A WEEKEND WITH DAD@!

Kelly is headed to the Jersey Shore for 3-4 days of some R&R. I'm happy for her. She is going to enjoy herself and catch up with her best friend, Melissa.

That leaves me here with the boy and girl. I'm actually quite excited about it. Weather pending, I think we're going to have a lot of fun.

Pool, fishing, hiking? Maybe? Carowinds? Not out of the question...

Ice cream? ABSOLUTELY!

I also have a 3-day week here at work! (So, I got THAT working for me!)

:)

A "BURP" OFF??

We had a long great weekend down here this past weekend. Emma and I had a nice "Daddy/Daughter" day at Carowinds, which is similar to King's Dominion/Six Flags. Wonderful time going on the rollercoasters, carousels, bumper cars, you name it.

After a nice dinner, the kids played outside with their friends til dark.

As I'm putting the kids to bed, I'm chatting with Emma about our upcoming visit to Bowie. I start running down the list of everyone we'll see when in town. "Aunt Georgia, Uncle Rich and the kids, etc...."

I run through the whole list and when I'm done, Emma asks me "Is Aunt Erin the BURPING one?" "Why yes, she is," is my response. Emma's eyes grow WIDE as she says, "Picture this! 1 table, 2 chairs, and a whole LOTTA root beer! We can have a BURP OFF!"

So, Erin... come prepared. She is MY daughter and she DEFINITELY inherited my abilities to lose body pressure at will!

Kids...

ha!

THE HONESTY OF AN 8 YEAR-OLD

Yesterday was Thursday. "Market Day" in our house. Wednesday night I baked 12 loaves of bread and 12 "mini" loaves. Thursday, Kelly baked 19 loaves.

I got home around 3:45pm and was getting ready to head out and sell the 31 loaves (and 12 minis) when Emma asks me, "Can I come?!"

"Absolutely," was my reply. Aidan was heading to Gymnastics with Kelly, so I didn't have him in-tow. Just Emma.

Emma LOVES the market. She loves telling folks about the bread, the process, the ingredients and "how to order off the website." She is definitely a "shadow" of me, in the "talkative" department. The girl can talk! :)

As it's slowing down a bit, she asks me, "Daddy, can I sell the next loaf all by myself?" Now, what that means is that I was to "go away" and let her say "Hi" to the customer, answer any question(s) the customer may have, and take the money, bag the bread and hand back any change "all by herself." Emma is VERY capable of all of this.

So, here comes a customer. The nice lady asks about the Egg bread we have for sale. Emma says, "Oh, that makes the BEST sandwich bread, or you can use it for French Toast for breakfast..." The customer commented on how cute (and knowledgeable Emma was)

Next, the lady asks about our Poppy Seed loaf. "The poppy seeds give the bread a bit of sweetness to it. I would put butter or jam on it for a delicious snack, if I were you," say Emma without missing a beat or a breath.

I'm in the background holding my sides, I'm chuckling so much. The customer is enamored with Emma and is being VERY SWEET to her. I'm eating it up.

Next, the nice lady asks about our Homemade Croutons we have for sale. "What is in this?" she asks.

"Oh, that's all the bread we DON'T sell" is what Emma tells her with the confidence of knowing that's EXACTLY what it is!

I laughed so hard, I thought I was going to crack a rib... The customer laughed even HARDER!! I had tears coming out my eyes I was roaring so loudly....

The best part of the story...?

The customer DID buy the Croutons....

Way to go Emma!!!

I could never pull that one off.

STUFF

Summer is plodding along down here. Weeks are going by and the kids are enjoying the time away from school, although I think they subliminally miss it a tad. Emma (the social butterfly) loves the interaction and chattiness that comes with a school day.

Aidan is a fan of homework. He didn't inherit THAT gene from me, that's for sure. He loves to sit with Kelly and practice his sight words, or do math problems, or pretty much any type of school chore.

Both kids are enrolled in swimming lessons. Emma has really improved this year. We now go together into the deep end of our pool to practice treading water, or for the kids to have fun jumping in from the edge. Aidan still needs his arm floaties on for that. Emma though is a strong enough swimmer to manage the deep end (ONLY when I am with her....) We talk about the importance that rule EVERYDAY. No deep end w/o either me or Kelly. Emma gets it.

Aidan... well that's a different story.

He CAN swim. He chooses NOT to practice with me though. He has no problem when he's in class, but when he's with his "old man," all he wants to do is have fun. I'm such a terrible parent... "PRACTICE!" :) He doesn't realize the severity of the deep end, which honestly scares the remaining hair I have left on my head into growth submission. Scary.

