Christmas time is here

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yes, I know, it's only Christmas eve, but I forgot to post anything on Christmas Adam, and I'll be busy on Christmas day, so who knows if I'll post tomorrow or not.

For those of you with children, you may enjoy the Norad Santa tracker. As you can tell by the tracker, he's already started delivering toys in the Australia, Japan, New Zealand area of the world.

Another fun spot is Northpole.com which has some games and other stuff. It also links to the Norad Santa tracker, but it keeps it in a window that I personally don't care for.

And while I hope you have a great time with friends and family this year, I want you to remember that Jesus is the real reason for this season. Jesus was the first gift given. And we choose to celebrate his coming here a Christmas time. So in the hustle and bustle of your Christmas activities, pause and thank God for the true meaning.

Ice Storm Continued

I talked yesterday about the ice storm we had. Well, it got worse. We were very blessed that we didn't lose our electric till about 9:30 Sunday night. So, we lit the candles, turned on the oven and opened the door for heat. I double checked the carbon-monoxide detector just to make sure it was working since we were heating the house with the oven. I also closed off the doors to a couple of the rooms.

As we set in the candle lit room, we listened to cracking and breaking and crashing of tree branches hitting all sorts of things. It sounded like a war zone with all the noise and flashes of light I saw out the window.

I'd hear large crashes several times through the night, and I'd go to check, but couldn't really see anything. Once I'd decide I'd stop checking, something very large would hit again, so I'd get up and check again. It was a very nerve wracking night.

Yesterday, we moved the vehicles because a tree branch fell about 5 to 10 feet from the car. Here was a picture of that tree limb down.
After the night, we woke up to this:
Here is a picture of where the cars were parked before we moved them.

With some help of some people from church (and their chainsaw) we did some cleanup today, and we can now park one of the vehicles back in the driveway.

I estimate we'll loose between 2 and 5 trees when it's all said and done.

Ice Storm

I woke up last night to no power. I could hear the wind and rain and thunder. Every once and awhile, I'd hear the cracking of ice and wood.

I woke up to this:

Winter is on it's way!

I just heard that we are now in a Winter Storm Watch through Tuesday at 6:00 A.M. Freezing rain is possible, and the temperatures aren't expected to get above 35.

My main reason to post this is for my cousin who currently lives in Guam. I'm sure she'll go to the beach that day just to say she did.

Christmas Card

I got my first Christmas Card in the mail today, and it traveled father than probably any other card I will get. It came from Guam!

Thanks Laura!

Space Derby

It's was again time for the Cub Scout Space Derby.

We were a bit slow getting my boys space craft ready for the race tonight, but we got it finished. The design is much different than last years.

Last night was the big race. I ended up helping out with the race, which was a lot of fun. We ran the Tigers first. Then the Wolves! When they hung my boys rocket, he was as excited as could be. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!!!!!!

He came in last. He was the very picture of crestfallen. It broke my heart. We took a walk out into the hall so we could talk in private, and he could shed the tears that were already forming in his eyes.

He was so upset that he came in last (last year he came in third for his division). I explained to him how proud I was of him for designing his rocket, and doing the majority of the work himself. I also explained to him that there was nothing wrong with coming in last. The talk seemed to help, but then he said, with tears welling up in his eyes again, but I wont get a stand to hang it on. I told him they had some stands for sell, and we'll see about getting him one, which we did.

He and my wife came home early to finish up on homework while I stayed to finish the race. When I got home I asked him if he had fun, and I got a resounding YES!

Like I said, I was very proud of the work he did on his rocket. It was the most unusual unique design I saw all night.

Highway 169 widening?

On my way home from work today, I saw a channel 2 and I think a channel 8 news truck out on 169. Well, I decided to try to find out what was happening, so I hit channel 8's web page, and searched for Owasso. And what do I find? This article. Here is a small quote from the story.

Tulsa's fastest growing suburb now wants to expand the city's busiest highway.
Owasso is asking for millions of dollars in federal money to put the plan on the fast track.

I would welcome the expansion, but would dread the months of construction it would take. The road can be a huge head ache, and as the article says, if a wreck happens? You're dead in the water.

I expect this to happen... eventually, just not sure it will happen soon... I hope so.

Hairy!

Back in September, I decided to grow a beard for the winter, and except for trimming it once to tie in the goatee into my beard, I didn't trim it at all. Needless to say, I was a bit hairy.

Then, to be funny one day, I combed my beard UP instead of down, and well, other than not as much gray, I looked a lot like Santa.

This weekend, after my Black Friday shopping trip, I trimmed up my beard and got a hair cut, much to the relief of my wife I think.

