Tired Baby + Tired Dogs = Happy Dad

January 20, 2012 //
1
Cowles Mountain as seen from San Diego, taken ...

Image via Wikipedia

Dogs get cabin fever.  At least ours do.  I guess that when you’ve got two breeds of dog that are built for running long distances, you have to be prepared for the consequences of not harnessing that energy.  And if you keep dogs pent-up for too long,  you can begin to see the crazy in their eyes.  Darting back and forth between the couch pillows and your TV remotes, the eyes are looking for their next delightful chew toy.

So, I know I’ve got to get the pups out.  What better way to get them out than by seeing some of San Diego!  Ok, ALL of San Diego!

Since I didn’t feel like leaving Gavin at home by himself, I packed up the family (sans the working wifey) and off to Cowles Mountain we went.

Cowles Mountain is a great place to hike in San Diego.  It is part of Mission Trails Regional Park and the tallest peak in San Diego County at 1,592′ elevation.

A little known fact, even by San Diegans is that the correct pronunciation is like ‘coals’, not ‘COW-les’.  (I’ve been living here 11 years and I just learned that today.)

No, it doesn’t snow on Cowles Mountain.  Yes, it’s usually busy there.  On a clear day, the peak gives a wonderful view of San Diego County.

Don’t go in the middle of summer when the temperatures climb to 100.  People have died.  (Personally, I’d rather die climbing something a little taller like Kilimanjaro, but that’s just me.)  Take water because it’s dry over there.

Carrying a 20 lb sack of potatoes up the mountain wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, but since Gavin provided moral support by grunting along with me up the trail, we each get a point.

Gavin – 4; Dad – 2

I gave up trying to get all of us to look at the camera...

Tags , , , ,
Categories Play

Sweating Pho Sure!

January 19, 2012 //
0
English: Probably the best Vietnamese soup, Ph...

Image via Wikipedia

Steph’s not feeling well.  She’s got a mild case of fever and chills.  In our family, when we aim to fend off sickness during cold and flu season, we resort to eating lighter foods and promote the body’s sweating mechanism to help get rid of the cold (cold = exterior attack in acupuncturist terms).  (I know, it’s old school medicine.)  We hit up the pho restaurant.

For those that don’t know, pho is a vietnamese style of rice noodle soup.  You can get this noodle soup with all sorts of meats and vegetables thrown in.  According to Chinese medicine, the properties of the soup is a nice balance of yin and yang ingredients and is a great substitute for the standard chicken noodle soup that mama Campbell’s doles out in the red and white tins.

I meet Steph for lunch at her favorite pho place, Pho Ca Dao in Mira Mesa.  Mira Mesa has tons of pho shops scattered along MM Boulevard, but this one is our favorite.  Pho Ca Dao doesn’t make the very best pho, but it has the friendliest staff we’ve ever had at a pho restaurant.  So, we make it a point to return often.

Now, Gavin’s “having lunch” with us.  (What kind of parent would leave a baby at home alone?)  He gets perched atop a high chair for a bird’s eye view of the visual and olfactory masterpiece, pho.  He gets so excited about pho that he starts to squirm in his seat.  We give him a pair of chopsticks to try and calm him down.  But, chopsticks without pho is like a bath without water…no fun.  Ten seconds later, the sticks are played out onto to the floor.

Meanwhile, mommy takes a few bites and soon gives up the wet noodles, and I’m chewing each of my bites the appropriate 25 times to ensure maximum enjoyment.  But I can’t.  The Worm, true to his name, is really fussy now, squirming (and vocalizing his dislike of PIPA and SOPA).  Since it’s lunch time, Pho Ca Dao is Pho Can Crowded.  A loud, screaming baby is the last thing we need right now.  (And I’m pretty sure it’s the last thing anyone around us needs, too.)  Anxiously, I start scooping larger and larger portions of noodles in my mouth for fear that the volcano Gavin will erupt at any moment and we’ll be eating our pho on the sidewalk outside the building.

Steph says “You better hurry, Gavin’s ‘done’.”  I’m thinking, that little pipsqueaking monkey lovable, kindhearted infant can’t wait 5 minutes more? is definitely more important than me getting nourishment for my weary body.  I spoon larger and larger portions into my boca grande.

I’m eating so fast that I shove half a jalapeno in my mouth without knowing it.  Like the responsible guy that I am (who is always thinking about the starving kids in Ethiopia), I don’t spit it out.  I keep on chewing…25 times.  And if that wasn’t hot enough, the jalapeno seeds (the hottest *#@$ing part) were extra fireworks for my tastebuds.  The volcano’s not in the high chair anymore, it’s in my mouth.  And I’m sweating like a w#@re in church for the next 5 minutes.  I guess I won’t be catching a cold anytime soon.

I can’t wait to see that jalapeno pepper on the way out.  I’m sure it will be a treat.

Thank you Gavin for teaching me a lesson today about looking at my food before eating it.   Grrr.

Gavin – 3; Dad – 1

Tags , , , , , , ,
Categories Food

Cords for Kids

January 19, 2012 //
0

Why is it that some children can’t help but play with things that are inherently not toy-like?  The Worm loves power cords, so much so that we’ve decided to buy one just for his toy box.  And we don’t let him chew on it with it plugged in…unless he’s been bad.

Maybe Gavin wants to be an electrical engineer?

Tags ,
Categories MVG Oddities

Tebow? Why Me, Tebow?

