It's All About the Presentation...

Most people who know us know that we are rabid Olympics fans. We attended events in Atlanta in '96 and Salt Lake in '02. We each have our favorites. For instance, I love volleyball (the indoor variety, both mens and womens), while Kelsee tolerates it at best. She has been really into the cycling road races, which just isn't my thing. We both enjoy glimpses of the "Olympic" sports. You know those sports that you only really ever watch during the Olympics: fencing, wrestling, weightlifting, various field events, whitewater, rowing, etc. We do watch the swimming, gymnastics and diving enthusiastically, as well. Anyway, normally we aren't too much into the running events. We watch and enjoy, but really not to the same level as the other stuff above. Well, that changed this year, at least for Kelsee, and for one primary reason. Ato Boldon. She sighs when she hears his voice, drools when she sees him. We've been watching most of the Olympics on TiVo, and every time they flash to the NBC Broadcast team, the remote flies up and points to the television, the image of The Man paused. Then slowly, oh so slowly, she advances the recording. Sheesh. I decided to take a pic of the image she was most fascinated with the other night... This particular picture elicited air kisses from my dear wife. That's OK. I got back at her by swooning over the US womens volleyball team. I was going to take a picture of the scene we paused for Cameron. He found excitement in the Olympics only during womens gymnastics, and most particularly the little firecracker Shawn Johnson. I wasn't going to take a picture of her flashing that million dollar smile or shaking her tush at him. I was going to take a picture of him mesmerized, his chin resting on the floor and his eyes bugging out. He said he doesn't have a problem marrying a woman who makes millions of dollars more than him. Kelsee said she wouldn't have had a problem marrying a man who made millions more than her, either. Gee, thanks.

A Week of Firsts

It's official. Haley is a student. She started kindergarten last week, and the event brought a range of emotions into our home, especially with her mother. I leave her to share that if she chooses. Anyway, she was so excited, but then I think the stress caught up to her on the first day. She was so anxious, she wouldn't even give us a real Haley smile for the pictures. Cameron gave us a real smile, which was pretty monumental in and of itself that early in the morning. Anyway, here are some pics... Best we can do of the new student for the official "backpack on and posing on the front porch" picture. Just a minute before she's grinning the biggest grin and practically bouncing. As soon as the camera comes out she looks like she is trying to fake a smile after losing her favorite pet. Now, Cameron, on the other hand, is totally genuine. I'm not sure if this is because he's glad to be out of the boredom of our house for the bulk of the day, or if it's because he had no less than four girls call him up that week saying they couldn't wait to see him and give him the biggest hugs. Every guy reading this is nodding their heads to that second option. Kelsee tries to get a smile again from the anxiety riddled five year old. Really, Haley. You can do better than that. Fine. We give up. Anyway, school seems to be going well for both our students. My class starts this week. Wonder if Kelsee will take a picture of me on my first day, or do we not do that with teachers? ----- Another first... On Monday, as I was waiting for my carpool while Kelsee was helping Haley get ready for school, I hear a shreik from the munchkin's room. I dart into the room to see her mother practically bouncing on the bed and Haley beaming. Seems Haley wanted Kelsee to feel how sharp Haley's teeth were (why, I have no idea). When Kelsee felt one of the lower front teeth, it really wiggled. Sure enough. Haley's first loose tooth, and it is REALLY loose. Kelsee is spending the day making a tooth fairy pillow. I never got one of those. I feel robbed. ----- This morning Haley decided to play family photographer for the first time. This series is entitled "Morning in the House..." Me, waiting on my carpool... Cameron, refusing to look at the camera. However, this shows just how heavy his backpack is. Man, I don't miss school... Now, right here should be a picture of Kelsee standing in the bathroom blowing her hair dry making a funny face. However, I've learned a valuable lesson in my short 13+ years of marriage. Don't post pictures of the wife without prior written approval. (Must be written, mind you, or you open up a Pandora's Box...) If I receive the necessary legal documentation, I'll post it. Otherwise, just use your imagination.

More in Our 'OK. That was Random...' Series (plus bonus Haley-ism!)