BEFORE Normal:

Before combed up:

AFTER:

Christmas Time

Christmas time is here!

I love Christmas. I always have, and I think missing a Christmas really makes me appreciate it more!

As I said earlier, I got the tree up on Friday, but we didn't decorate it till Saturday when my boy came home. We now have the winter village on the entertainment center, the nativity is both in the yard, the old nativity that my wife grew up with is on the shelf all lit up.

The tree is decorated with about 95% home made gifts that makes my wife smile.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment...



This Nativity is one of my wifes favorites. This was the one they had while she was growing up, and she loves this very much!


This ugly lovely tree toper is just like the one she had when she was growing up. She went through a lot last year to get this. It isn't the exact same one as her brother has it, but it means a lot to her. Takes her back to those Christmas's of years past.

And here is our tree with presents and all.

Christmas Shopping

After having a great Thanksgiving and my parents and looking through all the sales catalogs, I decided I really didn't need to wake up at 3 to go get in line. I did end up waking up around 5:45 or so, so I went ahead and went shopping.

So I ventured the cold and the crowds and went shopping Friday.

I had a good time, and got about 98% of my shopping done. I ended up only hitting 4 different stores, but I did go to one twice.

Afterwards, I came home, put up the tree and wrapped some presents before my wife came home and could see what I got her. (she's sneaky like that)

It was a really good day!

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll be spending today with my family in a long standing tradition of eating and then going through the sales ads planning tomorrows Shopping extravaganza.

I actually had planned to get up this morning and hit a store, but, I set my alarm for 4:45 PM instead of AM. The alarm went off at the second setting of 7:00 which was when the store opened.
Oh well.

Anyway, with all the craziness of the holidays, remember to take the time to thank God for everything he's given you. (Even that crazy relative you may only see once in a while.)

Caliber update

A year ago May, we bought a new car. Well, over the weekend (11/17), we broke the 30,000 mile mark on it.

Took a little less than 18 months to put that many miles on it.

The car is still working great! I enjoy it, still getting between 27 and 30 mpg, so that's not to bad.

I'm just glad I don't drive a lot, or that 30K could easily be much, much more.

Ouch

Ouch is actually an understatement.

My wife tells me I can be hurt doing the most ordinary things, and Friday was no exception!

I went to my grandparents to mow their yard. Not so much for the grass, but for the leaves. So I get there, get me a Dr. Pepper, and we talk for a while. I then go out, set my Dr. Pepper on the deep freeze, and proceed to mow.

I get finished up, and my grandpa went out for burgers, and anyone know me, knows I love burgers! Anyway, I go inside (with my Dr. Pepper) and sit and talk to my grandma.

While we were talking, I finished up my Dr. Pepper, and I tilted my head all the way back and tapped out the last few drops when something fell into my mouth. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was something that didn't go in a Dr. Pepper, so I make an eww type sound as I sit up in my chair to get rid of this intruder into my mouth.

Now, for those that don't know, my grandmother has always had a nice clean house. Always. So instead of just spitting out my pop all over her new wood floors, I try to spit it back into my can. And for the most part, I'm successful, but I did make a mess, which I felt really bad about. I rush into the kitchen and dump out the pop to see what was in it. And some of you may already know, but it was a BEE!!!! It must have flown into my pop while I was outside.

It was disgusting, but at least it wasn't a finger or something else.... wait.... ouch.... my tongue... it hurts... THAT BEE STUNG MY TONGUE!!!!

We've all been stung my bees I'm sure, but never in the tongue. This brings new meaning to the word pain. It made my ears hurt. Where I was stung swelled up a bit (but not chokingly big) I went to the bathroom to look at my tongue, not because of I needed a mirror, I could look on just about any flat surface at my grandmothers house and find a mirror, but for lighting. Anyway, what is that I see? That don't look right. Is it the stinger? So I ask

gra-ma, dhu you ave some twethers? (I told you my tongue hurt)

Well, we finally find some tweezers, and yep! It was the stinger, so I got it out about 5 minutes or so after getting stung! Well, my grandmother is now officially freaking out. She's ready for me to go to the hospital. I kept telling her I was going to be fine, but she knew I was just going to swell right up and die in front of her. So, to calm her down, I decided to call my wife... strike that, I'll call my mom, my wife would just laugh at me.

Well, I couldn't get my mom, so I call my wife. When she answered I started off with, don't laugh till we are done. And she confirmed what I told grandma, I would be alright. And my wife didn't dissappoint me either, before we hung up the phone, she was laughing!