January 19, 2012 //
0

Can't a guy get a little privacy over here?

For all things concerning Jesus or God, I will be using the term Tebow.  He’s the revised, updated Jesus for the new millennium.  Either love him or hate him, He’s awesome.  And as a University of Florida alum, I definitely love him (in a manly sort of way, of course).

It’s dinner time.  Steph and I were having pizza.  We were soon interrupted by the telltale poop signs on the Worm:  concerned face, grunt, relieved smile, concerned face, grunt, relieved smile.  Who’s on diaper duty?

Since Steph was done eating first, she took Gavin to the back room for his diaper change.  (For the record, I chew every bite 25 times, so I’m now the slowest eater you know.)   Thinking that I could continue enjoying my pizza,  the mastication continued.  Then I hear Steph calling me from the back.  “Dylan, come here!”  So, I run to see what was up.

Gavin’s entire back was covered in poop.  Nice.  Thank Tebow I didn’t have to clean it up.

With my quick thinking, I told Steph to use the already soiled onesie to wipe off Gavin’s back.  She complied and I went back to the kitchen to finish my meal.

Not two minutes later…”Hon, can you take the dirty onesie out to the garage and rinse it in the sink before we put it in the laundry?”

(I don’t so much mind breastfed baby poop.  No smell, simple to clean, easy on the eyes.  But solid food baby poop is disgusting.  I mean, it’s chunky, stinky, and…need I go on?  Yeah, disgusting.)

Boy, I'm pooped!

So, diaper duty for Steph turns into something worse for me.  I lightly pinch the cleanest part of the onesie and haul it to the garage.  As I walk to the utility sink, I see a spider dangling right overhead.  (Since night-time and darkness makes every spider look poisonous, it was a brown widow.)  My first reaction was to smush the spider before it disappeared.  Like the idiot I am, I grab the closest thing to me, (well, I was already grabbing it) the onesie.  In a flailing motion, with one part of my brain anxious to kill the spider, and the other part of my brain trying to avoid touching poop, I swiped at the lethal spider.  And missed.

The spider, laughing at my coordination, glances the oncoming blow and is nowhere in sight (and probably not dead.  You’re welcome, PETA.) Needing proof of death, I figure it must be in the onesie biding its time, planning an escape.

So, cursing softly to myself, I know that I must find that spider, dead or alive.  I reach into the onesie.  Nothing.  With baby poop all over my hands and spider never found, I lost my appetite.  I go back into the house and feed the rest of my pizza to the dogs.

Tags , , , ,
Categories Random Thoughts

Cuties Clementines Cutest Cid (It’s a hard C.) Contest

January 18, 2012 //
0

So, I think my kid is the cutest kid in the universe…blah, blah, blah.  Of course, now I have to put up or shut up.  So, I’m entering him in the

Cuties Clementine Cooperative “Cuties” Contest.

What a name!

To enter, you’ve got to send in a video of your kid doing something cute.  There are some rules, of course, and you can’t enter if you live in Puerto Rico.  (Pobrecito!)

The contest has already started (from 12/5/11 and ends 4/27/12)  and if you’re a stay-at-home dad like me, you’re probably also the one holding the video camera during baby’s waking hours.  So, do something with those videos NOW!

It sounds like fun and the contest could win you a $150,000 college education for your kid!  (Mine’s going to University of Florida just like his pop.  We’re going to share a dorm room.  I’m going to show him the cool things around campus.  It’ll be great!)

Here’s the link:

http://cutieskids.com/

By the way, I’ve got no affiliation with the company.  My dog Duncan and I just like to eat clementines in the winter time.

Great for teeth!

Related articles
Tags
Categories News

PIPA, SOPA…RIDICULOSA!

January 18, 2012 //
1

Here’s the skinny on this stuff as you may have heard in the news lately.

Two characters in this play:  PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)

Both PIPA and SOPA are trying to get passed through Congress and House.  Why?  Because angry media executives are tired of having their TV shows, music and movies pirated and illegally distributed online.  Hence, they throw lots of dollars to government representatives to try and pass bills into law.

So, the supporters of PIPA and SOPA are:  basically the people who are trying to sell media to you, such as book publishers, music producers, TV networks, movie producers.  Why?  Because they want to SELL their products to you, not give them away.  (Obviously, they’ve worked hard at making their product.  So you should spend a buck or two on purchasing their product.  Right?)

My problem:  (One of my many problems)  The internet can’t be regulated!  SOPA and PIPA are archaic ideas saying that if we block these websites that may contain pirated material, then the world will be a better place.  But, we all know what happened when the government decided to block every strange looking person (myself included) that may be walking through the airport to blow up a plane…that’s right TSA was born.  And we all know how that is working out.

For more info on these ridiculous bills, please read here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16596577

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16623831

 

The good news out of all of this is that Democraps and Republicasses are at least agreeing on something!

 

 

Categories News

Curls Gone Wild

January 17, 2012 //
0

I look like one of those crazies on the internet...

Working 2 jobs, 3 days a week and doing daddy day care the other 4.  Anyone know a haircutting place that’s open between 10pm and 2am?  That’s when I’m not really busy…I’ve recently found hair growing out of my nose and ear.  Ah, the benefits of growing old.  I’m just so anxious for the days when I can drool and wear diapers again.

Tags ,
Categories MVG Oddities
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »