20110731 - Back Pack Bigger?

20110731 - Up and D&I to the gas station to get him some last minute supplies (candy) for his week at camp.  He didn't seem nervous and is excited because he is going with a whole group of guys he knows.  Back home and picked up the family.  Stopped by for a quick check in with the Scouts and then on the road ahead of the group to drop off J&G at the Farm.  We made it to the Farm and dropped of the little guys and ran down the road to wait for the Scouts to catch up.


Before long we were in the Scout caravan heading East.  Everyone stopped at a little dairy stand past Wooster for lunch and it was a good meal, I had the 'Nightmare' (cheeseburger, hamburger, coney sauce, coleslaw, slice of tomato).  Not to far down the road the 'Nightmare' caught up with me and I had to make a 'pit' stop.  Good thing I did, D needed to stop as well.

We got to camp and unloaded.  D turned in his pipestone wood, his bundle was really good compared to many of the bundles...  We stayed with him for medical form review and pictures, then hung back and followed the group to the campsite.  After D found a bunk-mate and settled in he took and passed the swimming test. L&I watched this and then said goodbye to our biggest boy, but the smallest scout in his Troop.  He was happy and ready for us to leave.  Some of the other Scouts and leaders assured us they would be watching out for D this week.
Back on the road and we made it to Paulette's for a dinner in Ashland where we got our little boys.  We had a quick nice meal and then got back on the road.  I had to pull off at a rest stop for a leg stretcher after all the time in the car and G helped me find a geocache.  Home around 10 and got the boys in bed, me too, long day...

20110730 - Grant's First 'Dad and Me' Day!!

20110730 - Grant woke me up early and out we went for is first ever official 'Dad and Me' day.  Our first stop was McDonald's where we had some breakfast and made plans for the day.  We then ran to the US Post Office and got a roll of stamps, then to the gas station to gas up, get a bunch of snacks and go through the car wash (Grant's first time and he was a bit nervous ;-)  We then hit a garage sale and got a 'Total Gym' for $20.  We dropped the 'Total Gym' off at home and got Grant's baseball gear.


Off to the Putt Putt course where we played 18 holes.  Several groups let us play through and Grant got 3 holes in 1!!!  Next was the batting cages where Grant got 84 pitches and did pretty good for a little guy in the batting cages.  Back to the golf course for a different course and 18 more holes.  G got 1 more hole in one fore the day, for a total of 4!



On the road and we went hinting for geocaches.  We looked for 4 and Grant found 3 of them, one we could not find.  We had to hunt through bushes and find tiny little magnetic ones too.

Back home for a break and I ran J to his baseball tryouts.  He hit 3 of the 4 balls they thew to him and caught all the grounders.  He did really well for his first 'official' baseball activity ever...

Back home and when G finished his nap we headed back out.  First stop was the gas station to get some 'Big League Chew' for G to take to the ball game.  Then a 15 minute stop at Best Buy so I could pick up a laptop.  Off to Huntington Park and a game with the Columbus Clippers.  G didn't move the first 2 innings, taking it all in and watching ever move.  We then took a hike to get a little bat and some food.  After we ate G tried his had at pitching as was throwing pretty accurate at 28mph :-o

G really want a ball and asked some players and an usher for help getting a ball, and pretty soon a little boy from up front got a ball that was actually used in the game and brought it up to Grant.  He was THRILLED!!!  The Clippers won and Grant talked about the game the entire way to the car, the entire trip home and stayed up and told mom all about it.


Just look at that face!


Another great day with one of my favorite people!  Just look at that face!

20110729 + Baseball Again?

20110729 + Worked all day while L&D stripped bark for his special camp wood...  I took Do to baseball try-outs and he did really good, but I had a deal with one of the coaches so we got to bail out early and our favorite coach called later night to let us know he got D in the draft ;-)  Up late packing D up for camp and watched a couple shows with him.

20110728 - More Wood

20110728 - Up and worked.  For lunch I took the boys to the park to gather wood for D's upcoming camp.  Back tot he desk to finish the day then all out to the pool.

20110727 - Up and worked.  For lunch I took D to the park to gather wood.  After dinner D&I went to see Captain America with his baseball coach and his twins; Good predictable ACTION flick.

20110726 - Worked all day.  Had dinner with the Fam.  L played baseball with the boys while I rescreened a screen door.  DJ&I took the screen door to the flip property and installed it and walked the property.  We did 2 geocaches on the way home and the boys played on a playground on a tiny little merry-go-round that spun their brains out.  A stop at Meijer then, Sconic for slushies.  Home and fell asleep in chair..............woke up 2am :-o

20110725 - Up at the desk all day, still catching up from out of office training last week.  Dinner and then to Scouts with all the boys, L off to a girly party buying baskets or some other 'useful' things :-S  Home and dropped off the boy sna dheaded out for what was to be the last Bible Bangers.  But the meeting was a bust so we ended early and Chris, Jeff and I went to see the new Harry Potter.  VERY GOOD!  up late working.

