A Night on the Town in Wichita

Dave and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this last Saturday, and to celebrate, we set out for a night on the town that included dinner and a movie.

We had decided on Chinese food, as we love the Shanghai Buffet on Harry Street, but as we were driving to the restaurant, Dave mentioned he was craving fried chicken, and that sounded great to me, so off in a different direction we went. We drove across town, hoping to locate a suitable restaurant close to the 13th street Warren where our movie tickets were reserved. As we were driving down Rock Road, we noticed Amarillo Grill in it's new location. Amarillo Grill's parent company filed chapter 11 bankruptcy back in May of 2003, and as a result, all of the Wichita area stores were closed. The founder of the chain repurchased several of the stores, and also reopened this one here in Wichita. We remembered hearing that the menu still contained many of the local favorites from the original restaurant, so we decided to give it a try. When we arrived, we were told there was a 20 - 25 minute wait, which we agreed to, although we weren't sure why as there were numerous empty tables in the rather small dining area. So, we went ahead and took a seat on a long couch, and waited about 15 minutes for our name to be called. The restaurant was very dimly lit, but on the swankier side, that is until you are seated. It is only then that you can then see the food prep area, as it is arranged similar to a diner, in which you can not only see the commotion behind the scenes, but you can hear it as well. It was extremely loud for the type of customer the owner was obviously trying to attract.

As soon as we were seated, we quickly scanned our menus, and noticed that a huge portion of the original menu was missing, and I need to add here that it was the majority of the good foods that were given a permanent vacation.

The quick scan of the once enticing menu revealed that among the remaining items were plenty of expensive steaks, a barbecued chicken, a mushroom smothered chicken, and a few other meals that weren't noteworthy enough to make it into my memory. That coupled with the fact that they had a separate wine list in a diner style atmosphere made us quickly realize this was not the restaurant for us. So, we advised the server that we would not be dining there, as we were hoping for a few more choices for dinner (there were only about 15, and 8 or so of them were steak, and not one of them was of the chicken fried variety!) and we left. I have never left a restaurant before ordering, but there was absolutely no way I was spending over $50.00 on a meal that wasn't what I wanted. Do you remember the little loaves of bread they used to serve with every meal? They don't anymore. It's a sad day when a family favorite restaurant turns into this. Although I do not wish for the demise of any business, I do not see how this restaurant can survive with this type of atmosphere, and limited menu choices.

So, we decided to just drive to the Warren and have dinner in their restaurant. It was loud, and the service was horrible, but the food was at least affordable, and tasted great. We were out of there for less than $20.00.

In my next post, I will review the move we chose for our viewing pleasure - The Dark Knight.

Gum and Peanut Butter

I hate gum. I didn't used to, but when you have to spend 2 agonizing hours trying to remove the stickiest gum you have ever seen from your 4 year old son's hair, you learn to hate it.

During the afternoons, I babysit for 2 children, a boy who is 7, and his sister who is 2. Today, the 2 year old had gum in her mouth, unbeknownced to me, and only because she is a sneaky snake. I guess since I make her spit it out every time I catch her with it, she has decided to hide it in the roof of her mouth, so I won't know she has it. I make a point of watching her for a few minutes when she arrives, just to see if she's chewing on something, but today, there was no evidence of chewing.

The kids were happily playing in Dawson's room, so I left them alone, and went on to work on some things around the house, and catch up on some orders. About 10 minutes later, Dawson comes out of his room, and yells down the hallway that Sissy (that's what they call her) put something in his hair. So, I go in to see what it is, thinking it is most likely a toy of some kind, only to discover to my horror that the little sneaky snake took a gigantic wad of gum and decided to use my son's hair as a trash can. Poor Dawson is all I can say at this point. The poor little guy grabbed it, and pulled, and when he did, it went everywhere. It started out as a wad on the top of his head, and ended up a stringy mess that covered the left side of his head; hair, ear, skin, and shirt. It even ended up on the door, wall, trim board, and floor of his room. Did I mention that it was the stickiest gum I have ever seen?

