Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween

Tonight we went to a Halloween party of sorts. We started out at one home with a group of friends and all the kids loaded up in the back of a tractor and we went from neighborhood to neighborhood trick or treating to end up at another home that had dinner. Yea! We had all dropped of our food earlier so when we got there at 7:00 we had hot chili, spaghetti, corn bread, chips, etc. Then it was off again to trick and treat some more. The boys came home with 2 huge bags of candy.

Here is Kevin and Kyle at grandma & grandpa's house. Kyle changed clothes into this other costume as it was cold tonight and he knew he would freeze in this one. But isn't he a cute geek?
One of the moms had wigs for us other moms to wear. Don't we look like we are having fun.
Here is a picture of most of the kids before getting on the trailer. Kyle is now a 7-Eleven clerk.

Pumpkin Patch

I'm a little behind on the blogging. We went to the pumpkin patch last Sunday. We went on the hay ride tractor and walked on the pumpkins. Oh yeah, we also had some roasted corn, yum yum goooood.

Kyle and Kevin as pumpkins.
"mom, we're done with the thing...."
My guys.... waiting for everyone to load up.
Our family picture. We had a passerby take the picture. They did not fully focus but this is the best of the four she took.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Kyle's Birthday Dessert

Today we went to Baba's house for Kyle's birthday dessert with the family. We had 25 people there from Kyle's great grandma to great uncles and aunts, cousins, cousins kids. Its a blast when we all get together.

Kyle and Kevin on Baba's couch after cake. Kyle has his rubik's cube. He bought it with money from his nana and papa for his birthday.
Kyle with his cake and cupcakes aunt Kelli made. The cupcakes had parts of a Hershey's bar in them, so good.
This is aunt Kelli and Kimber. Aunt Kelli makes cupcakes, all sorts of cupcakes and they are all good. Kimber is the "little sister" that Kyle and Kevin love to play with.

Kyle's Birthday Dinner

Kyle loves Chang's Mongolian Grill so for his birthday he got to pick the restaurant and Chang's is where we went. Here is Kyle with his food. I made him wait until I took the picture before he could dig in.Here is Kevin with his plate. You will notice it is mainly pineapple. Chang's is not Kevin's favorite. But he was a good sport since there is ice cream at the end.
Kyle with his mom, enough pictures look. He got a big bowl of ice cream.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Kevin Scout Meeting

Monday night at Kevin's scout meeting the boys dressed up their den leaders as a book character. Kyle volunteered to get dressed up and of course the den leader was all for that. Kevin's den could not agree on one character so they brought different items and made Kyle "Harry Potter spell gone wrong." Aren't the two of them so cute.

Happy Birthday Kyle

Yesterday was Kyle's 12th birthday. Chris still remembers when I called him at work and asked him when he was going to take lunch so he could come home and take me to the hospital. He said he would come home right away and not wait for lunch. Kyle was born 7 hours later. We stayed at the hospital for two days and then came home. Two days later we went back to the hospital because Kyle had jaundice and stayed for another two days.

Here is Kyle's official hospital photo and below is his school picture for this year. He's growing up to be a very handsome young man.

Love ya dude.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Birthday Fun

Here are the boys watching Iron Man. I made them stop watching and smile at me, they did grin but immediately went back to the movie.
I filled the table with snacks and soda for them to have for the rest of the night. The plan is, from what I understand, is to stay up all night and watch another movie and play the Wii and XBox. I will let you know how well they did in another post.
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Homecoming Game - Theirs (and Kyle's birthday party)

Tonight we went to "their" homecoming game. This was Chris' high school and the school the boys and their buddies will go to when they get to high school. It was not cold but it was rainy. This was also part of Kyle's birthday party. We started at grandma & grandpa's and had pizza. Then we all climbed into the cars and went to the football game. Here are the boys at the beginning of the game. The stands progressively became more crowded as the game started but emptied out quickly after the half time homecoming festivities.

The boys had a fun time. We left in the 4th quarter with 5 minutes left and the other team had just scored and was now ahead. When I posted this, we did not have the final score yet. Although I do have to admit, it would not hurt my feelings none if they lost their homecoming game too.


Homecoming Game - Mine

Okay, I'm a little late with some of my posts. Last Friday was my high school's homecoming game and I made my family go. Yes, actually I had to beg and plead to go to a football game in this football crazy house because it was not "their" high school's game. Anyway, we met up with an old friend, Nate and his wife and family. They have two adorable little girls and of course, I did not take pictures of all of us.... But I did catch the boys being silly.
We had a good time catching up and running into old friends and if you could not tell, it was COLD that night. I think it was the reason we lost. Not really but it sounds good, doesn't it. Smile.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Colonscopy

Today I was talking to a co-worker from Florida and told her I needed a laugh. She sent me this and it was PERFECT! Enjoy the giggles...

