100331 - Caving

100331 -Up in the am and I had a bit of paperwork to do. Got that done and then we all loaded up and headed south to the Hocking Hills region. It was a nice drive, D&J watched a movie while G caught a little snooze. Our first stop was the Rock House. It was a nice trail and some amazing cliffs and caves for the boys to explore. After this hike the troops were grumbling about being hungry so we headed in to Laurelville, got some gas and found a local eatery. We sat up at the bar for lunch and had some locals come in and the police, which slightly helped keep the boys under control...

Our next stop was the most famous cave in the region Old Man's Cave. It had very nice easy trails and even better cliffs and tunnels carved right out of the stone. The boys really liked this stop and climbed like monkeys all over. This is a really neat place. I can't believe neither L or I have never been here before. Everyone should see this..

About 3/4 the way through the hike G started dancing funny; the I'm gonna poop my pants dance... And we had to get up the hill quick. He really thought the toilets with no water in them were cool! :-o

We loaded back up and headed to one more destination, Ash Cave. The stop had a very nice flat paved trail leading back to the cave. We had to make one stop where G learned how to cross a stream on a log that had fallen. D&J helped him very carefully and he was very proud. We followed the path way back and then this magnificent cave and waterfall were there. You can see all three boys in the photo, that is how huge this place was. They climbed and ran through the water, what fun they had. L was on them about getting wet and staying clean, but what can you do... nature took over and they were drenched and smiling from ear to ear. It was quite remarkable. G was even so thirsty he was putting his hand in the stream and taking a drink :-o

I was a bit disappointed in the trip in that my phone had no service. This meant no calls or email etc, but that is not what bothered me. I couldn't get to my Roadside America or Geocaching apps :-( Back to the car and we pulled off the shoes and sock, rolled up the pants and Mary Poppins got us home just in time for L&J to rush off to soccer practice. DG&I played some kickball and then ran to the store and brought home Chinese. Dinner at 8pm... All boys cleaned up and to bed. Me too, long day.

100330 - Far away Zoo

100330 - Up to the noise and the boys were ready to go to the zoo, the Columbus Zoo. Earlier in the week L had this crazy idea about going to the Toledo Zoo, which I convinced her was crazy to drive 6 hours to see some animals... Well when they were all excited to go to the Columbus Zoo, I thought, you know we can go to the Columbus Zoo any day of any week... L loves the Polar Bears and that is REALLY why she wanted to go to the Toledo Zoo... Sooo... Get your things Winger Boys, we are going on a road trip!!!!

We got loaded up and off we went. We took all the back roads and tried to find some geocaches on the way with no luck. But we did find the Toledo Zoo! We walked and walked, and saw all sorts of animals and then the Polar Bears! Wow these are awesome creatures!





There were lots of monkeys and snakes and bugs and really old neat buildings and a playground. Grant walked the entire day and was a real trooper. D loved taking pictures and J loved EVERYTHING. What a great Zoo they said, Can we come back?

After the cool zoo we headed north as everyone groaned, we want to go home, where are you taking us now? 'To Michigan!' I said, and the groans got even louder. I explained that this would be the only trip they would ever have to take to Michigan, it would only take us 10 minutes and they could at least said they went out of the state for vacation ;-) So where were we going??? To see an American Icon, Uncle Sam, the World's Largest of course!!!
AND TO TOP IT OFF, there was a geocache under his left foot!
HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!?!








We signed the book, took some stuff and got out of Michigan as fast as we could!

On the road we hit a Denny's for dinner and then took the back roads home through Findlay and other small towns and saw wonderful houses and interesting places.

Everyday is a road trip with us!

Location:Ohio 25,Toledo,United States

100329 - More Broken Glass

100329 - Up in the am and first day of spring break. We had a loud morning and a talent show! J&G took turns dancing while L played the synthesizer and I provided accompaniment on the mouth harp. D was quite repulsed and didn't want to participate, but he did pet tricks with Lilly, not sure which one was in control...
Back downstairs for some checkers a snack, D dropping his glasses and BOTH lenses popping out! So we played pass the pig and some kickball today without perfect vision. Then after the the J&G naps DG&I headed to the glasses shop where D got his glasses fixed and J had his first eye exam, where he thought it was quite an amazing and amusing event as you can see. But no glasses required yet...
Home to drop off J and D&I headed to his first baseball practice with his new team. It was a short wet cold practice, but D knew some of the boys and instantly made some new friends.
Home, took out the trash with L&D and in for some grub, scrub on the boys and family movie. Now L and I are trying to finalize tomorrow...

