September 08

This update begins in Roatan, Honduras. We had an incredible time! Even though we had a full week it just wasn't enough. I won't presume that you want to see our pics, so there is a webalbum on the right if you'd like to see more of us in paradise.

"The sea, once it has cast its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." [Jacques Cousteau] I can vouch for that! I got to dive incredible sites with really neat people from Colorado, Texas, Spain, France, Switzerland, Canada, and England. Be sure to check out the pics of my underwater safari. And you must see the video! (be sure to click "more info" for all the details)

Meanwhile, back at reality, the kids are all involved in fall sports. Molly's soccer season has gone by fast! I guess it does that when you're winning. She has even worked her way into the starting lineup - the only freshman to do so. Check her picture from the newspaper. Just don't tell her you saw it - she hates it!

Kyle won his first cross country meet! He's running my favorite trail. (the kid next to him was in the younger division and had a big headstart) Yesterday in his meet he ran in the high school division and placed 14 out of 22. Not too shabby!

Blake is playing flag football again this year and loves it. So far Crazy Legs has run 3 length-of-the-field TDs in his first 3 games.

After months of training for the Akron Marathon the day finally came and it couldn't have been any better! I beat my goal of under 4 hours (considered pretty good for most) with a 3:53 finish. That was good enough to place 428 out of 1,581 finishers. I was very pleased!

YEAH BABY!!! I cannot describe the sense of accomplishment!

One of the neat things about this race, and one of the reasons I chose it, is that the kids of the runners have a run too. They had a lot of fun while waiting for dad to finish.

The new pic on top was taken on our trip to Akron. We enjoyed a detour driving out thru Sugar Creek, Walnut Creek, and Berlin in Ohio Amish country.

What a year! First Philadelphia, then New Philadelphia and Dover in both Delaware and Ohio!

Whew! Maybe we need to stay home a little more. No, wait, can't do that. In a period of 10 days we will have made a round trip to Akron, another to Alabama, and I will have gone to Uganda!

Take care and God bless.

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

Summer is over so it's back to normal...

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is swim whenever we can. The boys especially are like a couple of fish! This year we had fun with the new camera; I took this shot while lying on the bottom of the pool.

We were also able to fish several times this summer. This is my buddy Jeff Holbrook as we are about to night fish at Pound Lake, Va. He skunked me!

Shhh, don't tell anyone just yet, but this is the yet-to-be-unveiled UGA Pop Tart. Blake got this while playing at his buddy Sam's house. Sam's dad is the Plant Manager at the Pop Tart factory (yes, Pop Tarts are made in Pikeville!) and gave this this to him. There will be other schools too, but this is the 1st UGA one that we know of to leave the facility. Blake accidentally broke it - I hope that's not an omen!

During one of the Summer Fun Days Kyle spoke at the devo in the city park. Can you tell they did face-painting first?!?!

I started our "Road Trip" board last year and it is quickly filling up on the east side of the country. We mark where we've been and collect small momentos to post. Looks like we'll heed Horace Greeley's advice next summer.

You know, he's the one who said, "Head west, young man, head west."

Unfortunately Blake didn't get to go to camp this year due to a severe corneal abrasion. So, to make him feel a little less-bummed, I got him a few accessories to go with his patch!

1st day of school!

Molly is in 9th grade, playing on the varsity girls soccer team, and a member of the Student Council.

Kyle is in 7th grade and is now the 2nd tallest member of the family and wearing a size 9 shoe! He's also on the Jr. High cross country team.

Blake is in 2nd grade and is really looking forward to flag football starting soon.

Molly got a decent amount of playing time (as a freshman) in last night's season opener: a 2-0 win!

And Mom and Dad, well we're just trying to catch our breath, which we plan to do a lot of next week in Roatan!

Bye for now!

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

June...it's much more than a vacation!

In addition to our annual vacation (see last blog entry and webalbum) we got to do a lot of other neat stuff in June.

BLAKE IS 8! It's hard to believe (I always say that but it's true) but that guy turned 8 on the 13th! Can you believe it?!

On the 14th I ran the Hatfield/McCoy Reunion Festival Half-Marathon. Pre-race nausea and abdominal cramps (bad pasta at the pre-race dinner???) for the last 10 miles kept me from running the time I wanted , but I still ended up 18th out of 126 runners. I guess I should be satisfied...

