tina's snippets!

Fear will not...

keep me down.

Manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
Designer	Werner Stengel
Model	Inverted Coaster (Batman)
Lift/launch system	Chain lift hill
Height	105 ft (2, 4, 7) 100 ft (1, 3, 5, 6)
Drop	80 ft
Length	2693 ft (2, 4) 2700 ft (1, 3, 5, 6, 7)
Max speed	50 mph
Inversions	5
Duration	2:00
Capacity	1280 (2, 4) 1400 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7) riders per hour
Max G force	4

OK - so now that you've seen some the blah blah blah behind Batman, the Ride...

Yup- I rode it.

Yup- I hate roller coasters. Really I do. You may be suprised that with my outgoing spirit that coasters do me in..well it's simple, I like to control my universe. With roller coasters, I feel that all control has been stripped of me and I am at the mercy of something else..Larry on the other hand is absolutely thrilled and a total coaster addict.

Our family spent last Wednesday all day at Six Flags in St Louis. We had a great family day. No complaining, just we were all after a good day together. Prior to leaving I declared at the dinner table. 'I am going to ride Batman. As soon as we get to Six Flags I am getting on the Batman.' Larry was cheering me on and kept reminding me all the night before of what I said and that I had to do it.

Larry being the master of theme parks had an agenda of the day set. So I wasn't able to just go in and get it over with. I had to wait..all day. I watched that ride with a sly eye whenever I heard it whoosh throughout the park. I studied the inverted turns and cork screws - thinking 'just how does that feel with my legs upside down?' 'Surely that has to feel good no feeling crammed into a cart.'

At the end of the day it was time. The kids were all settled down from the excitement - really they were beyond exhaustion. Larry, Quinten and I walked the long ramp up to the launch pad. The big kids were riding the Scrambler while we went. I went first while Larry held Quinten. He was so excited that he went to the aisle that led to the front line of seats. 'Um I think I want to ride in the middle' So I head to the middle of the ride in the middle most seat. Thank God I was the only one in my row.

'You go mommy' was what Quinten was prompted to say by Daddy and off I went.

I buckled in. It was OK that the shoulder straps lock down on top of your whole chest and buckle in the middle. It was nice and tight. OK - this feels safe - I can do it. I pray. OK - the prayer has me covered. OK - I want to cry as I look at Larry and Quinten. What if I don't see that baby boy again? And the ride flew out of the station.

It had the usual climb and I glanced down and saw the earth leaving my feet. Which I really liked. I always wanted the super power of flying. As the coaster hit the crest and whoosh down it went. I held my breath and listened to the screams. I am processing the screams for crying out loud - is everyone OK? has someone died? are they scared? I'm scared. So I stop holding my breath, close my eyes and let the last bit of fear come screaming out of me as we head into the first loop. Oh that was a good cleansing scream..where am I? I couldn't open my eyes very well because of the force pulling against my face. So I kept my eyes closed through the next loop - which felt good to feel like I was flipping over like a super charged hand spring! As we spiraled into the corkscrew I got my eyes open for a brief second and saw some crazy vision of swirly metal that really jiggled my brain! So I finished out the ride with my eyes shut until I felt it smooth out a bit and it was over.

We had a pause in the station before we unloaded. They were busy loading the next set of chairs. I breathed in and looked down at my feet. Yup, still hanging and still flying. I loved it. I loved every second of that ride. I think I was really flying and it felt as good as I ever imagined it.

I'll do it again and again.

Larry simply says 'I'm impressed.' hands me the boy and climbs into the front row of chairs. He has his arms up and thumbs out ready to fly baby. Oh boy, next time I know where he is going to push me to sit. I take Quinten down to the ground and watch Daddy fly out into the night. As I am watching, instead of watching with a pit of fear, I am watching with a sense of wonder and thrill of flying. I am thinking 'I did it and I will fly again.'

 

I am dreaming

haven't you given up so many good and not so good dreams?

me too...

got this email today from my girl:

this is my dream home to live in with two girls aand a boy. With my husband, and my two dogs. With a beautiful garden a two story house and a beautiful water garden.

http://elouai.com/build-a-home/viewroom.php


I hope the link works..but it may not...

but I thought you might like to dream a little today!

he just thrills me so!

