Nick's Birthday

Nick turned 13 this weekend. I have 2 teenagers now! We invited the family and a few of Nick's friends over for barbeque and triple chocolate cake. Nick wanted an airsoft gun so he could play war with other kids in the neighborhood. The last picture is of him with the hand gun, it is spring loaded. He also got a more military looking gun that has rechargeable batteries so he can rapid fire. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the guns and the safety accessories that we got to go with them. Also, thanks to Rob and Tara for the Wii game.

Spring at Holliday Park

Here are some pics of us at Holliday Park this Spring.
We hiked a bit and looked for some letterboxes.

Don't the dogs look stupid with their summer hair cuts.
Note that Levi is wearing the letterbox back pack.

Sissy is a happy girl when she gets out on the town.

Iris and Iris (see below)

Shhh! Don't tell Nate that I posted a pic of him smiling.

MBA Troy

I am so proud of Troy! He has worked very hard these last few years to get his Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. He graduated with honors and was selected to join the Beta Gamma Sigma Academic Honor Society. Here are some pictures of the graduation ceremony.

Mom & Greg

We went to visit mom and greg in Florida and these are the only 2 pictures I got of them. I am so bad at remembering to take pictures that I am ashamed to even own a camera. In my defense there may have been several pictures of them on the first day, but in a bonehead move I deleted that folder while trying to move them over to my computer.

Big Lagoon State Park, Pensacola, FL

It was our lucky day. When the ranger at the front gate asked us why we were visiting the park that day, we whispered that we were looking for a letterbox, he then insisted on waving the entrance fee. We grabbed a map and found the parking lot. First we took the scenic boardwalk out to view the the bay and the eastern end of Peridio Key. Then we took the boardwalk into the marsh where were saw an alligator and about 20 turtles swimming together in a small pond. We kept following the clues and felt a little nervous following the sandy path away from the boardwalk to locate the stamp, but we found it and pretty easily, then got back to the boardwak as fast as we could. Safe from all alligator and snake attacks. Boy are we a bunch of wusses!

Fishers Ren Faire

It was 91 degrees on October 6th when we went to the Renaissance festival. We were very hot and uncomfortable, but didn't want to miss a thing. The costumes were fantastic and we loved watching the combat reinactment. Here are a few pictures of the day. http://www.fishersrenfaire.com/

"The Giant"

Nick, Nate, Gael and I took a tour of "The Giant" on Saturday. A 7,000 square foot house, designed by Vic Cook, which costs less than $1/dollar a day to run, yet it contains a high-tech music studio, big-screen television, two computers, washing machine and a homemade Beeche log refrigerator. He built the home himself in the early 1980s for about $3500. He uses just one solar panel to harness the energy to run the electronics in this home and he designed a rain water collection system to provide his running water. Check out the link for more information http://www.giantearthship.com/thegiant.htm

Picture of the boys crossing Fall Creek while we waited for the start of the tour.

Beautiful fungus covered log we saw on the hike to "The Giant"

Nick as Pyramid Head from Silent Hill the Movie

Nick and I made this costume together. I think it turned out awesome.

Lahiana Town

Banyan tree in Lahiana. Believe it or not this is just one tree. It is a big as a city block.



Us on Front Street. Lahiana was the closest town to our resort. We came here several times for dinner and souvenir shopping.

View to the island of Lanai.

Luau at the Hyatt

Nakalele Blowhole

Small wave coming through the blowhole.

Bigger wave coming through the blowhole.

Rainbow at the blowhole.

Deppert's getting drenched by the blowhole.

Mouth of the blowhole.

Ocean by the blowhole.

La Parouse Bay

The water camera is gone so it is a good thing I brought a back up! Here are some pictures that I took at LaParouse Bay. This is a lava rock shore line.

High Speed Rafting in Maui pt. 2

After our excursion to the Kanaio Coast Lava Caves, we had several opportunities to snorkel on the trip. Our first spot was known for it's turtle activity and we did see 2 or 3 from a distance. The reef was nice and we saw several types of fish. Next we rafted out to Molokini Crater and snorkeled the inside and outside part of the Bird Sancuary Island. We saw a shark, several eels and more fish. It was starting to rain and the water was choppy so we zoomed over to a sunny reef in front in Wailea. This time we saw a very friendly turtle. He kept swimming right towards me. I floated there waiting for him to swim away and then I starting to back out of his way, but I think wanted to kiss me.