And as an update, its been 29 hours since I got stung, and my tongue is still sore. Not real bad, but sore.

Happy Birthday Oklahoma!

Today is officially Oklahoma's 100th Birthday.

Oklahoma became the 46th State on November 16th 1907.

Weather

You know, there are days that I find the weather really amusing.

Like last night.

We had a Freeze Warning and a Fire Weather Watch.

Something just not right about that.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Today is my baby girl's birthday. She turned 19 today.

My how the time has flown by.

Walk Score

Over at Roemerman on Record, I learned a an interesting site called Walk Score.

Long story short, it tells you how walkable the location you enter.

My house got a Walk Score of 77 out of 100. What this score means is it is Very Walkable. It's possible to get by without owning a car.

Noodling

Ok, I'm sitting here this evening and doing some channel surfing to find something to watch. I stumbled upon a show on PBS on noodling.

PBS. Public Broadcasting... Noodling.

Something wrong about that having a show on PBS on noodling.

Did I mention its and hour long show?!?!?

Oh, and the name of the show? Okie Noodling

Breaks!

100_6519
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

OK. So I went to change the front breaks on the truck. This is the same truck we just took to Arkansas and then drove through the mountains in. Well, here is one of the break pads. The top one is the new one. See how thick that is? The bottom one was what I took off the truck. All 4 of them looked that way.

That there is what we call metal on metal... Not a good thing.

I got them all fixed up, and took it for a spin. Works real nice.

Funny thing is, last night I was working on computers, this morning, I was working on cars.

Computers

Tonight, I did some computer work for a mother of one of my friends. She got a new computer (Windows Vista) and was having problems with her printer. It was an old printer and a new computer. She'd gone to Best Buy and got a LPT to USB converter, and had it working once, but kept going and got it messed up. I had it mostly working once, but had problems, so I stopped messing with it after a while.

Then her biggest problem was that she couldn't get some games from Pogo.com to work. So, I looked at all the usual suspects. Virus scanner, fire wall, spyware blocker, IE settings. Nothing I changed seemed to help. Then I tracked it down to the version of Java she was using. So, I upgraded her java. No dice. Ended up removing java and installing an older version. That finally did it.

Of course it was going to take 40 minutes to download version 1.4 over her dialup, so I left, came home, downloaded it and put it on my USB drive, and went back to her house in about 15 minutes.

Did a few other misc items, but on the bright side, it'll pay for the brakes I'm planning on putting on the truck Friday.

Vacation!!!

Thursday, we got away on a badly needed vacation.

As I discussed in September, we went to Crater of Diamonds State Park. We ended up taking our pickup truck since we couldn't get everything we were taking into the Caliber. So, after getting it loaded up, we hit the road around 10:00 Thursday morning, and we were all excited!

Things were going basically as planned until somewhere in Arkansas I noticed the truck pulling to the left pretty bad. My wife asked if we had a flat. And she was right, we did. So we pulled into a driveway just a bit away to change it, ESPECIALLY since there was no shoulder on the road!

So, we pull into these peoples yard to change the tire, and we had never changed the tire on the truck before. And of course, the jack etc was under the back seat of the truck, so we had to unload the inside of the truck to get it all out. Then we had to figure out how to get the tire down. Things were going pretty well. When I was trying to get the lug nuts off, the ratchet was working right, and my boy said, turn it around. Course that worked. We got the spare on and the truck reloaded, and off we went. I was a bit worried about the tire since it had never been used since we've had the truck, and who know how long before then. We got to the next town, and they had a Walmart! So, we stopped and I went in to find a tire. They had the size our truck used for 80 each, so I got 2. Come to find out, they only had 2 of that size.

So while we waited on the truck, we walked a few blocks to a mexican restaurant (YUMMY) for some lunch. Now, the problem was, we took our dog Gizmo with us on the trip. So, we couldn't exactly leave him in the truck, so we took him with us. But, you know how restaurants can be when it comes to dogs in the them (unless they are on the menu), so we put him in the pet carrier, and did our best to pretend he didn't exist. And since he's a pretty good dog and didn't make a peep, we didn't have any problems.

So, lunch in us and 2 new tires on the truck, we continued on our way. But it's not looking like we'll make the park before the 5:00 check-in, which wasn't that big of a deal, but I just didn't expect the trip to take that long.

The rest of the trip there was uneventful, well, except for a minor problem of finding the place once we got to Murfreesboro. It wasn't bad except for one part in town, the sign was less than clear (well, I think it's less than clear) so it took us a bit longer to find the park.

So, we got there, found our camp site and started setting up. My boy and I set up the tent as my wonderful wife was getting a lot of the other stuff unpacked and set up.

