IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY

The other day I was watching the GK’s interacting with one another and I began to relate to them in relation to my interaction with my syblings.  I was the oldest of four and Noelle is the oldest of four.   I ’m sure she has some  of  the feelings that I had.   I don’t recall having these kind of reflections watching my own kids as they grew up.  Probably just one od those attributes you are granted as a grandparent.  I found it interesting.    

Those of you who read Sean’s blog know that he has began to tell his readers about his earlier days.  I will keep him honest by commenting on his rememberances.  So far he is doing pretty good.  I recall the paper turkey hunt and of course the incident with the dog is one I will never forget.  I am supreised that Sean ever had anything to do with dogs afer that day.  Oh Yeah, I almost forgot ….the “I was born at an early age….” line is plagerism…he stole it from Poppa!  I would  continue with “I had two brothers, both boys”  but alas Sean could not take that one because he has only one bro.

Well tommorrow is Easter, filled with family and freinds, eggs, bunnies, lots of food (leg of lamb) and mostly watching the kids enjoy the day.  I hope you are able to get to be with some folks that are at least of kindred soul if not actual kin.

 Poppa

So here’s the family……

The Oliver Family

There it is… the California Contingent of the Olivers.   In the center of the picture is Jane (in brilliant red) and me, Poppa.   The kid in front of me is Sammie, son of Casey and Sean, and our only grandson…so far.  To the right of Jane are Pat and Sam Scarlett.   Jane, Barclay and I moved into our home in 1972,  Pat and Sam were already there, they are still there.  They have become more than just neighbors.  We have shared with them in births, deaths and weddings.  Can’t get more family than that!  By the way Sammie’s full name is Samuel Patrick Oliver…you guessed it, he’s named afer Pat and Sam.

To continue…to the left of me (in the picture) are Nat and Joy.  Joy is our daughter and Nate is her husband.  hey live in Tacoma, Washington.  In front of them is our son Sean holding Mary, Casey holding Lella and next to Casey Noelle.  Casey, Sean, Noelle, Sammie, Mary and Lella live a few miles away from us in Carmichael.  They used to live in Las Vegas, but relocaed to the Sacramento area a few years ago.  It sure is great having them closer.  In front of Pat and Sam are Barclay (our oldest), Amber, Izabelle and Grace.  Grace is actually more in front of Jane.  They live a few miles away in Citrus Heights.  Barclay has never lived very far away.  Not that he isn’t adventurous enough to wander far,  I think he feels he needs to keep an eye on the old folks.  We are glad he feels that way!

The picture was taken on Christmas Day in our family room.  It’s appropriate to take a picture of our family on the birth day of Christ Jesus…He is the center of our family. 

Anyway there it is… THE FAMILY!

Poppa

Sorry…

Yesterday  Sean, in very tactful way, pointed out to me that it has been over a week since I have blogged (Is that a legitimate verb?).  Anyway whether legitimate or not he ias  correct and to the few of you who read this my apologies.   In the time that has transpired I have again been to the Puget A\Sound Area where I comissionedth  crane we installed the last trip. I bunked with  JoyandNate (her biggest fan) known as N.  They are bothbusily involved with their work, training, etc.

The occasion of Sean and I being together was our weekly trip to the farmer market.  Sean along with Mary, Sam and Leela pick me up on Saturday Mornings at 8 o’clock and off we go.  It’s a tradition that started when Sean, Casey, et al moved to Sacramento about 19 months ago and I look forward to it greatly.  Several of the vendors at the market do also judgeing by the reception that the children get.  In the weeks to come I will develope some  of the stories from these visits to the market.

In closing I make a few comments:  1)  I have become somewhat comfortable to hearing Joy refer to N as her number one fan.  For the first 20  some years of her life I considered myself to be the one who best fit that descripition, at least from the male perspective.   2)  The gathering of fruits and vegetables for substainance use to be the primary reason to attend the farmers’ market, now it is the family experience that is primary.

God’s blessings on all of you, I hope you all take advantage of this season of Lent for a time of reflection and introspection.

Poppa

FAMILY IS WHAT IT IS…

I  have been in the Puget Sound area this week.  I am a project manager for a company that makes cranes.  I have been supervising the installation of one of our cranes in Port Angles on the Olympic Peninsula.  Having completed that task I spent the evening with Joy (Bird by Bird) and her husband Nate.  This morning, Friday, February 6th, I am flying home where my first task will be to pick up Sammie and Noelle (two of our GKs) who are the children of Casey and Sean (fermdt).  So I say good-bye this morning to a daughter and fly home to embrace two grand kids)!  Cool…that’s what its all about.

