Day 33: A Post for the Guys

Posted by: Cris

Warning: There is stuff in this post only males care about (but to keep the rest of you reading, there's stuff about Juneau and Nova at the end)

It's been awhile since I posted a picture from the lanai - so just to remind mommy what she has waiting for her:
Some of you know my very good friend Sean. Besides being a PhD student and literally a world class Karateka (multiple time British and European champion in Karate), I also call him a "semi-pro contractor" - my construction abilities have improved since knowing him. My skills have also improved since he introduced to me to his friend - actual pro contractor Greg. Greg is definitely one of those guys who goes by the creed: "If it's worth building, it's worth overbuilding"...He reminds me of my dad and grandpa in that regard (I liked him immediately).

My grandpa always operated under the notion of "if 3 nails was good enough, then 4 would be better". A quick story as "Exhibit A" - when my parents moved into their first house, my dad and grandpa put up a small 4' tall wire fence around the yard with wood 4x4 corner posts. Many years later, we sold our house to a family in our church and moved to the farm. A couple years after that, the family from our church was moving out of the area and sold the house. The new occupants came in and decided to put up a 6' privacy fence which meant tearing out the old fenceposts. When they were unable to pull the fencepost with a chain hooked to a 4 wheel drive quadrunner, they decided to dig it out - after much digging, they completely uncovered the concrete base into which the post was set which was at least 4 times bigger than what would actually be needed to hold a 4' wood fencepost. - Classic Dennis & Don Stickley.

All of this serves to explain why I didn't get as much done today as I'd hoped:

I stayed home today, got Katy to mind the girls, and set to work on the fence project.

First, I had originally planned on just upping the fence height on the end of the yard right next to the house. Of course, after looking at it further, I decided the best result would be from taking down the whole side of the fence along the gully and upping it. So, I had torn down the whole fence along that side:
The plan then was to connect the new taller posts to these old posts which are bolted into the retaining wall with concrete anchor bolts. However, further inspection revealed that the old posts were about 20 degrees off of plumb since they had been bolted directly to the slope of the retaining wall which is sloped by design (increased strength and to promote run-off, I guess?)

So, the plan changed to beveling each of the new posts so they'd bolt to the old post bases and still be level with the world - this significantly slowed the intended progress today.

What mostly slowed the progress was at the last minute I decided the lag bolts I was using to bolt the first post into the side of the house and the bolts I was using to attach the new posts to the old posts weren't big enough (okay, they probably were in reality) which meant I decided to load up the hardware I'd already bought, drive back to Home Depot and exchange basically everything for the next size up. That cost me quite a bit of time (Hawaii traffic) but was a necessary sacrifice.

As a result, I only got 4 posts instead of 6 installed today. But, they are all exactly level, I'm happy with how they look and if we ever decide to raise Buffaloes in the upper yard, the fence will be strong enough to hold them. I think Grandpa would approve.

For those who haven't given up on this post yet:

The girls are particularly obsessed with chocolate kisses right now. So, this little present that we got from Grandma and Grandpa Stickley that the girls opened yesterday, was a huge hit:

The girls were also thrilled to get a package all the way from Afghanistan from mommy today. They were happy to find inside 3 DVD's to start rebuilding their collection. I hadn't mentioned it previously but one major bad thing happened on our trip from Ohio to Hawaii last month: We had about 20 bags between us, plus the girls and a stroller plus 2 layovers, seats that weren't always together and by the end of it, 2 very tired girls (not to mention tired Mommy and Daddy). As a result, somehow the little black DVD case that had basically EVERY DVD the girls owned, got left in a seat back pocket on the last airplane. It hasn't been that big of a deal since our current van does not have a DVD player in it but still, we were pretty crushed. Luckily I had another copy of the most important DVD in there (Juneau's Adoption Video). So now, mommy is working on finding copies of all their movies for cheap from the Haji shops in Afghanistan.

Here the girls were playing some sort of game where they were pretending they were a choo-choo train. They are both great pretenders and make up the funniest games and scenarios with each other and then have a blast playing them for the longest time.

Day 32: Awards...

Posted by: Cris

Today was super busy and I'm just now getting home from teaching my late class. But it's not too late to give some awards from today:

The Award for Best Fake Smile...goes to Juneau
The Style Award goes to...Nova

The ballet skirt got her nominated, her footwear closed the deal!

The Award for Biggest Cheesy Smile...Once again, Juneau (she pretty much has a lock of all "smile" related awards

And the Award for Cutest Baby Celebrating an Actual Birthday Today:

"Griffin Alexander Good" (best initials EVER!)

Our dear friends over at Pho for Five became "Pho for Six" today by welcoming little Griffin into the world - check him out at their site. Congratulations to Laurie and Travis. We love you guys and are super excited to meet the newest Good in the near future.

