Frontier Days in Wetumpka/Animal Safari in Georgia

These are the boys inside Fort Touluse about 10 miles north of Montgomery in a little town called Wetumpka. This was a French fort built in the early 17th century at a river fork leading into the Alabama River. It was a trading post and the French and Indians ended up co-existing peacefully. We made this into a field trip for the boys on my day off during the week (Friday). They do a big blowout every year taking you back in time as these are just a few pictures of what was spread out over 10 acres and it really felt authetic.

There also happened to be a guy from Ireland and the boys loved his swords of course...

The boys most recent field trip took them on an Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, Georgia. Marcie and the boys went with a homeschooling group from church and I couldn't make it on this one as they went on a Thursday this past week. They said it was awesome and saw all sorts of animals including a Liger...yes a Liger and a Zony (Zebra/Pony), Zonkey (Zebra/Donkey), and fed a lot of animals. Isaac's high was getting licked in the face by a Giraffe. He said Nana would have screamed! Enjoy the pictures (click on picture below and look at Owen on the left)

We're going "tongue" crazy in these next photos...

Here comes the Liger, Zonkey, and dancing Ostrich...

Our own Monkey, Bear, Tiger, and Alligator bait...

Pumpkins and Halloween

We always have a good time carving the pumpkins and this year we let the boys create their own design. You have to love the 3 eyed pumpkin Isaac carved. Little Owen says, "Crying??", every time he looks at Easton's and Andrew went for the more traditional look and had me carve it for him. Easton and Isaac actually carved theirs and felt very grown-up doing so. Owen had to get in on the act and made little marks with his plastic tool.



We also had a fun time at Trunk or Treat. The boys loved another reason to dress up in their Star Wars outfits: Easton (Annakin), Isaac (Obi Won), Andrew (Clone Trooper), and Owen in the same cowboy outfit Nana used to dress me in. Marcie even colored a beard on Isaac and they were in full character with friends at Landmark. We are so blessed to have these boys running around and bringing life to our home. God is good!

Decade of Parenting

Well, there's something about your child hitting double digits that makes you wonder where the last 10 years went. With more ups than downs, we feel extremely blessed! Thank you for the cards, gifts, and phone calls. Enjoy the following pictures...Nana, the white star wars lego ship is what you got Easton. He spent 3 and half hours straight on it and got it done. Everything you see below we did on his day + a trip to a driving range and playground. He also got to see National Treasure 2 after church.

Marcie (Babe)

Point well taken Dad!! We need to give a little Marcie time to all of those who read this blog. As you see above, she is a Babe, and that is what I call her most of the time!! In the picture with Marcie are two of her neices (Alli Kate and Becca). It's sweet how much her nieces love to see her and she gets a little taste of what it may have been like...you just never know as God could overcome my exclusive V-club membership and do whatever He wants to do. That's what it would take for us to get a little girl or God would have to convict our hearts to adopt a little female angel.

Marcie is working very hard with homeschooling, keeping the house up to her standards (with a little help from her boys of course), making time with God, and putting up with Stocky Stracke...me! Being a teacher of two different grades simultaneously is tough enough when you have two other boys wanting your attention and getting into everything. If it wasn't for Math, homeschooling would be much easier...Easton has the ability but has days he would rather be doing anything but the math set before him. I've told him that I enjoyed math, I just despised the Algebra and Geometry...ugghhh! I'm very proud of Marcie for what she does on a daily basis and is actually joyful and excited to see me when I get home from work. Without being cheesy, there are a lot of things she does on a daily basis that are beyond what is deserved or merited on my part.

So, here's to you Marcie and women like you...I don't know how you do it and get it done with so much Joy and dependence on Him! Thank you for teaching my boys about the Trinity and all the academic stuff too. I love you Marcie...and as Grandma Stracke says...I better not mess this one up. Your children are rising up and calling you blessed!

Todd

Random Shots...

Here are a couple of random photos of late. I will start with one of my favorites of Owen in his Bama Jams. Just a little bit of difference in air off the ramp between Easton and Andrew. Isaac (Obi Wan Kenobi) with his one-eyed friend Casey. He literally had one eye shut in all of the pictures we took...pretty funny.

It's your Birthday...Get busy...

We had a great day celebrating Isaac's 8th Birthday as Marcie always does a good job of spreading the "wealth" of gifts throughout the day. I'll give you a little photo tour of some of the things we did. Bass Pro and the driving range won't make it as I didn't take the camera with me...

Yep, Owen still loves the boots baby...aren't they cute at the park?

The bike ramp was a lot of fun...
Isaac picked out the mellow yellow and wanted to drink it like his Dad does...sorry about the manners he's learning nana!

A little Red Robin tasted good to the soul...
Isaac was excited to watch Star Wars for the first time...
A great way to end the night with Marcie's fresh stove popcorn and watching little Annakin Skywalker growing up in Star Wars I!! Isaac got a number of gifts that didn't get represented here but I hope you enjoyed a snapshot of his day. He got to have a friend spend the night Friday as we continued the celebration and watched II & IV...may the force be with you!

Pumpkin Patch

We traveled up I65 to Clanton, Alabama to a big farm that had all sorts of activities to go along with a hay ride and picking your pumpkin out of an actual pumpkin patch. We had a lot of fun with the boys as I'm enjoying having an actual day off on Friday's with the family.

Below are some of the other attractions involving a Tee Pee and sunflowers...