The holidays are officially over now. Beth and I just got back from spending the past few days in Michigan visiting with Beth's side of the family. My last day of work for the year was the 23rd, which was one of the least productive work days I've ever had. After going home, I got my last minute shopping in (a cut glass flour cannister for Beth). In the evening, the stress of the holidays got to Beth and I actually threw her out of the house to go get coffee and cool down after she screamed at the kids a couple times. It helped. Anyway, Judy came to visit on the 24th on her way to Michigan and we did Christmas Day here. Santa brought Alex the Power Drive Plug & Play he's wanted for a long time, and brought Missy the play vacuum cleaner and sleeping bag she's wanted for a long time. There was also more Planet Heroes stuff and some clothes, adopted wild animals, candy and some other toys and games. Virgil and Sherri came over for dinner and they brought some art supplies for the kids, who spent a large part of the evening painting. Friday the 26th we were going up to Michigan with Judy. She left home a little while before us, and came back after about an hour because SR15 was at a standstill just north of town and the roads in general were very slick. I69 and the toll road were also both closed for a while during the day. We wound up leaving a couple hours late, and taking the long way through Fort Wayne to Kalamazoo. John and Stephanie's road was actually the worst road of all in terms of ice. We got there and had snack food for dinner and did Christmas again, this time mostly just presents for the 8 various cousins. Missy got her first Barbie doll and some Little Pet Shop stuff; Alex got an RC dune buggy and some more art supplies. We also played Rock Band 2 a lot on John and Steph's PS3. Fun times. John was at work much of the time, but came by for a bit to show the kids his ambulance just before we left. We spent the night at Ted & Jeanne's house (now just Jeanne's, I guess) while they were in Pennsylvania visiting Amy and Patrick. The house was COLD...Saturday we all went out to breakfast and hit the mall. Pam bought Alex and Missy both a Build a Bear stuffed animal - they both picked out the same stuffed dog, which Alex named Speedy and Missy named Princess. We spent the rest of the day at John and Stephanie's house again, played more Rock Band and such. We found the thermostat in Jeanne's house set to 64 degrees, which was why it was so cold the night before, and turned it up, so that night was much more comfortable. But we still couldn't get the kids to sleep before about 11 pm. Sunday morning we all got up and went to church with Pam and Marve and Steph and John and the kids. The church, like apparently the entire north side of Kalamazoo, had no power. So, we sang a cappella, and the preacher spoke loudly, by candlelight. And again, it was very cold. Missy cried when we left becuase she wanted to keep playing there. After the service, we all went out to lunch at King Wok, then to Steph and John's for a while. Marve and I watched the Lions lose to the Packers to complete their perfect 0-16 season, and everyone played some bowling and tennis and baseball with their new Wii. I imagine my shoulder will be quite sore tomorrow. We were there until late afternoon before heading home.

There was a big ice storm a couple days ago and the ice is still here, and this morning it was really windy, which resulted in the electricity going on and off all around town, including at church. About a dozen times during today's services, the power went out for a few moments. Then when it came back, the diffusion sock on the AC system inflated with a really loud WHOMP, which quite startled a few people. But the coolest thing was when all the AC and lights went out while we were singing Silent Night, immediately before we sang "all is calm," and the whole congregation kept on singing in the dark and quiet. Neat. Yesterday was a Katie day for us, and Beth and I went with the Churchills out to Das Dutchman Essenhaus to celebrate Sherri's birthday. We got a little shopping done there too.

I got home last night following a day and a half business trip to the Philadelphia area. Monday night I stayed in an Embassy Suites, where they have a reception / happy hour for guests every evening where they give out free drinks and don't check ID's or guest passes. They even had a strolling magician doing card tricks. The visit to the vendor Tuesday went well, I think we had all our questions answered. Then the weather started getting bad for the return trip. I not only got randomly selected for a security search while going through, but I had a front row seat to the entire de-icing process on the taxiway. The flight home was a bit rough but not too bad, but the drive home from FW took almost twice normal time due to the road conditions. Got home at about 10. Missy was still awake...she missed me.

Christmas must be coming. The church leaders' Christmas party was last Monday. First time even at the new church! No more Golden Corral or Stonehenge, we can just gather at the church. That is so cool. The previous Sunday was also our first worship service in the new building. Anyway, in the traditional white elephant gift exchange, I took home a homemade toilet seat, one that apparently hung in the back room of Brenner's Drug Store in Warsaw (long gone now) for years and years until it was acquired by a family member who is also a church member, and they now wanted to get rid of it. Gary also got one; they were a matched set. Beth took home a stuffed reindeer that Missy has commandeered, she loves it. Saturday Alex had his last basketball game. This time he only stared at the clock a little, and was better at paying attention to the game, and got to handle the ball a few times. We were looking for something to do with the kids later where they could burn some energy, so we took them to the YMCA to swim at the open swin in the warm water pool for a couple hours. They loved it. Gary and Renee took them at their house for a few hours after that so Beth and I could finish Christmas shopping for them and get dinner.

Now start the odd 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. When going to work seems almost pointless sometimes. When all you're doing is waiting for vacation. But anyway. I finally got the garage door fixed this past week; a local company came out and replaced the spring (that thing can KILL you) and set it all up, so one can now lift the door with one hand. However, they didn't have the replacement belt, so I'll order one of those and replace it myself rather than pay more for it. Friday, We took Alex and Missy out to dinner at Pizza Hut because Alex had a coupon he got from school for reading, then we did some furniture shopping on a whim to look for a bookcase for Alex's room and a headboard for downstairs. We found both in the bargain loft at Warsaw Furniture Warehouse. The combined price as marked was about $180 so we were going to offer $150, then before we offered it, the sales guy went to find out how low he could go and came back $135. So we took them both. Both were slightly damaged but quite serviceable. Afterwards, Beth went out with Rachel, without me, to go see some teenybopper vampire movie "Twilight." Alex had a basketball game Saturday, and this time he had real problems paying attention to anything that was going on. At some point he noticed the clock, and for a long while afterwards he couldn't stop looking at it. Watching the numbers count down. I did at one point go stand in front of it to holler at him to pay attention. He could not follow where the ball was at any time. But he still seemed to enjoy playing.

Thanksgiving officially ended today. Mom, Dad, Laura, Thomas, and Ben were visiting with us for Thanksgiving weekend, and all are gone as of today. Mom and Dad arrived last Monday, however since I have pretty much no vacation time left I continued to go to work for the first half of the week. Wednesday was Missy's Thanksgiving feast at preschool, which I did not attend but Mom did with Beth; later on they visited with Alex's kindergarten class. And then...fortunately the kids were already home from school, but there was apparently a loud crack coming from the garage and then the door wouldn't go up. The garage door spring had broken in half. Dad and I got the door open and propped, but MAN that thing is heavier than it looks. Rather than pay through the nose to have someone come and fix it after hours or on a holiday or weekend, we just decided to leave the cars out and the door shut. So, that's what we did. Laura and Thomas and Ben arrived early Thursday. We had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, and then put up and decorated the Christmas tree. The day after TG, we all dressed up and headed to Fort Wayne to have a family portrait done at Picture People. Mom wanted to have one done with Thomas and Ben in it, and the last one was just after Missy was born. Nobody else was really crazy about doing it at a mall the day after TG but it went well. The kids got to ride the carousel while we were there and everyone got in some last-minute shopping. We came home after lunch and everyone quickly wrapped presents, then we opened presents. I thought Alex was going to bust waiting until we did. The big haul: luggage for Beth and me, a Planet Heroes playset and a Cars computer game for Alex, and a Robo-Panda and Littlest Pet Shop stuff for Missy, Kung Fu Panda and Toy Story 2 DVDs, and lots of other toys, clothes, and games. Saturday, We all took the kids out to lunch at Mad Anthony's and then to Somethin' Funn. We would have preferred the old T'N'T but it's what we have now. Anyway, we first took the kids go-kart racing, which was fun, then helped them play skee-ball and such and accumulated tickets to cash in for cheap Chinese crap, which the kids love. After that, we picked up babysitters and left the kids at home while all the grownups went for dinner at Trio's, a very nice jazz restaurant in South Bend. We were planning on having dinner and then listening to the live music, but the music didn't start until 9 pm so we weren't there very long after it did start. But the food is superb, and the band seemed to be very good. Sunday, Laura and Thomas and Ben left. Yesterday, I was back to work, and afterwards Mom and Dad took us (plus the kids) out to see "Bolt." Today they headed home.

