Jen's New YONEX!!!

This is my birthday present from Ken and from my Dad- a new Yonex racquet!! I used to play with one similar to it when I was younger and played a lot of tennis and it feels great to have that familiar feel again when playing now. Especially after using that antique from the thrift store for so long! It's so much more fun to play with good equipment! My game improved instantly!

Our Tennis Courts

This is where we usually spend 3-4 hours a day. Rarely do we see anyone else playing here so we think of these as our own personal courts most of the time. Our next door neighbor Mary said they are built where a swimming pool used to be. We get so hot playing we wish they would have left the pool and just built the courts next to it!

Ken gets
serious as
he prepares
to practice
his ground
strokes
against an
unarmed
opponent...
"The Wall."
His practice is
paying off,
though. He
is getting
really good
and our
matches are
getting more
and more
exciting!

Ken lookin cute as he fills up my bike tire for me. :) So chivalrous!

Creative photography of Ken warming up against the Wall. I was trying to take some pictures of him without him knowing it. :)

Here's Ken warming up his forehand.

This is the view from the tennis courts. They are in a nice little park close to Diane's parents house.

Here's a picture of our house from a better angle than our previous picture. Ken is on the front step working on our bikes before we leave to play tennis.

To Our Friends

Erin Vaillancourt

Hey, everyone!
This is Erin, and
she is the youngest
daughter of my
my friend Jenny who
I have known (and
loved) since
we were kids.
Erin and I had a
lot of fun yesterday!
We played guitar,
juggled, and went for
a bike ride. Erin is
VERY smart and
she is quite the
athlete too! I am
proud of her and
she is one of my
favorite kids ever!

The Cape Fear River Trail

We rode 9.6 miles on this trail today before we headed to the VA for my appointment. Expecting a flat trail, we were suprised to find hills and bridges and water stations and porta-potties along the way. It was a great workout and we really enjoyed the new scenery and change of pace. Since it's so close to the VA and we had so much fun we've decided to ride the Cape Fear River Trail whenever we have to go to Fayetteville.

Ken standing on one of the many bridges on this trail. This one had a small waterfall running underneath it. The river runs right next to the trail but it's hard to see it.

We stopped here to eat lunch at the ampitheatre and to check out the nature center and some old buildings that were on the other side of the covered bridge. This one was full of old junk.

These were all taken in the section of the trail that goes under the train tracks. It was kinda cool to be there at the same time a train went over.

We saw a lot of these signs on the trail. They are code for "Bridge Ahead."

This says it's the END of the bike route, but for us it was just the turn around point. We wish this trail was longer because it was so much fun!

Turn of the Century Tennis Racquets

Way back in a dark dusty corner of a thrift shop, piled under a bunch of stuff, we found these antique treasures. Made in the late 1800's - early 1900's these racquets are around 100 years old! We can't help but wonder about the games that have been played with them. We also can't help but wonder what they might be worth. Similar racquets we've researched leads us to believe our $5.00 investment might pay off! And if not, that's okay too!

This is where we stopped to fill up our tanks.... with apples and gatorade. :) We rode 5 miles, played 3 sets, then took a longer way home. Total miles: 12

Outlaw Tennis

On one of our rides awhile back we spotted these out of the way courts so today we rode our bikes there to play. This is an affluent neighborhood but the courts were so ghetto! One side of the court was about a foot higher than the other end!
As you can see by the sign we weren't supposed to play here, but something tells me nobody was keeping an eye on these courts.

...Deuce

We've been playing lots of tennis lately!
We are learning more about humility.
And we are NOT taking pictures of it!

Just wanted to "check in" and let you all
know we're doing good! Love-Love ya!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Ken's Mom and Jen's Dad have birthdays one day apart!

Happy Anniversay Mom and Dad!

The American Tobacco Trail

This is where we get on the trail -about 15 miles from our house. Today we rode over 30 miles on and around this trail.

