We are back from our Christmas "vacation," that being 3 days up in Michigan visiting family. There was no room at the inn this year, so we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Plainwell. We left on Christmas morning, just a little while after we got up and did presents ourselves. I made a video of us going downstairs and opening the presents, and captured Missy looking at the pile and declaring 'That proves that Santa's real!' The kids got what I would call an impressive haul, with the big prizes being Missy's swim-to-me puppy, and some other robot pet things (parrot and panda), all of which she has wanted ever since seeing them, and Alex's toolbox and remote control helicopter, plus the Wii Mater's Tall Tales game. Also a big hit were the hand knitted scarves, gloves and hats made by Gramma. Missy's especially; it was patterned after a sock monkey and she loves it. We made the trip up north a bit later on and had another Christmas at Pinkster's. The kids wanted to bring the Wii games, so they could play with their cousins, but they all quickly got bored with it. It was just way too easy, and too simple. Another one of the kids' prizes were $50 gift cards from Gramma and Grampa for Toys R Us, which the whole family went out to spend yesterday. Alex spent the entire thing on Pokemon cards, and Missy struggled to find something she wanted to spend it on. She picked out a Toy Story 3 cheapo plastic guitar for most of the amount, for some reason, but after many tears and much pouting we were able to talk her out of it and into some animals and another robot pet thing (squirrel). Everyone did some more shopping (Gander Mountain, the mall) and went out to dinner together afterwards. This morning we hit the pool at the hotel with the kids, mostly because we promised Missy she could try out her swim to me puppy at some point and it was the last time left. It was freezing but kids don't seem to notice.

The maple tree came down today. Travis and Mark came over with their chain saws and a trailer, and we cut it down and cut it up. I don't know how he did it, unless he is some sort of savant, but Travis looked up at the tree and walked from the tree to the fence, then announced we could drop the tree straight back and it would just fit in the yard without hitting the fence. Since there wasn't much else to do, we did it, and the very tippy top of the tree just barely brushed the back side of the fence when it fell. From there it was just a matter of cutting and stacking wood, and everything went on without incident or accident. Mark did see the cat condo that I have begun building. Actually, what he saw was just a couple of 2x4s clamped together drying, but he asked what I was working on and was a bit...er, disgusted...with the answer. Yeah, the thing is going to be a pretty major piece of furniture. Beth is away this weekend; she went back to Plainwell for a grand opening gala event for the new performing arts center at the high school, and all the alumni they could get came back to sing. I got to see some of it because it was all webcast, which was pretty cool.

Friday after work all the Cub Scouts popcorn that they sold in the last 6 weeks or so was delivered. It was $6326 worth of the stuff, sold by about 20 different boys. It just barely fits into the truck bed and all available space in the front and back of the cab, and it makes a HUGE pile of boxes in our living room. We had scouts coming by all afternoon Saturday to pick theirs up for delivery. It was also date night, Beth and I went to dinner and out to see "Red" which we both loved. And Missy has tonsilitis again. I wish we could have gotten those tonsils out this year, when my deductible is paid up. Sigh....tonsils 3, Missy 0.

Opal and Iris went to the vet today and we re-discovered how expensive free kittens can be. Shots and worming for 2 cats: $241.50.

Halloween was tonight, but trick or treating was yesterday. I seem to remember back when I was a kid, trick or treating was on whatever day Halloween was, and it didn't even start until it started to get dark. Here and now, it's on the nearest Saturday, and it's over at 7:30. And the cutoff time is enforced. But it is convenient for me being the parent. Anyway, we took the kids to church for truth 'n' treat in the early evening, then when that was over we took them into town again. Fort Wayne Street is the best place in town for trick or treating, I think. There's always the few houses in a row where they really go all out with the decor, and one house (Carrie's mom) where they do the entire house up as a haunted house and have people walk through. Yesterday was also the YMCA Spooktacular 5k...which would be better if it wasn't so early...we came close to blowing it off because it started at 9:00 and it was cold, but we did it anyway. The kids were both in the youth center the whole time, which was also handy. My time was a bit slower than the 5k a couple months ago...28:38...and Beth was a bit slower than last year...52:53...because she was walking with a friend who got a cramp and she stayed back with her. I also found my phone yesterday, which I've been tearing the house apart looking for for the past several days. It was under the back seat of the truck, where it probably fell after the Iron Horse hike a couple weeks ago. Today, yard work. Leaf raking, mostly, plus a bit of digging and moving some landscaping stones away from the corner of the house.

The weather has been weird in the past few days. Last Sunday night, just around the kids' bedtime, we started getting thunderstorms in the area and the tornado warning siren went off, which freaked them out big time. The tornadoes were all north and east of here, but we kept the kids up for a while until the storms had passed and the warnings expired. Alex was terrified the tornado was going to come back. Then, now just a couple days later, we have another huge storm front blow through and another tornado warning, this time with the kids all at school. Beth was at the school helping out, and got to read to all the kids on the floor of the school library and bathrooms while waiting for that storm to pass.

After a business trip, Saturday was not restful. But it was fun. Saturday early we went to help the Myers' pack up all their home stuff into a U-Haul van, and got more in than most expected, including the washer, dryer, fridge, freezer, and flat screen, which I hope did not break. The Krugers had a Halloween party afterwards. Beth is Dorothy, I'm the scarecrow, Missy is Mulan, and Alex is Luigi from Mario Brothers. Sunday was relaxing, at least, once we finished 4s & 5s in church this morning.

I have returned from Vancouver, once again. This time, there were no medical emergencies while I was gone, thank goodness. I was there all week with 2 other coworkers, one of whom is still there. But, they both agreed that this was the best business trip they have ever had. It was a qualification on 2 ovens for a new process, so there were long stretches of time in which we had little to do but wait for the cycle to finish. So during those times we did some sightseeing. Most of the time we only had a few hours so we couldn't go far, but we did do a lot of hiking and walking through the woods here and there. One geocache, and 2 no-finds (one because we couldn't cross a river, and we were on the wrong side). We also got to see two complete Canucks games, both losses. We also did Lynn Valley Park, walking all over. Thursday we all did the Grouse Grind. Matt thought he was going to run the whole thing and started off strong, then faded. Jim (a bit older) fell behind early. I just kept on grinding and finished in 1:04, 7 minutes better than July. Matt made it in 1:15, Jim in 1:40. Jim and I left Friday morning and went as far as Chicago, then drove home. Overall, a pretty good trip, and we did get a lot done.

The Cub Scouts hiked the Iron Horse yesterday. Bright and early, we met up at the school at 8:00 and headed up to Potato Creek. The kids all did great, considering that we all walked a lot A LOT further than we'd planned and there was a long line for lunch. They also didn't have as much stuff there as Brad and I thought there would be. We thought there was going to be a lot more activities there besides just hiking, especially for the tiger cubs, but what they did have was pretty insignificant. I guess the hike is the thing. Don't get me wrong...it is a nice hike. Anyway, we took a wrong turn somewhere out there, and there was some incorrect information on the flyers. There was supposed to be a 1 mile, 2.5 mile, and 10 mile hike (we wanted the 2.5 mile), but I believe there was only a 2 mile and 5 mile. At least that's all I saw. And the wrong turn we took sent us on a long stretch of the hike in the backwards direction. We must have covered the entire 5 miles of the hike and then some. Then of course was the long line for lunch, which was very reasonable priced, which was good. There was also a field maze but it wasn't much. So, of all the activities we thought there was going to be, it was pretty much just a hike. We need to look into the Camporee in FW for next year, I hear it's nice. Anyway, while we were gone (until about 4) Beth and Kathy went to McD's for lunch, where Kathy tripped and fell and broke two bones in her hand. As we got back to town she was seeing an orthopedic surgeon. Turns out she didn't need surgery, but she is in a lot of pain. She had some shock to go with it. We kept the kids at our house for a while until she was all taken care of. Today we were planning on going to Splash Park (Zimmer club had discount tickets for today) for some indoor water fun, but decided to take it easy and skip the park since Missy is just getting over being sick. We did get together with a bunch of friends from church to have dinner out with the Myers, since they are leaving town soon since he got a new job. Tomorrow, bright and early, I go to Vancouver for work again.

