GOOD NEWS!

Mark is home! We picked him up at the airport on the 16th. Karina was elated. Mark took her to school to meet her teacher and Karina is so proud! Mark is in the middle of getting his house ready and he'll move in by early October. He has to put in some new floors, get his furniture moved from Las Vegas and some other things. As I said that night, "It's good to have the family together."

Also - Luke won his election. You may now call him, "Mr. Secretary." He ran against three girls (which split the female vote). I tried to offer the Vice Principal a twenty to "keep it fair", but she wouldn't take it.

To retire Luke's campaign debt to me, please send you tax non-deductible donation to:

Luke owes Dad $48

Carlsbad, CA 92009

VOTE FOR LUKE!

Luke ran up to my office and told me the news. He ran for Student Council Secretary and was one of the top four candidates, so he is in the finals. I asked him why he wanted to be Secretary and he didn't answer me till getting ready for bed that night. "Dad, everyone wants to be President or Vice President. Lots of kids like money so they want to be Treasurer. Not many kids want to be Secretary." Nice pre-race strategy. So now he must make one poster, submit a speech and stand for election.

Sooooooooooo, we used to have a great family live with us for a while and the father is a graphic artist. One phone call and Bill Kozak was at the house after dinner, with his Apple laptop, Photoshop and our ideas. Within 45 minutes, we had the poster ready and we sent it to Kinko's. Two hours later we had it printed. three hours later I still couldn't fall asleep because I was still laughing.

Karina's 5th Birthday Party

Pinata - Teaching children that if you hit something with a bat long enough, candy comes out.



This was a major event for our house. Karina has been talking, planning and probably dreaming about this since July. With all that has happened to her, I'm glad she has something that she looked so forward to. We staged it at our community pool. Karina's sister Malishka and her husband came from Vegas, along with Mark's friend's Jake, Cassandra and their children Brooklyn and Brielle. Karina's brother Markie came also with a few guys from out Monday night pizza crew. Pool, party and a pinata.

The next day Karina went to the San Diego zoo with Malishka and Malcom. By Sunday night we had a very tired little girl, but still extremely happy because she shared it with her dad.

And we got to share it with her also.

1st Day of School - Hannah 5th - Luke 4th - Karina Kindergarten

This is the same thing all around America, the first day of school. Except to us. We now have Karina in our family. Mark won't be home till mid-September so we got Karina ready for school, a little young, a little small, but ready. When we found out she was going to be staying with us, Darcy immediately signed her up for Kindergarten. She goes in the afternoon during the same time Darcy teaches. Great timing.

So Luke goes to school by bike and Hannah either gets a ride with a neighbor or Darcy rides her. Now to Karina's first day. We wanted to take lots of pictures for Mark. Karina got out her back pack. It was so big that it went down to her knees! As Darcy and I started to argue about it, I saw that it had princesses on it. Karina would carry a lead box, filled with water if it had a Princess on it.

So off to school she went to Mrs. Fishers class. No crying, no sadness, just another adventure for one of the most amazing children we've ever known.

Re-Smithification of Luke - 6 Day "Guy" trip

I haven't been working for a while and it has probably been the best time of my life. I've been finishing my degree, training and spending time with the kids. But, I wasn't spending as much time with Luke as I used to. Real time. So we decided that we needed a "guy trip" to kind of get Luke back to where he used to be, more polite, more friendly and just having a better relationship with me and others.

First we went and visited Selena (I was a bridesmaid in her wedding), who manages the Van Nuys Airport. Great trip to tour the airport, have lunch and start the trip.

Next to Thousand Oaks to see my cousin Bobby, his wife kids, my uncle and my cousin. Luke thought this would be the best, but it was tough because his older cousins, Ryan and Brett, had friends there that were their own age (19-21) so they didn't quite spend as much time as Luke wanted to with them.

Now to Santa Barbara to see Jake Muldowney, Jim Muldowney's son. I say that so you'll know who he is, but even if he wasn't Jimmy's son, he is a great guy. He picked my mother up in Las Vegas (He's a student at UNLV) and drove her to Mark Millam's house in Summerlin, Nevada. He's an intern at Sandpiper golf course. We saw the course and then took Luke to get his haircut. See, one of the issues that we had is that Luke wanted his hair real long like one of his friends. It looked like a mullet gone bad. It was my fault. Again, I didn't spend enough time with him. So Jake and I talked him into a haircut. Then a walk around Santa Barbara, a picture with Jake and Luke and then a picture with Jake, Luke and a homeless guy.

Jake has gone from being a friend's son to being a friend of the family in his own right. I could be no prouder than to have Luke look to him as a friend and a man he can turn to.

Off to San Luis Obispo (SLO) to see Chad Theule and his family. This was a great time as Chad was one of the originators of Monday Night Pizza 9 years ago. We went out to Pizza, spent time at the beach, biked and went to the SLO Farmer's Market. True friends are true friends no matter how far away they live or how often you see them.

Then back to Carlsbad to go camping with Norbert and Derek for Derek's 9th birthday. We took their trailer up to Big Bear. Luke and I camp a lot with the YMCA Indian Guides but it is much better having a 28' trailer, or "Aluminum Tee-pee" as we call it in the Guides.

This was a great trip. A trip that every father should make with each of his children. Time alone to talk, to laugh, to pray and to spend time with friends.

Luke is back to the "old" Luke.

We are back to being best friends.

The Smithification continues.

Darcy Learns to Surf

Since Darcy is a native Californian, you would just assume she surfed. Not so! She took surf lessons with "Surf Divas" of La Jolla. She loved it. It is a gift a gave her from Christmas and she went with some other teachers from school. After 16 years of marriage, I think she liked this present more than anything I ever got her. Of course she needs a new wetsuit, and a board, and maybe a real cool woody wagon to take her and her friends to the beach also.

Bailey (1995 - 2008)

We had to put Bailey to sleep today. We took this picture a few hours before she died. She was still suffering with the throat problem but as of the last few days she was not eating much. She also was having problems at night. Darcy was brave and after I carried Bailey to her pillow in the van, Darcy took her to the veterinarian. Luke got a chance to say goodbye, he was going camping with some friends. He took the picture of Baily he had in his room with him camping and said he never wants to talk about Bailey ever again. He'll get over it. Hannah has gone from convulsive crying to "Dad, now we can get wood floors."
Bailey was the best. We'll miss her. I have tears in my eyes even as I write this......