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:

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!

Those shoes are not the girly-girl variety.  Somehow or another, Mom found the kiddie version of a punk rocker boot.  Paris may be slam dancing this weekend, I guess…

Add the black lipstick before heading out to hunt candy!

Oh!  And proof that candy will rot your teeth, kids!  Paris lost another one!

I have not seen any pix of Kristin or Cameron in costume.  However, for those of you so inclined, there are some pictures of Mark in costume on his Facebook page.

Since we can’t join him for the day, I don’t have a “blowing out the candles” kind of shot or anything.  So I tried to find something that captured his persona…his “essence”, in a way of speaking.

Happy Birthday Chris!  Enjoy the day!

Grammy and Kristin were here for a week (ending this past Wednesday).  Kristin is excited about the start of school, and Grammy was excited to hang with the girls (Kristin and Paris).  Mark flew in on Saturday and added to the mix, and then Cameron joined us on Wednesday.  We’ve been having a blast!

But!  All of this fun and games makes it hard to gather thoughts and photos from Yosemite.  I promise more Yosemite is coming!

Until then, let’s talk boxing.  Whenever Mark is here, he loves visiting Aaron Jaco.  Everyone remembers Aaron, right?  Former National Boxing Association Light Heavyweight champ.  Trainer extraordinaire.  All around good guy.  If you need a refresher on him, check out  this post.

So Mark wants to train with Aaron.  As an added bonus, Cameron decides he wants to as well.  Cameron’s first day was Friday.  It’s safe to say he learned a lot, but it was a tough day for him.  Everyone’s first day is a tough day.  Cameron threw more punches, did more push-ups, and did more ab work than he’s probably done in his entire life.  All of this in one, joyful hour.  But he did it!

After the workout, I asked him what he thought.  “I’m going to puke”, he said.

“Nah”, I said, “that’s just your ab muscles doing a little spasm thingy.  You’re fine!”

“I might need Mark to stop the car.  I’m not feeling so good.”

It turns out we made it home without stopping the car.  On the way, I said “Cameron, you did such a great job today that tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to kettlebells.”

“Oh my God, Dad.  Is he worse?”  (Kettlebells aren’t a “he”.  Kettlebells are weights.  Cannonballs with handles.  I think Cameron was a little tired.)

So Friday was a success!  Mark and I enjoyed the workout, and Cameron is really looking forward to Monday.  Yes!  He’s excited!  This is a good thing.

As an added bonus, Mark sparred with Aaron on Thursday.  Aaron likes to “slow things down” when sparring with someone new to the sport.  He coaches the whole time, he offers a ton of encouragement, and he’s pretty easy-going on his sparring partner.  Do not confuse “easy-going” with “easy”.

Mark busted his butt.  Aaron had fun.  We have the video to prove it!  It shows Mark — decked out in a 2009 Detailer shirt he won from an upperclassman.  And it shows Aaron — shoes off, having fun, hands down while encouraging Mark to “throw your jab!”  Mark learned a ton…

…but learning can hurt.  Check it out:

Important note to current or future plebes that get clever and find this: Mark is most certainly better now (when you read this) than he was in the video.  You probably want to exercise a little discretion.  Comments about this post or video will absolutely make your day-to-day more difficult.  Just a thought…

Venice sends fireworks up from a barge in the jetty (making the beach an ideal place to watch).  But as an added bonus, three other communities further up the beach (looking north) use their beaches for fireworks too.  So while our main show is going on, three others are going in the background.  It’s pretty cool!

Paris was prepped and ready to go!  Check out her tattoos –

Things start heating up as sunset approaches.  The crowd starts building…

…and the ever-present drum circle gets freakier and freakier…

…oh yeah.  You gotta stay upwind of these folks or you end up getting just as whacked as they are…

Patriotic spirits are high…

And we’re getting close to sunset…about 40 minutes maybe?  The sun is hiding on us…

…while Paris entertains herself while waiting for the show to start.

And then…

Boom! Check it out!

The show was great (as usual), but the interesting part of the night always revolves around the “resident-fired” fireworks.  Fireworks are legal in Florida, and the beach gets pretty smoky from all the lunatics trying to blow their damn fingers off.  We saw geniuses lighting entire boxes of sparklers (while pointing them at their little kids and shouting “hey!  look!”).  More candidates for the Darwin Awards aiming roman candles at their pre-adoloescent offspring…you name it, and we saw it.

Sanity prevails in some parts, though.  Some folks take their boats into the intercoastal and set up their own show with their own barge-like platform.  Rivalries develop between boaters, and as we walk to our car after the show, we get another show that looks and feels like a war zone.  Call it “local-flavor”…

The day was a success!  Stephanie is visiting with us for the weekend, so we enjoyed good company.  We had some barbeque before hitting the beach (the kind somebody smokes for days on end…not the one in the backyard)…Cameron, where were you?  The drum circle girls were looking for Kristin…all in all it was a momentous day.