20110724 + Deflated

20110724 + up in the morning an broke camp from a miserable hot night on the hard ground because of a deflated air mattress :-(   We had breakfast with the scouts and then headed out into the park for some geocaching with the Sampsons.  We found a bunch,and a huge monolith!  Tired, dirty and ready to go we hit Youngs Dairy on the way home for dinner.  J slept on the way home, wish I could have.  Home, cleaned up and stuff out to dry.  We headed to the pool but had to leave due to lightning :-o  Home for dinner and watched the new Alice in Wonderland.

20110723 - Hot Rain

20110723 - Up in the morning and J and I packed up the car and headed to John Bryan St Park. We got there and the Scouts that spent last night here were at the Air Force Museum in Dayton. So we pitched our tent in the extreme heat and headed into Yellow Springs OH to check it out. We found some unusual stores there and a Subway where we picked up lunch. Back to the camp site to eat and it POURED!



We sat under the shelter and watched it rain. Soon the rain stopped and the other Scouts arrived and the boys were off playing it the woods. The rain didn't cool things down any, it just got stickier... Yuk!
We had a good dinner and then tried to make a snare trap but gave up and went geocaching. We found one but not the other, it was too dark.



The boys roasted some marshmallows and J fell asleep sitting up in his chair. Everyone to bed. I'm now going to try to sleep in this hot pea soup...

20110722 + Friend 40

20110822 + Up and at the desk all day. Read to leave and Got a disturbing phone call so worked another hour... On the road driving through miserable storms up to Mansfield for my buddy Dave and his daughter's birthday party at his parents. O haven't been there for years and it was great to see his folks and all the old gang again. The next generation of kids played in the back yard while we played Texas Hold'em. I took their money and ran. Back he boys to bed, camping tomorrow.

20110721 + Too Tech

20110721 + Up and to the office for more class. Good stuff, but then they got real programy on me and the tech jargon started flying over my head, so it was time for me to leave it to the experts. I got 2.5 really great days of training. Got to the airport and hopped a early jet home and met up with the dad of Jack's buddy Meredith in DC. Home to a hot Columbus sunset and some little boys missing their daddy.

20110720 - Beer Place

20110720 - Up early and over to the office. L got the drains cleaned out This mowing so everything ok at home. I sat in one place on a class room until 5... Class was out and I hit the road. I made it to Josh's house and then we headed to Deja Brew.

Deja Brew is an on premise brewery. Josh goes there regularly and gave me a tour and he and other guys there explained how the process works. I then met the owner, Ray Schavone, who kindly took about an hour away from his customers to explain to me all the ins and out of his 14 years of running his brewery. I learned more from him in that time than any books will ever teach me. Ray has a great place, it was packed and in his own words, 'it's like having a party every day'. I'm excited and want to learn more!


After the visit Josh and I headed to dinner. Only two stops before we found a suitable restaurant tonight, 'Ted's'. We each had a 14oz bison steak that was so incredibly good I had to lick my plate :-)
I dropped Josh off and then headed home. In made one stop at a location where for the past two days I had attempted to find a geocache. This time inbound it! After a long day, great beer experience, a fabulous steak, a good time with Josh and finding the illusive geocache I made it back to the hotel completely fudilled! A good day, and a better one coming up tomorrow: heading home :-)

20110719 - Cache is King

20110719 - Up and into the office for a day full of training. L and the boys got home with Gma&paW after their outing. After work Josh and I headed out on a cache spree. We found 4 of the 6 we went looking for. Trying to find a restaurant that served crab legs was harder, but we found one. L called and tonight has clogged drains... Back to the room and worked a bit.

20110718 - Columbus or this guy?

20110718 - Up early and to the airport. Flights delayed... Took 9 hours to get to the office (UNREAL!). I did arrive just in time for a meeting, but it got cancelled... Glad I flew in a day early... Out to eat and then some geocaching and exploring. I found this monument to one of the members of Prince Henry First Sinclair of Orkaley (Scottish) exploration team that was in North America in 1398!?!? HUH!?!? What's that? Nearly 100 years BEFORE Christopher Columbus Sailed the ocean blue???? Learn something new everyday....

20110717 + Divas Dancin Divin

20110817 + Up in the am and off to church. Should have stayed home, the lack of message coming out of that church is really irritating. Home for lunch and then at the desk a bit. Gather the troops and headed to the pool for 6 hours. We met up with the Dixon's there and had dancing competitions and pickle games. We had dinner there and then home to pack. What a fun day.

