Merry Christmas

Hope Christmas has been good to all of the PPO3 visitors. We started ours with a road trip to Ohio. My first Christmas present was given to me by a stranger. Somewhere in West Virginia on our way to Ohio as I was cruising along when a jeep got right in front of me….going the speed limit. I was quite perturbed until I realized that there was a cop ahead and this jeep was purposefully slowing me down. Thanks mister jeep guy.
Plus, on the way back, a stranger in front of us paid our toll.

It was good to be in Ohio with the Poff clan.

The mystery Christmas gift that Janelle and Mandy have been keeping a secret was a trip to NYC in May. Turns out the clues they gave were not entirely true. I’ve only been to the big apple once and only for an afternoon so I haven’t covered much ground. If you have any suggestions about what we go/see/do while we are there leave a comment below.

Charleston Wedding

The Pate clan headed south to my cousin’s wedding in SC.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving went well. Here are some highlights from ours.
Everyone gathered at my parents’ house which got crowded fast. Here is a pic of an assortment of aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmothers.

It was good to see Kait again (whom faithful blog readers and friends will remember is my cousin that lived with us last year). She is doing well and recently made the honor roll.

Long overdue, I borrowed my cousin’s skateboard and proved yet again that my athletic prowess knows no bounds. Don’t I look graceful?

The highlight of the day easily was spoon wrestling. If you aren’t familiar with this gag here is a video clip I found on youtube to see it in action.

Matt introduced me to this game in college. I usually played his accomplice. We even did this to one of our college professors once.

Basically 2 people are given spoons and told to face each other. One player will put his head downward (facing the floor) and the other will put the spoon in his mouth and hit the other player in the back of the head with it. They trade off hits until one gives up. This proves to be exceptionally hard to do with any force. This time I was the referee while my brother played against our new victim, my cousin Brandon. Here is the rub (its easier to understand to watch the video above)….Chris (my brother) was in on it and when it was his turn to hit Brandon I would grab another spoon from my back pocket and whack my cousin in the back of the head (pretty hard) and then slide it back in my pocket while he was still facedown and unable to see our little ruse. This inevitably proves frustrating for the victim because he is getting whacked pretty hard while being unable to counter his opponent with any real force. Always great family fun. Here is a pic although it isn’t a great shot.

On a side note, I was just reading an article on Slate about there being a new rally cry against “the secularization of Thanksgiving.” Much like a few years ago when the “War on Christmas” was in full fervor, the new focus is on Thanksgiving. I have one objection……I have never assumed Thanksgiving was a religious or Christian Holiday to begin with….therefore it would be hard to secularize it. I don’t even recall ever seeing a church do a special event for Thanksgiving. What do you think? Religious holiday or just another holiday?

1st Pate Yard Sale

With the big move coming up we thought it would be a good time to get rid of some of our accumlated horde of stuff.

caden and I are being helpful as usual

Hi strangers....take our crap

Pumpkin Palooza

We spent an afternoon at Patterson Farm. In the end. I'm always disappointed with hay rides.

wedding

The family went to West Virginia for Janelle’s cousin’s wedding. Most of Janelle’s side of the family is Nazarene (that’s a church denomination by the way) which apparently has a strict “no dancing” policy (it’s like the movie Footloose all over again)….so once the music started the crowd got a bit thin. Needlessly to say, the Pates and the Poffs, known for their partying ways, closed the party down a couple hours later.

A day at the splash pad

Tyler in Town

Our nephew Tyler was in town for a marathon week that included the speedpark, a baseball game, a drive-in movie, tubing, and camping.

life is a beach

We went to Wilmington with the Sutphins (Jason was one of my old college roommates). It was both kids' first time on the beach and they seem to be big fans of the giant sand box. Highlights included: the world’s greatest crab dip, an Italian pub (the marrying of 2 of God’s greatest gifts to us all), Angie in desperation attacking a waitress for some crackers for our hungry children, and me freaking out because I thought the current was carrying Jason and I (on our manly floats) out into the abyss of the ocean.

***For manual control of the slideshow, click on it once

a good tongue lashing

A what age does this (sticking out your tongue) stop being cute and start being offensive? I am talking about me of course

take me out to the ball game

We continued our Independence Day tradition (3 years running) of going to our local minor league baseball game and post game fireworks. We were joined by my parents and Chrandy (sorry we didn’t get a group pic). We had excellent seats (front row behind the backstop) both because of the vantage point and that there was a funny heckler nearby that kept it interesting. The post game fireworks were definitely my least favorite at the park so far, so we may need to get our fix on the 4th.

Bonus rabbit trail: Shortly after the game, I decided to take a walk on the field to look at the bull pen. It looks like those guys are pretty relaxed back there during the game and just hanging out so I was half expecting to find a TV, a foot massager, and a little refrigerator, but there were no such perks. On the long walk back, an older employee seemed to be a little peeved that I was wandering on the field as he approached and asked if he could help me. I replied no, that I was looking for another exit…….yeah, he didn’t fall for that either.

front row seats baby

Caden is not digging the fireworks

Caden is getting company

Janelle told me that when I got home we needed to discuss something as a family. Her clues were that it wasn’t bad (yeah right) and that it could cost a lot of money. I of course was stressing out dreaming up the worst case scenarios like: we were getting kicked out of our house, we were being audited, or that she had been let go by the church.
Here is what I was greeted by when I walked in the door:

And here was my reaction

This is very early in the pregnancy so we don’t have a lot of info yet, but I guess you can figure out where you can keep up to date.

the next karate kid?

Our church does a Kids Safety Fair each year. It’s really done well. The SWAT team came out with full gear, the fire department brought in a smoke house and demonstrated how they disassemble a car, the coast guard was there as well, and a karate group was out there teaching self-defense. We had a great time, especially at the karate booth where they let us throw a melee of punches at a dummy for 10 seconds and measured our punching power. Here are some pics below

I must confess that I really haven’t thrown many punches so I am not totally in my element. But apparently it is evident that once again I missed my calling in life (my other calling was to be a lumberjack based on my superior skill with an ax….except that time I broke my big toe) Here are the high scores of the day

So think again before you mess with me my friends (and foes). I’m packing fists of fury.

Alright, next confession…….I am pretty sure I was the only one over the age of 8 that participated in this event. But at least I know that I could hold my own against a horde of 8 year olds.

Lake James

Janelle and Caden accompanied “Chrandy” and the Padgetts (my brother’s in-laws) to Lake James state park last week. I haven’t been to Lake James yet, but it sounds like one of the premier state parks in NC.

The 1st Annual Fathers’ Day Pate Bowl

My parents (with Kait’s siblings in tow) and “Chrandy” came over last night for a little father’s day desert. At some point I convinced everyone (including my mom, Mandy and my wife….but not Caden, even though he may have been slightly better than my mom) to play in a 2-hand-touch football game in the backyard….and a tradition was started. Since dad and I were the 2 fathers in the crowd, we were the captains and picked the teams. As usual dad was a bit too aggressive on the field and Chris was the last one picked. Sorry that there are no pics, they would have been quite amusing.

fathers' day

Fathers' day was great and as usual Janelle outdid herself. Above is a picture of my present from her and Caden. If you doubleclick on the picture, you can read the poem Janelle made to accompany the plaster hand/foot. I am told that there is an apron (for grilling) coming soon that will feature the words "flipping sweet" on the front.

Where's the Beef?

Fathers day lunch was at a place we used to frequent in college (back in Florida) called Beef O'Bradys. There is not one close by, so it was a bit of a pilgrimage, but the wings were worth it.