Rainy day.

What to do, what to do???

How about rock climbing!

A week ago we were invited to the neighbor's birthday party, which happened to be at Canyon Climbing. The boys had never been rock climbing, but due to their adventurous personalities and the multitude of places I have found them hanging and climbing in other instances, I thought they would love it. 

However, as soon as we walked in hesitation kicked in from the uncharted territory and overwhelming height of the walls. So for 3 hours of a birthday party our boys ran around and watched everyone else rock climb, even their parents.  That same afternoon, well after the party was over, Keagan started in with his usual "gnat-like" persistence. He wanted to go to the rock climbing the next day. 

"But Keags, we had 3 hours to rock climb earlier and you didn't even want to try."

" Yeah Dad, that's because I was watching the other kids so that I knew how to do it."

"For 3 hours?"

"Yes, so can we go?"

After many hours of questioning, we just couldn't go the next day. Not because we didn't want to satisfy the urge of our son(s) to try something new, but the soreness of my body and hands from my attempt to still pretend that I am 23 would not allow me to repeat my performance the next day. 

A week later and eve though the persistent nagging decreased, it did not stop. It was raining all day yesterday and showed no sign of stopping. 

So, let's climb!

I guess he was telling the truth, he just wanted to see the other kids do it, because we couldn't get him off the wall. 

And of course Kohen wasn't going to let his older brother show him up. 

She looks like she actually has a rock climbing uniform on. After a few climbs and a lot of peer pressure, she finally climbed all the way to the top. 

Hanging on for dear life. I think I was two feet off the ground for this photo. Hahaha. I made it higher. Couldn't let Kohen show me up. 

So that was our Saturday. 

Is this Texas?

Last week was a parallel universe here in Texas. With the winter arctic warning a week earlier and getting nothing, the last warning seemed to be a cry of wolf and standard over reaction by the weather team. This time they got it right. 

A winter wonderland has hit. Usually when this happens, the mysterious white powder disappears in a matter of hours. Not this time. The boys and the neighbors had 4 - 5 days of fun on what can only be described as a 3 inch sheet of ice. The sledding was some of the best I have participated in, and never would have imagined it would be down here. 

Mother Nature popsicles had formed on everything and created a beautiful scene all around the city. . . . for a minute. Then the chaos of being unprepared for such an event. 

Groceries could not restock the shelves. Power lines were down and thousands without heat. Trees falling and snapping due to the weight of the ice. 

Ice falling off of roofs onto vehicles made national news. (Luckily not my car). 

I am happy to report that we are starting to thaw out and only small remnants remain as proof that this storm came through. 

Turkey Time

2013 has been a wonderful year and we have many things to be thankful for.  It would have been nice to have been able to keep up on our blog so we would have the memories throughout the year.  I guess that is my 2014 New Year's resolution.

The 2nd Annual Rouse Texas Thanksgiving was a big success.  We outdid ourselves this year with the number of guests and the food prepared.  

First up - the thanksgiving brine.  This brine mix was one I found online.  This is the second turkey I have cooked, but this is the first time I haver used a brine and the first time cooking a turkey on the Big Green Egg.

After soaking the turkey in the brine for 24 hours, the bird was ready to be smoked.

After doing my research I had estimated that this guy should smoke for about 4 hours.  The turkey ended up being done a little sooner, but was able to keep it on the egg.

And it turned out fantastic.  I was so anxious to cut into it and see the results of all of the work that I didn't take a picture.  But I promise you this, we will be smoking a turkey from here on out.

The guest list included visitors from Ohio and North Carolina, along with our Texas Family.

- Keith & Tess - Ohio

- Alison, Alan, Stella & Phoenix - North Carolina

- David, Hannah & Shane - Ohio

- Tom, Rita, Tommy & Ryan Angeloni - Texas

- Jill & Anna Angeloni - Texas

- Chris Jr, and his two little girls, Hannah and Heidi - Texas

Needless to say we had a full house and it was great to be able to share with everyone.

These kiddos played so well together and had so much fun visiting with their cousins.

