Class of 2008

For many reasons this Year, it feels as though our Family has graduated on many different levels. And over the past year, we could certainly fill an entire yearbook with stories that could make you laugh (a few too many), pictures that are worth more than a thousand words and postings on our blogs that we wouldn’t want our mothers to read (ok- kidding about the last one!). But, as with any class, we have a few characters of our own.

Class Clown
Koebe graduated from pre-school and jumped feet first into Kindergarten. He has a teacher he adores and he loves to read. As the year has progressed, he has developed a sense of humor and loves to make people laugh. From developing funny voices to making jokes he has become our own class clown. His favorite lines he uses as of late include, “Is this a joke? You gotta be kidding me!” He has kept busy with soccer and t-ball. He is looking forward to starting basketball in January. Koebe also keeps us on track by reminding us about prayers, scriptures and family home evening!

Drama Queen
Kalee has also matriculated from no school to pre-school and loves her teacher Ms. Kary. Whatever she is teaching it must be gospel because whenever Kalee justifies something it starts off with, “Ms. Kary says….”. Kalee has now gone from dance classes to tumbling and we think it suits her just a little better. Not that Kalee wasn’t doing well, let’s just say the physicality of gym better suits her temperament! Speaking of temperament, Kalee’s personality continues to evolve. She is a passionate little girl with her opinions and a memory like an elephant. One night, after putting her to bed she asked for something to eat. So, Trevor gave her a strawberry nutrigrain bar. Not wanting any of it she requested a “green” nutrigrain bar. And not having any Trevor told her that was all we had. After going round and round, she exclaimed she wanted a “fruit” apple. After telling her all we had were green apples, she was in a fit. Not being able to come to an agreement, she went to bed with nothing. Four hours later, Aprille goes in to check on her and there she is sleepy-eyed sitting up. When asked what was wrong Kalee said she wanted a red apple. So Aprille walks out and finds one (Trevor really thought they were gone) and gives it to her. The first thing out of her mouth? “Tell daddy we have red apples.” The next morning, she wouldn’t even look at Trevor until he “apologized.” Yikes! Is there a book for dealing with your teenaged toddler????

Voted Most Likely to Be a Juggler
Juggling would be a fitting description. Hopefully it’s not the kind of job an MBA will get Trevor in this economy! But, thankfully, he has been going to work while getting his MBA, so the job, for now, is secure. Yes, after taking longer than expected, Trevor has finally completed his MBA. Plans for an MBA hatched back in 2004 when he was suppose to enroll at Portland State in September, but at the last minute ended up moving the family to Texas in August of that same year. So, to say this has been a long time coming would be an understatement! In fact, Kalee does not know what it’s like to have a father not in school. She probably thinks all dads leave their families on Saturdays to study and get stressed every 6 months around finals! Outside of school, Trevor bounced around traveling pretty extensively this year including Barcelona, Shanghai and Beijing, even taking in the 100 m dash gold medal race at the Bird’s Nest this summer during the Olympics. In addition, Trevor has spent the last year launching his Samsung Charging Station program in 8 airports across the US.

Head of the Class
Over the past 3.5 years, Aprille has been the glue that has held our nucleus together. In fact, Trevor is requesting that Aprille’s name be added to his diploma because she has more than earned it. Missed outings with friends, Saturdays spent being a single parent, and most of all dealing with a sometimes cantankerous grad student for a husband are all reasons why Aprille is hands down head of the class. She has been an amazing source of support and encouragement and definitely earned honors. When she was not providing encouragement to a distraught grad student, she has taken an active role in Koebe’s class and thrown her whole heart into working with the different youth in the church. She also enjoyed a few field trips of her own (and on her own) to Maui, Mexico and Vancouver, Wa. (Mom’s don’t get summer vacations, in case you haven’t heard). She is looking forward to having her husband back and will be handing over about 3 years worth of to-dos!

Field Trips
We’ve had fun with the kids this year. We took them to their first (and our) hockey game to see the Dallas Stars. Hockey is surprisingly fun and entertaining. The kids got into it and especially liked seeing players get sent to “time out”- I suppose it made them feel like they are not the only ones! We also had a class reunion of sorts with Aprille’s family in Las Vegas in August. Yes, Vegas in August. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad, but it was definitely great to see family. Koebe and Kalee got to play nonstop with their cousins and probably more Wii than they should! We also went camping. Let’s just say that we won’t be camping in the summer in Texas ever again. Don’t get us wrong, but unless you bring your a/c unit with you (and yes, some people do) there is no point even going outside! But, we did make up for it in November by actually getting to start a fire and enjoying the cooler weather.

