Bennett rocked this looked for a long time while playing with his cars. At one point he looked up, adjusted his hat and glasses, and said, "Daddy, I'm cool." "Yes, you are, buddy," I said, "Yes, you are."

I must admit that I've been a very delinquent blogger. Too much to do I guess. So, here are some highlights from the last couple months.

The boys had a great time playing in the leaves....and there were a lot of them.

My parents came to our home for Thanksgiving...bringing their new Puggle, "Nubbin."

The boys spent some quality time with Grandma, putting a Gingerbread house together.

Here's Bennett spending some time with Paw, inspecting his new "hot wheels."

When my parents came to visit, we all went to Pittsburgh for the "Backyard Brawl," which is the annual football game between Pitt and WVU. It was cold...and the Mountaineers lost...but it was fun.

Here's Preston watching the WVU Band:

And here's a picture of the boys in front of our Christmas Tree:

Our Day at Cooper's Rock

We ventured out today to Cooper's Rock State Park. It was such a wonderful place. There was an amazing view overlooking the river valley, and countless rock formation we could climb on, over, and even through. Preston explained our thoughts pretty well. We lured the boys to go on this little trip by promising them a playground. But after climbing on some of the rocks, Preston turned to me and said, "Daddy, this is better than a playground! This is like a playground God made."

The only downside to the day was that we were disappointed that it took us three years to "find" the place.

Here are the obligatory photos:

This is a picture of a caterpiller Preston was looking for...and found:

Climbing on, and in, and through the rocks:

This is a better picture of the rocks than of us, but it shows how beautiful and fun this park is:

You Only Have One First Day of First Grade

Preston entered the first grade today. He was a little apprehensive, so to pump him up I told him that you only get one first day of first grade. Also, he's been talking a lot lately about wanting to be a missionary, so I explained to him that he was actually a missionary at his school. He got the opportunity to show the other kids what Jesus is like by how he loved them.

Anyway, here's a couple pictures we took to document the day.

He's excited...

He's not so excited...

He's excited!! I think.

Huh?

A couple nights ago, I was tucking Preston into bed for the night, and we started talking about spiders. He was worried that a poisonous spider might bite him while he slept. I tried to assure him that he wouldn't get bit. But that didn't work. Then I told him that the worst that could happen (if he got bit) was that he'd get a little sick (like having the flu) and we would take him to the doctor. But that didn't work either. So, I pulled out the big guns. I told him that God is in control of everything. Nothing happens that God didn't plan to happen. And he made his plan even before he made the world. I told Preston that God controls every step a spider takes, and because of that God would protect him, because God doesn't make mistakes.

I thought I had won. I could tell that Preston was thinking about it. I thought he was satisfied with that answer, because (for a moment) the questions had stopped. But just as I was patting myself on the back, Preston looked at me and asked, "Daddy, if God controls every step a spider takes, how come he doesn't move us to sin?"

Huh?

Nothing like a little discussion about the interplay between God's sovereignty and man's free will right at bedtime.

Great Little Praiser

Here's a video of Bennett 'singing' with his class at Gull Lake. He won an award for 'Best Little Praiser.'

Madness

Here is an example of exercising poor judgment to impress your kids. On the inside, I peed my pants a little:

More Tid-Bits from Gull Lake

I was able to get a few more pictures from our vacation, from Kendra's parent's camera.

Preston and his cousin, Kobe, had some fun with some very patriotic wigs. You gotta dig the mullett:

So did Butch (Kendra's dad):

Preston spent a lot of his free time on his new scooter:

Bennett had fun chasing him around...on foot.

Here is Preston and Kobe at breakfast one morning:

This is a picture of me and Preston on our way up Quadzilla. A zip line began at the top. Preston got all the way to the edge, but thought better of it. I (on the other hand) did not exercise such good judgment and rode the thing.

The boys also enjoyed some archery. Bennett is getting some help from one the camp counselors, while Preston got some help from his Uncle Curt.

Finally, here are the boys on the "beach."

Gull Lake Adventure

Last week, we loaded up the ol' station wagon and headed off to Hickory Corners, MI (home of Gull Lake Family Camp). Gull Lake Ministries offers a series of family camps in the summer, with teaching and activities for every member of the family. We went with Kendra's mom and dad, many of her aunts and uncles, and her older brother's family. Here are some pictures of our trip.

On Wednesday, we went to the Gilmore Car Museum. This was an amazing collection of cars, all housed in restored barns. At one point, Bennett wanted to take a break from the cars, so he could go look at the "corns:"

The museum had one of the 50 Tucker automobiles, built in the late 1940's (I think):

This is a 1932 Pierce-Arrow. It was so nice, we felt compelled to take our picture in front of it...I'm not sure why...we had never heard of "Pierce-Arrow"...but that's what tourists do:

Here is a picture of the boys in front of a 1930-something Mercedes. A man who lived in what became East Germany hid it under a rose garden for 40 years to keep it from the Soviets. When the Berlin Wall came down, he finally felt safe to bring it out of hiding. It was in bad shape, but he sold it so that he could get some much needed retirement income. They restored it and brought it to Gilmore.

Here is a picture of the boys in front of a Hudson Hornet, like "Doc" from the movie, Cars:

The boys had fun climbing around a double-decker bus from London:

On Thursday, we took a pontoon boat tour of Gull Lake. Here is Preston doing his best to look cool:

You may not be able to see it, but I took a picture of a plane that was practicing take-offs and landings on the lake:

Here is Bennett watching the plane from the boat:

Here is Preston, Bennett and their cousins (Kaylee and Kobe) enjoying the view from the bow of the boat:

Here is a picture of Kendra and her older brother, Kevin:

Thursday afternoon, Kevin and I took Preston and Kobe to play golf. The "Allen Boys" took on the "Slater Boys" in an alternate shot battle royale. Unfortunately, the Allen Boys lost by one...but we had a great time:

Check out the extension and head position!!! Jason Zuback...who??