Noah the Soccer Star

This weekend, I gave into Noah's requests and bought him a soccer ball. This afternoon, after the race, he kept asking to go outside and "work out with the soccer ball." This is him waiting on me to get ready. He wanted me to be sure to notice that he put on his "workout shirt." For the rest of you, that means a shirt without sleeves. He was not happy that I did not join him in wearing a "workout shirt."He was actually pretty good for his first time out. He had a pretty strong leg, used the inside part of his foot instead of his toes about 30% of the time, and had a good time. After he got over wanting to pick the ball up and place it where he wanted after each pass, he did even better.

Noah's Special Day

Today we got to do something that we rarely, if ever, do. We spent the day with just one child. I met my mom in Brownsville this morning and she took Luke to Memphis with her this weekend to hang out for some special Nanna-Luke time. So, Erica and I got to spend the day with Noah. Obviously, we love every second with both children, but it was good to spend some one-on-one time and just focus on and shower our attention on Noah. (And we forgot how QUIET things are with only one child around).

We took Noah to see Wall-E, the new Pixar movie. Noah liked it alot. Erica and I thought it was pretty good, very imaginative, but both agreed we saw the same movie 25 years ago when it was called E.T. Cars, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., Toy Story are still better, but it was a good time.

After an afternoon nap, we took Noah to Asahi Japanese Steakhouse, so he could "watch them cook with the fire" in front of us. We have wanted to take Noah to a hibachi restaurant for a long time, but didn't think Luke was old enought yet. We had a really good time. Noah really like the Onion Fire Volcano.

We had a really good time today and thank Mom for keeping Luke this weekend. We miss Lukers, but today helped us realize how quickly Noah is growing up. He's ALMOST 5!!! Unreal.

The end to a wonderful season

With the proliferation of 24-hour news looking into sports, athletes, and their exploits, it is hard to have respect for most athletes. It seems that the ones who "do the right thing" are now often the exception to the rule (funny...people say the same thing about my profession). Maybe part of it has to do with the fact that most athletes I watch are now younger than I am, but I had to take a second (and fully understanding how corny this may sound) and say how happy I am for Derrick Rose. If you don't follow sports, you probably think this is really stupid. But, even though I no longer live in Memphis, I will always be a Memphian. For all of its' many, many, many faults, I love to see when something goes well for the city.
Rose will, in all likelihood, be the #1 draft pick in the NBA Draft tonight. I am not going to be long-winded here, but everything I have ever read and discussed with people who have met and interacted with Rose, is how humble of a kid this is. He grew up in a very poor neighborhood in Chicago. His older brothers ran interference for him beginning in middle school when they realized the special talent he would become, and kept him out of the problems and pitfalls that often sideline these types of coronations. Derrick played one season for the Tigers, and what a season it was!! In all honesty, I am STILL not able to go back and watch the National Title game. It has been set on my Tivo since April 7 and is still marked as a new, unwatched recording. Despite the painful ending, I know the day will come when I can watch that and be proud of the team that we put out on the court this season. They did more than play basketball....they represented a city that has a lot of reasons to hang its' head...and made the city rally around Tiger Basketball and temporarily forget about its' problems for the first time in a long time.
Finally, I loved the pictures and comments going around the country this morning, that yesterday in his last formal media interview for the draft, Derrick wore a blue and gray suit to show his love for the U of Memphis.

Father's Day 2008

This has been the 5th Father's Day that I have celebrated as a Dad. Traditionally, on Father's Day we seem to solely focus on appreciating our fathers. Of course, I love my father more than I can express in words and appreciate everthing he has done for me to put me in a position to enjoy the life that I do.

