HIWASSEE CHASE PROTOTYPE CLEVELAND TV30 DEC2010.mov

Lots of Fall fun!!!!

Mommy took the boys and met our family friends, Sarah, Beau, Liam and Dillon at a pumkin patch!! The boys had a ball!! Running around in the beautiful sunshine and chasing each other. Liam is about 3 weeks younger than Tyson, so they have been buddies since birth. Mommy showed the boys all the pumkins and different gourds and all the colors they provide. What a great day.

We went up to Michigan again!! (4th trip this year). We took our friends Scotty and Catherine again this year for Sabrina's Fall break. They went with us last year and are great friends. Back to the Best Western in Holland and to "Crazy Bounce", the indoor pool, and to the beach for all the familiar things we did this summer, but love to do again and again. A couple sunsets and lots of pictures and it was a trip too short, like most of them.


The first leaves of Autumn fell and we were actually one of the first ones to have a tree totally bare! It was weird this year. I don't ever remember this one being the first on our block, but it was this year. So the boys helped us build a pile and they loved jumping into it and wrestling. Tyson was very good to be gentle even though Lucas still has NO concept of that at all. It was a great afternoon with lots of pictures and video.

End of Summer, Painting the Pool, Tyson's first black eye

It's needed it for a couple of years now, but this year, with the help of our neighbor Eric!!!!, was the year to paint the pool. Ugh. But Eric took the reigns, basically prepped it all by himself while we were away on vacation! And then it was time. We had fun with the power washer, let the boys do their part in helping, and got it all painted. It was a three week adventure, but it looks great. Hopefully it's going to last for 10 years or so. Man, I hope so.

During our pool painting fun, Tyson was on the losing end of Lucas throwing a cast metal plane his way. Ouch. Ty was a pretty good sport and we are still working on Lucas understanding what he can toss (soft balls), vs. what he can't throw (everthing else that's not a soft ball!!!).

First time Putt Putt, First time Kings Island!!

I am pretty sure that the day we picked to go play Putt Putt for the first time with the boys was also the hottest day of 2008!! It had to be 90* or above...sunny, no one else on the course. (That was nice though!!) My boys play a strange version of golf...no logical order to the hole selections. (IE...hole 1, hole 2, hole 3, etc....) No, this was more like "how about the big Elephant one now", or "no it's my turn to pick", one. Also, there's not really an "honor" system yet about counting strokes. But it was basically a blast getting out and trying something. Ty has a whole year on Lucas, so a little bit more of a grasp on things, but Lucas held his own.

We ended up skipping about 10 holes, but I didn't know how bad it could get until the 18th hole swallowed up Tyson's ball and he couldn't get it back. Lucas was smart enough to see that since Tyson's wasn't returning, he wasn't going to make his go down the hole now. So we literally had to remove him, with force, off the putt putt grounds. (Nap time and very hot=bad mix with 2 year olds!!)

We went with our neighbors, Eric, his son Jarrett, and our other neighbor Clint, along with Sabrina's parents, Victoria and Bill to Kings Island late in the summer. I have never stayed at the "Inn", but it was nice...and CLOSE!!! Two important things. The boys had a surprising number of rides they could go on and they made the most of it. Even some that Tyson was not "technically" tall enough to get on, he did. The Frog thing comes to mind right now, but I think there was another...maybe a roller coaster by Scooby Doo....Hmmm. But we were blessed with two great days weather wise. Not too hot and not too sunny. The boys lasted the whole first day and LOVED the fireworks at the end. We could see them from our hotel very well.

I have to tell you...the real highlight of the trip for Tyson and Lucas was probably jumping from bed to bed in Eric's hotel room. They did it for close to two hours and they had a ball. Even Mr. Eric got into the act almost wiping out the whole room in the process. Mamaw and Papaw had a good time riding lots of rides and helping out Sabrina and I to be able to ride a couple of rides all by ourselves!! That was fun. Eric drove the whole way there and back and I got to relax in the back!! Sweet.

