THS Family Pictures

With our family activity passes, we've been able to enjoy volleyball, soccer, and football games this fall over at the high school.  Thursday was the final home soccer game (Tyson has one more road game in Leavenworth next week) and then Friday was the final home football game. Since we enjoyed supporting the THS athletic program this fall, we thought we'd take some family photos over at the high school this weekend. Only 66% of the family was excited about the idea.

Hiking in The Natural State

Sometimes when you want to enjoy nature, you have to escape to someone else's backyard ... in this case, Arkansas. Cody & Tyson did just that spending 3 days exploring Petit Jean and Devil's Den State Parks. Here's 10 things learned from the trip:

1. Arkansans love their football. Every campsite was equipped with a stereo to broadcast the Razorback Football game Saturday night. 
2. Some things come natural for Ty. Rock climbing is one of them. He scampered up and bounced around every collection of boulders he could find.
3. Farmer's fields make for a great location to change into church clothes.
4. Playing soccer has created "boundless" energy within Tyson. 15 miles of hiking had little to no effect on him.
5. Arkansans are some of the friendliest folks around. Our camping neighbors welcomed us to our campsite, showed us the flattest spot for a tent, and loaned us anything we forgot.
6. A 4am rain shower on Monday morning helped get us on the road a little sooner than we had planned.
7. Arkansas is called "The Natural State" for a reason ... it's beauty is unbelievable.
8. Tyson can live without his electronics. In fact, he thrived on it. From the first whiff of pine needles to the moment he left the mountains, he was in heaven. The mountains and the outdoors is where he's at his best.
9. Spending 3 days together driving, talking, hiking, camping, and eating together can go along way for a father-and-son relationship.
10. 5-7 hours is a long way to drive for an "outdoor adventure." Our family needs to be in Colorado.

Team Tongie 5K

Tyson and Cody participated in a local 5K race this weekend to help benefit Team Tongie, a local charity group to help the less fortunate. Consequently, it was also Tyson's first race but weeks of soccer practice had him in good running shape. Ask him and he'll tell you that all he does at soccer practice is run and run some more. And this race wasn't really a 5K (3.1 miles) since the route ran past the nursing home (by request of the patrons therein) adding an additional .5 miles.  But then if you're Cody & Tyson and you don't listen to the route instructions, it's even longer. You see, they didn't turn onto Main Street from 4th Street and ended up running an additional .3 miles off course for almost 4 miles total. Tyson did great though for his first run ... he ran 98% of the way and found an extra ounce of energy at the very end with a surprising burst of speed. It'll be interesting to see if he does another one ...

Frisbee Golf

Paige and Cody took advantage of a BEA-U-TIFUL Friday evening and played 9 holes of Frisbee Golf.  There's a great little course along the Kansas River (or the Kaw River as it's known by the locals) near Lawrence, KS. It was Paige's first time playing but she was a natural at it.