Take that Mother Nature

Daddy Colin (me) is officially a hunter. I made the trek to Walmart and bought a hunting license. Then it was off to Kenedy County to hunt on the Kenedy Memorial Ranch. (Google Map Kenedy County to find where we went)

Pat (Step-dad), Hank (Father-in-law), Curt (Brother-in-law) and I went on the hunting trip this past weekend. Pat was a great host and we had a magnificent time. The weather cooperated for most of the trip and everyone got at least one kill. The animals were abundant and plentiful when not being hunted, but once they sensed that we were after them they were very elusive.

We hunted Nilgai, Deer, Boar, and Doves. We got everything but a Dove. At final tally we got 3 Nilgai, 2 Bucks, 1 Doe and 2 Boar.

See below for pictures from the trip. Thanks to Hank for bringing his Camera.

Hunting Trip Dec 2009

The hunting was always interesting and exciting. It was like a mini Safari. The guides would drive us around the ranch in pursuit of the elusive Nilgai. If the Nilgai see you they instantly run and don't stop. So you have to get ready aim and fire in less than 5-10 seconds and in most cases shoot at a running target that is 200-400 yards away. Needless to say we put a lot of lead in the air and only got 3. At one point we were all shooting (up to 3 rounds each for a total of 12 shots) and only 1 Nilgai fell.

This was my first Hunt and maybe Curt's first as well. Hank is a seasoned hunter, but it was his first Safari style hunt and first for the running Nilgai. We were all pretty terrible at first. For Curt and I, we had to get used to the rifles and scopes and the quick draw of the hunt. It was similar for Hank except that his scope seemed to have gotten out of whack causing him to miss (I think I saw him purposely hit the scope on the side of the truck before we went to the range after he missed a few Nilgai so that he had an excuse for missing. jk). On the last day Curt and I were dead on with our shots with 0 misses (after almost double digits the first day). Hank also redeemed himself after missing multiple times with his gun and then pinpoint accuracy with Pat's gun.

Pat was deadly the whole time. The only problem he ran into is that his 270 wasn't enough gun to bring down the Nilgai Bulls with one shot. Or at least that was his theory until a 12 year old sharp shooter proved him wrong by bringing down a massive Bull Nilgai with a 243. Amazingly the 12 year old (Ben) brought it down with an eye shot. The Nilgai was close to 600 lbs.

All and all it was a great trip among family and friends. I look forward to hunting again with them in the future. We were all very appreciative of Pat's hospitality and generosity of sharing such an experience with us.

Santa is not a Runner

This past weekend was our Christmas weekend with my Dad and my Grandmother in Dallas. Although Christmas is an expensive time of year, this one was more expensive than planned and I don't think Santa likes my running.

To start we had our Company Holiday party on Friday night. It was a good time, but the hotel coat check lost my jacket...

The next morning, Lisa, the boy and I drove up to Dallas to see the family, have lunch at El Fenix and exchange gifts. It was a great day and we had a great time seeing everyone. The boy enjoyed playing with his cousins. I think Emily's goal was to get BC to giggle continuously the whole time.

During the day, Amy and I decided to go for a run the next morning and I found a nice trail on Google maps. The next morning we drove to a local park to run the White Rock Creek trail. We made sure we didn't have any valuables showing and that the car was properly locked. The trail was very nice (although it was concrete) and we ran for about 8.6 miles.

We got back to the car and I noticed auto glass on the ground and commented to Amy that it probably wasn't a safe place to park (The glass was not from my car). We got back to the hotel and I couldn't find my room key. I thought I was losing it, but we did run real early, so who knows. Later after showering I realized I didn't have my wallet. I searched the car and didn't find it. Then I called my credit card company to see if it had been used. It had, so I started canceling everything. I guess I had dropped it to or from the car or after the run. I thought I was losing my mind since I lost my wallet and room key. Then I noticed something strange on the passenger side of the car (had not looked at it previously) there was a foot print and a dent and after further investigation I found that someone had pried the door open with a crowbar at the top of the window and stolen my wallet. I was more relieved that I wasn't clumsy or forgetful. I only lost 50-100 bucks and the credit card companies will cover any charges. It is more a hassle than anything else. I will have to drop some dough to get the car fixed. The thing is, I think they were not professional criminals, but people hard on their luck since they only bought Whataburger and Gas before my cards were canceled.

In Summary, Santa is not a fan of running. I lost my jacket that I run in, my car god effed up while I was running and now need new credit cards. Also the elves did not steal my running shoes because Santa knows that running shoes are bad for you and wanted me to run in running shoes. My theory is that BC can sense that Santa is against running (see early post of his picture with Santa).

Reindeer 5k

Here is a pic of me running in my Vibram Five Fingers at the Fall Creek Reindeer 5k. The organizer sent me the picture with the comment "Were you running in socks?"



As you can see in the picture the weather was less than pleasant.

A strange way to show love for Santa...

So we met Santa this year at the local Chic-fil-a. There was a long list of people waiting to see Santa so we added our name to the list and got in line to get some food while we waited. BC flirted with the Chic-fil-a cow and played on the playground.

I was excited to see what BC would think of Santa this year. He was very interested in his beard last year. Our friends were with us and they saw Santa first. They have a little girl who is 2 (just older than BC) and she was quite upset when returning from her turn seeing Santa. Not thinking much of this we continued to wait. I got BC out of the playground area to make sure we were ready when it was our turn. I was just tying his shoes when the elf told us that we were next.

Colin was laughing at me as we waited watching the child before him finish. Finally it was our turn. If I only knew what would happen next. I handed BC to Santa and he freaked out. Enjoy the follow photo. Maybe next year will be better.

Barefoot Colin

I have been bit by the running bug as of late. I don't know what it is, but the last couple of months I started running again. I had sworn off running last year as I decided that it was too harmful to my knees and legs. I even went to the point to buying a gym quality elliptical machine for the house so that I could still do cardio and not have the same wear and tear that running causes. I actually use the elliptical too. I think I have about 400 miles on it so far. That comes out to using it about 3-4 times a week.

