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Last week was a miserable time to fly to the westcoast...trust us, we were there. The weather was severe enough to cause several flight redirects, delays and cancellations. There were babies crying, kids screaming and adults complaining everywhere we turned...at the airport and on the plane. And did we mention the turbulence? We were all shaking in our seats...literally. All in all, it was a frustrating, exhausting and noisy experience for those of us traveling.

The Daily Kool kitchen is pretty small. It's one of those longer, narrower styles that doesn't exactly lend itself to more than one person at a time. Bottom line....we always seem to be running out of room, especially when we are cooking and preparing for company. Oh, how we wish our kitchen was large enough to have a big, beautiful island in the center of it!

The Daily Kool family is very proud of our home. While it may not seem like much to some people, we have spent countless hours decorating every nook and cranny to create a warm, livable environment. We love it and it's all ours...well, ours and the bank's, anyway. The only problem with home ownership is that there is always something that needs to be fixed, refurbished or just maintained. We learned quickly to expect the unexpected and by necessity, we've become quite savvy and adept at many do-it-yourself home repair projects.

Our four year old loves to play chess. Yes, you heard us right...four. Is he some kind of prodigy? Nope. Don't get us wrong...our son is definitely very bright, and we claim our bragging rights as often as we can (doesn't every parent?). But, we don't think that Mensa is quite ready to extend an invitation to him yet. We do, however, give the folks at Winning Moves complete credit for our son's love of the classic strategic game with their wonderful edition of No Stress Chess.

Today (June 1st) marks the beginning of hurricane season, which typically lasts through November 30th. Having lived in Florida for three decades, particularly through the record-breaking 2005 season, The Daily Kool family recognizes how nerve-racking this time of year can be. Anyone who has experienced the devastation from category 5 hurricanes like Andrew (1992), Katrina (2005) and Ike (2008) can attest to the importance of preparation this time of year.

We been having an ongoing challenge these days in The Daily Kool household. Our boys are at the age when we have to constantly remind them to wash their hands. It's not as if we are obsessive about cleanliness (well, maybe just a little). We do have rules, though. Washing hands after coming in from the outside, after meals and certainly after using the toilet shouldn't be too much to ask, right? Apparently, it just might be...at least for our boys. You should just hear some of the arguments and excuses coming out of our two little guys...everything from "My leg hurts and I can't stand by the sink" to "My hands aren't that sticky from the breakfast syrup." Our favorite of course, is the ever-popular "Hey, we stand up anyway...what's the big deal?" Imagine our embarrassment when our four year old proudly confessed to his grandmother how often he and his brother try to "trick us" into thinking that they've washed their hands (as if we didn't know). Seriously, they expend more energy trying to avoid washing their hands than it would just take to do it already. Sheesh!

School is just around the corner, and our lazy days of summer are coming to an end. Okay, who are we kidding? The Daily Kool family doesn't do lazy days. We have to admit though...our boys may have kept us on our toes this vacation, but it was pretty nice to have them all to ourselves for a change. In a couple of weeks, we are back to being overwhelmed with activities. School (one half-day, the other three towns over), homework, soccer, hip hop, basketball, karate, birthday parties (there are a ton) playdates...not to mention our own work, home and Pepper (our lovable pooch) responsibilities. Pretty exhausting, huh? As our boys get older, it's really becoming harder to keep track of it all...we need some serious organization!

Okay, we admit it. We are not big water drinkers, and never have been. Trust us...we've given ourselves lectures time and time again about the importance of drinking the requisite eight glasses of water a day, but who are we kidding? We can barely choke down two glasses, and that's with living in hot and humid Florida. While we take responsibility for our irresponsibility just as much as the next person (yeah, right), we wholeheartedly blame the Coca Cola company for our lack of commitment to healthy drinking. How dare they make Coke taste so darn good? We have been obsessed with Coke (the real stuff, not that diet stuff) for as long as we can remember. Scoff all you want, but our Coca Cola addiction has caused a real problem in our household. Our kids are at the age when "do as I say, not as I do" doesn't hold water (had to get that pun in). It's our job as parents to teach our children healthy eating and drinking habits, and the best way to do this is by example. But, we really don't like water. We've tried it all...tap water, filtered water, bottled water (whew, there are a lot of brands out there!), cold water, room temperature water, water with lemon (and/or lime). No matter what we do, the results are the same...blah, blah, blah. Are we prime examples of mature and responsible adults or what?

