Memorial Day...Week

Upon returning from D.C. I luckily had four days to recover. We had planned to stay the week in D.C. but Em didn't come with the kids because our lodging had a baby, so we couldn't stay there. The good part was we had four days of leisure for vacation instead of a hectic four days of vacation. (D.C. is not conducive to small children anyhow.)

So here is the non-travelogue:

Monday-Recovered from D.C nightlife, inflated the bounce house, went on a mini bike ride around our neighborhood and did BBQ burgers and dogs. Max barfed in the am so we didn't do any major events.

Tuesday- We rode our bikes on the East Bay Bike Trail. No not Provo, no not San Francisco. This was the Narragansett Bay. It goes for about 14 miles from East Providence to Bristol RI. Knowing we are not quite Hard Core, we drove to Bristol and rode for 4 miles and returned to Bristol (a quant seaside town in southeast RI). It was a lot of fun and the boys did great biking! Em even did great with a wobbley Sam behind her on the "hitchhiker" bike.The evening ended with watching National Treasure II. Max woke up during it and stayed up to watch it with us, being a very big boy.

Wednesday- After Max came home from school, we went to Boston. Em was dropped off at the Museum of Fine arts by herself while I was left to navigate the streets of Boston to take the rest of us to the Boston Children's museum. Luckily I found it without traumatizing the boys by being TOO lost. (I also circumnaigated to find Em's favorite Thai chicken satay skewers and made up a pirate treasure hunt with mom as the treasure as we made our way back to Em's museum.

Thursday-We were going to bike on Block Island, but Max had sports day at school so we let him do that and then went to the local beach, where I had a dream come true. I feel asleep at the shores edge reading! Then upon Max's suggestion went to Chuck E Cheese's and then on to soccer practice.

Friday-Back to work. I like the 1 day work week. I could get used to it! Our friends, the Montoya's, came over for dinner before they move to AZ and are now spending the night. Their house is empty so they didn't feel like going home. Plus, we are well known for our breakfast delights.

Block Island has been postponed until next Friday. So stay tuned.

Also, I was just booked to do a Photo shoot this weekend for the Montoya's.

Me and My Llama

I was holding Boy #3 this morning and for some reason my favorite Sesame Street song came into my mind "Me and My Llama." Does anyone else remember this one!?




I just hope that the little girl goes to a different dentist then the llama.

The next one made me realize that I must really sound like an Idiot all day long!!!! * Someone tell the dentist to put on his gloves and sterilize his instruments!

You Can't Fly With The Eagles If You Hoot With The Owls

This is a saying my father Jim was wont to say. I believe it means that you shouldn't stay up late. Well I proved that saying false this weekend. I attended the annual American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry meeting. One would say that the purpose of set conference is to continue one's dental education as we are required to do by law, however you would be mistaken for assuming this. The real meaning/purpose is to party with a tax write off.

Although, that isn't really 100% true, it does feel more like a social event. There are a few good lectures to go to, but there are a lot of parties and then bars after the parties and after bar parties. I don't usually get a chance to hang out with my friends/coresidents a lot, so I took the chance to hang out with them a bit. I discovered that bars are too crowded and too loud. It was a lot of fun hangin' with my friends.

So Friday I flew down early in the morning to stand by my research poster, which was fun to explain my research project and then conclude "however, it isn't reliable enough to be used clinically." Then walked around the vendor floor looking for free tooth past, which I did find! Crest Pro Health, my favorite!!!! then I went off with my friend to see the Lincoln memorial Vietnam War Memorial and the Washington Monument. The Lincoln was amazing, with a special hollowed sense about it. The war memorial was special. Families had left letters to some of the soldiers, one of which was MIA. A brother was writing to let him know what was going on with their family. Very neat to be a part of.We then walked about six miles total that day to meet up at a bar with some other friends, then went to dinner by Chinatown and then to Rocket Bar, sounds cool huh. We got home about 3am and I woke up at about 6:30 and went back to the conference. I attended a lecture by one of the "Love and Logic" authors Foster Cline. He was a very entertaining and offered a lot of good stuff for both parenting as well as for behavior management for the dental office and how to handle the patients' parents.

