The countdown begins

Well, it is just a single week before we head to Hawaii. In fact, by the time you read this, we probably will be back. Kersten has been celebrating the countdown by getting stressed about every aspect of leaving the kids. So far, the longest time that we have been away from any of our children is about 16 hours on a wonderful trip to Elk River. It didn't last though; Kersten thought that the house must be imploding without us and we rushed home to find the kids having a great time with Aunt T. This time, it is going to be harder to drive home at a moments notice. Still, I know everyone will have a great time with Tamsin. And while I am on that subject, I have to note how wonderful my sister is.

I am preparing for the trip the way I always prepare for trips...I schedule other activities during the time that I will be gone, then have a great "aha" moment where I realize that all the things I had agreed to do are impossible. Then, to cover the fact that my memory has, once again, played a trick on me, I try to point out to the person who I have just asked to take my place what a great idea it is that they should take over my responsibility. While other people are poring over guidebooks, I called Scott, who was infinitely more informative, and much more fun to talk to than reading some guidebook. So here is what we have planned. We land on Sunday evening. Monday: nothing; Tuesday: Polynesian Cultural Center; Wednesday: nothing; Thursday: nothing; Friday: nothing, fly home in the evening. This is the perfect vacation for Kersten. No schedule...just time to do what we want. To me, this must break some commandment, one of those that are hard to remember, like number 7: thou shalt not take a vacation without scheduling your time in order that thou might seeth everything there is to see. Still, I see the peaceful side of breaking this commandment, and that is exactly what I am planning on doing. If any of you have "must sees" in Hawaii, leave a comment and I will let you know if we get there. Thanks again to Scott for his great ideas.

Finally, I have to comment on the Cougs. Scott called on Saturday as we were playing Baylor so he could listen in. It was great to have someone else who I could talk to as, inexplicably, they tried to melt down in a game that they appeared to have in hand. However, this time, it was gratifying to see them drive the length of the field and calmly score the winning field goal from the 2 inch line with 9 seconds left. So, although I am very frustrated that they looked completely inept for most of the game, still, I am happy that we came away with a win. And, if you will recall, in our Sun Bowl year, we had an equally punchless game against a similarly weak Nevada opponent only to pull out a win in the late going sealed by a spectacular 99 yard return of a interception by the freshman Will. Still, we went on to do good things that year. And, this year may be one to build on as well, because a team that can calmly win a game in such difficult circumstances was a might scarce customer last year. We'll see.

East Coast

I just got back from a week on the East Coast. It is nice to spend time out there if only to remind me why I like living where we do. Still, I really enjoyed the visit as I got to go to several places that I have always wanted to see. Tuesday, I had a relatively free day, only needing to make the four hour drive from State College to Kensington, MD, so I decided to take some time to look around. I drove down to West Virginia which was very beautiful. Having mostly stuck to the coast in the east, it was wonderful to be in the mountains covered with deciduous trees. The towns that I went through had some real character. From there I drove over to Delaware which was much less interesting, mostly looking like most of the coastal region that I had already visited. From there, I went to visit our good friends, the Houses, who live in Kensington, MD, just outside the Beltway, and kindly agreed to put me up for a couple of days. As I was driving down the beltway, I was surprised, as I have often heard I would be, by the wonderful sight of the temple. The Houses live only 10 minutes away from there so I got to go back the next night and spend some time on the grounds. I love the peace you feel walking on temple grounds, and that temple is sublimely beautiful at night.

After the temple visit, Brent and I decided to go down town to visit the sights. I had not even considered this a possibility, but thought it was a great idea. D.C. is beautiful at night and Brent took me to see many of the memorials around the mall. It was incredible being in the places that I have seen so many times in pictures, although in the heat of the moment, all I could remember was Forrest Gump; man, I should have never watched that movie. All of the presidential memorials were inspiring; the war memorials were haunting and somber. All in all, it was a wonderful night. Thanks to Brent for taking me down there.

The pictures are from our trip to Silverwood and Faragut S.P. We had a great time at the beach. I am still trying to recover from "Elvis" and his never ending Paratroooper adventure. There definitely is such a thing as too much of a good thing.