R. I. P. Super Stay-at-Home Dad

The ride has finally come to an end. The show is over. The cookie has crumbled. That's all she wrote. Blah blah blah... bottom line is that Super Stay-at-Home Dad is on his death bed. His funeral is on Monday when his new job starts. This illness came on suddenly and we're still coping with this sudden change. SSAHD has been reflecting on what he's learned during his brief 1.5 year long life. He now has a great respect for other stay at home parents that do a good job at raising their kids. He's also come up with a few truths he has discovered and a few things that he'll miss after he dies.

Some things he's discovered in his role as SSAHD:
* There is never a meal that you'll actually sit down to eat without getting up multiple time.
* Trips to the bathroom are always a team effort... for both Emmitt and SSAHD.
* Showers are best accomplished while Curious George is doing something really interesting.
* Fruit snacks should be reclassified as a controlled substance for toddlers.
* Waiting for a toddler to poop? Take him/her to someplace inconvenient to accomplish a diaper change.
* Strollers are carrying your crap, not your toddler.

Things SSAHD will miss:
* Big hugs from an appreciative little boy when he gets something that makes him happy.
* Showering at 9am.
* Getting first dibs on first experiences and first accomplishments.
* Having conversations with the little boy where he discovers what the little boy really notices and values in life.
* Having new gymnastic and wrestling moves tried out on him.
* "Daddy, I want pick up," followed by a big hug with head on shoulder when aforementioned pickup is accomplished.

Buh bye Super Stay-at-Home Dad.

Road to Nowhere

Emmitt and I were out looking for adventure today... and didn't find it. We were going to look for a mining museum near a huge former mercury mining area. The museum was being renovated when we got there, so no dice. I love taking roads out to the middle of nowhere, so I kept going passed the museum. We ended up behind the mining area on a road I hadn't been on since I was into cycling (something like 15 years ago). We found a road that I had ridden by numerous times but never took.

At the end of the road (and top or the mountain) is an old, closed down Air Force base that served as a radar station during the Cold War era. You can see the huge block that was the base station for the huge radar dish on the top of Mt. Umunhum from miles away (look really close at the square on the peak in the middle of the picture).

Here's what it looked like in it's operational days.

I've always wanted to see the thing up close, so when I realized which road we had stumbled upon, I pooped my diaper (again). I thought it was closed to the public, so I got kind of excited to see that it was open. Up we went, and the big block got closer and closer.

Everything was going great until we saw this:
BUMMER.

Undeterred, I hauled Emmitt out of the car, and asked him if he wanted to see the "big block" as he called it. He said yes, and we started hoofin' it. I put him on my shoulders, got over the fence and started hiking up the road (and I mean up).

As Silicon Valley got further and further away, the base got closer. The view was great too. Those buildings, or white and red smudges, down there are where Adobe and several other software folks camp out.

We hiked up as far as we were legally allowed, until we hit another sign without a gate that warned us of the stiff penalty for trespassing. I was distracted by the barking dogs and yelling coming from a couple of trailer homes off to the side of the sign, so I neglected to get a picture of the "Turn Back" sign. Besides red neck n' dogs fear, I'm broke, so fines are a deal breaker for me. Emmitt was bumbed out, but we made up for it by repeating lines from Ice Age 3 back to each other while he rode on my shoulders down the hill.

This is a shot from as close as we could get to the "block."

The area up there is beautiful though, so it wasn't a wasn't a wasted trip. This is what it looked like over the steep drop on the side of the road.

Even though we didn't make it to the top, I did find a picture of what it looked it looked like at the base a year ago when the unit that ran that place had their reunion. While I was waiting for my pictures to upload, I lifted this picture from http://www.jaber.net/AAFS-Reunion-2008/.

The Pulhams Return!!

Emmitt has been without a regular playmate since we moved out here. He has a couple of kids that he occasionally gets to see, but not with the same regularity he was spoiled with in Boston. When the Pulhams moved last year, we were really bummed out and missed them a lot. Emmitt was a wreck as he watched them pull away. I won't post that tear-stained face again out of pity, since he did look pretty pitiful... and Steph said it wasn't fair to post sad stuff like that!

