Foxy Prom

Dakota is in Resource Conservation.  For his senior project he decided to tackle the world of fox farming.  I don't know where he got this idea, but he is paying the bill so all we had to do was give permission.  I'm not sure what to think, but he has done a lot of research about this.  That was the first miracle, he actually took the time to figure things out and read about the care and so forth.  Our cats aren't real excited about sharing their space, but I think they will warm up to it.  It's funny because the fox actually barks at them when they get too close.  Which in turn makes them hiss.  Eventually the fox will be bigger so we shall see...

 Saturday was one of those high school milestones. Kota got to attend prom. Poor kid went from working 9am to 4:30 pm. Got home showered, shaved and dressed in his suit and to the high school at 5:15 to meet his date. He was gripping and complaining the whole time. (I think he gets his temper from me [my side] who gets totally aggravated, then realizes later it wasn't so bad....you know, after the pressure is off).

He's growing up.  Some days not fast enough for either of us.  Other days too fast for at least me.  I wish he didn't have to learn everything like his mother...the hard way.  We look a like and unfortunately, we have a lot of the same quirks.  I acted just like him at his age.  Under all the stuff, he's the same great kid that I'm proud of.  Can't wait until the wisdom starts returning.

Look What the North Winds Blew In

We walked in the drizzling, cold rain in and out of little gift shops.  Robin loves antiques and we went into several shops.  I found this funny little potty chair.  Not for the purchase, but worth the blog pic.

Grandma and Grandpappy Crawford came in from Minnesota. 

We have had a few days worth of visits with them.  We took Robin and went to Roscoe Village in Coshocton, Ohio.

 The quaint little shops were a fun way to browse away a cold Saturday.  We ate at a little tavern and had the best little lunch!

 Today, we spent time with my Dad and Step mom as well.  We celebrated Cathy's 50th birthday.

 Zipper and Zoe were glad for all the little girl attention.  You wouldn't know that they are two spoiled puppies!

 Happy Birthday Cathy. I hope you enjoyed your day with family.

Metaphoric Hurdles

Maybe I've watched to many meets lately.  I just can't help thinking about life being one big hurdle race.  We have times where we are well conditioned and able to easily win the race we are facing.  Then there are times where we finish the race, but are tired.  Other times where we might pull a muscle and limp across the finish line.

Through our marriage we've jumped many hurdles, loss of jobs, post pardom depression, learning a child has a learning disability, bullying, car wrecks, surgeries, and so forth...One thing has remained constant...love.  We have never lost our love for each other.  We have grown stronger as a couple.  We have learned to rely on the strength of God in our lives.  We have learned to trust on a time frame we don't always understand during the "training" but understand at the end "of the race."

So many hurdles are crossed, we have many more to go.  I'm looking forward to doing this together in the love of my best friend...my husband!

Competition

 Shot Put

 Hurdles

Discus

In the drizzling, cold rain we watched Kota compete at his second meet of the season.  This has been a strange year for our Dakota.  He has had so many medical trials and yet he keeps pressing forward.  He contracted mono at the beginning of March.  The doctors said no track for 5 weeks.  That means he missed all of the conditioning needed to help build stamina and technique.

He got to be coach for the middle school track hurdlers as they were conditioning.  He enjoyed that.  He didn't place at all during this meet.  He smiled, but with disappointment in his eyes.  I think he understands what the Doctor told him now.  He won't be up to par for months.  He dragged himself across the finish line on the 300 meter hurdles.  He was tired.  I'm just proud of him for trying.  

The great thing about track--it is a personal sport as much as it is a team sport.

At the Beach (Final Chapter)

 There is something interesting about the oak trees in the south.  They are hung with Spanish Moss.  We learned Spanish moss is from the pineapple family and is not a parasite. 

 Well you can't be in the south without partaking in barbecue!  We found a restaurant called Melvins.

 We had the best ribs and chicken I've had in ages.  We ordered these combos and had enough food to feed an army.  I got ribs and chicken and ended up with a half rack of ribs and half a chicken, plus sweet potato souffle, Lima beans and cornbread.  I shared with Christina and Kayla and still took a box home!  The boys got ribs, chicken, and pulled pork, plus 2 sides and cornbread.  They brought out their meals on their own trays.  They had enough to feed two people, but you know they packed it all away.  I don't know how they did it!

Stella ended up being Kayla's little shadow.  She sat for awhile and got her fingernails and toes painted for our trip.

 Our last tourist sight we ventured to was Boone Hall Plantation.  We messed up and didn't sign in fast enough to get the house tour, but we toured the grounds.

