December 2022

Landon had qualified to run in the Cross Country Nationals that were going to be held in Texas the second weekend in December. We decided to make it a family trip for all of us to explore the south. First stop was in Knoxville for the AAU National Championship.

Our December started out with a wet and nasty race down in Knoxville, TN. They had quite a few kids running in this race for the 9-10 year old boys. It had been raining all day and the course was a muddy mess. Landon said he fell down twice on the course. He was all smiles until we started walking back to the car and he started complaining about some difficulty breathing. Landon has a little bit of exercise/allergy induced asthma. He doesn't have to use an inhaler very often so I am very thankful that we even brought it on the trip, but we did notice it was running low on his medication. Now onward to start our vacation.

I love this picture of him running. He has been putting in a lot of work to try and get better. His times had been getting better each and every race. You can see all the mud that he has on his legs too.

We had never been to a huddle house so we tried it out for breakfast. Landon was really excited for his smiling waffle. 

Our first stop was in Tupelo, MS which just so happens to be the birthplace of the king of rock-n-roll, Elvis Presley. We did a little bit of exploring downtown before we went to the real activity we had planned for Mississippi. 

We also headed over to the house where Elvis grew up. The kids and I were shocked to see just how small of a house it actually was. 

The kids enjoyed posing with the Elvis statues. I enjoyed reading about all the stories about Elvis that were throughout the visitor center. 

The kids enjoyed playing at a park. They said they wanted to move to Mississippi! The entire city was just a big tribute to Elvis. They had statues, paintings, billboards and everything else you could imagine.

This is where the real fun began! We were the first people to enter the Tupelo Buffalo Park on this day. We got three buckets of food to try and feed them. All the animals come up to the car and eat out of the buckets, but nobody prepares you for how forceful the animals can be with the food. It got us a lot closer to animals that I never had any plans of being close to in my life. 

Jennifer was the Guinea Pig of our group and she fed the animals first. We kept thinking that rolling up the windows were going to stop these animals. I was just hoping that they wouldn't break or damage our car. 

This group of Buffalo just walked up around us and I was scared. I can't imagine if an entire herd was running towards me. 

Landon was absolutely terrified by the whole experience. This zebra just wanted some food. We were able to get Landon out of this predicament, but after it he wouldn't get anywhere near a window. For a little while he was curled up in a ball in the center floor board. It was definitely something I think everyone should try at least once. It created a lot of fun memories for us. 

After feeding the animals we continued our trip down to New Orleans. When we arrived we got out and started exploring. This was the Christmas tree in the Jackson Square area. 

Then we headed over to Cafe Du Monde for the kid's first trip for beignets. Both the kids couldn't believe how much powdered sugar came on top. You could tell the kids weren't as experienced because they got the sugar all over themselves. 

After leaving Cafe Du Monde I reenacted what happened the morning that I asked Jennifer to marry me. I had no idea which bench we sat on when I actually proposed because they all looked the same along the river front. 

The next morning I got up and decided to run a little New Orleans 5K. I ran down along the Mississippi Riverfront. I took a picture of some of the motivation quotes that had been spray painted on the sidewalk. I ended the run with a little jog on Bourbon Street and that is where I spotted the old hand grenade drink container. 

We also took a cemetery tour which was actually very interesting. They explained the entire burying process for all the people that are buried at this location. The pyramid shaped monument is actually the future headstone for Nicolas Cage.  

More views from our cemetery tour. I'm not sure the kids enjoyed it as much as Jennifer and I. 

Some of the foods that we had in New Orleans included some local favorites. We had Po'Boys, Gumbo, Grilled Osyters, and the kids both tried alligator. Everyone enjoyed the local cuisine. 

On a rainy afternoon we took the kids to Mardi Gras World where they build a lot of the floats for the parades every Mardi Gras. It was really cool to see all of the artistic creations that they made. 

More of the creations from Mardi Gras world. Part of the tour included getting to try some King Cake. The kids really enjoyed it, but no body found the baby Jesus in the cake. 

The kids really enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool. It was enclosed and the pool area was really warm which made the kids love it. They said it was more fun when I played in the pool when them. If I wasn't in the pool it seemed like they were both trying to drown each other. 

Our last night in New Orleans we took one more walk down to Jackson Square and had beignets one more time. The kids opted for ice cream instead. That didn't stop Landon from licking the powdered sugar off my plate. The kids both picked out something to remember New Orleans. Landon picked a little voodoo doll key chain and Brinley picked out a mask.

This was the only time I felt it was appropriate for the kids to be on Bourbon Street. Just a little too young to be walking down that street. We took this on the way to our car heading out to our next destination. 