The past year has been one of lessons learned, too many tests to count or want to remember. But the best part of being in a class are the classmates and friends we’ve been able to share the year with. We hope your year has been as memorable as ours. KIT. HAGS.

Back in the Saddle...

The end is in sight and I'm almost done with my MBA (insert major sigh of relief). So, I'm attempting to get back in the saddle on many fronts. For one, going to the gym has been one of those things that I have attempted to get back into it while getting my MBA but with little success. However, with the light at the end of the tunnel and a buddy to go to the gym with, I am going on 4 weeks of working out 5 days a week. What's more impressive is that I am actually getting up before 6 am to make it to the gym. That, my friends, is what we call a small miracle. I really believed that I had become so accustomed to getting up after 6, that it would be impossible to revert back. But- again, getting back in the saddle has been helping me have the energy to get up and do it- even while traveling on business!

On another note, last night as I was putting Kalee to bed, she told me she was hungry. So I went and grabbed a nutri-grain bar and gave it her. It was strawberry and she was having none of it. We went round and round about how she wanted an apple bar and how we didn't have one. Then she wanted an "fruit" apple and I told her all we had was a green apple. She wanted a red one. And so again, round and round and finally I told her its either a green apple or a strawberry nutrigrain bar. She wanted none of it and so I put her to bed. Fast forward 4 hours as Aprille goes to check on her. She walks in and Kalee is up in her bed. When she asked her what was wrong, she responded that daddy "yelled" at me (not quite how I recalled it). Aprille asked her what she wanted and she said a red apple. So, Aprille walks out and finds a red apple (I really didn't think we had one) and gives it to Kalee. What is the first thing Kalee says when she gets it? "Tell daddy we have red apples." Anyway, she was still pretty upset at me this morning but she eventually warmed up once I apologized about not getting her a red apple.

Third Time's a China

Ok, so I may have to do a fair amount of back pedaling. For those who have read (and those of you who haven't I accept your apologies now and direct you to the post below), about my second trip to China I was ready to swear the country off for good. Well....that didn't really last that long as I am en route (sitting in Seoul) back home from the land where Nixon famously said, "Wow, that's a great wall!" (sidebar- that is a true story of how the Great Wall got its moniker!).

I am returning after attending the Olympics with my company that is a worldwide sponsor of said Games. I will have to give Big Red a shout out for cleaning up the air! Last time I was in Beijing it was extremely "cloudy". But by the third day the clouds didn't go away and it sunk in that hey- it may be blue skies, but even that sunshine can cut through the impenetrable shield of smog that had its grip over the city. I was so suprised to actually see what could be described as "blue sky" and "sunshine" that I about fell over. I even saw the moon there! It truly was a Christmas miracle and gave me pause as to what lengths the government had gone to to make it happen. I don't want to know!!!!

But, alas, I was there to attend the Olympics and it was really good. Note I say good, not great. With so much of the environment "controlled" it was hard to get that sense of excitement or excuberance that might exist elsewhere. The government was so concerned about protests that it didn't encourage any public gatherings. No big screens in Tianamen Square or on the Olympic Green. Heck, you couldn't even get on the Olympic Green without a ticket so the massive space felt hollow at times.

I did however get to attend Badminton (interesting), volleyball (USA vs Poland- go USA!) and track and field. It was the last event where I got to see the 100m world record broken in front of 90,000 people. Very cool- but the seats were totally uncomfortalbe! I couldn't imagine sitting through 4 hours of the Opening Ceremonies in them, yikes!!!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pix of Beijing's coming out party!

PS- Finished off 2 of my last four classes leaving me one last semester for my MBA. I'm done in December, baby!

Are You Kidding Me???

Seriously. Are you kidding me? Are you KIDDING me? Who does this? What kind of parents do this? Do they think this won't influence or impact their childrens' young and hopefully pure and innocent minds? It is appalling and disturbing.

What is appalling and disturbing? Or should I say who? Parents who take their children to movies like "The Dark Knight." What? Parents do that? Surely the kids are 13, 14, or 15 years old right? NO! Try 3, 4 and 5 !!!! I'm NOT kidding you!

