ABBA!

The title alone should be enough to pique your curiosity.  By no means am I an Abba hater or lover, I can take or leave their catalog.  I don't own any albums or mp3s of their music and I don't plan on buying any in the near future.  However, a couple weeks ago Jen and I decided to try a different type of movie for our family movie night.  Previous movies have been Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakwel, The Little Mermaid and Toy Story.  They all had Oscar's interest for about 45 minutes before he would lose it and want to play blocks or something else.  So we decided to try Mama Mia.  Yes, we do own that.  Probably paid $4 for it at Blockbuster.  It is a cute movie and who would not love to hear Pierce Brosnan, the suave James Bond and Remington Steele, desperately try to force out a tune when he is obviously completely tone deaf.  I mean, his songs are horrible.  But the movie is cute, Jen likes it and I don't mind it either.  I grew up watching all of the old musicals so it is no big deal and I actually enjoy some of the classics.  It has now been 2, TWO, 2 weeks and we have had to watch Mama Mia EVERY DAY.  He sings the songs to his teachers at school, he asks for it when he wakes up and he sings it in the car.  We know he loves music, his favorite TV show is Glee, he loves the Dream On episode with Neil Patrick Harris and he loves the Safety Dance song on that episode.  I love that he loves music and gets really excited about it.  BUT I can't stand this musical anymore.  I used to wake up with Yo Gabba songs in my head or maybe some other song from Glee that he was obsessed with for the week.  But now I wake up with honey honey, dancing queen and mama mia buzzing in my brain.  And worse yet, even when he has not asked for the video to be put on, which we are now limiting to once a day, one of us accidentally says a line from a song and he immediately requests that it be turned on and turned up.  We need a new obsession for our kid. 

Epic Gabba Fail!

Oscar loves Yo Gabba Gabba.  It is one of the first things he wants to watch in the morning, during the day and basically anytime that he can.  The TV is rarely on during the day, he doesn't get to watch it all the time and he is not spending his day glued to a TV if that is what you are thinking.  But, it is his absolute favorite show, he knows the songs, characters and gets very excited when it is dancey dance time or the super music friends show comes on.  Our boy loves it.   So that brings us to Yo Gabba Gabba Live!  Yes, a live version of the show.  Now if you are not familiar with the show, here is a brief synopsis.  DJ Lance Rock is the god like figure on the show, he walks in to Gabba land at the beginning of the show carrying his boom box, as all good DJs should.  He has on  an orange sweatsuit basically with a gold belt buckle that says ROCK on it and he dons an orange, fluffy fur like hat with a star on it.  His thick rimmed black glasses and big smile are great.  So he opens up the boombox and inside are the gabba characters.  Muno, tall, red, bumpy, one eyed, Foofa, pink, pear shaped, flower on her head, Brobee, green striped, uni-brow, long arms and short body, Toodee, blue, cat like character with spikes on her back like a dinosaur and Plex, the magic robot.  They are all placed in Gabba Land and DJ Lance lets all of the kids know that they have to say "Yo Gabba Gabba" really loud to make the characters come to life.  There is music, dancing and lessons, all of them get the kids up to move around.  There are guest stars on every episode that range from Jack Black to Anthony Bourdain and Sarah Silverman, and these guests usually lead a dancey dance.  So that is always fun.  There are also musical guests, ranging from the Aquabats, the Shins, the Roots, Weezer, Weird Al Yankovik and even Devo.  Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo actually does a segment on the show where he draws a magic picture that can come to life.  Classic rapper Biz Markie does a beat box bit called Biz's beat of the day.    All in all it is a great show and tons of fun for the kiddo without totally killing my love for life.
Back to the point, Yo Gabba Gabba Live came to Indianapolis on our anniversary, which was the 13th of October.  We felt that Oz's love for the show was so great that we would postpone our evening out and take the kiddo to the show.  He was going to love it right?  Wrong!
The evening basically started great, moved to ok then quickly fell in to failure.
Oscar loved walking around the Murat, seeing kids in costume, giant cutout of Muno and basically getting his first tour shirt.

