Iron Chef

Some days you just feel like grilling out - and today was one of 'em. Daddy got home in time to cook up some burgers and hot dogs (and Mommy made the perfect burger mix). Madison is Daddy's little helper outside, although we're very careful to keep her away from the hot grill. She just likes to help cook, so she and Daddy spent some time outside watching the hot dogs and hamburgers sizzle. A flame would shoot up here or there and she'd say, "Ouch!" We've been using our new grill for a few weeks now, and it's been great. It's a lot bigger than we need for our little family, but in case we ever have a lot of others over, we're more than ready: this thing is really big! Note the hat that Daddy is wearing - it's from Iron Chef. Daddy is a huge fan of the original Iron Chef television show, where contestants have to make large meals based on one surprise ingredient. Sometimes that ingredient is something obscure like squid - we'll never forget the Squid Ink Sorbet that was made on one episode. Daddy didn't make any squid ink sorbet today, or anything involving squid. I'm not entirely sure Mommy would have eaten that, although Squid-on-the-Barbie might be interesting. Just imagine with me now, the smell of grilled squid floating through the neighborhood... or maybe not.

Madison enjoyed her hot dogs, and more! Mommy made potato salad and macaroni salad, and afterwards we ate the most marvelous watermelons yet. This season, we've had some of the best watermelons I've ever had in my whole entire life. I looked over at Madison as she ate - and that girl was downing slice after slice, juice just dripping all over. Oh well, it washes off easily. She really likes that watermelon!

Get Out of the House Day

Today was a day off, and we pretty much lounged the day away. Mommy signed us up with Netflix, which opened up a whole new world of television for Madison. She's enjoyed the Backyardigans before, and now she can watch zillions of episodes instantly. And Daddy can watch old, obscure television programs like "The Tick," or classics like "The Munsters." Mostly though, it'll be used to watch some current Disney sitcoms to plunder jokes and one-liners for our skits on Sundays.

Just to get out of the house, we went down to Buford today. The primary purpose was to do some shopping for someone's upcoming birthday. But while down there, we decided to visit the Mall of Georgia once again - only we didn't go inside once. The whole purpose was to get wet! Go here, here or even here for some images from our last visit to the Mall of Georgia Fountain - she had just as good a time this visit. Madison was running around in that fountain, screaming and getting wet. To begin with, she was somewhat nervous about it though - that's why Daddy had to lead her through it. She's generally fearless. I suspect it was all an elaborate plan to get Daddy wet too!

No problem. It was a nice summer day, and we had fun at the fountain. While seated on a bench nearby, Daddy and Mommy watched Madison and the other children enjoy themselves cooling off.

Then, it was time for ice cream! Mommy found a gift card we've had for ages: it was for Brewster's Ice Cream. What a perfect way to end the day. We went across the street to Brewster's and each of us got a great big ice cream. Madison sampled a little of everyone's ice cream, but still managed to get every drop of hers: it's the best when it has sprinkles on it!

Beware of a T-Rex with Ice Cream

It was a busy day - and Daddy was still pretty exhausted from last week. Madison has these toy dinosaurs - I think you may recall that her favorite is the stegosaurus. With that in mind, tonight's bedtime story had that sort of slant.

Ever since January, these bedtime stories have become mandatory for Madison. She has to hear a bedtime story each night before bed. Obviously, I don't have time to type them all up. But here's tonight's bedtime story, which has an important moral to it as well.

Once upon a time, there was a Mommy Stegosaurus and her little daughter, Cindy - they had some friends over, Freddy the Dimetrodon and Veronica the Lambeosaurus (we just call them Freddy and Veronica).

Anyway, Mommy and the kids had a great time this one evening: they played Candyland, and ate some pizza as well. But soon, Mommy was ready to go to the Dinostore, so she told the kids to have some fun playing video games, but do not under any circumstances open the front door from anyone.

So she went on her way to the Dinostore to pick up some groceries, and maybe rent a movie. And the kids had a great time playing video games - that is, until they heard the doorbell ring.

"Hello?" a voice called out from outside. Cindy, Freddy and Veronica ran to the door and peered out the window. It was a T-Rex.

"Hello," he said. "Can I come in for a few minutes? I am an ice cream salesperson and I wanted to give each of you some delicious free samples!"

Freddy was sorely tempted. That sounded wonderful!

But Cindy obeyed her Mommy. She told the T-Rex, "Maybe sometime later, sir."

The T-Rex was insistent. He said, "Oh, but it's the most tastiest ice cream of all. And, I've also got some free tickets to Dinoland, USA for you. That's just for tasting the ice cream and telling me how much you like it."

At this point, the two dinosaurs thought that perhaps Mommy's rule about not opening the door was there only to keep them from having fun.

"Wow," Veronica cried out. "What an incredible opportunity! Free ice cream and free tickets to Dinoland!"

"Let's go!" Freddy said.

But Cindy was quite hesitant. "No," she told them. "Mommy said to stay inside. We shouldn't get the door."

The T-Rex continued, "Please let me in. It is so warm out here, and besides, your ice cream is going to melt!"

And that's when Veronica and Freddy made a bad decision: they opened the door and went outside. And that's when the T-Rex roared!

Oh no! The T-Rex really didn't have any ice cream! And he didn't really have tickets to Dinoland! He only wanted them to open the door and come out - so he could eat them!

Cindy screamed, but there was not much she could do. The T-Rex chased Veronica and Freddy all over the front yard, knocking things over and making quite a bit of noise. All hope seemed to be lost - until suddenly, Cindy's mom got home. The station wagon pulled up into the driveway and Cindy's Mom got out of the car as fast as you can say micropachycephalosaurus! The T-Rex stopped chasing the children just in time to see Cindy's Mom bearing down on him - and she did not look happy at all!

She lashed her tail out at him - and everyone knows that isn't a good thing: for a stegosaurus has spikes on it's tail. That's what we call "the business end." And business was bad for the T-Rex! He screamed and cried and jumped up and down. And then... he left. He ran as fast as he could, jumping over the old picket fence and fleeing down the street.

Mommy was very disappointed in the children for opening the door, but she was also very happy they were safe.

"I hope you've learned a valuable lesson," she told them. "When Mommy tells you not to do something, there's a reason for it. It's not that she doesn't want you to have fun. Sometimes she's just trying to protect you."

And with that, she led the three into the house - and locked the door tight. She brought the groceries in - and to everyone's delight, she had purchased ice cream. Everyone knows that dinosaurs love ice cream.

They all had a good night's rest that night, and Mommy seriously considered getting a new state-of-the-art T-Rex alarm system with an electrical fence.

But more important than that, she knew the kids learned a big lesson that day that would keep them much safer. And she knew that they realized that rules aren't there to keep them from having fun - they're there to keep them from getting hurt.

The End

12345122344

Wuxi Finger Hold

Tonight when Daddy got home from work, Mommy had dinner ready for us as usual. Madison was showing different bits of sign language that she's learned over time, and also making the shapes of certain letters of the alphabet. Although this latter thing isn't technically sign language, at least she does recognize the shapes of letters and then can make them with her hands, no less.

But one shape kept puzzling Daddy. And to add to all of this, Madison then needed Daddy's index finger to do it. What could this sign possibly be? She made a circle with her thumb and index finger, and used the tips of her fingers to pinch the end of Daddy's index finger. I was completely stumped!

And that's when she raised her pinky. And then it dawned on me. I exclaimed, "The Wushi Finger Hold!"

And Madison smiled and shouted, "Yeah! Got you!"

Skadoosh!

Summer Xtreme - DAY FIVE

Here she is, the Karate Kid. She's about to face off against an opponent, using her crane stance. All I need to say here is WATCH OUT. Daddy knows first hand that this little girl can take you down!

Today, Madison got a visit from a local karate studio. She learned many defensive techniques and stances. Children lined up and attacked defenseless cushions being held by representatives of the karate studio - this picture was taken just before Madison did a roundhouse and knocked that kid in white about eighteen feet backwards!

While Madison was getting her kicks, Daddy was helping out with Summer Xtreme again. This year, we had the tons of waterslides, a firetruck hosing the kids down, and even a helicopter! It was quite a wrap-up to Summer Xtreme. Yes, it's all over now. And now the recovery process begins!

But Madison had a swell time, and that's what's most important. It was a great event that the kids loved, and will be talking about for the rest of the summer. Goodnight!

Summer Xtreme - DAY FOUR

Mommy has been with Madison all this week - here they are now, watching Wildlife Wonders "bring the zoo to you." They've got all sorts of unique animals that they've brought to the church for the younger children: an alligator, a hedgehog, a skunk, a snake and more. Madison and the children got to touch the animals (don't worry, the alligator's mouth was shut!), and it made for a unique morning for the kids. The typical day at camp usually involves one activity like this, along with a chapel service, crafts, lunch and snacks, recreation time, and of course nap time. That's one of our favorites: nap time. After this week is over, it'll be one big nap time! This is traditionally a very busy week for Daddy - we work incredible hours to get all this done and in place: the activities and service for the older kids is quite elaborate, and takes an intense amount of team effort to pull off. We're talking hundreds of kids. We didn't sleep at all Sunday night, and on Wednesday, Daddy logged in another twenty-three hour work day. Tonight, however, things are starting to wrap up: we'll have a great day tomorrow, and afterwards, everyone will collapse!

Fortunately, there are the smiles on the kids' faces. We get a few pats on the back here and there, but that's our main reward - at least here it is. It's all for the kids, and of course this year it all has new meaning now that Madison too is wearing one of those Summer Xtreme shirts.

Summer Xtreme - DAY THREE

Today was a hot one - a scorcher. I know this because I was scorched. One of Daddy's many assignments this week is directing the 230 or so cars outside so they can pick up their kids. It was pretty warm. It was so warm, in fact, that we didn't have the kids outside long where we had the inflatables. Normally, everyone has fun outside with the ginormous inflatables - but this afternoon, everyone just wanted to come inside and get away from the heat. Fortunately, Madison's group of younger children all remained inside, where we had different inflatables. She enjoyed running around inside, and making new friends along the way. This was a lot of fun, but the visit from the dance studio was also a big hit. Ali Kats Dance Studio came to give the kids a lesson or two: this was fun too. Today is the middle of Summer Xtreme, and this one is looking to be the best one we've ever done. We've had a few glitches here and there, but the material has been good. Daddy has been setting the alarm for 4:00 am each morning, and going in pretty early - but it's been easier doing it that way versus staying up late each night. In 48 hours or so, it will all be a decent memory. And that's when we scramble to get Madison's birthday all figured out!