Kunz Family Jamboree

I have a proposal. Considering we are all spread out across the country and we seem to gather only by happenstance and at the last minute during crazy holidays, I propose we start holding the Biennial (or Triennial) Clyde & Claudia Kunz Family Jamboree. Here are some loose guidelines:

1. What is a Kunz Family Jamboree you ask? Well, I see it as an informal gathering / family vacation of the Kunz family. I'm avoiding the term "reunion" because of all that that implies. I see it as a fun excuse to go somewhere we may have never been, or rarely go and/or an excuse to try and get together with far flung family. Informal means that we are all invited, not obliged to attend--come if you can, it'd be great to have everyone, but it'd be great to have anyone. It also should mean that though a couple of all-inclusive activities such as a big dinner and an activity are planned during the visit, the rest of the time should be more informal activities at everyone's leisure--join in or not. This allows us to interact in both small and large groups without high-pressure scheduling.

2. The Jamboree would occur on a 2 or 3 year schedule . For example, below I will outline my proposal for a 2009 gathering. From here on out, we could have a gathering either every odd year, or every third year. (Feedback--what do you think is more realistic?)

3. The Jamboree would be hosted by one of the siblings. By hosting I mean a sibling volunteers to plan a location, be it their home area, or a destination of their choice. They could research some places to stay and things to do and basic costs. They should not be expected to house anyone (they can make limited offers if they so choose). As you'll see below, I am volunteering to host the first Jamboree. Ideally, we would have a volunteer host emerge for the next Jamboree by the end of the previous. For example, at the 2009 Jamboree, Ryan may volunteer to host the 2011 Jamboree. Then, sometime in or before 2010, he would announce the locale and dates. A location and date should be chosen at least a year out so plans can be made. Alternatively, we could get on a rotation and schedule, but this does not allow as much flexibility for each family's availability and best timeframe for each locale. (feedback?)

4. Consideration should also be given for the size and diverse personalities of our growing family. For example, we may not want to all rent a big house on the beach and cram everyone in. I suggest in selecting locations, there is closeness, but not crampedness. And, there should be options--to continue the beach house example, the host may research and find a four bedroom beach house near a couple of 2 bedroom beach houses and a lodge. He provides the contact information and pricing and each family can choose to reserve a home, contact another family and reserve a house together, or book a room at the lodge. Obviously this won't work in every locale, but you get the idea. I'm just saying, we want to enjoy our stay, not make each other crazy with our strong personalities, so let's be realistic about accommodations.

That's all I can think of. These guidelines are certainly open for feedback--additions and deletions. In fact, the whole idea is up for vote. If y'all think it'd never work, say so and we can scrap it (or those of us who think it'd work will just go have fun on our own . . . ).

Anyway, for the First Biennial (or Triennial?) C&C Kunz Family Jamboree, I would like to invite everyone out to South Carolina the week of August 9th, 2009. I know it's far for most of you, but at least for 8 of us (that would be exactly 1/3 of us), it's nearby, so I call it a pretty good locale. That week YMCA Camp Greenville will be holding the end of summer Family Camp. You can follow the link to get an idea of the activities and location. There is also pricing on there, but I should be able to get about a 50% discount--it would kind of depend on how many people would be coming. Here is the link to Camp Greenville's main pages as well.

The price (per person, per night, children 3 and under are free) includes housing in a cabin, all meals and programming. There are three types of cabins, the cheapest have flush toilets, but you walk to a shower house. The other two types have bathrooms with showers in the cabins. Each family would get a side of a cabin to themselves (unless they wanted to share). Each side is a separate room with 6-20 bunks depending on the style and side. Some have individual bathrooms, some share a bath with the other side of the cabin. Ask me for any more specifics. Meals are offered buffet style in our dining hall. Programming includes many of the activities listed on the website, all guided by camp staff. Or you can opt to hike the trails on your own, or just sit by the lakes or play games in the lodge, ping pong or basketball in the gym. At that time of the year there will be horses--both ring and trail rides, swimming in the lake, canoing and oh so much more. Most of main camp is accessibly by car if necessary, and we may even be able to swing a golf cart from maintenance for anyone with a pacemaker and/or bionic knee.

