New House!

Been awhile since I blogged (obviously). I thought I'd get an update for anyone who is bored enough to follow MY stagnant blog!

We spent the summer in a major transition. We fixed up our old house with intention of moving into another house we found. We didn't get our sold in time and lost the house we liked, but decided to keep ours on the market. We found another house, and then got a contract on ours. But then the house we found had foundation trouble and we decided not to make an offer.

So there we were. Homeless as of August 11, but for a friend at work who had leased a small '60's farmhouse to move into while he builds his house. Since he hadn't sold his existing house yet, he let us move ourselves into the house, and all of our stuff into a barn. We found a new construction home that will be finished soon, and we close on 09/22. Here is a link to the flickr pix:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25655764@N04/

Spring Break!

Well, it's officially here...Spring Break 2008! The weather isn't cooperating much (rain all day today, and kinda cold). But the kids are having fun anyway. They went to the science museum yesterday, and to their cousin's house today. Not sure what the rest of the week has in store.

I'm not taking any time off this week, but we are off on Friday for Good Friday. We'll be heading over to Grandma and Grandpa Wyckoff's for some spring fishing!!

Work has been really busy, which is good. No shortage of things to do, that's for sure!

Here are some recent photos and a video...

A Nice Break

It's been awhile since I posted. Been very busy with all kinds of activities..

Jonathan and Robby are both in Cub Scouts (I'm the Den Leader for Robby's Tiger Cub den). All three boys played sports recently, and we've been very busy with church activities.

But for the past two weeks we've had a nice break, mainly because we're between soccer ending and basketball starting. We actually got to sleep past 7:00 a.m. last Saturday (yeah!).

Work has been busy, but I'm having FUN! We just finished end of year reviews for our teams, so now we can get back to being productive.

Here are a few pictures from various activities over the last two months...

Back in the swing

We're back into the fall schedule. School, soccer, flag football, etc. Here's a funny video that we wanted to share. We took a quick break right after it was shot! I guess he was excited about his first soccer game!

Test

Okay, so I'm testing the video posting on blogger. This is a video from our Colorado vacation, when we went into RMNP. I think we were about 12k feet or something.

This is unedited. If it works pretty smooth, I'll start doing some more video editing and post some videos.

Mark

Oh, My Aching Back

As some of you know, I started a bathroom remodel a few months ago. What started as a quick 'hmm, I wonder why the wood floor in the hall bathroom is showing some water damage' became 'well, if we're going to redo the floor, let's do tile. And I don't like the wallpaper, so let's tear it out, texture, and paint'. You get the idea.

It took a bit to get our tile in (the first time it was ordered, the sales guy had it in his trunk and two boxes were completely broken). But it got re-ordered, and had been in the garage for awhile. I did all the cutting and got it installed yesterday. Here are some pictures





Today I did all the yard work, and cleaned up the garage a bit. Not quite to the point where we can park the cars in there again, but I'm working on it. So now my back is a bit sore, probably from all the kneeling yesterday. I'll put the grout in tomorrow night, then we can get a toilet and sink in there again and stop using the guest bathroom so much!

I'll try and get some more posting done about life at CHK Energy etc. Until then, everyone have a great week!

Mark

Time for an update

As you might imagine we've been very busy, so no posts in a week or so. Jonathan and Robby are enjoying their new teachers, and are back in the swing of school (with homework and everything). Joshua starts back to pre-school at Peace Lutheran on Tuesday after Labor Day.

My new job is going very well. Chesapeake Energy is really a great company. The esprit de corps is awesome, and I'm really enjoying it.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, and blogger is now supporting video posts, so I'll see what I can do about that as well.

Cool Changes!

Well, it's Sunday night, Robby starts 1st grade and Jonathan starts 3rd grade tomorrow, and I'm starting at Chesapeake tomorrow. Many changes coming tomorrow, for sure! I'm so excited to be doing something different! I'll have some posts soon that will have more content.

In the meantime, check this out!

Colorado Vacation - Day 7

August 11th, 2007 - "Draw, Mister"

Today we decided to go back thru Dodge City, and visit Boot Hill. It was pretty fun, but hot. And I think the kids would have liked to see a gun fight or two (they only had one at noon, and we got there at 1:00).





After that we went thru Greensburgh, KS which is where that big F5 tornado hit on May 4th, 2007. They still have medical tents and Red Cross supply trucks all over the place, and huge piles of rubble. Unbelievable that only 10 people died, once you see the extent of damage.

We then made it to Skiatook to pickup Shadow and spend the night.

Well, that's it for the summer 2007! We had a great trip, and the kids will be getting ready for school next week. They'll be back in class on August 20!

Colorado Vacation - Day 6

August 10th, 2007 - "Last Day"

Well, today we had to pack up and head back to the land of the heat and humidity. We took some pix of the deer that were constantly hanging out behind the cabin.



We made a stop in Denver to tour the Hammond's Candy Factory, which was very cool. They make all of their candy by hand, and make 500,000 lbs per year. The kids got to watch one of the nine candy makers make part of his batch, and we got some free samples too!




After that we headed on to Colby, KS to stay at the hotel and have a swim again, which was refreshing.

Colorado Vacation - Day 5

August 9th, 2007 - "Bumper Cars and More!"

Today we visited a big park that had all kinds of fun things to do. It was located in Estes Park, and we did the bumper boats, bumper cars, go carts, balloon wars, batting cages, and mini golf.





But before we did that, we hoofed over to the Estes Park library for their free wi-fi. Katrina and I got our technology fix (email, podcast updates etc). Toward the end of the day, we went fishing at Mary's Lake, but didn't catch any. My suspicion is that most of those fish had seen a hook or two before!



Afterward we went over to a small cafe for some good dinner.

Colorado Vacation - Day 4

August 8th, 2007 - "Trail Ridge Road"

Today we headed West into RMNP via the Trail Ridge Road. The owners of the cabin had an audio tape tour that was actually pretty good, and gave us a lot of insight into the settlement of the area, and how this mountain range was formed. We took lots of photos, and many many stops to take short hikes, climb rocks and see the awesome scenery.





We made some sandwiches at one of the stops, and met some other families from Oklahoma. We had a really special treat, in that we got to see a small heard of big horn sheep, up close and personal. They were up above the tree line, in the tundra. Fortunately there was a small trail that allowed us to hike up a bit and see them really well.



We also saw quite a few elk, ground squirrels etc. We turned around at the big visitors center, after picking up some souvenirs for the cousins, and headed back toward Estes Park. We ate dinner at "The Other Side Restaurant". I had rainbow trout, which was really good, but Katrina didn't like her fettucini.

More adventures tomorrow, and maybe some fishing!

Colorado Vacation - Day 3

August 7th, 2007 - "Wet and Tired"

The cabin turned out really nice! Here are a few pictures. It could sleep 10 if the fold out couch and futon are used. Three bedrooms, one bathroom. And a GREAT DECK!




We loaded up two backpacks that were at the cabin with water and fruit bars. Then we headed into RMNP for some hiking. We decided to do the Cub Lake hike, which is a 2.5 mile hike to a secluded lake.




The hike wasn't too bad, until the last half mile or so, where it was very rocky, lots of switch-backs, and pretty steep. The boys did a great job of getting there. Katrina gave Josh a ride on her shoulders for the last little bit to the lake. We spent 15-20 minutes relaxing by the lake, which was covered in lilly pads. And the view of the mountains was SPECTACULAR!




Then we headed the 2.5 miles back. Joshua road on dads shoulders, and Robby fell about 1/4 mile into the journey back, where he scraped his leg and fingers, and hit his head on a rock. So he got a piggy-back ride with mom almost the whole way back. Joshua switched to mom's shoulders for the last 1/2 mile or so, when Robby decided he could walk. Needless to say we were very tired when we got done. We only had the fruit bars for our lunch, so we were hungry (skipping lunch seems to be a theme on this trip!). And, oh yeah, did I mention the rain? While we were at Cub Lake we started hearing the thunder and the clouds rolled in. It rained the entire hike back, and we didn't follow the scout motto at all, so we didn't have any rain gear.

We drove back to the cabin, got a hot shower, then headed into town for what Katrina described as the best pizza she ever had. Bob & Tony's Pizza was terrific, but expensive. About the same price as Hideaway. Once we got done eating, we headed back to the cabin for a heated game of Monopoly.



Robby sucked up all the property, and sat back and watched the $$$ role in. He beat his dad by $74.

Oh, and and Joshua decided the dishes were stacking up!




We had planned to do some fishing, but I started looking at all the restrictions, and was somewhat overwhelmed. Barbless hooks here, no live bait there, no fishing in some spots at all etc etc etc. So we'll see if we get a line wet or not. I brought our spinning gear just in case.

All in all it was a great day with a great adventure! Tomorrow I think we'll head further into RMNP along the Trail Ridge Road.

Colorado Vacation - Day 2

August 6th, 2007 - "Riding is the car is FUN!"

