Prairie Dog Town

So, a few weeks ago, we decided to drive to Denver to watch a Wizards game.  On the way there, we saw signs for the largest prairie dog in the world.  Eric and Ryan thought that was hilarious (a guy thing), so we HAD to stop in the middle of Kansas at Prairie Dog Town.  What a strange experience!  It was sort of a strange animal "farm/zoo."  Check out these pics.

Is anyone watching the road?

Huge sign pointing to the prairie dog...

One of the 1st signs that we were in a very strange place: rattle snake pit.  Seriously creepy.  And the crazy owner lady was scraping the top of the cage with something to get them to rattle!  Then she asked if we wanted her to open the cage so we could get better pictures....NO!

The largest prairie dog in the world!  Just kidding.  There were

 what seemed like hundreds of prairie dogs just running around in this open "zoo."  They would poke their heads up and stare at us.

Now, why would you have raccoons in a zoo?  Because it was one of the strangest places I have ever been. 

So, this LOOKS like a normal cow.  Here's where it gets really strange...

It has 6 legs!  WHAT?!  Can you say GROSS?!

This one has 5 legs.  4 normal and 1 coming out its neck!  

Eric and Ryan trying to look like the nasty cow.

So, after all that, I didn't get a picture of the "largest prairie dog in the world."  One of the stupidest things I have ever seen.  It was a really big concrete statue of a prairie dog.  What a rip :)  We ended up leaving feeling kind of gross and laughing a whole lot.  Definitely one of the strangest places I've ever been.

Here's us at the game.  It was rainy and cold but still fun.  

Drive to OK

The drive (with all of our belongings) to Oklahoma was quite interesting.  We had to drive 4 cars!  We had the moving truck, our two cars, and Eric's parent's car.  There were 4 of us so we all drove separate.  It was quite boring!  I took some pictures because the trip was way too long to drive alone and we had to drive slow because the moving truck only went 65 :)  Yes, I'm a dork.

Here is my view the entire trip: the Budget truck that Eric was driving!

Dork driving the Scion.

The view in my rear view mirror: Eric's Mom driving the Explorer.

Eric, on one of our caffeine stops.  We were all having a hard time staying awake.

"New" House in OK

We finally made the official move to Moore, OK.  It is never fun to move but we made it and we finally have our house put together (for the most part).  Here are some pictures.  And, yes, the soccer field in the one picture is just steps from our front porch.

Baby Baby!

We're having a girl. I just had the ultrasound yesterday and it's official! We are super excited and ready to meet her in December! I'll post the pictures later when I have access to my laptop and scanner. Yippee!!

Family Vacation 2008

Family vacation was awesome this year! We stayed in a cabin at Whitetails Crossing by Lake Shelbyville (IL). We kept busy but also relaxed a lot.

Whitetails Crossing had a really nice pool so of course we used that quite a bit.















They also had 2 small fishing ponds. The kids (especially Brianna) loved fishing and caught about 10 fish. We used doughnuts to attract the "big" bass but never caught them!

We visited what I called the GT (Goat Tower) in Shelbyville County. This guy built a tower for his mountain goats so they would have a place to climb in the middle of IL. Random :)

Also, some of us went fishing at Lake Shelbyville. The white bass were "boiling" or "popping" and we caught tons of fish! And thanks to "Guided Wright," (the unofficial name of Eric's full-service fishing tours), we found the ML (mother load) which made up for the fact that we got up at 5 am! We had a fish fry for dinner one night thanks to Eric's expert cooking!

We also went to the world's largest Dairy Queen. It was...not so big but we had yummy ice cream!









The kids played lots of Guess Who and read books with Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa). In the evenings the adults played horse-feathers and laughed a lot. It was fun getting to know the kids again since we only see them a couple times a year. They grow up so fast! Isaac is such a boy, Brianna loves mac n cheese (girl after my own heart), and Halle is just all around cute with a mind of her own!










We went on a hike one day. Very interesting terrain with lots of spiderwebs. Mom was designated by the kids as the official Spider Girl waving a big stick in front of the path. She deserves a gold star and lots of grandkid hugs for that one!

Overall it was just a bunch of fun hanging out with each other. I can't wait for next year when we will have another little one around! And hopefully Aaron, Elisabeth, Carli, Grandpa S., Aaron and Vero can come too!

Hit In the Face With An Opportunity

We recently got hit in the face with an opportunity and we're moving to Oklahoma?! (I'll admit it, I used that phrase because I really wanted to use the above picture :) Most of you probably already know this but I haven't blogged about it so I thought maybe I should get my act together! Here's the scoop:

Well, out of the blue, Eric got a call from a friend (a former Calvary coach) asking if he would be interested in being the head soccer coach at Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College (where this coach just started as the AD). At first it sounded like a bum situation with little pay and Eric would have to work a full-time job somewhere else and coach part time. After the AD worked on it a bit more, it ended up being a great opportunity with quite a bit more pay for coaching. And to make it even better, they created a position at the college for him to be the facilities coordinator for this new building that they rent out to the community. So basically it went from a very small part time position to a full-time year-round position! After visiting a couple times and interviewing, we decided to accept the position. (Isn't it amazing how God works things out?)

Eric will be starting August 1 which is just around the corner! We are in the process of trying to sell our house. We haven't packed 1 box yet. Maybe we should get started on that :)

It will be really hard to leave KC since we have lived here for about a decade and my parents live here, BUT, it's only 5 hours away. We just bought the lunchbox with good gas mileage so we can come back more often!

Here's a map that shows where we are moving (Moore Oklahoma is a suburb of Oklahoma City).

Lunchbox

I got a new lunchbox today!  Just kidding, it's really a car but I think it looks like a lunchbox.  We decided to trade in the truck (that only gets 18-20 MPG) for a Scion XB.  We are excited about getting more like 35 MPG!  Even though I think it is kinda silly looking on the outside, the inside is roomy and comfy with plenty of room for a car seat for the little one.  AND we will be able to drive back to KC from Oklahoma and not spend $150 in gas!  Woohoo!  Here are some pics.