Christmas 2012

This was taken on Christmas Eve....2012.  It would never upload ...  but now it does.  Ridiculous.

The Suburbs

The Roys are no longer city-folk.  Goodbye Fifth Ward Houston......Hello Fall Creek (Humble).  As of March 28th, we were exiled to the suburbs.  Ultimately, the reason for the move was for the kiddos.  As Henry quickly approaches school age, the more I wanted him to have a neighborhood where he could walk down the street to a friend's house.  A backyard.  Ride a bike.  Go swimming.  Things that downtown just could not provide.  Heck, a year ago, we threw the idea around of moving back to my old neighborhood of Rosewood Hill.  However, my job is tied to downtown and that commute would of killed me. I would of never have seen my kids, either.

So, we chose Fall Creek.  It is only 16 miles from downtown and is probably the shortest commute in for any of the Houston suburbs.  We are also walking distance to the Shell Houston Open at Redstone Country Club, which is pretty cool.  It would be even cooler if I liked golf..  Anyway, to the learning!

1. "It is quiet as #### out here!!"
Is this what people hear out in the suburbs?  Nothing!?!?  The first night we stayed in our house, April and I were laying in bed talking about plans for the house and what not.  At one point, we ("she") both stopped talking.  It was dead silent.  And then I said the above sentence to April. It was uncanny just how void of noise the neighborhood was.  Also, how accustomed we had become to the ambient sounds of living in a major city.

I mean, seriously, give me some sirens.  Like loud fire truck sirens.  Also, gimme some 24 hours a day road noise from I-10.  Love those big rigs down shifting like it's going out of style.  I also love fireworks in the middle of the night.  Actually, it was just the firework noises.  No actual visual confirmation of fireworks.  Usually, it is followed by police sirens a few minutes later.  Hmmmm.....

Here is our new home...

The Catch-up (Vol. 2)

Hey there, minions.  This is my second entry about catching up the readers (that's you!) from when I was last  blogging somewhat regularly.  So, there is a second child in this house now.  Back in July 2011, he was just a glint in my eye.  Oliver Emile was born on July 17th, 2012.  And he is one happy baby.  He also likes to sleep a lot more than H-dogg ever did when he was an infant.

This is one fresh baby...right out of the....

Henry has been pretty fantastic with him, as well.  He is quite the mature little kid when it comes to being gentle with Olly.

Time has gone by fast, too.  He seems much stronger than when Henry was that age.  Although, we may have had something to do with that.  I feel like with Henry, we really had no idea what we were doing.  This time around....seems to be going much smoother.  On the other hand, Olly did bake a few weeks longer than Henry.  That could of played a part in it. 

As I am writing, Oliver is 21 weeks old.  A week away from 5 months.  I took this picture today.  Please, enjoy it.

The Catch-Up (Vol.1)

So, I am really behind.  Just saw that my last random post was in January about making mead.  I just assumed I had been writing constantly up until that point.  That is not the case.  The blog actually dried up in July 2011.  Fantastic.  Also, that last picture of Henry on this blog is super cute..but he looks like a baby in it.  He still hadn't slimmed down at that point.  Crazy.

What have ya'll done with your lives without this blog in existence?!?!  I mean, other than pester me about how you should start writing again. And by "pester", I mean beg me and offer me gifts to start writing.  Fine, MOM!  I will start writing again!

Let's start with Henry.  As of right now, he is 2.5 years old.  He loves superheroes.  His faves are Spider-Man, Batman and the Hulk.  Halloween 2011, he was Thor.  Halloween 2012, he was Spider-Man.

The Webslinger

Henry also loves music.  He loves dancing and singing.  Currently, he loves "Gangnam Style."  He constantly is doing the riding the horse dance move.  He cracks us up around the house, because he always has to make his angry face when he "rides the horse."  Also, in the mornings when he wakes me, I usually just throw him in bed with us.  He will lay next to me and just start humming songs.  Right into my ear.  And it is non-stop until I get out of bed.

More to come, I promise.

