The Adventures of Summer

It has been a busy summer of course. Sidney spent the first two weeks of summer with her grandparents in Georgia. They spent a week at the beach and then some time at home mixed with some local travel. Last year grandma sent Sidney home with green hair after lots of swimming and not using swim shampoo. This year Kimber sent Sidney to grandma with blue hair. Kimber dyed Sidney's hair with some non permanent dye the night before Sidney was supposed to go to grandma. Sidney was to fly Southwest to Florida the day after school let out. However, Tropical Storm Andrea had other plans. She hit Florida the day Sidney was traveling and so Southwest would not let any unaccompanied minors travel to Florida that day. So Sidney had to come to work with Kimber that day along with her blue hair. To say the least Kimber and Sidney received some comments on the hair. The best comment though was that Sidney's hair was appropriately colored with Marathon colors which is now blue.  Sidney did make it onto the flight the next day and grandma took good care of her hair.

Sidney has continued to make little creations out of things she either recycles or repurposes.  Here you see her "cat fishing device, which had several of Shandy's mice clothes-pinned to it, as well as a little container for cat treats.  There has also been her "Apollo 13" (spelled Apallo) capsule, made from a recycled cooler, and several boxes that become homes for her various animals.  We have to sneak things out every now and then, or else her room would look like a warehouse!

Sidney was then home for several weeks including 4th of July. As she is getting older and more practice staying up later, and loves fireworks, Kirk took her down to Elanor Tinsley park to see the orchestra and large fireworks display. It ended up being a long day for her because it was very hot and we drug her around the zoo first. She was toasted when she got home.

Shortly after 4th of July, Kimber and Sidney departed for Germany to go visit Kimber's family. It was an uneventful over night direct flight into Frankfurt. With only carry on bags, immigration and customs were very quick. Sidney slept pretty well on the plane but Kimber didn't and she felt pretty ragged arriving in Germany. Mark and Jas met Kimber and Sidney at the airport and drove them the hour to the house. Jas is Kimber's sister, Dorina's, daughter. Mark is Jas's husband and is British. Kimber likes to stay at their house because they are fun, relaxed, and everyone speaks English. They also have 14 year old Mathew and 16 year old Katharina who are fun kids. Mark and Jas also have the biggest dog ever, Bella who is a Irish Wolfhound. She has to be 150 or more pounds. She is beautiful and looks like a hornless yak. She is of course sweet as can be. Mark and Jas also have 5 cats and a rabbit. Each animal has its own personality. Kimber loved Peach the cat who always tried to escape through the front door. She would dart out the door and down the steps, then wait at the bottom step to be carried back in. She is named Peach for her peach colored nose. Sidney loved Mumpf who would basically do nothing all day and let Sidney love all over him.

Saturday was spent going to the shop, eating and resting. Sidney found the playground and hammock. Sunday was a day of recovery. We ate and rested. I think that was the first trip Sidney made to the stream where she would strip down to her underwear and get wet. This bit of stream has seen Mathew, Katharina, and now Sidney in their underwear taking a splash. It was also our first encounter with the unpleasant stinging nettle. It puts little tiny barbs in your skin with some sort of irritant. And it does sting. If you get it on a soft bit of skin like the inside of the wrist, it can sting for hours. It easy to spot and can be avoided.

Monday was the first great adventure. The household went to a new park, the Wald-Michelbach Odenwaldbob. The two main attractions at the park were an alpine sled of sorts and a climbing forest. The alpine sled had small wheel bobs which would hold two people or one. They even had fancy stream-lined covers in case of rain or snow. You could get some super speed up to 40 km/hr on a 1000 meter course, too much for Kimber's taste or Sidney's.  Sidney only went once. Kimber went twice. Once under her own power which was conservative speed and once with Mark at no brakes speed. That actually hurt because Kimber was so tense. Here is a picture of Jas passing by on the sled. 

