Bye, Bye 00's

(Quiz: Where's Ben?)

A Concise History of the 2000's Decade
*I rang in Y2K at Calvary Temple Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana playing loud worship songs for screaming Youth Group kids, Sarah was there too (er...in the Youth Group) * I graduated from Taylor University and skipped the ceremony to be at my best friend's wedding! * Headed west with some buddies, tried to swim across the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, almost died, had to be rescued * Moved to Fort Wayne to be involved at Soul Trip * Got a random job at the airport * For three years flew all over the world, sometimes for 24 hrs (England, Australia, Europe, Brazil w/ future boss, etc..) * Met a girl (Sarah) * Dated that girl * Ben got married to Becky in the desert * Got engaged * Bought a house * Got married * Honeymoon at Las Bugambilias in Oaxaca * Quit airport * Got random job at environmental consulting firm * Got a dog (June) * Steve got married to Shea * Went to New York to see Andrew * Stood in line at Beard Papa's for cream puffs * It was worth it * Got another dog (Pete) * Grandpa Fritz died * Caleb's Born to Jeff and Steph *Went to Japan * Sarah pregnant * Eden's born to Jeff and Steph * Grace is born to Jacob and Abigail * Went to game five of the AL Championship with Jeff * $150 blew across a parking lot and landed at my feet * Sort of looked for the owner * Not found * Money bought our tickets * Tigers bomb in the World Series * Greyson's born to Steve and Shea* Son (Cash) is born * Went to Tahoe * Steve flips jet-ski spilling gasoline all over the pristine lake * Polar bear swimming * Jackson is born to Ben and Becky * Next summer at Lexington * Start new chruch with friends * Sarah pregnant again* Jacob is born to Steve and Shea * Sophia is born is born to Jeff and Steph *Daughter (Story) is born .... a lot happened in the 2000's and the story continues in the 2010's
(much was left out: create your own concise history)

Best of 2009:
Music:
- Girls Album
- Wilco The Album
- Morrissey Years of Refusal
- The XX
- David Bazan Curse Your Branches

Books:
- Olive Kitteredge - Elizabeth Strout
- Downtown Owl - Chuck Klosterman
- American Salvage - Bonnie Jo Campbell
- Let the Great World Spin - Collum McCann

Random memories/thoughts:

1. Dave Ford taught me how to drive with your knees on the way home from a softball tournament in Lansing once.
2. When given the chance Gaines boys will always order cookie dough or brownie batter, and always order a large orange juice when at a restaurant for breakfast.
3. Few things consistently make me cry except these 1) Sports movies 2) Unexpected sports victories, and 3) Chesley Sullenberger

HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!!!!

Ernie Harwell

There's an excellent article on Ernie Harwell on ESPN.com.

"How do you say goodbye to a man who's been in your ear for your entire life? "

"It is said in Michigan that the sound of Harwell's voice makes men think of their fathers."

A few Christmas Photos

Astoria. Greek Town. Detroit.

Cash and Story meet Santa Norm.

My favorite photo.

Story, disinterested and unlady-like on Christmas morning.

We had a great Christmas week. Wes had the week off, and we spent four days relaxing in Brighton. The boys went sledding, Bill tried his best to annoy me, we rode the People Mover, AND the kids met Santa! Even though Santa was accidentally called "Norm" numerous times throughout the visit, Cash never caught on and has been talking about it ever since. This may have been the first time Cash was rendered speechless. He kept pointing at the floor and making strange grunting noises. He did manage to tell Santa he wanted a tool (aka the toy jackhammer he's been coveting from Target).

We miss you and wish we could've spent the holidays together with all the kids running around. Hope you all had great, relaxing weeks.

18 touches, 1 strike

been watching a lot of soccer lately. i even went to mexican league championship game here in mexico city: monterrey vs. cruz azul.

monterrey won in great fashion 2-1. i left the stadium drenched in beer.

this goal reminds me of why i love soccer - because it reminds me so much of hockey.

grey, watch and learn.

