Driving to Wichita is a test for me

It always seems to have crappy weather whenever I drive to or from the Wichita area. This past Christmas the snow/slush/salt was so bad I ran out of wiper fluid and had to hobble into the gas stop to buy more fluid, which apparently EVERYONE else was doing. And now for the second time, I had to drive through some pretty torrential rains. People were pulled over to the side under bridges waiting it out. I slowed down but barrelled through, mostly because i didn't want to wait, and had a feeling I could drive through it. Well past Emporia we did. My daughter slept through the whole thing.

Other than that it was a very nice relaxing trip. Went to the Sedgwick County Zoo and saw Penguins. Fun and playful little guys.

Acceptance of Parenthood

I own a minivan.

Yes, for some reason these beauties of Safety and storage have a stigma in my area "Oh God, Not a minivan, that's what OLD PEOPLE drive". However, as much as I loved the truck, and I probably could have squeezed another year out of him, I needed room to cart my daughter around. Yep, one little 16 month old filled the truck to the breaking point, at Easter! I was afraid for Christmas.

So The Missus and I found online a great deal for a Dodge Grand Caravan SXT. ALL the bells and whistles (automatic everything, normal windows in the sliding doors, "subspace" ambiant lighting down the back, 1 year of Satellite radio, V6 engine, Sto'N'Go seating) and that wonderful new car scent.

I like "sitting up" so it's good for me in that regard, but the van is very open when it's just you in the car.

It also rides way smoother than the truck, and we now have room to fit everyone when we go to the Ren Fest again (well, until another of our friends gets a significant other). Am I ashamed? Hell no, got a great deal on a van with a lot of gadgets and it's a NEW CAR (48 miles on her at selling time) so Yay me.

Get to show it off to My wife's grandparents this weekend.

Only downside I can see is it's black. I wanted beige, and black is notorious for showing any and all dirt spots with pristince accuracy. So looks like lots of washings for me in the future.

Tickling

Nothing much new that I can think of. Spent some extra hours at work making sure we'd hit our installation deadline, got a few more badges for my main in City of Heroes, and most interestingly:

My daughter apparently has learned to tickle. Now it's not actual tickling as I don't get the giggles from that, but her method of doing it, vocalizations, hand movements, facial features, etc. are just damned adorable.

We were leaving Carrabba's for a Mother's Day lunch when while carrying her to the car, she scrunched up her face with a child's grin, making "Di Di DI DDEE DEE" type noises, and wiggling her fingers on my collarbone. This fully caught me off guard and Sara and I had a very large laugh about this. Later in the day we said the word "tickle" and this would again commence, which is how we're sure she's trying to tickle us.

Kids are cute :)

Dandelions are food?

My good friend "The Captain" returned from Africa and visited us this weekend. Pretty much we all picked up where we left off. He did show me that the heads of dandelions are edible, and non-toxic. Still not sure on the taste as I'm not game enough to go out and pluck one to give it a try. Not lacking in the weeds this year either. Last year was murder on my lawn and the weeds are taking advantage. Here's hoping it can survive until next year when I can get like Chem-Lawn out there to kill them for me en masse.

Nora knows Bye-Bye better than any other word, and by God she's going to use it. It's a sure fire way to keep her from crying when someone's leaving, just tell her to say bye bye and all stops. She'll wave and say it. And if you're lucky she'll lean in for a kiss. She's adorable.

Grilled this weekend too. Have tonnes (that's a metric tonne, not a Imperial ton) of leftovers from that. I'm so backlogged with leftovers, I don't think I'm going to worry about lunches until June.

Went to see Forbidden Kingdom this weekend too. (Iron Man will be later). I reccommend it. It's quite a good Eastern Fairy Tale of a movie. And good Kung-Fu.