What's on your bucket list?

From the time that I was in high school I've always had the idea that one day I would go skydiving. It's always been one of those things on my bucket list. For many it's the thrill factor that they seek. Not me. Don't get me wrong I LOVE adventure and finding new ways to overcome most of life's hurdles...but heights??? It's funny when I was telling my tandem partner about my fear of heights, he said, "It's not heights, it's altitude." Call it whatever you want, but apparently now I've got another fear...fear of altitude. Thanks buddy!

Anyway skydiving was my way of facing this fear. I never want anything in this world to hold me back from enjoying the fruits of life, so I jumped at the opportunity to go with some good friends. Let me just say, if you've never been, it's quite the experience! You may not be afraid of heights or "altitude," but I promise you, when that door opens at 13,000 ft and you watch those ahead of you get sucked out of the plane...it becomes REAL real fast! With all of that said, I need to say, "It was GREAT!" - Thanks Clint! - If you get a chance to go then take it. Never let anything hold you back from witnessing the undiscovered parts of life!

So now many ask, "Would you do it again?" My answer is, "With another group of friends, yes. But just to do it because I'm hooked now...nope." Anyway here are a few pics to show that I jumped and survived. -Although, the last picture could pass for another blog entry about coming back from a trip to the moon.

Paper & Heart

Every week, sometimes every day, Cole asks to go to work with me. It's something that I can usually count on when I wake up each morning. Fun Fact: He told Holly that when he grows up he's going to have his office right beside mine so we can work together! As his daddy there's a part of me that wishes age 5 stayed a little longer. Because I know that over time, age 5 will become a small dot in his rear view mirror and comments like this will become less frequent. But for now I record it in my memory bank and enjoy it while it's here!

As you can see in the picture below, Cole made it to work with me this day. He decided that he would write his first book. I'm not going to tell you about it as to hinder his sales on Amazon... Anyway it was a very cool moment when he came to me to show me his book of Adventure on a day with dad! Thought it was worth sharing!

(Yeah I'm not sure what the yarn was supposed to be either?)

My Hero!

Many of you have probably already seen this, but in my adventures of being a dad I couldn't help but be motivated by this story again!



My goal, as a dad, is to impress upon my boys
that the word "can't" doesn't exist in our family!

Months into parenthood...

Many of you have seen our friend's website and have shared in this journey with Sean, Sheyenne and their daughter Whitney. I haven't posted any follow-ups about them lately, so I decided that it was time. Rather than me trying to explain things and catch you up in my own words, I'll let them share.

Thanks for praying for them and for your encouraging comments that I'm sure are helpful through this season of life.

http://www.churchonmission.typepad.com/seanandshey/

You get a line and I'll get a pole...

I'm not sure what you do for fun and relaxation, but for my family, one of the ways we kick back is to head down to the OH river. No matter the course that life takes us, we have always seemed to find a way to flank a bad day. That may not make sense to you, but that's been our approach to this adventure that we call, "Life!"

Well this past weekend Holly, Cole, Owen and myself went down to the river. A dozen night crawlers, a fishing pole in hand and some snacks to munch on, we were set! Although Cole and Owen decided throwing mud up in the air and letting it land in their hair was more adventurous, we still somehow managed to catch some fish. Here's a few pictures from our day of adventure!

Striper #1 for Cole

Striper #2 for Cole

Striper #3 for Cole

Striper #4 for Cole (Nice fish!)

Catfish #1

Catfish #2

Cole Striper #5
(Owen had to be in the shot too)

Finally Owen's first fish!
(2 1/2 yrs old)
_________________________________

Get out with your family today!
Too often we wait for the weekend to do anything "FUN."
Why is that?
Get the fam together and make Monday an adventure,
don't sit around waiting for one to happen!!!

* Go on a walk together!

* Ride bikes as a family!
* Go to the park!
* Make a fort out of couch cushions and have a family movie night!
* Make supper together!
* Heck, go fishing!
* If you've got a better idea, do that!

Let me know how it turns out!

Duke

I'm not necessarily a Duke fan, in fact, I don't have a favorite college basketball team that I root for period. However for this years March Madness bracket, I had them winning it. And as most of you already know, Duke pulled it off which catapulted me to the top in order to win this years office bracket. So now that I walk away with $10,000 dollars....I mean a pat on the back, I can honestly say...yeah, I still know nothing about college basketball teams."

Are your days like that? I mean do you ever walk through a day wondering, "Do I really know what I'm doing, or am I just getting by?" Are you intentional with your approach to life or do you waiver with whatever comes your way and hope that works out for you? (Kind of like my bracket) What I'm getting at is, "Do you have specific goals in mind, things you'd like to accomplish?" Like personal goals /family goals / financial goals / spiritual goals /long term / short term goals?
Second part is, "Then what steps are you taking to achieve them?"

It seems to me that most people have a checklist with life.
And once those boxes are checked off, boredom sets in.
Looks something like this:

1) Find that special someone (check) -- Ask out on a date
2) Start dating = (check) --Looking forward to engagement

3) Get engaged (check) --Looking forward to wedding day
4) Get married (check) --Looking forward to first home
5) Buy or move into first house (check) --Looking forward to kids
6) Have first child (check) --Maybe another one
7) Have second child (check) --Boy and a girl. Now we're done
8) Oops, have 3rd child (check)

............Now what?????

Veg out until retirement,
then wish you could have those years back????
.............Seriously???

I don't want to be "that guy" so a while ago I've been making and creating NEW goals on many different levels that I hope to accomplish over time! And even if I come short of accomplishing these goals after giving full effort, I still leave with some pretty cool stories from my attempts at these adventures.

That's my approach and I'm sticking to it.

The Big Apple

Gosh, it feels like it's been FOREVER since I've posted anything! I guess that's because this past week I was on vacation. What started out as a vacation to simply relax at home with the family, ended up with me flying to Albany, New York.

Let me explain:

See Holly and I have been looking for a car for a while now. We had a 1994 Honda Civic Coupe that Holly had been driving since she was 16 years old! It's been a great car, but it was time for us to start looking for a replacement. We looked around at different cars and I even test drove a couple, many of which were out of our price range. This led us to Ebay, which is how we purchased our van back in 05. Anyway we came across a 2007 Toyota Prius from Albany, New York. Holly and I were shocked at the price and tried to figure out why it was so low. I called (Vinny), the dealer in NY, and he assured me that everything was good. What's funny is when I called the dealer and asked for Vinny, the girl said, "Which one?" Holly said, "It's NY, what did you expect?" Anyway after talking with Vinny, we agreed on a price and I bought a one-way plane ticket to Albany, NY.

--You know even though I've done this before, it's never easy to buy something that you've never seen first hand. I say that but that's how we bought our van, our house, and now our car. (Yes, we bought our house without ever having seen it in person.) Anyway long story short, our Ebay adventure led us to a 4:30am morning, 1 flight to Albany, NY to meet "Vinny," and a 718 mile ride back to Cincy in in the 07 Toyota Prius! I have to say, We LOVE it!!! A very cool adventure!!! Here's a few pictures of the quick trip.

Getting ready to leave

Somewhere above NY

Back home with the fam!

Where has your adventure led you?