A Sign Of Things To Come

We are back from a great trip to Florida for our Spring Break and although it was a lot colder than we'd hoped, it's always a great time to lay around on the beach!!

The weather here in NWA is a lot like it was in the panhandle of Florida...only without the beach. However, with the sun out and the temps warming up, the kids are now beginning to spend a lot of time outdoors when they get home from school.

Today, Kaitlyn had her best friend Sam over to play. As expected, Jacob wanted to go out and hang with the girls. When they all decided to head out to the front yard for some quick playtime before we brought Sam back to her home, one of Jake's little girlfriends from down the road, Sarah, came out to join in the fun.

As you can see in the pix below, it looks like Jake is pretty happy she did.

Could this be a sign of things to come in the next 10 years or so? As it is, Jennifer and I really like Sarah's parents and have told them that we approve of the "marriage" between our families if it happens. Nothing like laying the groundwork out early, right?

What a couple of cute kids.



"Here Jacob...let me drive for a minute and you hit the gas!"



"Well, thanks for the ride and a great time. I'll call you soon, OK?"



"Hey Dad! Look at me! I did pretty good, didn't I?"

38 For One Last Day

Today is the last day for me to enjoy life at 38 years old.

Tomorrow, I'll be hitting the big 39...one year before the even bigger 40.

I'm already being reminded of this by my loving and considerate family members. LOL

Since my last entry, we've had a much better spring break. A lot of time on the beach building sand castles, some great eating at some pretty good Florida restaurants and today we got pelted with a fraction of the rain that's been washing away a good portion of Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri. Because of the rain here in the panhandle today, we did a double feature at one of the local movie complexes.

We took the kids to see the new Dr. Seuss film "Horton Hears A Who" followed by Raven Symone's "College Road Trip". Gotta be honest here...they were both pretty good family movies and all of us really found ourselves enjoying these films.

Oh, by the way, for those of you wondering about "College Road Trip", Donny Osmond stole the show and he wasn't even billed as a top star. Go see it and be ready to laugh at some good, clean family fun.

Tomorrow is my birthday and the family is planning on taking me to Pensacola early in the morning to go watch the world famous Blue Angels practice. We are ALL looking forward to this and hopefully I'll be able to put some pictures up soon. We get some real spotty connections here at the condo so it may not be 'til we get back home for me to put a bunch of pix up for you all to enjoy.

Have a good night and we'll try to check back in later tomorrow night after we go for Round 2 of family portraits on the beach. We were wind-blown off our photo site last night by some pretty big gusts. There was no way I was going to spend a bunch of money on some high quality photos if the wind was going to play havok with my hair 'cause you know how much time it takes me to get it ready each day. LOL

Spring Break 2008 (Monday)

Well, I guess it wouldn't really be a "spring break" trip without something major happening. So, without further ado, let's do a recap of events since our Saturday departure from Fayetteville.

We got away around 9am or so, which wasn't too far off schedule. Jennifer had originally wanted to be on the road by 7:30a but with our home being deluged with the flu, we thought we'd take it a little slower Saturday morning. Our first scheduled stop was going to be in Little Rock for lunch. We were pleased to realize this goal w/out having to make any bathroom stops between NWA and the Rock. After a quick 45 minute lunch at Corky's BBQ, we were back on the road and headed toward the roughest part of the trip...

going through southern Arkansas.

For those of you unfamiliar with the roads out of Pine Bluff, from what I recalled, they were a bunch of 2-lane roads peppered with speed traps and less than a 55mph speed limit in some places. However, to my surprise, the roads had been widened and in most spots, the speed limit had been raised to 65mph. Our next bigtime stop was set for Jackson MS for a quick supper before stopping for the night in Hattiesburg.

We thought a home cooked meal from Cracker Barrel would be nice but it turned out we were a little wrong in our assumption. Let me just say this first...

