Road Rage... here?

It had been a while since our last Disneyland visit. Well, a couple weeks at least. So we decided to go yesterday.

On Thursdays, the McDonalds by us has hamburger happy meals for $1.49 between 4pm and 8pm. So when we go to Disneyland on Thursdays, we usually drive through the McDs for dinner. Duncan's the only one of the kids that will eat the hamburger, so luckily for us, the McDs also has $1.00 6 piece chicken McNuggets every day, so we get a couple of those for Liam and Jennan. That way they all get a drink, fries, and toy, and Anna and I eat the other hamburgers with the food we ordered for our selves.

We ate our dinner in the car on the way to Disneyland. And I bet you think that this is where the road rage takes place, but it's not! Disneyland was closing at 9pm, so we had a little less than 3 hours in the park. We decided to do rides we didn't do last time we were there. So first we hit up Buzz Lightyear. The entrance sign said it was a 15 minute wait, so I went to go get us some "fast passes" for the submarine ride while Anna got in line with the kids. Turns out that there are no fast passes for that ride, so I went over to Autopia and got some fast passes there. I figured that by this time, the family was pretty close to getting on the ride, so I waited outside at the exit for them. My phone rang and it was Anna. She was waiting for me inside, so I got in line.

After Buzz, I checked to see if Jennan was tall enough to go on Star Tours, but she's about 4 inches shy of that ride still, so I took Duncan and Liam. We walked right on. After Star Tours we went to Autopia. We had the fast passes, so we bypassed a chunk of the line, but the majority of the line is still ahead of you. We waited a long time in line, maybe 30-40 minutes or so. We do a "baby change" at this ride. Either Anna or I go on with 2 of the 3 older kids while the other waits with Tegan and the 3rd older kid. This day I waited with Duncan and Tegan while Anna took Liam and Jennan. When it was Duncan and my turn, we got in our car, and when the car in front of us went, we went too! We were on our way! Duncan was steering, I was on the pedal. We start, and catch up to the guy in front of us right away. I stayed about a car length or two behind him. Duncan says, "Dad, lets go fast!" So I pointed out that I couldn't, I had to keep a safe distance behind the car in front of us. The guy was meandering along. I was the 3rd car of 7, so there were also 4 other cars behind me that were having to go just as slow.

At about the half way point, a car in the other lane had stalled, and wouldn't restart. Guess who stops to talk to them... yep, the guy in front of me! I was already quite bothered with this guy's driving pace, and then he stops for a car NEXT to us? Was he going to offer to jump start their car? Visit with them until someone was there to help them out? He stopped for about 20 seconds, which is an eternity on a ride, and just as I almost couldn't take it anymore and was about to yell at this *censored*, he started going. I was still fuming, but kept it to myself. And the thought ran through my mind, "I'm experiencing road rage on Autopia?!" The guy never had the pedal down all the way. Jerk.

Once off the ride and reunited with the rest of the family, I told Anna about our ride. She mentioned she thought, that was a longer ride than usual. It was indeed, the longest Autopia ride I had ever been on, and I was not happy about it. But I got over it (mostly).

After Autopia, we went over to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and walked right on. By the time the ride was done, Disneyland was closing, so we headed home.

It was a fun evening. (Apart from the road rage.) It was a nice distraction from a stressful week.

Our passes will soon be blocked out for the summer, but in the next two weeks, there are a couple days we can go, so we'll probably go once each in the next two weeks. Anna's sister Eva and her boys will be in town soon, so we hope to go with them one of those times before we're blocked out.

Memorial Day BBQ...

Kevin and I decided to watch the UFC fights from the last ppv on Monday (Memorial Day), and since we were going to be doing that, why not bring the whole family and BBQ too?! So we did. Mom and Dad were able to come out too. Anna and I chose to do something different than the usual burgers or carne asada for our BBQ...

Here's our menu:
Grilled pork tenderloin marinated in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.
Grilled italian and crooked neck squash marinated in oliveoil, garlic, cumin, and salt and pepper.
Kevin and Dawn brought watermelon and canteloupe.
Mom and dad brought potato chips.
And for dessert: GRILLED pound cake with ice cream and sliced strawberries.

Oh man, was the food good! I hadn't had pork tenderloin in SO long, and then to have it grilled with that marinade... taste! The grilled squashes were a nice change in side dish. The melons were ripe and juicey. But the big gamble was the grilled pound cake. I had only seen a piture of it plated from a magazine, so I didn't have any directions. I cut it in to 1 inch slices, cleaned the grill, and got to toasting. The first couple got a little dark, but I figured out the timeing pretty quickly, and did the rest with a nice golden brown. Pair that up with the ice cream and strawberries, and our dessert turned out AWESOME! We'll definitely be doing that again! Oh yeah, the kids ate hot dogs.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed your holiday, and ate well too.

My UFC 84 report card...

