Spring Festival 2012
This past weekend was the 2012 Spring Festival sponsored and conducted by the Beach Community Church in Brasilito Costa Rica. Last year the event was held in Tamarindo at the skate park, this year the venue was moved to the Village in Brasilito. What is a spring festival you ask? Great question. The spring festival is an event geared towards younger kids; There are jumping castles, there are games, there is candy, there are free snacks, there is a message about the real meaning of Easter, and the grand finale is an Easter egg hunt. The best part, the whole event is free!
Livy helping to hide the eggs.
Wolfy, sneaking a peek at the eggs pre-event.
Jake taking notes for later.
Raffle for missions.
Dave bringing the pre-open pep talk and prayer.
This was the events sophomore year, and although I was unable to attends last years event, it would be hard to imagine it going much better. There were approximately 100 kids, and most of them brought at least one of their adults with them. There were great games like the Sponge Bob sponge toss, the Spiderman Castle, soccer kick, frisbee toss, Jonah and the whale fishing and on and on. There were fantastic arts and crafts, face painting, balloon animal creation, and magical egg designs. It was slightly chaotic at times, hot all the time, and fun, fun,fun.
The main event, the obstacle course bouncy castle.
Mike the balloon man getting ready for business.
Bud and Brock taking a moment from their labor to pose.
Soccer kick in action.
Dorian working the frisbee toss
Daniel and Dave making the rounds.
Jake in the obstacle course
Events like this don’t just make themselves, it takes months of planning, many volunteers, 50 to be exact, and commitment. But most of all it takes blood, sweat and tears. In Costa Rica it takes mostly sweat. It takes sweat to set up bouncing castles and obstacles that weigh 500 pounds, it takes sweat to pop a dozen raw bags of popcorn, it takes sweat to transfer a dozen wooden games to the venue, and it takes sweat to hide 1200 Easter eggs, lots of sweat. In fact enough sweat that most men came prepared with several shirts for the day, and we didn’t even sweat the small stuff!
GOOAAAALLLLL!
Tracy had one of the most popular games, which led to a lot of work.
Pastor Lyle leading a group game before bringing a short Easter message.
Tired baby.
But every single drop was worth it. Every swipe of the brow, sponged off bald head and wadded up soaking wet t-shirt was all worth it. Kids that have very few activities, kids that do not attend a church, kids that perhaps do not know the true meaning of Easter, each and every one of them heard a message of love from Pastor Lyle, and received some great story books. The best part, they brought their adults with them and they heard the message as well. It was easy to gauge the event by the flashes of smiles, the screams of joy and the sweaty painted faces running through the venue, and that was just the volunteers!
Gathering around for the Easter egg hunt, or gather as is more aptly described.
I think there's one right there.
Gatherer.
Seems like a lot of big kids in the 2 year old group.
We found one!
Look Mommy a pink one!
This guy is in full concentration mode.
little princess.
It was a taxing, tiring, tremendous day. The grand finale, the 1200 egg hunt was a bit of slightly organized chaos. Due to the amount of children, we instituted a 10 egg limit. The limit, much like the local speed limit, seemed to be more of a suggestion than the law that we had intended, as we saw great liberty taken as mounds of eggs departed in mother’s purses and bags. However, we were confident that everyone left with eggs, candy, and memories, some with a little more than others.
Lauren squatting for a better scan.
I think this makes number 10!
Hey daddy, is this an egg?
Daddy doing the final count.
Booty time!
At the end of the day a seed was planted and it was watered with the sweat of our brow. We can only pray that they take hold and grow a little until next year when we can water them once again, and perhaps plant a new field.
18 Years
She was the ultimate ham, the “look at me” girl, dancing, singing, telling stories, a broadway show all in herself. Her short heavy black hair, chubby little cheeks, squeaky little voice, she was the light of every room she entered, the center of attention, and not unwanted. Cute beyond any measure of cuteness, 18 by the time she was four, making friends everywhere she went.
Daddy and Alli
Nobody told her to put her hands like that, we never had to.
One of her first best friends.
He wasn’t shy, but not outgoing. He loved to laugh and laughed hard. He would run in and out of a room, his short black hair, chubby dark cheeks and squinty eyes, never desiring to be the center of attention, but happy to be playing something, basketball, baseball, football. Unlike her he didn’t make friends instantaneously, it usually took some time. But his friends were always his friends. He was always happy, always hungry and very easy-going. They were a perfect complement to each other, Best friends, buddies and siblings.
Our earliest pictures of Dorian. He was a chunk.
Momma's boy
He loved snuggling with mommy
They were twins, if not by blood, by family. They journeyed through every phase of life together, walking, home school, Sunday school, T-ball, getting new brother’s and sisters, becoming annoyed with new brother and sisters and even High School. Although as they got older their interests may not have stayed the same, her the social butterfly making a new friend every day, dancing, drama ( a suitable fit) and any other activity she could get him to drive her to. Him, football, baseball, and eventually settling on basketball. He became a very hard studier, pushing himself far beyond average, very organized and self motivated. He made a few friends, but they were his friends, and that is all he needed. His quiet demeanor making him mysterious and popular although not to his liking. She at every dance, he at none. He studying hard for every test, her waiting for the last-minute choosing to read books instead. The results were very similar, the grades very similar, they are very different, but very similar.
she always loved the camera, and it loved her.
Dorian and Uncle Gerad
Grandpa reading to Dorian in Kodiak. They both loved bird watching.
Beautiful from a very young age.
Two finally adjusted kids, the oldest of this family of 8, the leaders, the ones who had to suffer through our blunders as parents, our impatience, often taken for granted as new babies came. They became our rocks. The ones we counted on to come through for us, that we leaned on, that we trusted to be Godly, wholesome people, the ones to help us with the rest of the family. And now together they turn 18. Likely this is the last year they will live with us, and they will be missed. The Bible says in God’s eyes a day is like a thousand years and life is but a twinkle of an eye. Looking back in my mind’s eye, I think I know what that means now. Because as much as I love them now, as proud as I am of what they have become and as excited as I am for where they are going, they will always live in my heart as the two-three year old gifts from God who brightened even minute of my life and the lives of those that had the pleasure to meet them.
Dorian with his first of many King Salmon.
Again, just her natural pose after a piano recital
Post dance
Best buddies forever.
Dorian and his oldest cousin Josh
Alli, Kassie, Livy after yet another dance recital.
