If you can watch this less then 4 times you need to turn in your geek badge.

The rain did do one good thing, the wildflowers are everywhere.  Sweetness, being a lady and all, really likes it when we ride through fields of flowers, so I stopped to take some pictures.  I took some video too but the quality with my phone is bad so you can’t really appreciate it.

Recent Rides at McAllister Park

Alyssa's Cabin "The 80's Ladies"

6th graders in Boerne schools get to go to a 3 day camp called Boerne Outdoor Academy or BOA. The camp is part of the school curriculum and is lead by the 6th grade teachers and staff from each elementary school. Along with high school students who server as Student Leaders and a bunch of parent volunteers.

Kendall Elementary BOA 2010

This year was Alyssa’s turn to go. Heather went with Ashley 3 years ago, and I called dibs back then so I could go with Alyssa. I signed up as a parent volunteer and was assigned to help a teacher, Ms. Castaneda, with the Rocketry class.

Alyssa and her Student Leader making a rocket

I think the main reason I wanted to go as a volunteer was because I was so jealous of my kids. These kids are so lucky to get to go to camp as part of their school curriculum, about the coolest activity I ever got to do in 6th grade was passing out in the lunch line.

Launching Rockets

Unfortunately the rocketry class did not involve any solid fuel powered rockets as I had hoped, nor any other form of combustible fuel, but it was a lot of fun anyhow. Ms. Castaneda taught the kids about Newton’s Laws of Motion and basic principles of rockets then we showed them how to build their own rockets with paper and glue. The kids then set to work building and we launched them using compressed air. We had competitions for distance and altitude.

The girls destroyed the boys in nearly all the class distance competitions.

It was tons of fun working with the kids but 30 6th grade boys in one group was very trying on my patience. I came away with a great respect for the teachers that work with these kids all day long, it is exhausting.

Other classes the kids had at camp included; water studies, canoeing and fishing, geocaching, nature hike, crafts, and team-building games. Each night there were skits and camp songs, and the last night they had a t-shirt signing and dance.

Is it really camp if you don't canoe?

Running away is fun to do

Alyssa tells me she LOVED BOA. Her favorite activity was the nature hike, which make me very happy as a dad. I love to hike and I have tried (although not nearly often enough) to share my love for nature with my children.  Thanks to the school for making this possible and helping me in my job to teach my children to love our world.

An extra special thank you goes to the HEB Foundation Camps who allow the school to use their beautiful campground near Leakey, Texas.

High School Student Leaders

The ground, ack, it's lava!

Future nuclear physicist practice their uranium handling skills

Alyssa had a blast with her camp family

Echo Valley Campground and HEB Foundation Camp

Arrived around 3pm on Friday January 1, 2010. Setup the tent and went on a hike to the cave with Ashley (13), Arianna (9), and DJ (6). Alyssa (11) decided to stay at camp to help Heather setup the rest of camp and take care of baby Benjamin (2.5 months).

Arianna says I should have told her more information about the length and difficulty of the hike to the cave. But even with a few moans and groans I was surprised how well the younger kids did with the 1.5 mile hike up the face of Enchanted Rock to the cave.

I also underestimated how hard it would be for a 6 and 9 year old to get through the cave. The darkness did not phase them, they were very brave. But there is a bit of climbing up and down large rocks to get through the cave. Luckily I had some beef jerky and I lured them on with promises of tasty dried beef. Ashley loved everything about the hike and the cave, she’s my own little Grizzly Adams. She would live in the creek in our backyard if we let her.

As the sun went down the cold took over. The forecast was for a pleasant 40ºf low that night, but 9pm it was around 30º. At 6:30am the next morning it was 25º. Heather suggested we get in the van and warm up. On the way to the van Anna tossed her cookies. Between that and the cold I decided to take the young ones home.