Kids Klub tonight decorated pumpkins for Halloween upcoming. I was rounded up to judge and help with the crafty stuff. To keep the mess down and make them last longer, it was a stick-on kind of decorating instead of carving.

The Suzuki has new tires, which it has needed...BADLY...for a long long time. See ya $400...

The big thing today was getting the camper empty, cleaned, cleaned, drained, cleaned, folded up, and put away for winter. It was just the kind of beautiful weekend that makes you want to go camping, but no. I finished a few improvements to the camper just in time to get it put up (made some dividers for the clothes cabinet, added a big wooded drawer on gliders to under the sink) and we scrubbed that thing clean. It's now pushed into a corner of the garage, probably until Memorial Day. We were going to get this all done yesterday, but because it was a perfect fall day, we couldn't in good conscience let it go to waste with work. We wound up going geocaching in town instead of working. There are a few we could get just walking down the greenway and into the big cemetery. We also ran into a friend of Missy's from school while out and sold her grandpa some popcorn for Alex's cub scout fundraiser. Also yesterday was a date night for Beth and me, but no movies were playing that we wanted to see so we went bowling and out to dinner instead. I came close to breaking 200 in our first game (185) but got tired quickly after.

Beth went to a "Celebrating Home" party yesterday, whatever that is, some womenfolk thing where they spend their husbands' money on homey stuff because they feel they have to, because their friend who is hosting bought something at the other party that they hosted a couple months ago. We also took the kids bowling yesterday, since they have been asking to go and it's been a while.

We are back from the last camping trip of the season. No doubt about why, after the weekend we had. Not that it was bad, just that it was cold. I'm glad we got the camper heater working this spring because it was doing double duty with the ceramic heaters. It was the 3rd annual Marve's Birthday Wiessner/Pinkster/Knight Campout...add in Beavers this year as well...which is usually everyone's last time for the year. This time, however, we went to Camp Michawana instead of Yankee Springs. We took the kids out of school a bit early on Friday so we could get the camper set up before it was pitch black. It was pretty cool, and very windy, when we got there, but the campground was nearly empty. Ryan also was not there this time, as he doesn't want to hang around with the little kids all weekend any more. The kids played, and everyone else huddled by the fire most of the evening. Saturday was the camp's big end of season celebration; they had a 1-mile and 5k fun runs (all of the kids did the mile run, even Missy...but she went with Aunt Judy who was pushing Collin's wheelchair so they got to take a shortcut). I did my first ever 5k...more or less on a whim. I've run a few times this month on Wednesday nights, so I was in the mood to see what I could do. I almost won it. Not many were running it but still. My time was 27:38, just a bit over the time of the kid who won it. I started sprinting near the end, but not near enough, and ran out of gas with about 20 feet to go and was passed just before the line. Still, it was my first 5k, and I did run the whole thing except a short uphill section, and did better than I thought I would. Heh, I didn't have any proper running attire so I wore sleep pants and a sweatshirt for the race. There were some workmen clearing some trees and brush by the trail we ran, one of them was shouting encouragement to the runners going by. For me, he yelled, "Go...guy in pajamas!" In addition, the zipline and climbing wall were open all afternoon. I don't think I was supposed to, but I snuck my video camera while going down the zipline and shot a pretty cool video for YouTube. For some reason though, both of our kids were too scared to do it. Why Alex was scared was perplexing, since he did it 3 times last summer. Lauren was too scared as well. Alex did make it up about halfway on the rock wall. Missy got about a foot up before she was too scared to go any further. Later on there was cake and ice cream (and ribbons for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in the races) from the camp, and the extended family had a big bingo party where the prizes were junk that Judy wanted to get rid of. The kids had a great time picking out prizes; they loved it. More huddling by the fire in the evening. Sunday we all made tie-dye t-shirts with the kids and packed up. So ends summer.

Thank goodness I have friends who know IT. Tuesday, the laptop gave Beth the dreaded Blue Screen of Death...and all I know to do, which is reboot, was useless. Nothing I knew to do helped at all, and it was just blue. Other people were telling me that everything on the hard drive is probably gone forever...photos, checkbook...gaaaaaah....luckily Brian does this sort of thing for a living...Wednesday I took the laptop over to his house during Kids Klub instead of going to the gym like I promised myself I would do but this is an emergency and the only time he could do it....and he worked on it for a little while with the system CDs, and today he brought it back to me at work good as new. Not even a single missing file.

Today was an interesting adventure. We took the Cub Scouts geocaching in place of a meeting at the school. Brad and I figured we had better do it early in the season while it's still light by 7:30 or 8 and still warm, and it would be a good idea to get the kids out of the school for the first time as soon as possible. So, we met over by the Winona Lake playground with some borrowed GPSs, and broke into 3 groups. I had the tigers, and a couple siblings. It was interesting getting everyone over the creek, for sure. We did some balancing and some lifting and managed to keep them all dry. We found one of the caches, but had no more time for looking before we needed to be back. As we were heading back, we passed Brad's group just arriving looking for the same one. It was funny to see Alex leading the way, holding the GPS. Turns out they never found it. Probably they just don't have the geo-sense yet. But there was an extra one hidden near the fire ring (placed my me, today) to give them a meatball to find in case of disappointment. We crossed the creek again going the same way we had coming...but Brad's group found the bridge. I think the kids really enjoyed it. We'll have to do some again in the spring.

Today was the church picnic. It was a really well-done affair, I thought. There were plenty of activities and games going on, most of which were won by Bob. Bob won the pie-eating contest, the ninja contest, the frisbee golf contest, and I think also the wheelchair race. I was entered into the pie-eating contest, but had some problems getting the pumpkin pie down and grossed a few onlookers out. Alex almost had a breakdown because he made it to the wheelchair race finals, due to help he got during the early heats, but nobody helped him in the finals and he lost. Bob consoled him by giving him the frisbee golf ribbon, which really made everything pretty much all good. Yesterday, Beth was out of town all day at a Beth Moore simulcast down somewhere near Indy, I think, at our old associate minister's church. She and a bunch of her friends went, and I told the kids we could get dinner anywhere they wanted. What did they choose? KFC. Oh well. After dinner was a birthday party for Katie (4), which we went to but were late to because we incorrectly assumed it would be at the Horbett's, because Beth told us so. It was at the McCoy's. The kids played on the trampoline most of the evening and got pony rides.

Today was my other fantasy football draft date. We take too long to do it. I got Rivers and Moss and Peterson so I should be good. I think I have a pretty good team. Yesterday Beth and I took this kids, and the Boschains, to a home that had 4 free kittens advertised. We took 2, and they took 2. Ours are the 2 girls, theirs are the boys. We cannot tell our apart except for one is a bit grayer (we named her Iris), and one is a bit browner (Opal). Not much color difference, though, they are seriously close to being the same cat. The Boschains took one that was all orange, who they named Nehi, and one that looked a lot like ours, which they named Pepper. And Cub Scouts continues to ramp up: last Wednesday I drove out to FW to a popcorn fundraiser organizational meeting. Just my being there will give the pack another 2% commission. The meeting itself went well, once I figured out it was in the hotel across the road from the Coliseum and not in the Coliseum itself, but it reminded me of a pyramid scheme meeting. Anyway, we have our stuff and are ready to make some money.