After the conference was over I went to the National Archives and saw the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. That was really cool. This was followed by some handmade noodles from China town and a Washington Nationals baseball game. Yes this was enough for me for the day, but it continued. We went down to the Georgetown waterfront where I splurged and got two ice waters at the bar. Then when that got a little too cold another bar was sought out since the "night is still young." Fortunately after some pizza it was decided to head back to my friend Jason's house so they could still hang out with the Mormon's. Thank goodness. So we got back and played Wii Mario Cart until about, oh, 4. And I was the first to turn into bed. Sunday I got to see my new nephew before heading tot he airport.

Well, I have now recovered and don't think I'll be staying up that late ever again. I did manage to hoot and fly, but I'm not sure I can do any long term flying with the eagles! My friends are also some of the greatest nicest, and kindest people with whom I've associated.

Dental Story

Once in a while I'll come home and tell Em one of the stories from work (with no private information in accordance with HIPPA, of course. I use code names such as E. Benes, or Elaine B.). For example, the story of the Dad who said: "Yeah, he eats lots of fruit. I give him skittles, fruit with a thin candy shell.

So the story of this week was the mom who reluctantly, yet proudly, told me that the five and a half year old girl had stopped using a bottle a whole 1.5 months ago!!! (She had cavities on about 15 of 20 teeth)*. Then mom brought up the problem of the child not drinking milk anymore because of the bottle having been taken by the Tooth Fairy! Now she'll only drink milk if its with her Cocoa Pebbles! "She's picky" mom adds.

I guess I'm not one to judge since my oldest child would only eat frozen chimichangas from Costco for a year, but then again I am the child's dentist so I can.

*Diagnosis: Severe Early Childhood Caries

The Next Morning

Please refer to www.actegratuit.blogspot.com for the background to this post. 

The next morning after Em fails to push me down the stairs for the second time in two days, she says:

"In the movies they make it look so easy

 to push someone down the stairs. It's a lot harder then it looks!" 

Spring Time

Sometimes I try to scare large flocks of birds, especially all the Canadian geese around here. I used to think they were cool, but they seem to be everywhere and that makes it a little less cool. This sentiment was reinforced when I visited my brother's home in Chicago, where some 100,000 petulant poopy Geese reside. They try to attack rather then flee and seem to forget to clean up their poop, which abounds everywhere.

So on a rainy day on the way home a few days ago, I was inclined to drive through a puddle and possible splash a small gaggle of geese. I stop at the last second as I saw that there were a few baby goslings with them. I began seeing them each morning on the way to work. It took me about a week to drive by them with my camera in the car.

It so sooo cute. It was a chilly morning and three of the four goslings were huddle together while the other was foraging.

Then last night as I went to get milk from the gas station, yes the gas station, (Its sad that the milk is cheaper then the gas, or is it. Maybe its just sad all together), I saw a two geese crossing the street with three babies. I watched them thinking one died, but then saw on the other side of the street the other family.

Now this family has a weird dynamic. The new family is typical, three kids a mom and a dad. The first family I saw has four kids, which is a lot but acceptable, but there are three parents. Two normal and one white goose that is always with the babies. I'm not sure if they have two dads and a mom or vice versa, or a grandma or if the two geese got divorced and one has visitation or if one is birth mother making an adoption transition. It seems weird to me. I want to know how this white goose fits in. Anyway, the baby geese are adorable.

Happy B-day

My most adorable wife again made a magnificent Birthday Cake for Boy #3. This years was a lion cake, because I have always thought he looked like a lion cub! Here's how it went down:

Part one: Hungry Cub

Part two: Never take food from a lion, no matter how small!

Wrestle Time

We often have wrestling time with the older boys when I get home. Now little baby #3 thinks he's ready to join in. This is one reason its fun to have three boys!!!!!

What's Grosser than Gross?

Gross

poor hygiene combined with braces

Grosser than Gross

After cleaning off cheese-like plaque from child's teeth, picking out what looked like a stand of celery, but what turned out to be said child's thumb nail. This may have been one of the grossest things I've encountered so far.

This reminds me of Em's doctor during her first pregnancy. This OB-GYN asked me if I was sure I wanted to look in peoples mouths all my life. "There are worse places to look" I thought, but said "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

Soccer Time!!!

Boy 1 is back into soccer. He is the youngest person in U8's but is holding his own most of the time. Although he spends 75% of the time on the ground! He runs so hard from end to end. He now knows what a cramp is. It was cute seeing him trying to stretch it out after I showed him how.
This is his Ed Grimley shot
Ah, wrong way!

