Psychological Warfare

Ryann plans her next strategy while Erin has no idea what comes next!

It has been too long since our last entry so I will attempt to get caught up in one motion. To start, Amy is enjoying her time at home with Ryann. I think her quiet respite after Erin and Tyrel leave for school each morning is therapeutic. When school let out for UEA it was obvious Amy’s chi was disrupted after spending an entire day with Erin at home. Amy informed me it was better for her to have Erin in school with lots of work and art projects to complete. Weird, I didn’t see that coming.

I have been trying for years to teach and later impose general good behavior on Erin with little to no success. However, Sun Tzu has an apt pupil residing in our home in Ryann. She shrewdly imposes her will on Erin in rare style. You see Ryann possess the coveted anti-Erin. I have never seen someone back peddle quicker than Erin after Ryann spits up or messes her diaper. Who would have thought.

On a more serious note, Ryann completely dominates the house as well she should. We are glad to have her. I am glad she likes to sleep at night.

Finally, Tyrel is gearing up for his latest baseball tournament and basketball is gaining on him fast. he loves practices as much as the games and conintues to develop baseball skills. No doubt Tyrel and his team have come a long way in learning and playing America’s game. Now, Tyrel has played long enough that he is starting to think the game and seems to have a question per minute about different scenarios and strategies in baseball. It is good this game is so utterly engaging. Long live baseball!

6 and Counting

With the addition of Ryann it offered the perfect distraction for the rest of the family. Usually the weeks, or months, leading up to Erin’s birthday include no less than 1000 questions about how many more days until her birthday. The respite from these inquiries was welcome but, thank goodness, didn’t cancel the event entirely. After watching Erin on her birthday and then later at her birthday party, I know nobody has more fun at these things than her.

For good or bad, Erin’s brief six years have been well documented with a camera. We have ample black mail material for the time in her life when she will be trying to convince a naive boy that she has been only perfect her entire life. I will continue gathering evidence until that day. Enjoy.

Ryann part 2

Newest Robinson

School, Whew!

Amy and I are grateful for school to finally start. This single event seems to bring some normalcy to our schedules. We don’t have to go over the plan for the day every morning with Erin, and Tyrel always knows what he is doing after school. For the record, Erin is still about to explode with all of the new things going on in her life. I hope her teacher is handling it well.

On the soccer field Erin continues to walk through the competition. It is thrilling to watch her play and we are grateful for the outlet for her seemingly endless energy. This year, more than before, I have noticed Erin plays soccer with jazz-hands. Apparently, she becomes so focused on the ball that she loses all conscious thought as to what her hands are obviously doing. From any angle you look at it, she is our only dancing soccer player. Just as fascinating to me is that a single game is so able to fully focus her mind and energy at one time. Often she is the sole scoring player for the entire game.

Tyrel has decided he likes being a 5th grader and shows signs of getting a swell head over being the oldest class in the school. He works hard to be a good student despite his drama over a tough math problem or two. In Iron County the students are given the option of participating in orchestra or an arts unit. Tyrel has opted for orchestra. As of yet, the newness of practicing the violin has not worn off. Who knows, maybe he’ll be the next Johann Bach- who plays baseball left-handed.

Tyrel recently played in the Labor Day Tournament in Utah County. Among these contests Fusion played their first game under the lights. Certainly no position shows a lack of night game experience more than an outfielder. Tyrel was schooled in a single hit. He started out playing a high fly ball in textbook form, but took his eye off the ball for a split second. For anyone who has studied at this same school of baseball, the end result of committing this “thou shalt not ever…” sin was immediately apparent. Tyrel lost the ball and truly never found it again until he heard it hit the ground a few feet behind him. I winced hoping he wouldn’t get hurt, but nobody was more surprised than Tyrel. Live and learn.

We are anxious for Ryann to arrive. This holding pattern our lives have assumed until “after” is frustrating for me. With no definite plans for the end of September, plus or minus a week, I get frustrated. I am eagerly awaiting Ryann’s safe arrival so we can all breathe a collective sigh and start the work of raising another baby from scratch, again.

