Dear Man...

Hey babe! Today you left for Vermont, FOR THE LAST TIME! I am so proud of you! To stay in touch I'm going to try to post everyday here. (But there are no guarantees on the everyday part of it!)

After you left, the kids and I also took off for the GS party. For a short little two hour party, we did a lot. There were games, food, the gift exchange and then more games. I think it went off pretty well. As you can see, we had the party in the youth room where there is a ping-pong table, a pool table, Foosball and an air hockey table.

After we got home, the kids put together the Avatar Lego set. The canon shoots these little disks and there's a catapult the shoots little green things. There's a trapdoor inside as well. It passes all the tests for Lego coolness.

You are in Utica tonight. I hope you sleep well. Drive safe tomorrow!

History with Legos

It's time for a little history. The girl and I recently caught the last fifteen minutes of a show about the ancient wonders of the world. We saw the part about the Temple of Zeus in Olympia. If you want to know all about it, here's a very easy to read description.

Being instantly inspired, we bring you this:

The Saga of the Poor Greek Peasant

"Ah me! I have no livestock. My crops are dead. I am alone in this miserable little hovel. My existence is empty and void of meaning."

In an attempt to bring a change to his stagnant existence, our hero decides to make a pilgrimage to the newly constructed temple to Zeus built in Olympia. Perhaps there he will receive the god's blessing and his life will become whole. So off he sets, over mountains, across rivers and deserts and through creepy forests and swamps. Luckily, the whole way was well marked.

"That must be the Temple up ahead there. Boy, that is a whopper! Where did they get all that marble anyway? Zeus must be very pleased with such a monument to his glory. I hope there's no admission price..."

"Look a the size of this door! My hovel could fit in it three times!"

"Whoa! Look how big he is! ZEUS! You are indeed mighty. I have traveled a long and hard way to pay tribute to your greatness. Pity me, my Lord! I am put your poorest hovel dwelling servant!"

Our hero lowers himself beside the reflecting pool with Zeus looking down upon him. And as he prays, he feels a lifting of his spirit as if all his troubles were sliding off his shoulders.

The poor Greek peasant, overwhelmed with emotion, throws himself into the reflecting pool and begins to thrash about wailing and sobbing. He's never been so happy.

"Excuse me sir. Temple Security here. We're going to have to ask you to please get out of the holy pool and exit the temple immediately."

Feeling renewed, like his life once again has purpose, our hero marches home, ready to devote himself to Zeus and becoming a better peasant. Unbeknownst to him, there is a surprise waiting at home...

"But...but...What is this?!?!? My fields are green? Where did all these animals come from? And who is THAT? Oh, Zeus! Have I been rewarded for my toils? I am not worthy!"

"Wow! And she's a babe, too! Thank You, Zeus!"

So that's our story. Here's a few more shots of the temple, without our hero. I would like to say that we left the one side open on purpose, so you could see inside, but the truth is we just plain ran out of white Legos. None of the websites mention this, but on the show said that they now believe there was a shallow pool of water in front of Zeus to catch his reflection. We added that detail to ours as well. We hope you enjoyed your history lesson!

Suzette's Dinner Theater

Well, hello there again folks! You all remember me, Big Daddy. A whole lot of you were big fans and customers to my Fix 'Em Up Shop and I thank you. But don't you know the dangest thing happened? One day a big old twister, or something, came and ripped my shop up all to bits! I mean there wasn't two bricks attached to each other by the time it was done! Anyway, I'm not the kind of man to let something like that get me down. I was able to take all that debris and create my newest establishment. Here, let me give you a tour.

This here is Suzette, in the hat, and that's Stephanie, with the hair. Suzette is a chef and boy-oh- boy can she cook up a storm! When I met Suzette, she was looking for a restaurant to cook for. And I was looking for a business to start. Well, to make a long story short, we came up with this. But I didn't want just any old greasy spoon. I wanted something with pizazz! I remember that in all the great western movies, in the saloon, there was a stage with pretty dancing girls. So that's where Stephanie comes in. She runs the entertainment part of the operation. What we've got here is a high class dinner theater! I named it after her because she threw such a fit when I suggested "Big Daddy's Food and a Show". I still like that name better.


You remember this guy from the Fix 'Em Up Shop? Thank goodness he survived that disaster in one piece! We call him Dishwasher-Bot now! You never saw a guy wash dishes like he can! Keep up the good work, fella!


I love my dishwasher guy so much, I went totally modern on the rest of the help. Here's my droid wait staff. These guys are so much better than any human waiter! They never mix up orders, they're always polite and they don't need paid! Go ahead and be rude to them. They'll never spit in your food!


