Rambling Observations

The End

Louie Prete — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:18:00 GMT

Wow, that sounds ominous, and it is in a way.

We'll no longer be posting to this blog. But don't fear we have started a new blog at www.jltiger.com. This site will remain online for a time while we migrate the posts and photos to the new site. All future entries will be made at www.jltiger.com. Please update your bookmarks/favorites/etc.

The new site will require that you sign up for a new account. Sorry for the trouble of having to re-register, but it is a pretty simple process.

Month In Review :: June 2010

Louie Prete — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:52:00 GMT

Well, if you couldn’t tell it was a much more relaxed June for us. Baseball and T-ball both ended, and school is over. Both boys had their respective banquets at the beginning of the month. We celebrated Bupka’s birthday, Father’s Day and took a quick trip up to Clemson to say good by to some dear friends.

Matt’s T-Ball Banquet – He won the award for the “Best Baseman”, and earned his first Trophy.

Louie’s Baseball Banquet

Father’s Day with my Kids!

Bupka’s Birthday

Prete & Rinehart Kids – June 2010

This is a good-bye that really isn’t a good-bye at all. Jenn and Lee are moving from Clemson to Hudson, OH. I am sure Jenny will want to go up to visit them soon.

There were many other pictures taken, and several other blog posts written this month.

Hope you Enjoy!

:-)

Where’s Waldo, I mean Louie

Louie Prete — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:37:11 GMT

We found a tree to climb, then lost Louie in it, then we found him again.

Target Practice

Louie Prete — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:24:00 GMT

Louie went to Cub Scout camp this week at Andrew Jackson State Park. One of the activities was Target Shooting with a bee-bee gun. To earn a badge he needed a score of 35+ on five shots. Louie needed only four shots.

Sarah – Hard Day’s Night

Louie Prete — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 03:04:57 GMT

Everyone who talks to Louie and Matt should know they are huge Beatles fans. What you may not know is that so is Sarah.

We got a Wii and Beatles Rock Band for Christmas this year, and she has been practicing ever since.

Little Miss Mischievous

Louie Prete — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:56:00 GMT

For the past few years we’ve been keeping you up to speed with the Dare-Devil and his reckless sidekick Fearless. Like any good movie trilogy, for the third installment, we’ve added a new character to the plot, Little Miss Mischievous.

As usual it all started at the pool. Yesterday we went to a pool party for Matt’s T-ball banquet. I took Sarah into the pool and as usual she seemed only to want to get out of the water. I made her stay for a while and even found a float just her size to hang out in. She would have nothing to do with that! At first anyway. Slowly she warmed up to the float, and before we left she was kicking her way around the pool. A pool, mind you, full of 5-7 year olds.

Today we went to Mom & Dad’s for a cook out. On the way over we stopped at Wally World to get Sarah a float of her own. She loved it.

Of course now that she is comfortable in the pool she immediately needs to take it to the next level – jumping in from the side of the pool.

And that is not nearly enough for the first day. Now that we’ve jumped in from the side and survived, we must be ready for the diving board.

And just for good measure lets go completely under the water!

After Matt’s first jumping off the diving board I commented on his fearlessness and how that scared Mommy & Daddy…I am so not ready for all this again, but Sarah is ready, so I’ll have to be too.

Oh yeah we took pictures of the other kids too. Have a look here.

Enjoy!

:-)

T-Ball Season Recap

Louie Prete — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 04:43:50 GMT

Matt finished up his first T-Ball season tonight. Matt has been chomping at the bit for the past two years while Louie played soccer and t-ball. When I coached the soccer teams Matt was able to hang out at the practices and occasionally get into some of the action. But this year he was able to play and have his own team.

Matt split most of the season playing either Second Base or Short Stop. By the end of the year he had gotten pretty good at catching or at least stopping any ground ball that came his way. He made several outs at second through out the season. As for his hitting, well this is Matt we’re talking about here. He’s been practicing his killer swing since he could walk, so of course his hitting was top notch.

More T-Ball pictures:

Enjoy!

;-)

Month In Review :: May 2010

Louie Prete — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:49:00 GMT

Both boys were playing sports this month. Being Matt’s first sport season of any kind we really had no idea what to expect. Growing up I remember my parents encouraging each of us the “play our own sport” And I think going forward we may have to start encouraging that as well. We had two places to be nearly every night this month! Louie and Matt frequently had games/practices back to back. Even worse, it wasn’t uncommon to have games at the same time on opposite ends of town (or even the county).

Add to this the normal “end of school” excitement and this really was a hopping month.

