tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19123073735989068132024-03-12T23:49:28.551-07:00The WynnsA blog for the family and friends of Chris and Sarah Wynn to follow them on their adventures living and working in Montreal, QC.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.comBlogger193125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-3769149897477279322015-02-14T12:53:00.001-08:002015-02-14T12:53:30.113-08:00Some fun for the kidsAll is well here in Montreal, in fact we are so busy with soccer, basketball, snowboarding, school, and work that we have not had much time to post anything in forever.<br />
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We recently applied for the kids to go to a local private school, and they said they wanted to know what our kids were like in the application process. All of the other parents brought in all of the academic awards and stuff, we decided to take a different route and created these. Didn't really work, the kids only made the waiting list for now, but it was fun nonetheless.<br />
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<span id="goog_850025630"></span><span id="goog_850025631"></span><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-54377011807288887572014-08-24T13:00:00.000-07:002014-08-24T13:00:00.409-07:00Ella's ALS Ice Bucket ChallengeElla was challenged to take the ALS ice bucket challenge yesterday. She took a bucket full of super cold ice water this afternoon and has challenged her friend Elise.<br />
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I was also challenged yesterday but have decided to forego the ice bath and instead will be donating money to several charities. It's not that ALS is not a worthy cause or people should not worry about it. We have known so many people that have had to fight or learn to live with terrible, debilitating diseases. We would rather donate to several causes and try to help people we personally know that are learning to cope in an unfair world.<br />
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<a href="http://www.alsa.org/">ALSA</a> - I will help support raising more money for this cause that has received tremendous awareness through their ice bucket challenge.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS">National Multiple Sclerosis Society</a> - To honor Jamie Reynold's mother who has been fighting MS for many, many year.<br />
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To honor Ashton Whalen, the daughter of our good friends in Florida, the Whalens. Ashton has been battling Leukemia for several years now, we will donate to the charity of Ashton's choosing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-16155023359323076442014-08-24T10:08:00.001-07:002014-08-24T10:08:59.762-07:00The newest member of our family, OlafWe have added another member to our Canadian family. We couldn't resist a new puppy whom we named Olaf. He is a white Miniature Schnauzer, that we got here in Quebec. There is some controversy over the white versions of this breed. The American and Canadian branches will not recognize it as an official version of the breed, though after genetic testing most other countries do now recognize it as an official color.<br />
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We were torn between naming him Olaf after the snowman in Frozen, or Blitz which was sort for Blizzard. Ultimately, Sarah and the kids won and his name stuck as Olaf. He's pretty much the greatest puppy ever.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-44285134119497913522014-08-05T19:04:00.004-07:002014-08-05T19:04:25.502-07:00Night PhotographyOn my last couple of business trips to San Francisco and Edmonton I was able to get out at night and take some photos of the city, the Golden Gate bridge, and the Milky Way Galaxy on a nice clear night. Hope to get out and take some photos of Montreal here shortly to add to the collection.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Golden Gate looking into San Francisco</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view of San Francisco from Twin Peaks</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just a random path near my hotel in San Francisco. The long exposure brought out a pretty cool look.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Milky Way in the middle of nowhere in Alberta, Canada</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-10208152216535229692014-03-09T15:27:00.000-07:002014-03-09T15:27:00.255-07:00First time snowboarding!We are beaten, bruised, tired, and I am pretty sure that I broke a rib. But we can't wait to go again.<br />
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That was just 2 hours on the bunny hill, we still are pretty bad, definitely do not have the skills for the big hills yet.<br />
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I know this is a recurring theme for us, <a href="http://www.the-wynns.com/2013/01/settling-into-north-carolina.html">we go surfing once, want to go every weekend</a>. I wish we could go surfing every weekend. Ella still has her surfboard and is hoping for some summer weekends to make a drive out to the coast in Maine for some surfing fun.<br />
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I also remember swearing off athletic pursuits after breaking my shoulder, just too old to be doing this stuff anymore. To recap, I broke my toe and a rib (the same rib that I am pretty sure I broke again today) surfing. Then a little footrace in New Orleans cost me a bit of bone in my shoulder on the operating table. Enough was enough.<br />
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However, the beauty of the Olympics is their ability to inspire people. Just like Ella was inspired to teach herself how to swim (successfully) after watching Michael Phelps in Athens, Max wanted to get into snowboarding after watching the competition in Sochi. Max showing any interest in athletics was enough for me to make it happen. Even if that meant I needed to participate to do it with him. In fact, the whole family got in on the action to give it a try. The kids had never been on skis or a snowboard in their lives. Sarah skied once I think, and I have skied a few times. Nothing to inspire confidence in our ability to do this, but if our family has a motto, it is to always try, so we were going to give it a try.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Lucky for us, Montreal is pretty awesome for skiers, there is skiing all over the place. We headed up to <a href="http://www.montsaintsauveur.com/en/">Mont Saint Sauveur</a> for a pretty good introduction package. Private lessons, equipment, lift pass, everything you need to give it a go.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max and Ella with our 2 instructors</td></tr>
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To give these athletes some credit, snowboarding is a lot harder than it looks, harder than I remember skiing being. You need to keep a good low center of gravity which puts a lot of stress on your quads to hold that position and stay ready. But when you start to get it going, it is a lot of fun. I know you read a lot of articles that suggest starting out learning how to ski and then transitioning. Some people think that learning the mechanics is easier on skis and they translate over better. After jumping straight into snowboarding, I don't know how I feel about that. I think it probably helped me that I have skied even a little. It didn't seem to impede Max much, he understand right away to stop that you had to get the edge of the board parallel to the slope and dig it in the back edge to slow down. He got it right away and was quite good at it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This kid is a natural</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella is eager to try anything, she didn't want to leave</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah lacks the reckless gene and tends to be more calculated, but she really started to get it at the end</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conquering the bunny hill, the Petit Viking!</td></tr>
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Everyone did pretty good, I think we could all get the hang of it. Max seems to have the best instincts for it. He had a good natural low stance, and isn't afraid to whip the board around to maneuver better. He just lacks the confidence to really go for it. The rest of us could mostly make it down without incident, but sometimes you dig an edge in more than you expect and it sends you head or over heals pretty quickly (see broken rib). It was not always rosy, we all spent a lot of time laying on the ground.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-20262998297041467602014-01-16T10:30:00.000-08:002014-01-16T10:30:01.285-08:00World TourAnother old post, just never got around to posting this until now. Almost a year ago now, I was able to travel all over the place to promote the launch of the last game that I finished, Gears of War: Judgment. I had a lot of fun going to see cool places and meet with the press and fans to talk about the game.<br />
