Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Gavin wins 1st!

Gavin entered a writing contest held by the Colorado Springs Gazette. The story was to be written about a picture of two old bikes in the snow. Gavin won 1st place for his age group and his entire story and photo were in the paper on Dec. 23. The only stories published in the print edition of the Gazetter were Gavin's and the adult winner. He was very excited to be published and he received a gift certificate to a book store.

Here's a copy of his story....

Curser 2,000

Squeak, squeak! Tom and Jackson were riding on their very old bikes home from school. Thomas Adrian Johnson is a third grader, has black hair, brown eyes, is very clever, and likes to be called Tom.

“Wanna play Curse of the Snow when we get home?” asked Tom.

Curse of the Snow was Tom and Jack’s favorite game of their Dad’s business. Their Dad, Mr. Johnson, was an inventor. He invented a game system called The Curser 2,000.

As the brothers came home, Jack ran to The Curser. “I go first!” he said to Tom. Curse of the Snow title screen popped up. Doot! Doot! Doot! Jackson got the high score! He pressed the ‘CURSE’ button. Beep! Bop! Doodop! Beeeeekop! The Curser burned out.

“Stupid! Christmas Eve and the Curser breaks! Humf.” said Tom.

“Time to sleep!” shouted Mom. The brothers got in bed.

Beep beep, beep beep! The next morning they woke up by the sound of the alarm. “Why’d ya set the ahhhhh alarm this er-ahhhhhh-ly?” asked Jack.

Tom whispered, “Shhhhh, be quiet! It’s Christmas, remember?”

“Oh, ahhhhhhhh yah,” said Jack.

They ran upstairs. They saw lots of gifts. “Look! A burglar!” A face was in the window. It was white, and had a mischievous look on it. The kids ran outside and jumped on their bikes. They followed the thing. It came to the mountain.

“How are we going to get up Tall Peak?” asked Jack. Tom pointed. The ski lift! Soon they were at the top of Tall Peak. All they saw was a snowman, holding a big flower. After lunch, Tom and Jack had another visit to Tall Peak. They saw flowers growing everywhere.

Meanwhile, at the North Pole, Santa was looking at his list. “Oh, no! I missed one present at each house!” He got on his sleigh, and flew off.

Back at Tall Peak, Tom and Jackson had a shock, too. “These flowers are everywhere!” shouted Jack. A big snowman walked out of a cave and shouted, “Oh, no!” Then he pulled out a flower.

“ZZZAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOP!” The snowman shot bolts of electricity out of the flower. The kids were covered in snow. They stumbled out of the snow and sprinted down the mountain.

Santa flew into Tom and Jack’s town. “Woaaaa!” he said, looking at the flowers. “Already spring? Well, guess I have to come back next year!” Then he left.

Mr. Johnson was worried about the boys. He came up the mountain to look for them. “Tom and Jackson must have been covered by an avalanche!” he said as he saw two bikes covered in snow. Mrs. Johnson came up, too.

Suddenly, the snowman jumped out grabbed the adults and brought them in the cave. Soon, Tom and Jack went up the mountain, looking for their parents. Then, flowers popped up everywhere, and the flowers said, “Ooooohhh! You can’t get to your bikes!” They started shooting water out of their mouths. Tom and Jack knew what to do, if they got some snow they could freeze the water! Tom whispered his idea to Jack.

“Snowball fight?” asked Jack.

“Snowball fight,” Tom nodded.

“SNOWBALL FIGHT!” Jack shouted. Tom and Jack stared throwing snowballs at the flowers. Soon, all the flowers froze.

“Now let’s get our bikes!” The brothers grabbed their bikes and started pedaling as fast as they could.

“Now nothing will stop. . . us?” Jack gulped. An army of nutcrackers and toy soldiers was standing small before them.

“Nutcrackers! What an army. Even those flowers are probably better than these dudes!” said Tom.

“Tttoy sssoldiers? Guns are very dangerous.” Jack gulped again. The nutcrackers opened and closed their mouths, the soldiers waved their guns.

