The Results Are In

For the past several weeks I've been trying to watch my gas intake on my car, trying to instead take the kids in the bike or waiting to group my errands together. Kind of like my own little experiment. I wasn't going for miles per gallon or anything like that. I simply wanted to see how long I could go without having to fill up my tank.

So I tried to take the kids around in the bike trailer as much as I could. My objective was to try to make at least one day a week a "non-car day." I figured if I could shave off a day a week from the car that would push me 4 extra days past my usual fill up. Sometimes I was even able to do 2 "non-car days" a week.

Anyway, the results are in and my little experiment has come to a close.

FILL UP DAY - July 21st
FILL UP DAY - Aug 25th
TOTAL - About 36 days without a fill up

At today's prices it takes about $70 bucks for a full tank of gas in my car. So by making a conscious effort to be "gas smart" I averaged about $14 a week for gas over a 5 week timeframe. Granted, we were in Austin for 5 days during that time. But if you take those 5 days away I still made it over 30 days. Not bad.

Now if only it didn't get cold here in the winter. Then I could keep this up month after month.
But seriously. Just imagine what kind of impact we could make on energy prices if we all did something like this.

Sleepless For Seattle

In a few days I'll be flying to Seattle for a weekend camping trip with my friend Mike. We'll be camping at Mount Rainier National Park, a park Mike and I have been talking about visiting for years now. Every once in a while Mike and I get together to camp, or take a trip together. We've been to Big Bend, Olympic National Park, San Diego, and then smaller parks like Caddo Lake in east Texas. We've been averaging about once every 3 years or so, so it's been a while since our last trip. We've been talking for several years now about checking out Mount Rainier and it looks like it's finally going to happen. Should be fun. It will be nice to take some much needed "Dad Time." Hope the rain holds up. Looks like the temperatures are going to be highs around 60, and lows in the low 40's. I better pack some warm clothes. Now where's my Pearl Jam CD's and flannel shirts?

Rifle River Recreation Area

This weekend we all drove north and went camping at the Rifle River Recreation Area. I had planned on taking Ben camping up north before the summer was over, but Jenny and I decided we should all go for a quick camping trip up north. Overall...it was fun. The kids did great, even Megan. We drove around and did some sightseeing, Ben got to do some swimming in one of the lakes, and we did some hiking. However, there were some dampers on the trip. Saturday afternoon we got some torrential down pours and thunderstorms. The rain was just coming down and lightning was all over the place. So Jenny and I decided to get in the car and take a drive until the rain subsided. When we came back we saw almost a small creek or river of rain water flowing through the campground...and flowing right under our tent. When we opened the tent the entire floor was damp. No standing water or anything, but just damp. Anyway, we tried to make the best of it by making some smores for the kids, and we sang some campfire songs around the campfire. Overall we had a good time, and we definately found a place perfect for quick camping getaways. We just didn't have any luck with the weather, and our site wasn't that great either. We were completely surrounded by camping RV's, trailers, and pop-ups, so it wasn't a secluded setting by any means. But like I said, we had a nice time. The goal of the trip was simply to take the kids camping. Ben had been looking forward to it all week leading up to the trip, and he told everyone he met where he was going on Saturday. So he had a great time, and Megan did great as well. That's what matters right?

What is Megan Up To?

Megan has turned a corner ever since we got home from Texas a couple of weeks ago. Evidently, immediately after returning home from Austin Megan decided she didn't like formula anymore. I mean she flat out refused it. So we have switched over to milk now. We first started mixing milk with water but now she's coming around to milk by itself. Everyday she seems to drink more and more of it. Don't get me wrong, Jenny and I are happy with the change. It was just kind of weird the way it happened. She was the one who made the decision.

Anyway, Megan is also becoming a very happy baby...even more so than ever before. She smiles and laughs almost all the time now. Also, she loves playing around with Ben. Ben gets down on his knees and the two start crawling around chasing each other. They're having a lot of fun interacting now.

Finally, Megan is starting to say "Hi" now. In fact, so much so she says "Hi" and waves constantly at everyone she sees. That means when we're out and about she's greeting everyone. It's funny. She waves at total strangers and they just laugh.

At the park with Parker

The other day the kids and I met Parker and Erin at the park downtown by the Tridge. The boys had fun playing around, and even Megan got in on the action this time. Afterwards we all had lunch at Pizza Sam's and then had ice cream. It was a fun day for the kids.

Scooby Doo! Where Are You?

Recently Ben and I have been watching the old Scooby Doo cartoons. We've been watching the first season...which unbelievably was 1969. Has it been that long? Anyway, it's fun watching these shows again. These were the ones Jenny and I grew up with of course. Ben absolutely loves them. Now we walk around all day talking like Scooby and Shaggy.

