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May 2010 – boys conversation, Rachel’s book, and Savannah Jack
Hi World!
…almost a year and a half since my last blog entry, what can I say? I’m not really cut out for the timely update thing, but I think of Grandma Ethel patiently waiting for some new pics and some news from the family in TN, so i must write!! Part of the problem is there is just waaaaaaaay too much going on and to sit here and drivel on about and it would be like writing a term-paper. I will stick to some highlights from 2009 and now half of 2010. The boys are growing fast. Jacob turned 5 in February and Seth 3 in March. Jacob LOVES star wars legos and spends hours building his own versions of space travel devices, etc. They both play a lot of kitchen hockey, as i bought Seth a goalie net for his birthday and they have a few kid-sized plastic sticks. I noticed one day that they were always hurting each other with the sticks because they would hit each others toes and feet on the close shots. I kept telling them to wear shoes and it just wasn’t sinking in for them. Apparently it was sinking in for me either. I finally was watching them one day and noticed they were pushing off back and forth in a skating moting in their socks…that was why they alwasy took the shoes off!!! They were mimicking what they saw the guys doing on TV in the hockey games. They had to have that sliding motion be part of the game. They even put a water bottle with a straw coming out of it on the back of the net, just like the real goalies have in the NHL games (gatorade bottle). Jacob will routinely get up in the mornings and come downstairs to sit and watch the previous nights hockey highlights. He knows many of the teams and players by name and when they play kid hockey 1 on 1, he is calling out the plays like he hears on TV. “Luongo makes a HUUUUUGE stop, right in front of the net!!!” Our next door neighbor was Dan Ellis, Preds goalie but he and his lovely wife Katy and their 2 kids moved back to Omaha for the off season. The boys loved watching the Preds games live and we were lucky enough to get a few tix from the Ellis’ over the past two years while they were here to go see a few games.
They are each others closest friends and playmates, although not without the occasional sibling rivalry escalation. Here’s a dialogue between them I actually wrote from this past January and is fairly typical of a normal conversation with them…Seth was still 2 at the time, barely:
Jacob – “It’s not your lucky day, its MY lucky day”
Seth – “no its not, its MY wucky day”
Jacob – “NO it isn’t…and if you just keep yellin, if won’t be anyone’s lucky day”
Seth – “YEA it IS!!”
Jasob – “Nobody is having a lucky day cuz you broke my speeder” (legos)
Seth – (singing)…”my wucky daaaay, my wucky day, its my wucky daaay”
Jacob – (with feeling now)…”NO its NOT!! Its not going to be anyone’s lucky day until its a big Holiday and we get more toys”
Rachel is writing a fiction and I am actually very excited about it. I’m not allowed to say what it is or anything about it so you will just have to stay tuned, but she has written almost 400 pages now, and has an editor. She’s been talking to a girlfriend in the ward who is published on a few books and they are scheming how to get her an agent. A few insiders like family have read some of the book and everyone loves it. She needs about 3 weeks of perfect solitude to complete the first draft…so that will take like another 6 months. She gets about 2 hours a night to work on it really.
Rach and the boys are now doing Taekwondo and everyone has their yellow belts. Testing for Green belt is next week. The boys now say “sir” and “yes ma’am”…we are very pleased with that part of it. Rachel is looking foward to breaking boards, and has a mean spinning crescent kick.
We have been on so many trips in the past 18 months I can’t even remember them all now…some i do recall, we have been to Seattle to see family last Summer, Rachel has been up there a couple times to attend to her mother who was diagnosed with cancer last year but is now recovering from chemo. The boys say prayers for her every night…”bwess gwama nita, that the cansa will all go away, and stay gone foweva, and neva come back” (Seth’s version). We went to Mexico with friends Phil and Kristy and their kids Josie and Emmett. We went to Atlanta and saw the aquarium which is amazing…couple trips to St. Louis, Memphis, Chattanooga. I went to Germany and Mexico a couple times. The lizard projects are lively as ever…and I continue to have some success breeding my favorite group, the Abronia lizards.
One of our dear family friends are Mike and Alli Ulvila and they have two children, Jackson and Brynn who get along famously with Jacob and Seth. Mike is in a band called Savannah Jack, which just came out with their first single. We are very excited for them and hope their new album goes all the way up the charts…I think right now its at number 71 on billboard so something like that. Here’s their website:
www.savannahjack.com their should be a media player sample of their new single on the front page. Rachel and her gang of girl friends will sometimes go out and watch the band play at a local music venue called the stage. These guys are VERY good and super entertaining.
I still play basketball twice a week and keep busy with work, boys and lizard stuff.
now for some pics…all from this past year!
Jason
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“cacheeaaoooww” and other catch phrases from the mouth of a 3 year old…
I’ve been saying to Rachel for some time now that I needed to do an entry on the funny things our kids say to preserve them for posterity…so this is my attempt to capture some of that magic that goes on everyday in our household with the boys.
