Grilling out back

Making some hamburgers and hot dogs out back. Here's a snap of one of the statues in my parents backyard.

Sabbatical - Week 5

Just got back into town from Wake Forest, NC. Made Filipino sausage, longanisa, for the first time this morning. Yum!

Time to return the library books

Day of the Model Rocket?

Found an old model rocket with a launch pad. Going to assemble it and launch it, hopefully. I'm wondering if model rocket engines go bad over time. ..

Cupcake before bed?

Well, it's summer vacation. Should be alright.

Twisted Sisters

I heard Melanie talking about this and randomly came across them. About to check them out!

Pip Squeaks

Crayola markers come in so many more colors than when I was a kid.

Plants vs. Zombies

By Peyton

Cookiebot has arrived!!

Leilani has been asking for this for about a month. I can't wait to read it!

I usually see English and Spanish

Aguas de Marco

Listening to Jobim while waiting for my mom at Boone Clinic. The sky decided to open up right when the song started. So coincidental.

The Amazing Spiderman

It's been a few days, and I think I finally realized that I didn't think the new spiderman movie was that great. It may be partly due to the fact that it didn't seem like a reboot. "Star Trek" and "Batman Begins" seemed like real reboots. Maybe because the new versions of those set themselves far enough apart from their predecessors somehow.

Brave

I really like it when I take the kids to the movie and the movie ends up being really good. Because I the hot weather, I ended up seeing this one twice. I hope the kids never have to turn me into a bear. I actually like salmon, so I guess that would be a perk if that ever happened.

Bossa Nova over Bluetooth

Fireworks from Mossycup

Peyton and I watched the Mt Trashmore fireworks on July 4th from Mossycup Drive.

102 in the shade

I parked the car under a tree when we went to Church yesterday. I can't believe it read 102. Nothing compared to Northern Virginia, I hear.

Sabbabtical - Week 4

It's now the start of week 4 of the sabbatical. I can't believed I survived running between the hospital, doctors appointments, movie theaters, the beach, my mom's house, and my in-laws' house last week. I even let the blog go I posted for 3 days!

The photo is a snapshot of Oggie, my friend's mom's dog. As long as I have known them, they've had some kind of dachshund. I captured this pic rigt before we went to the pool.

Hot

From the dash of my mom's car...

2nd cataract surgery today

At the VEC. Great doctors, but a really long wait time and processing time.

Happy Independence Day!

I'm about to eat some pork and beans from a pot that I'm going to place on this.

Sabbatical - Day 15

My mom has a couple surgeries this week and the kids cousins are in town. Should be an interesting July 4th week!

High of 99 today?

I wonder what the heat index will really sit at...

Guess who's the class clown in my family

DQ dipped cone dessert stop

Chuck E Cheese

Treated the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Realized I need to take them to a real arcade over the sabbatical.

Sabbatical - Day 9

At the Virginia Eye Consultants waiting for my mom's cataract surgery. The appointment time was at 2pm. It's already 2:44pm. My mom is 80 years old and diabetic. Not being able to eat all day because of the surgery is killing her. We made a couple of sandwiches for her so that she can eat as soon as the surgery ends.

Fixed the actuator in my 2005 Honda CRV!

Instead of paying $200-$300 dollars to have my actuator fixed by Honda, I decided to get the part and try fixing it myself. It wasn't too bad! I did find out there's this "Honda Bond" that is one of the stickiest things I've ever touched. (Try not to let your hair touch it if you attempt this at home.) Surprisingly, excluding the actuator, it only took a few screwdrivers and a wrench to fix the door!

Here's a picture of the door before I started work:

This is the after I took off the panel:

After pulling off the weather protection stuff from the sticky honda bond:

The actuator is the yellowing piece on the bottom:

Crossword - Day 8

I didn't make time to do the crossword on Sunday, but was able to complete today's puzzle in under 16 minutes. Woohoo! My sister, Zabrina, would have like this one because of 40 across -- OKAPIS. We were just talking about that animal because no one could tell if it was a zebra or a giraffe.

Sabbatical - Day 7

Spent most of the day driving back down from Northern Virginia. Great day for driving. Lots of traffic, though. There was an accident in the Hampton Rhoads Bridge Tunnel.

I have to say that MOG is my friend. Right before I left my house in Northern Virginia, I downloaded eight albums for my trip in just a few minutes!

Crossword - Day 6 - Completed!

Completed in just under 30 minutes!

Sabbatical - Day 6

On the road back to Northern Virginia for a birthday party this afternoon. Stopped at a new Five Guys for lunch.

Thunderstorm rolling in

Crossword - Day 5

I wonder what would happen if I did the crossword at night instead of in the morning...

Buried!

What is this?

Bigger sand crabs today

Beach again!

Nikon Camera Battery Recall

Just in case you own a Nikon D-SLR, I just found out that there's a recall on certain batteries.

Nikon Battery Recall for EN-EL15

Scratch and Sketch

Our fishing plans fell through yesterday afternoon. So, I went out to run some errands and then I stopped by Barnes and Noble and picked up some "Scratch and Sketch" books for this kids. Here's a few pics of their artwork: