We all just got back from Michigan where we spent the day with Beth's half of the family. We're probably not going to see them before January so we did Christmas (such as it was) with them today, which was going out to late lunch at Old Country Buffet and back to John & Steph's for gift exchange (for kids only). Missy got a Barbie, a bead set, and an activity book; Alex got a transformer, a Captain Underpants book, and Lego set. Ric and Nickie and Pam had a thing, and it got really really awkward for a while at the restaurant, but it'll blow over, sure why not. Anyway, I am incredibly sore today because yesterday I roofed. About 10 or so guys from church spent all day tearing an old decrepit roof off Travis and Tabatha's house and getting the new one on. Scott was the contractor and directed everything that was going on. The roof came off very easily...not that it wasn't hard work...and we pulled up everything and cleared it away before lunch, and got all the felt on and about half of the shingles before quitting when we ran out of light. Scott said we got a lot more done than he was planning or expecting, but more guys showed up than he had counted on. Friday night was the gingerbread house building night at church. Actually, it was graham crackers. Scott once again applied everything he knows and built a mansion; my kids let me "help" them build theirs so they were less impressive. But the judges liked the licorice bow ties around the houses I used to keep them from falling down. It was SO COLD during the week that Kids Klub was cancelled. Tuesday, Cub Scouts went to the Y for rock wall climbing, which Alex really liked but he couldn't get much higher than about 10 feet at most. I tried it too and managed to get all the way to the ceiling on both the straight up wall and the 3-D out & in wall. Lots of fun, I might have to try the harder walls. And sadly, our beloved kitty Agatha had to be put down Tuesday. She hadn't eaten regularly in about a month, and not at all for about 2 weeks, had lost most of her body weight (down to 4 lbs at the end), wasn't cleaning herself any more, was having trouble walking and it hurt her to pick her up. The vet said she was surprised she could get down the stairs anymore, and was sure she didn't have more than a couple days at most. Poor kitty. We miss our Aggie. And Sassafras. We have no cat for the first time since 1992.

Today was the church Christmas program/carry-in. Beth and I didn't eat there but the kids did. The kids (even Alex and Missy) sang "Away in a Manger" as part of the program. The annual church elders/deacons Christmas party was yesterday. Katie babysat for us and Beth and I went to the dinner at church. I brought a nice set of precision screwdrivers (and the toilet seat from last year) for the gift exchange, Beth brought a light-up snowman. In the exchange, I got a set of flashlights and Beth got a 4-season set of salt & pepper shakers. Unlike most years, this year had very few gag gifts, and a few more that were for men instead of just snowmen or candles. Alex had another basketball game on Saturday, and once again his team was overmatched. There was a kid on the other team that was much better than anyone else on the court, and could basically dominate the entire game. Alex got off a shot, but it wasn't really close. Last Tuesday was a birthday party for Paco at Hacienda.

A short work week with the TG holiday. Alex had Cub Scouts on Tuesday and had a pizza party and wreath-making. It's a fundraiser; the kids are to try to sell the wreaths for $20 each. TH wreaths are actually ornaments hot-glued onto round bundles of sticks, and I pity the person who would pay $20 for any wreath I saw that night. But I reckon I'll buy one and maybe gramma will buy one. Wednesday I departed work a few hours early, and we ran a few errands and went to Toys R Us in Fort Wayne to do some shopping. This year Thanksgiving was just like the ones I remember from when I was a kid...with only 4 people. It was the year when most everyone on Beth's side was with in-laws, nobody from my side can travel (with Christmas coming up), and all our friends were away or with other family, so we had it ourselves. And Beth made the best turkey I've ever had. And we could have stuffing with nuts in it. And the Lions got pounded again. We put up the Christmas tree in the evening. Friday, Beth realized her purse was missing, and the only place we could think it might be was Toys R Us, but we could not get any humans to answer a phone so we just drove out there, again, and lucky us, it was there with everything in it. After getting back again we drove out to visit Toni and her new baby David for the rest of the afternoon. Saturday we did some shopping at Lowe's and got a pantry, of sorts. We got a set of plastic shelves and put it in the hall closet, of which half is now a pantry. We moved all the food and stuff in and cleared out a lot of the junk that was in there til now. Today Alex and I stayed home from church because he's been coughing at night a lot lately and not sleeping well, and afterwards we all went out to lunch with the Myers'. The girls went home with us and played with the kids for a few hours while Brian and Dee did some shopping. Now begins the 3-4 week period between TG and Christmas where I'm never really focused...

Alex had another basketball game yesterday, and unlike the recent games, he did not get close to scoring this time. The other team had them overmatched, and a kid much bigger than Alex was guarding him and kept stealing the ball from him. Alex is not an aggressive kid, so that's how the game went. Anyway, the other team had a couple of all-stars and Alex's team is pretty...small. Overall. But they had fun. Erika babysat for us in the evening, and we went to Goshen to eat wings and play trivia at BWW again. Today was Abby's birthday party at the McCoy's. And she is not my girl when Uncle Josh is around.

Beth's ears are finally unplugging.

Had a pop-up opportunity for Katie to babysit today. So we took it. And instead of going to another movie, we went out shopping. Yesterday Alex had another basketball game at the Y, and once again, he almost scored. It was even closer than last week, but it rimmed out again.

Today I finally got to take the truck home! It was finished detailing by evening and after work I traded them the minivan for the truck. Bye bye van... all 11 years, 154,020 miles (but only 6 years and 76,140 miles by us) of you, and your shaky power steering.

Today was Alex's first basketball game of the season. This year he is on Boston College. He's dribbling much better than before, and he seems to be a little better at paying attention. As long as he scores in practice, he seems to be happy. He actually came close...soooo close....to scoring during the game today, but his shot rimmed out. He would have been ecstatic. I'm just hoping he scores a basket at all during the season, it's his third and he hasn't scored in a game yet. Anyway, we stopped and picked up his Cub Scout popcorn after the game this morning, and he got started distributing it to the people around the neighborhood. For date night tonight we went to see 'The Men Who Stare at Goats,' which I so wanted to be really good. But it just wasn't.

The truck is ours. I went in at lunch and got everything taken care of at the Ford dealer, but we don't have it yet because they need to get it detailed, which is fine with me. We'll drive the minivan around for a couple more days and we should take possession early next week. The sales rep told me that two other people have asked him to give them a call if the deal with me falls through, so I am luck to have happened upon it when I did. Go me.

The minivan death watch has been ongoing for a while now, and the clock has just about run out. After work this evening I drove by the Ford dealer to check out a truck that had caught my eye. The sales rep came out to talk to me, and it turned out that the truck was too new and expensive for me, but when I described what I wanted he told me about a truck that they had out back, that they had gotten in trade less than 2 hours before. Not even vacuumed out yet. A 2005 F-150 Lariat SuperCrew, 5.4 L Triton V8, fire engine red, 97000 miles. In perfect condition. Apparently, the original owner just traded it in for a brand new truck that was almost exactly the same...same body, same engine, same trim, same color, same options, new model year...and he had just driven away. And he must have taken care of it like it was his baby. I ran home to get Beth and the kids and we test drove it, and told the guy we wanted it and would be back tomorrow after I get our loan and insurance taken care of. They're going to give us $2000 trade in for the minivan, so we're going to take it.

Skating for Kids Klub tonight. Beth is kind of under the weather but she's bringing a whole load of kids from the neighborhood along. She actually has a ruptured eardrum. Going to be a few weeks before her hearing returns to normal.

For some reason, today the kids wanted to go out to get dessert after dinner because they both wanted to try a piece of pumpkin pie. Neither one has had it before that I am aware, so I guess they must have been hearing about it in school lately or something. So, I obliged. And I took them to Schoop's, which was probably a mistake because pie is not cheap there. And while Alex ate most of his pie (except the crust), Missy made a horrible face and spit the pie back out right off the bat. So I bought her a piece of apple pie instead, which she changed her mind and decided she didn't want when it arrived. So I had two pieces of pie. We had a fun Halloween yesterday; Alex was a pirate, and Missy was a black cat. Beth and I took them trick or treating around the neighborhood first, then up and down Fort Wayne and Main Streets, where the best pickins are. The weather more or less cooperated again; it was cold but not too cold, and it didn't rain at all. We walked up and down the streets for a couple hours, until things started petering out, then went to visit Ronnie and DeeAnn, after which the kids were worn out and in no mood to continue visiting. So home after that. Earlier in the day, Beth walked in her first 5k: the Spooktacular. She and her walking buddy walked the whole thing in under an hour, which was their goal. I took the kids out to the bakery in Winona Lake where the 5k path went by, got some treats for them and waited for Mommy to pass by so we could all cheer for her.