About 4 months ago I read an article on wired.com about Barefoot running shoes Vibram Five Fingers (VFF). It seemed to make sense to me. So I did a little more research and found that Luke's Locker was the only local store that sold them. I talked Lisa into going to the Woodlands to try a pair on. I ended up getting a pair (even though Lisa thought I was crazy) and my bug for running began. At the store, another patron asked if I had read "Born to Run" by Chris McDougall. I hadn't, but after some more research online, I decided I should check it out. Thanks to walmart's price war with Amazon I was able to get a copy on the cheap. The book really sold me on barefoot or near barefoot running and that running is not that harmful to you if you don't heel strike.

This isn't an endorsement of VFF's or Born to Run (although I think people should check them out and make their own conclusions), but they have helped me get back into running and enjoying running. I don't know what it is, but I look forward to going for a run and I don't even need my iPod anymore for entertainment.

I occasionally run completely barefoot. It sounds crazy, but it is actually quite comfortable. I have had a couple of mishaps when I have run barefoot in the cold or if it has been raining, so I avoid bad conditions now.

Back on 10/3/2009 I ran the Komen Race for the Cure 5K. My official time was 24:49 (7:59 min/mile). This was my first run in 6 months and I considered myself in decent shape because I did the elliptical. This past weekend (12/12/09) I ran my first 5k in VFFs. My unofficial time was 21:54 (7:03 min/mile). This was a PR for me. I might be biting off more than I can chew, but I am signed up to run a Half Marathon (13.1 mi) on Jan. 10th.

My shoes look something like this.



Link to see pictures from a race on Thanksgiving. GE Run through the Woods

UPDATE: I have been reading up on Barefoot running and minimalist running, and since I am not the most eloquent at times, I would recommend going to the following sites to check out more on Barefoot running and instructions on getting started.

Barefoot Blog and Barefoot Website

Movember is over!

I apologize for the lateness of my update to Movember (11 days after it ended), but I have been waiting for the final tally on the donations and rankings. Movember is officially over and our team in Houston, the Stimulated Bastardos, has finished in first place in the USA with over $81,000 raised. What is amazing for men's health is that we were second place in our company with our Sydney office winning for Australia (note: Movember started in Australia back in the day and Macquarie is an Australian company.) Per capita, our Houston office whooped the Aussies.

Personally I raised $255. I appreciate everyone that contributed to my molestache. One added benefit of your donation is that Macquarie matches dollar for dollar, so for final tally, I raised $510 dollars. It is pretty cool that everyone's money went twice as far. I did not know that this would be the case or I would have advertised it.

I have a confession to make. I did not keep the stache until 11/30. I shaved the hideous beast off my face before thanksgiving. I couldn't chance having family memories and photos scarred by the monstrosity on my face. Plus there are too many youngins that I would see during that time period that may trust me and associate my molestache with safety and I want then to continue to associate it with danger.

Here was the latest pic before I shaved.

Minister Kicked Out???

It may be hard to believe, but on Saturday night, a minister, two stay at home moms and a random guy got kicked out of a local bowling alley after playing only 2 games. You are probably asking yourself, how could four presumably upstanding individuals (Note: a Minister was in the group) get themselves kicked out? Well that's a secret.

Lisa, Stephanie (Lisa's Sister), Jesse (Steph's Husband aka the minister) and I got a free night out on Saturday night while the Grandparents (man that sure makes them sound old, no wonder Grandma Robinson counts her age in half centuries) watched the kids. I had been wanting to go bowling for some time now, so we all went to the local bowling alley that Hank suggested. We rolled in around 8ish to find that the bowling alley had been permanently closed (although they had a sign to play with the pros in January (old sign I guess)). This alley wasn't located in what I would call a nice part of town. If we didn't want to drive anywhere, we had a few choices, Gas station, Tattoo parlor or the liquor store. We chilled in the parking lot for a few minutes to take in the scenery (actually Lisa was Google mapping another bowling alley). Jesse and I kept our heads on a swivel to watch out for any local drug dealers that might approach to offer some product. Eventually we had our coordinates and swiftly left the ghetto.

We got the the bowling alley and bowled a couple of games. We (or I) got reprimanded once for my behavior and then around 9 they kicked us out. Well one hour of bowling gave me my bowling fix for the night, so it was time to go to do something else. "Next stop" (to quote Lisa) was Gulf Pointe 30. We arrived at Gulf Pointe 30 and realized it was not much better than the closed bowling alley (The walkway along the building smelt like someone had been smoking for their glaucoma). We spent the next 15 minutes sitting outside the theater debating on what movie(s) to see (No we were not chillin with the dopers the whole time. I mean there was a minister there). Eventually we decide not to see any movies because the ladies could not agree on a single flick and Jesse realized that if they went alone to a movie (their plan) that we would later be blamed and be in trouble. That was a close one.

We headed back home and returned by 10:30. So to make a long story short, we had a babysitter and only went out for 2 hours.

Weekend Update

Another weekend has gone by and of course it was slightly eventful.

First, we were "That Guy" this weekend and put up our Christmas lights. I use the term 'put up' loosely since we did not finish the job and power has not been routed to all the lights . . . yet. We still have some supplies to acquire and we need to buy some replacement bulbs since Lisa and I broke a few in the unpacking. Amazingly enough our packing wasn't as bad as I feared and most things were still in good working order. I also learned that my Vibram Five Finger shoes are excellent for climbing the roof.

Secondly, a mystery has been solved. Lisa had complained Saturday and Sunday that she was sore all over like she had been beat up. We racked out brains to try to recall if she had lifted anything heavy, if I had beaten her and forgotten, or if maybe she was sleep walking and injuring herself. Well she spent most of the weekend blaming me for being a mysterious wifebeater (the Stache might be influential in this train of thought), but on Sunday night I figured it out. On Friday night we played Wii Fit at a friends house and Lisa played it vigorously. I guess shadow boxing as hard as you possibly can without throwing the remotes at the TV is a little harder on the body than Lisa had suspected.

Third, the Caughran Family was shoe crazy on Saturday. Lisa the Boy and I went to Willowbrook and The Woodlands to do some Xmas shopping. In the end, we got 2 pairs of shoes for the boy, 1 for Lisa (with another pair planned but we didn't make it to the store) and 2 pairs for me. Using Aggie math, that is around 6 pairs of shoes. Seems pretty hypocritical of me to buy so many shoes since I have been spreading the word around about the benefits of going barefoot. Oh well.