So, I sat him down, and asked my daughter, who was laughing hysterically at this point, to bring me a glass of ice, and a wet wash cloth, which made her laugh even more as she thought I has lost my mind. As soon as the requested items arrived, I began the painstaking process of icing my poor son's head and skin to freeze the gum. I think I forgot to tell you that this gum was STICKY, and refused to freeze. So I started pulling. I do not recommend that remedy at all, and neither does Dawson. In fact, he is adamant that it should be avoided at all cost! So, not thinking too clearly, I call Dave, hoping for some words of wisdom, and he gives me the wackiest solution I have ever heard of in my life. Are you ready for this... Peanut butter. Yep, the same stuff my son loves to eat for lunch. Really, are you serious? Peanut butter? Convinced he was completely off his rocker, I went to my trusty friend Google, and asked him what he thought. Would you believe he agreed with Dave? Peanut butter?! I was shocked. So I grabbed the jar, smeared it on, and couldn't resist this hilarious shot. The peanut butter worked on his skin, but nothing could remove it from his hair except my trusty scissors. So, he now has a little bald spot on the top of his head, and is missing a small patch of hair at the base of his neck, but at least it's all off of his skin now.
So, my poor sticky mess of a son is missing some hair, my daughter thinks we've all lost our marbles, and we found a new use for a yummy sandwich filling. Not a bad day after all.

All About Me

I don't have anything really exciting to talk about today, so I figured I would answer this little survey one of my friends e-mailed me. So, here goes. Probably more information than you would ever want to know about me. :)

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:30
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Dark Night, last Saturday for our anniversary- Awesome movie!
4. What are your favourite TV shows? The Closer, Psych, All Law & Orders and CSI, Bones, House
5. What did you have for breakfast? I skipped it.
6. What is your middle name? Michelle
7. What is your favourite cuisine? Chinese or Mexican
8. What foods do you dislike? Smelly fishy things.
9. What is your favourite chip? Cheese Doritos
10. What is your favourite CD at the moment? I haven't bought a CD in ages, so I don't have a favorite right now.
11. What kind of car do you drive? 2001 Chevy Lumina
12. What is your favourite sandwich? Dave's Mom's Egg Salad. It's delicious!
13. What characteristics do you despise? People who think they are better than everyone else, and treat everyone like dirt.
14. Favourite item of clothing? comfy t-shirt
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I would have to say Maine believe it or not. I have no desire to travel outside of the country, and Maine is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
16. What colour is your bathroom? One is lime green, and one is white
17. Favourite brand of clothing? Wal-Mart brand. Cheap and long lasting.
18. Where would you want to retire? See question 15.
19. Favourite time of day? 1:30 am, when Dave gets home from work. I like knowing my family is all home and safe.
20. Where were you born? Wichita, Kansas
21. Favourite sport to watch? Nascar
22. Who do you least expect to send this back? Well, since it's posted on my blog, I don't think anyone will send it back
23. Person (people) you expect to send it back first? See above.
24. What type of detergent do you use? Whatever is on sale
25. Coke or Pepsi? Coke
26. Morning person or night owl? night owl
27. What size shoe do you wear? 10
28. Do you have pets? Yes, 3 dogs.
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? Nope.
30. Favourite candy bar? Snickers
31. What is your best childhood memory? Our last family vacation to Branson, Missouri. My dad, my brother, and I told my mom the American Plunge at Silver Dollar City wouldn't get her wet, and that the drop wasn't that bad... She didn't speak to us for hours.
32. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Opening shift manager at Wendy's, advertising rep, call center rep, nanny, daycare provider, business owner.
33. What colour shirt are you wearing? blue
34. Piercing? 2 in each of my ears
35. Eye colour? blue.
36. Ever been to Africa? Nope
37. Ever been toilet papered? No...but have I ever BEEN toilet paper-ing?! Oh, heck yeah!
38. Love someone so much it made you cry? Yeah, and thanks for bringing it back up.
39. Been in a car accident? Yes.
40. Croutons or bacon bits? Both.
41. Favourite day of the week? Sunday
42. Favourite restaurant(s)? Red Lobster, Big Cheese Pizza, Chili's
43. Favourite flower? Carnation or Bleeding Heart.
44. Favourite ice cream? Tin Roof Sundae (my grandma would have this for me every time we went over there)
45. Disney or Warner Brothers? Warner Brothers
46. Favourite fast food restaurant(s)? Wendy's
47. What colour is your carpet? We have wood floors in the main rooms, but Dawson's carpet is blue, and Hannah's is gray
48. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Zero times
49. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Michael's, or Wal-Mart
50. What do you do most often when you are bored? Watch TV, surf the net, work on my blog or website, design new products, text Dave

