Sad news. . .

I am sad to inform you we have had two casualties in our house this last week. We lost our two neon tetras. The got sucked into the water filter. It was really quite sad, especially because they were the two most expensive fish.

They didn't die on the same day and Hayden was quite upset about their lose. So we will be getting a couple of more fish this weekend. I think we will look for bigger fish that can't get stuck in the water filter.

On the up side the Molly is doing great. She was kind of lethargic for the first week or so, but she has perked right up and is a swimming fool now.

So much for dog proof . . .Damn Dog!

This was the scene in my kitchen when I went down to get a glass of water. I am not a happy camper about this. Damn Dog!

Breakfast on a Saturday. . .

Today was a fabulously gorgeous day in San Antonio. We decided to take advantage of it and go enjoy a nice breakfast at the Guenther House Restaurant downtown as a family. Plus we wanted to celebrate Hayden getting better because he was sick all week with a stomach bug.

The Guenther house is a historic home with many period pieces in their museum in addition to the restaurant.

Turner loved the flowers on the table and wanted to share them with everyone.

Hayden got the strawberry waffle. OMGoodness it was incredible.

Dave and I got the breakfast taco's with a Dr. Pepper. What could be better?

Breakfast was incredible. Definitely someplace we will have to go back to time and time again. And someplace to take people when they come and visit.

After breakfast Dave had to go to school to work on his homework so we dropped him off there and the boys and I headed to the zoo. I tell you the zoo membership we bought has paid for itself multiple times. The boys love to go and see the animals and always ask to go.

While we were at the zoo I had a flashback after seeing these machines. . .

MOLD-A-RAMA so many memories. I remember as a kid they had these machines at the Hogle Zoo. As a kid my brother and I always wanted to buy these silly little wax figures made right in front of you while you waited. I remember thinking how unfair it was when my mom would tell us no. We did get one or two of them. I specifically remember getting the black gorilla for some reason. The van der Wekken's boys across the street had tons of them. Looking back on it as an adult it is so silly and such a waste of money, but as a kid they were the bomb. The boys occasionally ask for silly things which I think are a huge waste of money much like the wax animals, but I try to keep a little bit of a perspective and remember what it is like to be a kid and how sometimes the most silly thing makes all the difference.

After a long day at the zoo we picked up Dave and went home for a quite night.

What did your momma teach you?

As I get off the freeway to go home from work inevitably there is a person or two at the bottom of the ramp begging. Now I have my own personal policy about not giving money to these people, so I usually just shake my head "no" to them as they walk by. Sometimes they have a sign and sometimes they don't.

Today as I was getting off the freeway there was a guy sitting at the bottom of the ramp holding a sign. The sign really irritated me, it said, "Didn't your momma teach you to share." I seriously wanted to roll down my window and say, "No my momma taught me how to work hard and not sit around on my ass waiting for a hand out." I just drove by and give him a really sour look.

Thanks Momma!

A conversation with Hayden . .

This is a conversation between Hayden and Dave that just took place moments ago.

Hayden: Dad what's this?
As he drops his pj bottoms and points to his nether regions.
Dave: That's your penis.
Hayden: No this.
As he points to his scrotum sac.
Dave: That's your scrotum.
Hayden: What's that?
Dave: It is like a sack.
Hayden: Oh, what's inside? It's kind of slippery when you squish it.
Dave: Those are your testicles, they are surrounding by fluid.
Hayden: Oh, I thought they were eyes. In case you lost yours.
A couple of seconds pass and . . .
Hayden: What's it for?
Dave: It is for having babies.
Hayden: I'm not having babies. That's for people in love.
Dave: That's right only people truly in love should have babies.

I must give Dave major kudos for handling the conversation with a straight face. Especially after the eyeball comment. I was laying on the bed trying to quell my laughs in my pillow. Oh the things that come out of the mouths of little boys.

Martin Luther King Day.

Today was Martin Luther King Day, so I got the day off. What could be better than spending the day with all of my boys.

Dave is taking a multi-cultural class at school this semester and needed to attend a cultural even from a culture not of his own. And since San Antonio has one of the largest Martin Luther King Day marches in the United States we figured it would be a great way to spend the day together as a family, get this project done for Dave and support equal rights for everyone.

We caught the bus at the Alamodome and headed to the march.

Mr. G there is Dave.

And the boys got to ride in style in the ATW RadioFlyer. They were stocked with juice pouches and Cheetos.

Over all it was a great walk (about three miles) and a good cause. It was very nice to see such a large cross culture of people who came out to the march and participated. Though I was surprised to see so many people (who I felt should have been walking) who were just watching the march go by as if it were a parade.


The march was also a great opportunity to talk to Hayden about how we should treat all people the same regardless of their heritage or skin color. Hayden had lots of questions about Luther King as he kept referring to MLK, Jr.


Turner even got into the march and insisted on pulling the wagon himself for a short time.


After the march we went to lunch at Azuca downtown.
It is Nuevo Latino whatever that means. The food was really good but Dave was kind of upset they didn't serve chips and salsa before the meal.

Later we found out Hayden was running a fever. Poor dude. But all in all it was a great day and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my boys.

WE HAVE FISH . . .

We took more water into the pet store yesterday and we got the green light to buy fish. Yahhhh! Hayden and Turner picked out two neon tetras and a black molly something. Okay I picked out the black molly, but they went along with my selection. The neon tetras are actually yellow and orange(not sure why the one looks green in the picture). We put them in the tank just like they told us too and they are still alive a whole day later. This is a good sign as the others didn't even make it for four hours.

