DadThing.com – A Dad Blog

2010 Vacation – Outer Banks, NC

July 11th, 2010

Again this year we went to the Outer Banks for vacation. We had a great time! There were eight adults that went so we were able to split the cost and rent a really nice beach house!

Our Vacation Rental House At The Outer Banks

To get to the house you had to drive eight miles on the beach! There were no roads to get to the house. If you ever go to this part of the Outer Banks make sure you do your research and only attempt to drive on the beach at low tide. We got stuck twice on the way to the house and had to be pulled out both times.

But, once we made it to the house we were able to relax in the pool and hot tub…

Ace In The Pool In North Carolina

And our house was also in the Wild Horse Reserves, so there were wild horses everywhere! They came right up to our house and even slept in our back yard…

Outer Banks Wild Horses

Outer Banks Wild Horses Sleeping In The Back Yard

And when we were not playing on the beach…

Jared At The Beach

Ace At The Beach

Ace's Cousin Livi At The Beach

Ace and Livi At The Beach

…we went out to look at the famous light houses…

Currituck Light House

Cape Hatteras Light House

… saw the Inn at Roadanthe (From the movie Nights in Roadanthe)…

Inn At Roadanthe

… saw all kinds of cool critters…

The Lizard

A Dragon Fly

Pink and Yellow Moth

The Cool Bear

Whoever said vacation was relaxing? At the end of every day we were all pooped…

Ace Worn Out

Ace, Calling It A Day

… and now we are back home…planning next year’s vacation.

Tags: beach, ocean, Pictures, vacation
Posted in: Entertainment, Family, Fun Activities, Pictures |
Views: 330
4 Comments »

Ruby

April 2nd, 2010

6 Comments »

Ace loves dogs! He always gets so excited when he sees a dog. So, after quite a bit of convincing from Momma, I finally gave in…

But Ruby is a puppy…a big puppy! And a hyper one at that. The running and jumping is not Ace’s favorite part for sure…but I’m sure he’ll get used to it.

Tags: dog, Pets, Ruby
Posted in: Entertainment, Family, Pets, Photography, Pictures |
Views: 718
6 Comments »

Can Being In A Rut Be Fun?

February 3rd, 2010

4 Comments »

Ever feel like you are in a rut…digging and digging to get out, but getting no where fast?

Ever since Momma started staying at home with Ace instead of going to work, we have really had to watch where our money goes. And now that we are living in a recession it almost like a noose around our necks!

We pay all of our bills on time, but what’s left over leaves little room for much entertainment or extra curricular activities.

The added stress and lack of doing things hasn’t really helped my blogging much. I mean, do you really want to hear about how we do the same thing every day? I didn’t think so…

I know that the recession has hurt many families much more than it has hurt ours and I am very grateful that we have done as well as we have throughout these tough times.

I have friends that have been laid off for over a year, depleted all of their savings, and ran up their credit cards. Now they are living on a shoestring budget struggling to make ends meet.

So how has the recession put unwanted stress on your family?

What have you done to alleviate this stress?

What are some fun (and inexpensive) things that your family does for entertainment?

Tags: Entertainment, Money, recession
Posted in: Entertainment, Family, Money |
Views: 725
4 Comments »

Freeing Up Some Space…

November 15th, 2009

2 Comments »

So many times I take pictures and forget I even took them. I downloaded all of the pictures off of my digital camera and realized that I completely forgot to write about the awesome time we had on a mini vacation in September!

The whole goal of this mini vacation was to get out of Dodge for the weekend, and go down to see the leaves changing along the Ohio river. There were a few other festivals that we were planing on attending as well.

So, we loaded up the truck, and we moved to Beverly….not really…but we did go to the hills. Not the Hollywood Hills, but the hills of Kentucky!

We drove down on a Friday night after work and got into the hotel kinda late. Ace was zonkerred out and Momma and I quickly followed his lead.

