Special Events: Our Horses • House Addition • Mustangs 2008/09 • Mustangs 2007/08 • Mustangs 2006/07 • Summer Vacation 2011 • Family Traditions

Yes, that's right - Melody has made it to the big 57 finally. Kalyn and Sean were home to help us all celebrate. Melody's cake was quite the torch, and the kids helped her out with her presents as usual. After cake and presents, Melody decided to break out her new cotton candy maker. It was the hit of the birthday, just like being at the fair. All the girls took their turn at trying to make a cotton swap from the machine and it did taste like the real stuff. Happy Birthday Melody!

For Christmas Day this year, everyone was home for the first time in it seems forever. Rick and Kelly were able to make it and spend the night so we all were able to get up and celebrate Christmas morning in the same house - since the kids were still at home. This was Kelly's first time going through the event - its always fun introducing new members of the family to some of our old traditions. Rick and Kalyn distributed the goods and we were off, opening, laughing, picture taking. As usual, its a multi-hour ritual to get everyone through there stuff. We broke it into sessions when Mickey and his family and Marty and his family stopped by. All in all, it was a fun day - really enjoyed having everyone home at the same time for a change.

Christmas Eve was special this year given everyone was home for the first time in I can't remember how long. Jacquelyn and Eric and the kids were still living with us while their house was being set up, Rodie was home, Kalyn came in from Fort Worth, and Rick and Kelly were able to make it as well with their injured cat. During the day the kids baked and decorated Christmas cookies, and Kalyn dressed up the animals with their holiday outfits. This is Kelly's first time spending the holidays with us so we introduced several of the traditions we celebrate. We had a Christmas Eve dinner, and then moved on to the tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve at Grandma's house (and everyone knows what its going to be :-) ) The we all sat down to watch The Bells of Saint Mary except that - all we have is a VCR version of the movie and I removed the VCR from the TV :-( Epic fail on my part. So we switched over and watched Its a Wonderful Life and White Christmas. Following the movies, we all headed to bed awaiting the visit from the man in the red suit. Of course, he didn't miss our house!

Santa made his annual visit to our house again this year and there was some new guests, and surprises. Ken and Hadie made it, Marty and Amy made it, and Rick brought Kelly for the first time. We did the usual individual visits with Santa for everyone, and then we got some of the family shots as well. Santa lead us in singing a couple Christmas Carols, and even got Rick and Rodie to play a reigndeer game (I think). Its always fun to have everyone over for this yearly event - good preparation for when he makes the official visit later in the month. Glad everyone could make it!

Haley is growing up so fast, we celebrated her 12th birthday this year already. it seems just like yesterday she was jiust a little girl who liked to play with Barbies. We celebrated her family birthday at home with a Justin Bieber cake and she opened her presents. Now that she will have her own room in their new house, she got some things to help her decorate it with items from the around the world for travel. Happy Birthday Haley - stay young as long as you can!

We celebrated Allison's birthday over at our house this year with some pretty pink cupcakes and presents. Its always fun when we can get all the little cousins together, they are all growing up so fast. Happy Birthday Allison!

For Thanksgiving this year, we spent Thanksgiving day over at Ken and Hadie's house. Chris and Lisa and the kids had made the trip down so Melody, Mom and I traveled to Fort Worth to see them all. Chuck and Cheryl Adamson (Lisa's parents) also made the trip. Mitchell was able to make it as well so it was a large gathering - lots of fun. on Friday, we got together with our immediate family and had some turkey since not everyone could make the trip to Hadie's. On Saturday, Chuck and Chris brought the kids out to our house for the day. Katy came over as well so we put the kids to work decorating the Christmas tree. They spent a good part of the afternoon working on it and having fun, going through the decorations and finding spots for them all on the tree. it was a real work of art. As always, the tree topper was the hardest part - can never get that thing to stand up straight. It was really nice getting to spend the holiday with the greater family. We don't get to do that very often anymore.

On Saturday we all made the trip into Dallas to celebrate Rick's and Rodie's birthday with a dinner. We ended up meeting at Saltgrass Steakhouse in Irving. Gatherings for birthdays are getting larger so we don't get together with everyone as often, so it was nice that everyone could make it. Food was good, company was good, and so far, Rick seems to be holding well for this milestone with his soccer activities and such. Rodie's keeping active with work as well. Happy Birthday Rick and Rodie!

We celebrated Rodies birthday at home this year with presents and a cookie cake. He turned the big 35 this year. He even got the special candies for the cookie - it was almost a bon fire which the kids love. We plan to get everyone together for a family dinner later this month so we can all celebrate. Happy Birthday Rodie!

