Delinquent Postings...blame it on France!

This post is for those of you who thought we died or just that we were no longer blogging. We are still planning on blogging but we have just been seriously crazy busy getting ready to move to France for two years. The picture below if proof of the list that we had to work off. Nicole thought it would be a good idea to create a giant checklist to work off the items. It proved to be very efficient and we almost have the whole thing worked off now. Here is a brief synopsis of what has happened since I got back from Kentucky in early April:

• I can't remember what we did in April. That's too long ago but I know it was crazy busy.


• May was spent with language training every night after work. That with homework every night kept us busy enough. Oh yeah...we also had a huge yard sale and catalogued all of our books with the help of our good friends the Montgomerys. Thanks guys!


• June was spent going to France on our orientation trip to pick out a house, schools, visit the workplace; selling our home; language training; and moving out of our home.


• Our last month here in the US is being spent finishing up piles and piles of paperwork for everything you could ever think of (including finally getting a will), cultural training, visiting family and friends, language training, picking up our visas, and packing. We leave for France on 7/31.

It has indeed been a whirlwind and I will post more details when I get more time. For now, be entertained by the magnificent picture of our enshrined list. TTFN...et à la prochaine!

Memphis

Two weekends ago I had time to kill by myself in Kentucky so I decided to take a trip to Memphis to see Beale Street and visit some of the music museums. The family and I had been to Graceland and had stopped by Beale to take a couple of pictures. So like a dork I went by myself and stayed at the Graceland Days Inn and visited Beale, ate BBQ, went to museums, and listened to some good music.

When I first got there I checked into the hotel and went down to Beale Street to walk around and eat some good food and listen to some good music. I didn't have a camera with me so I bought a $5 disposable at Walmart so the pictures pretty much suck. But it's better than nothing I suppose. I took more night shots and club shots of the musicians but none of them came out.

Beale Street is "significant location in history and the history of the blues," named after an unknown military hero in 1841, it acted as General Ulysses S. Grant’s headquarters during the Civil War. It is lined with jazz clubs and such each with good food and music trying to get you to come into their place. It's probably not really all that interesting unless you're somewhat into music. You can take a virtual tour here.

The first night I visited the Rock n' Soul Museum which was created by the Smithsonian Institution which "tells the story of musical pioneers who, for the love of music, overcame racial and socio-economic barriers to create the music that shook the entire world." It was decent but I liked the others I visited better. Then I had dinner at hte Rum Boogie Cafe which had some decent BBQ and several very good bands.

The next day I went to eat at Pig On Beale which had no music but probably the best BBQ that I have ever eaten. I sort of went there on accident. A friend from high school on my facebook recommended a restaurant with the website of http://www.hogsfly.com/ and when I was walking around I saw Pig on Beale and thought that was what he recommended. Accidental...but I'm glad I went.



















These last pictures are an odd sign that I also saw in New Orleans and some goats climbing around on what looked like a kids play area. Not sure what that was all about...














The second morning I went to Stax Museum of American Soul Museum. Apparently it is the only soul music museum in the world and was the recording company for such singers as Otis Redding, Rufus and Carla Thoas, Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Albert King, the Bar-Kays, Booker T. & the MG's, and many others. Unfortunately none of the museums would allow cameras so I could only get pictures of the outside.

According to Wikipedia, Stax "was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, andblues recordings. While Stax is renowned for its output of African-American music, the label was founded by two whitebusinesspeople, Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton, and featured several popular ethnically-integrated bands, including the label's house band, Booker T. & the MG's."











In the afternoon I went to Sun Studio mostly known for being the place where Elvis and Johnny Cash got their start and has been called the birthplace of rock-and-roll. According to Wikipedia: "Sun Studio was opened by rock pioneer Sam Phillips...on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records label business. Reputedly the first rock-and-roll single, Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats' "Rocket 88" was recorded there in 1951 with song composer Ike Turner on keyboards, leading the studio to claim status as the birthplace of rock & roll. Blues and R&B artists like Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Little Milton, B.B. King, James Cotton, Rufus Thomas, and Rosco Gordon recorded there in the early 1950s...Rock-and-roll, country music, and rockabilly artists, including unknowns recording demos and others like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis, signed to the Sun Records label recorded there throughout the latter 1950s until the studio outgrew its Union Avenue location."















