Self defense class

Evey's post


Today my friend Ava invited me to tae kwon do class. It was awesome I learned to do a kick called Ping Pong. I also got to break a board in half! It was awesome I got to break a wooden board in to 2 wooden boards. After that we went to her house and we had a basketball competition I won both times. I also did something I had never done before... A handstand!! There was a bar and I tried to do one but I couldn't I tried one more time then John Ava's dad picked up my legs off the ground it was scary but fun! After that I just went home and had spaghetti and just listened to my headphones. So for me... Pretty great day!!

Boyd's bear poop

His gift from my Montana trip!

Friday night reading

Just got home from the comic book store. Evey enjoying the new issue of Hellcat.

(She likes the comic, dislikes its title!)

Fly fishing in Montana

This was a first for me! Caught one fish, a rainbow trout... Clark, Joe and Randy took me out on the Big Horn River.

Brown shirts look gooood

Here's a recent pic of Boydee and I. Adrianne suggested we wear these two shirts when she saw they sort of matched. Boyd wasn't as interested as I was in the photo/matching thing.

***

Back from a quick trip to North Carolina, working on the next cover story for Golfdom. A good trip. I also got to see Lervik and Brienne, which is always fun.

On the way back I stopped over at Dallas Love Field, which means... WHAT-A-BURGER for lunch AND dinner! Paying for it now...

***

Boyd is taking swimming lessons and doing well. The teacher told Adrianne, "Boyd has no fear!" I like that!

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Adro and I want to go see Deadpool, but we're struggling finding the time. 

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CDs I want to purchase: Massive Attack, Masters of Reality, Glass Animals, Marian Hill. I've got a $50 gift certificate to Love Garden, but odds are low they have any of these...

***

Loving this weather I flew back to today. Ready for some 70s this weekend! I hope Evey wants to do some sidewalk chalk with her old man!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Agenda for Valentine's Day, 2016:

-- Two-egg omelettes, with ham and cheese, for Adrianne and Evey, One-egg cheese omelette, Boyd. Ham-scram in a tortilla, Seth.
-- Discuss what we should do for the day. Evey wants to stay home. I suggest Kung-Fu Panda 3. Boyd isn't interested.
-- Having just returned from San Diego, Adrianne and I try to get our bearings; check the mail, laundry, dishwasher, etc.
-- Executive decision: We're going to the movies. Evey mildly interested, Boydee interested in the video games at the theater.
-- Leave the house a little earlier than needed. Do we go to a nice lunch or find a time-waster? We elect to stop at Sunflower Outdoor Park, near DeSoto. It's a little rocky at first, but everyone has a good time by the end. We walk a little over a mile.
-- I convince Adrianne we have time for fast food before the movie. A quick stop at McDonald's ensues. Evey isn't ordering off the kid's menu any more — she orders a #2. Remember when I made a big deal on the blog that she ordered her first kid's meal?
-- Off to the theater. Kung-Fu Panda 3 for the kids and I, Pretty in Pink for Adrianne. I must admit I'm a little shocked when Adrianne actually purchases the ticket for Pretty in Pink — did that movie get some additional special effects in the last 30 years? OK, I've never watched it before. Good guy doesn't get the girl? I told Adro I didn't need to see that movie... I lived that in high school. But that makes me wonder: does the bad guy get the girl? Is this really a happy movie? 
-- Theater packed. Second row, center, for the kids and I. S'ok, Boyd seems interested. Even wears his 3-D glasses to start the move.
-- Technical difficulties for Adrianne, apparently they were unprepared to actually sell any tickets to PIP. Need to find someone to start the movie. Adro texts me to alert me, I invite her to out theater. PIP eventually starts, so she's good to go.
-- Boyd wears the 3-D glasses for 2/3rds of the movie. Only gets restless a few times. I get restful, and catch maybe a 10-minute nap.  
-- Movie is over. Evey didn't love it. Boyd seemed OK with it. We play video games for a little bit (Fast and Furious, and Galaga).
-- Boyd has to poo, so now Evey has to decide: outside the bathroom alone, or brave the sprint to the men's room stall?
-- She decides to wait. I try to get Boyd to take care of business quickly... that goes ok until suddenly feels round two surprise him. By now I'm stressing, so I run outside the bathroom to check on Evey while Boyd is washing hands; Evey isn't in her dedicated waiting spot, HORROR! Then I see her, hugging Adrianne, who is riding a "Pretty in Pink" high.
-- We leave, but I promised the kids ice cream. We visit the Sylas and Maddy's near Olathe Studio 30. It's pretty decent, actually.
-- On the drive home, Boyd suggests we go to a park we've never been to before. The "never been to before" was a new concept/idea from Boyd that impressed me.
-- We swing by the middle school playground and let the kids out, Adrianne and I stay in the car and marvel at how cute/good/amazing our kids are. Are we on the verge of our best Valentine's Day ever? Well, there was that one Valentine's Day when......... shit, this is our best Valentine's Day ever. I'm exposed as a non-romantic.
-- Head home. I'm excited for the All-Star game.
-- We almost cook a pizza, but wait! We instead choose leftover roast that Judy made for us. No muss, no fuss.
-- Evey hears me tell my mom on the phone that I will be on the road for the next three days. She comes over, tells me I just got home, and demands a long hug.
--Tuck the kids in bed and watch the All-Star game. Contemplate how cool this life is. Write a blog post.

