Double

We got up this morning and made pancakes and sausage links. Summer’s were prettier because she pulled them off the heat earlier than I did, but mine tasted fine. I used the strawberries and whipped cream that we got for strawberry shortcakes with just a drizzle of maple syrup on top, and it was super delicious. 10/10 Goldblums.

Summer herded everyone out of the house, and I got things back in relative order before cleaning up for an evening out. Ronda and Steven invited us out to have dinner with them at their usual Saturday evening at Fat Daddy’s. They were super social butterflies. I had some public anxiety at first, but it went swimmingly. Hopefully we’ll do something else soon.

Back home for the evening, we took advantage of the mattress I set up in the living room for the girls, and snuggled up with some root beer floats to watch more of The Office before bed.

I’m serious all the time.  :|

The Hot Springs

It was a bit of a chore to get everyone up and down for breakfast this morning. We managed to get everything packed up and out by noon and headed downtown. We walked the whole strip, and even wandered around to find some of the natural hot springs. We didn’t do any shows or events, and instead hit most of the shops. The kids all ended up with some candy from the various candy shops, and I picked up a huge bag of jerky.

Autumn suggested Rolando’s for dinner, so we ate out on the upstairs patio in the back. It was a really neat, secluded seating area with a little bit of a view of the buildings that towered in the distance, and it kept things quiet away from the busy roadway. Ironically enough, she seemed to enjoy the food the least, but that’s how picky eaters do. Everyone else loved it.

On the trip home, Noah managed to smash Autumn’s phone case and got glitter and whatever fluid it was suspended in all over the back seat of the Murano. The glitter was a mix of some larger pieces, but mostly consisted of the finest little specks of gold. It proved futile to clean up at the gas station where I stopped, so we made it the rest of the way home and I tried blowing most of it out with compressed air. Two tanks of air in, I managed to get most of it out, but the only way to really fix it was to burn the car to ash and bury the remains. The weirdest part was that Noah claimed to have absolutely no recollection of what happened after having fallen asleep on the way home.

I did what I could, then got everyone settled in to watch Inside Out before bed. Hopefully it was a fair birthday for Summer.

Pixar 2015: What if feelings had feelings?!?

Spring Break 2018

Today was the first day of our spring break trip. I went to pick everyone up around 10:30, and we stopped by the courthouse and Kroger on our way out of town so Summer could turn in her jury duty form and so we could pick up stuff for lunch at Iron Springs. It was a pretty good drive without too much traffic. When we got to Iron Springs, I got a fire started using some wood that was already there. We had a pretty good spread for just got dogs and chips.

After we ate, we climbed the mountain to look for quartz. There was a brief moment of motherly panic when we lost Eaddie and Noah, so Summer took off to try and catch up to them while Autumn headed back, and I circled back to a different part of the trail. While I was out in the middle of nowhere by myself, I must have found a spot of cellular service, because Jesica managed to get a call in to me. I tried texting Summer immediately after, but I never could find signal again until we got into town.

Courtyard by Marriott didn’t have any rooms available, so we ended up at Comfort Suites. The room was pretty decent, but I had constant trouble authenticating with their WiFi all night. We had dinner at Hibachi Sushi Buffet, which was surprisingly both busy and super delicious. Afterward, we ignored every mothers’ orders and went for a swim at the hotel. The water burned, but it was a fair time. Eaddie and Noah stayed while the rest of us went back to the room to get ready for bed.

Quick! There’s no way they’ll beat us back to the car!

What can I say except, “you’re welcome!”

I slept in again today, but made time to clean the aquarium and living room before going out. The girls went shopping and wanted CiCi’s, so I met them there for that. Afterward we stopped in to Shoe Carnival so I could look for some sandals. I don’t really understand it, but the sandals I wear are at least a size larger than my shoe size.

When we left there, Summer asked what the plan was, and I told her that I was going to go play video games by myself and she could do whatever she wanted. Eaddie said she was with me, so I took her, which I think was a surprise to everyone. It looked like Summer and Autumn went toward their house, and Eaddie and I went to my house, but then made a detour to get half a sandwich out of the office refrigerator. On the way back, we passed a bird sitting in the gutter of the road that didn’t move, so I circled around and we walked over to look at it. I managed to poke it before it wobely flew across the street. We followed it, but I never got to touch it again. I did get a sweet picture of it when it landed just outside arm’s reach in a tree.

Giving up on the bird, we came back to my house and met the others and played some Blokus before settling in to watch Moana. I loved the movie, and the 3D was spot-on.

If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me…

Are you serious?

We crawled out of bed this morning just in time to get some breakfast from the bar downstairs. I had just about one of everything. I only regret not making it in time for the free beer the night before.

After we got up and around, we checked out and headed into town. I thought we’d have enough time to hit the mall and the strip, but we ended up only shopping at the mall. We spent most of our time in FYE, one of the last remaining general media and entertainment retailers. Then Summer tried on some swimsuits, and I remembered why I hated shopping at Dillard’s. By the time we got out of there, it had started to sprinkle, and we decided to start heading home. We did stop for some spring water on the way out, but then we hit the road.