It was a short week for the kids but a long one for Beth. Missy was running a fever and had a sore throat Monday and Tuesday, so she stayed home from school both days. Tuesday was Cub Scout night, and we did a rake & run. We left the school just after starting the meeting and went around the block nearby, asking people who were home if we could rake their leaves for free. I must say I was surprised by how many people refused us...at least 2 houses declined our services. I guess nobody trusts anybody these days, but if you can't trust the Cub Scouts, then who can you trust? So we raked someone else's houses. No school Wednesday through Friday, and no kids klub this week, due to parent-teacher conferences. Alex and Missy (doing better) both had conferences on Wednesday. Alex continues to amaze his teachers with his reading ability, which is on a 4th grade level, and he got absolutely glowing reviews. Missy is also doing very well in kindergarten and her teacher absolutely loves her. Then on Thursday Alex went to the dentist (still doing good there). It was a low-key weekend, mostly we kept at home. Today I stayed home from church because now I'm not feeling good. But I think it's just a cold.

This weekend has been all about the microorganisms. The kids (mostly Alex) had little colds early this week, so we kept them out of swimming lessons (only two more in the session anyway). Beth had a sore throat on Wednesday, which after Kids Klub got bad. By the time we went to bed I was planning on staying home Thursday and Beth slept downstairs. Thursday, I got the kids off to school while Beth had a fever most of the day and terrible aches and chills. And fatigue; she slept about all day. We knew it was the flu, but I don't know which flu. Probably the H1N1, it's all the rage. I did take the opportunity to get some work done at home; I got the trim in Missy's room about done and finished fixing the drawer glides on Alex's dresser. After I picked up Missy, Jake and Lily came over while Renee went to a funeral, so I had them all afternoon while Beth slept. Then we just tried to get out of the house and avoid contact with Beth. Friday was more of the same (only without the Boschain kids), but her fever dropped, even though she still felt terrible all day. Saturday I took the kids out to Alex's soccer game in the morning (it has been unseasonably cold lately!) but we stayed mostly in the rest of the day except running out for more medicine or something. Alex and I were supposed to go out to an all-day Cub Scout campout at a park in town, but Missy couldn't go, Beth couldn't take care of her, we don't have real sleeping bags...and it has been unseasonably cold lately! so we blew it off and I tried to keep Alex from remembering about it. Today, I had the kids out for church, lunch in Bourbon with the McCoys and their kids, and to a small birthday party for Grant (Alex broke the pinata!). Beth is feeling better, and I'm planning on going to work tomorrow. She still gets worn out really fast, so we'll see how it goes. So far, nobody else has been sick, at least not with the flu, and we're hoping it stays that way.

Alex had a soccer game yesterday. It was picture day, so we had to be there early. It has been colder than necessary lately, especially in the morning. After the game, Beth had a baby shower to help with so I had the kids until mid afternoon. We then had a Katie evening. Chinese food and a movie, this time "Surrogates," which we thought was good, but was missing a top tier director to make it really good. But not bad. Today, we took the kids to Fort Wayne to the big Tokens & Tickets, which has been their behavior chart reward they've been working for. I was a bit underwhelmed by the TNT in FW; I thought it wasn't much better than ours, but it had a pizzaria that we will NEVER eat at, after we saw the teenagers working the kitchen. Especially the one who had to hold up his pants with one (gloved) hand because he was wearing them so low. Idiot. We also hit the mall because I needed to get some new Dockers, but there were sales, so they were so picked over I couldn't find any in my size. As always.

We all spent the weekend up in Michigan (again) for Judy's wedding. We headed up after I got out of work on Friday (we might have left early again, but Alex went to Amish Acres with his school class today so we couldn't get him out early), ate in Goshen at one of the least inspiring CiCi's Pizza places I have ever been to, and got to a very nice hotel we'd gotten a good deal on with Hotwire, the Best Western at Stadium and 131 in Kalamazoo. We were going to let the kids swim before going to bed, but we thought we didn;t have time. We should have just done it because the kids would not go to sleep. It was at least 10:30 before they quit playing around. Saturday we got them to swim for a while before we had to head out. The wedding was in the afternoon, up near Yankee Springs at Judy's friend's house. It was supposed to be outside, but it was drizzling all weekend so it was just in the back room. The wedding was simple and quick, but the catering was exquisite. All the cousins were there for the kids to play with too. The good news about the rain was that Alex's soccer game on Saturday was cancelled, which means he didn't miss it like we did last week. Sunday we ate lunch with everyone at Red Robin and headed out, earlier than usual, but Beth hadn't been feeling well lately and we all needed some rest.

This weekend was the 2nd annual Knight/Wiessner/Pinkster family campout at Yankee Springs. We get Alex out of school at about 2 on Friday and I took a half day off, and we headed up a bit earlier than last year so we didn't have to set up in the dark. We were greeted by a nice rainbow arching over the entire area as we got there, and we got set up with plenty of daylight and had dinner at the site. We were on an asphalt slab in this particular site, next to John & Steph, and right along the channel from the lake. It was clouding up as it got dark, and at around 9 or so it very abruptly started pouring as we all sat around the fire (which went out). So everyone scattered to their respective campers and called it a night. It rained for a couple hours, the first time it has done so since we had the camper roof fixed, and it seemed to hold up well. All was dry inside. Saturday the kids all played together at and around the campground all day, including pulling and old disarded tire out of the lake, and finding a dead fish. I also got some caching in with Marve and Ric and John, all out on a bike trek of a few miles to get two caches in the woods. Saturday night, Judy and Neill surprised us by taking the kids to their cabin for a sleepover (letting Beth and me have a night of peace in the camper); they were gone until late Sunday morning. Sunday we all packed up and hit the road around lunchtime. Overall it was a very nice weekend. Alex missed his soccer game on Saturday, though.

We finally have phone and internet service back again after 3 days out due, it seems, to squirrels. The phone company came out and found some apparently chewed wires between the line and the house. Stupid squirrels.

Swim lessons started back up this week for the kids. Unfortunately, Missy graduated to a new level last time so she and Alex have classes at different times...5:45-6:30 and 6:30-7:00 on Mondays, which is quite inconvenient since Beth has Bible study Monday nights. So the kids have gotten to visit the youth center, which they look forward to since it has a Wii. Tuesday there was a meeting for joining Cub Scouts, which Alex was really excited about. We went to the meeting and he seemed to really enjoy it, so we're going to stay with it. Also this week was school pictures...and Alex got his new glasses just in time for them. He picked them out himself, and he looks a bit like Buddy Holly. But it works for him. Beth had a lingerie shower to go to Friday, Alex had soccer Saturday (some confusion about what time the game was...I had a deacon's meeting in the morning [which was more about installing the playground equipment], and Beth got the game time wrong and showed up an hour early, calling me back from the meeting to hurry and get there, only to find out that it was older kids in the white shirts playing there). We got Alex some soccer socks after the game because he seemed to really need them. Also today was Jenny's wedding. We went to the reception at a sport club somewhere out near Bourbon, which was very nice. Alex was a bit bored though, so we went for a walk outside and he discovered the skeet launchers, which for some reason were still turned on.

The house is back up to code. In replacing Missy's ceiling fan a couple days ago I got a shock...with the breaker open. And found upon further review that the upstairs circuit has a hot ground. Or something. Anyway, I couldn't find anything obviously crossed so I called in a professional, who spent the better part of a day and a half crawling through the attic, removing fixtures, and sorting wires until he found the source of the problem, which was a ground wire in a hall outlet bent over and touching a neutral screw. Two circuits upstairs with a common ground then had electrons going where they weren't supposed to. But now it's fixed, so we won't burn the house down or anything like that.

Saturday was Alex's first soccer game in the Pee-Wee league at Lincoln school . His team is West Ham United. Missy got lost...very lost...just before the game started. She wandered off to the playground just after we got to the game, and neither Beth nor I saw her go. Both of us were running back and forth, from one play area to the next, into the parking lots, calling her name, searching frantically, for several minutes. She was inside one of those big concrete pipes with 2 other little girls so she couldn't be seen from the outside, and she told us she said she was going but neither of us heard her. She spent the next several minutes crying after we found her because we were scared and that scared her. But she rallied. Erika came over to babysit later on. There was no movie we wanted to see so Beth and I just got dinner and did some shopping.

