Go to Mahalo and vote up my answer as the best reason to get an iPad. My answer is under the username curtoons and it is towards the bottom. The person with the most votes wins. HELP!

Sign up for Malaho (free), earn 100 points (50 for signing up), find my entry (curtoons) and vote me up! I only need 17 votes to gain the lead.

http://tinyurl.com/curtsipad

Labels: Fun Events

Travis and Presley, "Greatest American Dog" winners were in Enid this week promoting their new DVD and book on teaching kids manners. The two won the CBS competition series that aired in summer 2008.

Their newest endeavor is called "Adventures with Travis and Presley", the good manners series. The video for the DVD was shot by KJ Productions and the book was illustrated by me!

The team was at PetSense signing books and taking pictures. A steady stream of loyal fans dropped by to shake hands and paws.

If you're looking for a inexpensive educational Christmas gift you should look into getting the DVD/book. They are available through TravisandPresley.com.

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events

I may be one of the biggest fans of the zombie movie genre. I'm not sure what draws people to want to see zombie movies but whatever it is, it can be addicting.

I have been highly anticipating the new movie Zombieland with the notion that it might be one of the best zombie movies to date. Well, I finally was able to see the movie and here is my very unprofessional movie review.

I loved it! If you're looking for fun this movie is it. Short, sweet and to the point. The movie is short enough and moves along so fast that there is simply no time for lulls.

The laughs keep coming the entire ride and the characters are great. The zombie rules will be quoted for years to come and should a virus take over the world we will all know how to survive.

The only zombie flaw of the movie is that it is not your traditional, people stuck in a building with zombies all around, type movie. It is actually more about the characters than the zombies. If there was ever an uplifting zombie movie made, this is it!

The zombie kills are fantastic but not overly sick and very funny. This is not a movie made to gross you out. Other than a good amount of cussing this might even be fun for a young teenage audience.

As the leader of the sneaker wearing zombies I whole heartily give my zombie approval of Zombieland. Grab your popcorn and be prepared for a really fun time.

Big kudos to the surprise celeb in the movie!

Labels: Fun Events, Halloween, Movies

If you have not read my little story about when my friends and I would hunt for boxes to create the ultimate Halloween maze you might give it a read. I would love to write a book about our adventures and create a story much like Stand By Me mixed with The Goonies. Maybe I'll get around to that one day...

The Great Box Adventure

Labels: 70's, Fun Events, Halloween

I love coming of age movies! They remind me so much of being twelve, growing up in the 70's. I had a very close group of friends that would find adventure in everything we did, much like the characters in Stand By Me and Now and Then.

We spent almost every day together in the summer and would skip dinner just so we could play late into the night. We were always outside running around the neighborhood playing games and tricking neighbors non-stop.

I've always wanted to write a book based on our summers of fun with a few added twists and turns. The movies listed below are the closest examples of the good times we had as youngsters. I know there are many more coming of age movies but these top my list and have bits and pieces that remind me of days gone by. They are in no particular order. Enjoy and if you've missed any of these, they would make great weekend rentals...

1. Stand By Me
2. The Goonies
3. Now and Then
4. Pretty in Pink
5. Dead Poet's Society
6. St. Elmo's Fire
7. October Sky
8. Breakfast Club
9. My Girl
10. American Graffiti

Update: 07/11/09

This list has gotten so popular I've decided to add another 10 movies. If you have not seen the first 10 watch those first and then check these out. Again these are in no particular order.

11. Sixteen Candles
12. The Sandlot
13. The Outsiders
14. Almost Famous
15. Dirty Dancing
16. Breaking Away
17. School Ties
18. Summer of '42
19. Mona Lisa Smile
20. The Man in the Moon

Bonus: 13 Going On 30 (A great little girl in big body movie)

Labels: 70's, Fun Events, Getting Old, Memories

News 9 did a story on the filming of "The Killer Inside Me", tonight on their 6 o'clock newscast. I was asked if they could use a few of my photos for the story.

