Life At Random

Here's some random pictures of the kids being kids, including Ben swimming in the neighbors pool and the kids reading together at Barnes & Noble.

Hiking at the nature center

On Saturday the 4 of us went to the Nature Center for a morning hike. Ben likes to wear his backpack and binoculars when we go to the center. This was actually Megan's first real hike (on her own) and she wanted to wear a backpack just like Ben. It was cute watching the two of them go on ahead of us on their own. We of course stopped at the frog pond and saw some tadpoles, and we of course saw lots of dragonflies and other bugs. No animals this time. Anyway, it was a nice way to spend a morning.

Our New Hammock

Jenny got me a hammock for our backyard woods. For years we've talked about putting one up but it was always a question of where exactly. It took me a while to figure out where we had enough room for one. But we found a cozy little spot in the corner of the woods, and it's nice to lay out in the backyard under the trees. Ben likes it more than me I think.

Camp E.D.G.E.

Last week Ben did a week long nature camp at our church...Camp E.D.G.E. (Experience and Discover God Everywhere.) He did it with his friend Nicholas, so they had a good time together doing crafts and other fun things with the rest of the group. His troop's name was the Green Turtles. I guess our only complaint about it was the fact that it started the first week after he got out of school. It would have been nice for him to have a week off in between. But overall it was good for him, and I'm sure we'll do it again next year.

Summer is here!

Well...summer is finally here. Ben's finally out of school, and it's now finally warm enough for the kids to do summer things, like swim and go to the splash park. Here's some pictures of our first visit to the splash park this summer. It was also Megan's first visit, so it took her a little while to figure it out and warm up to it. But she eventually settled right in and enjoyed herself.

It Might Get Loud

Came across this trailer for a movie coming out soon...called "IT MIGHT GET LOUD." It looks to be a documentary of sorts with conversations from guitar greats Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (The White Stripes). Kind of a conversation piece about their music and what it means to play the guitar. Wow!
I've been playing the guitar since I was 10, and I still play it every day, or every other day. If there was ever a movie that looked to be made just for me it would be this one. Can't wait for this one.

Glacier

Lately we've had a bit of news with Glacier. For a few months she had been nibbling at her food, and not really scarfing it down like she used to. She might eat in the morning, and then might not eat again until the next day. Of course any kind of table scraps she'd gobble up immediately, but as far as dog food went...she just seemed bored. So I thought what we needed was a simple change of dog food, or maybe move to a senior formula. She is going to be 10 in August so I thought that made sense. Anyway, a few weeks ago I took her to the vet for her routine checkup and I told the vet about the food issue. She seemed a lot more alarmed than I was, and she wanted to do a blood test because she said the food issue wasn't normal. Well, the results came back the next day and the vet said she had "Pancreatitis," (inflammation of the pancreas.) In a nutshell she told me that it was either related to food fats, or worse...cancer. It kind of hit me suddenly. I wasn't expecting anything like that, but knowing her age I've been on the lookout for any signs of her nearing the end. So we switched to a low-fat formula of dog food to see what would happen. The good news is her levels went down from 1900 to 600. So it was just the fat content of her dog food and not cancer. Whew! The other good news is the vet told me that Glacier is in great shape for a dog her age. She said on average you can expect a dog of her size to reach 11 or 12, but she thinks Glacier might push it to 14 or 15. Makes sense to me. She still runs around the yard chasing balls like she's a puppy. For most of her life Glacier has been very healthy. Only once have we ever had an issue, and that was a non-cancerous tumor we had to have removed from her side. That was about 5 years ago I think. But other than that she's always been healthy and very active. Of course anything could happen the next few years, but at least the outlook is favorable for the near future. She's more neurotic than ever...but at least she's healthy. HA!

Midland Highland Festival

Yesterday was the 3rd annual Midland Highland Festival. My uncle here in town is a bagpipe player in a local bagpipe band, and his group has been the main organizer of this festival since its inception 3 years ago. After the first year I never thought there would be a 2nd annual festival...let alone a 3rd. But despite receiving little assistance from the city, the festival has continued to grow steadily in its 3 years of existence. It's a grass-roots effort put together by volunteers, but it's fun to go to. You hear various bagpipe bands play, you can watch sheep-herding dogs run around and herd sheep, and you can watch a bunch of muscle guys throw cabers and hammers. And of course...there's lots of kilts. This year was the first year there was a kid's area. Megan and Ben got to color their own bagpipe player, and Ben got to do the kid's version of the caber toss.
For those of you who don't know, the Frames are mainly of scottish origin. My grandfather immigrated from Scotland and my dad and his siblings (2 brothers and 1 sister) are first generation. My grandmother, who lives here in town as well, is originally from the Isle of Man, which sits just next to Scotland in the Irish Sea. So she obviously enjoyed the day yesterday. As my grandmother always likes to say at parties..."Here's lookin' up your kilts!"

What's Ben up to?

