Friday, December 25, 2015


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
2015
Andrew (15), Maddie (17) & Alex (19)

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Lake Placid, NY


Mom says goodbye curbside at DFW.  Lake Placid or BUST!




Our home away from home for the next 5 days-Best Western Adirondack INN


Olympic Center is across the street from the hotel.








Heading Home


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Maddie on the Mound


  • Maddie on the mound in Southlake for a Friendly Tournament (2/16/2013).   
  • No DaddyBall Today!  David is  in Colorado for a father-son Hockey/Ski Trip.  
  • She played 5 games today and her team went 4-1.

Ski Breckenridge, Colorado











Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Valentine's Day 2002

Valentine's Day in Years Past....

In February of 2002,  D was commuting from Iowa to TX for work.  We had sold our house in IA, but we're waiting until June to move so that Alex could finish Kindergarten.  The kids goal was to SHOWER DAD WITH LOVE.  The kids decided that they wanted to fill the shower with balloons.  What a surprise he would have when he returned Thursday night and wanted to take a shower.  They had a lot of fun putting all those balloon in the shower.  Lil' man kept opening up the shower door because he thought it was funny when they would fall out.  I still have the heart that was taped to the shower door with these sweet messages...XOXOXO, I LOVE YOU, HUG ME, U R 4 ME, BE MINE and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY... in the girls handwriting.   








Sunday, October 14, 2012

Passion


When I retire I am going to collect my thoughts and write a book.  My guess is that I would sell ONE copy!!!   I've got some logic on people's general desire to belong to groups, and some thoughts on the importance of passion in life.  

Rod Stewart had in right when he wrote the following... 

"Even the president needs passion
Everybody I know needs some passion
Some people die and kill for passion
Nobody admits they need passion"

I have come to believe that it's really important to be passionate about something ... not to the crazed level, but probably close...

I suspect people can be passionate about work, church, hobbies, activities, and probably not many limits...  passions change as you age, quality over quantity, and I assume a healthy component of a fulfilling life... I have mine...

Andrew has played hockey for 6 years.  I think it is an amazing TEAM sport.  The movie Miracle, and the whole 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team story is the greatest sport story of all time... but the odd part is that I DON'T skate... never played hockey...

I hope during my parenting years I can help cultivate passions in my kids lives... I’m sure I would do anything to support their passion... not sure it has to be obvious... 

I am sitting at an ice rink watching my son play 3 on 3 at open hockey for the Alliance Bulldogs...

Something STRANGE has happened over the last two weeks...  for each of the last 16 days my son has been on the ice a minimum of an hour, up to three hours...  he asked me to take him to open hockey, and he played a game this morning... he is starting to ask about specific equipment, says his new skates are amazing and is mad the NHL is on strike ... he is stick handling and shooting in the garage... 

I NEVER expect him to play in the NHL... but way more important, I think he may have FOUND IT!!!


Friday, October 12, 2012

"DADDY BALL" Baby!!!

A player on our Texas Glory Adkins Team just quit this weekend, a day before a tournament.  Her Dad sent emails to the Coach, and other parents explaining why his daughter quit the team.  Among numerous factual inaccuracies, and obvious vision problems he was pretty "mean" to the coach.  The Coach has given up his time for the team...  until you've done it you don't know how much time it takes...

Yes, and as hard as it is to believe, he spent a good amount of typing complaining about me.  My goodness, he said our team was all "DADDY BALL".  So, I did a Google search on "DADDY BALL" and found this excerpt from an article.

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 “We lost that game because of Daddy Ball.”  Maybe I am a little slow at times to figure things out, but either way, the light bulb in my head finally turned on and I realized what “Daddy Ball” is all about.   Ah ha!  We blame losses on coach’s kids.  One of the coach’s kids makes an a couple errors and the manager stays with him or the manager’s son is pitching and can’t throw a strike and he leaves him in there and he walks the park.  Manager’s son plays short stop the whole game and can’t catch a cold, costs the team runs, and we never switch him out.   These are only a few of many “Daddy Ball” examples out there, and I am sure that if I were to ask, I would hear a hundred or so more!  Are people who say those things justified?  Are managers and coaches guilty of this?  Is there a way to fix this?

For what it is worth, here are my two cents on the topic.  First of all, it is impossible to rid the world of “Daddy Ball.”  And to be honest, I feel we sometimes use this term as a crutch or a way to justify a loss.  Basically, “Daddy Ball” is playing favorites, plain and simple.  The coach and or manager are accused of playing his favorite players (the coaching staff’s kids) in the most critical positions because of the game because he can. "

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You can also search Google and find the same article.  There is more... but, since I was the "target" of the DADDY BALL comparison, I assume based on what I have read, that Maddie is the reason we occasionally loose our championship game... because Maddie is pitching, or hitting in the position she is...  um, ... if that is his perception, I guess it wouldn't be worth my effort to argue.  And it is probably a good decision for them to move to a better team.

He did give some publicity to this blog... told the parents I was egotistical, and that is why I keep the blog...  I guess he didn't read all the blog posts...

Ten years ago, I would have written a two page email response... now, I have realized that you can't please everyone all the time...




Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Maui...Nature Calls


Hibiscus





 Bird of Paradise
 Bamboo
 Rainbow Eucalyptus
Ixora
Coconut

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Our Picnic Lunch Stop







Along the Road to Hana...
Past the Black Sand Beach but before the Seven Sacred Pools, we pulled off to enjoy our
picnic lunch we picked up at The Hana Bay Juice Company in Paia.  I did enjoy the
coleslaw, which they added pineapple to. We were the only two on the beach.  David's 
hat blew off and I accidentally took a pic.  It looks like I am sitting next to a ghost who is 
disrespecting the baseball hat by wearing it backwards.