Motorcycle Duo

Here is another picture I rediscovered recently.  This is from our most recent trip to Pittsburgh, when Isaac finally convinced Elsa to step onto the motorcycle and do two laps around Freedom Village.  These two crazy kids are going to be married in only a few weeks, and will be tearing up the neighborhood for years to come.

Andy and Sarah's Wedding

This post is a little late in coming, but last weekend we had the honor to watch as two of our close friends - Andy and Sarah - were married.  It was a beautiful ceremony and a super fun reception.  I finally downloaded the pictures, and deleted all the blurry ones we tried to capture on the dance floor.  We were moving too fast!

The Happy Couple

My "Read Wine" Book Club ladies!

This one just makes me laugh. You'd think, from our expressions, we were dancing to thriller, but I don't think that was the case.

Friends!

My turn with the beautiful bride!

Saturday Morning at the Races

This morning I accomplished one of my running goals by running both the Reed's Lake Run 5K and 10K back to back.  I started the 5K at 8:00, and the 10K at 8:45.  With barely any training (I've been taking time off from both basketball and running to help my iliotibial band heal), the 10K was fairly difficult.  The heat almost did me in, but I still made it, thanks to Sarah and Emily's cheering, and because I wasn't worried at all about time in the 10K, I was just hoping to keep moving and cross the finish line.  At 63:11, the 10K was easily my slowest ever, but I did finish the 5K in a respectable 24:18 (I held back a little bit because I knew I would need energy for the 10K).  As a special Dutchman bonus, I only paid one fee for both races!  Afterward, we biked home and I cooled off in the kiddie pool, although Emily thought it a little strange that Daddy didn't bother to take off his clothes first.

Grandpa Reads to Emily

I uncovered this photo recently and thought I'd share it.  It's from a recent trip to Dexter, where Emily enjoyed some relaxation while Grandpa read books to her.

Summer Fun

Emily enjoyed a pretty great summer day for a toddler yesterday; watching the "big trucks" working in our yard, swimming in our friend's pool (she's quite a little fish, and was in the pool for over two hours despite quivering lips and shriveling fingers), a pizza picnic by Reed's Lake, and ice cream at Jersey Junction.  Here's a picture of the happy toddler after her long day.  Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, this photo was taken after eating the superman (red, yellow, and blue) ice cream and before bath time.

New Sewer Line

Today, we finally had our lateral sewer line replaced.  For several years, we have had minor problems with groundwater backing up in our basement with heavy rain, and recently it had become much worse.  Since the tree roots that were causing the problem were not going to magically go away, we finally decided to just replace the whole line.

Emily and I enjoyed watching the whole process.  Emily spent a long time in the doorway or standing with me on the porch, saying things like "that a big truck!" or "they dig a mud".  Indeed, the workers wasted no time in using their "big truck" to dig a large whole right next to our porch and sidewalk, down to the where the lateral sewer pipe connected to the cast iron pipe coming from the house.  The 55-year-old clay pipe was disturbingly easy to break, which explained how roots got in so easily.  After the pipe was opened up and the hole was cleaned up a bit, a nice young lady from the city of Grand Rapids drove in with another big truck.

The truck contained a large "root saw".  The root saw is essentially the most powerful squirt gun I have ever seen.  The orange hose is inserted into the sewer line, and the pointed nozzle head sprays huge volumes of water at extremely high pressure (thousands of PSI), enough to cut through tree roots.

I was eager to see the devilish snares of roots that had plagued my existence over the last few months, but I soon realized I was to be disappointed, since (a) the sewer gentlemen did not dig up the entire sewer line trench as I had expected, and (b) the root saw pretty much blasted all the roots down the pipe and into the main sewer line. On its way back out, the root saw did snag a darkish bunch of roots the size of a small football. The sewer gentlemen assured me that this was probably only a fraction of what had been in the pipe, and were impressed that we had any water flow at all through the pipe.

After the root saw did its work, the nice lady from the city of Grand Rapids took her leave, and the sewer gentlemen trimmed and cleaned up the old clay pipe. Then, they inserted ten foot sections of new PVC pipe into the old clay pipe and pushed it through, all the way out past our sidewalk and almost to the street.

This resulted in a complete replacement of the lateral sewer line for which we as homeowners are responsible.  The last step was to install a vertical cleanout pipe, fill in the hole, and hide the cleanout opening under a shrub.  Ah, the wonders of modern plumbing.

Finally, the pleasant surprise of the whole job was that none of the sidewalk or porch needed to be removed or replaced as we had originally expected.  Bonus!

It Brings Joy to a Father's Heart

Tonight I arrived home late after a long day at work.  After saying hi to Sarah (and talking about the USA world cup soccer match, the earthquake, and the epic Wimbledon tennis match), I went upstairs to change clothes.  As I tiptoed towards the bedroom, trying not to wake our hopefully-sleeping toddler, I heard a loud "DADDY!".  Emily was definitely not asleep.  As I changed clothes, I heard another "Daddy!", followed by a pause and: "Oh no, Daddy?  Come on, you give big hug? Daddy, you give big hug me?"  Naturally, I obliged immediately, and was met with a huge Emily-hug. Children truly are a gift from God.  I am also blessed with a wife of noble character and a job that allows me to make a difference in people's lives on a daily basis, but my favorite part of any day is getting one of those hugs, or arriving home from work to find toddler Emily careen full speed through the kitchen yelling "Daddy Daddy Daddy!" and throw herself into my arms.