Tuesday, Catching up

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I took the day off from Blogging yesterday for a couple of reasons. One, I was a little worn out and just wanted to relax. Two, I left the power cord to my computer at the tennis shop at Columbia Lakes and my battery doesn't have a lot of life left in it. So, This morning I'm using my trusty old Toshiba laptop that I retired in December 04.

It still works but I think my screen is going out. It's very dim and I can't seem to adjust the picture quality. I have been meaning to take it in to a repair center for a while, but haven't had the extra cash. Any way, it's functional for what I need to do today.

You'll have to bear with me on posting memorial day photos for another day or so.

Now, My Memorial Day tournament went well. The weather held out and everyone had a great time. When I got home yesterday I helped Monica with some household chores and then we grilled burgers for dinner. Mmmm they were good....! Afterwards we watched the Original 'Matrix' movie with Keanu Reeves. What kind of name is Keanu, anyway..? Is that his stage name or did his mom really name him Keanu...? Oh well, sometimes my mind wanders that way and I get off track. Any way, we watched the Matrix and I dozed off towards the end because it was getting way past my bed time.

Today Connor is taking an assessment test for school and Monica and I have to go to the bank to work out a problem with the property tax escrow on our home mortgage account.

Then I need to work on marketing my summer programs this afternoon. That's it. I'm out of time. It's do or die....! Oh it's almost 7:30 AM I'd better close here so I can listen to RC Sproul on the radio....!

Thanks for reading my journal. Bye for now... Coach Sam

Memorial Day Bar B Que Blog...!

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I got up this morning at 2 AM to start a briskett. Hannah is happy to have the company...! I've been just putzing around on the computer the last 30 minutes and now I'm kinda sleepy. It's 4 AM and I'm probably going to throw a bunch of coals in the fire box on the smoker and take a 90 minute nap. We're going to the late church service this morning at Houston Metropolitan Baptist then by the time we get home the briskett should be ready...!

That's it for now... Please check back throughout the weekend as I'll be adding comments regularly.

This is the Memorial Day Weekend Bar B Que Blog... You might recall my last Holiday blog was the 2004 Family Thanksgiving Blog.... I'll be posting photos later, too.

See you in a couple hours. -SC -4:07 AM


9:27 AM Update:

We were out of foil so I improvised a smoker box out of an aluminum can and wood chips... That seemed to work fine. The briskett is looking good. It's smelling good, too! I'm going to stoke the fire before we head off for church and the briskett should be just about ready when we get home.

Earlier this morning I watched Lakewood Church on TV, then I watched Dr Charles Stanley. His sermon was awesome as usual. Monica and I are watching the French Open right now, But we're about to start getting ready for church.

Hannah is playing with her toys. Connor is still asleep.

That's about it. I'm taking an easy day today. It will really be one of my few complete days off for the next month....!

More later... Bye for now... SC 9:36 AM

Monica's Getting Bigger and Bigger...! Our Due Date is July 24th...! 

Goin' Offshore on the BEAST

Everyone's about to embark on the Kemah Boat Ride. This was a fun event Connor participated in a few weeks ago organized by F.L.A.S.H. -That's Fun and Lively Activities and Sports for Home Schoolers.

Here's the last of the photos of Connor's Kemah trip with his Home School Friends.  

End of the Week

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The photos posted above are fun pictures from Connor's day out in Kemah with his home School friends from a few weeks ago. That was a really fun day for Connor. Unfortunately, I've posted all the pictures from that little excursion. But don't worry, (all you Connor Fans) I have an endless suppply of Connor photos... So stay tuned and check back often...! :)

Well, I made it to Friday... Yea...! The rest of week will be a breeze. I'm actually going to go into the summer feeling rested, relaxed, and caught up on everything. That's an awesome feeling. I'm looking forward to a good morning of lessons this morning. Then I have the afternoon off to hang out and relax with the family.

I plan to play a lot of ping pong in the back yard. I plan to Bar B Que something. I plan to just spend quality time with the ones I love this weekend.

