ETERNAL HAPPINESS, AND YOU.

If you've been looking for a good present that will tide over your whole sweet family, don't sweat. One of my favorite artists of ever, Nathaniel Russell, just finished up a poster showing up at Mollusk Surf Shop in San Francisco. The aftermath is a good looking grip of prints available online from Mollusk direct.  I already own the "SIT" poster, which is a good reminder of what to do after coming home from a straining work day, unaware of how to proceed.  I've got my eye on this rad poster called "Skateboard People", as well as a few others of which I'm not going to tell you, fearing you might grab the last one and I'll be left empty handed. 

They've also got a great collection of clothes for the kids, so do some extra snooping around while you're there.

GIMMME MY BARK BOX!

We're a pretty lucky family to have our scruffy lil' pup Maggie Mae. Well shoot, she's not a puppy anymore, but given the "fountain of canine youth" that is being half Chihuahua, she's already 10 but looking like a tween in dog years.  We got her before we had any our little dudes, and she couldn't have welcomed them any more properly. She has to keep pace with the stroller at all times... never ahead, and never behind. She's always game to clean faces from sloppy yogurt eating, or drippy ice cream cones. And no matter how many times one of the dudes lays down on her on the couch, she'll gladly take the attention.

I was even luckier to get hooked up with a Bark Box by my friends over at Swiffer. They're teaming up to get a free Bark Box Welcome Kit to anyone who adopts a pup from a partnering shelter through the month of December (you can find a list here)! Swiffer and Bark Box are making sure that cleaning woes aren't gonna stop you from bringing a new furry pal into your home. The Bark Box comes packed with goodies including a sweet Bark Toy and bag of treats, as well as a Swiffer Duster, a coupon for a free Swiffer Sweeper Starter Kit, and a sweet Welcome Home Guide to help ease the transition for a pup into a house of children!

It's cool to see Swiffer and Bark Box working to make adopting pets even more of a no brainer :)
Thanks for making my dog smile (I can tell, I swear) and for helping others find sweet new homes!!

STRAIGHT SWAPPIN'

hey! it's been a while! All the dudes finished up the school, and around the same time, we moved! I mean, physically, we've been busy moving around what feels like every week of every month, but that's our pace. But we also moved into a new house a couple miles from our last one. It was a good lesson in procrastination and time management, but we're all settled, and the garage is only 30% filled with boxes now.  So let's get back to that body-moving, relentless pace that we're so accustomed to!

This past weekend was no exception. After I got back home from a quick (fun) work trip to Chicago, with bags full of Ugly Dolls and snow globes, we decided to hoof it over to the Long Beach Antique Market.  It had definitely been a while since we've last made it up there, and with a newfound interest in 1960's era Batman, we thought the kids might have some extra fun.  Although we battled some 90 degree humid heat, overpriced frozen lemonades, and some tired legs, we all made it out with something good. The dudes scored a couple of Beanie babies for 50 cents each... Remember when people were investing in those to save for their children's college tuition? WILD.  I grabbed a cool book on Tiki culture. Carolyn grabbed an army issue storage piece for the kitchen table (it sounds weird, but it totally rules).  Lastly, as pictured above, the kids found (another) 'toy heaven', where boxes and boxes of "dollar bins" were spread around for them to pick through and find the PERFECT car to add to their collection of what has to be at least 2 hundred thousand back at the house. I know, because I moved them all. HA. 

Definitely a great trip that we will do again, armed with some water filled squirt bottles, some oversized straw hats, and strollers... for all of us. 

til next time.  hope you find what you've been looking for. 

DAD-CORE

I know, right!?!?

Speaking of which, you can get your little one all the Gorilla Biscuits merch you/they need right here. 

#StayPosi

RADVENTURES AT THE AQUABATS SHOW

When our dudes' attention spans blossomed to the point of being able to stomach a full tv show, we were very ecstatic to introduce Yo Gabba Gabba.  Engaging story lines, amazing animation, and radical musical guests.. CHECK. Being able to show my kids how good Rocket From the Crypt and Dr. Dog are through a lens that they can really appreciate was truly magical.  

