1st Place at the 2010 Pottsgrove Wrestling Takedown Tournament

Michael had another great day of wrestling yesterday with an impressive first place finish and no takedowns were scored against him. It was the 7th annual Pottsgrove Takedown Tournament and he had 5 kids including himself in the 45lb Pee Wee division. It's run as a round robin tourney, so he had to wrestle all 4 opponents. The first 2 he wrestled are actually on his team and are both first year wrestlers, so he quickly won those. The last 2 kids were second year wrestlers like Michael and he also beat them soundly. His final match was against a kid he had wrestled a few times last year and they always had a good battle. I am so proud of how he is doing and I hope he keeps it up over the coming years. We have another tournament tomorrow hosted by the Pottsgrove Wrestling Club - The 2011 Pottsgrove Holiday Wrestling Tournament. The videos from the tournament are below:

Family at Bear Creek

Lunar Eclipse - Winter Solstice

I took these at around 3:15am last night during the lunar eclipse/winter solstice. They are no where near as sharp as I would have liked due to the wind. I used a tripod and long exposures, so any slight movement effected the image. Not too bad though...

Exeter Reading Wrestling Tournament - 1st Place Win!

An amazing day of wrestling (and a great Eagles game to boot)! Michael wrestled 45lbs in the Pee Wee division of the Exeter Reading Round Robin Wrestling Tournament. There were 5 kids total in his division which meant he would wrestle 4 matches. He pinned the first 3 opponents in the first period leading up to the final bout. His opponent in the final match also pinned the other 3 wrestlers, so it was an exciting match. The match went into overtime at 4-4 and Michael got the take down in overtime sealing his first place victory. I am very proud of him and he was very happy with his trophy. A great day. Video below:

Family Snowboarding

This was our first day out of the 2010-2011 season snowboarding together. Both Gretchen and Mya weren't feeling too well today so we only stayed for a short time, but the kids did pretty well. You can see at the end of the video that Michael doesn't like me videotaping him. I think he'll appreciate it when he gets bigger :)

homemade fish tacos

Made some tilapia fish tacos and salsa from scratch for lunch today. Delish!

Mya Snowboarding

This is a short clip of Mya snowboarding at Bear Creek today. At the end she takes a bit of a fall and smacked her head. She was fine though. A good day of riding...

5 more years of Howard!!!! And he's on the Sirius iPhone app now. W00t!!!!

Mya's Orchestra Concert

This was from Mya's Orchestra concert last night. She has been practicing very hard to learn the two songs they performed pizzicato on the violin and we are very proud of her. The songs were "Jingle Bells" and "The Dreidel Song." Luckily the beginners went first because Michael's wrestling practice was taking place simultaneously down the hall, so I was able to sneak out after they were finished :)

Kutztown Wrestling Tourney 11-28-10

Well, it was a tough one today. It's a good thing that the season is just starting. Michael had a rough couple of matches at the Kutztown Wrestling tournament today. He started great in both matches, but kept getting caught in "cement mixers." It looks like we'll be drilling "how-not-to-get-caught in cement mixers at practice for the next couple of weeks. He did very well in both of his bouts, but ended up losing them both because of that move. Oh well - it was a good learning experience.

My New Ride

2010 Explorer. Sweet.

JibJab Holiday Heavy Metal Music Video

This is funny

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Halloween 2010

My little army girl and marine boy. Not sure why they chose military costumes, but they looked cute. The paint on Mya's face was a last minute add on and I think it made the costume perfect. :)

The fall photo session

We had some fun raking the leaves yesterday for a nice fall photo shoot...Lot's more raking to be done :)

Halloween 2010 - The School Parade

Here is some video of the Halloween parade at Mya and Michael's school today along with a couple of photos - My army girls and then Michael and his buddy Shane.

Michael and Mya

Michael and Mya, originally uploaded by d13vk.

A beautiful fall foliage background on the golf course at Aunt Annie's house...I love fall.

Before/After Weight Loss

I've been working out pretty hard for the past year and eating much healthier then I used to. I hit the gym 5 days a week M-F and have cut out a lot of junk. I still eat anything, but in much greater moderation. Both of these photos were taken at my Grandmother's house approximately 10 months apart. In the first photo I weighed 200lbs - In the photo taken yesterday I weighed about 180lbs. I'm pretty happy with the weight loss and I feel good. Gretchen still looks as great as she always does :)

Family Weekend

A great time was had this weekend with the Krueger and the Bostwick clans...