Slow week. Busy weekend. We hosted small group at our house Friday, which was lightly attended and will probably be the last time until after the holidays. Saturday Alex had another basketball game; this time Beth was able to go to it. She was relieved to see how well Alex was doing. The coach talked to us for a minute after the game and told us he thought Alex was getting better every game. He still seems to be enjoying himself. Maybe next year he'll get to score, or handle the ball for more than a couple seconds at a time. Missy was invited to a birthday party for a preschool friend of hers this weekend. It was held at the new Tokens & Tickets at Northside Lanes. It is re-opened now, new much smaller location and much fewer things to do than before the fire last summer. Also, unbeknownst to the parents of the birthday girl, the alley was hosting a large high school bowling team tournament, with schools from as far as Logansport and Rochester, plus all the locals, and you could barely turn around in there. But, since it was high school, not much smoke in the place. Anyway, Alex got to go too, which really pleased him (and Beth and me). The parents handled keeping the kids and bwling teams away from each other, and we just went home while the kids were partying. I worked on the room downstairs, which I've been doing a lot lately, now mostly painting and trim work. The ceiling tile wall brackets are also up. Beth quilted. After I picked them up (with all their candy and ticket trade-in junk) Katie came over to babysit shortly after. Beth and I went out to dinner and were going to go see the new 007 movie, but neither one of us was really into it. We went to Elder-Beerman to do some looking for red clothes for an upcoming family picture,and wound up noticing too late that the movie was starting in 2 minutes. So, we skipped it and continued shopping for more warm clothes for the kids. There was a bake sale after church Sunday.

Missy's fall parade at preschool was last Tuesday. I took off work to go see her and got some precious photos. Her hat was a bit top heavy though, and kept covering her eyes, so she wasn't really happy in some of them. We took the kids trick-or-treating on Friday; Missy was dressed as a fairy princess and Alex as a cowboy. At first we tried going around here but practically nobody was home, so we went down to Fort Wayne Street in town instead like we did last year, and it worked out well again. There seem to be a lot of people who live around there who really get into the whole Halloween thing. The kids still get scared of the monsters, though. Saturday was Alex's first pee-wee basketball game of the season. This year he's on the Tar Heels. For some reason, all the other kids on his team seem bigger and faster than him now, and some of them are really good at dribbling and shooting. Maybe he's just on a team that's got several 6-year-olds. He was also having a hard time paying attention and seemed to not get the whole thing. He also can't quite dribble yet. Beth and I were worried for a while that he wouldn't want to keep playing, but later on in the game he started doing better. He's been looking forward to playing basketball again so I hope he progresses with it. It was also a Katie day yesterday, but no movies Beth and I wanted to see, so we went to Goshen for wings and trivia again. Today we took the kids to Golden Corral for breakfast and spent the rest of the day at home, relaxing and cleaning up leaves, again.

Alex was off school most of this week as they were having parent/teacher conferences. And may I say, he is doing fantastically. He's got all the skills mastered, reads at a 2nd grade level, and goes to an advanced reading class. And the teachers absolutely love him. We carved pumpkins yesterday; Missy wouldn't touch the pumpkin guts.

It was a rather quiet and homebound weekend. Today I worked on cleaning up the backyard, leaves, sticks, toys, and all. Every fall the backyard gets hazardous due the chewed up nuts and the sticks all over, dang squirrels. I also got the hoses put away since I got the sillcock fixzed yesterday. I was determined to finally get around to fixing the backyard sillcock this weekend, which has been leaking considerably lately, so Saturday early afternoon I shut off the water to the house and started draining the pipes. If all goes well, I told Beth, it shouldn't be more than a few minutes. Well, it was more like 4.5 hours without water service to the house, between water that just wouldn't stop draining, soldering on the sillcock sideways, pulling the new joint apart, running to Ace to get a new coupling, not being sure if the new coupling was soldered on well enough, running back to Ace for another coupling, cutting off the suspect joint, re-soldering a new length on the pipe, and getting everything on straight, all while trying to let the kids help. But all the joints are watertight and the new sillcock does not leak. The kids wanted to go under the house with me so bad but I thought that would be more trouble than it would be worth, so I let them watch from the access. We were supposed to have adate night but Katie couldn't do it tonight, so we took the kids out to supper and that was it. Friday we had everyone over for Bible study and watched the second half of "Facing the Giants." Wednesday, Kids Klub has the first skating night in at least a couple years, maybe since Beth was pregnant with Missy. Anyway, I took the kids out on the floor skating and helped them along most of the evening, moving along the rail. It was basically the first time on skates for either of them, and they did respectably well. They both did OK on the carpet, the floor was harder. Missy didn't want to leave; BIG tears when it was time to go. "I want to stay here and skate some more!!!!!"

Saturday was team John and/or Beth's first geocaching event cache. The Lakes, Legends and Lore Geocaching league had a cache bash starting at the visitor's center in town, and after a get together with snacks and hot dogs, coords for 11 new caches were released and everyone scattered. I had the kids, but Beth was busy. So first off, the batteries in my GPS died, so it was home first to get fresh ones, which probably killed any chance of a FTF. But we did find one in town, then not find one over by Barbee Lake, and did find one in North Webster before the kids were tired of it. We met another cache team in NW and went back to Barbee with them, where we met yet another cacher looking for that one, but everyone came up empty. Then, as I said, the kids were over it so we went home, then to visit Beth at the garage sale at Churchill's she was helping with, then to the Zimmer trail with the kids' bikes and my skates. As always, someone had to go when we were a mile from anywhere, so we all rolled back and dashed to a gas station. Alex continues to ride well with no training wheels, but still wants them back on after a little while. He has a hard time turning, stopping and keeping propped up when stopped. Friday afternoon, Beth and the kids met another mom/kid from Alex's kindergarten class for lunch at a park in town, where Alex got stung on the back of the hand by a yellowjacket. His hand swelled up pretty good but by the time I was home from work he was ok. It didn't hurt anymore, he said, but it did itch. The same kid had invited Alex to his church's Wednesday evening program this week so Alex went there instead of Kids Klub. And I went roller skating at work with some co-workers over lunch twice this week.

Beth and I are both sick. I have been getting there since the cold night in the camper, and Friday I stayed home from work and went to the doctor. Ear infection, got a Z-pack. I skipped Bible study (it was moved to the church) Friday night too. Beth skipped church and movie night Sunday because she was sick.

Beth and I used our brand new camper this weekend! Marve's 60th birthday was this weekend, and the whole family was camping at Yankee Springs. It was a surprise that we showed up, Marve wasn't expecting us. I had started to think we were crazy to be camping so soon after getting the camper. I FINALLY got the lights to work just before we left, and grabbed the propane tank off our grill. Beth did as good a job as possible to pack us up, but we still didn't get moving until after 6:30 (shortly after I managed to slam my fingers in the van door) and got to the campground at maybe 10. Then, with tired and cold kids, tried to get everything set up quickly. Ric and John and Marve helped a lot. We even got the furnace running, which I wasn't sure we would, but then it quit during the night. And in the morning we were all freezing. We made our first run to town Saturday morning to go get a ceramic heater and king size conforter at Wal-Mart, and a few sweatshirts. Otherwise, the camping was good. The kids had a great time playing with all their cousins. The camper was much more pleasant Saturday night with the heater on. And Alex rode a bike without training wheels for the first time! We got back Sunday evening and put the camper back in the backyard. I wonder if we'll get a chance to camp again this year. It does have a seam split on the roof that I'm a bit concerned about, so maybe that'll be a winter project.

Beth spent most of her free time cleaning the camper today. It cleaned up very nicely. She's pretty excited to go camping this weekend. Got the oil changed in the van too, and they said it was pretty goopy, so it was a good thing to have it changed before towing again. I worked on the lights until the daylight was gone after work, and still had no luck getting things to work right. But I found a website, and made a bunch of sketches, and I think maybe I know how to wire it correctly now. I wish we had a couple more days to make the camper ready: still need a propane tank, figure out how to light the furnace, get the fridge running, wash the curtains, flush and sanitize the water tanks, get the lights right...

After church today I worked on getting the van ready to tow a popup camper. I enlisted Virgil's help and got myself a hitch and plug. No ball yet, since I don't know what size I need. It took quite some doing getting the hitch into the receiver: lots of WD-40, a t-shirt, hammer, screwdriver, chisel.... been a long time since that hitch was used I reckon, but it went in. I'm going to get it tomorrow. Hope the van can pull it ok...

Beth and I have bought a camper! We were watching listings on eBay for a few days for a 1996 Dutchmen popup in Michigan and a 1997 Palomino in Illinois. The Palomino was the one were were most interested in, but our max bid didn't meet the reserve and it went for $3000 this afternoon. We bid a max of $2500 on the Dutchmen and got it tonight for $1825. We were over at Churchill's, refreshing the eBay page every few minutes there near the end while we and they and the Wilhites played Apples to Apples. Everyone is about as excited as we are to get it. Earlier today, our church carried the cross to the new building. It had been taken down a few weeks ago to modify it to fit in the new sanctuary (one of the elders has a very well stocked wood shop), and now it was finished (shortened about 4 feet) and back at the church. The elders and deacons all had a seminar this morning, then at about 1:30 everyone came over and we carried the 300-lb cross the couple of miles through town and installed it on the wall at the new building. I had a shift carrying it for the first few blocks, then I pulled the kids in the wagon along the sidewalks until they got too hot and wanted in the van. Then I relieved the van driver and had a shift driving while he carried. Overall a very cool experience. A good day.

Beth and I almost bought a camper today. There was a listing on Craig's List for a nice looking camper in a wee town called Denver about a 45 minute drive from here. We called the guy, and even though there was another person interested in the thing, we drove down there to take a look. It was pouring rain, so the guy had it set up in his garage as far as it would go up. Anyway, we got there and the other people were already there. We kept waiting around and wishing they would go away, but they just kept hanging around and looking at it and eventually bought it. they had been there 10 minutes when we got there, and while we were there I heard them talking like 'do you want to go home and think about it?' so if we'd been there 10 minutes earlier or later we probably could have gotten it. They bought right then because we were there. And it was a nice camper. Very nice.

