Happy 37th Birthday Filipo Head

Way back in 1973 a group of teenage boys thought it would be fun to get stoned.  They thought it funnier to make an 8mm movie of themselves getting stoned.  Why I do not know?! Stupidity? Then years later post it on YouTube.

Why do I tell you this?

I tell you this because this is how Filipo Head came to be.

Filipo was kicked around, used as a ball for wiffle ball...he was generally abused by a future rock star and a popular local radio personality/teenage stoners of the 70's.

Filipo is the coolest Styrofoam head ever to live.  He hangs with famous people, like Tim Reynolds of The Dave Matthews Band. Filipo takes stage with Tim Reynolds's band TR3. Filipo is so cool he has his own Facebook page.

Since the hurricane was hitting the East Coast, Filipo decided he should celebrate his birthday in the Midwest (where the weather was more pleasant and safe).

For his birthday he floated on a raft in the pool 

Ejoyed an adult beverage while attempting to tan a bit...without much success.

He took a ride on the Harley

And enjoyed some cookie cake. 

You know for a Styrofoam head Filipo had a pretty damn good day...and no one abused him. Which for Filipo is an awfully good day!

Top Ten Reasons We Will Miss M

TOP TEN REASONS TO MISS M NOW THAT SHE IS AWAY AT COLLEGE

10.Her bedroom will be clean
9.  Her bathroom will be clean
8. No more guinea pig sized hair ball in her shower to fight off
7. The dishwasher chore is on a two person rotation
6. We can drive her car when ever we want
5. We won't trip over her shoe-S all over the house
4. My hairspray is less likely to disappear from my bathroom
3. One less kid to be my grocery bitch
2. No more witty come backs to King Ralph's nonsensical talks
1. I won't be able to squeeze her cheeks and give her 10 kisses at a time each night

We are super excited for you M, to have this opportunity to grow and learn. Remember, make yourself proud before you make us proud. Go Bears! XOXO

(Best college move in day sighting: man brought kid to college packed in a convertible Corvette. Unpacked so fast there was no time to snap that priceless picture to share.)

Where In The World Is Keeper?

Where is Keeper these days?

A. Saving her daughters from wrangling alligators

B. Saving A and M from wrastling the alligator



C. Off on a wild alligator ride

Truth is the alligator seems almost tame to the long hours that my co-workers and I have been pulling to get our new digs up and running.

School starts tomorrow for D and I. She, a junior and I...well it's like I am a freshman all over again. I'm excited!

So excuse me if I take a few blog breaks, I be off getting my feet wet, so to speak.

Big Fat Gypsy Vacation Takes a Beach Break

I returned from this summer's vacation feeling a bit out of shape. There is nothing I love more than getting my exercise on during a three week vacation. But like I said already, we had a week to work with, and made the best of it.

So after doing a little caving we headed to the beach. We had camped here 14 years ago, and found it had grown and improved greatly. It is a pricey place to camp. For a week of no interruption/obligation family time we didn't fret. It was worth it!

We played some Frisbee

 Wednesday morning we experienced a horribly, scary thunderstorm.  On Tuesday evening as we walked along the beach, watching little boys crabbing with their dads...watching the lightening crack down at a distance over the Gulf was an awesome sight.  Feeling the lightening crack over the camper, turning the bunk ends a glow of red and orange--CREEPY! SPOOKY! HEART STOPPING!  But By Thursday the sun was out in all day force, not small doses that you had to grab quicker than a sandwich from a gas station.

Then we had some good old fashion beach fun. We people watched. Made careful note:just because they make it in your size does not mean you should wear it. The girls got silly.

  We did a little bit of boogie boarding

We sipped a couple of bucket drinks (cause when your daughter is 21 you can do that)

We read.

D took a stab at some crabbing of her own...the crab would have none of that.

relaxed

Relaxing can be dangerous if you're the only man in the family

He longs to be the Alpha male, but he is just "our Beta."