We have completed the first week of full school days for both kids. Tuesday was the first day of school. Missy has the same teacher Alex did last year, which we were hoping for, and Alex also has the teacher we were hoping he'd get. I stayed home for a couple hours in the morning to help get them up and off, but I wasn't really needed as they were both too excited. We were pretty early at the bus stop. Alex especially has been looking forward to school starting for weeks. Missy has been excited too. Big first grader. Alex's friend Luke wasn't there (out sick) for the first couple days, which really disappointed Alex, but he got by. Both of them loved it. Beth managed to fall down while walking to the bus stop to get them in the afternoon and took all the skin off one knee. But she's been enjoying the new time off she's been having. Thursday we got corn, something like 8 dozen this time, and she spent all day shucking and putting it up and freezing it. We'll eat it all year long, we still have several bags left from last year. Friday night was a daddy night, the kids and I stayed home while Beth had some kind of womenfolk shopping party or other. Alex's nose was so stuffy he didn't even like the pizza we got. Saturday was a date night for Beth and me, but no movies we wanted to see were playing so we just went to Goshen to get wings and play trivia at BW3. We also went there because they have free Wi-Fi and I needed to log on for the fantasy football draft for the league I'm in with Laura and Thomas. Beth wasn't crazy about being ignored for 45 minutes on a date but hey, fantasy football! I got Peyton Manning and Frank Gore and Miles Austin so I should be good to go. Hope so, anyway. Sunday we all went geocaching with a bunch of friends from church at Potawatomi Wildlife Park. The group was really too big for it, though, and we wound up getting only 4 and trying really hard to keep the kids under control. The board of directors for the park just happened to be having a meeting/picnic as we got to one site, and we met 'Gunpowder' the director of the park who placed all the caches. Good time, but smaller crowd next time.

We just got back from a day in Michigan. Ryan was having his birthday party in Kzoo today, so after church Beth and the kids and I headed up there. We spent a little while at the cemetery near Plainwell where Becky and Beth's parents are buried, cleaning up the broken flower pots and trimming the grass and pulling the weeds around the graves. Looks like nobody has been there in a while. But we met a guy that went to high school with Beth, within a year or so of her. They didn;t know each other, though. Anyway, the party for Ryan was nice, and it was good for the kids to see their cousins again. Ted was there too, haven't seen him in a long time. Yesterday Beth and I took the kids up around Goshen on a geocaching trip, we got 4 of them before all were too worn out (Alex was coming down with a head cold). We also finally went to South Side Diner, the place featured on Triple-D that we've been saying 'we should try that place sometime' for years now. It's excellent, we should have gone there years ago. I think Alex's cold is a direct result of swimming in Center Lake last week (Thursday) and Pike Lake (Friday). We all swam Thursday evening right after I got out of work. It was HOT those days and the lake felt really good, though NO comparison to Lake Michigan at Holland, or South Haven. But wet and cool, if a bit slimy, and I feel dirty afterwards. And I try hard to keep my eyes shut underwater. Beth said Center Lake was much less mucky. The kids had a lot of fun but now the colds come, is my bet. Oh, and the tomato plants Beth planted in the backyard this spring? Producing grape and yellow tomatoes like crazy. And they are gooo-oood. Wednesday Brad and I went out to North Webster for a district kick-off meeting for Cub Scouts. I think the previous leadership was not really crazy about meetings, or rules, or regulations...so we'll see how things go this year. Wednesday was also the send-off party for our church's intern Ray, who has been an incredible blessing for us all. He just...fit. Our kids both love him, as do all the other kids. I was at the meeting so I wasn't there, but Missy cried and cried and cried because he was going away and prayed that night at bedtime that she could see him every day for the rest of forever.

This weekend has been largely about the Cub Scouts. Lincoln registration was Thursday and Friday afternoon and evening, and we had the dunk tank out to garner some attention. We had several parents sign up after they saw us. The lines were crazy, Lincoln needs to work on their process. But anyway, Beth and I and a few others manned the dunk tank (and you should have seen us getting that big heavy thing set up Wednesday night...woo...) for the entire time (several of the boys took turns in the tank near the end). I myself was in for a couple hours after work Thursday. Saturday we had CS planning picnic at Winona Lake Park. Only a few people showed up, and only one outside the core leadership group we had last year, but we did have some good talk about what to do next year. The big thing is a welcome picnic we're going to have as soon after the start of the school year as possible. I think we'll start up just after Labor Day. Date night was also Saturday...Beth and I went to dinner and saw "The Other Guys," which was funny but I thought inconsistent. And last week we agreed to take Alex to Gamestop to see if we could exchange our Madagascar Carts Wii game for a Mario Carts, not realizing that Mario Carts was $50 and we would get $4 for trading in the other game. So, we backed out of that to his chagrin, and bought both the kids much cheaper games.

Turns out today was my first day back to work, not Monday. By Monday morning, Beth and Missy were both throwing up and I stayed home to take care of them. Alex went to school Monday, but was out Tuesday because now he was throwing up. He never caught it as bad as Beth did and only threw up a few times, instead of all day and night like Beth and all day like Missy.

Friday night I got bamboozled into moving hay. Sort of. We spent most of the day at a garage sale and getting the camper cleaned up and put away, and in the evening Beth had one of those womenfolk parties, I think it was Partylite or something, at the McCoy's house, and I went too. Adam and Mark were also there, and we were all pressed into service moving bales of hay from Travis' trailer into his barn. Maybe a hundred or so bales altogether. The kids all played together on the trampoline or slides while we did all this. Saturday there was supposed to be the annual Duck Race at Winona Lake, but when we got there we found that it had been canceled due to rain (go figure) so we took the kids to Pottery Bayou instead. Alex got a police car bank; Missy got a puppy. In the evening we had the Lemps over for dinner so brad and I could talk about the upcoming Cub Scouts year, what we want to do, what we have ideas for, etc...Today we ran out of gas on the way to church...just as we were arriving, and we didn't have the momentum to get us quite up the drive. Several others were right behind us to help push, and Dave got us some gas, but I must say it's quite embarrassing. Alex and I spent the afternoon building a little rack for a golf set he got at the garage sale out of an old piece of shelving that I found in the garage. Tomorrow, I go back to work for the first time in a while.

Tonight feels almost like the end of summer. I feel like things should start getting back to normal after a crazy busy summer pretty soon after today. We're going to start getting the kids back onto a more normal schedule following a long time of staying up late and sleeping late (although the sleeping late part has been pretty nice). We did our vacation this past week, leaving late Monday morning and pulling the camper up to Holland State Park in Michigan. We got there in the afternoon and headed right for the beach after setting up camp. We had a site on the Pines side of Lake Macatawa Pines campground, which was nice and quiet. Lake Michigan is just like I remember it. The water is clear, the swimming is great, the lake bottom is sand. Around here, the lakes are mostly muck. Sand is much nicer. And sand that was made by glaciers, not industrial rock crushers. We swam at the beach for a couple hours and headed back to camp for dinner, then realized we forgot to pack the grill, so we were pretty much out of luck. We went into town for dinner instead, then made it back to the lake in time to see the sunset. The night made us wish we had A/C on the camper, or at least a dehumidifier, because it was sticky wet. By Tuesday, we had decided that we needed to spend at least another day at the Park, so we arranged to get a new site, but we would have to move. Anyway, we spent pretty much all day at Lake Michigan and it was an absolutely gorgeous day (I burned my back and shoulders right through the SPF 45 I was wearing) perfect for swimming and building sand castles. We had dinner at the campsite and spent another wet night. Wednesday morning we packed up the camper and got ready to move to the other side of the park, but while we were getting the last of the camper buttoned up, Alex managed to lock the keys in the truck so we spent the next hour or so waiting for roadside assistance to come get the doors open. They did, and we moved across the campground and set up again before heading to the beach. It had been a bit rainy and windy Wednesday, so there were some good waves at the Lake, maybe around 2 or 3 feet high. We swam during a rain shower and jumped waves for a few hours, then got lunch and went out to the Ottawa County Fair. The kids had been pretty upset about missing the fair at home, so we thought it pretty fortuitous that there was a fair just a bit down the road from the State Park. But boy, you can sure burn through money at a fair. We got wristbands for the kids at $20 each, and bought 4 tickets each for Beth and me ($1 each) to ride the ferris wheels with the kids. Alex had wanted just to ride the double ferris wheel, so we did, and he spent the entire ride clinging to my arm and wanting to get off. The regular ferris wheel was much nicer, from what I heard from Beth and Missy. Alex and Missy also both wanted to ride the tilt-a-whirl, but about 10 seconds into the ride they both wanted off. They were riding that one without us. I was just about to yell at the operator to stop it already when he finally did; the ride had seemed to go on and on. $5 for lemonade, $3 for cotton candy, $3 for a turn on the rock climbing wall (for me - made it to the top) and we decided to not eat dinner at the fair after all as we had planned. We left right after the tilt-a-whirl because both kids were feeling awful after that ride. Then back to camp. We packed up and headed home Thursday morning.

