October 27, 2014
I wasn’t looking forward to it. A whole week in Disney World with my family. Sixteen of us — eight adults and eight kids. It was going to be expensive. It was going to be exhausting. It was going to be a very, very long week. Heck, just preparing for Disney is a months-long project. My wife and my…
October 22, 2014
Coming back from vacation is never fun. You’re worn out from all the traveling and suddenly you’re thrown back into the reality of normal, everyday life. Coming back from the happiest place in the world…well, pardon my French, but it sucks. At Disney World everything is pretty much perfect (really, it is) and they do everything they…
October 4, 2013
Our most recent small-town adventure took us to one of our favorite weekend getaway destinations: German Village. We came here on a recommendation a few years back and fell in love with it. German Village is a charming little neighborhood just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio. It was first settled by German immigrants in the mid-1800s, and is…
August 21, 2013
Every once in a while my wife and I feel the need to leave our quiet little town behind and escape for the weekend to…well…another quiet little town. This past weekend it was Lewiston, N.Y. So how does one discover a Lewiston, N.Y.? Well, one discovers it through one’s friend, who just happened upon it…
May 15, 2013
The following is a list of things that can send Boogieface into an inconsolable crying hissy fit. There are countless others, of course, but these are the top 10: 10) Her sock doesn’t “feel right.” 9) Her tights “feel weird.” 8) She gets a splinter. 7) Her brother hugs her too hard. 6) Her brother licks her. 5) Reorganizing…
January 16, 2013
A few weeks ago, my wife asked The Animal what kind of birthday party he wanted to have, because, you know, you can’t just have a normal birthday party anymore. I think there’s a law or something. “A fire-fire party!” he said, emphatically. [Translation: a firefighter party] But then, just a few days later, he abruptly changed…
June 1, 2012
Despite my high hopes, nothing really extraordinary happened during our little Memorial Day weekend road trip. No ghastly injuries. No demonic possessions. Darn. Regardless, I thought I’d share some of the highlights: Around noon on Saturday, we arrived in the tiny hamlet of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, which was quite lively due to its annual Blossom Time Festival. After perusing…
April 2, 2012
The crash was tremendous. It sounded like the china cabinet had fallen over. Then I remembered that we don’t have a china cabinet. I was sitting behind my desk in the den talking to my daughter when it happened. First I heard a dragging sound. Then came the crash, followed by my son’s screeching. I jumped up and…
March 1, 2012
“You guys wanna do a craft?!” my wife says to the kids, just as we finish up another exhausting family dinner. My children, who, for the last hour or so, have been whining and complaining about their food as if it were cough-syrup-covered cockroaches, suddenly spring to life and yell out in joyous approval. “YAY! A CRAFT!!!” Since…
November 11, 2011
“More thoy thauce, peas!” yells my son, the salty brown liquid running down his chin and dripping onto his plastic bib. Just moments before, he put the tiny dish of soy sauce up to his mouth and slurped it down as if it was leftover milk in a bowl of cereal. We had given it to him to use as…