We had a very quiet Halloween this year at home. Ericka and her family stopped by and Haley and Charlie as well. They were our only trick or treaters. I was working late and was able to get some quick shots of their costumes - we had a sparkle witch and a Ninja Turtle. I grabbed some shots from Ericka as well - they had a pirate, a fairy, and a masked man - I think Luckas was Zorro? Brittany and the boys were Spider-man, another Ninja, and Cleopatra. All were looking good! We have a neighborhood now on FM 2909 where the kids can go door to door and trick or treat without needing to drive all the way into Canton or Athens, and there's usually a Trunk or Treat event at the school where the kids can go and parade around. Happy Halloween!

Another year, another birthday - we celebrated Jack's birthday at home this year with a oreo cookie cake and presents. She now turned 28 for the 5th year in a row. The kids always get really excited about their Mom's birthday and this year was no exception. So many candles this year that it started melting the frosting :-) Happy BirthdayJacquelyn!

We finally were able to connect with Katy to celebrate her birthday this year - she's turning 17. She came over and spent the night and we had cake, ice cream and presents on Sunday. Katy is now living in Van and goes to high school in Van as well - she wants to be a chef! Looking forward to what she has cooklng up for her future! Happy Birthday Katie!

Rick, Erik, and I took a long "guys only" weekend and made a trip to Kansas City, KS and MO to see the sights, take in a MLS soccer game, and attend the last concert of the Rush Time Machine Tour. We headed out late afternoon on Friday and drove as far as Muskogee OK where we stopped for the night at a somewhat sketchy motel (note to self - pick better places to stop). Got up the next morning and completed the drive into KC and found our hotel on the south side of town around lunch time. We immediately started searching for a BBQ place and found Arthur Bryant's, a well known BBQ fixture in KC. It was delicious. Next stop, was the Sporting KC stadium for the soccer game between Sporting KC and the New York Red Bulls. It was my first MLS game and we had great seats in the 3rd row near the goal line. Next morning, we got up and toured the Science Museum in the old KC train station - it was pretty cool with a science fiction exhibit. Great place for kids (of all ages as you can see). We then drove over to the MO side of town to Independence MO to see the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. I learned a new respect for what Truman was thrust into as president. The exhibits were well done and informative - I really liked this library. Afterwards, we sought out another BBQ place for an early dinner and chose Jack Stack BBQ - another well known establishment. Learned about "burnt ends", which could be the best part of BBQ. After a hefty feast, we headed for the arena to see Rush - quite the exotic crowd was in attendance. Hard core fans, several generations, etc. Being the last show on tour, there's always surprises - and our surprise was that the guy from Dude, Where's My Car showed up on stage with them. As well, someone from the Chicago Blackhawks was there too as I recall - the Hockey portion of the show (being they are Canadian and all). I had to leave my camera in the car so all I got were shots from my phone - not great but oh well. Next morning we got up and made the drive home - It was a good weekend.

last Sunday I headed out on a business trip to Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose - 3 Adobe Offices in one week. First stop was Seattle. I planned it so I got in early on Sunday morning to leave enough time for a few hours of exploring. I got in and immediately headed for Pike's Market to have lunch and walk around to see the sights. First stop - a Starbucks to pick up a frappacino. Then onto the market where I had a fish and chips lunch on the pier which was great - the view of the sound was spectacular. I then went and watched some fish being thrown around and the world famous fish market. Next I did some shopping in the market picking up some local artworks (a wood carved salmon and a Indian belt buckle. After walking around for a few hours, I headed back to my hotel for a rest. After a short nap, I realized that the Space Needle was very close by, so I headed to the Seattle Center where its located to walk around before dinner. In the center was a Chihuly Exhibit on display - of course I had to see it. Afterwards, I decided to check and see if there were openings for dinner at the Needle and there was. I quickly headed up to wait on the observation deck for my dinner reservation. The sun was going down and presented some awesome views of the city and surrounding area. The view was so clear, not a cloud or any fog in the sky. I had a great dinner from dusk until dark circling the Needle at least twice, maybe three times. A perfect way to end the evening. The other two days I spent working by day, and going to dinner with my associates in the office. I then traveled on to SF for a day and SJ for a day to close the trip out and return home on Saturday.

Last weekend we met up with Ken and Hadie for dinner in Grapevine at the Rain Forest Cafe in the Grapevine Mall. Charlie had traveled over to Hadie's for a few days to play with Alex so we were planning a child swap so to speak. This day would be Alex's last vacation day in Texas - on Sunday they would head north to meet up with Chris and Lisa and drop him off half way. The two boys play well together and had a good time during the week. They both came to dinner sporting new temporary tattoos they got from the Peach Festival in Weatherford or something that they had attended earlier in the day. For dinner, they both had slur-pees dino nuggets and pizza - a perfect "boy" dinner for the jungle. After dinner, we walked around the mall for a while and did some window shopping, and found a old carrousel in the food court which the boys rode. All in all, it seemed like a good send off for Alex - I think he had a pretty good Texas vacation this summer!

