RCPikes

2009-08-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, I suck some more. I discovered Facebook, and so have neglected the blog. Man, so many way to stay secluded while being virtually connected with everybody.

Caleb had his 9th b-day parties a couple of weeks ago. I say parties because our tradition now is to have a friends party in the afternoon and a family party in the evening. It makes for a real busy day. I didn't go hiking or fishing this year, so I was awake for both of them.

We had a good summer. Good vacation in Big Sur. Lots of Hiking. The four of us hiked to the top of Mt. Baden-Powell. Since we're all registered with Boy Scouts, we got these cool medals to wear on our uniforms. Angie and I had a mini-vacation with the Claires and the Armstrongs where we hiked 22 miles in Yosemitie's back country. Not very many pics to share. I was mad at the camera for being 6 extra pounds I had to carry.

Now the heckticness of everything starting back up. School started a couple of weeks ago. It is looking to be a much better year as Josh's teacher this year isn't a totally incompatent witch. Scouting will start back up in a couple of weeks. Just got done doing some preliminary planning, so it feels good to have a head start this year.

Current projects around the house include our kitchen remodel. Yes, it has oficially started. We have new windows, and I made a bar for the corner. I just finished texturing and painging the niche corner. And we have a new dish washer. I'm not sure what's next. So many ideas - no $$.

Alright - I'll post again when I do. Not making any empty promises.

blog 1

2009-07-14T17:43:00.001-07:00

I found this new on-line word processor that is supposed to let you create document and post them to your blog. So I'm creating this temporary entry to see if it really works. I may just be a matter of time before work blocks it, but if it works I'll have an out, at lease for a while.

Here's a picture of the Shelby Cobra.

Great. Let's see if this shiznit actually WORKED!

Muppets, Christmas, and Dogs

2008-12-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Hello All - Merry Christmas Time

One of the things we do as a family around Christmas is to have family movie nights. This year we extended our tradition to the whole Flipside family and had our first Tech Team sponsored Family Movie Night. We watched "A Muppet Christmas Carol." 28 people came, including two families that are relatively new to the church and haven't connected with too many people - so I'll call that a success.

Had been having a lot of trouble with our Verizon DSL service, and I'm the kind of person who will give anybody a chance to fix a problem. So after I gave Verizon 6 of those chances, I fixed the problem by switching to Charter cable modem (and telephone and TV.) Now we have an internet connection faster than a T1 line and hopefully more reliable. That's my excuse for not having posted anything since October. Along with our switch, we also have new email addresses. If you didn't get an email from me with the new address, send me one and I'll get it to you - unless you're one of those leaching freeloaders trying to get free advertising or publicity by posting comments to other peoples' blogs, in which case I'll probably organize a SPAM campaign against you and report you as an abuser. So there.

Today we were watching The Muppet Christmas Movie (not the Christmas Carol, we did that a few weeks ago, remember), and the dogs were being so cute that I had to take picture to share with you. Snowball, the stupid white one, has been on a lot of meds lately trying to cure a nasty case of puppy mange. She's finally getting better and starting to look cute again. Unfortunately, it also makes here more less intelligent than usual so she does dumb thing like chew on the kids toys and wizz inside the house. Both things she has been trained not to do. But, that's boring stuff. Here's the pictures.

Devil's Punchbowl

2008-10-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

One of the ways we get family time together is to go hiking. I like it because it gets me outside and moving. Angie and I like it because of the views. The kids like it...well, I'm not sure yet that they do. The usually complain for the first hour, then get with the program.

Last month we went to Devil's Punchbowl. Here's some pics.

Back Blog

2008-09-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

Dudes! I'm back. Okay, I never really went away. I just got lazy about posting. I have since learned that some of my friends and family who live in other parts of the country were looking at the blog to see what was happening in our lives. Who knew? And I guess if I wasn't posting, they felt like some little piece of their lives was missing. Sorry, Jen. I'm going to give this another try. I'm not making any promises, but I'll try to keep things somewhat current - starting with the last year in review.

First of all, the big news in our extended family is that for the first time in at least two hundred year, the firstborn to a Pike father was a Girl. My cousin Mark and his girlfriend, Rhonda, had a little girl, Madison Elaine, so we welcomed her into the family and teased Mark about how this was proof that he was adopted. J/K

Josh turned 10 this year, and apparently that comes with an attitude. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm trying to raise two Godly boys, so I have to keep my patience in check when he does things like leaving my good tools in the yard where I ususally find them after they've developed a protective coating of iron oxide. Anyway, he wanted to go fishing for his birthday, so we took his friend and went to Prado. We didn't catch squat, and after they got bored with sitting around waiting for the fish to bite, they entertained themselves by cutting up the last two worms we had into little pieced and then doing a Lord of the Flies dance with the worm pieces on a stick. Yea, boys!

