Sunday, August 17, 2008

Snap, Crackle, Pop-Pop


Peter had just finished a big bowl of cereal when my Dad, also known as 'Pop-Pop', skyped us. With breakfast fresh on my mind, I could only think of the Rice Krispie's mascots Snap, Crackle and Pop, although I don't remember Pop ever looking quite so scraggly. In Cartoonland, though, I am sure they are able to touch up even the roughest of characters. My Dad even mentioned that he needed a shave, but I reassured him that it did not matter. He looked like shit for so many other reasons; a shave would have only chipped the iceberg.

It was nice catching up with him, but Peter's attention span is shorter than a mini-skirt from the 60s. I tried getting him back to the webcam to at least say goodbye, but he ran off screaming something like 'yeah say bye to ice-pop for me'. Yes, the name Pop-Pop can be funny in so many ways. So can Pop-Pop, but this blog is not rated for those stories.

Today's plan for tuckering out the energy hounds was to go attack a nearby castle. We drove up the Neckar river for about 30 minutes to a nice little castle called Dillsberg.












As you can see, David found the castle a bit boring before we even got started. Peter on the other hand - well, I think the vein popping to the right more or less describes his level of excitement.

The castle was awesome. Peter's highlight was going through a tunnel built for midgets and not getting attacked by spiders. Another cool interest was a deep well that Peter wanted to jump in. Being the responsible adult that I am, I said no. It did look like fun, though.

About the time we were leaving the castle, David woke up and wanted ice-cream. Badly. He must have been dreaming about it. That, or maybe he had been dreaming about ice-Pop's Skype call earlier. I went with the option that would shut up David the quickest - ice cream.

We left the castle and went on search of an ice-cream. I was able to convince the kids that a milkshake would be even better. They agreed, so we went to a cool diner fashioned out of an old train car.












Being the incredibly smart father I am, I knew better than to order two milkshakes. I order one and used my huge brain yet again to request two straws. All that strenuous thinking made me hungry, so I ordered one more milkshake for me.

To picture to the left is about five seconds before their first joint brain freeze. To the right is the goofy aftermath of chugging milk with mass amounts of sugar in a very short amount of time.

What you don't see in this picture is that these seats actually rotate. That is, of course, until a grumpy waitress comes up and yells at you for doing 300 spins a minute. Why make the chairs spin if you can't spin them? Oh I know - it's so bitchy waitresses can yell at little kids and lose the big fat tips their fathers would have given had they just been human.

We made it back in time for dinner with Grams & Opa, who came over bringing food. Greek food, to be specific. It was delicious and Peter enjoyed a great dessert of Hanuta with a side order of story reading in Opa's lap.

As I was putting Peter to bed, he thought back to the morning call with my dad. I told him I was going to write about the ice-pop comment and he got nervous. 'Do you think he will get mad?' I laughed. 'No, Peter, he will not get mad. His skin is pretty tough and I don't think he knows how to read anyway.'
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1) What was the best part of your day?
Peter: When I talk to ice-Pop and then later when I had a milkshake.
David: When I play aminals with Grams and play cars.

2) What was the worst part of your day?
Peter: When I went to the castle and there was two tunnels and I thought there were spiders and got scared.
David: When I went hubba-bubba-hubba.

3) What would you like to do tomorrow?
Peter: To go with my bike and David on Mama's bike and we can go somewhere where it is a good spot to ride bikes and go around and around.
David: When Sami Salami come.

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