Beth and I took the kids to Fort Wayne today to do some shopping for kids clothes. We hit all the shops and spent some $450 between them, but I think we're all set for school for a while, anyway. We'll probably have to spend that much again when it starts getting cold. It was a Katie day, so we had dinner at Applebee's and saw "Tropic Thunder," which I'd say was good for a few chuckles but not much else. But, we wanted to see a movie this time instead of just hanging out, so we saw one more or less just to see one.

I have tonight gone wireless. Of sorts, anyway. I got a router from Staples a couple weekends ago (they were on sale) and it got here about a week ago (they were sold out and had to order mine) and tonight while Beth was quilting I got it set up. I'm typing this at the coffee table upstairs without a wire connecting me to the modem downstairs. Cool beans!

Finally things are getting back to normal. I drove the truck and camper in to work so Toni could drive them home and Beth picked me up at work. And Alicia has her RAV4 back.

We have had a very nice time camping over this weekend. It almost didn't happen. Alex started having diarrhea shortly after school on Friday. We were hoping it was just something he ate so we were still playing it by ear. I left work a couple hours early to go to Toni & John's house to pick up the camper...and while I was there Beth called me to tell me that he was now throwing up. So, we didn't go Friday like we'd planned. Just as well, we had to clean up the camper and pack it, and get the van from the shop for about $1400...ouch. Alex did fine overnight, but he had more in the morning after he ate breakfast, so we waited some more. He seemed fine by lunch so we decided to risk it, and he was fine the whole time we were away. BUT, by dinnertime Beth had it (or so we thought) so I started packing the campsite back up again. Alex saw me doing it and looked crushed ("Daddy? Do we have to leave already?"), but Beth then thought it was just dinner disagreeing with her so we did stay. And she was fine. We couldn't get the furnace to light, so we were hoping it stayed warm enough overnight (we actually ran the AC all night both nights) and John actually DID fill the water system with antifreeze last winter (Toni thought he didn't so they didn't flush the system). We went swimming Saturday and rented a canoe and swam on Sunday. Missy got the sore throat and runny nose on Sunday. But we stayed and she was fine. The kids got to play with Sammy and Nick and Lena and Luka and Carson while we were there. It's nice that we can camp now without having to watch them constantly. There were also the bike rides and the playgrounds. They seemed to have a really good time. We left Monday, by which time Beth was catching Missy's cold.

The last 2 days I've been away at a project leaders offsite for work. And it's been weird. I drove over to Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth Wednesday morning and was present for the first few hours of meetings and presentations, then I got a call from Beth that the van wouldn't start. Fortunately she had already taken the kids home after school. But she had an appointment in Fort Wayne (that turned out later to be next week) later that day and needed a car for Thursday anyway, so I drove back right away and came back in Alicia's RAV4 that I also borrowed a year ago when our car was stolen. Fortunately she had ridden in with Hallie and left her car at work. I missed a few hours of meetings but made it back in time for dinner and team building, which was building sand castles and running idiotic relay races (glass of water on a plate and run wearing flippers; put an orange in a pair of pantyhose around your waist and hit a soccer ball with it; hold a mango between your legs and drop it into a bucket...you get the idea) for junk prizes. I was surprised how many people stayed up late drinking. Thursday the car shop called with more work that needed to be done so I was going to need the RAV another day or so, so Alicia let me keep it for all weekend since she'll be gone anyway. I was home around dinner time.

Today was my fantasy football draft day. I'm not really happy with my team but I did the best I could do. My team's prize possession is still T.O., and after him the star quality falls off quickly. Anyway, as soon as I was done with the draft, Beth and I took the kids up to Bremen to visit with Toni & John, the nice folks who are lending us the use of their truck and camper next weekend. We had dinner at their house (grilled pork) and headed out to their farm to check out the camper. John took the kids for a ride in their backhoe too. Yesterday was a Katie day for Beth and me; we again went to Goshen for wings and trivia since there was no movie we really wanted to see. Missy's first day of preschool in the Busy Bee class was Tuesday; she seems to really like it. Also notable this week was an open house at Alex's school. We met his teacher, and she reiterated how well he reads. I hope they'll keep challenging him this year.

Beth and I took the kids up to Michigan this weekend to visit with Judy, who was up from Alabama and staying at a friend's house by the lake in Vicksburg. We all headed up on Friday so we could visit with Amy and her girls, who were visiting from Pennsylvania and also visiting Judy. We did some swimming and fishing and boating over the weekend, and went to a very impressive farmers' market in Kalamazoo. Friday was also Alex's first day of kindergarten! He has been so excited for weeks now. I stayed home from work long enough to see him off to the bus in the morning, and when I got home from work for lunch he came running up to me and said "Daddy, kindergarten was awesome!" He should do well. I was afraid he wasn't going to make it to his first day because Beth and Missy were both sick this past week. Beth had taken the kids up to visit Judy during the week on Wednesday, and called that evening to tell me she had the flu. She had been sick almost all day since getting up there and didn't think she could make it home, but later on she called and had decided to try. She did make it, but she was sick sick sick. I slept on the floor in the hallway upstairs to keep the kids from crawling into bed with her during the night, which they have been doing a lot lately. I stayed home the next day to take care of the kids and keep them out of the house (and even found a garage sale with a Tonka bulldozer for Alex). Beth was doing better by evening, but then Missy threw up all night. Beth and I changed her sheets and nighties a lot during the night. I was worried that Alex would have it by the time school started, but he didn't ever get sick.

Today the softball team made our exit from the tournament. We basically stunk. It was a 7:00 game, maybe it just threw us off to not play at 9. Anyway, since it was so early, I told Beth to drop the kids off at the park (she had to get to Bible study, and I was coming right from German class) with Marie, who was going to watch them while I played. Well, when Beth and all the kids got there, she had forgotten to bring my clothes to change into. I still only had my work clothes. So, she dashed off to Bible study while I dashed off home to get my stuff. It turns out I didn;t really need them because I didn't do much in the game anyway. I was hitless, and we all stunk and were whupped. So, we finish 8-4 and 6th place in the tournament.

Beth has been going up to Shipshewana the last three days for a quilt show. She went in on a booth with a friend and was showing her quilted placements and such, which everyone ooohed and aahed over but nobody bought. Seems familiar. Anyway yesterday I took the kids up there during the day to visit with her for a while, which bored them, but when we got home it was time for a Katie day so we went out to dinner at Mad Anthony's. Again, no movie was playing that we wanted to see, so we just hung out with Virgil and Sherri.
This past week has been a perfect example of how The System works. Last June I wrote a letter to the superintendent of public works for the city of Warsaw, explaining the terrible condition of the road in front of our house and requesting them to fix it. This week a road crew fixed the road in front of our house. Amazing! But true. Now let's just wait for it to rain and see if it helps with the flooding. It did rain last Monday, when I went to Auburn with a couple other people from work to visit with Classic City Tool & Engineering as a supplier. It absolutely stormed while we were there, and the sky looked as weird as I've ever seen it. During the night, it continued to storm at home and all the tornado sirens were going off in town, so Beth and I got the kids out of bed at around 11:30 or midnight and took them downstairs. Alex barely ever woke up, and I kept him on my lap in the bathroom downstairs for a while before things cleared up. Missy never woke up either. I don't think either of them remembered getting up and going downstairs by morning.
The cache that Beth and I placed last weekend had to be moved, because it turned out to be too close to some other caches in the area. I ran to the trail during lunch on Friday and retrieved it (still where we left it) and found another place a bit farther away. Hopefully it'll be good where it is now.

The softball team's first game in the loser's bracket was tonight. We won the game in a way that we usually lose them: with a really big inning late in the game. In the 5th we batted around and then some; I myself had a 2-rbi double (my only hit). My shoulder was feeling much better this week. It was another 9:00 pm game, and Beth was at Bible study, so I brought the kids to the park early to let them play at the playground before the game. Beth collected them before our game started.

Alex and Missy have both been at Presby Preschool's Olympics day camp this week. Beth and I also took them today to the Winona Lake bike trails to place a cache, something we've been wanting to do for a while, ever since we had to remove the last cache we placed. We found what we think is a good spot behind a fallen tree. We also met some other cachers out on the trails. They weren't caching at the time, but could tell we were since we had the GPS. They've just moved to town and he's looking for a job in the health care industry, and had some free time. Yesterday Beth was quilting most of the day, so I took the kids out and about to get them out of the house for a while. We ran some errands, and found some garage sales. One of which had a practically brand new, looks like it's never been played with, Tonka loader truck for $4. An absolute steal. Alex was just thrilled. The lady I got it from said she was glad her son wasn't around right then because he'd be upset if he saw someone buying it (judging from the clothes she had for sale, he's about 2. Not sure why she's selling the loader). Afterwards we took them bowling, for no other reason than they asked if they could go bowling.