We got ourselves two new puppies just before Christmas. If your keeping score, we started with two, lost one, and gained two, bringing us up to a grand total of three, yes three, dogs now. Angie wanted to get me a boxer for Christmas because our other dog, Pepper, is just boring. We went to the shelter to see one that got adopted just before we got there, but one of the ladies sneaked us in to see two puppies that somebody had left at their door. They were too young to be adopted, so we fostered them (read took them to the vet a lot because they had mange really bad) until they were old enough to adopt. So far, their talents include breaking the glass top off of our dining room table, slicing a leg in the process ($600 vet bill), breaking pots in the back yard and slicing pads off of their paws ($400 vet bill), digging up the yard, ripping our couch apart when we forget to put them in their crates, stinking out the house, and sitting in their water tub. Meet Snowball, the most intelligent of the three.

My brother and I had our first guys only family fishing/camping trip. We took my two boys, and two of our nephews to Seven Oaks for camping, fishing, and "training." Nobody got hurt (too badly) and we caught too many fish. Actually, Josh made us all look bad. I think he caught 7. I caught two, then took pictures. After Mike recovers, we might try it again.

Since I talked about Josh, I have to give props to Caleb as well. He has turned out to be quite the academic. The booger brought home straight A's last year, and is on target to do it again this year. He's busying himself with new "inventions" that he keeps in the engineering log book I got for him, and reading like ink was going out of style. He's made it through 5 of the Harry Potter Books. Did I mention he's in 3rd grade? Last year, he had the 2nd highest reading counts score in his class. Some little girl keeps beating him, but I don't think she sleeps.

The highlight from summer was the Great Space Race camp that we planned, programmed, and directed with the Armstrongs. God provided a great team of counselors, and the kids had a great time. Kev was the speaker, and did an outstanding job of challenging kids to "get in the race." It was tiring, but worth it. Ask me about it, and I'll talk your ear off. But I'm getting tired and don't want to type.

Last two things for this entry, then I'm going to bed. Angie and I celebrated 15 years last month. We spent a week in Monterey without the kids (thanks mom and dad) and saw a bunch of neat stuff. If you are ever in the area, you MUST visit the Big Sur Light Station. Freaking Awesome, if you like light houses like I do. They fascinate me. I have a bazillion pictured from the trip, but this one will have to do for you.
And finally, me. The biggest thing in my recent memory was the two days I spent in the hospital on moraphene because of the superhero power I have to produce boulders in my kidneys. I got to experience my first, and if I have anything to do about it, my last, kidney stone. The low down is this - THEY HURT LIKE HELL! Don't use antacids. I don't know for sure, but I think these were the main contributor. I drink more water now, and eat more plants. I don't want to go thru that again.

I was priviledged to have been nominated and conformed for a position on Flipside's Vision Action Team (board, for the old timers). So now I get to go to more meetings, and say my piece about the goings on at the chruch. It's a mixed blessing, because it has forced me to spend more time seeking God and thinking through a lot of what I do. But with great power comes great responsibility, and the hard part is knowing too much about the goings on of the church "business" and finding a balance that keeps the church operating without hindering our spiritual growth. Pray that I stay focused.

And finally, another blessing that fell in our lap this year, I'm the new Cubmaster for Cubscout Pack 628! On top of that, I had two dens last year, Bears (3rd graders) and 1st year Webelos (4th graders.) The last Cubmaster went on with his youngest son to do things with the Boy Scout Troop, so I (foolishly) volunteered to take on the responsibility. That means that I get to plan pack meetings, and since this year I have the 2nd year Webelos, I also get to plan and run den meetings once a week. I already have the date for the rocket launch, so I'll make sure to update you all on this year's rocket launch. Here's a picture from last year. (Yes, it has been that long.)

Love you all.

Bullet the Blue Sky

2007-04-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, the peacefulness of a dry lake bed in the California high desert was shattered by the buzz of a thousand motorcycles and ATVs, kicking up dust and racing against the wind. To the north, scout troop 628 was making a noise of it's own, as the tear of model rockets pierced the sky. In the middle of the smoke and flame were three Pike boys, having the time of their lives.
Every year, the cub scouts take a trip to El Mirage recreation area to have a day of rocket launching. El Mirage is a dry lake just north of Adelanto. It is a popular place for dirt bikes, and one of the few legal places to ride OHVs. We went up with Josh and Caleb's pack, and took along an ample supply of rocket engines.

When we first got there, the boys found the trash pit where everybody dumps their garbage. They had a blast digging up treasure from under the rocks and sand. They unearthed some old TV parts, some old tin cans, and some random pieces that looked like the could have been the remains of test flights gone bad.