There would be 5 nights available--Sunday through Friday, but you could stay fewer. Once I get a sense of if and how many nights people are interested in coming, we could try and coordinate a more specific length of stay. There are also numerous state and national parks nearby if you want to venture away from camp--though there is certainly plenty to keep you busy right in camp. If you're really into roughing it, talk to me about camping at one of the campsites on site. I could see what/if they would charge you to camp out and participate in meals and activities. We have a queen futon in our living room and could possibly put up Mom & Dad or Jared's family (be warned, we have cats and the futon is smack dab in the middle of our 800 square foot house)--or you could camp in our yard . . .

We are close enough to Atlanta, that perhaps families could spend a night or two in that area if they desire. If you want to check flights, you can fly into either Atlanta (ATL-usually cheaper, but about a 3 hour drive), Greenville SOUTH Carolina (GSP), or Asheville NORTH Carolina (AVL)--both about an hour drive from here, or even Charlotte, NC--about a 3 hour drive. For mileage/driving inquiries, search for Solomon Jones Road, Cedar Mountain, North Carolina 28718.

Email me, or post comments with feedback, questions and the like.

WHAT'S UP DOWN SOUTH

Hi all!

I thought I would post a quick update on our family. Spring is beautiful here in Atlanta! I planted four tomato plants and one zucchini plant last week and they are already growing rapidly! It has been great weather and our kids are enjoying their after school time on our trampoline. Here is a short video of them:

Allison is almost as excited for school to be out (last day is May 23) as she is for her birthday this Sunday. She has had a successful year of first grade and made some good friends. Here is a picture of Allison with her project she did on Uncle Sam:

Sydney is doing great and loving her pre-school and dance class. Our cute little daughter didn't learn her lesson the first time she cut her hair and decided to cut it again though!! Luckily this time the damage wasn't quite as extreme and I was able to fix it up pretty good. Maybe I should go to beauty school?...okay maybe not.

Bryson is as active as ever. He had his first haircut yesterday. It was really more of a clean up, evening out job than an anything else. He saw the "post hair-cut" suckers before the hair-stylist started on him and insisted on having it immediately. He's always been a sucker for a sucker. It actually helped the wiggly guy sit relatively still though.

The day school gets out we are driving down to Destin, Florida for a week at the beach and then shortly thereafter we are headed to Utah for a couple of weeks. We hope to see as many of you as we can--we sure miss everyone! We love you and hope you are doing great!

Love,

BRASB

TKRS

We are all very grateful that Dad is home safely and recovering well from his knee surgery. I'm sure the prayers of our children have had something to do with it ("ess ampa ee"). I've thought alot about this whole thing over the last few weeks and am hoping to learn some things through it all.

1) Knee Replacement Surgery runs in the family (as do bad knees and obesity).
2) From what I understand, one's original knees will last longer if you can lose extra weight.

I mentioned to mom that I hoped Dad would post pictures of his knee surgery on the Kunz Knuz in order to help those of us with weight problems and fledgling bad knees be inspired to (or frightened into) losing weight. But, given that he was asked to remove the colonoscopy pics because they were too gross, I figure I'm not going to hold my breath.

Instead, the other evening (at BRASB's, since I can't watch videos with dial-up), I stayed up late to watch some adult videos. Here is the link I happened into: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJSH2GqGo-Y

It is a video of an actual knee replacement surgery on You Tube. All I can say is that there are various saws and drills involved and that I had to watch it with the volume off, through my fingers with a running commentary of "oooo, OH!, AGGHHH!, AYE-YAYE-YAYE" and "you have got to be kidding me!"

Boy Dad, I feel your pain (or I at least have your pain etched permanently into my brain now). I hope I never have to go through that.

Love you!

("ess ampa nee", translation: "Bless Grandpa's knee)

"Action" Jackson Rides for the Gold!

Andrew Jackson’s Liberty First Spouse $10 Gold Coin
President, 1829–1837



The Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 contains a provision to provide continuity of the First Spouse Gold Coin Program during those times in which a president served without a first spouse. This provision applies to Andrew Jackson, whose wife Rachel died in December 1828, just a few months before his presidential inauguration.

The gold coins issued to accompany any president who served without a spouse will each feature a design emblematic of Liberty on its obverse, as depicted on a United States coin issued during the President’s time in office. For Andrew Jackson’s presidency, the selected image appeared on the Capped Bust, Lettered Edge Half-Dollar coin from 1807–1836, and was originally executed by United States Mint Engraver John Reich.

Reverse Design

Andrew Jackson, known as “Old Hickory,” is remembered as a war hero who led a force of approximately 4,000 American troops against a British Army more than twice that size and emerged victorious in January 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans. Although a treaty had been signed at Ghent, Belgium, weeks earlier, the news had not reached either army, and the American troops’ victory at the Battle of New Orleans helped secure that crucial southern sea port as part of the first successful military defense of the country’s national sovereignty.

Obama's Top Ten Campaign Promises (From David Letterman)

Obama's Top Ten: Obama appeared on David Letterman's "Late Show" last night where he gave his Top Ten campaign promises:

10. To keep the budget balanced, I’ll rent the situation room for sweet sixteens.

9. I will double your tax money at the craps table.

8. Appoint Mitt Romney secretary of lookin’ good.

7. If you bring a gator to the White House, I’ll wrassle it.

6. I’ll put Regis on the nickel.

5. I’ll rename the tenth month of the year “Barack-tober.”

4. I won’t let Apple release the new and improved Ipod the day after you bought the previous model.

3. I’ll find money in the budget to buy Letterman a decent hairpiece.

2. Pronounce the word nuclear, nuclear.

1. Three words: Vice President Oprah.

Thinvasion

This is a quick photo-manipulation at did at work the other day after someone emailed out a link about the recent UFO sightings in Texas (on my break, of course). It was the same day Apple announced their new skinny laptop, and this just sort of came to me like a revelation...



http://www.justinkunz.com/digital/Thinvasion.jpg

: jk

Look Mom! I’m a Blogger!

My NBA.com blog is live!

http://my.nba.com/forum.jspa?forumID=400032740

Their editor is completely primitive. It's like using Microsoft Notepad. Actually it's worse. If I cut and paste from Notepad into this little NBA editor thingy, it messes up the formatting. It takes HTML, but with a few twists – so you can't just write in an HTML editor and then cut and paste from it either. It's gonna take some getting used to…

But anyway, I'm live! I'm bloggin' like Gilbert Arenas!

I just can't tell if anybody is reading it or not…what do you think? Yeah, you're right, I shouldn't quit my day job. At least not yet…

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Cataclysmic Converter

Today I took the boys "down the mountain" to get my catalytic converter replaced. What is a catalytic converter you might ask (if you were Ethan, you would also want to know what it does and how it does it). I recently found out that a catalytic converter is part of the exhaust system and affects the emissions of your vehicle. I also recently learned a great deal more.

On the way to the dealer, Ethan began questioning: "What needs to be fixed?"

The Catalytic Converter.

"Why?"

It's broken.

"What does a catlic coverder do?"

It takes the smoke that the engine makes when it burns gas and makes it less dangerous to breath before it comes out the exhaust.

"How does it do that?"

I don't know.

"I know you know, so just tell me how!"

I really don't know. Mom doesn't know everything sweetheart, maybe we can stop by the library on the way home and get a book about it.

"Let's go to the library right now!"

We've passed it and we're late for our appointment, so we'll go after.

"TURN AROUND AND GO TO THE LIBRARY NOW!!!!"

Do you want a swat on your bottom?

I digress.

So, we left the car and attempted to walk the boys across the street to play at the playground. We didn't get 10 feet before they began fighting in the stroller. This resulted in time-outs in the parking lot, an embarrassing 45 minute melt-down amidst the new RAV4s and FJ Cruisers, and spankings. It was ugly ladies and gentlemen.

When we finally left with our new catalytic converter, we did indeed stop by the library.