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It all started in February with a trip to the Super Bowl! If you know how much I love football, then you know how much I enjoyed this one. We were showing the game at an event during the Super Bowl, and some friends at Microsoft were able to secure tickets to the game which was really awesome. The Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers despite a stadium blackout due to a faulty power transformer or something. I even came home with a broken shoulder that required some surgery.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>After that I was off to Mexico City, one of my favorite countries. I ate all the tacos, which are quite excellent and came home with a few bottles of Tequila. I spent three straight days doing interviews with press from all over South America.<br />
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After Mexico, I was off to Austin, TX for SXSW. We did a panel for fans in attendance which was fun, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumail_Nanjiani">Kumail Nanjiani</a> made a special appearance because he did some funny videos with the game on the site Funny or Die.<br />
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I wasn't nearly done with my travel yet. Then I was off the Tokyo, Japan. A place I have always wanted to visit but never had the opportunity. I was even able to take Sarah along with me on this trip. While I spent 3 days doing interviews with Japanese media, Sarah got out and explored the city. I then had one day at the end of the trip to go site seeing with her. On recommendations from the locals, we visited a small sea side town, called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura,_Kanagawa">Kamakura</a>. It was a really cool place, we saw a really old Buddhist temple (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dtoku-in">Kotoku-in</a>) and Shinto shrine (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsurugaoka_Hachiman-g%C5%AB">Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu</a>). Then we hightailed it by train across the city and spent a few hours at Tokyo Disneyland, which was really interesting. The place was packed with teenagers, it must be the thing to do for local teenagers after school. It was a pretty awesome trip, I will never forget the toilets, those things were awesome.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Kotoku-in</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was a crazy little Hawaiian coffee shop</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah sporting some Otaku (nerd) glasses</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The monorail at Tokyo Disneyland</td></tr>
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We weren't quite done yet, we still had a trip to Seattle to do an Live broadcast over XBox LIVE. That was a neat experience, I had a stylist who went shopping for me, a bunch of rehearsals and then a Live TV event. I have no idea how many people watched but it was cool.<br />
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It was a lot of travel, but I got to go to some great places, and even visit a new place that I had always wanted to see.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-37780498492673983052014-01-12T18:34:00.003-08:002014-01-12T18:34:58.142-08:00Ella's 9th BirthdayElla had a lovely 9th birthday this last year (really late in posting this), she was able to go to Chicago with Sarah and Grandma Linda. She took her American Girl doll, Kaya, with her and they stayed at the Talbot with a special American Girl package. Her doll had her own bed, she was able to order room service for both of them, and everything in the room was customized to them. They spent a lot of time checking out the Chicago sites and shopping in the American Girl doll store.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Travel by train as a new experience. Pontiac to Chicago</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella's bed, and the bed for her doll</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There was a horse and carriage ride from the hotel to the store</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chatting with the locals</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Having fun on the glass floor in the Willis Tower</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hotel even served her doll.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cupcakes at home</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-8855607792810743302013-07-16T18:26:00.001-07:002013-07-16T18:26:07.999-07:00Early opinions of Canada<div>Well, we have only been in Canada for a week. Here are the first things that I have noticed.</div><div><br></div>Food is expensive, way more than expected. Almost $4 for a half gallon of milk. We went to Dairy Queen, and a small Blizzard cost $6. Back in the sweet days of an awesome exchange rate compared to the US dollar, it wasn't a big deal, but I am noticing it now.<div><br></div><div>Oreos suck here for some reason. The filling is really thick, not soft, moist and delicious. Disappointing,</div><div><br></div><div>Too much change, I am conflicted on this one. It doesn't make any financial sense for a government to produce a dollar bill. But these toonies and loonies are weighing me down. Willing to take it though, as a bonus the penny is on its way out here, prices are rounded to the nearest .05.</div><div><br></div><div>Debit cards and credit cards are still separate, which is just plain weird. Didn't we figure this out in the States like a decade ago. Debit cards that work as Visas are way easier. The Canadians do have the secure chip going for them though.</div><div><br></div><div>The people have been super friendly and helpful, still need to get a medical insurance card and test the system.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-324521177336663712013-07-13T14:06:00.000-07:002013-07-13T14:33:56.713-07:00Bonjour from Montreal!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bonjour! In case you are not keeping track at home, we are off on another family adventure. This time to beautiful Montreal, Quebec in Canada. We get to take advantage of my recently acquired Canadian citizenship to follow a really good opportunity for Chris. We are just now getting settled into the city and are living in some temp housing for the time being. All we know so far is that everything is different in Quebec, even the construction barrels are a different color than in Ontario. English and French are both the official languages in Canada, and throughout Ontario (at least) all of the road signs are in both languages. As soon as you cross into Quebec, that all stops and everything is just in French.<br />
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However, we have been able to get by with no problems. Montreal is extremely bi-lingual, I would even argue that you hear more English than French. When you walk into a store, you are greeted by the workers in both French and English, they usually say Bonjour, Hello. Whichever you choose to answer back is the language they will talk to you in. We hear that when you get off the island of Montreal, it gets a little more French, but we haven't ventured out quite yet.<br />
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Crossing the border was not hard at all. It did take a few hours, but the immigration officers (we crossed the Detroit-Windsor border) were extremely helpful and nice. I have citizenship, Sarah and the kids have temporary resident permits (valid for 18 months), and I will sponsor them to become permanent residents sometime soon.<br />
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In a few weeks we will move into a townhome that we will be renting in <a href="http://www.ville.pointe-claire.qc.ca/en">Pointe-Claire</a>. Pointe-Claire is West of downtown Montreal in an area known as the West Island. It is primarily an English area set on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Saint-Louis">Lake St. Louis</a>. Our home is right across the street from the lake and has awesome views off of two front patios. It will be a little longer commute to work for Chris (about 45 minutes via train), but we really love the area, and are looking forward to getting settled in.<br />
