The Bakers in Texas

Commuter Buddy

2011-09-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been using my bike as a mode of transportation on and off for the last 10 years. At this point, it does not seem extraordinary to ride to the store to get a sixer of Fat Tire, take the boys to get donuts on a Saturday morning, or to ride to work. Maybe I am getting old, or maybe it wasn’t that significant, but I don’t remember that first time I rode my bike to work. I wanted to try and remember what that felt like, so in my post a couple of weeks ago, I put out a request offering myself to be a ride along commuter buddy. I hoped that having somebody to ride along with them, would persuade somebody to give commuting by bike a shot, and one brave soul came to my rescue for the story. Enter Future Commuter Girl, she had been looking to make that leap and start riding to work.

Surly McClain reporting for duty.

To read the rest of the story head over to Austin On Two Wheels......

Is it worth a coin?

2011-09-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Boy recently has taken to the idea that he would like certain items. Well this is not actually a new idea, but he is old enough to understand that there is value associated with something and it does not actually just fall from the sky. Previously he just assumed that Mrs. B and I were a bottomless pit of money. We would say things like you can’t swing your hockey stick in the house because you could break the TV and it wouldn’t work anymore. His typical response to this statement was something like this “That’s okay mama, we just go to Wal-Mart and get a new one”.

No to the TV.
No to the Wal-Mart.
No to swinging the stick in the house.

Recently at church, he indicated that he would like a juice box as his snack. To dissuade this, I just asked him if he had the money to pay for the juice box, which was $.50. He indicated he didn’t have any money. Although he did remind me that he swallowed a dime one time, and it came out in his poop. I asked him if he had that dime on him. He didn’t. Problem solved.On the way home from church, the Boy asked if he could have some money…..obviously the problem wasn’t solved. Mrs. B informed the Boy that he would need to earn money if he wanted it. The whole earning thing is a bit of a stretch for his little 3 year old brain, so we started brainstorming ways he could make money. Below is a sample of that conversation.

Mrs. B: What could you do to earn money? What job could you do?
The Boy: I could play.
Mrs. B: Well I was thinking about something that would help around the house.
The Boy: I could play with my brothers.
Mrs. B: Sometime a job is something you don’t want to do.
The Boy: I could not hit my brothers, when we are playing. (Now we were getting somewhere)
Mrs. B: You know how mama and dada pick up dog poop, we don’t really want to do that but it has to be done.
The Boy: I don’t want to pick up dog poop (I don’t blame you partner). I could ride my bike.

It went on like this for the rest of the ride home (20 minutes), and the closest we got to an actual chore was picking up toys at the end of each night. Now that we have at least entered the world of chores, he as quickly realized the potential of negotiation. Now when we ask him to do something, he quickly responds with….do I get a coin. Although this is a marginally effective way to get him motivated to do things, I don’t know how comfortable I am with him associating every single task he does as a way to get money…..I would much rather he do it just because it is good for the family. Holy Crap….now I sound like Mrs. B.

CX in the ATX

2011-08-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have developed a bit of an obsession over the last year. Many of you reading may already share this passion. I am not afraid to admit that I love cyclocross. I am well aware that in the northern corners of the US this is a particularly powerful draw. People of all ages, get on their bikes to race as fast as they can...only to jump right back off to run through sand, mud, over barriers, up steep hills, or even up stairs, then throwing themselves back on their steed mid run to keep riding. I know it sounds a little crazy reading it here, but when it is done well it is AWESOME.

To read the rest of the story head over to Austin on Two Wheels.......

What is the opposite of a winter Viking?

2011-08-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

I began commuting by bike just out of college, I can honestly say I am not sure why I started but a couple times a week I would get up a little earlier than normal and head off to work on my bike. At that time, I was living in the Twin Cities. Those of us who commuted during the winter months considered ourselves Winter Vikings, because regardless of how far below freezing the temperatures got we still rode. In Austin, we do not not have that chance often; but, a couple times a year I get to call myself a Winter Viking. Friday was the opposite of Winter Viking.

(Read the rest of the story at Austin on Two Wheels)

http://austinontwowheels.org/2011/08/15/what-is-the-opposite-of-a-winter-viking/

Drought = returning to my redneck roots

2011-08-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

We have had the worst single year drought this year in Austin. Aside from the lakes being ridiculously low, which really doesn't effect us since we don't own a boat, we haven't noticed much of difference from a normal Texas summer. It is HOT....lots, in reality is there really that much difference between 98 everyday and 106 everyday, as somebody who is living through it...no. The lack of rain has drastically cut back on my mowing responsibilities...no rain = no grass (translation - green weeds) growing. Some of my kinfolk are from the Ozarks of Missouri (translation-civilized rednecks), as opposed to the Ozarks of Arkansas (translation - uncivilized rednecks), and I looked out at my yard yesterday while having my morning cup of coffee - I started to think that maybe I was returning to my roots.

Pretty much checking every box of the "you might be a Redneck if..." --plastic cups around the yard - check, broken toys everywhere - check, dogs - check and check, deflated pool we used once - check, lots of dead grass - CHECK

I refused to water because after one summer of paying hundreds of dollars a month to keep the weeds green, I decided there were better ways to spend my time and money. My parents have such a lush and lovely yard, which they work very hard to maintain...I apparently didn't inherit those genes....or as my dad would say...work ethic.

View of the front yard....No I didn't apply the Scorched Earth filter, it is just naturally that beautiful.

Try as I might, I haven't been able to keep the two Live Oaks my dad planted 18 months ago. Between vacations and a complete lack of rain they haven't survived the heat...I did water them when I was here I promise.

Dad, I promise I gave them water...I really really did.

Eating on the road

2011-07-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly the worst part of traveling, especially by car, especially through Oklahoma, is that there is nothing but crap to eat. Apparently Twinkie #1 didn't mind the food choices, because he was snarfing it down so quickly he forgot to take the wrapper off his hash brown.

Although the hash browns are obviously delightful, the boys seem just as content eating sandwiches Mrs. B had prepared at home. It is amazing how a boring ol' sandwich tastes so much better when you are in the middle of an adventure.

Lets Get Social

2011-07-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I was under-prepared for my first ever Thursday Night Social Ride, but in the end that did not diminish the experience in the least. A college friend, Andrew, was in town for diversity training with a national outdoor retailer. Upon discovering this fact, we made plans to squeeze in a true Austin experience. Within the Baker house there was some debate about what that experience would be, with consideration given to Alamo Drafthouse, catching a live music show, or waiting in traffic. Considering that Andrew was going to sit on his butt for 8+ hours getting more diverse by the minute, we finally decided on an evening bike ride. I have been meaning to get out and ride one of the Thursday Night Social Rides sponsored by Social Cycling Austin, so this seemed like an opportune time. (Read the rest of the story at Austin on Two Wheels)

Doing it for the Kids.....and my Sanity.

2011-05-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

I want to start off and admit it has been a few weeks since I have commuted to work on the ‘ol Surly (continuing to take suggestions for a better name), I am still running errands around the neighborhood, but the 10+ mile commute, and more importantly the early rising, won out for the last couple of weeks. “Bike to Work Week” has kicked me in the butt and reminded me to get out there and burn burritos and not gas, because I am cheap, and also have an unhealthy relationship with Tex-Mex food.

I jumped back in on Friday morning, and within the first mile..... (Read the rest of the story over at AustinonTwoWheels.org)

Easter weekend

2011-04-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

It was an incredibly busy and fun Easter weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Wehr were in town for all of the Easter celebrations and we were able to take full advantage of their wanting to spend time with the Boy and the Twin-kies. Like many Austinites, we made our way down to Zilker park before lunch to ride the train and play on the playground. The entire place was a beehive of kids running and playing, the boys could not have had a better time.

The Twin-kies had the best time climbing the playscapes and bombing down the slides, without a concern about who was going to catch them at the bottom...and sometimes there wasn't somebody there, and they would just shoot off the end. They would then get up, brush off the wood chips and climb back up to do it all over again.

Nanny and Papa took care of the monkey's while Mrs. B and I went out for a double date with the Huddleston's.

Stefanie waiting for the movie to start....doesn't she look excited to see Hanna, the movie that I picked. Once the movie was over she actually said it was a pretty good choice, although if I had to guess she still would have chosen Water for Elephants instead.

We also had the chance to attend Easter services at ACTS Church Lakeway. Following the service, the boys had an Easter Egg hunt followed by a dinner.

Here is The Boy jamming as many eggs as he can in his undersized basket. You can tell he has done this before, because he had collected over half the eggs on the ground while the other kids were still opening and checking their first couple of eggs for candy. The Boy knows you have time to assess the booty once all of the eggs have been collected.

With extra hands in town to enjoy the fun that is bedtime, I took the opportunity to go and see a couple of additional movies with Michael Huddleston. Three straight days of movies at the Alamo Drafthouse means I had the chance to see this Alamo preview three days in a row. I don't know if it is the catchiness of the song, the excellent way the whole thing is put together, or the fact the commercial is just another advertisement of why Austin is so awesome, but when I got home yesterday, I just went ahead and bought the song on iTunes.

The three movies I was able to see this weekend were all pretty good, and served as an excellent appetizer for the typical glut of summer movie goodness.

Limitless - entertaining and an interesting premise. It is a definite renter but it isn't a throwaway if you want to see it in the theater.

Hanna - bad-ass - there were some intense action sequences that Mrs. B and Stef had difficulty watching, but for the most part it was very entertaining and action-packed from the moment the movie starts.

Your Highness - this movie isn't going to be for everybody, but if you enjoy stupid gross-out humor with a ton of crude jokes you won't be disappointed. That may have actually been the mimosa's talking, but Michael and I both really enjoyed the movie, but agreed our wives wouldn't have appreciated the sophisticated humor.

You have to be very comfortable with your manhood to share the Mimosa Duo with a fellow dude...thankfully I was up to the challenge.

I have been meaning to take a picture of this giant Barbarella poster at my local Drafthouse. The poster reminds me of my high school friend Josh, who exposed me to the wonderful classic staring Jane Fonda. Good times.

Breaking Ankles....like a professional athlete

2011-04-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

You know how you always hear stories about those professional athletes who screwed your fantasy team because they got injured. And not injured in some cool professional athlete way that will be an awesome story to tell for years to come, like any of these.

Although I am sure all of these hits were extremely painful, there was also a pretty high level of awesome. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about if you picked up an injury because of one of those hits. No, the injuries that I find particularly maddening are the ones where these supposedly superior athletes get hurt doing mundane things (ie. celebrating, ironing their shirt, or eating a donut. With the three boys I have recently discovered how incredibly often these career threatening injuries actually occur.

Just a couple of nights ago, I was helping the boys into the shower, and after laying out their pajamas for the evening, nearly killed myself when I re-entered the bathroom. The Twin-kies have discovered that playing with toys is fun, but creating an epic mess is more fun. They had thrown a colorful display of stackable cups all over the floor and appeared to be waiting to see what happened when I returned. Now normally I would just pick the cups back up and throw them back into the tub, but I wasn't looking where I was going (the intellectual side of me wants to tell you that I was reading a book, but the truth is probably closer to the ADHD side of me, which would have been checking Facebook or Twitter). Instead of picking up one of those little cups, I stepped on it, and slipped. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but being that this was one cup of many, I promptly steps, and slipped on another and another cup. I kicked the wall pretty hard with my bare foot and then proceeded to fall into the closet (literally falling into a rack of dress shirts). The boys couldn't have been happier, they were laughing and giggling and showed their excitement by throwing out every other toy they could get their hands on.

The hazard zone so thoughtfully laid out by the monkeys. Notice the dog at the far end not even attempting to enter the room for fear of premature hip dysplasia.

I now have a greater understanding of those finely tune athletes that injure themselves in the most mundane of fashions. I am going to say I have and equal chance of injuring myself playing soccer or riding my bike as I do walking around the daily minefield laid out by my three persistent little monkeys.

Perfect Snack

2011-04-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

There are moments in any parenting adventure where you are faced with the very real prospect of crying and laughing at the same time. With three boys, I think that my number of occurrences may actually end up slightly ahead of the average bear.

This past Wednesday morning Mrs. B and I were faced with one such event. Mrs. B and I are not what you would call morning people, but that hasn't stopped our boys from all waking up at some very early hours. Thankfully the Twin-kies are pretty well contained since they haven't yet figured out how to climb out of the cribs (by writing that phrase, I have now guaranteed that they will learn this new trick in under a week), and the Boy is pretty good at finding what he needs (food, remote, etc.) to keep himself happy in the morning.

Before you get all self-righteous about the fact that I allow my child to get up and turn on the TV and feed himself before I even greet him in the morning, consider that the one year Mrs. B and I actually commuted together, we didn't actually talk in the morning. I say this just to fully illustrate how much we aren't morning people. Besides, we figure we are teaching him self-sufficiency and responsibility (or at least that is what we tell other people when they look at us with judgmental eyes). The reality is that sometimes he gets up, gets his brothers up, and is potentially up to mischief for about a solid hour, before we get up. Most mornings, at worst, we have to deal with his screaming brothers because they are frustrated that he is messing with them since they can't get out of their cribs (yet)!!! However, other mornings are not so forgiving.

When I awoke this past Wednesday I took a shower right away, knowing the boys were already awake because I could hear them chattering away. They seemed fairly subdued compared to other mornings (note to self this isn't a good sign). As I walked out to pack my lunch in the kitchen I was greeted by the Boy.

"Hi Dada, guess what? I found the perfect snack for me and my brothers . . . and Como (our Lab puppy)."

Little could prepare me for what I found -- certainly not the exploded bag of Cheese-ITs earlier in the week, not the Boy climbing on top of the washer to get down "Pirate Booty” and certainly not the fact that the dogs can, and do, get to pretty much anything in the house.

What I walked in to find with Mrs. B made us both want to laugh and cry all at the same time. The Boy had gotten out the gallon of strawberry ice cream (with spoons . . .I mean we are civilized) and was feeding it through the bars to each of his younger brothers who were thankfully caged (I mean, in their cribs). Although the Twin-kies were covered from head to toe with sticky ice cream, they were still both using their spoons. Como was also covered because she had spent the last 30 minutes neck deep in a melting tub of ice cream. Mrs. B wanted to cry because we were faced with the reality of rewashing pretty much everything in the room, but at the same time it was pretty funny. Unfortunately it was time for me to head off to work, so I bounded out the door with a “Ta Ta!” All the judging mothers out there should know that I was struck down with a massive migraine about two hours later, so I guess it all evened out.

30 Days of Fun (Excerpt)

2011-03-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Thirty days straight of riding my bike. On one hand it didn’t seem like that big of a deal, but somewhere in that part of my brain where rational decisions are made I had a slight tickle of doubt. That was quickly squashed by the bike part of my brain, how hard could it really be to ride my bike 30 straight days, even if it just meant a trip around the block.

Read the rest of the story at Austin On Two Wheels

Crazy Cold Commute

2011-03-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

“You biked to school this morning, you must be crazy.....and frozen!” This was exclamation of a co-worker as she held the door for me as I arrived at school. When I started out at 6am and the temperature was a crisp 15 degrees I was incline to believe that I was actually suffering from some kind of sleep deprived idea of grandeur.

Read the rest of the story at Austin on Two Wheels.