Day 31: We're Off to See the Wizard

Posted by: Cris

After the mistake of going to the NEX last night and realizing that the craziness of Black Friday now spills over into Saturday evening as well (at least in Hawaii), we decided to head out into the possible madness tonight once again. i figured it still wasn't safe to go to Costco but figured Wal-mart and Home Depot might be okay. I had discovered about 5 random bulbs were out on my car last night (one of which apparently had just blown within minutes of me removing it - leading to the awesome burn blister on my left thumb) so I figured I had to at least remedy that before I ended up getting pulled over.

The girls had somehow figured it was Sunday evening and kept asking to "go get snacks at Costco" at which point I figured the only way to distract them was to tell them we could get dinner at Juneau's newest favoritest place: "Moe's".

Juneau ate half of the kid's quesadilla then literally almost 1/3 of mine. Nova was obviously totally into her black beans as always.

And the payoff...the cookie (don't tell mommy but daddy got an extra cookie so we each got a whole cookie to ourself)

When we got home, the DVR was recording but I wasn't sure why. I had forgotten that I'd set it to record one of TBS' nightly showings of the Wizard of Oz. So, I offered the girls to stay up and watch a special new show. They weren't too into the black at white at the beginning, but once Dorothy got to Oz, Nova especially was totally into it. The best part was near the end when they were all running around the castle to get away from the witch, Nova got up and started running around the couch ("I have to run like them to get away from the witch")

Day 30: "Because the rules wouldn't let us go for 3"

Posted by: Cris

Fortunately, when the girls woke up at 6:30 this morning, I was able to convince them it was a good idea to sit and watch a couple episodes of Dora on the computer while I watched the beginning of the Ohio State - Michigan game uninterrupted. But, that only lasted so long and they were clamoring for breakfast. It is funny because they have recently realized they LOVE Cap'n Crunch. And because I'm no where near making the finals for "parent of the year", I acquiesce to their request to put bulk Lucky Charms marshmallows from the Amish store on top of them.

After breakfast, Juneau went out on the lanai and realized that I had planted 2 more pineapples during their nap yesterday. She literally went out and sat down and just looked at them for about 10 minutes.


For quite awhile, the girls' big thing has been: One of them gets in trouble for something - for example: Juneau is kicking the back of the seat in the car and doesn't listen when told to stop until finally she gets in trouble. Nova then says "I wasn't kicking the seat dad" - And they both play both roles in this little scenario regularly. Juneau is especially bad at playing the "I didn't do it" part.

So, lately I've been getting on Juneau about it. At first, it was such a habit it was still her "go to" move but I kept getting on her (more harshly sometimes) until now, when Nova gets in trouble for something, Juneau says "I didn't say 'I didn't do it'"...I don't think she has caught on to what I'm trying to accomplish here.

The biggest events of the day revolved around what was happening in Columbus, Ohio. And for the 7th year in a row, the Buckeyes rolled to victory over that hated team from up north - this time in another blowout. The non-Buckeyes out there might think that drubbing a team over and over every year would get a little old, boring, and unfulfilling after a while.

To which I offer this story in response:
In 1968, with Ohio State already up 42-14 on Michigan, the Buckeyes scored another touchdown. Woody Hayes called for a 2-point conversion (instead of simply kicking the extra point) which was converted. When asked after they game why he did it, in typical Woody Hayes fashion he answered: "Because the rules wouldn't let us go for 3".

Hawaii's Two Cutest Buckeyes!!

"We don't care 'bout the whole state of Michigan...Cause we're from O-HI-O"

GO BUCKEYES!!

Day 29: Fireworks Friday

Posted by: Cris

The day after Thanksgiving was a nice recovery day for all of us. We did very little all day except try to get caught up from yesterday. The girls got up at their normal time but were very tired all morning. I sat around and watched football for a good portion of the morning including a huge come from behind win for Auburn, much to cousin Tim's delight. Apparently the wild chickens have started to call our yard home. The lower yard is literally being torn up from them scratching around like it is their own personal coup. Just wait chickens...your time is growing short. Denali "the destroyer" will be here soon.

The girls both took over a 3 hour nap today. When they got up we headed back to cousin Melody's house for more play, some work on cleaning up the left overs from yesterday and then Friday night fireworks.

The kids table wasn't getting much eating done since there was a show on at the same time.

Since their house wasn't quite full enough yesterday, Tim and Beth decided to invite 4 more people tonight.

An Auburn alum relaxing after the blood-pressure raising victory. I'm told that earlier in the day he had his face painted in tiger stripes.

Then it was off to Magic Island to watch the fireworks from across the harbor.

Which meant lots of running around time for the girls.

Nova feeling the effects of a 3 hour nap

They can always find something to climb.

Waikiki at night (I'm getting better taking pictures with the shutter open without too much shaking - forgot the tripod again)

If you stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, this is what part of your room cost goes toward:

"Look - Green, Blue, Red, Christmas colors, Red, White, Blue, Pink..."

Before the fireworks were even done, a game of "Ring Around the Rosie" broke out:

..."we all fall down!"

General running around rowdiness

The 4 girls ended the evening by creating a sort of "musical chairs" game with the barrier poles.

4 girls, 3 polls, start back there and run and grab a pole...repeat

Though she was the youngest, Nova held her own pretty well.

