Last Post of 2013

It has been quite a year.  We had some wonderful trips, saw lots of family and friends, and avoided any serious mishaps (knock on wood).  Bode started his education, Ashley and I continue to work at jobs that keep us interested and engaged (although if we won that lottery, we'd be gone in a heart-beat).  The Auburn Tigers had an incredible run and play the dreaded Seminoles in one week.  While we want Auburn to win, we realize they are playing with house-money, so anything at this point is simply gravy.  I'm sure 2014 will be filled with all sorts of new adventures, trials, and tribulations.  We'll try to take it all in stride, knowing that each gray hair is not a tragedy but a sign of gained wisdom, that each lost tooth (while painful), is another brick in Bode's childhood castle, and that every day is simply an opportunity to laugh and play (and procrastinate on that novel).

Happy New Year to all.

Christmas

Santa came!  Bode was a good boy this year, and the fat man did not disappoint.  Bode went to bed at a decent hour, but asked that we leave the tree lights on so Santa knew where to put things.  I took the below picture, but was unable to get a shot of St Nick in action.

Bode was up early--0600 to be exact.  Fortunately, he simply wanted to come sleep with us.  We were more than happy to oblige.  We managed to sleep in until well past eight.  We then hurried out to the tree to see what Santa brought us.  First up was the stockings.  Bode's was heavy, and he worried it was full of coal.  Instead of coal, he got chocolates, peppermint, an apple, and lots of kisses (Hershey style).

I took lots of pictures opening the presents, but they aren't very exciting--it's just a kid tearing paper :-)  However, because the masses demand, I'll include some of them.  First, is actually a movie.  Bode got Mommy an Auburn t-shirt.

Next is a movie of Bode opening a model train set.  I thought he'd be more excited.

We've already played with the train set.  He seems to like it, but sometimes it's hard to get the d*mn trains to sit right on the tracks (even for adults).  Santa brought Bode his much-sought-after Disney monorail.

What has turned out to be the best present was a Nabi (basically a tablet for little kids).  I don't think he thought much of it at first, but he really likes his gift.  First thing he said this morning when he woke up was, "Can I play my game?"

We had a lovely Christmas morning.  Later that day, Ashley's parents (JoAnne and Frank) arrived.  Bode and Harley were a big help with Papa's present.

A few days after Christmas, Uncle Dave and Teddy and Charlie came down for a visit.  The boys opened their gifts and spent a lot of time playing.  It's always nice when the cousins visit.  We've promised to go up to Denver to watch the Donko's first playoff game.

We had a lovely Christmas.  We are both off this week, and intend to do some winter organizing.  That will surely devolve into sitting on the couch, eating Cheetos :-)

Pleasant week to all.

Christmas Lights

We had a lovely Christmas.  I will post more pictures later this week.  This post simply shows the houses on our street.  Our neighbor really goes all out.  We try to keep the pace, but lag behind.

We are not doing much for the holidays.  A lot of eating has happened over the past two weeks, so I intend to hit the gym.  I also hope to start running again, as my foot is feeling a little better.  I've been pain-free the past three days every morning, so I think that is a good sign.  Here's hoping.  Happy Christmas to everyone.

ABQ Xmas

For the last three days, we have been in Albuquerque, visiting my brother, his wife (Dana), and their three kids (Brenna, Sean, and Devin).  Bode loves seeing his cousins.  We left early Saturday morning. Usually, it's a bear getting Bode out of bed.  Saturday, I simply said, "We're going to see Brenna and Sean and Devin."  Kid was up faster than

The drive down was uneventful, save for the more-than-necessary number of bathroom stops.  At one point, we had gone a whole twenty-two miles since the most recent stop when Bode said, "I can't hold it." Needless to say, there is a tree around mile-marker 300 on I-25 in New Mexico that received an unexpected shower.  Otherwise, the drive was fine.  Devin greeted us with a happy smile, and then Devin and Bode were off, playing like friends who see each other every day.  Sean and Brenna weren't at the house when we arrived--Bode scoured the house before Devin broke the news.  Fortunately, they were back within an hour.  Saturday night, we went to Sean's indoor soccer game, which Rio won 6-0.  I don't have any good pictures, but I'm sure there are some on espn.com or one of the other major sports websites.  Afterwards, we went to a Hibachi restaurant.  The food was great, and the chef was very entertaining.  Once again, no pictures (I did get a couple in the lobby, but they were terrible).  That night, all the kids slept in the upstairs movie room, with blankets and pillows all over the floor.  I don't know how late they stayed up, but we figured it was a vacation, so why not let Bode go a little wild :-)

Sunday, we went to some trampoline park.  Picture a big indoor barn-sized room with nothing but trampolines.  I tried to get the kids to sit still for a picture.  Bode was not cooperating.

