A Month of Athletic Pursuits

It has been a long while since my last post.  Mostly because the current blogging format is clunky and tedious relative to newfangled technology like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.  That being said, here are some pictures from June. 

Jackson at a Sugar Land Skeeters baseball game.  First haircut still pending. 

The three of us have been playing a lot of evening golf.

 

Liam is hitting his 3-metal off the deck

 

And hitting some dingers over the back fence. 

Liam is a swimmer

Jackson is a noble floater.

Rachel made us a family Facebook page so going forward, pictures, videos, and beautiful words can all be found at: https://www.facebook.com/Familyofswans/

NY Lake Trip Was a Fish Catching, Anniversary Celebrating, Success

A few times a year Bill and I will head to Sullivan County, NY to visit clients.  This time around we rented a house on Lake Louise Marie and brought along the whole family.  Here are some of the pictures:   

We fished from the house

We caught Rock Bass

We caught Large Mouth Bass

We caught Yellow Perch

We went kayaking

The house seemed purpose-built to kill children and yet both survived unscathed. 

Hi there.

That's the house.

This is Liam paddling around while I fish and Jackson points.

During the trip Rachel and I had our five year wedding anniversary

.

We celebrated with champagne, went out to dinner . . .

 and took pictures on the stairs.

We did other stuff too, I just tend to only take fishing pictures.  For example, the kids rode around on one of our client's tractors, we went to parks, played golf, and people went shopping.  It was a great trip that was totally worth the nightmare of getting two kids on a plane with a week of luggage, two car seats, a double stroller and a pack & play.

Port Aransas Trip Ends With Sand in All Places

Last Friday was Liam's last day of school so we packed the car full of beach related items and headed down to a rented house in Port Aransas.     

The kids kind of hated the beach.  Liam didn't want to touch the ocean and Jackson didn't like the sand.  When asked about his favorite parts of the trip, Liam responded, "Flying the kite that looked like a parrot [flew for about 2 minutes before breaking], going on the pirate ship [didn't actually happen], and going in the pool."  I'd call that a successful trip.    

Past and Future Farmers of America

A few weeks before my parents got here, Liam was sitting in the bushes trying to plant bird seed - presumably in an effort to grow birds.  His grandfather had better ideas and came through with radish and zucchini. 

The planting process

One week later

Two weeks later

Three weeks later.  A little radish.

And since I'm not really sure where else to to put this picture, I'm going to leave it right here.  It kind of looks like an old-timey picture of me holding Jackson, or my dad holding me, or a commercial for the palm trees, but it is in fact a picture of my grandfather holding my Uncle Jake. 

We all kind of look the same in black and white. 

Does Sexy Anti-Sex Sell Financial Services?

In this week's issue of TIME I have a one sentence quote in a finance related article. Yesterday a company reached out in an attempt to sell me a commemorative novelty plaque for the walls of our office.  The plaque, they tell me, will look like this:

As I told the sales guy, I'm not sure it sends the message we're going for.  If you're interested in the article, the online version is here and the print edition is dated April 11, 2016.  If don't want to read the whole thing or like reading quotes without context, imagine an article that includes the words:

“But it’s not about the return,” says Jonathan Swanburg, a financial planner with Tri-Star Advisors in Houston. “What’s important is that you can’t outlive it.” 

Fishing Squad

Some of my best memories from childhood involve fishing with my dad. I would get the line tangled beyond repair, say something like, “You want to trade?” and then wait for a bite while he cut through layers of mono and retied hooks. At the time it was great and I caught a lot of fish. Now that I’m an adult with two terrible fisherman of my own, I understand what he went through.

In order for Liam to catch this lake monster I had to disentangle his brother’s ankles from fishing line, uncross three poles, unwrap a rod tip, and remove a hook from my hand. It was glorious.

February in Review

Maintaining a blog about children is very difficult. It entails sorting through pictures from my phone, transferring them to the computer, uploading them to the blog and then writing something kind and relevant. This is usually made harder by the fact I would rather watch Netflix, read, or do anything other than write nice things about the kids that were just crying because I told them to brush their teeth.

And every night is weird.  Last night for example we went and watched Baylor play baseball at University of Houston. A nice time was had by all. When we get home, I hop in the shower, Jackson pees on the tile before getting in with me. Liam tries to do the same.

Rachel says, “Liam you can’t pee on the floor.”

He says, “I’m going to pee in the shower.”

“Go for it!” she says.

But at this point Jackson and I are in the shower. Rachel doesn’t really care that it is improper etiquette to pee in a shower in which others are bathing because she is cleaning Jackson’s urine off the floor. So she is cleaning pee, Jackson and I are in the shower, Liam takes off his pants, opens the shower door, stands outside and starts peeing on our feet.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Peeing in the shower,” he said.

Moments later he finished, closed the door, and walked away.

Of course, I still love these people and here are some highlights from the past month:

We went hiking.

Liam met Hakeem Olajuwon

There was a cowboy day at school

We flew a kite

 

Jackson (still about 20 pounds and wearing 6 - 9 month clothes) was bit in the face by a bug 

Every time we try playing a sport - be it baseball, soccer, football or golf - Jackson will pull down his pants before running for the ball.  Little League will be fun.   

30 Second Golfing Cowboy

Google Photos takes all of my terrible pictures and videos and compiles them into short movies.  This one combines our trip to the golf course with Liam's first time riding a horse.     

The music is uplifting, the filter is nostalgic and the story seamlessly transitions from two children on a driving range to one child riding his favorite horse.  If you are into kids, horses, or golfers that need work, this is a top notch film.       

A Celebration of Three Years

Liam's third birthday was superhero themed.  The balloons, plates, napkins, cakes and assorted novelty items paid homage to our nation's animated peacekeepers.

It was very cold and very wet.  Kid's still bounced.  Many likely got sick.   

Everyone ate cake. 

People wore children while making capes and masks at the "Build Your Own Cape & Mask Station"

The youths slapped around an overly-well built pinata.   

I made conversation and solid eye contact with this beer. 

And that was about it.  The next day the weather was better and Liam continued to party.

He bounced for about three hours.

Drove around his new car.

And ate dinner at Papasito's where he was presented with a large hat and festive song.

Thank you to everyone that helped him celebrate.  He had an amazing time and is incredibly grateful for all of the cards, gifts and attention.   

Battling a Ditch Monster

This video is about a month old but I figured it deserved a place on the internet.

Two minutes and thirty seconds into this thrill ride of a YouTube, gator wranglers snag a primordial giant, lasso the nose, drag it onto shore and tie it to a tree.   

For those of you without the time or patience for a YouTube, here's a picture of Rachel bidding the beast adieu.    

An Assortment of Nice Pictures

Having completed our Christmas trip to Florida, I can now post some of the pictures taken by Pink Owl Studios.

Nothing says suburban Christmas like a wooden box.