I know, everyone likes to brag about their kids! I just wanted to share this with you because I had such a wonderful day yesterday. I hope you did, as well.

My daughter woke me up yesterday morning with coffee, a sliced orange and steak and eggs. I began to wonder what was up when she said “Happy Fathers Day!” Not bad! She then informed me that I needed to be ready to leave at 11:00AM. Okay! Being that I am a bit of a history buff, she had arranged a private tour at a local historical home called the Francis Land House. It was originally a sprawling 1000 acre plantation built in 1805. It’s funny, I have lived in Virginia Beach all my life and have never visited it. Even funnier that it is 1/2 mile from my house and my neighborhood sits on the original land! Afterwards she took me to dinner at my favorite seafood restaurant. All said it was a great day.

What made it special was my daughters hand made Father’s Day card. She has a job, she could have bought one. And even though she is a miser like her Daddy, I’m pretty sure saving a few bucks had nothing to do with it. The card, with the cover pictured above, contained the following words with another hand drawn picture.

“To the dad who is always there to help or fix. Never says “no” to me (unless he wants to ). Who is caring and funny. Through the rough times and the good times, you always end up being the #1 Dad. Thanks for everything you do, Dad!
I Love You, ”

It almost brought tears to my eyes again!

Along with the card, she gave me a shirt that reads “#1 Dad”, which I am wearing in the picture below. In fact, I proudly wore it all day. I got comments everywhere we went, “Hey dude I was told I’m the #1 Dad”. Yeah, well you’re not, I am, can’t you read? No I didn’t really say that, well, just to this one guy, but he was rude and deserved it! So, you could sort of say that I have been there, done that and got the T-shirt!

Our relationship is not perfect. I play parent first, friend second. We definitely do not see eye to eye on everything, she is a teenager after all! And, as she pointed out, I am not known for an automatic “yes”. But, at the end of the day, we love each other and that’s what counts.

The Francis Land Plantation House, in Virginia beach, VA. Built in 1805

“One father is more than a hundred Schoolemasters.”
~George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640

There are times when an opportunity comes your way and you’re unsure. And then there are times when you don’t have to think at all. This is one of them. When approached by John to write a guest post, I immediately told him yes. Who wouldn’t with such a well written blog?

So here I am, writing from my blog: My Life as it Was, Is, and Will Be. I’m excited to be sharing a post with you. Thanks, John, for the opportunity.

Two Blondes

She was laughing as she ran. Her blonde hair streaming down her back. She was only five. And she was headed my way. The smile on her face was as bright as the closest star. She was filled with joy. She was filled with innocence.

And she was my daughter.

Her older sister was chasing her making silly noises and silly faces. Her blonde hair was caught up in a ponytail bobbling around as she ran. She was a playful eight year-old. So patient with her little sister.

They both landed in a heap in front of me. Still giggling.

I smiled so hard it made my face hurt. It was the type of smile you can’t seem to erase from your face like an old chalkboard refusing to cooperate.

I closed my eyes so I could concentrate on their laughing. Sharpening my senses like sharpening a pencil.

It was one of those moments that you don’t want to end.

Five turned to six. Six turned into seven. And now the little one is eight. Her older sister is eleven. I don’t want them to age any further. But I know I must let go.

The teasing still goes on. The innocence is still there. And they are still young enough that they don’t mind expressing love with each other and with me. It pours out of both of them like a pitcher of water.

This is family.

“The happiest moments of my life
have been the few which I have passed
at home in the bosom of my family.”
(Thomas Jefferson)

I would like to thank Sarah for guest blogging here on EzGreatLife. If you have not already discovered her wonderful blog, My Life as it Was, Is, and Will Be, you need to go check it out! I have become a daily reader and you will too!

And why not subscribe to the My Life as it Was, Is, and Will Be feed.

