A titch more Teensy

Well we've finally scraped up all the dried on frosting from the beating our kitchen took last Friday for Teensy's party. It was a lot of fun having many of our friends and family take the time to join us for the celebration of her first birthday. Levi and Emma both had less than spectacular first birthday's when compared to Titus' first birthday. His first birthday was literally a three ring circus. We had clowns, a ring master, decorated our church fellowship area in Texas to look like a circus, ordered custom made lollipops, and had a pinata (in Texas everyone has a pinata at their birthday, not sure why) the size of a small man (this thing stood about 4 1/2 feet tall for real). We had a lot more time and resources for Mr. T's first birthday, with Levi and Emma we just felt good about having a birthday.

Kendra made her smash cake and cupcakes for the guests, I made chili and green chili cheddar cornbread muffins. We had all the fixings to make Frito pie, too. One of my good friends from Texas, Sharon (who lurks about this blog now and then, HI Sharon!) who hails from Nebraska had never tasted or heard of a Frito pie! I couldn't believe that she had never had a Frito pie! For those of you who are deprived of this fantastic, crave-inducing delight, a Frito pie is simply corn chips, chili, and cheese layered together. Some folks put onion and peppers on, but me I like it just straight up. Corn chips, cheese, chili, more corn chips, chili, cheese. It is just fantastic. For the next several years anytime Sharon had not tried or had anything we would always say, "you've never had a Frito pie!" I'll have to post my recipe for Chili, it's really good an easy to make.

Back to the party. Kendra is amazing to me. She can get an idea or what my Granny would call a wild hair and just pull it off. For Teensy's cake, she wanted to make fondant ribbons for each cupcake and for Teensy's smash cake. Well we've never touched fondant, worked with fondant, other than to peel it off the cake we were about to dive into at weddings. That was not going to stop my sweet wife from tackling the project. We've watched enough Ace of Cakes and Food Network challenges to have visual memories of folks working with fondant. I made the butter cream frosting for the cakes and proceeded to make the ribbons. First she tinted the fondant to the specific colors she wanted, then rolled the fondant dough out to about 1/8th of an inch. She cut the dough into 1/4 inch strips ( it looked like fettuccine noodles) and each strip was cut into 6 inch sections. She would fold each strip into a loop (to look like a tear drop). These loops she arranged on the cupcake in a circle, then placed two or three loops standing up and viola! Ribbon. It was really cool. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the ribbon to post at present.

Here is a close up of the decimated smash cake. Teensy pinched all you see eaten with just two tiny fingers. The above shots of her are how we present all of our children on their first birthday, waist up naked wearing a party hat. She is chewing on a fondant ribbon in each shot. The hat is made of felt, each scallop has a tiny rhinestone on it, and the plate matches the hat, as well as an ice cream bowl which will come out later. It all comes in an heirloom box to keep for years to come. The high chair is the same chair that Titus, Levi, and now Teensy all sat in for their first birthday. It has a permanent place in my sentimental obsession, we can never get rid of that chair. I will also be on a mission to persuade all of my children to have their children sit in the chair for their 1st birthday (it is ridiculous, but my genetic make-up is 80% ridiculous and 20% starch). Those little polka dots were purchased in the cake decorating section and matched the colors Kendra used for the ribbon perfectly.

We have seven Christmas trees in our house at present. We have one in our formal living room, which is decorated with all of our sentimental ornaments. Then there is one in the kitchen ( you can kind of see it in the background) which is decorated in red and white with gingerbread. Kendra can flat decorate a tree! Then we have a snowman tree up stairs in the game room, Levi has a cowboy tree in his room. Titus has a tree that is all blue. Blue ornaments, blue lights, blue ribbon--blue! The tree in our room is kind of a vintage tree with copper bulbs, vintage looking hearts and such. Teensy's tree is awesome. It's a feather boa tree. The tree rests upon a shelf which is right by her changing table. We found a kit with Barbie ornaments and then some brushed metal ornaments. The topper is a tiara, which fell as I see--need to work on the fixing of that. The picture frames on the shelf have her brothers and her Momma holding her. The picture of Momma and her is in a tiara frame. Her room is Mint green and pink. I'll have to post some pictures of her room. Very cool.

