Christmas Video

Happy Birthday Dad

In marking Dad's 71st birthday, I will repost last year's birthday post.

Somethings You Inherit are Better than Others

 

Picture of Marin, Courtesy of The Wendt's Blog

Jim Henson's Lost Character

Muzzy got a bath today (that makes one of us!) and while she dried, I
realized that she resembles a muppets character. Also of note, the
First Family-to-be is apparently looking for a Muzzy of their own.
Prediction: Every piece of furniture, article of clothing and pretty
much anything over a $10 value in the White House is ruined. No
shedding though! I kid! Muzzy has not attempted to chew anything
except a roll of masking tape in 3 months. By the way, the tape ended
up as about a thousand little segments of tape in her hair.

Halloween Photos

Great Idea Guy

Here is Marin jumping around in her crib. Any reasonable person can see how much she loved her crib. She made no attempt to get out of it, so it posed no danger which is often cited for the reason to change from a crib to a traditional bed. Despite the wonderful amount of sleep she (and the rest of us) was getting, I thought would be best to get rid of that lousy crib. She now hates going to bed. And after a few hours of sleep, she gets up and wanders around our house at night like John McCain in a town hall meeting. She is so void of rest that she has been running a low grade fever and is having a little trouble keeping things down. I have to take the blame for this one.

Growing Right Up

Marin has been at again. Right before our eyes, she becoming a little girl and learning all kinds of new tricks. My favorite is that she is aware of the presidential campaigns that are going on. "Barack Obama!" is her favorite political figure to point out on the TV. With a little coaching, you can get her to mention John McCain too. I'm saving video evidence until I can get her to do an adequate impersonation of the candidates. As a child, one of my tricks was that I could do an impression of then President (or maybe former President by then) Jimmy Carter. It was simply me smiling as big as possible while saying "Jimmy Carter!" Again, I'm working on impressions (I've got the time), and we'll get back to you. Marin is also trying her best in her new "big girl bed." She is very excited to have this new place to play and read books, but the idea that she has to stay in her bed for the whole night is a little foreign to her. She has been wandering into our room, but she's trying her best and I'm certain she'll be staying there soon. Here are some pictures of Marin showing of her new bed.
She's also been dabbling with her ABCs. Enjoy!

American Idol 2025?

Fall, Our Favorite Time

Every year for the past three, I have longed for this time of year. Fall. Sometimes it only feels like a symbolic end of the heat of Summer, but the past few days we've been blessed with beautiful weather. Waking up, finding Muzzy's leash, opening the door and not feeling the sudden rush of the wet blanket--the Mississippi humidity--improves your whole day. Muzzy, the ever-excited one, finds even more energy when her hair stays light and fluffy and in no way resembles a television commercial's example of "a bad hair day." Marin has also enjoyed the cooler temps, if for no other reason than she hasn't been turning red as a tomato after 20 minutes of outdoor play (see photo). Sure we don't have the changing leaves (mostly pines, oh and our yard has two 6' trees), but we welcome this time just the same. The miser in me loves the fact that the air conditioning gets a rest, if only at night. The fiying is much more fun too. As you might imagine strapping on 35 lbs of gear and jumping into a coffin-sized greenhouse and then get airborne turning and climbing, pulling and maneuvering. Sweating and soaking.
All of that is on hold and so I happily I sit here, listening to the crickets mixed in with my neighbors air conditioning unit and hope that our reprieve is really here.

Trip to Memphis

Last week we all traveled to Memphis. The trip was made a little out of necessity (Gustav), but more than anything it was time to get away from Meridian for a while. Memphis is great. We stayed at the Westin "10 feet off of Beale" which allowed dogs. So, Muzzy made the trip too. She may be a city dog after all. As you might imagine, Beale St. is noisy until about 3am and then it really gets loud. It was nice to walk around a city, see some history, eat some good food and get away as a family. All in all it was a smashing success: we avoided the storm, met up with our friends and managed to have a lot of fun.

PS The little boy is Peter Morrison, our friends Nic & Amy Morrison's son. They live in Memphis.

