David's exciting week

David turned 8 on Nov. 19th. He was baptized on Dec. 5. (Thank you to everyone who braved the snowy conditions!)

At his birthday party we had pizza, cake and crafts ready for everyone. Also added to the birthday fun was playing in the snow and basement hockey. (Of course)

On friday, David's hockey team and families went to a Caps game. His team were the 'Mites on Ice" after the first period. (David's hockey age group are called mites) Here they all are, amped up and ready to play.

David ready to go... (Photo by Shawn)

Here is a short clip of them skating...(sorry for my loudness)

the kid shooting from his knee at the end of the clip is David...(video also by Shawn)

Star Gazing...

In College I was able to score front row seats for a Bryan Adams Concert. I LOVE LOVE LOVED Bryan Adams! My tall friend put me on his shoulders and I found myself face to face with my idol! I started feeling weird being face to face with him, and then Bryan Adams stuck a pick in my hand and had me strum his guitar mid performance! EVERYONE at the concert could see me! I FREAKED out and started slapping my friends head saying "put me down! put me down!!" I am by no means shy, but I guess when the spotlight is big enough, I get very uncomfortable! So much so that I have learned to keep a safe distance from anyone who might have a big spotlight near them, and I tend to actually feel sorry for them versus being star struck.

Turns out, my kids are not easily star struck either, but for an entirely different reason. They seem to have a healthy understanding that famous people are just like them, only more well known. I have tried to take my kids to meet people who they enjoy. I took Melissa to meet the Jonas Brothers, and when I started taking her close to the stage, her response was.. "Mom, it's their music I like, not them." All my kids seem to share that sentiment towards famous people, 'it's their talent that I enjoy, not them'

I was so excited for David this weekend when a friend of his invited him to go to the Washington Capital's Convention. I knew David would get to meet some of his hockey idols! The summary I got from the mom about the event was about who was there and what the boys said and did with them! She got several photos of the boys with different players doing different things. David's summary was quite a bit different, He mentioned that he got to be goalie, that he got to take some slap shots, that he played hockey with his buddy, that he even got to buy a puck and a stick with his lunch money, but no where in his summary did David mention the fact that he had played 'hockey' with some of the *Caps* players! I was more excited about that than he was!

David and his teammate, Tommy, getting a picture with Alexander Semin.

Yesterday we took the boys to the caps practice rink. I think it is so cool that we can get David up so close and personal with his favorite sports stars.



Here Greg is eyeing the players...

Outside David got to meet several of the players, including the great 8, Alex Ovechkin!

David continued getting signatures of all the players on his caps sweatshirt. You can see that the players had to find space because some crazy kid had already signed his own name so big! (We also met the Caps owner, Ted Lionsis, as he was walking in. David responded to him by walking away saying "he isn't a player, I don't want his signature." Then later he commented that he at least should have met Ted Lionsis because he could have asked for a position on the Cap's roster! Oh the confidence of kids should be bottled up and sold!)

Since David love love loves the Capitals, (and HATE HATE HATES the Pittsburgh Penguins!) he gave Greg a special job yesterday...Greg had to wear the "Ovechkin" jersey and get it signed by Ovechkin. Greg was successful ! David was so pleased with his success that Greg celebrated by going up to fellow Capital Chris Borque and had him sign the Ovechkin jersey as well! David was no longer pleased with his little brother and in front of Chris Bourque he said, "Greg, I only wanted Ovechkin's name on that jersey!!" **In other News: Chris Bourque was just picked up by the Penguins. (Thats right, the only two signatures on David's beloved Ovechkin jersey are Ovechkin's, and now the much hated Pittsburgh Penguin's Chris Bourque!)(I think Greg is now on the "my little brother sucks" list)

America the Beautiful...pt. 4

For those who are sick of this series, only one more post after this one! For everyone else, Here is some more really cool stuff!

Next Stop: Hoover Dam

After our van was singled out and checked by the security detail for the dam, we were cleared and allowed to proceed. (Unlike my security check to get onto Liberty Island, this time I did not have contraband such as scissors, spoons and a suspicious container with a "suspicious substance" (wadded up gum from 10 kids)... this security check was quick and easy)



They are building a new bridge to divert traffic off of Hoover Dam. Here is the progress on the bridge...

