Reminder Why This Blog Exists

Remember when I used to update my blog on more than a quarterly basis? I was just looking through some unpublished posts that I really should have finished. But, a couple of them have since been updated, so maybe I'll revisit those.

Anyway, my blog has been lacking because we've had a busy spring (who hasn't?) we have 75% of our boys in baseball/t-ball. Ethan also just finished spring soccer season. Kimberly is the new committee chairwoman for Cub Scouts, the treasurer for baseball, and a newly elected member of the Heritage school district. Now, I really am just the man behind the woman...way far behind.

The most exciting news, yet also life changing crazy, is that we bought the children's consignment shop in Homer. We are officially small business owners. Friends of ours owned this store and another in Monticello, but wanted to sell the Homer store to be able to do some other things. We have spent the last three months shuttling kids around to various schools, daycares, and activities so that Kimberly can work. We're also taking a crash course in how the retail industry works: wholesale, inventory, advertising, website design, accounting, employees, and many other fun topics.

We finally released our website the other day, so check it out: mudpies-n-fireflies.com. If you're in the area, stop in for a cold soda!

The Wedding Dancer

We recently attended my brother's wedding.

Initially, my grandmother had to pay Ethan $5 for him to dance after my mother turned down his financial proposal. However, that $5 seems to have tripped his dance circuit because he danced non-stop the rest of the evening. Here are just a few select clips:

A Real American Hero

Kimberly has been wanting to add a peat gravel play area near our play structure for years. In July when I made her go to Menard's for other landscaping materials, she picked up a few bags of peat gravel.

One nice Saturday afternoon, we decided the "rock quarry" should go under the play structure. After we poured in the gravel, I decided the middle boys needed some motivation to try out the new play opportunities. So, I brought out the top-secret containers that have been hiding in our basement for years. By some people's standards, these containers would be nothing short of a jackpot:



That's right! Most of the G.I. Joe toys that Nick and I adamantly collected as kids were saved for years by our mother. Then, while cleaning out the basement, she decided to make the collection my problem. I couldn't just throw that stuff out!

The boys went crazy and commenced playing non-stop for several hours.





While some of the stuff looks "newer" (late 80's versus early 90's), there are still a few of my original figures and vehicles from when the 2 1/2" toys first came out. I won't name names, even though I could. It's crazy that those guys are pushing 30 years old at this point.

Bike Train

It's been a crazy busy/fast summer here on the farm (when we were actually here). Baseball season consumed the first half of the summer, and weekend driving trips seem to have consumed the second half.

We were home on a hot Sunday morning three weeks ago when I finally told Ethan we could ride our bikes to Homer. Of course, his brothers wanted to come too. A quick trial revealed that Owen and Aidan could fit in the trailer together...and they looked like sardines.

I hooked up the Trail-a-Bike and forced Owen to ride down the driveway against his will. I finally convinced him it was safe by holding the bike up and letting him try to push it over. Fortunately, he couldn't do it. After that, he was really excited about the Trail-a-Bike.

All that was left was to hook up the Burley to the Trail-a-Bike and we were ready for town. It was a nice ride, but really hot on the way home. We were all a bit pooped. My arms ached the next day from counterbalancing Owen's haphazard balance.



Here we are, finally back in the shade. Ethan is posing here, trying to take credit for being on the bike train. He was actually our scout

Like Son, Like Son

This picture of Ethan was taken in June, 2002, possibly on Father's Day. He was almost 8 months old.



This picture of Atticus was taken May 2. He was 7 months old.



Sadly, we don't seem to having matching pictures for the other boys.

First Home Run

Last night, Ethan's baseball team played a late (7:30) game in Tolono. Ethan has been hitting really well this season, compared to last. On his first at-bat, he hit a solid double. However, due to infielder errors (commonplace in coach pitch), good attention on his part, and fast running, Ethan stretched it into his first home run! He also brought in one or two runners.

It was really awesome. He followed that at-bat with two more doubles and a single, all of which were eventually converted to runs.

He played in the pitcher position the entire game and made several nice plays, including catching a line-drive.

