Tag: A bit of fun

Phlog along, folks!

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The beautiful, if shallow, Upper Iowa River
Photo by Kay Kauffman

Once again, it’s Friday.  Once again, it’s been a crazy week.  Did I say crazy?  I think maybe cray-zay might suit a little better.  It all started Sunday.  Sunday began the first-ever Kauffman Family Camping Extravaganza.  Our adventure did not exactly get off to an auspicious start. For one thing, Seymour wanted to leave our house by 10:00 a.m. as the campground we were heading to was three hours away.  His parents were going to go with us, but they live a good hour and a half south of us, so we couldn’t leave till they arrived at our house, and they were late.  Seymour’s mama wasn’t feeling well, so his papa let her sleep in a little late and it was nearly noon by the time they made it to our house.  I think we pulled out of our driveway somewhere around 12:30 p.m.

About an hour or so into the trip, possibly a little more, one of the tires on our camper blew out in spectacular fashion.  There was no fixing this tire – it was in pieces all over the road.  I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn’t think of it at the time.  And apparently campers don’t come with spares standard the way cars do, but Seymour is a smart one and bought one when he picked up the camper, so he got the tire changed and we were soon back on the road.

The excitement continues behind the cut! Will we catch any fish? Or only weeds? Hmm, seems I’ve left that part out. Oh, well – the answer was no fish, only weeds.

A short farewell, but not really

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Are you confused yet?  Worry not.  What I mean is, I’ll be gone for a few days.  After the week we’ve had, the fam and I need some time away from it all, so we’ve loaded up the trailer and we’re heading for the hills.  It’s our first-ever family camping trip, something we’ve been planning for months and looking forward to since last fall.  It will be four glorious days and three marvelous nights with no electronics, no diapers, no formula, no baby food, and somewhat less whining than normal as Cricket and Thumper will be staying with the world’s best ex-wife.  Once they’re potty-trained, they can start coming with us but until then, I’m looking forward to a few days without diaper duty.

I plan to do a little fishing, a little writing, a little marshmallow-roasting, and have an all-around awesome time with my family.  This week’s events served as a reminder of just how important family is.  I love my family so very much and I am really looking forward to this time with them.

In the meantime, I’ve scheduled a few posts to tide you all over till I get back.  Have a great week!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

Summer lovin’

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Ah, summer.  It is June, after all.  How the heck that happened, I’ll never know.  I could swear that only yesterday it was January.  Anyway, Kristen Lamb shared summertime memories of her youth in a post this afternoon and it made me smile.  I remembered some of the same years she described, but I remembered them through the eyes of a child instead of the eyes of a young woman.   Sure, by the time I was five, the Russians were no longer our enemies, but I still remember slip ‘n’ slides, spending more time outside than in, and never locking our doors. Ever.

Photo Friday

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Welcome to another Photo Friday!  Today’s post features those wild and crazy guys, Cricket and Seymour, when at least one of them was slightly less wild and/or crazy.

Seymour and Cricket, two peas in a pod

Taken in the hospital the day after Cricket was born (yes, the date stamp is wrong), this is easily my favorite picture of them so far.  It will probably always be one of my favorites.  Cricket looks so much like Seymour, and I love the look on Seymour’s face.  It says, “Mess with him, and you’ll be praying for the cops to haul you away by the time I’m done with you.”  It reminds me of the Facebook flair that says, “Someone who loves me is well-trained in the use of their weapon and accurate up to three hundred meters.”  We have a framed print of this picture sitting on our mantle.  I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of looking at it.  If I do, I’m sure that means that an even more precious photo has taken its place.

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Phlogalicious Friday

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Fishing by Kay Kauffman

Welcome to the first in my Friday Phlog series!  This week’s photo features an old picture of my oldest son, the Tominator (aka the Terrific Tomcat).  This photo commemorates his very first fishing trip at his great-aunt Sandy’s house.  She and her husband live in a beautiful gated community dotted with ponds that are kept fully stocked.  When we were visiting them for their 25th anniversary luau (complete with un lechon – that’s roast suckling pig for those of you not in the know), my darling baby boy was treated to his first fishing trip in one of the ponds near Sandy’s gorgeous house.