This posting is just a catch-up because this summer was crazy busy and I didn't keep up with this. But we're leaving to go camping in a few days so I thought I would collect my thoughts about all that went on this summer. Let's see. In June the kids were wrapping up swimming lessons when coaches' pitch (for Alex) and tennis lessons (for both of them) started. Tennis was twice a week in the mornings. Mom and Dad and Laura and Thomas came out to visit the week of Missy's birthday, which was also VBS week at church, for which I was driving a van. Alex had wanted to go to Cub Scout day camp but with everything else going on, he couldn't. We used tennis as a trade-off. Missy wanted to go to the zoo for her birthday, so we talked her down to just two friends (Wrigley and Rebecca) for us to take to FW on a very hot day and out to dinner and to see 'Toy Story 3.' That movie was a bit more intense than I'd expected in a few places, and overall not as good as the others. The following weekend was our garage sale and both kids going to Michiana Christian Service Camp. Missy was at first chance camp on Saturday, and Alex got to go up Sunday and stay overnight. The garage sale was at the Boschains, and the Horbetts were in on it too. We got Krista to agree to go to camp at the last minute because Missy was going too, and she had a great time. For the garage sale, we had told the kids that if they put some toys in the sale, we would put the money towards a new Wii. That was good motivation, because they did, and we got enough money for one and an extra game. More activities in July. The weekend of the 4th, we went up to Michigan to camp with the Wiessners and Pinksters and Beavers, at a place called Michawana Camp, which seems a lot like Michiana except it has an RV campground open to the public. And it is NICE. But it was close to empty, for no reason anyone can fathom. We didn't take the camper, we stayed in one of their cabins which was a converted caboose...so cool, the kids loved it. They also have a zipline, rock wall (closed for maintenance), hayrides, mini golf, boats, beach...and a big inflatable jumping thing in the lake. We all had a great time, then came back Sunday and saw the fireworks out by Lake Wawasee. Alex managed to skin the crap out of his knees by tripping on a sidewalk on the way. A few days later was a fantastic production of "The Music Man" at the Wagon Wheel Theater that Beth and I went to see, like on a date. Friday July 9 Alex had his tonsils out, and seemed to be doing fine by the following Wednesday when I left for Vancouver for work.
Ah, Vancouver. I always love to visit, especially when I have some free time. Thursday the 15th I was able to get away while things were heating up and I hiked the famous Grouse Grind in 1 hour 11 minutes, not too bad from what I understand. Awesome hike. But my cell phone died overnight, and I didn't check in with home on Friday, when Alex woke up bleeding from the mouth and Beth rushed him to the ER in FW because the doctor said to get him right in, and was concerned about blood clots. I didn't call until about 9pm her time, and she had been trying to reach me for 12 hours. I had had some free time and was geocaching all day in Stanley Park. But everything was ok by the time I got home Saturday. I passed my birthday fairly quietly. That about brings us up to date.

The left fielder for the team we played today had an attitude problem. And a sun problem. He had a tendency to lose fly balls in the sun, and then when they fell, not to pursue them. I saw him do this before I batted one time, then I hit a long one that should have been an easy catch. Instead, he lost it, then threw down his glove and let it roll while another guy ran after it. I had been hoping he would let it drop because I knew he wouldn't chase it. Big turn at first, and when I got to second, center had barely even picked it up. I made the other big turn betting that he couldn't throw me out from where he was standing. He couldn't, and I hit my first ever triple. Standing up. A younger, faster guy hit an inside the park homer later in the game when the guy did it AGAIN.

It was a weekend of must-dos. Saturday, we had a bunch of errands to run and as a reward for being so good during them, we took the kids out to Somethin' Funn. $20 really buys quite a bit there. Alex was disappointed he still isn't tall enough to drive the go-karts by himself, and again, it was empty so we got to go around by ourselves. I took Missy around too, and again, we were the only ones on the track. That really lets you do some drifting. Then the kids swam at home. Sunday after church we party-hopped. First was a birthday party for Khloe (I didn't know they were setting up the inflatable water thingy, so I had to run home fro the kids' suits), then an open house for Marshall, then another open house for Erik (in Mentone, by the way). Those took us pretty much all day, then more getting ready for VBS which starts tomorrow, then finishing up some last things in the guest room at home, most notably the border, which basically finishes the room completely. Except for a small spot of paint that needs to be touched up. But I'm out of the paint.

Alex had coaches pitch tonight at the same time I had softball, so I missed his game again. I wasn't sure there would be any games today because it was raining most of the afternoon, but it was one of those drizzly rains that keeps clearing up before starting up again, and never reaches the point where you think it's raining hard enough to call the game...or is it? But they did have a game, and so did I. I was 2-for-3 with a couple of hard grounder singles and a walk. Marshall was the hero though; in the 7th inning with us down 5-3, the bases loaded (me on first), and 2 outs, he hit a huge double up the middle that cleared the bases and ended the game. Our second win! Beth and the kids got to CCAC just as we were finishing up. Alex was soaking wet as was I. But he did great in the game.

I love hitting doubles! I hit my second one of the season (probably my career high) tonight. I also drew a walk, which is rare as well. I was 1-for-3 in a losing effort. It was the first game in 3 weeks for me, since Alex had his last Cub Scouts last week and we were rained out the 2 weeks before that.

Memorial Day weekend 2010 is in the books. We camped out with all the usual suspects, this time at Mississinewa Reservoir (first time there for us). I left work just after lunch, but events had conspired to prevent us from getting everything ready just on time so we worked at packing and loading the camper until Alex got home from school, and even around an hour or so past. That is, Beth didn't get the shopping done until the last minute. I forgot to sanitize the water tank. Anyway, we left around dinnertime and rolled into the camp at around 7. We were right between the Bells and Judds so Alex and Missy had kids to play with while we set up and got dinner ready. The campground is nice, we thought, but they could use some more pathways to the restrooms and some more water faucets. The bug control was excellent. The kids played and the grownups visited until probably around 10, when we started trying to get the kids down. Not easy, too wired. I stayed with them in the camper until I thought they were asleep, then went out to visit some more, only to hear the sound of Missy screaming a bit later because she woke up and didn't know where we were. By the time I got to her she was sobbing and had left the camper. That was about it for the evening anyway. The next day we went to the beach just after lunchtime for a few hours. It was truly a break in the weather we've been having lately because it was scorching hot all day, and hardly a cloud anywhere. The lake was even warm enough for the adults to swim, and hundreds were. Even me. That says something. We bribed the kids to get out with ice cream afterwards, then had a community dinner back at camp. The worst moment of the weekend came later Saturday when Alex tripped while running and fell face-first into the edge of a picnic table, putting a huge knot on his forehead, and putting him on the ground screaming for quite a while. Poor kid. He seemed to recover ok, though. Sunday was about the same as Saturday, except Boschains and our intern Ray came down to the park to visit for the day, and we took them to the beach with us. After dinner, though, it started clouding up, and some others got a weather report that storms were on the way. Everyone with a tent or popup packed up after dinner and headed out, including us. We had just about our whole camp packed up when the rain started, but about the only significant thing that got wet was the awning of the camper...I'll have to make sure to pull it out to dry before it mildews. We rolled out at about 10 or so. I heard today that they got just pounded with t-storms during the night, so leaving was a good call. Today was a cookout at the Horbetts' house, with a few of the people who had been camping until yesterday. They had an inflatable water slide thingy going on, and a go-kart they race around their yard with to amuse the kids. It was supposed to be an outside thing, but the rain continued today and drove most of it indoors. So overall, I think the weekend was managed pretty well.