The ropes course was awesome. There were at least eight course options ranging from the very easy kids courses to the ultimate in height and speed. All of the courses were built into and around the trees in the forest.  Sidney did the kids course several times and then took a break.  Kimber did maybe a third of the courses while watching out for Sidney. Sidney then tried a more difficult course but had to back out. She took a little break and then was willing to do the most difficult course which really wasn't difficult from a balance or coordination perspective but was high and fast. You started by swinging maybe 20 feet on a bar across the first bit. Then you fast lined maybe 300 feet about 25 feet in the air to a platform. After that you climbed a fixed ladder while weaving between ropes, then fast lined the return. Sidney was so light that she didn't quite make it to the last platform before she started to slide back. But she did an awesome job not panicking and used the pull rope to tow herself in. Kimber was so proud of her, and Sidney came off the course on a complete high.  Sidney was the only person who came off the course without a bruise, blood or rope burn.  The rest of us inevitably crashed into something.  After that Kimber and Sidney visited a castle.

Tuesday took us to a favorite kids and immature adults climbing spot called Felsenmeer. Kimber has been there every time she has been to Germany. Felsenmeer in English means "sea of rocks".  The Romans quarried granite at Felsenmeer trying to make large stone columns. All of the reject stones, which are large refrigerator to car size boulders were left and piled along the hillside making a great rocky playground. Many are half finished or abandoned columns and other architectural bits. It is a good mile or more up over these large stones and kids and adults love the challenge of climbing your way to the top. Mark followed closely behind Sidney helping her choose a path and occasionally rescuing her. Kimber just followed behind, enjoying the interaction between Mark and Sidney. After reaching the top, we all enjoyed a cool drink before walking back down the easy way.  Here is a picture Mark managed to catch of Kimber, Dorina, and Jas. No one has any idea what the conversation was about but the picture is funny.

After Felsenmeer we went to Schloss Auerbach.  It is a lovely little triangular shaped castle with a large pine tree growing on one of the walls.  You can climb over 100 steps to the tops of two towers.  By the end of that after Felsenmeer we were all wiped out and ready to hang out at home.
Mark and Kimber started Wednesday with a 30 kilometer mountain bike ride over to Weinheim. The ride was some streets, some dirt paths and cycle paths. Maybe two thirds dirt roads, none too difficult. Kimber was riding Mathew's mountain bike which was a bit big but much heavier than any of her bikes. So Kimber was pretty ready for an iced coffee before the return trip. On the way back, Kimber tried to get up on the curb to get off the road and onto the bike path. But she didn't hit the curb straight enough and came off the bike onto the asphalt path. Kimber ended up with road rash, a black eye and a broken hand. She did ride home very carefully, one handed, after getting a lot of attention from concerned motorists, and group of kindergartners, and their teachers, who fortunately had lots of band aids.  Mark took Kimber home a more gentle route as her left hand, the broken one, wasn't all that useful. They made it home otherwise unscathed. And there was no more bike riding on this trip.  Here is Sidney with Katharina, the apple of Sidney's eye.


After resting and recovering Wednesday after the crash, we made a trip to the animal park.  The park is a cross between a petting zoo and regular zoo.  All of the enclosures are quite open and frequently have mixed groups of animals.  But the best part is you can feed all of them.  There are monkeys, deer, yaks, llamas, emus, etc.  Maybe 100 different animals.  Mathew has had a bit of skin removed by a donkey before.  Katharina loves the emus.  Jas loves the yaks because they resemble Bella and are huge docile black creatures.  After all of this the family went to a nice country restaurant for Jeagerschnitzel. Kimber doesn't care to eat heavy foods often but loves Jaegerschnitzel with speatzel.  And a picture of Mathew who would do almost anything Sidney asked.  Bless his heart, even if he was not interested.

Mark and Jas took Kimber and Sidney on a tour of the Odenwald on Thursday. The tour started with a beautiful castle. Then went on to the highest mountain in the Odenwald, the cat's back, Katzenbuckel. This is an extinct volcano.  The nice afternoon was spent walking, looking at some landmarks, like the volcanic quarry and an unused ski jump that is very remote, and looking for fossils. Kimber and Sidney came home with two fossils to keep and two fossils for Sidney to trade at the Houston Zoo Swap Shop.  The kids can bring various things like rocks, fossils, bugs, etc. to swap for other things. Sidney loves it.  We also visited a castle and took in many lovely views.  And a picture of Kimber just to prove she went.

Thursday evening was spent at home grilling and relaxing as Friday meant Kimber had to leave. Kimber and Sidney got to see Dorina and her husband Ralf again as well as Carsten briefly.
Friday came all too soon for Kimber. Mark took Kimber to the airport a little before noon for her early afternoon flight. The flight started uneventfully until just crossing into the US. The pilot came on the speaker and calmly asked the cabin to prepare to land in ten minutes in Newark. They had to make an emergency landing because there was smoke in the cockpit. The plane was on the ground a few minutes later met by fire trucks. It was a fast drop to the landing. The problem ended up being a printer causing the smoke. It took nearly four hours to find and fix the problem, file a new flight plan, restock the plane, and refuel. Because it was an international flight, the passengers could not disembark. Fortunately the plane was cool and the bathrooms were in good shape. So Kimber eventually got home at close to 10 pm, about 4 hours later than she should have.

Kimber left for Reno the next Monday. Sidney stayed over in Germany for another week.  Sidney went to another animal park, more like a zoo, The German Dragon Museum, and to see some giant ant hills with equally giant ants.  She also swam on several occasions and I think had a really nice time with her German family by herself.  Her trip home was un-eventful.

Kirk's parents came to visit for a week in early August and the next great event was Sidney's Birthday.  She had her party at the Main Event in Katy which involved eating pizza and cake, a small ropes course and bowling.  9 and 10 year old girls bowling is pretty funny but they had a great time.  Kimber made goody bags for all the girls which had all sorts of owl things in them.  She also made owl cake pops and a large owl cake.  Sidney loved it all but it was a lot of work in a short weekend. So glad we are off the hook until next year. 

Now Sidney is back in school, in fourth grade.  The first week was a little tough as Kimber was in Reno again.  But it will steady out and we will get into the routine again.  For now we are enjoying the three day weekend.  We have also included a picture from when Kimber went sky diving that we had forgotten.

Kirk continues to work at his new position as a clinical research nurse on the Stroke Team at UT Health.  It is a great learning opportunity, and he is involved in several really interesting projects that will hopefully lead to new and better treatments for stroke.  Unfortunately, UT has a really long probationary period before vacation is allowed, so other than regular holidays here and there, he hasn't had much time off.

Kimber has also been very creative of late.  After her "Button Bunny" creation, a friend introduced her to Pinterest, where she found all sorts of ideas for button creations.  She found multiple pounds of buttons on Ebay, and after much sorting and cleaning, created her first new button creation - the Owl.  Unlike the button bunny which was sewn onto cloth, this one is glued onto canvas.  All the different types of buttons really add a lot of interest and character.

As school starts back, along with Girl Scouts, Kimber traveling and working, Kirk working, etc., we will be very busy this fall.  Kimber travels overseas with the church in October, and we have a trip planned to Peru for Christmas.

Catch Up

Kimber has enjoyed much more time at home in the early part of this year versus last year.  This has allowed us to enjoy much more time together and to do a few more activities together. The biggest event in the early part of the year is the BP MS150 bike ride over two days from Houston to Austin. This is the second year Kirk and Kimber have done the ride together. The difference this year is that we were able to train much more. Kimber rode some 1600 miles on the road or in the gym. Kirk rode less but still had plenty of training. And Sidney helped us pedal at least 300 miles with her participation in several preparatory rides of 50 miles each.  What a trooper! And what a trio we make with the tandem and trail a bike.

