Happy 10th Anniversary!

I'd like to interrupt all my INSANITY blog posts for a special announcement.  An announcement more insane than any workout program...

As of today, Rebecca and I have been married TEN (10) years.  Now that's insane.

So, Rebecca, here's a little something to commemorate our time together.

10 GREAT THINGS ABOUT 10 YEARS WITH YOU

10. Date Nights
These have been few and far between over the last 4 years (since having kids), but I have had so much fun experiencing life with you.  We've shared delicious dinners and we're always willing to try new places and foods when given the opportunity.  I actually enjoyed the trips to Five Guys while you were pregnant with Isaac, though I packed on a few pounds.  We've caught a few movies (actually in theaters!) over the years.  We've been to tons of concerts, many of which I would've never bought tickets to if not for you (I mean that in a good way).  We've gotten to a couple of ballgames (including the rain delayed game in Pittsburgh that we left too early only to find out the next morning that the Cardinals made an awesome comeback that we missed - Doh!).  We've seen a plethora of plays/productions/even musicals, and even experienced a hilarious Jerry Seinfeld stand-up routine.  You know there's more, but to the point... I really enjoy spending time with you.

9. The 2006 Playoffs and World Series
Let me preface this one by saying that this should really encompass all of the time we spend together in the comfort of our home, chilling on the couch, snuggling (until I get too hot), and watching the tube.  We have our TV shows we like to watch (House, Big Bang, early CSI, etc.), but in 2006 you watched all seventeen (17) Cardinals playoff games with me on our then-new high-def flat panel TV.  All of them.  I know you slept through a few innings, but you proved your fanhood that year and I remember how much fun we had watching those games en route to a World Series Championship.  It was one of those pre-children special moments to me.

8. Vacations Together
With or without our kids, we have had a blast and been so blessed to see a little bit of God's [and some of man's] creation.  The fun began in Kuaui, Hawaii on our honeymoon and has taken us to such places as Gatlinburg, Charleston-SC, San Diego, Hilton Head, Edisto Island, Asheville, Hershey, Pittsburgh, the Caribbean, beaches galore, and most recently, Savannah.  And while we had our "moments" during some trips... you know, spousal navigational disagreements, we managed to get everywhere we were going and enjoy ourselves.  And granted I have been quoted as saying, "Buying that Tom Tom GPS likely saved our marriage," road trips with my bestie are still the best.  I know... I can't quite attach myself to that new word either.

7. Making a Home Together
We bought our house in February 2002.  Ever since then, and perhaps even before then while renting a duplex, we really seemed to click when it came to making our house really feel like our house.  Our style, our taste, your research and our execution of ideas has really made our home the best place for us to start and end our days.  It's special to me that though we are so different when it comes to the things at which we excel, these home projects have always been something at which we've made a great team.  Well... that and making babies!  Woo hoo!

6. Free [Salon Quality] Haircuts!
Maybe some people wouldn't rank this higher than vacations together or making a home together, but while we were in a moment of comic relief, I thought this would be a good spot for this one.  You know I can't stand to be too serious for too long.  That being said, think of all the money I/we have saved in haircuts!  I mean, yeah, you work your fingers to the bone, but... just since we've been married, if I got my haircut once every six weeks (which is pretty conservative), and paid $20 per cut, that's... about 9 haircuts multiplied by ten years, multiplied by $20... that's $1800 we've saved in haircuts!  Not to mention the money we'll save on our kids' haircuts.  Oh, wait, we have a daughter.  Add colors, highlights, perms(?), and up-dos to that list.  I should also mention that the free shampoos afterwards are quite the icing on the cake.  You don't get that at the barber shop!

Salon chair or porch?  It's nice to have options.

