Rob and the California George Family

The process of updating this blog has obviously been tough for me lately. I have so many other things drawing my attention that it's tough to get over here and post an update. I know that there are ways to get it done, but I don't want it to feel like work.

I got online today to check out my neighbor's blog. He retired recently and is heading out on a cross-country ride on his Harley. I saw him off this morning with his SUV and trailer with his two bikes. He will cross the country to his brother's house in Virginia and then start the motorcycle riding part of the trip. If anyone is interested, he plans to blog his trip at:
http://GonzoCrossUSA.blogspot.com
(If I am less lazy later, I will turn that into a hyperlink.)

On the personal front, things are well. I still have the same job. I am about to transition from one customer project in Canada to another customer project in Canada. That will carry me through at least the end of the year at which point I will have been working exclusively on international projects for 4 straight years (starting with my New Zealand and Sweden trips in Dec 2007)!

Bethany turns 18 years old today!!!! She is very excited about starting at San Diego State University at the end of this month. She will be living on campus, although we still have a few details to learn about that.

Hayley had to make up her 2nd semester of Geometry with a summer school class to improve her grade. From what she is telling us, she is doing a great job! She has her final tomorrow and it sounds like she is on track to get an A this time.

Honestly, I am not sure what all Andrew is up to lately. He still lives with my mom in Costa Mesa and spends a lot of time on his passion: music. He is doing some sort of self-employed web site design work now too, but I don't know many details around that. I think he is just finishing his first project now.

Thanks for letting me share again, even if it has been a while. Even if no one has time to read it, at least I got a little writing practice again!

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Hayley, School, Work

Since my posts last year...

I have been traveling back and forth to Canada (Toronto and Montreal) a lot for a customer. The project is continuing and I am about to head back again.

Andrew is working at "Prehistoric Pets" - a store in Fountain Valley that sells pets such as reptiles and arachnids. They also do birthday parties with said animals. He is also taking music classes to expand his musical skills. He still lives with my mom on Costa Mesa.

Bethany just decided to become an Aztec. This is breaking news. She will officially be at SDSU in late August, but the payments started last night.

Hayley keeps active with Club Volleyball, Girl Scouts, Sea Scouts, and of course school. So far she has been able to effectively manage all of these activities, but it keeps her (and us) very busy!

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Hayley, Work

We have had a definite summer mix of entropy and order in our household.

Entropy:
My work watch battery died. My casual watch band broke. The stores are always packed when I go to get them fixed, so I keep waiting for another time.

The Tivo that I got Celeste for Christmas didn't work as billed. It was not recording programs and was randomly resetting. We have gotten 3 replacement units to test (the latest seems to be working finally).

My cable modem stopped working together with cable TV. I could only get one or the other - in the middle of trying to test one of the replacement Tivo units!

The suburban needed new tires after we got a flat on a family outing.

The refrigerator was slowly dying, but gave us enough warning to go find a replacement.

The first replacement refrigerator had a leak in the freezer. It made beautiful ice sculptures, but that was not enough to offset our real need for a freezer.

The day that the first replacement refrigerator was delivered, our clothes washer decided that holding water was optional and dumped it all out on the floor. It gave us no warning, so we went appliance shopping again.

The second replacement refrigerator was obviously damaged, yet the retailer sent it to us anyway. The delivery guys were smart enough to show us the damage before unloading it.

The third replacement refrigerator and the new washer both arrived today. Both seem to work, but the delivery guys did some carving in the wood door jam to the kitchen as they moved the unit in.

I've missed some details, but that gives the general direction.

This is not a rant, but rather an observation that sometimes the bad luck cycles like to coincide. However, it's easy to forget the good things (i.e., the order) if you don't stop and think about it.

Order:
Bethany made it to Norway to visit Ina and family, stayed for more than 3 weeks, and returned as planned. Our webcam and cell phone communications allowed for daily contact as planned.

Bethany finished her Girl Scout Gold Award and we got to hold a nice party for her and her friend (they had "twin" projects at the same location) at the park where they did their project.

Celeste and I made it to our first no-kids getaway in almost 20 years last month. Hayley had a great time with Flying Van and family, Bethany was in Norway, and Andrew is still lives with Gramma in Costa Mesa.

