Back during the summer, the fam was out late at a local park. The sun was disappearing. Time to be heading home. Gabby was busy on the swings. She wasn’t hip to leaving. She wanted to stay!

GABBY: Why do we have to go home?

ME: (Thinking fast) Cause the freaks are coming out soon! (Singing) The freaks come out at night! The freaks come out at niiiiight! The freaks come out at night ..

GABBY: (serious) Freaks? What are freaks, da-da?

ME: Scarrrrrry people. Monster people. You don’t want to see any freaks do you?

GABBY: (kinda laughing, kinda not) Noooo.

(We go to leave. Gabby walks up to Gavin)

GABBY: Gavin. We have to go home! Cause the freaks come out at night!

On the way home, Gabby kept singing, “The freaks come out at night!,” which bothered/creeped out the Teen. I was reminded of this recently when, again, we were outside at the house and it was getting dark outside. I told Gabby it was almost time to go in, to which she responded, “Cause the freaks are coming, right da-da? The freaks come out at night. The freaks come out at niiiiiight …”

We had a parent-teacher conference with Gabby’s preK teacher last week. She’s doing great! Makes friends. Great language skills. Friendly. Always excited and happy. If they gave letter grades, she’d be A++++++.

She’s also really into art. She’s all about some rainbows right now. She loves drawing them with paint, or markers, or crayons, or computers, whatever. And yes, I said computers. This is one of her photoshop efforts. I open up a blank file, show her the paintbrush and eraser tools, and open the color swatches. The rest is all her.

The fam hit the local Chick-Fil-A during a recent “Spirit Night.” The restaurant welcomes a different school once a week, with a share of sales going to a particular cause at the school. So with an expected audience of elementary aged kids, it only makes sense for the Chick-Fil-A cow to make an appearance.

And when he did, holy chicken strips was Big G excited.

Within 10 minutes of entering the cow’s gravitational pull, Gavin gave him about six “high fives,” four hugs and at least one pound. He also played shadow, jumping out in front of the bovine to show off his jersey (“it says ‘ASU’”) or simply say “hi,” again.

Eventually the cow went outside. We ate. After about 10 minutes, the cow returned. And so did his No. 1 fan.

At one point, a young lady attempted to pose with the cow, and her mom patiently aimed her camera. Gavin stood between them, attempting again to speak with the cow. I ran in and grabbed him, and brought him back to our table. He was NOT happy, screaming all the way.

ME: Gavin! Shhhh! It’s okay. Let somebody else talk to the cow.

GAVIN: (crying) But I want to sing cow a song! I was going to sing him a song!

ME: What song were you going to sing?

GAVIN: (Sniffling) I was going to sing cow baseball song.

Gabby and I laughed. When I looked back up, the cow had retreated back to the kitchen area. So at age 2, Gavin finally has his big regret in life – missing a chance to sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” to the Chick-Fil-A cow, infront of a packed house, while wearing an App jersey and Panthers ballcap.

Now THAT would have been a Christmas card!

A friend of mine is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. When his son was around two, I gifted him an Aikman jersey. A few years later the jersey was given back to me as a gift for Gavin. And stupidly I accepted it.

And now I am the father of a … (cringing) .. Cowboys fan. It’s now his favorite jersey. Sickening.

We recently received our copy of Gabby’s big dance debut on DVD. She’s on the far left. I expect this to be a collector’s item when she wins the 2022 edition of “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Took the Gs to the local high school recently to introduce them to volleyball. When we arrived we saw a soccer game going on. So we took to the stands. I explained to Gavin that the team needed to kick the ball in the net. To which Gabby and Gavin responded by making that they’re chant.

GABBY: Ready Gavin? One … two … three … (deep breath)

BOTH Gs: KICK IT IN THE NET!

By the time I thought to take some video, Gabby gave up on the yelling to go exploring. But Gavin was still into the game.

Later, after catching some volleyball (they liked it, with Gavin applauding after every point) we went back out to the soccer match. The varsity was warming up. Rap was playing on the loudspeakers. Gabby decided to dance to the music. But the soundtrack ending kinda threw her. It’s all fun and games till you hear an explosion.

My current desktop wallpaper. From our recent trip to the Blowing Rock.

I take Big G to the base of his obsession. I have to goad him into describing what he does when the windmill is “broken.” (ie. the times when, for some odd reason, it is not spinning). He came up with this story on his own.

Being one of the gang.

At the traditional Mountaineer Walk, as the Appalachian State football team walks from the Rivers Street tunnel to the stadium three hours before kickoff. The cheerleaders and marching band line the sidewalk.

We tried out a new tailgate spot, outside the music building. Plenty of grass to run around on, and the band warmed up for us. (You can see Gavin running around in the background)