Os-titikle tourse

One of Kennicks new favorite things to do is to make and play in the os-titikle tourse (obstacle course).  This is one of the first words he says when he wakes up in the morning and it is spoken quite frequently throughout the day with those big blue eyes that just radiate pure joy at the thought of making one.

If you look closely you will see Kennick in the corner after he had just jumped into the bean bag.  He has great fun transforming the couch into a child's wonderland.  Endless hours of playing.  

We have even been able to get Kennick, me and both the dogs in the tunnels though it was quite difficult to get out :)

Kentucky Airport Challenge Final

Well, today was the official last day of the Kentucky Airport Challenge.  It was an almost perfect end to a fantastic adventure.  It concluded with a fly-in at Tompkinsville airport with a dozen or so pilots who braved the iffy weather to have wonderful BBQ and good fellowship.  It was also another exceptionally warm day with scattered showers in the vicinity.

There were many people/companies that sponsored the event.  At about 1:30 the drawings began.   We came home with a pretty good haul.

Robert:
A pair of headsets for the airplane
A 4 day/3 night houseboat vacation at Dale Hollow Lake

Derek:
$50 Wal-Mart gift card
Aviation art-deco print
CX-2 Flight Computer

and I was blessed to walk away with the grand prize:

iPad 2 fully loaded with numerous aviation apps.

Couldn't ask for a better ending to a great adventure!!

Kentucky Airport Challenge

WE DID IT!!  Today we finished the Kentucky Airport Challenge.  7 trips and 23.3 hours later we (thanks Fred) visited 35 airports spanning the length and width of Kentucky.  Once again it was another hot day of mid afternoon flying.  We sure are glad to be done!  During the flight today we were able to see West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.

Todays trip:  4 hours

K22:        Big Sandy Regional Airport
KPBX:    Pike County
1A6:        Middlesboro - Bell County
W38:       Williamsburg - Whitley County
KTZV:    Tompkinsville - Monroe County

Out of all the trips that we have taken, this was probably the most fun.  Flying southeast you start heading into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  One of the first things they teach you when you are learning to fly is to always look for places to land in case of an emergency.  Well, when you are in the mountains those are few and far between.

This was our first stop at Big Sandy Regional Airport

Do you see any place to land??

Pike County Airport.  

This was the highest elevation and furthest east airport that we stopped at.

Did I mention we were dodging rain clouds?

An absolutely beautiful view going between two mountains ranges.

This is what I spent most of my time looking at.

This is departing Middlesboro.  Do you notice the big mountain at the end of the runway?

It went all the way around the entire airport.

Here's Robert at our last airport!

Getting the last stamp.

Our final destination...Home.

When we first heard about the challenge neither of us thought we would actually be able to accomplish it.  It was a lot of flying but it was an absolutely wonderful experience.  We were able to experience so many different regions of Kentucky and see its diversity.  We were able to see many different states as well on our adventures:  Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.  We saw the plains of western and the mountains of eastern Kentucky and everything inbetween.  Even learned a thing or two about flying.  

Maybe someday we will have another co-pilot :)

Lowes

Lowes has a program called "Build and Grow".  We went a couple weeks ago and built a really neat tow-truck which Kennick is very proud of.  Today we got to build a set of binoculars.

Swimming

This past Thursday night we all took a trip to the YMCA.  Due to the extreme hot weather we wanted to take a dip in the pool.  It wasn't hard to talk Kennick into it because he LOVES water.  We got our swimming suits on and into the pool we went.  Kennick has taken swimming lessons and we have spent a lot of time in the pool with him.  We always make sure to have at least one hand on him all the time when he is in the pool.  Tonight was no different but he did go straight for the noodles.  So noodle under the armpits and he started playing in the water.  I tried to let go of him a couple times and he did good but was not in control.  He noticed a little boy with a kiddie floaty on and wanted one.  Now with floaty and noodle his confidence grew and it seems like all of a sudden he knew what to do.  He pushed away from me and took off swimming.  It was really amazing to see everything come together with the brain/body connection and the neuro-synapses.

(I apologize that the video is sideways.  I couldn't figure out how to do it right)

It is a beautiful thing to watch you child learn how to do something new.  Though this time there was a little sadness to see my little boy start to take another step away from us.  I know we are supposed to raise our children to be self sufficient and dependent but sometimes you just want them to stay the way they are.

This was Kennick blowing water out of the noodle trying to get everyone wet.  I think someday he will be a fine trumpeter.

YMCA

Upon walking out the door this morning on my way to work I grasped for air as I walked into the hot humid Kentucky air.  It was air that would completely encompass your entire being and would slowly choke your every breath like a python closing in on its prey.  Each second it became more and more painful to tolerate.  Pools of sweat would raise up and start to drip like a leaky faucet.  The slight breeze that did stir felt like the fires of dragons breath.  I could feel the meat on my bones marinating like a rotisserie and ready to fall off the bone.  Needless to say, it was hot.

