Random thoughts and Teens.

So today my parents took me and the kids to the St. Louis Science Center for a little entertainment. If you are ever in the St. Louis area and you have kids, I highly recommend taking them. There are attractions for all ages and personality types. And the really cool thing is that there are even things there for Dads and Moms. My oldest got to ride a Segue (yea, I probably misspelled that horribly), the middle one got to conduct some actual science experiments, and the baby was captivated by an interactive floor display that reacted to her movements. Dad was pretty entertained just watching the kids running around each interactive display and the huge two story T-Rex. BONUS - the two little ones slept the entire trip home.

Now for the entertaining parts of the day. If you ever taken a teenaged boy into a public place, I'm sure you will find this next part very entertaining. My oldest son can be shy at times and although he is very intelligent, funny, and not unattractive (I'm a bit partial here...deal with it), he some times prefers to just hang out and observe. Well today, he was quite observant and kept telling me all the "things" he was observing. There must have been a model agency touring the center because on more than one occasion he had to de-fog his glasses. I'd hear him gasp from time to time and would turn just in time to catch him trying to avert his eyes from yet another teen beauty. It really was quite funny and entertaining. But I think my favorite part of this whole event was the very sweet older black lady with the blond beehive hairdo that he just couldn't take his eyes off of. So, being the wonderful father that I am, I had my dad and step-mom pose with the baby in a strategic place so I could steal a picture. That just made my son's day. He laughed at that all the way home and has probably looked at that picture half a dozen times. So now he can't ever say that I didn't do anything cool for him. The rest of our day was fairly uneventful. We came home and had my step-moms world famous pot roast, which by the way, she taught me to make so there's one more meal I can cook for the kids. So now that makes 2. Unless you count Papa John's Pizza, McDonalds, and every Buffet restaurant in Lawton. Once the two little ones woke up, we ate dinner and then proceeded strait into their favorite activities...attack and tickle daddy until someone pees their pants. Fortunately, the baby is still wearing pull ups. The end of the day arrived and it was time to put the babies to bed so I read to both of them and then laid down with the littlest one while she ripped at my ear so she could fall asleep. What is it with the playing with the ears? I'll save that for a later blog but my oldest did the same thing when he was a baby. Strange.

Here is where I get to relate my most favorite thing about being a parent. The pay check. What pay check you ask? Well, I don't get any more money for having the children but I get paid in ways money could never compensate for. Let's start with the hugs. Some of them are so tight I nearly choke and others are so sweet, well, I still nearly choke. Then there's the looks of admiration, surprise, excitement, and joy when they "win" during just about any competition against daddy. But my favorite part is at night when they look up from their bed, say good night and "I love you daddy" with that sweet little smile they always give me followed by the smell of apple juice breath. These are just a few of the "payments" I've received so I'm sure I'll post more. Feel free to add your own by making comments.

Kids are so cool.

And No - You can't have mine, go get your own.