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 Memorial Day, LEGO Tabernacle work, virtual moonwalk, visit with the family, croquet, badminton, big meal, Towel Day, skillet breakfast... updates coming soon...

Today's Going to be a Great Day

This morning we had a different take on the Wisenheimer invention at KidPak, and it was more geared for summer.  Mom came up with this great idea to do a Phineas and Ferb theme, which was basically to use the invention above to see what kids could do over the course of the summer, and of course there were the usual answers...

Yes, there was a "watch Barney" answer in there and another "eat taquitos" answer too.  I had my "Perry the Platypus" ball cap on, and Macy, our volunteer, was wearing the Perry the Platypus onesie as she carried around that invention.  It all ended with a nice promo for Summer Xtreme, which is coming up soon!

The morning was a fun one, but also a great one with a long worship set in that second service.  Pentecost service was going on upstairs, and the first morning service was actually going on late.

Maddie was at another service this morning, and spent her day with Nate and the family there, just a nice indoors sort of Sunday.  That's because it was a rainy day today.  We got out of church, and check out this piece of moss I found on a small twig:

Looks almost like a Truffula tree!

Anyway, Mom and I went to get something to eat after this, because we had both been craving a pizza from this particular place...

We also got ourselves a gluten-free brownie with ice cream on it, which was super delicious.  Mellow Mushroom wasn't too crowded at that time - I mean, there was a good crowd there, but not the usual completely slammed sort of vibe going on.  

From there we went home - here's an update on our chia pets, just for fun!

Just in time for his new movie!  Grogu is looking lush with the foliage all around him there.  And Shrek is always on top of things with his new hairdo.  

We spent some time watching the Braves, including the long rain delay.  The game was close, and wouldn't be so bad if the Braves could remember this weekend how to score runs.  Seriously, one run in the last two games, and that was in the ninth inning.  Frustrating to watch, but that's okay:  "if they don't win it's a shame."  Besides, they are still in first place in their division by a pretty substantial margin.  Hopefully those bats will start waking up.

In the meantime, I've been working on the Wilderness Tabernacle, and getting further along, as you can see above.  The actual inner structures are coming along well, and I believe next it will be time to build some of the furniture that goes inside, like the Lamp Stand and even the Ark of the Covenant.  Lots of little bits!

The rain was huge today, just what we needed.  I know that spoiled a lot of Memorial Day plans, but the land was so thirsty for water, and this dousing is just what we needed.  Maddie got home a little later this evening, and we were finishing up season three of "The Mandalorian," just in time to go see that new movie.  I think we'll do that on Tuesday.  

It was a quiet day.  We got a few things done this afternoon, including some prep for tomorrow.  It's going to be a great day.  We closed out tonight reading more from our mystery, and then saying prayers.  Time for some sleep!

Parallel Universe

 

Well, this morning was all about parallel parking, and that said, we were down at the church parking lot where I hijacked a few cones and set up a little parallel parking course.  It was raining lightly outside, but not enough to be too much of a problem.  Maddie eased in and did about five attempts, and actually did really well each time.  She drove to the parking lot and drove home too, so she's getting fairly comfortable behind the wheel.

It was a quiet day today, certainly with the rain out there.  Yes, it's a spoiler for the Memorial Day weekend for some, and I'm somewhat conflicted about that, as we desperately need this rain.  Still, we managed to get some things done today - I was walking on the treadmill and getting a little further on that virtual walk.  We were getting the usual chores in around the house, which now includes super minor tasks of keeping the water levels up on those chia pets, keeping the birds with plenty of seeds out there, and keeping oxygen going for the sea monkeys.  Funny little tasks.  Of course, the bigger ones involving housecleaning are there, dishes and laundry and so forth.  And bills.  Mom is stuck at the table doing that, but we've got lots of tea, and some Factor meals to get us through the day.  

The Braves lost today, but that tends to happen when you get only one hit.  Too bad for our other pitching staff, that actually did really well today despite this.  Hopefully tomorrow the guys will get some hits again.  In the meantime, I was working on another few areas of the Wilderness Temple today, putting that LEGO project together, and after the game, the three of us were catching up on "The Mandalorian."  

Tonight's reading continued from "Snuff," which we're diving into this mystery more.  After that, prayers and time for a good night's rest.

