Vacation's OVER!!!

Apparently, the spray-on sunblock was on empty while Adro sprayed it on my back. It looks like i have a non-tan spiderweb design on my back.

Made another visit to south padre island. Left my $3 sunglasses in the gulf of mexico.

Best sign seen in Mexico: spend $25 and get free dental work

Best line heard from the bar tonight: "you still hitting the weights every night?" "yeah, 12 ounces!"

Stay thirsty my friends.

Favorite nickname right now -- Turkey Jordan (Hedo Turkoglu). I didn't think it could ever get better than Jewish Jordan, but it can.

If i never see another commercial for "drag me to hell" it'll be too soon.

Cavs will win this one by 20. No way the refs let king james exit the playoffs like this...

Why is Rodney Rogers (former Nugget) in a wheelchair? I had no idea. Need to look up this story when i get back home.

Now i'm comfortably seated at the Palms in Mission. Arguably the best bar in Texas. Adro's friends own it. It's like Rick's, with Mexicans.

Mexico was awesome. Got evey a dress and a hat, and for me a bottle of capt morgan ($12.50) and a bottle of kahlua ($10). Didn't get the pistola (tequila).

At Luby's for lunch. Heading to Mexico with John afterwards. Planning on purchasing a pistola, a pinata and a pirhana.

Huge t-storm blowing thru Mission. Had to help Alex pull everything in. Also, good chance to self-medicate would-be hangover. 2 excederin and OJ.

Plus, Ariza is just a freak. Have you seen the guy jump? Uncanny.

LA is just too good, and too meany weapons. Denver or cleve or orlando, u got too many questions to answer -- kobe, bynum, Pau, odom... And all the role players

"i don't get to sleep in, i got a 2-year-old!" might get to go to God's country (via Progresso) manana if things play out like we planned tonight.

Epic party tonight for Alex. AND i'm pretty sure he gave the cute girl a ride home (that a baby!) think i did ok on the grill tonight.

Burgers r done, but Evey got stung by a bee....

And then a windstorm blew in... Damn.

Agh, Red Skull, you make me so mad. Sharon Carter (Agent 13), you're a close second! I shouldn't read these things when i've been drinking Tecate.

It's 90 degrees in mission, texas. Do you know where your Jonesy is?

The first burger... "patient zero," as i call it, goes to my friends lily and lolly -- the dogs!

The grill is hot, the grill is hot! Special thanks to my dad, Senor Boyd, for the advice on how to get this particular grill (long 129, lat 228) fired right!

It ain't the beach but Evey is still havin fun. I've got a Captain America trade with me, so I'm reading & finding solace in the thought that i could be @ work.

Near the restrooms, they have these big helmets with eyepieces... The sign says 'live your dream, travel the world!' underneath, a photo of... A panda.

At the mall... Disney store. Might buy a spider-man hat at the hat store. This afternoon we r havin a party for Alex. I'm on grill duty, flippin 75 burgers.

Jokes, jokes! Don't take offense, former NHS leaders. I like to joke here, it's what i do. Besides, u already make more $ than me, so u get the last laugh, ass.

Guess i shouldn't have started drinking b4 the event... I booed NHS characteristic # 3...

"your applause is in order." not if u have to tell me so!

Just found out it's isn't about gpa, but "well roundedness." $500 offer now redacted! (but i'm still proud of all u kids!)

@ Alejandro's natl honor society induction ceremony. I told evey if she can pull this off herself, i'll give her $500. (no worries, that'll be like $50 by then)

We r at south padre island! I finally know what beaches r meant 4... Not spring break and trying to pick up girls... But building sand castles with your girls!

Can't understand, just what did he say? We're on a mexican radio, whoa-ohhhh.

We're in Falfurrias, tex. I'm going to guess the people of Falfurrias are some ass-kickers.

Had a big mexican lunch on the riverwalk. Then took a boat ride. I used to be 97% water, now i'm down to 42%.

New lunch place -- taco cabana (chain) in austin. Prob adro's 2nd favorite place. Like a fast food version of... Carlos o'kelly's? With beer and margaritas.

Just got done touring capitol bldg in austin. Got some really cool pics. ...Visitor's center has the cleanest men's restroom in the state of texas!

Reminding myself to check out www.kegr.com -- pretty soild station, and they said they have some exclusive toadies stuff... Adro drivin, i'm rockin/readin comic

Left dallas hotel room at 830. Planning on stopping in austin, eta of 1209. This just in, whataburger breakfast as good as lunch and dinner!

@ lobby bar with adro and evey. Evey likes lakers and magic, and lakers to win it all -- no hesitation.

At our hotel -- hyatt in downtown Dallas -- relaxing now. Just got back from the site of JFK's assasination. Took a photo.

First whataburger was awesome. In edmond, okla. Took plenty of photos, will post next week. Evey ate half her kid cheeseburger, loved it. Watchin bee movie now.

We passed the first what-a-burger. Sadness overwhelms me (the girls r still full from mom's omelette's). GPS says we get to Dallas by 334.

Just left my mom and dad's house in mulvane. Mom made some awesome cheese omelettes for us. Next stop, WHAT-A-BURGER, somewhere in Oklahoma.

Reader feedback

OK, you may remember a while back I posted a survey, asking for people to share some thoughts on the blog. It's always hard to get people to comment, not sure why. I only got seven or eight responses total. Here are some highlights (Lervik responded to all of the questions, and I devoted an entire post to that already.)

The first one is from Kendall, not a response to any of the questions, per se, just a vote on what her and Grey's choice for best post is:

I'm officially writing to weigh in on the best post of Especially Evey. Grey and I LOVE the post where you have a video of Evey in the living room and she's just being super silly and putting something from the coffee table on her head. That's our vote... Kendall (& Grey)

Thank you, Kendall and Grey! One of my faovrites too. Evey will never be that young again, you know? Glad I have that moment on video.

Now, over to Steph:

Seth-

I just wanted to send you a message to let you know that I do follow Evey’s Blog, I somehow manage to find time in my busy schedule to stop by and see what Evey is up to. I enjoy seeing what she is up to and watching her grow up. It’s just amazing how fast time seems to go by. I found the picture of Julian and Evey in the post from February 13, 2007, it was their first meeting at the bowling alley... Anyway, keep the posts coming and hopefully we can get together soon so that Julian and Evey can play.

Thanks for reading, Steph! Time does fly. We'll keep doing those yearly photos of Julian and Evelyn at the bowling alley up until the age when they want to meet there without parental supervision, and then that whole tradition is OVER -- hear me, JULIAN?!?

My pal Travis answered a few of my questions!

What do you like about this blog?

It shows just how devoted you are to your family. Oh, you could use this space to rant on a political agenda or constantly yak about your 15 foot fade away but you don't. You talk about your daughter, your wife, your extended family. And it shows. In a small way, it lets me (and the audience) connect with you and yours without ever really being there.

Do you have a favorite moment from this blog?

Well, it was nice when you devoted a whole post to my kids. That made me all warm and fuzzy. I don't really have one favorite moment, just a continuous series of them. I get to hang out with the Jones', so to speak, in spirit.

Just basic well wishes on 500 posts:

You're doing a fantastic job with this. I remember when we had the conversation about the blogs being like a scrapbook and if we could save them for 10 years or something. I think Evey will look back on these posts and know that her parents really loved her.

Thanks Trav! Trav also had some other comments, but I pared it down a little bit. One thing he suggested was that I "expand my range" on blog posts, and suggested Lawrence landmarks, or where I work, or my co-workers, etc., as possible topics. And that's a great suggestion, Trav. I do plan on doing some new things soon, including "my favorite glasses" (seriously), "my favorite T-shirts" and a feature tentatively titled, "Guess how drunk I am and what I'm eating."

Another good friend of the blog, Hulk Hogan, also dropped some great feedback, just like he does the atomic leg drop:



Hey, brother, it's the Hulkster here. You know, when I first started reading your blog, it made me think of how all the Hulkamaniacs out there are growing up fast. What a great job you're doing here, brother, with the blogging and the spell check and the color pictures and everything. I mean, if I had to do it all over again, I would have probably made "Hogan Knows Best" a blog rather than a TV reality series on VH-1, brother, because then maybe Linda wouldn't have gone crazy on me. Keep eating your vitamins and saying your prayers, brother!


Thanks Hulk! Appreciate you reading and I wish your family all the best.

Barack Obama decided he had a few minutes to look away from the economy and check out my blog. Here are a few of his comments (pared down from the original 17,000-word email):

Yes we can. And yes you did. Five hundred posts! It's achievements like this... that show the greatness... of the American spirit.



Seth, I want you to know that I saw the support that especiallyevey.blogspot.com lent to my candidacy, very early on. Michelle and I want to say... thank you. Tell that little girl to keep reaching for the stars! We'll be watching you... on-line.


