Day at the beach

We're enjoying our vacation in Panama City Beach, Florida. Much of the time, the weather has been overcast, but warm - in the 60's and 70's. But, a couple of days have been sunny. One morning, we spent some time at the beach. Even though the water was very cold, Miranda still ventured out into the gulf. Enjoy the pictures!

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Drive to Panama City Beach, FL

This morning, we drove from Alexander City, AL to Panama City Beach, FL. Here are some pictures from our drive and from our room where we're staying:

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Dinner with Friends - 12/19/2008

On our trip from Youngsville, NC to Alexander City, AL (about a 12-hour trip including stops), we stopped in Braselton, GA to have dinner with some good friends: Lew and Kati, and Brandon and Heather and their girls.

We've known Lew and Kati for a few years. I (Alan) worked with Lew until they moved to Georgia about 9 months ago. I met Brandon and Heather through blogging. We met them in person for the first time last April.

It was good to spend some time (but not enough time) with these friends. Here are some pictures:

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Appalachian Trail Hiking/Camping Pictures

Jeremy and I went on a hiking/camping trip from Thursday, October 9, until Saturday, October 11, on part of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania with our friends Jim and Jason. Here are some of the pictures from our trip. I'll try to post more about the trip later.

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Beach trip with the church

Sunday, August 24, we went to Wrightsville Beach, NC with the church. We spent all day soaking up the sun, playing volleyball, playing in the ocean, building sand castles, boogie boarding, skim boarding, burying our friends in the sand, and hanging out under the pier. Here are a few things we learned:

1) 6 hours is too long to stay at the beach... until next time. :)
2) We are too old for volleyball... unless someone challenges us again.
3) Sand makes a nice condiment for chicken salad.
4) Six people can quickly go through 20 bottles of water and 24 sodas at the beach.
5) Skim boards look like fun... but hurt.
6) Three applications of SPF 30 sunscreen vs. the sun... the sun wins every time.
7) People gather around when a group of people on the beach play volleyball or start singing.

I hope you enjoy these pictures.

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Exploring Waterfalls

We just returned from a family vacation to the mountains of western North Carolina. In the area where we stayed, there were several waterfalls. One day, we visited some of the waterfalls and recorded videos of our adventures. I hope you enjoy the video and some of the fun that we had on our vacation.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl

On New Year's Eve, our family, along with my (Alan's) parents and Margaret's parents, attended the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. We were happy that Auburn defeated Clemson in overtime. The game was very exciting!

Before the game, we all went to the Varsity for dinner. I (Alan) attended Ga Tech, so it was fun to return to the Varsity. Their menu has expanded, but I (Alan) still had their chili dogs and onion rings. Everyone else had hamburgers or chicken fingers, but its just not a trip to the Varsity without chili dogs and onion rings.

We were actually walking around the Georgia Dome to get to our exit at midnight. So, we "rang in" the New Year with several thousand Auburn fans. Here are a few pictures from before the game.

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Boxing Day with the Knox Family

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. But, this is not about THAT Boxing Day. Instead, on Christmas Day, while we were visiting family in Alabama, our family had a boxing day. Margaret's brother, Ben, brought his Wii, and we all enjoyed playing various games while we were in Alabama. At one point, Jeremy and Miranda both challenged me to a game of boxing. Since I was champion of all the various games on the Wii, they thought they could get the best of me by fighting me back to back.

Thanks to our new videocamera (a Christmas gift from my parents), Miranda and Margaret captured much of the action. (Of course, this means you'll probably see many, many more videos on this blog.) I put the video clips together for my first attempt at making a movie. Miranda helped me - she's already a pro at making movies. So, here is Boxing Day with the Knox Family. Enjoy!

After Thanksgiving Fun

As I've mentioned, we spent Thanksgiving with Margaret's sister Robin and her husband Mike in Sevierville, TN. They were excellent hosts and we had a wonderful time. Mike had lined up some entertainment for us for Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. For Friday, he had gotten us tickets to Wonder Works, and for Saturday, he had gotten tickets for Dollywood.

The day after Thanksgiving - Black Friday - Margaret, Robin, their mother, and Miranda went shopping. They had a good time fighting the crowds and managed to find a few bargains. When they got back, Miranda passed out on the couch. After a short nap, we had to wake her up to go to Wonder Works. Wonder Works is a hands-on type of museum. There were plenty of things to do and see and touch and play with. We also attended a dinner theatre which is attached to Wonder Works.

