Tag Archives: Family

I had a birthday awhile back

December 10, 2014Family, FunFamily, Fun, Happy Birthday to me!warren

I guess it’s been over a week now, but I had another birthday! I like having birthdays…the more the better of course! Like most December birthdays, mine runs the risk of getting lost in the Christmas hubbub. My family is really good, though, about making sure that both Isaac and I get birthdays apart from Christmas.

So, this year we went to my favorite Japanese steak place…you know, where they cook out in front of the guests. We had 15 or so people come and have a fun time eating way too much food. I got some cool gifts too! I got some gift cards and money and a new piece of cast iron cookware. I cook breakfast for the family every morning and I love using cast iron to cook. Maybe it’s the trendy thing or something…maybe it is so heavy it just cooks better…anyhow, more cast iron is always better!

The big surprise came from my lovely wife. You may remember, I recently bought a record player. She bought me a new record…the soundtrack to Footloose, one of my all-time favorite movies! As a purist, I only recognize the existence of the original Kevin Bacon movie release in 1984. The 2011 “movie” doesn’t really count. Anyhow, I was thrilled with the original soundtrack on LP. To top off my 80s music-filled birthday, she got us tickets to hear John Mellencamp in the spring! Everyone knows Jack and Dianne and a few of John Mellencamp’s songs, but my all-time favorite is “Rain on the Scarecrow”. I hope I’ll get to hear it live! I am so excited!!! We have seen a few bands from when we were kids and it is just absolutely some of the most fun ever! We heard Billy Joel and Elton John for our anniversary in 2009 and Bryan Adams last year…and now we add John Mellencamp (gosh I want to call him John Cougar Mellencamp)!

So, getting older is just fine and we still have a lot of 80s bands yet to see! Let’s just hope we all continue to be able to R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.!

As Thanksgiving should be

December 2, 2014Family, FunFamily, Fun, Pie!!!, Thanksgiving!!warren

As always, I am late to the party as Thanksgiving was nearly a week ago. I had Black Friday shopping to ignore…and of course, we had to ignore Cyber-Monday as well. I had a lot of shopping not to do between Thanksgiving and now. Actually, we did absolutely all of our Christmas shopping in one night…on-line. We basically had wishlists set up on Amazon and just bought out of the lists…slick and easy and done! That sounds like I am only giving gifts out of obligation, but that’s not how we feel about it. I just prefer the actual giving rather than the shopping.

Maybe a little pie... — Maybe a little pie…

Anyhow, even though we didn’t do any real shopping, we have been busy. We worked on the executive deer stand a few days and I had to manage my killer beard as well! But the real event was Thanksgiving day…we gathered 20-some people together and ate a lot of food. I guess it was probably too much food, but we have never been ones to go too hog-wild. I like a nice serving of turkey and taters and gravy…maybe a few slices of pie, but not too far overboard.

I am not sure I can say the same for Isaac. He was pulling sugar straight from the can…truly it was a thing of beauty!

We took a bunch of group pics, but not everyone wants to be seen ~~with me~~ online so I will only show Abigail prepping for the family to sit around the bench…I think she was staking out a napping location, honestly. So, we had a pretty nice Thanksgiving and a busy but nice mini-break from school and work. I think that Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite holidays (after Groundhog Day of course), because it is mostly a relaxing time with family…and pie!

Kids these days

September 9, 2014Awesome, Family, ThoughtsFamily, Fun, Kids are sort of cool...even if they do eat all my food, Thoughtswarren

Kids these days…You know, kids these days are different than when I was a kid. I had good pals and best friends and we did a lot together and had a lot of fun and all that. Something about kids these days seems different though. I have noticed that these kids share more and better than I remember doing. Sure, we took turns drinking from the garden hose and maybe we traded cookies from our lunch boxes, but Isaac and many of his pals give things to each other freely…and not just little things. They share what’s important to them among each other. I have seen them share money and clothes and electronics and all sorts of things without hesitation. I don’t mean, “here, you can borrow my shirt” kind of stuff, but “here, you can have my shirt.”