Wow, I'm flattered, Mr. President. I'll get back to you on some of your questions you had soon, I promise.

Last comments go to another person many of us know -- Mr. Bret Michaels:

Hey Seth. I just want you to know that I've really been feelin' this blog. I feel like there's... a connection. When I read your posts, it's like I'm reading your true feelings, and that's what I need, I need to know how you really feel about things, you know? So, I want you to do me a favor, and I want you to keep blogging, and keep rocking my world, alright? Alright, cool.

Oh, hey, what's this? My guitar? Hmm. Wow, it's tuned, too. =Ahem= Every rose, has it's thorn-nnnn. Just like evvvvvv...

Sorry to cut you off, Bret, but we've reached our, uh, space limit on this post. Thanks to everyone who commented! And thanks to everyone who has been reading along with us for the past 2+ years! Cheers, everyone.

Best. Post. Ever.

Combining the three posts that were selected by YOU, the READERS.... here are the best photo, best video, and best post, combined into one post of sheer awesomeness. Of all the posts I've done here (540+) these three sucked the least. Thank you to everyone who voted!

Coming tomorrow -- the readers speak out on especiallyevey.blogspot.com!

***

I might be starting to crack a little bit.

For the last few nights, Evey has really wanted my attention. Adro and Judy can be sitting right there doing nothing, and I can be obviously busy doing something, and Evey will be saying, "Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad."

And then there's the, "What, Evey?"

And she'll point to this bubble bath bottle she has. It has Snow White (or Cinderella, whoever), Sleeping Beauty (I think) and the Little Mermaid on it.

"Who's that?" she'll ask.

"The Little Mermaid."

"Who's that?" she'll ask, pointing to the next character.

"Snow White."

"Who's that?"

"Sleeping Beauty," I'll say, finishing the trio. She'll look at me for a full beat, and then,
"Daddy! Who's that?"

"THE LITTLE MERMAID."

Do you know how I occupied Evey for about 30 minutes the other day? She saw her mom cutting coupons. Then Adro gave her some coupons which she didn't want. So I told Evey to go get her grocery store cash register. It's got pictures of food on it where there would be numbers; a little gun that does the scanning; even a little microphone that you can grab and say, "I got a price check -- Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch. PRICE CHECK!" (the microphone doesn't technically work, though I use it anyway... we have to do a lot of price checks in my house.)

So I hand Evey a coupon, tell her I want to save 55 cents on bean dip. She grabs the coupon, then scans it. About twenty times. Then I hand her the next coupon, and tell her I want to save $1 on Chex Mix. She then scans that coupon thirty times.

We did this for thirty minutes. Coupon, coupon, coupon. Scan, scan, scan.

I can't help but think, somewhere, a father just like me is playing with Matchbox cars. Or G.I. Joe. Or worse, Spider-Man.

You know how close I get to playing Spider-Man? Two ways:

1. Evey loves the itsy bitsy spider. Oh, great, I can sing the itsy bitsy spider.

2. The other day, she walked up to the Spider-Man chair my sister got her, and she said, "Here, Spider-Man... take your medicine!"

SPIDER-MAN DOES NOT TAKE MEDICINE.

He was bitten by a $&%^$#&* radioactive spider, and he does not need medicine. What he needs is to kick some ass, villains like Sandman, Mysterio, Hobgoblin, Electro. He needs to WEB-SWING!

But, nooooo. My kid is giving Spider-Man medicine.

Medicine.

(Oh, and check out this video I did.)

Guess who's back?

The GODFATHER.

taste for life

The weekend is over. I must say, it was a pretty good one for me. Hung out with some good friends. Celebrated some good times (Ryno and Jason's graduation, Bart and Brent's birthday). Ate some good food. Drank some (several) good drinks. Enjoyed some good music (new Manchester Orchestra and KROQ's Weenie Roast live on-line). I even read a good book (The Umbrella Acaedmy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba).

Highlight of the weekend: Saturday night, I put on the KROQ concert, streamed live on-line from L.A. Evey was with me. She LOVED IT. Jammed good to Weezer, then REALLY got down to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. Evey had different dances to the different songs, and she also emulated Karen O, chugging her juice just like Karen pounded her water.

Hope Evey will forgive me for the typical spaghetti pic. (I also have it on video.)

Wheatfield, Ind.

I still haven't had a chance to really write about our trip to Wheatfield yet!

