Cape San Blas III

In my final entry of this "powerful" trilogy of photos comes the display of kayaking, dissection of the shark, and a little shuffle-boarding in the buff. How many boys get to have a biology class with an upfront and personal view of a dissection of a Black Tip Shark? It was very interesting and we had to wait a little while for them to hold the head as we didn't want any post-mortum clamping down of the teeth!

I will be gone for this next week at Work-camp in Nashville and will get to see Cole as we paint houses together. Enjoy the pictures and pray for this summer! Blessings to you all...

Cape San Blas Part II

We had 19 people in our home for a few days before we headed down to Cape San Blas. The boys went crab-hunting at night and they loved doing this as there were plenty of crabs to be caught. They had a good time with their cousins at the beach and as you can see, they had a long table out on the screened in porch that we filled up for every meal. We actually ate every meal at our beach house and soaked up the salt-water and rays. Enjoy the pictures!!

Cape San Blas Part I (Shark on the Menu)

We just got home from a week down in Cape San Blas (a peninsula southeast from Panama City). We had a great week with great weather, company, wildlife, and food. Last night we ended up having Black Tip Shark for dinner. It was actually very good and here are a few pictures of what we ate. I got to help reel this one in as there were 4 sharks caught in all at a length of approx. 5 feet on each one. Lee and Dane would take the bait on the back of the kayak about 200 yards out in the ocean with a weight keeping it down. Then they would watch the poles and wait for action. There were a lot more strikes than the 4 caught and I must say it was exciting for everyone including the kids. I'm holding the net in this picture to keep him from swinging his head towards my foot and biting me. They have no bones and can bite their own tail...I wasn't acting like I caught him with this net (ha!)...enjoy the pictures and there will be more to come.

Dance of Praise

This has become one of my favorite pictures of late as the boys were dancing together one night in our living room and having a great time doing it. Little O was really enjoying himself too as we were dancing to some praise music we had blasting. They all have their own "wonderful" dance moves, but they all held hands for a while this night dancing together and it was one of those God moments that you just sit back and enjoy...

Here Lizzard, Lizzard...

Yep, they grow them big down here in Alabama. This "Broad-headed Skink" is about 6-7 inches long, a little thicker than my thumb, and we (boys) see one about every other day recently. Kind of reminds you of the bad guy in Monsters Inc. doesn't it?

There are green geckos and blue-tailed skinks that range in size, but this is the big daddy of them all and the boys like trying to catch them. In fact, they were trying to catch them the other day near our back windows and our dog Ace got excited and put her paw through a window pane of glass that shattered on the living room floor. Pretty fun trying to clean that up with Marcie gone and Owen barefoot trying to check it out with the boys screaming in the background thinking that was the last straw with Ace. We are keeping the dog and I just found somebody to fix it for around $50. Next project involves fixing and replacing our fence as Ace and the next door dogs keep breaking planks and...ugh!!

Uncle Joe (our lizzard expert) said to be careful that when the lizards bite, they don't like to let go. Easton showed me his bite marks and seemed to be unfazed as they have seen too many Steve Irwin shows.

So, out of the Miller 6 who do you think make the first successful catch of the Broad-headed Skink?? That's right, with the scooping help of two frisbees and Andrew waiting with the Minnow Bucket, Marcie bravely scooped one up and became a legend in the eyes of my boys. Thanks for the emasculation Marcie as I am a little hesitant to catch one just yet! Don't worry, we haven't had one come into the house...yet. Come and visit us soon!! (Ha).

Miller Family

Women of Virtue

When I heard that Shelli was going to post a little tribute to Mom, I thought it was a great idea and wanted to wait until today to do something of honor myself. I got teary-eyed reading the post Shelli did for our wonderful Mom/Nana yesterday and couldn't wait to write something for her...and a couple of other important women in my life.