	At least we started May, by ending Cub Scouts. On May 1st the den went for a hike in Andrew Jackson State Park, and had a hotdog cook out at the church. I went to the park fully prepared with snacks and water bottles. However, the dynamics of hiking with the Den as opposed to our family are completely different. Not once did the boys (Matt went too) complain that the trail was too long, not once did they complain of being hungry and only once did Matt ask for the water. As a matter of fact, most of the time the adults were trying to keep up with the Scouts!
	The same day as the Cub Scout Hike we celebrated Emily’s 5th Birthday. There were water games, pizza, cake, ice cream, and presents, and lots of family, just what every good party needs.
	Tony came up for a visit to help Dad work on his Motorcycle. Tony had recently gotten a new motorcycle himself. A Ural. Look familiar? This is very similar to the Ural in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
	Charter School Week was a fun week for the kids. Discovery School has a dress code, but it is really pretty relaxed. The biggest thing is that the kids cannot wear any logos or prints on their t-shirts. During Charter School Week the dress code was excused and each day had a theme. Hippy Day; Sunglasses day, favorite team day, favorite character day, and Tin Foil Day.
	We celebrated Papa’s Birthday at White Oak so that Great Grandma could be part of the celebration. It was just a quick gathering for cake and ice cream, stuffed between practices and bed time. Still everyone had a great time.
	We go to the Literacy Fair each year, but this year Louie had some art featured at the fair.
	Mother’s Day was relaxing. Well as relaxing as it could be when there were four places to celebrate a single holiday.
	Louie is only in 1st grade but he was pushed up into the First Communion class about two thirds of the way through the year. Late enough that we had a hard time finding a suit and dress shoes. Seems everyone wants to buy a suit for their 1st or 2nd grader making First Communion.
	Discovery School Field Day is always a fun experience. Last year we regretted not letting Matt come. This year we were worried that we shouldn’t have brought Sarah. That concern was quickly dispelled as she took to the GIANT inflatable slide like it was nothing. Easily showing up several 4 and 5 year olds, and even one 1st grader. Jenny frequently comments that this was our introduction to Little Miss Mischievous.
	Matt graduated from preschool, clearing the way for him to join Louie at Discovery School next year. We will miss our friends at FUMC, but two of Matt’s class mates from FUMC will follow him to Discovery School. Thank you for another wonderful year to FUMC and Mrs. Novice.
	Louie finished up his first season of Baseball today. Louie and the team started off pretty slow. They lost the first 3 games (4 if you count the jamboree) and Louie didn’t get a hit until the third game. But the team came alive and we ended up winning 7 of the last 8 games to finish with a 7-4 record.
	Matt finished up his first T-Ball season tonight. Matt has been chomping at the bit for the past two years while Louie played soccer and t-ball. When I coached the soccer teams Matt was able to hang out at the practices and occasionally get into some of the action. But this year he was able to play and have his own team.

There were a few other random picture taking opportunities this month, have a look here for anything that wasn’t highlighted above.

Hope you Enjoy!

:-)

Baseball Season Recap

Louie Prete — Sun, 30 May 2010 03:53:00 GMT

Louie finished up his first season of Baseball today. Louie and the team started off pretty slow. They lost the first 3 games (4 if you count the jamboree) and Louie didn’t get a hit until the third game. But the team came alive and we ended up winning 7 of the last 8 games to finish with a 7-4 record.

Like I said Louie had a hard time adjusting from T-ball to hitting a pitch. But once he got going there was no stopping him. At one point he had a 7 game hitting streak, which included hits in 5 straight at bats. He finished the year with a .485 batting average, 8 RBIs, and 5 Runs scored. Not too shabby for an 11 game season.

More Baseball Pictures (look for “Baseball Game” links).

Enjoy!

;-)

Month in Review :: April 2010

Louie Prete — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:39:00 GMT

April was crazy busy…and then T-ball & Baseball started.

	Sam & Susan welcomed Taylor Brooke into the family on April 1st.
	Easter provided several photo opportunities. There were several Easter egg hunts (school & church), Easter egg coloring. As always we took an Easter portrait, and got to spend time with Taylor.
	We took the kids for a hike in the Congaree National Park.
	Jenny’s college roommate is moving the Washington … State. There was a little going away party in Columbia.
	We took a trip to Riverbanks Zoo with Mom & Dad and Katelyn & Emily.
	We went to the spring game in Clemson this year.
	Louie finished up this Tiger Cub requirements and was awarded his Tiger Cub badge.
	Matt was super excited to start T-Ball this month.
	Louie can’t play T-Ball anymore, he is working hard in ‘Coach Pitch’ baseball.
	Sarah turned two this month. Where did the year go!??!

