A Fabulous Twelve Year Anniversary Celebration (somewhat chronological)

 This was the first look I got of my future bride.  Of course, I was hooked.

 Even though she wore jammie pants that looked like golf pants to the cards game, I still loved her.

 So we got engaged. 

 Then we got married.  Damn, we are a good looking couple.

 Before we left on our honeymoon, our new family went to the races.

 Then this happened.

 And we posed for photos even though we were exhausted parents of a newborn.

 And we got over being exhausted and we were good looking again.

 Then the younger half turned 30 and fabulous.

 And we went out now and then and were continuously fabulous.

 We were photobombed by young kids and their butts, but we were unfazed.

 Tanned and beautiful, we ate at Mexican places and posed for more photos.

 We rode to work together, too.

 We took rowdy kids to Six Flags.

 And, we rode bikes together again.

 Still good looking and fabulous.

 We took kids on the train to see Thomas in the sweltering summer heat.

 We did trade shows in Vegas.

 Her 'come hither' look still looks like this.

 We make a darn good family photos.

 Look at those smiles.

 We can be matchy-matchy and still look fabulous.

 We even look good after after a few drinks.

 Flannery Allison has been taking family photos for us and they are, what else? Fabulous.

 There are those drinks again.  Actually, it's rare for us to drink but we still look good doing it.

 We go to carnivals and we smile big.  It's what we do.

 The selfies are getting better and so are we.

 A legendary family portrait taken by Flannery Allison.

 Proud moment with our oldest at her first Homecoming.

Our latest photo together, and I still think we look fabulous.  Happy 12th Anniversary, Mrs. K!

Car Watching - Dodge Viper SRT-10 Roadster

It was nice to catch one of these in the wild.  They are exceedingly rare and have finally ceased production.  I give you:  A Dodge Viper.

This appears to be a 2008-2010, the penultimate generation.  The Viper has always been a curious duck because it uses a V10 pushrod engine that's shaped like a V8 pushrod engine.  In other words, a 90 degree V10, so it has an odd firing order...512 cubic inches of fury and it sounds like a UPS truck.

But don't let the weird sound fool you.  It's got 600 horses to motivate 3400 pounds.  11 second quarter mile and a 197mph top speed is enough to forgive what it sounds like.  And it's a beauty, too.  I prefer the looks of the coupe, but in person this one does have quite the presence. There are numerous racing versions of this car, too.

 Rather plain from the back, it could be a Chrysler Sebring convertible if you glanced quickly.

No mistaking this all-business interior, though.  This thing is awesome!  Super-wide center tunnel would make it hard to hold your honey's hand while driving...which you shouldn't be doing anyway.

And I'll leave you with the killer hood.  You can't see it in my photo, but it has the carbon fiber treatment.  I bet that would be fun to wash, just a reminder that you have one of the world's great sports cars.

Familiar Back to School Setting

As long as we're on the subject of Eli, it's time to post his back-to-school morning photo.  In the past, I have been able to post photos of Tyson and Hanna, too.  Didn't happen this year, as Tyson is not one to be photographed willingly and Hanna is just a mythical creature whom legends are written about.

So we have Eli.  He's in 6th grade now, middle school.  Time flies when you're having fun, they say. And if you look closely, you can see Rex in the familiar dog's position, where many dogs have been before.

Eli the Football Player - Wha Wha What ?

This is about as far away from my field of expertise as you can get:  Football.  Not European football, but American football.  Somehow, Eli has decided that this is what he wants to do in middle school.  Ok.  You go, Dude.  Be a football player.  I've watched Hanna play volleyball and soccer.  I've watched Tyson play baseball, basketball, and soccer.  I've watched Eli play baseball, basketball, and soccer...and now football.  At the very least, I will not be living vicariously through my children's sports.

Everyone has an Eclipse Story!

What are these people looking at?

Everyone has an eclipse story.  It's true.  It was a big event, and most people have much, much better photos of the big event than I have. But don't write this off just yet.  One big part of our story is the complete abandonment of business during this time.  Not one phone call in the hour proceeding totality.  Not one customer in that hour.  In fact, not one customer or call in the hour afterward, either.  Looking around the valley, there were store employees everywhere, standing outside, customerless, looking up at the sky with uncool glasses.

But who is complaining?  This was a pretty big life event.  Celestial events cannot be controlled, only observed.  And boy, did we observe.  Except for Cayden, the lonely looking guy standing in the back of this photo.  He only observed when one of us loaned him our glasses.  Oh yeah, and the photographer of this photo...he had no glasses, either.  Yeah, we loaned him our glasses, too.

Sight Seeing in Your Own Town

 Last weekend, we decided we would drive around and see the sights in St. Louis as if we were out of town tourists.  Sort of fitting since our rental car had Georgia license plates.  Here, Deanna, Eli, and Hanna stand in front of one of the AB buildings off of Broadway.  Tyson was working, hence his absence from the photo.

 Next stop was the super cool Humboldt school.  If you want a really cool project, set out to photograph all of the old school buildings in the city.  Really neat architecture and really cool histories.  The mosaic portal windows caught our eye so we had to get a picture.  Side note:  one of the teachers was unloading her stuff at the front door, since classes were set to start the next day.  We helped her carry stuff into the building...stunning.  The wooden floors and architecture really takes you back!

 Then we stopped by the old Niebling home.  Deanna's great grandparents lived in this home at the beginning of the 20th century.  It's a bit unique because it has a pretty big side yard, and the wagon gates and fence still stand as well.

 Across the street was where the original Niebling wagon/carriage business was located.  While the building is no longer standing, the Nieblings still own and operate and auto body business and a repair business in South City.

 Farmers Market in Soulard.  Although it's getting a bit rough, it's still an amazing building.

 These odd statues out front were a great prop for the kids to pose with.

Then we walked around Soulard a bit.  Such great buildings.  Such history.  I caught this stamping on one of the gates to a house.  There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of details like this throughout Soulard and I didn't do them justice.

We bailed on the sight seeing when the sun got hot and our stomachs growled for food. We'd like to do more of this and share it with you.

Happy 50th Anniversary!

Deanna's mom and dad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend.  They had a big day, renewing their vows and they threw a big party afterward.  It's just amazing how many people this couple has touched over the years.  People came from far and wide.  I was late to the party so I don't have any good photos...but you get the picture.

Congratulations!!

Triple Kids Birthday

What is the solution when the kids birthdays are so close together?  Have a triple birthday party, of course!  Brother-in-law/Sister-in-law Kevin/Katie just put them all on one day, at one time.  Laura's cake may have been the coolest.  Quite elaborate.  And she's 5, and we know how cool that is.

Michael's cake had the characters guarding it, so no one like me could "sample" it before the big moment.  I'm surprised there were no bicycles on it, since Michael is such a biking freak.  Look for him next weekend at the Gateway cup.

Then there is Georgia.  Her cake was cool, too.  And she kept the hat on.  She is quite the firecracker, and she chose a fiery red headed Disney character.  How fitting.  She's the young'un, only 4 years old.  Speaking from experience, however, being the youngest has it's perks.

Happy Birthday, Zimmer kids!