The Happiest Place On Earth

Saturday started bight and early for some, and dark and "oh my God why is that alarm clock going off" early for others. I guess I should say "other" as it pertains to our household. No way in the world I would wake the boys up at 3:00am. Let me tell you, that would be a whole other dimension of grumpiness. No it was Lori who had lost her mind, as she had to get up that early in order to catch a bus and be at the half marathon starting line by 4:30am. Like I said the other day.......complete nuts!

Lori was dressed and out the door by 3:15am, and on her way to running nirvana. I went back to sleep, and dreamed that I was running too. You want to know the sad thing about that? I believe I was more tired from dreaming about running 13.1 miles than Lori was from actually running it.

I got the boys up around 8:00am, and we waited patiently for Lori to get home from her race. By 9:00am, Lori was already home from her 13.1 mile journey, and ready to continue the day's adventure.

Our first order of business was to get some food in us. I certainly did not want Lori to say hi to RALPH again today. We decided to eat breakfast at the resort's restaurant call Olivia's. The food and service were really good, and most importantly, our hypoglycemic protection was at defcon 1.

Today's family adventure would start with another trip to the ESPN Sports Complex. The boys, along with 4000 other kids, were running the Mickey Mile. We stopped by the pavilion again, and I was able to catch Lori being congratulated for her half marathon completion. I asked her to raise her arms in victory, and low an behold she grew another set that came out of her ears. Who knew.   Wow, Disney really is a magical place.

I told the kids that we they would have to run fast during their race, and before you knew it, Snow White's gang was in hot pursuit. Don't worry, Christopher was keeping an eye on them.

We got to the starting area, and the boys had their games faces on. South Side Johnny Cool was ready.....

and after some last minute stretching......Christopher was too.

One last hug from their coach.....

and the boys were ready. On your mark.......get set......GO!

While Lori ran with Christopher, I made my way to the finish line to get some pictures. 10 minutes later, Aidan came running down the track. You can see him in the back, wearing green.

Here he is racing for the strong finish.

Two minutes later....here comes Christopher and Momma.

Christopher too had a strong finish.

Our Champions!!!!!

After the race, it was time, to visit the happiest place on earth. Yep, that's right, Disney's Magical Kingdom. What a special place. It's hard to describe the wonderful feeling you get as a parent the first time your kids lay their eyes on the castle.

I get a little choked up just thinking about the ooohs and ahhhs coming from their mouths. That life long memory is worth the hefty price of admission by itself.

There are so many things to see and do at the park, and so little time. Shops, rides, shows, and restaurants everywhere you look.

We started our journey at Stitch's Great Escape. It was great fun, and Christopher was now hooked. From then on, he wanted Stitch everything.

We wanted to ride another roller coaster, so off to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This ride was busy, so we got in line and waited......and waited.......and waited.......and " hey Christopher are you having fun in line"?

"How about you Aidan"?

If we would have gotten pictures of Lori and me, our faces would have looked just about the same. The coaster was really fun, but it was the longest wait we had for any ride, and we quickly figured out how to use the FAST PASS service after that.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the park, riding rides, shopping, and eating various and numerous unhealthy delicious things. As darkness fell, just after leaving the Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride, we stopped to witness the truly spectacular Parade of Lights. I'm sorry that my camera phone does not do these floats justice. It's just not made to take pictures at night. Hopefully, even with the blurriness, you will be able to sense how visually wonderful this spectacle was.

After the parade was over, we were tired, hungry and happy. We took a bus back to the resort, stopped by the To Go restaurant that was on the property, and we were back in our room eating dinner by 9:00pm. We all went to bed about an hour later with smiles on our faces, and magic in our hearts.

To be continued............

William

Where The Magic Begins

Well, after too much reading and learning, along with lots and lots of "potty words" being shouted in frustration, the main computer is back and better than ever. Woo Hoo!!!!!

Word to the wise.......always.....always.....have a backup for your main hard drive. Trust me on this one. You will thank me later.

As promised, now that HAL is back online, I can update you on our recent excursion to sunny Florida. Because this post will be huge, I will break it up over several days.

Lori, being the lunatic that she is, decided that running a half marathon or a full marathon just wasn't challenging enough for her. Instead, she got the bright idea that running a half marathon on one day, and a full marathon the next day would be.......fun. Yea....you read that right....fun. Ummm.....Ok. Anyway, she heard from a friend of mine that Walt Disney World of all places offered such a challenge. The race is call the Goofy Challenge. I can't for the life of think of why.

