I don’t know why, but I felt odd about the whole thing. She’s so young! Of course I want her to have her ears pierced, but I just didn’t think it would happen so soon. It’s such a huge event for such a tiny child. But the logic in my wife’s argument won me over so off we went.

We decided to go to Merle Norman close to our house. Two young ladies were running the store, and they both picked up on my apprehension almost immediately. Of course, I didn’t exactly try to hide it either. They both looked relatively sane and competent, but I couldn’t resist asking them if they had done this before, how young the babies were, pros and cons, what to expect, and if they were SURE they could handle this. They laughed at me and assured me everything would be fine.

They first cleaned Addison’s ears really well with disinfectant pads. Then they marked the center of her earlobes with a pink marker and had us confirm that’s where we wanted the holes to be. Both ladies then lined up their “guns” and counted to 3. And POW – it was over.

Addison sat there with startled, wide eyes for about half a second and then proceeded to shatter all the glass in the store. I was shocked, horrified, furious, and pretty sure I was going to vomit right on the floor in front of the counter. Then, much to my surprise, Addison quit crying and started smiling. SMILING???

That’s right. The pain lasted about 30 seconds (apparently) and then she was back to her old happy-go-lucky baby self. I on the other hand had to take deep breaths and try to keep from being sick for a good hour after we left the store.

I consider myself a pretty strong guy. Blood doesn’t bother me. I clean up puke and other vile things with the best of them. I used to hunt and clean my own animals before I ate them for God’s sake. But there’s something about my tiny little baby girl that can reduce me to a quivering mess in no time flat.

I kind of like it.

 

I decided to surprise Jackie with the trip, and I originally planned to load her in the car that Saturday morning. Her mom and grandmother were my co-conspirators and were going to keep Addison overnight for us. But in the end I decided to tell her on Friday because I figured having 2 hours to prepare for a trip to see one of her favorite bands was just going to stress Jackie out way too much.

We stayed at the Hilton in downtown Nashville and made our way over to the Grand Ole Opry several hours before the concert. That gave us time to eat at Tony Roma’s and sit and visit with two guys we met from Ohio who were also there for the concert.

M83 opened for the Killers, and I had no idea who they were, nor do I ever want to see them again. They played some kind of indie-rock, new-age, techno fruity music that did nothing but make my head hurt. Of course, some people might say that about some of the Killer’s music as well.

Finally, the Killers took the stage, and they put on a great show. Jackie and I were both surprised that they sounded just as good live as they do on your stereo. I’m sure you’ve known that disappointment when you find out a band you like actually sounds like complete crap, but their music was apparently electronically enhanced enough to sound good on the radio and on CDs.

Although I only like about 3 of the songs by the Killers, I really enjoyed seeing them perform. They have a lot of style and a great presence on stage. My favorite part was seeing the Grand Ole Opry which is a fantastic venue to see a concert in. I’ll be looking for more bands playing there that we might want to go see.

Here are some pictures of the concert:

 

Here are some photos of the stadium.  Pay extra special attention to the photo of the scoreboard.

 

We didn’t do anything too exciting. We played a little blackjack and video poker and had a really nice dinner at their restaurant, Twain’s.

I had to work the majority of the time we were there, but I managed to catch some time to spend with everyone. Dale and I took Thursday afternoon and played 18 holes of golf at Everygreen, CO. They have a public course there that’s really nice. It’s in the Rockies, of course, so there’s a lot of ups and downs and strangely configured holes. Hole #3 even has a huge boulder between you and the green so you just have to hit it over and pray you land somewhere near the hole. We gave up keeping score somewhere around hole #10, but we had a great time.

On Friday, Dale and I set out for Buena Vista, Colorado to go white water rafting on the Arkansas river. Dale booked a trip with an outfitter called River Runners that operates there. We signed up to raft a section of the Arkansas River called The Numbers. I have been rafting on the Spring River in Arkansas with friends, but that was nothing compared to this trip. I knew from the moment the raft hit the water that I was in for a tough ride. We had 3 other people in the raft with us – a couple and their 17 year old daughter. Dale and I sat in the middle of the raft, and our guide manned the back so he could shout instructions and steer. We went through seven rapids in all – four of which were Class 4. Basically, that means serious business and trying not to fall out of the raft. I’ll spare you the gory details, but the trip down was a lot of fun and was very challenging. At one point, I was underneath a rapid looking up at Dale and the 17 year old grabbing my life jacket to haul me back into the raft. Fun stuff.

