Happy Easter!

_KRN6417-736471After a fun-filled week in California, we arrived home just in time for Easter. We spent last night coloring eggs and baking cookies (which turned out to be pretty good!).

This morning, we had an Easter egg hunt and then got ready for church.  It was a great day!

American Girl Place – LA

IMG_0037-797574Admittedly, I have never put curlers in anyone’s hair before so when Katey asked me to help her curl her hair the night before our trip to the American Girl Place in Los Angeles, I wasn’t sure she would be happy with the result.  I reasoned that if I am able to weld, I should be able to put a few curlers in for my daughter… I was wrong!

 

IMG_0053-752598I’m not sure what chemical process failed.  I called my cousin Megan who lives in a nearby city and she saved the day!  She used something called a hot curler and got us on the road to the AGP – with curls. THANK YOU MEGAN!

 

 

We arrived shortly after they opened and were soon greeted by our “personal shopping assistant”, Brenda.  If you’re a 9 year old girl who likes American Girl dolls, this place would be like heaven.

2 floors of everything you could possibly imagine and even separate rooms dedicated to the theme of each of the character dolls.  In any case, we signed up for the portrait studio first and then proceeded to the salon to have “Jessica” and “Samantha’s” hair done before picture time.  Katey and Lauren then spent time shopping for dresses to match their dolls.

_KRN6344-749680After the portraits were done, Katey and Lauren once again joined forces with their personal shopping assistant, Brenda, who incidentally had no concern whether I would still be able to afford to send my daughters to college after this trip!

 

 

_KRN6398-770736We were then seated for a 4 course lunch complete with special chairs and place settings for their dolls.  Guess what we did after that?  Right.  More shopping before our final appointment for the day, a theatrical review of each of the doll characters.

 

I do have to say that the theater was the best way to finish our time there.  On the way back to the hotel after our 9 hour day,  Katey commented “Dad, this was the best day of my life”.  Worth it!

Knotts Berry Farm

_KRN6235-774299Today was the first full day of our spring break trip and we spent the day at Knotts Berry Farm.  Katey and Lauren had a great time and if I’m not mistaken, we covered all 160 acres 3 times in our 10 hour visit!
Lauren, being several inches taller than she was on our last visit, was able to enjoy some of the “big girl” rides, her favorite was The Sidewinder.  Admittedly, the Sidewinder left me feeling like I was going to hurl but it was worth “taking one for the team” to see the excitement in their eyes.
Katey’s favorite was The Jaguar.  She set a world record for consecutive rides and longest sustained smile!  By the days end, they had earned enough stuffed animals to start a zoo!  It was a great day and we are looking forward to the rest of our spring break adventure…

Spring Break

Today we departed for California to begin our spring break adventure.  We noticed these wild flowers along the way and decided to stop and “fertilize” them.  In order to add culture to the otherwise red-neck experience, Katey decided to break out the viola and serenade the desert with her rendition of “Bile ’em Cabbage Down”.  I will add updates from our trip as I have opportunity.

Robocut

I’ve been getting tired of making the trip to Supercuts every 3 weeks only to spend 30 minutes listening to a bunch of women speak Spanish except to ask me “where I work at…”

I’ve been dreaming for years about inventing a home hair cutting system that would incorporate a self-contained collection system with a vacuum driven blade and adjustable lengths.  I did a little research and compared the Flowbee and Robocut systems.  Both operate around the same principle however, the Robocut appeared to have the horsepower I was looking for. Interestingly, both web sites appear to have been designed in the mid 70’s.  Take a look at this guys teeth!
man-750461

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I ordered one and it just arrived.  I decided to watch the included DVD and afterwards, wished that I hadn’t. I decided to include the video here as I don’t have the words to describe it…

If you’re still reading this after that video, I don’t know why. Anyway, I broke it out yesterday and decided that at the risk of a complete hack job, I was going in. I followed the directions in the supplied booklet, oiled the blades, and set the cut length at 2 inches.  This is what the whole set up looks like:
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My conclusion:  This thing works!  I was done in 15 minutes, no mess, and saved $8.  I have estimated a return on my investment right at 19.75 months.  I am going to try it out on Pokey (the dog) next week and will update the ROI calculation accordingly if it works.

An American Girl Day

_KRN6201-752217The day started early with Katey and her friends deciding to convert every square foot of our home in to something relating to American Girl.  It was a beautiful day today so they decided to borrow my camera and take pictures of their dolls.  Lauren was able to get in the action as she was given temporary custody of “Julie”. After everyone left, we went for a bike ride to the Orange Patch which I’m sure is the last, true general store in America.

A great Sunday!

_KRN6149-798113This morning, Katie and her friend Paige decided that they would make a movie about grandmothers.  I interrupted filming just long enough to snap a few pictures of them knitting and talking about their grandchildren. We all enjoyed church today.  Katie and Paige discussed the birth of Jesus and Lauren learned about how much Jesus loves little children.

 

 

 

 

After church, Katie, Lauren and I spent the rest of the day playing softball, shooting baskets, riding bikes, and reading books in the front yard.  It was a beautiful day!
Here are some images of a much improved swing!

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