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Favorite Peformer (at this moment)

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lady gaga fashion 2

Ammon,
Carter, and I have a confession…we enjoy listening to Lady Gaga. It wasn’t
something that was planned. It just happened. You see, it started with Sean (
an avid pop music lover) watching Youtube videos of Lady Gaga and many other
artists this past winter while Cater and Ammon watched. We have bought Lady Gaga CD albums since the beginning of her career, and we do listen to her songs on the radio. However, we neither talk about her a lot nor do we play her much on the  house’s stereo  system

In May when we were in New York City, we passed by a marquee
with Lady Gaga on it, and as we strolled by, Ammon shouted, “There’s Lady Gaga!”
We adults simply looked at each other in surprise and rolled on. The next day Carter
said the same thing. The next thing we knew both Carter and Ammon would be
hearing the opens measures of either “Born this Way” or “On the Edge” and they
would once again say, “Lady Gaga!”. They really like her music, and we haven’t
pushed her at all.

Lady Gaga HBO The Monster Ball Tour Madison Square garden

(Ammon and Carter’s New York Poster)

This past week, Weird Al Yancovic released his parody of “Born
this Way” with “I Perform this Way”. Ammon and Carter thinks it’s wonderful,
and they watch it over and over. In the past two days, we’ve spent some time
distinguishing the silly man pretending to be Lady Gaga and the real Lady Gaga.
They are adjusting as well as any two and half year olds could. ;o)

We hope you enjoy the video we are including of “The Edge”.
For some of you who may not know Lady Gaga does not like to lip sync to her
songs. She spent a lot of time at a school of performing arts improving her simultaneous
stage dancing and stage singing. I think she is a phenomenal
live performer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fEZRnOV63w

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Hoot Owl Hooting in July (why?)

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The hooting is cool with me. I would just like to know (inquiring
minds want to know) why it’s hooting in the middle of the summer. According to
the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Great Horned Owl’s (the hoot owl)
time to stake territory and lay eggs is January. If this hoot owl up on the
mountain is hooting just because it feels like it then more power to it. I hope
it’s hooting because it’s happy!

We were jogging last Saturday night (7-9-11) between 8 and 9 in
the evening, and it began hooting away. It was such a treat. It reminded me of
when Josh, my daddy coonhound, had his last romp up on the mountain. It was
July 4, 2006. There were fireworks all around us that evening, and the hoot owl
up there must have been a little “ticked off” because when we passed it by, it
began an eerie “Ooo, ooo, ahh, ahh,” screech that led into its familiar “hoot”
that I could indentify. For about two seconds there it almost scared the “bee-jitters”
out of me, but I quickly collected myself without losing any bodily functions.
LOL

My absolute favorite time to hear this owl hoot is on a crisp,
chilly, autumn evening. When it happens this coming fall, I will let you all
know. Until then, keep up with those summer hoots hoot owl!

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Karen’s Birthday (Sister Karen & Aunt Karen) 7-10-2011

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Happy 49th Birthday to my sister, Karen. She is a fine, Christian lady, and I am so proud of her. She is a mother who truly loves and wants the best for her children. She is also a fun, giving, and love-showering grandmother. I have yet to see a child that Karen could not win over. Her way with children is a true gift from God.

Karen and her grandson, Orrin

Ammon and Carter are crazy about their Aunt Karen. They love spending time with her because she is so entertaining, and she treats them like they were her own (children or grandchildren). I also feel blessed to have such a loving, supportive, and giving sister such as her. Like I’ve told her before, I will never know life without her, and I am so glad God saw it fit that I have her as my big sister. Happy Birthday, Karen! We love you!

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“Bubble-bubble toil and trouble…”

. European Destinations, Family . , , , , , , ,

Do we have any Shakespeare fans out there?  Some of you may not know that the title of the blog today is a quote from Shakespeare’s MacBeth. If you do, you may also recognize
Cawdor Castle, Scottish King Duncan’s castle from the play as well.  As enthralled and dedicated as some of us may be with the literary genius of William Shakespeare, he always didn’t write with historical accuracy…….ohhh, no! LOL King Duncan did not die at the hands of Macbeth but during a battle at Pitgaveny, Scotland on August 14, 1040. Cawdor Castle was not built until the late 14th century.

Ammon, Carter, Nana, & Haven: MacBeth’s Cawdor Castle

On Monday June 6, 2011, we took a tour of Cawdor Castle.  It was a few hours after we hunted for the
Loch Ness “Dinosaur”. It is still a real home after 700 years! The family moves
out for the spring and the summer so tourists can see the historical residence
(and get a few British Sterling Pounds as well.. woo hoo!)

