Wonder how many pediatrician bills this will cost us?

Since we don't have a pool, water fun around here usually looks like this.

So far, no broken bones, although I've got to imagine it's only a matter of time.

For Luke, water fun usually looks more like this, since the slide freaks him out a little.



Along with the occasional faceplant.



But today, on my way home from work, it finally looked like this.



(Seriously. I've been waiting all summer for a decent thunderstorm. I'll take the 5 minutes I got today. But I could go for more.)

And when I pulled up to the house, this is what I found.



Levi is actually wearing one more item of clothing in that photo than the state I found him streaking out of the garage in.

So they all put on swimsuits, and we headed down to the ol' swimmin' hole.





Otherwise known as the drainage area in the park at the end of the street.



Keep in mind, it has rained all of about 4 times here in the last 6 months or so. And that park drains all the water from our block. That puddle isn't exactly what you would call sanitary.

But the kids thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. They ran back...



and forth...



and back.



Luke got in on the action as well.



And despite our stern warnings, I think he actually managed to take a few slurps of that nasty water.



Finally, I am fairly sure that the rising moon on Noah in this picture...



is highly correlated to the giant grin on Levi's face in this one.



Stinker.

Then we were treated to a lovely sunset on our walk back home, where we attempted to thouroughly scrub every last bit of road grime out of the collections of scratches and scrapes they seemed to have picked up playing in the cesspool.

Hopefully none of those scratches start tuning the color of that sky, with who knows what kind of nasties inhabiting the ol' swimmin' hole...

Sodium polyacrylate

Saturday morning mud making in the sandbox with his big sister.

That sodium polyacrylate is amazing stuff.

Uniforms are a good thing.

This was Ella's choice of clothes a few days ago.

Uhhhh, yeah. Obviously gets her fashion sense from her father (who sees no issue with combining stripes and spots, and totally would have taken her on a daddy date like that.)

Ella started first grade at Gilbert Christian School yesterday. Thankfully they have uniforms there.

She was oddly excited about the whole thing. I was ready to throw up, just remembering the icky first day of school feeling. I hated the first day of school. She, however, popped out of bed nice and early and was ready to go.

Marched right into her classroom with hardly a wave to her parents, like she has been going there for years!

Everything is amazing

I think I am becoming an old man (newflash, I know.) I sometimes walk around just thinking "You've got to be kidding me. This is real life? It's like magic..."

Paige decided last night she wanted a dresser.

Today she found one on Craigslist. Now, not that long ago, someone would have had to place a classified, pay for it, and wait for it to show up in the paper a week later to sell something. Or drag it down to a swap meet. Or drag everything out onto the driveway for a garage sale.

And we would have had to tramp around to all those garage sales or swap meets to find this deal.

No longer. Now, a quick, free, online Craigslist post, and a few hours later I have a happy wife with a dresser, and some lady in Glendale just made $50.

Of course, I have to find her house in Glendale. Used to be she would have to give me turn by turn directions. Or I'd have to drag out a paper map. Now she just asks... "You have Google?"

Yup, sure do. On my phone.

Work just got me one of them fancy new Iphones. So I type in her address. The phone already knows where I am, and generates turn by turn directions to her house. And shows my progress on the map as I drive.

Seriously?!?

As I drive, I hook up my Ipod. I distinctly recall road trips as a kid. When my dad wanted to listen to Rush Limbaugh, he had two options. Tape a bunch of shows from the week in advance. Or scan the AM stations and spend 2000 miles driving in and out of range of whatever station possibly carried Rush.

Now I just plug a gadget into my computer, and it automatically downloads more right wing talk radio than I can possibly even listen to.

Dad would be amazed.

So I arrive at the lady's house, swap cash for a dresser, and back home I go.

On the way, this sweet Cobra Coupe pulls alongside me on the highway. Man, I wish I could take a picture and share it with my friends.

Oh wait... I can.

Pull out my phone again, and snap a picture.

With my phone.

Then upload it to Facebook in about 30 seconds (no comments about texting and driving.)

Are you kidding me?

While I've got my phone out, I decide to switch from right wing talk radio. I wonder if Pandora works without wifi?

Sure enough, it does. I can now listen to my own custom radio station, playing the type of music I want, from my phone plugged into my car. I can even tell it I like or don't like a song, and it will adjust what it plays to suite my taste.

Unbelievable.

I happen to look down at my dash. I've got 75,000 miles on my car.

In 75,000 miles, other than basic maintainance, I've had to replace the air conditioning compressor. That's it.

Now, first of all, modern air conditioning wasn't even invented until 1928, and most people didn't have them in their homes until much later. And now I've got one in my car. And get bent out of shape when it doesn't work.

Second... 75,000 miles? That is equivalent to driving around the world.

Three times.

I've driven my car around the world three times, and all that broke was the AC?

That's insane.

One the drive home, Paige calls and wants me to pick up apples and milk. I stop by the grocery store.

Used to be that if fresh fruit and veggies weren't in season around you, you just didn't get any. You had to eat whatever you had stored or canned from the previous season. Now I just stop by the grocery store and pick up some perfectly ripe Gala apples.

Ripe... because they just arrived from New Zealand.

And sitting right next to them are oranges from Australia.

Seriously, occasionally I just look around and think "This is just amazing."

And then, to top it all off, it's like God sees me driving around with my jaw hanging open and goes "You think the stuff you can build is cool? Watch this..."

My dad was always a gadget guy. Loved having the latest gadget. I recall having the internet before it really hit mainstream. He got my mom this giant car phone when it first came out. Thing was ginourmous. He had one of those Palm Pilots when they were all the rage. He was always into computers. Etc.

