School's Out for Summer

(Not gonna lie, folks, I despise that song.)

Anyway, my Last Day (er, half-day, rather) of school was yesterday (thank God), but the girls were forced to stick it out a whole full day after I got out.  Suckers.  Since the Queen of Classroom Volunteers was away at work (sucker), Yours Truly was drafted into the obligatory parental role for the day.  Two classroom parties to 'volunteer' in, and the two parties couldn't have been any more different from one another.

Gymnastics.  Again.

The second grade outdoor 'picnic' had a parent volunteer-to-student ratio of about 1:2 - there was seriously nothing for me to do, so I just aimlessly followed Abby and her friends around the playground, trying not to look bored.  It sure as hell beat standing in the shade with the 40+ soccer moms and stay-at-home dads and small talk.

(I hate small talk.)

The fourth grade party, in stark contrast, was incredibly under-staffed, and as such Col. Hough had to roll up his sleeves and put back on his battle-worn teacher pants.  Already.

All in all, though, it wasn't too bad - just a little too soon for one who's been awaiting the coming of Summer like the Second Coming of Christ.

Smurf it out, folks. . .

Abby and a couple of her friends play in the 'Fairy's House,'  a small knoll in a tree on the edge of their playground.  Their imaginations seem to constantly roar in overdrive, which means that we haven't completely destroyed this generation with screens and handheld electronics. . .

BFF and resident fairy-ologist, Larkin, arrives on the scene. . .

Losing gas. 

There were so many parents on hand at the second grade 'picnic' that I didn't feel bad peacing out a little bit early.  I dropped off a van-load of crap to the Salvation Army (and may have poked around through their vinyl section while I was at it), then stopped off at home for lunch before turning around and heading back up to the school to lend my hand in Alayna's 4th grade 'party.' 

Alayna's default camera face.  Wearing a bit thin these days, not gonna lie.

Alayna happens to sit next to one of her close friends, Noah, in class.  Not sure if that was a good idea.

Rubix cubes = all the rage in the pre-teen demographic.

Starting things off right with heaping bowls of ice cream.  F*** it - school's out.

Following their sugar ingestion, the kids were ushered outside for an hour and a half of 'field games.'

Summer plans scavenger hunt ("Find a classmate who is traveling out of state this summer," "Find a classmate who likes eating Popsicles," etc.)

Rummaging through the 'woods' for colored items (part of yet another scavenger hunt - anything to keep them busy, really.)

For this activity, students paired up and took turns dropping M & Ms into ice cream waffle cones (one student dropping the M & Ms, one kid holding the waffle cone in their mouth while lying down below.)  I had to fill in as a partner here or there, and took quite a few pieces of candy to the face.  'Cause parenting.

Alayna teamed up with her friend, Christina (who will be coming to her birthday party later this week.)

Balloon toss.  I got the feeling that this afternoon of activities was planned this morning, and they were really grasping for straws towards the end of it.  Around 3pm, teachers just kicked all the kids out to the playground for the remainder of the day, so I went home.  Kris' friend Andrea picked up the girls from school, along with all the other kids belonging to Kris' Circle of Moms, for an End of the School Year Pool Party.

I neglected to go to this (a bunch of moms sitting around and clucking about PTO stuff while drinking margaritas?  No thanks), but Kris sent me this picture of Andrea's dog and Alayna becoming better acquainted.

And that's how the Houghs wrapped up the 2017-2018 School Year, America.

- Brian

Watson's First Birthday (Seriously)

My entire life I've always made fun of people who treat their dogs like human beings.

Dogs shouldn't own sunglasses, they shouldn't have play dates, and they shouldn't have parties thrown in their honor.  I've always felt that way, and so you can imagine my chagrin when forced with the realization that, because of our kids, Watson was going to have to have a 1st Birthday acknowledgement of some kind.

Seriously.

We picked up a gourmet dog 'cookie' from the Purple Pooch - I won't tell you how much that thing cost - and, for the girls, we threw in a few leftover cupcakes from Kris' Easter Basket Cupcakes for Church endeavor.

Singing 'Happy Birthday' to Watson. . . because he really appreciated it.

Dog birthdays aside, my buddy Melvin from work recently let me borrow his 40mm Canon lens for my Canon EOS Rebel T4i.  Check it out. . .

I love the depth of field with this lens, but there's no auto-focus or zoom to speak of, so you have to move and focus manually. . . which can be a pain in the ass.

It's good for close-ups, in case you want to capture your kid's snarky-ass smirks.

Kris helps Alayna with some of her homework

And now on to coloring. . .

. . . Hell, at least she's not eating them anymore.

- Brian

An Extended Weekend Visit, feat. Grandma Jordan

So Kris' mom, Marcy, flew down here for an extended weekend visit this month.  We didn't really do much, just sort of hung out around the house - here's some snapshots from her time down here in San Juan Orlando.

Enjoy:

All grandparents coming to visit are subject to having their white hair 'did' by our offspring.  Comes with the territory.

Reading for Grandma Jordan. . .

Kitty needs a suppository.

. . .Watson doesn't like where this game is going.

Teaching the Cannonball how to knit.

Watson, back from having his anal glands cleaned (seriously.)

Trying to get a picture with the girls.  Always fun.

Watching a movie before bed. . .

This kid's weird.

. . . and here's an attempt at a generational portrait.

(I fashioned Alayna a walking stick out of a piece of our front year palm tree that blew down during a storm.  That's called resourcefulness.) 

We let the kids pick a couple books out at the library over the weekend.  This is the one Abby wanted.

The other day our H.O.A. had a crew of cement guys down at the neighborhood park working on the sidewalk. . .

Local kids were told that they would be able to write their names on the newly-paved sidewalk once it was dry enough.  Little did we know at the time that this would take an hour and a half longer than they originally predicted.

Both kids wanted to write their names in the cement, but we were already an hour past Nap Time. . . so you can imagine how much fun we were having keeping the two of them entertained and distracted from their own tiredness.

Long story short, in the end I had to write their names for them because they were too incapacitated by their own exhaustion to do so themselves.  Whatever. . . now they'll be forever enshrined in some random, Central Florida  subdivision park entrance.

On the way to the Pet Supermarket to pick up some dog food and snacks. . .

Nothing like Krab Rangoon at a Japanese Sushi joint. . .

Our kids are becoming pretty skilled at using chop sticks. . .

The kids don't really throw down on the whole 'sushi' thing, so we usually just buy a plate of chicken fried rice (that apparently feeds thirty) and they split a fraction of it. . . and then we eat off it for the following week.  Pretty sweet deal (so long as you like chicken fried rice, of course.)

- Brian