A Perfect Weather Day

Temperatures in the mid 70's, partly cloudy, light breeze, no chance of rain - a perfect Texas day for being outside. And that's what we did. In the morning, we did some much needed cleaning and laundry, but, after that, the kids spent a lot of time out in the sun. I took them to Jake's Grill for lunch, where they have an outdoor eating area and a playground. There were plenty of kids for my two to run around with and I was able to relax in the shade and enjoy the weather while they ran about. After lunch, we came home and Momma opened up some "infinite bubble" makers. The video above was taken by Momma with the kids running around in a shower of them. Some of the neighbor kids came over an played for a while and that took us to the early evening.
Unexpectedly, but not really surprisingly, both of the kids conked out by 7:30 this evening.

A Fine Winter's Day in Texas

Here in Texas, winter means nothing. One week it's rainy with lows near freezing, the next, highs in the 70's and clear.
Today was something borrowed straight out of Spring. High around 70, dry, light breeze, clear to partly cloudy skies. About as perfect a weather forecast as you could ask for.
And so, it made for a fine time, hanging out on the in-laws acre yard, playing ball with the kids and a niece while the wife and her family traded the latest news about the family.
I think I even managed to get a mild sunburn.

Mid week update

It is a week of changes. The princess started first grade on Monday and is loving it. She really likes her new teacher and has several friends from last year in her new class. We had soccer Monday, but got rained out today. The weather has been hit and miss this week. Still, I show 1.5" of rain in the gauge so far this week. So, I've turned the sprinkler system off, yet again. No complaints about that one.
Yesterday was my sister-in-law's birthday so the wife and mother-in-law took her out to dinner while I watched all the kids. Which proved not too difficult. The tornado loves the boys, though I don't think either he or they really appreciate how much of a size difference there is between them. Fortunately, the boy it tough, so he came through OK.
Workouts are going well. I'm not seeing any kind of loss yet, but I can definitely tell the workouts are more effective that what I was doing before.
Early on Friday morning, I fly to Atlanta to meet a number of friends I've made online over the last few years. We're coming from all over the country to attend DragonCon. I've never been to it before (actually hadn't even heard of it until last year). I expect to have a very full weekend. I'm taking the old laptop to the hotel, so, if I'm not completely worn out each day, I'll trying to get somethings posted while I'm there.

103!!!!

hot hot hot

Summer has arrived in Texas

2007 08 12 003, originally uploaded by ultimate_ed.

Well, after one of the wetest and coolest July's on record, Summer has come full force now in August. This past week, highs have been in the upper 90's and rain has been scarce. Today, I observed 101°F. Even going to the pool today was difficult as it was just too hot and way too bright outside.
As for this past week, it's been a busy one. The kids have had swim lessons at the Y. The princess swims well enough on her own in her class, and the Tornado is being difficult for Momma in his class. We've all be going as a family and I've been taking the opportunity to workout. Both the wife and I continue to struggle with weight, but we've been making some progress. The truth is we just eat out too damn much.
Today, as the picture shows, is a repeat of an annual tradition. My father-in-law and sister-in-law share their birthday and it has been tradition to go to Pancho's for dinner. The food is certainly not great, nor is the restaurant, but the birthday people get to pick where to go.
Both the in-laws donned the traditional sombrero and were sung to by the family and staff. The nice thing about the place is that is is already noisy and has a large back room, so having eight grand kids running around is not a big deal. You can check the FLICKR feed for some other pics of the evening.

Rain Rain....

Well, we survived the first day of vacation in spite of a full day of rain that seemed to cover all of central Texas. We didn't get to do some of the things we planned, but we still had a good time. The Blue Bell 100th Anniversary Party was still a lot of fun and most of the area was covered. How can you not have a good time with all the free ice cream you care to eat?
I'm going to get some rest now as the wife has declared that I will be on a mission at midnight to procure the last Harry Potter book for her. We shall see if the weather improves tomorrow.

Rainy Day? No problem!

We were planning to head out of town for the weekend to take the kids to see the new baby horses in the extended family. But, 22" of rain yesterday in Killeen with the promise of more today nixed those plans. So, what to do?

I took the kids to Bounce On It and let them have their way with the moonwalks for a good three hours. Momma stayed home and did some organizing around the house while I tried to keep up with the princess and the tornado.

Here's a snippet of the tornado in action:



We probably would have stayed longer, but the tornado finally ran out of steam and was ready for his nap.

I just got back from a workout at the Y here. I made a good run at weight loss during the company's annual 10 week start of the year challenge. But, I've since gained most of it back and I've been struggling to get back on track. I've been sick off and on for the last couple of months, just enough so for it to be annoying and keep me from getting good exercise. Unfortunately, it did nothing to curb my appetite. I think I'm finally over all that, so I'll have a better chance of getting back on the downward path.