Going Green & Wildfires

Erin can produce her own electricity. This has been verified and validated by the lady in our ward who watches Erin for a few hours during the day. If you are still wondering what I am talking about, I am certain you have experienced the mounting crescendo before Christmas. This is Erin, times four. Our home can go “off the grid” if I can just solve the problem of harnessing Erin’s obvious energy.

First, nobody is more excited for kindergarten than Erin. I contend she was ready last year. Now she is prepared plus one year. Then, Erin continues to monitor Amy’s pregnancy on at least a daily basis if not several times each day. I’m ready for Cryin’ Ryann to arrive if for no other reason than to settle Erin. Next, Erin lost another tooth. I was hoping the second tooth lost would be less monumental, but apparently this only occurs in other families. Finally, Erin has not forgotten that her birthday is no longer months away but merely weeks. The sum of these circumstances in Erin’s life has her acting much like a Jack Russell terrier- standing still but shaking with excitement.Recently, everywhere we go it smells as if we have just returned from camping. With the wildfire threatening New Harmony just to the south of Cedar City and the direction of the prevailing winds we have become the unappreciative beneficiaries of the smoke. This has become the talk about town as well as the newspapers, television and radio stations.

New Harmony residents have been evacuated and allowed back at least once with the current stipulation being a one-hour evacuation plan. Some structures in, or around, New Harmony have been lost to the fire. To date these include three homes and eight out-lying buildings. Everyone seems to have an opinion as to what “the authorities” should have done the previous weeks the fire was allowed to burn as a controlled burn. Some are now demanding the blood of agencies and even certain individuals. Politics and blaming aside, our family continues to pray for the safety of the firefighters and the residents of New Harmony.

Cooler & Holding Strong

It is apparent our summer is coming to a screeching halt. Tonight the kids are off for “Back to School Night” and there is little doubt the hottest part of the season is behind us and the days are getting shorter. We won’t complain as our summer has been full. Maybe we’ll use the winter season to recover from it all- not likely.

Since our last entry we have truly run the gauntlet. Tyrel had a baseball tournament in Cedar City. This local venue came at a good time as Amy isn’t as willing, or happy, to travel much further than St George right now.

I can summarize this tournament in a few sentences. The first day of the tournament the Fusion team was missing a player or two due to the flu. By the second day I think the rest of the team was felling the beginning stages of this same flu, Tyrel included. What a tragic couple of days!

Tyrel feigned a full recovery in time to head off to Lake Powell for a second week this summer. He and Erin went with Grandpa and Grandma Robinson and the out-of-state Robinson faction (Cole, Julie, and their kids) for more water and sun. It sounds like they had a good time, but by all accounts, it was apparent Tyrel had not made a full recovery. Regardless, there was lots of tubing, swimming, and general fun followed, no doubt, by a nigh time filled with the chorus of snores that has become a Robinson family signature. I contend this is the sound of the body and mind at peace.

I have logged some serious road miles in August. I assigned myself the task of making a trip to Orange County, California to pick up one of Cedar City’s outstanding citizens and bring him back to justice. It was quick; down and back in one day for a total of almost 14 hours in the car.

Just in case I did not acquaint myself with the interior of an Impala well enough with the trip to California, I spent the last week in Ft. Collins, Colorado. For those of you who are wondering, you can’t get to Ft. Collins from Cedar City; you have to go somewhere else first. After a 10-hour trek we found Fort Collins. I had forgotten how charming southern Wyoming is- HA! It was good to trade ideas, problems, and solutions with true professionals.

Erin has had her first soccer game of the season. These games are always entertaining for me. Who has more fun than kids?

...And finally Amy. The other night she told me she is just now feeling pregnant and uncomfortable. I certainly feel like this pregnancy has been forever long, but this could be due to the fact that Erin asks everyday how much longer until Ryann arrives. Nobody is more excited than Erin.

Amy says Ryann never holds still. This may be foreshadowing of times ahead, as we already have one of those kids who never stopped moving before she was born. At ant rate, I'm ready for the pregnancy part of this venture to be over.