Legoland - Pictures

Watching the 3D Lego Racers Movie

Lego Boats - these are not on tracks...you really drive the boat.
Heroes wanted...Firefighters competition


Rapture Splash..one of the funnest things at Legoland. Waterballoon fight.

Goofy boy.

Tomorrow is Legoland. This is our second year that we have ended our summer at Legoland. How fun this is? If you don't know what Legoland is...for shame. It is an amusement park in San Diego, CA that is most made from and based on legos. My kids are 10 and 8 and their creative juices thrive when they play with legos. This is great fun and I will post pictures from Legoland next week.

Have a great weekend!!!

LOST

Not the TV show (although I am addicted to it...not obsessed, just addicted). Life in general. Now I don't think I am lost in a way that reflects that I have NO direction. Just lost in a way that I don't know which direction to go first. Gina and I were working on our schedule for the upcoming school year. UGH!!!!

Monday - if Jackson make the football team at school, he has games on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday - Benjamin has soccer practive from 5 - 6:30 (dad is coach) and Jackson has batting cages (optional) from 6 - 7pm.
Wednesday - Jackson has Advanced Band for his Trumpet at 7:45am before school - Small group at church at 7pm.
Thursday - Benjamin soccer practice 5 - 6:30 (dad is coach) and both boys have Scouts at 7pm (dad is Cubmaster)
Friday - Jackson has Jazz Band practice for his Trumpet at 7:45am before school - Jackson has baseball practice at 5 - 7pm (dad is coach).
Saturday - Benjamin has soccer games (dad is coach).
Sunday - 2 services at church (1 to attend and 1 to work in Children's Ministry) - Jackson has baseball games (dad is coach).

Not to mention if Jackson does make the football team - he has practice after school.

This kind of snowballed on us. We always let the boys do a sport if they want. It is important for boys to get the energy out at much as possible and frankly they love it and are good at their chosen sports.

Jackson wanted to try his hand at music last year (it was the first time at school he could try an instrument). He chose the trumpet and is something of a prodigy. Gina and I are not musically inclined at all and he has picked it up quickly and is doing wonderfully well. The music director wants him to keep going and he wants to as well (his goal now is to go to USC and march in the band - can you say scholarship!!!).

They have both been doing scouts for several year and I just took over as Cubmaster this past spring.

Our lives have always been busy...but this is going to drive us crazy I think.

I will keep you updated at to the craziness.

Being a parent is hard work

I know to those that are parents this is no news flash. I have been a parent for more than 10 years...it doesn't get easier. My boys are 10 1/2 and 8 (9 in Dec). And just when I thought that they were getting out of the be mean to your brother phase, it rears its ugly head again.

Benjamin is the younger of the 2 boys and he knows exactly how to puch the buttons of his more sensative older brother. Now pushing these button used to cause Jackson (the older) to attack Benjamin physically. Obviously not ok at any time to attack someone...so Jackson would get in trouble for attacking and Benjmain would be hurt but not in trouble. As a parent, you have to deal with the most inappropriate behavior first (and the one that causes phiscal harm qualifies as that). Anyway, as we became more savvy parents, we caught on to the game that was played by Benjamin. It helps that Jackson has calmed down quite a bit and very, very rarely attacks his brother anymore. So noe, Benjamin gets in much more trouble than his older brother....come to think of it, it was this age that Jackson was getting into so much trouble. Maybe there is hope for all of us!!!!

Anyway, Benjamin is also a drama king. He is very strong and very tough for his age. Excpet when his brother does naything al all to him...like touch him. Last night we were out buying new soccer cleats for Benjamin. He was testing them out in the store and ran from the carpet to the hardwood sales area. As you might have guess....SLIP.... right on to his bottom. Now this wasn't a simple slip and fall. He was running full speed and when I turned around to tell him to stop before he got onto the hardwood...too late. When I turned he was mid-air about level with my stomach. I am 6' tall so you do the math. WHAM...right on his bottom. Gina and I held out breath for a minute and when he smiled, we let out a sigh and started to laugh with him. This coupled with the fact that as a soccer player and an attacker at that, he gets knocked down and tackled all the time. He pops back up and keeps going. However, if Jackson shoves him or grabs him, the shrill he lets out you would think that Jackson has actually pulled his arm out of the socket or he was shoved into a glass window.

Luckily, we don't let him get away with this much. It is hard as a parent to discern what is real and what is not. We tell him the story of the boy who cried wolf and such in hopes that he gets it, but only time will tell.

Bucket List

Gina and I watched The Bucket List on Sunday night. WOW. I cna not believe a movie can get me thinking so much about my own life. (Spoiler ALERT!!!) To me the most impactful part of the movie was after Carter died and Edward was giving the eulogy. He said they had only know each other for 3 months. 3 months!!!! But they knew each other so much better than people who have been friends for years or even decades. Edward was very insightful (albeit after the fact) about Carters motives. Carter knew he was helping a stranger and he did it well.

This movie coupled with the recent passing of Randy Pausch (I am reading his book right now) have me really thinking about life and death. If I were to die today (not that I am desiring that in any way), but if I did....who would give me eulogy and what would they say. Gina and I have always had a hard time in our adult lives of getting to know people...becoming friends. Do I have an Edward in my life? Can I say that I am leaving a legacy (ie Randy Pausch) to my children? Not sure...but I am going to be looking at that in all that I do.

See the movie...read the book.

All-Star Game

I sat and watched the Home-Run Derby last night and thought...WOW!!! This guy is amazing. He is hitting everything out of the park. Josh Hamilton really put on an amazing show of power and consistency. But that wasn't always the case for him. He was a drug addict and at some pint wished he would never wake up. "There are bigger plans for you," is what his wife would tell him. A modern day prophetess??? Who knows. But armed with Jesus, he knows that all things are possible. Josh Hamilton's story is bigger than baseball and he knows it. It is bigger than him. In fact it is bigger than anything...except Jesus.

I give credit to Josh Hamilton. He isn't shying away from this opportunity. He is soaking it in for all it is worht. And through it all...he is giving glory to God and Jesus for turning his life around. He couldn't do it on his own. The story of Josh Hamilton shows that no matter how low you are, all hope is never gone.

Life - Continued

It was a sad state in our house this last weekend....we had nothing to do, nowhere to go. You may ask why that is so sad. You see with nothing to do, we didn't know what to do. Do you want to go to the movies, to the drive-in, out to dinner, rent a movie, play games?!?!? So many choices. We actually came close to an argument over having nothing to do. A definite learning experience for our family.

I hope we get more learning experiences...or at least chances to learn.

New line of work - from 1/16/08

New line of work
Well maybe it is new, but additional income. I signed up to be a mystery shopper and went on my first assignment today at lunch. It was easy but kind of stresful. I had to remember all the right questions and I felt bad for the customer service rep. She had no idea that I was pulling her chain. The instructions are to make them think you are buying XYZ product until you suddenly pull out at the last minute. Took me about 20 minutes and I'll get $10 for it. I would have gone to that area of town anyway and they have a good lunch outside the store for really cheap.
I have to fill out paperwork now and call it in, so all in al, I think I will spend about 30 - 35 minutes for pretty easy work. We'll see if I get any other assignments.