For today’s post I ran across a buddy’s post on Facebook listing observations from a monster truck rally and was left with no choice but to share. Thank you Ben Burr.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Our Little Boy Is All Growns Up
A lot of people on The Facebook like to use Thursdays to “turn back the clock” or something along those lines as an opportunity to post pictures from the past, so perhaps I will start doing the same on here. Today I will turn the clock back all the way to November 28, 2013. While celebrating Thanksgiving back home, O’Fallon, for the first time in many years everyone migrated outside to play in the leaves and get their family pictures taken. In fact, this is where we got the boys’ pictures for the New Year’s card that we sent out. (side note: it was new year’s as we procrastinated too much to get them out as Christmas. At least this way it stood out and probably got more attention) So back to the story, Cody (the oldest grandson) seldom shows emotion other than a total lack of interest and this is why I was so shocked to find him willing to play along for the camera.
Another Mosque
While gazing from the hallway windows walking back to our hotel room in Dubai, I noticed this mosque a few blocks away that had the tower lit up and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a walk and get in a few photographs. As luck would have it, the call for prayer went out while we were snapping away. I’ll be honest, when the call starts it’s a bit shocking and because this was pre education, I got a bit startled and we quickly walked back to our hotel. Fortunately Melanie and I both thought to hit record on our phones and were able to capture the call.
I’ve Got Baseball On The Brain
Spring 2013 7U Champions
Our Mosque Visit
The morning of our last day in Dubai we finally got around to visiting a local mosque and were given a brief introduction into the Muslim religion. The tour is put on by a local organization in an effort to help educate those of us that have really never experienced the Muslim world. Although I am somewhat exposed to the religion on an almost daily basis, as I work with Muslims locally and overseas, I will say that this experience was rather enlightening and one that I wish we had had the opportunity to do much earlier in the trip.
Prior to our visit, when I was around mosques and the traditionally dressed Muslims I found myself feeling uneasy and avoided eye contact. One day when taking photos of a beautiful mosque just down the street from our hotel the call for prayer went out and I immediately felt intimidated and uneasy and tried not to look anyone in the eye as they entered for their prayer time. Even as I type I now realize just how foolish this sounds. The basis of religion aside, it is akin to feeling uneasy and not looking someone in the eye as they enter a Christian church for prayers. Put this way, it sounds ludicrous and after our visit to the mosque, at least for our one remaining day, I sought out eye contact and it was often returned with a smile and welcoming look. I now wonder if they feel the same when surrounded by Christians? I wonder if, because a very small percentage of extremist Christians behave aside from what our bible tells us, they too feel uncomfortable around us?
Don’t Let Them Grow Up
As I watched Cutler walk himself down the long hall to his classroom on Friday I thought to myself that I wished time would stand still and he wouldn’t get any older than he is now. While both he and Mason were babies and getting older I was always very careful to never say to myself “I can’t wait until they grow out of this stage” because I realized that at some point it was going to be the last time that I got to enjoy those stages with them. With Cutler and his battles we missed out on some of late night bottle feedings and watching him learn to crawl that we did with Mason. These were our last chances to enjoy those stages forever…at least until our grandkids come around, but that is never a given. So on Friday after thinking of it, I realized that our boys may have hit the “perfect” ages for us to hold on to them forever. Mason is old enough to be pretty self-sufficient, he enjoys sitting down and watching an entire sporting event, he can read and comprehend at a pretty high level and discuss intelligently what he reads, and more importantly he still likes to cuddle up with his parents and isn’t afraid to tell us he loves us. Cutler is at the age where he still calls us momma and dada, he loves on us and regularly accepts the love in return, he still enjoys holding our hands when we walk, yet he doesn’t require us to do everything for him, and everything new he experiences brings out a new glistening of joy in his eyes. But that was Friday. Today the boys bickered nonstop with Cutler pushing Mason’s buttons every chance he got and Mason always having to be right…about everything. As aggravating as it got, I won’t say it and I never will. I still don’t want them to grow up.
He Knows Everything
This morning on the way to Cutler’s soccer game we were discussing some topic that I don’t remember, but he was essentially arguing with me based on something one of his fellow four olds told him. Apparently I am not nearly as educated as his peers. I told him that his friend doesn’t know everything and his reply was “you’re right, but I know everything because I have two belly buttons!” I guess his gtube helped him ingest nourishment for the mind three years ago.
I’ve Got Nothing
It’s funny how writer’s block works with me. As part of my A Year In The Life series, I am trying to write a post per day. Here I am, only 23 days into my effort and I am struggling already to put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard) in order to get this written within the next 12 minutes. It’s not a matter of procrastination, it’s just a matter of this being the first time I have had all day to sit down and write (damn work, extra long lunch with old work buddies, kids’ sports, adult kid’s sports). All day I had plenty of ideas of what to write about, but when it comes to sit down and write there’s just a huge void inside of my head. I suppose this is why I should write down my ideas throughout the day and try to develop them when I finally get a chance to sit down and write. Perhaps I need to keep a running list so that on nights like tonight I can always thumb through my list and find some inspiration, because right now I’ve got nothing but this rambling, which is at least a very true representation of how my head works on a regular basis. I knew I would have days of nothing, I just didn’t expect them to hit this early in the effort. Here’s to hoping for something inspirational tomorrow.
The Next Great Orator?
We just got back from the school district’s MLK Jr celebration where Mason read his letter to Dr King that I had mentioned in earlier posts. As a reminder, his letter was submitted to the district after he was selected from his school’s 2nd grade and he was one of four kids in the entire school district to be selected to read his letter. Yesterday he read the letter to his school during the morning announcements and tonight was the big night to read it on stage in front of quite the large audience. I am beyond proud of what he wrote, but also extremely proud at how he got on stage with little to no nerves, as the first of all the kids to read and knocked it out of the park while being shadowed by the Teacher of the Year.
PISD’s educator of the year
Mason’s educator of the year, his current teacher Mrs. James
Went To The Mall And A Katy Perry Concert Broke Out
On our final day in Dubai, Melanie and I headed to the mall where the indoor skiing was located. Instead of skiing, we chose to go the movies. However we needed to kill some time before the movies and so we wandered around the mall for awhile and during this wandering happened upon a Katy Perry concert. Or should I say a Katy Perry wannabe concert. It was rather entertaining to people watch so many people gathered around to watch. It was especially entertaining to watch the three local men directly in front of us.
Team Fricke 