This year's MS150 will be hard to top. The ride was April 20 and 21. The weather was beautiful. The temperatures were not too hot and the wind was at our back. We averaged a little over 18 miles per hour for the two days on our tandem. And it was Kimber's birthday on the Saturday of the ride. What a great way to celebrate. Doing an activity that promotes physical fitness, raises money for a great cause and allowed Kirk and Kimber to spend all day together.  We could really tell the difference this year that training made. We were finished on day 1 by 1:30 pm and felt great. We were able to enjoy the rest of the day and felt good getting in the bike the next day.

Being home has also allowed Kimber to finish a couple of projects.  The first was a t-shirt quilt she has been working on for quite some time. The sewing is now done and eventually she will get around to tying the quilt. And then she will have enough shirts for another quilt.  She also made this button bunny.  She saw an example while visiting a friend with Sidney over spring break.  Kimber used all the buttons she has been collecting for a while from new clothes, etc. It was a fun project and Sidney really likes it.  Because Kimber didn't buy any buttons, it is truly a calico rabbit with lots of color.

We have also had a new family member.  Kirk brought home a bird.  It is a green-cheeked conure that flew into a neighbors house. The neighbor had previously had birds and recognized that it was tame and needed a home. They couldn't find the owner so they posted to our neighborhood Facebook page that it needed a home. And Kirk was sold.  The bird was named Kiwi by Sidney in about 30 seconds.  The bird loves Kirk, tolerates Sidney, tolerates the cat, and bites Kimber every chance he gets.  We are going to work on the biting thing but need to get some help from a bird expert.

Kirk's position at St. Joseph's hospital was eliminated in mid February.  Although the loss of a job is never welcome, it was nice to have him at home for a while. It made life a little easier. With the busy Houston market, it didn't take long to find a new job. He now works for UT Health in the medical center. He is a research nurse coordinator working with stem cell treatments for stroke, among other stroke-related studies.  The commute is a little less stressful and the job much less stressful.

Kirk also was able to attend the men's retreats with members of our church at Mo Ranch in the Texas Hill Country in early May. It is an activity he enjoys and it gives him a much deserved break from the ladies in his life. He went rappelling on this trip along with the other activities available at the ranch. Now he is impressed with the height of his rappel but Kimber used to rappel much further as part of her training for high angle rescue years ago Big Spring and Texas City. But he had fun and that is the best part. And Kimber and Sidney had a nice girls weekend.

The weekend before his get away, Kirk and the other Girl Scout troop leader took eight of the girls in Sidney's troop camping out a Stephen F. Austin State Park. The girls had a blast and so did he even though it rained a good 6 inches on them.  They all stayed mostly dry but all their stuff came home dripping and required a few extra loads of laundry by Kimber.

Kimber hasn't been travel-free. She goes to Reno to support Marathon's oil sands research facility at least once each month. She also has been to Death Valley supporting a geology field trip with the group she supports.  It was a great experience, helping her learn about the risks associated with the trips but also she learned a lot of geology which she wants to share with Sidney on a trip to the same area some time.  It was a really great experience.

Kimber also had the chance to make a quick trip back to Stavanger to help with preparations for some seismic acquisition work to be done this summer.  She didn't think she would be back in Stavanger for a long time after leaving the international support group. So it was a treat to be able to go back. She was able to get into Stavanger in time to make the end of church and say hello to everyone there.  She was also able to see our dear friend Gwynne who was Sidney's reception year teacher while we lived in Norway.  Gwynne and Jorgen and their sweet son Gus are dear to our heart. Kimber brought home a few of Sidney's favorite Norwegian delicacies. The first was dried cod. This made Kimber's suitcase stink like fish and attracted the cat. Sidney then took these to school as her snack. The teacher may not forgive Kimber. Kimber also brought back brown cheese, various "osts" which are soft cheese in a tube, and bacon flavored snacks. There have nearly been brawls over the bacon snacks and "osts" in the house. However, Sidney has exclusive rights to the brown cheese and dried fish.

