New Backpacking Buddy

This weekend, Isaac and I made our maiden voyage into the wilds on his first backpacking trip. What a hoot! With just the two of us and NO agenda, we were able to follow our every whim (Isaac tends to have a few more whims than I do at this point!) We headed to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area Saturday with our backpacks ready. Normally a one-nighter in warm weather would not require much gear at all, but with storms threatening, and Isaac not quite up to carrying a big load, I shouldered most of our gear. The upside: it was a great chance to use my backpack, which doesn't see near enough of the trail!

For the record, we were doing real backpacking. We hiked out, set up camp and carried all we needed for the 2 days. Isaac thought it was great, but he has not ever done much car-camping to compare it to, so he just thinks this is the "norm" for camping. By the end of the trip, I was convinced that he was hooked ... and that makes me happy!

Click on the slideshow for the full set of pictures...

Boys and FIre

Isaac got a magnifying glass for his birthday this year. It was part of a "bug" themed set. The intention was to use it to get a better look at bugs. Yeah. I think it was actually Cheryl that showed him how to do it, but now Isaac has found a much more exciting use for his glass - buring things! I came home to find him in the driveway with some leaves and paper trying to focus the beam enough on one spot to burn it. What fun. It brought back a few memories, too!

Homemade Hotwings

I got a wild hare last Friday and decided that I wanted to try something new ... homemade hotwings. The inspiration actually struch on Thursday while shopping at Costco. You know the Samples they offer at the end of every aisle? On one, they had a sweet sauce that I wound up buying - Mango Ginger Habañero Sauce! (This sauce is really tasty but not spicey hot at all).

So, Friday I was thinking about what I could make with that sauce when it struck me - this would make for great Hot Wings! I jumped up and headed to Academy and walked out with a deep frying kit and one gallon of peanut oil.

I never realized how easy Wings are! Seriously, if you have the pans and a thermometer, there is nothing to it. Heat the oil up to 325°, drop in some flour coated wings and pull them out when they are nicely browned. Then it is off to the sauce! I took several bowls and poured some of the new Mango sauce in one. I put two types of BarBQ sauce in the others. After rolling a couple of wings around in each one, we had a feast! We definitely went with very mild flavors this time around, but now that I know how, the possibilities are endless. Maybe next time, I'll try a homemade sauce!

Go Joe!

Movie Review: G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra

Up front - I liked this movie! No kidding. I went in thinking, "Hey, this'll be fun. They will blow some stuff up. Some meatheads will fumble around their lines and then they will blow up some more stuff." And just so you understand this reviewer - I like that from time to time. Some times I just want to get a special effects/explosions fix and don't really need a plot or great acting to do that. But GI Joe came through in a big way.

For starters the action was great! They blended the CG and live action stuff well. The sequences flowed well and even pulled off advancing the plot unlike other many other action flicks where the plot the plot is usually the first victim when the action starts. The explosions were spectacular. The hand to hand combat was solidly choreographed and believable (mostly).

Speaking of plot, GI Joe not only had one, but it had a really robust one. The main story - deadly WMD's in the hands of the bad guys - was laid out very plausibly. But, don't order yet! There were even some really compelling subplots and story lines that managed to be woven in without convuluting the overall story ... Bravo! That takes talent and the talent reached into the writing, as well.

If you spend much time at all on the Action-Adventure aisle, you're all-too-familiar with Jug-head Heroes stumbling through their 5 minutes of dialogue and over-the-top villians who never seem to rise much above school yard bully in their character development. But, GI Joe delivers way more. All the actors delivered solid performances.

Overall, The great strength of this movie was in its self-control. George Lucas modeled this in the first Star Wars Trilogy: exploiting the current state-of-the-art techniques without letting them drive the action. This was the difference in GI Joe, too. They certainly brought the CG portions in with a bang (a lot of bang!), but they did push it so far that it weaknesses could diminish the quality of the production. Self-control also greatly helped the writing. The story lines were subtle and the writers had the reserve to let the actors and audience fill in the blanks a bit.

I like this movie. I would watch it again, and I certainly want to own it when we get a big Screen to watch it on. Go Joe!

Playsets and Good Friends

From Project Playset

This post is a tribute to some really great guys that really lent a hand when needed. The story starts back in September when we found an incredible deal on a playset. Big playset ... little price. We drove over to check it out that night with cash in hand and suddenly it was ours. One big problem remained though: getting it home.

This is where the guys come in. I hit the phone lines and started down my list: Wil, Kyle, Clinton, Chris... I was getting lots of yes's, too. I was clear that this was going to be a big effort since the set was in a backyard with no gate. Wil even threw in his big trailer for the hauling part. The next morning at church, we roped Mike in, too. This was easily the best staffed project we've undertaken in a while!

We descended on that little playset that afternoon and it was awesome. We could have stocked a small hardware store with the tools we collectively brought. There were guys everywhere attacking it with all manner of battery-powered wrenches and sockets. Parts were flying off - slides, ladders, the little house on top. Then just as quickly they were loaded, hauled and dropped off in my back yard. My head was spinning!

This weekend we repeated the job. It was time to re-assemble it. Again, I called a few guys and they showed with all the requisite muscle and tools! This time Wil and Clinton were back as well as Brandon and Michael. It was amazing how quickly it went back together. Especially impressive was the part where we hefted the club house up onto the legs. We got video of that knowing that we would either record greatness or win 10K on America's Funniest Videos!

The playset now sits in our backyard crawling with our kiddos on a regular basis. I hope these guys know what a blessing you've been to me in this. Thanks for your time, tools and muscle!