Pepperoni Bread

So, last Christmas when we visited in Idaho for the holiday season, Uncle Rob made Pepperoni Bread for the family to enjoy.

Ashley has been begging us to let her make Pep Bread and we figured a meal at the coast was a perfect time.



I know this picture won't be a shock to most of you.... but for those of you who don't know to what I am refering, Christy is shown here grabbing more cheese that will be liberally spread on the Pep Bread.

Do I own a cheese factory? One would think so.... Yes.

Once the process started, everybody wanted to join in.



Mom gives tepid approval of the work being done by the novice chefs.

Thankfully, under the ever viligant eye of Mom the Pep Bread became an instant hit. Thanks Uncle Rob.

Justin Singing????

Yes. Right.
Well, Justin has taken to singing with his Ipod on and giving us memorable performances. I don't recall the song, but the combination of song and dance was truly inspiring.


It's funny because it's like Justin doesn't realize that we can all hear him when he sings. Off tune, mumbled words, wrong words...... it makes all of us laugh.

Black and White at the Beach

This is a picture that will be a classic. Dad, Daughter, Son all in a row. This pic might make the slide show at a wedding someday..... you just never know.


Ashley did a good job of getting a photo of Mom and Dad walking on the beach. Black and white photos have a special quality about them.

Bike Riding at the Coast

The kids assured me that bringing the bikes to the coast for the weekend was important to them. So, I found a way to get all four bikes on the car (no small feat) and off we went.

Based on the odometer on Ashley's bike, by Sunday morning the kids had rode a whopping 2.2 miles. That translates into about 10 minutes of riding.
I am so glad I went through all that trouble.

Ashley in the starting blocks........ and off she goes.



Round the neighborhood they go.



We call those two bikes the purple phantoms. They have been good little machines for the kids and their friends.

Pool Supervision

That's right. Someone has to be ever vigilant at the pool watching the childern.

Okay, maybe not ever vigilant but I do watch the kids while doing a Soduku. Yes, I still do the puzzles. Maybe not at the blistering rate that I did last year, but I do them on vacation and in airports and the like.

Water Entry: Ashley Style

Yesterday, I didn't have the camera out when Ashley made several jumps into the pool. Today... we were ready.

The approach.


Good Extension. Arms open wide, legs apart.... can she pull it off?


Big splash. The photographer in the front row (me) got quite a splash from this diver!


Although this is a good picture of Ashley jumping in the pool, I must digress. Yesterday, I coaxed Ashley into giving me a true belly-flop. And when I say true, I mean full extension, parallel to the water, chest, face, arms, legs all RED from smacking into the water.
Today with the camera, she wouldn't do it. Yesterday hurt too much (and believe me it had to hurt.... the red welts lasted nearly 30 minutes!!) If I was only a better father and had the camera ready. Darn.

Water Entry: Justin Style

(whisper voice) Ladies and Gentleman, Justin Eggimann is about preparing to enter the pool doing the dreaded can opener manuever. This dive has a degree of difficulty of 3.2.... very difficult and technical. Please limit crowd noise so he can concentrate.

And the approach........




The knee tucked up into position......

What a dive!!

Standard Cannonball. Can't goto the pool and not have this happen.

And the Creme del la Creme: Spread Eagle Belly-Flop!!!

Pink Goggles!!!

Look at the face on Justin! He doesn't look happy about something. Maybe it is those pink goggles!!

Ashley, do those goggles help nearsightedness or farsightedness?

Potpourri

Sometimes there are pictures taken that you just don't know where they should be put..... so, here is a post that will help to get these wacky pictures out there. Enjoy.

Yes, we are so proud of our son. Well done Justin!!

The toilet. Right. Well, we had to put it somewhere so right now it is residing on our deck. The toilet has been designated the official "time-out" destination when things get out of control. We have had to send Dad to "time-out" twice this last week.

We have here Christy concentrating hard on the balancing beam event at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Notice the look of determination on her face as she works to maintain her balance on the 2" x 6".
Christy and Jake love their bikes. That fact that both bikes live in the house is testament to this. Here is Christy's bike after a nice cleaning gleaming in the kitchen.

For those who are wondering, Christy has a CAAD 5 bike from Cannondale. Very nice little machine.

Ping-Pong Wars

After Justin got back from camp last week, he started talking some junk about his ping-pong prowness. This week he has had his buddy Trevor over every day and they have been spending some time at the upstairs table beating up on each other. Justin is regularly playing right now and we can see his game is getting better.

But, the inevitable has happened. He has gotten a little cocky- and wanted a shot at Dad. So, last night we have the first round of ping-pong wars between the boys of the house.


Justin getting after it here..... by the way, last week the American Lung Association sent Justin a "Reach the Beach" jersey for the ride we did in May. Justin is pretty proud of the jersey (as he should be) and wears it fairly regularly.

Yes, things got close and Dad had to start working hard at the table to keep pace with Justin.


At the end of the evening, Dad won the first stage 2 games to 1. It was close.... real close. Game three went to overtime before Dad prevailed 23-21. Both boys were sweating when they came back downstairs so we think they were working hard.

Bathroom Remodel: Say it isn't so!!

Many of you know that we had a total house remodel in 2004. I mean everything was remodeled and updated.... except one bathroom. The reason, well, our family was living outside in a van down by the river....

No, no... wrong story. We actually lived in an RV and had the use of one bathroom which we decided to not remodel.
So, the other day we notice the floor is a little soft and squishy around the toilet in the bathroom. We were planning to remodel this bathroom... just not this year.

But, as you can see once you start something, well you can see for yourself.

Here we are disconnecting the sink, water, and drain so we can remove the cabinet. Justin is pumped up about the thought of breaking something.... anything.

Cabinet gone!
Yes... that is water damage.

Demo Justin and Dad Style I

Ripping out that terrible, terrible shower. What a good feeling!

Yes.... this is Justin standing with a crowbar. Who does he think he is? Gordon Freeman???

Demo Justin and Dad Style: II

As you can see... Justin loves to Demo.

What you don't see here is that shortly.... I am mean minutes after this picture, during the pulling of this piece of plywood, I shear off the copper pipe fitting that was the water supply for the toilet. Yes, water sprayed everything. Water spraying necessitates a sprint outside to the pump-house to shut off the water.

Yes... that's right. Copper. On a Sunday night no less.

So, this started a chain of event which included shutting off the water to the house for several hours, a trip to Home Demo for repair parts, Justin taking a shower at Grandma's.... you know... standard stuff when one breaks a water line.

And for those of you that want to know, yes... I did get the repair done that night and NO, I am not a plumber.

Demo Justin and Dad Style III

Remnants of the Justin / Dad Demo

Everything made it out of the bathroom window... save the toilet.

Demo: Contractor Style

This was after like 3 hours of the guys being here.... they don't mess around.

Demo: Contractor Style

You can see the difference between a Justin and Dad demo and a contractor demo. Once again, we called the Axmakers and had them come out to the house and work. The Axmakers have built pretty much everything on the property..... so we are familiar with them and they are familiar with us. It works out fairly well.

By the way, for this job we have Paul and Ronnie.

The Foundation.

Here we have actual live shots of cement being poured. Even more amazing, Steve is at the job site and has a "hands-on" approach with the foundation.

The picture below shows Steve giving a hefty dose of wisdom to Paul and Ronnie.




These last two pictures show Ronnie and Paul after taking off the forms for the new foundation.
Notice in Ronnie's picture that the guys made a nice access point for me because I love crawling under the house.