Next Stop: Las Vegas

With hotel rooms the same price as campsites, we stayed one night in Las Vegas. (Who could turn down seven showers, air conditioning, comfortable beds, and a 28th floor view for 35 bucks?!)

We saw lots of things (and tried not to see lots more), In addition to all the interesting hotels, we took the kids to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden at the Mirage...It was so neat to get so up close and personal with the animals...except this guy, I didn't like the way he looked at me



The dolphin trainers happen to be out playing with the Dolphins! It was so neat to see them so closely

Next Stop: Sequoia National Park

They warned us to keep all food and beverages locked in our bear locker at our campsite, not wanting to temp fate, I unloaded EVERYTHING and put it in the locker. Our neighbors were not so vigilant and a bear came right up and began eating their food! Dale was a super hero, while I grabbed my fajita pan and began banging on it to chase the bear away, Dale was standing guard in the meadow near our kids tent to keep it away. (The kids smelling of candy, chips and fajitas freaked me out a bit) Not taking comfort in the fact that my kid's tent was on the perimeter of a meadow, the point of entry for the bears, and that they smelled so tasty, we opted to put them in the Van for the night. I opted for the safety of the van as well...Dale's choice: a bad nights sleep cramped in the van, or a good nights sleep chancing a bear encounter...guess which he chose? (He is a Kelley, a good night's sleep trumps about everything else in life)

Sequoia Dale and Shawn checking out a "tree"...They said that a 6 foot tall man standing at the base of that tree is equivalent to a mouse standing at the base of a six foot tall man...made me think, "Why the heck am I so scared of the dumb things?!?" Warning to all mice, Winter is coming, stay out of my house, or it is ON

All things are huge in Sequoia, check out this pine cone! It is the cone of a Sugar Pine tree, the largest species of pine.

Trees big enough that my whole family can fit!!

"Huge"


Next Stop: Yosemite National Park

Look closely, this picture has three of Yosemite's sites, El Capitan (the flat faced rock), Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls.



Next Stop: San Francisco

I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do in San Francisco: Park on Hyde St., get an all day pass for the trolley, get off at fisherman's wharf, China Town and Nob Hill, have lunch somewhere and then drive over the Golden Gate Bridge on our way out. But I could see from the very beginning that this would be bad Karma day. Having an oversized vehicle left us with three parking options, A. leave it in a lot and give the guy our keys: no way, we had computers and extra wallets and all kinds of goodies to get into, B. pay 48 dollars a day parking: NOT EVER could I do this or C. park our "commercial" vehicle next to a commercial meter with a one hour time limit...we chose C. I ran back and fed the meter, so we got 2 hours out of it. We walked up several streets, saw Trolleys, walked past China Town and got a little taste of San Francisco.


Next Stop: Pacific Ocean

Coming from the East, when we say ocean our kids envision boogy boards, hot sun and soft cool breezes....When we said Pacific Ocean they, and I, envisioned all the same things. Despite Dale trying to warn me, I was still suprised by the freezing water, the whipping, cold breezes and no swimmers. I guess it's similar to beaches in New England. Still inspiring, but not exactly recreational.





Next Stop: Salt Lake City

We were so blessed to stay with Dale's cousin for three days in West Jordan, Utah. We had a list of things to see,including the Kennecott Copper mine, 'This is the Place' Heritage Park, the Conference Center, Temple Square, and Snowbird. The kids were excited to see it all, but I think they would have been completely satisfied to play with their second cousins the whole weekend. Greg asked all day long "when is it time to go back to their house and play?",Despite not really knowing each other, they hit it off right away. It was so great!

Alex looking at a painting in the Conference Center

We climbed to the top of Snowbird...with the help of a tram.

Our kids with their second cousins

In and around St. George...

