Burke's Blog

Free iPod update!

When I arrived home last night there was a small square box sitting on the porch. The UPS guy must have been by when Susan was gone. It was from FREE iPods.com!

The site is legit - in fact I am hiring a programmer right now in India to make me a site with similar functionality. No I will not be giving away iPods - but will try some other types of products. I'll let you know when the site launches.

I hope to get the iPod put up on Ebay tonight - I have not even removed the cellophane wrapping on the box - I want to get maximum dollars for it.

Once I have the money in hand I will be buying a Garmin eTrex Vista C.

Ella Marie Eileen...is HERE!

(click picture to enlarge - plus there are more pictures available in the left menu bar) I thought I would post the quick stats of our newest family member. Ella was born 8.31.04 @ 4:54 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 19 inches long. A perfect little bundle of baby girl. Everything went perfectly with the birth - but emotions were very tough to deal with. One of the exciting things was that both Susan and I were able to be in the room when she was born - very neat!

I still have a hard time believing that we actually have a baby girl! She is beautiful - and already has a very special place in Mommy & Daddy's heart.

Ryan and Nicholas finally were able to hold her today - and it was so amazing to see them. Ryan HAD to go first, and he looked her over from head to toe. He wanted to see her hands and feet so we opened the blanket up so he could see and feel her. He was just so excited when he rubbed her feet and she moved her leg. Then he said "whats that?" and pointed at her umbilical cord. We explained what it was and that it would fall off soon. He then asked if "she would have a normal belly button after that", and we reassured him that she would - which seemed to ease his mind.

Nicholas held her next, and he just sat there and gave her kisses. He was just as amazed as Ryan and he just kept talking to her so sweetly, and rubbing the soft hair on her head. Nicholas said that before he held her he was about to "jump out of his skin he was so excited" waiting to hold her. They kept taking turns holding her and kissing her until we finally had to return her to the nursery.

This 30 minutes was probably one of the neatest times I have ever witnessed. Two older brothers truely marveling over their new baby sister. Looks like this little girl will have plenty of protection from her big brothers as she grows up.

We feel so blessed that this entire experience has worked out so well for us. God was truely in control, and has really been preparing our hearts for this for years. We just want to thank all of you for your prayers and support these past months.

Free Ipod

As a few of you know - I have been telling you about my scheme to get a free Ipod from freeipods.com. It looks like I will finally be getting it, once the supplier gets them back in stock.

Instead of trying to find 5 friend to refer, I took the easy route. I simply signed up at the site, and then completed my offer. Then I took my tracking link and created a Google Adwords ad that when clicked on would send people straight to freeipods.com. Well, $20 later I had enough people sign up and complete their offer, that I qualified for a free iPod. I chose the new 20gig model. Apple is selling so many of these things, they are even out of stock at the Apple site. I figure mine will ship sometime in September. If you would like to find out more about the freeipods.com site, you can read all about it and other offers at freeipodguide.com.

I am thinking I will probably auction it off on eBay and then purchase a Garmin eTrex Legend C - the color version of the eTrex Legend. I think it would be cool to have one of these little handheld GPS units mounted on my recumbent. Plus, I would really like to start doing some geocaching with the boys.

Nick starts First Grade!

Just a quick note today to document the big event at our household. Nicholas started first grade today! He is really excited. Today was just a 1/2 day to get used to the school and routine. He is really looking forward to tomorrow - he gets to each lunch at school, and stay there until 3:30. He and Susan packed his lunch box tonight. He said that last night he "could barely sleep he was so excited". It sure is neat to see him growing up and enjoying life!

Interesting article on Kerry

Nothing much, just a quick link to an interesting article on John Kerry and his Vietnam supporters and detractors.

Here it is.

New Pictures Posted

I just added a couple of photo albums. You can find them on the left side - look for "Nicks New Clubs" and "Nick Rides".

Nick is on a Two Wheeler!!!

July 25th, 2004 - this day goes down in history as the day that Nicholas threw away the training wheels, and is now riding a "two wheeler"! Ryan and Susan went out this afternoon to run some errands, so Nicholas and I had about 3 hours all to ourselves. What a fun afternoon! We talked, picked up dog poop (he earned a $1 which he wants to save up a buy a new pooper scooper!), sat on the deck and talked about "guy stuff", and practiced riding with no training wheels.

I could tell the first time we practiced he was getting the feel. I told him we should keep practicing and by the time Mom and Ryan get home he will be riding. We took a break, then tried again - better this time 10 to 15 foot runs without me holding him up. He was figuring out how to turn the handle bars really quick to balance himself.

Then on the third "session" he just took off, even turning around in the street. All the neighbors were out cheering him on - he thought it was good stuff. He said he could not believe how fun it was and how fast you could go. When Susan and Ryan got home, they were both shocked. Of course Ryan still had to give big brother some tips on the finer points of riding on a two wheeler! :)

When we were picking up to come in for the night, both boys had a short but sweet ceremony for their training wheels. They threw them right in the trash can!

Pictures will be coming as soon as I have time to upload them....stay tuned.

Thunder in the Sky 2004

Just posted some pictures from the Airshow that we went to over the 4th weekend. Look for "Thunder in the Sky" in the photo album list on the left.

July 4th Bike Parade

Our neighborhood had a bike parade today to celebrate the fourth of July. Each of the kids received a bag of goodies to decorate their bike with. From balloons to streamers they had a great time decking out their rides.

Then we went on a parade down the street. They had a great time. After the parade we had sandwiches and goodies.

Then the highlight was the Fire Department stopping by. The firefighters were really nice, the kids and adults were equally fascinated with the truck and equipment.

Ryan rode the parade without his training wheels - of course. He had a couple of wrecks with all the "traffic", but did great. You can see him showing me one of his scrapes in the photo album.

I added a photo album so you can see the days events!

Ryan is on the "two wheeler"!

I just had to document this huge event! Tonight Ryan figured out the specialized skill of riding his bike without training wheels. He had tried last week, and I could tell that he was close to figuring it out. Well, tonight it all clicked. He is starting himself, turning around and even going up/down curbs.

He was riding up and down the street, and every neighbor who stepped outside Ryan would announce to them what he was doing. We were so proud of him, and he was proud of himself. Big brother even was proud of him!

When we were picking up, he put his training wheels up on the shelf. The end of an era....