I always wonder what he would say if he could somehow stop by for a quick visit. Even in 10 years, the pace of technology has been amazing. His Motorola StarTAC was top of the line at the time he died.

And it could only make phone calls.

In 10 years, from making phone calls... to email, web surfing, camera, music playing, and whatever else my crazy new phone can do.

Everything really is amazing...

Must have been double coupon night!

Paige just got back from the grocery store on the post-vacation restocking trip. The fridge was pretty much down to a few rotten mangos, and some several month old humus after my 4 weeks of bachelorhood.

But I guess there was a smokin' deal on Old Spice.


I'm not sure that much smell of freedom is even legal in all 50 states.

You did see all the "Old: Responses" videos, right?

"I must ride my jetski lion into the sunset."


"SILVERFISH HANDCATCH!"

Best. internet. ad. caompaign. ever!

Did you hear Willie Nelson died?

Yup, he was playing on the road again!

Ahhhhhhh, best joke ever.


After my whirlwind of a vacation, we loaded up the van and headed out. Nothing too exciting on the road trip, just lots and lots of miles, hours of movies and VSmile, and plenty of crazy right wing podcasts. Certainly we did much better than some of our previous road trips (and one of the very first blog posts.)

We did manage to squeeze in a stop at the volcano and ice cave in New Mexico.



I see the signs every drive, and always want to stop. I've got this vague recollection of stopping at some sort of ice cave on a road trip as a kid. I don't think I actually got to go into the cave, but I think I recall my dad going into the cave, and thinking that I'd never see him again because he'd slide to the bottom of the slippery ice tube and never get back out. I guess I had quite the imagination as a kid.

The volcano was interesting, but I can't say it was overly impressive. I did have the kids going for a second when we heard thunderstorms, and I told them maybe the volcano was erupting again. After three huge sets of eyes swiveled right at me, I was told by Paige that I can't make up stories like that and freak them out.

But it's just so much fun...

This was as close as we could get "ok, everybody look at the camera and smile!"


This way to the ice cave! They were totally excited. They apparently had no idea that their dad could possibly slide down the ice tube never to be seen again.


Ok, so this was not the ice tube memory of my youth. Basically a large entrance to a lava tube, filled with ice. It stays about 30 degrees in the bottom year round, due to the cold air trapped in the hole and the insulation of the porous lava. Interesting... but not worth the price of admission.


That was our one sightseeing stop in 1906 miles and three solid days of driving.

Then it was back to work for me the next day, and 18 loads of laundry for Paige, while the kids did their best on the nice clean house!

My two days of vacation

While the wife and kids get 4 weeks of frolickin' about the countryside, I get two days. I flew out on Wednesday, spent Thursday and Friday in Michigan, and then loaded up the van for the long drive back home.

We spent one afternoon at Lake Michigan.


Luke was in his glory with that much sand around.


You might want to put on some sunglasses, as the shine from my lily white legs is intense.


Max and Luke played "run full speed down the beach then faceplant into the sand" for quite a while.




We did a little fishing again. Thankfully no norovirus was involved this time.




Luke's first fish ever.


Julio caught one twice as big as his head!

The holy land

Paige and the kids spent about 4 weeks in Michigan. They love it because they get to hang out in the country and pretend that they aren't big city kids for a few weeks. I like it because I get to pretend that our house always stays this nice and tidy when everyone is around. ;)

Our kids are apparently getting braver, since they were actually excited to get dragged around on a tube behind a boat.

The two year olds havin' a hollerin' contest.


How many kids can you fit in the van? Paige always gets to spend some quality time with her BFF Joy, when they plan exactly which of our kids will be marrying which of their kids.


Luke began practicing his driving skills. Seriously, when I showed up a few weeks later he hopped right in that thing and started driving like he'd been doing it for years!


There is always lot's of time spent in the garden picking fresh veggies to eat. Levi loves all the plants and seeds he finds everywhere. And Grandpa probably spends the rest of the year wondering why on earth he's got plants sprouting up at random locations around the yard, since Levi plants every seed he finds to see what it will grow into.


Fishing is always a favorite summer activity. However, this trip to Millenium Park sent the entire Meyer clan to the porcelain throne, since there was a norovirus outbreak at the park when they were there.


He apparently learned to drive a quad as well. That one could be trouble someday.


Noah successfully kept his pants dry for 10 nights in a row, and earned himself a piddle pinata party.


They went blueberry pickin'.


Luke obviously didn't get the concept of "ripe." We are actually starting to wonder if that kid is colorblind, since he cannot seem to keep his colors straight.


A successful summer vacation in the holy land.

Country boys and girls gettin' down on the farm

Paige and the kids left in early July for the yearly vacation to Michigan. This time both Paige's parents flew out to help with the drive. They also took a detour through South Dakota for the annual Meyer family reunion. I believe it's the first time Paige has been back to her grandparents house in about 10 years. Oddly enough, I've been back there more often than she has since we've been married.

Our kids got to enjoy running around on the Meyer farm (minus silo) and I am sure that Grandpa and Grandma Meyer enjoyed seeing a few more of their 183 great-grandchildren.

OK, so they don't really have 183. But they have a bunch.

Luke and his cousin Max became quick buddies.


Exploring the farm.




Dead deer parts found up in the barn. Because apparently the barn cats need something to eat.


Grandpa and a bucketload 'o grandkids. And there are even a couple missing from this picture.


It wouldn't be farm life if you didn't get a little dirt behind your ears!

After a few days gettin' down on the farm, they packed up the short bus and headed off to the holy land.