Family vacation: the Finale

            When I last posted, I left off at just after Golden Spike national memorial.  The next day we finished our journey to the Grand Canyon.  Let me begin this by saying that just the drive to the North Rim is beautiful.  You pass through two national forests that are astounding.  It makes it even better after seeing desert for a hundred or so miles before hand.
           We arrived at the North Rim campround around two in the afternoon.  This gave us enough time to go to the visitors center and get our initial view of the canyon and it was amazing.  I believe on of the most endearing features of the North Rim is that it isn't as populous as the South Rim.  Whether this is due to the fact that the nearest freeway is 200 miles away, a 50+ mile drive on 2 lane roads, or that it is just not as well advertised as the South rim is up in the air.  Any way you look at it it makes it very easy to get around.  That night the rangers informed us that there was a campfire event where a ranger would talk with us.  We went and learned alot.  The ranger talk was on the ancient pueblonians (I hope I got that right).  We learned about their lore on where they came from and where they got their ability to make pottery and baskets.  At the end the kids got to make figures out of clay.  The kids loved it.
           The next day we took a bike ride from the campgrounds to the visitors center.  It was only about 1.5 miles, but it was over some decent sized hills.  The two older boys rode there bikes and I got to pull the two younger kids in the trailer.  We saw some majestic views and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The ride back was even harder as the campground is higher that the visitors center.  In other words, mainly uphill.  I actually had to make the kids get out of the trailer and walk with me a couple of times.  Once again the kids loved it.  We got back to the camprounds about noon.  As we were eating a park ranger came up to us and informed us about another ranger talk that was going on at one.  The talk was very informative.  It was on the animals that live in and around the Grand Canyon and the relationships between them. 
          That night we relaxed and just enjoyed being a family.  The next day we headed out to take a few hikes along the rim.  Let me tell you that, unless you have some health defect that makes strenuous activity a death defying feat, you really have to do some hikes to fully appreciate the majesty of the Grand Canyon.  They don't have to be long hikes.  The longest we took was about a mile or so.  I would attempt to describe the views here, but I just don't have the vocabulary.  All I have to say is, after the Grand Canyon, everything else is just a hole in the ground.  Yes, I borrowed that from my dad. 
           The next day I learned that, apparantly, Arizona has a pretty loose definition of what a city is.  When we left the Grand Canyon we decided to make the drive to Mesa Verde in one day.  This meant backroads through Arizona and southern Colorado.  The maps showed towns every 9 miles or so.  Apparantly, if it has a gas station (or did at one time) it gets a spot on the map as a town.  Luckily, the route we were taking stuck to one road for quite a ways and thus my wifes confusion as to where we were was not detrimental.  It really wasn't her fault.  It wasn't until we had passed the fourth or fifth gas station that we realized that those were the towns listed on our maps.  Overall, it was some beautiful country to drive through and well worth it.  We arrived at Mesa Verde about 6 pm.  We made camp and had our dinner.  That night they had a talk about the animals in park.  It was quite interesting.  The next day we headed out right after breakfast.  We ended up going all over the park.  We probably hiked around 5 miles.  We were able to go through a few of the cliff dwellings and were amazed at the sheer scope of the work that went into them.  There was an eerie beauty to it all.  The only downside was the heat.  That night we did another load of laundry and played Uno as a family.
            The next day we headed out for home.  As we were driving we dicided that, since it was on the way, to drive through Arches National Park.  It was decidedly worth it.  The boys got to climb up around the double arch and our youngest wouldn't stop talking about it.  Everywhere we went in the park, he wanted to go climbing.  Overall, the boys fell in love with the park. 
             We ended up making it to Salt Lake City that night despite the 2 hours we spent at Arches.  The next day we drove straight through to Boise.  We arrived around 3 pm.  Since we were a little early, we decided to go to Cabela's.  There I found one of the .22 rifles that I had grown up with.  My wife allowed me to buy it.  This meant the boys got to roam Cabela's for about 2 hours while I made the purchase.
            That night, we ate with my wife's brother at Golden Coral.  It was a good meal and we all enjoyed ourselves.  We ended up talking until almost midnight.  It was a good time.  The next day we shared breakfast and had a good timie.  We ended up swimming for most of the afternoon and the adults ended up getting sunburned since we ran out of sunblock on the last of the boys.  It was so worth it though.  Onec again we talked until late at night before saying good bye. 
          The next morning we made the journey home.  In all it was great vacation.  I know it was because I still haven't recovered from it.
          Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Summer Vacation: Part 1, on our way.