Dave Barry's Colonoscopy Journal:

... I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an
appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed
me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over
the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis.

Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough,
reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really
hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO
STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!'

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for
a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a
microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it
to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's
enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous.
Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In
accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I
had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor.

Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder
together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water.
(For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.)

Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because
MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and
urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great
sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose watery bowel
movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off
your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but:
Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep
experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the
commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the
bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you
figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of
MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the
future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my
wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried
about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of
MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you
apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and
totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a
room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little
curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital
garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on,
makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand.
Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already
lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep.

At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered
what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom,
so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no
choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where
Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the
17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I
was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side,
and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my
hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was

'Dancing Queen' by Abba. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that
could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' has to be
the least appropriate. 'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from
somewhere behind me.

'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time,the moment I had been dreading for
more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am
going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, Abba was shrieking
'Dancing Queen! Feel the beat from the tambourine ...' and the next moment,
I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was
looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even
more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had
passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.

COLONOSCOPIES
Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during exams were quite
humorous...... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments
made by his patients (predominately male) before or after their
colonoscopies:

1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!

2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'

3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'

4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'

5. 'You know, in Arkansas, we're now legally married.'

6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'

7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'

8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'

9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!'

10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'

11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'

12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'

13. 'How far up did you go? I now have a sore throat.'

And the best one of all..

14. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is
not up there?

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Soccer Pictures

Kevin at soccer last week. Look at that sun. It was gorgeous.
Kevin at soccer this week. It was wet!! and cold.
Kevin as goalie throwing that ball back out into play.

Week in Review

The week in review....

Monday, I had a Renton Class of '89 reunion committee meeting. We've almost set a date and a location then we can start planning the fun stuff and leave the finding classmates and dealing with the menus and facility to someone else.

Kevin had a Cub Scouts meeting that Kyle helped at. Almost forgot about that meeting, remembered at 10:00 so Kevin did not have his uniform. We're also selling popcorn if anyone is interested in buying.

On Tuesday, I had a Renton Little League baseball meeting. We're getting ready for the 2009 season. Our general membership meeting to elect the new board is in a couple of weeks. I can't believe I'm planning for spring ball in October.

Thursday was soccer practice day for Kevin and Kyle helps out there too. Kyle joined the basketball club at school and played basketball after school was done. He's so funny, he can't believe how out of shape he got over the summer with no gym or sports. He does not have gym until next semester. The biggest event of the night was Chris going to the "Wrap" party for Sig Hanson (see the post below).

And today is Saturday which means soccer and football. Kevin played soccer in the pouring down rain. I mean it was pouring. One of the first time parents asked if I thought they would stop the game early since it was cold and rainy. I thought, poor man, soccer does not stop. I'll post some pictures once I get them from Chris. Then of course we watched the UW Husky game, which they lost. But we're purple and gold in this house all the way until the end. Maybe next year.

Deadliest Catch - KOMO TV - Sig Hansen...

Okay for a bit of a setup to this....


Chris's Uncle Mike, an attorney has a client and family friend who owns a chain of Mexican restaurants called Torero's. They were shooting a TV commercial there last week and wanted a group there eating lunch to use as "extras" so they invited Mike's entire office down and a few others. Chris gets there and the cameraman is an old friend, Mark. Mark is married to Debbie, not only a very old friend of Chris' but they also dated in high school (yeah this is really going way back). Mark works for KOMO TV and has for a long time and Chris sometimes bumps into him at Fisher Plaza when he is there for meetings or doing his radio show.

The funny part was that morning Mark tells Debbie that he is shooting a commercial at Torero's in Renton, Deb says hey the first time I went out for Mexican food was with Chris at the Torero's in Renton. So Mark thought it was pretty funny when Chris walked in. Mark was part of the crew from KOMO TV that just finished up a special on Sig Hansen and the Northwestern of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" that is taking the world by storm. Mark was one of the people behind the scenes of this special and they were having a "wrap" party for the crew and cast to watch the show as it aired Thursday night at the Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls. Mark invited Chris to tag along and meet Sig. Apparently he had a good time, didn't make it home until well after midnight and had quite a few stories about Sig to share.


Here is a pic of Chris and Sig


And here is Mark with Sig