These last pictures are of the hotel that I stayed at. Notice the awesome guitar shaped pool. I had the priviledge of having Elvis watch over me as I slept. And the hotel had two channels completely dedicated to Elvis movies. It was glorious!

Father-Daughter Ball 2009

While I was looking at family pictures of some high school friends of mine on facebook while thinking about our annual visit to the Father-Daughter ball put on by Calvary Chapel at the TRAC and I had a crazy idea to organize an outing with old high school friends and their daughters. It was a total blast; all the girls and dads had a fantastic time though unfortunately about three friends couldn't go because they were out of town (or from out of town).

These first pictures are of us disembarking in the limousine. This was both my and Rebekkah's first limo ride. We just happened to have some sparkling cider in the garage (almost like we planned it, but we didn't) that we chilled in the limo and had some on our ride. The driver took us across the blue bridge and then through Columbia Park and up Columbia Center Blvd to Red Lobster for dinner.

Micah was a bit jealous as he wanted to go on the limousine ride as well. Maybe they'll have a Mother-Son ball someday. Who knows...
































Here we are at dinner at Red Lobster. Rebekkah and I split the Ultimate Feast which was lobster, crab, two types of shrimp with rice, a salad, and clam chowder. It was yummy.

















After dinner the limo driver dropped us back off at our house where we had some dessert. We had brownies and ice cream or peach cobler and ice cream. When we were done we all piled in my van and went to the ball.














Here are some pictures of us dancing at the ball. We were getting a few confused stares because we were getting our grooves on. I think they suspected we might be a little wierd.

Paducah Ice Storm

Here are some artistic shots the day before the really bad part of the Paducah area ice storm. This was Tuesday morning 1/27 and we have some pictures and videos of the aftermath of the storm that night. The worst parts were Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We left to drive back to Washington on Wednesday morning and so missed the worst part.

We really wanted to get a good sleep on Tuesday night that was not happening. Between the trees cracking and dropping, to the sirens, then the chainsaws at 5am, we probably only got about two hours of sleep total. It was an event I do not think I'll ever forget.
































And here are some other pics and videos on the web. The aftermath a few weeks later looked like a tornado or hurricane had come through the area. Some people were without power for up to 8 weeks!

http://sparkware.com/Pictures/Album.asp?AlbumID=222
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/569951312fgMlMQ

Sleepover at the Allen's

Before Christmas we had a family sleepover at the Allen's. It was a great time of games and just hanging out. The pictures of Nicole and Micah on that board are a balance trainer called Indo Board. It was a fun little tool that I'm now seriously thinking about purchasing myself. It is really hard!

Trip to Arkansas

Ever since Nicole went to see Kelly while she was visiting her sister Lisa in the Little Rock area when we were in Ohio we'd been meaning to visit there as a family and stop by Memphis on the way. So since we had two more weeks there we took the second to last week to go there.

We drove down to Beale Street to see what was there and decided not to get out and walk around because it didn't look exciting enough. Instead we drove through, got out, and took some pictures.














Next we visited Elvis's home called Graceland. The home has been restored to its condition when he died and also contains a museum. I could probably give you a bunch of tidbits about the guided tour but I will not bore you. You can cruise the website or Wikipedia article if you really want to know more. The one thing I will say is that apparently Elvis liked mirrors.

After going here I ended up renting the Elvis Miniseries which aired on CBS. It was a very interesting movie and I highly recommend it if you want to learn a little more about the life of the King of Rock-n-Roll the lazy man's way.





















































When we got to Todd & Lisa's house the first thing Micah wanted to do was try on Todd's flying helmet. The second set of pictures are of us getting the grand tour of Todd's work at the air force base. We had a great time visiting the Sangster's and getting to see the base. It was a good learning experience for us all. Thanks for the fun time Sangster's. Thanks for the hospitality. We hope to see you next time in France!!

