August 2020

 August was a very interesting month once again in the middle of a pandemic. In July we had seen life return closer to normal, but maybe things opened up a bit too much because numbers started to increase once again. I had to use up some vacation time before it expired so I took a week off. We didn't go anywhere because of uncertainties with everything going on with the pandemic. Instead we made the best of a staycation.

Something that I had really looked forward to this year was attending Indian Summer Camp with my pediatric cancer patients at work. It was honestly one of the most amazing experiences being able to see these young kids run around and play without a care in the world. This year of course COVID has cancelled so many things and summer camp was one of them.  The camp directors sent all of the volunteers a little care package to say thanks for all that we do. So, I decided to recreate a camp day at our house. We had grilled cheese, did perler bead art, a campfire with s'mores, and we even had fried ice cream to end the night. The kids were so excited. 

Another big part of camp is getting pied in the face. All day long there are some circulating clothes pins that people try to sneakily attach to other campers. After dinner whoever is stuck with the clothes pins gets a shaving cream pie in the face. This game is much harder with just four people, but Landon and Jennifer ended up with them. Brinley just wanted to see what it was like so she volunteered to get pied. Then everyone pressured me into getting one too!

August was a month full of baseball practices and games. We even happened to have one game when not enough Red Sox players showed up to the game so we had to find kids out in the crowd. Brinley was happy to play. She played in the outfield and even once got a good stop and threw it in to Landon for the out. Afterwards Landon was awarded the game ball. The coach even told him that he had to share the game ball with his sister. 

I think I have finally finished canning for the year. Not because I ran out of produce, but due to the fact that I cannot find any more lids in the stores. We have lots to keep us through the winter. 

The kids have a little trampoline in the backyard and we also have a little basketball goal. The kids are always asking me to pick them up so that they can dunk the basketball. I decided to move the goal into the backyard and put it next to the trampoline. Landon loved getting to dunk. I am afraid that due to having two parents who are vertically challenged he may never get to actually dunk a basketball under normal circumstances.

Out on a run one day and I noticed this lone sunflower out in a field full of weeds. I love seeing things and people out in the world that persevere against all odds. So of course I had to stop and get a picture.  

One of my patients that I had the privilege to take care of for the past year passed away and he was actually from western Kentucky. I wanted to make the trip to pay my respects, but I had to take care of the kids because of Jennifer's work schedule. Grandma and Grandpa said they could watch them so that I could attend the funeral. After the funeral I started the drive to my parents house when I hit a piece of debris on the interstate which caused me another flat tire. Never in my first 35 years had I ever been in a car with flat tire and now I had two within a month. I hope that I got those out of my system.

While the kids were at Grandma and Grandpa's house they always enjoy playing on the piano. This time Grandpa tried to teach them how to play a song. He wrote out the notes and then labeled the notes on the piano. When I finally got to pick them up they both played Mary had a little lamb.

I was so excited to let the kids watch the movie Gremlins. It was one that scared me so much as a child, but I thought the kids would like Gizmo. Jennifer didn't think we should watch it because she thought it was too scary. Well, we should have previewed it because randomly in the movie the girl in the movie tells a story about how she found out that Santa wasn't real. The kids didn't say anything about it so I hope that they just didn't believe it. I would like for the magic to last just a few more years.

At work we have this little distraction toy that has a lot of hidden items inside a plastic tube filled with little plastic particles.Well, the penny has been considered impossible to find. At one point they believed it actually wasn't inside the container. An X-ray proved that it was in fact in there. A parent found it a couple of months ago and it had driven me crazy ever since. I had a little extra time one day and finally found it. I did use a little help from a google search, but never less I found it!

Another ball game for my little man. He has improved so much this year and I am so happy for him. We just have to work on his ability to take constructive criticism.

I absolutely love a water balloon fight. Thankfully the kids do too!

We even hit a few water balloons like baseballs before throwing them at each other.

At the beginning of June I mentioned to the kids about trying to get a big trampoline. They were excited, but I waited too long into the pandemic that they were no longer in stores. So, I looked on Amazon and found one. They said it would be delivered any time from 4 weeks to 2 months from the order date. Well, Amazon is usually quick so I went ahead and purchased it thinking it would be the earlier date. I was totally wrong and it ended up being a huge disaster!!! About a week before the two month delivery date was going to elapse I found a trampoline at a local store. I called Amazon to cancel the online order and they said it would be cancelled, but because it was a third party seller it would take a few days because they had to contact and tell them. Well, the third party asked me politely to please just wait because it would be there within 5 more days! I said no thanks. Well, the very next day the trampoline is delivered to my door and the box was broken  and parts were exposed and who knows if any were missing. I then had to call Amazon and tell them that the package I didn't want got delivered and it was broken on delivery. After another week of back and forth with the seller I finally got my money back. What a hassle, but the kids are so happy to be out and jumping on their big kid trampoline. I even told a couple of my co-workers about the trampolines at the store so they went and got one. We went and helped both of them put theirs together too.

Restaurants were closed during our actual anniversary, so we just picked a random night to got out and celebrate our 13th anniversary. We went to Jeff Ruby's and sat out on the patio. It was delicious and I enjoyed getting to spend some time with just Jennifer. We had one of the most amazing desserts to finish the meal.

The kids were excited to try the blueberry cake after we picked them up from MiMi's after our date.

Another baseball game for Landon and his Red Sox buddies. MiMi came to watch him play at almost every game. 

Brinley became obsessed with perler beads. She even started making ear savers so that your mask stays off your ears. She even made me a batman and ninja turtle one for me to take to work. If you look closely on the ear ring board you can see that she even made herself some earrings. She made some candy corn, pac man, baby chicks, and mickey mouse earrings.

I was volunteering at church with my Mickey and Minnie Mouse mask when it made me wonder what was everyone's favorite Disney movie. I posted it on Facebook and got so many responses that I decided to ask a random question of the day. This is something that I already do at work everyday, but it was cool to see what the online community answered too.

Grandma and Grandpa had come up to watch the kids play baseball, but the game got rained out. So we instead decided to go meet up with Andrea and Olivia in Cincinnati. We met at Eden Park for a picnic and play time for the kids. They enjoyed running around together and especially chasing the geese.

With our summer pass for Top Golf still active we decided to make the short little drive up to hit some balls. The kids have really loved playing the little mini games. I am just really happy to see them enjoy something that I like, which is rare.

As our last day before virtual school started I wanted to get out and have some fun. The kids picked lunch at one of their favorite places, Goodfellas. For dinner we even got some ice cream at Culver's.

Happy first day of school for the kids. Landon started 2nd grade and Brinley is a 3rd grader. I am so proud of these two! They are both really good students, I just hope that continues with virtual school. I also hope this is a temporary solution.

Grandma and Grandpa made the trip up again so that they could see Landon play t-ball. His team actually played horrible for this game, which was a round robin game for the upcoming tournament. We ended up losing the game and it turns out that we had to turn around the next night and play the same exact team to start the tournament.

The first game of the tournament the Red Sox looked like a different team than the day before. Landon played great both in the field and at bat. He was awarded the game ball. He was also given a participation trophy, which I hate! I think only the winners should get trophies. The kids were also really happy to see MiMi's new puppy that she got, Archie.

Helping coach has been extremely hard at times, but seeing him play on this night with much more confidence made it worth it. He has worked so hard this season to get better and we are working on being able to accept coaching from me without hanging his head after everything I say to him. They ended up having to play against the top seeded team the next night in the tournament.

One of my patients asked me one time what my favorite color was and I said blue of course. The next time he came in to the clinic he gave me this painted cross. I have it hanging in my garage and I see it everyday. Well, after eight years of fighting against cancer he finally passed away. He was actually the first child I took care of when I made the move out to the pediatric oncology floor. I was taking care of him when the doctor came in and told the family that he had cancer. He has a special place in my heart and I am not sure I will ever be able to tell a silly dad joke without thinking about him. Every week when he came into the clinic he would tell me jokes and ask for coloring pages. He would also ask if I could color with him, which I would try to do if we weren't busy. Just another great kid and I am so glad that I got to know him. 

The garden is still producing all kinds of tomatoes and the sunflowers are in bloom. I picked some and brought them inside so that we could see them up close. 

Definitely not the August that we had anticipated, but has anything is 2020 worked out like we thought it would. Sports kept us pretty busy and we were excited about the start of school, but that joy quickly faded away. I just always try to remember that with virtual school we are doing the best that we can under the circumstances. A lot has been put on the kids to try and be independent with their studies, but both of their teachers have done well with keeping us informed of what all we need to have done each week. As long as we are healthy I have a lot to thank God for each night. I know there are many people out there right now who are not as lucky. Thanks for reading and God bless!

July 2020

July 2020 was when things started to seem more like normal and that quarantine was starting to come to an end. Places were starting to open up and we were even set to start playing some sports. It actually started to feel like summer!

I woke up at 6 am on July 1st to get a head start on my exercise for the month. I hadn't run this fast in quite some time, but I am extremely happy with three miles at an average 8:10 per mile pace.

I had been planning for a while to take the kids to see Cumberland Falls, or Niagara of the South. We made the trip down and had no trouble getting to the lookout point to see the falls. The last time I visited Cumberland Falls as a child I wasn't as lucky. I slipped and fell on the stairs getting down to the lookout. The rest of the day my family referred to it as Jordan Falls! 

I had done a little bit of research before going and found out about another falls that you could go see, Eagle Falls. It was a bit more strenuous of a hike, but we had a lot of fun. The kids didn't complain much about the hike because we kept finding things to keep them distracted. 

It ended up being about a 3.5 mile round trip hike to Eagle Falls. On the way back to the car Brinley and I stopped to take the picture in the bottom right corner. Jennifer and Landon kept hiking and they missed the turn to the parking lot and they got lost. With no cell service we are lucky that they finally figured out that they were going the wrong way and turned back to get on the right path. The most interesting debris that we found that had gotten caught in the rocks was an old VHS cassette tape. You can see it in the bottom middle picture. 

All I have heard people from the Corbin area talk about is the Root Beer Stand. So being this close we had to see what all the rave was about. Everyone in the car was excited to try the root beer. Best news of the day was that they sell it by the gallon! Overall it was a great little roadside burger joint.

After dinner we headed back out to Cumberland Falls to witness one of the very rare moonbows, which is a rainbow created by the light of the moon. Apparently, Cumberland Falls is one of the few places in the world that this can be seen. I have wanted to drive down to try and see it, but the conditions have to be almost perfect for it to happen.

Well, if you want to ever go see a moonbow then I hope you are better prepared for the trip than we were.Online it said the moonbow would be from 9-11. I thought that it would start at 9 and last until about 11. Boy was I wrong!  I should have known something was up when we arrived and other people had chairs, coolers, and lots of snacks. We only brought ourselves along for the adventure which didn't go over so well with the children. Not until about 10:30 did we happen to catch a small glimpse of a moonbow. The kids weren't impressed and honestly I had higher expectations myself. I was told by a couple people that were there it wasn't that great of a moonbow and that it is actually better to see it in the fall or winter. Well, I guess I will have to make a return trip to see it again. The kids said they don't want to return!

To keep up with turning every holiday into a race, I woke up on the 4th of July and ran the traditional Bluegrass 10,000. I was pretty happy with the results considering I was running by myself without any water stations. I don't know about you, but I tend to run better when surrounded by a group of people.  

We spent most of the 4th of July out in the back yard playing with the kids and playing with the sprinkler. We also took a sunset bike ride in the subdivision. We even got to see peoples fireworks as we were heading back home. Our neighbors decided to put on a little fireworks show so we didn't even go downtown for the city's celebration. It turned out to be pretty awesome! The kids loved being so close to them and seeing their friends in the neighborhood too.

With the season pass that we bought from Top Golf we decided to head up to Cincinnati to play a couple hours. The kids have never had as much fun hitting golf balls. We spent about 3 hours hitting balls into the targets. 

Most of our days in July were filled with t-ball practice or games. Landon started out playing pitcher and first base, but then they quickly transitioned him to full-time second baseman. This is because most of the balls get hit right up the middle and they try to get almost all of their outs at second base. Also, Landon refuses to wear his belt for game days. I think he looks so silly, but the little man says he hates it. You can see who wins.

The garden started to have some actual produce with cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. I quickly turned those cucumbers into some bread and butter pickles.

For Landon's 7th birthday, we woke up early and we headed out for a 7K bike ride in the neighborhood. So proud of this little man. I had planned on running this distance on my own, but he said that he wanted to do it with me. I figured the bike would be the better option. 

For the third year in a row Landon has wanted to go to his favorite restaurant, Goodfellas. We headed down to the distillery district and had a nice lunch out on the patio. We then celebrated with cookie cake in our backyard. Landon picked the design of the cake with all the colors and decorations.

Grandma and Grandpa with the birthday boy. Jennifer and I had just given him his birthday gift, a new bike! He had been asking for a bike with a kickstand for a long time. I maybe should have given it to him earlier in the day so that he could have used it on his 7K ride.

Landon's other favorite restaurant is Panda Express. He could eat his weight in orange chicken. We picked up take out and brought it home to have a movie night. We watched Dr. Strange, one of the Avenger movies. During the whole quarantine we have been watching the entire Avengers series in order. The kids have enjoyed this so much!

Another day, another baseball game. Mimi has been able to come to almost every game to see our little man play. 

I started volunteering at church as a greeter for the welcoming committee. They wanted to do a mask competition. Well, if you know me I am going all out for it. The first week I wore my Avengers mask and carried everything that we own that is Avengers. The next week I dressed up in old Halloween costume as Woody from Toy Story. I even carried Bullseye, who was wearing a horse mask to promote social distancing guidelines.

We finally got a chance to take the new bike out for a nice ride in the neighborhood. Landon loved it. It had hand brakes and he said it was much easier to go up hills.

