Thursday, June 26, 2008
Branson / Camping
As usual, things have been on the busy side for me. I just returned from a week of traveling and Nora and I are gearing up for another wedding videography gig this weekend.
Nora dropped my Mom an email and I liked it so much I thought it would make a good blog entry. Nora says...
My employer sent me to a conference in Branson, MO last weekend. He and his family went too. I left Thursday afternoon and Eric and the kids met me there on Saturday. The conference was good, but the free time was even better! The hotel was right on Table Rock Lake, so my boss rented a boat one afternoon and we went out on the lake briefly. The weather turned bad and we had to go back to the docks, but it was fun while it lasted! The hotel had an indoor and an outdoor pool, so we got in plenty of swimming. We also went to the Titanic Museum and the Butterfly Palace.
All this week, Pierce had Cub Scouts Day Camp. He has to be at the school at 8 am to get his ride out to the camp grounds, and I pick him up at school at 4pm. However, on Wednesday, I took the day off to volunteer at Day Camp. It was sunny and hot, but we had a really nice breeze blowing. The theme of camp this year is ‘Spy Cubs’.
On Wed, the boys enjoyed activities such as the ‘egg drop’, archery, water fights, relay races, and a history lesson on spies and spy tactics in WWII. I guess I didn’t drink enough water throughout the day and got dehydrated because I ended up feeling terrible afterwards. About an hour or two before we left for home, I started getting a headache, and as I was driving home, I started feeling slightly nauseous.
I had Pierce take a shower, and then I took a shower when we got home. Pierce was fine, but I called Eric and he picked up Anna and dinner on the way home from work. I decided to lie down on the sofa, hoping I would feel better soon, and I did, but I fell asleep early (we were watching ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as a family and I just couldn’t keep my eyes open). I am so thankful that I did not volunteer all week!
-Eric (Dad)
Nora dropped my Mom an email and I liked it so much I thought it would make a good blog entry. Nora says...
My employer sent me to a conference in Branson, MO last weekend. He and his family went too. I left Thursday afternoon and Eric and the kids met me there on Saturday. The conference was good, but the free time was even better! The hotel was right on Table Rock Lake, so my boss rented a boat one afternoon and we went out on the lake briefly. The weather turned bad and we had to go back to the docks, but it was fun while it lasted! The hotel had an indoor and an outdoor pool, so we got in plenty of swimming. We also went to the Titanic Museum and the Butterfly Palace.
All this week, Pierce had Cub Scouts Day Camp. He has to be at the school at 8 am to get his ride out to the camp grounds, and I pick him up at school at 4pm. However, on Wednesday, I took the day off to volunteer at Day Camp. It was sunny and hot, but we had a really nice breeze blowing. The theme of camp this year is ‘Spy Cubs’.
On Wed, the boys enjoyed activities such as the ‘egg drop’, archery, water fights, relay races, and a history lesson on spies and spy tactics in WWII. I guess I didn’t drink enough water throughout the day and got dehydrated because I ended up feeling terrible afterwards. About an hour or two before we left for home, I started getting a headache, and as I was driving home, I started feeling slightly nauseous.
I had Pierce take a shower, and then I took a shower when we got home. Pierce was fine, but I called Eric and he picked up Anna and dinner on the way home from work. I decided to lie down on the sofa, hoping I would feel better soon, and I did, but I fell asleep early (we were watching ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as a family and I just couldn’t keep my eyes open). I am so thankful that I did not volunteer all week!
-Eric (Dad)
Monday, June 16, 2008
Corolla 2008
I hope everyone had a happy Father's Day. We're glad to be back from our vacation.
The beach trip this year was about as perfect as we would have wished. The house we rented was so nice that, for the first time in the history of these trips, we've decided to rent it again next year. The weather was perfect, hovering in the 70s and 80s for the week. The only time it rained was when I was grilling our dinner on Tuesday, but it passed quickly and, unsurprising to all, I didn't melt.
The house had an enormous backyard and horseshoe pit, the usual basketball hoop, a nice pool, a tiki bar with a running waterfall that cycled into the pool, hot tub, pool table, theater room (complete with projections system and helacious sound system), and lots of room to spread out and relax. The house had wrap-around decks on all levels, so navigating around the house was very easy. The in-house elevator made bringing luggage and groceries to the 1st floor very easy. You can see a better description of the house, and pictures, by clicking here.
While the surf started off pretty lousy, by mid-week Doug and I were able to go out and get some surfing in. By the end of the week the waves were pretty big. Doug was kind enough to trade surfboards with me (for the week) and we both benefited from the trade (his was more "floaty" and forgiving for me; mine was higher performing for him).
