Help! I'm in a nutshell!

We taught Little Man how to clap this week.

The Wife and I have been working with Little Man on clapping at various times. He had the rhythm down, but he would normally resort to spastically banging his hands straight up and down.

Then last night, while we were hanging out before his bedtime, he just started doing it on his own.

It was the smallest little thing. But it was also incredibly exciting.

That right there is parenthood in a nutshell.

Little Man Channels His Inner Calvin

First Taters: The Remix

Clean them.

Cook them.

Plate them.

From the ground to the table in just over an hour.

Looking For That First Endorsement Deal...

Little Man recommends the Near East family of products.

First Taters.

First Taters.

Holodeck Tech Support

Umm... Hello? This is Chief O'Brien... calling from The Enterprise, customer number 42799. I believe we've spoken on the subspace channel before. We're... uh... still having problems with our Holodeck, even after putting in the latest service pack like you suggested.

I mean, it's one thing if Lieutenant Barclay gets himself stuck in the damn thing for hours at a time. But last week, one of our crew members got himself shot in the leg. Apparently the safety protocols somehow got turned off for some gangster program. Heck, we've even had Holodeck characters come to life, leave the Holodeck and think they were real people. That doesn't even make any sense. How does that happen? Are any of your other customers having these problems?

We've tried rebooting it. We've applied the latest patches and hot fixes. It's still causing problems. If it's something you can't repair, the Captain says he'll have the whole thing ripped out next time we dock.

So, uh, if you could give as a call back as soon as possible to set up a tech support visit on site, that would be much appreciated.

Once again... O'Brien... Enterprise... Customer number 42799.

Dear Clam Strips, Beer and Ice Cream,

You guys can't all come over at the same time anymore. It just brings the party to a screeching halt.

Also, you don't help clean up the next day.

Sincerely,

Pat's Stomach

God Bless America!

God Bless America!

Ice Cream

We started making our own ice cream. Jen got me one of those ice cream balls for Father's Day.

It's a little effort intensive for the amount of ice cream you get, but it actually makes pretty good ice cream. Quality ingredients make a huge difference.

So far, we've made batches of ginger and peach.

Up next: chocolate.