Merry Rockin' Christmas

Santa came down the chimney on Christmas Eve and brought a big sack full of gifts. Everyone was delighted and Cooper really got into the spirit of Christmas as he tried to open everyone's presents!

Guitar Hero definitely seemed to be the biggest hit of the year. Other gifts included Sirius satellite radio (me), a Tar Heel Fat Head (Clay), a roaring dinosaur (Carson) and so much more.

Christmas Eve

The whole family plus G-Mom and G-Dad went to the Hansen's house for a Christmas Eve party. Several other families from ABB were also there - the Rennies, Marco and his daughter, Nicole, the O'Donnells and the Hacketts (aka Santa). It was a great time of relaxing and fellowshipping.

Santa came with gifts for the kids!

Hoops Mania

Even though Riley has a birthday in less than a week, Cody is coming home from college and Santa is coming down the chimney, Clay started basketball season on Wednesday. We may be in the Tar Heel state, but no one will mistake Christ Covenant for our cross state college.

Clay's team lost 47-6, but on the bright side he got to play against Lou Holtz' grandson and ECU football coach Skip Holtz' son.







Special thanks to the Rennie's for the pictures!

Pinetops Parade

This is the biggest parade in Eastern North Carolina and we got to ride on ABB's float. It was a throwback to the past and just an awesome time! The parade had old fashioned cars, Shriners on horseback, fire engines and high school marching bands that just rocked.






Guess what these guys have in common? They were smart enough to escape ESAB!

Sugar Rush

Add Pizza, Coke, Birthday Cake and plenty of Oreos and this is what you get!

Cooper Turns Two

Cooper had his second birthday party Friday night and had a great time opening presents and eating cake.

Family Comes to NC and Brings a Ray-hawk

Papa Lindsay, Uncle John and cousin Jarah all showed up in Greenville on Thursday and we have been having a blast since they got here. We celebrated Cooper's 2nd birthday, went to Riley's swim meet and hung out and have had a great time!

This is the essence of the Ray's race to the World Series - an official Ray-hawk!

Purple Haze - ECU vs. Marshall

Riley, Clay and I went to the ECU-Marshall Game yesterday with the Rennies and Hansens. The Pirates won in overtime 19-16 in a really exciting game.

Here is the boys and I at the tailgate.



Before the game, the players come out of a Pirate Ship to Jimi Hendrix' Purple Haze. Very Cool!!!


Here is the best video of the intro I could find. If anybody has a better one - let me know.

Lost Pictures

We just found these pictures from our trip to the beach in Florida this past summer.

Happy Halloween

We are a little late in getting these pitcures up, but we had a great time trick or treating with the kids and Sam, Alison and Olivia from up the street. Clay is dressed as Slash from Guns-N-Roses (isn't that weird for a 40 year old to say about his kid!), Carson is Racer X and Cooper is dressed up as part of the Monster Gang.

Clay's friend Sam is Axl Rose if you have trouble remembering back to the 80s.

What We Will Miss About York

In no particular order:

1) All of our church friends and church home - May God Bless you all!
2) Great public schools (I know that sounds like an oxymoron)
3) Fall and Spring
4) Making fun of Eagles fans (their misery is really something to behold)
5) Running with Dan and Danny - even if we haven't done that in a while
6) Grilling out on our deck (see picture above)
7) The best neighborhood you could imagine - especially the block party
8) Friday burritos
9) The friends we made through Clay's soccer and lacrosse teams
10) My friends at ESAB - oh wait, they have either left or are at ABB now!

Going Away Party

It's a little delayed, but we are just getting to the point where we can get back to our blog. We had so much help on our last day in York from so many of our friends we can not even begin to say how much we appreciate it all. We miss you guys so much!

This is the ultimate image or our last day - the neighborhood gang taking a break on our sofa and loveseat sitting at our curb. We dubbed it the Redneck Rendez Vous.

A Tampa Bay Trifecta!

