Fishing Derby 6/7/2008! Brookelle catches first fish and Caden wins!

For a special weekend adventure we decided to take the kids out to the fishing derby in a nice little town nearby named Augusta. We found a promising spot in a side arm of the lake where the kids could stand on a little bridge and have the strong wind to their back. We loaded the hooks with some worms and helped them cast with their little kids poles. We were worried that we had snagged a log or something because Caden's bobber disappeared and stayed under for a while. Then we noticed that it had resurfaced in a different spot and Rachelle and I shouted excitedly "You've got a fish!" As he tried to start reeling he asked for help because his little pole was bending and he couldn't reel. He'd hooked a monster! We slowly reeled it in as it swam closer and finally could see that it was a great big catfish, much larger than the little net we had brought. So Rachelle ran and emptied out a bucket in the car that we use to organize kleenex and sunglasses and such. We scooped it up and went to have it weighed. 2 1/2 pounds! After all the other fish were weighed he won his age group and beat all the kids from all the other age groups to win the entire derby!


Brookelle was also thrilled to catch her first fish, two nice bluegills.


She was a good sport when Caden won three big prizes, a Spiderman fishing pole, a rocket pole that casts by shooting a pod out shotgun style, and a hat signed by a bunch of professional fishermen. Caden was really sweet and decided to exchange the Spiderman pole for a Barbie pole for Brookelle, which made her day.


Heath did some fishing of his own as he waded in and fished out Caden's prize rubber duck and one of the kids camping chairs that had blown in.


After the prize ceremony and lunch we played on the playground. It was our ten year anniversary this week and I heard this playground was a spectacular castle-style one similar to the one at which I proposed to Rachelle. At one point she got it and almost started crying when she saw our whole family in the rocket tower like where I proposed to her. Then we had icecream at the local place that has been there since 1956. What a great day!

Heath Completes his MBA, finally!

After three years of night school I finally completed my MBA and graduated on 17 May 2008. Studying at Wichita State University, a short ten minute drive from home and another ten minutes from home to work, helped make it managable and allowed me to be home for dinner even on school nights. I was at school two nights a week and spent a few hours another two nights and on Saturdays doing homework. I probably leaned too heavily on my ability to read things once and remember them and cram for tests, but it helped me keep school time in balance with work and family time.
I enjoyed the mix of professionals, engineers, and international students at WSU. A happy surprise was the excellent professors at the business school. I was worried that the program would not be very good at such a lesser known school, but I found it challenging, interesting, and practical.

I put off a lot of needed home repair jobs and didn't keep in touch with family and friends like I wanted to, but now that I'm done I'll happily spend more time doing both. Special thanks to Rachelle and the kids for being so patient and helpful during this time. Thank you thank you thank you!!!