Argh, I must be tired. I made an entry about Ethan over here, thinking I was posting it to tbone instead of tb0ne. Just pretend I put that in the proper place, okay? Grrr. I need to get to bed.

I've been promising to take Ethan to a Boise Hawks baseball game all summer. Unfortunately, time really got away from us, what with Corinne and the changes we're making with Gretchen not working. By the time I got around to checking, they only had one homestand left, and it was this weekend. Great, we're going! As an added bonus, Friday is fireworks night. It's kind of a nice bookend to our summer, actually. Ethan and I went to the Hawks pre-season fan fest (complete with fireworks) the day before Corinne was born.

The game itself was good. Boise lost 4-1, and the Spokane team clinched the playoffs with the win. That was kind of neat-- I don't think I've ever seen a clinching celebration before. Ethan was a little bored at first, and he only wanted to go to the kids area and find something to eat. I made him watch a few innings before we went to the inflatable jump things they had out by right field. While we were there he missed all the scoring (including a three-run homer by Spokane) but he didn't seem to mind. We got back to our seats around the sixth inning, and he surprised me by paying attention to the game the rest of the way. I really didn't think he would enjoy it, but he got pretty into it. At one point he told me that he really enjoyed doing things like that with me, and that moment totally made my night.

As a side note, I've heard from quite a few people recently that Ethan and Corinne look quite a bit alike. Let's see what you think:
( I don't see it myself. )

First, here's Corinne at three months:
I also have a couple of videos of Corinne here and here, but they aren't nearly as good as I was hoping for. Before I got the camera out, she was making all kinds of noise and really kicking up a storm. But of course she stopped as soon as I wanted to document it.

Speaking of Corinne, she didn't want to go to sleep last night at all. Gretchen and I (well, mostly Gretchen) were up late with her. It's now after 11:30AM, and they are still asleep. Good, let them rest; they need it. Ethan and I can entertain ourselves. It looks like a video game Saturday! We'll probably start with old NES Battletoads.

Lastly, I really am trying to stay off LJ for a while. It's just too much of a timesuck. If there's an emergency in statements or baseball (or anywhere else that I help run, or should really care deeply about) please let me know. Otherwise I'll just try to check in every few weeks and make sure people aren't killing each other or anything.

You know, every time I think I'm going through tough times, I hear from someone who has it much worse than I do. I just got a call from a viewer who wants to apply to get her friend on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The friend is a single mom with three kids. She has kidney failure, some type of cancer, and she just recently had a heart attack. Compared to what's going on in this poor woman's life, I can't possibly have any complaints. It makes you think.

Anyway, back to work. :-/

Ethan_VBS_Coat Ethan had a week of Vacation Bible School with a "Power Lab" theme, and this is the picture they took of him. He made the glasses himself, if you couldn't tell.

More pics coming soon, if I can ever get un-lazy enough to upload them.

...in list form, of naturally:

• We're still trying to figure out how we're going to make ends meet in the fall. We talked about the idea of Gretchen opening an in-home daycare, but we ruled that out for a few reasons. It's a lot of work for not very much return-- Gretchen's sister did it for several years, and basically broke even with it. And honestly, it's hard enough for us to clean the house once a week as it is. So that's off the table, but we don't have many better options. Getting a "traditional" job means we have to fund daycare for Corinne and probably get another car. That doesn't seem like a good way to put bread on the table. In the meantime, we're cutting expenses wherever possible.


• ...except in the area of internet, where we're actually increasing our expenses. Our IT department told me last week that I will be getting a company-issued laptop soon. Sweet, I've been asking for that for years. I can work from home now, except none of our work applications will function on our crummy dialup internet. I'm looking to get DSL, which is a little more expensive. Qwest has a deal right now that's pretty cheap-- only $15 a month for the first year. That's more than we pay for dialup, but if we cancel the newspaper then the costs offset each other pretty well. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.


• Corinne is doing really well. She follows EVERYTHING with her eyes now, and she's acting like she wants to sit up. She's also vocalizing a lot like she wants to talk. I just love watching her. I need to post some pictures soon, as she's grown and changed a lot in the past few weeks.

So that's what's new with me. What's going on in your lives, internet friends? I haven't been able to keep up with my friends list as much lately, and I feel bad about that.

ETA: I forgot about one thing. I'm volunteering as an audio technician during our church services. I haven't got to use a sound board in about ten years (since college) and I've really missed it. I also figured out how to get a DVD to play on our church's video projector, which is really coming in handy for this week's Vacation Bible School that we're doing. The first day they tried to show the DVD on a little 25-inch TV, and that wasn't working at all.

