DeJong Days

Dont worry, he is not a commie.

2012-01-31T20:34:00.000-08:00

James has been up to alot lately and has kind of been moving all over the place. The other day I timed him standing all by himself for 18 seconds before sitting down. He is crawling all over now and I think that so he will be running once he get the hang of it

Note the mark on the forehead. No we are not raising a Soviet leader, but just a kid who bang his head sometimes. The same may have been said of Gorbachev though. I think this damage could be attributed to us though. It ends up that highchairs are aptly named and if you fall from them it can leave a mark. He has learned he cannot trust us (better to find that out now and save yourself some disappointment).

I had a chance to go skiing the other day and it was epic conditions. Brenda and James opted to follow along and take the longest gondola in the US to the lodge and hang out for the day. We had a great time.

The next day I mustered the energy to go snowshoeing. We borrowed a friends gear and headed for the hills. The snow on 4th of July Pass was deep and we had a great time. The weather was warmer than anticipated, which made it wet, but fun all the same.

James was loving the backpack a co-worker gave me and I liked it way better than the front pack. Who am I kidding....that kid was way to big for that thing.

The happy family in the woods where we belong.

Various low laying logs along the path we had to duck under and that can be a task with a backpack and kid, but we made it through without incident.

The friends who lent us the snowshoes also have a sled that they had outgrown and let us borrow so Brenda could pull James around the yard.

I decided I would build a seat for the bike instead of buying one, since they do not make the seat I had envisioned. I created the mold and the covered with the foil ready for the fiberglass.

This is how it may look on the frame.

Then...after the fiberglass....it is awesome, but will need a lot of sanding and bodywork.

James, it's whats for dinner. New way to show he is so cute I could eat him up.

He fell asleep for the night using his foot as a pillow....man does that look uncomfortable. I straightened him out fearing his foot would fall asleep and the pain would eventually wake him up, although it never seemed to do so before.

James also stay with the normal routine which would include the following about mid dinner meal.

I don't care who you are....that is cute.

Motorcycle work cotinues

2012-01-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

The saga of the bike continues. Got to polishing some of the parts and getting prepped for paint on the engine.

Here is the engine as it sat over the week between Christmas and New Years

Just a little polish and this turns

Into this. I love the polished look and much of the engine is going to be that way.

James is loving eating some more foods and hates peas while loving mom's applesauce.

Ben and Laura and the kids cam over for New Years We had a great time and had a lot of time to just sit back and not do whole bunch of stuff. You really get to enjoy your time off when you spend it with friends.

Ashton loves trucks but was a little bummed that the road construction was done around our house. He loved to see the graders

My mom was out of town so my Dad also made the effort to come all of the way over here. He had a good time and made us some awesome food

Addison and Ashton were a blast and we had a great time. We also have learned that our island counter tops are going to have to be rounded out a bit. All of the kids that come over eventually hit their heads on them and it never ends well.

Here is the cioppino my dad made. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it again.

The main body of the engine is going to be gloss black and the top along with the sides will be polished aluminium.

This week James went to the Children's Discovery Center with Ella. She made him a hat that she misspelled James by reversing the J.....which leads to Lames

For some reason James loves to bite and chew on beer bottles or any other bottle for that matter. Don't worry, I wash them out beforehand.

This kid loves food and when he wants it you know. I guess he gets it...

...from his mother. Wow, the resemblance is striking.

I borrowed a welder from my neighbor and went to town removing and adding things to the frame. You may be asking "John, I didn't know you knew how to weld" to what I say....I don't, or a least didn't before I tried. I figured how hard could it be and it turns out that it is not that hard.

I found a scrap piece of bed frame and built a battery box for the rear section. I also cut a bit of the frame off to make room.

Those welds may not look that great, but I hit them with a hammer and they are strong enough.

This weekend we went for a short walk before the snow hits. Today, it has started to snow and I think it may be pretty bad tomorrow which means....more time to work on the bike.

On a side note I am getting all mad about people on food stamps. I guess this is coming to light because of the stuff Gingrich has said, but then the facts come out and they actually interviewed a woman who has been on them for 5 years trying to make the case for food stamps. If anything this makes me want to cut her off more. If she did not get the food stamps she said she would not be able to make it because of her part time job at the local diner. WTH... part time job. Man that would be nice. Maybe if she was cut off from the food stamps she would be forced to get a full time job or maybe even a second or third one and get her ass in gear and earn her own money instead of asking for handouts. I know the times are hard, but not for that long. If they keep using these pathetic people wanting us to feel sorry for their lazy butts, I am going to puke. On the other hand, I know some people cannot live without the short term assistance and have no problem with that.

So of you are keeping blog score that is 1year lifetime maximum on unemployment and 2 year maximum for food stamps. All other social programs are also on the chopping block.

Christmas Turkey time take two

2011-12-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

Of course this in the time of year where we all get a chance to hang out with family and relax about the house....or last minute shopping and sitting in traffic. I did minimal shopping this year and went into a Toys r us for the first time and after about 4 minutes was out of the Christmas mood. That Place is a zoo.

The weekend before Christmas we went down to the in-laws since I had some work to do down there and we wanted to see Ben and Laura.

The classic family photo.

A neighbor kept telling us that limp bacon is good for kids that are teething and we thought we would give it a try. Sure enough he liked it and he has a little tooth poking through on the bottom. James did not really eat much as of a week or so ago, but now he loves to eat just about everything we give him. His mouth is very wide and gets all excited when the spoon is lifted.....even if it my spoon to my mouth.

Got some snow on Christmas eve. We (us and Jim and Sandy)went to Coeur d'Alene to check out the bald eagles and it started to snow. The snow was coming down hard and made it difficult to see the eagles and made the roads turn nasty in about 20 minutes. I did look awesome though.

James and Brenda in the winter weather clothes

Need I say more.

Jim and Sandy were here for Christmas and miraculously I got a few part for the bike in, so we got to work putting the engine back together. We go it all assembled and it should be ready to go after some paint and a little odds and ends. Christmas Eve I revieved the new used tank I am going to be using on the bike and was all excieted....very excieted....it is going to look awesome.

James got a "rock and roll ball" from Brenda and was shaking with excitement when it rolled all over the place.

He got some irrigation boots to help with changing the pipes. They looked big, but his thighs are so huge he could barely fit in them

I got him a motorcycle to chew on. On the package it said only for kids 3 and up, but I ripped the parts off that could fall off so no worries.....Brenda thought it was funny for some reason.

James got tired. He rarely fall asleep like this, but Sandy loved every minute of it.

I made another turkey. This one was only 10lbs and not the 22lbs of Thanksgiving

Brenda loves working in the kitchen cleaning up the messes I make.

I made this for Brenda for Christmas. It has the verse from our wedding on it and actually turned out really sharp.

Jim made this mirror for us out of tree props from his dad's place. The wood looks awesome on this frame

The past few days we have been in St. Maries where I have some work. Brenda and James hung out at the suite and seemed like they had a good time. I really enjoyed coming "home" to them.

Thanksgiving 2011 and tree hunting

2011-12-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone long ago, but the pics of the turkey still are fresh in my mind and I wish I could taste the juicy bird once again. 22 pounds of sweet meat did not last that long with all of the friends and relatives we had out here.

Here was the bird. I have been the one to cook the bird ever since we have been married and I got a great recipe from Jacob Van Ewyk in San Jose that makes it the best turkey ever.

This is when I would like to have a 6 burner stove. Gas would also make it easier, but we made due and still had room to spare.

Here is the gang for Thanksgiving assembled and ready to dig in.

James has not been eating much solids up to this point, but I thought Thanksgiving is a perfect time to break him in. He did like some of the stuff contrary to what his expression is saying.

We then had a bunch of friends over that night for some games. Poor mans taboo was on the schedule and of course the men dominated the game.

James is getting more used to food now.

Brenda sometimes goes online while at home with him and he likes to grab for the computer. She decided it may be fun for him to play with our old slow dinosaur. He does enjoy punching the keys, but I am always a little worried staring out this young. I guess this is what the digital age looks like.

Two weekends ago we went to get our Christmas tree from the National Forest. This year we had friends go with us and we made the trek out into the forest to pick out the perfect tree. Last year there was about 4' of snow here and this year there was only as trace in the shadows. That made it easier while toting a kid around and our friends had a 1 month old that was only about 8lbs so we were kind of glad there was not a lot of snow.

Here are Izumi, Noah, Brenda and James picking out a tree.

We found the one behind us and thought it would be a good time for a family photo.

Then back at the truck James thought the tree looked great.

While I was away at work Brenda got a couple of pictures of James in front of his first Christmas tree.

Last weekend we also got to spend some time with Chris and Izumi and the girls coordinated the kids to dress alike. I am unilaterally opposed to dressing kids alike unless they are twin, but I have to admit they do look cute.

Our neighbors have a big pole with wires going up to it and a sprinkler at the top. It looked weird when the temperatures were higher, but with the big freeze up here they turn the water on and then it looks like this. When the lights are on at night it looks pretty cool.

We plan on staying around the house for Christmas and just hanging out. I have a lot of parts for the bike arriving and am going to try and get the motor together and few other things in order over the few day break, but there is constant progress being made.

England Part 2

2011-12-04T18:53:00.001-08:00

Quickly going to run through the rest of our trip in mostly photos here. If you really want the scoop as to what we did you are going to have to call or even better, visit us.

To start this post out I got to start where I left off. Here is evening at King's college.

We decided to take a day trip to Kings Lynn to see a castle. James likes trains, because they are great for sleeping.

Here we are at Castle rising. This is apparently the most famous 13th century castle in England, but my cousins who live 1 hour away had never heard of it. How famous can a 13th century castle really be anyway.

Sweet high hill all the way around it to make intruders run up hill. Then on the inside a square building with very high wall. it was not huge, but still impressive.

This day was the coldest of our whole trip. No rain, but probably on 50 and misty.

The old timber floor was right under Brenda's feet and then there was storage under that.

I know I was there....although there are rarely any photos to prove it.

Not that great of a pic, but when we got back to Kings Lynn we walked around and checked out this church.

Then warmed up with come Coffee.

Back at the De Jong's, Kalyi and James played around.

The next day Matt was able to take us into the Kings College Cathedral. Since he is a member of the University staff it was free for him and guests which is always nice. The stone ceiling was spectacular and they are not entirely sure how it was constructed because there is no cement is the stones, but the weight of each one pushing like a wedge against the next holds it up. Kind of scary if you think about it.

You are not allowed to walk across the grass unless you are a professor there that has worked there for about 15 years....ridiculous rules, but since I did not want to reflect poorly upon my cousins good name I followed them.

Got in this picture as well.

Then we walked around for a bit.

Ate in the city square to see this kid....wait a second...is she....no she couldn't be.....she is!!! Parents, I implore you to get the pacifiers out of the kids mouth once the can speak full sentences and think rationally. This girl looked about 6 to my, but I am not a good judge of age.

Brenda and I then went off to a rugby game. Cambridge got killed, but there was a lot of yelling and one fight.

Lots of grunting

Kind of fun to have a few pints and watch a match. The fight was pretty cool. Two guys got pissed at each other and decided to headbutt one another.....at the same time. Never had I seen that before, and after the headbutt they were both thrown out, but neither of them flinched. Man was it cool.

Then it was off to Kayli's birthday party. She was turning two and we had a chance to meet some of Matt and Cara's friends.

Then hang out and eat cake.

The next day was pretty mellow with church in the morning then Matt and I left on the bikes for Ely. We rode like madmen for what seemed like forever, but really was just over two hours and the girls met us there. We went to the cathedral there which is very famous for being cool.

Never point a gun at anyone is what I think of my mother saying at this picture....hahahaha.

