Visit Home - Field Trip to the Police Station

On Friday of our trip home we took the kids to a homeschool field trip to the Richland Police station. I, of course, had to answer the question that was asked the kids about what they thought that police officers did that one of their duties was to eat donuts. Needless to say, they (the kids or the police officers) did not find this all that humorous. Oh well, that's ok. I was humored. So it served its purpose.

We all got to try on the bulletproof vests and the 'drunk goggles.' These goggles were supposed to simulate what it is like to be drunk. I tried them on and they seemed like a bunch of hooey to me. It never looked like that when I was drunk (not that I've ever been drunk).

We also got to sit in the police car which was fun for everyone. I got in the back seat and one of the kids (or was it a parent setting a good example for the children...I can't recall) shut the door on me. Since it was the seat where they transport people in custody you could not open the door from the inside. This meant that I nearly went crazy since I am somewhat claustrophobic. It was a good end to the field trip for me to get let out of the car.

After the field trip we got lunch from Arby's and went to Howard Amon park where the kids had fun playing on the big toys and climbing the walls.

Visit Home - Father/Daughter Ball

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated the blog. I really have no excuse but I'll attempt an explanation. For the first several weeks it was because there was nothing really to post on since I had no pictures since we hadn't gone anywhere or done anything. For the next few weeks it was because we went home for a visit.

At the end of February we took our first trip home in 9 months so that Rebekkah and I could go to the annual Father-Daughter ball at the TRAC (sponsored by Calvary Chapel in Kennewick). We were crazy busy and every day consisted of hauling the kids to a friend's house to play and/or spend the night. The trip was basically for the kids sake since they have very few friends over in Ohio and are "play" deprived.

This first post will mainly cover the main event of the trip: The Father-Daughter Ball. This year we went with the Maillouxs. We went to dinner at the Bonefish Grill. Rebekkah had Macaroni and Cheese and I had their Scampi Topped Filet Mignon. It was very good.

We had fun at the ball but neither of us had much energy because it was 3 hours later for us (meaning it started at 10pm and ended at 1am). And once again, for the second year in a row, they failed to play "Butterfly Kisses." Needless to say, Rebekkah and I were very upset. Here are some pictures.

Blame Halo 3

Micah was browsing around YouTube and found this really funny parody song/video based on Akon's song "Sorry, Blame It On Me." Even though I'm not a gamer, I know people that are and thought of them when I saw it. Enjoy!

Coming Home to Visit

We're very excited because we get to visit our home after not being there for about 9 months! We will be home on Thursday 2/28 at about 2pm and will be leaving on Monday 3/10 at about 6am. It will probably not be long enough but hopefully we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Nicole and the kids are planning on coming home in August 2008 regardless of where I am. Hopefully construction in Paducah, KY will be far enough along that I can just travel back and forth for a few months while we finish out. We'll just have to wait and see.

Valentine's Day/Birthday

Nicole and I went to Columbus for Valentine's Day and my birthday. We went to Easton Town Center in East Columbus and stayed at the Courtyard Marriot there. For dinner we went to a quaint little Irish restaurant/bar called Fadó Irish Pub (pronounced f'doe). Nicole had the Bangers and Mash and I had the Fish and Chips. After dinner we did a little shopping at Hollister and American Eagle and then went to AMC Easton Town Center 30 to see Cloverfield.



Nicole had to leave about 30 minutes before the movie ended because she was so nauseous from the way the movie was filmed (something like "Blair Witch Project" with a personal Handy-Cam). Anyway, I'd have to say that I personally enjoyed the movie. It was very creative and extremely intense. The way it was filmed made you feel like you were there.

The kids stayed with the Milmores and got to play with the neighbor kids. They had a good time sledding on the hill in their backyard.

New Years Party

I broke out the camera to take some pictures of the iPhone yesterday and discovered that I had pictures from New Years that I had failed to download to my computer and upload to the blog.

