathering my face. All for the greater good of not having my fave turn into a giant tumor.

One side effect of all this attention to my face was completely unexpected. I spent more this week at the makeup counter than my wife has all year long. The dermatologist wanted me to buy a specific facial moisturizer and some industrial strength sunscreen to use all the dang time. And never being one to ignore great advice (except for all of that stuff about sunscreen, hats and sleeves that I ignored for 40 years), I dropped $35 at Walgreens the other day.

All of this to say that this week could have been a lot worse. Still it has made Halloween scary enough I think.

The Boss Lady and I have tried to attack this as we usually do, injecting as much humor, information and booze into the situation as we dare. I do understand that the diagnosis could have been a lot worse. And I can't help but think that if I had remained as stubborn as I usually am, then it might have been.

And finally, here is a little more information about actinic keratosis.

I didn't see it on Maslow's Hierachy,

But I did find it on Aisle 36!

Yes, it is true. I did email the wife today and tell her "I need more laundry soap."



Go ahead, take away the last tattered pieces of my man card. At least I'll have clean underwear when I have no dignity left.

Bring on the Trick-or-Treat-ers

We never go too crazy with holiday decorations around here, but I can't resist a little something for Halloween. Add to that, Pops brought us two big floats that had drifted ashore on Matagorda Island and the kids and I could not resist.

I bet we have the biggest pumpkins in the neighborhood this year!

Besides that, who else has a ghost made of a bed sheet, a beach towel, a soccer ball and a couple of zip ties?

I think we can all see how this is going to turn out...

The Boss Lady's dog woke me up at 4 am. With a 110 pound dog I really do not want to wake up and find a big wet surprise on the hallway floor, so I got up to let him out.

But of course he can not STAY out. He would bark away the rest of the dark and tick off neighbors all over the 'hood. So I waited at the backdoor with a treat, to bribe him back in.

Of course he fell back asleep immediately. Didn't even make it out of the living room. Me? No more sleep for me, thanks.

And.

We are out of Dr Pepper.

Field trip day!

I am taking off in a few minutes to go with The Princess' class on a field trip. We are heading down to the Zach Scott Theatre. I have no idea what the show will be about. But I bet the side show, trying to keep a couple of dozen Kindergartners content during the show will be just as much fun.

News from the coop

I tried to take full advantage of the first sunny afternoon we have had in about two weeks. I spent more than an hour cleaning the chicken coop today. Cleaning up after the birds is a messy job anyways, but it is almost impossible to do in the rain. Still, I had let it wait too long.

The chickens have decided to boycott the outdoor chicken coop that I created for them out of a re-purposed dog kennel and a couple of the big, plastic dog houses. They have started heading into my storage shed at night, where they had lived until I thought they were big enough to handle the weather outside.

The birds have less room inside the shed, but they evidently prefer it to the yard. I still had the brooder space in the shed set up, so they have taken that space back over. I'll be keeping the kennel/coop though. Hopefully the birds will be back out there when the rain lets up.

M&M (Mystery Meat) Our year old hen.
She has survived two dog attacks without a scratch and she still lays 5 eggs a week.

The Talker finally settled on a name for his girl.
This is Roadrunner, a 3 month old Ameraucana pullet.
She is one fast bird!

This is Gold Diamond, The Princess' 3 month old Buff Cochin.
Also known as GD Chicken. (Hey, the girl named her, I didn't!)

Yesterday we ran out of eggs. No big deal, except that The Boss Lady was cooking cornbread for dinner and she needed one more egg. Since our first birds started laying last spring we have not bought any eggs (except a few that we decorated at Easter).

I was about to go door to door to mooch an egg from neighbors, when I remembered to check the coop. M&M had laid a rare late afternoon egg. She saved my dinner! Hopefully in another 2 or 3 months M&M will have some reinforcements and the other birds will be laying eggs also.

Log time, little blog

I haven't had much to say lately. Odd, I know. But every time I sit down to blog, it just sounds like a big whine-fest.

The kids have settled into school, The Boss Lady has gotten herself into the groove of a new job and here I am, hanging at the house and watching the world go by.

One reason I haven't blogged much lately is that I just don't think anyone really cares that I watched ANOTHER episode of Hitler's Bodyguard on the Military Channel. To put it mildly, this whole staying at home without kids around really hasn't turned out to be my favorite thing.

Over the years I have joked many times about being The Boss Lady's personal mooch. But I have always been really secure in my knowledge that my having a paying job was unimportant to our family. Letting the kids grow up at home has always been a much more important focus than whatever income we were giving up. However, I had a little part time job for the last couple of years and now, without those few hours of work, I am realizing that I bore myself to tears.

The Boss Lady and I are also big supporters of public education. So no one should really be surprised that we never considered home schooling or private schools as viable options for our family. I will refrain from entering into a discussion of the positive and negative aspects of different educational systems. But there are days that I think 'if the kids were home, doing school, at least I would be of some benefit around here.'

I put in several job applications a month or so back. I did not hear a single word from any of the employers, so I have pretty much given up on finding a part time job. For the time being I am trying to keep busy by making myself healthier and trying to benefit our community. I have started hitting the gym a couple of times a week. It has been at least a year and I really want to lose 25 pounds that seem to be following me from couch to couch. Seriously though, I am trying to limit my couch time by volunteering at our church. Plus, I have some other commitments with community organizations that I try to fulfill in the evenings, after The Boss Lady gets home from work.

