9/1/2009
WOW! Lori had an excellent time at Best Practice Conference (BPC) 2009 in Reston, Virginia. She wrote a blog post about her time there!
While she was there I had the boys with me! Luckily for us, we have friends in the area and they gave us room and boarding, and even fed us! I have known this family most of my life so it was a great opportunity to visit and catch up. Shari and Phil had yet to meet our youngest Michael, so they both enjoyed meeting him. Unfortunately it wasn’t strictly a personal visit, so time with everyone together was limited.
Tuesday Shari and I took the boys to the Washington D.C. zoo. Boy did we luck out on parking. We drove right up and BAM, there was a spot! We walked the zoo for several hours in the blazing heat! It is a very clean and pretty zoo; even with all the construction. The boys enjoyed seeing the Tiger and Lions the most!
Wednesday we hung out around the house and I packed for our journey back to the home front. The BPC was scheduled to dismiss at 1500 hours, so we had arranged to meet by 1530 to get on the road! We wanted to get moving to hopefully beat the traffic! Well, we ran into some getting onto the Capitol Beltway and more after the HOV lane on I-95. We stopped and meet my parents for dinner and said our goodbyes. We drove into the night while Lori worked and the kids DROVE US CRAZY!
Thursday we completed the drive home from Gastonia, NC. Lori worked remotely and finished up the day working once we arrived home shortly after 2pm. Boy what a great feeling to be home again! Seems like we have been doing something every weekend in August.
Friday everything was set to be normal again. I went to work, Patrick went to school, Lori worked from home, and Michael spent the day with Lori’s mom. Sadly I had to work Saturday due to inventory at work.
Sunday we spent the day in morning Worship service and praising our good Lord. We had lunch as a family with Lori’s parents for the first time this month. For some reason though, after an exhausting trip to the DC area, we all took a LONG, much needed Nap. 8/24/2009
Back to work I go! What a joyous day having to go back after a week off and try to fix everything that has been undone. Monday was not a great day to be back to work! Monday evening we enjoyed @ToddKlindt’s netcast on stickam.com.
Tuesday we had our first parent teacher conference at Patrick’s new elementary school. We experienced his classroom environment and his teacher presented us with her curriculum for the school year.
Wednesday the day at the office was better for me and the day went by so slow. That evening Lori and I hosted our third Bible study. The Bible study went well, we watched a video called “The Star of Bethlehem.”
Thursday after work we lounged around the house and began preparations for our road trip to Best Practice Conference 2009 #BPC09 in Reston, Virginia. We began our journey north Friday after work and after Patrick was dismissed from school. We drove to Gastonia, NC that night and called it the day!
Saturday we continued our journey north to my parent’s house. It was an awful day for travel, three traffic accidents in NC along I-85. We traveled through thunderstorms and reached high speeds of 40 miles per hour. Wow, it must have took a long time to get anywhere back in the 1940’s. It is amazing how we take a lot for granted in the world today.
Sunday we left mom and dad’s just after breakfast to finally head to Reston, VA! Lori was invited to @MeetDux’s house for a SharePoint BBQ. We had a nice time meeting people, eating, and just visiting with new and past friends.
Today kicks off Best Practice Conference #BPC09! I am sure Lori will be extremely busy blogging, working, and attending sessions! She has been extremely excited about this event and am sure will learn a lot and meet a lot of her twitter friends. 8/17/2009
Wow, yet another amazing week of vacation has come and gone! I am picking up where we left off!
Monday we headed to Busch Gardens, VA in Williamsburg! What an outstanding fun day in the blazing heat! Lori and Zoe road every roller coaster in the park together! I entertained the boys with Oma while they had their time together! Partly, because of me being a wimp and not getting on them. Patrick rode his first big boy roller coaster called the Big Bad Wolf, which was celebrating its 25th year in operation. Michael rode all the kiddie rides, including the roller coaster in the Sesame Street area.
Tuesday we spent the morning with family and headed home shortly after lunch! Nothing like an eleven hour drive in the truck with a working Mommy and two boys! The boys do pretty well traveling for the most part, but they can be LOUD! We arrived home shortly after midnight for another 700 mile journey!
