All Powerful Moo-Moo

Before Caleb was born, we bought a small stuffed animal/stuffed blanket thing from Fred Meyer, mostly because it matched the colors Monica had decorated his room. We had no idea this thing would end up with more power than the president of the United States.
Caleb slept with the animal as an infant and immediately started to only sleep in his crib when the fuzzy animal was with him. For some strange reason, Monica and I thought it was a cow. Looking back we feel like idiots for thinking this since he is yellow (like a giraffe) ,has small pointy ears (like a giraffe), and he probably came with a tag that said he was a giraffe (like a giraffe). Thinking he was a cow though, we started to call him a sound that our little son could say at a young age, "moo-moo". It was cute a first, but now Moo-Moo has turned into an obsession with young Caleb. At 6 years old, I can't think of one day that Caleb hasn't slept with Moo-Moo. He's taken Moo-Moo on road trips, to strangers' homes for comfort, to grandmas' houses, etc. Everywhere Caleb sleeps, Moo-Moo goes.
As Caleb got older, we, as parents, have had less ammunition to threaten Caleb during times of discipline. Put him in time out, he doesn't care. Spank his little butt, no big deal. Ground him from the TV or computer, he goes outside. And I knew we were messing with holy ground one day last week, when I threatened a sassy Caleb that I'd take away Moo-Moo for the night. He kept on misbehaving though and you can guess where this story is going. I reluctantly told Caleb that Moo-Moo wasn't going sleep with him that night. I'm pretty sure Caleb's eruption rivaled Mt. St. Helen's. The first thing Caleb did was beg for forgiveness, literally. Then he ran to his room and hid Moo-Moo so we couldn't get him. And when bed-time came, all hell broke loose. The screaming, crying, and sobbing lasted for hours. Caleb wouldn't stay in his bed, he kept coming down to the living room begging to see Moo-Moo again.
I played along for awhile. I even took Caleb and we tucked Moo-Moo into my bed. Then Caleb came downstairs again and he wanted just to look at pictures on the computer of Moo-Moo. He came down again asking what time he could wake up to get Moo-Moo back. He even came down asking me if it was morning yet! I finally told him to sleep on the couch by me so we both could have some peace. He feel asleep within a few minutes which allowed me to finally finish my episode of 'Man Vs. Wild'.
When Mon and I went to bed, we found out that Caleb had snuck in our room and made sure Moo Moo was comfortable. He had placed Moo-Moo on the chair, with Caleb's blanket keeping him warm, and a book propped up for Moo-Moo to read. How cute is that! The kid really cares about his buddy Moo-Moo, that's for sure.

Abby's 1st Day of School

Abby's first day of pre-school was today. Like most parents with more than one child, her "firsts" are our "seconds" so they don't get as much hype.
There is no doubt in my mind that Abby will thrive in a school setting. She has been pretending to do school-work with her brother since age 2. She doesn't have to pretend anymore though, she's now going to a real school.
Mon and I are very proud of the angel Abby has turned out to be, though we are fully aware that there's a slight chance that her angel-like attributes may wear out the closer she comes to being a teenager. A friend of mine who's daughters are currenly teens, saw Abby jump in my lap a few days ago and said, "Enjoy it while she still likes you in the same room". We do enjoy Abby very much. She's our princess.

I May Be a Nurse, But I'm Still A Man

To say that Caleb was excited about school would be somewhat misleading, truth is he was estactic, but not about school as much as riding the bus. He woke up, put his clothes on and came into our bedroom at 6 AM stating he was ready and asking if we could take him to the bus stop. The bus doesn't come until 9. I worked the previous night, so I was pretty tired. I knew it was going to be an exciting time, but I wasn't really prepared for what happened. The bus came, Caleb gave Monica and me a hug and then ran to the bus, never looking back. He didn't even sit on our side of the bus to wave good-bye! Then I lost it, I dropped my man-hood and cried. He's all grown up. Monica was laughing at me. And I quickly snapped out of it. Hopefully I'll get over this sappy stuff now and get on with my life. I need to build something, chop up something, or maybe even kill an animal and drag it home....anything to regain my swagger.

