DadsCenter.org Blog

Goodbye 2007

Well, as Lennon said, “Another year over, and a new one just begun.”

Half-day here at the office today.  Great things ahead for 2008 and a fond farewell to 2007.

So much has changed in my world as a dad this past year.   No surgeries!  Woo hoo!

I made my mid-life conversion from a PC to a Mac and have never been happier.  No more blue screens of death.  No more virus updates.  And all kinds of kewl apps.

My dearest wife/Santa brought me a one-to-one training lessons from Mac for the entire year.  Hour-long sessions once a week.  I had the first class on Saturday and I cannot recall a more useful Christmas gift ever.  Thank you, Santa.

We made two incredible trips this year to Yosemite.  Both with all seven of the kids.  Incredible memories.  Incredible pictures.  And inspiration for all the children.  We’ve been back a week from the Christmas trip and the kids all are still talking about it.  Every time we get in the car, the three-year-old asks if we might be going to the airport to go to new house in Cal-forna.

I made two job changes this year, and finally landed somewhere where I can use my talents, where I’m close to home, and doing something that can make a difference again.  What a blessing.

We added a dog to the household this year.  Molly, the Great Pyrenees.  She is truly one of the things we didn’t see coming.

After waiting and much debating, we finally got the pool added this year.  And instead of paying thousands for a patio cover, Kari and I did something we never would have anticipated–we built it ourselves in June.  Yes, we built a major addition to our house, all by ourselves.  (Thanks, Armando for doing the wiring).

Now we set our sights on 2008.  What new projects will come about?  Kari’s mom begins her battle with Chemo in the coming days.  The demands of the new job begin to unfold by the hour at work.  And the changes coming in our lives with the growth of our kids.  One of them becomes 16 in the fall and has aspirations of driving.  Right.
Thank you, God, for the blessings of a new day, a new year, and new hope.  So many prayers have been answered this year.  So many dreams fulfilled.  So many new hopes for the future are in our hearts.  May we always seek comfort and guidance in you.

Goodbye 2007.  Welcome, 2008.

The Presidential Race–Sitting this one out

More than a decade ago I was in the trenches of Florida consumed all hours of the day with trying to help the party’s leader run for president.  I still have straw hats, t-shirts and gift bags from Camp Bob and P3 around the house.

A good many of my friends from those days are sitting this round out.  I have to say, it is much better to be an observer than to know the stress the “kids” who are working on these races are under.  I can imagine the duress they face each day–someone in Washington calling all their shots, knowing everything and nothing about the local environment of Iowa and New Hampshire–and pleased to prove it.

My good friend David used to say every day was like getting up and putting your arm in a buzz saw, and once they finished with the first, they asked for the second.  The next morning, the arm had grown back and you’d start the cutting all over again.

And so it goes in Iowa and NH… the buzz, buzz, buzz of the campaign….

Merry Christmas, Kari

In October, after enduring months of Kari suffering with her old sewing machine, I bought her a new embroidery machine. Since she received it, it’s almost not stopped working. Kari said yesterday that it was probably glad we were in Cali for six days because it got a break.

Yesterday was the day of truth. Kari made her parents, in-laws, and family members different items for Christmas. Nearly all of them called to commend her for her fine work and thank her for the time invested in making the special gifts. It was wonderful to hear people commending such a sweet woman for her efforts. That’s not why she made the gifts, of course, but it was an added benefit for her labors.

Thanks, Kari, for all you did to give these special, personally unique gifts to the family. I don’t think they will soon forget what you did for them this year–and with special embroidered towels for each month of the year, they’ll have subtle reminders all year long….

Back in Dallas

I have additional posts to add from our trip, will be posting shortly.  Sent a thank you to our Logger’s Retreat host yesterday.  David Holland-Moritz is the nicest of hosts and did wonders to make sure our stay was a memorable event.

It was simply divine intervention that we got to the house Wednesday night, were able to enjoy snow all day Thursday, and have the drive in such a way that we could at least carry our luggage down the mountain on Monday when we left.  Had we arrived Tuesday or Thursday when it was snowing and been required to carry up our nine large bags of stuff, I’m not sure we would have made it.

But we truly enjoyed our stay. We needed the rest forced by two days of basically being socked in and not able to drive.  And we resisted buying tire chains on Sunday that worked, because it doesn’t look like they would have fit either of our cars back home. …

We also were fortunate enough to meet Robert Smith and his associate Steve at Yosemite Tours on Highway 41.  They gave us great deals on Teddy Bears for all the kids and the conversation was lively about the area.  Great place to stop on the way up or coming back out of the park.  And the rate for a tour by their bus, $75 for adults, but kids under 11 are free, was something to ponder.  If we didn’t have seven kids, it would have been a real bargain–and the fact that our kids didn’t want to tour, they just wanted us to pull off somewhere new so they could get on the sleds….

