Going to Panama

Pictures will follow of our trip to Panama after we get back (haven't even left yet).

Background:

A few weeks back I got am email from my mom about picking up their guns from the airport one day. Random I know. They are going to Argentina to hunt and got permits etc to take their guns to hunt there. My step-dad is left handed, so he likes his left handed guns. Well they were going to Panama right after the trip and only had a 3 hour layover in Houston and I was the only one close enough to come get the guns. Apparently you can't just take your guns to any country you want. I had assumed a US passport meant that you could. Much to my surprise they couldn't and so they needed me to get the guns for them.

Since they were going to Argentina they were allowed to take the guns but clearly had to jump through some hoops. Now to be clear the guns are in locked cases and checked.

So then a few weeks later I get an email about going to Panama with them for the weekend. Since I don't really pay attention to dates I had no idea when the trip was or put 2 and 2 together to realize this was the second part of the trip. Either way Lisa and I thought it was an awesome idea so we are going to Panama.

Of course I have to meet them at the airport to get their guns before we can catch the flight.

Seaworld/San Antonio

In honor of our 5th anniversary and Mother's day, Lisa, BC and I went to San Antonio for the weekend.

Before we left, BC felt he should remind us of our engagement where a small child smashed his head into a tree within 30 seconds of our engagement and busted his head open and bleeding everywhere. Right before we were about to leave (on our anniversary) BC smashed his head into his table opening a good gash. We didn't get stitches since chicks dig scars.

Off to San Antonio (only a few hours late) with no hotel reservations. We arrive in Downtown San Antonio to realize that there are tons of hotels and they are all over (our plan was to find one near the Riverwalk that wasn't near the party area). We started calling and got excessive prices compared to what we had found online. We tried to book on our phones (FAIL) and called MiMi Robinson to book one for us. She was very nice to take time from having fun to help us out and book a room (after quoting half a dozen prices for us). We were booked and ready to go check in. Little did we know that it takes 30 min to an hour for a reservation to process so we had to wait in the lobby to get in. By 11 PM we were in our room.

After a good nights rest, it was time to head to Seaworld to eat breakfast with Elmo and friends. Before we left we realized we only had a couple of band aids, so we needed to stop at a CVS to get more. We exited early and just started driving towards a residential area. After multiple blocks of nothing but houses and apartments, I deduced that San Antonio (unlike Houston) must have zoning since there were no commercial properties around. Eventually we found our way to a plethora or stores and got the band aids and made our way to Seaworld.

The boy loved the breakfast and loved Elmo and Friends. I honestly can not think of a time that he was more excited than he was when he got to meet Elmo.







After Elmo, we saw the dolphins, sharks, sea lions, and shamu. The sea lions were the best in my opinion. Shamu was a good show, but it didn't get the boy's attention since there is nothing and then suddenly a flying killer whale. After Shamu we headed back to the hotel to eat and nap before heading back to Seaworld for round two.



In round two, we saw the Azul show with Beluga whales, Dolphins and high divers. This was a great show as it was a mix of seaworld and the circus. BC enjoyed it.



The next day we toured the Riverwalk and ate Mexican food on the Riverwalk. It was all around a nice day with the family and nice atmosphere. On Monday a co-worker asked me "How was Rita's on the Riverwalk?" As I didn't tell anyone about our lunch, I was quite surprised and thought I had a stalker, but in reality he saw us there as he was taking a river boat tour of San Antonio.

On the drive back, Lisa and BC slept while Dad had driving duty. Right when we got back into Houston, BC started to cry and fuss. I looked back and he was just tired of being in the car. 5 minutes later he started crying again and I looked back to find that both hands were covered in Poo. I quickly woke Lisa from her slumber (awesome Mother's day gift in my opinion) and we pulled over to thwart the crisis.

Once we got home it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of Mother's day/Anniversary weekend. All and all it was a great weekend.

BC loved Elmo

Anniversary (5th Edition)

Today is Lisa and my 5th Anniversary. We tied the knot on this day way back in 2005. That was before Baby Colin and New Colin and before we moved back to Texas. We were a little young to get married (based on today's standards) but it was well worth it and I don't think we would change a thing.

A lot has happened in the past 5 years. Some good and some bad, but if we hadn't gotten married we wouldn't have our little boy or our second little one on the way.

Unfortunately for Lisa, I checked online to see what the traditional gift is for the 5th anniversary. And to her dismay, it isn't gold or silver, or diamonds or platinum. It is wood. I guess I need to get my whittling knife out to make her something.

Since I am no dummy (although some may beg to differ) I wont get her just a whittled piece of wood. I did get a card this year and the clerk asked me after I bought the card "You think you are going to get lucky?" Of course I didn't say anything witty back to him but just laughed.

***UPDATE***

I just wanted to add details on the gift (couldn't chance Lisa seeing this before). So i got Lisa 5 gifts for her 5th Anniversary. 1. A Card. 2. A Prenatal Massage at Kingwood. 3. Flowers 4. A freshwater Pearl Necklace 5. Since it is a wood anniversary, I am going to move the wood pile out of sight (which she has been asking me to do for weeks now). (of course I haven't done it yet)

Want to sell my junk?

Recently the Caughran family has been doing a little spring cleaning. We have not done much, but it is a start. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, we watch hoarders (or other similar shows) and we want to get rid of stuff so that we are never on the show. Second, I want to get rid of the stuff. And lastly, Lisa has probably started (I mean definitely started) the nesting phase for the next baby.

A few weeks back we had a garage sale. We sold some of our stuff, but I wouldn't call it a money making endeavor. The remainder of our stuff that Lisa thought was not sell-able we donated.

The past weekend we found more stuff to get rid of and I talked Lisa into donating more of our leftover garage sale items (still cant get her to get rid of the old radio with a cassette player). We dropped the stuff off to an appreciative Good Will guy so that they could sell it and then took some books to Half-Price books.

We brought a recycling bin filled with books to half price books to sell. Some were text books and some VHS tapes. After 45 minutes they had an offer for me. $12 bucks. A couple of the books in the basket were for sale for 8 bucks in the store and the text book was on sale for 50 (albeit ours was probably out of date). To make things worse there was a book I was going to buy for $12 but there was no way I was going to trade a crate of books for one book.

Half Price books has a great system. They knew I would take the 12 dollars. All the cards were in their favor. For one, I already lugged the books to the store. They know that people are willing to take less to avoid taking the books back home. Secondly they know that we have no where else to go with the books. I don't have the market that they have to sell books or the patience to wait for the right buyer. I mean we had a garage sale and garage sale buyers have 0 interest in books. I could sell on amazon or another online site, but if I was willing to put in that effort, I would not have gone to Half Price books to begin with.

Good Will also has a great system. They take the stuff that other people don't want and give some away and sell the rest. Just like half-price books, they have the clientele to sell the junk. What makes GW better is that they don't pay for it (or in my case insult me with a low ball offer) and the donater gets a tax deduction (along with that warm feeling of giving back).

What I have learned is that Lisa and I should not be in the junk/resale market and we should rely on companies that specialize in it. Now if you want to sell my junk let me know and it is all yours.

Editor's Note: Lisa did a good job at selling our big ticket items at the garage sale.