Today was my very special day with Missy. She has been feeling left out lately because I do more with Alex (e.g. scouts, baseball) and she didn't want to go to Alex's game tonight. So, Beth took Alex to the game, and I took Missy out for a date night. We all ate dinner together, then I took Missy to Somethin' Funn. The place was pretty much deserted, in fact, the only other person in there was an attendant. We got to drive a go-kart all by ourselves, and the attendant let us go longer than usual. We drove until the car battery started wearing down. Afterwards, we went to Kelainey's for ice cream (she chose lemon custard) and went for a stroll downtown, ending up at Courthouse Coffee for a juice. We ran into a kid from the softball team and Missy told him and the barista all about how it was her special day out with Daddy. We were walking back to the car when Beth and Alex pulled up across the street from us and suggested we go for ice cream. We already had, so they went while we went home. Oh yes, and a fantastic Missyism: as we were walking around downtown, I saw a poster for First Fridays coming up - a downtown festival on the first Friday of each month all summer - and told Missy "we'll definitely have to check out First Fridays." She agreed. "Yeah, Daddy, I'd really like to try my first fried eggs, because I never had one before." I roared. She didn't want me to tell Beth that she thought that was what I said. Ha!

Alex's first game of coach pitch was tonight! We missed the second practice due to rain, and we were busy on the weekend during makeup time, so this was the first time with the team since the 6th. It was also picture day, which meant that a lot of the game time was taken up wangling kids for the pictures, and it was also our snack day, which meant I had a lot of stuff to lug around, and it was also Tai Chi day for Beth, which meant I brought the kids to the park myself. Because of the pictures, there were only 2 innings, but Alex was batting last so he got to hit home runs both times! One time he hit one without the tee, one time with. I am so proud of him out there.

My back is sore from all the yard work yesterday. Beth and I were up fairly early on Saturday to get Alex to his swimming lessons, and we were actually all in the car and on the way when Brian called and asked if I still needed him to bring the jackhammer he had rented over. We had talked about it at small group on Friday evening. He was breaking up a slab to get rid of a basketball hoop, and I still needed it to remove the remnant of the slab behind the garage that I never did finish a couple years ago. Anyway, I went back home while Beth took the kids to the Y, and Brian had the jackhammer over a bit later. It took maybe 20 minutes to get the slab all broken up (he did the work while I was assembling a wheelbarrow I bought ‘cuz the tractor died), we split to rental cost and he took the thing back, then I spent the next couple hours hauling broken pieces of concrete back to the back of the yard and dumping them. Heavy work. Then we moved on to digging up all the stones from the space by the southeast corner of the house, sifting out the dirt, and using the dirt to fill in the hole where the slab had been. The stones went to the back as well. This went on for several hours Saturday. I was thinking about getting back to the retaining wall, but decided not to push it. Today, my back is killing me.

The weekend has seemed very short, but it was good. Alex and I went on a Cub Scout campout Saturday down at Salamonie Reservoir. He had been so excited about it for several days, he was worried that he would oversleep and miss it. Like that would happen. I decided that we should have a tent and some sleeping bags if we're going to go camping with the scouts much, so we got new ones during the week (nice tent...much easier to set up than our last one). The pack all met up at the school in the morning, 9 kids, 8 adults. Just before we left we joined up with the Lemps so we all didn't have to drive separately, and we threw all their stuff in the truck and caravaned down. The youth area of the campground is just a clearing with mowed grass around a loop in the road and a pit toilet in the middle, but we had the entire area to ourselves and pitched tents wherever in one of two areas we rented. Hot dogs for lunch, followed by a hike down by the dam, down to a small waterfall and lots of mud. Alex had put on his sandals, which I didn't like at first since it was a hike, but it turned out ok since that meant he had clean, dry shoes to put on when we got back. Several of the boys were pretty much soaked and filthy when we got back. And about that time it started to rain, and didn't stop until around bedtime. It never got more than about drizzle level, and usually just sprinkling, but it was constant. Fortunately it wasn't heavy enough rain to keep the boys from playing outside, which they loved. Exploring (they all found a 'secret hideout' down by the lakeshore...just a little finger of the lake making a small cove. They built a bridge out of sticks, rocks, and logs down there. There was some ball playing, zombie tag of some sort, fishing, making tie-dye t-shirts, running through the woods, getting wet and muddy, etc. Dinner was chili or hot dogs again, but at smore time it was raining hard enough we went under the shelter and roasted the marshmallows over a propane stove. The boys played in the drizzle until about 10, when it finally started to clear up, but everyone was about ready for bed then. Alex and I stayed pretty warm and dry overnight; the sleeping bags were nice. But I forgot how confining they are for grownups. Alex's sneakers were soaked so the next morning he wore his slippers out and about, getting them soaked too. We packed up in the morning and were all gone by about 9:30. We beat the girls home from church.

Once again, the weekend has not cooperated with us.

Alex had his first practice for coaches pitch this evening. He is on the Reds this year. So far it looks a little like last year, where he likes batting, and he likes drawing pictures in the dirt. But what I was most concerned about was his batting because of his depth perception, which we're still not sure how good it is. But he did pretty well. He hit a couple of balls pitched from the coach without using the tee, and used the tee a couple of times. I think the rule is you get 3 swings to hit the ball, then they bring out the tee. But he seemed to be having fun. He wants to get a bat of his own, we'll have to see what we can do about that.

Today I got Missy to ride without training wheels for the first time, by lying to her. I took the training wheels off and asked her to try riding without them. She agreed, but ONLY if I would hold on to her and not let go. "Don't let go, daddy!" "I won't." She rode in a straight line down the road by herself! Yay!

Tonight in softball I just couldn't quite get the feel of my swing. Don't know why, but I was popping up and fouling out and it all felt awkward, until the last at-bat, when I clobbered one straight up the gap and had a double. Rounding first and heading for second, knowing you will probably make it, is a great feeling.

The McCoys had a cookout at their house this afternoon. It wasn’t particularly warm, but somehow the kids wound up putting swimsuits on and playing with the hose for most of the afternoon. There is a lot of mud at the farm. Most of it was on Alex and Mayson. The quote of the day came from Alex, who, when slattered with a handful of mud from Mayson, turns around to face him, and says "Oh, it's on." Mud...everywhere... and Travis has been taking a look at my dead tractor, and according to him, it is dead dead dead. The engine is just totally shot. But, he happens to have another lawn tractor engine that he will replace it with, so he's going to keep the thing for a little while. We have a new push mower anyway. Yesterday we took the kids (and their bikes) to the Winona Lake Fat & Skinny Tire Festival (or Bike Fest for short). There were a bunch of events for kids, which was all we were really interested in. They had a bike decorating contest which Alex won a prize for, mostly because he brought on of my old car license plates from home to put on his bike…it happened to say something like 43X6547 on it, and he told the judges it was a math problem. They liked that. He and Missy added a bunch of streamers and assorted creative junk. Missy also won a prize in a coloring contest. There was a parade for the decorated bikes after that, then the kids could ride in an obstacle course. Then we left because it was just starting to rain. Overall, I gotta say it was not well managed. Nobody seemed to know exactly when or where anything was supposed to be happening, not even the organizers. There was consequently a lot of standing around waiting for someone to tell us something.

The tractor has been running, until today. I was mowing when it made a horrible sound. BRRRRRRRRR*BANG* klunk silence. It sounded fatal, and so far nothing on the tractor gives any indication that it will run again.

