Jenna, This One's for You

OK, I've received some friendly flak concerning the status of our pests. Are they rats, or are they tiny, defenseless mice? Your honor, I submit this photo as exhibit A:

You be the judge. In case you were wondering, that's 14 inches from tip to tail. And its not EVEN the biggest one I've seen. That's 4-0 for those keeping score...

3-0

...and counting.

Rat Attack Update - SCORE!

Tim 2, Rats 0. So far these are pretty small rats. Must be the young, impulsive ones. The bigger ones have more self restraint. But I will break them!

RATS!!!

Like so many households in our area--we have rats. There is (at least) a small family of large rats living in our garage. I've had enough. The hunt is on. Tonight I purchased three traps from Home Depot and set them up around 10 minutes ago. Already: Tim 1, Rats 0. Game on, rodents!

Stay tuned for more...

WOW A POST!!!

Here is a picture of Cloe's birthday party. She celebrated her party at build a bear workshop. They had fun making their little critters, giggling and giggling some more. Cloe was a good sport for letting Cole be a part of her party. He too did remarkably well. Then onto the rest of our day, we came home for a little while and then we took Cole to Alley Cats for a bowling birthday party. Watching a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds bowl is quite a sight. We were glad everyone was able to travel in for the kids parties and Cloe's soccer game. Crazy busy but is was nice. As soon as I locate some pictures from Cole's party I will post them as well. Things are starting to not cooperate with me. Possibly if I would post more often, I wouldn't have this much trouble posting! I know, lesson learned.

Back to School

Its official--we have a second grader! Today was the first day of school for Cloe and the first day with students for Jenny. The routine is now in swing. We'll see what that brings for us over the coming nine months. Cole was slow in eating his breakfast this morning (shocker!), so he helped me take Cloe to school and put gas in the car before going to Angela's for the day (or Angewon, as Cole says it). Yesterday was a busy day with the start of our 2008 Ministry Expo and the special Back to School Prayer Service. So, Monday is here and its time to try and get the week in order. I pray everyone is blessed this week. Happy blogging!

Just a Fishin'

The Saturday after we returned from vacation, we took the kiddos out to Ricky and Becky King's "Ranch" to swim, have dinner, and do some fishin' in King Lake. This was the first time the kiddos had ever been fishing. It was great fun. The Kings have some perch and catfish in their tank that were fun to catch. What started out as an experience for the kids quickly turned into a contest between mom and dad. Dad, of course, was victorious. I'm sure there will be a rematch in the future.

Final Day in Nashville

We spent our final day in Tennessee at the Adventure Science Center near downtown Nashville. This place was pretty cool. From animated dinosaurs to exhibits exploring the human body to an awesome journey through space at the planetarium, the kids had a blast running through interactive activites and even taking a simulated space walk! On the way back to the resort, we stopped and took pictures next to the General Lee (and the Lil' General). Then it was time to pack up and prepare for the (looong) journey back home.

All Good Thing Must Come to an End

Well, we finally made it back home on Friday after a 13-hour drive. It was a wonderful week away, but its good to be back home. I'll write a trip wrap up later and post the last of the pics. Back to the grind!

Nashville Shores

Wednesday was a tiring but fun day. We spent most of the day at Nashville Shores, a family water park that is somewhat of a blend of Berger's Lake (minus the parasites) and NRH2O. We had a great time playing in the various pools, floating in the lake, riding a very steep water slide (after the one slide, Cloe was done with rides), and enjoying a picnic lunch from the back of the van. We didn't take the camera, so you'll just have to imagine our tanned, toned bodies basking in the warm sun (and you'll have to have a REALLY good imagination to do that).

(Note to JB Ledbetter: Jenny did get into the lake and stayed even though she couldn't see her feet but could see small fish swimming around. You would have been proud!)

After the Shores, we returned to the resort for rest and cleanup after making dinner reservations at the Rainforest Cafe. Dinner there was great (and expensive!), but we all ate WAY too much. Cole was a bit overstimulated by all the animated elephants, gorillas, and thunderstorms that went off periodically. He completely ignored the magician that came to entertain us at our table because he didn't know where the next noise would come from.

