Music That Doesn't Suck

I love Blitzen Trapper's well crafted songs and their melodies are always great.  Big shout out to my buddy Joe who I believe introduced me to this band.  The clip here is from a few years ago but still great.  Enjoy...

Ask EJ pt 2

Travelling home tomorrow from our trip.  We had a great time and the kids were better than we could have asked for.  Golf, sun & sand was just what the doctor ordered.  Now on to the main reason for the post...

You wanted it you got it!  EJ is back answering your questions.  Now that she is 4 you really need to bring it if you want to try an stump her.  Remember EJ knows it all and has been asking for more questions.  Please post questions on the blog or Facebook page by Thursday night and I will ask her and post her responses on Friday.  You can see her responses to the last round of questioning here.

The Princess

Beach time

The kids love having their names in the sand

Travelling with Kids

As I mentioned in my post yesterday we left on vacation a trip to Hilton Head, SC.  I think I made the mistake of calling it a vacation yesterday and I am sorry for doing so.  A vacation is supposed to be relaxing and when you return home you feel rejuvenated.  Travelling with kids is neither relaxing or rejuvenating.  Case in point here was our breakdown of yesterday:

3am - EJ comes into our room complaining she can't sleep...I take her back to her room and lay down with her for 5 minutes until she does and I end up falling asleep next to her.  Proceed to get kicked, punched and pushed around by a 4 year old for 2 hours.

5:00 - Finally get up and go back to my bed.  Don't ask why I didn't do this earlier.

5:30 - Get up, shower and get dressed

5:35 - Walk into M's room.  He smiles and sits up. Get M dressed while my wife showers and gets dressed.

5:40 - Wake up Attempt to wake up EJ, she growls and pulls the covers over her head (seriously when did she turn 15?)

5:50 - Finally get EJ out of bed and start trying to get her dressed

6:50 - Leave our house.  Yes it took 1 hour for EJ to get dressed/fed.

6:50 - 8:00 - Drive to the airport in the rain and traffic with kids screaming in the back seat.

8:00 - 8:30 - Check in and go through security (kids sitting in strollers and somewhat calm)

8:30 - 9:15 - Chase M & EJ around terminal hoping to burn off some energy.

9:15 - Announcement that plane is broken and we will be delayed (NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!)

9:20 - Announcement that we are switching gates and getting on another plane (YESSSSS!)

9:25 - Board Plane

9:45 - 12:45pm EST - Wrestle with M for 2 hours straight

12:45 - 1:45 - Get luggage and rental car

1:45 - 3:45 - Drive to Hilton Head from Charleston...everyone else in the car sleeps.

3:45 - Arrive in Hilton Head.  Chug first beer.

What part of that sounds relaxing and rejuvenating?  We are on a trip.

Slides at the end of a long day.

EJ doing some prep work for her next round of questions.

Why am I the only one looking at the camera and smiling?

Music That Doesn't Suck

Whew! I have been up since 5:30am and travelling all day.  We are on vacation down in Hilton Head, SC for a little while.  EJ's birthday is today as well...too much fun.  In honor of her birthday I will pick a song she likes right now...Gotye's "Somebody I Used to Know".  I saw Gotye in concert around the time this song was starting to get some play and he played it early in the set.  It told me that he was confident in his other music and he didn't disappoint.  Anyways this is a cool cover of the song by Walk off the Earth - 5 people playing 1 guitar.  Enjoy...

Monday Links v3

Hi everyone.  Busy but fun weekend.  Saturday we had the kids pictures taken because their 4th and 2nd birthdays are coming up, went to a street festival and had some friends over from the burbs and ended up the night hanging out on the street with some neighbors.  Sunday involved watching my wife's cousin's kid while they went to a Cubs game, had a friend of EJ over with her parents for a playdate and sprinkler/outside time for the kids.  Somewhere in there I was able to fit in a 6 mile run so all was not lost.  Enough about me...on to the links.

We have a sand table but most of this post is spot on with my feelings about sand.  The guy who wrote this is hilarious.  Check out his post about Max and Ruby.

A bunch of dad bloggers wrote about depression.  I have had my battles with it and reading these posts make me feel like I'm not alone.  Maybe, someday I will write about it.

You may recall my post about Mr. Mom. Here are the Top 7 things never to tell a SAHD.  I would probably have added a couple more but these are good.

Finally check it out there is a quarterly magazine that focuses on modern fatherhood.  I got a subscription from my wife as an early father's day present!

EJ & Mom looking good for the camera...

M deciding he wanted to be in the picture

A little al-fresco breakfast...I can't believe I fit.

Music That Doesn't Suck

Back at it on another beautiful Wednesday here in sunny Chicago.  This 4 song set by Wilco on NPR's Tiny Desk Series is perfect to sit outside and listen to.  Enjoy...

I Love You EJ

If you couldn't tell from this, this or this EJ definitely has her own opinions.  Proof of that came again yesterday.  EJ did something that required her have a time out.  Time out over I turn to EJ and tell her I wasn't happy about what she did but I love her.  This is the conversation that follows:

EJ - I know dad, you say that all the time

Me - Well I do love you and when I put you in time out or take something away from you I want you to know I still love you when I do that

EJ - I KNOW DAD, YOU SAY IT ALL THE TIME IT IS SOO ANNOYING!

When did she turn 15?

Seriously Dad?