Tubing on Atwood

We would use dad's boat to tube because it moves faster than the pontoon. Also, we would anchor the pontoon at boater's beach while we tubed with others on dad's boat.

Fish of 2009

J caught this fish off the front of our boat while it was docked.

We did a pretty good job catching fish off our dock this year.

Fishing at Atwood.

This was the largest white bass K caught today.
T and J joined us in the afternoon for a swim and a little fishing before we called it a day.

This was my lone fish I caught. It was about a three pound channel catfish.

This was fish number 1 for Kent. He ended up catching 7 white bass and 1 saugeye. He had a pole in the water more than I did today. But, I still had a fun day. It was by far the best fishing day I had at Atwood in a long time. We were trolling off our pontoon boat just off the point to the beach when we caught our fish.

The end of summer vacation is fast approaching. We spent last weekend at the camper. I am sure that surprises you. We went down on Thursday and stayed through Monday. T had to drive back and forth a couple of times for work. We did a movie night on the boat. We hooked up my dvd player into the boat's speakers. We went out and anchored the boat and watched HSM3. It was almost like a drive in movie. I am sure we will do it again in the future. The rest of the weekend was swimming and tubing. Mike, Christy and their girls come down Sunday. Their boat is still in the shop. Mike brought down a different tube and the kids had fun on it. I will post some pictures soon.
Hopefully, tomorrow K and I will head down to the lake for a morning of fishing.

We went to Atwood again this weekend and summer finally showed up. We went out on a sunset cruise Friday. It was our first time out after sunset. It was fun to cruise at dark. We did some tubing and swimming on Saturday. T had to work to close. Sunday, Christy, Mike and their two kids, plus new friends Alissa and Mike and their three kids came down to Atwood in the afternoon. We had a fun day swimming and tubing. Mike N. tried to wake board but dad's boat didn't have enough juice to get him up. The weather was warm and breezy. The lake was choppy but made better tubing. This morning we did some quick tubing before leaving. Then the rain came and washed out my golf game.

Time for a week in review.

We went to Cedar Point last Wednesday with our friends Christy and Mike. It has been 13 years since our last trip to CP. Things have changed since that trip. We did ride all the major coasters. The Top Thrill Dragster was amazing. 120 mph in 4 seconds, then up 420 feet and then back down. The ride lasts 17 seconds but worth the hour wait.

We did not make it to the camper this past weekend. T had to work both at the hospital and Subway. B had the HOF Community Parade on Sunday. After the parade we went boating. We ate dinner on the boat and the kids swam.

I had a good round of golf last night. 41. I tied my best round of the year. The league ends in a few weeks but we can play golf until the end of Oct.

Oh, one last thing. I shaved off my goatee last Thursday. I gave it until to today and I am growing it back. I just don't look like me without it. As J said...."put it back on, because you aren't daddy like that."

Pictures from the past weekend.

J even got a turn in the tube. He loved it!

Is this our Christmas card picture this year?

A nice crappie from Atwood.


K was not to be out done, he could his on his first cast of the day.

B left for S. Carolina this morning. We just got word they arrived safely a little bit ago. She will have a fun time. She is returning on Saturday.

B had the Plain Twp parade on Saturday morning. It was a long parade in terms of distance. But, they were close to the front of the parade, which is always good for me. After the parade, we headed home. T took B and J back to Atwood, while K and me went to the Akron Aeros game. I remember why I am not a huge fan of minor league baseball. The game takes too long. Before the game Perry Baseball paraded around the field. We were back to Atwood by 10:15.
Sunday, T was called off work. It wasn't a big surprise. We had a fun day at the lake. We stayed Sunday night. It is always peaceful on Sunday nights when there are just a few campers on the point. In the morning, we finished packing up. T took the kids to Bible school, while I went golfing at Atwood with my Jostens representative. I had a good front nine and a tough back nine. Then I went on to golf in my league. I didn't play real well in the rain, but it wasn't my worse night.

