Rock'n Ribs BBQ Festival 2007

Bass Pro held a very awesome event that our friend Mickey would have certainly been jealous over. It was called the Rock'n Ribs BBQ Festival and simply put it is a massive bar-b-que cook off that any one is invited to participate in. Of course the only stipulation is that you have to cook about 200 lbs of bar-b-que in order to have enough for all the patrons that will visit the event.

There was about 60 or so contestants offering just a taste of their product and each of them hoping that they could win over the crowd. That's right, there were no judges, just a crowd of hungry patrons that would decide the best bar-b-que. Every person that entered the event was given a voting ballot in which you were allowed to place a single contestant on. You could only pick one as being the best. That was not an easy task. We tried so many different flavored and textured types of pulled pork that it was hard to keep track of the ones you actually liked. But it was fun trying.

This contest is so big they even had aliens trying out the bar-b-que.

It was such a cool experience walking along this very long line as you slowly made your way to each contestant booth. Some had their booth all decorated up as an attempt to have you remember their booth when it came to cast that single vote.

Neleha ate her self to sleep and ended up getting carried by most of the booths, but we sure had a fun time along with Angie and Aaliyah. We all ate our fill and had a fun time doing it.

Motorcycle Rides & Mexican Food

Ray saved one experience regarding his motorcycle for Molly. He had never driven his motorcycle with a passenger, Molly was so thrilled to be that lucky girl. She climbed on the back and held on tight.

I think Ray was more nervous than she was, it must be a good indicator of how much Molly trusts her friend Ray.

Ray took Molly for a spin down the block, not too far, not too fast, but a motorcycle ride all the same.

Molly was so happy after her ride that she prompted Neleha to request her own ride as well. Ray couldn't really say no to her either, they have Ray wrapped around their other finger, right next to the one I am wrapped around.

Neleha climbed on and held on as tight as she could.

What was kind of scary about Neleha was she got so trusting of Ray that by the time they returned from their little spin she was hardly hanging on to him. She really loved that ride!

Ray stores his bike at one of his friends house. It was during this time the we were finally able to meet this friend, Derrick. We found Derrick to be a most enjoyable person to spend time with, he was so awesome with our girls and was simply a real stand-up kind of guy. After all, how can anyone that keeps an alien mask on hand at all times be bad? Alien masks go a long way in my book.

Derrick had as much fun as Molly & Neleha playing their little "run from the alien" game.

So Ray decided that we should all have dinner together and took us along with Derrick and his girlfriend Holly out to a local Mexican food place, a place I soon came to love.

We had such a wonderful time talking, eating and simply enjoying each others company. Neleha also got to catch up on her sleep, as usual. My beautiful Kristy and I enjoyed some really great food and being together. The food I enjoyed was a first for me, it was a deep fried avocado, let me tell you, it may sound crazy but it was sooooo good!

Molly hung right on to Derrick, he must have won her over with the alien mask. Regardless she wouldn't let him out of her sight. She even swindled him and Holly into taking her out for an ice cream after dinner.

Good food, good friends, good times......

Dale Catches His First Throwed Roll

Lambert's is by far our favorite Ozarkian restaurant. We sure do enjoy bringing our family and friends here to share the joy. We had to wait the longest ever, 2 hours, we actually drove around rather than wait but man, that is one long wait time....still worth it though. Especially for Dale as he was able to catch his first throwed roll!

With a smile like that you know he was having a good time.

He even ventured to try the "Sorghum Molasses" which Lambert's is well known for. Dale loved the gooey stuff as much as I do. He must have good taste for sure.

In all the excitement Neleha somehow found time to catch up on some Z's. She sure has no trouble sleeping when she is tired.

Even Garret approved of Lambert's, so with this grand meal we were concluding a very awesome visit with Sherry, Dale, Emily, Braden, & baby Garret. One great weekend for sure!

Asleep at the Desk

Ever since Neleha was crawling around we have often found her sleeping in the most unusual places. Kristy caught this photo of her asleep at her desk. She was playing music and switching out different cds when all of a sudden she drifted off to sleep. She is so cute.