The next day, Saturday, we went to Dollywood. We had fun riding the rides and watching the shows. Unfortunately, after standing in line for the new ride Mystery Mine, we found out that they shut down that ride because it was too cold. Jeremy enjoyed the big roller coasters: Thunderhead and Tennessee Tornado. Miranda's favorite ride was the Blazing Fury. We also watched Dollywood's production of Babes in Toyland.

The next day, we drove home. We left early Sunday morning to head back to Youngsville. In spite of a short stop in Hickory to meet some friends, it did not take us long to get back home. I heard horror stories of the traffic in NC later in the day, but we did not run into any traffic.

Enjoy these after-Thanksgiving pictures!

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Meeting more friends

On our way home from Margaret's sister's house in Tennessee (more pictures coming up), we had lunch with some more friends: the Sensenigs (Steve has several blogs, including "Theological Musings", and Christy blogs at "Until My Last Breath"): Steve, Christy, and Dillon. They drove down from Boone, NC to meet us at an Olive Garden in Hickory. After making a few wrong turns, we finally found the restaurant and had a wonderful time catching up with the Sensenigs. We look forward to seeing them again soon.

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Thanksgiving Day

Margaret's sister, Robin, and her husband, Mike, (Robin and Mike's blog) hosted our family and Margaret and Robin's parents for Thanksgiving Dinner. We are having a great time with them. On Thanksgiving morning, the ladies started cooking... ok, they actually started the night before. Meanwhile, the men had to chop the wood, mend the fences, milk the cows, and watch TV.

Miranda helped prepare dinner, but she was also responsible for setting the table. We had turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, lima beans, rolls, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and two types of sweet potato casserole. Yes, you read correctly, we had two types of sweet potato casserole: one had marshmallows on top, while the other was prepared correctly with chopped pecans and brown sugar on top. I was responsible for carving the turkey, which had to have been the largest turkey I have ever seen. I think I did a pretty good job cutting it up; at least, no one complained.

After dinner, Miranda showed off some of her Tae Kwon Do self-defense moves by flipping me off of her. Yes, she really flipped me; I didn't let her do it. Then, Aunt Robin and Miranda made a Gingerbread house. I hope you enjoy all of the pictures!

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Meeting new friends...

On our way over the river and through the woods to grandma's... I mean, Margaret's sister's... house, we stopped in Greensboro to have lunch with some new friends: Dusty, Erin, and Elissa Segers. I met Dusty online through my blog, and we have emailed back and forth a few times. Dusty suggested that we meet at Chipotles. (Stan: Yes, Chipotles was very good. We enjoyed it. But, we like Moes better. Sorry.) We had a great time getting to know the Segers family, and, as you can tell from the pictures, Elissa and Miranda stole the show. We look forward to getting together with them again.

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Trip to Niagara and Canada - 2007

After our family trip to Pennsylvania with Margaret's parents in their RV, Margaret and I returned home to North Carolina. However, Jeremy and Miranda and their grandparents continued travelling north. They spent a few days at Niagara Fall - both the NY side and the Canada side. Then, they drove to Toronto and farther north to Cochrane, Canada. On the trip back home, they came through Michigan, across several states to West Virginia to visit some family. They then drove to Tenessee to spend time with their Aunt Robin and Uncle Mike. Finally, after 3 weeks of travelling without their parents, they returned home.

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Gettysburg 2007

Last June, our family travelled to Pennsylvania with Margaret's parents in their RV. First, we spent a few days in Gettysburg. Jeremy and I love history, so I think that the two of us enjoyed this part of our trip more than Margaret and Miranda. Next, we drove to Lancaster County, PA. We spent one day at Hershey Park and another day in one of the local towns. This was a very relaxing vacation and we all enjoyed it. After a week, Margaret and I returned home while Jeremy, Miranda, and their grandparents continued travelling north to Niagara Falls and then into Canada. I'll post pictures of their trip later. Meanwhile, here are two pictures from Gettysburg.

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The Knox Clan Blog

After several months of complaints by certain family and friends (you know who you are) because I never put family pictures on my other blog - "The Assembling of the Church" - we have finally started our family blog. I'm sure that there will not be enough pictures and stories to satisfy everyone, but hey, at least as more than when we didn't have a family blog.

As to the photo above - it is awful. We had just spent about 10 hours at Hershey Park in Hershey, PA (more info about this trip to come). In fact, we look like we just spent 10 hours at an amusement part, so please take that into consideration. Unfortunately, this is the only family photo from the last several months, so it will have to do for now. I'll post an updated family photo as soon as possible.