Here is a picture of Molokini and a sea turtle.

High Speed Rafting in Maui

On Monday we went on a high speed raft across the bottom of Maui to see the Lava Caves. This is a part of the island that you cannot drive to, you can only see by boat and it is a part of the ocean that is very rough, we were the only boat out there. It was like white water rafting EXTREME! We would hit a 10 ft wave and fly through the air, crash back down just in time to hit the next wave. It was a ton of fun, but be are very sore today. It took a lot of muscle power to just stay in the boat. The Lava wall was very cool. I was about 40 feet tall. We were able to back the boat into one cave and wait for a big wave to wash us out. I would love to show you a the 50 pictures that I took, but unfortunately I lost my camera a little bit later that day on a dive on the back side of Molokini. Here is a picture a grabbed off of the rafting website. We were really here!

Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix

It feels like we have been waiting forever for this film to come out. It is a family tradition to see it on opening night. But not this time! We waited 3 days, so that we could see it in IMAX 3D. It was AWESOME. The huge screen makes you feel so emotionally connected and involved in the action. Now we can't wait for the book to come out next week!

Cedar Point Trip

June 20-22, 2007

Three days at Cedar Point! It was AWESOME!

We decided that Millennium Force was our favorite ride. Although, the newest ride Maverick was breathtaking.

Top thrill dragster has the most impressive statistics, but it was only 17 seconds long.
Oh yeah, 17 seconds of non-stop screaming!

The newest coasters are truly like riding on a rocket. Shooooom -- zero to 120 mph in 3 seconds. Imagine Wile E. Coyote sitting on an ACME rocket with a lit match in hand -- only with seat belts and lap bars.

We listened to Pet Semitary by Stephen King in the car on the way. (That's how he spells it) It was actors performing an abridgement. We had fun making fun of their sub-par performances while waiting in the ride lines. (whispery & squeaky) " Oh my god, Oh my god, no, no "

We also played Go Fish and Bloody Knuckles. The lines weren't too bad except for the Maverick; it was 1 1/2 hours each time we rode.

Oh yeah, we got to ride all the great rides 3 times. (head bobbing with pride of how cool we are)

Nick and Nate took home dog tags with their names engraved on them for souvenirs.

Quinton & Chandler's Birthday Party

We had a lot of fun at the party. The weather was perfect. I wish I would have brought the dogs, they would have loved the hike. Too bad Troy and Nate had work and school obligations.

Click to play a slideshow of pictures of the party.

My favorite picture of the day.

Our Celebrity Look-Alikes

Nate's school orchestra had a performance last Wednesday night, I'm amazed at how well they sound. They teamed up with the Jr. High Orchestra for the last song, which was the theme from Pirate's of the Caribbean. Their next performance is in May. I left the camera at home so no pics of the event, but I did add some fun celebrity look-alike collages on the bottom of this post.

Troy and I volunteered for the Church at the Crossing's Parent's night out for special needs kids and their siblings on Friday night. They do this program every other month and it was partially funded by a grant from Autism Advocates of Indiana.

On Saturday, we picked up Troy's bike from the shop. They had screwed up when they filled the oil in the fall, apparently new roadstars require substantially less oil than traditionally would be used. We're glad it was an easy fix, but Troy was not too happy that it was 34 degrees when he rode it home.

Saturday night we went to the Tip Top Tavern to watch Crackhead Patty. One of the gals that I work with is the guitarist. They were really good and had a great variety of songs. We hung out with a bunch of other work friends and had a great time.

CELEBRITY LOOK-ALIKES BELOW







Note: Nick asked me to remove his. He's not happy that he happens to look like a lot of really beautiful women.

My New Riding Leather

Look what I got at the bike shop today. A new riding coat.
Extra padding, air vents, zipper pockets. I love it!

First Ride of the Season

It was over 60 degrees last night! So we got out the bikes. They were slow to start but eventually fired up. We took 'em down to get some fresh gas and then took the boys out to dinner. Troy's bike was smoking a little, so we are going to take it in today to get it checked out. We are hoping it is a side effect of the repair work he had done over the winter.

My bike is running perfectly, of course!

I don't have any recent bike photos so here is a picture of us at Universal Studios on the motorcycle from the movie Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger.