Tornado

On Saturday Night, May 10th, 2008, we were headed to our country club's clubhouse for dinner with some friends. When we arrived there was a sense of urgency from everyone. The TVs were showing tornado warnings and the weatherman was showing "rotation" over our general area. The sky was dark then began to lighten and a protrusion began to extend from a cloud just north of the clubhouse. The offending cloud continued to extend. The rotation was visible. The cloud continued to drop into an easily distinguishable funnel cloud. The cloud blew over without touching down. The end of the story is that the tornado never touched down. To my knowledge, no one was hurt. We continued with dinner and had a great night.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. Mom's truely never get a day off. H had a pretty good day but as I type this, she is handling laundry and kids. Since the CT tri-cycle incident, she's really become a great Mom.

Here's how Mother's day unfolded in the Taylor household: I woke up at 6:30 and took Melissa to do our Mother's Day shopping. We headed stright for Wal-Mart (where an associate tried to talk me into a Land of Frost sliced lunch meat b/f I informed her at that I represent Oscar Mayer) and bumped into a a co-work doing the same thing. Funny thing. Shoppers in Wal-Mart at 6:40AM on Mother's Day are 98% men. My Dad explained that the women plan better... they all shop the night before. With time as limited as it has been, I had a lot of shopping to do. Flowers, potting soil etc. At the end of the day, Missy and I headed home with a 4 gig Ipod and a Digital Picture Frame.

This is where the day became interesting. Jazmin and I spent the morning, and some of the afternoon going through thousands of digital photos. As many as 255 could have been duplicates. We look at the birth of all three kids, vacations to beaches, theme-parks, countless birthdays, Christmas and Easter Celebrations, and 2 of the goofiest kids on Earth along with hundreds of friends. The trip down memory lane was the most fun Jazmin and I have had in a long time. Next week is the hard copy photos.

Bonus: If you have a chance, ask Melissa to read you a Skippyjon Jones book. I HIGHLY recommend it.

A TV that fits

If you visited us in NW AR you know that our old TV did not fit well in the cut out above the fireplace in the family room. Well... we finally remedied that situation. After extensive research, I decided on an LCD we went with Samsung over Sony.

The photo is terrible but the TV fits with less than a quarter inch on all three sides. We decided to go with the full 1080p for the maximum flexibility: Over the air HD (the best signal available - 1080p), HD movies (Wal-Mart went with Blu-ray and thus Blu-ray wins the battle over HD DVD), gaming (PS3 is the best deal going on Blu-ray), computer monitor, Directv etc. Directv only broadcast in 1080i so we haven't made that upgrade yet.

Mardi Gras

Apparently it was time for the Taylor's to get a little culture. Having grown up in the Northeast, neither Jazmin or I knew anything about Mardi Gras. Stephenie Sullivan went to great lenghts to put this together so the least we could do was show up. Here's some vocabulary for the event:

• Hurrican - Tropical punch made with Rum
• King Cake - A cinnamon roll - cake with a plastic baby inside

The was pretty much it. We had a great time. Thanks to Stephenie Sullivan for throwing a great party!

Kraft Christmas 2007

"If you told me a year ago that I'd be at Christmas party listening to Jay-Z in Arkansas I'd have asked you what you were smoking" - E

The Kraft Christmas party is unlike any I've ever seen before. This was a classy event held at the Pinnacle Country Club Clubhouse #3. Before I get into the details I need to tell you that the hype for the event was staggering. The few who were here last year spent the previous 4 week recalling (and possibly embellishing) the events of previous parties. The talk about dresses, hair, and who "such-n-such" (Stephanie) was going to bring was overwhelming. With that out of the way, here is a brief recap:

The Seba's babysat for us and we picked up the Cloyds at 6:15 then headed to Stephanie's to meet the rest of the group. After a drink and a few photos, we left with rain falling and snow in the forecast.

The event was classy. On site sitters, valet parking, live music with appetizers, professional photos and then the meal. Paul Callahan and Craig Sutte briefly addressed the group then on with the drinks, DJ and dancing. There were no tuxedos but everyone was dressed to the "T". I was witnesses to three NCMs and their spouses dancing to Mase on the dnace floor! Although I was in Arkansas, to my delight, there were only 2 or 3 country music songs played! The night ended with fewer then expected meltdowns considering the open bar. Even a few of the out of town field team were present for the event.

Highlights:

• Stephanie brought Mike, a longtime friend... or more than a friend?
• Courtney was off the hook and the life of the party.
  
