Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my sister Jan, and much of the rest of the Mars Clan. Mom and Dad were there, along with the families of Erik, Dan, Dave. And several of Jan's friends from church. The kids all enjoyed hanging out, watching movies, jumping on beds, etc. Those of us who run ran a 5 mile race in the morning.

We have so much to be grateful for. During our traditional 'candy corn sound-off' (each person gets two candy corns, and tells about two things they are grateful for) Eliza (age 3?) touched everyone's heart with the sincerity of hers - Jesus.

Paris

Linda and I had the opportunity to visit Paris, and it was wonderful. I had been invited to participate on the Ph.D. thesis jury of a student at this University: http://www.lmm.jussieu.fr/index.html. After discharging my duties at the University, we spent the weekend exploring Paris. Here's a photo of me in front of the 'champ de Mars', and another of me in front of the University.











Here are some photos of Linda. In front of the Eiffel tower, biking along the Seine, at the Arc du Triomf, and in front of the Louvre.





This is a strawberry desert that we got from a bakery. We decided that its true that the French know how to make the best food. We tried a number of French cheeses, many of which were completely new to us.

The professor who invited me turned out to be a great lover of organ music. So much so that he had a full blown organ in his basement, which he played for us. Of course the pipes were 'electronic'. But the sound was incredible.

I took several runs along the Seine while staying in Paris. I was surprised at how compact the city is. I was able to cover the distance from our east-side hotel to the Eiffel tower and back in one run.

Running Update

I've been running plenty lately, about 5 miles a day. For the year, I'm on my 3rd pair of running shoes (I show below new and old shoes). I just hit 952 miles since I started keeping my log about a year ago.

For Turkey Day, many of us got together at Jan's and ran the Turkey Trot. It's a 5 mile race. The weather was perfect this year. Dave (came in 14th!), Ben, and Marissa smoked us all. Dan, Erik, and I all came in at the same time - 41:46. Margaret and Janis also ran a great race. Dan and I ran the whole race yo-yo-ing for position. I was really trying my best to beat Dan, and every time I thought I was well past him, he'd blast by me. During most of the race, we did not see Erik. But on the last 1/2 mile, Erik popped up from behind us, and we all 3 finished together. I actually don't remember our finishing order, because the finish line queue had backed up, and we all ended up in a bunch together. After the race, we each recieved a pumpkin pie (see photo below).

Amaya's New Look

Amaya has officially joined the ranks of the myopic, among whom are already counted many of her family. We love her new look, and especially the Princess Jasmine design she chose for her frames.

Cubmobile Races

Our pack built a cubmobile. We raced against other packs in the area yesterday in Kenton. That's about 1/2 hour south of Findlay. It has a great hill right down main street that we used for the race.

That's Joe preparing for launch...

Birthday Girl

For her 7th birthday, Amaya lost her 2nd front tooth!

The Mad River

We got to hang out with our Wunderlich cousins on the Mad river. And Elydia got her first canoe ride. That's Linda, Emma, and Amaya in the girl boat.

Hancock County Fair

Anna's rabbit pluto won 3rd place at the Hancock County Fair. Great Job, Anna!

Summer Vacation

For summer vacation, we went to Boston. It was awesome. We got to see Emily and Scott and Bruce. We saw lots of historic sites. That's a photo of Joe and Amaya at Paul Revere's gravestone. We probably searched throught the graveyard for 1/2 hour before we finally found it. We rode on the subway. Lydi had fun by reaching into a lady's purse and discombooberating it.

We went to the beach. There's Bruce getting muddy. And Elydia and Bruce enjoying a car-seat-fest in the suburban.

Other memorable moments:

Loosing several hours by detouring through the Catskill Mountains. We thought it would be fun to see them, since we had read 'My Side of the Mountain', which is set there. We saw them, but ended up not making it to Boston until the next morning.

Linda getting completely lost near Harvard Square when we went out for Indian food. We lost her for over an hour and were about to call the cops when she drove by our intersection. Emily chased her car down, though, and it all worked out OK.

We went to the science center and saw the world's largest Van DeGraff generator. They use it for a show on lighting. We also went to the Children's museum, which the kids tell me was quite enjoyable.

Will went on a run with Scott one day, and with Emily another.

Then we drove home. A long drive, but it was so great to see you guys.

Balloon Rides!

Tio Chris took each of us up for tether-rides in a one man hot-air balloon he had on loan from Bruce B. Here are Amaya and Joe getting ready to inflate the envelope.


It went up fast!

Of course, I was too heavy for Chris to take me up, so I had to go myself. Don't let go of those tether ropes, kids!


"Come, Dorothy!" cried the Wizard. "Hurry up, or the balloon will fly away."
"I can't find Toto anywhere," replied Dorothy, who did not wish to leave her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark at a kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and ran towards the balloon.
She was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his hands to help her into the basket, when, crack! went the ropes, and the balloon rose into the air without her.
"Come back!" she screamed. "I want to go, too!"
"I can't come back, my dear," called Oz from the basket. "Good-bye!"

