Caching with Catie

With Chris working again today at the fair, we finished up some of the shopping we had originally planned to do yesterday. Catie and I took the opportunity to spend an hour doing a few Geocaches. Unfortunately we were one for 3 today. The worst part is that when I logged the DNF's others had found them today. Not meant to be I guess. Oh and man was it hot. 108 degrees with a slight and very dry breeze. Catie asked me to day if anyone had ever stopped me while caching to ask what I was doing? I told her most of the time, if they look open minded I'll explain to them what caching is all about, and if they don't I tell them I'm looking for my keys! Well, that sparked a very interesting dialog with her about why my keys would be lost in a bush in a parking lot. She's a very deep thinker, I think she gets that from her Mom. ;-)

Listen to the Music!

Chris was working the antelope County fair again today. The kids and I had plans to do some shopping and hang out by the pool. Around 2:00pm Chris called to say that the Doobie Brothers, one of her favorite bands growing up were going to be playing at the main stage at the fair. She asked if I'd like to go with her after her shift ended at 7:00pm. I did, and we did. When I told the kids that Mom and I were going to a Rock concert, Catie's response was "Mom's going to a Rock and Roll Concert?. She doesn't like Rock and Roll!" I had to explain that Rock has been around a long time, this was a band the Mom and Dad grew up listing to. What a fun evening. They played all their hits. Brought back lots of great memories. They really sounded good, really tight. At one point we called the kids on Chris' cell phone so they could hear the Doobies belting out "Rockin' down the highway" They really got a kick out it. After the show we shared a desert, and checked in on the girls running the Cookie Lee booth before heading home. What a fun and spontaneous evening!

It's the Weekend!

Ahh the end of the work week! the end of the kids second week of school and the end of my second week of work. July was a blur with me being sick, Catie being sick, family road trip, Chris in WI for her Cookie Lee show. It was a wonderful time, but it's kind of nice to be settling back into our normal rutine. The kids seem to have gotting back into the groove of school and Chris in begining her busy time of year with Cookie Lee.

I was able to do 3 Geocaches last night on my way home from work. It was nice to get a break from the crush of Friday evening commute traffic, stretch my legs and exercise my mind. Found all three urban micros with out too much difficulty. Chris is at the Antalope County Fair were she and her Cookie sisters have a booth set up. It's also her actual birthday today so "Happy Birthday my love!" Catie has a friend over and the boys and I are watching the 49ers game. Nice to be home.

Happy Birthday Christina! - Almost

We celebrated Chris' birthday tonight. Her actuall big day is tomorrow, but since she is working the fair so we decided to celbrate today. We had a yummy dinner at Chi-Chi's Italian Resturant. They have the best hand tossed Pizza in town, we all really enjoy it. Once we got home, she opened her gifts, a set of salt and pepper shakers from Catie, a Blender from the boys and an photo printer and iPod Mini from me. She really enjoyed the gifts and we all had a great time. Next on the birthday list is Alex in just 6 days!

The End of Summer

Well, its back to school tomorrow for all three of the kids. Nik and Alex will be attending Golden Valley High School, Nik as a Junior and Alex as a Freshman. Catie will be entering 5th Grade at Fair Oaks Ranch elementary. Man, this really makes me feel old! Nik is so grown up and Alex is right on his heels. Just spoke with Chris, she and Julie are on their way home from Cookie Lee convention. Chris will be going right from convention mode into first week of school mode, with a Cookie Lee meeting for her downline on Tuesday to boot. I'll be back to work after an on and off month of July. I'm really looking forward to diving back in. We have a little more than 4 months to bring in as much new business as possible. Also have the office lease renewal coming up and I have to plan the Sales Kaizen event in the next month. Should be a nutty, busy, exciting fall. I can't wait!

Fun with Dad - Part 5

Today is the day that Catie has been dreaming about since my vacation started last Friday...Hurricane Harbor Day! Jonathan was able to join us, as well as Nik joining us as well. It was not too hot today, temps in the mid 80's which is good except it was a bit chilly toward the end of the day when we walked soaking wet to the next ride. We did Tiki Falls, Tornado, Wave Pool, Lazy River (Nik's favorite) the water play area and Splash Down. We ended up closed down the park at 7:00pm. Chilled and tired we went to Burger King for dinner before heading home. I think all the kids were asleep by 10:00!

