Our Family Blog

Jeep Project follow up

2010-03-03T13:28:00.000-05:00

OK the beast is in the driveway....
Changed oil, oil filter and air filter... these are easy things to do, but like I like to remind Nathan.... little steps, little victories...

Tried to flush radiator coolant..... was a little tricky. I found the valve, opened it, collected old coolant.... Somehow, somebody decided to use pliers to close the valve when asked to... not good, it is all bent and won't go all the way in... it is closed though and does not leak so far... I couldn;t find the block valve to flush the whole thing, it is under a skid plate that I have to remove, but one of the bolt is stripped and that can wait....
Note for myself: READ INSTRUCTIONS in the manual all the way before doing anything stupid

I went to the store and bought a box of fuses and changed all of them.... now the gauges are working, as well as the RPM meter. blinkers are working too as well as the dashboard lights... most of them, i still need to check some of the light bulbs might just be gone (wish it is that simple and not a more profound electrical problem).

Finaly latest victory.... I found out what is the problem with the shifting in 4WD to 2WD. Apparently the Shift linkage thingy (I know I don;t know all the big words yet right ?) is popping out of it's place causing it not to do what it is supposed to do. Well i managed to pry it back in place and shifted all right... took the jeep for a small ride around the block and it happen to shift very good and run smoothly in 2WD.... It popped again out of 2WD when I was coming back. A little search on the net says that it need a rubber thingy (nice word to use when you don;t know) to hold the link in place.... probably a $10 part ....
Anyway I cleaned evrything, and put some penetrating oil on the bolts... tonight if I have time I will see how to remove everything, clean it and put it back in place....

This week end, i will try to take it to the car wash and have an undercarriage wash that might be easier.... and put gas in it and air in tires...

Jeep Project

2010-03-03T13:16:00.000-05:00

OK, now, there is no official name code for that project.
For some time I wanted a fixer-upper vehicle to put my hands on and learn to be a home mechanic.
We found this jeep the other day, the engine was running and it was driving somewhat so Karen gave me the OK to get it.... purchase price $600...

It is a 1989 jeep Cherokee Laredo 4x4

Engine is the 4.0L straight 6 MPI and it runs good with 200K miles (apparently this engine is known for lasting long times with proper care and should get another 100K miles without major replacement...)
Muffler is rusty but it is mainly all there.

The Body looks straight, there is only one dent in a corner, and a couple of rust spots.... all superficials
The undercarriage is cover in grim and mud, but no rust that I can see so far....
Sound of it is awesome, you should have seen Nathan's grin when I turn it on....

Carpet and inside looks in great condition even for a 21 year old car.

For the bad parts that are obvious, it won't go in 2WD and has to go in 4L first to go back in 4H.
Brakes are spongy, it might need fixing there obviously.
needs chokes because the parking brake is gone.
has plenty of wires hanging out everywhere...
RPM meter does not work, dashboard gauges and lights ore not working, rear windshield wippers are not working, tires are low in pressure.
Blinkers not working, front right park lights/blinker not working....

So I need to roll up my sleeves and start learning..... very exciting project that will keep busy in the evenings while my wonderful wife is working on a straight A record, I will be working on my straight 6 vehicle....

Scouts visit Utah National guard Armory

2010-01-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/ishare/82011602.html

Read the article, I am just adding extra pictures ;)

Scout toujours.... pret

2009-10-12T12:42:00.000-04:00

This year we have enrolled the boys in the Boys Scouts of America.
Nathan will join the Troop 1 as a boy scout and Joseph the pack 1 as a webelo cub scout.
Let's see how we will be able to keep up with the schedules....

White Pine lake

2009-10-12T01:55:00.006-04:00

Let's not focus on the unsuccessful Elk hunt.... Let's focus on this amazing experience with Nathan.
An hiking trip to White Pine Lake with overnight camping lost in the mountains.

This trip brought us to around 10000 ft elevation.

We packed everything on our backs and headed for the trail that starts at Tony Grove's lake.

After a couple of hours in the frigid morning (walking up the mountain with a flash light by 25 degrees is pretty good), we hit the snow. The trail was really easy at the beginning and as the day light started to make the use of the flash light unnecessary, we were focusing our attention on maybe seeing some wildlife. Finding an Elk now would mark the end of the trip, however, I didn't have much expectation as it seems that elks and wildlife in general tend to avoid areas where i am at. I really need to hook up with some more experienced hunters that will teach me the how and where tricks.

