Tis the Season...

This happened this morning:

The boys did all the work!


TIMBER!...






Hot apple cider

Read more...

Family Wedding Last Night

My cousin got married at a flower farm last night. Here are a few quick family pics:

My family!


She wanted to show off her new shoes. :)




My folks and sister's family!


My dad and his brothers.


My folks!

Back with some training updates soon!

Read more...

Foo Fighters Concert!

Sunday night was fun. We all saw Foo Fighters at Target Field! The Pretenders were their opening act, so we also got to hear "Back on the Chain Gang" and "I'll Stand By You." Here were a few pics from the night once the Foo Fighters took the stage:

Pretzels right before the Foo Fighters came out.

And here's 90 sec of clips from some fav songs from the night (you might want to click on the link at the bottom to see it bigger on YouTube if you're on a computer):

Direct link: youtu.be/G2x1RaW15Kg?si=pX6oaPXF1ygZU-l7

Read more...

A Sudden "Good-Bye" to Kitty Clark

I posted this on Sunday:

Didn’t think this would be the last photo taken of Clark at home. He got a lymphoma diagnosis yesterday (and corneal ulcer), and we figured we had a few weeks/months left with him. But 20 mins after this photo last night, he was calmly eating and then started sprinting around in pain and hissing. His cornea had ruptured. I called the ER vet and they figured they could treat the eye, but once we got in, they realized that was it. He was put to sleep in my arms around 1:00 a.m. this morning. Woke the boys up this morning to the sad news. Miss you Clark / Clarky / Clarkmallow.

That was a rough morning when the boys got up.

Just a few hours before Clark had to be put down, he was looking for a cozy spot, and ended up climbing ON TOP OF Bruce who was on my lap:

I don't want to just thrust this upon you, but if you want to see Clarky with his ruptured cornea, here he is waiting to be seen at the ER vet, and here's the last photo of him in my arms 15 mins before the vet came in to put him down (note my watch saying it's 12:18 a.m.).

Here's a handful of pics from over the lat 2.5 years:

Nervous baby Clark getting used to our house.


With his favorite blankey.


Cozying up to Bruce.




My wife loves this photo.








This red blanket ended up being "his."


Bye buddy.

We lost Ella in 2021, and then Kermit in 2022. Just over 2 years wasn't enough time with Clark. We'll need to find Bruce a new friend shortly - he's lost without a kitty buddy.

Read more...

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: Henry's FIRST Fencing Win!

The state fencing tournament was this past weekend, and Henry got his FIRST win! He beat his first opponent 5-1. Here he is trying to hold off his grin after winning:

Henry on the attack. (Notice the score here is 4-1.)


Later in the tournament.


After pool play and the direct elimination, he was happy to not be last!
He was 33rd out of 43rd at state as a 7th grader fencing mainly high schoolers.


Henry and his team after the "team" event the next day.
His team won the team title for men's and women's épeé!

Read more...

Family Trip to Jamaica!

I posted some workout details last month, but I never shared any more pics from our family trip to Jamaica last month! Here are some good memories:

The beach.


This cutie by the waterpark pool.


At the waterpark!


Charlie, Henry, Ian (my nephew), and Dave (my bro-in-law) going down a big slide.


Charlie made a friend.


The big main buffet - you can really only see about 1/3 of it here.
Grills along the back. Good food!


My cutie and Mom on the beach.


The boys making holes.


My folks!






(One of my 2 “gym buddies” while we were there is in the background.)


A lot of our crew.


Sis, Dave, and Bree.

The next morning, we went to Dunn’s River Falls which was nearby. (We had a 2 hour bus ride to our resort from the airport, but then we were only 2 miles from this big attraction.) It’s a big waterfall that you essentially hike up. My Mom had always wanted to do this, but it wasn’t Dad’s “thing,” so she never did. But this way, she could come with us 8 kids!

My family ready to go down.


At the beach, ready to head up!


First part of the falls behind us!


Climbing! (Sorry Henry for the drop of water on the lens right over your face!)


Sarah and Mom going under the highway.


Mom taking the plunge!


My crew!


Sis doing the mini waterslide.




The final part of the falls to climb.
(Notice all the people heading up on the left!)


Splash!


The 4 kids!


Hand-in-hand heading up!




At the top!




Lounging back at the pool.






At the Italian restaurant that night.


After eating.




The whole gang!


Mom hitting the waterpark the next morning with the kids!


Charlie!


My wife’s new bikini! (She wasn’t sure about the
tinier-than-usual bottoms, but I LOVED THEM!)


Our room and my sister’s family’s room were kind of
behind that white umbrella - we had views of the waterpark.


Cousins sliding.


New bikini by the pool.


More digging on the beach.


Charlie played SO much volleyball.


Cousins.


Ready for supper.


More family pics before another good restaurant!


(I had to Photoshop myself into this one.)


My sister’s family!




Henry and I split this plate of 5 kinds of meat at the steakhouse.


My wife’s horribly bruised heels that evening!

If you go back 10 pics or so to my Mom and Charlie going down the waterslide, you’ll see Charlie lifting his legs up at the bottom of the slide. My wife didn’t do that, and the pressure of hitting the pool sent her feet straight to the bottom and she whacked her heels really hard on the bottom. She couldn’t touch her heels to the ground and pretty much walked on her toes for 2 weeks after that. She had an x-ray after getting home to confirm they weren’t broken (they weren’t, luckily!), and she finally starting running again about 4 weeks after hurting them. Yikes!

The next morning, we took Mom on ANOTHER excursion, this time to the “Blue Hole” for waterfall jumping:

There go the kids!


Walking to another location.


Charlie taking the big jump!


Dave!


Charlie again!


Henry taking the leap!


After we all jumped off that ledge to the right.






Back at the resort.




Me and sis!


Out to eat at the gourmet restaurant - some weren’t sure
they’d like it, but it ended up ranking high on everyone’s list.


Finding a tiny crab along the beach that night.


Evening pool stroll.


Waterpark shenanigans.


On a boat heading out to snorkel!


Boating along the coast.


Ian coming in after some snorkeling.


Supper at the Asian restaurant gave me tastes of EVERYTHING.


Drinking from coconuts!


My wife’s “better” foot that night...


... and her worse one! OUCH!


On the other side of the resort lounging by the infinity pool.




Swim-up bar!


Charlie doing some SUPing.


Sis, Ian, and Charlie out on the water.


Charlie in a volleyball game... again! :)
(With another “gym buddy” in red shorts to the left.)


Brothers.


Mom and Dad took all 4 kids for supper so we got a mini date night.


Dinner with this cutie.


Mom and Dad.


A final evening stroll around the resort with the family
before heading back home the following morning.

I might have another 15 more photos or so from one of our excursions in an upcoming post. Again, here's a previous post with some vacation workouts while in Jamaica last month.

Read more...