Donuts by Bike (excerpt)

2011-03-02T05:02:00.000-08:00

“Let’s go get donuts Dada!” From the steamy mornings in August to the cold and windy mornings in February, this little tradition now starts our weekend more often than not. Just a year ago we would do this trip by car, but thanks to 30 Days of Biking, we started loading up a well-worn bike trailer and heading the 3 miles by bike. With three boys under the age of 3 there is no such thing as sleeping in on a Saturday, actually there is never sleeping in regardless of the day.

Read the rest of the story at Austin on Two Wheels.

Baby Boy turns 3

2011-02-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

Without trying to get too unbelievably sappy.....MY BABY BOY IS GETTING BIG. There are certainly days in the past where I wished this moment would come so much faster. Those days where you are changing diapers for a kid that who is having a full conversation with you, while at the same time trying to fight off the gag reflex because of the overpowering smell.

Don't worry I still get to experience plenty of that since the Twinkies are just coming into their own, now that they are each just over a year old. It has become particularly real this weekend, when we went out for a walk and The Boy took his new bike out for a spin. Like his father, he has a number of bikes in the stable back home, but this new bike is the closest thing to the bikes I ride on a daily basis, except it doesn't have pedal's. Without turning this into an infomercial, the basic premise is that the kid learns how to balance a two wheeled bike and once you have done that you add pedals that the rest is gravy.

Now back to the story. When he got his new bike for Christmas he couldn't care less about it, in fact, his bigger cousin rode it nearly everyday she was there and was doing quite well at the whole balance thing. However, within the last month, he has started to ride the balance bike more and more. Starting first with both feet shuffling along, but hardly ever leaving the ground, to now, where he does three or four big kicks and then glides with his feet up for as long as he can. I was shocked when he went nearly 50 yards down a gentle grade without ever touching the ground. When he was done, he turned to me (with my big stupid grin on my face) and yelled "I did it, Dada". He sure did, and he now knows he is much closer to going for a bike ride together with dad, instead of being pulled behind in the trailer.

I wonder how many of these little milestones I have missed just hoping for the next big milestone. How do I pick the "big" milestones? I don't think that you can, and so as The Boy moves into the terrific 3's, I vow to appreciate the simple daily milestones more and stop waiting for all the big ones.

This is Austin

2010-12-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

We have been trying to get through this weekend, what with sick boys, Mrs. B completing 1st term grades, and all the pre-holiday madness. Today on the way home from helping a friend load an engine block into the back of her truck we saw a sight that pretty much sums up what Austin is all about. We were driving back home to have lunch and I was pointing out how well thought out the bike lane was on this portion of 620, highlighting how the group of cyclist were able to avoid getting "right hooked" because of the design. Then we saw it, or maybe I should say "them." Mrs. B was remarking how the group of cyclists were older, when we rolled by their leader.

He looks like your normal, happy, weekend warrior, and by all appearances he was, but he was also carrying along a friend. (At this point, I would like you to form a mental image of what this friend could look like before scrolling down.)

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I bet you didn't see that coming. I know I didn't. The part of this story that makes it really funny is the fact that for about five miles we kept leap frogging the group trying to get a picture of the doggie co-pilot. After five failed attempts using the Iphone, we floored it to get home and get the Nikon. After rushing into the house to grab the camera, I set up on the corner near our house, that I figured they would pass. About thirty seconds later the group came around the corner with the lead dog out in front. By this point the guy was laughing pretty hard because we kept trying to get the picture.

I don't know who this guy was, but he obviously had been out for a pretty significant ride with the group. This guy is representing three of the things that make Austin such an awesome place to live.

1. Bikes - the ATX is the best bike town in America...especially this time of year (it was about 60 degrees when I took this picture at noon).

2. Dogs - dogs are everywhere in Austin....it only seems fitting they are on bikes, as well.

3. Weird - by unbelievably finding a way to combine the previous two, he will also get a shout-out to the weird.

There is no question that Lance is the master of the bike, but I would wager he has never taken his favorite four legged friend for a spin like this.

Home with the Boys

2010-12-07T19:06:00.001-08:00

I had an opportunity to spend the afternoon with the boys today. It was an unexpected surprise and we all made the most of our time together. After rushing home midday, we took Mrs. B to work and then came home for lunch. It was like feeding a Sarlacc, food was disappearing faster then I could bring out reinforcements. Between the 3 boys they polished off a helping of mac and cheese, 3 whole oranges, 2 bananas, nearly half a wedge of cranberry cheddar, 3 pieces of toast, and a couple of cookies each. The scary part of the whole thing was "the Boy" ate the least of anybody, I think the Twinkies would have kept on eating if I hadn't just stopped bring them food.

Everybody got a good nap and then we decided to "ride bikes" down to the park. What that really means is that "the Boy" rides his bike while I bring the Twinkies in the stroller. We headed down to do a little swinging.

"the Boy" likes to swing this way, but we did also swing "like Addie and Mina" (ie. sitting in the seat)

The Twinkies are quite content to be pushed for hours and were shivering by the time we left, but they were still both unhappy about having to stop.

Never short on adventure around this place, we ended the night with a bang (or maybe a plop). For the last three evenings one of the twin's has "released some hostages" while still in the bath. The first night, I caught it quick enough to grab Twinkie #1 and put him on the potty so he could finish his business, which he did without a problem. Last night Twinkie #2....well lets just say we had ourselves a Level 6 bio hazard once he was done, and everybody had to be thoroughly rewashed. The quote of the night was from "the Boy" who as we were rapidly removing him from the water said "He didn't make it to the potty tonight momma!" NO HE DID NOT.

Rather then face the possibility of Poop Soup for a third night, I just went the shower route, which everybody was very happy about. We made it all the way through an extended shower without incident, and I took Twinkie #1 to get his PJ's on while "the Boy" and Twinkie #2 finished picking up the toys. When I come back, Twinkie #2 is standing there with this big stupid grin on his face and a pile below him (SEE BELOW). I will admit I was tempted to grab the camera to document that grin, but my inner Mrs. B told me that wouldn't be such a good idea, so I had to settle for a picture once I got everybody clothed and safely away.

Bikes and Kids......piece by piece

2010-10-29T04:23:00.000-07:00

I am starting to wonder if I have undertaken a task that is way over my head because I don’t have the required knowledge. I hope that I am not the only father who feels this way when it comes to my parenting. I have been described as the human equivalent of the dog from the movie “UP”, I am passionate about lots of stuff, and I have absolutely no trouble jumping headfirst into a situation before I really understand or have even thought through the entire process, but I am also easily distracted.

My current headfirst venture is to build a commuter bike up completely from scratch and start riding it to work a couple of times a week. Up until this moment, my previous bike repair experience is…..(big empty silence)……..ya, that’s it….as I type this I am beginning to realize it sounds like an even dumber idea the more I talk about it. Building this bike is much like being a father, I don’t know what I don’t know, but I sure as heck am going to get it figured out as I go along. For each part that I add to the frame, the bike gets one step closer to completion, and each day I learn how to be a better father by taking the lessons previously learned and trying to avoid the same mistakes. Part by part this thing is going to come together. There are going to be mistakes, but like most mistakes that will arise whilst putting the bike together, with a little more practice and elbow grease we will get them worked out. Thankfully I have a highly knowledgeable friend who has constantly been offering advice on the bike construction (albeit from 2000 miles away…thanks AJ) and when it comes to fatherhood I have some wonderful examples (thanks Dad and Grandpa) and partners (the lovely and talented Mrs. B) to help support and inspire me. Building a bike and fatherhood are possible by yourself, but they are both so much more fun when done with fun people that you love and respect.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T19:53:00.001-07:00

Day 15 - Brothers through and through

2010-09-15T18:38:00.001-07:00

I guess the the Twin-kies are now old enough to head out in the trailer with their brother. They were a little uncertain, but all in all it was very well received. Now I just wished we actually had something we could actually pull all three around at the same time. Maybe I will just get a Madsen.

Day 14 - Quickie

2010-09-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had Open House at my school, and therefore I didn't get home until after 8:30. I gave consideration to not putting my bike time, but decided against it pretty quickly. Here are a couple of shots from the quickie around the block.

Day 13 - Parent Night and Teen Party

2010-09-13T19:49:00.001-07:00

After getting everybody to bed tonight, I took the 'ol steel horse out for a ride around the neighborhood. My plan was to circle the neighborhood schools (two elementary, middle, and high school) before heading home via a different route. I was able to catch this sunset on the Iphone before heading out. On my 4 mile cruise through my little part of the world, I saw a number of interesting things.

Apparently tonight was Open House for the entire neighborhood, because there were tons of cars at all of the schools.
A church parking lot that was playing house music and had upwards of a 100 high school kids standing around and drinking Mexican soda.....just seemed a little weird for a Monday night.
lots of neighbors outside talking
maybe the best part of cruising around is the smell of all those BBQ grills cooking dinner
I was also able to help a fellow citizen by giving directions, without ever slowing down.

Day 10, 11, 12 - Off the Bike

2010-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

I know this is going to sound extremely lame, but the weekend was BBBBBUUUUUSSSSSSYYYYY and I never did have a chance go get out, even for a loop around the block on the bike. One of the things that I did find time to do this weekend was to go out and get a Surly Cross Check bike frame, that I am going to build up to a commuter bike. I loaded up all three boys during naptime, and proceeded to meet the guy in S. Austin. He was a full on MAMIL (middle aged man in Lycra) and he said that he had used the frame as a commuter bike. Judging from the excellent condition of the frame (not a nick on the thing) and the BMW the guy pulled the frame out of, I am guessing he found that riding his bike to his law firm just wasn't lawyerly enough. His loss my gain....got to love Craigslist.

Day 9 - Dove Bars and Football

2010-09-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the kickoff of the "When will Brett Farve get hurt watch" and so to celebrate after dinner, I made a quick trip to the grocery store on my bike, to pick up some Dove Bars. I took this shot on the way back to the house.

I have been reading about fellow 30 Days of Biking participants and their chilly morning commutes up in the Land o' Lakes. I don't figure that at any point in September I am going to need my sweet Grenade gloves to keep my digits warm while riding, but I did try and find a use for them tonight. The Boy wanted to wear them and so I tried to bribe him to say in bed if he wanted to wear them......he said no...DANG.

Day 8 - Storm aftermath

2010-09-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

After last nights wet and wild ride, I settled for something a little less exciting when I got home today. Pulling into the driveway, I noticed that Mrs B had taken the ankle-biters out to do some important errand. I dropped my bag and lunch dishes in the house and ran back outside to get some shots of the 'hood after the big storm (over 12 inches alone at our house). I didn't figure on a long ride, and since it wasn't even raining I just went without changing clothes.

Here is my cycling attire for today

Those 12+ inches of rain filled up the local lakes and watered my drought weakened flowerbeds (and all the weeds mixed in with the intended plants), but all that water also washed out the local trails.

The neighborhood drainage ditch also looked more like a creek instead of the usual mosquito breeding ground.

Day 7 - Tropical Storm be damned, I ride bikes.

2010-09-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

"You can't go out tonight, it is pouring, thundering and lightning, and there is a tornado warning" those are the words Mrs B said as I was headed out the door to sneak in my 30 Days of Biking trip. Tropical Storm Hermine was not going to keep me from getting in my nightly ride. So for all you people out there who say you can't get out there and ride on a daily basis, if I can do it with a storm the size of Texas sitting right over my house so can you.

Post 3 mile loop in the torrential downpour

The eye of Hermine passed within 30 miles of my house (really not as impressive as it sounds) and brought more then 5 inches of rain so far, and it is still raining.

Movie Monday - Timer

2010-09-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Timer - We watched this little film with my sister and her husband Alex once we got all the kids to bed. It was a little rough around the edges in the quality, but I think the story was highly entertaining and provoked quite a bit of discussion once the movie was over. The general storyline of the movie loosely follows your standard romantic comedy, but with the addition of a science fiction element (timers that tell you when you meet your soul mate).

The best part of the movie was when it was all over, and we all talked about if we would get the timer or not. This is a good movie, but not a great one, you see the ending coming from fairly far off, but continue to hope that there would actually be a different outcome. If you are looking for a quick movie for date night this would be a good choice because it is available Instantly from Netflix. So this poses the question.

If you could know the exact moment you were going to meet your soul mate before it happened would you want to know?

Day 6 - Cool Down on a Busy Weekend

2010-09-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Well the extremely busy and fun weekend is coming to a close, and with getting my Honey-Do list from the weekend completed in just one day, I didn't get much of a chance to go out and spin the gears. Once we put the Twin-kies and the Boy to bed I hopped on the ol' steel horse and went off to explore new (to me) streets in my neighborhood. Here are a couple of shots from the ride.

Bringing New Meaning to the words "Wardrobe Malfunction"

2010-09-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

We don't have many dresses in our house since this place is essentially a frat house, but when the cousins are here, dress up time takes on a whole new level of fun. The Boy really wanted to wear the purple dress to church.

The cousins already went home today, and as I am writing this the Boy looks over my shoulder and says "I am missing my cousins already" ----- I couldn't agree more.

Day 5 - Dare me. I dare you!!!!

2010-09-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

With my sister in town for the long weekend, we are constantly finding new and inventive ways to do childish things. Over dinner we were talking about 30 Days of Biking and how the cousins and the Boy were pushing the weight limit of the trailer, not to mention my legs. In true sibling fashion she dared me to pull her around the block, figuring I would just refuse because I worried about the structural integrity of the trailer. NOPE. Just seeing her try and fold her six foot frame into that trailer was worth the $40 I spent at a garage sale for the thing. We made it all the way around the block without a problem, and even came up with another idea for a 30 Days of Biking event.

Here are a couple of the shots my sister took while riding in the trailer:

This the view from the trailer.....I am guessing at about this point, my sis is starting rethink this whole idea. Nothing says extreme fun like my giant butt and a bike trailer. Thankfully, if for some reason were in an accident and we both had amnesia my name is written right there on my belt....safety first people.

Here is the passenger's self portrait.

Proof that we did actually ride that day, you can see me peddling and her riding along. For those of you wondering, that 100lb max that was listed as the safety limit is apparently flexible, very flexible.

Day 3 - Grocery Getter

2010-09-03T18:56:00.001-07:00

Upon getting home from a very stimulating staff development (said with tongue firmly planted in cheek), Mrs B asked me to go to the local HEB and pick up a few things for dinner. Since traffic was backing up on the road to the store, I figured that I was just going to load up the Boy and head to the store with the bike. We made it there and back in about the same time it would have taken us in the car. We are going to be doing that more often, it was just too easy not to continue. Thank you #30daysofbiking for opening my eyes to this opportunity.

Day 2

2010-09-02T20:45:00.001-07:00

I waited until the end of the day, and everybody else was fast asleep, but I still found 15 minutes to get out and cruise the hood in the dark. I certainly didn't mind the cooler temp's or quiet streets.

30 Days of Biking

2010-09-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

The Boy could not be happier at the moment. I have finally got the bike up and running as well as the pull behind trailer we picked up at a garage sale last spring. The reason for this sudden completion of my biking to do list......30 Days of Biking. If you aren't familiar, the basic idea is that for the 30 days of September you commit to getting out and riding your bike, whether it be a 30 mile hill workout (which you would never find me doing) or riding to the grocery store to pick up those last couple of items before dinner (I plan and doing this) or just cruising around the block with the kid in tow (he's hoping for lots of this---and will probably get it). The boy and I have come to an understanding, as long as he doesn't wander into my room at 5am to chat, and instead waits until he hears the shower, he gets to go on a bike ride with me when I get home. It has worked for 2 straight nights.....I am hoping it continues.

