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December 23 Fallen to facebook...Ah, yes, that is the reality of it all. Facebook has claimed the lion's share of my online time as of late, a move I am happy with and yet saddened by at the same time. It lets me get on and briefly express myself, but does not allow for the long moments of introspection that a real blog allows. Even as I say the words I realize I miss it more than I thought, but two kids and a rough economy do not allow me much time, or perhaps make me not want to make the time, for exploring my feelings and thoughts in depth the way I used to.
It's a lousy excuse I make to myself, which is kind of pointless when I think about it, so I will simply try to make a personal commitment to spend more alone time writing on the computer next year on this blog. Not a New Years resolution, as those are sure to be broken before they are even made, just a commitment to try.
O.K., enough about that. The real reason I am posting today is to wish any and all of my friends out there....
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!! October 22 Finally...Well, I finally got some of the pictures from our trip to N.C. in August posted. Our camera broke on the last day we were there, and still isn't fixed, but I bought a card reader to be able to download our photos off the camera's card.
Not much to post right now, well, just no time to do it actually, but I have rented an RV for a camping trip I am taking the family on in November, and I am getting excited...
~
October 13 Bits and pieces...*Sigh*
These are trying times. If the reality wasn't bad enough, the situation just gets more trying by all the fear mongering going on in the presidential campaigns and political rallys. If you listen to the news enough, you could scare yourself into being a recluse holed up in the mountains waiting for the end of the world.
However, but the same token, I have found you can ease a lot of this stress by simply not watching the news at all for awhile. The old me would have scoffed at such an idea, criticizing the person who would willingly choose not to know what is going on in the world as 'out of touch', but the new me sees a definite benefit to turning off the idiot box now and then. (In fact, I see a definite benefit to doing away with TV altogether, but I am not so out of touch as to believe I could actually do that for very long, especially with kids in the house, but I digress....)
I have just spent the last week trying my best to avoid the news and the political campaigns as much as I could, and while I was definitely not perfect, I must say I notice a marked change in how good I feel today. Over the weekend I had many moments where I was able to reflect just how happy I am overall, especially with the two little jewels I have as my daughters, and the gem I have found that is my wife.
My point today is you can still get away from it all without leaving town or taking a costly vacation. Sometimes, the place you need to get away to is your own backyard, and the way to get there is to just turn off all the unnecessary noise in your life, and enjoy the good things that you do have.
These ARE trying times... ...but they are also good times as well.
This weekend I was able to see that one day I will look back at these as "The Good Old Days", and I realized that I am gaining a self-awareness that was lacking in my youth, and I am grateful for that today.
Life is good.
I wish for everybody the feeling I am having today.
~ September 17 Where does the time go...?We've been back for weeks now and I am just now getting a minute to update my blog, and I barely have time to do that! It is a good thing though, as I have been extremely busy at work, and my sales have been going thru the roof, so much so that I'm on track to have my best month ever, so the extra money will sure help. Who can't use a little extra these days?
Ugh! Don't even get me started on the economy...
In fact, I don't have time to really flesh out any thought to completion tonight, so maybe I'll just throw out some current partial thoughts and random incomplete sentences...
...yeah, that sounds like a good idea in my current mood actually...
...and in doing so I'm going to break a little rule I had made for myself to stay away from politics in my blog, so I'm just gonna say 'I'm sorry' to all those I may offend in advance, but I really don't care anymore. This is getting serious.
Obama, what are you doing? It's like getting nominated was enough, and the steam went out of you...
...you're letting them gain ground on you thru outright lies and manipulations of the facts...
Get out there and show everyone what you are made of!
Sarah Palin... ..who.. ...what? Can this really be serious...? Condoms?? Dinosaurs??? I'm scared, very scared...
A self proclaimed pit bull with lipstick to replace the current pit bull without lipstick?
Middle America, I can understand your views on the moment of conception, but what I can't understand is voting your religious self to the detriment of your economic self. I really can't get my head around that, because that is what you are doing if you vote Red again this year. At least know that.
It's almost like a politician could come out and say: "I'm a complete crook, and I'm gonna rob this country blind, but I'm against abortion." and you'll go ahead and vote for them just because of that one stance.
This party has taken a surplus of money and turned it into a record deficit, which is the LEAST they are guilty of, and the whole country is drowning because of it. Do you really need more than that??
And really, how much does one's belief in this conception subject one way or the other really have to do with running this country?? At ALL!?!!? Just look at the guy you put there now!
I would so hate to be a business school teacher today. Those poor people. Can you imagine what it must be like after all the (hopefully) moral things you've taught your students all these years, to have to go into a classroom and explain why if you're an honest small business person and your business fails, that's it, you're done, there is no bailout. BUT, if you happen to be lucky enough to get into a company that is big enough that the country can't let it fail, THEN you can be a complete moron and go screw up and rape and pilage the company all you want, and in the end the government will give you a golden parachute, because you have too much of the market cornered to let you fail. Didn't we used to have regulations on this?
