UNTI FAMILY

Summer Summer Summertime!!!

2011-10-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

Where did the summer go? In the midst of the Halloween blizzard that dumped about 6 inches of snow on us this weekend, I got to missing the summer already. Long lazy days, the newly freckled noses on my boys, summertime trips, and the freshest fruits and veggies here in PA. But hey, if I've learned nothing else in life, change is good.

Time to welcome fall with a new challenge: Unti Family 5K on November 26th, 2011! Yes, all 4 of us are taking this one on:-)

Then it's on to winter and conquering the ski slopes this year. I've had it pretty good the past few years; sipping red wine by the fireplace in the warm toasty lodge and making friends with the other lonely ski widows left behind. But this year I've vowed to get out on the slopes. Maybe not on the all terrain park that the boys have taken a liking to, just a respectable snowplow down the bunny hill a few times oughta do the trick. Though I hate being cold, the snowboarding men in my life assure me I simply haven't been dressing properly. Ahhhh...we shall soon see!

Pictures above of the 3 most amazing men I know doing the things they love this past summer...making me smile and inspiring me every day. I'm especially proud of Mike for his 2:01 Hershey Half Marathon completion last month not much more than a year after major surgery to repair his ACL.

Lots of love to all our friends and family out there!

Harrisburg Mile

2011-07-21T18:11:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we ran the Harrisburg Mile! Kids had a great time. Last year Vangie got passed by a guy dressed as a giant hot dog. This year the Red Robin bird attempted to pass her but failed! Way to go Vangie!!!

Testing new blogging mobile app

2011-07-18T19:00:00.001-07:00

Should resume updates if this works out

2011 Penquin Plunge

2011-01-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

A Year in Unti - 2010!

2010-12-25T21:34:00.000-08:00

Eat It

2010-07-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

Many of you are aware, I have been opposed to exercise see past blogs for my anti-exercise rants. Well I have not posted in a while because I did it. I finally got off the couch and started to excercise. Unfortunately I tore my ACL this past winter and had to have surgery this spring. I am beginning to recover and have a lot of spare time.

Exhibit A:

Max also has started his own blog here's a link to check it out

The Sooki Blog Entry/I hate Poop

2009-11-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

I hate Poop, I particularly hate dog Poop. For a long time I did not want to get a dog because of the whole poop issue. Up until recently Poop was not a major part of my life, the kids had long since been trained and we had no other pets in the house. Sure I might run into a load or two during the summer months while mowing the lawn but other than that it was largely a poop free environment. Life was pretty good.

Then as part of my 'mid-life try new things' crisis I decided to overcome my fear of dog poop and soon there was a new woman in my life.

Meet Sooki a yellow lab puppy. She is essentially a dog poop machine. For the last couple of weeks I have completly overcome my fear of dog poop. I now have new fears and many frightening questions which must be answered on a daily basis. They are as follows:

1) Where is she going to poop?
2) Where is she going to pee?
3) How do I teach her not to poop or pee there?
4) Why won't she poop and pee when I want her too?
5) What is she chewing on?
5) Who's going to clean that up?
6) What do you mean she's gotta pee at 2:15 AM?

Most of the answers to these questions involve me getting my hands dirty and cleaning things or freeing things from the dogs mouth, or scrubbing something. The other day she got off schedule when she didn't poop before she went to bed. She pooped in her crate at 4:00 AM then wouldn't poop after breakfast then pooped in her crate while I was at work. When I came home I had to clean her and the crate again. I now constantly live in fear where and when she will poop.

In order to get the dog to remain for any length of time in the position shown above we must do plenty of walking. This involves me spending much of my life walking around the neighborhood with plastic bags in one pocket and dog treats in the other. I have the treats so that I can reward her for making a mess which I will clean up on the spot and then carry with me on the rest of our walk. So I not only have to clean up the poop, I have to transport the poop as well. My favorite night to take a walk is Thursday night because trash day is Friday and everyone puts their cans out in the evening. If she does poop I can quickly dispose of it at the next house.

The kids seem to enjoy the dog. Jake a little more so than Max. Here are the three of them in their Halloween costumes. Sooki and I have begun Puppy Kindergarden. One of her sisters is in our class which is nice for her. At least that's what I tell myself, I am not sure how much she really cares but I like to think she does. She has learned to sit and stays on occasion. Working on staying down right now. Maybe as we learn more tricks will post some video.

Jumped out of a plane.............

2009-09-20T04:51:00.000-07:00

summer Fun

2009-09-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I posted; here is a summer recap. We seemed to spend the first part of the summer at baseball practice and baseball tournaments. Max began Allstars as a reserve but in the end was starting at second base. He was a reliable fielder but still needs some work with the bat.

Max has a pea head so he wears his cap underneath his batting helmet backwards. Here is getting ready to hit.

This summer Jake lost his two front teeth, at the same time. He has had a pumpkin smile for most of the summer.

Max grew his hair out and is telling us he never wants to get another haircut again. It's starting to approach his eyes and we may have to talk him into a trim.

We took a road trip up north with some friends and stayed at their cabin one weekend. The kids had a great time. They ran, swam and caught crayfish in the creek. They also passed out on the way home.

Here is Max in the stream catching crayfish, they put a bunch of them in a small wading pool and watched them fight each other.

They had a swing and the kids spent a lot of time on it. They also spent some time in the evenings playing rock band which was very entertaining. Max does a wicked version of sabatoge.

Jake and Max have been enjoying the skate park in Hershey this summer. They are just learning to shred and fall a lot but they have a good time.

Full safety gear is required which is good as the kids are beginning to feel more confident and starting to attempt some dangerous stunts.

Picture's Stories Coming Soon

2009-06-28T08:09:00.001-07:00

Go Birds!

2009-06-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

This week Max's team the Orioles had their end of season league tournament. There were six teams in the league. The teams in first and second got a bye. Max's team was the fith seed in the tournament. The first game they played the fourth seed. The games are six innings long and Max pitched the fourth and the fifth. The first inning went well but in the fifth the other team scored a few runs off of him and he got upset with himself. There were many lead changes in the game. When the game went to the bottom of the sixth the Orioles were up by two but the other team scored two to send the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the seventh our team was able to drive in one run. Max was playing short stop during the last inning and before our pitcher started warming up I saw Max go over and say a few words to him. It was going to be tough to protect the lead but our pitcher did an excellent job of shutting down the first two batters. When the last batter came up he hit the ball in the gap between first and second. The second basemen was a young second grader who was playing up with the third and fourth graders. He is probably the smallest boy in the league. But he was quick and made an excellent read on the well hit ball. He ran on an angle toward first base and right field and just when he was getting near the outfield grass the ball took a sudden long high hop. The second basemen reached out fully extended and was able to grab the ball. He spun around counter clockwise and made the throw to first just in time to get the runner out! The team went wild and the season would last at least one more game.

A day later we got an e-mail from the parents of the boy who did a great job pitching four innings in that game including the last inning. Max apparently told the boy who pitched the last inning, "We win as a team, we lose as a team" and told him to just go out there and pitch. I think I was more proud to hear those words than I was of the win.

Friday we found ourselves back at the park to watch Max and the Birds face the number two seed in the tournament. It was a team that had beaten them twice this season. Max had four innings of eligibility left to pitch in the tournament. We were the away team again and in our first at bat we scored four runs. Max went out and pitched his best game of the year protecting the lead for all four innings. He gave up some runs but held it together. It seemed every ball they hit was a pop fly to Max or a ground ball back to him. At one point they tried bunting but he scooped it up and made the throw to first. There was a scary moment in the fifth when our best pitcher was hit with a ball in the leg and we were not certain if he would be able to come back and pitch the sixth but he shook it off and closed the game out. With an 8-5 win the birds were now in the championship game!

Saturday morning at 10:00 AM the Birds faced an undefeated team in the championship game short two of their best arms. This team had not lost a game all season long and as much as I would like to say we had a fairy tale ending, this team turned out to be just too much for our guys to handle. However we did rally late in the sixth to give them a game. With the score 9 to 5 and two outs Max came up to bat and hit a ball to the third base side of the infield. It was a bang bang play at first and by bang bang I mean Max ran over the first basemen. The runner on second scored and Max quickly got up and ran to second. We were getting to the best part of the line up and the other coach called a time out and gathered his players together at the mound. Our next batter hit another ball to the left side of the infield and I thought Max would score the seventh run but the other team made the play at first and the Oriole's season came to an end!

It was a great tournament and experience for these boys to start out as a fith seed and come together and string together three strong games all as underdogs. They never quit and always encouraged each other. Just when we thought baseball was over we got word this week that Max has made the All-Star Team and will be playing in two tournaments. Practice starts next week!

My Cup Is Bigger Than Yours

2009-05-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Jake started playing catcher this year and thus needed a cup. He actually played one game without the cup and took a shot to the nuts and went down. The following day I found myself at "Dicks" sporting goods looking to buy a cup for my 8 year old. That's correct - the store's name is "Dicks" and for those of you on the west coast who don't have "Dicks"; well let's just say I feel sorry for you. Great store, excellent staff with plenty of support. The perfect place to buy a cup.

Now when I was a kid playing little league I too played catcher but the equipment bag came complete with bats, balls, and a cup which was shared amongst the team and reused every year. When it was your turn to catch you dropped the team cup in your underwear and squated down behind the plate. Sure it smelled and there was some sort of fungus on it but you wore it! Occasionally it might slip out a leg hole and you had to make some adjustments but at the end of the day you were well protected and stayed fertile.

Today everyone has to have their own cup and they come with special underwear. Not so much a jock strap but tighty whities with a pouch. So we picked out a cup complete with the underwear and rang it up and took it home. When we got home Jake had to show Max his cup. Then they had to get Max's cup out and compare the cups. As it turns out Jake's cup was bigger. Jake spent the next hour notifying anyone in the neighborhood who cared to hear about his cup size. We also had to show off our new cup to everyone on the baseball team and all parents who cared to listen. At some point in the game there came a loud cry from the bench when someone found the cup in their helmet.

Later Max requested we return to "Dicks" to upgrade. In the end I guess I learned that sometimes size does matter. Especially with brothers.

Next Week

2009-05-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

Next week my friend Vicki is coming to visit from Detroit. I can't wait! Here are the boys...just hanging out with their silly selves.

Things I adore...

2009-04-30T17:18:00.001-07:00

I have a killer cold so this is gonna be short and sweet...a few of my favorite things:

Little boy freckles & baseball...

Good friends & chardonnay...

Springtime...

Tell me yours :)

Happy Birthday Dad

2009-04-12T05:32:00.000-07:00

We went down to DC to celebrate my Dad's birthday last month. Our adventure started with a Metro ride downtown.

In DC we visited the Spy Museum and learned a lot of cool stuff that I'm sure the boys will put to good use someday. Then we took a very shakey elevator ride way up to the top of the Olde Post Office and had an incredible view of all the DC landmarks. The best part was that just as we got to the top of the lookout, the security guard announced that the President's helicopter would be landing for us to see. We learned that Obama flies with 2 other helicopters as well as the one he is actually in. The first one pretended to land at the White House but flew back up at the last minute. The 2nd heli actually landed and had the President inside. The third circled around the White House several time before taking off. It was all quite interesting especially since we had just learned all kinds of exciting things at the Spy Museum.

We stopped for lunch and then headed home where Grandaddy blew out his candles and was adored by his fan club. Here you can see why his fans love him...because he is fun and free-spirited and humors us in the silliest ways (like when I ask him to make funny faces with scary masks)!

Check him out rock climbing at Jake's birthday party. You Rock Dad! Happy Birthday.

Upper Allen Talent Show

2009-04-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Max and some of his friends performed take me out to the ball game at the school talent show this year. They wore their all star baseball uniforms and invited their principle to particpate as the umpire. Max had his first trip to the principle's office prior to the show so he's gotten to know the principle quite well as of late. Let's hope the trend does not continue........

Max is number 46 and plays the catcher if you look close you can follow him through the performance. Part of Max's job at one part of the performance was to argue balls and strikes with the umpire.

Jake's 8

2009-03-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Jake

Jake had such a good time at Max's birthday party at the Climbnasium he decided he wanted to have his birthday there too. The kids had a great time climbing the walls and as you will see from the photos below Jake has become quite the skilled climber.

Upside down on a rock, not sure how he got into this spot or if he needed help getting down.

Jake moving onward toward the summit!!!

More upside down moves by Mr. Jake showing off his massive upper body strength.

Jake had a great birthday he had quite a few friends on hand and even invited a girl which did not go unnoticed by some of his guy friends. They all had a great time and climbed well.

Mike's Back

2009-02-28T04:48:00.000-08:00

I want to thank all our readers for their support while I have been away. I would like to thank Vangie for filling in while I have been away. The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated and I promise that in the future I will do my best not to go absent for more than a month at a time. We will also have more posts from the lovely and talented Vangie in the future.

I want to take some time to share with you some of the news articles that people have been bringing to my attention while I have been away. The first article was sent to me in response to the recent mouse posts from a PETA person. The article is titled "Humans Shoot Themselves in Mouse Fight", click on the link to get the whole story. Now I know my trap appears to have a bit of a redneck flavor to it, but I want to assure everyone that I would not waste bullets on these evil critters. Also the mess of cleaning up a shot up mouse would not be worth the satisfaction of shooting it.

