OUR LIFE IN 3D

The Home of Daddy's Day Dare! ~ I am just trying to stay above water

27 Aug 2012
10 Comments

DYLANism: Those meddling kids!

First, I have to start off by saying that the girls go to the local library every week for story time. Then they come home with a handful of videos. Well for the last two weeks or so they have brought home a Scooby Doo video, full of small episodes from the Saturday morning fame. In fact, when she plays pretend now she sometimes asks me to call her Daphne and she calls me Fred. 

So this past Sunday we were going to get some ice cream. I ducked in my closet to get some shoes. Dylan, following me on my tail, sees a plum red (awful IMHO) cocktail dress of my wife’s. It was a Christmas present last year. Dylan looks at the dress and says, “Daddy, when’s Mommy ever gonna wear this dress?”

She’s into dresses now. 

I shrugged my shoulders with a chuckle, “I don’t know Dylan.” 

So Dylan chimes in, either getting, or not getting my smirk, “Halloween? She could wear it Trick or Treating.” 

I laughed to myself and said, “Maybe.” 

So I went out to get my keys. They were not at the usual spot. I asked, “Dylan, have you seen my car keys?” 

“No Daddy” she responds. And so we went to look for them in my car. Dylan ran ahead. 

We got to my car, Dylan popped in the front seat and said, “I don’t see them Daddy.” 

I looked in the ignition switch and sure enough they were not there. I said, “OK Dylan lets go back inside. I have to see if I can find those keys if we’re going to go. I don’t know where they can be now.” 

Dylan hops out of the car, and looks at me, shrugging her shoulders and offers, “looks like we got ourselves another mystery on our hands!” 

Now if we could only find the keys to the Mystery Machine!  

Does that mean there’s no ice cream?

Posted in DYLANism's and tagged , , , , ,
24 Aug 2012
12 Comments

A Beautiful Surprise!

Surprises can be good. And sometimes surprises can be horrible. It has been awhile since I received any sort of good surprise from my writing or blog. However Nadia, at “A Little Bit Of This And That”, changed all that as she included and surprised me in her handing out her “Beautiful Blogger Awards”.

Yes, I was surprised, delighted, kinda amazed, embarrassed, flattered, and ever so grateful to know someone likes what I am trying to do in this blog. Thanks so much Ms. Nadia!

If you have never visited Nadia at “A Little Bit Of This And That” please check her out. She is a fairly new blogger. She is younger (than me) and writing about all the new, fresh observances from her part of the world, the UK. It’s amazing how much we still have in common. ~ After all, she’s a “Beautiful Blogger” herself 🙂 . Check her out!

So now there are some obligations I need to take care of in order to fully embrace this award. These duties, as I’ve been told are that I must:

A) Write ten interesting things about myself, B) Nominate other bloggers who I feel deserve this award, C) Let them know about the nomination!

First, I understand the word “Interesting” is a subjective term, so please bear with me. You really don’t want to know what my favorite movies, songs or artists are, do you? Second, I now need to come up with 7 ‘interesting’ things about me that you don’t already know (I’m such an open book). So let me think about this a second…….hmmm. Let me get started:

10 Things about me:

1)     I love to travel. So it was with great joy when our two daughter’s Passports arrived in the mail this week. My next project might be a travel blog.

World travelers

2)     Yes, I am a beach bum. I love the coast. I love the ocean. I love the beach. I love the sun on my skin and a cool breeze running through my hair. I love the colors of the ocean; and the sea / sand combination. I love the coastal way of life. We have traveled to many scenic places and loved everyone. Ireland was unforgettable! But we always find time to travel to the Caribbean each year.

3)     I am actually an Introvert. I rate INTJ on the Myers / Briggs Personality Test. Conversely, I love to cook and write as some of my creative outlets which some would call extroversive. I love creativity in any size, shape, or form. That’s why I read your blogs! They are really the only thing that I actually read as I hate to read. Reading is like work to me.

4)     I used to make my own beer, which goes hand in hand with loving to cook, as you had to follow detailed instructions. It was closer to a chemistry experiment. Honey Raspberry, Belgium Wheat, and Maple Oatmeal Stout were my favorites. Now, with two young ones, my hobby has turned to making ice cream. Oreo Cookie Mint is my new favorite along with a lemon sorbet in the summer.

Part of the set, carboy and returnable bottles. Everything has to be sanitized

5)     I would love to be a standup comedian but I have the same problem with speaking in front of crowds as most people.

6)     I had 4 high school track records when I graduated high school. I also played football and wrestled in high school.  I think wrestling is the best sport in high school and kept at it until my shoulders started to go bad.