This is me.

This is my reaction to finding my own letterbox.

The box was made by Larry and this one he made just for me.

The theme of the box is so me and how he hid the box is even more me. I so wish I could share it all with you, but these things must be kept discreet and especially since he hid this one in a prominent and very busy location in Columbia.

Next time you see me, ask me about it and I'll describe how he hid it, but I cannot give up the location.

What's so sweet about this is that he made one for each of us. Larry is someone who deeply loves his family. He loves his family with such deep and safe love that it has taught me how to love. That's it's OK to love and it's OK to love in families.

I need to remember this about him more often. Isn't it too often we forget about the good stuff our mates do?

My boy likes....

Q really likes Hannah Montana. He comes running whenever it's on. So a couple of nights ago at dinner he pops into this:

We're just a couple of teenagers!

Can you believe these two crazy teenagers?

Who would have thought they would still be together? (Larry & I secretly wonder who thinks this about our marriage - LOL)

Happy thirteen to us! Today is our thirteenth wedding anniversary!

We've been through so much together - it's amazing we're still standing most days! Yet, we keep doing that crazy thing - persevering!

We don't have any big plans for our anniversary, typically we take family vacation during our anniversary time as our way of celebrating. It means more to us to be together than anything that comes in a box. We are so not presents people - I love them, but have grown beyond them!

We don't have any big evaluations of our marriage to go through or creating huge life plans together. Some couples do this and it works for them. But, I have only discovered deep disappointment when Larry & I have tried to do this - for us, it's almost a complete set-up - were our goals out of line - no not really, were they too big - no big expectations. The big disppointments would come when life stuff would come in and take out our plans again and again...to the point that the big life plans were destroyed.

I recently read the Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. I know it's not deep philosophical literature, yet there was a simple message that came through for me. The main character was in a big vision corporate world and came crashing down around her. She was deep into disillusionment about what her life was 'supposed' to turn out like. As she is putting pieces back together, another character steps in and says 'You don't need a big vision life plan, you only have to know what you're going to do next.'

How true! After each crisis Larry & I have been through, it's what we do next that keeps us moving through it. After 13 years together, this is where we've landed. We know what's next and that's what we're doing. What's next for us - keeping other's agenda's out of our way and moving forward with ours - it's time for us to move forward. So many well intentioned and not so well intentioned have interupted our marriage. There are key moments this has happened on either Larry or I's side of the relationship. I have to confess it's more my issue than his and yet, he loves me again and again.

The next simple things we're doing next:

- out of debt
- add adventure into our time together daily (go swim, walk or learn together)
- talk about big ideas we each are having, seeing which ones are credible and then going after them - right now planning a move to arizona is on the front burner
- getting motorcycles (Larry has his license and I need to learn, but his and hers in the drive way are scheduled for our 40's - which Larry hits next year)

To celebrate the start of our teenage years together, we are:

- going on a date
- going to a simple diner like Mugs Up or Huer's Cafe, i want really good onion rings
- maybe stroll around the columns on MU campus, that's where he proposed

and that is simply the next thing we have to do!

Thank you...

Thank you for being the optimistic one - I have been the one discouraged and loosing heart over the last month - but you are strong and moving our family forward.

Thanks for stepping up and being the leader of our family.

Thank you..

Most of you know that our family has had a rough year. We have been in a transition phase in our family since last August. It has been good, but the tornado is slowing down! I just got done reading A Time to Embrace
It summed up the last 9 months of our lives. It also helped me to relax and just move with the flow of it all. I may appear 'together' and 'calm' on the outside, but that is just the store front to my heart. Like any good store, if you are curious about the front, then you go in and check out what their selling.

Here's the real reason I am posting today. I am beginning a new regular thing here and it's really simple. I am going to write down why I am thankful for my husband. Years ago when our marriage was in crisis we began daily session called 'thank you's' - this was before kids - as you can imagine after kids that the 'thank yous' come rarely or because you fall asleep thinking about them!