The second interesting article which was brought to my attention is the story of Joe Galliott, a man who was trapped under his couch for a few days. As you may or may not be aware one of my theories is that nothing bad has ever happened to me while I have been sitting on a couch. In fact most stories I have which involve me being greatly embarassed or hurt usually begin with me leaving couch. Having noticed this trend I have long been a proponet of staying on the couch. With that being said apparently our friend Joe in England does give a rather interesting account of tripping over his couch and having it flip on top of him. I have to be honest and tell you I am not buying Joe's story. First off, who keeps hard liquor near the couch? Listen let's just be honest here Joe - if you want to go off on two day bender I am just fine with that, but we don't need people making up stories about being trapped under innocent couches. I think what made me suspicious about the whole story is at the end of the article the writer states the our friend Joe now keeps a bottle of whiskey next to the couch in case this might happen again. Seriously if you thought you were in danger of being trapped for a lengthy period of time under a couch and were concerned about your survival wouldn't you first consider storing some bread and water first? It's irresponsible journalism like this that gives couches and the people who enjoy sitting upon them a bad name. Enough said.

I stumbled across this last news story myself. It is about a blind boxer and it is truly inspirational. As many of you know I am rappidly approaching forty and have begun putting together a bucket list of sorts. I want to jump out of an airplane this year, perhaps drive a race car up in the Pocconos and maybe go wild boar hunting. Anyway, I want to add this guy to the list. I know I am out of shape but I am pretty sure I can take him. Here is a link to the video.

2009-02-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

Cyberphobia
My dear friends, today I have some deeply sad news. I hope you are sitting down. Oh wait, you’re on a computer so that’s pretty likely. But I digress…
Mike has developed cyberphobia and will no longer be posting on the blog. We are hoping that someday he is able to overcome this fear and once again contribute to the family blog but right now the therapists are not hopeful. Apparently he has some outstanding issues and this new cyberphobia is taking a back seat in treatment until he works out some more pressing issues. As part of his treatment, Mike is going to resume barrel therapy. I’ll have photos soon… but in the meantime, I’ll just be posting. Don’t be hatin’… you know you love me.
I know deep down in his heart he wishes he could be contributing at this time but I just can’t allow it until he recovers fully. Oh, and to those of you that don’t think you have accents…..you do! You know who you are.

Why I Love Accents

2009-02-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

So I love a good accent...
My very favorite accent is the Irish followed closely by British and Australian but really I love any accent. When I moved here 15 years ago from Detroit, I noticed a distinctly Central PA accent in the locals and people here have often commented that Mike and I speak a little differently...they seem to think we ennunciate more clearly and are very "proper" in the way we speak which we find really amusing.
Yesterday morning I shared a short elevator ride with a well dressed chap who responded to my small talk of "it's a nice balmy morning" with, "right, oh, but a bit more sun and warmth would do quite well too" with the most delightful Australian accent! It really kind of made my morning. I wondered how he got here, in Central PA, and what it was like growing up in Australia. Do they really eat vegemite and wrestle crocodiles? I wished I could have asked this and a million other questions.
It got me thinking about what an impact our voices and accents have on first impressions and the assumptions that can be made based on a voice alone. Think about the harsh New York accent versus the slow smooth Southern drawl and you'll get my drift. I guess I love a different accent because it represents something completely different from the norm (my norm)...maybe that's the frustrated traveler in me who wants to visit faraway places...maybe someday. For now I'll live vicariously through the ones who have traveled far to get here and I'm lucky enough to interact with.
Here are some photos of my very favorite people in the whole wide world who I want to visit all those faraway places with someday...perhaps Mexico will be first. Ole!

Stitches, Birthdays and Yoga...Oh My!

2009-02-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Valentine's Day! Mike and I celebrated this year with a couples yoga and Thai massage class at The Movement Center in Harrisburg. I'm pretty sure Mike was dreading this, but was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was. Here we are in one of our "poses". We learned a little something too...a Thai massage, a real one, takes something like 3 hours. We just had a little intro but I can tell you there is a lot of concentration on the feet so if you like a foot massage, I would highly recommend a Thai massage. Afterwards, there was champagne and dinner along with some decadent desserts. That was the best part of course...adding back those calories we had just worked off.

Believe it or not we had our first experience with stitches this month when Jake walked into a stone pillar. How did he walk into a stone pillar you ask? Well, he pulled his hood down over his eyes to add a little "excitement" to the tedious task of walking (after all it's much more fun when you can't see where you're going) and crashed right into the corner of a pillar outside of our grocery store. Two little stitches in his forehead and lots of blood later, he was all fixed up and picking out a new toy at Target for being brave during the stitches. Something tells me this won't be our last visit to the Emergency Room...

We celebrated Max's 10th birthday yesterday at the Climbnasium. 7 little boys, and a few big kids including Mike and my Dad, got to climb their little hearts out! I thought it was really cool that they could climb someone else's walls for a change instead of mine. Max's goal was to get to the highest peak and sign the special book they have at the top reserved for only the climbers who make it up there. He and Jake both make it up and signed their names. I climbed a little myself, although my jeans and riding boots made it tricky. It's really a rush being up there on the wall and I definitely want to go back in the right clothes and have at it.
Tomorrow is Max's actual birthday and we'll be taking him to El Rodeo for a Mexican feast at his request. Happy Birthday to Patti as well!

Dinner Conversations...

2009-02-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

and Snow Babies

Hi everyone! Vangie here with my very first blog post...figured I might as well try to get a word in edgewise in this family. Can't say I have anything grand to discuss just yet (stay tuned) but I did find tonight's dinner conversation fairly entertaining:

Max: "Dad, what's the craziest thing you ever did in college?"

Mike: "Tied myself to a couch naked and hung out of a window."

Vangie: "Really-what about lighting yourself on fire?"

Mike: "Oh yeah, and I lit myself on fire...several times."

Max: wide eyed, "Whoa...can you teach me how?"

Mike: "No, I won't teach you my secrets. You gotta get your own."

Max: "Aw, you are such a fun-sucker!"

Vangie: Rolls eyes.

Jake: Hides under table to avoid trying bite of dirty rice. New foods are very SCARY.

In other news, we discovered last week that Max is missing 4 adult teeth. Yeah, weird huh? He was at a routine cleaning and they brought the x-rays out and showed us the hard evidence. Ain't no disputing it...there in black and white we saw the beautiful skeletal system of our first born, sans 4 adult teeth. I was bewildered, baffled, befuddled...and considered if we could bedazzle some makeshift teethies for our boy - a grill of sorts? But no no, the responsible parents that we are, we are taking him to the orthodontist tomorrow to discuss this little dilemma...can you say cha-ching? Looks like momma might be going back to work full time. Anyway, as in all things genetically bizarre, weird, wacky or just plain unexplainable...I blame Mike's side!

Other fun stuff...Jake and I made a "snow baby" which Jake promptly destroyed...he's not ready for fatherhood just yet.

I had the winter "blahs" and painted my nails black. that felt surprisingly great.

Enjoyed an amazing dinner party with some old and new friends and discovered that heavenly goat cheese and good salmon on a cracker can cure just about any bad mood...thanks Toole's!

A Better Mouse Trap

2009-01-24T12:56:00.000-08:00

As you may be aware from a prior entry we have been having mouse issues. It's been an ongoing saga. One which I have been determined to win. I had been attempting to catch him on another sticky trap, but he had gotten wise to my ways and would not fall for that trick like his little friend we caught earlier. My dream was to take him deep in the back yard with my Taylor Made Driver while it was still trapped on the sticky trap. I wanted to catch it on video. Vangie thinks I'm disturbed. Perhaps, but I can't let the mice win! It's gotten personal.

I set up the neck snapping steel traps in strategic locations but the bugger was able to eat the peanut butter right off the trap without getting it's neck snapped. I tried leaving poison out in key areas as well but this critter is no ordinary mouse. This was a super mouse, a mouse which thwarted me at every turn. A mouse with worldly knowledge. This was clearly not this mouse's first time at the rodeo.

It became apparent to me I was going to have to get creative on the little bugger. I was going to have to show him something he had never seen before. I was going to have to build a better mouse trap.

I gathered the following material:

1) A full box of wine
2) 3 1x3 pieces of lumber approximately 2 and 1/2 feet in length
3) lots of water
4) Tylenol lots of Tylenol
5) Two round plastic tuperware lids
6) Peanut butter

I then put my plan into action:

Step one: Drink entire box of wine and think about how much you hate mice. (I recommend you do not drink the entire box at one time)
Step Two: Drink water and take tylenol
Step Three: take a nap you will likely need one at this point in time if you have not passed out already from all the wine, dream about dead mice
Step Four: Wake up and take more tylenol
Step five: Fill the buckets with water 3/4 of the way up
Step Six: Place one end of a board on the empty box of wine creating a ramp to the side of the box.
Step Seven: Place another board from the box to a bucket of water
Step Eight: Place another board from the box to the second bucket of water
Step Nine: Put the peanut butter on the tupperware lids
Step ten: Float the lids in the buckets on the water
Step Twelve: hide somewhere you think the most can't see you and wait quietly, imagine dead wet mice! Do your best evil scientist wicked laugh!

Your trap should look like this when complete:

The following is a close up of the bucket with the peanut butter floating on the surface. Calling to the wicked mouse. The evil mouse who has been tormenting your psyche for weeks, playing games with your mind and terrifying your family. The mouse who soon will meet its end as its greedy little fingers reach for the peanut butter. But its just out of his reach, perhaps if he gets a little closer he will be able to get a taste, maybe..........

Or maybe not, with any luck the mouse will soon discover he can not swim and you will be enjoying the spoils of victory!

A bucket full of wet dead mouse!

Penguin Plunge

2009-01-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's the long awaited Penguin Plunge blog. I want to start off by thanking everyone who came out and supported me as I braved the cold weather and took the plunge on New Year's Day. We raised over $174 for the Harrisburg Humane Society. Ok, you got me it was $175. Anyway thanks again to all my family and friends whom without the peer pressure I never would have been able to follow through.

It really was not that bad, the weather was below freezing and the water was slightly below freezing at 31 degrees. That meant that the water was actually warmer than the air. So there really was no shock in going in the water. Especially after spending some time standing around in my bathing suit for a couple of minutes before I ran into the river. The worst part was the cold when I got out. I immediately headed to the changing room and then to Flinchys where I was warmed by an Irish coffee and the hot redhead pictured below.

This is a before the plunge picture, in the background is the river. What you can't see is the lovely cement beach calling to me.

The next thing I knew I was half naked standing on a cement beach and some guy from a local radio station with his silky smooth radio voice was yelling at us to run into a large body of water. I pinched myself as I had hoped that I was a dreaming. I couldn't feel the pinch because it was so darn cold. All of a sudden I was caught up in a stampeding heard of crazy people running across a cement beach somewhere way too far north of the equator at one of the worst possible times of the year. In order to avoid being trampled I was forced to run into the water with the crowd. I think I stepped on someone on the way in. I tried to apologize but I was too cold.

I got in a little higher than my waist when the crowd I was with came to a halt and people started running back for the shore. I bent my knees ducked my head under the water and quickly ran out where a towel and blanket was waiting for me. Yeah I'm in the picture above you just gotta look close.

Ok this is one of the few shots people got of me after I got out. I know what you're thinking when you look at this picture: "That Vangie is one lucky girl!"

I would like to close this blog with a video interview of my Mother who is standing next to that aforementioned hot redhead. There is a barrel rolling referance in there for those of you who still have their doubts about my upbringing. We may do this again next year because it was a lot of fun and I believe my father-in-law and Dad may actually join in.

Christmas

2009-01-03T09:27:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas and New Years Eve. We celebrated with family and friends at home this year. Jake still believes in Santa Clause but Max who will be ten in a few weeks has started to get suspicious. I gather from conversations that this is a topic of much debate among his friends and that he has been defending Santa's existence but is beginning to lose faith. His older cousin Ryan knows the secret and has planted further seeds of doubt in his head. I think we may only have one more year before he knows the truth. Jake fortunately is a stubborn mule and will not let anyone shake his belief in Santa!

Santa brought snow skates and snowboards and hockey sticks. We have had no snow to speak of but the boys have been roller blading around the driveway playing hockey on warmer days. They argue and fight many times a day but when they are apart they claim they miss each other. Of course neither one would admit it to the other. Christmas did bring one casualty as one of the kings in the nativity set lost his head to a flying shoe. We now have a new rule which prohibits removing shoes by kicking them off.

It's back to school on Monday and on to our regular routine which I think will be a bit strange after nearly two weeks. It was a wonderful holiday and good to see everyone who was able to drop by for a visit.

Penguin Plunge

2008-12-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

I felt like doing something crazy to start the new year so I am going to jump in the ice cold water down at City Island in Harrisburg on January 1 as part of the Penguin Plunge which seeks to raise money for the humane society. If you wish to sponser me you can at the following site:

Penguin Plunge

I hope to video the event and later post the footage.

Went Roller Blading

2008-11-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

It rained all day today so we went to the Sports Emporium and went roller blading. There were only two other families at the rink and we managed to outlast them so for a while we had the whole place to ourselves. At the end the kids chased each other around the rink in their socks. The lady asleep in the DJ booth didn't seem to notice or mind. In the picture above the Max appears as a blur in the background as he is circling the rink.

We have been dog sitting my sister's dog Java. We enjoy having Java at the house, the kids love spending time with the dog. Java enjoys the fact that our children very rarely get food into their mouths on the first try and things often land on the floor.

The other weekend we had fall camp with the boy scouts. Vangie loves boy scout camp because it means a free weekend away for her. This year she went to New York City with my sister where they saw friends and family and slept in a high class hotel and ate at fancy restaurants. I slept in a cabin in a room with 25 kids who can laugh at their burps and farts until 4 in the morning. We slept in sleeping bags on cots and ate lots of hotdogs over the camp fire. The good news was they upgraded the cabin this year and we now have indoor plumbing! Woooooooooooooooooo! I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera to camp so I have no photos.