Our kids are growing up with a deep love for celebrating and being excited about doing stuff. Kendra and I both want to celebrate that we are a family and we make everything a party. When we go to Target, it's a party! No matter what we do we try to make it a fun and exciting adventure and not a drudgery. Hopefully happy memories are being built as our kids carefully lay the foundation of their lives out in the Spoon house.

Teensy turns One!

I really have the hardest time wrapping my brain around the fact that our little miss has been in this world for 365 days! Watching her brother's and her grow is like watching sand pour through an hour glass, so fast, so quick, so hold on a minute I'm just not ready.
You can read about our journey with her starting here then you'll have to go here for more but, then you will be caught up. With all that we've been through you would think she's 30! As we were climbing the mountain Kendra and I thought we would never reach the top, but now it seems we've reached the summit, slipped and are now sliding down hill out of control, it's just going too fast.
She marks the end of her first year of life with some really terrific and unique "Teensy" things that only she can do.

• She doesn't have teeth, not even a sign that teeth are in her future. Most babies have a full head of teeth by one, but not our little miss. She's going to wait, thank you very much.


• When she is in full grin there are two perfectly symmetrical dimples right on top of her cheeks. Perfect little drops in her sweet little cheeks. Those dimples!


• Her steel blue eyes glimmer and shine brighter than any star in the universe. Mildred talks about German glass glitter ALL the time, well it has nothing on the baby blue's of my princess.


• Carbs! Lord oh Lord does this gal love bread. Crackers, toast, biscuits, pizza crust, rolls, crescents, you name it--she loves it! Teensy must have her bread fix as we eat dinner, nothing will suffice until we put bread on her tray. She extends her thumb and index finger to pinch up the piece of bread and then as she pops it in her mouth give the satisfactory moan of approval.


• Mobility. Teensy is not sitting up on her own now, she would just rather lie on her back. I'm not sure it is due to the scoliosis she has or what, but she is just not sitting up. As for crawling, well she's not a conventional crawler either. She prefers to lie on her back and arch up onto her head and feet, like a bridge, and push. There's no place she won't get b doing this and by of course rolling. If she sees a tag, she will get there and let nothing stop her! She loves tags.


• Brother's. Teensy loves her brother's. There's nothing that can make her laugh harder or longer than her brother, Titus doing many of his famous stunts. Chubbers brings her lots of laughs too, but they are short lived because Chubbers is convinced that she is in need of being dealt with. He will attempt to change her, feed her, lift her up to "holds you", or change her clothes all of which she completely ditests. The only thing that she hates worse is the sight of a Kleenex coming at her nose.


• Right foot. There's something about a shoe and sock on her right foot that she hates. The minute we put her shoes and socks on, she's working to free that foot. Aside from the positively delicious taste of sock, she just likes to have that one foot free. I wonder if she will be the kind of gal who has to have that one foot out from under the covers?


• Stillness. There's not much of that. She's in near constant motion. When we have her on her changing table, she's trying to buck off. The only time she's still is when she's sleeping. Which by the way she flips to her tummy to sleep. We don't put her on her tummy she just flips over, I would have to stand by her crib and flip her back which I won't do as I am fairly accustomed to sleep in my ever increasing old age.

To say that Teensy changed our life is like saying that electricity is just a passing fancy. Kendra and I are stunned by this amazing lady who has shown us more about living life that we could ever learn in a lifetime. She has taught us to completely and totally surrender control to God. There is absolutely no way that we could have made it through the last 365 days without the constant stability of our Lord. His strength, power, and assurance is all that we have had to be carried through. Every obstacle placed before us in the last year has not been a mountain because God made them molehills. Kendra and I both surrendered our selves to the Lord's care in the first few hours of our drama. I knew that facing the thought of losing my wife and unborn child, which I had no idea I had made, was beyond my ability to comprehend and control so I gave the control over.

I love you little miss, with all of my heart and soul. When I gaze into your eyes I see hope, fortitude, resolve, strength, and love for a life you have just begun to live. When I hold you in my arms I feel the future and know that tomorrow is going to a better place because you have lungs to breath and a heart that beats. I have no doubt you will do amazing things because I know you will be in the hands of a God who made sure you came into this world with pomp and circumstance and He just doesn't waste His time. Happy birthday my little Teensygirl.