Jacob will be 4 in February. Seth will be 2 in March. They both have very different styles as you’d imagine, that vary with their verbal skill sets. Seth has learned to use volume, for example as an asset, since vocabulary isn’t always in reach. If we aren’t getting the picture on something, he’s happy to let us know that we are not on the same page with his agenda. There are different octaves too that give us clues to the urgency of said agenda. By now he has acquired some skill for using good manners and can use short phrases that sound like “peez” and “chenchoo”, or lately its even “chenchoo much”. Other times, when he’s whacked his older brother over some kind of toy dispute, we generally encourage an apology which is accompanied by a snuggle and “sharrr”. About a month ago he started really sounding out the entire word, “yes” with clear enunciation. Which is actually very funny when you hear it. I have also noticed he’ll respond with a really clear “what”…if I call his name. George, the family dog has become “Arge” and he knows his newly appointed name because Seth is usually the one who is most enthusiastic about feeding the dog. “AAARGE!!!” he’ll yell and then dip the metal scoop into the feed bag for a very distinctive clink and rattle as the dog food is dispersed to the feed bowl. Shortly thereafter, Seth will usually distribute some or all of the food from the bowl, to the kitchen floor to entertain himself in the process. This past week I had opened a pack of “fruit snacks” (funny how these companies have labeled this stuff nowadays…when I was a kid those were gummy bears, but now we feel better feeding them to our children because they have been dubbed “fruit snacks” by the manufacturer) at any rate I opened this little pack of fruit flavored sugar chewies for the boys, and Seth dumped them out on the floor and then both he and Jacob started in eating them off the floor like they were little doggies. I tried to say “no…” but eventually I let it slide as we’d just recently cleaned the floors…and you have to pick your battles. They both love the dog.
Jacob is a regular arbitrational guru, negotiating his way through every imaginable scenario in the day to day life of a 3 year old who’s almost 4. He has his mother’s dizzying intellect. A very bright child to be sure. Tonight I was having a conversation with him about the different train configurations he was hoping to get for Christmas. We have accumulated quite a few “Thomas the Train” sets over the years with the boys and Jacob makes regular inventories with the little fold out brochures that the “Thomas and Friends” people have so ingeniously included with every single item that you can buy from their manufactured line up. He has really had his eye on one of the sets for a while that is kind of a yellow spiral and long tall bridge track like something you’d see at a theme park. So Rach and I were planning to get it for him for Christmas but when we read the reviews it was rated poorly because the tall sections would break and didn’t hold together well, resulting in a frustrating experience for 4 year olds and parents. So it was just a bad design. I tried to explain this to Jacob, that we weren’t going to be getting that tall spiral bridge track set, because it was too hard to set up and would break down a lot and be difficult. Jacob paused at my explanation and then said….”you know Dad…sometimes when the trains come alive and talk to me, they tell me that they can be really careful on those tall tracks and they won’t break them”.
Jacob also loves the movie “Cars” and anything associated with the movie…including his Lightning McQueen Crocs, the bed set and matching pillow, story books, and his vast toy car collection. He’s probably watched that movie 100 times, and I wish I were exaggerating…but I’m not. He knows most of the lines from the movie and will repeat them in different situations. One time a few months back when we were working on potty training, I was trying to be positive and encouraging with him because he had just completed a successful round in the toilet. I gave him a thumbs up and said something real hip, like “great job buddy”. He did me one better and held up both of his thumbs and said “CAACHEEAAOOWW!!”….which is what the main character in the Cars movie says whenever he’s done something worthy of praise. Now he uses that phrase all the time when something good has happened. Has the sound and tone down perfect. Very funny to see in person.
I was having a conversation ealier this week with Jacob about Santa, and how he needed to be sure he was making good choices since Santa keeps track of things like that and he could earn more presents for Christmas by doing the right thing. A few days later Rachel and I have were having a “summit” as we like to call them, and after a bit of going back and forth a bit more animated than we usually do, Jacob piped up and said, “Mom, you better be careful and stop yelling at Dad or you might not get any presents from Santa”. Inside I muttered a quiet cacheeow of my own.
Somwhere along the line, Jacob has also picked up on the “if,then” idle threat tactics we must be using with him, because he has started giving it back to us almost daily, especially around nap time or if we are visiting friends where he doesn’t want to leave. “Dad, if you don’t ….., then I’m never gonna….”. Fill in the blanks. It comes up a few times a week for both of us.
That’s it for now. A few pics from a recent hockey game we attended where Darcy came visiting with his new team, the Vancouver Canucks. Lisa stayed with us a few days. She’s now 6 months along!! We also had a wonderful trip to Seattle and visited family there. My brother brought his puppies so I took a few kid and puppy shots. Also one in there of Jacob playing checkers with Grandma Anita.
Merry Christmas everybody!
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Disneyland, San Diego zoo, and catch up from 08…
I could blather on and give awkward excuses or go into some detail about huwhayyyyy we have zero blog updates in the last ohhhh, 10 months, but the reality is…I’m too busy doing all the time so it becomes very difficult to recap all the “doing” that’s goin on around here!
Family First…
Seth just eclipsed the 18 months of age mark and has still not had a proper hair cut…we’ve trimmed the bangs of course, but Rachel’s really too attached to his curls and the over-all look to go ahead with the first hair cut. That and our good friend Katie Lonergan, who comes to the house and is our personal image consultant and family stylist said she wouldn’t cut his hair unless it was absolutely imposed upon her. Seth has quite a character too, to go along with his wild rock star hair style. Sometimes he will whip himself into a frenzy when we have any kind of up-beat music playing and he will swing his head around with his long curls flying all over the place. He has a very cute, albeit uncoordinated dance move where he bounces up and down while turning in a circle and then sometimes will swing his arms about in wide circles. He is really chatting up the scene now too, and has put together a few favorite phrases…mainly, “NO WAYYY!”, or “I wan mommy” or his favorite “RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW”, which he uses when he wants something. He also has a fairly discernable “please” and “thank you” in his repertoire. He’s prone to loud outbursts just for fun and has a very funny scrunchy face that he’ll bust out for no real reason whatsoever. He has recently developed quite a pension for climbing up and onto anything, including boxes, chairs, and last week he staggered up unto a high-boy dresser before Rach was able to rescue him. He seems un-phased by the concept of falling and getting hurt. Could care less about that detail. The stairs are now old hat…goes up an down them with ease, like a human slinky. It is both a constant chore to keep him out of mischief with the high activity level he lays down, combined with the acute lack of judgement…but he is also highly entertaining, so that’s kind of a fair trade off, when you think about it. Right???