We absolutely LOVE the fact that Arkansas does NOT allow any smoking in any of their public restaurants. Mississippi obviously does not value keeping strangers' lung bits out of the air and wafting into my meatloaf.

Gross...yes. However, it's true.

We requested a "non-smoking" section at CB but were placed at a table 2 feet from the smoking section, separated by a brown picket fence that went from floor to ceiling but had more holes in it than OJ's alibi. Needless to say, we got some of that "authentic" smoked flavor with our biscuits and gravy.

By the time we made it to Hattiesburg, it was about 9:30pm and we found out (to our dismay) that we were booked into a room with only one king bed. Let's see...4 of us...one bed...one sick wife...yeah, here was the first "issue" of the trip.

I ran out to Wal-Mart and got an inflatable mattress for the kids to sleep on while I slept on the farthest edge of the bed, away from Jennifer's hacking and coughing. Guilt began to hit me as I lay there in the dark, listening to my wife cough and weeze, knowing my kids were laying on the ground covered only by 2 thin sheets and a fleece Justice League blanket.

The hotel had been invaded by numerous soccer teams so they were not onlly out of rooms that could accomodate us comfortably, they also didn't have enough thicker blankets but we could have all the sheets we wanted. So, at around 1am, I scampered down to the front desk to get a few more sheets to cover the kids.

I was awoken at 3am to the sound of Jaco coughing, which led to gagging which then led to...you guessed it.

A revistiation of his cheese omelet from Cracker Barrel.

I immediately sprang into action, putting Jake into the tub to bathe him off while Jennifer stripped all the soiled sheets from the air mattress.

For those of you keeping score, this exact thing happened to us 2 years ago as we stopped in Hattiesburg MS on our way to Destin FL for our spring break.

Booked in a room too small for us...check.
Child getting sick and hurling up his supper...check.
4 family members cramming into a king sized bed for 3-4 hours of sleep...check.

Thankfully, the night ended with no further incident and we were able to leave Hattiesburg by noon on Sunday. Our end destination was Destin by around 4pm.

You can imagine the joy and elation as we crossed under the Mobile AL tunnel, driving under the Gulf of Mexico and emerging on the other side looking right at the battleship anchored there off-shore. We continued on the I-10 bridge for a few miles, driving over literal ocean, watching boats and sea gulls out on the water. As we continued southeast toward Destin, the trees started looking a bit more tropical. The sands became white and the sounds of excitement began to fill the Sequoia from Arkansas.

We began to make plans to do a quick, early evening walk along the beach, just as soon as we got checked into our condo. As we pulled into the parking lot where we were supposed to stay, Jennifer got all the paperwork out and I began to load up 2 large carts full of our luggage. We all boarded up the elevators to the thrid floor, looking for room 309.

As we got to the room, we were shocked to see the room code we were supposed to use didn't let us in. We tried the code again and again and again until suddenly, the door opened from the other side.

Uh oh. What was this guy doing in our room? We started to compare notes and realized our paperwork was exactly the same as this guy's.

We'd been double-booked for the same room.

Frantically, we started calling the condo owner and the people responsible for cleaning it to get some sort of resolution. For over 2 hours...2 HOURS...we waited for a return call from the condo owner. We were ready and actually driving down the road to another condo/resort to book a different room when she finally called us. After some "brief and terse" discussions on my part, she quickly realized the error that she'd made.

We were not supposed to be in 309. She'd booked us in 405 but had sent us the paperwork for 309. It'd have been nice if she'd had kept her cellphone with her yesterday afternoon and saved me and the family 2 hours of undue stress and anger but I guess that's expecting a bit too much for a landlord.

Still, after numerous apologies and regrets, we made it to the right room and the right complex.

It was extremely nice to wake up this morning with no kids getting sick and FINALLY realizing we were in Florida. Although it's still way too cold to properly enjoy the beach (I think we're coming back in June), it's going to be a great remainder of a trip with the family.

More updates to come.

