Monday, June 30, 2008
Correction
Hello, Alixa here. I would just like to clarify that I did not say I would get back to my brother about Mitch. Jarom has a bad habit of not telling the truth, so I needed to make sure it got in the blog. He apparently told Mitch that I would not mind getting rid of him when in fact, I told my brother right away that we would be taking Mitch with us because he is part of our family and we could never part with him. So there, I am not a cruel and heartless person. I am glad that this has been cleared up.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Sensitivity
Since my last installment, Jarom finished college. He has been almost finished with college for nearly 4 years now, but this time he is actually done. No more classes, no more tests, no more teachers dirty looks…or something like that.
To celebrate Jarom and Lix went golfing. They played nine holes with some friends of ours, and had a great time. Jarom has continued to play more golf than he should, and thinks he is getting better, although that can’t be confirmed. He has a great time though. He is still wildly inconsistent, but hits really good shots on every 3rd or 4th swing.
His softball career is also continuing. He is playing in a Provo city league that is currently in the playoffs, and playing on an intramural team with his brother-in-law. This week he hit the first over-the-fence home run of his baseball/softball history. It is a little surprising that it took this long (he has played nearly 8,000 such games) but he was very happy that it happened.
The Winns have also begun the long process of moving. At this stage it consists of checking out truck rental prices, planning cross country itineraries, and giving away things that haven’t been used in years. So if you want something from us, now is the time to ask.
Jarom’s motorcycle also broke this week, and he was very fortunate that it happened in the parking lot here at home. His clutch cable snapped, which isn’t really dangerous, but would have been inconvenient had it happened elsewhere. Basically it means that the bike lost the ability to put the clutch in, which means no changing gears. A kind neighbor with a truck helped him load it up and take it down to the shop to get fixed.
There was an incident that Jarom shared with me this week that hurt my feelings. When he came home on Tuesday he found Alixa sitting on the couch waiting for him. She said hello and then mentioned that she had been talking to her brother Zak (my previous owner). She said that his wife was going to get him a ball python for his birthday and he offered to take me off her hands if she didn’t want to lug me across the country to Tennessee. Instead of saying no, or telling him that she would never get rid of me, she said she would ask Jarom and get back to him. Obviously, Jarom said no way, but it hurt me that Alixa would even consider it. I guess we aren’t as close as I thought. I just hope that someday she might grow to like me.
To celebrate Jarom and Lix went golfing. They played nine holes with some friends of ours, and had a great time. Jarom has continued to play more golf than he should, and thinks he is getting better, although that can’t be confirmed. He has a great time though. He is still wildly inconsistent, but hits really good shots on every 3rd or 4th swing.
His softball career is also continuing. He is playing in a Provo city league that is currently in the playoffs, and playing on an intramural team with his brother-in-law. This week he hit the first over-the-fence home run of his baseball/softball history. It is a little surprising that it took this long (he has played nearly 8,000 such games) but he was very happy that it happened.
The Winns have also begun the long process of moving. At this stage it consists of checking out truck rental prices, planning cross country itineraries, and giving away things that haven’t been used in years. So if you want something from us, now is the time to ask.
Jarom’s motorcycle also broke this week, and he was very fortunate that it happened in the parking lot here at home. His clutch cable snapped, which isn’t really dangerous, but would have been inconvenient had it happened elsewhere. Basically it means that the bike lost the ability to put the clutch in, which means no changing gears. A kind neighbor with a truck helped him load it up and take it down to the shop to get fixed.
There was an incident that Jarom shared with me this week that hurt my feelings. When he came home on Tuesday he found Alixa sitting on the couch waiting for him. She said hello and then mentioned that she had been talking to her brother Zak (my previous owner). She said that his wife was going to get him a ball python for his birthday and he offered to take me off her hands if she didn’t want to lug me across the country to Tennessee. Instead of saying no, or telling him that she would never get rid of me, she said she would ask Jarom and get back to him. Obviously, Jarom said no way, but it hurt me that Alixa would even consider it. I guess we aren’t as close as I thought. I just hope that someday she might grow to like me.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
We are the....
