When Grandpa is in town it means the kids get spoiled. Today was no exception when he bought them each a Super Soaker water gun. They are battery operated which means they can shoot soak. The kids thought it was funny to shoot me in the butt while I was filling up soakers.
The kids had so much fun getting wet, then getting cold and then sipping hot chocolate that Grandpa made just for them with his seven special ingredients.
I went to the Seattle Mariner’s game tonight with my dad. We had a salad at FX McRory’s before the game and then watched the M’s play the Detroit Tigers who won 6 to 3.
Just before the game started, they showed a short history of Ichiro’s time in Seattle that included some of his best highlights. When that was over they announced he signed a contract extension through the 2012 season which sent everyone into a frenzy. I read in the paper tonight that he signed a 5 year, $90 million extension.
My dad and I watched the game, chatted about sports and munched on roasted peanuts. We had great seats only 16 rows back down the third base line.
Even though the M’s lost it was fun to watch the game and spend time with my dad. Here’s a picture from our seats.
I saw an advertisement for a sleeping product tonight which included a beaver, Abraham Lincoln and a deep sea diver. It’s one of the weirdest ads I’ve ever seen.
Can you name the product?
It’s been an hour and I’m still thinking about how dumb this ad is yet I’m still thinking about so, on one level, the ad worked on me. Yet that’s of little consolation if I can’t recall the name of the product to “ask my doctor” about.
Kim planted some gorgeous flowers in our front yard this week. I don’t know why we don’t do this more often. Having flowers around the yard and house make everything seem so much more alive with their vibrant colors and wonderful scents.
Tonight, the ice cream man was driving up and down the streets of our neighborhood which give me an idea. I need to find a mobile flower delivery service. Every few weeks or so I’d be willing to purchase a round of new flowers to plant around the house or display in our house. The times I see flowers for sale at the store or Pikes Market are the times when it’s the least convenient.
I don’t want to have to go online and browse through hundreds of options. I want someone to pick out the top 5 or 6 of the season and just bring them by the house.
That sounds really lazy. But it can’t be any worse than grocery delivery service can it?
Here are a few of the flowers now found in our yard
One of the kids favorite summer activities is running through the sprinklers. I bought an old-school, yellow Nelson sprinkler today that shoots out a great stream of water to run through. Both Anna and Luca ran through in their clothes. Lincoln decided to strip down and run across the front yard without a stitch of clothing. We didn’t bother with swimsuits this time around since it was late and the kids could change from wet clothes to their pajamas just as easily.
I enjoyed seeing the joy in the kids eyes as they danced around the sprinkler. Kids seem to have their own language when they are in the moment. It’s as if the adults don’t exist and they are in their own little world of bliss.
Is there such thing as a “Sprinkler of Youth”?
Here’s Luca in soaked clothes but having a blast.
I’m a huge fan of Firefox and have been since it came out a few years ago. I’m very much hooked on the numerous add-ons that are available such as mouse gestures that I can’t browse without.
But lately, Firefox has been very unstable and I’m not sure why. One of the ad-ons I have installed called IE Tab opens up IE in a Firefox tab. This is helpful for visiting sites such as MSNBC or Outlook web access. But one problem I’ve had for a while is that Firefox will shut down when I try to reply to an email using Outlook web access. This might be a problem with IE Tab although it happens even when I disable it and use Firefox to view my email.
And lately, I’ve been getting a lot more error messages like the one below when I browse the web. What initially was an inconvenience is turning into a pain in the butt.
I can’t imagine going back to IE as my primary browser but I might unless the old Firefox stability returns.
Until today I’ve used a stand chamois to dry off my cars. The chamois works better than a regular towel, but I found a product that I like a lot better: Griot’s Microfiber Drying Towel.
It’s just the right size at 25″x35″ and just sucks up water like a wet vac. It’s easily twice as fast and just as absorbent as my old chamois. It just glides along the paint picking up every drop of water in its path.
I won’t be going back to the chamois anytime soon.
My father is flying into Seattle tomorrow to spend a few days with us. Our kids have been counting down the days for the last month or so asking us each day how many more days before Grandma comes to visit.
When my father is in town, I can count on doing the following:
We talk a lot of computer and sports. He loves to listen to the sports radio station. Kim is a good sport and puts up with it all. My mother isn’t able to make the trip this time so I’m counting on an increase in sports and computer chatter.
We are going to research and order my dad a new Dell computer. I’ve build his last couple of computers, but the time has come to get him a Dell with new LCD monitor. He’s currently running an Athlon 2400 and older 17-inch CRT. We’ll probably find him a setup similar to Kim’s Core 2 Duo box.
I wish my dad lived closer. We chat a lot over Messenger, but I wish he were around more to go golfing and attend Husky, Sonics, and Mariner games. We are going to a Mariner’s game on Friday night. It will be a lot of fun spending time with dad.
I’m in awe of people like Fitz who possess so much talent. I find it interesting how to sketches the cat in pencil and then turns to the computer. I assume he’s using Adobe Illustrator but I’m not certain.
Fitz is the artist behind the Blaugh cartoon.
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I know that we are having another baby but since Kim doesn’t complain at all, it’s not always on the front burner. We are very excited to welcome our fourth child into our home come early December. I was waiting for Kim to make this public on her blog, but she’s been a blogging slacker lately. I figure it’s fair game since we’ve told most of our friends and family.
Tonight I purchased an infant car seat from Albee Baby which is our favorite online retailer for kids stuff. I couldn’t decide between Britax and Peg Perego. My friend who researches everything to death has both so I don’t think I can go wrong with either brand. We like our Maclaren twin stroller so much that I’d look at that brand first but they do not make infant car seats.
It will be fun to have a baby around the house again. Luca is convinced we’re having a baby boy and says she “wants a baby Lincoln”. A boy would make it 2 boys and 2 girls. But a baby girl would be fine too. A healthy baby and mom is what we’re after.
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