Stuck on the boat

One of the more unique parts of my job is how every 6-weeks, I head off to an aircraft carrier to qualify a handful of student naval aviators in the art of landing a jet on a moving boat. Most of the time this a few day event that involves a little fun in Jacksonville, a day or two on the carrier and then back to Tracey, Marin, Muzzy and Calvin in Mississippi. We call them Boat Dets and I always have fun. The carrier taken in small doses is great fun. The food is cheap ($10 a day and yes all the officers pay to eat on the carrier), the jokes are all old and still funny, and everybody likes getting a couple of day traps.
Last Thursday was kicked off another of these boat dets that, because of Tropical Storm Fay, moved from Jacksonville to Virginia Beach. That is one of the nice things about the boat, it moves wherever you need it. I flew on to the USS Eisenhower on Friday, getting a couple of traps, and then began the job of coaching the students. I had 6 students who I had been instructing and literally watching land at the field in Meridian for the last 4 weeks. I had a feeling that all of them would qualify and all of them did—a few intense moments notwithstanding. Before leaving Meridian, I spiced it up with a few bets on how well they would do…the house typically wins those.
All was going well and I expected to be home today, but the ship needed someone to stay aboard to “catch” some planned C-2 arrivals in the coming days. So here I am day 5 of a 3 day boat det. All of the planned C-2s have arrived, but my requirement extends until Thursday. It is certainly not the most fun in the world out here, but I have a great stateroom, computer access, 4 meals a day, 8 channels of cable and some good reading. I miss the girls (but not Cal) and look forward to the holiday weekend.

Special Message for Grandma Pile

Quick Visit to North Carolina

This past week, I had the chance to visit the Mimms' place near Pinehurst, NC. It was a great stop as we (a fellow Meridian pilot and I) were treated to a cruise around the lake, along with some swimming and then a tour of the local watering holes. It had been a few years since I had seen both U. Al and A. Chris and so it was long overdue. Here are some photos on the front porch of their really cool house. Chandra's daughter, Christine, is also pictured.

Marin Sings!

Where's Muzzy?

While most of the Cronley's have been in California, one notable member has not. Before you get too sad, you should know that our good friends, the Myers (or as I will refer to them Saint Rob & Saint Leea) have not only been keeping her, but treating to runs, walks, trips and boat rides. Muzzy is never one to hide her emotion and I think photo tells how much fun she had.

At the Santa Ana Zoo

Saturday we all enjoyed an afternoon at the zoo. Marin laughed at the monkeys, fed the sheep and rode this tortoise. We capped off the afternoon with a light meal (including a giant cupcake) and a ride on the carousel.
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Quick Marin Fix

We have been most lazy with updating this blog since leaving for vacation, but here are a few quick pics of Marin for the dedicated Marin fans out there (mostly Aunt Sara). By the way, Aunt Sara, Marin is now obsessed with the movie Cinderella and specifically, the fairy godmother, so we of course had to remind her that you are her godmother and of course you are now her FAIRY GODMOTHER...... just so you know ;)



Here is Marin with her two second cousins, Emily and Natalie --- can you tell who is least equipped for cool weather?






Marin and her beloved Pooh Bear

Happy Fourth of July!

We made it to Southern Caifornia. Our celebrating of the holiday included a concert of the Pacific Symphony with Don McLean! It was a great show. Here is a picture of our picnic prior to the show.

Short and Cute

Weekend in Biloxi

Once again, the Meridian Sharks dragged us out of Meridian to discover more of Mississippi and to attend the TNT Summer Beach Blast Long Course Invitational. This time we traveled south to the the Gulf Coast, namely Biloxi. Since I was five years old, Biloxi has been the destination for Andy and the rest of the Dampeers for two weeks out of the year. It was two weeks that I dreaded and often threatened that I was going to make the trek with them. I never did.
With Katrina safely in the rearview mirror, the Mississippi (and Alabama) coast looks good. I have no idea what it look like previously, but some things are looking good and there are construction crews on pretty much everything else. The sand is nice, bright white! Marin loves pointing at the gulf and stating, "BEACH!" with extra emphasis on the "CH" part. She was a little suspicious of the sand in between her toes..."Dirty!" she kept saying.
While Tracey has been busy with the meet, Marin and I have kept ourselves busy with going to the BEACH! and also the pool here at the hotel. We also visited Keesler Air Force base--she can never get enough of looking at old airplane static displays. There also is a huge mall here that Marin was ready to declare her new residence. I finally dragged her away with a little bribery. Mass at Our Lady of Fatima was nice, and it was kept under the one hour barrier (a rare feat down here).
Now Marin is taking a little cat nap and we're going to be checking out..not without hitting the pool one more time.