Doug and Erin's twins, a little over two now, really came into their own this year. They loved the beach and pool, and enjoyed playing ball and balloons around the house. Anna and Kevin became fast friends and spent most of the week together. Pierce bounced from relative to relative, sometimes spending time with Anna and Kevin, other times hanging out with his older cousin Chance.
Chance brought a new friend to the beach this year, William. William was a little more quiet and reserved than last year's guest, but a very nice addition to the house. He was very good with the younger kids but also enjoyed hanging out with us adults. He and I ended up getting several games of pool in and he and Chance both joined our games of basketball out on the driveway.
As in prior years, Chance brought his PS2 to the house. We hooked it up in the theater room and is was so cool. Guitar Hero has never sounded so good, and all of us spent a lot of time driving and crashing cars on Burnout 3 (Pierce got to be pretty good at it).
The ladies spent a lot of time sipping wine and having quality girl time. I think they set an all-time vacation record for staying up late. One evening Nora came to bed about 4:00 am. How much time can they spend talking about how wonderful we Lindenberg me are? ;) This year my Mom spent a fair amount of time with the Lindenberg wives and she rounded out the group very nicely. I shudder to think what stories she was sharing.
While the women claimed the upstairs breakfast bar area for their girl time, we "men" (including Pierce, Kevin, Chance, William, Anna (yeah, Anna), Doug, Scott and myself) staked out the man cave (the theater room). Along with the video games, the room got a lot of movie usage. We rented "Cloverleaf" (the modern day Godzilla movie). The younger kids hated the ending, but we more "mature" men liked it.
The Corolla 2007 highlight video was shown to our group of vacationers the first night we were all in the house together. For those who didn't see in prior posts, this year's video was structured as a news broadcast with Nora and myself as anchors. The video was a hit and everyone was very complimentary of my efforts (with the help of Nora, both our kids, and the dog). Interestingly, everyone just took it as a given that I was able to digitally create a news studio from which Nora and I broadcast... I was surprised it turned out as well as it did.
My Mom decided this year she'd like to spend individual time with the grand kids that don't live in the Virginia Beach area. Chance was up first and it sounds like they had a good time. I think they spent the afternoon playing putt-putt, but I'm not sure what the entire agenda was. Pierce was next, and he and Mom watched go-cart races (tho Pierce declined participation), played putt-putt, went paddle boating, and hat ice cream. After swearing to my Mom that he wouldn't tell the rest of us that the paddle boat got stranded, he immediately came back to the house and made a general announcement. Interestingly, Mom managed to abrade the skin on her bottom during the paddle boat expedition; so she sat 1-cheeked for the remainder of the vacation.
Though originally interested, Anna decided that she'd rather stay at the house rather than do an "outside" activity with my Mom. They ended up making cookie together. I think my Mom would have liked to have done more, but scaled her expectations back a little when it became apparent that Anna only had a limited appetite for making cookies (I'm sure they'll have more to do next year).
One of the highlights of the trip was our professional photographer session on the beach. Nora organized the effort as a birthday present for my Mom. The ladies worked together to coordinate outfits for all the families, then we met the photographer out on the beach after dinner. The weather was perfect and everyone, including even the small kids, were in a good picture taking mood. The pictures came out great -you can view them by clicking here.
As always, the week flew by; but our Saturday checkout went smoothly (even without Nora's Dad there to help us clean out the kitchen). The weather was un-godly hot, so it made packing up the car pretty miserable. After several hours of getting cleared out, and sweating copiously, we decided to forego our usual stopover at the Corolla Lighthouse and head back to Virginia Beach. Pierce took it with good grace, but extracted a promise that we would go next year.
While our vacation week went by almost flawlessly, our return to Kansas City was pretty bumpy. Our 3.5 hour scheduled flight turned into a 17 hour marathon. The kids and Nora handled the situation without a complaint, which made the whole ordeal much less painful. But if I ever have an opportunity to meet the president of United Airlines I will punch him in the head. I can't believe an airline can be run so incompetently -nuff said.
I hope to have some pictures from our trip posted soon, so come on back and visit our blog again.
-Eric (Dad)
The beach trip this year was about as perfect as we would have wished. The house we rented was so nice that, for the first time in the history of these trips, we've decided to rent it again next year. The weather was perfect, hovering in the 70s and 80s for the week. The only time it rained was when I was grilling our dinner on Tuesday, but it passed quickly and, unsurprising to all, I didn't melt.
The house had an enormous backyard and horseshoe pit, the usual basketball hoop, a nice pool, a tiki bar with a running waterfall that cycled into the pool, hot tub, pool table, theater room (complete with projections system and helacious sound system), and lots of room to spread out and relax. The house had wrap-around decks on all levels, so navigating around the house was very easy. The in-house elevator made bringing luggage and groceries to the 1st floor very easy. You can see a better description of the house, and pictures, by clicking here.