As many of you know, I'm not Mr. Baseball. However, I love watching those kids play. They really get into it. It's fun to see how much the kids have improved in the 3 years since they started t-ball.

Sorry there aren't any pictures. Maybe next week.

On Owen's t-ball front, he had practice tonight and was super excited to catch a ball while they were playing catch.

Take Your Child To Work Day

Take Your Child To Work Day was celebrated last Thursday. For the first time, we decided to participate. Included in Ethan's were his Cub Scout binder, and his Nintendo DS. Much to his chagrin, I informed him that if he was going to miss school to come to work, he would be doing some learning!



The main accomplishment of the morning was earning his Cub Scout computer belt loop and academic pin. This involved studying the inner workings of a PC, using software to write a report, learning about Ethernet networks (sadly, just the 100 Mb/s that we use, not the 100 Gb/s that we build), learning about servers, and visiting the Boy Scouts website, where he discovered some games.



Next up, we decided to do some Snap Circuits projects. Handy enough, I stumbled over their introductory logic circuits. Ethan learned about AND, OR, NAND, and NOR. I explained the logic portion, and how charge actually flowed to make the circuits work. He predicted the truth tables for NAND/NOR and tested his hypothesis. Finally, we discussed how NAND is itself a complete logic set and that, in theory, you could make entire computer from NAND circuits!



All-in-all, we had a fun morning and I think Ethan learned a lot. I even got some of my own work done on the side!

When his brothers came to pick him up, they decided to extend some of the logic truth tables.

Snow Day!

It's a snow day, and since Kimberly and Atticus are out of town, it's just me and the "big boys." What better to do with their time than play outside in the 10 degree wind chill?

Parental Failure

While driving home from religion class with Ethan and Owen last night, I was smacked in the face with the fact that Kimberly and I have utterly failed at parenting in our first 8 years:

Somehow we quickly migrated from talking about Jesus and the church seasons to Owen declaring that he wants to be an Evil Scientist when he grows up. He already has particular goals, namely that he wants to be more evil than Dr. Doofenschmirtz (of Phineas and Ferb fame)!



This conversation continued with the boys discussing the evil things that Dr. Doofenschmirtz invents. Then Ethan commented that he wants to be an inventor. Thus far, his greatest idea (in his opinion) is a special perfume that can be sprayed on that will prevent you from having to ever take a shower or bath. He's just too young to know that this already exists and is used frequently by lots of people in Champaign-Urbana: Pachouli Oil!

I felt somewhat relieved when Owen later decided he wanted to be a paleontologist (thanks They Might Be Giants):



Next thing you know, one of the boys will want to be a professional athlete in some popular American sport (ie. not cycling).

Impromptu Staycation

For some unknown reason, we've been unmotivated to do much advanced summer planning this year. Thus, most of our summer plans have been developed in less than one week.

After briefly discussing the possibility of visiting my brother in Dubuque last weekend, we decided that was a trip worth planning in advance. So, we just decided to stay home for the weekend and get a few things done around the house (and watch the Tour de France, of course).

Ethan expressed an interest in taking the trail-a-bike (note the "bike-train" pictures, this is probably in my future) to Homer Lake, where he knew that he could probably weasel a soda out of me. So, the saga begins (In the spirit of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)

If your oldest son wants to ride the trail-a-bike, chances are
You will want to give your next-oldest son a short ride to help learn pedaling, which will lead to
Him wanting to ride in the trailer. If you say "okay," chances are
Your youngest son will want to ride in the trailer, which results in you saying you will
Take them both for a ride to the Homer City Park. If you go for a ride, chances are
Your oldest son will want to ride along on his own bike. If you go to the Park on a hot day, the water playground might be on and
Your sons might want to get soaked to the bone, but that's okay because you remembered a towel.

If your sons burn off lots of energy in the water, they might be hungry, so you might ride across town to the gas station to
Get your sons Schwann ice cream treats.

If your sons have had a fun afternoon, chances are they'll want to continue this by
Planning to sleep outside in the tent.
After remembering how to sent up the tent/house with the "help" of your three sons, chances are you'll want a drink...

