All About the Cars

Our Father's Day was all about cars. Jay loves cars, so this is a fitting tribute to him as a dad. We started the day with breakfast at Jay's favorite breakfast restaurant. Then we went to church. Conveniently our church has a Father's Day car show every year, so we stayed to check out all the cool cars. It's amazing to me that our church can actually put on such a great car show. The first year we went I thought it was going to be some rinky dink little thing where we look at a couple cars and go home. I was pleasantly surprised that first year and each year it has gotten even bigger and better.

Here is our crew (minus me of course because I'm taking the picture) in front of a cool Mustang.

The guy who owns this Model T let my kids crank it:-) He was so nice.

Those were my two favorite cars of the show, but I'm partial to Mustangs and old fashioned cars. There was an old Bel Air there that my kids commented "looks just like Flo." It's kind of funny that they relate old cars to a cartoon movie. I guess that shows what a good job the artists did. Jay and Ryan were in their element. Jay must have excitedly called, "Ryan come look at this!" 50 times or more. Some of the things you would have heard if you were with us at the car show..."This car has a parachute to slow it down because it goes so fast!"; "There's no engine in the front of this car! What do you think happened to it?! Oh, look it's in the back."; "Look how the doors on this car open!"; "Look at that big engine!"; Lily saying, "Look! A monser twuck!"

After all the excitement of the Car show I took the wheel to take the family to Jay's surprise Father's Day outing. We went to this really cool place called Ride Makerz. The best way I can describe it is like Build a Bear for cars. You pick out a chassis, wheels, rims and accessories. You even get to make a certificate that comes with a personalized license plate for your car.

Here is Jay putting his car together.

Here he helps Zach do his.

This one is Jay helping Ryan attach his monster truck accessories.

Lily loved putting these "skins" on her Mini.


Of course as soon as we got home it was time to find batteries and test out the new cars. That lasted quite a while. Then Jay's parents came over for dinner and the kids got to stay up a little late to visit which is always special for them. All in all a pretty fun day. I hope Jay enjoyed his day because we sure enjoy him being the dad in our family.

PS Just so you don't think I forgot my dad, I did call him after dinner and the kids called him while we were waiting to be seated for breakfast.

Happy Birthday Jay!!!

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband and my children's wonderful father. I'm glad I married you...even if you are a geezer now;-) I'm kidding. You know I had to pay you back.

I love you!

Wonderful World of Racing

Jay and Ben are back from their racing adventure. I've heard a lot of "awesome", "so cool", "so fast" and "bvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
ch[shifting motion] bvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv" tossed around in conversation since their return. Turning 30 and graduating college are once in a lifetime things. I think this was a memorable celebration for each of them.

Don't they look cute in their little blue racing suits?!

More fun with Bullets

*Every night Ryan says, "I need to do mouthwash water with my dipsy cup."
Heehee. He has been trying to be like his big brother, who does a floride mouthwash, ever since I got some dixie cups to make it easier.

*Lily's new favorite thing to do is climb up on Ryan's stool, get into the bathroom sink and turn on the water. Who knew a little shorty baby could use a stool with 2 little steps to get up on a bathroom counter top?! I guess for a baby who loves climbing and loves water this seems like the perfect activity.

*Before you go shaking your head in disgust at my inability to keep my daughter out of trouble/danger you should know that it is the rule to keep the bathroom door closed. There are times that we don't remember and Lily is a pro at seizing an opportunity. Just as she does if we leave a chair slightly away from the table. She never misses an opportunity to climb on something high. She is also fast, very fast and stealthy.

*The lilacs are in bloom. They don't seem as fragrant as years past. They still smell good, but it's not as strong or as far away from the bush.

*Ryan got out his NASCAR underwear this morning and told me they are his favorite. I didn't know that. he is wearing them today in honor of daddy going to racing school. Yep, that's right. Jay's birthday present is racing school.

*Did I tell you there is a cardinal that is in love with our car? Yeah, it always lands on our mirrors and then pecks at himself in the mirror. There are several spots on our car that are all scratched up. I find this very annoying.

*Construction has still not started on our addition. I find this very annoying as well.

*Jay got me a new vacuum. It is much better than the old one. It was practically full of fuzz that I'm thinking was from the top of the carpet. I don't know if it's good for the carpet to vacuum part of it up, but I'm sure that means it got more dirt than the old one too. The best thing about the new vacuum is the easy sump dirt container. You push a button on the top and the bottom pops open. No more getting all dirty shaking the bin upside down into a trash bag and then pulling out the filter and tapping that clean. It's also a very pretty blue:-)

*Lily is on another antibiotic for the never ending stream of ear infections. We are going to make an appointment with an ENT specialist.

*Did you know there is an Armed Forces Day? No, well it's May 19. Don't forget to support our troops at home and abroad. Make it personal...Do something nice for a man or woman who defends your country this month!

Yummy

Anyone who has been to our house for more than about 5 minutes probably knows one of Jay's favorite games to play with the kids involves chasing and "biting" the kids. The kids love every minute of it. They run, laughing, through the house until he catches them and mouths their little tummies, arms, legs or whatever he feels like at the moment. They laugh and when they get away they run to a "hiding place" and call for him to come get them. Jay told Ryan the other day that he bought a "new Ryan" while he was at work so he could chomp him. Ryan, with furrowed brow, very seriously replied, "No, Daddy. You should chomp the old Ryan." Ryan has always taken his fun seriously. Since Ryan wants to be just like Daddy of course he has started "biting" people too. Really only me and Jay, sometimes Lily. It's pretty funny when he does it. He tells you he is going to bite you, makes a big dramatic chomping noise and takes a big "bite" with his lips. It usually tickles and he loves when you laugh or yelp. Lily has just recently gotten old enough to play the bite game. She laughs and giggles just as much s the boys when daddy picks her up and "bites" her. Recently she has started "eating" Jay too. This is how I know she actually gets the game. She doesn't put her mouth on Jay the way he does with the kids. She takes her hand and pretends to grab a handful of Jay and then brings her hand to her mouth and pretends to eat it. It's just the way she eats food. So cute. I'm going to try to get video of it if I can, but she does it at random times; whenever she's in the mood I guess. It is really cool to realize your baby is able to use her imagination.