Visit to Grandma and Papa's- Spring Break 2009

Grandma Sandy is always planning ways to surprise us all. We decided it was time for her to get a taste of her own medicine. So, spring break came and we headed off to Colorado, without her knowledge. We, of course, let Glenn in on our little plan. To his credit, and our surprise, he didn't let it slip a bit! We didn't even tell our kids until we were driving out of the driveway. Once we arrived, Sandy and Glenn we downstairs watching the NCAA tournament when we came up behind her. Harrison put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Grandma" . Her reaction was priceless. She couldn't stop shaking and for the first time in a long time--she was speachless. LOL It was great! We love you Grandma Sandy!

China...We miss you already.

Here are a few pics from our recent (March 08) trip to China. As my good wife (Shirlene that is) can attest, I have wanted to travel to China for the last 10 years. In the mean time we have been to Europe and South America, but I told her a couple years back that before we went anywhere else I wanted to go to China. Well, fortune smiled on us and Shirlene's parents took a teaching position in China for one year. That was all I needed and with a little prodding to get Shane and TeAnn (Shirlene's brother and his wife) to go along we booked the tickets and spent 10 days in the Middle Kingdom.

It was everything we hoped it would be and then some. We spent the first week in Jinan, a city of 3+ million and the home of the university where Shirlene's parents are teaching. It was exactly what I wanted. Namely, not on the tourist beat and a legitimate slice of China. We hit the weather and pollution just right and had clear skies and decent temperatures the entire time we were there. Each day was amazing. On the first day we visited three elementary schools and I would have to say it was probably the travel highlight of my life. The students were ecstatic to meet Westerners and we were treated like celebrities at each stop. The first school was home to 2800 students and I think we probably high fived, said hello or played rock, paper, scissor with two thirds of them. It was really great and the kind of experience that involves your cheeks hurting from smiling and laughing so much. That really set the tone for the rest of our time in Jinan.

We spent the final four days in Beijing. Beijing was great too, but definitely had its touristy aspects and it was hard to get away from the crowds. That being said, we had great experience there too, such as spending a morning in Jinsheng Park with thousands of elderly people singing old revolutionary songs, attending church (see picture of non-descript high rise below), and visiting the Great Wall. Of course, I had the best spot for eating Beijing Duck well mapped out and that was quite and experience too.

All in all it was a fantastic experience and I can't wait to go back. China is the country that will dominate world headlines for the next 20-30 years and if you are not familiar with it now, you had better be soon.

This is a little pic I put together for the staff members that "Beaverified" my office on the day before the Civil War game. They put that flag up over the office window and now it is in "enemy" hands.

Old Places and Old Friends

Ricks Days - One is a pic from good ole Greenbrier apartments in Rexburg, Idaho. Home to Dan, Steve, Shirlene, Caleb, John Harwood, me and probably some others. Its also where I met Shirlene and fell in love. In the other pic you get Steve Hogan and me enjoying some great Mexican food at Rigobertos, the best dang tacos in America, or Redmond at least.

I'm dreaming of a white Madras...

Who said it never snows in Madras. Top two pics are getting christmas tree last year and the other is a nice snow sitting on our house in December.

In The Mountains

Here are some pics from a couple summers ago. On the left, this is about 12,000 feet with my dad up in the Flat Fops Wilderness where he works as the District Ranger. On the right, Ally, Harry, Camille and myself hiked up in the Jefferson Wilderness. With the exception of Allison cutting her leg, two wasp bites to Harrison and Camille and a guy drowning in the lake next to us it went great :)

Glutony Illustrated

Okay - Here are a couple more pictures of good food I have made recently to stoke your appetite. We Adams love good food and love making good food. Check back more for posts on what tastes great.

Picture 1: Greek Lamb and Potatoes (actually looked better than it tasted, nasty New Zealand Lamb!).

Picture 2: Hot Pastrami Sandwich. We fell in love with these in NY a couple summers ago and now love to make them if we can get out hands on good fatty pastrami. I even ordered some overnight from a deli in NY one time.