Thumbprints

It's that time of year when my heart calls me to the kitchen. I just love to bake and cook around the holiday's. I wanted to share one of my all time favorite cookies with you. The first time I had this cookie was at Mildred's house. She is a great cook and I can't even begin to tell you how many recipes I've taken as my own which she gave me. It really drives her crazy which is another good reason to continue doing it. I did give her credit when I wrote my cookbook, for one recipe--beefy rice, which is so delicious.


When Emma was in the NICU at St. Francis I made these cookies for the staff as a thank you and expression of our profound appreciation for their dedication to all of the babies that came through their loving hands. This picture of her is from November 30, when she had been in the NICU just a few hours. She held my finger at 4:00pm, for the first time. I will have a post dedicated to her on her first birthday, in 11 days.



Kendra and I tried to keep a macro vision when we were there mostly because our Teensy was doing so well compared to the other babies that were not doing so well. It just changed our perspective. We were totally focused and in tune with her, what she needed, how many grams her poop weighed, etc. But there was also this overwhelming sense of, "it could be so much worse." We had hundreds of people praying for our girl daily, as we were too, but we didn't know who was praying for the other babies. I kept a prayer list in Teensy's isolette chamber drawer just so I knew. The nurses didn't care because they knew why it was there. We ran into one of those babies at our Trunk of Treats in October and it was so cool to see the family, remember them, and get a chance to tell them that this church prayed for their baby.



When I made these cookies, I would usually make a triple batch, for each shift. I can get about four dozen cookies out of a batch, so I was usually cranking out at least 12 dozen cookies every time I made them. There were only two shifts, night shift was second, day shift was first. We took the cookies in a red toile tin with a promise that if the tin was returned empty it would be filled up again. We tried to take something every week, it became every other week after a while, but it certainly left an impression on the nurses and doctor's who cared for the babies because they knew that someone noticed them and appreciated their hard work. The most amazing thing about our 40 days in the NICU was that we were never known as anything other than, "Emma's Parents." Their whole focus was on her and her care not on the food and gifts we brought to them. As a parent we felt totally helpless, which is not a feeling that Kendra and I handle well. We had to do something and bringing baked goods was just the very least we could do. Those nurses have our undying gratitude and appreciation that will never fade with time.

There is a great candy cane company that only opens for one month at Christmas (it's in Minerva, KS) and they make the best candy canes I have ever eaten in my life. Mom's gets scads of them and has leftovers every year which I gladly eat, I love candy canes. Mom brought up all the leftovers we had and we gave them to the staff for Christmas, which they just flipped out over because it's not very often you get a home made candy cane for pete's sake.

Dr. Anderson was Teensy's neonatologist and I just can't say enough good things about him. We love him. When he ate these cookies it took him back to his home town. He told us he was from the North and that these cookies were made "up there" all the time and he hadn't had any since he had been in Oklahoma. I was thrilled to be able to give our babies doctor the cookie that took him back to his roots. I wanted to make other cookies, but knowing these were his favorite I just couldn't do anything other than these cookies.

I love the fact that they are bite sized, some people might try to make two bites out of them, and you can just pop them in. They are light and buttery with just at slight hint of almond, from the icing. But the most predominant flavor is the raspberry. I'm getting one of the worst cravings for these cookies as I type. They are so good.

I hope you try them and add them to your cookie collection for holidays. They are super easy. We have a v-shaped cutter from pampered chef and it is perfect for drizzling the glaze on the cookie. If you ever wondered what you were going to do with that thing, here you go.
Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam**

Glaze Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Combine butter, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour. (I never do this step, but as disclosure it's in there.) Heat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. I use a small spring scoop (like an ice cream scooper). Place 2 inches apart onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb (edges may crack slightly). Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon jam. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely. Meanwhile, stir together all glaze ingredients in small bowl with wire whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

**Substitute 1/2 cup of your favorite flavor jam.

Ahoy me harties!