          I am back from my vacation.  It was a good vacation.  Ok, my wife says it was great, but she wasn't driving.  The little timer in the truck says we spent nearly 60 hours in it.  That means I spent nearly 60 hours driving through the western US towing a camper with 4 boys.  All that after sleeping on a bed that was less than comfortable and it makes for a very tiring vacation.
          To be honest, if that were the entirety of the vacation, then the vacation would have been the worst ever.  What elevates it to good is the fact that the parts where I wasn't driving (and even a few that I was) were absolutely amazing.  I got 2 weeks with my family and we stuffed a lot into that.
          First we went to Idaho and visited my brother in law, and it was a great visit even if it was only for about half a day.  Then we left for the Grand Canyon.  Due to a slight miscalculation on my part, we had an extra day to get to the Grand Canyon.  We decided to spend it looking at various sights.  We decided on the Hagerman Fossil beds.  Turns out, they weren't that great.  It was interesting and all, but it wasn't worth a day of travel .  I think the family would have preferred Craters of the Moon National Park instead.  The problems with Hagerman are that, in hte first place, it is 30 miles off the main road.  This normally wouldn't be a problem, but the second issue is that the park entrance is a small town and the visitors center is small, very small.  There are a few activities, but they are rather mundane and, for a fossil bed, there were suprisingly few fossils.  Top that off with the fact that the fossil beds themselves are inactive, hidden, and can't be reached without a few mile hike (not recommended with a 4 year old) and the whole thing was disappointing.  We ended up going a few miles down the road before camping for the night.
                 The next day is when the vacation really took off and became what really made it all worthwhile.  We now had 2 days to go about 600 miles.  No problem.  It started off with us looking for a Walmart or something like it because we were low on a few necessities.  The GPS told us there was one not to far off the road so we headed that way.  At the exit, I noticed a sign for Golden Spike National Memorial.  For those of you who are currently having brain farts, Golden Spike National memorial coomemorates the driving of the last spike on the transcontinental railroad in Promontory, Utah.  As we approached this Walmart, we discovered that what the GPS had meant to say was Walmart Distribution Center.  Yup, It was a huge warehouse surrounded by Walmart trucks.  In other words, shoppers not welcome.  We decided that, since we were on the road anyway, why not visit Golden Spike.  it was so worth it.  Sure it was another 30 miles off the main road, but it was informative and the kids loved it.  It helped that it had 2 working steam locomotives and was pretty quiet.
               As we left the Memorial, we noticed a rocket display at a place called ATK.  At first, I was convinced that I had heard of this place before.  Turns out, I had.  ATK is where they built, fueled, and tested the booster rockets for the space shuttle among other applications.  The display actually included a full size decomissioned booster rocket that you could go up to and be awed by.  My wife went nuts and wouldn't stop talking about it the rest of the day.  We did eventually find an actual Walmart and got our groceries before we stopped for the night.
             This is a good place to stop for now, I will continue with part 2 on Monday.  Hopefully, I will be able to complete it, but I wouldn't count on it.
             Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Vacation planning: changes are expected.

           This weekend was a pretty good one all things considered.  I finished sewing the knee pads around midnight Friday only to have only one kid wear them at the games.  Speaking of the games, despite the slow start (we came in fourth the first game) we ended up placing first.  Then my two oldest boys and their team also got first.  We ended up just relaxing the rest of the day.  Sunday went well as well.  We even remembered to shift our clocks Saturday night before we went to bed.
            Now for the fun side.  As some of you know, we are in the middle of planning our summer vacation.  For the past week or so, we had planned on going to Yosemite National Park.  Last night my wife turns to me and says, "I think Yosemite is a little close and is somewhere we can go after you retire."  In other words, she wants to go further away.  And now I am trying to plan a trip to the Grand Canyon.  There is nothing like scrapping every bit of planning you have done for a week on the whim of your wife.  That's OK, I only have 3 days to figure it out before the reservations open for the camp sites.  We'll see where we go from here. 
             Not much else is going on so I think I will do some research and restart my planning.
             Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Weekend update: The camping was fine.

