Start 'em Young

We bbq'd the other night and I had a nice tall bottle of hard cider.  MM wanted to try the last sip.  Why not?



I'm sure this photo will provide laughs in the future, maybe as part of a good ransom of our sweet daughter.

New Pegboard

Bobbins needed more storage in the pantry, and like the laundry room, no wall must go-unused, so I put up a 2'x4' piece of pegboard (painted blue by Bobbins) for her to hang spices and baskets full of other things.


I'm sure at some point we'll put a shelf above the pegboard to hold even more stuff.

Cool Video of Jerusalem

A colleague at work who just went to the Holy Land sent me this short, very cool video on Jerusalem.  Check it out.

2013 Family Photos

We did them this year out at the Compound.  Here's just a preview:

 

Pope Francis

So being the resident Catholic guy a number of people at work have asked me about Pope Francis and his reported 'unorthodox' comments over the last few months, including saying "Who Am I to Judge?" regarding homosexuals and saying the Church should back off the pro-life and traditional marriage activism.  The Washington Post and New York Times have recently published articles on the travails of 'conservative' Catholics under a Pope whose style has been unlike JPII's and B16's and who certainly has given pause to many.  A number of folks among my friends and family are certainly bothered, bewildered, even bewitched by some of the things the Pope has said.

For my own part, I haven't been thrilled, but I understand where the Holy Father is coming from and can applaud the effort.  We must reach out to people where they're at, not shout out them from an ivory tower.  The Pope isn't changing doctrine, just emphasis and style.  And it's working.  Many who have long seen the Church as a bunch of fuddy-duddies who hate gays & fun and cling to old myths while occasionally doing some good are now seeing someone, perhaps, a little different.  We should want that.  I can see Jesus himself doing something similar.  He conversed and found favor with prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers, and others in the face of opposition, even from his own followers.

So I look with hope.  That doesn't mean there isn't a tinge of fear in the background -- people love to hear that they can do whatever they want without repercussion, and that's the interpretation that some are taking from the Holy Father's words.  But I think it's starting a dialogue that might not have been there before, and if that brings sinners (which we ALL are) closer to Jesus, then all the better.

Camping 2013 - 2nd Day

Needless to say, it was freakin' cold that night.  We all huddled in our tent, Bobbins, the girls, and I on the air mattress, Julia in a sleeping bag, and The Dog in his ratty old travel bed at our feet.  I think everyone but the girls got about 2hrs sleep.  The girls, of course, slept like babies, MM sucking her thumb and JoJo thrashing about.  As soon as the sun was up, Kevin and I built a huge, lovingly hot fire and we all thawed out to have hard-boiled eggs, home-made muffins, and OJ for breakfast.  We decamped and were home by 1pm.  A great time was had by all.

Camping 2013 - 1st Day

For our annual camping trip, we set out east of Star Valley near Christopher Creek, which was closed due to the shutdown.  We pulled onto a dirt road, drove down a bit, and selected our site.  Kevin and I got to work building the fire and pitching tents.  Bobbins, ever hungry, got to work making homemade popcorn once the fire got going.

 

To give the kids something to do, Kevin and I built a teepee.  We cut in half an angled tree to make the initial A, then chopped a bunch of fallen logs to stack against it, covering it with leaves.  It took us a couple hours and it was a blast.

Later, he and I took all the kids minus Sam down toward the creekbed, which had a number of pools with crawdads for the kids to play/splash in and for The Dog to drink from.  It was another fun hour of walking around.

We had fired hot dogs for dinner, to Bobbins' consternation, but which tasted great to Julia, the girls, and I.  It wouldn't be a true American camping experience without smores.  Julia made her own and seemed to enjoy it.  For school that week she wrote an essay about how much fun she had.