I got a chance to watch UFC 84 Monday afternoon with my brother Kevin. There were a lot of great match ups on the fight card. I forgot to print out my picks so I could track how I was doing during the fights. It's pretty easy to remember who you've picked to win, but difficult to remember the other details. Anyway, here is my "report card"...

Point Score: 172
Your Ranking: 95 out of 19355

YOUR FIGHT CARD RESULTS: = Correct Answer, = Incorrect Answer, = Bonus Points Awarded
Fight Card/ Your Choices /Winning Method /Round /Minute /Point(s)
BJ Penn Vs Sean Sherk BJ Penn Split Decision 5 5 16
Tito Ortiz Vs Lyoto Machida Tito Ortiz Split Decision 3 5 6
Wanderlei Silva Vs Keith Jardine Keith Jardine Split Decision 3 5 0
Wilson Gouveia Vs Goran Reljic Goran Reljic Technical Knock Out 3 1 22
Thiago Silva Vs Antonio Mendes Thiago Silva Knock Out 1 2 21
Rameau Sokoudjou Vs Kazuhiro Nakamura Rameau Sokoudjou Technical Knock Out 2 3 22
Jon Koppenhaver Vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida Yoshiyuki Yoshida Unanimous Decision 3 5 15
Jason Tan Vs Dong Hyun Kim Dong Hyun Kim Knock Out 1 3 15
Ivan Salaverry Vs Rousimar Palhares Rousimar Palhares Submission (Choke) 1 3 20
Christian Wellisch Vs Shane Carwin Shane Carwin Unanimous Decision 3 5 15
Rich Clementi Vs Terry Etim Rich Clementi Technical Knock Out 3 4 20
POINT SCORE: 172

(The report card indicates what my picks were and if I got them right or wrong.)

Here are the official results...

OFFICIAL EVENT RESULTS:
Fight card /Bout Winner/ Winning Method/ Round /Minute
BJ Penn Vs. Sean Sherk BJ Penn Technical Knock Out 3 5
Wanderlei Silva Vs. Keith Jardine Wanderlei Silva Knock Out 1 0
Wilson Gouveia Vs. Goran Reljic Goran Reljic Technical Knock Out 2 3
Tito Ortiz Vs. Lyoto Machida Lyoto Machida Unanimous Decision 3 5
Thiago Silva Vs. Antonio Mendes Thiago Silva Submission (Other) 1 2
Ivan Salaverry Vs. Rousimar Palhares Rousimar Palhares Submission (Arm Lock) 1 2
Rameau Sokoudjou Vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura Rameau Sokoudjou Technical Knock Out 1 5
Rich Clementi Vs. Terry Etim Rich Clementi Unanimous Decision 3 5
Jon Koppenhaver Vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida Yoshiyuki Yoshida Submission (Choke) 1 0
Jason Tan Vs. Dong Hyun Kim Dong Hyun Kim Technical Knock Out 3 0
Christian Wellisch Vs. Shane Carwin Shane Carwin Technical Knock Out 1 0

All in all, a pretty exciting night of of fights. Out of eleven fights, only 2 went to decision, and only one of those aired. Because so many fights ended early, we got to see 8 out of the 11. That's a lot of fights.

Here's my take on the fights we saw...

The Main Event. BJ and Sean both came out standing and boxing. Both looked to want to establish a stand-up game plan. BJ had a few inches of reach advantage, and that played a key roll in the early rounds. Sean's face was getting pummeled from their exchanges. BJ looked hardly touched. Sean seems to cut easily, and had cuts under both eyes by the end of the second round. BJ had one takedown attempt on Sean, and Sean had several take down attempts on BJ. In the 3rd round, both were still trading punches, Sean looked unusually tired or fatigued and after an exchange, back pedaled all the way to the cage, as he came forward from the spring of the cage, BJ is running up to him, Sean ducks, and BJ lands an excellent flying knee that puts Sean right back against the cage and on his back. BJ follows up with a flurry of punches and looks to finish the fight before the bell. The ref didn't stop the fight, the bell sounded, but Sean could not continue. BJ retains the belt, and becomes the undisputed lightweight champion. BJ was patient, he had great hand speed and accuracy. Great take down defence, and finishing skills. He saw his opening and took it.

Keith Jardine and Wanderlei Silva. This looked like it was shaping up to be a slugfest war. But once the opening bell sounded, Silva was in Keith's face, much like Houston Alexander did in his fight with Keith, and Keith found himself on his heels and then on the floor getting knocked out in less than a minute! I chose Keith in that fight. Oops.

Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida. Both fighters met at the center of the ring after the opening bell, and sized each other up. No real combinations thrown, just single shots. Lyoto seemed to land at will, Tito had a more difficult time landing anything cleanly as Lyoto was VERY ellusive and was able to avoid any real damage. Lyoto has a strong Karate backround, and uses those skills to land punches and kicks from many different angles and land those punches and kicks in many different locations. You may see the kick coming, but you don't know where it will land. Tito was very frustrated with Lyoto's elusiveness (backward and side movement), and the crowd was getting frustrated with Lyoto not standing in front of Tito to brawl. Even when the few times that Lyoto and Tito clinched, Lyoto looked pretty strong. He was able to sweep, and escape without much apparent effort. But if that's not in your game plan, and you're as diseplined as Lyoto is, it's not an option. This wasn't the most exciting fight I've ever seen, but it was nice to see someone with highly technical skills use them so effectively.

I ended up choosing quite a few UFC debuters to win their fights, and I did well with that...

-Wilson Gouviea lost to newcomer Goran Reljic. There were a lot big hits exchanged in this fight. It was Goran that added his up first, and got the TKO.

-Newcomer Shane Carwin wowed the crowd with a superfast knockout win over Christian Wellisch.

-Yoshiyuki Yoshida, making his debut a memorable one by choking out Jon Koppenhaver in under a minute as well.

-Rousimar Palhares took a little longer in finishing his debut fight against Ivan Salaverry. He ended his fight with a wicked armbar in the second minute of the first round.

-One newcomer that didn't do as well was Antonio Mendes. Thiago Silva has a perfect fight record and kept it that way by submitting Antonio in the second minute of the first round.

The next MMA fights I'll be watching...

- EliteXC on CBS Saturday, May31, 9pm eastern time. Fight card.

- WEC on Versus (cable channel), June 1, 9pm eastern time. Main event: Featherweight (145 lbs.) championship fight, Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver Fight card

- UFC 85 on PPV, June 7th. Here's the fight card.

Pinewood Derby... (update)

For our ward activity this month we had a "pinewood breakfast". Breakfast in the morning and pinewood derby car races afterward. Any and all were welcome to put together a pinewood racer for the activity. That activity was this morning.

When the announcement of the activity was made, a question about the "rules" for the pinewood cars arose, and the answer was "all open class" which meant no regulations (which pretty much means, no weight limit). That seemed to make everyone happy.

At first I didn't think I'd be making a car because the activity was the same day as the Scottish fair we go to every year. But as we thought about it, we decided that participating in the ward activity was the way to go. That meant making a car (or two) for our family to enter.

I picked up a couple of pinewood derby car kits from the scout office on Wednesday. I figured I would try making one of them, and if I screwed it up, I had one as a backup. But then Anna showed an interest in making one. I'm glad I had two. Immediately Anna knew she was making a "Nelly", and I decided on a type of wedge design. I have limited woodworking tools, but hoped it would be enough. It was. We both were able to get the shape we wanted, and put a couple of white primer coats of paint on that evening as well.

Thursday, I was able to pick up some spray paint I needed for my design, as well as a "speed" kit for the derby car wheels. I used some silver glitter paint as my base coat (2 coats). I taped off the parts I wanted to remain silver and painted the rest with dark blue. I put two coats of blue on. I didn't want to put too much so that the sparkle of the glitter would still be visible under the blue. Once those were dry, I put 3 glossy clear coats on as well. The body was done!

I used the pieces of the speed kit to bevel and smooth the tires, and file and polish the nail axles. Then used powdered graphite to lubricate the wheels and axles. It took quite a while, but it was my first time too. I'm sure I'll be quicker next time. Anna didn't work on her car on Thursday.

Friday, Anna got home from work and realized she needed to finish her car that evening if she wanted it ready to race the next morning. She penciled the flames on her car and began painting. She did a great job replicating the design of the flames on Nelly. The pinstriping was particularly nice. ( I wish I had known we had a mini pinstriping paintbrush, I could have used it for my car!) Once she was done with the detailing, she put the clear coat on and began working on her wheels and axles. And then went to bed.

Saturday morning, I put the wheels on Anna's car, which had been drying over night. It was good to go. And looking quite nice I might add. I told her that even if her car doesn't win, it'll be the best painted car there. (And it was! Mine was second best.)

There were probably 24 or so cars there for racing. 6 were from one family. Quite a few of the young women in our ward put together cars too. A few were "older" cars that had been raced before. But there were only a few that were adult made for this activity like ours were.

The brother running the races separated the cars into two groups: under 5 oz., and over 5 oz. He was going to initially run like-weighted cars against each other to determine the faster cars in each weight group, so I didn't think anything of it. (btw, I was helping out at the starting line) Races were ran in heats with 4 cars per heat. The car that one the first heat had to win the second heat also in order to move on in the winners bracket. We worked through the "unders" and moved onto the "overs". Both our cars were "overs". Anna didn't win in her heats, but I did, so I moved on. There were only 8 cars that were over, so it didn't take long to determine that my car was the fastest "heavyweight" as it was referred to. My car was juuust over the 5 oz. mark, there was one as heavy as 9 oz. The brother running the races through my car up there in a heat with some of the other winning "unders" just to see how it would do(traditionally, heavier cars don't do too well on this particular track), just for fun. My car won. He ran the same heat again without my car to determine a "real" winner, and moved to the last qualifying heat. After that heat, he declared who the top 3 cars were and that the final two heats would determine the overall winner. That was all fine except my car was not one of those three! I said "what about my car?", to which he said, "It's over the legal weight." I was so taken back that I didn't protest before the first heat was already underway. I then said, "So I have the fastest car here, and I won't win a 'prize' "? He then said, "but everyone knows you had the fastest car." Me, "And I get nothing to show for it?" This was all said in a light hearted manner. I'm not one to raise a ruckus, and it's all for fun, and I don't want or like to be "that guy" after the races, so ultimately, I let it go. Once the first place car was determined, I asked for a head to head race against it. I won both times.

