Hear the Words on the Page

I have recently noticed that the number of books I am reading has gone down quite a bit. Apparently the government who employs me expects me to come to work and helping to raise a growing family takes a good chunk of time too [who knew? ;)]. That all changed about three or four weeks ago when I noticed how much time I spend driving around in my car and decided to check out the books on tape (though increasing more and more are actually on CD) at the two base libraries I have access to. Since that time I have finished six books and am currently listening to number seven.

Books on tape are not a new concept to me, I recall listening to Louis L'Amour "Chick Bowdrie" stories on a post high school road trip or two with Nate and I knocked out the first four Harry Potter books as well as two of the Lord of the Rings books while traveling to Moscow from Boise to visit Lisa before we got married. While I'm on the subject I have to take a minute to say that if you get a chance to listen to the Harry Potter books on tape, take it. All seven are read by Jim Dale, who also played Dr. Terminus, the antagonist in Pete's Dragon and he created a unique voice for each and every character in the series, maintaining it for the reoccurring characters throughout. In fact, he did such a good job that he was recognized with a Grammy for the final book, The Deathly Hallows and received nominations for The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix. He is cited twice in the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the most character voices in an audiobook (more than 200) and for voicing the first six "Top Ten" selling audiobooks of all time.

I am going to try to do little reviews of the books I read so if anybody is looking for a good read, maybe I can help.

The first three books I want to talk about would fall into the "Founding Fathers" category. The 5000 Year Leap: The 28 Great Ideas that Changed the World by W. Cleon Skousen (which Natalie gave me for Christmas so I actually used my eyes to read this one). This book takes a look at 28 principles that the Founding Fathers inserted into the constitution, how they allowed for the exponential progress experienced in the United States from its foundation, how the government has gotten away from some of these principles and how things would be if they were followed again. This book really gave me an appreciation of the importance of this great document that I have sworn to protect and defend from all enemies foreign and domestic.

Next was 1776 by David McCullough who does a very thorough job at looking at the events of the American Revolution in the year 1776 and how General Washington and his Army came to the brink of disaster various times and how General Howe and his British forces and Hessian mercenaries were unable to end the rebellion when they had the chance. This was an excellent supplement to The 5000 Year Leap, show the military actions around the time of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

I followed that up with John Adams, also by McCullough who has justifiably become known as one of the premiere American historians. Not really talked about too much in any of the history classes that I have taken at any level, this biography allowed me learn about the great life of arguably the most important American of his time (and considering when he lived, that's saying something), as well as the great help and influence that his wife Abigail was in his life.

If you're interested in American history, or books that "other people" might consider boring like I am than I would HIGHLY recommend all three of these great accounts from a pivital point in the birth of this nation

Wackos Behind the Wheel 1

Before the creation of The Irish Messinger I had a blog called American Anthropologist where I would post about things that were going on at Boise State University, the world of sports and anything else that caught my fancy and fell into the all encompassing category of "miscellaneous."

You might be surprised to hear this but having a growing family and been an officer in the active duty Army is a bit of a time consumer, and because of that I haven't posted anything on American Anthropologist in over two years. In the past few weeks I have thought about reviving "AA" because I really enjoyed some of the more random posts that I made but I have decided that I put them here and subject all of our dedicated Irish Messinger readers to it instead.

With that said, you have been warned that my own personal "fusion of entertainment and enlightenment" (to plagiarize a phrase from my favorite radio and TV new personality Glenn Beck) is going to be inserted here from time to time.


Without further adieu, I give you the first of my series "Wackos Behind the Wheel"

This picture is real-not doctored in anyway-and was taken by a Transportation Supervisor for a company that delivers building material for 84 Lumber. When he saw it in the parking lot of an IHOP, he went and bought a camera to take pictures. The car is still running as can be witnessed by the exhaust. A woman is either asleep, or otherwise passed out, in the front passenger side. The guy driving it was jogging up and down Rt. 925 (in the background). Witnesses said their physical state was OTHER than normal. The driver finally came back after the police were called, and was found crouched behind the rear of the car, attempting to cut the twine off of the load! Luckily, the police stopped him and had the load removed. The materials were loaded at Home Depot. Their store manager said they had the customer sign a waiver. While the plywood and 2X4s are fairly obvious, what you can’t see is the back seat, which contains -- are you ready for this? -- 10 bags of concrete 80 lbs. each. They estimated the load weight at 3000 lbs. Both back tires exploded, the wheels bent and the back shocks were driven through the floorboard. The car, with Florida plates, was headed for Annapolis, where the couple presumably planned to build a new house in which to smoke their crack.

