Longest Day of the Year… No, really long
Yesterday we were driving back from Destin, FL (close to Pensacola) that took about 14 hours. It so happened it was the longest day of the year as well (June 21st). However, it apparently wasn’t as long as the day my parents saw in northern Scotland, which is where they now live as missionaries. Below are pictures taken at 12am (yeah, Midnight) last night - technically June 22nd.
Vacation: First day in Destin, FL
All (or most) of the kids ring-around-the-rosey on the deck in the house we rented.
By the way, remember when I wrote about Nursery Rhymes? Yeah, still do’in it.
Vacation: 2nd Day of Travel in Louisiana
On that big long bridge in Louisiana
Ella asleep
Tall Trees
Crossing the Mississippi in Baton Rouge
Vacation: Ella’s on the Beach w/ Mommy!
Sugar-white sands, clear blue waters. These pictures don’t do it justice.
Vacation: First Day of travel - Destin, FL
Welp, we’ve left for vacation and drove about 8 or 9 hours today with our friends. We (along with 3 other families) have taken off to Florida. It’s good to get away - but with 8 adults and 7 kids (5 of which are 2 yrs old) I’m not sure that we are actually “getting away”; you know? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining - in fact I love being around all the children and away from work, it’s just that’s a lot of children!
It’s like I’m Clark W. Griswald on family vacation, but multiply that times 4 (minus the dog peeing on the picnic basket with all the sandwiches in it). So you’ve got 4 Clark’s leading the charge trying to figure this thing out - but we’ve got CB Radios!
We took pictures of Louisiana as we went through the bayou so that was fun. If I had the USB wire to my camera I would have posted some.
Good thing that our friend John and Cristi are house sitting for us while we’re gone, especially as we are trying to sell it. Thanks guys!
More to come as the days continue…
Still Here..
Been busy with family stuff as of late, so I haven’t been writing much. I posted some pics of Ella in the below post. She’s becoming the most darling thing I’ve ever seen. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.
Jenn is now in her 13′ish week of pregnancy. Baby’s doing fine and healthy. We don’t know the sex yet, but should in a few weeks.
We’ve got a vacation in Florida coming up in June and are excited to get a way finally. I haven’t had a vacation for quite some time, so getting away is going to be good.
Lost season finale is tomorrow tonight - I recommend that you watch it! If you’re behind and want to catch up, you can start with Season 1. You’ll need to watch about 3.9 Seasons worth of episodes, which is about 80-something episodes. Get busy!
Go Spurs Go? Not really; the “Go’in” has been tough and are down 3-1 to the Lake show. I know, I know - Barry was fouled at the end, but he’s got to create more contact. Pop - give the ball to Ginobili.
I’m Writing Just to Write
So it’s the last day of the month and I thought I would write an article to beef up a lack-luster March.
Ella is really growing up. Tonight at dinner she was singing “Elmo’s World” at the table with her little head bee-bopping back and forth. She’s really the cutest thing that I’ve ever seen. She also loves the movie “Sound of Music” - which she conveniently calls the movie “Dancin’ Babies”. No clue how she came up with that one, but she did.
She’s now counting to 10 and beyond (at least she’s attempting to). She counts fingers, toes, freckles, etc. She also knows her entire alphabet as well. Now I’m not a child development expert, but that seems pretty good considering she’s barely 2.
We’ve been looking at houses, but it’s nothing too serious. Uncle Sam and its housing crisis is trying to incentivise us in moving into a bigger home. I don’t know, we’ll have to wait an see. I am trying to find my wife a laptop as we both love the MacBook Pro that we bought - so if you know of anyone wanting to dump their Mac, give me a shout. I also haven’t done anything with my car that I got back from my Dad when he left for Scotland. I’m trying to give it to my church, but that’s proven to be difficult thus far.
Oh yeah, you know how you hear about some individuals having a Nintendo Wii controller break their TV? Yeah well, that happened to me. Our younger cousin was playing baseball and the controller slipped out of his hand… boom! Big huge crack on my DLP tv. Welp, got the TV replaced and the old one is still in my study. If you want a busted screen, but still a great working TV then give me a shout. No seriously… let me know.
