The Weekend Review

Friday. Kerry and I celebrated our 10th anniversary so I took the day off. My parents came down and watched the kids so we could go out for a nice dinner (Jaspers at the Shops at Legacy) and a relaxing night away from the kids at the Marriott (courtesy of my Marriott rewards points). This is the first time we have both been away from the kids for an entire evening. We opted for kid-free shopping at the mall, something we cherish as much as going to a movie. And we were in bed early. Kerry enjoyed her rest the next morning. I slept in til about 7:15 then walked up to Starbucks, grabbed some iced coffee, and sat by the lake for about 45 minutes. We returned home to a very normal house and glowing reports on the kids behavior while we were away.

Saturday. A trip to the pool. Shopping at the mall. Grilled pork-chops for dinner. Very Memorial Day Weekend'ish.

Sunday. Kerry went to Church to teach. I stayed home and saw my parents off, then gathered and checked all of my biking gear to make sure it still worked, didn't smell, etc. I was able to get a quick ride in at Erwin Park, a tight single track trail with just enough dips, roots, and trees to make it interesting. I was very proud of myself for riding over all but 2 sections of the course. (I passed on the 20 foot 'v' dip that looked like it would require a wheelie just before hitting the bottom to avoid an endo due to the mud and trail conditions). But I easily cleared some taller logs, off camber climbs, and root filled trails.

That afternoon our friends Mike and Holleigh came over for dinner. It's always a bit chaotic with 7 kids all going at full speed, but they keep each other entertained.

Monday. Some work around the house, then a trip to the pool. Caden is now fearless! He loves to put on his arm floaties and jump into the water. Full submersion. We were all cracking up, including some of our friends who were amazed. We finished the day off with a trip to Olive Garden.

Now I'm catching up on some reading. I just spent some time on Christianitytoday.com reading about the new Evangelical Manifesto (the goal is to reconfirm that being Evangelical is a theological, not a political belief), some debate on Obama's Pastor Wright comments, and several articles on how Starbucks has influenced our society and what Christians should (and should not) take from this. I love how one person starts calling it St. Arbucks. That will stick with me for a while.