Our wedding ten years ago (yikes!) was a beautiful Victorian affair with rich fabrics, bold colors and flowers in every corner. We even found these beautiful jewel-toned potpourri pillows at a local flea market. Each pillow was an actual picture frame, and we decided to use them for place card holders/party favors. Thank goodness they were all individually wrapped or the scents would have been overwhelming! Anyway, we spent the last night before our wedding carefully cutting open each pouch, putting the place card in the holder and resealing the plastic wrap. It was a long and tedious process, but the results were truly magnificent.

Back in our college days, we spent a lot of time in laundromats. Like most other students, we did not have the luxury of our own washer and dryer. Yep, five years schlepping laundry baskets full of clothing and detergents down to the local Gatorland Laundromat (go Gators!). Not a bad way to meet potential dates, but sheesh...what a humbling experience for us spoiled folks who were used to Mommy doing the dreaded deed. Who knew there were many different bottles to buy for one measly load of laundry? Detergent, fabric softener, bleach, pre-treaters...the list goes on and on.

One of the most wonderful things about the summer is the abundance of fresh Bing cherries. Dark and sweet, this cherry is one of our all-time favorite fruits. We've been known to go through bushels of them in a sitting. Another funny story about our older brother growing up (we've told a few of them!)...our grandmother somehow convinced him that if he ever swallowed a pit, a real cherry tree would grow in his tummy. Talk about traumatizing a child...gotta love it, especially as a younger (and often tortured) sibling! Hence, our poor brother, though he loved them, hardly ever ate cherries for fear of what would happen...what a wuss!

What better way to celebrate the end of our National Ice Cream Month week-long feature than with cake? Or should we say cupcakes? The Daily Kool family is headed out to a friend's house for dinner together tonight...of course, we're in charge of the dessert (we have a bit of a reputation). Since there's going to be a pretty large group of kids at the house, we thought it might be fun to do something a little different for them.

Here at The Daily Kool, our arms are getting quite the workout this summer...well, at least one arm, anyway. Our kids have been having one playdate after another at the house, and we've been doling out ice cream scoops practically by the dozen each day. Dig, twirl, release...dig, twirl release. Such is our life. It's amazing how one single perfect scoop of ice cream just seems to brighten a child's day...wait a minute, did we say perfect? A lofty, yet often elusive goal, we know. But apparently (and we've just recently learned this, mind you), a dish or cone of ice cream just tastes better to a kid if it has that professional, ice cream parlor look. Go figure, but kudos are important in the world of parenthood...we'll take what we can get. Pretty shallow of us, isn't it?

Nothing says summer quite like an ice cream cone. Some of our best childhood memories include strolling down the boardwalk by the beach with our parents, eating ice cream cones while watching the ocean waves crash against the shore. We could never quite understand how anyone could dishonor the sanctity of ice cream by eating it out of a cup. Good thing we've never quite grown up...as adults, we still love our ice cream cones, even when the sticky mess drips down the side of our arms. Waffle cones help us stay a bit cleaner...not that we care much. We just love them because they are so darned yummy!

The Daily Kool family has always toyed with the idea of getting an ice cream maker for our home. As parents, we are often concerned about controlling the quality of ingredients in the food our children eat. Store-bought ice cream often has additives, so we often prefer the premium brands...hey, if we can't pronounce it, we certainly don't want to eat it. But, wow. Premium ice cream definitely comes at a premium price. An ice cream maker may seem like a perfect solution, but since no one in our household can ever agree on one flavor (heaven forbid), we always figured it would be a wasted investment...until now.