Lastly, Greatest hunt ever! background: I was reading about how back in the day, Humans used to hunt gazelles and other deer-like animals with nothing other than their bare hands. They would slowly chase the animal until it collapsed from exhaustion. If you want to know more details on how it works let me know and I can fill you in but a quick synopsis is that Humans have a better heat transfer system that allows them to run longer than nearly all other animals. Back to the hunt. Well Last night I was finishing my run and heading back into our section when I saw a Buck run by. I decided that even though I didn't plan to go that direction that I would follow it. I slowly ran after it as it sped away. It turned down an opening in the street while just barely in sight. When I arrived at the turn I found it had trapped itself and was hitting its antlers on the metal fence frantically trying to get away from me. I had it cornered and was going to move in for the kill. But then it hit me. I don't have a hunting license and so I let it go. I will say that if I had my cell on me, I would have called Hank, and he would have been there to take it out. I don't think the HOA would have been happy, but Hank would have been.


The Buck looked something like this.

Coming Soon . . . Movember update and Barefoot running (is Colin Crazy?)

Movember = ewwww

At Macquarie, corporate is big on a fund-raising event known as Movember. For the whole month of November (Movember) men grow mustaches to raise money for the prostate cancer society and Lance Armstrong's Livestrong as well as raise men's health awareness. I decided to participate in Movember and began growing a mustache on 11/1.

Now there are some people that can grow a good mustache (men and women) and some people that don't have to worry about facial hair. I am in the latter group. I have very little ability to grow facial hair and in all honesty I should not be allowed to even attempt to.

Some quotes I have received:

"Ewwww you look like a pedophile"

"Nice, Child molester"

"Why does it only grow on one side?"

"Is that really 2 weeks of growth"

"That is just horrible. Do you go out in public looking like that?" Me: "Yeah and I try to tell people that it is for Movember" Person: "Yeah but you don't talk to everyone you see. I can't imagine what people must think when they see you. You really should shave that off"

One person after someone commented about how full their beard was "Yeah it separates the men from the boys" Me with my pathetic childmolestache: "thanks"

Multiple people: "I wouldn't be able to grow a mustache, it would probably look like yours." Me: "Yeah I am the only idiot that can't grow a mustache that is attempting to."

Well there you have it. Please click the link if you want to donate to the cause.

My Mo:

Update: How to waste another $20

Well a few weeks ago I wrote about how I wasted $20 at Spec's to get my car jumped. Well this past weekend we went to Spec's again to again get some Barbera wine. Since we enjoyed it last time, I decided we should get two bottles of Barbera from different wineries so that we wouldn't have to go to Spec's again for a long time (I don't like wasting money).

This time I went into the store with Lisa and BC so that I wouldn't have an opportunity to kill the car again. We got the wines, the car started and we made it home safely. Once I got home I was unloading the car and groceries. Being the typical male, I carried everything in with one trip.

In the process of unloading in the kitchen, the bag with the wines tipped over and I was able to catch it during the fall except I caught the bag and only one of the bottles with my hand. As I was saving the bottle, the bag was ripping and the other bottle continued to the tile floor shattering into a mess of glass and wine. Did I mention it was red wine? It was a huge mess. It took Lisa and I a good thirty minutes to clean up the wine and glass. We now have 5 fashionable wine stained dish rags.

It has been a few days, but I am still finding small shards of glass on the floor.

So to recap. We have made two trips to Spec's in the last year and in the process wasted $20 on each trip.

Race Photos

I ran in the 1st annual Walk by faith 5k in Deussen Park (Summerwood) on Sunday. It is for a good cause (see http://www.walkbyfaith5k.org/ for details). Macquarie was the main sponsor.

Here I am before the race:


Here is almost all the Macquarie folks after the race.



I improved my time by 2:29 from the Komen race in early October. It is partially that I have started running again and mostly the fact that the there were no hills. I got 10th overall.

Is that Chocolate?

Another weekend has gone by and it was once again eventful. This past weekend was the Growing Kids God's Way conference. Lisa and I have been raising BC following the GKGW principles (aka babywise). Lisa went to the conference with both of my sisters (Amy and Ashley). I didn't go because it didn't seem like fun to me. Unfortunately for Lisa and my sisters, they were the only attendees that didn't have their spouses with them (oops). Anyways, the point of the matter, while Lisa was at a conference learning how to better raise our child, I was watching him, and from the previous blogs (falling down the bleachers), this could be trouble.

Well Friday night was pretty uneventful, but Saturday morning was a different story. We went to the Kemah boardwalk to ride the rides and visit with my mom (Nanny Susie) and the cousins (Emmett, Howdy and Sissy). BC loved playing with them and riding the rides. He rode the carousel, hot air balloon Ferris wheel and the fighter planes. I rode with him on the rides and on the planes in particular, Emmett made an astute observation. He noticed that the plane I was riding didn't go half as high as the other planes (it was because it is made for kid's weights, not adult's) After the ride, he said to me "I'm a better driver then you because I could fly higher". It was slightly embarrassing that I was too heavy for the hydraulic powered ride, and that it was so obvious that Emmett noticed.

But that wasn't the eventful part. After eating lunch and heading back to the house, it was nap time. BC was too excited about playing with his cousins to take a nap. He just wouldn't go to sleep and kept throwing his pooh bear out of the Pack and Play. I decided to stay up there with him and take a nap. About an hour later I heard him crying again and it smelt like he needed a change. I figured he pooped and that woke him. Little could have prepared me for what I was about to see.

I found BC sitting intently naked in the middle of the pack in play with what looked like mud covering his hands and his face. His diaper and excrement had been tossed over the edge of the pack and play. He had gotten poo everywhere even on his pooh bear. I sat in amazement, dumbfounded on what to do. So I grabbed him under his armpits while controlling his arms and looked for help to clean him up.

Once he was all cleaned and the pack and play had been hosed down, I called Lisa to inform her about the day. She laughed at me and said "I guess we can't put him to bed in just his diaper anymore".

Luckily for me my nose worked and I didn't try to figure out what the substance was like in the movie Baby Mama. I only wish it had been chocolate.

Dewberry Farms

This Sunday we went to Dewberry Farms with some friends of ours. Little Colin had a blast. Here are some pictures.



Colin, Sophie, and Micah.



Colin still loves to swing.





Playing in the cornbox.




