Here is the skinny.....
Visitation is Saturday from 4-7pm. http://www.vbkfuneralhome.com/ Spring Lake Location
Funeral Sunday at 2pm at Christ Community Church. This is directly across the street from the funeral home.
If you visit the funeral home web site you can leave a message for the family if you'd like. I checked tonight and June hasn't been added yet but will be tomorrow.
Thank you all for all the support you've shown Jo and our family. We'll try and put life back together this next year and will start as soon as we burn all our 2007 calenders!
Thanks,
Jim
Thursday, December 27, 2007
June Ellyn DeBoer June 4 1947 - December 27 2007
June Ellyn DeBoer (Joey's mom) passed away this morning at about 8:45. This has been a long and hard battle with cancer and one she fought to the end. I hope that the family can not only grieve for June but also for Dale (Joey's dad) whom the family lost in August. I will follow up with more details as plans are made.
Jim
Jim
Monday, December 17, 2007
Skiing, China, June, & Lots O' Snow
First and foremost, I wanted to update you on June’s(Jo’s mom) health, for those of you new to the blog. Jo lost her dad somewhat unexpectedly this August. I say somewhat because we new he was battling liver disease and we new time was limited but it came on a bit unexpectedly. It also came during a time that June found out her cancer was back and the outlook was not positive. Jo has been going home the past few weekends to try and help out her siblings who have been caring for June. Her brother Pete stops by daily to see June and her sister Dawn has delayed starting her job to move in with June. They all want to be with June as much as possible as we get near the end of June’s battle. And a battle it has been! June has not just lain down and taken this. She’s fought it and I know her children are proud of her for fighting. I know Dale would be proud too. We are all hoping that we can see this thru one more Christmas and then move forward from there. It might not happen but it won’t be for lack of effort. Hang in there Who-neigh(nickname for June)!
China – I believe all of you know that we are adopting a little daughter from China. We received our LID (LogInDate) on June 13 2007. Put simply, that is when you ‘get in line’. The line however is currently 24months to get your referral, and you will typically travel 6-8 weeks after you accept your referral. So, we are roughly ¼ the way through our wait. Recently though I have gotten on Bethany’s(Adoption Agency) web site and joined their web forum. I did this for many reasons but maybe the most driving reason was that we needed to be focusing on the great events coming in our lives yet. Everyone has ‘the worst year ever’ at some point in there lives, and I think that year is 2007 for Jo. It’s hard to see another year worse than this. However it hasn’t totally been down. After all we did get thru the primary paperwork portion of our adoption and getting the word from Belinda our Adoption Specialist(Sorry if I got your exact title wrong Belinda) that we had our LID was equivalent to finding out you were not just pregnant but pregnant with the daughter you always wanted. I can’t imagine how empty this year would have been without this event happening in our lives. So as I was saying I got on this forum where we could find others going through this and various other stages of the process. As I understand it anyone else who’s paperwork went to China(DTC-Dossier to Country I think) on the same day ours did is now grouped with us and we will travel together to China. So I thought it might be nice to contact these people and also it helps me keep track of how the timing is going for other families adopting. I found one couple with our same DTC/LID. I’ve sent them a message but have not heard from them yet. They may not be interested in chatting at this point and that’s fine. We’ve found it an odd emotional trial with the waiting process. I know I’ve had to keep my excitement tempered because I’d be burned out by the time the actual adoption was here if I didn’t. That’s been the hard part, you can’t help but feel guilty that you don’t hang on to the ultra-high excitement of adopting a daughter the whole time you are waiting but we realized pretty quickly we’d burn-out if we tried. So, with that in mind I am now trying to start to slowly ramp my brain back up to this event. I am still learning Mandarin in my car on the way home from work, and we are finding ourselves drawn to anything and everything Chinese. I truly can’t wait for our daughter and more so I can’t wait for Jo to have the daughter she truly deserves.
I don’t know where all that was going other than you will probably be hearing more and more about China in these blogs and I have had many disconnected thoughts swirling in my head the last week or so about this. So now they are swirling in your head…..have fun with them, believe me we are!
We got our first real snow storm. Sunday morning we woke up to about 8 inches of snow from the first wave of the storm. We shoveled out and ran down to Costco realizing we probably weren’t going to ski as I don’t think the boys were thawed from Saturdays skiing. It was also going to be a slow agonizing drive so we just got some groceries and things. We happen to make this run between the two primary storm waves and then came back home to settle into the Patriots game. I think I’ve mentioned how nice it is to root for a team that wins. The second wave of snow came that afternoon and dumped another 10 inches. The wind was really not much and drifting was at a minimum but this morning the wind is whipping. We did have school but probably shouldn’t have. The roads were still icy. They would have been better leaving a thin layer of snow instead of scraping it all off to expose ice. The Mini Cooper looked like a big snow drift. Maybe more like an igloo, pretty funny trying to find it this morning. From what everyone is saying this much snow at this time is not normal for here. It’s sure is making our season passes to Smuggs worth it. I think we only have to go a couple more times before they pay for themselves.
On the subject of Skiing….We went Saturday and it was about 8deg. We dropped Jo off at the airport went to get the car battery looked at and then to the ski shop. I wanted to get some face coverings so the guys wouldn’t have any exposed skin. I also had to buy some goggles and then a harness/leash thing for Sean. I wanted everyone to go to the top of the mountain but didn’t dare without having control of Sean. So I got on the chairlift with Sean and BJ and Zack got on the one behind us together. I was a bit nervous as this was only the second time BJ had ever gotten on a chairlift but they did awesome. So did Sean, his first time, and he was amazed! We went to the top of Morse mountain which is Smuggs smallest of the three. There is a nice long easy run that we could take. They did great!! BJ and Zack got ahead of us at one point and I hoped they made the right choice of trails because if they didn’t they’d wind up at the wrong mountain base. They made the right call and all was good, but by the time we got back down to the bottom we were all frozen solid. Seany had cold enough toes and fingers that when we got in the warming hut and started to warm up, he got that burning feeling and cried for a few minutes. Have no pity for him…..it was his idea ten minutes later to go back out and do it again!!! We just went halfway up this time. That’s one of the nice things at Smuggs, most if not all of the lifts let you get off halfway up. So we ran down the mountain a bit faster this time and this time Seany was finished. It was half hour before closing anyway. Oh yeah, the harness I got for Sean. This is very odd, it works really well but I felt like I was driving a lone little pony or reindeer the whole time. It’s got two clips on each end of the strap and you connect both ends to him and that way you have two straps and you can kind of turn him based on where you want him to go, just like reins on a horse. They also clip at his front which is nice for being able to pull him on flat areas. What a great idea. It really enables us to go anywhere we want the older two boys to go. The other weird thing is that I can’t use my poles! I can’t tell you the last time I went down a ski hill with no poles. I also had to snowplow all the way down. Talk about thigh and quad burning! Anyway, BJ wanted to do a few more runs on the kid hill and Zack said he wanted to go halfway up the mountain again. So it was decision time. Zack has shown so much responsibility and determination skiing that I found it was an easy decision. I let him go solo on the mountain as long as he only went halfway up. I told BJ he could go with Zack but had to stay with him the whole way. BJ just wanted the kid hill though. So Sean and I walked into the warming hut and got our regular boots on and warmed up. It was only about ten minutes and I see BJ with skis in hand walking to the chairlift. I know he’s distracted enough and single-minded enough to ride it by himself. He’s not trying to defy me he’s just hyper focused on riding the mountain and how much fun it is and has apparently forgotten the rules. So I decided to go intercept him. To my surprise he stopped short of the lift line and looked up the mountain waiting for Zack. This was a very welcome display of discipline on his part and I was pretty proud that he was going to follow the rules I laid out for him which was only to go up the mountain with Zack. When I got to him I told him what a good job he had done. He decided he was too cold and was going to call it a day. That’s when I new it was time to call it a day. That boy would never come in out of the snow normally. Zack showed up a minute later beaming about his independence to make a mountain run on his own. I told him he had time to make one more run if he wanted but he too had enough. I forgot to mention, Zack also was running through a real basic kids slalom course that was set up on the kids hill. For only the fifth time being on skis I was pretty impressed. He’s really worked hard on learning how to turn. So I thought it was time to have him take the next step. Poles! Yep, we got him a set of ski poles, and he promptly tried to start a sword fight. Well, I think we all did that too when we got our first ski poles. I have this Friday off and will hit the slopes most if not all day. Jo and the boys have half a day and provided there is not an urgent need to get home for June, she is finally going to join us on the mountain the second half of the day.
