Another Picture

Here is another picture from the same trip to VA. Joshy and John spent time with the kite on one of the windy days. I love seeing John with the boys. They truly do think he carries the world in the palm of his hand.

Old picture of Ben

I came across this picture today and it is hard for me to believe how much Benjamin has grown. Now he is a little man but it is true what people say. They never do stop being your little baby boy.

"I'm a naked boy"

This morning, I turn the corner to find two boys, entirely naked, wrestling on my bed. 

Boys are so weird. 

iPad

I am currently having a love affair with the iPad I borrowed from work for some heavy document reading.  That said, there is one downside I have found with this touch driven device.  It turns out the that hand you scroll with is also the hand you generally eat your fast food with.  This leaves three options.  Not working while eating.  Eating less greasy food.  Becoming ambidextrous.  Given those options and my understanding of myself and workaholic society as a whole, I have decided that the iPad might very well usher in the first fully ambidextrous generation this world has seen.  I have long stood against Apple and its golden cow but little did I know its borg-like appeal to those wowed by shiny and new was coupled with a dedication to the betterment of mankind.  Where I saw simpletons seeking status, they saw the dawn of a new era.  I have misjudged them and their unwavering goal of world domination.  History is being made, my friend, one Apple convert at a time, and I am there on the wide path, waving my iPad and chanting along.      

Parrot

This morning there was a bird making a ruckus outside our front window.  Ben was bothered by the noise and began yelling that there was a parrot outside and to make him stop making that noise.  John, in his all knowing way, said that he couldn't stop him from making noise because that was the way God made him.  Joshy, without a pause, cues in with "You can kill him with a gun".  Ben: "We don't have guns" Joshy: "Yeah, but daddy makes swords"  Ben: "I don't like parrots". 

At least we are clear on our options.

Think I'll pass...

New Restaurant 1: Greek Food

A group of people at work have started a new tradition of going to lunch every Friday somewhere "new".  Not new to everyone, but not one of the regular fallbacks.  The goal is to have tried every restaurant in the area at least once.  Last Friday the pick was Zorbas.  I had heard about it plenty from those who raved about their lunch salads and while I am neither a fan of lamb nor cucumbers, I wasn't thrilled at the choice but game.  It is, after all, the nature of the "try something new" beast.  Still, when I opened the menu...well...it was Greek to me...literally.  I had tried a bite of a gyro (yee-rho...the menu instructed) before, but wasn't too impressed.  So, I decided that I would go with a chicken skewer on rice, as it sounded safe and cucumber free.  The waitress we were bestowed was less than thrilled to be at work and upon receiving my uncertain order, began to rattle off the types of rice I had to choose from.  She didn't even say basmati which was the one in the description.  I looked back and forth from the menu to her, looking for some written rice list, feeling absolutely lost and somehow pressured by her clear displeasure.  At this point I can't remember any of the words she had said and was scared to move ahead into the sauce options if I had, so I blurt out, "I want a chicken gyro".  I don't want a chicken gyro.  I hate gyros.  And their GY-ros.  Not yee-rhos.  Saying yee-rhos just sounds dumb.  Like people who say burritos with the rolled r or try to use English words like loo.  The more seasoned had ordered an appetizer of humus which basically looks like albino bean dip.  Outside of the random olive and the questionable liquid drizzled on top, it wasn't too bad when smeared upon pita.  I wouldn't say I loved it, but at minimum it was a Like Minus.  Then came the salad.  It is hard to explain as it was definitely not lettuce and was chopped.  As though you had diced lettuce into small pieces and then ate it with a spoon.  The gentleman who ordered it offered me a bite.  The best way to describe it was that it tasted like something that was meant to go into something else.  Like cream cheese.  Now, that would be good on a pita.  The panic ordered gyro was not great but I liked the fries, the least Greek thing in the place.  At the end of the day, I am just not an adventurous eater.  It is not the different culture thing, but more the complicated thing.  I don't want something in a paste or with an olive or with a meat whose fleece was white as snow.  I just want a piece of normal meat and some plain rice.  Maybe some mashed potatoes or sweet potato fries.  The chicken on a stick would have been great...I would guess.  I mean, it is reserved for only those well versed in rice and you just can't get more elite than that. 

