What a Day

Yesterday, I had the great privilege of hanging out with my good friends; Alex, Reagan, Jordan, and Meagan. I've mentioned before how much fun these kids are and yesterday did not disappoint.

We started out kind of early and headed to Grapevine to see ICE! at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. After much discussion the kids agreed that they felt more comfortable calling the hotel the Happy Lord. They referred to it this way most of the day. Here they are in front of the Happy Lord Hotel:

I think the highlight of the day for Alex and Reagan was the door:

Once we got inside we had some fun exploring the big atrium. It reminds me of the River Walk in San Antonio, except cleaner and a lot less humid. We made our way to ICE! and the kids were starting to get nervous about how cold it was going to be. Not to worry my friends, you get a really cool gold knee-length parka to wear:

The highlight of ICE! was getting to go down the slide! I was amazed at how patiently the kids waited in line (at least 20 minutes). They found lots of ways to entertain themselves, like seeing who could hold their hand on the ice the longest, or putting their faces behind the ice and laughing at how they looked. Here's a short little video of them sliding and entertaining themselves:

I let the kids decide where we were going to eat lunch and I told them they could go anywhere they wanted. Drumroll, please: their choice was CiCi's. Excellent, because I know right where a CiCi's is in Grapevine! The iPhone led us astray and we had quite the time actually getting there. Our adventure did allow me the opportunity to show the kids one of my favorite places; the airport. I don't know why, but I have always been fascinated by the airport, the kids didn't seem that impressed :).

After a delicious lunch we headed home! It was a very fun day, full of laughs and interesting occurences!

They brought gifts of Jumbo Jacks, Egg Rolls, and Curly Fries

My sister is the keeper of all family traditions. She keeps record of every holiday activity, food, and memory. Every year there is one tradition that is debated for a good couple weeks before Christmas, the Christmas Eve meal.

I honestly can't recall what we did for dinner before Christmas Eve 2000. We always go to church and then come home and we each get to open one present. That year, however, was different. We were going to be flying to California early on Christmas day so "Christmas Day" was going to happen on Christmas Eve. We went to church and in order to give my parents a few minutes to "prepare," Josh, Ashleigh, and I stopped at Jack-In-The-Box to get dinner. And that, my friends, is how a Christmas tradition is born at my house. According to Ashleigh, it just wouldn't be Christmas without our traditional Christmas Eve meal.

So, while families all over the world will gather around the table tonight to enjoy a special meal, we'll be having Jack-In-The-Box. :)

Merry Christmas! I hope yours is filled with fun, family, and many thoughts of the real reason for the season!

Painball...oops, I mean Paintball

Just kidding! I really enjoyed my first ever paintball experience. It was especially great because it was in celebration of one of my favorite kid's birthdays! Happy Birthday, Reagan! I will admit that I was very nervous about what it would feel like to get shot with a paintball and I won't lie to you, it does hurt. The pain did go away quickly though. I didn't run into any wild animals or hunters, but I did have an encounter with some nasty thorns. And, I don't remember that being included in the "Waiver of Liability" paperwork. All in all, it was a very fun experience. Thanks Reagan for having a birthday and letting me play too!

Now, on to some other news. This afternoon I knocked out a huge chunk of my remaining Christmas shopping. There really is nothing like waiting until 4 days until Christmas to get with it. Everything was going great until I decided to go to the mall. Believe me, this is a place that should probably be avoided this time of year.

Anyway, while I was out today I noticed that new tanning salon is opening up on the other side of town. Now, I'm not going to try to act like tanning is bad or anything. I've certainly done my share, but I don't think what I saw today is a good idea.


I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this place has about 10 tanning beds. The problem, they are all out in the open. I just don't think that's right. I mean, it's one thing to go in a little room and have some privacy, but I can't imagine being comfortable in this situation.

Now, I realize that they probably just haven't built the walls yet, but the thought of this place opening up as is, made me laugh.

Where do I sign?