Well, that’s it for today. I didn’t proof read this so sorry for any errors or hard to read sentences.
Catch you all later,
Jim
China – I believe all of you know that we are adopting a little daughter from China. We received our LID (LogInDate) on June 13 2007. Put simply, that is when you ‘get in line’. The line however is currently 24months to get your referral, and you will typically travel 6-8 weeks after you accept your referral. So, we are roughly ¼ the way through our wait. Recently though I have gotten on Bethany’s(Adoption Agency) web site and joined their web forum. I did this for many reasons but maybe the most driving reason was that we needed to be focusing on the great events coming in our lives yet. Everyone has ‘the worst year ever’ at some point in there lives, and I think that year is 2007 for Jo. It’s hard to see another year worse than this. However it hasn’t totally been down. After all we did get thru the primary paperwork portion of our adoption and getting the word from Belinda our Adoption Specialist(Sorry if I got your exact title wrong Belinda) that we had our LID was equivalent to finding out you were not just pregnant but pregnant with the daughter you always wanted. I can’t imagine how empty this year would have been without this event happening in our lives. So as I was saying I got on this forum where we could find others going through this and various other stages of the process. As I understand it anyone else who’s paperwork went to China(DTC-Dossier to Country I think) on the same day ours did is now grouped with us and we will travel together to China. So I thought it might be nice to contact these people and also it helps me keep track of how the timing is going for other families adopting. I found one couple with our same DTC/LID. I’ve sent them a message but have not heard from them yet. They may not be interested in chatting at this point and that’s fine. We’ve found it an odd emotional trial with the waiting process. I know I’ve had to keep my excitement tempered because I’d be burned out by the time the actual adoption was here if I didn’t. That’s been the hard part, you can’t help but feel guilty that you don’t hang on to the ultra-high excitement of adopting a daughter the whole time you are waiting but we realized pretty quickly we’d burn-out if we tried. So, with that in mind I am now trying to start to slowly ramp my brain back up to this event. I am still learning Mandarin in my car on the way home from work, and we are finding ourselves drawn to anything and everything Chinese. I truly can’t wait for our daughter and more so I can’t wait for Jo to have the daughter she truly deserves.
I don’t know where all that was going other than you will probably be hearing more and more about China in these blogs and I have had many disconnected thoughts swirling in my head the last week or so about this. So now they are swirling in your head…..have fun with them, believe me we are!
We got our first real snow storm. Sunday morning we woke up to about 8 inches of snow from the first wave of the storm. We shoveled out and ran down to Costco realizing we probably weren’t going to ski as I don’t think the boys were thawed from Saturdays skiing. It was also going to be a slow agonizing drive so we just got some groceries and things. We happen to make this run between the two primary storm waves and then came back home to settle into the Patriots game. I think I’ve mentioned how nice it is to root for a team that wins. The second wave of snow came that afternoon and dumped another 10 inches. The wind was really not much and drifting was at a minimum but this morning the wind is whipping. We did have school but probably shouldn’t have. The roads were still icy. They would have been better leaving a thin layer of snow instead of scraping it all off to expose ice. The Mini Cooper looked like a big snow drift. Maybe more like an igloo, pretty funny trying to find it this morning. From what everyone is saying this much snow at this time is not normal for here. It’s sure is making our season passes to Smuggs worth it. I think we only have to go a couple more times before they pay for themselves.
On the subject of Skiing….We went Saturday and it was about 8deg. We dropped Jo off at the airport went to get the car battery looked at and then to the ski shop. I wanted to get some face coverings so the guys wouldn’t have any exposed skin. I also had to buy some goggles and then a harness/leash thing for Sean. I wanted everyone to go to the top of the mountain but didn’t dare without having control of Sean. So I got on the chairlift with Sean and BJ and Zack got on the one behind us together. I was a bit nervous as this was only the second time BJ had ever gotten on a chairlift but they did awesome. So did Sean, his first time, and he was amazed! We went to the top of Morse mountain which is Smuggs smallest of the three. There is a nice long easy run that we could take. They did great!! BJ and Zack got ahead of us at one point and I hoped they made the right choice of trails because if they didn’t they’d wind up at the wrong mountain base. They made the right call and all was good, but by the time we got back down to the bottom we were all frozen solid. Seany had cold enough toes and fingers that when we got in the warming hut and started to warm up, he got that burning feeling and cried for a few minutes. Have no pity for him…..it was his idea ten minutes later to go back out and do it again!!! We just went halfway up this time. That’s one of the nice things at Smuggs, most if not all of the lifts let you get off halfway up. So we ran down the mountain a bit faster this time and this time Seany was finished. It was half hour before closing anyway. Oh yeah, the harness I got for Sean. This is very odd, it works really well but I felt like I was driving a lone little pony or reindeer the whole time. It’s got two clips on each end of the strap and you connect both ends to him and that way you have two straps and you can kind of turn him based on where you want him to go, just like reins on a horse. They also clip at his front which is nice for being able to pull him on flat areas. What a great idea. It really enables us to go anywhere we want the older two boys to go. The other weird thing is that I can’t use my poles! I can’t tell you the last time I went down a ski hill with no poles. I also had to snowplow all the way down. Talk about thigh and quad burning! Anyway, BJ wanted to do a few more runs on the kid hill and Zack said he wanted to go halfway up the mountain again. So it was decision time. Zack has shown so much responsibility and determination skiing that I found it was an easy decision. I let him go solo on the mountain as long as he only went halfway up. I told BJ he could go with Zack but had to stay with him the whole way. BJ just wanted the kid hill though. So Sean and I walked into the warming hut and got our regular boots on and warmed up. It was only about ten minutes and I see BJ with skis in hand walking to the chairlift. I know he’s distracted enough and single-minded enough to ride it by himself. He’s not trying to defy me he’s just hyper focused on riding the mountain and how much fun it is and has apparently forgotten the rules. So I decided to go intercept him. To my surprise he stopped short of the lift line and looked up the mountain waiting for Zack. This was a very welcome display of discipline on his part and I was pretty proud that he was going to follow the rules I laid out for him which was only to go up the mountain with Zack. When I got to him I told him what a good job he had done. He decided he was too cold and was going to call it a day. That’s when I new it was time to call it a day. That boy would never come in out of the snow normally. Zack showed up a minute later beaming about his independence to make a mountain run on his own. I told him he had time to make one more run if he wanted but he too had enough. I forgot to mention, Zack also was running through a real basic kids slalom course that was set up on the kids hill. For only the fifth time being on skis I was pretty impressed. He’s really worked hard on learning how to turn. So I thought it was time to have him take the next step. Poles! Yep, we got him a set of ski poles, and he promptly tried to start a sword fight. Well, I think we all did that too when we got our first ski poles. I have this Friday off and will hit the slopes most if not all day. Jo and the boys have half a day and provided there is not an urgent need to get home for June, she is finally going to join us on the mountain the second half of the day.
