Them's the Breaks

Last Thursday Gavin was at an undisclosed location - most likely in our backyard - playing on some monkey bars (suck it, insurance, because I know you're going to call asking where it happened, looking to push the cost off on somebody else).  Yadda, yadda, yadda, he hurt his elbow.  The result, after a few trips to the doctor is...

We're not sure if it's fractured or if it was dislocated, but something's going on because of the swelling so the doc decided to wrap it up for about 3 weeks and see what happens.

(Oh yeah, Amy said not to pay attention to her laundry hanging on our dining room chairs to dry.)

Congratulations and Beware!

As of 9:00 AM on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009, Keely has her learner's permit.

Kid Fish at Lake Pflugerville

About 10 years ago when Reagan and Gavin were still too small to fish, Grandpa took Keely to a Kid Fish event at a park near our house in Missouri City.  They gave out corn for bait, but Grandpa had a secret weapon: chicken liver.  As a result, Keely caught some nice catfish and the kids around her were quite jealous because all they had for bait was corn.  Stupid corn.

There was a similar event this past weekend at Lake Pflugerville so Gavin, Alex, and I packed up a cooler with snacks – and headed out to the lake with our fishing supplies.  After Gavin and Alex graduated from Kid Fish University, we settled in to catch the big one and snag one of the cool trophies.

But we weren’t prepared because I had read somewhere online that they didn’t stock with catfish – so once they told us there that they stocked with 500 catfish I called Amy and she graciously agreed to go on a chicken liver run for us before going to get her nails done with “the girls,” i.e. Keely, Reagan, Nikki, and Olivia.

But it was no use.  It was hot and the snacks tasted good.  The rocks kept the boys entertained for a few hours.  But nobody caught a thing other than some small perch and what not.

 

The boys didn’t seem to mind, though.  They had lots of fun and I explained to them that that’s why they call it Kid FISH and not Kid CATCH.  Sometimes you catch ‘em and sometimes you don’t.

We did catch some memories and I’m glad we went.  It recalled a lot of memories of Grandpa and how much he loved to fish.  We didn’t talk about him much except for Gavin to tell Alex how good of a fisherman his grandpa was – but he was there for sure.

We’ll catch ‘em next time.

Memorial Day 2009

Amy and I were talking the other day and we realized that it’s already been about 5 months since we’ve returned home from Taiwan. Wow. That’s simply amazing to me and it’s hard to believe that the kids are finishing up their last days of school and summer is looming large.

We had talked about going to Granbury or even Houston for the weekend but after being gone so much we decided to hunker down at home and just … be. We’re still trying to find a church home (that’s closer to home) and since we’ve been gone most weekends we just haven’t made much progress in the last 5 months. So that was a big reason to stay home.

So mom came down to spend the weekend with us and when I asked what she wanted to eat, the first thing on her list was crawfish. Twist my arm. So yesterday (Saturday) we sat on the back porch and watched an awesome storm roll in and cook and eat a pot of crawfish – about 17 pounds to be exact. This is prime season right now and they are pretty large:

Since it was a pretty lazy day without much going on I was able to spend the time to purge them well and weed out the dead ones. The result was tremendous:

Besides purging them well I also did a few new things. Instead of putting cloves of garlic in the boil I used about a cup or so of crushed garlic. This really gave everything a stronger, more infused-garlic flavor. In addition, mom told me that dad used to put butter in the boil. This was news to me, but we tried it and it made a pretty noticeable difference in the flavor and some might say it was easier to pull the meat out of the tails. Whatever – it was good.

Today’s menu is simple: ribeye steaks on the cast iron skillet outside with butter. Tomorrow’s menu? A few walks around the block, hopefully.

More Roomba Craziness

Today the Roomba was running in the other room and after a while it occurred to me that he was working overtime for some reason today. So I got up (sigh...) and went on the hunt. Nope - not in the living room. Nope - not in the kitchen. And then I hear him in the laundry room behind a shut door.

Somehow he got into the laundry room and shut the door on himself and was going back and forth and back and forth, frantically trying to find his way out. His poor "Dock" light was blinking really fast which means he was about to run out of juice.

As soon as I opened the door he made a beeline to his docking station - looking like somebody running to the toilet about to pee their pants.

As I said the other day, we're in no danger of Skynet shenanigans just yet folks.

Bad Roomba!

I've discovered that a good way to get brownie points with Amy when she's working and I'm at home is to vacuum for her. That typically means that I press a button on the Roomba and then quickly escape to my office and shut the doors to keep said Roomba out of my space. It doesn't sound like much but it's the thought that counts.