We're in the new Batman movie (seriously good, seriously long) and there are a handful of kids, yeah, even toddlers, who were brought in by people who obviously did not make the short list for parents of the year. Really? I'm just dumb founded by it and what's worse, coming out of other movies, I have seen "parents" and I use this term loosely, taking 5,6 and 7 year olds in to not just PG-13 movies, but R rated movies- shouldn't the theaters be doing something about this? Shouldn't there be a rule in addition to no adittance under 18 without an adult, PLUS no admittance with an adult if you don't have a license???? Yikes. Rant finito.

Father's Day

Ok, so I know this is late, but I had to post about my Father's Day weekend. Weekend, you ask? Yes, I finally got a Father's Day weekend. I learned from my wife to milk these special days for all they are worth and the best way to do that is to call them "weekends" instead of "days". It works to my advantage too, now!

So, while many of my friends and I have sent our wives out on "girls nights" and "scrapbook nights" etc, we have yet to do anything like that. So the idea was born that we would have a movie night. With so many great summer flicks coming out, we decided to watch the best ones- all in one sitting!

So, we starting at 3:30 and headed to the theater and started off with Iron Man. Much better than I expected! Then we walked to Culver's for a grease break, downed some grub and headed back to catch Indiana Jones. Lame ending! But it was still good for the nostalgia! Movie ends, head to Culvers for round 2!

Head back to the last movie of the night, The Incredible Hulk for the 9:50 showing. Pretty decent, except I have a hard time buying into the idea that a 4'11" British man is the villian in this movie- plausible but not believable. Anyway, 12:30-ish rolls around and we head home. I can now say that I have watched three movies in one day at the theaters! Would I do it again? Hmmm....maybe. We'll have to wait till my next "weekend"!

Catch Up

So, we are in full summer mode, which means I am still in school and therefore behind on posts. The last time I wrote I had just returned from Shanghai and Aprille took off to Mexico with her best friend for her birthday. That same weekend Aprille went out of town was Kalee's dance recital. Honestly, going into it, I had no idea what to expect, but it was one of the cutest moments, seeing her walk out in her ballerina outfit.

Ok, I have to post this picture of Aprille. She's hot. She hasn't straightened her hair in a long time and while she is always smokin', she takes it to another level when she get's her hair done like this (shout out to Tiare for doing it for her!).

On the first Sunday in June, we decided to have "some" of our friends over to have dinner. We sent out invites and didn't bother to calculate how many people would actually come. One by one, each family accepted. As you can see from the pictures, we had a full house. How full? 17 adults and 28 kids, for a grand total of 45, that would be 4-5 people! Hello! It was great and everybody had plenty to eat, although nowhere to sit and eat it!

Not So Fine-ah in China

I'm officially done with China. I really am. I have been there twice and I'm not impressed. I take that back. The Great Wall was pretty impressive. Snap judgement, you say? Jaded, just a little, you say? Ok, well I guess you're right and I should give that big ol' country another chance. But not this year!

Let's just start with the taxi ride to the hotel. So, I come out of immigration and I'm a wee bit tired. A guy approaches me and asks "taxi", I say "yes" and we head out to the parking garage. Wierd, but I don't care. Then out of the corner of my eye I see a big sign "TAXI" indicating that is where I should go to get a taxi. Wierd, but again, I don't care- I'm starting to get a little rancid after my long flight and I just want to hit the showers. So I follow Chuckles; I call him that because anytime he said anything, he automatically started to laugh. "Taxi, ok?" (insert giggles) "Yao Ming, ok?" (insert laughs). You get my point. So, despite my better judgement, I follow Chuckles and he signals his "partner" and he comes up. He's got a taxi sign on the roof, a meter in the car- I figure I'm set.

So, we get going and an hour passes and we circle the hotel like 5 times. It's in a wierd intersection with a lot of construction so I cut Chuckles a break. We finally arrive and they both "chuckle" and show me the meter. 890 RMB which is about 90 bucks, which, is about 400% higher than what I should have to pay. Lucky for Chuckles, I was educated before I got on the plane and knew that I should only have to pay about 140 RMB. First, I get all my luggage so they don't take off with it and then tell them no way. Chuckles, in his broken English, attempts to tell me this is not a taxi, but car service. I say now way, Chuckles, I know better and you'll be lucky if you get 100 out of me. He quickly drops to 700, no, then 500, no!, then 400, no Chuckles! 120 and no more! Chuckles and his friend aren't too happy, but they come to the realization that I didn't just walk off the boat and they are going to have to settle. I offer 140 as my final and they conceded- almost. They say they can't break the second 100 I have to give me 60 back and I say- Chuckles! Give me your change! In the end, I had them emptying their pockets and I walked away paying 140- not the 890 they wanted!

