October | 2014 | OUR LIFE IN 3D

Archive for the month “October, 2014”

25 Oct 2014

Trick OR Treat?

With Halloween only a week away, I have been getting an increasing amount of fan mail about what Halloween costumes will be worn?

(OK, I embellish sometimes )

And I know, all you really don’t want to know what our little cherubs are wearing this year. After all it will be same as what 80% of all the other young girls will be wearing.

How boring!

Yes, so I have received hundreds of emails wondering who I was going to be dressed as this year.

Ready?

I will be dressed again as the great American Hero of fable and fairy tale,

Flynn Rider!

Why?

Why he’s edgy (his shadow rivals mine), yet naive, and such a humble fellow….just like me!

Take a look:

See? Isn’t he the coolest Disney boyfriend yet?

Isn’t he way smoother than Ariel’s Eric?

Doesn’t he have way more ‘game‘ than Princess Anna’s Kristoff?

And he has a secret weapon! Something up his sleeve. Something that separates him from every other Disney beau. Something that makes him practically unstoppable.

Beware….the Smolder:

What? You don’t get it?

You don’t see it?

Unconvinced of this Disney’s Super Power?

Here is his legendary Smolder in action

(before it gets broke)

Pretty cool, huh? (wink)

So you see, if a Dad has to have a favorite Disney character (and sometimes I think this whole “Dad” thing just goes to my head to let me live out my youth), my character has to be Flynn. That’s why I will be dressing as him, again, on Halloween. In fact, some people, SOME PEOPLE, say they can barely tell us apart….

OK, that was kinda an off impersonation for me. It doesn’t usually happen….

I have been so much ‘in character’ lately that my youngest thinks is Flynn Rider too. That SHE has a better SMOLDER going on then her old man!

Can you believe that?

My youngest Skye actually trying to steal some of her old man’s thunder.

Well I humor her but she isn’t even close. Geez! Here, you take a look. See for yourself….

What? You like her’s better than mine???

Seriously?

Oh well a guy can dream…

So when Halloween rolls around next week and you are wondering what will the hottest, best looking, most in demand costume be?

Forget Elsa and Anna…..

I think I ‘ll have another piece of fantasy chocolate….

PS: and for those of you who are not familiar with Flynn or Disney’s movie Tangled, HERE are a few reasons why Rapunzel and Flynn are the best Disney couple of all time

See? Look how he makes her smile?

He’s really got it going on!

Hi! How ya Doin’?

TRICK OR TREAT EVERYONE!

Posted in Archives and tagged a nice pair to be proud of, Flynn Rider, Hey how ya doin'?, rapunzel, Tangled, the Smolder

21 Oct 2014

8 Comments

Princesses For A Day

This is the story of a man named Brady.

No wait, wrong story. This is the story of three Princesses of the Serengeti.

As noted on their plaque, they were revered for their beauty and interdependence and respect for ALL creatures. They were the prodigy of the Lion King.

King of Somewhere Hot

They loved and respected their Lion King father, as well as their majestic, Queen of the Serengeti Mother ….

Meet the Queen of the Serengeti and her Princesses

Meet the King of the Serengeti and his Princesses

Ok not so much on the respect part for these Serengeti Princesses.

(Dad lets them get away with most anything)

Yes, last weekend our annual zoo trip for our Princesses to meet up with their Princess cousin Nikki.

It was tons of fun this year too! The first thing they had to do, once inside the gates, was to go play in the zoo playground.

Come on kids! It’s the zoo!

We got to see the usual zoo residents. There were the Peacocks

And Mohawks

But Dylan missed those as she was too busy playing

We saw and fed the giraffes.

And Dylan found a new friend….

But then we lost her again….

We saw a Rumble in the Jungle

But our girls, er, Princesses, had seen all this before

Is that all you got?

Everyone took a break to try and conquer the 4-story high ‘Sky High Safari’ which is a series of balance beams, rope bridges, and tight wires you traverse way high up in the air.

Dylan was a little unsure of herself in this one

She held on tight as we crossed the high rope, hanging on to hanging ropes and her bungee cord

…just how high up are we Daddy?

Skylar took right to it though

…as she clung on to her mom for dear life

Well, we also saw a gorilla or two relaxing..

Please leave me alone….

Luckily, while we were there it was time to feed him. And so we got to see this gentle giant use his manners for his lunch as he waited patiently for a few heads of lettuce.

