Nine Times

It's late, and I'm tired, but I wanted to say something about Aidan's Birthday today.

It's really hard to believe this is the ninth birthday that we have celebrated with our oldest son. It seems like such a short time ago we were welcoming him into this world.

We could not be more proud of the respectful young man he has become, and we are looking forward to sharing my more birthdays with our precious little monkey boy.

William

Wow, Four Years Already?

It's really hard to believe that Christopher turned 4 years old today. It just seems so fast. One minute the rely on you for everything, and the next minute their saying "no dad, I can do it myself". Where does time go?

Christopher is just like his older brother.....all boy. They are two little Williams running around, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. One thing I do know is that each day with them is a blessing, and I love them with all my heart.

Today, each started back to school. Both excited and nervous about the day's events. Me, well I'm a bit depressed and lonely. I have spent almost every waking moment in the company of one or both boys, and with both of them gone, it's very quiet and uneventful around here. Oh, I'll get used to it, and they will more than make up for it during the afternoon, but right now it's just a bit strange.

I guess one good thing about the lack of boys is the free time I now have to start blogging again. Summer's over (not heat wise), just boy wise, and now is a good time to get back in the writing saddle. Giddy Up!

There will be a small party for Christopher tonight, with lots of sweets and presents to go around. I will of course document the events of the evening on film (well disk) and have some wonderful pictures to post in the near future.

Yes...yes......this writing stuff is coming back to me now, and it feels...well.....pretty good. Oh yeah!

William

PS. Christopher dressed in his new school uniform waiting to go to school.

Dreams Do Come True

Two weeks ago Aidan's baseball team (and mine since I'm one of two coaches) won their 8U National league division with a 7-2-1 record. It was an unbelievable turnaround for a team that won only 2 games last Fall

Father's Day weekend was the post season tournament to determine the World series champ between the National and American leagues. There were a total of 20 teams, and our team (the Braves) was a #3 seed. At the post season tournament last season, with the exact same team, we were a #17 seed. Quite a turnaround I'd say.

The boys won their opening game on Tuesday, and followed that up with a win on Thursday night for a birth into the semi finals on Friday night. As it happened, Nana and Pawpaw were scheduled to come into town late Thursday night to celebrate Father's Day Weekend, so needless to say they were thrilled when they learned the boys would be playing Friday night and Aidan would be the starting pitcher.

Aidan pitched the complete game victory (5-4) in a nail biter against the best team in the American league, and the Braves earned the right to compete in the World Series final on Saturday morning. It's really hard to convey the amount stress one can have from a "simple" Little League game. It took a while for all of us to get our blood pressure back in line.

Saturday morning came in a flash, and Aidan was ready. Nana and Pawpaw, and of course Momma and Christopher were there bright and early to cheer the team on. It was another close game, and Aidan was called upon again in the bottom of the last inning to record the final out. He struck out their #4 hitter on three straight pitches for the save. That's right.....The Braves won the world series! How about that.

With the victory in the final game, The Braves earned not one but two trophies on the season, and Aidan got to do it it all in front of his Nana and Pawpaw. Unbelievable!


Aidan had a fantastic season, and led his team in Wins, Saves, Strikeouts, ERA, Homeruns, and Slugging %. If he ever learns proper pitching mechanics he's going to be scary. His hitting is exceptional, and he possesses the swing of a much older and more mature player. Here he is in the Batter's Box in the final game.


You will not find a better stance for an 8 year old anywhere in the country.

Congratulations Aidan on one fantastic season, and thanks for a great Father's Day present.

We both can't wait for the next season to start.

William

Heaven's Beauty

Last year at this time Lori and I were lucky enough to visit beautiful Hawaii. When I wrote my blog about the trip, I had a difficult time trying to relay the magnitude of the Night Sky. This video actually shows what I was having such a hard time describing. As you will see, the beauty of the heavens is breathtaking when you are in the right place.

The Mountain

Make sure you click on the "full screen" button to do this video justice.

William

America's Past Time

Are there many places better than a Major league ball park on a sunny afternoon? The electricity of the crowd, the smell of the food, and the ever present "Hot Dog......get your warm Hot Dogs here" echoing lightly in the background. Ahhhh........soak it in baby.......

My wonderful wife surprised me with 4 tickets to the Texas Rangers opening weekend for our anniversary. The tickets she purchased were 14 rows up, directly behind home plate. To say these were merely "good" seats, would be a serious understatement. Let me put it this way........we were surrounded by at least 15 major league scouts. That should tell you all you need to know about how sweet these seats were. Take a look:


The game was fantastic, with lots of home runs. The Rangers won, and we all had an awesome time. Thanks for the great gift Lori!