We managed to have a nice campfire every night which is just wonderful. There is nothing quite like a camp fire. We roasted some marshmallows and they ate some smores.

I managed to get up first every morning and get the campfire started to warm us up by, cause my oh my, it got quite chilly!

There is also something to be said for the cool, quiet mornings with the sunlight coming through the trees lighting up the smoke from early morning campfires.



Friday morning, we had breakfast, and then headed off for some diamond mining! Even Gizmo got to come with us. We all had a lot of fun, but after a couple hours, we went back to camp for some lunch.




My boy found some kids around his age to play with, so when I went to go back to look for more diamonds, he didn't want to go. I hunted for a few more hours. Neither of our hunts were very successful. Well, they were. We found lots of really cool rocks, but no diamonds.

Our air mattress had a leak Friday night, so that made for a rough night. My wife likes camping OK, as long as she has things like electricity, water, and her air mattress. My Saturday morning, it was completely flat! So, I had another trip to Walmart.

We did manage to go for a hike on Saturday, and that was nice. Saturday night, they had a little show that we went to. Which our son was much opposed to. We had a real good time. The amusing thing was my wife new nearly EVERY song they sung. I think I might have known 2 or 3.




Sunday morning we got up and torn down camp and was on the road by 10:15. Course we promptly stopped for breakfast. We then decided to go a different way back then we took there, so we meandered our way home. We managed to go on part of the Talamena drive.





It was a really nice trip. Really needed.

My boy told me Thursday night that the best part of this camping trip was that

1. Mom was with us.
2. Gizmo came too.
3. Digging for diamonds.
4. Hiking.

Though after the diamond mining, I think he switched 3 and 4.

For those that care, the fall foliage of the Talamina drive was just starting. Peak will probably happen in the next couple weeks.

I've added more pictures on Flickr.

Sister Visits

Saturday, while my boy was playing the PS2, he was getting frustrated at a part and stopped for a couple minutes. Then he sighed really big. I asked him what was wrong and he said

"I just saw this picture of Sissy. I sorta miss her."

It was the cutest thing you had ever seen. I told my wife that, and I guess she called our girl up, and she and her dog came by for a visit Sunday afternoon.

She spent a lot of time with her brother, and that really made me proud. With so many years between them, it's not really be the easiest for either for them. Both being only kids, and at the same time, not.

It was really neat sitting back and watching them sit, swing and talk on the swing set.


Later on, during her visit, they were looking at this spider that was on the swing set (not the picture above), and she tried to get him to touch it, but he wouldn't do it. She even offered him a dollar if he would touch it.

He turned, and looked at her and said

Which is more important? A dollar, or my life? It could be poisonous.

At which point she told him, he was a very smart boy.

That made me smile.

The verdict is...

NO! The tax did not pass!!!

This makes me so happy.

For those of you that voted, good for you.

For those of you that voted no, thanks!

C-ville Spoke

Well, Collinsville spoke it's peace about the River Tax.

Yes: 333
No: 1475
Total: 1808

And according to Tim at cvilleok.com, that was only 36% of the registered voters.

As of this moment, it appears the No votes are winning 51% to 48%, but it's only with 70% reporting.

We'll see.

Go Vote

Tomorrow (or today if you are reading this Tuesday) the poles are open concerning the County River Tax for the Arkansas River.

I'll proudly be voting NO.

Not because I don't think the river doesn't need to be developed, but this isn't the way to go about it. Last month, I had stated some reasons, but the main one is I don't see any way this vote is good for the county. And since I don't live in any of the cities work is being planned for, it's defiantly out.

Now if I did live in one of those cities, then more reasons to vote NO tomorrow you can find here.

ARGH!

At 3:00 yesterday, I got paged and was on the call till 3:15 this morning, the problem wasn't resolved. I got back on a call at 10:00 for an hour, and while the DBA's rebuilt the DB, I mowed my and my grandparents yard. Then, at 3:00 this afternoon, I got on the call again.

It's now 6:00 and I'm still on the call. No hope in sight.

16.25 hours and counting.

UPDATE:
18.5 hours... problem FINALLY resolved.

UPDATE 2:
19.25 hours... hopefully this will be the last call. This is getting crazy. At least me and my boy got dinner and were on our way home before I got paged again.

Lost

Here it is the end of September. The new shows and new seasons are coming on. But where is Lost?

I think it must be Lost. :)

I did some searching, and according to SpointerFix.com, it looks like we wont see Season 4 of Lost till Februrary.

October Camping Trip

We finally got our Fall Break Camping trip scheduled today.

