The Outlaws

Earlier this year, Bryan, Brian, and Leah signed up to run the San Antonio Rock-n-Roll Half-Marathon. Calling themselves The Outlaws, they trained and prepared to run 13.1 miles through downtown San Antonio on a cool November morning.

While the guys drove in early for the Expo, Lisa and I brought the kids up on Saturday evening and shared a hotel room. Five kids, cousins, can be a little hectic and very loud. We planned sleeping arrangements carefully, thinking that the kids would fight over who had to sleep on the floor. Instead, they fought over who got to sleep on the floor. In a moment of inspiration, I told them that whichever two behaved themselves best at dinner and after would get the honor of sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags. It worked better than I could have predicted. One word or look from me and any hint of misbehaving instantly corrected itself. In the end I couldn't honestly say that anyone had misbehaved, so I folded up the couch, stood the rollaway bed in the corner and announced that all five could sleep on the floor.

Understandably there was a little bit of excitement as everyone took their place and tried to settle down. I let them read and whisper for a little while, but when it was time for sleep, they would be quiet. I told them that the rollaway bed wasn't in the hallway, and if I came out from taking my shower and they weren't quiet and/or asleep, then I was going to make everyone get off the floor and crowd into the beds.

Lisa told me that they tried really hard, but kept getting excited while I was in the shower. However, the instant that the shower water cut off - BOOM - everyone immediately went still. Sure enough when I came out of the bathroom, Brenna, Daniel and Laurie were asleep while Cameron and Ashley just looked at me with silent big eyes.

The next morning by 7:20 a.m. we were in position at Alamo Plaza in front of the Menger Hotel waiting for the runners. The race officially began at 7:30 but it was after 8 a.m. before we received a text message that Bryan, Brian, and Leah had left their corral and crossed the starting line.

Brian and Leah passed us at mile 2 and a few minutes later, Bryan came running by. Despite the crowds lining the roads, I think we were pretty hard to miss.

We found Pat & Bob, who were there cheering for both of their sons, and also met up with David & Alex, who were cheering Leah & Sarah. We saw the runners again just after mile marker 8 and then made our way to the home stretch and the finish line. Lisa & David figured that Brian & Leah had already passed mile 12, so they went to the Alamodome. I took the girls and staked out a spot to wait along the street.

Bryan ran by about twenty minutes later and looked very happy to see us there. His hip, which would later be diagnosed with moderate osteoarthritis, was really bothering him. After he passed we walked over to the Alamodome, but couldn't see him cross the finish line. We could only gather in the family reunion area and wait for the runners to come to us.

Even though Leah crossed the finish line first, Brian found us before her. Leah followed shortly, and then Sarah.

Bryan came up and found us about twenty to thirty minutes after he crossed the finish line.

We were really proud of him for finishing his second half-marathon. Congratulations to all our our "Outlaws!"

20 year Reunion

Last month, we traveled to Oklahoma City for Bryan to attend his 20 year High School Reunion. Even though he hemmed and hawed about whether he would go, I planned for us to make the trip from the beginning. In the end, he had a wonderful time.

We drove straight through to Oklahoma City on Friday, staying overnight in Purcell with Brenna's godmother, Heather, and Cindy. After dinner in Norman, Bryan and Heather were keeping a close eye on a particular cloud that had developed rapidly. Once we settled the girls in the guest room, Heather & Bryan went back outside to watch the weather. We now knew that the "cloud' had spawned an F1 tornado about a mile from the highway where we had been driving. Cindy and I kept one eye on the tv news and then walked outside to tell Heather & Bryan where it was headed. Thankfully, the tornado passed to the east about 5-8 miles of Heather's home.

Saturday we had a few touristy errands to run in Oklahoma City, including going to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. In a wonderful twist, we were there during the Prix de West competition and were able to see many of the entries, including the 2009 winner, The Dawn of a New Day, a 52 "x 38" oil painting by Tom Browning.

The girls enjoyed looking at the art, the Indian and Cowboy artifacts, and Prosperity Junction (an indoor replica of a cowtown at dusk), but they particularly liked the Children's Cowboy Corral. Cameron played with the saddles-

Brenna played frontier house-

We enjoyed the beautiful sculpture gardens around the grounds.

After a late lunch at Coit's, we went to the cemetery to pay our respects to Grandma Connally. I visited last in 2007, but Bryan and the girls had not been back since the funeral.

