Cards Win

Went to Kansas City on Saturday to watch the Cards and Royals play. Cards won 5-1. Better outcome than the game I went to last year, a 17-5 loss. I came up with 1 video game idea and one reality TV show idea while on the trip.

Video game-Dodging the Drunks: In this game you would be placed at the back of the ballpark parking lot. Your objective would be to walk to the front of the parking lot to the stadium. On the way you would have to cut between rows of cars and all of the people who are tailgating as well as the lines of people waiting for the Port A Potty. Once you master a small parking lot you could progress to stadiums were more people get into tailgating. You could also pick different sports and sporting venues.

Saturday people arrived before noon to set up shop and party. The game was at 6pm. Lots of grilling, washer playing and beer drinking. One group was from Mizzou and they had a 1/2 barrel on ice. Rating=ADULT

Reality TV show-Driving with Terry: You would get a back seat view of what it is like to drive with my brother. Listen as he commentates while weaving in and out of traffic. Watch him pass people on the right and see him give dirty looks to fast lane slow poke offenders. There would be highway driving as well as city driving. This rating would be ADULT as well due to some foul language. I was wondering if this could be made into a video game as well.

Made it there and back safely. About a 28 hour trip overall. Monday night and Tuesday night I'll visit Busch stadium to see the Cards take on the Mets. This will be my son's first major league game. The new Busch stadium is lightyears better than the outdated Kaufmann Fields in Kansas City.

The Trip Part 2

I am taking the wife to the airport with our daughter tonight and they fly out around 9pm. She's got a good friend coming to town in Dallas Monday and another good friend just moved back to Texas and a third friend has one week before she has to go back to work from maternity leave so she can catch up with her 3 closest friendships that she made in Texas.

Saturday I get up early to go to Kansas City to watch the Cardinals and Royals play. Then Monday and Tuesday I am going to the games in St. Louis so 3 games in 4 days to get my Cardinals fix. May float again on Thursday and Friday is the big day at my brother's property. He'll shoot off about $500 in fireworks. May fish one day as well and will clean up my wife's car pretty hard before I go back.

Not sure what Saturday and Sunday hold before I head back on July 7th. My son and I will have about 10 days away from mommy and sissy so the time will be a bit unique.

Appreciation

Many times as a teacher we become too busy to allow ourselves to be appreciated. As my last month wound down I felt like I spent so much energy managing the few that needed extra, MUCH extra, guidance that I was not able to enjoy and appreciate the majority of the kids who do a great job managing themselves. As our last day came to an end I was physically and mentally worn out. I was just happy to see the kids go.

When I came in for my last "work" day I noticed a few notes on the board that some of my students left. It was hard to actually stop and read them and let it sink it.

Here they are:

Mr. N, I had the best time being in your class the past 2 years. I will remember to come by every Monday and say hi. A

Mr. N, We will remember you and your funny jokes. We will try to come by and see you next year. L & V

Mr. N, Have a great summer. I had a good year because of you and my friend K. S

So, probably the hardest part of being a teacher is just staying fresh for the students all year. The breaks do help, but our end of year is packed with so many tests and student issues it really wears us down. It is something that I need to sort out. I've got 2 months to think about it (: .

I feel for my friends who signed up to teach Summer School. Their June will be full and teachers are often asked to take classes in July.

Six Flags with Kids

Went to Six Flags Mid America yesterday with my family. Paid the extra $5 for premium parking.....first row...worth it. Only spent $50 out of pocket as too. Got there at 10am and didn't realize that they moved the opening time to 10:30am. So much for my "planning." The kids did great. My daughter who is almost 7 was able to ride all the rides 42 inches or taller required. My son who just turned 4 is only 40 inches. He spent a lot of time in kiddie land as my wife and I took turns riding a few rides with my daughter. He got bummed a few times. He wasn't even tall enough to ride bumper cars with an adult.

As a family we were able to ride a few rides together. My daughter rode almost everything she could for her heighth, including the fast Screamin' Eagle coaster.

My mom met us at 4pm at McDonalds nearby and took the kids to a church program. My wife and I got to enjoy the park from 4:30-7pm. We rode the adult rides. My favorites in order: Superman, Mr. Freeze, Batman, Highland Fling and the new Evil Knieval roller coaster wasn't bad. Didn't enjoy one called the Ninja. Whacked my jaw on my seat with the wicked jerks.

Six Flags Round Up
4 tickets(FREE-school reading program)
Premium Parking $20
2 funnel cakes and a large drink $20
(one was stale and the other fresh ): )
McDonalds for lunch $10
Memories made FREE

The merchandise wasn't priced too bad. It is a park owned by Looney Toons(Bugs, Tweety, Scooby, Speed Racer, Batman, etc) I like this park better than the one in Dallas. Maybe next year we'll go to San Antonio to Sea World and visit Fiesta Six Flags as well.

I'm a Snob

When it comes to food and ice I'm a snob.

Ice snob: I generally buy bags of ice from the store. Preferrably I'll get the pellet ice from Sonic or Braums. When I got to my moms I purchased a bag of ice from QT. I came home and emptied her tray of all homemade ice and put my ice in. Last night I see that she's dumped another tray of her own made ice in the bin. ):

Food snob: I'm in charge of ordering out food at school so I can control where we eat. Part price, part being able to manage weight watcher points and part snob. I'm even a worse snob in St. Louis. I did not come here to have Dominos pizza or McDonalds. Too much good food to choose from. Especially when it comes to pizza.

