Neighbor Day

So another month goes by and the summer is really in full swing.  It has not officially started till I take a vacation and since I got that out of the way I am now ready to kick back and relax.  I thought I would write a little and bring the blog up to backdate.  I say backdate because the last pictures are new to the blog, but about 6 days old at the time of posting.  Here are the highlights.

 

Noel had a birthday party and had a bunch of people over.  James had a great time and loves to hang out with her.

A couple weeks ago we had an afternoon storm run through and when that happens in the spring you get a chance to see some rainbows.  This one was right behind the house and it made an awesome sunset in the east as well as the west.

The sunset looked so good I had to get up on the roof and check it out.  That was a great time to get James on the roof for the first time.  He liked being up there and had a blast.  I assured him it has lost its luster when you are cleaning gutters of fixing shingles....but he will learn that later.

We had a campfire the other night and cooked some smores.  This was a chance for me to take my camera out and see what it could do.  I really like the functions of this new camera and found that taking pictures of fire is almost as mesmerizing as starring at a fire.

It is so nice to get Matthew up in the morning or after a nap.  He is a  very happy boy that like to snuggle and laugh almost immediately upon waking up.

This is a normal days activity and James would do it all day long if I could handle it.  Matthew loves to climb up on board as well, but when there are two on the back I have to take it easy for fear of having two heads collide.  You don't need to ask how I learned that lesson.

The local Felts Field had a neighbor day the other week and we got a chance to go a walk around a bunch of cool planes and watch a lot of takeoffs and landings.

James even got to sit in the Sheriff's helicopter.  He seemed a bit intimidated but Matthew was right at home.

James got a chance to sit in the pilots seat of the lifeflight plane and thought it was pretty cool.  I am guessing that the pre-flight check is a bit more thorough after a 3yr old has been in the cockpit turning every knob imaginable.

This is the real reason we go out for a  day in the sun.  All that walking a standing makes for a long nap in the late afternoon and that gives everyone a break.  When James is tired, he can fall asleep in about 3 minutes when he is put in the car.

Matthew is a close second for the speed sleeping, but is a winner for being able to sleep through anything.

It was Car d'Alene last weekend and we went out to see the cruise during the first night.  I like the cruise since you can hear the cars and you also get to see all of them while just standing there or sitting in a chair.  The boys are a lot of fun to take out and about and seem to be more and more fun to hang out with every day.  It helps that they are both so adorable and everyone tells me so when I am out in public.

Sewer hookup and James turns 3!!

Spring is finally here and Summer seems to be right at the door as well.  We are really enjoying getting out and about with the recent warming trend and nice weather.  I seems that every portion of the country you have to get used to the local weather personalities.  Here is Spokane they have been saying partly sunny with a 20% chance of rain for about two weeks now and we have not gotten anything.  Kind of depressing when you look at the 10 day outlook and there are clouds with some rain.  It almost always ends up being awesome weather.  If these same forecasters were over on the Seattle side of the mountains I think they may get shot because the weather we have been having is about as good as it gets over there and is plenty sunny for my taste.

It took a lot for me to get James into this helmet.  One year ago he did not even like to see me with the helmet on, but here he is on a rare day wearing in and laughing his head off.

With the spring and sun comes thee ever hated dandelions...and if you are me they move into your yard and bring their 30 million half step brothers to set up shop and call your grass their home.  James helps to pick them, or about 5 of them anyway.

We have yet to give Matthew a haircut and his curls are truly adorable.  Who would have thought a toothy smile could be so precious.

It is a great day when you can sit next to the sandbox and not have to actively play with your kid but can sit back and enjoy the imagination of a child.  He loaded his little matchbox truck with sand and drove it to the other side of the box and them dumped it and drove it back again.  I could only guess at what he was thinking and building.

This is a dangerous site for any parent.  A kid with a near empty bowl means he is still hungry, so what to do?  If you live in my house you take your child out of the high chair, shake them over the tray to ensure all the food stuck to their clothes and hair falls off back onto the tray, and put them pack in the highchair.  They now have seconds and usually plenty of food.

Hanging out on the front swing having a great time.

This year I got back from being out of town for a week just in time for Bloomsday.  We were in the stroller division which has a time limit for how fast they allow you to go.  You hear it right, if you go faster that 1hr and 40min over the 7 mile course you get disqualified.  Now that is a race I can agree with.  We took our time and had fun and ended up taking about 2hrs and 20minutes or something.