It was hard to drive out of those mountains Monday a.m.  The kids were only happy to go because they knew Santa was coming to Dallas that night.  But they all would have been begging to stay otherwise.  The three-year-old did not want to come back to Texas.  And she remains convinced any time you mention the days of the week that, “On Tuesdays/Wednesdays, I go to California.”   She’s ready to go back.  I am, too.

As we drove back down into the valley toward Fresno, I recalled the ugly Christmases we had in Atwater in 1979,80, 81 after having lived at K.I. Sawyer AFB from second grade to sixth grade and I realized why I was glad to have gotten out of the Valley.  But I do regret that Texas is so far away from Yosemite.

And I kept thinking about my late Grandpa Andy Sheptak who held a love for Yosemite.  Grandpa was proud that Kari and I went to Yosemite for our honeymoon.  I know he’d be even happier to know that in the past six months we’ve taken all seven kids there twice now.  Certainly not a financial undertaking we can maintain, but it was good for the kids no less.  I’m certain that as they grow older they will make many trips back, eventually with their own spouses and then their own children.  This is a legacy my own parents can be proud of, but it would no less be enjoyed in the heart of my Grandpa Sheptak.   And probably is in his spirit at this very moment.

On as equally important a note for all parents out there reading this blog, I asked my younger twin daughter Haley Monday about her favorite part of the trip–I thought it would be sledding, the snow, etc.  No, it was “When we all watched a movie together.”  The Bourne Ultimatum no less.  Haley liked the movie, which is the best of the three, but she was talking about all nine of us sitting in one room together and enjoying the time of a movie–something we didn’t have to pay thousands of dollars to cover airfare and lodging to do.

I began dubbing the digital video over to disc last night.  Got some great stuff for the season.  And I begin my Final Cut Express classes this Saturday a.m.  Santa, thanks for the one-to-one year-long lessons from Mac.  I hope to make you proud of what I will learn to do with these classes…52 of them for $99, how is Mac making money for that?  At only $2 per hour.  My only guess is that they’re not planning on me making all 52 classes….

Kari and I about have the house put back together, the snow clothes put up, and me headed back to work.  Looks like 2008 is going to be a whirlwind of activity at the new job.

Gotta go.  More posts from the trip coming….

Yosemite Trails Dec 2007

Dec. 21, 20r07

We’ve taken all seven of the kids to Yosemite for the holidays. We return to Dallas on Dec. 24. The kids are having a ball. It snowed the first day we were here, essentially trapping our 15-passenger van atop The Logger’s Retreat mountain top, but thankfully I’d gone Wednesday p.m. to get groceries and stocked up.

The kids have been learning how to weather snow. The boys certainly had never seen the likes of this, claiming at one point to have never even have made a snow man. The girls, while having made snowmen before, certainly hadn’t been able to sled like they have the past two days. It’s been worth every cent paid to get everyone here to be able to enjoy the environs.

The mountains have been breath-taking in all the snow. The snow-capped pines are just fantastic. And yesterday, as the mountain clouds lifted it was just heavenly.

David Holland-Moritz, the owner of TLR, has been here. We didn’t know if we were going to have water when we left Dallas. But he used an Artesian well to fill up the 2,000-gallon water tank, so we’ve been fine there. He recommended that we leave the van at the bottom of the hill the first night and in some ways I wish we had, but then being caught up here at the house has required us to find other things to enjoy, like the surroundings here at the house.

I don’t think we spent this much time here in June; we spent more time on the go. This has made this a little more relaxing, though the kids definitely have been going through a little cabin fever and anxiety over the fear that California mountain snow is like Texas snow—gone the next morning. Well, there still is about six inches on the ground and though the sun is melting the snow on the drive, there still is plenty to work with ala snowmen and sledding.

It is not supposed to snow the rest of the time we’re here, which is okay and of course, I wish it would all at the same time.

This really is a wonderful place to come to and get away from the nuttiness of the regular day world. The kids were relatively good on the plane on the way out.

They are simply having the best of times sledding. I’m sitting on the porch with the Mac Pro Book playing Christmas music while they play. Kari, Ash, Ricky and Logan all have gone down by the camping area to make a snowman.

The pictures we’ve taken so far are tremendous. I’ve really concentrated on video as I will definitely turn this into something memorable for each of the children.

I have a double ear infection and it hurts pretty bad. We’ve been using ear drops Dr. Ragel prescribed and I’ve been taking Levaquin to try and kill what ever is ailing me. I guess working in the garage last weekend has caught up with me. But I’m also enjoying meeting Kari’s request of us not rushing off too and fro and taking time to enjoy downtime. Vivaldi on my computer playing through iTunes is just magic outside here on the porch. If Vivaldi had ever conceived of a better use for his music, this would have been it. Such spirit. Though I must admit, without a tree here and lots of decorations, even one decoration, it really doesn’t feel like Christmas. But that’s okay. The kids will remember this weekend for the rest of their lives and they no doubt will be coming back here with their kids with only the fondest of memories. So for what Kari and I invested into this trip, we’re going to reap dividends in the hearts of these children.