The main reason I decided I wanted to give the 30 Days of Biking a shot was because I was sick of wishing that I lived in a bike friendly city like Copenhagen or Amsterdam. If Austin is ever going to get to that point, I need to get out on my bike. Although I doubt there are any group rides organized in Austin for 30 Days of Biking, I am going to do my part and get out there and start riding. My hope is to chronicle all 30 days with a photograph of some sort from my daily ride, it should be fun. Now if I could just figure out how to get Minnesota's September weather (cool mornings and mild afternoons) instead of Austin's (muggy mornings and stiflingly hot afternoons) we would really be in the business.

Movie Monday: Sin Nombre

2010-08-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

Sin Nombre: This wasn't on the list of of 151 movies you need to see, but I think it should be. This is a beautiful movie for so many reasons. With out giving you to much information, this movie follows two different stories, until they eventually merge about halfway through the movie. The literal backbone of this movie is the rail system within Mexico, which is used by Central Americans as a way to get to the US border and by Mexican gangs as a way of taxing/bullying these travelers to support the gang both in and out of prison. The most striking part of this movie, to me, was the variety and beauty of Mexico as seen from the top of a moving train.

The storyline is very tight, and doesn't deviate often or for very long from the main story. The story actually mirrors the experience of riding on the train, on a fixed course and when there are deviations, they are just quick stop overs before hopping back on to the story before getting left behind. There aren't any surprises, but the inevitability doesn't take anything away from the outcome. Much like riding on the train, you know where you are going to end up with this movie, but like the characters of this story, you also realize the course as already been set.

Stop Thinking and Just Parent

2010-08-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Amidst all of the potty training (2 yr old), crawling (twin 8 month olds), job changes (Mrs. B), and another school year starting (me), finding the time to enjoy the small joys of parenting has been even more elusive. Our summer consisted of three busy months, June where we traveled to see family, July where everybody was sick, and August where everything is always crazy with school starting up. By all accounts "the Boy" and Twin-kies did a great job dealing with all of the changes, and don't seem any worse for the wear. Through all of this "the Boy" did pick up one rather irritating habit. At about 5am every morning he would wake up, pop the child protector lock on his door and proceed down the hallway to our bedroom. He would then come in and want to converse. I know that some parents are completely okay with this arrangement, because they themselves are morning people. Mrs. B and I aren't those people.

Let me paint a little picture to show you how much we are NOT those people. For one whole school year, Mrs. B and I worked at the same campus and would often commute to work together in the morning. On most days, the most talking we did was to say goodbye when we got to school.....literally, just the words "Goodbye, I love you". People would ask Mrs. B what it was like to spend all that extra quality time with her husband, her response...."Quite, we don't talk". So needless to say, neither one of us is jumping out of bed to spend a little quality time with a child at 5am.

We tried all kinds of things to make this situation work:

Bring "the Boy" into bed and let him finish sleeping with us---Outcome: Nobody sleeps, and I get kicked in the face 3 or 4 times an hour. FAIL
"The Boy" sleeps on the floor---Outcome: "The boy" gets really comfortable sleeping on the decorative pillows, so comfortable in fact, he starts to show up earlier each night to sleep on the floor. FAIL
SOOOOOO, we hide the pillows-----Outcome: "the Boy" comes into the room and can't find his pillows to make a comfortable bed on the floor, and proceeds to wake up parents to locate the missing pillow......FAIL
Bribery - he would receive a play car if he stayed in bed until we came and got him----Outcome - at 5am he doesn't give two flips about a stupid car. FAIL
Reason - we talking to him about being a big boy, and staying in his bed, he agrees that he is a big boy and that big boys stay in bed.....Outcome: I am having a discussion about being a big boy at 5am, at which time he doesn't really care about being a big boy. FAIL

Figuring I have presumably run through all of my possible options, outside of tying him the bed, I give up, for a night. The next day, whether from lack of sleep or a stroke of brilliance, I come up with one crazy idea that sounds completely stupid idea....but really how much worse could it get.

What if we moved him into the same room as his brothers, so that all three boys sleep in the same room.

The voice in the back of my head is screaming "now you will have 3 kids awake at 5am stupid" but why the heck not is my motto.

I proceed to explain to "the Boy" what the new plan is going to be, and he agreed (just like every other time) to stay in bed. And what do you know....he actually did. In fact the next night, when one of the Twin-kies woke up in the middle of the night and started crying, "the Boy" got out of bed and reached through the crib to pat his brother on the back, and then they both went back to sleep (this was all witnessed in the monitor, and confirmed the next morning when I went to get everybody up). It was a very proud moment as a father, I had conquered this little sleeping problem and the big brother was looking out for his little brother. When it comes to raising kids, sometime the dumbest idea has the sweetest result.

Potty Party

2010-08-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we decided we were done changing full-on man-poops on The Boy and we embarked on our first potty training adventure. As I expect many of you with boys will attest, The Boy has the ability to use the potty, but actually taking the time away from playing to use the facilities just wasn't high on the ol' priority list. Through a hearty amount of bribery (2 candies for pee, and 1 Cars car for each successful poop) we are almost completely potty trained.

The pee thing took about 2 seconds, and I think outside of the first or second day, we haven't had an pee accident. The Deuce was a completely different story. From a parents perspective, it appeared that we were dealing with poop commando's who snuck up on The Boy without warning and sprung their attack. Mrs B and I just assumed that he was struggling to identify that feeling indicating he needed to do some business. That may have been a part of it, but last night I think we may have stumbled across the real issue.

The Boy was afraid that the poop was going to come out his penis....once Mrs B explained that the poop was actually going to come out his bum-bum, he settled right down and proceeded to successfully use the bathroom, on his own (wiping excluded) for the rest of the day. Holy Crap, was all I had to say, I would be freaking out if I thought that was actually possible. I guess it goes to show you shouldn't assume anything when it comes to potty training. The Boy no longer runs through the house proclaiming his bathroom intentions such as "The poop is coming out mama" or "I pee in the potty, now I get candddddyyyyyy," instead we know he has used the potty when we find him running around the house with both legs sticking out one leg hole of his underwear, that is if he actually has taken the time to put the underwear back on.

One down and two to go.....how soon is too soon to start with the Twin-kies? And this question for all those parents out there with potty training experience.......how long am I going to be wiping butts?

Movie Monday: Despicable Me

2010-08-09T05:54:00.000-07:00

Only had a chance to watch one movie this week, I had better step it up if I have any hope of getting through over 140 of these movies that I haven't seen. However, I do have a good excuse, we had friends in town, season finale of Friday Night Lights, and Starz great miniseries "Pillars of the Earth" (available on Netflix streaming). I do promise to step it up this week and watch at least two movies for next weeks review.

On to the one movie that I did actually see this week:

Despicable Me: We have never had a chance to take the Hays family to Austin's beloved Alamo Drafthouse for dinner and a movie. We rectified that problem on their visit this week. Since we were going to be taking the kids we went with Despicable Me (in 3D). Mrs B made all of the plans to make sure we could leave the Twin-kies at home and that The Boy would be able to attend the movie. I didn't see why this was such a big deal but apparently the Drafthouse had a very strict policy against kids (which I fully understand and embrace for the evening hours). Mrs B went ahead and made all of the arrangements and confirmed that we could in fact bring The Boy to an afternoon showing of Despicable Me. In my usual bung-headedness I found a way to screw that up. When we went early to order tickets I said two kids, which was fine, but asked if there was a different price for kids under 3 (i.e. The Boy), big no no.... Apparently Mrs B had talked to somebody else about bringing The Boy and didn't think it would be a problem. You would have thought that I was trying to smuggle in a pet monkey, because there was absolutely no movement on the no kid thing. Mrs B was only able to get free passes out of the deal, but no admittance for The Boy. Free passes in hand we just went to another Drafthouse in town, and I didn't tell them he was not three, and we got right in.

Now on to the actual movie. It was cute, but there really wasn't anything special about it. Not even the voice of Steve Carell could make this riveting stuff, don't get me wrong it wasn't bad, and there were some entertaining moments, but this would be just as funny on your home TV.

Movie Monday: Girl Who Played with Fire and Dinner for Schmucks

2010-08-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

Just a little late getting this out this week, but thanks to the wonders of Google, I am able to make it look like I posted this story on time. It was a very busy week last week (more about that in another post), but I did get a chance to head out and see a couple of movies.

Girl Who Played with Fire - This is the second of three from Stieg Larsonn's Millennium Series. When we were in MN over the summer I had a chance to go and see the first one with Auntie E, who I got hooked on the books the previous Christmas. As luck would have it, Auntie E was in town to help install some damaged wood floors, and so we got the chance to see the second movie together as well. While waiting for the movie to start, we also checked with the third installment was going to be released in the US, and were very pleased to discover it would be release at Thanksgiving, now if we could just find a way to get Auntie E to come to paradise again around Thanksgiving.

The actual movie was just as satisfying as the first, and without doing any additional research, I would guess that the first and second (and possibly the third) movies were all filmed relatively close together. Both movies don't take anything away from the quality of the books they were based on, and do a great job of telling the story. Sure, there are some parts of the book that are left out entirely, but overall, the most important parts are all there.

One of the things Auntie E and I have appreciated about both movies, is the fact that the actors are all normal looking. You can guarantee when a US studio gets a hold of this, everybody will be pretty, and the acting will be average. There currently is a very disturbing rumor going around that Miley Cyrus is being considered for the lead character of Lizbeth.....are you kidding me....I guess all of those years being Hannah Montana have prepared her to be a bisexual, anti-social, violent Gothic chick who also happens to be brilliant. Where is Mystery Science Theater 3000 when you need them? Who is going to play Mikael, Howie Mandell?

Dinner for Schmucks: Funny, and I expect it only gets funnier if you watch it multiple times. I am sure I missed quite a few of the jokes. Steve Carell,as is commonly becoming the case, is genius . It is really weird when guy who looks like an accountant can elevate an entire movie they way he does again and again (40 Year Old Virgin, Date Night, Dan in Real Life). I don't believe The Office has much of a chance to be as funny without him, but I give it a shot next year.

Back to the movie, I really didn't have many expectations for the movie. I figured there would be funny parts, but also quite a bit of schlock. I am glad that I was wrong, because like a great thriller can make your heart race, a great comedy should make you peed your pants laughing or make you feel so uncomfortable for the characters you actually hate yourself for laughing. Dinner for Schmucks was definitely the second, although there were definitely a couple of moments weak bladders would worry about. In an interesting side note, the French movie that this movie was based upon is actually on that list of 151 Movies You Should See, so sometime this year, I will sit down and watch that one as well. It isn't often I would say this, but I really think the American version is going to be very difficult to beat (see above).

Movie Monday - Brick

2010-07-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Brick - I only had a chance to watch one movie this week because of sick kids and a busy weekend. The movie I was able to watch off the Netflix Instant Queue was Brick. I don't know how to explain it simply other then to say that it was a high school murder mystery set in the noir style. Of all of the movies off the 151 list I have seen thus far, this was my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, I did think it was a decent movie, it was just very difficult to get into, and stay with for that matter. I have a difficult time walking away from a movie after I have seen about 5 minutes, regardless of whether I have seen it before or not, but Brick is definitely a movie that you need to watch from the very beginning, and if you started watching it in the middle you would flip the channel within that 5 minute window and never get hooked.

On a similar note I am assuming this movie was shot in California, and the location or maybe the content kept reminding me of the Showtime show Weeds (which Mrs B and I both love). Brick and Weeds both do a wonderful job of making California communities seem extraordinarily ordinary, as if there isn't thoughtful planning put forth to make each community different from the one just over the hill, maybe that is actually the point.

Getting back to the movie, if you like noir style movies, seeing it done in a high school setting is interesting, but I don't know that it achieved the full effect for me personally. If somebody else has actually seen this movie, I would be interested in your thoughts on the movie.

Biking....and sitting on your ass.

2010-07-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if this little news blurb slipped past you this week, but if it did, I have actually had conversations with a number of people regarding the findings. The study followed people for 13 years and discovered that sitting for long periods of time actually has a negative effect on your long-term health. Your saying to yourself right now....no shit Sherlock, you mean if I sit on my ever expanding fat American butt I might die early, I am shocked. That was pretty much my thoughts as well.........then came the shocking part of this study. If you spent more time sitting, EVEN if you had a normal workout schedule, you were still more likely to have major health problems then those individuals who didn't spend as much time on their butts. This got me thinking about all of those people with a job spent sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen. Thankfully my job involves lots of moving around and I rarely spend more then 15 minutes sitting before having to rush out to solve the latest mystery of who has been writing swear words on the bathroom walls or who has decided to poop in the urinal instead of the toilet (anybody who also works in a school knows this happens more then you would think - ever time this happens I just laugh to myself at what that would actually look like if somebody walked in on the phantom pooper).

As many of you know, I harbor an unhealthy (or after this study, a healthy) obsession with all things European, if I was being more specific, Northern European and Scandinavian life, from the Dutch and German obsession for football, to the design aesthetic and simplified living style of Scandinavia, and especially the robust bike cultures in all of these areas. I saw this video by Streetfilm and then proceeded to spend the next 3 hours wishing I lived in a place like Copenhagen. Then this morning, I was reading about the price of gas around the world, and realized why people in Copenhagen are always on their bikes (or public transportation), if I wanted to put 16 gallons in the 'ol Pilot (or minivan - to whom that may apply) it would cost me about $110. That would make me pick up a bike pretty darn quick, it would also force me to look at where I live in relation to my work. I have considered riding my bike to work at least once per week, but there literally isn't a path I could take that wouldn't require at least 3 miles of unprotected (translation - no shoulder) highway riding. At this point in my life, I am not willing to place my life at risk just to ride my bike to work.

Therein lies the dilemma, do I die young because I sit on my butt during the day, or do I die because I get run over by a truck carrying 3 tons of fill gravel. From all appearances, the people of Copenhagen, don't have to worry about getting run over by a gravel truck.

Just this week, London began a project to create "Bike SuperHighways" from all parts of the metro area, which lead downtown. I also like this idea, but if you don't work downtown this particular plan would not be as beneficial.

All of this bike talk has me lusting after a couple of bikes, and here are a couple of my favorites.

The Public D3 with its orange paint job would fit be a perfect fit in Amsterdam or Austin as the description from the website points out - The PUBLIC D3 is an easy-shifting three-speed bike adequate for most cities or topographies where steep hills or strong headwinds are not a part of the daily riding, i.e. suitable for New York or Austin.

This is the description from the website for the BF18 cargo bike - The BF18 is car free family transport at the height of its evolution. Take your kids to Tee-Ball practice and stop to pick-up their little teammates on your way. Drop them off and head to the park for some Frisbee with the family pup or go shopping, and don’t be shy about loading up! Rain or shine, the BF18’s comfort, stability and safety will open up your world to the joys of a truly car free family lifestyle.

Movie Monday - Shadowboxer

2010-07-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

As I am reviewing my experiences with the movies, I think I need to create a rating system for those movies I have reviewed. If you have any suggestions, I would be open to hearing what you think.

