This past Saturday Grandpa and Grandma, Bethany and Ethan attend "Night Eyes" at the Blank Park Zoo here in DSM. It a beautiful day weather wise and we had a great time walking Ethan around. The zoo has special activities for little kids and it is well worth the time if you have free day around Halloween. I just wanted to share a few pics of a great day! I took over 70 so I had to choose and it was hard.


Here we are in the inflatable play area.


Having the leave the inflatable area and the slide was not a positive experience.

"Why am I between this Dragon wing and my MOM?"

"Lets get going already!"

Grandpa and Ethan, again it was a great day!

A Fall day (out)

The other day the maple trees in my yard starting turning their awesome red. I wish I was surrounded in a forest of them but these 4 will have to do. Actually I do wish I lived in the woods somewhere, but that was not available when we moved to Grimes, so I have been trying to build woods and well a little bit of Colorado in my yard ever since.

So here are some pics from the Fall yard - enjoy.

Brothers in Blue - NCCF Oct 2008

Here are a few pics from the Brothers in Blue weekend held last weekend in Rockwell City, Ia. This is a prison ministry modeled after the Via de Cristo movement. In there pics are me, my Dad (Elmer Lubinus - left) and Johnny Everts (a very old and dear family friend) Johnny's dad and my Grandpa were from the same area of Germany and came to this country very close to the same time. It was great seeing Dad and Johnny getting into speaking Low German and just being friends. We do this event, every 6 months and pick up just where we left off just like we had been together the whole time. By the way doesn't Johnny look good with a cookie duster!


This last one is of Dad at a table with a group of guys. The weekend is about building relationships and than adding Jesus into the mix. I have done over a dozen of these weekends and have all been very special to me. Lives are changed with these weekends, and the Holy Spirit is alive at these events.

And finally just for fun - the last clip is of Pastor Carroll Lang hamming it up playing Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof. Here he is singing - "If I were a rich man." He is a natural for this role.

Buddy

Ok, my life lately has been all about the Buddy Holly story. I signed on as the assistant stage manager and have been doing some backstage work for the show. The cast is awesome and the show is great. They are doing such a great job. Of course the tech people (that's me) are only there to make sure the show goes off as planned. If we mess up the show has been affected. We don't make the show but we can sure ruin it. Here are a few pics of me and the cast. Enjoy and if you are in the area, come to the DSM playhouse and see the show. It closes next weekend.

Wet weekend in Chicago with Jamie and Kyle

This past weekend I got the pleasure of going to see Jamie and Kyle between my weeks of DPS training. I was able to experience the wettest day in Chicago's history. What fun! I seemed like it rained all weekend, oh it did.

Jamie and I braved the CTA and rode around on Saturday. We were able to take in the Chicago history museum and take in a nice supper at a local place. It was great just hanging out with Jamie. I cannot remember the last time we were able to do that. It was fun and we have to do it again very soon. Jamie is a great hostess so if anyone wants to go to Chicago, stay at her place!

Here are few pics from the weekend.

This is a nice shot of my foot and leg after some great time walking around downtown and the ride home on the bus.

Me outside the old cars that were used by the CTA. I am the old looking one, the lady is well just annoyed by me. Go figure.

Here is Jamie outside of Loyola. It was raining go figure.

Jamie thought the beaver pelt was so soft. Like everyone hasn't felt a beaver pelt, what is the big deal. No really it was a great place to learn so much about the orgin of Chicago!

Jamie was smiling most of the day, takes more than a little rain to get this girl down.

Ok, my last pic from the weekend. I took this one outside of Jamie's apartment. This guy had "gotten the boot" as they said. He owes on his parking tickets and until he pays them this car is not moving! Later that same day the boot was gone, so I am glad that I was able to capture this special moment.

DuPont Production System training

So out in wonderful Wilmington, DE this week. Not too exciting that is for sure. I have been through two days of training so far and all that I have to say for it is 4 pages of questions. So by far more questions than answers at this point. Hopefully the rest of the week and next will answer some of those questions.

Went out for fish tonight, for some reason it didn't agree with me too well. I better stick to my regular diet type stuff. I can usually eat about anything, but for some reason the fresh fish and the smell was a bit overwhelming for me this evening. Perhaps I am pg or something?

Birthday Parade?

Yes, that is correct. A birthday parade. I commented one time to Cindy that I haven't had what a birthday parade. Well low and behold, a birthday parade. The weather was really rough in the afternoon and the event was very close to being cancelled due to weather, but they pulled it off as a complete surprise to me, as you can see from the attached pic. - By the way thanks Tyler for the pics, he was the official photographer. Yes as you can see from my expression, what the H__L was I thinking?

The is a pic of the parade as it started. Lead by the official pace car driven by Mike Grove. As you can see it wasn't a long parade, but it was a mighty parade. Yes the sky is very dark as yet another storm was on it's way. God really wanted this parade to happen for some reason?

As the parade begins to get closer you get to see the real detail that went into planning and pulling off such an odd event. Yes that is a tractor, driven by Larry Findley - which immediately after the parade drove home as fast as he could to get out of the rain!

Not really sure or if I remember what April T., is pulling in the wagon.

A parade is nothing with out a line of pretty girls, and this one had one as well! Don't know if we should count the dog in that line or not, I really can't tell if it is a girl or not from this angle. But nevertheless the rest of the girls are pretty.

As we close out this parade, here is the mastermind of the event with her accomplices. Cindy my lovely wife, and Becky and Lindsay Duckett. Yes, I didn't know if they had it in them, but they did. Let's just say payback is obvious.

A crowd gathered for such a site as expected. Not often you get an unannouced parade. (Did we have a permit for this gathering) Yes it does seem to fit that candy does draw all kinds of KIDS!

And finally the birthday boy in all his glory. Yes even with STAR glasses. They are so cool. Honestly, thank you Cindy for making it a great day. We drove through some rough weather to get home in time for it and it was worth it. Thanks again and I love you!