Melting

Today is HOT, we are HOT...

Look Out, Lance!

That's Andy after returning from the "Tour de Oregon" last week. He left Wednesday morning at the break of dawn, for a 100+ mile bike trip with his young men's group at church...

...and returned a conquering hero!

Read all about it, straight from him, here.

We are SO proud of you, buddy!!

Postcard from Biketown

Friday Funny - Lick It Up, Yum!

That's Danee after a yummy dinner of Prunes the other night. As you can probably guess, I put her right in the bath when she was done... And to minimize collateral damages, I picked her up - bumbo (chair) and all, and set her next to the tub while it was filling.

And it was there, while waiting for her bath, that Daneekins decided she wasn't quite done eating yet. Luckily there was still PLENTY of food virtually everywhere within her reach. But her choice was so hilariously awesome that I had to pull the camera back out, and in a turn of events that amazed me, she kept doing it!

How was she eating? Just Watch...



I wish the clip was longer, but the battery in the camera was so low it was having near death experiences. But yes, she was faceplanting onto her tray, and licking back and forth, slurping up the delicious, pruney leftovers... and making her daddy laugh so hard, his sides hurt!

Moments later, she was in the bath, ready for a power scrub!

Our Baby's A Little Fishie!

Day Two of our Lakeside Getaway was also our only full day... And we made the very most out of that day, including taking Little Miss Babykins down to the lake so she could splash around. She loved it from the moment she got into her suit!



The lake was the perfect temperature for swimming, and Danee seemed to agree. She loved it! She kicked and splashed and kicked some more, much to the delight of her mommy, daddy, brothers and sisters!

Postcard From The Edge... of the Lake

Lakeside Getaway

I wish I could take credit for this picture, but alas, I wasn't anywhere near the camera when Ellysa took it! Nothing like a happy surprise when going through the memory card at the end of the day!

Anyway, to make up for the complete lack of blog love this week, here's a "Baker's Dozen Plus" from our first day at the Brinkerhoff Lake House Too on beautiful Mason Lake, courtesy of Richard and Dorothy Brinkerhoff, two of our very favorite people in the universe!

The kids had a blast swimming...



That's Zoe jumping into the water. You may remember her from several Puddle Jumper posts... The day care was officially closed this week, but Zoe's such a great helper and all-around-awesome kid that she's really not impacted by such trivial things as daycare schedules... to the extent that she even came with us on our getaway!





Kaylee posing for her closeup...



Andy getting some serious air in his...



...chic pink tube...



Followed closely by Tyler...



Goofin' Off!



More Goofin'



Can't goof off too much when you're on vacation!



This is destined to be Andy's new Facebook pic...



The kids kept swimming well after our side of the lake had fallen into shadows. In fact, they kept swimming well after dark!



With a brief break for dinner...

Meanwhile, Danee got some quality snuggle time in with Grandma and Grandpa - Cindy's parents are up for a visit and couldn't refuse the offer to chill at the lake with us!



So there's your Baker's Dozen (assuming you started counting after the introduction) and here's the Plus!



Spin, Kaylee, Spin!!

Postcard from Grillsville

Happy Bouncin' - With Teeth!

Danee's adorable bottom teeth are already being joined by a pair of fangly teeth on the top, and boy is the teething making our otherwise sweet baby girl completely miserable!!

One rare moment of happiness came the other night, courtesy of her bouncy bouncer...



You can just barely make out the little teethies behind her bottom lip - you may need to click on the picture for the full size view - but they're even more visible here!



And finally, this is probably the best picture of her teeth we've gotten yet!

Burn, Baby Burn - Fircrest Inferno!

Why are all these people sitting on the curb? Is it a parade??



Well, that COULD be a parade...

...but it's not a parade...



