Had to check out this amusing little tool: http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx and am relieved to learn that we're musing on the genuis level here at Evan on Earth.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, we made our annual pilgrimage to Vala's Pumpkin Patch near Gretna, NE. Apparently, about 80% of the state of Nebraska had the same idea. Typically, we go on a weekday to beat the weekend crowds, but with busy schedules and a rainy October, Saturday promised to be one of the few nice days.

We've never seen Vala's so crowded and our car was parked on the edge of a sea of vehicles. But it wasn't as bad as we expected. We got in quickly and enjoyed the late afternoon sun and comfortable evening temperatures. We're continually amazed at how this family-run operation continues to add new attractions each year. This year, the addition of two large trampoline-type bouncy hills, a choose-your-own flavor snowcone hut, and wandering Star Wars characters kept Evan entertained. And for the first time, Evan teamed up with his mom and dad to go through the adult haunted farmhouse. I guess his visit to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion this summer prepared him well.

Unfortunately, mom left the camera in the car and couldn't talk dad into running the mile back across the parking lot to fetch it. So for the first time, we weren't able to record Evan's growth by standing next to the Vala's height chart. Take a look at last year's photo and add several inches.

Classic mom

This video has been making the rounds recently. If you haven't seen it yet and you are a mom . . . or have a mom, you'll enjoy it.

God bless you, George

Evan's grandpa George passed away early this morning from complications due to pancreatic cancer. During the past weeks, he was surrounded by his loving family and friends as he fought the good fight. George and Pauletta (Kathryn's mom) enjoyed 21 wonderful years of marriage and created a beautiful home together. He was a man who loved to read, study history, and collect treasures. Evan has always been delighted by his grandpa's humor and willingness to play hide-and-seek. Helping George harvest vegetables and fruit growing in his well-tended garden was another treat for Evan. We're all so thankful to have been part of his family and our love and sympathy go out his brothers and sisters, his three wonderful daughters and their families.

First day of first grade

It wasn't easy to get a smile out of Evan on Monday morning. I think he's excited about the return to school, but too cool to let it show. I told him he had to go along with the traditional first day of school pose, that he'd thank me when he was grown up and could enjoy this documentary of his youth.

And then I told him to smile and say "boogers!" Finally got a grin out him.

Evan had big news at the end of the day: he lost his second front tooth during class. He was proud to be the first student charted on his teacher Miss Bratt's "Lost Tooth Graph." He also mentioned that he had a bad fall off of the playground equipment during recess, but that it wasn't the cause of his wiggly tooth coming loose.

After school, Evan asked if I would let him wear a "less-thick" shirt tomorrow. It's deadly hot in his un-airconditioned elementary school and all of the kids were suffering. I feel guilty I made him dress up for the first day in a polo shirt, but we all need to learn to suffer for fashion. At least I didn't send him off in corduroy pants, tie, and wool blazer.

Anniversary dinners

To celebrate their 19th anniversary, Evan's mom and dad enjoyed a delicious grown-up dinner at Dish.

Dad had the Roasted “Plum Creek Farms” chicken: blue cheese and walnut stuffed chicken breast topped with caramelized onion pear sauce; served with sautéed green beans and mashed sweet potatoes. Mom had the Asian Sea Grill with furikake scallops, red pepper-crusted shrimp, Korean barbeque salmon; served with sautéed green beans and coconut jasmine rice. Yum!

Evan also enjoyed a special dinner -- at Aunt Carla's, where they dined on breakfast fare: scrambled eggs with bacon bits, English muffins, peaches and strawberries with cream, and canteloupe. For dessert: ice cream bars. The reviewer deemed the meal scrumptious!

New blog name?

Influenced by the frequent advertisements we've seen over the last week, Evan requested that I rename this blog "Evan Almighty."

I told him we'd better wait and and see what the critics' reviews are like.

Busy Father's Day weekend

This past weekend was filled with a lot of fun. Evan's second coach-pitch t-ball game was Saturday. Afterwards, Evan and I got out our Donvier ice cream maker and created a batch of strawberry ice cream, using Silk Vanilla Soy Milk. It was a savory success!

