Happy Easter!

I asked Boydee what his favorite part of the weekend. He thought, and then said it was this moment, from yesterday — driving the tractor with A.D.!

***

We had a packed Easter holiday. First we went to the farm and visited with the Romero family. A good showing, we saw Virginia, Judy, Rod and Lupe, Rosalina and her kids, Jason, Jackie and Baby Vale, my sister and Jett and Marina, and Ben. Good food (awesome ham, cheesy potatoes, a french toast like, cake or something, and my sister brought a big strawberry cake.) The kids did an Easter egg hunt, a pinata, you name it. (I have photos but the blogger website is only allowing one pic at a time from my phone right now.)

The BIG EXCITING news there was that Rosalina and Brent are expecting their third baby!!! WOW!!!

Following the farm we went to the mansion. Judy got us on the invite list to Steven's house here in Eudora, replete with two (stocked) fishing ponds. I've got photos of that too, but see above, re: photos.

Boyd caught about 15 little fish, and Evey caught three fish including one BIG crappie. I caught no fish — most of my time was spent running half-circles around the pond, taking fish off the kids' hooks. I did fish right at the end, and got a BIG STRIKE but was too busy taking a photo (I'll post it next time) and whatever it was drug me under a rock and broke my line.

Nice photo of Sis and Dad

I was looking for old photos from previous Masters trips the other day, and found a folder of pics from Mom's old Kodak Easy Share camera. Scrolled through it. There are a LOT of photos. This is one of the good ones, of Sis and Dad.

I think Mom must have had the flash set to "eyes half-closed" because two out of three photos feature people in a mid-blink. Oh well. There are some good ones. In all, there's probably something like 500 pics...

***

I haven't been blogging much lately. Been tired. Wore out.

Also, I haven't been drinking rum and Coke for a long, long time.

Rum and Coke inspires me to write. It's not good for me, but it makes me want to blog, want to share thoughts, to be creative.

I wonder what percent of blog posts are written with a rum and Coke sweating on the end table next to me (like this one)?

***

Saw Radiohead last week, at Sprint Center, with Bart and Jeff Beckwith.

Solid show. Not the best Radiohead show I've ever seen — our seats were good not great, they didn't play "How to Disappear Completely" and we missed the last cold beer of the night when they stopped sales at 10 p.m. sharp — but a solid performance. Worth the money ($105 per tick!)

My favorite Radiohead shows I've seen in person:

5. Sprint Center, last week, with Bart and Jeff
4. Lollapalooza, 2008, with Bart and Mars
3. Atoms for Peace show at the Orpheum, Los Angeles, 2009, with Mars
2. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, St. Louis, 2008, with Adro, Bart and Gabe
1. Sprint Center, 2012, with Adro, Bart and Lynette

***

Echo and the Bunnymen are coming to Kansas City this summer! I've never seen them. They'll be here 7/25! Adrianne and I plan on going (it's a Tuesday night — Judy, can you babysit for us?)

Crossroads, with the Violent Femmes! Epic. See you there.

***

And now I just saw that Local Natives — a band I keep missing — will be at Boulevardia on a Friday in KC! Maybe I can actually convince someone to go with me!

The Joy Formidable will be there too, so maybe Jess will join me...

***

Evey story:

State assessment tests are ongoing, and Eudora does this thing where they make it a BIG DEAL to the kids. They have the high school cheerleaders come in and do some cheers, the basketball team does some dunks, some three-pointers. Then they email the parents, tell us to get the kids to shower in the mornings and eat a square breakfast so they'll be ready. And they ask us to send healthy snacks to keep the kids' blood sugar pumping, I guess.

So Adro volunteered to send in snacks today. Grapes (delicious), granola bars and bottled water. Everything the kids need to pass their state assessments.

(And yet some kid randomly brought in brownies, but nevermind that...)

So Adro buys a new cooler just for this occasion. You know why? Because my coolers always contain beer cans... or raw meat... or, on occasion, live nightcrawlers... and this disgusts Adro.

So the new cooler she bought? Looks like the Vera Wang purses/bags she always has. Flowery. Bright. Non-functional. As in, "Do me a favor and carry this from the bottom, I don't want the handle to break, OK?"

OK.

So I walk with Evey into school holding this flowery bag. Evey was already nervous about being seen with me. Seriously. But I walk in and deliver the goods to her class. I ignored the 10-year-old boy who said, "Pretty!" as I walked by. Whatever.

And you know what Evey said to me at dinner today? "Dad, you actually did a good job looking cool walking in to school today. You were wearing a gray jacket, black shorts, sunglasses, you looked tough... and you carried that bag all the way to my classroom!"

So for the record: in the eyes of Evey, even though I was getting smirks all the way to the classroom... I actually looked cool carrying that Vera Wang bag like a baby.

BOOM.

Bear's bday party

The kids were invited to Barrett Neuteboom's 2nd birthday party and got to decorate their own cupcakes. Good times!

