Wrapping Up

November and December passed in a flash, full of accomplishments, activities, and friends. Since I didn't keep up with individual blog posts, I'll have to try to wrap a few of the high points into one last big one for the year.

November brings the end of the harvest and this year the kids had a chance to ride in the combine with one of our farmer friends.

Thanks for the ride Clarence!

Anthony earned his black belt in Tae Kwon Do in November. The test was quite thorough, requiring the candidates to perform every punch and kick sequence that they had learned from the beginning of their training.

The belts were ordered and arrived a few weeks after the test, so the instructor presented them to all the new Black Belts during one of Anthony's last classes.

The training for higher ranks requires a much larger commitment than what we're wanting to give right now, so Anthony is finished with Tae Kwon Do for the foreseeable future after having accomplished a very significant and commendable goal. Good job Anthony!

The end of the year also brings winter concerts. All three boys were involved this year; Paxton singing enthusiastically with the first grade in his first concert ever, and the other two tooting their horns in a much improved sixth grade band and a very impressive eighth grade band, respectively.

Mom starting making bread. Again. She's still in somewhat of an experimentation phase, trying to get the right blend of sour and dough in the mix, but the results so far have been quite palatable. Paxton and Anya are of questionable assistance.

Thanksgiving dinner was spent in Decatur with a collection of good friends. Enormous amounts of food were consumed by all. Mostly by me.

Anya and Gwendolyn, busily crafting something before dinner. The two have grown to be pretty good buddies, and usually end up dressed in their princess outfits before the day is done.

After Thanksgiving we went to visit some of our good friends from Peoria. The Mommies went shopping. Everyone else decorated cookies. Especially Anya and Kiera.

Our Christmas break was very relaxed. We slept, played games and built Legos. Paxton is getting quite proficient.

Lots of reading was done by all.

And Paxton lost another tooth. His two top front teeth still haven't come in, so he's got a fantastic gap now.

So, another year under our belts. The kids are growing like weeds, our 'new' house is starting to feel like home after three and a half years, and work is going well. We have many wonderful friends. We're looking forward to 2015 and an abundance of new adventures.

Random Bursts of Excitement

I drove up to Chicago one Sunday afternoon in early November to see my brother who happened to be in town for business. He was in the middle of some meetings when I got to his hotel, but he'd sent me a text earlier to say he'd heard about some guy who was going to try to walk a high wire strung between a couple of skyscrapers close by, so I wandered out to take a look. Sure enough, there was the wire, strung across the Chicago river about fifty stories up.
Turns out the guy was Nik Wallenda, the famous tightrope walker from the famous high-flying Wallenda family, and that he was planning to walk the wire that very evening. On live TV of course. With no nets or safety harness. This could be exciting.
So I found a spot to hang out and wait as the streets filled up with curious onlookers, all craning their necks towards the thin little wire so high up in the sky and so dramatically lit against the gradually darkening sky.
In my blurry cell phone picture you can barely make out the cable attached between one of the Marina City towers on the left and another building across the river and across Wacker Drive on the right.

What you can't see in the picture are all the support cables that were strung back down to anchor points on the street to hold the main wire steady. It was quite an interesting setup.
The crowd in the street was pretty quite as we waited for something to happen. Every now and then someone would think they saw a figure look over the edge of the building or see some movement near one of the ends of the wire and a cheer would go up, but then fall silent again. Sam eventually got back from the conference center and joined me on the street.

Finally, unmistakably, Nik appeared on the wire, holding his balance pole and walking steadily towards the other side. He didn't pause, he didn't fool around, he just motored up the slight incline with measured, precise pace and an air of supreme confidence. (We learned later he was talking to the TV broadcasters as he walked)

When he got to the other side he hopped off the cable, then looked over the edge and waved to the crowd. Everyone cheered. Then we hurried back to the hotel to get warmed up.

Profoundfull

Overheard at the supper table the other evening:
"My favorite number of the alphabet is the triangle because it's so green!"
Sounds about right.

