Todd requested that some other folks try a “My Friday” post in an effort to demonstrate his power and influence over us! And so here it is…

Friday is normally my day-off anyway but I’ve been off all week since Tuesday with the baby.

5:52 am – Awoke to Aidan (3.5) crying out from his room. Got up to go check on him and tell him to stay in his bed until 6am. (Our rule to keep him from getting up at 5am or earlier everyday. He really likes to attack the day.) Finally got him to calm down and went back to lay down for 8 minutes.

5:58 am – Get up because Trace (2) is crying out now. Go to get him and let both boys get up. (Close enough.) Got the boys their milk and Aidan went to wake Grandma up. Kelly’s mom came up to stay with us for the first week of the new baby.

After that, the boys and Grandma watched Playhouse Disney and Kelly got up too. I changed Emmy (2 days) and brought her to Kelly to nurse. I checked emails and blogs for a little bit and then made some coffee. Jackie, Kelly’s mom, and I made breakfast (eggs and potatoes, ummh good).

About 9:30 am, I loaded up Aidan and Trace to head to Lufkin for a boys outing. We went to the Lufkin Zoo and they were pumped. As soon as we got there Aidan wanted to ride the train (the primary attraction). I had already figured on riding twice. Once before the zoo and once after, so I brought my $2. The train ride was exhilarating as usual, but then, just as we arrived in the train station to finish the ride, I realized that we were going to fast. The train slowed but didn’t stop and we were off for a second trip. Awesome! 2 for the price of 1. The boys loved it although, by about half way through the second round, my caboose was tiring of the wooden bench seat.

After the train, we went into the zoo. They love the zoo. I guess most kids do. There’s something about watching kids experiencing these animals that’s different than how we as adults do. It’s like, even though most of the animals are laying around out of boredom or trying to stay cool, they still see them as the wild and ferocious creatures that they are supposed to be in their natural habitats.

The zoo was cool and as we left, (yep, you guessed right) I got the “Can we ride the train again?” So off we went to ride again. This time Aidan wanted to ride in the very last car, which happens to face backwards. So we rode the last time looking at where we had been instead of where we were going. Thrills a minute.

By this time the boys are waning but they still want to go play on the playground at the zoo. This was number 2 on our must do list for the day. So we did. They swang?, swung?, swinged? on the swings. They climbed and slid down slides.

Then we went to McDonalds. (Am I the most awesome dad or what?) Ate lunch and skipped the McPlayland. I took them to Soundtechs so I could pick up a new component for my pedalboard. They got to play on some of the drums and look at lots of cool stuff. (Sorry Bill and Tim if we made you nervous.)

We finished that up and loaded into the van to head home. Less than five minutes later, both boys were out cold. Got ‘em home and put ‘em in bed for a good long nap.

We had my parents over for dinner tonight along with Kelly’s mom, Jackie and here sister, Jessica. I grilled some superb steak cuisine.

Tomorrow is Trace’s 2 year-old birthday party. It will be a small affair of mostly family due to the new baby. It’s a Trash Truck theme with a Trash Truck Cake and Trash Can Cupcakes. My boys are obsessed with Trash Trucks. I think we own about six toy versions and they love to watch the one come by our house once a week. Hopefully, they’ll have higher aspirations later in life. Either way, I’ll love ‘em like nobody’s business.

Hope you had a good Friday. Have a great weekend!
Ryan