Two nights before Christmas however, Red left something additional in each of the stockings of the Children of the Corn.  A gold dipped envelope containing a silver inked letter from The Man himself.  Now was the time of reckoning.  The time of knowing.  Was it the good list or the bad.  What did Santa think?  What did he know?  When we opened our weary eyes the next morning would they sparkle and shine from majestic reflection of silver and gold or be dim from broken hope and disappointment.

Each of the Children red aloud so that we might know.
Only two more nights to go.

We must have been doing something right,
As when we gathered together for Christmas night.
We found a letter attached to our tree.
A letter that could only be from He
Was attached to our tree.
What might it say, what could it be,
this letter attached to our tree.
Opened and red by Carol Lee
Was this letter attached to our tree.
Inside was a riddle that brought us to glee.
A mystery that we must unravel to see,
why the letter was placed in our tree.
Through the house the children did chase,
To find the wrapped boxes Red did place.
Each in turn leading back to the tree
Where displayed for all to see,
was a cleverly disguised box holding a Wii.

After the paper was cleared and calm was restored, midnight munchies were set out for Santa and the reindeer.  A concoction of cookies, fresh oats, granola and some whole milk – a taste that goes straight to the mid-section and was likely the reason there are nine reindeer instead of eight….also a taste shared by Uno.  He sampled the goodies but we didn’t mention that to the kids.  It’s hard to tell the difference between teeth marks from a Red Nosed Reindeer or a Sheppard.

In the end Red delivered his report to the Big Man at the north pole and at some point during the year, unbeknownst to their parents, the Children of the Corn must have been good little boys and girls!!!

Merry Christmas Eve.

Related posts:

1. Fun in the Snow for Christmas
2. Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch
3. Leisurely Labor Day

2010 was the year that I got my dad two katana swords for his birthday.  Which I thought was really cool.  The sad thing is that I didn’t get to play with them until last Saturday.  Also because it was one year since I had got those swords. They’re really cool and it was worth the waiting!  They are made of white oak which is a very strong type of wood. One of the swords is over half the weight of the other!  I could barely lift it.  Well, anyway I asked my dad, “Can I get the ninja swords out and play with them?”.  “Gosh, I totally forgot about them!”, dad replied. “Well, all right.”

I found the swords in the closet next to mom’s bed.  I ran downstairs in a fury to get to the backyard, with the swords in my hands!  Dashing to go get dad. I suddenly run into the door and I fell butt first onto the floor.  “I must be too excited”, I thought to myself.  I stood up and opened the door and ran outside to get dad, this time without bonking my head on something.

I find dad at the grill cooking steaks.  I say, “Dad, look.  I got the swords.  Here, you take the heavier one.  I want the lighter one so that I can swing it faster.”  Dad takes the sword and says “Sure okay” and then we head down to the yard.  First, dad thought me some moves with the sword.  Moves like the upper slash and the stab.  Before we fought for real, we practiced attacking each other, seeing if we could block the attacker’s sword.  When I was ready dad said, “I think you are ready now” and he started our battle off with a swing which I blocked.

Next, we fought like Dark Vader and Luke Skywalker, deadly foes. Then, my brother, Isaac, joined in.  Before Isaac and I fought dad, dad gave Isaac his sword which was the heavier one.  I offered to trade him with my sword because it was much lighter.  I thought it would accommodate him better because he is not as strong as me.  We started to fight dad who now had a Nerf foam sword instead of a wooden one.  Since Dad has more experience with this type of stuff he was very much winning.  That was until Isaac had a very fast and frightening blow to Dad’s finger which we think broke it but we are not sure.  Dad kept on fighting but, eventually he surrendered and we were victorious.

It was fun fighting with them.  Jacob was never very aggressive with the sword but Isaac most certainly was.  He had not fear and kept coming and coming.  He smashed my knuckle in one of these attacks, a crack that stayed blue for nearly a week, I think I know who gets the foam sword next time.