Lots of other stuff going on… we are taking a trip to Florida in June’ish this year with a bunch of friends/family; that’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m working to lose about 20lbs before we go, so if you see me make sure that I’m eating right.
Ahh.. and in case you missed it, Jenn and I are pregnant! Well, Jenn’s pregnant; I’m not, technically speaking of course.
Yo!
Hey peeps. It’s been a month since I wrote last, sorry for such the long delay - that’s pretty uncharacteristic of me. So what have we been up to? Tons..
For starters Jenn and I have been busy busy catching up on ABC’s Lost. You see, ABC released all of their Lost seasons online and stream in HD. So we started watching them on my Mac and then decided to start renting the 3 seasons so we could catch up. Man, good series and we have hardly put it down. We are about half way through season 3, but are Tivo’ing the new season that started last Thursday.
I also got my old team back together and we are playing in a new basketball league this year. We’ve been playing together for about 5 years now so it’s a pretty good bunch. The Frisco league has some cool online features in that we can track everything online. You can go to our League Page here. I know, I know… our team name (Mike’s Team) is sort of lamo. But I couldn’t think of anything when I signed us up. I’ll change it later.
Ella is really starting to say a lot of sentences now. Every weekend I’ll go get us Donuts and when I tell her she says “Daddy, Nonuts?” Haha! Comedy I know.
My Dad, Mom, and younger brother are still in Scotland and are doing very well. I’ve also been traveling to Seattle as usual, but nothing new to report there.
Anyway - I’ll post a new video up in the next few days.. so stay tuned!
My Parents: Moving to Scotland
I’ll write a little more at another time, but my parents (after 6-years of wanting and working to move) are headed to Scotland to be missionaries. I really admire their drive, cause, and absolute reverence to God’s calling in their lives and the effect it is having on me, my family, and my friends has been incredible. Below is the first letter that I received from my Dad and stepmom.
What I’m Thankful For This Holiday… Best Video That Sums It Up
Amongst other things that I’m thankful for this Holiday season is our soldiers. The war in Iraq & Afghanistan often times can be a distant memory in many American lives. We take for granted the freedom that our soldiers provide us and the sacrifices that they make with their families. Because of that, I have the freedom everyday to see my wife & daughter. I have the opportunity to provide for them as well.
I’m not sure whom has seen this video that was published a few months ago by NBC, but it reminds me of the families that also sacrifice to provide American’s freedom as well. It makes all the issues that I have with the two wars we are in go away, which by the way I ultimately support. Seeing moments like these sums up what it means to sacrifice; especially to those that are lost to tragedy.
I’m grateful for the service of our soldiers and the freedom they provide me to be with my family. May grace be upon you, your spouses, and children.
Ella Playing at the Beach!
Jenn and I went to Houston this weekend for a wedding and stayed at my grandfather’s house. He lives about 10 minutes from Galveston Island and we took Ella to the beach. Behold!
Golfing in Colorado
Great pics of the prettiest course I have ever seen - especially at 9500 ft. above sea level.
How to Use Google 411
The folks at Google have released GOOG-411! Instead of using 411 (which is a paid service), you can now use this service by dialing 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) for free. In addition to that you can say “map it” during the call and it will send you a free text message to your mobile phone. Not sure about you folks, but I travel quite a bit and am often having to dial 411 via my cell and often take advantage of the text messaging feature. Now I’m not saying saving a couple of bucks is going to go a long way, but it sure is worth trying.
Happy hunting!
Vacation in Colorado - Missing Matt & Aren… Kinda
The first day we were there with Jennifer’s family we were already missing Matt & Aren (Jennifer’s brother & wife), which would have made the trip complete. So I took two videos…
The first I would classify as “real feelings”… the one below it is the “rehearsed” video.
Na for real… we missed you Matt & Aren!
Ella on Vacation: It’s Bubbles!
Last week we were on vacation in Breckenridge, Colorado. Beautiful place; played golf, fly fishing, white-water rafting, etc. Ella had a good time too in the jacuzzi bath tub in one of the bed rooms in the house we rented. See for yourself!