Here are the photos...

My "Flying V"

Anna doing the pinstriping on her "Nelly".

The TRACK! 72 feet long!

That blueish blur is my car winning.

No award for the fastest car.

Anna won $10 at Target for best paint job!

**UPDATE**

5/25/08

Apparently the topic of the race outcome got brought up during a report on the activity. I guess there were some who thought that the races weren't done as described, and expressed that they thought I should have won. Turns out, the brother that ran the races made that weight determination at the last minute, seeing as the majority of the cars were under the regulation weight. As far as I know, the discussion didn't get out of hand, and it was decided that they were glad that it happened to me, and not one of the handful of investigators and less-actives that were in attendance.

The ward mission leader who planned the activity, didn't know about the discrepancy during the activity either, felt bad enough that it happened, that he gave me a "prize" anyway, and apologized. Like I said, ultimately it was all for fun, but it was nice to know that there were those that felt badly for the outcome. It's all good. I'll be back with an even better car for the next time!

Last Day...

Today was Liam's last day of preschool. He's come a loooooong way. He was a handful for the teacher and aid in the beginning, but he eventually got used to a structured classroom environment, and has done quite well in the program overall.

He made cards for his teacher and the aid.

The whole class singing a song about weather.

He jumped up, got his "diploma", and sat down too fast.

Showing off his "diploma".

Liam starts kindergarten July 3rd. (year round school) in the "Vanguard" program. That pretty much means he already knows much of the kinder standards, and this program expands on what the kids already know instead of teaching from the beginning. I guess technically it's considered "advanced" kindergarten. We'll see how well Liam handles a heavier school load. He's still quite a bit head strong, but once he figures out the routine, he should do fine. He'll need to improve his focus too.

This is the same kindergarten program Duncan is now finishing. It's at a school that's not near us at all, so Liam will need to take the bus just as Duncan has. And just because Duncan has taken the bus for this school year and has been fine doing so, it doesn't make me any less nervous for Liam. I believe that Duncan will be continuing in the Vanguard program for First grade, and that it's at the same school he's been going to, so Liam will take the bus with Duncan, and that eases the nerves a little, but only a little. Liam doesn't always want to do what Duncan says, like any younger brother to his older brother.

So yeah, fun stuff.

That aint lip stick...

Last night as we began dinner, Jennan was standing in her chair at the table, and somehow slipped or misstepped and fell off her chair. On the way down she clipped her lip on the edge of the table. She put a nice scrape on her chin and put a lower tooth through her lip as well. Even after cleaning her up, she was quite upset for over 30 minutes. It took putting on a Wiggles DVD to calm her down and get her mind off of her lip. She even eventually ate dinner.

After getting cleaned up last night.

How it looked this morning.

Jennan's fallen out of her chair at the table countless of times. She usually lands on her head one way or another. Even just sitting there eating, she has found a way to fall out of her chair. Maybe it's true, some people are just clumsy or clutsy, and that's just how it is. Maybe we should have encouraged her to crawl a little longer.

Or is it Karma? Jennan just recently sprayed sunblock in Tegan's eye. I know Earl would think so...

My UFC 84 picks...

UFC 84: ILL WILL, takes place this Saturday, May 24th, in Las Vegas. There are some EXTREMELY exciting, and difficult to call, fights happening that night.

The main event is a Lightweight Title fight between current Champ BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk! Many are calling this fight the biggest lightweight fight in UFC history. Sean Sherk was stripped of the title in 2007 for having a banned substance in his system during a fight (he, of course, has an issue with that whole thing, and claims innocence), and feels that no one "beat" him to have the title. BJ won the interim lightweight championship fight against Joe Stevenson, and when Sean was officially stripped of the belt, he became the undisputed champ. There's no love lost between these two, and the fight will answer once and for all, who is the rightful Lightweight Champ!

Let me show you my picks for the whole fight card, and then I'll make some explanations...

