Breanna Faithe Packham

On one of Margie Jo's days off, they whipped the camera out and took a ton of pictures hoping to find a picture that could be sent to grandparents for the holidays. For some reason when she was striking this pose, I couldn't help but love it. It captures her personality in one shot. Mischievous . . . I'm in charge . . . and don't mess with me or suffer the consequences . .

Sleeping Angel

There are times when I feel like I could hold her all night while she sleeps

Quiet Evening at the Beach

Though cool out, Breanna insisted on going without shoes or socks . . . nothing we could do . . .

Princess Breanna

Trick or treating downtown Houghton 10.29.2010

Tomato Soup Face

I'm sure there are going to be times when my children will wish that I would pick another picture of them to post to the world outside. Like this one; I am sure she is going to say "I wish you would wash my face a little more often . . ." But I can't help it . . . she is just so beautiful, even with tomato soup on her face . . .

One of the Red Storm Champions - Kameron Simpkin

Excellent action shot taken by Margie Jo. I'm not very good at taking pictures because I want to watch the game too much and I'm afraid I'm going to miss something by messing with the camera. Kameron Simpkin, most improved Defensemen of the year, 2010 . . .

Red Storm Champions ! ! !

Well, I'd have to say this soccer dad is worn right out . . . not sure my nerves could take much more . . . Kameron's unbelievable soccer team did it again, they won an incredible game one kid short of a full squad. In fact, in the second round of the playoffs, Kam's team was one person short of a full team as well, and won the game too . . . to the same team that beat us 4 - 0 during the season ! ! ! The maroon & yellow team was an excellent team, and when one of Kam's teammates didn't show up and we were going into the game minus one, I had a really bad feeling about what was going to happen . . . but even minus one, Kam's team beat them handily. So after a nerve wracking experience Tuesday evening losing in overtime in the dark to the yellow team, and when it became apparent that Breah wasn't going to show-up and the Red Storm was going to have to take on the Yellow team again, one person short, once again, I had a really bad feeling about the chances of Kam's team winning the championship. But you know, I think 10 & 11 y.o. kids don't think like that. They played so hard as a team, it appeared that they were full strength the entire game. In fact, Kam's team had several break aways and chances to score even more than they did. We had one goal taken away from a VERY poor call for off-sides (I was standing right there . . . Abraham wasn't off sides) . . . but went into half-time leading 1 - 0. 3rd quarter, we were up 2 - 0 . . . then the 4th quarter . . . Kameron's team was up 3 - 2 very late in the 4th when the Yellow team had a flurry of shots on goal . . . this soccer dad was clearly approaching nervous breakdown when Abraham had a break-away down the field and iced the game with an incredible goal . . . winning 4 - 2. The Red Storm was clearly the better team this evening, winning short handed, or should I say, short footed. Then a little disappointment . . . the yellow team, while our coach was handing out the Championship medals and while we were taking team pictures, began yelling obscenities at Abraham from the other side of the field. Abraham is African American, as is his sister. In fact, Kameron's coach is Abraham's and Bekeltu's father, as I believe he adopted them from Africa. It was so, so very sad that the Yellow team was such poor sports and displayed despicable sportsmanship after the game. They weren't yelling racial things, but they were directed at Abraham, but why not at Lincoln as he was equally as dangerous of a score threat as Abraham? All-in-all, it was a great night and a fantastic season. I loved watching EVERY game this year, and I'm looking forward to next year all ready. It's too bad we won't have the same team next year, I hope that Kameron is back on Abraham's & Bekeltu's team, as well as Lincoln, Reed, Sloan, David, Alice & Breah. I tell you, we really missed Breah tonight. Even though she was the tiniest little thing, she was fearless. She would get in there and kick away, steal the ball, and take on the biggest of boys, she was awesome to watch . . . a real inspiration. And then there's Kameron. What a defender. He was all over the place tonight. I think he knew he had to step it up a little being "short-footed". Once the ball came to mid-field, he was all over it, and if the ball got by him, he was sprinting down to clear the ball before it even made it to his goalie . . . very proud of his effort. In fact he received a big ol' DQ chocolate shake for the victory (after cub-scouts, that he attended in his soccer uniform).

Well there it is . . . a soccer dad's story of nerves and excitement. Kameron is such a good boy . . . I Love him and enjoy his special spirit so much. He tries so hard to anticipate need and then get it done. He is sensitive to everyone he is around, and sacrifices his own wants and needs for his brother and sister on a daily basis . . . what more could a soccer dad want from his son . . .

