Free at last! And a new toy.

Baseball is completely over for both boys and now Dana and I don't know what to do with ourselves in the evenings. Ah! We'd better enjoy it now before soccer starts up again...

About 2-1/2 weeks ago, Dana and I dropped the boys off with my mom and dad and headed off to Phoenix to celebrate our 13th anniversary (June 3). We drove for hours on end, had no free time, baked under the Phoenix sun all day and drove for hours and hours again to get home. Why did we do it, you ask? Dana wanted to go shopping for this - more or less.

What evil thing is this lurking in our garage? And what did it do to our beloved Expedition?

Ok, I'll turn up the lights. We went looking for a Nissan Altima and came back with a 2006 Ford Fusion. That's the first time I bought a car without knowing exactly what I was getting beforehand. I had to go back to the hotel to look it up. (How embarrassing!) But after driving it back to back with an Altima we decided we liked it just as much as the Nissan - some things better, some not quite as much but very comparable overall. Add in the fact that it was $1000 cheaper, 1 year newer and had 20k fewer miles than all the other Altimas we saw, and we had ourselves a winner. This one has a 4 cylinder and a very rare 5 speed. We're having a blast rowing the gears again after driving nothing but automatics for so long. This is exciting stuff, people!

Oh, and we still have the Expedition. It's been relegated to taking up space beside the house. We'll still use it for longer trips and for off-roady type stuff. Just for grins we asked what the trade-in would be and had to try very hard not to laugh in the salesman's face when they made their offer. Of course, they called all over town and gave us the best deal that they possibly could and they would probably be losing money on it and blah blah blah.

Alright. Fine. No one else seems to share my excitement about all things motorized. Just wait until I finish my V8 powered Igloo cooler though. You'll be wanting to take it for a ride.

And on to family (people) news.

The Father's Day conversation at our house went something like this.

Dana (real gruff like): "If you want something for Father's Day, then go pick it out yourself, you big oaf. Just don't spend much of my money."

Me (in my angelic voice): "But, my dearest, sweetheart wife. I don't want anything for Father's Day because I have everything I need right here at home. You and our three wonderful boys."

I might have paraphrased a little but you get the idea. So there I was at Harbor Freight and I stumbled across a cool, portable hammock. I've wanted a hammock for years but I'm too cheap to pay for one. This one was on sale for $35! Happy Father's Day to me, indeed. I set it up as soon as I got home to try it out. Little did I realize I won't ever get to use it. Every time I turned around one of the kids was on it. Here's proof.

Kevin drug it around in front of the TV and made himself comfortable for the evening. But that's MY hammock! I can't wait to take it camping.

And finally, I had to include a cute picture of #3 with his bathtub letters stuck to him. It was his idea, I just helped put them on.

1 year - more or less

It has now been (almost) 1 year since our first post on this blog so I'd like to thank the two of you who have followed along on our journey even if you did skip over my ramblings and go straight to the pictures.

Baseball season is over for Kevin. His team ended the year on a high note by winning their double header this last weekend. Actually, the team has one more game tomorrow but Kevin is at church camp this week so he will miss it. Kevin also ended the season well by coming out of his batting slump to finish the season strong.


Kevin at bat. He clubbed the next pitch but it went straight to the darn short stop. He made a good throw to first that just barely beat Kevin for an out.


Cameron has one more game on Wednesday. His team has been improving all year; however, I'm still counting the small victories such as all the basemen covering their base after a hit or the outfielders backing each other up when the hits go deep. This team has been a joy to coach.


That right there is the look of determination. Too bad he struck out this time. He looked good doing it though...

This weekend I bought a triple slide slip-n-slide for the boys. With the temperature reaching, oh about 253 degrees, they spent a few hours straight playing on it. We had to make them quit to come in for dinner.


Action shot of Cameron


Now Kevin


And finally Cade. Cade would only slide about 2 feet on his own. I took a few turns throwing him down the slide and he loved it.