100328 - Busy Sunday

100328 - Up and everyone ready and to church. The boys got to parade around the sanctuary with weapons, er I mean palm branches. After the service, D&J went to their Sunday school classes, L to teach hers and G screamed until he got to join L.. I went up and sat in the back of the rock-n-roll service to work on the Raising a Modern Day Knight book. Then we all gathered for a couple songs and an easter egg chaos/hunt.
Grant picked Cici's for lunch. We ate fast and then headed across the parking lot to see 'How to Train Your Dragon'. It was a cute show and L&G caught a little snooze during the of boring part. Home for a change of clothes and dog run, then back out to dinner at Tumbleweed, followed by a trip to Target. Home all boys to bed.

100327 + Turds & Kickball

100327 + Up to a loud house and then turds floating in the basement??? What a way to start spring break. I got things cleaned up and the drain guys called. Then DJG&I headed out. We hit the banks and then Meijer before L called to let us know the drain guys were on the way. We rushed home and met them. It took the guys a couple of hours to clean out the main drain. The boys enjoyed the experience and the we had some interesting conversation while snaking the main line.
D had pulled most everything out of the shed for me so after the drain guys left we headed to the backyard to clean up the shed. Jim & Carry Long stopped by to drop off some Girl Scout Cookies and give us the details on the expected third baby they now have on the way!!! CONGRATS!!!!
Back out to the yard and the yearly cleaning of the shed. L had to go watch Sam and Lena so it was just me and the boys in the backyard, drinking pop and beer and working and playing. We got the shed cleaned out and ready for a full summer of action. The boys played a little baseball, did some swinging and rough-housing with Lilly. Then we all loaded up and headed to the Home Depot to get some supplies. Long John Silver's was the next stop for a good dinner. When we got home we played the years first official game of kickball!!! After a good game we headed in, grass stained and stinking. The boys were hungry again????
We got snacks and then headed to the movie room to watch 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'. It was a great movie. L got home and was frightened by the dirty messes they were. G even had his pants on backwards :-o
Showers for all boys and then off to bed. A good and busy first day of spring break!
100326 - Up fast day, bailed out a bit early D&I ran a couple of errands and got some movies for the weekend. Home and played some catch with the boys in the backyard. J had a friend over today and was pretty tired but still did great at soccer practice tonight. Watched 'Astro Boy' in the basement.

100325 - sNOw!?!?

100325 -UP and WHAT IS THIS??? SNOW? NO WAY!  I am SO DONE WITH SNOW!!!!  Worked fast, ate fast, went to Scouts with D.  He actually planned out a trip we are going to take on Spring Break next week to Hocking Hills.  Home and trying to relax.

100324 - Up worked all day.  Nice day outside and the family playing some catch in the backyard.  It turned ugly when G took ownership of J's baseball glove and refused to return it... So after dinner we headed to the stores.  First stop the glasses store AGAIN...  today D dropped his glasses and the arms broke off the damn things...  UGH!!!! then to Meijer for a new baseball glove for J, a new baseball tee for G and new bases for D.  I stayed up way too late watching movies.

100323 + Clashing

100323 + All up in the am, D had a tooth ache...  Worked a full day day and then time for a bit of sword fighting with G.  It ended as usaul: Grant learning several new words he shouldn't and my knuckles red and bleeding...
L ran D to the dentist to see about his 'toothach' and he came home with a plastic bag containing one of his molars partially eaten away by a GINORMOUS cavity...
We played some Pass Pigs, had some ice cream, got hair cuts and then 'All boys to bed'.  I stayed up watching LOST, doing some work and then watching basketball.




100322 - Back at the desk for a full day.  Brian to rental and 'collecting' for me...  D&I ran to the bank and then to the camera place get DVDs we are having made from old videos.  We had dinner, took the old PC from the playroom apart while we watched the old movies on the DVDs. 'All boys to bed' and L has the house to herself as I head out to meet the Bible Bangers.

100321 - All up and L&D to church so D could acolyte.  Andre, JG&I headed out to Best buy and a sports store.  We beat L&D home and J&G, two very tired boys, fell asleep.  Andre and I enjoyed the spring day and put together the baseball throw back contraption I got for D.  We had a late lunch and ran to pick D up from a b-day party, where he mangled his glasses...  So we stopped at the glasses store on the way home... In the afternoon my buddy Chris came over and we watched the Buckeyes on the big screen.  We had Andre all dressed up in OSU garb so other than his accent he wouldn't stick out much ;-)  We then had to deliver Andre to the airport for his long journey home.  The boys already miss him.
We then headed to Reynoldsburg to pick up a netPC for the playroom and swing by subway for dinner.  Bath and bed for the boys and I got the new PC working and set up.  To bed early tonight.