So there I was, sitting in my office working very diligently, when I hear the Roomba's motors stop running and then I hear something I've never heard before - a very pitiful series of low beeps and murmurs coming from somewhere in the other room.

I rushed out of my office and searched frantically for my little worker which was nowhere to be seen! I was really starting to get worried that my brownie point-generator had somehow made a break for it when I found it:



Notice the sad little red light. Also notice that the stupid little robot ate half a roll of toilet paper before it finally gave up in the robotic equivalent of a fetal position.

I don't think we're in danger of any Terminator or I, Robot revolutions just yet folks.

Poor little guy...

Mother's Day 2009

One of the aspects of being in Taipei for a year that really concerned Amy was whether or not there was an Olive Garden there that we could visit for Mother's Day. There wasn't but it turned out not to be an issue since we weren't in Taipei for Mother's Day. It's funny how things have a way of working themselves out - one way or another.



Beating the crowds to Olive Garden has become an integral part of our Mother's Day ritual. We slowly creep towards the restaurant across the open parking lot in our car, silently searching for the competition. You don't want to be too early, and you certainly don't want to be too late - lest you spend half your Mother's Day sitting on a bench in the sun wishing the losers who got there before you would choke down their grub and get out.



I must admit that the looming challenge of getting in and getting out with the right timing is something I look forward to. As we leave the restaurant every year it's like parting the Red Sea with so many people jammed into the lobby waiting to get our precious seats.

We spent the rest of the day just lounging around the house and ended it with an hour or so at the pool with The Neighbors. A perfect Mother's Day, from my perspective, to show Amy how much we love her and appreciate everything she does for her 4 kiddoes!

We've been doing this since 2003 so this is a great tradition that we all look forward to, kind of like getting Christmas ornaments at Christmas. Thanks to Amy, it lives on. Here's a look back at previous Mother's Days over the last several years:













Happy Mother's Day 2009!

Cancer Sucks

Given all that we've been through in the last year, I've developed a professional opinion that cancer sucks. I've always been pretty sure about this but after losing Dad to it I'm 100% positive now.

Enter Amy. Not my Amy, but a friend's wife who recently found out she had breast cancer. I had lunch with him today and everybody always asks why we came home from Taiwan early and that of course leads to the "cancer sucks" discussion. But Greg had one up on me today.

Throughout the ordeal with Dad what petrified me the most was that it could've been me or Amy. It's a terrifying thought if you let it be. After talking to Greg about these thoughts he again had one up on me. He told me that Amy thinks the same way, only she thinks what it would have been like if it were her kids. Even more terrifying.

I've only met Amy once but this affected me so much that I thought I'd share it with you to get you thinking about the blessings in your life. If you get a chance, head over to her blog and read her ongoing story as she battles the cancer.

http://www.amyshealth.com

Click on a Google Ad while you're there to support her fight. Our prayers go out to Amy, Greg, and their kiddoes. Cancer sucks, but only if you let it.

Friday Night Express Game

We had planned to head to Houston this weekend but at the last minute we decided to stay at home. With an unplanned Friday night in front of us we decided to take the kids (and Alex) to a Round Rock Express game at the Dell Diamond.



Most of us had been to the Diamond a few times for school events, games with friends and other things, but we'd never been as a family. It's such a great venue with really close seats and access to the players.



Gavin seemed to enjoy the game but the others were more fixated on the snacks. Amy was able to effectively multi-task: watching the game, fixating on the snacks (cotton candy in her case), and people-watching.

We had a good time - the game was fun and the snacks were yummy. I'm not sure I could afford the season tickets snack bill (hot dogs, curly fries, cokes, hamburgers, cotton candy and lots of it, dippin' dots, funnel cake, and Miller Lites for me), but every once it in awhile it's some good fun!

Goodbye, Grandpa

Not a whole lot to say about things this morning, but after about a year of fighting cancer, my dad finally won the fight this morning about 3:00 AM.  His family had been gathered since earlier in the week and he was in the "height of his glory" (as my mom would say) with all the grandkids being able to share in his last few days.

As in life, he did it his way and in his own time. If the hospice nurses told us to expect something, he would do the exact opposite. That's just the way he was, God bless him.

Cancer sucks. But I'm thankful that his last few months were on his terms for the most part. We've got some pictures and some stories to tell at some point, but not now.  We could sit around and mourn his passing, but he'd scorfully look at us and tell us to move on - that we had lives to live.

I'm sure he's finally fishing this morning - for the first time in many months. I wonder if in heaven you catch a record crappy every time, or if God likes fried fish and gumbo? If so, God's in for a treat today.  :)

Goodbye old man.  We're going to miss you, but we're so thankful that you're not in pain anymore.