Happy Father's Day

Earlier this week, my amazing wife presented me with an interesting conundrum: How would you like to spend your special Father’s Day? The initial idea starters she offered included golf, canoeing, hiking relaxation time alone or just spending time with the family. While alone time is always enticing to parents of young children, I could not imagine a better way to celebrate fatherhood than to saturate myself in joy (and the occasional temper tantrum) from my wonderful family.

I was blessed today to spend a relaxing day with my two boys and beautiful wife. It was nice to throw the agenda out the window and stay in pajamas past noon. I enjoyed wrestling around on the floor and tickling the boys relentlessly until the room was filled with laughter. After a quick trip to the pool with Evan, we capped the day off with a family dinner spanning three generations.

Today we give thanks for our fathers. We thank them for the guidance, discipline and love they have unselfishly shown us throughout our lives. We thank them for being our role models, mentors and friends. As a father of two young boys, I am especially grateful to my father for teaching me how to be a caring and loving father to Evan and Henry.

Fun in Florida

After missing our family at Christmas time, we broke down and bought tickets to go see the Parris family for a few days. It's a quick trip, but we are getting to spend some quality time together. The cousins are loving getting to hang out and play together. Evan is a little mini-me to Paul.

Both of our boys have been great travelers on this trip. Fortunately, the flight was direct and only 2 hours. That said, we had a 1.5 hour drive before and after the flight. The boys were troopers.

As usual, Nikki and GT have been great hosts and kept us entertained. It's great to be able to spend time with family.


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Location:Vero Beach, Florida

Our Little House Band

Our boys are growing up fast and having fun. Here is a short video clip from a recent Saturday morning jam session in Mommy and Daddy's room. Evan can rock out the plastic guitar.

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Location:Goshen, KY

Happy 5th Anniversary!

My wife and I just had the pleasure of celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary at the Murphin Ridge Inn. The experience far exceeded our expectations and quickly moved into a tie at the top of our list for favorite B&B/Inn. It was the perfect blend of historic farmhouse, cozy log cabin and mouth-watering farm-to-table culinary creations.

The cabins have been eloquently designed to blend rustic appearance with modern architecture, amenities and comfort. Almost more impressive than the sunken whirlpool tub, two-person rain shower, vast windows and exposed beams and the double sided fireplace, was the immaculate cleanliness of the cabin. I have honestly never stayed in a cabin that didn’t have at least one cobweb. Before drifting off to sleep for my afternoon nap, I stared hard at the ceiling, but never located even one remnant of cabin critters. Other small pleasures about the cabin included a checker board painted on the table, a black hand towel for makeup removal, comfortable bed and pillows, coffee mugs and wine glasses (both came in handy) and well thought out placement of lighting controls and dimmers.

For our anniversary, we sprung for the added feature of fresh garden flowers in the room and an awaiting plate of fresh fruits and cheeses. We snacked on the cheese and crackers for two days. Well worth the special treat.

Culinary delight is an area of special appeal (and weakness) for my wife and me. The meals at MRI left our palates thirsting for more of the amazing flavors while our stomachs were maxed out on available space to store the delicious foods. A treat at Murphin Ridge is being able to dine on such culinary pleasures for both breakfast and dinner. If it were not for the relaxation of the pool and much needed afternoon nap, I might have tried to spend the entire day in the restaurant. Honestly, ever item that was served, from the muffins, to the soups, to the seasonal watermelon salad, down to the raspberry ice cream, each plate of food and ever side item was worthy of praise, comment and a strong desire for a second helping.

Owners Sherry and Darryl McKenney go out of their way to meet and spend time with every guest. Their exceptional hospitality and attention to every small detail is the obvious cornerstone of success that makes Murphin Ridge so well rated and visited. A testament of this success is the number of return visitors that proudly boast the number of return stays that each trip marks. While we sheepishly confessed our “newbie” exposure to Murphin Ridge, we are already looking forward to progressing to the classification of “alumni” for our next visit. After only being home 6 hours, we are already looking for dates on the calendar to return to Murphin Ridge Inn.

Birthday Party Saved from Dispair

After some last minute scrabbling, we managed to pull off a fun (and slightly warm) 2nd Birthday Party for Evan.  We found ourselves throwing together a party at home because the local Gymboree Play Center notified us three days before the party that our reserved date and time was no longer available.  Fortunately, thanks to great family and a rainless sky, we were able to throw a fun party that Evan enjoyed.

