July 31, 2007 by jon.

What a wonderful day.  First off I got up and ran about 3 miles.  Wasn’t quite as easy as yesterday, but it was still nice to get out.  Oh, I didn’t tell you.  I went 5 miles in Colorado’s rarefied air yesterday and it was great.  I spent about $230 in running clothes and accessories earlier in the day due to the issue I mentioned in the Day 2 post.  I was annoyed and I just had to get out.  I did and it was fun with no problems from the altitude.  Today I felt it a little more, but I still enjoyed the run.

After that was done we had plans to go with Jodi and John and family to the mountains.  We did the Georgetown Loop, stopped off at a silver mine and then did some rafting down Clear Creek. This was all put together in the Rail N Raft Package from Mile Hi Rafting.
What a blast!  And only $50 a person.
The train ride was something different to do and we enjoyed just relaxing a bit.  The silver mine tour was a stop off of the mine.  Anyone who knows me knows that I get a kick out of history.  So riding a historical railroad and then touring a silver mine was about the best thing I could do.  Photos will follow soon.
Then we went rafting.  Jodi & John’s family went in one boat and we went in the other with the “Rookie” guide.  Eva was in her first year of guiding and did a great job.  I’ve had a few rafting guides and I thought Eva did well making it fun and tried her best to get us wet (Which is what Robyn wanted).
The best part was watching the kids.  Brad was in the front with me.  He was nervous when we first talked about it weeks ago in Illinois.  To see him take a leadership role just made me proud.  Robyn also joined us in the front and just held on.  She screamed a lot but it was screams of joy.  She kept asking Eva if she could go swimming.  So when we were all done, I grabbed her and dunked her about 1/2 way down.  She loved it.

Take a look at some of the photos that the rafting company took.  We’re the first 12 photos or so in the group.
Rapid Image Photo Aboutus Page

Our friends on the other hand weren’t as comfortable.  John and his son Drew couldn’t get in synch when paddling which wasn’t a problem….until the end.

At the last rapid (The Twister) our boat went first.  These are the photos on the site.  This was the biggest rapid on this stretch and was challenging.  Eva guided us well and I think we responded quickly to her directions.

Then the other boat went through and we could tell they were in trouble.  They were too far to the other side of the river and heading to some big rocks.  To make a long story short, they got stuck sideways against the rocks and had to bail out….notice the last three photos in the slideshow.
BTW - We all had a good laugh when viewing the photos from a safe and dry living room.  Something to be said about looking back on something and laughing.

We finished the day by taking in some Mountain Pies from Beau Jo’s.  If you haven’t been to Beau Jo’s yet, you’re missing something.  Excellent pizza.

I must say this day probably is pretty high on my all time list of fun days.  It was just a kick to do the different activities and to do them with good friends.

Posted in Activities, Running | Print | 1 Comment »

July 28, 2007 by jon.

  Can you really call this the first day of vacation?  On the  one hand, I don’t have to go to work today, but on the other I wouldn’t have had to anyway.  So is today vacation?  Sure, why not.

  So, Captain’s Log Vacation, Day 1.

  We started our trip today.  It was a cloudy and muggy day.  A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step (Or something like that).  Just how do you begin a story that is interesting to only yourself?  In trying to keep this from being a blog of someone’s photos from vacation that no one wants to see, I want to make it intersting…but it’s not.  Or It Snot.  However you say it.

  Anyway.  We started driving, and driving, and driving.  Actually it wasn’t that bad.  8 hours after starting we were in the big town of Lincoln Nebraska.  Home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  (BOOO, HISSSS!)  Talk about an uneventful drive and I liked it that way.  Only a few stops for potty breaks (We still have younger ones) and one gas and a couple of food excursions and that was it.  Boring.

  The highlight of the day was eating dinner at Hu Hot.  We’ve been waiting for this all year.  See I had Hu Hot when I visited our Omaha office over a year ago and loved it.  Last year when driving to Colorado I introduced the family and they too loved it.  (A little too much, we all got stomach aches from eating too quickly)  Hu Hot is not in Illinois so we had to wait a year until we could visit again.  It was worth it. 

