"What a Sight" by Bradley

Hi friends!

Bradley, my youngest son, turned 12 this month! I can't believe it. Time does indeed fly by!

One of the highlights of last year was our backpacking trip through Haleakala. Recently, for school, Bradley had to write a freeform poem, and he chose to write about our trip. I think it is EXCELLENT and I wanted to share it with all of you.:


What a Sight
By Bradley Fewell

Eager to go we packed our bags.
We were ready for the hike.
Our bags filled with only necessary items.
We set off to Haleakala.
Our first day was the longest of them all.
Three hours in I was tired and hungry.
All twenty-five pounds of my bag were weighing me down.
Although the pain was unbearable,
I still had time to enjoy the desert look of the scenery,

What a sight.

After a while the terrain turned from desert to forest.
The birds made it seem nicer.
Soon enough it was raining harder than you can imagine.
We finally arrived at the first cabin.
Nine miles in we weren’t turning back.
When it got dark the stars were amazing,
It was like you could see every one.

What a sight.

The second day was the easiest day of all,
only six miles of straight flat terrain to the next cabin.
We started off,
all we could see was sand and rocks as far as the eye could see.

What a sight.

Every so often you would hear a Nene goose honk.
Silver Sword littered all over the land.
We finally arrived at the second cabin.
We thought we could explore the caves before dark.
When we were in the caves,
we couldn’t see our hands in front of our face.

What a sight.

From the roof of the cave twenty feet above our head,
to having to crawl on our bellies.
We thought we would be out before dark,
we were wrong.
We were lost and cold.
Without streetlights it was completely black.
About thirty minutes later we saw the lights of our cabin.

What a sight.

The next day was the last day of our hike.
With our feet aching there were only four miles left.
The only problem was it was all uphill.
When we got to the top the view was amazing.
You could see everything,
from the desert, to the forest, to the plains, to the mountains.

What a sight.


The End


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Union Mall,Honolulu,United States

Life is Full,... and good

Hey Everybody,

Just wanted to check in and catch you up on what's happening here at the Fewell's.

Bradley just turned 12 on April 4th.  This will be our last year before we have only teen-agers!  We are so blessed by our boys.  I used to dread being the father of teens, but so far I am mostly filled with appreciation and pride for my sons.  They mean the world to me and I am enjoying having a front row seat to watch them develop into men of character.  Nothing could make a father happier!

Our business is humming along.  (FuelUpHawaii.biz).  I have to say that it is amazing how much having these shared dreams and goals have brought Emily and I closer together.  We both have really caught this concept and are enjoying the ride.  It IS a lot of work for now and we are doing our very best with it.  We keep our eyes on the goal of freedom of finances and time and know that all this will payoff for our family in the future.

Emily and I are about to embark on another challenge too... P90X!  It is a workout commitment for about an hour every day for 90 days.  It is a little extreme and we are hoping for some extreme results too.  We start (the whole family) tomorrow morning!  There's no doubt in my mind that I will be sore for the next 90 days!  We've taken our measurements, "before" pictures, baseline fitness tests and we've got our equipment.  We're full of enthusiasm now, but tomorrow will be the real test of our resolve!  Every morning at 4:30am!  We're ready to BRING IT!

On a completely different note, I've been learning and playing with the Linux operating system lately!  It can get a little confusing and as my friend said, "... you have to be willing to get your hands dirty." in a digital sorta way.  Command lines, terminal, ssh, wget, and all manner of new terms are becoming a part of my vocabulary!  The reason I've taken the plunge is I have just become the owner of my own ham radio IRLP/Echolink node.  It is basically VOIP for radio.  It only runs on Linux.  I've lost some of you haven't I?  Suffice it to say I'm enjoying a greater degree of involvement with my ham radio hobby and leave it at that!

Our family has added a new member today!  We now have the rat called "Happy" as a part of our family.  The Mannings have had Happy for a while, but in light of their upcoming departure from the islands, she is joining our rats.  Happy is an all brown rat, unlike the "hooded" ones we've had all along. So far her integration seems to be going smoothly.

That's about it for now.  I just need to read a little before bed then get right to sleep for our workout tomorrow.  I'm trying to make a habit of reading every night.

Peace, Love and "Happy"-ness,

Rich

(P.S. Interested in any smoothie recipes you like!  I'm thinking of having one every morning after my workouts!!)