Shadowboxer - Another movie of the 151 list. I thought this was a very intriguing movie in parts, but it was also very disturbing a number of times and for a number of reasons. The movie's two main characters are Cuba Gooding Jr. and Helen Mirren, who are hitmen and lovers (but also share a mother/son bond) who get caught up in a chance at redemption. The director lets the camera and actors help tell the story through acting rather then word, the dialogue is more limited, but the story is told regardless. Although the ending of Criminal was surprising it didn't leave you much to talk about, Shadowboxer kept rolling around in my brain well after the movie was over.

Zombieland - Definitely a movie that I was was going to watch without Mrs. B around.....she isn't the biggest fan of zombie movies - scary or otherwise. Zombieland is definitely not scary, but it is highly entertaining. It is a burger movie, one where you enjoy it while watching it, but 10 seconds after finishing, you have already forgotten nearly everything about it. Zombieland is very, very entertaining, there aren't many dull parts, and Woody Harrelson is perfect in his role. Bill Murray also makes a hilarious cameo appearance that is reason enough to watch the movie.

Hors de prix (Priceless) - Following another wonderful Friday dinner with the Huddleston's, Mrs. B and I returned home, put the kids to bed, and settled in for a stay at home date night. Priceless is a French language film that stars Audrey Tautou (Amelie) as a gold digger searching for somebody who can pamper her for the rest of her life. She meets Jean, played by Gad Elmaleh, who she mistakes as a possible target, but doesn't realize that he is actually the barman from the hotel, until it is to late. Unlike Amelie, Tautou spends nearly 3/4 of the movie making you not like her. In fact you just feel bad for Jean for most of the movie, partly because of her, but also because he plays the "lost puppy" so well. Regardless of how spoiled Tautou's character acts, she spend the entire movie looking smoking hot, even Mrs. B pointed this out at the end of the movie. The rest of the movie is a romantic comedy, but isn't as predictable as most of them end up being. If you are looking for a date night movie that doesn't include Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock, or Matthew McConaughey this may be right up your alley. In the end, we both very much enjoyed the movie.

Long PTSD road may have gotten shorter.

2010-07-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

Last week there was a very significant change in how the government is going to respond to soldiers who claim to be suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Regardless of your political leanings, this is an action that has needed to happen for a long-time and should be applauded. Previously, soldiers had to provide details of a specific event(s) which lead to PTSD, and without this documentation, were not able to receive the full benefit of treatment. Under the rule change, soldiers now just have to be diagnosed with PTSD, without providing documentation of an actual event on the battlefield that caused the condition. One of the concerns raised was the increased cost of treating additional patients along with the increased chance of fraud. Surprisingly, there are still members of Congress who have found a way to oppose this:

At a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee hearing Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (Colorado Spring) said “he was concerned that changing the combat veteran definition could result in a reduction of benefits overall, and that ‘too loose’ a definition could diminish the sacrifices of those ‘who actually did engage in battle with the enemy,’”

Rep. Lamborn's position is a sad example of putting politics before people. For him to say that "the sacrifices of those ‘who actually did engage in battle with the enemy"" would be diminished, is a slap in the face to all the service men and women who have fought for his freedom to say stupid stuff. Our soldiers serve our country with honor and dignity, and considering many are risking their lives daily, don't we owe them the respect to assume they will conduct the rest of their lives with honor and dignity.

I am not so naive as to believe every future claim of PTSD is going to be legitimate, but I am going to suppose nearly all of them will be warranted. If 99 people are able to get the help they need, and 1 person is out to "game the system" isn't that still worth the cost in the end, even if that ratio goes down to 90% or 80% people helped, that benefit is still worth the cost.

Movie Monday - Criminal, Predators

2010-07-12T14:01:00.001-07:00

While at my parents house, I picked up 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen by Leonard Maltin. I have seen lots of movies, and was pretty confident I would have seen a number of the movies on the list. I had........four, to be exact. I was figuring the over/under would be somewhere closer to 15 or 20, but in reality, I had only heard of about 20 of the movies.

If you haven't noticed, I have started to broaden the focus of the blog to more then just a family report blog. Sure you are going to still get lots of stuff on what life is like for the Baker's, including pictures, but I would like to let my brain loose to do a little more rambling. The Maltin book has given me a perfect opportunity to write numerous times on a chosen theme, in this case movies. Starting today, I am going to chronicle my movie viewing from the previous week each Monday. Movies will come from the 151 movies listed in the Maltin book, but also other movies we/I see in the theater.

After spending about two hours putting nearly all of the movies from the 151 list into my Netflix queue, I am now ready to sit down and start watching. Of the 151, a couple weren't available through Netflix (problem for another day), 31 were available Instantly (this is why we don't need cable) and the remainder were available for normal delivery.

Week of July 4th movies:
Criminal: I figured I would start with the movies in the instant queue first, since they would be the easiest to access. Mrs. B wasn't into watching a movie, so I picked one I didn't figure she would be interested in watching. Criminal starring John C. Reilly, Diego Luna, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is a swirling caper where you never quite know who is in control and who is being played. At 87 minutes it is very neat and tidy and doesn't waste your time.

Predators: Went to this movie because I just needed a little mindless, explosion-filled fun after spending 12 hours in the car with two crabby babies, a whiny two year old, and my lovely wife. I had absolutely no expectations for this movie.......and in the end was thoroughly satisfied.

Explosions - check
needless violence - check
more bullets fired then words spoken - check
surprising (yet slightly predictable....can't believe I didn't see that before now.....twist) - check, check, check

This isn't a movie your WAG is going to fully appreciate so don't waste your $10, go see it as a man-date, by yourself, or wait until it comes out on DVD (for those nights she heads to bed early).

Bubbles with Papa

2010-07-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

As we wrapped up "Road Trip '10" we have really started to slow down when it comes to doing vacation things. Instead of rushing out to go and do something, we have taken to sitting around and reading, taking longer naps, and enjoying good conversation over the dinner table.

With only a day to go before we pack everything up and return to the steamy heat of the ATX, we took an extra long time to enjoy dinner at my parents. Thankfully, Springfield was experiencing some unseasonably cool weather, and we were able to sit outside for a number of evenings. Considering that "the boy" and his cousins are not into sitting for more then 4 minutes, eating outside means that everybody can relax and not worry about crabby kids.

On this night, bubbles were a big hit (who doesn't love bubbles), as Papa or Mrs. B took time away from eating or conversing to blow massive bubbles for the kids to run and pop. A year from now, Papa is going to have his hands full, because he will then have 6 grandkids running around trying to pop bubbles. He had better start resting up now, because that may require an olympic level of energy just to keep everyone happy and entertained.

One bubble, three cousins, endless joy.

Got one!

Oooooooooo!!!!!

The anticipation is killer!!!

Bubbles are a joyous thing

All Gone!!!!

Pooltime with Papa

2010-07-07T06:40:00.001-07:00

One of the fondest memories my sister and I have of my grandparents house was their pool. We could spend hours upon hours running and jumping in the pool, making waves, and trying to see how many laps we could swim underwater without coming up for a breath (4 links was my record - but I think Uncle Norm may have done more as a kid). Grandpa’s pool was also located directly next to the barnyard fence, which meant we figured out early on how to use that fence as a sort of diving board.

The Boy is also a big fan of the water. On the return trip to MO, the Boy kept saying "play with Papa, go throw rocks and hold hands." He was referring to the fact that he and his Papa hold hands when they walk down to the creek to throw rocks in the water. Papa also has a pool, specifically, a pool that Papa fills up each day with icy cold tap water. This pool isn’t nearly as big as the pool we enjoyed at our grandparents, but the Boy doesn’t care one bit. The Boy is interested in all aspects of pool maintenance, from the filling of the pool all the way to draining the pool into the vegetable garden. It doesn’t matter one bit to the Boy or his cousins that the pool is only a foot deep or freezing cold, because once it is full, they all get in and splash each other for about 10 seconds, until they remember that an adult is close by and splashing Nana or Papa is way more fun.

Date Day #2 - 12 hours w/out kids.

2010-07-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today we had the second of our prearranged dates while Nana and Papa took care of the bambino's. The additional challenged that we had at my parent's house was the addition of three additional kids. My parent's figured they were up to the task of taking care of 6 kids under the age of 4. We didn't argue even for a second, for fear they would realize the craziness of what they were offering, so at 9:00 am we put the Twin-kies down for bed and rushed out of the house for 12 hours of adult fun. This is the last photo we took before we left. Notice how happy Mrs. B and mom look....wonder if the after shot would have looked like this?

We started with a little golf (for the guys) and shopping (for the girls) and agreed to meet for lunch. I did find it a little funny that for our "date" both couples decided the best way to start was to split up and do more gender specific activities. Welcome to married life. Upon meeting up, we tried to find a dining establishment that was actually open. The town looked like a horde of zombies had descended and wiped humanity off the planet. Springfield is a very weird town, and I do realize that it was following a holiday weekend, but we were all surprised at the very limited selection of dining establishments on a Monday.

After lunch, we went to Goodwill in a hunt for a t-shirt or two with some local flair. As a couple of you know, I am a self proclaimed t-shirt snob, and I prefer to only wear American Apparel t-shirts because they are so comfortable. I am a little afraid to let this secret out, but my favorite place to get "new" shirt is at the Goodwill. The shirts are way cheaper then you could otherwise buy them, and they often come with a unique design already printed on them. For this reason only, I have visited Goodwills and Savers at all of our vacation stops in the hopes of finding a t-shirt with a little local appeal. I had success in MSP and Springfield, but not St. Louis......maybe next time.

After finishing up at Goodwill we had a little over an hour to kill before the movie. It was quickly decided that we were going to go to the local bookstore and just read magazines. You would have thought we were a group of 13 year old boys when the Victoria Secret's catalog arrived by the way we acted. We were all so excited to just sit down and read magazines and drink tea/coffee without interruption, how quickly you forget what life was like before kids.

Winters Bone was the movie of choice. It was my suggestion, and basically because nothing else of interest was playing around that time, I won out. I have wanted to see this movie from the moment I heard about it. It is a thriller/drama that takes place in the hills of the Ozarks, which is pretty much where my grandparent and now my parents live. The whole movie shot in and around Springfield, does a wonderful job of capturing the beauty and hardship of the Ozark Mountains and its people, although seeing the movie in Springfield is a little like watching Deliverance in Appalachia or Fargo in Brainerd. I highly recommend you see this movie if you have the chance, you will be talking about it for days, which, in my opinion, means that it was a great movie.

We finished up with a dinner of sushi and drinks. By the end of our 12 hours, we were all exhausted and ready to get home and see the kids, who should have been sleeping by that point. We had a great day and couldn't have wished for anything more. My parents were champs for taking all 6 kids for the day, and they survived with very little drama. Next year at this time, we will know their hardship, because we plan on working a kid swap with my sister, which will allow each adult couple a week of vacation without kids. I am pretty sure there are going to be lots of story's from those two weeks together, but we will have to wait another year before we find out what those may be.

These are the faces of stress-free parents on a wonderful day away.

July 4th - Missouri Style

2010-07-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Growing up in Illinois as a kid meant that I really didn't think the 4th of July was all that special. Sure we went to see the firework show down by the Dairy Ripple or maybe did a couple of sparklers and some smoke bombs, but per state law, you weren't allowed to shoot off "dangerous" fireworks (i.e. anything that exploded). That all changed with around the age of 5 or 6 we experienced July 4th at my grandparents house in Missouri. I am sure we had been there on previous Independence Days, but that year the older cousins were also there. The Pattison clan has never, to my knowledge, half-assed a 4th of July. That fateful summer, I was exposed to the wonders of blowing lots of crap up. When I say crap, I mean it. Fresh cow pies are made for fireworks....fresh ones or dry ones it doesn't matter, a boy can never get sick of watching them blow up. We also tried to blow up pretty much anything else we could find....fish in the stocktank, wasp nest, bottles, more cow pies, you name it we put a firecracker on it or in it, in an attempt to blow it up.

The Boy got his first taste of real fireworks..............and unlike his girl cousins, who were scared out of their minds..........he couldn't get enough of it, and has repeatedly asked about every 5 minutes since then, when are we going to light off some more fireworks. Doing smoke bombs with MN papa only started the obsession, but following the all out shelling of Springfield, he is officially hooked on the hard stuff. By the end of the night, he was insisting that he hold the Roman Candle without my help. The higher and/or louder the firework the better.

As I have previously noted, Springfield is an interesting city, never more so then on the 4th of July. On that night, there are so many fireworks being shot off, it sounds like the entire city is under siege, literally. My descriptions don't nearly do it justice, but the amount of fireworks being shot off is epic. The entire Lebanese population of Springfield (both of them), must think they are back in Beirut in the early 80's.

When in Rome............we decided to go out and get some fireworks just to have a couple to shoot off during the party, but when you combined that, with what my brother-in-law and his guest brought, we had quite a collection. The Boy was in hog heaven. We did a great job of making our little sampling of fireworks look pretty impressive, or at least that is what we thought, then my parents neighbor informed us that he had won a raffle and had over $600 of fireworks. We couldn't compete with that, but because they lived next door we did get to enjoy it. Anybody want to guess how long it takes to shoot off $600 of fireworks..........a long time......I don't actually know because I went to bed before they were finished, but at least 3 continuous hours.

It is quite common in Missouri for people to buy fireworks at one of the millions of stands, and then walk the 100 feet away that is required by law, and shoot off the freshly purchased fireworks in the parking lot. This has never seemed like the brightest idea, because fireworks aren't exactly 100% predictable in terms of where they will end up, coupled with the fact you have a tent full of people and highly flammable/explosive material - just seems like a recipe for disaster.

German Breakfast = Germany Win

2010-07-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

Before we finished packing up the car and headed out to my parent's house for the final leg of our trip, we went out to breakfast at this German restaurant in St. Louis. The Schneithorst had a very German feel, including a bar area that looking like an old beer cellar (dark and cool).

Saturday also happened to be the day that German was playing Argentina in the quarterfinal's of the World Cup. Being unable to watch the game with fellow German fans, I figured this was the next best thing. For a little German luck, I decided to sample the traditional German breakfast (including bratwurst and spicy mustard) in hopes that it would bring a little German luck to the day. Not only was the breakfast wonderful, Germany's performance was nothing short of dominating. It was such an enjoyable game, I watched it again when I got to my parents house.

Lunch - Grant's Farm Again - Little League

2010-07-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was a very busy day for everybody. After our typically relaxed start, we got out the door for lunch at a local deli. Our waitress was very nice, and since she was a mother of twins we did the typical twin story swapping, including her going to the back to get pictures of her twins who were now in high school. I can’t speak to everybody’s experience with twins, but this kind of thing happens all the time, and it is really one of the perks of having twins----you get to meet such interesting new people all the time.

Following lunch, the girls, and kids headed off to Grant’s Farm, this time before 3:30, to ride the tram and see the animals. By all accounts they had a wonderful, if not exhausting time.

By the time they got home, we had just enough time to repack the stroller and change clothes before heading out for a Little League game.

I have never been great at baseball, and I expect that has more to do with my ADD then anything else. Unless you are the pitcher or catcher, there really isn’t much going on most of the time. It is 90% standing around, mixed with 5% action and another 5% chasing overthrown balls around the field. It may just be me, but I am amazed that so many kids enjoy playing baseball, but maybe a sport that involves mostly standing around is America’s game for this reason.

