Tuesday, October 28, 2008
My son has a hard head
This weekend Rohan decided to give me a reverse head butt while I was holding him. He arched his back and smacked me right in the glasses. This hurt, and it also broke the nose piece off my glasses. D'oh! Thankfully, my broken glasses stay on my face, but they don't quite sit right anymore. I'm off to the eye doctor to get an exam (for which I happen to be overdue) and to order new glasses. Hopefully Dina can epoxy my current glasses to get me by until the new ones arrive.
Monday, October 20, 2008
What a weekend
Dina had a Creative Memories retreat this weekend, so I was Mr. Mom from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Luckily I had some help from my mom, because Caden and Rohan had a lot of trouble sleeping due to teething issues. Caden, in fact, had another tooth come through, which means that both times Dina's been gone for the entire night, one of the twins has had a tooth pop through. Dina's theory is that they'll do anything to get their mama back. :-)
On Saturday my mom watched Caden and Rohan for a while so I could take Griffin to the Shrine Circus in Minneapolis. It was fun! That was his first circus, and the first I've been to in a long, long time. It was hard to get good pictures since it was so dark, but here are some of the elephants:
The elephants were almost Griffin's favorite part. For him nothing could top the human cannonball, which had a really loud boom and shot a guy pretty darn far through the air into the net. Griffin thought that was just awesome. He was right. :-)
On Sunday I got some cleaning and such done around the house while my mom watched the boys, and in the afternoon Dina came home. Dina's sister Gretchen and her boys came over (Keefe is staying at our place for a couple days) so we all had pizza. The adults also had beer - Bell's Special Double Cream Stout. Tasty!
Speaking of beer, the final event for the evening was bottling my latest batch, Amarillo Pale Ale. A quick sip of the uncarbonated beerjuice revealed lots and lots and lots of tangy hops goodness. This will be a good one. Rob, a friend who is interested in brewing and was around to help brew this batch, helped me bottle. Good God Almighty, it goes so much faster with two people.
Bring on the week!
On Saturday my mom watched Caden and Rohan for a while so I could take Griffin to the Shrine Circus in Minneapolis. It was fun! That was his first circus, and the first I've been to in a long, long time. It was hard to get good pictures since it was so dark, but here are some of the elephants:
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| From Kids |
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| From Kids |
The elephants were almost Griffin's favorite part. For him nothing could top the human cannonball, which had a really loud boom and shot a guy pretty darn far through the air into the net. Griffin thought that was just awesome. He was right. :-)
On Sunday I got some cleaning and such done around the house while my mom watched the boys, and in the afternoon Dina came home. Dina's sister Gretchen and her boys came over (Keefe is staying at our place for a couple days) so we all had pizza. The adults also had beer - Bell's Special Double Cream Stout. Tasty!
Speaking of beer, the final event for the evening was bottling my latest batch, Amarillo Pale Ale. A quick sip of the uncarbonated beerjuice revealed lots and lots and lots of tangy hops goodness. This will be a good one. Rob, a friend who is interested in brewing and was around to help brew this batch, helped me bottle. Good God Almighty, it goes so much faster with two people.
Bring on the week!
Griffin's first dentist appointment
Last Tuesday Griffin had his first dentist appointment. He was a little worried beforehand about the vacuum they were going to put in his mouth. When he first got to the appointment he would only talk with his teeth clenched shut. :-) But he watched me have my appointment, and that loosened him up. When it was his turn and he got in the chair, he was great. No hesitation, followed directions very well, and just did a great job overall in a somewhat weird situation. Here's a pic of him in the chair:
The sunglasses were to keep the bright overhead light out of his eyes. The assistant really helped make it a positive experience for Griffin. I was pretty proud of my boy. :-)
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| From Kids |
The sunglasses were to keep the bright overhead light out of his eyes. The assistant really helped make it a positive experience for Griffin. I was pretty proud of my boy. :-)
Monday, October 13, 2008
OH MY GOD THEY'RE MOBILE
Over the weekend, Caden and Rohan started crawling in earnest. Life will never be the same.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Lots of great stuff
It's about time for my monthly blog posting...
Two weekends ago, lots of great times were had. Rhyno's bachelor party was on Saturday, and we went out to the Leinenkugel's brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. That was pretty cool, more so now that I've been homebrewing and understand a little more of the process. After the tour we made the traditional bachelor party progression: first dinner at a restaurant, then some bar hopping, and then, of course, the library.
The next morning came too early, as mornings after bachelor parties tend to do. I rode back to the cities with Lundo and was back home by about 11 am. Incidentally, it was cool to ride out to Wisconsin and back with Lundo, because I haven't spent much time with him lately, even though he lives something like 400 yards from my house. Anyway, I did some chores at home, and then that night I flew out to San Francisco for Oracle OpenWorld.