On Saturday, we decided to drive up to Jefferson County Lake in the Rocky Mountains and have a picnic and do some fishing. Jackie was itching to drive into the mountains and see the sights so we packed up a cooler and set off. The sky was a bit overcast, but that was welcome since it had been abnormally hot in CO while we were there. Once we arrived at the lake, it actually started raining. We had to wait it out in the car for about half an hour. We started trout fishing and were wishing we’d brought more clothes. The wind whipping through the mountains made the temperature drop into the sixties. Jackie spent her time wrapped in a blanket by the edge of the water watching us fish. The girls had a good time wandering around and playing in the rocks. Dale and I must have tried everything in his tackle box but did not catch one fish. I guess it just wasn’t our day, but it was still nice to be out in such a beautiful area.

On the way back home we stopped at a place to eat that was shaped like a giant hot dog called Coney Island. Other than the fact that we somehow had to wait 40 minutes for 2 hot dogs and some onion rings, the place was pretty cool. You can see it in the photos we took on the trip.

The next few days we spent relaxing, doing a bit of shopping, hanging out with the family – stuff like that. I flew home Wednesday morning but Jackie stayed for another 3 days to get in some extra quality time with her aunt and cousins. That’s the last long trip we’ll take this year (most likely) since Addison will be here in a couple of months. Be sure to check out the photos from the trip.

 

Jackie’s mom suggested Tyler Bend so we decided to try it there. They have a really nice campground with great facilities and lots of room to spread out. Picnic tables and outdoor grills are everywhere and there’s plenty of shade to be found. Not far from where we setup on a picnic table was the river and the swimming holes that had been made. Gravel and sand beaches made things nice and clean, and the kids really enjoyed floating in the river – some of them more than others (Braxton, I’m talking to you…).

After spending the day at the campground we packed it in around 5 PM and made it home in time for dinner and a bit of rest before another Monday morning hit. Jackie and I are definitely going to keep that spot in mind when we’re looking for a bit of camping or even another getaway day trip.

Watch the video I took of Tyler Bend

Here are the photos we took

 

Donald and Braxton went fishing for catfish while we were there and caught about 10 total – many of which were of good size. We cookied hot dogs and ribs and enjoyed a nice fire both nights we were there. The second night was a bit nervewracking as we had some major weather come through the area. I was afraid we were going to see a tornado or two, but we just got about an hour of rain and some really strong wind through the night. Of course, that makes for a long night when you’re sleeping in a tent.

I think Jackie and I will go back to that lake. The campgrounds are really nice, and it’s not far from the house which makes it really convenient. Especially when gas is $3.70 a gallon. Sheesh…

Below are the pictures we took of the lake and the river on the other side of the dam.

 

The trail we took wasn’t too busy, and we our time for the most part so we could just enjoy being outdoors and in the sunshine. I didn’t realize how tall Petit Jean is until we started descending back and forth down the trail in order to get down to the bottom of the valley. All of us kept thinking about the fact that we were going to have to hike back up eventually, and that was going to be a bit tough.

We made it to the waterfall and had lunch and just sat and talked for a while. There’s a huge pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall and a stream leading from it that runs through the valley. There were more people at this point, but it still wasn’t crowded.

After the waterfall we headed up back up the trail and put our game faces on. It actually wasn’t too bad for 3 people who aren’t really used to any strenuous hiking. We stopped a couple of times to rest along the way, but so did everyone else we saw. It felt good to get outside and do something physical after being couped up in the cold for so long.

You can see our home video of the waterfall and all the photos we took below.

 

I never really paid that much attention to the Arkansas River when passing by on the surrounding highways, but it is actually very nice and moves much faster than I thought. I saw Little Rock and residential areas from a different angle, and it was pretty neat to look at all the huge homes overlooking the river up in the hills.

All in all, everyone had a really good time. It’s a bit pricey considering the food they serve so that would be my only complaint.