We even heated the pool for a little Thanksgiving swim.  Can't wait to see the gas bill next month.  But it sure was worth it for a day to see everyone having fun jumping in.

Our visitors from out of town came and left in stages, from Tuesday through Monday, with all of them staying with us.

After the holiday was over and smoking a 19 lb turkey (with plenty of leftovers), I decided that a brisket for the Ohio St / _ichagan game was the right answer.  So I started that process Friday night for the food to be ready for the game on Saturday.

What a game this year!  Even thoough Ohio State was ranked #3 and _ichigan was unranked, they were looking to play the spoiler in the Buckeyes quest to go undefeated and extend their win streak to 24-0.  When these two teams play, you can pretty much throw the rankings out the window, they always seem to be close matches.

This year the Buckeyes hung on to win 42 - 41 as _ichigan tried to go for the win with a 2 pt conversion, unsuccessful.

Spring Break 2013

Well this blog sure is getting dusty.  It has been a while and apologies to all 3 of our loyal followers for such a delay.  We will try not to keep you waiting, but those of you with kids or who have grown kids, you know where we are coming from.  Especially the ones with the grown kids . . . . 

Spring Break 2013

Port Aransas, TX

This is the first spring break that we have taken the boys on and actually the first spring break either of us have been on in 12 years.  We have a friend here in Texas that has a house in Port Aransas and they were kind enough to let us stay there this week.  Not knowing what to expect for a spring break week we packed our car and started south. . . . oh yeah, with two other families.  We were accompanied by two close friends of ours and their families . . . and their kids friends.  The Claughtons, they have two girls the same age as our boys and we have known each other since we have been in Texas.  The Angelonis, who have two boys, both the same age apart as Keagan and Kohen, but 10 years older.  So it was like looking into a crystal ball.

Welcome to NASHville!

Not Nashville, TN.  NASHville Port Aransas, TX.

The Nashes are the homeowners and we are very grateful for sharing the house with us this week.

THE USS LEXINGTON

We decided to take the second day and go explore Corpus Christi. We stumbled across The USS Lexington.  This was a really cool experience and the kids loved it!

Steve mounts the machine gun!

The family preparing to board the USS Lexington.

Future Pilot?!?!?!

Future Co-Pilot?!?!?!

All of the kids were super pumped about going on the ship, they walked the whole thing!

Partners in crime.  Don't let the cute faces fool you!

Hanging out in NASHville

He left a permanent mark here.

Tom and Kristen

The view from the front balcony of our house.

These two played so well all week.  Just hanging out on the balcony.

A day at the beach.

Kaiden was such a good sport.  Letting the kids bury him in the sand.

Uh . . . . hello, my nose itches! HELLO!!! MY NOSE ITCHES!!!!  ANYONE THERE?!?!?!?!

The water had to be somewhere around 60 degrees, it was freezing!  Do you think they cared?

All four of the munchkins goofin around.

Ms Rita taught Kohen this dance move . . . "I'm surfin, I'm surfin"

Aunt Rita (or as Keagan would say Aunt Redo) playing with the kiddos building a sand snowman! 

Since I am in charge of taking all vaca photos, this is what you get of me.

Tommy and Kaiden, can't say enough how thankful we were to have these two.  They were great with the kids and gave us a little time to breathe on our trip.  Thank you boys!

SPRING BREAK 2013!  He doesn't get out much.

Tom and his boy Ryan.

All of the guys.

Getting ready for the Jetty Boat tour to go looking for some dolphins.

Mr. Tom and Kohen enjoying some dolphin watching.

Hmmmmm.  Should I have one more?

The boys sand castle on their last day.

Exhausted.  These two played hard all week, sometimes as brothers and sometimes not, but they had a blast. 

All in all it was a good week with little trouble for the amount of high school/college spring breakers in the area.  Very glad we were able to share the trip with some good friends and thankful everyone was safe.  Now on to the next debate, since we drove 8 hours on this trip, should we drive 12 to our next one?  Rouse-a-palooza 2013 in Destin, FL on the way.  Hopefully a few more updates before that.