Day 3...

With mom having arrived the night before, we made a day trip to Niagara Falls on Thursday. I can't begin to describe the look on Sarah Kay and Josh's faces as we boarded the Maid of the Mist and headed toward the Horseshoe Falls...so much fun. Afterwards, we headed over to Goat Island to take in the sights of both the American and Canadian Falls. Absolutely breath-taking...did I mention that we did an awful lot of walking that day?

Day 3- later that evening...

And what would be a camping trip without an authentic Hootenanny? Josh and Sarah weren't shy at all at running up on the stage to lead the crowd in some singin' and dancin'. Each evening ended with a relaxing campfire...with Josh's newest friend and Sarah Kay's newest "boyfriend"...boy, am I in trouble...

.

Day 4...

Well, the game plan was to rent a canoe or a kayak this morning, but when Josh and I got to the marina, we were told that they no longer provided this service...so, we had to settle for little fishing boat instead. Josh absolutely loved driving this little craft around the Allegany Reservoir...later that day, we headed off towards Thunder Rocks where the kids were able to climb around and give their mother a near heart attack as they scampered around the rocks and cliffs.

.

" Mean Joe" Eubank

Not that I'm ready to rush my son's grade school life by him, but I would love to see the lil' guy don the Hoban gridiron colors at Dowed Field someday...having just finished up his very first football camp, Josh appears to be pretty excited about the notion of playing organized football, possibly as soon as next year for the CYO team through St. Matthews. Of course, if his interest turns to another sport...say the exciting, fast paced game of soccer...well, then, I guess I could live with that. But I REALLY wouldn't mind at all if the lil' guy chooses to play offensive tackle or defensive end someday...much to the chagrin of his mom, I would imagine.

The Hoban coaches introduced the kids to many of the practice drills that the high school players endure during training camp. I think one of the coolest things for Josh was simply being able to play on Hoban's field w/ its artificial turf and "larger than life" size goal posts. Sarah Kay and I watched a good portion of the camps from the bleachers, and Josh seemed to be able to hold his own against the other kids...if fact, I'm thinkin' that I may need to get him an agent within the next couple of years or so....just to be safe.

Sarah Kay and her pup

We've had Maggie now for about six years...we bought her at the Humane Society back in 2003, and at that time they told us that she was probably around 7-8 years old. I know that I've told a number of people this over the years, but this dog really is about the best pet that anyone could ask for. From day one, she has been wonderful around kids, and she has become quite attached just recently to Sarah Kay...most likely because she tends to play with her more than Josh and Marie do.

I've recently started thinking about how much longer our family pet will be with us...in addition to her much smaller appetite and poor hearing, just yesterday, as we were taking our evening walk, I really noticed how bad Maggie's arthritis is beginning to bother her. She still LOVES to go on walks, but it's become a real labor of love for her to make the familiar trek around the neighborhood that we so often have made over the years.

Happy Birthday, Josh

We didn't really go all out for the little guy's 8th birthday...for a number of reasons...but I think Josh enjoyed himself yesterday as he "partied" with his two bestest friends, who happen to live right next door, in helping him celebrate his 8th birthday.

I know that I'm gonna sound like just another braggin' father here, but I really have to say how incredibly proud I am of my son. These past six months have been a very trying time for our family, and the little guy has been simply amazing through it all. I've always said that Josh is the type of kid who wears his heart on his sleeve...but he's also turned into quite a strong young man who is constantly looking out for not only his little sister, but his mother, whom he loves ever so much. Through it all, Josh is always concerned that everyone is always happy and well taken care of. The lil' guy is gonna make an awesome husband/dad one day...no doubt about it.

Outside of the DS that you so dearly wanted for your birthday, Josh...if there is one gift that I could give to you for your birthday it would be the courage to fight for things in your life that are most important....never take the easy way out, love your family and friends with all your heart, and keep your faith in Christ. Truth is, though, Josh tends to help me out with these things a whole lot more than I do for him. Happy Birthday son...I love ya so much!

Archbishop Hoban High School

.

.

Class of 2013

.

Our Admissions department will use this photo quite a bit this fall in various publications. Check out the gleaming smile of the cute one in the lower right hand corner of the photo...Ms. Marie's high school career has officially begun!

Summer Reading

Josh was assigned the “Herculean” task of reading 20 minutes each day of his summer break by his teacher on his last day of school. Looking around at the plethora of books in his room, I thought that maybe we could turn this into a little project that would have some meaning to it…as well as something that he will hopefully remember for a while. Around a couple of weeks ago, Josh had actually asked for a Bible for his birthday. He’s had a couple of prayer books and “favorite Bible stories” collections…but never did he own an actual kid’s Bible that contained both the Old and New Testaments.

So after a quick trip to Borders, I found this one that seemed to be perfect for the little guy, who is still honing in on his first grade reading skills. This Bible has around 550 pages, and contains the major OT and NT stories. What’s been most amazing to me is how much Josh actually knows about some of the OT characters- apparently from both his grade school as well as Sunday school classes. When we began the story about Jacob and Esau…he piped up…”Oh yeah, Dad, this is the one about the mean son who stole his brother’s birthmark”…”You mean, birth-right?” “Yeah, that’s it”…and so the summer reading continued...

To date, we’ve read through most of Exodus, and are getting ready to plow through Joshua and the Battle of Jericho this week…

Josh- my Josh that is…has read every word on every page so far. Only 452 pages to go!

Alive 2009

After what seemed like weeks of reading Guy's Facebook status of ..."don't forget to vote for Julie at http://www.alive.org/ "...things fell into place as Julie Hufstetler secured a top ten spot for this year's New Artist Talent Search at the Alive Music Festival in Canal Fulton.

In addition to the incredible vocals of Ms. Julie, our band consisted of Andrea Leibundgut- drums, Jayson Benn- electric guitar, Daniel Salmons- bass, Joey Garlando- keyboards, and yours truly on acoustic. We took the stage at noon today and played a 25 minute set in the Woods stage...complete with an encore of one of my favorite tunes from Julie's latest CD's, He Changes Everything.

The winner, as chosen by the judges at Alive 09, will represent Alive this fall at the Word Records New Artist Talent Search in Nashville, TN. There the winner will be showcased and compete against 16 other festival winners from across the country.

Then, as an added bonus, the winner will be also be able to perform at the 2010 Alive festival on the Main Stage.

This whole experience was something that I will treasure for a long time. I was truly flattered that Julie even asked me to play in the band, and I think we all were kind of pleasantly surprised how quickly and effortlessly things came together for today's performance. Anytime you want to take this gig on the road there, Ms. Julie...count me in! Regardless of the outcome of the competition, you are a phenomenal musical talent, and no doubt God has great things in store for you with your song writing/ music ministry...