Stupid alarm clocks

After the incident with our A/C a couple of weeks ago, you would think that I would have been better prepared for failures of modern conveniences. Say like the electricity going out in our house, but alas I was not.

The past week or so, we have had storm after storm after storm. Last Friday we had a hell of a storm. Lightning that filled the whole house, thunder that shook the very foundation of your soul. Mandy and I were on the front porch watching most of this until we had a lightning strike that was a little too close for our comfort. Have you ever been so close to a strike that you can feel the heat off the lightning? Well, now we can say we have and the thunder that hit immediately after seriously hurt my ears it was so close. After we came inside and the storm subsided somewhat, the power went out. We have had power bumps here in the past but in the three years of living here, never had it go out for a prolonged period of time, especially four hours. Power comes back on and I set to task resetting all the clocks, ok not all just my alarm clock. I’ll get the both boys rooms in the morning I told myself. Yup, you know where this is heading.

Fast forward to Monday morning; I’m wake up, stretch look at the clock that says 610, think to myself, “whohoooo I slept in on a weekend.” Then it hits me, that’s its Monday and you’re running late. I got up, showered, shaved and got dressed in a record time that I was certain that would never be broken. I had set my alarm but forgot to reset the time so it was set to go off at noon. Well, as I’m getting myself coffee I realize the boys aren’t stirring. That’s about the time Mandy flies down the hall to wake the boys up because I forgot to; A) reset the time on their clocks and B) reset the alarms. Everyone got to school and work on time but again Andrew struck again on Tuesday.

Monday night we had more storms. Thunder that was so close that it literally knocked bottles over that were standing on our kitchen counters. I maybe got three hours of sleep total. So when Mandy’s alarm on her phone went off at 630 and woke me up, I thought crab another power outage. Nope, I forgot to set the stupid, frickin, no good, gosh darned, dash it all alarm (editor’s note. This is a family blog so the actual language used yesterday morning has been edited. Heavily). That record time that I set Monday morning? Yeah I beat it handily on Tuesday. I am happy to report that last night there were no storms and that I woke up at my normal time and everything is kosher and right in the world.

 

Editor’s note. I now have a backup alarm on my phone. Just in case.  

Camping, laundry and Dorito rock

This week’s Laundry picture comes courtesy of me and our camping excursion (ok not excursion, it was to a lake 20minutes away with high six figure homes around them but it was sleeping in a tent, so it was camping) this past weekend.

Some friends of ours asked if we would like to accompany them on a camping trip. Let me pause here. We have not been a camping family in the past. We have sleeping bags but they were $30 Targets specials. We had a tent but it was only used for backyard camping and Alex broke the zipper so it was junked. We had purchased a new tent from Costco a couple of months ago but that was for the purpose of backyard camping and upcoming scout campouts. Mandy and I hadn’t been camping since before we were married. We love to hike, the boys and I love to fish, but camping, hadn’t been done. So when Mandy enthusiastically said yes, I (being the resident family worry wart and party pooper) was a little concerned. We conveyed to our friends that we had no cooking gear and the bear essentials (get it outdoors bear not bare. I kill myself) to go camping overnight, much less the two nights they were proposing. They said just get up here, bring some food and we’ll take care of the rest. Ok, camping on.

To ease my mind Mandy reminded me that we had some really nice sleeping bags stored away at a storage facility, or Mandy’s parents’ house if you want to get technical, ready for our use. We had the new tent to use. They would take care of the cooking; we only had to provide lunch on Saturday (hello sandwiches, no flame involved there).  Mandy was awesome during the week proceeding. With me being a bum and not wanting to go and continually pouting, she packed and arranged almost everything. The only thing I insisted on was a sleeping pad for her, the boys and I could rough it on the ground (my back is still pissed at me for that decision). Car packed, boys loaded, beer in the cooler, bug spray packed, and away we went.

We arrived and setup camp with no issues (marriage survived setting up a tent in the outdoors, check), so we headed down to the lake (reservoir) to scope out the beach. It’s we when arrived on the beach that I realized what a horrible parent I had become. I grabbed some rocks and started skipping them across the water. Alex was enthralled that I could do that and that is when I realized I had a nine year old boy who had never skipped rocks across a lake. That is when I vowed we were going to spend more time in the great outdoors. How could a boy not know how to skip rocks? I had failed as a father. Sure he can fish and knows how to handle a pocket knife but how could I have failed this?

