Where does the time go?

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since I posted anything here. So much has changed, yet so much is the same. There is no excuse really, just plain busy. Well, I guess Facebook has also detracted a bit from keeping this up. So let's pretend that it hasn't been a year and a half and see what happens.

We have just finished up another cookie season in Girl Scouts. I am very proud of Nicole. She made her goal to sell 1200 boxes of cookies. She actually ended up selling 1224. That's up a bit from her total of 1121 last year. She was also a Cookie Captain this year. In this program, she spent an additional 25 hours promoting and mentoring younger troops during the cookie sale. So what does all this effort get her? Well, to start with, she has earned over $300 in cookie dough which she will be using to pay for her week of summer resident camp. She enjoyed Camp Texlake so much last year, she begged to go back again this year. Registration is already in and we just received her confirmation packet. She will be attending Glamazons June 14-18. This is the week right after our local day camp.

Speaking of day camp, I have taken on the role of co-director for Camp Howdy day camp this year. Last year, I was an assistant co-director or DIT (director in training) as we liked to call ourselves. So far, we have picked the theme, fitness and nutrition, and the name ~ Camp Howdy All-Stars. It's a great opportunity to teach the girls about life-long health and wellness.

We two weeks into Ryan's soccer season. He is playing for the same coach as last year. They are called the Strikers this year. What a great group of boys! They have come a long way since they started playing together and it shows in their game. They are passing well and their defense is incredible. They are 2-0 so far and have not given up a single goal.

With spring upon us, our adult sports have also started. I am playing softball for a couple of teams and acting as a sub whenever time allows. The past couple of weeks have been almost too cold for softball, but it will warm up soon enough. We also have two weeks of soccer under our belts. Both Terry and I play for Macropods. We are 1-1. I am also playing goalie for the soccer moms. We don't win very often, but we never give up either.

I guess one of the biggest changes since the last time I posted is my physical condition. I have been going to boot camp with Innovative Fitness for almost a year now. It's been great. All together I have lost 35-40 pounds (depends on the day) and am in the best shape of my life. I have taken up running for fun and semi-competitively. On the competitive side, I mostly run local 5Ks for charities. However, on Valentine's day I ran my first 1/2 marathon in Austin. It was the biggest run that I have ever participated in. There were over 8,000 runners in the 1/2 and over 12,000 combined running in the 1/2 and full marathon. It was incredible to say the least. I finished the 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 47 minutes which placed me 32 out of 739 in my division (Female; 35-39). Not bad for my first time around. I don't know if I am really interested in improving that time or not. The next big adventure will be to run a full marathon, but that is going to take a bit more training. Maybe next year.

I think for now, I will stick with the fun stuff and leave things like work updates for another time and maybe another place. I really am going to try to do better at this. If nothing else, it will help me remember all the fun stuff we do.

Vacation 2008 - Part V - Cumberland Falls, KY

After the short visit with Terry's uncle, we headed to Cumberland Falls to meet back up with Chelle. Cumberland Falls is a beautiful place. We all walked around the tame, tourist side of the river to see the falls. One of the coolest features of this particular waterfall is that on nights of a full moon a "moonbow" can be seen in the mist of the waterfall. Unfortunately, we missed the full moon by a couple of days. It would not have matter though, because we were not going to be there at night anyway. One of the interesting observations that I made was that some people completely ignore posted warnings. Just up steam from the falls, there were signs all over the place warning that there should be no wading or swimming in the water. Makes sense to me considering an accident could lead to someone taking an unpleasant trip over the falls. I can't tell you how many people we saw wading in the area despite the threat of fines and jail time for doing so. I mean, it's one thing to endanger your own life, but do you really need to take the kids out there too? Just a point to ponder. . .

Before leaving the park, we drove to the other side of the river so that we could hike the 1-1/2 mile Eagle Falls Trail. There were lots of cool rock formations and gorgeous views of the falls. The trail ended at Eagle Falls. A secluded area with a nice little water fall and rocks to climb on. We passed a few hikers on the trail, but we had the whole Eagle Falls area to ourselves. Ryan really enjoyed the hiking, while I don't think Tela liked it so much. Nicole and Kailey enjoyed it. Ayden did wonderfully on the way to Eagle Falls. He needed some help coming back, but a 1-1/2 mile hike for a four-year-old is asking a lot. I had a wonderful time and would enjoy going back there some day.

Vacation 2008 - Part IV - Uncle Juniors

After the thrills of Kings Island, we parted ways with my sister's family as they headed to a family reunion in Kentucky and we headed to Springfield, OH to visit Terry's Uncle Junior and Aunt Marylin. We had a relaxing couple of days to visit and catch up on the family. Junior and Marylin love telling stories of when the kids were young. They just celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary on July 5 and have lived in the same house for 46 years!