Anyways, all that whining was really just to say that things are about the same around here. Even though I am pretty much ready for some change and the TV and couch are probably ready for me to find something else to do, too.

Corrupting the future

This morning I went up to our church and helped out in the nursery, while the young moms of the church had a Bible study time. They met all last year and I took a fair amount of teasing from some of the guys at church, wondering if I, as the sole Stay at Home Dad around, would jump into the middle of the Stay at Home Mommy group. I assure you I never did.

When they started up the group again this school year, I told some of the ladies who organize the group that I could help out with the childcare if they ever came up short handed. They are only a couple of weeks in to a new session, but they called my bluff. Actually, it was a serious offer. I still remember a little bit about those looooooooooooooooooooooooong days at home with crying/screaming/teething/wailing/weeping/whining babies. And I remember how important it was to get together with guys who were in the same boat.

A couple of the moms, who I did not know beforehand, seemed a little surprised to see a dude in the nursery. I let the moms I did know explain to them who I was and I hung out with the 2 and 3 year old kids. We played cars, dolls, kitchen dress up and artist. And we did it all at the same time! It was a good couple of hours.

I guess I built up some good karma because while waiting at the bus stop a neighbor asked if the kids could come up and play for a while. Now that we whipped through homework, my progeny are hanging out up the hill and I have extended the quiet time in my house by another half hour or so.

Rule Number One

Remember, people, we live in a college town. A fairly liberal and progressive college town, too. So my children occasionally see some things when we are out and about in town.

This morning we went downtwn to the Farmer's Market, to hang with the old hippies. But believe me, we saw nothing out of the ordinary there. Hippies are my people. Especially the ones who shower and shop at urban Farmer's Markets. Nothing that happens there really shocks us.

But driving back across town, we were driving down The Drag when we spotted two frat boys walking down the street. Not an uncommon occurrence around The University of Texas, but I am infinitely less trusting of them than I am the old hippies downtown.

The problem with these two particular fratties? One was wearing nothing but his boxer underwear and a big grin. The other had on a t-shirt with his boxers, (which suspiciously were a matched set for Frat Dude #1's drawers.) And of course, this is a home football game afternoon, so there are huge crowds of fans all over the campus.

The Boss Lady and I took the chance to explain that college is fun, but one should not be a complete dumb ass out in public while in college. That led to a new family mantra: Rule Number One - don't be an idiot.

Rule Number One is the new measure of behavior for our crew. And I think it has some universal appeal. Feel free to make use of Rule Number One in your own dealings with your family or with any herds of free ranging frat boys that you might encounter.

By the time we made it home the kids were singing a song they had made up about Rule Number One. They also asked about the possibility of coming up with another. Rule Number Two, if you will. But I think that is the real beauty of Rule Number One. It pretty much covers every possibility.

The week is off to a good finish!

Sick kid a couple of days.

One day he was actually sick, with a fever. A reaction to his flu vaccine, I think. The second day he probably still had a fever, but AtHomeDaddy, as has been shown here many times over the years, is an idiot. I did not realize that our slick, new temporal "head scan" thermometer had a protective cap on the scanning end. And it turns out that when you scan WITH the cap in place, you get a reading near normal.

So I sent him to school. And probably infected the entire second grade with some mutant pandemic. What else is new?

I kept The Talker home yesterday, though his fever had broken the night before. We ran some errands - chicken feed and haircuts must be obtained, sick kid or not... And we played A LOT of video games. Catching up on homework? Yeah, not really.

Anyways, everyone is at school this morning so life is back to normal.

In a success worthy of front page news coverage, I decided on a whim to run my car to the dealership this morning. I had some radio problems a few weeks back, and a new problem had popped up with the system since then. I kept trying to find a time to get to the shop, but leaving myself without a car is a crap-shoot most days. If I have a car available, I won't need to bail anyone out of jail or make a trip to the Principal's office.

I have bitched and moaned elsewhere about my dislike of the local dealership's service department. But today I have to give them a little pat on the back: I stopped by the dealership without an appointment. I was assuming they would need to order a replacement part and that they would need an hour or so to diagnose the problem and convince themselves of the need for the parts replacement.

After I waited about 30 minutes I decided to just leave the car, catch the customer shuttle to the house and I would come back later. But lo, and behold! My car was finished. It was washed and waiting in the ready line. 45 minutes after I dropped the kids at school, I was back home with my car AND a fully functional stereo system.

I think I will skip the lottery this week. 'Cause all my good luck just got spent at the Saturn dealership.

The Boss Lady has wondered how the kid's rooms get so messy...

When I went in to wake the girl a few minutes ago:

"Hey, Baby Girl. Good Morning! It is going to be a great day and look at how clean your room is. That will be awesome when you are playing after school."

She replied "But only if you don't play in here today and mess it all up."

For a guy with nothing to do I sure seem to be keeping busy

A sample of my time from this week:

Monday I was supposed to be around the house all day. Doing the usual, catching up on laundry, cleaning the kitchen, hours wasted on Facebook. You know, the essentials. I don't really remember where all of the time went, but the stove is clean and nothing else seemed to get done around here.

There was an incident in the school parking lot. But seeing that I enjoyed it so much, I don't think that is where all of my time went...

Tuesday I was in charge of pulling together a last minute breakfast meet-up for the local Stay at Home Dads who are now without kids during the day, thanks to the start of the new school year. There are about 10 of us who have been friends since out kids were born. Now that our youngest kids have started kindergarten, we should have some free time on our hands, so we get together once a week to chat and eat breakfast.