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Chris will be working for EA again, this time at their <a href="http://www.bioware.com/">BioWare</a> studio which just opened in Montreal a few years ago. BioWare was started in Edmonton about 15 years ago by two physicians who loved video games. They had some success and eventually sold to EA less than ten years ago. In that time they opened additional studios in Austin, TX (focused on a Star Wars game), and here in Montreal. Up to now, the studio in Montreal has helped the Edmonton studio develop their games. Now they are growing and taking on their own game. Chris has accepted a role as Senior Development Director for the studio which is working on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect">Mass Effect</a> right now. It is a really great opportunity here as he will be the second most senior person at the studio working with the General Manager and Executives in Edmonton to deliver the game.<br />
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Next steps are to get settled in, start work, and get the kids enrolled in school. Should be a lot of fun, and we are certainly glad that we moved here in the summer and not the winter.<br />
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The news of Chris moving made more news than we expected. Just remember that reporters don't always get it right or certainly have all of the info, I'm sure some of these people may have wrote or expressed unsavory comments. Just goes with the territory, you have to be able to take it.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/417390/epic-loses-gears-of-war-producer-to-bioware/">http://www.computerandvideogames.com/417390/epic-loses-gears-of-war-producer-to-bioware/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/02/gears-of-war-judgment-producer-joins-bioware-to-direct-next-mass-effect-game/comment-page-1/">http://www.vg247.com/2013/07/02/gears-of-war-judgment-producer-joins-bioware-to-direct-next-mass-effect-game/comment-page-1/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/15790/article/mass-effect-4-team-bolstered-by-former-gears-of-war-judgment-developer/">http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/15790/article/mass-effect-4-team-bolstered-by-former-gears-of-war-judgment-developer/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611481">http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611481</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gears-of-war-producer-chris-wynn-departs-for-mass-effect-team/0118079">http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gears-of-war-producer-chris-wynn-departs-for-mass-effect-team/0118079</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.digitalspy.ca/gaming/news/a495255/gears-of-war-producer-chris-wynn-joins-bioware-for-mass-effect-4.html">http://www.digitalspy.ca/gaming/news/a495255/gears-of-war-producer-chris-wynn-joins-bioware-for-mass-effect-4.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/mass-effect-4-team-gains-gears-of-war-producer-chris-wynn">http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/mass-effect-4-team-gains-gears-of-war-producer-chris-wynn</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.denofgeek.com/games/gears-of-war/26260/gears-of-war-producer-leaves-for-mass-effect">http://www.denofgeek.com/games/gears-of-war/26260/gears-of-war-producer-leaves-for-mass-effect</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.inquisitr.com/828428/gears-of-war-producer-joins-mass-effect-4-team/">http://www.inquisitr.com/828428/gears-of-war-producer-joins-mass-effect-4-team/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125636-Gears-of-War-Developer-Jumps-Ship-For-Mass-Effect">http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125636-Gears-of-War-Developer-Jumps-Ship-For-Mass-Effect</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2013/07/wynn-leaving-epic-to-join-bioware.html">http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/2013/07/wynn-leaving-epic-to-join-bioware.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-03-gears-of-war-producer-quits-epic-for-mass-effect-4">http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-03-gears-of-war-producer-quits-epic-for-mass-effect-4</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.psu.com/a020047/Mass-Effect-4-team-gains-new-recruit-with-former-Gears-of-War-dev">http://www.psu.com/a020047/Mass-Effect-4-team-gains-new-recruit-with-former-Gears-of-War-dev</a></li>
<li><a href="http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/gears-war-loses-key-developer-mass-effect-franchise/">http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/gears-war-loses-key-developer-mass-effect-franchise/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://hereisthecity.com/2013/07/03/epic-games-veteran-to-work-on-next-mass-effect/">http://hereisthecity.com/2013/07/03/epic-games-veteran-to-work-on-next-mass-effect/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/gears_of_war_judgement/news/gears_of_war_producer_joins_bioware.html">http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/gears_of_war_judgement/news/gears_of_war_producer_joins_bioware.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1990041/gears_of_war_dev_leaves_epic_to_work_on_mass_effect_4.html">http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1990041/gears_of_war_dev_leaves_epic_to_work_on_mass_effect_4.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gamenguide.com/articles/7483/20130703/expect-bit-gears-of-war-next-mass-effect.htm">http://www.gamenguide.com/articles/7483/20130703/expect-bit-gears-of-war-next-mass-effect.htm</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gamerant.com/gears-of-war-producer-leaves-epic-bioware-mass-effect/">http://gamerant.com/gears-of-war-producer-leaves-epic-bioware-mass-effect/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.actiontrip.com/news/gears-of-war-producer-joins-mass-effect-4-team/070313_6">http://www.actiontrip.com/news/gears-of-war-producer-joins-mass-effect-4-team/070313_6</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.newgamernation.com/gears-of-war-judgement-senior-producer-heading-to-bioware-070313-0800/">http://www.newgamernation.com/gears-of-war-judgement-senior-producer-heading-to-bioware-070313-0800/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wraltechwire.com/another-epic-departure-gears-senior-producer-takes-job-at-bioware/12622478/">http://wraltechwire.com/another-epic-departure-gears-senior-producer-takes-job-at-bioware/12622478/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://screencrush.com/gears-of-war-producer-makes-to-the-jump-to-bioware/">http://screencrush.com/gears-of-war-producer-makes-to-the-jump-to-bioware/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gamedynamo.com/article/showarticle/6131/en/gears_of_war_producer_leaves_epic_to_work_on_mass_effect_4">http://www.gamedynamo.com/article/showarticle/6131/en/gears_of_war_producer_leaves_epic_to_work_on_mass_effect_4</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.edge-online.com/news/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-to-work-on-the-next-mass-effect/">http://www.edge-online.com/news/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-to-work-on-the-next-mass-effect/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.neoseeker.com/news/23336-gears-of-war-judgment-producer-chris-wynn-becomes-mass-effect-sr-development-director/">http://www.neoseeker.com/news/23336-gears-of-war-judgment-producer-chris-wynn-becomes-mass-effect-sr-development-director/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.girlgamer.com/zine/article/2840/">http://www.girlgamer.com/zine/article/2840/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2013/07/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-games/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chris-wynn-leaves-epic-games">http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2013/07/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-games/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=chris-wynn-leaves-epic-games</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.movieballa.com/2013/07/gears-war-3/producer-gears-joins-mass-wynn-bioware-4-effect-chris-war">http://www.movieballa.com/2013/07/gears-war-3/producer-gears-joins-mass-wynn-bioware-4-effect-chris-war</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.joystiq.com/tag/chris-wynn/">http://www.joystiq.com/tag/chris-wynn/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thirteen1.com/2013/07/03/news-for-mass-effect-4-chris-wynn-joins-the-team-and-me4-is-to-share-dragon-age-3-core-mechanics">http://www.thirteen1.com/2013/07/03/news-for-mass-effect-4-chris-wynn-joins-the-team-and-me4-is-to-share-dragon-age-3-core-mechanics