On the hay ride with Mommy.





BC and Colin on the hay ride.



Caughran family.




Going down the slide alone, like a big boy.




The rollerslide with Daddy.




Riding the "Black Mamba" with Mommy.




"I think the exit is this way Dad".

Best/Worst Dad Moment

Lisa, BC and I all went to the St. John's Kinkaid Football game on Friday night (BC's second football game and second SJS/KHS game). We were having trouble getting into the game since we did not have enough cash (I wasted it on a bum a few nights before). So I called Vik to borrow $5 bucks to get in. To make a long story short we were able to get into the game with out paying ($24) so for the week I am net +$4.

But that is not the point of this blog post. During the game there was an event that made me the best/worst dad at the same time (I will admit that the "best" part is only my opinion and Lisa does not agree). As we were sitting in the bleachers watching the game, Lisa got up to go get the boy some milk. He started to follow her along the bleacher. I was watching him. He stumbled and fell on his butt, got up and was fine. Then he stumbled backwards on the bleacher step below him and started to fall on the concrete one step below. As he was falling I was flying through the air to catch him (it was very Curt-esque**) and the people closest to him reached out as well. I caught him on his belt loop just as his forehead kissed the concrete below. I traveled twice as far as anyone else and was the only one that caught him (that was the "best" part) and no one else came close.

When I pulled him up he had a slight red mark on his forehead and Lisa took him to console him while berating me for letting him fall.( Edited again by Lisa, I asked Colin why he let him get out of reach and he replied " I thought he was a big boy"... Come on he is 1 1/2 years old. Anyways.)Now I don't know where she was, but she saw it happen but did not move as fast as me to catch him. So I was the worst dad for letting him fall and not being safer, but I reacted pretty fast to stop him from getting seriously hurt. When it comes down to it, he is a boy and boys fall get hurt and get back up again.


**For those of you that do not know Curt, he is my brother in law that has three children. Lisa and I have witnessed on multiple occasions him instantly diving into a pool or launching across the room to save one of his children from injury and/or drowning. One event occurred so fast at Lakewood that the lifeguard had no idea what had happened.

Tyson Update (11/3)

Tyson is making good progress. He is starting to use his legs more and has full control of his bladder (no more accidents!). He is also going to acupuncture treatments. I know it seems a little weird to get your dog acupuncture, but according to the dodgerslist.com it helps a lot. So far it seems to be worth the time and cost.

Here is a pic of him today getting his second treatment.



By Lisa:
I just got home from Tyson's 2 week check up and the vet said that she was shocked at how much he had improved in just 2 1/2 weeks. There is a good chance he will be back to normal after his 6 more weeks of crate rest. We were very pleased to hear such good news. However we are not out of the woods just yet.

Oops

Last night we had friends over for dinner. Lisa cooked an awesome meal (brisket, her special green beans and potatoes). BC and I are meat and potatoes kind of guys. Anyways, our guests brought an Ice cream cake for dessert. We threw it in the fridge and had it after dinner. It was extremely good and everyone felt a little guilty after eating it( but it was well worth it). Well we only put a dent in it. Lisa and I were debating on what to do with the left overs, because she knows that if it is in the house I will eat the whole thing. I thought about bringing it to work, but I didn't think it would make it without melting. So I put it away and decided that it would just be slowly consumed over the next few days. I would just run a little more.

Well . . .

I wasn't thinking and I had just put it back where I got it. In other words, I put it in the fridge, not the freezer.

This is what Lisa found this morning. . . Oops



I feel bad that I destroyed the cake since it was very good and it was a gift, but in the big picture I subconsciously saved Lisa and I a few pounds.

How to waste $20

Well the other night Lisa, BC and I went to the grocery store to pick up some supplies. On our way home, we stopped at Spec's to pick up some more supplies. Lisa being a fan of the store wanted to go in while I waited in the car with the boy.(Edited by Lisa...What who says I like Spec's I've never been there before I just didn't want Colin to take even longer than I did. And by the way we were looking for some hard to find wine, that's why it took 20 mins. not 30 like Colin states below.) Well being the cash conscious consumer and earth friendly, I turned the engine off while we waited. I left the radio on and AC fan on so that we weren't bored and didn't suffocate.

I started surfing the web on my phone and started reading WSJ articles. A long time passed before Lisa got back. I was distracted so I didn't notice how long she had been. So I went to start the car and it wouldn't turn. I guess I had wasted all the juice in the battery (which now I need to get the battery and alternator checked).

A guy quickly came over to help jump the vehicle. He got another patron to bring his car over and assisted me with the process of getting the car jumped. After the car started and we closed the hood, I thanked the guy. He then informed me that he had been laid off and wanted to know if I could help him out. I felt I should give him some money for one, he was very polite and two he helped me out. So I went to look in my wallet and all I had was a $20. I didn't really want to give him a $20, but it was all I had, so I did.

After the fact I thought this whole thing was kind of a bad idea since the guy was hanging out in front of Spec's so giving him money probably didn't help him out in the long run. On the other hand, he did come help and provided a service.(I said it was a bad idea especially since the guy went over to a nearby trash can where he was keeping his bags did something and then went back into the liquor store.)

So in summary, I saved maybe 50 cents on gas by turning the car off for 30 minutes (20 mins.) and all it cost me was $20 and much deserved ridicule from the wife.

Tyson and Colin

Baby Colin wanted to be near Tyson while Tyson is healing on crate rest.

T Rex video

Here is the video of BC in his halloween costume. Enjoy!!

Costume Shopping

Here is BC is a Winnie the Pooh Costume at the Disney store. He is a big fan of Pooh Bear and he was pretty cute in the costume, but I made a comment to Lisa that the neighborhood kids would beat him up, so Lisa did not get it.

So this past weekend we went costume shopping.

First we tried the turning the boy into an elephant.




But he didn't really like it.

So keeping with his Winnie the Pooh theme, I thought how about Eeyore . . .





But the material was pretty thick and since we live in Houston and we don't want a cooked child we decided he wasn't an Eeyore type kid.

BC is T-REX




I have a video with him as T-Rex, but I need to convert it before it can be posted. I will add it soon . . .