Bout / Your Choice
Method
Round
Minute

MAIN EVENT BJ Penn v. Sean Sherk Winner: BJ Penn
Split Decision
5
5

Tito Ortiz v. Lyoto Machida Winner: Tito Ortiz
Split Decision
3
5

Wanderlei Silva v. Keith Jardine Winner: Keith Jardine
Split Decision
3
5

Wilson Gouveia v. Goran Reljic Winner: Goran Reljic
Technical Knock Out
3
1

Thiago Silva v. Antonio Mendes Winner: Thiago Silva
Knock Out
1
2

Rameau Sokoudjou v. Kazuhiro Nakamura Winner: Rameau Sokoudjou
Technical Knock Out
2
3

Jon Koppenhaver v. Yoshiyuki Yoshida Winner: Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Unanimous Decision
3
5

Jason Tan v. Dong Hyun Kim Winner: Dong Hyun Kim
Knock Out
1
3

Ivan Salaverry v. Rousimar Palhares Winner: Rousimar Palhares
Submission (Choke)
1
3

Christian Wellisch v. Shane Carwin Winner: Shane Carwin
Unanimous Decision
3
5

Rich Clementi v. Terry Etim Winner: Rich Clementi
Technical Knock Out
3
4

(Hopefully you can understand the picks the way they are posted.)

For the main event: This really is a tough one to call. Sean is a beast at 155. You don't get the name "muscle shark" for being a slim guy. He's freakishly strong, and have a tremendous work rate, meaning, he remains active in the fight at a pace that most can't keep up with. But Sean wasn't able to put Kenny Florian away in their fight, he won by out working Kenny and remaining "dominant". BJ Penn is a black belt in BJJ (Brazilian JuJitsu), but so are a lot of guys. But BJ can do things with his limbs that most guys cant. His flexibility is off the charts, as well as his muscle control, and take-down defence. He's considered to have heavy hands and great accuracy. He has been known to be lacking in his conditioning though, so that might play a factor in the later rounds, especially against Sean. Ultimately I think BJ will win. I think it will be close, and that each of them will have times of dominance during the fight. I think BJ will win because of his take-down defence. An "attempt" is a fail, and I believe that Sean will have lots of "attempted" take-downs. I think BJ will be able to put Sean in more "danger" as far as submissions, and that BJ will be able to out strike Sean as well. If BJ tires before Sean does though, it might be a completely different story. I can't wait to see what happens!

Another big fight on the card is Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine. Silva just lost a big fight against Chuck Liddell, and Keith beat Chuck Liddell before that, so this is to see where these two line up against each other. Keith has a pretty unorthodox fighting style that's hard to adjust to, and he's got heavy hands. Silva likes to go out there and stand up and trade punches. He's a brawler. It will be interesting to see if Keith stands in there to trade punches, or if he'll try to take the fight to the ground where Silva might be a bit less dangerous. I think it will be a great fight to watch.

In addition to the other big fights is another one with Tito Ortiz battling Lyoto Machida. Lyoto is undefeated with 12 wins! That's almost unheard of at this level of MMA. He's a strong striker and likes to counter his opponents. Tito is a ground and pound guy. He uses his punches to set up take downs, then uses his wrestling to get position, and then unleashes a furious flurry of strikes till you can't defend yourself. Outside of that formula though, Tito is less successful. Ultimately I think Tito will be able to take Lyoto down and beat him there. Lyoto has survived other wrestlers too, so we'll see if Tito can give him his first loss.

Other fights of note...

I'm hoping to see Thiago Silva fight. He beat Houston Alexander quite handily, so I want to see if he can do that to the next guy.

I hope to see Rich Clementi's fight. He's improved vastly since his time on The Ultimate Fighter, and I hope to see him have more success.

Jon Koppenhaver is an exciting fighter to watch, I hope we get to see him fight.

I'm hearing a lot of good things about new-comer Shane Carwin as he makes his UFC debut, and hope that we get to see him in action as well.

I think that covers it. Any and all of this is debatable, and maybe tomorrow I'll have some doubts, but this is how I see it for now.

I'll let you know how I did sometime after Saturday night.

Thanks big sis... (not)

Yesterday, Jennan apparently decided that Tegan needed some sunblock, and sprayed some in her face at point blank range. And when I say face, I mean eye. I don't think Jennan meant to spray Tegan primarily in the eye, but that's what happened.

It was her left eye. It got really puffy and red. The picture was taken a few hours after it happened. It was already looking much better. It was much worse earlier in the day. I used a really wet washcloth to try and "rinse" the eye, but an 11 month old who's already got an eye full of pain, doesn't want to hold still so you can do other things with that eye too.

Today Tegan's eye is back to normal.

Fun stuff! (sarcasm)

Father and sons...

This past Friday and Saturday was our Stake's father and sons overnighter.

I took Duncan and Liam.

We're ready to go!

Normally our "campouts" are located in the backyard, so this was going to be quite different. I think Liam's only been on one other "big" campout, and that was a few years ago when my side of the family all got together for an overnighter near San Onofre.

Liam can be a little head strong, and quite vocal about his displeasure, so I was a little aprehensive about taking him, but ultimately, he needs to go on these things so he can be used to them.

