April 23, 2006

Week O' Fun

This week (Sunday through Sunday) has been full and fun- or maybe it just feels like we did a lot because we took a bunch of pictures...yeah that's probably it. But we had fun and would like to share it with you if you weren't there and let you re-live it if you were.

Easter, or 'Resurrection Sunday,' as its also called, was great. Most Easters you spend with your family. Well last year and this year we were away from all of our family and our adoptive "Louisville Family" invited us over for Easter lunch and to spend the day with them. The Millican Family has been a HUGE blessing to us since we moved here and we've made tons of memories with them (spent Christmas with them, went to Texas for Micah and Laurie's wedding, spent New Years with them, etc). This week was no different (actually we spent a good amount of this week with one or more members of the Millican family). There will be many pics on this post so be prepared.

Amongst the Resurrection Fun...


Mom (Tracy) and daughter (Sarah) Millican posing with the, not-so-much basket but more Easter tub of goodies.

Banana Pudding with festive toppings...this picture doesn't quite capture the 15 lbs of banana pudding in the bowl...

Nat (Millican Dad) chasing me with his new "Toro" lawn mower...
And of course no Easter Sunday, or event at the Millican's would be complete without...

...shooting balloons tied to trees with BB-guns from their upstairs deck. (This picture is not an invitation for my cousins or any males that I know to critique my shooting form...nor was there any danger involved as the hand-gun you see in the picture was as effective as Micah throwing the BB at the balloons himself...seriously, Anthony actually walked right up to the tree they were tied to and shot them point blank...the BB's simply bounced off the balloons with no-harm to the balloons at all). Later that evening Nat took all of us out for a movie. Thanks Nat!

Now, on to the "Going-Away" party Friday Night. We teach college students at our church and so they wanted to send us off well. It was a great night once Norm finally cooked the burgers all the way through (Keep him in line Pam!) It was a nice dinner where we got to hang out and some of our friends said a few words about how they were going to miss us. It was great and we left feeling humble and grateful...

Meagan and Laurie Millican (Micah's wife)...Meagan was the cake maker/designer... good stuff! (although I'm seeing a pattern develop of creative desserts in this post)...

Something that touched the crafty side of me was...

...the awesome scrapbook that they put together for us! Couple observations here: 1. Ladies, particularly Laurie and Jennifer, props on the quality of the scrapbook. It was REALLY cute (trust me, I have an eye for these things and its difficult to impress me) and I know that "REALLY cute" comes at the price of several hours of hard work of "where do I want to put this sticker?" and "where would this picture best go?" Gracias. 2. Speaking of pictures. I'm pretty sure that the picture on the front of us posing at Micah and Laurie's wedding, was the ONLY flattering picture in the book. That's either a testimony of what get-togethers are like with this bunch or the picture on the front was the only flattering picture that anyone had of us...both of these theories are probable. Your thoughts?


NEXT was Saturday and "THUNDER OVER LOUISVILLE"- The largest fireworks display in North America. (I know, we thought the same thing..."Why Kentucky? Shouldn't like Disney or New York have this?) Anyway...there was a record setting 800,000 people in only a couple city blocks (for our Jax friends, this downtown is about the same size as Jax's so imagine that many people wanting to be near Metro Park for a spot to see the fireworks on the St.Johns) They have an airshow, food, music, and of course, fireworks LOTS of fireworks...like 60 Tons of them....all for free...pretty cool...

The Navy's "Blue Angels" were the most impressive part of the airshow...all the way from sunny Pensacola, Florida.

The fireworks are launched from several barges in the Ohio River and from one of the bridges crossing the Ohio. Here is some of the action...

oooooooooooooooooo....... (from the barges)

aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....(off the bridge)

...Rounding off the busy weekend...Sunday. After church this morning, about 8 of us went to an Ethiopian restaurant. Its kinda in a shady part of town, but to my boss's encouragment we went. There was no silverware on the table, so that was the first sign this would be great. The hearty lunch buffet, baklava, and authentic Ethiopian coffee were all we hoped they'd be and we left satisfied with dirty fingers and full tummies. Sorry, we didn't bring our camera in!

... And finally tonight we surprised Nat with a party at his daughter Sarah's apartment. Nat just got promoted to "Captain" at UPS. He is a pilot for their international flights (if anyone wants to send us something little just hand it to Nat and he can bring it to us! We told him to include us in his flight plans). We celebrated by going to the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie store. There were about 35 folks...Nat, you're loved!

Cap'n Nat

And that was our week. For 60 Tons more pictures of this week go to shutterfly...

April 15, 2006

Kate Durrance

Folks, Katherine Louise Durrance has arrived! She was born Tuesday April 11th to Sharon's cousin Bobby and his wife Martha. She weighed 6lbs 12ozs and was 19.5 inches long. We just have one more addition to the '06' baby girls to go (Sharon's sister is due at the end of June). Hopefully she won't choose a "K" name...We have Kyle, Kara, Kaelyn, Katelyn (called Katie),and Katherine (called Kate)!! Laina, Seth, and Jeremiah are the odd men out amongst our neices, nephews, and cousins. Here's Kate with her Mommy and Daddy.
For more pictures of Kate go to http://anthonyandsharonphotos.shutterfly.com

April 12, 2006

Floridaaahhh

Here to end everyone's anticipation about how our Spring break was in Florida. We had planned on posting while we were down there but forgot our camera cable to download the pictures... and we know our posts aren't interesting unless there are pictures.

We spent the first part with Sharon's family in Central Florida... quick run down:
* Went to the beach 1 day- Anna Maria Island
* Went out on the lake 2 days (Lake Ship, Winter Haven) One of those afternoons a wire burnt out on the engine and we were stuck in the middle of the lake for a good hour... Kaelyn was a champ as it was just her, Uncle Anthony, Aunt Sharon, and Mr. Justin... she had goldfish crackers so probably never noticed what was up.
* Spent free time with family and laughed a lot.
* On Thursday we drove to Jacksonville but stopped in Orlando to see Rob and Corey. Ended up chatting with Rob for a couple hours and stayed for the UCF BCM meeting to see some old friends.

This is 3 month old Kara Lynn Durrance. She happily slept in Sharon's arms during church. This was taken at Grandmother's... not during church (although the happiness level was the same in both places).
Jeremiah and Buzz Lightyear...
Anna Maria Island...
Anthony and Justin giving a recap on how my dad drug them through the reeds on the tube... there are no pictures of the actual moment because everyone could hardly breathe on the boat it was so funny...
Spent the next couple days in Jacksonville with Anthony's family... quick run down:
* Katelyn Renee Black was born late Thursday night! She was a healthy 7lbs 10oz, 19 inches long, and has lots of dark hair!
* Spent time at the Navy Hospital with Katelyn, Kyle, and crew - they were needing to stay another day so no time at home with them.
* Went to Cara's apartment and hung out by the pool Friday afternoon.
* Went to the movies with Cara and Justin Friday night.
* Ate lunch with Cara and Danielle and (window) shopped at the new St. John's Town Center, and drooled over all the stuff at Black Creek Outfitters that we'd love to take with us to our new home near rainforests. (we did however spring for mouthpieces to go in our Nalgene bottles... keeps it from splashing while hiking, kayaking, bicycling, or just sitting at home which is the case most of the time).

This is Kyle figuring out that "KK" (how he says Katelyn) is no longer inside mommy's tummy...
Daddy's girl already.
Sharon and BFF Cara… she's starting dental school at UF this fall - home of the 2006 NCAA Basketball Champions.
We left Saturday afternoon to drive back to Kentucky... quick run down:
* Listened to the Braves game on the radio while stuck in traffic on I-75- they lost but MattE Diaz got some good play time
* Spent the night in downtown Atlanta
* Stopped in Chattanooga to "See Rock City"

why not?
Sharon posing on the swinging bridge at Rock City... as always keeping safety first with her safety hood on.
Anthony's rock-climbing prowess...

and there ya have it folks... if you're wondering why there are no pictures of the other baby that was supposed to be born... she's still holding out as I'm writing this... more later on Katherine Durrance once she makes her appearance. Sorry if we didn't get to see some of you. Family was the big target but we'll be back in May. Call us and we'll get Sharon's dad to take you on a spin around the lake on the tube (watch out for the reeds!)

For more of all these pictures and lots of fun stuff like wakeboarding and our neices and nephews go to Shutterfly: http://anthonyandsharonphotos.shutterfly.com