"Bluebonnets...Are Here!"

Yes, there are finally lots and lots of our state flower around Arlington! I was feeling a little photograph-y (yes that's a word) so I took my cool camera and snapped some of the neater things I happened to see:






I wanted to do more shots but the patch wasn't very big so the options were limited. I think the 3rd shot is my favourite. Just right up close.

In the morning there are always a lot of birds in the trees but we hardly ever see them. I managed to get a couple of shots though:




Yes, the same bird appears twice. Not sure what kind it is. But the tree was pretty high up so I'm kind of proud of those shots.

We had a garage sale last Saturday. Actually, I did. Cari and Emmy had to go to a soccer game so that left Zach and me to man the tables. We actually had some pretty decent stuff out there but it was mostly cheapskates who only had a dollar to their name. You know who I'm talking about. Those people. We made about $50 and Mission Arlington took some stuff too. Still need to call the city to pick up the rest as a trash pick up. I have a habit of putting that stuff off.

Cari went to Louisville Kentucky this week! Her work sent her there to do some training. She managed to take some cool shots of the town:


The Colonel!! I would imagine if Kentucky is known for anything, it's this guy. Cari let me know the chicken in the bucket was NOT real. I really wanted some chicken too.


The Kentucky Derby! I guess another thing they're famous for. Never had an interest in horseracing. Takes too long and I never win any cash.

Sunday we're going to the American Airlines Center to see the Disney On Ice show! Now that they have some cooler characters i.e. Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen, maybe this will hold my interest. Not that sitting in a suite and going to Spaghetti Warehouse afterwards won't be enough for me. That's all it takes sometimes. Plus all my family will be there which doesn't happen too often. Last time we did that was for Zach's birthday. Plus the Rangers open their season next Friday against the White Sox and we get to wear Rangers shirts that day! Looking forward to next week. Not sure if I should spend my time reminiscing about the past or looking forward to the future. Hey, why not do both.

"Let's Dance!"

Yes, the time of year has come around again for Emily and I to join the 73 or so other dads and daughters and go to the JB Little-sponsored daddy-daughter dance! We've gone every year since 2009 and we always have a really good time, and this one may have been the best ever! We both got a new shirt / outfit even. Here is Emmy:


So grown up...where does the time go... and here is me:


I wonder why I had that particular look on my face...but I do like the shirt. Got a deal on it too. I had to apply for a JCPenney credit card but I got 2 shirts for $30. Good day for me.

We made sure to have our picture taken by a professional photographer. And by professional, I mean a teacher with a camera. That should be in in a couple of weeks. We had some Papa John's pizza and some cookies and lemonade and we even managed to dance a few times! We did the chicken dance twice and managed to dance to "If I Fell" by the Beatles! It was a great song to slow dance to and we just kind of twirled around. She spent most of the night running around with her friend Ryan but we did manage to meet up for the last dance. It was that Eric Clapton song that I don't know the name of but they played it at the end of that "Friends" episode where Monica and Chandler got engaged and they slow-danced to. Was a really nice way to end the whole thing. Afterwards we went to Braum's and Emmy sat with some friends while she had her strawberry shortcake sundae. I wasn't alone though. Another dad sat with me...and proceeded to tell me the entire proceedings of his everyday life two and three times and wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise or semeed remotely interested if I said anything at all. Why do people like that even exist anyways? Here are a couple of pics someone took of us with my phone:




I like the second one a bit better. Button shirts just do not fit me right. They used to...and now that I lost some weight and worked out quite a bit they just look funny on me. I'll wear these two though. Tomorrow we're having a garage sale. We got everything organized tonight and hopefully we'll sell some of it and give the rest to Mission Arlington. Make some room already. I want my garage back!

"One Great Week!"

But why Mike, why was it so great? Well, calm down and I'll tell you. Spring break was this week, so Zach and Emmy were off all week. They spent the night twice and Cari worked from home the other three days, so we didn't have to find anyone to watch them. Plus, I got to work out twice. Not the 45 minute workouts I usually do during the week, but good 60-70 minute workouts. I started using the Stairmaster a few weeks ago, and man does that beat you up. You certainly feel like you worked out after 30 minutes or so though, so hopefully it will help. But the three of them got to do some fun things, even if I couldn't be there since I have to be at work until 7 every night. So sick of this schedule. Really sick of it. It feels like I'm missing out on a lot. It's probably in my head, but still...

Sunday I went over to Grandma's house to pick up some Girl Scout cookies. When I got home, I noticed something blue and bonnet-shaped on the highway.

It was bluebonnets. Did you really need that explained?

Not a lot of them yet, but they'll really get blooming in the next month. I remember a house around the corner from us that had a small but impressive patch of them. So, I took my camera and Emmy and me walked over there. Well, there were only a couple:




I mean literally a couple. Ah well. They were still regal. But to the right, we noticed some purple irises:




Now these were gigantic! They still had some rain water on them too which you can see if you look closely enough. My irises havsn't bloomed yet. Seems like they only bloom every three years. The last time was in 2010, so...who knows. I'm thinking of moving them to another spot with more soil and more sunlight. Good thing about Texas is there's always plenty of sunlight.

Next month we're planning an overnight trip to Shreveport! Some friends are getting two rooms for like $40.00. Didn't start thinking about it until this morning. Maybe I'll even win some money. Seems like I'll win somewhere right away and then keep going until it's all gone. Ah well. Not whether you win or lose, but...well, actually it IS whether you win or lose. That's not what I tell Zach or Emily though. I just want them to have fun and enjoy whatever game they play. Last night we played a game called Hedbandz. It always starts out fine. We all wear a card on our head and we have to ask questions to each other to guess what it is. Well, after about 15 minutes, Zach and Emmy get so riled up that it always turns into a wrestling match. Someone usually gets squashed (usually me lol) and we all get so loud that Cari has to try to quiet us down. But it's a fun game. We never seem to have enough time to have a game night what with soccer practices and games and such. So when we can I always enjoy it. Some of my favourite times as a kid were playing games with my family. I know there was Monopoly and Sorry. Maybe even Trouble. Really wish I remembered them more. That's the reason I keep this site. So that they will be able to go through it and see what they did and where they got to go as kids. I think if it's important to me, it will be important to them.