We had three rocket of our own, and our own launch pad. Since I had never launched rockets myself, I had fun too. But the best part was just watching the kids get excited each time one of their space ships blasted toward the clouds. We were there from about 9:00 to 1:00, and the kids never seemed to get tired of launch a rocket - chase a rocket - bring back a rocket.

When the boys got bored of fire-and-smoke rockets, Bob, the pack leader, got out he bottle rocket supplies. The kids each made a bottle rocket out of coke bottles, then used Bob's custom pneumatic launcher to blast them into the air. They didn't go as high as the engine powered rockets, but for nothing more than coke bottles with golf balls taped on, some of them got decent air.

We rounded out the day by setting up the potato gun canons. We didn't use potatoes, though, because of safety reasons. Instead the boys launched tennis balls, first for distance and accuracy, then they broke into two teams and launched balls at each other. Sometime during the battle, the older boy scouts came over and took control of the canons. Since they were unsupervised and basically being little sh*ts, I decided it was a good time to leave.

On the way home, we stopped by Uncle Joe's hanger to see what he and cousins were up to.

Family is so cool...

Do You Feel Lucky?

2007-03-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

One of my earliest memories is of my Grandma's white boxer, Barron. When I was only a toddler, Barron seemed so huge to me. My mom tells me that one time, I tried to lick Barron's tongue becauue I thought it looked like ham (well, it did!). And I can vividly remember Barron's white hair getting all over my Grandma's pink lumpy carpet. Ahh, those were the days.

Our family has always had a special affinity for boxers. After Barron passed away, my uncle got another boxer. I don't remember his name, but I just know there were always boxers at Grandma's house. They always had cool name like Captain Bo, Sparticus, Rocky. Barney was the boxer we had when grandma passed away. My dad's boxer, Dimpsey, was Barney's brother, and he lived at my step moms after my dad died. Even today, my cousin has two boxers.

I guess I can say boxers are just a tradition in the Pike family, and every boxer we have ever had has been a family member, whether it was Grandma's, my uncle's, my cousin's, or my brother's. We loved them all, and missed them dearly when they moved on. And this is unfortunate and particularly hard becasue we do become so attached to them. One of hardest was when Duke, my brother's boxer, had to be put to sleep while my brother was overseas. It tore up my mom, and I know my brother hurt because he couldn't be there in the end.

Last week we lost another family member. My brother's boxer, Lucky, had to be put to sleep. Lucky was a special dog because of the circumstance by which we came into my brother's life. After a particularly rough time, he won tickets to a Bob Marley festival, and came upon the dog, which he named Lucky. Lucky was a dopey dog, and event though people say that dog's don't have souls, I know Lucky loved us becasue of the way he was always excited to see us. Expecially my brother. I know my brother is hurting at his loss, and I hurt with him.

To all the dogs we've loved before...

Letters from a child's heart

2007-02-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

Last night I was sitting in my La-z-boy chair being, well, lazy, when I saw a small hand reach past the top of the stairs. Since it was after 9:00, I assumed we were going to have a long nite of trying to keep Josh in bed. So I did my daddy thing and sneeked up the stairs just it time to see Josh jump back into bed. Ready to bring the daddy-smack-down on him, I started toward his room when I noticed a piece of paper on the floor. In the past when he has left papers like this, they have been things like "I want a snack" or "I'm sorry I was sneeking candy into bed." When I picked up the note and started to read it, I almost started to cry. Here's what it said:

Dear Dad,

Thanks for the rope book.

I'm looking forward to learning

them. I have been learning the

square knot and more.

Today I tied my friend

to a tree with a square knot.

A lot or people came

to see him. I bet you are

worried about him being

tied to a tree, but he broke

the knot and got free.

Someday I'm going to

know all the knots in the world.

But that's in a long time.

Thank you for teaching

me how to play the flute. When

I'm older I will play the

flute in a band.

Bye!

I had to read it a couple of times before I realized this was what was really on his heart. I think we can learn a lot from our kids when we take the time to really listen to them. A lot of times we are quick to dicipline them and miss these opportunities. I know in our house, there is alway the assumption that they are doing something wrong, so that's what we look for. In this case, if I had not stopped to read the note, I would have missed something special.

When we retired for the night, we found another note at the top of the stairs, and once again, I had to smile. Even though he was out of bed when he was supposed to be asleep, he was reaching out to us as only a child can.

Dear Mom,

Thanks for all the nice things

you did. I you weren't born,

you would not get this letter.

One of the nice things you

did was help me on my home-

work.

Thank you for finding a

nice dad.

I hope you have

a good night sleep. Bye.