It cleared up pretty nicely for the trip back, and I was surprised again that we didn’t encounter any leisure riders, either by motorcycle or car. It was mostly stupid trucks. The ol’ Murano carried us back swiftly enough to make me proud, and I dropped Summer off at home before heading to my parents’ house for a pre-birthday dinner.

They tried to broil some lobster tails to go along with a hodgepodge of other food. Mom made fried rice, but didn’t fry the lobster in the rice. I had a bit of everything, just like breakfast. My sister tried to fix 30 years of incompatibility by griping at it, and I had a Coco Rico.

When I got home and unpacked, I played a couple rounds of PUBG with Clint, and almost carried us to victory, but landed second place after getting shot in the face by a bush.

You make it hard to take anything seriously.

Shiny Rocks

We decided to spend a night in Hot Springs this weekend. The weather was great, and the roads were surprisingly clear. We didn’t encounter a single motorcycle until we stopped at Iron Springs, where we got out to wander around and dig for quartz.

Once we got into greater Hot Springs, traffic had us riding the break all the way through town. It must have been a big day at the horse track, because there were a ton of people walking down the streets dressed to the nines.

We stopped by Red Lobster for dinner before finding a hotel. We probably could have gotten by way cheaper, but I decided to stay at the Staybridge Suites where we stayed for HSTI. I liked the rooms, and the girl at the counter gave us a better price than what was advertised online, so overall I was happy.

Just in time to miss the sunset!

Fire When Ready

This morning was mostly rain-free, but then it started in the afternoon and just wouldn’t quit. I had Sumo for lunch two days in a row because Summer wanted to meet up there. The afternoon had me down to less than a handful of work orders remaining, so I felt pretty good about that.

After work, I went to my parents’ house where Mom fried some shrimp for dinner. Then Dad, Julie, and I all went to a friend’s place where he had an indoor shooting range set up and could test us to renew our concealed handgun carry licenses. It was pretty fun, but I can’t afford any more expensive hobbies.

After that, I came home and played some PUBG with Josh until bedtime.

PEW PEW PEW

Christmas Filets

Summer wanted to get some Christmas shopping done in Conway today, so I got myself up early and we made the trip. Traffic was pretty dumb, but overall it wasn’t that bad being around that many people in the stores. We stopped at Logan’s for lunch fillets before walking down the other side of the strip mall. On the way out of town, I showed her Game Point, and she marveled at all of the old video games they had.

Once back to town, I dropped her off at home before heading home myself for a little while. She invited me along to see Ferdinand with the kids, which was interesting. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a family movie in a theater, so I didn’t even really register the trailers as movie trailers so much as cartoon shorts. It was kind of nice to not take things so seriously though, with all the other random screaming kids in there. It was a good time.

You can’t see me, my time is now!

What are Traditions: Work Holiday Shindig 2017

Today was kind of a weirdly relaxed day, mostly due to a pep rally at the junior high. I did make some decent progress on some things I had been working on though, so overall it was a successful day.

People have been so impressed with my Pixel 2 XL that both Sarah and Ronda ordered smaller ones for themselves. I played with Sarah’s for a bit, and really liked the size. The top and bottom bezels didn’t feel as bad as they looked in pictures. I still feel like mine is way too big to comfortably use, but I like the smaller bezels.

After work, I had to run to Walmart to pick up the stuff for a broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole for Ben’s Christmas dinner at his place. He smoked a pork shoulder, and we had all the fixings for a nice barbecue meal. Gary and I traded high scores in Seaquest on the Atari, at one point taking turns doubling each other’s previous scores. It was a really great time with everyone.

Centuries worth of technological advances, and this is what we do with it?

What are Traditions: Magic Club Potluck 2017

I got up this morning after a late night of sneaky Photoshopping to the blog with plenty of time to get ready to leave for the Magic Club Christmas meeting. It’s late enough in the year now that I think we can accept a little bit of festivity.

We were pretty late leaving my parents’ house, because why wouldn’t we be? I brought my HTC 10 along for the ride to try and compare service. Overall it seemed about the same, but I didn’t spend all day with my face in my phones either. Surprisingly my data at the Riverfront Park was actually a bit faster on straight Sprint. I probably should have gotten an app to monitor what towers I was hitting before we left.

I felt a little removed for most of the meeting. It’s grown quite a lot over the years. This year they had a string quartet while we ate. There were enough other people there for setup and teardown that I didn’t really do anything. The show was almost entirely for the kids, and I don’t think anybody really talked to me at all except to say hello.

We hit up some Oriental grocery stores on the way out of town, and I picked up some shrimp and cuttlefish chips and some dried squid. My snack game has been off lately, which I suppose is good. Once home, I did a load of laundry to cap the weekend.

Please enjoy this “tastiness.”