Trip to Cincinnati - Milmores and Traceys

Before leaving the eastern and central time zones we knew that we needed to have one last hurrah with the Milmores and their neighbors (Micah's friend Parker). So we decided to rendevouz in Cincinnati which was sort of a half-way point so that we could play at the hotel and hang out. So we stayed at the Lexington Hotel which was decent but had a nice big indoor pool with large gathering area. It wasn't the greatest place to stay but it certainly served its purpose. We ended up going to dinner at fabulous T.G.I. Fridays which was also a good time.

Trip to Arizona - Lunch With the Hoovers

A while back we joined facebook. It's been a really cool means for reconnecting with people we have since lost contact with for whatever reason. I was even able to have my family (me, my dad and brother) reconnect with my half sister. Anyway, to make a long story short we ran into some friends/acquaintenances of ours from high school there and learned that they were Christians who home schooled like us and they lived in Gilbert, AZ. So we decided to send them a message and ended up meeting them for lunch one day while we were there. It was a really good time and some great fellowship. It made me wish that we lived in the same town that they did. Here are the pictures.

Trip to Arizona - Sea World

The last visit in California was to Sea World in San Diego. The first exhibit we visited was Rocky Point Reserve where the kids got to pet the dolphins. It was $6 for three fish which was a total rip off but it got the dolphins close and let the kids to the front.















The first show we went to was the Dolphin Discovery. For the first 10 minutes or so they introduced a family that you later come to find out was a dad and his daughter with a woman who was actually a trainer who ends up "falling" into the water.













The second show we went to was Shamu Show: Believe. It was an amazing but sort of cheesy show that made the bizarre statement that humans and orcas have been trying to become one for ages. Not really too sure what that was all about. Other than that, the show was quite entertaining.













These pictures are at Flamingo Cove where you can gaze at some amazingly colorful (or so I'm told...I'm colorblind) Caribbean flamingos. Then there was this small really red bird that made Micah laugh uncontrollably. It was funny.














The last show we went to was called Pets Rule! It was a jaw dropping show (probably actually my personal favorite) where animals of all sorts did things you wouldn't even believe. I never realized that you could train ducks and cats.

Trip to Arizona - Legoland

For New Years we stayed the night near Disneyland and went to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Jazz Kitchen and watch the fireworks. The dinner was decent but definitely not worth the money. Before dinner we killed time by going to several stores.

Here we are riding the little tram to watch the fireworks. My sister-in-law Jenny read on the internet that there was a good view of the fireworks from the parking garage and so we went. It was funny because we got there like 45 minutes before it started and no one was there. But by the time the show started there were like 50-100 people there. The kids killed some time by playing red-light-green-light.























The next morning we got up and drove about 20 minutes north to Legoland. According to the kids this was the highlight of the trip. They were just the right age to go as it seemed to be geared to about 10 yr olds. Plus Micah is totally into Legos and when we showed up he thought that we were in heaven.

When you first come up toward the entrance you first see this Volvo with a family made out of Legos. When I first saw it I actually thought it was a real family!

Here are some hilarious pictures of everyone riding the roller coaster. Check out the picture of David and Nicole. I told David to cut out his face and put it as his facebook profile picture but he hasn't. I about died laughing when I first saw this picture. So then I decided to spice it up a bit and put David's head with some flames in the background.



















This ride was called Knight's Tournament where you get to select the difficulty of your ride on the robotic arm. It might have been the kids favorite ride though they may have liked the roller coaster better.

















One of the coolest features of Legoland was a section of the park called Miniland which was scale models of US cities built out of Legos with the landscape and such made out of real grass, real miniature trees, etc. It features reproductions of seven areas of the United States (i.e., Washington D.C., New Orleans, New York City, Florida, San Francisco and the Southern California coastline, and Las Vegas), all constructed with 20 million LEGO bricks in 1:20 scale.

One of the areas that we thought would be really cool but didn't turn out so great was the Volvo Driving School. I think the kids liked it but it was a little slow. It featured a miniature city area where the kids got to drive little cars and were supposed to obey the rules of the road (e.g., stop at signs and lights, etc.).

After all the chaos we went on the Fairy Tale Brook boat ride where we road through fair tale stories made out of Legos.

Finally here are some random pictures around the park.

Trip to Arizona - Grand Canyon

While we were in Arizona we figured it would be as good a time as any for us to take the kids to see the Grand Canyon. They had fun playing in the snow but were sort of unimpressed (or perhaps just uninterested) with the rest. Here are the pictures...

