Andy's Staycation - April 8, 2014: Day 3 - Tuesday

Tuesday is already here!  Tuesday was pegged to spend some time with Meredith.  Also though, I was able to get a breakfast date in with Michelle.  It was a win-win.

Before we go too far.  On Monday night, Michelle and I booked a real vacation (without kids = real...just kidding...kinda).  We are heading to Mexico for a few nights with the Phelans.  I actually walked over to their house with the ipad and we booked it.  I booked a vacation while on vacation...GENIUS!

After dropping the kids off, I drove Michelle downtown and we decided to go to Little Goat for breakfast before she had to go to work.  Neither of us had been but it was a great time and we knew we were going to love it since we love The Girl and the Goat restaurant.  Both restaurants are owned by a former top chef winner.   It was nice to sit, talk and enjoy the meal before sending Michelle off to work.

After that, I headed home for some R&R.  Today was my lazy day.  I laid on the couch and caught up on some tv.  I got through the rest of House of Cards.  If you do not know about this show, I highly recommend it.  Kevin Spacey stars in it and is only on netflix.  The show is through 2 seasons.

Meredith gets done with her nap around 3:00. I had plans of taking her to paint pottery at Glazed Expressions.  Basically, you pick out ceramic pieces to paint however your heart desires.  Meredith was excited to be picked up early and ready to go.

She picked out a car and an elephant to paint.  She also picked out a few shades of purple to use for both pieces.  This should come as no surprise to anyone as she is more into purple than her sister!

She lets me help some but was very particular what color purple I could use on each piece.  She was running the show.  We spent about an hour or so there and then headed back to daycare to pick up her sister.

Michelle met us at home for dinner and that was the end of my Tuesday.  I was able to stay away from work, knock out two dates and get some quality r&r in.  As Ice Cube would say, "I have to say today was a good day."

Andy's Staycation - April 7, 2014: Day 2 - Monday

Are you ready to begin my true staycation?  Let me tell you Monday was pretty busy!  On a sidenote, it cracks me up when my mom tells me that her day was so busy.  Let me also tell you that she is retired.  Both her and my dad are retired.  I know she has obligations, things to do and it is all relative.  I mean Michelle and I both work downtown with pretty demanding jobs and are raising two kids who just turned 2 and 5.  My busy and my parents 'busy' are a little different.  With that being said, I have a new appreciation for a retired person's busy.

(Sidenote: I will take a retired person's busy over my busy any day of the week! Haha.  Do not get confused on that)

Monday was supposed to be my day and it was for the most part.  The week before we received the following letter from Samantha's classroom.

Dear parents, 

To celebrate the week of the young child we are inviting any parents who would like to come in and show off a talent they may have. This could include hobbies, music, or just reading to the children. Please sign up with Ms. Lauren if you are interested in volunteering from Monday April 7th up for 20 min. activities. Thank you in advance for helping us celebrate your amazing children.Miss Elisa our music teacher would also like to invite any children who have instruments at home to bring them in for Music class on Monday April 7th through Thursday April 10th.  Please no battery operated instruments.

The Pre-K Teachers

Well, I signed up to go in at 10 am on Monday morning.  I do not have any talents.  Looking back, I could have brought in my violin and played some simple songs but my violin isn't tuned and needs some love.  So, instead I had Samantha pick out two books.

I dropped the kids off at school.  I dropped Michelle off at a train. I then headed to Home Depot because Michelle over the weekend said in passing that they had cactuses on sale there.  She used to have one at her desk and I thought it would be a nice treat for her.  I also needed a couple minor things for the house.  So, I picked up the cactuses (ended up getting one for the house too) and ran home.  By the time, I got home it was 9:30.

I was not going into this classroom empty handed.  I know how to get kids to pay attention and like me...bribery!  So, I ran to cvs, picked up some Doc McStuffin stickers and headed to daycare.  Sadly, I was nervous.  Samantha did a good job of picking out two very different books.  One book was a princess book about spring time and one was about star wars.  I told the kids I would ask three questions at end of each book and a correct answer would result in a sticker.  This trick worked great.  At the end, I gave everyone who didn't get a sticker one and I was out the door.  It was a successful start to the day.  Also a teacher at the end of the day told me that the kids kept expecting stickers from each parent after me.  Hahaha.  Oops.

After reading, I went home, changed, cleaned up some and went to Yoga at noon.   After Yoga, I had a doctors appointment. In between yoga and doc appointment, I cleaned up the house.  When doc appointment was over, it was like 4 pm.  What happened to my day???  I didn't work (well, i worked for like an hour total in there) but man, it was busy with random stuff.  Now, I get it when my mom says she was busy.  Despite minimal couch time, it was a good start to my week.

Andy's Staycation - April 6 - 13, 2014: Day 1 - Sunday

Yep, I took a week off.  Yep, I just made up a word, "staycation".  The first quarter for my work is usually really busy and intense.  I was at the end of a rope and needed some time.  Vacations sometimes can be just as exhausting so I decided to take a week and catch my breath.  Thank you PwC for the vacation time!

And you are right in assuming that my family did not take the whole week off with me.  I had a few objectives during this time.

1. I wanted to unplug from work.  I might have to answer an email here or there but I wanted away.
2. I wanted to relax.  Lay on the couch.  Read a book.  Watch a random movie.
3. I wanted to have a date with each of my girls individually.
4. We were heading to Cinci to hang with Neyers on Thursday so I wanted to make sure we were ready for the road trip.