We are home for one night from Atwood. I would explain why we are home, but it is too long.
Anyways, we went down to Atwood on Wednesday and enjoyed the quiet surroundings. We did all the normal stuff we do when we camp. It finally felt like summer with some warmer weather. My neighbor Jasen and his kids were down yesterday for some boating, swimming and campfire.
Tomorrow, B has a parade. After the parade, T, B and J will head back to the camper. K and I will join them after the baseball game tomorrow night.

Check out the San Angelo Colts at sanangelocolts.com. They are 25-10 and in first place. I might have to head to Texas for the playoffs.

I think the Indians are still playing baseball. They might be 20 games under .500 by now. It has been a long season and is only going to get longer. I am glad I did not renew my season tickets to see AAA baseball.

Bayou

I needed some help 'driving' the boat and J was there to help me out.

Boater's Beach on July 4, 2009

One stinking shot....My team lost the Kieb Golf Outing by one shot. If we would have made par on the first three par threes, we would have won by two strokes. But, I still had fun and help raise $1500 for the Kieb Scholarship.
The Kieb Outing is the golf trip to Michigan I do ever year. This year, I took K to play with Jared's son. They had a fun time playing together.
Friday night we had a small cookout. It was a beautiful night with friends. Everyone had a good time playing corn hole, ladder golf or just hanging out. All the kids played nicely together. Next year we are planning a big party for mine and T's b-day.
T started her new (old) job at Subway. She is returning to Subway after an 11 year absence. She is going to work part-time evenings for now. She is still hoping to get hired at a school this fall. If not, she will sub again this year.

The kids.

B blowing out her 'candles.

We went tubing for the first time of the year on June 24. We used papa's boat to tube, while the others were playing at boater's beach. We would use the pontoon boat to tube the following weekend.

Wow....I haven't posted in so long. I don't even know where to begin. We spent plenty of time at the camper. We spent plenty of time on the boat. The weather has not been 'summer' like yet. Well, we did have two 'hot' days towards the end of June.

B turned 11 on June 22. We spent the weekend at the camper. She wanted a friend to spend the weekend with us, but her friends could not stay on her birthday weekend. Her friend did spend the weekend with us the next weekend. They stayed in the tent and stayed there all night. She purchased a new bike with her birthday money.

Somewhere since my last post T was hired by Subway. She will be an Assistant Manager. They would have hired here as a store manager if she wanted, but she doesn't want to work 50 hours a weeks, and 3 out of four weekends a month. Actually, she started today. It has been 11 years since she left Subway. It is hard to believe it has been that long.

I will fast forward to this weekend. We went to the camper on July 1 and returned today. The weather was cool until yesterday. We did not go out on the lake to watch the fireworks. The fireworks were pretty good. We sat on the causeway and watched them. The campground was packed. It is fun when the place is busy.

My golf game has been improving each week. Last week I played my best all year. I shot a 41 and shot a 43 tonight.

Ok...hopefully I will not go 3 weeks to blog again.

These are all the great-grand children of my Grandma and Grandpa Carr, minus my son. He was at Boy Scout Day Camp.

These would be the grandchildren of Grandma and Grandpa Carr.

For the record, T took this picture of our friend Mike in his boat....'The Fish Eyed Fool" He is the one in the bright orange row boat.
T and I in front of our boat, 'The Grace Ann'

My cousin from Texas and his son enjoying a boat ride even though the weather was not that great.

My cousin's son waiting his turn at the helm of the boat.

K actually watching the ball into his glove and using two hands. He went on to throw the running out at first.

I am sorry it has been so long since my last post.

The last week of school flew by. This past year was my tenth year teaching at MHS.

I went to state track with my buddy Jerry. We have been going the last few years. The weather was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. It was bitter sweet going to the track meet. I found out the day before I would not be hired back as track coach in 2010. I was bummed out. But, things happen for a reason and now I will have more time with the family next spring.

We went hot tubbing with the Christy and Mike's on Sunday, June 7. As always it was fun. We played cornhole and the kids played in the bounce house.