Next stop was down in the bayou to go on a gator tour. We almost booked an airboat tour, but we didn't know if the kids would like it. Instead we hopped on a regular boat and explored all the marsh of southern Louisiana. Our guide was difficult to understand because of his accent, but we did see multiple gators and even where they filmed the movie The Princess and the Frog. 

On the way to Texas I saw a road sign that said at a certain exit you could hold a real gator. Of course I decided to see what it was all about. It turned out to be really awesome and FREE! We all held one and then the worker at the place showed us a little baby alligator. They were all really cute. If you look really close you can see that their nails were painted. That is how they knew which one you were holding. 

Next we headed out to the Lone Star State, Texas! I think the kids had just been locked up in the car for too long because they enjoyed climbing on these two sculptures entirely too much. 

We spent the day exploring the Houston Space Center. It wasn't as interactive as much as the kids would have liked, but we got to see a lot of the history of the USA space travel. It was crazy to see how large the actual rockets that the astronauts were attached to back in the 1960's. They were extremely brave to strap into these projectiles and fly off into the unknown. 

We got to go and see the command center where they talked to the astronauts while out in space. The bottom left picture is all of us touching a moon rock.

After the space center we drove down to San Antonio and our first stop was the Riverwalk. After walking around a little bit we sat down and had dinner right there by the canal. It was a very nice night to sit outside under all the Christmas lights and watch all the boats full of people pass by. 

We explored the Alamo. The kids enjoyed the men dressed up in the attire of the day who showed us all the belongings of a 1800's soldier including the toys of the time. 

Since the weather was nice we just walked around the city. We found a park that the kids thought was pretty neat. They had outdoor ping pong tables and tables with checkers/chess boards painted on top of them. There was a school group there playing at the time and we saw them all with some popsicles. Of course we had to try them too.  

Some of our favorite Texan foods that we had on our trip. We had traditional Texas BBQ, a Texan shaped waffle, Tex Mex dinner, and Jennifer and the kids had their first Whataburger experience.

We had thought about going to see the Spurs NBA team play, but I got out voted and instead we went to ride the boat on the Riverwalk. We had a really good tour boat guide because he told us a lot of history about San Antonio. It was also beautiful seeing all the Christmas decorations up around the city.

Before leaving San Antonio I decided to get a little downtown 5K run in. I ran from our hotel down to the Alamo and even ran down on the Riverwalk for a little while. It was a beautiful and peaceful run. I didn't have my head phones to listen to music because we discovered that I had actually left them at the hotel in Houston. Thankfully Jennifer called and got it arranged for them to mail them to our house. 

Our next stop was the Blue Bell Factory. It was in the middle of nowhere in Texas. You couldn't take actual pictures of the ice cream floor because they said it violated the privacy of the workers, but it was really neat seeing the process. They had a ton of decorations up throughout the factory and in the museum. 

They had an ice cream parlor in the factory for you to try the different flavors. Some special flavors could only be bought there at the factory. It was $1 scoops so we tried a few of them. They were delicious. We also saw quite a few of the workers from the factory in line getting ice cream and didn't see them pay anything. Of course I asked about it and all the employees get free ice cream while they are working. I would be three times the size I am now if I worked there. 

Finally we made it to our purpose for the trip, the National Cross Country Championships in College Station, TX. We got there the day before the race and met up with the Grassroots team. They jogged the course to see what it was like. Jennifer, Brinley and I walked it too. 

Brinley is just like her mother. She brought a book with her because she had no interest in watching people run, especially her brother. 

Landon and his teammates. Landon did really well and actually set a personal record for a 3K. He still has a lot to learn about maneuvering around people during the race and not getting caught in a big group trying to get around corners. He can also work on his endurance and getting out of the starting gate. Landon can run forever, but he just doesn't have the speed to compete with the fastest runners in the nation. I would take him in an endurance marathon for sure though because the kid doesn't have any quit in him. I just have to get him to run with faster people because running with me just doesn't cut it anymore. Landon is faster than his old man.

Landon placed 262 in the country with a 3K time of 13 minutes 41.2 seconds. This was about two minutes faster than his previous personal record which is awesome! I was so proud of him getting out of his comfort zone and training with kids from all over Lexington to run with the Grassroots team. 

On the way home we had to stop by Bucee's! Landon was pumped to wear his shirt that he had made at the National Championship. He wanted it to say on the back "My running shoes have more miles on them than your car". On the drive home he was telling us that he needed some of his albuterol. We gave him a couple of puffs and then we officially ran out of it. Surely he will be fine until we get home.

We couldn't find anything to do in Arkansas, but I figured we could stop in Hope, AR at least to see where President Bill Clinton was from. We got out and went up to look at the house, but it was already closed for the day. Back on the road we decided to stop in Little Rock for the night. 