The only problem now is we have to hide the fish food or the boys would be feeding them on the hour every hour. They have set up their own little observation area for watching the fish. Not real exciting, but who am I to judge.

Going Green . . .

About a week ago I was reading a newspaper article about how the city of Brownsville, Texas has banned the use of one-use bags within the city limits. This includes grocery stores, Wal Mart's, Target's, restaurants and everywhere. If you don't bring your own bags the store will charge you $1 to use their remaining stock of one-use bags until they are gone. Some people where very upset by this new law and said they would start driving outside the city limits to shop because they use the bags for trash can liners and to pick up dog poop.

Anyway this article got me thinking about my resolve to try and be a better person and make better decisions. I have seen the reusable bags at the stores and I've though numerous times about picking some up, but never have. So this article got me to get my bum in motion and I am now the proud owner of five reusable grocery bags. So proud.

And they are green what could be better.

Out with the old and in with the new.

This is our old trash can. I really liked this trash can, it was very convenient with its swinging lid. The problem is the dog really liked it too because it made it really easy for her to check out all the things we were denying her and then she would pull them out all over the family room floor. So we had to find a new trash can.

So this is our new trash can. Hayden was a little upset with the new can as he picked out the tan can. But he has come around and decided the new can is okay. And we really aren't getting rid of the other trash can, as part of our trying to be more green we are recycling more and we are using it for the recyclables now.

The best part is the flip lid which keeps the doggie out and my trash in its place.

Such a lame thing to blog about, but I was really excited about this simple thing that happened in my life.

Amazing JUMP.

It has been raining a lot in San Antonio the last several days. So I was going to take the boys to the zoo on Saturday while Dave did some studying, but the weather just wasn't cooperating. So instead we went to Amazing Jump instead. It was quite amazing. There were blowup things and trampolines everywhere. And I had previously though Monkey Joe's in O'Fallon was cool. The boys both got right into the jumping.
And then Turner found the video games. He's not even two for goodness sake. What is going to happen when he gets older.

Just after we got there we ran into Ms. Jennifer, Hayden's preschool teacher and her daughter Nayla who is in Hayden's preschool class. It was a great opportunity and they spent two entire hours running around like crazy kids. It was good to see and I know Hayden had a much better time because Nayla was there.



Once Turner tore himself away from the video games he had fun going down a slide or two also.

By the end of the day Hayden and Nayla were both very red faced an sticky from sweat. It was a great thing to see. Can't wait to go back to Amazing Jump.

Kiddie Park

Today the boys and I went to the San Antonio Kiddie Park. This is supposed to be "America's oldest and original kids amusement park." From like 1925 or something. At least this is what they claim. After going and seeing these rides I tend to believe them. Not that they aren't well maintained, but they are very old rides.

Old or new the boys had a great time.

This was some old roller coaster car they had sitting under the pavilion. The boys enjoyed climbing in and out of this almost as much as the actual rides.

They even had this incredibly old merry-go-round which played God Bless America as it went around. I though it was pretty cool.

Turner really really liked the idea of carrying his own ticket and giving it to the ticket taker for each ride. So much so he even tried to give a ticket back to the lady who sold the tickets to us.

We have plants . . .

Update on the aquarium. We talked to the fish people at the pet store and they told us to get some plants for the tank. But we needed to get the plants before we got the fish and let the water sit for a couple of more days. So this we did. We got three cute little four inch plants to add some ambiance to our fish tank. And again we waited.

Today we took a sample of water into the fish people and they tested it for us. It was a no go. The waters PH was way to high to support fish. So instead of fish we left with a bottle of aquarium PH reducer.

Kind of a let down, but we put in the PH reduced and we will wait and have the water tested again. Maybe by next week we'll have fish. We can hope.

Scary Moment . . .

As part of my plan for improving my lifestyle I have tried to start using the stairs whenever possible this last year. So when moving to my new office in San Antonio I figured it wouldn't hurt to continue with this trend. The office is only on the fourth floor and starting from the first floor it is really only three flights of stairs. I did this all of the time in St. Louis at the RAY Building. Anyway I digress.

After getting settled in, in the San Antonio office I decided to take an adventure and acquaint myself with the stair wells as I planned to start using them more. I mean seriously you walk out the door to our office and the first thing you see is the door to a stair well. So through the door I went. At first it looked just like most other stair wells. Cleaner than most, but very industrial in nature.
After I pass the landing for the second floor I head on down to the first floor. When I turn at the rail I am confronted by this really long stair well which goes down much further than I believe it should to stop at the first floor. But hay what the heck we are already here lets see where it goes.

At the bottom of the extra long stair well is another extremely long stair well leading to a darkish tunnel. This is definitely below the first floor of the building. But in for a dollar right? And I head down this flight of stairs.

At this point I run into a big metal door which does not look like it leads to the first floor.

Additionally there are warnings of alarms should I choose to actually continue through.

At this point I decided it was in my best interest just to return to the second floor landing and take the elevator down to the first floor. So up the two extremely long flights of stairs. At the second floor landing I reach for the door only to find it locked. Hum! Curious. So I head up to the third floor. Again locked! HUM! So up to the fourth floor . . .Back where I started, and luckily the door was not locked. I said a quick prayer of thanks and have been taking the elevator ever since.