Miracle Coyote

Meet the wiliest of all coyotes: Hit by a car at 75mph, embedded in the fender, road for 600 miles - and SURVIVED!
When a brother and sister struck a coyote at 75mph they assumed they had killed the animal and drove on.
They didn’t realize this was the toughest creature ever to survive a hit-and-run.
Eight hours, two fuel stops, and 600 miles later they found the wild animal embedded in their front fender - and very much alive.
Daniel and Tevyn East were driving at night along Interstate 80 near the Nevada-Utah border when they noticed a pack of coyotes near the roadside on October 12.
When one of the animals ran in front of the car, the impact sounded fatal so the siblings thought there no point in stopping.
‘Right off the bat, we knew it was bad,’ Daniel explained. ‘We thought the story was over.’
After the incident around 1am, they continued their 600 mile drive to North San Juan - even stopping for fuel at least twice.
But it was only when they finally reached their destination at 9am did they take time to examine what damage they may have sustained.
At first it looked as though it was going to be quite gruesome.
‘[Daniel] saw fur and the body inside the grill,’ Tevyn East said. ‘I was trying to keep some distance. Our assumption was it was part of the coyote - it didn’t register it was the whole animal.’
Daniel East got a broom to try and pry the remains out of the bumper and got the shock of his life.
‘It flinched,’ Tevyn East said. ‘It was a huge surprise - he got a little freaked out.’

Fin de en D.F.

Some snaps from mom and dad's recent trip to México D.F.

1. Yaniv Bar Yosef brings his holiday decorations to class.
2. Family dinner in my casa.
3. Apprentice world traveler strikes pose at Museum of Anthropology.
4. Before climbing Pirámide del Sol.
5. On top of the 3rd largest pyramid in the world.

Was an amazing weekend and I don't think anyone out there has a greater thirst for Mexican history than Bill Gaines. Who's coming down next?

Órale!

First Snow!

First snow in the Fort: 12/8/09 - Cash's reaction this morning was, "Perfect". Dude's been gearing up for this, and has plans for a snow fort, snowman, and snowballs tomorrow.

Don't Do It!!!

Don't get rid of my Tiger, Dombrowski!!!

Little G turned three!

Hey all Grey turned three yesterday, here are some pics form the 5 minute birthday party we had. He could careless about anything but the cake and ice cream. And a pic of Jake for good measure.

Story Lou!

Here are a couple more pics of our little girl. She's already in the press (or blogosphere). A friend of ours out in Colorado told one of their friends about Story Lou, and that friend liked the name so much she wrote an ode to... A Girl Named Story I thought it was really beautiful.

Posted using ShareThis

Story Louise Gaines

Story Louise Gaines
Born November 12, 2009 10:45 pm
22 in. 8lbs 8oz

Happy Birthday Ben

Happy Birthday Ben. We love you!!! This is the story of Ben's birthday cake...1. Jackson helping me make Ben's cake (he kept saying "MMMMM" 2. The finished cake 3. Enjoying the cake with Daddy 4. While we were cleaning up Jackson opened the dishwasher, got out a spatula and went over to where the cake was to try to get some more 5. Hey, if he is that creative he deserves a little more cake!!!

We may not be having a baby, but we're not bored. . .

Taken from our porch this morning at 9am.

(Cash is holding a little matchbox tow truck that he wanted to show the tower guy). Never a dull moment, I guess!

amazing

Hey fam,

Steve posted this video on facebook a couple weeks ago. I just watched it with Caleb and E and wanted to pass it on to you guys. Gras, Steve. Beautiful song. Here is the URL


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf7t3P9ISrE

You have to see this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLGLBVSpBzY
Oh man, this is just too funny and wrong. Copy/paste

A glimpse to the future..

Greyson when he is a teenager.

Pictures from China

Go Dodgers!

Been following tons of sports since living in a different country.

Bummer that Fourthier couldn't pull it off yesterday.

But Dodger's won and Mexico won.

Well, try as they may...

Hats off to the Spartans who tried REALLY hard to blow a 14 point lead at home with less that 5 minutes remaining but manned up to pull it off in OT. Just when we all expected them to do the typical Spartan thing, they went all Y.E. Yang and punched the big bro in the mouth with a nice game winning run. Yes, I know bragging rights for another year, but you gotta fear the freshman phenom from the 619 who seems to have ice in his veins and thrives under pressure. The Spartans played desperate and were the better team today so for that I give them props.

Now let's throw our differences aside, pull together and hope Verlander can stop the bleeding and at least get them into the 1 game playoff with the Twins.

Heal the World

heal the world (2nd grade) from andrew gaines on Vimeo.

Here's my class singing a Michael Jackson song. They're all such fans - can't wait to see the Halloween costumes.

UPDATE: new, behind the music version available here.

GLORY!!!

