The California Poppy is back!

The hills surrounding our home are swollen with flowers. We live in a desert and when it rains for an extended period of time the hills turn green with new growth and these California Poppy's show up everywhere. They are just beautiful. There are also some purple flowers high up on the hills - too far to walk up to, but the ones close to the roads served their purpose today, as we got some fantastic photos of the kids. Unfortunately we can rarely get all 3 of them to look into the camera all at the same time. One day, I'll get some skills and figure out how to cut and paste their heads into one nice family photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Megan's Baptism

One of the special things about turning 8 is you get to choose to be baptized. Megan wasn't stopped talking about being baptized since late last year it seems. We are so proud of her for making this choice, and setting a good example to her brother and sister.

 

 

 

 

 

Jenny's friend Marcy made a special 'CTR' cake. CTR stands for Choose the Right, it's a symbol that reminds us to think of Christ and make wise choices.

Megan turns 8 and goes Bowling

It's crazy to think that this year Jenny and I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary, let a lone that we have an 8 year old child. Well it's true, Megan is now 8. She begged and pleaded with us to let her have a bowling party, and we couldn't deny her that wish. I think Mallory had more fun than the other kids. From the moment we got there she didn't stop yelling about all the balls. She was so determined to go bowling, that she even picked up a 12 lbs ball and tried to walk with it to the lane...

 

Crazy Megan!

 

Say Cheese!

 

Megan's friends had a blast!

Ummm... Why?

The kids thought it would be a good idea to decorate the room like a spider web. Apparently this idea came from a Curious George episode. Now I can understand and I even support not letting kids watch some TV programs, but not letting them watch PBS seems a little harsh - maybe I should write them a letter, then again, if I write them a letter, they will get my address and start sending me letters requesting donations... Plus I'm lazy.

 

Mallory found mom's makeup drawer - guess she's growing up EMO.

 

Now this one I like! If you know me you know I complain about my back. Generally I'll sacrifice it for a good donkey ride, and let the kids jump all over me. Well Connor is taking one for the team here, I think Mallory likes this ride better, she is closer to the ground, and it won't hurt as bad when she falls off.

 

2008 North American Handmade Bicycle Show

I was privileged to attend the hand-built bike show again this year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap as many photos as I would have liked. I did take some pictures of some cool bikes. One of my favorites was the wire wrapped brazed bike from Villain Cycles.

The coolest thing at this show is the vibe. Of course there are ego's in the building, but they aren't the frat like ego's you find at Interbike. You know the uninviting frat like attitude some groups of people have. Most of these builders are timid, but very approachable. They love talking bikes, and they love talking about their bikes. They aren't afraid to dish out compliments for their fellow builders either.

At the end of the show, there is an award ceremony, where all the builders vote on their favorites etc. Of course I don't remember what and who won, but if you click on this link you will find out soon enough. NAHBS 2008

I found this nice link showing plenty of bikes as well Richard
Bike Portland - ClockWork Bikes - Bike Radar

Monster Jam!

Aaron got a bunch of tickets for Monster trucks again this year. I decided to bring Megan, and I invited my friend Billy to come - he brought his daughter Payton. We had tons of fun. Most of the group lucked out, and were sitting just under the awning so they didn't get wet. I on the other hand was half covered by the awning, so my legs were getting rained on. Luckily Aaron brought some trash bags so I didn't get too wet.

We also got Pit passes, and took a few photos next to our favorite trucks.

 

Here we have Monster Mut - Megan's favorite cause it's driven by a girl.

 

Donkey Kong is a new truck this year, and the kids thought it was Curious George.

 

Here we have Grave Digger - the line to get a photo with the driver was over an hour long, so we snuck around back and took this one...

 

This is the only action shot of the evening that came out halfway decent - the rain prevented me from taking others. Aside from the rain, we had a fun time - and look forward to doing it again next year!

 

Megan was hoping this one smelt like a Banana.

 

Out of my way Hippie!

 

Excuse me I'm racing here!

 

Megan liked this truck the best, since the driver was a girl.

Like Father Like Son

My mom tells me this story of when I was 6 years old, I took my old shoes and nailed them to some 2x4's and made my self some skis. Check out Connors idea... I swear thoughts and ideas must be transferred genetically.

 

Grade School Joke - the kids actually get.