Pottsgrove Soccer 10-16-10

Mya's soccer game from the weekend. The team played very well.

Flag Football - 10-15-10

A shot of Mike running with the ball before the game. Here are some photos from the game:

Shrimp Tacos

Unreal

Dorney Park 10-2-10

We all had a great time at Dorney Park yesterday to celebrate Mya's good friend Skylar's 9th birthday. Here are the photos...

Michael's Football Run

Mike has a great run in his flag football game.

Hat Day

Mya and Michael wearing their cool hats to school on "hat day."

Camping - Mt Vista Campground

Here is a short video and some photos from our weekend camping trip in the Poconos. We ate, drank, hiked, and even deep fried a turkey :)

Good time.

Pottsgrove Lightning - Girls Soccer Game

This was from Mya's soccer game today. Great game - they won 6-5.

Delilah

Our 6 month old "Morkie" Delilah. She's a maltese/yorkie mix.

Homemade Chicken Ginger Eggrolls

Sliced chicken, shredded cabbage, green onion, Ginger, and carrots wrapped in egg roll wraps. About to bake for 25 mins to be ready for football kickoff.

Ingredients:
1lb of sliced chicken breast
shredded carrots
shredded cabbage
minced ginger (1Tbs)
3-5 Tbs of diced green onions
Asian Ginger Sauce
Egg Roll Wrappers

Cook chicken in wok or large skillet on high with about 2-4 Tbs of vegetable oil. When chicken turns white (2-4 mins) add a few splashes of the ginger sauce, sliced cabbage, carrots, ginger, and green onion. Once the cabbage wilts (2 mins or so) remove all ingredients to a bowl.

Spoon the mixture into the egg roll wrappers and fold accordingly. I actually put mine into the fridge until it was close to game time. Brush a very small amount of sesame oil or a little veggie oil on the outside of the rolls and then bake at 350 until golden brown. Serve with duck sauce or some ginger sauce and enjoy!

Giant Pot of Chicken Soup

Making a nice Matzo Ball/ chicken noodle soup. Perfect fall football food.

2010 Flag Football

Michael's 2010 flag football photo

1992 - Neshaminy Wrestling Team

1992 - Neshaminy Wrestling Team, originally uploaded by d13vk.

I just dug this photo out because my high school wrestling team is having a reunion with some of the coaches at a bar this weekend. I wrestled 152 my senior year and actually sucked down to 145 for 1 match - they took photos that day...Needless to say I was a bit emaciated. By the way - I am in the middle back row 5th from the left.

1st Day of School

Mya and Michael's first day of school for the 2010-11 year. Michael is starting first and Mya starting third grades. They were both very excited.



The rest of the photos from this morning's shoot are here:

Camping in the back yard

Perfect weather for a backyard camping adventure with the kids

Netflix for iPhone

I've been waiting for this since Apple announced it months ago. Netflix is finally available on the iPhone and it looks fantastic. I tried both wifi and 3G and I was very impressed. The only thing that is a bummer is that you cannot yet access your disc queue. I imagine that will be in a future update. Very cool. See some screen grabs I took below:

Eastbound & Down

I love this show. Can't wait.

Vibram 5 Finger - KSO

Vibram 5 Finger - KSO, originally uploaded by d13vk.

They just came from the UPS guy. Trying them on for the first time and guess what? They fit like a glove :)

5k Run - Kids 1/2 Mile Run

Today Gretchen and the kids ran in a fun run. Gretchen and our friend Courtney ran in a 5K run. Gretchen came in with an impressive 24 minutes. The kids ran in a 1/2 mile run and Mya finished in under 4 minutes - Michael finished in 4 minutes exactly. A good day of fun running...

***UPDATE***

Both Mya and Paige were on the front page of the Pottstown, Mercury today.

Hiking at Jacobsburg State Park

We took the kids and Ripple to Jacosburg State Park to do a bit of hiking. The trails were nice and sceninc and there were lots of people on horseback. We had a nice picnic after a couple of hours of hiking. Good day.

The Fellas

Skate, Fred, me, Bri, and Bruski chillin after BBQ'n

After

Before

Before chopping

Delicious fresh salsa