Raible Designs

Happy Birthday, Abbie!

OMG. My daughter, Abbie, turned 16 today! We celebrated all weekend with her grandparents in town and lots of smiles. Abbie hosted a birthday party at our house on Saturday night with a bunch of balloons, a campfire outside, and a plethora of friends around. On Sunday, we took my parents and both kids to the Broncos game, and tonight we celebrated again at Abbie and Jack's mom's house.

The highlight of the weekend was when Julie (her mom) and Dave (her step-dad) surprised her with her very own car. It was a complete surprise to her and very well executed by Julie and Dave. Let's just say it was an emotional event that won't soon be forgotten.

Abbie's favorite thing to do these days is to hang out with her friends. She's got a good group of girls and guys that she pals around with. When she's not giggling with them, she's horseback riding with Trish. Trish has had an incredible influence on her life, and I'm amazed at how good they are at riding. We have several walls in our house that are lined with ribbons from the two of them.

Abbie is a sophomore in high school this year, with excellent grades, and an eye on what's next after high school. It sure is fun watching her grow up and become an awesome woman.

Happy 16th Birthday, Abbie!

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Jack turned 14 today. Last weekend we celebrated with his friends at our local Topgolf. I'd never been before, so I was eager to go, and we all had a great time.

However, the real highlight happened when we were cruising home in our '66 VW Bus amongst a gaggle of Lamborghinis. We had all his friends in the bus when four Lambos and a Bently pulled up alongside us. We cruised with them for a couple miles, grinning from ear to ear.

Jack's favorite thing to do these days is to play video games with his buddies, specifically Fortnite (a.k.a. "fork knife"). He's got some basketball skills too but doesn't play on a team. He excels at skiing because we make him go all the time and he's only a centimeter or two shorter than me. He's sure to be taller than me soon!

Jack is in 8th grade this year. This was the first year he traveled across the pond to visit Europe. He's getting in some miles: Paris in June, Crete in July, and we're heading to Ireland next week.

Happy 14th Birthday, Jack!

Happy Birthday Abbie!

Abbie turned 15 today. About a month ago, she said she didn't want a birthday party, so we decided we'd surprise her with one. Her mom did most of the work, inviting her friends, gather food and drinks, and hosting the event at her house.

We told her we were going out to a family dinner, and we needed to pick her mom up along the way. We found out later that she knew about it the whole time, but the same friend that showed her the Evite told her it was next weekend. So she kinda knew. However, when I put a tie on, Trish got fancy, and Jack dressed nice for dinner, she figured "Oh well, I guess it's not tonight."

Abbie still rides her horse, Tucker, a couple of times a week and she's won several ribbons at all the shows she's been in. She's a freshman in high school now. It's incredible to look back and see that I started this blog just a few months before she was born.

Happy 15th Birthday Abbie!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Thirteen years ago today, my son was born. Jack has grown up to be a wicked smart and fun kid to be around. He started the 7th grade this year and is into Xbox, basketball, hanging out with his friends, and exotic cars. He dreams of driving a Lamborghini one day and enjoyed pretending he owned a bunch of Ferraris a few weeks back.

This weekend, I cleaned up Hefe to chauffeur Jack and his buddies to Dart Warz for an afternoon of fun with Nerf guns.

As expected, the boys had a great time. A few of his friends had a sleepover Saturday night and competed to see who could stay up the latest. They made it pretty late, but no one saw the sun rise.

My parents drove down from Montana to help revel in Jack's birthday. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and celebrating with his mom and her husband, Dave. Thanks to Julie and Dave for being such awesome co-parents!

Happy 13th Birthday Jack!

Happy Birthday Abbie!

Abbie turns 14 today and she's celebrating in style. Her brave parents allowed her to have a slumber with all her friends. There's 11 teenage girls in our basement right now, screaming, giggling and making lots of loud noises.

I'm really proud of the young woman Abbie has become. She's a straight-A student and loves horseback riding and sleeping.

Trish and she bought a new horse a few weeks ago. His name is Tucker and they traveled to New Mexico to find him. He's a thoroughbred paint, with hunter jumper skills. We'd love to keep at the Raible Ranch, but we want to see what the winters are like first. For now, he's at Friends of Horses, which has an indoor arena. Next year, the girls plan to compete and hopefully bring home lots of trophies!

Happy 14th Birthday Abbie!

Happy Birthday Abbie!

We now have a teenager. Abbie turns 13 today and we're celebrating with smiles in the Raible household. Abbie is in 7th grade now. She's a straight-A student and still loves to pick on her little brother. She's old enough that she's picked up an after school job babysitting and often has more money in her back account than I do. Trish takes her horseback riding a couple times per week and she recently competed in her first horse show competition. You can tell by the photo below that she enjoyed the experience.

If you're a long-time reader, you might remember the day she was born. I started this blog only a few months before.

Happy Birthday Abbie! Most people are scared of their children's teenage years. We're not. You're an awesome human and we love your fun-loving spirit, your kindness and your ability to rile up Jack like no other. We can't wait to experience your teenage years with you and support you in whatever challenges you take on. 😋

Happy Birthday Jack!

