Mas Fotos

Here are some more pictures from last weekend. I'll post some from this weekend in the next couple days.

Tate & Mom

Tate & Ashley (because she complained about "never being on the blog") Tate & DadTate & AddieTate wants you to have a good day.

Probie

Josh graduated the fire academy on Saturday. Mel, Tate, and I showed up fashionably late to the ceremony. Tate decided to sleep in and we decided it would be better to be fashionably late than unfashionably not present at all. It was a super hot day so after the ceremony we set Tate's baby pool up again and Chris, Tate, and I took a canyon dip. It was lovely. The festive day was capped by a n evening win by our softball team. We are pretty horrible, but luckily we happened upon a team that was even inferior to us. Tate is starting to scoot a bit and will likely be crawling in no time. Our lives will soon be over. Luckily our spacious abode has more than enough space to permit the young squirrel to crawl where he wishes. Below you will find some lovely pool pictures and other fine photos.

Those who can't, teach.

In college I attempted to take 1 summer school class. I dropped it. I hated summer school. I have had two interviews for Fall teaching jobs and have been unsuccessful so far. They said something about not wanting to hire someone who showed up in a wife-beater and cleaned their teeth with a buck knife during the interview. To each their own. Anyway, I got a call from Castro Valley High School the other day to interview for a summer school teaching position. The interview went really well. The Principal told me she interview other people as well and that she would be calling me later that day to let me know if I got the position. She then left the room to grab something. When she returned she said that she had made a decision and that she wanted me to have the job. I will be teaching Freshman English. I have complete control over the curriculum and can essentially do whatever I want with the students. It should be a fun experience and I will be done by noon each day, which will be nice. The bummer is that I will miss the mission trip for the first time in 10 years (11 straight trips I have attended). I trust that God has a reason for me staying home and the Rez will be ok without me. I finished school last Tuesday, meaning I now technically have my Master's Degree and Teaching Credential. I am so glad to be done with school. 20 straight years of education will kill a guy, if not make him smarter. Last night we had our summer kickoff for the middle school ministry. We met at the Pleau's and rented a bouncy house. It was funny. We had more students than we have ever had on a Wednesday night during my time as the MSM leader. It has been really encouraging to see the ministry grow, not even so much in size, but in the maturing and realness of the student's faith. This is a great group of students and I am blessed to play a role in their lives. The leadership team is pretty studly as well, which makes my job a lot easier.

Summer is here (but not in Argentina)

Summer has arrived and in the Bowen household there is much jubilation. Melissa and I went to see Emery and The Almost last night at Slim's. This was definitely not a typical Melissa show but she enjoyed it. Emery was amazing-probably top 5 bands I have seen at Slim's (Mute Math, Switchfoot, Manchester Orhestra and mewithoutYou round out the top 4). The Almost were great too (see high quality video below). We went to Sushi at a hip restaurant across the street from Slims. This was quite adventurous for the two of us. I had been there once before and Mel, though apprehensive at first, loved it. We had a great date night. Allison watched Tate. It was the first time we had someone not related to us feed him and put him to bed (The Ton had watched him once before after we put him down, though he did wake up. Thanks Ton!). It was quite the step for us. On Saturday we went on a bike ride and then to Liana's wedding. Most of these pictures are from that event. It was a nice wedding. Sunday was my first Father's Day. Melissa got be a backpack for Tate. He enjoys sitting in it and pulling my hair and occasionally he chews on my dome. Mel told me that I shouldn't tell Tate "no" so often so I have taken to saying "make good decisions." For example, if he is about to get burnt by the stove, I tell him to "make a good decision." Most of the time he does. However, the lad is a bit squirrely and becoming more so by the day so "no" has become a staple command in our vernacular. Kids these days. We are looking forward to summer to really get under way. Tate is excited to go camping in a few weeks. His goal is to crawl by then. My goal is to not let him crawl until after camping. Hopefully he makes a good decision.

Some Wedding Pictures:

Father's Day

The Almost "Amazing, Because It Is"

Getting To Know You, Episode 3

Enjoy.

Cooling Down in the Canyon

Yesterday Tom told me that I increased the value of his property. He was no doubt referring to the pool that I installed for Tate. It was rather hot yesterday so Tate and I ventured to Target to purchase a pool. He was so excited he peed himself. He really did. Anyway, I got home and filled the pool with hose water. Mind you, the hose water came out at roughly 40 degrees, just above freezing. This did not seem to bother Tate. I got in the water with him and held him as he shrieked for joy. Mel got home from work and took some pictures. It was fun. In other news, Tate is growing hair. Blonde, almost white hair. Naturally, we rub balloons against his dome to make his hair stand up. He isn't quite sure how he feels about it. Mel only has 3 days left of school and we are both rather excited. I have class tonight and then my last class is next week and needless to say, I too am stoked. It will be fun to be home with Mel, spending time with Tate and doing summery stuff. We can't wait.

My new favorite picture of Tate.

MSM & Parenthood

Last weekend I (along with 5 other leaders) took a group of MSM 8th graders to San Luis Obispo for their 8th grade trip. Middle schoolers are a special group and considering some of them occasionally read my blog I will leave it at that. Anyway, a highlight of the trip was probably the time when all of the guys were in an arts and crafts store trying on authentic medieval armor. I knew it wasn't a great idea to let the students try on the items (conveniently priced between $80-150 each) but my lesser instincts (kindness) prevailed and I caved. We took pictures, laughed, and pillaged and then I decided we should put the armor back before we break something. Student 1 (not the sharpest sword) bends over to take off his helmet and bumps in to the display stand behind him. If it was only one stand it wouldn't have been that bad. However, much like in dominoes, there were about 8 stands perfectly in line, each holding a ten pound metal helmet and like humpty dumpty each helmet came tumbling down. I could go on and on with the humpty dumpty parallels but I will refrain. Needless to say it was hilarious/humiliating. That was at the end of the trip. The trip was a lot of fun and taught me a lot about how I want to raise Tate, both for better and for worse. One final moment of enlightenment...Before leaving the church to head down to SLO, as usual, several parents hung around to see us off. This used to stress me out a bit. However, while they were waiting, carefully watching us load the vehicles and make final preparations, I had a strange epiphany. When Tate is in Middle School you better believe I will watch with the careful eye of a bomb technician as the zit-faced, college aged and young adult leaders prepare to haul my child, my beloved Tate, hundreds of miles from home. Not only that, I'll probably tag along to ensure his safety. I will now welcome whatever parents want to stick around and scrutinize the process of departure because I am empathetic to their cause. Crap...I'm becoming my father.

The group atop Madonna Mountain.

Here's the second episode on the MSM interview show, Getting to Know You.