Monthly Archives: January 2014

Washing Away The Brown

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Last night I got home from Mason’s batting practice and went into Cutler’s room, who was already in bed, and started talking to him and I asked if he took a bath.  He told me he did and that he “washed away the brown”.  I asked him if he was that dirty and he told me he was brown in a couple of areas.  I assumed it was his way of telling me he was dirty until he took his bath…that was until I spoke with Melanie this morning and she informed me that he had accidentally pooped in his pants and in an attempt to clean himself he had gotten all over himself.  She thought that she had cleaned it up and put him in the bathtub and then looked in the water and saw the color quickly changing to brown.  Apparently when Melanie said he had it all over himself, he really had it ALL OVER himself.  Fortunately by the time I got to him in bed, he had washed away all of the brown.

 

Day 19 – The Prodigal Dog Returns

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After spending the past 2 1/2 months away at military school, Rookie has been allowed back into the house.  He seems to be a much calmer dog and didn’t run after the kids across the street so I initially thought we had a great success and transformation.  That is until about an hour or so after being back he decided to remind me that he is still a puppy by pooping in the middle of the hallway.  I shall be repeating the serenity prayer on a constant loop over the next couple of weeks.

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Day 18 – Let The Reprogramming Begin

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Just got home a couple of hours ago after traveling for more than 24 hours straight and our reprogramming effort is already under way to turn our kids back into our kids away from being full time grandkids.  It feels great to be home and get the warm hugs and cuddling we got from both of the boys.  Even better, I got to watch the last quarter of the football game with Mason.  We can’t thank Grandma, Aunt Pat, and Grandma Pam enough for traveling down and exhausting themselves trying to keep up with the boys’ schedules.  Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to join Melanie on a great vacation with just the two of us.  It makes the reprogramming well worth it.

Day 17 – Spent and Ready To Come Home

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Today, our last day in town, we started the day off with a visit to one of the local mosques where we were taught about the Muslim religion as well as some of their customs.  It was very enlightening and I have an entire post already written in my head to be shared, but I am just too tired to write something as insightful as I plan.  We then wandered around the Emirates Mall, no skiing today, and stumbled upon a Katy Perry concert (another post to be), before watching a movie and listening to everyone talk around us.  Lots to be told about everything, but it will all have to wait as I am still overdue on our dune drive, our trip to the market, boat ride up the Dubai “creek”,…and the list goes on.  For now I am exhausted and going to pack it in, get on the plane, and pass out for our flight to London, then enjoy a three hour layover before heading to New York AND another three hour layover before finally getting to Dallas and our boys.  I think we hit the maximum time away yesterday and are very much ready to get home and spend some time with our boys as well as kick back and enjoy the comforts of our home.

Skiing…In The Desert

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On Wednesday, while Melanie was wrapping up her work, I headed to the slopes.  That’s right, there is snow skiing in Dubai.  It’s indoor, but still it was a ski slope completely with snow, chair lifts, penguins, and screaming kids.  I was told it was one of the biggest indoor slopes, if not the biggest, in the world but despite it being a bunch of fun it was a bit overwhelming.  All I could think was that if this was the biggest, then those others out there must really be small and pointless.  I’m not a very good skier, having been only twice in my life, including the trip we took almost a year ago for spring break, but after about an hour of getting off at the first stop of the lift I found myself zipping down from the top.  It took longer to ride the lift to the top than it did to get to the bottom and get back on the lift.  Unlike golf I had a few people to talk to on the ride up as well as be encouraged and goaded into going to the top.  A couple of times I rode with a nice Asian woman that was zipping down the hill confidently on her snow board and she gave me positive encouragement and advice on improving my skiing.  The other encouragement, goading, I received was from a 12 year old Russian boy that kept telling me in his broken English “You go to the top!”.  I would receive waves as he zipped past me and sighs if he was on the lift with me when I would get off at the half way point.  He had quite the proud look when he finally saw me riding to the top.  All in all I went up and down almost nonstop for about four hours and I am still paying for it in soreness.  Today is our last day and as we search for things to do to eat away our time I am hoping Melanie will want to ski so I can show off my ability to ski from the top like a big boy.  Full disclosure: even from the top the slopes are a green.

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Golf Is The Loneliest Sport

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At least it is when you play alone.  On Tuesday, while Melanie was working, I took off to the Montgomery golf club for a round of golf.  On the way I found this impala roaming the streets of Dubai.

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When I arrived I was very happy to find myself playing alone as after a couple of months off I was a bit self-conscious of my game.  It turned out to be a very good thing that I was alone as I was also playing with rental clubs and despite popular opinion a good craftsman can blame his tools.  I quickly discovered how much I love my own clubs and after finding myself talking to myself and then answering, out loud, I realized that I also miss playing with my buddies.

I am happy to say that I broke 90, so all in all it was a good round.  More importantly I got to take in some spectacular views while playing a game I love and having a great conversation with the funniest guy I know…me.

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Day 16 – Missing The Boys

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We have one more day here in Dubai and both of us are really starting to miss the boys.  Fortunately, due to technology, we are able to see and talk to them every day which makes it somewhat easier although their drifting towards the tv while we talk can prove challenging.  Cutler has found it very entertaining to show us what he is eating when we talk.  Below are some of my favorite screen shots taken from our conversations while we have been out of the country.

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Another Dancing Fountain

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We were in another area of Dubai tonight, called the Marina area.  It was beautiful and relaxing and enjoyable to just wander up and down the river.  Near the end we stumbled upon another dancing fountain.  I couldn’t pass up the chance to record and share.

http://youtu.be/koJWVv-uBUs

Since my last joke, the dinner companion, fell flat I wanted to be clear that this video was intended as a joke.  It was just a fountain that we came across and I thought it would be funny to include.  I’m hoping to regain my faith in you, the audience, to understand my jokes.  Until then I will raise my hand when I am being sarcastic.