Winter, Spring, Sum... Winter, Spring...

With a winter storm bearing down on our lovely state of Iowa, I figured that it would be decent of me to post a quick pic of the first Spring that we had, which ended a few days ago. 

Those are our two plants of chives that were left over from last year.  Note, I used them all last year and they were cut flat with the ground.  I did not till them up in the Fall, figuring that I'd see what happens.  Well, THAT is what happens!  This pic was taken in the first week of March so they had grown up to nearly six inches from the Fall-cut height.

Now all we need is some Cheddar-Tater soup!

Vacation 2015, #13 - Oregon... It's Supper Time!

This was a "bucket list" item for dear ol' Dad!  I had heard of this place, called The Pelican, from a magazine article in a fine publication called All About Beer.  The photos in the mag were fascinating and beautiful and the real thing did not disappoint!  It is located in Pacific City, Oregon and is purt 'near in the ocean.

We opted to eat out on the patio since it wasn't crazy windy and our food would not be extra crunchy due to flying sand.

I thought we had more photos of the entire crew, but this seems to be the lone survivor (well, and about 3 more that look almost identical).

And I know that everybody that looked at that first picture was dying to know more about the beers!  So here 'tis!  That Tsunami Stout was the stuff legends are made of!  The other varied in quality from pretty good to one of them that was not very good at all. 

That group of three peeps just to the middle/right of the photo is Lesley, Robby and Caleb.  The three of them could be at the ocean all day for several days in a row.  Me, not so much but it would help if there was a brew pub this close at EVERY stop!! That magnificent rock is called Haystack Rock.

A bit closer...

Caleb wanted to climb the big sand dune that was somewhat near the restaurant, so me, being a good dad who had just grossly overeaten, said, "sure!".   Oh man, that little spider monkey took off up that thing on hands and knees like he had a motor!  I did great at first...  bout the first 100 feet.  I was disassembling!  Caleb was encouraging me constantly saying, "C'mon Daddy!  You can do this.  You're doing great."  pppppttttthhhhh...

That's him waiting up on that ridge for me.  I finally told him that I couldn't go any further and he obliged my big, over-sized butt.

Even in my hyperventilating state, I had the good sense to turn around and snap a picture before sliding back down the loose sand (which is really fun, btw!).  You see that long, gray-looking building on the left of the photo in the greenish area?  The Pelican restaurant resides at the far end of that, with a wide swath of sand between the hotel and eatery.  I was a bit shocked at how far we had gone and how far we have to go to get back!!

This was from where our van was parked.  I included it as I didn't want to say goodbye!

This was back on the beach by our campground when Momma, Aunt Molly and the boys walked over to the beach to watch the sunset over the ocean.  Me?  I was back at the campground, getting a fire going, repacking the van and sorting the beers that I had purchased for myself and for trading with a cousin of mine...

And so be it!  Another fun day on the West Coast is "in the books".

Vacation 2015, #12 - Oregon, Octopus Tree

Here we find ourselves at the Octopus Tree at Cape Meares Oregon. Do we know how old the tree is? Nope. We'd have to chop down the gorgeous specimen to obtain at least a accurate guess. 

However, it is believed to be so old that then original Indians of the area used it to house their dead in it, in canoes, so it's possible that it's an old burial site.  

Is it really? Who knows...   What we do know is that it provides some beautiful sites!

Beautiful site, #1!

I took this shot for some reason... what was that reason?   Who knows?

That big rock, with it's tunnels, out in the ocean.

The octopus tree...

The actual tree.  It's beautiful in person.  The pics do NOT do it justice.

Those two guys who light up my heart!

A lovely shot of the path from the previous pics back up to where the Mobile Chaos Unit's vehicle was parked.

Man's Best Friend... When Man Has A Sammich!

Everybody likes Jimmy Johns!

The End... Of Basketball, anyways

Caleb's basketball season has come to a close today. 

The team started out as most kids teams do, slow. They seemed to gel as the season moved along and the last two games were fantastic!

