Thursday, June 30, 2011

There's An App For That?!

Yes, it's true. The new, best place to check out all of the 170 Costumes is on the Wave At The Bus App on your very own iPad!


Umm, yeah, wish I had one (an iPad, that is). I bought "the App" for Rain's iPod Touch and Rikki even spent 99 cents of her own money to buy it for her iPhone. It's really cool! It includes all of the costumes (in higher-res than the blog), along with the blog quotes from each day. And it includes a special feature that I'm looking forward to... a "SUBMIT" button. Here's the deal: snap a photo of you or someone you love waving at someone else you love and send it to us! Tell us anything you'd like about the photo and who knows, maybe your smiling, waving self will appear here on the blog!

So buy the app, laugh at the costumes, and share a few "Waves" with us.

Home Screen
Sample Wave Screen, with captions turned on



















Oh, and the app also allows you to search by keyword, scroll through the list of days, or select a date to see what the costume of the day was for a particular date.

And for fellow Android users: yes, we're working on it.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Wave At The Wife

School's out. No bus. My "toad" of a husband shows his support at the Ragnar Relay.












Pausing for a photo
Family Support at Snowbasin
Assuming my usual pose, I whipped out the camera and took a picture of Dale waving at me in costume. With all the crazies at Ragnar, he actually fit in quite well. For the non-running crowd, the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay is a 192 mile foot race, with 12 person teams running day, night, and then the next day. Each runner on the team runs three “legs” of the race. I was Runner 12, so I ran Leg 12, Leg 24, and Leg 36. Dale says all this talk of “Legs” makes him jealous. Not to run one, just to have one.

Waiting for me to arrive
Dale and Ryatt greeted me, waving their support, at Snowbasin Ski Resort. I was just finishing my first leg of the race, a nearly 5 mile climb (with over a thousand feet of climbing, ending at an altitude of 6400 feet). My next “legs” would be 6.75 miles at 4:30 am (including another 650 feet of climbing into the town of Oakley), and 7.2 miles at 3:45 pm (a scenic Park City trail run from Deer Valley Ski Resort to Park City High School).

This was my second year running this Ragnar Relay, and the thing that surprises me the most is how little the race is really about running. Maybe it's because we're not "in it to win it." I’m spending 30 hours in a van with some of my best friends (or soon to be best friends), yet I’m only running for less than three hours of that time. There’s not much sleeping going on. The hours are filled with supporting your teammates on their runs, eating, laughing, talking, laughing, some attempts at singing, followed by more laughing, and “visiting the dunnies.” [I had an Aussie on my team, teaching us fabulous slang from down under.] In short, it was just an amazing girls weekend.

"Van Two" Teammates

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Have a Funny Day!

"What a dreadful thing it must be to have a dull father."
-Mary Mapes Dodge









Happy Father's Day! We celebrate with a few father stories from our family:








 

Rikki:
"I remember my dad taking me to a movie in the middle of the day when I was about six years old. We walked into the theater, and it was totally empty. My dad told me that he rented the entire theater just for me. I felt like a princess. I was so excited that I spent most of the movie running around the theater and sitting in every single seat."




Rain:
"My dad ordered a cake for my sixteenth birthday. The cake he ordered was this little kid's dinosaur cake. I guess he was trying to embarrass me, but by now, there's not much else he can do. My cousins thought it was pretty funny, and so did the lady checking us out at Costco."


Riot:
"My dad went to my school for my birthday. He read my favorite book to my friends in my class. He was so funny."














Dale:
"I was raised by a single dad, who was raising three boys on his own. He was always there for us and our countless ballgames. One year, I was playing Little League baseball as a Catcher. There was a play at the plate, and it was really close. The runner slid in and knocked me down, the Umpire called him out. The stands erupted in cheers. And then I noticed that I had dropped the ball. I picked it up quickly and nobody had noticed. I then turned around and told the Ump that I had dropped the ball. The runner was called safe and the fans went silent. That was how the game ended. Afterward, my dad told me he had never been more proud. Thanks, Dad, for instilling in me a love for sports and teaching me to own up to my mistakes. Happy Father's Day."