On top of that, how hypocritical do we look teaching our kids not to overdo it with credit cards, and to live within your means, when they see our own government doing exactly the opposite with our country's finances, racking up incredible debt and lowering the value of our dollar and in essence their very own futures??!?
Oh, and don't even get me started on our Golden state leaders and our (lack of a) budget...
*Deep Breath*
AAAAHHHHHHhhhhhhh..... ...ok, rant over. For now anyway...
I feel a little better just getting that little bit off my chest.
Now, on a lighter note, we had a wonderful, yet too short time visiting my family in North Carolina. My parents are buidling a house that looks like a mansion. I'm not kidding. One side of the house is over 133 feet long! I'll have more pictures soon, and the house will be in those.
It is a monster of a project, but it is coming along nicely. They are under a bit of pressure to finish within the next 8 weeks, which is their deadline for the housing association, so that may postpone the trip they had planned to come out here in late October, but we will have to see.
When we were there, we saw some amazing deals on some beautiful houses on lots you just couldn't touch here for the price. We are hoping to be able to have enough saved to move out to North Carolina sometime next March as a tentative date, but we will have to weather these tough economic times as well, so we will just have to hope for the best and see what happens.
The girls had an amazing time, and I've uploaded a few new pics. Oh, and the bald dude? That's me.
I decided some time ago that if there was going to be a losing battle when it came to my hair, I was going to win that battle, so I shaved it all off! What do you think? (I know, I know, but there's not much I can do about the face!)
The pics aren't many, and these in fact aren't even from our camera, as I dropped ours on the last day of the trip and it broke, so I will have more to upload once we get our camera fixed.
Anyway, I've probably said enough for now, and I'm sure some would say too much after the first paragraph, but I had to get it off my chest somewhere, so what better place than here?
Hmmm, I actually do feel better. That was kind of cathartic... ...I'd forgotten that pleasant by-product of blogging.
I think I may have to start doing this more often again...
To any readers I may have left, Thanks for stopping by, and Take Care!
~
August 15 "Leavin' on a jet plane...."OK, well maybe everyday was a bit ambitious, so I'll try maybe once a week. Uh, except for next week.
See, it's late, we're finally all packed up, the Olympics are on, and I should be getting to bed, but in reality the kids are so wired with excitement it's not lookin like that's gonna happen.
We have to get this circus up GAWDAWFULLY early, and circus is probably an understatement.
I have done something clever this time however; I have wrapped all my extremely common suitcases with a neon green duct tape, and I must say the '80's rocker in me actually likes the black and neon green combo, and it will be most easy to locate our luggage on the conveyor belt... ...can you tell this has been a problem in the past?
Anyway, it's late, I'm out, and North Carolina?
HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~
P.S. Note to self: Need to update pictures upon return!! No, seriously...
August 12 Summertime...Well, it's getting to the point where I'm just going to have to start making myself post something, even just a few lines, everyday, or at least everyday that I can remember to do so.
Skylar is getting such a personality on her, but still refuses to talk. We think she is saving it all up for a sudden barrage of words one day, but everything is still 'Da!', or 'Duh!', or sometimes simply just 'Uh!' with a pointed finger for emphasis.
Cheyenne is getting to be quite the little artist of late, and my little girl is already spelling her own name!!
I thought with so many letters it would be sometime before she got that, but she far surpasses me in intelligence at the same age, and is constantly asking how to spell other words now. My mom is going to be so amazed at how much she's changed just since February when they left, I just know it.
Speaking of that... ...we are getting very exicted, as on Saturday we leave for 10 days to North Carolina to visit Grandma and Grandpa, my Sister and her husband, and my girls' favorite part... ..the COUSINS!!!
In January we had a new addition to the cousins, Baby Sierra, who I'm sure is going to provide many hours of fun for both of my girls next week, and I can't wait to meet my new little niece!!
Anyway, I am already in vacation mode, and it's all I can do to prepare everything at work for me to be gone next week... ...I will have much to report and many pictures upon our return, for SURE!!
Take care all, and have a great summer!
~ June 10 MilestonesWell, the neglect of this blog has now reached epic proportions, and I am trying hard to remedy that fact, as this is a blog more for me to be able to reflect on my life more than anything else, and yet with all that is happening it can sometimes be hard to take even a minute to write things down.
Well, this may be late, but for the historical record, May 28th, 2008 is the first day I walked thru the door after getting home from work that my littel angel Skylar stood up and WALKED up to greet me!! That's right, there's no stopping her now! She is on a mission to go every where on two legs now, and the very next day I took this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjSKVi7fuF4
Again I am in a real hurry, (at work) but I just couldn't let this moment go unannounced, and to all of you who commented and still read, Thanks, and enjoy!
PS.
I will try to come by and visit your blogs more often as well, it's just these kids keep me so darn busy!
