Merry Christmas from the Bolt Bunch!

This is the picture for the Christmas card for this year......

Pregnancy Update.....

The pregnancy is going well. Dawn is still not feeling well, which is really unusual for her. She was never this tired or ill feeling with the other pregnancies. She keeps saying that there is no way that she can do this anymore. I need to take detailed notes to show her this just in case she gets any wild ideas a couple of years from now! Maybe I should turn this blog into a last trimester journal????

Although she is not feeling well, she still looks as stunning as she did the day we were married! She won't let me put any more pictures of her up here.....maybe I can sneak a few more in later...

What Makes a Man?

What makes a man?.....Have you ever asked yourself that question? Society in general gives us it's view of what a man should be from TV and movies. This is not what I think a man is or should be. I have discussed this with a friend of mine (Curt) often. We used to discuss this at work while we babysat a wireless system that was having issues. We were passing the time while we waited for the system to break. We thought we would try to use the time for something good, so we discussed things like this often. During our conversations we came up with several things that we thought made a man "a man".

Well recently, I think I came a little closer to figuring out what makes a man a real man. There is no perfect version of a man walking this Earth today, but there are many fine examples. I realized what a great example I had my entire life up until now. With the recent passing of my grandfather, I realize that many of those things that Curt and I discussed were found in him.

Many of those things were value related. I had a chance to look back at my grandpa's life the last couple of days and it hit me that he had many of these characteristics that make the kind of man we were discussing. Number one, he loved his wife very much. She was by no means a perfect woman and he was by no means a perfect man. None of us are, but he loved his wife unconditionally. My grandmother died in 2004. They were married for 58 years. They raised 4 children and lost one at a very young age. He and my grandmother had experiences that many of us would consider overwhelming.

My grandfather worked hard all of his life to take care of them. Working in a factory by day and farming on the nights and weekends. He built two houses during his life for his family. They may have not been the most beautiful mansions in the finest neighborhoods, but they were very nice modest structures. It is still a dream of mine to do this for my family one day. I was four years old when he was building his last house in 1976. I can remember going out to the farm in the evening hours so my dad could help my grandpa build his house. That house has grown slightly over the years and has been a place for many family gatherings over the years. I have talked with my grandpa many times over the years about how he built his house. He has shared some details with me about how he did it. He just told me recently that it took him two years to put the stone on the outside of the house. He told me that if I were to ever do that, make certain that you put the big stones on the bottom, because they get very heavy when you have to lift them up high! I did a quick survey of the outside of his house, there were a few big stones near the top, although I am sure he put them up there no problem and also without complaining. 

He came from a time when education was not highly valued. He never completed high school. He told me about the time that I graduated from high school that he wished he would have finished high school. I don't think that made him any less of a success, or any less of a man. He could fix or build anything. I remember a story he told us about his car breaking down on the way home from work one day. His tie rod end went out on his car. He happened to break down next to an old broken wire fence. He snipped some of the wire off of the fence, wired the broken piece of the car back together and drove home where he could fix it. What would most of us done? Probably called a tow truck and sat and waited for a few hours and then paid way too much to get our car fixed. I guess today we have more money than brains!

He loved sports and coached baseball for many years. He even coached me for a short time during my babe ruth years. The First National Bank Babe Ruth baseball team…..

As the Reverend Lloyd Hall put it yesterday, he died with his boots on....There was no better way to put it. My grandpa died in a tractor accident at 82 years old doing what he loved.....working. That funeral service yesterday was the most uplifting funeral service I had ever attended. I wish I had an audio version to play back for all of you to hear. My written words would not do it justice. There is hope in an eternal life...... I am just glad I was there to experience it.

So what makes a man? I still don't know the complete answer to this, but I do know that it includes commitment to your wife, taking care your family, and working hard. That doesn't make a good Hollywood movie, but it does leave an impression on a grandson.....

Here is his obituary courtesy of the Anderson Herald Bulletin:

Published November 14, 2007 08:27 pm - Robert Bryce Bolt

Robert Bryce Bolt

HARTFORD CITY – Robert “Bob” Bryce Bolt, 82, died as a result from a tractor accident this week at his residence in Blackford County.

Bob was born on Oct. 8, 1925, in Lapel, the son of Oscar Cleveland Bolt and Clara (McGuire) Bolt.

Bob attended Anderson High School and moved in Blackford County from Anderson in 1965. He was a Blackford County farmer and retired from Container Corp. of America in Anderson in 1987, after 41 years of service.

Bob married Wilma Jean (Gulley) Bolt on Nov. 17, 1946, in Madison County. Wilma preceded Bob in death on Sept. 22, 2004.

Bob enjoyed farming and loved baseball. In his younger years, he was a Babe Ruth coach.

Bob will be sadly missed by his sons, Dennis B. (wife, Pamela D.) Bolt of Hartford City, Dick D. (wife, Vicki S.) Bolt of Hartford City, Darrin T. (wife, Monica R.) Bolt of Fairmount; daughter, Deborah H. (husband, Carl E.) Volz of Brownstown, Ind.; grandchildren, Traci Street, Shelby Bolt, Teresa Bonewit, Rick Bolt, Karl Volz, Robert Volz, Robert Volz, William Volz, Brittany Bolt, Brandon Bolt, Ashley Bolt, Kayla Martin, Kristin Martin; 12 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and several nieces and nephews.

Bob is preceded in death by his parents; his wife; a daughter, Denise L. Bolt; brothers William Bolt, Curtis Bolt and Wayne Bolt; and sisters Betty Reeves and Doris Morgan.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at Keplinger Funeral Home with Rev. Lloyd Hall officiating.

Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. Friday at Keplinger Funeral Home, 509 N. High St., Hartford City.

Interment will follow at Anderson Memorial Park Cemetery in Anderson.

Pallbearers will be Randy Bonewit, Rick Bolt, Karl Volz, Robert Volz, William Volz and Brandon Bolt.

Thanks for reading.  If you like this post and think it would be valuable to someone you know, please share it on the social network of your choice for me, okay? All you have to do is click one of the buttons below. Then add me to your Google+ circles. Thanks

--Rick
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Adventure Weekend....

We had an adventure today! We went exploring in Lafayette, IN area! We visited the Tippecanoe Battleground memorial and museum. It was just vandalized a few days ago, but it was all repaired today. They did a great job getting it back to normal. This is one of my favorite places and I am glad I was finally able to take Dawn and the kids there. I stop here often and eat my lunch on my travels home from up North.

We also visited Prophet's Rock and downtown West Lafayette. We all had a great time. If you want some more info about this place it can be found here and here.

Here are some pictures that I took during our visit. Click on them for the bigger version. Is that a good looking group of Colt's fans or what? Take notice of Joey's coonskin cap that he purchased at the museum....

Nicolas this is for you!!!!!

I Sold My First Picture!

I have sold my first picture in the microstock site Dreamstime! This motivates to get out and shoot more. I am getting views but limited sales at this time. Although, I have very few pictures up at Dreamstime and Fotolia. That does make a difference. I plan on trying to get 20-30 pictures online and approved at each site by the end of the year. I also plan to try to get into Shutterstock by the end of the year, as this seems to be the most popular microstock site. That is a pretty hefty goal since I have zero free time! If all is successful, next year I may try my hand at some macrostock sites!

Joey's Birthday!

We celebrated Joey's birthday this past weekend. We had lots of fun! We all went bowling and played games in the arcade at the bowing alley. The kids had a great time. Joey is so into Spiderman. He received a new Spiderman suit with muscles sewn in and all! He looks really good when he does his "moves" in his new Spiderman outfit. I'll post some pictures of him soon in the suit.

The pregnancy is still going well, but Dawn is very exhausted and not feeling well often. She says this is the last one because she doesn't know if she can go through this again. She is very tough, it has taken up to the sixth one to wear her down!

Football Season is Over....

The kid's football season is officially over. We can now have our normal lives back! Jakey's team did very well this year. They listened well, practiced well, and played hard. Nicolas had a good learning year and was trying very hard by the end of the season. I hope that next year is as good as this year. Now I can get back to posting on our blogs more often!

I found this new blog via our webstats, it is very nice. I am linking to this post that is very moving. It is a must read!

We seem to have had a bad bug hit our house. Sammy and Jakey have been ill lately. I hope they start feeling better soon! Mom is taking good care of them.

We will post more soon...

Pregnancy Update....

Dawn's pregnancy is going well. We recently went in for an ultrasound and everything is coming along nicely. Dawn decided that she did not want to know the baby's gender, so we did not find that out. She thinks that will give her a better chance of having a girl if she goes into the birth not knowing the baby's gender. At least that is how it happened with Ellie our second child! Here is a picture of number six. Isn't he or she stunning?!! Sorry for the lack of updates recently, work has been very busy...

Go Colts!

What about those Indianapolis Colts?!?!?! What a game! Although there were many injuries to the players, we will find out more at Noon at Tony Dungy's press conference. One of our favorite players, Dallas Clark, had a great game.