 
Rochelle:
My own father never waved me off to school in a costume (no regrets there). He did, however, spend many mornings helping me fold newspapers for my early morning paper route, teaching and loving through action and example. My dad had his own favorite goodbye phrase, and it continues as a morning farewell in my own home: "Have a funny day!" Thanks for your sense of humor and "knee-slapper" jokes, Dad. May all our days be funny.



Sunday, June 12, 2011

Frogger

"Eat the fly! Eat the fly!"
Crossing the street in New York City is like a real-life game of Frogger.










I like to call this the "whoodathunkit?" NYC trip. This blog started as a way to share my funny husband with family and friends  a trip to New York and countless interviews was not part of that plan. With just a couple hours notice to get on the plane, Dale and Rain spent two days in New York City for their appearance on Good Morning America. While there, they were also able to interview with CBC TV (Canada), Inside Edition, FoxNews.com, Fuji TV Network (Japan), and RTL Television (Germany). Our German friends provided Dale with this fantastic frog suit and had him waving at spectators in the park (Rain said it was funny!).

Dale managed to find a bus to wave at. Rain was NOT on this bus (NYPD):
Other photos from their "whoodathunkit?" NYC trip:
Rain at the Good Morning America Studios


Rain in GMA's "Green Room"

Abracadabra Costume Shop with Inside Edition

Near the USS Intrepid
Dale waving from Time Square












 
Our other kids didn't get quite as much media attention, but they were featured on our local ABC station the night before the GMA showing (cute interview).

Update 6/13/11: Dale is out working in the yard and a neighbor stops by, congratulating him on the recent publicity. Neighbor asks Dale, "So what are you doing now?" Dale looks down at the pooper-scooper in hand, back at the neighbor, grins and says, "livin' the dream."

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Clarifications and Explanations

First of all, we’d like to give a shout out to the Greater Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority Station 116. As our publicity has grown, Dale’s brother, Terry (a firefighter/paramedic at the fire station there), has been receiving unending grief from his fellow firefighters. To that we say, “Keep it up!” And thanks for helping us out with Day 62 and Day 64.

We enjoy reading the comments posted here on our blog. We have read each and every one. Thanks for the enthusiasm. We also feel that we may need to clarify a few things.

Cost: We have spent less than fifty US dollars on costumes and props for this blog. Most of these costumes were borrowed from neighbors and friends (you’d be surprised what your neighbors have in their closets!), or found in our costume boxes from years past.

Other children: Yes, we have other children. Our oldest, Rikki, is a sophomore at Utah State University. She is majoring in Computer Science. Our youngest, Riot, will be entering 2nd grade next year. He does not ride the bus. You can see him joining in the waves on Day 26 and Day 128. Rain is the middle child and does, in fact, like his name. His full name is Makani Rain Price, but he has gone by “Rain” for most of his life.

Photo by Nathan Petty

About Rain: He is genetically predisposed to having a good sense of humor. He’s a fun, likable guy, with a 4.0 GPA in Honors classes. He plays the trumpet in the American Fork High School Marching Band (state champions). He’ll be marching in the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade (in Pasadena, California on January 2, 2012). And he’s on the verge of earning his Boy Scout of America "Eagle Scout" award. And yes, he did laugh at the waves. If you look closely at some of the pictures, you’ll see that he and his friends were waving back. He knows how to laugh. He’s a great kid.

Guns and camo: Some have wondered about the many posts of Dale in camouflage, and the pictures with guns. Dale used to own a chain of paintball stores, aptly named “Pegleg Paintball.” Being in the paintball industry for over twenty years, he has accumulated quite a variety of paintball clothing and, let’s just say, a few paintball guns. He’s an amazing airsmith and has fixed just about every paintball gun ever made.

Dale: is now a stay at home dad, actively parenting our three kids. He’s a pretty decent mechanic, landscaper, housekeeper, trophy husband (complete with a kickstand), and an amazing dad. We've been happily married for over 22 years.

Rochelle: I have an M.S. degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Brigham Young University. I’ve worked at ProModel Corporation for the past twelve years. I enjoy running, cycling, and laughing with my family. I took the pictures, found silly things to say about them (although many left me speechless), and posted this craziness to the blog.

