Monday, July 30, 2007

Cartoons

It seems as if the comeback of Music Mondays was popular. For now Music Mondays will continue.

I am sure many of you have heard this week's song. My kids sing this song all the time. It is a fun song that Chris Rice wrote in about ten minutes for a skit at a junior high youth group. It had a cult like following and was wildly popular, much more than Chris ever thought. I was not aware until just recently that this song has caused some controversy in Christian circles over it's "theology" or lack of it. Chris Rice has recently retired the Cartoon Song and does not perform it live anymore. He had no idea this trivial little song would cause such an uproar. You can read Chris Rice's Eulogy to the Cartoon Song here.

It is just a silly song and is not meant to be taken too seriously, I guess some people did.

He has written tons of other songs that are quite deep and thought provoking. I will post one of those on a future Music Monday.




I also want to encourage any of your bloggers out there to join the Music Mondays "band"wagon. If you decide to join in, tell us in the comments so we can come check out your favorite tunes.

Happy Monday!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Freebies


If you have been around the blogosphere recently you have seen giveaways left and right. I was just on Scrappy Mom's blog and found out about an amazing giveaway.

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a 37" flat screen HDTV courtesy of Best Buy.

Head on over there and check it out. If you are like me you still have a good old fashioned TV and would love a new one but just can't justify the price when your old one works fine. This could be our chance to upgrade. Hey, someone's got to win.

I haven't told all of you about my love of sweepstakes and contests...that is for another day.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Big Texan


We're catching our breath after our vacation to Colorado and are ready to begin blogging all the events that made us stop and say, "we're blogging this." We've compiled a list of ideas and plan to begin sharing them as time permits. The first offering begins on the road en route from Oklahoma to Amarillo......

Anyone who's traveled I-95 north to south on the East Coast knows that you can't miss the signs telling you how close to South of the Border you are. Pedro and his signs can not be missed. They are gaudy and accomplish their purpose. They lure you in to the tourist trap that is South of the Border. Adventurous souls stop at South of the Border at least once. Well Texas is not to be outdone. As South of the Border is to the East Coast, The Big Texan is to Amarillo.

The Big Texan signs lured us in to check out the "free 72 oz steak." I was hungry enough and feeling adventurous enough to give it a go and attempt to eat the "free" steak. Charlotte had a friend from college who actually worked at the Big Texan so we knew that to get the "free" steak is no small feat. You have to eat not only the 72 oz steak but all the sides (baked potato, salad, roll and cole slaw I think) all within 60 minutes. When the Big Texan was 200 miles away I thought I might be able to give it a shot. When it was 100 miles away I was hungry enough to belly up to the table. The family was hungry enough to egg me on and Charlotte even brought up how a feat like this could go down in family history.... the grandkids will talk about the time you ate the 72 oz steak at the Big Texan. As the miles clicked by my confidence grew and grew. I can do it. I can eat four and a half pounds of red meat in 60 minutes. As we pulled in to the parking lot it was packed. And Charlotte and I laughed and made comparisons to Pedro's and South of the Border. The Big Texan is a tourist trap. Their advertising worked, we pulled our motorized covered wagon up to the hitchin' post and moseyed on in for some grub.

I felt like a cowboy lookin' for trouble. The kids were brimming with excitement. Would Dad pull off the impossible? Could he do it? Emma was sweet, she was firmly in the corner that I should not make the attempt. As I write all this you have to wonder what the catch is; the catch is it's only free if you eat it all in an hour. If not, you're out about $80. As you've learned from our blog, we're planners and we don't just jump in to problems without thought. The plan was we'll check it out and make our decision.

As we walked up to check out the challenge we surveyed the actual size of a 72 oz steak. There's a display in the lobby of the entire meal. Andrew looked at the steak and said, "it's as big as my head." He wasn't kidding, it was probably bigger than his head, and the boy has a head like his Dad's so you know it's a big steak. We entered into negotiations right there in front of the challenge that lay before us. The excitement left us like air from a deflating balloon. Reality set in and there was no way I would shell out $80 to feel miserable 60 minutes later.

In the end we loaded back into our Expedition (no longer a motorized covered wagon, now just your run of the mill SUV) and drove a little further down the road to eat at Johnny Carino's. We left full but not 72 oz full.

The funny thing is, even though we didn't take the 72 oz challenge, we still had fun thinking and talking about it. The anticipation was better than the actual event. Maybe next time....but I doubt it.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Back by popular demand

Well, I am not sure if you noticed but we have taken a break from our Music Mondays. Things had gotten busy, last Monday I was in Oregon, I wasn't sure if my readers even cared. I got a comment this morning from Julie inquiring about what happened to the Music Mondays. I guess for now they are back, maybe you could call today, Tardy Tuesday.

