Thursday, November 04, 2010

As The Sugar Rush Subsides...

I can finally bring myself to post pics of Halloween last weekend. Everyone had a good time, the boys got quite a haul (by today's standards) and we didn't hand out a single piece of candy for being gone trick or treating all night. I'm sure Jill has been disappointed to have all that extra chocolate lying around.





Monday, November 01, 2010

Cobapple Hangs with BTR

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Jill and I bought Logan (and Liam, actually) copies of Big Time Rush's new CD that was just released. Naturally, we're not prone to the masochistic sonic punishment that is listening to BTR over, and over, and over, and over, and over. The real impetus behind it was the fact that Big Time Rush was coming to St. Louis at the end of October, and anyone who bought the CD early enough could come back to Best Buy to meet the band.

So last Thursday, we piled all the kids in the van right after school and made the trek through rush-hour traffic all the way down to south county (hey, thanks for that schedule Best Buy - top notch planning) to get in the ridiculously long line (who knew?) to see this band. In the end, after about an hour and 15 minutes we made it to the front of the line and Logan got to meet his favorite band in the world. Liam also got to, but I'm not sure he cared quite as much. He didn't even want to hand them his CD book to get signed.

Maybe they're a little young for that sort of thing, but afterward Logan seemed pretty excited. He got to high-five all of them, and they gave him an extra one when they found out his name is Logan (One of the guys in the band is also a Logan). Hopefully in five years he'll still remember it being special.



Thursday, October 28, 2010

Hope It Doesn't Lead To Doing Hard Candy

Logan and Liam have a project going on at school that involves decorating their classroom doors with "things we'd rather be doing instead of drugs". Basically, any fun activity becomes some sort of art decoration on their door. Perhaps it involves a contest, I'm not sure.

Last night during dinner Liam asked for a Sprite, which was denied since he'd just had a root beer recently. The kids guzzling soda at every meal is not something we want to become a habit. Naturally, this was met with a lot of whining.

Liam: "But MOOOOOOM! I need something with sugar in it!"

Jill: "No you don't."

Liam: "Yeah! It's on our door! We need sugar instead of drugs to make us crazy!"

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Well, This Backfired a Bit

Logan is a big fan of the recently popularized Nickelodeon-spawned boy-band Big Time Rush. Jill and I, in an obviously ill-advised bout of parental generosity, bought him their new album. Which he has been playing constantly. Which means I am now sitting at work with Big Time Rush songs running through my head. Which has been going on all morning.

Bleargh.

Maybe Logan will be getting that iPod (with headphones!!) for Christmas after all.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

That Gift For Words

Awhile back Liam and I were talking about Halloween, and somehow he started explaining that Logan had plans for Halloween candy, and he wanted to go trick or treating AND trunk or treating AND eat our leftover Halloween candy. I told him that sounds like an awful lot of candy for Logan to be eating, and Liam's response was "So? He likes junk!"

---------------

Last weekend I took the boys to the World Bird Sanctuary down in Valley Park as part of a Scout weekend activity. It's basically just a zoo for birds, but it was still pretty interesting. The boys got a couple of bird guides and were trying to find as many of the birds on their sheet as they could. After viewing all the exhibits, Liam started complaining that he couldn't find a hawk.

Me: "Wait, we saw a bunch of hawks up by the front." "Look, there they are right there."

Liam: "No that's a red-tailed hawk, I want to find just a hawk. A plain hawk."

Me: "But, all hawks are some kind of hawk. A red-tailed hawk, a black hawk, that sort of thing. There aren't just plain hawks."

Liam: "But turkeys are called just turkeys!"

Me: "Yeah, but...uhh...hmmm."

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Six Flags Over Texas

I wasn't sure we were going to make it.

We awoke to thunder and a pretty steady downpour, and today was our one chance to go to Six Flags over Texas. Not only that, we'd already bought discount tickets. Hoping the rain would move out around lunch, we headed to breakfast at Breadwinner's Cafe and Bakery again, then endured an hour or two of rain delay.

Finally made it there around 2pm, and it ended up being a fantastic day. Crowds were light, the coasters were mostly running, and we were almost always able to walk right through the line and right onto a ride. Literally, no waiting at all.

First up was the Titan, Texas' tallest (20+ stories) and fastest (85mph) roller coaster. In hindsight, this may not have been the smartest move. It was holy crap fast, and the first descent rocketed us back up into a climb that kept my head pinned down around my stomach. The rest of it was similarly intense. We also rode the Runaway Mountain and Batman before time ran out. A few of us lucked into an extra slice of time at the end thanks to a "Coasters in the Dark" promotion that we were able to take advantage of, so Jill got to enjoy some more coaster time.