I wonder if it comes down to economics of it or if it is a true change in how kids are these days. I grew up in an economically disadvantaged region of PA. Most people there worked very hard to get by and few had a life of plenty. Of course, I had plenty of love and support, but we didn’t have stuff in plenty. I am and was perfectly content with that life, but maybe my growing up was different because of that. Maybe I didn’t share as freely because I didn’t have as much to share or what I did have was a little more precious to me. Maybe it was the time and the world and all that. I don’t have any idea.

Last weekend, Abigail ran in a cross-country meet. She ran well and came in among the middle of the pack. I was very happy for her, especially considering she is a new runner and a 6th grader competing among 8th graders. As the last of the pack was coming in for one of the other races, one boy was obviously struggling to complete the race. I was so proud to see a number of other runners who had finished their race return back to the lone runner and encourage and support him. They ran beside him, encouraging him to keep going, that they were there to keep cheering him and that they were proud to run with him. I don’t know that everyone got a ribbon, but in my eyes, I saw a team of kids that, rather than teasing or bullying, or even just being indifferent, proved that they were champions and that they shared the joy together.

I hear people complain about how kids these days feel entitled because everyone gets a ribbon and everyone gets constant praise. Maybe that can be taken too far and maybe it is taken too far, too often, but honestly, I do not know that I have seen that problem. If that sort of thing breeds the kind of sharing and concern that I have seen among my kids’ friends, I am all for giving every kid I see a ribbon.

Maybe it’s a different time or maybe I was just a bad friend, but many kids these days simply make me proud and give me hope that it’s all going to be ok…

The surfer look?

July 17, 2014Adventure, Awesome, Family, FunBeach, Family, Fun, Gnarly dude, Life's a beachwarren

We’ve been back from the beach for a few days, but my head is sort of still halfway between home and the ocean. I was looking back over the pics I took and there are far too many of the pier. The other trend I think I found were of the four of us looking like wannabe surfers.

Really, it is more of a matter of wearing rashguard shirts so we don’t get sunburned, but that’s not too sexy so we will go with the surfer look.

Abigail in particular, is the water-dog when it comes to body-surfing. We had several days of pretty rough waves and she didn’t seem to even notice. I was getting beat to death, but she kept going out into the surf. Of course, she, too, was getting beat up, but it just didn’t seem to bother her. And heck, scars and scabs on my little girl’s knees and feet are kind of cool.

Well, beach time is over I guess so I will have to get back into real life mode I suppose. Really though, I suppose I will have enough sand it my delicate parts to be reminded of the beach for some time to come!

Beach 2014

July 9, 2014Adventure, Awesome, Family, FunAdventure, Family, Fun, I look killer in a bikini, Life's a beach, The ocean is huge!warren

We go to the beach every other year or so and this is our year. This is weird I know, especially since I never went to the beach as a kid, but it truly doesn’t feel like Summer to me on beach years, until we actually go to the beach. Of course, this year we have had screwed up weather so it really hasn’t felt like Summer until now anyhow.

I am not sure why I need to go to the beach to feel Summery but I am definitely on holiday and enjoying my most favoritest season – Summer! We have been to Topsail Island, NC the last few beach trips and I think it has become our new favorite place. When we do the beach, we do the beach and nothing else. Topsail is mostly houses on the beach and not much touristy stuff to do. It’s mostly not crowded and suits perfectly my need to lay on the sand in earshot of waves crashing so I can sleep properly. It’s perfect!

As the kids get older, I think that we have found that it is as much fun to watch them at the beach as any other thing. They like to people watch and body surf and read and all the stuff we do. It’s just total fun! It is contagious and we all just relax and kick back. We are here this year with Emily’s family and it’s a great opportunity to spend time with cousins and stay up late and eat too much rich food. I used to be able to add “get sunburned” to that list but we have taken that out of the mix…we are very diligent about keeping everyone slathered in sunblock…funny how times change and we get smarter.

Anyhow, I love the beach and need to re-charge every couple of years. And like they say, even a bad day at the beach beats a great day at work!

MANKs

June 12, 2014Family, FunFamily, Fun, I'm not wearing pants for 12 days!warren

This week, Emily and I are MANKs….Married Adults, No Kids! The kids went home with my parents last weekend after a visit here in WV. We have done that several summers but this year is a good bit longer…all told, they will be in PA for 12 days! Emily and I do not know what to do with ourselves!