It was a balmy day on the choppy sea as Captain Hook glared over the bow of the Jolly Roger for his nemesis, Peter Pan. Their long standing rivalry was begun after Captain Hook lost his hand, in one ill fated confrontation with Peter. His life would be complete if he could just have one good swipe at Peter Pan with his hook, or yea even his sword which is always at his side. Even though he was watching for this flying menace with the most serious concentration, one eye is always peeled for, "Tic Toc" the alligator that had a, shall we say, taste for Captain Hook. Hook knew, in the back of his mind, that his end would not be at the dagger of that malcontent Peter, but by razor sharp teeth of an alligator. His hope was that day would never come, or at least too soon.

Just as surely as the sun rises in the east, Peter shows up causing Captain Hook grief. Buzzing around like a fly--swooping down to tease Hook as he messes with the plume of his hat. Peter delights in seeing the choreographed swaps of Hooks hand flailing about. This man who prides his self on order and, "good form" is completely undone by this boy who terrorizes him to no end. Why is it that he can't stay on Neverland Island and leave the seas to Hook. Of course it is because Hook rarely ever sets foot on dry land, the Jolly Roger is his land, and Peter wouldn't have any fun at all if not for Hook and his ranting and raving as he swaps the empty air trying to catch Peter.

Most days are spent in a carefree fashion, Peter spending his time fluttering about with Tinkerbell. Peter is oblivious to the affections that Tinkerbell has for him, instead thinking that she is after all, a silly fair incapable of having more than one emotion at a time. You would think that there aren't enough adventures to keep Peter and the lost boys busy, but it seems that Neverland has an endless supply of adventure for these boys who will never know the cold steel blade of a razor against their adult cheeks. There is a part of Peter Pan that knows when the adventures end so does his childhood, which makes him all the more eager to never try to find the end of adventure. He never seeks to end the rivalry with Hook, or reveal the true identities of the lost boys, those secrets are kept in Peter's heart. Peter's family is the company of the Lost boys and without them he would have no companionship.

There is Tiger Lily, the proud Princess of the Picaninny tribe, but Peter finds their order and sense a little close to "grown up" for him. He knows that Tiger Lily is a true friend to him and is also oblivious to her affections as well. Tiger Lily would defend Peter to her death, an oath she almost made come true. You see there was one occasion when the tension between Hook and Peter took an uncomfortable twist, convincing Tiger Lily that she needed to take matters in her own hands and deal with Hook on her own. It would not be on her own terms however for she made the mistake of challenging Hook on his territory. There wasn't a mouse on board the Jolly Roger that Hook didn't know about and tolerate. Even though Tiger Lily channeled all of her Indian stealth to lurk through the choppy waters of Neverland, the minute she touched the boat, Hook knew something was up. With the knife in her mouth, Tiger Lily's only goal was to end the feud between Peter and Hook. The ambush that awaited Tiger Lily was upset by Peter Pan who flew in at just the right time to capture Hook's attention away from his beautiful friend.

Tinkerbell could do little to help Peter rescue Tiger Lily from the danger ahead, deep down in side she didn't really want to do anything because one less beautiful girl casting her glance toward Peter was just fine with her. Peter was for her and her alone. Tinkerbell, an expert at mending pots and kettles knew how to use that skill to mend broken hearts. She wanted Peter Pan to be for her and her alone, but she knew that true love would drive Peter from his childhood and straight into the throngs of adult responsibility. Nothing else could ever distract him from his life of leisure as the chief child on the island of Never land. Had she not witnessed first hand, the time she almost lost him, she would never have believed any ones tale. There was indeed a time when Peter nearly gave it all up for true love.

Peter would often fly to England in search of a great bedtime story. The summer, spring, and fall months were perfect times to hunt for good stories so he made his trips most often during those seasons. Everyone had their windows thrown open to receive the cool breeze of the night air. Peter's ears were tuned in to hear the perfect story. He heard many stories, but none caught his ear like the one's he heard from a particular townhouse in Kensington. He found them at the Darling home. Wendy, John, and Michael were indeed luck to have a mother like Mary Darling. She was the best of all mothers, kind and gentle; full of compassion and love for her children. She would enter their room at night, dressed for her own night's slumber, but wanting to give her sweet children one last story to stoke their imaginations for a night of wonderful dreams. Peter loved to listen to Mary's stories and would lose himself in the fact that he was afraid of women and resisted any adult that would come his way. Mary was different, she was kind and loving and the way in which she spoke to her children put Peter at ease of her persuading him into his own life of adult hood. He would land like a feather on the stoop and open his mind to her voice as she told the stories that dreams are made of.