June 8th, I turned in my grades and grade book. I was officially done with school.

June 9, Kent had a ball game. He team lost there last 6 games of the year. Kent's hitting has been down the last couple games, but when he does hits, it is doubles and triples. I think he leads the team with 3 triples.

June 10, my cousin from Texas spent the night at the camper. He brought his son and we had a good campfire. On Thursday, the weather was overcast, rainy, but we went out to boater's beach. We were the only ones there. It actually was kind of nice to have the place to ourselves. A teacher friend of mine and his two kids were camping as well, so they were on the boat as well,

Me, my cousin, his son, and K went to the Indians game on June 11. It was the seagull game. The Indians won the game in the bottom of the tenth inning.

We headed back to the camper for the rest of the weekend. The weather was better and we boated and swam. I love summer vacation.

I need to post some pictures. Hopefully, it wont be 2 weeks until I post again.

Another weekend and another weekend at the lake. It was a beautiful weekend, minus the 30 minutes of rain we had Friday night. Saturday our friends the Neckos came down and spent the night in a tent. We had a fun time on the boat, swimming, eating and fishing.

This is the final week of school. I will be heading to Columbus for state track this weekend and then I am free until the end of August.

Time has flown by since my last post.

First, the track team ended its season last week at the district track meet. We did not have anyone advance. We didn't think anyone would advance, but it would have been nice to sneak one into this week's regional meet.

Second. Kent's team played a good solid game last Thursday. They won by 3 runs. Kent played well in the field as well as at bat. He is getting better each week. They lost last night, and I was not there, but I heard he did well again.

Third. We finally made it to the camper. The weekend was beautiful, except for the 30 minutes of rain on Sunday. Saturday, Christy and her family come down to pick up Taylor. Taylor went camping with her grandparents and uncle. So, I gave boat rides to anyone that wanted one. Sunday, the Tolins came down, so more boat rides, swimming and fishing. Plus, good food was prepared by Jeff. Monday, T and B headed to Canton for the parade. My mom came down as well. We tried to cook off the boat, but it was too windy. So, we ended up cooking at our dock. All in all, it was a great weekend. We are looking forward to this weekend already.

Update time.

Friday. K's team won a thriller 18-17. K batted really well, but fielded, not so well. EE scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th for the win.
Saturday. Today was the PTC finals. We did not fair well as a team. I am really embarrassed by some of the times we turned in. A couple of guys did step up and ran their best times of the year. Afterwards, I meet T and the family at Christy and Mike's. We had an awesome dinner of chicken and ribs. We went for a walk in the local park, then it was in to the hot tub for the kids. We let them 'swim' for about 30 minutes or so. Then, it was time for 'adult' swim! We ended up drinking and hot tubbing for 3 hours. I am sure that was way too long to do either, but it was fun. We are planning do have another party next month.
Sunday. We went over to my sister's for a dinner with Aunt Helen. She was in town to visit family. We had a fun time with everyone.
Today. K's team lost 21-11. They looked bad in the field and at bat. K had his best total game of the year. 4-4 at bat and made 2 good plays in the field.

We moved the dock from one side of Atwood to the other side last night. Dad and I have a pretty good system and we work well together to install and remove the dock. I thought the most eventful part of the evening was when dad cut his hand on a metal pole, but I was wrong. After we installed the dock at the new location, we wanted to go for a boat ride. Teresa was being nice and offered to put the boat sticker on the back pontoon. I was making sure all the kids had their life jacket on, I heard 'Oh sh*t !' followed by a big splash sound. As she was leaning down to apply the sticker to the pontoon, she grab the back sun deck for support. The sun deck is in three sections and all three sections open out towards the back of the boat. So, as she grab the sun deck, it started to open and she lost her balance and fell in. She went in with her cell phone in her pocket and her watch on. She was wear a nice big sweatshirt and jeans. She looked like a drowned rat. I did not take any pictures, or let B's friend take one on her cell phone. Oh, the water was a chilly 58 degrees. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, I just wanted her out of the water. Thankfully, we always bring down a change of clothes just in case. Well, last night, was just in case.

