Say What?

The other day we had a barbecue for our neighbor. It was his birthday. We invited as many people/students as we could find from the Centre. We had a great time. At one point, to conserve my dwindling supply of briquettes, I used a few sticks and twigs that were lying in a pile from some pruning that was done last fall. Of course, the kids all loved the fires in the 2 barbecues.

Then, yesterday, I told the kids to go outside and if they wanted to they could make a fire in our barbecue. Doing this is only slightly risky since I think it is probably not OK to do so but there was nobody around and it's not like our kids don't have experience managing camp fires whenever we go camping. And, besides, I was checking on them frequently as they were right outside the front door. In between checks there was a knock on the door. Through the glass window I could see that there was a kid standing on the porch. I opened the door and there stood Emma, bow and arrow in hand. (The kids have been making bows and arrows - remember the sticks I mentioned above - for the past week.) I said "Yes?" to Emma. Then, she says, "Hey dad, could I put this arrow in the fire and shoot it into the air! You know, a flaming arrow." I thought about it for about a second, recalling in my mind the flying marshmallow meteors my sister used to fling at me around the campsite fires when we were kids, and said, "Absolutely not." She took it well. Though disappointed she muttered, "OK".

That's all we need. Gendarmes at our door complaining that the neighbors have been seeing flaming balls of "stuff" flying through the sky near our home. Yikes!

Kids... ain't they fun!

Hope you all are doing great.

See you.

sf

Howdy,

Nothing special going on here in the Big A. Sun is shining brightly and it's in the low 50's I think.

We're finishing up our first week of "Hiver Pause" (Winter Break) and it has been a good time of rest and relaxation.

The 3 youngest kiddos have all come down with colds so that's a bummer.

The older kids have been busy playing with their friends, having sleep overs, and otherwise enjoying themselves.

As you can see in the photo of Alex, she was less than thrilled to have her picture taken. Or, it could be that she was less than excited to be cooking dinner. (She made tacos and boy were they ever good!)

Have a great day.

sf

Mr. Niehaus

Anybody who likes baseball and grew up in Washington State (like Janice and me) has spent countless hours of their lives listening to Mariners games on the radio. Yesterday, the Mariners' long time announcer, Dave Niehaus, was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

For native Washintonians Dave is like a part of the family. Like all good radio announcers, he is almost like a member of the family. Always there through good times and in bad.

Anybody who has ever listened to Dave knows that he lives for the Grand Slam. One listen to "Get out the rye bread and mustard Grandma it is grand salami time!" and you're hooked for life.

I wanted to add a few audio clips to this post but it was more trouble than it's worth so you'll have to settle for a few links.

Here's one that has all the good ones from 1995 http://www.grose.us/motivate/mariners.htm
And, here's a link to a good story about Dave from the Seattle times that sums up quite well the typical Mariners fan's feelings http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2004190770_kelley20.html

I'm sure all of us (whether we grew up as Mariners fans, Twins fans, or whatever) have many good memories that our home teams have provided thanks to their respective announcers.

I won't miss much of American culture while in Chad but I will miss hearing Dave's smooth voice.

Have a great day.

sf

Switzerland

Hello!

Today was a very busy day. Emma, Gracey, and I got up at 5:00 AM to take a friend to the airport in Geneva, Switzerland. We had a good time. We took the mountain route and went throw several very old towns. Surprisingly, the airport itself isn't all that big.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Notice the fine engineering work the French road crews performed.

See the rare photo of Payton. It has nothing to do with our trip. Just thought I'd show everyone he's alive and well.

See you.

sf

good morning star shine the earth says hello!! =D

hello everyone how might you be???

well today is Sunday and we are having some people come over named the Parks, they have been coming over for the past 3 or 4 Sundays. They have a littel boy named Nathen. He is 2 and he is as tall as Ethan, he is the biggest 2 year old I've ever seen but he is soooo cute! Him and Ethan love playing together!

well ya umm oh i don't really know what to say, we are listening to music and Essie loves!!! dancing!!!!!!!!

well all we have been doing is school and ya, well actually we have been playing outside a lot like always =D Ya, we usually play cops and robbers ,its so fun! We are getting walkie talkies so we are all excited about playing cops and robbers with our W.T. :) Payton looks so funny in the picture right below!! He dosen't like this picture but he dosen't know i'm putting this picture on =D

Like the picture of me and Essie? Me and Pay spiked her hair then put her behind our backs... she loved it! Tawnee laughed so hard she thought it was sooo funny!
The picture of me and ezma up there is at christmas, we all got coca as the french call it =D
well g2g have a dandy day!!!
love ya guys
gg*

Samedi

Here are a couple of pictures that you all might enjoy.

Ethan and Tawnee are hamming it up for the camera. (I wonder if there's something on Tawnee's finger? You know, left overs from yesterday's picture???)

Here's Liddy showing off her improved ice skating skills. She is actually getting pretty good at it. Kind of ironic though since come September the only ice she'll be seeing will either be in picutres or in the freezer in our home.

Today we start our 2 week break. It is much appreciated. I never thought learning french would be so mentally taxing. It's not "bad" just "difficult".

Have a great day.

sf

A Couple of Knuckleheads

This was Ethan's reaction when he was told that Payton was going to get his hair cut. Not true, Payton isn't getting his hair cut any time soon.

This picture may be Ethan's best attempt at not having his picture taken. I'm not sure.








Here's Tawnee. She laughing at you and you and you and you (and espically Uncle Donnie).

Maybe she's not laughing at anybody. Maybe she's showing everybody what that little gooey thing stuck to her finger is. Yum, yum!



Hope you are all having a great day.

sf