Oz hanging with the Kia Muno

Wandering the vast Murat bottom floor with mommy

Oz really liked seeing Muno

 Yes, they have tour shirts and they are making a mint on this show.  When it finally came time to sit down we took a walk up the stairs and found our seats in the balcony among all of the other kids and parents.

Yes, that is the tour shirt!

 Some parents were dressed up and some kids were dressed up.  He even loved sitting in the chair by himself, jumping off and on as the chair shot back to it's spring loaded home position.  He loved it and the Yo Gabba Gabba stage was lit and there were balloons hanging from the ceiling and he was happy.

Nice stage.

Ready to Rock!

Daddy, what is that noise?

 Then the show started with screams from the crowd, loud music and crazy lights that seem to fix their rotation on poor Oscar's eyes.  He went from happy to screaming in no time flat.

Last picture taken.  Hoping to catch a smile, this is what we saw.

 He grabbed on to us like we were the last life preserver on the Titanic.  We stayed as long as we could but we did have to leave early.  Pictures, as you can see, were scarce.  As soon as the show started the camera went away and we went in to survival mode with him.  He did like portions of it, when there were not any loud music, crazy lights or screaming.  He loved Biz, and one of the songs, we actually got a smile out of him.  The biggest disappointment for us was his reaction when it started, we wanted big smiles and sheer joy, we got terror and crying.  The second biggest disappointment was the guest star, Smiley from the morning show is not a guest star and he barely knew the dance.  The show did not kill his love of Gabba, he still loves the show but only on TV, he says it is too loud otherwise.  Gabba Live! Epic fail.

Story, Zoo and Oz in all of his awesomeness!

In our never ending battle to update as little as possible but still collect thousands of pics of the little guy, well, here is what is happening.
It was a warm, nay, HOT day near the end of August and a momentous occasion was about to be celebrated.  My brother was turning, don't say it, yes, 40!  Jen and I left the little guy with the grandparents and met them at the Story Inn outside Brown County.  Now if you have never been to it,  recommend a visit.  Nestled in a little town called Story, you drive a twisting road until your cell phone goes dead and round a corner to see what looks like a shack or shanty town.

Now this is a working Inn.  There are at least 4 rooms in the building pictured above and a few other buildings on the property that are also available.  My brother and his wife stayed here one time before, and like all good inns, they have a book that you can leave a little note.  Jen and I happened to stay in the same room that they had over a year ago.  Another story about the Story Inn is the blue lady.  She is a friendly ghost that likes to keep things organized.  Turning mirrors over, rearranging brushes, and also opening the notebook in our room to the exact page where Katy and Scott had written a little thank you on their last visit.  Katy said she did not tell them that they had stayed there before, so it was either a clever and thoughtful trick pulled on us by the staff or the blue lady welcoming us.  I prefer to think it was the latter. 

The room is very quaint, there is a crooked stair case leading up, a balcony in our room that overlooks a courtyard and no TV.  Yep, no TV.  Let me say that again, NO TV.  Some would worry about this, but Jen and I had alcohol and I had her wonderful company, so nothing to worry about. 

There is an amazing restaurant on the lower floor of the inn that people travel to just for the breakfast.  Dinner was awesome and the bar in the basement was small but fun.  You sit on chairs that are made from old farm equipment seats and the bar ceiling is metal siding.  They serve some local microbrews on tap and plenty of beer and wine.  The place is also a destination for biker clubs and apparently, a club of English car enthusiasts.  There were a few MG's, a mini and one other nice little convertible.  A great little time and I would recommend it for anyone wanting a quiet weekend away.  Brown County's horse camp is not too far away and a trail leads right up to the back door of the Inn.  There are almost always a few saddled horses hanging out in the picnic area and a few people in full gear relaxing with a burger and a drink.