Of course, we love the kids and love being with them, but we have had very little time for just the two of us. It seems like there were just two of us when we got married, but that was a long time ago so it is hard to remember! It’s a little weird, but it sort of feels like when we were first married! We went out to eat a time or two, saw a late movie, stayed up too late, went grocery shopping in peace, ate without breaking up a fight, took walks, and talked about whatever we wanted to, whenever we wanted to.

While it is fantastic having kids and being with the kids, I gotta say, being a MANK again is a nice change…but just for a little while…

Memories…my new coffee cup

March 5, 2014Awesome, ThoughtsFamily, Hey man...it's the 70s, How did humanity survive the 70s?, Thoughtswarren

I grew up in the 70s and mostly can’t believe it whenever I think back to how I dressed for school or what a mess my hair, when I had hair, was when I combed it straight down with my pocket comb. Men wore aftershave like Aquavelva or Old Spice and those smells still trigger my mind whenever I smell someone wearing either. I wore the very coolest pearl-button western shirts and tall tube socks with stripes. Most of that seems like the stuff of horrors…or at least it did…

My parents and my grandparents, like everyone at the time, had dishes and decor that went along with the times…there were lots of mushrooms and owls and browns and oranges and otherwise funky patterns. We had spider plants in macrame hanging baskets and I always sported a kool-aid mustache. It was the 70s man…it’s what we did.

A year ago, my grandpa passed and my mom gave us a few treasures from my grandparents’ house. Like most older people do, they just stopped buying new decor items at some point. They finally decided, I suppose, that it isn’t worth trying to be trendy…For my grandparents, their stopping point was somewhere in the 1970s. So, one of the items that my mom gave me was a funky owl mug that my grandparents used with their daily coffee…not just any coffee mind you…Sanka! If that isn’t 1970s…

Anyhow, I have clear memories of them using that cup, sitting around their table talking to my brother and me about whatever. We didn’t drink coffee at the time but always enjoyed the warm cans of Red and White brand pop they kept under the kitchen sink. So, I have that cup and it is safely tucked away so I can see it but I don’t want to use it. Luckily for me, technology allowed me to browse the world’s markets (i.e. ebay) to find another owl mug. I found one (and only one) and bought it right away!

I received the mug the other day and have absolutely, positively enjoyed drinking coffee from it, thinking about my grandparents and the 70s and macrame and returnable bottles and western shirts. It’s funny and awesome how much one little coffee cup can bring up in my memory and it’s worth so much more than the $12 it cost me!

Post Groundhog Day

February 4, 2014Adventure, Awesome, Family, Fun, NatureFamily, Fun, Groundhog day...better than Christmas!, Punxsutawney Phil, the one true groundhogwarren

So, here’s the rest of the story…we toured around Punxsutawney all day on Saturday buying souvenirs and generally acting touristy. The town undoubtedly makes a good bit of money during this celebration and that is cool. We enjoyed seeing the sights but headed in a little early because we knew we had to be up early for the real celebration. You see, bus tickets to Gobbler’s Knob go on sale starting at 2am, February 2. I knew my family wouldn’t follow me quite that early so we opted to sleep in until 3:30 am. At 3:30, we hopped up (I did anyhow) and headed to one of the bus stops. I was shocked. I mean, there were a number of people around on Saturday, but the crowd was amazing for the real show.

The powers-that-be had done it right though…there were a metric crap-ton of buses shuttling people the 1.5 or so miles from town up to the Knob. We got there sometime early…I can’t remember exactly when, but early enough to get a pretty good spot, not too far back from Phil’s burrow-of-prediction. It was still dark and had started to rain. It was still rain but it was that cold rain, just above freezing that is so pleasant. When we got there, the crowd was large but little did we know…

Some of the members of the Inner Circle were there keeping the crowd excited and they did a heck of a job. When you see it all on TV, they look sort of formal, but let me tell you, they know how to have a good time. I mean, they wee singing and dancing and telling funny stories. Honestly, I see why Phil trusts them so much. They are good people for making this weekend a success!

At some point, they had a band come on and play some music…and then some dancers…and them more music and singing…and then some pretty cool fireworks. Time is sort of a blur but we had a good time. More and more people showed up as time went on though and it got extremely crowded. We honestly had to shove back against people to keep from being knocked over or otherwise moved from our position. Being a jerk, I am pretty well disposed to that anyhow, but I do not think Emily or the kids enjoyed that part too much.

