"Canyon Is Five??"

Well, according to medical records and a calendar, yes! Man, it seems just like yesterday she was born:


Aren't kids always better when they can't talk? ha ha.

Well, last Saturday we went to CanyonBash 2012 to celebrate her 5th birthday! Scott and Rebecca always know how to throw a kids' party, and this one did not disappoint. There was Pin The Tail On The Donkey:


Becky: "Hey Scott, isn't it called Pin The Tail On The Donkey?"
Scott: "Why, yes it is!"
Becky: "Well, where are the pins? These have tape on them!"
Scott: "Hmm, that's a mystery...I'd better re-read the directions..."
Zach: "Um, I'm blind over here!! Let's get the show on the road!"

There was a pinata:


Emmy: "Did I break the pinata open?"
Becky: "Mmm, not sure...judges?"
Judges: "Nope!"
Emmy: "Aw man..."

I didn't really get a look at what presents Canyon got, but I sure gave myself (and most of the guests) an early present:


If you look closely, I secretly tied a balloon to the back of Dean's windbreaker. Then, whenever he walked around the balloon would follow him about 2 feet behind him. He kept brushing it away when it grazed his ears and we all had to hold back our chuckles:


I'm obnoxious and I know it.

Sunday morning Emmy and I sold cookies for four hours!! Don't know how Cari does it way more than I do. It's exhausting. Get out of the chair, get back in the chair, and over and over. So, when we got home, Cari was about to take Zach to the park and Zach wanted me to. So we went to the hidden park AKA Jake Langston Park:


This is a really good shot of the both of us. I try to get one of us every chance I get.


Here's one of him in mid-jump. Again, I try to get one of these every chance I get. A bit blurry but all in all a good action shot.


I told Zach to look cool leaning up on that tree. Mission accomplished.


The spinning wheel gave him fits last year. But this year, with some height and strength added to him, he has mastered it. What you do is push off, spin around and try to make it back without letting go.

Tonight Emmy is selling cookies at Chuy's and then it's dinner time! Last time we were there I saw they had a fish taco dinner, so I got it, and I ate it, and man it was so good. Might have to get that every time I go there until I burn out on it, which, knowing me, I'm sure I will.

My stupid car broke down this week. It was Monday morning, and I had just taken Zach and Emmy to school. I was on my way back, and as I was turning into my cul-de-sac the motor went off! Everything else was on, but the stupid thing would not start. 20 feet from my house and this happens. I walked down to the 7-11 to put oil in but that didn't make a difference. Fortunately Cari is friends with someone whose husband fixes cars for a living and he was nice enough to come by and take a look at it. Turns out the distributor cap wore out or something so we replaced it plus put in new spark plugs and new wires and now it seems to run much better. Still makes a loud sound when I back up and the shifter has to be jiggled to get it into reverse, but for now it seems to be in good shape. So glad Daniel was generous with his time and helped me out. I only hope that when my time comes and I am asked to help with something I will do it freely and without any kind of expectations or grudges. That used to be one of my bigger pet peeves. But, lately, I've been open to doing what I can when I can do it.

"Cookies...Everywhere, Cookies..."

Ahh yes, the time has come that our own cookie monster Emily has picked up hundreds of boxes of Girl Scout Cookies and is in charge of selling them. So far she's at around 500 boxes, which is really good for 2 weeks. She has about 4 weeks left to sell them. We've been doing table tops like crazy:


Here we are picking them up from the Fort Worth Zoo. We could have filmed a Cecil B Demille movie with all the extras.


Here Emmy is selling like crazy. She will do anything for a sale. Like dance.


The sun was extremely hot this day and there was no wind, so...that explains the sad / mad faces.

If she gets to 1,200 boxes she is declared a "diva". Not sure what that means but I think it involves a fancy party. All I know is 1,200 boxes equals 2 weeks of overnight camp paid for. So far she's halfway there!

We were at the inlaws Sunday and Zach, who never asks me to come watch him on the backyard swing set, asked me to come watch him on the backyard swing set. Turns out he finally mastered his fear of the monkey bars:


He was so proud that he didn't fall or anything. As long as I was out there I snapped a couple more:


Guy Smiley!! This iPhone doesn't take the greatest pictures but this one is a gem.


Me: "Okay Zach, balance yourself on the edge of the swing and then make a mighty leap into the air!"
Zach: "Um, Dad, I'm all tangled in the chain! I'm stuck!"
Me: "Well that wouldn't let Bruce Jenner stop him, would it?"
Zach: "No...I guess not...will you buy me a new arm if mine gets ripped off?"
Me: "We'll see."

I've been trying to organize all of Cari's iPhone pictures that we finally got off of her phone. Every now and then I'll see one I haven't seen before and really start to reminisce. Here are a few:


This was at the Rangers game we took my mom to back in Septemper of 2009. Just the look on Zach's face is enough to make anyone smile.


Zach didn't really have a lot of fun his first season playing soccer. But he has informed us that he would like to play this spring! Kind of bummed he doesn't want to play t-ball but maybe he'll come back to it.


Kind of a serious looking picture, but the background sure is nice. That was the best day.


I hadn't seen this one before now. Cari did a great job capturing this one. Zach just looks real melancholy and sad even though you can't see his face. Kind of how JFK Jr looked when they were burying his dad. I really wish Grandpa and Zach could have spent some time together now that he's getting older. But...wasn't meant to be I guess. Zach and Emmy still ask about him sometimes. I try to recall as many stories as I can, but there just weren't that many. I'm sure there were times, but I must not remember them as well as I should.

"Say It Ain't So..."