           Great weekend.  It was 4 days of enjoying the sun and communing with fellow Christians.  The park was awesome and the weather perfect.  The boys had a great time and we never once heard them say they were bored (at least not until the ride home).  Now we just need to prep the camper for winter storage and clean up.  We started yesterday, but it will probably take a few days to get it fully unpacked and cleaned.  We did manage to give the boys hair cuts as well as baths.  All in all, we are all feeling great after a wonderful weekend.
           I have to say that the biggest thing I got out of this trip was the testimonies and the evidences of God's work.  I had many discussions with my fellow campers and they were always productive.  One of the topics we touched on was how God makes it easy to believe what we want.  After all, he did say, "Seek and ye shall find."  Although many Christians take this to mean seek God and you will find him, we came to the consensus (I am pretty sure it is accurate as well) that this meant that what ever you seek you will find.  I had some help in this from reading Lee Strobel's "A Case for Faith."  God has given us every evidence we need to prove his existence, if we seek that proof.  He has also given us enough evidence to disprove himself to a certain degree if we choose that direction.  What I find even more interesting though, is that if you keep digging into proof that God doesn't exist, you eventually reach the point where you have disproved your proof and have to start again.  Most people that I have ran into stop when they have enough proof to satisfy themselves and stop looking.  As a Christian, I keep finding more and more proof of God's existence and have yet to find that point where my proof is disproved. 
            We also found that those that decide to prove that God doesn't exist have their reasons for doing so.  These range from not wanting to admit they are sinners to the understanding that if they admit God exists that they have to give up the life and beliefs they currently hold.  To quote Pastor Barry, "A faith that requires little to nothing is a little to nothing faith."  I was among the sinners who didn't want to give up what he had.  The problem was I believed in God, I just chose to ignore what I needed to do to have that closer walk with him.  Once I gave that up, I found that I had less stress, I had a closer relationship to my wife and kids, and I was happier overall.  I am not saying it is easy.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  Turns out, the sin nature is quite the strong and determined little beast.  I have to be ever diligent to keep from cussing or getting involved in looking at things I shouldn't.  I have to fight the fight daily to keep from doing the things I used to do.  I don't always win, but it is easier now to admit them to God and be brought back.  It is just the way it is. 
          Thank you for letting me ramble today and giving me some of your time.  Have a wonderful day and keep your chin up.  Every bad day ends and a good day is sure to come (we can hope anyway.)

Have a great weekend.

           So, my thumb is hurting less today, but my nose is stuffed up.  I just can't seem to get a break this week.  I have a camping trip with my boys this weekend and that should be fun.  Like I told my wife, if you want to know what this feels like, try not using your thumb on you dominant hand for a day.  Every time you put a little pressure on the tip, poke the spot with a handful of needles.  Every time you bump it, hit it with a hammer.  Do this all day and you get what it is like to live with my thumb.  Does serve as a useful reminder to not be stupid with sharp objects though.  This will also make setting up a tent interesting as well as the other things that go into a camping trip.  And that's the story of me today.  Glad I cleared that up.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Manic Monday: Contextual Quotes

     This week end we took the boys camping for the first time this season.  As we were setting up, I discovered that I had no power in the camper.  The same problem I had that led me to drop $200 to have a new battery installed.  I was devastated.  My camper didn't work and I had just dropped a lot of money to get it fixed.  Because I now knew that the battery was good (yes, I checked, they did give me a new one), I decided to do some trouble shooting.  As I started tracing the wires from the battery I found something interesting.  The two red wires coming from the battery (yes, two red wires) were connected to each other.  I also discovered that the two black wires coming from the camper (yes, two black wires) were also connected to each other.  After some simple deduction, I disconnected the black and red wires ate their connectors and connected one red to the black with the appropriate connector and repeated with the remaining wires.  Low and behold, I had power. 
         Luckily, my wife was very nice about it and simply said, "are you done setting it up yet?" 
         Of course I was, but I wasn't about let the sheer idiocy I was feeling ruin the weekend so I just replied, "yes, dear" as any good husband does.  The rest of the weekend went well.  The boys enjoyed themselves and my wife and I are worn out.  So all in all, a typical camping weekend.