Oh and for Tricia...we thought of you as we drove through McGeehee Arkansas and went past Lucky's Chevrolet. And yes...the Catfish Hut is still there. LOL

Going Stir Crazy Being Sick

Local weathermen are calling for anywhere from 1-5" of snow between now and tomorrow morning. This is fine for the kids who are always excited about another snow day but not so good for me.

This "virus" that seems to be plaguing me right now just doesn't seem to want to let go. I've had some temperature spikes of 101 and 102 within the past 24 hours and I imagine I went a little higher earlier today when I was unable to check it.

My beloved wife called me this morning around 10am and offered to go get some groceries for us in preparation to whatever kind of weather we get. I had just left home for the local grocery store even though I was hacking up a lung and feeling quite light-headed. When she called me and made the suggestion of me going back home, I didn't argue.

In fact, as soon as I got home, I literally collapsed on the bed and slept for about 3 1/2 hours. I knew I had a high temp when I woke up due to my very hot skin, sweat matting my face and an overall ache on every inch of my body. The doctor said yesterday that I was negative for the flu but I'm wondering if I've got a real bad case of either pneumonia or bronchitis.

Oh yeah...as if it wasn't enough to feel this wretched, I've begun to "experience" the nausea and subsequent actions about 3-4 times since last night.

Jennifer told me that I had until next Wednesday to stay sick because after that, it's time to be well and prepare for our spring break trip to Destin. THAT is a huge incentive to get better although if I could cure my sickness right now, I wouldn't be waiting until next Wednesday to get better. It's hard having to remain sequestered away from the kids and Jennifer, not being able to be near them like I'm used to doing.

Jennifer laid down the "rules" of my sickness today with the kids. As it stands now, I am only allowed in the living room / couch, the study / computer, the upstairs guest bedroom and the guest bathroom. I've been banished from the kitchen so I don't spread my germs to the food or the kids and Jennifer has offered a bounty on my head if I'm seen in any part of the house where I'm not supposed to be.

You should have seen the look of joy and elation on the faces of my precious children. They seemed so anxious and excited to be able to narc on their father with their mother's blessing.

Argh.

I tried to go back to our master bathroom to get some mouthwash and was subsequently spanked by my wife. I guess when they say that love hurts I know what that means first hand.

Sick Of Being Sick

Monday night Jennifer & I were on the couch, watching some TV and enjoying the quietness of the kids fast asleep. No hustle, no whining, no arguing over what to watch...just me and my wife enjoying some hot tea and foraging through another repeat of "The Office".

Which is still funny the second time. We cant' wait for the "new" season to kick off again in April.

That's when it hit me though. A tiny tickle in the back of my throat that I couldn't seem to get rid of. All the coughing, the sneezing, the clearing of the throat and drinking some honey & lemon tea did nothing to quell the cough.

I realized it was either going to be a case of reflux or I was about to take a little trip down "Febrile Lane".

Tuesday morning as I woke up to cold, prickly fingers racing up & down my spine and a stuffed up head, I knew which journey I was about to embark on.

My wife, being a doctor and constantly thinking in pure medical terms, doesn't really offer me a lot of sympathy. Whenever I feel sick and want to describe my symptoms to her, I hear the same response time & time again...

"It's probably just virile and nothing can be done for it at this point."

You know, I understand this but sometimes a little empathetic look from her deep brown eyes and the gently stroking of my head would go miles in making me feel better.

I'd been bundled up on the couch wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt AND a San Diego Chargers sweatshirt in hopes to keep some of this body heat in. However, I got too hot and took off both shirts to walk around topless in hopes of cooling my chest off that way. I was moving around quite gingerly because I was also achy too. I began to inch my way over to a laundry basket to find me a new shirt as the "fingers" and cold pricks all over my back began to really reach an all-time high.

However, instead of sympathy, this is what I got.

"Oh come on. Quit being so dramatic and put a shirt on and go to bed if you feel that bad."

