Another Carbondale Trip

Guess what? We went back to Carbondale this past weekend. It wasn't as long of a trip as last time, and this was more for business than for pleasure (I went down to help wrap up our old church's files), but we still had a wonderful time with the Staleys. Angie and I ate at Booby's (you read that correctly) for lunch, and then went out with Noble and Lynnette for pizza at Quatro's for dinner. Later on, Angie and I did some shopping in Marion to buy some baby things that our stores in Decatur don't carry anymore.

On Sunday, we attended the worship service at Vine Community Church (a place I would recommend visiting), and it was awesome as always. The "random moment" of the weekend soon followed, when we had to detour on the way back to their house becuase a big moving truck got stuck in the ditch pulling out onto Pleasant Hill Road.

We have to thank the Staleys yet again for providing us a place to stay and for the good times that we had. With our little guy coming in less than a month, this was our last trip for a while.

Our Salukitown Trip, Part 3

We ended our weekend trip to Carbondale on Sunday, November 2 by attending morning services at Vine Community Church, where Noble is now on staff. The service was great, and it's amazing what they are accomplishing through the Lord. Then, we got lunch at Moe's Southwest Grill, and headed over to Giant City State Park. The fall foliage was beautiful, and it's a nice park to visit no matter what the time of year.

Here are some final pictures from the weekend:



Here we are, with the Devil's Stand Table formation in the background.


Here are the girls standing on a rock.



And the Staley family. Angie took this picture, and boy, is it professional quality! She could have charged $100 for this picture.

It was a wonderful weekend, as you can tell by the last three posts. But there was more. In fact, the weekend ended with a bang!

On the way home, I was headed north on U.S. 51, just west of Ashley, when a deer ran out in front of the car. Going 60 MPH, I had no time to react, and ended up hitting it square in the front of the car. The collision caused nearly $6,000 in damage. We had to have the car towed to nearby Nashville, and we had to stay overnight at the Best Western in Nashville. We rented a car and returned on Monday. Quite a way to end the weekend.

In all seriousness, we thank God that we were not injured, and our little guy did just fine. It didn't take away from the fun we had over the weekend. We'd like to thank the Staley family for hosting us, and we look forward to coming back someday.

Our Salukitown Trip, Part 2

After spending Halloween evening at the church with the Staleys, we had a great night in their house. Their house is really neat, especially during such a nice fall weekend. It's hard to put into words how nice the weather was this weekend. It was a level of beauty that simply breaks your heart.

Angie and I went on a nice walk around the neighborhood on Saturday morning, and then we all decided to head down to Paducah, Kentucky for the afternoon. Paducah has a nice riverfront, known as the lowertown, and it was a nice day to enjoy it.

Here, we are about to dig in to a tremendous sundae called the '37 Flood. This was at the Ice Cream Factory on Broadway. We were pretty lucky, as this was the last day they were open before closing for the winter.

Here we are next to the city's flood wall, decorated with images of the old days of Paducah as a port city.

A lot of people were out on the river that day, enjoying a nice fall Saturday.

Finally, here are a couple of pictures of the trees near the Staleys' house. They live in a nice little neighborhood off of Pleasant Hill Road. The first picture is the tree in front of their house, and the last one is the view from their balcony.

The final report from the weekend trip comes tomorrow. Plus, stay tuned for the surprise ending!

Our Salukitown Trip, Part 1

Angie and I got to spend Halloween weekend in Carbondale, visiting with Noble and Lynnette. It was such a fun, jam-packed weekend, so I'm going to divide the pictures into more than one blog. On Friday night, Halloween, we arrived in time to see Noble and Lynnette's girls at the big Halloween party at Vine Community Church, where Noble is now on staff. You should have seen this party. You have this large church, and then the whole thing is decorated to look like a giant spaceship. Here are the pictures:

First, here are the pictures of the main sanctuary, which was converted to a space theme, and had six bounce houses. That's right, people, I said six bounce houses. Try to top that one, Sherry White.

The junior high room features a climbing wall, and you can see a zipline in the upper left corner.

The class also includes an old bus which was converted to a stage. Here, it was made into a spaceship.

Here's their youngest daughter, Anna, in a ball pit.

And finally, here are all three girls (L to R): Anna, Kate, and Emma. Emma and Kate were dressed as pink robots.

The evening was quite a production, and we really enjoyed it. Stay tuned this week for the remaining pictures of the weekend.