         Now for the part you've either been waiting for, or dreading, Manic Monday.  Today I am going to be talking context.  The society we live in today loves using things that sound the way they want it to sound.  It is nothing new, it has been done for millennia  One political or religious figure, will use one particular phrase from some source and as it is written it will sound just like he wants it to sound.  When someone quotes something to you, get the source and read the entire passage.  Sometimes, if you read the entire passage, you find that the original quote means the opposite of what it sounded like.  We have all seen this happen in some circumstances.  The problem comes when we perpetuate it.  We may not do it intentionally, but we have done it.  I have as well.  You know what I am talking about, you hear a seemingly controversial quote and you pass it on.  Either because you agree with it, or because you want to hear others agree with you that it is wrong.  But did you hear the entire quote?  Was the quote you read meant to be a stand alone quote, or was it part of an entire passage?  Think on it.  The next time you are planning on passing on a quote you heard, look it up.  Read the entire passage.  You may be surprised.
           Why am I writing this?  Over the past few months my  Sunday school class has been going over the book of Ephesians in the new testament.  The last couple of weeks we have been looking at just such a verse.  By itself and out of context, it has been used incorrectly for centuries and has pushed many away from the church and religion.  The verse is Ephesians 5:22.  I challenge you to read it and look at the context.  Compare the words in the original Greek with how they were translated.  Look at the entire chapter.  Find similar areas and expand on it.  Look at the area and era for which it was written.  Time and area play a huge part in context.  Abraham Lincoln himself used the word negro many times.  The difference is that in his time, it wasn't an insult, it was how the African American community was categorized.  Where we say black or colored, in the 1800's they used that word.  Thus time and area play a huge role in context.  I think sometimes we forget this.  Just something to think about. 

Random Thursday Thoughts

   So today is change of command.  Conveniently, I forgot bits and pieces of my uniform so I didn't have to participate.  I did however have to sit in the office and work, which makes me the late guy today.  Oh well.  So I was thinking that there has got to be a better way to do yard work.  I decided it was time my kids started doing it.  So tonight I get to see my 9 year old push the mower for the first time.  I hope he can do it.  That way he can get it done while I am at work this summer.  If not, I will give him other things to do.  There is so much that I need to to do.  Especially since I need to put the house up for sale so I can have it sold before I retire.  The backyard has holes and hills and needs a bit of smoothing.  Both the front and back need re-seeding.  I have a strip of yard under the front window that needs landscaped (namely weeded, matted, and rocks put down).  Not to mention I need to put gravel down in my parking space and fill some holes there as well.

    Enough of my yard woes.  I am so looking forward to doing stuff with my boys this summer.  I need to get my fishing license so I can take them fishing.  I  really do want to do some fishing with them.  The ponds here on base are stocked and I know the boys will love it.  They have been bothering me to let them practice casting.  Mathew is getting pretty good and John and David are already pretty decent at it and are working on accuracy vice distance now.  I so look forward to it.  I also think Laura will enjoy the experience of camping at new places this summer.  We have already decided that we have to go to Mt Rainier this summer.  Not sure when we will start as I still have a lot to do to the camper to get it ready.  I think the boys would try to sleep out in the backyard in their tent if Laura would let them.  I don't know whether they would last the night or not, but it would be interesting.  I don't know if I could resist trying to scare them (Laura might be able to stop me, but I would probably try anyway).  At least the weather is turning nice now.  Oh well.  Not much else is going on.  I will continue to write daily when I can.  If you have ideas for topics, please write it in the comments.  I have started to notice that I am quickly running out of ideas.  Thanks and enjoy.