Please, please, pretty please?

I wish Dylan could see this. I wonder where she is hanging out now?

I tried to get the gorilla’s attention by throwing in a big wadded up ball of leaves. But he didn’t like that too much.

Food?

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that I guess. He just walked away.

I suppose I was a bad example for our Princesses. It was a good thing Dylan wasn’t here to see that. I wonder where she went? I hope she’s not getting into trouble….

Yes our Princesses had a great time on a beautiful day. They had tons of fun. Hit new heights! And really loved being with their cousin Nikki.

Which is what the trip was all about.

Have a great week everyone!

Posted in Archives and tagged fav. cousin, go Dylan go, princess, Riverbanks Zoo, rock wall, You got his butt

12 Oct 2014

8 Comments

Retiring

I warned you I had a few more beach photo’s from Ocean City with the new camera. So I wanted to unload some for my family and friends and be able to retire this beach vacation theme here in the middle of October.

So bear with me here. If I haven’t scared you off with the pics from our kids on the first two episodes, this won’t hurt much either.

Again, we took a trip to Ocean City, New Jersey, which calls itself America’s Greatest Family Resort. And if you have a young family this is a great place to escape to when the time is right.Well we visited on the shoulders of the off season and so the main attraction of Ocean City, its 2.5 mile boardwalk looked something like this:

The boardwalk is a great family destination for a number of reasons, not least of all is fun, great tasting, and completely unhealthy food. That’s why, literally, the first place we stopped every morning was:

For a breakfast that resembled something like this:

That’s right, there are two warm fresh made, partially eaten donuts for my oldest one, along with some Bavarian Waffles all topped with strawberries. A good father might have suggested she try something a little less ambitious for breakfast. But I was looking forward to finishing it!

And I did!

Then every day, after we finished breakfast, we would peddle on down the boards for some shopping; or probably more food.

Go Dylan Go!

Let me introduce Johnson’s Homemade Popcorn!

Anybody who has ever had fresh, warm, sweet smelling caramel popcorn knows what a treat that is. And Johnson’s makes it ways with about 4 different stands on the boardwalk, each making their own in-house, much like these Popcorn elves, hard at work one beautiful morning.

Not sold yet, here is the link to their online store, try some! Charge it to my account. ..http://www.johnsonspopcorn.com/

Manko and Manko Pizza is another Ocean City establishment with a huge reputation on on the boards.

One particular chilly afternoon, I rode my bike down the boardwalk. It was empty. But as I rode past Manko and Manko’s there was maybe three empty seats in the whole place. Its that good!

The other must try, and we did, boardwalk treat is Kohr Brothers Frozen custard. Dylan tried to con me into taking her there every day as she knew it was my favorite spot on the boards.

Our girls HAD TO HAVE the sprinkles EVERY TIME!

Friends if you go to OCNJ and try just these four places then leave it would not have been in vein.

FROZEN custard’s my favorite

The other big reason for the great family fun on their boardwalk are the two big amusement piers.

There are great, carnival style rides here for all ages. I think I have documented them enough so here are just a few more pics

The Casio camera was not so good with fast moving shots. That didn't stop the guy in the second car didn't know that though.. I never met him before!

The Casio camera was not so good with fast moving shots. That didn’t stop the guy in the second car from posing though.. I never met him before!

And, of course, the required Pirate, "Arrrgh matey" pose

And the customary Pirate, “Arrrgh matey” pose

Of course I am a beach bum. Any vacation of mine has to include some sand and some waves.

I showed a few pics over the weekend of the poetic surf to be found there. I would be misleading if I left you with the idea it was always like that.

One day the ocean was just plain flat

And two days we had rain and storm type winds creating a different look for the beach and the ocean.

But half of our stay the weather did cooperate with us and the girls didn’t mind the chilly ocean temperatures ( as much as I did) to let them get in the way of their fun….

my little surfers..

the camera lens must have been about as cloudy as I was that morning

It must have been a sea monster or Queen Ursula

And as I sat their one afternoon, not worrying about blogs to write, or to-do lists, or finances, or health my eyes kept coming back to these two.

yes, RETIRING like this some day…

I sat there watching them thinking, ‘yea that is the life in retirement for me. I could get use to this life I think; come out on the beach every day and read whatever suits my fancy, while warming in the sun and the crash of the waves for my backdrop. I hear it calling me….’