Family Reunion Continued

Ok, so here is my second post about our family reunion. Guess what the kid's favorite thing to do when we get to the hotel is. You guessed it, swimming. Dawson and Hannah started talking abut swimming at the hotel pool a couple of weeks before we left, and they started begging as soon as we got there. So, after a little nap, it was off to the pool. We were lucky on Friday night because we had the entire pool just to ourselves. Saturday night was a completely different story. There was a family of 4 who were staying in the hotel, and apparently had come from their own reunion because they were wearing family reunion t-shirts. Anyway, they, along with about 15 other members of their family, were monopolizing the shallow end of the pool all night Saturday night. At about 5 minutes until 10 (keep in mind that the pool closes at 10) they finally left, and all you see is car after car pulling out of the parking lot. Only 4 of the 20 so people were registered guests of the hotel. So, we were able to enjoy the pool for 5 minutes before they locked it. I guess 5 minutes is better than no time at all. :)

While I was talking to family at the reunion, Dave decided to use my camera to get a couple of shots of myself, and a couple of my father and my grandfather. What he captured in the first photo is enough to make any true camera professional proud. I think this photo was supposed to be of me, since I was standing on the other side of the food counter, but I'm not sure. In any case, the photo will be a constant reminder of why I should be the one behind the camera, and he should continue to be one of my favorite models. In his defense, he has always had a problem with taking photos, no matter the camera. It seems he is always cutting someones head off in the shot, or forgetting to set the flash, as I think was also the case in this shot. But, at least he tries. :)

He did manage to take a decent photo of my father, and my grandfather though, so I can't fault him too much. I did forgot to ask them if he captured their good sides in the photo. I do like this photo, and plan on having it framed. It's nice to have a photo of at least two of the generations together. My brother, and his sons, couldn't make it this year, and when we took the generational family photo at my grandfather's 90th birthday party last year, my brother and his sons were also mysteriously missing from that one as well.

I hope that we are able to get a photo of everyone together in the very near future. A photo with my grandfather, his kids, and all of the grand kids, and great-grand kids (congratulations Shannon) is one photo we are all going to wish we had. With our family spread out all over the map, it is difficult to get everyone together at the same time, but it will be well worth it. The photo taken last year had everyone in it, except my brother and his kids, so it was close. But, the grand kids keep having kids, so we are going to need a new photo before long.

Ok, I'm losing track of my post here. This is a family reunion post, so I need to talk about the family reunion. We left at 7am on Friday morning, July 18th, and arrived in Conway, Arkansas at around 1:30 Friday afternoon. We checked into the hotel, and promptly took a nap. We then readied ourselves for dinner, and met the rest of the family at Ryan's Steakhouse for dinner. After dinner, it was off to the hotel to swim.