The first game of the softball tournament was tonight. We lost, to a team that had beaten us twice in the regualr season already, I believe. Nobody did much of anything tonight. I was 1-for-3 but should have been 2-for-3; there was a bad call at first base. I beat the next one. My shoulder has been killing me lately. I'm not sure exactly why. It feels kinda like tendonitis but I've been off softball for 2 weeks so it should have been getting better. I made arrangements with the other outfielders to get them the ball to throw in if needed, and sat out the last few innings. Ice helped too.

Ah, the first week home after vacation. So much to adjust to all over again. I've been crazy busy at work, and the kids schedules are all out of whack so they're grumpy. Alex has also had Pirate Camp at Presby this week, arrr. We've also sold the train table that we didn't manage to sell in the garage sale. I put an ad on Craig's List the weekend after we got back, and we had it sold in a couple days for $50. Alex was very pragmatic about it going away. He cried at first, but by the time the people came to pick it up he was happy to help them carry it out to their truck and make sure they had all the pieces. A couple days ago Gary was out of town so we had Renee and the kids over for dinner...Jake was pretty disappopinted the train set was gone. This week I also got the van in for service to fix the horrible shaking it's been doing whenever you put the brakes on (on vacation last week, it was terrible through the mountains) and the engine racing whenever you shift to park. Of course, they found about $1800 worth of things that should be done, but I had them fix the throttle position sensor and the front rotors for $355 for now. We all went geocahing yesterday, but it was really too hot to go very long. And also, we went to see "The Dark Knight" last weekend, awesome. This weekend we also went to see the new "X-Files" movie with the Johnsons and Wilhites. We all thought it was good; I thought it was like an extended episode of the show. Nothing wrong with it. Not exactly spectacular either, but good.
This week at work we also had an offsite to talk about the project I've been working with for 2-odd years now, and we all wonder if it's going anywhere. We needed to talk about where we are, where we've been, and where we're going. We held it at the Z Hotel, and during that time I got a parking ticket. Didn't realize there was a 2-hour parking limit. Dirk got one too.

We just got back this afternoon from a week and a half vacation to Maryland for my sister's wedding.
7/9 - Left town this morning as soon as we could get rolling. Had to hit the library (return books), the bank, get gas...but we left about 10:30 and made it to the Pittsburgh area by around dinnertime. We did miss a turn somewhere in Ohio that took us some 40 miles in the wrong direction (to Delaware!), a sign of things to come. We had booked a hotel on Hotwire.com that turned out to be the Radisson, for cheap (comparatively - $68). Took the kids to the pool for a couple hours to let them burn off some energy.
7/10 - Got back on the road by about 9:00 or so and headed off to Laura's. We made it there by fairly early afternoon. Mom and Dad and Auntie Irene were already there. Somehow, I wound up watching the kids by myself at Laura's for a few hours while everyone else went off shopping or something; then later we all met up again with Thomas' parents for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.
7/11 - The rehearsal was today. I was asked to run the iPod for wedding music, which wasn't too hard. Sweaty, though. It was as hot and muggy as hot and muggy gets, and the bugs were out, but we all got through the rehearsal just fine and off to the dinner in Frederick. Except the traffic was heavy, and cars kept jumping in front of me while I was trying to follow someone to the restaurant. Soon we were lost. And going the wrong way. Second time this trip. Thank heaven fro cell phones; I don't know how people got through stuff like this before them. We were quite late, but dinner was really nice, the kids were all entertained and fed more or less seperately (lots of kids) and played together making crafts and such. Afterwards, Auntie Irene, Beth, the kids and I headed back to the hotel and got lost. Again. Well, not so much lost as several miles in the wrong direction before getting back.
7/12 - Wedding day. Beth and Mom and Auntie Irene and the other ladies all went to a day spa, while the men went to a water park sort of place. Dad and I took the kids with Thomas and his friends and brothers and their kids to a city park that has a really nice kids pool, with slides and fountains and everything. Missy was too short to go on the slides, but Alex could, so I helped him with that. We all didn't care much for the fast, steep slide that sprayed water in your face all the way down, but the slower, longer one was quite nice. Even Dad went down it. We were back with the kids by early afternoon, but things took longer at the spa and the ladies didn't get back until the last minute. We did mange to get everyone dressed and ready in time (kids bathed and everything). Missy was a beautiful flower girl, Alex looked very smart as a ring bearer. The wedding went off perfectly, except Beth forgot all the words to her song and we had to skip it until brunch. The reception afterwards was a very nice catered dinner by the Inn; including all the kids upstairs for their own party with pizza and games and movies. It kept them out of our hair for the most part, except for Alex coming downstairs every so often to ask if it was time for cake yet. Dancing afterwards, with the obligatory YMCA thrown in.
7/13 - Brunch in the morning at the Inn, followed by the great move-out by everyone staying at the Inn. Beth sang the song during brunch. We also packed up the kids stuff and helped move everything back to Laura and Thomas' condo. We all went to the mall, then a late lunch at Red Robin, and then we left the kids with Laura & Thomas and Mom & Dad & Auntie Irene back at the condo. Oh, sweet freedom. Beth and I went to see "Hancock" which we both liked (Beth more than me) and out for ice cream.
7/14 - We drove down to D.C. this morning to do some sightseeing. Did you know that if you approach D.C from the north along the GW Memorial Highway, you pass a sign for a CIA facility called the George Bush Center for Intelligence? Too funny. Beth and I just looked at each other and laughed. Anyway, we drove to Arlington and parked, then hopped a tour bus (one of those circling, hop-on/hop-off kinds) and rode across the river about as far as the White House. The tour guide had some great gouge for us: since it was around lunchtime she suggested we go to the lower level of the Reagan building where there is a great big food court with normal prices and safe food. Better than any other Smithsonian rip-off cafeterias and street-meat vendors fer sher. We spent the next few hours walking a lot, past the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial (I loved the Kilroy tucked away in a quiet corner!) , Declaration of Independence signers memorial, a great statue of Einstein in front of the Academy of Science, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial [everyone else was at the Washington Monument when we got here, and we swapped some phone pix messages], Korean War Memorial, and FDR Memorial, picking up 7 or 8 virtual geocaches along the way. By that time we needed to hop on the next (last) bus back to Arlington, then had just enough time to do a quick tour of the cemetery before heading out. We were trying to meet everyone else for dinner at a Friday's somewhere in the area, but went the wrong way/got lost/doubled back not less than 3 times between Arlington and there. Still not sure how we eventually made it. Glad we didn't have the kids cuz we swore a lot. We had dinner (we were quite late, but it was all good) and said goodbye to Auntie Irene and Mom and Dad (all going to England next day). I was afraid the kids would squawk at us leaving them again but they didn't at all.
7/15 - Beth and I were going to browse the shops in the old town section of Frederick but we were a little early. By 10 or 11 many/most of them hadn't opened, or were closed on Tuesdays, go figure. We didn't find much that really interested us anyway. Then it got just too hot and sticky for outside stuff, so we went to lunch at a sushi place and went to see another movie, "Get Smart," which was good but would have made a better rent. A seafood place we had seen and wanted to go to for dinner (The Cracked Claw) was also closed on Tuesday, we discovered. Not having much else in mind for today, we headed towards Laura's by fairly early afternoon. Nobody was home so we hung out at the McD's and read. Laura called to see how we were a bit later, and she and Thomas had the kids at the water park we'd been to a few days before, so Beth and I headed over there and we swam together for a while. We took them out to eat the the Greene Turtle later on, where they had hermit crab races which fascinated the kids. We stayed with them overnight.
7/16 - We packed up and hit the road for Columbus by late morning. Another really nice hotel (Crowne Plaza) via Hotwire for real cheap, but they gouge you on parking, come to find out. We got there by late afternoon, in time to get the kids into the pool before meeting Mikey for dinner. Afterwards Beth put the kids to bed while Mikey and I went out to see what there was to see of Columbus and stop in a bar for a drink. First time I've ever been in a bar quite like that one.
7/17 - Mikey got some comp tickets to the Columbus Zoo so we met up and headed there today. (Jack Hanna's zoo, you know.) The zoo is attached to a huge water theme park, which would have been nice to go to on this hoooot day but the kids were probably too small for it, from the looks of things. Anyway, we did the zoo (water floatie ride, train ride, merry-go-round, and oh yeah, some animals) most of the day. Mikey came over to the hotel and we all went to the pool to cool off the kids after a hot day out, then we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Mikey also got me a 30-cent discount on gas at the Kroger station, woo hoo.
7/18 - Checked out and heading home by 10. No wrong turns or backtracks at all, wonder of wonders. Finally made it home by afternoon. It must not have rained much while we were gone, but the plants in the hanging baskets look great.

Softball lost tonight, to another team that beat us once before. I'm in a batting slump. I was 1-for-4 but the 1 hit was more of an error. Anyway this was the last regular season game, and I won't be playing next week, so I finish the season 20-for-37, or 0.541. Not so bad.

