Mark signed 2 for 7 papers this morning.  What’s that mean?  It means that he’s just committed himself to two more years at the Naval Academy and a minimum of five years in the US Navy.  There’s no backing out now…

Here’s the crowning moment –

In the “old days”, the signing wasn’t a big deal.  It was fully understood that if you showed up for your first class in your 2nd Class year (your Junior Year in a civilian college), then you were in.  Period.  Done deal.

If you had doubts, you didn’t go to class.  The Academy wouldn’t pressure you, the Academy offered support and counseling, and generally speaking your friends helped you through the tough time.  If you ultimately decided to go to class, your friends would loudly celebrate as they escorted you to the classroom.  If you decided to opt out, they supported your decision and helped you pack your stuff to go home.

Today, mids sign.  In a big room, under bright lights, with lots of folks watching.  Then there’s the Celebratory Dinner.  It’s a big affair, a big deal, and a big party.  Mids only — don’t even think about attending or crashing.

And then back to regular midshipman life.  Classes start tomorrow or Wednesday (I didn’t check), and “Hell-o Night” for Plebes just went down.  Let the games begin…

Congratulations Mark!

No vocals — he only sings alone in the basement.

Click through the links, okay?

cameron trunzo 7.13.10

Love it!

…if you all recall, he suggested I join him in the Grand Tetons for a few days of climbing.  I declined due to scheduling concerns, but the 150′ rappel to get down kinda’ had me a bit worried too.

From John’s notes:

We had two fantastic days of hiking and climbing.  We went from 6,700′ to 13,400′  just 370′ shy of the summit.  Almost 1.5 miles of elevation gain.

We camped in the moraine and then climbed to the lower saddle and then up to a ledge called Wall Street.  From there we rock climbed several pitches up the upper Exum Ridge.  We had only two pitches to go but decided that at 3:30 PM there was a chance we would be the last ones on the summit and not know exactly how to descend.  We were on the same route as the climbers on Wednesday that got struck by lightning, but we had great weather.

We did a 150′ rappel down to the upper saddle and then hiked down the Owens Spaulding Route to our camp at 10,500′.  Dan Jopp and I had a fast fun ride glissading down the snow field using our ice axes as a brake.  We dropped several hundred feet sliding on our butts in our rain pants.

Notice the ropes and helmets in the two photos below.  Ropes and helmets mean “don’t fall”.  I may not be ready for “don’t fall” hiking and climbing…

John celebrating victory –

Am I the only one to notice the clothing requirements in July?

John nails another one…

…maybe next year for me.

From our last post, all of you know that Mark has no desire to go “Surface”.  No ships for our favorite midshipman (which begs the question…then why the Navy?  But that’s another discussion…).  Our favorite mid has decided that Aviation is his calling (something he’s wanted since he was about 8)…that is…unless the Sub Bug bites him.  Sub week was a huge success!  Marines aren’t his thing…unless he’s a Marine Aviator, of course.  But Navy Air or Subs are both calling his name, so let’s see what this whole ProTraMid thing was about.

I won’t bother with Surface pix.  Unless the pix came from the decks of an aircraft carrier, Mark didn’t seem thrilled.  Marine week was first — let’s start there.

Can anyone see Mark dressing for work like this every day?

I admire the Marines (a lot), but as a parent, I kinda’ take issue with the problem of our Marines getting shot at all of the time.  Obviously whoever shoots at one of our Marines is a damn fool…life is short when the Wrath of God rains down upon you in the form of return fire.  But I’m not a fan of putting one of my kids in that kind of environment.  They do have some cool toys though…

As Mark points out, “these things float.”  And that they do –

In the Marine Aviation part of the world, here comes a ride:

And hanging out the side of one is kinda’ cool –

But I’m not seeing it.  Unless Mark changes his mind, I have a feeling the Marines won’t get a crack at him.