The weekend was unusual even before it started. We'd had plans to go camping with all the church friends for months now, and in fact we just got back earlier tonight from camping. But for a while it didn't look like I was going to make it. Last Thursday I was away from my desk, talking to someone in the hallway downstairs when the fire alarm went off. Everyone headed outside just like in the drills, but I heard some people from facilities saying it was the real thing. After waiting outside in the parking lot for a while I could see and smell acrid smoke coming from somewhere in the middle of the building. It turned out that there had been a dust explosion in one of the manufacturing cells and the fire was still going on. After about an hour and a half it was out, but nobody was being allowed back in and I didn't have my keys. Beth eventually picked me up after they announced that we should all go home because nobody was getting in any time soon, and there may not be work Friday. I came back around 8pm (after Renee's surprise birthday party at the church) to get my keys, and from the doors to my desk and back I didn't see another soul except the other guy who had also come back for his keys. I got a call later in the evening that work was cancelled Friday, then another call that I needed to come in at 7am Friday to assist with evaluation and disposition of all materials throughout the plant. A couple hundred people were in on Friday morning, and spent all day taking full inventory of all product, calibrated gages, manufacturing materials, etc., and whether it was covered or not, and what zone it was in, etc. The talks at the opening meeting made me think that I was going to be at work all day, every day, for the entire Labor Day weekend. So I spent all day Friday working in polymer molding, receiving inspection, and metrology, and by lunch I had called Beth to tell her that she would need to find someone to help her fold up and hitch up the camper without me if she still wanted to go camping, because I wasn't going to be able to make it at all for the whole weekend. I still thought I'd be there all weekend by dinnertime, when Beth called to tell me that she had had help with the camper, she was on the road, but the camper had popped off the hitch when she went over some railroad tracks and been dragged for several feet. Some nice folks behind her helper he get it back on and secured. It was only a few minutes after that call that I was informed I wasn't needed for the rest of the day or weekend, and thank you for your help, I could go home. So I dashed off to meet Beth and the kids (they were still at a restaurant). Yep the camper tongue jack was pretty bent. We quickly grabbed all my stuff and hit the road again, and made it to the campsite before dark. We got everything all set up and had plenty of time to sit around the fire. I was dreading another phone call all weekend but one never came. Saturday the McCoys came up to visit for the day and the kids all had a great time playing together. Almost all the kids, Travis, Brian, and I all went on a bike ride that must have been at least a few miles long...and Alex continues to ride his bike with no training wheels like a champ. Sunday the Myers and we went to the Blueberry Festival down in Plymouth, in which we were all pretty disappointed. Huge crowds for not much good stuff. We ate lunch in there, which was a mistake...you can really burn through money at that place as if it were a county fair. All we really wanted was camper signs for Judy & Neill and Mom & Dad, like the one we have. We found them, but the quality of the sign was not nearly as good as ours. Younger guy making it. Monday afternoon was checked out and headed home. Camping overall was great. Whatever mosquito control program they have at Potato Creek, it works... they have been savage this year but were hardly noticeable at the campground. It was never warm enough to swim, and we never went to the lake, but the kids had plenty of friends to play with so they left us alone. I think I'll want to get the heater in the camper fixed soon though (Keith took a good long look at it and couldn't find the problem), because the ceramic heater doesn't dry the camper out well enough.

Not much went on this week. Friday was Bible study at the McCoy's house. All the kids (something like 10 in all) played together outside most of the time (we had them all sprayed down for the most part) and they found the mud. It wasn't too hard to find, actually, but they all traipsed through the house at least a little but with mud all over themselves. Missy and Alex both fell in to some extent, and I wound up washing Missy off as best we could and borrowing an outfit from Joanna to get home in. Alex's shoes were caked. But they did leave us alone most of the evening. Today, the kids were bored and antsy and getting on Beth's nerves, so I took them out caching for a bit. We got one over by Chapman Lake, that was it.

Today was my second fantasy football draft day. No big prizes in the draft since this is another keeper year, but I did keep Rivers and Jones-Drew so I'm pretty set. I think the team is ok. Everyone in the house has a wee cold this weekend, so we skipped church this morning, but mostly it was because we were all tired. Yesterday was date night, but we didn't have anything we wanted to go see so we punted. Dinner and clothes shopping (I found some killer deals on the clearance racks at Elder-Beerman...even on Columbia stuff!) followed by spending a few bucks at Tokens & Tickets. Never played pinball on a date before. Earlier in the day we had taken the kids out bowling (they've been asking to go for a while) and we got the paint and ordered the wallpaper for redecorating Missy's room. She also got a new ceiling fan, not as much because she needed one but because she found one she really really really liked and she looked at me with the cutest 'please Daddy?' look I've ever seen. Well, maybe she did need a new ceiling fan after all. Anyway, Friday night there was banjo music in the park! The...I forget...Hoosier Banjo Society or something like that was performing in Central Park, so we went with the kids. The did the old standards like Bill Bailey and the like. The Myers girls also went with us, so the kids had something to do (we brought kites too, which they failed to fly very much). Mostly the kids all ran around together playing. Thursday night, I let the kids paint in the garage, on the old closet doors again. What a mess.

Woo hoo! Softball won a tounament game tonight. Everyone hit. Everyone fielded. Everyone scored. And we were on the winning end of the mercy rule for the first time in a long, long, long time. Ronnie was there, that's probably why. I was 3-for-4, including a really weird hit that made a strange thunk when I hit it high on the handle, and it barely went back as far as the pitcher. But it spun so much that it ran away from the pitcher trying to field it, and it stopped rolling just before going foul. It was that kind of a night, where things just go our way.

Today was the first day back to school for the kids! First day for Missy to ride the bus and go to big kids school. She loves kindergarten! And Alex loves first grade. It was pouring most of the day though. I stayed home from work for a couple hours to see everyone off. There is a lot of construction going on right near our house, which means that the bus can't get to our road, so the kids are to walk to a designated spot where an aide walks them across the busy roads to the pick-up point. No aide showed up today so we drove them in the van to the pick-up spot, and waited in the van for the 10-minutes-late bus.

Agatha went to the vet for the first time in a while this week. She has early stage renal failure going on, and reportedly has somewhere between 6 months and 2 years left. Which is expected for a 17-year-old cat, but still sad news. On an unrelated note, Beth made pickles for the first time this week. They were good but a bit too salty. Friday we had small group Bible study at the Myers' house (the roads by our house are all torn up, and it's easier for everyone to go somewhere else), but wound up just talking and visiting all evening. We left just after the impromptu backyard bonfire started because the kids were getting intolerably tired, and got home just before 10 pm, to a call from Laura asking if I was going to log on for the fantasy football draft (I had forgotten, but got on just in time). So I tag teamed drafting and getting the kids to bed, and ended up with a decent team, I think (Larry Fitzgerald!) Saturday, Beth and the kids and I drove up to Potato Creek to visit the campers who were there (the usual suspects). We brought the kids' bikes, and they rode around like champs - even Alex, who had warmed to the idea of riding with no training wheels since his broke off a couple weeks ago. He rode all around by himself or with the other kids all day. Brian and I took our bikes and went geocaching with them, and wound up being gone much longer than planned. All of the Myers and Knight families (except Alex, who wanted to stay behind and play) started out, but the walking was going to be too much for the girls so they went back, and Brian and I got the bikes and took off. It was a long ride, good thing the ladies all went back because it would have been much too much for Missy. We completed an entire circle tour of the park by the time we were done and found 2 caches, probably rode about 6 miles altogether. Found out later we were riding on hiking only trails, bikes aren't allowed. Sorry, our bad. The kids and women had been to the lake and returned by the time we got back. We left a little while after dinner. Today was Lily's birthday party. the McCoys were going but didn't want to go all the way home and all the way back, so we all got Subway and had lunch at Center Lake Park. But, it was so hot we all decided to come to our house and let the kids play in the sprinkler until the party. Good call, all 6 of them had a super time in the sprinkler and pool and were all refreshed and ready for the party. We had dinner at Golden Corral as a last meal...school starts tomorrow morning!

No softball game tonight. It rained earlier in the day, so they were cancelled, even though by game time it was bright and sunny and hours since it had rained. I dunno, maybe the fields were trashed. It did rain pretty hard in the afternoon.

This was a slow week followed by a busy weekend. The kids continue swimming lessons, still love them, and we had the carpets cleaned this week. The softball tournament began this week, and we played the only team we beat during the regular season, and lost to them. So, it's the loser's bracket for us. Beth left to go to Women of Faith on Friday night, leaving me with the kids, so we had a date night (went shopping at Lowe's and had dinner at Steak & Shake). Alex's ceiling fan inexplicably stopped working the other day, so I got him a new one (that is hopefully much more quiet). Saturday, I took the kids the Tokens & Tickets for fun, and got the fan installed (which really excited Alex). It was a regularly scheduled Katie day, so I decided to just keep the appointment even though Beth was gone and had a night out. Got a haircut, dinner at Taco Bell, and looked all over town for a car bike rack. Found one at KMart but didn't buy it, maybe later. Beth got home later in the day, having had a great time. Today, we went over to the Myers' for dinner (grilled). We tried to get the slip & slide working but it just wouldn't, which really disappointed out kids, but they got over it.

John and Steph came back on Friday and bought the minivan. We went out to dinner with them while Katie watched the kids (except Collin, who was home). Saturday Beth and I took the kids out to the Fun Center out in Columbia City because they have been asking to play mini golf for quite a while now. So we played 18 holes, and then went geocaching in Morsches Park, where we found a couple before the bugs drove us out of the woods and towards more in-town caches.

I took the kids out for another bike ride tonight, this time to the Winona Lake trails. We rode all the way out to where our geocache is and then back, and just as we were getting back one of Alex's training wheels came off. Broke free and rolled away, disappeared. Worn out, apparently. It had been pretty clattery. I tried to tell him that he could ride without it but he was having none of that. "I hate my bike!" "I can never ride again!" and a near meltdown. I managed to convince him that he didn't have to throw the bike away and we could get new training wheels, but in the meantime I'm going to try to get him to practice riding without them. Good luck to me.

