Madison's first trip to Greenville!!

I went to the East Carolina vs. Rice game on Sunday with my dad and brothers...more on that later! Not bad seats, huh?!! Thanks Dad!!

OK before I tell ya'll about Greenville first off, that's a snake. And yes, it's a copperhead! And yes, it was in our back yard in Greensboro. And yes, it was on our side of the fence. Kelly called me up on the phone and said Samuel L. Jackson had nothing on her and that there was a huge snake in the backyard. I first thought, oh it's just a little green snake and so I said, "Well take a picture." She then said I think it might be a rattlesnake. I then said, "nah we don't have those. Just go take a picture." When I got the picture, I said "OK now go shoot it-its a copperhead." Kelly is so brave. She went all the way out by the snake and grabbed our dog, Dakota, who wouldn't come inside when Kelly was calling her. She then was brave enough to take this picture. I told her to call animal control and here's how our tax dollars talk: "Mam, we don't do that, call critter control." Thanks, no seriously thanks. By the time Kelly got the number for critter control, the snake was gone...for now.

If you didn't already know, my favorite place in the world is Greenville, NC. This is one of the old barns on the way to Kelly's parents' house from my parents' house, and it reminds me of the days when I used to work in the tobacco and corn fields. These barns are getting more and more rare so Kelly and I decided to take a few pictures before they get torn down by new developments.

We took Maddie Grace to Greenville for the first of many trips! I am already counting down the days till her first football game against the baby blue from Chapel Hill (102) .We had a great time hanging out with our families and friends. ECU was hosting the conference championship this past weekend and so we took Madison to the game on Saturday.

She lasted all nine innings-a true Pirate. ECU won the game she attended against Tulane 9-4 to advance to the championship game against Rice, who is ranked 2nd in the nation! I went to the championship game on Sunday and the Pirates eventually lost to Rice in the game, but are headed to the NCAA tournament starting this Friday in Chapel Hill.

Madison Grace and me in "The Jungle" at Clark Leclair Stadium.

Two beautiful girls hanging out in the shade in "The Jungle".

Oh yeah, PeeDee the Pirate came out to see Madison but she was in the car eating!

That's my brother Jimmy working with the ECU grounds crew--look at that form! Oh yeah, he graduates next fall with a Masters in Sports Management and could use a JOB if anybody knows anything, or if you just want him to come and rake your dirt he would do that for some money also...

No fun birthday, Huddle House, and Wild Turkeys!

Note to my mom: The water level on the dan is seriously like 10-12 inches-we had life jackets in the boat.

Saturday was Kelly's birthday and she woke up sick with the thing that has been going around Greensboro. So, instead of celebrating with cake, hamburgers, hot dogs, and friends it was chicken noodle soup, opening presents while half awake, and lots of rest. She is 100% better today! The good thing for Kelly is that she is born in the "blessed" month as Ann Smith would say and so Kelly gets to not only celebrate May 19th-but the whole month of May. Madison gives her presents everyday--actually about every 2-3 hours!

Ok so you don't think I'm the worst husband in the world--Kelly let me do it!! Do what? Well my friends Jeff, Kevin, Matt, and I traveled up to Madison, NC today and paddled down the Dan River. Its about a three hour round trip from house to water back to house. If you have a canoe or kayak, you should definitely think about doing this section of the Dan river. We left Greensboro around 11:30 and ate at the new Huddle House restaurant on HWY 220 where we all got "Big Boy Platter"s--note: don't get the "Big Boy Platter" before paddling down a river. 3 eggs, 5 pieces of bacon, a ton of hash browns, grits, and a biscuit--add the Mountain Dew laxative and your in for a wild ride! Ok where was I. Oh so we got onto the river and paddled from the Lindsey Bridge access to the HWY 704 bridge. This stretch is about 2.5 miles and there are some pretty cool historical sites along the way. I couldn't help but think about the movie "Deliverance" da da ding ding ding ding ding ding ding-you know the tune. Luckily for us we didn't see any crazy people dangling banjos from bridges. Ok so you're probably wondering why the title says, Wild Turkeys. Well, when we got to the HWY 704 bridge, Matt realized that he didn't have his truck keys--they were in my truck 2.5 miles upstream or 5 miles on the highway. Kevin and I decided to hitchhike our way back to my truck. This is where the wild turkey comes into play. We started walking down the road and saw some wild turkeys so we decided to jump on the back of them and ride them to my truck. No we didn't. After several attempts to get a ride with someone that has a truck--we just wanted to ride in the back so if the people were weird we could jump out--a nice couple (i think) stopped and picked us up. They had a cover on their truck bed so we had to get inside. You have to know how to talk to people when you hitchhike so they will feel comfortable with you that you're not going to do anything stupid like steal their car or something. So when the guy asked me if I had seen any wild turkeys on our trip downstream, I put on my thick Greenville downeast accent and started talking to them about wild turkeys! I don't know if Kevin would agree, but I think that conversation kept us alive, or at least in the truck!

Big Weekend!

It was a big weekend in Greenville as ECU's baseball team won all three games against Central Florida. They are now in 2nd place and have a record of 35-17. Also, there are only 111 days until ECU's 2007 football season kicks off in Blacksburg against Va. Tech.

It was also a big weekend in the 'Boro as my mom and dad came up to visit. My brother Jimmy brought my mom up here on Thursday and I was able to play golf with him. My dad came up Friday night and we all went to Best Buy. This ordinarily is no big deal but this is the farthest Madison has been from our house.

Madison and her Uncle Jimmy!

On Saturday we went to Country Park for a Picnic. We ended up having to leave our spot because all the dumb geese were trying to eat us. Actually I think they thought Madison was calling them, because they didn't start coming towards us until she started crying. Maybe I should bring her to the duck blind this winter.

My mom, Madison and I on Mother's Day!

(cool hair Charlie)

Madison gave her mommy a picture frame with her picture in it and some hanging baskets for the front porch.

(Seriously, are you wearing a toupee')

This is the picture that was put into Kelly's frame.

Madison didn't want me to feel bad that I didn't get anything to open and I told her it was ok because it was Mother's Day, but she decided to give me something anyway. No its cool, I'm sure it will come out with some Shout or something.

That's all for now!

We're Home!

Well we are home now. Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We have had a lot of visitors. Here are some more pics...

More Pictures!

Madison Grace Heritage

She's Here!!

8:55pm

Can I get one of those!

Well, its 4:15 and Kelly just had some feel good put into her back! The nurse is going to come back and check on the progress around 6:00pm...oh wait, kelly just reminded me that she brought a whole boat load of candy and snacks--gotta go...thank you for all your comments and prayers!

Who said having a baby was hard?

I asked the nurse if dinner was going to be as good as lunch. Kelly is doing great! She had jell-o for lunch.

We are at the Hospital!

Well, after nine months at the doctor's office this morning--they finally told us we could go to the hospital. So here we are, waitin on a baby. Gotta go watch some cable tv--be back soon!

is this the day?

we are packing the car right now and waiting on a phone call from the hospital. I told Kelly, "Girl you could have that baby tonight!" Well it looks like it could be today. Actually as I write this Kelly is downstairs cleaning the kitchen floor, doing laundry, feeding the chickens, washing the hogs, etc. Our friends Kevin and Amy had their baby girl last night around 7:45am! We all were joking the other day about how it would be fun to be in the hospital at the same time. Kelly's due date was April 23rd and Amy's was May 15! Well, we will keep you updated throughout the day. Please pray that Kelly would have an EASY labor and that everyone would be healthy!