FInally Home from Mining in ID

Finally just got back from a week down in southern ID and now have some time to rest and relax at home.  I was down in the middle of nowhere ID out in the National Forest doing some water testing and although it was pretty cool, they were long days and not great lodging options so I am glad to be at home.  It is also a tough time to leave with the kids since they are so much fun, so I like to be at home....oh ya, and my wife, my wife....I love to be with her as well.

I think this picture was taken at the local library where James gets to hang out with Noelle from time to time.  He was actually having fun, but has the DeJong stare going on which happens to all of us around pretty girls.

Of course James like to wear dad"s work hat as well.  He probably could use it with how close he is getting to hitting his head on the counter edges of the island in the kitchen.

Matthew also had to get duded up to ride the motorcycle....although I was not allowed to take him.

Matthew is sitting in the Bumpo now. He really can stand up well in addition to laughing all of the time.

Power tool are one of James's favorate thing and second to that would be kitchen tools such as blenders and waffle irons.

Here is James with our neighbor kids.  He is always going over there to play or having them over to play.

Annie and James on the front swing.  That girl's curls are so adorable.

When I got home on Monday we stopped at Manito park for a picnic.  The weather here has been awesome and today it was like 85 and sunny.  I got to get out on the bike for a quick ride one of these days.

Matthew loves to smile and is going to love summertime

Brenda and the boy in front of the best flowers in the park this time of year.

Classic James smile.  If you ask him to show his teeth to you this is what you get.

And here are a few pics from work last week.  Someday were hot and then the next some snow squalls would come through so it was normal spring in the rockies.  As if driving around in a UTV can really be considered work.

Here is the pit lake for the phosphate strip mine we were working at.  They are done mining this area and this is what is left.  Of course I saw a bunch of funny mining bumper stickers at the mine, but  a couple of my favorates read "Earth First.....we will mine the other planets later"  or "strip mining prevents forest fires".

Here is a small rockslide down in the pit where we were the day before taking samples.  Some of the pits are huge v ditch like 20' wide at the bottom and walls hundreads of feet high...kind of cool but scarry at the same time.

Two ear infections and RSV...good times

We thought that spring had come to Spokane, but alas...it has not.  This past week we had less than stellar weather with generally overcast skies and cool winds.  Now let me get this straight, I know it is nothing like the poor folk in South Dakota had to face, but I do not live in SD....I live in WA.  With that being said next week is supposed to be 70's and sunny all week with the exception of the weekend....the only time I have to ride my motorcycles, of course.

Matthew has been doing great since we got him the proper medication for his RSV and ear infection.  James also had and ear infection and that was a fun filled few days we had here.  Matthew has been laughing and smiling at the drop of a hat and really is looking more and more like his own man.

He is great at sitting up in his Bumbo and looking around.

Matthew also makes lots of new a funny faces.  Today Brenda took him to the ENT doctor since we had a feeling he was a little tongue tied (that little weird thing below your tongue being too big).  Sure enough he was and then the doctor just went in there to cut it.  That was the most efficient visit we have had at a doctor and glad we went...even though it was so simple I easily could have done it at home with a pair of scissors and a spare 5 seconds.

More Matthew pictures

Then we get to James's first Twix experience.  Short story is he likes them, just like the rest of America.

Matthew again.

Another James with a silly grin picture.

Monday I thought it was time for something new so I got a couple lamb shanks and braised them in red wine, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, and a bunch of other things.  Well, it was amazing and I am now thinking we got to get a couple sheep because I have really found that I love lamb meat.

Why is James fixing an excavator that is not even broken?  The real question should be how can this excavator be made to go faster?  It is nothing a  couple of screwdrivers cannot fix, which is just like his old man would think.

He sat and tried to fix this thing for like 45 minutes and luckily enough it still worked after all that tinkering.  That is generally the real trick, once you take something apart and figure out how it works, you also need to figure out how to get it back to where it was before you started to "fix" it.

 

Had a weirdo sit next to me on the airplane the other week.  He had a stopwatch and timed everything for the flight.  How long we taxied, how ling drink service was into the flight, how long it took to get to cruising altitude and then took 7 pages of notes on what we were flying over and what clouds were out the window.  First I thought he was some kind of terrorist, but then struck up a conversation.  Turns out he is an unemployed physicist and seems to like to count (OCD-like). 

 

Some of you may have had a hard time commenting on the last post I had put here and I wanted a second to explain.  Well, it appears that if you do not have some sort of comment protection on your blog you get a ton of automated comments from computers trying to get you to "grow your manhood"(trying to keep this PG), find a casual friend, or buy medication from some far off communist land inundated by pollution and knock of chemicals.  To try and save you from that, I have relinquished and succumbed to a protectionist measure....I am sure you understand.

New playground

The boys are up to it again, and it is cute.  Man these kids are getting bigger and bigger, but Brenda and I were thinking just tonight that this year we will have been married 10 years.  It seems like it has not been that long and if those 10years went by so fast I can just imagine how the next ten will go.

Matthew continues to get bigger and stronger every day.  He kind of has a cold and raspy cough right now, but that will happen when your brother grabs your pacifier off the ground and shoves it into your mouth no matter where you are.

James was showing us how fast he was the other night running back and forth in the living room.  Not sure why he had the goggles, but he will need those when he gets a dirtbike in a couple years.

Matthew hanging out.

My wife must be the cruelest woman in the world.  I mean seriously, who would ever dress their boy up in this hat and let him go in public.  He looks like a little gnome.  Ok, it is kind of cute I guess.