Saturday morning, we left for our Saturday morning trek to Wal-mart at around 8:30 am. We did our shopping, my dad bought his normal 50 pieces of chicken, and we were off the 20 or so miles to the 1st Baptist church in Damascus. We arrived at a little before 10 (the reunion is scheduled to be from 11 - 2), and the men put the tables and chairs up for the event, while the women began cooking. At a little after 11, my grandfather grabbed his gavel, and began tapping the podium to get every one's attention. It always takes him several minutes to gain control of the unruly crowd of people who seem to think that we are there to talk to one another and catch up on old times. After a few unsuccessful minutes of tapping the podium, someone stands up and let's out a loud whistle, and at last, it's quiet. So, my grandfather begins one of his speeches that we have all come to know and love. This one was about the most painful experience a person could suffer through, the pain of undelivered speech. After the speech comes the prayer, and then the mad dash to stuff ourselves. We sit around for an hour or so talking and eating (an my dad and Rose bought me a birthday cake since it was also my birthday), we pass the hat to collect money to "rent" the hall next year and pay the postage necessary to mail out the reminder postcards throughout the year (we raised over $200 this year) and then a little after noon, it's time to take the annual family photo, outside in the dripping hot. And I do mean dripping hot. It was 96 degrees and HUMID! It takes about 20 minutes to round everyone up and get them outside, and then another 15 minutes or so to get everyone situated so we can take the photo. Then another 5 minutes (every one's hustling to get inside) for everyone to get back inside. So, that puts us at almost 1, and people start to leave. Oh, I forgot to mention the 4 huge pieces of paper that adorn the walls of the hall. You know what I'm talking about. The family tree.

Anyway, we are all out of there by 1:30. We make a stop at the statuary place, that last about 5 minutes since they don't have what I'm looking for, and then we stop at Pickles Gap, a very small town along the highway. We buy useless stuff in the gift shop, walk through the pouring rain to the fudge shop, have a cold drink, and then head for the antiques shop. I spot a sign the owners of the shop have posted about children (very rude and unnecessary) so I take my children and make my exit. We then head back to the hotel for more swimming, and relaxing. The older generations head to the fish fry, and Dave and I, having pawned or kids off on my dad for the evening, head to the Chinese restaurant to celebrate my birthday, and then head to Wal-Mart for a little "I want that"-less shopping. Then it's back to the hotel for more swimming.

That's the reunion in a nutshell, and I'm sure next year will be the same, as it's pretty predictable.

Sunday morning, we were on the road at 8am. I snapped this photo of Dave while he was driving, before he had any caffeine. He does this cute squinting thing when he is trying to stay awake, and I'm constantly yelling to wake him up. He went off the road and onto the rumble strips several times, so many times in fact, that Dawson can make the rumble sound himself. It's so cute. After the 15th time or so, he asked his daddy why the car was going "HMMMMMM". It was hilarious!

The trip home is always the longest. We are tired from the long weekend, but don't want to go home as that means back to work the next day. That and the fact that Kansas doesn't offer the most scenic of views, so the last few hours of the road home are boring. But, we can always count on Dave to provide some much needed comic relief along the way. He got mad at me for grabbing the wheel when he drifted off the road for the gazillionth time, and threw his sunglasses on the dashboard. The resulting photo is one that is sure to haunt Dave for the rest of his life.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. While we wish more than anything that we could go to Maine this summer, we are fortunate to have been able to afford the trip to Arkansas. Gas prices are astronomical, so we weren't sure we were going to make it. But, we managed to save a little for the trip, and made the best of it, since it is the only vacation we will have this year. Dave started working at his old job early in the year, so he had to start over with his vacation days. But next year, we will be taking a lengthy family vacation, and I plan to start saving now. :)

Family Reunion

Wow, it's been a few days since I last posted, but with good reason. We left on July 18th for our annual trek to Damascus, Arkansas, for our family reunion. I have been attending this family function for years, and I can honestly say, that I still don't know who half of the people who attend this thing are.

This year, the attendance was rather lacking, but it was still an enjoyable time. Some of the more annoying family members were still there in full force (Julie, you know who I'm talking about), and many I look forward to spending time with could not make it this year (you of course Julie). But, we still found fun things to do.

My favorite part of the entire trip is always the car ride. The first set of pictures below are of the wind farm in eastern Butler county, called the Elk River Wind project. This wind farm has 100 1.5 MW wind turbines, and is the largest wind farm in Kansas. Joplin-Missouri based Empire District Electric Company entered into a 20 year contract to purchase wind energy from the facility. They plan to purchase 555,000 mega-watt hours of energy a year, which is enough to power about 42,000 homes annually. Not too shabby for an endless, free resource here in Kansas.