And by that, I mean one of our state's great tourist attractions is being boarded up...shut down...closed:


Apparently the Dublin Dr Pepper plant and the Dr Pepper / Snapple corporation were at war over licensing and trademark issues. And who always wins those wars? The bigger company. Always. The city of Dublin's entire persona was built around Dr Pepper. They produce other soft drinks, but none as popular as Dr Pepper. Who knows, maybe they will work out an agreement and Zach and Emmy will be able to take their kids to see the tour in the far future. But, for now, the town of Dublin will no longer be known for what it has been known for since 1891.

We were lucky enough to take the tour in July of 2010. I posted some pics here which you can view some other time. But here are a few I didn't post:


These are the souvenirs the kids bought. Emmy got an airplane made entirely out of a Dr Pepper can and Zach got a yo-yo. We never could get the yo-yo to sleep...or walk the dog...or any of the other tri cks it takes years to master but we weren't patient enough. The airplane hung on our Christmas tree this year!! Really spruced up the ol tree. No pun intended.


This is a cool random shot. Cari seemed to know I was about to take a picture but both kids seeemed oblivious to it. Sometimes those make the best shots.


This is all the merchandise they carried. I picked up a softball-style t-shirt that I haven't had a chance to wear it. Oh it fits alright, just not the occasion. Maybe this weekend I will.

But, not all was depressing this week. Whilst on the Texas Rangers ESPN website, I found out that some Rangers were going to be at the local Academy store signing autographs! So I passed the word to Cari and met them up there, but you needed some kind of ticket to get a player's autograph. Zach and Emmy did get an autograph from these guys"


Tom Grieve! He used to be the general manager of the Rangers, but now he does color commentary on the televised games.


Jim Sundberg! He used to be a catcher and now he's president of public relations or something like that.

We did manage to sneak a peek at some Rangers through the exit:


From left to right:

Ron Washington's "half-fro" sticking out
Colby Lewis
Derek Holland
Mike Napoli

Man, if the Rangers had won the World Series like they were supposed to last October, this guy definitely would have been the MVP of the series. Five home runs, ten RBIs, and some darn good defense blocking the plate. The Angels gave this guy away for a song, and we scooped him up. So when the Angels were watching the plyoffs on TV, we were the ones on TV they were watching. But, since they signed Albert Pujols and our own CJ Wilson in the off-season, you would think a lot of baseball writers would be picking them to be the new AL winners. But, they haven't. Everyone still likes Texas to be the dominant team, and why not? Who else could lose Cliff Lee to free agency and still go back to the fall Classic?? Only us. Cliff Lee bolted to the Phillies to be a kind of second coming of the 1993 Atlanta Braves when they had Glavine and Maddux and Smoltz and Avery. I remember when Greg Maddux was a free agent in 1992 and he had a choice between going to the Yankees or the Braves. He chose the Braves because, in his eyes, it gave him a better chance to win a World Series. And why wouldn't he? The Braves had just been to the last two. But man, if he had joined the Yankees, he'd have four World Series rings instead of just the one. Decisions, decisions. Each one always seems to lead to three more choices we have to make. It's very hard to wrap things up sometimes in life. It's a shame we don't get a chance to go back and fix things here and there. But, time always seems to pass by and fix things and put to rest dumb things we may have done.

"Back To Work..."

(SIGH)

(SIGH SIGH SIGH)

Yes, my much-anticipated vacation has come and gone in the blink of an eye and I had to go back to work...ack. But at least it was a 4 day week and Friday got here much quicken than usual. I believe I covered most of what we did but there were a couple of freezing trips to Six Flags we managed to squeeze in. I say freezing because by sundown it was downright chilly:


This is Zach, his friend Chelsea, and me on the tea cups in the Mexico land. My stomach just can't handle the constant turns and twists. By the time it was over I was near-hurling. But, I didn't.


This is the kids' version of the Superman ride. Zach would not ride this to save his life. But, after watching kids smaller and younger than him ride it and seem to enjoy it. he finally got on and as you can see...


...he had a great time!! We kept telling him it was more fun than scary. Hopefully this will start a trend.


I told Zach to give me a kiss and I'd get a picture of us. Somehow I turned out looking like Shrek. Still a cute shot though.


Cari and Zach said this was their favourite ride, and I cannot blame them. It was so cold they had fire pits everywhere. When you got up close to it you didn't really notice how warm it was unitl you walked away and the cold came screaming back and chilled you.


We usually let Zach play the game where if you pop a balloon with the darts you get a prize. Well, he popped one, and won...Superbear! That's the name we gave him at least. Hopefully he will hang onto this one for awhile.

Something I forgot to mention last month was when Dad came by my office and took me out to lunch for my birthday! I managed to work out a 2 hour lunch so we went to Chili's then over to Movie Trading Company to try and find some Christmas presents. I'm glad I went over there when I did cuz I found a movie for Mom that she didn't even know existed but was looking forward to seeing it:



Maybe I'll borrow it. I loved Field Of Dreams.

That was a great afternoon. Always glad to know someone who should be thinking about you shows he was. Good times...

Girl Scout Cookies are available today. Man...the next 7 weeks are going to be all about the cookies. Maybe Cari and Emmy will have some sales and Zach and I can do some park days. Emmy seems to be getting too old to go to the park but Zach can't get enough of it. We had some great weekends last year. I always feel he needs more parental involvement than Emmy ever needed. She just wanted to try things on her own and seems to learn more going through that than anything she could ever learn in school. She's always cursing the person or people who invented school. Zach enjoys school a little bit more, but that's because in many ways he is a lot like Science Boy, the comic book hero from Friends whose superpower, according to Ross, was...



...a superhuman thirst...for knowledge.