A few weeks ago Megan asked me to tell her a joke. I figured all of the good jokes I know a kid won't get - so I remembered this one where you ask a kid a question and hope to get the right response, this is how it goes:

I asked, "Megan? What were you eating under there?
Megan was sitting on the couch and wasn't eating anything
She responded with "Under where?"
So I laughed at her and said "You were eating your Underwear?!?"
She couldn't stop laughing and tried to tell me how she wasn't eating her underwear, and that she wasn't eating anything...

I loved it cause she actually realized that 2 words could sound the same and mean something totally different and if you think someone means the other word then, well you get the picture... It was perfect.

So, Megan must have told Connor the joke, cause the other day Jenny asked him the same question of "what are you eating under there?" Connor's response was, "UNDER PANTS!"

Christmas Sunday...

 

CHEESE, is what Mallory is screaming - it's cute the first one thousand times, but when it starts to get in the way of professional photography, it's a little well you know what I mean...

 

Happy day, Christmas is almost here!

Christmas Cookie Time!

 

Mallory wants to help make everything!

 

She doesn't like eating flour though.

 

Our little helper!

 

 

Megan frosted over a dozen cookies.

 

Connor liked eating the dough more than making cookies.

 

Grandparent time! The kids loving hanging out with Papa and Grammy!

Connor and his names for kids...

The topic came up while we were eating at "El Pollo Loco" if Connor wanted to have a brother or a sister (don't worry, we aren't having any more kids... just the topic comes up whenever we reminisce about Jeff and Wayne). So we asked Connor if he had a brother and he could choose the name what would it be. He replies, "I'd probably name him something dumb, like Snarvel".

Jenny and I nearly spit out the food in our mouths laughing.

Later we made a promise that if we ever have triplet boys we would name them Manny, Moe and Jack.

Connor turns 5

So a week before Connor's birthday party he comes to us and tell us how is party was going to go. Apparently he had it all planned out and was just informing us on the particulars...

He says to me, "Dad!?, at my party we are going to have a 'Curious George' bounce house, hundreds of my friends will be there", dramatic pause, which gave me time to think, does this kid know people I'm not aware of?, then he finishes with "Annnndddahhhh (which is and just drawn out loudly) it's going to be a surprise!"

So, now Jenny and I needed to figure out how to make this thing a surprise... Turns out he had that one planed out too. On the day of the said mayhem, I asked him if he wanted to go to the park, he said no, cause he was having a surprise party... We are now just along for the ride... His friends show up, (not by the hundreds, but it seemed like it), and they were all in the bounce house. I called them all to come inside and told Connor it was time to eat Pizza, and he said, "is it time for the surprise?!?" So I finally ask him how this was going to work, and he tells me how it's going to go down... "First you have all of my friends go into the front room, then I come in and everyone yells SURPRISE!"

The part that hurt, was the contempt in his voice, like I had no clue what a surprise party was all about... I wish I was able to catch his face on camera, but to no avail, we missed his huge smile and his little dance he did as everyone screamed SURPRISE!

I guess it went just as he planned it to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malibu loves her boots!

 

I don't know why, but kids love to go to sleep with the funniest things. I know somewhere my mom has a photo of me with boots on and some funky mask on my face.

Osaka Bike Museum - near Shimano Head Quaters in Japan.

I got to visit the Osaka Bike Museum during my last trip to the Shimano Head Quaters. It has a ton of bikes - many not on display, just hanging around in the basement, but the bikes on display are from the dawns of time to new current Dura Ace and XTR bikes. Included is one of my favorites, an original Brezzer (one of the first 10 made!) it has the original Campy parts on it from that era. Surprisingly the other bike component makers are absent from the displays...

There was a Batavus 5 seated tandem from the early 1900's it had one of the largest track gears I've ever seen.

Any who - enjoy the photos - and sorry that some of these are out of focus. Click on the photos for a larger view.

Dr. Two Brains

Apparently Connor has been asking everyone to call him Dr. Two Brains lately.

When someone calls him Connor, he says, "I'm Dr. Two Brains".

Apparently he is a character on a PBS show.

Yesterday would have been my Big Brother's 38th Birthday

Yesterday was my brothers birthday. We decided that we would spread his ashes that day. It was a beautiful day! I posted some photos you can view so click on the link above, or cut and past this one... http://ffejgrubmil.blogspot.com/2007/11/jeffs-birthday-we-scater-his-ashes.html