Well, that’s it for today. I didn’t proof read this so sorry for any errors or hard to read sentences.
Catch you all later,
Jim
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Ski, Ski again and then ski some more!
I had Friday off this week and decided to take advantage of it by skiing but had some things to do first. I had to go to Jo's school and help him set up for his Michigna journal presentation. He was given an assignment when he went home to do a journal. So I thought it would be better for him to put it into a powerpoint presentation so we did and Zack told me exactly what pictures he wanted to take and exactly what to write and I just did the technical part. I wrote it to a CD with its own viewer. So all you have to do is put it in and it starts by itself. This was far too complicated for his teacher who I truly don't think can turn a computer on. Yes, I have issues with this......moving along, so we ran it on the library computers and I didn't get out of there 
until 11:15. I also knew I had to have some ski boot work done so I took off for the mountain. I only wound up making five runs but they were awesome. It turns out they opened up all three mountains so I loved it. I can't even explain how awesome it wasor how much my quads burned. I did bite it twice though, the first was low light in a light flurry and I didn't pick up a bump in the middle of a turn, so it threw me up a bit and I over-rotated and backed off the side of the slope right into a huge very soft drift that was actualy a small pine tree. The problem was that I was sitting in the drift and when I put my poles down to push out they just kept going down so I was a bit stuck and laughing at myself didn't help either. I did get out and continued down the mountain thru a cloud by the way. That's a new one for me! I went home and we had some frieds over for some consumables and also, ( this next part is odd) some prime rib. This corner 
gas station/convenience store/grocery store/restaurant makes prme rib to go on Fridays for like $15 which includes a veggie and baked potatoe. Now this is not some tasteless chewy prime, this was nearly an inch and a half thick very nicely done prime rib. It was great!! So Jo had a few drinks and had to be on the road by 8 to get to Connecticut where her flight was out of. She was a bit hung over in the morning. BJ had a birthday party to go to (his girlfriends!) It was in Burlington at a Chuck E Cheese copy place oddly enough called Zacharys Pizza. Side story to this is how much Mikayla loves BJ. Her mom overheard me say Monday that I was taking the boys skiing and assumed we were not coming so she crossed us off the list. Well, Mikayla saw that and threw a fit like nobodys business!!! We got it straightened out in the end and things are back to normal, but it was quite an issue for an evening and morning after when she found out. So we dropped him off sat at 11:00 and Sean and Zack and I went to get a ski rack for the car......Yep, the four of us were packing ourselves in the mini with all the skis, boots, etc inside with us. Quite funny actualy. Things are much better now with the rack though. We had some other things to 
do too and got them done during the party. We took off for the Smuggs at 1:00 and had two hours to ski before close. It was a blast and the boys did unbelievable. Especially the human rocket BJ. This was only his third time on skis and he was already launching down the birm which is above the learning hill. This is about a 7 to 8 ft drop at a 45deg angle. It's awesome to watch how comfortable he is with skis on. It's a little spooky how in control of his balance he is. So he just goes crazy and figures it out as he goes along. Zack is much more methodical and takes one little suggestion or piece of instruction and then goes and works on it. Seany is still young enough to not really care if he learns much and is totally happy to just go. He's doing well also. The two hours went quick but it was enough to get them tired and to give them a burning, and I mean burning desire to get back there. We got up this morning after sleeping in to about 9 and got up and going after packing some lunches. We hit McD's for breakfast and got to the mountain by about noon. So we had four hours to ski. They made the most of it. By the end of the day I brought Zack and BJ half way up the smallest of the three mountains on the lift and they loved it. At the end of the day I brought Zack up to 
the top of that mountain and he was pretty blown away. I have added some pictures of the guys skiing so enjoy. Well, I'm gonna call it a night. I too am tired from being in the fresh mountain air all weekend. This type of weekend is a major reason why we moved here and it looks like the guys are happy about it. Now we just gotta get momma JoJo out there but she needs to take care of June as her first priority.
until 11:15. I also knew I had to have some ski boot work done so I took off for the mountain. I only wound up making five runs but they were awesome. It turns out they opened up all three mountains so I loved it. I can't even explain how awesome it wasor how much my quads burned. I did bite it twice though, the first was low light in a light flurry and I didn't pick up a bump in the middle of a turn, so it threw me up a bit and I over-rotated and backed off the side of the slope right into a huge very soft drift that was actualy a small pine tree. The problem was that I was sitting in the drift and when I put my poles down to push out they just kept going down so I was a bit stuck and laughing at myself didn't help either. I did get out and continued down the mountain thru a cloud by the way. That's a new one for me! I went home and we had some frieds over for some consumables and also, ( this next part is odd) some prime rib. This corner 
gas station/convenience store/grocery store/restaurant makes prme rib to go on Fridays for like $15 which includes a veggie and baked potatoe. Now this is not some tasteless chewy prime, this was nearly an inch and a half thick very nicely done prime rib. It was great!! So Jo had a few drinks and had to be on the road by 8 to get to Connecticut where her flight was out of. She was a bit hung over in the morning. BJ had a birthday party to go to (his girlfriends!) It was in Burlington at a Chuck E Cheese copy place oddly enough called Zacharys Pizza. Side story to this is how much Mikayla loves BJ. Her mom overheard me say Monday that I was taking the boys skiing and assumed we were not coming so she crossed us off the list. Well, Mikayla saw that and threw a fit like nobodys business!!! We got it straightened out in the end and things are back to normal, but it was quite an issue for an evening and morning after when she found out. So we dropped him off sat at 11:00 and Sean and Zack and I went to get a ski rack for the car......Yep, the four of us were packing ourselves in the mini with all the skis, boots, etc inside with us. Quite funny actualy. Things are much better now with the rack though. We had some other things to 
do too and got them done during the party. We took off for the Smuggs at 1:00 and had two hours to ski before close. It was a blast and the boys did unbelievable. Especially the human rocket BJ. This was only his third time on skis and he was already launching down the birm which is above the learning hill. This is about a 7 to 8 ft drop at a 45deg angle. It's awesome to watch how comfortable he is with skis on. It's a little spooky how in control of his balance he is. So he just goes crazy and figures it out as he goes along. Zack is much more methodical and takes one little suggestion or piece of instruction and then goes and works on it. Seany is still young enough to not really care if he learns much and is totally happy to just go. He's doing well also. The two hours went quick but it was enough to get them tired and to give them a burning, and I mean burning desire to get back there. We got up this morning after sleeping in to about 9 and got up and going after packing some lunches. We hit McD's for breakfast and got to the mountain by about noon. So we had four hours to ski. They made the most of it. By the end of the day I brought Zack and BJ half way up the smallest of the three mountains on the lift and they loved it. At the end of the day I brought Zack up to 
the top of that mountain and he was pretty blown away. I have added some pictures of the guys skiing so enjoy. Well, I'm gonna call it a night. I too am tired from being in the fresh mountain air all weekend. This type of weekend is a major reason why we moved here and it looks like the guys are happy about it. Now we just gotta get momma JoJo out there but she needs to take care of June as her first priority.Later,
JB
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Just a quicky.......