Stephanie and John came down here today. They've been looking for a new minivan, and found a used Honda coincidentally at a place in Warsaw. They checked it out, and had Ab & Tom's check it out. There are a few things they are going to have fixed and will know later in the week if it's a go. Our last regular season softball game, and I was 1-for-3, which brings my season total to 15-34, or 0.441, and we are 1-11. Bring on the tounament.

Beth bought a bunch of corn today from The Farm. Something like 6 dozen, which she spent all afternoon shucking and putting up. It seemed so good that after I got out of work we went out and bought 12 dozen more, and spend all evening shucking and putting up.

We've really done things right coming home from vacation. Saturday Missy had a birthday party to go to, so she was gone from a couple hours, and while she was there (it was girls-only) I took Alex to Somethin' Funn. We were going to go bowling, but the alley is being refurbished so it was closed. We spent a few bucks and got a ton of tickets, which Alex spent on crap and candy, which he loves. Also we drove the go-karts. Well, I drove, he rode. And we won, too. Yesterday was also a Katie day, so Beth and I went out to Applebee's and out to see "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which I think is the best Harry Potter movie yet. I took the kids out on a bike ride today, and we went as far as Pike Lake all the way down the Greenway. Got caught in a rain shower while we were down there, but sheltered in the restrooms until it was over. Got caught again on the way back, and sheltered under an overhang at the hospital. Hurried back.

Yet another busy week and weekend. Last Saturday we all headed out to Pennsylvania to visit with Laura and Thomas. I saved us some $200 by juryrigging our 2 car DVD players into one that would work with a screen for both kids, which involved an old license plate, nylon twine, a piece of wood, a stick-on hanging strip, and several rubber bands. I'm quite proud of it. We got to Laura's by around dinnertime Saturday (Did not miss the turn in Bucyrus this time). After dinner (grilled mahi, by request for my big 4-0 a day early, thanks Laura) we had a little birthday celebration for me. Sunday we all headed out to Pittsburgh and did the zoo for most of the day, then the Duquesne Incline in the late afternoon, after which Laura and Thomas took the kids back home and Beth and I stayed in the city. I got us a room at the Omni on Hotwire for a fraction of the regular cost ($88 instead of $260) and we stayed there overnight. We had a superb dinner at the Melting Pot and then walked around the riverside district a while before retiring. Monday morning we hit the Strip District, where we found a lot a cool shops and such, plus got a REALLY EXPENSIVE parking ticket, ate at a restaurant that had really poor service and lousy food, and brought back a gift of some Greek olives for Laura, who as it turns out hates olives (Really? You do? Since when? All your life? Huh.). We hit a science museum after the Strip, which we wished later we had saved for when the kids were with us. And the submarine was closed. We saw an Omnimax movie, but the one we had wanted to see (about Greece) wasn't playing because a moon landing one was playing that day (July 20) instead. We then found not much going on in the riverside district that we hadn't seen the evening before, so we headed back and got dinner at Pittsburgh Mills. We got back to Laura's just after the kids got to bed, and they were back up as soon as they heard us. Late nights for them was a common theme for the week. Tuesday, Thomas was at work all day so the rest of us took a campus tour and did some geocaching around town (Ben really enjoys it; Thomas should get a GPS) until dinner. We found a really nice park for all of the kids to play in that Laura didn't even know was there. Wednesday we all (except Thomas) went back to the zoo again (since Beth and I have the membership we got in Fort Wayne, it was free to us both times) to catch the parts we'd missed the other day, like about half of it. It wasn't as hot the second time, so most of the animals were more active. Thomas was able to meet us there for the tail end of the day and join us for dinner (at the Eat 'n' Park!) Thursday we all (except Thomas) went out to the country to pick blueberries and did a bit of shopping, then relaxing in the afternoon. Today we headed for home (a very boring drive through Ohio) and made it by late afternoon.

Beth had an appointment in Fort Wayne today so Katie babysat while I was at work. I took them out bike riding afterwards (hoping to get Alex back off training wheels soon) to the trail. We saw a helicopter take off from the hospital when we went by, which was cool.

We lost again. I was 0-for-3, but almost nobody got a hit tonight. The opposing pitcher has a way of throwing the ball so it had a funny spin. Several guys hit it to the right side of the infield for some reason, including me. I hadn't hit it to the right of shortstop all year and first up I bounce to second. Oh well, I did have a walk, which is rare.

Yet another busy week and weekend. Swimming lessons continue for the kids (Mondays and Wednesdays). Mom and Dad left for home on Tuesday, and softball returned to our losing ways (I was 2-for-4). Wednesday, we took the kids to the county fair to do some rides and see the animals. We met the Myerses there for dinner and to do the midway. It is AMAZING how quickly you can burn through a lot of money at the fair by doing not all that much. But Tuesday was 1-ticket-all-rides night, so we figured it was the best time to go. Alex even rode the big yo-yo, spinning around swing thing (lost his hat, but it almost fell right on me). Otherwise the big slide was the big hit. We went back again the next day after swimming too, but just to see the animals we'd missed the previous day. Friday we took off after I got out of work (early) to go to Indiana Beach campground; it was the Zimmer picnic weekend. First time we've gone since 2002, I think. We got there a bit before dinnertime and waited in line quite a long time to check in, then set up and made dinner, and took the kids to the water park at the campground afterwards. We tried to get a fire going to roast marshmallows, but I forgot to bring a hatchet so it didn't get started and we roasted them over some burning paper plates instead. We got the kids to bed around 9 or so and Beth remarked how relatively quiet it was there. Then it started getting interesting. There was a party of about 30 people, all related as near as we could tell, in several sites around us, all of whom were loud and all of whom were rude. They were about 50-50 adults and kids, and all the kids were literally running through all the campsites screaming at each other and banging their plastic toys togther. The adults also seemed to have no boundaries, as some of them passed directly through our campsite on the way to the bathrooms, literally under our awning, without lowering their voices all night. Plus a pit bull dog that barked at everyone going by. And the radio with rap playing. Meanwhile, the site directly next to us was empty until around 10, when the oldest, most beat-up popup camper I've ever seen was pulled in and a party of 6 adults got out and started setting up camp. I remarked to Beth "wouldn't it be great if they all sat around the fire drinking beer all night?" Well guess what. By around 11 they finished setting up, and began sitting around their campfire drinking beer...and playing country music on their radio! Again, no volume control on anyone. So we were oddly juxtaposed between the trailer park on one side and the hood on the other. If the country got turned up, the rap got turned up directly after, and vice versa. The good thing about all this was we had gotten a free night with a paid night, so we decided that if we didn't want to stay Saturday night as well, we wouldn't have lost anything. And we'd have a place to park the camper all day anyway. In the morning, it seemed we couldn't get to the park any faster than if we'd started from home, for some reason, and we weren't there until around 11. We got our free lunch, then hit the park. Water park first, since it was pretty hot. They really had a crowd problem there, though. Both the lazy river and the slides ran out of tubes for people; those who came down the slide were just picking the tube up and heading back up the stairs, and those finishing up a lazy river ride were staying on their tubes and going around again. So there was a large buildup of people wanting to get on who couldn't. Someone at the park needed to start telling people the ride was over; get off. But it wasn't happening so we just waited and waited until finally we sent one kids with one parent at a time, then switched kids. We did the rides afterwards, and Alex even rode a roller coaster (the Cornball Express...not the largest, but quite fun). We go a great photo of Alex and me riding the thing from a souvenir shop. There was also a problem on the bumper cars: Alex got to drive one himself but someone knocked his car in such a way that the pole slid off the electric grid on the cieling, and his car wouldn't move for 2/3 of the entire ride. I tried to help him out but couldn't do much. He had been so excited to do this, and it was such a disappointment, and it was late so he was very tired, so he almost had a meltdown right there. Poor kid. And Missy was nearly scared to death by the haunted house every time we went near it. We hiked back to the entrance only to find that the shuttle to the campground wasn't running any more, then hiked all the way back (the kids were just beat)and found we could ride the water taxi back there, which was fun. When we got back we packed up the camper as fast as we ever will and headed home. With all the problems we had over the trip, the park was a lot of fun.

