1st big scar

Cole unfortunately banged his head during basketball camp and required some stitches. This was a doozy. His first time getting stitches. Reminds me of the scene in Lethal Weapon 3 where they are comparing their scars. Hopefully this will be his last.


Here he's waiting for the doctor to stitch him up. They applied some numbing gel instead of giving him a shot. The only thing is you have to wait 30 mins before it numbs the area. I think I'll take this option next time too.


Here's the end result. He had about 2 stitches and then the rest was glue. Hopefully it won't scar too badly.


You can tell he was feeling much better because he couldn't help himself on the way out.

July 4th Tradition

Is that time again where we go to our old HOA 4th of July Picnic celebration. Here you can see the Fire Engine cooling off the crowd.



Cole is enjoying the snow cones...


...and Lauren enjoying collecting the cicada shells.



The kids are waiting in line for the water slides. Amazing how times have changed and they are the smallest ones anymore. Here's Cole in line 3 years ago. Here's Lauren in line 5 years ago.


Lauren still closes her eyes...


and same for Cole.


Lauren participating in the hula hoop contest. I also participated in the parent contest but didn't last long enough for anyone to take a photo. :)

WARNING: Graphic post - Clogged drain

Every year or so, the water in the sinks drain very slowly. Inevitably the issue is hair getting clogged in the stopper mechanism. I've seen these stick drain cleaners for a few bucks so I thought I'd try it. The old way would be to remove the p-trap and clean out the drain with an old toothbrush.


Here you can see what I fished out. Overall the tool works pretty well. All I had to do was fish out the hair and clean off the stick. Total time was ~5 mins versus the old way of ~15 mins and there's no need to get a bucket, remove the p-trap, clean the drain, empty the bucket, etc. It's so easy, the kids might enjoy "fishing" out the clog.