Oh, and it’s also Peter’s birthday!  Happy Birthday Peter!

Mark was lucky and snagged zero block as his first summer training assignment.  Zero block is the shortest training block of the summer, and it also starts soon after the mids’ last final exam.  As counter-intuitive as this may sound, it’s actually considered a good thing.  It allows mids to get their training underway, it buys them two bonus weeks of leave over the summer, and it allows for an escape from duties during the hyper-busy commissioning week period.  Plus, Mark was sent to Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, FL!  That’s about 260 miles away, but at least it’s the same State!  So we get some bonus time with him…

Those of you to be lucky enough to be considered one of Mark’s 10,067 Facebook friends have already seen the photos.  But for the mere mortals amongst us, I have a few I liked:

This is the USS McInerney.  This li’l frigate acted as Mark’s home away from home for two weeks.

This is what most of us would call a “really, really big gun”.  The guys on the ship occasionally get to shoot this gun.  They like that…

This is another gun (although it doesn’t look like one).  It should never be confused with R2D2 because R2D2 couldn’t shoot 3,000 massive rounds a minute.  This gun can.  It’s called a “Sea Whiz”…probably because if you’re on the wrong end of it, you’re doing the second part of the phrase while the 3,000 rounds whiz past you.

Frigates fire torpedoes too.  In the old days, frigates were tasked with chasing down enemy subs.  Subs still quake with fear if a frigate is in the vicinity, but today frigates are used mostly for drug interdiction runs.  Frigates carry one or two helicopters to help with the sub chasing, and today, the McInerney carries this nifty little guy –

That is what’s known as a “UAV” (unmanned aerial vehicle).  Think of it like a big, remote control helicopter with big guns.  This UAV is currently being tested before a full-blown deployment across the fleet, and Mark’s frigate is the lucky platform used for testing.  There are only one of these right now, and you’re looking at it.

Here’s Mark looking somewhat nervous next to our little friend.  Since it doesn’t have a pilot, I think he’s worried it might decide to shoot on its own.

So what else do we do on frigates?  Well, we train!  Train, train, train!  Everybody has to know what to do in any given circumstance!  And some of those circumstances are called “emergencies”.  Emergencies are bad.  Like…a fire on a ship, for example…when you’re out in the middle of the ocean, a fire is not a welcome sight.  So let’s learn how to put one out, okay?  How?  Well, c’mon!  First you gotta set one!

That’s a training area on dry land.  There’s no point in setting the ship on fire, right?  Now everybody learns how to put it out!  Oh, and that shed in the middle?  There are “simulated” guys in there waiting to be rescued before they become toast.  Better hurry Mark!

So…maybe you’re thinking “so what kind of real life cool things do these frigate thingys do?”  Well…check this out:

That pirate-looking steering wheel is not the one used to pilot the frigate.  It’s also not the wheel off of Gilligan’s S.S. Minnow.  Nope!  It’s on the bridge of the McInerney, but it’s a souvenier.  You see, it was taken from the largest self-propelled submersible ever captured by the US Navy, and the McInerney did the capturing.  This particular submersible was a small submarine transporting 12,000 pounds of uncut cocaine.  The crew of said submarine wasn’t willing to give it up so easily, but once they realized the game was up, they tried to scuttle (sink) their own ship.  The crew of the McInerney suggested to the sub crew that, since said sub crew thought sinking the sub was such a good idea, perhaps they ought to sink with it.  Once locked in for awhile, the crew saw the light and surrendered the sub.  (Before any liberal readers think about calling the SPCA or Greenpeace, please rest assured that the crew members of the McInerney are wonderful guys that would never allow hostile drug runners to actually sink with their sub.  It was a bluff, and it worked.  And yes, I was honored to meet some of the crew of the McInerney, and I can personally attest to their good character.)

Training concluded on Friday, and Mark has been relaxing and eating us out of house and home since.  He’s also playing a little golf, catching a little sun, and enjoying his new friend named “Aaron”.  More on that in the next post.

Meanwhile, Cameron is really, really mad at us for playing golf without him.  He hasn’t had a kind word for us all weekend.  We see him next week when he will most certainly be straightened out.

Kristin is getting ready to graduate!  But before that memorable day, she’s got a Senior Prom to attend!  I have been given the first, super-secret inside look at her prom dress while it was being altered to fit her super-fit self, and I gotta tell ya’…phenomenal!  Her female classmates are going to hate her!

Paris has three and a half days of school left…almost done!  She’s had a stellar year!  Plus, she’s been honing all four swimming strokes in preparation for joining the Sarasota Sharks.  The Sharks are a very successful, very competitive swim team in our area.  Competitors usually join the team at age 9.  As most of you know, Paris is soon to be 7….she’s a natural!  More on that as the season progresses!