~ March 25 Long overdue...Wow, where to start. This is going to be a lot of brief updates which should have been many separate blogs, but... ...stuff happens, what can I say?
Let's see, Christmas was wonderful, and then the New Year started out with bad news from the Licensing division at DMV, so that then in turn caused me to be laid off from work. I know. Just great. The only up side to that was that I was able to be available to help my folks with some very long days during their move out to North Carolina, and now it's been so long since I've posted I am once again employed, though not in the field of my choice, but hey, it's a job, and it's paying the bills. I do hope that good things really do come to those who wait, because it's starting to feel like it's been a long time for me.
Let's see, in February, my parents put their house up for sale, and I must say I knew the house I grew up in was a wonderful one, but who would have imagined it so wonderful that even in this housing market mess it would only take 15 DAYS for it to sell?? Ah, the benefits of buying in a good neighborhood. So, as I said, then being jobless, I was able to help my parents attack the gargantuan task of emptying a house after 35 years of filling it with memories and memorabilia.
In short, we had many an "Aha! So THAT'S where..." moments, and many, many wonderful trips down memory lane. It was really nice in some ways, sad in others, but overall I think it actually brought us even closer as a family, even though they were about to move so far away.
The day they left was heavy, for lack of a better word, and I still have a hard time believing I will never be able to go 'home' again. As I walked into the house for one of the last times, and called out to my mother whom I thought was still inside, the extra echo of the word "Mom" from the now completely empty walls caused such a wave of emotion over me it really hit me like... ...well, like a wave. It just really drove the reality and finality of the situation home for me, that this was where I grew up and became who I am, and for some reason the saying "You can't go home again" popped into my head and I found the signifigance and meaning of it as if hearing it for the first time.
Wow. Well, they say change is good, and many times for the better, so we move on in life. It is hard not to be able to drive 30 minutes to go see Mom, as I have always been able to do, but hey, it's going to be good for them, and we had been planning to move out to North Carolina in the next couple of years anyway due to housing costs here, so it will be nice when we finally get out there to be able to be closer to Mom as well.
Yeah, I've kinda turned into a 'mama's boy' at this late stage of my life, and it took this stage of maturity to allow me to be proud of it, but heck, who wouldn't with the wonderful woman I was blessed to have as my Mother? Besides, I'd gladly trade it anyday for the kind of person I was as an early adult, and I have a lot of years to make up for when I was 'out there' and spent many years without calling her or seeing her at all, save for holidays and special occasions.
It occured to me the other day the irony of just how little I thought about the future when I was younger and had so much of it still in front of me, and now here I am at 40 with two young daughters and ALL I can think about is the future, and how much better I could have prepared for it had I this insight and self-awareness 20 year ago.
Ah, well, I've taken my mistakes as lessons I can now teach my children.
Youth really is wasted on the young, and yet at the same time while that is true, there is something oddly wrong about that statement. Part of the beauty of being young is having so much time to waste, to be able to learn things at your own pace, and to have the energy to do so much more, but also the luxury of not having to. It's a paradox, but I digress.
My two girls are doing well, although Cheyenne seems to be going thru a phase of not eating much, and I hope it doesn't have anything to do with her favorite Grandma moving away. She hasn't said much at all about them moving, but seems to understand that they did, and yet we'll still get the occasional request to bring her doll over to Grandma's to swim in her pool. We remind her that she has moved, and she responds "But I only want to use her pool for a little bit" or something like that, and it's all I can do to keep my own emotions in check. It must be me getting old, as I didn't used to be so easily and so strongly affected by these kinds of things, but lately it seems I am. I sometimes wonder if I'm not suffering from a mild depression or something, but I just have to suck it up and go on.
I have quite a bit more to add, but this had been a draft long enough, and maybe having an unfinished posting will inspire me to begin blogging more frequently. I hope so, as now that I have begun blogging I will regret not recording more of what is going on at this time in my life and the lives of my children. These long periods in between posts leaves a lot of things getting left out and ultimately possibly forgotten with the passage of time, and that would be a real shame, as my children are such a source of joy to me, and I want to remember every minute of it.
It is late, and I am tired, and since I am sure I have no one who reads or checks this blog anymore due to my long absence, I am ok with ending with to be continued....
~
January 26 Dem bones, dem bones...Well, after 40 years I finally suffer my first broken bone. Yes, I broke my left arm in a rather unglamorous fall in the garage about two weeks ago.
Therefore, typing is no longer so easy, nor are myriad other things which have made me realize just how much I take for granted the use of all of my limbs.
It had already been too long since my last post before the break, and this only made it longer. When I heal a bit more I am going to post all the pics from the holidays and some new ones as well, plus update on all the happenings.
I hope everyone out in blogland is doing better than I, and I will be back as soon as this heals. (Approximately 4 more weeks they tell me.)