I found some interesting things while visiting Joy and Nate.  They have no  children at this point.  However they do have a rather large and unique adopted family.  Nate is a Special Forces trooper.  When he was in training for approx 2years at Ft. Bragg Joy spent as much time at Ft. Bragg as she practically could.  Their home became a haven for the guys Nate trained with.  While I was visiting this week two  of those fellas visited with them and also spent the evening.   When Joy, Nate and I returned from dinner out the fellas had not  returned from their night out, and the next morning they were not there either.   WhenNate informed me that “the  boys” had not returned we discussed their probable status.  I would mention a probability, Nate  would respond with “I thought about  that”, or “I thought about that too”.  It dawned on me that he had reached the 4th stage of parenthood.  I suggested that he ground them!

I just read the last two Bird by Bird postings.  Joy mentioned the swim team phase of our family’s life.  It was interesting, and although we didn’t continue the following season it was a positive experience for all of us.   Joy was a little humble in  reporting her success.  She did win alot as a member of the relay team, but she also won in the individual event frequently.  She also failed to mention her other aquatic success as she earned a varsity letter as a member of the Del Campo High diving team.   Sean never won anything!  I began to be concerned about how it might be affecting him psychologically.  So I sat down and had a chat with him.  He informed me that the coach had told him that he had  “almost perfect form”.  So to Sean working on making an almost perfect form a perfect form was more impoartant than whether he won or lost.  I learned something very valuable about Sean that day.

 

Poppa

A little about the family………….

The grand kids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So these are our grandchildren from left to right:  Noelle, Mary, Sammy, Izabelle  and behind Izabelle stands Grace.   The doll Noelle is holding represents Leela who was born a couple weeks after the picture was taken.   I chose the grandkids (GK) to start the discussion about our family because when you have 6 young GKs that is what family life is about!  They are always with us either in our presence,or thoughts, and of course always in your heart and prayers. 

Being as  I am how this is my first run at posting s picture and tags (Did you notice the tags?)  and links to Sean and Joy’s blogs I am ready to move on the the days events…..watch a little Super Bowl hype, split some fire wood, go to Costco, etc. 

See ya,

 

Poppa

So, what really happened?

Okay folks, this is where it gets fun. If you know Sean very well you know that he is pretty darn good at spreading moo moo poo poo. Deeply committed to said practice! I have never been trapped with eskimos that spokw only French in Minnesota. Any way if I did I would have relied on my three years of French study to figure things out, some how some way.

However, about 6-7 years ago I did work in Korea as a project manager managing a Japanese contractor installing cranes in clean rooms there where they were going to manufacture flat screen monitors and televisions. The contractor spoke neither Korean or English, I speak neither Japanese nor Korean. There was an Korean interpreter there who spoke Japanese and English, but he had learned his English from another Korean and I was the first English speaker that he had attempted to communicate with, so what he spoke was more like Korenglish. It was an interesting experience, we all got through it and I did learn a few cultural lessons. For one thing our Pacific Rim partners do not like it when round eyes are telling them that they are doing something wrong. I also found out that if you are older than them they accord you a great deal of honor and respect. Thankfully the first tendency was overcome by the second and we got through the project successfully.

Sean is correct on his comments re: habits and practices kids repeat from their parents. Just about genes and enviroment!

I will end this now before I bore you to death.

Poppa

Kid by Kid

Let me introduce myself, I am the father of Sean, the author of Fermatd, and Joy, the author of Bird by Bird, hence the title of my blog, Kid byKid.  I don’t know about you but certainly you must agree that their mother and I have been blessed with some special kids.  Sean and Joy have  an older brother, Barclay, who is also a blessing.  

Over the course of time it is my intent to  offer antidotal information about our family and news about what might be going on in its life that Sean and Joy may not have mentioned.  You know Dad still gets the last word.

I would like  you  to give special consideration to Joy’s fund raising for the Leukemia – Lymphoma research.  Cancer has visited our family twice in the last five years and I am sure each of you have has someone near and dear have to deal with cancer.  Let’s defeat it!

Good bye for now,  I won’t be posting much more than once a  week and I will try to not be too  schmaltzy.

Poppa

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