Yesterday, we returned from our gluttonous trip to our local Carvel ice cream shop on a euphoric sugar high. Oh yeah...The Daily Kool family has officially kicked off our celebration of National Ice Cream Month! Needless to say, we were in a fabulous mood when we walked through our front door. Of course, so was our lovable dog, Pepper...we may have mentioned him a few hundred times or so in our previous blog posts. Well, Pepper (as usual) was beside himself with joy when we came home, wagging his tail a mile a minute to show how excited he was to see us. We're telling you, there's not much that beats the feeling of unconditional love from a furry friend. Wait a minute...did we say unconditional? Because when Pepper got closer to lick our faces (hey, he's a French poodle, after all), he literally took a giant sniff of our ice cream breath and reeled back from each of us in indignant shock. Okay, we realize we're attributing human characteristics to our dog (doesn't everybody?). But seriously, you should have seen the accusatory look on his face before he pointedly turned his doggie butt on us and walked away to pout on his bed. Yep, Pepper's big brown eyes can really bring on the guilt. No doubt about it, our dog wanted to be a part of July's National Ice Cream Month holiday.

Okay, so we are quite a few weeks into summer vacation, and we've noticed that we're filling out our bathing suits much more than we expected. Somehow, our plans for getting into better shape have fallen by the wayside. What's going on here? Well, though we are not ones to make excuses (yeah, who are we kidding?), we do have several explanations. The kids are home, so we're finding ourselves parked at fast food restaurants more often than not (hey, we're on vacation too). It's been hotter than...well, you know. And, if we're not suffering in the blistering heat, we're getting drenched in the rain and chased by a flock of mosquitoes. Who wants to exercise outside in that? Of course, the heat naturally brings on our cravings for the sweet stuff, so the kids are eating ice cream almost every day...we can't let them eat alone now, can we? Wouldn't it be nice if we had a way to get into shape without the extra effort?

The Daily Kool had a great Fourth of July holiday this past weekend. We went to our parents, had an amazing barbecue lunch (courtesy of Dad and Weber's Way to Grill), enjoyed Mom's famous pasta salad and spent the early afternoon playing games with the kids. Ah, family togetherness...you gotta love it. Okay, who are we kidding? Fourth of July is all about the fireworks. Our city park has a spectacular concert and fireworks event every year, and the kids spend all afternoon, anxiously waiting for it to be time to go to the show. Unfortunately, the sun is still brutally strong when the show begins, and by the time it gets dark, the evening rains inevitably come out to put a damper (couldn't resist the pun) on our fireworks fun. Sure, we have a beach umbrella that we use to ward off the elements, but it's cumbersome and doesn't provide nearly enough coverage for our family of four.

The Daily Kool family does a lot of driving. In fact, between work, school and enrichment activities for the kids, it often seems as if we practically live in our car. By the end of the week, our poor Saturn looks like a bomb has hit it...snacks, juice boxes, papers and toys are strewn all over the place. We've seen people recoil from the shock, shake their heads in wonder or, if they're parents, simply nod in commiseration at the mess of our car....yep, it can be pretty embarrassing! So, Fridays have now become the official "car cleaning" day in our household, and everyone has a job. No one ever complains...except whoever is responsible for window cleaning. The fingerprints and dog snot (Pepper loves taking rides in the car) are not such a big deal. The windshield, however, is another matter altogether. Our car has a pretty deep slope in the front, requiring us to drum up our best contortionist skills to clean it deep down. We admit it, our flexibility is quite pathetic...thus, so are our windshields.

The Daily Kool's beloved pooch Pepper, has just turned 9 years old...wow, time is definitely flying by quickly. Though he still acts like a puppy much of the time, we have noticed that things are slowing down just a little bit for him. The vet has told us his hips are beginning to weaken, as is often common for a standard poodle of his age. Plus, we've seen the extra hesitation when he jumps in the car, on the couch, and especially on the bed...yep, it's definitely time to get Pepper a pet ramp.