Kids vs. Wild

Have you seen the Discovery channel show called Man vs. Wild? The premise of the show is extreme survival skills based on the military training and experience of host Bear Grylls, a (cute) British guy who was in special operations that is willing to go to such extremes as eating live snakes, grubs, worms, etc and even drinking his own urine...all for the benefit of the camera. Brian and the kids have spent time watching Man vs. Wild this past week. It is just about the only time I have seen them actually sit still for any length of time so I am not going to complain. The only bad thing is the side effect. It is like letting your three-year old son watch Power Rangers ... what does he do after the show ends?!? He karate chops his sister, right? Well, Brian and the kids decided to have their own "Kids vs. Wild" afternoon. Chase, Kenny, and Dylon were thrilled. Bethany went along just to be a good sport. What a good sister :)

First Brian took them out to the Twin Buttes to look for bugs and prickly pear cactus to eat. They all took large, dirty knives and machetes with them. I stayed home and did something domestic and normal.

Then they set up their "camp" -- a tarp on a rope. Sounds comfy, huh?

Some extra supplies -- water and popsicles (it was pretty hot).

An idea? Has he watched too much Man vs. Wild?

Unsuspecting prey?

Well, at least they cooked their grasshoppers before they ate them. Yes, they ate them!

I almost forgot ...

We took the kids to Outdoor World on the way out of San Antonio yesterday. Ok ... Really we wanted to go and made the kids go in with us. But it was pretty cool and we probably could have spent the entire day in there. I felt like a geek doing it, but I took pictures while we were there. I am sure my dad would have some things to say about the evils of capitalism and its power over all of us. Fortunately he never looks at my blog so we can go into stores like Outdoor World and act like little kids in a candy store without feeling guilty!

A Little "Me" Time

Brian's older kids, Dylon & Bethany are here visiting so Brian took some leave time to spend with everyone. He has been working crazy-long hours as a 1SG for the past 9 months and wanted to make sure he had time to spend with the kids while they were here. All four kids get along great and we are having a wonderful time together. Having said that ... I am exhausted! Brian has enough energy to keep up with the kids --- and apparently I don't! I think he is trying to make up for being stuck in his office for 9 months. Let me give you an example: We got home from San Antonio yesterday afternoon. The drive is about 3 1/2 hours. Unpacking the truck was a huge chore! We were tired, but needed to eat so Bethany and I went to the commissary to get enough groceries to make dinner and then went to Jennifer's house to pick up the dog. We were gone about an hour. When we got home Brian and the boys were all dressed and ready to go to the pool. We went over to the pool for a couple of hours, had dinner, then Brian was ready to go exercise. He went running while the kids and I hid in the house and recovered from his endless energy! So ... today I went to Pinky's and bought the supplies I needed for some much deserved "me time"!!!

Sea World

Brian and I took the kids to Sea World this week. The bad news is that it rained the entire time we were there. The good news is that because of the rain we saw this sign at every ride:

Tubing

We took the kids tubing in the lake earlier this week. It was fun and a good way to beat the heat.

Oklahoma City National Memorial

When we left Missouri we went through Oklahoma City to pick up my step-kids for a visit. We got to OKC a little early and decided to go see the Oklahoma City National Memorial. We hadn't been there in several years and I was surprised at how it looked. It was very touching and a good lesson for the boys. They really seemed to understand what happened and how it affected all of Oklahoma and America.

Missouri

We spent six days in Missouri with my friend Rebekah and her family. Rebekah and I became friends in 1994 when we endured the hell known as basic training. We sometimes go years without seeing each other, but the minute we are together we remember why we got along instantly...we have a lot in common and really enjoy spending time together :)

While we were in Missouri we camped at the Lake of the Ozarks Recreation Center. It was really nice there and we had a great time. The "purpose" of our weekend was Rebekah's yearly HBLAMY mini-golf tournament. It was held at Pirate's Cove so we dressed up like pirates (a little bit anyway). On our last day together we took our kids to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO. The whole weekend was a lot of fun and went by way too fast. HBLAMY Beck!

Abilene

On July 12 (only 6 days after returning from NY) we embarked on our next adventure. We were heading to Missouri to visit my friend Rebekah and attend her HBLAMY mini-golf tournament. My car was in need of a 45,000 mile oil change so I scheduled my appointment for the morning of the 12th -- you see, the closest VW dealership is in Abilene which is 100 miles from here! Since we were heading through Abilene anyway we decided to stop for our oil change that morning. I asked the VW boy to check the pressure on my recently repaired tire. Apparently it wasn't very repaired because it was only holding 15 lb of air. We went down the road to a tire store and had the most interesting Texas morning I think we've had yet.

