Franklin Mine

Danielle and I took the kids to the Franklin Mineral Museum on Sunday. It was HOT, but luckily most of the tour was inside air-conditioned buildings. There were some interesting rocks but very few visitors. Local attractions like the Franklin Mine and Wild West City seem to be having a hard time in this economy, probably because they're competing with places like Great Adventure and Action Park.

The kids did some mining and found some willemite, franklinite and calcite. We used our black light at home to see how the willemite and calcite phosphoresce in green and red.

Driveway Driving

It will be 14 years, 8 months and 18 days from today when Ryan will be asking me for the car keys. With any luck, my car will still be running (it's a Honda.. it could happen).

Beatin' the heat wave!

Temperatures hovered in the upper 90's all weekend, but we found some fun ways to beat the heat.

Stephen and Coleen's wedding

Everything went great, from the rehearsal to the reception. Michael performed his usher duties flawlessly, and Joey walked the rings down the aisle and was rewarded with a box of legos in his pew.

The only unplanned event happened when Pastor Foss hurt his knee while dancing. After a quick trip by ambulance to the emergency room, doctors confirmed he tore a ligament and dislocated his knee cap. He'll be having surgery this week in Long Island.

The Baking Soda Submarine

You can almost feel the anticipation in this picture :)

Joey-ism

Dad, how do fish whistle?

- Joey, 6/20 Horseshoe Lake

Father's Day

The kids pretty much wore me out, but it was a great day that I'll never forget. We put together a list of everything we wanted to do on Father's Day:

- fishing

- car show

- sandbox

- wrestle

- Wii

- soccer

- baseball

- basketball

- golf

- rockets

- water table (it's a table with water in it)

- build a model

We completed almost everything on the list, plus we went to church, had a BBQ and got slurpees from Dairy Queen. Danielle and the kids got me a new fishing pole, tackle box and a pair of sneakers.

Joey's Graduation

Joey graduated from the KEDS program this week. The program is run through his nursery school as a supplement to Kindergarten. They play games, raise tadpoles and basically just have fun.

The chicks

Danielle's class incubated and hatched a few chicken eggs, so she brought the chicks home this weekend for a visit.

And now a little chicken humor:

Juan was driving down a country road when he saw a chicken farm. To his surprise, all of the chickens had three legs. The farmer came out of his house, and Juan said, "three-legged chickens? That's astonishing!"

The farmer replied, "Yep. I bred 'em that way because I love drumsticks."

Juan was curious. "How does a three-legged chicken taste?"

The farmer smiled. "Dunno. Haven't been able to catch one yet."

Joey-ism number 357:

Daddy: Come inside Joey, it's starting to rain.

Joey: But dad, how are we going to bring the pool inside?

Parade Pictures

Michael and I drove Rescue 16 in the Memorial Day Parade. The chief let Michael sit in the officer's seat as a reward for working so hard down at the firehouse.

Why the life jacket?

Because you never know when you're gonna get hit by a rogue wave in the water table :)

Ryan and the Electric Candle

Ryan kept trying to blow out the electric candle. Too funny.

Birds Nest

Every year, the Robins make nests around our house. This year they made one right on the front porch. It's been fun watching the baby birds grow. Every time we get close to the nest, the mother bird flies to a nearby branch and chirps at us like crazy until we leave.

The Boys Like to Clean

Joey helped clean out the fridge this weekend (and reaped the rewards of eating whatever was left in each jar before it went into the recycling bin), and the effort Michael put into cleaning the ladder truck earned him a spot in the passenger seat in the Memorial Day Parade this weekend. I'll be driving the truck so it's going to be one of those "proud daddy" moments for sure.

Blue Belt!

Way to go, Joe!

Hole in the sink

Not much to say about this one, except that you should never keep a ceramic candle holder next to a ceramic sink. According to a friend of mine who's in the construction business, when ceramic hits ceramic the outcome is never good.

what I did on my lunch hour today

One of the guys I work with has a backhoe loader at his house. Who am I to turn down the opportunity to help him move it around for a while? It beats sitting behind a desk staring at a computer monitor and eating a PB&J.

Paco... or is it a Tizza?

My talented wife found a way to combine two of the most delicious things in the world, Pizza and Tacos, into a single delectable culinary creation. Say hello to... The Paco!

Take Your Kid to Work Day

Thursday was Take Your Kid to Work Day, so I brought Joey to work with me. Since my job really isn't all that exciting, I brought a video player so Joey would have something to do at my desk. It turns out that we didn't need it because he had PLENTY of real work to do. Joey sent an email to Nana from my computer, spoke with my customers, worked in the lab and warehouse and even helped ship a box. The girls gave him papers to shred and they taught him how to stamp envelopes with the postage meter, and the guys at the loading dock let him throw stuff in the dumpster.

Michael went to work with Danielle, and he helped teach her class using the SmartBoard. They also made bird houses from old milk cartons and paper mache.