Another busy weekend. After going to Fort Wayne all day Thursday, Mom and Dad and Beth and the kids and I all piled in the van and drove up to Michigan on Friday. We had Mom and Dad's new GPS navigator with us, which they named "Tess," after the girl of the Limberlost, because she'll help you to not get lost, get it? Get it? It's a pretty cool thing but it told us to take a "shortcut" off the interstate through some small towns in Michigan, which we vowed not to do on the way home. Missy, of course, had to go potty bad bad right as we were driving through a very unpleasant part of Detroit, so we stopped quick at a convenience store, which inconveniently turned out not to have a bathroom, and they sent us next door to a garage with the dirtiest bathroom I've seen in a while. No sink, no soap, no towels, no nothing. Anyway, we got moving again as fast as we could and made our way to one of the Grosse Pointes where Thomas' parents live...nice neighborhood. Ben took the kids out to a park while the adults visited, and for the rest of the evening they just hung around him. The kids love Ben. Laura and Thomas' party was at his aunt's house somewhere on a lake up by Pontiac or Auburn Hills...even nicer neighborhood. It's where the super-rich have summer houses. Very, very nice. Beautiful house. The lake was a bit cold for swimming, but the kids don't care about that sort of thing. We did a little boating too to tour the lake...all very impressive...and a nice cookout including some very raw chicken that Laura had spent a lot of time preparing and Thomas had spent too little time grilling, ha ha. He did finish cooking it. There were lots of kids to play with so our kids were good, until I accidentally got bug spray in Alex's eyes...doh...We stayed until quite late so we could see the fireworks Saturday the 4th, which were as impressive a privately-funded display as I have ever seen. We got back late to Thomas' parents house, and since we beat them home we had to have Missy pee in the backyard because she had to go bad bad. We hit the road again just after breakfast today so we could have a bit of readjusting time at home for the kids. And we didn't use Tess most of the way home, which disappointed Alex and Missy.

Friday came early this week. I get Friday off anyway and I took today off as well, so yesterday was Friday for me. Yesterday, Mom and Dad ran up to Michigan to visit some friends while Beth took the kids to Fort Wayne to get some shopping done for some new clothes. Both the kids were good so she got them some Build a Bear accessories for their stuffed dogs. Swimming lessons afterwards. Beth and the kids and Mom and Dad and I took the kids to the Fort Wayne Zoo today (yep two trips to FW on consecutive days). We wound up getting a membership because we think it might save us some money this year. The kids were mostly concerned with doing the skyride, which is a very nice ride now (last time we rode it, it went over construction). Beth had an appointment in the p.m. so we dropped her off and went to Chick-Fil-A and Barnes & Noble (got a couple of "Up" books for the kids).

Ah, the sweet smell of success. Victory came to our softball team today for the first time this year. I was 2-for-4 myself.

Missy's birthday party was today. She has alternately wanted to have a princess party and a carnival party over the past few weeks, but ultimately decided on a carnival party (since there were going to be boys there), which is what we went with. The biggest thing was the fishing pond we rigged up, in which we strung a tarp over a clothesline between two trees and had the kids cast a fishing line with a clothespin over it, to where I and Marve were waiting with goodie bags of candy and trinkets. We also had the jarts toss and the stick the tail on the donkey, and the bunch of kids running around the backyard. Good times had by all. Mom and Dad got back from Pennsylvania yesterday after just a few days visiting Laura. The Myers girls even came back from vacation a bit early so they could come to the party (we had been feeding their bunnies this past week while they were gone).

Mom and Dad headed out to Laura and Thomas' house in Penn today. They're going to have a short visit before heading back. Meanwhile the softball team got in a makeup game today for one of the rainouts. I was 3-for-3 but we lost again, to a team I felt we should have crushed.

Alex and Missy had their first swsimming lessons today! They'll be going twice a week to the Y for lessons almost all the rest of the summer. They both loved it. Alex's class may be a bit advanced for him but the instructor said we'll see how he does. Missy was great in her class. They both already have done more than Beth and I could ever get them to do.

Today was a big all-employee off-site meeting at work, in which they explained the new mission and vision and values of the company and explained the difficult decisions they've made over the past year or two. I, however, just wanted to get to a 6:00 softball game, and had to rush rush rush to make it on time. Beth had to bring my clothes to CCAC and meet me there since by the time I got back to B5 I didn't have time to go home. It was scorching hot and I went 0-for-3 but made some good catches. Their infield was just too fast for me to get a hit off them. Mom and Dad also arrived this evening from Arizona. They'll be here a couple weeks for Missy's birthday.

Alex had his last t-ball game today. It was blazing hot, too, enough so that one of the kids on his team kinda fell down on all fours and threw up a couple times, just from running bases from second to third. I bet the season is so short because it gets too hot for the little kids. Missy also started going to "Party at Presby Castle" this week, which is a little day camp for the kiddies at the preschool in which they play being knights and princesses and live in castles and later in the week they have a feast. Very cute stuff, right up Missy's alley.

This was a great weekend. And again, the entire week has been booked solid. VBS started Monday, but Alex had a t-ball game at the same time, so I took him to that while Beth took Missy to church. Alex played well, and we wrapped up in time to get him to VBS just as the classes were starting. It seemed several of the kids on the other team were missing so that helped speed things up. Meanwhile, one of the ladies at church made a little birthday cake for Missy (our big 5-year-old girl!) and they sang happy birthday to her. Tuesday, Beth had the van shampooed and detailed...and it looks and smells NICE inside for the first time in...well, ever. Tuesday was supposed to be softball, but it was raining. So, I figured it would be called off, which would make things a lot easier for me tonight (driving the VBS van). BUT then Clint called and said it was still on since it wasn't raining hard enough...you gotta be kidding me...and I ducked out of VBS to go to the park, and waited in the bleachers for the end of the 6:00 game which was being played in a fair drizzle. Our 7:00 game did not start on time becuase they were waiting to see if it would let up, but at 7:20 it was called off. They were desperate to get the game in since 3 or 4 have already been rained out this year, speaking of which there was a makeup game announced for Thursday. Wednesday, there was another t-ball game, in which Alex's team (Indians) played Carson's team (Tigers). The kids were a bit late to VBS that day too. I skipped the Thursday softball game due to VBS. Friday, VBS wrapped up and the kids were off to bed late...and up early to catch a ride to Michiana Christian Service Camp for First Chance Camp! Alex has been excited about going for a long time, and he finally got Missy excited too. She said she was going to go down the water slide after all just the night before. Anyway, they were gone by 8:00am, and Beth and I had the day free. We went back to sleep first, but then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon going furniture shopping at the Amish places around here and Nappanee, then relaxed at home. It was a Katie day, and she got here just before the kids did in the evening. So, we saw the kids for a few minutes before we went out to dinner (had a coupon at Ruby Tuesday that saved almost $20) and to a movie (Terminator Salvation), and they were asleep when we got home, excellent. Today, our actual anniversary, we went to the Myers' house to hang out for almost the entire afternoon after church. Being Father's Day, we grilled and had watermelon. The kids played with their kids and some neighbor kids pretty much all afternoon (the slip 'n slide was the big hit).

Once again it has been a booked solid week. The kids have been going to a Kid Quest day camp kinda thing at Presby...Teepees, Totem Poles, and Tom-toms, which is basically a fun time where they learn about Indians and make Indian themed crafts. Alex's t-ball team is the Indians so he thought that was pretty cool too. So they've been doing that all week in the mornings. From the 'what now' department, the check engine light in the van went on on Monday...if it hadn't been serviced so recently I might have ignored it, but I figured I should check it out this time. The shop had it all day, and it was an evap code, which they can't tell me exactly what caused it, but they could clear it or keep digging to find out. I had them clear it, and it hasn't come back. Alex had t-ball on Thursday, but again it was a rainy day, and again it was postponed until Friday, but again we had small group at our house so Alex missed it this time. He wanted to play with the kids here instead of t-ball anyway. Saturday we had an open house at the church for Brittnee, graduating this year, and about as soon as we were done with that we went to a birthday party for Becca at the Myers' home. We stayed through that, I mostly because Brian wanted someone else in the house he could talk to while it was going on. Today, Beth and I worked a lot on setting up her room at the church for her VBS class. VBS is an Australia theme this year, so her class is set up to look like an Aussie sheep shearing shack. Or so we imagine. Later we took the kids to the movie theater to see "Up," another home run for Pixar.

Zimmer fired several people today. I was not one of them but several people I knew were. These times suck.

3-for-3 today in softball, but we lost again.

Beth and I had a very strange trip to Michigan this weekend. Pam and Marve are moving to a new unit in their condo complex, which is the same as their previous one only in mirror image, and we came up Saturday to help them out with the move. We got there in the afternoon, just in time to help out with a trailer load of big stuff like the washer and dryer, then we moved out all the clothes from their master bedroom, and then they didn't want to work on moving any more. So, we didn't. It was about an hour or two of work, then just some play time for the kids, and visiting until dinner. We slept in the old unit: the kids on an air mattress downstairs, Beth and me on the floor upstairs since we forgot any bedding for ourselves. Big towels over us. Nobody wanted to do any moving Sunday either, so we didn't. We went out to breakfast with Pam and Marve, then in the afternoon Beth and I took a nap while the kids played by themselves. I think that was the first time that has happened since early 2003. Sam turned 8 a few days ago and his party was today at Ric & Nickie's house, so in the late afternoon we went out there. The kids always have fun playing with their cousins. There was a cookout and cake and ice cream, and we headed home afterwards. Not much moving all in all.

Alex finished kindergarten on Tuesday this week with a field day. So now we have a first grader and Missy is our kindergartner. It's apparent there is going to be an adjustment period to summer because Alex hasn't been sleeping well and doesn't want to do anything or go anywhere without a lot of whining. He had t-ball Tuesday and today, and didn't want to go play either time (even though he had fun and did well both times). I basically bribed him to agree to go today with going to Subway afterwards. We also went to Wal-Mart afterwards and got me a bike so I can go riding with them this summer.