11th Inning

The Wilderness Tabernacle is moving along, or at least some of the furniture for it and the outer walls, and those poor sheep.  From time to time I've come back to put a little more and more on this, getting it all together as I read the various scriptures from Exodus as it all slowly comes together

The Chia pets are doing good - there are some sprouts growing out, some quicker than others, but there's definitely some growth there.  I think we'll see something big moving along by Memorial Day weekend.

Maddie did some driving lessons today with Mom, and there's a theme of parking this weekend - Maddie is starting to enter a parallel universe, which is to say she's going to be attempting some never-done-before parallel parking!  She was trying it today with another car nearby, but tomorrow we'll do the ol' "cones in the place of cars" training exercises at the church parking lot.  Couldn't do that today because of the three graduation ceremonies taking place and the huge congestion there.

Speaking of congestion, that's me.  Ever since I returned from the cruise.  The lungs.  The nose.  The sore throat.  Ugh.  NyQuil night for sure.

But first, taekwondo.  I dropped Maddie off there, and some of her friends were either graduating or watching other friends graduate - it's been a big year for that.  She enjoyed classes as always, and there's no class tomorrow because it's Memorial Day weekend.  We'll be celebrating like always at Nana and Ye-Ye's house that day, and there's some food prep we'll be doing here, including the creation of the patriotic jello!  Mom's done this before, made an American flag from jello and cool whip and blueberries and strawberries.  But Ye-Ye requested it specifically this year, and it's the semiquincentennial, so it's on!

That meant a lot of grocery shopping for me.  I was loading up the cart while Maddie was kicking people, and while we were both indoors, the deluge just slammed into us from above, a downpour so heavy and huge.  The rain has been enormous today, as if the entire state of Georgia just decided to do a bucket challenge, with torrential gushers just dumping down on all of us at the same time.  It was so loud on the roofs!  

Fortunately, we drove home after it passed, and as we were unpacking, the Braves game was in fact on - there was some thought that it might be either a rain delay or a washout, but the game went on, and it was a thriller of an ending.  We watched until the bottom of the eleventh inning, when good ol' Chadwick Tromp helped us get to bed by ending the game with a single right over the middle infielders that brought speedy Eli White home.  And there was much rejoicing.  Again.  This team just keeps on winning!

We did some reading tonight, closing out an ordinary sort of day.  Mom had hot dogs for us for dinner, some grass-fed meat that she orders for us, and that was a classic baseball meal there.  I was also walking earlier, finishing up "Rocketman" as I moved closer to the end of this current virtual walk.  In about a week I should be splashing down to earth again, and it's been fun watching all these themed movies and television shows as I march along.

In regards to the reading tonight, we're trying to figure out why someone would kill a goblin.  And of course who.  Vimes is engaged in another mystery, and the City Watch seems to be involved in something unusual as well.  We read for a bit tonight, but we were getting tired - eleven innings and NyQuil will do that to you.  It was time for prayers, and time for sleep!

Rain

Interesting little swarm of insects here.  We had to look these little guys up to measure their danger, and nope, no danger.  They look like a nymph of a leaf-footed bug, and of course there's plenty of these around.  A lot more, currently walking on our front porch wall there!

We finally got the rain today, a great heavy downpour that just made all creation sing, as we were all pretty thirsty.  I know that messes with people's Memorial Day plans, and in fact we have plans for something Monday with the family.  But we're also in a pretty heavy duty drought, so that's something to consider.  

Today we had a massive meeting for the college kids at Free Chapel, a planning session that went on for quite some time - hours and hours, in fact.  Unexpectedly long, but we did get a bit done, and there were coffee orders at the beginning and Chick-Fil-A at lunch time, so there's that.  All in all, the KidPak curriculum students should be good.

 

There were the big graduation commencements at the church today, with thousands and thousands of people there to celebrate the big day.  Good enough reason to go straight home and do some work there instead.  Also, get some things done at the house - I got some more walking in on the treadmill, trying to average about 2 miles a day.  Today's feature:  "Rocketman."  This is a gem of a movie, and it's not for everyone, but I just still laugh out loud at it.  I'm still doing that walk to the moon and back, virtually, and I think I've just reentered the earth's atmosphere, and we're not long from deploying the parachutes.  Almost time to pick a new virtual course!