Related posts:

1. Fun in the Snow for Christmas
2. Bulls Eye
3. Suprise From Grandma Donna

DragonCon was back in town and while I would have preferred to have purchased tickets and gone sightseeing at the actual show, it was cost prohibitive to take all the kids – even if the cost was right there was no way I was taking them to wait for tickets in the six hour line that literally wrapped around the block.  The parade was a good second and something I had never seen as well.  The kids loved it.  We found a nice spot to watch above the road and behind some glass that we were able to squeeze in to – certainly better than being at ground level with four munchkins that couldn’t see over a shrubbery.  The costumes were pretty awesome and all of us had our favorites.  Jacob took the only pictures with his camera and the rest of us just soaked it in.

Next up was a walk to the Atlanta Aquarium.  We had been planning to take the kids here all summer but just couldn’t find the time to do it.  Labor Day probably wasn’t the wisest choice in timing though as it was packed wall to wall with people.  Crazy.  Oh well, tickets had been purchased already online so at the very least we were able to bypass the ridiculously long entry line and head straight in.  Having been many times in the past we were hoping to see some of the new exhibits that had been added such as the dolphins but they were not open unless you purchased another ticket specifically to view them.  We instead took our time strolling from room to room and soaking up the sites.  Many times just sitting in front of a particular wall and watching everything swim around.  We managed to time our trip to the main viewing room of the large tank in time for the feeding of the massive whale sharks.  The biologist would drop buckets of krill onto the surface and the whales would basically inhale massive amounts of water and filter it through their gills each eating twenty pounds or so of these obviously delicious morsels per bite.

We did not end up going to Stone Mountain as it started raining early in the evening.  With the laser light show changing this year to something new and supposedly now in a type of 3-D where it looks like they are inside of the mountain we were bummed and will hopefully get to check it out before the season ends.

All in all a great weekend with the family.  Lots of time away from the house but also plenty of time at home to just take it easy and chill.

Related posts:

1. Labor Day in Indiana
2. Halloween
3. Reading Rewarded Rightly Riding Roller Coasters

Our family outing to partake in combating Georgia heat exhaustion while getting our thrills happened to be this weekend.  Everyone was excited and pumped to go.  We spent the evening prior with the boys watching various rides on YouTube so that they knew what they were getting into if they decided to ride some “real” roller coasters.  Isaac thought there were all cool but wanted nothing to do with actually riding one.  Jacob adamantly wanted to ride the Mind Bender.  The girls had recently been to Kings Island in Ohio with Grandma and Grandpa and were psyched as well to see what Six Flags had to offer.  Weather checked, bag of snacks and water packed, sunscreen applied, we headed out toward adventure.

The day at the park was fantastic.  It was certainly hot though.  Carol packed two bottles of water and we refilled them all throughout the day at various concession stands – pretty cool of the park to allow that without charge as well.  We didn’t have to worry about getting dehydrated – water was plentiful and available.  We started off with a ride down the log plume to get wet before walking through Looney Tunes Land.  On the way to Looney Tunes Land we came upon our first coaster, the coal mine train.  All of the kids except Isaac were pumped and could not wait to get their turn with seating arrangements being the most important topic of discussion.  Isaac lost his nerve somewhere between home and the park and was certainly not interested in riding.  Choice not given I kept my arm around him and assured him that “of course there are no hills or drops.  Absolutely it is going to be smooth and not bounce us all around…and no it certainly does not go fast….”.  Getting off, I agree with him that it was WAY to rough for a “little kids ride” but I actually thought the ups and down were fun….

The rides in the kids section were pretty fun.  Piper, Isaac, and Violet all had a blast riding them.  Jacob however was about six inches too tall to ride them so he took a walky talky and headed off to spin in circles on one of the few kiddie rides that he could get one.  We were all able to get on a ride suspended by long cables that spun needlessly in nausea inducing circles over and over and over.  Next was Thunder River, a large metal platform bolted on top of an even larger inner tube propelled spinning down a rapid moving river while “workers” on all sides shot at you with water cannons and accidentally misplaced rocks kept you careening back and forth to ensure that all aboard were soaked through by the various water waterfalls.  Good stuff.

