MS 150 (AKA – MS 95)

2 weeks ago I had the pleasure of riding in the MS 150 bike ride.  For those that don’t know what that is, it is a bicycle ride from the Desoto Civic Center to Tunica on Saturday and back on Sunday.  Typically, it is a 75 mile ride down and a 75 mile ride back.  This year, they had a “short route” that you could ride either or both days.  You wouldn’t get your full 150 miles in, but at least those who didn’t prepare could have a graceful way of “completing” the ride.

And lets be clear, I’m in no way knocking the people that weren’t prepared.  In fact, I was one of them.  Quite frankly, I hadn’t ridden my bike over 100 miles since last year’s MS150.  So I was one of those “whimps” that opted for the short route.  The first day I didn’t ride the short route as it was laid out.  I really wanted to see the Accredo rest stop, but they were the first stop of the LONG route.  So, I decided to take the long route until the Accredo stop, then turn around and finish out on the short route.

Saturday night we stayed at Harrah’s.  Typically, I pay extra to have a guaranteed single room.  That allows Laura to come down and stay with me without being totally awkward to a roomate.

Unfortunately they were out of single rooms this year.  I went pot luck with the roomate situation.  I ended up with a nearly retired Navy guy.  Really nice guy, but definitely strange sharing a room with a guy I didn’t know.

The ride back Sunday was great.  I cut out a little earlier than the ride “officially” started so I was alone for the vast majority of the ride.  I didn’t mind being alone at all.  The weather was great and I enjoyed the bit of solitude.  I don’t do it often, but there is something special about watching the sun peek over the horizon while you’re riding a bike.  The fresh cool air, the almost imperceptible ticking of a well tuned bike chain and beauty of God’s creation in front of you is tough to beat.  (well, it may be overshadowed by fresh cool air, whistling wings and the infrequent sounds of non-lead based projectiles).

I was actually very pleased that I didn’t try to over-exert myself by doing the long ride both days.  Of course, I can’t say that I did the MS150 this year (at least not with a straight face), but I can say that I rode in the MS bike ride.  The other thing I can say is that I have some fantastic folks that helped support me in the ride and MS research. 

Millington

The house that we’ve been working on in Millington is done.  For those that aren’t aware, my dad recently purchased some land in Millington, which is about 30 minutes from where we live.  The primary intent of him purchasing it was to give us a place to go hunt when he was up. 

When we bought it, it had a house on on it that was built sometime around the early 40’s.  It hadn’t been lived in for 9 years and it was in shambles.  We actually used the fact that we’d incur the expense of tearing it down as a negotiating tool.  Once we bought it, we took another hard look at the house.  We’d probably spend 10 grand or more to tear it down.  And it definitely had some potential.  You had to squint to see it, but it was there.  The renovation process began.

The house is pretty simple.  2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, sunroom (that is a converted porch) and one bathroom.  There’s one picture of the renovation below.  I’ll post more as I remember to take pictures.  We sleep in one bedroom and the kids sleep in the other.  There are three twin beds in the kid’s room.  As of now, Avery sleeps in ours, but Haley and Trey can’t wait until she can join them.  We’ll be making a lot of memories there. 

Here we are about 8 months later and I’m happy we chose to repair it.  It’s got a charm to it.  We’ve spent the night there a couple of times over the last few weeks.  We’ve been checking off the punch list – final cleaning, brining in furniture, stocking the closets and hanging pictures.  We’ve nearly got it to the point that we can grab a change of clothes and head out to spend the night on a whim.

I knew having a place to go like this would be nice.  But frankly, I had no idea just how nice it would be.  Away from the phone and computer.  Away from the honey do list at home.  Just relaxing.

We’ve been bringing a small TV and a DVD player so that we can watch a movie as a family (typically Fern Gully or Tangled) and eat popcorn.  The ONLY thing that gets the kids in front of the TV out there is darkness.  From the minute we get there until it gets dark, the kids run around like crazy outside.  This past Saturday, I don’t think they stopped squealing for the first few hours they were there.