Championship Soccer

Kameron, #3 in red, has had an AWESOME season this late summer & fall. His team has made the playoffs, which is double elimination . . . loose 2 games and your done. His team has won 3 games in a row to make it to the championship game, which was this evening. An incredible game; a tough game. After 4 quarters of play, the score was still 0 - 0. After 5 minutes of sudden-death over time, 0 - 0 . . . on to penalty kicks. After 3 rounds of 5 penalty kicks each, and literally IN THE DARK, Kam's team lost in "sudden-death" penalty kicks. Since it was his teams first loss in the playoffs, and since the team we played already had a loss on their way to playing Kam's team, we play them again in the REAL championship this Thursday, the 14th. I have to say I have an ulcer after that game tonight. It was so stressful to watch them play so hard . . . back and forth . . . coming so close. I'm certain it was harder on me than on Kameron . . . and man did he have an awesome game. He loves to play defense, and the ball rarely got behind him and on to the goalie tonight. The other team only had a handful of shots on goal, and I suppose, as did the Red team. Now that Kameron is in the 10-11 y.o. league, the games are more exciting, the skills of the children are much better, and they are really exciting, fun games to watch . . . and I already have butter-flys for thursday . . .

View from the Front Porch

This is the view off our front porch, across the street, over the trout stream and off into the horizon. It has been a wonderful year for Autumn colors and great weather. An Indian Summer for sure; high 60's, mid 70's, my favorite time of year.

FB and our Kids

A little over a year ago, I set up Kameron on Facebook so that we could be neighbors on Farmville and so that we could send along notes to each other, as well as his mom every now and then. While setting up Kameron's account we noticed that we had to lie about his age in order to start his profile, and for the last year or so it has never been a problem . . . until a few weeks ago.

Maybe a little more preface is necessary. After a month or so, I noticed that more of my siblings were allowing their children to establish accounts on FB as well. Kameron began communicating with them, my siblings, my parents, and established contact with family all over the United States, where other wise not very realistic if it were not for this somewhat new social media in Facebook. Nothing brought cause for concern that our minor children had Facebook accounts, in fact, we were quite happy that the boys could communicate with wholesome, family centered exchanges of communication, and play games that didn't involve shooting, blowing-up, or firing a weapon of some kind. We were happy with the new ability the boys had to have a somewhat decent place to communicate with their family. Margie Jo was even able to communicate with the boys this summer more than ever before when they were with their father downstate for his 3 weeks of parenting time. It was during this period of time when we noticed something weird . . .

One night Margie Jo logged on around 1 in the morning and noticed Kameron was on Facebook. Margie Jo went to instant message Kameron and the response was just not Kameron . . . it was obvious it wasn't him. That was the first sign. The next sign came a short time after the boys return from their time away from us. Something wasn't right, as the list of mutual friends for Kameron to select from was even more than R rated . . . women sitting on beds or bar stools with very short skirts and their legs positioned as to expose their underwear. When I sat next to Kameron and noticed this, I asked him where these friend requests and mutual friends were coming from. He has had his Facebook account for over a year without this problem or concern . . . the next problem came when Margie Jo noticed conversations that Kameron had access to were beyond R rated, conversations that were not from our family and friends, but outside the family. These conversations that posted on Kameron's and Kellen's wall were beyond inappropriate for 10 and 12 year old boys.

The Final Straw that led to pulling Kellen and Kameron's Facebook accounts: A few Saturday mornings ago, before anyone in the family was up, Kameron and I were sitting on the couch watching a fishing show. Kameron asked to go on the computer and I told him to have at it. I could tell Kameron was having a hard time logging onto Facebook, and he asked for some help . . . it was obvious that someone had been using/hacking Kameron's account, and Facebook knew it . . . they were having Kameron take a "face recognition" test off his friends list. They would show a picture of my parents, or my nieces & nephews, or my siblings, and then FB would give Kameron as list of choices of who the picture is before they would let him log on to his account. I thought this was a pretty clever way of verifying if this was really Kameron . . . and as it struck me as to the reason why they were asking Kameron to identify his friends before they would allow him to log on, a pair of bare breasts pop-up as a picture for Kameron to identify . . .

I quickly grabbed the lap-top off his lap and canceled the quiz they were making him take. After discussing the problem as a family, the boys agreed to suspend their Facebook accounts . . . which we are very sad about. We had no problems for over a year, but after 3 short weeks away, 10 and 12 year old boys have pornographic profile pictures as common friends, and conversations on their wall that should be part of some Smut Mag, and for this reason, Kellen and Kameron are no longer on Facebook . . . which is sad . . . it was a fairly decent way for us to communicate as family and friends with the boys. But, we were hi-jacked by amoral filth . . .

