Martin Luther King Jr Day!

Christy and some other moms got very creative yesterday! It being a school holiday and all, the women schemed to rent a "bounce house" for our back yard and bring all of their kids over for a little (or a lot of) fun! The Dominos Pizza man showed up at lunch time, and for 5 moms and 15 kids it was one fun ML King Jr Day!

Enjoy the pics and way to go moms!!

I Just Have One Thing To Say:

It is GREAT to be a Florida Gator! :)

Going on Record

Well, it is officially 25 minutes before the big game. And I know that I may pay dearly for this in the coming days and weeks... Nonetheless I must remain true to my convictions:
OHIO STATE IS GATOR BAIT!!

... now I shall return to my chips and salsa and the television.

Visit from Our Beloved Friends Across the Pond

There are those amazing relationships that the grace of God grants us in this life. I'm speaking of the ones where the cumulative amount of time you actually spend together may add up to two months (over many years) but the depth of relationship makes it feel like you've known each other all your life. I have had the joy of experiencing this grace with a small number of people. But, the ones who top the list visited us just this last week.

Ken and Beulah Robinson. Our dear friends from Northern Ireland - Enniskillen, to be exact. They live in a beautiful county and city! They are tremendous ministers - Ken is the District Superintendent and Senior Pastor of his area in the Methodist Church. We met when the Robinsons were still in Belfast, and served in ministry together for several visits there in the city. What joy to serve with these dear friends!

How much we value their friendship! And we were so blessed by their recent visit - going out of their way to see us (and some others) as they were in the states briefly to celebrate the marriage of their son Timothy in AZ. Congratulations Timothy and Carrie! And thanks so much, Ken and Beulah! So good to be with you!

Tony Bancroft is a GREAT Guy!

Just google him some time!

...that is all I have to say about that...

(Feel free to comment)

Tournament of Roses Parade and Burbank's Entry

What fun to be out here through the holidays this year and be able to see how excited this town gets over the Rose Parade! Truly a fun morning! We did not make it to Pasadena to see the parade this year, but I suspect we will in the near future! (Not quite that brave yet!)

But we had some fun right here in Burbank! For starters, as we waited for the parade to begin, we were able to get our own personal "fly-by" by the B-2 Stealth Bomber that flies over the parade signifying the start of the event!

I was tipped off by a friend that we might see the Stealth, so I was watching... It circled with a couple of F-16s for about a half an hour - but off in the distance... And Just when I thought it was done circling, the B-2 flew right over our neighborhood - waking up all of Burbank with it's thunderous blare. The picture above is the Stealth and the two F-16's quickly flying AWAY from the house... They caught me by surprise! Less than a minute later we were watching this same bomber fly right over the parade in Pasadena on television! Very exciting.

Second, our own Burbank entry came home two days ago and has been accesible to all in the area. So we visited the float today! What an amazing accomplishment! Here is a link to the details of the float: "Free Dog Wash" - http://burbankrosefloat.com/history/2007/2007_float_entry_fact_sheet.html

One of the things that is so exceptional about this float is that it is one of the very few that was constructed by the city of Burbank, itself - not by a professional "float building" company! Makes us proud!

Click up in the links section to see more pics of the float, and read a few of the details about it!

Fascinating!

Anniversary in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills for an anniversary! Not a bad deal, eh? :) Well, when you live less than 12 miles away from the 90210 zip code it takes a little of the "wonder" out of the place. But, it still made for a very fun destination for Christy and me (and Jeffrey! :)) for our 11th anniversary this past weekend!

We enjoyed nearly a day and a half away from the "regular" world of 517 Cypress Ave in Burbank! Beginning in Burbank, though, we had arguably the best meal of our little outing!! We are very proud of the new Granville restaurant that has recently opened here! Wonderful food: http://www.granvillecafe.com/

Then on "over the hill" to the "Hills!"

Christy and I stayed at the Meridian Hotel of Beverly Hills: It was indeed a very nice hotel. Probably too nice for our tastes! But, it was fun to be "spoiled" on our anniversary! From there we enjoyed going to the Grove:http://www.thegrovela.com/ Only a mile away from the hotel. There we saw a fun movie and ate more good food at the Kokomo Cafe! http://www.kokomocafe.com/ (see a trend here? :))

The following morning we had brunch at The Farm of Beverly Hills: http://www.thefarmofbeverlyhills.com/ Another wonderful spot! Terrific brunch!

Then, of course we did the "obligatory" walk up and down Rodeo Drive - as you can see! And finally, it was time to head home!

And this is where things got interesting... For some of you it will not come as a surprise to you that I pushed our little Lumina too far, and we ran out of gas! In Beverly Hills! Which, when one swallows his pride over the whole deal, is not a terribly bad place to run out of gas. Rather picturesque, at least...

We walked the street of Beverly to the corner of Beverly and Sunset: and the Beverly Hills hotel. The Meridian was nice. The BH Hotel is quite possibly one of the nicest in the nation... Whoa... There, we bummed a taxi back into town to buy a gallon tank, and then a gallon of gas! Taking the taxi back to our lovely parking spot at the corner of Beverly and Lexington - pull out your star maps if you have one! I have no idea who lives at that lovely corner, but they've got pretty nice digs!

Gas in car. Car to gas station to fill tank. And an hour later we are back on our way over the hill again into the wonderful... Valley! :)

It was a wonderful adventure, but more than that a lovely 28 hours away from home!!

We did some figuring up while we were on this little outing! For our anniversary in 2001 we got away for two nights! That's the last time Christy and I have been away without another little one accompanying us either inside the womb or outside... (And if you're figuring this one out in your head... well, let's just say that Will was born in September of the following year...) So! The goal for our 12th anniversary - next year (and we are almost CERTAIN this is attainable!) - is for our celebration to finally just be THE TWO OF US!! :)

For more pics, check the link to the left!