stuff we're doin'

First, I have to start with the pictures I took before church on Sunday. The girls are just too darling in their dresses outside.


Last night we went candle-pin bowling for family home evening. It's a lot different from regular bowling. You get to bowl 3 times a frame and it's a lot harder to make the pins knock each other down. David won with 81, then me with 64 and I think Grace had a 45. At the very end, we figured out how to do it a lot better, so hopefully our scores will break 100 the next time. Being from Lander, Wyoming, it is shameful to have a score less than 100! I haven't been bowling for ages. I avoid it because I get "bowler's butt." Maybe you don't understand bowler's butt, but basically, your left "cheek" hurts like heck the next day from swinging your weight to it all night. I thought I was safe with candle-pin because the balls are much lighter and you don't have to throw them so hard... not so... I can't walk today. David calls me his BBB - bowler's butt babe. Seriously though, my hip hurts. It doesn't help that both Grace and Harriet burrowed a hole in it when I was pregnant. I'm going to have to start bowling with the under-hand straddle technique! (and no, I'm not throwing Hattie down the lane here...)
Grace had an absolute blast. It was her first time bowling. She bowled a pretty good game too (gutter guards on.) She also had a great time at the arcade. I forgot how much I love an arcade. I could play skee-ball all night. Hattie had a pretty good time too. She wanted to pick up the bowling balls and toss them herself. We had to keep her away from the fast-rolling bowling balls coming up the tracks though.

Today, Grace went to her second swimming lesson of the summer. She LOVES the water and loves learning how to do new things. She is getting much braver and much better about using her water skills. I hope she can actually swim a few strokes on her own soon so I don't have to worry about her so much in the water. Now, we're prepping for more company - the last of the summer. Where did summer go? It's almost over and I'm just getting started!

A night at Fenway

Well it has been a week since we took the whole family with Jared and Tara to catch a Red Sox game. It was Harriet's first game and Grace was enjoying her second Fenway action. Unfortunately we didn't have enough tickets that were together, so Jared and I took one for the team and sat in the seats under the infield grandstand. It was rough being so close to hear the ball hit the mitt, but someone had to do it. Meanwhile the womenfolk were out enjoying a nice summer night in the right field.

Eventually in the sixth inning we were able to consolidate at our seats in the infield. Grace enjoyed cheering for the Blue Jays and egging on her daddy, but I know she really is a Red Sox fan. I can say that both of my girls know how to charm the crowd.



Harriet was having a great time for the first few innings. After that though all I can really say is that Harriet outlasted Julian Tavarez. Unfortunately the Red Sox lost which means Jared and I are 0-2 watching the Red Sox together. Despite the loss, it was fun. Fenway really is a fun ball park and I can't wait for our next game on Labor Day. If only I could see someone besides the Blue Jays.



The next night Jared and Tara returned to see a Red Sox victory. So at least they were able to see a victory.

Ambition

I had to post about this little chipmunk. He really wanted to get to the food in our bird feeder. He tried yesterday and couldn't figure it out. However, he was back today and he finally succeeded. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of his triumphant victory, but I got to hand it to the little guy. Let's hope the goldfinch pair don't mind sharing their loot with the chipmunk.

Bad picture? There are no bad pictures of Michelle!

See. The famous picture of Michelle eating ice cream was taken during the summer of 2007. The photographer, Chappo, thought that this model was the crowning moment of his photographic career, and notice how the people are enjoying it as if they can taste the ice cream.

Basketball, Basketball, Basketball

Today Jared, Tara, Grace, and I drove the 75 minutes to Springfield to visit the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Despite having lived here for over 2 years and having driven past the Hall of Fame a couple of times it took Jared to get me to make the trek. Grace was excited about the "Basketball Museum" and she was a trooper. She got bored as I walked around the shrine level reading about the inductees, but as we got to some interactive items later on she had fun. While it wasn't a religious experience for me, it was interesting to read about some of the people and the history of basketball. I'll have to go back when John Stockton becomes eligible.

On a side note, Jared is becoming Grace's best friend. She didn't want daddy to hold her hand she wanted Jared. All I was good for was holding her hat. I also played a couple of games against Jared and while I lost it reminded me of the Shasta days back in junior high. I lost to Jared then and I lost to Jared today. But, I am winning this week in fantasy baseball. Let's hope I keep it up, so that I can get some payback.