Ski season has begun!!!! Although we went last Saturday cause Jo was in Spring lake with June and it said the kid area was open but not the tow-bar. It didn't say the magic carpets were not going! so when we get there we see parents pulling/pushing their kids to the top and then chasing them back down. So as a good dad I said "Start walkin' boys". Just kidding! I went back to the car and put my work boots on and then proceeded to latch one child on each of my ski poles and hauled them up and turned them around and let them go. I gave them that all important advice first though, "If somethings gets in your way or you are going to hit something, Fall!" They did a great job although the quiet daredevil Sean tended to wait til the last possible minute probably in an attempt to give dad a heart attack! I am including a picture of the kids but unfortunately it was in the parking lot after so no action shots. As you will also notice the expression on BJ's face. That's no trick of the light, he's pissed at dad. His meds and my patience wore off at the same time. I think I just told him I was duct taping him to the roof of the car for the ride home. You can see Seany is happy with that prospect.
Moving on.....Jo is back and forth to Michigan every weekend to visit June. Things are not getting any better an we are hoping for the best. Her superintendent has been very understanding of her missed time and we are thankful for that. So we'll keep going forward one day at a time and see what happens.
Two quick things: Our address is - PO BOX 15 North Hero, VT 05474
The other is that I am hearing of people who want to be copied on the blog but the problem is that I'm not getting e-mail addresses for these people. So I state again, if you think someone would like to read it, forward it to them, then forward their e-mail address to me and I'll make sure they are on the update list in the future.
That's it for tonight, sorry for the brevity. You know, 'so little to do and so much time......strike that, reverse it!' (Name that movie).
JB
P.S. going skiing this Friday as it's my day off....Then the boys and I are going again on Saturday...BoooYaaaah! Everyone is always welcome especially to come skiing/boarding. We have 5 or 6 major ski destinations within about 2 hours drive. We have the room so please call or e-mail us. A few only about an hour including Smuggs.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
A new home, well atleast a new rental home!
Well once again I'm late with an update, but we moved in that time period so it's kind of an excuse. The new house is great. We have way more space and modern appliances and a great view across Lake Champlain to the East with the Green Mountains as the backdrop. We have lots of room outdoors too and a big beach area for the guys to go rock hunting. The boys found a rock with a bunch of quartz crystals on it out there and spend hours trying to chip it off. It's very
cool. They are really adapting to this whole adventure. we also have room for guests now. It's only 12 hours from GH to here so I don't want any excuses!
Jo is back in Michigan for two weeks with the boys. June's health is slipping and Dawn needed some time to go to training for her new job. She also needed some time with her family together. So Jo talk
ed to her Super' and they let her go home for a few weeks. We'll have to take it week by week after that, but we'll try and get her home every weekend to see her mom. I fly home next Wednesday, yes you read that right, next Wednesday the busiest flying day of the year. it should be an adventure.
On a different front, we ordered our season ski passes to Smugglers Notch a week ago. I'm excited to be able to go skiing so easily here and on real mountains. The snow is already flying in the upper elevations. You can check out the snow reports on Stowe and Smuggs web sites. They are both claiming that they will open on November 23rd so you never know. You can bet I'll get out there every Friday off that I have. I'm guessing some of those Fridays we can convince the principal to let our kids out of school at noon so they can enjoy the mountains. It's really pretty neat to get up one morning and see the mountain tops covered in snow. I tried to get a picture of Mt Mansfield (Stowe
) but you can only just tell it's got snow on it. Just to let you all know what we are in for here, everyone still gets snow tires for the winter here. So me and my Mini are going to get some good ol' knobbys pretty soon! I was thinking of close pinning a few playing cards on the spokes too for that little extra bit of flair!
I'm going to post some pictures put in this now and that takes some time to upload on my dial-up. so I'm going to keep watching my Band of Brothers DVD's while doing that. Catch you all later and have a happy holiday.
JB
Sunday, October 28, 2007
The "Powers" that be....
Sorry for delay everyone. We’ve been a bit busy, plus it’s just not a convenient computer/internet situation. It couldn’t be much more uncomfortable of a place to sit a computer. That is both bad and good. Bad because I don’t get things like this done but good that I don’t sit surfing the web for mindless reasons. Enough of the whining, on with the blog…..
We were back in Michigan last weekend for an extended time as Jo had Thursday and Friday off, so I took them off too. We got a chance to
do a few things while home that we both needed and wanted to get done. Also my parents came home from their Russia trip that Friday night and that was very cool to hear about. They also brought back a few things for us all which were very cool as well. We’ve been back to Michigan two times in two weeks and now we won’t be back until turkey time. It’s a long drive for the boys and they have been troopers but it’s time to slow down a bit for them at least. We also are moving houses this next weekend into a 4 bedroom two floor home on Lake Champlain. It’s only about a half mile up the road but is a much nicer place. So we are looking forward to that. We did move just over half our stuff this past weekend to another storage facility that is half the cost. We’ll have to move the rest as well, but some of that we’ll get some people to chip in. This time I loaded a 24 foot truck all day Friday and Jo helped me unload it all at the new facility. It also gave us a chance to go thru many of the 250 boxes to see where some things are that were missing, like winter coats!
Next weekend Zack has a big cub/boy scout verterans day parade he is walking in somewhere in southern Vermont. I guess this is a big to-do as I think the entire Vermont scouting groups are invited. My understanding is that that is all that’s in the parade is scouts and veterans. Sounds very cool. On the subject of the boys, we have two Transformers(Sean & BJ) and one Harry Potter (in quidditch outfit)(Zack) for Halloween this year. I’ll try and post some pictures for you. We went to a locally sponsored Halloween party last night that the rec department puts on for kids. It was really nice and they had fun stuff for the guys to do. Oh yeah, I totally forgot, BJ broke his left hand pinky two weeks ago, right above the second knuckle. No displacement so nothing had to be ‘set’ which is always good. It was very close to the growth plate and there was disagreement by the doctors whether or not it was at the growth plate but regardless it’s stiff treated the same way. So he’s had a big old bendy splint on his fingers which is usually bent in some origami looking thing by the end of the day cause he can’t leave it alone. He also turned 6 this past month (11th).
Jo and I are doing well, we are both busy at work, which is good. We are making some friends and they have been very good to us inviting us over often for Friday nights. Not much to report on that front. I did get my new taillights for my Mini Cooper. Zack, Sean and I put them in today. Really easy! I know most of you don’t care but they just look more snazzy, yes that’s right snazzy! See for yourself. 