The softball team won tonight! Our second game of the season and our first win! Usually that doesn't happen until July. But things all went so well for us tonight, that when I almost was able to run down a high fly ball, but was able to only get the top of my glove on it, the ball squirted up out of my glove and looped right back to Marshall backing me up. So I got an assist on the put-out. And I was 3-for-4 with some good solid singles, and one of the longest balls I've ever hit, which just went over the left fielder's outstretched glove as he ran toward the fence and missed leaving the field by maybe 20 feet. Planets must have aligned for me to hit it that hard.

I've replaced the spark plug in the tractor, because someone told me it sounded like the plug was shot. And I've replaced the battery, because it was old and probably needed it. I also got a new fuel filter. But I haven't replaced it yet because I did get it to start, briefly. I'm also getting the camper ready for summer. I pulled it out of the garage and checked the lights, and they work. It's the first time I've tried plugging it into the truck. They also work MUCH BETTER than they ever did with the van. I'm going to get some work done on the camper as soon as I can to get an LP tank bracket installed, replace the bent-up tongue jack (from when Beth "lost" the camper that time), and get the furnace fixed. Also, the new grass I've planted in the backyard is nice and green. We'll see how long that lasts...

The tractor is dead. Dead like fried chicken. I was clearing some brush back behind the fence when all of a sudden it made a very distinct lack of sound. It just plain old stopped running suddenly. And nothing would get it running again.

Tonight was the first game of the softball season! We lost, of course, but everyone played pretty well, I thought. I was even 3-for-3 with a couple of good solid hits through the infield.

Tues - Cub scouts taste of Ag., Beth babysit Lily. Thur - Beth Pampered Chef party, me get Missy a haircut. Fri - me haircut & church pix. sat - Alex to Jack's party w/Chuck E Cheese. then we go to MI for Julia's sleepover. Alex & me to hotel. 3rd choice due to sellout & no pool. alex gets a cold immediately.

This has been spring break week for the kids, but I didn't take any time off. However, we did do a few things we otherwise wouldn't have. Tuesday, since there was no Cub Scouts, we took the kids out to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3-D. Which was, I must say, awesome in ways Eragon can only dream about. Everyone loved it. And, it was the first time either kid has ever HELD IT because they didn't want to miss any of the movie. When it ended, both of them had to go really bad. It was also the first time I've ever seen a 3-D movie where I thought the 3-D actually added to the movie. In "Alice in Wonderland" it was just distracting. Wednesday, we took the kids to the mall in Fort Wayne to get some portraits taken at Picture People. They were ok, but none were really as good as we have had done there before. We only got a few poses that worked. Alex is at the age when he can't just smile naturally, and in all the pictures he looked like a goober. But we got a couple keepers, too. Friday was small group, and because we have been growing so much lately we've moved to the church building. We had a fun night as a sort of kickoff to the new location and welcome to several new couples. We had the ping pong table and video games out for the kids, and the grownups played some games (Pit was very popular and had a full table for several rounds) and ate and chatted. Alex was having a tough time for a while because Mason wasn't there and mostly there were just girls or older boys. But he made it. Saturday we took the kids bowling because they've been asking to go for quite a while now. Alex actually got a strike (bumper bowling) which made his day. Today, we went shopping after church for our World Compassion Network Family 2 Family boxes and packed them up...knowing that we forget about that sort of a thing if we don't take care of it right away...and had it delivered to church by evening

This week has been short and long at the same time. I had Good Friday off, and since the kids had school I took full advantage and worked extensively around the house while Beth rested. I got 8 feet of retaining wall in and level...seems the trick is to get the base level, and after that it's easy. Hard work though. I also saved (spent) big money for some lawn stuff, and got the front yard raked and fertilized. While I was at it, I also raked up a lot of moss in the backyard and re-seeded. I've got the straw on and the sprinkler running a lot. Saturday Beth and I had a date night, but as lousy as Beth's been feeling lately we didn't really do much. We went out to dinner (Beth couldn't eat much or anything), got the Easter basket stuff for the kids, got a haircut for me...and that was about all she could take. Early night. Today is Easter, of course, so Beth was at church early, but otherwise about all we could do is take it easy.

I got the kids off to school this morning so Beth could rest. Didn't realize it was school picture day, so they were kind of dressed like slobs. But I got them off. Beth picked up Missy, and then I decided it would be better if I drove her to FW for her doctor's appointment...good call. We dropped Missy off at the Myers' and headed out. She saw the surgeon and every other person at the center this afternoon. Seems the consensus is that the strep is down around the opening to the band, the z-pack pills were too big to swallow and scraped the tissue around the opening and the strep climbed in and made itself at home. They removed a good amount of fluid from the band and she can now swallow without gagging, but the pain will be in residence for another week or so. Note to self...next time you don't want to wait around in the office at the doctor's try passing out at the check-in desk. Really gets you a face to face with everyone really fast. We were back in town in time to get Alex from school. Beth even went to singing rehearsal tonight, against better judgement perhaps, but this weekend is Easter. No work tomorrow for me (been missing a lot lately). I thought there was no school tomorrow, but there is! I found out when Beth came home and the kids were still up. We had just gotten back from Menard's; I'm going to build a little retaining wall in the SE corner of the house.

Stephanie and the kids came to visit today. Risky with all the bugs going around this house lately. The kids seem to be recovering, but Beth has had a lot of problems with pain swallowing, for a few days now. Not normal strep throat pain, either. Can't sleep, can barely swallow her own spit. Can hardly eat anything. Like knives in her chest. They were going to go stroll through Winona Lake but Beth has been so wiped out she couldn't manage it. She has an appointment tomorrow at the clinic in Fort Wayne. I hope just taking some fluid out of her band will fix things.

Today was the Easter egg hunt at our church. For the second consecutive year, it was pouring, so the hunt was moved indoors. Beth wasn't at church today because of her strep throat, and she missed the hunt as well. But I took the kids, who both seem healthy now. Their hunting was typical of their respective styles...Alex ran all over, throwing as many eggs as possible into his basket and grabbed all he saw. Missy strolled, or jogged at best, and picked up one or two here and there. She at one point stood right in the midst of a lake of eggs on the floor, picked up one, checked it out, and walked on. After a few minutes when it was all over, she noticed that she only had 15 eggs in her basket as opposed to Alex's 50 or so. And there were no more eggs to be found. Yesterday a large group at church was stuffing the eggs. Beth had been scheduled to help but she was in bed most of the day. I had some things to drop off at church for her, so I took the kids, and we wound up staying to help for a couple hours or so. Otherwise, it was a resting kind of day. And basketball...my bracket is trashed. One of the worst I've ever done. Who saw Northern Iowa over Kansas? Or Ohio over Georgetown? Or Butler? But MSU is in the Final Four so I'm good!

Beth's throat has been in rough shape. It is bad enough that she's been going through all the apple cider vinegar we have. I bought a new supersize jug today. And I stayed home from work today afternoon so Beth could go in to the doctor, and she has strep too (which the doctor said is not easy for someone without tonsils to get) and an ear infection. And a second ear infection on the way. I hope I don't catch this. The kids both already seem better. The doctor gave them a note for 2 days off school, but they probably were well enough to go today. But, might as well keep them home with as recidivist a bug as they have. And WOOOO HOOOO! Did you see Michigan State beat Maryland on the buzzer beater? I had to press the 'back' button on our DVR over and over and over again.

Beth took the kids to the doctor this morning, and we have TWO kids with tonsilitis. Missy's is much less severe than Alex's, though. Looks like the kids will miss some more school this week.

Yesterday, Alex finished his course of antibiotics for the strep throat. Today, Alex came home from school with a sore, red throat and a fever. The poor kid just can't get ahead of it.

The Cub Scouts played Laser Tag and did go-karts at Somethin' Funn tonight. Beth was hosting a Pampered Chef party while it was going on. I'm recovering, but still am incredibly stuffy. And worn down. I missed work Monday, but did go help work on setting up the pinewood derby timer at the Lemp's church again Monday night. We finally got it working the way it's supposed to. I was back to work today, and was able to accompany the Laser Tag trip. I played laser tag with the kids once, near the end of the evening, and very distinctly thought 'thank God' when they announced the time for the round was over. I was terribly ready for it to be over. The running around was too much. Alex, however, loved it.