It took us a good 4 hour hike to reach the lake. After numerous breaks, to either fix a back pack or make sure we still had our fingers and toes, we finally reach the campsites.

First things first, we pitch our tent and start gathering wood to build a fire.

It is cold and windy and the ground is a bit frozen. I let you imagine how it is to grab a frozen stone to hammer these stakes down. But when this is done, we can finally sit down and warm up by the small fire and enjoy being in the great outdoors and the wonderful views of this little piece of the mountain that played hard to get.

The sun finally passed the huge mountains surrounding and gives us the opportunity to go take a couple of pictures of the area.

A group of 4 riders came to our site. They were cowboys starting gathering cattle across the mountain. they asked us if there little cowboy rider could come and warm up by our fire that we had just started. These guys are having a tough job.... riding all day up and down the mountain trying to find lost cows....rain or shine. We had a little unexpected chat in the middle of the wilderness.

We had a nice comforting dinner using Nathan's skills to build a cooking fire and grand pa's mess kit that he gave us at Christmas.... One would say Spam luncheon meat and mash potatoes is not a feast meal.... but it was delicious and most welcome. To save our water, we melted snow to make dishes and to get hot water for hot chocolate or other food we had. I'd say if you don't look too close, it is OK but cooking on a fire sure gets a lot of ashes in your food.... minerals right ?

I was kind of handicapped because my feet were wet so I decided to let my shoes dry by the fire.... it is a big no no for next time because the stupid shoes melted down and the sole separated. I was not sure how to fix it and also was worried about the trip back home. Fortunately Nathan was wearing the big mountain boots and his feet were toast and dry so he took care of everything. Including his idea of fixing my shoes by using a red hot piece of metal (aka his pocket knife) to melt down the rubber and glue back the sole.... It did work ....

As soon as the sun passed the mountains it got to really cold temperatures so we packed up everything in the tent and went to bed. Was still day light outside however that was a welcome rest in the comfort of the little green and yellow tent.

We were warm during the night and didn't even feel too much the hard frozen ground under our sore backs.

It snowed during the night and I was worried that the weight of the snow would be too much for the tent so I kept tapping it off. That might have prevented the tent to collapse, but I wonder if the "igloo" effect didn't contribute to a warmer night. And I wish I could take a nice picture of the tent covered in snow.....

It snowed pretty much all the time on our way back. It was hard to get Nathan to get out of bed but I wanted to pack and leave early as i was worried the snow would cover the trail and I didn't really want to get lost... Finally we get packed up and running.... well running, kind of, because that first part of the hike back is a grinder. But slowly and taking numerous break to catch breath we made it to almost the top.... Almost because Nathan couldn't take it anymore and we needed to stop and drop the backpacks to have lunch... or brunch. While snow is melting and water boiling in the small portable stove, we refuel with a pack of mixed fruits. Then we had beef stew (freeze dry food is definitely good) and Nathan finished it off with some Apple cinnamon oatmeal while I was keeping warm with a hot tea

This first part of the trip back was hard especially with wind and snow hitting your face. After that, we were full, warm and happy to go back on the trail.

From there is was really easy. the most difficult part was to stay on the trail as the snow had already covered most of it. But that was just a matter of going down hill and we covered that in record time to get back to Tony grove's and the car where a most welcome pack of red hot cinnamon treats was waiting for Nathan.

There was already quite a bit of snow was already covering the road at Tony Grove's, but nothing that our faithful Santa Fe could tackle....

Our first "mechoui"...

2009-09-27T20:46:00.000-04:00

Mechoui is a way of cooking with fire. The principle is easy. Make a roaring fire, get enough coals to cook a lamb on the spit for 8 hours and then cut and eat the meat...
Easy in theory, a little more tricky to do.
First find a spit and fork spit. Managed to do that with a 8 foot steel rod from home depot, a couple of U clamps and eyed screws and a lot of ingenuity.
We got the lamb from the university herd and got it cleaned and prepared by the USU meat department guys for a small fee. 70 lbs was a little bigger than expected and I still doubt that it was a young lamb.

I left at 7am to joe's and Skyla's beautiful house and started the fire while fixing the lamb on the spit the best I could using wires and stuff.

10h30 am time to put the lamb in front of the fire.... note for next time, put it lower...
and start turning and turning and turning... for 8h (minus the 2 that I had to go back to the lab)
Every body made it to the big "pirate" party and while I was finishing trying to get the cuts for everybody before it got dark, the whole lamb got sliced as much as I could....