Luckily where we were going was not far. It is a "farm" type place. I guess it's owned and opperated by a family in the Yucaipa Stake (their Stake borders ours on the east). They have a huge real pumkin patch, and also grow a variety of pine trees for Chistmas. They also have a petting zoo.


We got there early (technically we were right on time, but when everyone runs perpetually late, we were early), and chose a spot for our tent in the designated tent area. The boys were a little helpfull, but the distraction of a new place was very powerful.


After setting up the tent, we got in line to let the boys jump on this bungy/trampoline thing. There were no lines at first because no one was really there yet, but there were enough kids that every spot was taken, and because it looks like no one is waiting, they got to jump for a long time. More and more people begin to arrive, and rotations to jump began. Again there's no line, so when one kid finished, there was no clear indication on who's next (sometimes I feel like we're the only parents that are teaching our kids the idea of "someone was here before me, so I go after them"), and we kept getting cut. Eventually there's enough kids that lines are a must, and we get in one. It felt like it took forever for our turn. Liam was having a tough time being patient. Then it's finally our turn, I take Liam's shoes off and put him on the trampoline thing and he says "No, I don't want to go!" (of course), so Duncan's up next and has a great time "jumping big". Oh yeah, the camera was in the tent! Grrrr!



Duncan finishes his turn, we get our pillows from the car to put in the tent, and I remember to put the camera in my pocket.


Dinner time. The Stake was providing all the food, which made me a little nervous. The boys can be pretty picky about their food. Luckily hotdogs were on the menu. For the men, there was steak, so that was pretty cool. It wasn't the best I've had, but it was tasty. Also rolls, potato and green salad, and baked beans. Liam ate a roll and his bun, didn't want the hotdog, and lots of koolaid. Duncan ate his roll, and half of his hotdog, then ate his friend Sam's roll (he asked first).


After dinner, the boys discovered the goat pen. And like most all of the boys at the campout, began feeding them any leaves they could find. No one ever told them no, and everyone else was doing it, and I was already so tired of being the dad that's trying to do the right thing (like asking if it's ok that the boys are feeding the goats), that I just let them.

There were actually about 40 goats in that pen.

Eventually Duncan found the rope bridge someone had put up for the campout, and I was excited that he wanted to try it. I didn't suggest it to him at all. He did great! There was a boy that started on the rope bridge about 5 steps behind Duncan, and the bridge was getting pretty shaky from both boys being on at the same time (again, how is it that this kid doesn't understand waiting his turn?! He was older that Duncan). Duncan did get pretty scared a couple times about falling, but he kept on going and made it to the end.

Oh yeah, in the mean time, Liam is still finding leaves to feed to the goats. I needed a little bit of a break, so I took the boys over to the trailer of a buddy of mine from our ward. He had his dog with him (old english sheepdog-shaved) and had a TV. He was watching the Lakers vs. Jazz game. But he also had cookies and rootbeer. The boys were actually in one place for a while, and I could relax a bit. Chris's son came and said it was time for the program. The stake put on a very cool program with a narrator, simple hymns played by a guitar and fiddle, and a live "slide show". It was about the restoration of the priestood. Very well done. We had some ice cream sandwiches for dessert, I helped Duncan make some smores. (I forgot to take a picture, sorry) We then went back to Chris's trailer and finished the game. Liam and Duncan were both out by the time the game was over, so I hung out with Chris a while longer before carrying the boys to our tent.

Even though our friend Rich was snoring like a bear in the tent next to ours, the boys stayed asleep. I slept pretty ok. I had put up an air matress for us to sleep on, so that was a big help.

The next morning, the sun was up, so then, were we. The boys were in a good mood, and I was glad for that.

We ate breakfast. Or I should say, I ate breakfast. The stake provided breakfast burritos. Duncan ate half of one with just eggs and cheese, and Liam was having none of it. Not even a plain tortilla. All he wanted to do was feed the goats.

After breakfast we packed up our stuff and put it all in the car.

The stake had set up for some father and son games. Really, the games were more geared to slightly older boys and youth, but Duncan wanted to give one a try. Liam just wanted to feed the goats. The game Duncan wanted to try was a race game. (sorry, no pics) The son stands next to a bucket of water with an 8oz. cup. About 20 feet away are the dads, lying on their backs on a bail of straw, with an empty 24 oz. (?) water bottle on their forhead. On go, the sons run over with a cup of water and try to pour as much of it in the bottle as they can without the rim of the cup touching the top of the water bottle. When the cup is empty, they run back to the bucket and get more water. The one who fills their dad's water bottle first wins. Of course the dad's are getting a face full of water, and that was Duncan's favorite part. I don't even think he was trying to win. He wasn't so interested in switching places for the next race though.

After the water race, we were pretty ready to come home. Liam was not too happy about not being able to feed the goats anymore. I think he cried the whole way home.

Later in the day, they both were knocked out on the couch. It was a tiring 24 hours.

