The Sea Was Angry That Day My Friends

...like an old man trying to return
soup at a deli.                       George Costanza

Last Saturday we friend-napped Alex's bud Zack and headed to Tower's just for the day.  This despite the less than promising weather forecast.  As it was likely our last trip down before school started, we were determined to make the most of it, rain or shine.

Fortunately, the rain held off until about 3:30 (then hit with a vengeance).  But it never let us forget that it was coming:  Heavy cloud cover abounded, completely obscuring the sun the entire day, and monstrous waves pounded the shore like I've not seen in some time.

Alex and Zack were the only ones who really braved the raging waters; rushing in where angels fear to tread.  But that doesn't mean they were the only ones to get wet.  If one got anywhere close to the cliff that had been cut in the sand, they were thusly doused in foamy, sandy water.

Despite the less then ideal conditions, it really was a great day.  The waves were really something to behold. And no one got hurt...  :)

Carpe Vacationum Diem

With the kids on Spring Break, we decided to seize a couple of vacation days and head to the Delaware shore Tuesday and Wednesday.  While we didn't expect to be frolicking in the ocean and working on our tans, the brief respite would be greatly welcomed by all.  So with Grammy and the girls already en route Monday afternoon, Mom and I loaded down the new family truckster with the boys, Sadie, and supplies and made our way south Monday night.

Highlights include our trip to Lowe's to purchase a shower head (no, seriously, this was great fun), heading into Rehoboth both days to just bumb around on the beach, and our quest to find the Jusst Sooup Ranch recently constructed by the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew.

Happy Easter

Easter this year shared the same piece of calendrical real-estate as Alex's birthday.  So aside from celebrating another year of Alex, and all that accompanies being Alex (hobos, internet memes, etc), we were careful not to forget this, the most important and holy day of the Christian calendar.

As with Christmas and Thanksgiving before it, Nana most graciously opened her home for dinner to not only my side of the family, including my and my brother's broods, but also to Grammy and Granddad.  We are truly blessed beyond measure to not only live close to our families, but to be close to them in spirit as well.  May we never take this blessing for granted.

Happy Easter...

The Nina, The Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure

This week has been a busy one as far as school work goes.  Alex has been taking mid-terms and Abby has been putting together Travel Guides for 7 countries for Social Studies.

Amanda has been facing down 2 projects:  A poster for Día de Reyes in Puerto Rico, also known as Three Kings Day or the Epiphany, as well as the infamous 5th grade video book report.

Her book of choice is from the Alec Flint, Super Sleuth series by Jill Santopolo:  The Nina, the Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure.

Just a note:  If you recall, Abby did this project back in 2010 on the book 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass.  That video has been my family's 2nd most popular submission to YouTube amassing over 2400 views to date.  The original blog post for it can be found here if you're looking for a refresher.
 

A Very Non-Traditional Christmas

As Christmas neared, and this difficult year began to draw to a close, we decided to do Christmas eve a little bit different this year.  With a very gracious invitation from Nana extended, my clan, Uncle Jason, Aunt Debbie and their brood AND Grammy and Granddad all came together for a joint Christmas Eve dinner.  The evening was awesome and many spirits were lifted.

Christmas day followed and continued the non-traditional trend.  Not only was Christmas perched on a Sunday this year, but Mom and Abby were scheduled for nursery duty at church.  So we arose early, opened some gifts, then dashed out the door to worship our Lord and Savior in both song and service.

The non-traditional theme didn't end after church.  We returned home and prepped to host Christmas day dinner at our house with Grammy and Granddad in attendance.  On the menu:  Lasagna and Chicken Divan.

And things didn't end there.  On Monday, we celebrated Christmas with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jenn and their family.  We again hosted dinner but this time served hot-dogs and hamburgers from the grill.  You should've seen the faces of the guys at the gas station when I went to exchange the gas tank for the grill earlier.

Any way, Merry Christmas...

Cubbies

Back in August, Mom, Pop-pop and I finally began a long gestating construction project.  The basic idea was to provide the girls with individual cubbies for their beds by laying claim to some of the wasted attic space adjacent to the their bedroom.

Well, after months of sawing, hammering, sanding, and painting, I present you the (mostly) finished project.

Déjà Boo

Ha!  Do you see what I did there?  Déjà Boo?  Instead of...you know...(sigh)  Yeah, I know, Mom didn't think it funny either.

Anyway, Halloween this year was a bit of a muted experience.  Not that we go gonzo over Halloween normally, but this year was even more sedated, what with the kid's sports schedules, homework, and other family goings ons.  But we did carve out a small window to take the kids out around the neighborhood.

