It's Shark Week

For some crazy reason we can not figure out, our family knows when it is SHARK WEEK on the Discovery channel. Actually we do watch the shows and get all grossed out. In keeping with the spirit of Shark week I have decided to show some pictures of what our family might look like IF WE WERE SHARKS! So enjoy!

Sharee's Reflection

Hi everyone. This is Sharee, and I just wanted to share with you a reflection a wrote about the Olympic Trials my family was able to attend a week ago. This was not originally meant for the Blog but just for myself, however, my mom read it and said I should share it with others, so here it is. Its quite personal, but I'm happy to have you all read it. Sorry for its length...like I said, it wasn't for the Blog so its a bit long. I hope you enjoy it and find yourself reading to the end. It really is worth your time.

"The U.S. Olympic Trials: A track meet for the most trained, most skilled, most talented and gifted athletes in the nation. A race between the World Champion, the accomplished Olympian, the World Record Holder, the Trained Professional. Some 10 years of practice boiled down to ONE race. The opportunity merely a distant dream to most athletes in the nation, even the world. And I was there! Not for myself, but for my beloved friend; for my hero; for my brother; for Jon Rankin.

My Mom, Dad, Dan and I drove up after a family reunion, and yet to have a reunion of another family, a different kind of family. A reunion with the Rankins—with Mama Penelope, Papa John, Wesley, Jon-Jon, and Kimiko. I was so excited to see them when I found out we would be heading up for the race, but my excitement was never greater than the moment I saw their smiling faces again. I didn’t realize how large a piece of me I had left with them until I had them all around me again. I remembered what I’ve been missing! The unending hugs, the hilarious jokes, the sarcasm, the tears stomach aches and cheek cramps of laughter, the whole package.

That last day soon came, Jon’s final race, the race he had been working for even since high school. We all made it into the stadium, miraculously. We each had the Team Rankin t-shirts, the awesome Jon-Jon pins, the necessary free Nike water bottles, the HUGE smiles and of course the shaky hands. The 8 of us sat in 2 rows of a small section of the never-ending bleachers. There was a crowd like I had never seen before! Suddenly all the memories of Monte Vista track meets flooded through my mind and I felt so at home watching track again. I followed the Triple-Jump, the Javelin Toss, and the High-Jump, but all I could think about was the race, the 1500m. That quick pace of a race, just shy of a mile and lasting only a mere 3 minutes and 42 seconds. I couldn’t wait to see my brother do what he loves to do, I couldn’t wait to see him run!

Finally! 5:47pm and they all come jogging out on the track. If only there was a photo of our 8 faces, just lit up with joy and excitement. This was it! We all took a deep breath in anxiousness and waited as the rambunctious crowd suddenly became silent. The athletes lined up and took their mark. Then came the gunshot, and they were off! The 12 fastest milers in the nation! The crowd grew wild as each of some 22 thousand present cheered for each one of the 12 potential Olympians. And our family? We all jumped up and down and screamed at the top of our lungs for our son and brother of course! This was the fastest race I’ve ever seen! We all cheered our hearts out, and I felt just so encompassed by the whole ordeal. It was so thrilling! No account can give description the intensity of the field at that time. I remember cheering as Jon ran by, calling his name and shouting for him, wishing only the very best of luck for my very deserving brother. As the time passed the crowd got louder, the runners ran faster, the whole scene was chaos! Then at the brink of exhaustion, when the screams in my ears were at the max and time itself felt as though it was being pulled away, that the seconds flew by at double-time—suddenly the noise ceased. The time slowed even as though it had come to a halt. I was finally able to breathe a simple breath. And when it seemed as though the moments were slipping away, I was suddenly able to soak each one in. Things went by in slow motion.