Jett's bball game

Evey's post


This week mom was out of town so we went to my cousin Jett's basket ball game. We also went to my other cousin Marinas volleyball game. They were both awesome. Whenever Marina got to serve she would hit it so high that the players couldn't hit it back. And Jett would always have a awesome block.

Secret identity?

Evey Jones.

Spelling bee champ.

A-list honor roll.

Secretly Wonder Woman?

Honor roll!

Great job Evey!!! We went to Tres Mex to celebrate and now we're all STUFFED!

Back from jolly England

It's even better to be home, though. I'd been looking forward to that trip for a long time, then as soon as I got on the plane I was looking forward to coming home. There's some psychology going on there, something that sounds familiar even. But it was still a good trek.

I'm guessing that might be my last trip to London for a while. I've been there three times in four years. It was, for a long time, the No. 1 foreign destination I hoped to visit.

Now, I'm looking forward to a new international adventure outside London. Maybe Rio? Maybe Barcelona? Who knows.

The good news is, England has been good to me, three trips in a row. That's awesome.

Oh, and this trip? I stayed less than a mile from Buckingham Palace (Hilton London Park Lane), walked by Alfred Hitchcock's home, and most significant, drank several cask ales at the birthplace of Guy Fawkes (the Guy Fawkes Inn.)

A trip to remember, remember...Had a nice couple days in England (Saturday through Wednesday to be exact). Started off in London, then York, then Harrogate, finally back to London. A lot of travel packed into a short trip.

The girl has M-O-X-Y

It was quite a day for the Jones family, as Evey competed, and did great, in her school's 3rd/4th/5th grade SPELLING BEE!

We were so excited when Evey won the spelling bee of her class a few weeks ago. Today was the big day, when she competed against the other winners from the different classes.

Evey told me a few days ago that she was competing against the 4th graders and 5th graders... I told her she was psyching herself out, don't worry about it, I'm sure you're just competing against your own grade.

Shows you what I know. Evey was right, she was competing with the big kids!

And I'm happy to report that she tied for fourth place!

Evey made it a few rounds... I remember the words "people" and "bedrock." She was stumped by the word "moxie." She wasn't familiar with the word, but asked to have it used in a sentence, then reluctantly spelled it M-O-X-Y.

About seven other kids got knocked out in that same round. There were only three kids left after that round. I think it's accurate to say Evey lasted longer than any of the other third graders... I'm not 100-percent positive since it wasn't clear to me who was in which grade.

We just couldn't be more proud of her. She was nervous, but showed some serious moxy and rose to the occasion. Every word she was given terrified me. And I know I'm biased, but I felt like some of the kids lucked out with really easy words here and there, while all of Evey's words were either new to her, or potential "trap" words.

Boyd got sick at daycare today (thrown up four times since 4 p.m.), otherwise we would have gone out to celebrate her stunning performance. Pretty sure we're going to Tres Mexicanos tomorrow, and ordering extra queso dip. And I'll probably run her to the comic book store too, to re-stock her on some new cool girl comics, as a reward.

(Note # 1: The red-headed boy on the far left in the first photo is who won; he deserved it. He got some tough words along the way but finished strong, nailing "genteel" for the overall win.

Note # 2: The event was pretty well run... just a little bummed that the host of the event kept calling Evey "ehh-vee.")

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU EVEY! Keep up the good work sis!

Two heads are better than one

Not much to report here today... just wanted to post a fun photo. This was taken when we went on our San Francisco trip over the summer...