It's been a busy July 4 weekend. On Friday (which I had off work), I spent most of the day working on a new sandbox for the kids. I got a wild hair that they needed a bigger one a while ago so I got some wood and screws and have been getting it built. Alex and Missy met a neighborhood kid this week, who has been here to play every single day since then...and it's big enough for them all to play in it. Big improvement. Beth and I and the kids all went out geocaching again in the afternoon, up around Syracuse, and then later on had a wild hair and drove back up that way to eat dinner at Pete's, which we all agreed was not nearly as good as it should be. We got some sparklers and took the kids to the fireworks show in the evening, where Alex made fast friends with the family parked next to us in the middle school lot, who were all seated in the bed of their truck. He wanted to sit in the truck too. They had a couple of little kids so they said sure, come on up with us. Missy wanted to come too. He jabbered more or less the whole time the show was going on, crawling back down and over to us a few times to get his blanket, or his stuffed animal (which he introduced to the people with a big flourish..."everybody, meet...Pacer!), or just to check on us "Is everything OK here?". We took them to Pike Lake beach on Saturday and out for ice cream later. Sunday the only big thing was getting the sand to fill the completed sandbox, which was a bear to get pounded into the ground. And 15 bags of sand is heeeeavy. We need more, too.

Softball won tonight on a late inning rally. I myself did not hit well; I had 2 hits (out of 5) but neither of those made it past the pitcher and I only reached because they rolled funny. Just one of those nights.

Missy has been going to Cowgirl day camp at Presby this week, which she loves. We were lucky; they had a cancellation so a space for her opened up. Beth and I finally took the kids to see "Kung Fu Panda" Friday night, which we all really enjoyed, even though some of the fighting parts scared the kids. Saturday we all went out geocaching, heading out in the direction of Etna Green and Bourbon. We didn't find one we were looking for, but did find a nice park and playground that the kids really enjoyed. Saturday we had a Katie day so Beth and I went to dinner and to see "The Happening," which was dumb.

The kids are coming off an especially busy week. Monday through Friday was our church's VBS and they also had a "Kids Quest" day camp thing at preschool. Space Camp was the theme. The space part of it was basically making space-oriented crafts and pretending to be astronauts and such, mot really the NASA version. So they were going to Space Camp in the mornings, and VBS in the evenings, all week. I was driving one of the vans for VBS, but Beth wasn't working, so we went out to dinner a few times with Virgil and Sherri. We had Chinese more then anything. Beth and Sherri also went to a play at the Wagon Wheel (the Wizard of Oz) Wednesday so Virgil and I went and checked out the Train Shack in town after dinner. Saturday was Beth's and my anniversary and Alex's first chance to go to camp at Michiana Christian Service Camp (they call the day camp for the 5-year-olds "First Chance Camp"). A bunch of deacons were working at removing two of the large stained glass windows in the church afterwards and I helped; we accomplished in a couple hours with free labor what the best outside quote wanted $25,000 to do. The windows were easier to remove than we were expecting; maybe we should take more down. Anyway, afterwards Beth, Missy, and I went to Fort Wayne to go to Toys R Us and then go look at some pop-up campers, but it started pouring buckets while we were eating lunch, so we wound up only looking at a couple (which we decided later were out of our price range) before packing it in and heading home again. I was worried that Alex would be getting rained on all day at camp, but when we picked him up (he was sleeping in the van when it came back) we found out it hadn't rained up there hardly at all. He had a great time.

Tonight the softball team lost (again) to the same team that beat us on opening day. I myself was 2-for-2 at bat, with some hard hits, but had a horrible day in the field, most notably because I misplayed a long fly ball and couldn't...quite...reach it in one inning, then did it again a few innings later, when the ball glanced off the top of my glove and over the fence. With the bases loaded. Embarassing.

Today is Missy's 4th birthday. Things were much more low-key here than for previous birthdays. We visited the library and got Alex's bike tire fixed, and Laura, Thomas, and Ben visited here for the weekend, coming down from where they were visiting in Michigan. They arrived Saturday; we had a Katie day so she babysat while the grownups did some shopping and had dinner. Today we had bagels and a small party - just us at home - for Missy. She got some good stuff... a fishing rod, Sorry game, magnifying glass, some clothes, etc. Then we went to Fort Wayne to go to Chuck E. Cheese's, which seemed like much more of a rip-off than I remember. Alex hit a couple of 50+ ticket jackpots, so we had 287 by the end, which was enough for 2 bouncy balls and a little plastic ring for Missy. At T'N'T we'd've had enough for 2 bags full of crap. Anyway, since today was Father's Day, Ritter's had a special going on where the fathers got free ice cream so we went. We were going to get ice cream and then go see "Kung Fu Panda," but while we were waiting in line a huge driving thunderstorm blew up. Beth and the kids went back to the car when the sprinkling started but the rest of us were caught and had to shelter under the overhang. It was absolutely driving rain and the overhang was not much shelter. So the 3 of us were pretty wet by the time the ice cream was ready, and we decided to skip the movie. Laura and Thomas left Monday morning.

My back is much better and I was 2-for-3 with a good solid hit and a couple nice catches in an exciting softball win tonight. We won on a walkoff homer. I would have batted next; I had dreams of hitting the winning RBI or something. But this was good enough.

Virgil called and came over this evening, kind of out of the blue, to help me do some fixing up on the lawn tractor. We figured out how to level the mover deck (it was cutting really screwy) and got new blades (they were about as sharp as marbles).

Beth and I had a garage sale this weekend. The Churchills and the Thomases put a lot of stuff together with ours so we had a bunch of junk in our garage. I took Friday off to tend to it. We did a steady business, but it was so windy we kept having to chase clothes around and pick up the display stands that had blown over. We made close to $400 altogether, selling a lot of clothes, toys, books, videos, and junk. Big ticket items that sold were the old swingset ($60), Missy's crib ($50), Alex's crib ($85 - funny story 1), Alex's bike ($10); other noteworthy items were the old garage door opener (funny story 2), both of the old trikes, and kids clothes. We bought 4 big cases of pop to sell (we could quadruple our money by selling it for 50 cents a can) but only 4 cans sold all weekend. Don't know why. Virgil and Sherry brought over tons of old kitchen stuff from his late father's storage spaces (he was a pack rat) and sold nearly all of it. Sunday it was really slow, but steady, all day, so I worked on (and completed) the assembly of the kids' new swingset / slide while the sale went on.

Funny story 1: a large group of Hispanic men, only 1 of whom spoke English, came over to our house late Sunday afternoon (sale was over on Saturday), asking if we still had the crib. The offer/counteroffer process went $100, $70, $90, $80, $90, $80 (his final offer), $85 (my final offer, accepted). The one who spoke English was asking if I had the measure for it. I got out the tape measure and told him how big it was on all sides. He looked confused. I must have too. He asked for the measure again in a minute or so. I told him yes, I had the measurements and told him again how big it was. Finally I realized he was asking for the mattress. That I did not have, as it was worn out when we put the crib away and it went in the trash long ago. He looked at me like I was ripping him off.

Funny story 2: A guy bought the old garage door opener for $5 but needed to leave it here and go home for the truck. Apparently the truck was unavailable because he returned later with the same car. He put the accessories in the car, then picked up the opener, rested the front of it on the passenger side view mirror, and then got into the back, holding the motor end up by hand outside the rear passenger window. Off they went like that. I hope they didn't have to go far.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon we went to Wal-Mart and got Alex a brand new bike which fits him much better, and got Missy a new big kid booster seat just like Alex's. By evening the front tire on the bike was flat as can be and would not hold any air at all. So, we need to get that fixed because Alex was very disappointed.

The other day Beth and I were moving things around in our garage to get ready for a garage sale this coming weekend, and I pulled a muscle in my lower back pretty badly. Well, not badly, but it is sore. Tonight, We had another late softball game tonight, and I was not on. I was 1-for-3 with a weak infield hit. I blame the sore back. We did win the game, though. We should have mopped the floor with the other team but it was only something like 5-3.

Beth and I took the kids out to Tokens & Tickets to celebrate their completion of another year of preschool. It's a bummer thet school is over for the summer; they love it so much. Anyway, we all played some games at T&T, bought some trinkets with the tickets we won (all of which I hope make it into the trash very soon) and went out to dinner at Shoop's. Saturday we got moving early to head on out to Shipshewana and Elkhart to look at some used campers (Memorial Day weekend got us in the mood to look for one again). Ewing's had surprisingly few, none in our price range, but they did waste our time showing off ones we couldn't afford. That was a bust so we headed to Elkhart and checked out a couple different places, again, none of which had what we were looking for. Sherry had told us about a popup for sale on someone's front lawn in town, so we swung by to look at it, it looke nice so we called the owners to see if we could come take a closer look. Katie was babysitting, so after she came over we went and looked. Nice. A 1996 model, very good shape, only 2 1-inch tears in the canvas, lots of room, well laid out, 2 queen beds, easily towable with the minivan, $2600. Beth and I talked about it over dinner at Mad Anthony's and decided to make a decision tomorrow. Then we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, which was disappointing. How unfortunate that the franchise had to be dumbed down. Sunday we made the decision to pass on the camper. Neither one of us were that excited about it, for no reason we could really tell, other than we just didn't feel it was right. Not sure why.