I'm not sure what was worse. The pain of knowing I was sick OR the pain of her sharply piercing comments that cut me to the bone. I whimpered something under my breath, found a new shirt and went into the study to surf the net for a while.

She later came in and apologized to me for being so mean, offering to me that she was only that way because she doesn't like to see her loved ones sick. I reminded her that she's still a woman, a mother and a wife and it's OK for her to be tender, loving and nurturing. LOL

Sadly though, I slept upstairs in the guest room to keep her from getting any of my germs. I've been walking through the house today, when I feel like I can w/out getting too dizzy, taking Motrin every 4-5 hours and sipping some more hot tea. I went to go see a doctor today at a walk-in clinic, a doctor Jennifer recommended, and I told her of my symptoms.

I explained that I'd been real hot during the night but was unable to take my temp due to a lost thermometer. I'd wondered if I'd hit well above the 100 degree mark and asked the doctor if she thought I had the flu. I'd also mentioned that my wife had already laid out the "it's probably just a virus" explanation but this time, I was certain I was really sick.

After a quick swab and some tests to see if I was positive for the flu, she returned to me and said "well, you're not going to like me much because I agree with your wife. It's just a virus."

Jennifer laughed out loud when I told her about it later. However, I was able to get some antibiotics to help out with the cold and am anxious to see how they help.

I'm just hopeful that Jennifer's "virile" explanation will have run it's course by tomorrow night so we can then look ahead to the weekend.

Snow Day

Well, to no one's surprise, we had a pretty good accumulation of snow over night. I don't know the exact amount we got but it's not quite the 10" some were predicting. I'd guess it was somewhere between the 4-5" mark.

I woke up this morning around 7am to check the internet to see if we had school. I was certain we didn't but you never know how "eager" some school officials can be to keep their snow days. I saw that indeed Fayetteville Public Schools were closed and I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd told the kids to stay in bed and SLEEP IN until I came to get them, primarily because that's exactly what I wanted to do. I woke up with a pretty good cough and that yuckly prickly fingers up the spine sensation that caused me to realize staying in bed would be a pretty good option.

However, that was not to be the case. Why?

Because mere moments after I closed down the computer in our bedroom, I heard the pitter patter of 2 sets of feet giddily racing down the stairs.

Followed almost immediately by audible expressions of sheer joy, elation and awe.

"Oh man" I muttered to myself as I quickly realized my plans to get back on the SS Snoozer were about to be thwarted.

"DADDY!" the kids shouted. "LOOK AT ALL THE SNOW!!"

Without missing a beat and perhaps as a way to teasingly get back at the kids for getting up so "early", I said "hurry up guys and get ready...we've got school today."

You could've heard a pin drop as their faces slumped into their chests.

"What?" they exclaimed. "We've got school??"

I then let them off the hook and laughed and said "no...it's a snow day and we get to stay home & play!"

I'm not sure when it happened but almost immediately after my proclamation, the cries of elation about the snow turned into wails of utter agony as the pangs of hunger gripped their very souls. You know...they'd just eaten a bedtime snack only 12 hours earlier and yet the way they bellowed for breakfast, you'd have thought I'd been starving them on an Atkins diet for 3 weeks.

Quickly, the requests began to fly at me.

"Daddy, we're hungry."
"Daddy, we're thirsty."
"Daddy, when can we go out & play?"
"Daddy, where's Mommy?"
"Daddy, what's for breakfast?"
"Daddy, where's my tea?"

OK...that last one wasn't from the kids but I guess Jennifer wanted in on the action while the getting was good. LOL

So, after a microwaved breakfast of Monkey Bread (yum) and orange juice, I got the kids bundled up and sent outside for a winter frolic in the snow.

I think it lasted all of 18 minutes.

Here are some pix of the frivolity this morning. As it stands now, though, it's climbing into the mid 40's as I type this and the snow that had paralyzed Northwest Arkansas from even considering leaving their homes is melting away, revealing clear, clean roads that will undoubtedly lead to an afternoon visit to Starbuck's and the video store.