The rest of the trip was a complete success. Well other than the teenage boys that kept us up most of the night in the next camp over and the whole sleeping on the ground thing. I am not in my early 20’s anymore where sleeping with a mound of hard pack earth in the middle of my back is easily overcome the next day. Other than that, camping went off without a hitch. We cooked hotdogs over an open flame. Had some s’mores, pancakes and bacon, enough licorice to drop a horse, chips, instant coffee (bleh), all the food a good campout requires. We spent most of the next day on the beach and in the lake swimming. I had forgotten how fun it was to swim in the great outdoors.

I think I had more fun than the kids did. My friend had brought a wrist rocket that we taught all the kids how to use. Saw a great horned owl in a tree above our camp (sorry pictures didn’t turn out). Connor discovered the pure relaxation of a hammock between two trees.

It was a great overnighter. Two regrets: not taking fishing poles and lack of sleeping pads. Other than that everyone had a great night.

A little story about the rock that came out of the laundry that is pictured above. Saturday morning while all the kids played in the water, Connor was getting in the water, getting out, looking at rocks and bringing us the best looking ones. Alex was getting in the water, getting out, looking at the rocks and skipping the best ones across the lake. Rocks to boys young and old are fascinating for some reason. Like moths to a flame, show a boy a cool rock and he is entranced. I am no exception. I found this rock while watching them play and Connor agreed it was the best rock found on the trip, while Alex said it would skip the best across the water. I sided with Connor and decided to keep the rock, especially after he told me the rock looked like a Dorito.

We are already planning at least two camping trips next year and will start accumulating the proper gear to make it happen. Yes, a good, no a very good sleeping pad will be included in that list.

Lego Family

There are those little moments in a parent’s life that can make or break your child’s day. I’ve written about these little moments before and since that day I have tried my hardest to appreciate them more and take advantage of them more. I had one of those yesterday and it ties in for a Lego of the Week, so it’s a win-win really (Lego of the Week, more like Lego of the month).

I was in the kitchen reading something that I needed to read for the school, when Connor snuck up on me. “Papa, do you want to help me build our family in Lego’s,” he asked. I am ashamed to say my first instinct was to say no, I needed to finish this but the look he gave me was a pleading please face and I couldn’t resist.

“You want to build our family? Like our house and yard?” I replied.

“No, just you, Mama, Alex and me in Lego guys. It’s really easy, all the Lego people are in the same place, remember.”

After he explained that, it was a lock, so we headed downstairs. Now let me explain that our basement could double as a Lego store if we wanted it to. Hell, it could double as a toy store if we wanted. A couple of months ago, there is no way I would have ventured down there and there was no way we could have found the Lego people. The boys and Mandy really deep cleaned it about a month ago and they have done a great job keeping it organized since (ok Mandy deep cleaned but either way the boys have kept it clean since. Give credit where credit is due.).

He found the Lego person bin and started to carefully go through each piece and put them down, when I decided way to slow and not nearly fun enough. So the entire bin was dumped out on the floor. We had a riot. Picking through to see what he thought each member of the family should look like. Who should have hair, who should have a hat, should Mama have long hair or short hair like she does now; all of this went into his thought process. We had them done when he was hit with a lightning bolt of an idea; we didn’t have accessories! So back in we went to find us all accessories.  After about thirty minutes, we were done and cleaned up and ready to present.

Here is Mandy and I. That is the shortest “girl hair” (his words not mine) that we could find. Mandy’s first accessory was going to be a cell phone but then he found a second coffee mug and thought that would be better. You can’t see because I couldn’t get the picture to show it well but Mandy is actually a queen from his castle set, because “Mama is really the Queen here.” I am wearing a green sweater vest and if you look really close you can see a lightning bolt scar on my forehead. Yes I am Harry Potter but Connor decides that hat would hide the scar and besides, “you have to have glasses Papa.”

Here are the boys.

Alex was the easiest to do for Connor. The hard part was finding the mitt he knew was in there. The only issue, “too bad we don’t have a Lego Angels or Utes hat. Alex would like that better.” Connor saved himself for last. I was happy with the way he portrayed himself. The hair he choose came from a surfer dude and it fits perfect. His accessory was the hardest of all the people we built. He wanted a sword, then a lance, then a gun, then he looked for a slingshot (I am still shocked with all the Legos down there we didn’t have a slingshot), then a frog, and then he decided he like the binoculars, because he really like looking at birds in the backyard. Works for me.

