Camping Trip Fall 2008

This was a big deal for our family. It was both Caleb and Benjamin's first camping trip, and only mine and Veronica's second in our marriage. It was a great time, and I quickly remembered how much I enjoy such things. That is all I did in Scouting... camping, hiking, canoing etc. Hopefully we will get out more on family camp outs.

This one was a church trip. I think there were 6 or 7 families represented and we were all in one area, taking up 3 sites. We were actually in a small flood plain of the Colorado river, which was waaay down. Thankfully the burn ban was lifted that weekend, though it had been in affect most of the summer and fall so far. I think they reconvened the following Monday to see if they should ban again. I bet they did, it was very dry. At night, as soon as you left the warm aura of the fire, you got cold to the core. I don't know if we would have made it the whole weekend with a burn ban.

Both mornings we woke up to 29-30 degree temperatures with ice on everything. The sun would raise above the canyon opposite us on the other side of the river about 830 in the morning. The sun sure made a difference, even though at best it was 45-50 degrees still. We had a couple nice hikes, and saw some awesome spring fed pools and spring fed waterfalls. Plenty of good food too. We spent some various times in the river as well poking around at rocks and the boys got muddy. It was cold, but not very deep to be too much trouble.

Our tent is a two man hiker tent. It was a snug fit to say the least. The benefit though was it warmed up inside pretty quick with all the body heat. I think everyone slept really well. I think Veronica and I will get a bigger family tent soon and even keep the 2 man for the boys to have if they want their own dwelling on some trip.

All through our site and the surrounding area, we were invaded by armadillos. They would tank through the brush as soon as the sun was up and warm enough for them. This would last all day. I came within 2 inches of snagging one by the tail for a photo op. I hesitated at the last second and it was gone. Caleb and I tried some fishing for an hour around dusk Saturday. No luck. There seems to be a trend there... Owell. He is a good little caster; he picked up on it fast.


Low river. That water is about 6 inches deep all the way across, with the exception of a few "holes."


Benjamin's first picture! I think it's his shoe?


Prince Ben of the Hill Country enjoys some finer camp foods on his tot throne.


3 mile hike to some spring fed water falls. Veronica had cargo on the way in, I had cargo on the way out.


A couple of lumber jacks.


Where's the fire?!


Woodsmen.


Quality, but sideways picture...


Benjamin, not seeming to mind the cold water and air.


Lumber jack in motion.


Behind Caleb is one of the water falls. You'll have to take my word for it..


That was a spring fed puddle!


Just plain cool.


There's a water fall back there somewhere too.


Our site was behind us, down the hill about 30 feet, the river beyond that down another 20 foot hill and the canyon on the other side of that in the background. That was probably 200 plus feet straight up.

Caleb's 4th Birthday

Finally, the long awaited pictures from Caleb's birthday...
Admittedly, we have had them on picture disk ready to go for about a month, but I just now forced myself to take the time to upload them and create a blog. By the way, we went camping this past weekend. It was both boy's first trip and mine and Veronica's second as a couple. It was kind of a big deal and a lot of fun. Look for some pictures of that as well, anywhere from next week to a month or so from now. (We need a new, working camera!)

I'll just post some chronological pictures from the party. This was Caleb's first party that included friends from our neighborhood and his preschool. Local family was present as well. The pictures were taken with a disposable camera, so the quality may not be the best. Enjoy.



Caleb and his bro.


Everyone digging for dinosaur fossils.





Pizza dinner.


Cupcakes for all and a super mega cupcake for the birthday boy! Thanks mom, but will it light?!


Hmm..


Still waiting.


yummy..


Mega cupcake.


Presents!




Pinata whack!


One happy 4 year old!

Fall

Now don't be too surprised, this is actually a real live update from Veronica! With work and spending most of my time at home either playing with the boys, training for a 5K or actually having a conversation with my husband, I don't often get time for such things.
I can't believe it is almost the end of October. My babies are 2 and 4 years old and will be dressing up in matching Batman costumes in a couple days, just like little boys do. It is hard to believe they are so big.
We took Caleb to the doctor for his 4 year check-up after which he informed us that it was not very fun at all. He did have to get 4 shots so I'll give him that. He was very brave and even though I was one of the people holding him down, we are still friends.
Ben is talking up a storm. There isn't much he can't say. To hear what he is thinking about is very neat. He even said "thank you bubba" to Caleb the other day. I am so proud to have a 2 year old that knows those words and actually uses them!
So with the journey to the 5K Joshua and I are up to 4 miles mostly running. Monday is our long day and we have done that 4 mile jaunt twice now. I am almost positive that I have never run 4 miles at one time ever, so this is a huge deal for me! Josh is great. His legs are much longer than mine and his body type much better suited for running but he pushes the boys in the stroller most of the time so I can keep up with him. Sweet husband! It is neat to do that as a family and we are taking care of our health at the same time. We found a beautiful trail at a group of parks close to our house. There are a string of about 5 parks that are connected by this trail that runs with Brushy Creek. There are trees and bridges. It really is beautiful and well maintained. There is a good variation of hills too which keeps it from getting boring. It also makes that jogging stroller much harder to push! (thanks Joshua!) I think it is our new favorite trail. We are blessed to live in an area with so many neat places to choose from. One day we will have to stop the jogging stroller and let the boys play in one of those 5 parks or there might be a kid revolt!
Work is busy with lots of new folks to get oriented to the unit. My latest count is 6 which makes my head hurt thinking about it. It is a neat job and I am finally starting to get my stride instead of always feeling 10 steps behind.
Joshua is trying to figure out how to grow a fall garden when the leaves won't fall off the trees to give the garden sunlight. He is trying to decide what tree branches to trim without making the trees look funny. The peas are doing great and the lettuce and carrots are showing signs of life. The broccoli and cauliflower are bringing up the rear. It is an experiment and I'm glad that Joshua is heading this one up. As I've mentioned before plants and I do not get along.
Back to fall before I go. I just love this season. It's not so hot outside and the air smells crisp. Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner and there just seems to be the promise of something different. I was so excited about it all that Caleb and I made a pumpkin pie. It was terrific!
Now if we can just get this election over with!

