Magnets

Here the kids are putting our old magnet collection on display on the refrigerator in the garage. We have tried to collect magnets everywhere we travel on vacation and even had a partnership with a couple of my friends in college for a while, where we would all send them to each other. It has been fun to see the memories we have collected. And lets be honest, the kids just think magnets are fun to play with!

Father's Day

The day after Grandpa's birthday was Father's Day. We decided to have a low key day and try out one of the restaurants in town called "Vic's". We live in VICtoria. It was more of a pub/bar setting, but at 5:00 on a Sunday, it was pretty empty and was actually quite kid-friendly. The kids played a few video games with Daddy and we had some great burgers. Probably won't be the last time we ever go there!

Thank You Soldier

The day before Father's Day, Adam received some sad news. One of his friends, SSG Nick Fredsti, a soldier Adam remembers training from the first day Nick joined  his unit, was killed in action in Afghanistan. Adam was later able to make a short weekend trip to San Diego in July for Nick's funeral.

R.I.P. Nick. Thanks for making the ultimate sacrifice for our country. You will not be forgotten. 

Here is an article I found about Nick in the Fort Bragg Patch newspaper. 

 A Tribute to Staff Sgt. Nicholas Fredsti: 'We Lost One of the Best'

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, Afghanistan – He fancied cheese fries, Red Bulls and old Stallone movies, but when 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper Staff Sgt. Nicholas Fredsti went to war, he was all business. “He was an all around good guy and always joking, but when it came to work, he was hard on that too.  Led from the front.  He was a hero,” said Sgt. Joshua Bracey, one of his team leaders. 

On June 15, 2012, Fredsti’s platoon was ambushed by insurgents in southern Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.  As a squad leader with Company D, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, Fredsti responded instinctively by moving his squad to high ground to lay down a base of fire.

Fredsti was struck in the chest by a single bullet, and while he survived the engagement, he succumbed to his wound shortly after being medically evacuated from the battlefield.

His platoon leader, 1st Lt. Matthew Archuleta said that his platoon was heavily outgunned when the firefight began that day on the outskirts of Spedar, a small village just south of the Tarnak River.

“Fredsti and his squad stormed up as he directed fire. He took one round through the shoulder into the chest and continued to direct his men even on the ground,” said Archuleta.

The platoon leader said that having noncommissioned officers like Fredsti is what makes the U.S. Army the greatest in the world. 

“Every subordinate looks to their leader, reacts and mimics whatever he or she does, and for him to charge up like that and to lead his men, it gave them the courage to do the same thing and to get things done,” he said 

Sgt. Jonathan Daeuber, Fredsti’s other team leader, said that Fredsti was a quiet professional.

“We lost one of the best squad leaders I’ve seen in the Army,” said Daeuber.  “We lost a close friend.”

Originally from San Diego, Calif., Fredsti arrived at Fort Bragg, N.C., as a newly minted infantryman six months before 9/11.  He was assigned to his current unit’s sister battalion, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Since then, he has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan three times each for a total of 51 months overseas.

His roommate, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Davis, said that Fredsti’s reserved personality sometimes gave the impression of an outcast, but that was a mis-read on who he was. “When I was little, my dad used to tell me, the true measure of a man is the ability to do what you know in your heart to be right no matter the cost, and I think that’s something everyone strives for, but for Nick, it was easy,” said Davis.

Davis said that Fredsti seemed to lack that need to fit in and kept to his principles regardless of whether it made him acceptable or popular. “He was always the nicest, most dependable, most trustworthy person you could count on,” he said. “He was a great, great friend.  That’s the real Nick.”

Fredsti is survived by his mother Sherry, his father Carl, and his sister Sarah.

Grandpa's birthday

We all headed to celebrate Grandpa's birthday together in mid-June. It is fun to be able to all be together more often now to celebrate these special occasions.

The girls being silly:

The grandkids

Grandpa with his grandkids

Singing together in the car

Found some more loose scraps of paper with funny kid stories on them...

We were watching a video online or on TV, I think it was a U2 song, and Conor announced: "This is just like Barney Live". ....yep, pretty similar bud. ha ha

Conor is very smart and has been told this by several teachers and adult friends (you may have read the comments months ago about him being smarter than a genius??). We have been trying to teach him about humility...a work in progress...and one day he told me, "Mom, I know everything." I said, "Oh yeah? Then at what temperature does water boil?" He answered confidently, "HOT!"

One day we were playing restaurant and when I "finished my meal", the gracious host/waiter, Conor, said: "Thanks! Come back again someday...or go to a different restaurant."

Eating dinner with my parents one kid, Conor was being kind of pokey (not unusual for him). He was also being picky and said he didn't want the chicken (which he normally likes). Riley was eating great (as usual) and so Grandpa tried to motivate Conor by saying how well Riley was eating and that she was going to grow big and strong and tall, even bigger and stronger and taller than Conor, because she was eating her chicken. Conor thought about it and continued to slowly pick at his food. About 5 minutes later, he noticed that Grandpa was almost done with his chicken and looked straight at him and said, "Wow, you're really gonna grow!"


One day Conor was sitting on the steps and I kind of leaned over him and kissed and hugged him and said, "You're a really good kid, Conor, you know that? And you're really smart." His reply: "And you are really squishing me."

Conor: That was kind of a familiar thing.
Dad (because it didn't make sense in context): What do you mean by familiar?
Conor: You know, like strange or weird.
Dad: Ohhhh. Do you mean peculiar?
Conor: Yeah, yeah. Peculiar.


Riley has a t-shirt that says MY MOMMY IS FABULOUS. She knows what is says and is happy to tell you: MY MOMMY IS FLAB-A-LESS! 

Catching up....

I think I'm caught up to mid June maybe??!?.... enjoy.