Fast forward a year or two, and those sweet dudes have grown to want more action packed adventure on their TV tasting palette. Enter, The Aquabats Super Show: a program with enough excitement, a dash of campy 60's Batman, and some over the top awesome tunes, created by the MC Bat Commander, AKA Christian Jacobs, AKA the Co-Creator of Yo Gabba Gabba. It seems like it's a natural evolutionary step to go from Yo Gabba to the Aquabats Super Show.  We were thrilled when the dudes jumped right aboard and became mega Aquabat fans. We've followed the show around on the now-defunct Hub channel, and have since downloaded every single episode via iTunes. 

The best part of all, is that our kids are now listening to the same music that my wife and I were glued to when we first met. Pretty dang rad.  And now, both of our older dudes have MULTIPLE real deal rock shows under their belts. If you have an opportunity to take your little one to an Aquabats show, I couldn't recommend it more.  Our kids especially dug the live show after listening to the cds in the car a bit and becoming familiar with a handful of songs. Some of our obvious faves are: "Super Rad", "Shark Fighter", "My Skateboard" and "Hey Homies". The Aquabats are very appreciative of the wide age range within their audience and take extra care that everyone is having the best time, especially the young ones.  

Get out and get to a show! Bring your kids!

SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN

My little dudes and I love to adventure, whether that involves a hike out into the wilderness, or building lego cars and a real deal racetrack too. What follows most of these activities is a reckless tornado that storms through the house, leaving a chaotic path leading to the next project.  Since our number of juvenile tornados has grown to three, my wife and I have a pretty constant job of cleaning up that we've got to team up on. It's always been second nature to me to do whatever I can around the house to make things easier, but recently I got to be a part of the #SwifferDad campaign, and it opened my eyes to how important it is to spread those team vibes on to my kids.

It's crazy to think that stereotypes still exist out there about a dad's role around the house.  My wife and I both work, so we're in the same boat when we arrive back at home for the day.  In the mornings, I've got 2 of the dudes to get dressed, fed, in the car and off to school, but before we leave, I do my best to get the house looking pretty dang near perfect, so that when we get home at the end of the day, we both can relax a little bit and chill with the kids.  It's even better when the dudes can team up with me on the cleaning effort and get it done in record time. In fact, the challenge to be the "Fastest Cleaner", or "Most Spotless Floor Winner" is usually enough motivation to get the whole family involved.  Cleaning up around the house isn't just mom's job, it's everyone's responsibility. That's a reason being part of this video is so cool. It'll leave a lasting impression on my kids how crucial the teamwork element is around the house, and show how good it makes you feel to help out your crew and spread the positive vibes!

So check out this radical video that the dudes and I got to be a part of. Stoked that I could be a part of it; to represent as a proud, hands-on #SwifferDad, and meet some other rad dads in the same shoes! :)  Not to mention, I'm a religious user and fan of the Swiffer WetJet, so I was able to flex some of my cleaning steez in the video.

Lastly, the little dudes got to hang with Anthony Anderson, who you may know from the TV show Blackish, or one of my faves, Kangaroo Jack, on the big screen! Rad times!

I was compensated for participating in the Swiffer video campaign but all thoughts are my own, and I don't team up with stuff that I don't really dig. 

I DON'T WANNA GROW UP!

GUYS! The Descendants VANS shoes are back!!! Head over to their mercy site to grab some now, and while you're there, grab your little people an official "I Don't Want to Grow Up" shirt, cuz well.. to make it officially official!!

DONUTS WITH THE DUDES

Good #SundazeVibes this weekend with the dudes in tow. We went for a run (me) / ride (Charley & Ollie in the double BOB stroller) / bike ride (Cooper) on the San Clemente beach trail. We were sure to check out potential Geocache spots along the way, and found a solid one with a killer view about a mile in! 

Cooper has been ruling it on his new bike lately, and he even powered over all the uphills on his own!

We were all pretty wiped out after the trip, so we hit up one of our favorite breakfast spots in town, The Grill at Surfin' Donuts. 

Cooper had his first ever Tiger Tail, 
and the rest of us had our usual favorites. 

Radical day!

GEOCACHING FOOLS!

Yep, we are a family of Geocaching fools. Ever since we were turned on to the habit, in a pre-cell phone world (crazy, right?!) by Carolyn's sister's family out in beautiful rural Maryland, we were hooked. Conditions have only improved in Geocache-ville. Where we previously had to scour the computer for a couple of spots to check out, then head out into the wilderness with a big ol' GPS unit, you can now do it ALL on your phone with a simple smart phone app!

