The White House

Hi. It's Chad. I was in Washington, D.C., this past week for a training class. On Wednesday morning, I skipped out on training and went to take a tour of the White House. It was extremely cool. That evening, I called home and told Jaime about it. Hallie wanted to talk on the phone to me, so I began to tell her about it. Her response was, "That was cool. Did you see George Washington?" I told her that I did not, but I did see his picture. Blake was next to talk. I told him about going to the President's house. He wasn't quite as impressed at first. In an attempt to build him up to my excitement level, I told him that the President has his own movie theater and bowling alley in his house. He perked up at that point with an excited "Really?!?!" I then told him about the swimming pool, basketball court and tennis courts. Blake couldn't believe his ears and was amazed that someone could have all of those cool things in their house. Thinking of the best thing ever, in his mind, to have at your house, he then asked, "Daddy, does the President have his own McDonalds in his house?" After I quit laughing, I said, "No, but if the President wants McDonalds to eat, someone would bring him McDonalds." I guess even though you may have 5 star expertly trained culinary chefs at your service, there is no remedy for a Big Mac Attack.

Baking cakes

I have been baking cakes for about 25 years. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade I had a surprise Anniversary party for my parents, where I baked and frosted two cakes (from scratch) while Mom and Dad were not at home. I like to bake and have been doing it forever. Then this weekend, the kids and I decided to bake a Checkerboard Cake for Mom's birthday, again I have baked this cake before with no problems. I decided to do a cooked chocolate frosting, which is very simple, again something I have done before. Below you will see the results of my cake baking adventure. Let's just say, nothing worked right this weekend.

It tasted great, but that was about it. At this point, I gave up frosting the rest of it and we just ate it as it was. Oh, well.

Chad vs. Hallie

Hi everyone. It is Chad. Hallie finished soccer a couple of weeks ago. After we had gotten home, she was a little upset that she had not scored a goal in any of the games this year. It definitely wasn't for lack of trying. She worked really hard to score a goal, but just couldn't do it. She came really close in the final game, but missed the net. Since she was upset, I had told her that next year, she would most likely score lots of goals because she would be older. I went on to say that when you get older, you get stronger and faster, so you will be able to kick the ball harder and run faster. She thought on this for a second and then replied, "Daddy, that can't be right because I am way faster than you." I told her, "No, you are not." She went on to say that she was and she has beaten me in a race. After that, I did what any dignified dad would do. I told her that she was wrong and the next day that we were outside, I was going to race her and prove to her that she was not faster than me. Race day arrived this past weekend. We were outside playing and I reminded her about our race. We lined up. Hallie said, "On your mark, get set, go!" and the race was on. One thing to remember when racing someone in a sprint for a distance of 25-30 feet is that the jump out of the starting gate is crucial. Hallie was a littler faster out of the gate than I was ready for, but I am proud to say that I won the race. Yes!!! You heard me right. I am a slightly faster runner than a 5 year old girl.