I thought all of the details for Tuesday breakfast had been settled. According to my brain we were set to meet at a Mexican bakery in east Austin at 9:30. about 9am calls and emails started rolling in, looking for location and meet-up times. Evidently I had never sent a final email out to the guys, with final details. Oops!

A couple of quick calls and emails and my imaginary plan was back on. I rushed over to the restaurant, hoping no one was sitting there waiting for the group to show, I was assuming no one else would make the drive over due to the late notice. We still ended up with 4 guys and we had a good time. Glad it worked out in the end...

After breakfast I headed across town to My So Called Aunt's house to help out with some home repairs. I planned to hang a couple of ceiling fans and start on installing some new trim and baseboards in her recently water-damaged kitchen.

Installing ceiling fans is something I can do in my sleep. It usually takes me 20 or 30 minutes to take down an old fan and have the new one up and running. But I was adding a remote control unit to this fan and it turned out to be a big hassle. After trying several times to get the remote receiver installed properly I returned it to Home Depot and grabbed one of a different brand. It fit and works like a dream. After all that it only took me about 5 minutes to get the remote installed and everything buttoned up. But the one fan had taken me about 4 hours to install. :(

I couldn't sleep worth a darn after I got home from the world's longest meeting on Tuesday night. My legs were killing me from standing on the ladder for several hours.

Wednesday morning I dropped the kids and headed back out to My So Called Aunt's house. I got the second ceiling fan installed in about 25 minutes. Then I knocked out the kitchen repairs in a couple of hours. Made it back home by 1:30 which was a long enough break that I fell asleep on the couch and almost missed the school bus.

Thursday I am scheduled to be on campus with the kids again. Evidently this whole Dad of the Day thing is a sham award given to dads suckers who are gullible enough to show up for all day volunteering. Actually, I had a good time last week and I am going to continue until we think that The Princess is successfully settled into Kindergarten.

Friday is supposed to be my day at home. The only problem is that everything will need to be done at once. Laundry, yard work and cleaning have all piled up this week. So no matter how much I want to, I guess playing Wii Sports Tennis for hours on end will have to wait until next week.

Dad of the Day!

The kids school has a pseudo-honorary position for qualified parents, the "Dad of the Day (DotD)". Let's just get it out in the open, NO! I do not know if there is a "Mom of the Day" program and I don't really care to find out. Anyways, after The Princess had a rough couple of days in Kindergarten, I decided to ask about the Dad of the Day program. Turns out I am perfectly qualified.

First, I am a dad of students at the school. Second, I have loads of availability during school hours. Thirdly, I was knuckle-headed enough to take on the momentous responsibilities associated with the DotD position. And most importantly, I know how to use a copy machine and a die cut machine.

When I walked in as DotD I had delusions of patrolling the halls for scofflaw second graders abusing library books. But I ended up working a lot more directly with the kids than I had imagined.

I helped kindergartners with a science experiment (Yellow + Blue = Green). I read stories. I ate lunch with The Princess and her friends. I ate a second lunch about 20 minutes later with The Talker and his friends. I played on the playground with the kindergarten classes. I went to PE class with The Talker's class and I helped the teacher manage the herd during some relay races. After that I played with the second graders out on the playground.

At that point I think The Talker's teacher sent me to the office. I had spent enough time in there during the week prior, so I knew the way. I made hundreds of die-cut daisies and I prepped some supplies for an activity for the following day.

When the day ended I was out helping to make sure the kids got on the proper bus for the ride home. They wanted to ride home with their friends on the bus, so as soon as the bus pulled away I dashed for home. I hopped out of the car and met the school bus at the curb. My 8 hour adventure at the school had come to an end. Except for the part where I fell asleep at 7:3o. Right after I asked The Boss Lady how she and her cohorts do it every day of the school year.

I don't believe that man has ever been to medical school

I love eaves dropping on the kids when they are thick into playing together. Just now I was in the back of the house and kids were playing in the rain, in the backyard with their favorite dolls. Yes, the boy still has a doll, Phillip. But if you ask, he is just holding Phillip for his sister, OK? Anyways, I overheard the following exchange:

The Princess/Mommy: Doctor, what is wrong with Baby Emma?

The Talker/Doctor: Don't worry, lady. I know what is wrong. She has her feet stuck in her ears!

So there you go, a quick diagnosis, with no co-pays or insurance hassles. I wish I could get that kind of service from my doctor's office.

14 years

People have done less time for murder. Of course, I live in Texas. Around here, people have probably been executed for forging their parent's names to elementary school field trip permission slips. So maybe the criminal justice system does not make for the best analogy.

Anyways, 14 years ago she said I do. And I immediately yelled "No take backs. I call it on the bouquet." Then I shot breath freshener up my nose... The rest of that story some other time.

Anyways, Wednesday is our 14th wedding anniversary. It hasn't exactly been June and Ward Cleaver. It has been messy. It has been fun. And if nothing else, it has been us, doing things our way. Together.

Thanks, Boss Lady.

CBH!

Toilet! (Tipped Over!)

Fair Warning Notice: FOF, this post is about a potty.
Proceed with caution!

There is a new neighborhood under construction near our house. The builder is cramming about 20, 600K 2 story homes into a piece of property that is something less than 4 acres. There used to only be 2 houses with huge yards on the property, but progress dictates that people want huge houses with yards that can be mowed with a pair of scissors. I digress.

Anyways, a random old toilet showed up on the property while one of the houses was under construction. We see the toilet every time we drive into our neighborhood and the kids started laughing about the randomness of the potty sitting out in the middle of the new development.