Saturday morning we got up early to go to a harvest festival/car show a few towns over. We get to the little po-dunk town and there was nothing…not one car being showed. We drove around the 5 whole blocks of this town to realize that their website was wrong. We finally found a sign advertising the car show… THE NEXT WEEKEND.

So much for the car show. We had all day and a full tank of gas. We just started driving and saw a sign for a National Park. We had not visited a National Park since we lived in Colorado. Ohio just does not have many extreme wilderness areas…ya know?

We paid for our day pass and drove about 10 miles back into this forest until we found ourselves parked at the end of a hiking trail alongside the Ohio River. Ace has never been hiking…let’s do it!

Off we go…hiking through the forest. It was pretty muddy because it rained the night before, and Ace hit every mud puddle along the trail. I rolled up the bottoms of Ace’s pants to keep them from getting too muddy…and I had to roll up mine as well. We were having fun!

The cliffs were amazingly high…and steep!

Tall Cliffs Near The Ohio River

Ace got to see a lot of things he had never seen before…big cliffs, the Ohio River, people riding horses, and even a few barges hauling stuff down the river (one was hauling port-a-potties…a whole barge full of porta-potties!)

We hiked and hiked…and hiked! I’m surprised that Ace’s little stubby legs still worked! But he did stop a few times to take a rest…

Taking A Rest While Hiking

We hiked all the way back to the truck where ace decided that there was something wrong with the front tire..

Dad, Here Is The Problem...

And after he fixed the problem…not real sure what he did…we headed back out on the road.

We came across a little park that marked a battle site from the Civil War…or something. ( I never have been a history buff.) There was a cannon that was used in the battle, and for some reason an old cabin.

Looking Down The Barrell Of A Cannon

Notice the jacket that Momma is wearing? It’s the one I reviewed…
Which by the way has been moved over to the new DadThing Reviews Blog!

Sitting On The Front Porch Of An 1800's Cabin

We quickly bored ourselves with a history lesson and headed back out onto the road. This time we ended up at the Louisville zoo!

Just so happens they were having a trick or treat night!! So, we got Ace dressed up in his best Fire Fighter Uniform and went to keep all of the zoo animals safe from any blazing infernos.

Firefighter Halloween Costume

And wouldn’t you know it…Dorothy, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow from Oz were there!

We just had to meet them…and get our pictures taken with them…

The Tin Man and Dorothy

The Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion

Dad and Ace at the Emerald Palace!

Notice the bottoms of my pants?

Yup, some ‘tard forgot to roll them back down after hiking…

I guess Momma is right…I am special sometimes.

Tags: costume, trick or treat, vacation, zoo
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Funny Stuff, Holidays, Pictures |
Views: 939
2 Comments »

How Do You Know You Spend Too Much Time Playing Bejeweled Blitz On Facebook?

November 7th, 2009

3 Comments »

Bejweled Blitz

So how do you know when you spend too much time playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook?

Maybe you check the leader board while on break at work to make sure that no one has beaten your score!

Could it be that you find yourself organizing the cans in your cabinets into groups of three?

Do you dream up ways to sabotage that person’s computer who will always get 200,000 points every single week and you’re lucky to get 100, 000?!

Or maybe…just maybe…a good sign would be your two year old, who only speaks the language of Nick Jr, running around the house saying, “One Minute…Go!”…”Bang Bang Crash”…”A New High Score!”

Maybe…just maybe…that would mean that you play just a little too much.

Tags: facebook, fun, games, talking
Posted in: Entertainment, Family, Fun Activities, Funny Stuff, Learing To Talk |
Views: 756
3 Comments »

Social Networking For Two Year Olds

October 5th, 2009

2 Comments »

We do not know any other parents with kids Ace’s age. All of our friends either have 4-5 year olds or babies. No toddlers.

So, Ace has really been deprived of interacting with other children his age. Do they have a Facebook for toddlers? He is an only child (although we have been working hard to change that, just no luck yet), but does get to interact frequently with older kids…which is good…but not what he needs. We do not want him to grow up and be socially retarded.