Holiday Highlights

2007-01-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

Greeting Blogger Viewers! Happy New Year.

Christmas is over, and the new year seems to have snuck up on us again. The last several weeks have been a blur. In a way, I'm glad things have slowed down, but I love the holiday season so much that I already miss it (sniff, sniff). One of my observations this year is that there are a significant number of people who actually HATE the season. Believe me, I know what it is like to have lost loved ones. I can also understand the pressure of feeling like you have to buy stuff for everybody you know, but here's something to think about; as far as buying presents for everybody, they probably won't remember if you didn't get them anything. Honestly, can you remember 1 present you got last year, and who gave it to you? But before this gets all negative and stuff, and people start leaving me nasty comments about bringing them down, let me say that this has been one of best seasons I've had in many, many years. As a family, we spent more time together doing "Christmas" things, we spent more time with friends and family, and together we celebrated the birth of Jesus, and these things are what the season are really about. That said, here are the highlights of our Christmas week:

We kicked off the week by going up to Bill and Liz's Holiday open house. This year was nice, because it was mostly family. We got to see Alisa's kids, whom we haven't seen since Naomi's wedding several years ago. We even had a nostaligic conversation with Alisa about childhood memories. We realized that we all are scarred for only getting 1/2 package of hot coca when we were kids, so now we overcompensate by using at least 2 per cup. Also thinks like "smell my butt and see if I farted."

On the 19th our Bible study and their families came over and we made Candy Canes. Yes, we made Candy Canes - real ones - like the hard candy kind. I have been making Candy Canes for the last 4 years. If you want more details, you'll have to leave me a comment, or send me an email.

Christmas Eve we were at Dan and Mindi's. I didn't have the camera with me, so no pics. (Check Mindi's blog.)

Christmas morning we were at home with the boys. The best part about the morning was the smiles on their faces.

Christmas afternoon we were at my moms. What we'll remember most is the utter chaos that ensued once the present passing started. Josh, Caleb, and my nephews Matt and Jacob, passed out the presents, and as soon as somebody got one, it got opened. But the boys didn't wait for that person to fininsh before the next present went out, so it seems like we got through the whole pile in about 42 seconds. After the paper settled, we looked around to see what everybody got. It was awesome.

Lastly, on the day after Christmas, we went to cousin Marks for the Pike family Christmas. When my cousins, brother, and I were growing up, we looked forward to Christmas Eve at Grandma Pikes more than any other day of the year. After Grandma passed away, the tradition kind of died. A few years later my dad passed away, and we decided we needed to bring the tradition back. But since we've all grown up and have other family commitments, Christmas Eve wouldn't work. So for the last 6 or 7 years, we've done the 26th. That's our new day. It's also interesting because the Pike boys do most of the cooking. I make duck, Uncle Joe makes wild rice, Joe, Mark, and Mike make the sides, and Liz and Naomi usually do deserts or whatever sides we don't do. Considering more than half of the boys are bachelors, the food is always good, and we are alway stuffed when we leave. We've also seen the family grow, as Cousin Joe had two boys, and my little sister, Naomi, and her husband, Aaron, have added two boys (they're all cute!) It's also commical, because Naomi isn't a Pike by blood, yet her first two offspring were boys, as has been with the Pikes for more than 100 year!

That's about all for this entry. I think it's long enough. I'll start working on the Bass Lake entry next. We went to Bass Lake with Dan and Mindi (and Kaylee and Nicholas and Keith and Jeannie and Mom and Dad) for New Years. Highlights to come...

Christmas on Euclid

2006-12-16T22:34:00.000-08:00

Today, the boys and I went to Ontario to check out the "Christmas on Euclid" Nativity story displays while mom was scrap booking. These things have been around since I was a small boy, and I'm afraid that with all the political correctness that has plagued our country of late, they may not be around too much longer. We had a good time reading the plaques, and the boys had a blast running in between the displays. I got good pictures of all of them, so if you're intersted, I can email you the whole series. I got some good shots of Jesus hand on the ground.

After Euclid we went to brother Mikes and had lunch at Juanita's. Hanging out with family is what this time of year is all about.

Hope all is happy and bright - check out the pics.

Year in Review

2006-12-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

Welcome to the Pike's year in review. I hope you have had a wonderful year, and if you are visiting our blog because you got our Christmas card, cool. We're new to the blogging scene, and have found that since the world is now on-line, why not. This is first year doing our year in review on our blog, so we hope you enjoy it.

