Connor, Megan, Mallory and Naomi; are you ready for some candy?

 

Connor calls Nikki, Mickey - she's the one in the white.

 

Naomi the Wizard, casts a spell to make sure she gets the most candy!

 

Connor and Dylan - I love it how kids think that even though you watch them put the mask on, you still can't guess that it's them.

Who Likes Bacon?

Jim Gaffigan is one of my favorite comedians.

This bit should tell you why...

Pumpkin Kids!

Well it's that time of year again. And if you can't tell that it's snuck up on us then I'd like to know who takes a picture of the kids with marker on their faces, and the little one with her onesie unbuttoned and her diaper hanging out - oh maybe that's everyone at some point.

Any who - the point is the kids love this time of year as you can tell by their out of focus and happy looks.

 

If you didn't know

Hello all.

You can see that I just posted almost 3 months worth of stuff. Well, July 30th my oldest and last brother Jeff was admitted into the hospital with a slew of problems - due to his alcoholism he developed Pancreatitis - he fought a good fight, but due to the difficulties caused by the pancreatitis he eventually died on September 15th. That was the same day my Dad died 7 years ago.
I started a memorial site for him, and I've posted some photos from the wake, and his dear friend Christine has also posted some old photos of Ffej as all his close friends called him. You can click on the title of this post to go to Jeff's page, or in the upper right hand corner, or you can copy the link below.

http://ffejgrubmil.blogspot.com/

If you have any comments - please make them. If you have any photos you would like to share - please send them to me.

Connor rides his bike without training wheels!

Actual date is October 6th!

 

We tried taking off the training wheels about 6 months ago. It resulted in a crying screaming fit. But I decided to do something I've heard about from other parents who taught there kids to ride bikes at a young age. You take off the training wheels and the pedals and you just let the kid scoot along. They soon learn how to balance the bike - it took Connor about 8 mins of me pushing him and him dragging his feet. He finally trusted me enough to hold his feet up off the ground and I pushed him real fast and let go. He balanced and steered the bike with no problems, and asked to put on the pedals... Well the photo above and the video beneath are proof that it worked!

Soccer and more soccer!

I've missed a number of games this year, but I was glad to go to the games today. Both kids did very well, and Connor actually ran after the ball rather than wait for it to come to him...
The best play of the day was Megan's goal, assisted by Taylor her team mate. I wish I caught it on film. It was our corner kick and Taylor kicked out into the middle of the field but one of the apposing players cleared it out, creating another corner kick for our team. I told coach Jeff same play and he told Taylor to kick it in again just like before. Well she did, and kicked it right to Megan, who in turn kicked it right into the goal! It was as if we practiced it.

 

 

Check out Connor's determination - he wants a snow cone!

 

 

Boy am I thirsty!

 

Disneyland or bust!

Jen's parents got some free tickets to Disneyland and invited us to use some of my sisters free passes... We also decided to drive their new Motor Home there. It worked out perfectly too, we got excellent parking, and when we got hungry for dinner we went back and crashed for a few moments. The drive home was fantastic as I slept on the queen bed all the way home! Thanks Jon and Jan!

 

Before the mayhem.

 

Mallory tries to make her escape!

 

Everyone who knows me knows that I don't like the spin around and puke rides - everyone else loves 'em!

 

 

Just too cute for words...

 

Mini goats - Mallory kept calling them kitties.

 

So much fun, so many things to do - and all she does is sleep!

 

Even Connor thinks these bumper cars in Bugs Land move too slow.

 

Whenever I got the camera out Mallory would strike a pose and say CHEESE!

 

My best friends!

 

Megan freaking out on the farris wheel.

 

I thought for sure someone would walk in front of me while I took this shot. I don't know how long the shutter stayed open to catch this one, but I got lucky with little foot traffic in front of the lens.

Megan loves Soccer

Megan is a natural competitor - she loves trying to win at everything, including running up the stairs.

 

 

She isn't afraid to jump on the ball even when another kid is almost ready to kick it.

Camping at Big Bear - we got evacuated!

It never fails - not 5 minuets into opening the doors and letting the kids out and one if them is filthy dirty...



Connor is grumpy - he just burnt another marshmallow, and the other 2 are being cute!

Excuse me I want to burn my marshmallow!

Another marshmallow please!

I said Smores - not smoke!

Belle and Mallory keeping warm.

Sitting around the campfire with half of Anne and baby, Tim and Jenny.

Good morning Edgar!

Connor loved the hammock.

Well if the smoke cloud isn't a tell-tail sign that it's time to leave I don't know what is. Needless to say as we were packing up camp - helicopters flew over announcing a manditory evacuation of the valley. The campsite was saved - thanks to the firefighters, but our weekend was over.

Still catching up with random stuff.

If you can't tell - I've been a little bit behind in my postings. So I'm making it up by posting a bunch of things.

Grant Harris, and Connor during preschool - I have no idea what my wife is teaching the kids, but I know she isn't hampering their creative inventiveness.

Mallory's first ride on the swinging bench - the look of terror was preceded by the happiest face ever.

Mallory's many faces

For what ever reason I like to teach all the kids to make different emotional faces. You know the standard Happy, Mad, Sad - well Mallory likes the surprised face the best...

Connor's first goal!

Unfortunately I couldn't catch it on film...

Megan's 1st day of 2nd grade - oh yeah and the fat guy get's older.

Holy match your backpack and your cloths...

Double layer cake for a double chin!

Cute girl!

Connor and his friend Dylan

Connor has a best friend that lives 3 doors down. They are about a year apart, but they are great friends. Dylan had a pirate themed birthday.
Captain Jack Sparrow (Dylan), and The Dreaded Pirate Roberts (Connor).


Ahoy Matie!



Tie that scurvy dog to the yard arm! Oh wait that's a cake!

Family Dog

In the late 1980's there was this fantastic show that was produced by Steven Spielberg called Amazing Story's. It normally had some twisted almost scary tail that freaked out my younger sisters and brother. But this carton became a favorite in our home - so much that we even influenced other families like the Cowdell's, Brooks, Ashton's, and Billings. We watched it at our house at least once a month until the tape wore out - sometimes we watched it just before SNL to get us amped up for the Carvey, Myers hour and a half of insanity featuring Sandler and Farley.

Any who I still find myself quoting this film today. Anyone who's had a dog, and an angry dad can appreciate this one - so please enjoy!

Connor's first Rocket Launch

As many of you know, I travel a lot for work. So far this year I've flown over 80,000 miles on United alone... That means I'm away from the home too much. Luckily the kids miss me and want me home, and when I come home, it's time to play! Last week Connor called me and said "next year when you come home, lets build a rocket and I get to push the button". It was fantastic - especially the "next year" comment. It hurt my heart a little, because I know I need to be home more.

Any who - when I returned home we went and bought an Estes rocket kit - $26 with launch pad - everything we needed to launch our first rocket together. We built it that day!

Any way, as you can tell in the video, everything went well, and we recovered the rocket. The second launch the next day didn't go so well - the rocket is still missing.