Say it ain't so, Diego

Sam has become a big fan of Go, Diego, Go (among other TV shows). But after we had this conversation, I'm starting to wonder about the educational content. I'm guessing condors probably like to eat more than rocks. Before I started filming, Sam was quite adamant that condors do not like flying. I'm sure that's a common misconception.

From the vault

I know there are many of you out there who have seen this, but I have been going through my collection of home videos and figured this would be worth posting. If there is one thing you can take away from this video, it's an understanding of just how bored I was while I was sitting around in Iraq. And yes, my sense of humor is a little odd. I'm glad you noticed.

Over the airwaves

Antennas have certainly gotten more attractive since the last one we bought

It is time for another installment of how can Ethan use alternate technology (in this case much older technology) to avoid paying out to the cable company. This episode was inspired by the news that the BYU vs San Diego State basketball game would be airing on CBS. Since that is a network that actually broadcasts its content, I went out Saturday morning and purchased a new antenna. They do some nice things with antennas these days. In fact, I wouldn't even recognize the thing as an antenna if it didn't say so on the box. Where are the rabbit ears?

Right after soccer games, we came home and I hooked the antenna up. We caught the whole second half of the ballgame. Go BYU! The picture was fantastic. There were some times when the signal would break up momentarily, but overall things were much better than they used to be on our analog sets. Hopefully, I will be able to watch plenty of NCAA tournament games the same way.

Winter weather

This morning we were greeted with the sight of a cold, white, crystalline substance that is reportedly called "snow"

After seeing so many photos of blizzards and snowstorms this winter, we've been feeling left out. Fortunately Mother Nature finally decided to grace us with some winter weather. As you can see from the photo above, for the first time since we moved to San Antonio, we actually received some snowfall. Granted, the amount of snow can't be considered impressive when it doesn't even cover the grass, but it's a big deal for our area. As you can see, the weather was cold enough that the snow stuck to the sidewalks and roads. And before the snow started falling last night, we also had a light coating of freezing rain, so underneath that layer of snow is a layer of ice. And when south central Texas has to deal with ice, this is what happens:


Traffic is snarled during the attempted morning commute. The freeway was closed from this point on

I knew that getting to work this morning would be interesting. I nearly turned around and went home after seeing five cars that had been abandoned on the side of the road in the mile between our house and the freeway. But I forged ahead because I grew up in Idaho, and we don't let a little ice get in the way. What I didn't foresee was every freeway running through San Antonio being closed. I made it partway into work before I had to give up, turn around and come back home. The kids also got a day off from school. I can safely say that this is the first time I have gotten a snow day for an accumulation of about half-an-inch of snow.

Eat Mason's dust

Mason displays his winning Pinewood Derby car and his first-place certificate

Today was Mason's last Pinewood Derby. Since we missed last year's Pinewood Derby, we decided to go all out. OK, I decided to go all out. I may have been a tad obsessive with my wheel and axle preparation. Mason, of course, did the design. It looks remarkably similar to the design of the last car—close enough that Teressa kept asking if there wasn't something else that Mason wanted to do to make it different. There wasn't. He wasn't interested in any elaborate decorations, either. All he wanted was the spoiler in back and the lightning bolts on the sides. Perhaps I spent more time that I should have on my part than I should have. Between the seven-step buffing process for the axles and the time I spent on applying graphite, I spent many hours on the project. After all the work, Mason was feeling pretty confident. I made sure to warn him that other families had done a lot of work on their cars, too.

Maybe they didn't do quite as much work as we did, though, because Mason took home the top prize. He won every heat he participated in and had the record time for the track. I think Mason was pretty excited about the results. (I have some video of Mason's reaction to the final race as proof. I may have to post it later after I load it on the computer.)

The Wright Brothers

The boys pose with the airplane model that Grandpa made for them

This Halloween, the older boys decided they wanted to dress up as the Wright brothers. Sam wanted to be a dog. That worked out well because the Wright brothers had a dog named Cisco. When Grandpa and Grandma Scott came to visit right before Halloween, Grandpa built a replica of the Wright brothers' plane. He built it out of a discarded grocery cart. It was a rather sizable replica so fortunately, it could be dismantled. Otherwise, Teressa might not have had room to park the van in the garage.


Emotions during the photo shoot ran the gamut

Since I happened to be stuck in Iraq during the Halloween season, I didn't have the opportunity to photograph the boys in their costumes. So we pulled everything back out this week and finally got those photographs. I had forgotten just how challenging trying to photograph three boys can be. We finally got some good photos, but it took a while.

Sam's first fish

Here's Sam with his first fish

I was going through some photos today when I realized that I had never posted this picture. We went out to Canyon Lake early this summer to do a little fishing, and even Sam got in on some of the action. He was initially quite excited, but it took a little convincing to get him to stand next to the fish to get his picture taken.