I had heard about Foot Golf a couple of years ago but never really thought about actually doing it until the kids were wanting to play soccer in the backyard. We headed out to Meadowbrook Golf Course to play a full 18 holes. It was hot and I wasn't sure if both the kids would make it through the event. So, I didn't play, I was just the kids helper. The kids could use me to kick once each hole for both of them. In the end I discovered that I can kick the ball fairly far, but not very straight!

Jennifer and I had another day off and we decided to make the trip back up to Cincinnati to hit some more golf balls. The kids were excited and we all had a lot of fun!

On the way back home we stopped by Eden Park. Jennifer and I had run through this park when we ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon a few years ago. We spotted this deer running around the park. It was so weird to see a deer in downtown Cincinnati. We also stopped by Greater's Ice Cream, which is a Cincinnati staple. Then as we started off on the drive back home we got a flat tire, which is the first one of my life. I have never even seen a person actually change a tire. Jennifer pulled up a youtube video and I just started doing what I had seen in movies. I got it changed in about 20 minutes which I was actually proud about.

Brinley has become way more interested in cooking, especially when it involves cracking some eggs. That is her absolute favorite thing to do in the kitchen.

More produce means more homemade goods. The first batches of salsa and zucchini bread are what is being made currently. Also another batch of pickles to add to the cupboard.

Summer nights mean that you should start up a fire and of course you also have to have s'mores!

The kids were asking about doing the mentos and diet coke experiment again. Well, we got it set up for both kids to be the ones to drop in the mentos.

We had a season pass to the Louisville Zoo that expired in April, but the zoo extended the expiration date because it was closed for a while at the start of the pandemic. Since Brinley loves animals and we were stir crazy we figured it would be good to get out of the house. You had to schedule your visit in advance to keep the number of visitors down. Masks weren't required but we chose to wear them. We got to see all the outdoor animals, but all the indoor exhibits were closed. The zoo had an exhibit set up for Chinese Lights but since we were there during the day we didn't get to see them lit up. I bet that it was beautiful.

My favorite part of the day was when the kids saw a cardinal and both of them knew what to do. L's down!

The most active animals were the meercats. Brinley also pictured with some pretty impressive bird wings.

I woke the kids up early to head out on an adventure. In order to get everyone up at 5 AM I had to promise them donuts from Franks. We went to the the one in Winchester because it was on the way to our destination.

Our destination was the Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge. I thought it would be neat to hike to the top of Natural Bridge to see the sunrise. We made it just as the sun was coming up, but unfortunately the sky was full of fog. The kids were not happy that I pushed them to get to the top to not be able to see much at all.

Next we headed over to Princess Arch, Chimney Rock, and Rock Bridge. The kids were troopers and really we didn't have much complaining at all, which is rare when we are hiking.

More pictures from our hikes. The kids were terrified of the suspension bridge. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I jumped up and down on it and it bounced up and down quite a bit.

The last stop of the hiking day was at Creation Falls on the hike to Rock Bridge. The kids loved it! We actually had the whole place to ourselves for about 30 minutes. The only causality of the day was when I was trying to walk over by the falls and I completely fell and busted my tail and scraped up my arm. On the hike back to the car the kids said it was their most favorite hike ever!

Most people tend to get hyped up to go play in a game. Landon chooses to grab a quick nap most days on the trip to the ball park. Occasionally he wakes up in a bad mood which doesn't go well for the first inning or two. 

I got a call from my friends in UK Football Recruiting and they informed me that my Belk Bowl ring had come in. The kids and I quickly made the trip to the facility to pick it up. We even decided to do a little photo shoot right out in front of the stadium. I still can't believe that I got the same ring as the whole team including Lynn Bowden and Kash Daniel. My favorite part of the ring is that it says STAFF, not golf cart driver!

They made a new rule at work that you had to wear eye protection. Jennifer bought some non prescription glasses to wear at work. I am ready for life to go somewhere back to normal, but when do you think that will be? She is beautiful even with her glasses.

My sunflowers in the garden didn't dissapoint again this year. At their peak I think they were about 12-13 foot tall. My neighbor said he really enjoys seeing all the birds come and eat the seeds out of them.

The kids got a game and always ask to play it but we never have whipped cream at the house. However, I picked some up so we could play Pie Face - Minions. It really is a fun game until the whipped cream hits you in your face!

Landon had pictures to commemorate his t-ball season. I missed the deadline to purchase the pictures, but I did grab these screen shots. I thought they turned out great. 

July was actually one of the better months of the crazy 2020 year. I really enjoyed getting out, especially into nature to explore with the family. We celebrated our big 7 year old and played a lot of baseball and golf this month. Thanks for reading and God bless!