On to the kiddo.  We decided to take the kiddo to the zoo, again.  He was not a fan the first time.  This time we took backup.  Jen's brother, Tony, and sister, Melanie, were our responsibility for the weekend and why not take them to the zoo.  They are both amazing with Oz and who doesn't love the zoo.  Well, that would be Oz.  We immediately took him to the walrus area, hoping that he would like that.  And he did.  YEAH!

 That is him, in the striped shirt, trying to get a closer look at the walrus.  Get out of the way lady, let the kids look at the walrus.

 Some super fun time with mommy and aunt mel.  Wait, what is Tony pushing in the background?

 Stroller duty!  What a champ.

 

Feeding the giraffes.  Always fun.  At least this time some lady didn't get in our way and we were able to get the picture.  The last time, some lady was just standing there watching people feed the giraffes and blocking most people as they tried to take a picture.  People really annoy the crap out of me sometime. 

Ahhh, look, Oz looks so cute sitting on the log.  Wait, this picture looks cropped.  Was there more to the picture? 

Yes, that is mommy trying to get him rolling again.  After about his 20th blow up and as he sat there plotting his next move.  He quickly grabbed a rock after this picture and threw it, then ran away.  He knows he shouldn't throw rocks, but you can see that devilish look in his eyes.

Where did we find we spent most of our time at the zoo?  Yep, at Oz's favorite place in the world.  THE PARK!  Yep, we paid all of that money to have him spend most of the time at the playground.  We could have just hit a park in town and had a picnic.  But you have to love the kid, he likes it simple.

 Oz and mommy.

WEARING A BOILERS JERSEY!!!!!!

Oz loves his bike.  He doesn't quite get the pedals yet, but he will get there.  We just love to watch him self propel.  It was getting really hard to bend over and push that little bike around.

Back pack back pack

Oz discovers his backpack!

Corn, soy and horse trailers

Corn, soy and horse trailers. About 90% of the trip from Ligonier to Indy.

Ahhhh, Indiana

I drive a lot for my job and I tend to like the summer months a bit more than the winter. The north side of Indiana is not a beautiful area in the winter. Most of the time I stick to the interstates but there are times when I let my GPS, Gabby, take me on a different route.
Some country roads lead to very interesting places. Unfortunately, I have never had my camera with me when I pass them. I have been trying to bring it with me more often but some of the things I have seen don't seem to be there anymore.
I swear I once stopped in some very small, single stop sign town, on the north side of Indiana, that had converted a drive-thru at a bank into a deer drop off for butchering. It was written in big, blood red letters on the side of the building. "We butcher your deer here". Then there is the bird place. I swear this was on the way back from Warsaw and somewhere north of Noblesville and south of Warsaw is a house that has been converted in to a tropical bird sanctuary with palm trees and sun room and giant cockatoos flying around.
Either way, I am trying to keep my camera with me now and trying to capture some of these things on film so that I can prove that I am not insane. Sadly, the only interesting things I saw this week are corn, soy and some pretty buildings in Columbus. But I will persevere. Too bad I did not have it while driving through Ligonier, I would have found out why there is a brass statue of a kid holding a pig. I think it was a pig.

Oh yeah, the kid.

Pics of the kiddo.  Of course I would be happy to.

Hot, like Africa hot!

What is with this freakin' heat!?  I mean come on! I think I just saw a duck spontaneously combust on the pond.  It just exploded, the gas inside it expanded due to heat and BOOM!  Plus, the kid doesn't like the pool right now.  I am sure he will grow in to loving the pool.  I did.  But with this heat, really you can't just throw your kid outside and let them fend for themselves, they would get all toasty, like our lawn.  I just want some reasonable weather.  It seems like it went from cold as hell to hot as hell.  I know, is hell both hot and cold?  Is that even possible?  Detroit.

Man I am feeling old.  I am sore after soccer for days, my hair is fighting a losing battle with my scalp.  My stomach, which used to be able to handle extreme bouts of alcohol followed by hot dogs from very questionable vendors and burritos that were not quite as big as my head but certainly close.  Now if I look at a anything with a cooked onion after a couple beers I can expect a few more trips, hurried trips, to the bathroom that evening.  I don't even want to stay out until 3 anymore.  I think that is crazy.  If I stay out until 3 the kid will still be up at 7 and I will not be a happy camper.