Night after night of stories went off without a hitch until one night when Peter lost his shadow. Shadows are mischievous little scoundrels. Peter had to have his shadow, although it would help to not have a shadow as his shadow gave him away to Hook often times as he swooped down for his daily dose of torment. One just can't live without a shadow, however beneficial it is to tormenting Pirates. Not being familiar with chartering the skies of the Darling children's rooms, Peter bumped into a Chiffarobe, moved since his last visit. Peter had never seen anything more than the back of the Darling children's heads as they were frozen in their beds listening to their mother's stories. Their white linen sleeping gowns glowing in the moonlight. That would all change as he swooped down to catch that ornery little shadow.

To be continued.

Up Jump The Devil

My best friend in the whole wide world is Mildred. Halloween is a perfect time of the year to share with you one of the most wonderful joys of my life, more than a golden ticket from my favorite Barista, more than 90% off at my favorite store, this tops of my list of things I love--scaring Mildred. I just can't tell you how awesome it is. One thing to understand about scaring Mildred is that Mildred is a tough ol'bird. She's not afraid of tornadoes or walking in the baddest part of town at midnight, oh no bring it it on for her. She has no fear of "natural" things. No, no, see she's afraid of things that don't really happen in the natural world. I'll explain.

When Kendra and I lived in Oklahoma City and were working at Deer Creek we were good friends with the Triplett's. We spend many hours together; Mildred and her family, Kendra and Me, and the Triplett's sitting around either one's home and laughing until our belly's hurt and our tear ducts were dry. So much fun. I think for Kendra and Me the Triplett's house was our favorite place to hang out because we loved their house! It was in a very nice neighborhood of Oklahoma City called Blue Stem and the house was our dream of an absolute perfect house, now we say we would add one more bedroom since Teensy's surprise arrival almost a year ago (one month and 4 days to her 1st birthday). The floor plan was totally open and inviting, as were the Triplett's. I loved the kitchen and really liked cooking in there.

On one of our fun nights we were all cutting up and having a ball when Larry, sorry Pat and Larry Triplett, walked in the kitchen with this horrendous old man mask, that looked a lot like this one. Well Donna nearly dropped her contents! In addition to being really fun to scare she is even more fun to startle! It's really too easy to startle her, but it's still fun. Of course after she was startled we all got a HUGE classic Mildred lecture. As the night progressed, I decided it was time to pull out all of the stops. Mildred was at the sink, which had a window looking out over the side of their property. The street lights gave a blue haze to the dark night sky. I put that mask on and snuck around to the window and waited for her to get totally engrossed in a conversation. At just the right moment, up jump the devil! I popped up and caught her eye. She threw up her towel screamed and spun around! It took me a good five minutes to get off the ground because I was laughing so hard. She refused to look out that window any more that night, and really didn't want to go to the sink. The other thing to remember about Mildred is that when scared it usually marks her for life. Call her today and ask her about that night I jumped up at Pat and Larry's and we are RIGHT back to that night, and I get the same lecture as if it had just happened.

When Mildred's husband was on an out of town trip, for business, Mildred came over to the house to hang out with us. We always ate too much, laughed a lot, and just had fun together. This night was no exception other than we had decided to watch the Blair Witch Project. It was ALL the rage in 1999 and it seemed EVERYONE was talking about it. We started the movie about 10 or so. You have to understand that I'm not, so not, a night owl. I turn into a pumpkin around 10 and it just gets worse and worse at the night wears on. It drives Kendra crazy and Mildred too. I have never been a night owl, I'm a morning person. I say that to say, Blair Witch put me to sleep.


It didn't put Mildred to sleep, it put her in a state of absolute marked for life sheer terror. What makes this movie so believable is the way in which it was shot, like a home movie all bouncy and rough, not like a really fancy high dollar production. There is a part of the movie where this person is in a tent and children are all around the tent banging on it. Mildred was wrapped up in a blanket, peeking out with half an eye--totally and completely horrified. This movie ruined her.