5. Your Vocals
Boy, are you vocal! :-)  Sometimes to a fault.  But not when your singing.  Seriously, I m not sure I've ever expressed or expressed enough how your singing floored me from the start.  When you sing, and especially when you're singing to worship God, you touch my heart and so often lead me into a my own place of worship.  It's incredibly beautiful.  And although you hear it from others every time you sing, I wish I never grew tired of telling you that you needed to cut a CD.  We could be rich, I tell you...RICH!!  But who knows, if you made it big years ago, you might have dumped me for a sweeter piece of arm candy.  Instead, thankfully, you've let God lead, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't steered you wrong.  Really I just wanted a CD for keepsake/family heirloom purposes.  But wait!  Now, for the first time, you're in a band!  A band so new it doesn't even have a name yet.  I know how much you're enjoying it and that makes me super happy for you, and I get the feeling I might soon get that CD that I -- and many others -- have been waiting for.

Like I said... Gorgeous.

4. October 6, 2001
It was the first day of the rest of our lives.  It was awesome.  You were a gorgeous bride.  We shared a funny moment at the wick-less unity candle.  You sang Valentine to me at our reception.  And I heard the prime rib was delicious.  How did we not get to eat our dinner until we were on our way to Greensboro?  Cold chicken tenders and leftovers in a Styrofoam box for us.  But we were too excited to care.  That was a sweet day.  You've been a great wife ever since.  It had to be you.

Cue up Harry Connick, Jr.



2. The Sex!
I'm kidding.  I mean... I'm not kidding in the sense that "it" wouldn't make some uncensored Top 10 List, but that's not really my style.  If anyone else reading must know, we've only had coitus twice and it was for pro-creation purposes only.  True story.
Now... you may have noticed there's no number 3.  That is because there's a tie for the #2 spot.  On two perfect days over the last 4 years, you gave birth to my other two favorite people.

    2-a. Isaac James, born December 22, 2007.

    2-b. Ella Riley, born May 3, 2010.

Speaking of "the difficult part!" 

You are a wonderful mom.  You were a wonderful mom from the moment we found out these children were being woven in your belly.  And while you are all the things a fun-loving mom is supposed to be, I'm more proud that my children have a mother, who cares to do well the things that are the more difficult parts of being a parent.  You are prepared.  You are scheduled.  You are disciplined.  You're the bomb mom.  I see it, and I love you for it.

1. You Love Jesus
Completely.  That relationship is something that translates into so much more in our relationship.  And that truth continues to sustain our marriage.  Thank you for your commitment to Christ, for your faithfulness to me, and for your partnership in parenthood.

Happy Anniversary!

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..."

~ Ephesians 5:25 ~

Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head - Day 7

8/26/2010 - The End
After finally having a night of sleep without Darren's snoring, we all slept in to prepare for our last day in Hilton Head.  I guess "slept in" is relative... for me/us, we got up about 9am and Rebecca hooked us up with some yummy pancakes.  We debated on whether we should hit the beach or the pool and decided the pool was more fun for Isaac.  No qualms here... I'd gotten enough of a workout getting to the beach other days.  As you may have already read, the pool was much more accessible and much easier.  We figured if we had time, we would hit the beach that evening for an after-dinner stroll and kiss it good-bye.

How you doin'?

Water buddies all week long.

So it was a quiet morning at the pool, then the usual lunch and naps.  Since we didn't get much shopping time in the night before, we headed back to the outlets. We sat through one last torrential down-pour in the parking lot before attempting to unload kids and stroller.  After hitting a few of our targeted shops, we landed in a Crocs store that smelled like a Goodyear factory.  How anyone could stand to work 8 hours or more amongst that horrendous odor is beyond me.  I had a headache after 5 minutes and felt the need to get my 4-month-old-unable-to-express-her-opinion daughter out of there.  I wouldn't have been surprised to see her unbuckle herself and learn to crawl out of sheer life-saving necessity.

Me and my Ella.

