We left for school early so Lael could get some quality playground time. As we’re walking, we spot a friend of Lael’s up ahead. The kids decide to run after her. In less than a minute, Seth trips on the hard concrete sidewalk and immediately starts crying. Even before I ...

So I was on the phone with my mom looking for a place to celebrate Seth’s 8th birthday when it struck me that CrackerJax might be the right choice. The place has miniature golf, go-karts, video games, lousy food, etc. So I go to the website when ...

I’m going to be blunt here: Pamper’s sucks. More correctly, Procter and Gamble sucks. I say that even though my kids no longer wear diapers. Besides the fact that we never could abide by the way that brand’s products stunk to high heaven, it would take about 12 hours of ...

In late October, my son Seth was invited to join a math club that specialized in word problems. (You know: If car X goes 80 miles, and Car Y goes 60 miles in the opposite direction in 12 minutes, how fast was Car X going? Bonus points: Why can’t dad ...

My daughter is out back yelling at the birds for stealing her, "big fat strawberry."

My daughter is out back yelling at the birds for stealing her, "big fat strawberry."

When I was a teenager, I decided to become a journalist for two key reasons – to better understand the world and to do as much good as possible. I’m not sure I’ve made much progress on the latter item, but I have learned a lot over the years. While ...

When I was a teenager, I decided to become a journalist for two key reasons – to better understand the world and to do as much good as possible. I’m not sure I’ve made much progress on the latter item, but I have learned a lot over the years. While ...

My neighbor hates this century plant, because he’s afraid some crazy kid like mine will impale herself on it. The good news is that it should soon die because this agave is about to flower. (Note the tall spike coming out of the lower photo.) Of course, I left out ...

My neighbor hates this century plant, because he’s afraid some crazy kid like mine will impale herself on it. The good news is that it should soon die because this agave is about to flower. (Note the tall spike coming out of the lower photo.) Of course, I left out ...