Trying to remember what 65 degrees felt like

We've been back from San Diego for a couple of weeks now, and as we enter the fourth or fifth day of 100+ degree temperatures here in Kansas, it seems like the perfect time to recap our trip in hopes that our memories of chilly, salt-tinged air will provide comfort the next time we step outside and have our faces licked by flames.

Don't get me wrong, Southern California is not without its own weather-related nightmares, the dreaded "June gloom" is nothing to be taken lightly. The intestinal fortitude the people of San Diego have to summon in order to make it through a month of partly cloudy days is nothing short of inspirational—how these people make it out of bed each morning to boogie board is beyond me.

However, bolstered by the undeniable will of its residents, we too were able to overcome this proverbial (and literal) cloud hanging over our vacation and actually enjoy ourselves. For Park, the excitement surrounding our vacation started as soon as we were dropped of at the airport as apparently he's now at an age where flying is a whole new, fun-filled experience. From watching planes taxi down the runway to enjoying a little in-flight reading, he had the time of his life. To make the flight out even more fun we were seated across from another three-year-old who would jokingly scream "We're gooooooooona CRASH!" after each bump of turbulence. Carrie, however (who no longer considers herself a "good flyer") was not amused.

Once in California it was full-speed ahead. Reunited with his cousin Hagen, Park was ready to take in everything San Diego had to offer. Here's a few day-by-day highlights of how the trip went down.

Day 1
We started our first full day of vacation by visiting a small, residential farm where we fed some horses and goats while being accosted by an overly aggressive turkey.

From there we went strawberry picking, or as Hagen and Park would call it "strawberry eating." However at roughly $8.50 an ounce, I'm pretty sure the strawberry people still came out ahead.

Day 2
Ever since my mom and dad came back from San Diego in February, Park has insisted that we  closely examine the map of the zoo they brought back for him every night before bed. And by every night, I mean EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. So, we felt kind of obligated to donate enough plasma to afford the price of admission.

Day 3
Two days in and we finally made it to the beach, however in Park's opinion we could have waited a little while longer … like a couple of years. To put it simply, he wasn't a big fan. While Hagen rolled around in the sand and leaped through the waves, Park sat on the beach, refusing to take his shoes off.

He did however finally enjoy it a little bit from the comfort of his mom's arms.

Day 4
The highlight of day four was another trip down south, this time to La Jolla, where we went to see some Harbor Seals who had taken over a local beach. It was pretty cool, however Park did not appreciate the smell and preferred to watch from afar.

Day 5
On our last morning in Solana Beach we took a little stroll around town, soaking in every last second of Southern California living.

A Busload O' Birthday Fun

While the twos definitely lived up to their reputation at times, life with Park over the past year has been some of the most fun Carrie and I have had as parents. Over the course of 12 months we've watched him become … well, Park. We've laughed together, we've carried on conversations together and we've gotten a chance to explore the world together. Along the way, he's developed his own personal tastes and interests, so when it came time to plan his third birthday party we just tried to roll everything he's grown to love into one afternoon of pure joy.

Pretty early on in the planning process, we decided it might be fun to keep all of the day's events a surprise, both for him and the members of our family who were planning on attending. So, in lieu of another slightly over-the-top party invitation, we opted for something a little more subtle and non descriptive.

While the tickets did raise a few questions among those who received them, I don't think anyone was tipped off that they were actually holding a little clue to the party's first, and biggest, surprise. You see, like most boys his age, Park is fascinated by pretty much anything on wheels, that's especially true for buses—school buses to be precise. So we went out and got him one for the day.

As you might be able to tell, this wasn't your average, run-of-the-mill, state-issued school bus, no, Park needed something with a little more style. Luckily, Carrie has become friends with Ivan Moore who happens to own the Unified Party Bus and he hooked us up. To see more of the bus, click here.

After the initial excitement over the bus settled down, everyone grabbed individual, specially prepared lunch sacks filled with snacks and hopped on board. And like that, we were off to parts unknown. Along the way, Park was treated to a personalized soundtrack containing all of his favorite songs ranging from "Party Rock Anthem" and the "Cha Cha Slide" to "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and Starship's "We Built This City" (damn you Kermit).

After about 20 minutes, the party bus pulled up to its first stop, Cox Farms in south Wichita, where they had a hay bale maze, a petting zoo (something Park has really, really gotten into … especially if it has a few baby goats), a cow-milking game and a special "cow train"—which, to our surprise, many of the adults seemed to enjoy as well.

From there, we headed back across town to our house, but not before a stop at the local fire station to get an up-close look at the trucks (although apparently the big one was off on a "food run") and meet a real-life fireman. Park soaked it all up, examining everything from the truck's tires to its shiny chrome, but when the fireman offered to let him sit in the driver's seat and wear his hat he became the shy little boy we only see on rare occasions. So with the clock winding down on our time with the party bus, we loaded back up and headed home to open presents before dinner.

As for dinner, that was really the only hiccup we faced in our party planning process. We had intended to take everyone out to a small airport in Benton, Kansas where you get to eat on the tarmac and watch the planes take off and land (obviously people stuffing their pie holes with chicken wings is not high on TSA's "threat list") however we found out the day before that it was "Benton Days" and we were unlikely to actually get a place to sit down. So we moved on to  "plan B," a pizza place with outdoor seating and an area where the three younger cousins could run and play, which they did for nearly two hours.

Finally as the party was winding down it was time for Park's final surprise—his cake. For months Carrie and I had been asking him what he'd like to have on his cake and every time we got the same answer "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Yeah, our kid wanted Santa on his birthday cake.