We are going to go to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. We initially were going to go to Devil's Den (AR), Robber's Cave (OK), or Roaring River (MO), but all three were out of reserveable camp sites. Since the were out, we started looking elsewhere. We almost went with Roman Nose (OK), but I wasn't sure. Then I found Bull Shoals (AR). It had hiking, camping, fishing in a lake or river. It sounded great. Plus the town also had a cave. So, I went to reserve, and none were available. I guess everyone is going camping that weekend. Then I found Crater of Diamonds. It sounded great, and they had availability... can't beat that!

My boy loves rocks! And even that statement is probably an understatement. So the opportunity for him to dig for diamonds and other stones is a real treat for him. Plus, we'll have hiking trails we'll take and who knows what else. Plus with the trip scheduled in October, hopefully we'll have some nice fall foliage too!

Roaring River Men's Retreat

100_6289
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

I had a great time this weekend. The fishing this year was harder than last. I'm not sure why, but Thursday and Friday were killers as far as getting my limit. Saturday, luckily, was much smoother.

My dad and I didn't get our long hike in cause of how long it took us to get our limit on Friday, but we did manage to go on a small hike.

Saturday, after we got our limit, we walked around and took some pictures. This one is where Roaring River starts.

The Worship service each night was great. And I really enjoyed hearing 30+ men just sing praises to God. Wow!

100_6281
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

Oh, and here is one of those pesky little fish that gave me such a hard time this week.

It really was a great trip!

I have a few more pictures on my Flickr account if you're interested.

Talk like a Pirate Day Update

Talk like a pirate day was a blast. I had a lot of fun with it, and made just about everyone I met laugh. I even got several people to try it, though one couldn't even manage an "Arrrr". I found that amusing.

I hoped eveyone else had a good day as well.

Well, I'm off to Cassville, MO. I'm going on a men's retreat up there, and plan on doing some Trout Fishing!!! I can't wait.

Talk like a Pirate Day

Wednesday is Talk like a Pirate Day! In fact, every September 19th is.

Try to have fun with it everyone.

Aye, Der be much fun to be 'ad. Savey?

Okie Blog Awards

Alrighty. Yes, I know. everyone is shocked that I'm posting again! Who knows, this may be a new trend.

The reason for this post is to brag on my brother-in-law who runs the blog 4 Color Commentary which is a comic book related blog.

Anyway, he has been nominated for an Okie Blog Award. The award he's up for is the Best Culture Blog.

So, if you are from Oklahoma, and have an active blog, head on over and vote for him.

And while you're at it, you might want to stop by his blog and take a look-see.

It's official, I'm old

Today is my 35th birthday, and it's bugging me a bit.

I don't think it's the age itself that's bothering me. It's the fact that when I fill out forms, I'll no longer be in the 2x-34 age category, I'll be in the 35-50 or whatever it is.

35-50!!! They might as well sign me up for AARP!!!

Anyway, I come home from work today, I look through the mail. I had 3 birthday cards and some mail from AARP telling me I qualify for their life insurance policy!!!!

WHAT?!?!?

Now I really feel old.

But the day ended well with my wonderful wife grilling me steak and shrimp for dinner and get getting me a new stove for camping!

Sex

Wow, very long time since I last posted.

Last night, my boy and I were watching TV when a commercial came on with kids talking, telling their parents to talk to them about sex.

After about the 3rd one I'd seen that evening, my boy looks at me and asks. "What's sex?"

So I explained that sex is something God gave a man and woman that's really nice and it's how babies are made. And just like the commercial said, it should be saved till he's married. That's also how God made it.

He was like, "OK" and he moved on to other conversations.

I'm sure that will be the first of many other conversations to come. Just wasn't expecting the conversation at 7.

River Tax

Well, I'm sitting here running another 101+ temp again for the 3rd time this week (I was "normal" yesterday") and the urge struck me to talk about the River Tax. Why? No clue, but why not.

What do I know about the River Tax? Not a whole lot, and I'll happily admit that.

• Do I think developing the Arkansas River in Tulsa would be a good thing? Sure do. Shoot, it's working for Jenks, especially if the Drillers move down there.
  
• Do I think we needs to be a tax for it? I'm not really convinced one way or the other.
  
• Do I think there needs to be a county tax for it? Nope.

Here is the deal. There are shopping centers going up all over the place. Nice ones that people come from all over. Shoot, I know people from the Sand Springs area that frequent the Owasso shopping Center, and that's just one example.

Concerning a county tax, I'm not sure how having a tax to build at the river will help the Collinsville economy. Nope, don't see it at all. I do, however, see how it could benefit Tulsa.