The déjà boo part (I still think that's funny) is that, you may recognize some of the costumes.  Alex went as a hobo.  I know, try to hide your surprise.  Abby, having just come from practice, went as a field hockey player. Amanda, being the most original this year, borrowed an outfit from a neighbor and went as a nurse.  And Aidan went as a kangaroo. 

All that's left to do now is police the consumption of the plunder.   

Stomping Out Diabetes

On Sunday, October 23rd, our crew headed over to Rockford park to support a classmate of Alex's who has Juvenile Diabetes by walking in the annual JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes.  The event attracts several thousand participants from all over the country and plays like a carnival, replete with live music and dancing, moon bounces, stilt walkers, games, food, and more.

After the walk, with (nearly) 5k under our belts, we headed over to the host family's home for lunch and what works out to quite possibly be the highlight of the day:  A free-for-all soccer game involving all the kids.  Honestly, I think this part of the day is as much fun for the adults watching as it is for the kids playing.

In the end, the team raised over $6k and we got to spend a beautiful day with some great friends.

Two Hobos Go To A Farm

This past Saturday, immediately after Amanda and Aidan's soccer games at church, our clan met with the family of one of Alex's close friends and headed out to the Cherry Crest Adventure Farm near Lancaster, PA.

Cherry Crest is a vast wonderland of farm-themed activities:  A petting zoo, pedal tractors, the 'hay chute' slide, and much, much more.  We spent several hours petting the sheep, playing volley ball with a giant inflatable corn ball, and coloring hobos with dry erase markers (?).

All of this was but a prelude to the main attraction:  The Amazing Maize Maze - a 5 acre corn maze at the center of the farm.  The maze is incredibly elaborate and original each year.  This year's theme:  "Once Upon A Time...A Corny Tale".  To try and complete the maze and finish the quests hidden within can take up to 2 hours.

When all was said and done, we had a great day with some great friends and look forward to tackling next year's maze. 

Into Each Life A Little Rain Must Fall

Sunshine only creates only desert.
Dr. Charles F. Betters - Senior Pastor, Glasgow Church

Things have been a bit rough in the Tokarski household as of late.

To begin with, 6 weeks ago, Mom was diagnosed with a small breast cancer.  Since the diagnosis, she has undergone 2 surgeries, the second of which was just this past Friday the 17th, and should soon be starting 6-7 weeks of radiation.  On the bright side, she caught it early and the Doctors keep echoing that she will be cured.

As if this hasn't been enough to contend with, the health issues haven't been isolated to our household.  On the date of Mom's first surgery, Grandad went into the hospital having difficulty breathing.   He was released 4 days later.  Two weeks after that, Mommom Granny was taken into the hospital, having suffered a stroke.  She has since had surgery for a blood clot and to have a pacemaker put in.

On top of all of this, last Sunday, when we got home from church, Amanda went to the basement to fetch some food from the pantry and found water all over the floor. We spent the whole day cleaning up the mess as well as trying to diagnose exactly where the water came from.

Oh, and Amanda came home from a birthday party last night...and promptly threw up in the drive way.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out, offered to help out, or been praying for us.  The calls, emails, visits, meals, etc all mean more than you know.
 

Irene (or in the Latin: Schoolus Interruptus)

This past Thursday, August the 25th, was all of the kids first day of school. As always, the day was filled with much rejoicing. Ha! No, not really. But at least I'm not the only one getting up at the crack of dawn any longer.

Normally, this would be the end of this post. However, this year, things didn't go exactly according to plan. This because of an unwelcome guest named Irene.

As the concern mounted over her arrival, our local government officials took the cautious route and declared a state of emergency early to help the state prepare. This decision lead to the cancellation of what was to be only the second day of school on Friday.

The rains began Saturday afternoon as we made final preparations around the house: moving trash bins into the garage, tying down deck furniture, and gassing up the generator. At this point, the eye of the storm was still far south of us; just making landfall in North Carolina.

The wind and the rain increased steadily through the course of the day. During this time, Alex kept a weary eye on the radar providing us regular updates, Mom made cookies, and I worked to finish the girl's bedroom (more on that soon).

Around 8:30 PM, as I was showering the drywall dust off myself, the power went out. Shrouded in darkness, I raced to rinse and dry, then dashed downstairs to fire up the generator. My haste was due to the fact that the sump had already started running regularly and we had 12 more hours of storm to weather. I didn't want to lose my 90% finished basement before I had a chance to finish finishing it.