A quick story for you all about how we came home here last weekend after driving 12½ hours. It was about 6:30 Sunday night and was just past dusk. So visibility was not great but not total night either. It was dark enough to not be able to see which of the windows in the house was unlatched before I ripped the screen out to gain entry. Yes I know, it’s not the preferred method of entering a house but you see when we have the house key on the key ring that is sitting in the house we are attempting to enter, you must resort to some drastic measures. So I thought, ‘no big deal I’ll just get my trusty flashlight from the camper….which…is….in….the…..house….damn! foiled again!’ Alas a solution presented itself that allowed me to identify a window that was unlatched. Before I tell you my solution and how I came to be in possession of the solution keep in mind I’ve just driven 12½ hours in the car and am not totally grumpy but nor am I in a cheery mood. Moving on….So I’m somewhat pissy with the situation and then I remembered my good friend Craig Powers….No Craig, being pissy does not make me think of you, I was just trying to think thru some potential solutions and I remembered that I had just been given one of those pocket tools that folds up and has pliers, screw drivers, etc. But this one had one extra trick up it’s sleeve, it had an LED light on it that was surprisingly bright. Boyaah!, from pissy to ecstatic. And where, you ask, did I get such a unique, situation saving item such as that! You guessed it, Craig Powers! He gave it to me the night before back in Grand Haven. So thanks to Mr. Powers, I did find a window that was unlocked, I did successfully break into our rental house, and I was able to calm down and have a reasonably peaceful night after that. So to you Craig, I tip my hat, for without your need to give away your collected trinkets in an effort to lighten your load prior to heading on your next life adventure, I believe I would have ripped down as many as four screens in the house prior to finding an unlocked window and therefore have four screens to repair prior to leaving next weekend. We all extend our thanks!
I’ll leave you with tonight’s activities…… 
We were back in Michigan last weekend for an extended time as Jo had Thursday and Friday off, so I took them off too. We got a chance to
do a few things while home that we both needed and wanted to get done. Also my parents came home from their Russia trip that Friday night and that was very cool to hear about. They also brought back a few things for us all which were very cool as well. We’ve been back to Michigan two times in two weeks and now we won’t be back until turkey time. It’s a long drive for the boys and they have been troopers but it’s time to slow down a bit for them at least. We also are moving houses this next weekend into a 4 bedroom two floor home on Lake Champlain. It’s only about a half mile up the road but is a much nicer place. So we are looking forward to that. We did move just over half our stuff this past weekend to another storage facility that is half the cost. We’ll have to move the rest as well, but some of that we’ll get some people to chip in. This time I loaded a 24 foot truck all day Friday and Jo helped me unload it all at the new facility. It also gave us a chance to go thru many of the 250 boxes to see where some things are that were missing, like winter coats!Next weekend Zack has a big cub/boy scout verterans day parade he is walking in somewhere in southern Vermont. I guess this is a big to-do as I think the entire Vermont scouting groups are invited. My understanding is that that is all that’s in the parade is scouts and veterans. Sounds very cool. On the subject of the boys, we have two Transformers(Sean & BJ) and one Harry Potter (in quidditch outfit)(Zack) for Halloween this year. I’ll try and post some pictures for you. We went to a locally sponsored Halloween party last night that the rec department puts on for kids. It was really nice and they had fun stuff for the guys to do. Oh yeah, I totally forgot, BJ broke his left hand pinky two weeks ago, right above the second knuckle. No displacement so nothing had to be ‘set’ which is always good. It was very close to the growth plate and there was disagreement by the doctors whether or not it was at the growth plate but regardless it’s stiff treated the same way. So he’s had a big old bendy splint on his fingers which is usually bent in some origami looking thing by the end of the day cause he can’t leave it alone. He also turned 6 this past month (11th).
Jo and I are doing well, we are both busy at work, which is good. We are making some friends and they have been very good to us inviting us over often for Friday nights. Not much to report on that front. I did get my new taillights for my Mini Cooper. Zack, Sean and I put them in today. Really easy! I know most of you don’t care but they just look more snazzy, yes that’s right snazzy! See for yourself.
A quick story for you all about how we came home here last weekend after driving 12½ hours. It was about 6:30 Sunday night and was just past dusk. So visibility was not great but not total night either. It was dark enough to not be able to see which of the windows in the house was unlatched before I ripped the screen out to gain entry. Yes I know, it’s not the preferred method of entering a house but you see when we have the house key on the key ring that is sitting in the house we are attempting to enter, you must resort to some drastic measures. So I thought, ‘no big deal I’ll just get my trusty flashlight from the camper….which…is….in….the…..house….damn! foiled again!’ Alas a solution presented itself that allowed me to identify a window that was unlatched. Before I tell you my solution and how I came to be in possession of the solution keep in mind I’ve just driven 12½ hours in the car and am not totally grumpy but nor am I in a cheery mood. Moving on….So I’m somewhat pissy with the situation and then I remembered my good friend Craig Powers….No Craig, being pissy does not make me think of you, I was just trying to think thru some potential solutions and I remembered that I had just been given one of those pocket tools that folds up and has pliers, screw drivers, etc. But this one had one extra trick up it’s sleeve, it had an LED light on it that was surprisingly bright. Boyaah!, from pissy to ecstatic. And where, you ask, did I get such a unique, situation saving item such as that! You guessed it, Craig Powers! He gave it to me the night before back in Grand Haven. So thanks to Mr. Powers, I did find a window that was unlocked, I did successfully break into our rental house, and I was able to calm down and have a reasonably peaceful night after that. So to you Craig, I tip my hat, for without your need to give away your collected trinkets in an effort to lighten your load prior to heading on your next life adventure, I believe I would have ripped down as many as four screens in the house prior to finding an unlocked window and therefore have four screens to repair prior to leaving next weekend. We all extend our thanks!
I’ll leave you with tonight’s activities……
Saturday, October 6, 2007
And These Are The Days Of Our Lives.......
And These Are The Days Of Our Lives……….
It’s Friday today. The Friday that I work. (For those of you who don’t know, I work a 9/80 schedule which means I work 80 hours in 9 work days which gives me every other Friday off.) No major plans this weekend for once, although it is Apple Festival on South Hero this weekend and from what we hear it’s pretty big. Well, big for Vermont! Jo is becoming more at ease and comfortable in her job and I am still enjoying mine. I am also enjoying my new-to-me Mini Cooper and have been online looking for upgrades/add-ons. I’ve got my eye on buying the checkerboard mirror side mirror casings to match the roof and also a much cooler rear tail light assembly. Other than that I don’t know what more I’m going to do. I don’t want to put too much money into it and the things I am going to do are pretty cheap.
The boys are doing well and have been riding the bus home with classmates a couple times this week and hanging out at their houses, so they are definitely making friends.
I started playing at an indoor (gym) soccer pickup league this last week. Wow, am I out of shape!!!! I thought my heart was going to explode. I also strained a calf muscle that hasn’t really improved yet so I’ll have to watch it this next Monday. Getting old sucks! I am going with a friend of ours, Danielle. She’s pretty good at soccer and we have kids the same ages. She’s the one who started the kids soccer program that Jo and I have been helping with, and the boys have been participating in. I am hoping this off season we can sit down with some neighboring towns and expand the program.
Zack is in full Cub Scout mode now and since we have no idea where his uniform is right now we are going to have to buy him a new one. He is a wolf this year and we are very proud of his enthusiasm for the scouts. His den leader lives on a big farm and so he is going to get a great education about farm life this year. I’m toying with the idea of getting into scouts because I think they need a tiger leader. Zack is also in his popcorn drive so we’d love for you to order something from him. Click here for a link so you can see what he is selling. I’ll have to supply prices some other way. Zack would really love to have your support with this as he can earn a patch for it and it really helps their funding for the year. So call with questions or for prices if you’d like. 616-402-4652. Zack is also really developing an athletic zest. He loves soccer, but also football. He really likes all sports but has latched onto these lately. Know for the engineering geek side, he likes to watch Modern Marvels on the history channel with me and just recited some fertilizer facts to BJ yesterday after watching the Modern Marvels on fertilizer a couple days earlier. That’s just darn funny to me! He also really liked the one on the building of the Mackinac Bridge.
