Snowball Fight!

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Disco Dancing! (Who needs Dancing with the Stars?)

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The Toxic Trio

It's highly unusual that I post more than twice in a day, but I couldn't resist after finding the picture in our collection. How did these three ever meet up? Funny how things work out, no? This was taken during an "aperiodic" bonfire at the Bassett's. As for these three ladies...I'm not sure I've ever met anyone like'em (especially the one in the middle!). -James

Halloween...TWICE?!

Yes, here in Hanover, PA, Halloween is celebrated twice. Certain townships trick-or-treat on the Tuesday the week before Halloween and others are like the rest of the modern world and actually do it on Halloween night. Hmmm... Anyway, Aaron, Adam, and Daniel are still eager to dress up. But, as for the older kids, Jonathon and Emily, I suppose they've "outgrown" this sort of thing. I've dedicated the twins' costumes to the Heath family (ahem, Lucy) and to the Colts attempt to fight for respect (and losing). Ouch.

The kids were able to rack up some serious candy bags. Naturally, we "removed" the chocolates and other expensive confections. I can't explain why this upsets the kids so much... -James

HE'S DONE IT!!!

We really are horrible at keeping up with this blog! Last week our family had the opportunity to go down to D.C. to support James in his very first marathon, the Marine Corp Marathon. It was really exciting! While James and a good friend, Ray (also running in the marathon), took off early in the morning to start their run, we stayed at our motel room, ate breakfast, showered, and waited until it was time to hit the road. Along with Ray's family, we met up with another good friend, Javier, at the Metro. For anyone who has never been to a marathon, there are several places where you can catch a glimpse of your runner. Of course, you have to have luck on your side and time it just right. We couldn't find our guys at the first checkpoint, so we headed back to the metro to get to the finish line. We only had to wait about 15 minutes to finally catch a glimpse of James entering the last mile. As soon as we spotted him, Javier and our Emily ran into the crowd of runners to finish the last mile with James. It was pretty neat, and we were a bit surprised to see Emily jump in and actually do really well. I'm finding out that our kids have hidden talents we didn't know about...but anyway, that's another blog entry. James ran the marathon in 4 hours and 26 minutes. He was pretty pleased because he was hoping to do it in 4 hours and 30 minutes. I can't begin to describe the feeling of happiness I had for James as he completed his goal. It was pretty awesome!!! If you're wondering if he'll do another, he's already been looking for the next one coming up at the beginning of next year!

It's Homecoming!

Well, the times are changing and we're all getting a bit older. Just to prove I'm right, Jonathon has helped us remember that by attending his first Homecoming dance. Sonia and I were really happy for him and his date. They were incredibly shy...and I hope it stayed that way all night. Anyway, congratulations to Jonathon! Here's a picture before the dance on Saturday night. Enjoy!

Our Energizer Bunny

Some of us can handle pain, but not enough to purposefully inflict it upon ourselves. Then there are those who seem to live for it. Since May of this year, James has been training to run his first marathon at the end of October. He did his first 18 mile run on Saturday, and has a 20 mile run this Saturday. We are happy to report he no longer gets so sore that he can't walk, and has yet to get hit by a car while running. Twice, that is. We are very happy for his hard work at reaching his goal of running a marathon and will post his picture after he reaches the finish line! The above picture is a 5K James ran back in July here in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

A Colts Fan's Parental Bittersweet Revelation!

Funny how some diehard fans of the much-to-do Indianapolis Colts awoke this morning to find their own child modeling Pittsburgh Steelers clothing. "It was really cool...and liberating," quipped the lad. All their mother could do was gasp in shock. She was last seen headed to Walmart for bars of soap and Colts team stickers. Local police informed that her "revenge" antics were antiquated and too well-known. Maybe someday she'll learn some respect...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Today is a wonderful day. Today we celebrate Adam and Daniel's 11th birthday. For those of you who were stationed with us in Monterey, you know better than most what a milestone each year is for them. Born three months early wasn't a walk in the park, but today they're healthy, and we sure feel blessed. By the way, can anyone figure out who is who in this picture???

About Our Handful

I suppose many of our friends who haven't heard from us in awhile would like to know what's been going on. To start, we moved from San Antonio, TX back in June of 2005. Our new orders sent us to Fort Meade, Maryland, where James is still stationed. We did live on base for about a year and a half, but then found out there was a better place for our kids....an HOUR away in Hanover, Pennsylvania! James is such a sport to travel an hour each way, every day, to get to work. Our family has thrived in these better conditions, and we certainly are enjoying the serenity that Pennsylvania has to offer. Our kids are enjoying their time here better too. Jonathon is 16 now, and if you ask him what his hobbies are, he'll only have one-skateboarding. He's in the 11th grade and still has a fantastic talent for drawing. Emily is 14, chatty, giggly, and quite a pretty girl, if I may say so myself. She's in the 9th grade now (where did the time go??) and has found many nice new friends here. So yes, her hobby is talking on the phone and learning how to play the piano. Aaron is 12 and in the 7th grade this year and has had quite a growth spurt. He's as tall as Emily, with hair as big as Jonathon. I think it's called the skater look. James and I call it helmet hair. Aaron is still into reading, some drawing, and likes to skate too. Adam would not be Adam without Daniel, and vice versa. They will be 11 on Wednesday, both like to skate, play video games (when not grounded), and both like to make a mess. They are in the 5th grade and are still participating in band. Adam plays the clarinet, and Daniel plays the trumpet. We have our very own blues club in the basement when they practice. I will try to get a recent photo of our kids put into our blog tonight, so stay tuned!!

Welcome!!

Welcome to our Garcia Family blog! We haven't kept in touch with our many family members and friends like we would like, so we're hoping this will help us in reaching out to everyone past, present, and future. As a military family, we have moved and left behind many good friends, and in less than a year, we will yet again leave behind a few more. We hope that you will all stop in and keep up with the Garcia happenings, no matter where we go. In case any of you are wondering about our blog name...it came to me in the middle of the night. I always thought my kids were a handful at times, but then it hit me that our FIVE kids literally make a HANDFUL! Hahahaha!!!