The Reboot

Here we go again.  Not sure why, but oh well.  It has been a long time since I last wrote...and I kinda miss it.        Life is definitely not slowing down.  It is also real easy to just flat out say that "I am too busy."  But you know  what?  Everyone is busy.  I enjoyed this...  

Plus, lots of things have happened since my last post.  Henry turning 2.  Our new kiddo, Oliver, was born in July.  He is already 4 months old.  My wife has a new job.  Full time MOM.  My job is the same...just a bit more pressure to provide for 4 human beings.

I also have a tumblr page where I have been randomly posting pictures that I have taken.  There is a possibility that I may just move them over here to this blog.  I think one of the reasons I quit writing is that it took up too much time to keep all these different pages up.  So, there should be some streamlining in the future.

Making Mead

This is easy.  When will it be done?!?!
My latest brewing experiment is making Mead.  Mead is pretty much the oldest known fermented drink.  I think it dates back at least 8,000 years.  The Vikings drank it.  So, did the Egyptians.  It was BEOWULF's drink of choice.  If it is good enough for Beowulf, it is good enough for me.  It is also pretty damn easy to make.  Water, honey and yeast.  Oh, and a lotta time just letting it sit around.

My goal was to make a 2 gallon batch of a dry mead.

Ingredients
2 gallons of water
6 lbs of honey
Irish Moss (optional)
A dry mead yeast by Wyeast
Yeast nutrient (optional)

I heated one gallon of water to a simmer in a large stainless pot.  I then removed the pot from the flame and slowly poured all the honey.  You must stir pretty quickly so that none of the honey gets burned on the bottom of the pot.  Put the pot back on the stove and bring to a boil.  I only boiled the honey water mixture for 15 minutes.  With 10 minutes remaining, I put a little bit of Irish Moss into the pot.  It is not necessary, but I had some from making beer.  Irish moss is a kettle coagulant.  Basically, it clears up your liquid.  It works wonders, too.  After the boil, you cool your honey water down to about 85 degrees.

Ha.  There are a lot of things going on in this photo.

The other gallon of water can be poured into your fermenter.  Next, pour your honey water mixture in the fermenter.  Shake and swirl liquids together.  Put in your yeast and the nutrients.  Then, put an airlock on the fermenter and put it in a dark place for a long time. I really don't know how long it will be in there.  I have read articles where people wait an entire year before bottling.  Well, that won't be me.  I think I will wait until it gets clear. I hope that is only a few weeks.  I will let you know.  The plan is to split the batches up.  One gallon, will not be messed with. It will just be a dry mead.  The other...I may add some spices to it.  Maybe some cinnamon sticks....or drop a vanilla bean in the fermenter for a few days.   That is still a couple weeks down the pipe...

Henry Roy (Vol.9)

11. This kid is ridiculously cute.
Hello again.  Been awhile.  Lets just get to it.  A few weeks ago, we were up in South Dakota visiting my wife's family.  Long story short....we have a ton of hand-me-down clothes now.  Lately, Henry has been wearing them.  And when getting large quantities of these types of clothes, it is a mixed bag.  Some of it is really good stuff.  Some of it, not so much.  And then there is this outfit.

This outfit is old.  No telling when it was made.  It has shrunk a bit.  The tag says 26 to 29 lbs. H-dogg is a shade under 26 lbs.  It is a two piece.  A white shirt and red shorts.  However, this is the kicker.  The shorts are not elastic.  They just kinda end.  Well, how in the world do they stay up?  I will tell you.  The shorts "button" to the bottom of the shirt.  I have never seen this.  There are 2 small metal buttons in the front and one in the back.  The way they fit on Henry is priceless.  The outfit makes him look like a cross between Hansel from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" and a P.E. coach from middle school.  Here is Hansel in action...

This kid just cracks me up.  He is into everything now.  He also loves to say "bye-bye".  He says "bye-bye" to his crib when he wakes up; to his sippy cup when he throws it down the stairs; to anyone leaving a room; and on and on.