Chicago

Well we made it to the Chi. The much anticipated trip is underway. After dropping the dog off, going through the kid's passport process and leaving Thomas with Becky, we made it to St Louis and saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid which I gave a B-. Continuing on our trek, entering Chicago at 11:30PM, was a little overwhelming. The Palmer House is ridiculous. This place is awesome. We only circled the block once before finding the place! I'll post the link later.

Most important, after incidentally speaking with a few homeless folks, Will made the effort to make sure we prayed for them and their situation.

He is growing up... in a bubble... in Arkansas. It's been a while since I've spent time in a big city. Chicago will be an eye opener for all of us

No longer a heathen

Quick post: I spent Saturday morning, with my neighbor, helping the church clean up a depressed neighhood which was rewarding in many ways. Then Jazmin and Melissa were baptised on Sunday which makes today a special day. We had a great group of friends in attendance to witness the event and most came to brunch following. Stephenie gave the girls very thoughtful gifts and we were also able to attend a celebration party with friends in our small group who's daughters were baptised as well.

Summer is over - A few observations

• My kids didn't evern care what brand of sneakers they're mother purchased
• Jazmin still hasn't worked an hour at the job she was hire for in March
• Again, without picking the color, the black Pacifica was replaced by a black Expedition
• My kids only spent 11 days of summer vacation at their home
• Launching the Aqua-Trax cost me the deductible on my HTC Touch Pro. Should have just bought a case rather than carry it in my pocket
• Camping in WV seemed more like work than relaxing
• Vick is an Eagle. Yes, this is good news
• Still haven't wired speakers to the garage or deck... lazy or intimidated
• 80 hour work weeks still suck
• Summer colds (caused by kids going back to school and 80 hour work weeks) suck
• 1.75 years old are tough
• Looking forward to a fall vacation

The Fence is Down

At Jazmin's request, on Mother's Day, we began taking down 3/5's of the fence in our side yard. There was no marching or trumpet blowing but the wall still came down. The hardest part of this is moving the gate from opening West to parallel to the house opening north. We left the back of the fence up to border the woods. (Our next door neighbor found a 3.5' to 4' snake across her front door.) We found 2 snakes in the fence demolition process. 

Fence demolition process - favorite tool - Craftsman Reciprocating saw (thanks Dad). The whole fence was down in 2 hours. Digging out the post was a different story. In the end, the fence and gate I put up is 99.5% recycled, we have enough cedar for the fireplace for the whole summer. 

Well. Sunday, a week later, and we are 100% done and the gate actually works. Now we have to grow some grass!

Eagles & Vikings v Mall of America

My Will and Melissa have mentioned more than once that they wanted to go to an Eagles game. After hearing that there were thousands of tickets available for the playoff game, at 11AM we decided to go. We left for the 10+ hour drive at 2AM on Saturday morning. 

We visited the Mall of America which is really something to see. Roller coasters, the Lego store, Starbucks, and Eagles jerseys everywhere; Melissa was allowed to pick up an early birthday present at the American Girl store. 

The weather was ridiculous! Saturday in Minneapolis was complete with a Winter Storm Warning and snow, maybe 2", then ice. Sunday was worse, with the high temp of 8 degrees, clearing a car covered with snow and ice, and then packing that car was not fun.

The game was great. We rode the Metro rail right to the stadium, sat in the 2nd level, watched a great game then returned the way we came. Will and I cheered on our team, watching Samuel and Westbrook each score touchdowns. We didn't even mind seeing AP run one in for a score. 

The roughest part of the weekend was returning to AR after the game. Minnesota rodes were not great. The temp stayed low and the salt caused some melting and re-freezing. Iowa on the other hand was horrible. when we crossed the state line we were greeted with horrible rode conditions and cars off the rode everywhere. I prayed a lot in northern Iowa. 

By the grace of God we made it home in time for Will and Melissa to go to school, which they did. I took 2 hour nap and went to work. What a great weekend! 

Thomas and the "Ball Activity" Station

Uncle Carl bought the Ball station but come Christmas Morning there were no batteries. He left town before he could see that that Ball Station was a hit. 

Anyway, Thanks Uncle Carl!

Thanksgving Stay-cation

For the record... For as much as we like to travel, it has been a great week staying home. It was 65 degrees today in NWAR. I put up Christmas lights before Thanksgiving because I hate cold weather. The Trees are up and decorated. Heck, I even ran a cable line to the bonus room for the upstairs computer and installed a webcam for Skype. Feel free to reach out.

Here are the best parts of a "stay-cation": No rental car, no hotel bill, no long car ride, eating at home v. eating out for every meal (no McDonalds!), sleep in my own bed, didn't forget anything (toothbrush, phone charger), arrived ahead of schedule... for that matter, there is no schedule. No need to even turn on the GPS. Need I continue?

You know I'm trippin' b/c we event went to the Mall and I didn't complain! Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Best yet, Carl, David and Tiffenay will be here. The kids are excited. We're planning to cook the turkey on the grill and play paintball in the woods. 

On a different subject, Fantasy Football, I actually have a chance to make the playoffs in my work league. I will most like not finish last in my neighborhood league and therefore not have to host the Superbowl party; and have a good chance of not losing in my family league. The bottom line is, I am in way too many leagues. I just don't have the time to study NFL stats and certainly don't have the memory to remember all of the players on my 3 teams b/f the bi-weeks. With all of the bi-week moves I was completely lost. I am finally coming up for air but have to figure out how to lessen my Fastasy Football burden for '09. Any suggestions?