Happy Birthday, Ralston!

March 31st, my nephew Ralston turned 2 years old! We got to see him on his birthday at a birthday party for a mutual friend, Daniel De Jong. The pictures of Ralston and his dad (my brother Stuart) and mom were taken at Paul and Sandy De Jong's house. Stuart and Ginny and Ralston live in Charleston, SC and we don't get to see them often, so I was really glad we were able to get together that day.

Our Ninth Wedding Anniversary

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For our anniversary this year (April 4th) Jeff and I drove to upstate North Carolina for a few days. Mom and Berk kept Katie and Joe in order for us to have some much-appreciated Jeff-and-Jeni time! We stayed at the Buffalo Tavern Bed and Breakfast and visited the Blowing Rock. The force of the wind was incredible! We also wandered around downtown Boone and Blowing Rock. (Jan Karon's Mitford series is based somewhat on Blowing Rock, so I was interested to see what it was like. Apparently every September the town celebrates "Mitford Days" and Jan Karon makes an appearance.) We wanted to go to Grandfather Mountain, but the winds were too strong and it was closed. We did a lot of driving around looking, and ended up going to the Mast General Store, too. Overall, we had a fabulous time and ate constantly. Joe's Italian Kitchen and the Almond Joy coffee at Stickboy Bread Co. alone made the trip worthwhile! We also ate at a Japanese Hibachi place that was excellent.

Johnny Hart

Okay, you know by now that Jeff and I are big comic strip fans. I grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and especially B.C. at the breakfast table. My dad collected comic books and he had B.C. books that were copyrighted in the late fifties on through the sixties and seventies. In the later years of B.C., (after Dad died) its creator Johnny Hart rededicated his life to Jesus Christ and the tone of the strip changed. We really looked forward to seeing the Christmas and Easter strips especially because we knew they would contain the wonderful message of Jesus' birth or resurrection. Johnny Hart passed away on Saturday, April 7, 2007 -- and spent his very first day in heaven celebrating Easter with his Creator!

For an interesting look at the life of Johnny Hart, click on this link.

Here's an example of one of Johnny Hart's Christmas strips.

Punch Bug!!

Several months ago, Jeff traded his truck for a 1973 Volkswagen Beetle. He's always wanted another one -- and now he's got it! (When he was in highschool, Jeff had a 1966 Beetle, in which he proposed to me!) It needed a lot of work done on it, and Jeff has been slowly but surely making improvements and fixing what didn't work. These pictures are already a bit outdated because he has since added a roof rack. It really gives the car a great look and I'll post a picture of it on the next go-round. Jeff has done just about all the work on it by himself -- he has a definite plan of what he wants done and what he wants it to look like when the project is complete. We'll keep you updated!

Running Away to Join the Circus

On February 23rd, our homeschool group went to the Big Apple Circus at Stone Mountain. Big Apple is a small travelling circus that brings back the good ole days. It's mainly a "people" show, with not very many animal acts. There were acrobats, tumblers, a bicyclist, comedy routines, a clown, a dog act and horses. The performers were amazingly talented! I asked Katie what her favorite part was, and she thought for a moment before saying, "Everything!"