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It is February and many families are starting to plan their summer vacation. But how is the economy playing into those decisions? Are you planning on staying local for your summer vacation? Or are you looking to maybe travel, but stay closer to home? For us, we’ve decided to leave town, but we are doing a trip with other family members to cut down on the cost. By doing this, we will save on gas, food and the house rental.

A summer vacation is important, it is great for getting away, having fun with the kids, and experiencing something new. But with a down economy, high gas prices, and uncertainty with our economy it is important to be smart when planning your family summer vacation.

So what are your family plans for your summer vacation?

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Recently my wife encouraged me to download and install My Fitness Pal app and I must say, I have been blown away how easy it is to use, but also to track what I am eating. The app not only works on the web, but also on multiple smart phones as well.

As most, I set out to lose weight, but after the 1st of the year, I normally just continue my eating habits. Now, I am more conscious about what I am eating and when I am eating, because I am tracking my calories. And to even got a step further with the importance of this app, my wife is able to see what I am eating and help encourage me to make better decisions when she sees that I have slipped and eaten a cheeseburger at lunch, instead of a salad or fish.

So far, I am on schedule with my weight loss and it is in large part due to My Fitness Pal.

 

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Have you seen the news lately? Analysts are predicting $4.15 – $5.00 a gallon gas prices. So how does this affect you? Well, it is a chain of events.

1) Gas Prices rise.
2) Businesses pass along the higher charges to the consumer because the are losing money on their higher gas prices.
3) Food prices will rise.
4) People will not travel as much, thus the number of people taking vacations will decrease.
5) Because less people travel, the need for seasonal jobs will decrease because the demand is not there. Or companies can not afford to pay as much because of the higher gas prices and lay people off.
6) And unemployment rises again.

To give real numbers, here is what it will cost my family based on the following early projected gas prices for a fill-up.  And my wife and I each fill-up at least one time a week, sometimes twice a week. Because of these projected numbers, we will have to sit down as a family and make decisions on future trips and really look at the cost benefit of traveling out of state and maybe even out of town.

Gallons
Gas Prices at $4.15
Gas Prices at $5.00
My SUV 16 gallons
$66.40
$80.00
My wife’s SUV 15 gallons
$62.25
$75.00

See the trend here? Gas prices rising will only hurt our economy, plain and simple. And normally, I wouldn’t get on a soap box about gas prices, except for 1 primary reason and that is, there isn’t a logical reason as to why the prices are that high. And no, I am not one of those that believe that we should cut off our oil dependency immediately and go to electric cars. And I don’t because the technology in my opinion is not refined to the point that the number of cars can be put out on the roads and maintained if there are problems.

Do we need to look at alternatives to oil, absolutely. But, we also need to drill and harvest the oil that we can control and not be so sufficient on overseas oil. Until then, our gas prices will continue to rise, as the demand is greater than the supply. Though I did hear that the demand for oil has sifted from the US to India and China, which I thought was pretty interesting.

From what I have read, the Keystone Pipeline would have increased jobs by 20,000,and  increased oil so that we never have to import another drop of oil and the current administration rejected the project.  Sometimes I wonder if politicians forget why they were elected and allow the political game to become the focal point and not the voters that elected them to office.

Here is a crazy idea, let’s do what is best for the residents of the US and not what is best politically.  $5.00 a gallon for gas, is not and will not help this struggling economy.

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I will start off this topic by stating for the record, that I will not confirm or deny that I have firearms in the house.

That being said, there are a few things that I think that should be done when having firearms in the house.
1) There needs to be a conversation between you and your spouse. Both parties need to be aware and in agreement that there are/will be firearms in the house. And both you and your spouse need to be able to safely and responsibly be able to handle the firearms in the house as well.
2) Firearms that are in the house should be locked up. The firearms should be locked up and the keys should be in a place that you as the adult can easily reach the guns easily, but that the children can not.
3) The needs to be a conversation with your children when they are of age, to know, understand and respect firearms. The first time that I held a firearm, I believe that I was 10.  I knew that my father them in the house and I knew that I was not supposed to touch them. I was raised to respect firearms, not be afraid of them. But I also knew what would happen to me if I touched them when my father was not there as well.  And let’s just say that I would not be able to sit comfortably the rest of the night.
4) I personally would not want to teach my children how to shoot a firearm, for no other reason than, I think that there are others that could do it better and ensure better gun safety tips than I could.
5) Have them join the NRA, even as a Jr. Member.

I believe that you as an American citizen has the right under the 2nd Amendment to have the right to own firearms. But I also think that as a parent, you have a right to yourself and your children to be smart when it comes to firearms.

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Today at breakfast, we had a slight scare. We had taken the boys for a weekend getaway to some friends house out in the country. We gave the boys a very small piece of an egg omelet. A very basic egg, cheese, onion omelet and since the boys had eaten eggs before, we did not think anything of it.We quickly noticed that one of our boys started rubbing his face and what started out as rubbing once or twice, quickly turned into a lot of rubbing and his face turning red. After a few minutes, we removed any of the food that was on his high chair tray and washed his hands and face. It was then we could see that he was having an allergic reaction to something that he had rubbed on his face.

We did not have any benadryl cream at the house, so our friend took a benadryl pill and broke it down and made it into a liqud form and rubbed it on his hands and face.  We were able to get some cream and that seamed to take care of the problem, but it was never the less a pretty tense few moments.  He was able to rest and has been fine ever since. But it got me thinking about food allergies. I didn’t have them growing up and neither did my sister and my wife did not have them either.

My wife will be calling the Doctor tomorrow morning, not only to let them know, but to also see when/if we can reintroduce eggs again.  In the mean time, I’ve found two articles that have been very beneficial.