Anyway, moving on. Don't get me wrong- Shanghai is loads better than Beijing. The hotel I stayed in (the "tallest hotel in the world"- it was located on the 54-89 floors of the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai) was great. As my wife will attest, the fake bag shopping was great. However, what was not so great was the abrupt delay of the torch relay- just 30 minutes before my President landed. Gulp. "Guess what President, the torch relay you and the customers flew 17 hours to participate in just got cancelled."

What do you do?! In the end, our customers were able to run. I understand the circumstances for the delay in the torch relay (a government enforced 3 day mourning period for the earthquake trajedy). But, it certainly throws a wrench into the process when you are trying to host customers and keep them happy. In the end, they were able to run a few days later than planned and we made the best of it. Oh- and during this 3 days of mourning, the government turned off all TV channels deemed entertainment- only the news ran. And, all businesses associated with entertainment (karaoke, etc) had to shut down. It was a little crazy at the power they demonstrated.

So, I boarded my plane and headed home. I landed about 10 pm on Wednesday and finally made it home. The next morning it was go, go, go as we prepped for Koebe's birthday, headed to the party at 2:30, grabbed a bite to eat at McAlister's Deli, ran to his baseball game and then drove straight out to the airport to drop Aprille off for her mother's day/birthday suprise trip to Cali/Mexico with her best friend Paula. What was I thinking. I was so jetlagged and I had to drive back home with the kids in the car and take care of them by myself until the next TUESDAY!

Despite staying up until 2 and 3 in the morning, I made it through and welcomed Aprille back by picking her up at 4 pm on Tuesday, drove her straight home and turned around and drove back into Dallas to head to my 6 pm MBA class. Yeah- I need a break. Did someone say Father's Day? Oh, yeah, I can hardly wait....

Hotels and Liberation

Hotels and liberation? What do they have in common? Well, other than being two topics I'd like to address in my post, absolutely nothing. I like to call it "flush the format". No particular theme today, although if you look at my previous post you would think of me as a hypocrite (you have to read below, I'm not explaining now!).

As I have occassion to travel, maybe too much these days, I stay in a variety of hotels. And I will have to say that despite what hotel chain it is or is not, I am cursed! Cursed, you say? Yes! Cursed! I kid you not- the majority of the hotels I check into, there is something wrong with the TV. The picture came in crappy in San Diego, the cable is not turned on in New York, the cables are disconnected in Minneapolis, or as in today, the remote is dead in- wait, where am I? Oh yeah- New Jersey. And how long have I been waiting for a new remote? 45 minutes. Don't get me wrong- the Marriott is great for the most part. In fact, if you ever stay in a full service Marriott, you have to order their house-made granola for breakfast. It is quite possibly the best granola I have ever eaten.

Ok, they just brought the second remote. It doesn't work. What's the point of being in a hotel if you can't sit on the bed and mindlessly watch TV? That, my friends is what I like to call torture. Eh? Yes, cruel and unusual punishment. So what if I didn't put my room service tray out in the hallway?!! Don't punish me like this!

Moving on to Liberation. I am on a three week hiatus from school. Yes, I finished my most challenging semester yet doing 3 classes while logging close to 40,000 miles in the air. Not to mention I had Finance- the second most-loathed class of my MBA career. What's the first you ask? It's coming up in the summer. But, if I can just get through it, then I'll be on the home stretch in the Fall with two marketing classes and then my what-shoulda-coulda-woulda-been-a-2.5-year-program-turned-into-a-3.5-year program will be done! Huh. I just realized with one more semester I could have been a dentist- or a doctor! Crap!

But yes, liberation more so because not only did I take Finance, but I, Trevor Lloyd Lambert (who cares if people reading this know my middle name! The knuckleheads in our company's IT department made sure that my email address read Trevor Lloyd Lambert whenever anyone searched for me in our contact lists in outlook!!!), got a B in Finance. What? Really? Yes, I did. I know what you're thinking- so 95% of the class got an A? Probably. But who cares! I got a B and that is all that matters. I'm totally comfortable being the benchwarmer in that class.

Well, that is all. I would write until the guy from engineering comes to fix the TV, but, that could be, like, hours.

Politically Incorrect?