Tyson Update

Tyson enjoying the sun on Friday

Well Tyson has continued to improve. We are cautiously optimistic that he is getting better. The vet has warned us not to get excited because he can relapse and some people (of course not us) incorrectly perceive actions as improvements when they are just unconscious responses of his body (i.e. not transmitted from the brain via the spinal cord.) For example, a dog can be paralyzed, but if you pet their hind area, they can wag their tail. This can happen without communication from the brain. So we are hopeful but still guarded.

Here is the latest:

Tyson has started to pee on his own. We are supposed to continue to try to help him pee, but when we take him to the grass he pees on command.

Tyson does wag his tail. Or at least he has once when we came home without touching him. I am not sure if this is a sign of improvement, but Lisa and I enjoyed seeing him happy.

Tyson's legs seem to have more resistance when standing. They don't seem to be 100% limp anymore, but this is a very minor difference.



We have scheduled Tyson's first acupuncture appointment. We have heard good things about acupuncture with this type of injury, so we are going to give it a try. I don't think I would ever get acupuncture myself, but they say it can't hurt . . .

This is how I picture it will go . . .

Crummy last couple of weeks

The last few weeks at the Caughran household have been less than stellar. Two weeks ago Lisa and I were both sick with some sort of stomach virus. I got to practice being a single dad all weekend taking care of BC by myself. We thought is was a bad weekend, but I would gladly go back to being sick compared to this past weekend.

This past weekend, Tyson jumped off the bed and hurt his leg and back. He was dragging his leg and wasn't putting any weight on it. We took him to the vet and they said he partially tore his ACL and he had IVDD (disk disorder). At the vet he seemed to be using his leg, but he was still favoring it. They gave us some meds and said he needed to be on crate rest. We took him with us to East Texas for Kiley's 6th birthday party. Tyson got lots of love from Hank, Jackie and the kids. He seemed to be doing well...

On Sunday morning, Tyson tried to get the chihuahuas behind our house and must have aggravated his back again. This time he didn't appear to be using either of his back legs. We went to the vet again and they said that he was paralyzed but still had deep pain sensation. They said we could either go with surgery or continue with the medical treatment. This was one of the more difficult days and decisions for Lisa and I. We finally decided to go with rest/medical treatment. We still don't know if we made the right decision, but we are hoping and praying that he regains feeling in his legs.

The last couple of days have been very difficult for me and especially Lisa. Lisa has had to single-handedly take care of Tyson and help empty his bladder every 2-3 hours. It is frighteningly similar to the period after BC's surgery when she had to cath BC. Lisa has been very strong and I am very grateful to have her as my wife.

We are still waiting to see if Tyson's back heels. There is a support website for dogs with this problem that is filled with hopeful stories of dogs getting better (www.dodgerslist.com), so there is hope. I will try to post updates when we see any changes in Tyson's status.

The greatest Rug in the World

For those of you that don't know, Lisa has been slowly furnishing our house and is on the verge of completing the living room. More than a year after buying couches, we bought a coffee table and two end tables. I thought going to every furniture store in Houston multiple times to look at coffee tables was bad, but little did I know . . .

After we got the tables, Lisa decided we really needed a rug. So we returned to all the same furniture stores to look at their rugs. If you have ever shopped for rugs, you know that it is quite a hassle to look at them when stacked or hanging. Lisa eventually picked one from Lowes. We bought it, brought it home and decided it was too small. They didn't have a larger one in the same style, so we bought the size we wanted in a different pattern to see if we liked the size. We liked the size, but wanted the first pattern. After some research on lowes.com we found that the Lowes in Austin had the one Lisa wanted (Note: lowes.com is very difficult to use as you have to go to each lowes location to search for items, and there is no way to search all locations for an item.) We try to order it online, but it wont let us since we live too far from Austin. Lisa calls and they inform her that they will not ship it to Houston or transfer it to a Houston Lowes location. They say our only option is to go to Austin to pick it up.

I immediately say no. There is no way we are driving to Austin to get a rug. This was a mistake. I suggest we find a similar rug in Houston, so we visit the same stores again to find a rug, but Lisa is set on the Lowes Rug in Austin. Did I mention it is the only store in Texas that has the rug and they happen to have three of them?

I eventually give in after wasting time at other furniture stores and we decide to go to Austin. (Note: I also tried to get a co-worker to get it on one of his trips to Austin, but his car is too small). We rationalize the trip with the idea that we will stop to see the sites, have a picnic and visit the blue bell factory.

Saturday morning we head out for Austin on 290. Along the way we call the Blue bell factory to see when the tours are etc. They inform us that they don't have tours on weekends and the store closes early. It also starts to rain or I mean pour. Halfway there BC finally falls asleep. I had been drinking a diet DP and needed to go to the restroom, but since BC was sleeping, Lisa didn't want to stop and wake him and was going to force me to pee in a bottle. Well as I am driving I decide to attempt to use the bottle, but Lisa says no and lets me exit to use the restroom. BC does wake up and doesn't go back to sleep. We uneventfully get the rug from lowes and try to use the Garmin to find a local Austin restaurant to take advantage of being out of town. After a few u-turns and Restaurants that only exist in the Garmin universe, we give up and go to a Waffle house we saw on the way into town.

As we are eating in the waffle house, a curmudgeon looking man comes into the restaurant with a trach. I go to point him out to Lisa as he walks up and "pets" the boy's head and says how cute he is. This is kind of freaky since he is a stranger and that he has to plug his trach with his finger to talk. He finally goes to his seat. He says something to me and I nod politely. Then all of a sudden he is next to me again to show me pictures of his kids and grand kids. I politely look at the pictures and comment about how lucky he is etc. As he is standing there, BC is not happy and is in fact quite terrified of the creepy old dude that is spitting through a tube in his neck. I mean BC is screaming and trying as hard as he can to get out of his high chair into Lisa's lap. Lisa is doing all that she can to consul him, but the creepy guy doesn't even notice or take the hint to go away when Lisa and I mention that he is scaring the child. He eventually left and BC calmed down.

We drive back to Houston in the rain and it only clears up as we get on beltway 8.

After all this we finally put the rug in the living room and That rug really ties the room together ***Warning: Clip contains foul language***

Finally we are done . . . What we need lamps now???

Trees are out to get us

Lisa must have really PO'd mother nature recently (or I did) because she (mother nature) has been taking out her anger on the Caughran family this past week.