I love watching them run around.  There are a couple of acres around the house where they can run till their hearts are content without danger of streets or being kidnapped.  There’s no such thing as strangers…just a couple of overly nice neighbors that would do anything for you.  We’re so grateful to have a place to go where kids can be kids like we were growing up.  Where there were no worries.  Where skinned knees were a clear indicator that we had a lot of fun that day.  Where riding 4 wheelers isn’t something you do every once in a while as a reward for being good – it’s how you get to the pond.  And where there’s always a ring around the tub after giving them baths.

First Day of School

Yep, I know we’re fashionably late on this post.  But now we’ve got two weeks under our belt and we can tell you how school really is.

Both of them are in pre-school at St. Paul’s Methodist.  (thank goodness their curriculum is a step above their website design!)  Haley’s been playing musical schools over the past two years.  We were hoping to get Haley in St. Paul’s each year, but the waiting list is pretty long.  So welcome our leverage – Trey.  We knew it would be easier for Trey to get in.  If Trey made it, Haley automatically went to the top of the waiting list.  Mind you, she didn’t automatically get in, but it would give her priority.

We got word about mid-summer that Trey made it.  Now it was a waiting game for Haley.  We had already registered Haley at another school in case we didn’t get in to St. Paul. 

The good news about Haley getting in came while we were in the hospital right after having Avery.  Laura was super excited.  This meant that she could drop BOTH kids off at the same school and St. Paul is only about 5 minutes from the house.  While she had the lady from St. Paul on the phone, she actually went ahead and put Avery on the list!

Their first day of school was a smashing success.  We’d told Haley that she’d need to teach Trey what to do at school, since this was his first time.  Haley took her job VERY seriously.  The whole way there she told him what to expect.  Then it was the cutest thing watching her hold his hand while they walked in…explaining to him the whole way what he should expect.

Trey’s little backpack is as big as he is.  And Haley Michelle Pirate Simons is totally rocking her personalized pirate backpack (big thanks to Ali, Richard and Griff – nice pick). 

Now, as long as we can keep them out of the principal’s office, we’re set!

Pickin’ Peaches

Hayden’s parents kept the kids in Jackson for a few days to give Avery and I a little time to sew, run errands, eat lunch out, and breathe!  When they brought the kids back to Memphis, they spent the weekend with us.  We decided to stop at Jones Orchard in Millington on our way to go check the land and house at Millington.  It was hot but we had a great time picking peaches!  Both kids really got into it and didn’t want to stop.  All I could think while the basket got more and more full is 1) can’t wait to make peach cobbler; 2) I’ve got to find more peach recipes!  After working hard to find the best peaches in Memphis, we hit Chick-fil-A for lunch and ice cream!!

Visiting the land and house in Millington got us fired up about having a “camp out” so we spend the night out there this past weekend.  We really enjoyed ourselves and are looking forward to a lifetime of memories spent out there…four wheelers, hunting, cook outs, and soy beans!

Let’s Go Swimming

Well, as some of you know, we got a pool last summer.  Mind you it wasn’t in our back yard, but in the back yard of a house that we’ve been trying to flip.  This is our first attempt at flipping a house.  Let me tell you, it has been more of a flop.  When we bought it last August, we got an absolute steal on it.  It’s a good thing too.  Because we’re right at breaking even.

We’ve got friends that have said, “Even if you made a dollar, it is worth it.  You’ve learned so much.”  They’re right.  We have learned a lot about flipping houses, house repair and pools.  We’ve learned all about taxes and insurance.  We’ve also learned that we won’t be doing this again any time soon.

The ONLY silver lining to this cloud (outside of not completely losing our shirts on the deal), is that the house has a pool.  And it is in our neighborhood.  So we’ve at least gotten to make some use of it.  It’s been great watching the kids turn more and more into fish-like creatures.  Haley’s still a little nervous around water, but as you can see from the pictures, Trey’s all in. 