It Could Have Been Worse

Last Friday I pulled into a shopping center to meet Em at the wicked awesome New England store Christmas Tree Shops and slowed to a stop behind a few other cars. Then I heard a LOUD grinding sound. Imagine running over a cement block and/or a tree stump. I put it in reverse and nothing happened. I got out of the car and noticed the right side of the car was low in the front. Differential Diagnosis: broken axle, flat tire, cracked flux capacitor. The wheel looked fine despite its funny angle and the fact that the whole car and wheel well rested on it. So I figured it was the axle, i.e. the thing the wheel is attached to got tired and wanted to rest on the ground.

The next few minutes are sponsored by Google and AAA. Since we didn't have the number for our mechanic, I utilized my new found tool 1-800-GOOG 411 and immediately was connected to my auto body shop (we found them during the telephone pole incident, or haven't you heard of that one). This was followed by a call to AAA who dispatched someone to tow my car leaving behind some large pieces of metal on the ground that I hoped the mechanic didn't want saved.

Anyway, to skip forward. The awesome mechanic Dave and his dad Jim (Both of whom Emily admittedly has a crush on) fixed out car in three days at a very low price! They rock! However I just await the next problem, especially because they wouldn't accept the car as payment. I offered to give them the car if I could drive it for the next three months instead of paying them. They didn't want it and hinted that it may not last three months!

Moral: People always say "It could have been worse."This is one time where I really did feel thankful that it happened when and where it did. Had it happened 5 minutes earlier on the freeway it would have been a horrible if not fatal crash.

Other Pictures

Easter Photos

After church I photographed the boys in their Easter clothes.

This is how Bammers ' progressed:

Green Valley Wildflowers

I grew up in Green Valley just outside of Fairfield CA. I was there last weekend to take the Law and Ethics exam for the CA Dental Board, which I passed and now have a CA license! The last morning my brother and I went and took pictures of GV. It was so pretty. The hills are green with lots of wildflowers and blooming fruit trees. It was amazing. We were very lucky to have grown up in such a peaceful place.

Little Guy

Not Now Mom. They're watching. Talk to the hand Mom!
Crawling
Hi Dad.
Bright Eyes!

1-800-GOOG-411

This is just wicked awesome. Why can't every business be like GOOGLE!!!!!!

He Can Wave...and imitate a pterodactyl

He just learned to wave on Friday!!!!!

Another Reason To Go Pedo

I was on my oral surgery rotation earlier this week. We had “a frenectomy” coming in. (Yes, I try not to refer to patients by their procedure, but the head assistant kept saying that. For the sake of my sister I try to refer to the patient not the sarcoma.) Anyway, a patient was coming in who needed a frenectomy. I asked Dr. Sam if I could do the frenectomy procedure. He said “We’ll see.” Just then the assistant came through the door with a sobbing 9 year old girl. Dr. Sam looks from the weeping child to me and says with a big smile “You can do this one!”

So I proceeded to allay the girl’s fears and help her to feel comfortable. I talked a lot about High School Musical and how much she likes Troy. She was able to calm down and did a wicked good job. She held still and didn’t have a single issue throughout the procedure.

I really enjoy helping these kids get past their fears and showing them how much they can accomplish. I don’t mind spending the first 10 or 40 minutes talking them through things. (Although it may be a little harder when my income depends on my speed.) It makes me feel so good to see a scared or crying patient leave the room happy.

There you go dad!

Gigglers

Our oldest can get this little guy to laugh anytime anyplace! It is so funny. And if anyone else is getting him to laugh, Eldest comes over and steals the show.

Look Alike

Emily posted this picture of our youngest punk:I thought it looked a lot like myself as a little lad.

A Peek Into My Mind

Here are a few of the random thoughts which have been traveling in and out and into my mind of late:

I went to the Boston Temple the other day and it was so refreshing. I had a military physical done yesterday and realized two things:
I am glad I am an officer and not an enlistee.
I am glad I chose the Air Force and not one of the other branches.
Oh and I'm not sure how safe our country is after seeing some of the new recruits.

I am very excited to go to Japan.

The lunar eclipse Wednesday night was beautiful.
Why did I stay up until 3am finishing our kitchen counters and then wake up at 3:45 the following morning for the AF physical.