Six Flags was a huge hit for the boys. Logan and Liam rode the Texas Teacups, the go-round-in-a-circle Boot Scootin' ride, the ride where you drive a car around a track (Logan is NOT ready for a license), the Looney Tunes Capitol Tour bus twice,
Wile E. Coyote's Grand Canyon Blaster roller coaster about eight times (by themselves, even!), the Bugs Bunny Spirit of St. Looie airplace ride about 15 times, etc. etc. you get the picture. Seriously, they were able to probably ride stuff 20-30 times. Most of the time they'd ride, then run to the exit and get right back in the nonexistent line to get back on. I think they did their roller coaster about four times in a row, and I know they did the airplanes about six times in a row.

When it was finally time to leave, Liam did his best to be a big man, but finally broke down in tears when I told him he couldn't ride any more. He cried all the way to the van, even though we told him there's a Six Flags back home and we can go in a couple of weeks. He really, REALLY liked it. Broke my heart to carry him out of there.

So all in all, not our most successful vacation, but pretty enjoyable. Without the sickness and a handful of snafus, it would have been almost perfect.

Almost, I mean we do have three little boys to control.

State Fair of Texas

As expected, Texas knows how to throw a party. We headed down to Fair Park for the Texas State Fair, along with a visit to the newly renovated Children's Aquarium. Unfortunately my camera battery was dead, so I didn't get any photos of the museum itself. The boys enjoyed it but it was only about half-populated, the rest of the exhibits were forthcoming.

So on to the State Fair, where the main attraction (for us at least) was the food. Texas has some sort of "Tex Choice" contest every year for fried foods, and the top eight finalists were all featured at the Fair. We didn't sample them all, but we did try quite a few.

We also caught a few shows - Dog Tricks, the Pirates of the Caribbean high dive and comedy show, pig racing, the USMC Drum Corps, and at the end of the day a parade and light show. It was hot, and tiring, and the kids were a pretty big handful, but overall worth a trip.


Pirates of the Caribbean High Dive Show


US Marine Corps Drum & Bugle Corps


The foods at the Fair are, to be honest, kind of ridiculously expensive, but that's a Fair for you. $3 water, $5 hot dogs, $10 turkey legs, that sort of thing. In the interest of posterity we indulged in as many of the fried options as we could a)find and b)stomach. You'd be surprised how quickly you get tired of fresh fried foods. Or maybe you wouldn't.

The first thing was the Fried Texas Frito Pie, which won "Best Taste" this year. It was actually pretty good, probably in large part due to the fact that half of it (the Fritos) are fried to begin with. Imagine chili and cheese inside a nugget of Frito, and you have the idea.



Of course both Liam and Logan had to try the corn dogs. Liam got a foot-long, but the half-as-big, just-as-expensive fresh Corny Dogs were better.



Winner of the "Most Creative" award was Fried Beer, which was certainly creative, but not all that great. Fried foods are best when hot, beer is best when cold, and the two just don't mix. Imagine taking a bite of pretzel with a swig of beer that's been sitting in a hot car for 8 hours, and you have Fried Beer.



The Fried Banana Pudding was much better - banana pudding/puree inside a soft fried pie-ish crust, with sugar and whipped cream. I dock a point for the entirely misleading food kiosk photo, which featured 800% more whipped cream.



Jill's goal was to find the Fried Chocolate - a white chocolate candy bar and cherry inside a brownie, then dipped in chocolate cake batter and fried. Tasty, but not all that different from a warm-from-the-oven brownie dessert.



At the same booth was the Fried Peanut Butter & Jelly & Banana sandwich. Tasted mostly like crispy french toast with a smidge of peanut butter. I didn't even notice the banana, but I only had one bite.



Fried Lemonade was a late-in-the-day selection, once our stomachs had recovered somewhat. It was nothing more than lemon cake balls coated in lemon sugar sauce, but it was still pretty good.



At the end of the day, the final attraction was the Illumination Sensation light show. I was expecting more lasers, but they did have big pillars of fire which made up for it.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Alright, so the less said about Tuesday the better. Both Logan and Liam had been fighting colds/coughs/whatever since the start of the trip, and Jill finally had enough and insisted we take them to a clinic or pediatrician just to be safe. So we spent the better part of Tuesday midday confirming her suspicions - Logan had pneumonia, and Liam had some pretty stuffed-up lungs.

