Happy Thanksgiving 2024!

We hosted Thanksgiving here at the house. It was a great spread! My sister has the group photo, I'll have to get it from her.

We had our family, Jess, Rod, Lupe and Ben. So nine of us total. Judy made the turkey and ham... I made stuffing... Evey made green bean casserole... Jess made mashed potatoes, broccoli & cheese, and a few desserts... Lupe brought two pumpkin pies and dinner rolls. 

The dinner conversation was for sure... interesting. Lots of talk about cataract surgery and falling down???

It ended up being warmer outside than I thought it would, so we opened the HOJ and watched HORRIBLE NFL football. Chatted Chiefs expectations with Rod and Ben. I finally felt normal enough (from the full stomach) to have a few beers. Adro came over and joined us.

We wrapped it all up and called it a night. We weren't too exhausted. Probably because Adro took a few days off last week and she had the house all ready for company. Really, I should take a photo of the fireplace, it has so many Thanksgiving decorations on it, I told her it looked like something you'd see at a hotel!

***

Friday was interesting because the Chiefs played a 2 pm game — Black Friday football. We hosted the neighbors at the HOJ. It was a good crowd and the weather was again mild... the HOJ thermometer, which has been openly questioned before, showed 55 in the shade. I did have the Solo Stove and the patio torch both going and with the sun, it felt nice. When the sun got lower, it got cooler. 

I made chips and queso (NAILED IT, it was almost entirely gnoshed!) Teresa brought over some BBQ meatballs that were really good. Josh brought over a big loaf of Hawaiian bread and a dip. Jessica made an epic charcuterie board (she had Jett and Marina with her, and Marina's boyfriend Connor, and doggy Luna). Sarah brought some goat cheese and crackers. It was quite the spread, we had all three tables pretty much packed with food.

The Chiefs game was another nail-biter. I don't even know how we won that one! 

Once the game ended it cleared out pretty quickly but I turned on the jukebox and me and Adro sat around the Solo Stove a little longer...

Evey's friends Addy and Ava came over to the house and took Evey out to the Mexican restaurant in Baldwin in celebration of Evey's birthday. I thought that was really sweet of them. Evey turns 18 the upcoming Saturday. 

New Orleans trip

Adrianne and I took a few days this week to hang out in N'Awlins! It was a work trip for me, a mini-vacation for her.

It was a ton of fun, to combine work and play. We hit the casino, the French Quarter and went on a river boat trip. 

Let's do that again soon! 

Bub is cheesy

Senior day at the Eudora football game!

Proud to be there with our Cardinal senior! Love you Evey! 

Happy birthday Adro!

We celebrated a day early because Evey and I have a short trip to Louisville on her actual birthday.

The kids took her shopping and then to lunch at Free State (while I took part in a fantasy draft at Rick's) then they came and picked me up… and off we went to the casino!

We stayed for a good stretch… I hit four sevens then Adrianne hit four deuces on a game where deuces pay out better… I think that was a $200 hit right there. We left in the black, even with the bar tab.

An amazing drive-thru dinner at Jack in the Box concluded our fun birthday celebration.

Happy birthday Adro! 

(Random aside… the food game at the Rick's draft is LEGIT. Smoked wings, some kinda Cajun dish, turkey sliders, bacon-wrapped lil smokies, pizza, donuts, someone even brought a coffee maker!) 

Can you believe

That this girl is a senior in high school? 

This photo is from November 2015. I remember the room, the bunk bed, the smell of her hair when she got out of the bath. I remember that glo-worm!

Where has the time gone?  

(And whatever happened to Crocky the crocodile? He was pretty cool.)

It’s time to BeReal

I enjoy posting to BeReal mostly because I get to see what Evey is up to at that moment (you can't see other people's BeReal unless you post your own) but sometimes I'll get a fun one, like this time when me and Bub were eating lunch together on a summer day.

Rick & Julie visit the HOJ

I've wanted to do this for a long time and a few weekends ago we had Rick and Julie Younger over for dinner! 

Evey and I grilled burgers on the Blackstone… with bacon, grilled onions and mushrooms as toppings available. Grilled buns, too.

It was fun to show Rick how I've put some of his bar memorabilia to good use in the HOJ. Evey and Boyd don't know/understand Rick very well, but he loves our kids very much… he's watched them grow up from afar both from my phone, and when they happen to be by the bar. 

But then again, does anyone really understand Rick? Maybe just Julie. 

And yes, Adro got the bunny ears treatment from Rick, as is tradition whenever Rick's in a photo with more than one other person! 

Watch out for Mittens!

The cat likes hanging out at the HOJ almost as much as I do! 

This shot was a few weekends ago when we were getting amazing weather… this summer has been unexpectedly pleasant, actually.

