Telestrations anyone?

One of my kids' favorite games to play in the whole wide world is Telestrations, which is essentially Pictionary mixed with Telephone.  The first person draws the given word, the second person writes down their guess, the third person then illustrates that guess and so on and so forth, e plurbis unum, de facto, patronus.  I have to admit that this game really is hilarious, especially when you play with Luke, who makes the cutest drawings AND has no ulterior motives.  After Sunday's game with Grandma and Grandpa, I took a few pictures of some of the highlights....

This word:

Was drawn as this: (by my mom)

Which I thought was:

And Luke drew that as this:

Which Cindy thought was.....

But wait! There's more!

"Hide and Seek" was drawn like this: (by my dad)

(that's actually pretty good, right?)

 Which Cindy thought was:

(You know, shame buildings.  They're everywhere!)

Which my mom tried to illustrate for me by drawing this:

Which I confidently knew had to be one of these:

Which Luke creatively drew as this:

(Please note the "hair" on this grandfather.  Accurate.)  

And then my dad obviously knew he was looking at a:

Nailed it!

Okay, one last short one:

My dad wrote this down:

And Cindy could not read the writing.  Which turned into this:

That cloak is so.....cuckoo!!!

A cuckoo cloak.  Harry Potter had one of those, right? 

A Luke Quickie

The other day while driving in the car Luke was feeling talkative.  He told me, "My most all-time worst store to have to go into is Lowe's.  My second worst store to have to go into is a store that I don't know what it is for and I only have ever seen it and it is called "Pep Boys."  Then I told him that Pep Boys was an auto parts store and he said, "Okay, then I really don't want to go in there." Seriously though, Luke complains about so little in life, that when he does, you know he hates it. Consequently, other things that actually make Luke verbally complain include having to eat coleslaw or listen to "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran.  He will NOT do either.

Order Up!

You know how you order fast food at a restaurant and they ask for your name so they can call you when it's ready?  I think I have mentioned it before, but my dad loves to give fake names.  And here is the picture evidence from Wendy's earlier tonight....

What, he doesn't strike you as a Ling Chow?

If It Weren't For the Internet...

You would never see things like this.  I don't think I want to live in that kind of a world.  

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Let The Bucket List Begin

Cindy and Luke wrapped up their last day of school today!  One day earlier than everyone else. Because McKeel is so hipster and they were ending classes one day earlier before it was even cool.
And one of these years Cindy will appreciate the fact that I blast "What Time Is It? (Summertime)" from High School musical on the last day of school in the car every year.  So far, nothing but embarrassment and eye rolling.  Which I still can view as a parenting win.

That is a genuine smile from Cindy that lasted .03564 seconds.  I have cat like reflexes.
   

They got to wear anything they wanted on the last day in exchange for donating old uniforms to the clothes closet.  It wasn't nearly the struggle as it has been in years past to find an actual wearable plain clothes outfit for school.  They both went with green, which only confirms what I already know. They're a team.  (A very secret team.)

A Good Time For Lightning

Woke up to the best news ever!  It is hard to win game seven, especially on the road, so this is awesome.  Go Bolts!

And speaking of lightning, watch this video and tell me on a scale of one to ten how likely you are now to play outside in a thunderstorm...



(Does this have sound?  I couldn't hear anything...)

How I Spent Memorial Day

Just lucky, I guess.

Five Things I Learned This Week

It has now been six days since my last post.  Which is apparently too long for some people. (Cough, Sean, Cough)  So here is something to tide you over for six more days.


1.  There is nothing worse than working out with a horrendous case of the hiccups.
2.  If Luke doesn't like the color of the water bottle he has waited for you to buy for 2 weeks, he will make you send it back when it finally gets here.
3. When donating plasma in South Lakeland, the best phlebotomist is Benny.
4.  Agreeing to do a triathlon in the ocean may have been a huge mistake...
5.  JennyEllen is darn good at taking seagull punching pictures.  I guess we'll keep her.

(Coquina Beach in Bradenton, FL)

For you, Brian!

Oh sure, Cindy will smile for JennyEllen....

The girls!

Whale of a Time

Last Wednesday I got to be a chaperone for Cindy's 5th grade field trip to Sea World in Orlando.  The last time I went to Sea World I think I was on a field trip in 5th grade.  It had been FOREVER.  I was terrified that my shoes would be melting to the cement by the end of the day, however, yes, it was hot, but my shoes are still intact and by the end of the day a nice breeze came in and I survived just fine.  And bonus, hardly anyone was there- so my rule of never visiting a Florida theme park during peak season was not broken.  

We got to see the killer whales in a show twice- they put on an extra show for all the school kids right when you get there.  Quite remarkable that they can train these giant beasts.  

Cindy and her friend Riley decided to sit VERY CLOSE at the second show.  I was sitting a nice twenty rows up from them, but I knew that when I saw this:

They were getting soaked.  

Sea World is actually a pretty great park!  I gotta admit I was surprised.  

Next we hit the dolphin show.... 

Thanks to the giant bar blocking my awesome photo.  

When we showed this picture to Luke, he asked if this was Cindy.  

Now THAT would be a field trip, my friend.  

We also go to see this giant manatee doing the backstroke...

Some sweet sea turtles...

(Duuuuuuuude....)

This blind possum.  Not at night!

And a seal show starring a walrus, an otter,  and two seals- one of which that was just NOT going to do the tricks that day.  Which made the show about 10 times more funny in my opinion.  

We got ice cream and watched the Manta coaster for a while.  

Which is my favorite way to do roller coasters.  

We also go to see PENGUINS!  And that was not my favorite part of the day just because the penguin exhibit is 32 degrees.  It didn't hurt, but those little guys are just cute!

 

The last thing we did before leaving at the end of the day is head over to the Dolphin Nursery outdoor tank and watch them for a solid 30 minutes.  Highly entertaining!  One of those things was a little creeper!

Cindy is upset that she is not a dolphin trainer,
but one day she will run that park!!

Who needs a selfie stick when you got a camera with a timer and stanchion 20 feet away?

I would like to publicly recognize and thank Cindy for her amazingly beautiful cooperating picture faces on this day.  Having that friend with us really did the trick! 

Definitely The Best

There was a ton of activity on Twitter and Facebook this week surrounding the news of Tom Brady's suspension over his supposed role in 'Deflategate.'  Personally, I think the entire thing is beyond stupid, but I will completely enjoy the Internet fodder that has come as a result of it.  This is definitely the best reaction I have seen so far:

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