Ray and Valerie

Wow. Where does the time go? Madison met Ray and Valerie today, some of Ye-Ye and Nana's best friends from let's just say a "couple years ago." They've come down from Kentucky to visit, after locating Nana on a social network website and arranging a weekend down here with us. We popped in very briefly next door tonight because it was so close to Madison's bedtime. It was nice to see everyone, and we'll actually be spending more time with them as the weekend progresses. They seem to be doing fine, but we'll be better able to catch up on things later on this weekend.

Some of my earliest remembrances of Ray and Valerie are good ones. They lived in Jacksonville, Florida - and we lived in New Jersey. We'd be on our way down to Florida to visit, which was always good news for us kids: mainly because Disney World was just a hop, skip and a jump away!

But also Jacksonville's beach - and the fort and St. Augustine. Lots of neat stuff to visit. I was always fascinated by the palm trees for some reason, more than likely because you never saw palm trees in New Jersey. Driving down to Florida along I-95, I'd spy out the window for the first palm trees, a signal that paradise was not far away!

They were good friends for Ye-Ye and Nana, and no doubt everyone will have a pleasant weekend together.

Today, on the other hand, was a long, long day at work, as Daddy has been preparing for the new series at church called "Grid Iron." It's football related, obviously, and we've been filming and working to make this series something exciting for everyone. Mommy and Madison have been hard at work too, cleaning the costume room, the changing room and readying the new display case with pennants and figurines of famous football players.

Meanwhile, Daddy was creating scripts, movies and keynotes for the big event - and his work kept him there late into the night. It was so late that we could only manage the briefest of visits with Ray and Valerie this evening.

We couldn't even make it to the new house, which was a real shame because today was the big day that they pressure washed the front and back. We're hoping it did a real nice job and made things look fresh and a little less green. We will probably not be able to resist temptation - and go visit tomorrow. Can't wait to see it, actually.

As always, Madison had fun at work today with all her friends. Everyone enjoys having her there, and she loves their company as well. She's been into this hula hoop lately, having people throw it in such a way that it starts rolling backwards. This cracks her up for some reason. No matter how far away it gets, the hula hoop just keeps rolling back to us, bring smiles all around.

Sort of like our friends Ray and Valerie.

...bet you didn't see that one coming!