The first photo was taken on the ride down, and it was cloudy and rainy. I snapped a couple more photos on the way back, when it was sunny and clear. Of course my father, who we were following, as well as my husband, were in an all fired hurry to get home, so the photos were taken at 75 miles an hour. Next year, we plan to leave a couple of days early, and take our time driving down. There is a scenic drive through the Ozark mountains that we want to take every year, but just don't have the time. Next year, we are making the time.

The next pictures are of the Ozark mountains. I was researching the mountains, and discovered that although they are referred to as mountains, the region is actually a high and deeply dissected plateau. A dissected plateau is a plateau that has been uplifted and severely eroded so that their relief is sharp. There are several features that mountains have that dissected plateaus do not, but I won't bore you with the details. I just thought it was an interesting point to mention.

The Ozark Highland region occupies 55,000 square miles of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Illinois. 33,000 of those miles are in Missouri, 13,000 are in Arkansas, and the last 4,000 are in Illinois and very Southeastern Kansas.

The photos below are of the cooling tower for the nuclear power plant in Russellville, Arkansas. This is always a sight to see, and a welcome point on the trip down, as it let's us know that we are less than an hour away from our destination.

Construction began in 1969 on the nuclear power plant, formally known as Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO). It took only 4 years to construct the plant, and it is Arkansas's largest industrial plant investment.

"The first reactor was named Unit 1, and the second reactor was named Unit 2. Together, they have a combined output of about 1,800,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. The total cost of the entire project was about $901,500,000. Unit 1 started to produce electricity on December 19, 1974. Unit 1 alone produces 850 kilowatt-hours. Unit 2 started producing electricity on March 25, 1980, and Unit 2 alone produces nearly 1000 KWH. To put these numbers into perspective, 1,800 KWH would meet the needs of 2,572 homes or 600 commercial customers . . . for one solid month. This is based on the 1972 average consumption 701 KWH a month for residential consumers and 2,996 KWH for commercial customers in the Russellville area. AP&L officials expect electric requirements in the company's service double about every seven years. (Estimates obtained from the Daily Courier-Democrat, 4-10-73.) Currently, ANO supplies electricity for 50% of AP&L's 575,000 customers." -http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/terrell/const.htm

Ok, I'm going to split this into 2 posts, so check back for more tomorrow. :)

Slumber Parties

Ah, to be a kid again. Back when the world was small, and there wasn't a care in the world. When you looked forward to the weekend, so you could spend time with your friends, and have a sleepover. Back when I was Hannah's age, our sleepovers consisted of our favorite foods, prank calling boys, playing truth or dare, sneeking out of the house to "tp" the neighbor's house, and freezing the bra of the first girl who fell asleep. These days, they consist of tying up the phone to call Radio Disney a million times, watching High School Musical (is this ever going to go away?), and of course, video games. I snapped the first video while Hannah was playing a High School Musical PS2 game.

The next video is Hannah and her friend being silly last night. They took my old cell phone, and performed a silly little dance routine to one of the ring tones. Girls are so funny!

We are the Champions!!

Congratulations to the Augusta Rental softball team for a fantastic season! Hannah's team had their championship game(s) tonight, and they won 4-2. The tournament is a double elimination tournament, and her team lost 0 games and took 1st place! It was an awesome game, and full of tension until the very end.

Hannah had a strike out on her first at bat, but had a whopper of a hit on her second. I of course recorded the strike out, and missed the hit. I missed it on purpose because I think the camera makes her nervous. It seems that every time she knows I'm taking a picture or shooting a video, she strikes out. So, I opted to let her have that last at bat camera free, so now you'll just have to take my word for it. It was an awesome hit!

The girls were all very excited, and promptly put on their championship t-shirts, and held up their trophies for all to see. Last year the team that Hannah was on ended up in 2nd place, so this was very exciting for her.

She's already looking forward to next year, and so am I! We are hoping to get her into a clinic between now and then, to give her some more confidence, and improve her skills. She loves to play 1st base and catcher, but doesn't care for 3rd base that much. Maybe with a little more practice and coaching, she will like the other positions.