Ahh... What a life! I can't complain, that's for sure...!

I'll have time to blog too... Maybe I'll recall some funny stories from my childhood or my travels as a tennis pro. I've got lots of stories, no question about that...!

So, that's it for this morning. Perhaps I'll be back and blog a little more this afternoon. I can't promise for sure, but I'll definitely be back some time this weekend.

Until then, Bye for now...!

Coach Sam

No Swimming Allowed...!

Don't fall in the Sting Ray Pool...!

Here's Ashleigh Calcote (pink) and Connor and Matt petting sting rays at Kemah. Connor said they were very slimey...! 

Closing in on The Weekend...!

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The photos above were taken at a fun Home School Event organized by F.L.A.S.H. I'm sorry that I missed it because I've always had a fascination with sting rays and that would have been a good opportunity to see them up close and personal.

Well, the past two days I've been on the phone and sending email like crazy to promote my weekend tennis events and summer programs. Why does everyone seem to wait until the last minute to commit to something...? It makes it awfully difficult to plan a first class event...!

My Saturday event is actually shaping up nicely but I still need some more participants for the Monday Kids half day tournament. I'm sure that today and tomorrow it will fill up.

I teach this afternoon in Rustic Oaks. The rest of this week is pretty much half days. I think Sunday we may have some friends over for a cook out. Then starting next Tuesday I go into a summer program schedule mode. I'm concerned about the month of June because I have been so fatigued lately. And this past week I've been trying to sleep more but I still have a difficult time waking up. This morning I didn't even get out of bed until 6:30 AM and I went to bed last night before 10 PM... I'd better shape up fast!

I think I'll probably switch my blog time to the afternoons starting next week. That might help my morning routine a little better.

Uh, well, this has turned out to be random musings this morning, hasn't it...?

Sorry. This is just the crazy life and thought processes of a man with a 7 month pregnant wife, a semi- hyper 12 year old son, a puppy, a kitten, and two cats trying to cope...!

Until next time... Bye for now!

Coach Sam

Sorry, No Spice Today...!

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A few posts ago I promised some 'spicey' commentary today. Well, sorry. I'm not feeling too spicey this morning. I slept in a little this morning. I got up at 4 AM and let Hannah out to the bathroom then went back to bed. I got up again at nearly 6 AM and laid on the couch with Hannah and listened to Dr Stanleys morning broad cast. It was nice just relaxing on the couch with the puppy. After Dr Stanley's sermon I dozed off for a little while and then have been blogging since about 7:45 AM.

I need to spend pretty much the entire day marketing my summer programs. So that's my story today. Maybe there will be some spice tomorrow...!

Until then... Bye for now...

Coach Sam

Accomplishment

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I just accomplished a huge task that I had been behind on here at the house...! I'm still behind in other areas ...Like marketing my summer programs... But I'm in a good mood right now for sure!

I'm going to return a few messages and then head to Seabrook for my afternoon lessons in about an hour. That's the update...! Woohoo...!

More later...

Coach Sam

Crunch Week Day 2

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Yesterday was full and busy as predicted. I had 4.5 hours of lessons through out the day and hit with Connor some and one of the members of Columbia Lakes. I definitely got my exercise...! And the A/C in the tennis shop is still not working. Hopefully the maintenance department will complete that project soon...!

Today I slept in a few extra hours. My alarm went off at 4 AM but I couldn't get going until 6 AM. I may have to adjust my schedule a little more before the summer. Perhaps I'll have to blog less or blog at a different time because my mornings are going to be too busy starting in a couple of weeks.

I'm referring to this week as crunch week because it is an absolutely crucial week for me to get some things accomplished before the summer gets here.I'm definitely feeling the pressure right now.

I'm about to start working on some projects here at the house this morning. I've got a longer day here today because I wrapped up a few classes last week. That's good. I need the extra time.

I suppose I'll close here. Thanks for reading my journal. I'll try to wow you with some spicey commentary tomorrow.

Bye For Now.