 

We have had a pleasant and long spring this year. Even through the last week it has been nice to be outside all day. We even had a cloud snap in early May that nearly had us turning on the heater again. That being said, Sidney has already eaten several handfuls of tomatoes from the garden and Kimber will pick the first bean harvest over the next weekend. We have been eating lettuce and herbs nearly all winter and spring. Sorry all you northerners! And the monarch butterflies like us too. They have eaten all of the butterfly weed and we currently have 6 chrysalis, several on the fences and several on the porch. Now we need to go put in more weed to keep the next round of caterpillars fed.  We love to watch the evolution from egg, to caterpillar, to chrysalis, to butterfly.

We have had a few awesome weekends together since the activities in April. The second weekend in May, the weekend of Mother's Day tops the cake though. Sidney spent Saturday afternoon with a girlfriend while Kirk and Kimber went to a wine education class where roughly the equivalent of a bottle of wine is served to each student. Neither of us drank all we were served but some of the wine was fantastic and Kimber definitely suffered the most. Kimber's notes regarding the characteristics of the white wines were quite detailed and thorough. By the reds, which Kimber doesn't like much anyway, the notes were something like "red", color "blood", and "good for a red" or "bad".  It took some hours to recover. We then watched Apollo 13 because Sidney had seen parts of it at the YMCA and showed interest.  Following the movie, her singing cat courtesy of Gwynne and Build A Bear, came downstairs in her space suit and Apollo 13 capsule. The capsule was made from a Styrofoam box that formerly held medicine. It had a blanket inside and said "Apallo 13" on the outside. It also carried a Norwegian flag. The child can re-purpose anything she finds. Watch your trash. She will take it.

 

Oh, we also drove up to Spring, north of Houston, to look at tandems. We weren't sure we would buy one but we did know that we would have a hard time training for another year on our old, heavy, clunker. And indeed we bought. Any of us can ride in any position on the bike. Kirk could ride Captain or Stoker and so can Kimber. And Sidney can ride Stoker. It has two sets of Stoker pedals, one for Kimber and one for Sidney. The crank arm is drilled so the pedals will allow Sidney to have smaller circles for her shorter legs. It should be a very versatile bike that we never need to replace. And it is so light. Kimber can probably get it on the car by herself. Sidney chose the wheels much to Kirk's chagrin. They are rainbow. Each pair of spokes is a different color.  Can't wait to ride it. It still had to be built so we picked it on Memorial Day weekend. It cost more than Kimber's and Kirk's first cars together and doesn't have an engine. Go figure. But we don't need another bike except for Sidney as she grows, forever.

The best part of the weekend was still to come. And that was Mother's Day. Kimber got up early and went for a nice 22 mile bike ride before breakfast. Kirk and Sidney cooked her a big fat breakfast of bacon and hash browns (and eggs for them). We then enjoyed a lovely church service. After that, we drove down south of Houston to Skydive Spaceland, for Kimber to redeem her Christmas present. Kimber went on a tandem skydive. It was crazy. The plane you go up in is basically a tin can with wings and an engine. There are bench seats on both sides and you cram in like sardines. Fortunately the ride is just over 10 minutes, and one-way.  The weather was great so we got to jump from 14,000 feet. The free fall is the first 8000 feet and you reach 120 mph. You pull the chute at 6000 feet and have a relaxing ride after that.  The first part, the free fall, is very intense. It is cold and loud and fast. The parachute part though is a lot of fun.  You can turn and weave and talk. So Kimber signed up to do another dive and this time she is taking Kirk along. Pictures can be found on Kimber's Facebook. We also have video which which is pretty cool. It isn't something we want to take up, but Kimber would like the chance to enjoy the free fall part more now that she knows what to expect and to learn to turn and help get out of the plane. Then we are done!