Tonight I had one of my best ever softball games. I don't know that I've ever gone 4-for-4 (all solid hits or beaten grounders) but I know I've never scored 4 runs in a game before. I ran the bases aggressively and smartly, and even scored the game winning run, scoring from second on a single. So cool. Alex was back in school today (the kids' last week) after missing on Monday due to throwing up all night. Not as much or as badly or for as long as Missy did a week or so ago, but still the same thing.

After a bad week it was a good long weekend. Missy's tummy was still upset Friday evening so we weren't sure we were going to go camping as planned, but she seemed fine Saturday so we loaded up and headed for Potato Creek. Since we brought Alex's bike with us, we stopped at Wal-Mart and bought one for her too. She needs one, and she wanted one so much. She was riding like a champ before we left Wal-Mart, and did great all day with it at the campground. The usual camping group was all there, plus a few, and we had a great time. The kids had plenty of other kids their age to play with so they actually left us alone most of the time. Of course we took them for bike rides and to the playgrounds too. It's pretty apparent now after seeing Missy ride that Alex needs a new bike; his is just too small for him and he has trouble balancing on it because of that. Missy gave herself a bad scrape on her ankle when she fell once, and didn't get on the bike again that day, but she rode a lot the next day. We went home probably too late because the kids were too tired and Alex especially had started acting up, but they were out before we'd been on the road more than a few miles. We went back Sunday, armed with some geocache locations, but Beth decided she was too sore for hiking which was just as well because the caches Virgil, Jack, and I went to get involved probably a mile of roundabout trail hiking to get 1000 feet as the crow flies. Virgil and I went again after dinner, and Missy nearly got run over by a kid on a bike. It wasn't the kid's fault; he almost threw himself over his handlebars trying to stop and Missy just couldn't get out of his way. They both wound up on the ground but were ok, although Missy was pretty scared and needed to be carried the rest of the way back. We left after 9 again, and the kids were out again just after getting on the road. Today we went to Menard's to get them a new swingset, since the old one practically tips over when they both swing now. The manufacturer did not choose to make the set easy to assemble. I only have the first support done and I fear it will take quite an effort to get it all together.

The week has been a little sketchy. It was fortunate that the kids had school early in the week so Beth could have some time off from them because she still was pretty sore. Monday I got them to school and picked them up, then after work I ran home to get them again to take them to the work department softball game, in which I was 1-for-2 and made a good catch, and during which Alex played with another kid by climbing up a pile of dirt and hurling his monster truck off the top. Until it broke a few times. Tuesday Kate got the kids to and from school, and in the afternoon we finally took the van to the shop to get the window switch fixed. Driving was not agreeable for Beth yet, but she managed. We had to bring in in during the afternoon so I left work to go to the shop, she brought the van to the shop with the kids, we switched the car seats, I took them all home and went back to work, afterwards I paid up ($140), went home, picked up Beth and the kids, and we came back to collect the van. Then I dashed to take the kids to the church softball game (1-for-3, 2 good catches) which we lost to a lesser team. Wednesday was Alex's zoo trip, so he was gone all day until about 3. Thursday I finally re-started German (after missing the first 3 classes due all that stuff) and MAN did I feel in over my head. I was probably the best student in the beginning German class by far, so since beginning German II was cancelled, the teacher thought I could do OK in the advanced class. I'm the only one in it that hasn't spent at least a couple years in Germany or Switzerland, and I felt lost most of the time. I'll stay on a bit longer, maybe it'll get better when I'm not so cold. Thursday night, Missy started throwing up at around 10 pm, and did so every hour or so all night long. Literally all night. Beth and I were up changing nighties and sheets and cleaning up barf a lot. And throw this on the pile: we were watching TV at around 11 and both saw a small dark shape dart across the floor and behind the piano. I was out at owen's buying mouse traps immediately, as soon as the imminent cleanup was over. We set the traps before midnight (baited with bread and peanut butter) and by about 3 am we had the varmint caught, tied in a plastic bag, and tossed in the dumpster. Friday everyone seemed fine but we stayed in just in case.

Beth is still really sore. And we have no child care set up for the coming week because she wasn't supposed to be this sore this long. We've had friends taking care of them for quite a while so we're just going to have to make the best of it, I think. Last Wednesday I was late to work so I could get them ready for school; Kate picked them up and took them home afterwards and I picked them up there after work. Then we went shopping for dinner (instead of McD's or something) and grilled. Thursday I was late to work again to get them up and ready and they spent all day with Tina; and afterwards Beth was able to go to Alex's preschool graduation with the rest of us. Friday Kate picked the kids up in the morning and took them to Lorraine's for the afternoon. Saturday I took the kids out in the afternoon to go bowling, since they've been asking to go (Missy dropped a ball on her foot...twice), then to a couple garage sales (where Alex found a toy that he had to have, but doesn't work). Beth was was well enough to have date night in the evening; we kad Katie babysit while we went out to dinner and to see the new Narnia movie with Churchills. I took them to church this morning while Beth stayed home, but we did go to movie night. We'll see how things go this next week.

Beth had outpatient surgery today. Bright & early, Jenny came over to get the kids up and to school. We were gone before they woke up. By the time we got home in the afternoon they were at Theresa's as was Sammy and Carson and Reagan. I dropped Beth off, then by 4 or so got the kids and took them back to the nature preserve, because I've been informed that there are really restrictive rules about geocaches there, and the long and short of it was I needed permission in writing and to pay $45. So, we went and took the cache off their land. I had an early softball game, so finally I could take the kids to see the game. They were very well-behaved, especially since Carson was there to play with during the game. They got to play at the playground for a while before and after the game too. I was 1-for-3, and we won the game on a walkoff homer (by someone else).

The stinky tree in the front yard by the garage is history. After a few missteps in the planning (caused by the apartment owner being a micromanager), the apartment management and I agreed to split the cost of removing the tree halfway. More than generous since it's on their land. It's a so-called tree of heaven, which is odd because it's dirty and smelly and drops crap all over. But now it's sawdust and a stump, yay!

Beth and I didn't do any geocache finding this weekend, but we did do a hide. The cache I placed in Plymouth (and later removed due to construction and being too far away) has returned to the field after living in the garage for some time. We placed it today in a nice little nature preserve near Hoffman Lake. Problem though: when we got there, the window of the van wouldn't go back up. Luckily it's an amish neighborhood so the likelihood of theft was slight. Alex had his last soccer game yesterday; he was obviously feeling better than last week. He was enjoying himself and actually running after the ball. His team got beaten badly as usual; I'm not sure they ever scored a goal. But I don't think anyoine noticed. He was disappointed that he didn't get a team picture, but he was sick a couple weeks ago when they were taken, so we took a picture of him in his team shirt with a ball in the backyard after we got home. In the evening we all went out to dinner to wish Beth a happy Mother's Day.

Second game of softball was tonight. We got our new team t-shirts (I'm now #9 instead of #19) so we were unstoppable. I was 2-for-3 with 2 infield hits and a walk. I scored a couple times too. The other pitcher was having a tough time. I walked the first time up, went to second on a walk, went to third on a walk, and scored on a walk. The game was mercy ruled after 5 innings because we were all over them (they did have 1 run on a homer). Beth had the kids at mothers' night at preschool (Alex was a late addition to going because now he's getting sick again. Seems to be a bad cold).

Well, Missy didn't get as sick as we were worried that she would. She was pretty sick last Sunday so we kept her home from preschool on Monday, but she rallied and made it to school Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday evening, however, Alex was stir crazy from being in the house all day now that he's feeling better but Missy isn't, and it was raining, so to get him something to do I took him to the library. We had a great time playing "Sorry" and finding some kid books to check out. Tuesday was the first softball game of the season in church league. It was also SO COLD it's amazing we didn't all tear hamstrings. We lost 15-14 in 8 innings after blowing a huge lead late. I was 2-for-4 but should have been 3-for-4 but for a blown call. Wednesday we had a plumber in the house to fix the (ever more and more so) dripping tub faucet upstairs, and had him fix the shower hose leaks and diverter while he was at it. Thursday Beth had quilting and I needed to feed the kids but there was little in the house so I ordered a pizza for them (which they loved since they got to choose the toppings). Friday we took the kids out on the town to do some shopping and spend some of our tax refund, and bought some new pots and pans and some new clothes for me. Saturday Alex had a soccer game (I don't think he's fully recovered yet; he seemed to get tired really fast, and generally lagged way behind the action, and tears came out a few times) in the morning and we all went out geocaching afterwards (first family outing time this year), and got 3 local ISQs before the cold wind drove us back inside. In the evening Katie babysat while Beth and I went to see "The Forbidden Kingdom" which we both enjoyed al lot. Today was a perfect geocaching day so we went out again to a state Rec Area, where 7 are hidden. There is a lot of walking involved so we only got 4 and will come back later. Hopefully before the bugs are too bad because they will be.