Ouch! This hurts!! ~ December 21 It's beginning to look a lot like...Wow, where has all the time gone?? It's already Christmas, and I haven't posted the pics from the Thanksgiving trip yet! Well, I have uploaded them to Shutterfly, but have not gone thru and deleted the blurry or bad shots, so there are something like 200 pics to go thru.
By the time I post a blog next, what with Christmas and all, I'm sure I'll have another substantial number of photos as well.
So, this will be brief, but in a nutshell, all is well with the family, and despite my financial situation, I have enough that everyone will be having a very good Christmas, especially my little girls!
(Oh, and Van Halen the other night was an absolutely AMAZING SHOW, as predicted, and I could go on, but more on that later... )
What this post is about is that I want to wish all of you out there, whether you will be with a large family gathering, or spending Christmas alone, or spending it in a place you would rather not be, a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
I know a lot of people, especially our troops, would give anything to be home for Christmas, and although that may not happen this year, there is always hope for next year. Have faith, and it will happen.
No matter your situation this year, if it is not what you want it to be, you CAN do things to change it.
One of my favorite sayings is: If it is to be, it's up to ME!
(It's amazing what you can come up with when you adopt that simple attitude. Give it a try.)
In trying to keep positive this year and understanding what it is to be grateful for what you have, keep this in mind:
It's more than the perspective of looking at your glass as being half full or half empty;
...it's practicing gratitude that you have a glass at all! I wish you all a very warm, cozy, and Merry Christmas, and to all a good night!
~
November 17 The Holidays approach...Ok, a bit longer than I had planned between posts, but I have not had much time to blog as of late.
Halloween was great, and I'll try to post the pics as soon as I finish writing this. (Correction, I spent 20 minutes following this post adding all these captions to the pics, and when I posted them, none of the captions showed!!! Darn this old computer!!!) Anyway, the only necessary caption was the one where I explain that the black mark on Cheyenne's nose is Daddy's poor attempt at a witches wart... ...but she's just too darn cute to be able to pull off an ugly old witch!!
Monday we leave for a week in AZ with my Dad and Stepmother. We will be taking a trip to the Grand Canyon and if I have my way, we will be taking the Helicopter ride out over the canyon. I did this once when I was in High School, and it is still one of my all time favorite memories.
The pilot flies so close to the treetops that you can't even see a break in the ocean of trees for miles all around. Then, as if from out of nowhere, the ground falls away from you and suddenly you are over a mile high in the air!!
To say it is breathtaking is an understatement.
It is absolutely awe inspiring.
Well, as I said this is just a short check in, in fact I haven't even checked to see if anyone has posted any comments lately.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and strengthens bonds with family members this week.
Well, until we get back next week, be safe and take care!
~
October 30 The witching hour approaches...Just a brief update, as things are still very busy for me, but it is a good news day.
It turned out the cysts Gordon has are nothing. Thank you God.
His doctor told him that some really high percentage (which I am at a loss to remember, but then again 47.5% of statistics are made up anyway, right?;~) of over-65 year olds are walking around with some kind of cyst somewhere on their body, and his are harmless. They are going to do another test in a few months just in case, but they don't anticipate anything abnormal.
Skylar is feeling much better, and both the girls are just trying to get rid of the last remnants of the sniffles. Cheyenne is vocal about wanting her cold to go away completely, and I know Skylar wants hers gone just as bad, since it makes breastfeeding difficult when you can't breathe through your nose. (This claim is from intuition rather than personal experience ;~D)
Anyway, this is a busy week, with court dates and lawyer meetings, but I am keeping positive about a good outcome. I can't imagine after this much persistance and personal growth they would deny me my license, but we will find out on November 7th.
Well, tomorrow is Halloween, and my little Chey-chey is VERY excited. She is going to be a witch, with a costume Grandma Wendy made for her that is really great. I will be coming to work as a pirate tomorrow, a costume I got for a party we had earlier this month at our house, and wearing that for the evening as well.
Skylar is going to be a little white kitty cat, another costume Grandma Wendy made for Cheyenne when she was Sky's age. It is really cute. You just have to see it. I will update my blog with all the pictures and stories following the big night.
We carved pumpkins last night, and I must say I think I did two of the best pumpkin carvings I have ever done before.
I was very patient and diligent, if I do say so myself, and was able to pull off the design Cheyenne wanted, which (of course) was the most intricate and complicated one in the booklet of pumpkin designs we bought.
Thankfully, on the second one she wanted a cat, which the book didn't have a very good design of, so I was able to freestyle it and came up with a cat face that looked much better than I had planned, so we were very happy with that, too.
Now, from the melting-hearts dept:
As if my two little angels did not provide me with enough heart-melting moments just by existing, Cheyenne continues to come out with some of the cutest things I have ever heard spoken.
Back when we visited my sister in NC early last year, one of the things she kept saying to Cheyenne was "How much does Aunty Kim love you?"
