Weasels Loose At The Zoo

What a better way to show Dad how much he deserves a day off to be honored and appreciated in a special way than to spend Father's Day with the family. In my defense, Mr. Weasel was told that we could do whatever he wanted to do for Father's Day. The kids wanted to go to the zoo. I said I could take them there all day so that he could nap, play or whatever he felt like doing.

In his tireless job of being a great dad, he said he wanted to come with us. He has been working long hours lately and will be for months to come. So he wanted to spend time with the kids that they had been missing out on.
So today I will highlight for you how that day went and you can see for yourself why Mr. Weasel deserves a day off and why Mr. Weasel considers going to work to be like vacation.

*Realizing that Weasels are happy and quite, the Mr. and I sneak upstairs and lock the door for some mommy and daddy time to talk (wink, wink). There were no less than 7 separate interruptions in the form of knocking on the bedroom door.

*All set for gift giving time, Mr. Weasel opens a box with a model of the Star Ship Enterprise (to eventually place of his own desk in his own office) only to find out that although the box is huge the model is only 1/1000000th scale in size, scratched and damaged. It has to be returned.

*After walking around the zoo for a while the Weasels start to entertain themselves by poking at each other with sharp pointy sticks, both figuratively and literally.

* Mr. Weasel takes Monkey Weasel (9) to a park bench off to the side to 'have a talking to'. When finished and ready to continue our trek in 90 degrees and 95% humidity, smart aleck Boy Weasel pipes up "Dad, can you give me a talk too now???". The Mr. Plays along and gives a mock finger waving session to the Boy. The Boy (12 1/2), plays comedian by stating "Wow, I have a few strange years ahead of me". We lost it. No way we could have kept straight faces.

*While on our 7 hour death march through the heat of the zoo, Smallest Weasel (5) was most excited about seeing the chipmunks that run loose all over the place.

*After the zoo, we went to a family friendly bar and grill. A favorite place of ours for dinner. Mr Weasel ordered an Austrian beer called Samichlaus with 14% Alc. by Vol., served in a long stem glass, that he found potent and delicious (especially to wash down a 7.5% variety).

*During dinner Boy Weasel (sitting on my left) says something like 'you're full of crap' to Middle Weasel (11 1/2 and sitting on my right). I give him a mock smack upside the head as he laughs at me and Middle Weasel says something in retort using the word crap and laughing. I give her the same smack and Boy rebuts using 'crap' and she rebuts with 'crap' and the smacking continues back and forth 3 Stooges style. It was a genuine crapfest.

*Mr. Weasel, feeling the effects of his beverage, laughs and says "what's up with all the crap" and the entire table looses it. Smallest Weasel, sitting next to Daddy then pipes in with "crap right back atcha Dad". There was no longer any semblance of public decorum.

*The Weasels had been torturing us all day with calls of ice cream after dinner. Mr. W had said no, they had already had enough treats for any one day. As he became more socially lubricated with the help of his beverage, they asked again and he said yes.

*I told Mr. Weasel I think he is cut off. He responded with "That's what I thought too, until 10:30 this morning". My family if full of comics.

*Without missing a beat, Eldest Weasel (15) asked if I could order him another round so that they could ask for a trampoline and/or a puppy. "who knew all you had to do was get Dad a little buzzed?"

Needless to say, I did not order another round and I did the driving home. Well that's the round-up of our Father's Day and I think it points to Mr. Weasel deserving an entire vacation all by himself. It was a great and funny Father's Day Weasel style. I hope all of yours was this full of fun, family and laughter.

Dream A Little Dream With Me

It's Friday and we all know what that means, Fatherhood Friday over on Dad-Bogs. So if you would like to read something of quality instead of the drivel I am posting here today head over there and click some links for fabulous reading.

I know that we all dream every time that we sleep, but it is not very often that I manage to remember any of my dreams. This morning however, that is not the case.

Last night (actually present night, as it is only 4am) I had the oddest dream and I remember it. I dreamed that we had an icky yucky filthy little mouse burrow it's way into the house and had built a nest under the oven, sustained on cat food stolen from the cats dish. It scurried out of it's hiding place while I was sweeping and talking to Mr. Weasel. I freaked out by screaming and jumping up the counter tops and chairs in stereotypical cartoon-ish caricature form.

Now I know many of you and saying to yourselves wussy "What's so strange about that?" or "I be grabbing hold of the ceiling too". The strange part is that I was petrified of a field mouse.

Come on now. We are the Weasels. We keep rodents as pets. We have had countless hamsters and a couple of mice - as pets! We currently have a guinea pig, hamster, 3 toads and 3 cats. I am constantly foiling the cats plots to eat the other pets. I hold and pet the little glorified rats. I actually feel affection for the little disease carrying pests. I have a special place in my heart for these rodents. Go figure.

That is, the ones that I have stupidly paid for and housed by choice. Sure, I would quickly dispose of any uninvited house guests. I would have no qualms about snapping their little necks in a trap ridding them from my home, but I wouldn't or shouldn't fear them like the maid in old Tom and Jerry cartoons.

So folks, have fun. Analyze the heck out of this and tell me your theories about this doozy of a contradiction.

No Candles

Today is your birthday.
Happy birthday to you.
I only wish I had a present for you.

I wish I could shop, for some special toy.
Something to make your eyes light up with joy.

I wish we could sing and eat birthday cake
but all of my thoughts bring me back to your wake.

You'd be 7 today, it would be amazing to see
what kind of sweet girl you'd have turned out to be.

