Just Call Him Radar!

Here is a picture of Jack playing the drums on a giant, plastic pumpkin. This is a boy who takes his drumming very seriously- a trait he picked up from his cousin Bubba (Caleb to those who aren't frequent visitors to the Kempffer Compound). I wanted to post this picture for two reasons. First, it's a pretty funny picture even without knowing this little story. Second, I want to put a mental image in your head that will make you laugh. Remember the character Radar on M*A*S*H? (If you don't there is something wrong with you and you should stop reading now because this just won't make any sense to you!) For those of you who are familiar with one of the best characters on TV, try to remember the few episodes in which Radar plays the drums. His head is down, he's moving to the beat, he has a goofy smile on his face... this is Jack when he plays the drums. He could be using pencils as drumsticks on the coffee table or pounding with his hands on a pumpkin, whatever the scenario, he reminds me of Radar as he entertains those around him with all his heart.

And even though I see reminders of others in him everyday, my boy is one of a kind!

Halloween 2010

This is the third year in a row that I've posted Halloween pictures

on Halloween! Yea me!

Here's Jack standing in the friendly pumpkin patch. We went to a party on Saturday night and Jack had a great time running around looking at all the decorations and people dressed in costume. (Thanks for a great party Mary!) It was a bit chilly so I opted for the fleece hat & mittens instead of Jack's costume. Such is life in Minnesota!

And here we are casting our anchor at Granny Nanny's apartment ready for trick or treating. This awesome costume is direct from 1979. Is that considered vintage? It seems that Nancy is just a bit sentimental and she had kept this from when Seth was a little tyke. I think the big difference though is that I used the sailor suit as a costume and it was just another outfit back in the day. Jack was very excited to trick or treat for candy bars and he was very polite too- as befitting a sailor in the US Navy!

Random Jack 7

Jack and Mazzy were having fun in the leaves during this October that doesn't seem to be getting cold! Grandma Donna wasn't having quite as much fun though... every time Jack would run through and kick the pile of leaves around he would look at her and say "Fix it?" In other words, "Pick up the rake you just put down and make the pile bigger!"

When was the last time you remember having so much fun?

Jack was trying to help but the rake was just a little too big!

Now Jack is not one to pose for a picture as his cousin Caleb was prone to do as a toddler. This lucky shot was the result of me waiting and waiting and then Jack fell over and started laughing.

Hey, whatever works right?

The Big Boy Bike!

Jack was having a great time trying out his big boy bike!

I tried uploading a video too but I don't know how well it will work...

Check out this kid! Jack's friend Cooper outgrew his bike and passed it on to him. Grandma Donna let him try it out today and I think he did really well. Let's remember that he's not quite 2 and a half years old and he inherited short legs from both sides of his family! I think the Kempffer athletic gene is alive and well in this next generation! And just for the record, Mick, that gene didn't skip me, I just chose not to use it! To translate Jack-speak into English, he's saying "Pedal, pedal, pedal!" just as Grandma told him to do.

Thanks for the bike, Cooper!

Road Trip

A few days before school started, my mom and I took Jack and Caleb on a little road trip into northern Wisconsin. Caleb to visit his girlfriend and Jack just to get him out of the rut of a 2-year-olds life... as tough as that could possibly be! While Caleb spent time with his girl, we went exploring and found a great place to spend some time next summer possibly. Even though Caleb will tell you that we picked him up too early, I think everyone had a good day. But I have come to realize that my kid is weird in the sense that he doesn't sleep in the car! A few weeks ago we went to Minneapolis with Ajha and Mazzy and Jack stayed awake the whole ride! For better or worse, all he does in the car is take little cat naps. This picture is evidence of just that happening. Jack fell asleep about 7 miles outside of Two Harbors on our way home. To try to stretch out his snooze we took a looping ride through the country.

Total nap time? About 25 minutes!

It does guarantee a nice early bedtime though!

(And as for Caleb's eyebrows? One of his friends dared him to do that and Caleb brilliantly agreed! We're all hoping they grow in before school pictures are taken!)