Now, normally the answer is to stretch your arms all the way out to both sides and say "This much" but instead my sister would tell her, "No, way more than that..
...in fact, I love you...
... Too Much!!!" which is what Cheyenne answered her with for the rest of the trip, and that would send them both into fits of giggles.
Well, yesterday morning as I am getting dressed, I overhear her saying to my wife as she is eating her favorite breakfast of"Flying flapjacks" (don't ask me where the name came from, I haven't found that out yet.) "Mommy, do you know how much Aunty Kim loves me?" and both of them together said "Too Much!!" and laughed at each other.
Then I hear Cheyenne say "I remembered her saying that all this long time ago Mommy, and I am going to keep that with me forever."
(Come on, all together now: AW!")
I guess you had to be there, but it makes me happy for the future, and I don't know exactly why, it just does.
It makes me happy to be me, and happy for what I have, and that is really all anyone can ask for.
~
October 18 Fall-ing into Autumn...Well, things seem to be really busy lately, as it has almost been a month again since my last post. I need to get a new laptop, as the old one I am using for work is about on it's last leg, and makes it very difficult to work online. Things are moving ahead with my parents move to N.C., and faster than some in the family would like, myself included, but I think we all just need to sit down and talk things out. Communication needs to be improved between my stepfather and one of his daughters, and suffice to say it has made things difficult for all, but that is a long story.
I think it will work out, but just as things were looking up, my stepfather Gordon had three unprecedented bouts of vomiting. This was highly unusual, as this never happens to him, and we feared it may have something to do with the heart surgery he recently had.
He went in to get it checked out and they found two cysts, one on his liver and one on his kidney.
[Oh, Lord, please let this be nothing serious... ...I beg you.]
Surprisingly, no one seems to be too alarmed about it, neither my mother or him, so maybe it isn't that big a deal, but he is going in this week to begin some kind of treatment for it.
I can't imagine he is too happy at the timing of this, as he is trying to pack up this house here, and he has a half-built house out in N.C. that he is planning on doing most of the interior work on. Well, half-built probably isn't the right term for it. The entire outer shell of the home is completed, and he is planning on doing all the electrical and drywall himself.
That is an ambitious project in and of itself for anyone, but at age 71 I think he may be biting off more than he can chew, at least in terms of the timeframe he is allowing himself.
Don't try telling him that though, that's just the way he is, and once he's made up his mind, he's pretty set on it. He wants to be out there before Christmas, but I don't see that happening as 1.) he isn't even close to being done with packing up this house out here, and for 2.) we all (Mom included) want one last Christmas out here while they still have this house.
Let's just say the word 'Stress' comes to mind, and I fear that same stress may be what has caused the cysts. I pray everything will be fine, as he and my mother both have a lot of life left in them, and I want them both around for many years to come.
In other news, baby Skylar has had her first tooth come in, the lower left front one, and right next to it you can feel the second trying to push through!
As luck would have it, she caught a cold from my wife the day after they pulled all of the infant cold medication off of all the shelves, and now we have to contend with salt water drops down her nose, and that little ball-sucker thingy to try to clear her nasal passages. Man, does she scream and cry when we have to do that.
Afterwards, she's back to her big bright smiling self, and trying to cut her teeth on every and anything she can get her hands on! I think my fingers are her favorite chew toy at the moment, though, and man does that little girl have a powerful bite!! The poor little thing is being a real little trooper though, but I wish there was something we could give her to make her feel better, as you can hear how hoarse her throat sounds, and that has to be painful. It kind of ticks me off that because some people aren't careful about dosages they give their kids, they take everything off the shelves so nobody's child can be given anything... ...and it happens the DAY before she got sick.
With my luck, Vegas won't be seeing me anytime soon.
Well, other than that, I am still waiting for my hearing on my sales license which will be the first week in November, so money is still very tight.
Also, I've heard some very disturbing reports and news this week about just how badly this 'President' has screwed up our Constitution and our policies for the future, even moreso than I had thought, and it makes me seriously worry about the world we are leaving for our children.
It also really bums me out that he is getting away with all that he is, to the point that it makes me depressed.
Then I go home to my house, where my wife and my two beautiful baby girls are, and there is so much fun, life and love filling it that all is right with the world and I am happy again.
I thank God for my healthy family.
~ September 26 Van Halen? VAN HALEN!!!After 22 years of waiting, the impossible has happened:
Van Halen has reunited with David Lee Roth!!!!
OK, I am not a very religious man, but if there was ever a Mecca to my Rock and Roll, it was the original lineup of Van Halen, with David Lee Roth fronting the band.
As you can probably imagine from my '80's pics I have posted, I looked up to, aspired to be, and even modeled myself after David Lee Roth, who is, in my opinion, the Greatest Front Man in the History of Rock and Roll.
I did not say greatest singer, songwriter, or any of that, as I know there are many who are technically better, but if you have never seen David Lee Roth's act live on stage when he is on his game, you are missing one of the most spectacular events to ever happen in Rock music.
