More Than One Way to Cross a Fence

The quickest way to get to the dugout is definitely not AROUND the fence. It's OVER the fence. And there are several ways to do this.

There is the full steam ahead approach like #4 and #3.

One flips to the left and the other flips to the right but both are quite skilled and quick about it.

Then, there is the more lady-like approach, the approach used by #5. One leg across and slide on over.

While #5 is trying to get that leg across #2 takes the head first approach.

#3 and #4 have stuck their landing and #2 is diving into the grass head first.

#5 finally got her leg up there and #2, I think, is stuck. Upside down.

#2 has finally managed her dismount. Not pretty, but she is across.

Finally.

The Most Important Alaska Pictures

I almost forgot to post the most important Alaska pictures of the whole trip. The whole reason for loving Alaska as he does. The FISH!!

"What's that in that guys back pocket?" I asked. I should know better than to ask such questions. When will I ever learn that the less I know about such things the better? No, I don't want the fish to be on a stringer in misery, but no, I don't want to think about what that miniature baseball bat is used for either.

They could only catch two salmon a day but you could get 5 or 6 pounds of meat off of each one. (I think...)

If I were a bear, this is where I think I would hang out. Sure, waiting till they get them on the stringer is a very effective/lazy way to find dinner but why not wait til they get the bones out, too?

Marine Mud Run 2009

Bright and early this morning we got up to go the Marine Mud Run at Melton Hill Lake. I, of course, was not running in this or any 5K but Anthony and Alex both were. Anthony with dreams of BIG MUD. This is their first time doing this so we didn't know exactly what to expect.

We were prepared, though.

We had runners.

Before and after.

We had water. There was a fire truck from Karns Fire Department pumping water out of the lake to assist in washing all that mud off.

We had Marines.

We had obstacles.

This picture shows a few of the obstacles. There were tunnels, dirt piles, mud pits, logs to crawl over, logs to crawl under, sand pits, tires, and a wooden wall to climb over. The course took them through the lake twice, then right back into the mud.

When Alex passed me here, she said, "This is nasty."

Then there was Anthony who ran it in BDU's and combat boots like A REAL MARINE!

After they were finished, they had time for a little religious cleansing in the Ganges River. (Isn't that what this looks like?)
What the fire truck couldn't wash off, the lake could.

Alex says she is never doing this again and Anthony says they should have it every month. At the different obstacles, the marines were barking instructions like in the movies!! Just when I thought I had him sold on the Air Force the Marines had to host a wonderful event like this. It will take me months to undo what they have done!

All proceeds for Marine Mud Run go to Toys For Tots.

Happy Birthday, Landry!

What's better than one four year old at a birthday party? Four 4-year-olds at a birthday party. A sleepover birthday party. With four 4-year-olds. These are four doggone cute little gals. If you are gonna have four 4-year-olds overnight, you also need a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old to keep up with them all. And dress them up. And coordinate the fashion show.

Sometimes there's a lot pressure being the birthday girl and all.

Way too early they got their jammies on and got their sleeping bags out. They were only TEASING us - they had no intention of lying down to go to sleep so we told them to at least pretend. Landry and Graysen were quite convincing.

Clean up from a Little Mermaid/princess birthday party ain't all that hard either...

Good Ol' Rocky Top!!

It's Football Time in Tennessee (don't we miss John Ward??) This week's season opener was also an era opener for Coach Lane Kiffin. I was anxious to see if it would "feel" different with a new coaching staff. I was a student at UT when Coach Fulmer took over the position from long-time coach Johnny Majors. Coach Fulmer had been interim coaching for Coach Majors so that transition was pretty benign and I don't remember a definite "different feeling." We were at Fulmer's last game last year and it was a somewhat sobering experience. Regardless of whether you agreed with his termination or not, you had to respect the amount of time he had spent there, what he had accomplished while there, and that a chapter in Tennessee Football was coming to a close. Sniff, sniff. Fast forward nine months and the atmosphere for this season opener was anything but sobering. The sea of orange was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L and the crowd was ready (and a little drunk. Okay, a lot drunk).

We decided to try something a little different to get to the game this week. It was a beautiful, sunny, hot - and I repeat HOT, day. So why not take the boat? We had never done that before, and it was only Tony and I since the kids went to West Virginia with my mom and dad, so this was the perfect opportunity to try out something different.

This is how we knew we were getting close. The closer you got to the stadium, the more boat houses had these messages on them.

This is a perspective not everyone gets to see. Thompson Boling Arena, Neyland Stadium, and the Sunsphere.

The Vol Navy is an amazing site. There are not actual slips to tie up to, you just tie up to the boat on the end, then a boat ties up to you, etc... and you walk across everyone's decks to get to the dock. We didn't do this, we had an actual parking place - after all this is our maiden voyage.

A beautiful picture of the library and the new Glocker Business Building. I'm sure I own at least a small piece of this building... I wonder if the new building is hot in the summer and even hotter in the winter?

My beautiful niece and her boyfriend, Holly and Ryan.

The Pride of the Southland Marching Band.

Coach Kiffin talking to QB Crompton.

The SEA OF ORANGE

I had trouble getting a whole video. I got parts of a touchdown, parts of Rocky Top, parts of the crowd, but never all together. This is as good as it gets on the video front... I think this is a touchdown in the 3rd quarter, either 42 or 49 but only got the beginning of Rocky Top. Oh well, I will try again next time.