Softball lost again, even though we scored a few runs this time. I myself was 0-for-4. Even though I hit the ball hard 4 times, the third baseman (3 times) and left fielder never even had to move to catch the balls hit right at them.

Another weekend that was booked solid. Today was Tin Caps Day: as a reward for finishing a reading program at school, the Fort Wayne Tin Caps had a special day at the ballpark. Alex got a free ticket to the game and hot dog. Beth and I and Missy were all going to go, but at the last minute (almost literally) Pam called and she and Marve were 5 minutes away. They had just decided it was a nice day for a drive and would come visit. We all went out for lunch, then instead of Beth, Marve went with us to the game and Beth and Pam stayed behind. We got there in the second inning, and within a half-hour Alex was asking to leave. Don't know why because he seemed to like being there, but he had a time in mind and wanted to be gone by 4. We left in the 7th, but hadn't seen all that much of the game because the last couple innings we were walking around the park. There was a kids play area Alex and Missy wanted to try out, including a climbing wall that Alex tried (got scared about 8 feet up) and an inflatable bounce around thing they both went on. We all left soon after that, when the checking out the gift shop started teetering on the brink of a fit (from Missy) about not getting what she wanted. After we got home we took the kids out for ice cream. Yesterday we also went to Fort Wayne, mostly to go to a fabric store and look for potential presents for Missy's birthday coming up. We also hit the mall to ride the carousel and check out the Disney store. Friday was small group at our house, which Alex and I were late for because of T-ball. Beth had told me that the makeup for the pictures being rained out was Friday but no a game, so I was expecting only to be there for a little while. But the game makeup happened right after the pictures. Alex did well again, but as usual needs to focus, pay attention to what he's doing, and slow down. Got a good pic of him as a runner on third base, crouching down to make an X with dirt on the bag to show where he would stand.

It isn't the transmission! Forget the Avalanche. The mechanic called me to tell me that the van did what I was describing long enough for them to find a problem, which was the crankshaft position sensor and wiring harness. It ran too close to the exhaust to work on it today (too hot, no more day left) so they'll have it until tomorrow. BUT since it's just another $250 to fix we'll do that instead of buying the expensive truck with bad mileage.

So the mechanics had the van all day and couldn't find anything wrong with it. It wouldn't do what I told them it did even after they drove it over 10 miles. So they put some transmission fluid conditioner in it, changed the oil, and buttoned it up and charged me $250 mostly for labor. Then on the way home it started it doing it again. So I called them back and I'm taking it in again tomorrow. But I'm about resigned now that the van is going and we need to replace it quickly. So Beth and I took the kids out tonight to look at trucks, since we need something that can tow the camper, and preferably won't strain itself too much. We found a couple we liked and one we loved...an 04 Chevy Avalanche...4x4, sunroof, power everything, roomy, NICE ride....$16,000, 90,000 miles and bad mileage. So now we have to decide yea or nay. We both really liked it. Beth wants it. Stay tuned.

Another softball game rained out. T-ball as well, though they need to find a better system. It rained like crazy earlier in the day, then stopped for the afternoon, and threatened approaching game time. The coach called and said the game was still on as far as he knew but would call back if it was cancelled. It was picture day too. No call, so we all headed out there. JUST as we got all the way onto the field it started pouring. Pictures were hastily postponed until later and the game was called. We could tell when we got there the fields couldn't be played on so they should have called it much sooner. Coach was ticked that all these little kids were there with thunder and lightning starting up. So anyway. Pictures some other time.

Beth and I are back from camping with the church group at Potato Creek. The weather was just about perfect all weekend; couldn't ask for better. It was almost unseasonably warm, actually. I took a half day off on Friday so we could get the camper packed up and set up early, but I wound up driving back out after we set up to pick up a few things we needed: a wrench to get the propane tank on, an extension cord so we could plug in, a bucket to drain out the gray water, and fans for both beds. The van also has started doing something I'm not really even sure how to describe. It would be almost like the transmission slipped or missed or didn;t catch or something. Apparently it's been doing that for the past week and Beth forgot to tell me. Some of the other men camping think it may be the transmission, swell. Anyway, I'm not sure how many families were with us but all the usual suspects were there, and a couple new ones too. The kids had planty of other kids to play with, which was nice. Saturday we watched the Myers kids while their parents ran out for a few hours, and took our kids and theirs to the beach in the park. I had been telling the kids it would probably be too cold to swim for a while, but I was wrong. Too cold for me, but not them. There were plenty of people swimming, and it was pretty cool water but kids don't care. I waded when I got too warm, the kids swam for a couple hours. Overall it was very pleasant down at the beach. Baked potato bar for dinner. Brian and I went geocaching in the evening, and fell into the same trap Virgil and Jack and I did last year: getting on the winding bike trails and walking very very far to get not very far at all. We were gone a couple hours to get one cache that was only 0.7 miles away when we started. Sunday the Myers watched our kids while we ran out to town and did a little shopping. They took all the kids to the beach again. All of the kids also had squirt guns and ran around playing with those a lot. As I said, it was very warm. Warmest Memorial Day camping for Beth and me ever. Taco bar for dinner. Geocached with Brian again, this time we stuck to the trail much better. Monday it started clouding up and cooling off while we packed up. The Myers' and us caravaned home and ate Chick-fil-a on the way. Did you know that kids can trade the toy in the kids' meal for free ice cream there? Awesome. The van only slipped a couple times on the way home, and stopped if I eased up enough.

The softball team lost once again, and got mercied doing it. We did score a run this time though. I was 2-for-2 with a couple nice hits, and almost made a Sportscenter catch on a fly that glanced off another guy's glove in the field. But not quite.

We've had a good week, except for missing tee-ball practice. Alex's second practice was supposed to be Wednesday, but it rained (again), and it was delayed until Thursday, unfortunately at the same time as Missy's preschool graduation. We went to that instead, and our baby girl is all grown up now! Not really, but she is so big and all ready for kindergarten. She even did the motions and sang the song ("I am a Promise." Never a truer word) which she didn't do last year. Alex was disappointed to miss practice but he'll get over it. Friday Beth had the kids at a garage sale at some friends house. We did the garage sale again Saturday (the massive Dells garage sale) and managed to make about $170 altogether, between old clothes and a few toys and things. We also sold all our old VHS movies (maybe 40-50 of them) for $20 for the lot, which frees up a lot of room. Afterwards, the other couple and us went out to dinner (paid cash), then Beth and I went to see "Star Trek," which we both really liked. Neat that they decided to head off the nerds with their inconsistencies between the movie and the original series by resetting the universe. Sunday, we went out geocaching in the afternoon with the McCoys, Myers, and all their kids (6 big people and 8 little people altogether) at Potawatomie Wildlife Park. We all had such a great time together. The kids all played great together running around, the newbies made some finds, we ran into some other cachers, and made a neat little ford of a stream after a long hike. There was a low point near the river and lake, and quite a bit of water was rushing across about 20 feet of the trail. Many large fish were actually trying to cross against the current there. But we had 2 wagons, so we loaded up the shoes and the kids and rolled up our jeans, and all crossed by wading across the stream. Great fun. Very cold.

The softball team was actually shut out today. Something like 9-0. That's rare; I don;t think we've been shut out in a long time if ever. Usually in church league, you can almost score a couple of runs by accident. But this week out entire team had 6 hits for the game and a lot of 1-2-3 innings. I was 1-for-2 with a nice fly single myself.

Back now from Michigan. Trevor got baptized today so Beth and I and the kids ran up there yesterday. The plan was to spend the night in the camper in John and Steph's driveway, but by Saturday the forecast was not good. Cold, cold, wet, wet. We were still in town at home Saturday afternoon, shopping at the new Menard's for Beth's Mother's Day present (a lilac bush) and it was looking worse and worse outside. So eventually was passed on the camper idea and just broke down and got a motel room on Priceline. This time, however, we were smart enough to get the extra half star in the rating, and for just a bit more money than last time we found a room at Country Inn down by the airport that was perfect. They even had a pool so we took the kids swimming after dinner (too cold, but we couldn't tell them no). Overnight it got cold enough that we decided the no-camper thing was a good call. The whole family went out to Burdick's after the service, and after lunch we went back to Pinksters to visit and took the kids for ice cream and to a park before heading out around dinnertime.

Opening night of softball was tonight, finally. It's been so cold and wet lately, but nice tonight. There are several new players this year, mostly teens, so maybe we'll do well. Anyway, we lost by blowing a lead. I was 1-for-3 with a nice rip and 2 weak popups. Today I also towed the camper back to Goshen again, because I was unable to properly raise it after it was fixed. The guide wire wasn't taut when the canvas was getting stretched, and I couldn't place the door where it was supposed to go. Turned out the guide wire was placed wrong, and I just needed to stretch the canvas a bit more to get the door in place. All fixed now.