Hayley has started summer Volleyball in preparation for trying out for the high school team. She is also moving into high school as a freshman and will join her sister at the same school for the first time in 5 years.

Hayley got a preview of being an only child while Bethany was away. It was good practice for when Bethany heads to college in a little over a year. She seemed to like it, although she did miss her sister.

Celeste and I had our first chance to see Andrew and his band perform recently here in Lake Forest. He has been working with them for a while, but it was the first venue that was close enough when the kids were busy for us to check it out together.

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Family, Hayley, Ina, Scouts, Vacation, Volleyball

Things have been very busy for me since the cruise. The week after the cruise I was in Montreal visiting my current customer. This was followed by a week of preparing for another prototype review for that customer. This week, I am in the Toronto area at another office for the same customer. However, I hope to find more time for blogging again.

Since it has been a while, this post will cover a lot of ground.

Andrew has been playing with a couple of bands and starting to make some money here and there. He is a lead singer and plays guitar and bass guitar. His band has had a couple of out-of-town trips with the most recent to Arizona where they played at a bar and Utah where they played at a wedding. Celeste had a chance to see him play at a local bar/restaurant near home while I stayed home with the girls.

Bethany has started the SAT/ACT testing process. You can definitely tell a motivated teenager when they are willing to PAY to get up early on a weekend and take a grueling test! She is especially looking forward to getting out of school. The day after her last final, Beth is off to Norway to visit Ina and her family for three weeks!

Hayley has continued playing volleyball. She moved up a level and has real coaching instead of just me now. Her skills have definitely improved with her specialties being serving and setting. Hayley is about to graduate from 8th grade and become a freshman at the high school.

Hayley and I went to see the latest Shrek movie last weekend while Bethany was taking her SAT Subject Tests. It was fair, but not as good as the first one IMHO.

Hayley continues to be my last hope for playing my board games. Bethany is not into them at all, Andrew will play some when he is around, and Celeste will only play a few. Hayley has really enjoyed quite a few of them and occasionally I pull out an old classic. The most recent classic was Battle Masters. This is close to minatures, but still on a game board. Granted the game board is around 4' by 5' and with lots of cool plastic pieces to move around (knights, orcs, archers, beastmen, etc.). We pulled aside the dining room table to have room to play and kept it around for the weekend. Lots of fun pulling out the old stuff!

As I write this, I am in the Toronto area for work. I am outside of town without a car since my hotel is across the parking lot from my customer. I can see downtown Toronto in the distance from my hotel room, but no time on this trip to visit. I've posted some pictures from there. Also, when I checked in they were out of regular non-smoking rooms. Rather than moving me to smoking (Yuck!), they upgraded me to a suite with a Jacuzzi and Sauna. Despite all of my trips to Finland, I have never tried a sauna. I did try out the Jacuzzi, so maybe I have to give the Sauna a try tonight. Maybe. I posted some pictures of that too.

I did take a nice walk last night and found a local geocache. I was disappointed to see the the geocoins that were supposed to be there were not. However, when I read the log today I see that a new geocoin was dropped off. If the rain stays away, I may go get that one.

My hotel is very near Pearson International Airport, so I can see planes in the final approach to landing from my room. The hotel is soundproofed nicely, so it is cool to watch. This is obviously a very international destination. Here are some of the airlines that I can remember seeing from my hotel this week:

* Air Canada
* Jazz
* Continental
* United
* American
* Korean Air
* LOT (Polish Flag Air Carrier)
* AlItalia
* Lufthansa

OK, that is enough for now. I'll try to post shorter blurbs more often for a while!

Here is the Toronto skyline as seen from my hotel window:

This is the jacuzzi and sauna in my hotel room:

Here is the jacuzzi in my room when I prepared it for use:

I found a geocache in that small tree behind me:

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Blogging, Family, Games, Geocaching, GPS, Hayley, Ina, Movies, Rob, School, Travel, Volleyball, Work

... shortly after 3am we became parents.

For those that have not seen him for a while, Andrew has become less of a man than he was. What I mean by this is that he has lost a lot of weight via a self-imposed combination of food control and lots and lots of bike riding. Way to go, Drew, and Happy Birthday!