Panorama of the crowd at Gobbler’s Knob…this doesn’t really capture the size of the crowd (click to make it bigger)

Sadly, this isn’t really a kid-friendly affair. For too many people, it was an excuse to get dunk and act stupidly. I am all for a good time, but my only complaint is that the powers-that-be didn’t jerk people out of the crowd by their ears when they started acting like total morons. Oh well, such is life and my kids already knew all those bad words anyhow (thanks to their Mom of course).

Phil's prediction with the Inner Circle — Phil’s prediction with the Inner Circle

Anyhow, the Inner Circle finally retrieved Phil from his den. The President of the Inner Circle, the only human able to translate Groundhogese discussed with Phil his outlook and declared that Phil saw his shadow thus guaranteeing 6 more weeks of winter.

Just a few buses from Gobbler's Knob — Just a few buses from Gobbler’s Knob

Now I never doubt Phil…after all, he is the Seer of Seers and the Prognosticator of Prognosticators, but I was a little disappointed in his prediction. I cannot be selfish however, as he is merely the bringer of news. And based on how things are looking, I’d say he was spot on (as usual)!

Snow sucks…and other stuff

January 3, 2014Family, Food, FunChristmas fun!, Family, Is that elf...normal?warren

Right after Christmas, the kids and I went to PA to visit with my family. Various things have gone down recently which changed other plans so this was sort of a spur of the moment trip. Luckily, my brother and sister-in-law were able to make it too so we had a chance to just goof around together.

So we left WV on Friday morning and headed North. It was pleasant when we left here but as we approached Tionesta, PA, we found snow. Luckily it wasn’t on the roads but snow still sucks. Of course, in my misery, I felt the need for comfort food. Comfort food is a personal thing of course, but to me it meant ring bologna (on this trip at least). There is a local store that used to be sort of famous for their ring bologna. I stopped there before even going to my parents’ home. I swear they used to have rings just hanging from the rafters but I suppose sanitation concerns took over eventually. They still had bologna but it was sealed and in a refrigerated case. I don’t think any other part of the store had been cleaned since the last time I was there 25 years ago, but the bologna was good.

Abigail and my SIL saw the snow as an opportunity so they headed out to build snowmen. There wasn’t a lot of snow but they worked with what they had. They made a snow turtle, a snow pig, a snow teenager(complete with smart phone) and a snowman. Definitely cool…but snow still sucks.

We ate meat and cheese for lunch and opened some gifts. Abigail got a chemistry set from my brother, the chemist, so they did some experiments and no one got hurt. We ate more meat and cheese and drank a little beer…just a little. Then we acted like idiots. Well, we didn’t just start then but it became more apparent as the day went on. We had a pretty good time and I think I finally am recovered from eating all that ring bologna!

After Christmas 2013

December 26, 2013Family, FunChristmas can actually be fun!, Familywarren

Christmas with little kids is a lot of fun, but I think it might be even better with older kids. We started asking the kids what they wanted for Christmas a few months ago and they didn’t really have a lot to say. Both wanted some books and a movie or two. Maybe some music and some candy. It was pretty cool although when you want to buy stuff for the kids, it works better when they offer some suggestions. Gone are the days (thankfully) of buying plastic stuff that makes noise…any old thing as long as it makes noise …that’s a guarantee that the kids will like it.

Their tastes are more refined now I guess… (which is wonderful…don’t get me wrong). Anyhow, we finally drug out of Isaac that he would like a home gym and Abigail offered that a new flute would be nice (that was as much her flute teacher seeing the need I think). We spent a lot of time letting them believe that neither would happen, being big ticket items.

Bored — Isaac was not impressed…and yes, that is a bathtub in our family room…

I don’t think the picture captured it but I have never actually seen Abigail’s jaw drop leaving her speechless! It was fantastic! Isaac also was thrilled with some video games and chocolate. It was pretty nice really to get them the exact things they wanted.

We spent time with family and ate too much of course. We will travel to PA this weekend to hang with my people. It’s just been an easy going holiday and I couldn’t be happier with how the kids have blossomed into nice people!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!