There are rumors that I may be at next week's game in a suite. If that works out, I will post some pictures here. Next week we take on the Bucs... Go Colts!

Football Pictures

There are some great football pictures of the boys off of the mugshots website. A link to the NEFL galleries is here. Jakey is in the minor flag section. His team is the Wisconsin Badgers. Nic is in the major tackle section. His team is the Jacksonville Jaguars.

A Trip to Northwest Ohio....

We recently had a fun trip to Northwest Ohio. It was nice to visit with family and go to the Sauder Village Museum. The kids always have a good time here. They are many things to do, such as milk a fake cow, tour the 1910 era farm (my favorite), go through the museum, etc. Here is a picture of all of the kids "driving" their wagon and getting it stuck in the mud.

By the way, did you catch the Indianapolis Colts game last night? We stayed away from downtown because it was a huge crowd and traffic mess. We watched the game from the comforts of home. 41-10, wow, I didn't expect a blowout like that!!! Go Colts!!!!

Dreamstime Stock Photography.

You may have noticed the new links on the right of the page. One of them is a link and the other a button to the Dreamstime Stock Photo site. I guess I am officially an amateur stock photographer. I have had my lighthouse sunset picture accepted at Dreamstime. I am very excited about this! I was reading in their forum that over 1500 images were submitted this month and only 20 were approved. I am very happy that one of mine made it. The other six I submitted did not make it. The kids and I are going out on a photography adventure this weekend. I hope to have more ready for upload by next week.

If you want to try your hand at selling some of your pictures click this link, or click the link on the side of the page. I get a little bonus for recruiting new photographers! It is free to sign up and upload your photos, they just need to be approved by the staff before they will be available for sale. Here is a link to my portfolio, which I hope will grow to more than one picture soon!

I have an inspiration for a financial post that I read on another great blog, I am getting ready to bore all of you with it! Also, I plan to post some pictures of our Ohio trip soon....

Thankfulness.....

There are so many things for me to be thankful for. I am thankful that we have a great group of kids to teach at Sunday school this year. This was our second Sunday since they moved up a grade and it was very enjoyable and I feel that the kids are having fun while they learn some very important stuff. I hope they keep the interest that they have now for the rest of their lives.


I am also very thankful for my large family. Without them I don't know what I would do. They make life so interesting for me and their mother. Take for instance this weekend. I had to clean the garage out. This is one of the worst jobs in our house. For me, it was very fun because I had some special help. Joey was out there with me almost the whole time. He would sweep and pick up junk. He would get his tools out and work with me. He is such a hard worker! This is a picture of Joey. As you can see, he is very cute too. Don't worry, I didn't buy him a fantastic colored coat! Thanks for all your help this weekend Joey!

We are planning a short trip soon. I'll snap some pictures and post here soon!

Meet Esther...

You may have seen our link to World Vision on the side of the page. We have been a sponsor of a World Vision child for some time now. This is Esther and she is from Kenya which, for those of you that don't know, is in Africa. Dawn and I have always said that we wished we met earlier and could have had more kids at a younger age. Since that wasn't possible, we decided to sponsor. We consider Esther our "oldest girl". She will be twelve years old this year.

It is fun to receive letters from her telling us what her life is like and what her home is like. She told us in one of her letters about how she lives near a wildlife refuge area where there are many lions and other large animals that roam free.

It is rewarding for us to help someone like Esther. It helps her attend school and receive food and medical care. If you want to look into sponsoring a child, click the link on the side of the page. It will take you directly to World Vision's site. We don't get anything out of your sponsorship other than knowing another child gets help. Please leave a comment if you decide to sponsor.

It's Football Season!!!

Football season officially opened this weekend. Jakey and Nicolas had their first games Saturday. We had very good first games. The kids did great and nobody was injured. Let's hope it stays that way all season. Joey cant' wait to play! He has a few years until he can start. I can't wait to see how they improve throughout the year.

Tough year for Peyton Manning!

This is going to be a tough year for Peyton Manning. It looks like practice is tough on him. I hear the Colts signed a couple of small tough guys this year. These guys are really tough! Their names are Jakey and Joey. We accidentally knocked over this Peyton Manning while we were goofing around, but luckily we caught it before it hit the ground. Don't the boys look cool?

Fun at the Falls...

Here is a picture of the bunch at the Falls. Every year we stand in front of the Little Sister Falls sign and snap a picture. You can tell by the looks on their faces how much fun we have here every year. Jakey was a little excited in this picture!

Is that a pregnant tree?

I think we made a major scientific discovery! We spotted a pregnant women next to it! This was a neat find as we were all out exploring on the trail. Very appropriate to our situation. The pregnancy is going well. It will be January before we know it!