Next Stop:
St. George, Utah

We couldn't travel West without making sure to see the other woman in Dale's life, his 94 year old Grandma. A lucky coincidence for us was that Dale's mom and Dad would be staying at Grandma's with us. Grandma Kelley has lived in St. George, Utah for over 16 years. She has had a very interesting life and despite being 94, can remember things in her life with a clarity that this 35 year old doesn't have. For as long as I have known Dale, I have known that his grandma is his 'girl' (Melissa has become his other 'girl'). He adores his Grandma, and she him. I have benefitted not only from Grandma's life experiences, but I have benefitted from Grandma's affection for her grandson. To say she is very important to me would understate my feelings. You can see her great influence in my children as well. We stayed three days with her, and my kids didn't want to leave. They looked forward to seeing her more than anything, and they were the most upset to leave her. We were so blessed to be able to take her with us when we visited several places around St. George, including two National Parks. Her love and knowledge of National Parks goes back to the 1920's when she worked 6 summers at Yellowstone. I cannot say how many times she has been to National Parks. She mentioned to me that she had been to Zion National Park over 100 times.

My love of National Parks has been influenced by many things, but Grandma is a big part of that. When Shawn was a baby, I stayed with her and now deceased Grandpa. Dale's Grandpa was ill, and could not get about very easily, but Grandma wanted me to see the Grand Canyon, so she drove me over 8 hours round trip to see it. She didn't even get out of the car! She felt it was so important that I should get to see it, even if only for 15 minutes, while she waited in the car.



Dale and his other woman...


St. George sunset....

Snow Canyon

On our way to Gunlock Resevoir, Grandma had been showing us damage from the 2005 Virgin/ Santa Clara River floods, so I was very suprised to see how low the water level was. We were walking in sludge to get to the water, and then trying to get out of the sludge once in the water!

The kids playing chicken with Grandpa

Alex is sculpting "Man in the Mountain" monument, and Greg is "putting sunblock on the rock so it doesn't get a sunburn"

At the Cemetary:

Zion National Park

Looking up at "weeping rock"

Learning that Cacti are NOT fun to touch:

Bryce Canyon:

Grandma with what she calls her "treasures"

Toolbelt Tammy

There is one thing wrong in each of the photos below...try and guess what it is , then scroll down for the answer.

Clearly the "wrong" is that I am fixing a pipe while Dale is doing the laundry! Sometimes he and I don't follow along domestic lines.

Ever since we have been married, our homes have provided us plenty of oppurtunity to learn how to repair things. Especially the first home we bought, it was a complete mess, and we had to repair/renovate just about every square inch of it!

Nowadays, if there is a problem, most of the time I can fix it. (calling in the muscle when I need him). I have a tool box, and purchase new tools if I think I need it. I have been known to don a toolbelt on occassion, helping Dale to dub me "Toolbelt Diva" ...

When we bought this home, we inherited a pool. I think my previous experience as a life guard, and being 'the mom' put the pool maintenance responsibilities in my hands.

In the three summers we have been here, I have talked with other pool owners, utilized the experts at the pool store, read everything about my pool that I possibly could. Despite all that I have done to try and keep it up and running, I have had many different issues to tackle, and have been so proud when I successfully fixed each one. One problem kept eluding me. I could not get my #1 skimmer working properly, ever! It was bad when we moved in. I snaked it endlessly, I pulled pipes apart from the pump end to snake it from there, I used an air compressor, I cycled the pump on and off and had two people look at it for me. And then waited a summer and did all that again! I have never failed so miserably on a problem. Out of frustration, unnsurity of the real problem and nervous of the expense of calling someone to fix it (one guy said he would charge 8ooo to fix it because of the concrete and pool siding work involved) , I opted to leave the problem alone. The pool function was about 60 percent, and with a lot of effort, I was able to make that work.

The #2 skimmer clogged right before we left for vacation, rendering the pool unusable. After a wonderful vacation, I finally decided enough was enough and we had to get the #1 skimmer working. I started digging. The soil is packed clay filled with rocks. I struggled big time with digging, so I asked the muscle to step in . He worked very hard, digging, and digging and digging! He called me in once he got the pipe exposed.

if you can't see it clearly, it is a huge boulder sitting on top of the pipe, completely crushing it!

Our best guess...when the company hired to replace the liner a few years ago put the dirt back in, they inadvertenly put a boulder on top of the pipe. I guess the previous owner just dealt with it until he sold the house....to us.