Finally, Alixa and Jarom have t-shirts proclaiming their greatness to the world. Alixa won hers in the top division, while Jarom was in the 3rd (out of 4). They won them on the same day, which made it extra fun.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The CR
The Winn family summer of vacations continues! Jarom and Alixa spent the last week in lovely, tropical Costa Rica, adding stamps to their passports and giving Alixa a great opportunity to work on her Spanish. They had a wonderful time, and it was a great way to celebrate the end of the school year for Alixa. She was very sad to see her students for the last time, so I guess she enjoyed her experience. Time will tell if she does it again or not, but I think that she probably will.
Costa Rica (For complete photo album, click)
The trip began on a Saturday afternoon with Jarom and Lixi heading up to Bountiful to see Jason and Annie and their two kids, who don’t seem to hate Jarom anymore, although they still aren’t thrilled with Lix. They went to a park and sat around making fun of whatever was on TV. Jason then drove them to the airport and kept the car so that they could use it during the week they were in Utah (This will resurface later on). They took the red-eye to Atlanta, where they met Bruce, Nancy, and the twins for their flight to Liberia Costa Rica, arriving at about 1:00 Sunday afternoon.
No surprise, everyone was pretty tired, so after a wonderful shower and some dinner, they went to bed at about 7. What losers! Monday they took a tour around the peninsula where the house is located, swam in the pool and had a nice lunch at the clubhouse. They needed to get groceries for the week, so the entire crew (There were 10 people at the house all week) jumped in the cars and started driving around looking for a grocery store that would meet Nancy’s high standards (She wants meat that isn’t disease-ridden and shelves that aren’t falling over, very picky). The first two stops did not pass the test, but finally they found one. As an added bonus, it was next door to a Papa Johns, so it was pizza for dinner.
Tuesday they got to go on a zip line canopy tour, which means that you strap yourself into a climbing harness and ride cables for hundreds of feet from treetop to treetop. However cool it may sound in your head, it is much better than that in reality. After the first few lines, they even got brave enough to do things like ride the zip lines upside down and spin in circles and stuff. As an added bonus, Lixi got hit on by the guide, so if things don’t work out with Jarom…
On the peninsula there is also a beautiful golf course that Jarom got to play twice during the week. He did OK both times; shooting 100 and 103, but he had a great time. All along the course there were monkeys and iguanas and anteaters to go along with amazing views. Some of the tees were at the high point of the peninsula, so you could see 360 degrees of ocean and coastline. He also scored his first birdie, sticking his 9 iron shot within two feet of the pin on a par 5. The course was quite fancy, and the players were given water and cold towels every 4 holes to stave off the heat. It was marvelous.
The other fun thing that they did was take a catamaran around the peninsula and up the coast a little ways to do some snorkeling. The water was clear, but the fish and the reef were a little drab. There just weren’t the same vibrant colors that they saw a few weeks ago in the Caribbean. They saw a few fish and some eels, but the real treat was found on the beach afterwards. Jolene’s live-in boyfriend found a baby sea turtle skittering toward the ocean. They played with him for a little while and took some pictures with him. In all of the animal kingdom, sea turtles have to be in the top ten cutest babies. They finally let him go to face the terrible odds of surviving into adulthood. Best of luck, buddy.
Now back to Jason and that car. In the middle of the week Jarom decided to check his messages to see how many people don’t care that he exists (Very large number). He had one message, from his neighbor. The message said that Jarom’s brother had tried to break into the neighbor’s home, and that he should call him to talk about it. So he called Jason to see what was going on. Turns out that Jason had wanted to visit me since he loves snakes and had Jarom’s house key. But he didn’t know which apartment I lived in, so he tried the wrong one. The neighbors heard someone messing with the lock and panicked, calling the cops. The cops obviously had to search Jason and question him vigorously due to his scary nature. There were some holes in his story (“I am visiting my brother, but you can’t contact him, he’s in Costa Rica. The car is my parents’, but you can’t contact them, they’re in Costa Rica. My parents don’t love me, which is why I am not in Costa Rica, etc…), but eventually they let him go.
