Sweet Sixteen

The long (4 day) weekend has been nice. We went to orientation/apartment hunting at UCF (Orlando) for Kiel on Friday. Went well, too much information thrown at you at one time. Then we went to Kathy's dad (Warren's house) in Avon Park on Friday night. We played golf with him on Saturday and out to dinner that evening. We drove home Sunday and got in early evening.

But today is the big day. Katlin turned "16" today. I took the day off and we went golfing with some folks from church. Acutally one of the guys works at a very nice golf course. It's the kind of course that we would never go to because it is just too expensive to play ($100+ per person). So we both really enjoyed and appreciated him having us over to play golf. Then Kat and I went and ate at "Flamingo Joes" - they only have the best grouper sandwiches on the planet. We're going to get cleaned up and then all of us our going to go out to dinner and celebrate his birthday.
It's been fun day hanging out with him today. Can't believe he's 16 though. Hope all is well with everyone. Will update more later....

Six Weeks Later....

It will be six weeks tomorrow that Kiel had his car accident and we finally got his car back today. Needless to say he is quite happy to have it back and no longer has to drive my truck. I believe my truck wasn't quite his style. I'm also happy to get rid of the ghetto-cruiser of a rental car I had. It was a great car....to buy crack in. Anyhow, Kiel's car looks good and so far rides good - we'll see if we have any problems with it. Kiel is going to drive to Tallahassee tomorrow so that will be a good test for it. He going to go see an mid-night showing of the new Star Wars movie with some friends. (I don't get it, so I won't pretend that I do.) But to each his own. Later....

Whole Bunch of Nothing

We kept the weekend pretty quite and simple. Didn't do a whole bunch of anything except for today. We went to late church and then afterwards we went to 'Surf & Grill'. Surf & Grill is basically a cookout/hangout at the beach that our church does in the summer months. You know you're church is cool when you have a beach party after church. But the cool part is that we do Baptisms in the Gulf of Mexico during Surf & Grill. It's pretty cool and I always enjoy being there to watch them. I always look forward to going to Surf & Grill. We left a bit early cause Kathy wasn't feeling well. She felt nausated and her joints were sore. About half way home I started feeling the same way. We came home and slept cause we both are feeling like crap. She went to bed early and I'm on my way. Hopefully we can sleep this off.

We can't be getting sick, we've got a really busy week. We leave after work Thursday for Orlando. Kiel has orientation at UCF on Friday and we're going to look at apartments for him as well. We hope to see Kathy's dad in Avon Park on Saturday and play some golf with him. We'll head home on Sunday sometime. We found a church in Orlando that Kiel is interested in so we'll check it out on Sunday before heading home. Next Monday the 23rd is Katlins birthday (16). I'm going to take the day off and take him golfing. So I've got a four day week and a four day weekend which is very cool.

I'll try to write more later, I just haven't had the time lately. Later.

Live and Learn

Well, I thought I would like having music on blog. Come to find out I didn't like it for several reasons. After trying it for a couple of days, I realized a few things: it seemed too teenagerish, it got annoying hearing the same song start/restart each and every time the blog loaded. But then as someone pointed out, not everyone likes to listen to music while they read. I don't want people dreading to come to the blog because of a song that may bother them. I also don't want people to hit the Escape key each time to stop it from playing. Too much work to have fun. This blog can be annoying enough without adding music to it. So I removed the music and the post regarding it (sorry Kiel, we tried). What the heck? No blood, no foul. I gave it a shot and it didn't work out. Live and Learn.

He's Ready

I'm unsure if it's the end of an era or a new beginning. Perhaps it both. All I know is that I can sense change. I can feel it in every ounce of my being. I can hear it in his voice. I can see it in his eyes. I see it when I look in the mirror. He sense's it too and there's nothing we can do about it, except ride it out. This change is inevitable. But that's okay, things are meant to change. There is a natural order of things. There's a progression to life that can't and must not be stopped. Seeds become flowers. Caterpillars become butterflies. Puppies become old dogs. And children become adults…and leave home. It's all part of the way things are meant to be.

But it feels different than I thought it would. It feels strange. Not bad, not upsetting - just strange. But he's ready to go, he knows it's time. Sometimes I feel like he's too ready to leave. His new life is calling him and he is ready to knock down the door to greet it. And I can't blame him. It's part of his nature, it's built into him. He's been hardwired for this adventure since his birth. He's anxious, eager and confident. He's ready. But then there are the times when he let's his guard down just long enough for me to catch a glimpse of his insecurities. I can tell he wants to be free but he's not quite sure what he'll do with his new freedom. He wants to be independent but he's afraid of being alone. He wants to make his own decisions but he fears making mistakes. He's anxious to make a new start, in a new place with new friends but he longs for the old places and familiar faces. I see it…when he lets me. Sometimes I think he shows me just so I can reassure him that he's going to be fine. But he's ready...am I?

Happy Mothers Day

Hope all you 'mothers' had a great day today....wait that doesn't right. I think what I meant to say was 'Happy Mother's Day' to all you mom's. We had a great Mother's Day today, acutally the whole weekend was great. Today we went to church and then out to eat afterwards. Then this afternoon Kathy went to the Spring Arts Festival with her friend, while the boys went golfing. With everyone gone, I was free to take a nap! Everyone finished up early (including the nap) and we went to an early movie. We went and saw 'Crash' - I'm not a movie critic and normally don't give my opinion about movies but this movie is outstanding. I believe it is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. This is not a feel good movie by any means but you will leave the theater thinking. I think Kiel described this movie best when he called it 'raw'. The acting in this movie is solid all the way through and the story is extremely well done. I don't want to give too much away but I recommend seeing it. We'll buy this one when it comes out on DVD - something I don't do very much but this one warrants it. If you see it let me know what you think.

We took my mom out for Mother's Day last night and then went back to parents and watched boxing on Showtime. My dad, Katlin and I believe we may have watched the best boxing match any of us had ever seen. The ending to this match was simply incredible. My mom made us all desert with the intent of giving us stomach aches. Particularly with Katlin, she made him the biggest milk shake I've ever seen. To his credit he drank it all but paid for it the rest of the night. It was quite funny to see him rolling around on the couch and floor trying to get comfortable after downing that thing. Not much else new. Kiel is done with school. Kat finishes school in a couple weeks. Then on to a busy summer for all of us. That's about all for now - I'll ramble on again later. Hope all are well and you enjoyed the day with the mom in your life.

A Grievous General

This was Kiel's final art project at Gulf Coast. For those of you who don't know Kiel is a HUGE fan of Star Wars. This is General Grievous one of the villians in the upcoming Star Wars movie. Kiel printed this off poster size so he can hang it in his room at UCF.

Brotherly Love

Since I'm feeling somewhat melancholy this evening, this picture seemed appropriate. Someone (not sure who) put it in Corel Draw and came up with this. We figured it out and this was taken nearly 11 years ago! Kiel was nine and Katlin was five...and it seems like yesterday. Does anybody know where these guys went or remember them back then? Where does the time go?