Independence Day 2010

We were able to travel to the San Luis Valley to celebrate Independence Day with Andrea's family. It was especially fun because in addition to the relatives who live in the area, we were joined by our nieces Tatiana and Savannah from St. Louis, and Andrea's cousin, Mariah, and her husband and children.

...which made for a LOT of kids.

The traditional festivities include a meal together, followed by a bingo game (played at a frantic pace and always ending up in a mad dash for prizes) and a piñata.

Playing with Grandad

Oh, yeah, piñata, you're going down

We celebrated on Friday, and the actual fourth of July was the following Sunday, the day we headed back to Greeley. We decided to make every effort to arrive in time to see the professional firework show at the local country club, for which we have front row seats in our front yard. We had never actually watched the show, since we were always out of town celebrating with Andrea's parents, so we were excited to actually be able to catch it. Unfortunately, the show was rained out, along with the other shows in the area.

The country club opted to cancel their show, but the fireworks show in Loveland was postponed until the following day, so we decided to drive over Monday night, brave the parking, and watch the show. With a bit of online planning, we were able to find a parking spot a few blocks from a park across the lake from the show. It worth the wait, and the kids had a lot of fun.

Have a great fifth of July, everyone!

LUCKIEST DAD EVER

A Visit from Annie & Ren

In mid-June of last year Andrea's brother Ren and his wife Annie came to visit us, and we decided to spend the day in Denver with them. The fun times began at the Natural History Museum, where the kids got to visit one of their favorite exhibits, Space Odyssey.

Four loud monsters

Space suits are one-size-fits-all

"What are you complaining about, Jayden? They're so roomy!"

After the museum, we decided to find a bowling alley, and after a comedy of errors involving one-way streets and GPS units, we finally found one and had a great game.

Ren and Annie, sizing up the competition

And then we all decided to head across the street to Gunther Toody's for dinner. We had a lot of fun, and miss Ren and Annie, who have since moved to Utah so Ren can attend graduate school. We hope to see them again soon!

Food, family and crayons

Swim Time

Summer 2010 brought another wonderful tradition in our family: swimming. The kids love anything that requires them to put on their swimming trunks, whether it is in our front yard or at the local pool.

"Cowabunga!"

Loving it

Sofie was able to join her brothers in swimming lessons; we enrolled her in a class where she and I were able to start her on the basics of being in the water. Needless to say, she had a blast!

Splashin' with Dad

Back to the Farm

As we had done the previous year, we decided in the summer of 2010 to take advantage of our church's program which allows each family a garden plot on the church farm. Watering and insect control is provided; we need only to plant, weed, and harvest.

The previous year, our schedule prevented us from weeding for the first week or two of the season, and we spend the rest of the summer fighting a losing battle against the weeds. This time, however, we were able to weed early on, and the difference was night and day: we could barely keep up with the harvest.

And, as before, we were happy to have eight little hands to help!

Green shirt and green thumb

Now, we wait...

Looking for peas

Summertime!

As the temperature raises and the lessons end, it's that time again: time for shorts, time for picnics, time for fun!

Jayden and Noah both rang in the summer months with their classmates with something they look forward to for weeks: Field Day!

STOMP STOMP STOMP

Parachute + 25 kindergarteners = joy

Other end-of-year celebrations included musical programs and a picnic at the park.

Nothing cooler than chillin' with your friends and eating string cheese

Noah's class performance

We were also able to do a little beginning-of-summer celebration as a family by going to one of the kids' favorite places: Jumpin', a playground constructed entirely of inflatable bounce-houses and slides.

"Now this is how a PWINCESS jumps!"

"What's next, Mom and Dad?"

Super Noah

While in Kindergarten, Noah enrolled in a weekly after-school class at Chappelow that involved creating a superhero costume. The class culminated in a party with these masked wonders.

