My oldest just was spoiled, er, enjoyed her 10th birthday.
Yes double digits now!
Do you remember when….
I could still pick her up?
….and still get some air when I tossed her?
…or her getting married
Daddy, I want to get married. You don’t mind do you?
or learn to swim
Fearless!
Or get a new sister…
or become the first best present I ever had?
Kids ARE a gift!
Yes she is 10 now!
But I know what you are thinking…
We did not want to spoil her but treat her 10th birthday just like any other normal birthday…
…with breakfast in bed
Oh and there was the birthday party with 10 or 15 of her closest friends
It was at the trampoline place but she wanted it with a football theme..
She scored!
She soared high in her trampoline b day
Yes, jumping there in the center in the pink pants with her friends looking and falling around her.
I was kinda nervous watching her. Most of her girl friends are into gymnastics now and all of them were doing flips and cartwheels on the trampolines .
Each one would get bigger. Bigger flips. Bigger cartwheels, Bigger bounces.
Does anyone else hate the words from their kids, “Hey watch this and see what I can do?”
Remind me to tell you the story of when I tried to jump over the hammock..
Well the hours of play time were up and we herded all the sweaty happy kids to the pizzas and cakes. Mommy pointed to the ‘Thank You‘ notes that Dylan had typed up for each one of her party friends.
She said, “take a look at those.”
So I opened one up and read…
#happykidisamazing
She typed these up two days earlier and printed them on the computer but nobody told her what to say.
She is a planner and an organizer like that. The over the top thank you note blew me away.
(I’m not that creative on my best day)
She has always been a’ happy kid’ since day one. And this note illustrates how thoughtful she is too. Yes every kid got this note.
Not every kid read them as i found several on the floor. But that is another story.
She had a great time.
We / they had a great time.
No bones were broken
or teeth lost.
….Another successful party then!
Happy 10th Birthday Dylan!
One down, one more party to go!
Have a great weekend everyone and a very special Easter holiday!
napping day is an unofficial holiday that falls on the monday after daylight savings time begins in the united states. the day was created as a way to compensate for the hour people lose because of the time change. this is one holiday that most people can get behind.
studies have shown that one or more short naps during the day can help increase productivity and alertness. it is believed that many successful people in history napped often such as: einstein, churchill, and napoleon.
how to celebrate?
take a short nap.
if your country does not observe DST, then follow the DST and napping day schedule of another country. why lose out on a holiday just because your country doesn’t have DST?
did you know…
…that a NASA study among pilots and astronauts found that short naps can increase performance by 34% and alertness…
I have something to tell you. I have been reluctant to bring it up but the time is drawing near.
I’m going behind bars.
Yes, that’s right — me….in jail.
Do you know what happens to nice, kind guys like me in the slammer?
But this is no joke.
For those of you that know me or have been following this blog for a while you know it’s not the first time. 😦
Seriously…
Here’s the low-down.
Every day, kids and adults are diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases that take away the most basic freedoms – the freedom to walk, talk, hug and even breathe.
Can you imagine?
Unable to walk or talk?
So on March 22nd I am doing a little time, to do a lot of good by being a Jailbird at a Muscular Association Lock-Up to help give those freedoms back.
Please, please, please consider making a donation towards my bail and support me, and the thousands of kids and adults who will be served by MDA this year.
They set my bail at $2000!
It’s easy — just click on this secure link to my web page to make a tax-deductible donation.
That’s right, your thoughtful gift is tax-deductible.
Meaning, for you here in the US, you can get your money back.
Look out your window today and notice the kids playing. Then think of one small child on the side that is unable to play or keep up or just do normal things because of Muscular Association.
I am so grateful for the gift of no limitations with the body I was born with. I would like to do a little something for those that were not as fortunate.
How about you?
Would you consider paying it forward too?
Thank you in advance for joining me as I fight for everyday freedoms for individuals with muscular dystrophy.
Thank YOU!
If you have any questions or comments please let me know below.
For those of you that are thinking, ‘Fine. let him rot in jail.’ Well the MDA has a link where you can pay for that as well.
A moment of clarity, or a moment of confusion, hit me today.
We were all going to ride bikes at the local county park as it was Free admission today. But my little soprano tried to bring here Hoverboard in instead.
No dice the park ranger said.
So, as I raced back home to get her roller blades, I craved a Mountain Dew. And I thought, where am I at in my parenting, or life, that I would prefer a Mountain Dew right now, on a Sunday afternoon, instead of a beer or margarita?
Hmm?
Yes, that’s as deep as I get I’m afraid.
Listen, there is a GREAT movie out at the rentals right now, WONDER!
You have probably seen the commercials for it and have an idea what it’s about.
I did.
I really didn’t want to see it.
Not another touchy-feely feel good movie again.
But oh what a movie!
It is the predictable story of the little boy pictured above but so much more. It’s about everyone around him too; and why they act the way they do even when they disappoint you or surprise you.
Friends, Sister, BF, Mom, Dad, everyone. And THAT surprised me..
Its funny. Its sad. Its heartwarming. Its tears and laughter. Its surprising and Luke Wilson’s character is so me.
Based on the New York Times bestseller, WONDER tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman (Auggie), a boy with facial differences who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time.
Anyone with children in grade school or middle school should really see this movie. There are so many life lessons in it. For all of us. And that we all have our reasons..
Check it out with your kids!
Oh, and one last thing….
Dylan has a birthday coming up. She is into football now at recess and so asked to have a football themed party.
She even asked me to invite Saquon Barkley from my favorite college to come down for her birthday too. … from all those times I said to her, “hey Dylan, watch this!” after Saquon does another highlight reel move.
Well @saquonb21 is having a pretty good week at the NFL combines this week and he has been too busy to to notice my humble little Twitter request.
As it to turns out his hometown is throwing him a ‘going away party’ the week of Dylan’s birthday, before he goes on to the NFL.
Sorry Dylan.
So if there are any famous NFL or college football players reading this, would you want to be the guest of honor at my little girl’s birthday party in March? Maybe you @haleyboy10 ?
You can be the honorary Team Captain (and some great PR).
And make some little girl the Big Kid On Campus for at least a week for and after her birthday week!
That’s all for now knuckleheads. Have a great week!
Well as you may know by now, we don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day at our house. We haven’t for several years.
Each year we like to take off to someplace warm for a few days and thaw out from the winter freeze.
This year we had an interruption in our plans. Dylan was nominated by her school to be in the All-State Chorus for 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Their big performance was, you guessed it, the long weekend over Valentines Day; a.k.a. our escape day.
That Valentine’s weekend she actually had to arrive for practice on a Thursday. Then, practice all day Friday with their final performance Saturday morning.
We were very proud and happy for her. Mom drove the kids up after school that day. I drove up and went in to watch them practice after work. I didn’t know what to expect.
What would you anticipate?
When I opened the doors of the First Baptist Church in Columbia, SC all I could think was Wow!
Wow! Some place special for a Chorus event.
What a huge church and what a spectacular choir loft! My whole church could fit in that choir loft I thought. I was impressed! What a cool site for this special gig for our kids!
And as I watched them practice I became equally impressed the Chorus Director. He coached. He taught. He was high energy yet patient. He spoke to the kids at their level and with some very bright ideas I thought. It turns out this was no simple choir director.
Henry Leck
Henry Leck is known world-wide for directing children’s choirs. (who knew?) He has his own children’s choirs in Indianapolis. His back ground and feats was quite lengthy and impressive! He was summed up in his introduction that day as a Rock Star in the field of children’s choirs.
And he had those kids on track!
I tried to get some on tape to remember but my worn out phone was overwhelmed. Needless to say, during the long day of practicing no child was bored or lacked focus and he brought things out of the kid’s voices they were unaware they had.
So here is the final presentation Saturday morning. Can you find little Dylan?
Hint, she’s in the second row.
In the center, 2nd row up, 5th in from the left.
In a chorus full of 174 talented young 4th, 5th and 6th graders from the state of South Carolina,
could you spot my favorite one?
Well she spotted me and my family.
And she somehow knew I had the camera up looking for her too.
Here is that picture close up….
See her now… with a big cheesy smile for her Dad
So it’s by no accident that I post one of my fav songs from the concert first, the last song in the event actually.
You see that morning, as I dropped little D off for her big day, I didn’t know how she was feeling so I offered some advice of just trying to be in the moment, enjoy it, and Have Fun!
Don’t be nervous or anxious (one child actually threw up during rehearsal on Friday). Just enjoy your day and have fun!
In this last song the kids were supposed to snap their fingers. I was kinda disappointed Dylan didn’t join in right away. So I motioned snapping my fingers from my seat in the audience. She saw me right away and just mimicked me and snapped away!
So if you don’t think you can find little D among all these youngsters, look for the one up there swinging her arms, snapping her fingers and swaying her hips and having a good time.
That’s my lil D!
Below is another one of my fav tunes, that actually had me tear up.
Mr. Leck was the one who chose all of the songs for the event and well-chosen they were! If you would like to see more go to my Youtube channel.
In the song below he introduces real well, especially in wake of the tragedy of the shootings in Florida that happened earlier that week….
Like I said, I didn’t know what to expect driving up for this weekend. I was their for support mainly. But the event really Wow’ed me.
Great job everyone!
It turns out this was the first time this event was held in this beautiful church with its wonderful acoustics. It was held in gymnasiums or auditoriums before. Also this was the 20th anniversary for the SC All-State Chorus. Mr. Leck directed the first one, the 10th one’ and now number 20. So I, or we all really lucked out.