So, Momma found a “Mommy & Me” class for them to take, but there was only one other kid there besides Ace. So, she dug a little deeper and found a Gymboree class for him to attend. Tomorrow will be Ace’s third class.

It really is kinda fun…even I enjoy it! Miss Alissa, the teacher/activity leader is very good with kids. She sings and dances and is extremely animated which draws the toddlers’ attention away from their shoe-laces (or whatever may have caught their attention).

There are multiple group activities separated by “play time” where the kids can go down the slides, shoot some hoops on a two foot tall basketball rim, climb different obstacles, and interact with each other.

The first visit Ace was very shy (gets that from me) and the second visit he opened up a whole lot. He actually participated in the group activities, but not so much with the other kids.

However…so far Ace has successfully knocked down a girl, head butted the same girl, and climbed on top of a girl…the same girl (whoa whoa buddy!). Aren’t little boys mean to the girls they like? I’m going to have to watch these two…

Overall it is a good time had for all, and I hope that Ace gets something valuable out of it. Momma has already made a friend with one of the other Moms there and they are planning a play date outside of Gymboree. Maybe Ace has made his first friend his own age? We’ll see…

Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Growing Up, Like Father Like Son |
Views: 625
2 Comments »

OBX – The Outer Banks

September 7th, 2009

6 Comments »

We spent the last week of our vacation in Duck, NC. We (PaPa, Grandma, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Mike, Livi Shea, Ace, Momma, and I) rented a beach house about 500 ft from the beach…our little home away from home…

We were greeted in NC by Hurricane Bill with large bone crushing waves and high winds, but everything calmed down by the third day.

We did not do a whole lot there (isn’t that the point of going to the beach?).

Ace, A.K.A. FishBoy, and Olivia had never seen the ocean before so they were in complete amazement when the waves would crash down and roll over their feet…

We went on a Dolphin Cruise where we took a relaxing boat ride out into the sound and saw live dolphins in the wild… Did you know that wild dolphins have pink bellies? Me neither…

The Dolphin Cruise was a sunset cruise, so we got to see the sunset…it was breath taking to see the sun set over the water…

And the skies after the sun set were equally as eye cathcing…notice the moon peeking it’s head out into the daylight…

As fun as the dolphin cruise was, nothing beats playing on the beach. Of course someone has to be buried…

…and sand castles have to be constructed with precsion…

We even got to experience the beach at early morning and at night. At night the crabs run wild. We went down with our flashlights and chased the crabs across the sand back into the water. Those little buggers can scoot!

We got up early one morning to watch the sunrise. I have never in my life took time to sit down and watch the sunrise. I mean, I’ve seen it rise while driving to work, and I’ve been outside when it has risen, but to sit and watch it’s every move is something that I will have to try and do more often. The view was overwhelming…

All in all we had a fantasic time! It had to be one of the most fun two weeks that we have ever had. Momma is already busy planning next years vacation…

Tags: beach, dolphin, sand, sand castles, sunrise, sunset, vacation
Posted in: Entertainment, Family, Fun Activities, Pictures |
Views: 749
6 Comments »

Two Year Old Wrestles Alligator!

August 25th, 2009

16 Comments »

On our last day in Orlando, we stopped in for an afternoon of Gatorland!

If your are weary of large bone crushing jaws equipped with flesh piercing teeth…you could not even get in the front door…

And once inside you better keep your fingers to yourself, or else you might go home looking like a veteran maintenance man.

They also had a bunch of colorful birds… Apparently these little buggers will bite you pretty hard too. I did not get close enough to find out…

But the least colorful, yet most intriguing, were the white alligators! Can you imagine seeing one of these bad boys running at you leading with their mouths wide open salivating as they imagine what you would taste like?

