Indoor Rock Climbing

Back in August we decided to visit an indoor rock climbing gym here in the area. It was a lot of fun and there are climbing walls/routes for all ability levels, so everyone was able to participate. Since then, we have returned several more times and found it to be a nice family activity as well as great exercise.

We've received some requests for pictures, so here they are. We're still working on getting a good picture of Tamra in action - so stay tuned.


On October 29th, I decided to enter a climbing competition at the gym. This was a bouldering competition. Bouldering is basically climbing short routes without using a rope/harness. The routes (or "problems") are marked with colored tape, indicating which holds you are allowed to use. Each problem has a point value, and your score for the event is the aggregate point value of the six highest scoring problems that you complete.

The first 3 pictures below show me progressing through the highest scoring problem that I was able to complete.


This problem started on the inside right wall of this little cave section, then up the wall, down under the red pyramid-looking thing, across the ceiling, and then up the face on the outside of the cave to the top.

FYI - the clown wig was not a personal fashion statement. Given that it was Halloween weekend, you could get some bonus points for coming in costume.

This is one of the other problems I was working on. I didn't finish at the competition, but was able to do so on a trip to the gym this past weekend - as did Tamra. (The costume bonus is also the explanation for the gorilla costume this guy was wearing).

The competition drew a total of 35-40 climbers, across 5 divisions. There were 10 climbers in the recreational (beginner) division, and I came in 7th - not bad considering this was only my 5th time climbing. However, there was at least one 8 yr old girl that finished ahead of me, so I wouldn't call myself a climbing prodigy either (though I will note that there was no testing for performance-enhancing drugs at this event).

There is another bouldering competition at the end of January, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress I can make between now and then. Rumor has it Tamra is looking to enter the January competition as well!

Atlanta Zoo July 2010

In July we went to the zoo with my sister Kolayna and sister-in-law Megan and her kids. It was a very hot day, but we wanted to get in before school started.

Patrick got eaten by a komodo dragon.








We tried feeding the birds, but they did not seem to be that hungry. We had to preform some acrobatics to get close to them.


Lenny checking out the map trying to figure out where we should go next.


My niece being very gentle with the baby gorilla.

ZIP LINE VIDEOS

THE ZIP LINE!

We have spent a lot of time in our backyard this summer trying to fix things up. We took down an old swing set, cut down a handful of trees, cleared out tons of leaves, built a fire pit, hung a tire swing and put up zip line. Here are a few photos and videos featuring the zip line. You can also see some of the clearing that we did and the tire swing in one of the videos.

FYI-the swing set is part of our neighbors backyard and the grass line roughly marks our property line




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SOCCER

Patrick had a great soccer season this year. It was a Spring league, so it ended awhile ago. I am just really slow at posting. As expected at his age there was the team problem of bunching, crowding, hogging the ball and those that just could not focus, kicking dirt, picking dandelions. But as a whole he had a pretty good team that improved as the season went on. Patrick really enjoys soccer and has some good instincts. Our goal was to get him to improve on aggression and follow through. He played offense basically the whole season, so we were working on scoring. So, a little incentive was given for a goal scored. He loves computer games. He had been playing a trial version of a game and begging me to pay for the full game. I had been telling him no for weeks. So, when Leonard agreed to offering some extra encouragement I knew the perfect thing to motivate him. Below is the 'game winning' goal.

Play by play to help you pick out Patrick:
Patrick is number 8. He runs up the field, the balls goes out, the goalie throws it in, Patrick runs in front on the goal, blocks the ball with his chest, then dribbles and scores. It is hard to see him score, but you can see him block the goalie throw, see the ball go in the net and see the high five with the coach.

Baby Shower Gift

Lenny's teacher is about 4 months pregnant. Today was his end of the year class party. (The kids are done on Friday!) Along with the party the classroom mom suggested that we also throw a mini baby shower for the teacher. My sister had given our sister in-law this cute wipes case at Christmas. So, I searched on line for a tutorial and found a similar case with little bag to hold the case and some diapers. I called my sister to see how hard the project was because it was late Tuesday after noon and the party was tomorrow. She said it was not that hard and I decided to be extra ambitious and make the case and a bag.

A quick trip (or an attempt at a quick trip to the store-I had to go to Walmart because I was told that is the only place that carries white wipe holders, so I figured I would just look for some cute fabric there. One stop shopping. Well, apparently Walmart has decided to close their fabric department. So I tried right next door at Micheals. I know they don't sell fabric by the yard, but I did not need that much fabric and thought I might get lucky with some quilt square size samples. Wrong! But I did find some cute metal ribbon embellishments. So next I headed over to Hobby Lobby and got my fabric) and I was back home in time to tuck the kids in bed. Then using my creative domestic skills, which I have not used in a while, I whipped up a fabric covered wipe case and diaper holder. I was quite proud of myself! Here is proof that it turned out pretty cute. Or at least I think so.

This metal embellishments says 'happy day'.

Inside there is enough room to store the wipe case and a couple of diapers.

The embellishment on the wipes case says 'adore'.

His teacher is having a boy, but that does not mean she can't have a cute wipe case and I chose red because her favorite color is GA red, for UGA Bulldogs. Although the fabric really does not reflect UGA at all.