The foam pits were a lot of fun.  Devin is crazy--I don't know if she realized you could get a little more air if you jumped from the springy part.

Note Dana also chose to jump.  Initially, I was hesitant (afraid) to join her, but after fifteen minutes of watching, I felt the need to turn the camera over to Ashley and join in the melee.  The dodge-ball room was probably the most fun (even though Sean tagged me right in the beak).  Here's a good action shot--a bit blurry, but you see me and Brenna (in perfect form) ready to throw.

Here's a good one of all four kids.  I think Devin is playing dead to avoid getting pegged.

We only bounced for an hour, but I was spent with five minutes to go (and remember, I started fifteen minutes after everyone).  Sunday night, Brenna watched the kids (she's 13 now--can you believe that!), while the adults went to see American Hustle (good, but drug on towards the end).  It was nice to see something other than an animated flick in a movie theater :-)  When we got home, the kids were up in their room, watching Elf on DVD.  The one thing I forgot to do was to take a picture of the kids' sleeping arrangements.

Monday was a trip to the casino.  No, we didn't gamble.  Rather, there's a bowling center in the same building, so we rolled two games.  The kids enjoyed it, especially since the bumpers helped them stay out of the gutters.  Here are some random shots of us playing.  I think Bode liked bowling because he could climb on the furniture-ball-holder-thingy.

I did manage to get a shot of each adult (save myself) in mid-throw.  Check out our professional-looking forms.  Note Dana's leg-kick.

Next we have Ashley.  That left-arm is really parallel to the ground (I don't know if that is a good thing or not).

Next, we have tank (Pat).  I think he's rolling the eight-pound ball in this shot.  Ball velocity topped 120 mph!

After bowling, we headed back home.  We decided to open some Christmas gifts.  Before doing so, I got a picture of the four cousins.  I have fourteen different pictures from the below sitting.  What you see is the best picture I have--it is impossible to get four simultaneous smiles from kids who are mugging for the camera.

I then snapped a shot of that bitch Ginger (the dog in the background) and the two ladies.

Next, an action shot of Bode opening his present.  He loved the bike (we spent some time today assembling it).

Here's a cute one of Uncle Pat thanking Bode for his present  He weighs a little more than Devin, huh Pat?

Here's Devin opening her present (with assists from Sean and Bode).

After presents, we had a great lasagna dinner, courtesy of Pat and Dana (we even saw Pat helping prepare things!).  We then played some games.  Devin surprised everyone by winning four of five Uno games and then she and Sean were the big winners at this other game we played (I don't remember the name, but it wasn't simply a game of luck).

We came home today.  As always, there were tears when we left, which is a good thing--you can't fake those as a six-year old, so it is obvious Bode really loves his cousins (and his Aunt and Uncle too).  He's all ready to go back.  Maybe we can convince them to meet us at Pagosa Springs for a long weekend :-)  Tonight, it's some quiet time with the four of us (Harley included), getting ready for the Fat Man to come.  Happy Christmas to all.

Holiday Recital

The kindergarten classes at Bode's school put on a holiday recital.  We attended, and like most parents, took a ton of pictures.  First up are shots of the kids before the program started.  The kids were all wearing little Santa hats.  They looked adorable.  Per the norm, Bode needs to be more photogenic :-)

After the pictures, it was time to sing.  They started with a song.  You can never go wrong with Jingle Bells.

Mixed with the songs were some memorized lines by groups of three children.  These were four-line poems.  Bode has been working every night try to remember his line.  We coached him to speak loud and in a clear voice.  Evidently we didn't believe him when he told us he would be talking into a microphone.

In case you can't tell (what are you, hard of hearing?), Bode's line was, "R is for Rudolph with his nose shining bright, Leading Santa's sleigh, he's a wonderful sight."  We were very proud of our little dude.  There were more songs, like Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, but the above was the highlight of the show (at least for us :-)

School is officially over for the semester.  I'll work a couple days between now and January, but for the most part, we are going to rest, relax, and eat :-)  I'm sure we'll post more after Santa comes.

T-Giving: Epilogue

Another trip to Disney in the books.  I really like going there, but if I had to choose, I would go in March.  There were some large crowds this past week.  In fact, the Soaring ride had a 140-minute wait for Stand-By folks.  As Dave said, there is absolutely nothing that would make that 140-minute worthwhile (unless you got to meet Gus Malzahn).  It was also nice to see everyone, especially the kids and the joy they got from all things Disney.