Not that we would ever try to talk him out of it (well at least I wouldn't) but now and then we'd suggest alternatives like Scooby Doo, a rocket ship or maybe even a dinosaur and all we ever got was "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Carrie even tried to get creative and asked Park if he wanted anything else with Santa on his cake and, thinking she had a breakthrough, Park replied yes … he wanted a reindeer too.

So here you go, Park's third birthday cake created by Lindsey Lou Cakes.

(If you can't read it, it says "Ho Ho Hope You Have a Happy Birthday Park" and by the way, it was delicious).

We'd like to thank everyone who came to the party, especially those who traveled in from out of town, because while the bus, the farm, the fire station and the cake put a smile on Park's face, nothing could match his excitement over having all of his favorite people in one place.

March in review

We haven't blogged much lately, which I guess isn't really news to you.

Not to make excuses, but we've kind of had our hands full—especially Carrie who's been busy taking care of the house and all of its inhabitants, assuming lawn work duties and working for a growing list of freelance clients. So consider this an apology and a sincere promise that we'll try to do better (but not a promise that we'll actually succeed).

In the meantime, here are a few of the things we've been up to the past month and a couple of shots I've taken. (To see the rest, go here.)

1) We took Park to see Sesame Street Live and learned that passing on the $10 ballon in lieu of a trip to the souvenir stand isn't exactly the most budget-conscious decision.

2) Carrie went country in her work for Nashville recording artist Logan Mize. After weeks of writing news releases, organizing TV appearances and setting up interviews, Logan's newest CD skyrocketed up the iTunes charts and his local concert was packed to the rafters with adoring fans. While you can't attribute all of this to Carrie's work, I will.

3) During a trip to Kansas City we attended a birthday party for our niece Kailey that featured an afternoon of laser tag and we inadvertently discovered that Carrie might be a bully. To put it simply there was enough trash talking and taunting of 11-year-old boys to make me concerned about Park's future.

4) I had surgery and got to know every inner thought of my temporary roommate Marv. Also, hernia surgery is a lot more uncomfortable—both physically and emotionally—than having half of your throat cut out (however if ever given the choice, I'd recommend you go with the hernia).

5) Park kept the holiday spirit alive by filling our head's with the Wiggle's Christmas—which he played on an endless loop on the iPad (thanks Mimi).

Here, let me share the joy.

And now for a couple of photos.

Always the little brother.

Last Friday my brother had surgery to repair a hernia. The next morning I discovered I had one.

Same kind.

Same place.

I'd like to say that this is just another case of me wanting to emulate my older brother, but I've been through so much crap in the past eight months, I could have gladly let this one pass.

Either way, I'm going to be heading back into surgery (that makes two in just over two months—after not really having any since I was a baby).

Trying to give my mood a bit of a boost, a friend at work sent me this.

I'm currently not in a lot of pain, so life is pretty much going on as usual (whatever that means these days) and hopefully I do emulate my brother and have a really speedy recovery.

More pics

I promise we'll eventually get back to posting some actual content, but until then, I just wanted to post a few of my pictures from this past month and provide this link to where you can see the rest. To sum things up, we've been busy celebrating birthdays (Zoe and Luka's), enjoying the unseasonably nice weather and moving Park into the master bedroom (we got the boot).

Enjoy.

Park has gotten into this "ear" thing, he finds great comfort in either rubbing his or yours, sometimes until it's raw.

For some reason we switched to celebrating Luka's birthday instead of his adoption anniversary this year … he didn't seem to mind.

This was taken on one of our recent unseasonably nice days, my heart almost explodes looking at it.

Where have we been?

I wish I could say we've been traveling the world and let that be a good excuse for why we aren't blogging. Unfortunately, we've just been preoccupied with life and have neglected the blog for way too long ... ok, someone has been neglecting the blog more than others. I'm guilty. But I've moved it back to the top of the to-do list. If anything, I can at least share photos of the big and little things going on here. As Craig mentioned in our last post (a month ago!), we are both taking a photo a day. Some of us have been a little better at it than others (hint: I'm not the guilty one this time). When I signed on to this project back in December, I was a little nervous about the daily commitment. But I have yet to forget, and I'm thrilled with all the photos I'm collecting to put in a book for us. Some photos capture the little things like bike rides around the neighborhood, others have captured the big things like Craig's surgery in January. All things that are Lindeman Life. Here are a few moments from the year I've captured so far.

1.16: Playing with Scooby and the Gang


2.2: Skyping with Aunt Cheryl, Cousin Hagen and Uncle Curt (Pay no attention to the mess on the desk - we were in the process of switching rooms and everything was chaos. Who am I kidding? The desk is always cluttered.)


2.3: Tub Time with Cousin Maisy


2.16: Boys Will Be Boys - Park and his friend Will


2.23: Lovin' on the Boy


We'll be back soon! (we promise this time)

Carrie

365 days of Lindeman Life (in pictures)

Each armed with new cameras (not to mention new iPhones), Carrie and I have decided to embark on a quest to take a photo every day of 2012. Carrie's plan is to compile all of her photos into a nice, hardcover book, as for me, I think I'm just going to make galleries featuring some of my favorite photos from each month on my website, which is probably a good plan since already missed a couple of days.

That said, if you'd like to see January through my eyes visit the gallery here.

Here's a sneak peak of what you'll find (plus before and after pictures of my throat, so be warned).

As for Carrie's shots, you're just going to have to wait.