Every time Chelsea and I have a baby, people inevitably ask where the baby’s sleeping in relation to us and his brothers. The concept of four kids under six years old IS mind-boggling, sure. The bigger issue people seem to be grappling with, however, is the idea of getting any baby to go from sleeping in the parents’ room to sleeping in a room with siblings. So, I’ll admit it. Here’s our big secret.
There are a lot of tasty things you can do with BBQ. One of the great things about BBQ is that even with very little experience, you can make it your own. There are burgers, dogs, big sausages, fish, chicken, vegetables, and on and on. Basically, anything that suits you is possible.
There is a distinct crispness to the air I breathe at just over eight thousand feet sea level. There even seems to be some sort of shortness in supply, as my California lungs aren’t yet adjusted to the thin yet clean air found at this outer sphere of the Rockies. Thinner though it may be, it still whispers and sings as it swims through the branches and needles of the evergreen trees standing tall around me. I close my eyes and the stress of civilization as I know it blows away.
The kitchen is the hub. The one place in the home everyone can come together and be – for the most part – in the moment. From the ancient dirt-floored and open fire pit kitchens of old to the stainless steel and subway tile backsplash-adorned kitchens of today, everyone is drawn to this hallowed space. And for good reason.
I was given two options. Basil…or lavender.
The kids were off with Oma and Opa and Chelsea and I were determined to spend an afternoon doing absolutely nothing. Literally, the only item on her usually-endless list of things to accomplish were the words, “take a bath.”
I consider myself to be the pioneer of my children’s minds. Their mom plays a role, obviously, but as their dad I’m tasked with a few extra-fun things like introducing them to ice fishing and teaching them how to wield a drill and explaining how to keep their elbows in and head down when throwing that good ol’ fashioned night night blow. “Jump like a grasshopper and bite like a beaver,” I always say.
It’s a great big world out there. And it doesn’t seem to get ANY bigger than when you visit Texas. A simple drive across the limestone and cattle-laden state seems to take days. In some cases, it actually does. If driving ‘cross Texas’ immense landscape doesn’t send home the feeling of sheer insignificance of oneself in the vastness of this world, looking up at the wide open sky just might.
The light of new life radiates throughout the land. Our eyes have cracked to the dawn of spring and we take our first deep breaths of the year’s first season. The grass is growing as quickly as it can, the flowers are blooming for the bees, and the trees are reaching for the sky with new outstretched branches.
All that hid itself away for winter has returned.
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