After the outlets we scored some Chic-fil-a for dinner and rushed back to squeeze in both that last walk on the beach I mentioned earlier, as well as a final evening swim for Isaac.  We capped the evening with some ice cream and watched a little of The Barnyard before Isaac crashed.  Rebecca soon followed and I stayed up packing, then blogging, and packing some more with SportsCenter providing some atmosphere -- significant because Albert Pujols hit the 400th homerun of his career that night.  Nice work, Albert!
I hit the sack around 1:00am.  Vacation was over.  I think we all had fun.

p.s. - I was just kidding about Darren snoring.  I never heard him once at night.  Kaitlin will testify otherwise.  :-)

Today's Good Read: John 16:31-33

The End.

Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head - Day 6

8/25/2010: I Think We're Alone Now
Well, at this point, typing this is fairly anti-climactic, but I started this report, and so I'm going to finish it.  Wednesday morning the Potters packed up and headed back to Roanoke.  Before they did, we had a quick photo shoot at a nearby resort gazebo, since we didn't have any pictures of us all together thus far.  After striking our poses, the Potters were off.
Us McMahons grieved momentarily for our loss.  For the Potters were a good people... to have along on vacation: Darren, always a good conversationalist, full of fun stories, a loving brother-in-law and uncle; Melanie, my beautiful sister-in-law, always incredibly cheerful and honest, kind enough to laugh at most if not all of my jokes; and their wonderful twin daughters Kristen and Kaitlin, servants at heart, care-takers of their cousins, 10-year-olds extraordinaire.  Ah yes, good peeps.  Rebecca, Isaac, Ella and I dwelled on this for at least 4 minutes before heading over to the pool.

A wink and a smile.

When it got too deep, Isaac just hitched a ride.

I'm kidding, the truth is that there probably wasn't a single time over the next two days that we returned to our unit from the pool or beach or wherever that Isaac didn't ask, "Are the girls here?  Are the girls back yet?"  Safe to say the Potters were missed dearly.

Back Row (left to right): Darren, Melanie
Front Row (left to right): Kristen, Kaitlin

That evening we returned to a restaurant we visited two years ago called Hudson's.  It's a great low-country restaurant with very good food and a view, if you're ever in the area.  After eating we hit the Tanger Outlets for a little shopping -- Isaac and Rebecca got some new kicks.  The shoe-shopping provided us a huge laugh as I noted on Facebook that day... after finding and eventually settling on a pair of Lightning McQueen (Cars movie) shoes that light up when you walk/run, I noticed Isaac eye-balling some Toy Story-themed shoes.  I quickly interjected his thoughts and said, "Isaac, those are just ugly."  From his rather calm, yet matter-of-fact tone, he seemed quite offended that I would say this about anything bearing the graven images of his beloved Toy Story friends.  His response... "Well I think you two are ugly."  I guess he figured Rebecca felt the same way about the shoes that I did.  Well, she did, and we laughed.

Today's Good Read: Exodus 20:4-6

Just plain ugly.

Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head - Day 5

8/24/2010: Potters' Last Sand
Wednesday was the Potters' last full day with us this week.  Of course, we knew they weren't able to stay all week when they accepted our invitation.  Melanie had to get back and prepare her room for a new Kindergarten class and attend some school meetings.
So we decided to spend the morning at the beach.  The twins were catching some waves on their boogie boards, Melanie practiced her beautiful free-style stroke, Rebecca ventured out knee-deep with Ella briefly, but was nervous about getting knocked over by a wave so they eventually retreated to the umbrella and chairs, while Darren and I threw frisbee and avoided injury (if you know this family's history of beach vacations, this is significant), and Isaac busily dug, moved and threw sand.  As Darren and I lost accuracy with the frisbee, we took a break and went to be with the kids.  He caught some good video of his girls and I built arguably the most pitiful sand castle ever.  What can I say?  My heart just wasn't in that one, and do you ever get the feeling while you're building a sand castle that your back is on fire?

The boogie board pros.

Kaitlin's so good, she can ride waves with her eyes closed!