Indiana's Largest Waterfall...

Another annual Bolt tradition, is to visit Indiana's largest waterfall on the way home from Colts training camp. Cataract Falls is located in the Lieber State Recreation area. The water was a little low this year, but it was still very nice. You can see what it looks like when the water level is higher here.The kids really like this, and it takes a very short time to see it all. It is a nice break from the driving.

This time we practice some of our photography experiments. We took a normal picture followed by a slow shutter speed to blur the motion and make more of an "artistic" picture.


A visit to Cataract Falls is highly recommended by the Bolt Family, it is fun for all ages!

Training Camp Bust!

Training camp was a huge bust this year! The Superbowl bandwagon fans were getting in our way of the fun that we have every year with our favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts. There were people showing up wearing Bears and Cowboys jerseys. Why even bother, go support your team, don't show up at ours! There were hecklers in the crowd. That really gets me upset, I bring my kids to this for fun, save that for a game and don't do it around my kids. People were stealing our rosters. People would show up at the start of practice and gripe because they can't get a bleacher seat. There were even more people trying to cut in the autograph line than there usually are.

We have decided to skip the "family day" for the rest of training camps to come. We will just take time off and go back during the weekdays when the crowds are lower. We will work up a new strategy for next year and post here.

At least it did not rain on us, although that may have been a blessing, since it would have run off all of the bandwagon fans. All was not lost, we were able to get a few good pictures, as you can see. Here we posted a good one of the Superbowl MVP, Peyton Manning.

We are at the Indianapolis Colts Training Camp!!!

We are in Terre Haute today at the Indianapolis Colts training camp!!!!! The bad news is the weather is way too hot and the crowds are insane this year! We showed up late and missed the tent autographs today, but hopefully we will get some tomorrow. Here is a picture I took today of Jeff Saturday, the best center in the NFL, signing autographs for a bunch of eager fans! Remember that fumble recovery in the end zone against New England? What a touchdown for the big guy!

Launch of Stock Photo...

Today we added our stock photos to zooomr. We will be adding more picture to our portfolio for sale. We are excited to see what the response will be from this. We will soon submit to other stock agencies as our portfolio grows. You can view the portfolio at www.zooomr.com/photos/rickbolt/ .

Indianapolis Colts Training Camp Autograph Tips!

I have noticed some hits coming to this site for Colts autograph tips, so I thought I would post some past experiences at training camp.

First, an update, the pregnancy is going well! Dawn is looking fantastic. As a matter of fact, more fantastic every day! Please support our site with the ads/affiliates on this page, they help pay for the kids college fund!

Ok, at Indianapolis Colts training camp, it can be a mad house! It helps to know what to do, so you don't waste time in the wrong line, etc.

The first and most obvious place to get autographs is the autograph tent. This is usually located near the East end of the main football field. It sits just between the main field and the practice field. Here is the need to know about the autograh tent: In years past, they only sign here after the morning practice. I would get in line during the morning practice or earlier ( depending on which day it is...) They will bring the players up on golf carts after practice to sign. You really never know who they will bring to sign, as there is no set schedule that I know of for this. This is how we got Reggie Wayne's and Joseph Addai's autographs. It is worth the wait in line. I have heard from talking to others in line that Peyton Manning is always in the tent on family day. I have also heard that people start getting in line there at around 5:00am........

At the afternoon practice it is all about luck. Some of the players will come over to the bleachers after practice and sign. We have seen Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison do this after an afternoon practice, but we failed to get their autographs there. Nicolas was really disappointed! It is a mad house when they come over to sign. Watch your little ones closely to make sure they don't get trampled!

We have a few more top secret tips for obtaining autographs, we will post those soon! Check back, and please support our site!!!!!

Photography Practice..

I am practicing my photography skills trying to learn as much as I can and improve. Here is a sample of one I took at Washington Park, Michigan City, IN. The two oldest Bolts are getting into photography also. It is fun to share an interest with the kids. Nicolas is especially taking a real interest in it. Even reading a camera manual and trying to learn! We hope to get some photos accepted on some stock photo sites and make a small amount of cash with them. Of course we are going to try our best to be amateur sports photographers at Colts training camp in the coming weeks. Maybe we should start a photography blog also........

Fire Up For Colts Training Camp!