The other day in small town Missouri our pizza choices were Dominos, Casey General Gas store pizza and something else gas stationy. Chose Dominos. Ordered 3 small pizzas and a cinnamon snack and it was $22. Well, last night I ordered a favorite of mine, Cecil Whitakers. 2-16 inch 2 topping pizzas, ordering of wings and an order of toasted ravioli(St. Louis thing-or Olive Garden has them) for $25. What a deal.

I live in an area dominated by the chain pizza places. You come to St. Louis and within a 2 mile radius you could probably order 20 different kinds of good pizza.

End result: I'll most likely gain 5 pounds on this trip, if not more.

Will Work for Bowling

We were planning on going to Six Flags today, but my brother asked me to work for him. Beautiful day for Six Flags though. I helped around the shop and we left at 3pm to go bowling. I think my brother wishes one of his 3 workers would go bowling with him. Today I did not accept any pay, I just let my brother pay for bowling and drinks. We had a coupon for $20-2 hours lane rental, shoe rental and a pitcher of soda. Not bad. My brother also paid for drinks and popcorn. I won both matches finishing strong with strikes in both 10th frames.

Friday we plan on going on the canoe trip. WE-me, my wife and our 4 and 7 year old children. The river might be up a bit, but the canoe place said things are fine. My mom lives right by the Meramec River and it is up. We'll floa this river closer to its source. We went to the park on Tuesday night and yesterday they closed it due to the river coming into the park. Most of the severe rain has been north of Missouri, but all that flood water is making its way to the Missouri River and to the St. Louis area. The St. Louis riverfront where they have the band and concessions for Fair St. Louis is all under water.

Did You Know? That the Meramec River is the only river north of the equator that actually travels north and away from the equator? All rivers flow south towards the equator.

Sunny St. Louis

According to family it has rained pretty often this spring here in St. Louis. Since we've been here the past 4 days it has been pretty nice. Went to do a little shopping locally this morning and was just thankful that it wasn't hot and humid like it has been in Texas. The high today is supposed to be about 78 degrees......nice.

My biggest problem is trying to sort out when we are going to go to Six Flags and possibly canoeing. Had Thursday pegged as Six Flags day when my brother asked me to work. No problem. Work until 3pm and then go bowling. Then I got asked to go to the KC/STL game Thursday as well. Working and bowling might fit in better with my wife. Looking at Friday for canoeing, but right now there is a chance of Thunderstorms. Probably should call and see if the river level is low enough to float as well.

Right now, just trying to please everyone. My dad drove in from about 50 miles away to spend some time with us. He's wanting chicken for lunch/dinner.

Top 5 Things You Won't Hear Me Say This Trip:

5. Let's order some Papa Johns pizza
4. That's alright mom, you don't need to watch the kids.
3. Ah, McDonald's, finally.
2. KFC sounds good to me.
1. There's nothing to do here.

10 Days

The day after I posted about "You Never Know" I had a close personal friend pass away. It has been a tough week. The mind tends to take the easy way out and at times I think, "It didn't happen." We had a Memorial service Friday the 13th and right after we hit the highway for St. Louis. Got into the St. Louis area at 2am Saturday morning. I went on to my brother's house and my family went to my moms.

Saturday morning at 5am my brother woke me up. We were to detail lots of cars on Saturday. We drove thru a heavy fog to this place about 45 miles away. We started at 6:30am and finished by 4pm. We ended up detailing 23 cars, outside only, and took in $1,420 in cash. Split that 4 ways minus some materials costs and I walked away with $340. Gave $100 right away to my brother for my Cardinal/Royals game on the 28th. It will pay for gas, the ticket and hotel room.

Plan on hitting Six Flags and taking a day long float trip while we are here. Hope to keep you posted.

You Never Know

Stopped by the gym yesterday and noticed a sign at the kiosk that mentioned all smoothie sales would results in 1/2 of the money being donated to the family of a manager who had passed away a few days earlier. I did a double take because this was a woman who had visited our church on a few occasions and I had a connection to. Each time I saw her at the gym I'd say high and asked about her husband or her son. Not one time went by without me making contact with her. On a few occasions I'd mention that we missed her and her family or that we had a different series coming up and such.

Immediately I called my pastor and told him the news. As far as I knew we may have been her most recent church family even though they had only visited a few times. I feel slightly burdened wondering if I did my best to connect her family with our church family. Maybe sometime it will be revealed to me.

You never know how much time you have on this earth. The time is definitely finite. You also never know when its the last time you may interact with someone.

Pray for this family.

Yesterday Morning

My son is going to be 4 years old next Monday. Here are some things that I appreciate about him. He says "yesterday morning" about ANYTHING that happened in the past. He said, "Yesterday morning that guy came and cut our hair." This was almost a year ago. He is really concerned about getting "bigger." He'll say, "I'm getting bigger right dad?" I also enjoy the fact that I told him that he grows the most when he is sleeping. He told his mom yesterday, "I think I'll just sleep all day so I can get bigger." This coming from the kid that we start the nighttime ritual about 8:30 and we're lucky if he's asleep by 10pm. Of my 2 kids he is the most affectionate as well. He's always telling me "I love you dad" and even tells his big sister as well.

I'm having the time of my life right now with my 2 kids. I am blessed beyond measure. I just hope I'm never too tired to play soccer or color with them. I think there is a time in life when the parent transitions from things being all about them and it becomes all about the children. I don't know where I am in this process.