We did a lot of things over the last week, and I figure I should take a little time to write them all down. First, we did the local county fair on Thursday. We told the kids (Ethan, plus his cousins Leah and Jon) that we wouldn't go on any rides, as this fair doesn't have many decent rides, and the ride tickets are expensive. Besides, we're planning to get unlimited ride passes at another fair in the beginning of September. They seemed fine with that. Instead of rides, we just looked at art exhibits, animal exhibits, and ate more than we should have. They also had a fire hose suspended about 20 feet off the ground set to sprinkle a medium-sized area. The kids wanted to go in that, and Ethan was completely soaked by the time he got out. It was warm enough that he mostly dried off by the time we left, but he was still a little soggy on the way home.

Friday, we didn't do anything spectacular. We just drove to Buhl in the evening after I got off work. We were going so that Gretchen could spend some time with her sister and grandmother, and also because there was going to be an air show on Saturday. The Blue Angels were in town! ( Air show and circus details behind the cut. )

Corinne turned two months old today, and she is doing quite well. She's really mellow. Most of the time she's pretty content, especially if somebody is carrying her around so that she can see the world. She just loves to look around, especially at lights. Ethan is adjusting pretty well too. Thankfully he can sleep through a tornado, so Corinne's crying doesn't wake him up at nights. As for Gretchen, she's doing a great job as a mom, but she's having some health issues. She has trouble with her knees and ankles, which makes it a little hard to play with Ethan. We're hoping that gets better soon.

Anyway, this post is useless without pics. Here's two of the sweetest kids in the world:
( Two more behind the cut )

Oh hey tbone. Long time no LiveJournal?

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Today was a busy day. First, it's the 100th anniversary of the Idaho State Park system, so all state parks had free admission today. We wanted to take advantage of that, so my family, plus two of Gretchen's sisters and their kids went to Lucky Peak, just on the other side of Boise. The park is built in the shadow of a dam, and it has a nice swim beach by it. The water was really cold though-- it's been like that in the past when we've visited, too. Of course, the kids didn't care. Ethan made some friends with kids who were trying to catch tadpoles (really?) and Ethan's cousins mostly tried to dig canals on the beach. We got a little sun, but it wasn't too bad (other than the tops of my arms, and my nephew Jon's back). I think we've learned from past experiences not to mess with Mr. Sun.

After we finished at the park, we went back home briefly. Gretchen and I had just enough time at home to change clothes and freshen up before we left to go back to Boise. Two trips to the big city in one day? You'd better believe it! This time, we were going for a Boise Burn Arena Football 2 game. That's right, it's minor-league high-scoring indoor summer football. Crazy, I tell you! Gretchen's sister Pam volunteered to babysit Corinne and Ethan for us. Ethan's old enough now that he can probably go to events like this in the future, but we only had two tickets. They were a freebie from work-- we're a media sponsor for the team. Anyway, the game was good. I really like the whole arena football concept. Basketball/hockey arenas make for a very different football atmosphere-- especially Qwest Arena in Boise, which is pretty small. I felt like I was right on top of the action. It's very different than watching a game in even a medium-sized outdoor facility like BSU's Bronco Stadium. Fans get to keep any balls thrown or kicked into the stands, but we didn't get anything near us. We were at the 15-yard line (remember, midfield is the 25) in the second deck of seats. The final score was Boise Burn 59, Florida FireCats 47.

Up next on the entertainment front: Car racing. We heard that the local auto track has a deal where if you donate blood during one of their blood drives, you get two free tickets to the race. I'm due for a donation, and I know Ethan would love this. I need to follow up on this to see if they are still doing this promotion, or if we've already missed it. Let's hope we can get tickets! VROOM VROOM!

I really need to cut the strings on LJ (and the internet as a whole) soon. I can't be spending as much energy on this time-suck as I have been. Hopefully I won't fall too far out of touch with my friends, because you guys really are awesome. Speaking of friends, I want to welcome a few new ones to the wide world of tBone. gardenofevils and aerynmoo are a couple of recent additions that I know from thequestionclub, and I look forward to getting to know them better. CrayonsInMyBriefcase is actually my sister-in-law Jenn. We exchanged blog links a week or so ago, and she's a great read so far.

Anyway, work is meh. Fantasy baseball is meh. Weather is meh. Money is double meh- well, more scary than meh. The pain in my shoulder really needs to go away. I'm apathetic about almost everything else. About the only things in my life that really bring me joy right now involve spending time with my family. I'm looking forward to this three-day holiday weekend like you can't believe.

( Just one picture of my family )
I need an icon with both Ethan and Corinne in it. Hmm...