To this day, I have never seen a show that could come close to matching the first and last time I saw Van Halen together, May 10th, 1984 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
After a really crappy, no-name opening band, the lights went down, smoke began to fill the stage, and in an explosion of lights and sound, this blonde-maned wildman soared about 15 feet into the air, both legs and arms outstreched fully to both his sides, (touching his toes in mid-air!) and then landed on the stage as another explosion burst from the sides of the stage and he proceeded to take over the crowd and the show.
I mean, he absolutely owned it, this guy was for real, and you could just tell that this was what Rock and Roll was really all about. The energy, the raw excitement, it was just something in the air, and to this day I have never forgotten any of it. There are a lot of the '80's shows that are a blur, but not this one. There has never been another concert or show I have been to that has EVER matched this one...
...yet. Yes, I know they are in their 50's now, heck, I'm 40, but I have also seen some early video of their recent practice sessions, and they are as good as they ever were from what I can tell. Of course I realize that with all the time passed, and the amazing memories from the early days this show will probably not top that one, but I believe it may come close. Either way, it is going to be a really good time, and even my wife, who was not a big VH fan, is getting more excited about it now that she knows we have tickets and are really going. I've loaded up my iPod with all the great old stuff and play it often so she will know the songs well by the time we see the show.
My only fear is that the egos that drove this band apart may break them up again before Dec 16th, but I think that with Eddie Van Halen being sober now, and with how long and how badly Roth has wanted this, it has a good chance of making it.
This is going to be so much fun. This is going to be such a blast from the past. I feel the excitement like I'm a kid again, and I know it's silly, and must just be residual from the original show, but it feels good to feel like this again, so I'm just gonna go with the flow.
If you ever get the opportunity to see this show, it will be a once in a lifetime event, and you know I would highly recommend it.
 ~
Van Halen - Beautiful GirlsShe was seaside sittin', just a smokin' and a drinkin' on ringside, on top of the world, oh, yeah. She had her drink in her hand; she had her toes in the sand and whoa, what a beautiful girl, ah, yeah. What a sweet talkin' honey with a little bit of money can turn your head around. Creatures from the sea with the look to me like she'd like to fool around. What a snappy little mammy. Gonna keep her pappy happy and accompany me to the ends of the earth, ah, yeah. Here I am, ain't no man of the world, no. All I need is a beautiful girl. Ah, yeah! Beautiful girls. Well, I'm a bum in the sun and I'm having fun. And I know you know I got no special plans. All the bills are paid. I got it made in the shade, and all I nee, nee, need is the woman. What a sweet talkin' honey with a little bit of money can turn your head around. Creatures from the sea with the looks to me like she'd like to fool around. Here I am, ain't no man of the world, no. All I need is a beautiful girl. Ah, yeah! Beautiful girls. Now, I'm a seaside sittin', just a smokin' and a drinkin'; I'm ringside, on top of the world. I got a drink in my hand; I got my toes in the sand. All I need is a beautiful girl. Here I am, ain't no man of the world, no. All I need is a beautiful girl. Ah, yeah! Beautiful girls. Ah, yeah! Beautiful girls. ~ September 11 A brief update...I guess we really needn't have worried about her. When my wife went to pick up Cheyenne from her first day of school and asked her how her day went, she responded with:
"It was fun! And I didn't even miss you, Mommy!"
I laughed when I heard that. This statement obviously came from how many times she must have heard "I miss my Mommy" all day long from all of the other kids, as was confirmed later by her teacher.
Well, today was her second day of school, and I was a little worried about the fact that she told us she didn't want to go when I went in to wake her up this morning, but that must have just been her being tired. My wife said that when she dropped her off this morning, she actually had to stop Cheyenne to get a goodbye kiss before she tore off to go play with her friends.
Then, when she went to pick her up this afternoon, she didn't want to leave. The teacher actually had to go out and pick her up off the monkey bars to carry her inside to say goodbye. This little girl absolutely loves this school thing!
I am feeling very good about this, and about the future in general, as I have had some positive news on the job front.
I like feeling like this.
A lot.
I could very much get used to it, so heck, I am planning on it.
As with everything, you must take the good with the bad, so...
As an aside, I would like to take a moment to remember all of those who lost loved ones on this day six years ago. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of you and I pray you find a way to be strong. No one should have had to go through what you did. No one.
As an aside to that aside, I would like to take a moment to address another casualty that occurred that day, and while it may be a minor casualty in comparison to the others, it is a casualty just the same. It is the loss of my sister's birthday, or the identity of it anyway.
Happy Birthday Kim, and I'm sorry those bad people put a dark mark on this day, but I want you to know that I love you and that this day first and foremost will always be your birthday to me.
Sure, we will always take some time to remember the tragedy and the lives lost on this day, but most of the day will be spent the way it should be and always used to be prior to 2001; a celebration of your life: past, present and future!