 We took a tour around the grounds an learned about the plantation.  It originally grew indigo until the invention of the cotton gin.  Then it grew cotton for years.  Now it is a vegetable plantation and has a farm market where people can come and purchase fresh veggies.

 This is the hall of oaks.  These oak trees only grow in the south.  They live for 600-700 years.  It felt like you were in a hallway instead of outside.

 This tree is 600 years old and the oldest on the plantation.  I bet it could tell some interesting stories.

We enjoyed the gardens.  Can you believe it was in the upper 80s and actually cooler than the day before at a record high of 93 degrees in April.

 We really enjoyed our vacation.  I miss being there.  We came back to 40 degrees and cold weather.  Even the little bit of sunburn was worth the visit.

One of the best parts was being with our friends.  We miss them.

 A lady heard me say to Christina I would like to eat somewhere we don't have in Ohio.  We were trying to eat less expensive than we had the first few times.  She suggested this place.

It was so fun.  They had all crazy kinds of hot dogs.  I ordered a galactic dog which had chili, cheese, slaw and spicy mustard.  Mmm.  With a nice order of cheese fries, yep on vacation and didn't count calories.

 Casey is an apartment complex manager.  We stayed here and it was great!  We had a little apartment on the second floor with a stocked kitchen, washer and dryer...so we got to cook some of our meals and breakfasts and split the rent.  We could not have stayed in a hotel for the price we paid.  It was awesome!

Now we are back to the real world.  Work starts again tomorrow.  We get to get ready for everything we have worked hard for all year.  Time to refresh and reteach everything we've taught this year for our state achievement tests.  It will be a fast and furious month, nothing like the slow pace of the south.  sigh....

Easter

I have a testimony of a Living Christ.  One who has atoned for the sins of the world.  One who knows all the heartaches and needs of every person who has lived or is yet to be.  I  belive that Christ loves me and knows me personally.  That to me is what Easter is about; renewal of faith and hope in things yet to come.

At the Beach (part 2)

 We started our Monday at the crack of dawn.  Literally, one of Kyle's wishes for the trip was to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.  So, Kyle, Kota, and I crawled out of bed and drove the 25 minute trip to the beach.  It was worth the effort.  It was gorgeous.

 We went to Fort Sumter to take in the place where the Civil War began.  We boarded the ferry and had fantastic views.

 There were a few dolphins that were playing in the bay, but they were too allusive for the camera.  Charleston is one of the vacation hot spots in South Carolina and spring break weeks starts their tourist season.  It was so busy that we didn't get to do everything we wanted.  Kyle has an aversion to large crowds of people and avoids them at all costs, even the seeing of things we planned on doing.

Fort Sumter was smaller than I had envisioned and wasn't like any other fort that I had visited.  It really was not that great.  We did the tour in about 15 minutes.

 What we enjoyed most about the Fort was the wildlife.  We got some up close and personal moments with the wildlife.

 Just a little way off the grassy area of the fort was a tide pool.  One of the things I wanted to experience on the trip.  The kids were looking for shells to take home and were glad to find some cool ones, when they found they were inhabited--by hermit crabs.

 Needless to say, they didn't get the cool shells.

Kota did score an in tacked clam shell.  He was happy.

 There were pelicans everywhere, but they were hard to get close to to get a good picture.

 Kyle supplemented our snacks with a Charleston original.

The ferry ride and tide pools were our highlight to the Fort.  Although the history wasn't my favorite this time, the science of the adventure made it all worth the time.  This big vessel was being loaded with cars to be exported.  It was interesting to see the function of the port and how Charleston still is a great southern city.  This was a good trip and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Being free from the humdrum of life helped me reconnect with my spirit.  Seems its hard to listen too when I'm racing to and fro.

Stay tuned for more southern fun...

At the Beach!

We decided to do a true spring break this year. We took off Friday at 8 am after Kota got off work and headed south.  Charelston, SC is the desitination.

 We came to see our good friends the Eichhorns and their new baby Grady!  We've enjoyed a day at the beach; Isle of the Palms on Saturday.  Sunday after watching General Conference we strolled around historic Charelston.

 We went from 35* Friday morning to 89* and sunshiny goodness.  I'm slathering on the suncreen and enjoying every minute of it!

 Kota and Kayla really enjoyed wave jumping on Saturday.  The water was a bit too cold for me, I enjoyed putting my feet in, but the kids didn't let the cold water deter them one bit.

 We actually had to make them leave in the evening. 

We are enjoying all the different types of palm trees. It really is a paradise here.  Kayla thinks she is going to move here when she is older.  We are off to the beach and Fort Sumter today...Y'all have a great day now, ya hear!