7)     In 1998 the Bone Doctor said I had the shoulders of a 70 year old man. I have no cartilage in them now and my rotator cuff has to navigate through a channel of bone spurs. If it sounds painful it was. He said my shoulders would need replaced but I was too young to do it at the time. He told me “my days in the gym, as I know them, were over”.  I was crushed! I was never to lift anything over my head again. Never being one to listen to authority, I continue to go to the gym but listen to my body. I don’t lift anything over my head but can still do 35lb front dumbbell raises and push 225lbs on a seated bench-press, which I am kinda proud of with these old man shoulders. ~ Glucosamine really, really does work!

8)     As far as a ‘Beautiful Blogger’ goes, my feet have been a well-kept secret! I have a beat up big toe on my left foot from work. I have a monkey-looking small toe on my right foot that was broken last year while I was cleaning up the kid’s toys. And an arthritis knot behind my big toe on my right foot that makes me buy shoes a size bigger than what I need. In a word ‘scarey-looking‘. But these feet ‘of a 70 year old’ are the only thing I have that keep me running!

I thought I might ride my bike for a while

9)     Personally, I found being a parent is the greatest joy you can experience. It changes you. It really does. I cried more the first month of being a father than I ever did. For no reason! I was never like that….about kids. Things that used to matter to you aren’t as important any more.

We’ll keep you safe…

But it isn’t all fun and games! It can be very bi-polar at times.

Eating the lip gloss again!

But our two really are gifts from God. They found us. Literally.

Kids are a gift!

10) I am soooo not hip anymore. I thought they said in the song, “I got the moves like that, I got the moves like that” in that one new song. My wife explained to me they actually sing, “I got the moves like Jagger. I got the moves like Jagger”. I am so not hip anymore!

I have been doing this blog for going on 9 months now. I have ran across many blogs that I enjoy reading and following myself along this time. As I said, they are the only thing I read.

Some of the reasons I follow some blogs are that they parallel my interests or hobbies, mostly around fitness. I follow others because the writers are just very fun, interesting people. A few others are some great people I am cheering for or otherwise trying to support. Also I find there are some very good writers out there that  have a great command and creative use of the English language, where they can offer blogs that always are fun, optimistic and upbeat.

All these (you) bloggers are great at what they (you) do. You are All Award Winners for your great writing skills you have! But I wanted to recognize a few of my favorites (it’s the Award duty) from that last group symbolizes Beautiful Bloggers to me. They are the ones I look forward to reading each day. So here are some of my choices for the Beautiful Blogger Award. I bowel down to their awesomeness :

Life, Underestimated & Overanalysed: written by a talented young lady that loves to travel, jot down her own ideas on writing, and even writes some original material…when she’s not buying shoes. Her blog flows like a professional of paperback novels. This Brown-eyed miracle girl first caught my attention when she was describing some daily activities while in Italy last year. She literally made me feel like I was there…and want to visit sometime soon! This is who I would like to do a travel blog with!

Southern Sea Muse: One click shows why I enjoy this blog. She is another take on coastal living. She’s fun, upbeat, always scenic and helps take me to her little part of the coast. Its just the blog for me when I want to get away.

idrankthecfkoolaid: actually has parts of all the reasons I follow blogs I listed above. It is done by a young lady doing the Cross Fit Challenge. Additionally, she is a wife and mother and still finds time to do the fitness and then write about it. Phew! What I like is it’s not all  peppy and cheery all the time. She has her up days and down days just like the rest of us. And she’ll let you know. What I like most about her blog is that she finds 101 ways to be awesome, reminding us we all have our awesome moments. A more recent gem: Sweat is just liquid awesomeness! Check her out and find YOUR Awesomeness!

Taking The World On With A Smile!: Is a blog I think I honored once before. She does a great blog in her part of New York; her observances, thoughts, pet peeves, and kids. She writes every Sunday. And then, every week, everyone one of her ‘Commenters’ literally wants to give her a hug. Really! I do too! But then people would talk.

Lolabees: One click on her web site and you can see why I like it. But the coastal pic isn’t it. It’s like looking out an open window on a spring afternoon. Lola enjoys traveling, great dining and a tequila connoisseur  (more passions of mine). Plus, she is in search of a new career path, which I can empathize with too. She’s fun and fresh, upbeat and optimistic. She leaves a Dental background and has lots of fun with that topic, i.e. “Ten Reasons Why Your Dentist Hates You”. Or “Ten Reasons Dental School….ahh….was not for her.”

If  / when you check out any of these blogs tell them 3D says Hello! Thanks for dropping by. Thanks again to Ms. Nadia for this honor. I hope everyone has the best weekend yet! Keep up your beautifulness!