He has really grown up and smiles at us all the time now, but seems to put it away when the camera comes out.  We finally got this one.

I think he really was interested in what I was saying about the motorcycles in the garage

 

Last fall we got a wood play structure for free from some friends that were moving out of town and the weather has finally got to a point where I can put it up, sand, and stain it.  That was more work that it would seem and my back is still reminding me that I am getting older and older.  If I feel like this at 32, I am in for a long long road ahead.

James had a great time exploring on it before I had a chance to stain it.

 

Mugging for the camera as always.

He like to peak out from around the corners and hide from you when he gets a chance.

Seriously cute kid

It is a pretty robust structure and can easily hold me and the kiddos.

Another pic before I get the rock wall handholds on, but with the swings up there was little to no chance of keeping the kids off the structure.

Brenda mowed the lawn last weekend with the boys.  They all loved it.

 

For Easter we thought we would try and go to a egg hunt at a local church.  We got to the field as they were saying go and we thought...ok, there will still be some left.  Little did we know that the hunt really only lasts 30 seconds and it is a free for all where kids lie shell-shocked on the ground wondering what just happened and parents are left opening eggs and creating candy mountains of greed.  I never thought you could get PTSD from a easter egg hunt, but I think I may have to go to the doctor soon if the nightmares don't end. The place was a bundle of chaos and the Guns and Roses music piped through the loudspeakers which really set the mood to celebrate Christ rising from the grave.  There was absolutely no indication that the event had anything to do with Christ or Easter.

 

Needless to say we are not ever...and I mean ever...going to one of those things again.  While we were there we asked each other "isn't this why we moved out of California?".

James did get to go in the petting Zoo  which consisted of 2 rabbits, a chicken, pony and a duck...there was only about 50 kids in line waiting to get in, but luckily we got in at the beginning and headed out of there

Dutch Dinner

Two weeks ago we had a chance to get Matthew dedicated while Paula was here.  It was a great day and reminds us of the great responsibility we have as parents.  Just when I thought I had skirted responsibility, I get it again. 

We also were able to get a few pictures since it was such a nice day.

We are anxiously awaiting spring and more of this weather.

Here and me and the boys hanging out.  James just had a bath and loves to run around the house after a bath.  He also really enjoys holding his brother.

Sometimes you just have to give in.  James really wanted to wear his ski goggle  at dinner and we had to give in.  We also got a video of it and it was very funny.

 

This weekend we got a chance to go to Manhattan MT to visit my parents and partake in the Dutch festival they have once a year there.  The dutch dancers reminded me of the days back in IL when I was a kid and danced at the festival we had there.  Nothing like getting a round of Klunt with a ladel of butter, and bacon grease to really bring you back to your roots.

They also had a benefit auction for the School.  It was fun to see and it seems like everyone likes my parents and have enjoyed them.  I know my parents are really enjoying Churchill.

Saturday we went to a ranch and James instantly wanted to get up into the tractor.  Someday I will have to get him out to job site and sit in an excavator...he will shake out of excitement.

My mother got a lot of good Grandma time.  She elected to stay at home with the grandchildren today and still was in her PJ's when we got home from church..  She could not get enough of holding Matthew.

James and I broke out my old lego's and brought back some very good memories.  I had a great time playing with them and think it will not be long until James get a bunch of his own to play with (so I can also play with them).

Matthew was smiling so much on this trip and my mother could get him to smile all of the time. 

James had a great trip and both the boys really travel quite well.  Those two kids crack me up every time I look at them and their cute smiles.

State Basketball

Another couple of weeks have passed and I have time to post so here it goes.

 

Brenda's sister Paula was able to come out here and visit.  It was nice to visit with her and Brenda's parents.  James and Matthew also enjoyed it.

 

We often have a chance to go for a walk around the block and feed Gus and Gladdy.

James is not scared at all and usually I would say that is a good thing, but I think he is going to get his finger chomped one of these days.

Here is my boy ready for a ride around the town.  Once he got up there he started making motor noises.  A father could not have been prouder.

Perfect riding position as expected.

James also has started to like wearing glasses and goggles.  He used to hate it and would not let you put anything on his head, but now about 50% of the time he likes it and has the biggest smile when he gets them on.

We also had a chance to go to the state basketball games in Spokane two weeks ago.  It was James's second time at state and he was really well behaved liking to watch the games, but kind of scared of the mascots.  He would not take his eyes off of them once he saw the Ram and the others.

 

State basketball was great and Sunnyside boys won the Championship with one of the team member setting a one game tournament record for blocked shots...11 of them.  It was a great game to watch and got a little tense at one point, but Sunnyside pulled through.

 

Matthews first time at state basketball and Paula held him the entire time we were there.  It was awesome of her to do so, but I was very thankful she is due with her baby boy soon, otherwise I would have been worried she would take Matthew with her.

It is never to early to start reading the BMW owners club magazine.

Matthew had a great time sleeping as always.  Kind of cute don't you think.

And then there is also time to be awake...

But mostly he liked to hang out with Paula.  She gave Brenda some needed time off.

Alas, Paula eventually did have to leave

Brothers hanging out on the couch. 

Our "friends" gave us this singing sock monkey.  It sings a song for about a minute and half and it just repeats over and over again.  Thanks.

This past week we had a chance to go to Sunnyside for some work and had some dinner with Laura and Ben.  We had a blast getting their kids all riled up and then left them.  Thanks!