Trey had been jumping off the side without too much fear.  I was in the pool and said, “Hey Trey – why don’t you go jump off the diving board to me.”  Much to my surprise, he bee-lined it to the diving board, ran down it and flung himself off.  I told Laura to grab the camera and asked him to do it again.  Sure enough, we got the shot below.

We also managed to take sweet Avery for her first swim ever.  She sported her little MSU Bulldog one piece.  (she’s a little young for a two piece).

Now we’ve actually got a contract on this house.  Lord willing, we’ll have it sold on August 30th.  We’ll definitely miss having the pool that close, but sure as heck won’t miss the acid reflux holding on to this house has caused.

Poor Trey

I’ve got a feeling Trey is  coming up on the short end of the stick when it comes to pictures.  When we had Trey, we were fairly confident that we’d have another baby sometime down the road.  I’m thinking that subconsciously, we didn’t feel the need to take as many pictures to “remember” him as a baby.  In part because we thought there would be another.  In part because he looked exactly like Haley as an infant anyway.

Avery looks like she’s going to be back in the spotlight like Haley, though.  Maybe it is the thought that this might actually be our last.  Who knows.  Regardless – here’s round two of Avery pictures.  I’m sure more will be coming soon.

Haley and Trey are getting along great with Avery.  Haley could (and has) literally hold her for 4 hours straight on the couch.  Trey wants to hold her constantly.  Like a typical boy, he tends to lose interest after 30 seconds or so. 

Laura’s doing well.  She’s definitely achieved rock star status.

She’s Here!

She’s here!  Actually, she’s been here for a week!

Avery entered the world on July 5th at 11:55 AM.  She weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz.  Not tiny by any stretch, but the smallest we’ve had yet.  We had a couple of minor complications during labor, but we had a fantastic doctor (we love Dr. Homsi!), a wonderful nursing staff and great friends that were praying us through it.
Laura was awesome as always.  Not only did she do a fantastic job, she looked good while doing it.  Didn’t even take off her jewelry.

Avery looks a lot like Haley and Trey did as newborns. I know all newborns look similar.  A lot like old wrinkly men.  But these three look eerily similar.  When Haley was born, I was snapping pictures like crazy.  When Trey came along, I was less trigger happy with the camera.  As I was going through deleting the “bad” shots, I came across one that reminded me of one I took of Haley.  After digging it up, I realized why it looked so similar.  Not only did the kids look alike, but Laura’s nails were painted the same too.   So when Avery came, of course, we had to get the same shot.  I know…definitely not a glamorous pose, but crazy how much they look alike.

Haley and Trey absolutely LOVE Avery.  We talked about Avery a lot leading up to her birth.  Laura made the mistake of telling Haley on Monday morning that the next time she went to sleep and woke up, Avery would be here.  Of course, Laura didn’t take Haley’s nap into account and the first thing Haley asked after her nap on Monday was to see Avery.  We had to explain that she needed to go to sleep one more time.
As we did with Trey, we let the kids come in and meet her alone in the hospital with no other visitors.  Haley was bouncing off the walls with excitement.  Trey made a bee-line right for Avery chanting “Hold her, hold her, hold her”.

We’ll get more pictures posted soon.  For now, these will have to do.  I want to give a special thanks to my parents who kept Haley and Trey for the week while waiting on us hand and foot.  We couldn’t have done it without them.  Also to Julie for taking a turn at sitting with Haley and Trey so that my parents could be with us for while in the hospital.

Random Photos

It was brought to my attention recently that my fantastic wife was harboring a plethora of photos on her camera.  So of course, I had to go through them all to tag them, rate them and add them to our photo collection.    Below is a sample of the thousand or so pictures I got to pick through.

Typical “Trey” face when he’s mad

Haley “chillin” at the St. Louis Zoo

Trey and Haley baking cupcakes.  They LOVE to help cook and bake.

