Soon, the letters of intent will be rolling in. Amazing! :)

Just looking ahead for you:

http://www.berecruited.com/resources...c-scholarships

Cool thanks. Intent is a little while away, but she's already had one recruitment letter for swimming

...I understood some of that. Congrats :)

approximate translation:

It was a game of two halves, but at the end of the day, the girl done good...

;)

ahhh, ye shouldda said :P

This time... Thor!

There were 5 14up boys in the pool trying and failing to play gutterball because 2 on 3 is so uneven (gutterball is kind of like polo but the only rule is hold the ball on the gutter at your end for 3 seconds to get a point) .... so we (the parents on deck) said "ask Thor to play". And they did. And he was in like a shot. He's 10, it was kind of a charity move -both of his siblings had whole bunches of friends at the pool tonight but none of his were there..... he totally held his own! With high school polo players. Ok being little and there being no rules, he could get away with some stuff that wouldn't go down in polo, but I'm thinking maybe we found his sport..... (he has been taking polo classes so he's not a total newb)

It's not the size of the dog in the fight....

I was surprised to see how much tecnique he had picked up from the classes, whenever I watched he has just hung on tp the side and splahed the coaches.

The new high school grad

Congrats to grad and to dad.

agreed! Congratulations to all!!

What stylish lenses that young man is wearing! ;)

I noticed that too, but while I found the nosepiece and temples stylish, I couldn't find the lenses at all.

Congrats Spexx. Last one or are you just starting?

Our family is quite happy this week, as we are celebrating my G-son's graduation
from the Mt Hood CC Fisheries Program, with a B+ grade point.

It's been a long haul for him... starting with problems during Middle School,
and dropping out of High School. He came to live with us, and first got his G.E.D.,
then a couple of years at Community College, then two years in the Fisheries Program.

He has worked weekends at one hatchery for $, and volunteered for 5 weeks at another.
So his credentials for employment are quite good at this point.
He has already applied for a couple of Oregon Fish & Wildlife hatchery positions,
and his waiting to hear back. He's anxious to make some $ and start living on his own.

So, we are very proud of him, and hope he finds employment right away...

Outstanding!

My congratulations to him for his persistence and accomplishment!

So ima guessen he likes the fishes ?? ;)

Good things are worth worken for ,,,
Good on him and good on ya'll for helpen him !!!

Congrats to all of you Lamp.

Woot....Wooo...Woot
Sam leaves Tues morning for his first job with Oregon Fish & Wildlife !!!

It's a "temporary" position, but his foot is in the door.
He will be stationed mid-way between LaGrande and Enterprise, OR.

That's a-waaaayyyyyyy....... out there in the eastern boondocks of Oregon,
near the Washington and Idaho borders.
No cell phone and no internet :eek:

That's a very nice area.

Good for him. That disconnect from the virtual world will probably lead to some very interesting insights. I hope. I'll be interested to hear his take on it. How long will he be there?

Me too !

It's classified as a "temporary" position --- through the end of fishing season;
but can be extended or transferred as needed by the ODFW and their budget.

I guess he should have a blog, then, eh?

Today, Minifob dove in and swam half the length of the pool all by himself!

This is after only 3 lessons with the most awesome swim teacher ever. Prior to these three lessons (that is, a week and a half ago,) Minifob had severe anxiety about any water higher than chest level, and wouldn't willingly put his head under water.

That's awesome.

My daughter's 7th grade class had an end of year pool party yesterday, and every kid had to pass a swim test before they were allowed to use the big deep pool. She said most people passed the easy test, but there were a handful who struggled and failed and were stuck using the kiddie pool. (Some didn't even try to take the test and just jumped into the kiddie pool.) It's got to suck being in middle school and wanting to join the fun at the big pool and being publicly shunned like that. I'm always pleased when parents teach their kids to swim. You don't need to be a Hebe or a Phelps, but you should be able to swim a lap or two if need be. It's a life skill.

Yeah, I grew up in a pool (we didn't have one, but my best friend across the street did and we saw each other literally every day.) Being a strong swimmer is a basic safety issue, in my mind. I don't need him to do the butterfly, but I do need him to not panic and drown in water that he could have stood up in if he'd just tried to put his feet down. Of course, if either kid does want to be a Hebe, I wouldn't mind one bit. :)

It really is all down to this swim teacher. His specialty is kids with anxiety or other special needs. He just started his own swim school, so we got in early--in another year he'll be charging twice as much, I'm certain.