Surprisingly, around 9:30 PM, the power came back on. Thank you, Delmarva Power.

This was about the same time that the tornado warnings began rolling in. Emergency broadcasts on WSTW and text messages from WDEL first warned of a twister on the ground in Lewis. Then one west of Dover. When warnings for New Castle county finally came in, specifically for Wilmington and Stanton, I took up sentinel duty, watching the skies for anything swirly.

About 10 PM, after the kids were already bedded down, lightening flashed and the trees and the rain suddenly blew horizontally. I called to Julie to grab the kids. We ran upstairs, woke some and carried others, dragged the dog by the collar, and ran to the basement.

Conditions eased after 10-15 minutes. But with the uncertainty of how many more warnings could be issued and not wanting to keep the kids up all night, running up and down the stairs, we ultimately decided to setup camp and leave them there for the duration.

After that, around midnight, Julie laid down on the couch and tried to get some shut eye. As for myself, I headed into the living room with the intention of staying awake in-case we needed to fall back to the generator in a hurry. I passed the time reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, playing Angry Birds and WordzUp, and checking the radar and Facebook.

The eye passed us between 2-3 AM. The sun came up around 6 AM. The rains ceased. And I went to bed finally.

By God's grace, we took no damage to the house. In fact, the whole neighborhood fared very well with only one tree that fell and that was on Sunday morning from the winds on the back side of the storm.

And despite the dodged bullet, the kids were off of school on Monday, too.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

As I was putting dishes away this afternoon, I noticed that the glasses in the cabinet were rattling. Thinking a train was passing by, I opened the back door to confirm. But alas, no train.

While on the deck, I noticed that everything was swaying. But there was no breeze. Then it hit me. I poked my head back in the house, "Guys! We're having an earthquake!" Everyone was immediately up on their feet, unsure of exactly how to react.

It was at about that time that the shaking got the strongest. The house creaked like on a windy day.

Then, just like that, it was over.

It also just so happens that today, Alex got a Facebook account.

We're pretty sure the two are unrelated.

Summer Vacation 2011

After over 4 years of steady blogging and untold numbers of blog posts about beach trips, its getting harder to not just copy and paste the text from one post to the next.

So rather than sound like a broken record, let me summarize: We spent July 4th week at the Delaware shore. Spent a lot of time at Tower's Beach. Met up with an old High School friend. Played some miniature golf. Rode bikes.

And beyond that, I'll let the pictures do the talking...

And...We're Back

No, the Tokarski family has not fallen off the face of the Earth, been abducted by aliens, or gone off the grid and adopted a luddite lifestyle. We're still here and still kick'n. And now we're back and ready to once again preserve our lives amongst the cloud for posterity.

So, here's some of what you missed:

For starters, a whole slew of birthdays have passed. In January, Aidan turned 5. Then in February, Abigail turned 12 while Mom turned...another year older. Finally, in April, Alex turned 14.

Back in February, Alex and his friend Zach turned in their project for National History Day. The over-arching theme this year was Debate & Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, Consequences. The boys had to choose a subject that fit that theme: They chose the 1979-81 Iranian Hostage Crisis. Weighty stuff, indeed.

To make a long story short (a tale fraught with iPod videos, hobos, toaster-ovens, and "THE SHAH!"), the boys took first place at the school level. Congrats, guys. They then went on to compete at the state level on April 9th at the DelTech Stanton campus. Here, despite a valiant effort, they failed to place. Better luck next time, fellas.

And in sports, Alex and Abby are both on the tail-end of their spring soccer seasons; Alex for his second and final season with the

U14 GRPC Inferno and Abby with her first season for the RLCA Middle-School Girl's Soccer. Both have played extremely well. We couldn't be prouder.

There has been a lot of other happenings but at this point, lets look to the future.

Note: This post disappeared for several days due to a problem with Blogger. The above version is a rewrite that I did from memory.

The Sound of Music

The girls love music...if you didn't know. Aside from their foray into the world of clarinets, they both like to hammer away on an old keyboard they keep in their bedroom. And they're good at it, too. So Mom and I decided to keep an eye open for an inexpensive used piano we could tuck away in the living room.

Well, as if by Providence, friends of ours from church posted on Facebook that they were unloading their old upright and wanted to know if anyone wanted it. Mom jumped on it.

So, this past weekend, we borrowed a trailer and some muscle (thanks Poppop, Randy, and neighbor Sam) and brought home the well-loved John Wanamaker. Since then, a night hasn't passed that we haven't been serenaded by the sounds of Pachabel's Canon, Veggie Tales theme music, Mary Did You Know, or some original piece.