Dare I say we, ‘Lecked out?’ 🙂
But our Valentine’s getaway did not end there!
Next we were off to the Great Wolf Lodge; a hotel and resort built for the amusement of kids.
Oh god!
Mom told me I could hang at the gym or the bar if I got too kidded out!
And there were lots of them!
It too was a spectacular place! It reminded me kinda like a cruise. There was a massive check in Saturday, and everyone is herded into certain areas than shuffled off to other areas for other events at various times of the day.
But if you had a child, they were all smiles!
We were walking down the hallway one morning and both our girls were smiling so much they were practically gliding.
It was well done in a Montana type wolf lodge theme…
The rooms were pretty cool too. I guess they might by Suites be definition, as the kids had their own room, designed to look like they were inside a tent..with a TV (!!)
They have their own TV… I have mine!
Then, daily they had regular kid activities planned, mostly out in the lobby with the animated log cabin and a cast of characters and animals that would capture a kid’s imagination with an amusing story. Like the storytime I took Skye to that night.
She busted her way upfront and was completely engulfed in the robotics.
Skylar in the blue, front and center, waiting for the robot boy to talk again
They also have a pretty good indoor water park there!
That is the wave pool above. You can also make out some water-coasters too.
Yes, the resort may be for kids but the water Tornado was pretty exciting too as you glided half way up the walls in the down flowing currents.
swirling up the side of the Tornado
It was pretty exciting as you swirled around the sides, like riding in a giant toilet.
But the genius part of the Great Wolf Lodge was the Magi and Shadow Quest games that turned the hotel into an enormous treasure hunt activity.
Trust me, there were lots more kids in these hallways than this.
You’ll buy, er, chose a magic wand, top it with extra powers as you find and capture certain magical runes. Then set off on a quest to battle Charlock, the evil dragon, once you have accumulated all the mystical powers needed. You immerse yourself in Vellara, a realm of enchantment, as you befriend the Treetop Pixies, to give them their magical powers back then return special gems to Ursa Major (in order) to restore that bear back to the constellations.
Well, Ursa is when we ran out of time.
We completed about 14 such quests to get to help Ursa, becoming Master Magi(s) status along the way.
You get to decide how much time you want to spend with Magi-Quest, depending on how many quests you undertake at a time. Play can last anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours, er, all evening, as you go for more and more mystical Runes with the aid of your magi-wand and deciphering the clues on where to find these powers. You can always take a break and come back later.
Using their acquired powers to defeat the dragon
Now these clues for each now Rune (level) were hidden or riddled on three different floors. You usually had to find 5-7 items (treasure hunt) in order to acquire the new power, or Rune. One crystal would be at one side of the hotel, the next crystal on the other side of the hotel, then upstairs to the other side for a painting and then across to the other….
It truly captured (dozens of) kid’s imaginations as they raced through the halls (with their parents) to find the next secret.
They would play, tirelessly, for hours at a time. There seemed to be no end to it.
Their imaginations would be captured any given part of the day and energies worn down to zero.. so they could sleep well through the night.
Genius!
making the Red Crystals glow with her Magi Wand. It actually needed to glow Green.. “the crystal glows green if you’ve found all that you need. IF it glows Red you can not proceed.“
Add to it the instructions asked you not to use the elevator in the middle of the resort but the stairwells on the sides (ahhhh!!!)
What a workout!
You had a list of clues on where to find all the crystals or amulets or paintings BUT not all information was given (like the Pixie Crystal above). Somethings you had to figure out for yourself!
Or ask the kid that was a step ahead of you what they did.
To defeat the dragon you needed a Powerful Shield, the Frozen Arrow, and the Freezing Spell; three items not easy to come by!
figuring out how to awaken and defeat the Dragon
“The order of the Symbols is critical here.
Down the Forgotten Hallway you will find them.
Within a Great Painting these symbols appear.
You will be better served to mind them.”
But what they didn’t tell you is you had to offer these symbols in a certain order at the opening of the Dragon’s gate, plus one symbol not mentioned, to proceed just to wake him up to battle; otherwise he never knew you were there.
Genius!
Like I said, a great place to be a kid.
As for me, MY special delight was….. are you sitting down…..
DUNKIN DONUTS!!!
delivered right to your door in the morning for a breakfast!
This must be what heaven is like!
3D Breakfast…Donuts Delivered to my Door in the morning
So that is where we spent this year’s Valentines Day vacay.
Wonderful singing, fancy hotel rooms, over-chlorinated pools, magical story times, magical quests, and Dunkin Donuts delivered right to my door.
I think this beats Jamaica.
Photo Op ~ yes the kids were all smiles!
Have a great week knuckleheads!
I’ll try to do better next time!
Today only comes around once in a life time. Make it AMAZING!
OUR LIFE IN 3D 