Definitely something to do again with some minor modifications. Using wood instead of charcoal, getting a smaller lamb and planning for longer cooking time. Lowering the spit and getting a motorized rotisserie.

Yes we love Montana

2009-09-16T00:37:00.002-04:00

We went back to Montana, but this time we had the kids with us....
This was our labor day week end trip and we went all the way up to Glacier National Park to the KOA in Whitefish Montana. I just love Montana, it is a really beautiful state to drive through.... well at least the western part....

We left at 4 am. Was kind of nice to be able to make the first 3 hours of the 12h trip with everybody else sleeping because after the sun got up, me got a headache trying to ignore the constant bitching from the kids behind me. My fault, I woke everybody up since I was starting feeling tired and needed to talk a bit. Plus the sun raising above the mountains of Idaho was a nice sight for them too....

We stopped for an 1h to have breakfast at "Jan's Cafe" in Lima MT. Very comforting breakfast with huge slices of hams, eggs and hash-browns.... We decided to get the kids the big one too hoping that we could just skip lunch and get away with just a snack until dinner time.

The trip was long, but we obviously made it safe ;) to discover our cabin. Little disappointed by the actual location of the cabin, but ready to enjoy a good week end there.

Rissa didn't take long to assume her watch position.
That is away from everybody else but close enough in case she needs to.... go and hie at the first very strange noise.... it is our four-legged chicken remember....

Kids couldn't wait to go try out these banana bikes, or go jump into the swimming pool, or even go play on the play ground or visit the little pet zoo that they had there.... lamas, goats, miniature horse and cows, ducks and chickens and rabbits constituted a nice bunch of friendly animals. I will let you appreciate the resemblance in hair do between Nathan and this ugly animal.....

I am taking advantage of this quiet time to start preparing dinner. Dealing with a fire that does not want to start, we finally manage to get some chicken and diced potatoes cooked.
After a last walk with the dogs in the woods, we finish this first tiring day with a hot cocoa and coffee before heading to bed.
bin.

Second day, the dogs are waking me up early (5am) and I decide to go walk them for a bit, hoping to see some wild life too. Return to the cabin, to grab some change of cloth and go take a shower before breakfast while everybody still sleeps.

Breakfast was good (and not only because it was free or should I say included in the rate).... biscuits, sausage gravy, eggs, coffee, juices, oatmeal, English muffins, toasts..... yes not the most healthy one, but has the advantage to let us plan for smaller lunches.....
This day was dedicated to stay in the campground so the kids would enjoy the pool and other amenities.... Well and maybe not only the kids....

We had an early dinner made quickly this time and sausages and beans were on the menu. Later we decided to go visit the nearby town to have an ice-cream there before the rain. We found this little local shop that had huckelberry favored ice-cream.... huckelberry seems to be all the rage up there and everything is revolving around this flavorful berry.

Back at the cabin, it is raining to much to do anything, so Karen and the kids are playing Farkle while I am enjoying the serenity of the rainy evening outside on the porch. Because let's face it, there is no way I play a game witht he kids.... whatever the game is, it always end up with a cheater, a sore loser (actually 4 of them) and screaming, complaining and it is not goo for my own sanity.

The third day... the big one.
We are going to go to visit the Glacier National park. It is raining and the sky is covered. After the morning rituals.... walking the dogs, shower, breakfast and packing lunch and drinks for the road,we finally leave hoping the sun will come out.
It didn't happen until late but we were en route for a very special adventure.... see the next post for the complete story.
Just to tease a little bit, it has something to do with this last picture....

A short week end trip to Mirror lake

2009-09-13T12:29:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, it was way to hot in Logan. Karen and I took the opportunity that the kids were still in Florida to "Pack the car and leave"

Decision made at 10 am to go to the High Uinta's and camp at Mirror Lake (10 000ft elevation). We left 1h30 later and got there in the middle of the afternoon.
We got lucky as we really took the last available spot at the campground.

After setting up camp, walking the dogs around the lake and fogging the area 20 times to try to get rid of the mosquitoes, we are ready to sit down and enjoy a nice hamburger .....
Problem, the fire pits here don't have a grill and we didn't pack one.... Solution ? The shovel that I keep in the trunk of the car... very useful shovel so far, helped me get out of the snow, helped get out of the sand and allowed us to enjoy a hamburger...

After the mosquitoes calm down, the dogs are walked again around the lake, we can all sit back and relax to enjoy Nature....