Dear Caleb

Tomorrow, you start kindergarten. I've tried to explain that you'll be in school for the next 20 years, so just take it one day at a time.. but you don't seem to be catching my sarcasm.
I'm stunned that you are now entering public education. My boy is growing up. You haven't even started full-day school and I already miss my helper.
You're growing up too fast. A few days ago you liked watching Oobi and Scooby Doo, but now you watch Icarly and 'Drake and Josh'. Your Mom was quizzing you the other day if you knew what the show was about and asked you if you knew what a 'date' was and you answered "Mom...come on, you know..it's when a boy and a girl go to a restaurant and then do something fun". You're only six!! Stop that!
I remember before you were born wanting you so bad it hurt. And your life has brought me more joy than I thought. You are everything I could want in a son. I am deeply humbled that God has been so good to me that he sent you to me. God sent me a Jazz fan, how lucky is that!! I promise that in return to the blessing of being your Dad, I will give you every opportunity in the world to be successful and happy.
So as you move on to the "big" school. Please know that I love you very much. You make me heart melt. You make one of the happiest men alive smile often. You, along with your mom and sister, are my passion. Have a good day son.

Why would you take pictures of naked men?

I'm lucky to have great parents and yhen to have married into some great parents-in-law too. My Pa-in-law, Stuart, and I have spent a lot of time together the last couple years. We've had a lot of fun, got a lot done, and he's taught me a ton (I'm a poet and didn't know it??). Other than learning to fix things, save money, and sail, one of the greatest attributes that the Stu-man has is that he doesn't care what you think. And I love that about him (That's why I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind me telling this story) Though, he may have taken his care-free attitude a little too far a few days ago.
We were at a water-slide park for a family-day and following the water time I took Caleb to change out of our wet clothes. To avoid my hair from looking like a dog had just been attacked by a fire hose, I had brought some shampoo to wash my goldie-locks. But in the wide-open men's locker room, there wasn't a shower? I'm still a little confused of the lack of showers, but I digress. So I started washing my hair in the next best thing, the sink (You didn't think I was going to say the urinal, did you?) As I was finishing up rinsing my hair hunched over in the sink, I noted a camera flash. I turned around to see Stuart taking pictures of me. He was just about to laugh about it, when a big ole' burly, Harley-riding, beast-of-a-man growled, "Who's taking pictures in the locker room!" I'm pretty sure Stu would have crawled on his hands and knees along the gross floor if he could have. The big ole dude turned around from the urinal and looked right at Stu and repeated his roar, "Are you taking pictures in the men's locker room?" Stuart sheepishly tried to explain that he was just taking pictures of a guy washing his hair in the sink, but it was too late. I had locked up the moment in my head under the hilarious file. Good times. I love you Stu. At least I didn't tell the story about you jumping and screaming at little garder snake to only have a girl come over and pick it up with her hands and place it in a bucket for you. I always wondered where Monica got her snake-fighting skills....click here)

Surfing On Water

One of my favorite sports has become Wakesurfing. It's a sport that's evolved over the last 10 years from wakeboard boats that put up huge wakes.


It's a load of fun and easy on the body, since the boat is only going 10 mph. I can't pull huge tricks, but I have been placing my kids on the surf board between my feet since they could stand.



It's gotten a little more tricky as they're a lot heavier than before but we all have a blast. The coolest thing though is that now Caleb and Abby want to surf with their Dad. Having them not scared of the water is a plus, but having them still think their Dad is cool is sweet. I'm figuring that the "cool Dad" time is slipping away quickly, so I'll relish every moment I can.