Seany is also making friends at school and already has his favorites. He is doing great and they love him there. We have had a few notes about how he has been a real example for the rest of the kids. For those of you who haven’t seen him lately or interacted with him, he is very in control of his body language and facial expressions. Well beyond what BJ and Zack could do at that time. I don’t know how to explain it, but if you spend only 5 minutes with him he’ll have you laughing.
BJ is doing well also and academically doing well in school. He’s struggling a bit socially but that is because he is overdue for a meds increase. He is big into catching frogs right now and I think he really likes living in the sticks out closer to nature. He too is finding friends, and doesn’t know it yet but he has a girl friend. It’s a little girl from his class, a real spitfire, who has a big crush on him. I guess she’s been writing her name and BJs with hearts all over her house. Of course he, like his dad, is clueless about that stuff. I’m not clueless now but back then I was.
We went home last weekend and got to see everyone. The only downside of the trip was that Pete & Mandy have had a pretty major setback to their pregnancy and their bid for children. I don’t want to go further into that as I’m sure they don’t want details broadcast over the internet. We did get to go to the symphony with June and Dawn as well as out to dinner at Arboreal. Both were great and we were very thankful for the night out with adults and also to my parents for once again answering the babysitting call. Every once in a while you do something as an ‘adult’ that makes you feel, well, like an adult….The symphony was one of those things and I found myself not only enjoying the music but also people watching. The majority of people were older but they all looked like they were enjoying themselves and I realized so was I. Go figure, an uncultured beast like me enjoying the symphony. What’s next, cats and dogs living together? Britney Spears getting a clue? The government actually getting something done? A presidential candidate that we can actually vote FOR instead of the least of two evils?........Sorry, got side tracked there for a moment. Damn near got up on a soap box. Back to the symphony thing…….So here is your hypothetical question to ponder for the week. Is it best to make your kids go to things like the symphony when they are young and totally disinterested therefore risking that they grow an aversion to such things until they are much older, or is it best to give them much smaller snippets thru some other way hoping they’ll show interest by themselves or at least not get an aversion and therefore be open to it much younger in their adult life? (I am contacting Guinness to see if that qualifies for the longest sentence in history) Regardless, talk amongst yourselves……Oh yeah, if I just sparked off a spousal argument…….it was Joeys idea, yeah right, Joeys idea!
June is doing alright but finding this round of chemo a bit more taxing than the previous round. It was good for not only Jo but all of us to get to see her. Obviously we are all concerned about the future and where things are going to go. On the subject of Jo’s parents, we continue to get cards from people showing they are thinking of us, both in concern for June and in memory of Dale. It’s greatly appreciated.
Jo is getting more comfortable in her job but she has also has some major challenges that are not normal to an incoming new principal and they have kept her from adapting as quickly as if she had come into a previously decently run school. It has been interesting to watch her truly become a more confident, stronger person. She certainly takes less crap from me. Oh well, it’s easily worth it. She works hard and is learning to adapt to a different schedule. Maybe I’ll have her add onto this herself.
I think that’s it for now, feel free to leave feedback to this, I think there is a link below. Also, you may be able to subscribe to this blog so you know when it updates. I don’t know for sure though. Check around on this site and let me know. Lastly, for all you Michiganders, I just wanted you to know what it’s like to cheer for a winning football team. By that I mean consistently winning. It’s Fantastic! It’s Great! BooYah! Go Patriots! Doesn’t that sound like fun? I still cheer for the Ly-Downs, but now I can cheer for a team I know has a chance to win consistently, it certainly is nice.
PS. Please forward my ‘blog update’ e-mail to anyone you think might be interested. When you do, also send their e-mail to me and I’ll add them to my ‘Blog update’ email group. If you do figure out how to ‘subscribe’ to the blog and get automatic notification of a blog update from the blog site, let me know and I’ll take you off the ‘blog update’ email group. If you’d just like to forget about us and live a normal life without these pestering e-mails……tough, your stuck!!!! Just kidding, let me know and I’ll remove you in a year or two.
It’s Friday today. The Friday that I work. (For those of you who don’t know, I work a 9/80 schedule which means I work 80 hours in 9 work days which gives me every other Friday off.) No major plans this weekend for once, although it is Apple Festival on South Hero this weekend and from what we hear it’s pretty big. Well, big for Vermont! Jo is becoming more at ease and comfortable in her job and I am still enjoying mine. I am also enjoying my new-to-me Mini Cooper and have been online looking for upgrades/add-ons. I’ve got my eye on buying the checkerboard mirror side mirror casings to match the roof and also a much cooler rear tail light assembly. Other than that I don’t know what more I’m going to do. I don’t want to put too much money into it and the things I am going to do are pretty cheap.
The boys are doing well and have been riding the bus home with classmates a couple times this week and hanging out at their houses, so they are definitely making friends.
I started playing at an indoor (gym) soccer pickup league this last week. Wow, am I out of shape!!!! I thought my heart was going to explode. I also strained a calf muscle that hasn’t really improved yet so I’ll have to watch it this next Monday. Getting old sucks! I am going with a friend of ours, Danielle. She’s pretty good at soccer and we have kids the same ages. She’s the one who started the kids soccer program that Jo and I have been helping with, and the boys have been participating in. I am hoping this off season we can sit down with some neighboring towns and expand the program.
Zack is in full Cub Scout mode now and since we have no idea where his uniform is right now we are going to have to buy him a new one. He is a wolf this year and we are very proud of his enthusiasm for the scouts. His den leader lives on a big farm and so he is going to get a great education about farm life this year. I’m toying with the idea of getting into scouts because I think they need a tiger leader. Zack is also in his popcorn drive so we’d love for you to order something from him. Click here for a link so you can see what he is selling. I’ll have to supply prices some other way. Zack would really love to have your support with this as he can earn a patch for it and it really helps their funding for the year. So call with questions or for prices if you’d like. 616-402-4652. Zack is also really developing an athletic zest. He loves soccer, but also football. He really likes all sports but has latched onto these lately. Know for the engineering geek side, he likes to watch Modern Marvels on the history channel with me and just recited some fertilizer facts to BJ yesterday after watching the Modern Marvels on fertilizer a couple days earlier. That’s just darn funny to me! He also really liked the one on the building of the Mackinac Bridge.
Seany is also making friends at school and already has his favorites. He is doing great and they love him there. We have had a few notes about how he has been a real example for the rest of the kids. For those of you who haven’t seen him lately or interacted with him, he is very in control of his body language and facial expressions. Well beyond what BJ and Zack could do at that time. I don’t know how to explain it, but if you spend only 5 minutes with him he’ll have you laughing.
BJ is doing well also and academically doing well in school. He’s struggling a bit socially but that is because he is overdue for a meds increase. He is big into catching frogs right now and I think he really likes living in the sticks out closer to nature. He too is finding friends, and doesn’t know it yet but he has a girl friend. It’s a little girl from his class, a real spitfire, who has a big crush on him. I guess she’s been writing her name and BJs with hearts all over her house. Of course he, like his dad, is clueless about that stuff. I’m not clueless now but back then I was.