This video was shot off of the TV and is a little stretched..

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Enid, Fun Events, funny moment, Photo, Sneakers

It's vacation time around the Tucker household and we have been on the road and will be on the road the rest of this week. I've started a new page that will be all about vacations!

Visit the new vacations page and I'll keep you updated on where we are and what we are doing. This is also a great way to keep in touch with our girls while we are away. They love seeing us and finding out what we are doing.

Hop on over to the vacation page and see my updates from Cancun!!

Have a great summer.

Labels: Family, Fun Events, Road Trips, Summer

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, Summer

Grandma Betty bought tickets for the kids and grand-kids to see the Lion King in OKC. The girls really loved the show. Below are a few pics, picture taking was not allowed so I snuck a few iPhone photos for memories.

We treated the girls to Build-A-Bear and the Cheesecake Factory afterwards.

Labels: Daughters, Family, Fun Events, Road Trips

It's that time of year again! Tornado season in Oklahoma. April and May are great months to get out and do a little tornado chasing when things are getting a little slow around the house.

Last night our little town of Enid took a minor hit from a tornado or two. The major part of town was unaffected but North Enid had dozens of homes damaged and our large Expo Center had much of it's roof blown off.

Tornado sirens went off several times during the evening and our girls became little magnets not wanting to let us out of their sight. The television warnings told us to get into a basement or the smallest room in the house. We felt fairly safe where we were since we could see exactly on radar where the tornado was headed. Normally I would have been out chasing the tornado but due to darkness I decided to sit this one out.

When you live in Oklahoma you deal with tornadoes every year. I remember as a kid seeing the warnings on TV. Back in my day there was not as much sophisticated equipment, so each time a tornado was near, my mom, sister and I would climb into a small closet or bathroom and sit it out for awhile. We were never hit by one but it sure made things exciting.

Fast forward to adulthood and I am now out chasing as often as I can. My Hot Wife and I actually followed the May 3, 1999 tornado in OKC. We had been watching it on TV for over an hour that day when I finally decided that if it wasn't going to go away I was going to go see it.

As it got closer to Del City we were quickly driving towards it from Edmond, Oklahoma. I had the radio on and could hear the meteorologist reporting on the exact location of the storm. As we got closer to the storm we noticed that almost all of the traffic had disappeared from the highways. We even passed Sheriff cars that were hiding under an overpass.

We arrived in Midwest City within a few minutes of it hitting town and lifting for a short period of time. Debris was just starting to drift back to the ground and everything was covered in a solid coating of insulation, trees and muck. Luckily we were in a Honda Prelude and were able to drive under the power poles that were leaning over the roads.

That was the strongest tornado on record and it really leveled many areas around OKC. Just to let every know I do keep tabs on the tornado location and never put myself in the path of one. If I can dig up the photos of the May 3 damage I will post them.

That's about it for now! I better get off because it looks like the storms are firing up again. Who knows, it might be time to go chasing!

Labels: Fun Events, Memories, Tornado

Yesterday was April Fool's Day, a day I pretty much look forward to every year. I want to teach my girls to be the best April Fooler's around, but it seems a little early to be tricking them at 5 and 7 years old.

Once they were up and running around the house I did the proverbial "spider on your arm trick", which they of course did not believe since I had prepared them the day before for such trickery. I pretty much let them off the hook as I prepared to tackle bigger fish.

Facebook seemed like a good place to pull an April Fool's prank, so I thought really hard about what I could do that might be plausible. I don't know where it came from but it struck me that I could update my Facebook account from my iPhone and people might think I was where ever I said I was. So, I posted that I was stuck in the elevator in one of our tallest buildings.

I wasn't sure if I could pull this off and make it believable until the responses started coming in. Here's pretty much how it went:

Curtis D. Tucker is actually stuck in an elevator on the 8th floor of Continental South! The Otis guy is supposedly on the way... grrrrr!