So this weekend we spotted an event on the newscast about a Lego convention in Mesquite, called "Brick Fiesta 2013". Well, I had to try this - never been to one of these things before. I talked Jaquelyn and Erik into taking the kids as well. We got there in the afternoon and spent about 2 hours walking around the convention hall and looking at the buildings, dioramas, characters, Lego people, cityscapes, far off lands, air planes, space ships, and much more. Some of the time put into these models are impressive - you've got to appreciate the effort and attention to detail. I understand that many Lego builders are now starting to use 3-D printing machines to build the bricks they need when Lego doesn't have them or don't supply a specific piece. They even make different characters using these printers now. It was pretty cool. The show overall was smaller than I thought it would be but the things on display were very cool and exceeded my expectations. People really love Lego's, and I'm one of them.

Over the week of the 4th Melody and I did some more work around the backyard to plant some additional flowers and other gardening. I even drug the hammock out for the summer. We have quite a bit of color this year around the house with window boxes containing a multitude of flowering plants, and 3 new crape mertels that are flowering trees. We also have 2 Gardinia trees and some others that I don't know the names of. I picked up a another fountain on clearance so we now have two fountains around the yard. Not a bad place to hang out for an afternoon if I do say so myself!

This was the first time in many years we've been home for 4th of July so we planned a quiet family BBQ and some fireworks for entertainment. Rick brought his new girlfriend with him (Kelly) and Sean came over with Kalyn, plus Mickey and his kids came over. Rebecca even stopped by to say hello. The weather was tolerable (hot) so we were able to spend time outside, the kids played and we all had a good afternoon and dinner. Then all that was left was waiting for dark - so hard! Rick did the honors this year and with Sean's help, they orchestrated the fireworks show for the evening and handled the sparkler distribution process for the little ones. Overall, it was a good day by my account - glad everyone could make it.

Erik turned 37 on July 3rd so we had a small dinner and cake for him that evening. For his birthday, he got a patio table and chair set a doe and fawn statue to put in his yard, and a RC controlled helicopter to play with the kids with. Charlie was so proud of himself for picking out his Dad's cake - Spiderman. But the real thing Charlie was proud of was the candles he picked out which said, "Princess". He's trying to develop that wry sense of humor we have in the family - it seems to be coming along nicely in Charlie - right on schedule... Happy Birthday Erik!

Our last day in Orlando, we made a quick stop at Downrtown Disney again, then we drove up from Disneyworld in Orlando to Destin, on the pan handle of Florida. We stayed at some military cabins on the beach in Destin for 2 days. This camping area on the waterfront is near the base that Ken was stationed at several years ago. The kids had a blast on the beach, hunting for shells and crabs. Erik and Charlie spent the better part of Saturday in the water hunting for crabs and then releasing them. The Haley's spent their time in a kayak that Ken rented for them, paddling around the cove. In keeping with the "crab" theme, we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner, and stopped by a place called "Fudpucker's" on the downtown strip to see their alligator pen - pretty cool. On Sunday, we started the 12 hour drive home real early and got into Canton around 6pm. We had a really good week - glad everyone could go!

So for our last day in Orlando at Disneyworld, we returned to the Magic Kingdom to close out our visit and see the rest of the park we missed previously in the week. We started by hitting the big rides we missed like Thunder Mountain and some of the rides in Fantasyland. The kids had to go on Splash Mountain again and we also did a repeat on Pirates of the Caribbean. The day seemed to fly by with a thunderstorm looming in the afternoon but we didn't get drenched. We kept hoping around to different rides and by the evening we ate dinner in Tomorrowland and then prepared for the nightly parades and light festivities. The kids all chose one last ride before the parade and we scattered to make the last lines during the fireworks show. We then all met up in front of the castle and took our seats for the Electrical Parade. Afterwards, we all did some shopping in the stores on Main St and then headed out around 12:30am - a long but fun last day in the Magic Kingdom!

We spent Wednesday in the Hollywood Studios park - checking out the sights. This park is dedicated to movie making. We immediately split up with some of the group going on the Rock'n Roller Coaster and the rest of us heading for the Toy Story Midway Game Ride - the most popular ride in the park and hard to get tickets for. We eventually all met up and went on the Toy Story ride, then proceeded to get lunch at the ABC cafeteria, and then onto more rides and meeting characters. By evening, the shows started and were Monsters U focused since that movie is coming out very soon. Mike and Sully were the stars. We then did some shopping, and headed out of the park to go grab some dinner at an iHop on the way back to the condo.