Revamped and updated

Thanks to Tera for updating my blog. It's been over a month and I figure I should post. Since then we went on a family trip and Emma turned 2. First the trip. We went to Bayfield Wisconsin. I think that in all the years we have been there this has to have been the warmest one yet. Normally the mornings have a hard frost which was absent this year. It was still beautiful nonetheless. The greatest thing about the trip this year is that we had Emma with us. She had such a good time and was so well behaved despite the long trips in the truck. Tera and I love going to Bayfield and we look forward to going with Emma in the years to come.

The week before Bayfield we celebrated Emma's 2nd birthday. Since her birthday was during the trip we decided to have her party the week prior. We had pizza which is Emma's favorite food. The cake was great, the cupcakes were awesome (thanks T) and Emma had a ball. The theme was The Backyardigans and Uniqua was the "special guest".

This is Uniqua. This was was before her moment in the spotlight.

This is Emma saying "goodbye" to Uniqua.

This is Uniqua's "guts" all over the yard after Emma, Grace and Isabel threw down on Uniqua.

Emma turning 2 was a really big thing for me as her dad. Since her first 7 months of life were spent in Guatemala my parental clock feels to be off by about the same amount of time. This has made her 2nd birthday seem to have come up much too quickly. She has developed by leaps and bounds in the last year. Last year she learned to walk the week she turned 1. This year Tera and I are chasing her around the house. She is constantly talking letting us know all the names of people she knows. Calling out for grandma and grandma. And singing. Lots and lots of singing. Specifically, songs the Laurie Berkner Band which has caused me to sing the very same songs. What can I do? They are well written songs and they're super catchy and super fun.
Till next time.

Stuff, Stuff and more Stuff

Since I last posted we have been busy, busy. I won't bore you with the details. So here is the fun stuff. I am starting the fall clean up. I will probably wait until after Emma's birthday to put the patio furniture away.
We went to the Minnesota State Fair. I'm not going to get into the details of what I ate but I will tell you that one of the new foods this year was called "Pig Lickers". Basically this was apple wood smoked bacon that is covered in chocolate and sea salt. This is an indicator of how health conscience state fairs can be. By the way, it tasted good. Real good.
For me the highlight of the fair was when I took Emma on the carousel. I could have done that all day. She was all smiles and giggles the entire time.
Speaking of giggles. Emma was on the bed in our bedroom the other day playing and I decided to head to the closet to change shirts. As I was between shirts I heard a little giggle behind me. Emma was looking at me without a shirt on and she started laughing. I took this as Emma telling Pops to lay off the state fair food and consider a few sit ups or push ups or something-ups. Aargh.
For now we are slowly preparing for Emma's upcoming birthday and then our annual family trip this October. Finally the temps are falling and my beloved Autumn is on it's way. In the wise words of Napoleon Dynamite: "Yeessss..."

With Great Sadness

Tera's grandmother passed away this week. It was quite unexpected. She was one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Everyone really misses her. Please pray for the family during this time of sadness and loss of this very beloved and special lady.

Jet Bridge-1 Jason- 0

I was at work at the airport on Friday and I was walking beneath the jet bridge that led to the jet I was working on. As I emerged from underneath the jet bridge I raised up (too early) and laid my noggin into the bottom of the bridge. I fell, bled, received 8 stitches and a pretty nice bump on my head to boot. Good times.

Fun with phones...

This week was rough one as far as work goes... I'll delve into what happened at a later time.

On to other things. I put off buying a cell phone until we started the adoption process. When we did buy one I opted for the entry level phone. No bells or whistles. When the contract ended I chose to buy a new one. This one was more souped up than the last. Like most people I have become accustomed to owning a phone and I now have a dozen reasons why I need one verses want one.
It was a hot today here in Minnesota. Other than going out for a walk with Emma we stayed in most of the day. So Emma and I started to play around with my phone. Here are the results:

Making ends meet...

