The Corn Maize

There is a corn field maze just north of here which is pretty popular. They host LCS as a fundraiser for the school, so we went out to check it out. They have a pretty cool setup - lots of fun things to do. Obviously, the main reason you go is for the maze - or MAiZE as they call it.

Here is a picture of this year's maze:

You really do not get a feel for the size from above like this. Each of the thin lines around the edges are just a little wider than my arm span.

They let you go in without a map, or you can get a set of clues. There are 10 numbers throughout the maze and you have to answer a question (we picked the Bible and sports questions) and based on your answer, you are told to turn left or right. Or, you can do like we did and use this:


I am walking along tracing my finger on where we are most of the first half. Then we got lost in the second half and wandered around the 0 and the Y of years for a while. Finally, I realized the ultimate cheat - they drive the quickest path with a four-wheeler at the start of the day and since we are still recovering from 8 inches of rain, you just follow the tracks!

We did make it all the way through and had a lot of fun doing so. Here is a shot of us on one of the bridges overlooking the maze. Surprisingly, at least to me, is the fact that you could not even tell what it was when looking over the top of it.


I talked to the guy who owns the place. Making a maze involves sending a picture to this company and they give you back a grid. You set up the GPS and autosteer on the tractor and then plant corn in a set grid. You then go through when the corn is about yo high and plant by plant you use the grid to figure out which ones to kill off with Roundup. He had pictures and everything. Very cool! Here's their portion of the website, just in case you are interested.

Just thought this one was fun!

At the park while playing with the Vernon cousins on Labor Day.

Funny stuff!

I hate to draw attention away from my two children who are pictured below inside dog carriers, but blogging must go on . . . !! :-)

Much thanks to all of you who responded to my "mommy guilt" post. You, also, have raised some valuable questions for me and offered insight from your own experiences as mothers and employees--that kind of wisdom is priceless. I haven't ditched the guilt yet (yes, Sarah, it does seem to be a mama "accessory"), but I will take your advice to live in the present and continue to love my children in every way that I
know how. Special thanks to my mother-in-law, Barbara, for the encouragement and the compliment; that meant a lot to me.

Now on to some funny things:

Grace apparently does not like humming. I sing to her every night (we have quite a repertoire of songs going), but last night I was really sleepy and the songs trailed off into a stream of humming. In the darkness, my quiet and almost asleep daughter YELLED, "Sing wif yous mouth! Singn wif yous mouth!" I cracked up, and quickly re-entered the world of lyrics.

Rob and I went out ON A DATE Friday night to celebrate our 13th anniversary. (If you're freaked out about the #13, it has always been a lucky number for me. Remember, my mailbox address at ACU was Box 6666, so clearly I am not afraid of "bad" numbers! :-)) Anyway, we try to go out once a year, whether we need to or not, so because of the infrequency of our dates, we don't really have the rules down--like how to prepare the babysitter, remembering to make reservations so all or our time isn't eroded in a crowded waiting area, etc.

Since we already messed up with the reservations thing, we decided to throw caution to the wind and try a new restaurant, hoping for some place quiet and dimly lit, and lo and behold, we enter a place that looks like a cross between the inside of campground lodge (complete with wood paneling and pine-topped tables) and Cheers, with the bar taking up over half of the sitting area, and beer and LOUD talking obscuring the sound of lumberjacks chopping down trees nearby (ok, just kidding there). We had to wait for our table for almost 45 minutes, which would have been a great time to visit with each other, except for the fact that we had to SHOUT over the noise to be heard.

I didn't, however, have any problem hearing the conversation of the man & wife nearby, who were loudly talking to each other and periodically, into her cell phone. I know about his workman's compensation claim, her daughter's facial tumor, the bad economy, what's wrong with the world at large, and her general disgust with just about everything. I felt really sorry for them--first, because between the two of them, they might have had enough teeth for one good set, and secondly, because they were both drinking alcohol from two of the biggest goblets I have ever seen, which seemed to sour their moods with every watery sip. Anyway, the wait and the above-mentioned conversation really set the mood for romance.

And on that note:
Happy belated anniversary, Rob! Thanks for the flowers and the date and for being my friend and my one and only for the last 13 years. I love you!
Jana

Caption this photo...

Here's your chance to provide a caption for this picture of our children - one who wants to be a dog, one who just wants a dog.

Three from the outing

I was going to wait until Thursday for another triple shot, but couldn't wait.

I am so proud of my daughter!

This evening we went to Tech and set up my office, then went and walked around campus. There is a section of statues and one of them is of an older gentleman with a cane, sitting and resting with his dog. And Grace walks up to the man and does this...

Triple Shot Thursday

Triple Shot

They're Here!

Jana and the kids made it back safely. They had a great time. Lots of cute pictures from the rodeo and the parade. I'll let Jana add those.