If your kids are going to sleep in the tent, of course they'll want to
Have a campfire and cook marshmallows.

If your kids are outside in the summer evening,
They'll want to catch fireflies.

After sleeping in the tent all night, chances are
a) you'll want a Tylenol and
b) Ethan will still want to ride to Homer Lake on the trail-a-bike.
If you get out the trail-a-bike, chances are...

I apologize to the photography-inclined for the blurry cellphone pictures.

Yep...my chisels are sharp.

So, with Kimberly gone for the week, I decided I had better get some entertainment center work done this morning. While prepping some doors to be painted, I was using a chisel to scrape off some glue seep-out. Despite knowing better, I had my left hand in the path of the chisel.

You can guess what happened next: the chisel slipped, but my left hand was close, so the chisel stopped slipping abruptly when it hit my knuckle bone, sans skin. Fortunately, I'm fairly cool under pressure, so after a few choice words, I got some paper towels on the cut and stopped the bleeding in short order.

Now...I'm at home alone with three kids (one sick) and need to go to the ER. Ummmm....

Ethan helped me splint and bandage my finger. He also helped man the phone and get Aidan (who took this opportunity to get the marshmallows out for a snack) dressed and Owen with his sweatshirt to fight his fever-induced shivers. The Moore family was gracious enough to watch the boys. As we pulled up, Ethan had his look of "something bad is about to happen" as Owen threw up in his lap. Again, yeah for the Moores.

The ER was thankfully quick. After an xray and some poking and prodding (after some numbing), the doctor decided that I had cleanly severed a tendon and that was beyond emergency room care, in fact, beyond Provena care entirely. So, he stuck in a couple of stitches and wrapped me up. The most painful part of the visit was the anti-biotic shot on my butt. I think I was in the hospital for less than 90 minutes! I'll be visiting a hand surgeon at Carle Monday morning to have everything reconnected.

The in-laws came and brought the boys home for me and spent the afternoon keeping us company. We will all look forward to Kimberly's return tomorrow.

Not surprisingly, I will not be flying to Sunnyvale this Monday!

Chanute Air Museum

Last week, my grandparents from New Jersey visited us for a couple of days. I took off work, and we sought out fun things to do that we don't do often, or at all.

On Tuesday, I decided we should investigate the Chanute Air Museum in Rantoul. I know the museum has been around for several years and it sounded neat. We've just never visited. While visiting their website, I was surprised by how many aircraft they actually have on display. I assumed they had a few small craft, and perhaps one large "showcase" plane. However, by my count, they have 42 aircraft on display!

The museum is located in one of the original hangar buildings at the former airbase. Admission is a reasonable $10 for adults, $5 for kids (5+). Kids under 4 are free (great for the Ashbrooks).

First, you wind your way through two long hallways of rooms that have a number of exhibits about the history of the airbase (first built in 1923, I believe), life on the airbase, general military aviation, etc. They have one whole hallway wall of pictures from throughout the years. I found that the most interesting. The kids weren't crazy about this area, but I didn't expect them to. Near the end of this area, they have a room full of old Frasca flight simulators. While it was interesting to see the electro-mechanicals of these 50 (?) year old beasts, there was little to no information in this room, beyond model numbers. As an engineer, I would have at least expected production years and a few factoids.

Finally, we made our way out into the main hangar where most of the planes are located. The planes are all nicely lined up and roped off. They each have a sign or two in front of them describing the particular model, and also the particular plane that's on display. This was interesting, but you couldn't get too close to most of them. There were no hands-on displays for the kids to get up close and personal with the planes, or look inside the cockpits. They are currently restoring a very old F-15 (early 70s?), so that had some interesting information about the restoration.

The kids (with me being drug slowly behind) quickly made their way outside to the large planes. Among the planes outside are a large Navy WV-2 reconnaissance plane, a C-130 cargo plane, a huge C-133 cargo plane, and the only remaing XB-47 (which I thought was particularly cool). These planes are very impressive because of their size. Unfortunately, there still isn't any information beyond a small sign for each. It would definitely be neat to see inside these planes, especially the cargo planes. Sadly, these planes look to be quickly deteriorating because of the weather. I think the museum is historically underfunded.

