Funny perceptions of law...

I had a conversation a couple weeks ago with a man that is sort of a park ranger/manager of a particular place I like to go - You've seen pictures of it here before, and probably will again; a 5,000 year old burial chamber. Around this burial chamber is a rope. Yep, a rope...security to the extreme! Anyway, the day I'm talking to this guy, he's explaining to me that this rope is there only for show basically, and that they really don't want to keep people away from the site necessarily. Just groups of people, like over 30 or so at a time, they don't want anyone crawling around the thing. But, if it's just one or two or so at a time, they don't care. He told me, "When it's just yourself, sure! Go ahead and hop over...take your photos. We really don't care!" He went on to explain to me, since he obviously knew I was American, that their laws aren't quite like our laws. Our laws are meant to be kept. The laws here, well...not so much. I mean, speeding, burglary, theft, arson, general traffic regulations...yeah, those aren't the ones I'm talking about. It's more like the public notices, the "don't litter here" or "no parking here" things that really turn more like suggestions. In this case, it's the single rope strung up around a 5,000 archeological treasure that's really not meant to signal "keep out," rather, "one at a time, please." At first, I thought this guy was joking, but then I realized that he got much of his information like the rest of the world does regarding American laws: from CSI and NCIS and any reality show that's shown cops, park rangers, and any other kind of law enforcement actually doing their jobs. He went on about how strict America is compared to Ireland, which I thought was just hilarious. But, there you go...there is a sense of the menial things being overlooked here. And some are sadder than others like minors in rural areas able to buy alcohol pretty easily. The authorities don't like it, but they don't do much about it either. In someways it can be sad. I've grown up thinking, "if it says don't do it, it means don't do it" mentality for the most part...but apparently here, not so much. But, there's a good feeling to it as well...there's a trust that people are actually doing things right, and authorities aren't clamoring to "bring justice" to every infraction they see either. Either way, it's kind of interesting.

All this to show you a great photo I got the other day. Jen and I were at the hospital getting the scan of our baby when I looked up and saw this sign:

The funny thing to me is what I read into it after the conversation I had with the man at the historical site; "No smoking. And this one we actually mean no smoking...no seriously...no smoking. Please...for real. Don't smoke. Sorry, but we really mean it this time..." and on and on.

Write a caption contest...

Here's a picture of Cailyn I got on accident the other day...make a caption for it!

Warning - do NOT stand on the blanket...

So, every parent has this happen; you have the video tape rolling, getting ready to get your kids to do something for the camera, and then an unexpected fall happens. And while that fall is sad and causes temporary sadness, the end result is a funny blooper that is great for a laugh. With that said, I give you last night...I was getting ready to film the girls singing Happy Birthday for their Granny, when Cailyn stood on Hannah's blanket. See how Hannah "handled" this one!

Hidden talent

So, we've said recently how we're loving watching our girls growing up and learning their personalities. One very definable character trait of Cailyn's is that she is a quiet observer, not trying anything first hand until she's seen it done, and knows how to do it in her head. She's done this with walking, talking, and now evidently, with Guitar Hero. Normally she loves to be the dancer as Jen sings with Hannah, and I play the guitar part. Well, tonight, I told the girls that we'd have a quick session before bed. Cailyn emphatically stated that she was singing, and hurried over and grabbed the mic. "OK" I thought...so I got it all set up. She asked for "Hello Goodbye", so with me on the guitar, Hannah playing the drums, and Jen helped Cailyn out a little bit...well, take a look for yourself, but I think Cailyn did a pretty good job! And fair play to Jen for letting me post this...

Do you ever wonder...

...what happens just after a great adorable video is taken of kids singing a wonderful Christmas song for all their friends and loved ones to enjoy? Well...wonder no more! We present the "outtake" of the girls singing Away in a Manger...

She's Hilarious!

One of our favorite things we've found about raising kids is just learning who they are as individuals. Hannah and Cailyn are so much fun and interesting. In so many ways, they're polar opposites, but they're also similar at the same time. Lately, one thing that's really been coming out in both girls is their sense of humor. Hannah is in school and we can tell that she's developing a social sense of humor and likes to joke around with her friends and with us. Cailyn though, her humor is a little more under the surface if that makes sense. Well, Jen was talking with her the other day and realized that she does impressions! Well, she does ONE impression - of her daddy. So, Jen pulled out the camera and got this footage of "Daddy speak." Enjoy!

Torrential Downpours

So, we had an interesting event the other day: It was the middle of the afternoon around the house. I was busy in the office doing some paperwork, Jen was doing some things around the house, Hannah was playing Indiana Jones on the Xbox (she loves that game!), and Cailyn was napping. When Jen decided that she needed to go to the store, I thought, "No problem!", so she leaves. within just a couple minutes, I hear Cailyn in the room right above the office starting to wake up. She sounds like something's wrong, which usually means that she's really ready to be out of her room. So, I send Hannah up to open her door, simply because that's usually all she needs and she loves it when Hannah gets her up from nap. The next thing I hear is Hannah coming down to tell me, "Daddy, Cailyn pottied in her bed," and she returns to the Xbox. (We'll hear from her later.) So I'm thinking to myself, "uh oh." Apparently my idea of letting Cailyn sleep without her trousers on was a bad idea because apparently she decided she didn't need her nappy either. And of course, there was a pool in her bed. Oh well...this stuff happens, and it's a part of her starting to potty-train, so I set out to take care of it. We have a little potty-trainer seat on the toilet, so I'm thinking she needs to get on that and make sure she's finished. Thinking she's ok doing that, I proceed to get sheets off the bed and find out what else was taken out with the mess. At this point, I hear Hannah cry out, "Oh no!" and then her feet patter into the bathroom downstairs. Since I have a load of sheets already, I decide to take them down and see what's going on with Hannah. Turns out the pee signal was still blaring in the house and Hannah had wet her pants while playing Xbox. Man...this just keeps getting better!! Well, in the mean time, I hear Cailyn starting to freak out upstairs, so I run back up there to see her now standing in the bathroom in the middle of another pool of pee just paranoid about the whole situation. To make matters worse, she now realizes that she was supposed to be on the toilet and turns to run the 5 feet to get on the toilet. The only problem was that she wasn't only standing on a tile floor, there was a plastic bag on the floor where she chose to pee. Inevitably, her first step was right on the bag. This made her foot slide right out from under her, and she fell back, landing right on her head. So, now she's laying in her own pee, freaking out and hurt. The poor girl! I picked her up, cleaned her up and put on a fresh nappy and some clean clothes while Hannah too got the same treatment, minus the nappy of course. All calmed down, sheets were ready to be washed, and life was normal again...for those 10 minutes, life was pretty crazy!! Life with kids...never a dull moment!

Going crazy

Ok, so today, we actually got a little rain here today, and it happened to be a day when we all needed to head to the mall we go to. Well, when we were done, and on the way back home, I noticed some funny stuff going on in the back. Cailyn is finally a forward-facing car-rider now, so she loves being able to see everything that's going on. So I look in the mirror, and I see both of our girls using those "head-pads" on the side of their car seats to bang their heads on. Back and forth they went, banging their head on one side, and then the other, all the while laughing themselves silly. It was so funny! Sorry we couldn't get a video of them both (oh how I wish you could see that), but it was quite a site. We nabbed Cailyn doing it for a minute though, so here you go...enjoy!