Us and the O’Neals before the MSU/Auburn game.  (And before Chad royally ticked off the MSU fans sitting around us with his female tiger screech)

Enjoying a bowl of fruit loops before hitting the beach.

Super-Happy beach bum.

Haley enjoying the surf before photos.

Us and the Shivers before the MSU/Arkansas game.

Haley and Laura doing some Christmas baking.

Haley gets her hand and topping the cookies with powdered sugar.

Us and the O’Neals in Nashville sporting our circa 1989 6th grade dance pose. 

Hayden and Haley on Haley’s first duck hunt (sans guns).

Haley trying on her flower girl gown.

Haley’s birthday.  As she puts on every article of clothing she received…at one time!

Missouri buck.

Same buck as above…my biggest ever.

Me and dad hunting in Missouri.

Trey – age 15 minutes.

Happy Birthday, Trey!

T-boing (as Haley calls him) is two years old!  He had his second birthday this past Saturday.  As usual, Laura did the decorations and made some awesome cupcakes.  It had a Buzz Lightyear theme.  Trey LOVES Toy Story and actually calls every character “Buzz”.  So he was in heaven.

My parents and Laura/Ryan/Seth came up.  Laura’s parents came over along with Kathleen, Brian and Bill’s little brother DeMarcus.  We had a great time.  Which is actually a bit surprising since naps were very scarce this weekend.  Haley and Trey always have a blast with Seth around so I’m sure that helped the attitudes a bit.

I tried out a new recipe.  Well, not exactly a recipe, since a recipe would imply that I actually had instructions.  Actually, I just concocted a pork extravaganza.  It was pork loin that had been butterflied and stuffed with pork sausage.  Wrapped in…of course…bacon.  It turned out fantastic.  Definitely something we’ll try again.

After the party, everyone left and our kids got naps.  Once they woke up, we let them play outside with some of the new toys Trey got.  The toy that they ended up liking the most was a Buzz Lightyear water toy.  It’s actually pretty cool.  There’s a base that connects to the hose and squirts water up.  It has a handle like a throttle that allows you to control how much water shoots up.  Then there’s a rocket ship that goes in the stream of water that lifts off when you move the handle.  If you’re gentle with it, the rocket will just hover 10 feet off the ground in the stream of water.  Of course, our kids weren’t so gentle with it.  A video of them playing in it is below.  You should have a look.  It is well worth a minute and a half of your life.  Of course I’m biased.

Easter Turkeys

It’s Friday the 13^th.  Not really the luckiest day.  I’m getting ready to go turkey hunting tomorrow morning with a friend from work.  Luckily, he’s taking me to his place, since our place is covered up in water.  That water has caused me major trouble when it comes to being able to hunt turkeys there!  From the reports I’ve heard, the house on the land in Millington is okay, but the land all around it is a lake.  Now, if we can just get the rain to hold off (or at least just drizzle) tomorrow morning, we’ll have us a hail mary on the last day of the season.

The kiddos seem to be changing like crazy.  Trey, more so than Haley.  They’re loving these longer days and are spending plenty of time outdoors.  Laura’s planning on trying to potty train Trey in a few weeks when Haley gets out of school for Summer.  We’re thinking he’s on track and ready because he points out to us when he goes potty in his diaper.  We’ll see.

Easter’s come and gone.  Not sure what our tradition is going to be for hiding baskets, but this year didn’t work out so well.  We were in St. Louis for Easter and we managed to give 3 spankings between waking up and getting Easter Baskets.  (which incidentally was just 10 minutes).  So much for good behavior…

Trey tickled us opening his candy.  He was SO serious with it.

Outside of that, it is life as usual.  Busy.  Crazy busy.  And only going to get busier.  Laura’s due on July 5^th so baby number 4 (Avery) is right around the corner.  Laura’s in full bore nesting mode which means I typically come home to a pretty clean house, a fabulous dinner and an exhausted wife.  The clean house is good.  Especially since I found out I’m highly allergic to dust.  SOOO, allergy shots will be starting up soon.