New set of wheels

With the passing of Jim's dad, there has been one item that was a no brainer that we keep for ourselves.  That would be Papa Jim's motorcycle.  He has always been a Harley man.  Back in 1997, he sold his '69 Harley so he could have money to travel to Jim's college graduation.

We had to pay a little extra money to have it properly shipped from California, but it arrived a few weeks ago.

Then it sat in the garage for a few weeks un-touched.

 Jim was able to get into the Motorcycle Safety class a few weeks.  It took up the better part of his whole weekend.  Once he took & passed the class he was then able to get his motorcycle license.  Since then he's been out practicing.  First it was just up and down the drive way.

He's been faithfully practicing almost every single day.  Once he was comfortable with the driveway then he moved to up and down our street.  Then around the block.  Finally he felt ready to take on a passenger.  I am very honored that I was the first person to ride the bike with my man.  Once I had a ride he took all the kids on a short ride as well.  They are beyond thrilled.  Now Jim is taking bigger rides, like 1-2 miles at a time.  Still practicing and getting used to the bike.  We will wear helmets on a regular basis.  He has one on order.

Jim has always wanted a motorcycle.  More from a practical stand point since he commutes to work 30 minutes each way many days a week.  We actually looked at and bought a motorcycle many years ago.  Once we got home though, we realized what we thought was a good bike for a good price wasn't and we called and cancelled the agreement.  So it's been on Jim's radar for many years to get a bike, but we couldn't ever find the right one for the right price.  Although this bike came to us at the price of losing Jim's dad, I can't think of the most perfect bike for Jim. I KNOW Papa Jim is smiling down on us and is very happy that his bike is now his son's.

1st day of school

I know I've said this before, but I am (again) making a vow to be better at updating this blog.  I started this blog to keep family members up to date on our lives since none of our family lives in the same town as us.  Most of my family is within an hour or so from where we live, that helps a lot.  We see them a lot more frequently.  Jim's family though is further away.  His closest relative is 3 hours away, many of them much more than that.

When I started this blog it was at the same time that I joined facebook.  Back then I only had a few friends.  Facebook was still relatively new to the public.  I was actually very leery of it, refused to join it the first few times I had requests.  Anyway, one reason I'm guilty of not updating this blog as much is because of facebook.  I don't post everything on there, but I do post a lot.  I forget that not everyone has facebook or is as addicted dedicated to checking it.  Even if you frequent fb, it's easy to miss things that others post.  I miss stuff all the time.  Anyway.....enough excuses.  Back to updating the blog with the happenings of the zoo.

I know I mentioned that I didn't post A LOT of stuff that went on earlier in the year.  I had every intention of catching you all up.  But I think I'll just start with a reasonable goal.  Making too big of a goal will just discourage me & I'll feel like I can't possibly ever catch up.  So we'll start with the 1st day of school.

Angel, 11th grade & Mandy, 9th grade.  Yes, TWO in high school.

Note:  There is no good picture of Mandy.  I think this one was just bad timing of the shutter, but it's still the best one of the bunch.  Besides the "enough pictures mom!" attitude, she was not too happy about going out into the pour rain storm we had that morning.  It was pitch black and POURING when we walked out the door.  Do you know how much time she spent straightening her hair?!?!?!?!?

Brianna, 7th grade & John, 6th grade.  Yes, TWO in Jr. High.

Andrew, 1st grade.  I haven't had only 1 kid in elementary school for 9 years.  It won't last long. Carmen will join him next year.

He is standing out on the porch about 30 minutes after I took the girls to school.  You can kind of get the idea how icky it was that morning.

Carmen, preschool.  She returns to Bright Futures which runs a 2 year program.

She gets picked up right in front of our house each day.  She started a week after the other kids, hence the bright sunny day.

Our school year is off and going again.  It's full of activities and happenings.  I'm looking forward to another great year!

Papa Jim

I apologize for the delay in posting. I don't mean about the normal everyday stuff (although I should apologize for that too), but about the big news that has been happening in our lives. When I started my other blog She Runs Everywhere this blog took on a new meaning. I don't want to put importance on one vs. the other, but I admit that I post on my other blog a lot more frequently than this one. Anyway, I should have posted sooner about this, but I was wanting to wait until I got the pictures/slideshow ready. Anyway, enough excuses.....

In most recent news for our family, Jim's dad has passed away. We were completely shocked and unprepared. Ha! As if you ever are prepared. In many aspects we are used to not seeing Papa Jim (as he's always been affectionately called by our kids & us). This has helped in a practical sense. Especially for the children. Heck, Andrew doesn't even remember him & unfortunately Carmen never got to meet him in person. This breaks my heart as I grew up never knowing my grandpa either.

It's been quite a heart wrenching time. For a week or so my heart & spirit was very heavy with this news. Even as life moved on I just had this heaviness about me. I suppose that is the grief though. Slowly though that has lifted. I haven't cried in days, although at least once a day I feel like I am going to. I'm an emotional sap anyway so this squeeze on my heart makes me that more susceptible. Jim has handled this differently. We are such complete opposites, you know....I guess that's part of what makes us so great....we balance each other out.

Due to some circumstances Papa Jim was cremated and we will hold a memorial service for him at a later date. Right now, Jim is out in California taking care of all the other business that surrounds this all. As the oldest child he is next of kin and everything defaults to him. I hate when he has to be gone for an extended time (which does not happen often). I miss him a lot.

Here is a slideshow of pictures of Papa Jim. It starts when he is a young boy, then shows him as a young adult then moves to when Jim was a baby and then into some of the visits from when he was a grandpa. I know there is more. I'm having a hard time recovering some of the digital ones that were taken in more recent times. For now, this is good.

