Author Archives: teamfricke

Observations From The Ice Pack

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So Dallas was hit with what now feels like an annual ice storm for the ages effectively shutting down the entire metroplex.  School was canceled on Friday, the boys’ indoor soccer and basketball games were canceled on Saturday, today Mason’s ICE hockey game was canceled (irony), and the schools have shut down again already for tomorrow.  Since I own a large 4×4 bus I found it not important to stay at home and so I ventured out on Friday to a target store with no power for lights or refrigeration in the dairy or freezer areas, but enough to run the scanners and registers.  On Saturday Mason and I ventured to the Stars game that was much below 50% capacity, and today we ventured to the rink only to receive the cancelation notice as we were exiting the highway.  While I was out I made several observations that I now feel obliged to share with you listed in no particular order.

  • There are more effective ways to remove ice from your car than banging a pot on it
  • When you do remove ice from your car, it is usually best to remove more than just the 20% of the windshield that covers your face effectively leaving your windshield 80% covered before hitting the highways
  • Driving 60 mph and then locking up your brakes before EACH and EVERY overpass generally isn’t the correct way to avoid wiping out
  • It is called four wheel drive, NOT four wheel stop
  • As this happens almost annually, it might be time for municipalities to invest in a plow to attach to the front of the sand trucks
  • While on the topic of sand trucks, perhaps a higher mixture of salt than sand would be in order
  • When driving on the highways and the lanes are clearly marked, perhaps it is best to actually use the lanes
  • Sometimes taking your foot off the gas is brake enough
  • When you decide to take a “side” road because it would be more interesting you should recall the s-curve about half way down that may push you towards the ditch (full disclosure: I didn’t panic and I managed to avoid the ditch, but I did almost need to change my pants before arriving at the Stars game)
The Dallas metroplex on Friday evening

The Dallas metroplex on Friday evening

Four Years Ago Today

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Today marks Cutler’s fourth second birthday.  This birthday is when we celebrate the date of his cord blood transplant and we celebrated it with a morning spent at the oncologist for his six month check up.  Despite his fighting the blood draw, we were able to get fantastic results from his blood tests and is now par for the course we continue to be blessed with a healthy “normal” four year old.  We then went on to get an EKG and an echo sonogram of his heart and all things look to be normal.  As usual the trip was highlighted with Cutler’s visit with his favorite teddy bear that is located in the waiting area.  I am hoping we can take a similar picture each time we go in.  It will be great to see him when he is 20 cuddling up to the same bear.

Cutler and his buddy bear

Hockey Time

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Hockey season has started up again for Mason and I love that I don’t coach so I can get a chance to sit back and take some pictures.  After four games Mason has shown some maturity in that he is hustling a lot more than he has in the past with far fewer lapses of attention.  When skating he has even got some good shots off on goal.  I say when he is skating because he has played goalie for half of the four games so far and this Sunday will be moving back to goal this Sunday.  Below are a couple of photos from the one game that I brought the camera.  I will be taking more this Sunday of his goalie work and will be sure to share.

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If you’ve got some spare time

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Go to this link http://www.customink.com/photos/scarying-away-cancer-one-smile-at-a-time and rate our photo from the light the night walk.  If we win this weekly photo contest we get $100 towards our next purchase with CustomInk.  By the way, if you are looking to have some custom shirts made, I can’t recommend this site enough.  They are quick to answer questions, use quality materials, and even donated to our fund raising.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Light The Night 2013

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On 10/26 we finally got to light the night and we quickly found competition in that effort with mother nature.  The weather was perfect for a bit, but just a minute into the walk the skies opened in full force.  Fortunately for us we had not started to walk yet and so we were able to get everything together and head to the garage as quickly as we could.  Unfortunately we still got drenched and weren’t able to get a full team picture.  So the plethora of pictures in the slide show below will have to do for this year.  We did get a special shout out for our Boo Cancer tshirts that we had made up during the initial presentations where we got on stage and told a quick version of Cutler’s story.  A special thank you to everyone that helped get ready, raise funds, and made donations to our team effort.  To date, we have managed to raise $8,209 and that doesn’t include the matching donations by some companies putting us at number 3 for individual teams in the North Cities area.  It’s by far more than I anticipated and I can’t thank everyone enough.  You’re all now off the hook for at least another few months before I start the next campaign for LTN 2014.