At camp the kids go to various stations the boys scouts have prepared where they learn about fire making, wilderness survival, cooking over an open fire, first aid and of course there is always a craft. This year at the wilderness survival station the boy scouts had a bag of common items you might find around your home. They were quizing the scouts on which items would be helpful to have if you were lost in the woods. At one point they pulled out vaseline and cotton balls. When they pulled these items out I leaned over to the other parents and whispered "If you ever wander out into the wilderness with only vaseline and cotton balls you have bigger problems then just being lost." Later we learned that the vaseline is flamable and will help ignite the cotton balls.

It was good to be home after the weekend in the cabin. I got a bad cold and a nasty rash, Vangie got new boots, and the kids had a great time running around the woods with their friends.

Building a Better Mouse Trap

2008-10-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

The mouse in the above picture had been spotted one evening by my wife scurrying about the kitchen. She was determined to catch the mouse and went out and bought a mouse trap. Not the ordinary inhumane mouse traps which lure the mouse with a piece of cheese and then quickly snap the mouse's neck. No, we purchesed the sticky traps which catch mice without killing them. Because mice after all are living things and deserve better.

Now if the above pictured mouse only knew what was going to take place after being caught in the sticky trap I am certain he would have prefered the quick death of the old fashioned cheese trap. You see shortly after being stuck on the trap the mouse went into a panic and managed to flop his way into the middle of the kitchen, where an unsuspecting seven year old stepped on the sticky trap, missing the mouse but at the same time attaching the trap with the mouse to his foot. Thinking the mouse was attached to his foot by the mouse's teeth and not the sticky substance on the trap the seven year old freaked out and began shaking his leg in an attempt to remove the mouse. As a result of the shaking the mouse had his head repeatedly bashed into the tile floor until his head started to bleed.

It was not until the seven year old's mother heard the screaming that she became aware of the "situation" and removed the trap from the seven year old's foot. An act that in and of itself was not only disturbing to the mouse and the seven year old but also to the mother who had no desire to come anywhere near the mouse. Once the bloody mouse had been removed from the foot of the aforementioned seven year old a decision had to be made on what to do with the mouse who had somehow managed to survive this ordeal. He could not be let go due to concerns about his return to the home. It was decided that the most humane way to dispose of the mouse without causing any further psychological trauma to the family would be to zip the mouse in a freezer bag and suffocate the poor bastard. As I understand it there are few deaths worse than suffocation. The mouse was dead by the time I arrived home from work. That evening as we said a prayer before dinner the seven year old asked for forgiveness for bashing the poor creature's head in on the tile floor.

Needless to say, in the future the Unti family will be utilizing the old neck snaping cheese traps.

Camping and More Soccer

2008-09-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

We went on our annual camping trip with some friends and my sisters family this past weekend to Douthat State Park. You may recall last year's blog where a dead body was missing in the lake. It was found two days after we had left. This year the lake was free from dead or missing persons as far as we knew.

We swam in the lake and jumped off the diving board. Jake is fearless! Here is a picture of him diving off head first. He did canon balls, front flips and even tried a back flip. The back flip however, did not work out so well for him. He ended up jumping off and landing flat on his back in the water. It must have hurt, but Jake was a trooper and swam back to the platform and continued to dive.
My Sister and her husband have a boat that they bring every year and the kids love to go tubing. Last year I waterskied but it messed up my neck pretty good. This year one of the adults tried wakeboarding and threw out his back. Seems were all starting to get old.
Jake enjoyed tubing on the lake. Max and one of the other boys were bounced from the raft when the tube crossed another boat's wake. They bounced around pretty good. The kids had a great time.
The kids did crafts. They made colored paint from rocks and pinch pots. Jake's pot got sat on and I had to fix it without him knowing. I think it turned out pretty well and he has not been the wiser.

The parents and the kids also made tie dye t-shirts while we were camping. Here is a picture of the crew sporting their creative talents.

This weekend was the first week of league play in soccer for the boys. We had not yet had them both in uniform at the same time. So we attempted to snap a picture. This is as good as it got. Maybe we'll try again next week.

Hurricane Hanna rolled through central PA this weekend and the boys played right through the storm. The games were at the same time but at different fields. I went to Jake's away game and Vangie attended Max's game. Above is a picture of Jake trying to get open in the storm. Jake's team had been getting blown out pretty bad in the prior tournaments so this week's 4-0 loss seemed like an improvement. The kids played hard and did not let the rain bother them. I was impressed. Jake showed a lot hussel.

While I was at Jake's game I was getting updates from Vangie on Max's game. At the end of the first half they were up 1-0. Max played goalie in the rain. I got a call back when it ended and the final score was 1-1. Max played goalie for the entire game. They scored on him on a corner kick where the opposing team headed the ball into the goal over Max's head. Max called me later. He was excited about the game & I'm told he made some big time saves. The team they played had beaten them pretty bad the prior year. I believe it might have been a 9-0 drubbing, so this weeks 1-1 tie was a moral victory for the team.

I hope to update next week with more photos and stories from the Pitch.

Soccer

2008-08-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

I went away to Portland for training and was able to find my way up to Seattle to visit with some friends. Special thanks to all who were so kind to me while I visited. It was good to see you all. Here is a photo of my from my trip:

While I was away I unfortunately missed Jake's first Soccer Tournament. Jake and most of his team are playing up a year. So they are all young for this age group. They faced a very high level of competition and were roughed up quite a bit. Vangie was able to report Jake had a fantastic moment in the game where he had a breakaway. The kids seemed to me to be in good spirits this week at practice and I am looking forward to getting some more pictures when league play begins in September.

Vangie also sent me the following picture while I was at work last week. Seems she thinks she's found a better way to get the kids around. I was relieved not to find the car in the driveway when I got home from work.

Max had a soccer tournamant this weekend. He played in 3 mini games which were 25 minutes and 3 other 50 minute games. In the first 3 mini-games they won one, tied one and lost one. In the game they won Max played goalie and shut the other team out. They lost the remaining three games with the last game going into sudden death overtime. It was a heart breaker. Max only gave up three goals this weekend. He had several halfs of soccer where he was able to shut the opposing team out. Max gets pretty upset when he lets one by. In the second half of Saturday's game he gave up two goals in one half. The first was an amazing shot and Max dove through the air sideways attempting to knock the ball away but it was just out of his grasp. The second goal was a bad bounce that was redirected off a teammate. Max also stopped a penalty shot which was very exciting. He has taken to wearing his goalie jersey backwards as he claims it is good luck.

Baseball & Vacation

2008-07-04T10:26:00.001-07:00

Vangie traveled to Sonoma to spend a couple weeks house sitting at my parents. While she was in California she caught up with three of her close friends whom she has known since grade school. They had a great time catching up and going out to dinner. I was only able to join the family for a week. I spent much of the time working and eating fundraiser frozen pizza. Ok, I got to golf a few times and sleep in a little longer on the weekends but I wish I could have joined them for the full 3 weeks.

Here is Max giving Jake a piggy back ride infront of Alcatraz. It was a little chilly the day we were down by the Golden Gate bridge.

It was also very foggy, We walked to a fort that was used to defend the bay. Actually it never came under attack but it was a pretty cool fort.
Here are the guys burning off some energy running through the corridors of the fort.

Vangie likes this picture of the boys. Jake's nose is hiding behind a small porcupine made out of a coconut he bought in the store. There was a guy selling hotdogs under the bridge with grilled onions. They were really really good.

While Vangie and the boys were away they visited the Jelly Belly factory. There was a wheel you could spin with all kinds of gross Jelly Bellies. If you spun the wheel you had to eat the flavor that came up. Jake refused to spin it, but Max spun the wheel twice. He landed on Ear Wax and Baby Wipes. Max said that the Baby Wipe Jelly Belly actually tasted good.

One week while the guys were away they went to Pure Potential Soccer Camp in Sonoma. Here is a picture of the guys with their coach. They had a really good time at camp! Jake came home bragging about beating the best player in camp in a one on one drill! I was a little worried they would feel out of place and not have a good time but they made friends quickly and truly enjoyed going every day.

When it was hot Vangie would take the boys swimming. My parent's friends were very kind to Vangie and the boys inviting them over to swim and checking on them to make sure they were doing well.
Here we are in Land's End, San Francisco. The scenery was beautiful.

Vangie took this great picture on the hike of Max overlooking the Ocean.

This is a great picture of Jake hanging out at the Sabastiani Fountain in Sonoma. Conveniently it is in walking distance from my parents home.

Another beautiful scenic picture of Sonoma (at the Benzinger Winery). We did a few tours and a few tastings while we were out.

This is a picture of Max and the fabulous Miriam Shor perhaps you may have seen her on the new hit TV show "Swingtown" On CBS Thursday nights at 10:00 PM.

Finally onto the Baseball Season Wrap Up portion of the blog. Max's team had a rough year. They went 0-16. At the beginning of the season it seemed like Max was going up to bat looking to walk and not swinging the bat. Last year I tried working with him a lot on hitting. We bought a pitching machine and took lessons and went way overboard. I think things were all mental and not so much mechanical. Halfway through the season I offered Max $10 for a hit and $10 for an RBI. He started getting hits and his confidence grew. In the last game of the year Max got two hits and drove in one run.

Max got a lot of opportunity to play in the infield this year. He played second base most of the time. He made a diving stop in the second game of the year on a ground ball that was particularly impressive. He caught most of the fly balls that came his way too. He made an impressive catch in right field where he had to run quite a way to catch a fly ball. Despite the losing season Max got a lot of experience and gained a lot of confidence at the plate.

I coached Jake's team this year and we ended up going with a 500 record at the end of the season. Jake is still at coach pitch and the kids in this group are first and second graders. There are nine or ten players on about eight teams. We had a pretty young team with six first graders and three second graders. Despite having one of the youngest teams in the league we held our own. There was only one team in the league we did not win against.

In this league the kids get five pitches and if they can not get a hit they have to go to the T. 90% of the time Jake hit the ball when pitched by a coach. We are working on increasing Jake's power. I bet Jake a few dollars that he couldn't hit the ball in the outfield. Jake came through and collected a few bucks off Dad.

Jake played pretty well in the field. Not many kids at his age can consistently catch fly balls. Jake is great at catching a ball. We work a lot with kids on learning whose responsiblility it is to cover second base. It depends on which side of the infield the ball is hit. Early in the season there was a runner on first when a ball was hit hard to third base. Jake was playing second at the time. The third basemen fielded the ball cleanly and remembered to go after the lead runner. He threw the ball to second base, Jake came through and remembered to cover the bag and made an outstanding catch at second. It was such a good play the other teams coach actually complimented our players after the game.

It was a great baseball season and it was also a great vacation. Special thanks go out to Mom and Dad Unti for allowing us to spend time in their beautiful home in Sonoma. We look forward to seeing them at our house over Christmas.

The Toxic Deck

2008-06-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while. Been busy painting the deck and mowing the lawn. Seems like we have had a wet spring. The grass is growing fast and I push mow the lawn. Vangie says I should get a riding mower but this is the only exercise I get. So I am going to keep pushing. I can't wait until mid-August when the lawn turns brown because of the heat and I only have to mow every other week. Managed to paint the deck in between rain drops. Again I choose to do things the hard way by forgoing a paint sprayer. Rolled the top and painted each individual spindal by hand. The birds have already crapped all over it.

The deck was yellow but now it is eucalyptus. I voted for a color called Curry. Vangie hated that color so we went with her choice. I pretended I loved it but it really just looks like the color of cement to me. Vangie makes me paint the deck frequently so that the toxins in the pressure treated lumber don't kill us. The first year I painted the deck I had to wash it first with a highly toxic deck wash which I am sure I inhaled plenty. This year Vangie made me use a non-toxic "green" cleaning product which really sucked. I highly recommend always using the most toxic chemicals on the market if you can talk your spouse into it. In my opinion they are far more effective.

Then I slathered on the highly toxic stain to the deck. I got it all over me which I'm sure can't be healthy. In the end the deck looks good and the family is once again free to sit on the deck without the fear of being infected by the evil pressure treated lumber.

With all this paranoia about toxins it's not surprising Jake drew the following picture of Vangie:

Notice the crazy eyes and big hands and what's up with the dreadlocks? I'm not sure this is a good look for her. I like the short orange dress though.

Shortly I will have another update on the baseball season as it has drawn to conclusion. Vangie and the kids are heading to California next week. I will catch up with them near the end of the month. I am sure we will have some great pics to share from the trip.

Until then you'll find me in my free time lounging on the not-so-toxic deck.

Happy Mothers day!

2008-05-11T15:39:00.003-07:00

Baseball 2008

2008-05-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's baseball season. I think it's going to be a very long one. Both teams combined have only won one game. Max's team had a heart breaking defeat this week. They were up the entire game and in the fifth inning the opponents pulled ahead by one run. In the top of the sixth (the last inning) our guys tied the game but in the bottom half of the inning they gave up a walk off home run. A couple of the kids were so disappointed they broke down into tears.

This is Max's first year of kid pitch. He played 5 Kid pitch games last june but only got one at bat in each of the games and did not get a hit. Max has been making good contact in the last three games. He has only struck out twice in six at bats. He did get a hit in those six and one ground out. The other two at bats were walks. There are some really good pitchers who are a year ahead of him in school. They are tough for him to hit. Usually once a game a hitable pitcher for Max comes into the game. The other night Max fouled three balls off before he drew a walk. He has made some pretty good plays at second. He caught a fly ball diving back toward second base. He has also made some diving stops of ground balls. That's not to say he has not had the occasional error.

I am also coaching Jake's team. We have 6 first graders and 3 second graders on the team. I will get the first graders back next year and half to draft the incoming kindergardeners. We have had few rough games but we are fielding better. Learning who's responsible for covering second base is important. Sometimes we catch the ball when it's thrown to first and sometimes we don't. We need to work on making good throws too. All my kids can hit. We play coach pitch and the kids have to hit on a "t" if they can not get a hit after 5 pitches. It's rare we have to go to the "t". Jake has made some pretty great plays in the field this year. Once Jake was playing second when a ground ball was hit to third. The third basemen scooped up the ball and threw a bullet to second. Jake was quick to cover the bag and made a great catch to get the out.