This photo was taken almost three years ago. He and I took a "guys trip" to San Antonio to use up some airline passes that I had that were about to expire. We had some time to play on-line games with the free wireless internet at Phoenix Airport on our way home.


Here we are on the same trip at a webcam geocache in front of the Alamo. The rules were to show either thumbs up for "hook 'em horns" to get credit for the cache. I am on the phone talking to the girls at home who took the screen shot.

Labels: Andrew, Birthdays, Geocaching

Once again, work and life activites are keeping me busy. It shouldn't be that hard to write a few lines once in a while, but I obsess over my postings. Usually. Not this one. I will keep it free flow and let it go no matter what warts it may contain. My goal is to post something despite not having a lot of time. I am also not checking what I have written before, so apologies in advance if there is any repeat material here.

My customer in Sweden has gone live with our software. They have been using it for a few weeks now and so far, so good. There are still issues to resolve, but nothing that is stopping use of the software. This customer has operations around the world. The next step is planned to be Germany in September.

Last week I was in Finland working with another customer. They plan to go live with the software in January 2010. I have 2 more planned trips back to Finland during the process.

Hayley is in the middle of volleyball season. I had to miss our first game against another site last week. I understand that the team won 2 and lost 1 game. This is a co-ed league and not very competitive (no playoffs for example). However, the kids really like to win and try hard. My team is in the 11 - 15 age bracket. I happen to have all 7th grade girls. The one team that they lost to was mostly boys on the older side. From what I hear, they made a respectable effort against them (the score was something like 25 - 15).

Ina (our Norwegian exchange student) goes home next week Tuesday. This is before school gets out, but she is getting home early for a family function. She has finished her finals and is going through her last week of school. After school on Friday, we are going to a beachfront hotel in Oxnard to let her get one last California beach weekend. It has been a great experience having her here, but after this weekend we need to give our budget a break from all of the travel and activities!

Bethany is taking French as her language in school. She plans to take it all 4 years and is finishing her second year. She was invited to join a French student honor society and had the ceremony last week. I missed it due to being in Finland. I really, really don't like to miss things like that, but had no choice this time. At least I take solace in knowing that I attend way more than most dads (based on my experience when I do attend). My job requires a lot of hours, but it gives me a lot of flexibility most of the time to attend events like this.

Andrew has gone back to school and is almost done with his first semester. He seems to be more serious this time around and in some of our conversations has recognized that he has lost a lot of time. On the other hand, he has gotten some real life experiences. He still performs a lot: singing, guitar, some keyboard. He has had a chance to play in a few for-pay shows which is good experience. However, they have been places that are not "family friendly" so far. We really want to see him perform sometime, but need to wait for a venue that he thinks will be ok for the girls to attend.

Damn. I couldn't resist. I just went to paragraph 1 and made a correction. I caught myself and stopped before doing any more. It's like an addiction!

OK, back to work. I think I spent about 10 minutes typing this up, although I really didn't time myself. In any case, it was significantly less than I usually spend!

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Family, Hayley, Ina, Work

We got home from vacation which went very well. I'll have to post more about that another time.

Back at home, work is very busy. My customer in Sweden is in the process of going live on our software. That means very long work hours at unusual times right now. However, it should be behind me by the middle of next week.

I'm still finding time for family even with the work. Last night I took Andrew, Ina, and Hayley to an Angels Baseball game. The Angels lost, but it was still an exciting game. Lots of hits and the score kept going back and forth. Unfortunately, the Angels were on the "back" side at the end of the game.

Tomorrow we are taking Bethany and her Girl Scout troop on another college visit (have I written about that? Need to check.). We are driving up to UC Santa Barbara. Between the drive and the on-campus time it will be a very long day. The girls need lots of hours to apply to their Gold Awards, so that is a good thing. However, it also means a Friday away from my projects so I have to figure out how to keep everyone busy when I have very little way to communicate with them.

Volleyball season started last week. Hayley is doing it, but Bethany has gotten to old for the league. I am coaching Hayley's team again. They picked their team name: Fergilicious (need to confirm that spelling). I told them that it could not be a dull name and it had to be family-friendly. Beyond that, it was a team vote. The name Caliente Loco (Crazy Hot) came in a close second.

