American Airlines Museum

Yesterday it was pouring rain and we headed out to the CR Smith museum with the Georgia crew. It was a fun afternoon checking out the exhibits and taking some goofy pictures. But before arriving here, we stopped for lunch at Braums so grandma could have one last banana split for lunch.

       Josh showing us the original toilet size                   

We were all fascinated watching our donated coins go down this contraption

Josh showing us the size of an original restroom size 

Axel and Grandmama

on our way to a dream destination

Aunt Chris and Josh

Halloween, Family and Fun

Halloween has come and gone and it was a total blast this year. Steve and I were invited to a party. There was trunk or treat on Halloween Eve and family visiting from Georgia to enjoy the festivities. The only downfall is that teenagers don't receive a lot of candy and that means not much for me.

The tourist and the Ravenclaw student
thanks to Pam for letting me borrow her costume

Cousin Josh and Luigi, Steve and Mario, Aunt Chris and Frankenstein

Axel aka Frankenstein

Aunt Chris and Me

Oscar aka Luigi

BainShiShiGami or Defender of truth and love
Nathan is always creative and made his own costume

Diego aka Mario

Damon as a Ninja

Swimming and Oklahoma

The swim team traveled to Norman, Oklahoma yesterday for their meet today at Oklahoma University (OU). We drove up to meet the kids and watch the meet. Upon meeting some friends at the hotel, we left to meet up with our kids, who were bored and cranky at the Coaches Restaurant. I personally thought the food was good for a college hub.

Nathan and a group of his teammates waiting for some grub

Nathan doing his lip sync with his partner Matt who miserably let him down

Upon returning to the hotel, the team got together for some "team building" activities. Everyone had to participate in the lip syncing. I thought it was pretty enjoyable and the kids appeared to enjoy it more than they let on. After the kids were told to hit their rooms, Steve and I assisted the coach with rooms checks and watched as the coach taped the doors as a way of monitoring who broke the rules.

A little before the meet was supposed to start, we got a call from Nathan informing us that the meet might be cancelled due to lightening. So we rushed to the swim complex as quick as we could. Man, talk about some cranky kids again. They were all tired and wanting to go home.  However, us parents, came to see them swim and hoped the weather would cooperate.........

And it did.

Becky, Gail, Me and Kim
some of the dedicated moms who always follow the kids

Actually quite a few other parents traveled to see and support our team. 

Nathan relaxing in between events

I was pretty happy with how Nathan swam today. I do not know any of his times as the schools scoreboard was horrid and only recorded the first four swimmers....SIGH. We were all pretty annoyed. However, his butterfly form was looking strong. His sprinting in his relays wasn't all that bad. And for not swimming the backstroke in about two years, he did pretty well. Best of all, Nathan seemed happy with how he swam.

Two exhausted kids

Pam decided to ride home with us and the two zonked out pretty quick in the car. The drive home was pretty enjoyable considering mother earth decided to downpour on us. At the Oklahoma border, we stopped and introduced Pam to Carl's Jr.

Moping on the couch

This evening I came home to an extremely quiet house. It left me feeling empty and full of dread.

Nathan and his girlfriend Pam were off to a concert. Steve is at school like always...and even when he is home...he isn't fully here.

If this is what I have to look forward to in less than a year...

well...

I am opting to stop time now (that way Nathan will always keep the house full of activity).

The Good 'Ol Family

With dad wanting to make some homemade poppers and me having a huge package of foot long hot dogs in the freezer, we decided it was time for a family BBQ. The weather totally cooperated and we had a ton of food. My dads jalapeno poppers were fantastic...i should have snapped a photo to make you drool. We also had smores for dessert. Here are some pictures from the afternoon in no particular order. Sadly, there are no photos of grandma, as she was watching Sunday football.

 Oscar and his pals

 Pam, Nathan and our two Georgia visiting dogs

Baby and Bella

 Roasting...or burning some marshmallows

 Axel joined us for dessert and crafts

 working on grandmas Halloween craft

Damon and Brody making their bats

or might I say Brody making Axel's

Lets not forget Diego and his little friend Diego the II

My Once Little Guy

Nathan J age 3 in April 1997 at Jodie's wedding

The first few months of school the school year is expensive. Especially having a senior.  The outflow of cash keeps going out and quick.  Between senior pictures,  swim team trips, lost equipment, yearbooks....

I always like when parents do the senior ads in the yearbooks and really want to have one for Nathaniel. 

I am trying to decide which pictures to submit and I am thinking that this will be one of them and then another from his senior photo shoot. I actually have one with him standing in the full tux if I can get it scanned into my computer....but even so, I think this one may still win. I have also been thinking about what to write that shows who he is and how I feel. I am seriously considering putting in his favorite quote. I was also thinking that it would be cool if the page had his group of close friends...Isaac, Matt, Mark and Nathan, but I have not heard back from the twins mom yet. I guess that I will have all of these answers next week.