But Subs?  Well…that was the surprise of this training block!  Going in, Mark swore — swore! — that nothing could convince him to consider the Sub pipeline as a training/career option.  But I guess that changes when you climb on board.  This shot doesn’t do this sub any justice, but here are some mids standing on top of one of our nuclear subs getting ready to go below.  Oh, and they’re standing right above a whole bunch of ballistic missiles…

Mark had an opportunity to stand on top of that sail you see in the background.  You can’t tell, but it’s up there…and the effect is magnified when you’re at sea.  These things are huge.

But not an inch is wasted down below.  Looks a little tight, right?

Subs are cool…but I think we’re going to see this kind of work-wear in Mark’s future.  It’s more “him”, right?  This is “dressed and ready to go” for his training flight:

Today, it’s the back seat.  Tomorrow?

Check this out: Mark called this shot “diving to San Diego” –

Notice the angle they’re on…looks pretty much straight down to me.  I’m surprised he even held onto the camera.  But what kind of maneuver leads up to a dive like this?  I can’t say for sure, but it probably looked something like this –

Now I’m really surprised that the camera didn’t end up on the roof of the cockpit.  He calls this something like “upside down mid-loop”…and if you look at the wing, you can rest assured that it’s not the camera that was upside-down.

What else do we have…

Oh!  SeAL time!  The mids ran through the SeAL “O-Course” (Obstacle Course).  SeALs do it in about five minutes or less, and the mids did it carefully to learn the ropes.  Here’s a shot of Mark and a buddy right after they completed it.  Even going “slow” he appears to have broken a sweat.  How are those workouts coming, Mark?

He looks to me like he’s in pretty good shape.  But Karen says “Marky-Mark gets his butt kicked when he gets here, baby…”

Mark, how do you spell kettlebells?  We’ll find out in about three weeks!  (“Where’s the men’s locker room…I’m not feeling so good”…who said that?)

So!  Will Mark opt for dolphins?  Or wings?  Both would look mighty nice on his collar!  Or…

…will it be Grad School first?  So many options…must be nice!

He’s earned it!  More soon –

As all of you know, Mark just wrapped up four weeks of ProTraMid in San Diego.  Marine week was “okay” (“fun” but a lot of “hurry up and wait”); Surface week was “horrible” (no ships for our favorite midshipman); Aviation week was “a blast”; and the sleeper was Sub week (just completed).  Mark is en route to Annapolis as I scribble this getting ready to start his Soaring Training Block tomorrow.  Flying gliders?  Who woulda’ thought?

I should have more ProTraMid pix and stories to relate in a few weeks.  Until then, check out these two quick hits:

First, a short (6 min) video of a Navy Trainer doing a lap around a carrier at sea.  (Please excuse the opening ad…a necessary evil.)  This plane is very similar to the one Mark flew in during Aviation week.  As far as the Navy Aviation “pipeline” goes, this flight pretty much sealed the deal.  Mark’s flight didn’t involve a carrier landing or take off, but he did have the “bag” ready.  He asked the pilot to show his skills, and show ‘em the pilot did…lots of fun!  And no need for the bag!

As you watch this, notice how much is happening on the deck.  Planes landing, planes taking off, blast shields up on the deck to keep everything and everyone safe as planes come and go.  The choreography is pretty cool.

As mentioned in the previous post, Mark had heard that Sub week was “amazing”.  The Sub guys do a serious sales job on the mids — they need new officers all of the time!  They didn’t disappoint.  Mark was on a “boomer” — a nuclear sub — carrying a whole bunch of nasty ballistic missiles with an undisclosed number of warheads.  His cruise was somewhere in the Pacific where he learned a lot and had a lot of fun.  He bunked between two of those ballistic missiles (“Dad, they’re huge“), he listened in on a bunch of dolphins having a chat, he climbed to the top of the sail (3+ stories up) when the sub surfaced to stand on top and watch the waves crash over the bow, and he enjoyed what I think he called “angles and dangles”…a drill that bobs and rolls the sub at 25 to 30 degree angles every which way while several hundred feet under water.  Oh, and he also loved the “full back” drill: think about locking up the brakes in your car while doing 90 MPH but visualize it under water.  Yeah…subs shake and vibrate too…