I remember certain moments of my life that seemed to go in slow motion, but never quite like this. One moment I was screaming with the crowd, cheering so loud I hurt my own ears, when suddenly the next it all stopped. Everything just suddenly became silent. I had been able to tune everything out and just look around. The crowd was still wildly clapping and yelling and jumping. Everything continued on, but rather slowly. I was just amazed for a moment, caught in amusement of the crowd and the athletes, the stadium and the time clock. Soon I caught hold of my thoughts. I looked around again, but much slower this time. I saw the runners, I saw the grand stands, I then panned around to see those around me, and then my own family—cheering and screaming and smiling just SO big, focusing on nothing but the Jon Rankin we came for. Finally I looked once more down at my brother. This was no more a race for a spot on some team. This race was the accomplishment of a dream, an incredible goal. It was then that I saw the whole picture, for the very first time! I had my family, all my brothers and parents and those who love me unconditionally. I saw, almost as an outside viewer, my family united in support of one of our own. I realized, I was living the dream! The American dream, the dream of any child of God. The dream of a family. Here we had a peach-skinned Anglo-Saxon family with a loving mother, father, sister and brothers, and a chocolate-skinned Jamaican family with a loving mother, father, sister and brothers. We were two separate families, different in color, lineage, religion and hometown. And yet we were NOT. Not at all. We were ONE family—one in purpose, one in mind, one in faith and desire, in hope and prayer, one family in love and support. We were ONE family, putting our whole hearts out there for a person we love so much, who has worked harder than anyone I know to achieve a goal, who has gone further with his ambitions than most people in the world, who has used his talent to help many lives. This was HIS day, HIS race, HIS moment to shine. And he did! He made us all so very proud, and I know we all feel so very blessed to be a part of his incredibly gifted life, as well at that successful race.

As I stood there, a 5’5” scrawny blonde in a mass of thousands, I felt it all. I felt the love of my family. I felt the power of accomplishment, I felt the hand of the Lord in all we were able to experience that day. And I realized—I was living the dream! I realized that sure, life could be better, I could have more, I could be wealthier, cooler, I could be smarter… but in fact, none of that matters. All I needed, I had right there—family. I realized right then that everything will be ok. Things may go wrong in various aspects and times throughout life, but with family everything will be ok. And that’s all that matters.

As time sped back to reality, I found a few tears rolling down my warm cheeks and sniffles in the sun burnt nose. I can’t let those tears be considered those of sorrow, for no assumption would be farther from truth. My small and simple tears were instead those of much joy, for my brother’s success had led me to such an important conclusion—that through family comes the purest love, strength, joy, and peace.

Words will never do justice to what I felt that day. And yet, here I am attempting to surface the deep feelings of peace and joy I felt. This is what I witnessed on that clear-skied day in July, not just a race for the gold, but an American dream."

Ukulele

While you were having fun at the family reunion I was pursuing my musical career. HAHA Im half-way joking. But go to this site and hear our song and vote for me and Anna. Voting can be tricky, it is based on head-to-head match-ups and you have to wait until the one you want comes up. It is everyones own version of the same song so you might get sick of it so listen to ours before you go through the voting. We recorded it in a studio and I thought it sounded pretty good.
http://musicnation.com/music/annacate
If you go to our profile you can hear the two versions of it.
Love Ty

Milano: One memorable day

Milano, Italy- difficult to get into, difficult to get out of (too long of a story and you would have had to be there and see how tired we where trying to deal with stuff).
But when I heard that Leonardo's Last Supper was in this town, the difficulties of the trip melted away at the prospect of actually seeing with my own eyes the 500-year-old mural. We packed our things for an afternoon adventure only to find when we got to the church (the picture to the left) that viewings for the day were all sold out- we had to get tickets from 4-8 weeks ahead of time to go inside. I was so disappointed. But as has happened a few times on this trip, a kind woman overheard my distress and came up to Kenton and I and offered us her extra ticket. We paid her well for the ticket and counted it as great luck to have one of us get to see the masterpiece. My dear hearted husband said that he wanted me to go and he would wait for me outside. As I got in line to go in at my assigned time, groups can only go in 15 minute intervals and 10 people to a group, who do I see but Kenton! Another kind old lady from some foreign country had come with a friend but she had seen the art 5 times before so she convinced Kenton to take her ticket - and he did! So we both got the unbelievable opportunity to see this incredible work. The painting was huge, and in very good repair considering it's age and all the problems it has seen in it's 500 years. The colors, though pale, were still vivid.
Here is a photo of a fort/castle from the 9th century. This is a cool ancient place that has seen so many battles from France and Spain and every other King who wanted the rich soil that is found in this area.

And a photo of the center of Milan. Sorry, hopefully we can post more later, like to secret Mafia men all over the place that Kenton stealthfully took pictures of.

Paris: WOW!