We spent our New Years at the Milmore's house (friend from work). Below are the pictures of that crazy night. We though about staying the night so our kids got in their jammies but we decided to just take the long drive home from Chillicothe so that we could wake up in our own beds.

First we had dinner and snacks. Then we played games and had an elephant gift exchange. Everyone stayed up until mid-night to watch the ball drop. At the end of the night we lit up the sparklers and went crazy. Here are the pics.

iPhone and Screaming Pre-teen Girls

We just joined the marvelous world of web-based mobile phones by purchasing an iPhone last weekend. Here's the story.

Several weekends back, Rebekkah took a Red Cross certified babysitting course and is growing into a semi-responsible pre-teen (as responsible as they can get I suppose). We've been experimenting with leaving the kids home alone while we go out and decided that Rebekkah needed to have a mobile phone (since we always had to leave one mobile phone home with them). Rather than signing up to get a new cheapy free phone for Rebekkah we decided to give Rebekkah Nicole's Razr and get Nicole an iPhone...kind of crazy for a technophobe like my wife!

So now Nicole has an umbelical chord to the net and can get an email, text message, phone call, and surf the web all at once. She will soon no longer be a technophobe and will instead be a techno-wizard. I may soon be asking her for help on operating electronics!

Rebekkah has now joined the mobile generation with a phone that takes pictures and videos, plays music, and can connect to the web. She has been applying her babysitting training by practicing on the 2-year old daughter of some friends of ours and has been doing a fantastic job at it (even changing diapers!).

In addition to purchasing an iPhone this past weekend, I went on a surprise date with Rebekkah to see the 3D Hannah Montana concert movie. I don't think I've ever been in a room with that many screaming pre-teen girls before. It was an experience that I will not soon forget. We went to this since we weren't on the ball to get concert tickets when they became available for her Columbus concert. Needless to say, we were all very disappointed since we all wanted to go to the concert.

Needless to say, the 3D movie was very good though all of the girls seemed to enjoy the Jonas Brothers more than they did Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. It did not quite feel like you could reach out and touch old Miley's electronic hand, but it did sort of feel like you were there somewhat. What I did like about it was that you could sit and watch the movie/concert in a comfortable chair rather than have to deal with the pushing, shoving, screaming, stinking, whining, etc. of a normal concert crowd. Plus it was not nearly as loud as a concert so that was nice.

Visit to Cedarville

A friend of ours from the Tri-Cities came over to his alma mater, Cedarville University, to be inducted to the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. The town/school is about an hour northwest of us.

We went on Saturday to a banquet to see him inducted. We enjoyed a dinner catered by the school volleyball team and then got to hear the stories of four previous school athletes as they were presented by a friend or coach and then gave their acceptance speech.

The next evening we joined him for a school men's basketball game. They pretty much got killed but it was still fun to watch and catch up on stuff. It was alumni weekend so the place was packed and very loud. I forgot what it was like to go to a college basketball game (not that I really went to that many in college anyway, but it was like I remembered).

It was nice to see an old friend from home. Congratulations Chad!

Snow Day

These were some pictures from a while back of the kids playing in the snow with Dan and Laura Milmore's daughter (friend from work)...

Philly

On our way home from New York we decided to see Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia since we were in the neighborhood. We stopped to see another important town in the birth of our country. The main things to see at the national park were Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Other items we saw were Second Bank of the United States, Franklin Court, Christ Church, Christ Church Burial Ground, Arch Street Friends Meeting House, and the Betsy Ross House.

Christmas in NY - Day 5

We spent a leisurely Christmas morning opening presents at the hotel and eating our continental breakfast then taking a visit to Hamilton Park in Weehawken during the daytime on our way out of town.

























Saying goodbye to New York, New York...the city so great, they named it twice ;)










After leaving Hamilton Park, we drove to our hotel in Trevose, PA (just outside of Philly) and looked for a place to eat. Unfortunately, since it was Christmas, absolutely nothing was open to eat at (not even fast food places). Well...almost nothing. We ended up eating lunch/dinner at Starbucks and then went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets.