Four generations

 Together in the HOJ on Sunday! 

Chiefs got DESTROYED but we had a good time. Cousin Pete came by. Judy made awesome taco soup. Evey made brownies. The wind about blew the HOJ down but it survived! 

Happy 15th anniversary!

I'm in Louisville but we will be celebrating together soon. Here are the flowers I sent home.

15 years! Love you Adro! 

Happy 10th birthday Bub!

 

Weekend that was... 9.24.21

What a weekend! Let’s update…

 

On Friday I clocked out early. Went and picked up the kids, took them to Lawrence to drop off with Adro because Bub had a dentist’s appointment. I then turned around and drove to De Soto to play golf with Joe.

 

Waze took me a nice, relaxing back way to De Soto. Only problem? Some jackass tailgated me the whole way… even on two of my random-ass turns. I slowed down to 50 at one point, with plenty of daylight ahead of me … moron wasn’t interested, just wanted to be on my bumper the whole way. Apparently he had attachment issues.

 

When I finally got to the golf course, I realized I was coming in from the opposite direction of what I was used to, so instead of a right, it was a left… and it was sudden. I decided a hard brake was what this dude deserved and if he was going to play golf, I was ready to discuss. It was somewhat satisfying seeing him lock up his brakes behind me as I made my left into the golf course. Ha!

 

Golf was good. I dropped a bomb on Joe on No. 5 for par, taking a two-stroke lead, and I played solid from there. Weather was perfect. Music was just OK (sorry Joe.) Strangely the par threes are what killed me. My 3-wood is solid right now…

 

(Interpol on the jukebox right now… so, soooo good.)

 

Drove home and I missed Bub, he went next door for a sleepover. My pal Josh came over with his daughter Isla and we listened to the jukebox and played Uno. Made some frozen pizzas because I’m fancy. Isla took the Uno series, 3-2-2. 

 

Adro went and got Evey who was at the Eudora football game. They lost a close one. Her pal Ryan came over and they had a sleepover (I think they may have helped knock out the pizzas because I may have over-estimated the amount of food needed.)

 

Back at the HOJ, it was barely 10 o’clock and I was falling asleep. Josh and Isla went home and Adrianne reports I fell asleep instantly. It was a long week. Plus, my 3-wood. Dolla billz.

 

***

 

Saturday I woke up early (well, I went to bed early) and snuck in a work-out (I know!) then I made literally six omelets. Is that how you spell omelets? I think it should get an extra l. Omellets. Maybe not.

 

Then we went to Bub’s soccer game. We played in De Soto, on the crooked field. It slopes on a severe angle. If you’re defending the north goal, you have to be ready, the ball funnels right at you. Interestingly, Adrianne loves this field and doesn’t see the problem. The kids and I discussed it and we think she might have slope blindness. If that’s a thing. 

 

Boyd played goalie first half and only gave up one goal, when the team totally bailed on him. These kids… if they’re playing offense, they swarm their own teammate. If the ball penetrates our goal box? They scatter like it’s a grenade. I don’t get it. I may have made a girl cry but in my defense, she cried before the first practice even started. (She came back on the field and even had a few decent plays.)

 

Our team lost 2-1 (maybe 3-1) but honestly, the goalie single handedly beat us. He made crazy saves and we took a ton of shots… even dominated time of possession (TOP). We got three PKs. Kid saves three PKs!!! Crazy. I do think the kid was 17 or 18, but still — he had a nice game! I hope he enjoys college next year.

 

We got home and had a decision to make. Go play in the EHS boy’s basketball golf tournament? Or chill-ax? Both kids had sleepovers, and I had just cooked six ommmelletts. We decided we deserved a break. We called it a fun day to do whatever you want.

 

Boyd took a short rest then ran next door to hang with Aiden. Evey took a little nap then went to her room to watch Netflix. Adro was productive and watered then cleaned the garage. I mowed the yard then came to the HOJ and cleaned here and there in anticipation of the KU/Duke game. Everyone was happy (and the weather was beautiful.)

 

Adrianne finished her chores then came over to the HOJ and sold me a free beer. We collectively killed the Coors keg. It was a good keg. It was $59 and actually, North Coast paid for it. I don’t love Coors, but I love cheap keg beer. And I really love free keg beer.

