David's Life: 2016-07

2016-07-31

2016-07-30

Our conversation went in the weeds!

A nice night, at the Greene, with the boys.

I Ike how Andy configured his watch.

Johnny got a turn to. They seemed to enjoy it.

Johnny caught his ice cream, from all the way across the store!

Washing my mom's porch. Quite a difference!

Andy hit the jackpot too!

Some of you have seen Andy walking around with his homemade "Apple Watch" for the last year or so. He took an old Nano and used a band, to wear it as a watch. All that time, he's been doing odd jobs and saving his cash for a real Apple Watch. He was getting close to the list price, and decided he wanted to start looking for sales and open box discounts to see how much he still needed. Well, in our trip to the mall, he stopped at Best Buy. TaDa! They have the model he wanted ON SALE and with an OPEN BOX DISCOUNT. The best part is, he had enough money, on him, to buy it on the spot! Big smile on that boy's face! So, he and I got to play together, setting it up and messing around with all the options! Fun times. His hard work has been rewarded. A large portion of it was spent clearing our paths, in the woods, in the 95 degree sun!

Family night out!

This reminded me of Friday nights when we were kids. We ended up going out to the Mall, hitting a few stores the kids wanted to check out, then grabbing some fast food along the way. Our mom and dad used to take us to the Dayton Mall to check out Children's Palace, Radio Shack and London Bobby. We had a lot of fun discovering new things we just HAD to have. ;)

The best part is that both the boys hit the jackpot! Johnny has been looking for a place to buy some cards for his card games and find someone to talk to about strategies, etc. We found Dominic, at Treasures. He was great! He and Johnny were both thrilled to share.

You can see Johnny explaining all the details of his loot, to Andy, on the way home.

Wait until you see what Andy stumbled into...!

Julie's Ghost Mantis!

She is all "leafy"

Can you find Andy in the shadows?

When we were renovating the house and cleaning the barn, the kids created a game called SpotLight. We all dress in dark clothes and attempt to make it from the house to the barn. The catch is, that one of us is sitting in the barn loft door with a construction light. If you get spotted and called out, you have to start all over again. First one to make it to the barn, undetected, gets to be the next SpotLighter. We played, again, on Thursday night. Andy was dressed like a shadow. You might be able to see him laying at the base of the tree...?

The boys and their cousins made a tether ball!

They used paracord, duct tape, and a soccer ball. We couldn't get them to stop playing! Brings back lots of playground memories. ;)

2016-07-25

Nice end to a hot day. Good idea Andy!

A few rifle rounds & a little man-mashing and we no longer have a defective TV :)

A simple summary of the life of a believer.

2016-07-23

Yummy snack on a walk with my wife, today.

2016-07-21

Enjoying birthday dessert with cousins and skill toys. Good time.

2016-07-19

My entry in my sister's photo contest... ;)

2016-07-16

Julie's latest handcrafted meal! Yum!!

I love to catch them playing games together. :)

2016-07-15

The things we do at dinner...

The top is Johnny writing an algebraic equation for the numbering of dice. The bottom is us practicing writing with our opposite hands.

All in a day's work...

The boys have always wanted to ride on the floor of a van!

2016-07-10

Staycation 2016-07-01

via IFTTT

They're already begging to go mountain biking again!

You can see all of our staycation pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dwbarton/albums/72157670521407685

I'll be posting one video that combines all the videos, so you don't have to watch each individual one in the link above.

I guess Shadow's trying to tell me something?

via IFTTT

Day nine: We had the most fun, of the day, at the rodeo in Waynesville.

They have one every Friday at Fox Hollow Ranch on 73.

We got to see lots of bull riding. Here's the entire field kneeling for prayer, before they compete.

2016-07-09

By unanimous decision, we all agreed THIS was he highlight of the day! "Mountain" biking at our local park.

It's not just a trail ride. There are just enough obstacles, twists, hills, and scenery to make a perfect combo of fun and challenge. We rode Hilltop Flow, Twisted, then on to Voodoo. 3 miles, and an hour of biking that seemed like 20 mins. We all agreed, we'll be back soon!

The boys and I went go cart racing yesterday. 22MPH, drifting, and squealing tires!

I rented an adult car. They go 40MPH! They felt like about 70! :) lots of fun!

BUT, this wasn't the highlight of the day...

2016-07-08

We went to the aquarium for day seven. Mighty Mike was right up at the glass...!

He's enormous and was fun to watch. He was sitting in an awesome spot for the crowds.

2016-07-07

Time out for Johnny?

He was nominated to save a seat for us, at dinner, and this is the one he picked. Haha.

Day six staycation highlights - Our concert in Columbus.

Julie and the boys really like Weird Al and his quirkiness. Last night was no exception. It is fun to see him make so much fun of the entertainment industry that thinks so much of themselves...! ;)

Andy's really enjoying his advanced Lego robot class...!

Here he is, waiting for his classmates to arrive. That's his stuff, on the ground, but where is he...?

2016-07-06

Andy's trying to assure me he's having a balanced breakfast...

I bought the kids their choice of "special cereal" for vacation. They normally have their choice of Shredded Wheat or Shredded Wheat to go with their fruits and veggies... ;)

For day 5, of our staycation, the highlight was watching old game shows!

We found $25K Pyramid, Price is Right, and Family Feud all from 1985 (the year I met Julie) and we found the episode where they had their first $1M winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. We had fun guessing at the answers and laughing at the fashions and brands.