Life, Parenting

Birthday Puns + 11,712 Split Squats and Push Ups

7 Comments

Hey, it’s my birthday today, June 8th. I am now 32 years old, yay….

Sherbert birthday pun

 

Last year, when I turned 31, I made a goal to complete 32 split squats  per leg and push ups every day leading up to my 32nd birthday. So here we are and I am proud to say I’ve met my goal. With it being a leap year, I was ever so privileged to do the moves for 366 straight days instead of the 365. Hence 366 x 32 = 11,712.

The split squats and push ups were usually used as finishers after whatever workout I did for the day, and they proved to be great exercises. I chose 32 for the upcoming number of years I would turn. The year before that, I did 31 burpees.

If you need a goal to help you move more, just use your age as a marker to perform X amount of whatever you choose. Note, don’t choose burpees unless you’re 10. I’m pretty sure 31 burpees per day for 365 days had something to do with that stress fracture.

Am I going to do 33 of something now? Probably not. Instead, I’ll just make it a point to move as much as I can throughout the day. Maybe I’ll choose random exercises, but with my shoulder surgery coming up later this month and trying to mend my stress fracture that never fully healed, I’ll be happy to do whatever I can. I know my body could use some quality recovery time anyway. Then, after several months have passed of taking it easy, I’ll be reinvigorated to get back to the barbell to slowly get my strength back.

I’ll have to make the most of my arms before the surgery while we’re on vacation at the Outer Banks. From what I’ve heard by other parents, all of the attractions and other expensive things are not as big of a deal to toddlers. Instead, they enjoy the simple things like playing in the sand and watching the waves. I’m clinging on this notion and hope to build lots of sand castles, hunt for seashells, swim in the ocean, and eat fresh seafood. Any tips/advice/stories? I’m all ears.

Get it? Ears of corn? No? Too…ummm…corny? 🙂

Speaking of puns, I’m treating myself and anyone else who enjoys a good (or bad) pun to a few today. Guess I’ll start by giving myself a card.

Cheese birthday pun

  • What did the boy with no hands get for his birthday? Gloves. Okay, not really, I’m not sure what he got, he hasn’t opened anything yet.
  • Statistics show that birthdays are good for your health. The more you have, the longer you live.
  • Buying a gift for a sculptor is hard and requires all of his friends to chip in.
  • My wife gave me a book of puns for my birthday and it is awesome! It was two meaningful.
  • I just want a nice fork for my birthday because there is no tine like the present.
  • My friend tried wrapping all the birthday presents for me, but he didn’t have the gift.

That’ll about do it for today. I need to start figuring out what to pack for the trip and go on another construction site adventure with Avery. I might be another year older, but as long as I can laugh at the joke below, I think I’ll be okay.

Bald Man Short Birthday Jokes07

Life, Parenting

Skid Steer Hunting On Her WOOM 1 Balance Bike

2 Comments

I have a feeling we’ll be skid steer hunting all summer long. Anyone following my social media accounts might’ve noticed our adventures to the new phase development in our neighborhood while riding her WOOM 1 Balance Bike. My favorite is when we spotted the butt hugging bobcats.

I have since taught her that Bobcats are a type of skid steer loader, and not all of them are Bobcats. She’s catching on quickly. Now she knows the white one is a Bobcat and the yellow one is CAT.

Our most recent adventure, however, was probably a little confusing for our construction loving tot. Under a clear blue sky, light breeze, me in my boot from a stress fracture that never fully healed, and riding her “Rocket”, we went on a hunt for the skid steer loaders busy at work in our expanding development.

skid steer loader hunting with boot

Might as well add it to the list of things to let heal after my shoulder surgery coming up this month! Keeping positive…..

The adventure started off a little dull since the first skid steer loader sighting was one not busy at all. Unless you count taking a nap, like Avery says, as being busy.

Waving in front of CAT Skid Steer Loader

Shhh, don’t tell, but I may or may not have let her sit inside empty cockpit. Hey, anything for a cute smile. Amiright?

With sounds of *beep* *beep* and *rrrrrrnnnrrrr*, we knew a busy Bobcat or other skid steer was nearby, so we carried on with the hunt. Me hobbling on a boot trying to keep up with our girl who puts the Rocket in…….ummmm – “Rocket”. After a little searching for the sound, we finally found a John Deere skid steer (yay, a rhyme!) loader hard at work scooping the earth with finesse.

Waving to John Deere Skid Steer Loader

The scooper moved up and down, which, obviously, meant he was waving back. We watched it move the dirt across the land for a minute and journeyed on in search of more skid steer prey. But this time, instead of Avery doing the hunting, a Bobcat came right up to us!