Curtis D. Tucker at 8:43am April 1
I hear banging. Can someone bring donuts?

Friend #1 at 8:45am April 1
I was stuck in the elevator YEARS ago!!
Fun times!!!

Friend #2 at 8:49am April 1
Stephanie was stuck in that same elevator when she was 9 months pregnant. Chlosterphobic (sp.) & pregnant- bad combintation!

Friend #3 at 8:51am April 1
I've been stuck in an elevator for YEARS... and it keeps going down and down....

Curtis D. Tucker at 8:54am April 1
Lights just went out. Gotta love the iPhone flashlight!

Friend #4 at 9:11am April 1
Yikes - I hate elevators! Laura & I got stuck in one at the medical plaza building by St Marys & it took L a while to recover!

Curtis D. Tucker at 9:30am April 1
Okay, now I've got to go potty. This is not looking good. I think the other guy just farted.

Friend #1 at 9:43am April 1
How many "friends" are with you?

Curtis D. Tucker at 9:43am April 1
Does anyone know Bunker Hunt? He sounds rich and keeps sayings millions on the phone.

Friend #4 at 9:46am April 1
Are you STILL stuck??

Curtis D. Tucker at 10:03am April 1
Still stuck. Just Bunker and I. They can't get the doors open enough to crawl out. Now they're yelling something..

Friend #5 at 10:52am April 1
I just don't know Curtis, You're stuff is breaking and now you're stuck in a box. Just what have you been up to?

Curtis D. Tucker at 11:17am April 1
Looks like we're crawling out the roof...

Friend #6 at 11:18am April 1
ha glad to hear it ! I was just getting on to tell you that you jenxed us! Heating element on our dryer went out last night.Grrrr stop sharing the love, would ya?! Hope you get out soon! Record a dance for YouTube while you wait. :)

Curtis D. Tucker at 11:47am April 1
Have you ever stood on top of an elevator? Bunker is trying to climb the cable. Guess I better give him a boost.

Friend #5 at 11:50am April 1
ok, is this an april fools joke?

Friend #5 at 11:51am April 1
i think bunker hunt might be an oil exec....

Friend #4 at 11:55am April 1
It just occurred to me that your story is just a very elaborate
April Fools joke, very clever Tucker - you got us all sucked into your saga....

Curtis D. Tucker at 11:56am April 1
I'm free! I'm free! Thank God I'm free! Thanks for playing along.

Friend #5 at 11:58am April 1
tell bunker hello

Friend #7 at 1:00pm April 1
Glad you are "out". I was just going to call Darrell to come rescue you in his big red truck.

Labels: April Fool's, Fun Events, funny moment

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, Photo, Road Trips, Sisters

It's been almost exactly a year since the Hot Wife and I ran off to Las Vegas. That trip was for nothing more than site seeing, eating, shopping and hanging out. If you have not been to Vegas or it has been a long time you might find some fun photos in this bunch.

Vegas has come a long way since the old Elvis days but if you look hard enough you can still find many of the old strip reminders. Being a kid of the seventies I really wish I could have seen an Elvis show in Las Vegas.

While there, our morning exercise was to walk from the Venetian, almost in the middle of the strip, to either end of the strip. In two days of morning walking we pretty much walked from one end of the strip to the other. Many of these photos are what you would see walking along the strip and many things in between.

Las Vegas 2008 Photo Album
(Just click on a photo to move to the next)

Labels: Fun Events, Hot Wife, Photo, Road Trips

It was always fun to play outside with your friends in the 70's. Seems like everything we did was outside. One of the best parts of starting a new game was figuring out who was going to be "it".

