Get those kids to bed

There's an interesting article on the NY Magazine website about how important it is (scientifically) for kids (and the rest of us) to get the right amount of sleep. There is a direct correlation between how much sleep high schoolers get and what grades they get. Good stuff to know, and good motivation for Pam and me when we're wrangling the boys to bed a reasonable hour.

Snooze or Lose

Geocaching

As I mentioned in the earlier post, Pam got the boys and I a handheld GPS unit for Christmas. It allows us to trek around the woods/trails searching for geocaches hidden all over the place. We may need to wait for some better weather, but I think this is going to be a fun hobby.

Take a look at this list from geocaching.com which shows all of the caches that are hidden just within a few miles of our house.

Xmas in Lima

We traveled up to Lima on Friday to spend the weekend with GrandJane and the rest of the family. We've had a lot of fun with Ellie and everyone. GJ cooked for us mostly, but we also got everyone out to Kewpee (except for Ellie and GrandJane) for lunch on Saturday.

We also got a chance to try out the new GPS that Pam gave to us for xmas. We found a geocache that was less than a mile from GJ's house (via geoacaching.com). It was a cold walk in the woods, but all 4 of us thought is was a lot of fun. I think we'll be doing a lot more geocaching in 2008.

Click on the album below to see the pictures we collected. The last pic in the album is the one of C&Z when right after we found the cache in the woods.

2007 Xmas in Lima

Ellie looking good

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Merry Christmas

Wishing a very merry Christmas and safe travels to everyone.

We enjoyed our day, starting with a 6:30 wakeup call by the kids. We got the first wave of gifts completed by 7:15 and then the Alkires came over for more present exchanges and brunch.

The kids added to their collection of football and baseball jerseys. Pam got the 3 of us boys a new toy, a GPS we can use for geo-caching. So expect us to do some cache hunting as we come visiting everyone in the future.

Uh oh

This is going to be a long trip. That last backup was just mall traffic, but now we must be stuck behind an accident. Been like this for a mile already.

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WV here we come

The road to wv is moving pretty slow so far.

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'Tis the Season

There's been lots of holiday preparations in our house so far. And now that the kids are out of school, they've worked on a few holiday crafts as well, like these gingerbread houses.

Below is an album of the kids' pre-xmas doings (so far).

2007 December

Finally had an on-time flight!

It'l be nice to get somewhere on schedule for a change.

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Texas Honky Tonk

I went out to dinner in Austin with some people from the project. After dinner we went to a club to see Dale Watson.

Dale is bit of a legend in Austin, and a hardworking one. He and his band play at different spots around Austin 5 nights a week (Fri thru Tues), and they often play for 3+ hours without a break. He's a great stage entertainer, and even though I'm not a country fan, I liked his stuff a lot. Kind of a cross between Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. Reminded me of the music I used to hear in the car with Dad in WV when I was young. (When he wasn't listening to NPR.)

This video from YouTube isn't from the night I saw him, but it is the same place -- The Continental Club.



Here's a song of his I like better, also from YouTube. But you'll have to use the link to go see it. (I think those same people dancing the two-step were at the show I saw.) Whiskey or God

Third time is a ...

Definitely not a charm. Guess where I am this morning.

At least I'm in the Crown Room this time.

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Cole Wins Along with Bengals

So both of the kids got to go to one Bengals game this year. Zach went a few weeks back when the Bengals had a surprising 35-6 win over the Titans. Cole had a chance to go to that game, but decided he'd wait and go to the Rams game, because he figured "the Bengals have a better chance to win that one." He even passed up going to a friend's birthday part so he could go. Well he was right. The Bengals won 19-10, and Cole won on his choice.

Not a lot of other Bengals fans decided to come to the game. The weather was nasty, and the stadium had be about 2/3 full at best.

The Bungles are sitting at 5-8 with a pretty easy final 3 games. They may actually catch the Redskins who are sitting at 6-7, but have a brutal last 3 games (Giants, Vikes, Dallas).

Cole - Bengals game

Cold and raining.

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Airport - delayed again

Bad luck with my flights this week.

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Airport - delayed

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Cole's Recital Vids

Cole's Solo Song




Angels We Have Heard on High





The First Noel

Cole's Guitar Recital

We went over to Wyoming (one of the Cinci 'burbs), to see Cole in his Winter Recital. We were joined by Bob, Kay, Sarah, and Dave, so Cole had a large family contingent in the crowd of 70 or so.

He did a great job. He's really come a long way with his playing in the past 2 years. The above pics are of Cole getting ready to start his trio of songs. I also took some video with our camera, but those are taking a while to upload. So I'll follow up with a link to the video.