“Ahhh, don’t be afraid. Let’s go,” cried Tom. There was a small BANG! and then a PUUUUUEEEEFFFFFF. . . and Tom shouted, “My tire got popped!”

Jack yelled, “RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!” as several BANG’s were heard.

Tom ran and Jack rode his bike as fast as they could. The toy soldiers and nutcrackers chased them. Tom and Jack turned a sharp turn. The nutcrackers and toy soldiers still chased them. Just in front of the cave, Tom said, “Let’s give up and fight these guys for goodness sake!”

Tom picked up a toy soldier, took it’s gun out of it’s hand and shot some of the other toy soldiers with the toy gun. Jack used a nutcracker as a bowling ball to knock down some of the other toy soldiers. Soon, all of the nutcrackers and toy soldiers were in pieces. “Now, we need to find mom and dad,” said Jack.

They went into the cave. There they saw their mom and dad sitting on the ground tied to the wall, the snowman standing next to them. When the snowman saw them, he walked towards the brothers and said, “I see you’ve come for your parents.”

Tom said, “Yes, and we’re going to get past you easily.” He pulled out of his backpack a present that was all wrapped up. “This is my mom’s present,” said Tom, “but I guess I can give it to you.” Tom unwrapped the present to reveal a shiny, silver, new toaster. Then he said, “Merry Christmas!” He turned the toaster on and put it on the snowman’s head.

The snowman shouted, “I’m melting, I’m melting!” as he tried to get the toaster off his head.
That gave Tom and Jack enough time to untie their mom and dad. Then the snowman got the toaster off his head. His head was now all mushy and runny. His carrot nose was dripping down his face. Without a word, he ran deeper into the cave and disappeared into the darkness. The kids and their parents walked back to their house. They were all happy to be together again.

Once Santa saw that all the flowers were gone, he zoomed down to deliver the rest of the presents. As he went back up to the North Pole he was wondering how the flowers got there in the first place.



Much, much later, the year 3000…...



A small boy named Wyatt Anderson walked up to the cave on Tall Peak. There he saw two old bikes covered in snow. He went over to them and pushed them out of the way. He saw something in between them. It was an old, black game system titled the Curser 2,000.




Hanukkah by Garrett

Garrett had been preparing for his Christmas program at school (which included a song about Hanukkah!) and was having fun one night a few weeks ago singing the Hanukkah song to Darin while taking his bath. Afterwords he says, "What is Hanukkah anyway?" Darin told him that it's a holiday that Jewish people celebrate. With excitement in his squeaky voice, Garrett said, "It's a holiday?"
Darin said, "Yes." Garrett responds with, "Well, then WE should celebrate it!"

This turns to a discussion on what a Jew is, and that we aren't, which turns into a discussion on believing in Jesus. At some point Garrett says, "Well, If you believe in something then that means it's real." Darin then tried to tactfully correct this line of thinking, after which Garrett comes back with: "So, we believe in Jesus and he's 100% real. Santa Claus is 96% real, and something like Bionicles (lego guys)....they aren't real!"

Countdown to Christmas!


Christmas Morning!!!