20110716 - Dylan's Day

20110716 - Up early and D and I head out for our annual 'Dad &Me' day; a day where I go with just one of the boys and we do something fun, adventurous, what ever they want to do, up to midnight. First stop was Joes to drop something off for the Bible Bangers. Then to the gas station to get supplies, water, candy and more candy. Then we hit McDonald's for a good healthy bfast :-) On down the road heading south, our first stop is to look at some box vans. The next stop was a rest stop where we saw a single man helicopter land and found a couple geocaches. We past a flea market so we had to do a u-turn and go back to explore: no major finds.

Onward to the canoe place where we boarded a bus with a couple dogs, drunks and other families to hit the river for a couple hours. We put in and headed down stream. We made a put stop at a natural bridge that was pretty cool, but scary (for me, not D) to walk across.


Back on the river and we we had a good time, almost flipped over once, stopped to skip stones and have a snack. I put D in the back and forced him to learn how to steer a canoe. He wanted me to switch him at first, but I insisted he keep trying and he got it. I think he is a bit reluctant to try new things (just like his mother...) as he wanted to but did not participate in jumping off the old railroad bridge or any of the rope swings we passed...


I think D had a good time and learned something. I know I enjoyed just floating with I'm, hearing his stories, watching him study how we drifted over the water and was still my little boy.

Arms a bit rubbery and just a bit wet we headed to the next destination. We got there, got harnessed up and heading up into the trees for a couple hours of zip-line fun.


We were a group of Russians from Cleveland that amazed D as they talked in Russian and did crazy things. It was two brothers and their girlfriends. Just as last year I volunteered D to go first and he took right off.


The little girl guiding the tour had to ask him to slow down and wait for the rest of us a couple times. He is like a monkey up there and loves it. We had a blast and commented on the different obstacles and how hard, easy or scary they were. This is one time no depth perception cones in handy, I really can't tell how high up we are... After completing 52 airborne challenges and 18 zip lines we headed to the mother of all zip lines, a 500 foot stretch that goes over a pond :-o man was that fun!!!

YouTube Video

Harnesses off, arms rubberyer (i just made up that word) back in the car, sustained today by Oreos, gum and water we headed to an ATV place. We got there, took the safety class and mounted up on out 350cc Grizzly 4x4 4 wheelers. The girl took us on an 8 mike trail, through mid holes and ruts and steep hills and deadly hair pin turn, all thing that would make his mother faint... and he did really good, only running into 3 trees (vast improvement from last year...). We finished up that trail and the girl and I decided it was best if we stay in the field and follow those tracks around, so that is what we did almost until the end. At one point D came up and looking purely exhausted I ask I he had enough and without hesitation 'yes'. We headed back to the office where D finally got to rest his arms and watch me go over a really cool obstacle course with teeter totters for the 4 wheelers and other ridiculous things.

YouTube Video

Arms spent and energy gone we tried to get dinner at a diner we like but it closed just minutes before we got there. So we headed into Logan to find a place to eat and just our luck we found a Chinese Buffett :-) Without mom around to through in a veto vote the car nearly drove itself there and D and I filled up.
Back on the road and D was asking what else we could do. I figured there would be more caches On the way home so we went into a cool park and found this huge rock ready to fall on the road and smash someone (this actually made D quite nervous...).


But no caches... It saw getting dark so we hit one more gas station for coffee and hot coco to get us home. On the way home D and I had some really good conversations about everything that popped into our heads. Back in our town now and into the drive and sadness sets in as our day is almost over. We get in, our stuff unpacked and cleaned up. D fought his closing eyes to stay up till midnight, he wanted every minute he could with me today; and I too treasure every second with still this little boy, growing up all to fast... It really doesn't matter what we did today: we did it together and had fun doing it. Thanks for a perfect day God. I hope you give us many more.

20110715 - First Cache Hidden

20110715 - Up working.  l took all 3 boys to the store :-o  Submitted things for a geocache at lunch.  Gma&paB and the Coles here for dinner.  Played a bit with the boys, clnd up watched prince of Persia.  9:30pm people found the cache!!
up late planning for tomorrow w/ D.

20110714 + Cache Mower

20110714 + Up and fixed the mower with D, D mowing.  Worked all day, then dinner with the fam.  Had G's tball and stopped over and stopped over at Jeff's to pick up a couple of laptops.  We planted out geocache today.  I'm excited to get it posted on the site and see how long it takes for someone to get it.  Made a stop at the bank, then home and talked to Doc.  Bed early.

20110713 - Boy Scouts Site

20110713 - Up worked, L&boys to zoo.  Had an aquatics meeting tonight; have no idea where they think we'll come up with $5M for new pools...  Home ate dinner and off to church for scouts.  Home and worked on the Boy Scouts website.

