Father's Day

Jill and the kids made it a very special Father's day for me. I slept all the way in til almost 9:00am. I awoke to singing and breakfast in bed (Cream of Wheat with strawberries). I was also flooded with cards, drawings, hand-made boxes full of Life Savers candy, stories, a hand-made pen/pencil holder and decorative gifts with glued chocolate candies (I'm saving that candy for later).

The gifts came randomly and as needed. Actually, a few of them came yesterday when I was called upon to BBQ. I needed some grilling tools to flip the steaks and burgers and ... voila ... I got them! Then today, right before church while I was getting ready, I needed some cologne and ... voila ... new cologne which was Tommy Bahama.

At church, we were lectured on being good fathers and then given Hershey candy bars. Of course the kids freaked out and wondered where theirs were. I actually enjoyed mine during the last hour of church.

We got home and I was called upon again to BBQ (which I dutifully did). I fired up the grill and laid on some corn and potatoes. Jill also had me fry up some meat candy (bacon) to top the potatoes. We ate the wonderful dinner and then enjoyed the afternoon playing games and such.

Later on, my dream came true. I've been dreaming of this moment for the last 365 days ... Jill's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with ice cream.
Now if you've never had Jill's homemade Strawberry Rhubarb pie, then you've just not lived life to the fullest extent. It is to die for. I love this pie so much, that I tell the kids that it tastes like broccoli just so they won't eat it. I'd eat the whole thing if I could. The pie has a life expectancy of 1 day. I'd walk a thousand miles for this pie.

This year, she did it a little extra special by making it all fancy looking with those strip things. It could have been sold in a Marie Calendar's restaurant and made a day's worth of revenue. In fact, I've told Jill on countless occasions that she should open up her own restaurant. I think she'd give other restaurants plenty of competition.

Anyway, it was a great Father's Day and I'm thankful for my kids and my wonderful wife who all make it possible for me to be a father. Without them, I'd be just another menace to society.

Pics of Our New Home

We know there are many far away friends and family who'd love to see our new home. Here are the pics of our new home. It's still a work in progress, but we are loving it.

Erick Swims

Erick is swimming now! Up until a couple of days ago we had to put water wings and a donut on him. Then one day he just started swimming without the floaties. He is so proud of himself! We're so proud of him too!

Crawfish Boil

Our neighborhood had a crawfish boil for Memorial Day.

Erick is mildly thrilled about the buggers.

Camille ... a little to unsure about the whole idea of eating those things.

Ben and Wesley sentencing the crawfish to their doom.

BEFORE

AFTER

Jill gnawing on one.

Emma cooking them up.

Our Daily Bike n Jog

Perhaps my favorite part of the day is coming home and going on a jog while Jill and the kids ride their bikes. My favorite route is along the west side of Lake Houston in East End Park. It is all forest with well manicured crushed-granite trails. Even Fritz enjoys the long jogs.

One of our first weekends here, Jill was up in Dallas for the weekend and I had the kids by myself. I took them through the park. It was my first time running through the park. To be quite honest, I was a little anxious of the unknown. We stopped along the lake at one point when Emma came running back saying she saw an alligator. Alligators are known to be in the lake. I went to investigate (feeling a bit frightened myself) and saw what she saw ... a log that looked exactly like an alligator sitting in the water ... there were two bumps that looked just like eyes. Plus, some boats had just motored by and made waves which gave the log some motion. Needless to say, our adreneline was up a bit.