This has been a good year for us. My "new" job at ATK is going well. I like the work that I'm doing, and the environment is so much more professional and stress free than my last job. I've been riding the motorcycle between Rancho Cucamonga and Woodland Hills a lot, so the drive isn't too bad. I try not to think about it too much, because I'm sure if I did, it would ruin the job for me. This year, my manager asked me if I wanted to work a compressed week, 4-10's, so I could have every Friday off. It seems to be working out for us, and it keeps me from having to drive out there on Fridays.

Angie started working at Flipside part time as the Flipt administrative assistant. Flipt is our children's ministry, so Angie spends most of her time preparing the lessons for the weekend and coordinating the volunteers with Paul, our imprompto family pastor. She enjoys the work, and the schedule is flexible enough that she is still able to be available for the boys when they aren't in school. It also gives Me an excuse to hang around the building on my days off doing minor handyman stuff or working on fixing and/or improving our tech equipment.

The boys are both doing well in school. We just had conferences, and they are both working at or above grade level, even though they are both showing slight signs of being underachievers (like their daddy). They both started Cub Scouts this year, so they are excited about the projects they get to work on. Other than that, not much new is happening with them except normal boy stuff - breaking stuff, taking things apart, banging plants to death - stuff like that.

One sad thing that happend this year - we lost Obsidian, our dog. She had been with us for 10 years, and aparently develped a tumor or somthing in her belly. To make a long story short, she spent her last night breathing heavy, laying on the floor with Angie and I. Angie was with her when she stopped breathing. What made her loss even harder was Caleb's birthday two days later, so we spent the next day driving around getting party supplies, grieving in between stores. And that night myself and five other crazy guys did a night hike to the top of Cucamonga Peak. I got back just in time for Caleb's party, but since Angie had it under control, I crashed on the couch at her parents and slept until it was time to leave.

Some highlights of our year have been:

Hiking - we have been hiking as a family a lot. We spent most weekends in the summer doing at least the Claremont Wilderness Trail with our friends the Armstrongs, the Clairs, and the Curriers. Josh likes "exploring" and hanging out with his friends. Caleb likes hanging out with friends and the snacks, but hasn't really shown an aptitude to the whole hiking scene, yet.

Glen Aulin - Angie and I did our first overnight hike to Glen Aulin with our friends the

Armstrongs. 6 miles from the road to the camp, most of the trail was flooded, another 3 1/2 miles to Waterwheel Falls, and 9 bazillion mosquitoes later, we decided we could get into this hiking thing, so we want to do more trips like that. We are scheming to start doing the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, so hopefully we'll get started on that sometime soon. We were also very, very sore after carrying 40 pound packs on the trail for three days.

Sedona - We spent a week in Sedona with Dan and Mindi. We were there right after the fires, so the Coconico and Red Rock forests were closed most of the week, which meant not too much hiking and a lot of together time in the condo. We grew closer as a family.

Caprenteria - We spent a week in Carpenteria with the Clairs, Curriers, and Troxels. Angie's cousins Tim and Melinda, who both work at the State Park, and live within walking distance of the campground, made us all muffins the first day, and had us all over for B-B-Q tri-tip later in the week. Most of the week was spent in the water or on the sand just hanging out. I learned that week that the Smirnoff coolers are good, so I guess I drink now.

San Diego - We were in San Diego for Veteren's day weekend with the same crew, plus a bunch of other families from the Church. It was kind of an end of the summer bash and last hurah before the holidays consumed our lives.

And now - Christmas (oooh, fun with colors). For the first time in about 9 years, I am really getting into the Christmas spirit. I think not working for a psycho boss, and having an little extra income to lavish on others has helped. I'm finding December to be a little hectic, but this too will pass.

So that's about it. I look forward to hearing from everybody. I want to know what's going on with everybody, expecially those of you with whom I haven't been in touch with for a while. Leave me comments, or better yet, call. We'll be seeing you.

With much love and hopes for a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year,

- The Pikes

Sing We Now of Christmas

2006-12-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas music; all kinds; most styles. The hip-hop thing doesn't really work for me, but everything else from classical, jazz, country, rock, techno - it's all pretty much good.

Last weekend, both of our boys were in the Flipside kids "musical theatre." My buddy Mark has been working with them on the tech stuff, and my friend Josh did the lighting. I helped Mark during the actual production by running the sound board while he called out ques. Both of our boys had "solo" parts. Josh was Grandpa Eddie, and his honking walking stick and Frank Sinatra "Ba Ba Ba Boom" singing really got the crown laughing. Caleb got to deliver the Christmas message; "Today, in the City of David, a Saviour has been born to you, who is Christ the LORD." Here's a couple of pics. You can see more at Flipsides website.

I love doing Christmas stuff...more to come.

