I am recapping the weekend that was my vacation.

This picture right here summed up my vacation. More Greeks than you could shake a stick at (not recommended) and a lot of dancing. There were a few times that I even got out there and danced as well. I only know one of the dances, but I tried anyway.

There were kids of all ages doing their thing out there from the smallest baby who couldn't have been more than a year old doing his own zembekiko while a good fifty or more people stood by and cheered him on, to the elderly joining in the line.

...baby steps.

This weekend was a good one. It's the first time my lady has stayed at the house for the weekend... while the kids were home. It's a big step. One she didn't know if she was ready for. But, if we are going to move forward with our lives together, she can't just go stay somewhere else every other weekend.

It went quite well. My kids get a kick out of her. They respect what she has to say and don't pull the "You're not my mom" crap I have seen other kids pull on adults. My kids respect authority. They also know that they are at my house and that I won't stand for it.

So, this weekend had a lot of things that were different about it and will continue. My kids kind of got the law laid down about the house and how we need to keep it clean. They were shown the chores that they need to do on the weekends they are home and what they can "earn" for doing these chores.

It totally worked.

Right away Saturday morning, they started cleaning without being told. I was floored. Friday night we had told them they should leave a room "better than when they entered it" and I heard my daughter tell my son "no, you have to fold the blankets up before you leave the room!"

The one thing that was great was that I kept the video games to a minimum. They really should be a reward and not the norm when they are here. I get so little time with them. So, I confiscated the GameBoy that they each have and put them away. No "video" games for the weekend. Games were played though. We had a super long game of Sorry! that was quite fun to play. It took forever, but it got all of us talking and playing at the table instead of in front of the TV.

This needs to happen more often. It really sucks that more families don't do this. Eat at the table. Clean together. Reward for good. Play games as a family.

It was a fun weekend.

...it was arts and crafts time with the kids.

I totally almost forgot to do this today. The kids and I found these things at Target. They are little action figures (not mugz, but like them) that you get to color any way you want. So, tonight after dinner, that's exactly what we did. It was a nice thing to be able to do while watching Iron Man 2.

The little figures are pretty cool. I had fun with mine. It's been a while since I got to be creative like that in front of the kids. I keep forgetting they like to do things like that.

We spent all day together. A trip to IKEA, a little more shopping at Target. They only complained while we were waiting in line to check out, and I would too. They only had a few checkout lanes open. But it was an opportunity to spend more time with them and talk, so at least I got that out of it.

...I got to share an awesome sunset with the lady.

So, I picked up my girlfriend on the way out to get my kids tonight. Prior to leaving, she gave me my anniversary gift a few days early (Tuesday will be one year since our first date). She got me a very nice pair of sunglasses I have been looking at for a while. They are awesome. So, we hit the road, got some food and drove out to get the littles. Thanks to daylight savings time shifting the clock by an hour last weekend, I got to drive in to the sunset.

It was amazing. A giant orange ball of light that you wanted to reach out and hold just disappearing in to the trees on the horizon leaving a bloody trail of red and dark purple against a pristine clear blue sky. One would think that would be the end of it. The red and purple went away, no clouds in the sky, nothing to make the night really seem all that eventful. Then as we rounded the corner of the highway, the moon rise started. It's not too often you get to see a great sunset and then an almost full moon rise within minutes of each other.

It was a nice ride out tonight.

...I watched a silly movie with my kids.

We watched Knucklehead tonight. It's a basic Disney style movie. I am not sure I would have given it a PG-13 rating, but I'm not Hollywood either. It was silly. The kids and I used to watch wrestling all the time. They always liked Big Show. We had just got done watching the biography on him and how he really likes giving back and they kind of promo'd this movie. Sure enough, it's on Netflix. It was a pretty decent way to end the night with them cuddled up on the couch.

...because I have my kids today

My kids are awesome. They might say some odd things from time to time, or get on my nerves, but they are mine. I love them.