Vacation 2008 - Part III - Cincinnati

You may ask, "Why in the world would you want to Cinciannti?" Well, I have 14 reasons and they all go vacation inreally fast. Cincinnati is the home of Kings Island amusement park which has 14 roller coasters on site. My sister and I both love roller coasters and Ryan is becoming a roller coaster freak so this was a great place for us to visit. That's not to say that there was not plenty of fun things for the rest of the family to do. They have a whole section of the park called Nickelodeon Universe where you can see characters from Rugrats, SpongeBob, and many other Nick shows. We saw a show featuring Dora the Explorer and Boots.










The biggest roller coaster that Kings Island is known for is The Beast. Built in 1979, The Beast is the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,400 feet. It nearly reaches speeds of 70 mph and has two big drops, one 135' and one 141'. The ride lasts for nearly 4 minutes. As you expect from wooden roller coasters, The Beast is one rough ride. One of the other big attractions is the Son of Beast, which is also a wooden roller coaster. The Son of Beast is the tallest wooden roller coaster, holds the top two positions for the tallest wooden coaster drops, and reaches a top speed of 78mph. Now I am not a big fan of wooden coasters because of the roughness of the ride, but Ryan really enjoyed the Son of Beast and wanted me to ride it with him a second time. Now if you want to talk about an ultra-cool, adrenaline rushing coaster, you have to ride the Firehawk. You ride this coaster in a laying down position and you actually get the feel of flying while soaring through the 1/2 mile track with 5 inversions and a top speed of 51 mph. If the line had not been so long for this one, we would have ridden it several times. I also enjoyed Vertigo where you go through the track forward then take a return trip backward. Then, there was Vortex which has 6 inversions and reaches speeds up to 55 mph.

On the lighter side, Ayden rode his first "big boy" rides. Some by himself and some with Ryan. There were even a few rides that Camden could enjoy. He really like the Nick-o-Round, the carousel in Nick Universe. He rode that so many times and cried when it was time to get off. Nicole really liked the Rugrats Runaway Reptar roller coaster, where the track was on top and your feet dangled. She doesn't mind going fast, but doesn't care at all for loops or going too high.

There was so much to do that two days was just not enough. We didn't even make it to the water park!

Vacation 2008 - Part II - St. Louis

Things you should know about our trip: a) there were 10 of us traveling together in two cars and b) half of those travelers were 14 or under. We drove Terry's truck, which was a good thing considering all the things we thought we needed for the two week adventure, and my sister's family drove their minivan. Okay, so we left OKC on Monday and headed northeast toward St. Louis. Would you believe the 10 of us were ready, completely packed, and on the road by 8:30 am? You already know my family (Terry, Tela, Nicole, Ryan and Me). My sister's family includes Donnie, Chelle, Kaily, Ayden and Camden. I'm sure that I have talked about them before, but I don't think I have formally introduced them to you yet.

Our first stop was a restroom break at McDonald's in Vinta, OK. The only reason it is worth mentioning is that this particular McDonald's used to be the largest one in the world and is actually built over the interstate. Since we were stopped anyway, we raided the snack basket to tide us over until lunch.

By the time we hit Springfield, MO, we were getting hungry so we decided to stop at the nearest Steak N Shake. I really wish we had these in Texas. I learned an important lesson with this first stop. When asking Mio (my friendly little GPS) for the nearest location (especially if you are looking for a particular restaurant, store, gas station, etc), be sure the location actually falls on the route. I just picked the closest Steak N Shake. By closest, Mio means closest "as the crow flys", as my sister would say. So we ended up way farther off the interstate in Springfield than we really needed to be. Sadly, enough we passed two other Steak N Shakes on the way back to the interstate with one being right off the interstate. Fortunately, everyone was in good spirits and didn't mind the scenic tour of Springfield all that much.

We didn't have to stop again until we reached our hotel in St. Louis. We stayed in a very nice Town Place Suites. All 10 of us stayed in a two bedroom suite with one bathroom. It wasn't bad at all. Chelle and Donnie got the bigger room because they had to set up the bed for the baby, but Terry and I got the room with the TV. Not that we even had time to turn it on, but it was there if we wanted to watch it.

No time to rest though, once we were settled in we headed for the Gateway to the West, the St. Louis Arch. Terry, Tela and I had been there before, but Nicole and Ryan had not. Terry and Tela had absolutely no desire to go to the top of the arch so I went up with the kids. They were not at all scared and rather enjoyed looking out over the city.

