Author Archives: admin

Ike turned 8

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Jess took us south over the weekend for Isaac’s 8th birthday.  We started in Bryce Canyon then ended up in Zion.  In Bryce we just did a short loop due to Adams short legs.  It’s really fun to watch the kids get excited when they see things like this.  If you have never been to Bryce before, the place looks like another planet and is beautiful in the early morning.

I have been to Zion 5 or 6 times over the years and have never been able to hike the Narrows, due to weather.  This time we made it our mission to be able to do it.  It was a great hike through the narrow canyon up the Virgin River.  Isaac made short work of it leaving us behind.  The water was a bit too deep for Adam; Jess carried him over the water and let him walk when there was a beach.  She did this most of the way; I offered to trade her my camera gear for him but she declined saying she would rather it be me who fell in the river damaging my equipment than her.

On the way out I stopped to get a photo of a waterfall that I had spotted on the way in, Jess and the boys went ahead.  I hung out waiting for the sea of Germans to part so I could get my photo, it took me maybe thirty minutes to snap a couple of photos.

I tried to hurry down the paved trail to the bus stop where everyone would be waiting.  I hate making them wait for me and my addiction to taking photos. Surprisingly, they were still on the path and I was able to catch up with them.  When I met up with them Jess asked me if I had noticed her feet, I said no as I looked down to see that her ankles and shoes were covered in blood. Jess said she was as surprised as I was, she didn’t feel a thing until some lady came up to her and asked if she needed any help.  Jessica also said that it looked a lot worse than it felt so I didn’t feel bad getting some photos before she cleaned here ankles and bandaged them up.

 

 

I feel that a huge weight has been lifted off my lip.

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I have had facial hair for the past six years.   Adam has never seen me without it and Isaac can’t remember that far back.  I started with a full beard and three years ago around Jessica’s birthday I started shaving parts of it off.  It started with just the chin, like someone from the Civil War era.  Then last year everything came off except the mustache.  Jessica has always hated it but when I went full mustache it set something off, she didn’t hold back her feelings toward my facial hair.

The decision to shave off the mustache came to me a few days ago.  I hadn’t bought her anything, not because I am a bad husband but because I am broke.  I figured this would be the best present I could give her.

I woke up early yesterday and drove to a village about ten miles from where we are staying in France, I was told that there was a farmers market there every Saturday.  I found a florist, which is awkward for me only knowing very little French.  I know how to be polite and that is it, which is all it takes really, the people here are very helpful.  When I got back to the bed and breakfast I quietly went up stairs and started to hack away.  It took about ten minutes and I saved the trimmings in a film canister for Jess, maybe that’s weird, I guess I just can’t totally let go.  It didn’t feel any different it was just strange to look in the mirror, I hadn’t seen this face in a while, it looked older than I remember.

When I was done I went downstairs to wake Jess up.  I had set the flowers on a table at the end of the bed.  I laid down next to her and whispered “happy birthday, I got you something.”  She looked up at the table, not at me, and said with a smile “oh, thank you,” then back at me and yelled “OH MY GOD.” She then just kept laughing.  This was definitely the best present I could have gotten her; I would have never gotten that kind of reaction from anything else.

Skate or be adorable.

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On the way home form camp today Adam said that he had been skateboarding and was getting very good at it.  I kind of got excited when he told us this.  I have been skateboarding, or rather owned a skateboard, since I was in third grade.  I was never good at it, not even a little bit,  I couldn’t even ollie till I was 20 years old.  I still really liked the idea that he was interested in skateboarding.

When we got home Isaac went to hag out with his friends, Jess started on dinner, and Adam and I got my old board out of the garage.  The board is a 1990 Tony Hawk medallion, I had to look up the year and name online.  I have had other boards  over the years but this is the only one that has lasted.

Turns out he is not very good.  He doesn’t skateboard at camp ever, never has.  We did however have an awesome time hanging out and thats what I remember about skateboarding while growing up.  I was never good at it but always had a great time with my friends.  He skated (or sat on the skateboard) I took photos, showed him some of my moves, which are only impressive to him.  Hope he has as much fun as I did.

 

Put a deer on it.

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I will be posting photos here from now on instead of facebook, at least ones that would have been in the photo of the day album.  I was going to write the whole thing myself in PHP using CodeIgniter, I wanted it done before our trip but ran out of time.  This is just a wordpress blog that I get for free with my web host.  I can’t really customize it unless I pay, just more motivation to write my own.  So here is the first post.

Jessica got a haircut and new shoes for our trip.  The plants behind her are squash that just started growing on their own and some of our neighbors squash that are now coming over the top of the fence.

Jessica