Cub Scout Day Camp

Tia Marissa on last day of camp (left)

Joe after tug-of-war. (right)

Joe building a treasure box (left). Joe loading the car on the first day of camp. (right)

Cub scout day camp was awesome this year! Joe got to spend 5 days at Camp Berry, crafting, singing, swimming, hiking, playing. The theme was 'under the sea'. They had the ODNR come to the camp pond with a special boat, equipped with electrical generator and special electrodes. When they turned on the juice, all the fish around the boat came floating up to the top, stunned. They showed the boys all the different kinds of fish in the pond. "Don't try this at home". (The ODNR uses this boat to count fish for stocking purposes). On the last day of camp, the whole family got to go out for pizza and ice cream. Tia Marissa was helping us out that week, and got to visit Joe at camp. Will really enjoyed having a running partner for a few days.

Cousin Xchanges

Emma and Amaya got to hang out together for a week here in Findlay. Joe went to Columbus for the week to hang with Izak.

At the end of the week, we all went to COSI and saw the Star Wars exhibit there.

Bike Mechanic

Joe's bike got a flat and he fixed it all by himself!

Elydia's First Birthday

We celebrated Elydia's first birthday at the Tompkins family reunion. The best part was the rabbit pinata filled with 17# of candy. Elydia took the first whack with Mom's help. The funnest part for her was watching all of the cousins and kids of cousins and uncles giving their whacks. Yes - that's uncle Ben, with Elydia standing up and cheering!

Joe's First Day of Summer Vacation

Joe started off the summer with a real Mohawk! He kept it for about 2 hours, and then he went with a full buzz.

Lawnmower Girl

Another sign that our little Anna isn't so little anymore - she is mowing the lawn. And she does a fine job, too, I might add. She is also looking for babysitting jobs...

May Flowers / Bungee Run Joe

I don't know if we had much rain in April, but we definitely have May flowers. We have a flower bed just outside our back door that is in full bloom. Here's Amaya standing in them. You have never seen so much beauty per square foot!

And here's Joe at the Cooper Tire picnic, on Memorial Day. He's doing the bungee run. He had to get a running start and see how far out he could get the bean bag before the bungee cord pulled him back. It was steamin' hot today. We had a great time. Just a few more days til summer vacation!

Approved for Takeoff!

Linda has been recovering from surgery for the past two weeks. This week she got the OK from the doc to start driving again, which should help reduce cabin fever. She still can't pick up Elydia. We are thankful for everyone's prayers and support.

Flyin' High on Easter Weekend

We visited Akron on Easter weekend, and all of our kids had a great time playing with the cousins. This shows Anna and Sarah getting air time on the trampoline. We also heard Chris speak at church (he just returned from his mission to Spain), launched a rocket, went to Gabe's (ladies), went on a bike hike (Dan and Will, Will got a flat tire), and just had a nice time.

cousin vs. cousin

This is a picture of Joe and his cousin Izak. They are playing basketball. Izak won! They both seem to like basketball.

Baby's First Swim

This post is about Joe's baby sister's first swim. She did not like being splashed. She loved it. Elydia loves the water!

Tooth Fairy

On Tuesday Amaya lost a tooth. Her mom pulled it out before a soccer practice.Typed by Joseph.By Amaya.

Yoga Stretch

The school offered an evening of Yoga, Karate, and Pilates, and so we went and tried them all out. It was great fun. Joe's favorite was Karate. It was especially fun to count to ten in Japanese, and to see the art teacher asking you to punch and kick. The photo shows Amaya and Joe stretching in the Yoga class. I found that Yoga left me with the most 'buzz' in my muscles. 'The Tree' was the pose that I found most challenging. I was more like a tree on a really windy day, since I couldn't keep my balance. The kids all did great.

Balloon Boy

For his birthday, Grandma gave Joe a book on how to make balloon creations. As you can see, he has read the book. This is a sample of just a few of the things he done with the balloons. Fortunately, the book also came with a balloon inflator. I've tried to inflate these things, and - wow - they are tough. Joe is sporting his blue ray gun, his pink Martian hat, and his purple and yellow Martian.

The District Pinewood Derby

Joe got to race his car in the district pinewood derby last week. At our pack's race, he won 3rd place. Joe's is the yellow car. This is the 2nd car he's built, and I think his car gets better each year.

Maple Sugar Days

Our good friend Joe V. has started an operation for producing maple syrup. Anna and Joseph and I went to help out one afternoon. Here's Anna pounding a tap into a maple tree. The sap runs when its freezing at night and above freezing in the day. Joe collects the sap (he has several hundred trees tapped) and boils it down. It takes 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. After we helped tap some trees, we boiled down a little on Joe's camp fire. We took home a pint of syrup. Yum!

The Best Thing About a Beard

The weather this weekend has been very nice. No doubt that Spring is coming. So ... my beard's days are definitely numbered. What I liked best about the beard is that Elydia liked it. She liked to grab onto it and yank my head around. She liked to run her fingers through it.