LEGACY PARKWAY HOTSHEET: Welcome!

LEGACY PARKWAY HOTSHEET: Welcome!

Go see the fish

My son and daughter love fish. Nemo is in the DVD player more than any other movie. They have a ton of fish toys - sharks . . . fish . . . octopus . . . rays . . . if it's in the water they love it. Breck should start to form gills soon anyway, the amount of time that the kid spends in the tub makes my fingers wrinkle. He'd be like the charature that Kevin Costner plays in "Water World" (one of the worst films ever).

We went to the new "Gail Benjamin Aquarium Experience" in Salt Lake City this past week. It was pretty cool. It's a bit pricey - $7 - for a small exhibit, but the place was packed. Hopefully they will build the aquarium that they are talking about http://www.thelivingplanet.com/exhibits.html. My kids had a great time, but it was far too crowded to spend any real time at any one tank. The neatest display was the "petting" stream. They had some rays, starfish and some smaller fish swimming around where you could reach out and touch them. My kids were amazed that they could put their hands in the water and try to touch a "fishy." Holli wouldn't have any of it - her experience in Grand Cayman with Sting Rays was enough for her whole life. If you get a chance check out the aquarium.

A Good Holiday

The holiday season came and went.

My kids finally started to "get" Christmas. They both tore into their presents and participated in the holiday events. On 12/24 I impersonated the fat, northern elf for my family's Christmas party. Getting into the red suit was much more of a task than what I thought it would be. The suit was over 30 years old - the beard/moustache combo reeked of 30 years of human breath (yeah, it stunk real, real bad), and the belt . . . well, it was a bit small (time for a New Year resolution - 50 lbs). When I came through the front door and bellied out my "Ho, Ho, Ho" my son looked at me and said, "Hi, Daddy." I was crushed. I'd been practicing my Santa for a couple of days and I wanted my kids to be willing to sit on Santa's lap. Little did I realize that my son would pick up on me that quick. 2 year olds are S-M-A-R-T (I have to spell things w/ my wife already). He still sat on my lap but it wasn't as magical as I'd hoped it would be. On the other hand my daughter didn't recognize me at all. She was excited and a bit bewildered. It was a great "daddy/daughter" moment. Everyone else in my family made the trip to the lap as well. Grandpa, Grandma, the uncles, cousins . . . Everyone. The only concerns that I had were that I wouldn't be able to pull off Santa for the little kids and that when my brother sat on my lap that we would break the chair (220 lbs + 250 lbs = broken chair). Overall the holiday was very good except that my wife's birthday (12/28) always seems to take a back seat to Christmas.

I'm hoping that I can get everyone to celebrate my wife's birthday in June. Call it a half-birthday. It just makes sense for everyone. After all the holiday shopping who wants to go out and get another present and after all the present opening for Christmas who wants to open more presents (presents that sometimes can be an afterthought) 3 days later. I'll see if I can petition the governor to make an official change for my wife.

Here it is . . . My first post

I've seen too many "Blogs" and finally decided that I should get in on the kick. I'll have to see if it really helps my desire to document some of my life events and happenings.

This past weekend sucked. I've had the flu. Seriously, I can't think of anything worse than being sick. I started to think about my mom and how awful leukemia and the chemo and radiation had to have been. I was being a wuss and realized I needed to suck it up a little more. Needless to say - I hate it. H was a real trooper this weekend. She took the kids, went to her moms and let me sleep.