The Goofy Challenge takes place on a Saturday (13.1 miles) and Sunday (26.2 miles). This year it was held on Jan 12th and 13th.

One would think that it would be difficult to find enough deranged individuals to justify a challenge of this type. Oh...no, no, no, no. Let me tell you.......the loonies crawl out of the woodwork for this weekend. They come from all over the world to take part in this masochistic ritual. The park had 35,000-40,000 runners participating in the half marathon, and 25,000 participating in the full marathon. Of those, approximately 10,000 decided to participate in the Goofy Challenge. I know...unbelievable right?

Our trip started on Thursday afternoon. The kids got out of school, and we immediately left for the airport. Our flight was on time, and surprisingly good. The kids were entertained with the abundance of electronic devices that were stowed in our backpacks, along with sugary treats. As any parent of young children can attest, a trouble free trip is a Godsend and a rarity.

After arriving at Orlando's airport around 8:45pm, we soon found our Magic Express Disney Bus to take us to our resort - Old Key West Disney. If you are not familiar with this resort, as you might have guessed, it has the look and feel of.....wait for it......Key West, Florida. It is a really beautiful property, and after arriving, we discovered that our villa was fantastic. We got to bed at a decent hour, and dreamed of the great adventures that would start the next morning.

After waking up on Friday morning, and looking out the window, I just had to get a picture. Ahh....this is where I learned of my first "mess up". "Hmmm.....honey...where is the camera"? Oops! I forgot to pack it. #$%^@#$ Oh well, my Samsung Galaxy III takes pretty good pictures, so I used it to document the entire trip. Here is my first shot, a view from our patio - beautiful.

Our morning started a bit later that we anticipated, but with kids, that is the norm. We were supposed to get breakfast, and then head over the Disney's ESPN World Wide Sports Complex to pick up the race packets for Lori and the kids. No, the kids were not running the Goofy Challenge, but we did register them for the Mickey Mile. It's a kid's race that earns them a shirt and most importantly a race medal. Anyway, we arrived at the main bus stop late, and for some stupid reason (my suggestion...another oops) we decided to skip breakfast at that time, and head to the complex. Big Mistake!

You might not know this about Lori, but she gets hypoglycemic very easy. She needs her morning protein to maintain her beautiful demeanor (more on this later). I knew this, so my suggestion to skip breakfast was my second "mess up". Every thing was going well, and we were enjoying the neat complex,

and finding out where we needed to pick up the race packets. We found the right pavilion to get the initial packets, and Lori stood in line while I entertained the kids. Here is a picture of them patiently waiting from mom to return.

After picking up our packets, I figured it was time to go. Nope, I would be wrong.  Now we had to go across to the next pavilion to pick up the shirt and number packets. Oh OK...how bad could that be. Well............

Yep, that's the line to get into the next building. Uh oh. The first thing you should remember about this particular situation is what I wrote about earlier. Lori had not eaten breakfast, and we were now standing in a 500 foot line, in 80 degree weather, and 90% humidity. Not a good combination for Ms. "I need my protein". Well, as you might have guessed, it did not take long for Lori's head to start pounding, and her stomach to start doing summersaults.

The line was moving slowly, but not quite as slowly as Lori's ability to hold down the contents of her belly. After walking off by herself, she wasted no time in Christening the soccer field with some fertilizer. Needless to say, our trip to pick up the shirt packets, once inside the pavilion, was completed in record time.

Before Lori could get sick again, we heading for the air conditioned bus to take us back to the villa. Lori napped on the bus, and we were thankful that there were no more episodes before arriving at the villa.

By the time the bus dropped us off, Lori was in the middle of a full blown migraine. We got her back to the room where she ate and drank a little, and then she laid down for a nap. Animal Kingdom would have to wait.

Lori woke up around 3:00pm feeling much better. We got everything ready, and headed for our first trip to one on the Disney Parks. Animal Kingdom was first on our list, and the boys (and us too) were super excited.

After arriving at the park, we were amazed at all of the sights and sounds. The park is beautiful. Think of it as a huge zoo, with roller coasters and rides mixed in. At the center of the park is the "Tree of Life". It is a huge man made tree, with carving of animals all over it. I am ashamed to say that my picture of it is blurry, and does not do it justice.