I think IV fluid dripping is fun to watch and quite beautiful.
Monk and Psych are two of the funniest shows in today's TV era (meaning Office still isn't on yet).

Sam was very cute licking the new snow that fell today.

How do you know when you need a new car?

When you are driving to work and get water poored down your neck from your moon roof. Twice!

Oh...and there's the other gallon of water that luckly went on the passenger side. Any one want a ride?!

Disney Revisited: A Cute Story

First of all, never voluntarily tell your child that people collect signatures of characters at Disney World. Sure, child may get excited and think it is a great idea, but then child will also want to get signatures from characters at Disney World. Parent will have to find characters and wait in line to see characters. One more tip: If the line over 20 people, you will wait in line and get toward the front and the character will disappear for a potty breack and you wont get a sig.
Anyway back to the story, having gone one day without a character sig. we finally secured two sigs at Magic Kingdom: Buzz and Stitch. Then we hit the jack pot in Disney Toon Town. They have a "Hall of Fame" where you can find a group of three characters in one room. There was a long line to see Goofy, Pluto, and Donald and no line for the princesses. So we jumped into the empty line to get what we could. The "cast member" looked at us and said in an unbelieving voice: "You, want to see the princesses."

Now why can't two boys and their dad, wearing black Pirate shirts, want to see the princesses? (I mean what else do pirates do when ashore =) ).So we got to go by ourselves into the princess room. This is the good part. We go through the double doors to be greeted by two glamorous princesses (Princess Aurora and Belle) and one cute mouse (from Cinderella). It was kind of awe striking to see these strickingly beautiful princesses. Boy #2 immediately turned around and tried to hide in the corner. He suddenly became so shy. It was very cute. The princesses were very kind and asked great pirate questions of the boys. (This was nice since the costumed characters can't speak.) We then went back into the other room for the others.

Follow up: The next day we were at EPCOT and saw Aurora again. Here again the potty break foiled us. She was being escorted away and Boy #2 went running after with his autograph book. She blew him a kiss and he dipped his head down and smiled. Very cute!Conclusion: Autograph books are annoying but have potential for some good memories. Not sure which outweighs the other.

How do you know when V-day is over?

When your Valentine says:
"There are so many reasons to hate you, its amazing I love you."

In the Spirit if Valentine's Day

I just read these words in a talk by President Hinckley and think they are appropriate following a great Valentine's Day.

I hope that every married man has said to himself, "I will be more kind and generous toward my companion and children. I will control my temper." I hope that kindness will replace harshness in our conversations one with another.

I hope that every wife will look to her husband as her dear companion, the star of her life, her supporter, her protector, her companion with whom she walks hand in hand "equally yoked." I hope that she will look to her children as sons and daughters of God, the most significant contribution she has made to the world, her greatest concern with regard to their achievements, and more precious than any other thing she has or could hope for.

I hope that boys and girls will leave this conference with a greater appreciation for their parents, with more fervent love in their hearts for those who have brought them into the world, for those who love them most and are most anxious concerning them.

I hope that the noise of our homes will drop a few decibels, that we will subdue our voices and speak to one another with greater appreciation and respect.

(Ensign Nov 2001)

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Sixth Valentines EMMERS!!! I love you more than all the space in the EPCOT sphere!

Some Cute Disney Quotes

Here are a few cute quotes from our oldest punk whilst at Disney World:

I want to go on that one when I’m eight. (After being very scared on Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Roller Coaster and looking up at the Tower of Terror)

Let me think for a minute. (After being asked if he wanted to go on Space Mountain again. He did.)

I’m glad that’s over with. (After going on Expedition Everest, or the Yeti Ride as he calls it. BTW he went on it 6 more times.)

Aren’t we having a perfect day today! (Having a good day the day after I had a "melt down" with a park employee and had to teach him how to not let one bad experience ruin a whole day.)

This is the best day of my life! (At animal kingdom.)

Today's Find!

Aren't you glad you are married know instead of in 1955! (I guess mostly the women would say no)

This supposedly came from Good Housekeeping Montly in 1955:

• Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.
  
• Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
  
• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
  
• Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.
  
• During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
  
• Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.
  Be happy to see him.
  
• Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
  Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
  
• Don't greet him with complaints and problems.
  
• Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.
  
• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
  
• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
  
• Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
  
• A good wife always knows her place.