  So what is Hu Hot?  Think of Mongolian BBQ on steroids (No Barry Bonds in sight).  You pile high a bowl of meat, seafood or veggies, add noodles and top it with any of a bunch of sauces. 

Brad liked the Teriaki, I was partial to the Thai Peanut sauce.  I can’t spell the sauce Kala had and Robyn was sans sauce.  Then give the whole concoction to the chefs.  They cook it in front of you on sort of a grill in the round. 

So cool and very tasty.  Then when you finish, you can go back for more.  That’s where we get into trouble.  It’s easy to think you can fit more in.  And did I say it was tasty?  Only one stomach ache this time between the four of us so I think we are learning.

   I think that’s enough for the first Log/Blog of our vaction that hasn’t started yet.  You may be asking yourself, “Do I really get the pleasure of reading this enthralling piece of literature for every day of their WHOLE vacation?”  My answer is NO.  Are you kidding?  My intention is to vacate, not stay on computers.  And you surely don’t want to read about nothing more than we woke up late, drank some coffee, took a nap and then went to bed.  That’s what I intend to do some days and while it will be tremendously pleasurable, I assure you reading about it won’t be riveting.  I’ll only Log/Blog when something interesting (At least to me) happens.  Lucky you.

  Before I forget, vacation stats:

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book on CD while we drive) 2 chapters down
• Semi’s that honked - 8 (No, Kala wasn’t hanging her leg out the window, we would have got more if she did.)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (Walked by it at Barnes & Noble and couldn’t pass it by) Kala read 2 chapters in no time
• Hu Hot - 4 full tummies
• 5 Mad Libs
• So far we’ve forgotten - 1 Pair of warm up pants for Jon for when he runs in the mountians.  (May need that)

   I’ll leave you with a Mad Lib that we came up with:

An opera is a dramatic play with Pretty music, in which all the characters sing instead of Spitting.  The first opera was done in Italy in 1600.  In Milan, a bunch of Nurses got together and put on the first opera.  Everyone thought it was Lumpy.  Now operas are done in Rome, New York and even Hu Hot.  Famous operas are “Carmen,” “The Volleyball of Seville” and “Romeo and Robyn.”  Opera singers are either sopranos, contraltos, tenors, baritones or Crickets.  They are usually big and Sleepy, and when they finish singing, everyone shouts, “DUH!”  Italy has invented many wonderful Shoes, but personally, I like pizza better than opera.

  Courtesy of Robyn…

Posted in Family, Activities | Print | 1 Comment »

July 17, 2007 by jon.

Last Friday was the first time my family ever joined me on a business trip.  I had scheduled one to HRH’s Moline office to coincide with the John Deere Classic.  :-)  Can you say a little golf?

Well Thursday I was in the office taking care of a few things while the family went poking around Moline.  I guess they found a mini-golf course (Robyn had 2 holes in one!) and the kids spent a lot of time in the hotel pool.  After work, we took Kala to the airport.  She flew to Denver to celebrate our good friend Rachelle’s 40th birthday.  So that left me and the kids.

Connie from the Moline office was nice enough to ask us over for dinner.  They lived across the river in Iowa amidst the corn fields.  It was a beautiful neighborhood and a good way to kill a few hours.

On Friday, Connie had set aside a few tickets for us to the John Deere Classic.  This was the first time the kids had ever seen a golf tourney.  Cool stuff according to Brad.  Robyn thought it was ok, but it was a lot of walking.  We ended up parking in VIP Preferred across the street (THANKS Connie!).  When we got there, we started just wandering around.

I was impressed, I didn’t have to tell the kids but once about golf course manners during a tournament.  They were quiet when they should have been and clapped at the appropriate times.  We walked down 9 and sat at the 8th green.  Then walked past the driving range and to 17 where the HRH tent was.  Again, THANKS Connie.  We had lunch at the tent (Tent is too small a word, it was more like a mini-lodge with a door, windows, sink & bathroom.  In other words, the kids could be kids with out being told to be quiet.