No cameras were allowed on the sub (for obvious reasons), but the Navy was kind enough to assign someone to take pictures of the mids.  I only have one, and it’s a cell phone picture of a picture (so excuse the quality), but I’ll have more when we see Mark in late July.  But check this out:

That’s a torpedo tube.  A BIG torpedo tube — 26 feet long, I believe.  Mark autographed the inside of that Bad Boy, filled it with water, and pulled the trigger just for kicks.  Even water carries a heavy wallop coming out of the end of that thing.

The Sub guys did their job well.  Mark is actually considering…considering (can you believe this?)…subs as a possible career pipeline.  That was unthinkable just a week ago!

The only major drawbacks that I can think of all involve his family: he will rarely be able to tell us where he’s going or where he is, he can’t talk about much of anything that they do (even on this trip), and communicating with someone who spends months under water can be difficult.  Plus, I don’t get any fighter jet rides…

Looking ahead, hopefully we’ll have some video of one of Mark’s glider flights.  I’m especially looking forward to seeing a landing.  I’d even settle for the audio…the screams of terror would be entertaining, don’t you think?

“Whadda ya’ mean there’s no engine!  I can’t land this thing there!”

Hopefully more soon.

As most of you know, Cameron suffered more than the concussion mentioned in the last post.  Without re-hashing the details, let’s just say that he exercised poor judgment…similar to that of the poor sap in the photo above.  What do said sap and Cameron have in common?  Neither was wearing a helmet.

Cameron is usually pretty good about wearing a helmet.  But for some reason, and on my birthday no less, he decided to become the Jean Van Damme of skateboard stunts and attempt something spectacular sans-helmet.  Big Mistake.  He remembers the stunt going bad, and then he has a fuzzy recollection of waking up on a friend’s couch.  Two hospital visits and two doctor visits later, he was promptly ensconced in a Pediatric ICU Unit with a 27 meter needle in his spine (or so it felt) draining spinal fluid that was creating pressure inside his now cracked (though still thick) skull.

After five days on his back (and only on his back), he was pronounced healthy enough to leave the hospital but warned that he’d be “uncomfortable” for awhile.  Today he’s a reasonably normal version of himself but one that suffers from recurring headaches and a general state of “wobbliness”.  In other words, he’s on the path to a full recovery.  He should be good to go in just a little bit, and he’ll most certainly be a wiser version of himself than the one that made such a potentially devastating choice just a short time ago.  Right Cameron?  Right…I thought so.

Thank you again to everyone that stayed abreast of Cameron’s progress.  We appreciate the thoughts and prayers.  For those of you reading this that weren’t aware of the severity of the incident, I apologize…things were a bit hectic for a few days.

When Cameron comes to Florida in a few weeks, he’ll be leaving the skateboard at his Mom’s.  We’ll play a lot of golf, we’ll get him back in Aaron’s gym, and we’ll feed him well (every other day).  Maybe we’ll let him play with a bouncy ball or something similarly low-risk.

Kristin is contemplating a school change.  In an effort to jump-start her education, she’s thinking about leaving William Patterson (where she’s an undeclared major enduring the standard fare of liberal arts) to enter a school that caters to her primary interest: interior design.  Teachers and professionals alike have declared her interior design skills to be “very good” to “excellent”, and having enjoyed her expertise firsthand, I have to agree.  She’s brilliant!  (Sorry…excuse the outrageous display of pride…)  Should she decide to make the change, she’ll dive headfirst into a program that can have her up and running in as little as two years.  After that, intern opportunities lead to careers with the likes of Ethan Allen or Disney.  I kinda’ like the idea of Disney…

We’ll keep you posted on her decision.