Today I will share with you my favorite song at the moment. I have just recently added it to my play list, "I'm not who I was" by Brandon Heath. I especially like this particular video because he talks about the origin of the song and why he wrote it.

Pause my player and enjoy.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

We've joined the ranks...


of minivan owners.

Well, last night we took the plunge. We bought a brand new Honda Odyssey. We have been looking at these for the last few months and pretty sure we would buy one at some point. Our beloved Expedition has served us well but is showing it's age and countless road trips have taken it's toll on her.

It is funny, but I feel very emotionally attached to the cars I own, even more so than the houses I live in. Maybe it is because we move so often but our cars do not change as often, maybe it is because a mother of three spends countless hours in the car every week, who knows? I know it is time to move on...but I always resist change even when it is good. If you read my Luddite post, you will laugh thinking about all of the cool bells and whistles in our new van that I have NO idea how to use. A tutorial DVD came with the owner's manual to teach you how to use all of the fancy new gadgets, if only I had time to watch it. I was thinking about letting the kids watch it and then they could teach me how to work everything, you think I am kidding? :) I am sure over the next decade, (that is how long Honda's are supposed to last, right?) I will have just as many memories and attachments to this new car.

Is anyone interested in a 98 Expedition with over 100,000 miles?

Thursday, July 19, 2007

New Heights

Well, today was a day all three kids went soaring to new heights...LITERALLY.

I am not sure if you have noticed that there are hardly any pools left that have high dives. Well, we went swimming with some friends today and their pool is one of the few I know of in Oklahoma that still has a high dive. My kids ALWAYS love the chance to go to this pool and spend hours jumping off.

I was so proud of Laura today. Right after we got there she was bound and determined to go off the high dive. She got up there, walked to the end of the board, looked down, I wasn't sure what would happen next. This is usually when most kids decide to go back down the stairs, but not our little daredevil, she gathered up her courage and stepped right off the end and then swam to the ladder. She then proceeded to jump off about ten more times, her coot.

The older two kids have been there done that but of course they had fun doing twists, cannonballs, pencils and many other silly jumps. An hour or so into our swim Emma decided diving off the high dive would be fun...and a little scary. I was so proud of her she did the first dive, it was actually pretty good. Maybe she will follow in their dad's footsteps. I bet not many of you knew that Adam was on his high school's diving team? He can do a mean one and a half and even the occasional gainer. However last summer he burst his eardrum messing around on the diving board. We are not the spring chickens we once were, oh how often we are reminded of this. :)

Emma continued to dive off the high dive, well any brother is not about to be outdone by his sister so who do you think trotted right up to the high dive to strut his stuff...Andrew. He too did a very impressive dive off the high dive. They spent the better part of the day diving and jumping.

So in a nut shell we all soared to new heights today. Yes, I even went off a couple of times at Andrew's urging. Too bad Adam had to go to work. :(

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Charmed Life


Well, last week I wrote about the Whirlwind, well things have not slowed down much. I just got home from a quick weekend trip out to Portland, Oregon to visit my dear friend Tricia. We were stationed in Maryland together and about the time we moved to Oklahoma Tricia and her family moved to Hawaii...not fair, I agree. :)

Being the amazing friend that Tricia is, she sent me a frequent flyer ticket to come visit her while she was back on the mainland visiting family. We had a great time, neither of us had our kids and we just hung out, talked, ate, shopped, watched chick flicks, drank coffee...and more talking. What I love most about the Navy is all of the wonderful friends that I have made along the way. The only problem is the time and money to be able to visit them all.

We spent one afternoon at the beach in Oregon, here is a picture of us next to Haystack Rock.
I have so many things to be thankful for, the last two weeks have been busy but good. I have been through seven different states, been able to visit a friend in Oregon, have had a friend visit me, made new friends in Colorado, have a wonderful husband who understands the importance of these fellow military wives and my need to recharge with them and three adorable kids that don't mind sharing me for the weekend.

It doesn't get much better than this. I am home now and not planning to go anywhere for a least a week. :)

Friday, July 13, 2007

Tired?

While we were n Colorado I was in awe of the beauty of the mountains. I loved how every angle was a different view and how the same view would look entirely different at different times of day depending on the shading of the sun, the clouds and occasional rain storm.

Each day as we would walk through camp I would just look up and almost feel overwhelmed by the beauty of God's creation. I thought, "I wonder if people who live here get tired of this view?" Do they just drive down the road take the beauty of the Collegiate Peaks for granted?