Unfortunately, I don't think I enjoyed the vacation as much as I could have, and it is entirely my fault.  In hindsight, I should have noticed this sooner, but on day two of the vacation, we noticed Bode constantly holding his weenis (a portmanteau of penis and wee-wee in case you don't get it).  In his words, he was uncomfortable down there.  In fact, during the Jedi Training, one of the instructors pulled him out because they thought he needed to use the bathroom (which is exactly what it looked like).  We knew something was wrong, and like any parent, I worry, and I can't have a lot of fun when my little dude is uncomfortable and in pain.  I blame myself for not paying enough attention because Bode had this condition even before we sent to Disney (he was grabbing himself a lot).  I thought he simply had to go.  My bad on that one; I promise I'll do better in the future.  While in Florida, we talked to the one of our nurses.  They didn't think it was an emergency situation, which assuaged our fears (somewhat).  Still, my worry-gland was in high-gear the rest of the vacation, and to those that I might have been a little short with, I apologize.  Fortunately, there is a (somewhat) happy ending, as we got home today, and went to the pediatrician.  I won't go into details, but the problem was similar to what Bode had before, and the doc was able to put things right.  Bode is a little sore and tender, but he was such a brave kid while on the table during what had to have been a very painful few seconds.  Still, no little boy should have to go through that twice.  Bad parent.  Baaaaad parent.

My bad, little guy.  I'll do better in the future.  Love, Daddy.

T-Giving: Days 4 and 5

On Wednesday, we slept in until past 9.  Lazy, but we needed the break (that pitiful theme again).  We had a nice breakfast, and took the bus to Downtown Disney.  We walked around, saw the sights, and relaxed.  Bode liked the big volcano and alligator.

He also liked playing in the fountain.

We, of course, had to stop at lego-land.

We shopped around, got some Christmas ornaments, and enjoyed the weather.  That night was Ashley's birthday over at the Polynesian Resort.  We had a great meal and some good family time.

The plan was to turn in early, as the Magic Kingdom opened at 0700 on Thanksgiving (which was also Bode's 6th Birthday).  We had fast passes lined up and we were set...until Bode got sick around 11:30 pm in the hotel room (no pictures of that event).  Poor little fellow.  We think he had a little food poisoning.  Well, that, and the long days, and all the other junk food we ate.  It probably caught up to him.  Therefore, we turned off the alarm, let the dude sleep until he felt like going to the Magic Kingdom. He did get out of bed for his birthday message from Mickey.

The weather was decent--very sunny, but cold.  Temps were in the low 40's that morning.

We rode some benign rides like Aladdin's Magic Carpet (which was a lot like the Dumbo ride)...

and drove some super fast race cars (a little slower than the one at EPCOT).

We watched one of the stage shows, which featured the evil witch (or one of those bad ladies).

We had a nice Thanksgiving Meal with the family

but at some point, Bode tuckered out.

We decided to call it a day and headed back to the room.  Bode napped for the rest of the day, getting up on occasion to snack on some carrots and apples.  We also watched some football in bed, which was a nice way to finish the vacation.  We had a lovely time, but are also happy to be home because, as Bode says, "Harley really missed us." Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

T-Giving: Day 3

EPCOT.  Not your most exciting place for kids, but we had a good time.  As usual, we rode the monorail, which Bode loved.

We arrived early and headed over to the Test Track.  This is a really cool ride, which is also sponsored by Chevy.  Note the nice Vette we passed while in line.

The test track is probably the best ride at EPCOT.  I took the following movie towards the end.  It's dark until the one minute point, and then the car is outside doing a circle at tremendous speed.

After the test track, we went and met a bunch of characters to include Mickey (a mute this time),

Minnie,

and Goofy.

We also got a family shot with Chip and Dale (again, which one is which?)

We then tried to meet up with Teddy and Charlie.  We did the Seas ride and saw Crush the Turtle (really cool).  Some rode Soaring, which is a very fun ride.  Eventually, we worked our way over to Italy and had lunch.  For dessert, Bode and Teddy shared a chocolate sundae, with most of it getting on their faces.

We tried to get a picture of the cousins, but getting three kids to stand still in any theme park is next to impossible.  EPCOT has tried to make the tour of nations a little more kid-friendly.  One way to do this is to give kids communicators that talk with that monogram guy from Phineas and Ferb.  They go on this little interactive mission, which was actually pretty cool (although it got a little long towards the end).

We did some other things in EPCOT, but it was a tame day.  On our way out, we ran into Pluto.

We planned on taking things easy on Tuesday and then Wednesday was going to be a down-day for Ashley, Bode, and me (the others went to Animal Kingdom).  Turns out, we were right to have the rest day :-)  Tomorrow:  Downtown Disney.