Take a look at the pictures on Flickr.

TERRIBLE PICTURE!

I cannot believe that David put that picture of me eating ice cream on our blog. The worst part is, that there isn't a better one to replace it! I just went through our 10,000 some-odd pictures and, apparently, I HAVE TAKEN all of the pictures in the last 5 years except for the rare occasion when David gets a photo of me eating. I do have pictures of me with the kids here and there, and lots of me leading a pony with a kid on top, but none just of myself. I guess I am going to have to get dolled up and have someone take a glamor shot of me so that I have a decent picture to put up. I guess I could go search for those school pictures I had taken when I was a high school teacher. They're decent, but they drudge up memories of a job I've left in the past for a reason. I guess, at least, that he didn't post a naked picture or something... (not that there are any of those either - I might take a naked shot over one of me eating... well, maybe not these days...)

Baby Steps

Michelle will probably want to add to this, but on July 3, Harriet took her first steps. It wasn't much. Just a couple of steps to span about a foot, but it was her first steps. We now are 10 days later and progress hasn't been as fast as I would like, but before the end of the month we will have a toddler instead of an infant. She already is quite the explorer and loves going up stairs so we will have our work cut out for us to keep her from making a huge mess and endangering herself. It won't be long before she is out running around with Grace.

You're right, I will add to this. 2.5 weeks later, and Hattie is still an almost walker. She's doing more each day, but it's slow. She's standing on her own quite a bit. Hopefully she'll be walking well by the end of summer.

Look who came to visit

Well June and July this year have been very busy. It started with visits from Grandma Debbie and Aunt Em while Michelle had jury duty. Then after a week downtime we had some of my family including Janie who came out to do horse camp with Grace. Well after all the family we finally have some friends visiting. And you know what I always say, "Friends welcome, family by appointment only!" While that isn't really true it is nice to have some friends visit. I know that if it weren't for conferences and the Red Sox that Jared and Tara probably wouldn't be out here, but I can live with that. It will be a fun filled weekend so stay tuned for the adventures.

Got Moose?

Well it has only been a month and 4 days since I got back from my high adventure trip to Maine. It was a lot of fun as 7 of us went up north to Maine to climb Mount Katahdin and do some white-water rafting on the Penobscot River.

The trip was incredible. I was very impressed with Katahdin after having been less than overwhelmed by some of the White Mountains. I am a Rocky Mountain native after all. The knife edge was very fun and the weather was perfect for my weekend in Maine. The trip started out a little rough as I had to give a group talk at work in the morning and that made me a little late for the rendevouz. Then, as we start driving on the freeway my car starts shaking because a tire is out of balance. The tire stemmed for a slow leak that I thought I would fix with "fix-a-flat". Long story short, don't use that stuff. We ended up stopping at a service station in South Lawrence and getting the tires rebalanced and rotated. Sum total of 75 minute delay.

But, we finally made it up there. We stayed at the New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket, ME which I highly recommend. The food was great and the price was very reasonable. On Friday we headed up to Baxter State Park to climb Katahdin. I really enjoyed the hike. Take a look at my Katahdin Album on Flickr to see pictures taken by Spencer and me. Some great views. I would go back and do it again tomorrow if it wasn't a 6 hour drive. The hike started out slowly with about a 2 mile hike along the river up to some cabins and a lake. Then it got interesting as we climbed straight up the face to get to the ridge. We ate lunch on the peak while enjoy perfect 65-70 degree weather and then headed out across the knife edge. A few reckless actions with our lives and then down the mountainside. All in all a success except for some minor knee pain coming down.

The next day I was gearing up for some white-water rafting. The Penobscot is one of the better rivers to run on the east coast and the rapids were pretty fun. We had two class V's and one class IV. I can say that I stayed in the boat, but that can't be said for everyone and I helped haul several people into our boat after they fell out of our boat or some of the other boats on the trip. The highlights were probably see Spencer surf the raft down several rapids and the whole crew surfing one of the rapids. It was a short trip, but it was a lot of fun. Next year perhaps we will go sea kayaking.

I should add one more note. Good thing I am not Senor Chappo as the border patrol set up a stop on I-95 and all cars had to go through it. Luckily my accent must be good because I wasn't asked to show ID.