For weeks it was a race, to see who could spot the potty and yell out "Toilet!" each time we passed (pun fully intentional - I work hard for this blog, don'tcha know?) by.

Then one day the abandoned throne was knocked over on it's side. And there it has stayed for a month or more.


Now, with each drive by, someone in the car yells out "Toilet! Tipped Over!" As far as I can tell, the only real rule to the game is that whoever yells last loses.

Someday I guess our magical, mysterious potty will end up in a dumpster. Until then, keep a sharp eye out. You never know when a potty might appear out of nowhere.

Parent of the Year? Maybe not?

This morning The Boss Lady and the kids were still snoozing. I couldn't sleep and had been up since about 4. Once it was light enough outside for me to get moving, I prepped to go out for a nice, quiet walk and hike on the nearby trails.

Of course, as I was walking out the front door, The Princess appeared. I was going to just skip the walk and hang out at the house so The Boss Lady could sleep. But I had already stepped outside and I knew I could not resist the 70 degree temps.

So I tried to make everyone happy. I turned on the TV, opened a new box of pop tarts, poured some milk for the kids and I hit the road. I felt (a little bit) guilty about sabotaging the The Boss' extra sleep (for about 2 minutes). But it was soooooooooooo cool and quiet out there.

I walked my usual "Cigar Walk Loop", about 2 miles, with about 75% of that on the trails. Funny thing, it is a lot quicker to make this walk without trying to keep a cigar going the whole way. I usually spend about 90 minutes making the loop. This morning I was home in less than 45 minutes.

Bonus points that the kids fell for it! They ate the pop tarts and watched the TV. The Boss Lady was still in be when I got home and only The Princess knew that I had even left the house.

2 years and 10 days

We made it through 2 years and 10 days of elementary school education without anyone needing to make a trip to the Principal's office. OK, technically, we made it 2 years, 9 days and ALMOST to the end of lunchtime.

That is right, boys and girls, AtHomeDaddy has spent the afternoon sitting in the Principal's office. My lovely little Princess was the culprit. Or at least an accomplice.

The hard lesson of the day is this: IF your friend decides to leave the cafeteria to go home for some more lunch, AND you are busily trying to keep that friend from going out of the front doors of the school because you know it is not a good idea, THEN do not follow your friend outside of the building and towards the parking lot. Seems pretty logical, no?

Heck it even seems to make sense to The Princess. Now.

It think it started making sense to the girl right about the time a parent found the kids standing on the sidewalk, beside the parking lot. Thankfully the mom took the girls directly to the office and everything was sorted out quickly. The adventurers were returned to their classes with an adult escort and the obligatory calls were made to the parents of the Wandering Duo.

I decided to visit the girl at school to hopefully make a strong impression about how dangerous her actions were. And after we walked around and chatted at length about making better choices to help friends and the impenetrable fortress that is the school's front doors, I think a decent impression was made. If not, then a 3 day weekend with some extra chores might serve as a decent reminder...


An Addendum: I know I am making light of what could have turned out to be a much more serious problem. Thankfully it did not and we can laugh about it a little. I have been on the other side of this type of mess when a boy walked away from my recreation center and we had to involve search dogs and helicopters to find him. 3 hours later. Yeah, not fun.

Luckily nothing more serious occurred today. I am thanking God that the other parent was at the right place at the right time to see what was going on and to bring the girls back in to the school.

Besides all that though, I never thought we would go more than 2 years without The Talker making a trip to the Principal's office. After all, I was sent to Mr. Spurling's office on my FIRST day of Kindergarten. And I learned one thing way back then: It does not matter if the Principal is your dad's friend, he really will not like to answer to a Kindergartner who addresses him by his first name. "Hello, Terry" really did not work out too well for me way back then.

Randomness from the homefront

The Talker thought the BIG bowl of cantaloupe at
breakfast was a pretty good way to start the day!

Golden Diamond, the Buff Cochin and Unnamed Bird, the Ameracuna
cruising the backyard this morning.

Then there was this:

Sometimes you have to show them who is the boss.

A nice, smooth start to the school year

We are almost 10 days into the school year and it has been an uneventful trip so far. The Princess ♥'s Kinder and The Talker is having a blast in second grade.

It is a big bonus that the kids are still not used to the early morning wake-ups and our house is quiet by 7:45 every school night.

Now, if only The Boss Lady and I could figure out some way to use up all of that free time at night...

I suck at craigslist

One of my new favorite websites is yousuckatcraigslist.com. There is always a good showing of craptastic stuff and the mastery of the English language with aside of photography combines for a fantastic train wreck.

But evidently, I suck at craigslist a different way. You see, I seem to never make any money on my craiglist deals because I am just enough of a bleeding heart liberal and a sucker for people who show up on time.

Granted, I never put anything on craigs, or the local freecycle list that I would not be willing to drop off at the neighborhood Goodwill store. We are not talking the highest quality merchandise, here. But whatever I have to offer online, it usually isn't complete junk.

A few years ago I tried to give away an old boat on craigslist. I grew really tired of people calling to quiz me about the boat and then not showing up to look it over. So I re-listed it a few weeks later, with a $250 price tag. Within 10 minutes I had two guys ready to drive over to check it out. When the guy who had first contacted me about the boat showed up, I gave him the dang thing, just to get it out of my backyard.