I'll close with a couple of pictures of Hayley from the end of our vacation. We are at my aunt's house. The house is by a private runway and has a hangar attached to it. For car fans, you can appreciate this. My aunt has owned a Shelby Cobra since 1972. It is in great shape and is often taken to car shows. For those that are not car fans, this is a very expensive car by a renowned designer and is personally signed by that designer (see the "glove compartment" area in the photo showing the dash). The girls had fun taking photos in the car and in the (not seen in this photo) airplane that is also in this hangar.




(by request) ... and now you're all caught up!

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Hayley, Ina, School, Scouts, Vacation, Volleyball, Work

While Andrew was in Boy Scouts, one of the things that I did was Map & Compass training. I did this about once per year mainly to cover some basic requirements at the earlier ranks. However, I did some more advanced training from time-to-time as well. I expanded this and covered Girl Scout requirements a couple of times too. However, right about the time that I organized it into a document laying out the details, the demand went away.

A few months ago, the troop tried to contact Andrew to help them with some Map and Compass training. Since Andrew is now living in Costa Mesa, has no car, and keeps himself very busy with other activities, he was not able to help. However, since I had the materials ready I signed up.

Last Saturday I did the class. I met the scouts at Riley Regional Park at 8am and kept them until a little after noon. We covered how to use a compass, how to read a map, and some other basic skills. I then gave each of them a topographical map of the park and had them trace a hike and profile the elevation changes. Finally, we used the map and compass to take a 1 mile hike.

They were a rowdy bunch: 17 boys in the 11 - 13 age range. Some of them really got into it, others were not interested at all. Pretty typical of past groups that I have trained (although a few more kids than I usually include). The leaders were really appreciative and I enjoyed getting the chance to use my materials again (and get out on a very nice day).

For the record, the Scouts completed these requirements:
* Demonstrate how a compass works and how to orient a map. Explain what map symbols mean.
* Demonstrate how to find directions during the day and at night without using a compass.
* Using a compass, complete an orienteering course that covers at least one mile and requires measuring the height and/or width of designated items (tree, tower, canyon, ditch, etc.)

The requirements have changed slightly from when I developed the course. However, I still cover the new requirements. This could be done in much less time than I spend, but I want to give them a chance to try out their skills and really learn it. Most of them will promptly forget everything, but for some it will stick. Maybe some basic land navigation will come in handy for some of them someday!

Labels: Andrew, Rob, Scouts

As Lee pointed out, I have another large gap in my blog. Rather than waiting to get pictures, here is a summary of some things that have happened since I returned from Finland.

- Uneventful trip back home - as it should be! No serious delays, the entertainment system worked on the plane, and I had an aisle seat instead of the middle seat for the London - LAX flight!

- Celeste's Suburban needed some major repairs. We are not ready to downsize the car due to school and Girl Scout transportation requirements, and we are not ready to purchase another large vehicle. So we fixed it.

- Joined Hayley with her Sea Scout ship (the one she will officially join when she is 14) in the Newport Harbor 100th annivesary boat parade. The boat had problems, so we dropped out of the parade early. However, that let us watch the parade close up from the deck.

- My brother and his family (the "Colorado George Family") arrived for their Christmas visit. They stayed with my mom for a week before visiting the other family in San Diego.

- Semi-annual teeth cleaning and check for Celeste & I. All is well.

- For the second year, I got a work break around the holidays. This year, the company closed down (with pay) from Dec 24 to Jan 2.

- The girls (Celeste, Ina, Bethany, Hayley) and I visited Knott's Berry Farm with the Colorado Georges, my mom, Andrew, and Ina.

- Christmas celebration with Colorado George family, my mom, Celeste's mom, Andrew, and the family at home (including Ina) on Christmas Eve.

- Christmas Day celebration with Andrew, Celeste's mom, the the family at home. Ina was somewhat homesick, but she got a lot of gifts from both the Norway family and her American family. She made Celeste cry on Christmas Day (in a good way, that is a story for another day). We went to see the movie Marley & Me which was very different than the ads led you to expect. We generally liked it. Andrew claims that the movie made me cry. He can't prove anything.