Ben's just about ready to wrap up pre-school. He's actually looking forward to going to kindergarten. He used to tell us he wanted to stay at his old school, but now he tells you confidently "in the fall I'm going to kindergarten." I think he's definitely ready for it. We have a fun summer planned for him. Next week he's going to a mini Bible camp at church, we have him signed up for a "safety town" class, and in July he's going to go to "Nature Camp" at the nature center. Then of course we'll do our usual activities at Dow Gardens, the library, hiking and camping, swimming at the local pool, Loons games, and then of course trips to Colorado and Texas. So he's going to have a fun summer. Right now he's really into Transformers (the cartoons), and Batman. He also still likes to go to the library twice a month and check out a bunch of books.

What's Megan up to?

Megan is a very good colorer. Definitely more so than Ben was at this age. Her "pencil grip" is pretty strong, and she has a genuine interest in doodling. She and I have also been working on her letters. She knows most of them, and only gets confused on a handful...like I or F. But she routinely gets about all but 4 right at a time. So she's coming along with all of that. We're also in the terrible two's with her right now...and oh man does she have a temper. It doesn't take much to tip her over the edge, so that's been very challenging for both Jenny and I. Ben's tantrums at this age were short and pretty level headed. Megan's tantrums can go on and on. Distractions help a little, but she definitely lets you know when she's not happy about something. She also likes doing everything Ben does. That means climbing things, swinging on things, playing with things, etc. She's more interested in his toys than her own. Which leads me to my last thing with Megan. She loves the "Batman song." You know...the one that goes..."da da da da da Batman!" She loves singing that song. It's just hilarious to me to see this little girl running around singing "Batman!"

I'm Batman!

I rented an old classic from my past...THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BATMAN. It was a cartoon that I used to watch all the time in the late 70's. It's very cheesy but Ben loves it. The funny thing is the voices are Adam West (Batman) and Burt Ward (Robin)...the same actors from the classic television show.

Happy Anniversary!

As most of you know today is Jenny and I's 11th anniversary. Wow! With each passing year it gets harder and harder to believe it's been that long. Happy anniversary honey!

At The Movies

UP - Pixar has done it again with this one. This is a rather odd tale about an elderly man who leaves the city and travels to South America...while at the same time never leaving his house. There's a cub scout, lots of talking dogs, biplanes, zepplins, jungles, and giant birds. Yet somehow it all comes together in the end with lots of warm messages and lots of fun. We own most of the Pixar movies, and I'd have to say this is one of the best I've seen from them. And as for Ben...he loved it.

TERMINATOR: SALVATION - I have to admit, I was very interested in checking this one out. Following the usual Terminator storyline, we see lots of robots and terminators going after John Connor, this time played by Christian Bale. However, in this installment, we actually get to see the "dark times" when the robots launched war against the humans. Up to now we've only ever heard about it and seen bits and pieces of the war. This movie IS the war, which i really liked. Like STAR TREK, this is also a "reboot" of sorts, with Bale taking over the reigns of the franchise from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bale doesn't play Connor quite as well as he plays Bruce Wayne in the BATMAN movies, but he plays it well enough for you to buy into it. But let's face it, this is not one of those movies where you want a lot of story. You want to see lots of robots, explosions, and terminators...and that's what this one delivers. I admit...I liked it.

STAR TREK - Let me preface this by saying...I'm not, nor have I ever been...a "trekkie." Yet somehow I always see the movies when they come out. Director J.J. Abrams (of TV's "LOST") has rebooted the franchise by traveling back in time and putting a fresh face (or faces) on all the familiar characters that we've grown to know over the years. We see the origins of the Enterprise, Captain Kirk, Spock, etc...and the special effects are really dynamic. Overall...there's a lot to like here. However, I thought it was simply okay. I found the story very slow and boring, which can be typical in an origin story such as this. One thing that bothered me was it seemed like Abrams had a checklist that he was going down throughout the film, as if he were telling you..."Okay, if you'll look to your left you'll see a young Kirk...and over here you'll notice the Enterprise being built...and then over here...etc." Instead of everything flowing naturally, the story felt very formulaic. Overall...this is a fine summer movie. Lots of eye candy and lots of action...which has been missing in lots of Trek movies in the past. In my opinion it's not bad, but it's not great either.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN - Jenny and I took a date night one night, and it was either this one or ANGELS & DEMONS. Well...we took our chances with this one because we knew ANGELS & DEMONS was going to be bad. Well...after having watched this one I'm very confused. Why you ask? Well...I couldn't stand this movie, and Jenny fell asleep...literally. However, everyone else who I've talked to LOVED this movie. I can't find anyone else who didn't like this one...other than Jenny and I. So...I don't know what to tell you. To me...it seemed like all the actors were bored in this one, and didn't have anything to work with. The jokes weren't funny, and the antics were corny. However, everyone I talk to say it was hilarious. So I don't know. What did surprise me was the realization walking out of it that we could have taken Ben to it. It was very tame, and more kid friendly than I expected.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON - This is a great...great...GREAT documentary on the United States space program in the 60's and early 70's...and specifically the Apollo program. From Producer Ron Howard, the film offers testimonials from all the surviving Apollo astronauts that walked on the moon and participated in the missions. There's lots of archival footage here from that time, and it's still breathtaking to watch after all these years. Combine that with incredibly heartfelt interviews from the astronauts and you have one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. I put this up against anything Ken Burns has done, or any of the great documentaries out there. Great...GREAT film!

