Automatic Lights

As the capstone to the electrical project, Zach and I put up the new sensor-driven lights on the front of the garage. They are very bright.

ASU Bike Ride

Presidents Day, after recovering from my hangover the previous day, I loaded up the bikes and the three oldest and headed out to Tempe. Kate met us. I mistakenly thought there wasn't class, but there was, which was a challenge, but we still had fun tooling around the old haunts. So much has changed there. We also pedaled around Town Lake before heading home. These photos are at Old Main.

D-backs Fan Fest

While Bobbins threw the shower, I had the kids at the D-backs Fan Fest, along with Kate and Zach. The place was very crowded, almost too much so, but it was fun to walk around. Kate was hoping to lure one of the guys into a date but had to settle for autographs. Booch was excited to get little sponge Cox 'baseballs' for himself and his brother. We snapped photos in the D-backs dugout and at homeplate.

I have to admit, the best part for me was eating dinner Potbelly's.
 

Schaefer Shower

Still in the party hosting mood, Bobbins threw a shower for her bestie Jess. I took the four kids downtown to the D-backs Fan Fest (separate post) so she could have a proper hen party.

V Day Party

Bobbins hadn't hosted a party in a while, so she organized a Valentines Day get-together with a few other couples, the Saturday night of Presidents Day weekend. I had a few home-made moonshines (one lemoncello, one Polish hooch, both from my co-workers) to share with the guys, and Bobbins went way overboard in snack foods and desserts. Bobbins set up a newlywed game we all enjoyed. I ended up drinking too much, but it was a great time.

 

Gas

I found this old receipt in the Camry the other day. I'm pretty sure it was from a stop in Quartzsite, although I don't know what we were doing there in March. I'm sure you all remember paying this much for gas. I never thought it would come back down to below $2 a gallon, let alone under $1.50. The other day I filled up the Sequoia for only $26! I can remember paying $60 to fill up the Camry. If there's one good part of the Iran deal, it's that they flooded the already-glutted market with their crude, driving the price of oil even lower. At the AM-PM by our old house 87 grade gas is currently $1.29/gallon.

Force Awakened and Risen - 2 Movie Reviews

I saw Star Wars Episode 7 back between X-mas and New Years. It was K, Z, Karin, and I. I was excited with basic expectations. I don't want to say I was disappointed, but neither was I wowed. I can remember being so excited to see Return of the Jedi in the theatre with my dad, him describing how he heard there was a scene with flying motorcycles. I think my biggest complaint with the newest installment was that there was nothing new, nothing innovative, nothing we haven't already seen before in most action/superhero movies of late. Episode 7 was pretty much your standard recent film as far as effects, cinematography, acting, etc.

And as many have pointed out, it's a carbon copy of Episode 4. Some of the scenes are exact mirrors, in fact. Enough time has passed since the original that a lot of folks did not notice the similarities (or didn't care), so Abrams and his team could get away with cribbing pretty much the whole original Star Wars. Except for updating to a female lead and a major black character.

They better step things up for ep's 8 & 9... I'm hopeful.

For our date in February, Bobbins and I went to see Risen. It was very well done and I recommend it, on its own as a film but also to support these kinds of projects in theatres. The production value, script, acting (esp. Fiennes), and cinematography are solid. The two things I liked most were the depiction of the 11 Apostles as ordinary men transformed by Jesus and the Gospel, and the tremendous joy they had as followers of Jesus. They don't come across as religious zealots but people infected with love and happy to spread it. They're also very much just ordinary Jews of the land who slowly, even fitfully, become the vessels for the founding of Christianity.

It's a Protestant film made by Protestant directors and writers, from what I can tell, so the depiction of the Blessed Mother at the crucifixion is poor. She wouldn't have been loudly shrieking as she's shown, and briefly at that. They do get Peter right: he's clearly the first among the 11 and their leader. I thought the treatment of the Ascencion (Jesus walks into the sun) was very interesting. 

Ride Around ASU

For President's Day, I took the older 3 for a bike ride around the ASU campus. I hadn't been down there in a while and wanted to check out all the additions. Boy are there a lot. The area around the dorm I lived at for three years is heavily developed, and the business school has a swank new building where I used to play tennis. The fountain by the MU is now a giant planter. You can't ride your bike everywhere, as most of the paths (inc. Palm Walk) are closed to biking and skating. Katie met us for lunch, which we ate at Tempe Beach Park, then rode around the lake. Though abnormally warm, it was a fun outing.

 

Allergy Test

T Fish's eczema is still bad, so Bobbins took him for another allergy test, this time on dogs & chickens. Both were negative, which was a relief to The Dog and Bobbins' pets. We have more information but no answer yet.

Brothers

 

Francis Visit

Made our annual visit out to Queen of Heaven cemetery to see baby Francis, next to the Holy Family Statue. The three ran around while T Fish and Mom laid on a blanket. It was a nice day out. Booch chose to wear that sweater, without a shirt, and Bobbins wasn't going to fight him on it.

JoJo's First Selfies

Handsome Fish

 

 

 

 

At the Park

JoJo was able to do those whole monkey bars by herself. MM tried but fell on the second rung, right on her tush/tailbone, which really hurt.

JoJo a Bike Rider

Getting her on the cruiser, without pedals, really helped her balance and confidence. Bobbins put the pedals back on and off she went. She had a hard time going uphill at first, but has come right around.

At the Compound

With all of Bobbins' fam in town, we met out at Compound for dinner. At left is Bobbins and JoJo on her namesake horse, Papa's new one, named JoJo. At right is all of the grandkids: MM, Booch, Jip, T Fish, Abby, Claire, Dominic, Anna, and Mikey.

Notes from MM

She surprised all of us with little love notes around the house.