THEY ARE BACK.....

2009-08-16T18:13:00.003-04:00

Sounds like an horror movie ? yeah probably.
The kids are back.
So our summer vacation is finished then.... and we are going to trade again the relaxing evenings watching our favorite TV shows, our "let's pack and go somewhere for the week end".
What do we get in the trade ? Homework fights, noise, bitching, complaints, "can you buy this?", "I want that", Sponge Bob, Disney Channel or cartoon network...

How well, I have seen this show once where the guy was counting the days until the last kid in the house was leaving to college... I am not counting the days.... just the years ;)

In the mean time, we will try our best to keep the monsters healthy, teach them to respect Others and Nature and success at school.

It is this time of the year.....

2009-08-10T10:56:00.004-04:00

OK, I got my Elk tag, I got my migratory birds license number.
I bought Nathan is small game license and he is registered for the Youth pheasant hunt in November (and hopefully will been drawn and when drawn will get us a couple of nice and tasty pheasants).
We are looking to put Joseph on the safety/ethic classes so that he can come with us.
The exciting thing is that this is something we are all learning to do together. I wish sometimes I had some kind of a mentor that would teach me the tips and tricks.... but at least I have the safety and ethics covered and that by itself is sufficient.
I cannot wait to go in the field with the boys for some days of fun shooting and missing.

I obviously count on getting an elk... Elk is good. I'll worry later for the logistic problems such as: how are we going to carry 500 lbs of meat in the mountains to go back to the car.... or how are we going to butcher it .... or how are we going to fit it in our little freezer (Karen promised me that if we get something we can buy a big chest freezer hehe).... and finally how are we going to eat it (no, this I actually know !!!) ....

Anyway still a lot of preparation to do: practice shooting, scouting and actually find and shoot one.

(For the anti-hunting people: I respect your views however no need to post negative comments they will be deleted. You may contact me and I will be more than happy to discuss in private about the use of responsible hunting and the benefits for the community)

Enfield No4 MKI*

2009-06-18T13:17:00.004-04:00

This is the new addition to the gun safe....
It is an Enfield rifle, I spent the last week restauring it the best I could. Haven't shot it yet but intend to.

It is kind of exciting to look for infos on these rifles.... I love it and it keep me busy at home when there is nothing on TV.

I need to find her a name by the way.... suggestions are welcome ;)
Maybe a crazy old fashion British one...

A message from Eric and Tracey...

2007-07-14T14:56:00.000-04:00

Ok -- So day two of the kids visit... Uncle Eric took Joe-Joe to go fishing off the pier at Jax Beach today and every single cast got MULTIPLE fish! Uncle Eric says that Joe-Joe is a natural fisherman and caught not one, not two, but over THIRTY fish!! .. Sometimes five at a time on one cast !

And, of course, it wouldn't be an Uncle Eric outing without a trip to see the Hooters girls for the "chicken wings" (riiiiiiiiiiiight) and a photo-op... ...

But, by the looks of it in the pictures, Joe-Joe doesn't seem to be minding all of the attention he got there much !!!

Celina and I had a "girls day" today while the boys had their male bonding trip to the pier.... Celina got a special manicure at salon with some awesome pink sparkly polish and then it was off to the mall for some shopping time.... We found a very pretty dress for her to take back to Utah and took a pass through a awesome candy store so Celina could pick out something yummy for after lunch (a wacky tube of squirtable watermelon gook -- ) then it was off to Ruby Tuesdays ...

We're hoping the rain will go away today so we can go swim and maybe go see a movie then it is back home for homemade pizzas and ice cream sundaes for dessert!!

We are missing Nathan a bunch and wish he was here too but we know that he is better off relaxing and recovering at home with his Dad this weekend given the excitement he has had this week!

Love to everybody!

Eric, Tracey, Cameron, Joseph and Celina

Nathan's accident.....

2007-07-11T23:20:00.000-04:00

We had a pretty stressful day yesterday!

I received a frantic phone call from Celina screaming that Nathan had been in a terrible go-cart accident and broke his arm and was bleeding very badly. I was minutes away from taking my Psychology exam when Celina called, so you can imagine, my score was not the best!
I was trying to remind myself that Celina, and Nathan too, can be a bit melodramatic, and there was a good chance that he didnt really hurt himself too badly. Nathan falls off his bicycle on a regular basis and with each scrape and bruise you would think he had broken his arm a thousand times over.