To get my tire off from the car I needed to unpack the entire trunk (and by the way we were camping in Missouri) just to get to a tiny little tool that would unlock one of the lug-nuts. So I unpacked the whole trunk and put everything in the parking lot. I asked our friendly tire man (Peter) if I could repack my trunk while he worked on my tire. He said he thought that would be ok so I packed it all back in there.

Then came the news that there wasn't a new matching tire in all of Abilene. I had two choices -- I could buy a tire that didn't match and spend $100 or I could drive on my full-size spare until I could get somewhere that had a matching tire. I decided to drive on my spare because I knew I could go to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City and get a new tire for free (we bought our tires through AAFES and had a warranty plan with them). So I got to unpack the trunk again!

By the time I was done unpacking the trunk there were workers and customers alike coming out to tell me how surprised they were that I had so much stuff in there. As I was out there sweating in the 90-something degree summer heat I was rethinking my great idea to bring our own firewood just because I had extra room (Brian had urged me to buy some at the campsite but I said "Why buy it when I have this right here?!?")

Meanwhile, the boys were inside the (air-conditioned) store hamming it up with Dale (I think he's the manager) and a customer named Scotty who kept them busy with tales of rattlesnake hunting. He apparently catches and sells hundreds of rattlesnakes each year. And where does he store them between the catch and the sale? ... In his basement, of course.... hundreds of them. I am thinking that someday we might see him on National Geographic or worse yet, Animal Cops! He gave the boys two large and noisy rattlesnake rattles to keep them busy during the last 650 miles of our trip. Thanks Dale & Scotty for keeping the boys busy. Thanks Peter for attempting to help me with my tire. Thanks to VW for making my car with a full-size spare so that I could drive all over the country with it this month! And thanks to AAFES and Tinker AFB for the new tire.

Oh, and BTW -- all of this was free ... the tire store didn't charge me anything because they said that we were the best entertainment they'd had all week!

She loves me!

My friend Mandy must love me enough to worry about my safety while we are here in Texas. I am assuming she read my blog today because this is what I got in my email:

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/tdr1.html

We're back home ... for sure!

Brian and I took Sammy and Sally for a walk after dinner tonight. We went out on our dirt bike/4-wheeler trail because it's fun for the dogs and we don't have to put them on a leash. We were about two minutes into the walk when I saw this:









Except when I saw it, it was still alive. And right on our trail!!

As I am typing this Brian and the boys are out back skinning it. Chase just came in and told me that they saw the heart still beating and could see what he had eaten!! I think I am going go follow my dad's advice for once and go shopping for some leather hiking boots.

Meet Sally

This is Sally. She's Jennifer & Scott's boxer pup. She is so cute and so sweet and so friendly and so darn fast! We absolutely can't keep up with her! We are pet sitting while her family is on vacation. She loves to play with Sammy and he is pretty tolerant considering he is an old boy who is used to tiny little dogs that are under 10 pounds. Kenny weighed Sally this morning and she is 27.5 pounds...a little bigger than Sam is used to! We are having fun with her and want to be first in line for adoption if the Starrs ever decide she is too much work for them!!

Home

Apparently our trip to NY wasn't eventful enough so we had to endure another crazy travel day on the way back to Texas yesterday ... The first thing that happened was Continental changing our second flight into Austin. I bought our tickets in February so I knew that some small scheduling changes could be expected. We were originally supposed to get in to Austin from Newark at 11:30 am. I thought that would be perfect because we have a looooong drive to our house from Austin. They cancelled that flight a couple of weeks ago and put us on a 2:15-5:18 flight. Continental was pretty accommodating when I called and let us change our first flight from 6:55 to 9:55 so that our layover would only be three hours instead of six. I thought that was nice considering that was the best they could do. The first flight went well and the second flight was slightly delayed due to maintenance problems. We got in around 6:45 and had our bags by 7:00. At 7:30 we were on the road and stopping to buy gas. Somewhere in between the airport and the gas station and the first five minutes on the road I ran over a nail. My tire went flat just as it started to pour cats & dogs. I aired it up enough to go to a Firestone. They wouldn't help because they were closing. I called USAA and they sent out roadside assistance. Yes, I know how to change a tire, but no, I was not thrilled about doing it in the rain after almost 12 hours of traveling. So we ate McDonald's for dinner (so healthy!) and waited. The guy that came out was nice enough and he got the job done. We were home around 12:30 am.

On the bright side ... I came home to an extremely clean house and a bunch of fresh groceries. I even had Klondike Bars (my favorite) in the freezer waiting for me. Yeah Brian!

