Tennis

I went to play tennis tonight with Andrew at the Southern tennis courts. I played against him last night too. After watching the Australian Open over the last few weeks I've started to play more aggressively and try to hit spots more. In the top picture you can almost image that it is me waiting for Andrew's serve! At least you can see my shoes.
A view of the tennis court toward the church and gym. I warmed up tonight playing Jason and then played a set against Andrew and then some more games against Jason. Hopefully soon I'll be testing out my new net on my basketball hoop and maybe will have some pictures of that too. Carrie is headed home tomorrow for Highland's January Homeleave, so you may find pictures of her trip on her blog soon. Maybe if I play tennis in the day time sometime I'll have some better pictures.

Frigid Temps. @ Highland, Foxboro, & Green Bay!

This blog is actually from last weekend, the MLK Day long weekend. This was taken driving toward Highland Friday afternoon when there was a pretty sunset. I got there Friday evening around 5:30 central and stayed until Monday morning when I drove back to Collegedale for a day off school.
Another nice sunset picture!
Now Saturday night, we walked near sunset with a temperature of the mid teens probably!! The highest temperate from Friday evening until Monday afternoon was 28 degrees F!
Sunset Sabbath evening.
Carrie and I out of the cold and ready to watch the rest of the Packers and Giants NFC Championship Game in Green Bay's frozen tundra, with a temperature of -4 F and a wind chill of -25! The Giants have made an unbelievable run to the Super Bowl a week from today, much to Ryan K. delight!!

What was left of Frosty Jr. on Wednesday, a good week after he was made!I decided to pose with Jr. here and as you can see, he was hanging in there pretty well for a week later!This picture does not really need much explanation. This was taken Wednesday, January 23, 2008, at 11:35 p.m. as I was about to go to bed. Notice the pedometer with 41, 446 steps for the day. The recommended daily step total is 10,000! I got over 411% of the recommendation!

Well, this weekend flew by as Carrie came Friday evening and left tonight after spending 2 great and fun-filled days here. This picture is actually from Highland Saturday night last weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures on my camera this weekend for this blog, even though I took plenty on Carrie's camera! We enjoyed a relaxing Sabbath afternoon with Ryan and Jaclyn, then Kelly and Jonathan came over Saturday night for some great homemade pizza and then some pool. Then we played Settlers and guess who won? Carrie!! Then today we played again and then we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to start our registry and then met Grant and Gaby at Wal-Mart for a supper at Subway. The weekend flew by and now back to work!

Snow Day!

The first snow that actually stuck of winter 2008 came last night. We got about 2 inches total. No basketball tonight!
The snow was fun to see and we had to get out to shoot pictures before it melted.
My car was thoroughly covered with snow.
The view out the front door to the left looking toward University Dr. before my dad and Ryan K. made a snowman near where the light is on the corner of the porch. Although most of the snow is now melted by Thursday afternoon, Frosty is still standing proudly!
More snow in the backyard. Last year in Mt. Vernon, we had a big storm on January 21, and the snow covered the ground with quite a few more storms until it finally all melted around the 3rd week of March. We did have a few more storms in April too.

Frosty this morning around 10 a.m. when there was still some snow left.The view in our front yard this morning with the new flag.The view from the street. You can see all the paths where the snowman was made last night.The backyard with the icy snow that survived the freezing rain overnight. Thanks to the snow we got today off teaching. It has been fun! Tomorrow after school I'm heading to Highland to finally see Carrie for the weekend!!

Sunset Rock Hike

On Sabbath, January 5, I hiked up Sunset Rock with my parents, Jason and Carson, Katherine, and Jeff. It was still icy on the trail a little a lot on the rocks along the way!
Carson thinks about scaling the rocks.
Jason almost made a serious leap of faith...
Jason and Carson are ready to throw this huge chunk of ice at Jeff, it nearly took his leg out on its way down the side of the moutain.