A couple of weeks ago, they had some time off and made it up to see us! Both Emmitt and I pooped in our diapers. Nick is doing a residency down in LA, meaning this kind of time off is rare for their family, so we appreciated them making it all the way to see us (no small feat with two youngin's in tow!).

We made it out to the park, where Ali and Emmitt got to run around and check stuff out.
Ali was supportive as ever. Here she is using Emmitt's butt to push help him up onto the firetruck. Within a few minutes, Ali was pulling Emmitt along by the sleeve/hand. It was so cool to watch them play again.

Amazingly, Kat is old enough to play now too! Who woulda thunk that?

It was great to see the Pulhams, but we were sad to see them go. Emmitt still asks for "Ali - Steph" in the morning after breakfast. When we get in the car, he tells me to follow "Ali - Steph." It's our turn to head south, so hopefully we can catch them during another lull in Nick's schedule. Thanks for coming guys!

Oh Christmas Tree....

We made a trek out to the woods and chopped down our own Christmas tree this year. It was a lot of fun.

We had to brave the wind, rain, and cold, not to mention all the wild animals. There was not a soul There was not a soul in sight as we hunted for the perfect tree.

I got to earn a few man points by strapping our tree to the top of our rig. Our tree made it home safe and sound, and Michelle did a great job decorating it.

Emmitt liked "helping" decorate the tree too.

Getting to "brave the outdoors" reminded us of how grateful we are for our blessings. We have our family nearby, we have our health, and the Lord has provided for our temporal needs. On behalf of the rest of the Merkley herd, we want to wish ya'll a merry Christmas and may the Lord bless you and your families.

....and It's A .......

She-Merkley! We're excited, but Michelle is terrified, that the next recruit to join our platoon is a girl. What our unborn daughter doesn't know is that her dad will probably put some of her older brothers old clothes on her 'cause he's a tight wad. We got the ultrasound today. The tech was very thorough in his assessment of the various measurements he needed to take, but he sure took his time getting around to checking out the baby's junk to end the suspense for us. We're test driving a few names, but of course none of them are keepers yet. Now I'm already thinking about how miserable it's going to be when she starts dating.

As If You Needed Proof - Bacon Really Does Make Everything Better!!

Michelle is always a little nervous around Thanksgiving because she usually gets designated to cook the turkey. Turkey isn't a traditional Filipino food, so she had to learn all by herself over a few years. I still remember the first year, when we brined the turkey in a Home Depot bucket. However, what has emerged from the years of trial and very little error is one "H-E-double-hockey-sticks" of a turkey. There were next to NO LEFTOVERS. Oh yeah, and that is bacon goodness layered on top of the turkey. Yes, it does make it as good as you think it does. Thanks for a great turkey Michelle!

Emmitt's First Trip to the Amusement Park

We finally broke Emmitt in on amusement parks and brought him to a place called Gilroy Gardens (formerly Bonfante Gardens - hard times for everyone these days, huh?). The place is tailor-made for kids. Lots of rides for a wide age range and plenty of (expensive, mediocre) food; but who goes to the park for food, right? Food, folks and fun is for McDonalds!

This is a big worm that we're riding. It's going in circles around a rotten apple core. Nice, huh? Nobody wanted to ride this one, so no line = more chances to ride without ever having to get off!

Two things of note about this ride. 1) It was perhaps the most violent ride we rode all day (which means Emmitt enjoyed it tremendously), and 2) Those are Garlic cloves (Gilroy the garlic capital of the world. These things spun around in small groups of four while all the groups spun together around a central axis. If you ate a lot before going on this one, you'd be pukin'.

He called these Nemos. Okay. Sort-of a Nemo, but if he likes, it's Nemo.

This was (surprise!) a race car roundabout that Emmitt thought was pretty cool. Note the smile.

This place had great scenery. Of course this is the only picture I got that was worth anything of the "gardens" part of Gilroy Gardens. Sheesh!

Just to prove that we actually went with him to this place, here's a couple of shots of us.