The City of Fircrest purchased a home across the street from the Rec Center (and Pool!) to use the space for some much needed parking. (no one needs to start singing "Big Yellow Taxi", this house was definitely not paradise - but just for fun, click on the Song of the Day today for one of my favorite versions of that song)



Anyway, rather than pay a demolition crew to tear down the structure, the Fire Department used the opportunity to hold a training burn - much to the delight of all the spectators in town... and since it happened during the day on a week day, it was all the stay at home moms and daycare providers that lined up to watch... And I'm STILL being reminded of how "hot" the firefighters were... Blah Blah Blah BLAH!!!



I'll not stand for the objectification of hard working men like that!!! er... hard LEANING men... hmmm... wonder if the costume shop is open? I think I could do that!

But not this...





Now all that stands is the foundation and the concrete steps leading up to what was once the kinda run-down house on the corner.

And soon, it'll be a lot easier to find a parking spot during Fircrest Fun Days!

My Favorite Picture of the Summer (so far)

I took this a week or so ago, down at the pool on a Summer evening. I was standing across the pool from Cindy, Danee and Sofia, who is a Puddle Jumper by day. The sun was shining right on me when I took the pic, which really messed with the optics on the camera. A little tweaking to reduce the glare, and it just looks like a classic summertime picture to me!

And my wife's beautiful smile is something I'll never get tired of seeing!

Fun - AND SAFETY - In The Sun

Once again, we're all very happy to live so close to the wonderful Fircrest Pool. For our kids as well as the Puddle Jumpers, it just takes a quick walk down the hill to cool off to your heart's content.

And for Ellysa, our super watersports player and certified guarder of lives in and around bodies of water, she has an even easier commute than I do!



She's gotten hired on at the pool for the summer to keep the kids of Fircrest safe in the splash zone!

She watches over her sister...



...and her brother...



...and of course, assorted current and former Puddle Jumpers and other kids who only WISH they were Puddle Jumpers!





Cindy takes the PJs to the pool nearly every day, which - as I mentioned - makes the proximity to the pool VERY nice!

And Ellysa's employment there keeps it safe 'n' sane.

In Respectful Memory

I've been fortunate enough today to be working in my office (not out on location) and have had the Michael Jackson memorial playing in the background. The musical performances have been very, very good... Jennifer Hudson's version of "Will You Be There" is something that I hope sees release as a single... Mariah Carey revisited her MTV Unplugged performance of "I'll Be There" and even pulled Trey Lorenz out of obscurity to recreate it exactly - and she proved she can still truly sing.

But the one performance that stopped me in my tracks and made me switch over to watching rather than just listening was when John Mayer's guitar solo switched from improvised noodling to the recognizable chorus from "Human Nature". That song is, without a doubt, one of the finest pieces of Pop Music ever produced, and even as an instrumental guitar driven piece, it still had me mesmerized.

I'm dragging the Song of the Day out of its coma today so I can highlight the original sonic masterpiece. When contrasted with what most music recorded in 1982 sounds like, you understand why it's so often said that Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones created magic.

Click here to read more about the song, which was written by Toto's keyboardist, Steve Porcaro around the same time his own band was flying high with the keyboard driven single "Africa".

I haven't written anything regarding Michael's death, because I've really been at a loss for words. I'm not the type to be emotionally invested in celebrities, but his sudden and young death does leave me sad. I would have loved to see him in concert, and I hope that his now-posthumous "comeback" album doesn't sell well because of his death, but because it contains brilliant music.

In my career as a DJ, I've had an awful lot of fun thanks to the music of Michael Jackson. I'll miss his presence in the music world.

Rest in Peace, Michael.

Ridin' In Style

Our little Daneekins can often be found cruising around Fircrest in her Strollimosine, either Mommy or Daddy dutifully chauffeuring her around town...





And occasionally she'll wave to her adoring public - she's so humble like that!

Happy 4th o' July!

From all of us at KUWTB to all of you,

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY 4th o' JULY!!!

In case you missed it last year, click here to read one of my favorite fireworks activities, as seen on today's Rodney and Jim strip!

BOOOOOM!!

(oh, but if you do decide to have some blow'd up fun, make sure your mom approves)

(mom was reacting to this)

Sunday Funnies (on Saturday?)