One more great thing about having kids...

There are many great things about kids. One of my favorites is that the kids give me an excuse for doing childish things I secretly enjoy. Because of the kids, I'm able to say, "I'm doing this for the kids." Among the things I've managed to do for the kids:

• Building plastic models for the kids


• Building and flying model rockets for the kids


• Buying a nice telescope for the kids


• Buying a nice microscope for the kids


• Upgrading my computer monitor and video card for the kids


• Buying game consoles for the kids


• Hooking game consoles to surround sound for the kids


• Networking the game consoles to the Internet for the kids


• Going backpacking for the kids


• Having dogs for the kids

Well, another of my favorites is carving pumpkins for the kids. To be completely honest, this year I only carved one of our four pumpkins. Pumpkin carving had always been a strictly "dad" function, but this year my wife decided to give it a shot while I was at work, and I must say she did an incredible job. When I got home her hands were sore, so I did the last one for her, but other than that these are all the work of my lovely pumpkin carving wife: