Gymnastics

It has been great being BYU students together with Meghann. We have been able to do some very interesting things together, and one of those was taking gymnastics class together.
I know that most of you are thinking that the last time you saw a 6'1" guy and a 5'10" girl do gymnastics was...never. My class was right after the cheerleaders practiced in the gym, and the tallest of the girls was about 5'2". So we aren't built like gymnasts, but we decided to defy genetics and give it a shot. We both like to climb and jump off of stuff, and we thought that was a solid foundation to build on.
In gymnastics you have to learn to do a lot of things that seem difficult and dangerous. I always thought that you would learn them step by step from a trained professional and that you would be somehow protected from injury. The reality (at least at BYU) is the instructor showing you what a skill is and then turning you loose to try it. You just go for it and hope for the best. In this system, there is an area that becomes your best friend. It's called the foam pit.
You can jump into the foam pit from any height under the roof of the gym and land at any angle and you won't (usually) get hurt. It is a pit about 6 feet deep with foam blocks. That is where you practice until you are ready to try it on the floor. Learning new skills was usually a leap of faith, where if you hesitate, you usually end up on your head, and if you just go for it you end up...on your head most of the time but sometimes you make it and it is great!
On the apparatus, like rings, high bar, etc., you don’t get the luxury of the foam pit, but we still learned them. It was great. There was an assistant trainer named Don who was over 80 years old but could still come in and do some high bar routines. He loved the fact that Meghann and I were both taking the class and reminded me almost every class to be sure to write in our journals about it. Nowdays the journal entry needs to be complimented with the blog post. So we have posted some videos to prove that we did more than somersaults. What do you think?

Patrick Back Tuck - I was super excited about this one because I never thought I would be able to pull a backflip. Even on the trampoline I was always scared of them. I worked my way up to it on the trampoline and then one day just went for it (with a little help from my spotter/wife)

Meghann doing handsprings - I used to be able to do this when I was about 9 years old. I'm proud to have lived up to that girl.

Meghann on Trampoline - the last jump into the pit is a throw back to my diving days.

Patrick on High Bar - You have to be really careful as a guy on this event. You can do some serious damage.

Patrick on Trampoline

Everything's Funnier with Alyssa

I can't quite explalin why but I laugh all the time with Alyssa. I don't think anyone else understands. We went camping last year, just the two of us. We tried to find these slot canyons to hike down and it took us forever. We finally did find it but we got to a part in the canyon that was really difficult. There was a big drop of about 8 feet and a pool of water at the bottom. We had to go around on the side and shinny in this little crack area. When we were coming back, the only way to get out of the crack was to do this splits move you see Alyssa demonstrating here. I was laughing really hard the whole time she was going back. I included the picture of me doing the splits move just so you don't think there was any other possible way of getting out of that crack without falling into the pool of water.
We camped at the famous Clyde Eagle Nest in the San Rafael swell in southern Utah. To get there you have to have a tough car like a Land Rover LR3 to drive way up on the slick rock to a depression that functions as our "nest". Close to the Nest there is an enormous cliff down into Black Dragon Canyon. Because of my exposure to Clyde rituals, I thought we should probably throw rocks off the cliff. The cliff is in a semi circle so we got far enough apart to be able to see the ground underneath each other so we could see the rocks hit. This big one we had to toss off together.One of the rocks I threw Alyssa said got really close to the fence. We could see that some of the rocks turned into powder so the next day we drove down into the bottom of the canyon to check out what was left of the rocks. We discovered that one of the rocks I threw had indeed hit the fence and broken it. Ooops.

All of our weekend activities were extremely amusing and would have been no matter who I was with. But I guarantee you that I laughed more with Alyssa that I would have with anyone else.

Why the "Sirens of Clyde"

We have gotten quite a few questions about the title of our blog, “Sirens of Clyde”. I will undertake to verbalize the why which came through more instinctive than structured thought process.

