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!