Sunday, July 27, 2008

Back in Knoxville

Well we're all back in Knoxville now. Caitlyn arrived a week ago (Sunday), after she spent a great last week with her friends in CA. The movers came last Friday (July 18), so we've been moving in for a little over a week now, and this weekend we finally got cable service, so we're back on-line. We won't have email for a couple more days, though. When we finally get email going, I'll give everyone our contact information. In the meantime, Mom and Dad have my cell and our new home address and telephone.

Sounds like everyone is having great summer vacations. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our plans to go to Yellowstone and the Tetons because of the move, but we'll get there eventually. Can't complain though - Hawaii over Spring Break will last us awhile.

Job is going fine. Unfortunately for the kids, school starts in just two weeks, after they got out in CA in late June. Very quick summer for them, but a memorable one. They had a great time at camp in TN right after school let out (scheduled before we knew we were moving back). They've already had a couple of sleepovers, so they're getting back in the groove of things here. We're all very tired, but we'll settle in soon. Hope to talk to all of you soon,

John

Wednesday, July 23, 2008


We finally have some pictures to share from Ireland.  Here are a few.  The first one is of the Cliffs of Moher.  These are the highest cliffs in Europe.  It was on this boat trip that my digital camera got drowned by the big wave.  








The second is of the Rock of Cashel.  It is  an ancient ruin of a castle the first part of which was originally built in the early 5th century.  It became a royal center with the coming of Conal Co
rk head of the Eoganachta.  In the mid 5th century the Eoanacht kings accept Christianity when Patrick baptizes King Aengusat the castle.  From then on it suffers through a history of conflict and religion finally becoming an abbey.  It remained a religious center known as the Cathedral of St Patrick on the Rock until 1649 when it is shut down my the oppression of Cromwell. 


The third is a picture of a couple of old thatch
 roofed homes that have recently become little shops for tourists.  The roofs are made of reeds that are carefully placed close together so that they will insulate the house and shed water so
 the house stays dry and warm.  There are a number of homes that still maintain these roofs even though the more modern tile roofs are available.









The next picture illustrates the narrow roads that dominate throughout the southern part of Ireland.  They are barely wider than a standard two-car driveway.  Like here drivers tend to drive much faster than the roads safely allow.  You always have to be on the left side and speed limits run about 100 kph.
















The last picture is of our "cabin".  We had the whole thing.  It had 4 bedrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen and 2 bathrooms.  Very luxurious living on a golf resort in County Clare.  It was out in the country away from any towns.  We went into a nearby town, Tuamgraney, to eat at a wonderful pub.  The food there was good if a little too bland.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

South Dakota trip





We recently returned from our trip to the Black Hills. We started at the farm on July 4th (where we shot off a multitude of fireworks). We traveled up to Valentine, NE on July 5th (Saturday) where bad weather caught up to us once again. We had to pull over on the highway in the middle of nowhere while caught in high winds and hail with no radio station and no cell phone service. We heard later that a tornado had passed through. We're pretty sure we weren't too far from it.
We canoed the Niobrara Sunday morning and then headed for Custer. We stayed in a beautiful cabin for 5 nights. The 3 boys took professional rock climbing lessons (no pictures of that, just video). Jon and Jared were able to scale all 5 of the ropes they were given. Sean was a little nervous, but conquered the "tower of death" climb and got about halfway up another wall while telling everyone, "This is not a much fun family vacation!" The owner of the climbing company told us that we have a future mountain climber in Jared, who thinks he'd like to tackle Devil's Tower next. We spent some time there climbing all over the boulder field that surrounds the base of Devil's Tower. We also did a little horseback riding and a lot of hiking. If I can ever figure out how to download video from my camera onto my computer, I'll add that in later. Otherwise, see it next time we see you!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Trip to Chicago

Tommy was at jazz camp at KU starting on July 6, so we dropped him off and headed to Chicago for the week. We stayed at my friends condo - excellent views and location just north of Millennium Park.


We decided that on this visit, we would get a CityPass - allows you to go to the Field Museum, the Adler Planetarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, and either the Hancock Building or the Sears Tower. On the first day we took a bus down Michigan Ave., ate a late breakfast at a new south Loop hotspot called Yolk - just across from the museum campus area - and walked over to the Field Museum, and got our picture taken with it's most famous resident, Sue. Sue is the world's largest and most complete T-Rex skeleton.


Although there are a number of world-class exhibits, including some interesting displays on ancient Egypt and the Maya-Aztec civilizations, it's hard to beat dinosaur fossils for getting kids interested in a museum of natural science and history.

We also explored some new neighborhoods this trip. After the museum and some rest back at the condo, we took a train north to Old Town and walked around the shops a bit before eating dinner at an excellent upscale Mexican restaurant right next to the Second City comedy club. After dinner, we toured the Hancock building and took some pictures of the city at night.

On day 2, we went to the Adler Planetarium, saw some shows there, and looked at all of their displays. Kayla had never seen a star show in a planetarium before, so she really enjoyed that, as well as a great show on time and space in their 360 degree theater. After that, we took the train to Chinatown for a great lunch at Joy Yee's, and then did some window shopping in the neighborhood.


For the rest of the day, we went shopping up in the loop (Macy's, etc.) and also checked out a more exclusive area (way too expensive for our budgets, but fun to check out) on Armitage avenue. The shops are all located on this charming old street with fixed up brownstones.

We also happened to walk by reputedly one of the top 5 restaurants in the U.S., Charlie Trotter's. As they take reservations over a year in advance, and the prix fix is over $100 per person, we decided to do pizza instead.


On our last day in town, we went to the Shedd Aquarium for most of the morning. The displays were great, but the highlights had to be the Beluga whales and the dolphin show.


After lunch at an old world Jewish deli called Eleven City Diner, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. We had just been there the year before, so we just hit a couple of favorite exhibits and then went to the IMAX show that was included with our CityPass - it was a great show about the Colorado river and the Grand Canyon - perfect subject matter for an IMAX theater. We then finished up with some more shopping, dinner at the Italian Village in the Loop, and a late flight to Kansas City to go pick up Tommy the next day.

Tommy did well at the camp, landing positions in the top combo and big band, and was named MVP on trumpet for the camp.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

July 4, and Moving Day


Spent July 4 at the beach (conditions were perfect for boogie boarding), and caught some fireworks at Aviara Resort. It was a great fourth!
Also, I wanted to let everyone know that today is our last day in the Carlsbad house, so our contact information will change. Our roadrunner email will work until Thursday, but our home phone will be gone today. You can still reach us at Chris or my cell phone numbers, and we'll send out new contact information soon. Talk to you soon...