You're so full of life, and I love you for it. I can't wait to see my new niece, little Sierra, when she comes in January, but I'm sure we'll see you all before that, so until then, have a great day and get all you can out of it!!
Love,
Your Big Brother,
Keith
(OK, so now for the inside joke: I am writing all of these kind words for her here, when in reality I know she's sitting at home right now after entertaining my parents all week in North Carolina, unable to even walk on her poor, swollen, pregnant feet! Oh yeah, she's LOVING life right now!! Ha Ha! Happy Birthday Sis!! Love ya!!)  ~ The first day of schoolWell, she's off to a good start! We went to orientation on Wednesday, the 5th of September, and while we met the teachers and went over the rules, she was outside for about 45 minutes playing with all of the kids, and she would never have known if we had left her there, she was having that much fun.
On Thursday, the 6th, she started her first day. We took pictures outside the school to mark the day, and then walked her in. We were told the day before to make our goodbye's brief, so as to avoid big messy scenes. Make sure they get their kiss goodbye, and then just turn and go.
As you can imagine, I was a little anxious for her, and wanted to see how she would do, but I needn't have worried. No sooner had we given her a kiss, then she was off playing with all her new friends.
I went inside the school and my wife and I watched for about 15 minutes from the classroom as she had her first interactions with her new school mates. There was an incident with a little boy who didn't know how to share, but thankfully his mother was still there and set him straight quickly, and then there was an incident with a little girl who wasn't handling being away from her parents very well, and I was so proud to see Cheyenne trying to comfort her as the teacher held the crying girl.
I had a moment of panic as Cheyenne caught sight of this merry-go-round a girl was spinning around on really fast, and as she ran towards it, I thought for sure she was going to run right into it and get hit hard, but she pulled up just in time, and boarded without incident as her new friend slowed it to let her on.
Feeling good about how she was taking to it, we left and got in the car to come home. As we did so it hit me that my little baby girl was growing up, and had just taken a very big first step in her life. I was thankful for my sunglasses, as they hid the unshed tear that welled up and came very close to falling from my eye for a moment.
I still can't decide if it would have been a tear of sadness at the fact that my baby girl is growing up, or a tear of happiness for the excitement I know my baby is feeling at taking her first big steps in life...
...or both.
~
August 31 Out like a lambI know that term is usually used to describe the month of March, but August kind of feels like that to me today, so I feel it is an apt title for my blog entry.
It was a very enjoyable and fun filled month, and one of those where you don't even realize how much fun you are having until you reflect upon it later. In fact, the fun began in late July with the camping trip, and the good times just seemed to spill over into the whole month following it, but sadly, as with all good things, it seems to be coming to an end.
School starts next week, and this time of year always made me melancholy. Not so much that I didn't like school, but more that I so love Summer, my favorite season of the year, and school marked the end of it.
I am excited for my daughter though, as next week will be her first day of school. I don't think she has quite grasped what it will be like, but she is excited, and with Grandma buying her all sorts of new clothes, she understands that it is something special.
I try to think back on my first day of school, and while the memory is hazy, I do remember crying and begging her not to go once I realized that Mom was leaving me alone with all of these strange people. I will do my best to comfort Cheyenne and try to alieviate some of that fear, but I know this will be a day she remembers for a long time. Hopefully it will be a pleasant memory.
Ah, it seems like just yesterday she was still a baby, and now my little girl is entering the beginning stages of growing up.
Yes, this is definitely my melancholy time of year.
~ August 22 It's moments like these...You know, there used to be a time in my life when I would have been considered, and considered myself , in fact, to be a pretty tough guy...
...my how things can so completely change!
Today, a little 3-year old girl can bring me to tears without even trying...
There are some things in life that are just so precious, it is hard to put into words the feelings and emotions that they can conjure up in one's self. My daughter, Cheyenne, is definitely one of these things.
You see, we have this small fish pond in the backyard, which I got for her after seeing how much she enjoyed feeding my Mother's fish in her pond. Well, in order to avoid the inevitable 'dead fish' episodes, I figured that I would buy a LOT of fish initially, so that if we lost a few, it would not be noticed unless she actually was the one to find the fish. Well, as often happens in a new pond, a lot of less hardy fish died over the course of the first couple of weeks, but these were quickly disposed of of without incident.
Then, when we went on vacation, I had a friend of mine I work with watch them for us, but he was not a very good fish watcher at all. When we got home, the water level was dangerously low, and I feared that all of the fish had perished.
I quickly added water to the pond and brought the level up, but only saw one fish, and I was surprised to see that. Amazingly, over the next few days several fish reappeared, and everything was fine, albeit with fewer fish, and only a couple more have died since.
Well, now Cheyenne has seen dead fish, and in an attempt to soften the blow, one day I sat and tried to briefly explain what happens to someone after they die, how all good people go up to Heaven, so that one day, in the end, we will all be together again. She seemed content with my explanation and so I left it at that and thought nothing more of it.
