Finally Grown Up

Last night, my two youngest daughters were home together. My wife was in town tutoring a senior in high school so he will graduate in June. My oldest daughter was at a Faith in God activity. My two daughters were playing together while I was doing my homework. Eliza repeatedly asked "What can I do"? I kind of ignored her question. My daughter who will be 2 in July began to answer her "What can I do?" by saying "HOMEWORK"! Can you tell what I use a lot of my time doing? I HATE homework. SHH...Do not tell my kids!

What is GRATITUDE? I think gratitude is being thankful for what we have. I know it is not Thanksgiving but it is good to be thankful all year long. My children's grandmother always tries to get her grandkids to say please and thank you. This is a great lesson to learn while my kids are young. A great example of gratitude is my 20 month old daughter. She says thank you every time you give her food or a toy. I am very impressed that she has learned this lesson before is even two years old. I wish that I had something to do with it but I do not think that I do. I think she learned it from her grandmother. My mother-in-law and youngest daughter are great examples of graditude and I should show it more in my life.

Tonight on the internet, I saw that the planet Mars could be seen next to the moon. I went outside with my daughter Jane to look for Mars. At first, I could not find it but I finally did! I got my other daughters out of bed so they could see Mars. It was pretty cool! Eliza was afraid that Mars would fall out of the sky. Emma wanted to go back out to see it but Eliza was afraid to go back outside. I can see why Emma was excited because she loves Science. She did get a 97% in Science this past quarter. She wants to be a Science teacher. Jane yelled the words MOON MOON MOON over and over again. She kept pointing to the sky even after we were in the house. It was fun to see my kids have alot of joy in seeing Mars.

I decided to type my name into google. This is what I found.

There is a Richard Stanley who is a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Richard teaches Math. Every week, I am helping my daughter Emma with her math. She is currently working on decimals and fractions. I can barely help her with math. So, I guess this Richard Stanley is NOT me. I am working on being a teacher so I do have something in common with him.

Richard Stanley is the award-winning South African-born filmmaker who made a name for himself with his first feature film, the sci-fi movie Hardware -a low budjet movie about a mad-dog android loose in an apartment. Critics slammed it but it made a fortune! ( I guess it's never too late to start another profession even though I haven't started one yet! I am sure my wife would want me go to schhol for a few more years to get a degree in film...NOT).

Richard Stanley is a realtor. I wouldn't even consider this type of job.

I guess being married for 10 years, father of 3 beautiful daughters, and going to school for 10 years does not deserve a google spot but I would not change anything. Maybe, going to school for 10 years!

When we were on vacation, we thought about going whale watching. If we stayed another day, we might have went whale watching. Eliza said, "What is whale watching?" She paused for a second then she said "Is that when you watch whales?" Aren't kids great!

Our family took a trip to Carlsbad. We have not been on a trip for at least two years. Before starting out on our trip, my wife and youngest daughter were sick. My wife said she ccould be just as sick at a hotel as she is at home. A trip that should have taken four hours took us 6 hours because of traffic. On our way to Carlsbad, we heard a familiar words come out of our children's mouth "Are we there yet?" Our youngest daughter were a perfect angel on the trip and she was sick. She did not complain on the trip to and from Carlsbad. The trip was fun and needed.





Jane was excited to see the birds on the pier in Oceanside. Each time she saw a bird, she had to point and look at it for a while. Seeing her excited and smile makes my day.




Grandpa and grandma and their grandkids. The second picture is a picture of our growing family.





This is our view of the ocean from the pier. A beautiful view!!




Jane and Me.







Pictures at the Beach. This was a fun trip but too short.

My sister recently sent me an email to call the Nestle Crunch hotline. I kept the email in my inbox for days. I finally did call the number and followed the instructions. It was hilarious.

This is what you need to do. Call 1-800-295-0051. When you are asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, just wait quietly for about 10 seconds. Listen to the options...press 4. Listen to the options...then press 7.

Be prepared to laugh