Very Long Weekend

Vivian and Henderson had a swim meet this weekend. It was a championship meet that lasted all day both days and the temperature was well above 100 degrees. They both did great....Vivian got a Junior Olympic time in her 50 meter freestyle. This is a huge deal except for the fact that she will be 11 before the next Junior Olympics in the spring and then she will be in a different age group. If she had posted this time in the spring, she would have recieved an invite for the summer Olympics that were just held last month in Long BEach. We are still very proud of her and she now has a goal for next summer. All in all she won 8 medals and a few ribbons. Henderson did great too considering this was his first long course meet. He got a first and third place ribbon in the only events he swam. Way to go kids!!!!

First Day

Here they go, of to school. Gabriel to kindergarten and Henderson to 2nd grade. I almost started to cry but I don't know if they were tears of joy or sadness. I am glad that I am working on Mondays and Wednesday mornings because I think 5 days alone at home would be boring. Henderson's teacher is a friend of mine, I know he will have a fabulous year.

Gabriels teacher is Mr. Youngdale. He is loving having a man teacher. I though he would respond well to a man, so I requested him. Gabriel will not kiss me goodbye on the playground before school. He says he is a big boy. It kinda makes me sad.

Not Funny

While we were in Nebraska our good friend and practical jokester Chris Jourdan filled my fridge with coke. He did this because he knows how much I hate havingsoda in the house because the kids go into this weird obsession and hound me for soda. Plus it makes people fat. So when we arrived, there was coke everywhere. We found them under our pillows, in drawers inthe bathtub, in the cabinets. I couldn't go to the grocery store until the cokes were gone, and fortunately the food pantry in our area was holding a huge food drive. I called them and they said they would be glad to have it , so off it went to the shelves of the pantry. That bag in the fridge, on the botton shelf is 2 dozen ears of corn I brought back from Nebraska. I threw coke away to make room for it.

Ponca Nebraska

Finally I am posting pictures from our trip to Nebraska. It has taken me this long because I forgot my camera and Jeanine did too. Finally she found her Mom's and so the pictures that follow are from our last few days of the trip. It was an amazing time for my city kids. They could run and play outside for acres and acres without worries about traffic, perverts, snakes, bugs or anything else that could harm them. We all had a lot of firsts. The kids got frogs and participated in a frog jumping contest right inthe middle of town. Vivians frog won for her age group. Her prize was a coupon to the local soda shop for a malt, or milkshake. This was not like going to Coldstone, this was a pharmacy with soda shop in the back, just like in the days of old. I remember going to one in New Bern when I was little with my mom, but it closed many years ago. Each night when they were so dirty from the day they bathed in an old cast iron claw footed tub, no showers. The dirt ring aroung the tub was unbelievable. We ate corn pick that day that was the sweetest best tasting corn I had ever tasted. Each kid ate at least 3 ears each. Troy took the kids exploring on the back p[art of the farm. They discovered a series of beaver dams that went farther and farther down the creek to control the water flow. They could see all the gnawed trees the beavers had left behind. Troy said it was quite impressive. GAbriel got bucked off a horse and was made to get right back on. Jeanine's uncle ownes two huge Belgian draft horses that he hitched up and took us all for a ride throught the rolling cornfields of Nebraska jsut at sunset. It was beautiful. Pictures of that will post as soon as they are forwarded to me. All in all it was an amazing trip. I just wish I had not forgotten my camera.

The Farm

Here is Larry and Donna's beautiful pond where we spend many hours relaxing and watching the kids while they played outside. Vivian is holding the kitten that was part of a litter of 4 when we arrived but on the first day 3 of them ran off never to be seen again. It was very sad. Their farm was 300 or so acres and the kids spent a lot of time on the Kabota or driving the tractors all over the place. That is Gabriel with Larry and Adam on it in the picture.

Not a mean spirit

Spirit the horse bucked Gabriel off almost as soon as he got on. He probably knew Gabriel had been being mean to the kitten earlier and was getting even. Jeanine told him he HAD to get back on. He did, but with Mom"s help. It was a great mataphor for life.

The Mulberry Tree

On LArry and Donna's property out in the middle of a cow pasture was a mulberry tree full of berries. We all climber on top of the Kabota and ate mulberries until the kids were purple. This was one of those experiences that my "city" kids will remember forever. This is Jeanine's boy's Jacob and Micheal who went back and did it again so I could have pictures. Thanks guys.

Last Day

Henderson and Vivian took an archery class at Ponca State Park on our last day there. They loved it and hit the target a few times.