Microorganisms...everywhere....it started for me Saturday when I was at Cub Scout leader training. Around lunch time I started thinking 'I can feel the cold taking root in my nasal cavity.' It's a bad one. Anyway, after the leader training there was a birthday party for a neighborhood kid at the McDonald's playplace. She's Missy's friend but Alex was invited too. There was, however, an 'incident' in which a pretend fight escalated, and ended with Alex fake karate kicking the kid and the kid pushing him down. I didn't see it but I was told Alex was trying to get away and the other kid went after him. Anyway, we removed him from the premises for a while and I took him for a little drive. Things were calmed down when we came back. Shortly after the party, Erika came over to babysit. Beth and I were not out long though, because I was feeling worse and worse as the night went on. We went to Goshen and did some shopping (including NyQuil and Kleenex), but then just came back. We had been going to do wings and trivia, but by the time dinnertime came, I didn't feel up to it. We got takeout and came home early. Today I've just been down. Missed church.

Alex went back to school today. He missed Monday and Tuesday with strep throat, but he has been much better almost at once since starting an antibiotic Monday morning. Mom left Monday, with the understanding that she should seek medical attention immediately at the first sign of a sore throat. He was well enough that Monday night he went to the Lemp's house in the evening so Brad and I could work on getting the pinewood derby timer set up at their church while Beth was at Bible study. Apparently, Bradley has had it recently and they've all been exposed so they said sure, bring them over. And they played for a few hours while Brad and I worked. Tuesday, however, Alex was wearing out in the evening so we kept him home from Cub Scouts (I went to help out). Today he was just fine, school was no problem, and it was skating night at Kids Klub. He's doing better on the skates every time we go. Now the the important stuff...I have my bracket for the NCAA tournament filled out. My Final Four: Kentucky (champion), Villanova, Syracuse, and Kansas. No big surprises there, I guess...and I have the Spartans going out in round 2. But I'm hoping for better. I also filled out a bracket based only on average SAT scores of the school student bodies...there, Final Four is Duke (champ), Cornell, Georgetown, Vanderbilt.

It's been a close call this weekend. Mom arrived here on Thursday, and Alex's birthday was Friday. Coincidentally, Friday was also the carnival at Lincoln school, which made Alex think that it was all for his birthday. I took the afternoon off and went to visit Alex's classroom with Mom, Beth, and Missy, and brought treats for the class (Oreos and juice). For dinner, we told Alex he could pick out any restaurant he wanted...and he chose Golden Corral. Then we went to the carnival, where they had the inflatable bouncy things, and the putting greens, fishing ponds, basketball bowling, cake walks, chaos, cheap toys, etc. Saturday was Alex's party. In the early afternoon his friends started arriving here, and then we loaded up about 10 kids into 3 cars and headed to Bremen Bounce. I gave Alex, Luke, and Nicholas my video camera to entertain themselves for the drive there, and it was a very silly time. But a little while into the fun, Alex started coming back to where we were sitting asking for a drink. And then a tiny bit later, another. And the time in between him coming to us kept getting shorter. Then he came to us in tears because he didn't feel good. We thought maybe he was feeling overwhelmed by the crowd and noise, so I took him out for some fresh air and all he wanted to do was sit in the truck, which he did with his eyes closed. We went back in, but he never went back to playing, but he did rally some when we left. We went back home, finished up the party, did cake and presents, the kids went home, and we rested the rest of the day, but he was running a fever and had a sore throat. Sunday we all skipped church and stayed quiet at home as much as possible, except for going out for pizza, which seemed to wear Alex out, and despite being excited about pizza when we left, he didn't eat much of anything. Today, the visit to the doctor confirmed strep throat.

Back from Vancouver this week. I left on Wednesday, this time not forgetting to bring a passport. I also went with 3 guys from work this time instead of solo. We got there and headed straight to the plant from the airport (since we found out just the day before that we needed a lot more time to get everything done than we thought we would) and got set up. After dinner we all started to wear out early because of the time change. I just watched the Red Wings get dominated for a while and sacked out early, then was wide awake at about 4:00 am. So, lacking anything else to do, I went walking. With a GPS and a set of coords to a cache that eluded me last time I was out there. I went for a nice mile and a half hike, through some primeval forest park in the heart of Port Coquitlam, and found the cache along the Coquitlam River at first light. The walk back seemed a lot quicker somehow. We worked all day on the requalification and headed to Vancouver for dinner. We were going to check out the Capilano Suspension Bridge if there was time, but there wasn't, so we just got dinner at Cardero's and went back to the hotel. We did get everything done, but it would have been nice to be able to sightsee a little, but hey, that's not why we were there. We did think that it was odd that they had just had the winter Olympics wrap up the previous week, since it was so balmy. They could have the summer Olympics there no problem. Anyway, we headed back on Friday morning (except one guy who had a later flight) and were back home again late (like 9pm) Friday. Our small group was just wrapping up (even the McCoys were leaving...yeah it was that late) when I walked in. I hadn't had time to shop for presents so I was just going to grab something...anything...at the airport in Vancouver, so I got a nice coffee mug for Beth, and some nice fridge magnets for the kids, which made Alex cry. His exact words: "you got me a fridge magnet?" before the heartbroken tears and sobbing. I think he stayed up mostly to see what I got him. There were no nice t-shirts or stuffed animals at the airport, my misfortune. Anyway, Saturday Beth and I had a date night. We went out to see "Alice in Wonderland" which was not as bad as we'd feared but not as good as we'd hoped.

Today was pinewood derby day for Alex's Cub Scout pack. I've been furiously working on the timer for a few weeks now, and got it working just in time. Tuesday was also a scout day, and we were swimming at the high school pool, which was really really really cold. The kids don't care, but I was shivering as one of the few parents who got in the pool to keep an eye on them. I was told it feels warmer when you get moving, and I'm sure it does, but it's hard to move around too much when you're keeping track of a dozen kids who can't swim. Small group on Friday at the McCoy house was a really good discussion (men and women were separated because of the sensitivity of the topic) and we were there late again, and Saturday was an early deacons meeting followed by a few incredible frustrating hours of trying to get the pinewood derby timer working. One of the other dads was there helping out, but something was wrong and I could not get the thing to run. Plus, I needed a computer with a parallel port and a floppy drive, which my laptop has not, so I lugged the entire desktop out there to connect everything. And it just plain did not work, so after a while I just gave up and packed it all up, planning to just time things the old fashioned way. But I couldn't leave it alone, it bugged me too much. I spent the next couple hours at home working on it too, until I found the problem and fixed it. By then there was just enough time to get the babysitters for Beth's and my date night. We saw "Shutter Island," which I really liked, and had a moment of what the...? happen. When the warden drives up in a Jeep and says "there you are" to Leo, I recognized the voice and said to Beth 'That's the killer from Silence of the Lambs.' She says to me 'it's Leland Stottlemeyer.' (from Monk). Holy cow, SOTL is one of my favorite movies, and I watched Monk for 6 years, and never made that connection! I had to Wikipedia Ted Levine when we got home to make sure I wasn't crazy. Yes, Captain Stottlemeyer is Buffalo Bill. I never put that together. How could I not? No clue how not. Anyway, today was the derby, potluck dinner style. I got everything with the timer all set up and it worked perfectly (not that I don't have a few ideas for improvements for next year). Alex came in 2nd in his age group (there were 2 Tigers) so he got a trophy. Not even close to the leaders overall. But he was so excited. I also debuted the Car of Death I've been working on for quite a while, in which a remote controlled rat trap triggers a pair of spring loaded dowels with spikes in order to knock the other cars off the track. It worked, a little. It has a design flaw which tends to knock itself off the track, and the wheels also came off. But it did take another car with it, and it was a crowd pleaser. And my champion car from 1979 came in 3rd of 4 in the only race it was in. Overall a very successful derby.

