real stinker

I feel like one of those commercials...
Leaving the kids with In-laws while on a date....$0.00
Movie tickets....$18.00
Movie snacks...$7.00
Wanting to walk out, but you can't because she lost her wallet....PRICELESS

We had a great Thanksgiving with Shari's parents. However, while we were there Shari wanted to go see a movie. Our babysitter said that Twilight was great (I'm going to fire her), and since Shari loves the books, we were off.
I admit I have read the books. They are just okay, for me there was too much melodrama, "does he love me, wheres he at, I can't live without him, I want a bloodshake, blah, blah, cry, cry, calculated emotional response". Not worth reading again. It could be condensed to about 200 pages total.

The movie......HORRIBLE, it was so slow, I almost fell asleep, we were about to walk out when Shari said, "I lost my wallet!", so here I am 40 min into the movie scrambling to find her wallet so we can leave, I'm crawling on the floor desperately grabbing at shadows. Bumping seats, sorry, grabbing feet, sorry again.
Here it is!.. no, just some old popcorn.
Wait!, here's something...puddle of pop.
Whats this!....I think I'm going to vomit. Oh wait somebody already did, awesome!!!
Without luck I searched, without hope we stayed. Its bad enough to watch a movie you don't like, but to have to wait for the credits to finish so they can turn on the lights, miserable.

Veterans day

Make sure you thank a veteran today. Because of them we have the freedoms we enjoy every day.
Our military is a funny thing, it is both a proud, and sad display. Proud to see these couragous people who protect our home and others. Sad to see just how young they are. We pray for peace. We pray for your safety.

Thanks Pap-pa

Thanks Uncle Richard

Thanks Grampa Micheal

Thanks Uncle Kipp (tecnically not a veteran, but your working towards it.)

Thanks to all the veterans, servicemen and women.
Our family appreciates all that you did (and do) for our country.

Stick to the issues

So the kids voted today in their classes. What a great concept, getting kids involved early in life. They might have done that when I was young and I just don't remember. It's interesting to hear their opinions on who should be President and why. Now I'm not a very political person, but I vote and try to stay current on the issues. So to have my kids come to me and want to talk about politics was new territory. I also felt that alot of their opinions might have been formed by their teachers, so I was geared up to objectively answer their questions and share my feelings.

Meagan approached me and said, "I like Obama because he plays basketball."

Alex said, "McCain likes hamburgers."

Apperently I'm not as current on the issues as I thought.

Get out and vote!

young padawans

It has been a blast watching the cousins, and now finally we have one ourselves.

You say its your birthday.....

Recipe for a fall birthday party:  

*One little pumpkin stew

*One big plate of meat (what do you mean you don't eat no meat?!)

*One apple, dijon, walnut salad

*Many lemon, ginger cupcakes from Martha's 

Everyday Food magazine (yummo!) with rainbow chip frosting (birthday boy's choice)

*A little Enya playing in the background (Meagan's addition)

*A few family members; immediate and extended

*An exchange student from Taiwan

*A couple of laughs

*And a partridge in a pear tree (wait.. I'm getting ahead of myself)

Harvest Party

We went to Kingston for a harvest party on Saturday. It was great, there were activities for the kids, and adults, dinner, and treats.

It was a potluck barn party hosted by a friend from work. It was a beautiful day and evening. The kids had fun on the scavenger hunt, playing in the barn, and just generally running amuck. 

Meagan was very persistent at the apple bobbing station, she wouldn't give up until she had succeeded.

Isaac cheated, then tried to give Alex pointers on the finer art of bobbing.

Alex tried a couple more times then decided to go poke a stick

 in the fire pit. He also made a killing during the scavenger hunt, but was also sweet enough to give some to a little girl who hadn't done as well. He is really a sensitive guy at heart.

Bottoms up!

We had a great time at our niece's b-day party. There were cupcakes, and root beer. Isaac really wanted some so we pulled the ol' switcharoo, and put water in a bottle. He didn't notice, and it seems he's a natural at bottle drinking.