For dinner it was fish and chips, and mushy peas. Brenda ate the peas.....eeeehhhhwww.

We kind of just hung out the next day again going for tea and then a long walk through the country and town.

Cara took care of James while Brenda and I went to Evensong. It is a choir that sings every night in the cathedral and kind of cool to see, and of course it is free so just withing my budget.

Here is a cool bridge in Cambridge

James pulled his hat over his face to keep the lights out I guess.

The next day we were off to London for 3 nights to wrap up the trip.

When we arrived we went to the British Museum and checkout out the Rosetta Stone.

Saw some cool coins from Judea about 30 AD. Some had Caesars face on them.....I think I heard a story about that once....let me think.

After a long day it was time for dinner. We ate every night a pubs. They were great because they were loud so no one would care if James cried, but most of the time he looked like he does here, dead asleep. They also had good food and beer.

We got the variety platter....m.m.m.mmmmmmmm.

Our hotel was two block from Buckingham Palace and 4 from Big Ben. perfect place to use my hotel points I get when I go on the road for work. The Crown Plaza was nice and we definitely looked out of place in that hotel which normally was about $250-300/night. I am glad I had those points as there is no way we would have been able to stay in London otherwise.

Right before the changing of the guards. The changing of the guards is ok, but if you go in the summer I am sure it is even more crowded and unless you are right up front it is kind of lame. We were about 5 people back and of course heads taller than anyone else and I still thought it was lame.

I could not resist getting pic of this lady...seriously.

Classic shot which made me feel like a tool, but the wife insisted.

Big Benny

Parliament

Westminster Abby. Note on Westminster is that it costs about $22 us per person to get in. Nice to see, but I think if you go to the evensong you see enough and you can go to that for free ( we did that as well).

Westminster at night

Then, the last day it was on to the Tower of London. We had a great time there and got to see the crown jewels.

the spot where Anne Boleyn got separated from her head.

Tower Bridge. I kind of expected London Bridge to be better, but it was just a concrete bridge and was lame.

Shakespeare's globe ( we just walked by and did not go in).

One last time past Parliament and Big Ben at night

The next day we headed out on the long journey home. Slight snafoo with ticketing when they told us the computer says we should have two kids, but I assured them we only came with one.

Part 1: Vacation (Indiana then England)

2011-11-27T18:58:00.001-08:00

Fist off I want to give a atta Boy to google for making blogger so much easier to upload pictures. That has been an issue for some time and they now have a easy way to upload the picture I find are vital to keeping up with posting.

When we left you last Brenda and I just had the young James dedicated. That next Friday we left on a 2 week vacation stopping in Indiana and then continuing on to London to visit my cousin and his family for a week and a half. The fist stop was at Brenda's sisters in Lafayette.

Here is James with his two cousins at the park.

He loved that swing and figured out over this vacation how to really mug it up for the camera

We really had a great time hanging out in the house and bummin around town.

We visited a local farm and historical area where they had a Sear and Roebuck house and the nicest lady inside that was very informative. She ran a dishwasher that was so loud we could hardly hear each other think

Then we were off to the anniversary celebration of the battle of Tippecanoe. Most of us really have no idea that this battle was so important to the Indian wars, but the people in this area certainly know and now I do as well.

The places for family pictures were everywhere.

I wore that baby carrier a lot during this vacation. I insisted that we travel with minimum luggage so there was certainly no room for a stroller.

I thought James fit nicely into this doll high chair....that in until I tried to get him out. The tray was not a removable kind and James tensed his legs up making freeing him form this contraption nearly impossible. After a lot of pushing and screams of pain form him he was free. I think we both leaned something that day. Me: he is to big for any doll stuff, Him: never trust dad.

Then we were off to London. James did great on the plane and all the trains we took as well. People in London mostly keep to themselves and never look at you on the train. I had the cutest kid in the entire nation and no one even cracked a smile at him.

Then we were off from London to Cambridge. My cousin in a professor at St. Catherine's at Cambridge University and we were going to stay at their place for the next 7 days.

Day 1 had us visiting the university botanical gardens right down the street and Brenda acting like a crazy woman

Then a family photo with only James's forehead. Matt and Cara had a couple of stroller so we could use them when we were in Cambridge.

I found out the soda in England is actually good for you, it has vegetable extracts. Wait a minute....I think the soda in the U.S. has that to.

The colors and weather were awesome. It did not rain once during our 10 days in England. The weather was better than we could have imagined and are very thankful for that.

The first of many phone booths. Everyone has cell phones, but the phone booth is kind of iconic so they keep them all over the place. We only saw 2 people using them for making calls the entire vacation...and about 200 people using them for the above purpose.

Here is Kings College and the cute kid as well

We would be given a tour of the cathedral another day by my cousin, but this day we walked all over the town getting our bearings and checking out all the architecture they have over there.

Here is the family and Kayli. She had a 2 yr birthday party while we were there and there will be more to come about that.

Next post will finish the trip to England. I have way to many pics to fit it in just one post.

Quick last two weeks

2011-11-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the last two weeks in a whirlwind.

James got cuter. He sits up great and is starting to try and talk.

Brenda got hotter

The in laws and parents were out this past weekend and the men had a chance to go out into the garage and take the motor of the bike apart. We had to find the source of the seized motor. When we saw this i said..."well there's your problem". Piston is rusted in.

We could not get it unsiezed and currently are trying one of many different things to try and get the piston unstuck.

James was dedicated this past Sunday at church and that was the main reason the parents came out. We also had a chance to take a quality family picture.

I also got a chance to weigh Jabba and he topped out at about 280lbs. The giant pumpkin did not weigh as much as I thought it would, but it did take 4 of us to load it in the car, so I have had some questions as to the accuracy of the dump scales. Jim and Sandra got a picture on the giant.

Then it was my parents turn. James, or course, laughed and smiled awesome.

Then it was our turn

Brenda took James for a bike ride before the snow hits. It has gotten bitterly cold out here and we are not looking forward to the winter.

I was out of town Monday, but Brenda thought she would dress James up in a costume a neighbor gave us and take his picture. The monkey costume was ridiculous, but you just cant help but smile when seeing him in it.

And finally, a common sight when waking James up from a nap. All smiles and laughs.

Wow...see got hotter in just the time I was writing this blog. She just got home from the beauty school and looks great.

Fall is here...time for a new project.

2011-10-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Brenda and I have been up to not much lately. No matter the week, the work continues and the seasons are changing. The weather has seemed to turn cold overnight and with a couple of frosts already, or garden is done and the summer is over. Still time for a few rides though.

Common sight...that kid can fall asleep in about any position

A couple weeks ago we had a chance to be part of the amazing home race. It was put on by our real estate agents company and there were about 400 teams with the grand prize being $10,000 cash. If we would have won the rest of this post would be about Cancun, but we did have fun.

Again, about any position.

He loves this seat. It is normally called a Bumbo, but we like to call it a dumpo...because that is what he does every time he sits in it. The position it puts him in also was not designed by diaper manufactures to contain anything...but boy does he look happy.

This is also the season for apple pies. We have a apple tree and a couple of pear trees and believe it or not pears make awesome pies as well.

Last weekend we went down to the in-laws. James got a quick ride in a T and smiled the whole way.

Then he likes sitting with all of their weird gourds.

We had a chance to go on a hike as well up Cowitchie Canyon.

Jim about stepped right on this rattlesnake and we saw two other on the trail during the hike. Not the greatest place to take kids or animals, but we had a good time. We were very conscious of where we stepped after seeing this guy. We survived the encounter, but the same cannot be said for him.

Very interesting geological formations in this area and the weather was beautiful.

Here is my boy sporting the company colors.

What is missing from this picture....

You guessed it, another bike. I told Brenda if I did not ride the BMW and give it the love it deserves it would asexually reproduce. Now that there are two in the garage they might produce bikes faster.

I got it tore down to this now and trying to get the engine to turn over. The bikes does not run and I cannot verify if it has in the past 25 years or so...good winter project I guess.

Maybe someday it will look like this. I obviously will not get it as nice, but you can kind of see what I am going to shoot for.

Here is James and the giant pumpkin. No, that is not a fairy tale, it is a real thing.

I also had to get a picture with him. I have yet to weigh Jabba, but hope to sometime this week.

When the wife is away...

2011-10-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

The wife was gone a few weekends ago so I thought it appropriate that I take off as well and go a short cycle trip. I headed out up the St. Joe river over to MT and then down Hwy 12 dumping on and off of pavement for some fun riding.

This place was pretty impressive

Look at how many logs they had to use for walls in this log house....if you cant tell there is 4. Now those are some big logs and makes me wonder how they could even move them into place.

Thick walls which makes me think it is very well insulated.

This county road was awesome and about 2 miles into it I saw a herd of bighorn sheep crossing the road. By herd I am talking about 15 or so.

Brenda was out in CA visiting friends and family so she took the good one so I used a work camera that has been through the ringer. The lens on my camera is pretty bad...evidenced by this picture.

I talked to the Forest Service before I took off on the Lolo motorway, a dirt road of 110 miles that follows Lewis and Clark's return east. The indicated that it was open and I thought I would try a bit of it. About 15 miles into the road there was a road closed for fire sign. The road is narrow, rocky, and slow going so there was little to no chance of me following the rules and turning back

Sure enough, there was a fire and man it can sure make a sound when a tree goes up. Lucky for me the wind was nonexistent so I felt relatively safe.

More fire.

The road at certain times had so much smoke blowing so fast and thick over it, it was all I could do to keep the throttle on, hold my breath, and hope for a break in the smoke so I could breathe.

Pretty awesome ride through the fire, but I was a little nervous not knowing what I was going to come across next. I was just glad there was not a downed tree blocking my progress.

Then I saw some ruffed grouse

And a fire that had been there long ago. There were so many views along the ride, but alas my camera battery was dying.

Rock cairn that was reported to have been put there by L&C

35 miles down and I set up camp. The exposure is bad in this pic, but the view was awesome from this site. I ended up taking a left and getting back on the paved road next morning because I had to be home that day and did not have time for 80 miles of dirt at 10MPH.

There is a great rock to sit at sunset and also a great spot to watch the sun rise.

Formentioned sunrise

I figure I should put some pics of Brenda trip here lest you think I forgot about her and James.

James found a girl...he looks like he wants to kiss her already...standard De Jong.

Brenda had a chance to participate in 2 legs of a sprint triathlon when she was there.

There is Mindy and Lucy. Lucy was born one day after James.

Amy and Brenden hanging out with the wife.

Then we got these characters...Michelle, Makenna, Bria, and someone I cant forget....believe me I have tried...Brett

Jackie was also there

Then Brenda went to see Andrea and Jake.

Beverly (from SJCS) and James. He looks like he is having a great time.

He also got to see his great grandparents while he was there.

He has got a belly just like me now, but unlike me, he has an excuse

Great to see Kevin and Lyndsay and their brood of kiddos.

That kid is getting huge and now I think I am getting old. I got multiple pics of us on vacation with Kevin and Lyndsay in Hawaii where he is yet to be born.

She also got a chance to see our old neighbors.

She had a good time, but I sure was glad to have her at home this week.

James seemed happy to see me to.

2011-09-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

Here it is another day and I have yet to get around to updating the blog. I found that Blogger now has a different layout and view and have found that there is a little bit of learning curve, but this is much improved over the way I used to have to update the Blog and maybe, just maybe, I will post a bit more with the new format in place.

Now...lets see, where did I last update... well no matter, I will start with our trip we took to visit my parents on the wetside. Labor day had us traveling to Mt. Vernon for a nice weekend. it had been such a long time since we had been to downtown Seattle that we thought we would stop by on the way.