I took the kids sledding at Madison hill again yesterday. I think there probably won't be many more chances this year. The snow is fairly fresh, but it doesn't seem like it'll last much longer. However, that sentiment made me neglect to bring my gloves and I regretted it. The kids had a good time sledding on a couple of roll-up type sleds we found at Ace. And I got Beth flowers for Valentine's Day today.

R.I.P. Captain Phil. We will miss you.

Super Bowl Sunday. Well, too bad the Colts lost, but I can't really feel too bad about the Saints winning. Especially with the game Brees (a Purdue guy) had. Anyway, we had the Myers' over to our house for dinner and to watch the game. The kids played and the women watched the commercials.

Alex had an awful car door/finger accident today. Seriously yucky. A kid that Beth was giving a ride the the bus stop accidentally slammed his finger in the door. Split the nail and caused great amounts of blood. Beth took him to the doctor, but nothing was broken...although he had to have it cauterized. It is all black and blue and purple already, and horribly painful for the poor kid. He's been a trooper though. And the finger is wrapped up in so much gauze it looks gigantic even more than becuase of the swelling.

Lost returns tonight! We have been waiting for this evening for some 7 months.

Beth went to FW with Rachel today to eat sushi and do some shopping, for her birthday present. Meanwhile, I tried to make the kids happy today by taking them to Bremen Bounce. What was I thinking? The kids continually left the play area and came to me to ask for something...candy, drinks, video games, candy, drinks, video games...and for some reason could not play together. Missy kept coming over to me pouting because Alex didn't want to play with her, and Alex did the same because Missy was tattling. Finally the tears came when Alex said he didn't want to play with her and she told him he was the worst brother ever. For the rest of the time (not that long) they just pouted and sat around. I made them go back the the play area and watched as Missy just sat down on the floor, and Alex disappeared (I found him later just standing behind a jumpy thing). At that point since they weren't interested, we were gone.

Beth and I had a date night last night, and for a change our babysitters' parents went out with us. We'd been wanting to go see "The Book of Eli," and so had they, so we went together. We went to the Bones Theater in Columbia City, first time I've ever been there, I think. Anyway, the seats there are better for Dave's back so that's why we went all the way out there. For dinner, since there is no place to eat in Columbia City, we came back and went out to El Arriero. The movie was good, but not as awesome as I'd been hoping. It did kind of make me want to see it again to look for clues. (alex swim & joy jungle - sevyn? sat).

The computer has been unable to connect to the internet for several days now so I am behind and out of touch with everything. Seems we picked up a virus or worm or something else bad, and clearing it from the computer removed or corrupted something else as well. So, even though the laptop upstairs did seem to auto-detect and connect to the wireless router downstairs, it would not display anything. It claimed that it couldn't connect even though it was already. And when I tried to re-install the router software, it claimed to never be able to find the thing. So I was considering emergency brain surgery on the laptop, but someone suggested I try Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. A simple download (to the desktop), file transfer (with a burned CD), and install, and internet works like a charm. So, cancel the brain surgery. And hope that there isn't anything lurking on the laptop.

yep

We got our half a cow Friday. Seems like the cow was bigger this year. So once again, the freezer is crammed full of meat for the next year. Saturday was date night, first of 2010. Beth and I went out to see "Up in the Air" which was good, but not really earning the incredible raves I've been hearing. Today we all went to the mall in Fort Wayne, hit the B&N and the Disney Store, bought some pants, let the kids ride the carousel. Alex also tried out the super jumping thing, where you're strapped onto big rubber bands and bounce on a trampoline kind of thing. He didn't quite get the technique, but he seemed to enjoy it a lot. Bouncing is the thing of the weekend because Saturday morning we took the kids to Toni's daughter's birthday party at a neat place called Bremen Bounce; it's a formerly empty warehouse building where someone has put up a bunch of the inflatable bouncy-jumpy things for kids. It's noisy as heck inside but cool. The kids had a great time, too, except Missy didn't have much of anyone to play with, and the kids begged for candy or pop or video games pretty much from the time we got there. But there was cake and ice cream so it was all good.

Once again, the holidays officially end and I have to go back to work tomorrow. We've had a good vacation though. The past few days has been spent trying to readjust to Indiana time. Its only 2 hours different from Arizona, but I'm not going back to normal quickly this time. Don't know why. Anyway, Beth and the kids and I spent the week between Christmas eve and New Year's eve in the Phoenix area visiting with my parents. Laura, Thomas and Ben were also there. I worked through Wednesday the 23rd, at which time I took off from work at about noon and we took off for Indy, a day before the flight in order to beat the impending ice storm, and got a park-n-fly deal at a brand new hotel near the airport. Staying overnight and leaving the car there was actually cheaper than long term parking at the airport, and it allowed us to let the kids swim in the evening and get a leisurely morning shuttle to the airport rather than dashing if we'd come down on the day of the flight. The 24th was a light travel day and it was a breeze. We had the portable DVD player on the plane that we bought on the drive down when we discovered that the old player battery would not hold a charge anymore. We got the kids to bed and set out the Santa presents ready for Christmas morning (the kids understood that Santa was coming as scheduled, but the rest of the presents would wait for Auntie Laura and Uncle Thomas to get there). Santa brought Missy a Lego zoo and a stuffed pink reindeer, and Alex got a Lego truck and helicopter set and Elf Bowling software. On the 26th, we all went out to a little kiddie amusement park somewhere in town (which was expensive but fun) that had a parachute ride and teacups and red baron planes...basically a bit better rides than a fair. There was a bumper boats ride that Missy could ride but Alex was too big, which crushed him. But he eventually recovered. Joe's for dinner. Laura, Thomas & Ben arrived late in the evening, so the 27th was the rest of Christmas for everyone. Alex got more Legos, clothes, a Trouble board game, a bunch of books, a big remote control monster truck, Uno Attack, and a few other things. Missy got a stuffed Kevin the Snipe from "Up" as well as all the character figurines, a Lego horse ranch, clothes, a couple of Webkinz, and a few other things. I got a little video camera, Beth got a couple of glasses and a gift card for clothes. Later on Dad took Beth and the kids and I on a hike up Pinnacle Peak Park while Thomas and Ben climbed Granite Mountain, and Laura stayed home to watch the Steelers. More on this later. On the 28th, the our kids stayed at home with Gramma and Grampa and the other grownups (& Ben) went to town to visit a couple stores and go see "Avatar" which I've heard described accurately as "Dances with Ewoks." Mom & Dad brought the kids to us to go out to dinner all together after the movie. On the 29th we all went out to visit Southwest Wildlife in the morning, and all except Mom & Dad went out to Zoolights in the evening. The show was cool but not new, although Missy and Alex found the talking giraffe (which Missy has been talking about for two years) and they talked to it for quite a while. We all agreed that we don't need to go see it again next time. On the 30th Dad and I went out geocaching in the morning, to find the puzzle cache in the desert that I could not solve last time (I solved it a month ago or so). The location, at a rock outcropping with a large balanced rock, is one of my favorite caches ever. Later on Beth and I went out to see "Sherlock Holmes" while everyone else went to see "The Princess and the Frog." Each day following the kids going to bed, there was a lot of Apples to Apples and Wizard played. The 31st was a travel day, better than we thought at PHX what with the incident in Detroit this week, but security was no problem. We got back late Thursday and have been taking it easy ever since. I'm still not readjusted to the time. Now, about Laura and the Steelers. Yes, she won the fantasy football super bowl in Thomas' league, in her first year ever, and first year ever to care about football. She has turned into a Steelers homer, even referring to them as "we" when speaking about them. She's never cared for it before, but one season of having a stake in the outcome (via fantasy) and living in proximity to a winning team has turned her over to the good side. I myself failed to make the playoffs in that league, having lost both running backs to injury weeks ago. In my church league, I lost a playoff game after dominating the regular season when my team collectively took the week off.