( He doesn't get it from my side.) He was hilarious. We were lucky Rachel had her camera ready. 

What we do on Sunday

We had a wonderful fast and testimony mtg this last Sunday. One Sister, who is from South America and speaks in a thick accent, got up and apologized to her husband for "eeting deelicious food en front of my husband". Shari didn't understand a word she said until I "translated" on our way home, at which point Shari, a nursing mother, looks at me and laughs. 

Seconds later at home as the rest of the family is having a feeding frenzy she takes a bite of homemade bread and says, (chomp) "man, this is so good." (chomp) Then she looks at me and smiles. No apology. No tears. Just crumbs.

My wife supports me so much, without her I wouldn't be half the man I am, I would be a little heavier.

Yes I know everyone thinks that their children are the cutest, and I do fall into that category. I also noticed Isaac has been getting all the attention lately, we do love Meagan & Alex very much, so here are some shots of them.

Another sunny day, another outing

Shari, Isaac and I went to Flower World, a nursery in Maltby, that has a walking path, goats, chickens, geese, and rocks to throw into a pond.

While Isaac and I threw rocks into the pond these geese came flying in from across the park, they're big. They flew right up to us, not more than 10 ft, Shari was ready to run, I grabbed Isaac and started kicking, then noticed they were not hissing, they thought our rocks were food. Oops! 

After we settled down, saw some caged animals, played Pooh-sticks, we ended up having a wonderful day together. We have had some great weather lately, and intend to take full advantage of it.

Here is a classic example of how my family treats me,

a) if I make the kids laugh for a photo, Shari gives me no respect, and laughs at my stupidity.

think "snort"

b) if I try not to look stupid in front of Shari, the kids want nothing to do with me.

breaks a dads heart

I'm going to need therapy. 

Issac in the "Zone."  He loves blueberry, banana protein shakes.

We have had a busy fall.  After our trip to Prosser, we went to Hood canal to visit with Grandpa Gary. We had another lovely weekend where we went out on the boat, went fishing off the dock, played frisbee, took walks on the beach.  It is fun to see the kids playing where I played when I was there age. 

Alex pulling in the "big one."

There are two places we have taken all the kids when they are young:  The tulips in the spring and the Japanese Garden in the fall.  It has been rainy lately and so on the first sunny day this week we took off to be outside.  Meagan and Alex were at school so Isaac got a personal photo shoot.  He was very sweet.  He got very excited seeing the large koi (about 3 1/2 feet long with big fish lips), an average rock and a green shrub. We had a great, peaceful time.

Isaac set up the shot on this one and we went along with it.

Isaac and I taking in the view.

We went to Walla Walla to bury Grandmas ashes. It was a nice little service, some great things were shared and we enjoyed being with family that we don't see enough. And like usual the kids had fun.

Its amazing what kind of pictures you'll get when the kids have the camera. We visited my sister for the weekend and the kids had a blast, playing and goofing off.

I think Alex is hiding his face from all the grown ups.

kids and danger

.
I recently saw a web article by Gever Tulley on 6 dangerous things your child should do. Although the speaker seemed to repeat himself a lot, and had to look at his notes constantly for such a brief topic, the meat of the article was great. Gever is the co-founder of the Tinkering School, a camp where kids get to play with their very own power tools. He wants to help kids learn how to build, solve problems, use new materials and hack old ones for new purposes. He talks about how today’s society has tried to create such a safe environment that kids are not allowed to explore and learn basic skills and logic patterns. There are more stringent safety rules for kids all the time, from warning labels on marshmallows stating that the mallows need to be cut into bite sized pieces and children should be sitting and supervised while eating, to anything sharper than a golf ball being to dangerous for kids under the age of ten. Where does it stop? Kids need to experience things while they are young and still have the curiosity and a desire to explore the world around them, (and can heal fast). He focused on a few things that kids don’t get to do, but should.