After dinner we made a lap around the Opry Mills Mall, went to the Stingray Reef and watched dad feed the stingrays (and get very wet). We then called it a day and returned to our pad for the night.

Peking Acrobats

Today we spent a few hours aboard the General Jackson Riverboat. The weather was great, the food WAY over-priced, and the entertainment was AMAZING. We intended to just do the 2.5 hour cruise with the meal, but when we found we could upgrade and see the show, we jumped at the chance. The Peking Acrobats were awesome. They went through a myriad of stunts that were, quite frankly, unreal. From spinning plates to jumping through hoops to stacking chairs 20 feet into the air on four wine bottles (and doing a one-handed hand stand on top of it all), they had us on the edge of their seats. Cole was quite captivated by the show, often commenting how "unsafe" their stunts were or covering up his mouth and eyes in unbelief. When one of the female acrobats spun a large vase with her feet, Cole said, "That's breakable!" It was quite humorous.

Afterwards we returned to the resort for a swim and dinner. I think a low-key evening is in store, which includes the season finale of Deadliest Catch for mom and dad.

Sunday and Monday

Sunday we worshipped with some friends at the Hillsboro Church of Christ here in Nashville and then had lunch at their home. It was a great chance to catch up on James and Deborah and their family. In the afternoon we came back to the resort for some swimming and hang out time. We fixed some dinner, spent some time chillin'--all building up for our first big day on Monday.

After a big breakfast, we packed up our lunches and headed to the Nashville Zoo! This was a really neat zoo, and they're continuing to add more and new attractions. At each of the exhibits, they had kids stationed nearby to share all kinds of facts and whatnot about the animals you were seeing. The kids had a great time petting the goats and camels, as well as seeing everything from the incredibly noisey gibbons to tiny frogs and an enormous anaconda. Our troopes wore out pretty quick in the heat, so we came back to the resort for swimming and rest. Jen fixed some spaghetti for dinner, and we spent the evening working on a 3D puzzle of the Eiffle Tower (ok, the kids helped for about 5 minutes and mom and dad stayed up until 12:30 finishing it off). There were a few pieces missing, but we got it standing and our marriage survived.

Finally, In Nashville

Well, what was supposed to be a short, three-hour jaunt to Nashville from Memphis turned into a 5-hour marathon. The reason--two kids (particularly the three-year-old who doesn't realize he really needs to go to the potty until we're back on the road for about 2.4 miles). Nonetheless, we made it to our destination.

The Wyndham Nashville is a brand new resort within a mile of the Grand Ole Opry, Opryland Mills, and many other popular attractions. There are pools, a playground, and many family-friendly activities to do throughout the week. The unit we're staying in is GREAT. Between 1100 and 1300 sq. ft, with two SEPARATE bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, dining, living area, balcony, jacuzzi tub--we really like it. We rolled in about 7 PM, checked in, grabbed some dinner at the nearby Caney Fork Fish Camp, and then settled in for the night.

A funny story about the Caney Fork Fish Camp experience...its a pretty cool place with lots of stuffed animals, an indoor fish pond, etc. The food is great--steak, seafood, and other goodies. While we were waiting for our dinner to arrive, I took Cole over to the fish pond to check out the indoor aquatic life. It was apparent to me that these fish were used to being hand-fed. So, when a large, albino-looking catfish came swimming up, I touched my finger to the surface of the water and he swam up to us with his mouth open wide. That sight instantly freaked Cole out (who promptly jumped into my lap) and he began to scold me for sticking my finger in the water. In a panicked voice he said, "Do you see how that little boy is just watching? Don't stick your finger out, Dad, just watch!" It was quite amusing to me, although I did my best to laugh only on the inside.

Today we just doodled around the resort most of the day, although we did tour the Opry Mills Mall for a bit this afternoon. Tomorrow we play to visit the church of an old friend and former youth minister I interned under (James Waugh). We'll have lunch with him and his wife and then do a little sight-seeing in the afternoon. Monday will start the big fun.