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Fall 2013 School Pics

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We got the boys pictures from school back this week and Mason’s is probably my favorite of all time…no offense intended towards Cutler.  We let Mason pick out his outfit for pictures and he shocked us with his desire to wear a tie.  We got it for him for Grandma Boo’s funeral last month and he has really taken to looking nice.  Of course his outfit of choice is usually sweats, but at least for photos it was the tie.

cutler school mason school

Another Successful Lemonade Stand

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I realize this post is long overdue, but I wanted to thank everyone for another successful lemonade stand.  We raised over $1700 on the 19th at our annual stand.  This year our entire tball team worked together to build an amazing stand as seen in the picture above.  We saw an increase just over $200 from last year, which is pretty impressive given the late start we put into this year’s.  All in all it was a great day/evening to hang out with friends and family and to watch the kids go crazy as usual hopped up on sugar.  We are already looking forward to next year and making plans to get a better head start to improve and go over $2000.

Thanks to everyone who helped in this effort, especially the Carleys.  We couldn’t have done it without you!

Halloween 2013

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We were a bit surprised by the costume selections by the boys this year in that 1) Cutler was not a super hero and 2) Mason went with a “scary” phantom costume that closely resembled the grim reaper minus the bare shins showing under his robe. One disclaimer for Cutler is that he was a super hero for his school’s Halloween using the cape and mask that were given to him by the wonderful people from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

We were fortunate to have grandma and grandpa in town so they agreed to stay home and hand out the candy while Melanie and I both went around with the boys for the first time since Cutler has been out of the hospital. Melanie took the opportunity to steal the cape and mask and be a super hero as well.

Below are a few photos including some from earlier in the day of grandpa working his pumpkin carving skills.

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Membership Has Its Privileges

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When Cutler was diagnosed on 9/11/09 with AML he was instantly granted a lifetime membership to the esteemed cancer family and we are really beginning to learn the privileges that come with this membership.  Last night we were fortunate enough for Cutler to be selected to be the Honorary Stick Kid at the Dallas Stars game.  This consisted of us going down to the depths of the arena for a mini tour, allow the boys to bust knuckles with the players as they walked by to the ice, stand by the ice and watch both teams during the pregame warm ups, and for Cutler to be presented a game used stick and have it autographed by one of the players (Brendan Dillon).  It was an incredible experience and one that I am still on a bit of a high from.  Mason told us that it was the best night EVER…especially after he was handed a puck from the ice as one of the players (Rouselle) as he was exiting the ice.  This was all made possible by the wonderful people at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society recommending us when the wonderful people at the Dallas Stars reached out to them asking if they had someone in mind.  Cutler’s early life struggles are turning into blessings for him and our entire family.  Words can’t express how grateful we are for being able to have this incredible experience nor can they express how incredible everyone at the Stars and the LLS are to us as a family.  Don’t worry everyone, I am still a Blues fan first, but the Stars are pushing their way into a close second with their hospitality and giving nature.  Below are some of the pictures and a video of the stick presentation recorded from the video board.  Mason was quick to point out to me that they mispronounced our last name which I told him it is best to just get used to it.  🙂

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Slow Mo Mason

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On my new phone I am now able to film in slow motion, which makes filming the kids that much more fun.  It’s even helping me coach them in their different sports (an unexpected benefit).  Below is a quick video of Mason’s golf swing at his last tournament this past Sunday.  He has advanced quite a bit over the past month and is ready to show Grandpa how it is done when he gets down here for a visit.