 

Kansas played well for a half. I enjoyed watching them. They’re getting better.

 

As the sun was going down (and the weather was so nice) I proposed an outdoor movie to the family. Only Adrianne said no. So I set it up and we watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Adro even joined us! It was a nice cool night, we all had hoodies/stocking caps and blankets. The movie looked great. I’ve been wanting to watch that movie on the projector since we got it. Adro scored it on Redbox for $1 recently, good get!

 

I fell asleep by 10:30 again. I had a cool dream that my Dad and I went to a Wichita Wings game together. The only weird thing about it was it was at a strange location, maybe Southwestern Moundbuilder’s gym in Winfield, Kan. But I was my current age, and he was like I remember him.

 

***

Woke up around 6 a.m. because let’s be honest … that’s almost 8 hours of sleep right there. 

 

Did not go workout because instead we went to go praise sweet baby Jesus, in person for the first time since March 2020.

 

The return to church was… the return to church. (I have so many questions.)

 

We then went to McDonald’s where I got a bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit, hold the bacon. Or, wait! There’s some bacon hidden in there. I was SO HUNGRY but McDonald’s chose not to feed me this time. I’ll never order that again. Or I’ll order three of them. Even church was more satisfying. 

 

Got home and I got my game face on. CHIEFS! Prepared the HOJ. 

 

Sis and Marina came over. Jess brought some good queso dip. Neighbors came over as well, minus the dad, who had to work. I grilled cheeseburgers and they seemed to be a hit! But the game was a dud, and the Chiefs lost again, falling to 1-2, last in the division. Frustrating game.

 

I decided to stay in the HOJ all day. It’s 6 pm as I write, and I’ve been out here since 11 am. But the Ryder Cup was on, then the afternoon NFL game (fun watching Tampa lose) and soon Sporting will kick off. 

 

Boyd came over and asked if he could go hang out at Aiden’s some more, I said yes, be home by 7:30. The girls are going to go see the move “Carrie” or “Karey” or “Carey” or “Cary” or “Kerry” I don’t know. Sounds awful. I’d rather go to church and then eat a baconless bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit.

 

Weekend is almost over. It was a good weekend. Sad it’s over. But I’m looking forward to this mild weather.

(Interpol just came back on! So good.) 

Par, par, par!

Boss

That's my dude!

Bub and Aiden

These two have become pretty good buds! 

The weekend that was, 8/6/21

Really great weekend, I hope yours was great as well.

 

Started off Friday after work with watching THE SUICIDE SQUAD with Evey on HBO+. Evey fell asleep on it so I hit pause and got busy.

Boyd pointed out the cool sunset
to me over the walkie
as he walked home from Aiden's.

 

On Friday morning I saw a Checkers ad that inspired me to go buy some KC strips (the power of advertising!) so I grilled up a feast of KC strips, pork chops, corn on the cob, baked potatoes (yes, off the grill) and for the first time ever, mushrooms.

 

I was grilling and having a good time when Adro rolled in. Her and the kids hung out for a bit. I told them to give me an hour and dinner would be served.

 

Boyd came up to me 30 minutes later and said, “Dad, I don’t think I can but… the neighbors invited me to go fishing and I was wondering…”

 

I told him: dude, fishing sounds like so much fun! Have a positive attitude when you ask me and yes I’m grilling steak but I know you’re not a big steak lover… let’s talk it out. So we quick-fixed him a PB&J and he was off to go fishing with his buds. Awesome!

 

I slowed down the grill a little bit and brought everything in. The steak was just “OK,” I don’t know exactly where I went wrong, maybe I got distracted. It wasn’t as juicy/tender as I wanted it to be (but the temperature was right.) I’ll try again. The meat was beautiful going in. I’ll fiddle with it for next time.

 

The mushrooms though! HOT DAMN. Judy, we’ll eat this soon. I wrapped them in foil with a combo of red wine; teriyaki sauce; garlic salt and butter. Oooooooohhhh it was so good. And yes, I was the only one who ate them. 