Speaking of baseball, our young ball player had himself quite a game on Saturday. Aidan had a 2 run inside the park homerun in our last at bat to put his team up 5-3. After doing that, he went out to pitch the bottom half of the inning, and faced 3 hitters, striking out all 3 on 10 total pitches.

DOMINANT is the only way to describe his performance. We are so very proud of our young stud.

Here is "Mr. Perfect Stance" in action.


Yeah......we've got power to spare! You don't want to mess with these cannons!


William

Birthday Reflections

Pretty quiet around here this weekend. Well, as quiet as it can get with our two monkeys in the house. Come to think of it, quiet is probably not the word I should be using here....how about low key. Yeah, it was loud and low key around here this weekend.

One thing that I wanted to comment about was Lori's birthday last week. I wanted to publish the blog about our trip to Tennessee before I blogged about anything else, so I kind of put Lori's birthday blog on the back burner. Well, Tennessee blog is all done, so I figured I would talk about my beautiful wife's birthday.

Last Wednesday, Lori and I got the spend the day together, and had a wonderful birthday lunch at a local restaurant. The food and drink were entirely off the charts health wise, but I took one for the team and devoured my Chicken Fried Ribeye with a fervor seldom seen in public. Lori on the other hand, was very lady like and meticulous as she pounced on her Margarita Shrimp. Yummy!

As we sat out on the patio soaking up the warm sunshine, I started to reflex on birthdays past. It suddenly occurred to me that we had spent every March 23rd together for the last 15 years. 15 years....a third of my life so far has been spent with my best friend. How may people are lucky enough to say that?

Our first birthday together in 1996 was spent enjoying sand and sea in Cozumel, as part of my birthday gift to Lori that year. Here we are 15 years (13 of them married) and two wonderful children later, and I am still giddy as a school boy holding hands across the table at a local restaurant saying "Happy Birthday Honey". I wish everyone could experience such delectation.

Wednesday evening Cricket and her boys came over to help us celebrate Lori's birthday. Cricket brought with her a beautiful cake, and one of the best tasting I have ever had. Here are both beautiful siblings, and one delicious cake.


After getting the candles lit, and singing the "Happy Birthday Song", Christopher wasted no time in blowing out the vast majority of his mother's candles before Lori could finish her initial inhale. The young one is lightning quick. Lori did manage to blow out the last few, so hopefully that counts and she will still be granted her wish.


While Lori was opening her cards from Wyatt and Jackson, Christopher was busy trying to sneak a frosted brownie.


Success!


Wyatt and Jackson didn't know what to think of the young larcenist.


Lori on the other hand was oblivious to the pilfering of her confected delights. She was too busy ogling the wonderful gifts that Cricket and the boys had supplied.


After she opened the presents, we started in on the cake and brownies. Like I said earlier, I thought the cake was the best I had ever eaten. After tasting it, it took everything in my power not to lay claim to it, and protect it with my life. "BACK OFF IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU" was right on the tip of my tongue, but I came to my senses just in time. Whew!!!! Yeah, it was that good.

So, there you have it. Lori is a year older but doesn't look it, and I have an additional 5000+ calories in me thanks to my evil wonderful sister-n-law Cricket. Yep, that about sums it up.

William

I Can See For Miles and Miles

Whew! 2162 miles, 98 gallons of gas, and too many bathroom and food stops to list. But, you know what? It was worth every minute.

We headed out a week ago last Saturday on our pilgrimage east. The first trek was a scheduled 493 mile jaunt to Hernando, MS. Nothing like driving in 4 states in one day. We left our house about 10:30 in the morning, set the cruise on 75 and pointed the family truckster towards The Mighty Mississippi. It did not take too long for the boys to start in on each other, but Daddy had planed ahead and purchased the boys two mind numbing/intoxicating video games each, so we quickly broke them out. Ahhh....peace and quite for the next couple of hours...yes. Normally that would be great, except that was only the first two hours of a scheduled 8+. Ouch.

The miles flowed by like water, and before you knew, we were there........yeah right......before you knew it, we heard our first "I need to go potty". Grrrr......"Ok buddy, I'll find a place to stop". That sequence was performed 4 more times during the opening leg, and after passing from Texas to Arkansas, to Tennessee, we finally rolled into Mississippi around 7:30pm Saturday night. What a beating. We got everybody fed, including Mystic, and we were all in bed by 9:30. (Note to any of you travelers: If you are going to bring a dog on your trip, do not plan on staying at the Hilton or Embassy Suites or Hampton INN or Motel 6 for that matter. Oh, no, no, no, you just keep going down the line until you get to the Days Inns and Super 8's of the world. Some were bit scary, but beggars with big dogs can't be choosers.)