Mark just came off Aviation Week (a success) and is busy preparing for Sub Week.  Marine Week was fun, Surface Week wasn’t.  If there was ever any doubt about Mark’s lack of enthusiasm about being on a ship, that doubt is now removed.  He hated it.  (Kinda’ makes the Navy an interesting choice, doesn’t it?)  Anyway, given the opportunity to take the stick of a Navy Trainer in flight, he declined.  Why?  Because flight time is limited, and Mark decided to use his time to enjoy the pilot’s skill.  He experienced a bunch of rolls, dives, climbs, and upside-down flying that left him even more convinced that aviation is his first choice of career paths.  Given that our favorite midshipman enjoys a class rank of 59 (out of about 1,200), he’s got a good shot at getting his choice of career pipelines.  But then again…

…part of Sub Week includes an overnight “cruise” that other mids have called “a blast”.  The Navy has been falling short in recruiting Sub Officers for the last several years, so the sub guys put on a good show for mids-soon-to-be-Naval-officers.  Mids enjoying high class rank are recruited for subs aggressively (and I mean aggressively).  Sub school involves two difficult years of study, but at the end, graduates hold the equivalent of a masters in Nuclear Engineering.  These guys (all guys until this year) join an extremely small group of individuals worldwide qualified in all aspects of nuclear power.  Once deployed, Sub Officers enjoy some of the highest compensation in the military.  Demand in the private sector is off the charts.  All in all, it’s a great career path…

…unless your passion lies elsewhere.  So I guess we’ll see, right?

Paris is enjoying a few weeks in Girl Scout Camp.  It’s a day camp experience now, but Kristin just reminded me today that when she was Paris’ age, she enjoyed one week of overnight Girl Scout Camp.  She was angry with us for not allowing her to attend two.  What the hell was I thinking?  I let my little girl spend a week away from home in the woods?  Where were all of you to smack some sense into me?  I guess it wasn’t all bad…Kristin has great memories of her camp experience, and she quasi-chastised me for not considering overnight camp for Paris.  The only overnight experience Paris is going to enjoy in the near future is in a convent.  (Do convents still exist?)

I must be getting old.

More soon –

Mark was one of the “Fencers of the Decade” in Passaic County.  Just as importantly, two of his teammates were named, and a couple of his friends/competitors made the list as well.  All good guys, all deserving!

Mark is in San Diego right now for ProTraMid (Professional Training for Midshipmen).  He may even be out to sea (this week being Surface Week).  His phone is dead, and staying in touch with him during the week while training is near impossible.  Last week was Marine Week (at Camp Pendleton), with Sub Week and Aviation Week coming up.  He’ll hopefully see all of this over the weekend when he has some time off.

Congratulations Mark!

Kristin wrapped up Year One at Patterson University.  One down baby!

Cameron recently managed another skateboard related injury.  This time it was a severe concussion.  The discussion over helmets being worn at all times has already happened on several fronts.  When he finally remembers what year it is, I think he’ll consider favorably all of the helmet advice he’s getting.

Paris wrapped up another successful school year.  She tested and qualified for every available accelerated learning opportunity offered in our school system.  It’s certainly nice to have choices…

We celebrated the end of school with a short trip over to Disney.  Four days of fun in Paradise!

More info soon!

It’s my understanding that the skies are gray in the Great Northeast, there’s been lots of rain, and the mood in general rates pretty low. So here’s a clip from sunny (and finally warmer) Paradise…

Double click on the clip to get it started — (we killed the original video…too many folks were unable to run it…)

For those of you that only see a black box above, please enjoy the video courtesy of Vimeo below:

…which took me long enough, right?  Here’s the deal: the photos you’re about to see are from our last trek.  John and the Schmit-Dog did a mini on our last day, but for Paul and for me, this was it.

