I have weird kids

This past weekend's camping trip brought about a couple of perplexing conversions between Misty and our offspring. For instance...

Emily: What is that?
Misty: Diet Coke.
Emily: Oh. I thought it was oil.
Misty: No, I wouldn't drink oil.
Emily: I thought you were a robot.

Also...

Misty: I wish we had a radio out here. That would be nice.
Kendall: I wish we had a pet reindeer.

Happy Easter

Easter egg hunt, originally uploaded by MCuthbert.

Though the girls (particularly Emily) were worried that the Easter Bunny would not visit our house while we were camping in the woods, he came through with Easter baskets waiting in the living room when we arrived home. After loading up on candy (particularly Kendall), we had fun with a series of egg hunts in the back yard. Here are more of our Easter pictures.

Easter weekend camping trip

Inside an old pipe at Tannehill State Park, originally uploaded by MCuthbert.

Our family went camping this weekend at Tannehill State Park. It was a trip that almost didn't happen.

We'd planned on going to Oak Mountain State Park, but we were turned away when we got there because their campgrounds were full. I never would have thought so many people went camping on Easter weekend!

We called Tannehill, and thankfully they had plenty of room. It was a bit nerve-wracking trying to get the tent put together as darkness fell, and we were late getting a fire started for dinner, but by the next morning, everything was back to normal.

We enjoyed hiking in the woods, wading through the stream in bare feet, exploring the old ironworks, playing at the playground, throwing rocks in the creek, and eating hobo packets and s'mores by the campfire. On our second night, we even saw a group of several deer bounding around in the woods just across the creek behind our tent. Encountering a snake a little while later was met with somewhat less enthusiasm though.

Here are more photos from our camping trip.

Go, Elisha, go!

"Elisha Cuthbert" is currently a trending search term on Google. I hope that her new show "Happy Endings" will become a huge hit and make her a household name. That way people can quit mispronouncing and misspelling mine.

Believe it or not, this subject is actually the focus of the most popular entry I've ever written on Impending Distractions. Thanks to a series of example mispellings of our shared last name, people who Google her incorrectly find my blog instead.

Watch me talk all nerdy

During Haven's 10th anniversary party, I was interviewed by Daniel Horton for the first episode of his video podcast, Rocktt. It's billed as "Tech. Geek. North Alabama."

In the interview, we talk about what the impetus was in opening Haven, the geek culture of Huntsville, the comic industry today vs. a decade ago, the idea of reading vs. collecting, digital distribution, and why Haven is still around after 10 years when so many other comic shops have closed.

Haven celebrates 10 years

It was 10 years ago today that I opened Haven, a comic book store in Madison, Alabama, with my friend Josh.

I spent the day at the shop, celebrating with Haven's customers, some of whom I've known for years, others whom I met for the first time. One of them even made this cake to commerate the occasion. I'm touched that Haven has been a special place for so many people, and I'm very proud that it's still going strong after 10 years.

Thanks to Josh for keeping things going. I still miss it.