This Thursday I am going to do something very exciting and kind of scary at the same time. I am going to get to play Paintball for the first time. While I am aware that there is some level of risk associated with being shot with a high-powered ball of paint, I wasn't quite prepared for what I read in the "Release/Waiver of Liability and Assumption of Risk. I found #2 to be particularly eye-opening:

"The Undersigned...is aware of the possibility of risks of injury, including, but not limited to, falling, tripping, being hurt by a wild animal, snake bite, heat stroke, heart attack, hypothermia, getting lost in the wilderness, being shot by hunters, insect bites & stings, poisonous plants, improper use or operation of equipment by the undersigned or any other player and others not following the safety rules. The possibility of permanent disability or death does exist."

Great! Where exactly do I sign my life away?

Ok-seriously, my brother, the lawyer, would tell me not to sign this sort of thing. But, I really am looking forward to the paintball experience! If you haven't heard from me in a couple days be aware that I may have suffered from hypothermia, I may be lost in the wilderness, or (my favorite) I may have been shot by hunters!

Look, Mom!!

We had a guy come to school today with all different kinds of reptiles to show us. He had lots of different snake species, a couple of huge turtles, and even some alligators. All the kids got to "pet" both a giant snake and a little alligator. It was pretty interesting.

Now, for as long as I can remember my Mom has hated snakes. I'm not even talking like just a little bit. If there is a snake on TV, she has to turn her head. I can only imagine what she might do if she were to actually run across one. Since I had the opportunity to get my hands on a snake today I thought it might be funny to give my Mom a special Christmas gift this year. I was going to frame a big picture of me holding the giant snake. I just know she would love it. :) I won't do it now, because she is probably reading this and I don't want to get coal for Christmas! But, I thought the picture turned out funny.


I was actually looking at the camera and smiling, but then the lady shoved the snake's head right at my face, and that is the moment that was captured! It was just a bit frightening!

My iPhone commercial

Have you seen the iPhone commercials where real people tell us why the iPhone has made their life so much better? Everytime I see one, I think to myself, what would I say if I ever had the opportunity to shoot my own commercial? I wouldn't want to admit that for me, one of the best benefits has been that I can check my "home" email from school, or maybe read a few blogs.

Today, however, I feel like the iPhone may have saved Christmas! There are two items that I spent the better part of today searching for. I went to Target, Best Buy, another Target, Toys R' Us, Walmart, and another Best Buy and struck out at all six places. I know that today is Saturday (a busy day for shopping) and I still have 10 days until Christmas so there is a high probability that one of those stores would have my items in stock at some point before the big day. I just don't have the time to check their inventory daily.

I was truly enjoying my adventure of hunting down a highly sought after gift, but I decided I better not take the chance of not ever finding them. So, after my second Best Buy did not have what I was looking for, I went back to the car and ordered the items online from my phone. Normally, I would have just waited until I got home but I didn't want the internet to be out of them either! As if the internet is a store! :) Now, I just get to sit on pins and needles and hope they arrive in time!

Four calling birds

I've never really given much thought to the words of the Christmas classic, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Never before this year anyway. A week ago today, I received a Christmas Tree candle as a gift from a student. My first thought was, Wow - it's early to be getting gifts! Then, the next day, from the same student I received 2 Christmas ornaments. It took me awhile but I finally got it. I was experiencing my very own twelve days of Christmas. The third day was three gift bags, the fourth was four pieces of fudge, the fifth was a $5 Sonic Card, and today I got six bows. It has been very fun to receive a gift each day.

The experience got even better when on Monday another student began their very own daily gift-giving. Monday I received a Starbucks card, Tuesday I got two Dove chocolate bars, Wednesday I received three candy cane pens, and today was the funniest thing ever. I opened up the little package and found four bird ornaments:



Do you get it? It's four calling birds! Well, two of the four calling birds. They're on the telephone. I think this might be one of the best gifts I've ever been given. It obviously doesn't take much to make me happy!