The Snow

We don't get a lot of snow around here. Last year at Christmas, it snowed. It didn't stick on the ground, but it was pretty to watch. The kids were disappointed that there wasn't enough to play in. This year was a bit different.

Two weeks ago, we had our first snowstorm. It started as we were leaving for church on Sunday. When we got home, there was a nice layer on the ground. It was perfect for snowballs and snowmen. The kids immediately started playing in it and had a great time. Our neighborhood looked like this:

A few days later, we had some freezing rain. This created a 3/4" thick layer of ice on top of everything.  You had to smash your way through it to walk anywhere (although LilKat2 was light enough where he could do his Legolas impersonation and walk right on top of it). Here's a picture of one of the ice chunks:

Here's a picture of me shooting ice from my hands like SubZero:

A little while after that, it snowed again so we ended up with snow/ice/snow on top of everything. Here's my truck:

The weather has finally gotten warmer, and the snow is almost all washed away. On the news, they said it was the most December snow we've had in 40 years. And back then, it was followed up by another foot of snow in January. A lot of people around here were getting tired of the snow, but I kind of miss it. With any luck, we'll get some more in the new year too!

The Carniceria

Not too far from our house, there's a carniceria that I've been wanting to check out for some time now. I always wonder what kind of meats the sell there. Well, today was my day to find out. Mrs. BigKat was out with PrincessKat, so I took the boys with me.

We walked up to the front of the store and could see the tortilla machine cranking out fresh tortillas. That was a good sign. Once we got inside, it was easy to find the butcher, just walk straight to the back of the store. As we headed to the back, I heard something that I didn't quite expect:

Loud rap music with really bad words!

I was a bit surprised. I think that's officially the worst language that my children have ever been exposed to. Lots of N-'s and S-'s and other things. Much different than Safeway music. Fortunately, it didn't seem like the boys really noticed. They were too busy holding their noses because of the 'bad smell'. You know what the 'bad smell' was? It was the tortillas that they were making up front. How they could convert fresh tortillas into a 'bad smell', I have no idea. It smelled pretty good to me! I started browsing the meats while my boys looked around with one hand on their noses.

There were a lot of pounded flat beef cuts. Not a lot of pork, though. I asked the guy if there was any pork shoulder, and he said no. They had a big pile of carnitas in the cooked meat section, so I asked for some of that. He walked over and gave me a sample. And when I say sample, I mean a hunk of pork the size of my fist. Now how come they can't give out servings like that at Costco! I tried it and thought it was pretty good, so I ordered a pound. The guy puts the meat into a box. Then he says 'Hey! I have something else for you!' and puts this fried object into the box with the carnitas. He pulls another one out and hands it to me. I take a bite out of it. It tastes like a humongous pork rind. I ask him what it was that I just ate. He tells me it's a pork belly. That's right, I basically just took a bite out of a piece of 1 inch thick, deep fried bacon. I had a couple more bites of it, but couldn't finish it. I honestly can't imagine how anyone could eat a whole piece of fried bacon the size of a spare rib.

Well, I went to go pay for my stuff and found the boys at the candy display (without their hand on their noses. I guess they'd become accustomed to the smell). They were looking for something that they could buy. I decided that I'd be nice and get them something. But it seemed like 90% of the candy display (which wasn't very big) was gum.

 

'Dad! Can I get this?'

'No, it's gum'

'How about this?'

'No, it's gum'

'Dad! What's this?'

'Gum'

'How about this?'

'Gum'

 

I finally found some little chocolate bars at the top, so I got one for each boy. We also picked up a stack of tortillas and went home.

Mrs. BigKat and I ate the carnitas and tortillas for lunch. The carnitas were pretty good. Not great, I think I can make better pork on my barbecue, but still pretty good. But the tortillas were fantastic! I kept eating the meat just so I'd have something to put on the tortilla (which I really shouldn't have done. I ate way too much for lunch). And the stack we got was huge! It costed $1.50, and I think there were probably at least 60 of them. Definitely going to have to go there next time we make any kind of mexican food.

Anyhow, I guess there's not really much of a point to this story, other than it's kind of fun to be able to find such interesting places right near our home. Makes me wonder if there's anything else in our town that I'm missing out on.

Bike Parade!

We live in a pretty fun neighborhood. On the 4th of July, one of our neighbors organized a Bike Parade. A bunch of kids decorated their bikes and they marched around the neighborhood led by a lady dressed like the Statue of Liberty. The boys and I had been playing at the park that afternoon. We knew that the Bike Parade started at 4:30, so we wanted to make it back in time to check it out. But due to circumstances beyond our control (i.e. kids covered in wet sand), we were a little late getting back. The parade had just passed our house as we drove up. LilKat2 immediately ran from the truck and grabbed his bike. We hustled ourselves down the street and caught up with the parade (LilKat1 stayed at home, since is often quite averse to hustling). It was quite fun. Afterwards, the Statue of Liberty lady judged the bike decorations and handed out prizes. And all the kids got some candy.