This week I listed The Talker's old bike($25), a wagon($40) and a tricycle($20) on craigslist. After I listed everything, (but before anyone contacted me about the stuff), I ended up giving the wagon to our neighbors. I deleted the ad listing the wagon and all was good. Then, this morning a couple came over to look at the bike for their 5 year old's birthday. They showed up when they told me they would so I sent them away with the bike and their cash so that they could replace the threadbare seat before the birthday party.

In the end, I have the trike still for sale. And if I find a sucker willing to pay me $85 for it, then I will have made my $$ AND cleaned out a few more square feet of my garage.

For the past two days I have been working on cleaning out the garage, trying to get ready for a slew of home improvement projects that are on tap for this fall. I stopped cleaning to hang a ceiling fan out there. I had stashed the fan away in the attic after a neighbor upgraded to a nicer fan probably 5 years ago. I was using the stashed-away fan to replace one that had finally died after I moved it out of The Princess bedroom and installed it in the garage at least 7 years ago. Since the washer and dryer are in our west facing garage, the fan is almost a necessity in the afternoon.

I was laughing about how my scrounging and pack rat skills had paid off once again with this "new" fan when I started thinking about the stuff I had listed on craigslist. Then I did not feel too bad about giving it all away.

The wagon sells new for close to a hundred bucks. But we found it brand new for something like $15 at at Target store that was remodeling and they needed to get everything out of the sporting goods section in short order. The clearance prices were ridiculous and I remember we brought home a van load of stuff.

The bike was given to us by a friend of The Boss Lady after her two or three boys outgrew it. The Talker got a new bike a couple of months ago when he finally outgrew the hand me down bike, too. And the trike came out of a dumpster. The handlebars wouldn't stay tight but after a little work, they have held perfectly for years. The Princess has ridden it a million miles around the neighborhood.

Anyways, if you ever need a good deal off of craigs, check for my ads. And be sure to show up on time.

The school bell tolls for thee

Seven years ago I started the stay at home dad gig full time. I wasn't completely clueless or going into the job with no idea about what to do with kids. True, I knew very little about babies, but The Talker was 8 months old by then and I had already burned 3 months of FMLA leave with him earlier that Spring. After all, I had been raising other people's kids for a decade in my Parks and Recreation programs. So I thought I was ready and up to the task of bringing up my own kid.

Turns out, I was mostly correct.

Back then, though I never said it out loud, I was determined to finish the job. I was going to do the Stay at Home Dad thing until the boy was in Elementary School. After that I would figure out what was next. Of course, little sister came along and I stuck with the original plan, though she and I did detour through a couple of seasons of preschool.

And now, tomorrow, The Princess enters Kindergarten. But now I am sure, as my friend M pointed out today, my SAHD job is nowhere near finished. The kids are still going to need a chauffeur, a sick day and vacation day playmate and loads of other things I can only imagine.

Then there is our house. Have you seen this thing? I love it, but we put off a bunch of badly needed upgrades for years, because it proved impossible for me to do any real home repair or renovations with kids all over the place. Maybe I will finally get to finish up the bare concrete floors in our bedroom. Not to mention the other half finished projects lined up in the garage.

And the yard? OK, it may be a lost cause due to the drought, but I have put off mowing for a week simply because I knew that come tomorrow I could mow. On a weekday. While it cool(er) outside. And not waste a Saturday cleaning up the yard. That is good stuff right there!

The Boss Lady and I have started a list of things we want to do. There are a ton of things to get done around here. Probably more than I can do in a school year. But in this business, a really long To DO list = AtHomeDaddy job security.

For the record, tomorrow is a wash. Heck, I am not planning to get much done this first week. Cleaning the main house is in order: kitchen, living loom, the dining room. You know, all the stuff neighbors might see. The kids rooms can wait. I have all school year to get to that mess.

Addendum: Adding to the changes around here, the chicks have gotten the boot as of this evening. They have moved from their overnight quarters in the living room (in a Guinea Pig cage) to a giant dog crate in the garden shed. They have been living outside for a couple of weeks already during the daytime. M&M is getting used to them and she has almost quit chasing them around the yard. In another month the should be ready to overnight with her in the chicken coop.

Three of our favorite things (and one, meh.)

If I had my wish, we would have a whole herd of big dogs around here. I love me some Great Danes, Old English Sheep Dogs and of Course, Great Pyrenees.

Until then I guess we will have to make do with a dog food commercial aimed at people who own West Highland Terriers. At least the first 19 seconds of this clip rule!

Art and the Giant Spaghetti

The kids and I are trying to cram a lot of fun into the last week of summer. This morning's adventure had us exploring the Blanton Museum of Art, on the campus of The University of Texas.



One of the all time favorites at the museum is an unnamed work outside of the museum. The Princess and The Talker dubbed it Giant Spaghetti. After we played in Giant Spaghetti for a wile, we explored the inside of the museum. There were loads of paintings that the kids were not too sure about, like Jo Baer's work, Horizontals Tiered (Vertical Diptych). They wanted to know why the museum was showing a painting with nothing on it.

Still, there are also several pieces on exhibit that the kids really seemed to connect with, like George Sugarman's Two in One and, for some reason, Claude Vignon's David with the Head of Goliath. They talked about that painting the entire rest of the visit and on the way home, too. And I certainly hope they don't get any ideas for my next birthday present.

Of course, we ended up the morning with another visit to Giant Spaghetti, stopping to grab a couple of pictures on the way to the car.

It was (supposed to be) a rhetorical question

A dialogue between the girl and myself, after I heard the "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" song for the six billionth time in 30 minutes:

Me: "Baby girl, how many times have I asked you to quit repeating yourself over and over?"