So I went and got Ella and Rebecca so we could all cool off.  Certainly the little baby would be safe with daddy... he strong like bull.  Rebecca ventured out with Isaac and hung with Darren and the girls and we were all rather entertained by a flock (?) of pelicans diving for lunch.  I stayed fairly shallow with Ella and dipped her in the water oh so carefully in front of me as we both faced the ocean, you know, so I could watch out for those little waves that sneak up on you and crash on your head and your baby's face as you lean over to look at how cute she is.  Yep, I missed that one.  No catastrophe though, I think daddy's head took the brunt of that wave.  Ella was rather unfazed.  And mom wasn't looking.  Way to go, dad... dumb like bull, too.
We got back to the resort for a late lunch, and then the Potter ladies hit the pool while Rebecca, Darren and Isaac napped and read, not necessarily in that order.  I tried to catch up on my blog, but as I type this, I'm still trying to catch up.  So yada, yada, yada... we relaxed, then the ladies cooked fixin's while Darren grilled Bubba Burgers.  Everything was delicious, the kids wanted to watch Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, so we queued it up and watched that while we ate Key Lime Pie -- not bad -- and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie -- barf should be descriptive enough for the taste, not to mention it looked like what I imagine Celery in Red Goo Pie might look like.  See for yourself.  Bleh.

Today's Good Read: Matthew 7:24-29

With all the wonderful pies in the world, people eat this?

An intense moment in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head - Day 4

8/23/2010: Trying to Keep Up!
Okay, so I've already fallen behind on the vacation blog, but things get busy and the only time I have to do it is when everyone is napping (or reading... speaking of which, I brought two books that I have yet to open since I decided to blog instead).
So here's the skinny on Day 4... the kids got breakfast kicked by making everyone biscuits.  The twins did an awesome job, not only handling the important parts of the baking, but also including Isaac in the process.  Impressively, the biscuits were really tasty!

The twins schooled Isaac on the art of Bisquick.

After breakfast, some of us headed off for another morning at the pool.  Ella slept the whole time we were at the pool on Day 2, but this time we managed to go while she was awake... at least for a little while.  After playing with her Aunt Melanie, she didn't have much left in her by the time I got to her and she nodded off right there in water.

Ahh, water feels good...

... and I'm spent.

After lunch, Darren took the twins shoe shopping (and they scored some nice socks, too!) while Isaac and Ella napped, Rebecca and Melanie read, and I blogged and waited for a guy -- eventually two guys -- to come and fix our DVD player.  Eventually, Tales of Desperaux provided the backdrop of a lazy, dreary afternoon.
Melanie headed up a delicious chicken and rice dinner, and we enjoyed an evening stroll... well, Ella strolled... Kristen pushed, the adults walked, and Kaitlin and Isaac piggy-backed and eventually ran.  Darren managed to keep pace with them.  He's faster than he looks!
The kids played for a bit and then invited me for a game of Hide & Seek.  Not to brag, but not only can I hide better than you, I actually put most chameleons to shame.  But then I take it that one step further and scare the crap out of you when you get too close to finding me.  It would actually be cool if chameleons did that, too, wouldn't it?  Anyway, we played teams for a couple of rounds, and eventually I just started hiding each of the kids one at a time while the rest did the seeking.  Wow, the places you can hide when you're 3 to 5 ft. tall and weigh 30 to 70 lbs.

The twins had searched everywhere.  I yelled out,
"Isaac, you're doing great! Keep being quiet!"
From inside the stereo cabinet we hear a happy, "I am!"
Then the girls found him.  :-) 

We got the kids in bed around 9pm and decided we'd have an adult movie night... that is, a night of adults watching a movie... as opposed to a night of adult movies.  But we took it to a "ho' nuva lebol" (a Mad TV / Eugene Struthers reference) and ordered up a late evening pizza like we did back in the college years.  We -- Darren, Melanie and I -- watched the critically acclaimed and award-winning (I think) film, Slumdog Millionaire, and we were not disappointed.  Rebecca managed to stay awake as long as we fed her pizza, but slept for most of the movie and woke up for the last ten minutes, just in time to spoil the ending if she ever wanted to watch what she missed.  This is pretty standard movie-watching procedure for her, and I'm okay with that.  Good movie, good night.