I am not tooting my own horn here but I am so glad I said yes to Connor yesterday. Too many times I have said no, that I am too busy or too tired. Too many times I have been this guy:

instead of being the dad he built for me.

Again I am ashamed to admit this but I was being selfish with my time instead of looking at what it would mean to him or Alex for that matter. We can’t be perfect as parents but we don’t have to be. We have to be there for our kids no matter what, even if it means stopping what you are doing for half an hour for some quality Lego time.

Connor your concern is overwhelming

As a Dad there are certain responsibilities that you are required to perform. How to properly throw a baseball, how to play Texas hold em’, how to mow the lawn, how to properly pee in the outdoors (always downwind), teach them how to make the perfect pancake are all tasks that as a father I am required to perform and teach (sorry I don’t make the rules). I could go on and on about all of these tasks but one of the most important duties I am to do is fix bicycle tires.

Connor has his new (well it’s new to him) big boy bike that he has been tooling around most of the summer on. He loves the big bike with the big tires that make him go faster. He and Alex will do pretend jousting matches on bikes, and Lord help us when they drop the pretend from that sentence, all day long if we let them. Well just so happens that Connor was introduced to a bike tires worst enemy last week: goat heads. You know those little weeds that feel like Legos when you step on them in bare feet in your house because your boys tracked them in on there shoes and you never know it until you step on one in your bare feet at 1030 at night when you are taking the dog out to potty because you forgot when you still had your shoes so know you just hurry to do it so you can go back to bed. You know those goat heads.

 

Sorry a side note hear. I just googled goat heads to get a picture and there really is a goathead.com website. I hope it’s a humor site because if not it is the best unintentionally funny website I’ve been to in quite a while. Sorry had to share, I thought it was funny.

His back tire, of course it was the back tire, was damaged when he rode in the neighbors weed patch (not in my lawn). Not only did he need a new innertube but the actual tire needed replacing. It’s Dad time. Those of you who know me know that I am not the handiest of Dads. I am all thumbs and most of the time common sense seems to run away when I start these “man projects.” There is the setup for the next paragraph.

Bike tires are not that hard to get off rim. I have the little plastic tool that helps get it off and on, so getting off not that hard. Getting on is another matter. I am sure there is some trick to it but I have yet to figure it out. Because I have not figured out the trick, it takes me some time to get the tire back on. Again, it wouldn’t be so bad but when you have a little boy anxiously waiting for you, the pressure gets ratcheted up a notch. Connor is also the boy that hovers while you watch. He wants to know why you do this, and how did I do that. Its admirable trait to have but when I’ve been wrestling with a damn tire for 20 minutes it’s not so cute.

After 20 minutes and lots of swearing (internally the boys were close. Ok maybe some did slip out) I had the tire back on. Time for the training wheels to go back on. Ok, wrench on one side, ratchet of the other and tighten and slip and bang my stupid thumb between ratchet and bike frame and curse out loud. Connor bends over to examine me after my cursing. In his immediate concern for his old man he tells me, “You’re ok. No blood no foul.” As I’m sitting there with my thumb pulsating with pain and bruising instantly, I didn’t know whether to strangle him or laugh uncontrollably. I laughed.

I love him.

Work Night at the Bee's

So last night was my company’s party at the Bee’s game. I love baseball, I love my family and I love my job (not in that order) and last night is an example of why I do. Every year they rent us a free pavilion or as like this year, a patio at the top of the stadium, with all the burgers and hot dogs you can eat. There is also soda and water on the house and free beer for the adults who want it (alas that is not all you can drink). Last night was the perfect night for baseball.

See look at that view. Mid 80’s, a little overcast and shade over your head, what else could you ask for? Just some great family fun at Triple-A baseball. Connor tried to eat his body weight in potato chips and kettle corn and probably succeeded. Alex drank his weight in Sprite that I’m sure of. For the record I did not drink my weight in beer (allegedly). The boys had some Dippin Dots (by the way when does that stop becoming the ice cream of the future? It’s been that way for 20+ years?)  and Connor wore some of his. 

The boys met Bumble.