Thanksgiving, Christmas Trees, and Holidays IV

2006-11-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving came. I ate. I enjoyed time with the family. Grandpa came down from Stockton. I always like taking pictures when he's down. Here are four generations of Anderson decendants: Grandpa, Uncle Donnie, Me, and the boys.

I went shopping at 6:30 the next morning. I don't know why I do that to myself. I try to get into the Christmas spirit, and end up having to come home early so I don't go postal on somebody. I saw some interesing things while I was out. One I will shares is something that I found humorous and that pretty much sums up the mentality of most of the people I encountered.

While checking out with my loot at the local electronics store, I overheard two "ladies" yelling at the girls who had the very important job of standing at the end of the line holding helium balloons. The conversation went something like "We better still get the good price when we get to the register. It's not our fault that we couldn't find what we came here for. You people be all hiding stuff so we can't see it (under the HUGE yellow sign reading 'Adverstised Special')." To this, the employee responded "Oh you don't need to worry about the price. We pretty much give people the sale price until we close tonight." I guess this wasn't good enough, because the "ladies" demanded the girls name, and made some empty threat about coming after her if they didn't get the good price. I caught the balloon girl's eye while this was going, and she just rolled them at me. I smiled and chuckled back. I think we both agreed, these people were crazy.

We picked our our Christmas tree this weekend. The fam and I went to our local tree farm, where we have been going for about 10 years, and picked out two trees. One for us, and one for Flipside. Here we are in front of our find.

Lastly, a brief history of Christmas trees - again, plagerized from numerous reliable web sites.

The fir tree has a long association with Christianity, it began in Germany almost 1,000 years ago when St Boniface, who converted the German people to Christianity, was said to have come across a group of pagans worshipping an oak tree. In anger, St Boniface is said to have cut down the oak tree and to his amazement a young fir tree sprung up from the roots of the oak tree. St Boniface took this as a sign of the Christian faith. But it was not until the 16th century that fir trees were brought indoors at Christmas time.

The first decorated tree was at Riga in Latvia, in 1510. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther is said to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.

In 1846, the popular Royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were illustrated in the Illustrated London News. They were standing with their children around a Christmas Tree. Unlike the previous Royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at Court immediately became fashionable - not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The English Christmas Tree had arrived!

Holidays III

2006-11-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

So much to day...so little time to make an entry while I'm at work.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I love this holiday, mostly becasue I get to eat good food. I like eating. It's one of my weaknesses. But it's fun.

So, in previous posts, I have questioned a couple of the traditions surrounding Christmas. First, I pointed out that we don't really know how many wise men there were becasue the Bible just doesn't say. Next, I made an off-handed comment about Shepherds tending sheep in Winter. The point was that there are some scholars who believe that Jesus was born in the spring, not in the winter. If that totally ruins Christmas for you, I sincerely apologize...but keep reading.

If I had nothing else to do, I would spend a lot of time writing about Christmas and the traditions that surround it. But since I don't, I'll try and summarize a few.

Christmas, as we know it today, really didn't exists until sometime after the founding our our nation. However, celebrations and traditions have always occured around this time of year because of something that has more to do with physics than anything else - the Winter Solstice, or shortest day of the year. Some historians think that ancient cultures put much emphasis on this day because they worshiped the sun. During the winter months, the absense of the sun was feared, so to appease their false gods they held celebrations. Many of our traditions, the Yule log, gift giving, feasts, holly, wreaths, have their roots in pagen celebrations.

In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. First called the Feast of the Nativity, the custom spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of Christmas had spread all the way to Scandinavia. Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.

In the early 17th century, a wave of religious reform changed the way Christmas was celebrated in Europe. When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan forces took over England in 1645, they vowed to rid England of decadence and, as part of their effort, cancelled Christmas. By popular demand, Charles II was restored to the throne and, with him, came the return of the popular holiday.

After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.

Christmas has even been re-invented a few times since then. It wasn't until Washington Irving's The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., and Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol became popular that that modern Christmas was established.

So, the popular saying that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" isn't 100% accurate. It is what we as Christians celebrated on Dec 25th, even though he probably want born on that day. Intermingled with the Christian celebrations are various other traditions from many differnt cultures and beliefs.

Pretty cool, huh?

BTW - I need to give credit where credit is due. Most of this blog was plagerized from The History Channel website. If you want more detail about the History of Christmas, check out this link: http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=mini_home&mini_id=1290

Birthday at Mt. Baldy Visitor's Center

2006-11-18T21:30:00.000-08:00

This year, we celebrated Josh's birthday at the Mt. Baldy Visitor's center. As a family, we have been spending a lot more time in the Mt. Baldy area, and Josh really wanted to share his passion for our local mountains with his friends. For kids, this is a great way to spend the day. For birthday parties, especially, you can't beat this because it's educational, fun, and creates an awareness and appreciation for the mountains. It doesn't cost more than a party in a stuffy room at the pizza jounts, either.After most of the kids arrived, we ate Mac & Cheese. Then Ranger Briana came in and the activities began. First, we made animal tracks:

Then we went outside and listend to a story about what the gold miners used to do to claim jumpers (cut their ears off) - then we panned for gold. Josh found a huge nugget!

