Baby names

So most of you probably know that we are expecting, again, yes, that would be four, and no need to remind me how it happened cause I know. And quite honestly we are thrilled.

We decided to wait until after the first three months to tell the kids. We decided to go to Cold Stone and have some ice cream and tell them there. The kids all went for the cotton candy flavored ice cream mashed with marshmallows. Yeah, not what I would have chosen but I am sure the sugar high was great. This ice cream color was smurf blue and the marshmallow were aplenty.

As we were eating ice cream we told the kids that mom indeed have a baby in her tummy. There was speculation, the kids had seen an ultrasound pic, and we had told them all along we thought there might be a baby in there but we had to be sure though.

Caroline was very interested. Is it a boy or a girl? When will it be here? Where will it sleep (We have four bedrooms, four kids, plus mom and dad so this was big stuff to consider for Caroline.) Then Caroline asked, "What will we name it?" Caroline had a girl name already picked out. "Lilly" was her choice. Any boy names? Caroline didn't have any boy names, so we asked Drew.

"Drew, what would you name the baby? Drew replied, "Marshmallow Ice Cream"

Marshmallows for Breakfast.

My buddy Gene and I took our kids, (his one, my three) to Jester Park, which is a campground north of Des Moines and not completely flooded by the flood of 2008. We showed up at about 5 p.m. on Saturday night. We were well prepared for the trip with the exception of mental stability and capacity to manage children who had never camped before.

Its amazing what you can get away with when Mom's aren't around. This would include popsicles, marshmallows cereal and bacon for breakfast, and smores after hot dogs for dinner. Caroline only had to pee every 20 minutes which was a drive, and Drew didn't really settle down and stop antagonizing his sisters until about 11. Nemo was watched in the tent by all four kids, and all was well for about 10 minute intervals until someone would hit someone else and then there would be crying and threats from Gene and I about no marshmallows for breakfast. Dads never fulfill these kinds of threats. It would be more painful for us not to give them marshmallows for breakfast. The idea that we, simple men, could get away with giving them marshmallows for breakfast, something mom's would not allow, either made us feel cool or like unsupervised children ourselves.

We secured a spot just overlooking the river with plenty of shade. No rain, about a 65 degree night. Could not have been any better. After the kids went to bed, Gene and I had some beers and just sat by the fire. We both agreed that while this was a good time, we both could have handled having some moms around.

6 a.m. came pretty quickly, and the children alerted the rest of the campground at about 6:02 that it was time to wake up and seize the day. We were packed up and home by 8:30 a.m. Looking forward to a nap and for the chance to take them camping again.