We've been doing this for 10 years now, since Dylan and Emily were in elementary school. That means we only have 5 more years to go until Ava is done with elementary school. The annual Fall Festival had lots of fun activities for the family.There are a few "must attend" components of any elementary school fall festival. First, there's all the big inflatable moonwalks and bouncy playthings. Next, there's the food booths with burgers and hot dogs. There's the cakewalk and silent auctions. And then there's always the horrible injuries to treat at the MASH tent: The poor critters! How will … [Read more...]
The Gang’s All Here
August 5, 2008 by Leave a Comment
While I was recovering from surgery, I had the good fortune of having most of my family out for a two week visit ending on July 8th. I spent a boatload of frequent flyer points and brought out everyone I could get my hands on. Above is a picture of the whole gang as we were about to get on board the General Jackson riverboat for a trip down the Cumberland River. In the back row, from the left, is Emily (daughter), Wendy (sister-in-law), Dan (brother), Jake (nephew), Shirley (mom), and Chuck (step-dad). In the front row, from the left, is Katie Jo (daugther), Anna Lynn (daughter), and Dylan … [Read more...]
Happy 15th Birthday Emily!
July 16, 2008 by Leave a Comment
We spent a quite day at home with the family for Emily's 15th birthday.She got gifts from me and each of the kids: an iPod Classic 80gb, an iPod Home radio & clock (from Dylan), mandolin music books (from Katie & Anna), and a nice Canon Rebel XT digital camera with a 2gb memory card.I think that she was most happy to get the camera. She's worn that camera around more often than she wears her purse out of the house.She also got some nice cards from her grandparents - my mom and stepdad from California and from my dad and stepmom in Alabama.She's also really excited that she can get her … [Read more...]
Gulf Shores ’08
June 6, 2008 by Leave a Comment
My adult Sunday School class has been organizing a trip down to the gulf coast every summer for the past several years now. It's gradually grown from a handful of families to well over 100 people. One of the things that's great about going with such a big group of close friends is that there's always a bunch of kids for your kids to hang out with and there's always a party in someones condo each night.This year, Rachel and I decided to brave the chaos of a full family trip to the beach that included my teenage kids, plus one friend (Connor McCoy) and all five of our little kids. (They're all … [Read more...]
A New Take on an Old Tradition
May 30, 2008 by 2 Comments
I've been taking Emily out for a long years now around the time of her birthday for some frou-frou time and father/daughter bonding. The tradition is that she usually gets new acrylic nails done professionally. And since she's a captive audience, I get to talk with her about whatever might be on my mind. The dynamic is a little different now. Anna and Katie both wanted to give the big lady nails a try and, being wrapped around their finger, I couldn't say no. They both chose colors that worked well for them and had a lot of fun studying everything the nail professional did. I think it's … [Read more...]
The TN Renaissance Fair, 2008
May 26, 2008 by 1 Comment
It's that time of year again -every weekend in May - time for the TN Renaissance Fair. We were blessed with unusually good weather this year. It was relatively cool and breezy, while still being a nice sunny day. And despite all of the rain we've had this month, it wasn't muddy either. The knights were quite a spectacle on the jousting grounds and the living chess match seemed a bit more polished and with more elaborate choreography.Dylan and Emily had other plans for the day. I suppose I'll have to get more and more used to that as they each become more independent. But I still missed … [Read more...]
Skinned Knees
May 16, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Katie has a tradition of running down the handicap-access ramp at the YMCA in a spunky-kid attempt to beat me and her sisters down the stairs. Usually, she wins because she runs at maximum speed.When we came down the stairs earlier in the week, Katie took off as usual down the ramp - but this time she was wearing flip-flops. Not a good choice for a high-speed sprint and, BLAM!, she was skidding across the concrete before I could even think straight. She skinned up her knees, big toes, and palms pretty badly, but especially her knees.I probably should've taken her into the YMCA to see if they … [Read more...]
The Kids Choir Trip to NYC
May 14, 2008 by Leave a Comment
I've been meaning to post pictures of Dylan & Emily's choir trip to NYC, but I've been so busy that it's been tough to find the time. One problem has always been carefully laying out all of the pictures on the Blogspot editor. Rachel turned me on to an awesome new service called Photobucket which makes this process much easier. You simply upload your pics to Photobucket and it will create a bloggable slide show for you. Voila!Click on the link below to see more pictures.Photobucket Album … [Read more...]
Fun in Florida
March 29, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Dylan and I got a chance to take a trip together to Florida. We had incredible fun at Busch Gardens and at Universal Studio's Island of Adventure.One of the fun things about our trip was that I finagled a free upgrade on my rental car. So we drove around Florida in a nice, new Mustang. The big V8 had a powerful basso and a lot of acceleration. Too bad it sucked down the gas like a mutha.We went to two amusement parks, my favorite was Busch Gardens in Tampa. It was less crowded and less expensive, but the rides were easily as good, if not better than Islands of Adventure. Islands of Adventure … [Read more...]