Max and Jake both tried out for travel soccer. There are two teams at Max's age group and Max made the higher ranked team. Jake made a team as well. He will be playing up a level this year. He is on a lower level under nine team. The coach wanted to get a group of kids to start playing together earlier. This of course will mean lots of traveling in the fall. But I have to admit I enjoy it a lot. May be even a little more than the kids.

Jake is SEVEN!!!!

2008-03-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

Jake recently turned Seven! Shortly before his birthday he performed in the school's talent show. He played a Pirate in a short sketch where they acted out the story of Stephen the Pirate. Jake was one of the good pirates who got captured by the bad pirates. But Stephen frees him and at the end they fight off the bad pirates. I was not aware there was such a thing as a good pirate but Jake assured me that Pirates can be good.

Jake had a roller skating party. He had a few friends out to the Sports Emporium to take a spin around the rink, eat pizza and play a few video games. A good time was had by all. Usually Jake insists on dressing himself these days and we had to bribe him on his birthday to wear the white turtle neck with the green shirt. He really wanted to wear the maroon turtle neck with the navy blue stripes with the green shirt he has on here and his camo pants.

Grandaddy and Nina came up from Maryland to go roller skating. Jake got a pair of roller blades for his birthday which he put to quick use. No more stealing Max's. My parents were also able to come for Jake's party. A good time was had by all.

Jake has been obsessed with Peeps, He received a few more from the Easter Bunny. He now has a family of peeps.

Grand Daddy's Birthday

2008-03-10T16:51:00.001-07:00

We went down to Maryland to celebrate Vangie's father's birthday. We went out to lunch and then we took the kids over to Dick's sporting goods. It was a very large Dick's sporting goods and Max made it a point to tell anyone who would listen that it was in fact the biggest Dick's he had ever seen. I will unfortunatley laugh at almost anything which sounds slightly inappropriate. As evidence please refer back to the Uranus posts of nearly a year ago.

At the back of the store there was a giant climbing wall. Jake really wanted to climb the wall. Max was lukewarm on the idea. The line was long but we waited it out and the kids both got their chance. Deciding whom should go first led us to a very strategic decision. We knew that Jake is our wildman and he was going to be fearless. I did not know how far Jake would make it up the wall but however he did it would provide motivation for Max. Max is not a risk taker but he is a fierce competitor. He does not like to lose. If we play catch in the back yard he gets very upset with himself if he drops a few balls. We knew that there is no way Max would let Jake go higher on the wall them himself. So we decided to let Jake go first.......

Jake climbed and climbed and made great progress. I ran up to the second floor and took the following picture of him.

Jake made it all the way to the top and rang the bell. Next up was Max, I knew he would not let his brother be the only one to make it up the wall. Max climbed right up the wall too. I took this picture from the second floor as well.

When Max got down he was very excited he made it up the wall. He later admitted he was motivated by his younger brother.

The Fortune Cookie

2008-02-24T18:19:00.001-08:00

The theme for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet this weekend was Chinese New Year. We had terriyaki chicken and fried rice and everyone got a fortune cookie. This was my fortune:

The first thing you will notice is that it's not even a Chinese proverb it's German. How you get a German Proverb in a Chinese fortune cookie is beyond me. I am beginning to even wonder if this cookie even came from China. Secondly who has ever heard of a German proverb? I am from German decent and did I do not recall my Grandmother ever telling me about the great German proverbs.

And what of the proverb itself? don't even get me started on this......"no trees ever reach the sky"????? What exactly is the message they are trying to convey. I think the message is quite clear: Don't bother trying you will never be able to do it. How does such a distraught and hopeless message ever become such a famous German Proverb that the Chinese are writing it small slips of paper and shoving them in cookies? And better yet how does this cookie land on my plate?

Well you see it is destiny, for many years I have shared these exact same sentiments. I have long held a dream close to my heart which I have only shared with a few close friends. And the truth is this.... I dream of becoming a non-motivational speaker. I dream of professing the very wisdom as written in this strange and obscure note I found this afternoon in my cookie.

For you see the world is riddled with those motivational speakers who constantly push us all to our limits. Testing our wits and ability to sustain stress in our lives. Push, Push, Push, You can do more, fast and better. This evil must be undone!

So in order to achieve my goal I am sure I must write some clever book in order to achieve fame so I can go on my speaking tour. My plan is to have them roll me out on stage while I lounge on a couch in boxers and wearing a wife beater T-shirt. Classy huh?

You may ask why the couch? While you see when I look back upon my life and attempt to figure out where things started to go wrong; I seem to always be able to trace it back to a singular point in time. That moment in time is the first mistake in what is usually a long line of mistakes. And the first mistake my friends was when I got up off my couch. I challenge anyone of you reading this blog today to think back to an unpleasant couch moment in your life. You can't can you?

I would like to leave you today with one more non-motivational thought as I conclude this entry. And that is: If you ever feel the urge to exercise, I strongly recommend you lie down on the couch and wait for it to pass. It always works for me.

MAX IS NINE

2008-02-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Max had his birthday party at the Sports Emporium this weekend. Max and eight of his friends played laser tag and video games for an afternoon. They also got to eat plenty of pizza. All the kids got to pick nicknames for themselves for the laser tag game. I got to play with the kids too. My nickname was "Stinky." Max was Mac which is what one of the soccer coaches call him at practice. I think the coach is trying to say Max but it comes out Mac or Mack most of the time with his Irish accent.

Here is a picture of Max in his battle gear with chocolate frosting still all over his chin from the pre-battle feast. We got to play four games and the kids had a great time. I was wiped out after the second game but somehow managed to get through it. They divided us into two teams - red and green. The other team had a few adults and teenagers on their team and they beat me and the eight and nine year olds in four straight games. We had fun anyway. Max got a lot of cool presents for his birthday. We got him a new bike as he had grown out of his old one already. He also got roller blades and Guitare Hero III for the x-box. We will get to spend more time on the bikes and blades in the spring but right now its been a Guitar Hero week. Me, Max and Jake play a lot in the evenings after dinner and homework are done. We are getting better at it every day.

Spring is right around the corner and I am going to be coaching Jake's baseball team again this year. Last year we only had six year olds on his team but this year we will have seven and eight year olds together. It will be his first year of coach pitch. This weekend Max and Jake both have baseball tryouts. I will have to watch the players try out. Sunday afternoon is the draft. I will have to draft the kids on Sunday. I think the boys are all looking forward to baseball. Max will also play spring soccer with his team from last year. Lots of running and sports are coming up. It has been nice to take the winter off from that craziness.

Where did the Unti's go.....

2008-02-04T16:23:00.000-08:00

Max and Jake got an Xbox 360 from Santa and with my obsessive compulsive behavior we got quite caught up with it this past month. No time to blog as my spare time was spent practicing to keep up with the boys. We play a lot of NBA basketball and Madden 2008. Sometimes there is quite a bit of trash talking and someone ends up angry or in tears, myself included.

Just as I was recovering from the Xbox obsession someone e-mailed me Desktop Tower Defense. I became completely obsessed with obtaining the high score. I suggest you do not click on the above link.

Anyway this past weekend was a particularly bad weekend for Max. We had Pinewood Derby with the Cub Scouts this weekend and Max's car was not as fast as Jake's. Jake made sure Max was well aware of how fast his car was. Jake won his den race and made it to the Pack finals. He finished 9th out of 10 spots in the finals which Max made it a point to remind Jake that he nearly came in last in the final races. Despite the in fighting it really was a good time and Max did end up winning a trophy for car most likely built by a scout. Jake won a trophy as well for car most likely built by a scout in his den and he also had a very large trophy for winning his den races.

Sunday was not much better for Max as he has become a die-hard Patriots fan. When he plays Xbox he is always the Patriots. Half way through the first quarter of the Superbowl he tells me that he had a bet with a friend. It seems that he had worked out a deal that if the Patriots won he would get $1 and if the Giants won he would have to pay out .50. As we had friends over I felt it was not the time to discuss this in much detail with him. We definitely do not want to encourage him to place bets on sporting events! He was allowed to stay up and watch the entire game. As the last pass sailed out of reach of the receiver Max burst into tears and stormed out of the room. We had a talk after the game and advised him against betting but encouraged him to be a man of his word and make good on his wager. The next morning I got up and came down stairs to find him at the kitchen table attempting to eat a Pop Tart with tears streaming down his face. He was still upset about the game. We again discussed how it was only a game and again how he should not be betting on sports. I think he was concerned with the trash talking he was going to get from his friend more than losing the fifty cents. Anyway I can only hope that he has learned some sort of lesson from all of this.

Vangie and I had an enjoyable weekend. It was one of those rare weekends when we get a baby sitter and get to go out alone. We attend the Chocolate Ball in Hershey. I was forced to wear a tux to the event but still managed to have a good time. The Chocolate Ball is an event to benefit Keystone Human Services. Our seats were courtesy of Vangie's employer. We had a great time at the event.

Christmas Season

2007-12-16T08:09:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season seams to start ealier and earlier every year. Fortunately for me Vangie runs a pretty tight ship and manages to organize the shopping, the christmas cards and manage the social calendar. The first weekend in December is my father's birthday. My mother arranged to throw him a party in Sonoma. She also arranged for me to fly in and surprise him. I arrived late on Friday night and he was really shocked. We hung out, watched football and ate In N' Out Burgers on Saturday.

People in California are a little different than what I'm used to here in Pennsylvania. They have some interesting customes. They like to let it all hang out I guess.

There are somethings however they are a little uptight about. Don't let e'm catch ya too close their rock fences! Sunday was the party for my Dad, everyone had a good time. I had to get up early on Monday morning and fly back to Pennsyltucky. It was a great trip and I had a good time and I think my Dad really enjoyed his party.

While I was gone Vangie was working on getting a picture of the guys for our Christmas card. After much debate and a painful photo shoot she finally decided to use a picture she took earlier this year of the boys. Getting two boys to smile and look good at one time is becoming nearly an impossible task.

Last weekend Vangie's work had their Christmas Party and Since she works for another couple it was a very small but nice affair. As some of you may know this summer I gained many points from the wife by purchasing her a Vera Bradley purse and matching wallet. As part of Vangie's Christmas bonus she was given a Kate Spade purse which she was absolutely thrilled about. Me not so much. I had been totally out-pursed by her boss! I guess I have to come up with something extra special for her Christmas now. I did buy her something at the store but have been working on a special homemade type surprise. Not sure I can compete with Kate Spade but we will see how it goes. Here is a picture of me and Vangie at the Christmas party. We wanted to put it on the Christmas Card but it turned out too dark and looked bad.

Hope that whereever you are you all have a great holiday season this year. Will be posting again likely after christmas. I hear Santa is bringing the boys a gaming system which I believe is going to be a big hit. Somedays this year I was certain they were going to end up on Santa's naughty list but once again Santa must have let a few things slide.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T16:22:00.000-08:00

We drove back to Michigan to celebrate Thanksgiving. While I was there I carried around two cameras and failed to take a single picture. We spent a good bit of the time aside from eating turkey, painting Vangie's Mom's home. We did get out to Dave & Buster's one night and visited with my old college friends Ross and Greg and their families. We drove home on Saturday and spent Sunday afternoon doing some leaf raking. The kids had a good time playing in the leaves. It was good to catch up with family and friends over the holiday.

Cub Scout Camp

2007-11-18T10:25:00.000-08:00

This weekend Max and I were at Fall Cub Scout Camp all weekend. Jake came up just for the day on Saturday. We all had a very good time. It was very cold this weekend; we had to dress warmly. We stayed in cabins which were heated. There were about 30 of us sleeping in one room in the cabin. The first night the snoring was so loud. I thought it was Max in the bunk bed above mine. I reached up and shook his arm but he did not wake up and the snoring only grew louder. I gently pushed the mattress up with my feet. No response! The snoring continued!

I finally got out of the bed concerned Max was keeping everyone up and stuck my head over Max and found he wasn't snoring. He was sound asleep! Despite all my harassment. It was a guy six bunks over on the other side of the cabin. He was a very load snorer.

On Saturday we had several presentations we attended which were put on by our local boy scouts for the cub scouts. We had fire making, cooking over an open fire, Indian dancing, first aid, a wilderness survival talk and we had a craft. Above is a picture of Jake and his dream catcher he made. Max got to light his first match in the fire making class. He was very excited about that. Think I need to have a talk with him to reinforce the importance of safety. Overall it was a great weekend and I believe the guys had a good time.

Last Soccer Weekend

2007-11-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

Jake and Max each had two games this weekend and they each also had Pizza Parties with their teams. We spent the weekend running from one event to another. Jake had a great season and a really great coach. He took the time to write out player evaluations for each member of his team and gave them to the parents at the end of the season. It's amazing how well his evaluation matches Jake's overall personality. Here it is:

"Jake is fun to coach and fun to watch on the field. His playful demeanor in practice belies his "sneaky" aggressiveness in games, which will serve him well as he develops his other ball-handling skills. He backs down from no one and more often than not will come up with a 50-50 ball no matter how many players he's up against. And he knows what to do with the ball once he gets it, willing to pass or shoot when appropriate. I enjoyed having him on the team."

Jake got a goal this weekend on a crazy shot from an impossible angle. The other teams parents didn't believe it went in! They demand to view the replay. Not sure if the goal would have held up under a video review. Thankfully this technology has not reached the rec. program quite yet.

No pictures of Max this week. I was so nervous during the games that I forgot the camera was in my pocket. I have become a yeller at the games. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I know all the kids names and find myself yelling instructions. I must be annoying to the coaching staff. Perhaps I should volunteer to be an assistant next year to legitamize my hysterics.

