Unbelievably busy
Well, I haven’t gotten around to doing anything at all on my new combined blog in the past week or so. Part of the problem is the new job and the tremendous workload as I transition out of the old and squeeze into the new. Another part is the two courses I’m taking for my masters program. (That was a huge mistake: two courses plus a full-time demanding job plus a family plus some friends equals absolutely no time for numero uno.) I’m looking forward to December, because on December 1 I will have (God willing) completely all my papers and assignments for my courses, and I’ll be able to slow down a bit. I just submitted my last assignment for ETEC 522 - a education venture capital course - last night at midnight … and I have one last paper due for my ETEC 511.
It’s a 3000-word paper, though, so it’s not a minor project. Such is life: intentional imbalance for short periods of time to accomplish set goals. But I hope to regain some semblance of balance soon!
The Weird Family
(This is a story by my son Ethan, who is 8 years old.)Chapter 1Once upon a time there was a boy who loved to swing.One day he swung so high that he slipped of and flew though the air! Then a peregrine falcon stuck him down flying the fastest he could! He fell and fell until he fell into a lake! The lake lead to a river. A current swept him into the river. The river carried him from the lake to a swing. He swung on the swing and jumped off! But just as he jumped off he realized that he was just at his house! (He had gone around the Earth in one hour!)Now he was flapping his arms but that just made him faster because his name is Fly, he is four (But very good at swinging.),and he is one pound! Now because he hadn’t got hit he was up in space orbiting the Earth! His Mom was geting worried now. Just as he thought he was going to get dehydrated halley’s comet blasted him back to Earth! (He was saved!) He landed on his swing and it broke. Yahow he yelled! Because ofcorse he didn’t like swinging anymore.Chapter 2Fly’s parents got divorced because Fly broke the swing that his worked hard for. His Mom stayed but his Dad didn’t. Fly’s new Dad had very long arms so he needed to get to work on a weird bike because it was to much work in a car. His new Dad didn’t like to get to work on a bike because he got to tired. So they decided to make a car that he could drive to work but it cost 987′000′000 dolars! But he still bought it anyway! And that’s when they became poor! But he got more money because he got in the guienss book of world records!Chapter 3Fly’s parents had a baby girl that was not ordinary. It was born with teeth, hair and size two feet. Soon in three months the baby had lost a tooth, had long hair and was walking! When it was in preschool she knew what ninetyeight x sevendysix equals! (It equals 7,448.)So she had to skip a grade but she was still to smart so she needed to skip another grade. But she was still too smart so she needed to skip another grade! And another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another until it was time to go to College! But she was still to smart so she had to go to universery and that’s just right for her even though people laugh at her for being so smallTHE END- by Ethan Koetsier
So I can feel like a winner
The kids all got their medals today from the Fraser Valley Regional Library summer reading club challenge.Aidan, when he came home with his, said now he’s got his first medal “so he can feel like a winner.”
How to blow one balloon inside another
Ethan’s instructions:
1. Blow both balloons up first (to stretch the balloons)
2. Let the air out of both
3. Blow up the balloon that’s supposed to be bigger (on the outside)
4. While holding the outside balloon put the other balloon inside it
5. Blow up the inside balloon6. Blow up the outside balloon just a bit more
7. Tie them both
Picture:
Skookumchuck Rapids
We’re currently on BC’s Sunshine Coast taking a week’s holiday. A couple of days ago we took a two-hour hike to Skookumchuck Narrows, which is where the tidal flow into a huge basin is constricted through a narrow passage and can exceed 30 km/hr.
Really cool rapids and standing waves … which the kayakers enjoy:
Fun with photobooth
Ethan and Aidan were playing around with Photobooth, Apple’s fun picture-taking software that accompanies the newer iMacs and MacBooks with built-in cameras.
A couple of the results:
And one that they liked better:
The painting you see in the back? It’s Jeroen Vermeulen’s … their uncle (and my brother-in-law).
Tags: ethan, aidan, john koetsier, family, pix, photo
Summer Holidays
(a poem by Gabrielle Koetsier, age 10)
Children sitting, solemn, silent.
Bell rings! Screaming, yelling, violent!
Running, rushing, up the stairs.
“Children, wait!” nobody cares.
School’s out! It’s summer! Time to play!
No more teachers! Run away!
We are going to the pool.
Perfect way to keep us cool.
Let’s go buy some lemonade!
We will drink it in the shade.
Our skin is brown, our feet are bare.
And we are free without a care.
Playing, laughing, summer days,
We’re on summer holidays!
(I typed it all out by myself too!)
Easter egg clues …
This past Easter we, naturally, had an easter egg hunt. Each of the kids had a chance to hide the eggs and let the others find them.
And Gabrielle, being the creative girl she is, had to make it more interesting … with clues. Here they are …
Hrm …. in the library?
Outside?!?
This doesn’t sound too good for chocolate ….
OK, this one’s easy:
But I’m not sure I want to eat this egg:
Tags: easter, eggs, hunt, fun, kids, pictures, john koetsier, gabrielle
A day at Mount Baker
I took the day off today and we spent the day at Mount Baker. Tubing, playing, feeding the birds … absolutely gorgeous:
Here’s a short video that I took while tubing … following Gabrielle down the hill:
Tags: mount baker, tubing, john koetsier
Opa’s last happy birthday message
Teresa’s grandfather’s last message … we left it on our answering machine for almost two years, until I recorded it onto my computer.
Click the pink play button:
Teresa’s Opa (Rienk Koat) died in 2005. Here’s one of the pictures we have of him in our kitchen.
He died less than a month after leaving this message. Growing up is hard to do, sometimes.
. . .
. . .
Posting this made me think of something I wrote about Corrie Koat, his wife, and Teresa’s Oma.
Tags: opa, grandfather, podcast, koat, teresa, john koetsier
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Sparkplug 9 is John Koetsier's blog on life, the universe, and everything,
but mostly the stuff you see big in the tags to the left.
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