Some background: A few weeks back Mother nature tried to electrocute us, but she missed and hit our neighbors' trees across the street with lightning. We thought we dodged a bullet, but little did we know that she had backup plans. Well needless to say the lightning killed the trees and our responsible neighbor had their tree cut down so that it would not do damage to their property. Well in the course of them protecting themselves, mother nature decided it was her chance to get us, and when the tree fell it hit our live oak taking out a big chunk of the limbs. That was mother natures first successful attack on us this week.

Then this past weekend the clan took a day trip to Austin (story to follow later this week). Upon our return to the house Lisa slammed on the breaks in the driveway and put the car in reverse so that we could get a better look at something on the side of the house. Low and behold, a tree had fallen on our house while we were gone. This was mother natures second successful strike of revenge.

From our responsible neighbors that sacrificed our safety for their own: "Seriously, what'd you do to tick off all the trees around the neighborhood? Better hope my next door neighbor's pine doesn't come down, b/c I'm pretty sure it'll find a way to end up in your front yard."

Here is a pic of the carnage.



Does anyone know how to appease Trees/mother nature? We need to do something soon before one of our pines takes out half the house.

Reality TV . . . Dangerous?

Is Reality TV dangerous to the Caughran family? It depends on who you ask and what show you are referring to. Recently I have noticed an unsettling trend with Lisa, BC, and me. We are emulating what we see on reality TV. All three of us are victims to it.

A couple of days ago, Lisa and I watched "The Biggest Loser" (one of our favorite shows). And after watching the show, I had to work out. There is something about sitting for 2 hours watching people work out and lose weight that makes you feel bad if you don't work out as well.

Now I usually try to work out daily, so I wasn't concerned with this. But last night another show influenced our behavior. Lisa and I watched "Hoaders". It is a show about people that hoard things and shows them trying to clean up after the state gets involved or a threat of eviction. Immediately after watching the show, Lisa and I looked around the TV room with BC's toys everywhere and we had to clean up.

So for the two past days we have been influenced by TV. I'll admit we took the good parts from the show, but I am worried if this trend continues we might run into trouble emulating Survivor, the bachelor, or any VH1 show.

***Update*** Last night I was surfing through the channels and saw "18 and Counting" on the Duggars and their 18+ kids. Needless to say I did not stay on that channel. . .

Goals

This will be a short post and wont be routed through Lisa for approval.

Goals, we all set them for ourselves, our family and our children. This Post is about a new goal I am setting for the boy. We already have the usual goals for him, do well in school, go to college, play sports, marry a beautiful woman, but I have a new unique goal for him. I can't help him with this goal, but his Pappy can . . .

I want BC to kill a 12 foot alligator by the time he is 5.


Article

From KTRK ABC13: LIVINGSTON, TX (KTRK) -- The catch of the day was just up the Eastex Freeway in Livingston.

Five-year-old Simon Hughes is a real-life gator slayer. Simon didn't even flinch when he and his dad came across a huge alligator. The pipsqueak hunter from Polk County grabbed his gun and shot and killed the 12-foot long monster.

This gator was just five inches shorter than the Texas record, and that's got Simon determined to do it again.

"I wasn't even afraid," said Simon. "Next year I'm going to kill me a bigger alligator."

Simon weighs about 40 pounds, without the gun. The alligator weighs 800. That's 20 times his size.

The next Zach Morris

Another weekly update from the Caughran Clan. As you have read from our previous posts, BC has been going to Mother's day out at our Church (yup we go to Church now). He has really taken to going to "school" and being social. Each time he goes, he seems to be gaining more confidence and personality. When we first dropped him off he would cry as he walked into the room. Now he runs right in and goes straight to playing with the toys. According to the teachers he is a great eater (eats with a fork) and a great napper (once Lisa told them to give him his Pooh bear).

The odd thing is that they say he has been silent. Silent?!?! That boy never stops making noise at the house or blabbering about something. I even posted before that he baby curses, and the teachers say he has never even made one noise at class.

Well silence is slowly becoming a thing of the past. In addition to running into the class, he now socializes frequently. He may even be getting to the point of being the next Zach Morris (From saved by the bell for you old fogies). He doesn't talk to an imaginary camera or anything, but he is a future lady charmer.

***Update from Today's Class***

The teacher said he brought her a ball and said "ball" and threw it at her.

Here is a recent picture before class that Lisa took of him.









Now we just need to get him one of those phones . . .

Months?

At what point do you no longer count a child's age in months? Lisa and I have been meeting many new people lately and they always ask "how old is that kid?" Lisa or I typically say 15 months, 15 and a half months, or 16 months (depending on when they asked and if we were rounding). Typically the men laugh that we still count in months and not years at this point. I typically blame the blog since there is a age counter, but in reality I do still count in months with or without the blog.

So back to my question, when are you supposed to stop? I know for weeks you usually stop around 8 weeks/2 months. For months, I think I am going to stop at 18 months. 1 and a half seems like a good point. I feel that there is such a difference between a 1 year old and a 1.5 year old that it is worth specifying. Now I could be wrong, but I doubt much changes from 18-24 months.

As a rationalization for counting months, I look to the methods used by child care. The child care at mother's day out has the toddlers broken out by 3 month intervals to separate all the 1 year olds so that a 13 month old and a 19 month old are not in the same class. If they do that, there must be a difference and a necessity to count in months.

At some point you also stop counting in years and switch to decades or in my mother-in-laws case, half centuries.

Little Swimmer

This week is Colin's second big week in the last two. Last week was his first day at mother's day out. As you saw in the pictures he cried a little bit when we dropped him off, but before I get into this week, I have a theory as to why he was crying.

It was a Thursday and I (the dad) was home and riding with him in the car to take him somewhere. Now from his perspective, every time dad stayed home and went with him somewhere, something bad happens to him. First trip to the Doctor, Shots, Surgery, Bladder tests. Needless to say, he was very whinny and easily crying before we even got to the car or to the church. Once we got to Mothers day out and he realized the teachers were not nurses and no one had any needles he quickly enjoyed himself. His teachers reported that he had lots of fun and he was good on his second day.

