Not a whole lot going on in the Southern division of the Reynolds family lately. We're in the last few weeks of our soccer off-season lull. It's been cold so the boys have been mostly cooped up in the house driving Dana and me nuts.

Lately, Kevin and a couple friends of his started making a "clubhouse" near here. They're still in the early stages where they're clearing out the brush and making plans for how cool it's going to be. Eventually, they'll have a 20 foot high wall surrounding the place, with turrets every 20 feet and a moat on the outside. Well, they didn't say that exactly, but you know that's what they're thinking. In reality, it's in a neat place behind the golf course with a creek running through it. It's going to be pretty this summer! I don't want to intrude when they're over there but I'll have to get some pictures of it to share with everyone.

Speaking of pictures, here's our monthly-or-so dose:




I have no idea what Cade's doing but I like how happy he looks.



I also have no idea why Dana was taking self portraits while talking on the phone but I like this picture too.




A couple of weeks ago, it snowed out of the blue. It started after I left for work and the kids went to school. Cade had the whole yard to himself. Then, just like in Las Cruces, the sun came out and it was gone about 2 hours later. I might have accused Dana of telling a fib if I hadn't seen these pictures (we got nuthin' at work).




Since Dana keeps the house at a bone-chilling 42 degrees or whatever it is, I often curl up on the couch with my heated blanket. (If they ever come out with an electric Snuggie, I'm all over it!) Cade is often my little snuggle buddy. Bad days at work are no match for this.




Cameron's school had a 50s day recently. Cam was decked out and ready to go. All he was lacking was a pack of cigarette candy to roll up in his sleeve.




Dana took this during their sock hop, party event. The girl next to Cameron apparently has a crush on him and jumped at the chance to sit next to him for a picture. I just love the look on his face. "Why won't these women just leave me alone so I can eat my ice cream in peace?"


We finally got to go riding again this weekend! The clouds disappeared and we had an incredible stretch of about 3 days with nothing but sunshine, believe it or not. And it was beautiful weather!


Kevin's feet finally got too big to cram in his boots so he suckered us into buying new ones. And, let me tell you, those boots are Fly! Seriously, they're Fly. I mean, they're cool and all, but that's the brand name. Fly. Obviously, I'm not hip enough to talk like that. Let's see how long they stay white.




Cameron catching some air on his KTM.


Who says white men can't jump?

Cameron meant to do this. The girl next to him thought he fell out of the swing. Silly girls. Danger is for boys. :)

Somewhere in the middle of all this, Dana and I had a date night on Valentine's Day Eve. It's our first one since we moved here over a year ago so it was long overdue. We wimped out and went a day early so we wouldn't have to fight the rush at the restaurants. Don't tell anyone, but we left Kevin in charge here at home while Dana and I went to dinner a whole 2 miles away. Hey, it wasn't much of a date, but it was a date nonetheless. And the dinner was good. For V-day, I bought her (and myself) a new TV for our bedroom. We're finding ourselves retreating to our room to watch TV more and more often since the boys are taking over the TV in the living room (it has the DVR). So, I thought we should have something nicer than her old 1985 12" screen that we were using. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't much better. Then, as if that wasn't enough, she claimed her old vacuum cleaner died (and made sounds like RURRR-Rurrr-rrrr like it's dying - and that's a quote from her e-mail!) so we had to get a new one. I think I'm the only man who bought a vacuum cleaner for his wife the day before Valentine's Day and stayed married! Yay me!

Too Much Sun

These pictures were taken late last year when the dermatologist gave me some nasty cream to apply to my face to take care of any pre-cancerous skin damage. I had to put it on twice a day for about 3 weeks. Legend has it, the cream only attacks damaged skin and doesn't do anything to healthy skin. I think that's a bunch of bologna and you'll see why in a moment. The doctor warned me it would look bad but it would be worth it in the end.





1 week in and I'm feeling pretty confident. Just a little redness on myforehead but nothing too bad. No way am I going to look as bad as she warned me. "Piece of cake," I said.





About a week later. "Ow. Ow. Ow." Felt like a bad sunburn. Not shaving on this particular day didn't help my appearance but I can live with that. By this time I was getting a lot of weird looks but not many people said anything because they were trying to be polite. It was rather refreshing when my NASA boss returned from vacation in the middle of this and asked, point blank, "What happened to you?" I think this was also about the time that Larry told me when he was going through this a coworker told him he looked like he'd been bobbing for french fries. That's funny, but don't make me laugh. It hurts to move my skin.





Ewwww! It's starting to peel!!! By far the worst part. I'll save you the details and just leave it at that. A couple of other people very carefully asked about my skin by this point. People suspected rosacia, poison ivy and road rash from crashing on the dirt bike.

So, about the time I finished applying that stuff to my forehead and left cheek, I had a follow-up appt. with my dermatologist. I stupidly made the comment that with the amount of damage I had on those parts of my face, I should probably have done the other cheek as well (and two spots on my lower lip). She agreed and told me to get on it. Doh!


Fortunately, I think, Halloween came during the middle of my treatment. Who needs a costume with a face like that? Actually, I had the perfect costume in mind. Phantom of the Opera! Unfortunately, the mask I found covered the wrong cheek.



Now you can see my nose and my other cheek starting to light up like a Christmas tree. Cameron, wanting to be just like me, went face first off the swings at school and came home with this look. When he whined that people were calling him Rudolph, I asked him how he thought I felt!





One side is fading as the other starts to get to the yucky, peeling stage. I really don't need any help highlighting my nose.

Now, a few months later, my face is STILL a little red. I'm not sure it will ever go away.

So let this be a lesson to you all. Wear plenty of sunscreen and a hat!!!