I read this horoscope ... as the plumber was 
here replacing my water heater!

 

The rest of the feast was a’ight, I’m not gonna lie I made too big a salad and it wasn’t my best performance. Looking forward to trying again.

 

Boyd came home at 10 pm and sadly he didn’t catch anything but had a good time.

 

Momma was exhausted and going to bed soon so her and Evey were cuddled up ready to watch TV together. I still had energy (where did all this energy come from? Oh yeah, beer.) so I set up the movie projector and had a movie-for-one projector party and watched…. MARIO PUZO’S THE GODFATHER. This was a Father’s Day gift and I thought, you know what, it’s ok to not watch a superhero movie every once in a while! I projected that bad boy. 

 

It was great. I realized that I’ve seen the first two hours maybe 10 times, but I don’t think I ever saw the last hour or so (or maybe the middle part of the last hour… maybe that part has been cut out of the TV showings?) and it was pretty cool. Nice night. I gotta say I enjoyed my Friday night.

 

--

That's a breakfast right there!

 

Saturday I got up and immediately went and did the recycling (it was killing me) then came home and made a small breakfast for Evey and I. Used some of the local stuff… our tomatoes and pepper, an onion…  it turned out nicely.

 

We discussed our options (we had NO PLANS) do we go to the movies? The pool? Something else? Summer is almost over and oh yeah Dad has four cities he’s hitting in the next three weeks (Delta permitting) so what do we do?!?

 

The plan was: girls see OLD (M. Night Shymalan movie that will never be remembered in another three weeks) and Bub and I catch RIVER CRUISE (or whatever it’s called, with the Rock.) I got home from recycling and learned that Boyd was like, “F the Rock” (or something like that) and had no interest in seeing any movie that didn’t involve all four Jonesys (I can admire that.) So what now?

 

Boyd’s friend Nolan invited him over a weekend ago to swim/chill. I suggested, maybe we invite Nolan over while the girls go see OLD. This idea was met with praise all around (sometimes Dad is brilliant) we invited Nolan, he was in and everything from there was butta.

 

The girls took off, Nolan came over. I finished THE SUICIDE SQUAD (review at the end) then got busy cleaning the kitchen, doing some laundry and being all around awesome with loud music and no shot-clock. 

 

OH! Also, I bought Volume 8 of the Especially Evey (But also Boydee) blog book… 2014. It’ll be here in a week or so. And since I was feeling spend-y (forgive me) I bought Captain America # 130, from 1970… offa eBay… for $23. Decent copy, this is the oldest issue of Captain America I DO NOT own… and features Hulk, Batroc the Leaper and Whirlwind. I am now only 11 issues shy of a complete run (GULP!)

 

While Evey was at the movie she was invited to a sleepover at Adira’s, with Abby (I think) as well. So she was suddenly booked for the night… then Bub went next door and guess what? He’s invited for a sleepover too. Suddenly, Adrianne and I were alone-ski. What do we do?!?

 

Well first we watched some TV (Backyard Bar Wars and Drunk History) then I proposed we go to the…. Ca-SEEEEE-no! That idea was met with a “yes!” and we were off.

 

The casino was fun. The best part was the end where we took a $50 ticket I had and played $5 hands at Video Poker. The stakes were higher than normal and we were on a roller coaster… some wins, some losses, some smaller wins and more losses. But what fun. I was legit cheering every full house, three of a kind. 

I took the kids to the pool Thursday 
afternoon, for a short swim. I worked while 
they swam. Koko enjoyed the trip too.

 

Sadly, no “big” hands. We faltered down the stretch and busted. 

 

SO It was time for… JACK-IN-THE-CRACK!!!

 

Jack-in-the-Crack is my new jam. Their egg rolls are SUBLIME… clearly deep fried to damn near extinction… and then served to me as perfection. And their tacos to go?!? Yeah!!!! Whatever I’m spending at 1 a.m. at the Legends drive-thru, it’s not enough. Well done, Jack. 

 

(the story of the debacle that is the drive-thru is not noteworthy. Only that we got our food, eventually, that’s what is important.)

 

--

 

Sunday… let’s see, Sunday? 