The title came from the book “The Sirens of Titan” by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a book that we highly recommend, and is the original source for the idea of the “chrono-synclastic infundibula” which is defined by Vonnegut as "those places ... where all the different kinds of truths fit together." It is a place where past, present and future come together. Vonnegut notes that any detailed description of this phenomenon would baffle the layman, but any comprehensible explanation would insult an expert. This is strikingly similar to the Internet, which is still a great mystery to me, and blogging, which allows us to share our past, present and future with you. Through the chrono-synclastic infundibula we can preserve and share our stories. We think they are important enough to be worth sharing, and hope that they are not simply a cog in the machine to brings about the ultimate purpose of humanity as described in the Sirens of Titan (I can’t give that one away, you’ll have to read it).

The second level of the meaning can be drawn from the legend of the Sirens itself. The Sirens would sing to ships that would sail by close to them, and any man who heard their song would be irresistibly enticed to either steer his ship toward the sirens or throw himself into the ocean and swim to them. The problem was that the ships would crash on the rocks and the men would almost always drown who tried to swim.

The term "siren song" refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad result. This is a reminder that sometimes you need to deny yourself the things that you really want to do, and steer clear of the temptation to avoid being drawn in. We know that our blog is so exciting that many cannot turn away, but are compelled to read and post continually. You are our favorite people, but we don’t want you to not get your work done because you are memorized by the latest story about those crazy Clydes.

This meaning may also be directed at us, the authors, because we probably spend too much time writing about our little lives when we should be concentrating on our actual responsibilities. In fact, that is exactly what I am doing right now! It is like a self perpetuating chain of irony.

In short: Blog Responsibility.

Canyoneering and Throwing Rocks

There is no better Birthday party than adventuring in Southern Utah. We decided to do just that to celebrate Kevin's big day. We originally had maps of the area we were going to explore. That plan was foiled when I left them in the illustrious "Stans" where we had burgers before hiking. I thought then they would know where to look for us if we never came back, the others thought it would have been more helpful to have the maps with us. So when we started hiking we weren't really sure what we were in for. The hike began so calm...



Then we came to some obstacles. We started by shoving each other up. Usually Chase went first and then sometimes he would take the rope and stick it in a crack so the rest of us could climb up. The cliffs obstacles got harder and harder until the last one we used the harnesses and were on belay incase we fell. We didn't.




The next day we went to what was deemed "mini Kipu Falls", very mini. I was the first to jump in the water. I had tested the temperature with my finger and decided it was cold, but not terrible. I will never trust my finger again, it was so cold I could hardly breathe. This is actally me jumping in the second time because the first jump only had the splash photographed. I'm so dedicated to this blog that I jumped off again just to have a good picture of it to post. (It wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention that Patrick jumped in to, but only from the side where he didn't have to swim so far to get out)




There was only one picture that had all four of the adventurers in it. Here it is. I think it's especially nifty that you can see the reflection from the water on the roof of the overhang above us.



And what kind of trip would it have been if we didn't go throw rocks. Grandpa Hal built this bridge over the Dirty Devil river right by Lake Powell back in the 50s when Kevin was just a tot. It was nice of him to build it so high so it made such a fun past time. Please notice that Patrick and Chase are looking at the camera but Kevin, always dedicated to getting the Grand Rental name out there, sacrifices to show only that back of his shirt.
All in all the weekend was great fun with great family. Now who doesn't like to end with a sappy comment like that.

Good old Timothy

This is Timothy the turtle. We found him crossing the road way out near Far West in Missouri. We turned the car around and drove back to see him. I'm obviously the only one who is really that excited about him. Mom and Dad just want to look nice for the picture, and Joel looks a little suspicious. I wanted to take him home but Patrick put a damper on that idea. At one point we put him down and he walked right between my legs. We made sure he was safely off the road before we left. Timothy the turtle, we salute you.