Maddie drove us to the taekwondo tonight, and she had a good time there as an instructor's assistant, and then off to leadership class as well.  She drove us over to the grocery store, where she got her sourdough bread that she loves, but we picked up a few other necessities before she drove us home again.

We caught up with Mom again at home as we were watching the Braves defeat the Marlins yet again, this time 9-3.  Then it was time for a few more Mandalorian episodes, some reading from the Discworld, prayers... and some sleep!

Texture of Joy

 

Here we have a a little bit of Summer Xtreme planning - I was an at aquatic center this morning and then we were also planning some exciting games for KidPak.

We had such great news today with Mom's bone scan report.  That's been so heavy on my heart this week, and the release of that burden was so enormous, as God answered prayers.  Not only that, but Mom's other tests came back with great news, adding a texture of joy to the day.

And that being said, Camille now has a son, James Grigg, who was born this afternoon and brought their family a similar texture of joy.  We're really happy for all of them!

The rest of the day was somewhat similar to others lately.  Our chia pets are doing well, dormant, but yo can see the beginnings of some possible growth there.  We'll post pictures when it gets more interesting.  We had some other Summer Xtreme meetings today, working out some content and planning there.  But the high school graduations are starting in the main sanctuary, these massive events that come one at a time at the church for I think seven of the Hall County schools that apparently have no other place to be that's's big enough (or indoors enough).  So there's this huge security and traffic and all that, so we're sort of stuck downstairs riding it out a bit.  Tomorrow we'll probably be at the north campus, in fact.

To make things more interesting, there was a pretty big accident on Browns Bridge Road on the way home, so it took a while to get home.  But I was certainly glad to give Mom that extra hug, and it was awesome watching the Braves get eight more runs in a game against the Marlins in a fun game there.  The family has been pretty addicted to BravesVision lately, and what's not to love with all the great plays and fun of the broadcasts.  

Afterwards, we turned to the series "Boba Fett," to continue the story of "The Mandalorian," which has a new movie coming out very soon.  We'll get through all these episodes before watching the movie, but we're pretty hyped about it.

And that's about it for the day, but it's been a good day.  We did our reading tonight, and we said our prayers.  And we keep having the raccoon and possums up there on our back porch.  We'll hear the bird bath fall over, and our guess is that the raccoon is thirsty.  We haven't had rain in quite a bit here locally, although there's a lot of it in the forecast.  We'll see!  But for now, we're putting out a smaller bowl on ground level, one filled with water for our nocturnal friends.  Just so they'll stop knocking things over!

Primary Day

 

Still walking towards the moon - here's the latest post card from the moon.  It's been great watching all these dramatic reenactments and documentaries, and learning a lot via these various posts earned as I march along.  Eighty miles so far, and about twenty to go!

This morning we went off to vote, and we got our stickers - it is primary day in Georgia.  We usually vote early, but there were so many candidates that we had a lot of research to do.  In fact, when we got there this morning to the new polling location, we were ready for a huge amount of candidate votes and questions.  We took our cheat sheets with us, which is just fine.  I wore my new Buc-ee's 250 America shirt, and my "I secured my vote" sticker the rest of the day.

So this morning we did another new song for Summer Xtreme this year, working with Dawn and Emma to write up something and I think that opening number is going to be really great.  Maddie was there for a bit at the office, and then off to Nate's for the rest of the day.  I got a lot done today, including some trivia for this weekend, and more meetings about upcoming events... then it was time to get home.  

And then... it was time for some ice cream!  We got that BOGO card for Blizzards, and wow, we've been taking advantage of that one!

I'm not feeling great - brought something back with me from the cruise.  It's not too bad, but certainly annoying.  We sat and watched the Braves get some revenge on the Marlins for the previous night with a good win, 8-0.  And after that, a few episodes of Boba Fett, continuing our Mandalorian marathon leading up to the movie at the end of this month.  And after that, some reading from "Snuff," and then prayers... and a good night's rest (thanks to some medication!).

...One of those Days

 ...Professor Utonium, Braves lose 12-0, position player pitching, bad day, bus stops, good test results, chia dormant, Mt. St. Helen's... updates coming soon...