While Mrs. B fed the Twin-kies dinner in the stroller, I tried to keep the Boy entertained. After walking all the way around the field, we stumbled upon giant piles of dirt to climb around on and get dirty. Mission accomplished, although we ended up leaving about 30 minutes later, thanks to those dirt piles we could have stayed another hour without a problem.

Grants Farm....almost and some custard

2010-06-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Took it easy this morning, and once the afternoon rolled around we eventually got out of the house and ventured over to Grant's Farm. It is possible I had already been to Grant's farm before, but that was as a whippersnapper. The only thing that I remember was that the Budweiser Clydesdales live on Grant's farm. I was also informed that you get free beer when you ride the tram at Grant's Farm.....this place doesn't sound that bad at all. In the rush....wink, wink....to get out the house, we forgot to check what time the place actually closed, which ended up being about 15 minutes before we arrived.....no free beer today. We packed everything back into the car and headed off to dinner. After a wonderful dinner of Dewey's Pizza and Salads, we headed out for a St. Louis tradition, frozen custard. Instead of the World renown Ted Drews Frozen Custard, we tried the not quite as famous, but equally as tasty Spanky's (got to love that name....how is this place not more popular with a name like that).

The Boy, who really isn't into sweets, gave my concrete a shot, but after a few bites, went back to his favorite vacation activity.......throwing rocks
I went with the Strawberry Shortcake concrete and wasn't disappointed.

I have always loved St. Louis, there is just something about this city that seems old but full of tradition and potential at the same time. I have many fond memories, dating all the way back to childhood, that occur in and around St. Louis. St. Louis is also the birthplace of soccer in America, which I just consider as one more reason to love this city. One of the neatest things about St. Louis during the summer is all of the love for the Cardinals. It seems like everybody is wearing some kind of Cardinal gear, more then any other place that I have ever lived or visited. Unlike other cities, where you will often see gear repping other team (i.e. Yankees, Cubs, etc), people appear to only wear Cardinal gear. It is said that St. Louis is baseball's most knowledgable fan base, and I have never seen anything to prove otherwise. St. Louisians know what good baseball looks like, and they love their Cardinals.

Twin-kie #1 and I sitting around watching a boring goalless 0-0 draw between Japan and Paraguay......yawn. I love this game, but this almost got unbearable.

Leaving MN on to MO

2010-06-28T21:22:00.001-07:00

Another travel day, this time back to St. Louis. It is funny how a couple of trips lasting longer then 11 hours, can make today's 9 hour day almost seem enjoyable, key word being almost. I would also like to thank the people at APPLE and PIXAR (same thing isn't it) for making Iowa just a little bit quieter.

Moving Day

2010-06-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

Helped my college roommate move out of his tiny campus apartment, which was up and down 56 steps. I don't know how many times I went up and down those steps, but lets just say that I don't think I will need to do the Stairmaster anytime soon. Moving people is what you make it, and with many of the old college crew around to help, we had a great time. We remarked a number of times that some things never change.

I am not sure who was less help, Nate or myself, but we worked very hard to be the supreme slacker. We were constantly trying different ways of banging things down the steps to do the least amount of damage.

I had the brilliant idea to try and make it look like Matty was packing up Hannibal Lector to help with the unloading. We didn't pull it off nearly as well as we intended, but we sure did waste a lot of time trying.

Date Night #1

2010-06-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Since the twins were born, Mrs. B and I haven’t had much of a chance to go out for a date. We have been able to catch a dinner or a doctor’s appointment without kids, but that is only due to the kindness of a couple of dear friends or Mrs. B’s coworkers. One of the things we put on our schedule as soon as we started planning this trip, was having the grandparents take the kids so we could go out for a date. Since we were in the Twin Cities for 11 days, we decided to take that date in the middle of the trip. The inlaws agreed to take all three boys for 24 hours. Heading into the “Date” we only had a couple of things we wanted to do besides just spend time together without constantly attending to “the Boy” and Twin-kies. We wanted to go and see a show at the Guthrie, which we hadn’t been to since left, and Mrs. B wanted to spend a little time at the spa. We were able to accomplish both of those goals and then some.

We stayed at the Grand Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, it isn’t often that we stay at such a nice hotel, but when you haven’t had a night off in over 7 months, you figure why not. It was within walking distance of the Guthrie and anything else that we wanted to do. On of the luxuries of staying at The Grand was being able to take a bath and watch the World Cup, because the TV was actually mounted in the bath, just like at home. I enjoyed drinking my morning coffee and reading the paper uninterrupted for over an hour.

We took in the Guthrie production of “The Dollhouse” and really enjoyed the entire experience. It isn’t exactly your prototypical date show, but it was perfect for us, because we had lots to talk about once the show was over.

Date #2 comes once we get back to my parents house. It won’t be quite as long since we are choosing to do a group date with my sis and her hubby. My parents are good, but watching 6 kids under the age of 4 seemed like a daunting task and so we were able to negotiate a day away. Looking forward to that date as well.

World Cup Agony and Ecstasy

2010-06-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

At the Baker house we spend (translation: I spend) a healthy amount of time watching, playing, and reading about football (aka - soccer). In fact the Baker master schedule often is influenced by the world's game. This vacation was carefully planned to ensure that our travel days never coincided with the US National Team games. Well that is all over now, an exhausted US team never really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, and eventually wore down in overtime. After the magical game on Wednesday, where the US won the game at the dying moments of the match, everybody kept hoping the US had one more piece of wizardry, but it wasn't in the cards this time. After the game on Wednesday, I was so juiced from the amazing win, I was literally still shaking 3 hours after the match was completed. Losing yesterday was a low that equalled the high experienced on Wednesday. My good friend, and fellow US supporter, Pete said it best.
I both hate and love that i'm emotionally attached to this stupid game. I love the sheer joy of goals scored, of creative play, of watching players emerge from obscurity to international recognition. However, I'm seriously bummed today, which is unfair to my family because its just a stupid game.
I will continue to watch every US game, and spend much of my free time reading and digesting any and all material about this emotionally trying game. I hope and firmly believe that in my lifetime, we will see the US in a World Cup final. Having grown up in Chicago, I am starting to understand how those Cub fans feel each year. I am just hoping that I don't have to live 100+ years to experience the joy of winning the World Cup.

Minnesota Jesus and roller coasters

2010-06-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

One of The Boy's favorite activities when visiting Nana and Papa in MN is riding the roller coasters and other rides at MOA (Mall of America). The kid is a bit of a dare-devil when it comes to riding the crazy rides. Last time were were in MN he got a chance to ride a couple of the little kid rides, and we thought we would go ahead and do those again, but the Boy had other ideas. After warming up on the little rides, the Boy promptly pointed to the biggest roller coaster in the place and said that he wanted to go on that one with dada. Unfortunately he didn't meet the height requirement to even ride it with an adult, but we were able to do the Log Run. Auntie E, Papa, myself and the Boy loaded up our log and off we went. The Boy insisted on standing up through the whole thing.....that is until we got to the final drop. When we went over the edge and he couldn't see the bottom he sat down pretty darn quick. As we pulled into the loading/unloading area, he turned around and said "more Dada." Interestingly enough, on the way home the Boy also told Mrs. B that he had seen Jesus when he was riding on the Log Ride. Any guesses who it was that he saw (hint: MN Jesus travels around with a Babe)? Find out who the Boy saw at the end of the post.

Heading down the final drop on the Log Run.

Dada and the Boy cruising on the Farm roller coaster.

The Twin-kies just hanging out waiting for big brother to get off the roller coaster.

The Boy must have inherited his ability to read and interpret maps from his great grandpa Jack. He could look at the map of the roller coasters and tell us which one he wanted to do next.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox - AKA - Minnesota Jesus according to the Boy.

Al's for Breakfast - Day 8

2010-06-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning, an old tradition came to an end, for now. When in MN, I normally meet up with my college roommate and head to Al's for breakfast. If you don't know Al's, you should. It is literally a hole in the wall. This was our last breakfast at Al's for a while, maybe ever, since Matt will be moving to Seattle at the end of the week.

This is the actual size of Al's, we are sitting on the end two seats. I think you can only get 11 or 12 people in the place.

Al's is so small that when somebody new comes in, everybody just slides down to make room for the new person. If there isn't room, you just stand behind the people eating at the counter.

Day 7 - Father's Day

2010-06-21T18:34:00.001-07:00

As I am sure you are well aware, Sunday was Father's Day. If you didn't remember that Sunday was Father's Day - that is because your life was never in mortal peril for forgetting, unlike Mother's Day. If you forget Mother's Day.....well lets hope that you haven't ever experience the repercussions of forgetting to celebrate your mother.

We celebrated Father's Day by going to the car show at the Minnesota Fair grounds. This was the father's day wish of Mrs. B's father, and he thought the Boy would enjoy seeing all of the cars. I think that the Boy could have cared less about the cars, but the fair food was a HUGE hit. Seriously, the kid couldn't get the fried food jammed into his mouth fast enough.

Since we are never able to make "The Great Minnesota Get-together" it was nice to be able to get a sampling of all of the wonderful fried food traditionally available.

Sawyer giving cheese curds a try. No complaints on his part, but what is there really to complain about when you take cheese and fry it. Maybe you could complain that it wasn't wrapped in bacon....okay, so there is something to complain about.

Mrs.B didn't eat for a whole day just so she could really pound down the fair food, well not really, but with the amount she did consume, you would have thought that somebody had her locked in a basement for the last week.

Finn hanging with Auntie E.

Any event held at the fair ground automatically means that you are going to get some very interesting people watching. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Nothing like taking the grandkids out for a stroll.

Are they shorts, are they pants? This dude was about 80 years old, and still rocking the punk look.

Is that a wagon, a semi trailer, or a snowmobile? Quite a piece of work regardless of what it was, Mrs.B wanted me to add this to my collection of interesting people from the fair. If you look really close, you can see the pin-up model decals...classy to the end.
I thought this VW was interesting. That is about the extent of my car knowledge.

2010-06-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - A Day Late

Got up pretty early on Saturday morning to do one of my favorite Saturday morning rituals in the Twin Cities, shopping at the farmers market. I am more familiar with the St. Paul Market, but the inlaws live closer to the Minneapolis market, so I figured I would give it a shot. There is just something very refreshing about getting up early, to walk around the market while enjoying coffee and mini d0nuts. For some reason it reminds me of getting up early with my Grandpa to go fishing. People watching is my favorite market activity, and there were plenty of people to watch.

The food choices at a farmers market also provides an interesting window into the local culture. At the Austin market, you can't go 5 feet without running into somebody eating a breakfast taco, well lets be honest, you can't go 5 feet any morning without running into somebody eating a breakfast taco. At the Minneapolis market there was a whole station selling bratwurts with all the fixin's, a place where you could get mini-donuts, and this place with their giant cinnamon rolls and sticky buns. (The guy behind the counter kept yelling "Who wants to taste my giant sticky buns!") The picture really doesn't do it justice, but just as a point of reference, those are full size plate, not little dessert plates.

The Minneapolis Market is renowned for its flower section, it is where the flowers for our wedding arrangements came from. I wanted to get a nice selection of flowers to sit on the table for the week, but I ended up spending all my money on produce.
In the back half of the day, we participated in a very special event. My college roommate became an ordained minister of the word of God. Congratulations to Pastor Matt Maas this was a very special day, and we were just thankful we were able to be there to participate. It was also nice to hang around with friends and talk over a cup of coffee.

This is me showing off my "Pastor Punk Rock" look. Check out that fancy collar.

This is me administering my Kung-Fu blessing.

Great shot of the hired help for the event yesterday.
I figured out yesterday during the service, I have know "my brother" for half of my life. We look about the same as when we started at CSP, if not a little fatter---but I would also say happier.

Day 4 - Travel Day

2010-06-18T11:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we loaded up the vehicle for another 11 hour day on the road, this time from MO to MN. I first want to recognize Mrs. B for being ready to leave at the intended time, this ended up making a big difference later in the day. We made great time all day and hit the outskirts of the Twin Cities in under 10 hours, unfortunately we then spent the next hour and a half stuck in traffic. This wasn’t unexpected, but with Stormagetton bearing down on all of Minnesota, we were on the clock to get to the intended destination (hence the leaving early paid off).

Couple of thoughts from the day:

The ESPN World Cup App has been an absolute lifesaver for me, and well worth the $7.99. I have been able to listen to games while we are on the road, and with a pair of noise-canceling headphones, it is like my own little soccer oasis in a traveling scream mobile. Best $7.99 I have ever spent.

I am not sure who has a harder job on travel days. I do all the driving, but Mrs.B has to deal with the kids when they are awake. Now before all you women jump on the Mrs.B bandwagon, she was able to get about 5 hours of shut eye on an 11 hours trip, but I will admit the other 6 hours weren’t quite as restful.

Maybe I am getting old, but one of the biggest challenges of staying in multiple locations is the bed. Adjusting to a new bed takes at least a couple of nights. Reading this I am thinking that it in fact does make me sound old, because I am starting to sound like my dad. Pretty soon I am going to be complaining about going on any type of vacation, and just prefer to stay home....in my own bed.

Day 3 and we are already headed to the pharmacy.

2010-06-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

Busy day today.

The morning started off with some rock throwing. The Boy could have done this until he needed rotator cuff surgery, but Daddy needed to go and get a decent cup of coffee so we limited it to just about 45 minutes. Needless to say, we still had a blast throwing in the "Big Rocks" and trying to splash each other. (note: notice the rock above his head in the first pic, guess we still need to work on release point)

Lunch was spent in downtown Springfield, where they have a fountain park where the kids can play in the water. The water was highly chlorinated and when I asked about that, I was told that when the park first opened the city didn't anticipate kids and families going to play in the water. Seriously, this is Missouri people, deep in the Ozarks, what they shouldn't have anticipated is that people would actually wear clothes, while playing in the fountains.

To wrap up our fun filled day, we took our first trip to the Urgent Care (I say first, because I will not be shocked if we visit and Urgent Care in each port of call). Just a couple of cases of pink eye and an ear infection later and we were off to the Wal-Mart pharmacy (I have lots of thoughts on this little segment of our trip, but I will sum it all up with this thought----Wouldn't Wal-Mart save some money if they didn't hire idiots....you would have thought that I was trying to buy crack cocaine).

Quiet Day....Shopping Day

2010-06-15T19:06:00.001-07:00

Day 2 in Missouri and we are starting to feel the relaxing powers of being on vacation. Couple more days and I would say we are well on our way to fully relaxed. The day was spent watching World Cup (for me), hanging out with cousins (the Boy), and shopping (Mrs. B). All in all it was a very low key day......and there ain't nuttin wrong with dat (as they say here in Missouri).

My mom also does a monthly gig at the local country music morning show where she does her best Dr. Phil impression and I figured that since I was in town, I should call in an get some advice about traveling. If you want to listen to the segment where I gave her a little grief, forward the clip to about the 6:30 point.

In the evenings, the Boy is heading off to VBS (or as Mina says....."VEEBUS") around 5:30, which is allowing the adults to sit around and have a quite dinner out on the patio. The three littlest kids (the Twin-kies and my sister youngest) all smile and generally try to look as cute as possible, and when there is any food spilled, you aways have a couple of shaggy dogs to clean up after you.