Larry has given me so much. We often have to remind ourselves why we married the other with things like 'you're not my enemy' and 'I married the whole package, not just the good stuff'. I have noticed that in my mind I think about what needs fixed or improved wayyy tooooo much. I think it has contributed greatly to my depression and definitely to the blah seasons of marriage! I think focusing on whatever is true, whatever is right, whatever is noble, lovely and pure - requires much more character and focus than what is wrong.

Today:

Thank you for sitting with on the back porch at night. That's it just your time and words fill me more than any piece of jewlery you could buy. I am looking eagerly at sitting with you in the next season of our lives together!

ps..especially if we make it to arizona.

Personal Coach

Rebekah is officially the family fitness coach. She has designed a fitness program for the entire family. Each day we have an excercise program with different things - walking, sit-ups, swimming, tennis and crunches to name a few.

What has amazed me is how insipiring she really is when it comes to fitness. She knows about physical fitness.

To start our training, she gave us all a fitness test. Immediately, Larry & I got sucked right back to PE - but Rebekah wouldn't hear of our whining..she just pushed and encouraged us along the way. The fitness test was to determine where we are at currently and we will test again on Sunday.

Here are the results:

I am not lying..just went to go pull up the results on the computer and they are GONE! So here are my results that I remember:

Push-ups - 10

Crunches - 31

Sit-ups - 12 (don't remember this one so much - we did crunches first so I was pretty pooped by this time)

Here's a shot of Coach R -

Tough little coach isn't she? Really, it is great! I am loving that she is motivated to lead us so well. Last night we walked all over downtown Columbia for the twilight festival. We walked at least 1.5 miles! When we got home though..coach was waiting:

Luckily, Larry played his parent card and got us a break!

Which is good, because my arms - wow on my back were so tender for 2 days - I had no idea I could do 10 push-ups - I thought I would only be at one..I am off to look up info on a local program called Kids on Track that my friend E told me about...

Happy Birthday Cole!

It was our first double digit birthday this weekend.
Cole turned 10!!!

It seems very unreal to have an official 10 year old here..makes me reflective of everything we've been through for him to be 10!!

We had a great birthday weekend. We took a different approach for his day. Cole loves to do stuff as a family. It's his thing for us all to be together doing an activity.

So this day was spent with gifts that brought the family together and playing together. We got him a set of disc golf frisbee's. Dad and the big kids headed over to the disc golf course for a round while Q napped. Earlier we hunted down an easy LB that featured tweety bird. Then we invested in a croquet set.

Yes, that's me with the mallet!

I played this game so much at Grandma's house as a kid. Absolutely, great summer memories with all my cousins playing croquet.

It was great to share this simple game with the kids. They got a kick out of it. We kept saying we felt very british playing the game...

Finally, we topped the day off with tennis. Headed out to the courts - all five of us. Q only got hit once during a serve..it was awful. He kept going and this morning asked if we were going 'to play dennis'. Who knows, maybe some lesson will creep into our world during the summer!

Cole had a great day, we all had a great day. Of course, we finished it off with his favorite meal - homeburgers and banana pudding. We were all stuffed, sweaty and overly content with the day!

Household Exec says

A quote from the Household Exec.

"you are all about the food lately. but it is great. food is what brings a family together."

You never know where a good dose of encouragement will come from. This came from a google talk session with the Household Exec. We were just chatting away and it came up about how I had been blogging about food.

She comes back with the above quote. It made me stop and think -

it's true.

No matter what the circumstance, bring out the food and people come running. Even in the picture with Q - he thought he would make his own toast one morning - well I came running! He did a pretty good job, he especially liked the smashing it into the toaster, so if it was plugged in - he would have made toast balls!

Our family has been somewhat scattered for the last 2 weeks with various deadlines on different members- Larry had a corporate training at his store and overnight cleaning sessions. Rebekah has had end of the school assemblies and parties. Q & I are somewhat just along for the ride, but we've been spending as much time as possible outside. Then at night it's grab some food and hit the sack.

Again, tonight we have a party to go to for some friends moving to Tennesee. There will be lots of food at this event. We are to bring a side and 2 ltr of soda. It's at the park in Hallsville. The kids will be playing and eating until the sun goes down. It will be a great night to relax and enjoy a party with our friends.

Check and see if there's food in your world bringing the people together - then enjoy the people!