Break time

School's Out & Summer Fun

Earlier this month, I had to go to Orlando, FL for a week for a training class. The best part of my trip? Seeing this exotic car rental place a short walk up the street from the hotel. The car lot had a Lamborghini (!), a few Ferraris, a Mercedes super duper something or other, a couple of Corvettes, and a few others, one of which I'll get to in a minute. Lamborghinis have always been my favorite cars but I had never seen one in person until now. I wanted to drool on it but they wouldn't let anyone cross the chain. The Lambo and Ferraris can be rented for something like $1500 - $2000 a day.


Drool! I like the clear engine cover which is barely visible here.


DROOL! DROOOOOL!!!


This is the Saleen S7 and it's worth something like $1.5 million. It is lower, wider and longer than it looks. It wasn't much taller than my waist. This monster can be rented for a mere $10k a day!

OK, you're not here for the cars. I've been slacking off on downloading the pictures from my camera lately so here's the last few weeks' worth of activities.



I posted pictures of Cameron's birthday party last time but I forgot I had a couple of videos. Here's one that's worth sharing. This is Cade setting the lane on fire and knocking the pins down with a sonic boom. This is the reason we only made it through 8 frames in our 2 hours allotted time.



Cameron's 1st grade year concluded with a dinosaur performance. I know this looks like Cameron the Lion from the trip to the zoo, but it's actually Tyrannosaurus Cam. Here's a quick clip of one of their songs. (After reviewing my post, the still shot looks like all the kids are giving the "I'm choking and can't breathe" sign.)




No pictures to show because Kevin's class didn't do anything, but Kevin breezed through 4th grade and is moving to 5th. Both boys had outstanding report cards this year and we're obviously very proud of them.


Kevin got a new (old) bike. We bought this one from my nephew. It broke several years ago and hasn't been ridden since. I'm in the process of rebuilding it and it should be ready to go when the last part arrives next week. Kevin is stoked to get off that puny little 50. Dana is a little unstoked.


The boys and their motorcycles.



Cute picture of Cade. No idea what he's doing here.

Soccer is over and baseball has begun.



Cameron at bat.



Cameron is one of my catchers. Doesn't he look cute? At this point, the catchers are more like flinching, moving backstops. They might catch one accidently from time to time, but the ball usually just bounces off their glove (or them). They're about as quick as the backstop when it comes to getting the ball on a short hit too. We'll work on that next year.



Kevin is preparing to burn a path to second base while the pitcher isn't looking. Both of my little dudes can RUN. They sure didn't get that from me. I've always been the kind of guy that likes to build up my momentum. The only problem was that since I was always scrawny and slow, there was never much momentum anyway.

We spent Memorial Day weekend camping in the mountains with another family from our Life Group. We had to revert to Plan B when we arrived at our 10,000 ft campsite because it was a)covered in snow, b) 44 degrees at noon and c) 20 mph winds. The women wimped out and made us go somewhere else. Us men were ready to CAMP! As far as we were concerned, there was no need for Plan B, largely because it didn't exist. But since we all know that men do whatever they want, when they want only after it has been cleared with the ladies, we quickly decided to move down the mountain to a campground, hoping against hope it wouldn't be crowded on this holiday weekend. Surprise! We got the best spot in the house at the back of the campground, secluded and out of sight and sound from all those sissy, city-dwelling yahoos near the entrance. We were set for a quiet, solitude, raw-meat, grunting-like-cavemen, roughing it kind of weekend. And then the darn generator refused to start and we were unable to use the microwave and turn the TV on. Have you ever tried to open a can when the electric can opener can't be used? How did people ever survive before 1986?

Just kidding. We didn't take a generator. It wouldn't fit.



Da boys!



Hiking along a trail.


I liked this shot of Cameron walking ahead of us.



Cade found the cookies immediately. We weren't even unpacked yet.



Kevin chopping wood. Isn't that a dance?



I found the best walking stick ever. It was perfect for climbing the hills on either side of our campground. They were ~1500 to 2000 feet up and I do mean UP. Some places were very difficult to climb because it was so steep. Tragically, Dana wouldn't let me bring the stick back home with me. Oh yeah, Cameron is shown here too trying to hi-jack MY stick.



Abbey has become the family's favorite pillow.





See what I mean?




A boy & his dog.