The weather was perfect and we had a great time seeing all the people, and we got the best parking spot ever. I mean this thing was epic. 30' from the market, and only 2 bucks for 2 hours....really nice.

Here is James and I at the market. I think I saw the biggest lobster tails I had ever seen, and for $35/lb...they must have been about 3lbs each...who can even afford that I have no idea.

The wife and I thought we could get some flowers for my parents and for $5, why not splurge.

Then it was time to see my parents. James is a lot bigger than the last time they saw him.

He likes to watch TV....is this something I should be concerned about....well I'm not.

The next day we went blackberry picking down the block from my parents. There were so many blackberries that we got about 5 gallons in 30 minutes or so. They were so good I ate about 1 quart while picking them.

Here is the haul

Even though James and mom did not participate in the picking they were significantly tired.

The next day we went out to the sound for a walk. I have never seen such great weather before over in Mt. Vernon. Perfectly sunny ever day we were out there and really made me want to get out on the water.

Then it was back home. We had not been around a lot lately and the garden was really growing quite a bit. The corn did not grow very well this year and I think we got some bad seeds. Most of them did not germinate, and then, some of the ones that did looked a bit off.

Would you eat this. Grey corn...that just about made me hurl looking at it. I think it got elephantitus, but was assured that this fungus is called Smut. My father-in-law also told me it is edible, but I will have to take his word for it because I think I would have to be pretty desparate to eat this.

When the cob was split it looked like this...kind of looked like corn there, but not something I want to see again

The peppers were a bit slow in maturing, but now we got more than we need.

Tomatos are also coming along nicely.

Onions are also getting bigger

Then we have a few of the final products

Cabbage

Pole beans on the right and carrots on the bottom

Here is a mix of the potatoes we have had this year. We have a lot to eat in the not so distant future, but they were simple as pie to grow and the plant is very nice looking.

On the way back from my parents we stopped and picked up 2 20lb boxes of peaches and nectarines. I have been living off of these for about the past two weeks and love them. You cannot buy these in the store no matter how much you pay. We also got them for 50 cents a pound which is less than half of what you pay in the store...just the "man" trying to rip off honest americans.

Here is James in a shirt Jackie sewed for him with a heart over Spokane. He even drolled on the west side of WA to show a real world depiction of the different climates.

The weekend of the 11th we went on a church campout on the Pend O'rielle

James liked it in the tent.

I tried to get this ridculous hat off him, but his mother would have none of it...I mean seriously

Back at camp I took on my role as cook...which is what Brenda likes to see me do

James had a great time and slept pretty good in the cramped tent.

We finally got a chance to get the Jonny Jumper out as well.

Camo clothes are what he loves.

Oh, and I guess he likes his hot mama too.

James in his jumper

Brenda rocking out...sort of.

Fire Lookout: Warning Children are not advised...

2011-08-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I was once again off in Billings and this time Brenda went to her parents to spend the weekend. She had a great time there and Billing was...well what can I say. Spending your birthday alone in a unfamiliar town working 13 hours, I guess it was fine. Most people make a big deal of their birthdays, but I have always been one of those people who think it is just another day...because it is, just another day.

I made arrangements that I had to be back for this past weekend and that was the fire lookout tower I had rented in March. Brenda and I headed out Friday to Boundary County in Northern Idaho to the Deer Ridge fire lookout. It is a tower 40' in the air and at the top is a 14'x14' room for sleeping and living.

Before we left we took the 13 week picture.

Finally we arrived. The tower is very cool, but as the forest service had said "children are not advised".

Nice views from the top. I have been to a lot of fire lookouts, but this is the first one I am going to spend the night in.

Notice the wire going from the roof, past the railing, and to the ground. That is in case of lightning. They had two chairs in the building that if there was a lightning storm you are supposed to sit on them with your feet off the floor. The casters/bases of the chair are old fashion glass insulators off a power pole...not very reassuring.

View out the front door.

James loved it as well

You could see to Montana and to Canada.

We went on a hike about 20 miles away the next day to Pyramid Lake. Nice hike with great views

and only about 7-8 miles round trip. The we continued to Ball Lakes

Lower Ball Lake

We rested at the lake for a few minutes and James was able to grab a bite to eat. He then got very tired...pretty standard.

He is so cool in his hat.

Another great view

Then we drove to another hike which was very short. We were tired, but had to cram it all in.

Then back to the lookout for dinner and relaxation.

James is smiling a lot now and starting to laugh occasionally.

You got to wonder why I am so perplexed. Must be because I am a horrible speller and playing Scrabble...not a good combination.

Nope...just got some very bad letters. I had a heck of a time this game and lost to the "dominator" aka Brenda.

Great sunset

The next day we went about 400yds from the lookout to pick some huckleberries. They were pretty well picked over, but we got some all the same.

Then to one more hike on our way out of town.

We saw this waterfall at the end. Easy hike and had a great time.

Back home I checked on the progress of my beast...I hope this thing will get huge. I have about 10 pumpkins that should pass the 30lb mark and a few of those should go well past that.

Not sure if these videos will work....there seems to be an issue with blogger.

Headlining the NBC nightly news was Beyonce noting she was pregnant. Those idiots actually think that is news. They had very little credibility before and now I have lost complete faith in any news organization.

I also hear that unemployment is dropping and don't care. Besides the fact that those numbers are fairly subjective, I would argue that there is a larger percentage of the population which is actually unemployable. By unemployable I mean 1. refuse to move for a job-why someone thinks they should be able to get work where they live is beyond me. Being flexible and willing to move will get you a job very quickly 2. Poor work ethic and always looking for a easy way out- constant problem with people thinking the company "owes" them. 3. Feels entitled to work. You should be happy for any job you can get and quit feeling you are above a job. I have a lot longer list, but am getting a bit long winded.

I have a lot of construction workers tell me they are working so they can "save up" unemployment so they can relax this winter. Or another one said when he was laid off at the end of the construction season last year he made a conscious effort to "spend time with his kids" because he had saved enough unemployment to allow him to do that (he went 10 months without working and collected unemployment the entire time). This is total BS and in general if you have to go on unemployment you should only be allowed to do so once or twice in your lifetime, and it should be limited to 6 months. I am sick of these leaches sucking the rest of us dry and acting as if they are entitled to it. I have no problem paying more taxes as long as it is not wasted...which 25% of it is...

Have a great day

Summer actvities

2011-08-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

It seems like every time I post I am apologizing for the last time and how long it has been, well no more. I got a lot of stuff going on, and when I don't, I want to relax. But enough has happened that I thought I should put something down so I don't forget about it.

My sister stayed after my brother and parents left for a few days and that was just long enough to go over to the car show at the hot rod cafe. Brenda and I stopped here on a whim last year and caught the festival so it was a must go this year based on the crazies we saw last year.
James also liked it and wore his skull and crossbones skull cap as well as his "chicks love me" shirt. I love carrying that kid around because everyone thinks he is so cute. He loved the burnouts and the cars.

Here is a jacked up old chevy doing a burnout. About every kind of car you can think of was there trying a burnout. Even ones that should not be. There was a old cop car, 1976 Ford LDT, and of course multiple rednecks in trucks. It was a feast for the eyes.

Not sure if you can see here, but the truck did a burnout until the tires blew up. He is riding on the rims here.

Summer has hit Greenacres and we have a couple thornless raspberry bushes which have provided more berries than we could possibly eat. It has been fun to pick them and then give them to friends. Everyone always appreciates it and they taste amazing

Here is 10min worth of picking.

After my sister left, Jim and Sandy needed another grandchild fix and came up for the weekend.

Yet another James and James picture. James is getting huge now...our James that is. I got a call the day Jim and Sandy showed up from my old boss asking if I could get out to the big oil spill in Montana. They work 7 days a week out there and I was not going to turn down good work so off I went, leaving Brenda with her parents for the weekend. I was out there for a week and while I was gone, Brenda was able to convince other visitors to come as well.

Laura did not have a lot going on and thought....why not go see Brenda. It probably helped that it was Brenda's birthday, but I think she wanted one last getaway before the school year starts.

Brenda said the kids had a great time.

I was able to some home the next weekend. Liberty lake had a car show that weekend and we saw this sweet ride. Someone put a lot of work into a bus...really?

Brenda always poses for picture whenever I ask her.

Yet another pose. They all were not weird cars, but I like to take pictures of the crazies.

Brenda and James then came with me on Monday out to Billings for the week. It was much nicer coming home to the hotel and seeing my wife and boy waiting for me. Working 10-12hr days zapped a lot of energy, but having those two waiting for me gets me energized.

One of my old co-workers from San Jose was there for the job, so we went out to dinner a couple of times and she loved to hold James.

Brenda and I also got to visit some of the sights and sounds of Billings. Here we are at the pictograph caves state park. The rock formations around that area reminded both of us of the thanksgivings we would spend in Utah...great scenery.

Amazing.

James was a great traveler and slept most of the 8hr drive

He is really starting to smile.

Brenda also got a chance to go see one of her old friends Colleen and her baby. I did not go because after a 8hr drive the day before, I was not going to drive 7hrs round trip to visit friends for the day. Plus I was tired and needed to get the bike out on the road...it is summer.

James is getting bigger and bigger and is weighing it at about 15lbs now...you can really feel it when you hold him.

I snapped this pic of him sleeping the other day. It does not get any better than that.

Besides Raspberries, the rest of our garden is growing like mad as well. I planted giant pumpkins and a few are going crazy big and should be quite the sight in a month or two. Potatoes, beans, onions, carrots, and Zucchini are a few of the major things growing like mad. We have a lot of Zucchini...A lot. I think even if I only ate all Zucchini for every meal there is still no way to keep up with the 6 plants we have. We put a bunch out in a box in the front yard with free sign on it and they go like hotcakes.

This pumpkin is growing about 1" in diameter every day. I should be huge by then end.

More amazing cuteness

Summer meals in our backyard are fun and we can sometime see the Spokane hot air balloon giving rides. This only makes Brenda want to go more and more, but I keep reminding her how much it costs and we have better, more practical things to do with our money...like pay for the house, or buy another motorcycle...

Here are a few videos I have uploaded of our fun.

I may convert my mower to do this

As promised last post...this is the funniest dancer I have ever seen. She is oblivious to anyone else and has the rhythm of a tennis shoe in a clothes dryer.

Safety is not the most important thing at an event like this. This car proceeded to do like 20 minutes worth of burnouts and donuts after I stopped the video. Notice the little concrete blocks keeping us safe. Those things did not make me feel any better so I stood behind some fat people to provide cushion if the car crashed into the blocks.

And last but not least is the boy. He is laughing and responding to us now which really makes us laugh and act like those "other" wacko parents who talk in baby talk and make weirdo faces in a feeble attempt to get some reaction from their kids.

Take two

2011-07-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well here we go for part two. There is going to be a lot more pics in this post because I did not take them all. I downloaded pics from my brothers and sisters camera so I have a few....hundred.

The day my in-laws and wife's sister's family left, my brother and his family arrived. We thought it might be good to go around Tubbs hill, yet again. You will see a lot of redundancy with the events we chose, but why mess with what works.
Here are Delaney and Joey. These two kids pose for pictures without having to be asked. They are seemingly perfect angels and right before we left for the hike Joel asked them if they knew the number one rule of hiking. Being the great parent I am, I said it was staying away from the edge and staying close to an adult. I of course was wrong!?!? Delaney informed me that the number one rule of hiking is "not complaining that my knees hurt or my legs are tired". Can it get any cuter than that. True to the number one rule ...neither of them complained once.

Kids love throwing rocks, and so do adults.

Yet another pose that they just did without really having to be asked.

Then Grandma and Grandpa showed up and they started to play with the paddle boats my dad had made. We eventually moved it to the inflatable pool...instead of in the fish barrel.