A little later, there was a dog parade. I was curious to see if people were actually going to decorate their dogs. 5:30 rolled around and sure enough, there was a pack of red, white, and blue dogs walking in front of our house.

Isn't our neighborhood cool?

Champions

Last night Mrs. BigKat and I came back from our date to an empty house. My mom was supposed to be watching the boys, but there was no one home. I took a look outside and saw my mom by herself. She told me that the boys were down the street playing basketball with the big kids (some of the nice kids from this post) and they were having so much fun that they didn't want to come home. I walked down the street to go get the boys. Those nice big kids had lowered one of the hoops so that the LilKats could play on one side while they played on the other. I started to tell the boys that it was time to go home for bath time, but the 2 big kids said that they wanted to challenge me to a game of 1-on-2.

I was faced with a little dilemma. It was already late and the LilKats needed to get home. But at the same time, these neighborhood boys had just asked me to give them a beating. How could I refuse? I told the LilKats that they could play while I beat up on the other boys.

Oh it was fun! I think I ended up winning something like 16 to 8. I probably outweigh the biggest one by about 70 pounds, so I basically just backed them down and put up little hook shots right by the basket. And I provided colorful commentary.

When the boys and I got home, I got them ready for their shower while teaching them to sing 'We are the Champions' (which we sang several times to celebrate my victory).

The only bad part was, when I got downstairs, I heard my mom telling Mrs. BigKat that she had sent me out to bring the boys home, but when she looked to see what was taking so long, I was playing in the street instead of doing my job. Oh well, no matter how much people make fun of me, it doesn't take away the fact that I Am The Champiooooooooon...Of the WORRRLLLLLLLD!

My Neighbor

I got to meet my neighbor at the park yesterday. He was their with his little boy (who is very cute!). LilKat1 impressed him by leaping off of the big dinosaur bones structure in the sandpit.

I told My-Friend-Who-Lies, and now he is jealous.

Bump

Yesterday, LilKat1 had a birthday party to go to at a friend's house down the street. It was a great party. There were several craft stations plus games like air hockey, so there were lots of things for the kids to do. I asked LilKat1 if he wanted me to stick around or leave. He said 'Leave', so I left.

On the way home, I noticed that a group of high school kids were lining up single file in the street in front of a portable basketball hoop. I knew exactly what this meant. I shouted at them 'Are you guys playing Bump?' They said yes. I asked if I could play, and they said yes again. I tossed my keys and wallet on the curb and hopped in line.

Bump is a game that I was first introduced to in college. We would gather a bunch of people from our dorm and play in our dorm courtyard. It was great fun. Basically, you have to make a shot before the person behind you in line makes a shot. If they make a shot before you, you're out. The winner is the last person left.

It was not easy getting used to the portable hoop. The rim was not at the right height and when you went to rebound your ball, you had to run downhill slightly towards the curb (which made my easily sprainable ankles a little nervous). But I got used to it fairly quickly.

One thing surprised me though. At one point, there were only a few of us left in the game. I was able to bump out one of the kids. And then all of a sudden, a whole group of them got back in the front of the line. I wasn't sure what was going on. The game wasn't over yet, but all these kids that were eliminated were back in the game.

Apparently, we were playing 'Ultimate Bump'. So when someone gets eliminated, all the people that they bumped out get to get back in the game. The only way you can win is if you bump out all each one of the other players. You know what? Ultimate Bump takes a looooooooong time.

At first it seemed a little ridiculous. The games were taking forever. We'd be down to 2 or 3 guys, and then all of a sudden, it would be back up to 6. But then I realized, what else am I going to do? I thought I would be hanging out at a birthday party. But instead, I get to play basketball in the street. So I learned to enjoy the marathon that is Ultimate Bump.

We played a total of about 5 games or so. I think I won 2 of them. You know what? Those kids play dirty! They will not hesitate to bump your ball 5 houses down the street and make you run after it. I had to do this several times. One time, I tried to get even with them. I bumped the other kid's ball as hard as I could...right at an SUV that was heading towards us. Fortunately, it didn't run over the ball, but it was close. I also got to yell at a girl. She was pretty good, obviously played for a team somewhere. But I was in line and needed her to make her shot so that I could bump out the kid in front of me. So I screamed 'MAKE YOUR SHOT AND GIVE ME THE BALL!' And another time, she couldn't bump out the kid that knocked me out so I yelled at her for letting me down once again. She knew I was just kidding though...I hope.

Playing with the kids brought back a lot of memories for me. Chasing the ball before it rolled down the hill. Pausing the game when a car drove by. Sitting on the curb waiting for your turn. Heckling the people that were still in the game. If there was an ice cream truck to run after for a few blocks before it stopped, it would've been perfect.