National Hunting & Fishing Day

Bass Pro and their Wonders of Wildlife Museum hosted this years National Hunting & Fishing Day festivities. Their parking lot was full of so many things to do and the best part it was mostly free. So we stopped on in and started with the Daisy air rifle range where the girls got to actually fire pellet rifles. They thought it was so awesome to fire real rifles...sort of real anyway.

We got to do the same thing in this paintball rifle range as well.

There was plenty of furs and stuffed wild game and the girls really seemed to enjoy it all.


Between the big raccoon and the interactive fishing pond, the girls had no trouble staying busy.


However, the coolest thing happened when this guy who turned out to be Mike Webb, a professional fisherman, came up to Kristy and I and asked if the girls could be in a filming for a promotion for an upcoming fishing show called K.A.S.T. (Kids Are Special To) to begin airing in January.

The girls were very excited about the opportunity to be on TV so we gave consent.

Molly and Neleha are just natural born stars. They followed directions, smiled the entire time, and really had fun. They never once paid any attention to the swarming camera guys hovering around them.

After the filming Mike gave the girls his official sponsor, "Nitro Boats", hats. They thought that was a pretty good deal.


Meeting Mike may have been the highlight of the day for me but for Molly it was meeting Rachel Phelps. Rachel hosts her own fishing show on the Outdoor Channel and actually got the job by winning the annual Outdoor Channel's "Host Your Own Fishing Show" contest. She was here promoting this years contest. Kristy and Molly encouraged me to take a chance on the contest, so I did. I simply had to do a little audition and talk about my experiences fishing. It was fun but don't expect to see me on any fishing show anytime soon.

A fun day indeed. Learn more about Springfield's 2006 National Hunting & Fishing Day

Neleha: Forest Institute's Youngest Student

There is a weekly occasion when I must be at school for my work study at the library and Kristy is just getting out of class. This results in a slight gap between when I can watch Neleha and when Kristy can watch her. I was able to come up with a very simple solution, I just bring her to the library. Neleha is usually able find things to occupy her while she waits for Kristy to come and pick her up. She brings her Leapster, coloring books, or simply plays on the internet. She enjoys these occasions so much that she often asks me if her and I can go to "our" school.

Fishing with Miss Molly

I decided that I would spend Molly's last two Friday mornings before she started school with her fishing. She was very excited about the idea. So we got up nice and early and headed out to Springfield Lake.

Molly started out the trip by sitting on the bottom of the canoe but she soon gained enough confidence to over come her fear and sit on the seat. She was so happy to be sitting where grown-ups sit in the canoe. She is a brave little girl, that is for sure.

We enjoyed a very beautiful calm morning on the lake. Apparently the area was so relaxing that the fish were still asleep as we did not get even one bite.

But we did spot a deer walking on the shore line. We really thought the experience was fantastic to watch a deer casually walk along rooting around for food. The deer probably thought it was nice to watch a couple of humans out fishing on the lake.

No fish this trip......there is always next week. I must say I sure enjoyed fishing with my Molly.

Nathaniel Greene Park

One very cool aspect of living in student housing is the nearby Nathaniel Greene city park. We often walk over to the park, feed the ducks, and let the girls play on the playground. Although we may be living in an apartment you would never know it with all the activity we do within walking distance away.

Just behind my school is the Greeneways Pathway which winds through Springfield and links many of the parks together.

The pathway also includes tunnels that go under the major roads rather than having to cross them.


The park has a very wonderful pond full of ducks, turtles, and fish. All of these animals are totally protected as there is no fishing or hunting allowed. Needless to say they are all very over fed.

The park is very peaceful and a wonderful place to spend time with each other.

Cashew Chicken & Movies: lonely behavior

During my two weeks of waiting for Kristy to come back to Missouri I attempted to find activities to occupy me. I fished some, I exercised a lot, I played some disc golf, but mostly I just moped around.