So you're like, wait, what's Geocaching?  Simply put, it's a real life treasure hunt. There are millions of geocaches all over the world, just waiting for you to find them.  If you have a smart phone, you can download the Geocaching App to get started (you can always do it old-school by signing up on the Geocaching website, and carrying around a GPS unit, but we find the App to be the coolest/easiest option).  The app will tell you where Geocache sites are around you, and give you some tips/tricks/riddles in order to help you find them.  The app leads you to the approximate coordinates of the cache (usually within 30 feet or less), then you rely on your keen eye and any available tips to make the discovery.  When you DO find a Geocache (which basically means some type of container), you are able to sign the log sheet inside to record your glorious find! Some containers are large enough to contain goodies, in which case you are allowed to trade something of equal or larger value. We usually bring a few skateboarding and surfing army men to swap! If you're on your smart phone, you can also claim your find and add a note via the app.  We've made a profile as "The Rad Family" on the Geocaching app, so if you see us around a log sheet, you'll know we were there!

Why do we love Geocaching? Well first off, treasure hunts rule. We get to live out all of our greatest adventure-laden pirate dreams.  Plus it's always great to GET OUTSIDE.  Spending a few hours with the family, trekking around, following clues and hanging out together totally rules.  The kids love it for the possibility of finding some cool treasures, but I know they're especially stoked when we find anything at all!  In the photo above, we hiked about a mile straight up a hill, to an amazing viewpoint of the hills of San Clemente, where Charley victoriously found the Geocache hiding in a nearby bush. We were some happy dudes. 

TIPS!
• Although our picture above depicts the wild open hills, Geocaches can literally be found ANYWHERE. Check out the app and you'll probably be surprised with how many are surrounding you. We found one in the parking lot of a Starbucks by our house! 
• The free Geocaching App is the perfect place to get started to learn the trade. It has simple maps, an easy to navigate compass, and all you need to get started. We've recently upgraded to the paid app (runs $9.99 from the app store), but besides showing you more Geocache spots, we haven't found more benefits.  
• Some Geocaches are trickier than others. Are first couple of outings were 100% successful, but our recent trip we found 1 out of the 3 we went searching for.  We like to set out with a few Geocaches located close to each other, so if one is being troublesome, you can move on! 
• Make sure you bring a PEN (for signing the log sheet), some small treasures (to swap out with others in the Geocache you've found), and some water (cuz it might get hot!)

Now GET OUTSIDE and find some Geocaches!  This summer our plan is to create a few Geocaches of our own! We will make sure to let ya know when we do!

I WANNA SEE THE STATES. ALL OF 'EM.

I feel infinitely lucky to have been able to tour in a band for a good part of my life. Playing music is fun, but it's even more amazing to travel around the country, seeing how places are unique, meeting different people, and just taking it all in. We nearly put 500,000 miles on our tour van, and I seriously cherish every single one that we drove. Except for the ones where we broke down, those were terrible. 

Thought I'd share this radical video of my bud Forrest playin' a song about traveling around these crazy United States of ours, and what makes 'em so dang cool.

We're big fans of Forrest and his band HelloGoodbye. Always stoked to see him making cool, new stuff. And shoot, just stoked to see him in general cuz he's a good dude.  Thanks Forrest! 

If you're a teacher and wanna make this video part of your lesson plan, check out this PBS link here, they've got you hooked up!

SHREDDING, NATURALLY.

With one of my littler dudes puking all through the night this past weekend, Cooper and I took a "big dude day out" down to Cardiff, to get out of the house and check out the 4th Annual CAMP SHRED. This ain't your run of the mill beach camp. Camp Shred reigns as the "World's Largest Surf Demo", and takes place at San Elijo Campground.  We've got a proper camping reservation there later this summer, but we thought it would be a good opportunity to vibe the place out, while checkin out some cool surf gear. 

We arrived just in time to grab a Banzai Bowl (they've got a shop in San Clemente, too) and throw down a towel to check out a live music set from Montalban Quintet. We were bummed to have missed Teenage Burritos (best band name, ever?) the day before, but the vibes were appropriately mellow and introspective with the Quintet playing on the bluff directly over the waves breaking below. 