Prom 2009

Happy Mother's Day to my mom. The kids made gifts for T this year. K found flamingo socks at the zoo and gave them to her as well. We had lunch to T's parents. They watched the kids for us, while we attended prom last night. Then we had cake here for K's birthday. My mom and dad came over, but no one else.


The school year is slowly winding down. There is only a few more weeks left. I am ready for the school year to be over. Actually, I am ready for track season to be over. It has been a tough season. It is just time for it too be over.

A couple of pics from the Akron Zoo.

Update from the last week.

Monday. It was golf night. I did better than last week. But, still not were I think I should be. I will miss the next 3 weeks of golf due to K's baseball games.

Tuesday. We ran against Woodridge and Streetsboro. We lost both meets. It is frustrating when kids back out of events they should run, because they know they will lose. But, isn't about improving your times? Doing better than last week? I was in a bad mood Tuesday night.

Thursday. We ran at Dalton. It is the fun meet of the year. Of course the fresh 1/2 BBQ chicken was great. The guys seems to run with more of a propose than on Tuesday.

I also chaperoned K's field trip to the Akron Zoo. We had a fun time together. You only need about two hours to see the whole thing. The jellyfish were the best. I managed to great some great pictures.

Friday. I was back in school after my personal day. K had his second baseball game tonight. His team won 7-5. He played good in the field and went 2-4 at the plate. He helped turn a double play. He caught a line drive and threw to first for the double play. He was awarded the game ball. Oh, by the way, it is his 8th birthday today. I still remember being at the hospital that day. He was not an easy delivery. But, in the end, he was delivered c section and he is a healthy 8 year old.

The newest resident at our house. I found her while doing yard work this weekend. I am surprised the nest survived the rain on Friday.
The 2009 Wildcat Invitational went well Friday night. The rains held off until later in the night. Here is a link for the results http://baumspage.com/track/mogadore/res09.htm
The track team has 2 meets this week. Tuesday at Mogadore and Thursday at Dalton. Thursday is our fun meet of the year.
Saturday was the first parade for B. Also, it was T's first parade as marching mom. It was a beautiful weather, not to hot and not to cold. After the parade, we went to the lake for a boat ride. We took one of B's friend with us. It was a much better day on the lake. We might not make it down there again for a week or so due to our schedules. We ended the night next door sitting around their fire. We stayed up til almost midnight.
Today was a work day around the house. I replaced the garbage disposal. It ended up being easier than I thought. Then, I went out and mowed the grass. Jason from next door trimmed both sides of the fence line. T and I did some cleaning/straighten of the shed. We are thinking about having a garage sale. We have so much stuff we need to get rid of in both the shed and garage. We made pie irons for dinner and followed it up with s'mores. I can't complain about the weekend.

If it is Tuesday, then it must be track and it must be raining. Well, the rain stopped before the meet started. It was just us and Waterloo. The meet was over in just 2.5 hours. We got beat, but time are going down even in this bad weather. It will be cold again tomorrow for junior high track.
Golf yesterday was good. I hit the ball well, but putted really really bad. I could have cut 4 strokes off my score with any amount of decent putting. Anyways, it was good to play golf in 80 degree weather in April.

Today will be the fourth straight day of above 80 degree temperature. The sun is out and there is not a cloud in site.
Yesterday was busy. I had to go to Atwood and move the boat to my dad's dock. We took a small rise as well. The waves were not a big as Saturday, but still no like normal. We left Atwood and went to baseball practice. I got to see T for a brief minute as she was home getting B ready for marching practice, while K got his baseball stuff. After practice, K and I went to hear the Ohio State University Men's Glee Club sing in Fairlawn. G met us there. He took me to hear them years ago in Columbus. I still love listening to an all-male choir. The concert was great. A Mogadore grad is in the choir, so it is good to see a former student perform.
So, today I was kind of glad to be back at school. It is almost relaxing.

