Time for Confession...

Okay, time to 'fess up. On our trip, I taught the kids how to play 'Oreo Poker'. We played 5 card draw, seven card stud, with and without wild cards. I know I am a bad father, corrupting my kids, but we had lots of fun. I figure that if I have started them on a slippery slope of gambling degeneracy, the results will be obesity, not poverty. Sometimes you just have to pick your poison.

What are we Going to Do With These Kids????

I just don't know what to do with this generation. Leone ignores everything I say because her head is in her ICLOG, or IHOG, or whatever those durn things are called. Just can't unhook her from her gizmo!

Giving Thanks

Having a Gymnast for a Son Means Position Tolerance While Listening

This year we gave thanks by living thankfully. Chase, Krista, Josh and I took to the road, a 1,200 mile camping trip across the Florida peninsula. We lived as Traci liked to live: seeing new things and riding rollicking roller coasters. We coastered through Busch Gardens in Tampa and Universal Studios in Orlando. We endured park-wide tinny Christmas tunes at Busch Gardens in 85 degree sunshine. We visited the new and improved Kennedy Space Center, went to Coco Beach on Thanksgiving day, and ate Thanksgiving dinner at IHOP. We skipped St Augustine to get back home to visit with family longer.

Josh is now 54" tall and can ride all coasters. He was afraid of the Hulk coaster, however, so he shrunk down to stay off it. That night I bought him 'platform' tennis shoes, and put a 3/4" duct tape heel riser in it to keep my 'shrinking son' on the roller coasters! He liked the other ones he went on.

What part of "Don't Feed the Animals" don't you understand?

Good looks + Attitude

You are going on the ride, young man!!!

This talking fountain converses with you, then squirts you!

The bad guys from the Sinbad show.

Yes, we even went on the water rides in November! (Don't tell Grandma Jacobs)
We encountered some strong winds in our campgrounds.

Somebody isn't cool enough to stand close to somebody else.
Chase woke up right about here.

Our Campgrounds were beautiful.

The fishing was pretty good some of the days.

Ask me if I wasn't tempted to send them into space!!!

This was a water suspended constellation globe the kids could rotate.

We were lucky in that the shuttle Atlantis is on the launch pad (behind the kids in the distance) for next weeks space station launch.After the Space Center, the kids wanted to go to the beach. We drove down to Cocoa Beach to let them play in the surf on Thanksgiving Day.

The water was cool but the air and sand were warm. They dug at low tide....

...but soon got flooded out.

Nothing but the best for our Thanksgiving dinner!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are traveling this Thanksgiving. This is our second away from home, and I think it'll become a tradition. Holidays are hardest w/o Mama, and being on the road is a fun and different way to celebrate. Here's our 07 itinerary:

Sat to Mon: Busch Gardens, Tampa FL
Tues Wed: Orlando Universal Studions
Happy Thanksgiving!!! Kennedy Space Cnt
Fri: St Augustine Florida: oldest town in USA
Sat: home, unpack, wash up, share stories.
To prepare, Krista and I made two batches of Mama's homemade cornbread stuffing. We're leaving some for Genean & David's families, and taking the rest for our "Camper Thanksgiving Feast."
Thankful? You bet. This year in particular...
A loving family that spans dimensions physical and spiritual.
Older children who help me raise younger children.
Younger children who keep me going.
Grandchildren I can dote over.
Patients who come in and become random friends.
A furry girlfriend who always wags her tail when she looks at me.
Decreasing deaths in Iraq.
My Ipod library.
May your Thanksgiving bring hearts and minds to home, country, religion, and family.

More Photos

Sandpile furniture.

Krista making her sandpile city.
We camped at Pigeon Forge Tenn in Mid October (Krista brought a friend, Megan)


The labels didn't stick on the last photos... I'll try again. Chase and I did paintball. He is second from right.

Recent Photos

Halloween at my office...my staff dressed up.
Charlie's Angels with style...
Josh likes to wall walk.

Josh by our new fountain. Traci always wanted one, so we built it last month.
Oa loves me for my cool pens.
Recent Photos

Book Recommendation #1

Audiobooks are my hobby... brainfood that fills commuting and other empty hours. (Chases does too... He's listening to Orson Card's "Enders' " series). I'll recommend my favorites. This week:
The World is Flat (#3, 2006) by Thomas Friedman. Highlights:
1. Internet makes world flat and feeds multinational company growth (a very good thing)
2. Outsourcing creates middle classes in India, China, Uruguay, and other poor countries
3. This stabilizes governments, democratizes them (China isn't very communist b/c of Hong Kong and it's love of capitalism), and increases cost of war so much it promotes peace (ex. India/Pakistan nuclear showdown 2002). "There's never been a war in a country that has a McDonalds".
4. Geopolitical hot spots are places that haven't b/c part of world supply chain and info network (N Korea, Palistine, Iran, Venezuala, Saudi Arabia). Most are oil nations. Oil nations are cursed b/c they don't educate their people, distribute wealth, or culturally open societies. We'll only disarm their terrorists when we get off drinking their oil.
5. Our education system has to compete with the world, not the school district next door. Jobs of the future will all be worldwide.
There's lot more.... a good read. Changed my ideas about some thing.

Yesterday Krista and I made Mom's special cornbread stuffing. We'll be in Florida for Thanksgiving (a new tradition: camping over Thanksgiving), but we'll have our favorite stuffing! More to come!

First Effort

Jared directed me here, and since this is likely the only way you'll be getting letters and pictures from me, the only way I'll keep a journal, and the only way I'll actually organize my random thoughts on a periodic basis, I thought I'd give the blog a try. Observation 1: write shorter sentences, Dean. Got it. It'll take a while to get the hang of this, but bear with me. This is an old guy trying a young folks' form of communication.
I have a pile of sand in the front yard reigned over by Benevolent King of the Mound Smith. I was going to landscape with it, but all the kids are having so much fun with it that I'll wait 'til spring.