Operation Christmas Child

Last week Loren, Veronica, Donna and Andrea were featured on our local news station. Channel 3 was doing a piece about Operation Christmas Child which is a program aimed at helping children around the world know that they are loved by God and that someone is thinking about them. People can package up a shoebox full of fun gifts for a girl or a boy that will be delivered to a child around Christmas time. Here's how you can Pack A Shoebox.

Loren, Veronica and Donna were the recipients of shoe boxes full of gifts while they were in the orphanage in Peru, Hogar de Esperanza. Now it has come full circle, and they, with are family, are sending shoe boxes.

Here's the news story.

Andrew's Birthday, Cross Country and the JV Superbowl

October 12th-13th

Andrea's oldest brother, Mike, had a stroke a few weeks back, and we went up for a visit. We stayed at my sisters house who also lives in Arlington. Mike seems to be doing better. Andrea says that his speech and mobility on his right side had improved a lot since she saw him last. This is good sign. We are hopeful that with rehabilitation he will make a good a recovery.

We celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday while we were up in Arlington Heights. It's hard to believe our little guy is getting so big.

Happy Birthday to You!

How Old?

October 18th

Loren and Josh had their big season ending event for each of their sports. Loren was the only girl from her school who went to state this year which was held in Bloomington. But the boys team did qualify. The girls on her team also went to cheer her on. They even wrote her name on the bus. She did very well for her first time. She placed 20th out of some 200+ girls with a time of 12 minutes and 37 seconds. The top 25 girls were given ribbons.

Loren with her grandparents

Loren with the "Loren" bus

Josh's team played the Oakwood Comets in Georgetown which was completely in the opposite direction of Bloomington. So, we were very tight on time to see both Loren's and Josh's events. , Unfortunately, Josh's team didn't fair quite so well. The Comets came out strong from the very beginning, scoring on their first drive. The Comets shut out the Spartans for nearly the entire game. They were up 22 - 0 until the Spartans finally got on the board in the last 2 minutes making the final score 22 -6. Still the Spartans had a good year, and Josh's playing improved a great deal this year.

Josh receives his ribbon

Josh and the second place trophy

Winning Day!

Today was a long, but exciting day in the world of Brooks family sports. We began the day bright and early taking Loren to her school to catch a bus for her Cross Country Sectionals at Kickapoo State Park. Then, Josh had to go to practice for his football playoff game which would be later that day. After getting everybody else fed and clothed, we picked up Josh and headed off to Kickapoo (which is just a fun word to say).

Loren placed 1st in her 2 mile run, setting her own personal record at 13 minutes 14 seconds. It was quite exciting. As she was closing the first mile, we watched her move up from 3rd to 2nd place. By the time she made the first lap around, she was in first, and she never gave up the position.

Loren making her move from third to second place

1st Place

Final lap, still in 1st, Mom cheering her on

At the finish line, Go baby go!

1st Place at the
Ribbon Ceremony

Josh had his playoff game in Hoopeston where they played the Catlin Storm. Josh's team won as well. The St. Joseph Spartans won 14 to 6 and will advance to the JV Superbowl in Georgetown next week.

Josh Brooks #32, Striking A Heisman Trophy Pose

Josh and the team trying to intercept a pass.
Josh is the one on the right as the video starts.

All in all a good day! Next Saturday we get to do it all again as Loren is the only girl from St. Joe to advance to the state competition in Bloomington, and Josh and his team will play the superbowl.

Aug 7-9 2008 - 6 Flags in Chicago, Lincoln Park Zoo, and walking around Chicago

Aug, 7th:

For the third time this summer, we went to 6 Flags, but this time we went to the one at Great America in the Chicago area. We're trying to get our money's worth out of our season tickets. We bought 4 season tickets, and we get a coupon book with each one that has certain free days for several different occasions. We had one to bring a friend for free for any non St. Louis 6 Flags, so that's what we used this time around.

This trip was less than stellar. We hit Chicago construction traffic on the way there. It took over an hour to get into the parking lot. Once we got in to the park, it was so crowded that each ride was at least an hour wait, usually two hours, and sometimes even three. This made for a grand total of about 5 rides for the entire time we were there from around 12:00 pm until 10:00 pm. We specifically picked a week day to avoid crowds, but that was obviously a failure. We had heard that some area students had won passes for attendance at school or something, and were probably using them before they expired. So, note to self, avoid going to 6 Flags at Great America in the first few weeks of August.

Best Buds (Josh and his Uncle Ronn)

Veronica, Andrea and Donna

TJ and his Dad (Why So Serious?)