Not Silver, Not Wood..Silverwood

We spent the day with the inlaw clan at the local amusement ride park called Silverwood. For being in the middle of nowhere, it's a fun place to blow through money. We spent the first half of the day at the water park and then the rest of the day on the rides.
The water park was full of wild kids, scantley-clad large women, germs, hairy men, and don't forget the guy with the tatoo all over his head and face. God bless America.
Speaking of scantely clad, Monica smuggled in some home-made cookies into the park despite the rules. What we hadn't planned for was some 14 year old kid with a plastic security badge checking everyones bags. The dude pulled out the box of said contra band and asked Mon what was inside the box. Mon played it cool though and while unbuttoning her blouse a few notches said in her sexy voice, "we have little kids who need cookies". The kid was rattled by Mon's sex appeal and let her take the illegal cookies in. Way to go Mon!




The afternoon evening was spent watching the kids on the kiddy rides and taking in a few roller coster for the grown-ups. They have a new roller coaster that was probably the most thrilling coaster I've ridden called the Aftershock. I took Caleb on a older wooden roller coaster and he had fun. I watched him the whole time sitting next to me and he shear terrror in his face. It was very similiar to the look he had at Lego Land. But again, he said he had fun and wanted to know what ride was next.


We all had fun. A big shout-out goes to Stu and Cody for footing the bill.

That Boy is a Stud

For those who are new to me, I love sports. If I spent as much time working on world peace that I do following sports, Pres Bush and Muhoud Ahmadinejad would be making out in back of a Volkswagen bus right now (Monica, that's the pres of Iran...he's considered an enemy to the U.S.). And I don't just follow pro sports, I can watch a high school game and enjoy myself just as much. I'm a looser, I know. And I don't want to push my kids into sports, but I do buy their food and provide them with clothes, so it might be a good idea that they play sports. And they should also be really good, if they want those dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets to keep coming.

Caleb went to a sports camp this week. Every morning they played Tee-ball, basketball, and soccer. He had a blast and wanted to show me what he learned every day after camp. On Friday, the last day, the parent were invited to watch the kids play.


Caleb was really in his element. He got to play competitive basketball for the first time, they even had little basketball hoops with little balls for the 5-6 year olds. Caleb was money. He never dribbled the ball once, despite the counselor yelling, "Caleb, you have to dribble the ball", but when he shot the ball, it was a thing of beauty. He even dunked once and pulled down the wimpy rim, just like we do at home. I hope he enjoys slam dunking now, since he is the son of two very white parents. I also got to watch him play T-ball and soccer, again he was one of the most aggressive kids playing. I was in heaven. The boy is a stud and I get to watch him every day for the next 20 years.

Non Family Re-union

My in-laws have a tradition of inviting a family to their lake house each summer. They sometimes refer to it as a family reunion, but since half the people attending are not related, Monica and I call it the non-family reunion. It's a weekend of food, lake time, more food, sun, friends, and more food. Did I mention the food is always good?

This year was no different. The weather was a little confused, but we took advantage of the windy conditions by sailing and when the weather was calm, we wakeboarded and wake surfed.

As with any extended period of time with my in-laws, I stuck my foot in my mouth about every 15 min. You'd think we'd all be use to me being a dork by now, but I try to keep my insult to appollogy ratio at 1:1.

The kids did great. We tried to be adventurous by staying a night in a tent at the lake (instead of driving 22 min to our comfy beds in our own bedrooms separated by walls 15 feet apart). I think we'll wait until Abby stops screaming in her sleep before we attempt a family tent night again. Caleb and Abby ran all day long with there cousins, aunts and uncles. Their energy level is staggering. Good times.

Grandpa's in Town

Most people tend to think that their Grandpa is the the coolest guy ever, but they are wrong, because my Grandpa is the coolest guy ever.

Grandpa W. was in town this week, he's on a long trek through the Northwest seeing kids, grand kids and great-grand kids. Caleb and Abby haven't been around him since they were babies, but that didn't stop and instant bond from forming. Of course being the coolest grandpa ever makes it easy for kids to love him, but it was a truly special couple days.

Grandpa played H-O-R-S-E with Caleb and told Abby that she was a princess over and over. We saw some local sites and took Grandpa out to the lake to share with him our good life.

He's a great man that has seem to have figured out our crazy world. It never takes long during aconversation with Grandpa to realize that he knows what's important and what's not.