friends

Road Trip 2011: Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival

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This is our just-finished-packing-on-the-first-warm-day-of-our-campout-pooped picture.  Meet Megan, who was my college roommate for my last two years at PSU.  She has a son about Jacob’s age.  Every couple of years we try to get together to hang out.  We aren’t formal about it or anything, but in recent years we’ve been able to take turns … Read more

Google+: Good Idea or Bad Idea?

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I use that line with my kids a lot when they’re making questionable decisions.  If one of them is feeding grass clumps to the dog, I’ll ask “Good idea?  Or bad idea?”  Usually that’s enough to make them think before continuing. I got a (not-quite sanctioned) invitation to join Google+, Google’s new social network, last … Read more

Florida Discoveries 14: Blackwater River Canoeing

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Maryann’s and my latest adventure: Canoeing on Florida’s Blackwater River.  Geologically, Florida’s Blackwater River is a “blackwater river“: tannins are leached out of the local vegetation giving the water a diluted-tea color. Yesterday we took the kids up to Blackwater River State Park (about 25 miles north of our house) and picked up a pair … Read more

Florida Discoveries 13: Pensacola Lighthouse

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As is always the case when I get together with Maryann the Fotomom, today was an adventure. We took our boys to NAS Pensacola today and enjoyed an hour or so at the Pensacola Lighthouse before spending the rest of the day at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, which we’d visited before. At the … Read more

Another Guest Post

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I guess good recipes travel fast!  I was delightfully surprised when one of Brandie @ The Country Cook’s friends, Laurie @ Feeding My Ohana, contacted me about how excited she was to see a non-commercial simple Huli Huli Chicken marinade recipe at The Country Cook a couple weeks ago.  Laurie tried it and gave it … Read more

Nebraska Discoveries 18: Fontenelle Splashground

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Today Shannon and I took our boys to this new “splashpark” that opened 2 weeks ago in North Omaha.  What a fun, FREE, way to spend a hot summer afternoon! School starts Monday!

Since the original post this afternoon I’ve had a chance to add more commentary about this place. The City of Omaha has built several of these “Splashgrounds” around the city and they’re a great time for the boys. Papillion has one, but Bellevue has none (hint hint!)

Today the boys spent nearly 3 hours at the park — then the horseflies started attacking and the boys were happy to go. Shannon and I sat under a tree in the shade and had a good old fashioned chatfest.

This particular one was intriguing: there’s this innocent looking post stationed near the entrance to the fenced area — you rub the top of the post (yes, I know what I’m saying here) and that activates the water for 5 minutes.  As long as a kid runs back to the post every 5 minutes or so, the water stays on.  A nice conservation tool.  You can see the post in the 3rd picture here.

From 2010 08 13 Fontenelle Splashground

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Our Delightful Long Weekend in Colorado

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Hello friends!  We just got home from our long weekend in Colorado!  I’ll summarize our trip in the next few blog posts, but in short, we had a really good time!  The day in Denver with Adam, Rose and Brad’s wedding, our day in Golden, and 2 days in Rocky Mountain National Park were all … Read more

This is a New One…Blog TV

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We met our new neighbors — Dave and Jamie, and their two sons. They live in the house behind us.  Yes, even more boys to top off the overflowing supply of little boys in our little corner of Bellevue. Just kidding, since two boys left that house, with two more to replace things it’s still … Read more