I suppose this would be called Synchronized Bicycling. Warning: link is 38Mb mpg file (too big for dial-up).
To return the favor to the in-laws for watching Claire while the rest of us were on vacation, Chris agreed to watch Precious, their dog, for the past four days.
The original plan was for Chris to drive to grandma's on Thursday with the kids. Halfway through dog sitting, I was to bring the girls home while Chris finished her duties.
During my temporary bachelorhood days, I invited a few friends to see movies that I wouldn't normally have an opportunity to see. Non G-rated ones! Thursday night a couple of friends saw Cinderella Man and Mr. & Mrs. Smith with me.
I called Chris to coordinate the kid switch, but when the kids found out they were to be picked up by me, they all pouted. And they were at grandma's house without grandma or their toys. (The sound you hear in the background is that of my ego being crushed.)
So the women in my life are spending another couple of days house/dog/cat sitting.
So I spent another day of bachelorhood seeing Wedding Crashers and The 40-year-old Virgin. Not surprisingly, I couldn't convince my friends to see those movies.
Side note: When you go to a wine tasting, you start with the sweetest wines and work your way to the dry ones. This is because if you went the other way around (with wines getting sweeter and sweeter) your palette would revolt because the latter wines would seem, in comparison, as bad as hard candy. Better to go with delayed gratification.
Each movie I saw this weekend ended up more sophomoric than the previous. It appears I watched these four movies in the exact wrong order.
We are spending the week on vacation in Massachusetts and Maine. Like my parents did with me when I was too young, Claire is staying with grandma while we take the older ones travelling.
While we visit Plymouth Rock and Plimouth [sic] Plantation, grandma has taken it upon herself to potty train Claire.
Much to my chagrin, we hadn't begun ourselves to train her. When Chris started buying size 6 diaper I took it as a tacet statement that we weren't going to start anytime soon. Katie and Marissa never made it to that size. Size 6 is the last before adult-size "Depends." It was looking like Claire was headed for the non-potty-trained room at daycare this fall.
But grandma reports things are progressing well. She likes to be left alone to do her business. Which appears to be shredding the toilet paper while she waits for events unfold.
Next year Chris wants to do Philadelphia for vacation. And I'm thinking it'll give Claire the opportunity to how to mow the lawn.
Just when I thought I had seen the worst hate in America...
21-year-old Specialist Edward Myers gave his life for America. At the Grace Evangelical Church funeral, a group had the gall to picket with signs:
God Hates America (held by a young girl)
God Hates You
Thank God for IEDs
Shirley Phelps-Roper, a protestor, indicated the soldier was in hell now.
Ug. Unbelievable.
With a few days vacation off from work, this weekend started early for the family and it has a series of learning experiences for the girls.
On Thursday afternoon, we went to Anthony Thomas for a factory tour. The girls learned how Buckeyes were made.
On Friday afternoon, we went to COSI and saw several exhibits and a couple of educational films on their huge screen. The girls learned about the sinking of the Titanic.
On Saturday afternoon, we went to the State Fair and they rode rides and petted animals. We saw the judging of one-year-old rams. They were closely sheared. After some persistent questioning, the girls learned the word "scrotum."