Some things change...some things stay the same. Back when were in the process of adopting Emma we decided it would be a good idea if I got a part time job at the airline. Flight benefits and a little extra money definitely helped the cause. The work was physical and the hours were brutal. At that time on a weekly basis I was working an average of 80 hours a week. This lasted for approximately 9 months. A couple of months before Emma came home I resigned from the airline job so I could fully take on the responsibilities of fatherhood. That was back in the spring '07. Fast forward to July of 2008. The economy and a couple of other things to boot has put us in a position where I had to go and get a part time job. Guess where. Yep, the airport. It has called me back. I started my training a week and a half ago and just finished it up last Saturday. 160 hours in 11 days (this was just the training part at the airport along with my other job, I'm not working those kind of hours now...lest you think I'm neglecting my family.) The training is done and I am working my new schedule as well as my regular full time job. I think my dad is the most excited out of anyone seeing as he's retired and is able to take full advantage of my flight benefits.
I am hoping that I can take Tera and Emma with me on a short trip somewhere at some point. Maybe out east, west, north or south? Who knows. Any suggestions? Have a nice week.

J

It would be nice if... (plus some other miscellaneous junk)

... Ididn't have to work so much and could stay home more
...I had a machine that would interpret everything that Emma says, then again I might not want to know what she is saying because she is probably chastising me and that cute little look that she is giving me is actually the stink eye.
...one job was enough. Arrgh.
...we were in Grand Marais www.grandmarais.com
...were at either the Westin or Antigua, Guatemala.
...fruity candy (which is a huge weakness for me) and chocolate wasn't so bad for me.
...gas wasn't almost $4 a gallon...goodbye SUV, hello 4 cylinder car.
...Emma's growing would slow down, she is growing up too fast.
...we could go out to eat at the following places in the following cities:
Fogo de Chao (Mpls) http://fogodechao.com/
Fatt Matt's BBQ (Atlanta) http://www.fatmattsribshack.com/
The Varsity (Atlanta) http://www.thevarsity.com/index.php
The Little Dipper (Wilmington, NC) http://www.littledipperfondue.com/
You get the picture. I like food.

Books I'm reading (not necessarily to myself):
Don't Waste Your Life (John Piper)
Moo, Baa, La, La, La (Sandra Boynton)
Authentic Christianity (Ray C. Steadman)
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you see? (Bill Martin)
A Pig is Big (Douglas Florian)
Hugs (Pennie Kid)

Movies I have recently seen worth mentioning:
Juno
Charlie Wilson's War
The Golden Compass (I mention this one to say that it stinks, so don't see it.)
Vantage Point (still watching it)
Jumper
Bucket List
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (not the first time I have seen it and it won't be the last)
Men in Black (again)

Before I go, thanks Anne and Lynn for your kind comments.

j

This is sad...

I know that my blog is lame. How do I know that? Two people visited my blog today and I was one of them. Boo-hoo...

Late...

Late on the blog this week. I would have done it late on Tuesday but Tera and I watched Charlie Wilson's War. Tera didn't like it but I did. I like movies about stuff like that. History and the like. Later on I watched Cloverfield. It was like an American version of Godzilla but the monster in Cloverfield was way more scary. I suppose it is wrong to compare the Cloverfield monster which is pretty much a CGI effect to Godzilla which is a guy in a rubber and plaster lizard costume destroying mini scale versions on Tokyo. I liked the concept of Cloverfield and the fact that the movie left plenty of unanswered questions which probably means that there will be a sequel. This week I'm fixin' to tear down and rebuild a new fence and gate. This is so Emma doesn't run off too far. I will most likely blog either Monday or Tuesday.
Before I go I would like to say farewell to my co-worker Mike who passed away this week after a brief battle with cancer. He had many friends and for good reason, he was one of those people who didn't say anything cross about anyone. He was an upbeat and jovial guy and he is going to be missed by a lot of people. The upside of it all was that our loss was his gain, He was a believer in Jesus Christ and had the assurance that when he passed that he would be with Christ that very day. What an awesome thing. We will miss you Mike.

Yesterday's post...

Concerning yesterdays post, I went a bit longer than usual. I was up for 32 hours without sleep. I'll do that sometimes. It's amazing what you can get done when you don't sleep. Come to think of it I did forget to say a few things yesterday...