Photo taken by Melani on her PALM CENTRO mc phone at the January 2009 novice fencing tournament. I think when you win all of your matches, no more fencing novice.

Fencing Victory

Here are just a couple of the great photos that our family photographer, Chris Jr., took at the last fencing tournament. Apparently the boys found it much more exciting to take photos of the lego figures from their pockets than to record Chris Sr's total shut out first place victory in the novice foil portion of a local fencing tournament. For those of you who might ask "What is it like being married to a champion?" -- I would answer that it has definite perks -- not the least of which is the honor of also not having been photographed by Chris Jr. on that particular day. Obviously, C3PO and Yoda can't say the same.

Modern day Prometheus

During our campout at Mammoth caves, staying warm was paramount. As soon as we arrived at our campsite, we busied ourselves with collecting wood and making sparks with the boys new flints and steels that they got from Grandma MaryAnn. The actual fire (which was later banked and used three other times) was started with a spark from Melani, using Chris Jr's flint. However, as that fire started to die, Tobin stole a piece of it! He started a beautiful fire with his bundle of flaming dryer lint, the beginning of which is pictured above. Chris and Melani's feet froze practically solid during the night -- the dogs water froze completely solid. Still it was a beautiful campsite. When you go camping when no one in their right mind would go -- you have the woods all to yourself!

Winter Backpacking?! What will they think of next?!

Our trip to Mammoth Caves National Park just before the new year. It was cold but not too cold. The caves were really great. We went on a tour where the ranger turned out all of the service lights and all of us were left in total darkness. I really enjoyed the ancient graffiti (we were admonished that it is now a federal offense to write on cave walls) The backwoods campsites there are absolutely wonderful.

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Last time to catch Muratore brothers at same venue until 2014

This year the Muratore brothers will occupy the 2nd, 4th and 5th grades at Southdale school. Their parents will have to wait until Chris is a senior in high school to enjoy the pleasure and convenience of walking to them to the same school each day. They are pictured here relishing the last moments of summer break. The embellishments on Toby's uniform signify that he holds the esteemed "safety patrol" position this year, which entails blocking traffic and guiding schoolmates safely to school.

Another Summer, Some More Itching...

For those of you with really excellent capacity for recollection, you will recall that last summer, all but one of us was plagued with an itchy case of the chicken pox. Well, this summer has been a lot more fun -- but not without its itches and scratches. While on an annual canoe trip, the intrepid Tobin stepped on a nest of yellow jackets. The enraged yellow jackets flew up Tobin's swim trunks, causing considerable discomfort. Miles, an innocent bystander, received only two stings from the disturbed nest. Unfortunately, he was stung once over each eye, and almost immediately his eyes began to swell shut. Despite these injuries, the canoe trip was terrific fun. All five of us in one canoe are beginning to sit a little low in the water -- we may have to have two canoes next year!

Muratore boys form swim team

Chris,Toby and Miles Muratore learned to swim this summer. They were partially inspired by their parents' promise to present them with the largest and most delicious ice cream sundae offered by their local ice cream shop upon swimming the length of the pool under their own power. It was a pleasant challenge for them as the summer was particularly hot, which made the city pool even more appealing. Toby invented a new stroke called "the crazy man" which makes the feat of swimming across the pool even greater, as he would go forward only a little more than he would go back, resulting in his swimming the equivalent of 1.85 times the length of the pool each time. They are now hooked on frequent trips to the pool which we have found to be a great way to spend the summer.

The newest Muratore - Cosmo, wonderdog!

After our trip to Arizona, and during our battle with the germs, we adopted a puppy from a rescue group in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was dubbed "Cosmo Fortibras Dog From Beyond," a name which has been duly shortened to Cosmo. He was quite sick when we first adopted him, and there was some question as to whether or not he would make it. He is now a healthy pup, trouble free, currently in the running for the "smartest-bestest-most-beautiful dog ever" award.
He is probably some sort of golden retriever, and he has grown considerably since this picture was taken, going from 8 pounds to 40 pounds in the last 4 months. The big question is, will he be as wonderful as Sparky, Muratore dog of ledgend -- or will he be even better.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider and had rocks in her socks and got the chickern pox!

