Comings and Goings

Once we get past the Fourth of July I always feel like we are on the downhill slide to the start of school, and like riding a roller coaster, the trip down is faster paced than the trip up.

It’s still wet in Middle Tennessee. I see water standing in fields when it shouldn’t be this time of year. It’s also hot.

WEEKEND GETAWAY
We’ve had a lot of excitement since I wrote last. The boys went with a small group from church to Student Life camp in Gulf Shores, Alabama. They said more about this trip when they got home than usual so they must have had fun. They left Thursday, June 22, and returned on the 26th.

While they were away Vicki and I took a weekend trip to Crossville, Tennessee. It was a nice, slow weekend up in the Cumberland Plateau. We did a little antique shopping, visited their flea market, saw the musical Smoke on the Mountain at the Cumberland County Playhouse, took in the car show that was going on downtown, and went hiking at Cummins Falls State Park near Cookeville. This was the first time that we had been away alone since April 2002 when Vicki and I left Jenna and Ben with Pauline in Camden and went to Cadiz, Kentucky, and Land Between the Lakes.

Jenna stayed home while we were gone. She had some friends from Trevecca to visit as well as her high school buddy, Maegan. She also worked a lot.

LOCAL THEATER
The Hendersonville Performing Arts Company put on a wonderful production of Jesus Christ Superstar and we saw it on July 1. It starred Coach Sorrel from school as Jesus and he did a fantastic job. One of my bus riders also had a part in the play and she really showed her talent too.

INDEPENDENCE DAY
We had our annual Kilgore Remembrance ceremony on the Fourth of July. This time I asked one of my students to perform the national anthem. She chose to sing it a cappella and did a wonderful job. I think she added a lot to the ceremony.

For our historical program I asked Rita Read to talk about the beginnings of the Cross Plains Heritage Commission and the experience of writing the book Across the Plains on the history of Cross Plains back in 1986. We also announced that the book is available for reprint as a print on demand book. If you are interested in purchasing a copy you can order one at the link below.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/rita-a-read/across-the-plains/paperback/product-23215587.html

COUSINS
The Cotters came to visit last weekend. They arrived last Thursday (the 6th) and left early Sunday morning. While they were here, we enjoyed a meal at the Catfish House, visiting, playing games, and doing a few things around Springfield like antique shopping and visiting Historic Perk. Dianna and I split off from the rest to visit the Archives and do a little family history research.

FRANK THE CAR
Jenna now has a car to replace the Murano. It’s a 2005 Impala that she has named Frank. Hopefully this car will serve her through college.

VISITING THE BIG D
Last year I went to Miami for a conference put on by RenWeb, the company that provides our student data services at work. This year the conference was located in Dallas. Like last year, Dr. Chaney invited me along with him and Mrs. Chaney. We left Tuesday and returned on Friday.

Dr. Chaney and I were in training sessions all day, but we did enjoy one evening together. Tuesday the three of us dined at the Flora Street Cafe and then walked across the street to see the musical Finding Neverland. Wednesday evening I caught the trolley up to West Village where I met Jason, Sarah, and their adorable daughter Katie at Grimaldi’s Pizza for supper. Thursday evening the Chaneys had other plans so I walked over to the site of JFKs assassination and toured the Sixth Floor Museum which is well done. After walking around the area where the assassination happened I headed back, stopping in at Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse for dinner.

It was fun to be away and it is good to be home.

RUNNING FOR HAITI
Yesterday our church hosted the annual “I Haiti My Christmas Sweater 5K.” Jenna baked over 15 dozen cookies and set up a booth to sell those and iced coffee as a personal fund raiser. We all got there early to set up for the event. The boys also ran. Ben came in 14th overall with a time of 25:24 and Nate clocked in behind him at 26:01 placing 16th of at least 220 runners/walkers.

Joe