The kid, don't even get me started.  I can't stand not seeing that little guy.  He is just the best little thing to ever happen to the world.  I am not kidding.  I  am sure the rest of the world moves on while we are sleeping but once we wake up he is our world and it is a great little planet we live on and i am happy to be part of it>  okay something has happened< my capslock is on but not working right< none of my keys are working right> ahhhhhhhhh!

The 4th of July

Personally I like fireworks, the science behind them is fascinating.  What people can invent with various metals, chemicals, etc... I just find that interesting.  That being said, I do not love the several days of amateur fireworks and firecrackers that usually accompany the 4th.  Leave it to the pros people, is it worth losing a finger or setting your neighbors house on fire to see a small explosion of sparks just a few feet above.  Oh yeah, don't forget the stick and hot tube of gun powder that comes hurtling back down to earth.
Anyway, it is always a nice weekend with the family and also a great time to take pictures.  So enjoy another long slide show of Oz and his amazing family and friends.

TWO YEARS AGO!

A little guy came in to our lives. We called him Oscar Robert after our grandparents. He didn't do much. He just kind of laid there, ate, pooped and burped. He cried quite a bit. We could tell he was going to be one of those overly dramatic kids. He was stubborn, eating only on his terms. But he is the the cutest little version of Jen and I in the world and we can't imagine a day without him. Everything is so much more interesting with him around. He now walks and talks and even dances a little jig for us.  He loves Yo Gabba Gabba, Glee and the Kooks.  He will eat beats like they are candy but won't eat mac and cheese.  He asks a million questions and tries to take apart everything to see how it works.  He has a head of hair that I am jealous of and a huge gap between his two front teeth.  We absolutely adore the little fella and I am genuinely amazed by him every day.
Happy Birthday Oscar and thanks!!!!

More Easter Pics

There were a few other pics from Easter that were too epic to be left out. One, for example, would be the once though extinct Tony Keyler smile. I assure you all I have seen it with my own eyes.

So now I will attempt to create a slide show without outside assistance. Wish me luck!

So the slideshow was a fail. However, I uploaded the pics and wrote this riveting piece before the beast awoke. All in all job well done!

Oz in purple and green

We took Easter as an opportunity to dress the little fella up and parade him around.  I have included some wonderful pics of Oz in full Easter duds, and you guessed it, slideshow time!! I even added some pics of the rest of the family, because I felt a little balance was needed.

Disturbing.

No pictures this time. Not even about the kid this time. I was in Hagerstown today visiting a customer. As I was white knuckled the entire drive due to nasty weather I was pretty tense. I exited the Hagerstown ramp and headed towards my destination. I have traveled this way many times, country road, farms, nice country homes. There is this one road I turn on to get to my customer, I like the turn, it's nice. There is a tall fence surrounding several larger, older homes that are very inviting. There are mature trees around the homes and pools, tire swings, tree houses, everything you would want in a nice country home. Back to the fence, it is about 6 feet tall with thin steel rods for the fencing. They come to a very sharp point at the top. I normally don't even notice them. This time I couldn't help but notice them. As I made my turn I had to slam on my brakes. Snow covered country road, right angle turn, not a smart thing to do. I slid, just a few feet though. I quickly got out my phone to take a picture. On the fence, impaled, was a deer. It had tried to jump the fence, almost made it over. I think it made it about to that soft belly portion on the underside, actually, it was pretty obvious how far it made it over. I took the picture out of grim fascination at first and to further document some of the odd things I see on the road. A few seconds later I realized how horrible an image it was. There was no way I was going to post the picture and I could not believe I had taken it. The fence was pretty mangled, the deer did not go gently in to the night. I am guessing that the struggles of the deer to free itself only hastened it's death. The snow had already covered any blood that might have been on the ground. There had to have been a lot. I just had to write about this, it is just one of the worse things I have seen on the road.