Yes. The pasty white guy in the background is me. And yes, that is Senator Edwards and Senator Thompson. I met them. No big deal. Happens all the time. Kidding. I gave them a tour with our PR Directorr of our booth at a recent show in Vegas where my company was exhibiting. These are the second set of political figures I have met at this event. Last year, we had President Bush (the elder) and President Clinton (gag reflex) stop in as well (sorry no pix- the secret service is REALLY anal about that kind of stuff). Anyway, Thompson was polite and Edwards feigned interest. All and all, it wasn't the highlight of my life, or even week for that matter, but it was interesting enough to post in this blog! By the way, Edwards- serioulsly, the boy has to have a tanning bed at his house or on his plane, because nobody is that tan naturally without having to put in a little fake n bake time.

Anyway, while I do abhor Vegas and all that it stands for, it is good for one thing- some pretty tasty restuarants. A shout out to my friends over at the Wynn- got to love the restaurants there. And, if you ever want to pay a lot for a really good burger, go to Burger Bar (I think) at the Mandalay Bay. Supposedly that is one of the only places the "locals" like to go on the Strip, aka Las Vegas Boulevard, the Street of Broken Dreams. They have excellent Kobe beef burgers, zucchini fries and onion rings. The shakes are alright, but not a little on the runny side- how is it suppose to stick to your ribs if it's not thick??? Anyway, that's all I got- how'd ya like that?

We are here! We are here! We are here!

Yes, despite the fact that I have not posted in almost two months, we are alive- although barely (and yes, we did manage to see the Horton movie since that post)! You know, one minute you think you have all the time in the world and the next- bam! Two months have flown by! So much has gone on that I'm not sure where to start. To be honest, I'm a little torn. I like to keep posts focused and on topic, not mindless rambling, which I appear to be doing at the moment.

Ok. Deep breaths. You know, I thought that with doing a blog, I'd get out of feeling guilty for not keeping a journal. Yeah. I still feel guilty. It's like that proverbial monkey that is always on my back every time I sit down at the computer or look at other people's blogs who have clearly been more diligent than I. Argh. Why do you people have to be so consistent? Do a favor for all us slackers- skip a week or two or three, or in my case- lay off it for at least 6 weeks. It would really help me feel better about myself. Ahhh. That feels much better.

Dang it! That was mindless rambling. I can't escape it!

Aprille and I ended up abandoning the kids for a week a couple of weeks ago. Well, abandon is a little extreme. Aprille went to Maui (insert feelings of envy, jealousy, angst) on a Wednesday, my mom flew in on Friday and I left Saturday for Vegas. Aprille for pleasure to suprise her mom for her 60th, and me for pain (work related). Thankfully Sally (aka my mom) pitched in and flew in from Cali to hold the fort down.

Koebe went to Kindergarten Preview the other night and was so excited. During the parent/teach Q&A, they asked if there were any other questions and Koebe popped his hand up and asked, "Can I go see my class now?" On the way down walking with one of the teachers, he looked up at her and asked, "Can I hold your hand?". This is Koebe. He is everyone's best friend and everyone is his best friend. He loves people. Even if he doesn't know them. He'll just randomly ask if he can come over and play, or just tell anyone willing to listen what he dreamt about last night (Mickey Mouse showing up at his birthday party or being chased by crocodiles).

Kalee, on the other hand, is somewhat of a caged animal- literally and figuratively. She has still NOT gotten over her cat phase. Not that we are doing anything to stop it. We (Aprille) bought her a cat dress up outfit for her birthday, and when Aprille returned from Maui, brought a hula stuffed kitty. She constantly carries them around with her, pretend to be a cat, and loves to play "dead lion". This is when she turns on the Lion King soundtrack and listens to the "wildebeest stampede" track and runs around like Simba and then, in the middle stops, turns and "dies" laying lifeless on the ground. She is only revived when Diego (Koebe) resuscitates her. Yeah. Oh, and did I mention that Kalee went to the dentist and we found out all that cute thumb sucking (which I have been saying we need to break her of) is going to cost us starting at the age of SEVEN, when she'll have to go on her first ROUND of braces. Since when did braces go on in rounds????

Ok, I think I have covered enough here that the guilt is starting to subside. Plus, I think there is a movie on tonight which might be slightly more interesting than trying to perfect this post! Good night!