• I met Holly's husband Mike who is from South Jersey and increased the Philly contingent by one. (Kevin, Ed, Chuck, Eric and now Mike).
  
• Although the weather called for snow and/or freezing rain, neither came to pass.
• While you may think I am fibbing, Jazmin actually danced to 3 or 4 song at the end of the night.
• Most notable, Jazmin looked like a million bucks. More than one person was left wondering how I ended up with her and/or what bet she lost to end up with me.
  

I'll post the photos to Flickr.

And the Merry Thanksgiving to all...

After 10 years we have finally cracked the code. This Thanksgiving was one of the best we've had.

H and the kids arrived in Tampa on Thursday. Small world: My parents were flighing out of Tampa on Thursday. They were able to spend a few hours together at TPA. Mom and Dad were able to see the baby for the first time. Thank God Tampa was such a nice airport.

I arrived on Sunday, following the Saturday "not so surprise" party for Mr. Gmuer. (I don't think they wanted me there). With no small effort on the part of my father, we were staying in the Orange Lake resorts in Kissimmee. Originally we were staying at an extended stay type hotel which was basically a glorified truck stop. Jazmin blames the need for a change on me and my high standards but I never saw the place. Thanks to the Taylor's RCI membership, the Orange Lake (with 2 bedrooms, full kitchen, laundry, 4 swimming pools, Starbucks, Internet Cafe, etc), was only $60 more the the hole in the wall. Here's the catch, The 6 Mora's stayed with the 5 Taylors... and it went surprisingly well.

Monday: John and Doris took the 4 oldest grandkids to Sea World. R&R for Mom and Dad

Tuesday: The Mora's, Taylors, and John went to the Animal Kingdom. John worked out a deal to basically get all of us in for free! We saw all of the best including Nemo, Dinosours, the Safari
and Everest. At about 4PM the 5 Taylor's left for MGM. Melissa, William and I went on the Tower of Terror. Melissa was so brave and did great! Mommy is now the lone whimp in our family. We visited the town of lights, then saw the Beauty and the Beast live on stage followed by the 8PM installment of Fantasmic. Truly, this was one of the best days we've ever had at Disney.

Wednesday: Medieval Times. Doris came to watch the two youngest Moras. Special note: if you've never been to Medieval Times, they will ask you to arrive at 6PM for the 7:30 show. This gives you a chance to visit the 3 over priced bars, have a kid take your picture 5 times (he'll print them on a HP and try to sell them to you for $2o each when you are elbows deep in half a chicken), take pictures on the fancy chairs and with suits of armor and shop the 600% mark up "knight" themed items. Show up at 7PM; you'll have plenty of time for pictures and to be seated before the show. After all the time spent cheering and screaming, the Green Knight won! only to be assassinated moments later. Liliana had the Flower thrown to her and Will was captivated by the action. A day later Liliana went onto the patio and pulled the flower apart leaf by leaf and Will express a concern about the people being hurt with the swords (even though he took a picture with the Green Knight after he was assassinated). Melissa didn't want to watch the battles but loved the show. At the end of the day, they were able to eat with there hands, sit with their cousins, and see and awesome show. Say no more. Hosea and I ended the day with a few pieces of premium tobacco and a well-aged Rum.

Thursday: Thanksgiving. We ate a Cracker Barrel breakfast, watched the Macy's Day parade, read the paper (important social articles like the Circuit City and Best Buy Black Friday ads) napped and snacked. We traveled to Clermont to the Gmuers and enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner. They made Turkey just for me!

Friday: The Mora's left before 5AM for their flight to the New York area. We had the day to pack, clean, check out and make the 80 minute drive to Tampa. Despite a 30 minute connection in Memphis, from far ends of the terminals, our travel was smooth and we were in AR at about 11PM on Friday. With the weekend to relax.

Random Rants

Tesco opens 6 new grocery stores on the west coast. These stores are a new concept bridging the 7-11 and fresh grocer concept in a small convenient. This is to be to ultimate in convenience meets the ultimate in fresh. They are bringing 100 stores to the USA.

My wife has a habit of booking flights in the middle of the night. She is traveling with 3 (count 'em) children to FL leaving at 6:05AM... From TULSA, two hours away. Guess who gets to drop her off and then got to work. She was nice enough to book my ticket for a few days later when my schedule clears. I'm leaving on a weekend... at 6:05AM... from TULSA! Which is still two hours away.

Did i mention that she plans to take their luggage, stroller, and pack-n-play and the five of us in a Jeep Compass?