And with this shot, I'll end this post. Yes, Cade is mooning you. Ever since we got back from camping, he keeps trying to pee in the back yard and strip down to his birthday suit. Obviously, you're wondering what details of our camping trip I left out but rest assured they had nothing to do with this.

Too busy

A lot has gone on in the last month + so I'll try to fill you in without boring you to death.

Soccer season is over. Kevin's team won the last 3 to finish 4-1-3. They had some GREAT games this year and Kevin really improved throughout the season, especially at goalie. Cameron's team won their last game to finish 3-5. Just like last season, they showed flashes of brilliance in one game then would turn into a field full of turkeys for the next game.

About the time that was finishing, both boys started playing baseball. Cameron's team moved up to machine pitch this year and I spent a lot of time worrying about how everything was going to work out and why I signed up as coach again. Judging by our practices, they looked terrible! However, once the games started, I'm proud to say they've done a great job. Once again, we don't keep score in this league (Christian Baseball League) but according to some of the parents who were keeping count, they've won their first 3 games. Last night's team was a second year team and they were pretty darn good. If we only won one game all season I would have wanted it to be that one. The other team was accusing me of running up the score (I wasn't and I wasn't keeping score) so they started playing stupid until I yelled at them. Yes, I'm ashamed to admit, I turned into one of THOSE coaches. But I refused to let them cheat so blatantly. As it turns out, they didn't know the rules (that's why they thought I was running the kids when I shouldn't) but they were trying to be a stickler for the rules only when they wanted to and when it benefited them. Whatever. Our little kids stuck it to 'em.

Kevin's team moved over to the city league which is way more competitive then the CBL he had been playing in. I was a little surprised, but his team is doing really well. I've lost count but I think they're something like 2-4 and getting better. Kevin got off to a rough start with batting. I think he got it in his head that he couldn't hit so he just quit swinging. We've been practicing and practicing and I think he's starting to come out of that slump. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for him. Unfortunately, like last year, Kevin spends all his time in the outfield so he's losing interest in the sport. I'll be suprised if he plays again next year.

Ok, so on to pictures. Cameron had a field trip to Albuquerque a few weeks ago and I went with him. They went to a science museum and stayed the night there then went to the zoo the next day. We had a blast! Here are some of the pictures from that trip:

Bubble-head Cameron

Yours truly and my highwire act

Cam and a t-rex (with a Sizemosaurus in the background). I voted for sleeping here under the dinosaurs but was overruled by the kids. It got pretty crowded anyway.

Cameron the one-legged flamingo

Stripey-faced Cameron

Long-necked Cam

And finally, growly lion claw Cameron. You had no idea he was so good at impersonating animals, did you?

Cameron also celebrated his 7th birthday in April. We had a party for him at the bowling alley.

The birthday boy's, um, unique bowling style

Transformers cake - what else would it be?

Cade liked the icing

The birthday party attendees.

Kevin is such a sweet big brother. He helped Cade bowl every time. With the blazing speed Cade put on the ball, the boys had time for a leisurely rest on the lane.

I haven't talked about Cade much because he's just been caught up in the shuffle of practice and games. He's a trooper though and is very well behaved at all these events.

Faux-hawk

From the side

Cade was so proud of himself for learning to ride the BIG 4-wheeler. He mostly goes around in circles in the driveway but he can control it.

City of Rocks

Last weekend we took advantage of the nice weather and headed over to the City of Rocks State Park. It's been almost 25 years since the last time I was there and it was the first trip for Dana and the boys. There are hundreds of huge rocks to climb on that range from easy to psycho. Here are some of our better pictures.

Kevin and Cameron getting warmed up for the adventures that lie ahead.

I like the look on Cade's face.

No tripod around so I got creative with our family picture. Not too bad if you ask me!

Cade is celebrating something but I'm not sure what.

I had to give Cade a boost to get on this rock.

Dana had a cow when she saw us up here but it wasn't as hard as it looks. And for the record, I never let go of Cade.

Same rock, no zoom.

Just hangin' with the boys.

My view of Cameron climbing the rock shown above.

Do you see it? Look at Kevin's face and then the rock.

I was in such a hurry to get the picture of the boys before someone moved or quit posing that I neglected to verify the entire rock was in the picture. Darn it.

See you next time.