Coach Sam

Connor and Matt are about to embark on a ride at the Kemah amusemant park. This was part of the Home School trip to the Boardwalk a few weeks ago. I've still got lots of cool photos to publish so be sure to check back...! 

Big Week Ahead

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I took the weekend off from Blogging. I'm going to do that every now and then to build in some sanity into my life. I've really got to watch my time management. I was quite disciplined yesterday and I forced myself to get to bed by 10:30 PM. I'm quite proud of that. As a consequence I'm not dragging this morning.

Oh I've got a full day today, to be certain. But I know it will work out. I'm off to a terrific start. I got up at 4:15 AM and I even did 100 crunches this morning. Yes, I'm declaring war on this big fat gut of a stomach of mine. I played tennis this past Saturday and got killed, but I'm not giving up. In fact, I hope to start playing three times a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. A month of that and I'll start to regain my old form...!

This is crunch time for my summer program. I have a lot of scheduling and many flyers to make over the course of today and tomorrow. I have lots of calls to make. Yes, it will be a busy day.

I'll try to post again later this morning when I'm on my first break. And I'll post some more photos, too. Thanks for reading my journal. Bye for now.

Coach Sam

Connor Copeland and Matt Asp enjoy a cool sprinkle in the fountain at the Kemah Board Walk during a Home School outing organized by FLASH last week.  

F.L.A.S.H

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What is FLASH..? FLASH stands for:

Fun and

Lively

Activities and

Sports for

Home Schoolers

This group organized the recent fun day at the Kemah Boardwalk last week. It's a great group. My stepson has several good friends in it and I know the family that founded it very well. It is a great resouce for home school families in the southeast Houston area.

I'll be writing more about Flash and helping promote thier activitey on this web page. More later... Bye for now... Coach Sam

Recently Connor and Monica went out for a day trip to Kemah on the Boardwalk with a group of Home School kids and their moms. The Kids took a trip on 'The Beast' shown here. More photos of Connor's fun day will be published tomorrow. 

Here's a photo of Hannah attacking my feet as I'm trying to get my socks and shoes on in the morning. 

Hannah loves to attack my feet and eat my socks... That might change in June and July when my socks get really sweaty, smelly, and dirty...! 

Wednesday Update....

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Sigh... Today hasn't been as productive as I wanted it to be... I forgot a bunch of paperwork at the house... It was going to keep me busy most of the day. Now I'll have to work when I get home tonight... That Stinks...!

I've been painting in the tennis shop today. And I'm going to make a few calls before I go back on the court later this afternoon. It was a lite day lessons-wise for me. But I need some phone call time so I guess it all works out for good anyway.

Tonight I'm going to watch Star Wars: Attack of the Clones to get myself ready for the next episode in theaters tomorrow.

That's about it. Tomorrow Monica and I have a Doctor's appointment. Not much else to report. Oh well... I'm going to put on a smiley face and dive into some phone calls...

I'll be back tomorrow...

Coach Sam

Quick Update from Coach Sam

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Busy, Busy Busy... It's funny, but have you ever noticed on a typing keyboard that if you type too fast, the word busy easily becomes the word, 'bust'...? The Y and the T are right next to each other. I busted twice just then being too busy.

And boy, have I been way too busy lately. But I'm just about caught up on all the stuff I was behind on. In fact, I predict that by the end of the week I'll be caught up with a regular life. Of Course, I'm just about to be starting my 'busy' season with summer programs, but it won't be too bad. I'm holding everything together. (With God's Help...!)

I'm up early this morning. I have a lesson at Columbia Lakes at 8 AM... The rest of the day is filled office work, meetings, and hopefully, knocking out some big projects... It's 4:30 AM now and I'm going to be leaving early this morning. I'll go ahead and close here and perhaps I'll post another journal entry later this morning form Columbia Lakes...

Bye for now. Thanks for reading my journal. I hope You have an awesome day!

Coach Sam

Here's a Close Up of Gabriel. This was before he knew that the flash was bright. Now he blinks and squints when he sees a camera pointed at him...! 