This is the closest thing I’ve come to my childhood winters since leaving Northern Michigan in 1978. That was a long time ago. So much has changed. To think of sitting here with a laptop that has 5,006 iTunes songs on it at the moment, to have an iPhone, let alone a phone, to have emailed people digital photos of the snow yesterday, to have the software on this machine to be able to make some wonderful movies for the kids, this is what life is all about.

There are few things more in life I could ask for. I have my health, a great job, a loving wife, and seven great kids. Okay, going to go get the camera and get Jerrod to play news anchor for me… Be back in a spell.

10:59 a.m.

Friday was an eventful day. At 1230, we had everyone down for naps and Jerrod and I snuck out to go to the grocery store. We got the van down to the end of the ridges in the driveway only to be met with an icy one-third left of the mountain in shear ice. We tried and I tried to convince myself I could get the van down and then came to the simple conclusion that it just was not going to happen. As Jerrod and I walked to the foot of the drive, we heard sounds coming down the mountain. It was the well crew. Two guys who had been working since seven a.m. and now were stuck behind us mid way down the mountain. Well, I offered them $20 to help us get the van off the mountain and it was quite an ordeal. I’d tried to put the chains on the van and they were slipping off. There is no way I would have ever gotten the van down in one piece they way that I’d put the chains. Well, we finally got the chains on, the guys got the van to the bottom of the hill, we got the chains off, and then headed to Oakhurst for groceries. We got back up the mountain in time for Kari to have gotten David to drive to the Narrow Gauge Inn and meet us. He didn’t have room for us and the groceries so we moved the food over to his car and he drove them to the top while Jerrod and I walked. What a hike. We got back about 3:40, a three-hour venture just to get four or five bags of groceries. I made spaghetti when I got back. Kari and Jerrod took a walk while I cooked. It being the shortest day of the year and in a snow covered trail, I thought it reminded me much of The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost. It was really a beautiful evening, though I have to say we all were getting a little edgy on them being gone as it was getting dark and not knowing exactly where they were.

After dinner we watched The Bourne Ultimatum with all seven kids. We put the kids to bed after the movie.

A Bridge Too Far Music

5:30 a.m. I hear that Bridge Too Far music, you know, that wonderful theme music throughout the entire movie, but more specifically the music they started at dawn as everyone began to stir and get ready to get on their planes and mount the largest air invasion of all times.

Of course, I hope and pray we run into better luck than those poor chaps. The weather looks okay here at the moment. Raining in CA. Snow in the mountains. Please pray for us all that this trip goes relatively smoothly and we don’t have horror stories to tell about this going wrong and that going wrong…..

Story line: Once upon a time we took seven kids to the mountains of California at Christmas and had a wonderful Christmas time….. The end.

Such is my prayer. See you on the other side of happiness.

More themes

I was up until 5:30 this morning…… I’m tired.

AOL

Well, we’re taking the Mac with us, thinking that if we need to check wxr updates, we can log on. Of course, the iPhones work well for that, too, so I’m thinking do I really need to take this wonderful, wonderful machine. Not to mention the fact that I was going to use AOL, yes, AOL to log in, but it appears that the crap network doesn’t/isn’t working well with Leopard. If I had a crap PC maybe. The excellence of computing? Nawwwww. Of course, it’s almost as much of a sin to want to use a PC as it is to even think about using AOL.

Roundtable Pizza, here we come

One of the best pizza places I ever enjoyed in younger years was from what is actually a chain in California.  We found one two years ago on our honeymoon in Oakhurst.  I even keep their number in my cell phone just so we can ensure they’re open when we’re in town…. 

Tomorrow night’s dinner?  A LARGE, garlicy, cheesey, sausage and pepperoni pizza with their delic salad bar.  Yum.  And then we’ll get something for the kids to eat, too.

Anticipated Themes for Wednesday

Kari and I are guessing the thousands of expressions we’re going to hear tomorrow:

I don’t want to sit by him/her. Are we there yet?  How much further?  Do I have a window seat?  Do I have to sit next to him/her?  

I’m hungry, thirsty, have to go potty. I can’t find my shoes.

What are we going to do?  What kind of van are we going to get?  Which suitcase is mine.  Which bed am I going to be sleeping in?  Are we going to get stuck in the snow?  What if there is a blizzard?

How many people does the van hold?  Which seat am I sitting in?  I call front seat (even though mom is going to be with us)…..

What can I have to drink?  Do you have root beer?  Dr. Pepper?  What choices do I have? 

How do I get the TV in the living room on? (With millions of snow capped acres of woods all around….) 

Mom, Dad, this is the greatest trip ever.  I don’t want to go back to Texas.  Do we have to go back to Texas?  Dad, I’m moving here as soon as I turn 18. 

Okay, so that’s about it.  For now.