Ashley, Alyssa, and me returned to the park around 10am and broke camp. We decided to take another hike since Alyssa had not really seen much of the place. We had a very fun 4 mile hike up the smaller dome, taking our time to play on the rocks and search for wildlife. Ashley discovered some little creatures swimming around in the rain pools on the top, that was about all the wildlife we found, but we had a great time climbing down the east face.

More Pictures at my Picasa Web

We brought Benjamin home Saturday night to an eager group of little girls. It was very entertaining to watch Ashley and Alyssa gush, grin, and giggle as they saw their new little brother come into our home. Heather is so happy to have another baby, I keep reminding her that babies become children but that does not seem to deter her enthusiasm. As for me I am actually really excited to have another son, and look forward to many excellent years of father son time with my two boys. The baby part is a little strange to me, they don’t do anything productive or entertaining, but to watch Heather and the girls with him you would think they found a treasure beyond their wildest dreams.

I am a little overwhelmed at the prospect of being responsible for 5 precious little people. Thank heaven for Heather, she really carries the burden for us both with spectacular energy and joy. As for me I have faith that the Lord will provide me the strength to provide for the children he has given us to take care of.

Number 5

Heather had an ultrasound this morning and I am happy to tell you that it does seem to be a human baby and it has 2 arms, 2 legs, a head, and other parts that we would expect.  We did not see the part that most people are concerned about with this type of test.  They say we will get that information at the next ultrasound in 6 weeks.

D.J.  wants a little brother and has told us that he will not be happy if it comes out a girl.  We told him we would do what we can about that, but we will get what we get and we won’t have a fit. 

Ashley, Alyssa, and Arianna all want a little sister.  I think their American Girl dolls are a little to static and they want a real baby go poo-poo. 

All of the kids are very excited and have volunteered to share a room with Number 5.  Heather is REALLY excited.  I am happy, mostly because Heather is REALLY excited and the kids are so positive about this new addition.  I am sure when the time comes and this little guy is with us I will be just as excited and happy as everyone.

Heather and I are both undecided on any gender preference.  I think we both just hope for a happy healthy baby.  A low-maintenance baby would be great!  So long as it has a gender we will be satisfied. 

Here is a short clip of the ultrasound with more proof that Heather does indeed have a human living inside her and not some grotesque belly popper from a 1986 science fiction movie.

My overall impression of the park is mixed, I have never ridden through so much rock, the constant barrage of sharp rocks and a slow leak did my back tube in.    Riding up-hill through the rocks is tough, not much fun at all.  Bashing down hill through the rocks was fun, but caused me to lay sweetness down for the first time since starting to ride again.  I have a strong instinct towards saving myself over my bike, so I escaped unscathed.

I will go back to Government Canyon because  there is lots of beautiful country to see and I am a gluton for punishment.  Plus 3 days removed from the ride, it doesn’t seem so bad.  I just don’t enjoy riding in so much rock.  Living in the Texas Hill Country that is pretty much going to be a common problem.  The only other trails I have ridden in Texas are at McAllister Park in San Antonio, they have a number of rocky sections, but there is a lot of smoother dirt single track.

One of the smoother section of trail at Government Canyon

I started the ride heading north on Joe Johnston Route.  This trail is rocky double-track with a steady gentle ascent.  It was a good trail for warming up the legs.  About 0.8 miles up I turned right onto Wildcat Canyon.  I was ready for some single track and some good climbs.  The first .2 miles of this trail was excellent, some fast smoother trails and a few woop-de-dos in the middle of one nice dip in the trail.   Then the trail gets very rocky and the ascent becomes more intense with some 1-2 ft rock steps.  If you pick the right line most intermediate riders could handle this trail.   I was able to ride up more then 80% of the trail, then my age and general bad shape caught up to me and I had to walk my bike over some of the steeper sections.

Wildcat Canyon Trail

About 1.2 miles on this trail and I noticed my back tire was getting very low.  I left my pump in a friends backpack so I was very concerned about making it back to my car.  I decided to walk my bike the rest of the way up to avoid all the pressure on the tire caused by climbing.  I figured I could ride it back down.  I hit a fork in the trail and decided to take Sendero Balcones back to the parking area.