These are a few of the ways we would choose who was "it":

1. Bubblegum, Bubblegum
2. One Potato, Two Potato
3. Eeney Meeney Miney Moe

The games we played as kids:

1. Kick the Can
2. Hide and Seek
3. Smear the Queer (politically incorrect I know)
4. Murder in the Dark (inside)
5. Dodge Ball
6. 4 Square

We also made up our own games. One game we called Musclins was a combination of tag, hide and seek and kick the can. Burn out was a game played between two four square squares. The point was to throw a ball as hard as you could into the opposing four square and get it by your opponent. The ball had to bounce once within the four square area.

My favorite game of all was trampoline dodge ball! Two guys on each side of the trampoline trying nail the guy on the trampoline with a dodge ball. Could life have been any better?

Labels: 70's, Fun Events, Memories

Today's world is full of safety lids, seat belt laws, restrictions and many other things that have been created and forced upon us for safety's sake. When I look back at some of the things we did as kids I often wonder how we made it to adulthood.

This is a list of things that my friends and I did but probably should not have done. We made it through every one of these events without major injury. I post this list to inform my daughters that I know about these things and I will be monitoring that they are not repeated.

1. Like most kids we snuck out while spending the night at a friends house. The danger here was that is would be 2 am in the morning and we were between the ages of 9 and 12.
2. Roofs. We climbed onto or out on every roof we could find. In grade school we would climb on the school roof to retrieve any dodge ball that might have been lost earlier in the day.
3. We actually used to slide down the valley of our two story roof on a Frisbee. We would sit on the Frisbee and slide almost to the end of the ridge and at the last moment we would use our feet to stop just before plummeting off the edge and falling two stories to the ground.
4. We would sometimes sneak the trampoline close to the garage so we could jump off the roof onto it.
5. We spent many an afternoon winding through the drainage tunnels under our town. Many times we would get several blocks underneath the streets. Of course nobody knew where we were in case we ever got stuck.
6. Fire. A really bad one. We set a few things on fire that we probably should not have. Especially at the houses that had fireplaces. Anything plastic was meant to melt!
7. Climbing trees. We used to climb some trees so high that we were on branches that could barely hold our weight. I remember feeling a few trees lean so far that I thought I was a goner.
8. Throwing things at cars. We had a ritual of throwing eggs and snowballs at cars. Our biggest problem there was that we usually threw from one of our own houses and those that got hit knew where to track us down.
9. Pool hopping. Many times we get a big group of guys together and go from pool to pool hopping in and running like heck. We would hit the hotel pools and as many backyard pools as we could find.
10. Sledding down hills on pieces of cardboard. This one did cause me to get 6 stitches when I ended up hitting a broken bottle with my knee.
11. I may add to this list as I remember more long lost adventures that we had as yutes.

I know there were many other things that we did that we knew were on the "do not do" list but as kids you do as much as you can get away with. Like I said earlier, we all made it to adulthood and we're no worse for wear. What daring things did you do as kids?

Labels: 70's, Fun Events, Memories, Parenting

Remember back in the day when you wanted a photo? We're talking back when I was a kid, in the 70's. We'd either pull out our slim, black 110 camera or if we were lucky we'd pull out the bulky Polaroid Instant Camera.

Taking pictures has come a long way baby. As kids we could get instant Polaroids with the funky colors and funny border around them like the New Years 2009 photo above or we would have to send our 110 or 35mm film off to be developed. A week or two later it would return and we would gleefully rip open our envelope to see our dozen grand photos.

If you were like my friends and I, you would find a stack full of blurry photos mixed in with a few shots of your friends with their heads cut off. At that age it didn't matter much, that the color was bad, the composition was horrible and you just shelled out eight bucks for twelve bad pictures.

Fast forward to 2009 and my how things have changed. Polaroid camera you say? 110 film you ask? Those days are long gone. Today we have micro cameras that take pictures big enough for posters and they're digital! That means you get to take as many pictures as you want and you can delete the bad shots. Wow! What a deal.