Last week, G'ma & G'pa were down for Calebbers baptism and they attended his game, along with all of the other sporting events of the weekend.  

Caleb scored the first 6 points of the game for his team and ended with 14 overall points.  I asked him after the game if he was showing off for his visitors, and he simply replied, "yes".

Before today's game, I told him to play like G'ma & G'pa were at the game again.

He did.  And so did the rest of his team!
 

That's Calebber with the ball, by the referee.  He scored 12 points today and had several rebounds as well as two great ball saves from going out of bounds.  Fun stuff to watch!

The team that rocked! That's Caleb in front of his coach (with the IOWA sweatshirt) and our friend Max is to Caleb's left.

The score, even though "we don't keep score"...  63 to 26!!  Every kid contributed today and they were truly a team to be proud of.  Our score keepers?  Robby and Max's brother, Jack.

Caleb then proceeded to beat Robby and myself and a game of p.i.g. once we got home.  Yes, I was trying...

Sadly, he declared that he does not want to play basketball again...  I'm hoping that its just the end of the season excitement and he'll feel differently after a little time passes.

We'll see...  But his 26 points on the last two weekends were FUN!

Happy 11th Birthday To Robby!!!

This fella right here, he rocks my world!  He turned 11 on Tuesday. 

He's a smart, clever, funny boy who has a big, compassionate heart.  He's one of the loves of my life & is a piece of the puzzle that makes me whole! 

Love you Robby, hope your birthday was everything you wanted it to be!

The Baptism Of Caleb Rongbo Schmitz

Sunday, February 28th, 2016 will go down in history as not much of anything, unless you were part of the Schmitz Mobile Chaos Unit! 

You see, we baptized a wonderful gift from God on this day;  his name is Caleb Rongbo Schmitz.

Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for giving me Robby & Caleb.  They make life full and beyond worth living!  They are the essence of life and they remind me of that fact every. single. day.  

Just earlier today, I looked out the front window and there were, to the best of my counting abilities, 10 kids out in the front yard. Now, I can account for a good percentage of them; Robby & Caleb, the two lads that I pick up from school on Tuesday and Thursday, Max & Jack, and the two brothers from across the road, Titus and Tobin. Oh, and our little neighbor dude, Ryan.  The other 3?  Dunno...

But, cool non-the-less!  Turns out one of them was Titus and Tobin's little sister Trista.  She was a delight to have around and as Robby put it, "I love that she came over too! Dad, she's LEGIT!".

Can't beat that!

Anyway...  back to baptism Sunday.  It was a great day that was a LONG time in the making.  Let's have a look at some pics, shall we?

Two gorgeous characters before we left for services.

Photobomb by DAAAAAAAAADDDDDDD!!!!!!

The eldest.

The younger....

A nervous Chinaman awaiting services to begin!

The ever lens-pleasant Robby, giving a nice pre-service grin.

Speaking of lens-pleasant....  the often imitated but never duplicated, JB!  Grandpa Jim in his regal splendor!

Cuteness personified!!!

Nervous boy with his daddy.

The mobile chaos unit with some questionable characters in the background!

Getting ready for the big moment.

That's MY BOY, right there!!!!

Apprehensive Caleb and his supportive family.

The big moment! The bigger thing about the moment itself is that I got to baptize the lad!  I wanted too.  He wanted me to do it as well, and Noah, the other fella in the photos, had requested to do the baptism as he and I had played guitar together in a previous worship based band.  I asked if I could do the baptism myself and no worries, done deal.  I would describe that as a powerful moment and was imagining the moment of John the baptist in the Jordan river with Jesus...   JESUS!  Yes, that one!!! 

The big moment from some friends' camera.

Calebber getting the mark of the cross with Holy water from my friend Noah Ruppert!

Caleb with Grandma Elaine, Grandpa Jim & Grandma Marlene in one of my favorite photos... possibly ever!

On top of all of that, it was the kids weekend to sing!  Calebber is in the bottom left and Rob is one striped shirt away from the upper right.