The first day there, I was still suffering from sleep deprivation and a tweaked back and really didn’t do anything but eat and sleep…big surprise to those of you who know me. The cabin was located in the mountains and was quite comfy. Outside it was in the low 70′s and beautiful and a nearby stream provided a constant and relaxing background noise. Others chose to go hike but my one excursion was to the lake at night to look at the stars which were beautiful.

Saturday saw us “head down the mountain” into the town of Brevard, North Carolina for their 4th of July Celebration. Brevard is one of those little towns full of Antique and Artist shops that seem to be a staple of small town America. There was a car show that I was very impressed by…a great sample of cars with the vast majority being American made from the 50′s-70′s although there were a few earlier models. Maybe 80-100 cars total? While I looked at cars and nursed may back the wimmenz shopped for junk I mean incredibly valuable antiques that only looked like junk!

Sunday I was feeling better and everyone went to a local State Park where apparently they had filmed some of the waterfall scenes for Last of the Mohicans. As previously stated, I am not an outdoors person but I LOVED climbing around the waterfalls, up ledges, etc. This was the highlight of the trip for me and I could have spent several days just exploring the falls and climbing all over the place! That evening we had smores around a campfire where I displayed my self-proclaimed smore making skills. We then went out to the lake again to look at stars and had fun looking at constellation overlays with iPhone and Droid Apps.

The next day, we began the trip home. Lindsay was staying for another week but Kevin, Tina, and I headed back. I slept pretty much the entire way until we reached Brunswick and then I drove home to the ‘ville. While I felt bad for sleeping 70% of the time I was in NC and not being social my body needed it. I felt about 110% better when I returned home.

Good trip, good times, good people…it doesn’t get much better!

We arrived at Lake Noonan around 9:30PM and promptly grabbed canoes and headed out. The bugs weren’t biting bugs, but if you had any type of light on you, you were getting swarmed! We slowly paddled the canoe down the canal following floating lights showing us the way out. When we hit the lake, it was beautiful…the temperature was perfect and random small fish were jumping in the water…one even landed in the canoe. The moon was completely full and shimmered across the surface of the lake, rippling with the water.

We stayed out on the lake for about 2 hours and my favorite parts were when it was quiet and you could just hear nature.

After we returned to where had started out journey I was impressed by the number of people who were there in canoes and kayaks. I’d say 20-30 people total. I can understand why people do this for relaxation and to enjoy the beauty.

The trip itself was only about 24 hours and since I had just broken another window regulator in the convertible I rented a Jeep Patriot for the trip. It still feels weird to be in a vehicle that high.

Thursday evening was a business dinner hammering out the details of a couple of projects. Friday morning was breakfast with Steve and Friday afternoon was lunch with Rush and Todd. I think I may go there for a few days in June while Lindsay is off on her trip so I can do some more catching up.

Saturday morning we all work up and headed to the beach in Fort Meyers. I had to stop and pick up a new bathing suit and apart from forgetting to put suntan lotion on my legs and burning the crap out of them, I had a good couple of hours on the beach. Everyone spent the evening eating and watching the Final Four games on Saturday night.

On Sunday, Lindsay, her Mom, two brothers and I headed to the outlet malls. I have to admit, I’m still highly amused to be running around with two 6’8″ guys. I know we all look extremely tall together but the focus is on them. Kevin is built similar to me and Adam is pretty damn big at about 275. The guys were looking for golf shoes as they were hitting the links early the next morning. After some shopping, we hit an Asian restaurant together and then back to the beach. I was exhausted and my legs were burnt from the day before so I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and went outside again late in the afternoon where the crew had built a drip/sand castle.

For dinner the group of us all went out to a local pizza place and did a fair job of demolishing 6 large pizzas…I know I put down 5 big slices. Had a great time and soon enough it was back to the house for bed.