It has been another rough week. I came home a few hours early on Tuesday because Beth was feeling really sick, but by Wednesday, she was getting better enough to go to see the doctor in FW for a consult and teach at the last Kids Klub of the season. Then on Thursday, she was feeling really sick again. Again, I left work a few hours early (I should’ve stayed home altogether) to take care of the kids. When I got home, Alex was sick as well. I took the kids to the McD drive-thru for dinner Thursday night and we had to pull out of the line quickly to avoid a bad accident. I took Friday off to take care of everyone. Alex had a terrible upset stomach the rest of Thursday and all day Friday, so did Beth. Even though he was doing better by Saturday, we kept Alex home from soccer again even though he might have been ok, but we wouldn’t chance it. Beth was still nauseous, aching all over, and with a terrible headache all day Saturday and wound up in Medstat today. Guess what, it’s a virus. Gee thanks. But she got some anti-nausea medication and is doing better now. Missy has been barely touched by the bug, and I haven’t at all. Hope that stays true. The kids are both well enough that we’re planning to send them both to school tomorrow, but a friend is taking them in and picking them up.

Everyone is basically on the mend, except Beth, who is feeling sick all over again now. Missy missed one day of school, Alex didn’t miss any. More good news, we finally had our dryer fixed, and it is running as well as ever now. I also did some lawn work to try to get some grass to grow in our front yard this year. Been digging up some nice dirt from the backyard and moving it to the front. Alex had soccer Saturday and had a great time (needs to learn to pay attention, and that he can’t pick up the ball even if he wants to get a goal). Then haircuts all around. We were also supposed to have a date night Saturday, but out babysitter cancelled on us, which was just as well because we were asked to babysit Jake and Lily Saturday night anyway. So the kids all got to play together. Today we went to Michigan to visit with Pam and Marve, and since it was Pam’s birthday (and several others in the family) Ric and Stephanie and their families all came over as well and we had a cookout. Alex had a great time playing with all his cousins (he adores Ryan) and exploring the woods around their condo (a small strip of pine trees). She was feeling sick by the time we came home. In other news, I have gotten two more football responses, a polite letter from Houston and a letter-less envelope from Dallas, containing a team sticker, photo, and cheerleader photo.

This morning there was a pretty big earthquake. It didn’t wake me up, but something was rattling and woke Alex up, and he woke Beth and me up. It felt like the bed was vibrating, then I stood up and it felt like the floor was vibrating. Strangest thing. It went on for a minute or so. "Are we having an earthquake?" I asked Beth. She didn’t know. Of course we were both groggy enough that we weren’t sure it had been real by morning.

Spring break, no school for the kids. Mom and Dad were here this past week. I left work a little bit early Monday because I felt bad (couldn’t focus, feeling chilled) and on Tuesday I felt awful and called in to work. Mom and Dad got here Tuesday evening after the kids were in bed and I called in for Wednesday as well. I was sick basically the entire time they were here, and Alex was just getting over it. He had somehow gotten it into his head that Gramma and Grampa were going to take him to Tokens & Tickets, so on Wednesday they did. Alex loved it, especially the part where you shoot out the clown’s teeth (Beth said he was good at it). Thursday I was still off work sick. Mom and Dad took us all out to Schoop’s for dinner, and I thought I was doing better by evening, so I went in to work on Friday morning but went home by about 10:00, feeling awful again. I went to the doctor with Alex and we both got some medicine (he was basically fine, I was getting bronchitis). Then Mom and Dad and Beth took the kids to the mall in Fort Wayne to do some shopping while I stayed home. They went on to catch a plane to Laura’s from there. In the evening, Missy began running a fever.

It’s been a rough week. Beth was sick last week, and this past week it’s been the kids. All was well on Monday, when I took the kids to the Carnival at their preschool..it is not easy to keep track of both of them at a place like that. Beth was at Bible study so I took them myself. However, Beth had neglected to tell me that you have to pay for tickets to do the games and such, so after getting the kids (in the rain) in the door, and them getting all excited, I tried to explain to them that we needed to leave so I could go get some cash. A very helpful lady that was working there saw us packing up and comped us a bunch of tickets, so we didn’t have to leave, which was good. Once inside, as is typical, Alex wanted to run all over and do everything and Missy planted her feet, crossed her arms, and glared at the floor (it was too noisy). But we managed, eventually getting the kids to about all the game stations (Missy like the fishing the best) and coming home with a load of cheapo plastic toys and candy. We even won two prizes in the last cakewalk of the evening...Missy won the first choice and I won one later on (I let Alex pick the prize). A couple days after that, Alex got sick. Several days of high fever, tired all the time, not wanting to eat, runny nose. No missed school, but Thursday and Friday he wasn’t feeling well. Saturday was supposed to be a fun day for him (soccer in the morning, and a birthday party for a classmate at Joy Jungle) but he wasn’t feeling well enough for either one. We thought he was ok enough for us to go to Churchill’s in the evening for a movie night but he came down with a fever while we were gone again.

Alex had his first soccer game at the YMCA this afternoon. He was still 4 when we signed him up, so he was in the lower division, and I think he’s the oldest on the team. Which is ok, since he’s not an aggressive kid and he’s new to organized soccer. Anyway, he loved it. He likes to play goalie a lot as well as run around. His only problem is lack of focus, but that’s common. Sometimes he just runs around regardless of where the ball is. He also had an eye appointment last week and got a new prescription. The eye doctor said he’s doing just great. On the home front, I’ve been working quite a lot lately on the guest room downstairs (mom and dad are coming soon) and have finally finished the drywalling (except in the smaller closet). Basically only the trim and finishing work is left.

I had Good Friday off so I took the kids to the Easter breakfast at their preschool. Missy performed with her class (such as she always does, not singing, not doing the motions, not wearing the headgear she had made in class...Beth had given her some bunny ears to wear, and she wore those, refusing to put on her class-made hat after the teacher called it a "bonnet" because, she said, she is not a baby) with Alex and me in the audience, then we had some breakfast casserole, which both kids actually ate some of. Later on, Beth and I took the kids to American Countryside Farmers Market near Mishawaka and met the Rowes there. I guess the place is pretty new; they’ve got plans for an indoor water park and everything there too. But right now they’ve got a bunch of stalls for people to sell crafty things and flavored popcorn and cookware, inside a gi-normous barn with 3 cupolas. We got buffalo chili dogs for lunch. Saturday was a Katie day, but there was nothing Beth and I wanted to see at the movies so instead we went to Churchill’s and watched NCAA basketball and ‘The Passion of the Christ" with them. Speaking of which, I filled out a bracket at work and bet a guy $1 that mine was better than his (he picked his alma mater Clemson for final 4, and he challenged me when I mocked him). After church on Sunday, Ronnie and DeeAnn invited us and the kids to lunch at Boathouse, their treat (very nice of them) and over to their house afterwards for more NCAA basketball (watching Tennessee vs. Butler).

Thursday Beth and I took Alex to the dentist in Fort Wayne once again; he had another filling put in. I went along because he was really scared, despite the fact that he had done it before and he came through like a trooper then. It was over in maybe 15 minutes. I missed half a day of work for it. Bible study was at our house on Friday; Mike and Cindy came and seemed to enjoy it and said they’re going to keep coming. Saturday, we took the kids to McD’s for lunch and looked around the new furniture store in town in the afternoon. Beth really felt like taking a break so we hired Jenny to babysit (she brought her little sister Annie, who is great friends with Alex and Missy) in the evening while we went to Goshen to eat at Wild Wings and play trivia. I dominated the whole place in both rounds I played. Sunday we kept the kids home from church due to the colds, but decided they were well enough to go to the Easter egg hunt, which was very nice. The day was sunny, maybe the first time for that in weeks, and the ground not too soggy. The kids loved it. It was even warm enough in the afternoon for me to go out and rake some leaves that have been lying on the ground since fall, and the kids played outside for most of the time I was working as well. We skipped movie night due again to the colds. We should have kept them inside all day but they have been so desperate to get out lately we let them go.

Today was Alex’s 5th birthday. We had a little party at home; about half a dozen friends from church and school came to the house just after supper for a couple hours. The kids played and we did cake and ice cream and presents. Alex did pretty well; most notably he got a scooter, a plug-n-play video (Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc) game for the TV, and a couple more Thomas trains, Beth and I also got him a new bedding set and new border for his room. He got a tractor cake, for some reason that was the one he picked out.

Since we didn’t go to FW yesterday, Beth and I took the kids today. We took the kids to Once Upon a Child and to Penney’s (since Alex had no jeans left without holes in the knee) and to ride the merry-go-round at the mall, and did some birthday present shopping at Toys R Us. We got Alex a big box of sorta-Legos and some new (better) training wheels for his bike.

The lady who paid us for the sectional sofa last weekend finally came along with a truck and trailer and 3 guys. Late. She was supposed to come by right after she got off work at 1:00, so Beth and I were going to go to Fort Wayne afterwards to do some shopping and meet Sheri and Virgil for dinner afterwards (they were going to FW too, seperately). However, she called a couple times saying she had to work later, and her help was late, blah blah...so we waited all afternoon. She did come by and they got the thing out of our house in a single load, but we didn’t go anywhere because it was too late. However, as it turns out Sheri and Virgil hadn’t gone to FW after all so we met up at Ruby Tuesday’s in Warsaw for dinner instead. With the kids. After we got home and got the kids to bed we stayed up playing Spades for a while.

This morning was Presby Sunday, where the preschool classes do a little performance during the morning church services. All the kids were together in one big group. Missy was in front, where she refused to do any of the singing or motions, and lifted her dress up and held herself because she needed to go potty. Alex had no such problem; he doesn’t seem to get stage fright.