***

How about that triple-overtime win on Monday? WOW! Buddy Hield with what, 46 points?

I think the KU/Mizzou final game at Allen was better... come-from-behind, Thomas Robinson willing us to the win... against our most hated foe, in our last game against them... and the Big 12 hung in the balance, I think?

***

Bedtime is a struggle. Mostly Boyd. Evey wants to stay up late reading, which is a good problem to have. Bodyee just doesn't ever want to go to bed... and even when he stays up way too late, he still is the second one up (behind Adro) every morning.

Oh, the compliment he got at Montessori School today? "Oh, he can fall right asleep when it's nap time!"

Hmmm...

***

I like nachos.

Familiar faces (KU vs Baylor)

A very cool end to my Christmas/New Year's break — Rick took me to the KU/Baylor game on Saturday.

What a game! The place was nuts right off the bat... and that scorching start the Jayhawks got off to added fuel to the fire.

We hit West Coast Saloon before and after the game for some hoops watching/beer drinking. Then we went to Red Lyon for a few, mostly because Ryno, Brent and Shane were there.

Interesting thing: this weekend, I ran into so many people I knew. At West Coast, at the KU game, at Red Lyon. It's a small world when you sit down at the KU game, and the guy you used to camp out with for good student seats 19 years ago is sitting down four seats away.

Perhaps more interesting (at least, to me): an old reader recognized me at Red Lyon — from my college days! Seriously, this guy gives me a look like he knows me, then says, "Jonesy?" I say, "Yeah, Seth Jones..." and he shouts, "That's it, SETH Jones... I used to read your column when I was a student!"

I think I yelled at the guy to shut up, because I was so stunned. It's been years since someone has recognized me from my KU sports column writing days. He said I looked the same as I did from my photo in the paper back then... which cracked me up a little. I guess I haven't departed too much from that photo, evidently. He also told me that I "told it like it was" back then and I didn't shy away from calling out the football coach, etc. I guess I kind of remember that. I was young. It was probably before my first death threat.

I was also happy that the old reader was excited to hear I have a golf magazine now, and am still in "the business." It would have been a drag to tell this guy I was in telemarketing or something (not to belittle telemarketers, but... it isn't what I studied to do.)

Anyway, Rick and I solved a few of the world's problems, told a few stories, had many laughs. Always a good time to hang out with Adro's uncle. And I'm happy to report that both of us claim to have barely been hungover this morning...

A gift 20 years in the making

Trust me, Boydee is PUMPED in this photo.

Allow me to explain.

When I was a kid, I collected comic books, beginning at age... 9, maybe. I still have my first comic book ever, and I'm pretty sure it was a Marvel Tales from 1984... I would have been age 7 at the time. I hung on to it, then one day I discovered West Coast Avengers and then, even more important, the G.I Joe comic, and I was hooked.

I started collecting toys at a much older age... probably 14, maybe 15. Weird, I know. I had money (I started working as a host at Tippin's in Wichita pretty young, then quickly started waiting tables) and I'd go to Walmart (back then it was spelled Wal-Mart) and I'd put a box of super hero toys on layaway. This is just what I did.

(Who knows how much money I spent on comics and toys while in high school. It's a mystery. But there's an easy answer as to how much I spent on dates: $0.)

So recently I went back to Mulvane and now I'm getting my toy collection re-assembled. A lot (but not all) is stashed away safely in Eudora. It includes some cool stuff, too, like the complete set of the original "Batman" toys from the Michael Keaton movie. (Here's an example from eBay -- not my auction.) 

It also includes some stuff that I think is cool, but it's not very valuable in the collector's market.

But guess what? I've got a little boy who thinks Spider-Man is pretty cool. And Venom? He's the best.

So why not wrap the two of them up and give them to my son? I'll finally get to play with them now, ha! That $4 spent at Wal-Mart in 1990 finally gets its pay-off. 

Somehow Boyd missed this box at first on Christmas day... then found it a little later. I was downstairs when he started opening it. Adrianne tells me he freaked out, he was so excited, but I have to admit I missed it. I managed to barely snap this pic before he opened Spidey. (Venom has already been ripped open and is lying next to Boyd there by his knee.)

I've been a collector for a long time. I've always thought there are three things that make collecting sane: 1. personal satisfaction of the hobby; 2. the potential investment; 3. the potential gift for the next generation.

The gift of Spidey and Venom to my 4-year-old? I might not have known it in 1996, but it was a pretty cool Christmas gift in 2015. 

Merry Christmas!