I spent 30 minutes trying to find a book to explain how a catalytic converter works. To no avail.

"Mom please!! You have to find a book about calykit verters!"

So we settled for a book on how cars work that just didn't have enough detail, a manual for building your own car from the adult non-fiction section and a promise to search it out online. So, for anyone who is wondering, here are the basics of the catalytic converter.

So now, if someone could just invent a "cataclysmic converter" that would take a toxic tantrum and reduce it's hazardous effects on the surroundings I'd be very grateful.

My Top 10 Reasons Dad is Cool (This Year)

I suspect Mom had some influence in a few of these things, too.

10. Dad raised five children... and never once owned a minivan. Or a station wagon. Just a flippin' sweet gold Burb with faux wood side panels and bench seats, baby.
9. Just a month or so after my mission, Dad “helped me buy” the Toyota Corolla I still drive to this day, the one I can’t part with because it’s like a member of the family now.
8. He allowed the aforementioned five children to draw during church, or solve math problems on the back of the program, or play quiet games like my favorite: “boxes”.
7. Dad used to give us “scratch paper” from work: whole reams of pure white cotton-fiber stuff with nothing but the IBM logo on it. I’m assuming of course that was the old, obsolete IBM logo...
6. He actually used to sell those awesome reel-to-reel computers like you see in the old James Bond movies, the kind with about as much processing power and memory as a six-dollar calculator has today.
5. Dad let us play video games on his own very first IBM PC. And then there was the Atari and the Nintendo. Sometimes we played games way into the night, occasionally burning incense while watching SNL and laughing loudly.
4. Dad bought me that expensive ski suit just like Cameron Egan had, the black one with the hot pink and fluorescent blue patches that I only used for one season before outgrowing it. I still feel guilty about all his money I wasted.
3. He kept letting us get more kittens every few years even though he was allergic and most of them disappeared mysteriously or suffered violent accidental deaths.
2. In one of our two houses on Millbrook Way, Dad gave me the bedroom with the nook that was the perfect size for my drawing desk, conveniently accommodating my bed and that huge stereo to fill up the rest of the room.

But our Dad did much more than buy things and let me get away with adolescent dissolution...

1. He encouraged me to use my gifts and hard work to get good grades and play in the band, which he prophetically claimed could help you get a scholarship to college. And that might allow you to land a job that’s kind of like a glorified hobby where you get paid to do stuff you actually enjoy doing, like drawing and playing video games! Can you imagine?

Thanks Dad. We love you and we owe you more every year.

: jk

P.S.: Just for old times' sake...

Scotland and London and Paris, Oh My!

I finally got out to see a little bit of the world last month! Yes, it's sad but true, it took me 35 years to get overseas! So now I can't use my favorite line when playing that party game "I've Never..."

Kim and I went on vacation for 10 days, to Scotland and London.

First of all, I must say, if you want to avoid jetlag - I've got one word for you: Melatonin! This stuff is amazing! Kim and I each took one pill after each flight, at bedtime at our destination, and experienced zero jetlag in either direction! Amazing...really you should try it.

Kim served a mission in Scotland from '94-'96, and the #1 item on my "Honey Do" list for the last 11 years has been "Ryan, take me back to Scotland some day?!" Well last month I accomplished Honey Do #1. I've only got 738 more to go...

Scotland was really cool. Kim had several friends there from her mission, and they all remembered her and said she hadn't changed a bit!

We stayed in B&Bs every night. It was a lot of fun. Much better (and cheaper) than it would have been in a hotel, I'm sure. After checking into our first B&B, we met up with Liz and Nancy, both from the Bo'ness area. This area had the most difficult accent - I only caught about 60% of what was being said, and I think even Kim was struggling at times to keep up, even though she'd spent a lot of time there! Liz and Nancy both came along with us to see some castles in the Edinburgh area. ..