They are not albino, they are leucistic… They still have skin pigment around their mouths and their tails. Albinos are known for their red eyes due to lack of pigmentation. The leucistic alligators have bright blue eyes…

Don’t let them baby blues fool you… These guys are just as big and dangerous as the colored variety.

We got to see some crazy dude wrestle an alligator too!

After watching for a few minutes, Ace and I decided it would not be that hard to wrestle an alligator if we worked together.

I distracted the gator by making hand bag jokes about his mother. Ace ran up and jumped on the gator’s back, riding him like a rodeo cowboy. After Ace had the reptile worn out, I jumped on the gator’s back too and subdued him by grabbing his jaws…nearly losing a finger…and pulling his head back till he tapped out in submission.

Then I yelled, “Ace, look over at Momma so she can take your picture!”

And there he is the 2 Year Old Gator Wrestler. Sitting proud atop his defeated opponent!

What are you talking about? Tape? Where? I don’t see any tape around that gator’s mouth? That must be a glitch in the photo…

Tags: alligator, florida, orlando, vacation
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Pictures |
Views: 1,279
16 Comments »

Why Leave The Hotel?

August 23rd, 2009

6 Comments »

The second day of our vacation we decided to just hang out at the hotel.

The hotel was more than just a hotel…it was a resort. There was over 100 acres with 30 buildings, a pool, a grocery store, a restaurant, a bar, multiple ponds, and three pools.

This main pool was the most amazing pool I have ever seen! Orlando has been built around entertaining kids, and this pool sure followed that tradition. There were fountains, waterfalls, and volleyball nets in the pool. Here’s a quick pic I took…

Pretty sure Ace is part fish… Once the kid got wet…we only took breaks to eat and sleep.

After swimming in the morning, Ace went to feed the ducks…which was one of the activities for the kids. (There was a new activity every half an hour.)

And as a bonus we got to feed a few turtles that decided to crash the party and steal some bread…

On our way back to the room I snapped a few pics of some of the hotel scenery…not that kind of scenery…get your minds out of the gutter.

I was talking about some of the fountains…

And to end the day the hotel had “Movie Night at the Pool”. They brought out a projector, lit a fire to cook some smores, and popped some popcorn.

We did some swimming, then chowed down on popcorn and smores. And on the walk back to the room, Ace gave up…. If someone was carrying me…I would’ve gave up too.

Tags: ducks, hotel room, orlando, swimming, turtles, vacation
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Pictures |
Views: 534
6 Comments »

Hello From Orlando!

August 20th, 2009

11 Comments »

Hi everyone! If you follow me on Facebook (my profile) you already know that we are on vacation in Orlando this week.

We drove 15 hours from our home to Orlando on Monday night and arrived in Orlando Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday night we just hung out and recooped from the looong drive.

Wednesday we got up and headed to Sea World! Ace was rarin’ to go!

We were there when the park opened and had Breakfast With Elmo and Friends…

While eating Ace got to meet all of Elmo’s friends. He got a hug from Telly Monster…

…and tickled by Bert…

…and his picture taken, on stage, with Elmo and Big Bird…

After breakfast we pet the Sting Rays…

…and pet the dolphins…

…and fed them too!

The Dolphin show was simply amazing with the acrobatics, high dives, and stunts with the Dolphins…

It was so cool that Ace sported this face for much of the show…

Overall the first full day in Orlando was a blast!!!

We have two full weeks of vacation planned including…hanging out at the hotel resort, going to Gator Land, and driving up to Duck, North Carolina where we will rent a house for a week and spend some time at the ocean!

Gotta go…Ace is ready to go to the pool! This kid is a fish!

Tags: dolphins, fish, florida, Pictures, vacation, water
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Funny Stuff, Pictures |
Views: 622
11 Comments »

Say Uncle!

July 22nd, 2009

8 Comments »

Uncle. A simple word. Yet complex.

So what exactly is an uncle? Here are a few qualifying criteria of an uncle…

Your mother’s brother
Your father’s brother
Your mother’s sister’s husband
Your father’s sister’s husband
Don’t make me break out all of the step, half, in-law, common-law combinations…we’d be here all night.