Jacob is whole different kind of fun now that he’s 3 1/2. He is constantly engaging us and pushing the dialogue in all areas. Not a sideline kind of child…very much needs to be in the fray. He has developed into quite a chatter box and has very insightful things to communicate with us about every second of every day. Anytime Rachel and I are having some kind of serious conversation, we need to stop several times to respond to the relentless “excuse me mommy…” which is his very polite way of interjecting some commentary to our dialogue. In an average conversation of say 5 minutes, you can expect between 10-15 “excuse me mommys”. I really should be recording some of these conversations. He is also an artful negotiator with his parents. He not only employs semantics to get his way, but knows how to use tone, inflection, mood faces, and a myriad of other tactics to leverage his will against ours on some level. He is very effective at getting treats, by doing small acts of “kindness”…for example tonight as we were getting the boys ready for bed, I asked him to walk on my back, which is something I do once in a while when I have some stiff muscles or some kind of knot…I lay flat on my stomach and he walks up and down on my back with his bare feet. It is a great massage! But he has now come to know that this is something HE is doing FOR me. So when he has done a few back and forths along the scapula and L4 vertebrae, he quickly comments that he will be getting 3 jelly beans because he’s helping Daddy’s back, and he’s 3. Hard to argue with that kind of logic. Jacob has become really good friends with some of the children in our local church congregation. The other day he informed me that his favorite girl in the whole world was Addie (her mom is Katie Lonergan), but he also likes to play with Barrett, and Elijah. He is always talking about playing with his friends, and his cousins and frequently lists them off in his night-time prayers. Usually he asks for them to “get healthy”. He often talks about doing stuff with Henry, Kincade, Josh, Aiden, Keller, Keira, Shyla, India, Jackson, Brynn and Roxy. I know that seems like a big list of friends for a 3 year old, but that is what we have here. He knows them all by name and talks regularly about any and all of them. He is a very social kid.
Rachel has been on a fitness craze ever since she took this boot camp class here with our former neighbor Lisa Hordichuk (aaauugh! yes they moved, sniff) …back in February and went through a personal trainer supervised, intense work out regime for about 4 months. She loved the class and learned a lot about pushing herself but decided to opt out and start lifting weights and doing cardio on her own at our family gym. The big draw is the child care…she can drop the boys off for about 1-2 hours and she gets to work out. Instant sanity. She has been loving it, and is in the best shape of her life (her words). She’s also very linked in here with a bunch of girls from church and they have become great friends. They are constantly on the go coordinating and doing all kinds of stuff together including movie night, book group, cooking group, kid play-dates, girls night out to see Ally’s husband play in his band, “Savannah Jack” at the Stage downtown Nashville http://www.savannahjack.com/ …it’s all part of her new social calendar. I can hardly keep up. She’s really taken charge of her life down here and I’ve honestly never seen her so balanced and happy. It’s been a great thing for us to move here, looking back on that decision. Rach also started working at a local clinic two days a week, 4 hours a day to keep her NP license active. She’s loving that situation also…a very good position with a weight loss Doctor here in town. She is now a total guru on everything having to do with nutrition and weight loss.
Me…well I’ve been a traveling fool lately, between Microsoft trips, family vacation and my lizard stuff I have been on the road more in the past 8 weeks then I’ve been home. I started in August in Seattle for our TechReady conference, and we took time to visit my parents there in Goldendale, WA and Rache’s parents in Kirkland. The next week I flew to Mexico City and traveled around the countryside with Roberto and Rafa working on our Abronia lizard projects. I posted a trip report on the Mexico adventures here…it’s mainly photos of the reptiles we found, under Guererro, Morelos trips: http://www.projectabronia.com/distribution/viewforum.php?f=23&sid=71e7df9a7896e3aa13c8b099130bef7d
I have also enlisted the help of Shawn Bomer, my wife’s cousin’s husband (and one of my favorite family members)…to build a website for the lizard stuff I’m involved with. http://www.projectabronia.com/ the best part of the site is the forum where I’m building a community to get behind some of the conservation aspects of working with these rare lizards. It is slowly growing. So back to travel…from Mexico, the next week I drove with Jacob to Daytona, FL to see the huge reptile show there, and went with Dan Lonergan and his son Tristen. That was a great time, and my only regret was that we didn’t bring the whole family. After Daytona, I had a quick business trip to Louisville, KY, and then we embarked on our family vacation to CA. We went to Disneyland for 2 staight days riding rides and playing HARD till we were all exhausted, then we saw Aunt Karen get married, followed by a trip to San Diego Zoo with Shawn and Elisa and family, where we got a GREAT behind the scenes tour of the reptile facilities, courtesy of Don Boyer, the head reptile curator there (Thanks Don!!). And we ended with an evening jaunt through the promenade at Huntinton Beach, where we watched the street performers and break dancers (which the boys LOVED). Both of the boys were in a trance as they watched the street dancers, and when we got home, Jacob was showing me some of his new moves he’d picked up there. Also while in CA I hit the Anaheim reptile show which was going on there only one mile from our hotel so had to stop in and see the local herpetofauna. Very cool. Then that weekend after returning from CA, i made a short trip to Germany for the giant reptile show in Hamm. I had a fabulous time and even posted a trip report on my website: http://www.projectabronia.com/distribution/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=125
then I wrapped up my World traveling hiatus by going to Oralndo and Detroit the past two weeks for more business meetings. I’ve seriously never traveled or been gone that long in all of my life over an 8 week stretch. I’m glad its over. Aside from that I’ve started working out again, about 3 months ago picked up a tough routine with my neighbor Darcy (before they moved) and keeping in mind he’s a professional athelete, playing in the NHL, and I’m a 10 years older non-professional athlete…I had no chance of keeping up with him in any way. But it really woke my body up after these 3 years of basically laying completely off the weights and my only real exercise to this point has been basketball on average 1.5 times a week. I dropped about 7 pounds and a few of my pants won’t stay up anymore, which is a good thing…trust me, or just ask Rach.