It was starting to get late and we wanted to get our chance on some coasters as well…who said the kids got to have all the fun.  Next was the Goliath.  The night before Jacob made a gentleman’s agreement that he would ride but I think the overwhelming size of this monster with its ups and downs rattled his rambunctious attitude towards it.  We tried to change his mind but he was set.  Carol did a loop on her own – Violet and Piper wanted for the life of them to join her but the requirements were a pretty tall order with Jacob barely making the cut even though he didn’t ride…Next time Girls.  I was hoping that Jacob would begrudgingly ride it with me but such was not the case and we moved on to the Mind Bender.

When we arrived the lines were empty and it was open picking for the seats.  We had Piper and Violet measured as well.  Piper was plenty tall enough but Violet was under by about 4 inches or so.  They said it was okay with them if we didn’t care.  Violet really wanted to ride so why not right.  Carol took Piper and told Jacob he could ride with her on the next run.  Once they took off the lady on the platform said it was last call, take this train or head on out.  Sadly we found out they closed an hour earlier than we were expecting.  Jacob wanted to ride even though Carol wasn’t back and he strapped into the front seat.  I was with Violet a few rows back.  Everyone bolted in we headed out just as Carol and Piper got back.  This was Jacob’s first real coaster ride and he was pretty excited.  I think that wore off pretty quick though once we dropped down the hill and headed for the small loop.  Carol said she could see him and he was bunched down in the seat holding on for dear life, face filled with terror.  Poor guy.  I think my daddy senses failed me this time for Jacob and Violet both.  Violet and I were not ready for the first loop at all.  She loved coming down the big drop but the loop folded us both in half.  Her from the sheer force of it and me trying to protect her.  Certainly she was too small for this ride…Lesson learned.  She enjoyed the rest of it though and the second loop we were ready for and it wasn’t so bad.  She got off a little scared but within thirty minutes was talking it up and reliving the details.  Jacob finished the ride and needed some attention and calming when we got back to the station.  Certainly not a wise decision on my part to let him ride solo, let alone in the front seat.  He calmed down on the ride home and was no worse for wear with the exception that a lens had ejected from his glasses frames at some point on the ride.  I guess that is my penance for the bad decision.  Sorry buddy – I should have known better.

An interesting part about the Mind Bender was that Violet rode it.  Sadly the thing that she loves, horses, also had a ride at the park but she was not big enough in the parks  eyes to get to ride the Carousel of all things.  She picked out this awesome blue horse right next to her brother and sister but was not allowed to ride it because it went slowly up and down as carousels are want to do.  I had to move her to a stationary horse and have my hands holding her at all times or they would make us get off, all the while with her asking me with tears welling up in her eyes why “can’t I ride that one daddy, it is moving up and down”.   Really Six Flags…..  REALLY.  YHGTBFKM… IT IS A CAROUSEL RIDE….

All in all we had a GREAT time at Six Flags.  It might not have ended on an up note but the fun had throughout the day was not lost on everyone.  We stopped on the way out and let the kids pick out a souvenir before heading home.

We had eaten a big lunch before leaving for the park and snacked all through the day.  When we got in the car though, six bellies called out at once for food.  It was about 9:30pm and hunger had set in.  We made a quick pit stop by the airport to pick up Grandma and then found relief for our growling bellies at Taco Mac.  Lots of water and some yummy food later we had two that were falling asleep sitting up and two that had found reserve energy and were going a thousand miles an hour.  Once their heads hit their pillows at home though, they knocked out within seconds.  No whining, no crying, nothing except sweet silence.

Kids asleep.  Dog inside.  Doors locked.  Grandma tucked in.  Quick shower.  Then we passed out as well….Good day indeed.

Related posts:

1. Family Beach Trip – SeaWorld
2. Family Beach Trip – Buckets of Energy
3. Leisurely Labor Day

Jacob was interested in shooting his first rifle and after a few months of talking about it and learning the various safety aspects of doing so, it was time.  They both hear me talking about going to the range and have been interested in joining me.  I thought that would be excellent as well and have been working to that end.  I certainly want them to understand and respect weapons as they grow, in particular if they have an interest – one of those instances where if they have an itch it sometimes helps to let them scratch it with you versus with someone else.  Regardless I want them to understand what is acceptable and what is not.  What rifles, shotguns and pistols are for, how to be safe around them and what to know and do when they might handle one.  This was our first hands on lesson.

