Catch Up Blog

The following blogs are an attempt to “catch up” with some of the activities before we left the USA. They are in no particular order, but in the order they come to my mind. I am sitting in the JFK airport waiting on our flight to Dubai. We arrived here at 3:00 PM and cannot check-in for our Emirates flight until 7:00 PM and don’t leave until 11:00 PM. Thought this would be a good time to try to catch up.

The Ranger Game – See pics taken with my phone. Last Friday, we met our friends Zach and Laura to watch the Texas Rangers play baseball. Unfortunately the Rangers did not win and they didn’t score 30 something runs like they did a few days ago. However, our seats were great and the fellowship was better. We ate the traditional ballpark hot dogs and peanuts and paid like $4 for a coke. I cant complain since the tickets were free (thanks to Zach’s friend) and all we had to pay for was parking and food. The kids got free backpacks (like we needed something else to carry on our trip.)

Traveling – See pics taken with my phone. Ok, well these were just for fun, but I thought you would enjoy them. I took these as I was driving to Dallas. Angie told me to delete the ones of her, but I didn’t. Ha ha, she never reads the blog or looks at the pictures I post. Dont worry I never took my eyes off the road to snap the pic of Braden even though he was right behind me in the van. I just aimed and shot… not too bad huh. Well, and the pics of the kids pretending to use the motion discomfort bags on the plane from Dallas to New York… they thought it was funny. I’m not sure if the people around us thought it was so funny, but maybe you will enjoy them.

My Wedding Ring – (sorry no pics so I’ll try to create one with words for you… its pretty funny.) The story is kind of long so bear with me. Let’s just say that my wedding ring is a survivor and my wife is awesome for not killing me for losing it…. twice. Yeah that’s right, I think my wedding ring has spent more time lost than it has worn. I first lost my ring when we lived in the Dallas area. It was gone for about 2 years. In the meantime, Angie bought me a new one. Just before we moved, I found the ring wedged between the bathroom counter and the wall. So sweet deal, now I had two rings. So once my ring was lost, but now it is found. I like my original ring much better than the second so I wore it most of the time. I thought I lost my ring again on a trip from Tulsa to the Dallas area. I was so upset and went back to the hotel and they said that it was not there. So I was back to wearing the second ring. I wore the second ring over to the islands last year and lost it in the ocean while I was wrestling with Braden. So if you are counting, this is the third time I have lost a ring, my original – twice… I am not proud of this, but feel it is necessary to share for you to get the full picture. Now, while we were in Tulsa this last week, we had dinner with one of my good friends, Kenny V. Angie and I sat at dinner with Kenny and Leslie and as Kenny sat down, he began to tell me that he had a special gift for me. I thought he was just messing with me and then he placed my wedding ring on the table. I was so shocked!!! I thought it was gone forever. You can imagine my face and excitement. I put the ring on my finger and then got up and ran around the table to hug my friend. (This is where we should have had the camera.) You see my friend Kenny is a US Marine, but secure enough in his manhood to hug a good friend in a restaurant. We both sat down and I was so happy. I looked over at Angie and her face was red and she was laughing. I said, “What’s so funny?” Angie replied, “It’s a good thing Leslie and I were here, otherwise based on what just took place and your reaction to the ring, it looked like he proposed to you.” We laughed and sat in disbelief that the ring was no longer lost.

Maybe you would like to know what happened to the ring? I didn’t lose it in a hotel in Dallas, but a few days before. I was helping Kenny move some bricks at his house and had used some of his gloves. Apparently when I returned the gloves, my ring came off in the gloves. This past year when Kenny went to put the gloves on he found my ring inside. Since he knew I had lost my ring, he was sure it was mine. Thanks for the ring Kenny! I plan to continue to wear my 3rd ring (a $10 stainless steal ring I purchased after the 2nd one went in the drink.) I’ll keep the original in a safe place and do my best to not lose it again.

[More Catch Up Later]