The next day she was still ruined, still marked, still mortified that she had allowed her mind to open, even a crack, to the images and sounds of this now horror classic. It was all she could talk about. Mildred lives in the boon toolies about twenty minutes from civilization and the thought of her going back to her house...alone was all she could do. She just knew that little children would pop up and surround her house banging on the walls or something. She stayed with us for three days and then went over to the Triplett's for another three days. I really believe that she's still haunted by this movie--it really ruined her. I'm sure, not that she ever reads this blog, that she will get all tense and keyed up just reading this post. It's ok Mildred, they are all actors. My friend Tracy tells me that this happened in her neck of the woods. Since Mildred and Tracy are friends I'm sure it will come up in conversation (have you asked her about it yet, Tracy?)


Lastly, Mildred had not been on the world wide web for long when this happened, even though it seems she has been there ever since All Gore invented it. I had been after her for some time to get an email account set up. She has dial up which is totally frustrating to ALL of us, especially her. A few years ago I came across this cool picture of a kitchen/dining room and the challenge was to find something wrong with this picture. It came to me in an email, but I found it here and I'm so glad I did. Well the fun thing is as you stare at this picture you realize nothing is wrong, so you lean in closer, and closer when--up jump the devil! this monster face jumps up at you and screams. The first time I saw it I have to admit I jumped. I knew it would be fun to send to Mildred because she just simply could not resist the desire to find fault in this picture and there would be a for sure nose print on her screen. The only sad thing is I was not there to witness the shock. Mildred used to stay up into the wee hours of the morning pouring over the web and checking and responding to email. She was in this two peas in a bucket group and spent a lot of time there doing something. Well...sure enough she opened the picture and took the bait the picture was there and she was nose to nose with the screen when--up jump the devil.

She screamed, threw herself back from the computer in her rolling chair and ran out of the room. I'm sure her hands were close to her face, or covering her eyes. She was Ruined. She did not have her speakers on, or up one, because had that happened I think she would have completely dropped her contents and never touched her keyboard again. She knew she had to get that thing off the screen, but it kept poppin up and she just couldn't do it. So she covered her eyes and side step-slid, into the room waving her free arm around trying to find the computer. She finally managed to smack the screen and slide her hand down to the button to turn off her computer. I got the biggest lecture from her, lord o lord did I get a lecture. "William! I can't believe..." I really don't know what she said because I was laughing too hard. This happened at least seven years ago and she still won't open an attachment from me! How's that for holding a grudge.

Nowadays I just get my kicks out of making her think I'm bidding too early on her ravenous compulsive vintage ebay wallpaper purchases, but you gotta do what you gotta do. See since she has dial up and gets her connection dropped I get the supreme joy of doing her bidding--literally! It's just more fun that I have the ability to share, scaring Mildred. One more thing, Mildred....Boo!

Caped Fear

My Sister and I are four years apart in age, which is to say I basically grew up alone. We lived in the country at the junction of 76 and 86 highway in Neosho. These two highways came together at angles. If you picture a pie shape, our row of house was in the center right before the tip of the pie. There were six houses on our highway and none of them had children my age. I can't remember one time that I had a friend over in the seven years we lived there, except for Corbin Cornell whose mother dropped the reluctant lad off for a one hour trip into town. My cousin, Tiger, would come over but only on holiday or special occasions. I say that to say, my best friends growing up were my imagination and TV. I would get lost in my world and play for hours and hours on end and if I wasn't playing in my world, I was watching TV.

Saturday mornings, I would get up before the sun and make my way into the living room to watch TV. I can't tell you how many hours, collectively, I watched the color bars just waiting for the flag to be shown followed by the guy to com on the air and pray for the day. After the formality of the station revving up for its day of broadcast Super Friends came on, my favorite show! The Legion of Doom and the Hall of Justice was just awesome. I liked Aquaman the most, Hawk Girl and the Wonder Twins drove me out of my mind crazy--didn't like them at all. The Wonder Twins never did anything but get into trouble and cause the Super Heros more work. Gleek their mascot monkey was better than them. I wished them back to their home planet of Exor more times than I can count and wished the Wendy and Marvin would come back with Wonderdog.