Dale was too big to continue in the hole, so I took over. Digging a little bit more, cutting the pipe and putting the new pipe in place. We tested the line, and the good news is, it works! the bad news is that the #2 skimmer is still clogged, so after all that work, the pool is still at 60% function. Getting a pipe unclogged is easier than digging the hole to replace it...so we should be at 100% pool function for the first time soon enoough!

To be honest, this repair almost sent me over the edge. After all these years, I am finally sick of all the repairs. I am ready to hang up the toolbelt and pick up my knockoff designer purse and go to the mall, wearing makeup with no mud in my hair or grease under my nails!

(I say that, but two minutes after the tree expert gave me his estimate this afternoon I looked at Dale and said, "can't we just do it ourselves, I mean , how hard is it to cut a few trees down?, I can figure out how to do it." based on his response, Dale apparently doesn't believe that I am handy enough to climb a tree and cut it down without causing harm to myself or more importantly, our house.) Time will tell how much I really hate doing repairs, I have a feeling that my dislike for writting the check to someone to fix something will override my dislike of doing the repair myself!

next project: get rid of bats....

America the Beautiful!

Over the past three weeks I have been unable to shake the song "America the Beautiful" from my head. The author who penned the original poem was a fellow New Englander. Kathryn Lee Bates was inspired to write the poem after being awed during her western travels in the late 1800's. Being a native of New England, she felt the pride of pilgrim's journeys along with the vision of early Americans, while simultaneously being overwhelmed by the natural beauty of America. Each region so different, yet so beautiful. The words to her poem, (now a well known Anthem/Hymn) were the only words I could think of each and everyday as my family and I explored our Amazing country.


We first set foot in Smoky Mountain National Park... The rivers and streams were swollen with rushing brown water. The park was experiencing a bad flood while we were there. It was eerily beautiful to us as we witnessed the power of mother nature first hand.

We hiked to a wonderful waterfall, and enjoyed the beauty of the fog surrounding the mountains, seeing exactly why it was named "Smoky Mountains"




We saw a bear on the way out of the park. He was little and heading right towards the campground, I was glad to be leaving and safe in my car. Little did I know that I would soon have the oppurnity to have a bear in my campground as well! (More on that later!)

A woman said a few words to Dale in the parking lot, and the kids got their first introduction to a deep southern accent. asking "what language was that" and once we explained accents, Alex entertained us with impersonations of southern accents. I was really struggling not to let mine out...

Next Stop: mississippi. the kids went swimming in probably the warmest lake they had ever been in. They were swimming with some local kids and again encountered the deep southern accents. Shawn didn't understand them, and they didn't understand Shawn. Very amusing.

Next stop: New Orleans





Driving into New Orleans was interesting..you can still see so many signs of the devastation, but also so many signs that New Orleans is recovering strongly. We saw the beautiful French Quarter and the downtain Market. We walked along the waterfront. The streets were crowded with people eating and shopping. It was overwhelming to think of how much the city has gone through and how far they have come in such a short amount of time.

It is a truely beautiful city!

Next Stop: Nature Hike in a Louisiana swamp.





We looked for Aligators, but never found one...

Next Stop: Gulf of Mexico

Looking at the map, I noticed that we were 20 minutes from the gulf of Mexico...I saw a "picnic" icon right on the beach and thought it would be fun to take the kids swimming in the gulf. When we got to the picnic area, we were a little suprised to see that it was indeed right on the beach, but not exactly a place we would want to picnic.

Every place in America is unique and different in it's own way..we had found complete solitude on a beach that does not often see human visitors...

Next Stop: San Antonio

It was very hot in texas, so I was amazed at how refreshing swimming in the Guadalupe River was! It not only felt nice, it was very stunning, and even the river rocks were an interesting color green!




San Antonio was a great suprise to me! The landscape around San Antonio was dry, and brown. I marveled at the amount of work Texans go through to beautify their surroundings! From maintaining the Alamo, to the downtown Riverwalk, San Antonio was stunning and Beautiful!


Believe it or not, that takes us to day 5! I will post more of "America the beautiful" later!