"One Busy Weekend!"

A three day weekend actually!! I took Friday off because there was something big going on...Zach's Kindergarten Rodeo! He really wanted me to come to it, and I hadn't had a day off since Christmas, so I took it off. I actually made FOUR trips to their school that day. Once to drop them off, then a second to have lunch with Zach:


Now I know what you're thinking. How can he eat lunch with that bandana over his mouth? Well, he managed to pull it down to make way for that cheeseburger. He always does. That's my boy!

After that I went home and did an actual home repair job! My first I think. I accidentally pulled a bracket for the shelf in the shower out of the wall, so fixing it didn't have that much satisfaction for me, but I was very proud of fixing it back in. Squirted a little adhesive caulk, put it back in, and taped it down with duct tape until it was dry. It's still up there a week later, so...

After that I went and had lunch with Emmy:


I asked her for a nice picture and I get french fry mouth. Ah well...was nice to eat with her. Me and her don't get too may times together just the two of us.

Then I came back around 1:15 not only for the rodeo but also to volunteer! I was in charge of playing "Home On The Range" and passing out guitars and making marshmallows with pretzel sticks in them for the kids to roast over the "fire", which was a pile of wood with flashlights and tissue paper. Some of them knew the difference...others...not so much. A few pix:


No rodeo is complete without starting out with a rancher's meal of hot dogs and chips...and Capri Suns...just like real cowboys drink.


Apparently "Moneybags" was wanted for boot scootin'...was not aware that was a crime.


Lady: "Okay Zach, run through this hoop as fast as you can!"
Zach: "Um...doesn't that seem dangerous?"
Lady: "Not yet. I haven't set the hoop on fire yet."
Zach: "WHAT!?"


This shot I just love. I wonder what he's thinking about...probably cookies.

Then...Saturday...soccer season began!! We have Emmy's game at 9AM and Zach's game at 5PM! What nut at the YMCA made this schedule? Someone evil I bet. Emmy lost her first game 1-0 but it wasn't because of Emmy. She played goalie the first half and stopped seven out of seven shots! Dominating!! A few pix:


What a great action shot! Emmy was literally punting the ball downfield so far that the other team was getting real tired of running all the way back to their side of the field.


Possibly the best action shot I've ever taken. Very proud of this one.

Then that night we went to Zach's game. Not as organized a team as Emmy's was, but that's due to the fact that all the players are 5 or 6. A few pix:


Hey, lookin' good! He always looks so much taller in pictures but in person...well...different story.


Everyone else: "Eeew, what's that smell?"
Zach: "You better stay away from me guys...I had chalupas for lunch and they ain't sittin' well!"

Very tired after all that...but it sure was a lot of fun.

Last night we went to Zach and Emmy's open house at school. Emmy drew this:


She's so artistic. At least she drew me with more hair.

Zach drew this:


A cowboy till the end eh?

This weekend we have more soccer games but not a lot else. We have tickets to go see "Journey 2" at studio Movie Grill. Since we never saw the first one, we're wondering if we'd be lost the whole time. And no, it's not a movie about the comeback of Journey. But I sure do like their songs. Steve Perry really knew how to make a song all his own.

"SeaLife Aquarium!"

Yes, after many months of waiting for this place to be built, the Sealife Aquarium at Grapevine Mills Mall is finally up and running! Well, actually, it was up and running last summer but we just never had the time and / or money. Well, last Saturday we had both! Got some cheap tickets via the Girl Scouts too! Here are some cool things we got to see:






I had never really seen a jellyfish that close up before. I took this shot with my iPhone which really works great when there's light coming from the top or the back. Really makes the colours stand out. There was a fiber optic light that constantly changed colours. Really good idea.


Shark tank! A tunnel made entirely out of glass that allowed us to see all of the marine life, even underneath us:


I literally had a hard time staying balanced. Kept feeling like I was going to fall right in!


So as I'm walking through this, I finally see some sharks swimming to and fro. The glass made it hard to take flash pictures...


...but I managed to get a really good shot of one of them:


Almost looks like someone put a toy in there but it was very real. Then another one came over:


This one just looks weird! The mouth is underneath. Just...weird.

It was exhausting walking through this whole thing. But, we did get some good family shots taken:


Love this shot! Everyone is smiling and actually looking straight ahead. So rare sometimes.

Afterwards we had a great dinner at Rainforest Cafe! We got their chocolate tower dessert, which, at $14.00, wasn't cheap. But man it sure was good. We had to make Zach eat his dinner so he could have some. Well, he powered his way through dinner, then when it came time to eat dessert, he got tired and didn't want much. That's my boy. I sure had my share though. So good. Three slabs of chocolate cake surrounding vanilla ice cream and topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. What's not to like? Everyone was asleep when we got home. Was a really fun day though. So much of our lives seem to be rushed along and forgotten and we really need to take some time every now and then and just really enjoy being here. Isn't that why we were put here? I've been reading some Bible stories to Zach at night and when God created man it was simply to enjoy what He had created. And humans, silly beings that we are, created a lot of what we worry about now. Credit ratings, unemployment, etc. All because of us. Maybe this was God's plan all along. Maybe it wasn't. But free will is a pretty powerful thing, especially when there is seemingly no supervision.