- Celeste, Bethany, and Ina went out for day-after-Christmas sales with Celeste's mom. Hayley and I stayed home to play games together. Hayley and I were lured into having lunch with everyone at the new Ruby's that opened at the Irvine Spectrum and then we joined them for a little bit more shopping.

- Celeste, Ina, Bethany, Hayley, and I went to visit Hollywood for a day. We stalked some movie stars homes and then visited the area around Hollywood & Highland. This turned out to be one of the highlights of Ina's visit to America due to the brush with fame and lots of photo opportunities.

- New Years Eve was pretty low key. Bethany went to a dance at a local church with some friends and had a great time. We played some cards with another family at home. We popped some streamers at midnight and then I picked up Bethany and a few of her friends from the dance.

- New Years Day was an outing day, but it was cool and foggy. Celeste, Ina, Bethany, Hayley, Rachael (Bethany's friend), and I went to Corona Del Mar State Beach ("Big Corona") to let the girls play and take pictures on the rocks and jetty. I think that the last time that I was at this beach was with Shoo and Lee when we used to meet there by taking the Route 57 OCTD bus from each end (Lee and I from Costa Mesa, Shoo from El Toro). We stayed about 2 hours and left when we decided that the fog was not going to clear. We went to see the movie Bedtime Stories which got mixed reviews from the family. Andrew was not there to accuse me of unmanly emotions.

- Hayley and I have been playing the Xbox game Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliances together. We spend and hour here and an hour there. At one point we lost our save and had to start over. However, we finally finished it. It was a fun experience and I am proud to be raising a Gamer Grrl! Now I need to find a cheap copy of the sequel so that we can take the next step.

- Jan 5 was back to school and back to work. A general sense of dread was felt by all at the loss of freedom.

OK, now I need to go find some pictures to better document some of the events listed above. I will not wait 24 days for that.

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Family, Hayley, Ina

Last week, Andrew turned 21 years old. To put that into perspective, Celeste was 21 years old when we got married. I was 24 years old. Life is taking a much different direction for Drew, but it is a path that he seems happy with.

Another difference - it took me a while to take advantage of my 21 year old new rights. Lee called me a couple of months later and said, "Hey, you're 21 now right?" With my positive reply, we agreed to go to a bar since we could. Of course, neither of us were drinkers so we each had a Coke. But it was in a bar where we were carded to get in! I got the gambling in fairly quickly. I think it was a few weeks after turning 21 that my parents took me to Las Vegas for a weekend.

For Andrew, his friends got him to a bar and got him his first drink at the stroke of midnight on his birthday. Beyond that, we had the grandmothers conspire with us regarding the gambling. We needed to know that he did not have other plans and the grandmothers wanted to give him a chance to try out some legal gambling. It worked out great.

The surprise party was a success. After an afternoon at one of the Indian Casinos, the grandmothers were bringing Andrew home. My mom told him that she needed to drop something off at our house (and she actually had a bag to give to us). Andrew was completely surprised. We had a small, but vocal group of people over to celebrate his birthday. Andrew was definitely caught off guard!

Labels: Andrew, Birthdays

When Andrew was young, he really enjoyed it when The Music Truck drove through the neighborhood. You know that truck that drives around during the summer and plays music as it goes through the neighborhood? What a nice person!

Then when Andrew was around 5 years old Gramma blew it and bought him an ice cream from that truck.

Labels: Andrew, Family

One day Andrew came home from preschool and told us that he learned about "Founder". We were confused. Founder of our country? Founder of what? He was having trouble finding the right words to explain. Then inspiration hit him.

He held up both hands, fingers spread, arms apart. He slowly brought them together so that the fingers from both hands intertwined.

"When the warm air and the cold air come together they make founder!"

Labels: Andrew, Family

Yesterday, Andrew George turned 20 years old. There is now one less teenager in the world.

Andrew was born the same day that 18 month old "Baby Jessica" was saved from a well that she fell into in Texas. I remember writing in the "headlines on the day you were born" section of his baby book. Not many of us have an event on our day of birth that is reviewed 20 years later.