My girls
My boys
I pray Alli and Dorian that you find joy in this life through your relationship with God and others, and that you follow the path that he leads you on. Your mom and I will always pray for you, always be here for you and are always forever thankful for all you have brought into our lives. You could never be replaced and you could not be loved more. Thank you for being awesome role models for all your younger siblings. You are awesome adults, but you will always be our oldest LITTLE boy and girl. We are confident that no matter where you go or what you do you will excel. Thank you so much for all you have brought into my life and all you will continue to bring. And if you ever decide to go into business together, Alli you be the “talent” Dorian you be the manager and I promise you will be unstoppable. .
My all time favorite Alli / Dorian picture. This is how daddy will always remember you.
Jags, skunks, locusts, balls and WINNING.
I recently described the area we live in as being similar to Seward Alaska, accessible by road to the big city, but somewhat remote. A very small community with lots of tourism, more restaurants than it needs, minus the big chain restaurants, and littered with tourist shops and activities. A town that partially shuts down in the off-season, and has that small town feel, where you feel like you know or at least know of almost everyone in town. That is Flamingo; except most people here are always in bathing suits or shorts, and the beaches here beg you to be bare foot, not in Extra Tuff rubber boots, even in the rain.
In all actuality, we are probably smaller, people wise than Seward, and definitely smaller family wise. You see there is a large contingent of retired or semi-retired people here, people sans kids. Therefore the schools are pretty small. The public schools, open air Bodegas, are all in spanish, not an option for english speaking kids. So the only other choice is a private school of which there are three in the area. Our kids go to Gold Coast, the school with the most seniors of any private school in the area, 8. This does not often make for a robust sports program, and often the first clue is when every able body boy in the school is on the basketball team. Dorian and Jeremy are among those. Oh, and several of those boys have never touched a basketball in their life.
The Gold Coast Jags had their first game a few nights ago in Liberia, against a school with about 800 kids. Although the game was extremely entertaining, it was not very competitive.
The Jags practice facility. It reminds me of Madison Square Garden, at least the garden part.
One of the nicest Gyms in the area, and yes those are not windows at the end, it is open air.
First of all there are some American assumptions that must be cleared up. Practice: In America, high school sports practice for pretty much any sport is 4-5 days a week, 2 hours a day, at least! Here practice is 1 day a week for 2 hours in a dark open air multi-purpose room with no fans, no air conditioning and lots of hot, heavy dead air. Shoot, I coached kids from 5 years old and up and we had practice at least 2-3 times a week.
Dorian warming up. Ironic, since it was like 90 degrees out.
Facilities: In America every school has a gym. In Costa Rica a school is lucky to have desks. However every private school I have seen has a pool, but not a gym. And the pool is more for cooling off during lunch than for competitive swimming. That’s why our kids practice at a facility several miles away in the middle of Huacas, that is dark,dirty and hot.
More warm ups.
smiling as he gets hacked for an "and one"
Mindset: In America we drove our kids to excel, we drove them to succeed in sports, at all costs, and we drove them to a lot of practices, games and meetings. It was a lot of driving. Here athletes, except for soccer, seem to have more of a surfer’s attitude. They want to win or catch the big wave, but if not, well Pura Vida, there will be another one soon. Don’t get me wrong, the kids want to win, the coaches want to win, but it’s not like their life depends on it. They compete and play hard, they get mad when they mess up, they get frustrated when others mess up and they work their butts off during the game. But when it’s done it’s done, time to get some Burger King or McDonald’s, a rare treat in these parts, and get ready for the next wave, after a brutal 2 hours of practice in the coming week.
Jeremy running the show
Jeremy getting ready to score his first point as a Jag!
up and in!
the gym, and I don't know what the heck that thing is on the wall.
Playing under the bright lights, dodging bats locusts and bugs.
Like all things here, it will take some getting used to. But I must say these are a lot of the changes that we wanted to experience. We don’t miss driving 200 miles a day ( literally) to practices, dance classes, games etc. We don’t miss having stressed out kids and angry parents screaming in the stands. And we don’t miss winning. Okay, that last one is a lie. We sure would like to win a few games this year, but first we better work on scoring some points. But on the bright side, the games are fun to watch, if not for the basketball action, then for the giant locusts flying around in the gym, or the bats feeding on the bugs by the lights, or even the skunks that wander nearby. Winning quickly becomes a secondary concern when a skunk is involved. Perhaps the Jags can figure out a way to use it to their advantage on defense.
Not Me
It has become readily apparent to us that our house is haunted by naughty little imps. We have denied it for years, but lately the evidence has mounted to a point that to deny it would be sheer foolishness. We didn’t have to use a Geiger monitor, infrared cameras, or laser detectors; We don’t have pictures of them, we haven’t talked to them, no one has, and we haven’t seen them, just the trail of destruction they leave in their wake. I have thought about installing some trail cameras, but everyone knows they cannot be captured on a simple camera, again foolishness. So instead we have decided to live them, at least for the time being.
I can hear you screaming ” How do you know, what evidence? ” Well let me share the evidence with you, but be forewarned, your eyes will no longer be closed and you too will likely start encountering the impish little fiends in your abode as you are awakened to the clues surrounding you.
#1: Who keeps tracking wetness into the house? It isn’t Tracy, it isn’t me and it isn’t Shyla. Each and every one of my children swear it isn’t them. So the evidence tells me that these imps put on the kids shoes, when they are wet, and march around the house with nary a care. Leaving the kids shoe prints for all the world to see.
Backpacks laying around and nobody put them there. Exhibit #1
#2 Who keeps eating all the potato chips and putting the empty bags back in the pantry? And who is putting a small sip of backwash milk in the fridge? Tracy and I don’t eat chips or drink milk, and Shyla could’ve done it, but she prefers to eat food that falls on the floor. Again, it wasn’t any of our kids as they keep telling us to a child “not me!” So again, who could it be? You do the math.
#3. Who keeps leaving the kids coats, blankets, shirts, pants and shoes strewn around the house? Again, Tra & I are out as suspects, Shyla, well she does get an occasional sock and run around the house like a cat with its tail on fire . But I have never seen her dragging anything other than socks, and a coat is definitely too big for mouse dog. So that once again leaves the kids and when each and everyone is confronted they all say “not me”, even if it was their clothes, shoes or coat. So once again the facts all point to one direction.
shoes just spread randomly on the floor. Exhibit #2
I could go on and on and on with all the evidence, broken faucets, tools, toys and games, missing tools, doors left open, lights left on, water left running and chores that were sworn to be finished, undone by the imps.
a jacket thrown mysteriously on the rug. Exhibit #3
So, based purely on evidence, it has become evident that not only are these fiends messing with us, they are attempting to frame our kids for their crimes! I am furious just thinking about it.Why can’t they pick on someone their own size and leave our innocent little never-do-anything-wrong kids alone? We often feel guilty accusing our kids of such misdoings, but I must continue to eliminate suspects, as that is what I do. It has gotten so bad that the little creatures have started dragging out my stuff and leaving all over; my shoes, coats, hats everything! An obvious attempt to frame me now that I am on to them!
another jacket, almost shoved into the vacuum in an obvious attempt to disable the vacuum. Exhibit #4
Now that you know, pay attention to the evidence around your house, especially if you have kids and often if you have a husband. Soon you will begin to notice the misdoings of these unseen critters
my desk, again with mysterious items strewn about in an attempt to frame me.
and perhaps you will be the first one to get photographic evidence. And if you need to borrow my Geiger meter, just let me know and I’ll ask the kids if they have seen it around. I swear I had it sitting on my desk.
House full of sickies
Name something that’s easy to catch, hard to get rid of, and often shared; You guessed it, the flu, or any kind of sickness for that matter. Everyone knows how brutally any virus spreads amongst a school full of children. Children that seldom wash hands and often put them places they ought not be. Well in a large family, a virus spreads much the same way. Only one of us has to catch it and then we can share it with everyone in the house. We are givers, that’s what we do. It’s funny how it spreads in our house. Usually one person gets it and is miserable for days, then just when they get better one or two people get it, and as they are getting better the rest of us get it. I call it sickness by thirds. I can’t recall a time when we all got sick at exactly the same time, unless you count the bad Chinese food.
Of course the reason I am blogging about this now is that we are currently fighting this battle, and this is a pretty good one; 3-4 days of high fevers, hacking, coughing, vomitting and crying. The crying is me because I keep getting my sleep interrupted by sick pitiful children begging mom for help. So far, every time we have been capabable of battling through the other side, stronger for it. I believe this time will be no different, although the rest of the family will have to contend with a grouchy bear of a dad if I don’t get some sleep one of these nights.
two sickies doing what sickies do
I find it pretty amazing that no matter when you share the story of your families sickness, it is almost always met with the ” I heard that is going around” comment. The odd thing is I heard that even with the bad chinese food. None-the-less, I have heard that this is going around right now.
The chink in our armor is Tra. You see any one of us can get sick and things just move along quite peachy. But when mom is sick, that’s when the whole system starts to fall apart. Mom’s are nurturing, loving, caring, healing, loving, nurturing, you get the point. Dads; “suck it up and walk it off. Have you sat on the pot yet? Gargle some salt water and it will be all better. Try to throw up quieter, I can’t hear the TV, and it will help you fell better too.” Not a lot of sympathy or nurturing, but lots of loving, tough loving. The irony is if dads get sick we need the most of mom’s qualities than any other member of the household. For some reason the sickness always hits the dads the hardest and makes us the sickest. I’m sure it has something to do with body weight, the heavier the victim the more intense the Illness. It makes us almost immobile, and causes whining sounds emit from our vocal cords. We are nearly paralyzed with pain, needing to be waited on hand an foot. Our every need tended to by the most nurturing, loving person in the house. However, I have noticed she must be taking notes on my style, because the last time my medicine was a dose of ” get up and take a shower,you’ll feel better, and you smell”. Nurturing and tough love at its best.
A couch full of sickies, note sickie medicine.
When moms get sick the whole system collapses. Personally I have been getting better, keeping the kids quiet, the house clean ( at least to my standards), and tending to my wife’s every need as long as it doesn’t involve a lot of work, or is needed during my favorite show. Finally, I make sure and leave a few things so she won’t feel left out, you know things like some dirty laundry and dishes. I can tell she appreciates it because as soon as she emerges from her den of sickness, she immediately gives me some of that tough love which just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Or is that a fever coming on?
As the rain falls, a hero emerges
If you love to get out in the wild, get some piece and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle and get back in touch with the nature, then don’t come camping with us. If you want to eat a lot of food, have fresh coffee every morning, enjoy the rain and the noise of kids running wild, and still have access to the internet, then you want to camp with us.
hopefully Amber and Glenn get this done before bed time.
not very good hiders
my ladies on the bridge
Alli and Jo, on a rock DOWN BY THE RIVER!
Every year we try to get out and rough it at least once a summer. We find a nice cozy campground with water and a bathroom, a latte stand within driving distance, cell signal and preferably a river or lake nearby, and then head out for a night or two of miserable sleep, lots of bug, wet clothes and great company. This year it was us, the Daniels, the Davis’s and some Katzenbergers. So by my math that is 7 adults and 18 kids, or what you may call sheer paradise.
Fishing women
That hole has no fish left, just a hunch
Momma and Jo
Jason in the wilderness, just him and his iphone.
One thing you must know about camping with us, expect rain. Don’t think “it might rain” don’t be fooled by cloudless 70 degree days, don’t even bother looking at the weather, it will rain. If we camped in the middle of the Sahara Desert during the dry season, it would rain. When the Godfrey’s camp, it rains. As long as it is warm, we deal with it. By warm I mean above 50 degrees during the daylight hours.
Did you hear something?
maybe it was a fish
I like your boots Jake
Modeling for momma, cuz she made us
One huge advantage to camping with us is that you don’t usually have to worry about bears. You see the trick is to let all the kids out to run wild all over the campground, screaming, running, throwing things, screaming, crying, screaming and not only would any bear in its right mind stay as far away as possible, so do all other campers. Hence, we usually have the campgrounds to ourself.
Do you think we should be helping them set up the tent?
kids, fire, food, danger?
this crew cooked breakfast all day long
Not cooking, just warming my head.
Jeremy's catch, just a little late for dinner
a little fireside entertainment provided by Jace, hopefully it wasn't the Beastie Boys
During this camping trip I found a true hero. Now hero is a word that is thrown around loosely, but here I witnessed a true one. I believe we established that is going to rain, so I came prepared. This time I brought a tarp, not any tarp, a tarp that could serve as a runway in small village. The only people motivated enough to use the tarp were me and Ryan, so we got to work. As the rain fell we came with a master plan to cover the whole camp with the tarp. Things were going smoothly, the running lines were holding, the trees were well placed, the architectural plan was sound and we just needed everyone to get involved for one final pull to cover the rest of the camp. Unfortunately there was a minor flaw. You see, we already had the fire going. In fact, when we started putting the tarp up, Angie, Tra, Amber and the kids were cooking smores and enjoying the show.
So technically she's not eating in the background, but she is about to, and that's a big bag o chips.
you can't camp without some twister
Scary story time. Skip the story, just look at these faces...
...or these faces
but especially these faces in the light! Yikes!
Fortunately, the kids were excited to play with the earth darkening tarp, and dropped their marshmallow sticks and grabbed hold. Shoot, even Jason and Tra grabbed a corner. This is where it went all wrong. Our plan was to have a lean-to style covering to allow the smoke to escape. But instead, as everyone began to pull, we ended with more of like a giant teepee, with Ryan holding it up where the hole should be. Within seconds we realized this was not a good plan. Immediately we lost our sight due to the density of the smoke, seconds later we could not breathe. I tried to scream for the kids to let go, but I could barely breathe. Then Ryan, standing on a picnic table, holding up the center of the tarp screamed ” EVERYONE OUT” ! As he stayed firm holding up the tarp buried in deadly smoke, allowing all others to escape. This was paramount to shouting “SAVE YOURSELF!!!!!” The words of a true hero. As I ran out, to grab the edge of the tarp mind you, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Angie was still standing by the fire, marshmallow stick in her left hand, finishing the last bite of smore not looking a bit concerned. I would put a picture of this, but she has threatened to kill me if I post one more picture of her eating. Everyone else was coughing, scattering and screaming…. with laughter. Finally I was able to move the tarp, hoping beyond hope that Ryan was still alive, for my CPR had expired a year ago, and to my great relief he emerged, my new hero, with an ashen covered face. He had sacrificed himself for the good of the camp.
from amongst the ashes a hero emerges
the backside of the finished product
the front side of the finished design
enjoying the fruits of our labor and near death experience
Needless to say, we did not give up and eventually the tarp did rise, with a new architectural plan. And much like the tarp, a new hero emerged in my eyes. As I sat chilled, near the crisp fire under the tarp listening to the rain mercilessly beating down, I reflected on what another great camping adventure we had just experienced, then I pulled out my iphone, went to craigslist and started pricing travel trailers.
amp time
Every time she comes over I can pretty much predict the order of the day, a lovely conversation on the drive home, a mobbing from everyone as she walks in the door, long snuggles with mom, dress up, coloring, play dough, creative activites and then at some point the question, “daddy you want play on the ampoline with me? ” It is her routine, and it is very hard for daddy to resist some ampoline “amp” time.
this may hurt a little
Jake's version of break dancing
Kassie moving so fast she looks elongated
the belle of the ball
In fact the trampoline somewhat signifies our relationship with Jo over the past four years. It started out so fun with some ups and downs, but we just kept bouncing. There were a lot of twist and turns, some tumbles, some huge up moments and the downs only went so far before we bounced back. But eventually, especially for us older folks, we became exhausted and then just lay there as everyone else jumps. And that’s where we are now, just laying on the trampoline and letting everyone else and everything else just move around us. I don’t know if you would call it giving up, because we are still on the trampoline, but we are just not jumping up and down as much. We are there, laying and we are waiting, waiting on the Lord and perhaps that where we should have been all along.
The belle in a not so graceful moment
Umm daddy, I don't think the trampoline is supposed to go down that far
the old man still got some moves! I hope my insurance co. doesn't read this
Ben catching some air
not sure how Kassie ended this one
So whenever we are so blessed to have a visit from Jo, and when the inevitable questions comes, she knows that I will not say no. What she doesn’t know is that eventually I will tire, and lay on the trampoline, reflecting on what else I can do to make it so she never has to leave again. And time and time again my answer is to wait and trust that the springs have enough uumph to get us up once again. And eventually, hopefully soon, every day she’ll be able to ask me if I am available for some amp time.
the "amp" crew
JJJ and J
A few weekends ago we had some special guests Josiah, Josh, Jude and JoJo. We traded them for Dorian who had gone to the Fine Arts conference. Now I don’t know if it was a good trade, because you see Dorian is really not too much trouble right now, he can bathe himself, dress himself, brush his own teeth, and even feed himself when needed. There are no diapers, runny noses, whining … well okay there is some whining but not as much. So for that weekend our grand kid total was 11, and all but 3 of them were under the age of 13.
Ben throwing down some lessons to Josh, then.....
... he then threw down his own version of Happy Day
contemplating his next song
Josiah can get comfy anywhere
Josh follows suit
Jude the dude
Surprisingly it was slightly easier than I had anticipated. Perhaps it was because I was shuttling kids back and forth from across America the whole time. The one thing I have noticed is that when we have kids over, they almost always have someone to “hang” with, so unless there are sweets on the kitchen counter, they pretty much stay out of our hair. Yes, that is clearly a figure of speech for me.
Play time
we may have ruined rabbit hunting for the Gluth family forever
yep, ruined
Jo giving Jude "katar" lessons
It seems that they had a good time, never a dull moment, and definitely never a dull moment for Tracy.
Our hope is in uhmorrow
I wish I could say it was like she never left, but it wouldn’t be true. She swoops back into our life and we savor every minute of it, not taking it for granted, but enjoying the moments that the Lord has blessed us with. Perhaps these unexpected visits are to bolster our faith, perhaps they are to encourage, perhaps they are just to bring us joy, or perhaps they are for Jo’s sake. She has been the one that has initiated the visits, she is the one that asks to come over and doesn’t want to leave. If we drive by the road she now lives on she whispers “don’t take me there”. When she comes over she asks to spend the night, and when we drop her off she asks to come back again “uhmorrow”.
Jo's funny camera face
her favorite thing in the whole world is dress up, and she does it well
the instant she comes home, the clothes come out!
and she doesn't have to look far to find accomplices
Maybe God knows that she needs t0 interact with her brother and sisters and her mom and dad, and maybe she needs it just as much as we need it. Whatever it is I don’t want to question it, I just want to accept it and enjoy it. I want to pretend that it is forever, I want to pretend that she never left, that she isn’t going to leave, that she will spend the night every night and be with us every uhmorrow. But it is different because I know, for now, that her time with us temporary and fleeting and I believe that as much as we want her to stay, she yearns for it just as much. For she has asked “why do I have to leave” she has said ” I don’t want to go” with her lip curling and her eyes moist. It is almost unbearable. As “adults” we at least understand what is going on, we don’t like it, we don’t agree with it and we understand that this is a spiritual battle, not a physical one. But Jo, Jo doesn’t get it. All she knows is that we love for her to come and visit and we love to play with her and cuddle with her. Then we take her back and we don’t let her stay forever, we don’t let her stay the night, we don’t let her stay until uhmorrow. “We” don’t do it, that is what she knows.