After the Race we went downtown and fed some ducks....well..we fed the ducks, and Matthew fed himself.  It must have been so hard sitting for the last 3 hours for poor little Matthew, he must have worked up an appetite.

Spring blossoms on the Asian pear tree.

 

Then came the day I was dreading.  I was scheduled to be out of town for a lot of time (which has since proven to not be the case), but I only had one week at home and a lot of stuff to do.  I have to connect to the dreaded Spokane sewer system because some money hungry politicians decided to build a huge sewer treatment plant and then after the fact found out they did not have enough people to pay for the bill.  Once they figured this out, they then decided to require rural people to first --pay for the sewer to get brought to there house (cha ching $7000), then--pay someone to connect them to the sewer system (cha ching usually about $3200 on the lowest end), and finally- pay a monthly sewer fee for the rest of eternity(cha ching $750/year).  Funny how they have to do relatively nothing except make decisions on how to make me spend my money.  My septic was working great and some desk jockey decided they needed more money and I needed to give it to them....awesome.

 

Being the cheapskate I was I had a couple of contractors out to bid on the connection from my house to the street.  Knowing what it would take to install the line and then looking at the bids I had the option to take it in the shorts, or do it myself.  I ended up deciding to do it myself and saved about $1700.00.  I ended up hiring a friend who just so happen to be in town and without gainful employment so it was nice to have a hand doing the work.

We only tapped the house twice and that was during backfilling.  We hit no irrigation lines and had the connection done it about 6hrs.

Backfilling the trench and grading the area to look up to my specs took about 8hrs or so.

James and Matthew each got a chance to run the big digger.  James' birthday is around the same time as a couple other friends so Brenda invited a bunch of people over last Wednesday and had a impromptu digger themed birthday party.  We were also supposed to be out of town for his birthday so we had to have a party sometime, and had a digger in the front yard, so why not.

Mudpie cake and digger...I was even jealous of James.

James, Noelle, and Liya had a great time.

Our friends Jim and Jan have been out of town for the last three weeks visiting the great parks and sites of southern Utah so when they got back we had them over.  They brought James some exciting presents...500 stickers among other things.  Apparently Jan also likes stickers.

Today is James's official birthday and he is now three.  We took the evening and headed out to Manito Park to have a picnic and see the Lilacs in bloom.  What kid does not want to do that on his birthday.

Matthew is such a cutie.

I try and remind James that life goes by so fast and he needs to stop and smell the flowers as he grows up.  Looking at this picture I need to remind myself of the same thing and that these two young boys are going to be growing into young men faster than I think they will.  James has been so fun to teach, learn from, and raise over the past 3 years that Brenda and I both count ourselves among the most blessed people in the world to be given the honor of raising them.  James, Mom and I both love you very much and pray that you grown to be a man who seeks God and is a witness for God in this world.  We know you are going to accomplish great things and cannot wait to see what He has in store for your precious life.

Happy Easter and JJ Heller

I had the chance last weekend to take some time on Saturday and head out on the bike and I was not going to miss the chance.  Off I went down towards Lewiston ID and the ever famed Spiral Highway.  This is a old highway that has 65 turns in 10 miles and climbs some 2000' in elevation.  Well, the highway was deserted and I had it all to myself.  It was so smooth and nice I almost got to drag the pegs on the GS and that is a feat in itself.  After 6hrs on the bike I was cured of the work week blues and was smiling from ear to ear.

There is nothing like getting out in the fresh air and sun to set you mind right.  I had a blast and have a great woman who lets me out of the house whenever I need it.

This is what a typical morning is like for me these days.  James wakes at about 6am and we both get up and sit at the island for a bowl of cereal.  He is such a card and I really don't mind getting up when I get to eat with him and have a good time.  Kids do grow up fast and I think it is nice to savor the times when they are this age, even if I would like to sleep in a bit.

Who would not like waking up to this every morning.

Easter had arrived and my Parents graciously accepted our invitation and drove all the way out for the weekend.

Saturday it was time for a Easter egg hunt.  We went to one of the local big churches last year and it was a nightmare.  I vowed never to go back to one of those again so that required us to have one at the house.  It is nice to have an event at the house where if anyone at it sees a kid not sharing or acting inappropriately, they can step in and  parent as appropriate.  All the kids were awesome and they had a blast. 

I finally got to christen the drink cooler and it worked out pretty well.