The point is that while we as adults easily understand what an Uncle is, it seems that the whole Uncle concept is confusing for two year olds…or at leat my two year old.

Ace has three uncles…Uncle Brandon, Uncle Mike (or sometimes referred to as Uncle Munch), and Uncle Charlie.

We have some family friends, that while not officially an Uncle, are around enough to have earned the glorified Uncle status. These people would be…Uncle Jason, Uncle Soichi, Uncle Shawn, and Uncle Bryan (with a Y not an I, like Bee-Ryan).

With all of these Uncles, it’s hard to believe that Ace has no real aunts… (So if any of you single ladies out there are looking for a single Uncle…I got the hook up. C’mon now for Ace’s sake…the poor boy is in Aunt-icipation)

So, why was I surprised…

Why was I surprised when he pointed at me said, “Uncle Daddy!”?

Tags: learning, talking, uncle
Posted in: Family, Funny Stuff, Growing Up, Learing To Talk |
Views: 551
8 Comments »

No More Being Behind Bars

July 19th, 2009

6 Comments »

A few weeks ago we bought Ace his very first “Big Boy Bed”.

Since then we have been trying to get used to being woken up by a two year old who has woken up, destroyed the whole entire upstairs, soiled his diaper, and then decides it’s time to tell Mom and Dad it’s time to get up.

He still doesn’t talk all that well, so he resorts to physical attempts at waking us up. Which would you prefer?

Having a toddler waller himself up into your bed and plop down on the blankets between you and your significant other successfully strangling the breath out of the both of you until you can wake up enough to figure out what the hell is going on and sit up…
Being woken up by a 30 lb toddler stepping on your nads first thing in the morning. (Now that is a wake up call.)
Being hit in the face by a toy truck as it gets thrown on your bed…because it’s play time didn’t you know?
Having a 30 lb toddler sit on your face…dirty diaper and all.

There have been a few night where Ace has woken up in the middle of the night because he has fell out of bed, had a bad dream, or for whatever reason he is crying. We’ll give him a cup, put him in our bed and he’ll fall back a sleep for a few hours until the sun comes up.

Last night Ace came into our room at 3 AM wanting a drink. I got him a drink and put him in our bed. I fell back a sleep and when I woke up in the morning Ace was not in our bed.

Oh shit…I rolled Momma over to make sure she was not lying on him, then I imagined him falling down the stars last night, being abducted by aliens, packing a bag and heading to Vegas…where the hell was he?

I looked on the floor, in the hallway, in his play room, and finally found him curled up sound asleep with his blanket on his own bed.

I guess he is tool cool to sleep in Mom and Dad’s bed now since he is a “Big Boy”. What next, I gotta drop him off down the street from the park, so that the other kids do not see me?

Tags: bedtime, big boy bed, crib, sleep, waking up
Posted in: Family, Funny Stuff, Growing Up |
Views: 409
6 Comments »

On A Whim…

July 13th, 2009

5 Comments »

Ever just do something on a whim? Ever just get in the car and drive not knowing exactly where you will end up. Momma and I used to do that a lot. Just drive, grab a hotel for the night, maybe see some local attraction, and then drive home the next day. Kind of nice to get away from the normal grind ever now and then…

We haven’t done that since Ace was born though. It’s kinda hard to just hop in the car and go. You gotta have a diaper bag, diapers, sippy cups, car seats, teddy bears, blankets, toys, extra clothes, and I’m probably forgetting something…I usually do.

So, we kinda improvised…we decided at the last minute that we were going somewhere, but we had to know where we were going. We can’t risk not being able to find a room, so we had to make a reservation. We packed all of the stuff that Ace needs…see paragraph #2 (and by the way the thing that I forgot in the list was baby wipes…luckily we did remember them in real life though )

So we started planning about 8PM, left at 10PM, and got to the hotel at around Midnight. We got up in the morning, enjoyed the continental breakfast (Holiday Inn Express has the best breakfast…gotta get the cinnamon rolls), and then we headed to Indian Lake.

