Fun in the Sun

Never mind that summer doesn't start until June, it's blazing hot and we're ready to get out the swimming pools!
Okay, so the big pool has a hole (two holes) in it - way to just wad it up and thrown it in the shed, Dad - so I guess the little one will have to work for now. The calm before the chaos; three happy boys and a little princess.

"Hold on, Kenrick, this isn't exactly bath water. All right, everyone stop splashing! Hey, don't get my hair wet! Does this suit make me look pudgy?"

Notice the water is still relatively clean. Notice that Paxton didn't stay clean for long. The water didn't stay clean for long either. Does this look familiar?

Classic Anthony

A Day in the Life of Paxton

Today I managed to capture a few shots of Paxton on a typical Saturday.

After looking at these I realized that I could have taken twice as many pictures of Paxton's day and I still wouldn't have captured it all. I'm sure you get the idea anyway. Wow, I'm exhausted!

How can you resist?

But daddy, I really, really want a pony!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

What a Week

Last week was something else.

In short, I reported for jury duty on Monday morning, became Juror Number 4 for the People of Illinois vs. Some Smuck Who Needs To Get A Clue, deliberated and concluded by Tuesday afternoon and then got in the car with my boss and a couple colleagues from work and drove five hours to Ames Iowa to attend day one of the Second Annual ASME World Conference on Innovative Virtual Reality on Wednesday.  We drug ourselves home late Wednesday night and I was in a fog for most of Thursday, tried to get caught up on Friday (didn't) and then squeezed in Kenrick's last soccer game of the spring season and a little yard work before getting cleaned up to go to our fourth funeral of the year on Saturday afternoon.

Whew!

Today we rested.

Is it really Monday again tomorrow?

Table Manners

This evening at supper Paxton managed to fill his ear with refried beans.  We were having finger food as usual for a Sunday evening, and for Paxton finger food means both-hands full of food. He was scooping beans onto his corn chip, using his left hand to pack them on as the pile got close to the edge of his plate, when Anya gave a squawk from my lap. Kenrick and Anthony, ever the dramatics, clapped their hands on their ears in mock agony.  Paxton followed suit.  Beans in the ear.

Kenrick in Motion

Humpty Dumpty, Revised

"Paxton, can you sing the Humpty Dumpty song?"

"Humpy Dumpy ... (long pause) ... up n down!"

What You Can Do When You're Two?

1. This

Baling Wire And Powerbar Wrapper Patches

Just before we started out on our Tuesday afternoon group ride from the Tech Center I noticed a strange mark on the rear tire of my bike. Never a good thing. Not just a mark, but a cut - a small radial cut in the sidewall with 70 pounds of pressure trying to push the inner tube through. Definitely not good.

What to do? It's hard to tell how long the tire will hold, but I was more concerned with the tube, which was starting to bulge just a little. And a blowout at twenty miles an hour wasn't on my list of Things To Do Before I'm Forty.

"Maybe you could slide something between the tire and the tube," Don suggested. Brilliant. How about a Powerbar wrapper? Gotta be worth a try.

So I deflated the tire, slipped the wrapper up under the edge of the tire and pumped it up again.

Then we rode 34 miles.

Hooray for Power Bars!

Our route: http://www.mapmytri.com/ride/united-states/il/chillicothe/518125013174089928



PS. My bike doesn't have any baling wire on it yet.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Daddy? DADDY!!

I spent some time today with Paxton in the truck , taking him to LeAnn's for the morning and back home again. He maintains a constant, running dialog of everything that bounces in and out of his vibrating little brain.

"Daddy! Tractchr! Tractchr! RrrrRrrRrr!"
"Daddy, where going?"
"We're going home, Paxton."
"Oh."
"Daddy! Train! Choo-choo Chrain! Go train, go. Goodby train. Daddy, where Anthey?"
"Where is Anthony, Paxton?"
"Schoo." "Where Nick?"
"I don't know, where is Kenrick?"
"Schoo."
"That's right, they're in school."
"Daddy? Daddy? DADDY!"
"What, Paxton?"
"Where Pakon?"
"I don't know."
"Here I am! Gerberge truck! Look, gerberge truck!"
"Yes, I see the garbage truck."
"Beep, beep, beep, arrrroaroaroar!"
"Daddy, I firsty. Waaaaaaterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." (in a pitiful little voice)
"We'll get some water when we get home, Paxton"
"Okay, fine."
"Berger! Daddy, berger! Oooo, sticky berger!"
"Here's a Kleenex, stop picking your nose."
"Okay. All done clean."
"Daddy?"
"What?"
"Where going?"

Mmmm, Ribs!

So, today's news about Famous Dave's coming back to Peoria got me thinking about all the good barbeque joints I've ever eaten at. I really like barbeque. Especially ribs. Mmmmm. One thing that I like about ribs is that every place seems to have their own special way of cooking them. Any time we eat somewhere new that smells remotely like smoked meat I have to try the ribs, and it was kind of surprising to count up how many places that I could remember enjoying the spicy goodness of finger-lick'n deliciousness.

I can't begin to ranks these places, but one of the first to come to mind is our favorite local Dave's-replacement, Hickory River Barbeque.  They've got an excellent brisket and a great flavored, fall-off-the-bones ribs.  It'll be interesting to see how they fare with Dave's moving in next door.

Another place that always comes to mind was called Smokey Bones in Champaign, IL. They had excellent dry-rub ribs and a brown paper bag to put your bones in to give to your doggy later. I don't think that location is in  business any more.  Let's have a moment of silence please...

When we went to Colorado a couple of summers ago we stopped in Kansas City at a place called Jack Stack.  The ambiance was awesome, and the meat really good, but if I remember right we weren't too impressed with the side dishes. Funny what you can remember, huh?  On that same trip we stopped in the middle on Kansas at some random city and ate at steak house next to our hotel. Ohhhhh man, my mouth is watering up again just thinking about it. What was the name of that place? Wait a minute, let me Google it. Ah, here it is; Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill along I70 in Hays Kansas. Highly recommended.

Sometimes good ribs come from unlikely places. One of my favorite flavors is the sweet jalapeño glazed ribs at Chevy's Mexican restaurant. Although the last time I got those here in Peoria they were a bit cold...

Anyway, I could probably spend all night thinking of ribs and where I've had them, but I'd better quit. Flavor you later.

Sounds Good To Me

Paxton has known for a while now that a cow says "MooOO".  This morning we asked him what he thought a moose says.
"Cow!"

Seven!

This weekend Anthony grew up just a little bit more, celebrating his seventh successful birthday in a row.  Way to go, Anthony!  We had a little party.

You know you've become a Real Boy when you get your first Bears jersey.

The Space Police are going to get you! This fits right in with Anthony's favorite imaginary world of Bad Guys and Heroes and spaceships and such.  I just noticed that the box says "Ages 8-14"???

Oh well, Anthony hasn't listened to anyone yet tell him he was too young for anything. Mr. Confident forges ahead, figures it out, and gets 'er done.

Another thing Anthony is growing into is big-brotherhood. Andrea had to do something the other day, so plopped Anya down in Anthony's lap and there she sat, happy as a clam.  Anthony was pretty happy too, and just sat there and held her for a long time.  I had to take a picture.

So, if it seems like we've had a lot of birthdays lately, that's because we have.  One a month for the first four months and two more in May! Cool huh? Nothing like piling all the celebrations into the first half of the year.  Except that by the time my birthday rolls around we're going to be broke. Rats!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Anthony.  We think you are turning into a fine little boy.