Now on to general catch up. We lost our all time favorite neighbors in the Hordichuks when his rights got traded just before the NHL deadline, and now he’s signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Canucks. He’s doing great up there and getting more playing time, already scored a goal in his first pre-season game and they love it. Lisa is pregnant and will be about 5 months along by now, which is hard to believe. We miss them terribly but hope someday they will come back to our friendly neighborhood, as they decided to keep their house, which they are renting. Just met the new neighbors this week, also a hockey family, and great people! Our good friend Jeff Eakins came down and helped us build a beautiful rock water fall in the back yard this year, which is sometimes a hassle with the mosquitos, and leaves that get in there, not to mention the constant magnetic charm it has with the boys…they always head straight for the water if left un-supervised. But Jeff loves it here and is thinking about moving his family down, if he can make the job situation work out. I’m sure I’ll think of more stuff as soon as I post this entry, but for now, I need to be done.
Besides, most of you quit reading this a long time ago for sheer lack of entertainment value and skipped over to look at the new pictures, which are much better than this drivel. Until next year….
Jason
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Political diatribe, Mitt Romney visit
Mitt Romney Visit, and impressions
In October we went to St. Louis to visit our friends the Gunn’s and as part of the trip we stopped off at a Mitt Romney appearance and watched him adress a crowd of maybe 300 people. We were both EXTREMELY impressed with him after seeing him in person. What a difference to see him face to face and hear his personal stories and listen to him take questions from the audience, un-rehearsed. I wish every Conservative voter had the opportunity to see him live and in his own element, not being attacked by the media or biased debate moderators. He was funny, intelligent, charismatic, in a word, presidential…but perhaps most important to us, he addressed all the important issues that we find ourselves aligned to. I like the fact that he knows what its like to be in the trenches waging a business “war” and can appreicate that apsect of our Economy, and will know from experience what we need…mainly smaller Government and less taxes to support it. I like his moral stance with respect to family first…look at his family for pete sakes! Married once to the same woman, 5 kids, all achieving well in life, record as Governor that supported pro-life across the board, etc. We have gone on to research Gov. Romney’s record when he was Governor of Massachusettes, as well as some of his peronsal accomplishments. What has impressed me most is this is a guy of SUBSTANCE, who has over-achieved in every aspect of his life!! Check out his personal bio for details, but for crying out loud, nobody on the list of presidential nominees has achieved like this guy in every area:
Since our face to face visit, I have found myself irritated beyond belief with the Media’s portrayal of him as a candidate for presidency…including Fox, which we’ve always viewed as the least biased of the media outlets and yet even they seem to have an agenda against him…in albeit usually subtle tones. I will defend O’Reilly and the “Beltway Boys” and say that at least they have been impartial and balanced in their assesment of the candidates, but everyone else across the board has been clearly biased against Romney for who knows what reason. They had been backing Gulianni early on (Hannity especially), then Thompson when he was surging, and now Huckabee is the latest fad, but they have never had anything positive to say about Romney all along. It’s always been guarded compliments with a caveat or follow up point to discredit him in some way. They routinely bring in guests that are obviously routing for some other candidate (and pretend to be un-biased), but when was the last time you saw Fox or any media outlet for that matter, bring in a guest that was pro-Romney?
Guilianni is my second favorite candidate on the Rebupllican side, but loses big points on his moral stance to support gay marriage and abortion…both big “No No’s” on my list. He does well on the important areas of countering terrorism, and having a basic understanding of Economics, as proven by his record in New York where he did manage a budget and lowered taxes I believe. Hucackabee might have a choir boy appearance but my take is he’s anything but…I don’t care for some of his anti-Mormon tactics he’s employed trying to discredit Romney by making personal attacks on his reglion, and more importantly his record is totally un-impressive in reviewing his time as Governor of Arkansas. He raised taxes, significantly, and also funded illegal immigrant tuition with tax payer money to pay for their college. I have issues with both of those big sticking points.
So that’s all i have time or energy for right now on Politics. Merry Christmas everbody and good night!
Jason
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Quarterly update, trip to Kentucky Downunder
Seth is now 6 months old…LAND-sakes! Time goes by so fast when you are busy from sun up to sun down. It’s tough to find time to keep up with the online journal when I’m so busy raising two little boys, keeping a heard of lizards, managing the normal home stuff, doing side construction projects and keeping a full time job. I have no idea how my parents were able to raise 7 of us kids.
We had a fun family trip yesterday to visit a zoo/kids park called Kentucky Downunder…which as one might have guessed has an Australian theme. I took several pics so I’m posting those as that is the best way to tell the story. We fed the lorikeets with little cups of nectar, petted kangaroos, touched Australian skinks, fed goats, ran around in circles with our small friends, and explored a cave. We went with some friends from Church, and their kids…the Lonergans and the Luxs’.