Fortunately, we watch them like hawks while we're at the pool, and they're both taking lessons and getting pretty good. Whew!

Emma learned the wonderful power of Visine the other day. We went to Carowinds (like KIng's Dominion) and had a blast at "Kookaburra Bay" (a big swimming pool.) Problem is they put so much chlorine in that thing, you can smell it in the air.

Aidan was smart and had his eyes closed while swimming. Not Emma. She got home and you could see the RED creeping into her eyes.

It took Kelly and I about 20 minutes to talk her into taking some VISINE drops in her eyes. She fought it though, but then decided to try it. W/in 2 minutes, her eyes returned to a white color and she was touting "how easy" that was and that she was glad she was 'brave' enough to take the drops.

Such fun.

Hope everyone is doing well. We are doing just great down here.

FRIDAY AGAIN?

This week went by quickly, I think.

The kids are in full "SUMMER" mode. Sleeping in, staying up late, going outside alot. They saw a movie this week ("Wall-E") They loved it. Kelly wasn't so easily impressed.

The weekly trip to Carowinds got placed on hold this week. We have been getting HORRENDOUSLY dangerous T-storms each night this week. The rain is much needed and very welcomed, but it's not the kind of rain you want to be driving in. I did that on Tuesday and it was a bit scary.

Yesterday's Farmer's Market got cut short due to yet another thunderstorm. More is on slate for today, but that's OK. Today is a baking day. Easy-peasy. :)

Hope everyone is doing well.

JUST STUFF

Hope everyone is having a good week. For a "short" week at work, it sure is LONG!

We have the Monroe Open Air Farmer's market this afternoon. I'm not expecting much, with it being a holiday weekend, but maybe I'll be surprised. That would be nice.

This is my "early" day at work. I got here at 6am. I like that time of day. So quiet.

Tomorrow is a "sleep in" day. No market. No church to wake up for. I may actually sleep in til...oh, I don't know.... 6am!

I want to do a nice bike ride to get some miles under me this week. I'm at 45 so far for the week.

Tonight, after we get the kids to bed, I'm looking forward to a quiet night of TV and a few cold ones...

Oh, if I could've seen me "now" 20 years ago....

:)

Emma and Aidan had a "Carowinds" day yesterday. Emma hit some pretty big coasters yesterday. She calls herself the "daredevil" of the family. One of the words in that phrase is dead on... I'll let you guess which one.

Aidan is a little more cautious in his approach to the unknown. He may "analyze" a ride the WHOLE summer and THEN give it a try once he convinces himself that it won't be that bad. We'll see how that all pans out in September.

Today is a quiet day around the house. The kids are tired, as is Kelly. She's been playing "Camp Director" 24/7 for 3 weeks now since the kids have been home from school.

That's about it from here. Anyone doing anything good for the 4th?

DOWN TO THE POND

Aidan last night, after dinner asks me, "Daddy, can we go bike riding around the neighborhood?" "Sure," is my reply. Emma decides to join us as well. Aidan is much more the fan of cycling than Emma is. It's not that Emma's not a good rider. She really is. Aidan just loves going out for 3-4 mile rides every day if time allows.

So, we head up the street toward the pool. Both kids ask "Can we go to the park?" I sense that I've been rooked into a "playground" day instead of a "bike riding" day with them.

"Let's ride by the pond first, then we'll go to the park," was my reply.

So, off we went. Emma and Aidan racing each other on the sidewalks of the neighborhood. Emma passes Aidan, only to pass her back once again. We eventually make our way to the pond.

"It's really drying up," Emma says. She's right. We need to go no further than our neighborhood pond to see the very real effects of the drought that has gripped a good part of the state for close to 2 years now.

"Are there any frogs?" Aidan asks. "Let's look around" I tell them.

So we're off on a frog hunt. None to be found, which is odd. Usually, there are quite a few to be found on the shore, if not in the water. Not today.

I go to pick up a rock and I'm instantly brought back in time to Allen's Pond Park with my Dad and my siblings, seeing who could skim a rock the farthest across the pond with the most "bounces". Good times.

I show Emma and Aidan this, and they're HOOKED! Off goes Aidan to find the flattest rock around. Emma does the same. They return to try their hand at the fine art of stone skipping.

You know the old saying, "practice makes perfect?" Well, they have A LOT of practicing to do.

I can see more bike rides to the pond in the near future.