In less than a week, all of us descend upon New York for our June extravaganza…we’ll be in the area for the entire month.  We’re looking forward to it!

In Sunny Florida, the day didn’t start off so sunny. It was warm and humid, but the high humidity meant low cloud cover. We woke up to a fog bank in the back yard. But fog banks be damned, Paris knew that the Easter Bunny had made a visit! Let’s go! C’mon! Let’s find some candy and eggs!

The start of The Hunt.  Look out the back doors…see any sunshine?  Didn’t think so…

Ha!  The first find!  Things are starting to look up!

Paris is thinking “the older I get, the trickier that damn bunny becomes…where is all the stuff?”

She’s beginning to get a feel for the Bunny’s agenda.  There’s a pattern developing…and a sick little smile that says “Bunny, you’re mine…”

Out on the lanai now (that’s a fancy Florida word for “patio”)…starting to hit the Mother Lode…look at those eggs!

In the palm tree!  The fog makes the picture look soft, and Paris is thinking the Bunny’s skull is going to be pretty soft if she ever gets her hands on him.  Eggs in the tree?

More eggs in a tree…this time an oak.  The Bunny’s Evil Twin had to be the one that visited…the Easter Bunny would never be so diabolical!

Eggs in the hedges!  As Paris’s Dad, even I’m starting to get frustrated!  But she’s taking it all in stride…

Back inside…and what have we here?  Oh my…this looks…BIG!

What a stash!  Okay, okay…even if it was the Bunny’s Evil Twin, we can live with it…I mean…look at this stuff!

Hey, now we gotta get into the stuff.  Hey look!  I love this thing!

This is the basket Mom and Dad gave me.  I wish Mark, Kristin and Cameron were here…they’re too big for Easter baskets, but I’d share…maybe…for a fee…

So!  What do we do in Florida on Easter Sunday?  We do the same thing we do on Christmas Day!  We go to the beach!  (Other people go too…)

And I love the beach!

And then!  Ha ha!  Hey Mark!  This is just for you!  We wrap up the day with…

Okay!  That was Easter in Florida!  But wait!  Earlier in the week, we had a little long distance baking going on.  Mom and Paris made some Easter cupcakes in Florida, and Grammy, Grace and Troy made the same ones in Pennsylvania!  Check it out!

It’s hard to see the detail in the photo, but those are eggs (jellybeans) on a nest (coconut) on top of a cupcake.  Fantastic!

Speaking of fantastic, we have a little non-Easter, but fantastic news to share!

Ya’ know…we’re very fortunate.  Our family…and I don’t mean just our immediate family…our family is filled with wonderful young people.  I get to talk about Mark, Kristin, Cameron and Paris all the time, but I hardly ever get a chance to talk about the other kids.  Why?  Because you people need to send me more pictures!

Okay, I got that off my chest…

…anyway, Grammy and Pop Pop did just that: they sent me a cool picture that captured a very cool event.  You see beautiful Grace up there with the cupcakes?  Well check this out!  Here she is in her very first horse show, and if you look closely, you’ll see a Blue Ribbon on her saddle.  But wait!  She didn’t win just one Blue Ribbon…or two…or…wait!  Ready?  She won FIVE!  FIVE!  Five Blue Ribbons in her very first show!  Victory Lap!

Yes!  Congratulations Grace!  We’re thrilled for you!

Okay!  We have so many great kids in our family!  I need more pix!  More news!  More info!  C’mon!  They grow up fast…

]]> http://trunzo.com/2009/04/12/easter/feed/ 0 http://trunzo.com/2009/04/05/holiday-concert/ http://trunzo.com/2009/04/05/holiday-concert/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:04:27 +0000 Jay http://trunzo.com/?p=447 This post was originally written in December 2008.  As our family and friends know, video posts have been driving me nuts.  This one was no exception.  We all take online video for granted because we see it everywhere.  Let me tell ya’ — getting video up and running is easy.  Getting quality video up that doesn’t slam your machine’s speed is not.

I think we’ve got things under control: we have streaming video of decent quality that should not bog down your machine.  You’ll need Quicktime, but just about every machine in the known universe has Quicktime on it somewhere.  The video should load up quickly — all you gotta do is hit ‘play’.

Okay…the original post started with a Happy New Year!  Off we go –

Some disclaimers:

First, the lighting in the auditorium was kept low.  The camera is working very, very hard at trying to stay focused, allow enough light, and capture the audio of the kids’ singing (as opposed to those around us).  You’ll see plenty of times when the focus is poor or the picture quality diminishes.  Bear with me.

Second, it was crowded.  This particular time slot was for kindergartners and first graders only, but man was it packed.  I tried to keep the crazies out of our field of vision, but I wasn’t always successful.

And finally, I’m no videographer.  Maybe as we do more of this, I’ll get better.  But Hollywood isn’t calling.

Okay!  Enjoy these two songs, and Happy New Year!