Public Pools: Not as bad as I thought.

Ok, so the Wildhawk family was bored last weekend and looking for some aquatic fun. Hurricane Will was tired of spinning over land. After all, he's not Tornado Will. Since we do not own a pool, and have opted against installing one, the only logical solution to our problem was to take a little trip to the local public swimming hole. I must say, it was pretty nice. They have an entire section designated for little kids who can't yet swim. The Hurricane had a blast. I don't think it will be long before he is terrorizing a pool near you (and from the looks of this picture, it won't be long before daddy is terrorizing a Chinese buffet near you!)

Omaha Zoo Adventure

On Wednesday, July 2nd, the Wildhawks, along with Papa, Meemaw, and another related Wildhawk family all embarked on a journey to the great city of Omaha, Nebraska. Many of you know Omaha to be the home of the Royals AAA affiliate, The College World Series, Warren Buffett, and Creighton University. Well, it is also the home of Henry Doorly Zoo, which is one of the top 3 zoos in the entire world. With Omaha a mere 3 hours away by car, that kind of draw was just too much to pass up.

I have to tell you, I'm not much of a zoo fan, but the Henry Doorly Omaha Zoo is pretty awesome. They have an indoor desert dome, a bat cave, an aquarium that arches over a walkway beneath, and more, and it's all within a fairly short distance. We saw more worthwhile animal exhibits in the first 20 minutes than you can see in an entire day at the KC Zoo. Don't get me wrong, I love KC and definitely think you should support your local zoo, but you have to get to Omaha if you want to see a real zoo.

It was a fun day. We saw everything there is to see there. Hurricane Will was more of a tropical depression during the day due to a developing cold and cough that came about a day later, but he still had a blast. Come to think of it, he was a real trooper that week. He had a black eye and a welt on the side of his face (from being a little boy), in addition to the head cold. If that were me, I'd have been much higher maintenance. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

(Side note: Notice the picture of the cloud formation. That was on our drive home. I think it bears a striking resemblance to a hand extending a middle finger towards earth and all its inhabitants. Interestingly, later on our drive, we were pelted with racquetball sized hailstones. Needless to say, we have been better about attending mass since that day.)

Mobile blogging

This entry is a test of my mobile blogging capability. I just learned about this, and I think it has real possibilities. With this feature, I can take the show on the road so to speak. Anyway, look for more of this in the future if I can figure it out.

Eddie The Wonderdog

We've been asking Eddie to make a blog appearance for a while now, but he has wanted no part of the internet. A few years ago, he was burned pretty badly by an online mail-order bitch service, and has some lingering reservations about putting himself out there like that again. Well, after much reassurance that nothing like that will happen again, he is ready for his blog intro. He's been working out very hard lately trying to get in shape for his blog pictorial. I must say, he's looking pretty fit.

Hops are climbing!

As some of you know, I (Sam) have been brewing my own beer for a while now. So far, each batch I have produced has been pretty good, but something has been missing . I have been buying all the ingredients from my favorite homebrew shop (Bacchus & Barleycorn, http://www.bacchus-barleycorn.com/). They have a nice selection, and are always very helpful, but I decided that I needed a little more "home" in my homebrew. The solution? Grow my own hops!



I will spare you the details
(if you are interested in growing your own hops, you can find a nice tutorial here - www.freshops.com/gardening.html). In a nutshell, I planted several sections of hop roots back in April, and I now have hop vines climbing ropes attached to my house. In August, I will harvest the hops, dry them out, and freeze them until I need them for a batch of brew.

First Timer Here!

Laurie and I decided that after months of healthly eating, it was time to introduce Will to the wonders of the flame-broiled hamburger. What better place to do that than at the Home of the Whopper, good old Burger King! As you can see, we had another very satisfied customer. Since Willie (18 months) is already tipping the scales at 3 year-old levels, I'm guessing that this may not be his last time.

Viva La Mexico!

On Wednesday, May 7th, Laurie and I boarded a plane for our favorite third world country, the glorious land of Mexico. Frontier took us from gloomy KC at about 7:15am direct to sunny Cancun in about 3 hours. We were by the pool by 11:30am with drinks in hand. I like to tell people that our Cancun trip was as easy if not easier (travel-wise) than a drive down to the Lake of the Ozarks. Although, we missed out on all the fireworks, porn, and meth by opting for Mexico over Missouri. Oh well, I suppose it's a trade-off. I could describe what we did down there, but the pictures tell the story pretty well. Lots of lounging, drinking, and eating. While we were gone, Will spent some time with Laurie's folks.

View of pool and gazebo from our room.

Birthday boy with beverage.

Laurie at the swing-up bar.