Today's my 32nd birthday. I have to say, it's not my favorite so far. I woke up at 3AM with a stuffed head, unable to properly breathe or swallow. Great. Normally I would just say it's my birthday and I'm sick, so I'm not going to work. But we're really shorthanded in my department, and I couldn't dump the whole department's worth of work on my one employee who isn't on vacation. So I trudged to work. I think I'll leave a little early-- I still feel like garbage, and I got most of the critical things done for tomorrow.

Also on the birthday note: Huge thanks to all my friends and family who passed along birthday wishes. You guys rock, seriously.

My kids have been on the move lately. Last weekend, my parents came to town, stayed a few days, and flew back home with Ethan. The plan was that he would stay with them for a week, then they would fly back with him. Well, that didn't quite work out. They couldn't get a flight out of Seattle either today or tomorrow, so the earliest he'll be back is Wednesday. Dad offered to drive Ethan here, but that's about tweleve hours in a car driving through some pretty hot terrain-- not fun for anyone, much less a six-year-old. Ethan will miss his first two days of swim lessons, but hopefully he'll still get something out of the lessons this summer.

Corinne is a different story. She and Gretchen went back to Gretchen's hometown last Wednesday. That left me by myself, which was fine. They didn't have a way to get home, so I had to go get them Sunday. I drove about 300 miles total and we didn't get back until about 11PM. That makes for a short sleep on Sunday night. I'm glad to have them back-- I was really starting to miss my family.

Sometimes I think this thing is in danger of becoming just a picture journal. I'll have a real update at some point, I promise. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of the family from the air show a few weeks back.

( More family than planes, but whatever )

Well, the big events from this weekend are basically done. Corinne's baby dedication at church was so wonderful. My parents, Gretchen's parents, Gretchen's sisters, and all of the cousins were there. I need to send a little thank you note to the pastor for doing such an outstanding job with it. I was so thankful that so many members of Corinne's extended family could be there for this event. Seriously, this was the best Father's Day I ever could have asked for.

Right after church, we took my parents to the Boise airport. The plan was that they would fly back to Seattle and take Ethan with them. They weren't sure this would work, as the flights were overbooked and they would all be going standby. It turns out they couldn't get a direct flight to Seattle, but they could get a flight to Spokane and then a connecting flight to Seattle. That works! I'm sure Ethan will be happy to get two plane rides in one day. I just hope he's behaving himself. It will be so strange not to have him around this week. It's going to get even more lonely around here midweek when Gretchen and Corinne go back to Buhl to visit her grandmother. She still hasn't seen Corinne, and this is a good time to go. I'll be by myself, but that just means I might get a chance to get some things done around here. Let's hope so, anyway!

ETA 6:31PM: The 4:30 flight to Spokane was delayed by about two hours. Mom just called to say that they are boarding shortly, and they should still be able to get a fairly late flight from Spokane to Seattle. My poor parents are going to be so tired, to say nothing of how Ethan will be feeling. I hope this trip isn't too much of a burden for them.

We actually won a softball game tonight! This was especially joyous as it was the same team that beat us 17-0 just a week ago. I don't know what we did that was different. Well, we had Dan on our team, and he played baseball in college I think. But other than that we just tried to limit the screw-ups. I went 2-for-2 with two singles. One was a clean grounder on the right side of the infield, and the other was a lazy popup to shallow center that went right between about three fielders. Eh, I'll take it. I made a few routine plays at second base, but I also missed a couple of balls that I should have caught. I get "the yips" out there when the ball is hit right at me, which is dumb.

I still need to get pictures from last weekend up, but I have no idea when I'll do that. This week has just been CRAZY. Hopefully I'll get a chance before too long.

We had fun this weekend. Saturday we went to a free airshow at the local mini airport. They had a lot of planes on display, plus helicopter rides (although we didn't take one) and a stunt pilot who was just out of his mind. Oh, and they had a car show at the same location, so we got to look at pretty grounded vehicles as well. Neat!

Later we went to a Scottish Highland Games competition. There was caber tossing, hammer throws, sheaf toss, and a weight-over-the-bar toss. Also, lots of music and some food that smelled really good. I wish we could have stayed longer. And yes, pics of these events will be coming soon.

Other things going on: My parents and in-laws are coming to town next weekend, and we'll have a baby dedication at my church. Parents are flying home on Sunday, and they will take Ethan with them for a week. Exciting! I got a tape deck from my brother-in-law and hooked it up to my laptop, so now I can dump podcasts to audio cassette and listen to them in the car. Yay for old technology. I also got the TV in the bedroom hooked up to the rooftop antenna, and now I just need to get another DTV converter box for that setup.

Oh, and the big news: This Friday, Gretchen and I will have been married for TEN YEARS. I know! The trouble is, I have made zero plans for the event, and I'm basically the worst husband ever. :/