Beth and I saw "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" last night. Pretty good stuff. We hired Linda this time to babysit because Katie had a prior commitment. Today we went back to Menard's so I could get the stuff I needed to make Beth a sawhorse thing to hang this year's crop of upside down tomatoes from. Friday was a family fun night at church, similar to last Wednesday. The sanctuary was cleared out so people could play basketball or volleyball (it's hard for two groups to play both at the same time in mostly the same space, but we did) and the pool and foosball was set up.

I once again took an afternoon off so Beth and I and the kids could to go back to Goshen and pick up the camper, which is fixed. It looks nice! And it smells better inside too. Looks like it should be watertight. Just to be safe I'm going to continue to garage it. Also tonight was a fun night at church to celebrate the end of the Kids Klub year.

The brand new Warsaw Menard's store opened today. Beth and I, of course, had to go check it out. And we saved big money! By spending big money.

Alex and Missy went to Jack's birthday party today. It was a superhero themed party. While they were there, Beth was sewing at Carrie's house and I was working at home. I picked them up, drove almost all the way to Carrie's for Beth, realized Alex had forgotten his glasses, went all the way back and got them, then all the way back to Carrie's again. Which gave Beth plenty of sewing time. After they wrapped up we all went geocaching since it was a nice day and we were in the neighborhood of a few at Robinson Lake rec area.

I grabbed an opportunity today to pull the camper out of the garage and get it up to an RV repair place in Goshen while the weather was nice. It had been raining for days and I didn't want to pull it in the rain until the roof was fixed. It should be ready in about a week and nobody is supposed to be able to tell it was ever damaged.

Not much happened this week. Friday we had an awesome small group at our house, with 6 couples showing up including 2 first timers, mostly with kids, and for the first time ever they were all outside playing together during almost our entire discussion. Saturday Beth and I went out geocaching on one of the trails in Winona Lake and wound up hiking farther than we thought we were going to because we thought there must be a river crossing somewhere up ahead. But the kids did great and it was such a nice day, after we got home the kids wanted to go out and pick up trash on the roadside. We filled up an entire trash bag brimming full. Then it was a Katie day so Beth and I went to Goshen to play trivia, where I dominated...again...until the battery in my monitor died or something, after which I just gave Beth the answers and she dominated.

This has been another long and interesting week. It was spring break, so the kids were off school, and driving Beth crazy. We were going to take the kids to see a movie last weekend, but Alex was running a fever for a couple days, so we didn't, but he was better enough by Tuesday so we took them to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" after I got out of work. OK movie, had some funny parts, but overall it was kinda flat. I took Thursday off (already had Friday); Beth and the kids and I ran up to Nappanee in the morning to search for a geocache (just one: it had a cryptogram puzzle in it that you had to solve. Beth is good at those. We had to seek the cache because she solved the puzzle, which was tough) before Beth had to dash to her appointment in FW. While she was gone, I took the kids caching some more and to Lowe's to get some wood to make bird feeders. Alex wanted a yellow one, Missy a pink one, so we got some spray paint too. Friday we went up to Michigan to visit with family. Got a room on Hotwire, which wound up being the worst deal ever. It turned out to be the Knights Inn in about the worst part of town. Our nephew the paramedic told us all about the pick-ups they do there for stab or gunshot wounds or overdoses. Hookers all over the place too, apparently. We drove by and saw riffraff in the parking lot, so we swallowed the non-refundable cash we'd already paid and got a room somewhere else. Steph and her kids and all of us went to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum (the one that used to be above the library back in the day) which is bigger and better than I remember...have all sorts of hands on science exhibits and such. It's right by Arcadia Creek, which I remember had a real fuss made over it when it was uncovered years ago, but it stinks. Reeks. Later on we had dinner with about everyone in the family at Burdick's. Saturday, Beth and I took the kids to visit with my friend Ang from high school and her family. They have 5 kids, including a set of triplets in the middle. Ang is just about a supermom now; she had a whole event planned with an easter egg hunt around their yard (with special gold and silver eggs with extra prizes hidden in them), kite flying, make your own cookies...we all had a great time but I think Alex was a little overwhelmed. And sugared up. Afterwards we went back to Steph's for haircuts (which never happened) for the kids, and I went with John and Marve to try out John's new boat, which he actually got via trade on Craig's List for a fishtank. The boat is very nice, needs just a tiny bit of work. On the way back to the ramp, though, we had some excitement as someone's boat was on fire. They had apparently abandoned it (jumped) when it started burning and were nowhere nearby, but the fire department arrived shortly after and started putting it out. It had been a very nice boat. Anyway, we took the boat out and went back to John and Steph's, then were off a bit later. I had to get up early today to drive the church van for sunrise service and breakfast. We went out to dinner with Ronnie and DeeAnn at the boathouse after service were done, and chilled the rest of the day.

It's supercool that the Spartans are back in the championship game, but this game is getting ugly.

The annual FCC Easter egg hunt was today. In the event of inclement weather, the plan had been to hold it inside the church (we can do that now with the new building) and this morning it was actually snowing. Saturday we did some shopping at Elder-Beerman for the kids, and there was an easter egg picture coloring contest going on (complete with a Disney princess, or what passes for one around here, which means just put a yellow dress on some girl and she's Belle) which captivated the kids for a while as mommy and daddy actually got some shopping in. Last Tuesday was Missy's carnival at preschool. It was a lot like Alex's the week before only geared more for preschoolers. Both kids went, of course. They got bags full of trinkets and candy and Alex threw a crying fit because his balloon sword wasn't the color he wanted. And Thursday Brian (from work) and I did a Whereigo geocache in Central Park at lunch. First one for either of us. We had a little trouble with the GPS resetting halfway through but did get it in the end. I've also been working on putting the drop ceiling in in the guest room. So far it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. Yesterday the Spartans beat UConn to make it to the championship game...WOO HOO!

Beth had her surgery on Monday this week, so I was off work again for the first 3 days. Monday we got the kids off to school and the Lemps picked them up and had them at their house all day until we got back home at around 6 or so. The surgery went very well and she's been feeling good. Tuesday I got the kids to and from school and afterwards took them out and about a little, including getting a kickstand for Alex's bike. He's getting pretty good at riding without the training wheels, so I think they have come off for the last time. Him crashing into a parked car in the parking lot by the Trailhouse notwithstanding. The rest of the week someone helped get the kids to school and I picked them up afterwards on my way home for lunch. Friday was Alex's carnival at school, which Beth attended even though she was probably too sore to go. They had all the standard games and things, inflatable obstacle courses, shooting baskets, golfing, etc for tickets that you could cash in for trinkets at the end. There was also a cake walk in which Alex won some cupcakes and frost-yourself cookies. Yesterday was a Katie day and Beth and I went out to see "Duplicity," which was all right but I predicted the amazing plot twist about an hour before the big reveal. And tonight...the Spartans reached the Final Four by punching Louisville in the neck in the second half. Beth was on the couch next to me for the game, and with about 5 minutes left she says "It looks like they're not even playing any more. Like they gave up." Yep. My bracket is hosed but I'm liking the new developments anyway.

It has been a sick week all around. Everyone in the house has been to the doctor at least once, and some of us twice, in the last week or so. Missy has had an awful cough at night, Alex can't seem to shake the nose thing, Beth has been coughing as well. I was in the doctor Tuesday and missed work Wednesday and Thursday, then tried to go back to work but wound up back at the doctor for a second round of a different antibiotic on Friday and missed most of the day then too. I think we've all turned the corner on it; hope so anyway. I'm still so congested I feel like I'm drowning in snot. Missy had a birthday party at Joy Jungle yesterday for Sydni that she was thankfully well enough to attend. Alex got to go to this one too, and we again all went to Taco Bell afterwards. Also on Friday, Wake Forest (one of my final four) trashed my bracket by losing. UN-believeable.

Bracket time! Here is my Final Four: UConn, Wake Forest, Pitt (champion), and Oklahoma. Mark it down.

It has been all about Alex's birthday this week. Judy came to visit on Sunday and was here through Tuesday; Mom got here Wednesday and was here thorough today. Alex got a present from Aunt Judy while she was here, then he opened presents from Mommy and Daddy and Gramma and Grampa on his actual birthday; Saturday we all went up to Michigan to have a birthday party for him at Chuck E. Cheese's in Kalamazoo with his cousins (and got a couple presents there), then back home late and another party on Sunday for his friends here. Overall he scored pretty big with the presents.

I finally made the trip to Vancouver this week. I flew out there on Monday, and found that nobody expects people to fly into Vancouver on a Monday, because there were about 3 immigration agents working for about a million people arriving. So it took over an hour to get through the line. But I got to the plant and had a good half a day working, except by the time I got done for the day my voice was shot from talking over the noise at the planty all day. I got in a tiny bit of geocaching Tuesday morning before the plant opened (there is a river walk that goes right by the plant, with 2 caches nearby) and worked all day again, finishing everything I came to do by about 8 pm. Wednesday morning I had some time free (noon flight) so I did a bit more caching in a forest primeval (city park) failing to find any but one. Then, on the way back to the airport, I could not find a gas station to refill the rental (a nice Mazda 6) to save my life. I wandered around for about half an hour before getting back near the airport, then I was running late so I couldn't get my bag checked. It was only 50 minutes until departure, you see. So I tossed my toothpaste and deodorant and carried it on. Uneventful flight back. This weekend, Missy had a birthday party (for Peyton) at Joy Jungle, where Alex really wanted to be, but I promised him we would do something fun together. So after dropping Missy off we went to Taco Bell and Somethin' Fun. The line for go-karts was too long, though, so we just played games instead and got some tickety prizes until it was time to get Missy. Today, we all went out to go swimming at the YMCA and babysat the Boschain kids for the evening.

