Eric Nordhoff - The Eternal Optimist

Nothing Fishy About Sea World San Antonio

I will try not to make this post appear as though I'm shamelessly plugging Sea World, but I'm going to do it anyway.

Sea World San Antonio was a great experience for our family. Within 10 minutes of entering the park, we had already accomplished our son, Kaden's, goal of touching a dolphin. That was worth every dime of the $45 entry fee per person.

Not only were we able to touch and feed dolphins, but we also saw a huge tank of sharks, laughed at the Sea Lion show and were astounded at the quality of the Viva show with Beluga whales and black striped dolphins mixed with fantastic human acrobatics and slapstick comedy. That was just the morning routine. After a reasonably priced lunch ($35.00 for the 4 of us), we headed back out and enjoyed some fantastic water rides especially the "Journey To Atlantis". We rode that ride 5 or 6 times before the day was through. What a rush!!

Did I mention October is a great time to go because there were hardly any lines? We didn't have to wait longer than 5 minutes to get on a ride.

The closer for us was the Believe show with Shamu and two other killer whales. Simply inspiring! Also, don't sit as close as we did. We got sprayed big time! We were all soaked in less than 50 degree water. Brrrrr.

I would highly recommend Sea World San Antonio! There's nothing fishy about this place!

Texas Two-step

Krissy, the boys and I have spent the last few days in Texas visiting with my parents.  First, we spent two days in Houston.  While there, we visited Space Center Houston.  It was fun, but they haven't changed much since we last were there in 2002.  We took a tram tour, landed the Space Shuttle on the simulator and watched a few movies about space and the future of NASA (Operation Constellation). 

Kaden and Alex rode a golf cart for the first time on the golf course and my dad paid for the boys to have golf lessons at Bay Oaks. 

Yesterday, we drove to San Antonio.  We spent a few hours visiting The Alamo.  Afterwards, the boys and I watched a IMAX movie about The Alamo called The Price of Freedom, while Krissy and my parents went shopping at The RiverCenter Mall.  I learned a lot about the history of Texas and the importance of the fall at The Alamo.  My favorite line in the movie was where Davy Crockett says "You may go to hell, I'm going to Texas".

Later, that evening we walked the RiverWalk downtown and had Italian dinner at Michellano's (I think that's what it was called).  We would have had Mexican, but we were all a little sick from the Taco Bell we ate earlier that day for lunch. 

Today, the grand finale - Sea World.  Kaden and Alex have been looking forward to going for weeks.  Kaden wants to touch the Dolphins. 

Maybe I'll write a post about it later!

Air Force Academy

Today, we visited the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.  I was very impressed with the campus and the program. The chapel is absolutely beautiful.  It's the most visited man-made structure in Colorado. 

The grounds are impressive. Maybe Alex will want to go and play in their football program!  I highly recommend visiting the Visitor's Center there and taking a tour around the facilities.  It took about 2 hours to complete.

Pike's Peak and iT'Z

Today, we hiked up Pike's Peak - the most visited mountain in North America.  It was a gorgeous, blue sky day.  The boys, Krissy and I set off on the 90 minute hour drive up to the top at about 9:30am from Woodland Park.  I highly recommend doing this.  It is called the Pike's Peak Highway.  It was a beautiful drive - sometimes a bit scary because there are very few guard rails along the road.  Many times you're just a few feet away from cliffs.  However, you are driving so slow, it really isn't that dangerous. 

Once we reached the top, we snapped some photos, took some video footage and grabbed some lunch.  It was amazing how light-headed and dizzy I felt being up 14,110 feet.  Everything moves a bit slower.  The boys loved it, but had headaches and became tired at the top.  I too, needed to rest a bit.  It was quite a difference in hight. 

After lunch, we stopped at a memorial which was dedicated to the writer, Katharine Lee Bates, who climbed the mountain in the 1800's and penned the lyrics to the song "America, The Beautiful".  I could see why she was inspired. 

Later, we drove around the mountain top some more - stopping at a scenic area overlooking the continental divide about 50-100 miles away in the distance.  There was a large snow patch there.  We took the opportunity to throw some snowballs at each other, have a laugh and climb up some steep rocks. The boys loved it - especially Kaden!  He is just such a happy-go-lucky kid.  I enjoy seeing his free spirit. 

We made it back to meet up with the Ham's again at their house.  We took a 30 minute break to get ready for the second half of our day.  We would visit a really great place in Colorado Springs called iT'Z. It is a combination of Chucky Cheese, an all you can eat buffet and an indoor theme park and arcade.  It was a real blast. 

The Ham and Nordhoff boys grabbed some pizza from the buffet area - always stacked with food - salads, pizza, pasta, desserts and even a wine & beer area for the parents.  Inside, there were themed rooms - a cartoon room (where you could eat and watch cartoons), a sports room (where the Women's US Open was airing at the moment), and a Hollywood room (where movies were being played - we caught the end of The Mask and the beginning of SpiderMan 1). Then, on the other side of iT'Z there was a large game room, arcade, fun rides like bumper cars, racing tracks and an spinning airplane flying machine in the center.  

All of it except for the prize games, was free to play for all of us for under $60 for a family of four!  We spent almost 5 hours there being entertained, playing games, riding rides, eating until we were full and watching movies.  What a great place.  It would be fun to have it in Nashville or Cool Springs someday!  It will put Chucky Cheese out of business for sure.