Tyson turns 3

Unbelievable how fast three years has come and gone. Tyson's birthday on July 22nd just snuck up on us. He weighed in at 44 pounds and 44 inches!! LOL...he's a quare root!! But he is also a wonderful, sensitive, loving, kind, (a little ornry), little boy. He's really taken to being called a "big boy". He knows what that means, and loves it when we call him that. He has always wanted to hang with the bigger kids in our court, wherever he runs into one, so this new moniker comes at just the right time for his taste. Mama and Papa got the mother of all gifts for him this year though with his very own motorized bumper boat that, get this, shoots water up to 30 feet!!! No one is safe in the pool (or out for that matter) now. I believe both him and Lucas would rather just shoot the water gun than drive around in our pool!! But what they don't know is that daddy found an adult sized motorized bumper boat for next year at a clearance sale at Meijer. (Hope it works!!) So it's on with bumper wars next year!! It's great that we were able to celebrate GG's b-day and Ty's together as we spent the day in GG's practically brand new home.

Indiana Beach, Uncle Raul passes away, and Tyson learn to ride a bike!!!

We try and get up to Indiana Beach at least once a summer. This time it was the McGill employee picnic again. Bill and Vicki, Jeremey, Steph and Zeke along with the Barker's all headed up to Monticello. It was a great day, but like usual, the boys were good for as long as they could be, then, post-naptime....look out. But Daddy had to work anyway, so we just packed it in and cranked up the a/c and the boys were out before we got out of the parking lot. It was a great day.

My Cuban Uncle, Raul Cabeza passed away this summer and I went to Dallas for the funeral. It was so great to be out there for it. The memorial was so beautiful and personal. I asked my aunt Phyl if I could play at the begining as people were finding their seats. I just wanted to try and add a little bit more of a personal touch. But the stories that were told were so moving. I guess I didn't realize Uncle Raul was only the fourth pilot ever hired by a brand new airline "Southwest"!! Right out of Purdue, still a Cuban national, he defected and became an American. Too many stories to try and type them all now, but he will forever be missed.

I guess when I got home I was more than just a little shocked to see my (almost) three year old, Tyson, riding a bike like a champ!!! When I left for the funeral, he had literally no concept of forward propulsion. No idea how to push his feet in a circle and make the bike go. And in a span of less than 3 days he was cruising....FEARLESS!!! I was so proud. Took about an hour of the most boring video, but it was so great seeing him on that thing. He would take a fall here and there, but nowhere near as much as I would have guessed him to. Must have had a great teacher.....Mommy!!

Fourth of July and lots of Summer things happening!!

It was our 5th annual Fourth of July party and this year we didn't have any rain, even though the threat was there!! Pretty hot, but the pool was a little cool for my thin-blooded South Carolina brother, Keith, and his brood. LOL. But nothing got broke, no one got hurt and the beer didn't run out. So I guess you might call it a success. It's so great having the South Carolina Barker's come back and let the cousins play together. Although Anika has an Indiana best friend in Kennedy Younker. They might as well be cousins!! All are getting so big and wonderful personalities. Just too short of a visit, like usual. One big difference this year was that I didn't break my wrist this time around!! Sweet.

SO MANY NEW THINGS AND CHANGES!!

Spring, Summer and now it's fall. We've even seen our first snowflakes....translation.....bad dad for not blogging more often.

Where do I start? Well, back in May it finally started to warm up and they boys did some fishing at GG's (Great Grandma's) house. Tyson did a really good job pulling them in mostly by himself and Lucas held his own, not wanting to be out done.

You might know that we love the Saugatuck/Holland area of Michigan. We have made three trips up there since we last blogged and they were all wonderful. Beautiful weather. Lots of family and friends came with us. Our first trip was just our family and the boys had a ball. It was still a bit chilly and we found some indoor entertainment in the form of a massive facility called "Crazy Bounce". It has three story inflatable slides in the shapes of sharks, alligators, sabre tooth tigers and various other things. Tyson just calls it the "bouncy place". Talk about two hours just flying by. A really neat part of this is that mom's and dad's can have just as much fun going down all the slides. We loved it. We got to see our friends, Joe and Lynda Petty again. They are kind of like adopted grandparents for the boys while we are up there. They even came down here to our pool party on the Fourth of July. Great people. So we had lots of sand, playing and "bouncy place" during our first trip this summer.

