Hot Air Balloon

Kathryn told you about the bad news on August 16th, about our Opa's car trouble, so now I am going to tell you about a fun adventure with a hot air balloon.

My Oma and I were taking a walk and as we were nearing our house we saw a hot air balloon. It was the first one we had seen this year, which is suprising because we usually see a lot around our house. A while after we were inside we heard a loud noise over head. Going outside we saw the same hot air balloon right over our house! Dad and I got our shoes on and watched it start going down. It landed right behind the shopping mall behind our house. We watched it deflate,and later when they were all rolling it up my Opa hopped into the basket! A very neat experience!

~Tara

More of Gavana

My dear sister Tara stated that I really ought to post more pictures of Gavana, as there are multiples of Scamper and Basha, but only one of her. And so...

Gavana at about 4 months.

"Get away from me!"

Gavana & Scamper

Gavana looking pretty.

Gavana as a kitten with Basha, her adopted "Mother".

I apologize if you are now sick of seeing Gavana. :-)

~Kathryn

Car Complications

This Wednesday, our Oma and Opa (Grandma  and Grandpa in Dutch) came up for a visit. We decided we would take them our for lunch, and as we were driving  the car was making a strange sound, like the tires were out of alignment or something. So we brought it to "Discount Tire Co." to have them look at the tires. We stepped next door to the hot dog restaurant for lunch. The gentleman at the tire place informed us that the front two tires were no good, and showed Opa how uneven they were. $300 later, we were on the way home with two new tires, and the car was still making the noise! Since the original tires were no good anyway, Opa decided it was fine to just leave the new ones on, and Mom (Annette) called our piano teacher's husband, who works for an auto repair shop. He agreed to let us bring the car in to have it checked, so Mom and Opa drove to Barrington. What they found was that the bearings were no good, and that the wheel was actually wobbling back and forth as we drove! It was a good thing Mom and Opa brought it in, because the tire could have just flown off while Oma and Opa were driving on the highway on the way back home! But, the auto shop didn't have the parts, so the car had to be left there. Opa and Oma had to be home, as Opa had an appointment the next morning, so they took our van home. Yesterday (Thursday), the parts came in, but we couldn't have the car back because the parts came in the evening. The trouble was that Tara had an orthodontist appointment this morning (Friday) and we had no car to get there! Thankfully the Lord worked everything out, and because the appointment was in the morning, and the orthodontist office is close by Dad's work, we were able to drive with him, drop him off at work, and get to the appointment with time to spare! Now we just have to figure out how we will get Dad home so we can go to our church's picnic... :-)

~Kathryn

Basha... the Alpha Cat

Well I guess it's my turn to tell about Basha, the first of the 3 Yen kitties.  Basha came to us almost 12 years ago now when David decided that he really DID love Annette enough to try having a cat even though he's deathly allergic to them.  Thankfully and by no accident, I'm sure, just a few years earlier a breed of cat was introduced to the US from Russia called the Siberian.  These cats, for some reason, have minimal dander and therefore do not create the typical allergic reactions in people who are usually allergic to cats.  And on the day that I went "shelter shopping" for a kitten I found an ad in the newspaper for Siberian kittens.  God even cares for the little (or big in David's case) things!

I drove down to West Chicago and instantly fell in love with these adorable babies.  One in particular, they called her "Precious" was the first one I picked up and that was it.  She came home with me that day and has been my baby ever since.  We named her Basha because it sounded like a Russian name (it's not).  And  the next day, David's sister Lulu came by to meet her and promptly drove to West Chicago to scoop up Basha's brother, Misha.

And, although David will sneeze, react and have itchy eyes in any other home with a cat, he's never had a reaction to Basha (or Scamper and Gavana).

So that's our Basha!

Mom (Annette)

Scamper: Mr. Trouble

It is time to learn about the most active, troublemaking kitty in the Yen household: Scamper.

Scamper is very playful, and one of his favorite sports is to chase his sister, Gavana, all around the house, and tackle her. He is quite a mischief maker and likes to go anywhere that he is not allowed to go (the counter, above the cabinets, etc.).

He also enjoys eating things that he shouldn't:

Don't mistake me though, he really can be a very lovable kitty!

Scamper is almost three years old, come this October, and has lived with us since February of 2004. He likes to sleep in bed with us (yes, IN bed, meaning under the covers) and have "snuggle sessions" on our dresser and mom's stamping desk in the basement (he also likes to push everything off of the desk and chew the ribbon). As to playing, he enjoys having us drag a string through the house while he chases it and running after fake mice and Q-tips. He is our favorite little boy!

~Tara

Introducing Gavana

The first test post stated that on this blog is everything you ever wanted to know about us and our cats...and so, I would like to introduce to you my cat, Gavana.

Gavana is almost three years old, and is the littermate of Scamper. It's generally quite evident that she believes herself to be the prettiest thing on the face of the earth. What she does not realize is that she is also the vainest thing on the face of the earth as well. She likes very much to be petted, but only on her terms, and will only sit on your lap if you happen to be seated in the rocking chair in Mom and Dad's room. If she feels in need of petting, she will let you know that it is time for you to sit in "the chair".

Gavana is often harrassed by her rather unruly brother, Scamper, who "beats up" on her when he is bored. She does not usually take kindly to this, and hisses and growls at him, but without any noticeable effect.

She is very skittish around strangers, but deep down is really a social kitty. Though deathly afraid of being touched when we have visitors over, she tends to slink around and always wants to be where the action is.

And that is about everything you need or care to know about Miss Vana!

~Kathryn

Where's Your Mojo?

We got to try out the new Mojo outfit a few weeks ago at our church "indoor picnic".  It was indoor as the weather didn't cooperate that night, so we picnic'd in the basement.  We brought the animals for the kids to stuff and Dave crawled inside the Mojo costume to surprise young and old.  Look for further sightings of Mojo in the months to come!

At least someone was brave enough to give Mojo a hug ...

Camp Bourbonnais

Last Friday, I had the privelege of attending the Chicago Bears Training Camp in Bourbonnais as a guest of OAK, the official orthopedic doctors for the Bears at camp. It was a great day as we watched the individual units go through their drills (special teams, offense, defense) and then combined practice and finishing with a 2 minute offense. Here are a few pics taken.


Brian Urlacher and the Linebacker Corps

Rex Grossman completing a pass