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Labels: Andrew, Birthdays

For anyone that didn't already know, my son Andrew is a professional mage! OK, he is not so much the "fireball" kind of mage as he is the "pick a card, any card" kind of mage. Nevertheless, he gets paid to do magic.

He currently works at Houdini's Magic in a kiosk at Disneyland's Downtown Disney district. He has to wear a tux and he helps with the performances that the store puts on every 10 to 15 minutes. He has even received a number of cash tips for some of his performances.

Andrew is a performer at heart. Whether it is drama, guitar, improv comedy, or magic, he has a fun time. It's great that he has found something to get paid for that he really likes.

P.S. The picture at the right is Andrew in a costume similar to what he wears at work. I don't have a picture of him at work though. This picture is from a performance where he played Dr. Watson (of Sherlock Holmes fame).

Labels: Andrew, Disneyland, Mage

One of the traits that Andrew picked up me is that he likes to argue. This has taught me that it is not as fun to be on the receiving side. This comes so natural to Drew that he does it in his sleep. Last week was a perfect example.

I woke up around 2:45am and went into the hall. I noticed a glow coming from Drew's bedroom. He will often setup his laptop by his bed and watch movies, so I figured that he was up doing that. I went in his room to check and he was asleep with the computer open and turned on beside him on the nightstand.

Me: "Drew, turn off your computer."
Drew (half sitting up, half awake at best): "What?"
Me: "Turn off your computer."
Drew: "My computer's not on."
Me: "Your computer, beside you, turn it off."
Drew: "That's not my computer."
Me: "Your computer is on, right there beside you, turn it off!"
Drew: "My computer's not on."
Me: "That glowing thing beside you - TURN IT OFF!"

Drew shuts the top of his laptop and sits up at this point -- but still maybe half awake.

Drew: "That's not my computer."
Me: "Lay down and go back to sleep."
Drew: "That's not my computer. My computer's not on."
Me: "Lay down and go to sleep."

Drew lays down, I leave the room. Drew has no recollection of the incident in the morning, although he does still claim ownership of the laptop computer that was on the nightstand.

Note: I would have walked over the shut the computer myself, but that would be taking my life into my hands in the dark. The floor of his bedroom is what Drew considers to be fair game for storage and what his mother and I consider a hazard zone. Besides, I was having too much fun trying to figure out exactly what he thought that glowing thing beside him was and who it belonged to.

Labels: Andrew, Arguing

When Andrew was learning to talk, I had a lot of fun conditioning him to respond to certain questions. For anyone who is interested, he is 19 now and none of it has stuck. However, one of my favorites was his response to "Hey Drew, what time is it?" He actually conditioned himself on this one. For some reason his response was always "Five O'Clock!" (the exclamation point was for his emphasis -- he REALLY like saying this time).

While this was going on, I often took Drew along to gatherings (usually for an AD&D game) with my friends. One such time we met at Lee and Tina's condo in Long Beach for a late afternoon / evening game. I was playing around with Drew and asked him the "what time is it" question. Coincidentally, it was within a few minutes of 5:00pm. The realization of this didn't come to me until someone (seems like it was Froggy) made an amazed comment about how Drew could read time already. I think the quote was an astonished, "What did he just say?!?!?"

I had some 'splaining to do. The group got a good laugh out of that one.

Labels: Andrew, Family

I had a couple of frequent flyer tickets that were about to expire in Southwest Airlines, so the boy and I took an extended "boys night out" trip to San Antonio, TX. Why there?

1. Somewhere far enough that we can't easily drive there but close enough to not have to fly all day.

2. Somewhere not too cold.

3. Somewhere with a lot to do in a small area so we don't have to rent a car.

4. My only other time in San Antonio was disappointing since I only saw the airport, the hotel, and the client's office.

San Antonio has a nice downtown transit system and a lot to see along the way. We left Monday and returned on Wednesday. While there, we took a boat tour on the Riverwalk, visited a comedy club twice, went up the Tower of the Americas twice (once in daylight, once at night), hit one "webcam" geocache and one traditional geocache, ate at a highly recommended Mexican restaurant, and of course visited the Alamo. We also had high speed wireless service at the hotel, so we were still able to catch up with the usual gang for the Tuesday night World of Warcraft session.