The day had finally come.  We don’t have a small caliber rifle and I was wanting to start him out light with a 22 so both the noise and recoil didn’t give him a bad taste from the beginning.  The range had a nice bolt action Ruger 22/77 with a low power scope that we took out for a spin.  I was hoping for something with iron sites as a start but this was what they had and we made the best of it.  It was a bit heavy though and there was some awkwardness in holding it because of the weight but the boys made the best of it and shot quite well.

Jacob won the coin toss and got first shot.  He did remarkably well considering he had never shot before and we were in a very crowded and loud range with lots of noise offering easy distraction.  His first two shots found their mark near the center and he was excited to continue.  We let each of they boys run a clip through and took turns at the reload.  Isaac had some initial trouble with sighting through the scope and adjusting to the weight.  We propped it up on a towel that the range had for just this scenario and let him hold it a bit short and he was able to find his mark.  After a few errant shots he slowly worked his way into the black and orange and as the shooting continued he was able to keep his mark most of the time.

Jacob took his time and challenged himself after the first clip was through.  We started at 25 feet, then 35, 50 and 75.  Each time he was not only able to continually hit the target but most of his shots found their mark well inside the inner circle.  He continually showed us that he could remain calm, patient, and generally take his time, all the while being a great listener and asking questions when he didn’t understand something.  He genuinely enjoyed shooting and told us so.  He did say the rifle was a bit heavy but he didn’t mind.  Next time around we will have to find a youth version with a shorter stock, iron sights and a little less hefty.

Carol and I didn’t miss out on the opportunity to get in our range time either.  We have been practicing with a new Kel Tec P11 9mm subcompact.  It shoots great even if it is a bit small to absorb the recoil.  We finished the day off with a new target and put a clip of both the 9mm and 22 through it before cleaning up, checking out and heading home.

Interestingly – or more so – fantastically, when we were checking out the boys were looking at all the targets and they found a series of various zombie targets that you can purchase for the extra special kind of practice.  Next time I know what we will be using.  It never hurts to spend some extra time preparing for Z-Day.

The boys did a great job, behaved like young men and generally made us happy.  I am very proud of them and look forward to our next trip – Zombie target practice or not…

Related posts:

1. The Ninjas
2. Six Flags Over Georgia
3. Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch

With full bellies we moved onto let Violet open her Gifts.  I think the only way Violet could have been more focused on opening gifts or on the attention she was getting was if an actual horse happened to pop out while she was tearing away layers of wrapping paper.  It would not have matter if it didn’t weigh in at a certain number of stones or wasn’t so many hands tall.  She wouldn’t have cared.  It would have received a huge hug and she would have declared: “It is exactly what I was asking for”.  Now there was no real horse of course unless you count the adhesive in the tape but that did not discourage her.  Violet was quietly excited sitting behind the little table as she received and opened her birthday cards and gifts.

After Violet was through opening gifts we sang “Happy Birthday” and ate some cake.  Yeah, yeah we know we do it backwards but it is what helps keep the house at least somewhat calm and orderly.  Once the kids devour their slice of cake they magically disappear.  The cake was our first chocolate cake ever and Violet was adamant that she wanted a “brown cake with blue icing and horses”.  Interesting choice and the combination make us think for a bit before deciding on a cake design.  Carol even went and found a special icing tip so that I could make grass.  I don’t think Violet noticed it all that much.  Her and John were too busy licking icing off of the horses to care about what color the icing or cake was.

Violet loves her gifts.  She has spent most of the day, along with Piper and Isaac, playing with them.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl !!!