Kenton with his new hat on Father's Day

Paris has been the first city that we have been in where everything has been so surreal that I have to remind myself that, yes, I really am here seeing what I am seeing. I never really thought that I would come and see the Eiffel Tower, or the Mona Lisa, or Notre Dame! I think I feel this way because there was so little time to prepare for this trip that my usual advance history reading and studying did not happen this time. But we have spend a great 3 days in PARIS! Just Look!
Kenton in the streets of Paris carrying the Artista wheel on his back! This has been the most difficult part of the trip with travel.
The trains have been difficult to figure out, gragging baggage up and down stair cases in busy train stations has caused very difficult moments for everyone.


Mona Lisa, amazing! Everyone said her picture is so small, I think on the contrary. She just happens to be in a very large room with extremely large paintings - like 30 feet high by 30 wide. Her painting is awesome.


This famous, life size, statue in the Louve that reminded me of all the stringed musical instrument players in our family. The hair is Nates', the smile is Dan's, the carefree joy in the face is Tyler's.


The Eifflel Tower, again stunning and not what I would call small! When in France, eat like a frenchman - so Kenton did eat snails!!!

Germany: 22 Castles and 3 times more Parishes

I guess if I had thought about it, I should not have been so surprised that Germany was once a country ruled by nobility, with Kings, Knights and the whole lot of characters involved with that life.
On our car trip from Koblenz to Nurenberg Germany, one of Kenton's contacts suggested that we drive the scenic route. Here are a few of the 22 Castles that we came upon!



Germany was a pleasant surprise, very surprised at the beauty, away from the big cities all is green and abounding with vegetation of all sorts. The people are familiar looking , but to be honest, everyone in all of the countries we have visited have looked like they could be an American! Another pleasant surprise was that even in places where there is little space between homes we would see an area that co-op gardens where being grown. These little gardens would be lining the railway or highways, small long plots that were divided up with all sorts of plants being grown.

Here is a picture of a common German village. The second photo is a photo of what will be one of the most unforgetable church visits we made here. This is a beautiful cathedral that we when we had spotted for a bit and to watch the German football game. We saw groups of people entering the building and Kenton, wanting to see a church service, suggested that we go inside. WOW what a surprising treat. The people entering were members of the 100 voice choir who were practicing incredible 20th century music. This was the first time that Kenton has heard a choir preform in an old european cathedral and the unspeakable sounds that can be heard only in that setting. For those of you who have heard this know what I mean when I say that unseen choir members seemed to be standing to be in every corner of that building.

For years, when our kids were acting up, goofing off and being silly, we would call them "Ratskellers". I do not know where we came up with that name, I do not remember hearing it by any others but...... Kenton and I were looking for a place to eat dinner and watch the Germany football game. We came upon a resturant with the following name.

Interesting views

As we travel hundreds of miles throughout Europe we have found it interesting to see the different changes in country side between the countries of England, Holland and Germany. Here are just a few interesting observations.

After 9 hours on the road: England was hilly, lush green, every field separation is made through a tall dense hedge. The landscape meanders along brooks and streams that became boundry lines to land holdings. Most open fields in England house either small herds of cows or sheep (we never saw swine but smelled them). Little English towns would pop up here and there and always would have a tall steppled church in every town. We saw no orchards of any kind in England which would account for never getting a salad or fruit as a meal choice (except at great expense). Wood shingle roofs and small gardens are common.

After 6 hours on the road:Holland, because it is flat we could see for great distances. They commonly have large livestock farms with mostly sheep and cattle. But you could not smell the herds like you can in the states. I think that is because they are in open grass fields and not standing in plain dirt! The crops in Holland were corn, barley and cherry orchards (at least were we where). They are set up differently in Holland and it must be because perfectly flat land lends itself to perfectly square boundries! Order in all things is BIG in Holland, perfect square fields, all the houses line the streets with acreage in the rear. All the same. The homes have either the traditional thatched roof or newer homes now have brown tile roofs. Everyone has some kind of garden and flowers in the front yard.

After 14 hours on the road (by car and train): Germany has green lush hills, lots of them, as well as flat land. They likewise farm every spare inch of ground. But we never saw one livestock farm! Not one! They farm up hillsides like nobodies business! The crops we saw were grapes, corn and grains only. They don't use hedges as much as England but rather a dense patch of forest separates land holdings. Here little villages would surface and always there would be at least one tall steppled church in the town. I believe there must be a rule that for every 25 homes there must be a church because some villages were so small but had three different churches within their boundries. The roofs are dark tile, mostly red, everyone has a garden. They have large open spaces by modern cities which are rented out by apartment dwellers so they can garden.

As we see new places I will just add their overall comparisons here.