As it turned out, he and his cousin were riding the go-cart where they should not have been, and going faster then they should have been. Nathan took a curve too fast and he flipped his go-cart and his arm was pinned under the roll cage.
His cousin who is a few years older was not injured and ran the half mile plus to Joe's house to get help, screaming all the while that Nathan was hurt really badly (this is the point where Celina called in hysterics).

Meanwhile, A passerby saw the accident and called emergency services. Joe and his brother were trying to find Nathan (they didnt know they were where they are not supposed to be) and it wasnt until he heard the sirens of the ambulance that he was able to find him. By time Joe and his wife got there, Nathan was already being tended to by the EMT and the wound was bandaged and his arm immobilized so Joe was not quite sure what the extent of his injuries were. The EMT told them he was going to be transported to the Trauma 1 Center at University/Shands Jacksonville. This of course set off many alarms because there are atleast 3 other hospitals between Joe's house and Shands, including a children's trauma unit at Wolfson Children's Hospital. The EMT said that due the depth of the cut on the inside of his elbow, they were concerned about the two major arteries that could have been damaged and getting the bleeding to stop. So off to Trauma 1 (the HIGHEST level of trauma unit in the Southeast!!)

The accident occurred around 4:30pm our time and it was not until after 11:00pm that I found out the extent of his injuries.
He was admitted to the level 1 trauma unit because they were concerned with an extremely deep cut in the crease of his left elbow. Their fears of severed arteries and tendons sent him to the OR within minutes of his arrival. Fortunately, he did not sever the arteries and the tendons are not damaged and he has full flexion and sensation in his hand. They cleaned his arm out and stitched him up and discovered a hairline fracture in his forearm.
Because of his severe allergies to antibiotics, the severity of the cut, and chance of infection, they kept him in the hospital overnight.

I spoke to him this morning and he is resting comfortably and received his last morphine shot this morning and they are moving him to Tylenol for the pain. So far, Vitals are good, no fever, and no sight of infection so he may be released as early as this afternoon.

So, as scared as we all were, Nathan was quite fortunate. I am convinced we have angels riding shot gun!

The kids will be at their dad's house until August 15th.
I can't wait to have my babies home!

Karen

and in the mean time... it was my birthday.... yeah me !!!!

Grand ma and grand pa....

2007-06-28T10:38:00.000-04:00

Parceque un petit peu de francais ca ne fait pas de mal.... http://www.maquisdelain.org/index.php?r=personnage&id=79

Found on the website for the French resistance in the department Ain.

Aujourd'hui je suis fier de vous presenter mes grand-parents....
Today I am proud to introduce my grand parents....

Léon BOGHOSSIAN

Issu de la légion étrangère. (coming from the foreign legions)
Commande le camp Pré-carré en collaboration avec la capitaine SEIGLE, qui disparaitra du département de l'Ain. (Was commanding the Pre-carre camp in collaboration with Captain Seigle who will disappear from the department of Ain)

Commande la compagnie Lorraine. (Was the commander of the Lorraine compagny)
Sabotages sur la ligne SNCF Ambérieu / Bourg, bloque un convoi de troupe allemande.
Une activité intense jusqu'à la libération. (organized sabotages on the railroad track Amberieu/Bourg, blocked German troups convoys.... Intense activity until liberation)

Micheline BOGHOSSIAN

Epouse du capitaine Leon Boghossian. (captain leon Boghossian spouse)
A participé comme agent de liaison aux côtés de son mari. (Participated as a liaison officer at her husband's side)

Camping at wood camp for memorial day week end

2007-06-05T13:05:00.002-04:00

Mother day

2007-05-18T18:55:00.000-04:00

We went to the canyon this last Sunday for mother day..... hot dogs and burgers on the grill by the river, kids fishing and a relaxing Sunday afternoon....

It didn't really start nicely.... first curve out of our drive way and the 5 gallons jar of lemonade fly in the van and open itself leaving a lemonade soaked van.... we had to clean before going.... (another cool use of my Christmas present as the small hand held vacuum can do liquids too....)

At the river, we find a nice spot in the shade, with a grill.... waiting for Jeff Tricia and the kids to come, we start untangling the poles and putting some hooks and baits to the lines.... the kids are off fishing....
they are obviously back 2 minute later because they decided to fish trees instead and ...well.... let's say it is frustrating because they can't... So after a few thrown fits, we set up the game of croquet so at least the girls can play.... they obviously end up all wanting to play at the same time... never mind

around 3pm, we start the grill, and finally everybody can stop munching on chips and eat.... (at that time, we still have not caught any fish and I can hear some of you laughing....but Rick.... one day I will get one)

Anyway, the kids were hungry can you tell ???