Karalee and Kennick had been home all day playing and having fun.  This morning the two of them went to the library for Tator Tot Time.  He came home as King Kennick.

There was a minor incident of Annabelle getting her dew claw snagged on something and her running around the house bleeding all over everything.  She was taken to the vet and they patched her up well and she is feeling much better.

After I got home from work we decided to take a trip to the YMCA.  We thought a large building with air conditioning would be a little more enjoyable than playing outside.  Kennick decided that he wanted to play on the play gym.  The play gym is a bunch of interconnecting tunnels that more or less looks like a large hamster cage with a couple of slides in the middle.  Kennick took off running and was blazing a trail like the finest four legged critter.  It wasn't too much longer that I heard "daddy....come".  So for the next 30 minutes I wallered through the hamster cage trying to keep up with Kennick.  I do admit that I was lapped numerous times but was having a great time.

This is Kennick going down the slide...again...

As you can see it is much easier for a smaller person to maneuver through the tunnels.

That is my foot as Kennick is getting ready to lap me again.

I think by the end of the night Kennick had managed to go down the slide around 30 some times.  I made it approximately 7 times.  It didn't take long for him to fall asleep tonight and I'm sure I will have bruises on my knees in the morning :)

Deluge

del·uge

[del-yooj, -yoozh, del-ooj, -oozh, dih-looj, -loozh]  Show IPA

noun, verb, -uged, -ug·ing.

–noun

1.

a great flood  of water; inundation; flood.

2.

a drenching rain; downpour.

3.

anything that overwhelms like a flood: a deluge of mail.

This word has been thrown around quite a bit at our house recently, both figuratively and metaphorically.  It started last week when our tenant called me and said that they would be moving out of the house they were renting from us.  This came as quite a bit of a shock because we were anticipating them staying until December and possibly into early spring.  It was also the time that the contract with our realtor was running out.  We decided it was time for a new realtor.  All of a sudden our to-do list doubled as well as the stress that goes along with life.   


One of my favorite quotes (author unknown):


"God won't give me anything I can't handle.  I just wish He didn't trust me so much".  

The Garden

Granny is notorious for her green thumb and her garden.  In talking you can feel the joy and pride that the garden brings her.  Growing up I remember spending a lot of time in our family garden.  I remember having to help put seeds in the rows and cover them with dirt.  I remember the distinct smell of a tomato plant.  I remember wondering why sweet corn seeds were pink.  I also remember harvesting and how good everything tasted that was freshly picked.  Though in my much younger years I did not like tomatoes for some reason and I ate bacon and mayo sandwiches and opting out of the tomato which is strange because I put Ketchup on everything...  Karalee also remembers spending time in Granny's garden as a child and having very similar memories.  Who knew we would end up planting these memories with our child 20 some years later. 

When I moved to Kentucky I was blessed to be able to spend time with Karalee in Granny's garden.  Granny doesn't just let anyone into her garden, it is almost a right of passage.  We would help out as much as we could with planting, pulling weeds and the things that go along with gardening.  Granny would even entertain many of my novelty plants that I wanted to try grow and some have even been planted again (though butternut squash has been officially banned).  In the past couple years Granny has even added another garden which is about 15 x 40 feet behind the barn.

We try to get to her house at least once a week to help pull weeds and pick veggies.  Kennick is also been a very big help with this process.  Last night he helped us plant beats, cucumbers and summer squash.  We also were able to pick cucumbers, green beans, peppers, a few small tomatoes and yellow squash.  Also, the neighbor boy stopped over with a dozen farm fresh eggs.  That's a pretty good haul. 

Karalee, Kennick and Granny with the first planting of the season.

This was last night.

Here is Kennick giving a classic "cheese" face.  You may also notice that he is completely covered in dirt.

This is a tradition that has been going on for a long time.  After one of our first plantings as we were sitting under the shade tree Granny mentioned something to the effect of "I don't think Kennick's gran-gran-granny would have ever imagined having a fourth generation grandchild sitting under the same tree 100 years later". 

Now that is growing deep roots...

Kentucky Airport Challenge

June 1st, 2011 kicked off the official Kentucky Airport Challenge!  The challenge consists of visiting 35 airports that span about 300 NM east and west and 130 NM north and south in two months.  Not the easiest challenge for two full time working chiropractors.  We have taken on the challenge and are working hard to visit all the airports before July 31st. 

We have pulled out the aviation maps and flagged each airport that is part of the challenge and broken them down into 4 different regions: NW, SW, NE, SE.

This past Saturday we embarked upon the 8 airports in NE portion of the challenge:

FFT:  Frankfort Capital City
27K:  Georgetown/Scott County Regional
0i8:  Cynthiana/Harrison County
K62:  Gene Snyder/Pendleton County
FGX:  Fleming/Mason
DWU:  Ashland Regional
M97:  Morehead/Rowan County
I0B:  Mt. Sterling/Montgomery County

It took 4.9 hours of flying time but we were able to make a successful trip (one that we can walk away from).  Out of all the airports we have seen, Ashland Regional was probably one of the most fun so far.  See picture below:

To the left of the river is Ohio and to the right of the river is Kentucky  Just a few more miles down the road is West Virginia.  I believe that this is the furthest airport from Glasgow at about 178 NMs.  By the end of the day many of the airports were a blur and we were glad to be home.