Well, that didn't end our day.  Krissy and I went to Pike's Perk for our coffee shop concert.  I might write a post about that tomorrow.  We'll see!

Woodland Park - The City Above The Clouds

We're on vacation.  On Friday, we flew from Nashville to Denver.  We landed amidst thunderstorms and strong winds.  After we landed and got our rental car, we travelled out of the airport at 9:00pm and all around us were lightning storms - no rain, just flashes of lightening.  It was a great introduction for the boys to Colorado. 

We drove 2 hours from the airport past Colorado Springs and up into Woodland Park to finally arrive at our friends house, the Ham's.  Britt, Michelle, Jack, Dylan and their newborn Bennett, used to be our backyard neighbors.  We're coming up to visit them after Krissy was invited to sing at the Pike's Peak Christian Artists Festival and Woodland Park Christian Church over the next 10 days. 

The boys are best friends and when they get together it's like they've never been apart.  Britt and Michelle are so sweet to host us for so long.  I hope we don't become a nuisance.  So far, though, we've had a blast.  Here's what we've done...

On Saturday we watched Jack & Dylan's last baseball game.  They live in a beautiful part of the country.  Woodland Park sits below Pike's Peak - one of the tallest mountains in the area - over 11,000 feet.  We woke up on Saturday to crystal blue skies and headed straight to the baseball fields.  On the way, you have a majestic view of the Peak - covered in snow.  We watched them play for a while, then Krissy and I headed just down the street to the festival for soundcheck and Krissy's first set.  The setting for the festival is breathtaking. Sitting on the lawn, you face a view of the stage and Pike's Peak in the distance.  It's gorgeous.  Krissy's set went really well.  We met some wonderful people that hosted the event.  We also met a great band called The Sonflowerz.  We spent time talking to the band and their parents.  It was a good time of fellowship and encouragement.  The boys and the Ham's spent a few hours at a Baseball season ending party where they had burgers and hot dogs.  They had fun, they said.

Later that day, we went dirt bike riding.  Britt invited us out to a friend's house that live on some acreage.  The boys and I had a blast riding for over an hour on the open range on the edge of Woodland Park.  I rode with Alex on a 4-wheeler.  Kaden quickly adjusted to Dylan's bike and wanted to go fast!  Alex also got on Dylan's bike and was very careful, but always had a smile on his face.  I eventually got to ride Britt's fast race bike.  WOW - was it awesome.  I definitely want to do that again. 

That evening, Michelle and Britt invited Danny and Suzie and Trevor (the people who owned the land where we rode) and their boys (Nate and Sammy) over for dinner.  We grilled pork tenderloins and ate until our hearts were content!  Later, we roasted marshmallows at the Ham's backyard fire pit.  It was awesome!  Kaden stuffed 3 S'more's in his mouth.  He loved playing with the fire.    The boys watched a funny movie called "The Sandlot".

We had a great first day. 

Today, we started our morning off with breakfast at The Pantry in Green Mountain Falls - a small town just southeast of Woodland Park.  All 9 of us pigged out on pancakes, sausages, bacon, eggs, omelets, cinnamon raisin bread and more!  Yum!  After that, we went on a beautiful hike up towards the Green Mountain Falls.  There had been mountain lion's spotted up there - I have to admit my antennae's were up on the lookout, but we didn't see any.   I kept telling myself what to do just in case. Talk in a low voice, face them, don't look them in the high, make yourself big and slowly back away.  Luckily, I didn't have to use this technique. 

Michelle hiked with Bennett - I was amazed at that.  We made it about halfway and then it just got too steep for us all - especially Michelle and Bennett.  So, we headed back down and enjoyed the scenery of the area on the way down. 

The boys played in their basement for a while.  Kaden's been really curious about a couple of mice that have gotten stuck in the window sill of the basement window. They will probably die because they have no way of escaping.  Poor things.  Kaden and Alex have also been jumping in the Ham's trampoline a lot.  It's been fun.  They have a basketball hoop on one end so they can slam dunk little basketballs in there. Kaden's been jumping non stop and loves it when anyone jumps with him so he can sit there and get thrown up in the air!  He laughs so hard! 

Later that afternoon, Krissy sang another set at the Pike's Peak Christian Arts Festival.  The Ham's came and watched. Krissy did great.  It began raining hard just after Krissy finished her set with the song "Downpour".  Maybe she shouldn't have sang that one so convincingly! 

After that, we went to one of the area sports parks and played flag football with the boys for over an hour.  It was a turf field.  Really nice.  Britt, Kaden and Dylan played against me, Alex and Jack.  We had fun.  Soon, some other kids came and joined us for a little while.  It was fun!  Alex was playing like a wildman - he's ready for tackle football.  He was running through the other kids and making great catches and scoring big TD's. Kaden was also playing great - running past other kids and juking around to make some scores.

We had a nice dinner that the girls prepared that night and the boys watched the first half of Transformers.  Tomorrow morning we'll watch the rest.  Britt has to work in the morning, I'm not sure what we have planned.  I'm sure he's wiped from the weekend.   

It sure is beautiful out here. We're getting used to the high altitude - drinking lots of water, using chapp stick and drinking more water.  I'm a lot more tired than normal up here too. 

The Ham's have been great hosts.  They've treated us so well.  We love it here!  Stay tuned for more updates from The City Above The Clouds!