Outdoor Fun

2 out of 3 ain't bad.

We took advantage of a relatively nice day this week to get outside and have some fun.  Grif was pretty pumped when I started stacking balls up on top of his tee.  Can anybody spot what is wrong in the above picture (no photo-shopping was done other than stitching the images together)?  

Yes that is a whiffle ball he's kicking.

Look at that form!  Head down, knee and shoulders over the ball, and arms out for balance.  A fantastic, low driving shot.  I can see the net bulging behind the keeper already! 

Strange Conversations

While playing Hide and Seek:

     Grif: Dad, you count with Leyton and I'll go hide on the couch downstairs 

             under the blanket.  Then come find me.

     I think he's missing the point of Hide and Seek....

     Me (lay on a heavy dose of sarcasm):  Wow Grif, I can't believe I found you 

             on your bed under the blanket for the sixth time in a row.

I was playing Hide and Seek with him and was carting Leyton around while we hid and searched for Griffin.

     Me to Steph:  Leyton is killing me.  He's all heavy breathing and making 
             noise and stuff.

     Maybe I'm too competitive about hide and seek with a three year old.

After his arm fell asleep he woke up with "pins and needles"

     Grif: Stop that sound in my hand.

After eating half a bag of Cheetos:

     Grif: Look Mom! Cheeto hand.

After he got in trouble:
     Grif: Daddy, why are you using your big voice?

At Church:
     Grif: Dad, who lives here?
     Me: Jesus.  This is his house.

     Grif: Well, then where is his bed?
     Me: Steph, This one is all you.

Cooking lessons from mom?  Seriously?  

Grif never wants to eat anything but chicken nuggets.  So Steph came up with an idea to get him involved in preparing the meal.  Then maybe he'd be more interested in trying some different things.  So, tonight we decided to give it a try.  I had my doubts, but he is a great helper and always wants to see what we are doing and be involved.

The menu:

Steak

Bread Twists

Parmesan Basil Orzo

Steamed Veggies

Steph isn't much of a cook, so I put her to work on the bread.  Pilsbury twists out of a can.  Not too much she could screw up there.  Grif wanted to eat the dough.  Otherwise this portion went pretty well.  

Dad to the rescue with some real cooking lessons.

Griffin then helped me thaw and season the steaks and put them on the grill.  After that, he helped me get the rice together and then set the table.

The meal started out as usual.  All he wanted to eat was the bread.  As it progressed, he ate all the steak and tried some of his rice.  Still no luck on veggies, but its a step in the right direction.

Ham

Look at those cheekers and teeth!

Wild Turkey

Steph has been a little anxious since we moved "out to the boonies" in Granville.  We have well water now and a septic tank, so she may have a little bit of a point.  We had deer, rabbits, raccoons, a skunk, etc in our backyard in the middle of a residential development in Reynoldsburg.  Today though, we had a wild turkey run thru our backyard.  It couldn't have been more than 20ft away from us.  I've seen them in the farm fields around the area, but it was pretty cool to see one so close to the house.  Grif and I went running outside to see it, but Steph wasn't too wild about being outside with a turkey on the loose.  It could peck her eyes out or something!

Strawberry Shortcake's After Hours Activities

On Mondays and Tuesdays Griffin and Leyton are at the sitter with two girls.  Beans is 4 and Kate is 2.  We got a note yesterday that they were playing Strawberry Shortcake.  I don't necessarily have a problem with this and I'm glad that he is getting a feminine influence.  But, I must say, I was happy when the story continued with, "She was going to a monster truck show".  I'm glad the girls are getting a masculine influence.

I also learned that the girls play "sleep over"  while Griffin plays "fort".

Kite Runner

Sunday morning, Grif and I were outside enjoying the warm weather when he found this kite in his toy bin in the garage.  "Dad!  Lets fly my kite!"  It wasn't very windy and as I opened up the kite, I had my doubts about its construction.  That little sucker worked pretty well though.  

It wasn't quite windy enough to just keep it in the air though, so we had to keep running.  Grif wiped out a number of times and three or four times I had to untangle the kite string from the boy or the dog or both.  We had it going pretty well though.  Almost all of the string was out.  We had a blast!