Political correctness: We realize that many of these waves are not politically correct. We never claimed to be PC. For goodness sake, it’s humor people. Good thing we aren’t running for office of any kind. Although we did get a laugh out of a recent Tweet that said Dale should be “Ruler of the World.”

-Rochelle

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Day 170 - The Pirate's Last Wave

Dale's true identity as a pirate has finally been revealed. And how do you know if you are a pirate? You just "Arrrrrrrr!!"





















Since today was the last wave, I thought we should take a minute to review a few
Pirate
Rules (as found on tensionnot.com) and discover how Dale has either obeyed these rules or, in pirate-like fashion, totally disregarded them.

1. When fishing, a pirate uses either a sword, a knife, or
his bare hands. Use of a hook is only acceptable in the event the pirate is missing a hand. (see Day 121, Day 113, and Day 93)

2. Parrots are the preferred pirate companion (see Day 134). Monkeys are an acceptable substitute, unless they fling their feces at people. Then they are an awesome substitute.

3. No pirate shall ever sit on a toilet seat, for any reason. (see Day 167)


4. Pirates never use the words "fresh" or "feelings," and certainly not together (as in "I have that not-so-fresh feeling"). (see Day 149)

5. Peglegs must be made of timber or some other suitable wood. Plastic, ceramic, porcelain, or metal peglegs are utterly unacceptable, simply because it complicates the use of the phrase "shiver me timbers."

6. Pirates do not wear eyeglasses or bifocals unless they are looking at a treasure map, and even then they are allowed only a monacle. Any comments about "Mr. Peanut" while wearing the monacle are prohibited. (again, Day 167)

7. A pirate must never visit a tanning salon. If he is not already tan enough (Day 123) from searching for treasure, he hasn't been searching hard enough.

8. A pirate may never wear another man's clothing, unless he first kills that man. [Day 19 --what man would be caught dead in those clothes?]

9. No pirate may do the arm movements for "YMCA", or engage in country-western line-dancing. (see Day 15, Day 23, and Day 32)

10. Under no circumstances is a comb-over an acceptable pirate hairdo. [Bad Hair Days? He had a few... see Day 52, Day 49, Day 48, and Day 39]

11. Only a pirate is capable of killing another pirate. If you are not a pirate (let's say a ninja) and wish to challenge a pirate, they have a word for that. Corpse. [Did somebody say Ninja? see Day 147]

12. Three-cornered hats, headbands and bandanas are the only acceptable headwear for pirates. Fedoras, bowler derbies, baseball caps, mickey ears, top hats, sombreros, or anything with lace and flowers will be removed from the vessel-- head included. A grace period of one minute is allowed for hats looted from a tailory. [And a few bad hats: Day 98, Day 41, Day 28, and Day 154 for starters]

13. No pirate shall drink Grog out of a glass. Grog is only to be consumed either straight from the barrel, or from a mug heavy enough to to kill a man. (see Day 156)

14. A pirate shall never wear lipstick, nail polish, or capri pants. Actually, that kinda goes without saying. [
Nothing in the rules about dresses? See Day 139, Day 146, Day 132, Day 130, or even just yesterday]

15. Pirates shall always wear boots, except in the case of a peg leg. Then one boot is acceptable. Flip-flops are right out.

[flip-flops? Well those would be EVERY DAY. This rule must not apply to Hawaiian Pirates, as Dale wore his "Hawaiian slipper" every day for the first 61 days. Then he mixed in other foot apparel as costumes required: Day 62 (boot!), Day 81 (clown shoe), Day 82 (boot!), Day 84 (boot!), Day 85 (boot!) Day 88 (board shoe), Day 89 (boot!), Day 95 (boot!), Day 96 (boot!), Day 100 (boot!), Day 101 (boot!), Day 109 (boot!), Day 113 (boot!), Day 116 (Spartan sandal), Day 140 (boot!), Day 144 (boot!), Day 148 (Leprechaun), Day 158 (clown shoe)]

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Day 169 - White Wedding

"There is nothin' fair in this world.
There is nothin' safe in this world.
And there's nothin' sure in this world..."

"Come on.
It's a nice day for a white wedding.
It's a nice day to start again."

-Billy Idol