Backstreet Boys

So we went to the Backstreet Boys concert last night. This is the second one that Dave has dragged me to. Not really dragged but he is definitely the fan, not me. We went with our friends, Stephen and Tiff. Tiff is the the fan in their relationship. I actually enjoyed the concert. They do put on a good show. I really like their second to last CD. The older stuff is a little cheesy for me. They each sang one of their solo songs that they have. Brian Littrell, whom I really like alot, sang on of his song from his solo CD (Welcome Home). It is a christian CD and I love his solo stuff. He has an amazing voice and that whole CD is good. The concert was at Chastain Park. We had lawn seats and packed a little picnic. It was really comforable and fun to just hang out before the concert started.

BACKSTREET'S BACK, ALRIGHT!!!

First Day of 4th Grade

These are pictures of Madison on her first
day of kindergarten. Look how much she
has grown!!

Today is Madison's first day of 4th grade. She is going to a different school this year. Since I got a new job she is going to go to the school where I am working. She actually went there for one year in kindergarten. She was a little upset at first about leaving her friends but she is being so mature about it. I know she will love her new school. Everyone is so nice!! Since I am only working part-time, I am not working on Mondays so she had to go without me today.

Dropping her off this morning brought back so many memories of her first day of kindergarten.....

She was so brave walking into school that first day. As we got closer and closer to the school I lost it. I tried to hard so not let her see me cry. I knew that would only make things worse for her. She didn't notice the whole way to her classroom. The teacher greeted us and helped Madee put up her bookbag. At this point I was a basketcase (Madee still had not noticed me crying at this point). Her teacher started looking through her lunchbox and found the note that I had left Madee telling her that I loved her and to have a good day. When Madee saw this she finally looked up at me (as if to say, "Mom did you do this??!!). That's when she saw that I was crying. Then she started to cry. I had to just leave at that point because I knew I was only making things worse for her. It was the saddest day of my life. My little girl was growing up. I knew this was the beginning of her independence. I was not ready for that.

And now here she is, a 4th grader, returning to the place where it all started.

That's the Madee face that I know and love:)

Triathlon

I completed my first triathlon this morning. It was a 400 meter swim, 13 mile bike, and 5 K run. We could not have asked for better weather. It was almost chilly this morning. Getting into the lake water actually warmed us up. That is remarkable for mid August!!
The swim was not like anything that I was expecting. Swimming in a lake in the middle of 60 other women is not even close to swimming in a country club pool. I couldn't see anything under water and every time I tried to get into a rythm I would touch the person's butt or leg in front of me. You just had almost no space to actually stretch out and swim.
The bike ride was actually my favorite part. We went all the way up 41. I didn't really get tired or hurt at all during the biking.
When I made the transition from the bike to the run I immediately started cramping in the calves. Luckily, I had a small hand held water bottle with an energy drink and electrolyte pills. I took two pills right away and the cramps very quickly faded. At the very end my quads started cramping but it was o.k. since it was at the end.
Everyone at the race was so friendly and supportive of each other. All and all, I really enjoyed the experience and would definitely do another tri.

Special thanks to my wonderful dad who woke up at 3 a.m. to drive two hours to get his camera to capture all these wonderful shots.

Crazy Dell Salesman

This video cracks me up everytime I watch it.

Brotherly Bonding

Dave and his brother Hank decided to take a hiking trip on the AT last week. They went with a couple other guys that Dave works with. One of the guys' wife dropped them off at the trailhead in NC. They started on Thursday and hiked 37 miles and finished on Saturday. Madee and I and Holly, Hank's girlfriend, drove all the way to NC to pick them up on Saturday.

These bears cubs were on the trail. The mother was down the hill a ways and Dave was able to get very close the the cubs. It wasn't far from the car so his plan was to run back to the car if the mama got mad. Aren't they cute??!!








Dave and Hank on their LONG hike.

Crested Butte

This spring break we decided to go visit our good friend Cole who just moved to Crested Butte, Colorado. We fly standby with Delta (for free) and Cole had a hook up in Crested Butte at one of the resorts so it was going to be a fairly cheap trip. We ended up flying into Vail (Eagle Co.) airport (first class-very nice!!) We rented a car and planned to meet Cole at the Gunnison airport where we would drop off our car and ride to Crested Butte (20 min. from Gunnison) with her.

We brought along our GPS to make the drive easier. Everything was looking great. Our arrival time wasn't as long as we had expected. The GPS took us through a very small town and on some very back country roads. Before long, the road we were on turned into a dirt road and eventually became completely blocked by snow. Note to self: When using your GPS in Colorado always take into consideration summertime roads vs. winter roads. Needless to say our ETA drastically changed after that little detour.

We ended up having an amazing time in Crested Butte. Since it was their last week of the ski season it was not crowded at all. There were times when we were the only ones on a run. Madee went to ski school the first day. Since there were not many other people she was the only one in her class which meant she got a private lesson at a group rate. She learned a lot that day and so the next day she just came out with us.

We did some snowshoing while we were there as well. That was a lot of fun. The snow out there is so deep. They have had record breaking snowfall this year. It snowed a foot one of the days we were there. That was pretty cool to see. When we left another storm was coming in bringing in another foot.

So the end of our trip was nearing and we began checking the flights coming home. We figured we should probably start heading back on Wednesday just to make sure we got home o.k. We had to drive to Colorado Springs to fly home (Delta was not flying in any of the airports near Crested Butte). Colorado Springs is about 3 to 31/2 hours from Crested Butte. We left on Wednesday and planned to stay in C.S. that night and fly home on Thursday. All was well until Dave checked the flights one last time before going to sleep that night. 14 open seats had turned into -2 seats. Dave stayed up checking other options (we were open to getting creative and making multiple stops). Nothing was open. American Airlines had canceled thousands of flight causing all those standed passengers to switch to Delta flights. Thus making standby nonexistent!!

We decided to go the airport the next day anyway and just try. We listed for a flight to SLC and to ATL but didn't make either one. We were stranded. It was a very sickening feeling to not be able to get home. To make things worse the whole weekend looked very bad for standby.

We ended up having to rent another car and driving to Denver where we BOUGHT tickets on Southwest to NASHVILLE!! They did not have any direct flight to ATL. Luckily our friend Max works in Nashville during the week and comes home on Friday. His dad actually picked us up from the airport and let us hang at their house until Max got off work. Then it was another 3 hours drive home. We finally made it home by midnight on Friday!!

Wedding Ring

We are getting ready to go to Colorado for spring break so Dave was getting the suitcases down from the attic. He was taking his hand and brushing off the dust from the suitcase when he felt his ring fly off his finger and heard a faint "ding". His wedding ring had slipped off his finger and hit one of the wooden beams and into the insulation. Dave didn't see where it landed so we spent an hour digging through insulation trying to find this ring (sort of like a needle in a haystack). We still have not found the ring so a friend is going to bring over a metal detector to help. What a nightmare!!
Stay tuned.....