There are so many things to do, and so many things to see, it's hard to take them all in. Beauty is everywhere.

The kids were having a ball.

The main attraction at the park is a roller coaster called Extreme Everest. It is incredible. While heading over to it, I snapped a couple of pictures of the ride.

The coaster was a blast. It took some coaxing to get Aidan to ride with me, but after it was over, he said he enjoyed it. Christopher on the other hand, needed no coaxing, and was having a ball riding in the car behind us with Momma. He is absolutely fearless.

We walked for miles and miles looking at all of the animals and enjoying the rides.

We finished up our trip to Animal Kingdom by taking a safari. We loaded in the huge truck, and off went to see Africa. We saw Hippos, and Nile Crocs.

The highlight of the safari was seeing a mother and baby elephant enjoying their natural habitat.

We left the park around 7:45 that evening, and headed to the Downtown Disney area.

Downtown Disney is a park that only has retail shops and restaurants. It is huge, and crowded. While we were heading to the restaurant, we stopped by the Lego Store. The Lego sculptures were incredible.

We decided to eat at Fulton's Crab House. It is a huge riverboat, and the food and service was really good. After eating and shopping, we headed home about 10:30pm. Christopher was asleep before the bus pulled out to go back to the villa. It took us no time at all to fall asleep once we got back to our villa. We all dreamed about what the next day had in store for us.

To be continued.....

William

Silence

If you are wondering why there have not been any recent updates, well.....this time you can't point the finger at me. The hard drive on our main computer has decided to have an unscheduled nap, and it is unusable right now. It has all of last week's Disney trip pictures, so I need to get it working again. As soon as I do, expect lots of pictures. William

Santa Strikes Again

Another year, another visit from the jolly fat man.  Wow, 2012 went by in a flash.

Christmas morning came bright and early this year.  We had boys in our room waking us up at 5:00am.  Yep, really stinking early considering that we hit the hay a little after 2:00am.  Nothing like 3 hours of sleep to prepare you for a full day of playing with two boys and all of their new toys.  Yipee!

Even with little sleep, you couldn't help but notice the glowing faces of Christopher and Aidan.  The excitement and smiles are worth every excruciating minute of Christmas shopping.  The sheer joy is intoxicating.

Santa must have spent most of the year blind and deaf.  I know this because he actually came to our house, and delivered wonderful presents to the boys.  There could be no other explanation.  Whatever the reason, the boys were elated that he stopped by.

Christopher got a brand new big boy bicycle from Santa!  He was really excited until he noticed the lack of training wheels.  "Uh oh......daddy......Santa forgot the training wheels".  Nope buddy, its time to ride like a big boy.

Aidan asked Santa for a new Skylanders Giants set, and he delivered exactly what he wanted.  

 

With the Santa gifts out of the way, it was time to start the wrapping paper carnage. Little hands were moving at such a feverish pace, I was worried about a fire starting from the friction. Here is Christopher showing off his new Cars II puzzle.

Oh no....this can't be good!

Plenty more gifts were unwrapped and enjoyed.  Too many, but that's the way it goes.  We all had a wonderful time, and each of us made out like bandits.  Lori did a great job picking out my gifts, and I am thankful every day that she is so wonderful.

I will leave you with one last picture of our two monkeys.  They keep us young, and really make us appreciate how lucky we are.

I hope 2013 brings happiness, and joy to each and everyone of you. 


William

Woosh!

I did something today that I have not done in 10+ years.  While most people will roll their eyes after reading the next part, and I can already hear Lori giggling as she reads it, I am still proud of the accomplishment.  Are you ready.........drum roll please..........

I ran (not jogged) 2 miles without stopping once! I know, I know, for most of you that is probably pretty anticlimactic, but for me.........well it's unbelievable. 

As I have said in other post, I have been stuck in a rut for quite a while.  Physically I was in the worst shape of my life.  About three months ago I started making a few changes to my diet.  Within the last three weeks I have really started working out regularly and eating right, and it is really paying off. 

I feel better physically that I have in 10 years.  Weight is down, stamina is up, and my view of myself is starting to be a positive one. 

I know 2 miles is just a small step for most, but for me it's a huge leap.  The sky is the limit.