Finally, we went back inside to see a few more planes, including a B-58 supersonic bomber. This plane is in excellent condition. It would be nice to see the inside. Interestingly, my grandfather (a fellow UI electrical engineering alum) remembers designing antennas for this plane that never quite made the final cut. They are also restoring a B-25. That had a gangway alongside so that you could see into the currently gutted cockpit. They also have pieces of ICBM silos inside that were used for training ICBM crews. They didn't have much information on those though.

All told, we spent a couple of hours at the museum. It wasn't great for the little kids. I thought it was worth the trip for the engineers in the crowd. However, the museum could definitely use a lot of improvements in the plane area to make it more than a display of old planes. I'm sure I'll go again.

Here are a few (rainy) pictures:

Aidan and Owen by the VC-47.

Grandpa and the boys under the WV-2

Ethan violating the look but don't touch rule

Ethan and Aidan next to the C-133

Owen "Ace" Ashbrook

Ethan hanging in a missile silo simulator.

Ducks Gone Wild

Easter morning was a little crazier than usual at our house. Perhaps it was because the boys woke up at 6, or maybe because we started out the day by watching Bolt. Regardless of the cause, the carnage was almost too horrible to look at:



Good thing we had Super Aidan around to clean up the mess:

Spring Break in Metro East

This last weekend was the end of the kids' (and Kimberly's) spring break. So, to celebrate, we spent a long weekend in the Metro East area (that's the Illinois side of the St. Louis area). Owen mostly just wanted to play with 20-30 year old Legos. Jonathan mostly wanted to play with Owen. Ethan wanted to bike. Aidan wanted to ride his scooter.

On Friday we headed off to the City Museum (our newest St. Louis-area membership). If you haven't been there, you have to go. It doesn't matter if you have kids or not. It's awesome for anyone ages 2-35. If you're past 35, you 're likely to get winded and sore knees. This was the first time we've taken the kids without an extra family member, so the adult/kid ratio was < 1. The kids enjoyed getting to climb outside for the first time since the fall. We had a great day, but we were beat by the time we got home to eat a little Alfonso's Pizza (Kimberly's personal favorite).

Ethan swinging in the skate park

On Saturday, my parents joined us and we went to the St. Louis Science Center to see Sue before she left. The kids had a good time, but they were a little more antsy than on Friday. The little kids had lots of fun in the Discovery Room. Owen and I made a jump with the marble run. Sue was cool (I learned that dinosaur exhibits are usually just casts of the skeletons and they keep the real bones locked away in a secret lair). The little boys made baby dinosaur hatchlings.

Sue about to bite my head off

Ah...The Open Road

Yesterday was the first outdoor cycling day of the season for me. Between kids and commuting, I find it difficult to find time to ride, other than in the morning. Unfortunately, it's still too dark to do that safely, so I've been riding the trainer in the basement for the last few weeks. Despite the torture, I'm definitely in better shape than usual. Yesterday's ride was one of the most pleasant "first rides" in recent memory. Being able to walk this morning just further supported that observation.

I enjoyed a quick 25-mile loop through Fairmount, past Jamaica (township, not independent island country), and back through Homer. It's still gray and brown for the most part, but the air is much fresher than that in our basement. The jury is still out about a follow-up ride today. Painting must be completed first.

Aidan and I also enjoyed getting out our kite yesterday for the first time. It was a lackluster kite day (directly improving the quality of the aforementioned bike ride). However, Aidan was very patient waiting for the wind gusts. He's quite the kite flyer. Unlike with his brothers, I did not have to run across the field to fetch any "released" kites.

Mr. Mom (The Conclusion)

Well, I survived.

There were no major mishaps, and I ended the week with the same number of kids that I started with!

It sure is lonely when no one is around our house. Since the kids spent the latter half of the week in Mattoon, I was all alone. Very quiet. It's a good thing I had painting to do (and Civilization to play), or I might not have been able to occupy my time.