No more film, no more waiting, no more photo albums... what!! No more photo albums? That's right. With the ease of today's photography many people are accumulating thousands of digital pictures without ever taking the time to get them developed and stuck into photo albums. We've all got a zillion pictures but we can't ever look at them. Wrong! Read on...

I'm guilty of not getting digital photos developed and now have a good thousand pictures taking up space on my computer. Today there are great sites like Flickr and Facebook that allow us to post our photos online. This is a great way to share photos with people a world away.

I've also recently discovered a great software called Jalbum. This software builds your albums for you and helps you upload them to their site or your own site. It's great!

I recently uploaded the photos from our 2008 Disney World trip. They are now online for the family and the world to see. Take a look and see what we were doing exactly one year ago today. Just click on the main photo and it will transition to the next. Enjoy!

The Tucker 2008 Disney World Trip

Labels: Daughters, Family, Fun Events, Hot Wife, Memories, Parenting, Photo, Road Trips

If you don't have kids you most likely don't understand when parents talk about that weird "all out" love they have for their kids. I never really understood it until I had my girls. Now I look at so many things differently. I'm in awe of these two little girls that I helped create and I remind myself daily that their future may rely on how and what I teach them today.

An example of the parent love I'm talking about would be sitting through 2 hours of piano plunking just to see your kid get up there and plunk just like the rest of them. Here are our daughters playing in their grand recitals doing something I'm not sure I could have done at their age and I'm sitting back enjoying every single second of it. Enjoy...

Daughter #1

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, music, Parenting, Sisters

I attended Northern Oklahoma College after high school. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and felt that starting out at a small school might help me find my way. Junior college for me was in the early 80's. Michael Jackson was taking the country by storm and the drinking age in Oklahoma was 18 years old.

By pure luck I ended up in the college dorm that soon became the campus Animal House. We were a pretty mixed group of guys mostly from Oklahoma but we also had a good mix of guys that came from areas like Canada, Louisiana and Venezuela.

We were affectionately known as the Markley Boys. We kept a pretty tight crew together for two years and wreaked havoc on the campus every chance we got. The photos above is from our second year Flag Football team in which we won the championship.

Life in a small town like Tonkawa meant there was not much to do when you weren't in class. Of course it didn't take much for us to create our own entertainment. There were the typical keg parties down by the river, raiding the girls dorms and late night runs to fool with campus security.

We weren't malicious and kept things pretty much on the up and up. We were always the first to be called to see the Dean when things went wrong on campus. We were filed in one by one and grilled by the Dean of Students. Of course we would stick to our stories and rarely was there ever enough proof to find us guilty of anything, when of course we did most everything accused of.

I was almost kicked out of the dorm for not cleaning my room. It came down to a battle of wills. It wasn't that I didn't want to clean my room, I just didn't want some bozo dorm parent telling me how and when to do it. There were many adventures at our small school and I wouldn't trade them for anything. I don't see how any group of guys could have had more fun at one of the major universities. We were so called, Big Fish, in the proverbial Small Pond and we ate it up.

Being in college taught us many of life's lessons. We had friends quit school, some were kicked out and some left with no reason. We had friends die in accidents and some marry and have babies. We had rivals along the way and got into a few scraps here and there.

I had really great friends from NOC and wonder what may have happened to many of them. If you went to Oklahoma Junior College in Tonkawa around 1981-1983 I'd love to hear from you. If you lived in Markley Hall send me a note and I'll buy you a beer. It might not be from Norm's in Ponca City but I'll make sure it's a cold one.

Labels: 80's, College, Fun Events, Memories

Wow! Between a mom in the hospital, a family with the flu and the holidays, I have not been able to get much updating done. But, I'm back!

I thought I would do a quick review of 2008 for my girls to look back on. For the Tucker family, 2008 was a great travel year and we have much to be thankful for.

Disney World Trip - I think the trip to Disney World had to be the highlight of the year. The girls had their first plane ride and spent several fun filled days with the princesses of Disney.