Monday came and we all headed home early in the afternoon. I have to admit I really enjoyed this trip as I got to spend individual time with both of Lindsay’s brothers and learn a bit more about them. I think they’ve just assumed something is wrong with me to spend this long with their sister and assume they might as well be nice to me as I’m apparently handicapped to some extent for doing so! I’m looking forward to the next trip.

Although there was very little sleep for a few days…it ended up being worth it! Over 6000 people attended the walk and it was amazing to see how important this organization and event is to the community. As walkers returned to the central staging area…after an 8.5 mile walk, they were greeted with food from local restaurants and entertainment. The highlight of the day for me was watching Anna Moo. Who is Anna Moo? She is a fifty+ year old local woman who is an entertainer and all I can say is that she brings it. I really think she is my new favorite local celebrity.

Saturday evening, we ended the night with a dinner with the staff at Ballyhoo’s and then it was home for a good twelve hours of sleep!

Personally I’m dating a great girl whom I’ve been with for six months. I can’t thank Lindsay enough for the happiness and stability she brings to my every day life. She’s been a key to a lot of this.

I’m also thankful for my many friends who continue to support me and in turn whom I try to help and support when I can.

Life is good.

We started practicing about four weeks out and I have to admit, the muscles used in kickball aren’t muscles I normally use…I’d be sore for days. Teams needed to have at least 7 players with 3 of them being female and could have up to 15 on a roster. We supposedly had our roster set but 48 hours before Tournament Day, we lost one of our female players and thankfully my sisters Karen stepped in. My team didn’t know it but Karen was about 100x better than the girl she replaced.

On Tournament Day, Karen showed up at 9AM and promptly went and ran 5 miles…silly triathletes. We had a first round bye and were able to watch the two teams play before us…of whom we would play the winner of. We were feeling pretty confident after watching them play. Our first opponent ended up being the Tutoring Zone team who were a great group of girls and guys…we really enjoyed playing them. We started off the game strong when I drove in our first run of the game with a big kick to the outfield. The TZ team was calling me sleeveless because I had cut the sleeves off my shirt and were just giving me a hard time. Unfortunately for the TZ team they didn’t read the rules and received out calls for a bunt and for using an improper lineup.

In the history of the tournament, there had never been a tie…well guess what? We ended up tied 1-1 with the TZ team. Games were 30 minutes long and after 75 minutes the ref forced us to play rock, scissors, paper to determine a winner…which sucked ass. I was totally against this and sure enough we lost. The tournament is double elimination but still…why leave a win to luck?

Speaking of luck, the second team we played had it…just all bad. In their first game they lost a player to a broken arm and in our game, about ten minutes in, one of their players fractured their tibula and blew out their ACL while kicking! Horrible, horrible circumstances and I hope their player recovers ok. They decided to forfeit the game.

Our third game was against Rebuild Gainesville and we got destroyed. I had warned our Team Captain that they had some big kickers and that fear along with my strategy fear were both realized. The smart teams were kicking down the third base line often getting players to first, second, and sometimes third before driving in runs. Our players just kicked the ball for the most part with only a couple of us actually getting on base. My other concern was in having female players in the outfield for fear of balls going over their head…and this is what happened leading to two scores. We eventually lost the game 3-0.

Despite being super competitive, I had a fantastic time…it was so fun! I stayed after our games to watch other teams play and to help the organizing committee clean up Diamond Sports Park which had kindly donated their playing fields for the day.

One of the more amusing things to me was how mad some of the teams got at times…the refs were volunteers and a little spotty at times but when it comes down to it, this is a charity event. The biggest consistent whiners in my opinion were on the 352 Media team. Maybe they had a legit argument…I don’t know…but once again it is a charity tournament so chill out.

The winner of the tournament was Frankel Media Group which came out of the Losers Bracket to win two games in a row over and undefeated Charles Perry Construction team to win the event. Frankel Media Group had some bad ass female athletes on their team…including two ex-UF soccer players and an ex-UCF basketball player. The women were really the keys to that team winning.

I can’t wait until next year when I plan on sponsoring my own team, using my strategies, and stacking it with athletes that I know.