Now for the big week. As you guessed from the title, BC is making a second attempt at swimming lessons (the first week was canceled because lightning caused too many missed classes). Now I thought I had heard BC yell and scream before, but I was kidding myself. I went to his second lesson last night and that boy has some lungs. He seems to be progressing (not that I really have any idea what progress in survival swimming looks like). The teacher also said that he is stubborn and doesn't want to do things her way. She is going to break him of that, but I think it is going to be a running theme in his childhood that Lisa and I are going to be working on defeating his stubbornness.

Also another random update: I think BC curses. He gets very frustrated at times and says gibberish in a angry manner. I think it is baby cursing.

Lisa will post a brief video of a swimming lesson in the next couple of days.

My first day with out little Colin.

Little Colin started Mother's day out last Thursday. Colin went into work late so we could both be there to drop him off. He cried a little bit when we got ready to leave but when I got there to pick him up he was sleeping on his nap mat in the middle of the floor (Something I didn't think he would do). His teacher said that he was a good boy. He ate most of his lunch (and some of the child's beside him)loved music time and also enjoyed playing on the playground. He will be going every Monday and Thursday for 5 hours. I missed him almost instantly after leaving. I wasn't sure what I was going to do to keep my mind busy. Im glad that things went well because if they didn't I'm not sure that I would have let him go back. I think it will be good for him to play with other children his age. He has 8 kids in his class 3 of which are triplets(only 2 girls, the rest are boys).

Paper Planes.

Some experts say that a child will be more intelligent if the mother plays classical music while the child is in the womb. Lisa and I do not subscribe to this belief and decided to do her own experiment. She listened to Rap and Pop music for the past 24 months (9 months in the womb, 15 months out). Some might think that this would lead little Colin to be a criminal that curses, pays only $49.99 for motels and is known as a freak of the industry. Only time will tell, but we have noticed odd behavior recently.

Here is a scene of what Little Colin might be thinking these days when he is in the back seat of the car. "What do you want to do with your life?".

Little Colin loves music and dances to particular rap songs and songs with a strong bass beat. In particular he loves the song "Paper Planes" by MIA. If he is crying or moody, if we put this song on and turn it up, he just gets a smile on his face and starts to bob his head and shoulders to the beat. I would guess other kids enjoy music as well, but they probably listen to Barney not 50 cent and Ludacris.

We first noticed this in the car (where he listens to most of this devil music). I tried to get a video of his dancing. His style of dance is very subtle, but he always does it to his favorite songs

He is a little suspicious of daddy sitting in the back seat videotaping him, so he stops a couple of times.



Now that Little Colin is getting older and understanding things more, Lisa is busy updating her playlist with more Disney and edited versions of her songs. I have warned her that she will be in trouble is one of Colin's first words is a curse word or if he calls any girls he knows by a derogatory slang term for women.

We are now planning on getting Rock Band or Guitar Hero so that the boy can be exposed to classic rock and nurture his affinity for music.

The Great Escape

Little Colin is quite mobile now. Since visiting his cousins in California, he has taken to walking 100% and speed walking (no running yet). He rarely crawls although he falls a good bit. Lisa and I had to take more safety precautions with his new found mobility. Shortly after getting back, I had to install a new gate at the bottom of the stairs and we had to get new dog stairs for our bed. (The dogs need something to help them get on the bed and we needed something that we could easily move so that little Colin couldn't climb into the bed). What we didnt know is that Colin would have so much fun playing with the stairs.

He is sitting inside the flipped over stairs.

Colin also minds pretty well. We tell him when he is doing something that we do not approve of and he typically stops. He has a tendency to talk back (Not looking forward to his teenage years) but we are working on that. He has started to try to out smart us. For example he is not allowed to touch the TV or the TV components. This is very difficult for him since they are covered in buttons and blinking lights. To get around this rule, he has begun to roll his toys near the TV and under the entertainment center so that he has a reason to get close. He is good about not touching things, but occasionally tries to use a trip to the TV to retrieve a ball as an opportunity to touch the TV. Lisa is good at keeping him in line, so he just now looks at all the buttons (it only takes one time of turning off "So you think you can Dance" for him to learn that the huge awesome looking button in the middle of the TV is not that awesome at all)

Now on to the great escape. Colin likes to wonder around the house to see what he can find and get into. Recently he discovered the doggy door. When Lisa is around he just hits it so that it opens and closes. But the other day he was under daddy's watch (clearly daddy is a pushover compared to mom), and he decided it was time to make his move. He pulled his typical trick and threw his ball out the doggy door. Although he can't talk enough yet to say it, I pictured him rationalizing it in his head "My ball is out there and I have to go get it before one of the dogs chew it up". He was slow at first testing the doggy door and making sure that I wasn't going to stop him for touching it. He thought I wasn't watching but I was. He got about halfway out and realized it was a little harder than he thought and he might be stuck. He didn't give up and eventually made it all the way out. He wasn't that smooth about the whole ordeal as he was laughing and giggling the whole time. I thought that maybe Tyson had been licking his face on the other side, but it was just that he was excited to have escaped. Once outside he made a mad dash to the play house and climbed the rockwall to the top. I was one proud parent, but now we need to find a way to prevent his escape from the house just like we prevent him from climbing the stairs and the bed.

Vacation Pictures.

Colin and Goofy at dinner.

Colin and I with Jasmine and Aladdin.

My boys at dinner on the cruise.

Our family with Mickey Mouse.

The whole family, all 27 of us.(and Pluto)

Vacation.

Well we just got back from our vacation we go on every 2 years with Colin's family and we are just now getting back to normal. We went to Disneyland (Anaheim, CA)and on a 4 day Carnival cruise to Catalina Island, CA and Ensenada, Mexico. We flew into LAX and went to Disney before going on the cruise and visited Disney again before returning home. BC absolutely loved Disney. His favorite ride was "It's a small world". We tried to make a video of him dancing on the boat but it was too dark. We had dinner one night with the characters and he really enjoyed it. It is such a great feeling to watch your kids have that much fun. The second day at Disney was more about how many rides we could ride before the lines got long. So BC kept his Nanny Susie and Papa Pat busy while we ran from ride to ride before it got busy. We rode several and the last one I rode was "Space Mountain". I always remember this being one of my favorites as a kid but this time I barely made it off the ride with out loosing my breakfast. I guess that just about sums up the Disney portion of our trip, now on with the cruise.... We had quite a ride to the cruise ship terminal. Our shuttle driver, of a company I won't name, was quiet the aggressive driver if I might so say myself. But who am I to complain, he did give BC a disgustingly dirty princess bouncy ball which I wouldn't let him touch. Anyways... We got on the ship and went to our room and took a nap. Did I mention that the whole trip we napped with BC. What, it was a VACATION right? I wanted to try and tough it out this cruise so I decided not to use the motion sickness patch (Also since it made me temporarily blind last time and I forgot to get a patch). I did alright I tried to sleep or stay drunk for most of the cruise while I was on board. Which led to a few later embarrassing moments of Fun ship karaoke. Colin managed to lose at the last hand of poker when he decided to go "all in" and BC was happy just to be chased down the hall. He has really started to walk well and he can stand up from the middle of the room unassisted. We had to switch off who was going to stay out late since BC had to go to bed fairly early until the last night we discovered that our 13 year old niece, Ivy, could babysit for a nominal fee (and she did a great job). I just got the rest of my pictures downloaded so I will share several of them in a later post.