Epilogue-

I was in the kitchen washing dishes when Anna saw the boys sleeping on the couch. She asked for the camera. I told her I already took a picture of them. Then what she said next really surprized me... "Did you see your sleeping picture?" I had knocked out on the couch a few hours earlier (Anna had our bed covered in paperwork and stuff, no room to lay down), and had no idea my picture had been taken! Here are those photos...

They got me good.

All in all, it was fun. It was a lot of work to keep an eye on both of them when they are doing different things, but in the long run, it's worth it.

Here's some more random pics from our overnighter.

*sorry about the long entry. I wanted to fit it all in.

I'm the Kung Fu Panda...

Last sunday a bunch of my family got together to celebrate some birthdays and mother's day. Primarily my nephew Hunter (6), but also my sister Kim and myself. Every good party has a pinata, and this was no exception. The kids all took a turn, and then the birthday adults got a crack at it too. Unbeknownst to me at the time, but to my delight, it was all recorded! The first clip is of the kids that wanted a turn (Liam did not want a turn) at the pinata, the second is the adults.

http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w146/kmbr6/?action=view&current=MOV01419.flv

http://s175.photobucket.com/albums/w146/kmbr6/?action=view&current=MOV01420.flv

As you can see, I got a little over enthusiastic about my turn to crush the pinata. But I got the job done!

ps- my favorite part is in the second clip at about 20 seconds left! (sorry) ;P

BTW- I tried putting in an html code to put the photobucket player in the post but it wouldn't work. It said "Tag is not closed" anyone know what to do to fix that? Or how I do it differently? I copied and pasted directly from photobucket, and no go. :( Bummer.

D-land!

We went to Disneyland yesterday evening. I had to go to Fullerton anyway, to pick up some shirts, so we all went, and hopped on over to D-land for a couple hours afterward.

Normally going to Disneyland isn't anything to really talk about. We have annual passes, and go once or twice a month. We tend to go on the same rides each time, and in a very similar order. But Anna has been working on building up Duncan's courage to go on the Matterhorn ride again.

When Duncan was 4 years old, met the height requirement (35"), and was brave enough (or convinced enough), I took him on the Matterhorn. Everything was cool until the ride began, then it got a little scary. It isn't long till the ride is over, and I can start doing "damage control" to convince Duncan that the ride was fun. We were on the left side of the ride that ends nearest the submarines, and if you've ever been on that side of the ride, you know that when it stops, it stops very suddenly. Well, Duncan was not ready for that and his head flew forward bumping the "padded" rail in front of him. He did not like that, and before I could console him, it stopped the second time, and he hit his head again! Same spot! He was in full blown cry mode at that point. Because it was his firt time on such a "big" ride, we had the camera ready...

This was right after the first bump. He's a little upset.

Two knocks to the head is two too many.

Up until a about a month ago, when Anna started putting it in his head that he was a much bigger more brave boy than he's ever been, riding the Matterhorn was out of the question! But he had agreed to go on it again with Mom the next time we were there, and he did! Of course we didn't have the camera with us, we forgot it at the stroller, and since we were doing the "baby/rider change" thing, we were already at the head of the line. No time to get it at that point. But he did fine, and Anna did a great job of helping him find things about the ride he liked, like the colored crystals.

It was also to be Jennan's first time on the Matterhorn, but we ran out of time. While Anna was getting on the ride with Duncan, the line attendant mentioned that in order for all 3 kids to have a single turn, the last one has to be on before the last person in the regular line gets on the ride. (Disneyland was closing at this point obvoiusly.) I thought that would be no problem, but they were putting people through the line at a superfast pace, and sure enough, after I got off the ride with Liam, the ride had closed. Luckily for us, Jennan didn't really know what she was missing, so it wasn't a big deal to her. It'll be her first time next time.

That's hot...

I think you know that I enjoy a great burger. Even though it might just be the perfect food, there are other things to eat inside a bun. (And out of a bun, but that's a different post.)



I'm talking about chicken sandwiches! A good one is just as fulfilling as a good burger. Probably one of my all time favorite fastfood chicken sandwiches is the Charbroiled Chicken Club at Carl's Jr. One of the worst is the 99 cent McChicken sandwich at McDonalds.



Anyway, here's a coupon to get a free medium Coke (though I would guess you could get any of the sodas they offer) with the purchase of a Jalapeno Chicken Sandwich. Maybe not THAT great of a coupon (I prefer the buy one get one free variety), but if you look at the coupon closely, it says "you'll need it". I thought that was pretty funny, so I thought I'd share this with you anyway.


If you can't print that from the blog, you can get it here: http://www.carlsjr.com/coupon/jalapeno_chicken_jpg

If you go and get one and eat it, share with the rest of us what you thought in the comments section.

You're welcome!

Enjoy!

One less tooth...

Duncan finally lost his first tooth!


For those not aware, Duncan has two adult bottom teeth that are growing in behind his baby teeth. The dentist said it wasn't all that uncommon, and that the baby teeth would still eventually be pushed out. Turns out the Dentist was right afterall.