Torture Mountain AKA Lone Peak

One day Patrick said, "Let's climb Lone peak". What he didn't say was that we were going to get bad directions from an old man that would lead us astray and we would get so tired that we would sit in deer poop and not even notice or care.

So the old man said to take the right branch and we would avoid a shale slide. So we take the right and end up way off track. The problem was that we had gained so much altitude that we didn't want to just turn around. Looking at the topo map we decided that trail must be just on the next ridge over. We thought we would be smarter to just bushwack. The trail wasn't on the next ridge and we then had a choice of bushwacking forward or bushwacking back the way we came. By the time we found the trail we were so tired that we accidentally sat in deer poop and didn't even move when we noticed it.

We camped in a meadow that was about halfway to the top. We originally intended to summit and then camp but with the whole lost thing, we camped half way to the top. Patrick had an enormous blister. The next day it bled all over his sock. Very sad.

We walked a long way to watch the sunset and Patrick thought he had the world in his hand. Really it was the sun.
The next day we started for the summit. It was hard even without our packs. Something odd happened to me. I was only about 500 ft from the summit and I realized I wasn't having fun anymore. I was so tired that if Patrick hadn't been there I would have turned around even being that close to the top. I was happy when I finally got to the top. It was amazing. But I'm still a little disturbed that I got past my fun threashold.
The view from the top was so amazing. The peak was the most cliche peak, super rocky and pointy. I have never been on the top of a mountain that there were many unavoidable death-defying parts to scale before getting there. I think that must be kind of like Everest. I don't know if I would ever climb it again but it was amazing...and torturous.

Halloweens Past

So Meghann and I have always had the tradition of doing a great Halloween couple costume. One year we had a problem because Meghann didn't realize that it was a tradition and planned a costume that did not involve me. Well, our marrige survived this crisis (much because she included me in her costume after the fact).

These are some of the costumes from the past. Which one do you like best?

Luke and Leia (playing of the brother/sister situation)

Bo and Daisy Duke

John Smith & Pocahontas

Punk Rockers (This is the one that Meghann did without me and then included me to save the marriage)

This year: Neo & Trinity!

Toby the Pig

We once had a pet pig named Toby, and in the short time we had together he proved to be the best pig ever.

Toby was adopted off of the Kipu ranch by Meghann. I wasn't cousulted prior to Toby's arrival at our house in Koloa, but Meghann explained to me succinctly and logically why it was that he needed to be adpoted: "I really wanted him!"

Well it became clear that he was meant to be ours after a couple of days. He adpoted us as his parents about 2 days after we adpoted him. He went from being afraid of us to being almost attached to us, never being mor than 1-2 feet away from one of us by choice.

We tried to feed Toby a variety of things that ferrel pigs eat, but being 1st time parents we ended up spoiling him and giving him mostly his favorite food, Half & Half. He would slurp it up out of his dish, usually with his two front hooves in the milk, and would end up with a thick cream moustach. He would smack his lips in between drinks, which was just one of his eerily human habits.

He loved attention and loved to be rubbed and scratched. (see video)

I built Toby a cage in the backyard to keep him safe while we were at work, but this was one thing Toby was not fond of. He knew it meant he would be alone for a while, and he would squeal and squeal when we put him in.

Because Toby liked to be so close to us, teaching him certain tricks was a snap. If we wanted him to go a certain way we just hadto go there first. This enabled us to "train" him to go down the slide and play on the local playground equipment.

Toby learned to swim very quickly and had a great technique. He would use his snout as a snorkel and paddle with all four legs. He wasn't super fond of the water, but would brave it to keep his comfortable 1-2 ft distance from us.

He did like the beach alot. Anytime he was in an area where he could root (dig stuff up with his nose) he was happy and there was lots of opportunity at the beach. He would get alot of sand on his nose.

We still think about Toby all the time. I miss him alot, but in a way I am glad that I only knew him as a piglet because he might be 150 lbs with tusks by now. But he'll always be our Toby, and much smarter than all the other pigs.