We are starting to get fired up for this year's Indianapolis Colts training camp! The players arrive this Sunday (July 29th). We will head down at the end of that week for autographs and pictures. Here is a picture of all of us at the night practice last year. (Thanks Dan for taking the picture.) It is a great time to see the Colts practice this close. You can hear them yell everything and complain about holding, etc. The two minute drill is awesome! Nicolas has most of the autographs of the players, but this year he really wants to get Peyton and Marvin to sign his Superbowl football. We have not been able to get those autographs in the last few years. We will keep trying. Although, Dallas Clark (#44) is one of our favorite players because he always makes time to sign autographs for the kids. Stay tuned for recent training camp pictures to come in the next couple of weeks.

A Great View

We had an excellent week. We worked very hard on updating the master bedroom. It looks fantastic! I won't post a picture here, but if you really want to see it, send us an email.

The pregnancy is going well and Dawn looks as beautiful as ever! We are all anxiously awaiting little number six!

Over memorial day we took a trip to Cincinnati. It was great to see some friends and do some remembering of the times that we lived there. By the way Frank and Theresa, congratulations on the new little one. What a close call! I am glad that you did not have him in the car! This picture is of all of the good looking people in our family. It was taken at Eden Park in Cincinnati where Dawn and I use to eat lunch together. What a great view of the area from up there! Also, what a good looking bunch! I will ramble more this week......

Home Improvement Time....

This weekend the Bolt family took on the biggest home improvement project that we have done yet. We decided to replace a small window in our master bedroom with french doors. This turned out to be a huge success! This was a big project because we had to tear a big hole in the side of the house (in a load bearing wall) and then re-frame the area to support the doors. We were able to do this with a lot of help. Grandpa Roth came down to help us install the door and put the siding back on. Grandma and Tana help watch the kids. Dawn had to sit much of the heavy stuff out because she is expecting number six, but she did make a fantastic lunch!

This first picture is a picture of before the project. The window is where the french doors are going to go. As you can see the back area of this house was pretty plain and needed some jazzing up. We had to remove the siding and that window. You can also see in this picture that we already have the gravel base down for the patio that is going to be built.



The next photo is a shot of the work in progress. As you can see, there is a huge hole in the wall. We had to build a temporary wall on the inside to support the load bearing wall while we re-framed and installed the header. It is difficult to see from this picture, but the 2x4's are actually inside the house.



The final picture shows the finished door. Thanks Tana for modeling and also thanks for help with the kids. You are the best, I don't care what your parents say about you ;).



This was a very rewarding project. It makes a huge difference with the back area of the house. Of course it was completed with no debt. I'll get more into that later..

Sunday was a nice relaxing day since we finished most of the project on Saturday. We went bowling and watched the NFL Replay of the Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City Chiefs playoff game. Just in case you forgot, the Colts won that game! Training camp is in a couple of weeks! Check back for some Colts training camp updates....

After we finish the interior trim around the door, the next home improvement project will involve building a patio outside the french doors.....

Chicago 2007

We recently went on a site seeing trip to Chicago with all of the kids. A large family trip is always an adventure! We all had a fantastic time. We started off with a trip to the All Aboard Diner, which was a big hit with the kids. We had our food served via a model train. There also happened to be a Pro Jersey shop next door so we picked up some more Colts gear. Although, Jakey bought a felt Bears helmet! We forgive him....

We did many of the usual things, Sears Tower, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the American Girl store. We saw the Chicago River about 37 times in a matter of a half hour because I became lost and missed my turn a few thousand times. Every time we would say "Look kids, Chicago River". It became old quick! It was much like the European Vacation line with Big Ben, Parliament......

We are planning a major home improvement project this weekend. I plan to try to document some of that and post here. Also, in the next few weeks, you will see some updates from our trip to the Indianapolis Colts training camp. I am going to check into renting an expensive telephoto lens to get some good pictures this year. Go Colts!

1st Annual 4th of July Flag Football Game

We had our first annual July 4th flag football game. We had a great time. This year the Lightning Bolts edged out the Thunder Bolts by one touchdown. We even painted a football field in the front yard! We are currently on a short trip to Chicago to do some sight seeing. We will update soon with more....

We finally have the first picture of the new baby! Here he or she is to the left. The official due date is January 31st, 2008. That makes three birthdays of our kids that are within 10 days of each other!

Happy Birthday Dawn!

Today is Dawn's 38th birthday! She gets more beautiful everyday. Happy birthday Dawn! We love you!

Official Bolt Blog Launch!

Today is the official launch of the Bolt Family Blog. We are a family of seven. There is Dad- Rick, Mom-Dawn, Nicolas, Ellie, Jakey, Joey, and Sammy. We have great news! We will be adding a new Bolt to the mix on about January 31st. We are very excited about the birth of number six! Pictures will come soon........