Things that have happened since I last wrote over 3 months ago:
Darcy and Lisa next door got married June 23rd! We had some good friends of ours (Brad and Lisa Hunsaker, and their daughter Brittany) watch the boys while we went to the reception in Nashville. The Hunsaker’s are fantastic people we’ve met through Church and are always volunteering to watch our boys so we can take a date night out…which we have done on occasion and they never accept any money for taking the boys. The fancy reception was especially fun because Rachel got to dance, which everyone who knows her well knows…she loves that! Especially if there is any music with a hip-hop flavor. We also went to the wedding ceremony which was a great experience. Their wedding was beautiful and lots of fun! We are so happy for them and have really grown to love and appreciate them immensley!
We made a trip back to Seattle, AGAIN…towards the end of July. We are still making trips back home on a regular schedule about every 3 months, mainly by piggy backing work trips and having Rachel and the boys tag along. This time we spent a few days visiting my parents in Goldendale which was a bunch of fun for Jacob who did tractor rides with Grampa Dave. We also went to a large fish hatchery on the Columbia river where they had some 12 foot long Sturgeon, and hundreds of 3 foot rainbow trout, etc.
We have a runner in the family now. Rachel has started running going back about two months ago. She’s been averaging 3 or 4 miles per run and even went 6 miles last week once. She goes out about 3-5 times a week and I think she ran 18 miles last week total. She’s really enjoying the results and is back down to pre-baby weight as she puts it, and likes the way the clothes are fitting again! So do I! 🙂
Lizard update…I’m stil very busy on the lizard front as always and get lots of help from 2 year old son Jacob as we go through the daily chores of feeding and waterning the lizards. He insists on helping. We went with a friend of mine, Keith Campbell and his 2 year old Son Keller at the end of June to visit a professional lizard farmer in Alabama, Bert Langerwarf. This was my second trip to visit Bert and he is an incredible lizard breeder…has 5 acres of nothing but outdoor lizard cages, probably thousands of lizards if you include all the babies he’s hatching. We bought some Chinese Crocodile lizards (Shinisaurus crocidilurus) from him and added those to our growing collection. They are semi-aquatic so need an enclosure that is half water and half land…called a paludarium. The big news on the lizards for me was I had two Abronia species breeding this last month, both my graminea and my vasconcelosii. That will be a big deal come April or May if all goes well. The vasconcelosii are especially exciting for me because they are F2 babies that I had kept back from 2 and 3 years ago that are now breeding, which was a first for me. Roberto and I are continuing our projects and activity in Mexico with the Abronia breeding project and plan to import another small group of A.graminea this next month. I also have plans to travel to Mexico in November to work on a documentary project and film Abronia in the wild.
I must close now and post some new pics because I can’t multi-task anymore…I’m trying to watch Jacob while I write this as Seth and Rach are sleeping in a bit.
Jason
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Smokey Mountain Park trip & Seth is an old man…
Well it is nearing midnight so it must be time to throw down another blog entry…I only get to "my stuff" in the wee hours of the day anymore with two little tikes to look after. It really has been a quantum shift in work load to manage Seth and Jacob. But Rachel and I have made a pretty good adjustment now and we have achieved something that resembles balanced chaos. I almost always take first shift with Jacob when he wakes up at his preferred time slot of 6:30am. Rachel catches up on her sleep till about 8:30 to 9am with Seth while he dozes and wakes up at intervals until he’s finally up for good. I rely heavily on playhouse disney as a distraction for Jacob while I multi-task doing work emails, and phone calls, and dishing out breakfast for the two of us. Once Rachel is up and rolling, she usually manages both boys during the work hours, and about half the time, I’ll help with putting Jacob down for his afternoon nap, usually around 1pm. A good nap for Jacob is about 3 hours, with crying wake up about half way through that has to be soothed by one of us for 5 minutes. Seth is pretty much eating and sleeping and lately wiggling arms and cooing at mom most of the day. Jacob’s favorite thing to do is play in be outside. It doesn’t matter what activity, as long as its out there doing something…eating sand, pulling on plants, chasing George, running full speed between the shrubs, throwing rubber bouncy balls down the steps, and pushing a stroller all make his top activity list. He is active like his dad. Seth is actually going to be 12 weeks old in two days. CRAZY!! So much has happened since my last entry almost 2 months ago that I hardly know where to start.
Last week we went to the Smokey Mountain National Park and stayed in a 2 bedroom chalet in Gatlinburg (used the RCI timeshare week…thank you Ray!). It was a wonderful little break from the action and we enjoyed the time together as a family. We saw 2 black bears while driving up one of the roads that leads to the "Roaring Fork" motor trails and hiking areas. I learned that there is a higher density and diversity of salamanders in the Smokies than anywhere else in the World…which was fun for me and Jacob. He learned to flip rocks and look for them near the countless streams. We probably found over 30 salamanders in only a few hours of dinking around in the woods. We also visited the Ripley’s Aquarium which was only about a mile from our resort. Jacob loved the sharks and made loud exclamations to that effect, also commenting on their "BIG TEEF" while we were walking through the underwater tunnel in the sharks tank. Jacob was also very intriqued by the aquatic turtle exhibit at another area attraction located about 10 miles from our chalet…the "Rainforest Adventure". I loved that place because it was basically a private owned reptile and small animal zoo. VERY cool, and we visited with the owners who were extremly nice and had run the business for about 7 years. Inspiring place and concept. Jacob really loves Hedgehogs and I mention that because they had one integrated with their little hands-on animal show. Go figure…he’s an animal lover. The restaurants in this place were delish, and our favorite was a little Italian/Pizza place called Ogle Brick Oven. In Gatlinburg at light 3, take a left and go up the hill about a mile. The restaurant is on the right. Outstanding pizza and pasta! We also had scrumptuous pancakes at the "Atrium" and on the last day just as we were leaving we stopped at a place called the Apple…uh something or other in Pigeon Forge, and ate many many apple fritters with apple butter. YUM. I got some pretty good photos of the kids and Rach so I’m throwing those up tonight.