Til next time,

Bayou

I tried to center this picture, but the waves were making sure the picture would be out of wack. We were out on the lake on a very windy and choppy day. This boat flagged us down. Their motor quit working, so we towed them back to the marina. It was a slow go with the waves and heading directly into the wind. But, we did our good dead for the day. I am so glad my dad was on board to help out as well.
It was just me and J here at the house last night. T and B were spending the night at girl scout camp. J went to AT's house for an overnighter. The real bonus of the night was J staying in his own bed all night.

Our boat

T and I on the maiden voyage.
Papa and the kids.

Our family on our first boat ride.

We finally got the boat on the water today. We were able to take a nice evening time cruise. We are looking forward to many days cruising around Atwood Lake.

Ok, recapping the the week so far...

Tuesday was track at E. Canton. The weather was ok. I was windy and cold, but no rain! Our times are coming down and distances are going up.
Also on Tuesday, T's grandma went home. According to T, she is looking and feeling much better. She went back to her apartment. She will have a visiting nurse check on her.
Yesterday was junior high track. The weather was hit or miss. It would rain for 10 minutes, then be sunny for 20.
We are going to try to go on the boat tonight. T and B will be gone this weekend, so I want the whole family to be on the boat for the first ride. It will be a quick ride tonight. We will need to get B back home and in bed. She has OAT testing tomorrow.

T sits in the new boat...You may notice it is still on the trailer. Well, there is a very good reason for that. It never made it to the water. The maiden voyage was put on hold due to a dead battery. Hopefully, we can put on the water next weekend.
We had a good evening at the Neckos last night, Mike cooked up some great steaks. The kids took a dip in the hot tub. The adults, minus Mike, also took turn in the hot tub. It is always fun to visit with them. I have know Christy since junior year in high school. We both went to KSU, so we have been friends for a long time.

We ran in the rain Tuesday night. We lost to both schools, but the guys improved their times/distances. Someday, I would love to have a nice day for a track meet. Then, Wednesday night, the junior high school track team had a meet. Guess what? It rained for them as well.

The weather looks good for a boat launch on Saturday. Keep posted for pictures.

Bayou out.

Here is a quick Grandma update. She is still in the hospital. I am not sure how long they are planning on her staying. It looks like her medications were causing most of her problems. They are going to readjust the doses and see how she reacts. She will most likely head to a rehab facility for a month before heading home. However, it looks like she will need to be in assisted living.
In track news, we are going to run in the rain tonight. It was chilly at Manchester last week, but it will be cold and rain tonight.

Last week flew by. It was busy, but relaxing as well.
I took Monday and Tuesday off as personal days. My kids were on Spring Break. I had hoped to put the boat into the water, but the weather prevented that from happening. We ended up staying home and finding way to entertain us. (Wii, DVD, games, etc...)
Monday, I watched the Indians lose their first game of the season to the Texas Rangers. For that matter they lost all three in Texas. Then in the evening I watched N. Carolina defeat Michigan State for the NCAA Championship.
Wednesday was my birthday. I went back to school today. A couple of students, who are on Facebook, knew it was my birthday. T and the kids had a great dinner and cake for me when I got home from track practice. At some point during the evening, J put a 3 oz plastic cup down the toilet. T tried and tried to get it out. But, she could not get it out. It was until Friday, when T and I removed the toilet, where we able to get the cup out. Thankfully, I was at school and a track meet.
Good Friday. T and I spent an hour dismantling the toilet and re-mantling the toilet. (Is re-mantling a word?) But, the cup was removed from the pipe.
T worked on Saturday morning. B went to Nana and Papa's to help get ready for the Easter Egg Hunt. K had baseball practice in the morning. The team needs plenty of work, but we are getting better. When we got home, T called and said she was on her way home. So, she was able to get to the egg hunt on time. There was 10 of the 11 grandchildren there. The dad were in charge of hiding the eggs for their children. The kids had a fun time running all over the backyard looking for eggs. I will post pictures later.
Today. We got up and saw the Easter Bunny left gifts for the kids. J was not sounding well. He had a barky cough and stayed home with T while I took B and K to church. By the time we got home, J was feeling and sounding better. We had Easter dinner at T's parent's house. They also had an egg hunt for the kids. Grandma Rowen was there as well. She is not feeling well and ended up going to the ER for dehydration. She looked weak and could not even walk without help. We are waiting to hear an update.
School for everyone tomorrow.