I took photos of the birthday boy but they were all with Trish's phone! I'll see if I can get one soon. Little Boy Boom is getting big!

Evey's 4th grade program

Evey and her classmates did a great job at the recent 4th grade music program!

Evey has been getting to school early (7:15 am) on Tuesdays and Thursdays in preparation for weeks now. (Which means I've been getting up early too.)

It was definitely worth the effort. Nice job, Evey!

Road weary

Flight was delayed out of Palm Springs. Missed my KC flight.

So, spend the night in PHX or try to jump around and make it home at a decent hour? Logic says sleep here...

But! If I sleep here I get to KC at 3 pm. If I fly to CLT overnight then KC I get to KC at 930 am. Three hours in this airport, three hours in that airport. Worth a try. I'll let you know if it was worth the effort.

Oh, bonus when you run into Annika Sorenstsam.

More pics from Buddy + Marlee's wedding

Like I said, everything was A+ minus leaving early to watch the KU game! Including the Goodyear blimp fly-by!

Cleveland trip with the Mrs.

Last Thursday-Sunday Adrianne came with me to Cleveland for my work trip + my assistant editor's wedding.

A great time. The wedding was beautiful, our company was excellent. Dinner at my publisher's house the first night. Dinner w/ CEO, LM's publisher and their wives the next night.

Saturday night was the wedding. Great time, minus the Jayhawks breaking into my good time. If I knew the way that game was going to play out, I would have 100% ignored it and stayed at Buddy's wedding (sigh.)

Oh well. A great trip. So glad Adro came with me. A true event, a trip I'll remember forever.

Here's Adro and me at the Hyatt Arcade in Cleveland.

Boyd and Jett; Xylon-12

I wonder if Jett will be Boyd's Keath Whitaker, or Tom Birch?

If not Jett, then whom?

When I was a little guy, I had three heroes: Spider-Man, Keath and Tom. Why? Spider-Man is self-explanatory, but the guys? Mostly because they were older than me and I was impressionable, but also because they were awesome.

Keath owned a compound bow. Tom had access to a garage with power tools. They were both friends of the family.

I'm still in touch with Keath, somewhat, and his dad (Larry), more so. Larry I call every once in a while and we talk basketball. Him and my dad were pretty close. And Larry knows his college basketball.

True story: I once saw Keath shoot a fish in a stream with his compound bow (the arrow was on a stringer) and the arrow went through the fish's gill and out its mouth. 

Keep it clean!

***

I stayed up late to write my column for the new issue of Golfdom tonight. That's always a rush, even when I don't have a topic. 

It's not work when you're doing something you love.

***

Evey is convinced Boyd is an alien. Why? Because he's weird. 

Well, now she's also wondering if her Dad is an alien too. Because we're both weird.

Evey pressed me on this at dinner the other day and I finally broke: Boyd and I are aliens from the planet Xylon-12. "I knew it!" she yelled.

The next day, me, Adro, Judy, Evey and Boyd were out to dinner at El Potro. Judy beat us there. Evey and Adrianne chose to sit with Judy in the booth, leaving me and Boyd alone on the other side.

At one point Boyd quietly tooted during dinner. (I don't think anyone heard it.) I scolded him and told him that was bad manners. 

Boyd looked at me and said, "But Dad! We're from Xylon-12!"

Boyd grew up a little over spring break

No, Boyd did not get a spring break. He's in his last few weeks of Montessori School.

But he did seem to stretch out, or grow a little, or something recently. He's been eating better lately too.

Now if I could just get him to go to bed on time...

Jones Kids, Johnson kids, Jones dog, Johnson dog!

Kudos to Jessica for getting this photo! I wouldn't have guessed the dogs (Koko and Lucky) would have sat still enough for it, but they did!

Sunday night dinner, UFO happy meals and Aunt Phyllis, RIP

Judy made a roast for us on Saturday. Perfect timing, as Rick and I came home hungry from the Big 12 Championship!

Adrianne got the whole thing served and we devoured it. Roast, potatoes, celery, carrots and onion. I love the onion in the roast! So good!

Rick was like, "This is like what my mom used to make!" and we told him Judy made it, so it was likely the same recipe (or at least something inspired by Virginia.) So he wasn't far off. Pretty cool.

I ate the small bowl of leftovers as a lunch the next day. Ate the whole thing.

***

I'm listening to a band called "Highly Suspect," The Boy Who Died Wolf. I've heard them before on Sirius (on the Octane channel) and I just now heard them on 96.5 FM. "My Name is Human" is a solid song, I'll have to check them out....

***

I went out with some colleagues tonight. We're clearly getting old, as I got home at midnight.

I could have another cerveza, but... Evey made chocolate chip cookies! OH WOW!!!! Evey, can I eat 12 of them?!?

***

I had a memory today that I haven't had in a long time. 

I remember when I was a kid I was obsessed with McDonald's. When I said this out loud, Adrianne said she was too.