Labels: Andrew, Family, Rob, Vacation

Andrew's 19th birthday came and went in October. He has reached that age where birthdays are not the big deal that they were when you were a kid. We had a good blow-out party for his 18th birthday. For his 19th birthday we had a family get together (including grandmas and aunts) for a nice dinner out, but it was otherwise quiet.

Hayley, on the other hand, turns 11 today. We stop the big parties at age 10, but she is having some friends spend the night. Tomorrow will feature mini golfing at Boomers in Irvine(http://www.boomersparks.com/park/irvine/mgolf.html) and sharing our new fun hobby of geocaching with her friends. We are on the hunt for a cache that had us stumped, but we have it figured out now (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=9108c28d-9292-4835-ac4a-47b048670d76). I forget what we have on the schedule for Saturday, but I'm sure it will be something else fun. This is in addition to a family dinner with grandmas, etc. that we had last weekend.

Overall, I think turning 11 is better than turning 19 in terms of birthday fun.

Labels: Andrew, Birthdays, Family, Hayley

Last Sunday, September 2nd, was Andrew's Eagle Court of Honor. We and 4 other scout families from the troop held the event at the local church where we meet. There were around 250 people there. While some parts of the day took longer than expected, overall we were done within the expected timeframe (2pm to 6pm). Our troop is great about volunteering to help out and this event was no different. The decor was fun and the dinner of Italian food from Peppinos (a local restaurant chain) was tasty.

The 5 boys made the decisions about this event -- often to the chagrin of their moms. The main theme was Hawaiian/Luau. However, the food was Italian. To top off the cultural melting pot, they were escorted into the room by one of the Eagle fathers playing bagpipes. Personally, I thought that it was very cool both in general and that they went with what they liked rather than what their moms wanted.

We were happy to finally present Drew with the gifts we had assembled. This included a flag flown over the US Capitol in a case with engraved glass, a box of Heroclix sent by WizKids games, various gift certificates from various companies, a book of letters from various dignitaries ranging from President George W to Jack (as in "in-the-box"), organizations ranging from the FBI to Jester'z Comedy Troupe in Arizona, etc. I was particularly happy with a few of the personalized letters which included friends (thanks Uncle Shoo!), local radio personalities Mark & Brian, and Microsoft VP Doug Burgum. Through a connection with some friends, Andrew also received an invitation for a personal tour of the Dreamworks Studio. All-in-all a nice haul to celebrate his achievement.

The mailing for the book of letters was my main job. Putting a scrapbook together with the letters and photos was a family event, but mainly the work of my creative wife. We have almost 200 pages of letters, certificates, photos, etc.

The ultimate item in my mind was a quilt that made by Celeste & one of the other Eagle moms (they each made one similar, but slightly different). The quilt depicts an Eagle in flight with a fish in the talons and a river, trees, hills, and rocks in the background. This was a 2 year effort and it came out AWESOME! When I have some time, I'll post pictures.

In case I haven't said it clearly before, we were very proud of Andrew and this event was a great way to acknowledge it.

P.S. From those of you who know Andrew and did not get a request from me to write him a letter, consider this that request. We are still updating the book since more letters are trickling in even after around 5 months. The personal letters are something that we have not seen with Eagle Scouts, but seemed to be one of Andrew's favorite parts of the book. Those of you that this applies to should know how to reach me by email, phone, or snail mail already.

Labels: Andrew, Family, Scouts

I have been at customer sites almost constantly this month, so I have not had much free time. Here are a few brief notes about this month.

Last weekend we had a BBQ to celebrate Andrew's high school graduation. This was held just in time since he started school yesterday. He is attending Fullerton College because he likes their theatre program.

We registered Bethany for 8th grade today. She got the picture taken, paperwork turned in, and her tentative class schedule.

Hayley starts our family's first organized sport soon: Volleyball. We had an orientation meeting last weekend. I will be helping as an asst. coach and first aid provider -- at least when I can be there.

Right now I am in a hotel room in Valencia, CA. The girls (mom and 2 girls) decided to come up with me, so I am typing this very quietly to not wake them up. :-)

OK, there is SOMETHING posted at least!!!

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Family, Hayley, Work