There has to be some rich person out there that feels the need to get richer and develop the area with private funds. There's gotta be. And if not, any rich person that wants to do that, they can give me their money, and I'll get richer doing it.

Email or comment if you need to know who to make the check out to.

Happy "Birthday"

Today is my daughters "7th" birthday.

Yes, my almost 19 year old daughter turns 7 today. It was 7 years ago today that her adoption was final.

Every year, I have bought her a card and a small present. The card always reads which birthday it is. She ran across her 5th birthday card a few weeks ago. This is a little something that we've always done that's special to both of us.

First Day of 2nd Grade

Today was his first day in Second grade.
He is getting so big! It really can just break your heart sometimes watching. We took him to school and walked him to his class (like normal on the first day of school). Tomorrow, he'll ride the bus to school as he continues this grand adventure!

And as in Kindergarten and in first grade, we again took his picture on the first day of school.

Compilng

This is just to funny not to share. Of course, it may only be funny since it's the line of work I'm in...


And I've done stuff like this while compiling. hehe

Computer Room

Now that my daughter has moved out, we now have another room.

This weekend, my wife and I painted over the pink & black, and moved in some stuff. The room now has a TV, DVD, satelite, and PS2. My computer is also in here, and we've also got a recliner.

We'll keep our eyes out for a few things to finish off the room. I want to set up a second computer. My wife also wants to get a different chair.

It's been a long weekend, but now it's done... (well, we still have to finish cleaning the other room).

*sigh*

There are days I wish I could turn in my "Daddy card".

Confusion

Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?

It's Just Not Fair!!!

It's not I tell you!!!

Day's like this I was a Canadian.

Win a Trip to Outer Space!!!

Pokemon

Back at the beginning of the summer, I promised my boy that once HE read 10 books, I'd get him some Pokemon cards that he wanted so badly.

Last week, while he and my wife were at Falls Creek, he finally read his 10th book. So today, we picked him up a small Pokemon kit. It basically works on teaching him how the game works.

After getting home from the store, we read the instructions, and played a couple games.

I won the first game, and he won the second.

We had a lot of fun (even if it was Pokemon)

Vacation Journal - Day 7 & 8

Friday 6/22

When we got up Friday, we weren't 100% sure what the plan was. We decided to head on over to Fort Worth and visit my wifes sister. We talked to her that morning, and she was excited to have us, so, we have our plan.

We got up and packed up and went to Denny's for Breakfast. That was some good eating!!! I love eating breakfast out. We then headed out. We got to New Orleans a couple hours later I guess. That place is still all torn up. It really surprised me. We did go into the French Quarter, and we stopped and walked around Bourbon street for a bit. We stopped by an old drug store that had an old soda fountain, but unfortunately, the fountain was broken. We went back to the van, and headed out. Didn't even eat in town. We missed a lot of what Bourbon street is like by being there in the day, but with my 7 year old with us, we thought that was best.

We got to Fort Worth about 8:30 or so, and my sister-in-law cooked lasagna and garlic toast! yummy! We got to see her new house, and just have a nice quiet evening.

Saturday 6/23

The highlight of the day was probably breakfast. My father-in-law and sister-in-law cooked breakfast. It was so tasty! We loaded the van for the last time, and headed home. Not long after we had left, we noticed a smell. Cat Pee. We decided that one of her cats marked our suite case. That made for a long drive, but it would be our shortest drive of the trip, so that wasn't too bad.

We finally got home around 4:30 I think. It was good to finally be home!

Vacation Journal - Day 6

Thursday 6/21

We woke up today, had breakfast and loaded up to hit the road home. We decided not to go home the same way we came, and since I'd never been to Florida before, and we were that close, we headed for Florida.

For the most part, the day was pretty insignificant. while we were in Mississippi, we hit a long line of traffic. It was bad. After being in line for about 30 minutes or so, we finally got to a sign that said road construction, 3 miles. We were still 3 miles from the construction that was causing the problem!!! My wife was driving at the time, and she noticed fish jumping in the swamp next to us. She hollered up at some kids that were hanging out the window in front of us to see if they saw the fish jumping. At one point, I thought we were going to do a Chinese fire drill. During the traffic, I did manage to get a cool picture of a Mississippi sunset though.


Other than the long traffic jam, nothing major happened. I guess the highlight of the day was when we stopped for a hotel room in Buloxi, Mississippi. We looked up a hotel on the GPS and went to it. It was a bit off the main road, but you can usually find better rates there. Anyway, we get there about 8:30 or so, and the office was closed!!! We couldn't believe it. Ok, we'll try again. I found another Hotel real close, we went to it, and when I saw it, I told my wife to just keep driving. hehe It wasn't somewhere we wanted to stay.

