Author: midder

The girls had their spring break last week. It of course coincided with a horrendous week for me at work, so we were never able to go out and do all of the stuff we had hoped to. But the girls did have a “late night” with their friends, we went up to the White Tanks for some hot dogs and smores, and got to go swimming yet again. Mixed in there somewhere we were able to celebrate Gwenyth’s 2nd birthday a few times.

Last Friday night, we piled in the trusty van and headed out to the White Tank mountains. I spent the better part of that afternoon in the hunting and gathering mode. I hunted and gathered firewood from over in Marley Park. They had just planted a bunch of fairly big trees, so there were broken tree boxes all over the place. Those, along with some pallet-looking things that I pulled out of the dumpsters, served us well for firewood. I thought we had enough to burn for 3 outings, but we ended up burning it all in the one trip. Of course I am a pyro. Not sure if that had anything to do with it. I heard the next day that some folks swore that they saw another version of the “Phoenix Lights” that night. I don’t have the heart to tell them that it was just my bonfire at the White Tanks. Enjoy the picture of Lucy posing on her 3rd trip to the toilet (nice facilities, by the way! All of you Maricopa county residents can rest assured that your tax dollars have been well spent!).

Saturday was actually Gwenyth’s birthday. We chose to let our friends throw a party for their little guy, Jackson. We haven’t said this out loud to each other, but I get the feeling that it’s because we knew that they would throw a better party than we would, and we didn’t want to miss out. They started heating their pool on Wednesday or so, to ensure that the temperature would be tolerable by noon on Saturday. Indeed it was great. I’m afraid that their gas bill may put a damper in their vacation plans this summer. Regardless, the girls were able to swim without fear of pneumonia. At least not until they got out of the water. It was a bit cool and windy on Saturday.

Tonight we officially celebrated Gwen’s 2nd birthday. We invited Grandma and Grandpa Elcock and great-Grandma Eslin out for a low-key evening. We went to Outback where Gwenyth got (what else?) “chicken noggats.” We came back home and opened up the loot and had a good time. She finally got her own little big wheel. I cannot believe that little Gwenny is 2!

Finally, Julie couldn’t believe the similarities in these 2 photos. See if you can guess who is who.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/

I just plugged in the camera and realized that I had a lot of pictures. Some from St George, some from Gwenyth showing off her belly, and some from my hike up to the White Tank Mountains last week. Just thought I’d share.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/

I just suffered through another episode of Celebrity Apprentice. I don’t believe that I have ever had the displeasure to experience someone as completely annoying and worthless as Ms Omarosa. So, this will be an Omarosa-free post on an Omarosa-free blog. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, consider yourself the lucky one.

It’s been a long time. My strategy has been that you all miss my wit so much that you’ll click on the ads on the page so that I can afford to have this kewl blog. But my strategy will need to change. Especially now that Ali has thrown down the who-ha gauntlet. Who knew that not only was Ali an awesome Wii tennis partner (just a reminder that we destroyed Julie and Mid), she’s the witty one to boot. I’d like to think that we were pre-destined to be a Wii team. We’ll name ourselves the wits. Maybe I’m making to much of it.

We’ve had a good . . . (has it been a month since the last post) . . . month or so since the last post. We went up to St. George for Brady Dunkley’s return from New Zealand. We got to experience him doing the Hakka, or as we call it around here, the “wanna-hacka-lugi.” I had some classic footage of Michael doing the Hakka at Lake Powell. However, sadly, he commissioned some thugs to steal the camera out of our van about 2 years ago, so the evidence is lost to posterity. Shame, it is.

Life continues to move on for us. We stay up too late, eat too much, and generally act as the gluttons we are. One of Julie’s friends told me today that I was looking too skinny, so I promptly ate a bag of Chips A’hoy. Yes, a bag. That’ll help the figure.

Last weekend we planted a garden. We’ve got lots of tomatoes, some herbs, peppers, etc. We finally cleaned up the area around it as well. We got some paver/brick things to outline the area. It looks much better. While we were putting it all together, the girls decided that it was hot and that they needed to cool off in the pool. It was about 80 degrees on Saturday. It was a beautiful day. The girls found out fairly quickly that, although it was warm outside, it wasn’t warm enough to contrast the 50 degree water (or whatever it was). So this means that we only missed just over 3 months in our swimming season. Hopefully they’ll get over their pneumonia soon.

We met all the siblings (sans the Davies, who, Aaron said, were — appropriately — “praying for [his] soul”) out at Kabuki’s in Tempe on Saturday night. It was good to set out of 85379 for an evening. For some reason, I was feeling less than adventurous about dining (plus I’m a sucker for shrimp tempura), so I didn’t get any sushi. I got the tempura and chicken. The tempura was great. The chicken was a few steps up from Samurai Sam’s, at best. But it was fun to be out there. Last time I was down at the area where Tempe Marketplace is now, there were piles of junk everywhere and a few less than desirable places. Looks like it pays to be a developer with friends on the city council.

Spring Break is next week. I hope we’ll be able to get out and do something fun. I’m a little worried about Lucy and the sun/heat. She spent much of Saturday telling me that she was really hot and that she couldn’t get the sun off of her head. Poor girl.

No, not the Valentine’s Day heavy breathing. Stop it. There is something about a one year-old’s heavy breathing that is like nothing else, and Gwenyth does it all the time. It might be because of her Chucky-ness. But that’s OK. Tonight I was laying down next to her in her bed, trying to get her to go to sleep. The heavy breathing would slow down, then start up again. I thought that she was nearly asleep, then the next thing I know she’s got a finger in each of my nostrils.

Julie, Lucy, and Grace are starting to feel better. Especially Julie and Grace. I’m very proud that she is one of the few world-wide to actually conquer the bird flu. Please send media requests directly to her. Unfortunately, Chucky herself has started to feel a little under the weather. We’re just passing it around, I guess.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Always an interesting day for me and usually disappointing for Julie. My intentions are always good, of course. I’ll see what happens this year. I love all of my girls.

More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/