   It's been a few weeks since my last post.  A quick run down of what has occurred since I last wrote.  The wife and I spent 12 wonderful days in Italy (Sans Kids), The mother in law is in town and we have been forcibly pampering her to the best of our abilities despite her protests.  The boys have been little hellions as usual, the grass has grown tremendously (I still haven't mowed and keep finding reasons not to), and we pulled the camper out to get it ready for the camping season.  All in all, we have been busy.

     The trip to Italy was awesome as previously noted.  We probably averaged 5 to 6 miles of walking a day.  The country was beautiful and even in the areas where English wasn't spoken, the people were friendly and tried to understand what we wanted.  The food was out of this world.  even the sandwiches at gas stations blew our minds.  It was really a mostly trouble free trip.  All of the problems occurred either on the way to, or coming from Italy.  On the way there, we got to the airport in Seattle and realized we didn't have our international driving permits (turns out we didn't need them), then in Paris for our change of planes, we found out that we had to go through customs and then go through security again.  We got to our gate and found out the plane was delayed by 45 minutes.  When we finally boarded, we sat at the gate for 45 minutes before we were informed that someone failed to get on the plane but his luggage made it and they were looking for it.  1.5 hours and 3 times through the luggage and they still hadn't found his luggage, so they lined up all the luggage on the tarmac next to the plane and had us exit through the front door, identify our luggage, then re board the plane through the rear door.  All this after Laura and I had been up about 24 hours.  We finally got to Rome (3 hours late) and headed to the Hotel.  We ended up getting separated on the subway.  Laura (rather than take a return train to the appropriate station) walked to the Hotel and checked us in.  We managed to meet up outside the proper station 45 minutes later.  That was the last trouble we had until we went to leave.  Turns out, our plane leaving was so early, that there was no train to the airport so we had to sleep in the airport or drop 50 euros on a cab.  We slept at the airport.  Then the plane was delayed by 30 minutes since the flight crew was late.  Once again we had to go through customs and another security screening in Paris which meant we barely made our flight to Seattle.  Since those were the only bad spots of the trip to Italy, it was a great trip.  I will post a detailed blog on the trip once I am done typing it up (it's a work in progress since I am transposing the journal I kept with my wife).  All in all, it has been a fun couple of weeks.

    The mother in law has been a joy.  We keep telling her that treating her as we do is the least we can do since she babysat our 4 boys (did I mention that they were boys and that there were4 of them) for us while we were in Italy.  She constantly tries to slip us money and pay for meals, etc.  We have thoroughly enjoyed having her here.  The boys have loved having her here and we are all going to miss her.  I loved having someone else to cook for.

    As for the camper, we have a lot to do with it prior to camping.  We have to get it in to get a new battery, a cable replaced, and the vent repaired (it got blown open during a snow storm and damaged as a result).  We also have to do some major cleaning in it as the snowstorm that managed to damage the vent, also got some water inside and created a little mildew, not to mention that the outside managed to grow its own protective algae layer.

    Well, that about covers it for today.  Come back tomorrow for Happy Hump Day.  See then.

Just for laughs.