The lower incisor on the right had the first adult tooth grow behind it, and that's the one that loosened first. Ever since the first tiny wiggle, we've been working on wiggling it every day. It was begining to get REALLY loose this week, and Anna thought it was going to come out on Friday, but Duncan was not ready for that yet.

Saturday he kept messing with it in the morning, during Karate, in the van, at the party, and so on till Saturday night, and he was more willing to have it out, and so was Anna.

Anna convinced Duncan to let her use the method her Grandfather used on her when she was a little girl. Tie some floss around the tooth and tug! Of course, she never went into detail like that with Duncan, or he probably wouldn't have gone along with it. But he was letting her, so she kept going. (We were at Anna's folks' house, check the blog entry before this one for the details.)







Once the floss was secure, Anna tells Duncan. "OK, we'll count to 3 and then I'll pull it out. 1-2-3!" *tug* Anna pulls, and the floss slips out of her hand, and the tooth is still in! Duncan's eyes are as wide as can be, and he's got that look of what the heck just happened?!



As quick as can be, Anna grabs the floss again and says, "One more time Duncan, really fast, 1-2-3!! And she tugged that floss so hard, that the tooth came flying out of Duncan's mouth, out of the floss noose, and ricochets off the bathroom wall before it hits the ground! Anna excitedly shouts "It's out Duncan, your tooth came out!"





Duncan feels where his tooth used to be, and it's gone! He does see the blood on his finger, and becomes a little concerned about that. So we have him rinse his mouth, put a wet washcloth on it for a moment, get a drink of water, and he's much better. In the mean time, we put the tooth in a ziploc bag, and tell him the tooth fairy will be coming tonight.

He was already pretty tired from a day of playing, then add the trama of having your first tooth pulled, and then be told the tooth fairy will come after you fall asleep, and he was out within 3 minutes! He was the last of the kids to wake up the next morning, and he was pretty thrilled to find the tooth fairy had indeed come and put a one dollar bill in place of the tooth.

Anna told him she would take him to the 99 cent store, and he could get anything he wanted. He responded with "No thanks mom. I want to go to the pet store to buy a fish and a dog." We told him he could get a fish. I think that's what we'll be doing for family home evening tonight.

The second bottom incisor is barely loose, so that's the next one we'll be working on. When it's ready to come out, we'll see if Duncan opts for the floss method again or not.

My handy work...

Friday afternoon, I realized I didn't really have anything for Anna or my mom for Mother's day, or a birthday gift for my sister Kim. This posed a problem, as we were not going to be home for mother's day, or even home much on Saturday! That meant I only had Friday, and it was half over!

We were going to be at the "compound" (that's the sideyard area next to Kevin and Dawn's house and Kyle and Donna's house which are next to my mom and dad's house) Sunday to celebrate Hunter's, Kim's, and my birthdays, and it happened to be Mother's day as well.

We were also going to be spending the night over at Anna's mom and dad's house Saturday so our drive to El Monte would be 20 minutes instead of 50 minutes. This also gave us a chance to see Anna's folks, particularly Anna's mom, as a pre-mother's day visit.

And we also had a birthday party to go to in San Gabriel on Saturday, in the afternoon. The son of one of Anna's good friends from Cal. State L.A. was turning 3, and we were invited. Anna REALLY wanted to go, so we put that in our plans.

Saturday mornings, Duncan has Karate class.

As you can see, I had to do something pretty easy. I was only going to have friday.

I do a bit of leather working, and decided to put together some coin purses. They're small enough that I could probably do 3 of them that afternoon/evening. So I figured out a pattern, decided on the leather to use, etc., and got to work. I knew I needed to do Anna's first so she didn't see me working on it. If she saw me working on the other ones, I would be able to say they were for something else.

I was ALMOST done with Anna's when she got home from work, but I was able to finish it without her knowing what I was really doing. I kept working on the others till dinner time, and then again after the kids were in bed. I thought they turned out pretty good.

Anna liked the coin purse. I had even stamped "Anna the great" on the back of it.

My mom really liked her coin purse. (Dad really liked it too)

And Kim said, "Where's the money that goes in it?" I think she liked it too.

A New Home...

...for blogs, that is.

Why the move? I've been blogging in my MySpace page for some time now. But in order for you to see it, you have to have a MySpace page. I figure there are plenty of family and friends that are not on MySpace that would probably enjoy hearing about and seeing the goings on with our little family. Therefore, a more "public" blog was in order.

I've titled it "Ken's Bloggy Blog and Stuff". (I couldn't think of anything clever)

Comments will be welcomed and encouraged. (there may be some sort of registration, but I encourage you to do so)

I'll do my best to be funny, witty, clever, and so on. ( but that can be difficult at times, so I can't give you a guaranty, but I'll try)


Let the blogging begin!

This picture was taken at the Petrified Forrest National Park in AZ.