Catching Up...

I know it's trite, but I've been so busy living life that I haven't had time to blog about it much lately. I suppose it's time to catch up. Last Monday, 9/11/06, it was good to meet Matt and Joe for lunch at school. It did indeed bring back memories of eating with David and Joe on the same date in 2001.

Also last week was special because a teenager was welcomed to the family. Friends and co-workers have been warning me about the difficulties in raising teenagers for the past few years. I guess I am about to find out what they are talking about. I will be the parent of one or more teens during the next 13 years. David will be my only teen during the next two and one-half years. I will have two or more teens simultaneously for the following seven years. I will actually have three teens simultaneously for about one and two thirds years out of those seven years. Then I will be back to having one teenager three and two thirds years. Yes, as you can tell, sometimes I have to figure out way too many details!

Anyway, David seemed to have a great 13th birthday. I gave him his gifts, including a new digital camera, an autographed book by Winston Groom entitled "Illustrated History of the Crimson Tide”, numerous baseball cards, an autographed Greg Maddux card, an Alabama football media guides from 1984 and 2006, and a few DVD's that I made for him. We all had fun together that night.

Friday night we went to bed early. I would guess we all were asleep not too long after 8:00. It was a good thing. My alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. so that we could leave for Tuscaloosa by about 5:30. It was really easy traveling to an Alabama game that early in the morning. It was dark most of the way to Birmingham and the sun didn't actually rise until we were around Bessemer.

We parked across from Farrah Hall and "tailgated" in front of Moore Hall on the southeast side of the quad all day. We did visit the Bryant Museum. We also enjoyed watching the team arrive at the stadium at about 3:00. The boys played football with some other kids much of the day and I did all of the grilling. We left the game with about 5 remaining. Bama was winning 41-7. It was a great decision. we walked fast over to the car and beat most of the crowd out of Tuscaloosa around 9:00. We drove all the way to my parents' home in Huntsville and arrived there around 11:45 or so.

Sunday we hung out with my Mom and Dad. David organized his baseball cards and watched the Cubs game and I watched a lot of the Braves game with my Dad. David washed my Mom's car and Joe washed mine. Joe also mowed the front yard. We played a little football down at the park and enjoyed a wonderful meal that my Mom prepared. She made baked chicken, baked potatoes and green beans.

Yesterday I got to take David and Joe to the Cullman County Fair. I had fun watching them on the rides. We also enjoyed looking at the animals and prize vegetables. The weather was perfect for a fair. The air was dry and cool. Someone either threw or dropped a plastic bag with water and a goldfish from the top of the ferris wheel. It missed us by about a foot. That would have been bad! This has been one of those rather boring narrative chronological entries that I submitted mainly to supplement our memories. Someday I hope the boys and I will look back fondly at these times.