A couple of weeks ago my daughter approached me about having a “End of the School Year” party. As I sunk back in my recliner, my eyes glazed over, I began experiencing a really vivid flash back from parties long ago. As I came to, wiping the sweat from my brow, I asked “What kind of party?” For those of you with kids in their late teens, you can probably relate to the thoughts flowing through my brain at warp speed. “I don’t know, just a party” she so innocently replied.

I don’t know about you guys, but the kind of parties I went to at 17 were not gonna be happening at my house! I remember (or not) grain punch-fruit filled coolers, beer bongs and no parents. In my day, if I told 2 guys I’m having a party, 100 people would show up with a band in tow. So, I was fully prepared to reject my daughters invitation to pay for a night out on the town in exchange for full run of our house. Didn’t happen. She explained that she wanted to invite 30 of her closet friends (my words). She promised there would be no alcohol and you won’t believe this one, she asked if I would cook on the grill. So, “You want us here?”, I said. “Yes”, she replied. Now this is where my suspicions began to run wild. I felt like I had a text book case of Max Horkheimer’s reverse psychology being played on me. Not so.

My daughter took the bull by the horns so to speak. She made all the invitations, picked out a Hawaiian theme, planned the menu, picked the music and helped clean up the house and yard. I will have to say I was totally impressed.

One thing my daughter did that I was not in agreement with was to make the party from 3:00 PM till 10:00 PM. I thought to myself how in the world are we going to entertain thirty 17 year olds for 7 hours? Again my daughter one upped me, she new that some of her friends were at the beach in a sand soccer tournament and couldn’t come over until 6:00PM. Some had to work and didn’t get off until 9:00PM or 10:00PM. Some would come over at 3:00PM and would be leaving by 7:00PM. So the outcome was a nice steady flow of kids all day long. The only negative to this was the 100+ degree temperatures I had to sustain ALL DAY LONG while cooking on the grill! No kidding, we beat a 100 year temperature record on Saturday!

The Menu

We kept it simple, we had hamburgers and hot dogs, baked beans, chips and dip, my now famous Pasta Salad and fresh Pineapple.

Drinks

Of course we had plenty of soda, bottled water and my wife made virgin Pina Coladas and Margaritas (huge hits)

Suggested Activities

• Number one on the teen list seemed to be music. We made a play list of MP3’s and had continuous music.
• Water balloon fights were extremely popular
• Basketball was very popular
• Swimming
• Soccer
• Horse shoes
• Volley Ball

So everything ended up working out just fine. All the kids seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. One of the biggest hits at the party was also one of the cheapest. Water balloons! Who knew a group of teens would have so much fun pelting the hell out of each other with ice cold water balloons? Of course the extreme heat of the day played a big part, I’m sure. On a humorous note, while I was cooking on the grill I overheard one of the guys talking on his cell. He was giving a rundown of who was here, she is and he is and some old people! Ha! If that doesn’t make you feel old, I don’t know what does!

A note about venue: If you are not comfortable having a party at your home or you do not have the space, Recreation facilities, either indoor or outdoor can usually be rented very reasonably. Our kids have been to many parties over the years at different rec centers.

I hope this has been helpful, I know I was nervous about the whole thing right up until show time. We had not had any parties this large since girl scout sleepovers and even they were not this large. My advice, if your kid wants a party, go for it! Lay down the ground rules up front, involve your kid in the planning and have a blast!

My only regret, is not taking pictures like I usually do. I was busy cooking and talking and got totally side tracked. Normally I would have dozens of pictures to choose from. Here are a few that I did manage to take.

The first party goers play some b-ball

Missy, super dog!

Chillin in the pool, current temp 100 degrees!

Preparing for another water balloon fight.

Hanging out late night.

Kids today seem to be so self absorbed. Into everything about “me”. On the surface they just don’t seem to care about much except the latest Hollywood gossip and whatever the latest drama bomb their friends have just dropped. I think our culture is on the skids and much has to do with the horrendous condition of our school system, both public and private. Now that I have depressed everyone in the room, let me share a bright spot with you.