A bit more of Europe

This is called the Toure de Belem. Let me give you a little Portugese lesson. An em at the end of the word is pronounced eng. So this is actally called the Tour de Beleng. This was one of the first things we went to see when we got to Lisbon. It was built to keep enemy ships from sailing up the river that runs through Lisbon. In Portugese Lisbon is called Lisboa. that messed me up a couple of times when I was trying to follow road signs and kept looking for Lisbon but didn't see it.
This is in a place called Evora. If you notice, all the walls are covered in bones. They aren't fake bones, they really belonged to people. You can see the skulls they put on the corners of the columns as decoration. Apparently the bones belonged to monks who were buried in cemetaries around Evora which were taking up too much room. So they put all the bones in this chapel. There is an enscription above the door that says, "Nos ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos" -"We bones here are waiting for yours."
This was also in Lisboa. It's called the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, we think this means Memorial of the Discoverers. One of the pictured people, though I don't know which one, is Vasco de Gama who, I hope you agree, did something noteworthy though I'm not sure what. I think he was the first to sail to India. Thanks goodness for Indian spices.

Joel and his teeth

Here is little Joel with all of his teeth falling out. My parents call him our little Hillbilly. He is still such a cutie. Joel is really smart and really clever and is always saying the funniest things. An example... Mom, Joel, and I were in Wisconsin in August on State Street in Madison. My mom made Joel come with us into the girls' bathroom and when Joel complainingly asked why, my mom said, "When I'm not familiar with a place, I want to make sure you're safe. And this place has a lot of bad people, drunks, homeless..." Joel piped in, "So you ARE familiar with this place."

Ode to Kauai

I thought I would do a little ode to Kauai. This is Patrick doing one of his famous back flips off the remains of an old bridge. I promise he came through unscathed.























This is our old Xterra, "The HulK". We really miss him. He was such a good Hulk, helping us haul around kayaks a plenty among other adventurous activities. When we get another car, it will probably be another Xterra.




















This is the incredible Napali Coast. I never could get enough of it. I wish we were back in Kauai.

P.S. I miss my long hair.

C-O-R-N

When Kaitlyn was here we went to a corn maze place called Cornbelly's. I had never been to this maze before and it was pretty good except that there were speakers on big poles throughout that played the dumbest kids music you can imagine. There was one particularily annoying song that played about every 5 minuts that went,

"Sing after me kids.

C-O-R-N

(kids) C-O-R-N

B-E-L-L-Y

(Kids) B-E-L-L-Y"

I think it got to me more than everyone else. Luckily there were a couple of supplementary activities that were very amusing. There was a jumping pillow that was like a big trampoline. There was also this spider web thing with a bunch of about 8 layers of stretchy orange vinyl criscrossed horazontally about one foot apart that you could climb up through. It was great fun. The best part was coming down. All you had to do was go into a pike position and you could slide through, butt first, all the way to the bottom. Another fun game we played was put corn down each other's shirts and pants (We pretty much left Kaitlyn's frient Mat out of that part). That was especially hazardous for Kaitlyn with a sister and brother-in-law both trying to pick on her for being the little sister. I think we accidentally broke her necklace in our effort to get corn in her sweatshirt. Was it worth it? I think so.

my computer is taking itself over

Since I am using Patrick's computer, there are only a very select number of pictures I can post and they are all from Europe. So this is patrick with the Smart car that we saw everywhere in Europe. The reason that I can't use my computer is it has decided that I am not allowed to sign in to anything. Its very odd. That means I can't check my email on my computer, I can't sign on to use the internet at BYU on my computer, and I can't sign in to post a blog on my computer where all the other pictures are. So I use Patrick's computer much more now than I used to. I think that brings us closer.

We have such great adventures that we are going to share some details and insights and stories. We took a great trip to Portugal at the end of the summer. This is Pena Palace in Sintra. We really started to blend in with the locals, especially at the beach. I am debating whether to post the "speedo pictures".