So after a few running in the woods, fishing, changing baits, hooks and stuff because this one doesn;t work etc... it is time to go back home

We are all tired, i was our first trip in the canyon since the snow is gone..... noce to see everything green again, can;t wait to see the canyon getting his gold and red fall colors.... but before that we have to suffer the summer and it's hot dry weather....

Celina got a new hair cut

2007-05-18T18:49:00.000-04:00

Hopefully we are done with the daily screaming.....
She was very worried about what others kids would say.... Of course Nathan, always nice told her that she looks weird...... so did Nicholas by the way...... good thing for her that Joseph is not that vicious yet and he said that she looked pretty.....
It is not that bad now that we are used to it.... plus after being washed (it's been one week now...) it looks even more different....

Yep you got it.... she played with the camera once again ;)

Karen's birthday

2007-05-18T18:42:00.001-04:00

Ok I will not say how old she was, but Karen just got another year....
Here some pictures.....

Views from Utah State university

2007-05-09T12:19:00.000-04:00

I thought I would share some of the view from Campus.

this is the view I have from my desk.... most of the time the blind is closed so that I can actually see the screen of the PC, but this is pretty much what I see... those ugly buildings with some nice mountains just behind.

Then walking around campus to go get the van and finally go home after a nice day at work.... walking through the trees in flower, enjoying the warm enf of afternoon and the quietness of campus (it is summer break, there is no student around....)

The van is waiting for me on the almost deserted parking lot....
Getting ready to go in, open all the windows and drive back home.

Going down the hill and drive through relative traffic, probably that day to go get the kids at soccer or to attend one of the games.... we are almost done with that.... that is good.....

Yard work

2007-05-08T12:35:00.000-04:00

Spring is a very interesting season here in Logan.... Last week we had snow and cold (in the 40's during the day), and this week end, it was nice and sunny and warm in the 70's again....
So we decided to finish off some yard work....

I had a couple of shrubs to finish planting, some grape too ....
so we have improved our back yard with 5 evergreen shrubs, 2 pear trees, 1 apple tree, one plum tree and 2 grapes..... start looking nice.

Karen during that time, started to put some of the flowers we seeded 2 month ago and that needed to be put in the ground, and we also got the Colorad0 blue spruce.... it is just a tiny little tree and it is going to take forever before it reaches a decent size, but those trees are absolutely beautiful.....

Now I like the result of course, and everybody helped.... pulling the weeds, weed eating, watering, planting, playing with the wheel barrow....

nobody got hurt, Nathan was happy to play with the weed eater, and celina did a great job helping me breaking the soil and holding the trees while I was planting. Karen helped us when she finished the flower planting.
I think now we are almost good for this year. I just want to put a couple of climbing roses on the side of the house... but that will have to wait....
maybe next year we will finish the fence who knows.... still in project and highly dependent of money, increasing the patio... but that is just a project now....

it was a nice spring day....

What happen when we are not at home

2007-05-08T12:10:00.000-04:00

The kids had to stay at home for a couple of hours while I was back at work and waiting for Karen to come back from work.... They had a list of chores to keep them busy during that time. Homework and reading first, then cleaning bathrooms, bedrooms, living room and kitchen.... a lot to do, but we wanted to make sure they were busy ;)

And also they were all grounded from TV, so they had to do something else, right ?

So when we come home in the evening, apparently homework is done (fast so obviously everything is to be redone...) and the house is fairly in order and clean..... so everything is good.
A couple of days later, I download some pictures from the camera..... and there oh surprise, they had played with it, as they like to do it sometimes. but....

First they got busted because obviously they were watching TV.
Yep I agree it is not bright to take pictures of the TV on when you are not supposed to watch it.
I even have the date and the time on it, so they cannot lie (eventhough, they tried to ;) of course)

But most important, we got a couple of funny shots....

Nathan and Joseph trying to clear the kitchen counters. If I remember correctly they did a pretty good job there. Look at Joseph, he had his cleaning hat ...Go Gators !
Obviously somebody had to take the pictures... so since there is only 3 of them, we all know who is not doing what she is supposed to do.... right Celina ? "it is not my fault, Nathan told me to and the camera just fly from the bag, unzipped the bag and fell down in my hands.... and i was done...... NOT !!!! (sorry we just watched Borat.... understand who can)
But our little princess is not afraid of the camera.... or maybe she didn't get the point.... the pictures stays in the camera and WE can see them and post them on the blog.....