Whew! That Was A Close One...

This past weekend was supposed to be one we'd look back on and remember Kaitlyn's cheer squad scoring 3rd place in her division. While this happened and we all went home excited with trophies and medals in hand, it was what happened after the event that we'll remember.

We had been in Oklahoma City for about a 100 team cheerleading competition. Teams from all over the midwest and midsouth converged on central Oklahoma for this annual event. We were one of 4 teams from the Northwest Arkansas region while many others came from Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. We were fortunate in that we only had 3 hour drive home.

Many others had up to an 8 hour drive...and that was AFTER the last awards' ceremony at 10pm on Sunday night.

Yeah, I bet there were some either very tardy or very absent kids from some schools today.

Anyway, this two day event concluded for Kaitlyn at around 6pm Sunday night. I was aware that there were some potentially severe storms headed our way but we were under the impression they wouldn't be there until after 8pm or so.

As we left the arena and headed toward a restaurant on the east side of OKC, we noticed a lot of wind beginning to pick up and some pretty impressive lightning flashes. We wanted to get to around Midway City to at least be a few miles down the road before we stopped to eat. After an afternoon of arena corn dogs and pizza and stale diet Coke, a meal at the local Chili's seemed like a good deal.

I noticed the TV's inside Chili's were all tuned to local weather stations, showing some pretty colorful weather graphics. As anyone knows who watches storms progress on TV radar, the more yellows, reds, oranges and purples you see, the more severe the storms are. The entire screens were orange & red with a few swirling icons indicating possible tornadoes peppered on the TV map.

I asked our waitress if those storms were anywhere near us and she said she thought they were at least 30 miles away or so. While they still looked ominous, I thought we'd still have enough time to eat and be on our way before they hit our current position.

To quote ESPN College Gameday's Lee Corso..."not so fast my friend."

We'd just paid our bill and were exiting the restaurant when the Chili's manager stepped up to announce to the crowd eating inside that a few funnel clouds HAD been seen headed toward the Cox Center...the place where the cheerleading competition was still going on.

A quick look to Jennifer and the kids and I said "let's go...NOW."

I drove over to the local gas station to fill up while Jennifer took Jake to the bathroom. The wind had already begun to blow rather fiercely and the lightning was flashing a lot more often now when all of a sudden, as Jennifer and Jake emerged from the Quik Stop...

the tornado air sirens began to sound.

We quickly assessed the situation and decided to leave immediately and move quickly (ie: SPEED) down the interstate as fast as we could. Luckily the rains hadn't come yet and there wasn't much traffic (if any) on the highway. We were up to 80mph pretty quickly when we noticed a few cars passing us.

I wasn't going to jeopardize anyone's life as the updates on the radio said we were still well ahead of the possible tornado, albeit by about 15 miles or so.

The wind was blowing pretty good and the Sequoia was beginning to buffet back & forth as we sped down I-40. I noticed the once jovial voices of the kids were now very quiet and scared. So, I turned off the radios and DVD's to offer a prayer for God to protect us and all who remained in OKC and to get us home safely.

Thankfully, after about an hour of being blown around a bit, we left the storm to the rear of us but ran directly into another patch of rain in front of us. In fact, if you go to any map website and type in Checotah OK and follow it all the way to Ft Smith AR then north to Fayetteville, you'll know how long we drove through some pretty solid rain.

I'm so very grateful to the Lord for giving us His protection on the way home last night. From what I hear, everyone else made it home OK to, although it was quite a bit later.

However, after last night's tornadoes and heavy rains, Northwest Arkansas is buckling down for another big storm system.

This time...we could get hit with up to 10" of snow.

Yes, 10 inches of snow.

Already the kids are upstairs in bed together, giggling and planning their day's activities in the frozen precipitation in hopes of an almost guaranteed snow day.

To be honest, I'm kinda looking forward to it too.