The History of Rap

John, this one's for you...

Zoo Day

Last Saturday promised to be unseasonably warm and so we decided it would be great fun to get out of the house and take a day trip to the zoo.  Hard to believe Joshy is in short sleeves in January.  We got there around 10am and although the parking lot was hardly full, only one ticket window was open and outside it a 20+ person line.  Jess and Ross were meeting us there and so I went ahead and bought everyone's ticket simply because I get annoyed when I have to wait.  The idea of standing in line for 15 minutes and then waiting for them to arrive and then waiting another 15 minutes made me feel grumpy at best.  Our first stop was the Children's Zoo.  Being January, most of the attractions inside were not running as they involve water.  John was not in the mood for the Lorakeets as they generally bite his ears and I couldn't convince Joshy to go with me to feed the goats.  All Ben cared about was finding turtles.  We actually spent the longest time watching the coi swim.  They were giant and beautiful and reminded me of Nijo Castle, a hibachi restaurant we were taken to as kids.  You crossed over a coi pond on the way into the restaurant and I remember standing there and watching them swim back and forth beneath the little bridge.  By the time we made it out of the Children's Zoo and through the herpatarium, I was thirsty.  Thirsty, hungry and in a bad mood.  The bad mood born of the thirst and hunger.  Some people don't do tired.  I don't do hungry.  Pizza and diet coke to the rescue.  In the aquarium, we watched the Sea Lions and each said why we wish we could be one.  Joshy wanted to turn circles while he swam.  I wanted to breathe underwater.  Yeah, I know.  Sea Lions don't breathe underwater.  Donned on me about 10 minutes after I said it.  We rode the carousel and Joshy wanted me to ride on the animal next to him.  Now, I have gained quite a bit of weight since the fall, courtesy of stress and chocolate cake, and as I stared down that monkey, my fear was two fold.  First, breaking a zoo merry-go-round seemed less than appealing.  Probably not good for the ego and who knows how much mobile monkeys cost nowadays.  Second, I am well aware that what goes up must come down and as the ride slowly comes to a stop, all you can think is Oh Lord, Please let me get off of here gracefully.  Gravity is not the chubby man's friend.  Luckily, all was well and Joshy did not have to wrestle me free from the child's amusement ride.  He just sat on his tiger and we pretended to race.  I love the conversations that we have.  After the last stop at the bats and carrying Ben what seemed like a mile, we called it a day and headed home by way of Chilenos, where Joshy learned he liked enchiladas and Ben ate his weight in chips.  It was nice to be out of the house.  Nice to spend time with the boys.  Ben and me cheering on the sand turtle trying to climb the rocks.  Joshy instructing me on how flamingos sleep on one leg and which types of frogs are poisonous.  Ben on John's shoulders, leading him by pulling on his ears.  Random men touching Hadley's face.  It was a good day.

(More pictures from the day are availabile on Jess's Blog.  My camera died about 10 minutes in.)