“A most mysterious calling ocean.

So far but yet so near.

I can see the day when my hair’s so gray

and I finally disappear.”

But not yet!

Have a great week knuckleheads!

I’ll try to do better next time…

Posted in Ocean City America's Best Family Resort and tagged BROWNS DONUTS, Jimmy Buffett, Johnson's Popcorn, kohrs frozen custard, Manko and Manko pizza, Ocean City America's Greatest Family resort, One Particular Harbour, Thank you!

09 Oct 2014

10 Comments

I sea you!

OK, by now you have probably noticed I have not been posting as much as I have last year or so. The truth is, I have been in between cameras. Our girls trashed my last one a few years ago. My cell phone can only handle so many tasks. And unless Aunt Sue was in town, I have been hurting for decent, blog quality photos.

Enter American Express! I finally squirreled up enough reward points with American Express to earn a new camera. After doing some research, I settled on a Casio EX-Z2000. It is a small, pocket sized digital that earned some good ratings in its category.

So I packed my new camera away and decided to learn and experiment with it on our vacation last week.

My main goal was picture clarity; picture quality of that of a much larger camera. The Casio EX has that capability but what it makes up for in quality it desperately lacks in picture speed. That’s why you WON‘T see pics of our girls riding the rides in Ocean City. But if you want to judge how well the Casio does in capturing pictures of nature stick around. I have a picture or two of the beach in Ocean City to show you.

Now I am not claiming to be much of a photographer, maybe an amateur amateur photographer. My sister is much better. But I do enjoy trying to capture some scenes, details, textures, and colors. But in prepping this post I realize you will have to click on these picture themselves to get the most appreciation for the photo I took.

Like this pic of the beach at dusk. To me the camera captured some of the texture of the sand through the depth as well as shadows up front. The clouds are in such a pattern that it looks like they are being sucked out to sea or rolling in like invading aliens (yea, I watch too much TV).

Ominous clouds at dusk

Do you have an eye for detail? What can you pick out in another photo at dusk? What do you see? .

Yes, there are two surfers approaching the beach on the left side. Some picturesque yellow umbrellas against the ocean blue sea in the middle. that is too much like a post card. There are the manicured rows of sea grass for dunes, planted similar to the biggest fields of corn, as well as a few couples soaking up the last bit of sun and sea for the day along the waters edge.

What about here? Can you pick out the two surfers slicing up waves amongst the rolling ocean spray? How about the surfer advisory flag?

Yes the flag tells you you better be prepared and an excellent swimmer if you want to go out in these fall waters. In fact, if the life guard was there these two would probably get whistled!

See?

But I will be quiet now and just offer a few more of my favorite pics of nature on our recent trip.

Tell me what you see?

Sunrise… sadly on the best day, weather wise, on our getaway, the LAST day ~ I was told I better get a sunrise pic!

And later that same morning…

Kinda ideal for a jogger, huh?

If you can’t tell I just love the ocean spray blowing off the top of the waves. It is my ideal day on the beach and in the water.

…if the water was 80 degrees… and free of shells….and seaweed… and..

Doing some curls

She is completely unaware of the power behind her. She only knows her sand castle is going right there!

The waves are sneaking up on her, getting closer

Thanks for indulging my new part-time, if-I-only-had-time, amateur hobby photos! I will try to dig up some fun pics from our trip tomorrow.

Have the best day everyone!

SMILE for the camera!

I have one now…

Posted in Ocean City America's Best Family Resort and tagged camera, Casio EX2000, Home, Ocean City, overdue, photo

02 Oct 2014

15 Comments

Chaos

Have you ever seen the face of Chaos?

I mean really, really taken a good look and stared down Chaos?

Sometimes its not easy to stomach. SOMETIMES it can be downright intimidating!

Well now that you have been warned, here is what Chaos really looks like, the good, the bad, the ugly:

The FACE of Chaos

Yes, my girls’ soccer team is named Chaos, and rightfully so! That pic above of the fearsome looking, WTF looking soccer team is their squad. They are currently undefeated!

OK, well they only played 3 games, and tied one of them…

but it was the BEST team (!)… besides my girls’ team.

Wanna know their secret weapon?

Imitation!

Team Chaos actually has an ‘enforcer’ type person on the team that inflicts paybacks, runs fearlessly into opposing players, and trash talks with the best of them.

Wanna see?

(caution PG rated pic below)