This was the hike to Half Dome.  John planned an incredible trip for us, and in his normal, be-prepared kind of way, he saved this hike for last.  When we started talking about the Yosemite trip, my input was simple and limited: seeing pictures from John’s prior excursions to Yosemite, I wanted to do Half Dome.  Period.  “Jay, what do you want to do on the trip?”  “Half Dome.”  “Jay, what airport are you flying into?”  “Half Dome.”  “Jay, how’s the family?”  “Half Dome.”  You get the idea.

So Half Dome!  I’m going to post a lot of pictures.  We took over 835 photos on this trip!  If anyone wants to see the raw footage (no commentary, no identifying info), go to EdgeProximity.com.  You’ll see a banner photo and a photo labeled “The Pix”. Click there and you’re in!  The pix are in no particular order — we’re talking raw.

Okay!  Back to Half Dome!  This was another overnighter, so you know it involved a bit of hiking and an amazing view or two.  From John’s journal:  “Jay, Paul and JG set out for the “hike of hikes” in the park as far as I am concerned.  Sunrise Lake trail head at Tenaya Lake to Happy Isles by way of Cloud’s Rest and Half Dome.”

First stop — Cloud’s Rest.  Cloud’s Rest is commonly seen in the background of Half Dome photos taken from the Yosemite Valley.  7.4 miles in, a couple of thousand feet (or so) to cover going up, the hike started off easily enough.   But when the elevation came, it became brutal.

But check this out: at altitude, things change very slowly.  Stuff takes years to grow (some of the floral vegetation is hundreds of years old).  John asked us to stop to take this picture — in this exact location — because he has pictures from prior hikes that look identical.  Maybe he doesn’t look identical (since we’re talking about some hikes over 20 years ago), but the growth and rock in the background are the same.  Exactly the same.  It’s freakin’ eerie!  Since his prior pix were of him with his shirt off, this one had to be too.

From our prior posts, everyone remembers that the green stuff is trees, right?  Yeah, it’s a long way down.

Okay, so we’re on our way!  We’re doin’ some hiking.  We’re going up.  And up.  And up.  You folks that use stairmasters at the gym got nothin’ on us!  And lo’ and behold, we come to the “Dinosaur’s Back”.  That’s not it’s official name, but that’s what John calls it.  It’s the last little bit of “up” before we make it up to the top of Cloud’s Rest:

No big deal, right?  Well…yeah!  Except if you look left, it’s about 1,800 feet down, and if you look right, it’s about 2,000 feet down.  And despite what you think you see in these always deceiving pictures, it’s really, really easy to look down!  Want some perspective?

Uh-huh.  I know it looks “wide”, but maybe this will help:

Trust me on this: vertigo was definitely a part of the experience.

Okay, so we get up there.  Then what?  C’mon!  Eat something!  And more importantly, have a cigar!

Even at 11,000 plus feet, one can successfully light a cigar…

And yes, that’s Half Dome in the background.  It’s about 1,500 feet below us, but unfortunately, nature doesn’t allow for a straight, downhill hike to get there.  First you take a circuitous route down from Cloud’s Rest (losing about 2,500 of elevation we worked so hard to achieve), and then you start back up.  But before we go, group shots!

Paul on the left, John in the middle, and well…everyone knows the ugly guy on the right.  And yes, there’s a story behind the hat…

That’s the Tenaya Valley you see in the right background and it’s the same valley John posed in front of for his famous “lost in time” shot.  Yes, it’s a big valley (we started this hike at Tenaya Lake almost eight miles ago…)  You’ll see more of this valley from Half Dome.  Anyway, to many hikers, the climb up and over Cloud’s Rest looks like hard work compared to simply hiking through the Tenaya Valley.  It tempts many…

…but as John’s guidebook pointed out, the Tenaya Valley is not a place to hike through.  Many that go in don’t come out.  Quoting the guidebook, “if you find yourself in the Tenaya Valley, you’re blowing it bad…”

So!  We don’t turn right!  We turn left!  And down we go!  Down, down, down…nature is so cruel sometimes.