I know we will not be able to protect our children forever, but if we are able to control what it is they read and see in our home, and keep them from the exposure from within our home; helping them be in world, but not of the world. Our home has to be a refuge from the filth that degrades our children; that teaches them that evil is good, and that good is evil. That it is okay to be amoral, that it is okay to be promiscuous, that it's okay to not have any standards of morality. We HAVE to teach our children that having standards, and morals, and decency is nothing to be ashamed of. That it is okay to tell ANYONE that they don't agree with that life-style, that they don't want to be associated with it in any way. I pray that our children will stay moral, and keep away from the traps that would lead them away from the spirit of all things pure, worthy, and good.

A New Crew

Uncle Paul with K1 & K2

Waiting . . . Waiting . . . Waiting

k2 is the most patient of fisherman . . .

Catch of the Day

Nice walleye there k1

The Crew

From the back moveing forward: Kameron with his back to us, Dianne, Captain Herb, and daddy-daughter. What a morning and day we had . . .

Out Fishing

Have you ever been in the position where you wished you could just fish . . .

Uncle Paul with stop on Coast to Coast Journey

About a month ago we received a call from my brother that lives in the Seattle area . . . Uncle Paul ! ! ! what a nice surprise to let us know he was planning a stop in the U.P. on the way to Washington D.C. for this coming weekend, 8/28 gig at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Memorial, a get together someone might have heard of . . . Even though we only had them for a day, we packed in an early morning fishing trip to Gratiot Lake, Michigan ending with dinner and a picture show displayed on the TV . . . do you remember when your parents would whip out the slide projector and put up the screen and look at family shots during a slide show? Technology makes the family night of laughing and looking at funny family pictures less of what would seem like an hour and a half workout wrestling with the projector and screen, hasn't it? HDMI plug in to the lap-top and seconds later it's where's the popcorn dude? So awesome to have Uncle Paul and Dianne here as company in our home. We don't have Packham/May Family visitors very often, and when we do it is so fun . . . always . . . a lot of laughing, reminiscing, and story after story . . . man I love that . . . I miss that . . . I need that . . . Having 13 brothers & sisters with no-one farther east than Ft. Collins, Colorado. Not just east of the Mississippi, but east of the Continental Divide for crying out loud. Though isolated from the family, I wouldn't trade my 5 acres for anything in the world . . . well maybe a mile down the road right on Lake Superior, but that's about the only "anything in the world" I would go for . . . I love it here . . . we love it here, and my wife has an awesome family here in the U.P. and Minnesota that is super cool and that I have a ton of fun with. If fact in the morning we are heading to the Twin Cities to visit Margie Jo's grand-parents. Nothing like the kids hanging with great-grandparents. Breanna has always been painfully bashful until she knows you, and with her great-grandmother she has always just gone right up and sit next to her as if they have been friends for eternities . . . it's kind of touching actually, it fact within the blog I believe there is a picture of Annie sitting next to Great-Grandma playing with the beads. Lots-n-lots of beads.

Don't you hate that feeling inside when you say good-bye to someone you love and want to stay . . . but they can't and have to leave . . . it feels so . . .

I heard a talk once that said our memories are all that we will have; that our memories, our total accumulation of what we have done which turns us into who we are will be all that remains in the end . . . man I love the memories of great family visits . . . making memories that I know will endure forever . . .

08~25~2010, 0555, Gratiot Lake Michigan

It all started with an 0330 wake up chirp from a cell phone . . .

Northern Lights 8/3/2010

When I heard that we had the possibility of experiencing the Northern Lights up here, I set my phone alarm to go off just after the sun went down. We all gathered as a family in the living room where our windows have a northern exposure and this picture that I copied on-line is precisely what we saw from our window. Unfortunately, we don't live right on Lake Superior, but a mile or so from it, so we had our tree line as a horizon instead of an un-obstructed horizon. Still the same, it was amazing, and we enjoyed watching the light show as a family.

Happy 4th of July ! ! !

Kameron & his Sister

Could you please, for the love of Mike . . . hold still?

The Boys

Finally . . . a decent shot ! ! !

Brothers

Could you please take a picture together without being goofy?

Brothers

Have you ever tried to get 10 & 12 year old brothers take a decent picture together before?

Out Pick'n Berries