The Princess: " I don't know. You said it a BUNCH of times."

The girl speaks the truth.

And everyone has survived this far...

I just realized that as of yesterday I have been a full-time Stay at Home Dad for 7 years. The Talker, who is entering the 2nd grade next Monday was 8 months old. The Princess, who is starting Kindergarten this year was not even a remote possibility and I was one clueless sumbitch about it all.

Still clueless, but the children have managed to live through to the start of school. I'll probably work up a little photo retrospective later. For now the kids are celebrating with sprinklers on the playscape.

That's what she said...

As I was rearranging the living room and putting away the last of the cleaning supplies:

Me: "Do you think modern witches ride Swiffers?"

The Boss Lady: "I don't know. Call your momma and find out."

Me: "Oh. You are so getting blogged for that!"

Man, these kids really know my number...

So the KnuckleHeaded Twosome has been at each other's throats all morning. Or at least since they woke up at a little after 8.

In my best Dad voice I announced that they would be helping me clean the chicken coop before they ate breakfast, because I was evidently sick AND tired of all of the griping. Then they pulled a fast one on me while I was dragging the gear and supplies out of the shed. The arguing little punks started playing nice.

So I left them alone so they could get along. And I cleaned the coop by myself.

Never fear, now that the cleaning is finished, life has resumed it's regularly scheduled bickering. I swear, as soon as the last of the coop cleaning stuff was put away, the bitching and complaining started back instantly.

At least I had 20 minutes of the kids getting-along and now I have a clean chicken coop.



An aside, the chicks are now about a month old and they are getting sent to chicky boot camp. They will hereafter be taking some licks from M&M, our 10 month old hen, while she establishes the pecking order of the coop. M&M has been knocking the little ones upside the head all morning long, while they spend some bonding time outside in the yard.

Bet it takes her less time to knock them into shape than it has taken me to get my two little ones working properly...

Out with the old...

The kids and I have spent about 6 days over the last two weeks helping my parents move into a new house. I am thrilled that they get to move in to a nice, new house and the fact that the new is less than half a mile from the old house just adds a little comic relief. From the neighborhood park just up the street from their new house, you might be able to see both places at once.

Anyways, I had time to help and the kids were glad to make a couple of extra trips out of town right before school starts, so we have been back and forth a couple of times to help The Queen Mother and Dad.

They haven't moved since I was less than 2 years old, so I assumed that they were a little rusty on how to get it all done. Turns out they had the right idea. Hire professionals! The move went without any major hitches. The only known MIA thing (so far) was the receiver for their wireless keyboard and mouse. And that was easily fixed with $50 and a quick trip to the office supply store for a new keyboard and mouse set up.

During the last two weeks I have spent more time in the neighborhood where I grew up than I have since I moved away a lifetime ago. Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with lots of friends from way back. And reminiscing about our shared experiences in my childhood 'hood has been a blast.

All of this has led me to realize that my parent's old house, though nothing special to look at from the street and certainly too small for a family of five, always will be a huge part of my life.

I only hope that my own kids can look back at whatever time we spend in this too little, not very fancy, rock house with as much love and good memories at I have for that little, yellow, brick ranch styled house with the big backyard of my youth.





And I just have to state, that for the record, much to my mother's consternation, all of those years of roughhousing did NOT in fact, tear down that little house.

New Shoe Day!

The beginning of school must be near. The AtHomeFam hit the shoe store this afternoon.

The Princess scored a pair of black shoes that can work for school or church. The Talker scored a new pair of running shoes that should carry him around the track form any laps during his whole class running time. Every kid at the school runs laps several times a week to supplement the PE classes that they attend only every third day.

Old habits are hard to break, and even though I don't really have anywhere to go in the near future, I couldn't resist getting a new pair of running shoes, too. The Boss Lady hardly ever gets to wear non-dress shoes to work, so she skipped out on the sports shoe fiesta.

With the purchase of the shoes, I would say that we are ready for the first day of school. And we got it done more than 2 weeks ahead of time.

Mr Mike for hire!

The preschool that The Princess attended for the last two years was a big blessing for both of us. She made loads of great friends and her teachers were all top notch. I should know, I was one of them.

I decided early on the there was no real reason for me to send the girl to a part time preschool program. I would spend all of my free time driving to drop her off, and back again to pick her up. Like with her big brother, I planned for her to be at home until kindergarten.

Then I sort of stumbled into a part time job at the preschool. Suddenly, I was going to be getting paid to hang out from drop off time to pick up time. Plus, the girl would attend for free, making my $10 an hour job a lot more profitable.

For the past two years I have been Mr Mike, a title I never really liked - if a kid can call me by my first name, then why should I make him use a title like Mister?, Playground Activity Leader, Recreation Teacher, Assistant Classroom Teacher as needed, occasional Handyman and Janitor and Chicken Visit Coordinator.

Sure, sometimes the kids whined too much and the adults acted like the four year old children occasionally, but there really was not a part of the job I disliked. Turns out I made a pretty good Mr Mike. From what I could tell, the kids liked me, the other teachers appreciated my efforts and the parents liked having me around. For us, the job was perfect. My hours would have me home to drop the kids off at school and home before the bus dropped them off in the afternoon, with enough time to spare for a quick nap. A perfect daily schedule!

But now, due to budget cuts and a regime change at the preschool, The Mr Mike position(s) has gotten the axe for this coming year. So I find myself in the enviable position of having nothing to do once the kids start school in 22 days.