1. Play with fire. Teaches how to control your environment. A basic element that has been used for generations.

2. Get a pocketknife. A great “empowerment” tool. (Not to be confused with empowerment weapon)

3. Throw a spear. Our brains are wired for throwing things, if you don’t believe me hand something to your baby/child. If not used, those “wires” will atrophy, creating a weakened system. Throwing stimulates the frontal and parietal parts of the brain.

4.Take apart appliances. What a great way to find out how things work.

5.Break the digital millennium copyright act. They need to learn that there are laws beyond safety regulations that attempt to limit how we can interact with our own property. Download a song off ITunes, burn it to a disk, then download it to your MP3 player and you’ve broken this law. Some laws get broken by accident, and they need to be interpreted. Which leads to #6.

6. Drive a car. Find a safe, empty lot and let them drive, this shows your confidence in them and who doesn’t want to drive a car at a young age.

Okay so he went into more detail and reasons why we should allow these activities, and even encourage them. I just thought it was an interesting concept.

Our young creator

Isaac found Mr. Potato Head the other day, he really enjoys playing with it and he's a blast to watch as he creates. Here is just a little vid of him in action.

Deadliest Catch

So if any of you have seen the Discovery channel lately, you know about this show "Deadliest Catch", a bunch of crabbing ships up in Alaska. Edgar, from the Northwestern, happens to live here in Lynnwood and came in for a tour of the station with his kid. To show his appreciation he gave us a private tour of their boat, the Northwestern. There is no way I could be on that little ship in third foot waves. The kids actually didn't have a good time, but all the grown ups did, and thats what counts right?

We went to the Evergreen State Fair with our friends, the Morrisons. We had a great time, but it cost as much as going to Disneyland. We gave each kid 20 bucks to spend, and that had to cover their food, games and rides. Meagan brought her friend, Jasmine, and the two of them really enjoyed the "Gravitron". Meagan was a little apprehensive at first but now is a ride junkie.

 Alex went on the roller coaster once and played those rip off games. It was a great learning experience for everyone, parents included. Alex spent 15 on games and got a cheap lizard that lost a leg. Isaac chose only to do the tractor pull.

 We saw the regular attractions pigs, goats, sheep, cows, zebras, and reindeer. I cracked under the pressure and had an elephant ear, half cinnamon, half raspberry, if you haven't had one its a must.

Some time ago Shari gave me the assignment to redo our kitchen table. This is what it looked like, plain, ordinary, basic table. It had scratches and dings, chipped enamel, and green legs. We wanted something with more flare. So I through out a couple ideas, and Shari bought in. Unfortunately then I was committed. Here it is before....

So I worked on it for almost a week, then we left to the canal for a family reunion on Shari's' side. When we got home we moved it back in from the garage, and had our first meal. Alex ate with a screwdriver, 

Meagan was the waitress, 

and Shari gave the toast.

And here it is.., our new improved kitchen table!!!!

Around the edge it says, "There is beauty all around when there's love at home. There is joy in every sound when there's love at home."

camping at Lake Kelcema

Our friends, the Cutlers, had a baby last month, congratulations, so Joe had a month off paternity leave, lucky devil. Being the great Dads we are, we took our kids camping.

Here is the forest service road about 1 mile from the trail head. When we saw this blockade we should have known better, however, I looked at Joe and said, "I have some rope and a truck", Joe look at me and replied, "I have an axe". And the fun began.

Hours later, when we had blazed a trail, we came across another log that we had to clear. What were we thinking?

The kids, up to this time, were having fun running around, but when we finally got to the trail head that all changed(14 inches of snow). You can see the concern in Alex's face.

 It was a hard hike but again being the great Dads we are, we forced them up the trail. 

However once at the lake we had a grand time, its amazing what chocolate and marshmallows can fix.

The lake was beautiful, and as you can see by Lindees face, C-C-C-COLD!!!

This was the trail. It was an amazing camp out. We can't wait until the next one.