Standing in line again: Chelsea, Donna, and Andrea

One last ride: Andrew and Uncle Ronn

Aug 8th,

On Friday, we went to Lincoln Park in Chicago. With 6 kids you look for the free stuff to do.

Really, he is human: Josh

Veronica, TJ, Loren and Donna

Donna, TJ, Loren, Josh, Andrew and Veronica


Veronica, Andrew, TJ, Loren, Andrea and Donna

On our way home, we went to a Peruvian restaurant called Ay Ay Picante. Estuve muy bien.

Veronica, Donna, Loren, Tim, Andrea, Josh, Andrew and T.J.

Loren, Donna, and Veronica

Aug 9th,

On Saturday, we went to Chicago and walked around. The highlight for the kids was the Lego Store.

T.J. and Andrew

Donna, Josh, T.J., Andrew, Loren, Veronica and Andrea

Dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe

Josh, T.J., Veronica, Andrew, Loren, Donna, and Tim

Weekend Camping at Clinton Lake

This weekend we had yet another abrupt weekend vacation. Our boys were at Grandma and Grandpa's all of last week. Andrea's brother-in-law, who lives in the same town, decided on a whim to pack up his 3 boys and go camping at Clinton Lake. So, Grandma and Grandpa decided to pack up there camper and go also. This, of course, set off a chain reaction where I found that we too were going camping.

Despite the abrupt nature of the trip, we all had a pretty good time. Things were forgotten, but it was all turned out okay. The temperature was in the mid 90's the whole time, so we spent most of our time in the water.

Loren and her cousin Chris enjoying a ride on Uncle Brien's pontoon boat.

Joey, Josh and Andrea taking it easy.

Donna and Veronica right after taking their turn surfing behind the boat.

I even got a turn.

Josh gives his mom a ride on Uncle Brien's jet ski.

Andrew and Loren take turns giving me a ride.

Josh get's ready to ride the waves.

Andrew loves his jams!

Sucking down some watermelon before we head home.

Quick Trip to Chicago

Last weekend was the 4th of July weekend. I took the kids to see the parade on Lincoln street in Urbana. It was okay until it got political. As usual there were the obligatory politicians from each party going by, and the various causes that sometimes make the event non-kid friendly. But what really irked me was the imbecilic and ad hominen attacks being made behind me. It took the fun out of the whole thing.

Watching the parade

We went to Chicago (i.e. Arlington Heights) for my nephew's high school graduation party on Saturday, and stayed over at my sister's house on Saturday night.

My Sister and our niece, Meghan's son, Caleb

Heart and Soul ... ONE MORE TIME!!!

My niece Kristin and Veronica clowning around

On Sunday, we got up and went to Chicago, so that we could go to the Shedd Aquarium. We purchased a family membership pass because it turned out to be cheaper to buy the family membership, which is for 5 kids and 2 parents, and a single child membership than it was to buy individual tickets. We had a late lunch on the beach, and then the kids went for a swim for an hour. After walking back to the Shedd at 4:00 pm, Donna exclaimed "My glasses, I think I left them in the bathroom." So I made her run back with me to the beach bathroom. They were gone. We checked the car, but they were nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I was a little peeved with her carelessness. I made her job with me back to the Shedd, so we could see as much as we could in the now short time that we had before they closed at 6:00pm. When we were finished and went back to the parking lot, Andrea took Donna one last time to see if they could find the glasses. She asked the lifeguard if they had a lost and found, and sure enough they did, and the glasses were there. Suerte...


We wanted to dinner at a Peruvian restaurant, but couldn't find one in time. It was getting pretty late, and we needed to drive back because I had to go to work on Monday. We settled on Gino's Pizza. It ended up taking hour for our pizzas to come, and it was so not worth it. I was very disappointed. It was not like I remembered Gino's to be. We left Chicago after 10:00 pm, and got back home around 12:30. It was quite a busy weekend.

6 Flags - Take Two

We made a very impromptu decision to go to 6 Flags in St. Louis for Father's Day. We ended up getting season passes for four of the eight of us. With each season pass, you get a coupon book which has several "bring a friend for free" coupons for different days. Father's Day was one of those days. So, on Sunday morning, we decided to forgo church and head to St. Louis for a day of fun. We also invited my friend Orlando, who likes spur of the moment adventures.

Loren, Donna and Tim

Andrew and Orlando

Veronica, T.J., Josh and Scooby Doo!

Josh and Tim

Donna, Andrea, and Loren

T.J. and Orlando

The Brooks'

The Brooks' y nuestro buen amigo, Orlando