Mom, I keep loving and respecting you more and more as I watch and experience Marcie raising and nurturing our boys. Marcie returned from a homeschooling conference which marked two weekends in a row that she was gone for about two days straight...what are the odds of that?? (ha). Anyways, by the time she got home I was ready to just hand them over and zone out on the couch. Isn't that hilarious as I just had a couple of days with them for two weekends in a row and I'm thinking: 1) How do you feed their hungry demands all day long and keep it somewhat nutritional? 2) How do you keep such a tidy house when you're always having to keep your Owen alert about you? 3) How in the world do you do all of this while being a simultaneous First and Third grade teacher? 4) How do you discipline yourself to read the Bible and have your time with God everyday? 5) How do you act so sweet when I come home and be interested in my day? Confession: Lord, I couldn't do it and I admit...I am the weaker sex in some cases and staying home to raise 4 boys on a consistent and continual basis without bloating to 300 pounds and becoming the Shining movie in person...I wave the white flag of surrender and admiration to stay at home Moms around the world...especially my Mom and my wife!!!

Mom, your tireless effort continues as a Nana as it's obvious your family is your heart. Your relationship and joy with us is what motivates you with love and surrender of your time and schedule. We are not entitled to you and Dad traveling all the time to be with us and encourage us in what we do. We are not entitled to parents that love you Jesus and delight in seeing their children and grandchildren loving you Lord. I am not entitled to have a Nana that loves my boys and all her grandchildren with everything that she has. Love you Mom and Marcie.

Did I leave out one more "strong" presence of a woman in my life?? Just a little spit-fire red-head named Dortheta. Grandma, your love and interest in me succeeding in life has been very apparent from the beginning and you continue to encourage me to do so. You and Mom were wonderful examples of serving others first and to make the most of your time for doing good. You were my first real boss in the business world as I didn't realize what I was learning when I mowed your lawn, ate your food, and took money from you in the process all of those years. Conversations with you around the table at the house Grandpa built will never leave my memory and heart. You made the most of what God gave you in so many ways.

Here's to you strong women of virtue that continue to shape and sharpen me in so many ways. I can't thank God enough when I consider the mom/nana, grandma, and wife/mom that God has given me. God is good...all the time! Whatever it is I pay you Marcie financially and encouragement wise: I'm not paying you nearly enough!! (Honorable mention strong woman of virtue influence in my life - my beautiful and very gifted sister Shelli. I love you too!!)

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus! (Philippians 1:3-6)

Todd

Birthday Boy

Here are some pics of Andrew on his 5th birthday with presents including: Skates, Brodie Croyle jersey, and Spiderman web blaster from Nana and Papaw ($50 goes a long ways!!) Bama bike and scooter from Mom and Dad...etc. It was a great day and you'll see below where he chose to eat out of all the places in Montgomery.

Little Cowboy

His vocabulary is a little limited for now...but man is this boy cute!!

Grandparents Visit Montgomery

Nana, Papaw, and Grandma Stracke came to visit us after little Eli was born. We gave them a mini-tour of historic Downtown Montgomery, St. Johns Episcopal Church, and a brief look at Old Alabama Town. Here are some pictures of intense games of Chutes and Ladders, Owen having fun with Grandma's purse, etc. We appreciate the extra effort and gas money to come and see us!

EASTER...Better Late than Never

We did have Easter down her in L.A. Thought I'd show some pictures of that as we had some good clothes for the day thanks to Nana! See the small hand in Easton's picture? Enjoy...

Emmy & Eli

We made a quick trip to Nashville to see the Miller and Meador family...most notably Eli. After the boys doted over him Eli had to go to the doctor. We asked if we could take Emmy to Chuck E. Cheese as she is so sweet and is of little maintenance. Heather had mentioned the kissing...

FYI

Hello everyone!! I just wanted to let you know that I made it available for "Anonymous" comments to be made on my blog now. Mom, make a comment so I know I made the change correctly!!

Also, I have some pictures to share with you starting tomorrow...hopefully. Thank you to everyone for the cards, gifts, and although some of you couldn't call Andrew...we told him you were here in spirit (lol)!! He had a great birthday and I'll have to show you those pictures with a couple cute ones with Emmy from our previous trip to Nashville.

Blessings to you all and will write to you soon...

Todd