Posted in The More Awards I Get The Worse I Look (awards and other surveys) and tagged , , , , ,
15 Aug 2012
4 Comments

Privacy Please!

I wanted to take a minute and tell you about something I thought interesting that happened here this past weekend. Its glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous. But first, I wanted to give a shout out to my friends in, and the country of Great Britan for putting on some fabulous Olympic games and activities last week. Nicely done!

I was captivated at both the beginning and ending ceremonies for these Olympic games. That’s something I could not say in the past, even when our country put them on. These events were well coordinated, transitioned well, visually awe-inspiring, talent laden and a few surprises. In a word “Impressive”! My memory (such that it is) recalls previous opening and closing ceremonies with phrases conjured of “what is that”, “why”, and “is that the best you can do”. Not this time in the UK. I was sorry to see them end.

What did you think of the Olympics?

Another big event that happened last week was the PGA Championship held on one of our neighboring barrier islands, Kiawah Island. Now, I am not a big golfer but I do recognize a big sporting event when they occur locally. Same as the Family Circle Tennis Cup here in the spring, I can’t afford to go to either!

As the time for the PGA event drew near, many famous golfers came to town early to get themselves acclimated with the area (hot and humid in August) and practice a few rounds on the championship course before the event opens. But even with that expectation of these great golfers coming to town sometimes we can still take notice. Such was the case when  the 155 foot yacht pulled up at the marina at Kiawah Island, with the contradictory name, “Privacy”. Even at a yacht club for many of the Southeast’s wealthy and pampered sea-goers, a 155 foot boat stands out.

Just trying to blend in and find a place to park

So then it would be no surprise to find out the eye-catching yacht actually belongs to Tiger Woods. It seems this $25,000,000 toy is how Tiger likes to go to coastal golf events (some of you may know this already). He can pull up early, catch some lodging with security and ‘privacy’ of his own planning, then escape to the hulls of the ship when he is not competing (echo, echo, echo).

So have any of your friends ever let you on their mega-million dollar ship? If not, let’s take a closer look into how the rich and famous get around, when they are not flying in a mega jet.

Its sure not the ‘Minnow’

Tiger purchased his golf-battleship back in 2004. His yacht is reported to have (only) 6,500 square feet of living and work space and a capacity to sleep up to 21 people in a master suite and five guest rooms. Research shows it includes a gym and a theater, and carries three Ski-doo’s. People magazine has reported of Tiger Woods’ yacht that it “offers all the comforts of home, certainly not my home. It has a massive 2,000-gallon water tank, a Jacuzzi, an elevator, a sky-lounge bar, a walk-in refrigerator, a deck dining area that seats 12, two built-in wall safes and a brothel (just kidding ~ had to slip that in).

Privacy’s interior includes cherry wood. His gym, a converted stateroom, includes free weights, a treadmill and exercise bike. There’s a transparent circular stair case. The ‘living room’ is conveniently located between the bar and the dining room.

Tiger’s Den

No word on entertainment being offered in the sky-lounge or not. What do you think? Christina Aguilera  or Pearl Jam? ‘Privacy’ has a working staff of 8-9 to keep her afloat, clean, and Tiger fed (Grreaaat!).

Woods took delivery of his yacht in time for his wedding to Elin Nordegren in 2004; the couple spent their wedding night aboard the Privacy. It has been  reported that it was Nordegren, prior to the wedding, who made most of the interior decorating choices for the yacht.

Ironically, the yacht was offered to the former Mrs. Woods as part of their divorce settlement but she declined to take it, stating the upkeep would be too expensive for her.

For instance, the fuel tanks can hold 12,000 gallons of diesel. If marine diesel is selling for $4/gallon, it is $48,000 to fill up the tank. A boat like this might burn 50 gallons per hour at cruising speed.

Rumor has it the yacht is now for sale for $20 million.

We just have to imagine what the other rooms are like…

“Privacy” is full of pricey bells and whistles that not only make it Woods’ ‘personal’ yacht but also his sanctuary. It allows him the ability to elude the public and media. But as far as ‘privacy’ it may make him more noticeable than any other golfer. Or any other athlete! I wonder what Singh and Mclroy left in?

Here is a quick, scenic video of Privacy at Bohicket Marina at sunset. Have a great weekend!

As far as privacy goes, here’s a link to where the boat is right now:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=319164000

Posted in Archives
14 Jul 2012
4 Comments

Memo: Summer vacation should never be dull!