Anyway the first four games of the year the team got off to a rough start they tied one game and lost three. In between they had a tournament where things seemed to come together. They won two games, tied one and lost another. In the final four games of the season they won two, tied one and lost one. In the last Eight games they had four wins two ties and two losses. They came a long way.

This weekend they played two games on Saturday and they won them both. The first game they played a team they had played twice. Once in league play where they lost 4-3 and the other meeting was in the tournament where they won 3-2. This Saturday they won 5-1. Max played goalie in the first half and shut them out! In the second half he got to play some left wing and had a good run on the goal getting of a shot at a tight angle. The field they played on was on a slight hill that rolled toward the goal that Max had to protect in the first half. Most of the action was down on his side of the field. He made one particulary tough save. They were only up one nothing at half time before they got to play with the benefit of the hill. In the second half they scored 4 goals.

In the afternoon they played a team which they tied in the first half of the season. Max played left wing again and got an opportunity to play striker in the second half. In the course of the game he had several instances where he carried the ball well. Max carried the ball into the center on the lone goal of the game and passed it off to a team mate who drove it home. In the second half when he played striker Max had two break aways where he dribbled the ball down field and got off shots on the keeper. In both cases he was being attacked by the defensmen and was unable to get the ball in the net. But they were great efforts.

Now that the season is over we going to rest and be sports free until the end of the November at least. Then it will be time to check out some baseball instruction or indoor soccer leagues for the guys. Hopefully I'll be able to remain calm and remember I have a camera.

Scary, Scary, Scary

2007-10-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

We had trick or treat last night, the kids had that scary mask from some scary movie I never saw. Max's mask had this liquid we had to pour into a pump and when he squeezed the pump the blood like liquid would drip through the mask. It was pretty cool. Jake thought it was gross and that is why he just got the plain maks.

They had a good time and got a lot of candy. Now I will have hyper children for the next month or so.....

Scouts and Soccer

2007-10-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

What da ya mean he's coming to cub scouts this year? Jake had his scond Pack meeting this year and he earned his softball belt loop. He is very excited about coming along. I will have both kids up at fall camp with me this year. Jake really likes wearing the uniform and is into all the awards and badges he can earn.

Jake played great this weekend at his soccer game. He scored two goals. At least he claims he scored two goals. Neither of his parents had any visual confirmation however how can you doubt the self proclaimed second best soccer player on the Storm Runners.

Max's team lost 1-0 this week. They played a team in their league who they had lost to prior 5-2. Max played goalie in the second half and held the other team scoreless while he was in goal. His punting has come along way, he consistently got the ball over mid-field. There was quite the controversy at the end of the second half. As time was running out our guys were putting some pretty good pressure on the opposing team. A shot went toward the net but was knocked down by a defender with his hand. After the ball struck the hand the referee blew the game over. Our coach insisted that we should receive a penalty shot as the hand ball was in the box but the referee insisted the game was over. There were angry words and I suspect several reports to be made on either side about the proper call and potential behavior issues. It was all very exciting and I know I am biased but I do feel the ref missed the call. Anyway only two more soccer weekends left.

Soccer Tournement

2007-10-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

Max had a soccer tournament last weekend in Palmyra. He had two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday. Going into the weekend his team had not won a game all year. They had one tie and three losses. The prior weekend they got beat pretty bad and morale was down.

The tournement was a great experience for the kids. They got to play a lot of soccer and really came together as a team. They won their first game against a team from Tulpy Pennsylvania 3-2. It was their first win. All the parents were nervous for the guys and couldn't wait for the game to end. In the afternoon they played well for most of the game but it seemed they got tired late in the second half. For 90% of the game they held a team from Maryland to a tie but gave up 3 late quick goals and lost 5-2.

In the third game Max's team faced a team from their league. They had lost to this team earlier 4-3. The game was tied with about 10 minutes left when a shot bounced off a defender and landed right in front of Max. Max shot in the game winning goal! It was his first goal of the year. In the very last game of the weekend they played another team from Maryland. This team had beaten the two teams we beat 10-0 and 8-0. They also beat the team we lost to 4-2. They played their best goal tender during the game who stopped shot after shot from the Maryland players. In the first half Max and teamate found themselves together running side by side toward the goal on a break-a-way. They were elbow to elbow as they approached the goalie. Max ended up taking the shot and scored again! They were winning at half-time 2-1. They played hard in the second half and gave up one more goal. They ended up with a tie against a great team. Everyone was very happy with the outcome.

Jake played a game this weekend and he played really well. He has declared himself the second best player on his team. He is starting to get into soccer more and more. We went to the park this afternoon and practiced. He is a good player when he has energy and focus but he tires easily. Need to get that boy out to run some wind sprints! Jake's team tied this weekend 3-3. Jake just missed two goals.

Max Plays Guitar

2007-10-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hit play and listen to the mad scientist play some Guitar! Elvis lives!!!!!

Tooth Fairy

2007-10-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

Jake lost his first tooth! Which means cash in his pocket for more Pokemon cards which will inevitably be stuffed in couch cushions, toyboxes and eventually end up in my sock drawer. Of course upon loosing his tooth his older brother had to inform him that there was no tooth fairy. He was pretty sure Mom and Dad put the money under the pillow. When I was a kid the going rate for a tooth was about .25 or .50 cents. Now we hear reports from our children of teeth going for $10. Not sure if all this is true or if the little whipper snappers are trying to drive up the market price of teath.

Anniversary and stuff

2007-09-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

In honor of our 12 year anniversary I have posted a picture from the wedding album. In between the soccer, cub scouts and home work and other stuff we managed to find time to go out and celebrate.

Speaking of soccer we had two games yesterday. Jake's team continues to steamrole and have won three in a row. I don't think they keep score but you find out real quick the kids sure do. Jake got a goal this saturday.

Above is a picture of Jake taking a shot on goal. It's hard to believe but he missed this shot sent it went wide left. Jake is a pretty good soccer player when he stays motivated.

Max's team has been struggling after losing the first week 5-2 and tying in the second week 2-2 they lost their 3rd game of the season 4-3. Max started in goalie this week and he gave up two goals in the first half. The first goal Max was out of position but the opposing team put a good shot on him and he got beat. The second goal Max was in good position. The play was off to his left which he was facing. A teamate was attempting to clear the ball when he accidentally centered it in front of the goal. Max attempted to recover but could not get back soon enough. Max was a little upset after the second goal. It's good they switch up position at half time. I think it's a lot of pressure playing that position. Max did make some great saves in the first half and did keep the game from getting out of hand. Here is a picture of him in his goalie shirt and gloves.

The last two years we have fled Centeral Pennsylvania and headed to my sister's house to watch the Penn State vs Michigan football game. It seems to be good luck for the Wolverines. We're always shocked when we return that the house has not been vandalized. While we were there the kids swam in their pool. Jake is fearless! He was running full spead and attempting front flips in the pool. Uncle Jeff caught one attempt on video:

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

2007-09-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

We had our first Saturday of soccer games today. Jake's team the Storm Riders had a dominant win over their opponents this afternoon. They don't keep score but I can tell you I stopped counting when it was eight to nothing. Jake is in first grade and he is playing in a league where the first and second graders play together. He has some pretty big second graders on his team who are pretty good players.

Jake got in the game and they rotated him around. He played hard and got involved in the action. He stuck up his nose at playing defense once when his coach asked him to go in at that position. We had to have a little talk after the game. Overall Jake did a great job keeping up with the older boys and making some good plays with the ball.

Max is a member of the u-9 Mechanicsburg Wildcats travel team. They played a great game but lost to the Hempfield Galaxy team today 5-2. We were up at 6:30 this morning to get to Hempfield for a 9:00 game.

In the first half Max played left wing and was involved in the action quite a bit. He played well but they only got one goal in the first half of the game and were down 5-1 at halftime.

In the second half of the game they held the Galaxy scoreless and added a goal themselves. Max has not played much goalie but did a good job shutting them down in the second half. He made a great stop on a hard struck ball at fairly close range. He caught the ball right at his belly. Had he only blocked the shot he would have likely given up a goal as he was surrounded. I was very nervous when he was playing goalie. Max would have a tendency to wander and early in the half the coach had to yell at him to stay in the goalie box. This will be a long, nerve-wracking season for me if he ends up being a regular part of the goalie rotation.

Hiding from the media

2007-09-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

Been hiding all week long avoiding all media updates on the upset. If you get a chance head over to Mogoblog.com and check out his analysis and the pictures of kittens. I like the letter of unconditional surrender and the title "crying like little girls since September 1st 2007.

I've spent my time trying to figure out how to turn an i-tunes songs into MP3 format and watching the television show Hero's on DVD. It was really good, I watched all 23 episodes in 5 days. Kept my mind off the game. However every neighbor and co-work had to constantly bring it up. I'm not excited about watching the game Saturday. Not sure I would get the chance even if I wanted.

Max has his first travel soccer game. I have to get up at 6:30 to get him there. Vangie will stay home with Jake and handle concession duties mid-morning. Jake play's late in the afternoon. Then I think we have something in the evening.

I hope to have some picturs and soccer up by Sunday.

From Roanoke.com

2007-08-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

Had to look it up to make sure other adults were not just playing a joke on me.
Found the following article online.

Body recovered from Claytor Lake
It was tentatively identified as that of Steven Seymour, an official said.
By Amanda Codispoti
981-3349

The state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries on Tuesday recovered a body believed to be that of a man who went missing Aug. 8 in Claytor Lake, an official with the department said.

The body was tentatively identified as that of Steven L. Seymour, 38, of Narrows, said Sgt. Charlie Mullins.

Seymour was riding in a boat driven by his wife, Rose, about two weeks ago, when a passing boat created a wave and turbulence, and Seymour fell into the water. He was not wearing a life jacket, officials said.

A boater alerted authorities to the body about 3 p.m. Tuesday after seeing it floating near the mouth of Peak Creek, the same area where Seymour disappeared, Mullins said.

The body was taken to the medical examiner's office in Roanoke for an autopsy.

Authorities searched for Seymour's body in the days after the disappearance using a team of divers, a cadaver dog and an advanced underwater imaging system.

The search was hampered by low visibility and the depth of the lake. The water where Seymour is believed to have fallen in ranges from 25 to 90 feet deep, officials have said.

Seymour ran Construction Consultants, which specializes in residential and commercial work such as roofing, decks and additions.

claytor lake

Never Let A Dead Body Get In The Way Of A Good Time

2007-08-21T16:38:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday of last week Jake came down with the croup which is a bad cough which seems to only materialize at night. We were supposed to camp in tents Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at a state park in Virginia. I told Vangie we should give Jake another day to get better otherwise he would keep us and all the other campers up all night. Well, we went anyways and the first night was rough. I think I slept more on the beach the next day then I did the first night in the tent. I did manage to get a good picture of Jake who despite the cough managed to swim out to the platform in the swiming area just fine and jump off the diving board.

The second night was much better and by Sunday Jake was just fine. I was suprised how well the four of us got along in the tent. While we were at the lake we did lots of swimming, boating and hiking. In the picutre below Max and his cousin are doing some tubing. I think I need a new camera with a zoom lens. I also think my battery is not taking a charge, I ran out of juice early on Friday.
I also managed to do some water skiing which I was very pleasantly suprised I was still able to do. I was unpleasantly suprised by the amount of pain my neck and back have been in since attempting this daring feat. I am supposed to golf in an outing tommorow, thankfully it's a scramble. I don't expect we will be using many of my shots.

Anyway you're probably wondering about the title to the blog at this point. We were camping with my little sister, her husband and their three kids and another couple we know from Harrisburg and their three kids. It was late on the last day when we were at the beach when I commented on the amount of police I had seen at the lake. I was advised that apparently two weeks earlier a boater drowned in the lake in some sort of accident and they have been unable to locate the body. This was quickly followed up with a "shhh don't tell the kids." So apparently me and the kids (whom everyone felt it would be best if they kept in the dark) have been floating around in "dead body lake water" all weekend. I thought back to a particular moment when I stepped on something squishy in the lake and shivered.

On the final night our group apparently got in a little trouble with the law. Apparently quiet hours begins somewhere around 9:30 to 10:00. Funny how I never get the important memos. Anyway the kids had those glowing sticks that you can bend into bracelets and necklaces and stuff. Well they went to bed and the ladies got a hold of them and would go into the woods away form the camp site and dance around and stuff so you could only see the glowing bracelets and the guys were oohing and ahhing and generally cheering or booing at the performance. Well my sister's husband decided to give it a shot and walks off into the woods and makes a smiley face out of the glow sticks and is dancing it around when "the man" shows up and reminds us of the quiet hours and how they can hear us out at the front gate. Somehow he manages to completely ignore the glowing face in the woods which has now changed from smiling to frowning which is dancing around in front of him. After a quick check for alcohol which was illigal to consume in the park "the man" left without ever acknowledging the strange man in the woods. Shortly after we retired and the next day drove home.

The kids still do not know about the parents being busted for being too loud or about the dead body in the lake and I think it was all for the better as everyone had a really good time.

claytor lake

Not been feeling well

2007-08-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

I've had a bad cold for two weeks. My memory is a bit fogy, somewhere in there Vangie had a birthday. Happy Birthday! Me and four guys took 10 kids to a baseball game where I somehow came home with 8 loaves of bread? A strange man kept shoving them in my car while I was attempting to park. I made lots of french toast and Max started soccer. Kids got teacher assignments in the mail which always causes all the women in the neighborhood to start chattering about who got who and who's going to be in who's class. Max is going into third grade and Jake is going to be a first grader.