After lunch, we walked down 18 to the clubhouse and then ended up following Zach Johnson unintentionally.  We went down 1 and 2, hurried over the 3rd green which was a par 3 and watched Zach come through.  We stayed there for a few more pairs and then cut 4 and went to 5 where of course Zach was again.  We saw some great golf and some not so good golf.  I shouldn’t talk because I would never get close to how those guys were playing.

In all we hit portions of 10 holes on a beautiful course and saw golfers like Zach Johnson, Jesper Parnevik and Kirk Triplett.
A stop at the Merchandise shop and we were on our way home.

You see, Robyn had a softball game at 6:00 so we needed to be on the road.

The kids slept a bit in the car until we got home.  A quick bite then on to the game.  Coach Rob was short handed in coaches so Brad helped on the field and I was bench coach.  Robyn did well.  She bruised herself a little sliding into third and got quite dusty, but in all, had a great time.

We had another game on Saturday so it ended up being a pretty busy weekend.  Robyn got a hit every time she was at bat except for once.  I think she really likes this game.

Kala landed in O’Hare Sunday and our weekend was done.  I had fun with the kids and I think they had fun with me….maybe.  Anyway, it was good to spend some time together and let Kala go have fun in Denver.

Posted in Activities, Baseball | Print | No Comments »

July 14, 2007 by jon.

Kala and I were lucky enough to be able to see a pre-screening of this movie about 5 hours before it was release. (7:00 pm on Wednesday) And yes, people were in line for the midnight show.

In preparation for the showing, we re-watched the first four films. We never noticed the differences before between directions when viewing them individually but when viewed within a few days of each others, it is glaringly apparent. Like Hogwart’s Castle looks to be in a different place from movie 2 to 3. Obviously, Dumbledore was played by a different actor after Richard Harris passed away. (I liked Lee’s character better) Also, just the camera angles and the use of lighting differed between movies.

That being said, I must say, this is the best Harry Potter film yet. The plot followed the book for the most part, but it was able to keep moving and not get bogged down. The director did a good job of pulling in little details like why Snape doesn’t like Potter without focusing too much on them. The movie flows well and the special effects, while awesome, don’t distract from the general feel.

Order of the Phoenix begins with Harry using magic outside of Hogwarts. It then delves into how he was able to stay at the HQ for the group fighting Voldemorts army. I only had two problems with the movie. It doesn’t show enough of the true Order of the Phoenix which was made up of the adults. I guess to keep the movie to 2 hours 20 minutes, it didn’t have time to. The other problem is how they didn’t use the term Dumbledore’s Army until Dumbledore used it himself after the fact. If you didn’t read the book, you may not have caught a key part there.

Other than that, the fight scene in the Ministry of Magic is amazing. The viewer is also introduced to new characters like Luna Lovegood who begins to play more into the movie (But she really isn’t introduced well). Also new is Professor Umbridge who quite truly steals the show.  I did enjoy how they developed Neville’s character.
This was the most entertaining sequel movie that I have yet to see this year. (Including Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman, Fantastic Four and Shrek) Certainly worth the price of admission…Oh wait, I went free.

One last thing. The Goblet of Fire was a very dark movie and there were some disturbing scenes. Because of that, we wouldn’t let our kids (10 & 8 ) watch it. Order of the Phoenix still had the Dementors and a few other scenes that might make a child cover their eyes, but overall it was lighter to watch and would not trouble the kids near as much. We’ll probably take ours soon.

So if you see only one movie this summer. I recommend Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

BTW - I am waiting patiently for the new book (Deathly Hallows) but I can wait a bit. I may even read the others again before reading the new ones.

Posted in Activities, Announcements | Print | 2 Comments »

May 27, 2007 by jon.

  What’s the saying about fishing?  A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work?  We’ll we had a good day fishing today.  We went to Lake Shabbona about an hour away from home.  Took one of Brad’s friends and caught a bunch of bluegill.  Of course, none were big enough to keep, but the kids liked getting something on the hook.

  There’s something to be said about fishing and getting away from things for a while.

  Oh and the totals?  Jon - 4, Robyn - 4, Brad - 3, Michael - 1 (Last cast) and Kala helped everyone out.