To be honest I don’t remember much of the game. I know the Bee’s lost and there was a great play at the plate where our right fielder threw out a Chihuahua (yes I said a Chihuahua. They were from El Paso) at home plate. But tonight was seeing friends from work, letting the boys get giddy on sugar and junk food and if there is time, watch a ball game. We did make time for silly pictures before the fireworks.

All in all a great night for baseball, friends and family. My headache in the morning wasn’t even that bad either.

Lego Paradise

Legos. There I have your attention. The other night the boys had an opportunity to go to a birthday party for one of Alex’s friends from scouts. It was of those instances where we had double booked ourselves. Mandy had to work, I had to work and we had a party. The plan was to drop Alex off and then I go home with Connor and work al little bit from home. Great plan right? It was until we were told by the boys’ mom that she planned on Connor staying. Curses, foiled again. Double curses when they saw the backyard. There was a huge tarp with four blankets placed on it. On those four blankets were roughly 4,000 Legos.  The idea was for the kids to build their own Lego racers and then race them down a track; Boys and girls welcome to Lego Nirvana. Picture a dog that you just gave peanut butter to in a Kong toy. You know how they just wag their tails in hyper drive and run in circles until you actually give it to them. Yup that was pretty much their reaction also. (Did I just compare my boys to a dog? Crap)

Come to find out this was a business that they had hired. He comes in with the tarp, blankets, Legos and track. Sets it all up, gives the kids building tips, and lets them loose. It was really cool to see the kids building and racing. To see the imaginations come to life within the cars, or planes with wheels or Connors car with propeller.

To top off the evening they had setup a screen in their backyard, had cake and watched the Lego Movie. Full disclosure here, I had left after only 45 minutes because I had to work and I had to get up early Friday morning for a very important event (Company golf constitutes important event). Mandy is the best to take one for the team and stay in Lego Heaven (watching the racers and building) and Lego Hell (EVERYTHING IS AWESOME) for two hours. Mom of the year!

It even inspired Alex to come up with his own racer for President Business the next day.

I really do hate the little things but I love what they bring out in the boys.

 PS you’re welcome for getting the song stuck in your head the rest of the day.

Public Service Annoucement

Its funny how we take our modern conveniences for granted. Electricity, indoor plumbing, Wi-Fi, DVR (top five of any invention ever) and A/C have become perks that we cannot live without. Especially when say, the A/C goes out on a 90  and it’s humid outside. Then you can really see what lack of air conditioning does to a person.

We were sitting in the living room just goofing off, when Mandy commented how hot our house was. I immediately passed it off as, it’s humid get over but she insisted it was hot. The A/C was going but the air was a little bit warmer than usual. The thermostat was set to away so I figured it would take a while to cool back down. After ignoring the problem while Alex and I finished playing FIFA13, Mandy did her own investigating. Yes, the A/C was pushing air but the compressor outside was not going. Crap.

I took off the side of the unit and discovered that one of the wires going into the contactor was burned back and melted a little bit.

 I turned off the power, pulled out the disconnect and cleaned up the wire as best I could. Nope still wouldn’t work. Ok, the contactor is bad. Well I work at an electrical distributor, we should have one. Nope, we don’t stock this type. At this point Mandy and the boys are getting ornery and hot because I think I can fix this. As a guy we think we can fix anything and save us some money. Well, with the temps getting above 90  and the humidity building up, it was time to call in reinforcements.

We called Bills Comfort System and Layton, and the gentlemen offered to sell me just the contactor to install myself. Great that is something I can do. I can fix this. However, I (by “I” I mean Mandy) decided this was too big of deal to try and fix myself, so I asked the technician to come out today to look at it. The tech was here in 30minutes took one look at it and said, “Your capacitor is bad.” Great just what I thought, the contactor was bad. Wait, he said capacitor, not contactor. Crap. Double crap. Not only was I wrong (shocking) but he said, “Well, the capacitor is bad and that is an unusual type. I don’t think I have one of those on the truck.” Are you serious? Well, he went and looked and he ended up having one, thank goodness.

After another 20 minutes, with my pride hurt and wallet a little lighter, the air conditioning was fixed. I always try to see the good in a situation like this, to learn a little something from a life situation. Yesterday I learned that I am not always right(again shocking) and it’s hard to admit defeat. That and I would listen to Mandy more often, life would be easier. So gentlemen, take heed and listen to reason and your wives more often. So ends today Public Service Announcement.

 

Stupid capacitor.