A half hour of running around the park meant the group was wiped out when they hit their carseats.

Tomorrow the Buckeyes take the field at 7:00 a.m. (HST) to hopefully annihilate that hated team from up north once again. If by some chance the Buckeyes don't win, it might be best not to talk to me for a couple weeks - the same goes for talking to Justin - Dee will screen any messages that need to get to him :)

Feeling the Love

posted by: emilie

over the past few days i have recieved several emails from friends, family, and even friends of friends/family, who have sent very nice and encouraging messages! this has been amazing, and truly means so much. thank you to everyone who has been thinking about and praying for our family! These little notes and messages are so kind and uplifiting....thank you!

as christmas nears, i have also been getting lots of people wondering what things they can send to us to cheer us up during the holidays. truthfully, what i am really craving out here is something....anything....homemade! the problem is that it takes about 7-10 for packages to arrive (probably longer with the holidays), and i'm not so sure how well things will travel. In my brief little google search i did find a decent link to a website with recommendations for gift items for the troops, and it has some pretty good advice: www.operationmailfromhome.50megs.com/photo2.html

I found out that it is also ok for me to post my address, so here it is:
CPT E Stickley
C Co, 426 BSB, 1BCT, 101st ABN
FOB Fenty, Afghanistan
APO AE 09310

If anyone would like to send a general package to the medics/docs/pa's in the aid station you can use the same address, just put C Company AID station instead of my name.

anyway, here are some things that we enjoy around here:
instant coffee (particularly starbucks via - hot or iced)
coffee creamers
individual packs of instant drink mixes
candy (it is cool enough that chocolate seems to be shipping fine without melting)
white athletic socks (they have to come just above the ankle, and have no logos on them)
holiday decorations (christmas, new years, valentine's day)
homemade goodies
beef jerky
ramen noodles or other types of "Add Hot Water" instant meals
things you can make in the microwave
body washes
shampoos
batteries
pens
books/games/board games
cards/stationary for writing to home
gum
cookies (chips ahoy, oreos, etc)

whew, i guess this ended up kind of long. lots of people have been asking what they can send, so i thought htis might be somewhat helpful.

Day 28: Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by: Cris

As expected, our Turkey Day was busy but fun. I was under strict orders from their mommy to make sure the girls were dressed cute when we left the house. I think I pulled it off: We headed over to cousin Melody's house a little before noon. The girls were super excited. When we got there, the cooks were hard at work.

While Aunt Wally finished cooking all of the delicacies, the girls were already well set-in to their playing in Melody's room.

Aunt Wally's first Turkey in years - turned out great!

My cousin Tim - who is about 3 years younger than me ;) - had one major responsibility for the day: inspecting the turkey and verifying it was safe for consumption.

Somehow we managed to coax the girls away from playing long enough to come eat dinner.

Tim (who is 5 years younger than me) carved up the first Turkey of the first Thanksgiving in their new home.

After dinner, it was back to full speed play.

Tim says that getting the girls an iPad at this point seems unavoidable.

It's amazing what a disaster 4 little girls between the ages of 2.5 and 4 can make of a room.

Eventually the playing spilled out into Tim and Beth's room as well.

This eventually led to an actual game of "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed"

Resting up for round 2 - DESSERT!

Aunt Wally was thrilled that I brought Buckeyes!

Finally, it was time to head out to Thanksgiving #2 - It was now 5:00 and the girls were already exhausted from playing all day without taking a nap.

The girls actually fell asleep in the car during the 10 minute drive from Melody's house to our next stop. I let them sleep about 30 minutes then made them get up.

The "Orphan's Dinner" at Dr. Kimura's house - Master's and PhD students with no place else to call home on Thanksgiving.

Part-time PhD student, Part-time superstar cook Dax's job was cooking the turkey this year.

PhD student Melanie (wife of Dax): Apparently it was her job to drink all day while Dax was cooking.

PhD student Jen: Apparently she was joining Melanie all day. Apparently being in a PhD program drives a person to drink.

Juneau and Nova were still super tired and were happy to just sit on the couch and watch Beauty and the Beast

Eventually Nova found this "Nova-sized" lazy boy recliner, parked it in front of the show, wrapped herself in her blue blankie and was content for the rest of the night.

Not surprisingly, they were both out cold halfway up the hill on the Likelike on the way home.

So, Thanksgiving 2010 is in the books. Though it would have been nice to be able to be together as a family and with the rest of our extended families is Ohio, it was nice to spend Thanksgiving doing some of the things that had become our Turkey Day traditions over the last 5 years (minus the Gordon Biersch). I was able to determine the one possible silver lining to Emilie being gone right now: There's not any possible chance that I have to go out and participate in the shopping fiasco that is tomorrow. Well, actually I'd be glad to sit in line at Toys R Us at 3:00 a.m. if it meant mommy was home.

I spent alot of time today thinking about how much I have to be thankful for, even in our current circumstance with Emilie so far away. I could truly never do enough to deserve the blessings that God has given me...especially the ones named Juneau, Nova and Emilie.