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stickskills.com/2013/07/02/epics-chris-wynn-departs-for-bioware-working-on-the-next-mass-effect/">http://stickskills.com/2013/07/02/epics-chris-wynn-departs-for-bioware-working-on-the-next-mass-effect/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://videogamesuncovered.com/news/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-to-join-bioware-for-the-next-mass-effect-game.html#.UeHFImSsYio">http://videogamesuncovered.com/news/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-to-join-bioware-for-the-next-mass-effect-game.html#.UeHFImSsYio</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.t3.com/news/gears-of-war-producer-quits-to-work-on-mass-effect-4">http://www.t3.com/news/gears-of-war-producer-quits-to-work-on-mass-effect-4</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/mass-effect-4-ps4-and-xbox-one-senior-development-director-unveiled?cid=rss">http://www.examiner.com/article/mass-effect-4-ps4-and-xbox-one-senior-development-director-unveiled?cid=rss</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/07/03/gears-of-war-producer-heads-to-bioware-to-work-on-mass-effect/">https://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/07/03/gears-of-war-producer-heads-to-bioware-to-work-on-mass-effect/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gamestitch.com/2013/07/03/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-games-for-bioware/">http://www.gamestitch.com/2013/07/03/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-games-for-bioware/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gamesoulonline.wordpress.com/tag/chris-wynn/">http://gamesoulonline.wordpress.com/tag/chris-wynn/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.gamesthirst.com/2013/07/03/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-for-bioware/">http://www.gamesthirst.com/2013/07/03/chris-wynn-leaves-epic-for-bioware/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.thirteen1.com/2013/07/03/news-for-mass-effect-4-chris-wynn-joins-the-team-and-me4-is-to-share-dragon-age-3-core-mechanics">http://www.thirteen1.com/2013/07/03/news-for-mass-effect-4-chris-wynn-joins-the-team-and-me4-is-to-share-dragon-age-3-core-mechanics</a></li>
</ul>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-69609888241933872732013-06-24T09:53:00.001-07:002013-06-24T09:53:59.107-07:00Max's Creative WritingAs part of the school year ending, Max brought home some of his creative writing from 1st grade that we got a kick out of. Not really sure where the whole cat thing came from, and that last one has quite the twist at the end.<div><br></div><div>Summer</div><div>Sunny days are best</div><div>Umm... what are we eating</div><div>Mmm.. I love hot dogs!</div><div>My summer vacation is for cookie cake and video games</div><div>Eh.. I am tired</div><div>Rrrr.. I don't want summer to end</div><div><br></div><div>The Best Pet</div><div>I think cats make the best pet in the world. Because they are soft they are good to cuddle with. Secondly, they chase mice out of your house. Last, they don't have fleas. That's why cats are epic pets.</div><div><br></div><div>Attack of the Devils!!</div><div>Me and my friends and family were digging. Then the problem came. We hit rock, that was bad. Then we went over to my place. Then we started to dig again, we got to the core of the earth then. Ella let a rope down so we could get up then we got a rock and threw it at a wolf. The wolf ran at us but it fell in the hole and died!!! We went down in the hole. I was scared that I was going to die like the wolf, but we noticed that there was devils and Ella died! Dun, dun, dun!!!!</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-731382136310799622013-05-22T10:00:00.000-07:002013-05-22T10:00:08.018-07:00Ella's Best Soccer Season YetElla put a wrap on the Spring soccer season with her team the Fusion. This was her best season yet, scoring 5 goals, and really played hard each and every game. Her league recognizes one player from each team to be awarded with the <a href="http://www.caslnc.com/Default.aspx?tabid=194575">Hamilton Sportsmanship Award</a> for playing with the values of integrity, fairness, and respect.<br />
<br />
She was recognized during a Carolina Railhawks game by being able to go down on the field at halftime and be introduced to the crowd.<br />
<br />
She is going to give some tougher leagues a go, and look to try out for some more competitive teams in the fall.<br />
<br />
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<span id="goog_1857820393"></span><span id="goog_1857820394"></span><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-78361938591865895882013-05-20T16:42:00.002-07:002013-05-20T16:42:50.117-07:00School Projects from the KidsThe kids have completed some school projects lately which were kind of fun.<br />
<br />
"The Biopoem of Ella Wynn"<br />
Ella<br />
Brave, loving, heart warming, strong<br />
Daughter of Chris Wynn, sister of one<br />
Who loves stuffed animals, loves freedom, loves traveling<br />
Who experiences love, sadness, and failing over and over<br />
Who fears of darkness, the movie 2012, and being separated from my family<br />
Who is accomplishing soccer, basketball, and reading<br />
Who wants to go skydiving, go to Brazil, and live in Brazil<br />
Born in Florida and living in Cary<br />
Wynn<br />
<br />
Max did a project for Mother's Day that was amusing, especially if you know Sarah. The underlined words are what he filled in.<br />
<br />
Happy Mother's Day<br />
<u>Mom, it's me I am really sorry that I've been really mean. So this is time for me to say sorry. You are the best mom ever!</u><br />
<br />
1) What is your mom really good at?<br />
<u>Sleeping</u><br />
2) What does your mom do to relax?<br />
<u>Sleep from 9:00am to 1:00pm</u><br />
3) Where does your mom like to shop?<br />
<u>Kroger</u><br />
4) How old is your mom?<br />
<u>40</u><br />
5) What do you love most about your mom?<br />
<u>She snuggles with me</u><br />
6) If you could buy your mom anything, what would it be?<br />
<u>Flowers</u><br />
7) What does your mom do while you're at school?<br />
<u>Sleep</u><br />
<br />
My mom is as pretty as a <u>Queen</u><br />
She is as sweet as <u>candy</u><br />
She is as smart as a <u>velociraptor</u><br />
But most of all, she is as special as <u>my modified nerf gun</u><br />
<br />
M<u>y mom is special</u><br />
O<u>h those nerf wars</u><br />
T<u>he fun at the beach</u><br />
H<u>i mom</u><br />
E<u>www! What's this</u><br />
R<u>oyal as can be</u><br />
<br />
All About Mom<br />
Let me tell you about my mom.<br />
My mom is <u>40</u> years old.<br />
She likes to <u>take naps</u>.<br />
The best thing she cooks is <u>mac and cheese</u>.<br />
Her favorite food is <u>a lot</u><br />
Her favorite thing to do to relax is <u>sit down and watch tv</u><br />
we like to <u>read together</u>.<br />
She is really good at <u>cooking</u>.<br />
As you can see my mom is special because <u>she is as awesome as a nerf gun</u>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-70021816676639238472013-05-08T10:00:00.000-07:002013-05-08T10:00:06.042-07:00Christmas 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Christmas is most definitely the kids favorite holiday. This year was our first Christmas in North Carolina (thought that it would be a little warmer than it was). We also drove up to Michigan to see family and friends over the Christmas break, stopping to see Chris' brother, Eric in West Virginia on the way up.</div>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
The kids got a ton of presents as usual, though Sarah and I really cut down on them this year. We pretty much stuck to our rule of only three presents for each kid. With everyone else that buys them gifts, they still end up with a ton of presents and were as happy as could be.<br />
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Max really stocked up on Lego sets, he probably has more sets than any other 7 year old the world over. It is getting tough to manage all of the little pieces.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella with her cousins Caitlin and Lindsey</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max got a little sick at Sarah's family party and decided to just lay down as we were getting ready to leave</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-44096431066612486282013-05-07T05:18:00.001-07:002013-05-07T05:18:48.673-07:00Disney Vacation - 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
We had another excellent December vacation to Disney World for Max's 7th birthday, keeping with the tradition of going each year on his birthday. We'll see how much longer we can keep this up, the whole family wants to get back to Hawaii and go on another cruise, so at some point we might have to make some decisions.<br />