Fun at the Springfield Zoo

2010-06-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent some time at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield. It is an intimate and cute little zoo with a few highlights. The weather was hot and humid, so most of the animals were just laying around, but the boy did enjoy seeing fish, peacocks, and and lions (which he roared at more then a couple of times.) Unfortunately we forgot the camera on the car, so I used my Iphone to take a couple of pictures with the Hipstomatic photo app.

The Boy with the cousins, Mina and Addie. From the moment we left the house, the Boy asked "going to see Addie Mina?" about 50 times. Now that we are here they are just non-stop adventure. Addie and the Boy are both very much the troublemakers and will require continued close supervision as they get older.

There was a little petting zoo area where the kids could feed the goats and other animals. This provided our first little spell of drama, when Addie was holding her food pellets a little low, and the greedy little geese thought she was offering them a bite to eat. She wasn't, and so when the goose went after the food she was surprised and a little scared. This experience must have left an impression on her, because she was very concerned for the Boy's safely later in the visit.

In this shot, the cousins are hysterical with concern because the Boy is inside the protective barrier. We thought they were just being silly.....they weren't. The Boy is oblivious to all of the drama taking place behind him. Danger Boy wasn't that overly concerned he was going to get eaten by..............the zebras.

Twin-kie #2 hanging out with Dad in the shade.

Also at the zoo was a little water park, where water shoots out the ground in little bursts. The Boy thought it was so interesting that he got down to investigate where the water was coming from and promptly took one right in the face. Thankfully he thought it was hilarious.

By far the coolest part of the zoo was the giraffes. You don't just get to see the giraffes, but you actually get to feed them. I thought this was cool, the Boy thought this was cool, well pretty much everybody thought it was cool.

Look at the length of that tongue you had to keep an eye on your crackers because that tongue could snatch them away before you realized what happened.

The Boy showing me his best giraffe tongue.

2010-06-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

48 hours ago, La Familia ventured out for “Summer Road Trip 2010.” Only time is going to tell if loading three kids under the age of three in the car for long periods of time is going result in irreparable damage to this family unit. As a kid, I fondly remember all of those fun family trips we were able to take to exotic locations such as Kansas, Nebraska, and South Canada (also known as “the U.P.) I remember the backseat battles for supreme control of prime seat space, I remember endless threats of “I am not afraid to pull this car over” or dad saying “We are never going on another family vacation......EVER! (this was often said at some point of the return trip home). I remember my sister always sitting in the back amidst all of her junk, which was really just a traveling representation of the crap-hole of a room she had back home. I don’t remember family trips before we got a mini-van, but most of those trips post mini-van are still seared into my conscious. Before we head off on SRT ’10 to make new memories and stories, I wanted to reflect on previous family road trip highlights.

Throwing rocks in the water pretty much wherever we went, it seemed like no matter where we went on family vacations we always ended up someplace where a person could throw rocks in the water. It made no difference as a little boy whether that water was the Current River in Missouri, Lake Michigan, or the pond at Grandpa’s house, throwing rocks never got old, and it still doesn’t.
Dad running over a raccoon and her babies somewhere in Northern Michigan. In what everybody in the family will agree was the single most traumatic event ever on a family road trip. The most memorable element of the whole experience was my sister screaming “Go Back we have to save them” and “Why didn’t you avoid them?” and then my dad yelling back from the front seat “I didn’t want to drive into the ditch” and “We are not going back to save them.” These both seemed like fairly logical answers to me at the time, but they didn’t seem to satisfy my sister, who used every opportunity on the remainder of the trip to remind my dad he was a baby raccoon killer.
Everybody has a barfing in the car story, and I am no different. The most memorable time didn’t actually involve me, or did it, I can’t honestly remember. We were on vacation with family friends, and we spent the day in Leadville, CO (elevation. 10,152 feet). The only thing I remembered doing while in the highest incorporated city in the US was playing on the merry-go-round.....lots. I am not sure if it was the high elevation or the hours of spinning on the merry-go-round, but on the return trip back down the winding road there was lots of stopping to barf in the river along the roadside. (UPDATE: After talking with my dad, I discovered that I threw up the whole first day we were in CO, but it was actually Adam who did most of the barfing on the return trip from Leadville).

We have officially put the first long day of traveling behind us and now are relaxing and recovering in Missouri. We will hit the road again in a couple of days to push on to the cooler weather of Minnesota. More posts to come.

Twin Trouble????? I think yes....

2010-05-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

Does every parent of twins have such difficulty telling them apart when they are babies? I know this isn't something a father of six month old babies should be admitting publicly, but it takes 30 seconds of detailed studying before I am able to correctly name a baby, and that is only if they are side by side. If I don't have the boys side by side, I might as well just flip a coin because I literally have no idea. Even with them side by side, I would only ever say that I am about 70% sure I am correct. Mrs. B acts much more confident when naming which Twin-kie is which, but you can also see a fraction of doubt in her eyes if you question her.

Maybe I am just too close to the situation, because within 15 seconds of meeting the boys for the first time, a friend was able to say which one was which and point out the differences, predictably all of Mrs. B's friends think they can obviously tell the differences, and yet they also still have about as much success as I do when it comes to naming the babies.

Does all of this mean that the Twin-kies are identical....the answer to that remains as clear as the actual identities of each of the babies. Apparently today's pediatricians don't care if twins are identical or fraternal. The only thing we know is that there has not been any indication, as of yet that they are fraternal (such as different blood types, different colored eyes, etc),but there has also been nothing to definitively identify them as identical.

Mrs. B and I worry about the hilarity that is going to ensue within our little group of guys. Lets take a cinematic look back at what kinds of trouble identical twins get themselves into: I would like to start with the Disney classic, "The Parent Trap" (not the Lindsey Lohan version.....Lord knows we don't want that kind of trouble) starring Haley Mills. Couple of cute girls find out they are identical twins play mean tricks on their step parent to get their real parents together.

Example two (a more contemporary example): The Scavo twins on Desperate Housewives....
....these two boys are constantly switching identities to allow the other twin to get away with some kind of mischief, since even their parents have a difficult time telling them apart...does that sound familiar?

Example three: Quite possibly my favorite example, but as a parent the scariest example. The Weasley Twins from Harry Potter;
Fred and George spend nearly every moment of their existence thinking up pranks and ways of causing all kinds of mischief. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Fred and George have always been my favorite characters in the book. Mainly because even though they get into trouble all of the time, deep down they are have a heart for others and a passion for life.

With my tendency for getting into trouble and having a love of a good prank, it is entirely possible our boys have a genetic disposition that will lead them down a path similar to that of the Weasley twins. The two things that all of these characters have in common is their tendency to cause trouble, but also, and more importantly, they all have big hearts. I will work hard as a parent to ensure that my boys develop the big caring heart, and I am pretty sure the trouble making will take care of itself.

Driving Kids Crazy

2010-05-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

If you have seen an episode of Oprah within the past six months you will know one of her big kicks this season is the "No Phone Zone" challenge. She has challenged her audience, as well as guests, on her show to not talk or text on the phone while driving. She started this "No Phone Zone" challenge after she dedicated an entire show to the dangers of driving while using your phone. As a parent of three kids under the age of three, the safety of my children is paramount and I try my best to not talk on the phone or text while driving, even when I'm stopped at a light.

Interesting though that Oprah's show on car safety forgot to mention another highly distracting problem that happens in my car nearly every day. KIDS.

Those little buggers are darn distracting. If you are a parent you know what I am talking about. If your kid isn't screaming about wanting something that you don't have the power to give them, say teleporting a grandparent into the back seat with them, then you are trying to get some food item into a close proximity of said child so they can grab it and give their mouth something to do. During the "No Phone Zone" show, Oprah showed video of people driving while texting or talking on the phone. It was shocking how much time people were cruising along in their vehicle at 70 mph without ever looking up at the road. I am scared to look at a similar video set up that replaces the cell phones with kids, as I am sure I spend more time than I think trying to keep the boys happy.

Maybe learning how to drive and keep the munchkins in the back happy is a skill that comes with age. I remember those long family vacation drives where I fought tooth and nail with my sister about how much of the seat in the back was mine. Remember the imaginary line, and if you crossed that line, you were going to get punched in the shoulder. It would take about 30 seconds before somebody would cross that line, and the punching would begin.

I am sure, with three boys, we are going to experience something very similar in the not too distant future. I will be forced to get a couple of pointers from my dad on the art of driving and disciplining the children at the same time. He had an amazing ability to keep the car on the road and administer swift justice, doing it all without losing a second off of our itinerary. I have yet to acquire this skill, and am forced to resort to turning around, which takes my eyes off the road to toss cookies at the kid in the way back, just to keep him happy.

These cookies also serve as a way of bribing The Boy into providing status reports on the Twin-kies, such as: Are they sleeping? Do they have pacifiers in their mouths? Is the sun in the one of the Twin-kies eyes? Always one to go above and beyond, The Boy will also report that "babies are screaming," since he's not sure if I can hear the crying coming from less than a foot behind me.

I guess for the moment, tossing food items at my kids, in the same way a zookeeper tosses bananas at monkeys to get them to do tricks, is what I have resorted to for the safety of my family while driving my car. Just another role I play each day while being a dad, a zookeeper who's training monkeys while commuting to work. I wonder if the zoos have the same problem with the ants that my car seems to have developed.

Travel Redeux

2010-03-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

As great as the first flight was with all three boys, the return leg was not nearly as smooth. It is difficult to key in on where it all started to go wrong, but I would have to say it started upon arrival at the MSP airport. I have nothing against MSP but, it is no Austin Bergstrom (AUS). Notably it is significantly larger, so everything takes longer during check-in . Once we were dropped off, we were able to get through the ticketing process without the previous problems. In Austin, there are only 2 security checkpoints that always seem empty; a person can progress to the gate in less than 15 minutes, this is not the case at MSP, or at least that is what we thought. Upon receiving our tickets we proceeded to the nearest checkpoint and discovered a line looking like it belonged at Space Mountain rather than an airport. No way were we going to last in that line with three fussy boys, luckily we just kept walking to the other end of the terminal, and discovered that the furthest checkpoint didn’t have anybody checking in. It looked deserted, expect for the TSA chumps standing around waiting to invade my personal space. We sailed through the checkpoint in record time, and proceeded to the gate. Mrs B and I are the type of people who like to walk up right about boarding time to walk right on the plane, and this even more the case now that we have to entertain multiple children during downtime. We were so efficient through security, we were now faced with more than an hour before boarding was scheduled to begin. Between keeping the Twinkies happy and entertaining “the boy” we also had to get our seat assignments. As anybody who has traveled with kids has experienced, you don’t just get to checking when you get your bags checked because there are all these special rules for parents of little kids, and especially so for parents holding a child on their lap, as Mrs B and I would both be doing, so we needed to check in at the gate to ensure everybody was together. Apparently the ticketing agents don’t have any idea what the actual rules are when it comes to seating people with kids, because I didn’t actually get a boarding pass, they just told me the seat number I was sitting in and then pushed me down the walkway.We were finally seated on the plane and with Mrs B sitting next to “the boy” and holding a twin, I was situated across the aisle, also with a twin in my arms. I think we would have been fine at this point if it wasn’t for a “minor mechanical issue.”

The way I look at it, we have about 10 minutes from the time we get on the plane to finally be in the air, anything more and you are pushing your limits with any kid under the age of 3. The “minor mechanical issue” proved to take about 20 minutes to fix. I know my immunity to child screaming and tantrums’ is higher than most, especially when it is my kid, so in my opinion “the boy” did just fine, I however don’t believe the SXSW hipster seated directly in front of him in 1^st class shared my sentiment, so I will now detail the next section of the flight from her perspective.

Skinny Jeans Hipster Chick (to friend upon arriving in the ATX): You will never guess what an annoying flight I had all the way from the land of Frozen Tundra

ATX friend: hmmmmmmm

Skinny Jeans Hipster Chick: We got on this dump of a plane that was broken and I had to sit next to this old lady that smelled like lutefisk and Premium Grainbelt beer, you would think that 1^st class would have a better quality of individual. After I have the stewardess get me my first Cosmo, I look up and see a traveling circus of barf and noise getting on the plane, and wouldn’t you know it, they are seated directly behind me. I promptly ordered another drink. This couple who looks like they haven’t slept since the 90’s is carrying a couple of drool machines and have a blonde ankle biter in tow. I took one look in the kid’s eyes and I knew we were in for a long trip. By the time I had finished my second Cosmo that kid was starting to revved up, and just as we are pulling away from the gate that little S@#$ starts screaming at the top of his lungs. "NO MAMA NO MAMA" like she was boarding the last helicopter out of Vietnam in 1975, and leaving him behind. In reality it appears that she was not letting him use his portable electronic device, and wanted him belted to the seat. Now I am all for airline safety, but TSA should reconsider the electronics rule for takeoff and landing when it comes to kids. I will take my chances with the DVD player bring the plane down, because the alternative could be the berserker rage that was building in me. I didn't pay for 1st class only to have my ears bleed for the entire flight because of some stupid kid. This screaming when on for about 20 minutes. At one point, I look behind me and I see both parents laughing, like this crap is funny. I am pretty sure that nobody thought it was funny especially me. Once the kid finally ran out of air, he finally shut up and I didn't hear from him for the rest of the flight. I did however see him, numerous times, because apparently he was allowed to run back and forth between his seat and all of 1st class. If I ever decide to have my own little hipster baby my kid will never act that way. I will just explain to hipster baby that her behavior isn't "COOL" with me and they will shape right up, because I was perfect as a kid.

ATX Friend: Who are you kidding, you are never going to have kids.

Skinny Jeans Hipster Chick: Ya you are right, because then I wouldn't fit in my skinny jeans.

With a couple of stories from dad on the way in to ATX we avoided a similar meltdown.

I am extremely proud of my lovely bride, because when faced with everything each boy can throw at us, she never loses control and takes it all in stride. I am constantly amazed at how Mrs B refuses to let having kids be a reason to not do something.

Traveling Caravan

2010-03-13T07:02:00.000-08:00

Spring Break has started and we were lucky enough to get out of town to the lovely state of Minnesota (more on this to come). This story starts about two weeks ago, when the packing actually started. Preparing to go on a trip with three kids requires a person (i.e. Mrs B) to start packing way early. I started to see piles of stuff, that didn't look any different from all of the other piles. These piles, unbeknownst to me, had already been "packed", so when I tried to take something like clothes out of these piles, I received a stern reminder that I should look elsewhere because these clothes were already "packed". Pointing out that the clothes were in fact "piled" rather then "packed", (which would have required them to actually be in a bag) didn't seem to make Mrs B happy.

Flash forward to yesterday. I rush home from work figuring the car would be packed and we would hit the road for our flight in 2 hours. The car wasn't packed, so I rushed in and started grabbing bags to putting them in the car. In the rush of packing, I removed "the boy's" jump seat from the stroller. I then promptly loaded the stroller, without the seat for "the boy". Unfortunately we didn't discover we were missing a seat until we were half of the way to the airport. The ensuing discussion about how we would be better off with out the seat and how lucky we were to make such a mistake to start our trip was filled with the usual "No, it was my fault" "No, it was actually my fault". Being the gentleman, I was willing to finally agree with Mrs B and concede it was actually her fault.

