A nervous moment

There were a few delays in the new owner of my motorcycle coming to pick it up but Saturday was the day. It was a fitting rainy somber day. The new owner is part of the ministry team at a Church in Atlanta and is a great guy. He is selling the car he drives to make them debt free and will drive the motorcycle 45 miles each way to work. He had been looking for a month or so for the right motorcycle before he found mine. Well, I almost ruined that....

He was going to bring a friend to drive it back as he is still learning to ride. But one of the last minute changes was that the friend couldn't make it but he loaned his truck to the Pastor to pick up the bike. He said he had a ramp for the truck so I thought, no problem. Well, the ramp turned out to be a 2 x 6 that was about eight feet long with a metal plate on one end to hold it on the tailgate. Not to mention it was at a very steep incline going up to the truck bed. So I put another 2 x 6 on either side of the "ramp" so I could keep my feet down as I drove it up. I got part way up then the back tire started to spin. I almost pooped my pants. He pushed, I pushed, we both prayed and the motorcycle burned a wheel the rest of the way up the ramp. I really thought at one point it and me were going to fall over. Just another note from God telling me it was the right decision to sell it:) Now I am selling all the jackets and other motorcycle gear, Dave Ramsey would be happy.

Not sure what was happening in these pictures but they are one after the other. It looks like something scared Addison. Then William turns around and is ready to defend his sister.



Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.
George Carlin (1937 - 2008)

Al

Back to "normal"

We finally finished the second season of Dexter. Is it bad to be pulling for a serial killer, even if it is fictional? Hopefully we can start getting to bed at a decent hour again:)

Last Sunday at a park in the area. Like our Wendy's picnic? :)

Normal is boring,

Al

My guilty pleasures...

I have mentioned before that I do not have any hobbies to eat up my time and that is true. But I do jump from one "addiction" to another periodically. Before kids it would be a new video game like Warcraft or Splinter Cell. I would play for six to eight hours at a time. Heck, in college my roommates and I were working on winning Zelda. Somehow the player we were using got deleted and we went back to the beginning after about three weeks of daily playing. So I sat down one day and played for about nine or ten hours to get us back to the same spot. Enough of gaming days...

My latest "addiction" is Dexter. Yes, I call myself a Christian and yes, it is a show with bad language about a serial killer. But he only kills "bad" people:) The CFO and I have been renting season two from Blockbuster and we are a little over half way through the season after three nights of watching. Of course with each episode being an hour that puts me to bed around midnight so I have had to dial back sleep, blogging, writing, etc.... We should be done by the end of the weekend so I can get back to "normal" until my next "little addiction" comes around:)

Some great pics of the kids on the stairs from the CFO's blog


A bore is a man who, when you ask him how he is, tells you.
Bert Leston Taylor, The So-Called Human Race (1922)

Al

The Triplets will ride again....

Luckily the CFO got some great pics of the kids on one of our motorcycles before they were sold. I am still torn about selling them. But the way I look at it once the kids are older we can always buy other ones:)

You may enjoy and laugh a bit at why we actually had them in the first place. We were both working 70 plus hours a week and living near Seattle, WA. My workaholic addiction was in full swing. I was recruiting College students and recent grads for an internship and management trainee program. One day when I was talking to students one of them asked be what kind of hobbies did I have. Silence.... you could hear only crickets. I said "Good question, let me get back to you on that." Seriously, we had none. I have things I like to do but work was my job and my hobby. So I told the CFO "We need a hobby." We bounced a few things around and landed on buying a motorcycle to do some sight seeing in WA. We decided to take the American Motorcycle Association's motorcycle safety course to see if the CFO wanted to get her own motorcycle or ride on the back of one. No big shock, she wanted her own. Our final grades were only off by one point. I forgot who won so she probably did:) We had a great time on them and did see a lot of Washington State.

Now my hobby, job and favorite past time is our family. Can you blame me? :)

My wild bunch:)

It is said that money cannot buy you happiness, but have you ever seen an unhappy person on a Jet Ski?
Roger Pennington

Al

Goodbye to the Triplets...

No, we did not and we are not getting rid of the kids:) The title is in reference to my newest S.M.A.R.T. goal for the kids.

Be able to have Daddy, eventually Mommy too but at this point that would be in direct contrast to the goal needing to be attainable in a timely manor:), drop them off at "school", the YMCA, Church, or the Grandparents and be able to say goodbye without all the crying. To clarify, they cry, I don't. Not to say I haven't but... well, you get the point.

So today I started.... This was their first day back at their day out program. More of a day away from Dad day for them then a day away from the kids for me. I thought, this will be traumatic enough, why not up the ante and start saying goodbye. How did we do it before you ask? Yes, we distracted them and ran like scalded dogs to get out of the room before they noticed. I even temporarily impaired myself one night at church when I clipped my knee vaulting over the gate leaving the toddler room. So, we all walked in, got checked in and headed to their room. I coaxed them into the room and waited a minute or so till they were getting a little comfortable then I had the talk with them.... "Give me a kiss and a hug Daddy needs to leave." I got the kisses and hugs just before the Universe split open for them and the crying began. Jackson actually threw down the toy phone he had been playing with. Their new teachers were nice enough to drag them back from the door so I could leave. I walked down the hall and came back in a couple of minutes.... no crying.

It FINALLY stopped raining in Birmingham so we got to spend some time outside this weekend.



My FAVORITE quote from the TV show that makes my life doable.... Jon and Kate Plus Eight. I am right there with you Jon.....

"I don't like how emotions make me feel"
Jon Gosselin

Al

Small world when you have triplets...

So, I know people read the blog, at least I am assuming some people do as the counter is going up:) But I had a very funny moment last Wednesday at the Science Center. We were leaving when I heard someone say "I love your blog." I almost fell out. It turns out she is a friend of a friend with Triplets, the Lees. When I worked in a University Career Center I always told Students that when they graduate the world gets smaller, not bigger.

Here are a few pics of all five kids right before our friends headed back to Houston Sunday.

You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.
Olin Miller

Al

War Eagle!

Our friends from Houston were in town this weekend with us so I took the weekend off from blogging. The whole family took a trip to the grocery store on Saturday, which is a treat for us:)

The CFO got a good pic of Jackson and Addison in their car cart. It is SEC football season baby!!

Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules, and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting.
George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant, "The Sporting Spirit", 1950

Al