I did take in a few movies at the local $2.50 theater. I saw "X-Men 3", "The Davinci Code", and "The Breakup". That last movie should serve as an indicator of how desperate I was for things to do. On the other hand however I did discover the $2.50 theater which is called "The Palace". It is way nicer than any cheap seat theater I have ever seen. The quality of this theater is better than that of the normal theaters in this town charging $8-$12. Of course the Palace only shows late run movies but that's cool, it's cheap and high quality.

So besides the movies I did check out one thing that Springfield is famous for. Apparently the Oriental dish known as "Cashew Chicken" was actually not invented in the Orient. Apparently one of the first Asian restaurants to open up in Springfield was not doing so well so the owner came up with a plan. He combined a local dish (fried chicken) with some Asian seasoning sauce and poof, he invented Cashew Chicken. The locals directed me to Canton Inn to take my first taste of this local legend. I must admit it was good, but it was a far stretch from Asian food. It was exactly what you would expect out of Asian food from the Midwest. But like I said it was very good. Check out Wiki's entry on Cashew Chicken

So to put it short, I was lost without my family.

p.s. I want to thank my best friend Ray for calling each day to check on my welfare while Kristy and the girls were in Ohio. I am sure at times (especially when I went and watched the chick flick) he was very worried about my continuing depression. But we got through it.

Cleaning the Playground

When we arrived in our new apartment we doubled the current population of children under ten years old. I got to talking with the maintenance guy and he mentioned that he was thinking about putting down some new wood chips around the playground at the student housing complex. I indicated that our girls would get plenty of use out of it if he did.

From the photo above that was taken back in June you can see a few problems with the playground. The old wood chips were overgrown by weeds and the playground equipment itself was covered in a dark layer of tree pollen (or sap, grime, or something).

When the maintenance guy came through for us with the wood chips we decided to take a family home evening and show our appreciation. We grabbed a bucket of soapy water and some sponges and cleaned off the equipment. The playground really looks inviting now. Kristy, Molly, and Neleha did such a wonderful job of scrubbing away grime.

After it was all clean the girls joyfully used the renovated playground.

Our First Vistitor - Ray Experiences Missouri Flavor

Ray took the 10 hour drive from Texas and arrived in Springfield at dinner time.

When I got home from school I found him being overrun by Molly and Neleha who were so very happy to have their first visitor.

We decided to eat at Lambert's so Ray could really experience the local Ozark flavor.

During our expected wait the girls wouldn't let Ray have a minute of peace. He really didn't mind though, he has so much love for our girls and they for him. In many ways, Ray is just like one of the family. To be honest, I don't think the girls actually know that we are not related.

Once we were seated I caught some rolls and we instantly got some fried okra to snack on while we waited for our main dishes.

Our food was served in skillets and it was so good!

Ray's first catch of a "throwed roll"
I am not sure if Ray was sold on Lambert's from the food or when he caught his first "throwed roll", but all the same he was as sold on the place as we are. We all ate well, probably too well!

So to work off all those extra calories I talked everyone into a game of disc golf.


We went to McBride park near our apartment and took in 9 holes (or cages).

We all had a great time...at least for a few holes and then the girls decided they wanted to play on the playground so Ray and I finished up alone.

We joined them later on the playground and had a fun time trying to keep up with these girls.

Kristy was doing a much better job of keeping up with the girls than Ray and I was.


We had a great time burning those great tasting Lambert's calories and having fun with Molly and Neleha.

At some point we must have decided that we burned too many calories and decided to go redeem a coupon we got from joining the zoo for a free dozen of doughnuts at Krispy Kreme.
We got a wonderful surprise when we entered the store, they handed each of us a free fresh from the oven plain glazed doughnut. We soon learned that when their red sign is on it means that they are making donuts and anyone entering the store will receive a free fresh doughnut.

They also gave the girls free hats and from then on the girls (Kristy and mine as well) favorite donuts are Krispy Kreme's. After we enjoyed our fresh warm treats we watched, through the observation window, as fresh plain glazed donuts were going through the production line.

fresh donuts being glazed

Molly and Neleha became Krispy Kreme customers for life.
I think Ray got a good taste of Missouri during his first night here, he probably gained a couple pounds while doing so. What are friends for?