This, That and The Other

THIS past weekend we had a small storm come through town. Yeah, like every other storm we've had come through we didn't really pay much attention. After a while, the excitement of thunderstorms wears off and you gain some sense of numbness to the weather forecasts that pinpoint to the minute when storms will be hitting certain parts of the metroplex (a freakishly wierd weather forecast phenomenom we've only experienced in Texas!). Well, that all changed on Saturday when out of nowhere fire and brimstone seemed to be raining down on our house and we thought we were witnessing the beginning of Armageddon.

Hail assualted our house with such force I thought our windows were going to burst. The kids were freaking out and Aprille who had been laying down in bed came running out still half asleep and totally disoriented. So what did I do? "Kids- let's open the blinds and open the door to see this freakishly dangerous storm!!!" Yeah, hindsight is 20/20 and now that I've had some time alone to think about that faux pas, I realized my first reaction should have been to gather the kids and run to the bathroom and cover ourselves. We live in tornado country- hello!

Well, after it was all said and done, we went outside where my car is parked and realized that it had suffered pretty serious damage. At the present, it looks like a teenager with acne- dents all over the roof and hood. Not to mention, we had our insurance adjuster out who wrote our roof off as a total loss. Yeah! New roof! Our house is only 4 years old! Yippee! Seriously- looking at it you can't tell, but I'll leave the adjusting to the experts.

THAT Koebe and Kalee have so much fun playing together is one of the best parts of our day. They are really into Diego and Kalee, in keeping with her cat mantra, plays the baby jaguar while Koebe runs around saying "beunos dias" and "let's go amigos!". It's really cute. Kalee, although is a paradox at times. She can be soooo girly, always wanting to wear her "dancey dance" (code for dresses) and carries her kitty in a purse, but then she is also really into dinosaurs. Her favorite at the moment is a bracchiosaurus. Lately, I've been asking Koebe about his dreams and it has been really interesting. Some nights he dreams about the circus and other days its monsters, which would explain why he has been coming into our room in the middle of the night!

THE OTHER week I went to Spain (um, yes, this would make it the 4th trip out of 5 l will have taken the first two months of the year- not sure what is keeping Ape from not leaving me. :o. Guess its the life insurance???). Seriously, she has been more than patient and I'm sure that a payoff is in the not too distance future. It was my first time to Barcelona and it was great! The city is beautiful, the seafood AMAZING (I now know what shrimp is suppose to taste like) and the language slightly gay- I'm sorry- I just couldn't allow myself to pronounce "gracias" as "grathias" or "Barcelona" as "Barthelona"! It just felt wrong!

But, the city again, is beautiful, thanks in large part to Gaudi, a famous architect from that city. I stayed right in the heart of the city and it was really great. I saw some of his work including Casa Mila and Sagrada Familia (pictured here). Sagrada Familia is the catherdral you may have heard about that has been under contstruction for over 40 years. It is very impressive and was great to see.

Road Warrior

I am sitting in an airport in Orlando and was unable to get on standby for the earlier flight and thought- heck! I haven't updated this sucker in a while, now's a good a time as any, right? Well, this has been my life as of late. In and out of airports. Maybe I'm not the full on crazy road warrior that you read about in the American Airlines magazines, but for now, (and my family would agree) I am hitting the road alot. Earlier this week I was in New Jersey. In about two weeks, I'll be heading on another trip to Barcelona.

Fortunately, some of these trips I do get upgraded (score!). On one trip, I had arrived at the airport unusually earlier than I normally do (the norm is about 50 minutes before take off) and noticed the security line was long as I headed toward check in. While checking in at the first class counter, I happened to mention the line to the ticketing agent. She responded, "Really? Ok, follow me." What? What was this? What was going on? She literally walked me back 30-50 yards to the security line, went to the front, whispered into the security gaurd's ear, and viola! Skip to the front of the line! In telling her that is was not necessary, she replied, "No, that's ok. We like to take care of our first class passengers." So that's how the other half lives!

Earlier this month I was out in Vegas (I loathe the place) for about a week. Aprille shared with me a cute/sad story that illustrates the fact that maybe I had been gone to long that particular week. The kids were playing house togheter and Kalee was the baby and Koebe was the daddy, using little dolls to act out the conversation. Kalee, in her baby voice, "Daddy, come play with me." Koebe, pretending to be me, "No, I can't, I'm in Las Vegas!". Yikes. Needless to say, a little quality time with the family on a weekend trip down to Houston after I came back was just what we needed.

Well, that is it for now. Hopefully between work, school, traveling, family and church, I'll squeeze another post in before the semester ends!