College of Veterinary Medicine Open House

On Saturday April 4th, I took the kids to the College of Vet Med's open house. The kids got to milk a cow and put their hands into a cow's stomach. Andrew was the only one who wouldn't try either of those. Their faces tell the story...

Piper

We sort of stumbled into a new dog last week. Friends of ours from church had taken in a stray running in their yard. After a failed attempt to find the owner, they asked us if we take this roughly 6 month old, male (yellow lab mix ?). Well, of course, the kids wanted him, but Andrea was not, and is not thrilled with the idea since she is there with him the whole day.

However, after some stern lectures about responsibility with the kids, and the fact that our friends took care of all the veterinary costs. We decided to give the dog a trial. He's peed in the house two times already, but otherwise he is a very good natured dog. Andrea might have another opinion. :)

T.J. named him Piper, and the name has stuck.

Andrew after getting an earful of dog nose.

Andrew and Piper

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.

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.

The week in review.

Monday we took the family to St. Louis to see my brother, Ronn and his family. We went to 6 Flags on Tuesday and had great time. The lines were really short, and the weather was just about right. It was fairly hot, but not unbearable, and there was no rain.



Wednesday we went to Purina Farms, and saw there animals for a couple hours. After Purina we went to Merimac Caverns and took the tour. I think everyone liked the caverns, but it was pretty chilly down there.





When we got back on Thursday, inspired by my brother's pool, I decided to fix the area where we keep our little blue pool. Last year, I had just built a sand pile to make the ground level. Well, of course, sand washes away, and I knew at the time it wasn't a great idea, but it more or less lasted for the summer. I was just to lazy to dig out the yard. So, I decided to do it right. I had to first remove all the sand, and then start digging out the ground to make a level space. All of this took about 6 hours. The entire time, I had my shirt off, and was sweating profusely. Now 3 days later, I am still in terrible pain from the worst sunburn I've ever had. Of course, I didn't put any sun screen on. Idiot...