 

Woke up with a level one hangover (thank you Jack) and made Adro a boring breakfast: scrambled eggs and sausage in a tortilla. Then I proceeded to make myself an AMAZING breakfast… utilizing Cathy’s onion, our tomatoes and peppers, and a little salt and pepper… I told Adro it reminded me of the breakfast burritos I used to get at Mirth (remember that place! So good. And the only thing missing was their breakfast potatoes… which the cook was kind enough to detail how he made them to me one day!)

 

Got the Impala started (it’s been running raggedy lately) and went and picked up Evey. Back home, we watched online church (sorta, St. John’s is throwing curveballs). Then I chilled as Adrianne worked on some of Bub’s old/new clothes bins. 

 

Then I got going again, took the Impala to O’Riley’s for some medicine (we’ll see) then to Rick’s for a pint or two. Rick was there so I got to say hello to him and talk about the old times and get razzed about whatever I wrote in a magazine lately. Good times.

 

Back home. Adro and Evey are in the back yard in hammocks, reading books. Boyd just got back from Aiden’s. I’m in the HOJ listening to loud music, enjoying the sunset. 

 

I don’t know how a weekend could go any better.\

 

SUICIDE SQUAD review: I laughed several times, but some of the cartoon violence was off-putting to me. Also, I didn’t like the huge plot holes they embraced (like how they were going to infiltrate Starro’s lair) and how they passed that off as being cute. Some of the violence (Peacemaker Vs. Flagg) was also a little much for me on a Saturday afternoon. Great music though and some clever moments/one-liners. Starro was excellent, the way they handled that monster. Margot Robbie is excellent. I liked it. I think I might have liked it better if I was with a fellow adult man, with beer in hand, so I didn’t have to blush at the brazenly stupid parts. Overall, I’d watch it again. Bonus points for the Pixies song. 

 

 

 

 

Evey's summer vacation report

 Hey everyone! It's Evey! 

Me and my family had a great summer vacation, and sadly it is coming to an end. We have 9 more days before school starts and my brother starts 4th grade, and I go into high school as a freshman... but even though we are all sad about school starting, I thought I would talk about my favorite memory from summer. 

My favorite memory from going to South Padre Island is when me and my family rode The Banana Boat. We had signed up that day to go on the Banana Boat and we had to wait for a really long time to get on. My mom was scared because she didn't want to ruin her makeup and everyone we had watched had fallen off the ride and into the water; I told her that it was probably because they were doing it themselves and falling over on purpose... but that was not the case. Once it was time to get on the Banana Boat we were all stressed out. We had to go deep into the ocean and then get on this huge inflatable and everyone was watching us get on. Me and Boyd got on super easily but then it was dads turn... dad threw his leg over the boat and made this huge grunt and tried to throw himself on the boat and he bounced back off into the water. It was so funny, and everyone was staring. Dad got up out of the water and laughed it off like a man and tried to get up on it again... and once again he fell off; but this time he took mom with him and fell on top of her. They both fell into the ocean and everyone around us was laughing. They both got out of the water and finally with some help from the instructor, they made it on top of the Banana Boat. The ride itself was very fun. There were two times where we got dumped into the ocean and there was one time where dad fell on top of me but other than that it was a great time. We really needed a break with the stress from the pandemic and we hadn't gone on vacation in two years so we all had a lot of fun with each other... but now it's time to go back to school! 

Onion rings and things

Great weekend here! Let’s recap:

 

·      Thursday night Adro and I started our weekends early and hit Hollywood Casino “before the world shuts down again” and had some fun. We had a good time and I actually came out ahead, handing Adro a ticket for $57 as we left. My mantra was “Jack in the Crack!” at that point (I also pre-gamed at Rick’s) so she took me through the drive-thru. I got a cheeseburger, fries, three egg rolls and SOME TACOS TO GO!

·      That night’s mantra was, “Jack in the Crack… why?!?” I was sick all night. I think it was worth it, hard to say. I do remember the eggrolls being sublime.