After opening gifts on Sunday morning, we celebrated Father's Day by participating in our first Trail Trek bike ride. Our goal was to complete a ten-mile ride. The start at 9:00 was signaled by the ringing of bicycle bells in unison. As a parent, it was a somewhat nerve-wracking event, because everyone was riding slowly and packed close together on the Rock Island Trail. Kept waiting for someone to crash or bump another rider and cause a pile-up. We made it to Highway 2 where the riders split up and thinned out depending on the route they chose. We continued south and eventually connected to the Jamaica Trail. Our route tallied up ten miles, plus another mile each way to and from our home to the Antelope Park start. Twelve miles total . . . not bad for Evan's first "distance" ride. It was Evan's first bonk, too. He was not very happy on the return trip. There was quite a bit of complaining, but a tailwind and Dad's occasional pushes kept him moving along. Unfortunately, Evan had a small crash when his wheel caught after going off and trying to get back on the paved trail.

However, everything was good once we returned to Antelope Park and enjoyed a BBQ lunch. Nothing like several bags of chips and some Pepsi to rejuvenate a tired young cyclist. After the ride, Evan and his dad cooled off with a swim at a local city pool. After insuring that Evan was completely tired out, we dropped him off at his Aunt Carla's for dinner and a sleepover while his parents had tickets to see Tortoise at the Waiting Room Lounge in Benson. Greg, who is the husband of Evan's cousin, Bridget, was in town for the weekend, so Evan was excited to see him along with his aunt.

In Benson, prior to the show, we discovered the restaurant, Espana Tapas Bar, was just down the street from the show venue at 60th and Maple. The staff was genial and informed, the ambiance charming, and the food was wonderful. We dined on scallops, carpaccio, cerviche, mozzarella with tomatoes and basil, spinach with pine nuts and raisins, and refreshing mojitos. On Sunday evenings they feature a flamenco guitar player. An older woman, presumably the owner, came around offering drinks of wine from a glass carafe with a spigot. She demonstrated the art of hoisting the carafe above her mouth several times. Neither of us felt coordinated enough to imbibe, but we watched a few other diners try. It's the sort of place where you have a leisurely meal and enjoy the experience as much as the food. And we weren't in a rush, because the members of Tortoise were dining there as well, so we knew we wouldn't miss the show.

We met a couple of friends at the Waiting Room, enjoyed an excellent performance, and dragged ourselves back down the interstate to hit the hay at 1:00 AM. Whew! Now we need some time off to recover from what was a really great weekend.

Dangerous Dads and Sons

It's Fathers Day and Evan's dad was feted with a couple of books. The first is a current bestseller titled The Dangerous Book for Boys. No doubt, Evan's dad has already acquired all of the knowledge contained in this popular new tome, but it seemed like a good handbook to have in our library.

Check out this very entertaining video or visit the official book website: http://www.dangerousbookforboys.com/





Evan and I also created a personalized picture book for his dad. You can preview it on the Shutterfly site.

Last day of school

It's customary to commemorate the first day of school with a photograph. Today is Evan's LAST day of kindergarten, so he was cajoled into posing for a picture on the porch. Can't you tell he's nine months older? And wiser? The smile hasn't changed!

Last day of kindergarten




First day of kindergarten

Happy (belated) birthday, Sandy!

As is typical, Evan's mom simply couldn't get a card and gift sent in time for Aunt Sandy's birthday. In an attempt to appease her, Evan and his mom created this rather unpolished, but heartfelt, birthday greeting.

It was good while it lasted

Now I understand why the instructions for the our new patio-gazebo-thingy cautioned that it should not be used during high winds or rain.

BEFORE:




AFTER:






Proof again that you get what you pay for. It wasn't a huge investment, but we hoped it would last through the summer. With this spring's repeated torrential downpours, that was too much to ask.

First fishing foray

To finish up the Memorial Day weekend, Evan and I decided to tackle fishing, spent a little time visiting with the pet snake, and enjoyed our first annual visit to Zesto's.

Click the pic for more photos:

Memorial Day weekend 2007

Red Slobster

It's Memorial Day weekend and we're sticking close to home. We've managed to partake in a good deal of entertainment already.



We started the holiday weekend with a Friday night baseball game between the Saltdogs and Ft. Worth Cats. Evan got some up close and personal attention from Homer, the Saltdogs' mascot who sat down in the seat next to Evan for some high fives and hugs. Mom caught an ice cream sandwich thrown to the upper deck. And as we were leaving the game in the sixth inning, Mom heard a weird thump as we made our way to our car -- a foul ball had landed in the parking lot. So it was an excellent ball game night.