Noah (r) and his friend Ethan (l)

Even superheroes need to eat

Florida

Immediately after Jayden's baptism, I flew out to Fort Myers, Florida to participate in a job interview at Edison State College. The interview went well, though it didn't strike me as the perfect position for me... and, in fact, I did not end up being offered the job.

However, the trip was not a waste by a long shot: for one thing, the trip (as is always the case) was paid for by the college. Better yet, the college allowed me to postpone my return flight by a day, and fly out of Fort Lauderdale instead of Fort Myers. This made it possible for my brother, Eric, to drive to Fort Myers and pick me up after the interview, and spend the night with him and my sister-in-law Esther.

From the moment I changed out of my suit and tie after the interview, the trip was wonderful; I had never had the opportunity to visit Eric and Esther since they had moved to Florida. At the time, they lived, quite literally, across the street from the Atlantic Ocean; the view from their 14th-floor condo was breathtaking. They also took me to a fantastic seafood restaurant for dinner where we ate on a patio overlooking the harbor.

Eric and Esther's condo building from the street.

The incredible view from their balcony.

Having moved to Ohio, we're a little closer now than we were, and though they have since moved to a condo a little father inland, we are looking forward to visiting as a family next summer.

Jayden's Baptism

On April 10, 2010, I had the honor and privilege to baptize my oldest son. I am so proud of him. I love his always-cheerful attitude, his undying desire to help and teach, and his capability to live a Christ-like example, seemingly without even trying. I consider myself lucky to be his Dad.

I am also grateful that my parents were able to take the time and effort to join us on this special day; I know that it meant a lot to Jayden and Andrea as well.

Easter 2010

We celebrated Easter by keeping traditions which date back to Andrea's childhood: on Saturday evening, the kids made their "bunny bags" to leave for the Easter Bunny to fill before they awake.

Hard at work

Happy bunnies and happy kids

And, as in years past, the Easter Bunny came, laden heavily with gifts. Though Mom and Dad thought that the Hoppy and Whiskered One didn't really need anything to eat like his counterpart at the North Pole, the kids insisted that they should leave something for him, (again, at their suggestion), we left a bowl of shredded carrots, a small paper cup of water, and a plastic egg containing chocolate.

The haul

And, sure enough, it was all gone by morning! I know have a feeling that the Easter Bunny loved the chocolate most of all (he's probably a lot more like Mr. Kringle than we'd expect).

No second thought about how the Easter Bunny knows exactly what you want

Scub Scouts

Jayden turned 8 years old last March, which made him eligible to participate in our church's Cub Scouts program, and he couldn't be more excited. We made the trip to the Scout store to get him the uniform and though he couldn't wait to try it on, we found out later that we had gotten the wrong type of neckerchief.

Scout spirit, personified

Needless to say, Jayden has taken to Cub Scouts like a fish to water; he loves to attend meetings, and even more fun are the outings; one morning, he and I got up early and went to a local lake for a picnic pancake breakfast and a few hours of fishing (no, we didn't catch anything—but no one got a hook caught in their hand or eye or anything so we considered it a success).

No, really, Dad, I think it was a real tug this time!

Toward the end of the summer, I was asked to be the Den Leader for Jayden and his friends, and the first time I put on my uniform to attend a Den meeting, Sofie saw me and scowled at me, saying, "Daddy! Don't be a scub scout!" Fortunately, she has come around and is fine with me participating in Scub Scouts, especially since she gets to come along to the monthly Pack meetings.

This patch goes around here somewhere...

Ancient Indians used this technique when their microwaves weren't working.

If you know Jayden at all, you know he's in heaven in this picture

Jayden will turn 9 in March, and will then get the rank of Bear (he's a Wolf now). If he gets too many more belt loop awards, he's going to need to increase his waist size to make room for them...

Fiesta Month 2010

As luck would have it, four of the six birthdays in our family happen within a three week period: mine on February 21st, Andrea's on March 2nd, and Jayden's and Owen's both on March 4th. This year, another unfortunate day of note coincided with our usual craziness with Andrea's grandmother passing away on February 28. We spent Andrea's birthday driving down to the San Luis Valley for her funeral services, but we also found time to celebrate the kids' birthday.