Sendero Balcones Trail

I figured I had climed so much that it would have to be mostly down-hill.  I was having too much fun riding down many long sections of rock steps then I popped the rear tube completely.  I made it 4.95 miles before the blowout, then I had to walk 1 mile back to my car.

GPS Track of ride at Government Canyon State Nature Area

Arggggh

After the game DJ ran up to me and said “the coach told us to be dirty”.   I expect he was not asking them to kick, punch, or tackle the opposing players. I think he was encouraging DJ after he fell and got covered with dirt.

This video is a short mix of the game, played at double speed for my own entertainment.

I also put together a 10 minute video with clips from the entire game.  It is long but parents and grandparents may enjoy it.  Click a link below to view the movie.  You can save this movie to your computer by right clicking on the link and choosing “save link as” or “save target as”.

High Quality 640×480, 222mb
Low Quality 320×240, 85mb

See the full photo album here.

Trip Log:
Saturday March 7: Leave Boerne, Texas at 8:00am. Drive all day through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Arrived at the Creer’s in Montgomery, Alabama around 12:30am. They were nice enough to kick their daughter out of her room and give the bed to Heather and me.

Sunday March 8: Hanging out with the Creer’s. Lots of fun playing with the kids, building Lego, playing dodge ball, tossing footballs, shooting each other with dart guns. We were playing dodge ball with with about 20 tennis balls in the yard and their daughter decided it would be more efficient to just hit me with a bat. Luckily she only hit my sufficiently padded back side. We went downtown and saw some historical buildings and walked by the Alabama river. The kids had a great time playing in a massive water fountain, to bad no one planned ahead and wore their swimsuit.

DJ washes his own clothes. How Thoughtful...

Monday March 9: Left the Creer’s around 9am and drove to my brother Dale’s home in Kissimmee, Florida,   arrived around 7pm.  Dale, Jae, Tanner, Lane, and Wilson welcomed us to their home.  Lane donated his bedroom to the cause, thanks again.  Hung out and played Lego with my big brother.

Prototyping our interstellar cruisers.

Tuesday March 10: Went to Downtown Disney to check out some cool stores and such.  THEY HAVE A LEGO STORE!!!  WOWSERS!!!  We spent lots of time at all the non Lego related stores, and not nearly enough time at The Lego Store.  It was really cool.  The girls bought some girly colored bricks and DJ bought set 6743 “Street Speeder”.  I did not buy any Lego for myself and am still in shock over that.   They do have some other cool shops and restaurants, one place called T-REX was decorated like caves and jungles and various prehistoric scenes.  DJ got a Build-a-Dino stuffed animal, but maintained some boy cred by naming it “Thunder” and plus it is a dinosaur.  We also went into many Disney merchandise mega stores and had some cool drinks at the Rainforest Cafe.

Don't freak out, but there is something big and green behind you.

2 Awesome things in one picture, and you lived to see it! (And no, those are not mouse ears on DJ

Wednesday March 11: Disney World Magic Kingdom Day! Arrived at the park around 9am, Tanner’s awesome friend Mike got us 3 free park hopper passes (thanks again Mike). Rode the monorail for the 1st time in my life and it was excellent. DJ requested that we ride Space Mountain first so we headed to Tomorrow Land first thing and rode it, as the coaster was stopping DJ was yelling “that was totally awesome!” he was dancing around generally freaking out. I wonder how many time a day the ride operators get to see that, must be a fun job. We rode or saw all kinds of fun things; Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Space Command Spin, Stitch’s Great Escape, Speedway, It’s A Small World, Snow White’s Scary Adventure, Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel, ate lunch, and then Peter Pan’s Flight. Around 1pm Heather suggested I use the park hoppers to take the older girls to Animal Kingdom while she took DJ and Anna to Toon Town. Ashley, Alyssa, and me rode the monorail and bus to Animal Kingdom, it is a gorgeous park. We walked through the park and got fast passes for the African Safari ride then went to the opposite side of the park to ride Expedition to Everest. (I lost my mobile phone on the Everest coaster but got it back from Lost and Found on Friday. Disney’s lost and found is amazing.) We rode the African Safari and saw loads to real live animals. Then we rejoined the rest of our family on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom around 3:30pm. The rest of the day we rode or saw the following: Swiss Family Treehouse, The Enchanted Tiki Room,Walt Disney World Railroad, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Country Bear Jamboree (that was creepy), Splash Mountain (very fun and me a DJ got soaked), Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, dinner at the Starline Cafe, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and the Wishes Firework Spectacular.