So how is your summer so far? Have you been able to get out and enjoy some of the great activities outdoors? Our life in 3D has been fairly busy so far although “activities outdoors” turned out to be a bit of a curse. You’ll see what I mean later. When you live on the coast you get a lot of visitors in the summer. This year has been no exception. So I wanted to get you an update on where we have hiding the past month or so, sans WordPress.

Our girl’s summer vacation began with the end of school this year. Their Aunt Sue came down from PA for a week. Aunt Sue is one of the several friends that love to dote on our girls. If I was to guess I would bet she has half of their Christmas presents bought already and part of their birthday gifts. She doesn’t need a reason. If she see’s it, its on sale, and its cute, has something to do with Disney Princesses, cute clothes or shoes she will buy it for them. (Shhh… my wife and I hardly ever have to buy any clothes for our kids the way this works.)

Aunt Sue came down with a to-do list in hand. During the week the kids went to the park  or Chic-fil-a to play every day.

Hang on…. there’s more

Cinderella, you’re soo mav!

They played at home doing one of their favorite activities: Playing “dress-up”.

Knickitty knock-knock Tink!

They went to the nearby water park and then we all went to the beach on Saturday. We left in the morning to avoid the bridge traffic jams, bad leftover parking spots and prospecting for a spot on the beach.

Summer Saturdays in the surf and sand

The down side of going to the beach Saturday however is that it eclipses my gym day. So the first thing I did was try to sneak in a run back across that island bridge. Phew! Do you know how hot and humid it is running outside? That was sarcasm as I spend most of my running indoors on the dreadmill.

You can practically feel the humidity through this picture!

It was a great week and great weekend. Its always like a bit of a vacation for us when people come to visit as there is always plenty of attention to go around to the girls. They are at their best the whole time!

The next weekend the girl’s Aunt Charity came down with our girl’s favorite cousin Nikki. Nikki is two years older than Dylan and the two really hit it off. In fact that’s where she is at right now. Its great to see all three of them together! This time, however, we had to try to fit that ‘summer vacation week’ into a weekend.

Our ‘Heartbreaker’

So once again it was out to the beach. The kids love to play in the water (me included) and we had a great time. Then we hit a great beach restaurant on the way back before naps.

She Luvs the water!

Afterwards,  packed up the car again to go see a the Disney Movie “Brave”. To me, this was not the typical Disney movie. The young heroine actually rebels against her own mother. My wife points out this is nothing new for Disney if you think about the Little Mermaid. But it was a good movie.

I really enjoyed it and a must see for any mother / daughter duo out there. Plus it was set in Scotland with all those wonderful Scottish accents and scenery. (paralleling the movie Braveheart in a sense)

The next weekend was a break at our house. Our neighbors are a couple of loving grandparents. Accordingly they shipped 12 (yes, I said 12) of their closest grand kids in from all over to spend the summer here. They are all great kids. None are older than 10 and so they work out great with our two cherubs. Two or three of the oldest kids have really taken to our two. So I invited those three and my two to our downtown aquarium on Saturday.

We had the best time since I have taken our kids there. The popular favorite was the 12 foot albino alligator. We also saw a 10 foot Nile Croc curl up and scratch his ear like a dog. They are supposed to be sedentary aren’t they? Dylan petted a snake. Skylar grabbed said snake when it was here turn. I had a hard time pealing them away from the exhibit where you pet passing rays and horseshoe crabs.

“We got Fins to the left, fins to the right…”

They enjoyed seeing the jelly fish and sea turtles. Then they all caught their breath in front of the large tank. This time the 4 foot sharks kept making their passes right by our kids sitting on the floor. They swam up close enough to the glass where it was easy to spot their 3 rows of teeth. One time one swam up slow and close, appearing to almost stop right behind an oblivious Skylar, who had her back to the tank. The shark got everybody else’s attention!

The next week was the 4th of July week. Our old neighbors and best friends came back to town to visit and spend time with their family. We met up with them at the mid-week fireworks display. The kids had a great time playing with their oldest as us older kids just sat around and caught up.

The next morning it was back to the movies to watch a free airing for kids. We were lucky to see Dreamwork’s, “Puss In Boots”.  It was quite creative I thought as it wove a story line using practically every story book character around, from little Boo Peep, Jack and Jill (they weren’t so nice) Humpty Dumpty, Jack and the Bean stalk with the goose that laid the golden eggs and many more.

Salma, Antonio and Humpty-Dumpty disguised as the Golden Egg

It was a better than expected flick with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek in the lead roles. Hey, where Mathew McCoughney is to you girls Salma Hayek is to me.

Somewhere I picked up the most tenacious case of poison ivy that past week. I was wiping it with pure bleach. That didn’t even keep it down. It fell nicely into the weekend plans however.