Marco Island - During our Florida vacation we were able to visit Grandma and Papa at Marco Island. The girls had their first trip to the beach and enjoyed the plane ride back to Oklahoma.

Las Vegas - Vegas baby! Hot Wife and I spent several fun filled days in Vegas, staying at the Venetian. We traveled with another couple and spent all of our time eating, shopping and walking the strip. The girls spent quality time with Grandma and Papa.

Cancun - Hot Wife turned 40 and headed to Cancun on an all girl trip. Her and her good friends had a blast and I was able to spend several days of quality time with my girls.

School - We made the decision to leave the girls at their Montessori school. Our oldest moved upstairs into the "older" kids class and our youngest began extended day. We toured the local public school but just couldn't see a good enough reason to make the switch.

Activities - Our girls spent more time in tennis lessons and tennis clinic. They were both in dance and gymnastics and both also performed in the big dance production. They both improved in their piano lessons and were part of a piano recital. The girls dropped gymnastics and switched to tumbling later in the year.
Hot Wife and I played more tennis and I joined the men's doubles league. We all spent many days at the club pool and the girls continued their swimming lessons.
Hot Wife and I did not get any golf in together although I did play a couple of 18 hole rounds, the most I've ever played in one year.
Our girls ran in their first mini run, a school fundraiser. They enjoyed their first trip to Tulsa and we got to stay in a hotel.

Events - I started this cool blog. The girls both lost the same top front tooth. We made it to our 6th anniversary in our house. We put on a new roof. We saw the closing of our club house for reconstruction. Granny Ann went to the hospital for surgery. Papa had knee surgery. Cousin Skylar had a baby girl.

All in all it was a great year and set a high standard which we will attempt to match in 2009.

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, Hot Wife, Memories, Road Trips

Well, it's my 46th birthday and I'm thrilled I've made it this far. This may turn out to be one for the record books. As I sit here typing, Wizard of Oz on in the background, my mom is in the hospital after having surgery last week, my wife has been throwing up and is aching on the couch. Daughter #1 has also been throwing up and is asleep on the other couch, my mother-in-law is not much better off and my sister is on the road picking up her daughter out of town.

Daughter #2 and I have been holding down the fort today and so far, knock on wood, we have been immune to the ills of the day. Fortunately I was able to have a great evening last night with our fantastic tennis crew and friends. We had a fun dirty Santa party and the luck of the Irish was with me as I drew the #1. We also had a cake and celebrated dual birthdays with another member of the crew.

My hot wife reserved a room at the local Bed & Breakfast last night and we were able to relax and got up without having to worry about the kids. I played a bit of tennis and after that all heck broke loose.

All in all, even with the set backs, it's been a great birthday. My precious daughters drew me pictures and put them in frames. My friends left me messages online and my phone kept ringing throughout the day. I visited my mom, a.k.a. Granny Ann, and she is doing good. I'm blessed and I'm very thankful for my health, my family and my friends.

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Fun Events, Getting Old

Our happy home has been invaded by a Christmas elf. This small elf has been keeping tabs on two very worried little girls. You see, this so called "Elf on the Shelf", sits high atop the room and watches every move the girls make.

He's a magic elf and reports back to Santa Claus every night. If the girls have been good, he tells Santa and returns every night only to be found in a different spot every morning. The elf came with a book that explains the entire process. According to the book the girls are to name the elf and are never supposed to touch him. If touched by a child, he could lose his powers.

Not touching a brand new, shiny red elf when you've just discovered him is almost more than a five and six year old can stand. Especially a five year old. After hearing the rules and getting over the shock that he is not to be touched, the girls went about naming their personal elf. After much discussion his name is now Tiny Kriddles.

The routine goes something like this... the girls go to bed knowing where Tiny Kriddles is, they wake up in the morning full of wonderment. Our five year old is usually the first to hop out of bed and begin the adventure of finding Tiny Kriddles. She'll search high and low looking under things and checking every room.

