Lots of fun this summer while on vacation in Utah, Idaho, and South Dakota.
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- Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum
August 9, 2009
February 20, 2009
Yep, StL has it own ski and snowboarding resort – 4 lifts, terrain park, snow makers and night skiing – http://www.hiddenvalleyski.com/. OK its not Utah or the Rockies and the snow is man made. After 9+ years in Texas with no snow or any serious hills, we will ski/snowboard anything – we aren’t picky.
HV is a great starter hill. The boys took to it like humidity in Houston or Mormons to Utah. Taylor was really looking forward to Boarding and could not wait to go back the following weekend. That’s right two weekend in a row we strapped on the boards and shredded like pros. All right, we stuck to the beginner stuff and spent most of the time on our butts. At least we can act like we are Shredders with ski passes attach to our coats so everyone will think we are die hards.
Taylor is a natural and he looks cool doing it!
Tanner has Mojo - he just wish he knew what it is.
February 7, 2009
Pinewood Derby has become an annual family activity. This is our 3rd set of derby cars and the most expensive yet. Each year we have added some new tool. This year it was a scroll saw – a must have for getting great curves. We used Laurie’s french curve drawing templates to come up with some fun designs. Talyor designed a traditonal racer and Tanner wanted his car to slice through the air.
The 2009 pinewood derby was the kids first pack meeting since moving to Missouri. The kids had lots of fun. Tanner took 1st place and Taylor took 3rd. We must be slipping to let another car into 2nd.
TnT Racing Team
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- Taylor’s Red Hot Flaming Skull.
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- Tanner’s Cobra Car – 1st Place
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- TnT Racing Team
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- Tanner’s Cobra Car
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- Taylor’s Flaming Skull Racer
December 15, 2008
The year 2008 has brought about many changes for us. The most significant change is in our address. After nine years in North West Houston, Texas, we have moved to Dardenne Prairie, Missouri. Dardenne is outside St. Louis to the west. This change was brought about by a career change. Kevin left HP to join Savvis to take the product management responsibility for hosted compute services including the emerging area of Cloud computing.
We are settling in to our new home. It is nice to get a basement and be able to spread out (no basements in Houston). Laurie has plenty of room for her art supplies. The kids think the basement is great for science projects – mixing vinegar and baking soda – and hanging out on the hammock.
Our new neighborhood is surrounded by park lands and has walking/jogging paths. We can enter the path from our backyard. The path circles a 15 acre lake and makes another loop through the woods. The paths are part of the Dardenne Greenway that will eventually connect multiple parks, Busch Conservation area and to the Katy Trail. We all enjoy walking, jogging, or biking the path.
In September, we experienced huricane Ike. We were fortunant to not recieve any house damage and just spend 10 days without power. The kids enjoyed the time out of school and discovered lots of things to do without power – whittling, board games, crusing the nieghborhood on bikes,… kids had a great time. After a week with no power we bought home a small generator to do laundry and run a window AC unit and some fans – the tempatures were up in the 90’s with high humidity.
Earlier this year, Taylor was Baptized. Taylor’s Grandpa and Grandma Van Mondfrans came to Houston for the Baptism and Birthday party. It was a great time and everyone had fun.
Our first snowfall In Dardenne Prairie. Tanner and Taylor built a snow man in the front and a snow fort in the back.
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- Taylors Baptism in June
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- Taylor’s 8th Birthday
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- Grandma and Tanner playing at Taylor’s Birthday party
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- Kevin and Tanner at the St. Louis Arch Museum
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- The new house in Dardenne Prairie
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- Our first snowfall In Dardenne Prairie. Tanner and Taylor built a snow man in the front and a snow fort in the back.
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- Aerial View of BaratHaven – our neighborhood.
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- Mad science in the basement – a school project gone wrong.
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- Tanner in the Basement celebrating his chemical reaction and plotting bigger things to come.
Taylor's 8th Birthday
December 15, 2008
Welcome to our web log (BLOG). We created this to keep in touch with family and friends. Our hope is this will help us stay closer and share our experiences. Check back often as we plan to add more content.
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Best wishes,
Kevin, Laurie, Tanner and Taylor
Vigilantes - they feared nothing.