We relied on a bouncy house from my father and a few pool/water toys that we own.  Mix in a few balloons and streamers and you have the perfect party for a two year old.  The weather was a bit warm and muggy, but we used a couple of tents for shade and a few fans to create our own breeze.  With a cold beer in hand, it was actually pretty tolerable.

Amy's mother, June, came down from Northern Ohio to lend a hand in the preparation, celebration and clean up activities.  As always, she is a blessing to help out with all of the details.  There is one thing for sure, my mother-in-law is a hard worker.

We were also fortunate to have help in the kitchen from my cousin Alicia.  After hosting her nieces for a few nights, she headed out the the country and started dicing tomatoes for our taco bar.  She does a great job putting up with our insanity and silliness.

Evan really enjoyed the party.  He spent a lot of time in the small pool with Carter while other kids jumped in and out of the water.  Honestly, the kid could spend an hour playing with his watering can.  The highlight of the party (at least for me) was watching Evan crack up while his basked in the serenade of "Happy Birthday" song from family and friends.  While he did not try one taste of his birthday cake or cookies (he has a strange uninherited aversion to sweets), he thoroughly enjoyed open presents and playing with his toys.

As always, we are truly blessed to have such an amazing family.  Obviously, not all of our extended group could be here for the party, but we recently spent some great time with the Parris and Ault families.  The Rozek clan was here earlier this summer and will soon be in town to move Ben into college (at The 'Ville).

Thanks to all of our family and friends for the help, well wishes, presents and memories.

First Fire Truck Ride

This past Saturday morning, I was honored to have Evan join me for his first ride on a fire truck.  We supported the North Oldham Fire Department on a parade detail in the annual Oldham County Day's Festival.  Amy was kind enough to shuttle the boys over to La Grange to meet our crew before the start of the parade.  Evan was able to sit in the rear crew compartment and wave to all of the parade watchers along the route.  He even tried out the headset and talked to Daddy through the truck radio.

After the parade, Amy returned the boys back home for naps while I remained on duty in the heat for a few more hours.  Overall, Evan's first fire truck ride was a success...no tears and no tantrums.

Great Weekend Fun

We enjoyed an amazingly fun weekend full of activities, including the zoo, Huber's Orchard, a farmer's market, two trips to the pool, a great dinner at home and an entertaining Friday-night movie.  Even though the local weather included heat advisories, we made the most of it and filled the weekend with fun.

On Friday night, we ventured out with the boys for an early-crowd dinner at P.F. Chang's.  That place must be a goldmine.  By 5:30, there was already a 30 minute wait for inside seating, so we opted for a patio table and wasted no time.  Evan was treated to "chicken nuggets" with "dippy sauce" (Kid's Honey Chicken).  Amy and I passed on contemplating the menu and quickly ordered a pair of Kung Pao Chicken (our weak spot).  The boys did great, but it was time to stop playing with chopsticks before someone lost an eye.

After the kids went bed, Apple TV treated us to a captivating movie called "The Adjustment Bureau".  It was an interesting twist from Matt Damon.  It was nice to finally rent a movie that was worth the $4.99 charge.

After some early morning computer and reading time on Saturday (post diaper change), I headed out to the St. Matthew's Farmers Market before it got too busy.  Thirty minutes after the 8:00 am opening, it was comfortably busy and full of lush, fresh produce.  I probably went a little overboard with purchases, but Amy wasn't there to stop me.

The highlight of the day was a trip with the boys to the Louisville Zoo.  Since we buy the family pass every year, it is a frequent destination for our family.  I was amazed out how engaged Evan has become with viewing all of the animals.  He constantly gave the subtle order of "see more animals".  I had the fortune of being Evan's Sherpa.  With our great backpack, Evan was able to tour the zoo at 5'9" and minimal effort.

On Sunday, we ventured over to Indiana to visit Huber's Orchard.  A recent commercial on TV promoting their seasonal peaches was enough to lure us in for the spending.  Once again, Evan enjoyed being toted around in the backpack.  The highlight of the trip was treating Evan to his first pony ride.  Much to my surprise, he sat up tall in the saddle with a big grin and asked for "more" when the three laps around the corral were finished.  He really enjoyed his first pony ride and, within minutes, I had proudly posted the pictures for the Facebook world to see.

Henry participated in all of our adventures, but his involvement was slightly limited to the 2'x2' confines of the stroller.  However, he was a trooper with the heat and sun.  We are blessed with such an easy baby.

It was a great weekend with the boys.  It was nice to get out of the house and put the chores on hold for a couple of days.