I will pass on the useless shots of the stairs, the trash cam or the table... One good thing for her though is that most of the pictures are focused on something.... maybe we have a genius there.... who knows....

It was for Easter.... i am late

2007-05-04T12:17:00.000-04:00

I KNOW......

I am late posting these pictures, i totally forgot that we had them.... never mind, just to put in situation, it was Friday night before Easter..... Egg coloring. Then we hide them in the house so that the kids would have a little Egg hunt on Easter morning.

This evening, we had Erin and Nick passing the night.... 5 kids at home and we had to keep them busy. Karen had got some eggs, some food coloring and cups so after dinner they were allowed to make the mess in the kitchen....

Starting with Joseph. he didn't have the patience to wait, so he decided to dump his eggs in the different color baths.... the colors were awful, but strangely, his eggs turned very nice... He claims that he knew that it would be nice.... either we have a genius of the colors, or he is a good liar ;)

Then Nathan and Nick were trying a more strategic approach..... mixing colors, writing stuff on the eggs, changing colors.... efficient but not much creation.... Just like Joseph and all the others, they ended up with some pretty colored eggs......

Celina and Erin were working together..... I mean sharing the same colors. Erin was paying much attention to what she was doing while Celina was trying to get some coloring to stick on her eggs....

If i remember, each kid had 8 eggs to color.... yeah we ate a lot of hard boiled eggs during the following week. But I am OK with that, i love hard boiled eggs, I like deviled eggs too....

Well in the end, we managed to have a nice (almost) quiet evening, keeping the kids busy, making them tired so that they would go to sleep.... I even participated and colored some eggs, but because I cam after the battle, the cups were not really nice... the colors were all mixed up (thanks Joseph) and it would have been perfect to color eggs brown, or army green....
Where is the time when we were going to Segny coloring eggs with tatan Huguette in a onion bath so that they would have this nice brown/red colors ?....

Anyway....

Friday the 13th the nightmare....

2007-04-16T17:30:00.000-04:00

Yes I know it is just a coincidence.... but still....
As most of you know, I cracked the bathtub a couple of month ago.... Not being very handy, i still managed to repair the crack with fiberglass and resin and other than the fact hat it was an ugly patch in the tub, it seemed to hold.... but the bathtub was ugly by itself anyway.... so after the adjuster came the other week, we decided to finally change the tub.
Well he gave us a check and we went to buy a new acrylic tub with wall surrounds.... and were getting ready to install the new tub ourselves.
this had to start with the old tub removal.... in theory it is easy..... remove the fixtures, cut the drywall around the tub, unscrew the tub from the studs, cut the fiberglass tub in pieces, clean, go to bed, wake up dusty and dirty and itchy (fiberglass dust doesn't do good on your skin....) because you have to turn the water of and you don;t have another bathtub or shower in the house....

Well we did so.... I removed the fixtures (fighting a little with the drain that was stuck....), cut the drywall....that was easy..... unscrew the wall surround and cutting the fiberglass tub and walls... that was easy and fun..... almost got crazy but I didn't have a sledge hammer..... so i just played with the reciprocating saw and the circular saw..... to finally kill the tub....

We are ready to go to bed now.... and I am really itchy and covered in dust (and for the details, sweaty too a little..... in one word... i stink, but remember it was a long day and it was also Celina's birthday so we had friends over in the evening and we really started around 10:30 pm)
Anyway, we finish cleaning the place so that we don;t loose too much time in the morning... and it is already late and I cannot sleep....

this is when we discover......... there was a leak under the drain.... the drywall is wet, the drywall is not looking good, the drywall is soft and it shows on the ceiling in the living room (the room directly under)

.... GREAT

Saturday morning, we call the insurance, they cannot come before Monday...... we don't have water (the main supply line is shut off) so we call a plumber that fixes that by shutting off only at the tub.... good, we can flush (yeah try with 3 kids to tell them to hold it because we don;t have water), we can drink, and I can wash my hands and face..... but the day is not finished.....
We have the soccer games (see previous blog), we have to find a hotel room so that we can shower. We went to the comfort inn in Logan just 7 month after our first day in Logan.... so we stayed there for the night in order to get a huge breakfast ;) and then we checked for the other nights in the motel six across the street from home so that we can just go shower and still live at home....