<br />
We took it more our usual style this year and really relaxed. We didn't try to do too much, so we were able to take each day at a nice easy pace. We were still able to see everything that we wanted and had a lot of fun.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max lost his first tooth on his birthday at the Magic Kingdom!</td></tr>
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<a name='more'></a>We had a good ole normal adventure at the Animal Kingdom. A ton of animals were out on the safari, including the lions and cheetahs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max acted as official navigator.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cheetahs were out on the safari</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max's first ride on Expedition Everest, he still is saying that he will never ride it again</td></tr>
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For the first time ever, we were able to get Max and Ella signed up for the Jedi training academy. We have watched it probably a million times, but never knew how to participate. We finally learned that you need to get to Hollywood Studios when it opens and go straight over and sign up at this little desk by the American Idol Experience. They give you a time slot to come back for and take part of the training. Max kept saying that he was going to go 'freestyle' on Darth Vader, but in the end he decided to stick with the script.<br />
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Sticking with tradition, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean 7 times in a row for Max's birthday. This tradition is getting a bit time intensive, I think it took about 2 hours of our day just to do this. On one of the rides, we got a questionable boat, the thing was full of water when we sat down (nasty water too), and then at the part where it goes down that little hill, we got absolutely soaked at the bottom. Not sure what was wrong with that boat to cause that but it was kind of gross.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max and Ella took the Pirate oath and got made up like pirates this year</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-56248284906488352032013-01-25T07:00:00.000-08:002013-01-25T07:00:05.271-08:00Sarah's Birthdaypalooza2012 was the big year for Sarah, she turned the big 4-0, went over the hill, and is in the second half of her life. 40 years gone.<br />
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She really celebrated in style this year with 3 separate celebrations. First up, she headed to the mountains in Tennessee with some friends to celebrate both her birthday and a friends. The second stop on the tour was heading up to Michigan for the weekend to spend time with her family, including a sleepover at her cousins.<br />
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The final leg was a surprise weekend in Orlando. I took her and the kids down to Orlando for the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot, always one of her favorite events. Also surprised her with a private birthday party and fireworks viewing at the Boardwalk Hotel at Disney. It was a really nice dinner, some friends were able to come out and spend the evening with her and we had a great view of the fireworks at Epcot.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-57518417178514120602013-01-23T07:00:00.000-08:002013-01-23T07:00:06.395-08:00Halloween 2012Halloween this year was the kids first here in North Carolina. It was a simpler affair for us than usual. Since we just moved to the area we decided to not do our annual party. The kids also ran out of time and were not able to come to my work for trick or treating. That left just good old fashioned regular trick or treating around the neighborhood.<br />
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Ella was a Geisha Girl while Max went as Snake Eyes from GI Joe. It was nice to have good weather on Halloween, not too cold to wear their costumes.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-63083356102499833132013-01-21T07:00:00.000-08:002013-01-21T07:48:36.449-08:00Settling into North CarolinaWell, no posts in quite a while. Moving to North Carolina and getting settled in has been quite the adventure. Work, school, and other activities have kept us super busy. Now that we are through the holidays, we wanted to start getting some updates posted.<br />
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This fall, the kids started their new school at Briarcliff Elementary, Ella started 3rd grade, and Max started 1st. They are both doing really well in school, particurlarly reading. Ella just tested in the 99th percentile on a standardized reading test and Max is reading level 12 books while some kids in his class are on level 1 and 2.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Ella is already settle into her soccer team. The league is quite competitive down here, but she had a good fall season, played a little indoor to fill in, and the spring season is just about to begin. She also is in the middle of basketball right now. She is a busy little kid. Max gave a season of flag football a go this last year and now we need to figure out what he wants to do in the Spring.<br />
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One of the things that we have enjoyed the most is being so close to the beach. We spent a number of weekends at the beach, playing in the water, learning how to surf. We are about a 2 hour drive from both Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach. This Summer we hope to check out the Outer Banks a bit, and would eventually love to get a Condo down on the beach.<br />
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Ella even decided to write about it in school.<br />
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<i>Surfing at NC Beach, by Ella Wynn</i><br />
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On a Saturday I went to N.C. Beach to go surfing. Sunday I went to CB Surf Shop to get a surfboard. The next day I got to go surfing. I caught a huge wave once that day! I nearly blew up because I stood upand swerved! The next day, I headed down to the beach from the Holiday Inn to go catch some waves. Also, I did a tiny performance. I was also sad because the next day I had to leave. I caught one last wave before we had to leave for the pool and hotel. One our last day, I caught a HUGE WAVE! It was as tall as half of the hotel. The day we had to leave N.C. Beach to go back to Raleigh, I was glummier than glum. When we got home I pretended to surf!!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-52671979264086780182012-07-22T21:53:00.001-07:002012-07-22T21:53:53.725-07:00Whale WatchingMy parents came out for a visit in Seattle here in July. One of the coolest things at this time of year is to head north a bit to check out the local Orca whales. Before when we did it, we were able to watch from shore, but this time we booked a whole cruise to see them.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">It turned out to be a long cruise, we headed out on an intercept course, but then the whales turned around so we had to change directions and go all the way into Canada to catch up to them. We finally did and saw one of the local pods of whales as they cruised the area sleeping and eating salmon. Apparently it was "J" pod, which is one of three local pods. They have the oldest lady of the bunch (Orca pods are led by the oldest female, and females never leave their mothers), a 100 year old whale named Granny.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">There are both local Orcas, and seasonal visitors. The local ones just eat fish, particularly lots of Salmon, but the visiting ones come in and eat the seals and porpoises along with fish.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">I took the wrong lens with me, I should have taken my longer lens to get in a little closer on the action. Oh well, this lens was able to snap a good photo of a smirky Max</span><span style="background-color: white;">. We saw a lot of cool stuff on our 8 hour journey besides the whales, also saw some Bald Eagles, Seals, Porpoises, and a bunch of different birds.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-30838144324199746112012-06-20T10:00:00.000-07:002012-06-20T10:00:07.736-07:00Emma and the Creepy Hour - Ella's First BookAs part of Ella's 2nd grade writing curriculum, all of the students wrote a short story. Ella really got into it and wrote quite the little piece, complete with illustrations and everything. Click on Read More to see Ella's manuscript completely unedited. I should turn it into a real book on one of those websites, but I need her to redo all of the illustrations for it.<br />