We also had a trip to Seattle last month to see Rache’s sister Mari get married off…the last of the 8 kids in her family to tie the knot in the temple. I got to do a lot of work on the trip but did manage to spend some time hanging out with Jared and Robert. We also blessed Seth while we were up there, which went very much like Jacob’s blessing…short and to the point while I was being totally distracted from the crying baby crescendo. We are headed back to Seattle in July again since we can’t get enough of the place. We don’t want to break our every two months streak that has been going now for over a year and a half. It’s like we never actually moved. We are just on long vacations in Tennessee or something. Is it obvious that I’m tired of making that trip? I love the visit with family though.
Life in TN continues to be a grand experience. We have a good friendship with ALL of our neighbors which is so different from WA where I didn’t actually even know most of their names, even after living there 6 years. Southern hospitality is contagious…I’m convinced of that. The Sun is out a lot here…and the warm days are upon us already. I’ve started my summer yard watering relay, where I run from one spot to the next to try to keep the grass from drying out with the sprinkler. I really need an irrigation system here. We live on half acre and there is a lot of grass. Not that I’m complaining because we love our yard. Our neighbors Darcy and Lisa feel almost like family to us down here. The Predators (local NHL team) are about to be sold to some guy in Canada so we are nervous that they might be moving after next year…which would be a real bummer! They are buddies with Jacob and their dog Chandler is pals with George so we have a daily mesh of activity with them which is fun. Non stop action every day with home and yard projects that seem to never end. Darcy continues to amaze me with his ability to negotiate bargains on ANYTHING and everything. He is always including me in on all the great deals which has been a real blessing. Lisa ran in the music city marathon last month so we went out to cheer her at the finish line. They get married in about 3 weeks so we are excited for them.
I’ve been playing basketball at the Franklin rec center at least once a week and lately i’m up to 2 times a week so that is keeping me under 200 pounds…a good thing. Jacob has been going with me for the past month so I can give Rachel a little break from the grind with two kids. He loves watching the ball games from the bleachers for about an hour. Then he wants to go into the kids area which has worked out really well, since they have free child care. Rachel is continuing to pound the eliptical trainer relentlessy 5 times a week plus she goes on 3 mile walks a few times every week so she is cruising towards her target weight and looking good in the process. It’s nice to be married to a motivated woman…she is always accomplishing something and stays busy from the time she is up till she goes to be. I know I’m blessed.
Some lizard news and updates….I’m continuing to work closely with my friend Roberto in Mexico on the Abronia breeding projects and we are now starting to shop for land. We plan to buy some pristine forest areas and protect them as habitat for the lizards which has been one of my goals in working with the animals. I’ve started the first steps of creating a non-profit organization to do this and get tax breaks but also to put some real infrastructure behind much of the activity I’m already doing. Is anyone asleep yet. This stuff is probably only interesting to my lizard buddies. Speaking of which, my friend Nathan Manwaring and his wife Ingrid will be moving down here from Cinci to the Nashville area in about a month! He has great taste in lizards and is a long time friend in the "inner circle" so it will be fun to have them in the area. My lizard hobby is practically a part time job, as Rachel likes to put it. I find it to be a good way to fill any down time. :0)
I could go on and on with updates but I need to stop and get some sleep…plus I have lots of pics to post, and those are better than this endless drivel. I know.
Jason
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Seth is 3 weeks old today, and Spring is hot in TN…
Well its tough to update the blog with the lap tornado and Seth buzzing around the house! Seth is actually a VERY good baby, according to Rachel and she is appreciative. Jacob has still been very accepting and caring towards his little brother, which is a relief. With 2 year olds we’ve heard it can be a rough adjustment but so far we haven’t had that with our little guy. Jacob is a hand full to deal with on top of Seth though because of his activity level. He is constantly on the go, running everywhere…I think he probably runs an average of 5 miles everyday with his little legs, and he just likes to explore and play all the time. Hmmm, sounds like his Dad. Anyone who knows me well, knows I’m not one to lay around on the beach when we take a vacation.
We were so fortunate to have Rachel’s parents come down for a visit this past week. Anita was actually here from the 14th – 26th, and Ray joined us for the last 4 days of her visit. It was a HUGE, HUGE help to have Anita here all that time!! I have a new found respect and appreciation for my mother-in-law! She was ALWAYS doing something…laundry, dishes, playing with Jacob, holding Seth, making meals, and the list just goes on forever. I don’t know how we would have managed without her. I guess I just wouldn’t have been able to get any of my Microsoft work done at all. Jacob loves playing with his ama and ampa. His favorite thing is rough housing with Ray, as they seem to be kindred spirits. I know it probably isn’t cool or normal to admit this, but I love my in-laws! I think they are two of the World’s best people, and teach me by example about how to live life. They are so generous and thoughtful with their time and other resources…you haven’t been part of the Adam’s family until you’ve been through "Ray-ruptcy". That is where someone in the family has a crisis and Ray bails them out. He takes care of his 8 kids, in all the ways a parent can, and they are both great teachers.
