Barry’s Daily Web News

A Busy Thursday

I have become a little behind in my work, so I worked late today. Even though I took Sean to the gym, the only time I spent with Sean and Ethan was during dinner. I took my laptop to the gym to try and get more work done, so I didn’t have time to watch Sean. At least there is the weekend coming up.

A Night at the Park

We had our warm day today, with a high of 81 degrees. Sean and Ethan were a little slow finishing dinner, so that limited the time we were able to spend at the park. We had a nice walk over, and they had fun playing on the playground. I really enjoyed spending an evening outside in January wearing shorts. It’s a shame we had to leave, but it was too dark out to continue playing.

A Warm Day

It almost reached 80 today, and tomorrow it is supposed to be over 80. Sean wore his sweatshirt the entire day. We told him it was too warm to wear it, but he insisted that it was cold out.

At any rate, we went over to the library this evening. Sean and Ethan were well behaved. They snuck into baby time, but it wasn’t crowded, so I let them stay. This if the first time I remember Ethan actual singing.

The story time lasts well past Sean and Ethan’s normal bedtime, so I always feel a bit drained after putting the kids to bed on Tuesday nights. At least I can relax now, even if it is not for very long.

A Trip to the Dairy Farm

Today, as part of a MOMS event, we all went on a tour of a local diary farm. It turned out to be lots of fun. We fed goats, held chicks, touched a turkey, watched cows get milked, fed carrots to the cows, played with the calves, and went on a hay ride. Sean’s favorite part was climbing and sliding down a big pile of cotton seed. Ethan seemed to enjoy all of the animals. He had no fear of feeding the goats and the cows.

After a tour, we had a picnic lunch, and the farm provided free ice cream. It was worth it for me to take the time from work.

No More Family Section

Since my writing has drifted to more news about the family, becoming the core content of this web site, I decided that a separate family section was no longer needed. Actually, I was having problems with uploading the content of this site. Since each family article was going to the main page and the family page, I was moving twice as many files than were needed.

If you have the family page bookmarked, please change your bookmark to Barry’s Daily Web News.

Sunday

I started the day off with some yard work. Five minutes to mow the lawn, and two hours to pull weeds. I didn’t even finish pulling the weeds. What’s worse is that all the rain is sprouting new weeds, so I will be doing this for the next few weekends.

Cortney took Sean and Ethan to the local train rides. I stayed home to work on the bills and do laundry (and sneak in some football). The train rides were busy, so they were only able to get one ride in. They also witnessed a train accident. Apparently, the driver stopped too quickly, and the entire train tipped over, dumping the people on to the ground. Other than some scratches, nobody was hurt. I’m glad Sean and Ethan weren’t on that train.

The Nice Weather Returns

Finally, after back to back to back rainstorms, the nice weather has returned to Phoenix. We had sunny temperatures near 70, and we should have weather above 70 for the next few days.

I took advantage of the weather by taking Sean and Ethan to the nearby park. I was glad to see that Ethan has overcome his fear of the swings. Ethan went on by himself, and went quite high with me pushing him. Also, Ethan can now climb up and down the curved ladder himself. Of course, both Sean and Ethan had fun just playing. They still like to run up and down the hill as much as playing on the play set. I hope I have time to take them again tomorrow.

Burger King Night

Sean, Ethan, and I had a slow start with our trip to Burger King. We have been going to the one by the mall, which takes almost 15 minutes to get there. When we arrived this evening, I discovered I forgot to put the backpack in the car, which meant no food, no drinks, and no spare diapers for Ethan. I had to go back home and get it. Poor Ethan cried when we drove away from Burger King.

Once we arrived with the backpack, the delay was forgotten. I noticed Sean and Ethan both ate well, probably because they were good and hungry. Sean played with another boy his size for almost an hour and a half. The boy’s parents were speaking in what sounded like an eastern European language. I’m not sure the boy spoke any English at all. Still, Sean and no problem communicating the desire to play, and the both had fun together. Ethan alternated between playing with the two older boys and spending time with me.

I have found a new way to get the kids to leave Burger King promptly. I take the toy from the happy meal I get, and hold it to the end. I give the toy away as a prize to the first one to have their shoes on an waiting by the door. Last week Sean one easily, even though I was putting the shoes on Ethan. This week, Sean had trouble when one of the straps to the sandals came completely out of the buckle. To avoid Sean getting upset, I declared the even a tie, and let both kids share the toy on the way home.

By the way, the kids still eat good food, even though we buy the happy meal. I get milk as the drink, and give it to Sean. I get a cheeseburger with the meal, and give just a couple of bites to Ethan, then I eat the rest. I split the fries and give them to both Sean and Ethan, but only after they have eaten the food I bring from home first.

Sean Shows His Good Behavior

Sean’s gym class large tonight, with seven kids total. I was pleasantly surprised to see Sean patiently wait for his turn, without playing around or engaging in any horseplay with the other kids. Most of the class was not that well behaved, and I’m proud of Sean for not joining in.

I hope this large class was just a one time thing; I would prefer his class sizes be four or less. In tonight’s class, Sean was only able to do the balance beam and the trampoline, and nothing else.

Quiet Night

Wednesday is one of the few nights where we don’t have any scheduled activities, so I decided to just stay in with the kids this evening. I briefly considering going to the park, but I was afraid the playground would still be wet from the rain we had last night.

So, I had the fun of playing candyland with Sean, and watching a dinosaur video with Sean and Ethan. We all had a good time.

No Trip to Ohio

My trip to Urbana, Ohio next week has been cancelled. The good news is that I’m sure the weather here will be better than the weather there. And of course, I get to spend the time with Cortney and the kids. The bad news is that I won’t be able to go when the trip is being rescheduled, and I will miss out on a minor career opportunity.

Library Night

We finally made it back to the library for storytime. The library barely had any train cars left for the train tables, so Sean immediately had to practice his sharing skills. Sean and Ethan both played nicely with the other kids there.

Ethan had a first this evening. He made it all the way through story time without ripping up his name tag. Usually the name tag doesn’t surve more than ten minutes after being placed on Ethan. Ethan mostly sat still through the stories, but he kept interrupting by talking. I guess that’s an improvement. As always, Sean behaves well at the story time, and he enjoys the books and the movie.

Sean Has Another Good Gym Class

Sean did well in gym class today. The owner, who is also a gymnastics instructor himself, stopped by to help a girl in Sean’s class work on her backwards summersault. After that, Sean’s instructor had Sean demonstrate his own backwards summersault, and showed off his good form. The gym owner was impressed with Sean. Sean also worked on his cartwheels in class.

A Nice Day

We were expecting rain today, so we were surprised to see a sunny, warm day. We started off by at trip to the outlet mall, and it was so nice out that we stopped by the nearby play park afterwards. Sean and Ethan rode the train ride as well as playing. I spoiled the fun by insisting we leave to go home for lunch.

After that, it was back to a typical Sunday of bills, laundry, and cleaning.

Time With the Kids

Today was a relaxing day, but I also was able to spend some quality time with Sean and Ethan. This morning, Cortney took the van in to get serviced, so I stayed home with Sean and Ethan. The three of us played Candyland together, and had some fun watching TV shows.

This afternoon, we went to the mall. First the play area, then to eat dinner, then the play area again. I mostly watched Sean and Ethan while Cortney shopped. I like spending time in the play area. Some times, Sean and Ethan have as much fun jumping on me as they do playing with the items in the play area.

On the way home from the mall, we stopped by Toys R Us, mainly as a scouting trip to decide what we will buy with the gift cards the kids received for Christmas. Sean and Ethan were able to get their full at the train table, so they had fun at the store.

I think Sean and Ethan had a fun day. I know it was for me.