Hiking at the City Forest

Last week the kids and I took a morning hike over at the City Forest. The forest is basically a mile-by-mile wooded natural area filled with trails for hiking, biking, and in the winter cross-country skiing. There's even a sled hill and toboggan run during the snow season. It's a great area to explore with the kids. They had a fun time. We ended up hiking for 2 miles, and Ben did great. He was really having a good time. His favorite part was the dragonfly we saw. He made me take a picture of it.

Dinner with Parker

We invited Parker and his mom Erin over for dinner the other night. We grilled some burgers and hot dogs, and the boys had fun playing in the backyard. After dinner the boys got to eat ice cream cones. As you can see Ben enjoyed his.

At The Movies

DIGGERS - This is a coming of age story about 4 young men who are all clam diggers in New York State. All the characters here are dirt poor and/or miserable in their mundane lives. They take time doing drugs, drinking heavily, and arguing with their women. The film is set in the late 70's, so the tone of the film is rather depressing and grungy, much like their jobs I guess. I heard decent things about this one but I didn't care for it. I love characterization films, and this is definately one of those. I just didn't care at all about the lead characters. And when that's all there is it's usually bad news for a film when you don't connect with it.


KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS - Here we have a great documentary about two men competing for the all-time high score on Donkey Kong. This is a great movie...despite the small budget. The characters and personalities here are unbelievable. So much so that you would swear they were made up if you didn't know better. This was highly recommended to me and so I'll pass along the recommendation. The stories here are both hilarious and pathetic. Very entertaining.


THE PIXIES: LOUDQUIETLOUD - This is a documentary about the classic alternative band The Pixies, and their reunion tour from 2004. Here we get a behind-the-scenes look at the band as they learn to play with one another again after a decade long hiatus. We also get some tidbits as to what led to the initial breakup of the band back in the 90's. I'll be honest, there's not much story here, and if you don't have any interest in the band chances are you'll be bored to tears. But if you like The Pixies and their music this is kind of interesting, and the performances are pretty good.


WILD MAN BLUES - Wow...another documentary on the list. Here we have a behind-the-scenes look at Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band as they tour across western Europe. Allen is an accomplished clarinet player, and the music performances here are quite good (if you like jazz that is). However, what disturbed me was of course all the backstage footage of Allen and his wife (and adopted daughter) Soon-Yi. I mean I know that whole mess happened back in the 90's, so I know it's old news. But it's still very disturbing to watch all the footage of Allen and Soon-Yi swimming together in a pool, or sharing a breakfast together, and simply acting as husband and wife. I guess for me being a fan of the writer/director (not the person) it's an image I still can't get past...even when the music is supposed to be center stage. Overall...not a good one here if you ask me.


PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END - Believe it or not Jenny and I never caught this one in the theaters, and we never got around to watching it on DVD until now. I actually enjoyed the first two Pirates movies and I enjoyed this one as well. My only complaint here (as with the other two) is that the film is too long and too grand. In fact, the story here was the most confusing and disoriented of the trilogy. Don't ask me what the overall story is in this one. I stopped trying to figure it out somewhere in the middle. But as with the other two films in the series, the action here is entertaining and the performances are great. I love watching Johnny Depp in the Captain Sparrow role. These movies are too long in my opinion, but they're always fun to watch.


THE TV SET - Here's a film about a television writer (David Duchovny) who is trying to get his pilot made for TV. This is one of those films where the overall theme is Hollywood making fun of itself (much like THE PLAYER). Man, this movie was so boring to watch. Fortunately I caught it on cable, so I was able to DVR through some of it. Why does it seem like the only people who like movies like this are people who work in Hollywood? Not much else to say about this one. Just plain bad.


CASINO ROYALE - This was another movie that I never caught in the theater, and I never got around to watching on DVD until now. To be honest I had grown incredibly tired of the whole James Bond franchise. I loved Sean Connery as Bond, and I thought Roger Moore was okay as well. But after that I lost interest and hardly watched the new Bond films after that. But I have to say this movie was a great surprise. I really liked it, much more than I expected. They basically blew up your traditional Bond formula, and then put it back together with a little BOURNE IDENTITY sprinkled in. There's no Bond cliches here, very little jokes, and no tongue-and-cheek scene with Agent Q about new gadgets to play with. Instead we get an entertaining story and lots of great action scenes. The opening action scene in particular stood out to me and made me take notice. Great movie. Can't wait to see the next one...Quantum of Solace in October.

Sunday at the Zoo

On Sunday we took a trip over to Saginaw to visit the Children's Zoo. Ben always enjoys going there. This time around Megan got to ride both the train and the merry-go-round for the first time. And of course on the way home Megan fell asleep. She was probably exhausted from all the activity.