Delaney loved to chase the chickens and we chased them so much that I asked if she would rather just go in the coop. She will try anything, and I mean anything, so in she went. This ended up being tons of fun for her and was the first thing she always asked to do about 5 seconds after saying good morning...every morning. Usually I made her wait until she was out of her PJ's before putting her in there.

Here she caught one. We did have fun asking her to catch them and then see how far she could throw them. That is hours of fun and she loved it. Very brave girl.

My brother is an avid fly fisherman and ties a lot of flies. Here is one he tied when he was here.

And this is where he got the material. You guessed it, we snagged a couple of feathers from this guy and tied up some flies.

Here is evidence that my sister-in-law can run...who would have thought?

We also got a chance to go up to Mt. Spokane. This was the first day of the season that you could drive to the top, so needless to say it was cool up there. My guests were freezing at those temps as they came from 95 degree weather.

Here we are as a family on the top.

My dad and nephew

That night my parents brought us to a cowboy supper show. Brenda and I did it last year with them and it was cool, but the kids loved it even more and we all had such a good time. Thanks mom and dad.

The kids loved the cowboys and cowgirls.

Sunday we went to Manito Park to view the flowers and then to Downtown Spokane.

The rose garden was in bloom and the smell up there was amazing.

Here is Brenda near a few of the bushes.

Here is my brothers family

Again...we went on the carousel.

Then we went on the gondola over the Spokane falls. That was fun, but the cabins of the gondola were fairly hot and I had to take my shirt off. I also had to rock the cabin once or twice

As I said....hot. I mean it had to be 90 in there. In Spokane the weather this year is cool and as I write this wile heat grips 90 percent of the country...Spokane is 75-80 and sunny.

and of course we went on the Radio Flyer wagon for a slide down the handle.

Then of course we went in the fountain again.

Monday we went to the beach in Coeur d'Alene. My dad was nice enough to rent a sailboat and although the wind was very light all day, we all had a great time out on it. The kids thought it was cool and I always like to screw around on boats.

Here we are heading out....notice the flat water. The oar was used more than we wanted it to be.

Then the next day I was able to round up 5 bikes and two kid trailers and off we went to the "route of the Hiawatha". This is a old railroad grade converted to bike trail. It runs like 15 miles all downhill, over 7 bridges, and through 10 tunnels. At the beginning of the route you go through a 2 mile tunnel which crosses the MT ID boarder underground.

Here is one of the views from the trail.

Here is my sister and sister-in-law on the tandem bike.

And two kids in the carrier. James was alone in the other and besides having dirt all over his face....he was fine.

Here we all next to the waterfall.

And the whole family....after 3 takes.

Check out those bridges, they are amazing.

And Brenda and I outside of one of the tunnels.

We loved hanging out in the backyard and are really liking the house this summer. Here was a rainbow which disappeared and reappeared 3 times this night.

Wednesday, Joel and I went fishing in ID. We had a great time and caught a lot fish. Mine were not that big, but we had a great time.

Here is the big dog of the trip.

Joey loved hanging out with the baby.

Well all said and done we had 18 guests over 2 weeks and a great summer. With the weather warming up a bit it really only feels like the beginning of summer....which I guess is the case up here.

Here is my niece chasing the chickens...this is her first time in the coop and she got a bit more aggressive after getting to know them.

I some good pics already for the next post and another video that cannot be missed....stay tuned.

Family....So this is why we bought a 5 bedroom house

2011-07-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

I have decided to divide the families into a 2 part series even though they ran together and there was seemingly no division between the two. First Dan and Sarah came with their two girls Maggie and Abby. They were here for 2 days and then headed out to see Brenda parents.

We went for a hike around Tubbs hill with Dan and Sarah and the girls. This is a great hike and not all that far so it is great for kids
Then they taught James to play some sort of patty cake (not sure if this is right). He has a what the heck look on his face here, but he looked like he liked it.

Here are the girls at the park in Coeur d'Alene.

Then it was home for a swim in the pool and a swing on the swing. I am very glad I put that up. There were no injuries the whole time family was here which is amazing to me.

Here are the cousins.

4 days after Dan and Sarah left, Paula and Kevin (Lindsey and Landon as well) came in and then Dan and Sarah came back up along with Jim and Sandra. If you are keeping track of numbers....that is 13 bodies staying at our house (ourselves included). I guess that is why we bought a big house and it was a great time.

Here are the cousins loving the pool. I convinced them to do belly flops and still...no one got hurt.

Dinner on the table with the family was well worth the effort of building the table.

Here is a pick of all the cousins. Kids nowadays have got to get tired of taking pictures. With digital photos there is so much more freedom to take bad pics that we generally took 3-4 pics at every location. Maybe they like it, but I know I got 736 pics from the past two weeks and that is more than I will ever need.

Then we went to the beach in Coeur d'Alene on the 5th. It was kind of cool in the water, but a lot of fun and very relaxing.

Here are the kids eating some pop-ice. Big hit after water balloons.

Our neighbor brought his horse over to give the kids a ride on.

Then Landon got a chance. halfway through his ride the horse started to neigh and echo the one back in the stall. Not a good sign. Then Rocky jumped to the side and leaped ...but Landon held on tight. Kevin ran over and got him off with lots of crying and all of us were thankful no one got hurt. Needless to say that was the end of the horse rides...maybe not my best idea as an afterthought.

James looks happy here, but with women giving you a sponge bath....who wouldn't be.

We also had a chance to got to downtown Spokane and rode on the Carousel. It may seem lame, but it actually goes fast and you can grab rings if you are on the outer horses and throw them into a hole to ring the bell. Still does not sound cool, but I assure you it is fun.

Jim and Sandra along with James at the falls.

James did not like the ride as much as we did.

This was a scene repeated throughout the vacation and Paula really liked hanging out with a baby again. It was kind of nice to have family out and hand off the duties of holding James.

So that was the Elenbaas Family...the day they left, my family arrived....to be continued.

The Calm before the Storm

2011-07-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Brenda had a chance to go with her parents over to my parents for the weekend so I was left as a bachelor. That means it is time to go to the races. When you go to the races you never know what you are going to find....like this couple.
He thought it might be nice to match his wife's hair....isn't that cute.

And she is expecting! How exciting. I have never seen a shirt with an ultra sound on the front before...let a lone one where the baby is giving the "finger" to everyone. Yup that is right, this woman is waling around with a picture of a unborn baby flipping off the world. I am sure they are going to be great parents and there is yet another reason to use private education. We really have moved to the country up here in Washington.

But with such a nice night, I had no complaints.

The next day I went to the Ironman Triathlon in Coeur d'Alene just 20 min down the road. I had volunteered to drive my bike around the course carting any media personnel that needed a ride. It ended up I got a photographer from the local paper doing a story on a guy who lost 80lbs to do the race. He was slow, so it ended up being a very long day.

Here is the beginning of the race where there are 2800 participants.

And the transition area.

The lady on the left is the writer and the woman taking the photo is .....the photographer of course.

It was very cool riding without having to pay attention to stop signs or speed limits. Also a good time riding around with some world class athletes.

And of course riding a sweet bike.

I never ceases to amaze me the weirdos out there. When at the finish line where the first runner was coming in breaking the course record, you have this kid. It is about 80 degrees outside and he is in a hoodie and trying to hide his face...while reading the dudgeon masters guide to Dungeons and Dragons...he is going to be normal, or a serial killer.

This 62 yr old crashed at the finish of the bike. She ended up being ok and started to 26 mile run.

Then Dan and Sarah came, but that visit will all be covered at a later date. I figured this guy was getting a bit loud so he had to go. Last week Wednesday was his last day with us alive and now is in the freezer waiting for a special meal. He is looking at the axe like he does not trust it....he is wise to be fearful.

It all did not take that long and now we have another that may have to go to the woodshed shortly.

Life is quite nice here in Greenacres and we are really having a great time.

We went for a walk the other night about 5 min from our house and had a great view of the mountains. The flowers are amazing and the weather perfect.

Here is my lovely lady.

We live about 1 mile from the end of the water below....nice huh.

James was loving it.

He does not love the bills though...I mean really...should Internet really cost that much?

Then this Saturday I got a chance to ride for 6hrs up the St. Joes River and through some old railroad tunnels to Wallace then back home. It was amazing.

Snow covered peaks in the background.

And more.

Then Sunday we went to Steptoe Butte. 1000' above everything else.

What a view.

He did not like it as much as I did.

Brenda sometimes wears her glasses like this when her temples hurt, it is a nice look.

But more often she has them like this. Hottie.

Family AKA the "Storm" is going to be here the next week or two so the next update will be picture intensive as well.

Andrea visits

2011-06-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we got a chance to go to Granger for a long weekend because I had some work in the area and thought we could make a few days out of it. We ended up having a great time. Saturday I got another tutorial on model T driving and went out shooting with Jim. Brenda and her mom do not need the guys around to distract them while they talk and .....whatever else they do.
The weather was perfect and Brenda always loves being outside. Finally here in Spokane this week the temperature actually hit 80. That is the first time that has happened in about 9 months.

James is getting bigger all the time.

Here is a classic Brenda pose while dealing cards. I was looking back the other day at the pics of Will and Jenny's wedding we went to a few years ago and just had to laugh at all the crazy Brenda pics I have.

When we got home we got a call the next week...I think that is when it was....that Brenda;s friend Amy was going to be in town for the night and she was excited to stop by and see James. we could not go to her wedding as it was the Saturday after James was born.

We also had a chance to pack a picnic and hike out to Tubbs Hill in Coeur d'Alene. It was perfect weather and we cannot wait till the lake gets warmer and our family gets out here so we can go for a swim.

Brenda on the hike.

Yet another view.

Oh ya I forgot that when we were in Sunnyside, Laura took a few pics of James and they turned out great.

We have had a great time here at home recently and this past week Andrea and Jake came up from Visalia to hang out. She was so much fun for Brenda and I to hang out with and we have no problem keeping in touch with them. It was a lot of fun to see Jake again the he is so much fun.

Brenda and Andrea had a chance to hang out while I had to work, but that gave them a lot of time to do what girls do best....chat.

Jake loves swings

Bath time with James is like a show at the bellagio. He usually likes baths, but it is no problem if he cries because I kind of think it is funny when he gets hysterical.

We got a chance to go to Coeur d'Alene. While we were there we heard a auctioneer and thought we would go check it out. Well it was a car auction and huge show. I could have spent the whole day there is Brenda and I did not have to got to a wedding later that day.

Here is my favorite dream car of all time. This superbird is a original and worth 283K....wow

Then I also see a couple of awesome cafe racers. I am going to buy one of these someday, no question about it.

Jake loved running around the house.

While Andrea was around I finished up a little project I started earlier that week. Here is the Cedar table and benches I made. You may be asking where I got the plans for that sweet looking table. It was sort of a guesstimate of an endeavor where there was not a lot of measuring and no plans. Amazing it turned out so good without proper tools, but I think we are going to enjoy this table this summer.

Yet another view.

We also went to Manito Park.

Here are the ladies at the Japanese Gardens.

Here is a flower from our front yard and it is looking awesome.

And then to wrap up this blog I got the little guy who as you may be able to tell is gaining weight quite nicely. He is getting some pipes and I will need to workout to keep up.

Home sweet home

2011-06-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

We were able to go home on Sunday the 22nd to our awaiting parents. It was kind of surreal when we got in the car and headed home thinking....this is it, this is our new reality. James has really been quite the baby and we have just had the best time hanging out and looking at him, as well as showing him off to everyone we can.
Here we are just before bringing him in the house for the first time.

