Link-apalooza #10: The Dog Rescuer

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Link-apalooza #10: The Dog Rescuer

I don’t know how this keeps happening, but these posts seem to keep getting farther apart. I’m just soooo busy, I tell you! This week I got sidetracked by rescuing a dog. No big deal. It’s kind of what I’m known for, as some of my most loyal readers (Mom) might remember. 

This time around, the boys and I had just left my parents house when we passed a pickup truck going the other direction. When we were about even with the truck I noticed a small dog was attempting to throw himself out of the truck bed.

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Imagination Games

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Imagination Games

I got caught up in one of Jacob’s imagination games the other day. This happens at some point every day, but this one was particularly informative. The game this time was jail. I’m not sure where he learned about the concept of jail, but since 90% of his knowledge is derived from Disney Jr. shows, it’s a relatively safe bet it came from somewhere on there. That being said, my money is on Sheriff Callie.

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How to Potty Train Your Three-and-Two-Thirds-Year-Old in 21 Easy Steps

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Oh man, potty training! Am I right?!?

Just the thought of the dreaded P word (poop, pee, potty…take your pick) is enough to send parental stress levels soaring. At least that’s how parents of toddlers used to feel. Have no fear, though, those worries are a thing of the past. I’ve got you covered. Here’s an absolutely fool-proof method for potty training your three-and-two-thirds-year-old in a maximum of two days. 

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Masculinity and Lawnmowers FTW

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Masculinity and Lawnmowers FTW

Sorry folks, no links this week. Try to contain your disappointment and somehow soldier on. I’ve been really busy, so I’ve literally read basically nothing. Except this one book I’ve been trying out. Sigh, books are so difficult and long.

Anyway, what I’ve mainly been doing is trying to get my lawnmower to start. It’s been about a month long ordeal so far with no end in sight. Every day my grass, nourished by the Florida sun and ubiquitous summer thunderstorms, is inching closer and closer to neck level. On the plus side, there are few things I enjoy quite so much as getting under the hood (as it were) and tinkering with engines. I believe that’s why I like the Disney Fairy short films that come on Disney Jr. so much: I share a real affinity with the Tinker fairies. I’m even thinking about putting together one of those instructional YouTube videos to help others in my current predicament. It would go something like this:

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Link-apalooza #9: Aww, Darn It!

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We were riding home in the car the other night and out of the blue Jacob (the 3-year-old) said from the back seat, “Aww, darn it!” It caught Michelle and me completely by surprise, so, of course, we both laughed a little. Huge mistake. Sufficiently emboldened, he went on to repeat his new phrase 57 times in a row. We completely ignored him and didn’t react in any way to the subsequent 56 repeats, but he still kept it up. 57 times. With the same little laugh after each iteration. 

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Someone Is Watching

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Some days, when you’re a parent, you find yourself carrying a stick, chasing a crying 3-year-old down the street. There’s no getting around it; it’s just one of those things that happens.

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Link-apalooza #8: Just Getting By

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Link-apalooza #8: Just Getting By

Can you really call it a palooza if there is only one link? Think that’s a gray area, but I’m going to go with yes. To be fair, it is quite a long link and one long article was about all I had time for: these photos sum up our week...

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Watching Airplanes

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“Hurry, Daddy! Mommy’s plane is going to leave in five minutes!” my 3-year-old, Jacob, was just a bit excited about the unexpected variation in his typical morning routine. We had just dropped Mommy off at the terminal and were driving to the cell phone lot to watch her plane take off. Luckily, despite Jacob’s concerns, the airport gods were smiling on us and we made it just in the nick of time.

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Link-apalooza #7: Of Presidents, Bloggers, and Dads

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t’s time for Lucky Number 7, people!

First, a couple quick notes about goings on in and around Explorations. The whole crew took yet another road trip to North Carolina this past weekend: Drove up Thursday, hung out Friday, attended three family events on Saturday, and drove back Sunday. I feel like it went pretty well. Probably will never do it again, but all in all, can’t complain. 