Circus Circus

Somehow, between the wife and myself, we always managed to elminate any potential for free time. For this past week, our daughter has been going to a soccer camp in Alvin in the late afternoons. She really enjoyed her first season of soccer last year, and the wife thought this looked like a good opportunity to help her get ready for the new season. My daughter has definitely benefitted from it and I hope she'll have fun again this year. We want to to do her best, but I refuse to become like those parents that over drive their kids at sports and embarrass them by getting into shouting matches with coaches and officials. I'm sure I will do enough to embarrass my kids as they get older without having to throw tantrums on a soccer field.
And today, instead of hanging around the house and relaxing, we went to the circus. My wife and I took both the kids along with my sister-in-law and niece. All in all, we had a good time, but boy did I pay for it. Between the tickets, the food, and of course, some sort of light up gizmo toy, I don't even want to add up what we paid for this couple of hours of entertainment. But, the kids enjoyed it and it was a good show. Definitely not something I plan to do every year.
This afternoon, I took the kids to a bowling party for one of my nephews (while the wife recovered at home from the circus trip - yes, I am superman...). The party was fun, although my son was getting grumpy since he never went down for a nap in the afternoon. The kids bowled on the bumper lanes and I bowled with some of the other adults on another. I forgot to bring my ball (a gift of inheritance, I've never actually bought a bowling ball). That and the fact that I had to take most of my shots while holding my son in my non-bowling arm made for about the worst performance I've ever had. But, fun none the less.
My daughter went over to another cousin's home for a few hours and my son fell asleep on the drive home, so the wife and I actually were able to have some time without the kids while the sun was still up. We usually don't get that until after 10 when our daughter finally gives up fighting and goes to sleep.
And, it rained heavily here this afternoon, which is always nice for those like me who have a house and a yard. Free water is your friend.

A wet week for Houston

Wow! I emptied my rain gauge today for the first time since last weekend. 5" of rain just at my house over the course of this week. I think we got some amount of rain every single day.
Independence Day was particularly bad. Although, thankfully, it held off long enough for me to march with the KC's in the Friendswood parade. As I understand it, Friendswood has hosted the longest continuous series of Independence Day parades - 111 years. Naturally there are older ones, but they have apparently been interupted in their runs. We were able to finish our run through the parade and get back to the host church in Friendswood just before a massive rain storm came through. After that, I joined the rest of the family in Alvin and all the cousins over ran the house. It was too wet, humid, and mosquito infested to play much outside. (although, I did get a new bear and wolf picture and they are up on Flickr now).
The rest of the week was pretty routine. I paid a visit to the Clear Lake Blood Center. I normally do platelets every few weeks, but the machine was down, so I did plasma instead. Today, there was only a little rain in the afternoon. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon at the KC hall for a work day. Several areas had been identified for fixing and I spent most of my time outside cleaning up the landscaping that had become over run with weeds. We had a good turnout and it was a fun time. But I was sore, tired, and a bit sun burned by the time I got home. Now, it's time to get some sleep.
Tomorrow, we start packing for vacation, but that's another post.

Rain in Houston, SUV sales expected to spike

I should be at work now, but instead I'm back home at my computer. After about an hour of trying pretty much every back road I could find, I have finally given up for the morning on finding a way to my office. Pretty much every street in south Houston is flooded to the point where the timid and the smart are just turning around. The Gulf Freeway (45) and the South Freeway (288) are both parking lots, so those do me no good either.
I do predict a spike over the coming weeks in the sales of SUV's and 4x4 trucks as they were the only ones traveling about with any confidence this morning. I have a two wheel drive pickup and am not usually bothered to much by some water, but this was just scary all around. I guess we'll see if the flood waters recede by lunchtime as the rain has at least stopped for now. In the meantime, I'll be checking the 40 day forecast on the weather channel.

rain houston SUV flood

Running from Rita

Like many from the Houston area, news images of a Category 5 hurricane apparently barreling down upon us and planning to pass within 50 miles of my house sent me running. Unfortunately, "many" turned out to be 2.7 million of us all trying to leave over the same 24 hour window. I left home at 4am on Thursday and spent 15 hours alternating between 70mph freedom and 1/2mph hell to join my family in San Antonio.
Thankfully, I was able to conserve air conditioning and idling enough to make it without having to refuel. The lines at all the stations that I passed were crazy and would have meant at least another 2 hours more to my journey.
Along with many of our irreplaceable belongings, I was carrying my camera. I managed to get a few pictures of both the stop and the go that I faced along the way.