I miss you and love you, that's all I can say.
Have a great party in Heaven today.
Claire Elaine Weasel
June 18, 2002 - July 2, 2002

It's A Long Way To The Top Of Momo's Blogroll

Remember back in college, piling into a van with you buddies for a road trip to a concert 6 hours away to see your favorite band? That's what my weekend was like, only with backstage passes.

Sunday morning, bright and early I packed up the car with coolers of frozen meat (it was a charity fund raising show to prevent child abuse). Soon Surprised Mom was in my car and we were ready to go. We had one last stop before hitting the open road to pick up Melisa and another cooler of meat. We really wanted those backstage passes.

Once on the road, we of course put on the CD of theme music and later a CD by Momo's opening act. We tweeted from the road to all of our friends that were jealous they weren't going to the show, just to rub it in.

The drive was full of laughs and fun. Surprised Mom rode shotgun for sing-a-longs and Melisa had tons of activities planned to pass the time and curb our excitement so that we wouldn't burst before meeting this Rock Star. She had picked up a tiara to crown Momo with because we are such groupies and made flowers out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners to present her with. Because you can not give a woman that much meat and not make her feel like a princess. That would be rude. Not to mention had designer swag bags for us to commemorate the trip. Halfway through the bouquet making process, Melisa piped up from the back seat "I forgot the stuff to make a sash". You know the Miss America variety. Knowing that Melisa is the love child of Martha Stewart and MacGyver I told her that I was sure she would root through the van and find improvisational supplies to make one before we arrived. Sure enough, she did and I laughed.When we finally got to the arena, all that meat granted us open entry and tons of hugs. We were greeted by Momo Fali herself, live and in person. I was surprised that Melisa wasn't completely struck dumb by meeting such a celebrity in person like has happened so many times in the past.
Surprised Mom was as cool as a cucumber, you can tell she's had experience with meeting famous celebrities. We carried the coolers to the freezer and Momo ordered me to stop unloading, she would do it, and to go in the kitchen and get a beer! It was in that moment that I fell completely in love. Not only is she a Rock Star, she is sooooo regular and nice! Just like you and me and all the everyday Joe's out there (isn't that what everybody says about celebs?). She even said that she doesn't even think she is that famous! However, that didn't stop her goons from collecting another $240.00 from us to secure all access passes back stage.

We even got to go see he home office where all the magic happens! I touched her computer screen. I could have fainted!

We also got the chance to meet Dado Fali and the Fali McKids!!!!!!!!! Momo's kids are so cute you would buy one at a pet store. Yeah, they have those eyes that say 'oh, just try not to fall for me. I dare you'. I definitely left a part of my heart in that city.

Once the police were called because I was getting Creepy McStalkerish When it was time to leave, we didn't want to. Being there was so great. We had laughed and talked like old friends. I had played on the swingset with the kids and the hospitality had been awesome sans handcuffs.I can't wait for the next tour when I will get to see Momo again in JulyThanks for not going through with the restraining order. I want to thank all of you that funded the trip and the backstage passes. It couldn't have happened without you. Next year I would like to go to Hawaii. And now, when my grandchildren read in their history books about Momo's Meat Wagon 2009 Midwest tour, I can tell them "I was there".

Road Trip

If you haven't heard yet, this Sunday Melisa, Surprised Mom and myself are going to reclaim our youth. We are taking a road trip to see one of the coolest bloggers out there. We are passing this off as a humanitarian aid mission, but honestly, this is going to be stupid amounts of fun and I get to meet in person a super fantasmic chick who's autograph I've always wanted that I love to read. None other than Momo Fali!!!!!

Here's the deal. We are working on saving the life of a 7 10 I've been corrected year little girl. A sweet precious child who inadvertently left the door of the freezer in the garage open when retrieving a popsicle. Said freezer was full of meat stores to feed the family for the next year. There was an entire cow in there. *note for any vegetarian/vegan/PETA types ~ don't get all bent out of shape here. If God didn't want us to eat them, He wouldn't have made them so tasty*. A cow that completely defrosted beyond salvage. A cow that this family needs.

So this really big hearted guy started the ball rolling to replace the families food stores through the generosity and community of the blogosphere. I said "I have a cow in my freezer too! I can donate lots of cow! I just can't cover the travel expense to take that cow 12 hours roundtrip". So, Mr. My Heart Is Super Big sent out the word and we have started collecting donations to cover the cost of the trip and the cost of replacing the chicken, pork and popsicles that were also lost at the time.

We are leaving Chicago around 6am Sunday morning and will be live tweeting the road trip every step of the way *You really want to make sure that you are following us on Twitter* using Melisa's Twitter account mostly, but follow all 3 of us to make sure you don't miss any of the fun. We have all kinds of fun activities planned, like "Ask WM a question" and any other goofy gimmick we can come up with. We will be laughing, singing and having a great time acting as if we still have the stamina for road trips that we had in college. We will be doing the entire roundtrip of 12 hours all on Sunday, because we all need to be home on Monday Morning.

Many of Momo's blogging friends have already donated, but the window for donations to Momo's Meat Wagon is still open through Saturday. We are working through paypal via sending donations (any amount is appreciated) to weaselmomma@yahoo.com .

If you don't already know Momo Fali and her blog, you really want to! You want to follow her on Twitter and become a regular reader at her place. You can thank me later.

So maybe this should be a Community Friday Post as oppossed to FatherHood Friday but what a better way to celebrate Fatherhood is there than to teach your children about good deeds, community and caring for your fellow man. There is good going on in this world. This is a great opportunity for you and your family to be part of it.