I was able to take the week off and hang out around the house. It was nice to sleep in to 9 or 10 every morning and then just hang out with James all day.

Man is he cute.

We got a coupon in the mail for 10% off anything left on our baby registry from target. Well, I thought about it a while and then decided that I should add a flat screen to the registry and take advantage of the coupon. I may end up re registering for "new baby" again and then wait for the coupon next time I need something big.

Here is the TV. I got all the wires routed a bit better now, and we have enjoyed the TV alot.

Here is James and Brenda after seeing the TV.

James with a windmill sweatshirt from Holland given to us by our San Jose friends.

This is in front of our apple tree we have in the yard. We have a couple of different types and are looking forward to seeing what we get this year.

I was able to get the garden in the week I was home and some of the sprouts are now through the surface. When they get a bit bigger I will take some pictures when they are a bit bigger and see if we will get any crops from them. If it does not hit 80 by Tuesday this year will be the latest on record for the temperature to hit 80 in Spokane. I am praying for global warming and leaving my car running 24-7 to get this part of the world warmer.

Brenda and I in front of the house.

James...I mean really could not be any cuter.

Lyndsay Schenk gave us this bear and cards for every week this year so we can take a pic of James next to the bear to see how he grows. At his two week appointment he had gained 2lbs and 1.25". At that rate by 20yrs old he will be 55' tall and just over 1000lbs. I assume the growth will be more proportional and slower, but man he is growing.

He loves the vibrating chair

And he loves the BMW. He is going to be raised right.

I also got a chance to put a swing in the front tree for Brenda and our little nieces and nephews this summer. It is a lot of fun.

In two weeks I am going to be volunteering as a motorcycle driver in the Ironman Coeur d'Alene race. I am going to be riding the course and transporting photographers, officials, and really anyone they tell me to drive around. I thought that it would be a good time and I guess I will see how it goes. Now I just got to get the bike polished up.

Extra Extra...read all about it

2011-05-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

Extra Extra....Read all about it: Worlds most beautiful baby born to hot mama.

Dateline Greenacres Washington May 19,2011. the day started out like any other. Brenda Headed off to her job and me to mine. I knocked off work a little early so I could mow the lawn and get ready to go to the hospital for the induction.

Here is Brenda before we left....late of course, but this time it was my fault and the hospital wasn't really on a timeline.

Going Up.

Brenda needed some medication before inducing labor.

Here she is. The side effects of the medication was very minor contractions that the machine could read, but Brenda could not feel. It turned out not to be a good thing for the baby as the heart rate dropped from 150 to 80 everytime there was a contraction and we really thought it may be somewhat serious when 3 nurses ruched in and gave Brenda a shot to stop contractions, gave her 2 IV's of fluid in about 10 minutes, and had her get on all fours to relieve pressure and get the heart rate up. Mine at this time was starting to rise as well without medication

The contractions subsided mostly, but there still were some and the heart rate continued to dip with every mild contraction. the nurse hinted they may have to do a C-section. Then 5 minutes later everyone came into the room in full scrubs and I guess that was the clue we were heading to surgery. Little different than we thought, but the umbilical chord was around the outside of the head and getting pinched with every contraction so if the contractions got any more severe the baby would have been in more trouble so there is no time like the present.

We managed to get a pic right before she got hauled off to surgery.

She was totally with it during the surgery and I loved to look over the screen to see the whole thing. Lots of blood and tools poking out of her...interesting. The doctors must have thought I may get faint, because they told me not to stand up and look to much, but I just had to see him get pulled out.

There is James Patrick De Jong. 8lbs 3ozs 20" long and looking great. Born May 20, 2011 at 2:44 am

Mama and baby. Brenda was smitten at first sight, just like she was with me. I also was very happy and although I hate to admit it...I cried

That also made Brenda even more happy.

Then I went with James to the next room for monitoring and all the normal stuff. We had a great time while Brenda got sewed up.

Brenda in the recovery room just trying to mimic James's cuteness.

Loving it.

Brenda looks good even after all that.

Here is my boy.

Another of the thousand or so cute faces we have noted. \

Face number 843 "tired and hating bright flashes"

First diaper change....yukyukeewwwyukyukyukeeewwwwww
Then the parents show up. Patrick (my dad) and James Patrick.

Jim(Brenda's dad) and James Patirck.

Here we are this morning.

Going home tomorrow

Whats going on now?

2011-05-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

So I know the time is getting close for the baby...really close, but thought I would update you all on what we are doing now.

Here is my bike before the awesome new farkle.

After. To the untrained eye you may have to take more than one look, but if you notice, I have added engine guards to the silver bullet. I also use them as foot rests on longer rides. They make the bike cool looking.

Here is a common sight around our house. Brenda is eating and getting the baby some Vitamin D. I think she believes if she suns the kid, it is going to come out tan like she seems to always be. At this rate it may have a sunburn.

Two weeks ago we had some friends over and there was a thunder storm, then this rainbow.

Here are two of the girls. As we walked around the house it took about 2 seconds for one of the girls to find the tree and climb up. Then out of nowhere flying through the air she hit the ground like a ton of bricks. As I stood there in shock.... thinking... wow I hope she is not hurt, and does my homeowners ins cover this. I could still could not believe what I had seen, a 15' fall from a tree and after a couple of gasps she rose to her feet and appeared to be ok. It could have turned out to a lot worse and we were very glad that she ended up being ok.

We have been out and about in Spokane as well Hiking by the bowl and pitcher. There is a swinging bridge and it is a very nice place to hike this time of year.

Here we are enjoying ourselves. No other pics of the hike, but you can trust me that it is nice.
I decided the other day that I should also take some pictures of the wife...and the chickens as well. Either of them are due to produce at any time.

This Sunday night we got a chance to go to a Newsboys concert. Brenda said that if she could fit into her Tshirt from 1994 we would go...and she actually fit into it.

The concert was pretty good and had really good effects. The last time we saw them in San Jose the venue was huge and only had about 150 people. Here in Spokane the venue was small and the crowd was huge. This place was packed and hot as all getout.Thankfully Brenda did not ask them to marry her this time.

The Baby room is getting all set up now.
I tried to break the changing table in, and have provided you the G version. Another view of the room.
Here is the growth chart from when I was a kid. We thought we should put it up in the room.

Here is a short video of the concert. Michael Tait (former DC Talk) is now the front man so the covered one old DC Talk song.

Part 3: The Ride Home

2011-05-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

The adventure begins. My father knows a guy at his church who drove to Virginia last summer and then for various reasons could not drive it back. Enter John De Jong. I offered, since I was already going to be out there anyway, to drive it back for him if he would cover the cost of the trip. How often do you have a chance to go across the country on a bike and have your expenses paid? Not often, and I know that once my wife has the baby, I am pretty much not going anywhere so it is now or never.

I picked the bike up on a Sunday and then drove through Shenandoah national park and then to West Virginia.
Here is the bike. The big reason the bike could not be shipped is the trailer I towed.

This was my view for the next 2500 miles. I will never get tired of this view.

Here is the bike in Shenandoah NP.

The first night I stayed in a hotel. Day 2 would bring me to IN and my sister and brother in-laws.

In WV there were a lot of great views.

And here I am with the beast.

Another great roadside attraction.

Southern Ohio was very nice.

Then into Indiana.

Here is my little niece.

After Indiana I left for IL and my old hometown. It rained all day since the minute I left and the temperature never got above 42 degrees.

My hometown has a few dutch people in it.

I arrived at Stephs house and the went to her parents for pizza and to see Brett and Mel, whom I have not seen in about 10 years or so.

Mel is due the day after Brenda is. It was great to see them and it sounds like they have a great house in Savannah.

The next day I left for Sioux Center. The high for this day was about 43 and the low was about 30. There was about 1' of snow in Storm Lake and lots of snow along the road all day. Man was it cold, but great to be back in the Midwest again.

Matt and Janey just moved there three weeks ago and it was great to catch up with them and meet the two kids they have had since I had seen them last time. They looked like they were doing well.

I also checked out my old stomping grounds...Man if that building could talk.

The next day I found the bike had some heated gear in the trailer. If I ever take a trip like this again I will buy heated gear. that stuff was a life saver. I think it gets up to like 105 degrees and feels like a massage...unbeatable.

SD was a bit boring and cold and rainy for the first 4 hours of the day. I was not going to stop at the Badlands if the weather was the same, but it miraculously got warmer and sunny.

It was a perfect day at the park and without a helmet law, I could take the bucket off and enjoy the slow ride and the sites.

More awesomeness.

Then on to WY and MT.

Oh that does not look good, but I ended up going around the storm and not getting rained on. I made it to Billings for the night (800 miles this day), and awoke to light snow and very cold temperatures.

I was advised not to go anywhere that day, but I continued to check the DOT reports and the pass looked like I could make it so I did.

I stopped at the Belgrade MT Harley dealer had great coffee and recommended a good massage place. I only rode 3 hours this day, but needed a little TLC.

I went to the grocery store before going to Kris's house

Here is Kris. We had a great time. His wife is very nice and she is also due in the not so distant future.

The next day I was going home. I woke up to very cold weather, but the sun was up and the high was supposed to be 60.

Ice on the bike.

This has got to be wrong...but it was pretty cold

The air was so clear and the scenery was amazing.

Entering ID.

I think I may have had the hand warming grips on a bit to high. I just bought this pair of gloves before the trip.

Cour D Alene.

Entering WA...only about 4 miles to the house.

And then there I am, safe and sound.

It was such a nice day that I wanted to go on a ride that afternoon. I can never get enough riding in, but I had to mow the lawn instead.

All in all a great trip and stayed two nights in hotels and four at friends houses. This is a great way to see the country, and hope to do it again someday.

Part 2

2011-04-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Part 2 begins when I left my brothers for the great expanses of Pantego North Carolina. I went out there for my college roommates wedding. I had a total of six roommates and this is number 4 to get married. It is always a good time to get together with the guys and tear it up.

Ike was able to secure the Pantego Goose Club for all of us to stay.
This place was a great house and had plenty of room.

The first nigh I think we may have stayed up to late, but that is what you do when you have not seen each other for a very long time and have a lot to catch up on.

For breakfast Ike and Leah made us a ton of food and with a kitchen that big there was plenty of room for them to work. They really showed us the southern hospitality.

Outside we had a chance to throw a few shoes and since I was just at my brothers and had a chance to play there I am not ashamed to say I think I did pretty well.

Ike also drove us all around and showed us the sights and sounds of NC.

I think Huisken is looking for some beer... where could it be?.

Random picture that really turned out well. You can tell how beautiful it is down there. The weather was awesome, and leaves on the trees already we nice to see.

Here is where the rehearsal took place and the setting was very nice, but mother nature would not cooperate for the next day.

The bride and groom to be. Eric hated the hat, but I loved to take pictures of him in it and give him a hard time.

That night we had the rehearsal dinner and after that we loaded up the truck with beer, guns, and a frog gig. for those of you who do not know frog gigging is when you shine a light in the ditches and when you see a from you then take a 20' pile with four spears on the end to stab the frog. Why would you do this? For the legs of course. The weather was kind of cool for gigging, but we got a couple.

Loading up

Greg with the first frog of the night

Here is Phil with his trophy. That is a good sized frog and can be gigged easier than a small one.

I say that bigger is easier because this is mine...the small ones usually go between the times, but I must have had great aim or really lucky. I think it is the latter.

We also saw 7 black bears and I chased one out of the truck and got about 15 feet from it...before I finally thought about what I was doing and stopped. Good times. Eric also got out of tthe truck and kicked a possum that Ike was shinning from the truck. I have not laughed that hard time.

The next day there was a ton of wind the and the outdoor wedding had to be changed to indoor. It actually turned out really well and was cool looking. As a groomsman I did not get any pictures of the ceremony and really only got a few.