After the set we wandered around the demo displays checking out some of our favorite stuff. Saw some rad new soft top surfboards with checkered bottoms from Catch Surf, some big ol' fins from Captain Fin, and grabbed some of our favorite sun blockin' Sun Bum sunscreen. I gotta admit, we were also looking to play some games and win some stuff! Every other booth had a cornhole game set up waiting to be played, so Coop and I had a traveling tournament through the campground. Coop also scored a hat from Spy Optics on his first throw, sinking a ball in a bucket. "BOOM," he said, "first try."

We hit the beach to do some bodysurfing, and then made our way back up to the snack bar for a shaved ice before hitting the road homeward. Made a note for myself that they have a Bull Taco built into the snack bar, which may come in handy when we're camping there and I've had my fill of veggie dogs. The snack bar's patio has the perfect view of the beach, so we ate our sugary ice, watched some pelicans and decided to hit Pizza Port in Carlsbad on the way home for a "proper" lunch and some video games. 

Big dude day out, definitely a success. Hoping we'll make it down next year for the 5th Camp Shred a little earlier, so we can jump on some of those Catch Surf boards.

On our way to the car, we decided to start off a new photo series... "Cooper takes pictures with cool VW Buses that we wish were ours". 

Here's number one... 

 Thanks to Surfing Magazine for helping put together CAMP SHRED, and for everybody being so dang cool. Til next year!

THINKIN OUT LOUD vol. 1

Man do the weekends ever move fast, am I right? We hit Starbucks, fall asleep on the couch, then next thing you know, then before you know it, it's all over. Of course there was a lot more to it than that, but it sure felt quick. 

This weekend has left me feelin' real lucky to be a dad. Just yesterday, I was asked what I love about being a dad. Deep question, right? My immediate response was about how amazing it is to see my dudes discover life as they know it... Developing their interests, figuring out what things are important to them, their skills, their dislikes, etc. It's all an awesome part of my life. Like it's seriously MIND-BLOWING. But that's not even the half of it. Having these dudes has made me realize how important it is to be a good person, and do my absolute best to demonstrate to them what it means to be a good person. To show them to follow what makes them happy, and for them to give their all and not hold back. It makes me appreciate my parents more than ever, for putting that same caring, confident nature in me, and hoping that I can do the same for my kids. 

Life moves fast, and I'm stoked to spend as much time as humanly possible watching these dudes grow in the kind, crazy, cool way they seem to be growin. 

Sometimes life is moving so fast, and you're zoomin' right along with it. But if you get a minute, ask yourself what you love most about being a parent. I dare ya :)

I LOVE TO LOVE YOU

Over here at the house of rad, we love Valentine's Day. It's our chance to let everyone know how much we care. And it's a killer vehicle to get CANDY (or other good stuff)!

The dudes are big fans of Valentine making because we always try to flex some creative muscles and make something fun and unique. 

We decided to brainstorm "stuff we are into", to get some Valentine design ammo. Cooper immediately settled on Pokemon, being an active trainer himself these days. Charley was all over the place. Starting with superheroes, we thought we nailed it with Superman, but then he came out of the blue with MONKEYS. And at the last minute, wanted to throw the Aquabats in the mix. 

So.... we took some quick head shots, then came up with some cupid-worthy slogans to click with the themes the dudes chose. 

Of course, Charley ended up with three valentines, because they were actually pretty cool. Fortunately he's having two parties at school, so each fiesta will get a unique one! We taped some Fun-Dip packages on the back of them. That is all of them but Charley's monkey design. Those sweet little monkeys got taped to some fresh bananas!

Hug someone you love! Happy Valentine's day y'all!

THAT'S MY HOOD!

It sure is bittersweet when a TV show you connect with calls it quits. It was especially a bummer when Parenthood wrapped up their 6th and final season a couple of weeks ago. If you followed along, I hope the last episode was everything you wanted it to be... and if you haven't seen it at all, it's not too late! plenty of time to jump aboard and get all kinds of wrapped up. 

The main reason I dig it so much, is that as a parent, you really never know what's coming. Sure, you have your kid(s), and you know the basics of what you're going to have to tackle, whether it be potty training, riding a bike, etc. But what Parenthood did, was tackled those deeper issues that might not be in the front of your mind. They were able to present topics like bullying, Autism, employment, race, politics and a ton more, while also showing a whole range of methods to work through those issues. After (and during) every episode, my wife Carolyn and I would always talk about how issues were handled, and how we may have handled those issues if we were in those same shoes. The show provided a basis to dive into these issues, which most times you don't really get into you're actually waist-deep in them already. I came to the conclusion that I'm a mix of Adam and Crosby... :)

A few other reasons to love it:
-Created by Jason Katims, who also made the show FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
-theme song is "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan, and the show featured some great songs from Vetiver, Nick Drake, and Wilco. 
-cast included Mae Whitman, who also played Ann (or Egg) on Arrested Development

For those who want to get super nerdy, you can head over to South Weddington Park, which is where the baseball field where the show collectively calls it a day. I'll post pictures soon!

So THANK YOU Parenthood. I miss you already. 

ROAD-TRIPPIN' OUT!

The last few years, we've thrown around the idea of taking our week off for Thanksgiving and making a road-trip out of it. We usually let time slip by, then before we know it, T-Day is a week away and we forgot to make plans, and are scrambling to put together some kind of side dish to bring to the feast. But not this past Thanksgiving... we actually NAILED IT. We threw around a few destination ideas, then settled on a 4 day trip to one of the 7 wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon.  Brace yourselves, this is a long one!

SATURDAY: we hit the ground running' Saturday morning with the goal of getting from San Clemente, CA to our hotel just outside of Grand Canyon National park. 

The kids were quick to appreciate the change in surroundings, from our coastal beach town, through a few cities, over some hills, and to the barren desert. Of course, they were armed with an iPad and a handful of movies for a mini-van's DVD player, BUT, we really scored with "The Great License Plate Hunt". It's pretty basic, the kids each had a sheet printed out, and crossed out license plates as they saw them. I was sure we would only see the few states that surround us, but to all of our surprise, we found well over 30 of the states! It led to good talks of what cool stuff is in our states and where they are in relation to us. 

we made a quick lunch stop at Del Taco in Barstow. that may be a minor detail to most, but it's always a must for me, being one the first Del Taco establishments EVER. Trust me, it's a notch above all the rest. 

Del Taco - 2871 Lenwood Rd. Barstow, Ca

After lunch it was pedal to the metal. We stopped in Kingman, AZ to hit a Redbox for some fresh movies. Fueled by some trail mix, we made it to our endpoint for the day at the Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon, which is just south of the park entrance. Good hotel with a vibey lodge, indoor pool and decent rooms. In hindsight, it would've been cooler to stay somewhere inside of the park, but it's all good. 

SUNDAY: We got up at a decent hour and charged to the park. We took our first opportunity to check out the view at the south rim. It's truly breathtaking, and a little freaky, and totally worth it. The kids climbed on rocks (that weren't close to the cliff), then we checked out the main visitor center to watch a movie and grab some Jr. Ranger activity books. We took a quick hike on a trail that goes below the rim, saw some deer hanging by the train station, checked out another vista point, then by early afternoon decided we could move on! I'm looking forward to our next trip to the canyon when the dudes are a little older and we can actually do some bigger hikes, but I was still stoked to have the dudes see this at this early point in their lives. 

The next stop was a surprise win for the trip... Flintstones Bedrock City in Williams, AZ. This stop is less than an hour south of the Canyon, and definitely an easy one. Now, my dudes have NEVER seen a minute of the Flintstones cartoons... but that didn't stop them from loving this place. It's a little village made up of houses, restaurants and statues of characters, and half of the attractions seem to be either broken or closed, but it still rules. Although it was a tad eerie, we all were happy for the opportunity to run around  and take pictures with Fred and the gang. 

    

Next, we made our way to the next big stop, downtown Willams, AZ. Williams is a proper Route 66 town with all the quirky diners, souvenir shops, and TONS of neon at night. We stayed at The Lodge on Route 66, which I can't recommend more. The rooms were perfectly sized with a little patio outside in the middle of everything for good hang time.  