K and I went up to Ann Arbor for the weekend. My buddy Jared and I went to Windsor to watch Final Four semi-finals on Saturday. We thought about trying to get tickets to the games, but with Michigan State playing, tickets were not cheap. So, we watched the game in the Sport Book in Caesar's.
We were going to stay until today, but the Detroit area was scheduled to get 6-12 inches of snow. So, we left Sunday afternoon. K is starting to like Nascar, so we listened to the race from Texas on the way home. K was happy Jeff Gordon won. He likes him, Jimmy Johnson and Kyle Bush.
I took today and tomorrow off as personal days. My kids are on spring break this week, so I wanted to spend some time with them. Hopefully, the weather will break soon and we can get the boat into the water.

Happy April! I was trying to think of something funny to post yesterday, but I was too late to post.
Last night, the family went to Pfeiffer MS and signed B up for band. She wants to play the saxophone in the band. Actually, she wants to be a majorette in high school, so she needs to play an instrument. I will need to get my sax out of storage and get it cleaned up. I let my cousin use it years ago, and it has be unused since. I generally play the tenor sax for alumni events and I get one from Mogadore, so my alto is just collecting dust. I want her to take a few lessons before school starts, just to have a basic understanding of the instrument and how to play it.
Tuesday night, K had his first official baseball practice. However, the pitching machine was locked up and our manager did not have the right key. Someone changed the locks and did not pass out new keys. We did station work. The hitting needs some improvement, but we really can't work on that until we can use the machine.
The weather looks like we will not be able to get the boat out of storage anytime soon. Today is the last "good" day for the next week. Oh well, we will be able to enjoy it soon enough.

Spring break is almost over. I did not complete as much as I would have liked, but it was relaxing. The weather was 50-50, 50% sunny and 50% rainy. I guess that is not too bad for March.
T managed to work 4 of the 5 days last week. So, J and I had plenty of time together. One thing the family started doing this week, are family walks. Monday T, J and I walked at Sippo Lake. It was a chilly, but sunny day. Sippo is part of Stark Parks. Stark Parks had plenty of trails to explore all over Stark County. I think we will walk several trail this summer. Tuesday afternoon, I took B, K, and J to Petro Park for the walking trail there. It is a 1.2 mile trail. It is a nice way to spend time with the kids. We could have walked more, but J's legs were "getting sleepy". Wednesday and Thursday were rainy, so no walking. However, dad and I went to Atwood and moved the deck and dock to the lot. I wanted to get the boat, but with the rain, it just wasn't worth it. I hope things are better this weekend. Friday, T, J and I ended up at Stadium Park in Canton. There is a 1.5 mile walking trail in the park. As we were walking past the gardens, a young lady spotted a man using a tree as a restroom. The park maintenance workers told him to stop and move along. A few minutes later, I spotted him taking off his pants, and underwear. He was in full view of the kids' area. I stopped the park guys again. This time they escorted him out of the woods. If I hadn't seen the park guys, I would have called the police. He just creeped me out. Then Friday night we went to see B in her school's talent show. She did a baton routine. We ended the day with a trip to Tasti Creme.
That wraps up spring break. 9 weeks until summer vacation. :)

Oh, one other thing, the San Angelo Colts will be playing baseball this summer. I don't know the details, but they will start playing ball in June.

