Happy Birthday Pops

In honor of my father on this great day, the 29th of September 2006, I want to instill upon those who read this the greatness of this man. If you do not know Camm C. Swift, then you can not understand the esteem nor the regard that I and those who do know him hold for him. I am lucky enough to have been born his son. He is and always will be the single greatest man I have I ever met. In the eyes of his family, he is a man without peer.





To understand this giant among men, you must have gone seining with him. Without it, you cannot grasp his physical strength, his seemingly limitless intellect, or his sheer will power to complete a goal. I would go so far as to say that without this experience, you cannot call yourself a man. Some rites of passage call for you to kill a bear or travel great distances. I submit that one 14 hour day with my father will leave you in awe of what a true man should strive to be.

If ever there was something my Father could do and do well, it was teaching his children to fish. I cherish the memories of both bait fishing and fly fishing on Domingo Creek. He always new the water hole just behind the log or at the edge of the bank where we would be sure to hook a rainbow trout. If you have never camped out with Camm, you will never understand all that this man has to offer.


If you have ever wondered how a man that does not quite reach 5'7 command the presence of a room, look closer at this picture. The silent confidence has always been reassuring as a child and leaves me envious as an adult. When you see his hands folded in front as he rocks up onto the balls of his feet, you understand that his patience is wearing thin. His logic is always dead on; his reasoning always sound. He has always been an unending source of wisdom, excitement, and love. He is an example to emulate for men and fathers everywhere.





Happy Birthday Dad. You have to know that each and every person in your family holds you in the highest regard. As we speak, Camm is seining on his birthday. Long live the man, the myth, the living legend.

Screw law enforcement, I have found the job of my dreams

The TSA’s to the complete liquid ban may require persons with augmented breasts (or other body parts) to comply with further inspections at security checkpoints.
Excerpts from the TSA bulletin effective Sept 26, 2006:In addition to the above changes, the following guidance is provided to ensure the health and welfare of certain air travelers the following items are permitted…

• Items used to augment the body for medical or cosmetic reasons such as mastectomy products, prosthetic breasts, bras or shells containing gels, saline solution, or other liquids; and…

… items exceed 3 ounces or are not contained in a one-quart, zip-top plastic bag, you MUST declare to one of our Security Officers at the checkpoint for further inspection.

Maddox

Here are some pictures we took last night. His alien like features are beginning to wear off and he is starting to look like a normal human being.










Well... don't use this picture of an example of looking more human. Especially with the furry shoulders.











Or this one either.

Running Eagle Falls

I've been really busy with the girls starting school, dance, and AYSO all at once, so I'll quickly regale you all with yet more pics from my vacation.

Running Eagle Falls is also on the east side of the park.

View looking back along the trail on the way to the falls.




And the falls themselves.

New Zealand knows how to write a headline

I for one am getting a little sick of foreign newspapers being so much cooler than ours.

goodbye pornstar hair

hello lesbian!!!

look at those poses. it is almost like i do not even know i am taking a picture of myself...

Baring Falls

Another one of the hikes we did in Glacier was Baring Falls. It's a fairly easy hike to a waterfall near St. Mary Lake, which is on the east side of the park.

The trail runs along the lake, with good views of the lake as you hike.




And then, we naturally stopped at the falls and had lunch with the girls.

Some more pictures

So... Maddox has some freaky simian like feet. His toes have pretty good gripping power and he can spread them really far apart. They will come in useful for climbing trees later on in life.











When I say his toes can spread and grip, I mean I can stick my index finger in between his first two toes.











Uhh.. yeah. Here he is again.













And the last one. Nothing says photography like Kerri getting the breast milk that has collected on in the back of Maddox's throat and tongue.

Apparently, I take to long.

So here is Maddox at the hospital in his plastic crib. I think we, and by we I mean women everywhere, should take a lesson from hospitals and the cribs they use. Reinforced clear plastic is clearly superior to hundreds of dollars wasted on expensive wood cribs, patterned crib sheets, and fancy-schmancy mattresses.







He is a fairly good one of his eyes open. He still squirms all over the place unless he is breast feeding. Then he kicks Kerri right in the boobs. The pediatrician said he was right on the border of having jaundice but with time would be ok. Hence the reason he looks yellow in some pictures.







The happy mother. What you don't see is the first 2 days of hell trying to get this kid to breast feed. Now, he takes after his father and loves breasts. Right or left, he does not discriminate.










What can I say, I am just happy he is not crying. Actually, he almost never cries. After the whole getting him to breast feed fiasco was over, just like in the hospital after he was born, he rarely cried. The official statistics are 7 lbs 6ounces, 19 inches long, and really dark, almost black hair. His full name is Maddox Camm Swift. More to come

Avalanche Creek

A few miles up the road from the Sprague Creek campground is a narrow canyon with a creek and some nice trails. Very wet old growth forest. Not only is the vegetation different from what I'm used to, but we got a good look at a varied thrush, something you'd normally expect to see in a wet Pacific Northwest forest, but wouldn't encounter here in Utah.





Just a few hundred yards up a trail called Trail of the Cedars, Avalanche Creek cuts through a polished little gorge.



If you continue up the trail, it ends at Avalanche Lake. It's a nice hike for the kids, and even in August the temperature is great. It's a relatively flat trail, 2 miles one way, and entirely shaded under those large trees. Down in the main valley the temp was in the upper 80's, but you'd never know it on that trail. The lake sits in a steep bowl shaped valley. We ate lunch on a flat rock next to the lake, saw a number of trout jumping, some (I think) female red headed ducks diving in the shallows, and a sharpshinned hawk. A hummingbird hovered about two feet in fron of Jen and the girls, but zoomed off before we could get a good enough look to tell what species.

Maddox

Since Ken is slacking off as well, I'll post a couple of Maddox pics that have been circulating by email.

For some reason I laughed when I saw this one. I forget how grouchy and squashy looking they are when they first come out. Ken needs to tell us if Kerri tried to bite him during delivery. Jen tried to bite me with both our kids. Ah, memories.



Here's Ken looking deceptively normal and father like, and another picture of Maddox after they decided to finally put some clothes on that kid.

Feel the Reaper!!!

I've been a slacker and still have to go through the rest of my vacation pics. In the meantime, it has come to my attention that there's a hotsauce out there called Ass Reaper. Discuss.