Much Love, Veronica

Overdue Update

Just a quick update on some things. First, our digital camera has decided to no longer communicate with the computer and not upload new pictures. Therein is the reason why there hasn't been any recent pictures, though there are many to share. Also the camera now only takes black pictures, meaning just blackness comes through. Guess it's time for a new camera...

We recently have had Caleb and Veronica's birthday. Veronica got a pond for her birthday. Yes a pond. Maybe soon I can get a picture of it up here. It is nice to sit by it and look and listen or read. Overall it wasn't too hard to do. Caleb had his first party that included not only family but, little school friends too. We had it at a local park that has a giant sand pit with dinosaur bones to dig up in it. The kids had a blast. We had pizza, pinata, cup cakes and digging. The big 4 year old going on 35... (We do have a picture cd made from a disposal camera of the party. That should be up here soon.)

Caleb is enjoying school twice a week, obviously making friends too. Benjamin is getting bigger and starting to put sentences together. "Ow hurts.. Wow cool... Daddy drink.. Thank you... Welcome.. Layla no.." to name a few. It is neat to see what's on his mind and be able to communicate with him and vice versa.

Veronica and I have started training for a 5k that is in December, around Town Lake downtown. Yesterday I ran my first 3 miles, without stopping. I did it in 28.06 minutes. Its more or less a fun family thing we can do together as well as the health benefits. The boys ride in a bike trailer with a conversion kit on it for running. Lately we have been trying to do more as a family. We have a camping trip coming up in November with some other families in our church. More then likely there will be some traveling going on with holidays coming up too. I think we are finally finding a balance of work vs family fun time with an appropriate amount of family fun time. Before it was work in one form or another then off to our separate things every other night, with maybe one day together on the weekend.

Our fall garden is planted. We have peas, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. All of which have sprouted. Hopefully the leaves will brown and fall off the trees soon, so the garden can get more sun. I'm thinking next spring, I will need to do some trimming as the garden area is just lacking sun. I don't want to remove the trees as they are beautiful and some of them pretty old, but maybe a trimming will do.

Veronica is still plugging away at her new job as the floor educator. It has it's good and bad. Lately she has been on another special assignment in addition to that, to which she is no longer on the floor as a nurse at all. I'm not sure how long that will continue, but ever day she has "normal" hours which has been nice. My little fish business lives on! I got a call recently from a nearby city's human resources department. I have done their tank once already and it is due again this Thursday. My other tank I was doing is also under my care again after a break, so I officially have 2 now. Hopefully more will come soon. I do enjoy the work. I still see it as a side hobby thing, and am actively looking for something else full time. I am looking for openings with the USPS as a regular or rural route carrier. This time of year they should start having some need, but so far nothing has posted yet. From what I know about those roles, it would be a good fit for our family and my work style (independent).

Not sure what else to share. We definitely need to resolve the camera strike. It looks like I can get an equivalent new canon camera for around 120-150. Soon enough..

More to come.

Ben's B-Day, Kibbee and a Really Pretty Sunset

Hi all! So I finally get a chance to sit down and add something to the blog. It's been a busy and difficult month for our family but there have been blessings to help pull us through.

Earlier in the month we had our first attempt at making kibbee. Kibbee is a Lebanese meat pie kinda thing. It has beef, wheat, and spices. It is a family recipe that both Josh and I have had since we were kids. It is pretty labor intensive, like most Lebanese food. Josh did a good job and it turned out great. We let Caleb help and Ben was very impressed with the meat grinder. It was neat to start that tradition in our own family.

Another evening we were playing outside and we saw the coolest sunset. You just had to see it but we tried to take some pictures.

Ben was playing the sand box and I caught this really great shot. He loves having his picture taken.

It is hard to get Caleb to take a picture. We had Cookie Monster cupcakes for Ben's birthday. Here is the evidence

Here are some funny pictures of the boys

Before we cut his hairAfter we cut his hair

Strong Dad! He is almost too big for that swing, but he loves to try to touch the tree branches

Happy Birthday Benjamin Asher!

Today is the day. Benjamin will be 2 years old believe it or not. We are having trouble with our digital camera, so we haven't been able to upload any new pictures lately, though we have a lot to share. Here are some of Benjamin when he was born, up through July of this year. Time with grandpa, time with brother, first finger painting, first birthday, playing in the mud (his favorite). God bless you Arrow Number Two!