CAMPING DAY 2

Saturday morning we toasted bagels over the fire for breakfast then were off for an adventure. We went on a wild safari! It was a pretty amazing zoo like park, except you rode in a bus with no windows through a big open range with cups of food to feed the animals. The animals included camels, pigs, sheep, llamas, buffalo, cows, bulls, zebras, giraffes, and probably a few others I can not remember. It was great fun having the animals eat right out of our hands. I tried to capture this on camera, but the bus was moving and the animals ate the food so fast it was hard to get a good picture.







After the safari there was a historical trip to tour FDR's vacation home located in the state park we were camping at. But it cost extra to do that and frankly sounded boring. So we headed back to camp early, packed up and headed home. This time we followed the scout directions. We had no problems getting home. We were even home in time to watch BYU play in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

CAMPING DAY 1

Our Camp Site-If you look closely you can see the tents through the trees.

Last month we went camping with Lenny's school Boy Scout Troop. The Troop had given us directions to the camp site, but I decided to use my own directions. Bad idea. Five miles out from the campsite we ended up a a dirt road, if you can even call it that. If it had rained at all we would have been in big trouble. Our Chevy Malibu was not made for four wheeling. This windy, bumpy 'road' was not on our GPS and there were random forks in the road were we had to just guess which way to go. We eventually made it out back to a real road and were able to find our way to the camp ground. But the weirdest part? There were actually houses on this road/trail through the woods. I'd like to hear one of them trying to give directions to their house and there is no way the mail man goes back there.

Patrick enjoying dinner.

We still made to the campsite with plenty of daylight, but the sight was pretty rustic. No running water, definitely no electricity and a out house for a bathroom. We only stayed one night so we survived!

The 'Bathroom'

Friday night involved setting up camp, exploring the campsite, roasting hot dogs for dinner and s'mores for dessert. It also involved a very long cold night. The weather during the day was beautiful, but I was not prepared for the night. Lenny buried himself in his sleeping bag and pulled his pillow down to block up the hole. According to him, he slept perfectly fine. Leonard, Patrick and I on the other hand spent the night huddled together trying to keep warm. I don't feel like I truly ever feel asleep that night.

Cake Decorating Contest!

For Lenny's church scouts Blue and Gold Banquet they had a cake decorating contest. I did not want to go to the store and buy a bunch of supplies, so I sent Lenny down to the basement to find some props to go on the cake. He came back with some little army men. So I whipped up some powdered sugar icing and we went through our cupboards to see what we could find. We ended up using chocolates baking pieces to build a barricade, turned over peanut butter chips to create stones to line the edges of a blue frosting river, chopped up peanuts to create sand/dirt ground and green frosting to create trees and bushes. Because they were army men Lenny wanted me to write 'GO ARMY" on the side of the cake. I followed Lenny's instructions since he was suppose to be in charge of the design. But I cringed as I did it, knowing that Grandpa Keenan (retired NAVY) would not be happy! ;)

Patrick Turns 6!

Patrick turned 6 in February. We had a small family celebration on his actual birthday and then had a party with friends the following week. The party was Harry Potter themed and I think the kids had a lot of fun. I was doing the party by myself with 6 kids, so no pictures were taken. But here is a quick run down of the activities. Each kid got a wand (painted wooden dowel) that 'chose' them by making the blender turn on when they picked up 'their' wand. Next they got school uniforms(black yard of fabric secured around neck with safety pin). Then we hand Spells class and learned how to turn on and off a light with our wands (with the help off a remote control hidden in my pocket). Next was Magical creatures where we found snake eggs in the forest that we helped hatch (rubber snakes stuffed in balloons with a little liquid soap and water to make them slimy). Finally Potions were we made exploding fizz (coke and mentos) and homemade slime. I had the mixed up jelly belly jelly beans that could either be good or bad, so you did not know if you would get earwax or coconut, toothpaste or berry, vomit or peach, skunk or licorice, boogers or pear, etc. But none of the kids wanted to play the game. A few tried the blue ones that could either be berry or toothpaste. I guess they figured no matter what they got with that one it was not going to be too bad. Sorry, I know this post would have been a lot more exciting with pictures. You will just have to be like the kids and use your imagination.

The Zoo in Flordia

Saturday afternoon we decided to go to Florida the next day. One of the new benefits of living in GA with Leonard's parents in FL. It took close to 9 hours to drive down due to traffic, but only 7 1/2 on the way back. Leonard's brother Silas and wife and 2 yo daughter were visiting as well. We have not seen them in 2 1/2 years, so we decided it was worth the drive down. While there Leonard played golf with his Dad and brother and I went to the beach with his Mom, the boys, sister in law and niece. Monday afternoon the boys took a dip in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. Then on Tuesday we all went to the zoo. The zoo was great. The kids got to feed birds on their arms, feed and pet giraffes, feed and touch sting ray, ride on a camel and pet and groom goats. It was a very fun hands on experience. On Wednesday we returned home.

Pictures of the beach may follow later. Despite the wind and chill the boys still got in the water! It is hard to resist the ocean.