Picture 3: My attempt at Grandma Sandy's famous valentine cookies. They were great and were about a foot across. Hard to pick up, but fun to eat!

Jacob, Jacoby and Allison http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Profile=1001&ExpNodes=1001&Category=NEWS01

Saturday, November 17th was a big day around our little berg of Madras. Our "Hometown Hero," Jacoby Ellsbury, came home for a parade through town and then a big celebration in the HS gymnasium with approx. 2500 people. By chance it was also a big day for our "In-home hero," Jacob. It was his sixth birthday. The Mayor declared Nov. 17 to be Jacoby Ellsbury Day and we thought it was pretty cool that that is also Jacob's birthday.

Adding to the fun - Allison was on the cover of the Bend Newspaper, The Bulletin, in a picture associated with the Jacoby Ellsbury Parade and Celebration. Check out the article with the following link (its also hyperlinked) and click on the article about Jacoby and then click on the tab next to his picture that says "More Photos" for the picture of Allison: http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Profile=1001&ExpNodes=1001&Category=NEWS01

Jacoby is a product of our town and actually was active in our church when he was younger and now he is the center fielder for the Boston Red Sox and was, arguably, the best player in the World Series. The whole town loves him as you can imagine.

Metolius Elementary Respect Video

I made this post mostly because I wanted to see how it works. It is a video I made with students at my school last year to help the students with the school expectation of respect. It was fun to work on and then we showed it to the whole school at an assembly. Its a shade under 5 minutes long.

Kids are awesome!

If you don't think Katie is dang cute than you don't know cute. Here are a couple great, recent Katie moments. We hit the coast for Labor Day. The kids had a great time. We saw 3 whales, several seals, really good tidal pools, built sand castles, went through 3 pairs of kids clothes, ate overpriced, crummy chowder at Moes and basically had a great day at the Oregon Coast. The other pic is from Katie's 2nd birthday. She is basically the minature, female version of Harrison. Which means she is a born comedian and loves the spotlight. As soon as we put the tiara on her head and fired up the cake she was in full form and had the kids cracking up. Shirlene made another cool cake and no, we did not eat the doll in the middle of it.

Duck Football

Go Ducks! Yes, we are big UofO Fans. No, not what you are thinking, we are not BIG fans. We are actually pretty average in size. But as fandom goes, we are big. We have football season tickets and going to games is something we love to do. Autzen stadium is a fantastic place to watch a game whether you are a Duck fan or not. These pics are from the season opener that Allie, Harry, Jake and I went to. It was so hot! We kept well hydrated, had a great time and the Ducks played well. We had four 20 year olds sitting in fron of us that were "well-oiled" for the game. Every time the Ducks made a big play they high-fived us. Jake thought that slapping hands with a bunch of big guys was awesome and the smile on his face was priceless. The kids were pumped to get a picture or autograph from players (even though they didn't know who most of them were). Most of the players are great about staying on the field after the game and mixing with the crowd. The fans flood the field and its mayhem as 1000 teenage boys and middle age fathers (me) try to recreate great duck moments on the field with souvenier footballs. I have been hit multiple times. A month ago we took 13 young men from our ward to a game and we were throwing the ball all over the field ducking in and out of the hordes. One of our bigger youth (Kelby) went deep and I threw a Joey Harrington (pre-NFL) worthy spiral to the corner. Unfortunately, our moment of glory was interrupted when Kelby was cut down at the kness by a 3 year old girl who obviously was in a Cover 2 defense. They both hit the deck and even though I cried "Pass Interference," the kids parent's didn't seem amused. Luckily, both "players" were okay.

First Day of School

Jacob has been waiting to go to school his whole life! Well, that might be a little exaggeration, but he has been waiting at least as long as he could stare out the front window to watch the older kids get on the bus every day. Finally, after what seemed like 5 years (it was), he was big enough to go to kindergarten this year. All the older kids were great with him and he was so excited. He was going to get a ride with Shirlene, but at the last second he decided that he wanted to ride the bus with Camille (Harrison was on his bike). That was pretty brave for the Jakeman.