The first part of the celebration, on the big day itself, was an evening of fine dining at the Alamosa Burger King, which of course included some fun with cousins at the playland. Even better, when we got home that evening, the boys got to open some presents.

"Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now?"

"I am... eight years old!" "I... have claws!"

A few days later, on Saturday, we continued a tradition of having a birthday party for all the kids together at Andrea's parents' house, which is always attended by all the family in the area, including my parents, who drive the two hours up from Los Alamos, NM. As if a houseful of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and other relatives weren't enough, we also had a piñata, cake, and of course more presents.

Star Wars toys, frosting and kids: an explosive combination

"I'll be with you just as soon as I finish building this log cabin."

"Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now? Can I play with it now?

"

Finally, to bring to a close the fiesta month, we threw the kids a birthday party in Greeley where they could invite their friends. At the boys' request, this event took place at that Mecca of childhood party-going, Chuck E. Cheese's, which of course made the previous party seem like a solemn prayer meeting at a monastery. But amid the pizza, cake and blur of video game noise, there were some extremely happy kids.

"Cry 'havoc,' and let slip the dogs of virtual mega-war!"

"No, officer, I wasn't speeding!"

"So make sure you don't change lanes in an intersect— hey, are you paying attention?"

"Hi ho Silver, away!"

The decorations have been put away now, the cake has long been eaten, the piñata candy has been... okay, well, we're still working on finishing that off, little by little. But fiesta month is behind us, and we're okay with it. There's always another one lurking on the horizon...

Andrea & Toby & Billy & Elton

Andrea and I have both been fans of Billy Joel and Elton John for a long time, and I was able to fulfill one of my long-time dreams two years ago when we saw Billy in concert at the Pepsi Center. I had heard late last year that they were doing one of their "Face to Face" combined tours again, and that they would be in Denver in November or December. Unfortunately, the timing didn't work out for us, and since they are both getting on in years, I figured I probably wouldn't get a chance to see them together.

But then Elton had some health issues, and they had to postpone several concerts, including the Denver date. Andrea, being the awesome person she is, found out when the new date was, and mentioned it to my parents. My parents, being the awesome people they are, bought us the tickets as a Christmas present.

As we had done in 2008, we drove to Denver but then took the Light Rail into downtown (which saved us parking costs and also gave us smalltown folks a fun taste of big city life). We then walked to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, and the walk was considerably colder than it was two years prior. But the food was delicious and warmed us right up.

Looking northwest

Looking southeast

After an enjoyable dinner, we walked down to the Pepsi Center and found our seats. Having seen Billy perform but not Elton, it was interesting to compare experiences with a lady and her daughter sitting next to us who had seen Elton but not Billy. When the show began, it started with both of them performing together, each of them starting each other's songs, but both playing.

Trying to capture the experience with a cell phone camera is like using a Walmart bag to carry the Pacific Ocean.

After their amazing combined set, Billy left the stage and Elton performed several of his songs on his own, and while the experience was amazing, we found ourselves a little less impressed than we thought we'd be. His musicianship was top notch, and he performed some great tunes, but everyone had the volume knobs at 11 or 12 and there were some songs where the lyrics were completely unrecognizable. Andrea and I later agreed that we were anxious to get on with the show during his set, although seeing him in person was undoubtedly a thrill.

Billy's solo set was next, and he did not disappoint. He is much more talkative, telling stories and jokes between tunes, and the music was just more enjoyable... as it had in 2008, his set flew by and he left the stage all too soon.

Fortunately, they ended the concert by joining forces again, including combining the bands, which was another treat.

We don't get to many rock concerts, and there are quite a few bands that I would love to see live, but if the only shows I get to see are Billy Joel's, I certainly won't complain.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

And Then, On February 19th, Owen Found A Googly Eye

Oh, Owen.