  1. Food Allergies from Kids Health
  2. Guide to Food Allergies from Parenting.com

When introducing  new foods, it is very important to be on the look out for food allergies. Consult with your doctor and watch your child, as food allergies can be very serious. We are just fortunate to not only be with our friends that have raised 3 children of their own, but that the reaction was not that serious.

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I’ve been asked several times now how do we travel with two infants. So far, we have made 3 trips to see my family, which is a 6 hour drive for us. Honestly, it hasn’t really been that hard. We try to leave right after giving the boys a bottle, so that we know that we can get at least 3 hours in of our drive. There is a Starbucks that is exactly 3 hours from us, we pull in, I get my standard Non-Fat Mocha, let the boys play and get another bottle and keep on going. Here are a few tips that I’ve come up with

  • Take breaks as possible – The boys sleep pretty well in the car, so we can usually get 3 hours at a minimum at a time.
  • Give them toys to play with – We have a little toys that they can hold on to and play with.
  • Interact with them – We like to talk with them, and even though we can see them in their mirrors, they can’t see us, but they can hear our voices.
  • Play music that they like as well – This is important esp on the start of the trip.
  • Find a comfortable stopping place

Trips are hard, both for the kids, b/c they are strapped into their car seats for a long period of time, not understanding why they can’t move around. And for the parents, for the additional packing and also when the kids do fuss and there is really nothing that can be done. Make traveling with your children fun, not a chore.

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Being a political junkie, this time of year is very exciting for me, because it is political time.  To say that I love politics, would be an understatement and to the readers of this blog that know me personally, they all know my political beliefs. But as a father, I think that my role changes, as do the way that I look at politics. I think that it goes from me having my own personal beliefs, to teaching my sons about both parties and the beliefs of each. If asked, I will offer my stance, but I want my boys to grow up and make the best decision for them as it pertains to their political beliefs.

Upcoming Elections:
With the new election on months away, the Republicans are currently trying to decide who will be their candidate to run against President Obama. The biggest problem that I see for the Republicans is who is the best candidate? And not just from the stand point of running the country, but who can actually win the election? As it stands right now, I believe that the best choice will be Gov. Mitt Romney , not because I believe in all of his positions, but because I believe that out of the Republican candidates, he is most electable.

But this election is not just about the White House, but also the Senate. Currently, Democrats hold a 51-47 hold on Congress, with 2 Independents. And there is a chance that the Republicans could take Congress and maintain control of the House as well. So regardless of winning the White House or not, if the Republicans are able to take Congress, that would be a victory in and of itself.

Our Current National Debt:

The Gross National Debt

As you can see, our Federal Spending is growing at an alarming rate and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Unemployment rates have stayed at or around 9% and the approach that this current administration has taken of with or without Congress is scary politics. I just hope that by the time that my kids are older, that things will change for the better.

 

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According to the current CBO (Congressional Budget Office), as of January the current unemployment numbers are still in the 8.5% range and will more than likely remain in the 8% range for the remainder of this year and next.  The problem with this, as I see it, is that current number of people that are continuing on unemployment is about the same, if not more month over month. I will be curious to see what the revised numbers look like for January’s current unemployment numbers look like in the coming weeks.  I still think that at the end of the day:

  1. The numbers are wrong, as they only factor in those that are still looking for jobs that are eligible for unemployment.
  2. That the election is largely going to be decided by those that feel that the current Administration has done a good enough job and those that believe that another candidate could do a better job.

Every day that I drive to work, I think about several friends that aren’t as fortunate. They struggle to make it week to week. They are part of that number and they hate it, often times admitting how embarrassed that they are that they are out of work.  I am truly blessed.

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That is what I kept telling myself last night after the UNC vs Dook game where Dook hit a 3 pointer with 1 second to go to win the game. It is just a game.
I was trying to think of ways to justify the loss this morning, not defending the 3, poor fouls, fatigue, etc, but it is just a game. And then I got thinking, how can I
use this for when the boys are older and UNC loses a game? I’m still working on that one, but it really is just a game. Today, the adults are sitting around their offices,
sending text messages, emailing, making calls etc talking about the game, what they would have done differently and what should have happened.

But at the end of the day, it is just a game. The players were probably in class today. Study hall later. Practice, film review, hitting the weight room and trying to prepare
for the game this weekend. And though, like the rest of the fans, I’ve been texting my brother and Godfather about the game, how we feel, what we would have done
differently if we were coaching and it comes back to one ringing fact, it is just a game. I just hope that when my boys are older and we watch UNC Basketball games,
that I can remember that it is just a game and not get too caught up in it.

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As long as I can remember, I always played sports, whether it was soccer, basketball, baseball, or football. And it was always stressed the importance of good sportsmanship. So needless to say, that when I saw the brawl between the University of Cincinnati and the University of Xavier, I was disheartened.



I want my sons to love sports as much as I did, but I don’t want them learning that fighting is acceptable. When I was playing, you shook hands at the end of the game and told each player from the opposing team, good job or congratulations.

Maybe the times have changed? Maybe the times of where you celebrate the other player and give them a hand up when they have fallen or thanked a thanked a teammate for a pass.  We worked hard, training year round and put forth our best. And had any of my teammates or myself been involved in a brawl like the one from the clip, we would have received a much harsher punishment than a few games suspension. We would have been kicked off the team and never allowed back.

Where are the consequences for their actions? 2 – 4 games being suspended? They embarrassed their school, they embarrassed their team, and more importantly, the embarrassed themselves.

I will teach my sons the right way. They might not be the best athletes, but they will be respectful. They will play hard and give it their all. They will thank their teammates. And they will remember that when they put on a jersey, the represent more than just themselves.

 

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