Fun in SoCal

Ace is in Cars heaven

Sunday Funday

It's challenging to keep two kids interested in a game when it's 100°…but we had a good time.

California Dreaming

I've been to Cali one time. I was coming home from Vegas and the airline took us to San Diego to add passengers. When we landed I discovered that the guy across the isle had died mid flight.  Needless to say my time on the ground was less than ideal.
I told my wife it was a sign that we shouldn't go back. (I'm sarcastic like that) But now, thanks to Advanced Bionic, we're heading to L.A. for a few days of testing on my ears and a couple days sight seeing. And despite myself I have to admit that I'm looking forward to it.
So hopefully in a few weeks I'll be posting pictures of sunny SoCal and telling stories of Hollywood. And hopefully the plane ride is less eventful than last time.

Ride South

Spent the weekend riding in NW Arkansas with friends. Made it home safe and sound...other than a nice sunburn.

Ace is tres (tomorrow)

What a big year for the little man. He's doing great on all fronts! Although getting him to bed is like pulling teeth on a cranky bear, I couldn't ask for a better boy. He makes us laugh every day. Happy Birthday Ace!

Ugly Betty

We traded the Road King in for a Road Glide a few weeks back. The main difference is this bike has a radio....nothing like listening to the Rolling Stones while enjoying the open air. I've managed to put on 550 miles so far and look forward to many more.

Dad Camp 2012

We survived another weekend with the kids at Watkins Mill State Park.  This is the first year all the kids were old enough to go, eight total, so we had a full house.  This was also the first year we haven't been rained on, which was nice.

We made s'mores, caught some fish, and rode our bikes. Now if I could just get rid of this poison ivy....

Tractor Ride

On a recent stop at grandpas house the kids talked him into giving them rides on the tractor.  It belonged to my great grandfather so it's pretty neat to see it being enjoyed by them.

Joys of Summer

This kid loves to ride his bikes. ( He has one and recieved two hand me downs from his sister )
In two weeks he'll get to go on his first Dad Camp weekend....can't wait!

Instagram

http://instagr.am/p/KBS5O8PpYk/

Don't know why but I love this app...and it's now android available ( who knew? )

Spoonbill

We had the smallest crew in 12 years but still managed to reel in a cooler full of fish.

Day at the "K"

My girls sporting some blue

Hot dogs and nachos...perfect baseball lunch

Beautiful face on a beautiful day

Trying to get a better view

Wore slick



Live To Ride

As close to a Harley tattoo as I'm going to get!

Easter

 Crystal helping the bunny out

    Quite possibly the worlds cutest bunny

                                                Definately not on the cute bunny list

Easter bonnets and biker jackets...



Lets Spring

The backyard smells great

Three Days in the Gate

To shake off our cabin fever we decided to take a long weekend exploring St. Louis.  It's amazing the fun you can have relatively close to home just by changing your surroundings a little. 

Because Crystal and I both drive trucks (I'm not sure how that happened) we decided to rent a car to take advantage of better fuel economy and a dry trunk.  This proved wise as it rained on us the entire way Friday and parts of Saturday afternoon.

Our first order of business upon arrival was to find Fritz's for some lunch.  While waiting on your food you can watch them bottle their in house root beer.  Macy was pretty impressed with the operation.

And she looks equally pleased with the root beer float.  It was a neat place to eat, and if you make it there I recommend the fried pickles and fish tacos.

After checking into our hotel and doing some swimming we headed off to Pi Pizza for dinner with Crystals cousin.  If you're in St. Louis you really need to eat some Pizza.  And if you're gonna eat some pizza, Pi is the place to go.  They have several locations around town with more varieties than I can list....so go crazy.

Saturday morning found us at the St. Louis Zoo bright and early.  This place rocks!  Not only is it free, but the exhibits are close together and the interaction with the animals is first class.  If you arrive early you'll enjoy watching the animals eat breakfast and you won't be dealing with a crowd.  Plus you can take advantage of free on street parking that will save you $10.  We stayed from 9 till noon, and by then it was getting pretty packed.

For lunch Saturday we dined at The Fatted Calf.  It's a bit on the pricey side of burgers, but you'll enjoy every mouth watering bite.

This is the Kobe patty special....and I'm still thinking about it!

That evening we ate at Schlafly Bottleworks, which is a micro brew and restaurant.  Unfortunately they weren't running tours but the food was still pretty good.  And so I won't be in danger of sounding like a foodie, that's it for restaurants.

Sunday morning we visited the Missouri Botanical Garden, which gives you acres and acres of  backgrounds like the one above.  They give tours but we opted to just walk around and check it out on our own.  The kids really enjoyed the tropical climatron enclosure, and Cris and I enjoyed the relaxing walk.

I hate to end on a fail, but that's just how it worked out.  I had promised the kids a river boat ride before we left town, so after leaving the gardens we headed downtown to the riverfront.  We were an hour early and planned to eat lunch on the barge while we waited, but the ticket counter informed me they only had two tickets left.....FAIL!  Now I'm on the hook for a major I O U. 

That concluded our weekend in the Gateway City.  With spring here we have all kinds of events in the near future.  From Easter, fishing, dad camp, and possibly a trip to the ocean, I can only hope the kids forget about the river boat.  :)





Team Effort

Not the best of pictures, but thats Macy in the middle taking first with her team at the dance meet yesterday. Needless to say she was pretty excited.

Beer Geek

In honor of Saint Patrick. ( I'm not sure if he founded AA, but he sure contributed!)

Like The Wind Blows

Crystal and Macy did their first mom/daughter 5k yesterday with my sister and niece.  I'm really proud of all of them!

My Girl

I could probably post twice a day about my kids because kids are just amazing. There's no end to the things they re-teach us. But I don't want to be the parent who flips out the pictures every time you see them. (You know the ones)
It's just lately I find myself worried that I'm not dedicating enough time with my daughter. A two year old running around needing constant supervision makes it easy to forget there's an eight year old in the next room who needs that attention just as much. Although she seems to enjoy her time alone....what's up with that!?
So, in the name of quality time and school work, Macy and I collaborated recently on a poster board book report. It was great, and I'm glad to report I have more patience than the average second grader. (She really didn't like waiting for glue to dry)
Also, tonight,  she got to be a butterfly and sing a duet at her class music program. She did fantastic.
So...Macy, if you're reading this in 40 years and you think I passed up too much time with you, be sure and stick me in a lousy care home with hairy overweight orderlies.  I love you girl.

Helping hands

The good Lord blessed us with a daughter who rarely tires of helping out her lil bro. Yesterday we played at the park for a few minutes after school and the little man wasn't quite big enough for a few of the steps.  Macy to the rescue.

Smokin something good

This past Saturday we had some family over to celebrate my moms birthday. The only thing better than having family at the house is cooking for them, so I was up before the sun building a fire in the smoker. Unfortunately Cris came down with a stomach bug and spent the day in bed. :(
The rest of us dined on hand made salad, ribs, potatoes, and a delicious desert my sister prepared. I just realized we didn't have a cake or sing happy birthday, but mom didn't seem to mind. She left our house and headed to sunny Florida for several weeks....who needs cake when you've got that?

Back where we started

So it looks like I'm back here where I belong. I've had a fun year blogging at Wordpress but due to some domain issues I jumped ship. I do hope you'll forgive the back and forth and I will do my best to stay put this time. More to come soon!

P.S.  It finally snowed!