It has been downright hot around here this past week, in the 80’s almost every day, and sunny. I’m actually hoping it cools off just a bit for a couple months so Spring can settle in and be comfortable. We found a green snake in the yard yesterday which was especially fun for me, and Jacob was also truly interested. He’s somehow developed a healthy fear of bugs, but lizards and snakes are OK. He loves to help me feed the lizard collection.
I better stop rambling and post some pics…its going to be a busy Saturday, and as always the pics tell the real story!
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BABY Seth arrives!!
I am VERY, VERY EXCITED to announce that Seth Parker Wagner has arrived in good health this past Saturday, March 10th at 8:48AM CST!!!!!!
It took us 3 days to come up with his official name (just like it did with Jacob) but everyone feels very relieved to be home now from the hospital and in good spirits, as I picked up Rachel and Seth just yesterday to welcome them home. Rachel is making a speedy recovery and very excited to have her Mom coming into town today in about 3 hours to stay with us for 10 days!! Jacob loves his "ama" and I’m sure will be equally excited to see "ampa" when he arrives in about a week as well.
I’ve been super busy chasing around our 2 year old for the past 5 days, while trying to squeeze in work time and visit Mom and the new baby at the hospital so I’ve already starting getting some friendly flack about not posting some kind of update on the blog to share pics, etc of the new arrival.
There is something so indescribable and beautiful about welcoming a whole, new, little person into the World to be part of our family…it is unique in this life to anything else. I feel so much love and peace when I’m holding Seth and he looks back at me with pure innocence. It’s also overwhelming to see him and his older brother lying next to each other in their beds taking an afternoon knap. One of my favorite moments at the hospital was on the first day I took Jacob to see his new baby brother and Mom and we had introduced the two of them. Jacob immediately wanted to hold Seth and was very soft and gentle with him…carefully grasping him in his little arms with Mom’s help. After a while we put Seth into his little baby cart for a rest and were visiting with Jacob when the nurse came in and announced they’b need to take the baby back for some check ups. Rachel and I thought nothing of it and nodded in approval, but as the nurse started wheeling the baby cart out of the room, Jacob burst into tears and started pointing towards the baby, saying "no bebe, out". We were very touched that he already felt a sense of possesion with his little brother and was worried that they were taking him away from us. He calmed down of course after we explained and reassured him that the baby would be coming back in a few minutes.
We feel so fortunate to be surrounded by such supportive friends and family! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers…we had a couple tough times early on with Rachel’s pregnancy and then later during delivery where I know we were blessed by the faith of our family and your prayers. We are overwhelmed witht the kindness of our neighbors here in TN…especially Lisa who has come by several times to watch Jacob and spent several hours with him to keep him company on the day of delivery and again when I went to the Hospital to pick up Rachel. Jacob and Lisa have become fast friends! Another neighbor two doors down, Toni, also came over and watched Jacob while Rachel and I decided for good on what Seth’s name would be…we needed the time alone without Jacob climbing the walls of the hospital so that was extremely helpful! For anyone wondering about what it would be like to live in TN, I will say this about the people, at least in our neighborhood…there is no better place on Earth! We are surrounded by fantastic people on ALL sides who bring gifts and ask about the baby, Rachel, Jacob…It is a real community here of caring folks.
Nothing tells the story like pics so I’m going to stop rambling and post some new photos.
Jason
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Trip to Xcalak, Seattle, and lizard stuff…
I’ve been away from the blog a LOOOOOONG time this go round…too much going on in the Wagner household to take time and capture it all for the huddled masses. Its been a blur but now things are starting to come back into focus, finally. Rachel is only about 8 weeks out from having our next son so we are both very excited and somewhat nervous for that big change that is coming!! She is holding up very well this time around though and has had an easier go of it vs. the last time with Jacob.
Jacob Update– Since I last wrote the boy has gained almost 2 pounds and is a lot smarter. Lately he is stringing together several words in short sentences to communicate which is fun. Colors, counting and letters are all favorites. He still has his own lingo which is pretty much exclusively understood in our household but there are a few words that do sound really clear which the rest of the civilized world can decipher without much trouble. Among them…every morning when we wake up he leans over to me and says "Danny, App-ull". Which means he’d like me (I am referred to now as Jay, Danny, Nan or Daddy…in that order) to get up and chop a pear or apple or any fresh fruit for that matter so he can get his snack on. We continue to turn down droves of agents who continually pester us about his potential career as a professional male model for the toddler segment. That’s actually an exaggeration but he is the cutest male child that I know and he gets lots of compliments from admiring passer-bys which I’ll admit is a bit of a delight to his proud parents. His favorite activity in the last few weeks has been to run around on tip toes while laughing and chasing the dog. The dog is very tolerant and puts up with this nonsensical charade for some time before he finds a place to hide and relax. Good thing we have a Jack Russel mix who loves exercise. George (the dog) was away with my friend Shane Curtis’ family for almost a month during December while we went to both Xcalak, Mexico and Seattle so he grew very attached to their family and especially their older daughter Quinn. Now he’s back to Jacob for a playmate though and seems content to oblige the chase game. Jacob had his 3rd haircut of his life last week and has decided he hates the process…whereas the first one was a breeze, the last two have been legal torture for him. His other favorite word since the Xcalak trip has become, "uuuum…no". Which he says almost like he’s considering some alternative. He’s got this answer down pat to just about any question you might throw at him. The trick is to figure out when it actually means yes. He loved the trip to Mexico and had a great time on the kayak with mom or playing in the pool…but his favorite time was playing with the other kids on the trip. Jaya, Elijah (known to Jacob as "E-Jay") and Josie.