Surprise...

Well recently we have turned into a party house. This past weekend we hosted a surprise blowout that sported 80 years of life to be celebrated. Now this may sound like a bad idea to surprise an 80 year old, but this wasn't one person, but 2 people's surprise birthdays (30 and 50).

Lisa or Hank (Lisa's dad) had the idea to do a duel surprise birthday party for Stephanie (30) and Jackie (50). The premise was that it was supposed to be my birthday party, but then Jackie would think it was a surprise party for Stephanie and Stephanie would think it was a surprise party for Jackie. Now I have no idea how Hank and Lisa kept their stories straight. I for one took the stance that I don't plan anything and never know anything. What actually frightens me is that Hank and Lisa were able to pull it off. When Jackie rolled in she had no idea until she saw a sign that said "50" and was even upset that a friend of hers was coming to Houston "to visit friends" and wasn't coming to see her. She never suspected that her friend was coming to see her.

I think the party was a great success and has solidified our house as the resident party house for Lisa's side of the family.

Although everything went smoothly, I find the whole thing quite troubling. Lisa and Hank have honed their skills at trickery and I am fearful that this will not be the last surprise party in the next few years. My 30th is coming up in 2011 and I better keep my head on a swivel. . .

Baby Steps . . .

"Baby step onto the elevator... baby step into the elevator... I'm *in* the elevator. . . AHHHHH" - Bob Wiley from What about Bob.

Little Colin must be thinking something similar these days but more like "baby step to the toy . . ." I always knew what it meant to take baby steps, but for the last few days the Caughran family has been experiencing it literally and the term has taken on a whole new meaning. A few days ago, little Colin took 2 steps on his own from Lisa to his walker. Prior to this he had been couch surfing and walking with a walker, but when we tried to get him to walk on his own, he would just drop to his knees. He just didn't have the confidence to go it alone until recently.



The next day he took 3-4 steps. Then he took 7-10 to get to his fire truck. Each day he makes it farther and is steadier and more confident. We have taken some videos of him learning to walk. As you can see in the videos, we are coaxing him to walk to his toys on the soft carpet, unlike my parents who taught me to walk to goldfish outside on the concrete!?!?

He isn't officially walking by any means, but he is taking baby steps. . .

Now is not a good time to plant . . .

BEFORE

Last weekend, Lisa some how manipulated me into redoing our front lawn. You know, "keeping up with the Joneses". Our neighbors updated their lawn professionally last year and our newest neighbors are in the process. Lisa has been discussing it with them, and I think it got her thinking that our yard (bushes etc) needed to be updated.

Here is a quote from my neighbor a couple week before to give little background on our take of yard work and maintenance. "Your lawn looks like the Sahara . . .I think you might get cited by the fire department for creating a hazard" Needless to say we don't have a sprinkler system and we don't do much for it other than have a service mow it occasionally.

Back to the point, Lisa has me working all day Saturday in the heat of the day without a cloud in the sky. She told me what to dig up and what to plant, but she had to do it from select angles so that she could stay in the shade to avoid the heat. I on the other hand was cooking in the sun. For those of you that are not currently in Houston, we have been setting heat records the last few days with 2 days ago hitting 104 (hottest day in June ever for Houston).

I almost finished the whole thing in one day except that we needed to buy more plants so I finished up the next morning. The yard looks pretty good now. I think Lisa is no longer embarrassed with our yard. Later that evening we ran into our Neighbor Ann (an empty nester that has an immaculate lawn). We proudly tell her about all the work we did like we did something special, and she says

"Now is not a good time to plant"

AFTER

Colin's first visit to the dentist.

Today was Colin's first dentist appointment. He got xrays, a cleaning and an exam. I will be honest there was some crying involved but over all I think he did quite well for a 1 year old. He has 8 teeth and no cavities! We both really liked the dentist.

Letting go...

It's hard to believe it but, this past weekend was the first time we left BC overnight. My mom came to our house to watch BC overnight while we attended Colin's grandmothers funeral in Dallas. BC had a great time with his Mimi ( I don't even know if BC knew we were gone). I think it is going to be difficult (for me) to let BC go to mother's day out. He starts in September but I know he will like playing with the other kids there.

Howdy Y'all

Howdy visits the Caughrans . . . BC's cousin Howdy spent the week with us last week after baby Colin's birthday party. 6 months back, BC wanted to have a sleep over, but mom said "not until you're 1". Remembering that, BC asked to have a sleep over after his first birthday. Per his request, we asked Aunt Ashley if Howdy could sleep over at our house for a few days. Of course she said yes.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it was (not really). This was Howdy's first trip away from home on his own, and Lisa's first time to watch two kids at once. For those of you who do not know Howdy (who am I kidding no one reads this), he is a very sweet boy that is very loving and loves to play with BC. BC also loves to play with howdy. They had a great week playing and hanging out. Lisa took them to the pool, the zoo and the park.

Having Howdy over was a major strategical error on my part. I was not thinking of the consequences when I approved this sleep over. I quickly realized my mistake after the first day. Lisa had become baby crazy. I didn't realize that this was her two kid test run. . . I need to be more careful in the future.

Here are some pics from the pool when howdy was in town.

Baby Colin and Howdy at the splash pad.

Howdy on the blue slide. We had to promise that he wasn't going to ride on the blue slide again before he would agree to go to the pool.