Here is the bride and groom.

Here I am with Eric.

Here are the bridesmaids.

The ushers.

And Eric trying to say who is going to wash all the dishes. I know some of you have seen this game at weddings before, and it is a good time.

Then after the reception it was time for the wine down. It was more like a beer down. Everyone retired to the hunting club for a few cold ones and a little conversation. I put a limit of midnight on my time because I had to wake up at 430am and drive Paul and Greg to the airport as well as leave for my cycle trip so I figured that would be a good time to go to bed. Paul and Greg thought that 245am would be a good time.

Yuengling is something we do not have here in Washington so it is always nice to mix it up a bit.

Notice all the birds on the walls. My kind of place and I think I may have to come back hunting sometime.

Here is Eric and Rebecca. He finally found a beer. If I see correctly Eric is double fisting it. Actually he is holding one for Paul...he tried to keep Paul adequately hydrated so he could hit on the bridesmaid...it did not pan out. Paul is his own guy and does not need any help from us.

Frog gigging is a good time and fairly straight forward. Just stab the frog. Here is Greg giving it a try.

Have you ever wondered what happens to frog legs after cutting them off the frog, skinning them, and then putting salt on them...neither had I, but here it is

Well that is about it, and the next installment will be the motorcycle trip back to Washington.

My trip Part 1

2011-04-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

Been out of town for the last two weeks and just got back yesterday. I figure it is about time to let you know what I have been up to recently

A few weeks ago I brought home this beauty and am the proud owner of a new to me John Deere mower. This is a much needed "tool" as you can see we have a huge yard to mow. I got it off the truck and mowed the yard in about a hour and a half. The cup holders for a mower are a must have and were used immediately. Cuttin grass and drinkin beer is exactly what I figure home ownership was all about...and I was mostly right.
That weekend Brenda also had a baby shower and both of our parents came out to go to it. I should clarify that the women went and the men hung out at the house. The next day we went to check out the falls at post falls.

Here is Brenda and her parents are readings one of the informational signs.

Here is the falls and wow they are really big.

Brenda and her mother posing for a picture.

I then left on Sunday (two weeks ago) for a trip to North Carolina for a wedding. I went out there early and hung out with my brother and his family in South Carolina for a few days before the wedding. The day after I got there we went golfing with one of his friends. I have not golfed for about three years, but did get par on a par 4. We only played 9 holes, but had a great time.

Here is Joel hacking at the grass....I think he hit the ball, but one can never be sure.

Here is my nephew Joey. He is such a sweet kid. I stayed at my parents house just down the road and grabbed one of my dads shirts to go golfing in. I only brought Tshirts on this trip for some reason.

I thought this was a good picture of Joel hitting from an area where the sign at the bottom of the tree says please stay off the grass or something like that.

He shot a 53 and well, I got a 70 or so. My scores were really estimates except the par which was legit.

I also got to take the kids for a walk. They were able to give me the walking safety rules and I actually followed them.

After golfing and the walk we took the kids to the put put golf place. Delaney thought that Dad and John were very lucky because they got to golf twice in the same day. We were very lucky.

Joey teeing off.

Here is Delaney. She actually got a 3 on one of the holes without any help. I think her mom got a 7 on the same hole. I wont tell you what I got.

Here is Joey holding up the scorecard after the round when we went to Johnny Rockets for some much needed food.

The next day Joel and I went fishing. If you have ever seen his blog which is a link on the right side of my blog, you know that he loves fishing and goes quite often.

By the time Joel got rigged up and to the river I had about 7 rainbows already. The fishing was great and the weather was perfect. Days do not get much better than that.

Since Joel's camera card ran out of space I became the official photographer for the expedition.

The last cast of the day Joel caught this guy. Throughout the day we caught the hat trick of trout rainbows, browns, and brookies.

Here is my brother. He was really pumped about the fish and that day in general.

Apparently a little to pumped. 62 in a 45, but the cop cut him a break and only gave him a negligent driving violation which will not show up on his record and it was only 85bucks. I thought that was a great deal.

After we got to the house we had a chance to hang out with the kiddos in the back yard. They love the water and wrestling. I had a great time there and those kids were so funny. I cant wait until they come out to Spokane this summer.

Part 2 and part 3 of the past two weeks will be the time in North Carolina for Hookers weddings, and the Motorcycle trip from Virginia to Washington I took last week to get home. I will post those sometime this week, but with so much in the last two weeks I thought I would break it up a bit.

Getting pulled over

Delaney telling her dad to act civilized.

Sold

2011-04-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

I only got four pictures and a quick update. No much going on here. Two weeks ago we went to the school auction for a time of good food and of course lots of bidding. I did bit only on one thing, but my wife on the other hand....she really got into it. I walked away from the table for about 5 minutes and when I got back the auctioneer was pointing at her and saying sold while she was grinning and giggling. It looks like this summer we are going to be going wakeboarding and wake surfing on a lake around here with one of the families from school. Brenda has been bugging me for some time now to bring her out to a lake and she finally is going to get her way. Here is the view from our table

And the view from above....when Brenda was bidding.

With everyone wanting to see pictures of Brenda I can sort of see that this blog may be transforming into one of those kid centric blogs. Let me get it straight that I don't have anything against it or anything, but I think it is interesting.

Here is Brenda. She is getting bigger, but I have given up on trying to cut weight. I was hoping to have a chance to weigh less than her at some point in this pregnancy, but I don't think that is going to happen.

Here she is by the prospective garden. We have not planted anything here yet, but got plenty of seeds and time.

This week we are going to go to a funeral for Brenda's grandmother. She passed away last week and at the age of 93 lived a great life where she made a huge impact on Brenda and her sisters. It will be very sad to say goodbye, but her impact on Brenda and her sisters will continue to the next generation and even further.

You may also want to stay tuned for some updates of a short ride I am going to take soon. I probably will not update it real time, but if there is a drought in the blog updates be patient....I promise it will be worth it.

Car problems

2011-03-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

I got a call a while ago from high school classmate of mine Stephanie. She was going to be coming out to Spokane with her brother to pick up his car and drive it back to IL. He recently graduated College and moved back home so he needed his car. They arrived Friday and after a lot of talking and a good dinner, they went to bed. Matt and I did go out and take a look at the car, because the engine was really knocking bad. I checked the oil and noticed it could maybe use some, but that is the extent of my short term help.

Here they are at 6am ready for the long drive home.

I told them that they could call me if there were any car issues and I could give them a hand. Sure enough, 2hours down the road the car engine was done. They walked to a rest area and then got a ride to the next exit where they got cell reception. The car was towed to Kellogg and Brenda and I went off to pick them up. Diagnosis of the car problems....water in the oil indicating very very bad problems. The car has a lot of miles and it was decided to junk it.

Matt and Steph saying goodbye old friend to the jeep.

The rest of the day we got home and spent the day watching BBall and trying to find anyway to get them home. I offered her the T-bird for a great price, but that is not quite what they wanted. No big deal as I just got word today that it is sold. Brenda was sad, but I was happy that I can finally take the insurance off of the car. We tried trains, plains and car rentals, but finally they decided on a plane. The earliest flight to Chitown left Sunday evening so we got some more time to hang out.

Here is steph checking out the options....it took about 4 hours to finally find something that world work. Oh ya, and a lot of calls to a lot of airlines.

That night I had heard of a bluegrass concert that was going on not far from here so I thought why not all go together. Quit the mix of people and it was good...especially for free.
Sunday night they left and then it is back to work.

Today was nice weather and we trimmed the trees and worked a bit in the yard.

Here is the coop I made for the chickens. Small, but I think it will work.

Both roofs lift up and it is mobile to keep the chickens moving around the yard
Brenda is looking better and better every day.

Here are the chicks...they grow up so fast.

I have let the mustache and goat grow a bit recently. I know it is red, and may not look that good, but I figure why not.

2 signs of spring...BBall and chicks

2011-03-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

As the end of another week approaches, or I guess it is the beginning, I am getting some time to finally download some new pictures and some old ones off of the camera.

We got some Kiwi's the other week or....well it was a long time time ago and I finally got to download the pictures.
Brenda wanted me to eat this one .....I was a bit skeptical. Any thoughts as to what it looks like.

Here is a picture of a hike we went on the other day about 10 minutes form the house. It is only 10 minutes to the trailhead, but it took us 1.5hrs to hike the this view.

Here is the lovely couple. Brenda is quite the trooper and even 6 months pregnant.

The whole hike was to see the waterfall....this is what we got at the end. I guess a waterfall in Washington is not the same as a waterfall in California. I wasn't expecting Yosemite falls, but this was a bit lame.

This weekend was the state tournament for 1B and 2B here is Spokane. Brenda's alma mater Sunnyside girls and boy both made the tournament along with her school she teaches at now. I got to the stadium on for the Saturday games about 10:30 and last night we got home about 11:30. It was a long day, but Sunnyside boys won 1st place (1B) and Northwest Christian also won 1st place (2B). It was a great day, but we sure were tired. Brenda's parents and aunt came and stayed with us for the end of the week and we also had a good time, but did not get to play any games because of the very late nights.

Here is Sunnyside

Here is NWC (Northwest Christan) posing for their picture.

Today I snagged this picture of Brenda. It is not the best quality, but it gives you idea of how big she is getting. I finally can feel the baby moving and I laugh about every time I feel it because it feels like it is running a marathon in there. Hopefully it is practicing it's jump shot.

In preparation for fatherhood last week we got these guys. 5 baby chicks from the feed store. They are all different kinds, and not sure if they will get along, but we thought we would give them a whirl. They are really cute and grow up fast...kind of like parenthood I hear.

All 5 of the little chicks huddled up in the corner.

Brenda like the birds, as long as she does not have to do any of the work.

This one is going to have a huge head of feathers, and we are not sure if it is rooster or a hen. The others are hens....or so they told us. You can never be 100% sure.

Here was a crazy kid at the game. He was really spazing out but I could only get the last little bit of his dance.

California part 2....or 4.

2011-03-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

California part 2 is finally here. I probably should call it part 4, because I have been down there 4 times since the first week of January. This time it was only for a week so off to San Jose I went. The weather was a nice change since while I was gone they had a blizzard up here, but it would have been kind of nice to have to stay home from work. The week before I went to San Jose I was down in Sunnyside working a job own there and staying with Brenda’s parents. She was able to come down on the weekend so we could see each other before I was gone for another week. I got Strep for the third time in 6 months and did not have the most fun at work that week, but you can’t always get what you want.

While down in San Jose I was able to go over to Harry and Mindy’s for pizza one night and then another night I went over to Brad and Karen’s for dinner. It was great hanging out and catching up with friends. I also timed my flights to where I flew out Saturday so Friday night I could drive to the Central Valley and visit my grandparents and Kevin & Lyndsay. Saturday morning it was the Almond Blossom 8k run so I went out to show my support.

Here is Ethan and Deb completing the 1 Mile run before the 8K race.

Kevin had the funniest finish when he was running towards the finish at a regular pace this guy sped up and passed him getting about 15’ in front of him. While he passed Kevin, Kevin gave him a pat on the back kind of giving him the surrender sign…but not really. About 30’ from the finish Kevin kicked it into high gear and zoomed past the guy finishing in front of him by about 3’. At this point in time all the people that had gathered at the finish were laughing so hard they just about fell over. It was hilarious.

I told Kevin to stand by these guys so I could get a picture of them without looking wierd. The guy in the white tank had rip off pants on right before thing and pulled them off in one felled swoop. What a tool

Are you serious....do those really make you go faster? If nothing else, they made me laugh

Quick plug: you shoudl check out my brothers blog (link on the side) if you want to see some cool art and like flyfishing....or even if you are just interested.