Luke made it to the rodeo all four nights and ate more than his share of carnival food, at least that was my take based on what he said he did at the rodeo. The only thing he mentioned was food and the clowns. Oh, and the bullrider that got stepped on by the bull.

I cooked hamburgers and we ate outside. I had added some plants and this...

It's not the greatest pictures, but in my defense, it is hard to snap a shot of a swinging target.

Here's a picture of both of them.


I am glad they are all home. I have missed them.

Uh-oh Daisy!

Grace's phrase for when something falls over or when she falls down, etc.

Nothing much to say about it except it is very, very cute!

January's Family Day Out

I was in the Wells Fargo Bank building this week, where I came across the Chamber's large display of things to do in Lubbock. I got to thinking about how many things there are to do in Lubbock, yet we have not done many of them. Maybe it's that whole "You don't go to the Capitol if you live in Austin" or "You don't ever go skiing if you live in Denver" thing. So, I grabbed a couple of pamphlets and off we went for our first monthly day out. (We think we will try to do something once a month. We may not and this may be the last monthly update...)

We decided to go to the Silent Wings Museum (find out more here).



Lubbock was once the training site for WWII glider pilots and now has a museum telling the story of the gliders in WWII. Very interesting, with a refurbished glider, several WWII jeeps tanks, etc. Definitely worth a trip.

This was my favorite picture from our outing.


It is looking down the barrel of this...


There are more pictures on flickr.

The Silent Wings museum is a partner with the Buddy Holly Center (here) and so if you go to one, you can go to the other within 48 hours. We went ahead and did this one, too. I think dad would especially enjoy seeing some of the things they have about Buddy Holly, so we will have to put that one on the list to do as well.



I thought it was interesting that we picked today to come since this was in the paper this morning.

Makes Her Daddy Proud!

Jana and the kids got me a book with grilling recipes for Christmas. I was cooking Swiss Burgers tonight and needed something to round out the meal. I was trying to find just the perfect thing, and this was it...



For some reason, I got to thinking about Chuy's Creamy Jalapeño Dip and began searching for a copycat recipe, which I found here. There are several versions on the recipezaar.com site, most of which admit to not being the original. (Besides, unless you want to nail fish to your ceiling, it wouldn't be the same anyway!!) However, if you find that your city name does not appear here or here (click on option 4), I would declare this a very good substitute. But don't take my word for it, take Grace's:



The only picture missing is the one where she picked up her spoon and began eating the dip like soup. That's my girl!

From Luke and God

Here's a picture of Grace opening a Christmas present tonight from our family Christmas. To be honest, it was the end of a long day which included an unexpected surprise. None of us are feeling particularly well, which you can see if you look at Grace's nose close enough.

This is not the greatest picture from a composition standpoint, but the frame Grace is opening is extremely precious. As a part of Luke's Sunday and Wednesday Bible classes (Journeyland), he gets points for each scripture he memorizes. Last week, all of the students got to go to a market and buy things with their points. While it was not the point, I will say that Luke was close to the top in terms of number of points earned. He purchased presents for each of us, including this one for Grace. (Again, if you look close, you can see the "20" points sticker on the back of the frame.) I got a great hammer and tape measure.

On the tags, Luke wrote "From Luke and God," because God had put His word in Luke's heart. As far as I am concerned, Christmas is complete. Maybe not over, but certainly complete.

4th of July

The Bailey's invited us out to their house out in the country for the 4th. For those of you who don't know, Bob is Luke's favorite fireman - he is one of the inspectors here in town and is incredibly patient to tell Luke fireman stories. Luke thinks he hung the moon and also thinks it is pretty cool he carries a gun. I figure anyone who is in the "I want to be a fireman/policeman like Mr. Bailey" category is way up there in Luke's book.

Bob did not get to be with us because he was at the big fireworks show downtown, but a lot of his family and Susan's family were there. We grilled hamburgers and the kids played until dark and then we got to see fireworks pretty much all the way around us.

Susan was lamenting the fact that houses had been built around them so you could not see as well, but we thought it was an incredible view and really loved the chance to visit with their family.

Here is a picture of Grace decked out in her festive garb.

Half Birthdays

Well, I am a couple of days late posting this, but this past Monday, we celebrated Grace (and Luke's) half birthday. I have been saying Grace is 18 months for at least 4 months now, so it seems fitting she has finally caught up with me. I am having a bit harder time thinking that in 4 1/2 months, I will have a 7 year old.

We had cake - half cakes, of course - and 1 1/2 and 6 1/2 candles. Luke got to decorate his cake. The one he is holding here is Grace's. It was a fun time!

Nice Hat!

And yet another princess shot...

Baby, you can drive my car...

And a flashback shot...

Love the Baby