This weekend we celebrated Vangie's birthday at a local bar with some friends and then the following morning Vangie and Max were signed up for a one mile fun run. When we got to there Jake decided he wanted to run and Vangie saw two girl friends and they were going to walk together. I was going to cut across the track and take pictures of the kids. The run began and after two hundred yards Jake gave up he was wheezing heavily. I ran over to him and we started walking the track togther and as he caught his breath he began running again. I had to walk/run along with him and ended up getting more exercise than Vangie I think. I had to pass off camera duties to her. Jake and I finished and had a good time but I think he is coming down with my cold. Max ran the whole mile and actually finnished ahead of most of the pack. Here are some pictures:

Didn't get too many good pictures of Max and my assistant who will go nameless missed him crossing the finish line. But here he is at the front of the pack in the red wearing the hat.

Here is Jake approaching the finish line and Max again off to the right watching his brother. Jake is carrying his favorite stuffed animal Peep. Also know as Mr. Peep and The Peepster. We went to an outdoor concert last night and Jake left Mr. Peep at the park. I took him back and we were able to recover The Peepster. Which is a good thing because I don't think I could deal with him carring around his second favorite stuffed animal Mr. Cocky who is a rooster.

Vacation at the Outer Banks

2007-07-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina on vacation. We rented a house and stayed with my parents, my sister, my other sister and her husband and their three children. It was a crazy week with five kids under the age of nine running around in the house. The kids had a great time.

Here is the crew on the beach early in the week. The waves were big at the beginning of the week. The kids liked to run into them and get knocked down. They did it over and over and over again. They always came home very tired.

Here is Jake's head sticking out of a wave that just came crashing down on him. He would get right back up and run back at them.

Jake liked to investigate the beach for sea shells with his cousins. He collected many shells. And hey we got to bring them ALL home!

We went and saw lighthouses and went on a nature hike one day. I don't think it was the kids favorite day.

We rented a boat for an afternoon and went crabbing out on the sound. All you need to crab is some string and some chicken. We caught lots of crabs while we were on vacation. Some of the kids even tried eating them with us.

Here is Max holding a line waiting for a crab to tug on the chicken. You have to pull them up pretty slow otherwise they will let go.

Here is Jake with the net we would use to scoop up the crabs once we pulled them to the surface. Jake likes to eat potato chips, especially after he has been handling raw chicken! Yummy!

Max, Ryan and Vangie all proud of the latest catch. Vangie loves to eat crab and was always excited to go, later in the week they caught a bunch off a dock near where we were staying.

We also went swimming in the pool a lot. The kids liked jumping in the pool. I tried to take pictures while they were jumping.

Max always would grab his nose when he jumps so water does not shoot up his snoot. Later this day Jake jumped into the pool and smashed his lip on his cousin's head. We had to take him to the emergency room. He was ok - no stiches and was happy because he got to eat a lot of freezer pops.

Here is some video of the kids jumping in the Pool:

The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to. return soup at a deli!

2007-07-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Who's that old guy?

2007-07-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Eyebrow Incident Part 2

2007-07-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

Ok, so Matt has been so kind as to photo shop my picture with the proposed changes. I'm sure all of you who voted no on the eyebrow trimming will want to change your vote. Too bad! No voting twice and no vote changing.
When I came into work this morning everyone had on giant fake eyebrows. Picture doesn't do it justice. I make them wear them to boost my fragile eyebrow ego.

The Eyebrow Incident

2007-07-18T14:52:00.001-07:00

I went to the Barber Shop today and got a haircut. I want to make it perfectly clear that this was not a spa or a salon. The Barber who cut my hair had a beard that would have qualified him as a member of ZZ Top and tatooes that would compare with Tommy Lee. I am pretty sure he was a barber and not a hair stylist.

So anyway, the haircut thing went well and as he is dusting my neck off with that white powder stuff he turns and says to me: "Anything with the eyebrows?" Ok, so I understand I have some large eyebrows but in my 38 years no one has ever suggested that they needed to be trimmed. I was shocked and immediately said something like no, they are fine.

On the way out I began to wonder what exactly he proposed to do to my eyebrows? How much did he intend to take off? I went home looked in the mirror and agreed they do look like two caterpillars growing together. I asked Vangie what she thought about the eyebrows and she advised me she liked them as is. I think this the answer married people must give to each other kinda like when she asks me "do these pants make my ass look big?" She then went on to advise me that sometimes old men's eyebrows sometimes grow really big and need trimmed. Ok so now I have old man eyebrow problems? I'm opening this up to a vote, please comment in the comment section if you feel my eyebrows are in need of a trim or not.

Thank you.

Baseball Season Finally Over

2007-07-14T18:44:00.001-07:00

Friday night the Reds played their final game of the season. They lost 8-3 to a team from Cedar Cliff. Max played a little right field and in his at bat in the fourth he walked again. Tough to get the ball into his small strike zone. Max enjoyed baseball and within minutes of the season ending started asking about Fall Ball.

Why I enjoy watching Soccer more than Baseball

2007-07-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

Baseball has key moments in a game which are filled with pressure. You wish as a coach or a parent you had the right words to say to take the pressure off and/or give your kids the confidence to succeed. Soccer moves and flows constantly and there are rarely any one on one showdowns. I'm less nervous watching soccer than baseball.

Anyway tonight we faced the best team in the tournament. A team that was 3 and 0 and coming off an 18-2 win over a pretty good team. We had lost to these guys twice, once in a scrimage and another time in a prior tournament.

We were the away team tonight and I was extremly excited that the Reds were down only two runs in the final inning. I was also extremly nervous as Max was to lead off the final inning. Above is a picture of Max taking a pitch. He worked the count to two and one and I was very proud he put a good swing on a pitch. On the fourth pitch Max got hit in the butt. He shook it off and ran down to first. I have to say the kids are great when it comes to being hit by a pitch. The pitcher always goes over and shakes the runners hand. Maybe the pros should try this? Anyway the next batter was walked and Max found himself on second. The third batter struck out and Max stole third somewhere in that at bat. The fifth batter grounded out to first but drove Max in. Now the Reds were down one run in the top of the last inning with the tying run on second. A sharp hit was snarred and the next runner was thrown out ending the Red's comeback attempt.

It was a great effort by the kids tonight and they appear to have come along way. They have one more game on Wednesday and if they win there is a chance they can still make the playoffs.

Go Reds!

Tough Loss for the Reds

2007-07-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

The Reds had a bad first inning .They gave up six runs. They weren't able to muster a rally until the fourth inning. Max led off the fourth with a walk. He made it to second when the batter behind him was walked too. On a wild pitch Max stole third base! A teammate drove him in and the rally was on! They were able to cut the lead to 7-6 going into the fifth and final inning. Unfortunately they gave up two more runs in the top of the last inning. With two outs and two runners on in the bottom of the fifth the Reds needed three runs to tie the game up and force extra innings. They got one across the plate before the third out but it wasn't enough.

Tommorrow they will face a tough Mechanicsburg team that they have lost to twice. They have two games left and they need to at least win one to have shot at the semi-finals.

Upper Allen Reds Win!!!

2007-07-07T12:43:00.000-07:00

First off Happy Birthday to my Mom! She said that her birthday would bring good luck to the team today and it did! The Reds won 10-7 in a thrilling come from behind victory. They only play five innings but with the kids pitching that can go for two hours some days. Max played left field and got an at bat in the third. He drew a walk but failed to score. #2 is our guy Max and above you will find a picture of him on first base.

The Reds were down 5-3 through three innings but we were able to limit them to two more runs the rest of the way. It was 10-6 in the bottom of the fifth with two runners on when we got our first out when we picked off the runner trying to steal third. After a hit, the opposing team managed to score a run to narrow the lead. I was too nervous to sit and watch so I spent my time walking back and forth along the first base line. The coach came out and talked with our pitcher after he walked a few batters which seemed to settle him down. In short order he enduced a batter to fly out and then a struck another batter to end the inning and the game.

The Reds celebrated the second win of the season with freezer pops at the concession stand! This is the first win of the Upper Allen tournament we need two possibly three wins to make it to the semi finals. I will update again after the game tommorrow evening.

Upper Allen All Stars

2007-07-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

The Upper Allen All Stars went down swinging Friday night. Got beat up by a team from Rutherford pretty good tonight. They did score four runs but it was not nearly enough. Max got one at bat but struck out.

We get another crack at it on Saturday, we will hope for a more competitive game.

Happy 4th of July

2007-07-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

Had a barbeque today with Granddaddy, Nina, Uncle Mark and Aunt Ana and Rebecca, Ryan and Katie. Lots of BBQ, Pasta salad, Potato Salad and not a green vegetable to be seen. I ate till I nearly passed out. In the evening we watched fireworks from the back porch and played with sparklers.

Tomorrow starts the All Star Tournment for Max. Max will likely be coming off the bench, but he is very excited about the games. Tonight Vangie asked him to get a towel out of the car and Max refused to go as the Tigers were on ESPN and there were two outs and two strikes and he was routing for a strike out by Kenny Rogers. Vangie turned to me and gave me a look as if this was all my fault. Maybe it was. ..

Boy Scout Camp

2007-06-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

Been a busy two weeks, Max has had All Star baseball practice almost every night for two hours. Jake and Max have been going to soccer camp during the day. This week Max has baseball camp every day for three hours. I'll have pictures of baseball stuff soon.

This past weekend was Partner and Pal weekend up at the Boy Scout camp. Max and I went up Friday night and came home Sunday morning. We camped in tents. Max's days are pretty packed at camp. Max earned his BB gun belt loop and his archery belt loop. He is also working on his fishing belt loop.

Jake got to stay home with Mom and eat bagels and visit a restaurant with lots of video games called the Colleseum. Jake loves bagels. Him and Mom had a good time playing at the pool. Jake will be a Tiger and join the boyscouts with some of his friends in the fall. Here is Jake playing on the slip and slide.

Here are some more pictures of Max at camp:

Max in his new uniform. He is no longer a Wolf but has moved on to become Bear.

Learning to shoot a bow and arrow was frustrating for many of the guys in his den. It was tough for Max too but he said it was his favorite activity.

Still trying to get back and get pictures of the Camel. Vangie got me a cell phone for my birthday with a camera so now I will never miss a shot. Also I think the frog and tadpole are still alive. I am convinced something is wrong with that tadpole that won't evolve. He grew legs but that's it. Jake claims that one is Max's. Still no names. How they have lasted this long is beyond me. I think they get ignored for days at a time before we throw them a cricket. They can't last much longer.

Go Jake Go.....

2007-06-10T15:34:00.001-07:00

Jake had an amazing last T-ball game. He fielded two ground balls while playing the position he likes to call "Pitchers Mountain" and threw the ball to first. The amazing thing was that they were caught by the first baseman in the air and the runner was thrown out. It was only the second and third time I'd seen this happen all year. It's amazing how far all the kids came this year. There were challenging moments but I had a really good time. Attention span is the issue at this level, baseball can be slow. Gotta keep the kids from playing in the dirt and focused on the game. The last couple games of the season we did really well. One game collectively we got 7 outs in four innings.

Jake getting ready to slug one and me getting ready to be hit by a thrown bat. I always tell em "swing hard - you never know when you might hit something." I should have added or someone.

Here Jake, AKA "Mr. Sunshine" is getting ready to perform in the Kindergarten spring musical. I know school is getting ready to end when we start attending the spring musicals. I am lucky enough to have a preview of all the songs as the kids sing them non stop around the house for several weeks prior to the concerts. This year Jake had a starring role as the sun when they sang Zippity du da. As you can see Jake had the sun backwards when he first got up on stage.All the kids in his class started yelling "turn it!" So he did like a steering wheel on a large sailboat he started turning it clockwise with the white side still facing up. Lucky for him a nearby teacher got things turned around and he did a wonderful job marching left to right across the stage singing the song.

Soccer and T-ball have come to an end as well as school. This coming week the kids start summer camp. Lots of fun to be had and no more homework!

P.S. - I drove by a farm and saw a camel yesterday. Yes a camel in Central PA, stay tuned I'm going back for pictures.

Max Unti Lands On DL

2007-06-03T09:50:00.001-07:00

On a hot summer day in Pennsylvania Max Unti found himself playing first base for the Upper Allen Purple Panthers. In the bottom of the second with two runners on the batter hit a ground ball to the second base. Max had to reach back toward home plate to make the grab but the runner was quick and reached the base at the same time as the throw. In the collision Max had his glove hand bent backwards and hit the dirt. The coaching staff rushed to his aid and he was escorted from the field to a nearby tree. After the inning he returned to the bench but failed to bat in the third before returning in the game for the fifth and sixth innings. He managed to Leg out a single in the fith and hit into a fielders choice in the sixth. The highlight of the game was a blast he drove to right center in the top of the second that scored two runs.After the game Max obtained treatment from the trainer (Mom) which conisted of children's Tylenol and a bath. He later complained of pain in the wrist that evening and again on Sunday morning. He was rushed to a nearby hospital for x-rays which came back negative for broken bones. He was diagnosed with a sprained wrist and has been ordered by the doctor to cease althletic activity for one week. The two sport star will be missing in action when his soccer team the Blue Demons play this afternoon. Try outs for the Baseball Allstar Team are scheduled for next Saturday however Max's status for this event are now officially listed as doubtfull. One can only hope that the firey speedster will recover quickly.

The week in Pictures

2007-05-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

I've got the Popcorn, and you don't! Na, Na, Na, Na, Na. We went to Hershey Park and Vangie told me what you have to do is warm the kids up to the idea of riding on the rides. I didn't believe her. What kid doesn't love to ride scary rides? Apparently not mine. We went in and got on the water rides and when we got to the top both of the boys chickened out. I took some convincing but we finally got them to go. Once again Vangie was right and Mike was wrong.