Dinner: Cruiser's Route 66 Cafe ruled. Pretty much straight out of Pixar's movie Cars, the food was good and price was right, with some local beers for me, and ice cream for the dudes. 

Nighttime: The Polar Express Train on the Grand Canyon Railway. This stop is right out of the movie, minus the super weird CGI humans. You take a ride to the North Pole with hot chocolate and cookies along the way. Santa came aboard to say hello, and you sing Christmas carols all the way back to the station (it was about 1.5 hours roundtrip). The kids freaked in the best way possible, and we made it back to the hotel to watch the Flintstones on YouTube until everyone fell asleep. 

MONDAY: Started the day off with a trip to the Deer Farm & Petting Zoo a few minutes east of downtown. Rad little place where we all got to feed some real life DEER! We made friends with a sweet camel and a friends goat, then hit the road towards our next stop Sedona!

Our hotel wasn't all that spectacular, but we had a few great adventures in town:

Slide Rock State Park: In the summer this place looks amazing, with natural river slides you can play in, but since it was winter we just hiked along the water, and climbed some beautiful red rocks. 

Coffee Pot Restaurant: We were lucky enough to meet up with some friends here for breakfast. Definitely has the feel of more of a locals spot, which is nice. Great food, great service and they were awesome with our crew of 5 little dudes looking to spill anything they could get their hands on. 

Hikes: We hit the hills for a hike up into the amazing red rocks that make Sedona so famous. You can't really go wrong here, but if you have a more hiking-friendly crew, it might be rad to explore a VORTEX. A vortex is a magical place where the Earth radiates a spiritual energy for meditation, healing or self discovery! Cool, right? We didn't make it to one because the hikes are generally greater than a couple of miles, but again, when my dudes are ready, we'll be there.

ET Encounter Diner: This place was a HIT. I saw another family post a shot of this place on Instagram, and it seemed like a win. The place is over the top, all aliens everything, but we loved every bit of it. 

Sedona's hills are straight out of an old cowboy movie. Downtown was a little more slick than we were hoping for, but by trekking outside of the lines a little bit, it was a great stop.

    

TUESDAY: We then hit the road home, but made a nice warm stop in Palm Springs. We scored a ridiculous deal on a room at the Rancho Las Palmas, which was on a radar because of their crazy good pools.  We spent all morning enjoying the lazy river and making our backs hurt on the water slides.  Totally rad.  We bookended the trip with lunch at Del Taco, a quick visit in the Shag art gallery/store, and a very necessary stop at the dinosaurs that Pee Wee's Big Adventure made so famous.

All in all, an amazing trip that we all will remember. And we made it home before Thanksgiving! 

TIME'S FLYIN BY BUT I'M OK

Hey! I'm back! 

I apologize for the fact that I took about a year off... but then again, not really.  It's been a great year, filled with too many adventures to count. Making art, cheap vacations, a new BABY BOY, and having too much fun with my crazy, radical family.

As I last left you, I was getting busy making hand-painted signs. Although that's still one of my active hobbies, I've been missing the blog life, as I do hold it dear to my heart. Plus, my wife Carolyn has been telling me to get back on the horse. :)

So here we are, welcome to the new year! As I said, making art has definitely become a focus for me during my free time... You can see me and my three sons hanging out at an art show I was fortunate enough to be a part of at a great space called Open House Creative in Costa Mesa, CA. The space offers art classes (and a whole lot more) for kids AND adults! Keep an eye out for a lot more about them on the blog soon, as well as ways to get your kids stoked about ART!

Next time on Getting Rad With Dad, I'll map out the itinerary from our action-packed road trip out to the Grand Canyon and back, complete with trips to the original Del Taco, "Flintstones Land", and an alien-themed diner!!

SEE YA!

SIGNS EVERYWHERE!

The past few months I've been spending some long nights out in the garage workin on some hand-painted signs. I was inspired by trips to the swap meet, seeing wooden signs with stuff like "BEACH" stenciled on them. I thought it would be a cool thing to make my own with some weirder sayings. I just finished up my first batch of reclaimed wood, and decided to throw them up for sale on here.  If you're into it, click on the box to LEFT that says "STAY RADICAL SIGNS" and you can check them out. Or you can just check out this shot of Charley Davidson, hangin out with a KOOK CLUB sign my buddy Blacky just grabbed from me! 

and if you're wonderin, Char is wearin some Hello Apparel pants, and a shirt I did for Volcom!

