The Eye of Kris

We've had a great visit with Keith & Juda. They arrived on schedule Saturday evening, and we had dinner and played a few games, but mostly just relaxed. We ended up doing a lot while they were here, but we had to limit ourselves in some ways due to the heat. So many of the things we would normally take visitors to see around town are outdoors, and it was just too hot to be outdoors for any length of time. It was even hot in the car with the A/C going. Fortunately, though, the A/C in our house works very well, and we've been able to keep it comfortable there (I don't look forward to our next electric bill, though).

Owen absolutely loved having them here - especially Juda. He seems to love saying her name - "Juda Juda Juda!", and he would always ask for her if she wasn't around. He enjoyed playing with Keith, too, of course.

On Sunday, we went to church, and the service was great. Keith & Juda said they really enjoyed it, and they even got to visit my Sunday School class. Afterwards, we had lunch and then went to visit Michelle, John, and Gabe up at Ft. Campbell. It was my first time on a military base, and even though we really didn't see much of it, it was interesting just going through the process of getting in the gate. Again, because of the heat, we didn't get to do what we wanted, which would have been to go to the museum (which has a lot of outdoor exhibits) and tour more of the base, but we hope to go back when it's cooler and do some of that. We had a nice time with them anyway, and the kids played out in a kiddie-pool in the back yard to keep cool. Unfortunately, we did not take our camera with us.

John works in communications and has done some work similar to what I do, and he gave me a couple of books on PHP, which I've just started learning (Thanks, John!). I doubt I'll get to read the books completely, but I'm sure I will use them quite a bit as references. By the way, John is getting ready to be deployed to Iraq sometime in the coming weeks, so please keep him and their family in your prayers. They will definitely be in ours.

Monday was Keith's 20th birthday. We went to Opry Mills in the morning and then to Baja Burrito for lunch. Mmm... Baja Burrito....... Anyway, after that we went back to the house and Keith and I played a video game while Juda secretly baked him a birthday cake. Mary made a pizza for dinner and for dessert we unveiled the cake and sang and let him open a gift or two. I'm sure it was the most exciting birthday party he's ever had!

Later that evening we went to the Opryland Hotel so that Juda could see it. There was some sort of party going on there and they had a band and some acrobatic performers, and after that we got to see the dancing water show. Owen really enjoyed the dancing water, and even danced a little himself, but he was getting tired so Mary and I left a little early to give Keith & Juda some time to themselves.

On Tuesday, we drove down to see Don & Brooke Kelso's propery to the south. Their house is almost complete there, and it's going to be very nice. The basement was huge and it looks like they could sleep dozens of people there if they had to. We had lunch at Genghis Grill in Cool Springs, where I learned that Juda likes her food very spicy (next time they are here, we'll have to make sure to take them to Royal Thai). For dessert, we went to Maggie Moo's, who now has floats made with Jones Soda! Mary had a Fufu Berry Soda with strawberry Maggie Moo's ice cream, and it was very good. By the time we got home, we were all pretty beat. Keith spent rest of the afternoon playing with Owen and his Legos. I might have joined in just a little bit.

After dinner, we played a few games before turning in, and they headed out this morning on their way to Six Flags in Atlanta, and to visit some of Juda's relatives down in that area. I think they are already planning to make another trip up here - next time in a cooler part of the year so that we have more options and they can experience some of the seasons they don't get in Florida.