Xcalak trip – We looked forward to this trip with GREAT anticipation for several months now and it didn’t dissapoint. For those that don’t know this part of the world is a remote tropical paradise that is high on charm and privacy but tough to get to. We flew into Cancun and rented a car, actually stayed in Playa de Carmen for 3 days, then met up with our friends Dave and Jessica Cluff and kids to drive down to Xcalak which is about 4 hours south of Playa. We rented the same beach house as last time which is a FANTASTIC place to stay…very private, clean and right on the beach, called Coral Garden Inn: http://coralgardeninn.com/ We like this spot for a few reasons. Top on the list is probably the terrific snorkeling!! Second would be the privacy as we are there by ourselves and have no snoopy on-lookers while we play on the beach. The jungle is right behind the house and full of all kinds of amazing critters which are also part of the adventure. Of course now it seems that no trip to Xcalak would be complete with out having the Phil and family connect with us while we were down there…this was actually our second trip to the area this year as we went in March as well. Snorkeling was spectacular as always and we saw plenty of amazing fish, including multiple citings of French Angelfish, and their more dazzling cousins, the Queen Angelfish (which I wasn’t able to photograph but are perhaps the most colorful animal on the planet earth…in neon blues and yellows!!). There were also many eels, barracuda, parrot fish, electric rays, grouper, wrasse, tangs, octopus, spiny lobster, and the list just goes on and on… Such an interesting place to see. Then this trip I finally saw a 6 foot nurse shark cruising in the open at about 4pm as the sun was getting low on the horizon. It was only about 20 feet in front of me and I motioned to Phil who decided it would be cool to swim after it. Thankfully it cruised off without incident. There was a huge reef crab with claws the size of bolt cutters which Phil was able to somehow subdue by hand at night and bring home for dinner. Rachel went night snorkeling and found a slipper lobster which was a first for all of us. They also saw several very large sting Rays. Between the kayaking, the snorkeling, the hamocks, the sand castles, trips to the ruins nearby and the really good food that Rachel and company kept coming up with, the trip was a welcome reprieve from the rat race. We did have some heavy rains on this trip which was a little dreary at times but the beautiful days were about all I can focus on now. I’m attaching some shots i took with my underwater camera of a few of the fish, etc before my camera stopped working again. The best part of the trip was interacting with the 2-4 year olds on the beach as they were in kid-heaven.
Seattle trip – One short week after returning to TN from Mexico we raced off to SEA to see Peter get married and enjoy Christmas with the family. We had a great time staying with Rachel’s family and I continue to be amazed by their generosity and shining example of how to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wonderful people. I even got to see my brother Ryan a few days as he was in town to work on our new real estate project…a fixer upper home in Renton. On the trip we made the decision to turn it into a demoliton project and build a new home on the lot…long story but that’s the big picture with that. We also visited my brother Rob and his wife Chandra at their new house in Covington which was fun! Only saw my Mom and Dad and Jared and Nicole briefly but was still nice to see them. We all got puke flu shortly before leaving Seattle which put a damper on the trip. but also made it that much sweeter to return home to TN. I don’t miss the traffic, cold rain or politics of WA. When we got home to TN it was in the 70’s that week and sunny everyday. Ahhhhhhh!
Lizard update – Huge news on the lizard front! We FINALLY were able to complete the inordinately difficult task of importing a group of 13 Abronia graminea and 4 Xenosaurus into the US from Mexico!!! This was accomplished in cooperation with my friend Roberto and his wife Juana who live in Cordoba, Mexico. We’ve established a breeding project and had it authorized by the Mexican government to work with Abronia graminea and a few other species with the end goal being to import them to the US with all appropriate legal documentation, and further strengthen the captive management of this vulnerable species which is under some pressure in the wild due to habitat loss. My philosophy as an amatuer bioligist and lizard afficionado is that once the species gains some traction in the hands of dedicated lizard keepers it will provide a long term established population of the animals outside their native lands which are in some cases being stripped out to accomodate farming and or logging industry. We already know of several species that have likely gone extinct because nobody bothered to collect them or work with them before their only small native habitat was wiped off the map…a good example is Abronia frosti. I have a small network of friends that I keep in touch with on the Abronia project that have the same motivation and interest in the genus as I do so its been an exciting month to get those animals into the country. The process itself was a night mare and extremely stressful on myself and my sweet wife…especially bringing them back from Mexico. We actually met up with Roberto in Mexico and handled the paperwork with the Mexican government and the US side all in person, as opposed to trying to ship them through the system and relying on individuals to do the right things to move the package of lizards from one place to another. Long story short, we will never attempt to do that during a vacation again as it was not worth the stress. Rachel and Jacob actually had to go home one day before me due to a fiasco with Delta Airlines and the lizard package that I had to work out over the next day when I came home alone. That was not fun. But we did learn from the experience and know now how to handle lizard logistics for next time. The long term plan that Roberto and I are working towards is to use funds from the sale of some of these breeding animals to purchase land in Mexico where they occur in the wild and preserve that habitat so it is not destroyed. I am very excited about that aspect of the proejct. I’m attaching a few pics of the baby Abronia graminea that Roberto and his wife were able to produce this last year from their breeding facility in Veracruz.
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Wagner Cyber Journal 