   Yesterday, while talking to my lovely wife, I was informed that my posts were a bit dark and I should write on something more positive.  This sounds easier than it is.  The news is filled with pain and sadness, there are problems everywhere.  It is just so easy to get caught in the loop of being down that it is easy to forget there is an up side.  So I have decided to institute a minimum of one happy post a week.  This week it will fall on a Friday, but I think I will shift it to a Wednesday and call it Happy Hump Day, just for fun.  So here goes.
   For this weeks installment I believe I will share a funny story from my life.  Years ago, when I was 13, I was allowed to start camping on my own.  I got a tent and a Lantern for Christmas and my friend, John, and I thought it would be great to set up the tent on the dam of a local pond so we could fish and camp at the same time.  Why not, we loved fishing, and camping was just a way of extending the camping day.  Besides, we checked the weather and the forcast said no rain for at least a week.  And it hadn't rained in a month so why should it change?  So we packed our stuff.  Turns out, when you go camping the first time you tend to take to much.  I didn't recognize this rule until much later (my wife still says I take to much, but I like to be prepared.)  So there I was, on my mountain bike, 2 gunny sacks (one on each side for balance) filled to the brim, my tackle box on the rack in the back, and my back pack.  My tackle box at the time was a large metal one filled with lures, hooks, weights, lines, and leaders and weighed approximately a ton.  I had a smaller plastic one, but I needed everything in the metal one so I drug it along as well.  Needless to say, once I had everything loaded I ended up pushing my bike to the campsite (about 10 miles away) because when I tried to ride the tires went flat and I fell over.  Besides, it was easier to use the seat to carry the backpack because for some reason when I put it on my back I couldn't stand up.
    We got to the site about 3 in the afternoon and set up camp.  You'd be amazed what two 13 year old boys can carry to a camp site.  The small mountain of pots, pans, utensils, canned food, bedding, and other necesities would have filled a small cathedral.  I had the tent so I was in charge of choosing a location.  The center of the dam was perfect.  We could set up our poles on the dam and fish the deepest part and not be to far from the tent and fire.  We set up the fire pit and put our lines in the water.  We then tried to start the fire.  We finally gave up 3 hours later when we realized neither of us had a clue how to start a fire with the small amount of twigs and brush we could gather.  In the four tons of equipment we had brought, neither of us had bothered to bring firewood.  The stuff is just lying around everywhere after all, isn't it?  So we went with out a fire.  It was summer, so who needs a fire anyway.  It's not like we had steaks to cook anyway.  Besides, we could eat the canned food we brought without heating it.  The next hour was spent argueing over who was supposed to bring the can opener.  That's when we learned lesson number 2 of camping, always make sure you write down who is supposed to bring what.  This is great advice if you plan months in advance and are face to face.  Doesn't work so well if you plan your camping trip the way I do and leave the same day you thought of it.
    It was now dusk, so I lit my latern and was amazed at the amount of light it put out.  This was great, now we could see what we were doing, as could the astronauts.  It was then that we realized we had had our lines in the water for about 4 hours and hadn't had a nibble.  We brought in our lines to check and sure enough, the worms were gone.  We rebaited the hooks and threw them back out.  Now that we had nothing to do but watch our lines we noticed that the fish were starting to bite.  In the next 45 minutes we hooked 10 good sized catfish and were having a ball.  That was when we noticed it was completely dark outside of our circle of light.  We had flashlights, but who needs them with a propane lantern.  That's when we discovered that if you leave the metal handel of the lantern standing up, you will recieve a nifty red line accross your palm when you pick it up.  As we cast out our lines after removing catfish number 10, we were smiling and having a good time.  Then the fish stopped biting just a suddenly as they had started.  We watched our lines intently for the next 10 minutes and nothing happened then John looked at me and said, "did I just feel a rain drop?"
    I looked at him and that's when it rained.  Not a slowly growing rain.  You know, the kind that starts as a light drizzle to warn you of things to come.  No, this skipped right to the grand finale.  The rain where everything is soaked in 2 seconds and you can swim through it.  The kind where you see fish swimming through the air because they don't know where the surface of the pond is supposed to be.  Then the lantern went out with a hiss and it went dark.  The kind of dark where you know the hand touching the nose is yours, but you have no way to prove it.  Then the Lightening started.  I heard a mumbled curse from John as we both dove for the tent.  Turns out, the tent may have been able to withstand a drizzle, but a flood was a different story.  Further, the flashlights didn't want to work.  For some reason, if they get wet they don't like to work.  We quickly grabbed the essentials, namely the food and bedding and started the trek home.  Luckily, the lightening was frequent enough that we didn't need a flashlight.  I'd say we used the flashes of lightening to get our bearings, but since the light was continuous, we just used it to walk home.  We ended up sleeping (or attempting to) in my barn at home (didn't want to go in and admit defeat).
   The next morning we went back to the campsite to grab our gear.  Luckily everything was still there including our fish.  Dad just laughed and informed us that we would have to rinse off in the hose before we could come inside.  The weatherman said that the freak storm the night before was one of the most intense in years.  Duh, John and I could have told him that.  The amazing thing was, dad had a better story from his younger days.  I don't remember what it was, but it involved a hundred mile trek, freezing rain, and an angry bear.  Must have been one heck of a good camping trip, wish I could have been there.