Tyson's first stitches!! If you know our little guy, you know he is quite the helper. Forever he's picked up our purple dustbuster and cleaned up his own messes. Well on June 14th, he dropped it on his foot and he needed stitches. It took off about 1/3 of his big toenail and split the skin requiring 3 or 4 stitches. He was a trooper and tried to be brave as the needle to numb the pain was administered. He was very proud that the dr. called him "a lot braver than most of my adult patients". We were proud too. He did pretty good keeping medicine on it to help the healing, but there were moments when it was not in the cards. To be expected, I guess.

Our second trip to Michigan involved Sabrina's cousin Jody, her husband Chad and their daughter Arieli. It was great to see the cousins interact and since Arieli is a 4 and Tyson was almost 3, they were able to play together really well. Lucas was always in the thick of things too!! It was a lot warmer this trip and we had lots of time at the beach and "bouncy place" again. It was Jody and Chad's first trip to our little hidden gem and we think they loved it. We swam a lot in the pool at the hotel and had a ball.

Spring acts like it wants to come, then leaves again....my mom gets married...and the boys are both getting sick. (pictures are Mother's Day kite flying with Mommy, Tyson with Papa B, and Lucas' first haircut from neighbor Melody)

These are the things that have been happening in our neighborhood lately. On May 3rd, my mom, Carol, was married to Bill. It was a really cool/laid back wedding with 99% family there. My best friend Bea and her husband Todd were among the only non-family members present. It was great...Bea sang and I played. Both of my sons got to see "mama B" get married and then they were off to honeymoon in Myrtle Beach. My brother Keith was able to get back for the wedding and it's always great to see him.

Our crazy weather just won't warm up. The "hellicopter seeds" are just now starting to fall...they usually are already down now and we are opening the pool. Looks like we are 10 days or so from doing that. But I don't think this weather is helping the boys stay healthy. They get a warm day or two and get to play outside, then it's cold for three or four and they feel couped up inside. If they do go out and play, they end up getting all wet and it's still cold, so I think it's catching up to them and making them sick. Lucas is just a magnet for water, mud, anything he should not be in or on, he loves. He gets around really well though. My brother commented while he was up here for the wedding that he is really agile for as old as he is. (19 months) His son, Brett, who is 3 weeks older than Lucas apparently is not as mobile as Lucas. I pointed out that Brett also has 6 or 7 pounds on him and that might be the reason!! LOL.

Mother's Day was this past Sunday, May11th. I have been kind of sick for four or five weeks and it just so happens that this day was the day I felt the worst out of all that time. Bad luck, but I spent 99% of the day laying down and napping. Sabrina got the boys up for church and then her family had a cookout. I felt like a pile of crap for not making it, but I just couldn't. Really sore throat, no voice and zero energy. Bad combination. Bre was very forgiving and we ended up flying a kite late afternoon with the boys. She said that was the highlight of her day. Made me feel bad, but I was glad she had some fun on her special day. The boys enjoyed the kite a lot. Ty was his usual neurotic because he was sure it was going to fly away like Daddies balloons did leaving Sam's Club on his b-day. (He has that image completely burned in his brain vividly to this day and it happened mid February) So Ty was reluctant to hold the kite string. He eventually did and liked it. Only liked it though, Lucas LOVED it!! He's just a little more adventerous than Tyson is right now. Lucas is just as guarded as Ty around strangers, but when he's comfortable, he'll do or eat just about anything. Lucas now can put on his "Crocs" by himself most of the time. He tries to say "shoe"...it comes out "sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh", but it's cute and it's close. Tyson still learned more sign language than Lucas, but Lucas knows his fair share.

Mommy took the boys to her school this week. They loved it!!!!! They played really hard and the sat down for snack and didn't act up. Tyson poured his own drink at snack...that was a first!! We are going to enroll Ty at Purdue lab school in January, and Lucas a year later. Ty will be 3, and he really likes to play with older kids. Even in the neighborhood it's the older ones he likes to hang with. So a little more time with Taha, and then it's off to pre-school. Time is just flying by.

