Sledding

We took to the car this weekend and headed north. We went to go play in the snow for the first time in Pia's life...... yes, not my 6 month old son, but my 26 year old wife is the one that has never been in snow. We went sledding just outside of Flagstaff. The trip did make me want to go skiing, but I guess that is another trip.
We did get to eat at my favorite pizza place in Arizona (Roma Pizza). It didn't taste as good as it does after a long day of skiing, but it wasn't bad either. Abe did better than we could have ever hoped. He slept most of the way there and back and was only starting to get tired of being in the chair for the last half hour. Here are the pictures and a video.
There was another video, but Pia had a hard time shooting it because she had to close her eyes when I was sledding with Abe.

Abe sits up....and then gets down

Abe can now sit up all by himself: Which makes him very happy:So he celebrates:

A guilt free lunch

Yesterday I scoured through my mother's fast food coupons that she keeps at her desk at work and decided that a buy one get one free six inch sub from subway would be the way to go for lunch. I headed to the local subway and ordered one spicy Italian sub and one Subway club. On my way out I was solicited by a homeless lady who was pushing her shopping cart (overflowing with boxes). She asked me for change and I said that I didn't have any and moved on to my car.
I will take a second here and just say that the advent of debit cards must be the bane of the existence of any beggar, because I, like many I know, never have cash on me and therefore would never have change.
Anyway, back to the story at hand. I was headed to my car when I distinctly felt, "you don't have any change, but you do have another sandwich." I continued to my car, but was thinking that maybe this was the reason that I had got the coupon and the reason I had 2 sandwiches as opposed to just one foot long. I thought that there was no way that I would not feel absolutely terrible if I didn't go give the beggar one of my sandwiches.
I spun around and walked up to the beggar and offered her my extra sandwich............... and she declined.
There were a couple of things I got from this:
1. How bad is Subway if a homeless person turns down their food?
2. What would the money have been used for?
3. I didn't give up a sandwich but I know that if I didn't offer, it would have been the most bitter meal I have ever had.
I will not by so cheesy as to have a moral to the story, but something interesting (for me at least) that I thought I would share with you.

B-Abraham Pictures.....again

I am doing my best to walk a fine line in between telling embarrassing stories from my childhood and showing off my own child. I still want to maintain this blog as what it was, but I also use it as an avenue to allow family to keep up with the growing man-child oftentimes called Abraham. That being said, enjoy the stories of childhood trouble below and some pictures of Baberowham. That's my dad holding Abe on Christmas. My mom made the awesome snowman hat.
We are starting to feed the boy and this was our first attempt. He seemed to like the rice cereal, but his face loved it.
We feed him and then it either goes through the system and comes out the other end, or it is produced as saliva and ends up on his shirt. Look at all that slobber! He didn't spit up, that is just Abe drool.
We read to Abe, but when I read to him a few nights ago, he wrestled the book out of my hands and did this.

One thing I noticed is that Abe doesn't smile much for the camera (at least in these picutes) he is a pretty happy baby, but when the camera shows up in front of my wife's face, he just becomes glazed over with wonderment apparently (or so his face would indicate).

Stories from the principal's office

I wasn't a bad kid, (at least I don't think so. One would really have to ask my mom.) but I did get sent to the principal's office a couple of times in my 13 short years of graded school. I never dealt with getting in trouble well as a kid and when faced with the shame of getting in trouble or disappointing my parents I would always burst into tears, which made for an even more humiliating experience. To be honest, even now, if I disappointed my parents I would still have a hard time holding back the tears (even the idea of it now is filling my tear ducts.....weird).

The first time I went to the principal's office was when I was in kindergarten (yes, I started early). Schools in Arizona are built a lot like colleges in that difference departments have different buildings (trailers) and school grounds look more like a campus, but in Oregon and WY, schools are built in one big building and the school's doors would only open 15 minutes before the first class of the day, which means that there would be a group of students (whether dropped off by an early bus or parent, or just early in general) waiting outside for the janitor to unlock the doors. I was sent off early to school by my mom with my sack lunch in hand. I remember specifically that I had an apple in my lunch that day. The school that I was attending was k-6 and I remember a fifth grader was making fun of me for something. I don't remember what he was making fun of me about, but what a piece of crap, making fun of a five year old (that seems way crueler to me now as an adult than it did at the time). I did what any self respecting kid would do; I took my sack lunch and jumped as high as I could, swinging that paper bag in a windmill around my back to conk that evil fifth grader right on the head. The bag broke and my lunch went flying. The sandwich and chips were saved because of the sandwich bags that protected them, but the apple was ruined as it smashed against the cold cement. The fifth grader laughed as I collected my scattered meal. A few minutes later the doors to the school were opened. As I was walking past the administrative area which housed the principal's office I was stopped and instructed to go to the principal's office. I don't recall much of the conversation that ensued, but I do remember I was in tears the entire time. In his closing remarks, the principal asked me if I was okay, and in between sobs I tried my best at 5 year old humor and said that I was fine, but I didn't think there was any helping my apple.

The second time I was sent to the principal's office was in WY where it can get to be a little cold every once in a while. In the sixth grade I was at school early again waiting with some friends for the locks to be unhitched and the students be allowed to start their day. Much to our surprise we found that one of the doors had been left unlocked so we slipped inside to escape the cold (and because it was cool to sneak into the school). We found a bathroom on the third floor to hide in until school started, but were apparently a little too loud, because within a few minutes a teacher ordered us to leave the bathroom and marched us straight to the principal's office. Once again, I don't remember what the principal said, but it was short and no punishment was doled out, because he must have understood that we were just escaping the cold.

In the 7th grade in AZ, I went to a public charter school (which I only attended for 6 months and hated for every minute) at which I was sent to the principal's office for not doing my homework in math. (I hate math class).

I have often thought about the first time and laughed. It is one of my clearest childhood memories which is kind of sad that one of my first memories is getting sent to the principal's office, but it's probably because it was so traumatic.
Anyway.... there is no moral to these ridiculous stories, just something that I often think about that I thought I would share.