August 2007 Archives

While reading a post over on "Run with the Fishes", I was reminded of the good old days. The days our kids are dying to get out of. The days that us old folks are dying to go back to. Anyway, remember the first day of school. Wanting to wear your most fashionable clothes. Wanting to somehow make your classmates think that you've miraculously become cooler over the summer (like it was possible for me to become any cooler than I already was). Yeah, I remember wanting to look my very BEST on the first day of school ... wanting to start out on that cool foot. Myra, well, here's what she had to say this morning ...

ME: "Why aren't you wearing some of your new clothes?"
MYRA: "I just want to wear this."
ME (looking at her orange and red shirt and the hot pink headband in her hair): "It doesn't really match but ..."
MYRA (cutting me off): "Why do I have to match?!? I don't like matching."

I let her wear it. Who am I to try to make her into someone she's not? However, I can't help thinking we might have a little "Punky Brewster" on our hands and I can't figure out if that's good or bad.

About a week ago, the family was in the car driving to who knows where when Noah noticed several construction trucks. He fired a round of questions Daddy's way. "Daddy. What that truck?" ... "Daddy. What that truck do?" ... "Daddy. Why that truck little?" Josh tried his best to answer them all. When we finally got past all the construction, I mentioned "Maybe Noah will be a contractor when he grows up; own his own big business and all."

That's when it hit me. We should do a blog post about what we think the kids will be when they grow up according to their interests. So here's our list so far ...

Maybe Myra will be a ...
- Cheerleader: Anyone who knows anything about Myra (which is anyone who reads this blog), doesn't need an explanation as to why we think she might be a cheerleader. It's a given.
- Teacher: Myra's constantly trying to help "the babies" (aka Noah and Hannah) do things. "Here. Let me help you." Followed by "See? Now you try it." Maybe it's that strong Davis gene coming though.
- Doctor/Nurse/Pharmacist: I'm sure everyone has seen or heard about Josh's foot. Well, Myra always shows enthusiasm when it comes time to give Daddy (or anyone besides herself) medicine. She loves helping take temperatures when someone mentions anything about not feeling well. Lately, it's been "Is [blank] healthy for you?"
... when she grows up.

Maybe Noah will be a ...
- Mechanic: He has some toy tools that he received from Santa, I think, a couple years ago. He still goes around the house pretending to fix his cars. He gets excited anytime he sees Josh or me with any type of tool; he gets excited if we just mention a tool. "A screwdriver?!?! Let me see!"
- Fireman: You did read about his third birthday right? If not, click here ... or here.
- Contractor: see above
... when he grows up.
Note: Noah's been showing more interest in ambulances and police cars also. Wheels, lights, sound and speed are a big plus for him.

I'm sure these lists will grow as the kids grow and learn more about this thing called life.

If you guys haven't seen it yet, Granny has written a super-big post over on her blog about growing up on the farm. It's fascinating and includes some stories and a lot of details I've never heard before. Mosy over there check it out.

A friend of mine dropped by my classroom today with some really cool things. His father-in-law worked for Lockheed many years ago and acquired this super cool collection of promotional posters. I'm still trying to figure out just how old they are, but I'm guessing they are from the late 50's to early 60's. I'm going to try something new. I've created a photo essay of some of the more interesting pics. Check it out here.

This just about sums up how I've been feeling lately.

Today we were eating at Texas Roadhouse and the kids were enjoying the unshelled peanuts that they give as appetizers. Being a hungry 3 year old, Noah just couldn't wait for his old, slow parents to shell all his nuts. So he went to work shelling his own. It wasn't easy and you could tell he was so proud once he got the nut out of the shell. He popped it in his mouth and loudly proclaimed, "I got my peanut in my face!"

What a big weekend in the Davis House. Myra turned 6 so that means only one thing: PARTY! This year, she decided on a Luau theme. Aunt Sarah and Granny came down Friday night and brought Kennedy. The girls slept over at our house that night and had a great time running up and down the hall (mainly away from Noah). The next day we decorated the house, set up the slip-n-slide and fired up the grill. The cake was a pretty little beach scene with flip-flops on it. When we ordered it, Myra was expecting the flip-flops to be full sized and was a little disappointed that they were only a couple of inches long.

Myra had about 5 or 6 guests show up and they immediately gave the slip-n-slide a workout. Savanah was a pro at this. The other kids only slid about 5 feet on it but she would bust out these full-bore 20 foot belly slides. Next, the kids bobbed for floaty things. I thought it would be too easy, but those little plastic toys proved VERY elusive. After that, we all ate hot dogs and did the limbo in the living room--it was getting toasty outside. Finally, we ate cake and then it was piñata busting time! We pressed my old fraternity paddle into service for the occasion. The kids were all very well behaved and nobody got hit in the face with the paddle (a big plus). It just so happened that Myra delivered the final blow! After that it was present time and then time to go home. I was exhausted. I know Chris probably was even more so. Here's a picture of Myra with her favorite birthday gift: a webkin named Luau.

What is a webkin, you ask? We learned about these from a photographer that we worked with at the last wedding. His name is Kevin and he's AWESOME. Check out his site if you want to be blown away. Anyway, he told us how great these things are and how he even had received one as a gift from his girlfriend's daughter. They are these little interactive pets that you can play with online and do all sorts of things like buy them toys, food, and clothes. You can play games and earn virtual money to spend on them. You can even invite friends pets over to play games and such. The best part (as far as I'm concerned) is that a great way to earn money is to do these age-appropriate quiz games. They cover all the school subjects! It's such a sneaky way to get them to learn. I LOVE IT!

Check out the rest of the pictures in the Photo Archive.

I love me some Calvin and Hobbes. It was a dark day back in 1995 when Bill Watterson decided to call it quits. This morning, I stumbled across this site that has the complete archive of everyone's favorite little brat and his stuffed tiger-buddy. Bonus techno-dork detail: If you follow this little tutorial, you can mirror the whole site for offline viewing with just a few commands. Ahhh, technology! Ya gotta love it.

Mom and I have been working on a little side project. We just got it off the ground. It's a blog! We plan on using it as a kind of family history book where we ask her questions about our family, the "good old days," recipes or anything else we want to know and she answers them on her blog. It's kind of like a cross between Ann Landers and BoingBoing. If you have any posting ideas, give me (or even Techno-Granny) a head's up.

We kicked it off with Mom's favorite recipe. Hop on over to find out what it was.

BTW - Lemme know if you have any problems with the site. It's still a little experimental :)

The other day I posted a video on the photo gallery that didn't work. I didn't realize this until later. I have fixed the video and you can view it here or by clicking a direct link to the video here. It is a compilation of all the little videos we shot while we were on vacation in Colorado. Fun stuff.

Be patient, it might go kind of slow!

Last Spring, I had a student who had gone through a bad ankle sprain. Every week they were putting a new device on her leg and I took the opportunity to rib her on occasion. One week, she had this big ole ski boot looking thing on and I immediately dubbed her "Robo-foot." I got a kick out of it and I thought she did, too. Apparently, she must have done some talking to the foot gods about me. Fast forward a few months. My foot has been hurting ever since the beginning of summer. After a few x-rays and a bone scan, my doctor announces that I have a stress fracture and then brings out this thing:

That's right. It's the exact same style of boot my student wore. I guess she has the last laugh.I have to wear this for at least 2 weeks, maybe as long as 8. It feels great on my foot, but it is MEGA-UGLY!

OK, since Chris isn't going to get around to doing it, I guess I'll write up the rest of our trip to Denver. When we last left them, our intrepid gang of travelers had bowled the Rockies and visited the Firefighters Museum. Next up was a trip to Boulder. We went to Boulder Falls which is a very pretty waterfall nesteled in a rocky canyon right off the highway. It's a kind of scary walk (when you're toting youngsters) across a hundred yards or so of boulders but it's quite a sight once you get there. Being a summer Sunday afternoon, the place was pretty busy. Unfortunately, I didn't feel comfortable taking the kids down to the rushing water, so Myra isn't too happy in the pictures. Here's a nice one of Noah and Mommy, though.

After the falls we swung by Ray and Jennifer's house for some beer and brats. Those Polks sure know how to welcome a man. Noah borrowed a Lil Swimmer from Maddie and the kids had a blast in the backyard in the ice cold pool. They didn't seem to notice the temperature.

We discovered that Jennifer and the kids had planned a trip to the Georgetown Loop RailRoad the next day, JUST LIKE US! They're so cool. The Georgetown Loop is a short steam powered railway that runs between a couple of old mining towns up in the mountains above Denver. The train is beautiful and the view is spectacular! The weather was so nice that day as well. Noah was in heaven with all the noise the train made. I'm going to try to upload a video later. We met Ethan and Maddie at the bottom of the hill and they rode back up it with us. There were some great views of both man and nature.

The next day we headed up to Estes Park and the famous Stanley Hotel. Apparently, this place is a high-priced fancy hotel for those willing to pay big bucks. We just wanted to go there because it is the hotel used in the old horror movie The Shining. Uncle Boo helped us get into the spirit with his best "Crazy Jack Nicholson" face.

After lunch at the Stanley, we headed up the road to Rocky Mountain National Park and Trail Ridge Road. It was quite an adventure. The road climbs thousands of feet up the mountains and offers many scenic overlooks throughout. It also features few guardrails at times very small shoulders. Pike's Peak is a higher road and it is also more primitive, but the roadbed there is also much wider and has berms to keep your car on the road in most places. A few stretches of road on Trail Ridge had a paved surface and nothing but a 6-inch shoulder between your tires and a very, very nasty tumbly (is that a word?) fall. Needless to say, parts of the drive were a little more stressful than I let on to the others in the car.

One nice thing about Rocky Mountain National Park is their walking trails. They know how to make 'em. Their trails are really small paved roads. They are wide and smooth so anyone, I mean anyone, can walk out to see it all. I took a really cool panoramic picture at Forest Canyon overlook which I already shared and we saw some beautiful wildlife. Cute chipmunks, curious marmots, a few lazy elk, and even a lone female moose were spied by our little eyes.

See more pictures of Rocky Mountain National Park here.

The next day we packed up and headed, exhausted, back to Texas.

---UPDATE--- Chris and I did some work and we got a video posted. Check it out here. Be patient because it's loading from my laundry room instead of from some nameless, faceless corporate box somewhere out on the internet.