DISNEY DAZE

We've had some radical days at Disneyland.  Well, they're all pretty radical. 
But this last visit we pulled off our best ride photo yet. This one is courtesy of Coop's favorite ride of ever, California Screamin'. 

Here we are mid ride... 













... and then when Coop threw a no-look hi-five at the perfect time. 

Thank you Disneyland & California Adventure. 

HOLIDAZE ROCK

it's that season again... time to start checking out black friday deals, scouring the internet, flipping through the Toys R' Us catalog.

Time to get the little dudes some Christmas presents that will not only knock their socks off, but keep them stoked and hopefully anywhere except in front of the TV!

My littlest dude has taken a liking to banging on my guitars. He likes 'em all.. from the $50 swap meet guitar, to my sweet Epiphone semi-hollowbody that I used to play every day with the band. Shoot, he'll even turn a shovel into a guitar!  I let him use them (& to a certain point, abuse them) because I'm hoping that playing music will be a welcome, comforting idea, rather than a "don't touch dad's stuff!" kinda thing. His favorite guitars have been the 2 ukuleles we have hanging around the house. Obviously, they're small, easy to carry around, easy to play, and actually sound awesome when they're in tune and have a 2-year old bangin' on them.  While he still digs jammin on those, I was starting to do some research on what could be the next step for a rising 2-year old musician.  Out of nowhere, my Mom sent me an email to check out a guitar she found while combing the web...  the LOOG guitar!  It's 3-stringed guitar that was the result of an NYU thesis, turned successful kickstarter project.  The guitar comes un-assembled, so you've got a fun project that helps you and your little one understand how the guitar works. The tuning is based on the 3 high strings on a traditional guitar (G-B-E), so there could be some possible cross-over into 6-string. There are a few different body options, and it looks like they just finished another successful kickstarter campaign to get an electric Loog going. Radical!

Anyhow, I'm stoked to grab one of these for Charley! Maybe we'll put out a 7 inch for the New Year! Thanks for the tip Mom!

check out the video here:

also, check 'em out on Instagram here!

BEST HAIR DAY EVER

Earlier this summer, our radical friends over at Tangled Tantrum sent over a few of their hair products for the little dudes to try out.  Off the bat we were sold on the product packaging... The detangler & conditioning spray has a dude hanging on a rocket ship headin off to space, while the hair gel and styling paste are sporting surf and skate scenes.  Both of my little dudes were open to using the stuff this summer because 1) they all smell amazing (especially the styling paste!) and 2) they all go on real easy and don't sting or get weird (alcohol free) and 3) the packaging.. I mean, right?  4) these products are HIS, so we don't have to use the weird stuff that mom & dad use cuz they've got their OWN! They became the go-to after long afternoons at the beach or pool, so we could get everyone's hair back into order. Basically, we love the stuff. 

But I've gotta say, the true amazingness revealed itself as summer turned to school time.  Cooper wakes up with one of the craziest heads of bed head hair I have ever seen,  on the regular. It feels like every new day outdoes the last day, however that is possible. Through pre-school, it was my job to drop him off, so his hair was literally the last thing I'd be worrying about. Gotta get breakfast, get dressed, brush our teeth, get all of our stuff in the car and try to get out the door at a semi-reasonable time. Now, Coop has entered the ranks of kindergarten, and I feel like we can't really play the same "we just rolled outta bed" vibe.  Enter, Tangled Tantrum detangler & conditioning spray + styling paste. 

Below is just one of our magical transformations. A few sprays of detangler make a world of difference... then we throw on a few dabs of styling paste, and we've got a good lookin, great smellin dude! 

before & after

In addition to all this, Tangled Tantrum products are paraben free. That was something that wasn't on my radar at all, but now knowing more about it, I'm stoked that the dudes are using paraben-free products. Paraben is basically a preservative used in a handful of products which we commonly use. They can mess up a handful of your body's natural processes such as digestion, metabolism, puberty, reproduction, and more! Yikes, right? 

Thanks Tangled Tantrum!! We're hooked!

you can check out TANGLED TANTRUM here, and learn more about their radical paraben-free products!