We went home last weekend and got to see everyone. The only downside of the trip was that Pete & Mandy have had a pretty major setback to their pregnancy and their bid for children. I don’t want to go further into that as I’m sure they don’t want details broadcast over the internet. We did get to go to the symphony with June and Dawn as well as out to dinner at Arboreal. Both were great and we were very thankful for the night out with adults and also to my parents for once again answering the babysitting call. Every once in a while you do something as an ‘adult’ that makes you feel, well, like an adult….The symphony was one of those things and I found myself not only enjoying the music but also people watching. The majority of people were older but they all looked like they were enjoying themselves and I realized so was I. Go figure, an uncultured beast like me enjoying the symphony. What’s next, cats and dogs living together? Britney Spears getting a clue? The government actually getting something done? A presidential candidate that we can actually vote FOR instead of the least of two evils?........Sorry, got side tracked there for a moment. Damn near got up on a soap box. Back to the symphony thing…….So here is your hypothetical question to ponder for the week. Is it best to make your kids go to things like the symphony when they are young and totally disinterested therefore risking that they grow an aversion to such things until they are much older, or is it best to give them much smaller snippets thru some other way hoping they’ll show interest by themselves or at least not get an aversion and therefore be open to it much younger in their adult life? (I am contacting Guinness to see if that qualifies for the longest sentence in history) Regardless, talk amongst yourselves……Oh yeah, if I just sparked off a spousal argument…….it was Joeys idea, yeah right, Joeys idea!
June is doing alright but finding this round of chemo a bit more taxing than the previous round. It was good for not only Jo but all of us to get to see her. Obviously we are all concerned about the future and where things are going to go. On the subject of Jo’s parents, we continue to get cards from people showing they are thinking of us, both in concern for June and in memory of Dale. It’s greatly appreciated.
Jo is getting more comfortable in her job but she has also has some major challenges that are not normal to an incoming new principal and they have kept her from adapting as quickly as if she had come into a previously decently run school. It has been interesting to watch her truly become a more confident, stronger person. She certainly takes less crap from me. Oh well, it’s easily worth it. She works hard and is learning to adapt to a different schedule. Maybe I’ll have her add onto this herself.
I think that’s it for now, feel free to leave feedback to this, I think there is a link below. Also, you may be able to subscribe to this blog so you know when it updates. I don’t know for sure though. Check around on this site and let me know. Lastly, for all you Michiganders, I just wanted you to know what it’s like to cheer for a winning football team. By that I mean consistently winning. It’s Fantastic! It’s Great! BooYah! Go Patriots! Doesn’t that sound like fun? I still cheer for the Ly-Downs, but now I can cheer for a team I know has a chance to win consistently, it certainly is nice.
PS. Please forward my ‘blog update’ e-mail to anyone you think might be interested. When you do, also send their e-mail to me and I’ll add them to my ‘Blog update’ email group. If you do figure out how to ‘subscribe’ to the blog and get automatic notification of a blog update from the blog site, let me know and I’ll take you off the ‘blog update’ email group. If you’d just like to forget about us and live a normal life without these pestering e-mails……tough, your stuck!!!! Just kidding, let me know and I’ll remove you in a year or two.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
At The Edge Off The Cliff
It’s been too long since my last update which was about July 20. I believe the last you heard was our house was about to sell and we had put an offer in on a nice country house here. Well, on or about July 25, we got word that the house deal in Grand Haven was about to fall thru. TWO DAYS before they were scheduled to close! We were absolutely angry, frustrated, and flabbergasted! That’s right flabbergasted!!! Of course this meant our house deal here had to fall thru as well. We were not happy. Keep in mind we had moved out of our hotel on the 22nd and were living in our camper. So we had no house, Jo had no job, and we just felt overwhelmed. So I get home that night and Jo had to go to an interview for a principal on North Hero Island in Lake Champlain. She really didn’t want to go but it was the second round and she was one of three candidates. She was also pretty crushed about the house issues we had that day and was probably not projecting the normal happy JoJo that we all know and love. Well she went and I was in the camper with the kids all grumpy about the house. That was not a happy couple hours that Jo was at her interview. She went and got home about 9:00pm feeling like she had at least presented herself well but also pretty confident that she didn’t get the job. It’s 50 minutes from Burlington to that school so we weren’t all that depressed that she was not going to get that job. 10 minutes later the phone rang and she was offered the job!!! We lived many emotions that day and while it wound up positive, I never want to do it again.
Keep in mind Jo wasn’t at all sure she wanted to do this principal thing because she thought it would keep her from the kids too much, and it might, but she decided to give it a try. Thus begins her frequent trips ‘To the edge of the cliff……’ Figuratively speaking of course. She would come as close to panic attacks as I’ve ever seen. Literally day to day. Keep in mind there were several other things going on too. We were living in the camper, her dads health was not great but he was staying relatively even, and her mom seemed to be getting sick again and had scheduled a doc apt to find out what was going on. I on the other hand was in charge of talking her back from the edge of the cliff every other day. Really no big deal in comparison. So things seemed to be looking up, and I think we even said that. Whoooops! Was that the wrong thing to think.
On July 29 Jo drove home with the 3 boys, the long way below the lakes, to be with her mom who had found out her cancer was back and was going to have surgery that Tuesday the 31st. The trip went fine and she was able to hang with her family as June had surgery. The outcome was not good and nor was her prognosis. They were not able to get the cancer out and she was given a limited amount of time left to live. This was very hard to take because she had conquered so well in her previous round. I joined Jo at home for Coast Guard weekend and also to help her drive back, this time thru Canada because we’d gotten copies of the boys birth certs because the normal copies were in storage.
This too would not go as expected. We got to Port Huron and upon entering Canada, we found that the County Clerk had made a mistake and given us two for Sean, one for Zack and none for BJ. Turned out not to be a big deal and we figured we would have time to deal. Wrong again. We drove all day Sunday and got home on August 5th. It would be only 4 short days later before we’d be back in Grand Haven but not for June’s health but for Dale’s. We got a call that Wednesday saying he’d been found collapsed at his home. We figured it was just another episode of his ammonia levels being too high and he’d come out of it. Turns out it was much more than that. He had pneumonia and many other problems and his body could no longer fight. June was released from the hospital in time to say good bye and everyone else was able to as well. He passed away that weekend and his memorial service was August 16. Sometimes life just slaps you in the face and for Jo, this last year and a half has been one big slap. Ups, downs, then more downs, and some ups. It’s made for a lot of days ‘at the edge of the cliff’. (I’ve barely touched on this phase, not because I don’t feel it’s significant, but because it’s still pretty hard for all of us to deal with, especially Jo.
Well we got back and Jo started work right away. We were still in the camper and shortly after getting back we had a communication problem with the office and they gave our spot away. So with less than 24 hrs warning we had to move our camper to god only knows where. We found a place and it turned out way better than the previous place and it was also on South Hero Island which was closer for Jo. We still needed to find a rental for school time though. We finally found one and right on the water. We’ve been here just over three weeks and it’s been great. My parents and brother Brian came out for Labor day week and it was great to have them here and they are excited for us being here.
So, all things said and done we are actually doing very well. We took the boys to the top of Stowe and the view and ride was awesome. We also stayed at Smugglers Notch with my parents and the kids are amped to go skiing and boarding after staying on the mountain. Frankly, so am I!!!!! We are budgeting to get season passes to Smugglers Notch, or as we locals call it – Smuggs. The leaves are turning already and I can’t wait for my first fall in New England. We still are concerned about June, and hope she can get healthy enough to come out and visit. We will be coming home sometime in October for our annual pilgrimage to Glen Lake to go canoeing. That is if we can find our canoe carrying equipment in storage…….That is our life right now, ‘Storage’, but, we’ll keep plugging and hoping for that one thing that needs to happen, the house sells. Once that happens we’ll be in a much happier place.
