Camp Voyageur

Parker 2, originally uploaded by chmcelwee.

Parker wearing his stylish CV shirt from his "Gretchie"

Parker Cleaning

Parker Cleaning, originally uploaded by chmcelwee.

Parker playing with Mackenzie's sweeper.

It is time for a Parker picture update!

Parker and Daddy, originally uploaded by chmcelwee.

Parker is growing so fast - it is crazy to think that he is going to be 18-months old tomorrow! He is a goofy little guy that is full of energy and mischief! He loves to do everything that his Daddy does, including saying a very funny "Daaaamn" every once in awhile. We know we shouldn't laugh, but it is so hard.

This is a picture of Parker and Jim at his cousin's Mackenzie's 2nd birthday party.

Houses hemmed into homes

Back home again in Indiana. Today's my first day back at work after my trip to New Orleans. We had a great trip. There were 16 of us, mostly from First United Methodist Church, with other volunteers from Habitat for Humanity. We stayed at a small church just outside of New Orleans in Metairie, LA. Throughout the week, people from our team worked on three different homes, but we mostly worked on two homes hanging insulation and drywall. The homes we worked on had about three feet of flooding. Enough to ruin all of the furniture, appliances and memories from a lifetime in a home.

The home I worked at was in the Read Blvd. East neighborhood of the Eastern New Orleans section of the 9th Ward. It was owned by a wonderful lady named Brenda. She's the mother of 6 and has been a foster parent to 50 kids. She's lived in her home 30 years. Meeting Brenda helped put a face on the tragedy for me. Without meeting her and the very gracious New Orleans residents we met all over the City, it would have been very bleak. Going on 19 months since the hurricane, the National Guard is still patrolling the streets. Essential services like schools, drug stores, hospitals and groceries aren't in operation. Street signs and stop signs are still down. There were armed guards patrolling the Lowes and Home Depot. The dark houses, empty shells of apartment building and the spray painted "x"s on doors were a constant reminder that there is still much more work to do.

I'd encourage anyone who has the opportunity to go help in the rebuilding to please go. Stay tuned for pictures from the trip.

Click here for a map of the flooding.
Click here for a map of the neighborhoods in Orleans Parish.
Click here for a flash time line of the hurricane and levee breaks.
Click here for the City Plan to rebuild the Read Blvd. East neighborhood.

Long time without an update!

Ok, I've been slacking on my blog updates, so here's a big one.

• Congratulations to Mike and Julie McElwee on the birth of their 2nd daughter, Madeleine Grace McElwee. Parker is no longer the youngest grandchild.
  
• Congratulations to Matt and Connie Brown on the birth of their 3nd child and first daughter, Cassidy Rynne Brown, who was born on January 21st.
• Cathy, Parker and I saw our first "kids concert" on February. We saw Justin Roberts here in Bloomington. It was a benefit for the Children's Corner Cooperative Nursery School. He has some infectiously funny songs that I can't get out of my head!
• We celebrated my 32nd birthday a week ago. It was rather uneventful, but it was great to go out to dinner with my family. Parker loves pizza! My parents however didn't call me on my birthday and sent my card "postage due!" I'll be milking that one for years, I'm sure.
  
• Parker continues to grow and amaze us. His new favorite words are clock, button, crayon and star. He's learning how to hop and he's got the best "ribbet" I've ever heard! We're working hard on his colors and "Please" and "Thank you."
  
• I keep getting hooked further by Heroes on NBC. It's the super hero fix I've been looking for since I "grew up."
  
• I leave on Saturday for a week in New Orleans. And no, it's not going to be drunken debauchery. I'm part of a team of about 20 from our church that are going to help rebuild and repair homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina. It's part of a spring break blitz being organized by the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
  

Spider-Man coming to your mail box...

...as well as other favorite Marvel Comics superheroes; Captain America, Elektra, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Spider-Woman, Sub-Mariner, The Incredible Hulk, The Thing and Wolverine. This is part of the 2007 Commemorative US Stamp Program and follows on the heels of DC Comics Superheroes stamps in 2006. These are some of my favorite characters form when I was a kid. Ok, fine, they still are some of my favorite characters. Some of the choices do seem odd to me. Why Elektra and not Daredevil? And why Spider-Woman and not a more well known female character? Why The Thing and not the rest of the Fantastic 4? It is a little disturbing to see commercial characters on stamps. It seems like thinly veiled advertising to me. Is it a coincidence that four of these characters (Spider-Man, Thing, Silver Surfer and Iron Man) are featured in upcoming movies? Regardless, this set is pretty cool. So are the new Hasbro Marvel Super Hero Squad toys for the 3" crowd and so is the fact that Marvel's own Stan Lee will be on NBC's Heroes tonight. Excelsior!

You're on notice!

Check out the Steven Colbert "On Notice Board" Generator. Now you can call out those that you find objectionable with your own On Notice Board, just like on The Colbert Report. What out "Chicago Bears," you're on notice.

Sa da tay to the tipi tais!

Ok, it's been bugging me for weeks and I finally figuted it out. Parker's jibberish and baby talk reminded me of someone, but I couldn't place it. Well, yesturday, I finally placed it. He sounds just like the Lance Crouther character Pootie Tang, in the movie of the same name. Daddy Roach needs to get Parker a magic belt like Daddy Tang got for Pootie. Now to find a Piggly Wiggly......... Cole me down on the panny sty!

Roach brothers

jim and george on fence,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

I found this picture digging through boxes of my parents' old photos. This is me and my brother George on the fence behind our old house on Grant Street in Lebanon. Ain't we cute? This must have been around 1979. That's the Lebanon High School in the background.

The stage is set!

The stage is set for the big AFC Championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots Sunday. The winner goes to the Super Bowl, the loser goes home. Man, that would be a fun game to attend. Sports rivalries always make the game more exciting, no matter if it's DePauw/Wabash, Pacers/Knicks or Colts/Patriots. The Colts have lost to the Patriots in the playoffs in two of the last three years, including their last shot at the AFC Championship in 2004. It reminds me of some of the great Indiana Pacers vs. NY Knicks NBA playoff series during the 1990s. The Pacers and Knicks matched up 6 times in the decade and ended up splitting the series 3-3. It made for a great rivalry, especially when the Pacers beat the Knicks in 2000 it to make it to the NBA finals. Here's the Colts playoff history in the Peyton Manning era, if anyone is interested. Go Blue!

• Jan. 6, 2007 - AFC Wildcard - Indianapolis 23, Kansas City 8
• Jan. 13, 2007 - AFC Divisional - Indianapolis 15, Baltimore 6
• Jan. 21, 2007 - AFC Championship - New England @ Indianapolis
  
• Jan. 15, 2006 - AFC Divisional - Pittsburgh 21, Indianapolis 18
• Jan. 9, 2005 - AFC Wild Card - Indianapolis 49, Denver 24
• Jan. 16, 2005 - AFC Divisional - New England 20, Indianapolis 3
• Jan. 4, 2004 - AFC Wild Card - Indianapolis 41, Denver 10
• Jan. 11, 2004 - AFC Divisional - Indianapolis 38, Chiefs 31
• Jan. 18, 2004 - AFC Championship - New England 24, Indianapolis 14
• Jan. 4, 2003 - AFC Wild Card - Jets 41, Indianapolis 0
• Jan. 16, 2000 - AFC Divisional - Tennessee 19, Indianapolis 16
• Dec. 30, 2000 - AFC Wild Card - Miami 23, Indianapolis 17