Random Jack 6

We all somehow survived the Mayor's Block Party. Friday night we watched ET in the park. And although the weather we were sitting in matched that on the screen, think misty & foggy, we had a good time- Reese's Pieces and all. Saturday's weather was perfect for an all day, outdoor party. As you can see from the picture above I have a little dare devil on my hands! He went down the "big slide" only twice but asked to go many more times. The look on his face as he was sliding down was absolute terror but he was smiling when he was getting his shoes on! Mazzy dominated the kids' karoeke stage. I think she was up there 5 times in the 4 hours they were running it. I don't think I could have heard more Taylor Swift if I went to one of her concerts! The music downtown brought in a local high school band called Silencing the Desperate who were really very good! But of course the main attraction were The Accidentals. Johnny B. Good never sounded better!

Thank you Mayor Bolen for another great party!

So here's the little stud muffin down by the lake. One of his favorite hobbies these days is throwing rocks- most of the time in the water but once at my car (I have the scratch in my paint to prove it)! And yes, he is one of the few kids I know who actually asks for his hat & sunglasses. Everything has been going well this summer. Jack is a great kid who cracks me up most of the time. He pushes his luck every once in a while but usually he's pretty laid back. We'll see how it goes when his little sister comes at Christmas time!

Random Jack 5... again!

I noticed that the first Random Jack 5 posting is dated in February. I tried to post then (did I mention that I hate waiting for pictures to upload?) and never finished but the date stuck. The first Random Jack 5 was actually done this afternoon!

This picture is Mazzy & Jack trying to fish coins out of a foutain at the end of our adventure to the MN Zoo. We did stop them by telling them that you can't take other people's wishes & dreams a la The Goonies. They were a bit disappointed!

By the way, the MN Zoo is awesome! I recommend it whole heartedly!

Random Jack 5

So here's my new plan for this blog. I hate waiting for pictures to upload so I'm going to try to post one new picture a week. Lots of pictures are great to look at but one at a time works for me too. I'll do my best!

The above picture was taken on our Minneapolis adventure at the end of July. Grandma Donna, Ajha, Mazzy, Jack and I went to Como Park, the MN Zoo and, of course, the Mall of America (that place is so big it has its own gravitational pull I swear). Of all the animals we saw over those 3 days Jack's favorite were the fish. Big fish, little fish, colorful fish, ugly fish. As long as it was swimming he didn't care!

Jack and Grandma Donna were mezmerized by something swimming by in the Underwater Adventure aquarium at the mall.

Is My Kid Weird?

Jack & I were eating pretzels at lunch today. This is what was left when we were done. As you can see Jack has a peculiar habit. Whenever he is eating anything in "stick" form, whether it's pretzels, french fries or green beans (when he'll actually eat them), he will take a bite of one, put it back and take a new one. I actually saw him take a pretzel out of the bowl, realize it had already been bitten, put it back and take a new one! Why am I tell you this? Well, first, it's pretty funny! But also I'm hoping someone will leave a comment that starts with "That's nothing! One time...!" I hope reading this story made you chuckle as much as I did when I was seeing it acted out in front of me.

Aloha!

Aloha! I started this post with the intention of presenting a professional picture story in a logical order but then I quickly remembered that I can never remember what order things go in when I'm uploading. So here are a bunch of pictures in no particular order that I hope you enjoy!

See? We really were on a tropical island... a bird of paradise on the side of the road and everything.

A wall of coconuts that I think looked cool. You can form your own opinion.

Turtle! This was taken off the boat the day we went snorkeling. We saw him and his friends swimming around in the deep blue sea too.

Seth won't like that I posted this shot... he hates it!

(Sorry Seth! I really didn't mean to post this one!)

After we were done snorkeling, one of the guides brought this small octopus up from the bottom. Stephanie immediatly held out her hand and asked to hold it. I got as close as this picture shows and that was good enough for me. It really did sound like suction cups releasing when it was taken off her arm. It really left a bunch of black stuff behind too!

I got slimed too!

Me, Sherrill, Steph and Seth on our snorkeling adventure day. And yes, having a Steph and a Seth in the same family does get confusing!

.Here we are enjoying a pineapple-mango smoothie at our luau. And even though it looks like we've had a few adult beverages we were stone sober, the luau is put on by the Mormon church which means no alcohol allowed.

Here's our family photo with our Polynesian Cultural Center guide, Cousin Glen. Apparently the Polynesians refer to everyone as cousin. Welcome to the family!

Cousin Glen. Once again, welcome to the family.