The first weekend of March madness is over. Everyone is talking about their brackets. I still have my Final Four alive, like you really care. I just worry about my money bracket. Hopefully, I can win the cash!
The weather was beautiful this weekend. K's ball team had an informal practice on Saturday. We did hitting stations. I think that is going to be our biggest hurdle early in the season. The pitching machine will be set at 40mph at the beginning of the season. It will be a big adjustment for the team from coach pitch last year.
Today was the first day of spring break. T worked a half day. After lunch we went walking at the local park. It was a sunny day, but chilly. We walked about a mile. If the weather holds up, I will hit the trail again tomorrow.

Til next time,

Bayou

J at Castaway Bay last weekend.

I take a picture of J every 6 months with this football. When he was born, he was the size of this football. It is my plan to have his senior pictures taken with the football.

It has been a week since my last blog. I am sorry to my loyal readings, but sometimes not much happens. Here is a quick re-cap. Track season started last week. Our numbers are down this year. Our best thrower will be out for the season. He torn his ACL last fall, but had a couple of surgeries due to staph infections. We will miss him. Thankfully, he is a junior and will be back next year.

March madness is in swing. The Golden Flashes will play in the Collegeinsider.com Tournament. the .com Tournament is a new tournament this year with a focus on the mid-majors. I think they could win a couple of games in this tournament. There are 5 teams from Ohio in the big dance; Akron, Cleveland State, Dayton, Ohio State and Xavier. I don't think there are any final four team in that group.

We spent the weekend at Castaway Bay in Sandusky, Ohio. It was B's girl scouts weekend retreat. My roommate from Kent meet us there. We went to Great Wolfe Lodge with them last year. We had a good time again this year. I think I liked Castaway Bay's water park better, but GWL's rooms are better.

Til next time,

Bayou

Happy Birthday J!

We finally celebrated his birthday yesterday. (We also celebrating Kent State's pounding of akron.) J opened all of his presents in under 5 minutes. He wasted no time on opening cards.

T took him and 2 of his friends to Chuck E. Cheese on Friday. I was in Columbus, so I missed it. Darn!

B's Girl Scouts did not have a Father/Daughter Dance this year. Instead, they had a Father/Daughter Bowling. I have figured out I am a much better bowler on Wii than in real life.

I left for Columbus Thursday morning. Mogadore had one wrestler qualify for the state tournament. He finished 5th. He went 0-2 last year, so it was a great improvement for him.

I returned home early Sunday morning (1:00am) and was tired. I am still trying to catch up on my sleep. The weather was great. It was in the 60s and 70s all three days in Columbus.

Track practice started today. The number are down right now, but we are trying to get a few more bodies out.

--Bayou

Happy birthday to J! He is 4 today. Unfortunately, he is a sick boy today. He spent most of the day at N. Canton Medical. He has not been able to keep anything down. So, they did blood work and monitored him for awhile.

He is sleeping now, but we don't have any b-day plans for him today. We are going to try again on Sunday to have his party.

---Daddy Bayou

Happy Square Root Day.

03/03/09

Picture Time

These are from my cell phone, so they are not that clear.

K and I caught two batting practice balls at an Indians game last season.
B at the hospital on Thanksgiving.

Atwood flooded in June, but it did not force us to move the camper.

J loves ribs.

We were going to have J's b-day party today, but he is not feeling well. We will try again next week.

Mogadore had one wrestler qualify for the state wrestling meet. Shayne finished 2nd at the Maple Heights District. I went to the Perry District with the Tolins. Jeff said his boys are interested in wrestling. Perry is sending 7 to Columbus. It could be a 3 team race for the D1 state title between St. Ed's, Wadsworth and Perry.

B and I went bowling today. It was father/daughter bowling for scouts. I had missed the last 3 or 4 father/daughter events due to wrestling. I am so glad I was able to make this event. I also realize I am a better bowler on Wii than in real life.

--Bayou

It is ours! I went yesterday with Dan and had the title switched into my name. We went to the courthouse in New Philly and were in and out in less than 15 minutes. I forgot about having to pay tax on the purchase, but I had the checkbook and it was not a problem. I am happy everything worked out. Now, I have boat payments for the next 5 years.