I turned 32 on April 26th. For my birthday, I wanted to take Adro and Evey to my hometown of Wheatfield, Ind., located in northwest Indiana. I haven't ever taken Adro there, so I wanted her to see it.

I was born in Wheatfield, but grew up in Mulvane. I lived in Wheatfield from '77 to '82.

The road trip was great. It's a 10-hour drive to Wheatfield from Lawrence -- longer if you stop at the same McDonald's we did -- but Evey really enjoyed the road trip. We sang songs, counted water towers, played with the toy baby, took a few naps, read books... we brought a portable DVD player with us but didn't even use it on the way there.

Got to Wheatfield at about 9:30 on Friday night (after taking a break in St. Louis at the Children's Palace -- more on that later). We stayed at Mike and Marilyn's house. Mike has been my dad's best friend since they were little boys.

Saturday morning we got up and walked over to Bea and Junior's house. Bea and Junior are Mike's folks, and they've been like family to me for as long as I can remember. Bea refers to me as her nephew, and I think of her as something of a grandma. (My Grandma Iris, my father's mother, died in 1994. Grandma Iris was a wonderful person and I have fond memories of her. I wish she could have met my wife and daughter too.) ((I never met my father's father, Top. He died before I was born.))

Bea made one of her world famous breakfasts for us that morning, and then luck had it that Wheatfield, a tiny town of 1,400, was holding it's little league baseball parade that morning. So Evey got to see a parade.

We then relaxed, walked around the town. I took the girls by Dave and Sue's house, hoping to show her Wheatfield's most haunted house, but they weren;t home. We did get to visit with friends Larry and Mary and see Mike and Marilyn's grandson, Gage. Junior took us to the local golf course where I met the owner and superintendent.

Evey got to run all over the place, Mike and Marilyn's house was very kid friendly. We had a birthday/anniversary dinner at Mike and Marilyn's house Saturday night (they were married April 26th, 1976, my birthday was a year to the day later).

And then the next morning, we got on the road. It was wheels-up at 8:30 a.m. Back home by 6 p.m. On the way home, Evey watched a lot of movies, Adro read a ton of magazine, and I finished a graphic novel I had checked out from the library.

It was a short trip but a fun one. Adrianne is up for returning soon, her and Evey had such a nice time. And that meant a lot to me, because honestly, there's not a lot to do in Wheatfield, but it's where I'm from, and I have a love for that town, the people there and the memories of going back every summer to visit our friends there.

I was watching the Bulls/Celtics game 6, and they showed the Chicago skyline. I saw that beautiful skyline, with Lake Michigan in the foreground, and I told Adrianne, "I'd like to take you girls to Chicago sometime." And she responded, "You can take us anywhere -- we had such a good time in Wheatfield, I really don't mind road-tripping anywhere." And that was a cool moment for me, because that just made me feel like I have a tightly knit family, a family that can go somewhere as desolate as Wheatfield or as busy as Chicago, and it's going to be fun either way, because we're all together.

The most interesting girls in the world

One refuses to get a massage because she finds them "stressful."

The other can hear oncoming trains before you, and then warn you that that train is "behind you."

One once went into a grocery store and left with groceries, as well as more money than she went in with.

The other wouldn't mind eating mac and cheese for breakfast.

One believes that cheese should be involved in ever meal, and places that don't have cheese -- especially sushi places -- are a complete waste of time.

The other once served a toy tomato and a toy bedpan to her father and said, "eat it."

THEY ARE... THE MOST INTERESTING GIRLS IN THE WORLD.

"We don't always drink beer, but when we do... we prefer Bohemia."



And if you totally don't get it, check out this YouTube clip:



Stay thirsty my friends.

Quick story as I try to finish a freelance story tonight:

So, I had to wear a suit to work the last two days -- VIPs in the office, you know how it is. But Evey isn't used to seeing me in a suit. I hardly ever wear one.

So on Monday I'm getting her dressed and she looks at my suit, then grabs my tie and studies it. Then she looks at me and says, "Obama?"

And I laughed and said, "Yes, sweetie, daddy is dressed up like Obama today!"

She giggled, I laughed, and we went on with getting ready.

Then, this morning, I'm again getting her ready. She eagerly grabs my tie, looks at me and smiles. "LIKE Obama!" she says.

Yup, sweetheart. What can I say, you're not only smart, you're funny, too.

Gabe's 1-year b-day BASH

You know what I like about Gabe? Dude knows how to throw a birthday BASH. Well done, Gaberino, let's rent a limo for b-day # 2....