Today we left Colby, KS and headed to Denver. Not too many adventures between the two, other than a quick stop at the CO border.



Once we got to Denver we went to the museum of natural history. It was pretty cool, and the kids had a great time. We didn't eat lunch, so we were all really hungry.




We made it to Estes Park, and got to the cabin after a bit of driving around (we missed one of the streets signs). From the back seat we heard Josh ask the question "Is this Heaven?". We all got a laugh at that one, then decided that at least part of Heaven must look like the Rockies! We then went into Estes Park, which was pretty touristy. We were STARVING, as it was about 6:30 local time, and 7:30 Central, and lunch consisted of Cheeze-Its in the car. We had some food (burger for dad, pasta for mom, spaghetti for Josh and Jon and chicken fingers for Rob), then we went to Safeway for some groceries for the cabin.





Tomorrow we're headed into the RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park) for some hiking and adventures!

Colorado Vacation - Day 1

We're off! We left Edmond today, and ended up in Colby, KS for the night. Grandma and Grandpa W picked up Shadow and are watching him for the week. We left a little before noon, and stopped in Bartlesville, OK for lunch. We made sandwiches and played on a playground at one of the schools.




The ride in the car has been pretty good! The boys have really done a great job!



And once we got to Colby we went to the waffle house and had some dinner, then went for a swim! Just what we needed after a big day in the car.



Tomorrow should prove much more exciting. We're planning a stop in Denver at the natural history museum, and then we'll be at the cabin in Estes Park. Hopefully we'll have some internet connectivity (yeah, right). But if not, I'll blog on the local machine and upload when we get back.

STAY TUNED!

T-Ball

We had a T-ball game for Robby last night. It's actually the first one I've been to all season, but I don't feel too bad. He's been playing on Jonathan's coach-pitch team, and I've made all of those games. I actually think he does better at coach pitch than t-ball! Anyway, it was fun.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Time for a Cool Change

I had lunch a week ago Thursday with 3 folks from Chesapeake, one of whom I met on my other two visits. They called back last Thursday and extended an offer, which I accepted. My last day at Inoveon will be 08/17/2007. I'm disappointed on many levels. Everyone that has been associated with Inoveon has worked tremendously hard, and I'll miss the people and the cause (trying to prevent the leading cause of blindness in the US).

I start @ Chesapeake August 20th and will serve as supervisor - service desk tier 1. I stopped by there after work yesterday and picked up some material to help get me situated. And I can't tell you how excited I am.

More to come...

Jonathan's Quote of The Day (QoTD)

Context: Katrina gave our dog a bath in the boy's bathtub, and she had just finished washing out the tub with those crazy foaming bubbles.

Jonathan walks in and says: "Mommy, it smells like someone's coming for a visit"

Robby's Quote of the Day (QoTD)

"Mom, what if this isn't real life. What if it's just someone's big dream?"


Now that's funny!

Briefly Briefing

Hey everybody. Just a quick update on what's been going on around here. The boys went with G&G W last Friday and came back home yesterday. They had a great time from the sound of it, and Katrina and I had a pretty good time as well. We got quite a few things done that had been getting put off.

We had 3 ball games last night. Robby had a double-header and Jonathan had a game right after. Jonathan had two hits, two runs, and played catcher and third base. Pretty solid performance I'd say!

If you haven't ever used iTunes, it's time you did. Go to www.apple.com and download it. Then go to the iTunes U section and check out Concordia University's abundance of content! Very good stuff for the spirit, and not milk either. Real steak!

Work has been very busy. We're very short staffed, and can't really afford more mouths to feed. So we're all kind of sucking it up and hanging on for the ride!

I'll have some pictures this weekend from the boy's games and whatever else we do this weekend. Until then, here's one from the JoshCam!

Summer Summer Summer

Haven't posted in awhile because we've had a really busy summer so far.

If you're from Oklahoma / Texas, you know about all the rain we've had. If you're not I'll fill you in. It's been WET! Jonathan and Robby are both signed up to play ball, and we've only been able to get a few practices in, and no games until last night (that's like a month worth of games that have been cancelled due to rain / muddy fields). So we had a game start last night but the game was called after one inning due to lightning. Here are a few pictures.





This was Jonathan's team, but they were short on players so Robby got to help them out! I was really proud of him, as he fielded a ball on defense and got a turn at bat. He almost hit it a few times, even tho he's never actually been on the receiving end of a pitch!

We have another game scheduled for tonight and the weather looks good, so I guess we might get to finish more than one inning!

More to come!