Once she spots Tiny she goes into full cackle mode and starts pointing at him just like a bird dog. She'll laugh and scream and holler for the closest person to come running to see just where she has found Tiny. All in all this has been fun for the girls and has kept them in check just a smidge more than they might have been.

I believe Hallmark might be the spot to get your very own Elf on the Shelf. If nothing else, it sure is entertaining watching the girls search for Tiny Kriddles every morning.

Learn more. Happy Holidays!

Labels: Christmas, Daughters, Fun Events, funny moment

The best holiday children's shows were around when I was a kid. The Peanuts holiday specials, the Grinch, Frosty, Rudolph and a few other less remembered claymation type shows like the Little Drummer Boy.

These holiday specials bring back so many good memories that it is virtually impossible for me to not watch them when they come on, much like the Wizard of Oz.

Although, by today's standards they are very simple, I think that is what has made them last for so long.

I'm trying to pass that warm fuzzy feeling on to my daughters and they are getting excited for this evening because Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the whole gang are on tonight!! Yippee!! It's officially the holiday season once you've seen A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Gather the family around the TV and watch this fun holiday classic.

Our family loves these shows so much that we stick the CD with the songs from a Charlie Brown Christmas into my car and listen to it over and over. The girls love the Charlie Brown theme song and ask for it every time I start the car. I've requested that they both learn to play it on the piano.

The show runs tonight, Tuesday, November 25 at 7:00 p.m. on ABC (Channel 5).

Happy Holidays and eat much turkey!!

Labels: 70's, Daughters, Fun Events, Memories, Parenting

Hot Wife and I attended a rock and roll Halloween Party this year. The theme was rock and roll. Here we are as Kid Rock and Avril Lavigne. A good time was had by all.

Labels: Fun Events, Halloween, Hot Wife

I am very proud of my two daughters. They both put in time and effort walking on their own to qualify for the Kids Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa. The run was only 1.2 miles but the kids felt like true runners.

Both girls completed the race well ahead of many others and received medals for their effort. It's never to early to get your kids physically active. Our girls loved walking and want to continue. Get your kids outdoors and keep them active!

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, Photo, Sisters

Our Wednesday Night tennis was canceled this week due to the fact that all of the tennis playing wives decided to gallivant off to Cancun without the husbands. Not to be ones to sit and mope, the dad's decided to pack up the crumb crunchers and do a dad's night at the club buffet.

All dad's with vacationing wives showed up and brought the buck-a-roo's. Notice my oldest and youngest daughters actually not sitting next to me. Funny how they're both sitting next to doctors. Maybe that is an indication!

All went well and we got off the hook for cooking at least one night's meal. We now have three more nights of daddy/daughter bonding. Let's see, there's McDonalds, Chick Fillet, Rib Crib, Donuts...

Labels: Daughters, Dining, Fun Events

Hot Wife and I attended our first murder mystery dinner with the tennis crew and a few other close couples. The event was a celebration of a couple of birthdays.

We each received an invitation with our names and a description of our characters. The setting of the party was a country club awards dinner loosly based on Caddy Shack. We had to attend the dinner in character. I was picked as the dainty Lee Wong, an unlucky gambler that swings both ways, if you know what I mean. Have you picked me out of the crowd?

The evening began with a stretch limo ride around town where we all got our first clues and introduced ourselves. After a few drinks we made a pit stop to see one of the tennis crew couples that was unable to attend. From there it was back to the dinner and more clues.

We all enjoyed a great time and made our guesses as to who the killer was. The killer turned out to be Mow, the assistant grounds keeper. If you get a chance to attend a murder mystery I would suggest you do it.

Thanks to Sugar Rush in Enid for doing a great job.

