Xan dancing at Champs

Making the most of the music and open space:

Xan dance


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Location:Dog Track Rd,Pensacola,United States

Xan's Home Run

Xan hit an in-the-park home run tonight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJp-uEWMWjk

Here are some photos from Will's game. He was up to bat twice but did not get a hit,m unfortunately. He played third base and outfield. Rodney coached both games.

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Will's class pinata party

Will's class finished a book about a a girl of Mexican heritage, so they celebrated with a fiesta the week before Spring Break. Below is one of the photos, but more can be seen on the class website.

There are also some new photos of Xan on his class website.

Last Chance for Molly Ringwalds

The area's 80's cover band,The Molly Ringwalds, was playing at Capt. Fun's in Pensacola Beach last night. This was probably the last time I will see them in concert before we move to Japan. Sniff. Rodney lucked out and didn't have to go with me. My neighbor, Emily, wanted to go with me, since she had never seen them. 




Traditionally, the band takes a bottle of Crown Royal and drinks from it, then sends it out in to the crowd to share. Last night, once it was empty (I do not need a communicable disease at this juncture in my life, thanks), Emily got her hands on the bottle and gave it to me as a souvenir. A few songs later, they threw drumsticks in to the crowd and I managed to get one of those, too. I could only find a ball point pen, so it's not easy to see, but three of the band members signed the back of the bottle for me. Below are also some links to the concert. It must have been a great show because my ears are still ringing!


The band performing the theme from The Breakfast ClubThe band performing "Sweet Child of Mine" from Guns n Roses

Ice Flyers and Superheroes

The boys and I made it back to Pensacola by 12:30 p.m. Friday, just in time to relax and sell Rodney's BMW before heading out to the Ice Flyers game. A guy named Rodney who lives in Alabama bought the car and it is now paid off... we're down to one car payment now. Yipee! But I am not eager to sell my car. I really do like it. Rodney's Uncle Jim and Uncle Earl were (extremely) kind enough to drive Paul's truck down this week so that Rodney can use it until we move. Peg and Paul have generously offered it to us as we prepare for our trek halfway around the world.

As for the Ice Flyer's game, it was Pen Air night, although I did not work the event. The kids got to meet the "real life" Pen Air Patrol. There were some wardrobe issues, apparently, but I wasn't there and it's not my part  pf the project (I say this because I am reminding my Type A personality!) - can you guess which superhero didn't have all of the appropriate parts to his costume?






 Sidenote: I saw this billboard in Pittsfield. Apparently, it is the year of the superhero for financial institutions!
 Xan captured a ping pong ball from the Ice Flyer blimp (seen behind him) during the game - and earned himself a free haircut, six buffalo wings from Buffalo Wild Wings, a kids meal from Chili's and a one-week gym membership. He is very excited about the gym membership and can't wait to work out.
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Home again, home again...

Fortunately, the drive home from Illinois was uneventful. The kids and I broke it up in to a day and a half of driving. We stayed at the Embassy Suites again in Birmingham, at the kids' request. I did drive through Carbondale, IL, on the way back, to take a look at at Southern Illinois University, one of the ten or so places I could earn a PhD in communication. It was raining, so it was impossible to find a place to park so we could get out and take a look around. It's a small college town surrounded by farms. I think we'd like it there. But, we have 4.5 more years of the USMC to get through first.



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While in Illinois...

Aunt Jill sent out the invitations to her and Luke's wedding, scheduled for May 20. She got her first response back from cousin Abby. A cool addition to the invitation RSVP was a song request. They will build their reception playlist from those requests. Cool idea!

While we were there, a lot of cattle were born and added to the farms. Uncle Jim got two new bulls and Uncle Earl got one. Uncle John had a set of twins born (now all three uncles have had a set of twin calves this year born on their farms) and a tiny calf. She is a week old in the photo of her standing by her mom.





Video of the twins


The boys and I also had the chance to ride with Uncle Jim and Aunt Brenda as they moved cows and calves from one pasture to another. The calves were put in one part of the trailer and then cows loaded in to the other part. A couple of the calves needed pills for the "scowers" they had (diarrhea) before they were let go. The calves were let out first, and headed right. When their moms were unloaded, they headed left. So, Uncle Jim had to take off after the babies and herd them in the correct direction. We then waited to make sure they reunited with their mothers, who had crossed the small creek in the meantime.

Photos I forgot to post earlier: On the way to Illinois, the boys were eager to help get the bugs off the windshield. I think this kind of labor is the reason I had kids. :)

Grandpa Paul is home

Above is a photo of Peg, Paul, Will and Xan with the sign the boys and I made to welcome him home.

Grandpa Paul came home yesterday after spending three weeks in three different hospitals. He is still battling the brain tumor, but then suffered a perforated bowel. He is now resting at home peacefully.




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Church song

The kids sang in church today. Here is a snippet:

Knees and Toes



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Embassy Suites

The boys really like the Birmingham Embassy Suites. It was the atrium that did them in. They thought the hotel was "very fancy."








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"We Love America" performance ...and more

Xan's kindergarten class (combined with another) had a patriotic performance tonight. Here are some photos and a couple of videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbluIMGIPec

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeEYNAFxMIs

I also got photos of the kids' "wall" achievements so far this year. Will is a Math Superstar and Xan is on the Accelerated Reading "Wall of Fame."

Spring Portraits

Will and Xan got their Spring portraits in today. Also, I forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago, but Will also got his PATS report card. Apparently he talks too much. ;)

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Kinect, dog bed and car for sale

Last night we went to Rodney's friend Sean's house for a barbecue and hisson, Barry, who plays baseball at the same level as Xan, introduced the kids to the Xbox Kinect.They had a great time dancing to it:

Here's some video: http://youtu.be/4DJg62eX3Jg

We also got Marble a new dog bed which took her about 5 seconds to fall asleep in. And then she refuses to get up out of it.

We've put Rodney's car on the market, listing it on Craigslist and putting signs in the windows. Wish us luck for a fast sale!

Season Openers

Baseball season has started here in Pensacola, and both boys had games this weekend. Xan is playing for the Reds again and Will was drafted on the White Sox, the dominating team we've always tried to beat in the past. Xan batted twice, but Will only batted once, so I have more photos and videos of Xan than I do of Will.

Xan's game was first and he played both pitcher and first base. He got two outs and scored twice. Here are some photos:

Rodney and his friend from work, Sean and Sean's son, Barry.

Here is video of Xan's first hit:

http://youtu.be/JoE-vF-JRS0

Xan scoring a run:

http://youtu.be/sa44tHWeNw0

Xan's team lost, 14-11.

Here are the photos I got from Will's game. He played third and center field yesterday and only had one at-bat where he struck out. Will's team still won, though, 6-3!