(No, that’s not us, but it is a fish pulled from the lake recently)

Posted in Activities | Print | No Comments »

May 11, 2007 by jon.

Brad and I went camping with the scouts last weekend. Our Three Fires Council hosted a Camporall with over 5000 scouts attending. There were only a few families that went from our Pack 111 but we still had a good time.

It was really just an outdoor carnival. We went from activity to activity and got to pick and choose what we wanted to do. Brad was a little dissappointed because a lot of the “Cool” activities were reserved for Boy Scouts and he won’t be one until next year. So he couldn’t do the rope bridge or the Tomahawk throw. But we still found a lot of things that were fun like the Trebuchet, Ham Radi0 and especially the National Guard. Brad really liked them.

Oh and the Naval Reserve Training Center Drill Team was there. I enjoyed that and was able to show Brad what I used to do in NJROTC.
This was a good exposure to some of the activities that is available in scouting and we enjoyed it.

There are more photos on our Photo page.

Posted in Activities, Scouting | Print | No Comments »

February 27, 2007 by jon.

Our family went to training last night for CoCoRaHS at the local Illinois Extension office.  While I have had the training before in Colorado, Kala and the kids did not.  This was good for them to be able to see why I am taking all of the various measurements and where they are posted.

If you have any interest in the weather, I strongly suggest signing up for this network.  They have expanded into many states including Colorado, Illinois and soon into Wisconsin.

Check it out
CoCoRaHS - Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network

Posted in CoCoRaHS, Activities, Announcements | Print | No Comments »

February 22, 2007 by jon.

Check out our photo page at 2007 in Pictures

I’m starting to upload stuff from recent weeks including my trip to Colorado.  This trip was to help my parents watch Lisa and Eric’s kids while Lisa had surgery.  It became our trip when Kala came in to attend the funeral of her Grand Uncle Elton.

Posted in Activities | Print | No Comments »

February 19, 2007 by jon.

I was interviewed for an article today on the CoCoRaHS network.  The article appeared in the Lisle edition of the Daily Herald.  The article looks pretty good excpet they quoted me as saying we record to the Thousandth of an in rather than Hundredth.  Don’t remember saying that, but it’s a small error.

Again, I will urge anyone who has even a passing interest in weather to sign up for CoCoRaHS.

Here is the article:  Daily Herald | DuPage County

And here is the link to CoCoRaHS

Posted in CoCoRaHS, Activities, Announcements | Print | 1 Comment »

February 16, 2007 by jon.

Robyn attended a cheer clinic last weekend and then this Friday all the girls in the clinic performed during half time at the Geneva Jr Varsity Basketball Game. She did a great job and looked like she had a lot of fun even though she said she was nervous.

Posted in Activities | Print | No Comments »

February 6, 2007 by jon.

We haven’t posted in a little while.  Honestly, I’ve been sick and because I was sick, I couldn’t run and because I couldn’t run, I was slightly depressed and so on.

How’s that for an excuse?  Actually, it’s sort of true.  As a previous post stated, I started the year with Shingles then developed a cough.  Well, I’ve had the cough for close to 4 weeks now.  It also caused my ears to stay plugged after my last flight home from Richmond.  It was only yesterday that I was able to hear clearly from both ears.  (Imagine wearing ear plugs for 2 weeks.  That’s how it sounded.)

I also haven’t run due to the cough.  I ran once in Richmond with Diane and it was ok, but the cough got a little worse.  Ran the first day back and had a coughing fit for 30 minutes.  Don’t want to go through that again so I’ll wait until the cough subsides.  May try tomorrow, but you never know.

So, I especially am glad to see February.  Lord willing, I’ll have some good health and can get things back to normal.

Posted in Activities, Running | Print | No Comments »

January 18, 2007 by Kala.

After School Enrichment was the last two Thursdays and my friend, Kim, and I decided to lead a class on how to make cute little graham cracker gingerbread houses. What a hoot!!! We ended up with 10 girls - grades 3 thru 5….lots of broken crackers, lots of frosting everywhere and candy left over at the end. I think the girls did an awesome job with their houses so I’ve uploaded some pictures for you to see.