Related posts:

1. Isaac’s Turns Seven
2. Violet’s Moment of Zen
3. Violet Levels Up

Related posts:

1. Photos Galore
2. Engagement Photo Session
3. Anniversary Dinner Date

It was very entertaining to watch the boy’s play with Jacob’s new flippers.  Isaac spent most of the day using them as paddles on his hands while riding his tube.  Jacob tried them for a short period and decided today wasn’t the day to learn (water guns were way more exciting).  Israel or should I say “Scuba Steve”, (lol) swam around the pool like a wild shark amusing us girls (Piper, Violet & I)

“Live and Learn” – Israel spent some time trying to help Jacob figure out how to use these large plastic creatures, but as always in the end, Jacob wanted to do it his way.

* Daddy’s Girls  *

I have been so happy to have one of my bestest friends back in the Good Ole USA.  We have enjoyed a lot of time together at the pool, yapping and watching the babies splash around in the water (I believe she is on a mission to have the darkest tan back in her hometown of England…lol).

Daddy and Piper playing with baby Olivia:  It was a lot of pleasure to watch these three twirl around the pool.  Israel is so fantastic with babies, you can tell he is very sincere when he’s with them.

Fun Close Ups:  I had to add these last few photo’s.  I couldn’t leave out “Posing Princess Piper” and “Wild Lady Violet” and last but not least  Isaac and his enormous goggles – Classic!

Related posts:

1. Leisurely Labor Day
2. Family Beach Trip – SeaWorld
3. Family Beach Trip – Arrival

We took off from Peachtree-Dekalb (PDK) airport around lunch time on a near perfect day.  It was a touch chilly, especially at altitude and it was really windy – that was our pilot, Otie’s problem though and only became ours if he wasn’t successful at managing it.  But no complaining from us as it was perfectly clear and sunny.  Our seats were in the front and the view was great.  It was weird taxiing though when you couldn’t see where you were going except by looking out the side or sticking your head out from behind the windscreen.  Otie kept swerving the plane back and forth on the taxiway to see what was in front of us – onlookers probably thought we were drunk, out joy riding.

The take off was quick and before we knew it we were up in the air heading out towards Stone Mountain.  It was hard to see much of the mountain or scenery.  The sides of the plane were high, about neckline, and getting a good view without sticking your head out was difficult.  Otie did a good job though of pitching the wings down and circling back and forth in a few figure eights, varying which wing was pointed at ground so we both were able to get a good look.  We confirmed, in case there was any lingering question, that even from the air it appears to be a large rock.

We were asked before we took off if we wanted to fly any tricks like a loop or a barrel roll.  We agreed to a hammerhead which is a mix of the two – gain altitude, aim at the ground to gain speed (certainly there is some irony there), pull out of the dive and role to one side causing the plane to fly upside down before straightening things out flat and level.  There was some anxiousness about this particular maneuver and a certain amount of hand and leg squeezing during other bumpy parts of the flight prompted me to ask for a rain-check.  Later I learned that the “fear of God death grip” was tantamount to having a good time and a result of enjoying the rush and that the cancellation was not necessary and should not be repeated.

The trip back to land was fun, lots of chatter on the radio that we got to listen to.  I don’t understand how the air traffic controllers keep everything straight.  I pulled out the camera when we were on final approach and got a good video of the landing.  The landing was smooth but up until our wheels hit the runway I thought we were going for a soft field landing.  Once we parked the plane and put our feet back down on the ground we enjoyed a nice lunch at the 57 Fighter Group Restaurant.

Related posts:

1. Tree of Life

Lo and behold.  We were finishing up a few things before heading off to bed and Carol took a peep out the window and couldn’t believe what she saw.  Our entire deck was covered in a thick layer of snow.  The sky was indeed falling and it was falling fast.  I headed out to grab some extra firewood to stack in the garage while Carol on the other hand thought it was completely necessary to torment me with snow balls while I performed this selfless act in the name of the safety and warmth of our dear family…  All is well though in Love and War.  She didn’t realize I was taking video and not pictures during her escapades in the snow!!!  Love You Hunny!

I still don’t understand the mobs at the store emptying shelves like the snow might be here for weeks to come – I guess the staples of sanity are a requirement if you have to be at home with the kids on a snow day – Bud Light and Christmas Tree Cakes!!!

Related posts:

1. Snow Day
2. Snow Day
3. Fun in the Snow for Christmas