Well, Chris did not really swallow a spider, but whatever he did swallow did wiggle and jiggle and tiggle inside him! After we returned from the Grand Canyon, Chris began to become cyclically and progressively ill until he finally ended up in the hospital. As it turned out, he had a parasite. Many missed days of work and vicious medicines later he recovered, only to end up with the chicken pox, which he then proceeded to give to all of the children. (All three boys had been immunized against chicken pox, and two of them got really bad cases. Go figure.) The chicken pox was a big part of this summer, as it keeps you in quarantine for quite some time. However, everyone has finally recovered and Chris has promised that he will not be getting sick again for a long time. We did get to read a lot and watch some Star Wars. Also, thanks to the Valencia's PS2 Star Wars, we can now all have fond memories of pretending to be Obi-Wan, while recovering from the itchies.
Thanks to all of our nice neighbors and friends who tried to find ways to help us pass the time and preserve our sanity during our convalecsence.

Our First Trip to Arizona in Five Years

After our grueling expedition to the Grand Canyon, we high tailed it to Tucson. We stayed at Chris' parents house, but saw a lot of both Chris and Melani's family. We took the kids to The University of Arizona and showed them around our old stomping grounds. There definitely were not so many cell phones there when we were students. We also took the boys to the Arizona Historical Society where the boys had a great time messing about in the mine and trying on old-west-style clothes. They also went to a museum on campus where we saw an exhibit about Mexican Masks which was very interesting. We also went to the Desert Mueum and enjoyed not just the setting (which has a sort of exotic thrill when you have been away from Tucson for a while) but also some really super displays of mineral and animals that are totally foreign to our little guys. They are more used to being on the look out for poison ivy than poisonous snakes. We hiked in Sabino Canyon and enjoyed the river bed (which had water in it, by golly, just for us!) We went swimming and/or walking almost everyday. We went to a climbing party with Melani's family for Miles and Michaela's birthday. Little boys seem very well constructed both mentally and physically for the rigors of climbing up - up - up, though I would have to say that everyone, adults and kids did great that day! We did take one detour into Pheonix to go to Taliesin West (and go to Ikea, of course.) Which was a real treat. We also had a terrific barbeque with everyone at Reid Park. It was a great opportunity to thank our families for hosting us during the week. All in all, we have to say that it was a really fantastic trip.
We'll try and get more and better pictures out soon!

We spent all of the winter, after Christmas, training for our most our most dangerous adventure yet -- THE GRAND CANYON. You know why they call it Grand now, don't you? It is because we have been there. All through the cold winter months of early 2006, Chris and Melani filled their packs with phone books and hiked the flatlands of Ohio in a desperate attempt to ready themselves for the Canyon. We were actually really worried about the boys (and ourselves) getting down, and not being able to get back up again. As it turned out, we arrived at the rim of the Canyon amid flurries of snow. That night we slept in our tent, (well, Melani attempted to sleep in the warmth of the car for a couple of hours), and it was less than 20 degrees. The next morning we set out to hike the canyon. It was more beautiful and inspiring and hard than any backpacking trip yet. The trail is very primitive, marked by cairns. Much of the time you hike on the Hermit Trail, you are hiking with a sheer drop off to one side. This is no small thing with three children and a top heavy pack. The kids carried nothing at all, and as a reult were feeling fresh and fine for the majority of the trail. Our packs, on the other hand, continued to get more and more burdensome as the day wore on. Still, we met nice people and saw things that only a handful of people get to see every year. When we arrived at the Hermit Creek camp at the bottom, it was dusk. We had hiked eight miles, and to see the colored domes of the other tents as we rounded one of the last bends in the trail was like finding El Dorado. The bottom of the canyon was like a secret garden, with beautiful trees and flowers. Our camp that night was restful, and we woke early the next morning to get started. The next day proved to be difficult from the very start. To begin with, it is almost entirely onwards and upwards with little or no relief. We pushed ourselves very hard, as we had to be in Tucson that night. It was agreed by all the Muratores, that this was one of the hardest won accomplishments yet. Chris ended the afternoon with a bruised chest and shoulders from his heavy pack, and still had to drive seven hours to get to Grandma and Grandpa Muratores house!

Muratores rise from the dead

Over the last several months, the lives of the Muratores have been fraught with minor mishaps and misadventures. We are just now seeking to renew contact with the outside world, along with launching ourselves into to 21st century, by creating this blog.