The lady who came by a couple days ago to look at the sectional returned today to pay. $650 in cash. Tonight we went out to dinner at Mad Anthony’s with the Johnsons, and went out to see "Jumper" afterwards. A rather uninspiring movie I would say.

Missy said goodbye to all her babas today. After lunch I took them all to work to throw them away there to remove the temptation to get them out of the trash at home if things were rough.

Beth and Rachel were away today having sushi to celebrate Rachel’s birthday so since the kids and I had nothing to do, I called Stacy to see if Carson could come over to play. She brought him over for a couple hours. I made Toll House cookies while he was here and tried to referee. Alex’s old boots fit him so I let them play outside for a while since it was nice enough.
Tue 2/19/08...Beth went back to the dentist to get her crown put in today. The kids both went to the dentist in Fort Wayne too. I went with them, because Beth was in some pain and was pretty medicated and out of it, so I had to drive. The kids both were ok at the dentist, but Alex has another cavity in a new molar that came in with a very deep trough. So, he goes back in a couple weeks to get another filling. Missy was fine. It seems Alex has my teeth and Missy has Beth’s. By evening Beth was still in some major pain, what likely happened was the needle nicked a nerve when she got the novocaine shots. She’s apparently going to be in pain for about 36 hours.

JB’s Furniture in town is having a huge moving sale, so we went on my lunch hour to check things out since Missy has been really needing to get out of the toddler bed / crib. She’s waking up during the middle of the night a lot lately, just like Alex was before we moved him into his big boy bed. We found a good one for her, which goes nicely with the headboard we bought for her a long time ago. It was even delivered that afternoon. We’ve decided that Missy will give up the baba once and for all now that she is in a big girl bed, so we’ve started talking about it and will give her until next Wednesday night (after school next week).

Not a good Valentine’s Day. I got a card and flowers for Beth and I was going to take the afternoon off to spend with Beth, but when I got home nobody was here. They all arrived about 15 minutes later, Alex and Missy were both crying, and Beth was furious. Apparently there had been 2 hours of major meltdowns and embarrassments at Owen’s from Alex, and Beth had absolutely had it to the point of having to get him out of her sight before she did something to him. So, I went back to work. When I got home, there was a package from the GM of the San Francisco 49ers, with a letter stating he believes I should be a 49ers fan and also containing a 49ers hat, which he asked me to wear with pride! So the Niners are definitely the frontrunners.

It has been an eventful week. It has been a strange winter and one of the wettest I can remember. All the rivers are flooded. It rained Monday night...hard....and it seems the outside drain outside the laundry room entry door got clogged, and quite a bit of water came through over the door threshold and into the laundry room, where it soaked the bottom of the cabinets, shelves, drywall, beams...and the house reeked of cat pee. I wound up leaving work at lunch on Tuesday and spending all day ripping stuff out of our laundry room and tossing it in the dumpster. And also cutting the bottom 18 inches or so of drywall down in the laundry room and guestroom closet and tossing that out too. Things started smelling better as soon as the wet stuff was out, but cleanup was a dirty, smelly job too. We were interrupted by parent-teacher conferences at preschool for both of the kids, which were glowing reviews. Alex is amazing his teachers by how well he can read and count, and Missy knows all her stuff but sometimes it hard to work through her attitude to get her to say them. But everyone said they both are really smart and very good kids. Wednesday Beth had a hammering migraine and could barely function, so I stayed home from work again to take care of her and the kids. I had a pretty bad cold by the end of the week. Saturday was Beth’s Alo-ha-ha night with the ladies at church; I took the kids to the trail (where we looked for, found, and discarded the hornet’s nest from which the kids were attacked last summer) with the wagon and made it to the playground, where we couldn’t play because it was still mostly underwater (more precisely, under ice). Saturday, a person who had made an offer on our sectional sofa for $650 changed her mind about buying because she hadn’t realized how far it was from her to Warsaw and they didn’t want to spend the extra money for gas to come out here. So, we still have it taking up space. We had Katie babysit in the evening and went to Virgil & Sherri’s house for dinner.

Just finished watching the Patriots lose the Super Bowl. I had been hoping on some level that they would win and complete the perfect season, but on a lot of other levels that they would lose and blow the perfect season. It’s all good. It was an excellent game. Virgil and Sherri came over to have dinner and watch with us, otherwise no party this year. Beth made some pretzel-wrapped brats, those are turning into a fave. Yesterday a group of friends from church all went to Fort Wayne to the camper show at the Coliseum. I don’t think anybody was really in the market but it is fun to look. Beth and I found a few we liked, most notably a couple of pop-ups that must have been as long as the travel trailer we used to have, when fully extended. The kids had fun climbing through them too. Pipedreams. The whole gang went out to dinner at Case Mare afterwards (after finding that the Ryan Steak House that Don Bob wanted to go to is not there anymore) where Alex had a royal fit because he couldn’t keep the large magna-doodle the waitress brought for him to play with. He thought he got to take it home, and it broke his heart.

Today I sent out letters to Bill Ford of the Lions and the GM or owner of every other NFL team. I informed the Lions that I have had enough of them and will no longer waste my time being a fan. I informed all other NFL teams that I was looking for a new team and wanted to know if they would be willing to have me as a fan. I’ve decided that the team giving the best response will be my new team. I kind of expect to never hear from any of them, but you never know. I might get some form letters or something.

Tonight was Father’s Night for Missy at preschool, Monday was Alex’s. Both nights were basically the same; we colored together for a while, then the teachers passed out the portraits that the kids had done and we guessed who was who (Alex was too excited...he couldn’t keep it a secret. That’s you, Daddy!), then go to the gym to watch a video of LarryBoy and the Fib From Outer Space, which scares both of the kids. Maybe they didn’t have enough time to plan a real fun night kind of thing like last year because so many days have been cancelled. Anyway, we all had fun. Missy loved having a night out with Daddy, we almost never get to do things just the two of us.

I’ve worked hard on the guest bedroom this weekend; I’m really in the home stretch now. I made yet another trip to Lowe’s Friday, this one for 2 sheets of drywall and some more insulation, and spend a few hours each day this weekend working down there. Saturday Beth and I also went to Lowe’s again to buy a new gas grill with our property tax refund, and what with all the beef in our freezer now. Later on we got Katie to babysit and went to Fort Wayne to spend our B&N gift cards we got for Christmas and get sushi for dinner. We spent a LOT of money on sushi. It was one of those bills that makes you say "waah" when you get it. Earlier in the week, Beth got to go to the dentist to have a crown. Seems she cracked a tooth somewhere along the line. She gets the permanent one in a few weeks.

We got our half of the cow today. Our freezer is PACKED.

Friday we had some people come over to look at the sectional, but what they really wanted was a mirror image of what we have. Virgil & Sherri came over later on and we pooled dinner. Tomorrow is Beth’s birthday, and we were supposed to celebrate it this weekend, but it didn’t quite work out the way it was supposed to. I had arranged for Renee to babysit from about noon on Saturday until around 9pm or so, while Beth and I went to FW to spend some Christmas gift card money at Barnes & Noble, see a movie, and have sushi for dinner. Anyway, I had a meeting Saturday morning, and when I got home Beth told me "we have a problem." Renee (and Jacob) had been sick with something like the flu all night. Sooooo, we took the kids with us. Of course, we can’t take them into a B&N, so we made an appointment from them to have pictures taken at Picture People at the mall, and we took them with us. We discovered toothpaste on Alex’s shirt after we got there so Beth ran out to find another at a store across the way, but I must say however that they were great. The seemed in to mood to have their pictures taken. They listened, did what was told to them, looked at the camera and smiled...and we got some great shots of them. We also hit the Disney Store and got some sales; Alex found a Mack the truck from "Cars" and Missy found a plush Dumbo, which she loves more than anything. After getting our pictures, we decided not to keep the kids out there until dinnertime because neither one of us would enjoy dinner if we did, and they certainly wouldn’t eat sushi. So we went home.

Today Beth and I did something we haven’t done in...maybe ever. We saw TWO movies today. We took the kids to Goshen to see "The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything" at a matinee show, then a little later we got Katie to babysit and went out to dinner and to see "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." The Pirates movie had the exact opposite effect as desired: the kids were scared. The pirate fighting parts, the carnivorous cheese curls, the rock monsters...too much. Beth liked it but I thought it dragged and didn’t care for it much. National Treasure, however, I found very entertaining, maybe even more than the first one. I had no expectations for it, maybe that was the key.

Tomorrow I am going back to work. I’ve had the full 2 weeks off, so I can’t delay it any more. The past week we’ve kept mostly at and around home; I spent my Lowe’s Christmas gift card this week and then some, and have been working on the room downstairs. The triple-wide closet is turning into a double wide and an extra clothes closet, so I had to borrow Virgil to help me hang a door in straight yesterday and borrow a Remington from Lance today. We did nothing at all special for New Year’s, but a few days ago we took the kids bowling simply because they asked to, and we said why not? Oh, and the recall on the van that we’ve been getting notices about for a year...got that taken care of too. And we put the sectional sofa up for sale on Craig’s List.