Old School is the New School

Jaxson sporting his latest vintage t-shirt, circa 1981.

The shirt belonged to Uncle Chad in his cub-scout days, but the boy can style rock-out in his vintage gear and hopefully the kids won't laugh at him too hard on the playground.

Bath Time at Boo's

Nothing like connecting to your roots and enjoying the countryside you grew up in. Growing up, my older brother and I spent countless afternoons playing football, baseball, and the occasional bare-knuckle boxing match in the front yard of our house. Many afternoons the long shadows from late summer sun, setting behind the hills to the west made us seem like giants on a football field that was marked by small trees and a long gravel drive-way. The glow of a summer evening is the perfect setting for a one-on-one football game between an older brother that has the size advantage over a younger brother that had quickness on his side.

Needless to say, I always enjoying heading out west to Boo and Pop's house for a Sunday dinner. Sitting on the back patio discussing the weeks events and then reading the Sunday paper in the living room, followed by dinner time and desert. This time Jaxson got a special treat, "Bathtime By Boo" in the kitchen sink. With a few measuring cups and sink full of water, it was nothing short of beauty to watch the little guy enjoy his bath.

The ride was a quiet ride home, the little man was sleeping by the time we hit the highway.

The Cat's Meow

The last few days have been all about relishing the days of summer as they wind down and come to a bittersweet end. With snowcones on Monday, the only obvious choice left was minor league baseball.

The beautiful LeGrave Field is minutes from our house, which houses the Fort Worth Cats. We met a group of young professionals that I am currently involved with, Hearts and Hands Council. We are affiliated with Cook Children's Medical Center and strive to raise awareness and money for Cook Children's through community involvement and volunteer work. We all decided to meet and just enjoy an evening of baseball and big Texas skies; we weren't disappointed with either.

This was Jaxson's first minor league baseball game, and the beauty of minor league baseball was shining bright. Just prior to the first pitch, one of the players walked over and handed Jaxson his first baseball. The player, Chuck Carter -#3, had no idea that he just became an integral part of the Little Bambino's young life.

I'll Take Mine With Snow Creme Please...

Sadly, summer is drawing to a slow end, and yesterday was the first time that mommy and daddy took the little guy for an original Snowflake Factory snow cone. With the Factory being Robyn's first job, it is not only a sentimental visit each time we hit the stand, but it is also a favorite of ours even if Robbie had never been a professional snow-maker.





Both mom and dad branched out slightly from their usual, dad went with the strawberry cheesecake with creme, while momma went with peaches and creme. A great choice I must add. Robyn shared hers with Jax, but dad was the Grinch and kept his all to himself, brain freeze and all.

The Personality Shows

For the past two to three weeks, the personality that Jaxson is going to have is really beginning to show. He is definitely a jokester and loves to laugh. He has a very laid-back attitude like his daddy, but loves to flirt. Not sure what was in that bottle of his tonight, I think he may have slipped off into the other room and added his own ingredient, but he sure did enjoy flirting with the camera and possible foreshadowing some wedding video cameos one day. Go easy on the free punch buddy.

Reaching the Summit With You In My Hands

Back home safe and sound after a long road home from Estes Park, Colorado; I am happy to be in the arms of my family once again. With a travel story that was better than any movie writer could have come up with, I can say that a bus is nowhere anyone should have to travel more than they must:

To make a LOOONNGGG story short. I departed Estes Park, Colorado on Friday morning at 1:00am with my fellow co-workers for a 16-hour bus ride home. We all settled in with our Tylenol PM and awaited sweet dreams and the steady hum of the engine and the hopes of being in our beds by that night. Well, let's just say it didn't go that way.

With a groggy head and heavy eyes, I awoke at 2:30am (yes, a mere hour-and-a-half later) in the northwest area of Denver to a bus that had stopped moving and a voice saying we should be back on the road in an hour or so. At this point, I told myself there is nothing for me to do, so I went back to sleep. At 5:30am, I awoke once again to a voice saying, "Well, it's broke and I can't fix it,we will need another bus to come get you guys." After hearing this, I realized we have not moved from the side of the highway and from the sense I was getting, we were not moving anytime soon.

Jump ahead 3 hours. If you are keeping count, this is hour #6 on the side of the highway in a bus with no working toilet and no air-conditioning due to the fact that the engine was broke and could not be turned on. The leaders of the company had been notified of the situation and had jumped into action finding flights for the 31 people on board, which they did a remarkable job in doing - technology is a wonderful thing.

It is now approximately 8:30am, 6 hours after the initial stop, and a new bus arrives to drive us all to the Denver International Airport for a series of flights to get us all home to our families. With flights scheduled at approximately 2:30pm, 3:30pm, 4:30pm, and 7:00pm; it finally looked like we were all headed home - the only bad part was is that we had 8 hours to kill in the wonderful Denver airport.

I was finally able to board our flight at 5:00pm (Denver Time) due to a small weather delay and I was back safe on Texas turf at 8:00pm Saturday evening. To say the least, I had expected to travel around 16-hours that day; but not in the form of trains, planes, and automobiles.

While the trip and summit hike were beautiful and inspirational, there is nothing like being at home with the family and safe in the arms of the ones you love. During the trip, I wanted to keep the ones I love close to me at all times. I took a picture with me and snapped photos during the hike and while at the house.

Looking southbound, somewhere in the flat lands of western Kansas.

From the back porch of the cabin. Summer in the mountains is an inspirational place to be.

The only piece missing from this slice of heaven is my family by my side.

At the trail head to Bear Lake, the starting point for the nearly 10-mile hike through the Rocky Mountains.