Oh...almost forgot, Sabrina's brother, Jeremey and his girlfriend, Steph, had a baby boy, Zeke a couple weeks ago. Sorry, I don't know the exact date, but he's got a story!!! At 4:30 AM, Steph thinks it might be time...so Jeremey grabs the suitcase, says he's going to start the truck and takes off. Steph says she's going to go pee before they leave so she goes to the bathroom only to have little Zeke's head come out and she catches it before it hits the toilet!!!! The the legs follow and in 2 minutes he's here....only one problem...they are still at home and no one knows what to do!!!!!! Jeremey comes back in after a few moments wondering what happened to her only to find her there kind of with her hands full. A quick 911 call and in 3 minutes 12 emergency personel are taking care of the situation. Baby Zeke is fine, mommy is fine and daddy can breathe now...it's all good that ends good, right? Wow. He's adorable and is eating everytime I see him. Hard to believe the boys were once that size!!

This summer we are going to try and get up to Michigan to our usual spot. It's going to happen, we just haven't figured out when. Sabrina and I are trying to find a quick trip to Vegas, but that's low on the totem pole of importance. And I would like to get out to Myrtle Beach so we can actually use out condo we are paying for. And to let the cousins all play together. That would be Heaven.

Hope this post finds you all well. A little side note, my other best friend Sid's mom, Barb was diagnosed with breast cancer and she's had surgery. A complete mastectomy. They think they got it all, so let's hope so. She has been in my prayers since I found out, so let's keep the good news coming. I have known them for 31 years and they have always been like second parents to me. Have a great weekend and to all the Mothers out there, happy late Mothers Day to you.

Spring looks like it's finally coming!!

This week so far has been beautiful. The temps have been in the mid to upper 70's and it's been sunny all three days. Tyson and Lucas are getting ready to have mommy home all day starting May 1st. Purdue lets out and Sabrina doesn't have to go back till mid August. We don't have any major travel plans, but we are pretty flexible and can go on short notice. One thing that's really neat....my mom, Carol, is getting married. She met a dentist named Bill and they hit it off and are getting married on May 3rd. He's very nice, treats her great and they have fun together. What more could you ask for really?!!? I am going to play for the wedding, the only "non-family" member (although she really is like a daughter to mom), BeAnn is going to sing and it's going to be a wonderful celebration. Keith is coming home, but it's going to be quick...just Friday to Sunday, and then mom and Bill are going to basically follow Keith back home to Myrtle Beach for their honeymoon. So happy for mom.

Tyson sang the ENTIRE "ABC song" last week (April 14th, 2008), and hasn't stopped singing it yet!! It's so great, but if you ask him to do it on command you get a resounding, "NO". But if you are patient, you will hear it very soon. It's so great and he's really on pitch most of the time. Sabrina and I talked about that and wondered if they would get daddy's gift of singing. Lucas seems to be a little bit more interested in playing music, but Ty does too, to be fair.

Ty had a bout of excema. He's had it since birth, but this was a pretty bad episode. We have a dermitologist appt. set up for early May, so I hope they have some answers. If you look on the internet, there doesn't seem to be a lot of things you can do. It's not curable, only treatable, but most postings say kids grow out of it most of the time by adulthood.

Lucas has all of his teeth in and loves to tease. Today we were playing and he kept calling me "ma ma", I would correct him and say "da da" and act like I was getting mad...he would just get tickled and belly laugh and bury his head into my chest. We did that for 30 minutes, easy. Lucas still likes to hit too much and we are working on that, but today I got bit for the first time with him. Ty wasn't much of a biter, and he's a quick learner of what not to do, but Lucas gets his feelings hurt so easily. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to being told "no, that is hurting me" a lot.

We have a lot of pictures that we downloaded. I will try and get as many as I can on here for you to see. Hope all is well and I plan on posting as often as I can...summer is almost here!! Get excited. Bruce

(Pictures...Mom and Bill, Tyson and Lucas cracking each other up, Lucas in his crib after reading a cloth book, (reading does that to me too by the way!!), and "early morning hair", painting with mommy's close supervision)

I think this is Lucas with his best "Blue Steel" Zoolander impression. And so far, this is my favorite picture of the boys together. It was a Wednesday in the Dr.'s office, waiting to get my cast off last summer. Ty just put his arm around Lucas and I was lucky enough to have my cell phone camera right there. No goofy smiles...no closed eyes...just a look like "this is my brother man and I love him". There may never be a better moment in my heart.

Super Mommy entertaining the troops. Lucas is not quite awake yet. MC Tyson..."Party people in da house"!! And Tyson riding around with daddy on his 40th b-day surprise party at the skating rink.