Costumed Capers

Our dinner table now lays buried beneath the plunder from the evening's trek about the neighborhood. The personas this year were Alex as a hobo (try to hide your surprise), Abigail as a chef, Amanda as Princess Leia , and Aidan as a Bumble Bee.

Blessed with a star-filled sky and a refreshingly crisp fall breeze in the air, we enjoyed the added bonus of Uncle Jason and Aunt Debbie bringing cousins Nick as Buzz Lightyear and Brianna as a princess over to accompany us. And as if that wasn't enough, Grammy, Nana, Poppop all tagged along too.

Milburn Orchards

Milburn Orchard's Fall Festival has become something a tradition for our family, having attended the last 3 years.

This year, Mom hooked up with a dear friend of ours and her 2 girls (whom we've had outings with before) and took a day trip over to the magical land of pumpkins, corn mazes, and goats.

The Tokarski Tank

The Fall non-comp soccer league started this past Saturday at GRPC. Participating this year is Abigail, Amanda, and, making his debut is Aidan.

Soccer for Aidan's age group typically consists of the kids chasing the ball about the field in a single writhing mass. Its commonly referred to as "The Amoeba Play".

But Aidan is rarely bogged down by such expectations. Instead, he set out early to prove his metal. And that he did, scoring early and scoring often.

The result was a new nickname coined by his teammate's parents: "The Tokarski Tank".

See him in action below...

Final Hurrah

Over Labor Day weekend, with the 2010 Summer season winding down, Mom and I took the kids to Ocean City, MD and met up with Nana and Poppop for one last outing.

While Saturday and Sunday were mostly standard beach fare, there is one bit that deserves note: The waves. With hurricane Earl having just passed by off-shore the day before, Saturday was inundated by a ceaseless parade of the hulking beasts, curling over then crashing abusively on the sand.

Like a fearless marble statue, Alex stood his ground
as the great beast bore down on him.

On Monday, it was time for something new and exciting: A morning of go-karting at Baja Amusements. Alex, Abigail, Amanda, Nana, myself, and, yes, even Aidan, all got some time behind the wheel of these pavement blistering machines.

Thanks, Nana and Poppop. We had a great weekend.

Getting Away

Seeking a wee respite from our daily routines, Mom and I recently packed up the crew and went on holiday to the Delaware shore for a week.

Traveling down Friday morning, the boys and Sadie rode with me in the truck while Mom took the girls in the van. While en route, Mom stopped to pick up Abby's friends, Emily and Kristin, who stayed with us over the weekend. That evening, after getting settled and some take-out Grottos, we loaded the 8 of us onto public transportation to ride in to Rehoboth and wander the boardwalk.

Saturday and Sunday were both beach days at Tower's beach. Blessed with an abundance of good weather, both days yielded a wealth of holes dug, waves rode, and memories made.

But alas, not all was well: Sunday, Aidan was just...off. Thinking he was just sapped from the day prior, I had him take a nap with me under the umbrella. He ended up sleeping for over 2 hours. When he awoke, Mom commented that he seemed warm. We later confirmed he had a fever over 100°. As a result, we laid low Monday and Tuesday at the beach house, giving Aidan a chance to recoup.

Wednesday, with Aidan seeming better, we packed light and took an afternoon trip out to Tower's. What a great time. It really was one of those near perfect beach trips: Not too hot, not too cold, not too crowded, waves just big enough to ride without beating you up. Everything was so right we stuck around until close to 6 that evening.

Thursday, under threat of showers, we headed over to the Outlets for some shopping. This would have been OK if we hadn't had to deal with the millions of other people who also were not on the beach. Wow was it busy. The evening culminated with a Kid's Eat Free dinner at IHOP.

Friday, Grammy popped in. So, despite the cloudy skies, we took another afternoon trip over to Tower's. What a difference a day or 2 makes: Huge, crashing waves and a strong undertow were the order of the day. You'd have thought we had a Cat 5 hurricane off the coast. I think we saw 3 rescues by the Life Guards just in the first 45 minutes we were there.

Finally, Saturday, the sun returned. For our final hurrah, we once more headed over to Tower's beach. This time we met up with 2 separate groups of friends: Alex's friend Zach and his family as well as the family who introduced us to Tower's just last summer. We had a great time catching up and watching all the kids play together...

So despite a few hiccups here and there, all in all in was nice to get away. Thanks Grammy and Grandad for the use of the place. We always appreciate it.