It was time for dinner and we had spotted a White Castle just down from our hotel so that is where we headed next. Terry's Mom was once managed a White Castle so going there brings back some fond memories of her. As you can see, he also likes the little White Castle burgers. It was tough getting that Crave Case away from him. After dinner, Donnie took the kids to the pool and I went to do laundry. The plan was to wash our dirty clothes at Chelle's house before we left, but her brand new washer quit working so we were out of luck. By the time that was finished, we were all pretty much wiped out and headed to bed.

Before leaving St. Louis on Tuesday, we visited the St. Louis Science Center. Admission was free and they had all kinds of hands-on science exhibits. I was disappointed that the DNA section was being remodeled, but there were lots of other cool things to do. They had an actual child mummy on display. That was pretty creepy.

Once we left the science museum, we wanted to have some lunch before heading to Cincinatti. I learned another valuable lesson concerning Mio. Mio cannot distinguish between an actual restaurant and business office. Mio showed a Pasta House just down the street from the museum. It ended up being a corporate office for Pasta House. Tried the next one on the list and it ended up being a catering facility. So we ended up eating at Denny's.

With full belly's and empty bladders, we were ready to press on to Cincinnati.

Vacation 2008 - Part I - Family Time

Well, it's been a while and it has been so busy, I haven't had time to sit down to write. Maybe if I get this started, I can get a complete post done soon. The most notable adventure since the last post was our vacation. Two weeks off, roaming around the country side.

We started with a simple trip to Oklahoma for a bit of family time. We left on Friday, 6/15, and completely surprised Mom and Dad since we weren't suppose to leave until Saturday. You should have seen the looks on their faces when Nicole and Ryan started pounding on the door wanting in. Since they didn't know we were coming, they had already had dinner so Terry and I went to Taco Mayo, my favorite visit place to eat when we visit OK. It's not that it's fancy or all that great, it's just that we don't have one in College Station. Anyway, after dinner, we dropped by to see Nanny and Granddad. They were surprised to see us, too. It was a nice little visit, Terry hadn't seen Nanny and Granddad's new apartment. My aunt and cousin was there visiting when we arrived. We don't get to see the extended family much since we live in Texas and there is always a family feud happening so it was nice to see them. Sometimes, my aunt says some strange things. She found out that I was playing softball and soccer, she said that I should act my age. Not sure what that was suppose to mean, but I enjoy being active and don't plan on stopping any time soon.

We spent the night at Mom and Dad's house and enjoyed a down-home fish fry on Saturday. Dad had caught a mess of fish a few weekends back. He had also taken Tela and Kailey fishing and they caught more fish. Let me tell you, there was a lot of fish. But if you ask me, I think Camden liked the pudding the best!

Saturday night we went to Chelle and Donnie's since we were going to church with them on Sunday morning. Camden was dedicated to the Lord at the Sunday morning service. What a special time!

Sunday night, Chelle and Donnie had asked me to play on their softball team. They had a double header. I should mention they play on a Little League field in Piedmont, OK. Yes, there is such a place. They even have a Sonic and Dollar General there. Anyway, playing on a Little League field was interesting. They had a bunch of different rules to keep the score from being run up to badly. I hit two balls over the fence, one was foul, but the other was a home run. . . very exciting.

Science Matters at Camp Howdy 2008

This past week was day camp at Camp Howdy and, boy, did we have a great week! It was hot and the programs were great. Each day we started with a flag ceremony and announcements, had
a program and craft activity, and did a lot of hiking. On Monday, the Chemistry Road Show came and Dr. Pennington showed us all sorts of neat chemistry experiments. Tuesday brought Dr. Yasskin from the Math Department at Texas A&M and his group engaging in some interesting hands on math activities. The Brazos Valley Natural History Museum came to visit on Wednesday. They brought some little critters like a hedgehog, a king snake, and some turtles to visit. Friday brought the A&M Consolidated High School robotics club. They talked about the engineering process and we made paper air planes. Let's not forget, Friday was water day! The girls had a blast getting wet playing water games.

I had a great assistant leader, Sissy, again this year. We had a great group of girls. We tried something different for the 5th grade units this year. Each day we did some extra outdoor cooking. Monday, we made s'mores in a solar oven made from a pizza box. Tuesday, we made ice cream in a bag. Wednesday, we talked about how to pack dry foods to take on a backpacking trip. We mixed instant potatoes with some seasoning, then added water to see how it tasted. We also used made scrambled eggs in a bag. Thursday was our big cook day. We made tacos/burritos with all the fixings, dirt bottom pie, and cheesy biscuits. We used a cardboard box oven to make the biscuits. Everything tastes better out at camp so needless to say we were all stuffed and there were hardly any leftovers.