On to check in and security check. I dropped Mrs B off at ticketing with the Twinkies and the stroller, and "the boy"and I went to park the car. Mrs B got all checked in without a problem, but things got interesting once "the boy" and I got to the check-in kiosk. I got my boarding pass without incident, and then the guy turns to me, and asks about "the boy". The ticket jockey wanted to know if I had a confirmation number for "the boy's" ticket. AHHH NOPE, not on me. The he turns to me and ask, and I quote, because you can't make this stuff up, "Do you have and ID or credit card with his name on it." I responded that he currently only had his learners permit right now and he only carries cash. Eventually the baggage guy was able to print up the last ticket so we could proceed the fun of security.

I don't want to go on one of those rants about all of the reason the security check in at the airport is ridiculous, so here is just a short summary of the experience. After removing nearly every article of clothing and putting it in the little gray bin, I proceeded to put "the boy" on the counter and begin removing his clothes as well. The TSA agent (maybe we should start calling them TSA chumps - because they don't seem worthy of the title agent) tells me I can't have him up on the counter.....I ignored her and continued. Once I got everything off, I started to help Mrs B get herself and the twins ready to go through the checkpoint. "The boy" took this opportunity to sprint between the security guards and into the terminal. I run after him and grab him moments before a certain airport lock down because somebody had broken through the chump line without a proper invasion of privacy. We eventually got on the other side and got to the gate without much additional drama. The Twinkies slept most of the flight, and "the boy" watched a movie the whole time and seemed very content to do so.

New Music

2010-02-27T20:45:00.000-08:00

I received an iTunes gift card from a friend for Christmas, and I have finally gotten around to using it. When I started thinking about what I wanted to get, I realized that I almost always go back to the same ol' groups, and genre's where I buy more of the same. There are a few songs that have been banging around in my head thanks to The Current (which I listen to pretty much everyday regardless of the fact that I live 1200 miles away.) I think if somebody decided to give you an iTunes gift card, you should let them know how you decided to spend that money. Since I only had couple of songs that really wanted to purchase, I petitioned friends to recommend one song they felt was a "must have." Here is what we came up with.

First I will go with the songs that I wanted:

Brother Ali:

Truth Is: I remember going to see Brother Ali at "The Entry" when he was opening for Atmosphere and I remember thinking that he was an weak rapper with little creativity and an over-inflated ego (of course when you are opening for Slug, you are pretty much going to suck in comparison). Truth Is - bounces from the beginning and is one song I could listen to ten times straight and still hit the back button just one more time.
Fresh Air: The smooth beats and lyrics make this song for me, and I would bet that anybody who has listen to BA over the years feels like this song reflects the maturity of age.

The Avett Brothers:

Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise: I am a sucker for piano, and this song (heck, the whole album) has great piano. This album makes me think about the mountains and open spaces and friends - like a great road trip where you know the most memorable parts are completely unexpected and you will talk about them less each year as life takes you each in different directions. However the connection will always remain.
Kick Drum Heart: Fun Fun Fun - This song is like a Dum-Dum sucker, every time you have one it is a fun little surprise you never expected.
Laundry Room: Piano takes a backseat on this one, and makes way for guitar and vocals. I especially like the call and response section about halfway through the song. The song is calm.

Josh Thompson:

You Ain't Seen Country Yet - Heard a review of this album on Fresh Air on Friday and really liked the catchy songs. I have heard a number of other songs off this album, namely "Beer on the Table", because Mrs B listens to country radio pretty much all the time now. I have listened to every song on this album and just liked this song. Although I spent a number of summers throwing hay for Grandpa, I am not country by any stretch of the imagination, but I am pretty sure I will be cranking this song when we head out to Bertram next time.

Now we have gotten to the section where I solicited song recommendations from friends. Here are my initial thoughts on each song. On that note, I will start with the recommendation of my best friend, Mrs B.

Zac Brown Band:

Chicken Fried: As previously mention she is pretty much country all the time in the car, but this song makes her want to move out to, or at least visit, Bertram. We may complain how far away it seems, but the truth is, we always have a great time being country for a couple of hours. We don't get to shoot guns at anybody else's house and what can be more fun then playing washers and drinking beer (I can't think of anything).

The XX:

Intro: This song was recommended by Pat, an college buddy with a funny Philly accent. He liked the dark and moody beginning. After listening to it a number of times, I just keep hoping it would go longer - this seems a little too hipster and electronic for Pat, but times do change.

Justin Townes Earle:

Can't Hardly Wait: Recommended by Julie, wife of my former roommate. If the last song surprised me because it wasn't what I expected, this song delivers exactly what I expect out of the Maas Clan - guitar driven alt-country. As it so happens, I can't get enough of this crap, I make it a point to listen to The United States of Americana every week and this song would slot right into that playlist. I keep hitting repeat - very enjoyable choice.

The Rosewood Thieves:

Untitled #1 - Recommended by Aaron, former college teammate and bandmate. Never hear of this group before tonight, but I will admit I had a difficult time choosing a song because they all had a melancholy folksiness which is the kind of thing you want to listen to while sitting on the back patio drinking bourbon. I settled on this one because of the upbeat opening.

David Bowie:

Heroes - Recommended by PleasureDan, educational philosopher and chef. Not really a big Bowie fan, but in the spirit of experiment I didn't question the choice, I just bought it. What was with the weird background singers toward the end of the song? Will have to listen to this some more to see if it grows on me.

Mary J. Blige:

Just Fine (feat. Lil Wayne) - Recommended by Dr. Nelson, coffee fiend and diversity queen + low context communicator. She just shot off the first thing that came to her mind, and this is what she came up with. She wasn't sure I would like it, or at least it wasn't what I was looking for. She was wrong. Come on.....Lil Wayne, Mary J. what is not to like. It appears to be a hit with "the boy" as well. This song is hopping right into the party mix.

Justin Nozuka

After Tonight - recommended by Kristi, teacher and tennis freak. Never heard of this guy either, which was the point of this whole experiment. My first thought as I was listening to this song was "booty music." That may still be the case, but it is also catchy, and what is wrong with booty music anyway.....not a damn thing, that is what I say.

That brings us to the end of the gift card. I did receive a number of recommendations I already had, or got to me to late for this time. I will add them to the "Wishlist" for future gift cards. On a related note, if you want a free nine song sampler, you can go here and get songs from bands that will be performing at this years SXSW in a couple of weeks.

Wait....when did I get fat?

2010-02-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

I went in for my yearly check-up last week and I have been feeling like I am finally starting to feel my age. I just don't seem to be able to do some of the things I was, in recent memory, able to do. Or if I am able to do them, I just feel slow and uncoordinated (I am sure some of you reading this are already saying "Weren't you always slow and uncoordinated"). Needless to say, I haven't felt unhealthy. In fact, I feel like I eat healthier then almost everybody that I know. Mrs B and I have nearly cut all processed food out of our diet, and we are eating far less meat then we have in the past. Most of our friends just chalk this up to our liberal tendencies, but in reality we have just been influenced by a number of things we have read or watched. I know that I am going to get older and my body isn't going to be able to hold up to the rigors of soccer and running forever, but I am trying to string that along as long as I possibly can.

Having three kids under the age of three means that I don't have a ton of time to workout. All that being said, when I went to see Dr. Goodbody (Mrs B calls him that) I had an unexpected experience. In preparation for seeing the good Dr, you have to do all the normal medical foreplay activities with the cheerless nurse. She took my height and weight, asks me the standard questions about life style, casting a dubious eye my way when I said that I only had a glass of wine per night. "What, you think I am lying? I am sure that most people you know with three babies at home don't have time to drink - but we each have to find ways to prioritize." I have actually gotten quite good at balancing a baby bottle with my moobs (man-boobs) while leaving the other hand free to hold a lovely glass of Two Buck Chuck. Once the nurse has finished with the questions, she leaves, and indicates that I need to strip down do we can do my EKG. When the nurse returns, she brings in a buddy (medical student), who must have been icing down her hands before being called in to put little band-aids all over me. Interestedly enough, the nurse said that if I my legs amputated, one of the probes would have to go on my groin instead of somewhere on my leg....seemed like a bit of an over-share but who am I to judge.

Having passed my EKG with flying colors, I settled in for the long way for the good doctor. He came in and we talked for a few minutes. He then looked at my chart and said "That can't be right" and rushed out of the room. Not the kind of thing you want to hear at the doctor's office. He came back and was holding what appeared to be an extra large XBox controller, but I knew from my experience with the disapproving nurse, that it actually measured body fat or mass, or maybe both. The good doctor proceeded to tell me that according to the measurements of the nurse, I was borderline overweight (i.e. fat) - but he didn't think that was a good reading, so we were going to redo. The second result you ask.......exactly the same....DAMN. Well at this point the good doctor tells me this really isn't an exact measurement, and according to everything else I was in great health. Now don't get me wrong, it is always good when your doctor is willing to make excuses, but if I was being truly honest, all I heard was ......."blah, blah, blah you will be just fine Mr. FatA$, blah blah blah"

So, in what may have been a brilliant use of reverse psychology, I am considering a number of ways to get back down to Fighting Weight - but I think that I will ultimately fall back on the old standby "the Matrix of Buffness" - if you want a peace of the action let me know.

Update: Just heard back from the nurse, and she said that everything is well within the normal range except my "Good" cholesterol - which was really low. In her cheery little voice told me that all I needed to do was exercise more. I asked if the good doctor also provided babysitting so that his patients could exercise. She indicated she didn't think so.

My Olympic Dream

2010-02-25T15:30:00.000-08:00

The Winter Olympics are nearly over and as is always the case, I will be just a little depressed for a couple of days following the closing ceremonies. I have watched more biathlon, Nordic combined, and curling then should be legally allowed. I don't know about everybody else, but each time the Olympics roll around (summer or winter) I spend more time crying over Olympic moments then I ever did at weddings (including my own), funerals, or significant life events (birth of all 3 boys). There is something about the soothing tone of Tom Brokaw's voice over the soaring inspirational music, telling the story about the Polish sheep herder, whose brother was a killed in a freak sausage making incident, fighting to do the unthinkable and win the first Polish curling medal.

I also spend lots of time thinking about what Olympic sports I would still be eligible to participate in based on my age and level of fitness. Granted this was always a fairly limited list, because there are just something's I just don't have the body type or physical ability to do.

Ski Jumping - is it me, or do these dudes look like anorexic middle school kids - I am way to fat to fly

this also eliminates Nordic Combined (combination of ski jumping and cross country skiing)

Short Track Speed Skating - I am not Korean or a long haired french speaker (French and Canadians)

Cross Country - this looks a lot like running......hummmmm......to much work

using "to much work" as an excuse probably already disqualifies me from ever being an Olympian

Figure Skating - I don't look good in corsets

Skiing and Snowboarding Events: I certainly have the mentality and the right attitude, if Alberto Tomba can squeeze himself into some racing tights why couldn't I? But alas, I live where people call off school when it snows (or even threatens to snow) an inch.

That leaves Curling. Having looked at the bio's of the currently Olympic Curling team, I think that I still have a shot to live the Olympic Dream. I will know I am old when I can finally cross Curling off the list of Olympic sports I still have a shot at making my Olympic debut.

We're wearing underwear!!!!!

2010-02-06T15:27:00.001-08:00

It isn't quite what I expected, but sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

Oh well, at least they are clean.

Week Update

2010-02-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy week, but at this point aren't they all busy. I thought I would take a few minutes and provide an update on the latest happenings in Casa Baker. It has been a rainy week, and to avoid sounding like some kind of geriatric weatherman - I won't bore you with the specifics, but the backyard is starting to look more like a muddy bog and less like a weed infested, poop filled construction site. This wouldn't normally be a problem, except for the fact we have a dog that snorts a few lines of meth (do you even snort meth....I honestly don't know) to begin her day, and when she doesn't get to go out and run around she is a bit restless. "the Boy" does his best to provide her with a little exercise by chasing her around the house with is little plastic shopping cart. Mrs. B and I have tried to cut down on the chasing, because it is annoying as hell, but when it is raining, all bets are off, because if they aren't chasing each other around the house, they are all in our business. One of the apparent benefits all this rain is that lake levels are on the way up to normal levels. According to Facebook status updates, people are willing to put up with a sloppy spring, in order to spend more time on the lakes this summer. Now if we can just get those boat owning friends of ours to take us out more often we will be set.

The blogging world welcomed the Wehr sisters to the droves of people writing stuff that nobody except mothers care about. I am particularly excited to have both of them writing again. Mrs. B has spent countless hours in front of the computer preparing for the most perfect blog launch ever. For more months then I care to count, she has dealt me excuse after excuse on why she hasn't been publishing (some more valid then others). The most creative and entertaining excuse of all was given less then two weeks ago, when Mrs. B said she had concerns about starting her blog because she was afraid she would be inundated with an endless supply of products from companies looking for a mommy blogger endorsement. Although this can be a problem as detailed here, here, and humorously here, I pointed out to the lovely and talented Mrs. B that people actually had to read what you were writing, and that meant you actually had to write something for people to read. Now that she has the blog up and running, any company looking to market to a niche following of grandmothers in their mid-50's currently living in Missouri and Minnesota, and teacher friends living in Central Texas, please contact Mrs. B at www.makingfrosting.blogspot.com, she promises to rate your product with integrity....especially if you send it to her for free.

Apparently Daddybloggers are not nearly the advertising force, but just in case any companies are out there looking for a daddyblogger....I am your guy. I am especially interested in reviewing luxury cars, single malt scotch, pretty much any music, and snowboards (although for me to adequately review your snowboard, you would also need to provide compensation for travel cost since the snow hills in Texas have all but shutdown for the year.)

Also entering the world of blogging is Mrs. B's sister who is currently studying abroad in Finland. If you would like to know more about architecture and her adventures in Finland follow her stories here.

I Never........

2010-01-29T07:20:00.000-08:00

This is my life. I am the type of person who likes to make statements in the absolute, and I have therefore been forced to eat crow more times then not. It is starting to happen with such frequency that I fear by actually making a statement of something I am not going to "ever" do, I am actually opening the door for that situation to happen. Below is a sampling of things I have said over the year and the eventual outcome.

On Raising Kids:

I will never bribe my kid with candy. - yep, I did it, more times then I care to admit...don't judge...please.

I will not use the TV as a babysitter. - pretty much failed on this one...since the twins have arrived, Mrs. B and I are constantly looking for moments to do things like bath, eat, brush your teeth-and so the only way to keep the boy engaged for more then 2 minutes is to throw on Thomas the Train (at least it isn't Barney). I guess the trade-off is worth it...and most of you standing within two feet would agree.

My boys will never play throwball we are a football(soccer) family. - The boy still doesn't play football, but everytime he does see it on the TV (see above) he yells "Football" and then proceeds to tackle something...usually the dog. Being that we are in Texas, he has also mastered "Hook'em" at a disturbingly young age.

I will never own a Mini Van - yep...still holding firm on this one

On Life:

I will never be like you....said to my dad - Epic Fail.....but I couldn't be happier about it. Since I can remember, my dad has been a principal at the elementary level level, and now I am pretty much doing the same job at an elementary school in Round Rock, TX.

I will never wear Under Armour - not sure why I made this statement, but it may have its roots in the whole throwball bias. In reality, I do actually wear Under Armour now, but only under doctors orders. It was recommended, I begin to wear compression shorts as a way to avoid groin and leg injuries common as you get older.