 

Well that catches us up for a while. As a parting gift for this post, we are sharing a picture of some of Sidney's artwork. The first part of summer will see Sidney off to Grandma Carolyn in Georgia. Later Sidney and Kimber will venture to Germany. Sidney will stay in Germany a week longer than Kimber and will fly home alone. Kimber will continue trips to Reno as well as a few other short trips. Kirk has a brief work trip to Phoenix (in July!) So until the next update, have a fun filled and safe spring and summer. 

Spring Break (and other stuff)

We will start with the other stuff.  Sidney and Kimber received a fish tank from Kirk and Santa for Christmas.  It was a few weeks after Christmas before we got it set up but it is now up and running with seven fish.  The type of fish we have are cichlids.  We have three blue, two orange and one yellow.  We also have an algae eater.  He is made of steel as cichlids are not always very nice.  But Elvis (all our algae eaters have been the only fish with names and they have all been Elvis because of their fins) just ignores the cichlids. Sidney loves it and so does Shandy, the cat.  She spends hours trying to figure out how to catch a fish.  She tries from the stairs behind the tank but she can't see them as well and her whole body won't fit through the stair rail, only her head.  She tries from the floor in front of the tank (pictured) but she just isn't tall enough.  Or she tries from the chair near the tank.  She hasn't jumped on the tank yet because I think she realizes there is water in there and she doesn't like that idea.  It is great amusement and the fish enjoy taunting her.

Kirk and Sidney also got to go to their 3rd Father-Daughter Dance.  This was the first one at Sidney's new school, Shafer and I think they both really enjoyed this one.  They had a nice buffet meal, took some photos and made a cute hand print flower.  The flower is each of their hand prints on a stem and was made for the Father as a thank you. They played some games and danced (a very little). Kirk enjoyed the opportunity to where his kilt and Sidney got a new dress for the occasion.  She is getting fancier (and more expensive) in her need for clothes.  But I think we probably still have it easy compared to her friends.

Sidney is also getting a bit protective of her room.  She generally doesn't want Shandy in because she plays with Sidney's toys or sometimes gets left in there.  And Sidney continues to display a love for trash and recyclables.  She made a boat out of a Girl Scout Cookies box, an empty paper towel roll and the noise makers (those things you blow up and slap together at events) from a school event.  It is a little pontoon boat for her animals.  Of course it hasn't been put in water.  But here is also a picture of the note and envelope on her door.  Also, speaking of Girl Scout Cookies, Sidney sold more than 300 boxes and is selling more in the next week.  But we will be glad when cookie season is over.  The boxes had to be sorted and delivered.  That was serious work.





So now spring break.  We had commitments on both Saturday's and Sunday's around spring break so we had to take an abbreviated trip this year.  Sidney had not been to Louisiana so we went over to near Baton Rouge to visit a friend.  We stopped an San Jacinto Monument on the way there.  It is a 570 foot tall monument to the Battle of San Jacinto which is when Texas won her independence in 1836 following the unsuccessful Battle of the Alamo.  We took the elevator 490 feet to the observation floor and enjoyed views into downtown Houston, the ship channel and industrial and open land.  We had a beautiful cloud free but windy day to enjoy.  We also took in the San Jacinto Museum of History.  Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car and we had some trouble with Sidney's camera so we were only able to get a few pictures.  But we still enjoyed the side trip.



From San Jacinto, we drove on to Paula's.  She lives about 20 miles east of Baton Rouge.  It was a good bit of driving and we were ready to be out of the car.  We went out to dinner with Paula so Kimber could get a fix of boiled crawfish.  Kimber ordered the smallest size, 3 pounds, and it took forever to eat.  Kimber is not efficient at crawfish but they were good.



The next day we took a leisurely morning going for a run and visit to the playground.  Then we ate lunch out with Kimber getting some red beans and rice and spicy sausage along with a cafe au lait and sharing beignets with Sidney.  We took a drive along the river road stopping a few times for a stroll and then headed home. Paula made us a wonderful light dinner salad which we all enjoyed.