100320 - Taste of USa

100320 - Woke up early by the natives wanting to see me after a long week away.  I was not the only thing they wanted to see...  Andre is with me to 'experience' us in the USA...  Oh and he got his fill...  Breakfast with the natives and then everyone up and out to the Pinewood Derby.
D had an exceptional race day!  He came in 2nd in his den!  His best year yet and we stayed for the finals.


More of Americana coming right up....  We hit the gas station to fill up our HUGE American gas guzzling SUV, get some tobacco and headed to the highway.  One last stop for lunch...  none other than... WHITE CASTLE for the unsuspecting Netherlander.  He LIKED IT!



We had a very pleasant drive up to the Farm and as we pulled in the driveway were greeted by two wild mustangs (Dusty & Nibbles) running wild in the front yard...  It was quite a welcoming committee.  We got out of the car, got our barn clothes and boots on and went down to help catch the wild horses and build them a new pen.  Andre was put to work straight away, no time for formalities on the Farm ;-)  After that experience he received a tour of barns and some history lessons.

We wanted to show Andre the Falls before it got dark so we took him up to the Camp and walked him back hundreds of years through time.  Told him the legends, showed him the faces on the rock walls, the bent trees at Hoppy's grave and searched for Indians in the pine forest.




On the way back to the Farm we stopped at Dulce's sugar shack and explained the art of making maple syrup and Grant even got to do the zip line!  Back to the Farm house for visit to the spring house, Farm house (including the attic) and all of the great things that come along with it.  See us American do have some history...  We finished the Farm visit off with some Chinese food from Chinatown and good conversation until the boys started falling asleep.  We got them loaded up and headed back home.  On the way I drove him through downtown Columbus, past the theaters, state house and pawn shops.
We had loads of good conversation you can't have everyday when working through the stuff we normally deal with...  We ended the night laughing and coughing incredibly hard with the Blue Collar comedy tour.

100319 - Flying Home

100319 - Really fast morning at work. We actually got accomplished everything we expected. Then said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. Cindy & Josh headed to Houston and Andre and I headed to Atlanta.
Once in atlanta and happily seated in a TGI Friday's drinking American Coca Cola, I checked in with L: J had soccer practice and D had trial runs for the pinewood derby. L says his car is FAST...
Andre and I then got on the jet to Columbus. We got home about midnight and the house was quiet so we decided to get some rest ourselves. L was up a bit not feeling well :-o.

100318 - D had baseball tryouts and was in the draft. L said he did really well.
This is a house I want to buy in Mexico City.

100317 - Working Crew

100317 - Up and in to the plant early again. Things were a BIT stressful today. A LOT of hard work was done... This is the main crew I work with here. A nice group of folks, makes days like today tollerable: Guido, Andre, Julio, Cindy, Josh, & Jaap. Here we are waiting outside of the secure site for our van. We waited out here for 45 minutes making jokes about kidnapping and the other horrible things that might happen :-o. It did give me time to call L & GpaW and have other conversations that were not work related. We then had a miserable long and bumpy ride to the hotel. More work, and hopefully some sleep...
Back at home, J had soccer practice.

100315 - Adventure

100315 - Up and met the team for breakfast.  We then headed to the lounge to get some stuff done.  After a couple hours of staring at our screens we decided that we should at least get some fresh air.  So they team forced me out of the hotel and on foot, in down town Mexico City...  :-o
Today is a holiday in Mexico and not many people stirring about.  We tried to find a place for lunch, but not much success and ended up in a 'Tony Romas'.  I know, not very adventurous or exciting of a place to eat when in Mexico City, but the best we could come up with....
After lunch we walked back, past the hotel, looking for a monument we have seen for years now but have never gone to.  In fact if you look close in the previous post you can see the top of this monument just to the right of Andre's head.  Well we found it with not much trouble.  We think it is a ware memorial...  I took my picture and back to the office in the sky for a bit more work.
Tonight we have agreed to walk to a restaurant we found today for dinner.  I will let you know how it goes...

100314 - Office in the sky

100314 - Up for breakfast and then to or makeshift office in the hotel lounge for a long 13 hour day. We broke the day up with games of 'Pass the Pig'. The team gave me strange looks at the introduction of this game, but soon feel in love with it. We got a ton of stuff done, so tomorrow should be a pretty nice calm day.

Location:Paseo de La Reforma,Miguel Hidalgo,Mexico