Ponies Rule!

Grace’s little cousin, Janie, is just as horse crazy as we are. She has been planning a trip to our house for over a year now to go to horse camp with us. The barn where I work runs a summer day camp that is pretty cool. You have to be 6 years old and she came to the first week of camp after her 6th birthday. Grandma decided to help her get here, so Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Christine left SLC about 3 weeks ago and headed to Denver. In Denver, they picked up Aunt Jane, Janie and Evan (and their car) and headed East.

They all got to our house Sunday night 2 weeks ago. The first week they were here, Janie, Grace, and I went to horse camp at our barn every day. I taught some of the riding lessons (not theirs) at camp while they went to camp. They are both tiny, young, beginning riders and went to our “Ponies Rule!” program. There, they were in a class of 8 riders with an instructor, 4 counselors, and 3 ponies, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Peppe. Everyone knows that Tink is Grace’s favorite pony and the one she calls her own. I have schooled her for months on sharing Tinkerbell and she was all set to let the other kids ride her. However, I wasn’t prepared that she wouldn’t want to share Peppe! She had a few disappointing moments when she really wanted to ride Peppe and couldn’t.

During Ponies Rule! The kids get to have a 45 minute riding lesson every day in a small class of 3. They also learn how to clean stalls, groom a pony, put tack on and off, etc. They do a few other campy type activities like arts and crafts and singing. This year they learned the cutest song set to a “Sound of Music” song – the one about “these are a few of my favorite things.” Just so I have it written down somewhere, I’m going to type in the words here…

Clinics and riding and mucking out stalls,
Learning to ride and learning to fall,
Swimming and ponies and all sorts of stuff
Riding at Hybid Farm isn’t so tuff.

When the horse bites,
When I fall off,
When I’m feeling sad,

I go to my pony and give him a hug,
And then I don’t feel, so bad!
There are 2 rules at camp: You are not allowed to say "can't" or you have to ride backwards! and, if you fall off, you have to bring your instructor chocolate. It looks like Janie had to ride backwards. I think Grace did too. Neither had to take their instructor chocolate, but I did receive chocolate as an instructor from one of my students.

Each day after they are finished with their ponies and chores, we head over to the pool for lunch and swimming. Grace isn’t a good swimmer yet, but Janie is a fish! Grace wore a lifejacket so she could keep up with some of the other kids. At the age of 4, Grace is by far the youngest kid to go to camp. Of course, her mother was there with her to deal with the 4 year old stuff like temper tantrums and going potty and watching to make sure she didn’t drown!

By about Wednesday, the kids were getting pretty worn out from the hectic schedule of getting up early every day and having so many physical activities. They were troopers though and finished out the week well.

I know Janie was especially sad to leave the barn on the last day of camp because she knew she wouldn’t be coming back for a long time. So, the next week, when most of the ponies were “on vacation” at a camp-out in NH, I took Janie and Grace AND Evan back over to the barn for a farewell ride. I could NOT believe how much the girls had learned at camp. They really had learned to ride. Janie was amazing – quite the little horsewoman, and Grace had learned so many things I hadn’t taught her yet. I had no idea she was ready to learn so much. I’m going to have to do more with her. Even Evan who had been too scared to ride or even touch the horses got on Peter Pan and had a ride before going back to Colorado. I was really proud of him too.

Who brought the Ultra Charmin?

We just finished up a visit from my family. It might have been a little crazy to host my parents, Christine, Jane and her 2 kids at the same time, but I'll take feast over famine everyday. With 10 people and 2 dogs in the house it made for some interesting times, especially in the bathroom. Careful scheduling and we didn't have too many problems, but I have to warn the rest of you that if the Chapman clan gets together in large numbers beware the clog! In 2005 at Brian's house with everyone there we had a toilet incident that ended up overflowing and sending water down through the ceiling into the dining room. Well now I have my own toilet experience. It was a nice Friday and I was coming home from work after only working a half day when the call came, "David, there is slight issue with the toilet."

Sure enough, when I got home a very clogged toilet was awaiting. Two augers and two hours later and the decision was made to remove the toilet. That was going to be the only way to get the toilet unclogged. So the toilet came off. To make a disgustingly dirty story family friendly, let's just say that there was a clog and it was cleared.

Just beware if you invite more than one of us to your house that you take proper precautions.