Better look out......for the next time you're out there running, all you might hear from me is WHOOSH as I glide by.

William

Penitent

Far too many times I have lost my temper with my children, for what now seems like trivial things.  Nothing makes you reevaluate your commitment like a full serving of ice cold perspective.

Remember the important things in life, and love like there's no tomorrow.

William

Rest in peace little ones.

Vince Gill - Go Rest High On That Mountain

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Tis The Season

I really enjoy writing, but you wouldn't know it by my sorry effort over the last couple of years. It's shameful really. Although things could be better in Camelot right now (working hard on correcting that), I still have plenty of stories inside me that are itching to be told. I will do a better job of scratching that itch, and hopefully provide you with some witty prose while I'm at it.

 

Yesterday was spent perusing the local establishments in search of the season's best deals. Oh boy, Christmas Shopping!! 

 

Lori and I set out pretty early yesterday morning, hoping to conquer a monstrous gift list. The first stop....a quick trip to Costco. Ahh yes.....the proverbial "quick trip" to Costco. Let me ask you this...has anyone in the history of shopping trips to either Sam's or Costco ever been able to make a "quick trip"? Ummm......no. It never works that way. There is just too much stuff to ignore. Oh you try....everybody tries....but it never happens. Our "quick trip" lasted an hour. 

 

We left Costco loaded to the gills, and went home to unpack. After unloaded the car, it was off to THE MALL (insert maniacal laugh). Uhhh....you want to torture someone? You want to work every last nerve in someone's body? Send them to the mall during Christmas. What a beating. After "visiting" Dillards, Nordstoms, JCP and Macy's (which happed to be spread over every square inch of the mall) we headed.....no not home....oh no, no, no, no, no, ........we headed for Super Target. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another 1hr of shopping. Woo Hoo!!!

 

We left Target at 2:40pm, after 6 total hours of shopping. You would think that one would be able to accomplish all they set out to do in that vast amount of time. Well....nope. Already been to Sam's, Lowes, and Kroger this morning, and today's beating has just started. Fa la la la la, la la la ugh..........

Tugging

17 years ago today, I meet the most wonderful person I have ever come in contact with. She was everything I ever dreamed of in a person. She was smart and beautiful, compassionate and strong, and I immediately fell in love. Most people search a lifetime and never find anything close to a perfect soul mate. I could not believe how lucky I had gotten. It took a while, and I still don't know how I did it, but I convinced that beautiful person to become my wife. It is the best thing (along with the birth of our children) that has ever happened in my life.

 

16 years ago today, I lost my father. Not a day goes by that I do not think about him. Oh how I wish he were still here. I would love for him to see his grandchildren. I would love for him to experience their innocence and fire. How invigorated he would be. I would love to ask him for advice, for I could sure use some right now. I miss our friendship. It is the worst thing that has ever happened in my life.

 

One day out of 365 that has such a bearing on my life. Difficult times, difficult day.

 

William

LIMBO

Sorry for the lack of blogs this year.  "Not So Fun Times In Camelot" probably wouldn't garner the same interest.  Hopefully things will change.

A Decade of Love

10 years ago today I was as happy as I have ever been in my life. Cloud nine, no doubt about it. I could not believe my luck, a true gift from God.

Here we are 10 years later, and Aidan's birth is still as fresh in my mind as if it happened today. I remember how scared I was when first heard him cry in the delivery room, and how I could not control my emotions. I remember looking at his mother, who had been in labor for so long, and thinking to myself how absolutely beautiful she was. Vivid pictures and feelings that I hope will remain just as fresh for the remainder of my life.

Aidan has molded himself into a fine young man. His mother and I have done a wonderful job with him if I do say so myself. Handsome, smart, polite, respectful, and courteous. Everything you could want in a child. We are very lucky.

10 years seems like a long time, but really, it isn't. Just a blip when you have kids. Squeeze them every day like it's your last, and remember what is important in life.

Happy Birthday Aidan...I love you.

William

Mother's Magic

Lori, Thanks you for being such a wonderful mother to our children. You do a magical job with each of them, and we are so very lucky to have you in our lives. I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day. I know we sure enjoyed spending it with you. We love you, William, Aidan and Christopher

Just A Number

Happy Birthday Lori! You continue to amaze me each and every day. Thank you for keeping me young.

