Box Turtle, Soap Box Race

More new photos, can you believe it? Wow, my mom will be so happy. And there's video too! Not the highest of quality, but hey, better than nothing, right?

Here's the link to the full album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/tk42one/TurtlesAndRaces

And, even though I'm not a big fan of turtle (they're creepy), here's my favorite photo from the batch:

Photos from the wedding

Here be the link to the photos (with the messed up captions for some reason):
http://picasaweb.google.com/tk42one/JuneWedding

There are quite a few good ones in there, but here are my favorites:

My lovely wife


My cute daughter


My mischievous son


And my bald head

Today's Run

In a continuing effort to please those rabid fans out there, here's an account my run this morning.

First, the basics. I ran roughly 3.3 miles in a little over half an hour.

Second, the conditions. It was hot, hazy, and humid. Added to that was the horsefly menace. Overall, I did a decent job of hanging in there to run most of it, but obviously I'm not in shape enough to avoid walking. Most important to me (after making it the 3.3 miles) was that my lung capacity appears to be improving. Cool.

Finally, the exceptions. Construction appears to have begun on the new police station. Maybe it's the new animal shelter, I'm not sure. But they've cleared the trees, burned them, and are now grading the land. And I found a wallet of a young YMCA member in one of the dead ends. I won't say his name here because just a foot or two away was a used contraceptive. So, if you "lost your wallet" near the King George, VA YMCA, please find a new place to "lose your wallet" next time.

And that was my run. I turned in the wallet at the front desk (with no mention of what else I found), took my shower, and talked to the trainer about joining the woman's running club. No, I'm not a woman, but I would like to join a more local club. She said being a woman wasn't required and I wouldn't need to wear a grass hula skirt. But I might have to wear a pink shirt. Fine by me. I just want to run with a partner.

Mini-Vacation A Success

This past weekend we took a mini-vacation away from home for my brother-in-law's wedding. His wife has been a part of the family long enough that we've been calling her "aunt" before she actually was one.

So Friday we travelled north to Bethlehem, PA. Along the way we got lost only a little bit. Thankfully the GPS unit we borrowed from my dad worked well enough to get us back on track. Just not well enough for us to want to buy that particular model. We stopped at my sister-in-law's condo and dropped the kids off. I'm not sure who was more excited to be there, the kids or the in-laws. From there we went to our hotel room and checked in, changed for the rehearsal, and went across the river to the church on Lehigh's campus.

From there we hopped a few streets over to the dinner then back to the hotel. Dinner was nice and the kids were very well behaved. Yvonne and I got a nice night alone while the kids stayed with the in-laws. Amazing how much better you feel after sleeping in until seven. After getting ready we had a nice breakfast with a great view then did some shopping. We went to the "oldest continuously operating bookstore in the world." I was hoping the Moravian Book Shop would have more books, but there were more crafts than books. Oh well.

Then there was the neat toy store, the Aardvark Sports Shop, and the Heavenly Hedgehog ice cream shop (where Yvonne drooled over the hedgehogs). Then we picked up the kids, everyone got dressed, then headed to the wedding. Elizabeth and William were both awesome and did a great job of not crying or making a lot of noise. Elizabeth was a flower girl and did a perfect job walking down the aisle and posing for pictures.

After the ceremony and pictures, we headed to the reception at the Hotel Bethlehem (where we were also staying). Dinner was nice, but I missed part of it while I was setting up William's play pen to sleep in (poor guy crashed hard - so did Elizabeth). So I missed getting cake but Yvonne scored a cigar for me. Elizabeth had a "sleep-over" with Yvonne's aunt that night which meant she got to play in the morning. I managed to sneak out for a short run before cleaning up and loading the car. Then we were once again on the road back home.

Overall it was nice to see family again and Yvonne and I are both glad we're not getting married again. All that stressful happiness can get to you. We were both impressed (and grateful) at how the kids behaved and continually reinforced that (with toys, hugs, kisses, etc.). Photos will be coming soon.

From Ringing Ears to Shedding Tears

Well that was an eventful 24 hours I'd just as soon not repeat. Here's the situation....

A few days before a vacation, a storm decides to roll in. One of those big ones. One of those that will repeat itself tonight if the weather gods hate me. And what does foul weather spell for our house? Here's the checklist:

- Drooling, shaking dog that is so scared he throws up.
- Loss of satellite signal followed by loss of power.

Now that doesn't sound so bad by itself. But there were a few extra factors last night. Like, because I neglected to pull up the rugs in the bathroom, Henry throws up. Time to wash the rugs and clean the floors. And Elizabeth steps in the dog vomit. Time to clean her shoes and reprimand her for screaming bloody murder because she stepped in it because we thought she fell in the tub which was half full of water in the event of a black out. Might as well clean the bathroom while I'm at it. Might as well empty the tub since it looks like it won't rain anymore. Oh wait, there's more thunder coming. William goes to bed and was so scared he threw up. So we had to change him and the sheets. Yvonne snuggles with him in our bed while I watch a movie (Western Union) on the DVR (remember, no satellite signal).

And the storms roll on and on and on. The power goes out so we go to bed. This time though, I'm sleeping on the living room floor. Just not enough room for three people in our bed. Sometime during the night Elizabeth wakes up and joins them. Guess there is room for three people. So I sleep in her bed. And Henry needs to go out to pee. Fastest I've seen that dog pee in a long time while the thunder rolls across the sky. Finally, around four in the morning, the power comes back on. But we've all had very little sleep.

So that was the rough part of last night. The odd part was my dream. My old college roommate (not old like he's an old guy, old like it was a long time ago) gave me a present of an old camera. He works with old film so on his recent visit he brought his old camera. As in you have to wind it to get 16 seconds of silent film. Anyway, he gave me a camera like that (although it looked an awful lot like the surveyor's scope from Western Union) and I was so happy, I cried. And I woke up crying. Yeah. That's never happened before. Me crying doesn't even happen often. And to cry over a gift? Um, yeah. I can only explain it by blaming the lack of sleep and flashing lights in the sky. Maybe aliens abducted me or something, I don't know.

So, how was your night?