Molly and Kellen at play

Who says dogs and cats aren't friends? Watch these 2 play! from Diane Thornton on Vimeo.

Family fun on the beach

Ike's effects in Pensacola Beach

Ike was 450 miles south of the beach when we had waves breaching the dunes and flooding parts of the island. Soundside got the bigger hits with flooding in several businesses, apartments and parks. Beachside we had erosion and flooding, but we hope the ocean will leave us lots of beach when the waves finally subside (hopefully Monday)

Gamers on the beach

I swear, within 24 hours of hitting the beach our home is game central. We've told the boys we're limiting the festivities this year to accomodate my decline and to give Ginger more of a vacation. Here are some happy testosterone laden lads with their controls well in hand.

Seeing the ocean for the first time this season

After the 7 hour car trip with 2 teens and 2 dogs, we unload and ritually walk to the beach to view it for the first time each year. This is a sacred month for our family. There's even a special prayer to say when you see the ocean :)

Kellen!

Ginger has documented some frustration I had with the City Animal Services and I am happy to say that ultimately I met with the director and hope to continue to expand the volunteer fostering program in the very near future. Until then, this little guy went from foster to adopt and we're thrilled with him (as are the dogs and cats...for the most part). Without further ado, I give you Kellen.

Preparing for Japan!

William studied Japanese (not as hard as I thought he should), made soap, bought special pens and I knit some dragonfly washcloths for Omiyagi (gifts). We took him out for dinner at Molly's and Aunt Kelly had to have a "shooter" with him and give him some advise. Ginger drove us to the airport the next morning, bright and early and I took him to Starbucks for a little wake up breakfast before sending him off to LAX and ultimately Japan.

Swimming in friends

One of the senior students who has inspired and helped William for years is Rogers Gossett. After the addition of their first child, (Holland) his wife (Jane) and I have become good friends. They shared their great pool with our family this summer. Here are a few photos to remind us of the joy of friends...

Mini Kendo camp

Actually it was just another normal week of Kendo, but William had a good friend (Galen) stay with us for the entire week. It was wonderful. He's a great kid and I wish he'd rubbed off on William some more. Fortunately Max was around to give Galen some more mature time. We went swimming twice, the zoo, teen night once or twice, the civil rights museum and Pink Palace IMAX.

2008 US Kendo Championships Las Vegas

Here are some of the photos I took with William's new (small) camera. Thank you to everyone who supported him on this journey, gave him jobs, money, advice and training. He has a long way to go until next championships in 3 years, but he is determined to return and improve his performance.

Guess who's coming for dinner?

Half of a hormone-free, grass fed cow! The Mastons have beef, lamb and now even pork available! We're picking up half a cow tomorrow morning. I found them through the Farm Bureau's magazine. I checked out the PickTnproducts.org to see when the Harris' would have their organic blueberries available and noticed the site listed meat too. A few emails later and we had a check in the mail for a deposit on "our" cattle. They give a discount to homeschoolers and law enforcement/fire etc. Give Paulette a call and tell her I sent you! Next up is a sheep in the fall. Wonder if I can spin their fleece? Tomorrow i hope to remember to ask for a few bones for the dogs.

The weekend of insane activity and indulged teenagers

William's Kendo team practice in Nashville brought about several other activities in the interest of saving fuel. First, here are some photos of William at practice and the obligatory beer and food that follows. For better photos go here. Thanks to Lisa for letting us stay with her. We drove William to the middle of freaking no where so he could stay over night with a homeschool buddy. Returned to Nashville for a brief break before going on a Starbucks mystery shop and pestering Ginger for directions to iD camp check-in. Thank heavens for the new GPS! We got Max checked in to camp where upon he instantly dismissed me and I was free to dash over and meet Lisa & Lynette to go to the CMA Fest. Lisa sweetly obtained a ticket for me! After having massive cell phone problems complete with leaving some bizarre message that alarmed my brother, parents and wife, I finally met up with Lynette and got to the stadium. Great performers, though Billy Ray must learn to shut up. Picked up William the next day and headed home. Beat for the next two days. Today is the first day I could even put 2 thoughts together, unfortunately those thoughts were "vacuum" and "mop". UGH!