I'm not sure why this popped up, but; there was a time in my life when I wondered to myself at what point the world became color. I had watched a lot of black and white TV and also color shows came along so I just knew that at some point in history things must have been black and white. Makes sense to me, how 'bout you? Pleasantville helped me out a lot in living through my thought process.

Super Friends entertained me for hours, I would just get spell bound wondering if my super friends would be able to survive the Legion of Doom's diabolical schemes. Even though Aquaman was my favorite superhero I would pretend to be Superman more than any other superhero, didn't swim much so Aquaman was just not an option, and since every super hero I became had a cape my dad made me a one to be superman. This was not a flowing red cloth cape...no, no...it was a heavy scratchy tweed cape. That's right lime green, dark green, yellow, and white striped tweed cape with a button to attach. I didn't care because that cape would transform me into Superman, Batman, or Hong Kong Phooie, and I would have super powers just like them. None of the super heroes, however, ever had an older sister who got her kicks out of waiting for her little super hero brother to come running through the house only to grab my cape and watch me flail to the ground--flat! She loved that! I hated it! Every time I wore my cape I ran around in fear of my pesky sister grabbing my cape. Dad thought he would fix the problem by writing a note on my cape, "Don't Tug on Superman's Cape" was written on my green striped tweed cape with Marks A Lot Black Marker. It was kind of the cherry atop my pathetic attempt at being a super hero. I still have that cape in my Mom's cedar chest and it still has the warning, thanks Jim Croce, for all to see.

I knew when the Super Friends would be showcased by the villain showcased. If Bizarro, Brainiac, Lex Luthor (who founded the legion), or Toyman were on it woudl be Superman's day to shine. If Black Manta was on Auqaman would be the lead of the day. Cheeta and Giganta were the arch enemies of Wonder Woman and if Giganta was on it meant that Apache Chief would guest appear to help Wonder Woman out. Riddler, Scarecrow, or Solomon Grundy meant that Batman and Robin were on their way. Sinestro's yellow ring always battled against the Green Lantern's green ring. Just loved the stuff!

Watching those shows now I see how hokey they were, but back then I ate it up! I still enjoy watching the old shows and remember most of the episodes and get all keyed up just like I used to.

I usually watched my shows until the beginning of American Bandstand, and we left to go to town with Granny. I was never interested in American Bandstand and really, really loved spending the day with my Granny.

Vacation long ago, go

The Summer of 1974, my family and I had been waiting in our green station wagon for our turn to get into Silver Dollar City. We knew we were close because we had passed the horse ranch which my sister and I always wanted to visit, "we aren't here to ride horses we are here to go to Silver Dollar City", but knew would never happen. We loved Silver Dollar City. We loved the walk up to the tram stop in parking lot C, we loved seeing the long green snake pull up, "howdy folks, welcome to Silver Dollar City, Please wait until the tram comes to a full and complete stop before loading, watch your head." The Silver Dollar City was the first of many rides that I looked forward to. I can still remember the heat of those metal seats burning my legs as I slid into the bench, scrunching close to my Dad. Mom never let me ride against the edge because she was afraid I would fall to my death...on a tram going no more than five miles an hour!
There weren't many rides compared to Six Flags (ST. Louis) or Worlds of Fun (Kansas City) but they were great. Sis and I always made our way to every one full excitement and anticipation. There was: Fire in the hole, Run a way mine train, Rube Dugan's Diving Bell, and the Train. Of course, you can't forget Marvel Cave which wasn't really a "ride" but totally cool to walk through. Mom never stepped foot in the Cave, Dad had to go. Mom just shopped while we did the cave.

The center of town was cool because we could ride a real mule driven stagecoach, or go through Tom Sawyer's tree house (which is closed), and stood mesmerized and all keyed up because the Hatfield's and McCoy's were at it again. I really believed the story and always had a tinge of fear that those guns were loaded. The Sheriff wanted to deputize me and I was reluctant because I just wasn't ready to defend the city against the bad guys. I remember well when the Plunge came to SDC and it was just awesome! I didn't care about getting wet back then, now I do care-A LOT! Plus the apple butter house was right by it and you could sample fresh apple butter--HOLY COW that stuff was good.