We're home for five more days then we're heading up to Missouri for the HBLAMY Golf Tournament. I hope that trip is a lot less eventful that our NY trip!

First Haircut

PJ had her first haircut today. She went to Puppy Pals Pet Grooming in Central Square (aka my parents' grooming shop). Brandi (Shelley's girlfriend) and my mom made her look soooo beautiful!!!

Holly & PJ

Here are some pictures we took of Holly Berry Jo and Penelope Jean today. Holly is my parents' Yorkshire Terrier. Holly is five years old and PJ is just over four months now. Today Holly weighed in at 5.67 pounds and PJ weighed in at 5.65 pounds. They are having so much fun together! I think I should try to sneak Holly into PJ's travel bag and take them both to Texas with me. Do you think I'd get away with it?

Kenny

I swear I could devote an entire blog to the things Kenny says or does. He keeps me entertained every single day. While we were in Bainbridge for the dog show we went to a Cracker Barrel for dinner. He wanted to try to eat the lemon that was in my drink. He thought it was super-sour, but tasted good. He just kept eating it and making funny faces over and over. We were all laughing and I just had to snap a couple of pictures of the sour faces he was making.

Here's another silly Kenny story: He was playing in the side yard with Chase and my brother, Shelley. He made a "hook" to replace his hand out of a stick and a broken bungee cord.

Shelley asked him, "How would you pick your nose?" And he said, "Duh! With this hand!"

Corning Museum of Glass

My mom and I took the boys to the Corning Museum of Glass. Although it made me extremely nervous to take Kenny into a place entirely made with and filled with breakable objects, he did very well. Most everything was behind large, thick sheets of glass so he couldn't even get close enough to cause any damage. I made him keep his hands in his pockets through the part of the gift shop dedicated to expensive, fancy souveniers. He got to take his hands out in the "normal" gift shop.

This glass spider was only one of several tiny bugs and insects in a display of "bed bugs". The little glass figures were all on top of a mattress. The boys really liked this display.

This picture was part of the "Curiosities of Glassmaking" exhibit. There were tons of displays that we could play with to experience the interesting things that can be done with glass. Chase was looking through the periscope down into the town of Corning.

Here Kenny is creating a telescope with two hand-held microscopes.

This picture was also part of the "Curiosities of Glass" exhibit. When you stand about 12-14 feet from the mirror you can see yourself upside down. As you get closer you get larger and larger and then all of a sudden your reflection flips right-side-up.

Dog Show

We spent the last two days in Bainbridge, NY at a dog show. Chase showed Country Pride's Jelly Bean and my mom showed Country Pride's Dilly Jam and Country Pride's Sir Valtrin Odin. They did a great job and had a lot of fun. Dilly earned another point and got "Winner's Bitch" which means she was the best girl bulldog there. She competed for "Best of Breed" with the famous bulldog Champion Cherokee Legend Rock. He won and she got "Best of Opposite."

In between all of our shows we had fun looking at all of the other dogs and crazy dog show people. Here are a few of the pictures I took. There are tons of shih-tzu because I am infatuated with the breed right now.

Next Blog

Have you ever noticed the little link at the top of the page that says "Next Blog"? Sometimes it is fun to click on it to see where you end up. Often times I see blogs in foreign languages that I can't read. (They are usually my favorites.) Anyway, I saw this one today and thought I'd share it:

http://stylus-fc.blogspot.com/

The drama never ends!

Really, my week could not get any better ... Kenny chipped a tooth today at the park. We're going to try to get an appointment at the dentist tomorrow to have it fixed. It isn't like I have anything else to do (like a ton of homework for my online classes)

The talk

This afternoon the boys and I went to visit my Aunt Carol and my cousins Suzanne and Colleen. We sat and talked and really enjoyed our visit. I have been a little stressed lately with all of the traveling we have been doing and the worrying I have been doing for my friend Chris who recently lost her husband in Afghanistan. Well, that led to a very early, unexpected visit from another relative of mine ... my Aunt Flo (aren't you glad you decided to read my blog today?!?) This left me in a very embarrassing situation at my Aunt Carol's house today. The worst part was that it forced me into a "talk" with the boys that I had not anticipated having today and was not prepared to have. So, on the way home I gave them a very scientific explanation of what was going on. When I was all done explaining everything I asked them if they had any questions. Chase had very intelligent, equally scientific questions. Kenny asked me if I thought PJ's hair was going to get lighter as she got older. Ahhh ... the life of a parent ... always exciting. I am starting to think I should have used Jennifer's reasoning to explain everything to the boys. It would have been easier and I definitely would have felt better after a couple of shots of tequila!