You know what? I have the awesomest wife in the world. When I woke up bright and early--or dark and early--I was treated with a lovely note from Kelsee. She'd obviously written it some point during the night. Love you, too, baby. ----- Last thought on jog-walking. Endorphins are amazing things. I hurt when I run, yet I find myself looking forward to it each morning. It's just wrong. Endorphins should be outlawed. ----- Haley-ism We were downstairs watching TV. Haley was scratching some spot on her arm, a little white bump had formed there. She scratched some more, then looked at Kelsee. "I have beehives on my arm!" ----- We went to the Kentucky Horse Park yesterday. We only had a few hours as I had to work in the morning and Haley had a OT appointment late in the afternoon. For those who don't know, the KHP is a huge place, site of the annual Rolex Three Day equestrian event and the first non-European site of the World Equestrian Games (in 2010). It's also the burial location of Man-O-War and the home of several other famous retired horses. They hold any number of equestrian activities there and have many stables, barns, and museums. Anyway, some pictures, with my comments below each. Ladies and Gentlemen! Cigar! (No, really. Cigar. I know it looks like a horse...) Anyway, Cigar was a big name in horse racing during the middle Nineties. Horse of the year in 95 and 96, won 16 straight races (obliterating the competition). He didn't really start racing until he was a four-year-old or something, but he's a big name in the racing world. I was giddy to see him. An interesting note. This picture of Cigar I took at the Hall of Champions, where they bring in a few really big name horses to show the crowd. Most of the horses really liked to SHOW the crowd, if you know what I mean. Everything on display. I don't have any pictures of that, but it was a fascinating example of Classical Conditioning. The handler would just smack her leg with her hand, or turn the horse in a circle, and he'd just, well, retract. Sometimes. Amazing. Haley didn't comment on it, so I breathed a sigh of relief. (As an aside: Did I ever mention I had a roommate in college who competed in rodeo. He had a walking stick made of a horse, ummm, appendage. Yet I digress...) Part of the activities at KHP is the Parade of Breeds. They bring out five or six different breeds and show you all about them. Really neat to see how different they all are. This guy in the picture was huge, and so was the horse (a Shire, used by Medieval knights). Haley has become really fascinated with horses over the last year or two. She had a ball at the horse park. Oh, and imagine that! We can see her chewing her gum. Some things never change. This is just about the biggest horse I've ever seen. There were actually two of them. Percherons, one of a breed of draft horses. They were each about 18 hands high (a hand is 4 inches) and weighed a total of 4300 pounds. Amazing. Here's Haley petting the head and neck of this tiny Percheron. Did I mention that he weighed nearly 2200 pounds? Like that handler would be able to stop him if he decided to bolt over the top of those little kids. Yikes. Time to find another horse... Ah, here we go. Some miniature pony. It's not a Shetland, but it's similar. Here's putting that pony's size in perspective. It would need to be concerned if I decided to bolt, not the other way around. (By the way, I hate the camera. See how big it makes me look? I'm sure it has nothing to do with the uncontrolled eating and sedentary lifestyle I used to live.) Hey, Kona Gold thinks our blog is funny! Thanks, big guy! (Kona Gold: set the fastest time ever at Churchill Downs during the 2000 Breeders Cup Sprint. It seemed like he made this face every time he, uh, extended. Pervert...)

Oh, My! Now the Peaches!

We've reaped quite a harvest on from our peach tree. Maybe five dozen peaches. Mind you, this is a dwarf peach tree that we got for free from someone; we new it had pretty flowers, but never knew we'd get this reward! Our first two summers were pretty anemic. Anyway, recall my post about our tomatoes? (My Tomatoes Are Horny!) Looks like they aren't the only virile produce, and now I think I know the source of our peach population explosion... Who knew my blog would end up pornographic? Playfruit Magazine Online. (Ugh, that was an awful attempt at humor. Oh, well. You can't win 'em all.)

Running without a Basketball? Blasphemy!!!

Life got pretty busy in early March when Cameron came to live with us. An unintended yet pleasant consequence of that was I forgot to eat. I mean, I still eat meals, but I forgot to have that second helping or the late night snack. I've had a couple of medical issues that involved me going to the doctor five or six times since March, and I realized after the first visit (where I weighed in at a hefty... you'd like to know, wouldn't you? Tough...) that I needed to get serious about losing weight, but I didn't put much thought into it, as usual. Anyway, I discovered at the second visit that I'd lost like five pounds and hadn't really done anything. So I began to be more aware of it. Each subsequent visit to the doctor showed more weight loss, such that I was 25 pounds less of a man at my last visit about a week and a half ago than I was at my first in March. And you know what? It really wasn't hard. I decided a couple of things. First, if I wanted a double cheeseburger or any other decadent food, I'd eat it. I wasn't going to go on some weird freaky menu diet. I'm just going to do portion control and cut out most of my snacking. I had a nutritionist who once told me losing weight is about attitude change more than anything. I also know that cutting back food intake can only take you so far. Now, I need to interject that I'm trying to lose weight for a few reasons: 1. Haley is a typical five-year-old in the sense that her energy far exceeds mine. I need to be able to keep up. 2. Big guy clothes are more expensive then little guy clothes. 3. Airplane seats are really small, and the seatbelts are really short. 4. Genetically, I'm probably going to have major problems with my knees. They don't need any more help getting trashed. 5. Other health reasons, which I'm sure nobody really cares about, so I'll leave them alone. 6. I want my wife to think I'm kinda cute, but I'm not sure losing weight can help all that much in the ugly department. Anyway, I decided about two weeks ago to add to my exercise regimin, which right then consisted of one night of basketball a week and lots of walking from my desk to the bathroom to unload my Mountain Dew. I have started jog-walking. I call it jog-walking because part of the time I'm walking, and the rest of the time I'm "jogging", which actually resembles my walking except I move my arms faster and bounce higher with each step. I definitely don't go any faster. I've learned a few things about jogging... 1. People who do it for fun are gluttons for punishment. When I'm done, my knees hurt, my ankles hurt, I can't catch my breath and I stink. I don't mind any of these things if I'm dribbling a basketball, but just for the sake of running? 2. Running in the late evenings really interrupts the evening, and takes away from my couple time with my better half. So I decided two days ago to begin running in the morning. However, running in the morning hurts worse than running in the evening. 3. Running in Kentucky in August sucks for two main reasons: humidity and hills. Yuck. 4. Running is an individual thing. Cameron tried running with me last Friday night. I told him to run at his own pace, to push himself a little, but not to wait for me to catch up or try to keep up with me. He seemed perplexed, but I soon left him behind and finished probably five minutes ahead of him. 5. Thank goodness for MP3 players and metal music. Makes this running thing tolerable. 6. Completing my circuit each day comes with some feeling that is surprisingly and disturbingly satifying. I'm not saying I like it, but I guess I can see how someone might become addicted to it, in a completely morbid way.