Starkville Trip June 2009

We had a really nice 4 day weekend in Starkville. Here are a few photos from the first half of the trip.
Brennan, Don, and Thomas at Umi's Japanese Steakhouse. The Boatwrights took us out to celebrate Thomas's birthday.

The servers who sang (and gonged) during Thomas's birthday song.

Taylor, Thomas, and Carolyn during the birthday song

Ellie with chocolate cake, candles in the shape of a T

The cousins enjoying birthday cake

Opening gifts

Thomas and Mamaw enjoying Mississippi State ice cream

Mama and Mamaw at the Cheese Shop

Enjoying Mississippi State ice cream


Brennan playing some selected tunes at the Nursing Home. It would have been nice if the piano was in tune :)


The boys' great grandmothers. It's a special treat to get to see them both!


I love this photo of the boys and their great-grandmothers

Take Our Children to Work

Thomas attended Take our Children to Work day yesterday. Because David and I work at the same company, in the same building, he was able to join both of us for the day.Thomas enjoyed the mini-museum in the corporate office building. Here is an Audubon - only diesel version still in existence.

The "Exploded Engine" sculpture is always a hit. It was Thomas's favorite part of the day. When I bring engineering candidates in, they always whip out the cell phones to take pictures of this 1960's sculpture.


Thomas enjoyed seeing Clessie Cummins' original engineering notebooks from 90-100 years ago.


I have a lot of pictures of Thomas pointing to things - he's explaining how the engines work. He was pretty fascinated by seeing all the engines up close.


This diesel was the only one to ever win pole position at the Indy 500.


Al Unser Sr.'s 1987 Indy 500 winning car


More 'splaining to Mommy.


We had a Peterbilt truck out front that the kids got to climb on and hear about. They loved the bed in the cab.




On the way to meet up with Daddy and attend an IT meeting (fascinating!), we stopped in at the corporate cafe. This is the ACTUAL BOOTH where David and I had lunch last week!


After getting caught up on IT, David took Thomas to the local airport to tour the corporate jets.


Back at the office after pizza the kids attended 3 modules on Finance, Engineering, and Diversity. Here they're learning about exchange rates with Euros, Rupees, and Yuan and they're purchasing candy with their play money. It was complicated, but they like the strategizing to optimize their candy loot.


While he looks angelic, this captures the true boy.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

Our local independent theater was showing the original "Wizard of Oz Monday" so we got tickets. The boys had never seen it all the way through. Brennan wasn't excited about all the "magic" parts and begged me to make sure we left right after the "normal parts" at the beginning. I said, "let's see how you do". He did GREAT and totally loved it.

We took Thomas out to celebrate being accepted into the AC (Academic Challenge) program for the 4th grade. He chose Texas Roadhouse. And we had a really nice time.

I love our little independent theater. They usually have great shows that we can't see at our big theater.


The Wizard of Oz was a fundraiser for a local group who's raising funds to build a Dog Park in town. We don't have a dog, but have gone to a number of their creative fundraisers this year.


Looks like a happy boy, ready for the show.

Youtube Clip-of-the-Week

Street Musicians performing "Stand By Me". They layered the track with all the musicians singing on the streets as if they were all in one studio. Pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkCJPBHzYzI

Bartholomew County Veteran's Memorial

As part of our Patriot Summer, we decided to visit the local Veteran's Memorial today and talk to the boys about service to our country. Thought it was fitting since it was Flag Day and all. We incorporated this side trip into our bike ride today, and I think the boys were thoughtful about it. The Memorial stands next to our Courthouse when you first enter town.



On the pillars are names of county residents who served in the military over the years.

The bricks throughout our downtown have names and businesses listed. But those near the Memorial are of men and women who served in the military.



In addition to names on the pillars are moving letters from county servicemen who did not return home.




World War I Memorial Plaque


Brennan at the county tribute plaque


Vietnam Veterans Memorial




Revolutionary War Plaque


Sculptures near the Memorial that are part of our Public Sculpture program.


The Dolphin statue and fountain behind the courthouse.


Across the street from the courthouse and Veterans Memorial is the new Cummins building.


Another public sculpture with City Hall in the background.


I feel especially proud that we have such a Memorial to take the boys to. This idea came straight from the book that I'm reading this summer.

Hope you're having a great day!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Laroy!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Laroy! We hope you have a great day. We will see you next week!

Love,
Thomas and Brennan
(David and Bonnie too!)