When we had got off the highway, there was a hotel that said "Super Low Rates", so we went back there, and it was $88/night, and they didn't have any rooms with 2 beds, and I was NOT sharing a bed with my squirmy son. We went to another place, my father-in-law and I both went in. He ordered a room with a single bed, and wanted to use a senior citizen discount. She told him $55+tax. He said great and took it. He walked out to the van, and I told the girl. "I need a room with 2 beds, and do you have a traveling with your in-laws for 7 days discount?"
She laughed, and then gave me the same rate she gave my father-in-law! That made me happy.

So, we had a shower, and got to watch a little TV on our possessed TV. It would just randomly shut off. Sometimes it would come back on, and sometimes it wouldn't.

Schmap NY Guide

One of my pictures was published in the Schmap New York Guide.

It was a picture I took of Radio City Music Hall a couple years ago.

Sorta cool.

Sick and Tired

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired! I've been sick now for 11 days straight!!! I had a fever over 100 for 9 of those days. One day, it got to 104.

I'm coughing and I'm quezy. I'm cold and I'm hot, all at the same time.

I went to the doctor Monday, and he said it was either a chest cold or viral bronchitis, and we were trying to make sure it didn't turn into pneumonia.

Now, I don't know what to think. I just can't wait to get well.

Vacation Journal - Day 5

Wednesday 6/20

I slept late again today. It was between 9:30 and 10:00 before I got up; crazy long for me. Walked out onto the dock this morning, and I saw a dolphin really close up. He was close enough for me to hear him breath out when he surfaced. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera, so no pictures.

Later, my wife and I went for a walk. We saw what might have been a hawk. I’m not really sure what it was, but it made a noise I’ve never really heard before. He was smart whatever it was, as we positioned ourselves to see it better, it moved, so I never could get a good view with either the camera or binoculars.

After my in-laws came back from their jaunt downtown, my wife and I decided to head out (without our boy) and do a little shopping out on Tybee Island again. We really like that little island. We did some shopping, had a light lunch, walked out onto the fishing pier, did some more fishing and even played a game of pool. Afterward, we decided to go back to the North Beach Grill from yesterday, and have a drink and look at the ocean. We might have stayed where we were at, but between the rain and the crowds of tourists, we decided the other place would be better. Plus, it would give me a chance to take a good picture of the lighthouse.

We took our time there, and just sorta soaked it all in. It was really nice, and the time was all too quickly slipping away, and we will have to get back in the van, and leave, back to Oklahoma, back to the daily grind, the jobs, responsibilities, and everything else. So, we took some time taking pictures to help us remember.

We came back, and I got probably the best view of a shrimp boat so far as it was anchored not far from our dock.

It was then time for dinner. We had some good shrimp, red potatoes, corn on the cob, summer sausage, and some crabs I caught today (about 7 or so). It was good, scratch that, it was real good!

We sat down, and then planned out route home. We decided not to go back the way we came, so the plan now is to head down to Jacksonville, Florida and then over to New Orleans. Then head home from there. We’ll spend the night somewhere on the way back. But at this moment, not sure where that somewhere will be.

Vacation Journal - Day 4

Tuesday 6/19

What a day! We got up and around, and headed to the Pirate’s House Restaurant for lunch, where we knew that we would meet, Captain Jack Sparrow. We wouldn’t tell my boy that he was going to be there, that was our surprise, but we did say we were headed to the Pirate’s House to eat. And there were all sorts of real pirates that have once been in that place. He was intrigued. Well, he noticed the Captain, and was excited, but kept his excitement down. Anyway, Captain Jack stopped by and chatted with us, and that was wonderful. I couldn’t tell if me or my boy was having a better time. When he found out we were from Oklahoma, he said, “Ahhh, foreigners then. If I’d known that, I’d not’ve sat down.” In the way that only Captain Jack could do, then he stood up, and left.

He came back, sat down, and chatted with us for a while. It was excellent!

Later, when we got back to the house, he was talking to his Nanny, and said, “I didn’t know Captain Jack was real.” Too good!

After dinner, we went down the river front and did a little site seeing and some shopping. Except the fact my boy wanted to come back here so he could play the silly PS2 that was here (we didn’t bring it), it was really nice. I finally threatened him that if he brought up the PS2 again, he’d not play it for the week, or be able to even watch the other kids. The complaining stopped!

Today, we also did some crabbin’. We managed to catch at least 12 crabs. Tomorrow, there is supposed to be some sort of crab stew/soup, or something. We’ll see how that goes.

