...

 ...blowing leaves, dance teacher, taekwondo, grocery shopping, Pirates, Spider-man, Easter Wensleydale, Sea Monkey supplies, Passover shopping, walking and cleaning the basement, sunny day, updates coming soon...

Rings of Power

We had another fun morning at KidPak today, all part of our Spring Training series.  As a bonus to the kids, Pastor Lance's father-in-law came by - he was a coach for the Atlanta Braves from 1985 all the way through their rise to success and that World Series Championship in 1995 and beyond.  He brought the championship rings with him, including the World Series ring from 95, and that was a cool moment for the kids.  Maddie got to try them on back in Pastor Lance's office, which was pretty fun.

We got home this afternoon and Mom had a nice meal prepared for all of us.  We had some of that Brunswick stew from the BBQ Shack yesterday, and some other items along the way too for a nice little buffet.  And then it was time for some walking - I'm getting close to this virtual finish in Dublin.  We had the Braves vs. Twins game playing on the television, and after my little walk, I got the tree in the front yard decorated with Easter Eggs! 

Mom made quite a few more of the egg decorations, so they look plentiful up there on the tree.  And it's just a pleasant thing for some reason, just sitting out there on the front porch when the temperature is just aright, a gentle breeze swaying the decorations somewhat as you just relax out there.  Mom and I sat a spell for that, of course. 

One amazing thing about our sea monkeys:  I still have a thriving community.  And I've been using only one package of food for three years now.  This one tank, this one starter bag of eggs, and this one thing of food for three years, and it's still going strong.  However, it looks like I'm about to run out of food here, finally.  We placed an order for the food this weekend, a replacement pack, but for the record, one pack should last around three years.  And again, I've got a lot of sea monkeys in there, swimming around doing just fine!

Tonight we finished up "The Ten Commandments," and of course that music is stuck in my head now.  But we also had time for another movie, and how random our choice was - we were just surfing around and we love the Jules Verne sci-fi stuff, and sometimes those made-for-television version of "Journey to the Center of the Earth."  Lower budgets, but occasionally fun.  This one... not so much.  It really, really veered off of anything to do with the actual story of "Journey to the Center of the Earth" a lot.  Not too great.

We closed out the day reading a bit more from Ankh-Morpork, and after that it was time for prayers and bedtime.  The Plush Entourage got all tucked in, and sleep came quickly tonight.  It's been a busy weekend, and tomorrow we're back on track.

Barbecue, Book Signings and Whistling Candy

Little bit of everything today.  Maddie was off to Team Edge practice early, and I was there with her for a  couple hours this morning as they were training for the next big thing, another Battle of Atlanta looming.  Afterwards, she was at Nate's for the entire day, getting home late tonight. 

Mom and I had a few small adventures tonight, one of them a two-visit trip where we paid honor to a few of our friends from church.  Our first destination above was the Bar-B-Que Shack, which is a place opened by none other than our friend Nerdo!  Yes, the one from the skits at KidPak.  We picked up some Brunswick stew from there, but Dustin made sure we walked out of there with all kinds of barbecue.  Great, great, great.  What's even better is that the mastermind behind the barbecue formula is the same exact guy I went to see all the time in the 90's while visiting a barbecue place in Toccoa.  I would be there and there was a location in Hartwell too - my favorite barbecue locations!  So now it's in Gainesville, and it looks like a nice place.  I'll be back for that!

The other place we went to was a book signing at Farmhouse Coffee.

You may remember our friend Will from Summer Xtreme - he played a character named Rocket, and we had a lot of fun with him for that, and for some voice recording too.  Anyway, he wrote a book, and we dropped by there to support him.  And... maybe get some coffee too!

The rest of the day was somewhat quiet.  I continued the journey around Dublin, virtually, and got a virtual post card for my efforts:

I think I'm approaching the 80% done mark.  It's been a good walk for March, getting into that St. Patrick's Day spirit of things.  Mom and I also had the Braves and Red Sox game playing - it was another Spring Training game, where things are starting to wind down to the big home opener.

This morning after I picked up  Maddie, I was inspired by last night's viewing of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," so we went over to pick up some whistle candy!

That's Maddie trying it in the car!  It was a fun day today - and a late night.  We read, and said our prayers.  Little tired actually, so let's get a good night's rest...

One More Prom

One more prom!  Tonight was Nate's Senior Prom, and Maddie was quite happy to go with him.  She spent a bit of time getting ready for the big night.  We met up at the church first for some pictures, and as usual, there were others there too from various local high schools with proms that night, all ready to take advantage of the location for some pictures.  Maddie and Nate posed for several before moving on to get something to eat... and then the prom itself.  Here's the pics I took tonight of the happy couple before the big dance.

It was a quiet day otherwise - I was spending a long time out there in the garden pushing a lot of leaves along.  That'll be a multi-day project there.  I was out there listening to all my Psalm songs, jamming along as I moved those leaves. 

Check out this LEGO set Mom got me for Easter.  I had to put this together beforehand so that we could have it on display.  There's a guy who has this and the Wilderness Tabernacle builds with "Bible Bricks."  These are great finds - I haven't started on the Wilderness Tabernacle yet, but I did get this one done today.  The instruction booklet tells quite a bit of story from scripture, all mixed in with the instructions on how to assemble this Garden Tomb.

And here it is, the finished project!  Took me about an hour, when you consider the reading too.  The stone rolls away, and inside there's the bed and the folded towels.

One really fun part of this is a lever that you push on the side, something that allows the stone to actually roll away.  Here's a short video of it:

I loved this project so much.  I can't wait to get to the Wilderness Tabernacle, but that might be after Easter because it's a big set and a big project.  But it should be really fun.

Meanwhile, here's a few pictures from Maddie tonight at the prom:

She got back about midnight - they had a great time.  Mom and I were watching "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" again - hadn't seen that one in a while.  We were watching some behind-the-scenes features about the movie that were pretty interesting.  Fun movie, and for some reason I never knew that Roald Dahl was involved in the screenplay.  In the interviews afterwards, Dick Van Dyke says he's not a dancer - can you believe that?  Sure, whatever.  The guy seems like a natural!  And yeah, he's still dancing to this day.

Anyway, it's late.  Time for some sleep!