Weekend update

It was our usual Friday night at the dish. This time however I had a nice little $25 “reward” to use up! That’s always nice.

Saturday dawned bright and early! No sleeping in for any of us. John and the kids (after Cody arrived to ride along) spent the morning and early afternoon down at Municipal Auditorium for regional Tae Kwon Do qualifier / tournament. They even saw the Olympic coach there so that was pretty cool. Me? Well, I worked a few hours overtime, but only until noon, made some headway on a long-term project and completed two small projects. At noon I stopped by the house and grabbed a PB sandwich, then headed over to my favorite nature sanctuary and spent about 2 hours just walking the trails, taking pictures and enjoying the sun and fresh air. There’s one trail where the deer always seem to hang out during the day (off to the right of the trail). When you walk along all of the sudden they will scare the **** out of you, running across the path right in front of you and down the hill towards the creek. I got home just a little after the rest of the family. They had a great time! John and I drove over to Lowe’s to get some batteries and stopped at Sheridan’s for a little treat. We took a walk through the park too which was nice. I got a lot of exercise today!

Sunday was an early day again. This time I joined John and kids at Municipal. John and I ended up assisting the official photographer. He was an interesting fellow. He had a nice camera get-up which he enjoyed showing. Of course, I was very surprised that he left it sitting under the table with no guard after he said it was a $15,000 camera. Maybe he exaggerated a bit. In this job we were right next to one of the rings and got to see a lot of sparring matches. It was fun! I left around noon so I could get home and get the laundry going. I drove back downtown around 4 to pick up the family. On the way home in my rearview mirror I spotted some motorcycles (about 20) moving VERY quickly, darting in and out between cars, and prepared myself. As they WHIZZED by at top speed John and the kids really jumped. I said out loud, “those guys must have a death wish!” It was very scary thinking what would happen if just one little misstep happened. There was one lone biker that was trying to catch up with the group, but he got stopped by the cops. Sunday night ended with the last Planet Earth episode on Discovery channel. It was the filmmaker’s commentary, their favorite shots, how they did it, etc… Very cool show. I can’t wait for the DVD.

Jordan's confirmation

After they came into the church (Jordan and La Verne on the left).

Fr. Joe, Fr. Matt and Bishop Boland

Bishop Boland, La Verne and Jordan

Jordan's confirmation group and the leaders

Jordan and La Verne

A very great day.

Steve in "You Can't Take it With You"

The last night of the play! John took my place selling tickets since I had to drive 5 hours to Columbia and back (see previous post!). The play was just FABULOUS! Some of the kids were in Midsummer Night's Dream with Jordan last year. Anyway, here are some pictures.

Jordan at Reader's Theater STATE FINALS

Okay, so here's the story. Friday the school bus left LHS early and headed to Columbia for semi-finals. The team was one of FOUR to qualify for Finals on Saturday. Of course, Steve had a play that same night and Jordan really wanted to go. So, we decided that John would stay home and get Steve to his places Saturday, and I would drive to Columbia and pick up Jordan after their performance. Here's my funny story.

1st. The drive. MUCH longer than anticipated. I called Jordan's cell to let her know I didn't think I'd make the performance, but to call as soon as she got the message.

2nd. Found out later Jordan's cell phone was on vibrate. Ummm. She didn't get ANY of my calls or text messages.

3rd. Showed up at Hickman High School where I thought the performance was. Lots of cars in the parking lot, but oddly not a single school bus. Hmmm. Well, I parked and walked in. There was a table with a couple of students sitting there, a registration table of some sort. I said I was looking for my daughter. They told me to follow the green signs to the auditorium. I got to the auditorium and it was quite dark. A movie was showing. I sat in the back and tried to peer through the darkness and spot Jordan. The crowd seemed a little thin for a state competition. I walked out and flagged somebody down, and asked what was going on. They said, "they're watching a movie". Well, duh. I went back in and sat down. Sent a text message. Peered again. After about 5 minutes I thought to myself "this is just wrong". By the way, I didn't mention this, but the movie was about the horrors in Bosnia and quite graphic. Probably not what a bunch of Forensic finalists would be wanting to watch, right? I walked out again and saw an adult, but just as I started to ask her a question, several hysteric teen girls came out of the auditorium and she had to calm them down. FINALLY I went back to the registration table and said "I really think I'm in the wrong place" and mentioned the state finals. One WONDERFUL young lady knew JUST what I was talking about. The finals were at a different school, but she told me it was over by now and they'd be at MU for the awards ceremony. She drew me a wonderful map. I subsequently found MU (what a way to have a first time visit!) and immediately saw Jordan's group (distinctive in their red shirt and black pants)across the street from where I parked. Their bus had just arrived. So, we were reunited and able to head back home! Found out Monday that her team placed 2nd.

Steve and Katie

NO KISSING ALLOWED!!!

hehehe

April 20th - Friday Date Night

With the kids busy with their respective theater and forensics activities John and I took a walk through the neighborhood park. There's a migrating Warbler in town. I saw it at Martha Lafite too. It's the "yellow-rumped" warbler, Myrtle version, Spring Male coloring. Cool! After our nice nature walk we headed over to The Dish and relaxed a bit. A nice evening.

April 15th - Martha Lafite

Steven, John and I spent an enjoyable hour at Martha Lafite Sunday. The first picture is the McGowan bridge. It is really fun to photograph. The next picture is me by the biggest sycamore tree (i think) in Liberty. Lastly, Steve and John by Rush Creek.

Some pictures

EASTER WEEKEND

The men

The Women

Kevin and Diane

The gals

HOW TO DRESS WHEN THE WINDCHILL IS ZERO

HOW NOT TO DRESS WHEN THE WINDCHILL IS ZERO

Grandpa's trains

Mary and David

David at his computer

Steve and Missy

Two weeks later.....

I don't know why I haven't blogged for awhile. Just lots going on I guess. Kids in their respective theatric productions and other obligations.

We had a nice visit with Mary in Minnesota. I'll post some pictures later on this weekend. It was FREEZING. I think one day that Mary drove me out to some lakes around her area the wind chill was zero. I had the idea that I would see some bird up there that I hadn't seen down there. I think all the birds were HIDING from the wind, except that red-bellied woodpecker I saw and a few ducks and geese.

Easter day was nice. We had brunch with the in-laws in St. Joe, then stopped by to see Kevin and Diane. Steve had his first band practice that day too at his friend Nick's.

One of my kit ideas got accepted by the store "buzz into spring" and I am trying to put together 10 kits. I came up short and stopped by last night to pick up 2 pieces of paper and in addition, received my design team assignment.

Exciting news that cuz Karen is preggers! Fun! I'm already plotting all the crafty things I want to make. A little scrapbook, a little blankie, etc.... *sigh*.

Got the Mass of Creation and Mass of the Angels and Saints music from Tom Tuesday. The latter seems to come easier for me, probably because its my favorite mass music. The pipe organ lesson went well. It was a bit intimidating.

Tomorrow I'm going to work a few hours for the hospital, then a few of us gals are going to Parkville. That should be fun. Have to work Sunday too for them. Whee.