Guest post: Josie, of Family Afloat, on their sailing adventures

I love to travel.

And by travel, I mean drive several times a week to Mooresville, N.C. Occasionally exotic locales, too, such as Fredericksburg, Va. The extent of my travel reaches the bounds of club soccer. And I’m okay with that.

If I get a dose of wanderlust, well, that’s what Instagram and Hawaii 5-0 reruns are for.

Or, I can visit the blog Family Afloat. That’s where Josie chronicles the adventures of a family living at sea. Great story, right? Well, only it’s nonfiction. These people really are sailing around the world.

Guest Post: Katherine, of Welcome to the Nursery, on How Her Kids are Slowly Destroying Their House

photo credit: Chris Blakeley that’s some hat, stitch via photopin (license)

Want to know if a guy is a parent?

Take a look at his face, his car, or his home. All will have sustained some degree of damage in the process of fatherhood. Worry lines, spray stains on the ceiling of his car, and a host of tell-tales in his place of residence.

Busted furniture, chipped wall paint, crayon marks on … everything. Markers, too, and stray bits of strawberry, Goldfish crackers, and even beef jerky, in a man’s car, behind a man’s couch, and stuck in a man’s hair.  That’s just the beginning, as any of you who parent know.

Katherine writes a blog called Welcome to the Nursery.

Guest Post: Joey of Big Teeth & Clouds, on Quitting (and Un-quitting)

The blog world is cyclical.

Unless you count those blogs that drop off sharply. Not because of quality, but from lack of posts. Sometimes, it’s not sustainable. Or we forget the password. Either way, the blog floats along in the ether, like a dead satellite.

Most often, we cycle toward and then away from blogs and blog friends, and when the cycle brings us back close, it’s as if no time had elapsed at all.

Joey writes the blog Big Teeth & Clouds, and she’s here today talking about quitters.

Guest Post: Rebecca of Ninja Librarian, on How to Get Kids Outside

One of my players will study in college to become a librarian.

I think it’s quite cool. She’s a studious sort, who found herself determined to try out for soccer in high school – and make it. She did just that and even scored a few goals along the way. She was inspirational to her teammates and to me.

Today’s guest writer is a librarian – but a ninja variety.

Rebecca writes the blog The Ninja Librarian. She’s the coolest librarian you’ll ever know. (Even cooler than that dreamy one at the Mint Hill Library.) Rebecca writes about writing, and of course reviews books for kids and adults.

🔢 Guest Post: Number Recognition Pizza Game from Education.com

nephoto credit: DocChewbacca Pizza Injustice via photopin (license)

They had me at pizza.

Today’s post comes from education.com. They offer learning programs for pre-K to fifth- grade students. I wish there were these things when I was a kid. I was a bit scattered at that age – ‘creative,’ they used to tell me.

The cool thing about the programs: They’re fun.

My girls had fun ways to learn at that age. I kind of wish I had stuff like this to help me learn new stuff at work. This game today combines a nemesis of mine (math) with a love (pizza.) Maybe it’s not too late to sharpen my own math skills.

#AtoZChallenge: P is for Too Many Projects, Not Enough Time (a Guest Post from Kathy of the Second Half of My Life)

I will never catch up.

Some of my friends will never understand that. They can’t fathom a life of to-dos and deadlines and commitments and unexpected obligations that pack the hours of 6 a.m. to midnight and sometimes beyond.

When does soccer end? they’ll ask.

They might not understand that after a work shift that starts before business hours and after a day truncated by travel and training schedules that sometimes I look at my phone and can’t even imagine trying to tap out anything cohesive on that tiny keyboard.

Guest Post: April, of The Stories of Our Boys, on Baseball

The gang’s ready for Spring Training. #LetsGoRockies

Now, that’s cute.

That was my first impression of the blog banner that used to reside on April’s page, The Stories of Our Boys. Not because of that sweet, smiling mom (well, kinda), but the fact that her kids sat in matching Washington Nationals gear? Idyllic.

See, it’s not that way among the Coach Daddy children.

One’s an Anaheim Angels fan, like my dad. The second likes the Boston Red Sox. Grace picked the Texas Rangers and got a ration of h*ll from me because they lost to my Colorado Rockies last night. They love to pick on my Rockies.

Guest Post: Tianna, of Storybook Apothecary, on Books She’d Share With the World

photo credit: DocChewbacca Waterbomb ! via photopin (license)

The beauty of Tianna’s blog is far more than skin deep.

Storybook Apothecary is a beauty blog, that goes far deeper than concealers and eye pencils (I might or might not have checked one of her posts to procure actual examples of makeup things. I’m a dad of three girls, but I’m no expert.)

Tianna’s words and wisdom extend to wellness and life at large.

We crossed paths on a blog linkup, ideal conditions for a Gen X dad blogger and a millennial beauty blogger to share some space. She’s a reader and a thinker and you’ll love the way she has about her writing, as I do.

Guest Post: Jillian, of Jillian Loves, on Blogging

photo credit: pni Such A Trooper via photopin (license)

Courage courses where it chooses to course.

It could be in voicing your heart or remaining silent. It’s there when you retreat and also when you walk up to the table of strangers and say hello, not knowing what to expect or how your life is about to change forever, potentially. But you do it.

Today’s guest blogger knows courage.

Jillian writes Jillian Loves, and once wrote Finishing is Winning. Like many of us, Jillian loves to write. Like many of us, Jillian struggles to find the time to sit down (or even lean against something) and actually get her fingers on the home keys.

Today, Jillian is here to talk about the reasons she stopped blogging – and reasons she should start again.

Please give her a warm CD welcome. And be sure to check out her blogs – both of them – when you get a chance. Also, in the comments, please share some of your owns struggles and trimphs when it comes to this affliction we call blogging.

Guest Post: Rena of The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver, on Her Main Man

Rena’s married to a chucker.

By chucker, I mean a fellow who partakes in the revered art of disc golf. Not art and hardly revered, it’s the sport of choice for us jesters in this world of kings. It works for us, though. Rena’s husband is a good man.

It’s a good thing – Rena’s a gem.

You might know her blog, The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver. It’s a life many of you know, and for Rena, it’s more than that. Her words provide guidance and hope to anyone finding themselves in the role of caregiver.