I have lived a good part of my life in the Washington DC area. I must admit at times I have driven by the US Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, etc and sort of become immune to the sense of wonder the first time visitor might feel.

Since I have been back in Oklahoma I have tried to figure out what is the beauty that I am taking for granted here. Believe me, I had to think long and hard on this one. I was awestruck by the sunset the other night, you can see the entire and I mean ENTIRE horizon and the sky was blazing with color, it was beautiful. Adam is partial to the wheat field blowing in the wind...the amber waves of grain, if you will.

I encourage all of you to take minute to stop and admire something unique to your location and for this one day not take it for granted. And maybe even share it with the rest of us.

Below are some pictures of the beauty of the Rockies. The pictures do not do it justice, believe me.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

The Wild

For some reason I had this burning desire to spot some wild animals on our trip. I figured I am out in the wilderness I want to see some unique animal that lives in the wild. On the way up to the top of Pike's Peak(that is a blog post for another day that Adam needs to write) we saw a mountain deer, OK that was cool but I wanted to see something more exotic. Once we got to the camp we saw tons of chipmunks they were cute but I was still not satisfied. Everyday we saw hummingbirds continuously. Although they were beautiful I was still looking for something BIGGER.

Last Wednesday we drove to Aspen for the day to go visit and also drive through Independence Pass. As we were driving back to camp there it was, the moment I had been waiting for... A Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep was standing right in the middle of the road. Of course I did not have my camera out, and by the time Adam pulled the car over HE had wandered off the road and here is the best shot we could get.


Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Whirlwind


We have had a fun two weeks. It has been so fun I have not been able to blog about it. Now is a great time to start catching you up.


We had the opportunity to head out to the Officer's Christian Fellowship Retreat Center, Spring Canyon. This is just what our family needed. We were refreshed as well as encouraged and met many other like minded military families. While were were there we were able to try some new things and enjoy the beautiful Rocky Mountains.


Here are some of the the highlights-

Pike's Peak
White Water Rafting
Colorado Springs
geocaching in Buena Vista
Aspen
Trout fishing
Cottonwood Pass
Independence Pass
...and much more.

When we returned home we had the pleasure of a visit from some great friends from our first tour in Oklahoma. It was great to see them and get to catch up before they move to the East Coast.

There is so much more to write about, but remember I am working on that balance thing.:) I will expand more on our adventures in the days to come.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Year 3000

The thirty youngest toes made the following musical selection. It is a catchy fun song, Enjoy.

BTW, Rich and Mel were dead on on the photo from yesterday.


Sunday, July 8, 2007

Balance

Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to give everything in life my full gusto...in other words moderation is not easy for me. Well, the blog is no different. I might even say that I was getting obsessed. I am trying to find that balance in life. For that reason I have not been posting as much.

Here is a picture of one of the places we have visited recently. I will be posting more about this trip in the next week or so.




Does anyone know where this is?


Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Happy 4th of July

I hope that all of you are having a most wonderful 4th of July.

We have just been having too much fun as a family and not enough time to post about our adventures. We also haven't been able to read your blog posts. We hope to update you soon and catch up on what is happening with you.

For now... have a wonderful day.

Happy Birthday USA!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Old School

Well, it is my turn to pick the music for the week. I want to take you back to the Old School, tobyMac style.

When I was in high school, Kate (of the Tate School)and I would ride to school everyday with our cool friend Kerri. We loved her she was so fun, like a big sister to both of us. We would crank the music and sing along to tunes as most teenagers do. Kerri would often play her brother's demo tape of newly recorded music. This tape happened to be old school DC Talk and this little sister was that of Toby McKeehan. Ever since then I have been a huge fan and now he is a HUGE hit. I love his music and his lyrics, they are so real and powerful.

I wanted to post one of the old songs in case you are not familiar with "old stuff". This is one of the songs I knew by heart back in the late 80s, Heavenbound. Kate, is this taking you back or what? I am cracking up at this video... it is so "old school" the hair, the dance moves, the pegged jeans, remember that? Any of you NoVa folks out there, look closely I think parts of the video were shot in Fair Oaks Mall. I know the video is cheesy, but remember the 80s were cheesy.

Pause my player and take a trip back in time to the 80s. :)




This next song is off tobyMac's newest album, Portable Sounds. The new music video for this song, Boomin, comes out tomorrow. Check it out... on July 3rd at Yahoo music.







Toby, thank you for twenty plus years of jammin' with a purpose and all the while keeping it real. Kerri, thanks for the rides to school.