Once we finally got them out of there and ransacked the pharmacy, it was nearing 2pm, so we finally made it out to lunch at a local Potbelly Sandwich Works - which was actually really good. Trying to salvage the rest of the afternoon we went down to Fair Park to check out the American Railroad Museum, only to discover why Jill scheduled that for Thursday - it's closed Monday and Tuesday.

So, with that idea shot we headed back to the hotel to try the pool. Which was freezing. The boys braved it until Liam managed to wander into the deeper water and spent a few seconds underwater before we hauled him sputtering and choking out of there. End of that party.

It was somewhat redeemed by dinner at Fireside Pies, a great local pizza shop. Of particular note was the dessert, a chocolate fudge brownie covered in chocolate ganache, vanilla ice cream and a morello cherry sauce. It was beyond decadent, but almost too much. Jill didn't even finish.

So on to Wednesday! A much better day all around. We made Zoo Trip #2 to the Fort Worth Zoo and newly opened Museum of Living Art, which was their new reptile and amphibian exhibit, and it was excellent. Overall the Fort Worth Zoo was better than Dallas', although their new Africa exhibit was quite good. Even a brief rain shower wasn't enough to dampen things (ha!), as the rest of the group were in the penguon building while Liam and I rode out the rain on the back of a tortoise statue under a giant umbrella.

So, the zoo pics:

















For dinner afterward, we headed over to Kincaid's Grocery Market, which has now morphed into one of the country's best burger joints. Burger meat is fresh ground daily, and burgers are freshly pressed and cooked when you order. Delicious.



Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Now That's a Day I Can Wrap My Head Around

Sorry for the late update. Was busy last night playing Innovation until the wee hours.

Monday the gang piled into the van and headed over to the Dream Cafe for breakfast. It was our first breakfast out, sort of, but I didn't take any pictures. It was quite good, though. I've been pleased with how many places we've been able to comfortably eat outside.

Afterward we headed to the Dallas Zoo. Not known for being as good as the Fort Worth Zoo, but their new Giants of the Savannah exhibit (which basically doubles the size of the zoo) helps quite a bit.

Zoos are familiar ground, so the boys headed right off to see the sights.


Logan and Jill found the Jungle of the Chimps, and Logan spent some time perfecting his chimp facial expressions. That's actually exactly what he looks like when he's anxious.





Zoos are tough places to take nice pictures of birds, because they're almost always behind cages or wires or mesh or something. We got a chance to get right in with them, which was a good photo opportunity.



OK, I admit we spent quite a bit of time just imitating the animals.



I also got tired of holding Meyer, so I sent him up to the shoulders for the first time to see how he would do. He loved it, but spent WAY too much time banging on the top of my head. Seriously, I had a headache after barely 5 minutes.



After the zoo, we had dinner at the Twisted Root Burger Co., which was great. It was nice to hit a loud, unsophisticated dive with the kids for dinner where we didn't have to really worry about them being loud. Patrons are assigned characters to be called when their orders are ready, and ours was (fittingly) Ringo Starr. Logan thought that was awesome. The burgers were great, and they had a pretty delicious watermelon sweet tea. Frankly, I think the eating is probably my favorite part of vacationing with kids.



Later - how Tuesday became the gravity well for all of our bad karma on the trip.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Hey Y'all! We've Been Here...Wow, Only One Day?

Wanna see a herd o' ornery critters get rustled and driven to where they need to be? Come watch our kids on vacation. It's like herding cattle, except with more yelling. At least they don't smell as bad. Usually.



So for Day 1 in DFW, we headed over to Fort Worth to see the Stockyards in Cowtown and the Sunday morning cattle drive. We checked out the local exchange area while we did a little shopping. The boys were deputized just moments before the steers came shuffling down the road.









The Fort Worth Stockyards are a pretty significant part of the area's history, and they do a pretty good job of trying to keep the area's history alive. Like a lot of areas whose heyday has passed, it's occasionally a little sad to think of how much grandeur and splendor there might have been in years past, when the area was thriving and doing what it was built to do, as opposed to the small, preserved portion it has dwindled to today. The sight of a handful of people walking down the street in period clothing, or a couple of cowboys sitting ahorse on the side of the cobblestone road are a tiny glimpse into America's past. I would like to have seen it in its prime.