Labels: Dining, Fun Events, funny moment, Photo

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, funny moment, Halloween, Hot Wife, Memories, Photo, Sisters

These pictures were taken along the way on our latest road trip. They are taken with an iPhone and then emailed to an address set up on this blog. Only moments after each picture is taken they show up on this page.

We started doing this because our daughters get a little sad every time we leave home. This way they get to track what we are doing during the day and we get to send them little messages. This has been a real help in allowing us to leave town while keeping the girls happy. They especially love the photo that comes through saying we found them a surprise.

At Starbucks on our way to OU/Kansas.

At The Mont in Norman for lunch.

Hot Wife with Sooner Swirl.

A little shopping in Campus Corner.

The walk to the stadium.

Our cool seats. High up in the shade.

Dinner at Cheesecake to watch the 4th quarter.

Hot Wife supporting her team.

The End.

Labels: Dining, Fun Events, Hot Wife, Road Trips

With the 4th of July comes hot weather, fireworks, swimming pools, hot dogs and just every now and then a miracle...

My four year old daughter is a collector of things and one to turn a piece of trash into a treasure. She can put an irreplaceable value on the most mundane object or make you believe that a tiny bead is the lost Jewel of the Nile.

Recently this inquisitive daughter of ours went on a sleep-over to one of her very close friends. A friend that has a very peculiar pet. This friend has a dead June bug that she feeds and talks to every day. She takes it food and makes sure it has been resting nicely out in the flower bed. Well, this was an inspiration to our daughter! Only she now needed her own dead bug to love and to cherish.

When she arrived home she came running into my studio with a pink cup (the only color in the universe according to her). Inside that plastic, tattered old cup was her new pet, one dead roly-poly. She proudly announce that she had named her little dead doodle bug Lolly Pop.

For a couple of days she was on a mission to comfort and bring joy to the tiny dead bug. She fed it a Starburst candy and put the covered cup outside for Lolly Pop to get some fresh air. We of course played along with her fantasy and talked to Lolly Pop and would help make sure Lolly Pop was still inside the cup.

On the night of the 4th, Lolly Pop was given the special privilege of attending our cookout with several couples and their children. During the evening little Lolly Pop was carried from room to room so that she could enjoy the festivities from her special little cup. I was even requested to turn Lolly Pop over at one point because she just kept laying there on her back. As I flipped Lolly over there was no doubt in my mind that she was well past room temperature and very dead.

As the evening came to a close and we were all giving our good-byes an accident occurred and the pink cup was knocked from our daughters hand. Like a slow motion movie I watched in horror as Lolly and the cup now full of dirt, leaves and twigs hit the floor. The mess went everywhere and our four year old let out a scream crying for poor Lolly. We quickly secured the area and began sifting through the dirt and mess on the floor.

As it started to become apparent that Lolly was not going to be found I overheard the kids talking about a prior spill downstairs and began to think that Lolly had been lost during that spill. My daughter was crying and pleading for everyone to find Lolly. Then it happened, a miracle like no other, something I would not have believed had I not seen it with my own two eyes. There, about one foot away, was Lolly Pop on her back with legs kicking. Yes, legs kicking, this roly-poly was ALIVE!!

They say my mouth dropped and my eye bugged out because as sure as I'm typing this I just knew that bug had been dead for the last two days. My daughter screamed with delight and snatched up Lolly along with all of the other mess from the floor. The world had been set right, my daughter had her bug and I had seen a miracle.

As most of the people filed out of the house a conversation sprang up about what had just happened. I reiterated the fact that the roly-poly had been dead only an hour before. It was then that our friend, the veterinarian, announced that during the confusion he had run outside and unbelievably stumbled upon a larger but live roly-poly. He quickly brought it back inside and tossed it near the mess on the floor.

I was in awe. I couldn't believe how quickly he went into action and saved the day. My daughter really had no clue but she did mention that Lolly had gained a little weight. It's a joy to observe the imagination of children, but also a joy to see the creativity of great friends.

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, funny moment