OpenWorld, for those who don't know, is Oracle's annual conference for its customers. Employees, like me, can come, too. They essentially take over the area around the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. There are hundreds of hour-long sessions on dozens of topics, both technology- and business-related. Long story short, I went to a lot of really good sessions, fell asleep during a couple clunkers, had some fantastic food, drank some good local Anchor Steam beer, and got better sleep than I've gotten in the past 8 months.
Did I mention Rohan and Caden are eight months old now? It's crazy. They'll be crawling soon, and then Dina and I will realize how much we've let the childproofing slip as Griffin's gotten older.
So anyway, I got home on Thursday night, and worked from home Friday. Then on Saturday we went to RyanJ and Meghan's wedding. It was great! Those two are perfect for each other, and Dina and I were happy to be invited to the ceremony and reception. The reception, as I remember it, consisted mostly of whiskey, vodka, and phone-bowling. Good times...
Dina, the boys, and I stayed at the hotel that night, and early the next morning we went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We wanted to get there when it opened, and we did, which is pretty amazing considering how long it takes to get all three kids (and all the stuff associated with them) packed. The Ren Fest is awesome - I've been going for something like fifteen years now, usually more than once a year, and most years I've gone with Dina. Like the total geek I am, I went in costume, and this year Griffin went in costume with me. Dina normally goes costumed as well, but went for practicality this year and went in street clothes to make it easier to deal with Rohan and Caden. It is beyond cool to be able to share the RenFest with Griffin. He fell in love as we went in the front gates; there are a bunch of performers that interact with you right away as you come in. Griffin couldn't get enough of it - he basically spent the whole day talking to random people (both people who work at the fest and those who don't). Who can resist a cute little three-year-old in costume? We made sure to see the Fandazzi Fire Circus, which is organized by our friends Theresa and Chris; it was awesome. Fire rules :-)
After all that, Sunday night was basically an effort of taking care of stuff around the house that really needed to get done, then falling asleep exhausted when the babies allowed for it.
Wow, that was long and rambling. I must be tired. :-)
Two weekends ago, lots of great times were had. Rhyno's bachelor party was on Saturday, and we went out to the Leinenkugel's brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. That was pretty cool, more so now that I've been homebrewing and understand a little more of the process. After the tour we made the traditional bachelor party progression: first dinner at a restaurant, then some bar hopping, and then, of course, the library.
The next morning came too early, as mornings after bachelor parties tend to do. I rode back to the cities with Lundo and was back home by about 11 am. Incidentally, it was cool to ride out to Wisconsin and back with Lundo, because I haven't spent much time with him lately, even though he lives something like 400 yards from my house. Anyway, I did some chores at home, and then that night I flew out to San Francisco for Oracle OpenWorld.
OpenWorld, for those who don't know, is Oracle's annual conference for its customers. Employees, like me, can come, too. They essentially take over the area around the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. There are hundreds of hour-long sessions on dozens of topics, both technology- and business-related. Long story short, I went to a lot of really good sessions, fell asleep during a couple clunkers, had some fantastic food, drank some good local Anchor Steam beer, and got better sleep than I've gotten in the past 8 months.
Did I mention Rohan and Caden are eight months old now? It's crazy. They'll be crawling soon, and then Dina and I will realize how much we've let the childproofing slip as Griffin's gotten older.
So anyway, I got home on Thursday night, and worked from home Friday. Then on Saturday we went to RyanJ and Meghan's wedding. It was great! Those two are perfect for each other, and Dina and I were happy to be invited to the ceremony and reception. The reception, as I remember it, consisted mostly of whiskey, vodka, and phone-bowling. Good times...
Dina, the boys, and I stayed at the hotel that night, and early the next morning we went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We wanted to get there when it opened, and we did, which is pretty amazing considering how long it takes to get all three kids (and all the stuff associated with them) packed. The Ren Fest is awesome - I've been going for something like fifteen years now, usually more than once a year, and most years I've gone with Dina. Like the total geek I am, I went in costume, and this year Griffin went in costume with me. Dina normally goes costumed as well, but went for practicality this year and went in street clothes to make it easier to deal with Rohan and Caden. It is beyond cool to be able to share the RenFest with Griffin. He fell in love as we went in the front gates; there are a bunch of performers that interact with you right away as you come in. Griffin couldn't get enough of it - he basically spent the whole day talking to random people (both people who work at the fest and those who don't). Who can resist a cute little three-year-old in costume? We made sure to see the Fandazzi Fire Circus, which is organized by our friends Theresa and Chris; it was awesome. Fire rules :-)
After all that, Sunday night was basically an effort of taking care of stuff around the house that really needed to get done, then falling asleep exhausted when the babies allowed for it.