Tri-Team for the Kansas 70.3

Tracey did the swim portion of her team's 1/2 Ironman (Iron-woman?). They did really well & finished 2nd in the all woman division.
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Weekend in Vicksburg, MS

We've been in Vicksburg this weekend for 3-day marathon of a swim meet. Tracey is head coach of the Meridian Swim Association.
Although Marin didn't compete, we couldn't keep her out of the water. Average temperature for the weekend was the setting for London Broil. Vicksburg is a pretty cool, historic and scenic city. We had fun!
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It's Gonna Be A Hot One!

This Spring we have enjoyed cooler than normal tempertures. All that seems to be coming to an end. It was a good run. Pack lightly if you're coming to visit!
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A week barely worth mentioning......

Tom has been gone 9 days now and let's just say that we have all missed him terribly. My poor mom came out for a visit to help us out, but it turns out that, quite frankly, we were beyond help! To sum it up the week consisted of a lot of driving all over the south, long and sleepless nights with a dog who has horrible diarrhea (self-induced, might I add --- eating an entire bag of dental chews -- including the bag, is not recommended), a terrible spill in the neighbor's driveway chasing after the dog which resulted in a quick trip to the ER for x-rays for me (everything is fine), Muzzy "clotheslining" Marin with her leash on the driveway which resulted in Marin having a huge bump on the back of her head and a red "ligature" like mark on her neck (after a good cry Marin is totally fine and still eager to give Muzzy lots of kisses --aahhhh, kids and forgiveness) and oh, did I mention the dog's diarrhea --- yes, it persists, but she is now on some good medication. You know, I was kind of feeling sorry for us and then I found a few minutes to sit down and read some friend's blogs and well, everything came into perspective. When you have a chance (and a full box of Kleenex readily available), click on The Wilkening Web link to the right and read their Cancer Blog from start to finish. You will be so inspired by little Eli and his fight with leukemia and blown away by his parent's ability to so beautifully articulate in writing what they all are going through. Please keep them all in your prayers.

PS: Thank you Gramma Mac for your help and everybody, please don't let us forget to have a fence installed before Tom's next trip! :)

PPS: Does anybody want a 6 month old Goldendoodle? She's very cute and EXTREMELY well-behaved ;) Just kidding.

USS John C. Stennis

While Tracey, Marin, Calvin and Muzzy have been suffering through the ides of May, I've been aboard the carrier off the coast of San Diego. Here's a photo of me "waving" aboard a T-45 Goshawk for a student's first ever landing at the boat. I'm now back in San Diego and figuring out how to make this our home again.
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Golf at Dancing Rabbit

On a nice, lazy Sunday afternoon, Greg and I played the Oaks at Dancing Rabbit. The whole family had been in Choctaw, MS this past weekend for the Ball and to get out of town, if only for a couple of days.
The round was close the whole way until Greg narrowly nipped me by 17 strokes to finish with an 85. On this hole, we both nabbed pars and for the moment I felt worthy of playing on a course much beeter than my game.
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Fun at the Hotel Pool

Marin's favorite so far has been the "hot, hot" pool. So we're here enjoying the sun (storms moved through in the night) and laughing about the crazy night.
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Goshawk Ball

We're at the Goshawk Ball! Marin is with Aunt Sara and Uncle Greg. It's fun so far.
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Muzzy's new 'doo!

Here is a quick shot of Muzzy and her new hairdo. Muzzy likes it so much that she ate through part of the wall to celebrate.
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Nice Thursday Morning

Go Jayhawks!

We've officially gone cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs over the Jayhawks' National Title run. Marin is in the act as she predicted both the Memphis win over UCLA and the Jayhawks sound trouncing of the Tarheels. Rock Chalk!

Disney Video Part I

Gift from Uncle Kevin

Hamming It Up

Boring!

I suppose this will be a less than stellar post. I have no video, no pictures and at this point no idea what is going to roll off my finger tips into this blank box. Nothing is going on. Tracey has returned from her business trip to Austin, TX. Marin and Daddo survived. Marin missed her mom dearly, but managed to stick to her routines and continue to dazzle us with her latest "tricks." The whole thing would have been impossible without Grandma Mac's arrival last Saturday. She's been so busy that we (Tracey and I) are afraid that she may never want to return. She primarily played with Marin, and tended to Muzzy, and cooked meals, and baked cookies (and biscotti!), and cleaned the kitchen, and sent letters...It has been wonderful.
Since her return (and even while she was gone), Tracey has been feeling ill and again, simply running the house would have been impossible without Grandma Mac. Sadly, we are dropping her off at the Jackson airport this afternoon.
Ah yes, Marin's latest tricks:

counting to ten, as long as you say every other number

Understanding weather...lately we've heard, "Rain. Wet" and "Sun. Bright"

Walking around picking things off the floor and telling us who it belongs to...inevitably "Daddo's!?"

Walking right up to Muzzy for a kiss, or as we call them a "Muhh" (the exaggerated sound of a kiss)

Asking for songs by name. Okay she only asks for the below video and song.

Enjoy and just try to get it out of your head!

A Little Chaos

We have invited chaos into our household and well......it looks like she's decided to make us her permanent family. She has materialized (and when I say "materialized" I mean that we researched ad nauseam, paid good money for her and drove 8 hours roundtrip to pick her up and bring her back with us) as a gorgeous and fluffy ball of sweetness and we call her Muzzy Blue. She is an 8 week old puppy. Tom likes to tell people that we "rescued her from a breeder." Marin already loves her tiny and furry sister. It is so much fun to watch the two of them chase each other around. It's also eye opening to watch Marin react to seeing another being receive so much affection from her parents. Surprisingly she seems to be just fine with that -- it's Muzzy's crate that has her in a fit at least twice a day. She is SOO jealous that Muzzy has her own little cage that she can crawl in and out of. We're beginning to think that really the best Christmas present Santa could have brought for her would have been her own personal cardboard box!? What a lunatic.
We are facing a few challenges right now (potty and crate training) and I'm sure we're in store for a few more down the road, but we think Muzzy is well worth it. I commented to Tom earlier today that it's kind of like we have two toddlers right now -- one who gets to wear diapers and one who doesn't. Seriously, I hope I don't offend anybody when I say this, but I cannot imagine what life is like for those parents who potty train their infants from day one by not using diapers at all -- have you heard about this? I call it crazy. If it were feasible and reasonable to put a puppy in diapers, I would do it. Anyhow, while we do have moments of craziness in our house these days, it's really just lots of fun (minus the middle of the night potty breaks in single digit temps with an inch of snow on the ground -- but Tom did all of that last night, so what am I complaining about? -- actually it was pretty tortuous when he, in the form of a popsicle, climbed back in bed and nearly froze me right out.....)! Yes, I am thrilled that Tom is willing to do the midnight potty breaks and he certainly has won over Muzzy by doing so ---- SHE LOVES HIM!! It is adorable. She follows him around like, well, a little lost puppy dog. Two gentle souls. Cal on the other hand...........let's just say that Muzzy is really putting the "gentleness" of his soul to the test.

Barnyard Time in the Backyard

Drink Up

PS Tune into Oprah on Monday and you may catch a glimpse of Tracey cheering for Mississippians to lose some weight. Oprah visited Meridian on Friday to kick off her Best Life Weight Loss Challenge and Tracey was in the crowd.

We're Happy 'Cause We're Gettin' a Puppy!

The most exciting gift that we received from Santa this year undoubtedly was a golden doodle puppy. Since we don't have the puppy yet, it has meant a lot of time looking at photos from the breeder. Marin now believes the sole purpose of a computer is to look at pictures of puppies. She scrambles over to whomever is sitting in front of the screen and exclaims,  "Buppy" and will not relent until her demand is met. So much for being tough parents.
We are picking up the "Buppy" in two weeks and could not be more excited. Once we do have our little Muzzy (the name we've decided on) we'll be flooding you with pictures.  Until then, enjoy these few from the breeder.

PS Muzzy is a tribute to one of our favorite characters, played by Carol Channing, in Thoroughly Modern Millie.