We woke up early Sunday morning as stiff as the mattresses we slept on. Lori and I perked up a bit after our morning coffee, and we headed out the door to start our day. Senatobia was our first stop of the morning. Senatobia is the resting place of my late father, and it still looks the same as it did when I used to travel there with my family when I was no older than our boys. As I passed by Coleman's BBQ on Main Street I got a bit sad thinking about the last time I ate there with my dad. I was 15 at the time, and we were headed to our current destination, Bethesda Cemetery, to pay our respects to his mother and father. Thinking about that made the lump, that was already in my throat, grow two sizes bigger.

Bethesda Cemetery is small and peaceful, and Dad is buried with his mother and father, his younger brother, and his older sister. There are huge beautiful oak trees standing watch, and just as we got out of the car, you could hear the church bells ringing in the distance. "Hi Dad" was all I could muster before my emotions got the best of me. Thank God I have such a wonderful wife and family to lean on during such times. We had been fighting rain all morning, but just as we arrived the clouds parted for a bit, and beautiful rays of sunshine lit our path. "Thanks Dad" I thought.

Lori and the boys went to work cleaning the markers and pulling a few weeds. I collected my thoughts and composed myself, then took a few pictures. We brought new flowers for each marker, and by the time Lori and the boys were finished, everything was beautiful. As we were gathering our things to leave, I noticed something strange in the dirt on the east side of Dad's grave. "What is that?" I wondered, but as I looked at it more closely, I realized that it was deer tracks. Deer tracks right there beside his resting place! "Wow, Dad is surely smiling now", I told Lori. He would have loved that. He really would have. Rest in peace Dad. I still miss you.


We got back in the CX-9 about 9:00am, and set out on our second leg of the journey. This one was only going to be 432 miles. A walk in the park compared to the day before. Ok, 60 miles less does not seem very noteworthy, but trust me, when the boys are in the car with you for 8 hours, knocking one whole hour off the trip is a Godsend.

The drive from west Tennessee to east Tennessee is long and beautiful. Once you get past Nashville the mountains start and the views are spectacular. After making too many stops along the route ("I need to go potty" is now permanently etched in my brain), we finally arrived at Nana and Pawpaw's farm about 6:00pm on Sunday night. Steve and Dianne were there to greet us, along with their 9 dogs. Yes 9!

Mystic was a bit apprehensive at first, but after a lengthy "smell the butt" meet and greet, she was fully accepted, and ready to run with the pack. Fortunately for rest of us, our greeting of Steve and Dianne was much different, and we made due with lots of hugs and kisses. After unpacking and having a wonderful steak dinner that Steve grilled for us, everybody was pretty tired, and we made an early night of it. Before dinner though, I had an opportunity to snap a picture of the mountains at sunset. What a glorious greeting for some weary travelers. Mmmmmmm......smell that mountain air.....


The next morning came bright and early. (as it always does when Christopher's around) As we were preparing for the day, Christopher found himself a Lady bug friend to play with.


Today was Monday March 14th, which also happeened to be Lori and my 13th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that we have been married that long already. The years have flown by, and I could not have a better wife. She is the love of my life, and each day I am reminded how truly lucky I am. The flowers that I ordered for the occasion arrived late in the afternoon, and they were as beautiful as their recipient.


As far as the day went, well it was a bit overcast and wet, so we spent most of the day inside visiting and playing various games. We had a great dinner, and after many fierce games of UNO, we all went to bed early.

Tuesday was another rainy day, but we made the most of it. Aidan started the day off by assembling 1 of 2 extremely cool Lego sets that Nana and Pawpaw had surprised him with.


(He is amazingly adept a assembling these. Maybe a future engineer?) Christopher passed the time by playing with the super cool playdoh sets that Nana and Pawpaw got for him, and then moseyed over to the piano to tickle the ivories a bit.


We all got dressed early, and headed out to Outdoor World. Wow, if you haven't been to one of these - go! So much stuff, so little time. Here are Aidan, Nana and Pawpaw posing in front of the HUGE fish tank.


Christopher started getting a bit restless, so on the shoulders he went.


Aidan and Christopher found the ATV section, and they were ready. "Let's ride".


We enjoyed lunch at Cracker Barrel, and headed over to Knifeworks. Knifeworks is located just outside Pigeon Forge, and just as you might have imagined, it is a knife store. A HUGE KNIFE STORE. 3 stories tall, and as big as a grocery store. Every blade that is known to man is located in this store. It's unbelievable how many knives are in the place. They also have a home furnishings section on the bottom floor, so Lori and Dianne had a wonderland of their own. Steve and I were kids in a candy store, and really enjoyed looking at thousands and thousands of knives. After everybody got tired, we finally headed home mid afternoon. Other than me and Steve conversing in the front seats, the rest of the car was like a tomb. Yep, 4 sleeping campers in the back two rows of the CX-9. Good thing it's a big comfy vehicle.