On the 17th Kyle and a few others were honored by the Board of Education for having achieved the Presidents Physical Fitness Award. It was a nice presntation complete with a patch and a certificate signed by ole G-Dub himself!

This month was also the Future Champions Football camp that Blake has participated in for the 3rd year now. Somehow he has earned the nickname "Crazy Legs". Does he look like a future champion?

Well, it's been a great month for us and we hope it has been for you too.
Take care and God bless.

Love,
Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

Vacation 08!

We're baaack! We had a great trip to the Northeast and New England. It was one of the best, if not THE best vacation we've ever had. While planning it I basically had 4 options:

1. Do more, see more - but this may have been too much
2. Do less, see less - it wouldn't be too much but maybe not enough
3. Scrap the whole NE/New England plan altother
4. Split the difference between 1 & 2

Now that I know what I know and all the info. is in, I'm more convinced than ever that #4 is the best!

Here's how it played out:

On the way to Philly we went to Gettysburg and Valley Forge. In Philly we saw the Liberty Bell, Independance Hall, toured the US Mint, walked thru Chinatown, and bunch of misc. stuff. It was all walking distance from our hotel.

In NYC we went to Ellis Island (very emotional) and the Statue of Liberty. We got on the Today Show (twice), went to Chinatown, Little Italy, Ground Zero, Radio City Music Hall, and Central Park (mine and Molly's favorite!). We walked all the famous streets and part of the Brooklyn Bridge, saw Times Square at night, went to Giants Stadium, and 100 other things! NYC was everyone's favorite!

We swung thru Rhode Island on our way to Boston where we walked most of the Freedom Trail, went on a whale-watching cruise, and were in downtown for the pregame festivities of game 2 for the NBA finals versus the hated Lakers! For a long-time Celtics fan like me this was big!

When we left Boston we went to a lighthouse on the Maine coast , put our feet in the Atlantic (chilllly) and, then we drove thru beautiful New Hampshire and Vermont. On the way home we went to Dorney Park in Allentown, PA. (Be sure to watch the water ride video on full screen mode with your speakers up...and a towel!)

There were some late nights and early mornings; there were some late mornings followed by later nights. Fast food, good food, bad food, and late night ice cream. A lot of laughs and a few tears. Light moments and poignant ones. I got to run in downtown Philly (tricky), Central Park (a runner's paradise!), and Boston Common and Garden (you could feel the history of this park est. in 1634 and used by men like Franklin and Adams!)

I was reminded of what a great country we have, what an incredible creation God has made, what a good family I have, and how great it is to drive barefoot!

I learned that stereotypes are usually wrong, that GPS is wonderful, and that a golf ball on the floorboard gives a pretty good foot massage!

2211 miles, 11 states, 10 days, 5 individuals, 1 fortunate family!

Other things have and are happening this month so another update will come soon, but for now enjoy the web album (upper right) of our vacation (unless you don't want to!)

Love,
Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

aMAYzing!

Well, it's hard to believe that another month has come and gone...but it has. So here's a brief review of our May.

Once again this year, Kyle was a "High Achiever" and was rewarded with a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge near Cinncinati. I was lucky enough to be a chaperone again this year. The best part: Kyle and I got to do something else together!

In other Kyle news, he placed high in the President's Physical Fitness challenge, being one of only 6 in the 6th grade.

And, he now has contacts.

And...last Sunday night he got stuck in the elevator at church! We didn't even know until the Fire and Rescue came (he called them on the phone) and let him out. I always knew his elevator didn't go all the way to the top!

As soon as we got back it was time for Molly's birthday party. She had a bunch of friends over and we all had a great time. Can't believe she's 14!

May is the birth month for many great people you know, including Nana!

Speaking of, Nana and PawPaw came and spent about a week with us and we all enjoyed that. While we were together we had a lot of fun, played a lot of rummy, and even took an overnight road trip to Lexington and enjoyed the beauty of the area, did some horsewatching, and fishing.

They timed their visit to see Molly graduate from 8th grade. Not only did she graduate (with numerous honors) but her poem was chosen to be the class poem, which meant to she got to read it at graduation...in front of 600 people. She did great!

And Blake...well, he's still Blake! Here's a new story though. A while back I took him to the birthday party of a female classmate. While there one of the mothers told me that Blake is THE heartthrob of the 1st grade. I said, "Really?" She said, "You didn't know?" All I could say was, "Nooo."