Edinburgh Castle

Liz and Nancy didn't go in the castles with us, because Liz absolutely HATES castles! But she was a good sport - they sat in the car, and wandered around the grounds while Kim and I spent a solid hour or two at each one. Doune Castle is where some of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was filmed. Remember the "outrageous French accent" guy, throwing insults and livestock from the battlements??? And the 'Trojan Bunny'? That's Doune castle. They had just had a Monty Python party the week before there, which we missed, but they had some Coconuts shells left over at the gift shop, so of course I bought a pair! And of course I sent them home by attaching them to two unladen European swallows...

Doune Castle - "Shall I Taunt You a Second Time?"


Recently Restored Great Hall at Stirling Castle


A Visit From Herbie at Stirling Castle!!!

We thought the castles were cool (you just don't get 1000 year old buildings in America). We spent about 3 days in the Edinburgh area, where we practiced driving our rented (by luck free upgrade - yeah!) Audi A4 on the wrong side of the road, err...I mean, the left side. We saw a bunch of stuff in the Edinburgh area, including the Firth of Forth bridge, the William Wallace Monument, Linlythgoe Palace, the Royal Mile, Chapel Rosslyn, etc....

Firth of Forth Bridge - First Steel Construction Bridge in World

William Wallace Monument


William Wallace Sword - Too Big For Mel Gibson!
They say Wallace must have been about 6'7" to wield this sword...


246 Spiral Steps To The Top!




Piper Doon! We Have A Piper Doon!

Chapel Rosslyn - True Resting Place of the Holy Grail???

Next we headed up north, to see the #1 tourist attraction in Scotland. Can you guess? It's Ness! Loch Ness that is! Home of Nessie, mystery of the deep. But before we got to Loch Ness, we made a stop at Highland Audi to get a new wiper arm for our rental car, to replace the one that was about to fall off. Thanks to my newly acquired Garmin Nuvi GPS, we found the Audi place, no trouble! We love this thing! It will even talk to you - in about 30 different languages! And 5 or 6 different English accents - your choice! Well worth the investment: "Enter roundabout, then take the fourth exit..." Much easier than dealing with paper maps...and if you mess up and take the wrong exit, it doesn't get mad, it just says "recalculating...in 0.3 miles, turn right on A12"...very cool use of technology!

Garmin nuvi - Never Leave Home Without It!

So we got to Loch Ness, and hopped on a boat, for a little 60 minute tour of the lake. I took a few snapshots, but haven't found Nessie in any of them yet...can you see her????

"Loch Ness...Big Enough to Hold Every Human Being on Earth Three Times Over, and Still Have Enough Room Left Over For a Few Mysteries..."

Then Kim, (aka Wonder Woman) caught a rainbow, which is always fun...

My Bonny, Blue-E'yed Lassie...

We next drove down the west coast, through the Highlands, which was the funnest driving experience I think I've ever had - racing down a gentle slope, winding back and forth through mistly, lush, green hills, with rock and waterfalls springing forth out of nowhere. We were hoping to get to the Eilean Donan castle in time to take a few photos, on our way to our B&B that night on the Isle of Skye...and we couldn't have timed it better! We rounded a corner, and lo and behold, there was Eilean Donan, in all of it's Medieval Glory (with modern artificial lighting, of course!)

Eilean Donan Castle - Makes Even a Bad Photographer Look Good!

We stopped to take a few photos and take in the scenery, then made our way to Skye.

Castle Ruins - Isle Of Skye, Scotland

Spent the night on Skye, then some time touring Eilean Donan in the daytime, then headed down to our next destination: Dumfries. This was an area where Kim lived for several months. We knocked unannounced on the Jameses home, a couple Kim lived with on her mission for a few months (we didn't have their address or phone number, but managed to find their new house anyway - it's a small farm town - real small...) They were very happy for the surprise visit, and we spent a few hours talking to them, and even got treated to spaghetti dinner! Not exactly Scottish fare, but we'd had plenty of Scottish fare already, so it was a welcome change...

We then hopped in the car and went to see a couple more of Kim's friends from the mission. They all remembered her, and every one of them still had mementos that Kim had left behind - pretty incredible after 11 years! Unfortunately we were having such a great time, we forgot to get our camera out and take some photos...I guess our memories will have to suffice.

