Memorial Day Weekend (part 3)

On monday we went to the Falls Church Memorial day Parade and fair. Not a bad parade for a small town. They had lots of rides like pony's and moon bounces, but Jack wasn't up for any of that. He wanted to play on the park rides such as the swings, which was fine with me since the coupons for the rides were a dollar each and the park rides were free.

Joe and Lisa on the moon bounce


Jack in the "fort"


Me and Jack at the Fair

Memorial Day Weekend (Part 2)

We had Randy and T over for dinner Saturday night and we christened the grille with teriyaki shikabob. Later I made a fire in the pit and we roasted marsh mellows and had smores. It was good to spend some time with Randy and T(heresa) and have some good grub to boot.

We also threw the ball with the dog and clowned around with Jack.

Randy and T


Kate and Jack


Jack in his foldy chair

Memorial Day Weekend (Part 1)

We started our weekend by going to Lowe's and getting some new patio furniture, courtesy of the Gobamint check we got a few days before (Stimulus check).

As soon as we walked through the door, there was a charcoal grille that has wheels and folds up, but no price. I saw some guy that offered help and asked him what the price was, he looked, as I did, all around the box but to no avail. So he marked the number of the tag down and went off for a minute. He returns a few minutes later and says its $24.99 - Great, I'll take it!

We go and look for some patio furniture and come upon a deal for four chairs, a table and an umbrella for less than $250, so we get that. One of the other helpers says that a different umbrella costs the same ($65) and has a solar panels and lights in it, so we decide to get that umbrella.

Get to the front, they start ringing stuff up and the grill turns out to be $39, not $25 and the umbrella is $99 and not $65. This is a $50 difference total and Kate is not going to let this pass. We end up spending another fifteen minutes straightening this mess out and end up getting the original umbrella at a lower price.

Bottom line: the helpers at Lowe's in Chantilly are idiots. We walked away feeling good about the deal we got, but the help made us also feel like we couldn't trust the people that work there.

The Patio Set

Saturday at the Park

I took Jack to our park on Saturday because it was such a beautiful day. Jack slid down the tube thingy that is made of plastic at the park, and it really builds up some serious static because when Jack appeared at the other end, his hair was sticking straight up, it made another parent laugh out loud and his daughter, too.

Anyway, I didn't get a picture of that, but I did get a picture of when he climbed up on a stool attached to the playground and sat.



He's holding a small rock that he found there at the park and became quite attached to. He kept saying, "MY rock". Several times, especially when I asked him to leave it or let go of it. It is now on the kitchen table, because he would not let me throw it away. I think we may name it, it may become part of our family.

Alligator

So I took Jack with me when I went to get a sub for lunch and when I lifted him up to put him in his seat, he started saying "Alligator, alligator, alla-gator.."

This usually means that there is some toy or object he wants to hold while we drive, but there was no alligator toy around. He kept saying it, so I kept looking, but it wasn't under the chair or on the other side of the chair. I just told him I couldn't find the alligator and changed the subject.

We get home a few minutes later and when I lifted him out of his seat, he reaches for something just inside the car, a calculator and he says, "Alligator". I say "Calculator" and he says, "cal-cue-lataw".

Ahhhhh.....

If you think about it, the two sound a lot alike, especially to someone new to this whole language thing.

Pictures of Nate

Kate returned from visiting Abbie down in North Carolina and I got some pics of Nate, so here they are:

Nate taking a one-eyed gander at the world.

Nate.

Jason, Ellie and Nate.

Abbie and Nate.

Grandma and Nate.

Ellie brushing Nate's hair.

Congratulations, Abbie and Jason!

Kate went down to North Carolina to see Abbie this weekend because she has been having contractions since Tuesday. Well, we got word early this morning that Nathaniel Oscar Stough was born at 1:08 am. He weighed in at 6 pounds 14 ounces and 20 inches long.

Kate is promising to send me pics when she gets a chance. So stay tuned.

Mothers Day

We awoke Sunday morning to celebrate Mothers Day by making Kate breakfast. Nothing special, just french toast. We then let her go back to bed and sleep in for another two hours, cause momma was tard (tired). I also got her some trivets that were kind of fancy so she could hang them up in the kitchen and a Starbucks card, cause she loooooves the Starbucks. We are getting a new one put in about two blocks away that has a drive-thru in it, so Kate is pretty happy 'bout that.

Anyway, I digress. Later, we went to Reet and Jim's for dinner and some cake. All of the rest of the family was there, including little Joe and Beckett. Beckett is now standing (with a little help).

Jim made some good burgers and hot dogs and we had cake, too. Little Joe loves cake - loves it. When it was time for cake, he was front and center and ready to dig in. Jack is unusual in that he will usually turn over a cupcake and just eat the cake part and leave the icing. This time, he ate it all, icing too. I got some pics of that.

"Cheese!"


Beckett Standing!








The O'Brien clan celebrate Mother's Day:

I like Ice Cream (The movie)

Never ask a kid a question if you don't want an honest answer.

My Dessert

So when we ordered dessert, I got this stuff which was like a creamy jello.

It was so interesting, I took a quick movie of it; fascinating.

Julie's Birthday

We went out to Mezza Luna in DC for dinner to celebrate Julie turning 32. The restaurant served the food tapas style, which is italian for hors 'devours. ha. It must have been a nice restaurant because they didn't serve Miller Lite, so I had a Blue Moon, because I just couldn't bring myself to drinking a Heineken.

I ordered some bruchetta and teriyaki beef strips and I sampled some shrimp too. I think we should go back because the service and the food was good.

I had never met most of the people at the table, but everyone was nice and seemed to have a good time. Kate S brought her new beau, named Patrick - nice guy, very down to earth and funny. Danielle is hilarious, she has an off-the-wall sense of humor so you know I could appreciate that.

Frozen Fudge Bar

Jack liked the frozen fudge bars that Mommy eats, loves them - looooves them. Only kids can fully enjoy a treat like this without any regard to the mess and sticky-ness, only the pure enjoyment of the frozen chocolate fudge bar.

I couldn't bear to watch, I just wanted to take a wetnap and clean him.

Dubya in Dummies

Abbie, my sister-in-law mentioned that I should do a Tootsie-pop portrait of The President, but instead of using tootsie-pop wrappers, using dum-dum wrappers.

Well, I'll take that challenge. The white is dum-dum wrappers, but the rest is tootsie-pop wrappers. Hope thats good enough.



A close-up of the dum-dum wrappers: