Our trip to Arkansas

We were invited back to Arkansas for the annual Ott Memorial Golf Tournament 6/25 - 6/28. Most of you know the man Jesse and I both worked for for so long, J.R. Ott, passed away last June 2008. The golf tournament was in honor of his dad, Robert. Unfortunately, J.R.'s funeral ended up being the same weekend as the tournament in 2008. His family asked us to come back this year to enjoy the tournament and we were able to spend time with his Sister and her family, his Mom (referred to by the grandkids as Nonnie), and J.R.'s ex-wife, Gina and their kids, Andrew, Axel, and Lily! We had a great time mostly swimming and eating! J.R.'s sister, Joanna, let us stay in a furnished corporate apartment. We went to the Centennial Valley Country Club for swimming and some meals. Joanna and Jim have a dinner around the pool at their house on Thurs. evening. Then Friday there is a lunch for family and the golfers. We got to take some golf carts Friday afternoon and drive the kids around and have burgers out by one of the holes on the golf course. Saturday and Sunday Lil Jesse got up early and went with Andrew and Axel to cook hamburgers for all the golfers and family. I think each day they cooked more than 300 burgers! (There were several adults doing the cooking too) I took Cross and Cole swimming everyday! Saturday night there was a nice dinner at the events center with a great live band! Thanks to Gina for letting all the kids stay at her house Friday and Saturday evenings so Jesse and I could stay out and enjoy the bands.
We made the six hour drive home on Sunday and brough J.R.'s two boys, Andrew and Axel, home with us. On Monday night all the boys saw Transformers 2. On Tuesday, they all came up to the shop and rode dirt bikes on the mini track by the shop. Wednesday, I dropped them off at Six Flags for the whole day! Thursday evening big Jesse took them all to Village Creek Motocross Park to ride dirt bikes. Friday we had a cook out at the house and they shot off a few fireworks. Then on Sat. 4th of July we went to lake for the day and they tried to ski. Jesse and Lil Jesse are good at skiing, but it wasn't as much fun for Andrew and Axel since they weren't able to ever get up. Then we set off a bunch of fireworks at the house that night. Sunday we took them to the airport to fly back home. We were all exhausted by then. Hopefully they had fun!

Dakin on the news

My nephew (on Barry's side of the family) who has SMARD was on the local news in Longview. His parents, Dakin and Devon Lovelace are trying to get signatures on the Cure SMA Petition for a bill that would fund research. If you haven't seen the video from Devon's blog , http://ventsuperman.blogspot.com here is the link to the news story. Then, if you haven't signed the Cure SMA petition, please take 30 seconds to sign it!! http://petitiontocuresma.com

http://www.kltv.com/global/Category.asp?C=151146&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=15129&topVideoCatNoB=107660&topVideoCatNoC=108625&topVideoCatNoD=123412&topVideoCatNoE=107065&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3910780

Jesse's Art

Little Jesse took art this year. They had an art show last week to display the student's artwork and gave out ribbons in different catagories. One of Jesse's got a first place ribbon. They were asked to draw a common item and then draw people doing things on/around it. He drew his earphones with skateboarders on them. This drawing was also selected for a multi school competition that he got to go to during the school day. He also made a nice clay cup and several other drawings. He did a great job on all of it, which is good after a rocky start at the beginning of the year!

Playing in the Rain

On Sunday over Memorial Day weekend we got some rain. It had been raining lightly on and off all day. Jesse was cooking some steaks on the grill when it started coming down! He asked for an umbrella, so the kids all grabbed umbrellas and were playing out there while he was cooking. Cole was running around in just a pair of whitie tighties (although they are not really tight on him) and he put on a pair of Cross' flip flops to go out there. Jesse called me out there and said we had to get a picture of our redneck kid out there in his underwear and flip flops! So, here they are.

Cross' Kindergarten Graduation

Well Cross' first year of school has flown by! I can't believe it is over. The last day is this Thursday June 4th. He has loved going to the Academy at Nola Dunn. I am so glad that we were able to get a spot for him there. Their brain based teaching and hands on learning is great and he loved his teacher. He will have her again next year for first grade, as they are on a two year loop for teachers. They stay with the same one for two years at a time. He is definitely excited to be a first grader. They did the graduations by class separately, so it was only his class. But, they did it during the school day, so we didn't get to have everyone come. After the ceremony, they had a slideshow playing during a little reception with cookies and punch in the library. It was all cute! All the songs they sang were so cute too. Although, it was kind of sad to be done with that time in his life.