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Here is the description that she wrote for the back of the book to prime you up for it.<br />
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A creepy case is on the chase!<br />
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A girl named Emma has dog she lets her brother borrow the dog. The brother does something bad. Will they find the dog?<br />
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<a name='more'></a><i>About the Author</i><br />
My name is Ella Wynn and I am eight years old. I wrote this book in second grade. I was inspired to write Emma and the creepy hour by my family and friends because they have dogs and once I lost my dog and found him.<br />
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<i>Dedication</i><br />
I dedicat this book to my family and friends for encourgeing me all the way thourgh my second grade life. Also Mrs. Gehring because she helped me and Danille because her book inspied me.<br />
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<i>Emma and the Creepy Hour</i><br />
One day Emma went to the Miami Mall to buy a dog at the pet store. The owner asked "What are you going to name your dog?".<br />
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Emma responded "Ice Cream and thanks Marco." Then she got some strawberry ice cream, some cloths, some shoes, and finally got lunch. Then Emma went home with a fluffy black and white dog. Then Emma went to Target to buy a coller, leash, sweater for cold seasons because they lived in WA and sunglasses for Ice Cream. Then Emma gave Ice Cream to her 19 year old brother named Ron that was blind. So he doesn't know who hes talking to.<br />
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Then Ron accidently went to Emma's little brothers named Jack daycare and he gave Ice Cream to Jack! Jack hates dogs. When Emma went home she walked insted of the bus but the bad thing is Jack is putting Ice Cream in their grandpas truck that came to pick him up! Then Emma met up with Ron and she noticed Ice Cream was gone then she screamed "Ron you lost Ice Cream!" then Ron cried "sorry.". Emma looked like she was pterfied Ron looked like he felt sorry.<br />
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Jack heard everything he felt good but no one else did. Jack sort of felt sorry but he left it behind. Emma was so scared so much. Emma was thinking someone would murder Ice Cream. She was TERRIFIED!!!!!!!<br />
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Emma was exideted to get a dog but now she was sad. Emma with her purse sadly walked to her house then she saw the daycare bus then she got some curiousty from her little borther Jack. Then Emma stared and kept going. When Emma got home her mom and dad named Kacye and John. Then they told her "honey come in to rest". Then Emma quietly answered "Ok". Then Kacye told Emma "my friend is here I want you to say hello". Kacyes friends name is Katie. <br />
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Emma mumbled "Hello Katie".<br />
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Katie answered "Hello. I heard you lost two teeth at once!"<br />
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Emma replied "I know".<br />
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John asked "Emma what did you do today?"<br />
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Emma answered "I bought a dog, a pair of shoes, some cloths, and got lunch and left".<br />
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Then Katie asked "Emma wheres your dog?"<br />
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Then Emma was heartbroke. She didn't belive that Katie would ask so she just blurted it out "Oh I lost Ice Cream!"<br />
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Then everyone gasped "Huh?"<br />
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Then Emma told her story. She explained how she got Ice Cream, gave Ice Cream to Ron, and how Ron lost Ice Cream. Then Katie yelled "Wow! I never have gone through all of that!"<br />
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Then Kacye explained "Well honey I did see Jack with a black and white dog."<br />
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Then Emma screamed "Jack took Ice Cream!!!"<br />
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She thought the case was cracked but it was'nt. Emma was happy. She went over to Jack and yelled "Hand the dog over!" in a western voice.<br />
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Then Jack explained "I put the dog in grandpas truck." <br />
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Emma was asnountesed of what she just heard. She was thinking so much she fantied. She heard the running footsteps coming towrd her. She heard the talking. The next thing she knew she was in the car. In the car she fainted again. She could hear panicing voices. She could hear crying. She could hear traffic. When she was at the hospatil (she was still asleep) she got tons of presnets from famly, reltives, friends, also her classes. The next morning she woke up in the hospatil. She had no idea what happened then the first thing she did was open all her presents. These are some of the stuff she got: a real hamser, a pogo stick, a counmuter, a real cat, a collicten of marbles, a toy rollor coster.<br />
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Then she saw her grandpa. Emma yelled "Grandpa!" and Emma's grandpa gave Ice Cream to Emma. Then Ron came back from his party and Emma forgave him and they all went home happy.<br />
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******The End*******<br />
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<i>Accolades for Emma and the Creepy Hour</i><br />
"An adventurous tale of a young girls journey to find her special friend. A second grade Hot List Reader!" - Mrs. Gehring<br />
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"A thriller! Put chills down my spine but so glad it worked out!" - Mommy<br />
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"Very good story" - Gavin<br />
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"I had fun reading story" - Tayla BFF<br />
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"Blew my head off!!!!" - NickAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-80666049062465258062012-06-16T15:50:00.002-07:002012-06-16T15:50:25.386-07:00Max's First Baseball SeasonMax wrapped up his first season of t-ball just a couple of weeks ago, playing for the Marlins. He really enjoyed playing here, and we had a pretty good spring and were not rained out too often. It was a bit cold for a few games, but playable.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
His good friend, Benjamin, was also on the team and his father was the coach. Next up is coach pitch, but first another season of soccer is coming up quick.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-88949617909780541102012-05-15T23:35:00.000-07:002012-05-15T23:49:50.888-07:00Hawaii Vacation at AulaniWe recently got back from our Spring vacation to Hawaii, which in the words of Max, was epic. Plenty of words and photos below. Why was it so good? Because it was the perfect Wynn vacation, no plans, no agendas, just lazing around in a beautiful place having a great time.<br />
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We headed to Disney's new resort on Oahu, <a href="http://resorts.disney.go.com/aulani-hawaii-resort/">Aulani</a>, which just opened recently, for Ella's birthday. We moved our trip back a couple of weeks because we had a whole bunch of friends coming to see us just after Ella's birthday. We always go to Disney World for Max's birthday, so for our spring vacation we thought that it would be nice to go somewhere for Ella. And Aulani just opened and is one of the Disney Vacation Club resorts (we actually own part of Aulani), plus it is pretty easy to get to Hawaii from Seattle, so it seemed like a grand plan.<br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="text-align: left;">The resort itself is just gorgeous. Disney really worked to get a lot of authentic Hawaiian art and traditions throughout the entire place. It sits in a golf community called Ko 'Olina, so you are about 45 minutes from Honolulu, but that didn't bother us at all, we weren't there to shop.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aulani's Main lobby as seen from our room</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lobby, beautiful Hawaiian art covers everything</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pool, the waterslides go through the rocks back there</td></tr>
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When we first booked, we just booked a Studio room (for DVC members, you can choose a Studio, 1, 2, or 3 bedroom villa). After 3 days we decided to upgrade to the 1 bedroom. With the kids getting bigger, we just felt that we needed more space, and it was really worth it. We had a whole stockpile of points to use to do it, so we should have just done it from the beginning, you get some much more space plus a full kitchen and washer / dryer that it was a way better room.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The living room had a bed in the couch and one under the TV</td></tr>
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The resort still is not fully opened, I think only about 66% or so is currently open, there is a large wing yet to open later this year, so we didn't have to worry too much about crowds or anything. There is an absolute ton of stuff to do, multiple pools, a lazy river, water slides, kid area, snorkeling, a beach, a spa, goes on and on. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see the main pool, the kids play area, the lazy river, snorkeling, and the slides are in that volcano</td></tr>
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Of course, me being me, and the kids being kids, we were all about the pool and especially the water slides. Unfortunately, the tube one was closed, apparently it was a little too slow and some tubes were getting stuck, so they were in the process of resurfacing it while we were there. However, the one slide Volcano Vertical is pretty cool. It starts at the top of the Volcano, and then it is in a completely pitch black enclosed tube, that is much faster than you think (Sarah only did it one time). It was pretty awesome.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The slide was really speedy, thus allowing me to make a monster splash</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella liked to be prepared for the water</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max also optimized for speed and would yell the whole way down which was hysterical</td></tr>
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Being Disney, they make sure to take care of the kids. First there is Auntie's Beach House, which is a 5,000 sq ft enclosed and monitored area just for kids. They have staff to watch and entertain the kids so that you can just drop them off and go do whatever you want. Each day had organized activities like volcano science where they would make a volcano, or space goo where they would make some gooey, slimy stuff with Stitch. Then they have a bunch of adventure trails where the kids go on a scavenger hunt all around the resort with some smart phones that give them clues, and when they solve the clue and find something, it would usually make something cool happen, like turn on torches or something. It is all based around some Hawaiian stories about Menehunue, who are these little mischievous guys who like to play tricks.</div>
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It just keeps going and going, they also offer a ton of entertainment. Each day you can pick up a calendar for the day that lists all of the stuff going on for the day, from hula dancing to craft type of stuff, stargazing, and a whole lot more. Now we didn't do a whole lot of different things, we were there to just relax after all. However, we did do movie night under the stars, some fire storytelling. Once a week, they put on a hui, which is like a luau without the eating and fire dancing. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella doing some Hula dancing at the hui</td></tr>
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Next up on our adventure was some snorkeling. They have a pretty large pool right in the resort where you can go snorkeling in. You are free to take the stuff down to the beach if you want, as long as you rinse off before going in their controlled pool. Ella and I decided to check it out and were surprised at how cold the water was for the fish. Was pretty neat, but I prefer the real deal.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella and I saying hi to Sarah through the viewing windows</td></tr>
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Obviously there is plenty to eat while there, but one of the highlights and the place that got a whole lot of money from us was our daily trip to the Shaved Ice shack. Delicious.<br />
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With a full kitchen in our room, we actually ended up buying food at the grocery store and eating most of our food from our room. It was easier, faster, and a heck of a lot cheaper. We did do one really nice dinner at Ama 'Ama which is one of the restaurants there at the resort. It was Ella's birthday dinner, so we went all out.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our view at dinner</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella's double birthday desert (which was incredibly good)</td></tr>
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The highlight of the trip, at least for Ella and I, was surfing lessons. Max was not quite old enough to take it on yet, so Sarah decided to hang out on the beach with him while Ella and I took our first ever attempt at surfing. Before we get too much further, the standing up bit is a little easier than you might think, but all of that paddling will kill you. I was worn out big time after an hour of surfing.<br />
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We ventured out with <a href="http://www.hawaiianfire.com/Irons/">Hawaiian Fire</a>, which is a surf school owned and operated by local fire fighters. They teach it at a beach not too far from our resort which was convenient, and I had read a lot of good things about them online. You can also book with them directly through Disney, but we decided to do it on our own.<br />
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Because of Ella's age, she required a private lesson, which was fine by me. It was nice knowing that an instructor would be with her 100% of the time. We both started out practicing some paddling and standing up on shore before heading out in to the water.<br />
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After we nailed the basics, Ella headed out with her instructor for some tandem surfing so that she could get the hang of it, while I was thrown to the sharks. It was pretty windy that day, and the surf was fairly chaotic so I was a little worried Ella would only be able to go tandem the whole time. But not too long after I got in, I looked over and saw Ella on her own board surfing away, so she must have impressed her instructor.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella on her first wave</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She already looks like a natural</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She did it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently, I don't have the natural abilities that my daughter does</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proof that I did something other than fall over</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proof that Ella fell at least once</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella wants to change her bedroom to be a surfer's girl room, she loved it</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max just played on the beach while Ella and I surfed</td></tr>
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While we were on Oahu, we had to check out Honolulu and Waikiki Beach. Apparently, we chose the wrong day to go, because there was a Spam festival happening downtown and traffic was a nightmare. However, we did eventually make it. Waikiki is surprisingly small for being so famous. Really nice, just small. On our last day, we had a late flight, 8:30pm, and coincidentally, the Reynolds landed on Oahu at 1:30pm. So we were able to head back down to Waikiki to see Jaime, Dawn, and their new daughter Reese before we had to head back home. It was great to be able to see him, and have a few drinks right on the beach.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honolulu as seen from the beach where we surfed</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">World famous Waikiki Beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Godfather of surfing, the Duke</td></tr>