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5 Boring Things Parents Love

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As I was waking up in the hospital after my recent colonoscopy, one of the first things I heard was a man in the recovery bay next to mine telling his wife how incredible he felt. “I haven’t felt this great in ten years,” he said. “Can I just stay here forever?” I didn’t ask, but I’m almost certain he was a dad because I could totally relate. Sure, maybe it was mostly the lingering haze of anesthesia talking, but the sentiment was real: never had a routine medical procedure felt so freeing. Of course, leave it to his wife to bring a heavy dose of buzz kill to the situation. “No,” she laughed. “You have to mow the lawn today.”

Still, it did get me thinking, what kinds of boring and routine things do parents love, perhaps more than they should? I’m not saying parents love these things more than their own children, but sometimes it might be up for debate.

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Link-apalooza #6

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OK, I’m back. I’m not entirely sure, but it feels like I missed a week. Yeah, I could look at literally the webpage I just clicked off of to check the date of my last post to see exactly how long it’s been, but where’s the fun in that? Don’t worry though: I double-checked and no one has written anything worth reading or broadcasted anything worth listening to since we were last together.

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Link-apalooza #5

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Welcome back, peeps! It’s time to do this thing again. This is the fifth edition already: Can you believe it? Yes, I am still maintaining this charade.

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Time of Your Life

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In case you haven’t been keeping up lately with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, just wanted to let you know that the punk rockers from Oakland known as Green Day were inducted in April. I’ll go ahead and say what we’re all thinking: Yes, they are the greatest band of all time. I mean, for anyone between the ages of say 30 and 45 listening to the Dookie andAmerican Idiot albums from front to back for the first time were life-changing experiences. That’s an incontrovertible fact. And that’s two life-changing experiences produced by a single band: Top that, The Beatles! 

I’ve been racking my brain for months trying to come up with a way to pay homage to Billie Joe and the gang here at Explorations without deviating too much from our very rigid content guidelines. I finally came up with something that is pretty stupid, but probably not the most stupid thing you’ve ever read on the internet. Hope I’m not overselling it. 

How Green Day song titles describe my experience as a parent (or something)! I declare I don’t care no more…let’s do this. 

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Link-apalooza #4

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What did we learn last week? To a 3-year old, adult birthdays are a huge disappointment. Jacob was quite depressed that there were no balloons or big presents or bounce houses or even piñatas. I can’t blame him, really. He pretty much caught a glimpse of his future and it made him say, “No thanks. I’ll keep my balloons.” In an attempt to cheer him up, we took him for putt-putt to celebrate because that’s what adults really do on their birthdays. Well, at least that’s what Explorations does (not the blog, the puppet master behind the curtain). 

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Link-apalooza #3

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Welcome back, folks! 

We are on time this week and chock full of great links. But first, a couple exciting updates on goings on in and around Explorations. 

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Link-apalooza #2

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Welcome to Link-apalooza #2! 

My apologies for being a bit late this week; however, in my defense, I did technically meet my somewhat nebulous publication schedule. If you missed out on Link-apalooza #1, check it out here and get up to speed on what this is all about. 

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Parenting Lessons From My All-Star Mom

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My favorite part about Mother’s Day in the social media era is learning that everyone’s mom is “The Best Mom in the World!” That moniker has become the equivalent of the ubiquitous participation award in youth sports. Everyone gets a trophy, hooray!

Sorry folks, I’m here to deliver a little slice of harsh reality this Mother’s Day: All your moms are scrambling for the runner-up trophy, because my mom has a strangle hold on the top prize.

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Link-apalooza #1

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Exciting times here at Explorations! We just launched a Facebook page; please feel free to like it for updates on new posts and random musings. And today we are rolling out a new feature: Link-apalooza!

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And We'll Never Be Royals...Or Will We?

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And We'll Never Be Royals...Or Will We?

First off, congratulations to Will and Kate on the birth of their second child: a girl with a yet to be revealed name (I’m rooting for Katniss or Pixie). 

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Money Store Man

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Money Store Man

Sometimes it seems like yesterday that I was a young(ish) lad, energized by idealism, prowling the cobble-stoned streets of Cambridge in my vegan loafers. Of course, it wasn’t yesterday; it was almost four years ago. And to be totally honest, most of the time it feels like if it was 100 years ago or that perhaps it never even happened at all. 

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