We attempted to start over by riding the monorail but when we got to the front of the line they closed it for repairs. We went back and Jake rode a few kiddy rides but Max refused to go on them. Max is at a tough age as he is too cool for the kiddy rides but not brave enough to go on many roller coasters. Yesterday I posted a video of me and Max riding the Wild Mouse at Hershey Park on Saturday. It took nearly the whole day to convince him to go on that ride but when he finally decided to go he liked it so much we went twice.

The kids also like spinning rides and they like to ride them with me because spinning rides make me sick. Apparently when Dad is sick it's very funny. I'm not sure I get the joke. They made me go on the Falcon which has three separate groups of riding pods. Each pod spins in circles while all three pods are also spinning. As it is doing this you are going up or down. Yes I almost barfed and had to sit for a bit while Vangie and the kids rode on some super wet river rafting thing.

Jake goes to two kindergarten classes. One five half days a week at the public school and then again two days a week while Vangie is at work. The two day a week kindergarten class had a graduation ceremony last week. What was really odd about the whole thing was that they could not figure out how to keep the caps on the kid's heads. So they decided to put duct tape on the inside of the cap to hold it to the kid's heads. This works great if you kid is bald or has really short hair but if your a mop top like Jake than it's just going to flap around with the hair. I'm a big fan of duct tape, use it to fix a lot of things myself. But not sure if attaching caps to 6 year old's heads was the right move here. You would think that one of the most important things you can teach at this age would be that Tape and Hair don't go well together.

Today Max walked in the Memorial day parade through lovely downtown Mechanicsburg with his boy scout troup. I walked behind or on the side of the road with the other dads. We woke up late and had to rush to get their on time but we made it. I didn't have time to get my morning Dew, but fortunately for me there was a CVS along the parade route and I was able to run in and out and feed my newly rediscovered addiction.

Max & Me on a Roller Coaster

2007-05-27T16:03:00.001-07:00

Gourmet Coffe Cake

2007-05-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

I'm no food expert but I became very excited when I saw this gem staring back at me through the vending machine glass at work. It was a Gourmet Coffee Cake in a vending machine. If you look closely there is a small daisy in the lower left hand corner which apparently is talking and says this item is "fresh as a daisy." I was not aware that daisies were known for being particularly fresh but apparently this is the case. I had to have it and at only 80 cents I figured this was a bargin for an item labled as gourmet. So I passed on the ho ho's, ding dongs, twinkies and poptarts and went with the coffee cake. I found it to be dry and left me with a not so fresh feeling. I'm not sure who the marketing genius was who decided to sell this so called "gourmet" food in this manner but someone has got to put a stop to this. Fortunately, I have not seen this item again since this incident.

On another note it has come to my attention that pictures have surfaced on the Gloria Ferrer Winery Web Site of my sisters Wedding. Here's a link to the picture. I am in the front row: http://www.gloriaferrer.com/images/PageImages/Page2PDF_62.pdf

Happy Mothers Day

2007-05-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers out there. I began the day attempting to make Vangie breakfast in bed. I attempted hash browns, eggs, english muffin, coffee and juice. I burned a good deal of the potatoes but was able to pull the burnt ones out. I think I did well because she ate the whole thing and she did not get sick. After breakfest she opened presents. One of the presents was in a bag that came home with Jake on Friday. It was a plant and by the time we opened it on Sunday it was in very sad shape. Next time I will have to remember to ask the kids what's in the bag. Then we went shopping so she could exchange a few of the presents for things a little more her style. The kids remember this same pattern last year. We sat on the same bench last year while Vangie tried on clothes. I was suprised but the kids remembered. They have decided that they like Fathers Day better and they let everyone in the store know it. No shopping. Then we returned home, called all the other Mother's in our lives and wished them a happy mothers day. Later it was back to back soccer games and then home where Vangie had a crab leg dinner.

Too Busy to Blog

2007-05-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well we have been runnin non-stop for a couple weeks. We have two baseball games every Saturday and two during the week. On Sunday we have two soccer games. On top of that Max has boy scout activities and guitar lessons. This past weekend Max had his first communion and shortly after that everyone in the house came down with a horrible cough. Vangie left on Saturday for a few days to visit her Mom and I had to deal with the sickies until she got home. We had a little party for Max on his first Communion and I want to thank all the family that came by and the gifts they bought for the kids. Here are some pictures from the various events:

Someone got a lot of presents for his first communion and the other one just got this dumb suit and tie. Can you tell?

Max had to be at First Communion at 10:00, the service started at 10:30, and I had to coach Jake's baseball game at 9:00. I had to get to the field at 8:15 to rake and line the field. I somehow managed to get home just after 10:00 and got Jake and I into our dress clothes and then back to church. We made it with 4 minutes to spare! I consider this to be one of the greatest achievements of my lifetime.

The Holmes men.

The Unti Men

Jake played a great game on Sunday. He scored two goals.

Max also played well on Sunday. Three weeks ago he tried out for the travel soccer team. We found out this week he made the team! Congratulations Max! League play starts in the fall. Looks like we will get a short summer sports break after June and then we will be runnin again in the Fall.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm...........

2007-04-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

My initial reaction was, "Yes it is!" I then had to go back and take a picture of this and start showing it to people. I am guessing they have the sign in case it snows, but then wouldn't you make the sign higher? Not sure. This past year I've received some strange things in the mail at work. One was a postcard which had my name on the label and below that it read "personal and confidential." I immediatly became concerned that someone might have read the postcard prior to it getting to me. I stopped short of strongly questioning the mail room. I also recieved a post card from another company who's slogan was "Enduring Excellence." I thought these people must be really, really good. I've had to endure, long shopping trips with my wife, an eight hour drive with screaming children and long boring movies with subtitles. On the rare occassion I somehow manage to achieve excellence (likely by accident) I've never felt like I had to endure it. So when I recieved this post card, I could not imagine being so good that it becomes tedious and tiresome to the point that you have to endure it.

TAD POLE UPDATE:

We have one frog, still unnamed. The other tadpole has been labeled "developmentally challenged". These guys appear to be survivors. Now at first you would think it must be easy keeping frogs alive, however I have learned this weekend it takes quite a bit of effort. I'm not sure how much longer we can keep it up. We actually have to create our own frickin life cycle. The frogs only survive if you feed them crickets. Which means I have to buy crickets at the pet store. As we can't go and buy one cricket everday we have to buy a few at a time. Now I not only have to keep frogs alive I have to keep the crickets alive too. The first batch didn't last 24 hours. We had to go out and buy more crickets. I have to feed the crickets with fish food and provide them with water. Hopefully we will be able to keep seven crickets alive long enough to feed the frog. In the event the other tadpole ever decides to evolve this will necessitant us having to keep 14 crickets alive for a week. Possibly more in case one escapes. It's extemely difficult to pull one cricket out without having a few pop out of the box. I had a nightmare last night that the kids came home with a pet snake and the snake had to eat frogs which meant I had to raise more tadpoles and buy more crickets. I woke up in a cold sweat....................................

My Day at the Gastroenterologist

2007-04-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

It's been about a year and my stomach was still bothering me so Vangie convinced me to get things checked out. Today I went to the gastroenterologist and had them check out my stomach. A friend of mine had some connections and was able to get me these pictures of my stomach. He also convinced them to give me a pair of moon shorts. These shorts have a flap in the back in case the doctor has to scope your back end. I had to promise not to garden in them. I'm not big on gardening so this shouldn't be a problem.

They took me back to the room and I got to have the procedure done in my clothes which surprised me. They even let me keep my shoes on. This made me very comfortable. I was prepared for the little gown the hospitals make you wear. I had made sure I wore clean underwear with no holes. Anyway, I got into the room where they performed the scope and they turned me on my side, turned on the anesthesia and I was knocked out. They woke me up a few minutes later and it was done. I didn't know anything had ever happened. It wasn't a bad procedure at all. I was happy with how things went. I think I must have been to a really good doctor because I overheard how happy the lady in the area next to me was with her procedure and they went in the backdoor on that one. I wondered if she got a pair of moon pants to take home too?

Anyway Vangie came in and we sat down with the doctor and went over the pictures and basically he said there is nothing wrong with me. Vangie was very happy, I think because I say I can't do a lot of things because of my stomach. Now I don't have any excuses. The doctors think I have reflux and just need to take medicine when it gets bad. I guess if I want to I can start drinking the Dew again. We will see how it goes.

Baseball 2007

2007-04-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Baseball games start Tuesday the 17th. The boys got their uniforms today. I will be unable to see Max's first game because I will be coaching Jake's team when it is being played. I did get to watch Max play a scrimidge today and he did well. Max's team is called the Purple Panthers and Jake's team is the White Dragons. I know the uniform is blue. Some of the 6 year olds wanted to be the Blue Fish but the White Dragon contingent won the day.

Easter Morning

2007-04-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, It's my one year anniversary of blogging. Thanks to all of you who have been following along. Here is a shot of the boys on Easter Morning and my foot. Max was up at 5:00 AM searching for his basket. From past experience we knew to hide his basket in a tough spot otherwise he would be eating candy for a good two hours before anyone else got up. Fortunately he had given up the search by the time I got up and with a few hints found his and tore into it. We hid Jake's in a tough spot as well. Jake got pretty upset when he could not instantly locate his so we played hot and cold and he eventually found his behind the vacuum in the hall closet.

Here are the guys working on making a chicken lay bubble gum eggs. We tried to stay away from too much candy but the chicken laying buble gum eggs was just too cool. Seems like we always have an excess of candy laying around the house from various holidays or birthday parties. We had to get rid of the Halloween Candy from last year by stuffing it in Jake's pinata on his birthday.

We are in the midst of T-ball and Spring Soccer at this time. We should have some game photos coming up soon! Perhaps I can figure out how to post some audio of Max playing the guitar. He has been taking lessons every friday for the past month. Things are going pretty well but he needs to work on his finger strength. We are all looking forward to spring and the warm weather.

Jake is Six!!!

2007-03-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Jake is six years old today. I remember the delivery of this child going much more smoothly than that of the first. I learned from the first one to keep my mouth shut during delivery. My Sister Susan who is good friends with Vangie was there and was a great help. I also remember we did not have a name for Jake and were debating after he was born. Max was away with his Grandaddy and Nina and came to the hospital the following day with a t-shirt that said I'm the big brother.

To celebrate Jake's birthday we had a few of Jake's friends over and we had pizza, SpongeBob cup cakes, hats and balloons. Jake loves SpongeBob. He often will be wandering around the house muttering lines from the show. Our favorite is when he imates Mr. Crabs yelling "SPONGE BOB!" Sometimes when he gets angry with his older brother he will use the same tone of voice and yell "MAX!" At the party we decorated giant cookies, had an egg hunt, played pin the tail on the donkey and had a pinata shaped like a worm. Vangie wanted to put a big picture of my face over the donkey and have it be pin the tail on Mr. Unti. The kids all cheated at Pin the tail on the donkey. They could see through the mask and also refused to let us spin them around. The pinata was a slightly painful experience. Each child got three swings at it with an aluminum bat. A few years ago I took shot to the groin at a new year's eve party with the kids. I somehow got put in charge of holding the pinata up with my hand while the children swang. This time I had it all figured out, I got a broom and tied it to the pinata with some rope and then stood on a chair. On the third swing Jake took me off the little chair with a blow to my legs. (Note to self, no more pinatas at parties). Jake had his friend Nicholas spend the night last night. All Jake talks about is Nicholas. They seemed to have a good time together but refused to sleep last night. They said it was too scary in his room and that there was a giant eye on the ceiling. After investigating further I was able to identify the eye as their flashlights.

I have also posted a picture of Jake's art. When we first went into parent teacher conferences his teacher advised us that Jake is a "whatever crayon is on the top of the pile type of kid" His pictures lacked detail and effort. I think he has come along way since the begining of the year.

Sledding

2007-03-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Jake and Max went sledding in the snow today. They make a big fuss when snow gets down their backs. I think they had a good time and enjoyed the pictures of themselves.

There might have been some tears after landing this jump face down in the snow.

Max makes it 3/4 of the way down the hill before going into a spactacular crash at the end of his run.

Darth Jake

2007-03-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

We had a big weekend planned and then it snowed. On Friday Max had a Boyscout Pack meeting and guitare lessons they were both cancelled. On Saturday Jake had a soccer program and I was supposed to help out getting the baseball fields ready for the season. Then I was supposed to have Jake's teams first baseball practice. Sunday Max and Jake were supposed to have spring soccer games. We had about a foot of snow and everything is cancelled. It's hard to believe it but we were wearing shorts last Wednesday. It's supposed to be 60 next week so this stuff won't last. Guess there is nothing to do but to go sledding and watch Star Wars with the kids all weekend.

Happy 66th Granddaddy!

2007-03-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

We went down south this weekend and celebrated Max & Jake's Grandaddy's Birthday. We went out for bar-b-que. Wish I would have brought the camera and taken a picture of the boys faces. Vangie helped the guys make a stepping stone with hand prints. Max looks like he is in pain in this picture but he is really just trying to show off his new smile for the camera.

A Picture of Uranus

2007-03-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

While the Uranus project has come to conclusion and I have to say we all learned quite a bit about the subject matter. Did you know Uranus has 27 moons. After initially planning on doing the model of Uranus with moons we had to scrap that idea. We conclunded we were unable to get that many moons in Uranus. In the end we decided to focus on the ring around Uranus. We also learned that Uranus is very big, it's the third largest planet. It's atmosphere consists of several gases. I read somewhere Uranus is "one of the gas giants." I also read that Nasa currently has no planned exploratory missions to Uranus.

Alright, Alright, I promise no more Jokes about Uranus.

Thank You For All Your Support

2007-03-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

Well when I went into to do my blog this weekend I could not post as Blogger had advised me that my site may be a spam site. When there were no posts up on Monday Morning there was a massive outcry amongst my many fans. Just when the "Free the Unti Blog" T-Shirts were getting ready to go to the silk screener the people at Blogger came to their senses. I would like to thank you all for support and sympathy you have expressed over the last three days. I can truly say that you have all lifted my spirits. Now back to the blogging.....