Half Dome in the background again.  John perched on a nice leisurely path.  Yeah, that was the “down” part…

Soon enough, we had the Ultimate Destination in our sights.  Here’s an attempt at a literal reference:

It seemed funny at the time, okay?  If you look at the tree line at the right side base of Half Dome, that’s our final destination for the day.  Our plan is to hit the base, set up camp, and then on the following morning, make the climb up to the top just in time for sunrise.  It’s an excellent plan.

Fast forward: we’re there.  End of a long day (11 miles plus of hiking with serious elevation changes), sun setting, dinner almost ready courtesy of John, and a final cigar. Tomorrow’s goal directly behind (and above) us.

If I were a better photographer (and if the packs didn’t already weigh 35 pounds each), I’d have a camera that worked miracles at night.  Because from very near the spot where this picture was taken, the view of the stars once the sun went down was incredible.  I mean…amazing!  As darkness approached, John asked me if I had ever seen the Milky Way.  I laughed and shrugged my shoulders.  “Of course,” I said.

Wrong!  I couldn’t believe my eyes!  The absence of artificial light means “dark” is actually dark.  I know most of you are familiar with the concept, and I know some of you have experienced what I’m trying to describe.  The best way I can think of to describe it was that looking into the night sky from that spot was like seeing stars (galaxies) through the Hubble Telescope (except obviously we were on the ground).  Had I ever really seen the Milky Way?  Hell no!

Daybreak!  Almost…at about 4:30 AM, and at various moments, all of us slipped out of our comatose states to the sounds of voices.  Damn!  Someone was going to beat us to the top!  That was not part of the plan!  And it was an excellent plan!  Okay.  We’re awake.  Let’s rock.

Tenaya Valley way below.  Campsite below at the tree line.  You get the feeling we’re climbing stairs?  That’s because we basically are…

…somewhere over the decades, dedicated (crazy) fans of the Park “manicured” many of the more popular trail routes.  Mountain goats (like John) have no trouble scurrying up the sides of anything, but mere mortals (like Paul and me) were thankful for the well-placed and well anchored “steps” piled onto and cut into the side of the rock face.  This was some serious vertical going, and without the help of these “steps”, we’d have been working a lot harder.

The trail goes up and up until you reach one of the coolest sights I’ve ever seen.  This was one of the scenes from John’s prior hikes that made me absolutely want to climb Half Dome.  The cables:

Like the “steps” that got us here, these cables were installed to make the ascent up Half Dome possible for those of us born without mountain goat genes.  Notice how there’s a pile of gloves on the right at the foot of the cables.  You need ‘em.  Take a pair, use ‘em, and put ‘em back when you come down.

Paul took this photo of John and me because he decided he’d climbed high enough.  What, you’re not impressed?  You should be.  But maybe the sight of the cables took him by surprise.  At least I had the benefit of seeing pictures before I saw the real thing.  If you’re thinking “what’s the big deal?” maybe you need a better look:

Still not doing it for you?  How’s this?

Or this?  From above…

Yeah, Paul is still down there…you don’t see him?  The guy in the white shirt is John.  Paul is the speck on John’s left.  (Side note of insanity: when it was time to go back down, John says “Jay, do it like this.  It’s easiest.”  He aims his head at the bottom, grabs the cables, and runs.  I did no such thing…)

Here’s a similar view in reverse.  Yeah…it’s fun.  And just one more…sorry if you’re getting tired of the damn cables…just one more for proper perspective:

So!  What’s it look like when you get to the top?  Oh, it’s no big deal…

The outcropping the person is standing on is called the Diving Board.  I’m sure you can figure out why.  Let’s put this in perspective, shall we?  Here’s a shot from the other side of the Valley (that I did not take — from Glacier Point) just so you can appreciate what you’re seeing:

See the Diving Board?  Yeah…it’s up there.  Cloud’s Rest is the “hump” just behind the left side of Half Dome.  The green stuff on the left is the Tenaya Valley.  Can anyone guess why I wanted to do this hike?