Wednesday was our plantation tour and swamp tour day.  It did end up being a long day driving (about three hours round trip to New Orleans) and in the bus (another three to four hours) but a fun day.  The plantation we visited was called Oak Alley because of the beautiful alley of 28 300 year-old Virginia Live Oaks between the Big House and 1/4 mile to the river.  The oaks were planted in the 1700's, long before the house was built, and have a life expectancy of 600 years.


We had a guided tour of the Big House which has a formal sitting room and dining room on the first floor along with an office from an era later than when the house was built.  The upstairs had three large bedrooms including a master, a nursery and a guest room.  Sidney was fascinated by the fact that the original beds were filled with spanish moss and had to be rolled each day for approximately 45 minutes per bed.  No one was allowed to even sit on them after they were rolled until bed time.  The rolling pin pictured would be stored on the head of the bed. Later you will learn what not to do with spanish moss.


The house was a gift from a wealthy sugar planter to his bride who was much younger and liked entertaining, so it was built much for that purpose.  It took three years to build and had a difficult history.  One original piece of furniture remains, and that is the baby cradle.  The original owners had 6 children but only three survived and eventually the family ran the plantation out of money.  The house and plantation had several owners after that who took varying degrees of care of the house.  At one point the house was used for animal shelter which ruined the original marble floors.  The final owners took good care of the house and left a historical society for its care on their death.


The house is now open for tours and education and other parts of the property are being rebuilt or restored.  The house has been restored almost entirely to period style and is truly beautiful.  The kitchen in that era was never in the house because kitchens tended to burn down which is what happened to the original kitchen for this house.  Also, there is a picture of a unique fan device in the dining room.  This was used to keep guests cool and flies at bay.  A servant would stand in the corner and pull the cord for hours very carefully so as not to blow out the candles.



I have also included a picture of the suitor candle, plantation bell and large sugar kettle.  The suitor candle was used by fathers to tell suitors how long they might have to spend with daughters.  The candle would be positioned high in the holder for suitors that met the fathers's approval and lower for those who did not.  When the candle burned to the top of the candle holder, the date was over.  The plantation bell was used for communication.  Each ring had a different meaning from announcing meals, lunch and break times, and plantation emergencies.

Several sugar kettles would be used to process the sugar cane.  The cane would be crushed with animal driven mills and the juice extracted.  The juice was then heated, clarified and evaporated in a series of kettles like the one shown (which was the largest and first kettle in the series).  Finally, the sugar would be cooled and if the process was completed correctly, would crystallize.  It was then transported in wooden barrels.  If the process was not completed correctly, the result would be molasses.  In addition, the plantation is rebuilding as close to original as possible, the slave quarters which at this plantation were unusually close to the main house.




We toured the rest of the plantation and ate a quick lunch. Sidney had a virgin mint julep and Kimber a real one.  We bought some sugar cane to try and got back on the bus for the afternoon tour of the swamp. On our way to the swamp tour, we got to see a bit of a police chase.  We are assuming drugs were involved as there were several officers searching the median after the end of the chase and several undercover police around.  A little more excitement for the day.

We boarded a 6 passenger air boat for the swamp tour.  The water is shallow and full of stuff so the boat is shallow and propelled by a large and noisy fan (hence air boat).  Control comes from louvers on the fan which can be moved.  The boat can however only go forward.  The main purpose of the tour was of course to see alligators.  In addition we learned quite a lot about them and the swamp.  Alligators have been endangered and are recovering now.  They are quite different that crocodiles.  Alligators live where they must hibernate which significantly slows their rate of growth compared to crocodiles.  They also open their mouth by dropping their bottom jaw rather than raising their top jaw and their teeth do not meet like a crocodile.  This makes them eater of things they don't have to chew (rule out humans).  They really are scavengers and prefer to eat something mother nature has already worked on.  They also don't do much due to the need to conserve energy.  Additionally, they were heavily hunted and suffer from loss of habitat.  So a baby alligator has a 1 in 50 chance of becoming an adult in the wild (over age 4 or about 4 feet long).  