Trip to Arizona - Christmas

These are a bit out of order because I forgot about the Christmas Eve and Christmas day photos. David and Jenny traditionally open all of their presents on Christmas Eve so when in Rome we do what the other Hoxworth's do. So we all got up late (except for the kids of course) and got dressed up for pictures and Christmas Eve dinner. Here are the pictures:


Who would have thought that we would be picking oranges on Christmas Eve!?
















Here are some pre-photo shoot photos...and the dueling computers.















And the outdoor photo shoot...










































And finally Christmas Eve dinner! Man was it good!!! Thanks Jenny!













Then someone here got fancy and took some artistic shots





























After Christmas Eve dinner is the climax of the evening for the kids...opening presents!! But first the kids dress up in Santa hats and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.














And then the opening of presents...it was a Wii Christmas for everyone. Look at the sheer delight in their faces.
























Then we musn't forget the assembling of the presents. Here grandpa helps Micah assemble his very complicated Batmobile.



















Christmas morning is when the stockings get opened.














Then on Christmas evening we went to look at Christmas lights. It was just amazing at how much people decorate. There were more than a few of those that had the animated light show like the one below. Before this I had only seen it on the internet and thought it was a rarity. Apparently it's not so rare in Gilbert, AZ.

Trip to Arizona - Sedona

After Christmas in Gilbert we decided to take a trip to the Grand Canyon since the kids had never been to see it. On the way we stopped by Sedona.

The first stop was the Chapel of the Holy Cross to see the funky looking Catholic church as well as the amazing landscape scenery from there.

"Sedona's main attraction is its stunning array of red sandstone formations, the Red Rocks of Sedona. The formations appear to glow in brilliant orange and red when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. The Red Rocks form a breathtaking backdrop for everything from spiritual pursuits to the hundreds of hiking and mountain biking trails."

The church was "designed by architect and sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright." Below the church was this gaudy house with an amazingly huge fountain/waterfall. See pictures below.

Next stop in Sedona was the shops at Tlaquepaque (pronounced Tla-keh-pah-keh) to see the local arts and crafts, get some good pictures, and eat some good food. But before going here we had to pass by the Ye Olde UFO Store?? Anyway, here are some pictures.

Trip to Arizona - Photo Shoot

We got a new camera and hadn't taken family pictures in a long time so we took advantage of the Christmas visit to Arizona with my brother and his family and my parents to get some photos.

Trip to Michigan - Hoxworth Christmas, Goodbyes, etc.

These first pictures are the final events at the Simpsons/Panters. This is the puzzle we worked on all week and finally finished at the end of the week. Man that sky was hard!











We went out to dinner at the Outback Steakhouse for our goodbye dinner :-( We had a really great time with the Simpsons with everything we did. Thank you for letting us invade your personal family vacation time! We love you!!!













While we were in Michigan visiting the Simpsons on their Christmas vacation it just so happened that my dad's side of the family (my aunts, uncles, and cousins) were having the Hoxworth family Christmas. So we decided to invade their time as well and invite ourselves to the tradition annual Hoxworth Family Christmas gathering. Here are the pictures.










Rebekkah and Aunt Jan













Nicole and Aunt Sonja









Uncle Brian with Grandma and Grandpa Hoxworth

Here are some pictures of Micah playing in the cold snow with the cat. He basically spent the entire time outside with the exception of coming in to eat. And it was friggin' cold! What a crazy kid.
























Aunt Polly with her new grand daughter Quinn










Me and my cousin Jeff

This is my crazy cousin Caleb sporting a mullet. He says he grew it because a friend said that they would get a cat if he grew a mullet. Random...I know. But I suppose you just have to know my cousin to get it.











My cousin Kim and her husband adopted this cute little boy, Tima, from Russia. He seemed to really like Rebekkah and Rebekkah had a good time entertaining him. She is just going to be the best babysitter!











Here are pictures of us with my grandparents.











Finally here is a picture of Nicole with my cousin Kim who adopted the boy from Russia. It had been a long time since I had seen everyone (17 years for some) and Nicole had never met some of my family. We really had a good time talking with Kim and will hopefully have more times in the near future that we can get together again.