Look at that adorable face and tell me with a straight face that your heart is not melting.  Although Matthew was a little small for the event he did find a few of the eggs.

James did awesome.  He was so excited at the beginning.  He kept running between the eggs and dropping the egg he just had picked up on the way to the next spot.  It was so adorable it just makes me laugh and really love this time in his life.

Matthew finding the eggs of the girl who is on the jungle gym...it is a dirty trick, but when candy is at stake there is no rules to the game.

There were a lot of eggs and everyone had a great time.

James was running so fast in between eggs he fell a couple of times.  Priceless...unbelievably priceless.

Tell me that Matthew dragging the singing horse my parents bought him across the yard is not the most adorable thing on the earth and I will place your name next to the definition of a liar in the dictionary.

The playground was a favorite hiding place.  Unlike those big Easter egg hunts, we actually hid the eggs and made the kids search after them.  Now James wants to search for eggs every day.

James has been hitting milestones and this week is no different.  He has finally figured out how to pedal and is tearing around the neighborhood on his bike with the training wheels.  We are so very proud of this milestone and am glad we no long have to push him.  The pushing was getting hard on my back.

He is such a ham.

 

Thursday we had a chance to go to benefit concert and it was quite serendipitously that we got invited to go in the first place.  A friend of ours overheard Brenda talking about JJ Heller and wanting to see her but the concert was sold out.  They happen to be going and knew the guys who sponsored the table in the VIP section and got us a seat at the table.  We were quite honored to go and see the great singer.  I had not heard to much of JJ Heller, but it was awesome.  The venue was small and may not have had the best acoustics, but that does not matter when you are JJ Heller.  Her voice was really awesome and was actually better live then in any of her CD's.  We had a blast and Brenda got to meet her and talk to her (and her husband)for a few minutes after the concert.  If you don't know about her, look her sings up on youtube and take a look.  If you get a chance to see her in person go...you will not be disappointed.

Life on the Farm

It has been a time of off and on again down at the in-laws.  It is really nice that when I do have to work out of town I get to go with the kids and the wife to the in-laws and spend some time relaxing. 

Two weeks ago when we were down there the wind was quite strong and I thought that it was a good excuse to get a kite.  James liked flying kites in Sioux Falls last year so I thought it would be good to give it a go down here as well.  He did like flying the kite, but the wind was a bit strong for the kite and when it is like that, they tend to nose dive into the ground.

I was doing some work on a dairy and one day I had some time to kill so I got the kiddos and headed to the only local all organic dairy in the valley.  Here are the kids trying to figure out if they want to pet the cow or run for their lives.  Matthew opted for the former and James for the latter.

Here are the two kids in awe of the baby cows.  They had a great time and having their hands covered in cow poop did not matter to Matthew.  He still kept sucking his thumb.  It is good to get a little bacteria in you to jump start your immune system once in a while.  I am sure we should get him checked for ringworm though, just to be sure.

James loves bath time.  He is wondering why this creepy guy taking pictures of him though.  Squirting bath toys up the walls is always a favorite thing to do and then it tends to escalate into squirting daddy.  It generally degraded from there into me telling him to stop, him continuing to do it, and then discipline...the old familiar cycle of life.

Look at the awesome BMW...the possibilities are endless with this bike and I could ride for days on this thing without getting tired.

The Palouse is awesome to ride this time of year.  Empty roads, green hills, and plenty of sunshine has made this past week a banner spring riding week.

James is having a good time hitting the ball over the fence at our neighbors.  He then hands the bat and the tee over to Jack and then Jack hits it back.  This is what the generally do when the mean parents wont let them play together every second of the day.  James is actually pretty coordinated but is a one handed batter at this moment.

Is this a great shot or what.

Matthew loves climbing.  He climbs up ladders and the will go right down slides without any reservation.  His mother on the other hand is very nervous with good reason.  He has fallen off the top stair of the playhouse and we do not want that to happen again.  James usually keeps an eye on him and lets us know when he is in danger.  Matthew seems to have little to no fear.

Matthew has such a hard life...getting all the food you can eat can be so rough.  He has had a fever, teething issues, and a nasty cough so I actually do feel sorry for him.

On this past Sunday I was able to take the cafe racer out for a ride an she performed flawlessly.

For my first built motorcycle I think it went pretty well.  There are certainly some things I would do differently, but it runs and drives so that is all you really need.

Poetry in motion.

There are a lot of photo ops around Spokane and the hardest part of riding around here is trying to ride and not stop to take photos.