Wednesday was a tuff day for Lori, it was “Meet the Teacher Day” at Patrick’s school! Lori kept herself pretty well composed! Michael spent his first day home as a four year old with Lori’s mom, Teeny! Patrick helped me wash the truck and pick up sticks in the yard so I could mow the grass!
Thursday morning finally arrived! Patrick’s OFFICAL first day of kindergarten! He said he got to play basketball inside and ate all of his lunch! Lori was so close to breaking a tear, but kept her composure! We are so proud of our little boy to be going to a big boy school, but sad at the same time since he is growing so fast! We thank our awesome God daily for the blessing of a marvelous family!
Friday after school we picked Patrick up and headed to Memphis, TN to visit my best friend and his family. They were recently stationed there and I wanted Lori to meet his wife and kids! After the five hour drive while Lori worked and the boys were LOUD we arrived about 8pm. everyone hit it off right away and the fun began!
Saturday we spent another amazing day in the blazing sun! We enjoyed the Memphis Zoo. The kids had a great time and we enjoyed visiting and fellowshipping! We have will post pictures shortly on facebook! After that we took a dip in the pool while Lori, Michael, and Tammy went on a shopping run! After swimming Oli and I spent 3 hours cooking an awesome dinner! We made BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, and homemade potato salad! GOOD TIMES, new memories!
Sunday we had a traditional family brunch at IHOP! Afterwards we journeyed home to Birmingham! After the five hour ride we met up with @catpaint1, @usher, and @wonderlaura and her husband Chris for dinner! This was the first time Lori and I meet @usher! Of course the SharePoint geeks enjoyed their conversation!
We hope you enjoy reading weekly updates, and will try to keep them coming!
Many blessings! 8/8/2009
This past week has FLOWN by! Monday was just going to be your normal go to work and come home type of thing. BUT, it wasn't! Lori and I had to go shopping for Michael's birthday presents! Like last year, he wanted another Batman themed party, so off to Toys R Us we went! Luckily @ToddKlindt was out west so we did not miss his weekly StickAM webcast!
Tuesday was a normal day, work, home, relax, and finally sleep! Wednesday was a bit crazy; Lori and I hosted our first bible study since the normal hostess is not feeling well. We had a pretty good turn out and look forward to hosting bible study this upcoming week.
Thursday I got off work early and come home to see Lori having a #SharePoint issue! She was working, doing laundry, and trying to pack for our trip to VA! Somehow through all the chaos she got everything completed and we were on the road by 4:30pm! For those of you wondering, YES, I did help get things ready to go! We drove to Greenville SC and crashed at a Holiday Inn.
Friday, Lori had the luxury of working hard on I-85 and we finally arrived at my parent’s house around 2:30pm. The boys were so excited to see their grandparents as my parents were to see them!
Saturday we drove over to Williamsburg, VA and played some miniature golf at Pirates Cove! Afterwards, we went to one of the Outlets and did some shopping! Patrick was a bit testy, so we kind of rushed through some stores! We came home to a spaghetti dinner that was delicious!
Sunday we are having Michael's Birthday party since he will be 4! Michael of course, is so excited to be turning four! We look forward to lots more family time and of course, cake and ice cream!
See you next week! 8/2/2009
This past week we have not had much time to do anything for just us. Monday night was @ToddKlindt webcast on Stickam, good stuff, admin talk! We had a town hall meeting Tuesday night; Wednesday night was Bible Study for the boys. Thursday was a lazy night. Friday night I had to work late. Lori however, found time to work on the red, white, and blue branding for our site at times throughout the week! Unfortunately we have not had the time to go over it together (Lori teaches me).
Saturday was yard work/housework day! It was a great day off, besides all the chorus LORI made me do :)~ I finally got to meet one of Lori's many SP friends @Catpaint1, who helped Lori go through a bottle of wine! (HA, I put that in here). @Catpaint1, by the way can visit any time since she is an excellent baker, she baked an awesome homemade chocolate cake! We could get used to weekly visits! Of course they talked SP, and I listened.
Sunday I had to work yet again, but I'll reap the benefits at the end of the week when vacation starts Thursday at NOON!! Lori spent the morning at church with the boys and the afternoon at her mom's. The boys and I went swimming while Lori chillaxed!
That’s our week in a nutshell!! |
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Lori and Matt Married 7 April 2000
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