APPALOOSA - Ed Harris starred and directed this period western about two "peace keepers" trying to restore order in a small New Mexico town. If you're one who likes westerns (which I do) you'll find lots to like here. The performances of the two peace keepers, played by Harris and Viggo Mortensen, are great as you would expect, and Jeremy Irons does a surprisingly good job playing the villain. The story takes a couple of weird turns along the way, thanks in part to Renée Zellweger's odd performance. But overall as a western this is a pretty good one. The story is a classic western formula, there's some cool gunfights, and lots of great cinematography to look at. This isn't as good as UNFORGIVEN or even OPEN RANGE, but it's still pretty good and worth checking out.

HENRY POOLE IS HERE - Wow! Luke Wilson CAN make a good movie. Seriously though...this movie really surprised me. Wilson plays Henry Poole, a man who has just about given up on life. He moves into a new house in Los Angeles, and finds his neighbors all flocking to his house with the belief that a stucco stain on the exterior of his house is the spitting image of Jesus Christ. The movie explores all avenues of what faith means to a person, and what it's like to start one's life over. However, there's an edge to this film as well. There's some dry humor here that keeps the film from being preachy, and the indie-rock soundtrack is very moving and fits perfectly. I really enjoyed this one.

THE WRESTLER - Mickey Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a wrestler who's way past his prime but who doesn't know how to do anything else. The story is kind of like a modern day tragedy, as Randy tries to find someone to love and restore a relationship with his estranged daughter. The performances from Rourke and Marisa Tomei are very strong, and makes the movie worth checking out. My only gripe about this one is some of the wrestling scenes go on way too long. But still though...this one was pretty interesting.

THE HAPPENING - I used to watch M. Night Shyamalan movies because I thought they were going to be good. Outside of his first film, THE SIXTH SENSE in 1999, I haven't seen a good movie from him since. Nowadays, I watch his movies to get a good laugh, and this one provided PLENTY of laughs. And no...it's not a comedy. In THE HAPPENING, we see a strange phenomena affecting the northeast states. I won't spoil anything for you here, but the explanations we're given here aren't convincing. And as for the dialouge, well...it's so bad it's laughable. Mark Wahlberg plays a high school science teacher trying to find the cause of the phenomena...while at the same time he's trying to patch up his relationship with his wife Zooey Deschanel. Yep...that's right. In the middle of all the dead bodies the two are going at it about who's to blame for what. Like I said...very funny. Anyway, I think it's obvious how I felt about this one. Another rediculous effort from M. Night Shamma-lamma-ding-dong.

CELEBRITY - Speaking of bad efforts...here's one from Woody Allen. CELEBRITY is supposed to be a comedic spoof about the media and celebrities, yet I had found it impossible to find anything to laugh at here. With actors such as Kenneth Branagh, Joe Mantenga, Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Melanie Griffith I was surprised to see how disappointed I was with this one. Allen tries to spice things up here by filming in black and white, but the attempt doesn't seem to help things much. Just not a lot to like here.

The Graduate

Last night Ben had his graduation ceremony at his preschool. He and his friends all walked in wearing the traditional caps (no gowns), and at the end they all got their "degrees." They sang some songs, and at the end everybody had cookies and treats. Ben thought it was all pretty cool. Here's some highlights.

Basketball Jones

Like a lot of people I've been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs this year. This year's playoff games have been some of the best in a long time. However, as one who makes commercials and videos for a living, I can't help but notice that the state of NBA player commercials has significantly deteriorated since the days of Michael Jordan. To prove my point, I'll give you one of the worst NBA player commercials I've ever seen. This is a current commercial out there for LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

The only thing hilarious about this commercial is the fact that they completely recycled a concept from 15 years ago. See if you can tell a resemblance here. This one was for Penny Hardaway, a pretty good NBA player from the early 90's, and his friend "Little Penny" (aka Chris Rock.)

Now, I was always a Penny Hardaway fan, so I always loved the "Little Penny" commercials. But I will admit no one did it better than Michael Jordan. Jordan's commercials were always classy and tasteful, and often even inspirational. I guess in a lot of ways you could say Jordan's commercials mirrored Jordan himself. Anyway, here's one of the best Jordan commercials...and in the minds of many NBA fans one of the best NBA player commercials ever made. This is the famous "Frozen Moment" commercial.

Admit it. Whether you're a basketball fan or not...you thought that was pretty cool.