These big guys are my greeters, bussers and occasional bouncers. Some folks might think that they're a little scary looking, but when it comes to heavy lifting, you can't beat them! And they work for free, that's the best part! I like to have them here by the door. It keeps the riff-raff away.

Since this is a dinner theatre, everyone pretty much shows up at the same time. Here's the parking lot filling up.Nobody, and I mean nobody gets in without a reservation. These guys make sure of that.

This kitchen has all the most modern appliances. To set it all up, I gave Suzette carte blanche (that's French for spending my money like water). Looks pretty swell, doesn't it? It better! Stephanie lends a hand in the kitchen when she's not dealing with whatever crisis those actors come up with.

Suzette is a little sensitive about who comes in her kitchen. Whoa, girl! I'm leaving!

Because she's so sensitive, we've got this pick-up window for the droids. They are NEVER allowed in her kitchen!


This is what is called a Green Room, but as you can see, it's not green. Stephanie tells me that it doesn't matter what color it is, it's always called that. Whatever. This is where those good for nothing actors lay around and wait to go on stage. Suzette sends them back food, I just know it! It is just a crime what I have to pay these people to stomp around and act like idiots. Ack! But since the customers seem to like it, what do I know!





Here is tonight's performance. Looks like it some kind of murder mystery...again.... That guy isn't really dead, don't worry. I've seen this show about 20 times now! Heck, I could act out all the parts myself! I've got to talk to Steph about getting those dancing girls...





Here's my office. I'm up here where I can keep an eye out on the whole operation. Especially those good for nothing, free food grubbing actors. Maybe we could get some robot actors. Robot dancing girls? Hmmm...


Thank you all for coming to the show. Drive home safe!

The Fix 'Em Up Shop

Hi there folks! Welcome to Big Daddy 's Fix 'Em Up Shop. I'm Big Daddy and this is some of my crew. I'm going to take you around my fine establishment here and show you the sights. You'll see more of these guys later on. Well... look who's here!

Hey there, Bob! This is Bob, my tow truck driver. Looks like one of our boys in blue is having some engine trouble. Go ahead and take it around back! Okay, let's go on inside now.

Howdy Folks! Hope you all haven't been waiting long! But it can't be all that bad when you are in a waiting room like this, complete with all the comforts of home...

We got ice cold sodas, five channels of television, and a little snack machine if you've got a sweet tooth. Julie can make change if you need it. Speaking of Julie...

Here she is! Julie is the heart and soul of this operation. She our cashier and the office manager. That means she does all my work for me! HA HA! Just kidding!
Here's Julie hard at work at her desk. Is that a Chai Latte? Sure smells good. Why don't you make me one?

This is my desk. From here I can oversee the whole place. On my desk here is my computer and this lovely photo of my dog. But enough of this, let's go around back so you can see where the magic happens!

Here at the Fix 'Em Up Shop, we take care of all sizes of vehicles- from the tiny ones to big monsters like this. Under there is Larry. How's it going Larry? What? Oh, that's Harry. Well, keep up the good work, boy!

This must be Larry then. Working on these little cars takes a lot of special training and equipment. That's some toolbelt, Larry!

But this here is my favorite employee, Car Bot. I love this guy! He's never late to work. He never asks for a raise. He never steals tools! I wish I had three of him!Honestly, I don't know what half the stuff in here does, but as long as cars are getting fixed, then it's all good!

We take good care of our customers here at the Fix 'Em Up Shop. Did you know that everytime you get a repair here you get a complimentary....

Car!

Wash!Here's loyal customer Jane. She was in today for an oil change. Let's follow her through my state-of-the-art car wash. First, you put in the token and wait for the light to turn green.

All these gizmos blast your vehicle with water, soap and wax.

Finally, after you're all clean, your car is blown dry and heated.

Here's Jane and her car is looking good. Jane's looking pretty clean herself!

Here's an ariel shot of my car wash. Enjoy it. It cost me a fortune to get this shot.

The shop, too. That pilot was a thief!
I hope you enjoyed the tour of my shop. It's my pride and joy! Come back anytime!

More of the Pool!

Blogger freaked out on us there, so we had to cut it short. Here's more shots of our lastest creation.

Here's a good idea of what fun you can have in the pool. We have plenty of floating and diving toys available for your use.

Enter our pool through our grand entrance way!
Enjoy snacks and beverages in our cafe or just relax in one of our many lounge chairs.
Our pool toy rental shop is always stocked with fun stuff for you.

See our new pool!

This is our new pool. It has all the features that a pool should! Our main pool is surrounded by two decks full of fun!

Our water slide is a blast of fun. Here our guest waiting for their turn under the eye of one of our trained and caring staff.
Relax in our hot tub!
We have two diving boards carefully watched by our lifeguard. You can see the waterslide in the back.
In our main pool there is lots to do!