the fluffier the better
So you see I can’t say it is like she never left because she has left. She knows it, we know it and it is always there. We love, absolutely love having her here and we will take her every day we can. We will never say no and we will pray without ceasing that she will be home, here with us ,where she belongs and soon. But until then, that feeling will be there, until, as we believe, she will be with us every day and more importantly every uhmorrow.
sunshine dancer
100% Girl
She will always be our girl
Hay, Hay we’re the Monkee’s
Have you ever felt like you were lost, going in circles, unable to figure out where you should go next, then looking to heaven for guidance? Well I have, literally a couple of weeks ago. You see, apparently a yearly tradition around here is the hay maze at the Solid Rock Bible Camp. Now we had never heard of the hay maze, but it sounded like great fun. I envisioned a giant maze six feet high, dead ends, running aimlessly looking for exits, laughing, frolicking and all that great stuff. Well it wasn’t quite like that. You see the hay maze was definitely a maze, but instead of six feet high it was about 20 inches high in most of the maze.
bravely waiting our turn to enter the amazing maze of no return
once you enter the red barn you may never leave
Now if you have never been in a maze of hay that is 20 inches high, there are a couple things to think about. Hay absorbs sound like a Shamwow sucks up soda. So your screams for help, well all they do is get you more freaked out and make you short of breath. Bricks of hay block out light, all light, and believe me when I say lighters are not an option. When you only have 20 inches to work with, you cannot use your knees, especially if you are full-grown, or over grown as in my case. So the military slide is a necessity, and doing the military slide over hay, well let’s just say hay will find its way in every area of your body, and I mean everywhere, especially when it is hanging over head. So if hay absorbS sounds like a Shamwow, then it absorbs air like a Super Shamwow mop with a mega twist handle for only 3 payments of $9.99. There is not a lot of air to breath in the hay maze, and I am not even claustrophobic; Tracy is. So I must admit that I was extremely proud of her when she conquered her fears and entered the maze, after much self deliberation and an external internal conversation.
Following dad into the maze, what brave smiles.
the bridge is the only place you can stand straight up and see any natural light
Once inside there really is no turning around, there is one way and that way is unclear. Luckily for us we all had flashlights and me, with a Game Warden’s keen sense of direction. Now prior to entering the maze I was given a hot tip, “look up”. Hmmm, I can’t even turn my bloody head, how am I gonna look up? I thought to myself as I came to the first crossroads. Right or left, right it was, with Jake, Ben, Kassie and my gasping wife in tow. “Worry not” I yelled, to myself as they could not hear me. “Hmmmm, this looks familiar.” And I realized we had just done our first full circle, all the sudden I felt a little short of breath, worried not for myself of course, but for those bravely laughing as if they were having fun behind me. This time I quickly took a left. I must have been going a little fast as I left everyone behind, but of course I had to scout out an escape route. Then I remembered to glance up to heaven, and out of the corner of my eye, on the edge of my L.E.D light I could make out the shape of wood, “ladder”. I quickly climbed to make sure it could hold the weight of the others, and at the top I had a little more head room, and there seemed to be more air. I was sure Tracy was far behind screaming and thrashing about, kicking over bails of hay looking for an emergency exit. To my surprise, she showed up shortly after I had helped the little ones and scolded them for excessively laughing and giggling to hide their fears and embarrassing their mother.
Jake screaming with fear... or laughing with fear... maybe just laughing
ben & kassie in the bridge area, the area of breathing I like to call it
The maze continued on like that, with bridges and areas you could stand, and more crawling, crawling so tight you had to turn sideways to get through. It even had a slide, and a fireman’s pole at the end. A pvc one where I learned that you do not want to wrap hands tightly around pvc and slide, especially if you need to have readable fingerprints.
Tra bringing up the rear and doing a fine job
waiting for mom, boy the flash sure makes a difference
All in all it was a lot of fun, for the kids. Tracy and I even did it a second time with them, just to show them how they could be brave and conquer their fears, not having to hide them behind huge smiles, giggles and words like ” this is so much fun” “this is awesome!” ” can I lead this time”. The false bravado touches a father’s heart. The best part of the hay maze, between all of picking hay out of …… areas, is that we had enough to make quite the bedding for our rabbit. Did you know hay sticks to tears?
Escaping from the jaws of the evil beast! Note Jake running full speed away.
Milestones
Every family has milestones, marriage, first child, first steps, 5, 10,15 20, 50 year anniversaries, first graduate from high school / college, retirement… they just keep coming on coming and we pray that we live to see them and they are joyous occasions for us. Well we hit a few of those milestones this past month. The first was expected, Olivia turned 13, that means we have 3 full fledged teenagers in our house, and in another month and 1/2 we will add another. Now Livy has always been very low maintenance, very self sufficient, helpful and just a great child. But I could say that about Alli and Dorian too, until they turned 13. Something happens, and perhaps it is our perception, or perhaps it is reality and symptoms left over from the eating of the tree of knowledge, but either way, I perceive it as real, so to me it is real. At that time their needs are much more important than anything on earth. What they want, what they think, what they say outweighs everything else in, not only the house, but the city, and often times the world. Does it make us love them any less? No, but at times it does make them less pleasant to be around, and much easier to tease, I must add.
I have no idea, but it looks intense.
I am sure, now that she is 13, I will pay dearly for putting this in the blog, but it is worth it!
Olivia D. with her typical dinner whenever she stays over. She said it's what her mom feeds her all the time.
Since we already have two in the house, we have some training, and God has blessed us with good kids, even though they have typical teenager troubles. We try hard to remember what we felt like during that time, and I don’t remember it being pleasant. I remember my folks thinking they know everything and not understanding why I needed to stay out to 3 am. I remember how hard the driving test seemed and how hard I worked to get my hair just right ( reserve all comments please) life seemed stressful, because up to that point, I had not really felt what stress was.
Girls doing whatever it is girls do when they gather.
must be hard work doing what girls do when girls gather.
I mean I had to be at school six hours a day, and one of those hours was basketball, the other was film class, and, well you get the picture. I remember my mom & dad explaining, sometimes not so gently, that this was the easy time, this was the good time, the time to have fun and just enjoy yourself. But to me, their life seemed much more fun. No curfew, nobody telling them what to do and when ( I didn’t understand the concept of bosses) spending money on whatever they wanted, ahhh yes life was good.
The group (sans Kiowa who had to go to cpr class early)
Livy with her big 13 present, her own notebook.
The best present was Jo got to spend the night with us!