The Christmas countdown has come to an end! We had a fun filled week leading up to Christmas. On Tuesday (18th) night we went to the zoo to see the 'Electric Safari' light display. Garrett chose to wear cowboy boots - not the best choice for icy sidewalks...he fell flat on his bottom an uncountable number of times. We repeatedly told him to walk in the middle of the walk where there was no ice and he repeatedly walked on the edge. He never complained about falling down...part of him must have enjoyed it.
We played a lot of games when Aunt Windy and Uncle Dave
arrived. They came in late Thursday night and the boys finished school on Friday. They had their class parties on
Friday and, of course, had a great time. The whole school wore their pj's that day. Right after school we all went to see Enchanted. There was a mixed vote after (and during)! Kierstin was just smiling through most of it, although she didn't like the dragon. Gavin enjoyed the whole movie. Garrett would probably have enjoyed a trip to the dentist more than the movie. He kept asking me when it was going to end and telling me again and again that he didn't like it.
On Sunday, we went to the Cave of the Winds again.
Kierstin and Darin stayed home and the rest of us went on the Lantern tour. As you can see in the picture she got some beauty rest while we were gone. The boys loved going in the cave, again!
The 24th passed painfully slow for the kids. Garrett said, "It's weird how some days feel like a whole year."
Finally, Christmas arrived....6:30 am at our house, not too bad. The kids had a great time playing with their presents. The biggest hit was a Wii. It's our first game system and we ALL (including grandpa and yaya) had a great time playing it. Other hot items were a Eyeclops (a magnifier that shows up on the tv) for Gavin, a remote control N'sect (a crazy looking insect that shoots foam darts) for Garrett, a remote control raptor and dragonfly for the boys and a kitchen and baby doll for Kierstin. They also got a big Lego table, a great place to build all their marvelous creations.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

G and G Incorporated

Gavin and Garrett have apparently decided to become incorporated. They've been writing comic books together. Garrett illustrates and Gavin writes. Tonight they declared that they are going to become incorporated as G and G Comix.....watch a comic store near you.

Crazy Hair!!

This week has been spirit week at school. Here's some crazy hair from the boys and a cute photo of Kierstin, because she wanted her picture too!!




Kierstin's princess wave

Here's a short video of Kierstin 'waving like a princess' on the train!


Winter performance/train ride

The boys had their winter performance at school on Friday, Dec. 14th. They both did a great job and it was a well done performance by the entire school. Yaya and Grandpa Rod came to visit on Saturday, they'll be here through Christmas and Windy and Dave will also join us. On Sunday, we rode the Royal Gorge Route train. The kids really enjoyed it. Santa was on the train (the kids avoided him like the plague) however, they did tune in for some Christmas stories read by an elf. The train creeps its way through a narrow canyon next to the Arkansas River. The river was beautiful, filled with icy chunks - icebergs according to the boys.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Snow!

We got a few inches of snow on Saturday and Sunday. Garrett wanted to sled 24/7, the rest of us only wanted to go a couple of times, so we compromised with about 4 sledding trips. On our first sledding outing of the weekend, the boys left ahead of us and Kierstin and I were walking over to the sledding hill. It was very snowy and sunny out...no snow plows had yet passed by so the roads were covered also...it was absolutely beautiful. Kierstin said, "Oh, it's Christmas time, there's snow, and Santa's going to come. Yea! Santa bring me toys, a kitchen, a baby and I like transformers too!" We had a blast sledding the weekend away. Sorry, no photos - cameras, snow and Thompson's just don't mix.

For those of you who don't know, our dear friends in Manhattan have been suffering through a miserable ice storm. Over half of the county is without power. Our friends Nancy, Carlos, and Devon have been without power for 3 days now!! Send warm vibes their way (and master power line fixers). If you want to see photos of the craziness check out The Mercury online. Here's a photo our old neighbor, Elaine, sent....
This is in their back yard...that giant cedar tree that is lying down use to be standing tall like the others.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Chicago


Darin and I went to Chicago this past week for a radiology conference. My parents came to watch the kids. We had a great time. We went to see Wicked. I went to see Jersey Boys. We went out to eat.....ALONE!!! Wow, there's definitely something to be said about that. I spent some time at the Art Museum. We also visited the Sears Tower, on a clear day, and could see forever!!

Thanksgiving

We had a really fun Thanksgiving. Nancy and Devon surprised us and arrived a day early for the festivities. We cooked a super small turkey (the baseball as Darin called it) and then early, early Friday morning the real fun started!! Nancy and I got up at 3:30 am to join the other looney folks for some early morning shopping deals! We filled her minivan up to the top with all of our fantastic bargains. We got back from our marathon day of shopping and Garrett said, "You've been shopping all day, oh man, that must have been painful!"
The boys and Kierstin had a blast playing with Devon for the long weekend. They also had fun decorating the tree!