I was asked to give a presentation this past Friday night to a group of girl scouts. Not any old troop, the owner of my company’s, wife’s girl scout troop. No pressure there! This troop of about 15, thirteen year olds are working on their latest badge and are learning about careers. My portion of the evening revolved around “How to prepare for a job Interview”. I gave about a 20 minute interactive presentation, with me speaking and the girls asking questions. Afterwards, I held a mock interview with each girl, one on one, for a position with the local SPCA. I asked the following:

1. Please start by telling me a little about yourself.
2. Describe a problem you have encountered and how you were able to overcome it.
3. Please tell me about some experiences you have had working with animals.

Having not been thirteen for quite some time, I struggled with what questions I was going to ask. I was particularly worried about question #2. However, after successfully interviewing the first girl, all of my worries were put to rest. These girls rocked! From the word go, they began telling me who they are and all of their accomplishments. Question #2 didn’t seem to phase them one bit. A common theme in the answer to #2 was conflict resolution with their friends. I began to see that there is much more to all this drama that they experience. Most were very concerned about the fighting amongst friends and didn’t seem to understand why it has to be like that. But all wanted to be problem solvers and help work things out. I was very impressed with the answers I received. These girls proved to me that you can be absorbed in all of the Hollywood glamour #@!$ and still have your head on you shoulders and care deeply about things that matter. An opinion that I probably couldn’t have formed simply by watching the paparazzi driven entertainment stories force fed to us daily on all forms of media.

In conclusion, I have great news! There is hope for the future! Not all teenagers are mindless, consumerism driven, techno gadget addicted, mush brained, me too lemmings! Not that I really thought that ALL teenagers were like this. But I have been worried for some time now that kids today just don’t care about the future, ours or their own. Friday night opened my eyes to a new perspective about our young people. I am sure you know teens like the one’s I met Friday night. I encourage you to get involved in some way and make a difference in their lives. If you already are doing so, good for you and let us know about it!

This just in! The cost to send your new born to an in-state public college 18 years from now will be at least $163,890. This according to the college calculator at money.com. This is the estimate for a 4 year public college, nothing special, not ivy league. Are you as shocked as I am?

So What Can You Do?

Start saving. And saving. And saving. Now, don’t go overboard. I know you want to give little Suzie that great gift of college, but not at your own expense. You don’t want to sacrifice your own needs, mainly retirement, so you can send her off to college. Remember, your children can take out loans for education, you can’t (or shouldn’t) borrow for retirement.

Real Savings

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have written about Upromise.com as a viable method of saving some extra dough for your children’s education. Upromise is a free service that helps families earn extra money for education. As I have stated in the past, I have been a member since January 2003. Our savings to date totals $1,480.57. This is real money people!

529 College Savings Plan

We have our accumulated funds swept into our 529 College Savings Plan quarterly. I check our account every once in a while to make sure we are credited properly. There is really nothing else to do. No strings, no complicated paperwork. That’s it.

How It Works

Whenever I need to purchase something, I check the Upromise website first. It works like many other comparison shopping sites, listing your item by store and the cost including shipping. This ensures you are getting the best possible price. Once you have selected the item, you pay with your credit card and within several weeks you will see the savings post to your account. You will earn from 1% to 25% in college savings from Upromise partners when you shop online or in-store, eat out, buy groceries, or travel. All things that we do anyway.

The Savings Just Got Bigger

Upromise informed me yesterday that they are running a special promotion for the month of April, 2008. Simple join for free, confirm your registration, shop online before April 30th and you will receive a $10.00 credit to your account. That’s FREE money! It doesn’t get much better than that!

Sign Up Here For Your $10.00 Bonus Savings!