Waving to Bobcat Skidsteer loader on WOOM Balance Bike

Slightly confused, the driver gave a hesitant wave back to the little girl in pink as she said hi to the passerby. Oh man, I’m on a rhyming roll!

With more ground to cover, we hit the road in search of the next construction vehicle. In the distance, we saw another CAT hard at work and a couple dump trucks full of dirt. Finally, we stumbled upon another Bobcat working on new lots. It was a good time to stop for a minute to take a break and pose in front of the rigid-framed machine.

Posing in front of Skid Steer Loader on WOOM 1 Balance Bike

You can tell from the look on her face that having daddy ask her to turn around for the 50 millionth time is wearing on her. I just want to watch the skid steer loaders, dad!

Our loop through the new phase was nearing an end, so I promised to stop bugging her and just have fun exploring around the new construction. With a handy-dandy app on phone, I tracked our total time and distance for our hunting adventure which came out to just under 2 miles.

Distance Covered on WOOM Bike

With several stops to watch and wave and me in my boot, I’d say 43 minutes is pretty good. Now we have a goal to beat this time/distance, I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂

There’s nothing like rewarding yourself with a cool dip in the pool after a long hunting trip via bike and boot, and that’s exactly what we did.

Smiling Pool Selfie with Daddy

Just what we needed. Hopefully this trend continues as we’re both having fun in the sun and it doesn’t cost a ton. Okay, I’m done with the rhymes…..for now.

Life, Parenting

Party in the Neighborhood and Chores at Home

2 Comments

Does your neighborhood have a social (or any kind of) committee? Ours has a social committee, which Going Mom is a part of, and they planned an awesome summer kick-off party for all our neighbors to attend.

Being the husband of a committee member, I, along with a few other husbands, had the pleasure of helping out with the event. I loaded Avery’s Fisher-Price Basketball goal to bring  (it ended up being a “slam dunk”) and helped with the kid’s fishing station. We didn’t know so many kids lived in the neighborhood until our big party. It’s great knowing there are so many playmates right in the hood.

Hopefully they won’t become hood-lums as the get older and terrorize all of us parents. Just like I (never) did when I was a kid. Sorry, Mom. Not that I’m concerned our little angel would cause any trouble when all she want to do is play with bubbles.

Bubble Play at Neighbhorhood Party

The bubble machine was THE highlight of the party for our little girl, and many others. Then there were the piñatas.  Going Mom was in charge of buying these, and she chose the coolest turtle piñata for little kids…

….and a giant flip flop for the older kids.

I’ve been part of a piñata massacre before, but never a turtle; it hurt to watch.

Pinata Party Meme - Stop the Violence

No pictures of the abuse, but if you’ve seen an mob of zombies hovering over a fallen human on the The Walking Dead, it’s basically the same thing. Only kids are the zombies and scattered candy is the fallen human.

Avery has yet to taste candy or anything that’s basically pure sugar, so she didn’t care much about what came out of the papier-mâché vessels. I know the day will come, but until then, we’ll enjoy her not begging to satisfy her sweet tooth unless it’s something we  ourselves.

The party was a major hit for the neighborhood and we’re all thankful for an awesome committee. I suggested another party with a Midsummer’s Night Dream theme. Sounds cool, but I guess I wouldn’t be the one doing all of the hard work, so I won’t push it.

The rest of the weekend was low key with us just taking care of chores around the house. Avery made sure to help when and where she could.

party, cleaning with mommy, parenting, toddlers
I’ve got Mommy’s back….literally.

My wife continued her paint everything beige project around the home and enlisted the help of some non-toxic finger paint from Alex Toys to keep our toddler’s wondering hands busy.

DSC_0585

And guess what? It worked!

DSC_0588

After finishing in the kitchen, I sat down and painted with her to make sure she kept busy. The paints are nothing great, but they are inexpensive and colors go on paper. That’s all toddlers care about! I still have yet to help with the actual painting.

DSC_0590

Sorry, wife. Hope you still love me!

That’s about it for our weekend of fun, cleaning, and projects. This time next week, we’ll be living it up in North Carolina at the Outer Banks. It will be Avery’s first trip to the ocean and we’re excited to play in the sand with our beautiful girl. The sleeping arrangements, on the other hand, are something we’re not quite looking forward to. We’ll be in bunk beds with me on the top and Going Mom on the bottom with Avery. Sounds simple, but from what I posted on Instagram the other day, well, I’ll let you know afterward.

An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.