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle

As you can see by the pictures, it was quite beautiful.
Ammon and Carter had a great time. They were allowed out of their strollers and
got to experience the castle as free people…okay, except for the leashes.

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Princess Cruise Lines

. European Destinations, Family . , , ,

Crown Princess

Overall, our family had a wonderful time on our British
Isles/Iceland cruise. It was our first cruise with the Princess Cruise line,
and we highly recommend it. We believe Carnival is great, but it has such
limited itineraries for Europe. Royal Caribbean has better itineraries but
their customer service had hit rock bottom as far as we were concerned along
with about another 6 other couples we chatted with on our February 2011 cruise,
and we all vowed to no longer use it.

Princess =

Princess
did several things we appreciated. The first thing was that they corrected
every minor problem we had. They knew we were the paying customer, and they
showed us respect. Another thing was their food was so good. This was the first
cruise in over a year where we actually gained weight.  Next, their excursions were very organized,and the Crown Princess crew  was so
helpful with the babies and their strollers. Lastly, Crown Princess’ future
cruise associate, Gloria Mallard, was fabulous. She was so accommodating to our
future needs, she treated us with kindness and respect, and she loved Ammon and
Carter. One evening while we were chatting at Gloria’s desk, Carter and Ammon
each started “drawing” Gloria a picture. Two days later, Sean and I went back
without the babies, and Gloria had taped the drawings up above her desk for
everyone to see. We were honored, and she said she absolutely loved Ammon and
Carter and their drawings.

Haven, Ammon, Gloria Mallard, Carter, Sean, & Nana

So, once again, if you would like to take a cruise we HIGHLY
recommend Princess Cruise lines. We, ourselves, have three more cruises booked.
Let’s hope we remain satisfied! I think we will.

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Dublin, Ireland

. European Destinations, Family, Family Travel, Parenting . , , , ,

“The only thing to see in Dublin is the Guinness Brewing Factory” was the reply we got from a fellow traveler with whom we shared a touring train in Monte Carlo, Monaco last October.  The question to this family from Northern Ireland had been, “What do you recommend seeing in Dublin?”  The truth of the matter was that we were not anticipating much out of Dublin, but, oh, my goodness! It was such a nice surprise.

Carter, Haven, Ammon (enjoying the vaulted ceiling) & Nana:St. Patrick’s

We had a short excursion that morning, but we had a great afternoon of shopping. We’re looking forward to wearing our Ireland-made sweaters we bought this coming winter. ;o)

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Hawk

. Pets . , , , , , ,

For several months, we’ve had a “hawk buddy”. It’s a
Red-Tail Hawk, and we’ve seen several hawks raised up on the mountain behind
our house for several years now. One of my favorite events I’ve seen in the
raising of the hawks was about a year ago, when the parent hawks were teaching
their fledgling who had just learned to fly well to “dive bomb”! It was so
cute: the parents sitting on top of the tall oak trees watching while their “baby”
practiced bulleting down from the blue sky to the mountain tree-tops. Carter,
Ammon, and I started calling to the hawks last year, and, believe it or not, it
has answered us a time or two. One time we had not heard it all day, we started
calling it, and in two minutes, it called back to us from our neighbor’s yard. So,
thusly, we started calling it our friend.

Last Sunday evening, we were swimming in the pool, and out
of the corner of my eye I could see Hawk darting through the tree-tops between
our house and our closest neighbor’s house. I turned to Carter and Ammon who
were enjoying a great swim, and I said, “Hey, you two! Hawk is flying around.”
In a about a minute, I saw it again circling above with something in its
talons. In an excited tone, I continued, “I think Hawk has something to make a
nest!” I kept looking, and then it dawned on me, it wasn’t a long piece of
straw or stick, it was snake! I had seen animal-nature specials on televisions
where eagles and such catch animals like this, but I had never seen it live with my own eyes. It
reminded me of the Mexican national flag with its golden eagle destroying the
viper in its talons sitting on the nopal. It was a neat, nature moment. We just
hope it was a rattlesnake or a copperhead! ;o)

(This isn’t our photo, but it gives you a visual of what we saw)

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July 4th 2011 (Reflection)

. Holidays . , , ,

What a great evening!

Celebrating the independence of our country was a real treat
yesterday: Great fellowship, great food, and great fireworks. I doubt very
seriously that Carter and Ammon will remember the day, but it laid a foundation
of events that I hope they will always be able to experience and hold dear to
their hearts.