Splash Zone

Grand Country Inn had an indoor water park that turned out to be perfect for the boys.  The majority of the park is seen above and involves an intricate play house type set up with water falling from every direction.  The big downpour shown above (in a stock photo lifted from their website - hard to run through water toting a camera) happened every 10 minutes.  With the ringing of the bell, kids all scurried to the splash zone to be pelted with sub zero water.  I was happy to stay in the kiddy area where the water was a balmy temperature and not raining down on my head.  The part of the park not shown above, outside of the kiddie pool, is the lazy river that runs on a lower level of the building.  That was our first stop upon arrival.  The first attempt at getting Joshy in the innertube was a bit of a struggle as he couldn't decide if he wanted to ride the tube like a sunbather or paddle with the tube under his arms.  Once he realized he could touch the ground, though, he was off.  That was the nice part about a just deep enough but not too deep lazy river.  The fact that he could touch the bottom allowed me to reside somewhere between "pool death grip" and "unsupervised children in water".  Ben, however, wanted to be independent but laying in that innertube, he was hanging on for dear life.  Not big enough to fill the center, he was dangling from where each hand held a handle of the tube.  He didn't want us to hold on but I had definite visions of hands slipping, heads falling underwater and newer, stronger, water phobias emerging.  In the toddler area, he could run around life vest free.  Slides just his size, emptying out into six inches of water.  Joshy and John tacked the big water play area and the 100 gallon bucket of water.  Here Joshy was able to go life vest free, as well.  The freedom was intoxicating for them. 

You will note that John forgot to take his shirt off upon entering one Lazy River and, not having thought to bring clothes to change into, got to opt between wet shirt or no shirt for the trek back to the room in 50 degree weather.  The next time, extra clothes came along, and you should have seen us trying to fit a bag of clothes, four towels, 3 pairs of normal shoes and 1 pair of shoes as tall as the locker itself in before shutting the door.  At least we got our 50 cents worth of locker space. 

Fantastic Caverns

On our way home from Branson, we stopped by Fantastic Caverns outside of Springfield.  I'm told it is the "only ride through cave in the world, making it great for seniors and those with small children".  It was a cold day in Missouri but the cavern itself stayed 60 degrees year round and was a welcome contrast to the 30 degree winds.  As we were piling into our tram, the tour guide asked Joshy if he would like to sit in the front with him.  Joshy hopped in and we were off.   

The portion of the cave we toured was wide, the smallest portions still wide enough for a single tram, although with a low ceiling that required huddling down.  One of the first areas you entered was a large open area that had served as an underground speakeasy in the 20s and later as a stage for some of the Ozark music still on display in Branson today. 

At one point, the guide stopped the tram and hopped out to show us what the cave looked like without any light.  Once he shut off the lights, you could hear Ben yell out "I can't see.  I can't see".  Soon, the guide lit an oil lamp to show us how the first explorers saw the cave.  It lit up just the area around the tram itself.  Enough for Ben to say "I can see" but not see much.  He again blew out the light in transition and you hear Joshy say "Okay, where are the lights now".  Once he had finished the light portion of his tour, he mentioned as he headed back towards the jeep that usually the kids were yelling for him to turn out the lights again.  I told him that he probably didn't have to worry about that with my children.  They aren't scared of the dark, but they much prefer seeing. 

Periodically, the guide would stop and hop out to walk back towards us and explain the portion of the cave we were in.  Of course, Joshy would take this time to hop out of his seat and walk towards the back of the jeep and wave or make silly faces.  One time I turned around to see that he had gotten out of the jeep altogether and whisper yelled a "Joshua, get back in the jeep" with visions of him falling down a sink hole in my head.  Retrieving him just seemed like a hassle I didn't need.  Not a fan of small spaces. 

Ben took this picture of me at one of the paused portions of the tours.  He was engaged while we were moving but 4 minutes of talking is hard for any little guy to sit through.

These twin columns are in the first chamber the 12 women who first explored the cave entered.  They were pretty magnificent.  Here again, he turned off the lights to show us how they appeared to the women, lit by candles held in cans.

After the tour, the guide commented on how many questions Joshy asked.  I just smiled because curiosity is one thing I love about that boy.  I wondered if I would have been brave enough to venture into the utter darkness with only a candle and unending vastness before me.  My dad took us to caverns when we were little and I still find them just as magical today as I did then.  An entirely different world, 139 feet under ground.  Found by a man following his dog who was busy chasing a rabbit into a hole.  A hole women squeezed through in dresses with candles for light.  A hole 20 feet from the blasted entrance, made with room enough to fit a tram and years of travelers drawn by humanity's need to explore.