Are we there yet?

1633 miles of fun later; I finally got to post pics from the recent Deals Gap trip w/ Dave and Chris :-)

We found a new waterfall, but don't remember where LOL
Dave and I rolled up the Dragon on Friday night; a little wet still, and a lot of fog; so I lifted the hood shine a light up through it.
Saturday we took the Blue Ridge Parkway to Grandfather Mountain - both should be considered a "must see". The view from Grandfather Mountain - very cool (and extremely windy). The ranger said you could see for about 60-80 miles
Funny "high wind" sign b/c (1) it really is that windy, and (2) note the trees in the background lol
The Mile High Suspension Bridge on Grandfather Mountain
Saturday on the way back, the weather was rollin in... so we pulled off to wait it out and found a brewery.
Sapphire Mountain Brewing Company to specific. Nice place, but, if you want a shirt with this logo on it.... $25?!?! I wanted a shirt b/c I thought they looked cool, but I didn't want it for that much...
I like this shot, but I'm no Killboy...

4th weekend

Pics from the weekend:

Woodland Mound water park

One of my favorite things, watching the Crew game w/ Jack

One of Jack's favorite things, the bounce house across the street @ the 4th party

Pretending to be Harry Potter w/ sparklers

Quited Barn Tour

A few months ago I got a smart phone. Like all other smart phones, it can scan bar codes etc, and the other day while at Deals Gap/Tail of the Dragon, I saw a barn quilt. Since bar codes can be any size big or small, I wondered why I hadn't see this on any of them yet... I thought it'd be creative...
(Now of course, I fabricated the image above from this image I took during the last Barn Quilt Tour we did so don't expect to see it out there....yet.... Yes, the UPC code works, tho I think you have to click the picture to get a clearer image) ;-)

Are we there yet? 2

Colleen scored some tickets to Sunday night's Columbus Crew game, and was gracious enough to see if I wanted to take Jackson. Not about to turn down a game, we were happy to attend.

We got there early; and was able to meet Crew Cat

The Wall: Jack wanted to do the rock wall. He tried once and fell about a third of the way up, but as we passed it on the way to our seats, he wanted to try it again. This time, he slipped again about a third of the way up, but managed to hang on, regain his hand hold and footing, and continue up to the top :-)

He was SUPER proud of himself - heart beating out of his chest:

Happy Fathers Day

I was looking for something for Jackson and I to do together, and came across the Red Toolbox series at Lowes, the last time I was over there. I saw birdhouses, boats, and other misc wood projects, so I took him there last week to pick something out, and he found the Red Toolbox Air Hockey Kit.

He had to use the saw to cut the wood, the file to knock the rough cuts down, sand paper to smooth it over, and a screwdriver to put it all together. He did 99% of it - I only finished a few of the screws for him after they got too hard to turn.



The look of determination

First game

Finished!

Win!

Futbol of a different sort

Sunday we went to the Cincinnati Zoo, where today, Fathers got in free. :-) Jack has been askin me to take him to the zoo, so today I couldn't pass it up.

Jack's favorite exhibit

He could be a red-tailed hawk

Thankfully Jackson was there b/c a reptile got out and he was able to wrestle it into submission!

After all that, he was totally worn out...

Dead leaves

So... tonight, Jackson and I were working in his cub scout book. One of the chapters has him identifying 5 tools and what they're used for, so out to the work bench we went. We were on our third tool when I noticed a couple of dead leaves on the edge of the bench;

and right as I went to brush it off...I realized it wasn't dead leaves...

After several minutes of goose bumps... I had to get it out of my house / the garage... I don't like moths... so I grabbed a stick...

ok, it was the longest walking stick I had LOL & got him outa there

Afterwords, Jack wanted to pick him up :-) (not me though...)

Here's a great video of Jack and I discussing whether it is actually dead, or alive. Wait for around the 2 min mark ;-)

Vuvuzela Awakening

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about this video. After the Columbus Crew v Real Salt Lake game I joked with Jackson that I'd wake him with the vuvuzela when we got home; after driving the 2 hrs, that's what I did ;-)

Impromptu

So, last Sunday when Jack and I were watching the game... the announcer game on inviting everyone to the next home game, Wednesday June 8th, at 7:30pm. Jack looks up at me and says, "Hey, we should go?! I don't have school on Thursday!"
-What a great idea pal...so we went.

All smiles on the way up

...although it is a long drive if you're six...

Sound the horns*! We're here!(It's a vuvuzela)

Spirit



Gettin some drills in before the game... Dad fail... I guess flip flops were a bad idea...

Jackson caught a shirt pre-game, and a soccer ball at half time!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!

Final, Columbus Crew 2 - Real Salt Lake 1 :-)

The long ride home.. The pic I took prior to this shows the clock saying 10pm, and the outside temperature at 91 degrees. It was hot! lol

Regardless...Great idea Jack - we'll have to do it again soon!

Gone fishin

Jack's been begging me to go fishing... so this morning we woke up early and went at about 8:30am. 2 hrs later he caught a small fish, about 4 inches long :-)
After the heat of the day settled in, we came back to watch the Columbus Crew game from last night. What a great final goal.

After that we went for a bike ride; Jack wanted to ride up to school, so we did; where we saw work being done at the Willowville Elementary playground. I remembered they asked for volunteers last week, so Jackson and I stopped to lend a hand. He was a big help :-)





Finally, we rounded out the day with a water fight to cool off

Busy weekend!

Raingutter Regatta

Saturday morning was Jack's Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta. He did great making his boat. He picked the colors, drew the flames, and painted the whole thing. The concentration.... the look of determination...

The only thing I did... was cut a stencil for his sail. I copied a skull/crossbones, and his pack number in "pirate font" on top of the sail.. he spray painted it though and peeled it up to reveal the finished sail. There was however.... one problem...

Dad fail. LOL Nobody said anything? ;-)



This one looks like it should say Olan Mills in the bottom corner or something ;-)

Taryn Graduation

Taryn graduated tonight. Jackson and I got dressed up to go.
She's big now.


At one point, while all the other names were being called, my mind flashed through the past 13-14 years that I've known her, and I started to get a tiny bit emotional - I s'pose that's pretty normal - but I held it back/together. Then afterwords, they had to leave their caps and gowns, so, I wasn't able to get a picture of her with that stuff on :- \ That was a bummer.

No matter though, she made it! :-) Cheese(ball) ;-)