Vacations for my family were always an adventure because something had to go wrong. Thinking back it was as if our car knew we were getting ready to go somewhere and decided it would just breakdown. We always packed a cooler with bologna and bread, mustard for Dad, and drinks chips. We never ate out on the road, Dad didn't want to stop he just wanted to get there. We would stop for critical bathroom breaks (most of the time on the side of the road) because I had reached the point of no return. On our only trip to Florida, which we drove to, my family loves to point out that I had--HAD to stop in every state to, "leave my mark." When nature calls you just can't tell it to leave a message.

Silver Dollar City meant funnel cakes. I just love funnel cakes and looked forward to eating them every time I knew we were going. There is one place in the park that I prefer to get my cakes from and don't really thing the other places do justice, it has to be that place. It also meant salt water taffy. Watching that taffy machine crank out fresh batches of taffy just brought joy to my heart. Plus, they give you free samples and for a boy who wasn't allowed to get souvenirs or was given spending money--free samples meant a lot! We did by the souvenir glass mugs because it meant cheaper refills. They have since become plastic mugs, but the glass ones were really cool. SDC has unfortunately become a fan of huge skillets that cook a goulash kind of conglomeration, which I am OUT on-Totally! I just can't stand the smell or sight of these huge vats of mixed up food stewing away. This picture does not do justice to the "real" sight of such a thing. I can't really describe it other than to say it looks like some took a compost buckets contents and decided to cook it over an open fire and add stagnant swamp water to it. BLECH!

We also ate lunch in the lost Mine, I don't think that I've eaten in any other place at SDC--ever. The Mine is a cool place, underground below the Fried Chicken place. You eat on tin plates and drink out of tin cups. The cornbread is just the best I've ever had. It is a buffet, but it feels like a cafeteria. Love the Mine. The Mine also had a special table which slowly crept up as you ate. By the time you were through eating it was about four or five inches higher than before. It was really fun to watch people who didn't know the table grew and see them try to fight off the feeling that they are losing their minds. So cool. By the way the picture to my right, taken from the SDC website does not--NOT portray the true visual experience of the Mine because the food does not look that good.

Hannah's Ice Cream Parlor is a true old fashioned ice cream parlor that I love. The blackberry ice cream would make anyone decide it's ok to be fat! I'm telling you it is incredible. They make the stuff right there on the sight in huge ice cream churns. They look just like the wooden bucket ice cream makers we all know, only super sized to 10 gallon not one gallon. So cool to see these things churning out such delectable confections--I'm a huge fan of ice cream. Just love it and Hannah's is the best place for Ice Cream ever!

Around 1980 or so I had a brush with celebrity. I will never forget walking by Grandpa Jones in the Park, "Hi Grandpa!", "Howdy son." He said, "Howdy son" to me--Me! Silver Dollar City had just built this huge amphitheater and showcased the Darlin Band from Andy Griffith fame. Grandpa Jones had come as a special guest. So cool to see a real live celebrity. The amphitheater called Echo Hollow opened after the park closed which meant you could stay a little longer and then go enjoy a good show. I loved the fact that the band that played with Andy Griffith was actually playing for me Live! They were really great and we always enjoyed the show. I don't' know who does the show now, but for the longest time we went to see the Darlin's at SDC. When I was a kid the end of the park was Echo Hollow but it has since grown on beyond.

We just wrapped up a trip to Branson and SDC where we took Teensy and the boys and it is just as I remember it. So much has changed and the park has really grown up, but so much is still the same as I remember it when I was a kid. Knowing that my boys can walk the same paths that I walked at their age and ride the same rides (some have been removed though, but that kind of ruins the nostalgia) is awesome. We had Teensy last year when we went to SDC and didn't know it. This year she rode in a stroller and not in her Momma belly! I got tickled at Kendra because she commented that, "these hills aren't as bad this year as they were last." There are some really steep hills you have to walk, and when you are pregnant and don't know it it's really bad!

I had the same feeling of melancholy when we left the park on Friday, a week ago, as I did when we left park in 1974 and years following. When would I get to come back to this wonderland and enjoy the freedom of fun. Waiting another year just didn't seem fair to me. These memories wrap around me like a warm blanket and just keep my soul cozy. Silver Dollar City is a good, good friend.