The gypsy vacation continued....

Our Big Fat Gypsy Vacation Goes to Kentucky

(insert Yogi voice) Hey BooBoo where is the pic-a-nic basket? I am a pic-a-nic stealing bear.

If camping with Yogi Bear was on my (our) bucket list, well then, I (we) can check that off the list.

I (we) are not much for commercial campgrounds, but with Princess A only be granted one week of the two weeks vacation she requested...we revamped our entire vacation plan to accommodate a one week trip. I can't even remember the last time we took a one week vacation.  This is kind of cramping our camping lifestyle. King Ralph reminded me that we said last summer how much easier getting away was going to be when marching band no longer consumed our summers. HA!  This year it seems harder minus marching band.  When kids grow up, and you want to spend time with them, you do what you have to do. So we ended up at Jellystone Campground. The Avery's and Yogi.

Oh, and if there were any doubt to Yogi's gender...he's a boy bear alright. A boy bear who could sure use more than a hat, a shirt collar and a bow tie.  BooBoo get this bear some trousers!

Why don't we like commercial campgrounds?  One, they seem to be over crowded. And Jellystone was! Two, because they seem more like-- they paved paradise , and put up a parking lot. We choose Jellystone because of the oppressive Midwestern heat that is swallowing up that neck of the country.  We needed an electric site for some refreshing A/C!  We took a pass through the national park campground-- aaaaahhhhhh!  King Ralph said, what we were all thinking: nice.  By the number of campers in the park, four, the rest of the camping families were thinking what we were--electric for the A/C.  Don't get me wrong, for a commercial campground Jellystone is very nice. It had a nice crystal clear pool (that thanks to the 100* weather felt like a bathtub) and a water slide (that felt like a bathtub), playgrounds, mini-golf...and hayrides, complete with Yogi and Cindy. Being a costumed fictional character during a heat wave is a job for a sucker.  I chose to stay the distance from Yogi for fear he smelled like a sewer. The showers in the park sucked. I either had a stall that had a power washer feeling or a stall that felt like a pee stream...I mean trickle.

We came to Cave City for one reason, Mammoth Cave National Park.

In our Griswoldesque quest to visit all bazillion national parks, we chose Mammoth for its proximity to our home base.  Glad we did. It is an awesome sight...and a cool retreat from the oppressive heat outside.  We did two cave tours: History Tour (were the guide was less than impressive) and the Grand Avenue Tour (Ranger Rick Thomas was a FANTASTIC guide!). On the History Tour going through Fat Man's Misery

and hearing the girls ask King Ralph to stand by the sign for a picture, his reply "I am not standing next to anything that says fat man" was worth it.  Just for the laugh.

 Oh, we also referred to this tour as the tour of stupid questions. Our favorite: who is the current owner of the cave?  I felt sorry that the guide even had to bother answering that one.  Grand Avenue was worth the tour. Our guide added to the greatness of the tour.  He was full of knowledge and stories about the cave, with a sprinkling of humor. Which in my opinion makes a guide, never losing the interest of his group.  We also called this tour the tour-of-the-family-in-front-of-us-who-took-group-pictures-every-ten-steps and the tour of why-would-you-people-wear-flip-flops.  On this tour just when I was getting my exercise on and working the soles of my hiking shoes...we had a group break. There is some good steeps inclines and declines on Grand Avenue. With the breaks came good stories from Ranger Rick.  We did get to see a bat on the four and a half hour tour.  If you come to see Mammoth Cave and have time for only one tour, I would recommend this tour. I also recommend coming when there isn't a heat alert so you can camp inside the park and enjoy the hiking trails.

Before packing up and heading on to territory before traveled...the girls (no matter their age, and always with a little (lot) of giggles doing this) continued the quest they started fourteen years earlier

 OH YA JUNIOR RANGERS OF THE MAMMOTH CAVE!