Big Day for Camille

Camille was almost born on the greatest day of the year. No, not Christmas. No, not Thanksgiving and no, not Arbor day. Actually, she was born on July 27th, which is one day past my birthday. Well, this year was a big one as she turned 8 years old and was baptized. It was a really great day and Shane and Tiann made it down from Hermiston with their kids to be there for Camille. Thank you to whomever took the picture for tipping it so that Shirlene looked taller. I am sure she appreciated the thought.

SUSHI - Its whats for dinner
Dan Adams, my illustrious brother, is a man of many talents. One of his finest talents is a penchant for making absolutely, top shelf sushi. At the big Adams family hootenany in Colorado he broke out the bamboo rollers and we made a spread of sushi that could be seen from space. I don't have the skills of Dan, but love to make sushi too, so he let me "roll" with him. We spent about 2 hours making sushi rolls of all shapes sizes, tastes and zestiness. We had tuna, fresh crab, salmon, eel, shrimp and that was just the tip of the sushi berg. By my rough guess we hand made about 35-40 rolls. And no two were the same. We then sat down with my parents, my sister and her hubby and our spouses, cracked open a few bottles of the best Martinellis Cider and sent that sushi to a better place, roll by sweet, lovely roll. It was one of the best meals I have feasted upon in years and everyone had a fantastic time.

Being a Principal is cool!

There are pros and cons to working as a school principal. The cons will be there no matter what and there are as many pros as you want to make for yourself. The best part of the job and biggest pro, by far, is working and playing with the the kids. And when I say playing I really mean playing. These pics are of our annual field day at Metolius Elementary. It is basically one big chance to get everyone wet on the last day of school.

The slip and slide we set up really is 'industrial strength.' It is a 60 foot strip of patented roofing material that my brother-in-law snagged from his work in Eugene. It is super slick and makes great a slip and slide. The nice ladies at Metolius Elementary still don't think it is fast enough so they put soap all over it and that makes it super slippery. The kids were having so much fun I had to give it a try!

I like to jump into the tug of war when I see a team going down and as much as I would like to report that I "save the day" that is usually not the case. 25 third graders can pull a lot harder than you might think? I am getting soft...

The REAL Adams Family

Sorry, no 'Cousin It' in this picture. You are looking at the first full reunion of the Adams family in many years. The occasion was Holly's (my sister) wedding in Meeker, Colorado on June 30th. We had a great time and, most importantly, the cake and catered BBQ were outstanding. Pictured in the photo are (starting in the back row left to right) my brother dan, my father Glenn, my new brother-in-law Sid, yours truly, my daughter Allison, Dan's wife Wanda, my mother Sandy, my sister Holly, my grandmother Barbara, hot babe Shirlene and Katie in her lap, My niece Lauryn, my son Harrison, my niece Molly, my son Jacob, my daughter Camille, my niece Chloe, my niece Kayla, and last but certainly not least my nephew Sam.

Adding to the magnitude of the reunion, Kayla, Lauryn and Chloe were all baptized while we were together as a family.

True talent discovered

I always knew I had talent, but to my chagrin, after 36 years that talent had not surfaced. That was until the 4th of July Watermelon Eating Contest in Meeker Colorado. I entered the competition with my father (seated immediately to my right) and my brother (next to my father with the hat turned backwards) and about 30 other melon eaters. My kids and wife can tell you that I have a watermelon addiction of sorts and actually ate a 35 melon in one day (which led to a long night). The challenge was to see who could eat the most melon quarters in two minutes. I am proud to report that I won the competition with 6 quarters. I out ate second place by two quarters. My Dad and Brother hung it up after a quarter and resorted to what family members do best...laughing at each other. The funny thing was that after sacrificing my stomach, shirt and self respect for the title I was informed that the event organizers had accidentely given the winners t-shirt and dinner for two to the kid who won the 13 and under competition.

As a very important side note - don't mess with Josh and Shirlene when it comes to melon. You may have heard on the radio interview she did (really!) that Shirlene was our County Fair watermelon seed spitting champion. That puts two watermelon champs under one roof! There must be some redneck joke hiding in all this...