The Turner Family

I need to remember to bring something to do on my flight, as this article cleverly warns.

Getting too old for Dad! The two young ladies ready for the ball! The Fees Rd. Turner girls.

We had so much fun at our training last week. We stayed at the beautiful Nemacolin Spa and Resort but were kept so busy we really didn't get to explore the 3000 acres much. Although we did take a few of their Hummers out for a spin. The purpose of the course that day was to learn how to get a vehicle unstuck. However, all of us were such good drivers we never got stuck so one of the instructors had to "stick" a vehicle. This poor yellow Hummer was high centered and we had to get it unstuck by using two different techniques: unassisted and assisted. For the unassisted exercise we used a tree and a winch. The second time we used another vehicle and that was quicker and much easier. We couldn't have done any of this without the support from Bil & Kay. Not only did Jason and I have a good time, the kids had fun too! THANK YOU!

OK, let's all admit it, this blog is just an excuse to share pictures of our kids, right? This weekend past Nick and I headed out to Michigan State for a youth football clinic , lunch, and the football scrimmage . We parked in the lot adjacent to the stadium, raced across the street as a megaphone-equipped coach barked about the imminent closing of the gate, and got sent off to the 8 to 9 year old group accompanied by our chaperone, Connor Dixon . We were told there were approximately 500 kids, all clad in green or white, with just as many adults, and I lost Nick an occasion or two due to the crowds. But our chaperone was about 6 and half feet tall, wearing a #10 jersey, so our group was easy to relocate. I forgot a camera, so all of these pictures were taken with my phone . First station was the general throwing area, where we received instruction from the starting quarterback himself, the follicularly-challenged lad in the white jersey, at right. I like this picture just for the...

Rest area just west of Omaha, with the Platte River valley beyond and Lincoln in our grasp.

But before we arrive at our destination, it's not heaven, it's Iowa . Leaving after work on Thursday, just as mom and dad deflatingly call to say they've checked into the hotel at which we will meet after a seven and half hour drive. Otis off to his doggy hotel with Gary and Ginger, pre-prepared dinner in the van on I-94 near Kalamazoo , DVDs on the mobile player , rain to go with the traffic just west of Chicago, pancake flat Illinois farmland, a twilight crossing of the Mississippi river, and finally, the Iowa City Travelodge . A groggy dad greeted and had pre-registered us (thank you), we visited with the folks for a bit, divvied up the sleeping spaces, and crashed off. The rollaway bed was the desired location. Friday A.M. Travelodge pool fun, unknown to us as the best pool of the trip. Iowa City Sinclair mascot and a dinosaur fan. The Iowa rest areas have art on display , and amazingly, free wireless internet available. This was taken just west of Des Moines. Nat...

Ashliegh walked right through her socks on the first day. Meg and Ashleigh at Iwo Jima Metro ride. Going home to take a nap. Arlington Cemetery This picture was take in the Amphitheatre at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier We did A LOT of walking! Laura and I also ran in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, the weather was wet and cold but it was a great way to see the sights.

It was listed on eBay out of nearby Charlotte , so we emailed to see if we could inspect it. We bluebooked it on our drive over and found it was worth more than the guy wanted to get out of it. It's got a little tear in the canvas on the rear driver's side slideout, it doesn't have an awning, and it's missing a grease cap on the port wheel, but it meets our layout and feature criteria in every other way, and it has a bonus air conditioner. The owner ran to the store to have the LP tanks filled so we could check out the furnace, which was also considerate.

As is our usual habit, we moved from South Padre Island to Port Aransas, a move of about 150 miles up the coast. Port Aransas is also on a long narrow barrier island. The town itself occupies the northmost one mile of Mustang Island, and is about the size of Grand Ledge. We continue our world class loafing, in this case at the side of the outlet from Corpus Christi harbor to the Gulf of Mexico. It's a relatvely busy harbor, so some days large ocean going ships come by, two or three per hour. We read books, watch the ships and chat with the people who are fishing. The photos show a ship carrying some off shore drilling equipment. There is quite a bit of off shore oil work in this area of Texas, and consequently a lot of ship traffic related to that industry. For scale, the white yacht in that photo is probably about 30 to 40 feet long. Another photo is a of a local fishing boat that had sunk and was salvaged. In the opinion of the local old geezers it had been underwater for ab...

Sophia has a favorite character in her favorite movie, High School Musical : Corbin Blue . MSU has a wrestler that mommy and daddy like, and he resembles Sophie's crush: Micah Carter. She couldn't stop staring at him last night every time he walked by, so I dragged her over to him at the meet's end to see if we could get a picture of them together, and Micah was enthusiastically willing.

South Padre Island hosts a Kite Festival every year on the first weekend of February. Since the wind always blows here, it's a fine place to have such a gathering. The event is held on a large tidal flats area on the north end of town. There have been a great variety of kites each year, and this year was no exception. The crowd this year was much larger than we have seen in the past – perhaps the marketing was better. I have attached a few photos. Since the kites are spread over a couple hundred acres, it's hard to do the event justice in photographs. There are often at least a hundred kites in the air at any one time. You can see from the photo of a group launching a big kite, what the scale is for some of the kites. I'd say there were perhaps twenty kites that were at least 100 feet long. The wind is pretty constant throughout the middle of the day, so once they get the big kites up they anchor them securely and just let them fly all day. Often they tie them to ...