The Rays clinched a playoff spot for the first time in history, the USF Bulls held off perennial powerhouse Florida International (hahaha!) and the Brian Griese led the Bucs from 10 down to a win in OT against Da Bears. Now that is a great sports weekend!

We're Off to Greenville!!!

I accepted a job offer as a sales engineer with ABB (www.abb.com) and will be starting September 29th. Julie and the boys will move down the following weekend. The Lord has provided us with a wonderful home that we will start leasing as soon as I get down there. It is a new home with 3 bedrooms and a bonus room that Riley will sleep in. Hopefully, we will be able to sell our home quickly and get fully settled in sooner rather than later.

We have already been hit by the ECU bug and are bandwagon fans of the football team already. Don't worry, the USF Bulls will always come first and the Gators second. The big Bucs sticker will also remain prominently displayed on my car, even if we are in Panthers territory.

You can take the boy out of Florida, but you can't take the Florida out of the boy!

Lactose Intolerance

Carson is evidently lactose intolerant...and he had too many Yoohoo's and ice cream the other day. If you are not exactly sure what I mean by this - just watch this video and you will understand! {By the way...the Rennies understand!}

Maybe it's just one day...

...but maybe it is something bigger. No team in any pro sport since 1900 has gone from the worst record to the best record in their league and won the championship. The Rays are proving they can play with the big boys. What a year!

Aquatica

We went with my Dad and our cousins, Makayla and Jarah, to Sea World's Aquatica water park and had the best day. Cooper absolutely loved the kids play area and rode down the slides all day. Carson took on the wave pool and went down the lazy (crazy?) river over and over again. I say crazy river because it moves along at about the same pace as Michael Phelps. Temperatures were soaring in Florida and the lines were long, so we didn't go down as many of the big rides as we would have liked, but had a great day.

We all slept in on Tuesday and plan to have a really relaxing day, watching the Olympics and taking naps!

Sunset at Pier 60

Sunday was another fantastic day with family in Florida. We met up with my Dad, my brother John and sister Melanie and her 3 children, Makayla, Jarah, and Ziyad. After dinner (Grouper sandwiches at Frenchy's of course!) we went to Pier 60 and played down by the water until dark and then Makayla, Clay, Jarah and Carson all took turns on the trampoline bungee, jumping into the stars. Makayla is a state champion gymnast and she was doing double back flips like they were nothing. Clay managed a few single back flips to earn a DQ Blizzard from his daddy.

A trip to Clearwater just isn't complete until you have a grouper sandwich and enjoy the sunset over the Gulf.

Alligators, Otters and Sunburn

We went tubing on the Rainbow River in Central Florida on Saturday. Cody, Riley, Clay, Julie and I all joined Julie's sister Paula and her three children, Diana, Emily and Albert for a 4 1/2 slow drift. It was Florida at its wildest beauty as we saw an alligator (ok- it was a foot and half long - but momma was somewhere close!) The other big highlight was the otter that was jumping and diving not 15 yards from us. There were plenty of turtles and ospreys as well. Sunday brought the pain of the sunburn since no matter how much sunscreen we put on, it just washed away. You could say I look like a tourist!

Days With My Father

I ran across this site in one of the daily blogs I read and it really touched me. It will really make you think about life, love and family in all its wonder, glory and reality.

Days With My Father

Go Rays!

Cody, Riley and Clay went to the Rays game with their G-Dad today and got to see one of the most exciting games of the year. Trailing by 3 going into the bottom of the 9th, the Rays got 2 home runs to pull off a 10-7 win.

See the video here

Goodbye, Wendy

For those who may not have known Wendy, you can find out a lot more about her and see the number of people whose lives she touched at her website - http://caringbridge.org/visit/wendypiskula

She meant alot to us as well as our church. She worked tirelessly with the youth group and with Cody and Riley.

We offer up our sincerest prayers to Josh and the rest of his and her families.

