An Adventure Begins and a season ends...

Today, my Dad embarked on his adventure... First to Houston, then to Kuwait, and finally on to Iraq. The day started as usual (for us anyway - not sure how it started for Mom and Dad) - woke up, hung around for a bit, then started cleaning the house... Around 10 o'clock, I called Mom to see what time we were heading out, and we decided to head out at 11 so that we could go somewhere and have something to eat before heading to the airport... We loaded up the van with Dad's suitcases and headed for Little Rock... Emily was pretty excited about the whole thing because she got to sit "all the way in the back!" :-) Dad rode up front with me, and Mom and Shan rode in the middle. We talked about all kinds of different things, reliving some precious memories (things like the time I had been talking on the phone with Shan and I was playing with the garage door opener, not fully paying attention to the fact that I was raising and lowering the door about a hundred times.... It was very late at night and everyone else was in bed... Well, at least until Dad came busting out of his and mom's bedroom, au naturale, and flew down the steps to the garage... I, of course, was in the kitchen and was shocked to see Dad racing downstairs! My brother was close behind, knowing HE wasn't the one in trouble - this time anyway...)

We ate at Cracker Barrel, shopeed a bit, browsed a bit... Then headed for the airport... How about this one - NO parking security check... We just drove up, grabbed a ticket, and parked... After checking in, the TSA inspector instructed us to "Stand over there by the window." Evidently, if you lock you luggage, you are subjected to a different kind of inspection... Well, after about 10-15 minutes, Mom finally asked the TSA person about the bags, to which the person replied, "Oh, yeah, those went through a while ago." Mom was pretty ticked, wondering why no one had bothered to tell us to go ahead, since they were so adamant about us waiting there....

We waited upstairs as Dad went through the line and we watched and waved until we couldn't see him anymore.... Noticing we were visably upset, an airport helper told us about the observation deck upstairs... Now, I have been to the Little Rock airport a zillion times, and I had never known there was an observation deck! We waited and watched Dad's plane... And we waited and watched, and waited and watched... I say this because at least 15 minutes after his scheduled departure time, the plane was still sitting at the gate... Finally, it rolled out and pulled around to taxi... And we waited and watched, watched and waited... Other planes came and went, but Dad's just sat there... 20 minutes... 30 minutes... I finally went to the help desk and asked why his plane had not left the tarmac... I was told that it had left, according to the computer... I then went to the ticket counter, and the man there told me that it had left the gate a while ago. I said, "I know it did because right now it is sitting on the tarmac." Looking at me like I had surely been smoking something other than cigars lately, he said, "No, it already left." I said, "You might want to take a look outside..." I left, heading back to the observation deck...

After another 15 minutes or so, Mom decided she had been there long enough.. And of course, the plan began moving and we watched as Dad and his plane headed for Houston... Some pictures are posted below.... Emily and Tyler also used her video camera to take pictures and movies, so we'll see how those turn out... :-)


Mom, Tyler and Emily

Dad, Tyler, and Emily

Saying Goodbye....

Mom and Emily watch Dad's Plane Together

Taking off...

Heading For Houston...

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The Prescott Curley Wolves WON on Friday night! They were down 18-0 at half... Then at the end of the third quarter, the score was 12-18... In the last 30 seconds, they scored and won the game 19-18!!! Next week, the Wolves go to Little Rock to play for the State Championship in our division!! HO-LY COW!! :-) Way to go Wolves!!!

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The Razorbacks, however, are done for their season... They chocked this week again, losing in a great game against Florida... No SEC Championship for us this year.... But, we still had a great season, in my opinion... :-)