In Conclusion

So go ahead and check it out! I don’t make to many personal recommendations. The only reason I am willing to make such a strong one for Upromise is because of my 5 year history with them. It has been a very beneficial relationship from my side of the table. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I am an affiliate and I will receive a small spiff from you signing up. No where near the $10.00 YOU WILL RECEIVE, I might add! And I assure you that my earnings will be used to help cover my expenses associated with running this site, so I can continue to bring you fresh, informative, thoughtful content. Thanks for reading!

Additional Resources:

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
http://www.collegesavings.org/
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/intro529.htm

This past weekend my wife and I took a long weekend getaway to Georgia. We left Friday morning and returned Sunday evening. Our trip was multi-purposed. First my daughter had stayed with her Aunt, one of my sisters, for spring break. We needed to pick her up and bring her home. Also, my sister and her husband just had a baby boy nine weeks ago, and we wanted to meet our new nephew! My other sister and her two boys met us for the weekend. So, we had one of those family get-togethers that I’ve been telling you about.

We arrived Friday evening, and stayed up late getting all caught up. Saturday morning my sister and her husband cooked a wonderful breakfast. Saturday afternoon we ventured into Atlanta and had lunch at Willey’s Mexicana Grill. If you have never heard of Willey’s, think GIANT burritos. Very good, I highly recommend it. Next on the agenda was the Georgia Aquarium. What a wonderful time. Imagine fish, fish and more fish. There are more than 8 million gallons of fresh and marine water. And there is plenty to keep the little one’s occupied. My nephews loved the play area with lots to climb on and plenty of things to do. There is a touch tank full of sting rays. Exhibits featuring California sea lions, sea otters and African black-footed penguins will impress. We all stood in amazement as we watched the graceful Beluga whales. And the grand finale, the giant whale sharks, the largest fish in the world. Good times! I highly recommend this to anyone with kids or if you just love water creatures!

TIPS: Park in neighboring parking lots across the street to save a few $$$.
Purchase tickets online and check in at the will-call booth to beat the lines.

After leaving the aquarium we observed the remnants of destruction caused by the tornado that went through downtown just several weeks ago. Most of the tall buildings still have hundreds of boarded up windows. You never think of a tornado rolling through the middle of a big city! What a sight.

Next it was on to dinner. My brother in-law chose Teds Montana Grill. Serving up chicken, beef and bison, it was reasonably priced in a comfortable eco-friendly atmosphere. The food was good and we enjoyed the company. Sunday morning we had breakfast at a local pancake house and said our “good byes”. I hope my nephew doesn’t grow up to fast! We will continue get together as often as possible.

For those of you interested in Atlanta I recommend the following attractions from previous trips. As you will see, you could easily plan a week long vacation here. Years ago, one of the things that always intimidated us about planning a vacation or get-a-way was not knowing anything about the area. So, through our experiences, I will try to introduce places we have traveled, to help motivate you to plan your own trips. Oh and while I’m thinking about it, our family has been known for 10+ years as the “B-Family” by our friends and family. This included personalized plates on my wife’s vehicle! As I write about our family trips and vacations in the future, I’m going to include the “B-Family Hot Spots” tag line.  Here I will list places of interest that we have visited, that I feel you may wish to take your family. So here goes:

• Georgia Aquarium
• Zoo Atlanta
• Georgia Dome
• CNN Center
• Stone Mountain Park
• World of Coke

Additional Information:

For more info: http://atlanta.citysearch.com/roundup/40242/
For discounted admissions to area attractions: http://www.trustedtours.com/store/Atlanta-City-Pass-C263.aspx

I didn’t intend to send this post so late. My wife and daughter are gone this weekend to my sisters’ house to visit my new born nephew! They left Friday. My daughter is staying the week down there for spring break. My wife should be home tonight. Next Friday we are both going to pick her up, so I can meet him, as well. That being said, I have had a nice size to-do list this weekend! So I have been running between the computer and chores all day! But don’t feel bad, we had our family Easter Dinner last Sunday. I cooked a turkey with all the fix-ins! What a meal!