Today's Good Read: Psalm 40:10

Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head - Day 3

8/22/2010: Starfish & Sea Pines & Games, Oh Mel!
Ahhh... the beach.  As a man, I dare equate it to childbirth.  It is SO wonderful, it is worth the associated pain.  The pain: the time drained applying a half-gallon of sunblock to yourselves and your children (not babies, I know, settle down); making sure you have extra swimmy diapers and a hat for each child; packing up a cooler full of water and snacks; making sure you have enough toys not only to play with, but to choose from; packing books to read and crossword puzzles to make you feel dumb; loading everything and everyone up in the car, driving to the beach access, unloading your stuff -- which I can't even remember how we managed, but I remember at one point having a baby carrier on my arm (with baby installed), Isaac in my other arm because he apparently couldn't recall how to walk in sand, and our "green box o' fun" in my hands, and walking like this for about 50 yards (I don't know how far it was, but it was heavy for any distance worth measuring) while Darren dragged the remaining cargo (umbrella, chairs, beach bag, etc.) from the drop zone and Rebecca stayed with the vehicle, only to have to walk back to the car and go park it somewhere legal which is usually far enough away that you actually consider just resting there until everyone is ready to be picked up... but wait, you can't... because you are the family photographer and videographer and you have work to do.  But like I said in the beginning, it's worth "the pain." And over time you forget the pain, and good Lord willing, you do it all over again... just like childbirth, right?  Because the truth is... it's awesome, and I am totally grateful for a change of scenery and time with my wife and children.
Ahhh, yes... the beach.  Finally.  And a great beach morning it was.  Slightly overcast, not too hot.  Good beach weather for a baby.  And baby Ella seemed to have a great first experience of the beach.  She chilled in her tent for a while, woke up happy, and enjoyed her first time in the ocean.

Ella's first trip to the beach.  Worth it, am I right?

The water was pretty calm and Isaac spent most of his time digging around in the sand while Kristen and Kaitlin wasted no time finding sea shells and living sea creatures.  I don't know about you, but until this trip I had only seen the dead and bleached sand dollars people use for interior decor -- usually found in a basket on the back of a toilet along with shell-shaped soaps that no one ever uses.  Well Kristen and Kaitlin found both a living sand dollar and a living, yet battle-worn, starfish!

Kristen with her prized sand dollar, which was released
back into the wild shortly thereafter.

The afternoon was quiet... naps, book-reading, the twins taking care of Ella and watching a movie.  We rested up, and since we were all showered after a salty and sandy morning at the beach, we decided to take a ride down to Sea Pines, specifically the "Wreck of the Salty Dog" area and had some dinner at The Salty Dog Cafe.  We took in some shops and face painting... well... arm painting as it turned out... and headed home.  Isaac found an "Austin" plush toy (Backyardigans character) and a really cool alligator tattoo.

Isaac, Austin and the alligator.

The evening was filled with another round of thunderstorms and a game of Would You Rather...? which Rebecca got for me last Christmas.  Oh my... the potential for blackmail in this game is limitless.  We had the cameras rolling and the pictures below are harmless, but God forbid my break-dancing and Melanie's... umm... I'm not even sure I can say it... so I won't... but God forbid those videos ever make it to YouTube.  The things people will do to win a challenge in a dumb game.  But man, did we laugh and have a great time.

Today's Good Read: Acts 2

Ever had to hold your tongue to win a challenge?

Like father, like son.

Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head - Day 2

8/21/2010: The Beach Will Have to Wait
After an extended travel day on Friday, we all decided Saturday was going to be pretty low key.  We got a good night's rest and decided it would be a pool day.  Island Links has an awesome pool and our unit, like quite a few others, is conveniently located nearby.  We all swam in the morning and the kids and women went back for more after lunch.  Isaac seems to have figured out how to go under the water without getting it up his nose... sort of.  Regardless, he was like a fish by the end of the afternoon.