Humble Pie

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit cooped up and twitchy from not getting enough exercise so I pried Kenrick off the couch and we both went outside to run up and down our hill a couple of times. We jogged a lap around our property to get warmed up and then found a spot along the fence line where we could run up the slope towards the neighbors shop. Now, our hill isn't the steepest in the world, and our property really isn't all that wide, but I figured that if we sprinted the hill say, 10 times, we'd get a decent workout.
"We'll call every other start," I told Kenrick. "I'll be first. Readysetgo!" And off I sprinted.
"Hey!" he yelled, caught off guard, and sprinted after me.
I beat him up to the top.
That was the only time.
Did I mention that I haven't gotten enough exercise lately?
As I was staggering back down the hill after our fifth trip up, I exercised the Old Guy's Prerogative to Change The Rules and declared that 8 times would probably be sufficient to get a good workout.
The rest time between sets was increasing; "Ready. Huh, huh, huh, whooooo. Set. Huh, huh. Go!"
Kenrick seemed relatively unaffected. I'm suspecting he was playing with me on the last sprint - every time I'd start to catch him he'd bump the speed up just a bit to stay a step ahead.
Dizzy and weak, I stumbled back inside and sat down to take my shoes off. I can already tell that my hamstrings are going to be sore. And I'm starting to feel my lunch a little bit. Kenrick casually kicked his shoes off and flopped back down on the couch next to his brother to see what he was doing on the iPad.
I think we've got some ice cream in the freezer that would go well with Humble Pie.

Observing Anya

This evening Anya came bounding down the hall and into our room with something very important to tell us.

"Mom!" she said, "Chew vitamins and cheese tastes really weird together!"

"Huh?"

"It's true. Paxton put some on my head and I ate it!"

Explanation: Anya usually waits until all her food is gone before she eats her chew-able vitamins. Then she holds them in her cheek like a chipmunk until they finally dissolve or until I notice and make her chew them up. Tonight there was a couple of slices of cheese left over from supper and evidently Paxton got a hold of them. Naturally, the result of vitamin in cheek plus cheese hat courtesy of your big brother equals weird flavor observation.

Chicago's Shedd

A couple of weekends ago we took a quick trip up to the Chicago suburbs for some R & R - a couple nights in a hotel, some shopping, an interesting restaurant or two. And sleep. Mission accomplished.

We didn't really spend time in downtown Chicago, but did get a chance to go through Shedd Aquarium. It's been a few years since we last looked at the fishies, so it was fun to go again.

The dolphin and Beluga whale show was the highlight of the visit.

Anya had no interest whatsoever in touching the starfish.

The crew.

The girls, the lake, the iconic skyline, and a beautiful blue day. Perfect.

The Price of Gas

Today I got gas for $2.88 / gal. I haven't seen the price drop below $3 in a long time,.

At the risk of sounding like an old fogey, I have to say (in a creaky, grandpa voice) that "I remember when the price of gas broke $1 for the first time!" That happened in 1980-something, although according to the all-knowing Internet, if that price was adjust for inflation it would be more like $3.50. Sorry to pop your bubble, Grandpa.

When I mentioned this momentous occasion at the dinner table, Kenrick piped up and said "I don't think I've ever seen gas below $3!" Now I really do feel old.

Fall Camping at Mississippi Palisades

Last weekend we met a few hearty friends for some fall camping at Mississippi Palisades State Park in northwestern Illinois. Ten families in all - Pandemonium in the Palisades!

As you might suspect, the park is bordered by the Mississippi River and is dominated by the long line of steep cliffs, or palisades that run along its eastern bank. The view from the top is quite impressive.

Our camp site. The canopy and trailers in the background are in a big common area where we all hung out for meals and marshmallows.

The kids played hard, riding bikes, playing tag, waving glow sticks, and generally running amok. The boys even managed a relatively organized game of football.

Anya on her scooter. She thought it was cold. It wasn't.

Troy, Brad, and Troy burn some chicken and taters for supper. Needless to say we ate quite well.

My two favorite girls.

The whole crew on Sunday morning. The picture is a bit blurred because the photographer somehow forgot to set his camera back to auto focus. Oh well, we'll call it a privacy feature.

Sunset over the Mighty Mississippi.

Double Toothless

Last year at Thanksgiving time Paxton managed to run full speed into a doorknob. One of his front teeth has been slightly loose ever since. On Saturday it was finally time to give it the yank. Along with its neighbor. Now Paxton is double toothless.

Sixteenth Year of Pandemonium

Sixteen and one twelfth, to be precise, since we're a touch late with the official anniversary pic. Smile everyone! Kenrick, did you smile? It's not going to kill you. Seriously kid, where'd you come from anyway?

Visitante Minera Escondida

Early in July I took a business trip to northern Chile to visit a mine site and meet with some customers. It was quite a trip.

We flew into Santiago first, which is located roughly in the center of Chile, the tall, skinny country that borders the western side of South America. Santiago is nestled at the foot of the Andes mountains and the view from the airplane was spectacular.