The end came for the bedroom TV this past weekend. We bought a 19" flat screen with a built in DVD player to replace it. We bought it at Best Buys with gift cards bought at Giant Eagle, so we also some free gas coming our way.

I went to the Sectional wrestling tournament on Friday and Saturday. Friday was super quick and I was able to get back to Mogadore in time to see the first of the East Canton-Mogadore boys basketball game. EC is coached by Chad Spurgeon. He graduated with my brother and I graduated and played baseball with his brother.

Saturday we met up with our friends from cruise. They were in N. Canton for a volleyball tournament. We visited awhile at our house and then went out to dinner at Rockne's. It was good to see them again. They are coming to N. Canton next month as well, but we will be at Castaway Bay with the Girl Scouts.

Tomorrow is the day we will get the title to the boat. I can't wait to get it in the water. I figure it will be about 4 to 6 weeks before we can us it. We may even launch it and put it back on the trailer, if we don't have a dock in the water for it. The boat comes with side enclosures to block out the rain and cold. So, we could use it before it warms up.

---Capt. Bayou

It is only a matter of time. It is sad to see an old friend during its last days. But, last night, T and I realized the time is now to purchase a new TV for our bedroom. The Emerson TV we have watched countless hours of TV is down to its last days. It has been acting strange since September, but now the picture is going. Last night the picture would turn into squiggly lines and become smaller.
I think I have had the TV since Christmas of 1990. I know I had the TV in my Holly Park apartment and I moved in there back in June of 1991. For Christmas, my parents did a great job of hiding the TVs (my brother and sister got one as well) from me and siblings. They left them out in the garage, in plain view of everyone, but they had the names of the neighbor girls on them. Then, Christmas morning, dad brought them in from the garage when we thought all the Christmas gifts had been opened. It was one of the greatest Christmas surprises of all time at our house.
But, it is time. The remote has no numbers on it. The TV doesn't turn on all the time when you hit the power button. Sometimes when you are flipping channels, the single digit channels are just snow. The alarm feature does not work. The TV used to wake me up for school everyday at 6am. It is time and by this weekend, there will be a new TV in our bedroom.
Thank you Emerson, your job is done. I hope the next TV we buy lasts 18 years!

I am back to school today. My little mini-vacation is over. I had a fun four day break.

Friday I went out to lunch with my mom. J did not go to school because he got sick the day before at school. So, we met mom at Steak and Shake for lunch. Then it was on to school for B and K's Valentine's Day party. The kids had a fun time.

Saturday, T had to work. So, I took the boys to the PTC wrestling tournament. (B was at a sleep over). J did not enjoy the tournament as much a K. The Cats placed 5, with 1 champion. This week is the sectional tournament. The top 4 from the sectional will move on to the district.

Sunday, we went to church then headed to Pennsylvania. We had a good visit with T's aunt. She loves visiting with the kids. As usual, we ate too much. We went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner on Sunday and Applebee's for lunch on Monday. We were home by 9:40 last night, no thanks to a slow moving train on Faircrest. I have never been stopped there. We waited 15 minutes for the train to cross the street. It even stopped at one point. After 3 hour drive, we were ready to get home and go to bed.

Til next time,

Bayou

What a night. There were wind gusts over 60 mph! Our bedroom faces west and took the brunt of the force. I woke up every 10 minutes, well, it seemed like every 10 minutes. The temp dropped from 67 to 35 in just a few hours.
I found a bargain in the Walmart DVD discount bin. It is the complete collection of the HBO show "First and Ten". It was on in the early 80's. It shows old USFL game highlights and has some pretty funny story lines. I have watched 3 episodes so far here on parent-teacher conference night.
I was looking forward to a nice day off tomorrow. Well, J got sick at pre-school today. T had to pick him up and he has thrown up a couple of more times tonight. T will be subbing tomorrow, so I will to stay home with J. Hopefully, he will be feeling better soon.

Bayou