First, we celebrated our country, and I hope my children
will always be proud of this country. Second, we, as a group of Christians,
were not meeting to worship, but we were able to assemble without the fear of
being persecuted as a group of people with like-minds and purpose, and that is
such a blessing to celebrate here in the United States of America.

The food   
(always a  blessing) was delicious, and there
were people there who enjoyed taking care of Ammon and Carter while we
socialized with adults. It was such a treat for all of us.

The fireworks were beautiful. Carter LOVED them, and kept
saying , “More?”. Ammon enjoyed them, but she complained about the noise. Even
with the noise, all she talked about on the way home was, “We saw the pretty
fireworks. They shot up in the air. The fireworks popped!” LOL That’s all she
talked about until bedtime. I hope you and yours had a blessed July 4th.
For our family, our country’s 235th birthday was its best ever!

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Happy Independence Day!

. Family, Holidays . , , , , , ,

Every year during our holiday of Independence Day (July 4th),
I think of my Caylor ancestors. They had come to the colony of Pennsylvania in
the 1750s from Germany. They were Caylors (Kahler & Humbert were two of the families I know for sure) I am not an expert on the genealogy of that group, but
knowing linguistics like I do, I doubt those that came in the 1750s were very
good with the English language by the Revolutionary War; however, their teen-age children who were born in the colonies probably did quite well with English. The Caylors
must have been visionaries. They first came here to get away from over-population,
land shortages, and food shortages in Germany, and when they arrived, they
arrived to a group of disgruntled colonists who were tired of Great Britain’s
tyranny. In their vision of the future, they could see the importance of the
colonists (British, German, or French descendants) working together for freedom
and for making their own country, so they did it. They fought with all the
colonists, and they won the United States Revolutionary War. In a few years, the rest of the world looked upon
these rag-tag freedom lovers who ousted an empire and bestowed them the name “Americans”.

What an honor it must have been. They weren’t German -Americans, or
British-American, or French-Americans. They were AMERICANS equaling a group of
people of different nationalities, languages, and cultures that had come together to make the United States of America. My German ancestors knew they were doing something special, but they had no idea that they had laid the ground work for the
greatest country this world has ever seen or will ever see again. I am so proud
of my ancestors, my country, and my freedom. I am so looking forward to Carter
and Ammon knowing the love of freedom and of country and understanding their
proud heritage. God bless you all, and God bless the United States of America. Happy
Independence Day!

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Ammon Moment

. Family, Scotland . , , , ,

Ammon in Reykjavik

I’ve wanted to share this Ammon moment for several weeks now. It happened on Monday
June 6, 2011 at Loch Ness, Scotland.

The family and I were touring Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.
There was an hour bus ride to Urquhart Castle that morning, and our tour guide,
Mr. Munro, kept giving us the logistics of the day, and he would often speak of
Loch Ness and the Loch Ness Monster. Ammon and I were sitting side by side, and
one time after Mr. Munro mentioned the word monster, Ammon inquired, “Monster?”
My mind went into overdrive trying to go through Ammon’s schema to prepare her
for what we would be hearing around the Loch. All Ammon and Carter know about
monsters is what they have seen on cartoons such as Scooby Doo.  In a few
seconds, something came to my mind that Ammon could connect with from her
former knowledge. I said, “We are going to try to look for a dinosaur that
swims. It’s called the Loch Ness Monster.” In an excited voice, Ammon
exclaimed, “A dinosaur that swims?” I replied with, “Yes!, However, it’s very
shy, and it doesn’t like people so we might not see it.” Ammon continued with
pitiful interrogation, “It doesn’t like me?” I continued with, “Well, I’m sure
if it met you, if would like you, but it’s just too shy to meet people.” In a
satisfied tone, Ammon surrendered with , “Okay!”

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness: June 6, 2011

Ten minutes later we arrived at Urquhart Castle that looks
over Loch Ness. After a wonderful historical film of the castle, we headed down
toward the Loch and the castle. Ammon and Carter had on their leashes. Sean was
with Carter on his leash, and I was with Ammon on her leash. Ammon and Carter
had been cooped up on the bus for a long time, and they were ready to run, so
Ammon and I took off toward the castle. As we were running Ammon cups her hands
over her mouth like a megaphone and begins to yell, “Come out dinosaur! Don’t
be shy! We’re hunting you!” I was running and laughing at the same time. What a
girl!

Ammon (the dinosaur hunter), Carter, Nana, & Haven: Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness