Explorium

There was a recent Groupon for the Lexington Explorium a few weeks ago so Jennifer and I got the kids ready and headed on downtown to have some fun. The place is full of hands on stuff for the kids to play with. It is a great place for them to run around and you never have to tell them that they can't play with something.

The biggest hit down in the lower level was the water table. The kids put on some aprons and would have played for hours, but we told them we should go look at everything else.

Cooking in the pretend kitchens. Brinley was cooking and Landon was cleaning up the dishes.

Lego building competition.

Exploring in the cave. Mostly playing with the flashlight.

Brinley looking at all the creatures that you can find in caves.

Landon learning how to milk a cow. Probably not the best technique, but he made it work.

Brinley going shopping for some fruits and vegetables.

A second round at the water table.

Landon working in the veterinarian's office.

Brinley giving a little baby a check-up at the doctor's office.

This is one of the favorites on the top level. You just put these little balls in the tubes and they watch them spin all around before falling down a hole in the middle of the table.

If you know me at all then this is probably the attire I would wear if I ever got a chance to walk around on the moon. Shorts and flip flops are my everyday apparel.

The bubble room is one of my favorite spots. We especially enjoy the bubbles that you can get in.

Landon was happy inside too.

Landon wanted to be in the bubble with his mommy.

Just hanging out in a bubble.

Look at this huge bubble.

The kids and I making and popping bubbles.

We took a break and headed to one of our favorite places downtown to eat, Pies and Pints. Afterwards we came back and played a little longer around the Explorium. Overall we spent about 4 hours downtown playing and having lunch. Pretty great day just enjoying playing with the kids. They are constantly learning new stuff and they played with so much more of the stuff this time than on previous visits to the Explorium. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Snow Days 2016

Some people don't like snow, but I love it! As a child I always said that I wanted to move to Wisconsin because I thought it would have a lot more snow. The past few years the kids really haven't enjoyed playing in the snow, so I was a little saddened. That all changed when Brinley started asking for a sled this past Christmas. I couldn't wait for some snow. Unfortunately we didn't get any snow until 2016. Thankfully we have had a few snow days to enjoy all of the white fluffy stuff.

Making a snow angel. Sometimes Jennifer will tell you that I am probably the biggest kid in the house.

Using our sleds that Santa brought for the very first time. Brinley and mommy on their first ride ever.

Jennifer and I even went down together. It had been almost 15 years since we had been sledding and it was together.

Family sledding. 

Brinley and I going down the hill together. They both ended up closing their eyes while going down the hill. They also said that they really didn't like sledding because it was too cold. I think they didn't like all the snow that came up on their faces when going down the hill.

Landon and mommy heading down the hill.

Another day playing in the snow I pulled the kids in the backyard. They were enjoying it until they fell off into the snow. Here Landon is holding on for dear life.

Brinley is enjoying being pulled around in the circle track in the backyard.

Landon really enjoys throwing snowballs.

Here I was just being goofy and running laps in the backyard and I finished it off with a flip into the snow.

Brinley is my little daredevil and she asked me to toss her up into the air. Jennifer wasn't exactly ready for the picture so she didn't get all of Brinley in the photo.

The kids with their snow angels.

Family snow day selfie.

Our first snowman that we built together. We used toys and rocks in the backyard to decorate him.

Building another snowman. This time we made it out in the front yard so that all our neighbors could see our work of art.

Building a couple more snowmen. Brinley was over it in this picture and Landon was just having a good time. Maybe one day Brinley will enjoy it a little more.

The kids are starting to get excited about playing outside, but they just aren't able to stay outside as long as I do. Brinley lasts about 20 minutes before she starts saying she is too cold and wants to head in for some hot chocolate. Landon is going to be my snow buddy. He will stay out until his hands and feet go numb because he is having a good time. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Donating blood at RUPP

I am a huge supporter of donating blood. This is because I see so many kids with cancer at work who continuously are getting different types of blood products. Quick biology lesson: Chemotherapy kills cancer which we all know, but it also has major impact on the rest of the body too. The chemo also kills red blood cells which are found in your blood. Red blood cells are the transporters of oxygen around your body. If you have low blood counts then you will typically show signs of fatigue or be tired more often. So, 3 years ago when I started working on the Hematology/Oncology side of the children's hospital I made a commitment to myself that I would also donate if I was able to. This is because these kids are in a daily battle for their life and the least I could do would be to go get a little bit of my blood taken so that they could be better prepared for their fight with cancer. Every 2 months I head over to the donation center and give a pint of my O+ blood. Besides the benefit of knowing that I helped someone with my donation there are also a few perks that go with it too! Every year they do a blood drive at RUPP Arena and the perk is that you get to take a couple shots out on the court where many Kentucky legends have played. The past three years I have taken advantage of this awesome event and have even taken Jennifer and the kids along. This year we had some additional help to watch the kids so Grandma and Grandpa watched them while Jennifer and I donated.