I was sitting in the front row of the Splash Mountain “log” with DJ and we got blasted by a massive fountain of water splashed up by the log going down the big drop. DJ thought that was the best part of the whole day, I just thought it was rather wet. Then we got it again down a small drop, DJ got a face full of water and just laughed about how awesome that was. Then starting up the big hill he looks at me and says “this is gonna be bad”, not a bit scared but a little sarcastic like I may have said it. He would have ridden that one again and again but the line was long and it was getting dark.

How do you like our new place, the kitchen is a little small but the rest is fab.

Thursday March 12: Went to Melbourne Beach on the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida. Jae let Wilson skip school and they both came along with us. Played on the beach and in the surf all for about 4 hours. The waves were the biggest I have swam in in normal weather, the biggest where probably about 5-6 feet high. Texas beaches only get 2-3 feet swells in normal conditions. Now our kids can all say they have been from sea to shining sea, we go to California nearly every year and spend a lot of time on the beaches around Santa Barbara, CA.

When we got back to Dale and Jae’s they had cooked up some excellent pork roast tacos. Dale and I spent some quality brother time blowing each other up on an online game called Territory War.

The whitest kids you know.

Friday March 13: We decided that we should not do anything on Friday the 13th, too risky. No actually we let the little kids hang around the house while the big girls went to an outlet mall. I went to Disney’s lost and found to pick up my cell phone. Did I say that Disney’s lost and found is amazing? We got some pizza for dinner and watched Kung Fu Panda on Dale’s big gigantic projector. Then DJ and I watched the Hulk.

Saturday March 14: Left Dale and Jae’s around 9am and headed for home. Did not make it all the way. Stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi for the night. It rained all day, and the driving got pretty scary for a stretch across Alabama. We passed 5 wrecks in about 20 miles just outside Mobile.

Sunday March 15: Left the hotel around 9am and headed for home. This time we made it all the way. Ran into major traffic problem just east of Houston. We asked Gigi for a detour and she told us to exit I-10 and take a road headed south. We ended up taking a ferry across a small portion of the bay and driving past the San Jacinto Monument which turns out to be the tallest monument tower in the world, 570ft. The Washington Monument which I would have guessed as the tallest is a measly 555ft. We also passed the Battleship Texas. We arrived home around 10pm, the cat and rabbits were all alive and the neighbor’s lights were on so apparently we did not miss the rapture or anything while away on vacation.

Click here to download a higher quality version of this video. 55mb

DJ started soccer in February, his first foray into organized sports. I wanted to start him off with something a little more intense like rugby or roller derby, but there are not leagues for either in Boerne, Texas, so we settle for soccer.

5 year old kids playing soccer is kind of like that football game we had when we were kids with the vibrating metal board and the little guys that just went randomly everywhere and occasionally the ball would make it in the goal. It was fun to watch and the kids got a lot of practice kicking the ball out of bounds.

The coach is very patient with the kids, he stays on the field helping them notice where the ball is and telling them when it is their turn for a kick-in.

On one of the kick-ins the coach lined up his players and told them “as soon as they kick the ball, get it!” The kids obeyed and promptly ran to the ball and grabbed for it with their hands. One of them triumphantly hoisted it into the air after he succeeded with his interpretation of the coaches instructions.