Building the Temple

Today we started on a project that Mom got me, a it's a big one - but a really fantastic one.  I loved reading through Exodus and all the specifications and processes for putting together the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, but only when seeing some sort of visual to understand what it was I was reading.  There are videos for that sort of thing, a step-by-step account with visual aids to go with those scriptures that show how it all came together.  Well, Mom got me this LEGO brick version of the Wilderness Temple, and it goes with the scriptures just the same, verse by verse, as you assemble that Wilderness Temple.  As you can see here, all I have thus far is the ground, and a high priest.  But he looks ready for that Temple to get into place.  This will be a fun thing to put together.  Mom got this for me earlier, and I've been waiting to make room at the table to get it all going.  Look what else we started today!

We were in a Chia pet frame of mind, and I think that's because we have a State of Liberty version of one that we'll do closer to July 4th, but in the meantime, we have Grogu and Shrek to do some test runs on.  We went through the set up tonight and got these guys going, all while catching up on "The Mandalorian," which of course is all setting up for the big movie coming out in a few weeks.

And there's good ol' Shrek!  Remember this guy from before?  We've put this one together a few times over the years, going way back to 2011!  These will be fun to keep an eye on in the coming days - don't worry, we'll post pictures!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty standard for a Sunday, eating together and watching the Braves whoop up on the Boston Red Sox again, 8-1.  The game was at Truist Park, and there was actually a sudden explosion of rain there that caused a small delay - it was actually hailing on the field, small bits of ice hitting the park.  But just as suddenly, the sun came out again - briefly, and long enough for the game to end with the Braves on top of things.

This morning, we had a great KidPak service as always.  Emma was speaking, and we did a memory verse exercise, and just had a lot of fun with the kids.  It was a good morning - I took this photo backstage before Emma went out there, but below that are just some of the excellent pictures Maddie takes of our services.

It was a fun day.  We had the "Rededicate 250" event live-streamed from Washington DC, and that was a really nice thing to see up there in our nation's capital.  Tonight we closed up our evening with reading from "Snuff," and after that prayers and a good night's rest.  I'm on some medication right now with a little cold, so I'm sleeping a little heavy tonight! 

More Mean Girls

This afternoon we were at the final City Springs Theater production, which was "Mean Girls."  I saw the high school version of it about two years ago, and it's okay.  Not my favorite, but we still enjoyed the performance, and it was nice to go down and see a bit play.  

Maddie was at the graduation party for Nate this afternoon, and earlier on, she and the rest of Team Edge were practicing together at the martial arts studio, where there were some important questions asked.  Like, "What kind of fruit or vegetable would you be?"  The answer for Maddie, or at least other people's answers for her:  a lemon.

She had a good day today, and then got home to join us for the Braves game against the Red Sox.  Mom actually got us some Cracker Jacks to enjoy while watching, and we destroyed that bag.  Those were delicious, of course.  The Red Sox got us this time, but tomorrow is another game and another chance to win the series with them.

Tonight we moved our story, reading "Snuff," and there's a mystery afoot to figure out.  No doubt Sam Vimes will be on top of this one.  We read for a bit, said our prayers, did some of our puzzles, and then yeah, it was time for some sleep!  We've got Kidpak tomorrow morning.

Nate's Graduation

Tonight was Nate's graduation, and Maddie was happy to be there and celebrate with him!  They had fun with the family together, and after that went off to eat.  When the manager heard there was a graduate at his restaurant, Nate got a super sweet delicious cupcake!

Okay, those actually look pretty good.  As do the tacos that Maddie got, of course.  I'm kind of wanting one of these street tacos now.  We'll have got go there again soon!

Here's the family there after the graduation.  Congratulations, Nate!  Maddie had a nice time tonight being there for Nate's big night.  There's a party or two tomorrow, and you know she'll be there for that.

Wow, tonight's Braves game was a thriller - extra innings, and Yaz came through with another huge hit to drive in the game winner and against his grandpa's old team, the Red Sox.  Maddie got home just in time to see the big play.

Today was a bit of driving to and fro, heading to the church to get a few things to set up for Sunday's service.  We did our reading tonight with the Plush Entourage, continuing with "Snuff," the final book of the Sam Vimes series in the Discworld.  After that, prayers, and a good night's rest!