Only fitting that the Tin Caps in their inaugural season brought the franchise's first Midwest League Championship to the #1 Minor League Sports City (Fort Wayne). After a 9th inning game-winning blast in the decisive game 3 roasted the Loons (apologies to Steve), the Caps swept the Burlington Bees tonight to take the Championship. The incredible new downtown stadium + a no hitter + 101 wins + Championship = Dream Season. Luggies and Loons, I've been to the Promiseland, there is such a thing as Glory!!

estoy aqui

gaines.andrew@gmail.com or 5511-2972 - you'll figure it out.

my students are really small and i encourage them to only speak in english with me in the classroom.

i'm sure we can work something out.

i'm big into video chat these days.

feliz dia de independencia!

Andres! que paso!

Yo Ange, I wanna see if you want to join our classes together for a intercambio cultural this year, compa? How do I get in touch with you. I tried email.......let me know

jlampi@pcs.k12.mi.us

517 214-6211

facebook?


Como es DF??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This just in!!!! Central's got game!

My boys from mt. pleasant made me and thousands of other Chippewas proud today. Way to go fellas. It was just last week I was in Mt. P enjoying a coffee at the U Cup. Who knew a week later we would be taking it to the Sparty's. Fire Up Chips!!!!!

PREDICTION SATURDAY!

Alright, so I thought I would throw this out here for anyone who wants to chime in with their 2 cents (Or in Bill's case, 1 cent) about the games this weekend. Here are the 3 games on tap; let's see who comes the closest:

MSU vs Central 12:00

UM vs ND 3:30

OSU vs USC



Jeff's picks:

MSU 37 Central 18

(Le"fever"e in Greek the word "preyto" which means burning heat..and that's pretty much what the CMU QB be feeling with Greg Jones in his grill all day)

ND 42 UM 21

USC 41 OSU 17

GO STATE! And I hate to say it (not really), but Jimmy Clausen is going to bring the Wolverweenies back to earth.

Our Labor Day Weekend

I have to admit, I was a little bummed to miss the Michigan Game yesterday, as we were down in Mexico. That quickly changed as Becky, Jackson and I headed South yesterday for a 2 day mini trip to the Village of Hope with John and his family, and a small group from LA. Jackson was not only a celebrity among the kids in the village, he also helped out as his little body could-carrying both clothes and shoes, during a huge outreach to the Oaxaccan Migrants. It was a good day. I am a proud dad!

BRING ON SPARTY

From a true Maize and Blue fan!!

Sermon Prep Help

Hey Everyone,

I know we have some poets and song writers and avid readers amongst us so I need to enlist you for some help as I prepare a teaching to begin our 12 weeks series on the Psalms this Sunday. I'm going to begin with a little intro on poetry and prayer which is what the Psalms essentially are. I want to talk about how poetry is the language of the soul and that it gives expression to longings and feelings that simple prose cannot get at. I want to give some examples of this by referring to some great lines of poetry that express passion, and depth, and bring out the beauty of the ordinary. So if have any favorites and could post them as comments, I'd be much obliged and you may make it into this Sunday's message. So essentially rather than saying, "It was a beautiful sunset" how would the poet say that in a way that makes you feel like you were sitting there watching it with him or her? Okay, hope that makes sense. Please help!

You should see the other guy!

So we had our first major wipe out. Tooth thru the entire lip and face. Ouch. He is using it for popsicles all night. No worries, he's good.

Sophia Elaine Lampi 8/26/09

Born at 6:14 am Wednesday morning, Sophia came into the world, all 7 lbs. and 20 inches long and a monster head of jet black hair. And I can't leave out that adorable Greek nose after her Papou. We think as of right now she looks most like what Eden did at birth. Steph worked so hard and we were blessed by two amazing friends to help coach in DR. Jami and Meg. Caleb and Eden are so excited too -Caleb's already been helping with bath and diaper duties; however, Eden is taking it slow - "I don't want to squish her, Daddy." Thanks to my parents and mom-in-law for being such a support and for all of you who said a prayer for a healthy labor and delivery. It's going to take me a while to find words to express how I feel about God's gift of grace to our family.

A few quick cute moments to share:

At the house, while we were in hospital, Eden turned to my mom and said, "We're going to see the baby today, and you know what? Papou will be there." Turns out the little girl has a few of his features.

Also after I exclaimed about having a girl, the doctor who delivered her turned to me and says, "My condolences."

Caleb, concerning the umbilical chord remains, says, "Mom, I'll be really happy when that things falls off."