Since Australia

Life has been busy but not crazy since Australia.  Settling back in after getting back was tough.  It was some of the worst jet lag we ever had.  We made it back from Australia in time for Sidney to have one more week at summer day camp.  She only went for three weeks this summer since she was so busy and well traveled.

Sidney celebrated her 7th birthday on August 24.  We ended up taking her and a girl friend to the Houston Natural Science Museum.  They had a great time looking at the dinosaur bones and butterflies.  Sidney's favorite part of the museum is the butterfly exhibit.  She could spend hours in there.  We took Sidney out for lobster afterwards with our friend Theresa.  We went to Red Lobster but we bet she is back to raw oysters or sushi next year.


We had a small birthday party for Sidney on August 26th at Westwood Gymnastics.  They have a great facility and awesome group leaders for each party.  They run the kids into the ground doing activities in the gym.  Then we sugar them up and they run some more.  We sent them home with goodie bags filled with stuff from Australia which was a hit.  Score one for mom and dad.  Here is a picture of Sidney and her friends at the party.

We ended up going to dinner one other night in the middle of the week and gave Sidney one more chance to celebrate.  Here is a picture of her at La Finca having a sweet treat and Happy Birthday sung by the staff.

School started August 27 with Sidney starting 3rd grade.  It is amazing how fast time goes by.  She is in class with some of her best friends. She changed schools this year because Katy is expanding so quickly.  She was upset about the change before she started but that didn't last.

The only excitement of September was Kimber working on a Habitat for Humanity house and a quick trip to Reno for work.  We kind of settled in to not traveling and being able to make some plans. Because of the lack of travel we were able to host a small get together with some of our friends from work, church and school.  It was very enjoyable and we forgot how much we missed those opportunities.  Right before the get together we had our landscaping done in the front yard with the addition of nicer and more appropriate plants and lighting.

November brought back some travel but nothing exotic.  Kimber was in San Antonio for an audit the first week of November.  She spent a lot of time on the roads south and east of San Antonio and on drilling rigs.  Marathon is super busy in the Eagle Ford area.  It was amazing to see but a really long week.  The following week Kimber was back in Reno.  Marathon has a small pilot facility out there with some projects ongoing.  So she is a frequent visitor to the facility.  Everyone says it is very inconvenient to get too but after all the international travel, it doesn't seem so hard.

We also got to attend a News Boys concert in October.  What a great concert.  We had VIP tickets and were also able to get this great picture with them.  Sidney fell asleep before they ever made it on stage.  Who sleeps through a concert where the ground is shaking.  She has not made it through a concert awake yet!

We spent Thanksgiving in Colorado with Kimber's parents.  The weather was very mild and we were able to drive up Pikes Peak.  There was almost no snow up there and even up there the weather was mild.  Cold but just barely below freezing.  Surprisingly Sidney got really dizzy up there but she did have a very mild cold.  We got a good picture of the family up there though.

We also enjoyed a lovely hike around Seven Falls.  Compared to some of the falls we have been to, they are quite small but beautiful all the same, especially in a place without much water.  It was a wonderful and rare opportunity for us to hike as a family and we loved it.  Sidney of course led the way in her usual keep mom and dad running style.  The lack of air didn't seem to affect her that day.

Sidney also played hard and long each day.  There is a school near Kimber's parents that has the ideal climbing equipment for Sidney.  She climbed and did the monkey bars until she had blisters and a huge smile.

Like all good vacations, it had to come to an end though.

December actually gave Kirk a chance to travel.  He went to Arizona for a conference.  The poor guy rarely gets a break or escape.  That being said it was two long days as well.  Kimber and Sidney held down the house and had a fun two days.

As soon as Kirk got back, Kimber was off to Reno again.  Anyone see a theme here.  Kimber is actually hoping to get to spend a weekend there sometime and go up to Lake Tahoe which is only an hours drive (in the summer).

And them we finally made it to Christmas.  We went to Georgia to visit Kirk's folks.  We saw nearly everyone, Kirk's brother and sister and their kids, Kirk's aunts and some uncles and also Kirk's Grandpa.  Grandpa just turned 95 and is still ticking just fine.  It was great to see him.

There are other smaller events in our life.  We still get on an occasional bike ride as a family.  Kirk and Kimber will be doing the MS150 again this year.  But this year, we may get to train more together since Kimber's travel is greatly reduced.  We have signed up for a series of training rides and look forward to doing them and taking Sidney along.  We will be biking on one of these rides nearly every weekend between now and April 20.

Sidney has also been busy being her.  She is continuing Girls Scouts and having a great time.  She was a Fairy for Halloween which fortunately was really easy for mom this year.  And she has continued to loose teeth, looking a bit like a Jack O'lantern for a while with teeth missing here and there

Kirk also was busy one weekend adding another mural in our house.  We have two lovely long arts and crafts style tulips that he painted by the fire place.  But our ceiling are super high and the wall next tot he fireplace above the TV looked quite bare.  So he filled it with this.   While he worked on that, Kimber applied her sewing skills and made valences for the kitchen and study windows.



We also have put in a few pictures of a great horned owl that has taken up residence at Sidney's best friends house in her window box.  She moved in around Thanksgiving and has laid three eggs.  One fell out of the nest but one has hatched.  She is beautiful.  We wish her the greatest success as a mom and one of us drives by to see her every day. We call this pose her hanging out pose and it is usually how she is.


There is one last story that has not been told to many people except maybe a few people at Kimber's work.  This story involves one canoe, purchased on sale from REI by Kirk.  The canoe was then hung from the ceiling like our ten bikes in the garage.  As the bikes have taken up all the not above a car space, the canoe ended up above a car.  It was hung such that the garage door would go below it when the garage door was open.  This all happened sometime in the spring.

After one of Kimber's trips, she noticed the canoe had lowered slightly, probably due to the rope stretching slightly.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and it likely was from the hooks bending, event though the canoe did not weigh more than was acceptable for the hanging device.  However, we think the canoe was putting too much pressure on the hooks, ultimately bending one.  So after Kimber noticed it lowered, Kirk raised it slightly.  Sometime during the night, disaster struck.  Kimber went out to go to work and discovered the canoe on her car.  It had fallen off the hook in back crashing onto her car with enough force to significantly dent the roof and break out the back window.

We don't have any pictures, didn't really think about it in the moment.  The tow truck came and got the car, in the rain.... Through much trial and disappointment, Kimber has her car back.  The repair place was not the best in the world but we learned some valuable lessons.  And the canoe has gone to live with some other lucky family.