I saw that Boyd had a really cool drinking cup from McD's, with a Lego Batman theme. It reminded me of a cool toy from my childhood that I went nuts for.

You know how Happy Meals are typically in those square cardboard boxes? Well, I remember when they were, for a short time, in plastic UFOs. 

For some reason I went nuts for this. I wanted to eat out of the plastic UFOs desperately. Which reminded me of a story Grandma Joyce used to tell — that if they saw a McDonald's in the distance, they'd take an abrupt turn, in hopes that I wouldn't freak out and beg them to take me there.

Huh. Funny that I had forgotten all about those UFO happy meals until I saw Boyd's drink...

***

Speaking of lost memories...

My Aunt Phyllis died recently, she was 91. Jess mentioned it to me the other day. 

While I know some of the Senas, notably Nicky Jr. and Greg, I couldn't remember if I had really been around Aunt Phyllis in years... I don't think she made it out to the graduation party in Seattle that I crashed a couple years ago (it was coincidentally the same weekend as the U.S. Open, so I was in town.) Honestly, I wondered if I ever even met her (apologies if I hung out with her for a month in 1982, I just don't remember.)

Then I saw Martin post on Facebook this photo of her and Nick Sr. from a trip me and Mom and Dad took to Seattle back in... 1991?

Grandma Joyce had a big family. Sad to see it shrinking. Aunt Josie and Uncle Bob are still around. I remember Aunt Lena and Uncle Richard vividly. 

Neat to see an old photo like this. Look how big my dad looks!

Boyd and Koko, conked out!

You could hear the snoring from the living room!

Big 12 championship

A great time with Uncle Rick! Too bad the Jayhawks didn't make it!

House of the rising sun

This photo is from Evey's first day of school. We've taken this photo every year since she started kindergarten. One day I'll round up those other pics so we can see the progression... 

(I don't think I've posted this one yet...)

Maddening that the photos didn't turn out great. The rising sun was playing tricks with the camera. Shots I had the flash on are washed out, a shot like this is very light/dark heavy. And of course, the best photo of the group, someone has their eyes closed...

But still a fun photo. There are pics of me in there from this series. I have a bad haircut and a bad shirt on. It's amazing sometimes that Adrianne allows me to leave the house.

*** 

Evey has a concert tomorrow at 6:30 at the Eudora Performing Arts Center. Check it out if you can! (I can't. I'll be in South Dakota speaking to a group of 70 at the same time.)

Here's a link to my deal tomorrow. The post-dinner part is most disconcerting... I really hope beer will have already been served by then, or else I'll just say hi then tell everyone to see me in the bar.

***

Adro is still wrestling with that flu bug. Ugh! It cost her two weekends. She's going back to work tomorrow. Hopefully some fresh air helps her bounce back. 

***

Ready for the Big 12 tourney this weekend! I'm going up Thursday afternoon, and Rick's taking me to the championship game. Hope the Jayhawks are in it!

***

I did jinx Koko, and the Joneses, when I bragged about her accident-free streak. On Saturday morning she had a # 1 AND a # 2 accident. 

Thankfully, the # 2 was in the laundry room, on a throw-rug, that I could just throw the whole thing away.

(Don't be mad Judy, that throw-rug needed to get trashed... no sense in trying to save it.)

Hopefully we start up a new long streak now. And I for sure won't be mentioning it on the blog.

Old photo of the kids

Just found this photo on my laptop, from that photo shoot we did a few years ago. Amazing to see how much they've grown!

***

Laying on Boyd's floor as I write this. Adrianne's still sick (turns out she has a bad case of the flu and the doctor told her she just has to tough it out) so I've been making dinner and getting him bathed and in bed each night (we usually split these duties, with me taking dinner and Adro taking bath/bedtime.)

Each night for the past couple nights I've told Boyd an Adam Strange story, and then "given him some candy," as he calls it... or, sing him "In Dreams" by Roy Orbison. The opening line is, "A candy-colored clown they call the Sandman... tiptoes to my room every night."

Boyd calls the song "Candy-Colored Clown." Two nights this week he's fallen asleep while I've been singing. That's some pretty good stuff right there!

I had to ask him for the night off tonight. I'm tired, a little grumpy, and I just needed the break. He was cool with it. He read (looked at) a book for a little bit, then I told him lights out. I grabbed my laptop, got to work on the ground. He fell asleep after fidgeting for a little while. He's sleeping good now.

***

March 1st! I'm ready for March Madness!!!

***

Koko the dog is still alive and well, FYI. She's a pretty good dog. Fits in well. She hasn't had an accident in a long time. I probably just jinxed it.

***

Evey has a music program on Monday. Sadly I'll miss it, as I also have a program (speaking engagements) in South Dakota Monday night and Tuesday morning.

She's been going to choir practice rock-steady all year. Which reminds me... she has choir tomorrow... need to get her to school by 7:15!

Better shut it down now.