Saturday morning, Evan attended a birthday party at the skating rink. He had a great time and his dad even got out on the rink and showed Evan how skating was done back in the day -- maybe a little roller disco?

Here in our landlocked state, fresh seafood isn't on most people's plates. We decided to try the local Red Slobster (as Evan called it) for a change of pace and thought Evan might like it. He stuck to Kraft macaroni and cheese instead of seafood, but I'll commend the chain for serving it with applesauce and steamed vegetables. The wait staff also treated Evan right by bringing him a Shirley Temple that was 50% maraschino cherries. The parental unit's dinners were fine, but I don't think we'll add RL to our list of favorite dining spots.



Sunday, Evan's mom spent a little time sorting through family photographs that were in Grandpa Rog's collection. The plan is to scan and document the photos so that our family members can have copies. Check out some samples on the Picasa web album site. It'll be a big project, but a nice way to share the photos that many of us have never seen before.

Tonight we grilled pork chops and Evan complained this his had "bristle," a.k.a 'gristle," which lead me to share with him the breaking news of an eleven year old boy that bagged an 1050 lb. wild boar. Now that's a piece of pork that might carry some bristle/gristle.

Blue Dome Arts Festival art cars

Friday evening we had dinner in Tulsa and then checked out the annual Mayfest event. Traffic is blocked off downtown and artisans, musicians and food vendors fill the streets.



The Blue Dome Art Festival was also going on, and we came across an exhibition of art cars. The Blue Dome District in Tulsa is named for a unique gas station located downtown on what was Route 66. Click below to check out some of these really amazing and amusing vehicles.

Catalina wildfires

Just last week, we made our reservations for a trip to Southern California at the end of July. Evan's Grandpa Rog requested that his ashes be scattered in Santa Monica Bay and his memorial has been scheduled for July 28. After gathering with our family and friends, we'll spend a few days in Venice and Santa Monica, followed by a day at Disneyland. And to wrap up our trip, we booked two nights on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of SoCal.

So it was disheartening to learn that wildfires have burned 4,000 acres on the small island and threatened the resort town of Avalon where we'll be staying.

Catalina Island: Avalon - Casino Webcam

Micro-soccer league game four

Evan scored the Gators' only goal yesterday. Unfortunately, they lost the match. But fun was had by all.

He likes it! Hey, Mikey!

Big news! Willie the Wiggler (aka "the Whizzer") enjoyed his first meal in captivity this weekend!

I told Evan that we'd have to let the garter snake go if he didn't eat. Last week, we left a defrosted pinkie (baby mouse) in his food bowl for a couple of days, but he didn't touch it. Then, it was suggested that we try to tempt the snake by moving the meal around as if it were live prey. Evan wiggled a second, freshly defrosted pinkie with a pair of tweezers -- and Willie ended up biting Evan's knuckle. But the second strike was successful and Willie scarfed down the tasty morsel.

Evan says, "I guess we can keep him!"

Madalyn, Evan's playmate from next door says, "Girls don't like snakes."

Evan's aunt Carla proves Madalyn wrong.

new bike, old bike

new bike, old bike

Yep, Evan was definitely outgrowing the old red bike.

Hardcore

Saturday afternoon, we attended the dedication ceremony for the new Jamaica Trail, south of town. The festivities included music by a local steel band group made up of high school students, mardi gras beads and lots of sunshine.

Afterwards, we took a little family ride on the trail and through a small stretch of Wilderness Park. Poor Evan was spinning his legs as fast as he could and it was apparent that he had definitely outgrown his first bike (as he proudly calls it, the "Gary Fisher Gamma Ray"). On the way home, we stopped by the very cool Recyle bike shop on South Street. Though they have a lot of neat vintage bikes, there wasn't anything exactly Evan's style. Well, he did make us check out a rockin' Stingray style with metallic flecked banana seat.

Scott ?) at Recycle did give us the name of an older gentleman who buys used bikes and repairs them, so we got a sweet deal on a 5-speed 20" with front shocks and hand brakes. Evan is also stoked on the kickstand and water bottle cage.

No doubt dad will start training him for the kids' class mountain bike series.