I'm going to be an interloper amongst the parents now :p

I am a very, very proud auntie :)

On Friday we went to see the finals exhibition for Amelia's art&design course at college. She's passed all her modules and exams with flying colours and distinctions all round and is off to one of the best design courses in the country (at Uni of Northumbria).

Her exhibition won 'Best in Show' for her course, and took the prize for 'Most Creative Display'.

Unlike most of the students who placed their work on the walls and tables, Amelia elected, with the help of her Dad, to build proper exhibition falls to hang from the ceiling. It looked really professional.

Here she is with her display. Can't do the lamp justice I'm afraid. I am not a great photograhpher. Take my word for it, it's bloody lovely. Wouldn;t look out of place in a high class design studio. It twists around and plays with light and form. I'm so impressed. I knew she was talented, having seen odds and sods over the course, bt seeing it all laid out and her design boards and such. Wow. Dead impresed. And dead proud :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8162/7...5ef508a3a3.jpg
IMG_0643


[eta] the little piles of gambling chips on the display are actually her business cards. I grabbed a few, so at some point I'll take a proper pic of them.

Last Sunday, Sam drove down to meet us in the small town of Wallowa.
We spent the weekend sightseeing the Wallowa River canyon and valley on down through Enterprise and Joseph.

It was good seeing my G-son as a young man on his first real job,
and he was very happy showing off his ODFW rig and telling all about what he has been doing.

It was a very good thing...

Awesome.

Really great. I envy his career!

Dana - wow.
Makes me a little sad to think she is a year older than Abigail, but then Abs never had her flair anyway.
It's so obvious she is good at what she does and delighted with it too. And lucky to be in a family that doesn't suggest she goes and gets a nice office job and stops messing about ;)

She does your whole family proud - and you are right to be proud of her.
Looking forward to great things in future.
(And yes, she is beautiful, but her talent will last longer)

Lamp, good for him.
Some people need to feel their way round the edges of life. He's worked out where he is now.

Ha! advising her to go get an office job is sooo not my Bro's style.

One thing that really moved me, aside from the realisation that our little Flodge is all grown up, was when Mum told me that Amelia is hoping, once she's finished her degree, to collaborate with her Dad on something. She wants to work with her dad on a design project. I can imagine that working really well. He's so talented and capable and she has taken all that on, and then mixed it with her mum's drive and focus.

Lovely to see them together, they're such good friends.


@ Lamp: how marvellous. You must be so proud of him.

Just as an aside, the other thing that really makes me proud of Meels is her work ethic. Something which, frankly passed me right by. She works so hard ather college course, and also works several evenings a week and at weekends saving money for university and little luxuries. She's made herself damn near irreplaceable at the restaurant where she works, they're gutted she's leaving for Uni in September.

Ha! Found some more pics from that evening:

This is, i think, one of my favourite ever pics of Amelia. Shame that her Dad is too blurry to make out, and that her Mum is only just edging into shot, but it's such a nice shot of Meels. 18 Years old and the whole world to explore

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8163/7...d21e9de0fc.jpg


This next one is Sophie, looking ever so elegant and grown up (14!)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8434/7...66d80391a2.jpg

And Sophie again, still looking elegant, but caught off guard and showing her kid face :p I like this one because she looks so sweet.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7...f80167da2b.jpg

And the two girls doing joke model poses: (shame about the reflection in their eyes. Both have dark eyes in real life!)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7...be4cfc7fb6.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/7...a05154ae9f.jpg


Doesn't seem five minutes since they were fighting in the living room - Soph being told off for biting Amelia - Meels being told off for winding Soph up. :p How can that be such a long time ago?

Stunning.
I thought those combinations only came in films - smart, hard-working, talented, gorgeous.
I hope Auntie Dani is going to snaffle some original work now, to set aside for her frail old age... Snaffle some for me while you're at it - we can go on Cash In The Attic as crazy old crones together.

lol I was thinking of asking her to take a commission on something :p

I'm so impressed by them both. They're such nice girls too.
I mean, they're our martin's girls, so I'd love them whatever, but as it happens they're complete sweethearts.

hahahahahah. hahahahahahaha.