Well, it may be true: Saturday the doorbell rang and it was 3 girls who wanted to know if Blake could come out and play. (brazen hussies!) His response: Let me get my shoes! :-)

Since this is being finished from The City of Brotherly Love, here's a sneak peak at June's update.

Til next time...love from,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

Awesome April!

What a great month! It all started with our family Spring Break trip to Washington DC. I had been home from Tanzania for 28 1/2 hours so it was time to hit the road! :-)

3/31Monday headed to DC, saw the new Air and Space Museum. Since it was raining, doing some shopping was the Barnes and Noble thing to do!

4/1 I started the day with a GREAT April Fool's joke! Then we did all the normal DC stuff: Arlington Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, the Mall, and the Memorial walls. Kim and the boys did the Museum of Natural History (aka Evolution Central) while Molly and I went to the Library of Congress.

4/2 On Wednesday the girls went to the Holocaust Museum while the men did the National Aquarium. After lunch we met back and I got to go on a 7 mile run around the city. That was fun! Then we saw the Jefferson Memorial surrounded by the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin at their peak.

4/3 On Thursday we did the National Zoo (very good!) and then headed for the eastern shore of Maryland. We spent the night on Kent Island, an island in the Chesapeake Bay that was first established in 1631. Our waterfront room allowed us to watch some of the wildlife in the marsh. We were suprised by the beauty of the area.

4/4Friday we hit the capital of the first state. That's Dover, DE if you're not sure. After that we headed over to the sailing mecca and beautiful town of Annapolis. While there was toured the US Naval Academy. (I have now seen all 3 service academies) After that it was Fort McHenry in Baltimore. We spent the night in Hagerstown and headed home the next day.

This sounds like a lot (and it was) but we were never hurried. Good planning and good fortune made for a very fun trip.

4/12 Molly and Kyle both had their first soccer game of the season.

4/15 Molly and I attended the Pikeville College Spring Choral concert. We enjoyed the performance, laughed a lot, and went home with a new inside joke!

4/17 Kim headed to Eclectic for her 20 yr. reunion (WOW! She's getting old!) and the kids and I did Hillbilly Days. Yes, the guys had their teeth!

Here's a kid-friendly recipe I tried out while Kim was gone. I call it Mini-Tacos and it's easy and fun. Fill a cookie sheet with Tostitos Scoops and fill each of them with already-prepared taco meat. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. Put the toppings on the table and let everyone top their own however they want.

4/19 My buddy Abe and I went to see Kansas in concert. It was a great show featuring 3 other acts as well. If you're interested, check out the Kansas video.

4/24-26 We had our annual Youth Rally and hosted 5 really good kids from Fairview, WV.

We had a great time and now have several new friends.

Whew! What a month! If you're interested in seeing more of our April just click the "April 08" webalbum and look around.

Have a great May! See you next time.

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

March Madness!

March has been wild and wooly...in a good way.

The best news of the month was Kim getting (finally) her "new" van. You know you're getting older when you're excited about a minivan...but we are!

I had to go to Prattville to get the van, so Kyle and I headed out early Monday. While Kyle and Nana goofed off, Dad, Brian, and I played some pasture pool. We had a great time and it was a nice, unexpected surprise to have that time together. We headed back early Tuesday.

Then, on Thursday I headed to Tanzania. The trip went very well and you can check out a few of the pics in the webalbums.

After 14 days of travelling and/or teaching, Denny and I needed some R&R (at least that's what we told ourselves) so we hit Zanzibar! While Denny loafed around, I went diving. I am now a certified scuba diver. I used the camera on only one of the dives and wouldn't you know it, the other one was by far the best! Oh well...


Right before I left home, the boys and I split a package of "Bubba teeth" - they were a big hit with the folks there and they feature prominently in the photos.

I'm writing this on a layover in Amsterdam, so please overlook any errors that my foggy mind may have come up with.

That's all for now! Have a great April!

Love from,
Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

Kyle's 12th birthday party!

Kyle's Birthday party was so great that I couldn't wait until the next update to post these pics and videos. A decent snow came (finally) and forced us to change our plans. We quickly decided on a snow-fun party and the games we had planned are saved for another day.









Our fun in the snow crew:













These video clips are short, but may take a moment to buffer. First is the birthday boy followed by his favorite brother and Dad.

We've never had a better party and we couldn't have a better son!

