4th of July is here. The best part about this time of year for me is that our fruit plants have plentiful fruit on them.  Last year I wrote a little about our fruit on our homegrown blackberries and raspberries post.  This past year I split, repotted, and planted a bunch of plants near quadrupling my production.  This year we have had more strawberries than we had in the past due to the weather without adding more plants.  Johanna loves to eat any fruit that has the name berry in it.  Berries in the store can cost a lot of money.  Growing my own saves me a lot of money.

Lately we have been really busy with the monotonous routine of work, business, kids, eat, sleep, poop, and repeat.  For a while now my Aunt talked about taking us to her river house north of Blythe.  We finally found time to meet up.

In the not so distant future, as children run down blood strewn halls of another school shooting, once again predictably the suspect will be another white male.  The majority of our populous will come to the conclusion that the guns involved were the cause of such destruction.  When will we make a paradigm shift in our thinking and realize that the problem is not guns, but a full existential assault on our boys as a result of broken homes?  

I gently laid down my baby boy and slowly turned to exit the door.  Creeeeeek.  Crying thus ensued.   My children are the most sensitive babies I know when putting them to bed.  Then again I don’t know many babies.  Thanks to colic, teething, and numerous other problems, my children are difficult to put to sleep.  So I thought it would be fun to create a list of things not to do when putting your baby to bed.

This past year has been busier than I could have imagined.  Often I don’t have a lot of down time, but when I do I choose to either nap or do something that takes my mind off of things.  When I created this website I had high hopes for it.  After time I began to forget it all together.  Recently I have been dealing with family drama.  People who know me, know I don’t like to play games with the existential term we call life and I deplore drama.  Last night I had some free time.  I was left to ponder thoughts, which at times can get me in trouble.  Especially when my thoughts are about family drama.  This is a bit off topic, but my thoughts were: what constitutes a cult?

Yesterday we attempted to take another family photo.  We returned to the same place we took our last couple photos.  There was wind blowing, Braeden was woken up from a nap, and Johanna was tired from school.  Jolene worked the nightshift before and had only a little sleep as well.

Merry Christmas everyone.  This past year has been a very successful year.  We hit a few major setbacks here and there, but for the most part it’s been good.  The most notable positive event was the birth of our son Braeden Lucas.   He’s been a great spark to our family with so many smiles.  Johanna started kindergarten this year and is doing great.  We traveled to Hawaii on what appears to be a yearly trip.  We also went on a cruise this year to the Caribbean.  Our businesses are getting bigger.  Knock on wood, hopefully things stay on the same path for next year.

Christmas is near: trees decked with holly and ornaments, twinkling lights that line city streets, malls crowded with lines in an effort to see Santa and buy presents, the smell of pine in the air, and Christmas music playing in stores.  For many Christmas is their most favorite day of the year.  For me I hate Christmas.

We are in no way an expert in MSC cruises, but we did find out a little about them on our first trip.  The following is our tips for MSC Cruises, especially those in the Caribbean.

Countless people have told us we were brave for taking an infant on board a cruise.  Some words other than brave were included as well.  Since we like traveling we thought it would be a good idea to experiment with a cruise.  Food is catered to us.   Our rooms are cleaned while we are out.  Entertainment is freely given to us.  It’s like having a butler while having an infant.  Now I wouldn’t recommend a cruise for families with infants that cry all night.  However, if your child sleeps well at night, at cruise can be a great experience.  Of course they won’t remember it, but you will.  So for parents looking for tips for taking an infant on a cruise, here are mine.