Garden: Week 10

This week's garden photos brought to you by Grampap-E and the letter "S".

Sometimes I think that the garden has turned into a crowd of parents jockeying for position at 5am in front of Toys R Us because Christmas is 3 days away and there's one Tickle Me Elmo left.

The cucumber plants are bullies.  They have these awesome little Indiana Jones-like "whips" that they use to try to take over the whole garden.

A big thank you and hats off to Pap-Pap, who came over after work the other day and helped me install a little sprinkler system/drip lines attached to a timer, so that the garden won't die when we go on vacation.  Can you say "Automatic Watering!"  What took us about an hour probably would've taken me 3-4 hours with my 3 "helpers".

Before being vanquished by the cucumber clan, the green peppers were trans-planted into their own separate pot with their very own drip line.

Okay, okay, so I'm a little bit corny...

Yay!  Finally, some cucumbers that are bigger than my pinky.

Can you eat me now?  Can you eat me now? ...  Good!  (and Yum!)

See you on Fatherhood Friday,

Busy-Dad-E

Memorial Day 2012

On Memorial Day, we pause to show respect and to remember all those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, at home and abroad.

Thank you for giving me the freedom to enjoy my family.

Today, and everyday.

Have a great week,

May God Bless America,

Busy-Dad-E

Dad-E in Training

The other morning, Mom-E walked into Bab-E Brother's room to find him talking away to all of his animal friends.

He had each one snuggled up warmly with their own burp towel.

Unfortunately for Barney, he was being slightly suffocated by his blanket.

Fortunately, Bab-E Brother has plenty of time to continue honing his Dad-E skills, but he's off to a great start.

Have a good weekend,

Busy-Dad-E

School's Out

School's out, school's out,
Teacher let the monkeys out...

Unfortunately, the monkeys are now at our house.  All.  Day.  Long.  Swinging from the ceiling.

Big Brother and Little Brother are officially done with school.

And while, Mom-E and I are basking in the glory of fewer lunches to pack, the absence of homework and AR (the latter deserving it's own "Amen!"), and more relaxed schedule overall, Big Brother had a very eventful last day of school.

Mom-E was at the gym, when she heard that their had been an armed robbery at a pharmacy about 1/2 mile from Big Brother's school.

Despite the fact that the suspect got away, Big Brother's school was placed on "soft lockdown" and parents were not notified, which surprised both Mom-E and I.

Mom-E and I decided that we'd both feel more comfortable if Mom-E picked up Big Brother (I think they were pretty much playing Nintendo all week). 

And being the last day of school, with all kinds of programs for parents (the place was crawling), soft lock-down consisted of the PE teachers hanging out in front of the school?

Mom-E felt like the staff looked at her ask if she was from Mars, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Fortunately, Big Brother was quite happy about this.  His class had a pizza party that afternoon (still can't get the boy to eat pizza), but Big Brother was more excited about getting to open his end of the year prize.

Needless to say, an eventful last day of first grade.

Fortunately, the suspect was apprehended later in the day.

See you on Fatherhood Friday,
Busy-Dad-E

Garden: Week 10

On the downside, we've been battling some pesky Japanese beetles, who have a penchant for corn.

The cucumbers are also not playing very nice with the other vegetables, literally trying to strangle their neighbors in an attempt to usurp more garden space.

But on the upside, we've started to harvest a teeny little bit.  Some squash, green onions, and cilantro.

If I could upload the smell of fresh cilantro for you I would.  So pungent and so appetizing.  Knocks the socks off the stuff in the store.

Makes me want to go have a (Crystal Light) Margarita.

Have a good week,
Busy-Dad-E

Beach SwingBall

Happy Fatherhood Friday!

The boys and I have invented a new game, called Beach SwingBall".

Lately, we've been spending some time after dinner outside on the swing set.

Similar to the picture below, we have three swings, so that the boys can all swing simultaneously.

Big Brother has a "regular" swing, and the other two boys have a "bucket"/child's swing.

You can imagine the fun and chaos of trying to assist 3 boys simultaneously in such an endeavor.

It feels like one of those jugglers who spins plates on tall poles.  "Dad-E, can you push me?  From the back.  No, the front.  Dad-E, I want to go higher?  Can I pretend to kick you when I swing?  Can you fall over on the ground when I pretend to kick you?  Higher, Dad-E.  Higher!  Dad-E, push me!"

Bab-E Brother in particular has his idiosyncrasies while swinging.

For several days, he kept saying, "I want to go higher."

It seemed like no matter what Mom-E or I would do - push his swing in front, in back, stop the swing, etc, etc - nothing would suit, and he'd just continue to scream, "I want to go higher."

Turned out that "go higher" mean grab ahold of the swing, pull him up in the air (like you're about to set a pendulum in motion), and let go.  All smiles and giggles with that.  Only problem is he asks you to "go higher again" about every 27 seconds.

The boys are also obsessed with a large plastic beach ball that currently inhabits our back yard near the swings.

One day, probably out of frustration from trying to assist 3 crabby swingers and their whims, "Dad-E, can I hold the beach ball while I swing?" I threw the ball in their direction.

The timing was just right, and one of them managed to kick the ball - pretty hard - in mid-air while swinging, and it sailed over my head.

Thus, the sport of Beach SwingBall was born.

It's a pretty simple game, although quite a cardiovascular workout for the accompanying adult.

How to Play:

1.  Allow all players on swings to "go higher" to suitable height.  (You'll have to do this repeatedly throughout the match.)

2.  The Pitcher (adult) throws the ball to each Batter/Kicker, one at a time, timing the pitch so they have a chance to kick the beachball in mid-air.

3.  When the ball is kicked, if the pitcher catches the ball before it touches the ground, the batter scores 0 points and the Pitcher scores 1 point.

4.  Points are scored by Batters as follows:

-Kick the ball and it goes forward and is NOT  caught by the pitcher = 1 point

-Kick the ball over the pitcher's head = 2 points

-Kick the ball to another batter, and that 2nd batter kicks the ball after it touches the ground, and it is not caught by the pitcher = 2 points

-Kick the ball to another batter, and that 2nd batter kicks the ball without it touching the ground, and it is not caught by the pitcher = 3 points

-Kick the ball to another batter, and that 2nd batter kicks the ball without it touching the ground, and it goes over the pitcher's head = 4 points

5.  Winner is the first player to score 10 points.

(Disclaimer: Not my boys.)

Have a good weekend,

Go out and play!

Busy-Dad-E

Garden: Week 9

It's nature unleashed!  (Methinks we planted stuff a little too close together.)

So after another round of fertilizer last week, the garden has mutated into a green monster that is starting to take over.

In particular, it's "Revenge of the Cucumbers", as they've shot out these lasso-like things that will pretty much jump out of the garden and grab you if you walk by.

Okay, maybe not, but the cucumbers are starting to vine out everywhere, threatening the existence of peaceful green pepper plants from Alderaan.

Elsewhere in the garden, it's "A New Silk".  Just in the past week, we've see the emergence of corn tassels, and some corn silk, where the stalks are starting to widen.

Mom-E decided that the tassels should be called "pre-corn", which I really liked and prefer over tassel.

Say it with me now "... Mmm ... corn!"

And then below the surface of those giant leaves that are bigger than my head, we have "Attack of the Squash", which appear to be creating a clone army of yellowy goodness (I promise we did not use growth enhancers to speed up the maturation process).

See you on Fatherhood Friday,

May the Garden Be With You!

Busy-Dad-E