Anyway the guys came this afternoon, they will be able to fix the tub, the plumbing and the ceiling.... they don;t replace it though, they just patch, he said that it is actually drier than in most of the houses right now.... and because it got wet and dry, it is more solid and hard than the regular drywall.... they come on thursday, we will see.....

The kids soccer games

2007-04-16T13:58:00.000-04:00

OK the transformation has started.... Karen is becoming the famous soccer mom..... I try to help by keeping the van and resisting to my temptation of putting a soccer ball sticker on her car....

Anyway, the kids have started soccer..... 3 kids, they play twice a week, obviously not at the same place and definitely not at the same time... that would be too easy, you have to suffer a little to be a soccer mom....

Right now, they enjoy it.... Nathan is playing more in defense.... which i think is good so that he can practice a little more and improve his ball control before playing midfield or anything. The funny part is the coach trying to explain me and almost apologizing why he keep him in defense or why he takes him out during the game.... Well we are not like those parents that don;t understand anything and WANT their kids being forward.... for a reason that i don;t get yet, everybody seems to think that forward is the coolest position....
Anyway, Nathan is doing a good job in defense and he is improving game after game....
here some pictures of last Saturday game... the weather (even still chilly) was wonderful.

Oranges during the half time break.... Didn;t run much, but ate a lot of the oranges......
And he is paying much attention to the instructions given by one of the coaches.... trying to improve, explaining the mistakes....
this is great.

I didn;t get to see Joseph's game, it was earlier in the morning and while Karen was taking him over to the game, I was with Nathan and Celina to get some stuff for the bathroom (a very long story) and was supposed to wait to the plumber to come (related to the very long story of the bathroom)...
But after we brought Nathan to his game, Karen left me to bring Celina to her game (another town, and 30 minutes later....).
She came back at the end of Nathan's game to pick us up and go see a little bit of Celina's game.
When we got there, she was goalie. whinnying because she had just let the other team score and complaining that she didn;t know what to do.... Well it is Celina....
She had not much practice either, so her coach try the girls in each position to see where they feel the best.... I have to say that I don;t think Celina is ready for the goal keeper position yet..... at least not before she gets more used to the game.... I have seen her during the week on other games, when she decide that she wants to play, she can do some nice things.... we need to practice 1-not to be afraid of the ball, 2-hit the ball hard when you shoot and 3- not to just brush the ball with your feet and then turn around and look at the pretty flowers.... hehe she has the strength to play a nicer game.... Anyway i managed to take some pictures before the end of the game.....

I finally get to use them...

2007-03-28T13:39:00.000-04:00

Karen got me some power tools for Christmas.... Very useful when you buy a house, but other than cutting the kitchen cabinet to fit the new too big refrigerator, or drill a couple of holes here and there, nothing really funny.
So this week end, I decided to try this picnic table and use this circular saw.... After buying the wood, the hardware and a triangle (very important to get the right angles.... if you know how to use this simple tool.... should have pay more attention in geometry classes), I get started.... i should say WE.... because you know how it is, even if you want it to be YOUR project, you cannot avoid Nathan's advices on how to do it right (if you know Nathan, you know his 3 favorite answers to any problem.... Tape, glue, rope), Joseph and Celina running around the garage touching all they can, and obviously Karen who couldn't help trying to help....
So anyway after a couple of cutting, measuring, and reading instructions (yes in that order... that is why it is not perfect, but I am a man, I read the instructions if I want.... and I am a smart man.... I read the instructions and fix my mistakes after.... Smart men learn from mistakes.... Fabricando fit faber)
Stopped for the night and left a big mess in the garage.... but I only had to assemble the table top and the seat so...
Woke up early in the morning as always, and decided to finish the table (with Nathan because he was already up, and Joseph too, oh and Celina... these kids never sleep) before Karen wake up so that we could enjoy a coffee outside, admiring our backyard....
We managed to screw everything in place, trying to make it as nice as possible, then we moved the HEAVY picnic table in the backyard just in time because Karen was waking up and she was coming with the coffee already.
We didn't get to enjoy it too long that morning as we had to get ready to go join our friends Jeff and Tricia for a picnic at lava hot springs (perfect 108degres natural spring to relax for the day)....
But we sure had some grilled ribs and chicken legs with pasta salad for dinner in the evening.... it was nice.... Spring is coming, we know it, even if a jacket is still welcome, as it gets cold when the sun is going to sleep....

Our next project ? not sure yet, but I am thinking about it....