"The Zoo..."

To quote a song by The Scorpions, on July 11, Dad, Keri and I went to the Dallas Zoo to check out their Jurrasic exhibit as well as an evening concert from a really good Beatles cover band A Hard Night's Day:



But before we did that, we checked out a few animals! Literally a few, because most of the animals decided it was too hot to grace us with their presence. Here we are at the giraffes:





Keri: "Hey, who looks better, me or the giraffe?"

Me: "Now how can you ask a question like that? I mean, sure it's a close call, but you just barely win! "

Keri: "How can you say that!?"

Me: "Hey, a win's a win, right?"



Dad: "Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww what stinks around here?"

Me: "Well, it IS a zoo there chief...hope you weren't expecting a bouquet of roses at every turn."

Dad: "Can't they pump Febreze over the entire park 24 hours a day!?"

Me: "Well, they could...but then what? Then all the animals would be afraid to take a dump knowing they'd get sprayed with Febreze...it would be total anarchy!"

Dad: "Oh yeah...complete and total anarchy!"



Oh yeah...it's all aces. Cari and Zach and Emmy went to Conroe for the weekend and I couldn't get the days off so I stayed at home and was actually productive! I put up two fence panels all by myself as well as did all the laundry, mopped the floors and vacuumed. I even went through our extra sheets and put them in vacuum-seal bags! But it was a fun weekend. And I had the best day yesterday. I found out I get the week after Christmas off! Somehow I was 0 for 3 in getting any time off around the holidays so this was a super surprise. Then Cari asks if Zach and I want to see this:



This was actually really good! I had to pee about halfway through but I managed to hold on. Wouldn't mind seeing it again. This was a good day.

"Happy Memorial Day!"

As I celebrate my 40th Memorial Day, I think about all the people who gave their lives so that we can live freely. Part of me wishes I had more of a desire to serve our country, but honestly I think my kids needing their dad trumps it. So, Zach and I went to Campbell, in all the rain, which it started about a month ago and hasn't really stopped since. But oh well. On the way home I took Zach to my old town Duncanville and showed him the park I used to walk down to when I was a kid:



What used to be Limestone Park is now Chris Paris Park. Last year I told Zach a story about how I had discovered a well and when I went down I was able to meet my dad and grandpa as kids my own age at an old time soda fountain. Was a really interesting tale. So I took him to this park and showed him where the well 'used to be'. Maybe it was there, maybe it wasn't. We may never know. We walked around and skipped stones in the creek behind us. Was a really good time.

Then...we took a walk Monday morning and did some exploring at a creek down the street from us. We went under the bridge and saw this railing and ended up crossing it!:



Very proud of him! I was afraid one of us was gonna fall in. Eeew.

Later we went to Jay and Tracy's house and had a nice lunch and watched the Ranger game. Was a lot of fun.



Sometimes it's good for the guys to get away and do guy things sometimes. Zach is such a different creature when it's just us. No one screaming, just two guys talking about what's on their mind. He never ceases to amaze me with what he knows. Kid's a human encyclopedia sometimes.