The next morning, we headed down to Preston, to attend the temple there, and another friend from Kim's mission, Kathy Dunachie, who works at the temple visitor housing facilities. We spent the afternoon and evening there.

Preston, England Temple

In the morning, we headed down to our next destination, Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, UK

We spent a relaxing afternoon checking out the touristy spots, and soaking in the atmosphere. We went to a play that night, a performance of 12th Night by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and were pleasantly surprised to see that American actor John Lithgow was starring in the play!

Malvolio - John Lithgow

Lithgoe played the snooty, yellow-stockinged (cross-gartered) Malvolio, and absolutely stole the show! At one point in the performance, Malvolio throws a ring on the ground, to return it to a man who was wooing his employer. The ring bounced right off the stage, and landed next to a lady's foot in the front row. Without missing a beat, Lithgow improvised a way to retrieve the ring, without breaking character (flicking his head at the lady who grabbed it off the ground), and carried on with the scene:

MALVOLIO Come, sir, you peevishly threw it to her; and her will is, it should be so returned: (throws ring) if it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye; if not, be it his that finds it.

(at this point Lithgoe threw a not-so-subtle glance at the lady who had 'found' it in the first row...)

The kind of scene you only get in a live setting. It was magic! Despite the overt statements the director was trying to make about homosexuality and cross-dressing (he cast 4 characters in opposite-genders, and the written program was filled with gay-friendly articles about Twelfth Night and whether Shakespeare was making some sort of a statement...) the play was very well done, and Lithgoe's performance alone was worth the price of admission.

We spent that night in Stratford, then made our way into London the next morning. Thankfully, it was a Saturday, so not too many people around the city, and no need to pay the "congestion fee" that everybody has to pay that drives into the heart of the city on weekdays. It's something like 8 pounds a day - or $16 USD, which is the same cost as two one-way subway tickets.

King's Cross Station. Luckily, Our Son Jordan Warned Us Not To Attempt Entering Platform 9 3/4, Pointing Out That We Were Inexperienced Muggles, And Would Surely Fail...

Speaking of subway tickets, London is really expensive! Maybe it was just the weak dollar, but everything was about twice as expensive as it seemed it should have been. The subway was 4 pounds one way, or $8. In Paris it was about 1.1 Euro, or $1.50. We really enjoyed London, but if I lived there I'd need a signficant pay raise! We only had about 24 hours to spend in London, so we did a quick whirlwind tour involving a bus and a boat, but did manage to visit a few places like the Tower Bridge, and the London Eye.

Tower Bridge

Look Kids! Big Ben, Parliament!

British Airways 'London Eye' Ride - We Took A Ride At Dusk
Incredible Views From Up There!

Big Ben at Dusk

I think Kim's favorite part of London though, was probably Westminster Bridge. Not because of the bridge, but because of the street vendor selling custom-made bent-metal thingys - she bought one for each of our kids for 4 pounds apiece. The guy made all three in under 5 minutes! At that rate he was making $300 USD per hour (or $600k / year!) That's assuming he can keep that rate up for 8 hours a day of course, which is unlikely...but he did have a pretty good crowd of buyers gathered round...

Magic Metal-Bending Westminster Bridge Dude...

Some Bendy Metal + A Pair of Needle-Nose Pliers = $600k / year...Not a Bad Gig!

Reuters Plaza, Canary Wharf Business District, London

Anyway, at this point I had to say goodbye to Kim and send her home to the kids so I could continue with my business trip in London and Paris the next week, but we had a great time, and I think Kim might even go to another play with me someday now!

There's a lot we didn't get to see. We focused mainly on Scotland this time. We'll have to go back and do London right next time... and/or Paris.

We missed our kids, but they didn't miss us much. They do hug us a lot more now though...I think they're a little worried I'll disappear for 16 days again...

Here's a few shots from Paris, which I didn't do properly, since I only had three working days there, and not much free time...

European "Smart Car". In America, this is called a 'Speed Bump'

The Louvre!



Venus Di Milo

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower at Night (with rotating giant inflated Rugby ball in the middle)


Who Knew Jazz Was So Big In Paris?
So Many Jazz Clubs, So Little Time...