To cap off the afternoon, Jill arranged for us to take the Grapevine Vintage railway out into the Fort Worth surroundings in an open-air railway car. Once we finally got moving, we had a great time wending our way along the rails in the area. We were entertained for quite a bit of the trip by Bob the Conductor, who had a wonderfully practiced rapport with the passengers as he strolled along the aisle. He knew a little bit about where everyone was from, and kept the delays from being a hassle by quizzing us on odd US trivia. Can you name the states with only four unique letters in their name? How about the oldest US city that's still serving as a state capitol? He had dozens.



Logan's hat-hunting efforts finally paid off, and he made the train trip in style sporting his new 1/2-gallon cowboy hat. Liam picked up an even snazzier gambler hat after the ride, but I haven't gotten any shots of him in it yet.



After the train we headed off to dinner at Joe T. Garcia's, a huge, sprawling Mexican restaurant a few blocks from the Stockyards. Dinner consists of either enchiladas or fajitas, plus a whole heaping helping of sides - tacos, guacamole, fresh corn tortillas, tostadas, chips and salsa, rice, and beans. It had been a long day but some great food and a couple of frozen margaritas were just what we (or at least I) needed.

Tomorrow - breakfast out, the Zoo, and hopefully far less driving.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Whee! We're in Dallas!


Only two days in and this vacation has already been a whirlwind! We left St. Charles yesterday afternoon and arrived in Tulsa last night where we met up with my mom and dad plus Lisa, Jeremy and Carter. This morning, after a quick breakfast in the hotel and some passenger shuffling between our van and the Smiths' car, we were on the road again. The kids were all troopers for the long trips, and we finally arrived in Dallas this afternoon around 3:00.

We checked into our hotel, got settled, and then headed out to Bachman Lake Park. The area has a very nice playground and beautiful scenery with the lake right beside it. We didn't spend long there, but we might try to get back for another visit if we find ourselves with some extra time on our hands.


Dinner tonight was recommended by none other than Food Network's Guy Fieri. We treated ourselves to authentic Mexican cuisine at Avila's, and I think everyone enjoyed a tasty meal! Jason and I both had brisket gorditas (made with homemade corn tortillas), and the boys had a cheese quesadilla. Yum!





We have only had a couple of hiccups...well actually, coughs. My dad and Carter are trying to get over colds/coughs they picked up last week, and Logan and Liam are battling some they have just gotten. With my boys' respiratory histories, I am obviously concerned, which is not the ideal state for vacation. (Sheesh! I just want to relax already!) Anyway, we are keeping a watchful eye and hoping things improve. If not, I guess we will add a visit to the local health clinic to our itinerary. Boo.
Tomorrow, we're off to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The Language Barrier

How do you explain to a 1-year-old that, no, they are not allowed to play in the dishwasher? Somebody help me out here.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Sun is Shining

and I have much to be thankful for. Like this sunny little face.



How about an update on our one-year-old?

Meyer has two teeth on the bottom and two more just peeking through on top. He is eating table food, but he definitely makes his preferences known. Fruit will always get a big thumbs up and a resounding "Mmm!" Cereal and crackers are also well-received. Vegetables are usually examined, sampled, and spit out. The offending vegetable and any look-alikes are then tossed casually over the side of the high chair. We have been surprised by how much Meyer enjoys Mexican food, namely burritos and taco meat.

Meyer's current favorite toys are his Leap Frog drum and any toy that he can spread out all over the floor. For instance, the purpose of a bucket of Legos is not to construct...it is to strew about, piece by piece. Magnets do not belong on a refrigerator. They must be pulled off and tossed out of sight. (And don't even try to pick anything up in Meyer's presence. He will follow you around undoing everything.) Meyer also likes toys that play music, and he often rocks back and forth and smiles as he listens.

Meyer loves daily trips to the bus stop in the morning and afternoon. He expresses great delight when the bathtub water starts running. He also LOVES his blanket. It is adorable to watch him nuzzle his face in it. And of course, what blanket-nuzzling session would be complete without a tasty thumb? (Always the left one.)

When Meyer catches sight of a flight of stairs, he races over to start climbing. He knows when he's under pursuit too and squeals as he tries to climb faster! He pulls himself to a stand and "furniture walks" but still primarily gets around by crawling. He also enjoys traveling as a "baby hat"...that's a belly ride on top of Daddy's head. Meyer imitates almost any consonant sound and can (to Mommy's ears) say juice, cracker, and Cheerios.

We love our little "blondie" so much! He makes every day a sunny one!

From the rising of the sun to its setting
The name of the Lord is to be praised.

Psalm 113:3

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Mood Music