By the way, if you want to keep up with all the places we're going in Nashville, check out the Google Map embedded in our blog.

Music City Here We Come!

Well, we're finally off on our summer vacation to Nashville, TN! We are so looking forward to some time away from the daily grind. Tonight we're staying in Memphis at the Doubletree Hotel ($50 on Priceline.com!) and will finish the trek to Nashville tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping to blog each day and keep you posted on our exploits. Not sure when the pics will be added. I've got to figure out how to get them out of the camcorder first! Anyway, I hope everyone is well. Look for an end-of-the-day post tomorrow.

Wow, February 6th...really?

Promises, promises. OK, still bad bloggers here. But, for the record, one of the contributors to this blog (who will remain unnamed) is off for the summer. So, who should the blogging responsibilities fall to? I think you know. On behalf of our family, I apologize to our one remaining fan out there in the blogosphere. We'll 'try' to do better.

A quick funny for you from Sunday. As parents, we're trying to teach our kids the importance of giving to God, both at church and in our lives. So, we do like many parents do--when its time for the contribution plates to be passed, we give our kids some change to contribute. As my wife was retrieving the change from her purse, I noticed she was a little low. There were only two coins, a penny and a nickel, to give to our son. Upon receiving the change, our son looked at the six cents in his palm and said, "This is all I get?" (If you want to hear me wax theologically about the whole incident, check out the staff blog I'm a part of. There's a link on the right.)

Hope to write again soon!

Funny Boy

Its no secret--we have a very funny boy. I thought I would share a couple of his recent funnies to brighten your day (and to try and keep up with blogging!). Here goes:

Yesterday Jen took the kids to get some prizes at the store. Cole has been working on potty training and has potty prizes he can earn when he fills his "potty quota". His choice was a Dollar General tool set. He's barely stopped playing with is since. When it was bath time last night, Cole didn't want to leave his tools behind. In a last ditch effort to bypass bathing, he said, "But mom, I'm building a house for Jesus!" Nice try, buddy.

This morning we were getting the kids ready to head out and had them perched on the kitchen island for our morning prayer time. As Cole was about to get down, he noticed a penny on the island. Cole snatched up the penny and proclaimed to us all, "Find a penny, pick it up, kiss a duck, have good luck!" Not sure where the duck came from...

Go Mavs!

We had a great evening out on Saturday night, thanks to some great folks at our church with season tickets! Jenny and I went to our second Mavs game ever and just had a blast. The Mavs killed the other team, and we came real close to winning some free food.

It was fun just being there, but added to the event was the accidental re-connection with some friends. Early on in the game, Jenny spotted the husband of a friend she went to school with in Friona. We visited with him and traded new contact info. At halftime, Jenny turned around and (almost coming out of her socks), saw a good friend that she played ball with in college. She was there with her family on a whim, coming down from Oklahoma City for the weekend and purchasing tickets from scalpers in the parking lot. They just happened to be seated one section over.

New Year's Resolution

I'm not really much for NYR's; I'd rather set goals. Maybe its semantics, but there's a difference to me. Anyway, I will make one resolution worth sharing--I will consistently blog in 2008! I know, I know, you're looking at the last post over four months ago and are thinking, "Yea, right, Tim." Just give me a chance.

Just to recap the last events of '07 for us. We had a great Christmas (or should I say Christmas's) with our family. Jen's folks came in and stayed for a few days just before Christmas. We had our family gifts exchange on Christmas Eve, and then headed to my mom's for Christmas. We did establish a new "tradition" this year (hopefully it will be a one-year thing). We played "pass the virus" through the Christmas week. Let's put that one in the archive, shall we.

For New Year's we spent the Eve with some good friends, the Leaches, and got very little sleep. Breakfast included Jim Bob's famous chocolate waffles with syrup and sprinkles. It was a fun time.

OK, post #1 is out of the way. Enjoy the Christmas gallery. Videos will be coming before long (got a new camcorder!). We hope everyone's New Year is off to a great start!