The beach!

Over the previous Memorial Day weekend the family and I went Galveston Texas to spend some lovely time on the beach. We got down there on a Friday and left Monday morning. The kids love the beach even though this year was the 30 year seaweed invasion. When I say invasion I mean the first 50 feet of beach front was covered in at least three feet of seaweed. It created a wonderful patina of color ranging from dark brown to a lime green as the seaweed built up and decayed.  We always stay at the condo which over looks a pool with a lazy river and palm trees.

From the condo there is a porch at both ends and since we are right at the end of the island, from one side you can sea the ocean and from the other side you can see Galveston Bay. Its awesome because you get to see the sunrise over the ocean and set over the bay so vista views either way.

The trips being five this year have taken the plunge. In all aspects of the word. They chased the waves and now jump directly into the pool. We spent hours just beach combing and collecting shells looking for crabs in the tide pools. Getting sunburned, and fishing. Yes fishing, the kids started fishing this vacation. While fishing the kids all caught fish and my wife caught three where as Poppie and I caught nothing. all in all it was a great trip.

One constant.

The only thing that a parent can count on is change. Constant change. Why is it that one day a kid will love something and the next hate it? It makes it very difficult to please such a capricious thing much less three of them. Cooper has never met a meal he doesn't like while the other two are always wanting something other than what they were given.

Having triplets make you a new parent and an old parent at the same time. There are the normal new parent things like being over protective and worrying about every little thing from what's going in to what's coming out. Then the old parent thing of "they will be fine." And letting them have freedom and the ability to be self sufficient. It's not that you as a parent don't want to do and help out with everything but simply stated you can not be in three places at once.

The trips are at once the most wonderful thing and the most annoying thing all at once. The truth is you just never know what is going to happen next, be it injury, illness, or absolute joy.

It's been busy.

Since Friday of last week I have been running my butt off. Friday I did a radio show for five hours then came home went to bed. Sat woke up early and went to Tx Frightmare weekend and wore costumes for the majority of the day and networked. Met some amazing people. Sunday went back to the con and worked more for another project I'm working on and I missed the kids. Once Monday got here we took Maureen to the Hospital and she stayed there until I picked her up Tuesday at about 2. Now while all this is going on the kids still need meals and baths and laundry done as well as managed to make clean and do home work and then all the other chores around the house. Now Maureen is home and all tuckered out from the procedure and so I gotta help her out. Now it's Thursday and I have a station meeting tonight at 7 pm. Tomorrow I gotta go to Denton for a job then run back to Dallas for a public appearance at the Rocky Horror Picture show at midnight. then Sat I am recording another radio show.

The kids are doing great I only wish they helped me out even more than they do.

One thing I can say about triplets.

Before the triplets I was completely unmotivated to try and work or fit into society as I believed that society expected me to. I resented work and financial responsibilities that I felt was a tool used to maintain order among the populace, and I couldn't be bothered. Now with that in mind I have over the years developed this concept of work that breeds resentment and a soul withering response to the theory of work. Work any work was a anathema to what I understood as our purpose to enjoy life. I believe I have missed many an opportunity because of this belief.

Then the triplets came, I had no choice but to work, and work I did. I have never in my life worked so hard and still do to this day, but as the triplets became more self-sufficient I found my self with this developed work drive that needed an outlet. I needed something to do that would allow me to express myself and focus this new developed energy. If you had asked me five years ago if I would be writing and working in the haunted attraction industry, making masks, props, costuming, marketing, acting, and managing, I would have laughed it off because it sounds like a lot of work. And if you had told me that I would in addition to all that be a host on a radio show, I would have never believed you.

And the only reason I get to do this is because I have the support of my wonderful family and life just keeps getting better.

Ok this is the worst.

There is this commercial where two parents go to talk about cellphones and have a newborn in a baby bjorn, and the baby is asleep. So through the entire commercial the parents are whispering and making the sales associate whisper as well. I personally think that is a crock and a example of awful parenting. Why on earth would you take a sleeping baby into a business and then expect the world to cater to your shitty parenting? One parent could have stayed in the car with the baby while the other went to the store. One parent could have walked to a quite portion of the store instead of trying to have a conversation around a sleeping baby. Better yet one parent could have stayed home while the other ran errands. I say this because this is the world I lived in for years with triplets and let me tell you that the trips are the center of the universe and their comfort comes first. No one wants a caterwauling baby in their face, even more so if it's not theirs. I understand the necessity of still needing to run errands while you have a baby but as a stay at home dad it just strikes me as selfish parents who think nothing of expecting the world to walk on egg shells for their baby and I think that's just rude.

Another day

The triplets are a whirlwind of chaos. The mess they make in a benchmark of madness. Our house is in a perpetual state of disarray. We can clean the bathroom and with one bedtime routine the bathroom is trashed. Toothpaste all over the counter dirty washcloths pilled in the bathtub. Toothbrushes adhered to the counter in a miasma of spit and toothpaste. the toilet covered in urine and the floor awash in dirty towels. This is all competed in roughly a ten minute period. Their bedrooms can be undone by the simple search of a lost toy or the need of a wubbie. The play room is a complete disaster. Piles of cars and various sundry of boy and girl toys. We have quite the collection of dolls and dinosaurs in which to one must become a ballet dancer to traverse from one side of the room to the other. I don't know about you but there are times I need to use a yard rake to make a path from one part of the house to another.

I visit friends and their houses are immaculate and everything in place and I must say that it hurts to see that kind of effortless order maintained yet when you walk the halls of my home it looks like a Toys R Us exploded. We constantly sweep up and place toys in tubs, point in fact we have removed several tubs of toys as the kids have lost interest and yet there are always more to take the place of the fallen.

I am glad that my children are well toyed however the truth is while yes they play with all their toys the majority of their time is spent with the simple toys. chalk, bubbles, and ranged weapons. they have more fun exploring the back yard and collecting bugs than most anything else. The only down side is when they brings the bugs into the house.

Well it's almost Easter.

Nothing like giving your children a basket full of sugar first thing in the morning to celebrate.
We recently have had the kids getting into the habit of bathing themselves which is wonderful though we do have some issues getting it started.

We recently started trying to eat more healthy in this house and so far the kids don't really like the process. I can tell you that they miss fat though they may not be able to put it in such words. They are missing the carbs as well. Now they still eat awful lunches and the what not and they get their surgary snacks in the afternoon as well as candy it seems every major holiday however the two main meals of the day are all healthy, and let me tell you Kale is not a big hit.

I know my writing has tapered a lot and the root cause is the haunt industry. That and I am helping out with a radio show about haunts and we are in serious planning stages. All that and I'm making masks and other props as well as doing web content for several different pages and some admin work on a couple of web pages. Sorry if I am not producing copious amounts of kid details.