Pizza, a Canoe, and my Beautiful Sweetheart

After Ray was back in Texas and things began settling down again I decided that Kristy and I needed some time to our selves. So I made reservations for a canoe on Lake Loramie and grabbed a pizza at the HUT.

Kristy and I love canoeing, it started in Maine when we used to borrow my grandfathers canoe and go fishing. Since then it has been a normal activity for us each summer. On this particular trip we came across this photogenic Heron and figured since he posed so well for us I should include him in this entry.


The Lake was beautiful and the pizza was awesome as always. The two mixed well with the magnificent Ohio Sunset. I am so blessed to have a wife that actually enjoys the crazy things that I come up with.

During our little canoe adventure date Kristy decided to feed pizza crust to some passing Gulls. This resulted in a bombardment of about twenty of those crazy birds all hoping to grab a bite .... I guess when Pizza Hut says to "gather around the good stuff" these birds take it literally.

Kristy and I had a wonderful time together and most importantly enjoyed each others company.

To Close a Ride at Cedar Point

After we had returned to Ohio and had taken care of an insect problem at our house, which is a memory I am trying to forget, Ray decided that he needed to be young one last time and so we headed for the greatest theme park on the planet....Cedar Point.

Although Ray was able to capture another moment of his youth by riding some of the greatest Roller Coaters ever this blog entry will actually highlight my ability to close a ride at Cedar Point.


You see we have gone roller coasting with Ray in the past and during those times my ability to maintain my lunch has always been an issue. Ray decided that this occasion would be no different. He predicted as we pulled into the parking lot of this theme park that I would not last more than 3 roller coasters. He was wrong....but not by much. It took four to make me jettison my McDonald's breakfast all over a ride....what is most disheartening is that it was the space needle sight seeing ride that accepted my urgent donation. But this was after riding four very well engineered coasters.

Although Ray disowned me after this event by stating to the other passengers "that guy puked" as if to notion that he didn't know "that guy" that was currently in a hurling emergency, I still remain his friend........ I am so weak.

Although I have little to be proud of concerning this episode of theme park illness I did accomplish one thing. Well throwing up on a ride traditionally considered rider friendly presents the staff with an unusual and messy situation. First of all there is usually no cleaning supplies on hand this results in having to go find some leaving the ride unattended. So I barffed on the space needle, the staff couldn't believe it, they had to go find cleaning supplies, and that is how you close a ride at Cedar Point. The ride was down for some time, and I am sure I will be a sore in the memory of the poor kid that thought he had it easy working the space needle.

I attempted one more coaster but the results were not looking good so I called it quits for the year and let Kristy and Mr. "that guy" ride the rest of the day as I watched from a stable surface.

Summer Vacation 2005: Day 6 Sesame Place

Our last day of vacation was spent making Molly & Neleha's greatest expectations come true. North of DC lies one of the most famous streets in America.....Sesame St.

Our first monster encounter was with Zoe, the girls could hardly believe that we were actually meeting their Sesame Street friends from TV.

When we actually took a stroll on the famous street we came across two very important individuals..... Bert & Ernie of course

We also found Big Bird and Elmo just around the corner and the girls just fell into their harry monster arms.

Sesame Place is more of a water park then anything else but we did find one dry ride that we could enjoy, the balloon ride.

We also cooled off in the many splash pools available in the park.


The park also provided a Birthday Parade to celebrate the parks 25th anniversary. The parade was a very wonderful treat for the girls.

During the course of our vacation Neleha went from smacking Ray around to making him her newest best friend. It must have been the tender care he provided her while Kristy and I were in the Temple.

Although Sesame Place is targeted for children I think Kristy had as much fun as the girls.



Our vacation had come to an end but the week we spent was as wonderful as we had hoped for....now for next year....?


On a final note I wanted to include a photo of one of the unique gas station chains we frequented during our vacation............. it sorta became a running joke during the trip that we were buying sheetzy gas.

Summer Vacation 2005: Day 5

Our last day in the Capitol City was spent taking a last walk down the National Mall which began at the White House. We were unsure if President Bush was home or not, especially because he happened to be on vacation this week as well, but it was nice to at least be near the residence of a President we helped elect. We tried to get another tourist to get a picture of all of us, but as usual this attempt failed and the picture above taken by Ray is all we have.

After the White House we made a poor choice and visited the National Aquarium. This would be an even bigger waste of time than the day before events of sitting in the motel for most of the day..... well almost. The National Aquarium was the only attraction in DC that had an admission and was by far the least impressive attraction. No pictures will be posted of the inside of the aquarium as nothing inside was worth the digital memory space on my camera.

For lunch we gave Ray a new experience, MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat). I had saved a few of these field rations from my Navy/Marine Corps days and thought that our vacation would be a good time to break them out. The menu included some teriyaki chicken, chicken and rice, and beef stew. We had eaten these in the past and so it was nothing too us but Ray was quite amazed by the water activated heaters and wide selection of food included in these brown plastic bagged dinners.

Our next stop was the Air & Space Museum which was an amazing part of our trip. The museum highlights the original Wright Flyer that broke the limits of travel for ever. Also included was many other planes and air crafts as well as space crafts. The history enclosed within these walls was truly overwhelming.


I personally was in awe to look upon the very craft that signifies for me that there is no dream to grand and no hope to far. The 1903 Wright Flyer stands as an undeviating reminder that the Lord has enabled his children to accomplish even the greatest feats if they but have faith and are diligent.





The photo above is Kristy on the phone with her sister Sherry while we were just finishing our visit to the Air & Space museum.

Our next stop was back to the Museum of Native American History. The museum was inspiring and beautifully done. Many tribes from around North America were represented. Many exhibits, videos, and statues, like the moon statue below that Neleha fell in love with, were wonderfully placed along our path.




Our last stop in DC was the Museum of Natural History. Here we learned of every aspect of our Mother Earth including the grandest diamond in existence - The Hope Diamond.




Our last night in town was spent in Georgetown at Johnny Rockets with a encore at their neighbors Ben & Jerry's.

Summer Vacation 2005: Day 4

One problem with taking a vacation while in Graduate School is that the two really don't mix. The week we left for DC was the final week of my summer quarter and even though all of my courses this quarter was on-line I still was required to do some work during our vacation. Unfortunately the time needed for the completion of this course work was extensive and so I made a decision to take care of all of it in one day so as to minimize the impact it would have while on vacation. This unfortunately resulted in the scene above for about 14 hours straight. Nothing like going on vacation just to take final exams all day.

After our all day non-adventure in the motel watching TV and doing school work we finally got to visit the National Zoo.

Although we arrived just a couple hours before closing we were still able to enjoy most of the exhibits and animals. This was one of the girls favorite places during our time in DC. We had a nice relaxing walk through the zoo.