Do you wanna see the house? Huh? Huh? Do ya? Well, then click on through and check out another pretty picture!

One of those days…

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Yes, it was one of those days today.  Actually, it wasn’t really a bad day, but it started off looking like it was going to be one.  I woke up and discovered that Cricket had managed to unscrew the cap from a full tube of Desitin.  Evidently, he thought it would make a wonderful styling accessory because his hair was full of it.  I guess he also thought it would make great make-up, because his face was covered in it, too.  Naturally, it was all over his hands.  He got it in his bedding, on his feet, on his door.  It was a mess.

Of water torture and little men

Interviewed once more!

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The questions have been flying once again.  Yep, folks, that’s right – I’ve been interviewed!  All thanks go to Tricia Drammeh this time (again, actually).  Head on over to her Authors to Watch site and join the conversation!

Big things are going on in my neck of the woods, but that’s another post for another time.  In the meantime, I’ll be starting a Photo Friday feature this coming week.  I meant to start it yesterday, but housework beckoned and I’m pretty sure Seymour was ecstatic that I heeded the call to clean instead of the call to blog. 🙂

And now, back to Mt. Laundry.  I’ve nearly reached the summit – I can’t stop now!

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.

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Build the Enterprise!

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First things first – I read an awesome article on msnbc.com about the possibility of building a spaceship like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek with today’s technology.  Serious. Cool.  There were a number of other interesting links at the end of the article, as well as a link to BuildTheEnterprise.org, the project’s homepage.  This is so many shades of awesome that I don’t even know where to start.  Seymour shared this with me last night and we were both as giddy as could be.  The geek is strong with us. 🙂

Now that I’ve finished squeeing…

Scenes from home

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Apparently my kids need to be educated.  The following conversation took place this morning as we were about to walk out the door:

• M: Tom, why are you only wearing one glove?
•T: Because I lent the other one to RaShaun.
•M: Okay, well, either you need to wear both gloves or neither of them.  Michael Jackson couldn’t pull off the one-glove look and neither can you.
•T: Who’s Michael Jackson?
•R: Didn’t we look him up at your First Communion?
•M: *facepalm* No, that was Michael Jordan.  Different guy.  Do you know the song “Thriller?”
•T: No.
•M: *epic facepalm*

Clearly tonight’s soundtrack must feature Michael Jackson.  I’m not even all that wild about his music, but at least I know who he is.  And while I realize that for the course of their lives he hasn’t been the most popular singer, I still can’t believe they don’t know who he is.  It reminds me of another aspect of their education that is sadly lacking: the ability to alphabetize.

•M: Rachael, will you get out [random movie whose title I can’t recall]?
•R: It’s not here.
•M: Yes, it is.  All the movies are in alphabetical order; just look under [appropriate letter – I think it was L or M].
•R: It’s not here, I’m telling you.
•M: I know we have it. *pulls movie off of shelf*  See?  It’s right where I said it was!
•G: Hold on a minute.  Maybe they don’t know how to alphabetize.
•M: Do you kids know how to alphabetize?
•K: (in unison)No!
•M: *facepalm*

Evidently they don’t teach kids how to alphabetize things in school anymore.  This useful skill must have fallen by the wayside when they did away with media center as a class.  Now that everything is available online, who needs to know about the Dewey Decimal System or how to use a card catalog?  (Please to note the sarcasm.)  Alphabetizing is for the ancients, much like legible cursive or heck, even legible printing.  My kids’ inability to alphabetize was quickly remedied.  I’ve not tested it yet, but I do hope they were paying attention.  After all, stranger things have happened.

(c) 2012.  All rights reserved.