Then we flew north for a couple of hours to the edge of the Atacama desert, to the city of Antofagasta which is squeezed between the ocean and mountains of dirt. Not so spectacular.

Antofagasta is a bustling city of over 200,000, mainly supported by mining and mine-related industry. I stayed in the Holiday Inn Express of all places and had a great view of the bay and the rocky waterfront. One of the most fascinating things to me about the area was that even though the city is right on the coast they get almost no rain. The desert literally starts at the surf line, with some places further inland not seeing measurable precipitation for over seven years. Amazing.

Here's what we went to see. The Escondida mine is one of the largest copper mines in the world and the hole in the ground is mind-boggling.

The requisite selfie.

On our last night there joined a group of our sales and marketing colleagues who happened to be in town for some other meetings and who were hosting a social event (supper) for a few mining customer higher-ups and our local dealer. I guess that means they were working. We engineers just sat back and enjoyed the food and tried to catch a few snatches of conversation, all of which was happening at full volume and in rapid-fire Spanish.

We ate at a fantastic steakhouse called Mu (pronounced Moo), which translates to "Yummy" in any language. The menu said "Solo para Expertos" (only for Experts), but I ordered the Bife Chorizo Angus anyway. Afterwards, I converted the metric weight of 750 grams to something a little more familiar: 26.5 ounces! No wonder I was stuffed.

What Happened to July?

Here's what happened:

1. I took a business trip to Antofagasta Chile
2. We tore the shingles off the roof and started putting new ones back on
3. Road trip to Idaho and Oregon
4. And back
5. Finished the another season of swim team. Go Marlins!
6. Finished putting shingles on the roof
7. Tomatoes in the garden!
8. And beans. And potatoes. And onions.
9. Another round of swim lessons
10. Lots of lawn mowing

Here's what didn't happen:

1. Blogging

I'll try to get caught up later...

Father's Day

Someone once said "The best things in life are free."

And, "The best lessons come from your children."

If they didn't say the second one, they should have.

Children aren't exactly free, but I think some of the best lessons in my experience have come free of charge from the four little chaos makers that I call my own.

I couldn't help but think this Sunday morning about our Heavenly Father wanting to be - and having the ability to be - very close to His children. That's something every good father wants, to be there for his kids when they need him, but as they grow we face the reality that we can't always be right beside them anymore. Hopefully I've got a few more years before mine are all out on their own; I was certainly glad to be able to celebrate another Father's Day with them all today.

Here's the crew.

We didn't do anything extraordinary today and that was fine. Andrea made some excellent potato salad for lunch and I grilled up a couple of fat T-bones. It doesn't get much better than that.

Then Anya and I read the paper and took a much-needed nap.

Later, Paxton and I went for a jog. That is, Paxton rode his bike as I shuffled along after him. I even attempted a selfie. Smile Paxton!

Finally, cinnamon rolls and smoothies for supper rounded out a wonderful day. I'm glad to be a Daddy. Now I need to go give my own dad a call...

TriShark 2014

My buddy Don, sometime in January: "Hey Rob, I just signed up for the TriShark triathlon in May!"

Sound's fun, I'll sign up too. Should help motivate me to get some exercise this spring.

Sometime in April: I really should get some running in. Haven't done much biking either. Wonder when the last time I swam was?

Sometime in May: Ooh boy, this might be interesting.

And so it is not without a certain amount of trepidation that Don and I stand at the door of our "support tent" on an otherwise beautiful morning on the last day of May, waiting for the start of the 2014 TriShark.

I did okay, considering the amount of training I didn't do. Survived the swim - my primary concern - actually getting out of the water ahead of a few guys in my age group. I'm in the green cap, right behind the guy in the pink cap coming up the ramp in the picture below.

The only time the spectators see the race at this event is during the start, finish, and transitions, so Andrea couldn't get too many action shots (or inaction shots, in my case).

The 20K bike leg is flat and fast, and I felt pretty good but the ol' legs were definitely starting to burn as I pulled into the last transition.

Heading out for the 5K shuffle. Happy because I've got a great cheering section. And because this is the last stage. Wow.

Don ended up a few minutes ahead of me. I finished only a couple of minutes slower than the last time I ran this race so I was pretty happy about that. It was a good day.

So, I heard about this one race later in the summer...

Anya Pics

What a cutie! Sometimes I wonder how I ever got so lucky.

On the beach in Pensacola.

The other day Anya vacuumed our whole bedroom floor. It didn't look much better after she was done.

Did I mention how cute she is?