Of course, without the part time job I won't have any spending money to blow on projects like chickens, old trucks, guitars, TVs, video games, cigars or fishing. Why do I always feel a little too redneck when I list my hobbies?

So now I am on the hunt for another perfect part time job. I need something that keeps me employed Monday - Friday, from about 8am until about 2:30pm. Any later and I can't be home for drop off; any early and I'll oversleep and be late. (Just trying to set up some reasonable expectations).

The applicant comes with a wealth of experiences. Some of which might even be pertinent to the job. If not, I can fake it real well... And I sure would like someone to pay a bundle for my services.

After all, Mr Mike is kind of high Maintenance. Just ask Mrs Mr Mike.

ALMOST too hot for junkin'

Junkin' has been well documented on this blog, throughout the years. And another junkin' season is upon us.

Here is the primer, in case you are clueless about junkin'. And here is a link to my past Junkin' related posts. You'll have to scroll down to see all of the crap great stuff I have hauled home over the years.

The last few have been washouts, either because of rain (which I am WISHING on this season) or because of a low quality of junk set out by our neighbors. Either way, I haven't scored great junk in a couple of season.

Maybe my standards are getting too high?

Anyways, I had a goal of finding a plastic doghouse to modify into a second chicken coop. The Boss Lady spotted one, but it was gone by the time I made it by the pile a few hours later.

Racecar Man called to gloat about his finds last night, a gas pressure washer that shows great promise to be up and running again soon, and a 4 burner gas grill that needs a good cleaning. I couldn't resist the challenge, so we cruised the neighborhood to see what other treasures we might find.

Lo and behold, it's corners have been chewed on by a bored dog, but I found my junkin' doghouse. it is EXACTLY what I need to expand the chicken coop and $75 cheaper than the one we bought last year.

Along with the stuff I drug home, I also got rid of a couple of skate ramps that scare The Talker so much that he won't use them, an old satellite dish, a tire from a minivan I drove 3 or four years, my garage TV that has a blown speaker and about a hundred feet of old swing chains from the playscape rebuild project at the preschool. Everything except the skate ramp set was hauled away by this morning.

It is too dang hot to make anymore treasure hunting runs this junkin' season, so I am declaring this one a big success and calling it closed.

Catch up time

It is true, I don't blog a lot anymore. Bro pointed that fact out this morning. It isn't that I have less to say, just ask the wife. But it is summer time. The wife has been home from work and I try to take the available time to recharge my batteries and to let the kids reconnect with their momma.

In other words, I hide out. All. Summer. Long.

Of course, summers are not what they used to be;The Boss Lady only had three weeks off this summer. And the kids and I have been too freakin' hot to do much blog worthy since we got home from California.

Anyways, this weekend is a rare break in the summer doldrums. The weather is still hot, but a weekend shared with family and friends has made for a nice break in the summer. We went to a family reunion with The Queen Mother's side of the fam this weekend. There were dozens of people who I won't see again until the 4th weekend of July, 2010 and some of the best barbecue I have eaten in years, thanks to my second cousin's excellent grill skillz.

Today the family had to partake in a lesser quality of cookout. I grilled up some burgers after church. The kids won't eat "blackened" dawgs, so we boiled those on the stove. But my cooking was not the highlight of the day. Today was about The Talker.

He is a seven year old and has recently made a profession of his faith at Vacation Bible School, so he was baptized this morning. During the church service I was reassured that The AtHomeFam is exactly where we are supposed to be. In life. In church. All of it. Contentment sure is nice.

Between family, friends and neighbors, there were more than 30 people at our church specifically to see The Talker take his turn in the dunk tank. I know it meant a lot to him, to see his friends and cousins this morning, but it meant more to The Boss Lady and myself than we will ever be able to relate on a blog.

Anyways, the aftermath of having 1/3 a hundred people in our little house is fully here. It will take days for us to recover from the mess. And it will all be worth it, to share such a great weekend with the people we love. And even with those who we only like a little bit.

Post 1627

June 7 snuck by without me noticing. But this Blog turned 5 years old this summer. Can you imagine how much drivel exists in one thousand, six hundred twenty seven posts? Even I am scared to go too deep into the archives.

An aside: my computer seems to be living on borrowed time. I was convinced it had died last night, but after reinstalling XP and everything else (thanks to to 500GB backup external hard drive we bought a couple of months ago), it seems to be running OK today. I am still trying to find the last of the drivers I need to be back to full speed.

I am pretty sure Rick jinxed my computer when he called a day or two ago. Those computer guys can do stuff like that...

Here is hoping...

I am trying out anything I can think of to coax a little rain out of this cloudy day.

This looks like the best chance we have had for rain in more than two weeks, so we are off to play outside, hang some clothes on the line and to wash the cars.

Clueless!

Truthfully, there are not a lot of things that come up with the kids that I am completely clueless about. I may not WANT to handle some crisis, but I actually am capable. Most of the time.

This morning has presented one of those times in which I am totally clueless.

The Princess' earring fell out in the night. We found the earring, but the back clip is MIA.

When she was pierced I remember something about the earring backs being some kind of special thing that holds everything tight for the healing process. So if I don't hear from The Boss Lady soon, I guess we are off to the mall for a new set of starter earrings.

The cool front froze my brain

It is 1:30 in the afternoon and the last time I was outside it was less than 95 degrees. This is the coolest day we have had in several weeks.