After that, Briana took us on a hike where we found ladybugs, learned about bay trees, saw the oldest big cone conifer west of the Missippi, crossed an old ricketty bridge, and then played red-light-green-light on the way back.

When we got back, we got to see a Desert Tortise, and handle snakes!

After cake and ice cream, we played outside until parents came to get the kids. Overall, I think all the kids had a really good time. And I have to admit, for a kids party, I had a good time, too. You can check out more aboyt the visitor's center here: mtbaldyeducation.org

Holidays II

2006-11-16T08:15:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to San Diego with some friends. We spent Friday at the zoo, and Saturday lazing around the KOA in Chula Vista. I took the kids on a short 3 mile bike ride, during which I made a spectacular sliding dismount from my bike as it slid down a slick ramp covered in sea muck. After getting completely smelly, covered in green slime, and getting my sweats soaked with yuck water, I got back up just in time to see my oldest son following my trail. Luckily, I was able to yell with sufficent volume and urgency that he stopped before hitting the slippery part.

At the zoo, my buddy Chris and I were amuzed by the Chimpanzies and their ability to entertain by all mannor of comical and sometimes explicit antics.

Overall, it was a wondereful weekend. Any time I get to hang out with my kids is good, and after they went to bed the grown-ups sat around the campfire and melted root-beer bottles. We're so mature. :-)

Next week is Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving is always the busiest shopping day of the year, and all of the retailers gear up for it. Our family celebrates Thanksgiving day usually by going to my aunts. We always get assigned the vegetable tray - don't know why. We spend another day at my in-laws usually watching football. I don't really watch much football, but it's on when we get there, so I watch it. This year, my wife's aunt and uncle are coming. Actually, I think they are here this week as we're supposed to have dinner with them tomorrow. My wife's aunt is a vegan, so it will be interesting to see what we have for dinner.

Okay - Time for Christmas Entry # 2:

First off, the Bible doesn't say how many "wise men" there were. The three wise men tradition probably stems from the three gifts that were presented to Jesus when they arrived; gold, francensense, and myrr. A study of the account of the Magi reveals another intersting tidbit of information - they probably weren't at the manger in Bethlahem. Herod sent them to find the child that posed a threat to his kingdom, so Jesus had already been born when they started their journey. I doubt Mary and Joseph hung around in a barn for the length of time it would have taken the Magi to get from the orient to Bethlahem. So if you're interested in being completely accurate about the Nativity, get the wise men out. Something to think about...

I need to go tend my sheep now, becasue that's what shepherds do in the winter in the middle east. Crazy you say? Well, if Jesus was born on Christmas day, which is in the winter, and the shepherds were tending their sheep when the Angels announced that a Saviour had been born, doesn't it stem to reason that the shepherds were tending their sheep in winter? Hmmm? Maybe this deserves a little more investigating.

e-stalking

2006-11-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

I got an email from a friend today. It was a well fabricated story about a cop who masqueraded online as a teenager and stocked a 14 year old girl. He was able to get enough information about her to find out where she lived, when she was alone, etc. Eventually, he followed her home, and then discussed with her and her parents the dangers of chatting online, even if you think you aren't giving away any personal information. I'll forward it to you if you want, but that's not really the issue of this entry.

On the top of the email was a list of all of the people to whom the email was sent. I looked at the list, and realized there was enough information in that list to do the same thing the police officer did. For example, one of the email address, which is changed here to protect the unknowing, was pat.anderson@highschool.ca.gov. In that one email address is a first name, a last name, and a place of employment. A simple internet search would give me enough information to find that person and stalk them if I was so twisted. I could also have easily saved the emails of a bunch of other people who would probably prefer I didn't invite them to my next midnight hike to Cucamonga Peak. So I started thinking about a simple way to keep this from happening - one more small security step we can all use. When sending bulk emails to everybody you know, don't use the CC (Carbon Copy) for the recipient list. If you use BCC instead (Blind Carbon Copy), you will still send the email to everybody, but they won't be able to see who else you sent it to. Pretty cool, isn't it. To show you how this works, I sent an email to 50 people asking them to check out my blog. I BCC'd all of the recipients, so if you're here as a result of that email, you have already seen how it works.

Anyway, I just wanted to pass that along. BTW - Blogs are a great place to post pics of your family. They are also a good place for wierdos to find pictures of you and yours. Post with care.