While the surf started off pretty lousy, by mid-week Doug and I were able to go out and get some surfing in. By the end of the week the waves were pretty big. Doug was kind enough to trade surfboards with me (for the week) and we both benefited from the trade (his was more "floaty" and forgiving for me; mine was higher performing for him).
Doug and Erin's twins, a little over two now, really came into their own this year. They loved the beach and pool, and enjoyed playing ball and balloons around the house. Anna and Kevin became fast friends and spent most of the week together. Pierce bounced from relative to relative, sometimes spending time with Anna and Kevin, other times hanging out with his older cousin Chance.
Chance brought a new friend to the beach this year, William. William was a little more quiet and reserved than last year's guest, but a very nice addition to the house. He was very good with the younger kids but also enjoyed hanging out with us adults. He and I ended up getting several games of pool in and he and Chance both joined our games of basketball out on the driveway.
As in prior years, Chance brought his PS2 to the house. We hooked it up in the theater room and is was so cool. Guitar Hero has never sounded so good, and all of us spent a lot of time driving and crashing cars on Burnout 3 (Pierce got to be pretty good at it).
The ladies spent a lot of time sipping wine and having quality girl time. I think they set an all-time vacation record for staying up late. One evening Nora came to bed about 4:00 am. How much time can they spend talking about how wonderful we Lindenberg me are? ;) This year my Mom spent a fair amount of time with the Lindenberg wives and she rounded out the group very nicely. I shudder to think what stories she was sharing.
While the women claimed the upstairs breakfast bar area for their girl time, we "men" (including Pierce, Kevin, Chance, William, Anna (yeah, Anna), Doug, Scott and myself) staked out the man cave (the theater room). Along with the video games, the room got a lot of movie usage. We rented "Cloverleaf" (the modern day Godzilla movie). The younger kids hated the ending, but we more "mature" men liked it.
The Corolla 2007 highlight video was shown to our group of vacationers the first night we were all in the house together. For those who didn't see in prior posts, this year's video was structured as a news broadcast with Nora and myself as anchors. The video was a hit and everyone was very complimentary of my efforts (with the help of Nora, both our kids, and the dog). Interestingly, everyone just took it as a given that I was able to digitally create a news studio from which Nora and I broadcast... I was surprised it turned out as well as it did.
My Mom decided this year she'd like to spend individual time with the grand kids that don't live in the Virginia Beach area. Chance was up first and it sounds like they had a good time. I think they spent the afternoon playing putt-putt, but I'm not sure what the entire agenda was. Pierce was next, and he and Mom watched go-cart races (tho Pierce declined participation), played putt-putt, went paddle boating, and hat ice cream. After swearing to my Mom that he wouldn't tell the rest of us that the paddle boat got stranded, he immediately came back to the house and made a general announcement. Interestingly, Mom managed to abrade the skin on her bottom during the paddle boat expedition; so she sat 1-cheeked for the remainder of the vacation.
Though originally interested, Anna decided that she'd rather stay at the house rather than do an "outside" activity with my Mom. They ended up making cookie together. I think my Mom would have liked to have done more, but scaled her expectations back a little when it became apparent that Anna only had a limited appetite for making cookies (I'm sure they'll have more to do next year).
One of the highlights of the trip was our professional photographer session on the beach. Nora organized the effort as a birthday present for my Mom. The ladies worked together to coordinate outfits for all the families, then we met the photographer out on the beach after dinner. The weather was perfect and everyone, including even the small kids, were in a good picture taking mood. The pictures came out great -you can view them by clicking here.
As always, the week flew by; but our Saturday checkout went smoothly (even without Nora's Dad there to help us clean out the kitchen). The weather was un-godly hot, so it made packing up the car pretty miserable. After several hours of getting cleared out, and sweating copiously, we decided to forego our usual stopover at the Corolla Lighthouse and head back to Virginia Beach. Pierce took it with good grace, but extracted a promise that we would go next year.
While our vacation week went by almost flawlessly, our return to Kansas City was pretty bumpy. Our 3.5 hour scheduled flight turned into a 17 hour marathon. The kids and Nora handled the situation without a complaint, which made the whole ordeal much less painful. But if I ever have an opportunity to meet the president of United Airlines I will punch him in the head. I can't believe an airline can be run so incompetently -nuff said.
I hope to have some pictures from our trip posted soon, so come on back and visit our blog again.
-Eric (Dad)
Labels: corolla north carolina outer banks video pictures United house pool
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