Only 8 more to go...

The Boat

This is a picture of me and Kennick in our little boat.  I know it is not fancy boat by any stretch of the imagination but the history that goes with the boat runs deep.  In fact, I am sure if you look back in the family photo albums you will see an almost identical picture 30 some years ago with me and my father.

Every summer growing up our family would take a vaction in central Minnesota at my mother's aunt and uncle; Lawrence and Nellvina Zicafoose.  This was orginally their boat and we would use it while we were there.  We would usually have to dig it out of the weeds when we got there and it got the majority of its yearly use the few summer days we were there.  This was the first boat that I learned how to captain and spent 100's of hours fishing in.  It isn't much of a boat but when you are a kid it was a beautiful yacht full of endless possibilities.

A few years ago the boat found it's home at my parents house after Lawrence and Nellvina had both passed away.  After that it finished off it's 950 mile jouney to central Kentucky were it was a house warming gift at our first house.  It had even received a complete overhaul from my parents and sister (when Bailey was about a foot shorter).

One weekend after Karalee and I were married we decided to take it to the lake and see how it would work.  We launched the boat in the lake and by the time that Karalee had returned to the boat dock from parking the car I had many blisters on my hands from trying to start it and had to row it back to shore.  Good thing we were already married because I don't think she would have picked the guy in the little row boat ;) 

This past 4th of July we launched it into Johnny and Kathy's pond to put out a duck house.  We gave all the kids a ride and it was nice to get back in and share another memory in it.  Hopefully someday Kennick and I will be able to take it out for a weekend get away and make some new memories.  Maybe even Kennick will take his kids out in it someday...

Karalee's Galtinburg Birthday Weekend

This past 4th of July weekend we packed up the family for a trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee!!  It had been a long time since we have taken a weekend vacation and thought this would be a great opputunity.  The journey started early Saturday morning with blue skies and a full tank of gas.  Karalee had made reservations and a neat hotel with a pool and other splash playgrounds, the Dixie Stampede and the Gatlinburg aquarium.  We were set and Kennick was excited!  We didn't set any land speed records to get there but the car ride was fairly uneventful.  Kennick had been chatty almost the whole trip and entertained with numerous videos of Curious George until he decided to fall asleep about 2 miles from the hotel.  We did the best we could to get checked in and to the room without disturbing him so he could have a good nap.  We made it past the front desk, pool, up a flight of stairs, through the door and just as Karalee was laying him down on the bed he looked over at the both of us and said "I want to go the pool".  His nap lasted about 15 minutes and he wasn't going to go back to sleep anytime soon.

The pool had many different fountains, a slide and buckets that would drop water out of the sky.  This was a lesson that Kennick learned the hard way.  He and Karalee were walking around the pool until the time that one of the buckets filled to the top and they happened to walk under it.  It was a completely unexpected ambush from above and something that Kennick never took his eye off the rest of the time in the pool.

The next stop on the trip was the DIXIE STAMPEDE.  This is one of Karalee's favorite shows!  We got to the show early and let Kennick look at the horses and got him some souvenirs before the show started.  We got our tickets and off to the pre-show entertainment.  We got a basket of peanuts and a drink.  The music started and it wasn't soon after that Kennick fell asleep.  Gone.  The show finished, we went to the Stampede, order food, etc and all the time I was holding the limp noodle of a boy.  Luckily as they lowered the light he came to and we spent the next hour and a half eating food with no silverware, routing for the south and enjoying the show.  Afterwards we headed back to the pool.

Even after an extremely long day before everyone was up by 7:00 am.  After an early breakfast, you guessed, we headed to the pool.  Kennick, still eyeing the buckets, was completely entertained poolside.  I did learn that there is nothing more invigorating than going down a water slide with a 2 year old at 7:30 in the morning.  This was obviosly a ploy by Kennick to help wake me up.

Next stop on the trip was the Gatlingburg Aquarium.  We were lucky to hit pretty decent traffic until we got into Gatlinburg.  It was completely insane but we were able to carefully navigate our way through.  We did have a little issue with parking and one of the parking garages but it did lead us to a really good spot that we lucked out with.  The Aquarium was fun.  We saw and learned about many different animals and it was nice to be in the air conditioning.

Next stop was a little stroll down the streets and ended up at the salt water taffy store and then to Ben and Jerry's.  We then piled into the car again and started our trek home.  Kennick didn't last too long until he was passed out for a majority of the trip home.

We are notorious for embarking on short weekend marathon trips though we haven't had many since Kennick has been born.  We were glad to see that he can hold up to the adventures.  We all had a great time on Karalee's Birthday Weekend!!