The kids playing on the court. They were running around and acting like they had never been out of the house. 

I helped both of the kids make lay ups. If only I was a little bit lot taller I could help them dunk. Maybe one day they will be able to jump up there by themselves.

All of the adults taking their shots. Nobody hit on their first attempt! I tried out all the shots from the This or That challenge that they do at the halftime of each UK basketball game. I made the lay up and the 3-pointer, but missed the free throw and half court shot.

Donating blood! I am proud to say that I am currently working on my 3rd gallon that I have donated.

Jennifer just after she finished donating. She was a little nervous because this was her first time ever donating. They will probably be calling her often to donate because she is the universal donor blood type.

You can't walk out on the court and not pretend to be in front of 24,000 screaming fans. It would be a very intimidating arena to play for both the home and away team. Since I have used up all of my college eligibility I will never be able to play for the wildcats, so my next option to get in front of that huge crowd would be to complete the spelling of Kentucky by being the Y! Not sure that will ever happen, but a man can always dream. I guess I would need to do something that would make myself famous first or only a handful of people in the arena would know who I was.

So, I guess that I will just have to keep training the kids in hopes that one day they can be the Y.

Landon as the Y.

My little wildcat family. I am so glad that they are being raised to love the BBN.

Grandma and Grandpa even got in on the dream of being the Y. They went in together to each complete a half.

Here are a couple snapshots from the previous couple of years going down to RUPP with Jennifer and the kids. It is so crazy to see how they have grown.

Even without the benefit of getting to shoot around at RUPP, I would still be donating blood. I would also encourage everyone one that I know to do the same. You never know who you could help and one day it could even be you or one of your family members that are in need. So, get out there and donate! Save lives! Thanks for reading and God bless!

Landon at RUPP

Landon has been to watch the wildcats play before, but we have always gone as a family when we had an extra set of tickets to the game. Not until the other day did I get to take my little mini me to a game when it was just the two of us. We got there early so that we could explore and see everything that they had to offer before tip-off. Landon had never been interested in getting his face painted on previous trips to RUPP, but he had seen Brinley do it. I asked him on the way into the stadium and he said that he wanted to do it. So, after walking over to the arena we jumped in line for face painting. 

Landon sat really still while the lady painted his face. I talked him out of getting the wildcat face like Brinley did on a previous time to getting his whole face painted.

Since my season tickets are in the upper arena, I took Landon down near the court to get a picture while the boys were warming up.

The foam fingers were a free give away in the lobby. Landon loved it. As we were walking back up to the concourse Landon was getting a lot of smiles and high fives. A few people even asked if they could take his picture. The ushers told him that he was a little celebrity.

We headed back out to the lobby to listen to the pep band. I put Landon up on my shoulders so that he could see everything going on.

We even headed over to meet the cheerleaders before heading up to our seats. They all thought Landon was so cute.

 Right after meeting the cheerleaders I realized that I had lost Landon's sippy cup. So, with about 20 minutes before tip-off I started panicking and we retraced our entire journey up until that point to look for the sippy cup. We didn't have any luck so I thought this was going to be a wasted trip to see the CATS play because there was no way Landon could go through the entire game without something to drink. I opted to try out a drink from the concession stand even though Landon doesn't really like cups with straws all that much. While I was there I picked him up a box of popcorn too!

We made our trek up to our seats and Landon was ready to eat. He loved the popcorn and especially liked his Sprite.

He hardly set this cup down during the first half.

 We made it to about half time before he started to lose interest and become restless. I was able to keep him calm with some pez candy and with his iPhone.

He was really into taking pictures tonight which is not like him at all. I took advantage and captured quite a few.

 Since it was a blow out win against Georgia there were a lot of people that were heading home early because it was such a late game. I took advantage of everyone leaving and decided that we would move on down a little closer.

Little man enjoyed the comfort of the lower arena seats. He looks pretty chill in this picture. 

Landon and I enjoying our seat upgrades.

Landon took my phone and even took a couple selfies. I think he really enjoyed the face paint.

I wanted to try and get Landon on the post game show just like I had been able to with Brinley earlier this season. Just our luck that the seats right behind the announcers opened up just in time and Landon and I got in right behind the two ESPN announcers. He held up a number 1 as well as his foam finger. I think he did pretty good for a 2 year old.

Even though it was almost midnight when we got home from our night out Landon was still wide awake. We decided that mommy needed to get a picture with Landon and his face paint before he went to bed.

I had so much fun with Landon at the game. He is really starting to become much easier to take care of because he is actually able to communicate better. He is a really happy little guy and I can't wait to teach him everything that I know about being a man. I also can't wait to learn even more over the years with him as we enjoy the journey together. Thanks for reading and God bless!