Very good :p

I'm sure Dwellars are tired of my postings about my G-son,
but today I came across a pic that even I had not seen before.

This was Sam's first Sturgeon out of the Clackamas River in downtown Oregon City.
I think he was enjoying himself...

I'll call your bluff on this one. I believe the answer is no.

I agree with you completely on this one!! Awesome, and that's an impressive fish!

Amelia got her final results through for her exams :) My heart skipped a beat when I got a text message saying 'all D1s!' but then I remembered, her course is marked differently to a-levels lol. D1 = Distinction +. Which is the highest grade available.

Girl done good. I am so proud of her.

Awwww, Lamp. Such a happy photo, well worth sharing.

Dani I had exactly the same reaction on skim-reading your post.
Ridiculously my stomach dropped a little!
Marvellously accomplished, well done her.

Summer Swim Team End-of-season party:

My son wants to come to Otters to swim because Hebe is there (oops)
My daughter was so disappointed when I asked for babysitters from the Swim Team and Hebe didn't answer. We'll definitely be in contact for swim coaching
Hector is our hero, he can fix anything (broken play structure for a 4yo)
We needed a name for a Contessa in our story and Hebe was perfect, the kids were so happy
We're coming back to Otters, my kids are so happy they'll be on Hebe's team again (oops again -we're (sadly) moving on, but haven't told many yet)

:grinnylov

What? Hebe is notta hotter otter?

um....no.... prolly not any more.... they can't coach her at her level -they can't send a coach out of state to a meet for one swimmer..... she might "represent" them at a couple more local meets at the end of this year, but she has accepted she needs to move on. And -shock horror- has chosen "The Enemy" as the club she will go to. Assuming Beest and I are able to sell our kidneys to pay for it. :rolleyes:

This is a stupid thing to be proud of, more like I am amused by it.

You know that addictive little game Temple Run, available on your portable device of choice? Minifobette can break 3,000 meters on that thing. Pretty damn good for a 4-year-old.

Cute. Max used to play that game too, and he was much better at it than me. I'm pretty hopeless though. The big boys started him playing it. The trouble is, now he always wants to play someone's phone, or ipad or pod. It's annoying. lol

He also loves playing 'Minecraft' on xbox. The most pointless game ever if you ask me, but he loves it.

Thor's into that. he prefers the PC version, though

Lil Griff got a call from her cousin tonight, they need a drummer! She has been getting a lot of opportunities and positive feedback lately. A happy teenage girl, unbelievable. :cool: Of course, Dad is on the hook for some new kit...

I love Minecraft too, and so does SonofV.

I do now.

23 MB, daaang.

Ok... now I'm irritated. 3000 meters? How many coins? I am confusing swipe/turn/tilt/lanechange. Time for a little break I can see.

:)

She doesn't care about the coins, she just runs. But over time she's unlocked everything, including all the 25,000 coin characters. So clearly she's racking them up anyway.

We get to begin at the beginning. Beans is learning to grab at her toys, and her accuracy is steadily increasing. Yay!

Attachment 41840

Chocs, it's like the beginning of a wildfire; a spark and some tinder, nine months later a glowing ember, a few months after that a really nice warm glow, then in three years you'll be frantically beating at the flames with rugs. If you have a second one, you'll just be running as fast as you can from the flames. A friend with three kids tells me that at that point the kids are just dancing on your smoking corpses in the living room.

MY advice? Give up now and learn to enjoy the heat.

Savor these adorable minutes, you'll think they last forever and then one day she's walking down the aisle.

So, what happens when you have four kids? Are they smoking your ashes on the back deck? :eek: (Okay, sometimes it felt that way ...)

Seriously, Choc, congrats - it's such a wonderful time for all of you. Look at Beans, bringing those hands to her midline, going after those toys! And it just gets better from here ... so happy for you. And foot's right, keep your eyes open and the camera handy 'cause the next time you turn around she'll be wanting you to go to New York with her to that expensive place (what is it, starts with K) to shop for a wedding dress ... :)

I suspect they will eat your corpse.

You're fine with two. Divide and conquer - One with mom & one with dad.
When that third one enters the equation .... LOOKOUT!

Yeah, that's my kid on drums.

right off the bat, those drums are taking charge!

The Rocky Theme? Interesting choice for the winter concert. :)