The Life and Times of BJ Farish

For all of the controversy surrounding construction of the Nationals Stadium, the cost over-runs, tax-payer dollars, etc, the architects and builders got it right.  It feels like a ballpark.  The sight lines from any seat in the upper deck (gotta sit in the cheap seats) are incredible.  Looking across the Anacostia River (I wouldn't want to swim in it), over to the Capitol Building or Washington Monument, there is something to see from every seat.

Canyon de Chelly is a severely under appreciated site in northeastern Arizona.  The colors on the canyon wells look like they were painted.  Friends of ours who have lived in Arizona their entire lives either hadn't heard of it or hadn't been.  I think it is the second best thing to see in Arizona besides the Grand Canyon.

As you can see in the first picture, each of our kids are standing in a different state.  It's pretty convenient that we have four kids.  I can tell you now that it was all part of our great plan.  Laura and I discussed early on how many kids we wanted to have.  After little debate, we agreed that we should have four kids in order to have the ability to put one kid in each state when we visited the Four Corners National Monument.  If you believe that. . .

We camped at Canyon de Chelly, a beautiful part of the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona.  Having pitched our tent in the early afternoon, we explored the north rim of the canyon (pictures to follow at some point).  We continued to cover the one hundred miles to stand in four states at one time.  The excitement was building as we got closer.  Imagine our great disappointment when we found that it was closed!  Barbed wire fences and a gate prevented us from reaching the only place in the US where you can stand in four states at one time.  My first thought as a responsible father was to hop the fence.  I didn't want to drive 200 miles for nothing.  After much debate, we decided to be good examples and not hop the fence.  Sometimes it tough being a law-abiding citizen. 

We toured the south rim of Canyon de Chelly the next morning, then took the very same journey northward to Four Corners.  These pictures were obtained legally after we paid our entrance fee of $3/person.  We were fortunate to get there fifteen minutes before two busloads of high school students rolled in.  By then, we had taken pictures, jogged around the monument several times (just to say that we jogged all the way from New Mexico, through Colorado, Utah and finished our long journey in Arizona.  We were then able to sit comfortably at a picnic table, dining on Navajo tacos and fry bread, a healthy and delicious snack.  Who says lard isn't a food group?

We took the kids camping on the first weekend in October at Lost Dutchman State Park, east of Phoenix.  It's pretty close to the city, so you can see the lights in the valley.  The sunset was a perfect time to get a picture of Laura and the girls against the Superstition Mountains.  I took a run in the afternoon as the sun was starting to go down.  Getting inside the arms of this mountain is pretty cool.  It has some very beautiful views as you climb. 

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2 comments

Ahhhhhh!  The delight of wearing shorts on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to pose for a Christmas family portrait.  It was only in the 70's when we posed for this photo.  The cacti at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve made for a lovely backdrop.  '

Here we are, arrayed in our Christmas finery.  Laura made the girls' dresses.  They were very excited to get dressed for church this morning.  Justin was happy to wear his new suit.  Eric was happy that he got to change his clothes right after pictures were over.

Apparently, the day before Thanksgiving at Eric's preschool is called "Friendship Day".  We watched them sing several songs.  He is standing next to his friend, Barry.  They were very cute.

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Look at how happy he is to have caught this frog on his own.  At four years old, Eric is pretty good at catching animals.  I'm waiting for him to come home with a scorpion or tarantula.  That should be  exciting.

I guess I'll have to make another visit to Cooperstown to get a picture of Cal's plaque.  I'll have to get some photos of the numbers in the front of Camden Yards to add to this list. 

I think that they should have a section  in the Hall of Fame completely devoted to the O's.  There's room if they get rid of the Babe Ruth section.  There's too much Yankee memorabilia there anyway.  Like they won 26 championships.  All Orioles, all the time.  Yankee fans need to remember that their beloved pinstriped boys came from  Baltimore originally.  And their great Babe also came from Balmore, hon.