So today Nikki and I begin our first vacation without Skyler since she was born 3 years ago. And thanks to Lisa (and Chris) for letting us use her (their) timeshare for the week.

Backing up. Nikki and I have been wanting to go somewhere on a vacation as adults – not parents – for some time now. Skyler is big enough to stay with Grammie or Grandma now. The timeshare opportunity came up and we jumped on the chance. Fast forward a few months and here I am sitting on “The Sunset Limited” at 6am. Dave was nice enough to drive us here way earlier than God should allow people to be awake. We arrived at a small train station in north downtown Houston. Checked in and sat for a little bit. It was pretty cool to see the artifacts on the walls about the history of each of the lines that run through this station. There is the Burlington Northern that runs Dallas to Ft. Worth to Houston. Another runs north to Chicago.
The Sunset Limited runs from Los Angeles to New Orleans. The train used to divide up by individual cars and get ferried across the Mississippi river. That is until Dec 17, 1935. A bridge was built at a cost of $13,000,000. According to the wall of the station that bridge still is considered an engineering marvel.

I would like to say I’m going to blog about the trip every day. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So I’ll update as I can and we will see what happens. But for now, peace.

The address(URL) has changed. I now own www.theencode.net  GoDaddy had a pretty good sale  so I got it. Thanks to google apps I also now have a new email address. rob@theencode.net   So those are the changes that were coming. Everything is finally in place. will the old URL still work you might ask. yes it will but it will redirect you to the new one causing it to take a little longer to load so you may as well update you bookmarks.   anyway thats what I have for now.

Peace

So as usual it’s been a while. I’m thinking it’ll be a little easier now that I can blog from my iPhone.  A couple things recently; Skyler is getting bigger (as usual) and she is getting smarter. I can’t imagine what she will be like when she is all grown up. She is a great little girl I missed her so much the last few weeks. Read more »

ok so there are some changes coming soon. The url will be changing soon, and once I get my iPhone I’ll be able to update a lot better, no more waiting to get home and what not.  The address change will be about 2 weeks or so we will see I’m working on getting everything squared away. The new address? What is it going to be you ask??? well thats easy: www.theencode.wordpress.org/default.wiki.htmpl.aspx?isc=gdbb15

ok remember that its not too hard. What you cant remember that? Well how about I make it a little easier.

www.theencode.net

simple enough???
ok look for it soon.

So my mom says I need to update my blog more often. Mom;  this one’s for you.

Nikki found an article about a hobby called letterboxing. see nikki’s blog for details . we have been doing this as a family and have really taken to it. exploring different parts of the city that we have lived in for a while and seeing new things we didn’t even know were here.  I haven’t put anything on here in a while, with facebook and twitter I’m sure people are tired of hearing about what is going on with me.  

Dave and I “fixed” my truck and got third gear back but it still isn’t running on all cylinders… well it is running on all cylinders its the tranny that’s the problem not the engine. but it is displaying the signs that another clutch is going out. so we are going to be replacing the tranny with another one. but a rebuilt is too expensive so i have to buy used. and its not easy to find a good one for what i can fit into my budget.  Anyway im trying to work as much overtime as i possibly can here in the next few weeks so that i can have that money for a new tranny.  Dave has so graciously offered to help me drop the old one and put the “new” one in.  I have the greatest friends anyone could have. they all got together and pitched in for the tranny cost i have that money sitting at home waiting for a transmission worthy of it. 

Skyler is doing all kinds of things lately. she has really learned how to push mommy and daddy’s buttons, luckily we know how to push them back.

I’m at work at the moment. and dont really feel like typing anymore so maybe ill continue it tomorrow.

peace

There are many things in this world that I do not know… but Skyler does. Every so often she decides to share some of her knowledge with Nikki and I. Yesterday she decided to share something with us about our cat, Chester. We were getting dressed after our bath and by we, I mean Skyler. We were talking about pajamas and where hers are kept and then out of nowhere she saids, “Chester keeps his pajamas in his poop box.”

And that my friends, is The World According to Skyler.

So the other day Nikki and I were sitting on the couch when Nikki looked over to the window only to notice a small little critter climbing on the chair and up onto the window screen. Read more »

It took a little over a week but my back has finally stopped hurting. Skyler and Grammie built a so called “fort” last Tuesday. Read more »