If you want to read more of my thoughts/insights on him & this situation you can read about it on my other blog.

Arrrrrrg........Pirates!

A few years ago we became aware of & involved with an organization called Prairie Players.  It's a free volunteer led community theater.  I really have no clue how I went so many years & didn't know about this group.  Once we got involved we....ok, maybe more I, became hooked.  The first summer the kids were involved in the production of The Music Man.  Then the last two summers I was involved in The Sound of Music & All Shook Up.  They put on many other smaller productions through out the year, but my schedule does not allow me to be involved.  Summer works best for me to be able to go to evening rehearsals, so for now it's the only time I will even audition to be in a production.

This year I almost didn't try out for the musical.  I knew that it was going to be The Pirates of Penzance and I had watched a movie version of it month previous and was not impressed at all.  I was just put off by it.  As auditions drew near I talked myself into at least trying out.  Never hurts to try, right!?!?!?  I was cast as a governess.  That role doesn't even exist within the script, but the director created it for a select few of us because unless you were late teens/early 20's there was no roles available except for the lone Ruth role.  As the director pointed out, back in the 1800's, no woman of proper upbringing and with a prominent father would ever be out in public without her nanny/governess.  Since he cast 9 daughters he allowed 3 of us old more mature in years women to fill the governess roles.

I was pre-warned about this director.  I knew nothing of him until this musical and what I was warned of didn't bother me at all.  I felt up to the challenge.  It's not that he's all big, bad & scary.  He is just extremely strict & has a very high standard of what he expects from us personally, musically & theatrically.  He was taking on a very challenging musical score and would settle for nothing less than the best this community had to offer.  Challenging is right on when it comes to the music.  My younger years of music training served me well and I, along with the cast, rose to the occasion and we had a fantastic performance of this show.  We have all heard rave reviews about our performances last weekend.  Hailed as one of the best this community has ever seen.  In essence...we were awesome : )

Here is a slideshow of pictures to help capture the show.  Several hundred pictures were taken, but I tried to narrow it down.

Also for those who don't live locally I was able to get some video clips during one of our dress rehearsals.  If you are really interested in seeing the whole show I can loan you a DVD copy of the show that was taped professionally.  However to keep from copyright infringement I was not able to video record the whole show.  Not to mention my camera is not of professional quality so it's not the best video footage, but it gives a good view and an idea of what we put on.  If you want to see those video clips you can go this Youtube account and see what I have posted.  Just remember some songs and dialogue are missing, but what I did get I listed them in order of the show from end to beginning.

I am so glad that I tried out for & was able to be a part on this musical (technically it's an operetta, but we still refer to it as a musical).  The director, cast and crew were phenomenal to work with.  So far, my best experience by far with musical theater.  Next summer they are putting on the King and I....I can't wait!!!!

Birthday Buddies

My birthday was over a week ago.  It was a very busy, crazy weekend for it to fall on.  Then again, my life is always busy, crazy so this is nothing new.  In a nutshell I spent Saturday & the beginning part of  Sunday in Muscatine, my home town.  Saturday was spent visiting with family & friends & was very relaxing.  Sunday I woke up at 4 a.m. so I could meet up with a running friend and we ran 17 miles from Muscatine to West Liberty.  Then (just for the fun of it) we raced a 5k.  Yes, that is my idea of a good time!!!!

Once I got home to Galesburg we went to church and then had to go in many different directions.  Angel had to ready & left for a week of counseling at church camp.  Mandy had a youth group skiing/tubing trip.  Brianna had to babysit.  I had musical rehearsal for the rest of the day.  We barely had time for lunch and even at that we weren't all together for it.  Also had just enough time for Jim to give me my birthday present.  I had no clue he was even getting me something.  He got me a very nice, new camera.  It's not quite the $500 one that I want, but it is certain a step up from the point and shoot the I currently have.  It is VERY nice!  (Score point for the husband!!!!)

In the mean time a good friend of mine went into labor and  her baby was born that evening....on MY birthday.  Having a birthday buddy is no new concept for me.  I've had once since the day I was born.  Elaine Stewart was a lady in my church who also has a birthday on July 15.  For as long as I can remember I was always her birthday buddy.  We've always remembered and celebrated this great day that we share.  I remember as a kid it being such a big deal that I was lucky enough to have the same birthday as this fine lady.  Once I was married there was a family in my church who had their daughter born on July 15.  Fast forward several years later & my cousin gave birth to her daughter on July 15.  I'm telling ya, I know I'm a little biased, but July 15 is a GREAT day to be born.  I was beyond excited to have baby Liam born on this great day as well.

Here is a picture of Elaine & I, my original birthday buddy.  This is actually a very recent picture.  I had been back home the week before our birthday to visit my home church and made sure we had our picture taken together.  It's actually the only picture I have of us together.

Here is a picture of Liam & I.  He's less than 24 hours old in this picture.  I couldn't be there when we was born, but I got up there as soon as possible.  The fact that I am actually good, close friends with his parents makes it more exciting.  I get to see & be a part of this little guys life!  I want to have that same special bond with him that I had with my birthday buddy!

Camp pictures

Here are just a "few" of the pictures we have. I had to split it into 2 shows because it only allows 100 pictures per show. Most are self explanatory. Enjoy!

Home sweet home

Vacation was WONDERFUL!!!!  I have much to tell you and much more to be done here at home, not on a computer.  For now I'm working on a slideshow as I type to post for you all to see.  I have so many pictures to show everyone that I can't possibly post them all.  So be patient, I will get it posted soon!  In the mean time, one very special event that happened is that Andrew went off the zipline for the first time in his life.  It has been the talk of the YEAR about him finally being able to ride down this rite of passage for camp.  You'll see some pictures, but here is the video of him going off.