Ryan repelling at Lake Weddington

Chiefs vs. Giants

We left a very somber Toby at 7 AM to drive to Kansas City, Missouri for the Giants vs Chiefs game. This is definitely a weekend that was not a relaxing break after being on duty all Friday and Saturday and being gone all day today but it sure was fun! We had a great time and I was glad the Chiefs fans handled the Giants fans enthusiasm with class. I actually heard them yelling mean things at their own team more than at the Giants! Ryan said he knew it was going to be a good day when a Chiefs fan gave us free parking on the way in.

We sat in the shadow on section 304

These guys are BIG! Ryan got Tuck and Bradshaw to look at him and "wave"

Kickoff! About to be a recovered KC fumble.

74,000 in attendance roughly - there were quite a few empty seats in this "sold out" crowd though.

The Ryan's eye view

Nix - from North Carolina! - makes his first NFL touchdown - too bad Ryan already traded him in fantasy.

Enjoying the win!
Can you believe that one security guard told Ryan he couldn't bring his Giants helmet in because they wanted to encourage people to buy Chiefs helmets.... um... don't think we would buy them anyway...

Time to clean up!

SA Olympics begins

Saturday night featured the high jump and tug-o-war

Ryan's first 3 sponsorship banners are now up in the gym

Ryan's workers Carleel...

and Carlo got some extra practice on the high jump.

Freshman Weston H. stayed in til almost the last jump at 5 ft.
(Check out his t-shirt - "I don't have swine flu - I have HOG fever." Too bad they LOST to the Tide yesterday - Ryan was wearing an Alabama shirt to represent.)

Seniors pulling with our boy's dean coaching

Mono anchored the seniors but alas they still lost to the juniors in both the high jump and the tug-o-war

Then the juniors convinced the faculty and community members to play against them but nobody got to count the juniors before it started and they were greatly overpowered.

Camping at Devil's Den

Despite the fact that its been raining most of the week and will for a week beyond - we decided the 20% chance for 24 hours was worth us chancing camping. Despite a few sprinkles we avoided major rain and enjoyed a few hours outdoors. The campground was very busy - people stay here to come watch Razorbacks games we're told.

Suspension bridge

The dam

Toby watching Ryan climb down the rocks. Toby wore himself out watching (and getting in trouble for barking at) the many squirrels and whining to go meet the Yorkshire Terrier across the road from us. The campground took a long time to quiet down too and he didn't like the fact that he couldn't see what the commotion was outside the tent.

After Ryan climbed back up - we spotted our first live snake down at the base of the dam. Everybody has been telling us Arkansas is full of them but so far I've only seen ones that were run over or dead when people bring them into the ER after being bit... Ryan had been talking about jumping in the water but was glad he hadn't.

Out of 140+ campsites in 5 areas there were very few left and those were open only because of the chance of rain we were told. So we ended up staying in the RV area where the larger more expensive sites were. (We only saw one Casita - MJ & Randy.) The pavement in front of the campsite is a long RV parking spot. We felt pretty small and cheesy until a Hispanic family came next door and took 2 hours to set up their tent in the dark.

Missing the mountains from home.

We have now successfully camped all by ourselves!

Fun at home

Ozark 1/2 Marathon, 10K, 5K, 1 mile race

Sunday morning was Ozark's annual road race. This will also serve as a "get to know Ozark" picture story since most of the major people around here showed up for the race.


Coach Knight leads the race for the first time

The time keepers waiting across the street in the church parking lot. Math teacher Mr. Fisher and computer teacher Mr. Strack, are ready to go when the air horn is blown. Mr. Lambert - our mechanic in town looks on - his two kids are involved in gymnastics and basketball. He does the maintenance on the school vehicles.

Principal Mike Dale ready to blow the air horn
Greg Southerland wearing the maroon Sunbelt shirt (he works for McKee) is on our board and lives locally.

And they are off!

Runners going toward the Dawn Hill Country Club

Time keepers set up at the finish line

Staff conference waiting for the 1/2 marathoners to finish.

And now for a few of the participating athletes:

Molly O'Brien - Hollie's cousin from Collegedale was here visiting relatives and placed first for women in the 5K.







Tyler Fisher - the math teacher's son making a final push.




Our senior pastor, Pastor House (who followed the Knights at Huntsville, AL).




Mr. Dooley gets the award for best finish. His son goes to the academy and they homeschool the two younger kids. All three are on Ryan's gym team.





Jim Krein (with Bella) who helps Ryan referee occasionally






Rody Hosteter, one of Ryan's golfing friends and also a volunteer bus driver and referee.




Mrs. Fisher finishes the 5K - our math teacher's mom and married to the Mr. Fisher for whom Fisher Circle is named (he's a former faculty member)




Mr. Huse puts on a show limping to the finish line with his wife and daughter, Amy Fisher (married to our math teacher). The Huse's other daughter Jaclynn teaches at SAU's nursing dept.






This lady is over 60 and finished the 10K in 1:10:54!





And we can't leave out our first 1/2 marathon runner!