I finally got the van in for service this week. New rear shocks, so it won't grind the compressor all the time, and the clunking noise was a broken sway bar. About $500 of service altogether, ouch. Friday we had Bible study at our house, or tried to, since the Boschains were the only ones who could come and shortly after they got here, Jake started getting feverish. They left very soon after that. I heard that he started throwing up during the night. Our kids didn;t catch whatever it was though, and yesterday was a Katie day for us. For the first time in a while we went to see a movie, "Slumdog Millionaire." I was surprised it was playing in town but it was, so we went to see it. So should you, it's excellent.

I am officially an idiot. That is why I didn't go to Vancouver this week like I was supposed to. I actually got all the way to the airport in FW early Monday and it never occurred to me until I was asked for it that I should bring my passport. A true O CRAP moment if ever I've had one, and I was on the phone to our corporste travel office trying to cancel and reschedule because there was no way to get the thing before fly time. So I got the trip rescheduled for in 2 weeks. And I'm an idiot. I was supposed to bring the van in for service this week, too, and that also didn't happen because Thursday was too busy. Beth is going to FW for a doctor's appointment every Thursday for a few weeks, and it didn't work to bring it in. This weekend has been Daddy Days: yesterday Beth and Rachel went out to see a movie and get sushi for Rachel's birthday, and today Beth's been out most of the day too. Today I took Alex to sign up for t-ball. It starts in May, so I'm not sure why the signup was so early, but it's done. For some reason, Alex didn't want to play soccer at the Y this year.

Wednesday evening was skate night instead of Kids Klub. Alex and Missy both skated again, and were at least half again as good at it as they were last time. The rink needs to put some more candy in their crane game thingy though, it's a 'play-until-you-win' game, and Missy played for a good half hour without getting anything out, until they were closing up and shut it off which was NOT ok with her. They did give her a free piece from the counter, though. Thursday we took the kids out to dinner at Pizza Hut to use a coupon Alex got from school for reading. Friday, Beth had an appointment in FW that she was nervous about so she got her Valentine's Day flowers a little early. The kids went to Jack and Bradley's house (babysitting swap payback) for the afternoon while she was in FW. For Valentine's Day, we had a Katie night, and I was going to take Beth out to dinner at a nice restaurant that we'd never been to (Barbee Hotel), but I neglected to make reservations and we couldn't get in. So, it was an hour wait at Ruby Tuesday's instead, then getting a coffee and shopping at Kohl's.

Missy has been off school all this week due to conferences. As we already knew, she is doing great and the teachers love her. She has been declared ready for kindergarten. She does have problems going along with what the class is supposed to be doing all the time but she does that at home too. She also doesn't go along with what other kids are playing if she wants to play something else. Strong willed. As always. Jack and Bradley were here (babysitting trade) on Monday most of the day after school; Missy was mad because nobody wanted to play stuffed animals with her. Beth went to a Pampered Chef party Saturday to finally get a new baking stone and as soon as she was done we headed up to Michigan for the day to visit with Stephanie & John and newly arrived baby Trevor. Missy loves playing with Julia; Alex was mad because nobody wanted to play non-girly stuff. But he did finally get to play Rock Band 2 with John and me and Julia later on. Missy sat on the couch to watch and fell asleep, soundly, during one of the songs (cranked) and stayed asleep for several more. We came back home late Saturday evening.

The Super Bowl just ended a few minutes ago. I'm bummed the Cardinals lost, but not that bummed. It would have been cool to see such a historic loser win the big game, but oh well. We watched the first half at the Sams house, where the kids were great. Missy helped DeeAnn make cookies and Alex found all the old games in a closet (we played Battleship and Tiddley Winks). It has been an odd week. To start off, I whacked my head on a ceiling going downstairs a week ago today, which bled buckets (all over my hands, dripping onto my ear, etc) and resulted in a trip to the ER for me since MedStat was closed at 8:00 on a Sunday night. I got 4 staples in my scalp. And I stayed home from work on Monday with a horrible headache. Missy was throwing up all night Sunday, so she was home from school Monday as well. She was back Tuesday, but then on Wednesday, school was cancelled due to more snow. Thursday was Father's Night at preschool; but earlier in the day I came home from work early because Beth was sick. I took the kids to McD's for dinner before dropping Alex back off at home, then Missy and I had an evening out. Friday, school was cancelled again, for an unknown reason because there was no new snow, and I came home from work before lunchtime because I got sick at work very suddenly. I had the staples out at about 9, and felt fine even after that, but by 10:30 I was home and spewing at both ends. Repeatedly. A lot. It lasted until mid-evening but I felt awful until Saturday morning. Then Missy had some diarrhea again, which almost devastated Beth because it was our Katie day, and she has had a very rough week. Ultimately, however, we decided by afternoon that Missy was ok and went ahead with it. We went to a camper show in Fort Wayne with the Wilhites and Churchills, which was nice but the one in South Bend may have even been better. There were again some reaaaally good deals to be had if you were in the market. Missy turned out to be fine all evening too. Today we all seem to be pretty healthy. Hope it stays that way and school doesn't get cancelled again.

A couple weeks ago we heard that the Shrine Circus was going to be in Fort Wayne this weekend, and not only had we never taken the kids to a circus, but Beth had never been to one and I hadn't since I was maybe 5, so Friday when Beth had a doctor's appointment in Fort Wayne she stopped over at the Coliseum to get some tickets. Kinda salty, but turned out to be much cheaper than ones we could have gotten online. Later on Friday, it was Lincoln Night at the high school basketball game, where at halftime during the j.v. game the elementary school basketball team would play, and Lincoln students would get in free. We thought the kids would like to see the game, and we'd never gone to a Warsaw game, so we went. Well, yes, Alex got in free, and the price of the ticket inclulded both j.v. and varsity games, but it was still $5 apiece for Beth and me, which I thought also kinda salty. And the kids weren't very interested anyway, and it was at dinnertime, so by the time we left just after the Lincoln team played the kids were hungry and grumpy, and the line at Applebee's was very very long. Saturday was circus day. We went to the library earlier and headed to FW with the Johnsons later. The kids were so so so excited they didn't even want to go walk around the Coliseum before it started because they were afraid they'd miss something. The circus was nice, but went on a bit too long (~3 hrs) and some of the acts went on too long. Like the camels and ponies. Missy loved that part, but they mostly just trotted around in circles for what seemed like a long time. And the clown/ringmaster act wasn't very funny for as long as it went on. And the refreshments....$5 lemonade, $5 cotton candy...kinda salty. But the human cannonball as the finale had Alex's complete and total attention. I thought he was going to overshoot but he didn't. After dinner with the Johnsons we were headed home, but stopped after noticing Circuit City's big GOOB sale. We found the complete series of "Firefly" on sale and bought it. Oh yeah, Beth's birthday was this past week. I got her another one of those glass cannisters from Warsaw Cut Glass, just like the one I got her for Christmas.

Today the kids wanted to have a holiday so they invented one. "Caching day," they called it. On Caching Day, you hide things in the house and leave clues as to where they are, and you play jokes on people. The festivities lasted most of the afternoon. Yesterday was a Katie day (another holiday to us) but no movies we wanted to see were playing so we just went shopping at Wal-Mart (woo hoo). Also this week, we finally joined Netflix. Our first movie was "American Gangster" which was ok.

Today was a birthday party for Carson at Tokens-n-Tickets. It was a drop-off, which is always fun. Yesterday Beth and I got some free babysitting from the Boschains and we used it to go to Goshen to play trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings, which I dominated...again. Beth had an appointment last Tuesday in FW that she was nervous about, so I went with her with the kids and waited at Chick-Fil-A while the kids played and she did her thing, which turned into no big deal.

Everything is starting to get back to normal again. But it's not there yet. Most of this past week has been spent trying to find ways to keep the kids entertained. Last Monday it was a fairly nice day so we went out to the vicinity of Columbia City for geocaching, and got 3, inclulding a very clever one on the grounds of the courthouse, hidden in a pinecone. But it got cold, fast, while we were out, so 3 was it and we came back home. For New Year's, we literally did nothing. We had the Boschains over on the 1st (they were busy New Year's Eve) for dinner and to let the kids play. We took them to Somethin' Funn again to drive the go-karts and play the games and cash in the tickets. We took them to the playplace at McDonald's. Friday I was back to work, but the day didn't seem very productive. And yesterday Beth and I had a Katie day, and went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." I could have done without it but Beth loved it.