Bryan and I returned to Oklahoma City that evening for his reunion. Aside from Heather & Cindy and two others (who weren't attending either), Bryan had not seen anyone from high school for twenty years. I think he really enjoyed himself that evening. If you've seen the movie Grosse Pointe Blank, you know what it was like for him. Every once in a while someone would come up to him and say, "Bryan? Bryan!" "TWENTY YEARS MAN!" One girl was really hugging on him and it wasn't until later he sheepishly admitted that she had been his prom date.

He appeared at least once in the home movie compilation playing in a loop throughout the evening. I loved watching for that clip of him playing the bass drum at a football game. I think I enjoyed his reunion better than my own last year.

While we were at the reunion, Heather & Cindy spoiled the girls by taking them to water bumper boats, rock climbing, miniature golf, arcade games, and racing cars.

Then they went to their favorite Japanese restaurant and ended up getting frozen custard. When we called to let them know we were on the way home (just before midnight) they had just walked in the door!

Sunday we were pretty exhausted when we left early to drive home. We arrived in McKinney right on schedule to see Brad & Amanda's new house and have some lunch. Back on the highway, we hadn't gone more than 15-20 miles when our Odyssey tire warning light came on, quickly followed by the "run-flat" warning.

Yep, a flat tire. On a normal car you would just pull over and change it with a spare. Or head over to the open Discount Tire shop for a patch or a new tire. But not with the Honda Odyssey. They have special Michelin PAX tires, which are gerat tires, with the one exception being that a flat can only be changed or patched by a "specialized" Michelin or Honda dealer, neither of which were available on a late Sunday afternoon.

Long story short, we called the PAX tire hotline listed in our car owner manual (who knew?) and were told to get a local hotel room and they would send someone to repair/replace the tire in the morning. Calling our bosses to explain that we wouldn't be in the office on Monday because of a flat tire was not a lot of fun. The next morning brought a series of problems as Michelin kept delaying our appointment and their customer service department was less than helpful. Finally I tracked down the nearest Honda dealer (back in McKinney) and they replaced the tire in about two hours. We pulled into Houston about 9 p.m. Monday night.

I had been tweeting our experience and it caught the eye of someone in Michelin's public relations office. Tuesday afternoon a senior member of the Michelin Customer Care Center contacted me to straighten everything out. What a whirlwind weekend!

Father's Day

A few weeks ago Bryan and the girls enjoyed Father's Day.

After church Bryan opened his presents. In hindsight I should have taken video, because Bryan was very animated playing around with the girls and they loved every minute of it. He opened Cameron's present first.

She gave him a Mercy Me CD with the song I Can Only Imagine. She also made him a piece of "art" with a photo of us from DisneyWorld on it and the words Love is Beautiful.

Brenna gave Bryan an audio card that said, "Dad when it comes to knowing all of life's really important rules...." (open it up: the audio is from the movie League of Their Own, Tom Hanks' character is saying There's no crying... there's no cryin' in baseball!) "You're in a league of your own." She also very proudly picked out this t-shirt for Bryan.

Fun Run

What a beautiful morning for a Fun Run! Bryan signed up for the Houston Heights 5K Fun Run as a reminder that he's in training for the Rock-N-Roll Half-Marathon this November with "The Outlaws" (Leah, Brian, and Bryan). We all tagged along this morning to cheer him on.
Both girls were frustrated they couldn't do the 5K with him. Maybe next year. However, they were signed up to participate in the 1K Kids Run immediately following the 5K.


Bryan directed them in stretching for the run. Then they lined up and received directions.


And they're off! I stayed at the finish line and Bryan went to the turning point. He ran the last half-K with them to where I was standing.


Isn't this a great shot of the girls coming down the last block!!

Cameron put on a burst of speed as she passed me to pull ahead of her sister just before the finish line. This race wasn't timed, but both did really well! What a fun start to our Saturday weekend!

Jeff Dunham

Bryan LOVES Jeff Dunham. I saw Jeff perform almost twenty years ago when he was doing the college circuit. He is sooo funny. For Bryan's birthday I gave him tickets to Jeff's October appearance last Saturday at the Reliant Center. We saw.....

Walter.


Achmed, the terrifying terrorist. (Say it with me: Silence! I kill you!)


Peanut (with the Guitar Guy, Brian Taner, who was really very funny!) He also did Peanut with Jose - the Jalepeno on a stick.


Jeff and his wife have a foundation they created from their income via ticket sales. To help the area after Hurricane Ike, Jeff and his wife presented a $35,000 check to the Houston/Galveston area Ronald McDonald House. They also presented $100,000 to the Red Cross for their hurricane relief efforts.
Then Jeff brought out Bubba J for an encore.