This weekend we had the Blue and Gold boy scout banquet and we had a good time. Max earned his Wolf badge and a few belt loops. The Fathers and Sons were to make the desserts. I made a wrench cake. I was really proud of it because I made it when Vangie was not home and I made several mistakes during the process. I am used to Vangie being in the kitchen pointing out the errors of my ways but I somehow managed to get through it by myself. When we got to the banquet I found my cake sucked. One guy had fricken christmas lights in his cake lighting up. Another made a fricken porcupine and another made the tubing hill from the ski place complete with lego men riding mini chocolate donuts. My own son wouldn't even give me a sympathy vote. So next year I want to get high tech, I want to make a volcano cake and I want to make it actually erupt liquid marshmallow fluid. Anyway here is my sucky cake.....

Jake went to a Pirate Birthday Party and came home with these teeth. You know it's amazing the things this boy won't eat, yet he has no problem sticking these teeth back in his mouth after he finds them lying around the kitchen, bathroom and stuck in the couch. I'm hopin all the germs will help build his immune system.

Sick and School Stuff

2007-03-04T05:20:00.000-08:00

Jake has been sick and grumpy and when he is sick and grumpy he only likes his mother. Vangie promised to take him to Chucky Cheese but was feeling sick on Saturday, So I took him. The other children have never liked me at Chucky Cheese ever since the tube incident. I think Jake may have been 3 and I had to go up into the tubes in the ceiling and get him down. The other kids yelled at me things like "get out of here" and "you're too big" and one yelled "hey, I didn't invite you to my party." It smells really bad up there too. Fortunately Jake is no longer interested in the tubes he only wants to play skee ball and acquire as many tickets as possible to exchange for some small plastic piece of crap which he will promptly loose in a seat cushion not five minutes after he gets home.

Jake did well and I talked him out of Pizza at the Chucky Cheese place and took him to a better pizza place closer to home. He managed to win enough tickets to get a wrist band. When I say he won a wrist band I mean one sweat band. Who gives away one wrist sweat band? I inquired as to what my child was supposed to do with the other sweaty wrist but they didn't seem to care. Later it was girls night out and I was supposed to cook dinner but somehow we ended up at Wendy eating burgers, chicken nuggets and frostys.

So Max was assigned to do a report on Uranus for school. He is doing the written report at school and has decided he wants to build a model of Uranus and it's moons for the project which is to accompany the report. Anyway, I have found myself saying the strangest things around the house. For example:

Vangie can you help Max with Uranus?
Hey Max why don't you put another coat of paint on Uranus.
Uranus is never going to dry unless you stop touching it!
Jake, Put Uranus down right now!!
What did your teacher say about Uranus?
Why did you pick Uranus?
If you want to attach moons we're going to have to stick these in Uranus.
Hey, I can't seem to find Uranus?
Do you think that this one is big enough to be Uranus?

Hey, when it's done I promise I'll take a picture of Uranus and post it online for all to see......

Max Is Eight Today

2007-02-17T16:03:00.000-08:00

Eight years ago today Maxwell John Unti was born. His mother went into labor and we went to the hosiptal. I remember telling her to breath and do all that stuff in class and she made it quite clear to me she wasn't interested in breathing at all. Also I was not allowed to look at her during contractions but I was not to make it obvious that I was not looking at her. I remember Vangie's friend Erica who was pregnant at the time also coming to the hospital because she wanted to know how much pain exactly that Vangie was in. I also remember that after being in labor all night long Max was finally born and I was told I was not allowed to sleep because Vangie was so excited she wanted to speak to me all about it. She fell asleep five minutes later and so did I.
Max, Jake, Vangie and three of Max's friends went to Ski Round top and went tubing this afternoon. We had a great time. I was suprised at how brave Jake was. He went down the hill which was pretty steep lying on his belly. The lines were long but we had a great time. So did all the guys. In fact I had pretty good time myself.
Here's the crew after a few runs. They all did great. I thought it would be more difficult than it was to keep them organized and going down the slopes. After one run down they were all pros and didn't really even need me. Except maybe to give them a push down the hill.
Max lost his other big front tooth. Just when he got used to holding the spit in his mouth without the one tooth the other goes. He now makes a constant slurping sound. I am convinced he produces more siliva than the average child.
Max got a guitar for his birthday. We are going to sign him up for lessons and hopes he becomes a famous rock star and retires his Mom and Dad to someplace warm. Winter finally hit Pennsylvania last week and the kids are excited because school has been closed and there has been lots of sledding and winter fun.

Teeth & Shoes

2007-02-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Max lost one of his big front teeth at school this week. It was lost at school and thought to have fallen down a drain and Max got upset because of course how would the tooth fairy come? At today's tooth fairy rates I can sympathize with his plight. Lucky enough for him and not so lucky for my pocket book his teacher was able to find the tooth the following day. Apparently this tooth held all the spit in his mouth. He went around the next couple of days making slurping sounds. The other big tooth is also loose, I'm afraid we will need a bib to catch all the spit when that happens.

Max celebrated his birthday with his Granddady and Nina from Maryland. They took him out and bought him Heely's for his birthday. These are shoes with wheels in the heels. He has spent the last twenty four hours sliding around the house, which is quite loud especially on the tile floor which happens to be below our bedroom. I am also envisioning a few trips to the emergency room. But Max loves them and hasn't taken them off.

Jake also loves Heely's. Here he is trying to remove them from his brother's feet. Good thing his birthday is coming up in a month or so. Jake is going to be 6 and Max is turning 8. It seems like now we need two of everything as Jake and Max share the same interests.

POLLYWOG UPDATE - Not Dead Yet - they actually got a little bigger but no hands or feet at this time.

Pinewood derby

2007-02-04T04:59:00.000-08:00

Max's car consistently finished 4th out of 6 other cars. I think he did have one third place finish and he won a trophy for car most likely built by a scout. Some of the cars clearly did not look like they were built by a 7 year old but I can honestly say max did a great deal of work on his car. I drilled the holes to add the weight and put on the wheels. Max painted and shaped the car with the sander. I think he was a little miffed he did not win a race but we picked up some tricks from the other dads and hope to do better next year. Jake will be a tiger cub next year and I will have to help him build one as well.

Old Country Buffet Incident & Pine Wood Derby

2007-02-01T17:06:00.001-08:00

Well Max and I have been working on his Pine Wood Derby Car this past month. We started with a block of pine. I gave Max the orbital sander and let him sand it until it got to a car shape. I held the piece of wood for him. Suprissingly orbital sanders don't hurt that much when they are running and strike your fingers. Yes, I have heard of clamps, I just don't have any. I hope the wheels are on ok, we have weigh in on Friday after basketball and the race is Saturday.

Tonight we took Max and Jake and their two friends to the Old Country Buffet for dinner. I hate the Old Country Buffet. When we got there Jake threw a fit when we made him get green beans. None of the kids wanted to eat the regular food they all wanted to go straight to the dessert bar. Jake finally ate a green bean and we gave up on dinner and they each ate two ice cream cones. At first I tried to organize the children as they came to the buffet but they insisted on doing everything themselves and after a day at work I just gave up. They basically trashed the desert bar. After every lick Jake had to run up and shake more sprinkles out of a canister onto his cone. The canister which everyone had to use was soon covered by his half eaten ice cream. Later the Old Country Buffet Bumble Bee came around and handed out balloons. Jake at that time turned into Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and proceeded to spew insults at the Bee while we were at the table. It was difficult for me to refrain from laughter. I somehow managed, took away his ice cream and lectured him on making fun of people in bee costumes. He then proceeded to make fun of a lady in her pink joggy outfit, while she was in ear shot. At this point Vangie and I both decided we should leave before we were asked to by the managment.

Chocolate Ball

2007-01-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

Went to the chocolate ball this weekend in Hershey. The theme was Switzerland? Strange huh.

We had a good time and I didn't have to ballroom dance because they had a funk band which surprised me. I also had to plunge the toilet in my tux right before we left. Vangie took pictures. You know it's nice when your kids can start handling the potty situation by themselves but it takes a while to get them to use the correct amount of toilet paper.

Max has started basketball and he is doing well. He got a hoop in his first game but was held without a shot in the second game. He worked really hard to get open but no one got him the rock. Jake and Max are currently obsessed with Mario 3 on 3 hoops. They have two game boys but only one copy of the game which they fight over constantly. I've had to take it away multiple times. They get very angry with me and call me "Mr. No Man"

The following pictures were taken by Max when he got a hold of the camera.

Caught Jake in my shoes this morning I found it amusing so I took a picture.

Pollywogs!

2007-01-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

As an educational thing Vangie got the guys some tadpoles to watch turn into frogs. These things were mail order and I am shocked they lived through that ordeal. Now if they can only survive Vangie, Max and Jake it will be another miracle. If they last through summer I swear I will free them but I am not holding out much hope. Vangie gets nervous when they start to come to the surface, she says it's too soon and pokes them back down. I am certain when no one is looking Max and Jake are also doing their fair share of poking. Interest should die off shortly. To my knowledge no one has bothered to give these creatures names, which may also say something about the rest of the family's views on their life expectancies.

Christmas Slide Show

2007-01-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

Flash Slideshow

Post Christmas Interview

2007-01-07T14:25:00.001-08:00

School Pictures

2006-12-20T16:29:00.000-08:00

So, Jake took this really bad school picture. It's so bad I have been laughing about it for weeks. Is that bad? I have been imitating the face at work for people and I am not certain I have gotten it right for them so here is the really thing. I gotta see if my mom has any really bad school pictures of me I can post? I'm sure I had my share.

Max was scientist of the week at school. His experiment involved a discussion on density and then he showed how a grape sank in water. Then he put the grape in sugar water and showed how it floated. I am told he did well but is a fast talker.

Getting Ready For Christmas

2006-12-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

Well we've got our christmas shopping done, the lights are up outside and so is the tree. Jake had his Christmas Program this past week. Every year they tell the story of how Mary and Joseph come to have the baby in the manger. All the kids have to dress up as a character from the story. As the story is read the characters are called up from the audience. We usually have several Mary's, 15 Angels, and Many Many Shepards. The night before the play I was advised that Vangie had to work late and had book club so I would be put in charge of getting Jake to the play and in costume. So below are some photo's from the show and the outfit I put together for Jake. Of all the characters Jake decided to be an Inn Keeper. Turns out he was the only one who choose to play this part. Vangie helped the kids put together the ginger bread house below.

Turkey Day & Stuff

2006-11-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We went to Patti and Jeff's for Thanksgiving on Thursday morning and had a wonderful dinner with them and my parents. On Saturday we went to see the Flyers play the Columbus Blue Jackets. We rooted for the Flyers and they won 3-2. Max and Jake initially refused to have their picture tacken with the Flyer Girls but we bribed them with candy and hot dogs. We still got unhappy faces on those pictures. Apparently girls are still yucky. On Saturday Me, Jeff and my Dad went to hunt Chucker and Pheasants with Jeff's dog Java. We shot ten birds and only one got away from us. I got a few but one we were unable to take home because I shot too quick and ruined the bird. Jeff cleaned the birds when we got home. The kids went to Valley Forge National Park with Vangie, Patti, and Mom while we were out hunting. We also celebrated my Dad's Birthday on Black Friday with a Pumpkin Cheese cake that was delicious. I have thrown in a picture of Max in his Boy Scout Uninform from last Friday's Pack Meeting. He earned his Soccer, Flag Football and Computer belt loop this past month.

Time to start hanging the Christmas lights and start shopping.

Max & Jake with Aunt Patti at Valley Forge National Park

Celebrating Dad's Birthday

Boy Scout Max

Me & A Bird

Me, Dad & Jeff

Max & Jake with the Flyer Girls

Max & Jake at the Flyer Game

Cub Scout Camp

2006-11-12T10:22:00.000-08:00

I didn't think I'd make it through the weekend. With a bad cold and a bad back I went off to camp with Max for the weekend. We stayed in cabins and slept in bunks. We cooked hot dogs around a camp fire, sang songs and performed skits. We learned how to shoot bb guns, did a craft learned about first aid, orientering and setting up tents. Most of all Max had a great time hanging around with the other campers and playing games.

Here is Max and his friends playing football at camp. Later he played in a flag football game and qualified for his football belt loop.

Added Holloween Pictures

2006-10-31T17:17:00.000-08:00

Time Flies

2006-10-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

So I think I am almost recovered from the Tigers losing in the world series. I am trying to think positive about how far this team has come in the last couple of years. The way they lost was particularly frustrating. Multiple errors by the pitcher on throws to first or third base. I new it was getting bad when the Cardinal fans were holding up signs which read "hit it to the pitcher." I guess all the pine tar in the world couldn't fix that problem.

Soccer games were cancelled due to rain this Saturday. Jake had a make up game on Sunday after noon and he scored two goals. He had a few break aways where he couldn't finish but this was the best game I have seen him play this year. I missed his four goal game while coaching Max's team.

We have our last soccer games this coming weekend. I believe the boys are going to start taking ice skating lessons this winter. Max is trying to decide if he wants to wrestle or play basketball as well. I will need to get both of them to a batting cage this winter to get ready for the spring.

This Tuesday is Trick or Treat in our neighborhood. Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. Time flies..........

At The Orchard

2006-10-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend after our Saturday soccer games we rolled down to see my Sister and her Husband Jeff. We watched the tigers clinch the ALCS and then the Michigan game. We spent the night and on Sunday we went to an apple orchard. Jake got his face painted like a skull and we flung apples into a corn field. Thanks to Jeff and Patti for a great weekend.

Halloween costumes

2006-10-04T16:26:00.000-07:00