The Drag Strip

The kids in the neighborhood have 'built' their very own drag strip on the block we live on. It's about two lots or houses long...beginning at the corner of our lot and going past our drive way to half way in front of my neighbor's house.

In this first picture, you can see the kids (including Kallsen, Parker and Joseph) lining up for a race Sunday afternoon. In this particular race, Kallsen and Parker were on trikes, Joseph was on his skate board,one of the neighbor kids was on a bike and the others ran. You'll notice that a neighbor girl was lined up behind Parker...her goal was to 'push' Parker to a win. The drag strip goes slightly down hill...and Parker isn't one for 'full speed' so pushing him down the hill didn't go very well for Parker.

In this next picture, you see Kallsen and Parker heading back to the starting line after finishing a race. Kallsen is more daring than Parker...going as fast as possible with his feet just above the ground. If he starts to lose control (realllly lose control) he'll put his feet down to slow his momentum.

Here's Parker, in one of my favorite pictures of the day, in reflection after a stunning defeat to his brother. Better luck next time Parker.

I love that we live in a neighborhood where the kids still have some imagination and they don't spend all their time indoors playing video games.

Go Fly A Kite

I took the boys to fly kites this weekend. Unfortunately neither Kallsen nor Parker took much interest in flying kites and when they did they had enough problems that I didn't get more than a couple of pictures...this is the only decent one I got. It's Parker with his dollar store Spider Man special kite.

Matt...please notice that Parker is wearing socks with sandals...yes, he makes me proud!

Best Weekend Ever!

There used to be a show on VH1 called The Best Week Ever! While I never watched the show I imagine it was a look back on the week in entertainment and was presented in a way that it was The Best Week Ever!

In the spirit of the show that I've never seen I want to say this past weekend was the Best Weekend Ever!

It started with Joseph's basketball game Friday night. On Saturday we went to Kallsen & Parker's basketball game. Then it was a quick trip to Wal Mart (always fun for children) and then home. While Momma, Joseph and Kallsen got lunch ready and prepared for the day, Parker and I had some one on one time going to the dump (another big event in the life of a child) and then it was off to Moonshine Mountain.

Moonshine Mountain is about two hours away. We spent a majority of the time in the car on Highway 11 going across the most northern part of Oconee, Pickens and Greenville Counties. Beautiful views of the mountains and mountain lakes on an unusually warm February day. There were lots of motorcycles and regular bikes taking in the beauty of the day.

Once we arrived at Moonshine Mountain there was a wait of 45 minutes to begin tubing due to the large crowd. We took that time to do a helicopter ride. Joseph rode with another group and Kallsen & Parker rode with me. That was a lot of fun and something that I had wanted to do my entire life...a helicopter ride. Once the helicopter rides were done, it was time to start snow tubing. You can see pictures and a video on the previous post on the blog and see more pictures and video on my facebook page.

Joseph on Helicopter

After snow tubing we grabbed dinner at a local restaurant before the drive home. We got home Saturday night sometime after 11:00.

Sunday morning the radio station had some issues so I ran to the station the fix the problems. When I got home, the boys were having lunch with hopes of finishing before Daddy got home so I could take them to the park.

Kallsen & Parker at bottom of slide

I grabbed a protein bar and off to the park we went. We spent time sliding and playing on the playground before moving to another part of the park to swing. After swinging the boys wanted to go to the picnic shelter, where all the dry leaves were piled up, and play in the leaves. After playing in the leaves we headed back to the playground where some kids from the boys pre-school were playing and they played even more. Between all these events the boys also found time to play Frisbee.

Parker Close Up on Playground

Once we got home, three hours later, we had a snack of apple slices and then it was back outside where we rode bikes, played basketball, played Frisbee and taught the neighbor kids the finer parts of disc golf putting and driving. The day outside ended with a great game of Frisbee 500 with Joseph and some of his friends.

Sunday night, with the boys fully worn out (no naps for any of them...and our boys always take naps on the weekends) they went to bed really well and my wife and I enjoyed watching an episode of West Wing before it was our bedtime.

It simply was the best weekend ever.

Snow Tubing at Moonshine Mountain

Saturday we had a family fun day at Moonshine Mountain. It started when Sara renewed a friendship with a friend from high school through Facebook. Plans were made for a group to meet at Moonshine Mountain, a snow tubing place in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Moonshine Mountain is about an hour and 45 minutes from the house, so not too far to drive. It is a bit shorter than driving to Sara's hometown of Jonesville, SC...where everyone that was invited still lives.

We had some miscommunication with the group. We thought we were snow tubing from 4-6 Saturday afternoon. The group was leaving at 4:00 and snow tubing from 6-8. While it would have been fun to be in a large group, it offered our family a great day of family fun and we were able to visit with Sara's friends once we finished snow tubing and they began.

By the way, the day was unseasonable warm at 71 degrees when we arrived. Being that Moonshine Mountain makes their own snow, their 9' base means they continue to offer snow tubing even on really warm days.

Parker being pulled up the mountain

Kallsen being pulled up the mountain

Joseph going down the mountain solo

Sara Beth being pulled up the mountain

Daddy, Kallsen, Joseph, Momma and Parker going down the mountain as a 'Train'

Family Train of Daddy, Kallsen, Momma and Parker

In the first picture of the 'Family Train' above, I'm taking the video you see here

I'll be posting more pictures and video on my facebook page. There probable will also be some pictures and video as well on Sara's facebook page.

Basketball Picture

This is Kallsen and Parker's picture for basketball this year. Being the prices were really high, we decided to get theirs taken together.

What!?

Not many things I hear or see cause me to really wonder 'What in the world..." I got one of those questions yesterday from my 4 year-old son Kallsen.

Every Tuesday I pick Kallsen up from school early and take him to dance class. This is nice because it gives me some one on one time with him.

Anyways...we're on our way home from dance and Kallsen asks me, "Daddy, why does food come out your butt?" All I could manage is a 'What!?' Kallsen then asks the question again.

I asked him why is he asking me that question. Apparently he asked my wife the same question. I asked Kallsen, "What did your Mommy tell you?" He said that Mommy told him "because that's the way God, Jesus and Barack Obama made you."

I asked my wife about this later in the evening and what Kallsen asked his Mommy was, "How come poop comes out your butt?" The conversation was about eating food and cleaning your body of things in the food that your body doesn't need...and that's the way God made you."

Kallsen added the part about Barack Obama himself.

Parker's counter part

The basketball program that Kallsen and Parker (and Joseph) play in is Upward Basketball. I'm not sure of the back story of Upward Basketball but here is what I do know: Upward Basketball is a played primarily in Baptist Church family life centers and is designed to mix learning team work, sportsmanship, and the gospel through the sport of basketball. Practice and games all include Bible lessons and the score is not important.

I tend to feel there needs to be more of a competitive environment, but this is not the time to share those views.

In Upward Basketball each player is given a color they wear on their uniform. During play, they are matched up with a player from the other team with the same color. Normally the coaches try and pair up players of similar skill sets and height.

On Saturday a little redhead girl had the same color as Parker and she stuck to Parker like glue. This was new to Parker being the 3-5 year-old basketball game consist of running with the ball and everyone getting a chance to shoot and score. Very little defense is played and most of time no one is even focused on the other player with their color. Below is a couple of pictures taken Saturday morning and a short video.

A player from the other team (a girl!) get's into Parker's head

Kallsen comes to Parker's rescue

As you can see, Parker didn't like being covered so tight. Watch as Parker keeps his head down and keeps on walking away from the little girl. I was worried that Parker might actually cry...and I am proud to say that he didn't cry.