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Last but not least, we did make a visit to Pearl Harbor. Very cool experience to see the history, take the kids through the park as they were earning their Junior Ranger badges. Only odd part was they bought some toy battleships and old WW2 fighter plane toys and then recreated Pearl Harbor on the floor. Not sure if that is ok, or if we should try to redirect it. Kind of weird to be honest, we just sort of let it go, I think it is just kids playing, no ill intent, so seemed ok, but some weird debates go on internally over that.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The USS Arizona Memorial</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gun turret #4 from the Arizona</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It is still leaking oil, the soldiers who died inside are still there</td></tr>
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While we were there, we were able to watch a Sergaent in the army who was retiring raise a few flags on the flag pole over the Arizona to be able to keep as part of his retirement. Pretty cool to see.<br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-88246452231474251192012-04-24T23:40:00.003-07:002012-04-24T23:41:51.934-07:00In and around SeattleWe just got done with a whole host of visitors that stayed with us for awhile. Sarah's parents came out a few weeks back to visit because we had a whole group of people from Brazil coming as well. The whole Butler clan still has a lot of friends down in Brazil from their time there. One of the families that they were very good friends with have had a couple of opportunities to come visit and were able to make a trip here in April to come see the States. So we had a family of 4, Tainah, Gildo, and their 2 boys (3 and 4 months) along with Tainah's parents Milton and Marcia. Then all 4 of us plus Joe and DiAnne and we had one full household, 12 people in total, was quite the scene.<br />
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With everyone here we were able to get out and about a bit to see some things in Seattle. The first thing that we did was get out to the Tulip Festival. This is an annual event where a Dutch immigrant starting growing tons of tulips here many years ago. So now they figured out how to really cash in and get people to drive several hours to see the Tulips. Was pretty cool though.<br />
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Every visitor gets the obligatory trip down to the Market and the Space Needle. We let everyone else enjoy the Space Needle while we hung out downtown (we have been up there a bunch of times).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukke0GEKZ0Kv7-HFSaZM1HB1_vk25ChsKSu0tWV6PfGOuYfrLWsJbj2HLX-YDyNwHiR8AAVNbbjApMymI9cyUOWme9xCb2EA09NhoNRRg_mq7FczJ4Xk6q10ysSWXr9rf2BaeUunAO0aM/s1600/photo+(3).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukke0GEKZ0Kv7-HFSaZM1HB1_vk25ChsKSu0tWV6PfGOuYfrLWsJbj2HLX-YDyNwHiR8AAVNbbjApMymI9cyUOWme9xCb2EA09NhoNRRg_mq7FczJ4Xk6q10ysSWXr9rf2BaeUunAO0aM/s320/photo+(3).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-90362693268515377172012-04-17T23:39:00.002-07:002012-04-17T23:39:31.761-07:00Ella's 8th BirthdayJust about a week ago, Ella hit the big 0-8. Big milestone for her because she no longer needs a booster seat in the car, she was pretty excited about that, I had to drive her to school in the morning so that she could try it out.<br />
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We kept things pretty simple this year because we are headed to Hawaii in another week as part of her birthday. We just had dinner at home (she wanted Sloppy Joe's), and her friend Tayla and her family came over for cake afterwards. Grandpa Joe and Grandma DiAnne are also in town to celebrate with her. The dessert of choice was an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl3ewBMYDkxav-53FBRa11khUuEK2rrznfsmgUNVRCq-0Fh68iH_4P29xun_9m74y31LkvSIi3vetdJ5W8MsSTEw9z4Bmn_u-fM2Rs_0UXaObgKq5h8-zVtwrmgA6_byWzHLyM0fKcsklK/s1600/IMG_6939.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl3ewBMYDkxav-53FBRa11khUuEK2rrznfsmgUNVRCq-0Fh68iH_4P29xun_9m74y31LkvSIi3vetdJ5W8MsSTEw9z4Bmn_u-fM2Rs_0UXaObgKq5h8-zVtwrmgA6_byWzHLyM0fKcsklK/s400/IMG_6939.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a name='more'></a>A whole bunch of presents arrived in time for her to open all it once. She really loved all of her presents.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loving her Nook Tablet from Mommy and Daddy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTRUU70ckOOEb5xXNjsDaHFquQuuh5zJ9CLc1XWAu66C5HbkuoYrUxYm8VlPPH5WaNKk34pQqVfBx91d-UBtRvDThW0jH2K2vcRll2gxZq_3eIetTE2HK9M2Y3rTSBYjJuYtZ-T7gGYyrV/s1600/IMG_6904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTRUU70ckOOEb5xXNjsDaHFquQuuh5zJ9CLc1XWAu66C5HbkuoYrUxYm8VlPPH5WaNKk34pQqVfBx91d-UBtRvDThW0jH2K2vcRll2gxZq_3eIetTE2HK9M2Y3rTSBYjJuYtZ-T7gGYyrV/s400/IMG_6904.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This crossbow from Grandma and Grandpa was a big score</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Useful stuff for the Hawaii trip from the Butcher family</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaI2WCf5fxl_z1jYTbuM4Ek91o5R01Nbr1waxivQaIB_nsI4L075N3Eyf5-12kp3niCu6FZ_UT2SeWfQcwKuKHHY2o09E81yX2L_btwXfx614TwnVwvXqFEUGAzRHE_INC4X7x1cnpd5tP/s1600/IMG_6926.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaI2WCf5fxl_z1jYTbuM4Ek91o5R01Nbr1waxivQaIB_nsI4L075N3Eyf5-12kp3niCu6FZ_UT2SeWfQcwKuKHHY2o09E81yX2L_btwXfx614TwnVwvXqFEUGAzRHE_INC4X7x1cnpd5tP/s400/IMG_6926.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Butlers had a whole bunch of stuff, she is still going through everything that was in this box</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuL1HLRrmKxtngrPHfqvuJY0h9pZ5reeHVxqTa8TlqORWKGCwsJXHWWaZAnR_lYZPHRESNOeDfh1GP7MmELTR3jL9NDY7x8Y1cveT017Jq8duBKfDxzd9DOSQpMTGOqR03ozodtnuq_GJf/s1600/IMG_6931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuL1HLRrmKxtngrPHfqvuJY0h9pZ5reeHVxqTa8TlqORWKGCwsJXHWWaZAnR_lYZPHRESNOeDfh1GP7MmELTR3jL9NDY7x8Y1cveT017Jq8duBKfDxzd9DOSQpMTGOqR03ozodtnuq_GJf/s400/IMG_6931.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One serious RC car from Grandma Linda and Grandpa Jim</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-89825762858596680672012-04-16T21:55:00.002-07:002012-04-16T21:55:58.562-07:00Easter TimeEaster time is always nice around the household. Sarah's parents were in town for a visit so we were able to spend Easter together.<br />
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For us, we started a new tradition last year where we eat cake for breakfast. No real good reason for it, but I have never let the lack of a good reason prevent us from doing anything else. A nice bunny cake is in order, although this year's was not as tasty as last year's. Didn't stop us from eating it, just lessened the enjoyment.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ifiiv-50KnHOyYpbSMrekTpMk_LBmsIyE7tseWILfpFAEdbxTLHUKJBBiFmqsB9aY8cgw0JJOYauyUyBEjjoS1t7UXUqyiwqtBI3iLpGL6DsTnfoBwDHlwfoegp54jLjNUlBh1yM8Y2D/s1600/IMG_6879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ifiiv-50KnHOyYpbSMrekTpMk_LBmsIyE7tseWILfpFAEdbxTLHUKJBBiFmqsB9aY8cgw0JJOYauyUyBEjjoS1t7UXUqyiwqtBI3iLpGL6DsTnfoBwDHlwfoegp54jLjNUlBh1yM8Y2D/s400/IMG_6879.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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After church, it was time for the obligatory family photo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJHlPi7jK-BA9ROUpJraS05t0XN1FjyStqkPDoY4dgwp44GPpuWaBwyQBgxU-vFXptdeqsvnQDAATxaxnD-2i2dtdstBc0puT3Ms4H1-iy4g9V1JslrNNcas_pGYJD4rviUBowylAjflY/s1600/IMG_6888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJHlPi7jK-BA9ROUpJraS05t0XN1FjyStqkPDoY4dgwp44GPpuWaBwyQBgxU-vFXptdeqsvnQDAATxaxnD-2i2dtdstBc0puT3Ms4H1-iy4g9V1JslrNNcas_pGYJD4rviUBowylAjflY/s400/IMG_6888.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912307373598906813.post-40264572897159917162012-02-26T16:27:00.001-08:002012-02-26T16:28:11.747-08:00Ella's 1st Basketball SeasonWe just put a wrap on Ella's first season in basketball. I ended up coaching the team after there was a desperate plea for someone to volunteer and coach. Coaching kids in basketball that have never played is actually pretty complex. It is no wonder that soccer and baseball are so popular for kids, they are really easy. Trying to teach 1st and 2nd graders about travelling, double dribbling, how to setup on offense and defense is really tough.<br />
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Ella did great, she really put a lot into practice and by the end of the season she was the team's best dribbler and defender. She definitely wants to play more, we will probably look for some summer clinics and stuff so that she can continue to get better.<br />
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The team did great too, while we don't officially keep score, we for sure won more than we lost. Looking forward to next season.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213091068655859564noreply@blogger.com0