HEZA HEKELE

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Last Week of June

This one is from May, but I felt like throwing it in...
Lukey, Bennett, Shay

My step brother came back from Asia for a short while (crazy man); his 94 yr old grandma was delighted to see him!

My grandparents (left) took a train tour through the Rockies that happened to have an over-night stay in our town...Impromptu BBQ!
(My parents, centre and my dad's parents, right)

My grandparents and their traveling companions. Sally (centre) was adopted at the age of nine from Guyana, while her parents (right), who had already raised four children, were in the country doing missionary work. Quite a remarkable story. Could you imagine waiting nine years to have a family to call your own?!

Bennett and his fantastic Kindergarten teacher, Mrs Stuckey, on the last day of school...

Playing with a wooden top that his Auntie Laura bought for him in Mexico...

Trying to see who could swing the highest: I think it is a tie!
(Derek, Laura, Bennett)

Serious Dog Walking: Look how tiny Bennett looks in this picture!
It helps that his uncle is 6'6"...

The Maple tree my grandfather backed his car over last fall seems to be making a spontaneous come back...

Miss K thinks that Nana's dog is her own personal pony...

Puppy Love!

The Archer (my big bro) and his Offspring...

Spudly did not want to partake in this photo shoot...
Miss K, Spudly, Bennett, Sunshine M

AN UNDERWEAR AFFAIR
(Spudly did not get the memo and showed up with the lone swimsuit...)
Miss K, Spudly, The Niece!, Sunshine M, Bennett

K8 @ 8 months...

My nephew (sans tears), Sir Spudly Grrr!

ALL FOUR (bio) COUSINS TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME:
Not one of them looking...

Someone snuck out of this shot...

The best I could get, necklace eater and all!

Bennett (7 yrs, 2 mos), The Niece! (3 yrs, 8 mos), Spudly (21 mos), K8 (8 mos)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Been Moving. (& Enjoying the Sunshine)

Back to blogging soon...

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

May 18 & 23, 2009

Raining on his head...

Poking other kids with sticks is not the best way to make friends...

Don't drink the lake water...

Reluctant Soccer Player...

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Justice, if such a thing Exists. Missing my Auntie...

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 · Last updated 6:33 p.m. PT

Thompson convicted of first-degree murder

By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Since his first string of rape convictions more than two decades ago, those whose lives have been battered by Curtis Thompson have struggled to put a name to the Seattle man's cruelty.

The term most come back to during his three recent trials -- a series that ended Thursday with a guilty verdict against him in the 2004 murder of Ravenna neighborhood mother of two Deborah Byars -- is, simply, evil.

And that was Nanci Newhall's take following the verdict against the man who stabbed her sister to death with a screwdriver.

"He's just evil," Newhall said. "He's not like everyone else. He's mean, he's cruel, he's sadistic, and he's a coward."

Thursday's first-degree murder guilty verdict marked the end of what was Thompson's last trial in King County Superior Court. It and the mandatory life sentence it carried were the final resolution offered Thompson's many living victims, who've remained a fixture Judge Palmer Robinson's courtroom during the past six months through the rapist's recent trials.

The three cases all stem from a week-long spree in May 2004 during which Thompson raped one woman at her Eastlake home, attempted to sexually assault two others at a University District apartment's elevator, and killed Byars. As in Byars' case, juries returned guilty verdicts in each assault.

Thompson's trip to a Department of Corrections cell following a sentencing hearing next month will mark a homecoming of sorts for the 47-year-old.

Following a 1985 arrest, Thompson spent 18 years in prison after a jury convicted him on four counts of rape. Those extraordinarily violent assaults were similar to the 2004 attack during which Thompson raped a woman for hours, then doused her with bleach in an effort to cover up his crime. Byars' death was equally violent.

Given an opportunity to confine Thompson indefinitely as a sexually violent predator, a King County jury declined to have him committed in 2003. He was back behind bars little more than a year later when he was caught attempting to assault two young women.

Thompson, an imposing man made small by a jail restraint chair, remained defiant Wednesday after being dragged to court against his will. As he has at nearly every opportunity during the five-year prosecution, Thompson berated his own attorneys, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott O'Toole, and those gathered to see him tried.

Like Palmer, defense attorneys John Hicks and Robert Taub, O'Toole had been working Thompson's case for years. As the murder prosecutor of 15 years embraced the victims and their families, the relief at the case's resolution was obvious on their faces and his.

"You know, the community just got a little bit safer today," O'Toole said.

For his part, Hicks said he plans to take a vacation.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Been sick.

Back to blogging soon.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Margaret Falls, Shuswap, BC

The bench of the picnic table was a perfect table for him!

Running downhill...not his forte...

Bennett took the next two photos:

Shayanna took the next two photos:

The one among us with the shortest legs was banned to the stroller for the last few minutes of the hike; he immediately protested by ripping off and throwing both of his shoes and both of his socks...he then threw his hat, but quickly regretted this and was very fast to replace his new appendage back on his head upon its return. The only time he took that hat off the entire weekend was when he was sleeping. It has a picture of "Monkey" on it, you know!