Couldn’t help but include this…

Hope you Enjoy!

:-)

Month in Review :: March 2010

Louie Prete — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:31:00 GMT

March may have well been Cub Scout month for us.

	The Tiger Cubs went to Lean TV for an outing. While there they learned to use the various equipment and put together their own TV show.
	Louie’s first pinewood derby is chronicled here. And there are more photos here.

Hope you Enjoy!

:-)

Pinewood Derby

Louie Prete — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:58:48 GMT

Tonight was the much anticipated Pinewood Derby! Several times over past month it seemed like tonight would never get here. The past few weekends have been spent cutting, sanding, weighting, painting, and polishing various parts of the car.

Louie couldn’t wait to get started. The first decision to make was regarding design. Louie and I looked at a few designs online. I was sure that he was going to ask to build on that looked like an Indy car, which with my wood working skills would have turned out looking like Jed Clampett’s pickup. I kept looking for something that I thought I’d be able to make without too much trouble. Finally I found what were described as speed models. They looked pretty simple, just cut the block of wood as thin as you dared and then add weight.

So I tried to sell Louie on the idea. I said “Louie, you have two options, first we can try to build a car that looks cool or we can build a car that goes fast!” It wasn’t a hard sell, Louie had to have a goes fast car.

But, Louie insisted that we trim out the wood in the middle too, giving the car an hour-glass shape, ok maybe this speed model wasn’t the best idea after all. Cutting his car down this far I was certain that I was going to break it, or that it would simply snap in two while sanding. Luckily it held together.

We cut Louie’s car so thin that there was actually enough wood left from the original block to make a second car. This would be Matt’s car. So I stopped at the hobby shop one day on the way home from work and purchased a second set of wheels and axels.

I should have photoed and blogged the build process. It would have been interesting.

The difficult thing about building the speed models is that there is very little room left to add weight especially in Louie’s car. The Derby Car weight limit is 5 ozs. I think there is a bout 1oz of wood, .5oz of tires and axles, and a whopping 3.5ozs of various types of weight in Louie’s car.

OK, back to tonight. We get to the church at 6:00 for some practice runs, and last minute weight adjustments. Matt’s car was right on the money weight wise but Louie’s was about 0.2ozs too light. So we taped a quarter to the bottom and away we go.

During the test runs Matt’s car never lost and Louie’s car consistently came in first or second (four wide racing).

Once the real racing started Matt put his car away and watched Louie win about 10-12 races. Louie’s car was certainly a top 10 car, maybe even top 5, but he didn’t place.

Louie did get an award for Best Car Design!

After the races, Matt got his car out again, and beat the top 3 finishers in the races. Go Figure.

Matt’s car is the Blue Rock Star car on on the left. Louie’s is the white USA car on the right.

Enjoy!

;-)

Month in Review :: February 2010

Louie Prete — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:49:00 GMT

After a quiet January we found plenty to do in February.

	Snow at the end of January prevented us from going to the Circus in Charlotte, but nothing could stop us from catching up with the show in Columbia. Every one enjoyed the show, even Sarah was seen clapping for the clowns.
	The weather teased us for a few weeks with the promise of snow, then finally delivered with just over 5 inches.
	Valentine’s Day! A time for parties and candy!
	At his first Blue & Gold Banquet Louie was awarded his Bobcat Badge.
	February 17th was Matt’s fifth birthday. We celebrated with a Football themed party!

There were a few other random activites that we posted picture of, have a look.

Hope you Enjoy!

:-)

Matt is FIVE!

Louie Prete — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:08:00 GMT

Matt woke up to Birthday (by the Beatles) blaring through the house on his birthday. I’d never seen a kid go from sound asleep to full out dance party so quickly.

We had his party on Saturday. If you couldn’t tell it was a football themed party.

Blue & Gold Banquet

Louie Prete — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:03:00 GMT

Louie was awarded with his Cub Scout Bobcat Badge at the Blue & Gold Banquet. He is the only Tiger Cub to earn their Bobcat so far.

To earn his Bobcat badge he had to learn several things including the Cub Scout Promise and the Law of the Pack. And be able to recite them to his Den.

The Cub Scout Promise

I, Louie Prete, promise to do my best
To do my duty to God and my country,
To help other people, and
To obey the Law of the Pack.

The Law of the Pack

The Cub Scout follows Akela.
The Cub Scout helps the pack go.
The pack helps the Cub Scout grow.
The Cub Scout gives goodwill.

Hope you Enjoy!

;-)