My son Jack, or "J Jackson" as he liked to be called, turns 9 years old today. In the last year, he's grown up quite a bit. He learned how to play basketball last fall, snowboard last winter and became a Webelos Scout in the spring. This summer, he learned how to ride a motorcycle and had a blast whitewater rafting with us. He did a fabulous job being my Best Son in our wedding.

This past weekend, we had a birthday party for Jack -- complete with a huge inflatable water slide. Trish and I flew in from our honeymoon 10 hours before the party started, but still managed to oversleep from jet lag. Nevertheless, we made it in time for some good fun and had a great time celebrating with the whole family and new friends from his new school. Below are a few choice pictures. The rest are on Flickr.

Jack's favorite thing to do is play Minecraft or watch YouTube videos about it. His sister still knows how to push his buttons, but he's learning to ignore her. This is a big year for Jack as he's starting a new school and making a bunch of new friends. I know he'll do great and I look forward to helping him adapt and enjoy it. Happy Birthday Jack!

Related: Jack's 8th, 5th, 4th, 3rd and 1st birthdays.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Eight years ago today, Jack was born. Today, it's hard to even imagine him as a baby or a toddler. But then again, we all looked quite a bit different back then.

These days, Jack has his own website and prefers to spend his free moments playing with Beyblades or his new Nintendo 3DS. He started 3rd grade this year and has excellent math and reading skills, even though he's the youngest in his class. As he grows older, he's starting to like the same things I do, particularly fishing, skiing and golfing.

Last weekend, we threw a birthday party for Jack at Julie's house. He invited some of his close friends from school and had a Beyblade tournament. Fun was had by all and you couldn't wipe the smile off his face when he went home.

This fall, Jack will be playing lacrosse again and might even pass up his sister in height. He sure is a handsome kid. Happy Birthday Jack!

Related: Jack's 5th, 4th, 3rd and 1st birthdays.

Abbie's 8th Birthday and Other Happenings

This past weekend, we celebrated Abbie's 8th birthday. In the wee hours of the morning on November 5, 2002, I became a father for the first time. It's hard to believe my little girl has grown up so fast. As a 2nd grader, Abbie is into singing in the shower, playing piano, anything pet-related and teasing her brother. She also excels at school where's she's won a couple awards and recently got published in a book of poems.

In addition to last weekend being a wonderful weekend of celebration, it was a weekend of introductions. You might remember my "super-fun friend Trish" from the Epic Weekend in Estes Park. Trish is an Amazing Woman I met this summer and someone I've nicknamed my Double Rainbow because I've been so mesmerized with her. Yeah, it might sound a bit over-the-top, but that's somewhat the mantra of our relationship. This weekend was the first time I introduced Trish to Abbie and Jack. The meeting went smooth as butter and I'm relieved to say everyone got along great.

In other news, Jack recently lost his first teeth the same way Abbie did, by getting them yanked. He had his first adult tooth coming in and had 4 baby teeth that were getting in the way. Before and after pictures are below:

Coincidentally, when I wrote about Abbie getting her first tooth, I spoke at the Colorado Springs Open Source User Group and visited The Bus. Just over two years later, Jack got his first tooth and I spoke again in the Springs. I tried to visit The Bus on that same trip, but ran out of time. To make up for it, I drove down last weekend, met with Motorworks Restorations and formulated a plan (911 engine, airbags, 5 speed tranny, Porsche wheels and brakes) for finishing the restoration. With any luck, I'll be driving it next summer.

On the work side of things, my co-workers and I recently moved to a new office in LoDo. The new space has been awesome so far. Next week, I'll be traveling to Devoxx with Trish. The following week, I'll be at The Cabin. Then it's off to The Rich Web Experience in Florida. If you happen to be in Antwerp, Northwest Montana or Fort Lauderdale in the next few weeks, maybe I'll see you along the way.

Happy 8th Birthday to this blog!

Eight years ago today, this blog was born in the wee hours of the morning. I was inspired to start it after reading Dave Johnson's article on Roller. I have to say, it's been a great ride and I remember the early days like they were yesterday. Many of the Java bloggers wrote daily and shared short tips, tricks and snippets on their blogs; much in the same way we do on Twitter today.

A lot has happened in my life since this blog was started: Abbie was born, Jack was born, I started AppFuse, wrote Spring Live, had some really cool gigs and gained a whole new perspective on my life.

For those long time readers, you might've noticed the vacation posts have picked up recently and the technology posts have subsided somewhat. The good news is this indicates I'm having a lot of fun; the bad news is I'm not learning as much as I'd like. Hopefully that'll change soon and I'll be writing about developing apps for the online video space in the near future. There's a good chance the posts about my life and how much fun I'm having will continue, especially as Abbie and Jack continue to grow into world-class skiers.

As usual, I have many ambitions for this fall, including helping Apache Roller, finishing AppFuse 2.1 and learning how to play the guitar. Along the way, I'll be helping build/release some kick-ass software for a major cable provider, building a sauna in my basement and enjoying the hell out of Devoxx 2010. You can sure I'll be blogging about these along the way, as well as many years into the future.

Thanks for reading all these years, it's been a fantastic experience.