Don't Jump!

Just a random picture of my neighbors house.

Fun with mowers

On Thursday, I went over to the local BMax parts supplier* and picked up a new transmission for the mower. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday putting it in, as it took twice as long as it should have.

I started off quite well, dismantling everything to get to the transmission. I got everything off of it except for the pulley on the bottom. This is where I encountered my nemesis the Snap Ring. This would normally not be an issue, but I don't actually own a pair of snap ring pliers. So being the inventive guy that I am, I fashioned two nails and a rubber band into a make shift snap ring pliers, but with no luck. In the end I decided I had wasted enough time, and make a trip over to Lowes with Kyla to pick up a real tool to do the job.

Once the snap ring was off, the rest went pretty smoothly. I was able to get the new transmission in place, but I had to fight a little bit to get all the pieces back together. At least now my neighbors won't be calling the city on me for having a lawn that is over a foot high.

On one other side note, I have to give some credit to the inventor of this mower **. It was pretty neat to see how he was able to get everything to work together, without having a lot of custom parts to make (custom parts = more work to build).

* - Also known as Mom and Dads
** - Also known as Dad

Pretty pretty princess

Kyla got a Snow White dress at a garage sale yesterday that she really likes.

Vroom vroom

I talked my dad into letting me borrow a motorcycle while he is on his trip. It was quite fun riding again after being off of one for the past few years.

Visiting the parents

We stopped by to see my parents tonight before my dad left for his two week motorcycle trip.

Volleyball Family

I play on a volleyball team at work. We all got matching shirts this year (thanks boss man for sponsoring us). I also got Kyla a shirt and Bryce wears Kylas one-sey from a few years ago. Stacey and the kids were going to come up today to watch us but there was a good chance of rain so they held off. Thankfully the rain held off as well and we got to win all three games. Our record is no 10 wins and 2 loses.

I'll try to get some pics from the actual game if I ever remember.

They grow up so fast

Kyla playing her first "not made for kids" video game. She is doing pretty good too! Only a few more years and she can join me in a game of Team Fortress 2!

Ten points to anyone who can name the game.

Kyla at the picnic

One more super cute picture from the patio party. Kyla got to spend some more time with the neighbor girls and they were all eating dinner together.

Picnic friend

We did a cookout with some friends yesterday and had a little visitor come to see us. He probably eats quite well begging the park patrons for food.

Patio Party

We had our first patio party of the Summer. The weather was wonderful and I think everyone had a great time. One of our neighbors brought a big water slide over, and the kids had a blast on that.

Dinner

Kyla loves spaghetti.

Family Bike Ride

We were able to get outside yesterday and take a family bike ride. It is a little cozy in the trailer for Kyla since Bryce is surrounded by pillows, but she manages pretty well.

LAN Party

These are taken from a local LAN party I went to this Saturday. Basically a bunch of us bring our computers together and game for 12 hours straight, always a good time!

Kyla playing dress up

Kyla is going to be in a wedding for Stacey's cousin Carrie this October. Here she is modeling her dress.

Front door

Painted the front door on the playhouse today. The wind made it a little challenging but it helped to dry it quickly afterwards.

Minigolf

Kyla played her first game of mini golf today. It was indoors with black lights so we had to do a picture out in the lights afterwards. She had a blast, but we may need uncle Andrew to help her with her swing.

Star trek (part 2)

Fantastic!

Star trek!

Sitting in the theater right now! Let's hope it is good.

Wallet of Slim

I decided today that my wallet was too thick. I don't carry around a lot of extra items, but it still seemed excessively think for what was in it. After taking everything out and examining the problem in detail, I discover two areas that could be improved.

1. Remove some of the junk I am carrying around.

2. The empty wallet was quite thick by itself, so it should be trimmed down.

For #1, I decided I no longer need to carry very much cash as I never use it. I even took out my ATM card, since I can't even remember the last time I went to an ATM. I removed many other items that I thought I could live without. I even went as far as photo-copying the Giant Eagle card (a discount card to a grocery store) so it is now paper thin instead of credit card thickness.

For #2, I decided I didn't need all those pockets and the extra leather was adding to the thickness. So I divided the wallet in half with a couple staples, and chopped off half of it. I have to fold my money in half now before it goes in, but considering I am going to try to carry 3 bills or less at all times, this isn't a problem.

I am going to give this a try for a few weeks, and see if there are any items I removed that I need to put back in there. If it all seems good I may actually upgrade to a wallet without staples, called the Slimmy (http://www.koyono.com/Slimmy-Slim-Wallet-Alternative-p/m17546.htm).

Climbing wall

Finished putting up the climbing wall yesterday. Still need to order and put the grips up but that should be relatively easy.

Hot Wheels Scooter

So I am probably one of the only people in the world to drop their Porsche off for an oil change and then ride away on an orange hot wheels scooter.

I really hope I never grow up. :)

Big Brother is spying on me! (along with everyone else)

If you glance to the left you will notice you can now see my exact location. It seems google was nice enough to create a google latitude gadget that I can put on my blog. I am not sure that I will leave it on here forever, but I figured I would give it a try for a little while.

I can see how this could be handy for my friends or family to see where I am at, or for my wife to determine when I am going to get home so she can be pulling dinner out of the oven. On the other hand this could be a little worrisome as someone could use this information to know when I am home or not. And it makes surprising someone quite a bit harder (no secret trips to the florist anymore).

I guess I'll give it a try and see if the pros outweigh the cons.

Alpaca

We got to stop by and see some alpacas while we out running errands. This one was getting along splendidly with Andrew.

Dinner time!

My sister and brother-in-law came in to town for the weekend to see Bryce. We got to grill out and enjoy the nice weather.