My parents on the way up the trail.Jason, Katherine, and Jeff on the top.Jason and Katherine taking a break at the top.My mom at the top enjoying the view.My parents at the top. This week has been a reality check getting back to school and teaching, but now there is a chance to relax on the weekend. I will be going to see Carrie next weekend over the Holiday weekend so I'll be able to stay until Monday!!

Freezing Temps. for Sports

Carrie and I arrived back in Collegedale on Monday evening, New Year's Eve. Carrie headed back to Highland on Tuesday and I have been in Collegedale in meetings on Thursday and Friday. Classes start on Monday, January 7. I also managed to get in 3 different stints of basketball. The high on Tuesday was 41, Wednesday was 30, Thursday was 35, and Friday was 48 with today the high predicted to be 52. So it is warming up a little, maybe some good tennis weather tomorrow!
Sunny skies and 25 degree temperature for some basketball on Wednesday afternoon!
Jessica, Ryan, Jenna, and their cousin Carson came over for awhile Friday afternoon while I was playing basketball with Jason.
After Ryan couldn't convince Jenna to come home, Jessica came and started helping in the chase! Jenna was having too much fun playing fetch off and on during our game of 21.
As Ryan attempts to call Jenna home, Jason does his best to convince her to stay! I took a video of the chase that turned out pretty funny.

Some pictures of the basketball game late Friday afternoon after I got out of a day of meetings. It got too cold to play without a sweatshirt soon as the temperature was low 40s. At least it was a lot warmer than the last 2 times I had played.Thanks to Carrie, I got some good pictures of my dad and I playing football at Sky Dive City in Zephyrhills, FL, on Friday, December 28.Dad is ready to launch a throw. Notice his Copper shirt. Check out all the snow they have been getting in CA over the last day or two. Some great skiing and riding conditions out there for sure!The follow through. We also played some frisbee. It's hard to believe we were just able to wear t-shirts and shorts a few days ago. My parents last few days on Treasure Island turned very cold with highs in the 40s during the middle of the week. The low in Tampa was 29 one night, but temps. are supposed to rebound back to near 80 by Sunday and Monday.

John's Pass

Carrie focuses on the beach and maybe some birds!
A great blue heron let us get really close on Sunday afternoon as we were walking to John's Pass.
The sunny skies late Sunday gave way to clouds. It was very windy all day, and the wind kept the low to mid 80s temperature bearable.
John's Pass has had some major construction since I was last there in Thanksgiving of 2006. They have added a whole new set of stores you can see behind Carrie and a second, larger draw bridge you can see on the left of the draw bridge we are standing on here.
I have found many great deals at this Sports Fan Attic over the years. This year it was a Toronto Blue Jays shirt for $10 instead of $22! Last Thanksgiving it was a Carmelo Anthony jersey for $20 instead of $75, which was stolen 3 weeks later in Atlanta.

A view of the sunny beach on Sunday.
Carrie couldn't resist the slides at a hotel near the beach.
Another slide!
We found a hammock infront of a hotel and decided to shoot some self-portraits.
Relaxing in the warmth with the palm trees and gulf.

The end of our short time at the beach with the sunset on Sunday night. We left Monday morning to drive back up to Collegedale. My parents and Ruthie and Milton are staying until the weekend. I watched a ton of NFL games this Christmas Break. The last one of the regular season was Sunday night with the Titans Vince Young leading his team to a 10-6 record and the play-offs for the first time since 2003 with a 10-6 win in the final regular season game in the Colt's RCA Dome. The Colts rested most of their regulars from midway through the second quarter on, which allowed the Titans to win a game they would have probably otherwise lost. Too bad the Cleveland Browns missed the play-offs despite also being 10-6 this year. Yesterday on New Year's Day I took Carrie to Sitar, an Indian Buffet. Then we went to see National Treasure. A fun end to a great break. Carrie drove back to Highland yesterday and is at her first day of school today. I start meetings tomorrow and also have meetings Friday before heading to see Carrie at Highland for the weekend and then starting classes at Hardy on Monday, January 7.