Wow, that was long and rambling. I must be tired. :-)
Monday, August 25, 2008
Weekend 8/23 - 8/24
It was a good weekend. Saturday was spent recovering from our long day at the State Fair and catching up on some house cleaning, laundry, and other domestic activities. At the end of the day we decided we'd try to squeeze in a trip to pick up some necessities at Sam's Club and swing by our favorite swimming beach. It was late, so we were pretty rushed, but we did get our stuff from Sam's and make it to the beach in time for Griffin and I to swim for a half hour before the beach closed. Dina hung out with Caden and Rohan in the minivan. The swim area we go to is the Elm Creek Park swimming pond, a man-made sand bottom pond and beach. The water is chlorinated, but pretty lightly, so you can hardly smell it. After the swim Dina and I took the kids over to the "creative play area," which has the coolest playground structures around...bridges, swings, zip lines, tunnel slides...it's great, and Griffin had lots of fun and got lots of exercise. We stayed until the sun went down, then went home and had a little dinner and got the kids to bed.
Caden and Rohan didn't sleep great; probably because of their teeth coming in. That's nothing new; Dina and I are adjusting to having cruddy sleep at night. It's only temporary...every tooth they get is one tooth closer to them being done.
The next morning I got up and played bass in a church band. Pretty boring music, but it's all the playing I have time to do these days. After I got home Dina had to run off to a Creative Memories event, and my dad came into town. He stayed at our place that night because he had a doctor appointment the next morning. All the kids had fun seeing Grandpa Dice. After Dina came back from her event we all went out to Old Chicago for some yummy pizza and beer goodness (root beer in Griffin's case).
That night after Griffin and my dad went to bed, I bottled the batch of Scottish Light Ale I'd brewed. The oak chips that had been soaking in the beer gave it a very Scotch whisky smell. I'm looking forward to opening one in a couple of weeks to see how the taste comes out. Bottling took FOREVER though, since it was the first time I'd done it on my own, and I was using 12 ounce bottles; the previous time I bottled it was with a few other guys and with 22 ounce bottles, which sped the process up quite a bit. But as Ben says, the reward will be worth the work. Now I need to start thinking about when and what I'm going to brew next! Woot!
Caden and Rohan didn't sleep great; probably because of their teeth coming in. That's nothing new; Dina and I are adjusting to having cruddy sleep at night. It's only temporary...every tooth they get is one tooth closer to them being done.
The next morning I got up and played bass in a church band. Pretty boring music, but it's all the playing I have time to do these days. After I got home Dina had to run off to a Creative Memories event, and my dad came into town. He stayed at our place that night because he had a doctor appointment the next morning. All the kids had fun seeing Grandpa Dice. After Dina came back from her event we all went out to Old Chicago for some yummy pizza and beer goodness (root beer in Griffin's case).
That night after Griffin and my dad went to bed, I bottled the batch of Scottish Light Ale I'd brewed. The oak chips that had been soaking in the beer gave it a very Scotch whisky smell. I'm looking forward to opening one in a couple of weeks to see how the taste comes out. Bottling took FOREVER though, since it was the first time I'd done it on my own, and I was using 12 ounce bottles; the previous time I bottled it was with a few other guys and with 22 ounce bottles, which sped the process up quite a bit. But as Ben says, the reward will be worth the work. Now I need to start thinking about when and what I'm going to brew next! Woot!
The Minnesota State Fair
The day after my blood donating experience, my mom came into town and joined my family in going to the Minnesota State Fair. I love the Fair. I think I only went once as a kid, which is really too bad, because I think I would have had a lot of fun. As it was I basically walked around in wonder at how much of everything there was. Livestock, people, grease...everything in abundance.
Griffin, my three-year-old, had an absolute blast. First of all, he loves spending time with Grandma Lynn. But he loves pretty much everything else about the Fair, too. Highlights for him were the Kidway rides, the huge corn dog (so long he could hardly reach the end), the fish tanks at the DNR building, the newborn animal barn, and the butterfly house.
Caden and Rohan had a pretty good time, too. They love being outside, feeling the wind, and soaking everything in that they see - and there was a lot for them to see! It was pretty warm outside, so for much of the day we had them wearing only their diapers. It is amazing how drawn people are to twin babies wearing diapers! There were countless "awwwwww" comments from people. Grandma Lynn couldn't get her fill of carrying a baby. I'm sure her arms were pretty sore the next day!
We had my mom up for the Fair last year, too, and it's a family tradition I like and want to continue. I love the feeling of creating family traditions for my family. It's very rewarding and fulfilling. I love being a dad!
Griffin, my three-year-old, had an absolute blast. First of all, he loves spending time with Grandma Lynn. But he loves pretty much everything else about the Fair, too. Highlights for him were the Kidway rides, the huge corn dog (so long he could hardly reach the end), the fish tanks at the DNR building, the newborn animal barn, and the butterfly house.
Caden and Rohan had a pretty good time, too. They love being outside, feeling the wind, and soaking everything in that they see - and there was a lot for them to see! It was pretty warm outside, so for much of the day we had them wearing only their diapers. It is amazing how drawn people are to twin babies wearing diapers! There were countless "awwwwww" comments from people. Grandma Lynn couldn't get her fill of carrying a baby. I'm sure her arms were pretty sore the next day!
We had my mom up for the Fair last year, too, and it's a family tradition I like and want to continue. I love the feeling of creating family traditions for my family. It's very rewarding and fulfilling. I love being a dad!
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