Just Me and My Dad

While I was in Hawaii in March I picked up a couple of books for Coryn. One of them, entitled Just Me and My Dad is about a boy who goes camping with his father and all the things they do together. This book has become one of his most requested stories as of late so when it came time for the Father & Son outing I decided to take my chances and take him camping.

I was able to get off work about an hour and a half early so we could make the two hour (as you can see by the picture, he "helped" with the driving) drive up north to Okuma, one of the local Armed Forces Recreational Facilities, and arrive while it was still light so I wouldn't have to figure out how to set up the tent I rented in the dark... I didn't bring any of my camping equipment to Okinawa with me, I figured there wouldn't really be anyplace to camp at... who knew?

So we drove up, pitched the tent and Coryn REALLY enjoyed the Ham and Cheese lunchable he had for dinner... since the ham was circular he kept referring to it as "pepperoni." Anyway, he really seemed to enjoy himself. There were quite a few other boys there he knows and he was able to help them dig holes on the beach in the dark Friday night and bury people in the sand Saturday morning. I would have to day the highlight of the trip for him came Friday night when he was given his very own glow stick and ate his very first s'more. He timidly took his first bite (I had just had the marshmallows over the fire after all) and exclaimed, "Mmmmm, that's yummy!"

All in all it was a fun trip. There were a few "why am I trying to camp with a two year old" moments but I'm sure we'll do it again next year which will probably be the last year that it is "just me and my dad."

Carter 2 months

Yeah baby, just had my two month checkup and I'm doing fine, here I am in one of my favorite poses. Usually my other hand is in my mouth too.

Fat and happy, thats right... more than 14 lbs of lovin'!

Chunky Monkey

Thats right, almost two months old and he's already so heavy! we'll have an official weight next week, but I think its 12 lbs. He's very calm, only cries when he needs something, content to stare at the mobiles. Smiles easily and is very social, just like Coryn.
Coryn enjoys being the big brother except when Carter is crying in the car, then he covers his ears and sings to himself.

You lookin' at me?

Crazy Coryn Q

Looking somewhat like a Cuba communist here, he loves to "go to work" putting on Dad's shoes and pulls the laces tight just about every time Dad takes them off.
Mowing the lawn... he even makes the cord pull motion. He used to be so scared of it and the vacuum, he still doesn't really like either but he wants to use them both.
I see you! While Jackson was in Hawaii I got this squirt gun for him; every day Coryn would try to pull it out and have me open it, and eventually he told Jackson about it when we were on the phone... now I know I can't trust him with a secret!
One of his favorite games, "tackle", starts with throwing and catching a football followed by him running to Dad so he can get tackled, and usually involves climbing up on Dad's back. Here he's sporting his monkey sock.

First face painting, you can see him staring at the paints, he's saying to himself 'ooo, I want to play with those!'

Adjusted (for now)

Well, I think we've adjusted to being a family of four, at least for a little while, its hard to say how things will change as Carter grows. We had a two week stint where we weren't allowed to do stuff off base, but thats over now and we celebrated by going to Gordies, home of the best burger in the world! Who knew it would be in Japan?

Coryn's been working on his potty skills... I sympathize with the bear (Coryn calls him prayer bear)
The boys seem to handle being brothers pretty well so far, and I am suuuuuuper excited about the sibling fights to come. But so far Coryn's managed to only hurt Carter accidentally once and that was more surprise than actual damage.
As you can see, Carter's learned how to smile when awake! No dimples though... Coryn's one up on him there.
And I just had to throw in a Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all of you! Kiss him, he's Irish!