Taco chilling in the background. 

First day of school!

 Evey is a senior and Boyd is a seventh grader! 

Father & son

Summer 2024, grabbing a cheeseburger after work. 

Ages 12 and 47. 

We talked about Godzilla and the new Xbox game he's playing. 

Summer camp out 2024

Made possible by the Taco!

It was different loading this up as opposed to the truck… but removing the third row + folding up another chair made for a ton of cabin space. I brought practically the exact same load as normal.

Perry Lake wasn't fishing friendly but we still had fun. The kids biked a long trail. And we grilled burgers, stargazed and played Monopoly. Evey won. 

Great trip! 

Mexican Fiesta volunteers

On Saturday Adrianne, Boyd and Judy volunteered at the Mexican Fiesta... their job was to serve sodas to the people. Boyd reports that it wasn't a whole lot of fun reaching into the tubs of ice over and over to fetch the different flavors... but they got the job done.

I showed up in time to eat food and chitchat with Father John. That was my contribution to a successful Mexican Fiesta!

Introducing THE TACO!

 It's been a busy summer... I've been on the road for three straight weeks... seriously:

* One week in South Padre for family vacation

* The next week in central PA and then Cleveland for work

* The next week in North Carolina for the U.S. Open and client meetings

So! I've not been posting much at all... apologies. I'm back now and happy to be in Kansas with the family.

Big news! I got new wheels. Diana called maybe two months ago and told us that she thought Alan would like it if we had his Tahoe. I've been in that car many times over the years and I was SHOCKED to learn this... and grateful, because the truck is getting up there...

Coincidentally, the truck died about two weeks later. It needs some major work and it isn't logical to put that kind of money into the 1999 Ram.

So anyway, these are my new wheels. I call it the Taco, because it's close to Tahoe and in honor of the taco I lost somewhere in the truck in 2017. Again, grateful to inherit this from my father-in-law... what a gift! It's a 2011... has a third row... and a working speedometer, volume nob and CD player (all things the truck lacked!)

A couple more photos from First Communion

 

Don't worry; I bought Boyd new shoes on Monday!

Boyd's first communion

 Yeah, that just happened. It was impressive. Boyd was super-enthused! Total ham up there.

Congrats Boyd — good job. You're now more Catholic than your dad. But not as Catholic as your mom. (But still not as tall as your dad... but maybe as tall as your mom.)

Evey’s First Confirmation

I think that's what it's called… she just did the next level in the Catholic Church so she is super qualified as a catholic… and now she can do anything at church! She can sing in the choir or open the door, that's how qualified she is, she can now put the numbers up in the board and let people know what songs we're singing and she can escort crying babies to the crying room, if she deems them too big of crybabies, she can shut that right down.

Ok I don't really know what just happened but I'm proud of Evey and she got us all this photo with this religious figure who gets to wear red like the Imperial Royal Guard in the Star Wars films! So you know that it's a big deal! 

Congrats Evey great job! 

Eclipse 4/8/24

Don't worry, I'm gonna burn that pile on Friday!

Do worry, that cat could attack at any moment! 

Boyd’s 6th grade choir performance

Good news! He did not black out!

Bend those knees, son! I taught him well.

Oh the performance was… great. I don't think Boyd is too into choir, that's just a guess… he does have good taste in music, though.

Boyd is on the top row, fourth from far left. 

Now THAT was a party!

Evey hosted her first full-on party at the house… on a Tuesday night! The cars kept pulling in! It was crazy! I think there are… 27 girls and one dog in this photo!

PARTY IN THE HOJ!

Sweet Koko & Sweet Evey Melosa

A DQ run on a very cold day

We had Boyd's 5th/6th basketball rec league game in De Soto and we got beat pretty good, maybe 32-17 or something like that.

The weather was awful, like -1 and there was blowing snow. We decided to head to Dairy Queen to see Evey -- Bub's suggestion.

I'll admit I wanted Mexican food (because I always want Mexican food) then it occurred to me that Bub meant the DQ in Eudora, so we could see Evey. And that, suddenly, was a no-brainer. I was clearly thinking with my stomach and not my head. 

Evey cheered us all up (OK, I might have been the only one who was a little moody) and we all got some amazing 4-piece chicken strip dinners with plenty of gravy and the most well-buttered Texas toast anyone has ever served. Bravo, DQ cook.

From there we headed home and chilled out, waiting for the Chiefs game to kick off. It was a surprisingly quiet weekend, as I was expecting company in from Chicago, but their flights got canceled twice. 

The Chiefs game was good! Chili dogs were served. 

Kansas City set a record low on Monday morning, MLKJ Day... -16 out at the airport. 

Snow day!

Got about 7-8 inches early January