We made it to the beach, but it was a bit too cold to go swimming, so we just let Ace play in the shallow waves.

It felt good to step outside the lines of normal daily life again. It felt good to just go somewhere without thinking too much about how we were going to get there, what we were going to do, when we were going to leave, and how much it was going to cost.

No worries… Kinda like being two years old again. No wonder he is always in a good mood.

Tags: beach, vacation
Posted in: Entertainment, Family, Fun Activities, Funny Stuff, Growing Up, Holidays |
Views: 411
5 Comments »

The Village

June 26th, 2009

1 Comment »

It’s been pretty hot here lately. Somewhere around 90 degrees every day…and 98 degrees in our house!

Yup, our air conditioner took a big ole crap! Why do these things break when they are needed the most?

And on top of that Ace came down with strep throat. When he’s feeling good…he is lying around. When he is feeling bad, he needs to be held.

I can barely stand the heat just sitting here by myself, let alone holding a 100 degree, crying, 25 lb boy!

So, we’ve been staying at Grandma’s house (which has AC) until the parts for our AC unit come in and I have time to install them.

It really does take a village sometimes…

Tags: air conditioner, hot, strep throat, summer
Posted in: Family, Health, Misc Ramblings |
Views: 324
1 Comment »

A Weekend Of Backflips

June 7th, 2009

12 Comments »

Today we were at the ballpark watching one of our friends daughters play softball. Ace and I went to the playground.

Of course, Ace is not quite big enough for the playground. He can’t climb up to get on the slide, and he is not tall enough to jump on the swing set. So, Daddy gets to play too.

Ace was swinging…Dad was pushing…Ace’s hands keep getting lower and lower on the chain. He was eventually holding on to just the rings on the swing’s seat and not actually the chain.

He was getting wobbly and I was afraid we would end up in the emergency room. So, I stopped the swing…raised his hands back up on the chain…made sure he had a good grip…and gave a slight push.

What’s Ace do? He lets go!

It couldn’t be at the lowest point of the swinging arc. No no no! It had to be at the very tippity top. Right where the swing stops moving forward and start coming back down.

So what happens? Gravity. That’s what happened!

Ace fell a few feet and landed on his back in the gravel under the swing set. Of course I’m the only Dad at the playground, so all I heard were a bunch of Moms gasping for air…like that was going to stop him from hitting the ground so hard.

It knocked the wind outta the little guy, but we walked back over to where Momma was and a sucker made everything hunky dory!

And if you thought that was bad…

We were in the backyard playing. Actually, I was working and Ace was playing. I see Ace climb up the ladder on the swingset to go down the slide. He has only mastered this feat in the past few weeks and is extremely proud of himself for being able to slide by himself.

When I see him get to the top I usually give him a big smile and a “Yey!” Positive reinforcement, right?

So I give him a big smile. He smiles back.

Then I see is his eyes get big…

I see him falling backwards… (of course all of this is in slow motion)

His feet are above his head…

He’s coming full circle…a full backflip…

Only about a foot from the ground now…

…and SMACK! His face hits the ladder.

My eyes shut as I see his face bounce off of the piece of steel.

I open my eyes, try to remain calm, and briskly walk his way…

I can hear Ace crying…

Damn this is a long 20 foot walk…

Screw being calm…I’m running…

I find Ace lying face first in the grass…

I pictured black eyes, blood, a broken nose, and a trip to the ER.

I picked him up…roled him over…his face looked OK (for a screaming, slobbering 2 year old)…his arms appeared to be attached and in one piece…by God we may have come out of this one unscathed…but we go inside for a Momma inspection just in case.

Luckily all he had was a nice sized Goose Egg right between the eyes! No trip to the ER, no black eyes the next day, no blood, no broken bones…just a bit of swelling, a bit of crying, and a Dad whom you would have thought just saw his kid fall off of the Empire State Building .