Obviously, now I know the truth. But I know the truth because I have walked in their footsteps in my own time and my own journey. I have come to realize that it is likely no matter how many times I try impart my age old wisdom, the words will fall flat until they have traveled their journey. And then, they will look back and hopefully say ” man, mom and dad weren’t kidding. If I had only listened to them..” and the circle will repeat itself once again. So we have to realize that they are teens, and they are good teens, no matter how wacky they seem to us, they are good teens and they are God’s teens, given to him to complete the life they have laid out for them, and trust that they will follow in the way they were raised. Besides, 13 is a lot closer to 18, and I know that it is extremely likely that at least 2 of them will end up back in our home, but I pray they at least reach their big milestone of having job and getting paid, so I can get me some rent. The second unexpected milestone? Well you will have to stay tuned.
I’m real sorry.
Knowing what to say to someone who is living through a storm has always been a struggle for me. I never know what to say to someone who’s had a close one die, get badly injured, or any tragedy. I desire to be sincere in my words, but also trying to be original. So this last couple of times I have been trying to pay attention to what encourages me, or what I like to hear people say. I remember right after my dad died I would be contacting people out in the field, and there in bright gold right above my heart was my name on my bullet proof vest. It was almost like a neon sign blinking, begging for someone to ask…. you’re not related to the Godfrey that got killed are you? The first few times it caught me off guard and I fumbled around with my words, ignoring the unsuspecting sportsman, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered what they would say if I said yes. So me being me that’s what I started to do. “Yes, that was my dad” was my standard response. Then I just waited in silence. Almost instantly you could see the blood drain from their face. Now what? What do I say? I would just look at them in silence, curious what would come out of their mouth. Usually it was stammering, followed by “I’m really sorry about that”. The standard response. I would reply with “yeh, me too” and then get right back to business. This taught me a lesson regarding the words that emanate from my mouth, or the double edged sword.
Jo with Jellybean, her birthday rabbit (still don't know if it is a boy or girl)
Our happy girl
wore out after a great birthday party
This latest experience caused me to reflect on what people have said to me when I have been going through the absolute lows of my life. I wanted to know so I would know what to say to others when it was my turn to attempt to comfort them. I must say, I really liked hearing “we’ll be praying for you” , especially from people that I knew were not just saying it, people who said it and I knew they would hit their knees, probably cry, and pray from their very soul and being. When they say they are going to pray for you, that means something, that inspires, that gives you hope and encouragement. You know they are top friends on God’s facebook, and he listens to them. I have been fortunate to know a lot of those people.
Zoolander (or Jeremy/ Jerms as we call him)
cousin Gunnar at Grandpa's funeral
Grandpa's burial site, overlooking Homer. (Not his cross)
But upon reflecting, the most memorable, the most inspiring, the one that I will likely never forget was not from a close friend of mine. It was right after I wrote the “at what cost blog” . This giant of a man, an acquaintance but not a close friend, found me when I was sitting by myself. He walked up to me grabbed my hand, looked me directly in the eyes, I could see the tears bulging and sparkling in his eyes, I could feel his hand trembling and see his chest heaving a little as he struggled to maintain his manly demeanor. He ,being a father of young kids, looked right into me and whispered one word with his voice crackling and trembling “dads”. That is all he said, that was all he had to say. I knew right then that he truly felt for me, perhaps he could not relate exactly to what I was feeling, but he definitely felt for me. So with one word, a man, and acquaintance, perhaps touched me more than any other condolence I have ever received.
Jake and Jo, brother and sister forever
Asia, Aevry, McKenzie and Jo ( probably all spelled wrong)
Love's riding in daddy's car ( he drives faster than mommy, but not over the speed limit!)
In conclusion: Only 30% of conversation is the actual words spoken. Therefore, what you say isn’t nearly as important as to how you say it, show that you really mean it, that you mean what you are saying and if you say you will pray, pray and pray earnestly. I am not saying you have to cry or well up, but just be sincere.
Extremely sick during Grandpa's funeral, and days to follow.
How about you? What has worked for you? What have you said or has someone spoken to you that comforted you? Please share so that we could all learn from your insights.
Drizzle
That’s what I (don’t) love about Sunday
Sunday used to be one of our favorite days, now it is a painful day. You see Sunday is the day Jo has to go away for the week, every Sunday for ….. ever? We still believe that a miracle will occur and that she will be with us, but until then it is very hard to take a little girl you love with all your heart, who is crying and begging not to go, and give her to someone that you don’t think loves her as much as you do, or will care for her like you.
Yet every Sunday afternoon we do just that. It gives us a knot in the bottom of our stomach and a fist in our throat. We do our best not to think about it, but sometimes it just sneaks up on you and you realize the gravity of the situation and the pawns we have become in that struggle that is her life. Further, instead of getting easier as the weeks pass by, the pain increases, and the reality of the weeks and months that we have missed weigh heavy on our souls and cloud our minds.
We pray, try to lighten the mood, and encourage her telling her that she will be back, and maybe, just maybe next time it will be for ever. So from the time we pick her up on Friday to Sunday, we try to make the most of our time, and that is just what we did this Fourth of July weekend.
We started the weekend with a 2 hr. parade, yes 2 hours! An hour and a half of it were Harley riders and wrecked race cars. But the kids got tons of free candy, and after all isn’t that what Independence Day is all about?
Jo loving the deer. He better be glad hunting season is still a month a way.
candy hounds, this is how the spent 90% of the parade. I don't think they saw but 2 floats.
Jo took a picture of daddy
After the parade we boogied down to Clam Gulch and hung out at the beach all day. The weather was absolutely perfect and we staked claim to a great section of beach. The kids played in the freezing water, the miry clay, the unstable bluff and had a great time. If we hadn’t forgot the hot dogs, it would’ve been perfect. Good thing Tra thought to pack some meat for hamburgers and saved the day.
every day at the beach must include rock throwing
Ok, the water's a little colder than I thought
Hmmmm, looks like she does at home.
hmmm, looks like he does at home ( minus the cool shades & fire)
you know how I feel about cameras!!
I don't remember painting red, white and blue on my toes... I thought I went with straight blue.
Olivia and Jake
Jake and Jo
The warrior with the farmer tan, Ben.
No hot dogs, no problem
From the clan of ignorant fools.
Sunday was another beautiful day, and after church and a fried chicken lunch, the slip-n-slide was calling my name. I didn’t answer it, but the kids did.
Jake prepping the slide for maximum slippage.
Jake in action, and yes this is a redneck slip-n-slide.