In the end, it is a good story, although I didn’t actually get the chance to meet Jason due to the shenanigans. Anyone interested in another funny story should ask Nancy about the time she wet her pants on the stairs in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica (For complete photo album, click)
The trip began on a Saturday afternoon with Jarom and Lixi heading up to Bountiful to see Jason and Annie and their two kids, who don’t seem to hate Jarom anymore, although they still aren’t thrilled with Lix. They went to a park and sat around making fun of whatever was on TV. Jason then drove them to the airport and kept the car so that they could use it during the week they were in Utah (This will resurface later on). They took the red-eye to Atlanta, where they met Bruce, Nancy, and the twins for their flight to Liberia Costa Rica, arriving at about 1:00 Sunday afternoon.
No surprise, everyone was pretty tired, so after a wonderful shower and some dinner, they went to bed at about 7. What losers! Monday they took a tour around the peninsula where the house is located, swam in the pool and had a nice lunch at the clubhouse. They needed to get groceries for the week, so the entire crew (There were 10 people at the house all week) jumped in the cars and started driving around looking for a grocery store that would meet Nancy’s high standards (She wants meat that isn’t disease-ridden and shelves that aren’t falling over, very picky). The first two stops did not pass the test, but finally they found one. As an added bonus, it was next door to a Papa Johns, so it was pizza for dinner.
Tuesday they got to go on a zip line canopy tour, which means that you strap yourself into a climbing harness and ride cables for hundreds of feet from treetop to treetop. However cool it may sound in your head, it is much better than that in reality. After the first few lines, they even got brave enough to do things like ride the zip lines upside down and spin in circles and stuff. As an added bonus, Lixi got hit on by the guide, so if things don’t work out with Jarom…
On the peninsula there is also a beautiful golf course that Jarom got to play twice during the week. He did OK both times; shooting 100 and 103, but he had a great time. All along the course there were monkeys and iguanas and anteaters to go along with amazing views. Some of the tees were at the high point of the peninsula, so you could see 360 degrees of ocean and coastline. He also scored his first birdie, sticking his 9 iron shot within two feet of the pin on a par 5. The course was quite fancy, and the players were given water and cold towels every 4 holes to stave off the heat. It was marvelous.
The other fun thing that they did was take a catamaran around the peninsula and up the coast a little ways to do some snorkeling. The water was clear, but the fish and the reef were a little drab. There just weren’t the same vibrant colors that they saw a few weeks ago in the Caribbean. They saw a few fish and some eels, but the real treat was found on the beach afterwards. Jolene’s live-in boyfriend found a baby sea turtle skittering toward the ocean. They played with him for a little while and took some pictures with him. In all of the animal kingdom, sea turtles have to be in the top ten cutest babies. They finally let him go to face the terrible odds of surviving into adulthood. Best of luck, buddy.
Now back to Jason and that car. In the middle of the week Jarom decided to check his messages to see how many people don’t care that he exists (Very large number). He had one message, from his neighbor. The message said that Jarom’s brother had tried to break into the neighbor’s home, and that he should call him to talk about it. So he called Jason to see what was going on. Turns out that Jason had wanted to visit me since he loves snakes and had Jarom’s house key. But he didn’t know which apartment I lived in, so he tried the wrong one. The neighbors heard someone messing with the lock and panicked, calling the cops. The cops obviously had to search Jason and question him vigorously due to his scary nature. There were some holes in his story (“I am visiting my brother, but you can’t contact him, he’s in Costa Rica. The car is my parents’, but you can’t contact them, they’re in Costa Rica. My parents don’t love me, which is why I am not in Costa Rica, etc…), but eventually they let him go.
In the end, it is a good story, although I didn’t actually get the chance to meet Jason due to the shenanigans. Anyone interested in another funny story should ask Nancy about the time she wet her pants on the stairs in Costa Rica.
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