San Jose Round 1

2011-02-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

The past two weeks I have been out of town working around my old stomping grounds of San Jose. My co-worker down there went on vacation and with a lot of turnover to a newer and better water treatment plant I was able to get a trip down there to help them out. They needed someone with facility knowledge and since I had worked down there for a while I was able to be put right to work. The weather was perfect. I was able to get a lot of vitamin D and overdosed once while down there.

Before I left I was able to get out into the garden at our house and harvest these carrots that have survived nicely over the winter. I hope next year we get as good of vegetables as we have received from the previous owners.
Brenda was also able to come for the weekend I was going to be there and that gave us a great excuse to get back together with our friends. Myron, Andrea, and Jake came up from the Visalia area and we got to spend some time with them. Andrea and some of Brenda's old friends threw her a baby shower and she was very excited about it.
Here is Jake...this kid laughs all the time as we had a great time going to lunch with them in downtown Campbell.

Notice the blossoms on the trees already...very nice weather.

Here is a pic of Brenda opening her shower gifts. No I was not there to take this picture. Men did not attend the shower but we went to Brett's house to play video games and toss a few back. A man shower.

Here is another random pic of the girl fun.

Another gift. Everyone was very nice and Brenda loved being the center of attention (as always). Myron and I showed up at the end of the shower to pick the ladies up and of course they had more talking to do so Myron and I stepped outside onto the back porch. I think that had I been inside, I would have hearing loss from all the talking and laughing that was going on in there.

Mindy and Amy are also pregnant...as if you couldn't tell. Guess us guys finally figured out how to get it done at about the same time.

Lots of friends made quite the effort to be at the shower. Lyndsay Schenk came down from Riptown with her twins and they were very cute. Next time I go to CA I am going to make time to get out to the central valley and catch up with them over a few cold ones.

This is the reason I don't go to showers. Camille is Jen and Jeff Baham girl who really liked to play and was gracious enough to lend me her crown and sunglasses.

Some more shower pics

After the shower we wanted to get together with some friends and have dinner. It was about 630pm and Brenda went to put our name in at BJ's....to find out that there was a 2.5hour wait for a table. Well I guess they don't want our money that bad, and the economy is doing just fine. We decided to go to Brett and Michelle's (where we were staying) and get some pizza and brews. This turned out much better and we had a great time.

Here is everyone getting ready for the group photo.

And then it was time for the serious one.

Two big girls.

I tried to strut my stuff as well and think I did pretty good for just being out of shape. I am not really that fat.

Unfortunately Mindy and Harry had parked in the wrong parking space that was not marked for guests and got towed. Michelle brought them to the tow yard and they were able to get their car back, but make for an expensive night.

For all the time we were at Brett and Michelle's we did not get enough pictures of them. Here is their adorable girl named Bria. She was a very happy baby and seemed to be very easygoing from my perspective. She also laughed a lot and was right on the verge of crawling. I tired to train her to crawl so her mom and dad's life would be more difficult, but I failed.

I also messed around on image editor the other day and thought of what our kid may look like when they grow up. I have come up with the image below if it is a boy(right) or a girl(left). I know it is bad when I have to tell you which one is a boy and which one is a girl. Sleep easy as you dream of these two options.

Wow is parenting going to be scary or what.

2011-01-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

I have been out of town on and off for the last two weeks and have not really had a chance to post some of these pics. Last week I worked down in Merced Ca for my old boss and worked like a dog, so it was really nice that this week I am in San Diego at a conference and can take it easier although my head does hurt from all the technical papers and presentations I sat through. I am really fortunate to work for a company that lets me do these types of things and really cares about its employees.

Over Christmas break on day we got about 12" of snow in about 14hrs and man did it look so nice. Brenda and I got to have time to just hang out and relax together and take a walk in the winter snow.
We also had a chance to go to Wenachee and visit one of Brenda's old friends. While it was a long drive, we did have a great time and also went to Leavenworth (a Bavarian style town).

Here is a picture of the town. It was a very relaxing get away for us.

Here is one of those weirdo side profile pics that pregnant women take to show they are pregnant and not just getting fat.

Ben and Laura came up for the weekend and brought the kiddos. Of course we had to go to Cabelas and see all the fish and animals there. They had a great time and I think I may have had even more fun having them touch semiautomatic assault rifles and seeing the reaction of Brenda and Laura.

Ashton thought this was a trampoline after I got done with him.

Good thing this gun does not have an recoil...I mean really Laura, you would have broke your nose or gotten a black eye if it was a real gun.

The kiddos also loved to shoot. Ben and I had a competition and he kicked my butt, but the game of course must have been rigged.

San Diego sunsets were so nice. The weather was 65-70 every day with vitamin D in copious amounts.

Classic California. Christmas decorations anyone???

Pic of the palm tree outside of my room in San Diego.

I am back home now and ready for the nice weekend.

Christmas time.

2010-12-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

The snow is really coming down today at about 1”/hr and the office is closed so I have time to write a post. Christmas was good to us and we got to spend a lot of time with my parents and Brenda’s parents. Of course first things first, we had to get the Christmas Cards ready. By “we”, I really mean Brenda. Of course she went way overboard and sent out about 80 cards to all of our friends and family (only about 5 actually like me and the rest like Brenda). I think she does this because she also loves to read Christmas cards and kind of hopes to get one in return (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). Since we sent out so many, and if you did not get one, you may be thinking that you are not important and we couldn’t care less about you. This is not the case. I apologize in advance, although there are only a few people who actually even read this blog and I know I sent them cards. My job for the cards was to lick the envelopes and put on the stamps…right about at the top of my skill set.

On the weekend before Christmas we went down to Brenda’s parents house to see Brenda’s mom’s Christmas program. It was really good and it is always fun to see grade school kids and speculate as to their inelegance level and what crazy things they do. Of course it was great to see Ben and Laura and we are pretty pumped that they are going to be coming out here this weekend.

Check out the kid in the sweater showing his belly. At one point in the show he tried to get the kids around him to smell his shoe laces...real genius.

Fun time with the twins.

For Christmas Brenda’s parents came up along with my parents. I made multiple huge meals and must say that they turned out quite well. Hornado, llapingachos, and pork hominy soup were just a few of the great things on the menu.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Here is Brenda and I with out Friends Chris and Izumi.

Brenda's parents getting cookie fixing for Christmas.

For Christmas I gave Brenda tickets for Jim Brickman tickets and last night that is what we did. The concert was great and just flew by.

No Photography was allowed so I had to sneak this crap picture.

2010-12-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

For the last two weeks I have been out of town for work in Seattle. There were a few sites over there I had to visit and fix a few things so off I went. the weather was actually pretty good. the first day I was there I woke up and I knew I was sick again. I went to the local urgent care facility top confirm that yes once again, I had Strep throat. That makes twice in the last four months that I have had Strep...not very common for me. After a few drugs I was fine and of course without anyone to sympathize over me I just went along my way working. The faster I got the stuff done the sooner I could go home.

One day when I pulled up to one of my job sites, I stopped at the well I had to work on. the well I had to work on happen to be in a handicapped spot and I parked next to it per usual. I was going to open a hole in the ground in the handicapped spot, it would be unusable for the next ten minutes, not a big deal. Right when I got out a guy took a picture of my license plate and asked me where my handicapped placard was. I let him know I was there for work and he immediately got pissed off and said he was calling the cops. He continued yelling and saying something like "you can't park there I don't care what you are doing" and "that's bull s***, you sorry blahblahblah...." and other yelling. I then went to put up my work cones and started to laugh a little at him and the absurdity of the situation....he took offense to my obvious amusement of his ranting. He then proceeded to run out get into my face and kick my cones over....I calmly put them back up and he would yell and kick them right over again. He then told me if I thought it was so funny maybe he wouldn't wait for the cops and would just kick my a** right there. I let him know if he was going to call the cops then he should ask them to send an ambulance as well because he was going to need one in the not so distant future. It all ended up with him leaving and nothing really happening, but I have not seen someone so mad in a long time. Next time I think I will just reach into the back of my truck (about 2' away) and grab the axe I got back there and ask him if he needs anything else...idiots are all around...be careful.
Here is a nice view of Rainer from one of my sites....it was much better in real life.

My work truck just passed 100K on this trip. I think it had about 40 when I got it just over a year and a half ago.

Random picture of the week.

This is a 4wheeler that some guy in Idaho has totally make up to look like a jeep. He has a jeep front on it and so much crap hanging off this thing it is amazing....Oh ya and it is for sale as well.

This weekend I was home so I thought that it would be a great time to go out into the deep woods a pick out a Christmas tree. Brenda and I stopped by the Forest Service office and for 5 bucks go the permit to cut down any tree we wanted for Christmas. We drove up to the mountains and were off.

Here is me dragging the tree out of the woods...that snow was very deep and the truck was quite a distance away.

Here is my wonderful wife being a great sport.

And here we are back at the homestead in front of the fireplace. That is one cute little stocking, but I am afraid it will be to small for our kid right off the bat.

And the tree after we got it up. I know it is not a "full" as those trees you may get in the lots around you, but I think it is not that bad for picking one out covered in 3' of snow and paying 5bucks.

Some of you may be wondering how Brenda broke the news to me about her "situation"...I was sitting on the couch, after having a very long week out of town for work, sipping a cold one down and relaxing when she told me she got me something and handed me a bag. Being a complete idiot and not ever looking into anything she is saying or catching the subtle hints..I had no idea until I pulled this thing out.
It took about 10minutes of deep breathing to catch my breath and realize what she was trying to say...I was shocked.

A short video of a cycle ride I took on Friday and one also of Brenda when we went to get the Christmas tree. It was a great weekend....we are very blessed.

1+1=3

2010-11-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

This thanksgiving was a great time at the house. My parents and Brenda’s parents both made it out here for the celebration ….and then work. We have been very busy out here with buying the house, leaving the next day for four days of work in central Washington, buying a car in the same week, moving into the house, and getting ready for all the changes. It may seem to outsiders that we are swimming in money because we are spending it like our hair is on fire, but I can assure you it is not the case. After multiple trips to Bed Bath and Beyond, Home Depot, and countless furniture stores I can officially say I am a homeowner. Although it does cost a lot, it feels better spending money on this instead of the empty pit that is our apartment. Brenda's new ride....a 2008 Ford Escape.

Look at all those leaves. Brenda is very excited about the new house in this picture.

The counter is transformed into the work bench.

Here is Brenda by the fence the the horse area.

We were able to paint a bit in the house and get the baby’s room ready as well….what…are you serious. Yes I am. Brenda and I after years of looking at couples that had kids and thinking that we were very happy with our kidless lives, have done a 180 and now are expecting a child on or about the 7th of May. I know it happened a little fast and really it was a lot for me to handle with the house, work, and everything else, but I guess that is life and will not change anytime soon. We are not going to find out what we are having other than the normal verification that it is a human. Brenda is getting bigger, but has not had any ill effects from the pregnancy except for some changes with her diabetes. A lot can happen between now and then and we are just trusting that God has it all in control… which is good because there really is nothing we could do anyway.
Here are the girls painting the Baby's room. Notice my parents already gave us a highchair and we have to arrange the crib delivery yet. We are well on our way to having a cluttered house.

My parents were nice enough to also bring a bedroom set four one of the bedrooms which will save us a ton of money. Brenda's parents also brought us a couch(hide-a-bed) and a beautiful grandfather clock. It is great to have parents to outfit our house and give us a hand at moving in.

More pics of us on Sunday. It was way to bright for pictures, but we tried anyway.

Here is the barn

And lastly the guys are hanging some doors on the closet in the baby's room.