Ripstikin', Bikin' and Hill Climbin'

All three boys were out front Friday night.  Clay is riding a RipStik  some strange combination between a skateboard and roller blades.  Carson is riding his bike chasing Clay down and trying to run him over while Cooper decided to do a little hill climbing  but didn't get too high.

Happy 4th Birthday Carson!

Carson celebrated his 4th birthday Friday with his friends from church and the neighborhood. Papa Lindsay's gift was a pool and it was a big hit at the party on steamy Friday evening. Dwight and Amy Rhine came with Kayeigh and Derek. Greg and Julie Bakke from next door brought Gunnar and Hannah, and Sherry from up the street brought her 2 boys, Willem and Theo. Unfortunately her husband, Bruno, was on a business trip.

Here is Carson opening his presents, some new books, from Willem.

Hannah and Gunnar had a great time at the party!

Kayleigh and Derek were all smiles! (Could it be the plate of Double Stuff Oreos in front of the them?)

Cooper did his best imitation of his father and sat back and enjoyed the festivities!

Thanks to everyone for making Carson's birthday party so special!

To Paraphrase The Clash...

I fought the mountain and the mountain won.  Dan Hoffman and I got out to Rocky Ridge Sunday afternoon for a grueling one hour mountain biking session.  Dan says that Rocky Ridge is prettiest during the spring.  I'll take him at his word since I spent the day following him and hoping for oxygen in a tank.  It sure seems like a long time ago that we were doing adventure races!

By the way, that is not me in the picture, I would never ride such easy trails.

Julie and the Young Ones in Miami

Julie took Clay, Carson and Cooper down to Miami this week for a little sun and fun while visiting her sister and her family.  Cousin Albert had a martial arts competition and took 2 first place victories. Sunday brings Monkey Jungle and they'll be coming back to reality on Monday.  We can't wait to see them - and get a real home cooked meal!

Our Odyssey Towards a New Honda

After one futile search and 2+ hours of driving, we finally arrived at the Honda dealership in Westminster, MD just after 8:30 Thursday night. Lucky for all, Cooper had a big dinner - which he felt compelled to share with everyone all over the show room floor. Probably because of our late arrival and unexpected gifts, we decided to keep the sales and finance staff there until 11 PM making our purchase. At least we have AC and an oil well that doesn't leak!

Clay "Stonewall" Lindsay

Clay was goalie for the Trojan lacrosse team's first victory of the year. Making numerous great saves, Clay held Spring Grove to just 5 goals while his teammates hammered the back of the nets 10 times. Unfortunately, the team ran into a seasoned West York team on Saturday morning and took up the "Democrat strategy" - keep it within 10 points and call it a come from behind victory.

Bitter In Small Town Pennsylvania

Like Barack said, I am a bitter resident of small town Pennsylvania and here is what I am bitter about:

• The most exotic spice at a York restaurant is ketchup


• We have 5 Wal-Marts but no soccer store


• Unions strike over the start of deer season (no, seriously, I was there to see it )


• We have an 81 year old football coach who hasn't won a national championship since I was in high school


• Only Florida and West Virginia have older populations


• PA is often referred to as "Pennsyl-tucky" and I live in the 'tucky part


• Our biggest ski "mountain" is 900 feet high


• We are the recipients of the largest TV ad purchase in political history (if I see one more Obama commercial, I may just move back to the land of hangin' chads)

But on the bright side, we do get to make fun of Eagles' fans every year.

Froin' - The Unintended Consequences of Shaving Your Head

Riley shaved his head for swimming districts and looked great. However, here we are 4 weeks later and what we have now can only be considered a great start to a world class 'Fro!

The Little Ones Are Growing Up

Carson and Cooper continue to get bigger with every passing season. Carson is learning to ride his bike - and Cooper just wants to keep up. Or actually wants to one up all of his older brothers...by learning to drive a car! That's all we need - car insurance for 5 boys!