So they are now farmed to some degree.  This has been very successful in their rebound because they transition from farm to wild without a hitch.  So the swamp boats will pick up eggs, being careful not to tilt the eggs and cover the breathing hole.  They will be hatched and raised on a farm.  In this situation, they can skip hibernation and have plenty of food so they grow roughly twice as fast as in the wild.  Before they are released at 4 feet in length, they are tagged and their tail notched to indicate farm raised.  At 4 feet they are usually too big to become another gator's or animal's dinner.

 



We also learned about the swamp.  We discussed why you should play with spanish moss with care (it is home to lice, fleas, and chiggers at least).  We learned about how the swamps were dredged and non-native plants and animals introduced.  We learned how at least the rate of loss of swamp has decreased. We also learned how to survive in the swamp if we were lost their.  We learned all swamp animals (yes all including snakes, birds, turtles and gators) like marshmallows.  And finally, we got to hold a baby alligator.  This was of course the highlight and the end of a super fast two hours.

Thursday took us back to New Orleans for a trip to the zoo and tour of a cemetery.  We parked away from the zoo and took street cars through New Orleans seeing some beautiful old homes along the way to the park outside of the zoo.  It was about 1.5 mile walk after that and tour around the zoo.  The park was lovely and we enjoyed the walk.  The zoo was only OK.  You could tell that it was an older zoo that had seen tough times (being in New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina).  The exhibits were very old style and there was not a wide variety of animals.  Sidney wanted to do the dinosaur tour that is at some zoos including this one.  The dinosaurs are animated and she enjoyed that part.  We then walked back through the park, stopping to play of course and caught a streetcar to where we could walk around a cemetery.  What makes the cemeteries so unique is that because of the high water table, the deceased are placed in crypts above ground.  Unfortunately the cemetery closed an hour before we arrived so we had to content ourselves with walking around the outside.

Now by this time were were both exhausted.  But no problem, we would catch a street car back to our car and be on our way.  Ha.  We were passed by 4 totally full street cars.  And so we walked.  We must have walked an extra 2 miles and finally caught a crowded car where we had to stand and bake for the last mile or so.  We still had a good day but man were we tired.

Friday brought us home.  Stopped and got a bunch of cajun prepared meat on the way and were happy to see Kirk and Shandy when we got home.

For those of you needed an owl update, we have put in a picture of the single fluffy baby that survived. He or she just recently left the nest and I think our friends are glad.  He was a sloppy eater, tossing to the front door step bits of mouse he did not want as well as owl pellets.  They had to clean up after him/her nearly daily.  He/she spent the last month or so alone, only receiving meals at night.  It was fun to watch him/her turn from the fluff in the picture into a big owl.

Finally, Kirk and Kimber continue to  prepare for the MS 150 bike ride from Houston to Austin.  It is actually close to 160 to 180 miles over 2 days (depending on your routes).  The ride raises money to treat and find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.  Marathon supports a team of about 150 riders raising $175,000 dollars.  Kirk is riding about 55 miles once a week and indoor cycling twice a week.  Kimber is riding about 60 miles once a week and indoor cycling twice a week along with lifting weights and running.  We hope to get up to 80 ish miles before the ride.  The weather has not been helpful.  It has been windy every weekend which is the only time Kimber can ride.  The weekend days have had at least 12 to 15 mile per hour winds.  And Kimber has had a blow out on most of her rides.  We finally found a tire problem and the latest ride was without a blow out (but with lots of wind still).  Kirk usually can pick a day for his ride so he can choose a slightly less windy day.

The ride is April 20 and 21 and would appreciate your prayers for safety and favorable winds.

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.