Snow and winter has hit the northwest (as you may be able to tell with the pictures. With a high last of 6F one day we really felt like we had moved to the Midwest or something. Highs have now stabilized around 35 or so and are great. We got about 8-10” of snow on the ground and tomorrow it is supposed to drop another 6” or more. I really like the snow, mostly because it covered the leaved before I had to rake them, but also because it is nice wet fluffy snow that makes everything look so nice out here. We are really thankful we got our ford escape with 4wd a mere 6 days before the snow hit. With Brenda’s, commute it has made it much safer than driving the rear wheel drive T-Bird.

I am really skimming over a lot that has happened in the past few weeks, but it is all kind a blur to me and I am having a hard time recalling it.

It's cool to be square.

2010-10-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we got a chance to go to the first teach social even for Northwest Christian (where Brenda teaches). It was out in the Green Bluff area of Spokane at one of the teachers’ house. The event was a barn dance and they got a square dance caller in to host the event. Brenda and I have never square danced, but it is pretty easy to catch on and by the end of the night we felt like old pros.
Here are a few of the folks.

Brenda is the tall one in the tan jacket....it was cold, but just right for dancing.

Work has been very busy and we are trying to get all the field work wrapped up before the bad weather hits, but no such luck. The forecasted high for the week is about 45F and it should be raining or cloudy all week. In Wallace ID, where my jobsite is, there is some snow on the ground at the higher elevations and I suspect that there will be some snow at the lower elevations by the end of the week.Pic from today.

We are pretty excited to close on the house on the 8th and can’t wait to get our stuff in there. We hope to have Thanksgiving at our place this year with my parents and the in-laws. We would love for them to see the house….oh ya and help out will some of the work we want done as well (suckers). I also have to go and cut some wood to get a good stockpile before the snow is way too deep to access the National Forest. This is really just an excuse to go out in the woods and use gas powered tools, but I say it as if it a necessity.

As soon as we get into the house I also have a long list of tools that I want (I hate it when people say they NEED things that are really just wants). I am pretty pumped.

Short list of things that I am currently annoyed with
- Political advertisements. I Think I am going to go and vote for anyone I have not heard of. If I see a name on the ballot I recognize, it must have been from some BS commercial and I will automatically reject their name and move on.

- Ballot measures. With all the measures we have to vote on these days, it kind of makes you wonder what we are paying out state reps to do. I thought that they were paid to make these decisions, and if we did not like their decisions then we vote them out. Next they are going to ask us the wipe their butts as well…if I have to hold their hand the whole time we may as well do their job for them…oh wait…we already are.

- On 60min last night they had some sob story about a guy who got laid off and could not find work. They tried to make us feel bad about the adjustments his family had to make. Their poor fragile lifestyle had to change. He used to make 200K a year and now was trying to whine that he now cannot afford to send his kid to college or pay the mortgage on the house…Mortgage…couldn’t he have paid that off in like 5 years making 200K a year? Oh, wait…he is an idiot and wanted a band new Mercedes for everyone in his whole family instead of paying off his debts (Want to bet he leased the cars…bonehead). As for college, let you kid get loans like everyone else….or…wait….get a job. My company is trying to hire a lot of people right now and if you are willing to travel there are jobs out there. Were we actually supposed to feel sorry for him?
I do have a lot more things for this list, but I don’t want to be thought of as bitter.

Lets play what's wrong with this picture....it probably took you about 2 seconds to find it(name not matching the picture), but apparently the dumb workers at the BOA here in WA cannot figure it out. Since California is on a different system than Washington we had to open a new account. I thought that was why I banked with a national company....so I didn't have to do that. I have had it with the BOA up here. The personnel just ask if you called customer service when you go in and ask a question...hello that's why I am here. They make you fill out deposit slips as well...Isn't that what they get paid to do? They don't have a clue how the bank functions, but sure can spit the robotic crap that gets ingrained into their brains during their initial training. We will be switching banks as soon as the house stuff gets worked out.

Home sweet home.

2010-10-06T18:16:00.001-07:00

I thought that when we moved to the city of Spokane it would be a nice change of pace from the busy area of San Jose. That has not been the case so far.
We have been thinking about getting a house for some time now and found a realtor. Last Sunday was our first face to face meeting with her. We let her know the type of house we wanted to buy, and then looked at a couple online. We found three we wanted to take a closer look at and went out to check them out. The first two we did not think were that great, but the third one we thought was pretty cool. I emailed our realtor the next day to thank her and let her know we liked the last house, and she said the house just had an offer put in on it so if we did like it we would have to move fast. Not good news seeing as we are first time buyers and had only seen three houses. To make this long story short…we got the house and should be closing sometime in November (the exact dates I wanted to go bear hunting in North Carolina, but I guess I got to take on some responsibility sometime).

Gardening area.
It is a really neat house, but we are still negotiating some of the repairs that need to be completed prior to actually signing the papers, so you never know what could happen.
Stats on the house.
- Lot is over 1acre (just what I wanted)
- 5bed, 3bath, 2car garage
- small shed outside, the other owner had horses so it is set up for animals
- It is Outside the city limits so less rules and more fun. The house does need some work as stated before so we will be very busy this winter with small projects all over the place.

Work has been busy with me and with Brenda. Her work is about 40min away and will continue to be that far seeing as our house is only about 3 miles from where we live now. She is getting very tired of the drive, and I can sympathize because I also have to drive to get to our project site in the panhandle of Idaho (only for a few more weeks). Needless to say with all the papers we have to sign and inspections we have to get, we have been very busy and normally not getting home until about 8-9pm or so last week.

Updating my blog is not exactly on my priority list nowadays.

When our realtor asked us to be completely honest the first day we met her I proceeded to tell her I told her I wanted to be able to pee in my backyard without anyone seeing me....you should have seen her face when I said that...priceless.

Ben and Laura visit

2010-09-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

We had the most lovely weekend last week with Ben and Laura Eisenga coming up here. They had not been away from their kids for the weekend in like forever. They left the kiddo's at home with the grandparents and stayed two nights up here.

Saturday we got a chance to go to the apple orchards just outside of town and it was perfect weather.
I had to carry the bucket and picked an apple from about every tree I passed....not sure which ones I got in the end, but most of them are good.

Ben and Laura

We also went up to Mount Spokane and warmed up by the fire in the summit house.

Holy cow is that one good looking couple.

They actually really still love each other even after kids.

Brenda and Laura are a little too much like high schoolers when they get together minus the pillow fights.

With no kids we had a chance to go out to a nice restaraunt downtown call the Catacombs. It was a very small restaurant in the basement of a historic hotel and really fun.

For more details or pics you can check out Laura's blog....off to yet another week of work.

Brenda also made a giant leap into the 21st century this weekend. She finally got a cellphone. After the years and years of resistance we thought it would be good for her to have one for the very long drive she has to take every day. I don't know much about phones, but I have tried to teach her as much as I can and she is now out there and mobile so world beware.

To the westside...last weekend

2010-09-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday I got a chance while the woman was out of town to got o the "Pig Out in the Park" downtown Spokane. There was two stages with great music and about 50 food vendors. everything but the food was free and I had a great time.
Live Bluegrass is so much fun to watch.

Here is what I had for dinner....Gyros are very goodAnd here is another band

And a overview of the mob of people down there on a Thursday night.

So last weekend we got a chance to go over to my parents house in Burlington. It takes over six hours, but with the three day weekend it made the drive worth it and it also was nice that we got a chance to drive through the Cascades. We had a great time going on a couple of walks/hikes and going blackberry picking. Blackberry bushes are on every roadside there and they are huge. It was amazing that at every stop the bushes had thousands of berries on them and no one cared if you picked them. We came home with two big ziplocks and have made a pies we almost polished off with friends last night....it was very good.

Hiking along the waterfront...such a good time.

Here are my rents acting like they like each other...and after three kids.

Sunsets out here are great because there are clouds. In California they only had smog which did make for good sunsets, but then you couldn't breathe... you can't have it both ways.

Fairbanks or bust

2010-09-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

It was a week ago now that I was up in Fairbanks Alaska for work. I got a call a couple weeks ago and they needed my services for a job up there for one day and I said sure. Free ride to a state I have never been to....of course. I booked the ticket for being in AK for two days but only ended up being there for about 40 hours total. I got in late the first night and worked the next day and then had a chance to go fishing (good thing I brought my rod). Jason is one of my coworkers from KY and he had been there for about a week so had the spots scoped out and killed them the previous night. Then I flew out the next day which made it a very short trip, but a good time.

Lots of grayling were caught and we had a blast. I got one on my second cast...now I know I am a good fly fisherman, but I think it was also a good spot to fish.

Here is Jason laying siege to the aquatic sasquatches. He caught more than I did, but I know next time to bring more elk hair caddis flies.

Brenda has been very busy since she got hired two weeks ago or so at Northwest Christian. She is going to be teaching PE, health, and a leadership class to Jr. High and Sr. High kids. She loves it and although I lost my home cooked meals when I get home from work...I think she may like that better. Actually I know she likes it better.

This weekend we went to the northern Idaho fair. It was cool to get back to the standard fair atmosphere you only find in a small town.

Here is Brenda posing next to the animal creations out of vegetables and fruit. I can't believe that people submit these things, but I think they were kind of interesting.

We watched the Rodeo and it was pretty interesting. They had all of the standard things, but since it was a "pro" rodeo there were almost no locals entered in the events. Not the small town stuff I was hoping for.

Of course there is a lot of patriotism here. It is really kind of cool to see how everyone seems to really love the US up here and does not complain about it all of the time. Everyone was reverent during the entire national anthem and then they actually prayed in public. In CA there would just be a "time of silence" so no one would be offended (political correctness gone over the edge and yet another example of liberals scarred of normal average Americans).
Here is a bareback riding action shot.

Washington does seem to be a bit behind the times. Example: there is no place to recycle here. I mean, we got bottles and cans coming out of our ears and everyone here just throws them in the garbage....really.

Famdamily good time

2010-08-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

With Paula, Kevin, Lindsey, and Landon coming out to visit us last week it was very busy. Luckily I had to work in Sunnyside for 3 days and got to spend a lot more time with them than originally thought. We had a great time together visiting Coeur D Alene the day they arrived. Kevin and I got the snorkels out and with the water being so clear we went out quite far and had a good time.

Here is Landon at the beach doing his favorite thing in the world, throwing rocks.

Paula wanted a ride eon the bike so that was all I needed. We went for a great ride not far from the apartment and saw a lot of deer.

At Jim and Sandi's we ate outside a lot and go to take a few pictures of the model T's. Here is Landon enjoying the T.

The girls looking good as always.

We also went to Ben and Laura's house for dinner. Addison and Ashton get bigger each time we go there.

Here they are getting along as always. rriiigggggghhhtt

We also went to the public pool in Sunnyside and got a chance to go off of the diving board. Landon and Lindsey went off also and it was very impressive that they were not scared. Those kids love the water.

Last week I worked in Idaho all week and we got to stay over there again. We picked huckleberries, relaxed, and had a good time. My parents wanted to see us and drove over this weekend from Mt. Vernon. We spent Saturday visiting Manito Park and Downtown Spokane. For dinner Brenda and I thought it would be cool to go to the local western dinner theater. We went and had a blast. It was pretty funny and the music was very good. I would recommend it for anyone coming to the area, and we are sure to go again when the have bluegrass nights.

Here is Brenda and I at Manito Park. It has the most beautiful gardens and is free so I love it.

Here is a snapshot of the melodrama....it was very funny.

Mom and Brenda inside the Barn/Theater.

Here is the wall AC unit, a waterfall with fans blowing through them. It really worked well and looked kind of cool.

Mom and Dad loved the show.