Tormenting Or Reverse Psychology?

Last night Fiona and I decided to have a little bit of fun with our kids. Towards the end of most evenings leading to bedtime, Jadon will ask if it is bath time. All the kids are into routine, so they must have their baths, lotioned up, read some books (girls must have their pacifiers in hand or mouth), sing a song, and pray. Most times we'll just tease the kids and tell them "no bath, just bed" (or vice versa). The kids get into a tizzy and saying that they want "bath and bed!" Well tonight we took our tease on a little longer. We were heading home from dinner and we were saying "ok everybody just bed, no bath." That instantly created an uproar. Of course we were kidding and the kids were laughing and screaming. Jadon kept saying "No!!! I want bath and bed ok?" And I would respond "No just bed no bath, I'm too tired." And the girls would interject as well "Nooooo I want bath!" It's so hilarious to hear them beg. When we got home, the joke kept going. This time Jadon started to weep because he thought we were serious (boy aren't we mean?). Then Natalie saw the seriousness of Jadon's crying and she began to cry (aren't we really mean?). Vanessa, on the other hand, was just laughing her little head off. She knew all along that we were just kidding. We probably shouldn't keep teasing them like that, despite the humorous entertainment factor, but it's nice to know that they love their baths and their routines.

The Running Man.

I started running again. After doing nothing for 3-4 months or so since my phyiscal therapy ended I needed to get back into it. I weighed myself a few weeks and I didn't like what I saw. I seemed to have gained a significant amount of weight back. I checked out an LA Fitness near my work. Although it was a nice facility, the $149 registration fee deterred me. That and the sales person who was pretty much applying pressure didn't do it for me. It was a negotiating frenzy. He kept dropping the price but it wasn't good enough for me. I got some info on 24 Hour Fitness but there registration fees are too much for me as well. So I just have to muster up that motivation and get myself into exercising. I run after we've put the kids to sleep. So far it hasn't been too bad. It's nice and cool out which enables me to run a little bit more.

USS Midway.

So last weekend we went down to San Diego for a night and did the scenic thing. We went on some old boats on display as well as a Russian Submarine. We also went on a Hornblower 1-hour boat ride which toured the Navy Ship Yard. The kids just loved it. There are some pictures posted on my Flickr site.

This past weekend we went back to San Diego (just for the day) and finished off what we didn't do the previous weekend. Fiona wanted to go to Richard Walker's Pancake house for brunch. There was a good size line. The food was pretty good. After that we went to the aircraft carrier USS Midway. That was a pretty cool display. We spent 3 1/2 hours there (with the kids!). Of course we went on a pretty hot day but it was a great experience. Jadon just loved it. Although the girls are probably too young to know exactly what it is they are looking, they seemed to enjoy themselves too. We let them walk through the corridors of some of the decks. Did we burn off a lot of calories. Enjoy the pictures of our Midway Trip on Flickr as well.

Some tidbits about the USS Midway:

-Commissioned in 1945 and was known as the largest ship in the world for the decade.
-Cost $90 million to build.
-Overhauled in the late 1960s for $260 million.
-Served in Vietnam War, Invasion of Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm.
-Decommissioned in 1992.
-Went on display in 2004.
-3.4 million gallon capacity.
-100,000 gallons used daily.
-260 gallons for every mile.
-4500 crew (600 men in engineering, 225 cooks, 200 pilots, 2 physicians, 1 dentist).
-10 tons of food daily, 13,500 meals served daily.

Dyson'ed

We have finally gotten a Dyson (DC07 All Floors). We collected a lot of rewards points through our AMEX card and we redeemed some for a couple of gift cards at Linens N' Things. We used the 20% coupon and then the rest of the gift cards. So we got a new vacuum for free....sort of.

Happy Or Mad?

The other day Jadon said this Natalie and Vanessa:

Jadon: Natalie is mad!
Natalie (irritated): Nooooo! I happy! I Happy!
Jadon (turing his attention to Vanessa): Vanessa is mad!
Vanessa (upsettingly): No! I happy! I happy! Momma I happy, momma I happy.....
Fiona: Ok! You're happy.

Yahoo Migrating To Flickr!

I just got an email from Yahoo regarding the photos that I have on their site. They are closing it down in order to concentrate on Flickr. So what does that mean. It means that they are going to move all my photos from Yahoo over to Flickr. Not only that but as long as I maintain my Yahoo DSL services through them then I get Flickr Pro at no charge! Sweet. The change will be occurring over the next month. So stay tuned!