Last Train To Clarksville

Reed watches PBS Kids in the mornings while he eats his breakfast... The past few months they have been advertising Thomas the Train Live in Spencer, NC. Every time he sees this he gets EXTREMELY excited. So we decided to get tickets and go. Next week we are leaving on Friday morning to go to Lexington, NC. We are staying in a lakefront cabin! On Saturday, we are going to see Thomas the Train himself. If he had a shin I would probably give it a swift kick. This train is Reed's obsession... It pretty much drives me crazy, because he refuses to do ANYTHING else when he starts playing with a track. He remembers that Barnes and Noble has a train table, and has a fit everytime we drive by without stopping in there. He calls it the "Mallisary" (Mall+Commisary?? I have no idea.) But anywho... on Sunday we are going to the NC Zoo in Asheboro and then heading home. I am so excited to stay at the cabin! I got Reed a little Diego fishing pole. I think he will have a blast.

Reed is practicing roughing it.

I was a cool mom for a day and built him a tent. He ate lunch in it and everything... I promise he does own clothes. I noticed he tends to be in various stages of undress in all these pictures I post. Part of potty training I guess.

**Counting My Blessings**

MIKE

I really can't express how much he means to me. He was more than my uncle. He was like a second father to me. I still can't believe he is gone. We had so much fun when we were together. It really just hurts to the core that he can't be here today and see Reed... I know they would be best buddies if the two of them got together. I just wish I could talk to him one time... Is he proud? I still talk to him almost everyday. He was just such an easygoing person. We were alot alike. We were both so silly... The two of us had alot of inside jokes... I still order Mountain Dew in King's House and think of him and laugh every time they tell me they just have "Meh-yo Yeh-yo". I find myself wishing that everyone in my life could have met him. I can't wait to meet him at heaven's gates. I know he is watching over me, and now Reed every day. I miss you, Mike.

Ticket To Ride

So... I am happy to say that my parents just did me a huge favor and bought Reed and I a ticket to come to Joplin next month! Look for Reed to knock on your door Halloween night! His costume is a surprise. OK... so it is not really a surprise, more like I just can't decide yet, and I am putting off getting one. I will be in town the 24th through the 7th. I am excited! Can't wait to see my family and friends.

Moving on to the immense bragging portion of my blog:

Reed is getting cuter every day. He says things that are just so funny. This is definitely a great age. He is starting to really pretend with his toys and such. I am so happy that he is so sweet and well mannered. We have worked with him for a long time on that and I am very pleased with how he acts toward others... Working with him helped but he comes by it naturally... he is just a sweet kid.

Potty training is great! He is going in the potty all day. Nights he is in Pull Ups... but we have time to work on that. I am so proud!

Here are some pics of the silly guy...

He is pretty hung up on "Saying Cheese"... I love that he will smile for the camera, but regretfully I cant get any candids anymore.

He is constantly wearing our shoes... but this is one of the more interesting combinations I have seen from him.

Here he is messing around while eating some Chinese food. (Mei Fun... we can get it down here but not back home... I guess it HALF way makes up for not being able to get Cashew Chicken)

Here he is in his little undies... I have a feeling these are the photos I will be whipping out an prom night...

Where The Boys Are

I have come to realize that I am outnumbered. I am a girl in a house full of boys... yes... two boys is enough to fill this house. I was not sure what this really meant for me until Reed started talking. He and his father find great humor in anything toilet related. Bodily functions are apparently hilarious... I was not aware that this fascination would begin at two... but you know what they say... Boys will be boys.

**Counting My Blessings**

Yoshie

She is my best friend in the whole entire world. I would do anything for her. We met in driver's ed where we both nearly sent the instructor to the nuthouse. She is older than me by three days and I dont think I will ever let her live it down that she is an old fogey. And she will probably never let me live down the fact that I am late to EVERYTHING. (I will have it in my will to be late to my own funeral... You laugh now, but just wait...) We smile until our faces hurt when we are together. I dont think I could ever find a friend I trust and love as much as I do Yoshie. She is a true blue friend. I was so honored to see her daughter's first breath. When I was in labor I thought I heard her and my mom says I would not stop yelling for her, thinking she was in the hallway. We have been through so much together and I fully plan to grow old and gray and still be the best of friends. She might as well be my sister... she is the closest I will ever get to one.

I'll Take You There

Sorry it's been such a long time since I have updated this! I know I said I was going to keep up with it, but it has been crazy around here. So I am playing catch-up now. Here goes Blog Number One of my series of "catching up" blogs!










As some of you may know... We took a small trip over the Labor Day weekend... Tyler and I are suckers for the Travel Channel and Food Network. Anything we see on there that is even somewhat close, we try to make plans to go someday. We finally got around to going to our very first Mildly Famous Restaurant... Stay tuned for more of these, but for now here is our adventure in Barbeque...




This is The Skylight Inn... They are the self proclaimed Barbeque Capital of the World...





Complete with tin rotunda. Yes this is cheesy as all get out but I thought it was pretty darn cool.





Tyler was so embarrassed that I was taking all these pictures. There were only a few people there, and they were locals... I got a few strange looks.





OK so this is the picture of my wallet... with no cash in it... Why? Because this place is very um.... shall we say... RURAL. They did not take cards. So this is told to us AFTER they had scooped our meat into the little cardboard boats. So we ask, where is an ATM? They had to really think about it. That was a little unsettling, but they finally told us that there was one about 2 miles away.


So we drove the 2 miles to go get cash... We drove 2 hours for barbeque and we were going to get it, darnit!





Within this time a very cranky Reed fell asleep. We had planned on going inside so we could get the full experience... But that was not in the cards.





So Ty went in to get our chow. There are only about 4 items on the menu. I ordered a medium boat of pork which came with slaw and cornbread, I subbed the slaw for more cornbread.





Here is mine... That is the cornbread on my lap. Not quite what I was expecting... But I was determined to give it a try.





This is Tyler's... He ordered a large. The darker parts are what they call "cracklins"... That means pork skin... That is where all the flavor is, they say. This place smokes whole pigs for a really long time, and they chop it all up right there in the restaurant.





Tyler gave it a try... He is sort of picky about meat. It has to be really lean for him to like it.





I was pretty excited to try it... I love meat. All kinds. I could never EVER be a vegetarian.


Tyler liked it at first but he got a "weird" piece. I have no idea what that means, but here is his thumbs down... I was glad because I got to pawn off the yucky cornbread and I got the rest of his meat!





Maybe that is why I look like a fat kid with a piece of cake in this picture... But anywho... Here is my very excited thumbs up!



the end.

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I am going to write a few more blogs today that will publish later this week. I will try for a blog a day until Friday! Bon Appetit!