And Now She's Gone

After a brief pause in her busy schedule to do laundry and pack a new bag, Chris and Julie headed out this afternoon to Anaheim for the Cookie Lee Fall/Winter convention. This is the big kick off for all the new jewelry she and her team will be selling this fall. She will also be honored for her accomplishments as a leader during the Awards show on Saturday night. We had a nice relaxing day with Julie and Chris as they didn't need to leave for Anaheim until 6:00pm. We got a chance to hang out by the pool and catch up with each other. Alex had his friend Jonathan spend the night, the last sleepover of the summer.

Chris is home, for now

Chris came home from WI this morning, accompanied by my sister Julie. The kids and I picked them up at LAX at 11:00 am. When went out for a yummy lunch at Tony P's Dockside Grill which is right on the water in Marina del Rey. I've taking Chris there acouple of times and she really loves it. We took Julie to Venice Beach on the way home. She reallized she wasn't in Kansas any more. I think the street performers kind of freaked her out!

Fun with Dad - Part 4

Today is the day Alex has been waiting for since school ended. The release day for Madden 2006. Alex has become a huge NFL football fan. He follows his beloved Jacksonville Jaguars daily on the Jags web site as well as soaking up as much NFL network as his Mom and I can handle. Having pre ordered his copy with his Visabuxx card last week, he get the much anticipated e-mail from Best Buy this morning letting him know his copy was ready for pick up. Off we went as soon as the store was open. We came home and that's the last I saw of Alex until dinner!

Since Alex was sucked into Madden land, Catie and I decided to do a bit of Geocaching at Ventura harbor. We started with lunch at our favorite sea food shack Andrea's. The weather was overcast and cool with temps around 70. Luckily, buy the time we finished lunch the Marine layer had burned off and it turned out to be a pretty nice day. We found two Ventura Caches and then ended up playing at the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The highlight was digging an enormous hole in the sand, so big when Catie stood in it, you could only see the top of her head! Her comment to me on the way home was "I never knew you could have soo much fun digging a hole!" We had a great time.

Fun with Dad - Part 3

Spent the afternoon today at Mountasia amusement park. Rode the go-carts, bumper boats and played a round of Mini-Golf. Man, it was a hot day today, temp about 103. After the boats we came in and had an ice cream and Farrells. Having cooled off we headed back out for golf. Wrapped up the visit with 100 tokens for video games. Nik and I had fun playing Air Hockey, Alex and I did quite a few head to head racing games and Catie spent all her tokens winning tickets that she traded in at the end for a stuffed tiger, I believe she named him Tony.

Fun with Dad - Part 2

The kids and I went to see Sky High at the theater today. I must say that I didn't have very high expectations, but was plesently supprised. It was a pretty good story and the effects were well done. The kids shared similar perspectives, all liked it better then they thought they would. Topped off the eventing with a swim and soak in the hot tub.

Fun with Dad - Part 1

When I got home from work today, Nik and Alex were home waiting for me. We had a dinner and watched movies. Catie was at Hurricane Harbor with Jamies family all day. She finally came home around 8:30pm. She said they had a great time. We all then spent the rest of the night catching up with each other on what our weeks were like.

Catie's Back

Late last night I got a call from Catie, calling to tell me good night and that she loves me. She is such a sweet heart. About 30 minutes later she called, on the vurge of tears to say she wanted to come home and sleep because she missed me too much. So, off I went, picked her up and brought her home. She crawled in bed with me and soon was fast asleep. At one point in the middle of the night I woke up to find her snuggled up to me and holding my hand! Oh it just melted my heart. Today Catie went back over to Jamies house to spend the day, then Jamies family dropped her off after spending the day at friends in the valley. She said they had a huge back yard and pool so they swam all day.

The House is quiet

Chris left for WI today. She is part of a large Cookie Lee team that is working the Wisconsin State. She will be out of town for the next week. So, Alex and Catie are at Sleep overs through Friday. At that point I'm taking the following week off to have fun with the kids. So, it's just Nik and I right now. We ordered Pizza from Pizzahut.com, one of Nik's favorite things. We are having a nice relaxing evening, just the two of us.