Mr. Mom (Day 3)

Well, I've accomplished my first two goals: no broken children during our first two days, and no broken children after a full day of school!!!

The boys are having fun in the nice weather. They get to play outside after dinner way later than Mommy would ever let them! Owen didn't want to play outside tonight, so he went to play with Legos upstairs. After a while, Ethan came in to get Owen and they both went bounding outside. It was the first day of the season for the Gator, who's battery is getting sadder and sadder.

Unfortunately, the current woodworking score is: Entertainment Center (2), Jonathan (1). My hopes of quickly finishing the finish were dashed last night when priming one unit required nearly 3 hours. Tonight was awash after folding clothes and packing overnight bags for the boys. Maybe I'll make headway tomorrow...

Here's a picture of one side before applying any finish:

Monster, Monster, Monster!

Saturday night was the annual Monster Nationals monster truck show at Assembly Hall. Since I haven't seen the show since college (think Jet Powered Quad Bike and Bicycle Extreme Team), I thought it was time that the boys have some exposure to Midwest culture. Ethan, Owen, and I had great row 5 seats in B section on the side.

I remembered to buy ear plugs for all of us, but in a classic move, I left them in the car. The boys quickly learned to plug their own ears. Of course, they were mostly interested in getting a snack, but I said that had to wait for intermission. The beginning of the show was a lot of talking and revving of alcohol-fueled engines. However, as soon as the first truck launched off of the junk cars into a monster wheelie, Owen practically jumped out of his seat screaming with excitement -- mission accomplished.


There was no jet-powered quad bike, but there was a jet-powered golf cart that heated up the entire arena. That was sweet! Intermission included a pretzel, popcorn, and soda, so Ethan's mission was accomplished. The second half of the show dragged on a little as the trucks raced across the cars. However, the second half did include a (lengthy) show by Megasaurus! This was of course Owen's favorite part. It was quite enjoyable to watch the hydraulic jaws literally tear a car in half.

Megasaurus

When we got home, Owen and Ethan didn't think it would be a very good idea to crush Mommy's van with my own monster truck (as Owen refers to my Jeep). I'm guessing that we'll be revisiting the Monster Nationals in the future.

Tripping The Dad Fantastic

On Saturday, Ethan had his final 1st/2nd grade youth basketball game of the season. They made it "fancy" by having it in the afternoon, rather than the morning. They did player introductions using spotlights while the big lights were out. They had a "real" referee. The teams had chairs for the bench instead of sitting on the stage.

Ethan was much more active than he usually is during the game. I think he's finally getting the feel for moving around and trying to get the ball. He made baskets on two back-to-back possessions. I think those are the first he's made since the first game of the season. I believe his 3 baskets tops my 0 baskets during my one basketball season as a 6th grader. It was really exciting to see him make some plays, as you can see in this video:



We were also lucky to have Ethan's Great-Grandpa Morrison be able to see him play. Grandpa was in Homer (where he spent most of his life) visiting for the weekend, so he couldn't miss a visit to the Homer Old Gym!

ESRB - Teen

Last year, we were big fans of Guitar Hero III (Wii). Ethan tore through that game in a couple of months. To date, I believe he's almost beat the game in "hard" mode. I found it mildly disturbing when he was singing some of the songs: Miss Murder, Talk Dirty to Me. Of course his favorite, School's Out, was just amusing. His interest (and singing) slowly waned.

Like any good American family, we currently love Guitar Hero World Tour. Of course, Ethan is the biggest and most talented fan. Although, as an actual drummer, I think I've finally made a breakthrough as Ethan hasn't wanted to play drums on our co-op career all week as we near the end of the game. Now, the ESRB Teen rating has reared its ugly head this week with Dammit, and the Sex Pistols. I see the worst one coming just around the corner - Hot For Teacher (which I'm actually quite excited to play on the drums).

In a couple more years (after he starts attending public school), we'll probably just have to cut him off cold from these offensive games. That's the only sensible solution!



This video has some amusing clips of Ethan the Guitar Hero (a true Legend of Rock) near the end. For those expecting their first child, this video could be considered obscene.