Cut to two days ago and my wife and Cheyenne are in the backyard when Cheyenne yells "Mommy! I found a dead fishy!"
"Oh," she says "let me get the net." She scooped up the dead fish in the net and walked over and threw it into our outside compost/backyard trash bin in the corner of the yard, and then went on about her business.
Well, about 20 minutes later she walks back out into the backyard, only to find Cheyenne still standing quietly and staring into the compost bin.
"Cheyenne? Are you OK? What are you doing over there honey?" she asked.
"Mommy... ...I'm waiting to see the fish go up to Heaven."
~ August 10 Back... ...to the '80's!!Well, we're back, and everyone had an amazingly fun time relaxing and enjoying the lake. We got some really great pictures of the trip as well, but there are so many of them, I am just going to provide the link here so that everyone can enjoy them on Shutterfly, our online picture source.
I am already ready to go back, and my daughter is as well. She keeps saying "Daddy, I want to go back to the campsite." and as I explain to her the reasons we can't right now, I always end up sounding (to me) like I am trying to convince myself why more than her.
Her limp improved dramatically almost overnight, and she is running around as fast as she ever did now. The doctor said he is pleased with the results, and that with a little physical therapy she should be just fine. She will be starting school next month, so we are heading into another new challenge, but can't decide if I am excited more than I am fearful for her, or the other way around. Let's just say it will be interesting.
Now, I really should blog more, as I have a lot to say, but time simply does not permit today, as we are going to see Poison and Ratt tonight!!! Now, this may not be a big deal to most of you, but that is MY era when it comes to music, and I was in a big hair band called Flair,(and we were GOOD) and if I had met the right people back then who knows, it could very well have been me in one of those big hair band's we all remember and love from the 80's. But alas, we found out the hard way that in the music business it is more about who you know than how good you are that takes you to the top.
To explain my enthusiasm, perhaps I should post a couple of pics of me from that era so you can see just how involved I really was and how authentic we really were. I bleed the '80's
In fact, with these pics, I am going to leave this post at that, and I will be back to give a post show blog later. This is going to be FUN!
Till then, ROCK ON!!
~ July 19 HappeningsMuch the same as The Dad blogged about recently, I have an incredible amount going on in my life at the moment, and yet very little desire to blog about it. Could be just how busy I am actually, but I will give a short update here.
Cheyenne got her cast off on Monday, and while I should have known it was coming, I just was not prepared for the limping. She really is limping quite severly, and although the doctor cautions us that it is normal, and that the wounds are still only 80% healed, it still really strikes my heart when I see it. She may have to work with a physical therapist for a while, but whatever it takes, I am going to do it for my little angel to make sure she gets the best treatment out there. I wish with all my heart that I could trade my good leg for hers. I would do anything for not to have to go thru this. I know it's more in my head than anything, as she takes it all in stride like a little trooper, but it hurts me to see my baby not in perfect shape.
Now, as for my other little angel, Skylar, she is becoming more responsive every day, and she has a smile that could melt the polar ice caps. She is a very happy baby, and yet still every night she has a crying fit for a couple of hours that requires we walk her around until she is content. Overall it will be nice in a few weeks when she can hold her head up on her own, but she is everything we could have hoped for and more. Cheyenne just absolutely adores her as well. She calls her "my baby" all the time, or else "my baby sister" to anyone she meets. I'll post some more pics soon.
Another thing making everything hectic right now is the fact that we leave on vacation up to Lake Trinity on Sunday, and everyday seems to be a mad scramble to make sure something else is taken care of before we leave. It will be my 40th birthday while we are up there, and so I've bought myself an early birthday present in the form of an old Yamaha dit bike I purchased this week. I can't wait to get up there and putt around on all the old fire trails and around the lake shore as I've been wanting to do for years now, but just never took the plunge and bought a bike. I used to ride quite a bit in my younger days, so this will be a real treat for me.
The big treat for my daughter is that her cousins are flying in tomorrow to go camping with us!! You couldn't ask for a bigger thrill for her, so I am equally happy for her. This is going to be a lot of fun this year, as (Shhhh!!!) I think I found out that my sister and her husband are coming up to surprise me! (Don't worry, I can keep a secret, and I'm a good enough actor to be believably surprised, but somebody slipped up and I overheard, so I'm practicing my 'surprised' faces. heh heh.)
Hopefully there are more people coming who I hope to see, but so far I haven't found any credible evidence to back that up, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.
Anyway, I'm too busy to justify spending any more time on this, so I will suffice to say I will not be online for the next couple of weeks (hey, I always say, if you're going to make it a vacation, make it a loooong vacation, they're the best!) so I will not be in blog land either. I hope everyone has a good time, myself included, and I will post all the pics when we get back.
Till then, stay positive, and live life to the fullest!
I know I will be!
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