And people wonder where the gray in my beard comes from…

Tags: emergency room, outside, playing, swing set
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Funny Stuff, Health |
Views: 579
12 Comments »

Rocks and Shit

June 2nd, 2009

4 Comments »

We spent the weekend in my home town at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Riding the 4-Wheeler, lying by the pool, going swimming, and doing a little bit of partying on Saturday night.

Ace, however spent the weekend sharpening his speech skills and getting lessons from some of the best out there…

Aunt Amber and Aunt Amy taught him some silly Frog song and he spent the weekend running around saying “mmmmm-eckkkkk mmmmm-eckkkkk mmmmm-eckkkkk-eckkkkk “. Don’t ask me…

Aunt Amy also thought it would be just darling for him to start his flirt training. She successfully got him to say “Hey Gurrrl!” to a few of his potential future mates. You better watch out girls!

Grandpa pulled in the driveway in his old truck, but Ace could not see him. Ace looked to the sky and said “Hewicoptur!”. I think he is indirectly telling you it is time for a new muffler Gramps.

And last but not least, Ace was walking barefoot across the patio when someone noticed he was not putting weight on the heel of his foot. Everyone thought he may have stepped on something sharp. So, I picked up his foot and brushed off a bunch of dirt and rocks. I announced to the peanut gallery that it was just some “Rocks and Shit”. And of course, Ace proceeded to copy my excellent English lingo and announce by himself that it was just a bunch of “Rocks and Shit!”, “Rocks and Shit!”, “Rocks and Shit!”

Can’t Bose make some curse word canceling headphones? I mean hell they make the noise canceling ones!

Tags: funny, funny story, learning, talking
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Funny Stuff, Growing Up, Like Father Like Son, Misc Ramblings |
Views: 389
4 Comments »

Whitey Tighteys!

May 11th, 2009

9 Comments »

So, it has finally started to happen. Ace has been slowly starting to talk. First it was a few simple words like “Hi” and “Bye”. Then, he learned some animals: dog, cat, cow, sheep, bird.

But, tonight we were watching my favorite educational television show…Cops. They sure do find America’s finest to show. Other countries watching Cops probably think we are a bunch of toothless, wife beater wearing crack heads. But that is OK…it is good entertainment…for adults.

So anyways, they show this old man who was fighting with his wife. His wife called the cops and when the cops arrived the man was just wearing his underwear…whitey tighteys.

They call them whitey tighteys for a reason…they are supposed to be kinda tight. But this guy had them a size too big and about ready to fall off.

It was funny, and Ace’s Uncle Mike (also known as Munch in Ace lingo) shouted out in laughter…”Whitey Tighteys!”

And here comes Ace marching through the room clapping and chanting…”"Whitey Tighteys! “Whitey Tighteys!” It was hilarious!

I’m sure it is just a start to what Uncle Munch is going to teach Ace…and I have it coming. Still to this day Uncle Munch’s daughter, Olivia still broadcasts to the world (public places included) that she farted.

Where on Earth would she learn to do something like that?

Tags: learning, talking, tv, uncle munch
Posted in: Family, Funny Stuff, Growing Up |
Views: 522
9 Comments »

What Happens At Grandma’s House…

May 6th, 2009

7 Comments »

Looks like Ace has moved up in the world. No longer does he need to wait for me to pull out the ole’ junky John Deere to cruise around the yard. He just goes to his Grandma H’s house and rides his very own…

And he looks like a pro…

If only he could figure out how to push the pedal to make it go. Bending over pushing the pedal with your hand while making laps around the yard will reek havoc on your back…so we found an old walking cane.

Not for me to be able to walk afterwords, but to be able to reach the pedal while standing somewhat upright.

When we got tired of mowing, we moved on to ole’ faithful…playing with rocks.

What is so amazing about rocks? Anyone? I wish I knew.

