Farewell Lunch at the Piqua China Garden

As the tradition has it, any Case Manger departing from Miami County Mental Health Center (MCMHC) has a farewell lunch. My last day finally arrived and they all came out to Piqua China Garden to eat well and bid their best for my next chapter in life.

The photo above depicts the most humorous person I had the wonderful opportunity of working with at MCMHC. Duke made life very interesting for all of us. He supplied us with chocolate which at times was all that separated us between sanity and hysteria. He also introduced me to the world of the "Star Wars Kid" (for info on the Star Wars Kid go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_wars_kid ) and the "Numa Numa" dance (go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numa_numa ) which has all made my life so much more peaceful.

I will miss Duke as well as the rest of the crew:

Jodi & Carol

Kathy & Chrissy

Duke & Heidi

Linda & Angie

Maggie & Ann

Tom, my faithful counterpart.

I will miss them all including those not pictured: Tina, Paul, Abigail, & Mindy

I sure had a great time with this crew and will ever benefit from this experience.

Cooling Off at Grandma's

With every summer comes heat and in Ohio humidity is it's companion. So to help the kids beat the heat Kristy's Mom, Tove, got them a pool that was just their size.

There were wet times to be had and they enjoyed every minute. I think they got Tove's money's worth out of that pool in just the first few days of using it. They would certainly stay in that thing all day, every day, if we would let them.

A Bluegrass Family Gathering

Some of Kristy's relatives got together for an afternoon of great food and great "live" music. I am not sure if it was the fresh deep fried catfish or the soothing sounds of the live bluegrass band but I had the time of my life.

There was a spread of food that wouldn't quit. I mean the catfish was good enough but with all the other food, I had a hard time restraining myself. To be honest, I really didn't do much restraining, I ate till it hurt.

The band was great, we all ate, listened, and relaxed. Even the kids found some enjoyment at this family "get-together". They also had a blast playing with the other children. Lots of food, music, smiles, and laughs.... a good time for all.

At one point we lost track of Neleha but found her trying out all the riding lawn mowers (or "tractors" as she put it) right next door at a mower repair shop. She sure is a farm girl.

A Last Hoorah with the Williams Family

When I first met my Brother-in-Law, Dale, I never would have imagined that he would have so much influence on my life. It is because of him that I met Kristy, fell in love, and have lived happily ever after. And because of Dale that I met the Williams. Now to clarify Dale and Michael are best friends, they go way back...like I think they were born in the same hospital, on the same day, and peed on each other in the nursery.....or something like that. Anyways we really started hanging out with Michael and Amy when we moved to the Dayton area and they were living nearby. We have kids of similar ages and are all outdoorsy kind of people, so it just worked, you know. The Williams have been very close friends and we are certainly going to miss them. So for a last good weekend together we went and did some Temple work together and then hit the BD's Mongolian Barbecue. Nothing like the Lord's work and some good food to say goodbye.

The next day we let our kids hang out and play at a local park. They fed some ducks and played on the playground. Us adults discussed the coolness of green energy. We had a good time.

I think our kids are certainly going to miss seeing each other. They really enjoy each others friendship.


After some more good food and some last goodbyes we took some photos to remember. Oh yeah and we did some Mp3 (digital music) sharing which is a big plus.

With all that said I am sure this was no final goodbye, I have a feeling there will be more memories formed with the Williams in future.

Batchelder Family Vacation 2006 Days 7-9

Our final days on vacation were well spent. We decided to head to the big city for some water fun. However arriving to late in the evening to make it to any water parks we decided to take in a bite at one of my favorite buffets in Mesa, Arizona. The bonus was that we also got to bring our nephew Collin along for this adventure.

Pancho's has been around for awhile and recently moved to this very nice location and upscaled building and the food has remained good as always.

We enjoyed all the Mexican food that we could consume. The kids loved the unique way that the buffet works. Here you go through the buffet line only once, so you can see what there is. After that you simply raise the Mexican flag on your table and the waitress will come and find out what you would like more of and then bring it to you. I think it got to the point where they were stuffing themselves just to be able to raise the flag.
To learn more about Pancho's go to: http://www.panchosmexicanbuffet.com/

Before Pancho's Kristy and I got to visit the Mesa Temple and do some of the Lords work. After we all ate we brought everyone back to the Temple so the girls could see it. They really liked what they saw but were very disappointed when the groundskeeper had to close up the gates for the night.


That night we all enjoyed a restful sleep at a local hotel.

I am not sure who loved on Zoe more, Kristy or Molly, the good thing is Zoe had lots of love to give back.

The next morning we were on to "Big Surf" it is a Tempe water park near Phoenix which is known for their huge tidalwave pool.


We were able to score some discount tickets from an Arizona State University website, the internet is so awesome sometimes.


The wave pool was all that it proclaimed to be, the waves were big and the fun was plentiful.

The kids had the time of their lives, we spent the entire day there, from the time they opened to the time they closed and the kids still wanted more.

Kristy would take the kids out into the wave pool and then help them run away from the impending wave. It was so fun to watch as the kids would run and laugh as the wave would overtake them.

We were very surprised to find that the height restrictions for the water slides were only loosely enforced.

Neleha was way to short to be on any adult slides yet her and Kristy went on most of them. Neleha enjoyed that so much that Kristy couldn't hardly keep her away from those slides.


Neleha is one fearless little girl.

Collin and Molly were actually able to go on the biggest water slide in the park (pictured above), despite the fact that they needed about 5 more inches to be of legal height.

Molly and Collin made a great pair, they were buddies from the get go.


The last day In Arizona was spent at Kartchner Caverns which was by far the most awesome cave I have ever been in. We learned of the great efforts that were taken in order to keep this place a secret for 14 years in order to get state legislation passed to protect it. It is one of the only state park owned cavern systems in the country and I must say Arizona has done a wonderful job in maintaining the highest standards of preservation.

In the visitor area they had replicas of some of the original openings to the caverns. As you can tell from the photos the openings were not very big.



The tour was very awesome but in the spirit of preservation we were not allowed to take photos. But our memories will do just fine. To learn more about Kartchner Caverns go to: http://www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/kartchner.html

Our vacation came to a close and it was back on the road for us. We had a most wonderful time with Tony & Carmen and look forward to spending more and more time with them as time goes on.

Along the way back we stopped somewhere in New Mexico at this road side stand so we could get Kristy's Mom a decorative roasted chili wall hanging.

We also came across this cool UFO McDonald's in Roswell, NM. The city was pretty cool to, it had many stores and museums regarding the alien and UFO subculture.


Somewhere around Amarillo, Texas we stayed over the night at this hotel that looked like a castle. The girls really liked this, it made them feel like the princesses that they are.


The ride was long but well worth it. Kristy and I got to relax and enjoy the one thing that means the most to us, each other, Molly, and Neleha, simply put our family.


Another family vacation.....