A view from the summit. Perfect.

Fern Falls, on our decent from the summit near Fern Lake.

Looking back from the end our journey. I missed you.

Playing with Booger, But Not Those Boogers

The night before my trek to the mountains of Colorado and Chad in Cowtown for a conference, Jaycee joined in a slumber party with Robyn and I. After a final good-bye dinner for Cayla (my cousin from Boo's side) as she heads off to the fields of west Texas to attend Texas Tech, Jaycee headed home with us for a night of movies and fun.

Hitting the ripe old age of 4-1/2 years, Booger is a girl that knows two speeds: Go and Go Faster. After joining Jax for some bath time, Robbie and her snuggled up together for a screening of Shrek to wind down the evening. Alot events for one night, but always a pleasure to have Jaycee hanging out with Tio Corey and Tia Robbie.

If this is a true preview of two kiddos in our household, Robbie and I better get our rest now. When the time comes the house will be full of nighttime lullabyes, chocolate milk, and sweet memories.

Enjoyed the evening Booger, and Jaxson liked having a playmate for the night.

Stealing Momma's Oreos?

Seems our Little Bambino has taken a liking to Oreo's, I know he got that from his momma. Not sure if Oreo's are on the American Journal of Medicine's health food list, but neither is dirt or worms, but we all ate those as kids and we turned out just fine.

At least he know a good thing when he sees it. The only thing that throws me off is that he asked for formula with his Oreo's. We will have to teach him that real milk is the only beverage that goes good with cookies.

Hoooottttttttt Dooooooogggggggg!!!!!!

For Jaxson's 11-Month birthday we decided to skip the cake and sweets and enjoy $1 Hot Dog Night at the Ballpark.

Robyn and I are spending our first nights together away from Jaxson this weekend, so I decided to take the family out and celebrate the little guys big day with a good 'ol American baseball outing. He will turn 11-months old on Saturday, so we had to celebrate a little early.

Yes, the Rangers aren't going to win any titles this year - I will finally admit that in public now - however, I still love the game of baseball and my family. What better way to spend a warm August evening then combining the two together. Notice I did say "evening" and not "night." Bed time for our Little Bambino usually comes right at the start of the 4th-inning, which means that is when we cal it a night and head home.

We decided to kill some time and play an impromptu game of "Peek-A-Boo" at the ballpark.

Circus Bound

Ringling Bros. and Krusty the Clown got nothing on this kid.

I may even wrap him up in a box and ship him off to India so he can balance baskets and charm some snakes.

Since his discovery of how to crawl, the little man has had a new sense of happiness, exploration, and playfulness that we have yet to experience until now. I assume it is from a lack of frustration that he once had when he was unable to move around on his own. Daddy-O has definitely enjoyed the spunk and personality that our Little Bambino is beginning to show.

Last One In Is A Rotten Egg...

The boys enjoyed some hot tub time together on a beautiful Sunday morning.

Turn and Go

I have a strange feeling, but I think alot of my photos from now on may only catch this side of Jaxson.

Just when you are ready to take a great photo, the little guy takes off like someone has started a fire under his little butt.

Gracie Turns the Big One.

Happy Birthday to Gracie.

Rick and Deena became parents once again back on May 14 (Mother's Day) and Gracie has blessed us with her presence since. Being with us for three months, she has made strides in her development and she is a gorgeous little girl.

Gracie and Jaxson both started crawling on August 1, which was Gracie's actual birthday. Not a bad present to herself...

Where's Waldo (Jaxson)??

Missing the stripped shirt and glasses, but the game is the same.

Find the kid.

Entering A Whole New Era

Certain milestones are always remembered in our kids lives. One of those moments happened today while the boys were home together.

The two of us were casually playing in the master bedroom and I noticed Jaxson was inching forwards, instead of backwards. To this point, he could get around the room by spinning in circles and scooting along on his butt, but always in reverse.

Today, he learned how to finally get the gear shift out of reverse and into drive.

Grant it, at this moment he will only crawl for a few feet. Four of five legs exchanges at most; but, even a marathon begins with a single step.

Crawling was not the only milestone we hit today. Fitting that a blog entry about my boys first true crawl comes on blog entry #200. Congrats to us both buddy....many more to come.

Robyn managed to catch a quick video clip this evening of the action taking place. Enjoy.

Brown or Black?

The little guy just couldn't figure out to go with the brown or black shoes to go with his Rangers outfit. Personally I hope he chooses the brown for the simple fact that those are men shoes and the black ones are ladies.....

Luby's Just Isn't For Blue-Haired Grandma's

With Birdie, Jaxson's daycare momma, out for the week, Robyn, myself, and both sets of grandparents are taking turns this week staying home and enjoying some good one-on-one time with the Bambino.

With the lingering sickness still making it's presence known, the little guy has been sleeping most of the time, but while he has been awake we have enjoyed running around town together. After spending some time this afternoon with Mimi while I attended a meeting for work, Bambino and I headed for the ballpark to surprise momma with some tickets for next Wednesday nights Dollar Hot Dog Night at the ballpark. (Momma likes her ballpark dogs) While at lunch with Mimi, Jaxson picked himself up a nice red balloon and it definitely kept his attention and imagination brewing as we headed toward the ticket office.

I managed to snap some great sh0ts while driving, I actually wasn't driving at the time - I did wait for a red light. I know the people in the car behind me were pretty curious as to what I kept doing when I was taking photos of a balloon.

And a little something extra for you Cowboys fans. I managed to snag a few drive-by photos while I was headed back from the ballpark. Pictures just don't do this facility justice, it is ginormous.