The New Trail and The Shortcut

It started off as a simple ride on the friendly and familiar American Tobacco Trail yesterday. Then we decided to go through the construction signs and barricades and see what was going on further down the trail. We were glad we did because it's not every day you get to see the trails you love so much actually being constructed. What might have been considered an inconvenience to some riders who were not allowed into the construction zone, for us rebels it truly was a treat - we stopped and talked to the contractors, took pictures of their fine work, and really enjoyed seeing the progress they were making. As we snapped photo after photo, we thought about RTC and how they might enjoy some reports from the field. So here they are!
When we got to the end of the trail we discovered we had run out of water so we turned around and took a detour on a paved road in search of a gas station. We found one, and after stocking up with drinks we thought we'd ride down the road a bit further and find a shortcut back to the trail. Sigh.
We met a nice young kid named Will riding his bike and he too was looking for a way back to the trail. So we rode together awhile until we found "a way" through the woods. 3 miles and 3 hours later, sweaty, muddy, scratched up, sorta lost and quite frustrated, we found ourselves sitting by the lake at the bottom of a very steep rock wall - a wall we knew we would not only have to climb, but also have to get our heavy bikes up on. We had ridden nearly 20 miles already, Ken's leg was bleeding and the mud by the lake had nearly sucked the chucks right off my feet. I was trying really hard not to whine like a girl. Will, on the other hand, acted like it didn't phase him at all, and other than telling us how badly he needed a GPS he didn't complain one bit. That is until we climbed the wall and realized we had come out of the wilderness only to arrive about 50 yards from where we had went in. He couldn't believe it and neither could we. Well, Ken could. Ken had been trying to tell us for some time to veer left, but Will and I were SURE we were headed in the right direction so... Anyway, after a few justified mumbled "I told you so's" from a hot and tired Ken, we said goodbye to Will and headed in the opposite direction. Riding 10 more miles back to the truck we stopped only occasionally to talk about how much fun this would be in retrospect - after it was on the blog. lol
Enjoy the pics below...

We want to give credit where credit is due. Thank you to all who are working on this trail!

Yes, we saw the signs and barricades, but hey, we're Rebels With Just Be-Causes!

This man was nice enough to stop and chat with us awhile about the work they've been doing on the trails. Donald Ellison is his name, and he wants to be paid more. lol We told him we couldn't pay him with money, but we did offer him our deepest appreciation for the work he is doing.

This is the second bridge and the workers were kind enough to let us climb on and check it out. They were very friendly and rightfully proud of their work. Just two men are building this!

This one was just finished and was so new we could smell the fresh lumber. It was very sturdy. Nice work!

The new bridges are being built on top of the old railroad trestles.

There's our flyer for the 350 bike ride on October 24th!

Ken feeding granola to some horses. This one had one brown eye and one blue eye. I've seen that on dogs and the occassional human, but never on a horse before! It was strange and beautiful.

When there's a WILL, there's a way!

This is Will, our fealess tour guide through the woods and swamps. I should have taken some more pictures of him because he is a great rider, but we were too tired to mess with the camera much. And, if his parents are reading this, Will REALLY needs a GPS! He is such a nice kid, and way too adventurous to be getting lost!

The Birthday Party!

My two dear friends Elizabeth ("E") and Megan! Olivia, one of E's three daughters, turned 22 yesterday and a bunch of us had a wonderful time celebrating! Great company, great healthy food, and great fun!

Elizabeth sporting one of the funky and fun Habitat hats Megan keeps around for people who come over to use the pool.

Olivia was
born at 2:57
and she was
opening this
present at
2:55, almost
EXACTLY
22 years
later!

She got
lots of
awesome
presents!

We love
Olivia
very much!

"O" YEAH!

HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
TO YOU!

HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
TO YOU!

HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
DEAR OLIVIA!

HAPPY
BIRTHDAY
TO YOU!

"O" YEAH!
"22"