I love you,

William

Perspective

One of the things that I like to do daily is visit one of my favorite websites. www.texags.com. It's a community of people, mostly Aggies but not all, that likes to exchange information about a variety of subjects. There are many different forums within the TEXAGS website covering the usual football, baseball, basketball, and the various other sports associated with college athletics. While those are very interesting, I find myself gravitating more towards the Outdoors board, or the Automotive board, or if I'm really feeling adventurous the Politics board. In all, there is approx 20-25 different boards to choose from.

Over time you develop a pseudo relationship with many of the people posting on the site. It's almost impossible not to. You find yourself defending a point or making a recommendation to many of the same people over time, and get to enjoy the banter back and forth.

This week, two of the better "posters" on the site had devastating news. One friendly Aggie has been chronicling his wife's struggle to fight lung cancer for a couple of years. He has continually delivered the good news and the bad. Today he found out that his wife's latest battle will be her last, as she has been given 9 months to live. While I do not personally know this man, I have been following their struggles for so long, that I felt genuine remorse reading about this latest and final set back. This women never smoked, and is relatively young. It breaks my heart when I put myself in his shoes, and think about the utter devastation I would feel if I were to lose Lori.

On the same day, I also read that one of my favorite contributors on the Automotive page (one that I've had several conversations with) had a stroke last weekend and is for all intensive purposes........gone. He has been in ICU all week fighting for his life, but that all changed today. They are now keeping him "alive" with machines in order for his two young sons to make it up to Dallas to see him one last time before they let him go. This is a 48 year old man in the prime of his life.....only two years older than me. :-(

I love my children and family more than anything on earth. I do not want to imagine a life without them, and I do not want them to experience life without me. Hopefully, God willing, I have many years left on earth, and I will get to see my boys grow up to be fine, successful men. I also hope that Lori and I will grow old together, and she will by my side holding my hand when I draw my last breath.

Every moment you spend with the people you love should be special. If it is not, correct that. You never know when you might be called home.

William

Happy Tuesday

I find it a little bit odd that there is a designated day to let the ones you love know how much they mean to you. The logic seems a bit flawed. Shouldn't every day be spent letting the people you love know how special they are?

Remember, your time is finite.

William

Lucky

It's been far too long since I have posted any pictures of my beautiful wife and our great children. I am so lucky to have each one in my life, and lately I believe I have lost track of that. I think that I fell into the vicious cycle of being content. While I stopped to bask in my contentment, the world around me kept right on moving. Unfortunately for me, it's awfully hard to catch back up, but I'm chugging along as fast as I can.

Aidan is growing into a fine young man. It amazes me how smart and mature he is at only 9 years old. He is going to be something special when he grows up. I am looking forward to seeing him become a man, but I'm not ready for that yet. We still have too much "playing" to do before then.

Christopher, well, he is a handful. I have never seen such an independent and hard headed 4 year old. He is also destined for greatness, for his drive is inextinguishable. Tell him he can't do something, and he will spend an eternity trying to prove you wrong.

Lori, well, I can't say enough about her. She is the best person I have ever met. Anyone she meets instantly feels a connection to her. It's a rare gift that very few have. I have been very blessed to have experienced it for the last 16 years of my life.


There you have it. A great looking bunch huh? I love each one dearly.

What did it tell you.........I'm......

Lucky!

William

Damn Butterfly

So many things in life seem inconsequential. A simple glance the other way, a step in the other direction, a blink of an eye. Mundane happenings on an insignificant daily journey.

Until recently, I had never given Chaos theory much thought. It seemed far fetched. A reach by someone to explain unpredictability. I now know that to be untrue, and even the smallest choices in life can lead to immense changes in real outcomes.

It's said that Albert Einstein was dumbfounded and amazed as a boy when he was given a compass. He was intrigued with the thought that some unseen force was controlling it. Without that simple compass and subsequent epiphany, he many never have awed the world with his theories. Think about that.....a simple short glance at a compass changed the world's history.

A shift can occur with something as simple as going north instead of south at the next crossroads. No big deal right? You can just turn around at the next intersection and go back right? Probably not. Oh how I wished it worked that way, but it doesn't. It would make life much easier. Nope...a whole new tangent is created, and life's timeline heads in a new direction.

Damn Butterfly. Where's a wasp, bird, snake, toad or lizard when you need them the most?

William

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