Let me show you my inspiration (this was in addition to John’s pix of the cables).  Here’s John from a previous hike…on the Diving Board…doing it as only John can…

He calls this shot “the doctor told me to keep weight off my left knee”.  This shot was my ultimate inspiration.  Here’s my attempt at duplicating his pose (note sheer terror and trepidation):

The Valley is still in a shadow because the sun is coming up.  When the trip was over, and I was lying safely in a hotel room bed, I did a little “back-of-the-napkin” math and determined that it would take between 35 and 40 seconds for one to hit the ground if one were to fall off this damn thing.

Okay!  Check out the hole to my right (your left) in the above shot.  That little cave leads to another hole directly beneath me.  That’s called “the King’s Chair”.  John showed me around in there, and then we grabbed a couple of pix:

You guessed it: that’s John hanging out of the King’s Chair.  Wanna see what he saw?

There’s the Tanya Valley again.  And yes, it’s a long way down.

A few more shots:

John snapped this of me while I was snapping shots of him.

And here he manages to catch me doing something I hate to be caught doing: staring in absolute awe…

Yeah…it was that amazing.

I’m going to leave it there.

The hike back down was tough.  It’s 5,000 feet plus down (6,000 in these pix), and believe it or not, “down” can be harder than “up”.  Once we hit town, we gobbled pizza and ice cream.  We needed it.  I lost 12 pounds on this trip!  What a trip it was…

Quick notes:

It took me forever to write this post because I was striving for perfection.  In the end, I decided I’d slap it together and forget perfection, but as you can imagine, with over 835 photos and this being the centerpiece of the trip, I wanted to do it to “right”.  As noted above, if you want to see a bunch of raw, unedited, uncommented pix, go to EdgeProximity.com.

John is trying to convince me to go Grand Teton this summer for a little rock climbing (as opposed to “hiking”…which sure felt like climbing to me).  I think I’m going to pass.  The trek involves some 5.7 climbs which are no problem for guys like John, but hanging from a fingernail while looking down at a few thousand feet of “exposure” is not in my repertoire right now.  “Jay, you might want to practice your pull ups!”  Oh, and coming down on that particular climb requires two rappels…one over 120 feet.

Plus, we’ve got some new ideas in the works that might require my undivided attention come summertime, so I’m going to be forced to live vicariously through John on this one.  Of course, when he comes home with great photos, I may well be “inspired”.  Look what happened the last time he did that…

Yosemite Three

Yosemite Two

Yosemite — Mount Hoffman and early travels

Yosemite — a taste

As most of you know, we spent most of “the Holidays” in the New York area. It was great seeing family and friends, but as always, we didn’t have enough time. We did a lot, but we would have liked to do (and see) more.

I don’t have a lot of pictures from our trip. It was just that kind of time…we enjoyed everyone’s company, we had a great Christmas, but we were fairly “relaxed” when it came to pictures. So I’m not going to include any here.

Quickly: the kids (in order) –

Mark continues to excel at USNA.  Out of modesty (on his behalf…certainly not mine), I won’t mention his exact Order of Merit (class rank — the all-important number) , but let’s just say he’s in the top 100 out of about 1,250. The top 90 even. Did I say top 80? Okay, we’ll stop there…

Kristin…Kristin! Oh my God Kristin! Kristin just finished her first semester at William Patterson. She did well. Okay, she did very well. How should I put it…umm….she kicked ass! Everyone getting a visual?  Kick, kick, kick!  I’ve got a number in mind…hmmm…does something around 3.5 sound right?  Yeah…that sounds about right.  Nice!