After we arrived home, fed the chickens, cows, horses, dogs and ourselves, we all gathered around the TV and watched some of March Madness. We always each fill out brackets and try to pick the winners. It's amazing how truly awful I am at this. I always seem to end up on bottom. Oh well, at least there is no money riding on my picks. After the games, and of course our nightly games of cut throat UNO, we all made our way to our bedrooms and drifted off to sleep.

Wednesday the weather was getting better, and the cows were ready,


the horses were ready,


and the polar bears were ready,


to watch us go fishing. We started off pretty well, with a couple of fish caught in the first 15 minutes we arrived. Here is Aidan on his side of the pond,


and momma on her side while the cows watched intently.


Aidan caught himself a crappie, and after much coaxing (threatening) he finally held the fish for a picture.


Wow, can you tell by the picture that he was not too sure about the whole "hold your own fish" thing?

While we were fishing, Pawpaw was busy putting hay out for the cows. The cows suddenly lost interest in watching Lori fish, and made a bee line over to their new best friend.


Christopher joined in the fishing escapades, and Aidan was bit angry that Christopher's fake fish on the end of his line was almost as big as the crappie he caught earlier.


As we were leaving, I stopped to take a picture of a recent addition to the herd. It was sure nice of her to pose so well.


Thursday started early, and the weather forecast called for a beautiful warm day. Mystic and her new friend Pebbles waited patiently for their play day to begin.

We all gathered at the breakfast table, and Aidan entertained us with his rendition of "Oh Mammy how I love you".


After our breakfast, it was time for the all the animal's breakfast. Christopher fed and petted the chickens.


Fed and petted the horses.


While Christopher was channeling his inner Jack Hanna, Aidan was channeling his inner Terminator.


"I'LL BE BAUCK"

Just as we got back to the house, I snapped this picture in the driveway.


We then headed for some playtime in one of their pastures.


While one boy ran with this dog,


the other took a more laid back approach and enjoyed the warm sun, cool mountain air, and contemplated life in general.


After tiring ourselves out, especially the dogs, we heading back to the house and Steve cooked us another great steak dinner. Mmmmmmmm..........steak.......

Friday came too fast, and before you knew it, it was time to go. We wanted to get an early start, so we snapped a few pictures,






said our tearful goodbyes, and headed back on the road. Only 983 miles to go until home. Uggghhhh.......................

The trip home (broken up into two days) seemed to go faster than the trip to the farm. Don't get me wrong, it was still a long, long, long ways, but the kids did better, and their were far fewer stops. We ended up getting home at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon, and everyone including Mystic was already missing the farm. We can't wait for our next trip to the beautiful Smokey Mountains.

William

Smokey Mountains or Bust

Well, one more day until we embark on a wondrous (and seriously stressful) road trip. Yep, it's spring break, and we have decided to drive to Nana and PawPaw's house instead of flying. I know, I know, we have lost our collective minds. 17+ hours each way in the car with both our monkeys is recipe for a strait jacket. I'm sure that by the time we get there, we will need every bit of that de-stressful country atmosphere as we can absorb.

We haven't completely lost our minds you see....only partially. We are breaking up the drive there and the drive home into two days. So, now we are only talking about 7 1/2 - 8 hours in the car with the two monkeys and the dog each segment. Gee...when you put it that way.....well, it still sounds like a beating.

Don't worry, we'll have the CX-9 stuffed to the gills with movies, Playstation, Nintendo, yummy snacks, and good music. Hopefully it will be enough to keep Aidan and Christopher distracted. I'm setting the over/under on "When are we going to get there" at 15. I'll probably take the over (Ugh) on that bet.

Wish us luck, and I should be back with some wonderful pictures week after next. Until that time, here are a couple of recent pictures of the kids that I took with my mobile phone. They are really growing up.



Hug them when their young, they grow up fast.

William

Redemption

The first thing that I want to do is apologize to all of the people that have come to our blog in the last few months and found it stagnant. I am sorry. Regular updates will begin this week, followed by a short hiatus next week for "Spring Break", and will then come back with a vengeance afterward. I have found my "mojo" again, and I am looking forward to keeping all of you updated on the ins and outs of the Thornton family.

I have genuinely missed typing the blog. I always feel like I have plenty to say, and if you have met me, you know that to be the case. I am not quite sure why I lost my writing "mojo" there for a while, but that dark shadow has lifted, and a plethora of sunshine has now taken it's place. So I will start getting some picture updates ready, and hopefully have them posted before we leave for our "Spring Break" trip on Saturday.

Thanks for sticking it out with me. It will be worth it.

William