I will only wear Adidas soccer shoes as long as I continue to keep playing - This one is still true....I actually am still wearing the same style I wore through college....the good 'ol Copa Mundial.

I will never live in Texas - I made this proclamation in college in the midst of an on going feud with the "Texans" down the hall. (I will now digress into a college story - In college, as many of you know, I had a tendency to provoke individuals to do things they wouldn't normally do. In this particular instance during my freshmen year, my roommate, Matt, and I lived down the hall from from a True Texan (cowboy hat, cowboy boots, Texas flag hanging in room, etc - these types of things really stick out in Minnesota). Matt and I had a tendency to constantly say things piss off the "Texan". It actually became like a game and we were constantly trying to outdo each other when it came to insulting Texas. We eventually ran out of things to say and went in search of the ultimate exclamation point. Matt and I had become quite proficient at using our long range water balloon launcher to launch pretty much anything (including: water balloons, snowballs, rotten fruit, you get the idea). Up until that point we had launched golf balls over I-94 at the public housing across the highway, we bombarded the front door of a rival male dorm with oranges anytime people came in or out, and we had launched water balloons off the roof of the student union on unsuspecting couples out for a romantic night stroll. Getting back to the story......we decided that using the balloon launcher, we would launch rotten bananas at the door of the Texan from about 2 feet away. For those of you who don't know, a water balloon launcher is designed to hurl a 3 lb water balloon about 100 yards. We had anticipated a particularly nasty explosion of rotten banana, but we had no idea how nasty. The force at which the banana hit the door caused the now liquefied banana to squeeze through the actual door frame and shoot into the room. AWESOME right. As the banana shot into the room, it happened to get all over the Texas Flag hanging from the ceiling, this elicited an instant reaction from the Texan. The Texan shot out of the room, knowing full well who was responsible for this desecration of the flag for the "Republic of Texas" and ran down to our door and began trying to beat the door down and yelling threats....this of course resulted in Matt and I laughing hysterically, which only served to further enrage the Texan. Here are a few quote from the Texan which are still some of my favorites:
"No-0ne destroys or damages the Texas flag....you are going to pay for this"
"Get out here and act like a man" (um....NO - he was brandishing a large knife at this point)
and my personal favorite
"you can't hide forever, we are going to get you, if you run and hide we will find you, if you go to Nebraska, we have family there, if you hide in Alaska, we have family there" (this of course resulted in us yelling random locations through the door to see if they in fact "had family there" i.e. "How about India, do you have family there?" "what about the North Pole, do you have family there? Is his name Santa?"
Eventually the RA came out and sent the crazy boys back to there room, and were were able to flee to the friendly confines of the women's dorm.)

As most of you well know....we are now fully established residents of the beautiful state of Texas, and we love living in the beautiful city of Austin. So I guess I am glad I didn't stick to my guns on that one.

I fully expect there are going to be many things I will have to do, that I said I would never, ever do. Maybe I should just stop making these statements, but that just seems whish-washy, and if it is one thing I will never be...it is wishy-washy.

Beer and Chili

2010-01-29T06:50:00.000-08:00

On Friday night we got together with a group of friends who we have dinner with about once a month. The group is comprised of people with kids of all ages, from our infants all the way through the Drakes daughters who are both in college. I don't think that we have missed one of these dinners in the last 3 years because the company is outstanding the food delightful. Typically the Drakes act as gracious hosts, and the rest of us bring a dish or two to share.

Tonight the theme was beer, Kelly is the homebrew king, and chili. Kelly is always looking for taste testers for the latest evolution of hoppy goodness. I am more then happy to be the test dummy. (Sorry the image quality isn't up to our normal standard, but I forgot the camera at home, and was forced to use my Iphone instead.)

As always the beer was excellent and the chili was perfect for the freezing (35 degrees) night.

The twins got lots of extra attention from Jen and Annie, which was greatly appreciated by Mrs. B and myself.

We have been doing these dinners since before the boy was born, and it has been fun to see now that he is older how much he really enjoys playing with the adopted cousins, especially his close buddy "the Diva" (aka Amelia)

Dinners from Friends

2010-01-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Over the last week we have had a couple of really awesome dinners delivered. We were lucky enough to have a wonderful beef vegetable soup and a delightful shrimp cobb salad.

The boy also really like this visit, because he got Burger King which included fries.

A couple of nights later we had a wonderful homemade Chicken Parmigiana, with fresh salad and homemade bread.

Friday, we were lucky enough to have our very favorite Chinese food from Asia Market Cafe. As always I had the Spicy Fish, and Mrs. B stuck with the always delicious Sesame Chicken. It was also recommended that we try the green beans, and they didn't disappoint.

Spicy Fish

Sesame Chicken

Green Beans

Last night we had Manicotti and Salad brought over and it wasn't even on the schedule. WOOT WOOT

Potty Party

2010-01-20T06:01:00.001-08:00

There are often times as you are growing as a parent where you just have to figure it out as you go. In fact, that may be the definition of what parenting is all about. Sure, you can read all kinds of books, but lets be honest....those books can help a parent know what color of poop is "okay" and how often you should be feeding the little poop factories (as if the screaming wasn't a fairly obvious clue). Mrs. B and I are continually figuring out that we don't really have any idea what we are doing.

The two year old has recently shown a strong interest in using the potty to go pee-pee. I am not so sure it is the intrinsic motivation to get out of diapers or the fact that he gets a piece of candy each time he successful uses the potty. I am guessing the candy if a far more powerful motivator. This has been reinforced by the fact that we now want to use (I use that term very loosely) the potty about every 15 minutes. Sawyer figures as long as he can produce a few drops (literally), he has done enough to warrant a Smartie. The kid is producing diapers you would swear came from a full grown man, so I am ready for this kid to be using the potty, but do I do it at the expense of future dental bills.

Continuing the potty theme, the two year old has now noticed how everybody goes to the bathroom, including the dog. Your thinking great not a problem right....WRONG. Yesterday the boy decided that he was going to emulate the dog and just squat it out while he was taking a shower, much to the horror of Mrs. B. She called me at work just to let me know how much I should appreciate going on "vacation" (that is what she has taken to calling me going to work). From all accounts, the boy, displayed pride in the accomplishment of not having used a diaper to "release a couple of hostages". This sense of accomplishment therefore lead to the obvious request for Smartie's, but his hopes were quickly dashed as Mrs. B pointed out that he hadn't follow proper Smartie procedure and "dropped the kids off at the pool", aka he didn't use the toilet.

Is it little wonder the kid is confused about whether he should use the toilet like a normal human or use the squat approach like the dog. Over the previous weekend, there were a number of times that the boy wanted a snack while we were riding in the car. This really isn't a problem, except for the fact that with the twins now taking up the entire middle seat, the boy has been relegated to sitting in the far back with the dog. When driving and trying to provide a snack to a screaming 2 year old, the only option is to just toss the treat at them and hope it lands close enough for them to grab it before the dog does. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised we are still having a little difficulty distinguishing from human and animal behavior at this point.

Who is going to dress me?

2010-01-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

Woke up this........no wait, lets start over.

Struggled out of bed this morning and discovered that I should have already been leaving for work. In between the 1am feeding, the 4am feeding, and Sawyer waking up at 5:30am and screaming for "Dada" like somebody had lit his polyester pajamas with feet on fire, the alarm got turned off. I am not a morning person to start with, but I am REALLY not a morning person when I am running late. I shot out of bed and showered, deodorized and dressed in record time. I made an english muffin and bowl of cereal to consume on the drive to work and rushed out the door. I was lucky to remember to grab my lunch, unfortunately I didn't realize that I had forgotten the coffee I was bring for everybody in the office, until I was about to get on the toll-road. Showing up without coffee on a morning like this wasn't an option, so I turned around and returned home to grab it, thereby making me even later.

The day unfolded in a fairly typical fashion, with the usual frustrations as well as moments of levity. It wasn't until I was using the restroom after lunch that I noticed something strange. Looking down at my pants, I noticed the tag on my boxers was on the front. "That is strange" - I thought, and when I looked closer, I realized having the tag at the front of your boxers means that you are an idiot, and don't know how to put your clothes on properly. Apparently, I am so brain dead at the moment that I don't even know how to put on a pair of underwear properly, and even worse, I don't notice for over 6 hours that my skivvies are butt front. I would like to think that had I been wearing that thong that Mrs. B got me for Christmas, I would have been able to tell the difference....but at this point I am not sure that I could.

Great Friends, Great Food

2010-01-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

Having a child has its many perks,
1. You have a cute little face staring up at you at 3am with a look that says "What up, you look tired, why is that?"
2. You get peed on (hopefully your mouth is closed)
3. You lose and find all kinds of stuff (we are currently on the losing things side of this curve, but eventually you run out of stuff to lose and you start finding random things)
4. The more kids you have the more times you get asked, "so when you getting a minivan" (uh, NEVER)

but seriously

One great thing, at least in our experience, is that you get to see your friends because they bring over dinner. Sometimes they even stay and eat dinner with us. Our dear friend, Stefanie set up a "Care Network" for us. In other words, every other night, for the next month, somebody new is going to bring over a dinner for the family. We have already had a couple of wonderful dinners, and after last night, I decided to share each of the wonderful dinners we are getting. We have already had Chuy's take-out (mmmmmmmm-creamy jalapeno dressing and fish tacos), baked ziti (sorry no picture for this one, but trust me it was good),

and last night a pot roast with all of the fix'ins (potatoes, carrots, , green beans, peach cobbler, mini pecan pies, rolls, and chocolate dipped strawberry's).

Mrs. B and I are eternally grateful for our wonderful friends, because with no family living nearby, they really are our family in Austin. I can't wait to see who shows up tomorrow night to have dinner-the food they bring is also a nice addition.

update: tonight we had a wonderful italian dinner delivered.

Longshot

2010-01-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

In the last couple of nights we have had fairly good luck with Jack and Finn sleeping for sizable chunks of time (3-4hrs). Sawyer started sleeping through the night at about six weeks, so here is to hoping the twins get there soon. Mrs. B has been getting up with them during the work week, but on the weekend, we are working together. In the wee hours of the weekend, I have had time to formulate my new theory on getting a baby, let alone two of them to sleep through the night.

Having one baby is initially very difficult, but you eventually get that kid to sleep through the night. With two adults on duty it is actually pretty easy to get a solid chunk of sleep from time to time. If you will excuse the basketball reference, it is kind of like being a #1 or #2 seed in the NCAA tourney. There is enough talent that you can pretty much handle anything that is thrown at you and come out on the other side fairly well rested. You may have bad night personally, but there is always another all-star ready to step in and share the load. Having twins is a completely different story, you are no longer the favorite to win night in and night out. Heading into our nightly routine, I have the feeling that we are more like the #16 or #15 seed. We can go out and hit all our shots and still not get much sleep. In order for my team to win (solid chunk of sleep), we need to have our best game and a hefty amount of luck, and even when that happens you most likely still aren't going to "win". I think this is made harder by the fact that we have been successful in the past.

I know that very soon the twins are going to grow out of this phase and start sleeping larger chunks of time, but at this time of no sleep, I can't seem to focus on when that will start happening. Thankfully, I have the most awesome friend and partner to share the load (or more accurately, I help her share the load, because she does so much).

We see lots of this at about 3am....cute, as long as you can keep your eyes open.

Sometimes we get this......

Here is how Sawyer feels about missing out on sleep

Special thank you to Carrie for the really awesome hats for the boys.

Sawyer with his awesome red hat to match Jack and Finn

Project Update #1

2009-12-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I wrote a posting that detailed all of the projects we were going to be working on with the various parental units. The purpose of the list was to give us a starting point for getting the house prepared for Jack and Finn's arrival. I also wanted to get as much done with the extra help, because once the boys arrived I was going to have less time to complete home improvement projects. We are still finishing up a number of projects, but we have made some real progress.

In the front we really don't have anything in the way of landscaping. We are now well on our way to getting something that looks pretty decent. We were pretty careful in our selection of plants because between the location of the site and my black thumb, nothing has survived there yet, except this horrid ground cover.

We also took out a couple of shrubs from the front, still working on what is going to go in these spots.

We, and by we I mean "Sir Chops-a-lot" aka Papa Baker, trimmed the bushes down to a manageable height. Now that the bushes are trimmed, the two new Live Oaks planned in honor of the Jack and Finn will have some sunlight to grow.

We also got the gate fixed and it now opens and shuts with ease.

We were also able to install some gutters on the north side of the house and this allows the water to flow away from the house instead of under it.

And the patio is on the way to awesome. As you can see from the photo, we extended the surface out. This will allow the boys plenty of space to ride bikes, and we will also have more space for a patio set. Currently, Papa Wehr and I are working on improving the grilling area (more photos to come soon).

Where has my little boy gone?

2009-12-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Since bring home Jack and Finn from the hospital, I have come to a very sad realization. Our little boy, Sawyer, isn't so little. I know that he is still less then 2 years old, but he has definitely moved into a new phase of his life. After just a week he has gotten much heavier to pick up (without actually adding any weight), his skin isn't as soft as I remember it being, and he is so much more assertive when he doesn't get what he wants. He also understands so much more and still finds ways to remind us of this fact. We are now fully into the spelling things out phase of parenthood, because mentioning certain words can incite a full on tantrum (i.e. juice, chip, trains, trucks). He is still our little boy, but I can now see that he isn't always going to be little. I am sure this is something every parent experiences, but it has just hit home much harder since we have introduced Jack and Finn.

Sawyer: Day One

Sawyer: On his way to two years old.

Jack and Finn (don't they look like somebody else----see above)

Last Night before

2009-12-10T08:58:00.000-08:00

Well this blog post was in draft form from Wednesday night, and I was planning to attach a picture and then send it out. (Jack and Finn had other plans and here we are now in the hospital sending out old blog posts)

In just under 12 hours we are going to be adding two additional members to Familia Baker. We are very excited to finally meet these two little bundles of joy. I am also confident Sarah is more than ready to have this whole pregnancy thing done and over with. We have been blessed by God to have such a low key pregnancy. I am exceedingly proud of her, she has worked really hard to do everything possible to carry these twins to term…and as of last week she accomplished this goal. On top of that, she has worked right up until this week and therefore is going to be able to stay home with the twins until after Spring Break. When we went in for our first appointment with the “at-risk” nurse, the nurse indicated that by about 32 weeks Sarah would be so uncomfortable that she would be relegated to bed rest until the twins arrived. Sarah didn’t like being told that and, in my opinion, set out to prove the nurse wrong. She did. She worked full weeks just like she always did.

We are also lucky to have family and friends who have been around the last couple of weeks and through December helping us prepare for the impending arrival. We have been able to finish the nesting required to welcome the twins (tomorrow they will have names-can’t wait to stop calling them “The Twins”). The nursery and the rest of the house is ready. We have been blessed to have such generous friends who are willing to share much of that baby stuff people normally have to buy. Nothing matches in the house, but hey, we didn’t have to pay for nearly anything. Special thanks to Stef, for organizing the “Care Network” (Calendar ID: 28504 Security Code: 2777), this is going to be such a huge help in the next couple of months.

Here is the last picture of how pregnant Sarah really was…..enjoy.

Be sure to follow the updates tomorrow on Twitter and Facebook. We appreciate all of the well wishes and prayers.