This was our cultural guide in the Samoan village. For the life of me I can't remember what his real name is, think of something long with lots of vowels, but he told us it translates to "so handsome" in English. He was really very funny and as you can see not bad to look at either.

I think Steph was having a good time this day.

One more family picture. Gee Steph seems so itty-bitty when stacked up against us all!

This one's for you Leanna. I thought that if you were thinking of getting back into the Mormon religion you should see that you could worship in paradise. This place was amazing!



And on the flip side, I thought the entrance to this tunnel looked like the gates of hell.



Ahhh... isn't that sweet. You have to love a place that has heart shaped leaves on the trees!

(Or in this case, laying on the ground.)

Stephanie, Joe and Sherrill on the beach with Chinaman's Hat Island in the background.


Joe, Nancy and Seth


And of course Seth and me, too.


While we were wandering around the beach and taking pictures in front of Chinaman's Hat island there were two separate sets of brides and grooms there to get pictures taken. Imagine all the sand that got stuck in that formal dress! She had heels on too!


Steph looking tropical.


Nancy probably won't appreciate this picture but the look on her face is genuine and priceless. As you can see she wasn't expecting the water to come in over her feet.


A scenic picture postcard shot of Chinaman's Hat Island.


This was the view off the deck (sorry, lanai) of our rental house. The small, white rectangle in the center of the picture is the USS Arizona Memorial with the USS Missouri behind it to the right. All the water you see is Pearl Harbor.


Sunset from the lanai.


So is this called sunrise or moonset? This shot was taken at about 7 am.

A misty sunrise off the lanai. If you enlarge this picture, you'll be able to make out Diamond Head in the center. As you can see we had a great house. The inside matched the views outside.

A shot of the North Shore with the waves crashing. I could sit there all day and watch.

Seth and his co-pilot Megan prepping for their glider ride. Seth was smiling even bigger when they landed.

An early morning kiss and cup of coffee with Sherrill and Joe.

This is the medallion in the deck of the USS Missouri where the WWII Japanese surrender agreement was signed. It was really interesting being able to walk around this ship and see a bit of how Navy sailors live. And you think you don't have storage space!

The flag on the bow of the Mighty Mo! A beautiful day on Pearl Harbor!

Merry Christmas 2009

I hope you all had a great Christmas. Except for Bertha (the winter storm), ours was peachy keen. We even got a tree up and decorated this year!

Caleb, Ajha, Mazzy & Rudolph at Bentleyville a few days before Christmas.

Don't you love how Mazzy is chewing her popcorn during this shot?

This was the best of a few bad pictures. I gave Seth a lecture about how when someone is taking his picture he's supposed to smile at the camera! Tara & Mazzy made it in the shot too.


Blizzard Bertha dropped almost 2 feet of snow at our house on Christmas Eve. Then she started raining on Christmas Day. Lots of the snow melted and the streets and sidewalks are an ankle-twisting, fender bender mess. Think of a rutted, muddy road... that's frozen solid! Lots of fun! But Jack had fun playing in the snow on Christmas Eve.

Until he fell over and got stuck. Then later in the day the McDonald Clan was supposed to get together as tradition dictates but some were snowed in in Duluth and others in St. Paul. We still had the party room booked for our swimming pool fun so we convinced our friends, the Ruders, to come out and join us. The kids had fun in the pool. Jack and Sadie especially loved running up and down the halls!

Sadie says, "Jack, you wait here and I'll go grab the Cheetos off the table!"

(Don't you love her beach towel toga?)

"I'll be right back!" As Jack gives her the sly thumbs up in agreement.

I think this is the exact moment that Sadie shared her cold with Jack.

Go Vikes!

And then on Christmas morning, we made our way to the Kempffers, in the pouring rain. Seth loved the footie pjs in the boots so much he had to take a picture.

This play vacuum was the first thing Jack opened at Grandma Donna's and, as far as he was concerned, he was done. He didn't even wait until it was out of the box to start playing. Why a toy vacuum? I told Mimi (Auntie Amy) to keep an eye out for one because Jack throws a royal temper tantrum when I put my dust buster away. Did this decoy work? Of course not! He still loves my dust buster.

This dumbstruck look was Caleb's reaction to opening an iPod Touch. It was fun watching him run around the house on the scavenger hunt that his grandma set up for him to find it.

Isn't this how we all feel at the end of Christmas morning?

I think he was watching Wall-E at this point.