Love you all.

Halloween Pics

2006-11-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

Halloween is gone, and now are left with nothing but a lot of candy, moldy pumpkins, and pictures of our kids in costumes. The pumpkins are good for the compost pile. The candy is good for keeping the dentist in business. The pictures are good for putting on the blog so people can tell me how cute my kids were this year. So here you go...

On Halloween night, we went Trick-or-Treating with our friends. The took us to the "secret place" where the nice people give out king sized Snickers bars and dollar bills instead of the little bit sized candies and pennies. Apparently it isn't much of a secret because there were bazillions of people there. Once we got off the main drag though, it was better. The kids got enough loot to last until next Halloween, and we got to hang out so that is always good. The kidos looked good in their costumes. Besides our Spiderman and Cross dresser, we had mermaids, a cat (I think), Edward Scissorhands, and Charlie Brown (in Halloween attire.) I didn't get any pictures of Eddie, though, which is too bad 'cause he gave Johnny Dep a run for his money.

This is my son, with whom I am well pleased

2006-11-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

There is nothing deep in this post. I just wanted the world to share in one of my proudest moments. While I was work one day, my oldest son decided that he was going to dress up as a girl for Halloween. With Mom's help, here is what he came up with.

I'm so proud. (BTW - I did have some say in the costume; I would not let him paint his nails)

Holidays!!!

2006-10-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

Today is Halloween. I think this officially begins the "holiday season." To commemorate this time of year, I will begin a series of Christmas blogs that will dispel myths, and give you insight into what Christmas means to me.

First things first. This past weekend, I had the priviledge of helping to take pictures at a costume party for cancer patients. The party was sponsored by a non-profit charity organization called Adonai. It was cool to see the chemo patients smiling. There was candy up the booty, and good food, and lots of pictures. I will put a few up later today.

CHRISTMAS - PART 1

To start with, I will rant about how it bothers me that retail outlets start putting Christmas suff out even before Halloween. I know this is part of their ploy to get you into the buying mood, but sakes alive, can't they at least wait until November 1st? We went to Lowes last weekend (we go to Lowes or Home Depot almost every weekend) and they already have two aisles of Christmas stuff out. They even had a large part of the garden section dedicated to "living" Christmas trees. Wal Mart and Target are already gearing up, and I think I even saw some Christmas decorations at Victoria Gardens.

You may be wondering "so what?" Well, here's my deal. I love Christmas. I love everything about it. Shopping, buying gifts for people, family gatherings, parties with friends, Christmas trees, lights, the Nativity, Christmas Eve services, the whole ball of wax. But I can't stay in the Christmas mood for more that about 6 weeks. So if I go to the stores and see all the Christmas stuff out, then my Christmas mood switch goes on, and I'm done before Christmas even gets here. What's more, if they put the stuff out early, then the vultures come and start ravaging it, so by the time I get to shopping for Christmas stuff, it's in shambles. So, this bothers me.

Here's my plan for this year. I'm trying to get all of my lists together, and get all the gift exchange assignments done, so I can start my shopping this weekend. My goal is to have all of my shopping done by December 1st. After that, I can just enjoy making candy canes and hanging out with friends, and maybe put a little more thought into this years Christmas cards. We'll have to see how that works out. Plus, if all of my shopping is done, then I can go to the malls and just enjoy the decorations and the Christmas music, and watch all the other people frantically sucrring about.

So that's pretty much it for today. I leave you today with this question - How many wise men were there, and what evidence can you provide to support your answer?

Have a good Halloween, and be safe.

Why my friends Rule

2006-10-29T16:12:00.000-08:00

So I'm done with my Rules of Engagement stuff, and still have a few minutes to work on this.

This summer, we went to Carpenteria with some of our friends. I love my friends. I think God gives us friends so we can get a small glimpse of what Heaven will be like. The only problem with friends is that I get really attached to them. Then they move or I do something stupid that distances them, and that hurts. Sometimes friends just drift away - life happens and takes us in different directions. I'm much better with writing than speaking, so I know I don't tell my friends enough how much they mean to me. And I suck at corresponding, mostly because I'm impatient and don't have the time to write letters. But now that I'm blogging, I have a way to communicate, at least a little better. And since the whole world can read it, I become a little more transparent at the same time. Yay.

Here are some pics from that trip. And for my friends, old, new, and unknown, I love you all. God has always surrounded me with good friends, and I am blessed to have always had the best friends in the world.

These are some of my favorite pictures. The big group pictures alway make me happy. The picture of the kids wading in the waves pretty much captures the essense of the trip - Good firends hanging out, doing nothing more than having fun and enjoying each others company.