On one of the tips out to the dock to check on our traps, I FINALLY saw the dolphins that I’ve heard everyone talk about. Seems they come into the river and eat the shrimp that have come out of the marsh. It was cool!

As I sit here and write this, it is raining. I like the rain. Always have. There is a good chance of thunderstorm tomorrow, so we’ll have to see if we’ll get to go to the ocean again tomorrow or not.

Vacation Journal - Day 3

Monday 6/18

Today, my wife and father-in-law made breakfast! It was so good! Scrambled eggs, home made biscuits, and sausage! That’s how every day should start out I really think!

My wife and I went for a walk, and looked around, and here are a few more pictures.

We spent the rest of the morning, trying to figure out what we should do. We finally decided we’d go to the ocean and play today. So, we got around, and headed to Dollar General for the things you forget to pack. You know, beach towels, sun screen, beach toys, that sort of thing. We then head to a grocery store (next door to save time) and buy drinks. Next stop, Payless to buy me some beach going shoes. Didn’t get the (payless version of ) Crock flip-flops since they were not in my size, but did get a cool pair. And my wife got the black pair of crock-flops that she really wanted for Mother’s day. (I got here the white ones cause I didn’t realize she specifically asked for black.

Anyway, we are now done shopping, so it’s off to the beach!

We have a great time! Shoot, saying we had a great time is an understatement! The sand was a fine grain sand, so it was nice. There were people around, but not so many you couldn’t have fun. My boy even found a few kids to play with.

We all got to play together, and that was what mattered. I even got a chance to get out and take some pictures. I wished we were there at sun-up instead of sun set cause some of the pictures I wanted to take were backlit. But I still had some wonderful pictures!

After we finally left, we decided to find a place to eat, and have some sea food. I mean, we ARE at the beach. We ended up eating at a little place right next to where we parked, the North Beach Grill.

We asked for their specials, and they started rolling off steak specials. We informed the waiter that we were from Oklahoma. We have cattle. What do they have in the seafood category? He chuckled and proceeded with other specials. We started out with some chips and salsa. And after just that, my boy said we should eat here for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I couldn’t really blame him, cause it was good. We ordered our food. And while waiting on it, my boy got up to go to the bathroom, took about 3 steps, stopped, and projectile vomited!!! It was so gross, and I felt so bad! Luckily, the people closest to it (which was on the far side of us) had a little one, so I’m sure it wasn’t the worse they had ever seen. I felt so bad though. I carried my boy to the restroom, and checked on him. He said he was fine, and wanted to stay and eat (our food hadn’t even gotten there yet) so I had him wash his hands and face and to finish using it. Everyone there was excellent, especially our waiter who donned on some rubber gloves, got a bucked of water, and proceeded to clean up the mess! We had at least 2 of the staff stop by and check on our boy. That really impressed me. We still have not clue what caused it. My guess is some sea water in the belly, followed by sweet tea and chips and HOT salsa.

Dinner came, and it was wonderful! My boy had a burger and fries. I had a crab cake sandwich, and my beautiful wife had a sautéed shrimp dinner. There isn’t much to say about dinner. It was just excellent. Like my son, I would love to go back there before we leave and have more, but part of the fun and exciting part of vacations, is going and doing things you’ve not done before. (Second vacations are for repeat visits!!!)

As we left, I turned, and the moon, mars/Venus and the lighthouse on Tybee Island were all there a-glow! It was too cool. I tried taking a picture of it, but I’m not real happy with they way they turned out, but this one isn’t too bad.

As we left, we made sure we had our camera out, cause we saw a sign coming into the island that is unlike any sign us land-lovers have ever seen, and we just HAD to get it’s picture.

Vacation Journal - Day 2

Sunday 6/17

When we finally stopped for breakfast in Alabama and I was ready! When the guy asked me what I wanted to drink, I just sat there looking at him like he was speaking a foreign language.

Later, after my 3 hours of sleep, I was riding along, and we kept seeing what looked like the arms that come down in front of train tracks. We couldn’t figure out what they were for, well, at one of the stops we took I asked. They use it to block traffic when evacuating for hurricanes. Made since, just not something you see in Oklahoma.

We got here around 5:30ish or so on Sunday evening. Just in time for dinner. First, I’d like to say thanks to Dave for loaning me his GPS system; we had very little problems finding this place with it (just a bit but that was because of road construction that it didn’t know about, which was around the town we ate breakfast in).

Anyway, off that tangent. We ate, and then I walked around the plantation a bit. Here is where we are at.