This Father's Day I was particularly struck with the realization on how fortunate I am to BE a father. The Lord has blessed me with the two most wonderful little boys that a father could ever hope for. I know there are times that I have failed, and will continue to fail, as a dad to my sons. However, I am congnizant of the fact that Noah and Luke constantly watch everything that I do...and want to emulate everything that I do. It is both humbling, and scary, to know that two little boys want to be mini versions of their Dad. However, it is exactly what we are suppose to be doing in our daily walk with our Father--constantly striving to be as close to Him as we can possibly be. I have always loved being a dad, but the more years that pass by, the more I realize that being a father is a privilege that comes with a high duty. Last week while on vacation, Renee asked Fred and I if we ever thought in a million years when we were 6th or 7th graders in the youth group at Ridgeway that we would be sitting on the beach with 2 children each ,and a wonderful family some 20 years later. Although I had never really thought about that before, I have to say that I am certainlythrilled with the life that God has given me, and most importantly with the wonderful family and boys that he has give to me to be a father to.

Gulf Shores, AL June 2008

I've wanted to get started blogging for quite a while now, and what better time to start than while I am on vacation? (Just a warning, this first post will be long). This past week, Erica and I packed up Noah and Luke for our first family vacation. We met up with Fred and Jennifer Shackelford, their boys Clayton and Jack, and Fred's mom, Renee, in Gulf Shores. We rented a house that was a perfect layout.

This was our first time to take the boys in a car anywhere further than Nashville (2 hours away), so needless to say, we were a little leery about the drive. So, last Sunday afternoon, we packed up the ole minivan and headed South with the intentions of stopping somewhere along the way and spending the night. We arrived in Meridian, MS about 7:30 that night and started the search for a hotel room. I won't say the name of the hotel, but let's just say that the germophobe in me was really put to the test by our accomodations. However, as you'll see below, the boys seemed to enjoy it.

We arrived in Gulf Shores on Monday afternoon, and went to eat at The Hangout with everyone. We had some good food and the boys had a good time there at the playground area. Tuesday, we hit the beach and we all agreed that if we would let Clayton and Noah stay out there, they would have played in the water all day long. Noah ended up getting stung by a jellyfish and said that he "didn't like the ocean anymore" and that he wanted to "beat up all the jellyfish." However, he was a tough little guy and ended up going back into the water a little later.

Tuesday was also mine and Erica's 8th anniversary. Renee was gracious enough to keep all of the boys while we went out on a date.

On Wednesday, Fred and I took Noah and Clayton to The Track for some go-kart racing and bumper boats. After some shopping, Erica and Jennifer joined us with Luke and Jack. I'm not sure who had a better time at the track...the little kids or the big kids?

On Wednesday afternoon, Fred grilled out some great burgers and I made some homemade cookies and cream ice cream for an early dinner. We then went to the beach to take family pictures. Jennifer gets ALL the credit for the planning on the pictures and we will be so happy to have our Christmas card pictures already made.

Thursday, we all got up and went to the beach for the last time. Noah got stung for a second time by a jellyfish, and I also got stung as well. Apparently, Mauldin males really irritate jellyfish!! We brought the boys back and got them fed and put down for naps early. Fred, Jennifer and I then returned to the beach for a couple of hours to do some reading. However, we ended up talking and catching up the whole time, and I really enjoyed that time alot. We capped off the night by going to The Oyster House for a GREAT dinner. Even though we arrived at 4:30, we still had a 1 hour and 15 minute wait. However, as hard as this is to believe, it was WELL worth it. (And, I got to beat Erica again at air hockey while we waited). That night, after boys went to sleep, we went out to play some tennis, but the lights at our neighborhood courts were not working. So, we drove to this resort down the road and snuck onto their tennis courts, after we had to park away from their guard shack (you know us, outlaw 30+ year old rebels!).

Although this doesn't fit chronologically, I couldn't let a story about our vacation go by without showing you a picture of what we saw about 50% of the time we were there: Noah and Clayton playing MarioKart on the Wii. Seriously, these kids woke up everyday wanting to immediately play...of course, the Dads also ended their days playing this several times (fortunately, no pictures of that).

We left Gulf Shores at about 8:40 Friday morning and made the complete trip that day. We stopped by to see Pops and Mimi in Walnut for Father's Day and finally arrived back in Jackson about 7:45 pm.

We really had a blast and we know the boys had one of the best times of their lives. We were so glad that we got to spend time with Fred, Jennifer, Clayton and Jack and next year can't come soon enough!! Personally, I also really enjoyed getting to spend time with Renee for the first time in several years and getting to reconnect with her.