We laughed so hard at the ad-lib. Jeff said he hadn't performed Bubba Jay in a while, so he had crib notes for the jokes in his other hand. The audience shouted out all the punch lines. Jeff (and Bubba Jay) ad-libbed that it was like the Rocky Horror Bubba Show.

Riding Lessons

Maybe two years ago, Papa promised Cameron that if she saved up $200 then he would buy her a horse. Now that she has the money, I'm a bit worried he might keep his promise! Whether he buys or leases one, the girls need to learn to handle themselves around a horse so we started riding lessons today.

Brenna, Cameron & Bryan all had a half-hour private lesson today. We met Stephanie, our instructor, in the tack room. When she asked who would go first, Brenna gave Cameron a quick glance to see if her hand was up, and when she realized Cameron hadn't raised hers Brenna shot her hand up -boom! (I thought that was so cute that she checked Cameron first.)

Both girls started with Charwin, a 24 yr old female Arabian. Brenna learned to curry comb and body brush the horse, then lift up the front hooves to pick out the dirt (with a little help). She chose a saddle blanket and carried the saddle herself from the tack room. Stephanie put the lead-on and bridle, carefully showing Brenna how to do it and together they led Charwin to the covered riding ring.

Brenna spent about ten minutes or more walking, learning to turn and guide. Throughout all of this she looked like a natural with no hesitation at all.

When her turn was over, she led Charwin back to her stall to remove the bridle, saddle, blanket, and brush the horse again. Look at this happy face!

Then it was Cameron's turn. She did all of the same, although she was a bit hesitant to lift the horse's leg to pick the hoof by herself. But past that she really enjoyed herself and seemed very comfortable while riding.

After Cameron's turn to walk, guide, and trot, she brought Charwin back and brushed her. For Bryan's lesson he had a larger horse named Partner. Bryan learned to pick the horse hooves, put the blanket and saddle in the proper place on the horse and fix all the straps. He didn't put the bit and bridle on during this lesson, but looked very natural walking Partner around the ring. By the end of the 90 minutes, we were all dusty, hot, and sweaty.

But I know all three of them are looking forward to next week's lesson!

Softball game

Since Saturday morning's softball game was a rainout, we played the makeup game tonight. However, tonight's game was a tough one for the Eagles, who gave up a one-run lead to lose by a score that no one cares to remember. (Heck, I lost track somewhere at 16 to 10. Thank goodness for the 5-run inning limit.)

Cameron batted first in the line-up, went 3 for 4 (and was thrown out at first on the last at bat.) She picked up 2 RBIs, scored twice, and was left on 2nd base. Coach moved her to the infield this game, playing 2nd most of the night, and then 3rd. While on second, she caught this fantastic pop-up, you know, the kind where the batter hits it straight to you and POP you've caught it. She also fielded very well, catching a ball thrown from the outfield and throwing it to the pitcher with control. She stepped on the bag for a forced out at second. While on third she "froze" the runner (meaning in layperson terms she blocked the runner from advancing).

Meanwhile, Bryan was in second heaven working the dugout as the bench coach, calling up the girls for their at-bat, and managing equipment (bats, batting helmets, catchers equipment). I didn't bring a camera to this game, but I wish I could take a photo of the proud look on his face giving Cameron a high-five when she came running back to the dugout after scoring. It's priceless.

Coming Home!

Bryan has spent the last 10 days in Aberdeen, Scotland for work. We've missed him like crazy, and haven't blogged about it. But he's finally on his way home!! He flew from Aberdeen to Amsterdam while we were sleeping. His flight from Amsterdam was delayed in leaving this morning, but he is finally in the air - somewhere just below the tip of Iceland.

As you can see from the tracking map, he'll fly over the tip of Greenland and come into the continent across northern Canada, coming into the US through the midwest. When he left - he flew straight up the Northeastern Seaboard - over Maine and Nova Scotia.

His landing time has already been pushed back to after 6 p.m. but we'll be waiting (somewhere) at Bush IAH Airport for him to come through customs.

The girls are very ready to have Daddy back home.

Father's Day

Last Sunday was Father's Day and the girls were really excited to give Dad their presents and about 47 handmade cards. (It's a blessing and a curse to be both a mom and an archivist to be forced with this kind of an appraisal decision.) We tried to give Bryan a quiet and relaxing weekend. (key word there is tried ) Only he could tell you how well we succeeded.