Father's Day 2013: Cool Shoes and Cold Brews

The Sunday started of with a 6:00 wake up for Jason on his way to a case. Yes, he was on call this weekend. Not only was he on call, but he had a hellacious weekend...averaging about 3.5 hours of sleep each night.

When Jason got home, the kids were excited and ready to start the festivities, but J was ready for a nap!  I read a little "Tom Sawyer" to the kids (we're in the middle of our annual summer classics read-a-thon, and just finished "Black Beauty") and we played downstairs until lunch. 

Then, it was time--glo-bowling at Lazer Lanes (free bowling all summer at kidsbowlfree.com) and dinner at Flat Branch for a green chili beer and before burger (my absolute favorite combo in town!)!  When we got home, Jason opened a few presents ("Geek Dad" book for activities with the kids, neon running shirts, a few polos, and lots of homemade cards!).  The night ended with Butter Pecan ice cream and a BIG SPURS WIN in the 2013 NBA finals!!

A great day!  (And J even stayed awake for MOST of it!!)

My One-Year-Old Nearly Beat Me Bowling

Today was discount Family Fun Day as we tried to get rid of some of the promotional "free whatever" coupons we've gathered in a pile over the past few months. On our nature hike this morning at Friedrich Park, we finally took a right at the initial trail fork and made it up to the old windmill. Both the kids enjoyed watching the big blades spin and the little goldfish in the water well play hide and seek in the weeds. Our four-year-old enjoyed identifying the numbered plants on the trail with the corresponding names on the map. Our 16-month-old was content to eat rocks and walk across the plank-bridges over and over and over again! We returned home in time for PBJs and Amelia's nap (oh, how I wish Nate would've taken one today. After his 6:00 wake-up and a long day, he just couldn't make it until bedtime. He started what would be an impressive meltdown just as we were finishing dinner at EZ's...but I get ahead of myself.)

"I found number 12 again, Dad...mountain cedar!"

Yup, there's the bridge...again!

After everyone was refreshed (and Jason and I finished our pm shot of espresso!), we loaded up the Sebring for an afternoon of family bowling! This would be nearly impossible for me to do alone with the kids at this age, but a perfect filler with Jason's help on a hot Texas afternoon. They had shoes down to a children's size 6. Amelia's in a 5, so what the heck? We let her try too! Nate an Amelia used the bumpers and the ball ramp. Nate's very first ball had to be retrieved by the attendant because it didn't make it down to the end of the lane. His second ball was clocked at 1.3 mph, so for future attempts, we had him use the ramp. He thinks that's a pretty cool physics experiment in itself--sometimes he just taps the ball off the ramp, sometimes he shoves it with a heave-ho! The end-point of this story, glossing over the chaos of having two kids under four with exploring personalities in the lanes; is that Nate bowled a 101, I tied Amelia with a 102 and Jason got a "lucky" tenth frame to jump ahead and win with a 121. Basically, Amelia nearly beat everyone!

Aren't these just the cutest bowling shoes ever!

She had fun with the cause & effect of it all...and she loves balls; so she was happy!

Nate celebrating after a STRIKE!