I’ll try and get some pictures with the next update, but we are on dial up now and I don’t know how many weeks it takes to upload a file the size of a picture J.
Finally, to everyone who has shown us tremendous support through everything and especially Dorothy & Carroll who have gone above and beyond, we say a huge, and I mean HUGE thank you. So, from the edge of the cliff, I’ll sign off for today.
It’s a few days later now…..Saturday September 22. We didn’t start out to have a big day but we finished that way. First, soccer practice. It’s growing every week. There was no real program here on North Hero but a great mom from Jo’s school started one and Jo and I volunteered to help coach. It started with less than 10 kids and today we about 30. That’s a great turnout and we have fun. So, an hour and half of that and then it time to go into Burlington. We found out the South Burlington High School has an annual ski swap, much like the YMCA from back home. So I was geeked to get there and see what we could do for the boys. I was not disappointed. We got 3 sets of skis, boots, and helmets for under $400. That was great! So it was on to the next stop, BK. Ate lunch, then headed by the used car shop that had the Mini-Cooper I wanted since I’ve been here. It’s been too high a price and I have been able to hold off even though I really want it. We’ll today it was listed at my threshold price. You know, the price you set that says you wont buy it until it drops to such and such a price. So, today I became an ex-gas guzzler and the owner of a red mini-cooper with checkerboard roof. It’s an 03 and I’m pretty excited to get it Monday. I guess I’m getting tree huggery crunchy…….blech! What really sold me was that I took about a 20 minute test drive and 8 minutes into it Seany fell asleep. So he was sold. Lastly we went to Cosco. Enough said about that!
For those of you who don’t know our SBC email is kaput! So Jo and I both have gmail accounts. jimbennink@gmail.com joeybennink@gmail.com Will try and get pictures up soon of the car and the kids ski stuff.
So long for now……….
Keep in mind Jo wasn’t at all sure she wanted to do this principal thing because she thought it would keep her from the kids too much, and it might, but she decided to give it a try. Thus begins her frequent trips ‘To the edge of the cliff……’ Figuratively speaking of course. She would come as close to panic attacks as I’ve ever seen. Literally day to day. Keep in mind there were several other things going on too. We were living in the camper, her dads health was not great but he was staying relatively even, and her mom seemed to be getting sick again and had scheduled a doc apt to find out what was going on. I on the other hand was in charge of talking her back from the edge of the cliff every other day. Really no big deal in comparison. So things seemed to be looking up, and I think we even said that. Whoooops! Was that the wrong thing to think.
On July 29 Jo drove home with the 3 boys, the long way below the lakes, to be with her mom who had found out her cancer was back and was going to have surgery that Tuesday the 31st. The trip went fine and she was able to hang with her family as June had surgery. The outcome was not good and nor was her prognosis. They were not able to get the cancer out and she was given a limited amount of time left to live. This was very hard to take because she had conquered so well in her previous round. I joined Jo at home for Coast Guard weekend and also to help her drive back, this time thru Canada because we’d gotten copies of the boys birth certs because the normal copies were in storage.
This too would not go as expected. We got to Port Huron and upon entering Canada, we found that the County Clerk had made a mistake and given us two for Sean, one for Zack and none for BJ. Turned out not to be a big deal and we figured we would have time to deal. Wrong again. We drove all day Sunday and got home on August 5th. It would be only 4 short days later before we’d be back in Grand Haven but not for June’s health but for Dale’s. We got a call that Wednesday saying he’d been found collapsed at his home. We figured it was just another episode of his ammonia levels being too high and he’d come out of it. Turns out it was much more than that. He had pneumonia and many other problems and his body could no longer fight. June was released from the hospital in time to say good bye and everyone else was able to as well. He passed away that weekend and his memorial service was August 16. Sometimes life just slaps you in the face and for Jo, this last year and a half has been one big slap. Ups, downs, then more downs, and some ups. It’s made for a lot of days ‘at the edge of the cliff’. (I’ve barely touched on this phase, not because I don’t feel it’s significant, but because it’s still pretty hard for all of us to deal with, especially Jo.
Well we got back and Jo started work right away. We were still in the camper and shortly after getting back we had a communication problem with the office and they gave our spot away. So with less than 24 hrs warning we had to move our camper to god only knows where. We found a place and it turned out way better than the previous place and it was also on South Hero Island which was closer for Jo. We still needed to find a rental for school time though. We finally found one and right on the water. We’ve been here just over three weeks and it’s been great. My parents and brother Brian came out for Labor day week and it was great to have them here and they are excited for us being here.
So, all things said and done we are actually doing very well. We took the boys to the top of Stowe and the view and ride was awesome. We also stayed at Smugglers Notch with my parents and the kids are amped to go skiing and boarding after staying on the mountain. Frankly, so am I!!!!! We are budgeting to get season passes to Smugglers Notch, or as we locals call it – Smuggs. The leaves are turning already and I can’t wait for my first fall in New England. We still are concerned about June, and hope she can get healthy enough to come out and visit. We will be coming home sometime in October for our annual pilgrimage to Glen Lake to go canoeing. That is if we can find our canoe carrying equipment in storage…….That is our life right now, ‘Storage’, but, we’ll keep plugging and hoping for that one thing that needs to happen, the house sells. Once that happens we’ll be in a much happier place.
I’ll try and get some pictures with the next update, but we are on dial up now and I don’t know how many weeks it takes to upload a file the size of a picture J.
Finally, to everyone who has shown us tremendous support through everything and especially Dorothy & Carroll who have gone above and beyond, we say a huge, and I mean HUGE thank you. So, from the edge of the cliff, I’ll sign off for today.
It’s a few days later now…..Saturday September 22. We didn’t start out to have a big day but we finished that way. First, soccer practice. It’s growing every week. There was no real program here on North Hero but a great mom from Jo’s school started one and Jo and I volunteered to help coach. It started with less than 10 kids and today we about 30. That’s a great turnout and we have fun. So, an hour and half of that and then it time to go into Burlington. We found out the South Burlington High School has an annual ski swap, much like the YMCA from back home. So I was geeked to get there and see what we could do for the boys. I was not disappointed. We got 3 sets of skis, boots, and helmets for under $400. That was great! So it was on to the next stop, BK. Ate lunch, then headed by the used car shop that had the Mini-Cooper I wanted since I’ve been here. It’s been too high a price and I have been able to hold off even though I really want it. We’ll today it was listed at my threshold price. You know, the price you set that says you wont buy it until it drops to such and such a price. So, today I became an ex-gas guzzler and the owner of a red mini-cooper with checkerboard roof. It’s an 03 and I’m pretty excited to get it Monday. I guess I’m getting tree huggery crunchy…….blech! What really sold me was that I took about a 20 minute test drive and 8 minutes into it Seany fell asleep. So he was sold. Lastly we went to Cosco. Enough said about that!
For those of you who don’t know our SBC email is kaput! So Jo and I both have gmail accounts. jimbennink@gmail.com joeybennink@gmail.com Will try and get pictures up soon of the car and the kids ski stuff.
So long for now……….
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