Well, we got to Little Rock and put the kids to bed in the hotel. Landon was asleep, but he was audibly wheezing and sounded horrible. I couldn't sleep because I was worried about the little guy. I looked up local hospitals and there was one just a mile down the road. I packed up Landon and took him to the emergency room. They were great and very helpful. I explained our situation and they understood and said they would give us what we needed, a new albuterol inhaler. Now back to the hotel to get some sleep before the rest of the drive home tomorrow. 

We looked for a place to eat locally and found a little place called the Purple Cow. It was delicious and the purple ice cream was actually vanilla flavored. I got the Elvis sandwich which was a grilled peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich. We really enjoyed the Purple Cow and would highly recommend it. Now lets get back to Kentucky!

By the time we got home from our trip the month was already a third of the way over. We needed to get all of our Christmas traditions moving. We made a stop over at Cabela's so that the kids could tell Santa what they wanted.

Brinley was mad at us for taking her on the trip because she missed out on Colonial Days at school. The highlight of colonial days was making butter according to one of Brinley's friends. So to make it up to her we made some homemade butter at home. 

The kids had been begging that they wanted to be members of the YMCA again so that they could go swimming. Well, on our first day both kids were able to get their green bands so that they could swim on their own and go down the slide.

Our Dance Blue Clinic family got together to celebrate Christmas with our annual ornament exchange. There is always lots of laughter and joy with this group.  

We decided this year to make a gingerbread village. Everyone got to decorate their own house. Landon's goal was to put as much icing and candy on it as possible. 

The kids and I spotted this little blow up reindeer and thought it would be perfect for Jennifer. It sits in the front seat with Jennifer when she rides around town and picks the kids up from school. The kids love it!

Jennifer and I were able to go watch the wildcats play at Rupp. She doesn't get to go to many games any more because Landon really likes to go with me. 

It was so cold one day in December (below zero) that they cancelled school and closed most businesses. Well, we all know that the hospital doesn't close. It was icy out too so I didn't feel comfortable riding my bike into work. I walked the one mile from where I park and was surprised to find that my eyebrow turned to icicles.

We also did our Christmas puzzle that has become a tradition ever since Taylor gave it to us. We time ourselves every year and this is the first time that we didn't get faster than the year before. We will try again next year. 

Winter break calls for going out for a lunch date with these two. They both love Goodfellas so it is always easy to decide where we go for lunch. 

Nick Kringle was very busy this December because he traveled all over the southern states with us. When we got back home he was back to his old shenanigans. Here he created a winter wonderland just like Buddy did in the movie Elf.

Brinley and Landon wanted to help me make some of the Christmas candies. We made some of my Mamaw's cookies and also dunked some Oreos because those are Jennifer's favorite. 

We were happy to go to church for the Christmas Eve candle light service. Landon and I got a lot of weird looks for wearing our shorts. I choose comfort everyday over what people think I should wear. 

Christmas morning this was taken right before the kids came down to see everything. 

We got to spend Christmas with the rest of the Heflin's and Maitland's. The highlight was teaching Olivia how to put the L's down.

Landon playing with his Christmas toy and rocking out some reindeer antlers. 

We made the drive down to Nashville on New Year's Eve to watch the Wildcats play in the Music City Bowl. We had some awesome seats. I told Jennifer and the kids that they could get whatever snacks they wanted from the concession stand. Landon was the most excited I have ever seen him about football and the Cats came out flat. It was mostly because they didn't have some of their starters play in the game. If you look at the bottom right picture you can see where Landon finally gave in and fell asleep. I was trying to listen to the UK vs. Louisville basketball game but it proved to be too difficult to pay attention to both. It was the first bowl game that we had seen the team lose since I had started working with them. So, no bowl ring for me this year. Better luck next year for the football wildcats. 

We left Nashville and headed back home and to drop Brinley off at her friend's birthday party sleepover. This was a little hard for me because it was the first time I wouldn't be with the kids on New Year's Eve. I was happy that Brinley could spend it with some of her best friends. 

Landon got to spend New Year's Eve with his parents. We watched a movie and then got to see the ball drop. I was actually watching the bowl games on my phone and saw how Ohio State missed their field goal right after the ball dropped. Landon's only request for the night were blizzards and playing air hockey. It was a lot of fun, but we missed Brinley. 

The year 2022 seems like it flew by. We have a lot to be thankful for this year. We moved and sold our old house. We got to travel and see new places and a few old ones too. Three different times we packed up and headed to Harry Potter World. The kids played multiple sports and kept us busy running to and from different practices throughout the weeks. We had a new niece/cousin, Eliana, that was born in Ohio. We also got to be in Uncle McKinley and Taylor's wedding. Brinley began her last year of elementary school. We had a lot of great things happen this year, but we are all looking forward to the beginning of 2023!