Here's one of Gabriel's Baby Photos... He sure is getting big now...! 

Connor didn't want his picture taken here. He wanted to comb his hair first... 

He got a little tangled up here but it was still a good shot. Nice balance on one foot...! 

Connor Lines up a forehand in this photo sequence. His ground strokes are getting stronger every day! 

My stepson Connor Copeland is 12 years old and has a great love for tennis..! 

Heading to Columbia Lakes

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I'm about to get on the road this morning. I've got a full day at Columbia Lakes. The weekend was good. I'll take a break this afternoon and report on it a little later today.

All is going well. I hope everyone has an awesome day. Be sure to scroll down and check out some photos from this weekend's USPTA Tennis Fun Day.

Bye for now...

Coach Sam

USPTA Tennis Across America Day

Here's a photo of participants at the May 14 USPTA's Tennis Across America National Tennis Day held at Columbia Lakes Country Club. Man, look at my stomach...! I'm not good enough with photo-shop yet to thin myself down. ( I have lost three pounds this past week, though...) Notice too how tall Connor is getting.... He's going to be a big boy!

After the Tennis Event we went to the club swimming pool for a good old fashioned crawfish boil...! Monica and Connor declined to partake of the mud bug feast, but Joe, Dolfina, and myself made up for their lack of participation. Notice my crawfish bib...? I actually managed to eat the whole meal without getting my white shirt dirty. That's a record fo me!

Friday Afternoon Update

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I've got about one minute to make a quick post. My day has gone well. -All according to schedule. And I have 3 more hours of lessons today then I get to go home...! Yea!

Tomorrow is my tennis social at Columbia Lakes. The turn out isn't what I'd expected but that's ok... I can do another one soon and take more time to get the word out...!

It will still be a good and fun event and I might be surprised and have a greater turnout than has pre-registered...

At this point I'm not going to worry about it. I'm just looking forward to going home and getting to bed before 10 PM...!

I may not post again until Sunday... I think I'll take tomorrow off from blogging...

Bye for now...

Coach Sam

Here's today's Pet Photo. Hannah is playing with one of her doggy toys. She's a very happy, spoiled puppy. But actually her favorite toys are the Kitty toys. And what's funny is the kittys never really played with them very much but when Hannah uses them they get extremely jealous and bent out of shape. She especially likes a battery powered mouse. I'll try to get some photos of her working the mouse over in the next few days. 

All Most There...!

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Today was another full day. But I did get much accomplished. And it was a good lessons day, too. Tomorrow is an insane schedule, but Saturday won't be too bad, and Sunday is going to be great...!

I'm planning on relaxing Sunday. We'll go to church in the morning and then some friends gave us Houston Symphony tickets for the afternoon. I'm looking forward to that very much...!

It's late now and I have to get up early so I'd better close here. Thanks for reading my journal. I'll try to catch up on it a little more this weekend.

Bye for now... Coach Sam

Still Catching up

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Yesterday I got an enormous amount of work done, but I still have much to get done today, too. Before I went to bed last night I was thinking of canceling my lessons this afternoon but I've decided that I'll try to squeeze everything in. I only have this week and next week for my home school classes any way and I hate to cancel the next to last class. I should be able to get everything done today and be close to caught up. We'll see. But I need to get on top of things right away.

I'll have to catch up with this blog tonight or tomorrow morning.

I'm fighting upset stomach today... I hope I'm not coming down with a bug or something. It's probably just stress... Oh well, I always say that in the name of recreation, we all make our sacrifices...!

By the way, Today would have been my father's birthday...!

Talk to you later...

Coach Sam

Taking a Personal Day

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Today I'm taking a day off from work at Columbia Lakes. I've got way too many other projects that I'm behind on right now and I have to get them completed today...!

I'm completing the Kingwood tournament today. I have a ton of HPTA work to do. I have some major business filing and reporting to do. I need to send correspondence for my Tennis Free For All coming up this Saturday. I'm about to dive right in to these projects now and I'm sure I'll still be cranking it out tonight until 10 PM.

