Our Day out with Ike 2025

On Thursday, April 25, we (finally) caught up with our seven-year-old nephew Ike for his annual birthday outing with Favorite Aunt and Uncle. Ike chose to go to Target, where he picked out a couple of LEGO sets.

After picking up treats at Fiiz, we next went to Ike's house, where games of Mario Kart were next on the list. The evening concluded with dinner together with the Woodsens, featuring delicious homemade enchiladas. (Thanks, Biz!)

Our Day Out with Katy

Our niece Katy is nine years old! We took her out last week for her annual birthday outing with Fun Aunt and Uncle.

Katy chose a LEGO set she liked at the store, so we bought it and took it to our house to build it with her. On the way there, we also stopped by Fiiz for drinks and cookie bites.

The finished product of the build looked like this:

She's a pretty amazing kid, and we love spending time with her. This year, Katy is a third grader at her school! They grow up so fast.

Our Day Out with Katy 2023

Our niece Katy (formerly known also as Kate) recently turned eight years old. That was back at the end of March. We're still catching up on birthday activities, and that led to our birthday outing with her this past Thursday evening.

First, we went to the store so that she could pick out a LEGO set that she wanted. This is the before picture, with everything still in the box:

This is what it looked like when we were done:

We also stopped by the new Centerville Fiiz to get treats, because that is exactly the kind of VIP treatment you get with Fun Aunt and Uncle. Katy is a pretty great kid, and we love spending time with her.

Our Day Out with Kate

Our niece Kate's sixth birthday occurred a few weeks ago. For her birthday this year, we were able to arrange for an outing with her in much less time than we did ... because, you know, the Pandemic That Shall Not Be Named.

At the store, Kate picked out a LEGO set. We took her and it to our house to build the set together.

Here's before:

... and after:

It had been too many years since I last built anything LEGO. Fortunately, Kate has been doing a lot of LEGO building and understood the directions very quickly. We may be a bit biased, but she's one of the smartest six-year-olds we know, and she is great company for a Saturday afternoon.

Valentine's Day

I have a pretty great Valentine, 365 days of the year (366 days in leap years!). The story really checks out on this marriage thing.

Jurassic Art

Last week, I snapped this photo after family dinner:

Were you looking at the VHS copy of the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episode "Pod People" up on the shelf? Well, if you were, then you missed the dinosaur drawing on the chalkboard below it by my seven-year-old nephew Jackson.

At age seven, Jack is too young to see the PG-13-rated Jurassic World just yet, but he and I have been playing LEGO Jurassic World on the Xbox 360, and we love it.

Plus, well, kids and dinosaurs. Go figure.

My Dinner with Jackson

My nephew and good buddy Jackson is seven years old today.

We went on our annual birthday Thursday. He picked Burger King for lunch, after which we went to the store, where he picked out a Luigi doll and a LEGO set as his presents.