So, the "sort of" stay-cation started off with Wrestlemania on Sunday night.  We were supposed to go as a family over to the Flory's but Roger was not feeling well so we decided to keep the girls at home.  I went solo over to Bryan's and hung out with family and friends.

I do not watch a ton of wrestling these days as I do not have time.  I guess I just don't make it a priority.  That is ok.  I catch it from time to time and will always have a respect for what those athletes do. Wrestlemania was actually a really good and had a HUGE shocker with the Undertaker losing for the first time in over 20 years at wrestlemania. No one saw it coming.  Anyway, after the show, I headed home and was looking forward to the next 6 days.  It was great to see my brother, nephews, Fubar, and of course the Florys.  Between working and raising kids, seeing family/friends doesn't happen as much as it should.

All in all, a good start to my week.

I am just highlighting Sunday night but I am going to blog about Saturday events in a different blog with a different focus.

Top 5 - Colors!

Yes, I am doing a top 5 and yes this top 5 has been inspired by my oldest daughter.  It is of no surprise to anyone that has been around her that her favorite color is purple.  She LOVES purple.  Well, recently she told me her 2nd favorite color is yellow.  I am pretty sure this is because of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. 

The combination of purple and yellow has causes for concern in our household from a sports standpoint.  Is she going to root for the Lakers?  the Vikings? and worse yet...what if she starts rooting for LSU!  She won't be allowed in her grandparents house if that happens!  We will definitely have to work this.

Here are Samantha's top 5 colors (I asked her)...

1. Purple
2. Yellow
3. Pink
4. Blue
5. Orange

I love Blue and orange so this was a pretty easy top 5 for me to come up with.

1. Orange
2. Blue
3. Red
Now, this is where is gets tough.  Those are clearly my top 3.
4. Yellow
5. Purple

What is your top 5?

Texas Ranger Stadium

A couple weeks ago, I had to travel to Arlington, TX for work.  I was going to be there a few days so I immediately check the Rangers schedule to see if they are playing at home.  Luckily, there were at home and they were playing Baltimore so tickets would be easy to get.  I looked on stubhub and tickets were going for $14 for 15 rows up in right field.  Awesome!

I ended up going to the game and meeting a co-worker (recently moved to Dallas office) and his family.  I was thoroughly impressed with the stadium but before I talk about my time inside, I need to talk about my time outside.  There is a giant spaceship/ enormous building in a parking lot not too far from the stadium.  People tell me that is new Cowboy stadium or Jerry World but I am not sure I believe them.  Texas Rangers stadium holds almost 50,000 and you can easily fit 2-3 ranger stadium inside that building.   I think inside that building a zoo, disney world, football stadium and 4 hotels.  In all honesty, I was blown away by the size of Jerry world.  I would love to see a football game there.

When I went inside the stadium, I was not disappointed.  I really enjoyed my time at Rangers Stadium.  I took a few pictures as you will see below.  A few highlights:

• They have a huge amount of food selections from sweet potato fries, Chicago style hot dogs, BBQ, to the usual.  A lot of choices.  I split a 'boomstick' with my co-worker's 14-year old son.  That is a 2 foot long chili cheese dog.  It was glorious!
• The stadium is a shout out to other stadiums.  RF where I was sitting is a tribute to old Tiger stadium.  Very cool.
• Center field area is a big outside bar area with 4 different bars you can choose from.  
• PBR tall boys!  Yes please.  Yes, not only was the food selection vast but the beer selection was vast.
• The Rangers won the game and Beltre hit 2 HRs in the same inning.  Yeah, they are good. 

I was excited outside to check out a new stadium!

It might have been dollar hotdog night but we decided to go after this dog.  It was glorious.

The bar area in center field.  It was a nice open area.

If they serve it, I will find it...

Do not leave your phone! Ever!

Sorry bro.  I am WAY late writing this up.

So, at the end of July, we decided to spend the afternoon/lunch in my brother's backyard celebrating a few birthdays (Cheryl, my dad, me).  The kids were playing, we were chilling, it was a great time.  Well, my parents decided to go home and it ended up being Cheryl, Craig, Michelle and I sitting outside.  Meredith was sleeping and Jackson, Jeremy, and Samantha were inside playing.

Well, we get a phone call about 15 minutes after my parents left, it was my dad.  My mom left her phone at my brothers house.  Sure enough we looked for about one min and found the phone.  Here is where the story gets interesting.

I throw out the idea of taking a picture of a full moon and making it my mom's background on her phone.  It was still daylight out so I hope you understand what I am talking about.  Well, everyone thought it was a great idea so the plan went into action (Partial nudity is below.  You have been warned!). 

After we successfully loaded the background, we put the phone away and were laughing really hard about it.  When they pulled up, Craig ran the phone out and the race was on.  We were wondering how long it would be before she would see it.  I thought days but within 20 minutes Craig's phone rang and a not too happy mother was on the other side of the phone!  I am pretty sure my dad probably had trouble keeping the car on the road when my mom told him what had happened.  I also found it funny that my mom knew it was Craig in the background!

Morale of the story - Never, ever leave your cell phone behind!

Nothing says "I love you mom!" like a full moon!

And here is the final product.

Why Vin Scully is great