·      Friday was a low-key workday. Adro had to go in in the afternoon, I clocked out around 2 pm. That evening Adro brought home groceries. We had a light dinner (sammiches and chips, fruit) then went downstairs to play “Trains on Time” (not sure of its real name, I lost horribly, Adro won and almost lapped me) then watched GATTACA on Blu-Ray (kids liked it OK, Evey was disappointed in the ending. Both stayed up to finish it though.)

·      Interrupt this post to announce! USA just won the Gold Cup!!! And I just beat Shinobi (three quarters) to celebrate!!!

·      Saturday morning I woke up and got after it. Mowed the whole lawn (a little over two hours) rushed inside and made an approved breakfast (ham/egg/cheese biscuits were shot down in favor of ham/egg/cheese croissants??? OK) and then back outside to burn some old brush plus a pile of webworms I found. GROSS! The pile burst into flames and I was sweating like crazy but got it done.

·      Back inside I got cleaned up then went downstairs to mess around with my comic book collection. That was fun. I watched YouTube videos while I did it.

·      Got hungry again (I’m always hungry) so I made two frozen pizzas for the family. 

·      Adro bought movie tickets to see Snake Eyes, 4:45 showtime. I came back upstairs and caught 15 minutes of shut-eye. 

·      Got to the movie (didn’t know I-435 and 119^th was shut down) just in time. We all enjoyed the movie! I think I liked it the most. Cool origin story of the coolest Joe.

·      Hit the Mexican restaurant in DeSoto for the first time. Good stuff! We all enjoyed it. 

·      I got dropped off at a local bar to hang out with a friend. Biker bar. We stayed there for all of ten minutes, and as we left, drunk bikers started brawling. Ugh. We got outta there.

·      SUNDAY! I woke up with a legit level three hangover. Didn’t get moving until mid-morning. Showered, tried to knock off the cobwebs. Evey got up and helped me make breakfast and clean the kitchen. Breakfast burritos were on the menu. They were awesome, and mostly made by Evey Melosa Jones! Nice work Evey.

·      Bub got invited to Nolan’s to go swimming. The earlier plan of going back-to-school shopping was nixed. Girls went on their own. Bub went swimming. 

·      The weather was amazing outside so once I felt human, I went and cleaned the HOJ and worked on getting the Impala started. Also watched the Olympics.

·      That about brings me back to now! USA wins. Defeated Shinobi. Snake Eyes awesome. Yard looking good.

 

Hope you had a nice weekend as well!

Beach bums

Here's a pic of the Jones family before they headed out on a (terrifying) banana boat trip! 

Girls just wanna have fun

Evey and Momma as they were ready to head out to Legends for a shopping trip! 

4th of July 2021

This year's 4th festivities were much different than previous years. Our guest list flipped the script… this year we had Willy and Lervy, along with Adro's dad Alan and his wife, the first time those two have visited us at the new house.

It was a fun adventure. I cooked on the flat top grill probably 7 times in 6 days. We got the Impala out a lot. We drank a keg (spilled some too.) We blew some stuff up then ate some s'mores. We hung out every night in the HOJ. 

It was a whirlwind but a ton of fun. Like vacationing in our own house! Now, back to work! Home sweet home. 

Happy Father’s Day 2021

It was a hectic day because I had to fly out... but my family still made it so special! 

The kids + Adro knew I had to fly to St. Louis but they took me out to Mexican. It was SO GOOD!

Love this family! Second annual "pic from the tailgate" featured here. What a beautiful family!!! 

The Citizenship Award goes to ... Evelyn Jones!

Recently Evey wrapped up her middle school career. In honor of finishing 8th grade the school hosted a promotion for all the students.

There were two awards handed out at this ceremony, to one girl and one boy: The Kansas State High School Activities Association Citizenship Award, voted on by the teachers of the school.

I'm so proud that Evey Jones won the award! They announced her name and she didn't even comprehend it, she was so shocked she just kept sitting there and her friends told her to go up and shake the Principal's hand.

Mr. Thomas emailed me this photo recently with a note telling me how much they all enjoyed having Evey as a student in the school. To get an email from the school principal, praising your kid? Just... wow. The certificate also arrived in the Jones house, where it will be proudly displayed.

Great job Evey, your mom and I are so proud of you! Next stop, high school!