Hangin' with Megan

So I'm a stay at home dad again this summer while I look for a way to support my family. Although Kim is only working three days a week (12 hour shifts) it feels like 7 days a week. Megan and I struggle to fill up the day with things to do, and sometimes I feel like all we do is watch Cars, The Little Mermaid, and Mary Poppins over and over again; however, here are some pictures to show you some of the other fun things we do.

One day Megan put Mrs. Potato Head's ears into her own ears. She ended up with a whole new face.


We don't always do great at sitting down to eat meals for breakfast or lunch, but she snacks all day long. I try to give her healthy things like string cheese, peaches and wheat thins.


We made her a tent in the living room the other day. She made me play in it with her and I had to lay on the ground, half in and half out.



She loves to go to the park, and she has gotten very good at climbing. She can climb this thing over and over. She also has incredible hanging abilities. There is a zip line thing that she hangs onto while I push it. I haven't been able to get a picture of that yet because I have to follow underneath her with both arms waiting to catch her if she decides to let go without telling me (which she usually does.)


Megan loves to draw and color. Here she is with her water colors. She made me have my own cup of water to rinse my brush, and she didn't really want to share paints, but we worked it out.



Here's my picture (of course I had to hang it on the fridge).



She is pretty grubby all the time (especially her hair), so I'm glad she likes to take baths. She sometimes takes two a day, and is quite happy to run around au naturale afterwards.


This is actually a Sunday picture, not a normal summer day, but she is so pretty I couldn't pass it up.


It sure is going to be hard to leave our little girl for two whole weeks when we go to Turkey, but I'm sure the family will take good care of her. Hopefully these pictures will give them an idea about all the fun things they can do with her.

26!

It was my birthday on Wednesday; however, I was not in a good mood. On Monday night I dropped my wallet when I got out of my car in front of our building (I had just gotten some drive thru from Wendy's and I put the wallet on my lap instead of back in my pocket.) I didn't notice until Tuesday morning, and by that time it was gone. Since it had no money in it and I dropped it in front of my own building where I have lived for two years, I assumed that it would be returned to me quickly. It hasn't been. By Wednesday I was pretty pissed off (sorry Mom) about it.

Kimmie and Megan did their best to cheer me up.




But I was pretty much feeling like a bum.


Here's my new dress shirt from Kim and a pair of pants from my mom and dad. Megan is running around with that thing on her head because it was a birthday party and I wouldn't let Kim break out the hats.


We invited the Barlows over for one of my favorite dinners (ribs and potato salad) and I started to warm up.


A whole slew of ribs didn't hurt.


Finally, by the end of the night Kim and Megan had won me over. Who can stay in a bad mood with such cute girls around?


Thanks to everyone for making this a great birthday, in spite of the cold hearted person who has my wallet.

Graduation

These are the doctoral robes for University of Texas graduates


She looks pretty happy, doesn't she? That's because she didn't really go through the hassle of earning a doctorate. You may be asking yourself why these robes look like something that Dumbledore would wear. Here's some interesting information from the University of Texas website:

"The history of our academic regalia goes back to the Middle Ages in Europe, and there are many aspects that remain in today’s regalia from long ago. For example, the length of the gowns reflecting honor and status, the velvet lapels which are reminiscent of separate scholarly shawls worn over the shoulders and the lengths of the hoods in the back hearken back to the medieval.

All academic regalia has its roots in the first universities in Europe in the twelfth century, when the ordinary dress of the scholar was the dress of the cleric. The costume bestowed honor, but it also served the functional purpose of keeping medieval scholars warm in unheated buildings. The style of dress was standardized in the United States in 1895 by an Intercollegiate Code.

Hoods on academic gowns originated when monks wore cowls as protection against inclement weather. Today’s hood is never worn on the head, but rather draped over the shoulder and down the back.


The regalia is completed with a six-cornered velvet tam featuring softened corners to provide a less rigid silhouette than a traditional mortarboard. It is worn as a beret at a slightly jaunty angle with the gold tassel sloping toward the wearer’s left ear."



Here I am about as close to wearing one of these outfits as I will ever be. I don't think I am wearing the "tam" at the proper "jaunty angle," but then again I am only getting a Master's degree. I was (thankfully) able to convince Kim that I didn't need to participate in graduation, so I am doing something much more intellectually stimulating with my time today -- watching Sesame Street with Megan. Here's what we looked like a couple years ago when I graduated from Weber.

If I were participating in the graduation ceremonies today our pictures would look pretty much just like this except Megan would be older, so here is a picture of what we look like now and you can just imagine (isn't that bridge beautiful? It's about 10 minutes from our place.)

The Return of the Jared

Jared, Carolee and Isaac came to visit us this past week. Jared and Carolee lived here for a couple years while Jared finished his accounting degree. After a busy season preparing tax returns this year all they wanted to do was come visit their old stomping grounds, eat some barbecue and relax. We helped them accomplish two out of three. We rented a beautiful van modeled after the storm troopers' gear in Star Wars so that we could ride together.


Megan and Isaac sat in the back together. They entertained each other for the most part, but we made sure Kim and Carolee were close by with lots of snacks.


Our first stop was Ink's Lake, a spot that we had visited the summer before.


The kids had a good time playing in the water and we rented a canoe and paddled around. That's what you do when you live in a different state than Grandpa's boat. It was hard to get going fast enough to water ski.


Of course we had to stop at Cooper's and get the best barbecue in Texas. If you've been following our blog you've seen this picture 5 or 6 times now, even though Cooper's is about an hour and a half away. The sauce and the peach and blackberry cobbler are worth it.



After all the driving and excitement of the day before we decided to do a day closer to town. This is the park that we like to go to on Lake Austin. Kim was pretty nervous that Dad was going to let Megan die. He didn't.



After a long nap for all of us we headed down to our favorite grocery store and had dinner listening to The Eggmen (a Beatles cover band, obviously). Megan loves The Beatles and she got as close to the action as she could from our spot up on the patio. We looked over from our dinner and saw that she was climbing over the railing. Her new climbing abilities are cute but freaky all at the same time.



The theme of the trip was water, since it is already hot and humid here in Austin. This is a city park about twenty minutes away from us. It is free, and a good way to let the kids play in the water without really being worried about them drowning.



Here's Megan in the swim sweater that Kim always has for her, no matter how hot it is outside. She's a natural diva.


As usual, Megan ingratiated herself with our visitors, and made sure to get the most attention she could out of each person.


It's always fun to have visitors, and we're glad that Jared, Carolee and Isaac could come visit.