20110712 - Boring

20110712 - Up worked.  L&the boys to GmaB's to surprise her on her last day of radiation treatments.  CONGRATS FOR THAT!!!  Home we had dinner and hung out in the backyard the rest of the night.  Up late working/watching tv in the basement.

20110711 - Dinner.  L&J to get groceries, I washed dishes.  Then DG&I went to D's scouts.  Home got Doc, off to Bible Bangers.  Up late watching Syfy premiers

20110710 + Crisp

20110710 + Up, nice slow start.  L off to a baby shower.  DJG&I hanging out, made plans and then out.  First stop was the 5 and below store to see what they have.
Second stop Wendy's for lunch.  Third and final stop was the pool.  We got to the pool at 1:30 and stayed until 8pm!  All sorts of our friends were there and we had a really good time.  I am burnt to a crisp...

20110709 - Big Bladder

20110709 - Up to a pretty quiet house without J around. Whenever and one of the three boys are gone the volume is exponentially lower... I got some reading done and then cleaned out the garage. D planed a sandlot game and was calling his friends to invite them. J got home and DJG, Connor and I headed out in search of a location to put out my first geocache. We found about 4 of them today and we did find a good place to plant one!

Home for dinner, some catch, swinging in the hammock and s'mores before some of the MasterMindGarage guys showed up for a meeting. Small group, but good meeting. Cleaned up, had a beer with Joe the neighbor and watching the fire die down.

20110708 + Happy Budda

20110708 - Up at the desk.  Took a lunch break and met the guys at the rehab house.  Back to the desk to finish off the day...  Jack to a friends house for a 'Dive in movie' and then to spend the night.  LDG&I Out to China Dynasty, great meal!  Hit 3 toy stores, looking for chess sets.  Home watched the Little League All star game.  In and watched a show with D.

20110707 - Worked all day...  D had game, Gma&paW down for the game.  GpaW & I ran and paid G's soccer registration and got pizzas.  All back to the house for dinner.  Took D to a friends for a sleep over.  Home and the neighbor kids over all over the backyard.  Boys in to bed.  Up late watching TV and messing on the internet

20110706 + Up worked, lots of calls.  After work, J, Doc & I went to the flip, looking pretty rough...  Stopped at white castle on the way home (MISTAKE!!!).  Stopped at a brewery on the way home and talked to the guys there.  home ate on the back porch while J&G swung each other in the hammock.  Played catch with J&G.  FRIGGIN Garage door broke...  D home while I was fixing the garage door.  In, exhausted, to bed.

20110705 - Swingin

20110705 - Worked at desk all day, yuk!  Boys home all day, plenty loud...  We had dinner together then ran back to watch the little league baseball championship game at the school.  Home for an ice cream snack and hammock testing.  All boys to bed and off to Bible Bangers with Doc

20110704 - Shut Ins and Fireworks

20110704 - Up in the am and hangin out a bit.  Piled in the car and headed to the Delaware St. Park for a family dinner.  The whole Delaware clan was there and it was good to see them.  We had a nice meal and the kids played and played with all the cousins.




Tony and I ran and tried to get the shut in grandmaws to come out and visit their family, but they were having none of that!










Back to the family for some fishing, where G caught his first fish with GpaB.  We stay and played some more, J climbed WAY up a tree and eventually came down so we could go home.













We got home, measured the corn and had a yard full of neighbors for the fireworks.



20110703 - Hot Game


20110703 - Up and D grumpy...  To Russ and Nancy's and J&I did a geocache.  We stopped back at the house, got Russ and GmaW and we all did another geocache.  Darma & Loori and Eliz met up with us and we all headed to the Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Indians game.  It was a great stadium and we had great seats but it was HORRIBLY HOT!  We consumed as much liquid as possible and took turns getting into the shade and misters, but ended up leaving early before we all melted.  Back to russ and nancy's for a bit and then drove home.  We met Gma&paW for dinner at the Olive Garden and then home, all boys clnd up, exhausted to bed.

20110702 - Big Animals and Fleas

20110702 - UP and to the Smithfield house w/ D&J to get a couple of things done.  Then on the road to Lebanon Oh where we found a huge flea market & the Halsteads.  We got some goods at the flea market then the boys, L, Nancy and Gma&paW went swimming while Russ an I hung out and looked at old photo albums.  We had a nice dinner and then back to the hotel and all boys to bed.

20110701 + Passports, Transformers and Baseball

20110701 + UP and got my work done in good time.  Took the fam to apply for their passports and then on to opening day of Transformers.  AWESOME!!!! D got called up a league for baseball and G&I took him.  D was a head shorter than all the boys on the team and first at bat :-o  he got on and scored several points for them during the game!  D had a blast.