• The Tender Box: Gravity
• U Can Unlearn Guitar: 58 Days
• Tom Hickox: The Pretty Pride of Russia
• Songs for Eleonor: Girl In Life
• The Slants: Kokoro
• Shiny Toy Guns: Ghost Town
• Scott H. Biram: Been Down Too Long
• The Pink Spiders: Gimme Chemicals
• Pilar Diaz: Tu Y Yo
• P-L-A: Presto

Highlights of the present unwrapping included multiple pranks. Adam, Lindsay’s oldest brother, played basketball at FSU and hates all things Gators. So I of course bought a Florida Gator Christmas ornament and attached it to a present Lindsay had wrapped for Adam without her knowing. When she picked up the present, it took all of my will power to keep a straight face. She kept going…”This is your present Adam but I didn’t put this on here!” She tried to get my present off but I had taped it to the real present. When Adam opened the present, he just said, “Ohhhhh that’s dirty” and I finally lost it and started laughing my ass off.

Poor Adam was in for a rough day as later on he unwrapped a present with his name on it that was a Wii. Only to have Lindsay go, “Oh…I’m so sorry Adam, that is for Kevin…Mom and I must have gotten the presents mixed up!” The look on his face was priceless! They eventually gave him his own Wii later.

I ended up making out well: A Wii, nice cufflinks, two shirts, and some smaller presents and prank gifts thrown in. I gave Lindsay a designer purse that she didn’t see coming at all, Yoga lessons, and two rear tires for her car. For the latter present, I sent her on a clue based scavenger hunt to find them.

Another interesting tradition of the Kriegs was that they do not open their stockings until evening dinner on Christmas Day…a bit different but I guess it keeps some excitement going! It should be noted at this point in time that I had gone through 3 bottles of grenadine in like 5 days…which is a lot…even for me!

The final night of our stay, I slept on the couch and apparently slept through the big excitement of the week! Other Kevin and Adam went out and came home drunk…Other Kevin with a girl. Adam woke everyone up coming in and claimed not to know where Kevin was…and then Kevin’s dog shot out the door to Kevin’s car where he was having what I am sure was a deep, intellectual conversation with a delightful young lady. All Adam could say while laughing was, “Kevin’s dog sold him out!”. Apparently the entire family was up and laughing and drunk at 3AM…while I blithely slept through it all on the couch. What can I say…I have sleeping skills! In all seriousness, I am doing a very poor imitation of how funny this story was when repeated to me…I start laughing just thinking about it.

Sunday on the trip home, we stopped in Tampa and had dinner with my little sister Kim and her friends Michelle and Ariel. It was a nice break and I had told Kim that Lindsay was only 5’2″ and very conscious of her height…so you can only image the confusion when I show up with a 6′ tall woman!

It was a great weekend and I’m thankful for the time I was able to spend with the Krieg family! They are quite awesome!

As with the rest of the family, Adam has a great sense of humor but he is very different than OTHER Kevin. Adam has a bad ass, stray, Pit Bull that he adopted when it wandered into his yard about 10 years ago. The dog is named Rusty and is just a super friendly dog. I do not think I’ve ever seen a dog that is so attached/loyal to it’s Master. I honestly believe Rusty knows that Adam saved his life…plus Rusty climbs trees!

Since I’m getting my days discombobulated, this is probably wrong but I believe the Jackson’s came over again for dinner on Christmas Eve. Liz had left with her boyfriend to be with his family in South Caroline but the Jackson’s son…Nate came this time. Nate is a freaking character. Apparently he is an on-air personality of some sort in Atlanta for a radio station. The guy is damn funny and he enjoyed teasing Grandma Mimi.

The highlight of the evening was Grandma Mimi playing Wii and at times swinging at the replay in Tennis instead of the actual live game. I’m proud to say I beat the snot out of an 80+ year old woman in Wii tennis…I’m a stone cold killer like that!

Tomorrow…Christmas!