And when rocks are not fun anymore…making a mess is. Especially when that mess includes an old sandbox full of rain water that the dog has been bathing in and drinking out of for the past week…water, dirt, dog hair, dog spit, grass clippings, and one wet Ace…

So what happens at Grandma’s house doesn’t necessarily stay at Grandma’s house…when Dad has a camera.

Free Enfamil and Enfamil Coupons

We got a few of these free Enfamil samples in the mail, and since Ace does not drink formula anymore, I figured I would offer them here for free.

I have one sample can of Enfamil Lipil and one sample can of Enfamil Next Step Lipil. They both have never been opened and expire in 2010.

I also have three coupons that expire June 30, 2009. I am offering these for free as well:

$5 Off Enfamil Next Step
$4 Off Enfamil Next Step
$5 Off Enfamil Lipil

Leave a comment stating which items you could use, and I will mail them out as soon as possible.

Tags: enfamil, free stuff, john deere, mower, playing
Posted in: Family, Fun Activities, Pictures |
Views: 745
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Honoring The Life of Payton Marie Robinson

April 24th, 2009

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We never met Payton or her family, but we have a family member that had. To know that Payton has touched so many lives during her short time here is heart warming.

My mother called me Monday evening, and as soon as I heard her voice I knew something was not quite right. She told me that her manager had not been to work that day, there had been a family emergency.

I was afraid to ask what happened, and then she told me that her manager’s grand-daughter had died that morning. Shock was the only way to describe how I felt, and some disbelief too. I didn’t even notice that I had begun to cry when I asked what happened, not that it mattered what happened…this precious child was gone.

Payton Marie Robinson was just 9 weeks old when she passed away unexpectedly, leaving behind her parents and two-year old brother Tyson. When something so tragic happens to someone you know, it makes you hold tight to the ones you have in your life and remember God is really in charge of everything and He has a plan. We may not understand that plan and truth be told we may never, but we must hold fast to our faith for it will see us through.

To honor the life and memory of this sweet child, we are making a donation in her name to www.firstcandle.org and we encourage others to do the same; if not to this organization than to one helping to fund the research and prevention of SIDS. Remember this family in your prayers as we do, for this child may have gone on to be with her Heavenly Father but she will never be forgotten.

This is her obituary:

Payton Marie Robinson, born February 16, 2009, departed this world April 20, 2009. We belong to God and not the Earth. He just lets the Earth borrow us for a little while to do God’s work. God sent Payton Marie “Pay Pay” here to bring love and happiness if only for a short nine weeks. We all were blessed with her presence and are happy to know that she is with her Heavenly Father and among many family and friends that have gone on before us. Preceded in death by paternal great-grandparents Ruthie West, Arthur and Dorothy Robinson, maternal great- grandparents Cyrus and Ocee Simmons and Merchant and Josie Singleton. Survived by parents, Lawrence and Jacinta Robinson; brother, Tyson James Robinson; paternal great-grandfather, James West; paternal grandmother, Eugenia Robinson; paternal grandfather, Ronald Robinson; maternal grandparents, Eric and Charlene Simmons; aunts, Patrice Robinson and Rhonda McKinney; uncle, Joshua Simmons; a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, and many loving family friends. Memorial Celebration of Life 3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25, 2009 at St. Paul A.M.E. Church, 639 E. Long Street, where the family will receive friends from 2:30 p.m. until the start of service. Attendees are asked to wear bright colors. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the St. Paul A.M.E. Allen Christian Endeavor Youth Ministry. Arrangements entrusted to DIEHL-WHITTAKER FUNERAL SERVICE, 720 E. Long Street.

Jacinta Simmons-Robinson and her mother have been featured in a previous post regarding their online business geared towards formal wear for young boys and infants. Take a moment to check out their site: www.tysonscloset.com

Tags: Momma Monday, Mourning, SIDS
Posted in: Family, Health, Links, Misc Ramblings, Momma Monday |
Views: 342
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