Bye for now...

February

Our February rolled along quite nicely! Feb. in Kentucky means one thing: basketball! Here I am at the PHS game with my buddies Blake and Clayton. Kyle's team is finshed for the year. The team wasn't good, but Kyle really was!

It is also the month of love. 6 of us went to the Smokies for a Marriage Retreat and had a blast! See the webalbum (to the right) for more pics.

Blake and I love to watch cartoons in bed! Arthur and George are our favorite early-morning-turn-the-volume-low-so-we-don't-wake-Mom companions.

Even though I'm ready to "soak up the sun", I still wish we would have at least one decent snow this year but it hasn't happened yet. This is the best so far, but even this Florida-born boy knows that this isn't very good.

On the 28th, Kyle turned 12! We can't believe it!

He is a great young man and we're very proud of him. His party will be Mar. 8 so pics will come in next month's update.

BTW, Kyle and I found this great party game website while planning his party.

I'll close this month with another incredible sunrise from our deck.

Be sure to check out my new blog! (link at top right)

See you next month!

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake

A Good Start to the Year

Our 2008 is off to a slow and uneventful start...and that's a good thing! After a wild-n-wooly second half of '07, we have welcomed a saner start to this year. Of course I'm sure that'll change soon.

Kyle and I have been busy with basketball. Our team isn't quite the roundball version of the Bad News Bears, but let's just say that we've made sure that all the other teams have a win under their belt! Isn't that benevolent?! What they need is a better coach! (BTW, don't you love the way they all try to look serious and tough?!)

Molly's 1st academic team competition went well with them coming 2nd in the region which allows them to go to district competition on Feb. 14. You go girl!

I spent a few days (Jan. 20-23) preaching in Tazewell, Tn. Not much to do there but it's pretty, the people are nice, and I stayed in a great place on the lake.

>Here's my new toy. I'm hoping to have a chance to baptize it next month in Zanzibar! Look for some great underwater pics in the coming updates.

>Be sure to check out the new "Webalbum" section to the right, just under our family pic.

>Just in case you want to know...I wrote the first chapter in this book.

>See you later! I will now go enjoy my last 2 weeks of under-40-dom!

K,K,M,K,&B

A December to Remember!

As you may remember, the last update (not counting Porky Pig - sorry Porky) was posted on my way to Nigeria. That trip went fine and all is well. While there, they honored me with a custom made outfit. Groovy, ain't it?!?! This is what most men wear and it was a very nice gesture. It included leather sandals and matching pants. Kim and the kids laughed their heads off when I modeled it at home!

Shortly after I got home Molly participated in the annual chorus Chrsitmas concert. That's Molly in the middle behind the microphone. It's a big chorus (less than half is shown) but she is the prettiest and most talented of all!

In another annual tradition, Kyle's basketball team played at the East Kentucky Expo Center during halftime of a high-school tournament featuring teams from all over. On Sunday (1/6) they will play there before the East Kentucky Miners game. The Miners are a CBA (think NBA minor league) team. I'm coaching Kyle's team this year and I'm really enjoying it.

I HAVE to tell this story! Kim and her buddies (the Fantastic Five) did their usually holiday girls-night-out. After taking a group pic at Applebees, they went to WalMart to print it. Deciding it wasn't good, they walked over to the holiday section, grabbed a bow each, stood in front of some trees for sale, and got someone to take their pic. This one turned out good AND it has been good for a thousand laughs!

Our Chrsitmas this year was great! Our trip to Alabama went perfect and really enjoyed the time with our family. Christmas Day at home was good too. There are too many good pics for the blog, but you can see a few of them on the Christmas web album if you want.

Kyle and I ended our 1st hunting season together on a bit of a disappointing note. Last Sat. morning (12/29) we watched a group of deer that just wouldn't get close enough. We talked about it and decided to sneak up on them instead of waiting. Our plan worked to perfection! We were less than 100 yards away and they had no idea. Kyle was scoping them out (I was my hands and knees so he could use my back for a gun rest) when something spooked them. We looked and saw some trespassing quail hunters. Kyle went ahead and took a shot but missed. Oh well, there's next year AND we enjoyed this year!

New Years Day we had our traditional Hoppin' John because you gotta have black-eyed peas for good luck. So, we're ready for a great year and we hope that you have one too!

Until next time...

Love,

Keith, Kim, Molly, Kyle, and Blake