It was a lot of work to prepare - I think next year we’ll choose knitting or crocheting or something similar.

Posted in Activities | Print | No Comments »

January 18, 2007 by jon.

It’s been a rough start to the year for me.  The first week I had shingles and had to stay home due to being contagious.  Luckily I could work from home just as well so I didn’t really miss any work, but it sure messed up the rythym.  Thank the Lord that I had a mild case and wasn’t to uncomfortable.

Then my son decided to share his cough with me.  I started coughing around Friday and have been since.  Of course I am traveling all this week which has made me more miserable.  After 3 trips to CVS I gave in and called my doctor to call in a perscription.  Once I got the good stuff in my, I slept well.  Thanks Doc!

I have also been chronicling my problems with my back.  I am learning more about it but I also had a weird episode.  Last Thursday night driving home, my back under my left shoulder felt “Tight”.  Got home and Kala started working on it when I had a spasm.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a spasm like that before.  I had trouble moving (But not breathing) and was stuck in some weird positions. 

Called Dr. Mark and they told me to ice it and see them in the morning.  My lovely wife went to scouts for me and I kept the ice pack on.  Friday morning it actually felt a lot better.  The spasm was gone but even to today, it is tight.

BUT, I’ve figured out my lower back problems aren’t caused by running.  Dr. Mark has given me some stretches to put my hips back in place.  So I did some experimenting to see what causes it to go out of Whack.  Running…No, Sleeping….No, Driving to work and a full work day…Yep.  So I need to work on ergonomics at work and find the best positions.  It’s all a learning process.

The good part is that I have run a few times without much problem.  I’m really glad to be able to do that and even ran with my old boss/friend Diane in Richmond while on a business trip.  Very enjoyable to good to run with her.

So it’s been a rough start, but with some stretching, proper eating and exercise and the Lord’s help (Ok, it’s mostly him!) I should be getting back on track.

Have a great day!

Posted in Errata, Activities, Prayers and Praises, Running | Print | No Comments »

January 15, 2007 by jon.

I’m in Richmond and spent all day Sunday with Richard, a friend I used to work with.  We are both history buffs and he took me to some Civil War sites.

Our first stop was the Petersburg battlefield.  This was the site of a 10 month siege of Petersburg by union troops.  We were able to tour some of the old fort earth works and see some period cannon. 

The battle of Petersburg included the famous Crater Battle where union forces hoping to punch a whole in the confederate defenses dug a 511 foot tunnel under a fort.  They then put 4 tons of powder in the fort and blew it up.  It was a great success in that the fort ceased to exist and over 200 confederate soldiers were killed.  Union soldiers ran up to continue the attack but ended up being shocked by the carnage and never pressed the advantage.  This gave the confederates time to mount a counter attack and they regained the fort/crater.

The union won the battle in April 1965 and headed North to Richmond.  This was just before Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

We then returned to Richmond and toured the Museum of the Confederacy next to the Confederate White House.  Pretty cool stuff that documents the timeline of the war.  There are a lot of personal items of Lee as well as models of the various naval ships and maps of engagments.

Side note - There were a lot of the officer coats on display.  Those must have been some small guys as there is no way a average sized person of today could squeeze their shoulders into them.

By this time things were closing so we took a quick walk around Belle island to finish our day.  Most of the island is just a park with trails but there are some markers showing where the prison was as well as the gravesite for the union priosoners.

It was a great day exlporing Civil War stuff.  My first time being on an actual battlefield.

Thanks Richard!

Posted in Errata, Activities | Print | No Comments »

January 13, 2007 by jon.

Brad and I spent Friday night and Saturday at the Lifetime Fitness club in Bloomingdale.  This was a Lock In for our Pack.  We ended up swimming, rock climbing, playing basketball and staying up late.  (Actually I didn’t do all that due to my back, but Brad sure did)

I was quite impressed with the place.  It’s more like a rec center than a work out gym.  While it has all of the machines a gym does (And more!) it was family friendly.  The pool had some slides, the day care had it’s own basketball court and best of all Brad loved it.  May be a membership in the future…

Posted in Activities, Scouting | Print | No Comments »