But that's my cut off time. No matter what happens I want to continue to get my rest. I can not afford not to rest any more. I've burned the midnight oil too much the last few years. And I think the way I feel right now, and my current physical condition is definitely a product of years of not getting enough rest.

I know that I can't expect immediate results. It took me years to get in this condition and to reverse those effects will not be an over night process. But I am happy to report that I've slept at least 6 hours the past few days and I've stayed on a good diet and eating regimen all day yesterday. I weighed in this morning at 226.5 lbs. That's a 2 pound drop from yesterday...!

My lesson with Connor yesterday went ok but it could have been better. He took the rest of the day off from tennis. Today will probably be an off day for him, too. Monica is doing well. We had some quality family time last night just sitting on the couch visiting. I'm not sure what all's on her schedule today....

I'm getting a hair cut today, for sure...! Connor probably will, too...!

Well, I need to dive in to my morning... I'll try to report back again later. I know I wrote that yesterday and I never logged back in, but I'll try to take a break in between projects an will welcome some blog time.

Bye for now.

Coach Sam

More Sleeping Kitties....! Why are these guys so tired all the time...? Perhaps it's just that the bed is soooo comfortable...! 

228.5...!

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Wow... I'm going into the summer about as heavy as I've ever been...! I had hoped to be under 200 pounds by the time June rolled around but it just didn't happen. But I wouldn't say it's out of control. I've actually been holding steady at this mark for nearly two and a half months now.

But there are other areas of my life that need improvement as well. Time management issues, for one. So being more disciplined in my eating is a top priority right now. Just more discipline in life in general is in order. I've been praying fervently about it. Monica and I have been discussing my health and my life style and the positive changes I need to make.

I know that this time I'm really going to see results. With God's help, and Monica's, too I can't go wrong....!

First of all, I slept well last night, getting over 6 hours of sleep. I listened to Dr Stanley this morning and I'm about to head out and play tennis with Connor. We're trying to get in a couple of private lessons each week early in the mornings. We're actually ahead of schedule this morning. That's something I'm not used to writing...!

Well, I'll be back a little later this morning after Connor and I are through hitting...

More later...

Bye for now... SC

Today is going to be trouble...!

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Sigh... I slept in a little too late this morning.... I was hoping it would be rainy and perhaps I could go into work later, but no such luck.

Next, I checked my email and there's several problems with the Gran Prix tournament this weekend and I'll need to work on the draws some more. Sigh...

And I've got plenty of other stuff I wanted to work on today besides that... Oh well. I'll adjust and move on. But sorry, this situation will cut my blogging short this morning...

Maybe I'll log back on this afternoon... We'll see.

Bye for now...

Coach Sam

SUPER MOM.... MONICA CHADWELL

Here's a Mom who does it all...! She cooks, cleans, coaches... And she's even good with a jig saw...! This photo of Monica was taken in the spring while she was working on a home project. It's very cool to have a wife who likes to use power tools...! Happy Mother's Day, Monica...!

Remembering My Mom

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My Mom's been gone for nearly five years now. I loved her very much. I miss her now. She drove me crazy at times, too. But I guess that happens in every family occasionally. I remember back to my school age years and growing up what a good mom she was to my brothers and sister and I.

I know that Mom loved us all deeply, as a mom should. Much of her life was spent in an unhappy marriage and dealing with the health issues associated with lupus, but she did the best she could. She did remakably well, actually.

I have fond memories of playing tennis with Mom. That was something we could enjoy together for awhile before her health problems and vision trouble started to mount. Mom was particularly proud of my tennis and musical accomplishments. A mother's love and pride in her children is definitely something to be cherished.

My mom always worried about me. She hated that I traveled so much, especially to far away countries. She wanted me to stay right here in Texas. In fact, if I would have never moved out of Bay City where I grew up that would have been fine with her...