Cameron…oh Cameron…

Cameron’s big hurdle this past semester involved surgery.  He managed to finally get one of his knees to go in a direction it wasn’t designed to go in.  Everything took a back seat to pain, surgery, and recovery.  But he’s going to bounce back this marking period, and his Fencing team is dying without him.  They send me notes telling me so…

Paris: the youngest of the four that benefits greatly from the experience of her siblings.  They treat her like gold, and she worships the very ground they walk upon.  Watching Mark, Kristin or Cameron with Paris is like watching magic — it never stops amazing you.  Mark and Kristin were each here (separately) after Christmas (Cameron was practicing his limp), and Paris loved every minute of it!

Like her oldest siblings, she is an academic wonder.  She’s a first grader reading on a fifth grade level now, and she’s just wrapping up third grade math.  She reads encyclopedias for fun (I’m not making that up).  She can tell you more about how the human body functions than most adults can.  She explains planetary movement to me.  On the way to the bus stop this morning, I got a lesson on the North and South Poles and why they’re so cold (and how that relates to the cold spell we’ve been suffering).  She is something…

Anyone get the idea that I’m proud of my kids?  Amazing…all of ‘em.

Speaking of “cold”, wanna see what happens when you combine Floridians with water and cold?  This looks like a gardening experiment gone awry…

I have no idea what someone was thinking here, but it involved running water when it shouldn’t have…

Okay!  This next chunk is about boxing.  For those of you not interested, please stop here.

A little background:

As usual, Mark worked out with Aaron Jaco while he was here, and we’ve got some video.  Mark asked me to get him the video for review, and the easiest way to do that is here on the site.

This is not a “normal” video.  I didn’t edit anything — I simply slapped together raw footage with a few explanatory comments.  No cool soundtrack.  This wasn’t intended for regular public consumption — it was simply a learning tool for Mark.  But since it’s here, we might as well explain it.

(By the way, Kristin enjoyed a session at Aaron’s gym too.  Yeee haaaaaaa!  Isn’t life great, Kristin?  Kristin?)

Okay, everyone remembers Aaron, right?

Yeah…he’s a hard guy to forget.  If anyone new wants more info on him, get it here and here.

Aaron has a twin brother — Adam.  Adam is also a professional boxer.  This is Adam’s promo shot:

This is Adam recently destroying an opponent and being awarded the victory:

(That might have been the only shot Adam’s opponent scored…who’s bleeding?)

Another one for the ‘W’ column

So!  Adam is a great guy outside of the ring, and at Aaron’s request, he gladly agreed to let Mark come over to his (Adam’s) gym to work out.  Adam is getting ready for another pro fight on January 22nd, so this was no small deal.  We really, really appreciate him making the time for Mark.

In a little “kill two birds with one stone” action, after some warm up, Aaron decided that Adam was going to spar some four minute rounds.  (That’s a one minute “bonus” for those of you unfamiliar with boxing.)  The format was straight forward: Mark and another young guy would take turns going one minute each with Adam.  That means the young guys get to rest so Adam gets a relatively “fresh” opponent every minute.  Oh, and Aaron would set new “rules” for each minute: “Adam, left hand only!”  “Adam, you can’t hit him!  Slip and move only!”  “Adam, body shots only!” You get the picture.  Adam was put at a distinct (and new) disadvantage every minute.  Like it mattered…

As you’ll see, Adam is going at about half speed.  I’ve seen this guy fight.  He’s a pit bull.  No mercy.  If his opponent slows down or drops his hands, the opponent is dead.  He was gracious in allowing Mark to work at “learning” speed…

The video is below.  You’ll need Quicktime to see it.  If you don’t have Quicktime, a link should appear that takes you to a download site (it’s free).  There’s a control panel on the bottom of the video, but if all you see is a black box, double click on the box to start and single click to stop the video.

Mark has improved a lot since the last video we posted of his sparring sessions with Aaron.  Some of that comes from boxing with the team at Navy.  But a lot of it comes from the time Aaron made for him while Mark was here.  Aaron went all out to be available for Mark over a whole bunch of hours while Mark was here (and we appreciate it!).

Oh, and Kristin will confirm…this shit will tire you out!  Enjoy!