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.