Livy in action
uhhh, Kassie in action?
a redneck slide must have a redneck fort
- Jeremy building something I am sure, as always.
sisters forever
this is how you do it.
spray action
Jo eating something that is probably not meant to be eaten
Apparently, popping and locking refers to the knees in hip hop dancing.
Alli finally had the surgery on her bum knee last Monday. We were praying that her meniscus would not be torn, but alas it was. So not only was her ACL ripped, but her meniscus was a messiscus (latin for mess). Good news, she has pretty blue stitches, as you can see from the photos, in her meniscus. More good news, she didn’t have to use a muscle from a cadaver, which we all thought was slightly disturbing, but common from what I hear. She got to use a part of her own hamstring. We know it would be good for something some day. Bad news, because of the torn meniscus, surgery went from 1 1/2 hrs. to 3 1/2 hrs. and recovery time is now extended to six weeks, there goes her plans to jog a marathon this fall with Steph. I guess she can always shoot for next year.
Tra spent all day at the hospital, good times.
right after she got out of post op, still sleeping, lazy girl
does that say right knee? Uh oh......
In this family we have basketball, football, and soccer players. We have boys who have airsoft battles, jump off the deck, do flips and such on the trampoline, we have snowboarders, sledders, and daredevil bike riders. But the on that really messes up her knee is the one that does none of the above, just a little ballet with a side of hip hop. Maybe she had a little too much hop in her hip. Now that she took out a little hamstring, she has a little less hip to hop with.
finally awake and sooooo happy!!
I knew she was fine because the first words out of her mouth were, " I'm going to throw that camera at you" followed by "Daddy can I use your iphone?"
I need to heap some praise on my wife. During this week she has had to been at Alli’s beck and call, and she knows how to beck quite well. She has served as both her legs, taken her to the bathroom 32 times a day, from her new make shift bed to the couch and back, filled her cooler and generally done everything for her, except chew her food. Did I mention she did this while also watching an extra three kids for three days? She is pretty phenomenal in my book and we are very lucky to have her. I wonder if I was to have surgery on my knee, how well she would respond to my beck and call? I have a strange feeling the experience would not be as pleasant as it appears. Besides, my hamstring is 40 years old and well used, so I’d have to go the cadaver route, and I like my muscles fresh.
Her new bionic knee, she'll be dancing with the stars in no time with this thing.
Her new bedroom for the next 6 weeks. I like what she has done with the place.
Alli really wants to thank those of you that sent flowers and especially those who visited, she is really bored, and slightly annoying at times. But not with friends, just family.
Addendum to the percentage theory and the sourdough bandit
This weekend we had a couple, or actually three little house guests. This event has convinced me to add an addendum to the percentage theory blog, It’s all about the percentages. The addendum is that when the additions to the family come in multiples, you must use a more complex formula. The formula is as follows, (NK+NK)/(CK)*100= percentage familial impact. So in our case this weekend, we had 1+1+1 NK (new kids) or 3 total, divided by our CK (current kids) 8. It works out as follows 3/8=.375*100=37.5% impact on the family. That is similar to going from 2-3 kids, a significant step. So if you are planning on adding multiples to your household please use the above formula to correctly calculate the percentage familial impact.
Josiah and Josh playing with Play Dough
All this being said, it has been a very busy few days at the house, even more than normal. But there has also been a lot of fun times. One of the neatest things was the case of the sourdough bandit. You see Tra got up early to make a huge batch of sourdough pancakes for the expanded family. One of our all time favorites.
Jo and Aitana waiting for dessert, patiently I might add
The tub trio
Well everyone ate their share and then some, including Aitena, Josiah and especially Josh. None-the -less, there was a huge stack left over and put in the corner for nibbling on all day. Soon we started to notice the stack of cakes dwindling away, but we had not seen anyone eating them. So an investigation was launched. I knew it couldn’t be any of the little kids, there is no way they could reach them on the counter in the corner, or could they. I recalled that Josh had hit the flatbreads hard for breakfast and he was my first suspect. When I finally located him, he was empty handed. But next to him was a small man in his Spiderman underwear and his hands behind his back. I thought that may be a little suspicious, after all, I am a trained investigator. But I didn’t have to use my interrogation skills at all, for at that second the spider ware clad little man turned his back to me, still thinking he was hiding the flapjack from my view.
Lunch time, hope there is no play dough in that mac-n-cheese
Choco man
Case solved. It actually turned out that both Josh and Josiah took an extreme liking to the sourdough pancakes and snacked on the stack of about 25 left overs throughout the day until they were gone. These are true Alaskan men.
The elusive sourdough bandits later in the day showing off their treasure
A sno-go Sunday
It has been difficult to blog since we have come home from Costa Rica. It just does not seem as exciting or interesting, and the material has somehow lost its luster. But we will persevere and fight through and together we can get back in the groove. So if there is something you want to know about, let me know and I will offer up a blog on it.
First an update on Jo. Recently I realized that I had not updated all of you as to the status, that is because the status is quo. We pick up Jo on Friday at 5 pm and then drop her off Sunday at 5 pm. This has been going on since before we left for vacation and will continue until????? We have still seen signs that cause us concern, so please continue to pray.
Her last weekend here we took the opportunity to go out on our snowmachine, a machine given to us by some extremely giving people. I took most of the kids out and let them drive me around, and they had a blast. You may recall, about 4 years ago Dorian had a little “incident” on a snowmachine a few years back and we haven’t gone out much since.
Now hold on tight!!!
Ben tended to get a little throttle happy, and at one point I thought he was determined to jump the Sterling Highway, and not on purpose. His second time out he seemed to have the hang of it.
Ready for takeoff
Olivia was a natural. She has the touch and went just the right speed for dad’s taste.
Livy scaring daddy
Kassie too seemed to have a great touch and as usual her smile never left her face, which in turn made me smile.
Ben waiting patiently for his second turn
Jake and Jo loved it. Though a little apprehensive at first, they soon warmed up to the adventure and the next thing I knew they had their hands on the throttle and apparently thought that I should go a little faster.
If we are not back in 5 minutes, send out the Troopers.
I thought we were going on a hay ride.
The next thing I knew, 2 hours had flown by and it was time to get ready for Sunday night church. Now if I could only get mom to come out for a ride, then I would have accomplished something. She has this “thing” about outside activities in the winter. My true Alaskan woman.