Saturday and Sunday our friends stood us up found other people they needed to visit. We got it but it left our kids hurting as they were looking forward to doing fun times with them again. So how do you distract the broken hearted kids? Take them back to the beach! That was my idea. I remember from my youth how the healing powers of the sea ( they really are!) do great things to cases of poison ivy. That was my plan Saturday morning when I said “Let’s go”. I spent two solid hours playing in the salt water! The only effect the sea had on my poison this time was spread it around to my butt!

I was spreading getting the poison in all the worse places to get poison ivy. Think of the worst place to you? Yep, I got it there too. Sunday morning I got it on a place on my bum where I couldn’t see it. It just itched there! I had to stand up on a chair in front of the mirror in the bath to get a glimpse of how and where it spread. Now, imagine the feeling you might get as you innocently turn the corner in your bedroom early one morning and find your spouse standing up on a chair looking at their bum in the mirror? Its never dull around here!

Seizing the opportunity, I hopped off the chair and exclaimed, “Perfect timing!” (No doubt) I told my wife that I had a new batch of poison where I can’t see it and barely reach it. I asked her if she would do me the honors of dabbing the new batch of poison with a cotton ball filled with bleach. She fell to my logic and reluctantly agreed.

Now, going back to the idea of “never dull around here”. I bent over a bit, put my hands on my knees and prepared for the cold sting of the bleach ball. My wife started painting the affected area on my backside with the Clorax. All was quite until Dylan turns the corner and asks, “Whatcha doing mommy?”

“Well I, ahhh….you see., ahhh…because I, ahhh…. Dylan! Shouldn’t you be getting ready for church?

But the party doesn’t end there. You see, in our church they do a children’s sermon where they bring all the kids up in front of everyone and the Pastor tries to tell them a story or lesson. That Sunday’s theme was helping out other people. The Pastor asked if they helped out at home.

Help with the cleaning he asked? Help putting away their toys? He was leading up to when Jesus helped two people, ridding their illnesses, when entering a new town. And so he asked the kids if they ever need help at home when taking their medicine?

Dylan finally chimes in, “Well Pastor, I don’t so much, but this morning, my mommy…….”

Never a dull moment!

I hope the rest of your summer continues to get hotter and hotter…in the fun way, not literally. And that your summer may never rest on DULL.

PS: I went to the doctor that same Sunday afternoon and got a shot in my now infamous bum.You can’t have poison ivy when there are kids around, can you?

What fun things have you done this summer?

What has been one of your more embarrassing moments?

Posted in Archives and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
27 Jun 2012
10 Comments

DYLANism: What’s that in your pocket?

This morning I woke up and got up for breakfast. I made it all the way to the shower before either of our kids woke up. Dylan usually wakes up before I do but she seems to be running a bit of a fever the past two days and so has slept a little bit later.

I got out of the shower, dried off, and started the rest of my routine. Dylan walked in our bathroom, all quiet, sleepy and passive, about the same time Mom rotated into the shower from her nightly slumber. Luckily,  I was able to get my underwear on before Dylan turned the corner.

Dylan stood there watching me brush my teeth in my underwear. When I was done she asked, “is that a pocket Daddy?” looking at the sewn fly in my boxers.

Now, I realize the bulk of my readers are female but I have to guess you know what athletic boxers look like, so I will spare you the description, and how the fly is sewn on to the front.  🙂 For those of you that can’t imagine, I would just like to leave you with the adjectives: snug, majestic, and Micheal Jordon.

OK, I would like to leave you with that description but it wouldn’t be entirely true. And I know Micheal Jordan isn’t exactly an adjective but Hanes is.

Dylan left the door hanging wide open for a witty reply however with the ‘pocket‘ question. But, as I looked over my shoulder to see Mommy looking at me in a somewhat unglamorous position, after staggering into  the shower room (she rarely opens her eyes when she makes this trip), I figured I better behave.

I replied, “why yes Dylan it is a pocket?”

“What’s it for Daddy?”

The one liners are just sitting on the tip of my tongue but rolling with it I told her, “Well I can put my keys in there. Or my wallet…..Or both.”

Dylan deduces, ” Isn’t it hard to find there Daddy?”  (thanks sport)

I agreed, “Well that’s the idea Dylan” as I looked over to Mommy for approval.

Mommy just shook her head and flushed her face into the palms of her hands in disbelief.

I don’t know what she was shaking her head about? I was proud of myself for keeping the conversation to a ‘G’ rating and yet still a wee bit amusing (pardon the pun)

So, to all you new parents out there, you have these conversations  to look forward too!

No, there’s no money in there…

Posted in DYLANism's and tagged , , ,

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