M&M, our survivor from flock v 2.0 is a good egg layer, currently giving us about 5 eggs a week. When it was less than a million degrees out there she often laid an egg a day for 10 days straight. She is singlehandedly giving us enough eggs for our family. But chickens are flock animals. So I have been planning to add another bird or two to keep M&M company.

I was looking online for birds that were mature, of egg laying age. In the end I decided that our chickens have been easy to handle and work with because we have hand raised them. And the only way to ensure new birds react the same way to the kids is to raise them ourselves. Besides that, I have grown tired of watching the local poultry lists, Craigslist and a couple of national poultry web sites for a good deal on local birds.

The kids have been anxiously awaiting the time that we would add another couple of birds to our one hen flock. So today we decided to pay Chicken Store Lady a visit.

In the past we have been happy with the birds she suggested. She did not have any Buff Orpingtons or Light Brahmas. So Chicken Store Lady suggested the Cochins. They are known to be docile and huge, with feathered legs and feet, so we bought one buff colored pullet.

The Princess' two day old Buff Cochin pullet.
Currently known as Golden Diamond, (aka GD Chicken)
Hey, I don't name them.

Since we since we started feeding the neighbor's dogs raising hens, I have heard about Ameraucanas and the green/blue eggs they lay. The farm store has never had them in stock when we have been there, so we decided to buy one of them also.

The Talker's two day old Ameraucana pullet.
This is a cool looking bird!

So here we are, starting out flock version 2.5. These little chicks will have to be inside for a few weeks and the fence climbing dog is moving to Dallas soon. Hopefully that will give these girls a fighting chance to lay some eggs by the New Year.

I ain't going in there

Today marks three days in a row that the kids have played together soooooooooooo nicely that I am starting to think they are planning something.

Currently they are trashing The Princess' room with a game that involves lots of baby talking stuffed animals a couple of swords, a pink shield and a velvet party dress.

I don't THINK anyone is getting neutered, but until someone (a real human child, specifically) starts crying, I am not entering the chamber of horrors. Good luck to you, Fluffy and Spot.

The summer is winding down quickly. The Boss Lady is already back at work. It is hot enough outside that my face might melt off if we go swimming. So we are hanging at the house and trying not to die from heatstroke.

While the kids play, I am doing all of the really kick ass stuff that I get to do. Dishes, laundry and clothesline duty. Big fun! I may go nuts (if I can chase away the headache) and vacuum.

Yep. It is an exciting life around here.

Especially if you are a stuffed animal.

Overheard at bed time

"You know girl, it is kind of gross to lay your toothbrush on the toilet seat."

Road trip recap #1

We had a blast on on our road trip out to California. Lots to tell, and loads of great pictures to show you. But I haven't had much time to sort through the photos or to sit and tell our best stories. So this quick preview will have to do for now.

Here are a couple of of the best pictures from our trip.

A peek at the Davis Mountains, from our picnic lunch site along Interstate 10.
Also the location of one of our Geocache finds.

A dip into the Pacific Ocean, North Beach San Clemente, California.
Taken about 2 hours after we finished our 1400 mile drive.

My favorite picture from the Grand Canyon.
Taken along the South Rim Trail behind the old park headquarters.

3482 miles. 9 days. 4 states (not counting confusion) and 2 cases of Dr Pepper

Home.

The Babysitter and the rental car have been dropped off.

Pictures coming soon but for now the chauffeur needs a nap.

Back in NM

850 miles until home. Eating lunch out of the ice chest and it is about 1000% better than the awful slop we ate last night at a "real" restaraunt.

Kingman, AZ

On the way to the Grand Canyon. Should get there about 4 pm.

Leaving California

The AtHomeFam and The Babysitter will be heading towards home in the morning. Our trip has been a raging success. Multiple beach trips to beaches all over the area, We had no idea there were different types of beaches in California. loads of shopping, You should check out my new surfer look. Legoland, Disneyworld, Fourth of July fireworks on the beach and today, the San Diego Zoo, With a side visit to the Balboa Park Carousel.

We had a blast. Visiting my Aunt and Uncle had been great fun, too. They have gone out of their way to make the whole family happy. The kids have enjoyed getting to really know their great Aunt, who seems to have enjoyed her time with them, too. Another few days and I might be ready to give it all up and become a full-time beach bum.

Tomorrow we are heading for the Grand Canyon. The detour is only about 300 miles and I am guessing, about 6 extra hours in the car, so we have decided that it is a worthy distraction. The timing of our canyon visit is not going to work out great, we probably won't get there until late afternoon, but we may try to say near the park, so that we can enjoy the scenery of the Grand Canyon at dusk.

Pictures will have to wait until we get home. Too many to sort through for now.

Bonfire on the beach

last night. Disneyland today.

Life might not get better than this.

Trip Recap

Our road trip out to San Clemente, California was blissfully uneventful. No broken down car, no flat tires. Everything went smoothly.

The kids were kept entertained with an assortment of handheld video games, DVDs, coloring books, reading Prince Caspian stories with The Boss Lady and being entertained by The Babysitter, their 22 year old second cousin wo came along for the ride (and a trip to Disneyland).

We traveled 1400 miles, door to door. 75% of that time was spent on Interstate 10. The best part of the drive though, was Interstate 8, through the Imperial Valley. The mountains and boulders were awesome.

Today is the day we set aside for "Un-Planned Spontenaity" - Thanks to Chels for that quip.. We do not have any real plans, other than playing at the beach, hitting some Cail geocaches and maybe a side trip to the Surfing Heratige Foundation. Texas boy need to get his surf on sometimes, you know?