Drive-by trucker

So this was a first for me... as I was driving with Boyd, heading to his parent/teacher conference ... I saw a familiar car approaching me... it was my own daughter, driving by me, heading home! She waved, I waved. Crazy.

***

Photo is of the kids both doing homework (OK, Evey doing homework) on the back patio. The cat is hanging with them. Koko wanted to come join, but as soon as El Diablo Rojo (what Boyd calls the cat) saw Koko, she started scratching at the glass door to scare Koko away. Adrianne brought Koko to the front, so she could hang.

***

I grilled cheeseburgers on the flat-top after work today. They turned out great! Adrianne gave me a nice compliment at the end of dinner, about how good they were.

On the menu was cheeseburgers with grilled buns... and grilled onions and mushrooms (for me and Evey.) We decided to watch TV during dinner (we don't do that very often) and we put on the season finale of Rat in the Kitchen, this cooking show the kids (especially Evey) love. The last episode was actually pretty fun.

Will the show return for a season two? Chef Ludo puts out his hand and drops a thumb... down? (That's my guess.) The co-host said they would be back for season two.

***

Breakfast burritos for the kids before school today. Gonna try to fire out ham and egg and cheese croissants tomorrow morning. 

That's my A-game in week one of school. In two more weeks, it'll be cereal! I hope not, I like making the kids a decent breakfast before they go to school. And I can make a small egg meal in like 10 minutes.

 

 

First day of 5th grade and sophomore year!

 

 Evey is driving to school now, in her own car! She is driving Adrianne's old Tucson... just about the perfect wheels for her.

And yeah, she's still 15. Crazy!

We worry about the idea of her out there as a young driver, but she is also SO RESPONSIBLE. We trust her to pay attention and be careful. It's nice that it's all country roads from home to her school. But still, stressful.

Love you kids, have a great year!

Waterfall at Mt. Rainier

 

Here's that photo of the kids by the waterfall...

Right now we're in South Padre Island. Kids are still asleep, I'm on the back patio. My back is toast from two weeks in foreign beds...

Between Seattle and now a long Texas trip, we've been on the road almost three of the last four weeks!

We miss Grandma, our dog and our home. Evey and Adrianne also miss Mittens.

We're going to go do another day on the beach. The beach just beats me up. I'm not as young as the kids but I still try to boogie board with them and that workout is hard on me. It is fun though, in the moment. It's the before and after that I dread.

Evey and I walked around Port Isabell last night and scored a couple good root beer floats. That was a good close to a long day.

Oh, and we returned to Wanna Wanna and the burgers, like always, were amazing. 

Mt. Rainier

We took a tour of the mountain. It was pretty cool. The most memorable part was the 2-hour drive home in an unairconditioned bus… 

But the lunch on the trip was also great. And we hiked a lot. I think Evey enjoyed the woods. I don't know how Bub felt about it all. He was cooperative at least.

I have some cool pics of the kids by a waterfall I'll share soon. 

Mexican meat market

I did pretty good managing my way through the Mexican meat market down here in the RGV. Bought $30 in marinated chicken, $20 in marinated skirt steak. Away game grill but it turned out nicely. And plenty of leftovers!

I think they liked seeing the Silver Fox in his Mahomes T-shirt at the meat market.

Or, maybe I was charged extra. 

AYE AYE AYE AYE AYE!!!

My favorite photo

From the Alex and Emily wedding Is this one!

 

And I've got a lot more amazing pics coming soon! 

Kids + Grandma

Man, these kids love their grandma! 

Ok, we all love Judy! I think even Mittens likes her! 

Evey is mowing… and growing!

Yes my sweet Evey is mowing the lawn for me! She wants to help out and I was happy for the help! Allows me to do other yard work while that is getting done.

Also, she got her license the other day (I buried the lead there) and as they were putting her information in, the DMV lady was like 'uhhh you're taller than 5'3"." They measured her and sure enough she is taller now! (I'll have an official height soon!)

Happy B-Day Judy!

Wow, G'Ma Judy had a landmark birthday recently! I was out of town the day of, so we finally all got to go out to dinner last night...

Happy birthday Judy! We love you!!! 

Happy 96th Virginia!

 Nice party at the farm just now! No tequila but there may have been a Tecate, and a horchata 
+ rum.

But I had nothing to do with either. Honest!

Last days of school

Evey only has one more day of 9th grade. Boyd only has two more days of 4th grade.

We'll have 10th and 5th graders soon! Has a nice ring to it.

I think both kids enjoyed this school year immensely. Evey was active in a bunch of different groups, and maintained a 4.0. Boyd enjoyed his teacher, most of his classmates and also... no homework!

Evey has big goals for the summer. Wants to ride her bike on trails, wants to watch movies on the projector and wants to hang out in the HOJ. Sounds like my kinda summer!

***

Evey wanted me to take her photo against a tree with white flowers... I told her, based on the sun and what she was wearing... we had to pick a different tree! I got these great shots of the kids a few weeks ago, on my 45th birthday.

 

Foosball fans

 

Thank goodness. Although I'll admit, I've been treating this entire week like it was a Friday night. 

Boyd is obsessed with playing foosball right now. And guess who else loves foos? I do! It's hard to say no when it's one of my favorite games. So we go to the HOJ, next thing I know I'm pouring a beer off the keg, next thing I know it's midnight!

Ha! Ride the wave. He'll move back to the XBox soon and I'll be sad.

We've also been playing a lot of washers and pop-a-shot. Adro threw three ringers in a row the other day!

These photos are random but they were on my desktop. The photo of them together is from the fall, when I was trying to take the annual "first day of school photo" a month late. The other photo is when Boyd discovered a raccoon skeleton and skull.

The weekend is here! Let's keep the party going!

Jones Kids

Late April, 2022.

Stellar. 

Ugh don't touch

 

Hello Mrs. Murphy,

 

First off, thank you for coming to Boyd's soccer game last weekend! He was SO EXCITED. Sorry the game was lousy… they played better this week.

 

OK, Boyd asked me to send you these photos. He said you always ask about the weekend… and he thought you might appreciate these.

 

Boyd and his friend Aiden found these… remains… in the woods. And they were excited to show us. I'm not as excited! I'm guessing, maybe a raccoon's remains? Who knows.

 

Have a great week!

 

 

Rock chalk 2022 National Championship parade!

The kids said, let's go to the parade!

We went down at around noon for a 2 pm parade. Got front row seats at 9th and Mass! It was cool, but short. Enjoyed hanging with Jess and the cousins. Ok, Boyd didn't enjoy all the people. But that's alright because the Jayhawks are CHAMPS!!!