We also got a good look at the resident turtles and alligators, who seem gracious enough to stay in or close to the resort's... pond(?)... or lagoon... or marsh... or whatever it's really called.

Luckily for Isaac, Uncle Darren thought twice and
decided to save his $10,000 for a rainy day.

Anyway, it was a pretty relaxing day topped off with taco night and Ben & Jerry's.  Mmmm... Ben & Jerry's.  Phish Food.  Half Baked.  Chunky Monkey.  Cinnamon Buns.   Yes, I am a Weight Watcher... and I'm on vacation from that, too.  Man, we killed some ice cream last night, and as some reading this may have assumed, Darren is still the champion.  We also caught an interesting episode of River Monsters that featured the Snakehead fish.  Scary fish with lots of teeth that seem to kill other fish for the fun of it (as opposed to just being hungry).  And they seem to be able to move across small land masses.  Okay, I've already written too much about River Monsters.  We digress.
We called it an early night.  I, for one, dozed multiple times while sitting with the computer in my lap.  I awoke for the third time to the sound of Darren and Melanie snickering at me.  You know, it is funny to watch someone doze off and wake up and try to remember what they were doing and try to function like a normal human being, only to have it happen again within the next thirty seconds... and the next thirty seconds... and then the next sixty seconds, until they realize how dumb they look and go to bed.  So I went to bed.

Today's Good Read: Mark 6:30-44 

Summer Vacation 2010: Hilton Head or Bust!

The McMahons (Me, Rebecca, Isaac (2-1/2 years old), Ella (almost 4 months old)) and Potters (Darren, Melanie, Kristen, Kaitlin (both 10 years old)) are vacationing to Hilton Head!  I haven't blogged about much lately, but thought this might be something worth chronicling if I can keep up.  I welcome all comments from parties involved if any of you would like to contribute to the memories.  That's why McMahonhood exists!

The McMahons and Potters in Hilton Head, SC

8/20/2010: Travel Day
Wow.  Let me first just say... Praise God that we are here and looking forward to a great week!  But I will say that travel day was a little rough.  It started out fine... after taking Lucy to Sleepy Hollow (the kennel), I finished loading up the [new, freaking awesome] Pilot just as the Potters showed up to the house.  Bless their hearts, they got extra biscuits at Bojangles, and all a brother-in-law had for breakfast was coffee... score on the Bacon, Egg & Cheese biscuit!  Not to mention the cinnamon raisin biscuits (?) that Rebecca and Isaac shared - they looked... and were confirmed... delicious.
We plugged addresses into the GPS devices and hit the road around 9:30am.  Travel began peacefully -- the sun was shining, music was jamming, Isaac was enjoying a movie in the back seat and Ella was sleeping.  All was well through our lunch stop at noon.  Assuming we got back on the road about 12:45, the next six hours... yes, SIX hours (for a total of 9+ hours)... remains a blur of one gas, potty, and nursing break, three typhoon-like torrential downpours (the last of which lasted about the final 45 minutes of our trip and caused us to pull off into a car dealership), slow traffic (from rain and one tractor trailer accident), an insane amount of crying, a wife about to lose her mind, and the smell of poop.  And for being the one who reeked of poop in his pull-up, Isaac was remarkable for the whole trip.
After managing to miss a turn on the GPS (the whole reason I bought the thing) and adding another 2 miles to a trip that had already been long enough, we made it to Island Links Resort and checked in around 6:45pm.
We were starving like Marvin (...I don't know) and quickly unloaded vehicles and ordered up some delicious pizzas from Bella Italia.  The ladies unpacked and made a grocery list while Darren and I picked up the pizza.  Dude that hit the spot after a LONG day.  We were all exhausted, but sleep would have to wait until groceries had been bought.  Darren and I hit the Bi-Lo (not to be confused with "Buy Low"... expensive!).  And even after all our exhaustion, we stayed up chatting (not the kids) until about 12:30am before we dragged ourselves to bed.  After all, it is vacation, right?

Today's Good Read: Matthew 8:23-27