But I had to get out of the small town where I grew up. And although I did travel a lot in my younger days, I did finally settle in Houston, about 90 minutes from Mom and home, and I seldom stayed out of touch with her for very long at a time.

I loved my Mom very much. I still think about her often. There's a great photo of she and I on my desk. If she were here today I would be over at the house doing something for her, making bar b cue or taking her out to the Red Lobster in Lake Jackson... ( her favorite restaurant for special occasions)

I'd definitely give her a big hug and kiss and tell her how much I loved her...!

She did the best she could in difficult circumstances and I'll always carry her memory in my heart...!

My advice to everyone reading this blog today is to love Your mom. Honor her. Don't let conflict dwell for too long. And don't get out of touch with her. My Mom left this world suddenly and unexpectedly and I didn't have a chance to say good bye properly and in fact, we weren't even speaking at the time of her passing because I was upset with her about something. We hadn't really spoken for two months prior to her passing. I wish I could take back that time and do things differently but I can't.

The one thing I can do is share stories of my mom with you occasionally and I will.

I hope this honors my mom's memory today. Thanks for reading my blog. Until next time...

Bye for now.

Coach Sam

IT'S TOUGH TO BE A CAT...!

Here's a cute photo of Hobbes and Gabriel Sleeping. They are such sweet Kitties...! Perhaps they are consoling each other after a long day of avoiding Hannah's barking and her trying to play with them...!

The Weekend...!

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I'm up early... The Kingwood Country Club is having computer problems so they can't download the tournament that I just prepared for them. Now I've got to print all the draws and fax them over this morning before I leave for work.... It's 6 AM now, but I'm pretty much on schedule for my day. I've got lessons at Columbia Lakes today from 9 AM to 2 PM, then I'm playing a practice match at 2 PM...

That's right... Coach Sam is coming out of retirement...! I'm going to start with playing at least two sets of singles a week and work my way up from there. Hopefully I'll have my game and stamina up enough by the end of the summer to play competitively this Fall... And a nice by-product of practice will be some weight loss...!

We'll see. My body hasn't been very sore in a while. My feet are feeling good and my shoulder is fine... Yes, I'm ready to move on to the next injury...!

Monica and Connor are coming to the club today. I suppose we'll bring Hannah, too...! It will be an all day deal, today.

That's about it. I've got plenty of stuff to keep me busy tomorrow too... But that's the topic of another journal entry.

Bye for now... Hope you have an awesome day!

Coach Sam

Connor was playing with Gabriel under the bed when Hannah started her attack...! She goes for the hair and can be particularly difficult to shake off at times...! That's ok I say. Because Connor needs a hair cut, anyway...! 

Friday Afternoon at The Coffee Shop

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Hello... I made it to my down time without any trouble... I've been answering emails for the last hour and now I'm just relaxing for a few minutes.

Ahhh..... It feels good to just do nothing for few minutes...! So let's see... What can I report...?

How about a Connor Report? Connor is doing very well. His tennis is improving every day. And he's loving it. It's a joy for me to have such a committed student. He's doing very well with his school work, too. We're still trying to get into a solid routine with all that but he's doing fine.

And the Monica Report...! Monica is doing pretty well. She's suffering from bouts of fatigue about every other day but Connor and I are doing our best to take care of her...! The baby is due July 24...! We're all getting excited about that.

The Hannah Report....! Hannah is doing great. She's already grown a bit in the last week. She's definitely going to be a big dog. She has done very well in her bathroom training. I've already got tons of great photos of her which I'll be posting for your enjoyment. She loves to attack, feet, ankles, socks, shoes, and pant legs. Oh yeah... And house shoes...!

I think that's about it for now. I'm going to get to work marketing my big Free Lesson Tennis Promotion next weekend at Columbia Lakes.

Until next time... Bye for now.

Coach Sam

Photos From The Chadwell House

Here's a cute photo of Connor and Gabriel...!

Connor is playing under the bed with Gabriel. (I remember when I was so thin that I could hide under a bed. Those days are long gone...)