Jo showing daddy how to go faster
G.A.S
All right, let me make this clear right now, G.A.S has nothing to do with bodily functions after Thanksgiving. G.A.S stands for the Great Alaska Shootout, or as it was called this year, the Good Alaska Shootout. You see, in the past we had teams like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina need I go on? All of these teams are former multiple NCAA champs. This year, Seattle U., Portland State, Northern Illinois, and the eventual champs of the year San Diego State University. General rule of thumb, The more words you have after your state name in your school, the inverse to your success as a basketball program. Of course their are always exceptions, but as a general rule it applies. That being said, there were some great games this year, and the UAA girls won their tournament.
Why you ask is he talking about the stinking shootout? Because, as long as I can remember, I have spent much of my Thanksgiving break at the G.A.S., and now the tradition is being passed on to my kids. If I recall correctly, which is doubtful, I used to sit still and study players and plays and watch every game with great intensity. Now, my kids like to eat, walk, talk, and just hang out at the Sullivan Arena. Not a lot of game watching going on. But I don’t mind at all. The boys fish for autographs pretty much every year, and I am pretty sure they have about 16 water boy autographs, along with some NBA players, hard to tell which is which though. I have some pics I took with my phone at the games, so they are not up to my usual National Geographic quality, for that I apologize, but I worked with the tools that I had. And remember, next time you hear me talk about gas, you now know I am talking about the shootout, especially around Thanksgiving.
cousin Josh, Hunter and Jeremy posing, and not well. Action shot of posers, cousins Hunter and Sam guard Jeremy.
Uncle Brad is always popular at the shootout. Dad, not so much. It looks like Jeremy is going to bug out of the picture.
As I post these, it occurs to me that I didn’t get any action shots of the players. Oh well these are the ones that really matter anyway.
If you look in the background, past the three amigos, you can see uncle Mort and Sonya and their son Chris.
All in all the shootout is as much a part of Thanksgiving as the turkey for our family. I find as I get older, those nice comfy plastic seats aren’t quite as comfy anymore. Still I go and I watch, watch basketball, people and the kids. I thoroughly enjoy watching the kids cruise the Sully looking for autographs, food and eventually girls. I believe, as they were for me, these are things that will make up the memorable moments in their lives. Moments that they will recall for the rest of their lives; when the smell of an old hot dog waifs by their nose, or they hear the din of basketballs in the distance, or they hear the “Who let the dogs out song” ( which is played repeatedly throughout the tournament) they will smile and recall the good times with dad spent at the shooutout, and recall how they sat intently watching studying the players, the plays and the game of basketball, and hopefully they will impart this to their kids.
Jerms is in the house
Jerms is Jeremy’s nickname, everyone one of us has one. I have to live with super cool dad dude, it is a little annoying be very self affirming. Well today is Jerm’s adoption day, so we have to have a page for just him today. Jeremy is very athletic playing basketball, baseball, and his favorite, soccer, of which he played comp this year. I already posted some pics of that or you can see them on our facebook page. So if you recall, for adoption day they get to choose the meals, Jerms choose eggs for breakfast, corn dogs and tots for lunch and chicken stir fry for dinner. I am glad he won’t have cholesterol issues like his dad.
Finally Jerms got to pick out one gift. Remember how I posted a while back that my retirement goes to Legos, well, Jeremy choose Legos. Our rule is that the gift can’t go over a certain amount. Well the one he wanted was 30% over the max price, so Jerms did some quick bargaining with mom and yada yada yada he will be next in line for a bailout from my tax payer dollars. Oh well, at least we get a nice Star Wars ship out of the deal. Better than getting nothing like the last two bailouts.
Whaaaaa? Great pic of Jerms working on his ship. It had over 1500 pieces! ( not sure about that just guessing, it looked like a lot)
Finished product with lots of moving parts.
The proud papa and his mother ship. He even dressed up for the occasion.
Finally a close up. This took him about 5 hours to build. He told me it hurt his legs sitting so long. I told him duh? They are called Legos, derived from the Latin LegOws, due to the pain associated with playing with them so long. The word over time became Americanized to Legow, then in order to fit on the packaging of the original small boxes, it became Lego. I bet you didn’t think you would ever learn something reading this blog did you? You just can’t help yourself.
Today is a very special day.
The astute of you will be asking, “what about Ben?” Well that was another unintended consequence. Ben felt left out so we invented conception day. Yeah classy I know. We didn’t actually chose a day, we let him choose the day. Of course he started asking questions so the name micro evolved to his “special day”.
So today for breakfast we had homemade cinnamon rolls made by yours truly. It took me quite a while to open up that stupid cardboard roll and grease the pan, pre-heat the oven and lay them out just perfectly. Then I had to spread the canned frosting all over them, except that Alli decided that two whole cans should go on her and Dorian’s 4 rolls. It was tough work for sure. But the sacrifice was well worth it for two of my most special boys.
Lunch was picked by Dorian and it was Subway. That is my son, not McDonalds, nor Arby’s nor any grease pit, he wants Subway. I don’t mind Subway, what I don’t like is being in line, getting to the “take your order lady” and saying ” I need six foot-longs on wheat and two kids packs”. Their eyes get as big as the ham slices they put on the subs, and I always hear a chorus of groans from the peanut gallery in line behind me. Little do they know that four of the subs have nothing but turkey, white American cheese and olives on them. Still, I always end up giving the sheepish grin to the 14 year old with a pierced nose and lip, like I am the one causing all their days trouble. It is even more fun to do it 3 minutes before they close, as we used to do on Sunday 2 for 1 night. Anyway you are not here to take the burden of my yok, so I apologize.
For dinner the boys choose hamburgers, on the grill, in windy snowy weather, so guess who gets to cook? You guessed it mommy! Too cold for me. I’m glad she didn’t break my grill. It was very good, simple but delightful, my favorite kind of meal. So now the question, what did Jake pick for his present? Well if you look at the pictures closely enough you may be able to figure it out all by yourself. Although Tracy tried her hardest to talk him out of it, and after he changed is mind 23 times, much like Dorian, he settled on this lovely ensemble. Not even Darth Vader, or Luke or Obi, but a stinking storm trooper. I always hoped he would aspire for so much more. Oh well, we are very proud of him as long he is doing what he loves the most. Oh, btw, the helmet talks, it really sounds like a Storm trooper, super cool. Not that he lets me play with it.
Use the Force Jake.
Live Combat Training
Normally, we are not allowed to show this to the public, but I trust you guys. This is obviously a training video in the art of firearm combat. Be aware, some scenes are quite shocking and not for young ones, or ones faint of the heart. The skill level here is only earned and learned from years and years of hard training and real life experience. If you are dedicated and train especially hard, you too can reach this level. Why? Isn’t obvious? It isn’t? It should be.
