(18) Wedding Day, Birthday, Lanscaping, and the Historic Artcraft Theatre

Whoa Nellie! Have I got some updating to do here! I've been busy as all get out, and have had some great experiences to share with you folks. Here we go:

April 25th 2009 was a huge day for the family, as little sister Amanda recited her vows and sealed the deal to a Mr. Eric Smith. Eric is an Ensign in the US Navy, and met Mandy at the ROTC program at Purdue University. I got the day off from drill to be in Mandy's wedding. It was a close call as to whether I was even going to be able to attend, as we are still undergoing our 'Yellow Ribbon Reintegration' training from our Iraq deployment, which is a series of mandatory briefings and activities. Fortunately, I was able to spend Saturday with the family at the wedding, and perform my brotherly duties as usher. The wedding was lovely, held at St. James Lutheran Church in Greenfield, Indiana. The reception was held at the Greenfield National Guard Armory. The bride and groom were chauffeured from the church to the reception in a highly polished 2009 Subaru Forester 2.5X Premium courtesy of yours truly. We had a good meal catered by Kopper Kettle of Morristown, IN. Lots of pictures were taken, great music and dancing, and a good showing of family for the festivities. Eric and Mandy got spoiled a bit from big bubby, as I funded a honeymoon trip to Chicago for the newlyweds. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to get home and sleep for a very busy Sunday drilling in Fort Wayne. Wake up was at 0200, with departure for Fort Wayne at 0300 and first formation at 0550. Check out the wedding picture slideshow to the right.

April 29th was Amber's 26th birthday, and we went out for a birthday dinner on May 1st at the Oaken Barrel Brewery in Greenwood, IN. They have great food, great home-brewed beverages, and great atmosphere. A couple of my Army buddies that I hadn't seen in a long time showed up to visit as well as Amber's best friend Jeana and her husband Andrew. Amber made out like a bandit with a whole slew of new shirts and sandals from Jeana and Andrew. I got her a tailored birthday book and an oak collectible spoon display case. We had a great meal followed by some birthday cake. I've got a few pictures in a slideshow to the right.

Now to fast forward to today, May 9th 2009! It was a pretty normal Saturday with nothing planned. Its pretty disappointing how my 'normal' weekend has nothing planned, but it has been a continuing trend for all my desired activities to fall on one weekend of the month, all to be stomped out by having guard drill that same weekend. I swear one of these months I will get to attend a race that I paid a whole season membership for! Anyhow, I digress. This particular Saturday kicked off about 8:30am when I rolled out of bed and did my normal routine of walking outside to get a feel for the weather and starting to ponder what I would like to do for the day. As I walked through the garage I caught sight of a Cherokee Princess Dogwood tree and a couple Goldfinger Cinquefoil shrubs that I had picked up at Lowes to replace some dead plants in the yard. The weather was a little windy and chilly, but it wasn't raining. The grass was just getting tall enough to warrant another pass with the Troy-Bilt pushmower. I threw on a sweatshirt, plugged in my Zune MP3 player, and fired up the mower. I mowed the entire yard nice and professional like with the offset lines, all-the-while educating myself with PC Magazine tech podcasts. It was actually quite relaxing. Once the mowing was finished and the grass was all bagged up, I headed back to the garage to trade the gas mower for my 18-volt cordless Black & Decker Bushmaster Weedeater. I trimmed around the house, flowerbeds, mailbox, and other random poles and such in the yard. While Amber was cleaning out the flowerbeds on the side of the house I sprayed the front and side yard with some Weed-B-Gone to kill off the remaining pesky dandelions.

While I was in Iraq one of my trees died. It was some sort of pine or fur tree with needles. Mom had someone tear it out. So I decided I'd replace it with something a little more visually appealing, and less messy. So I dug a hole and made it home to a 6 foot Cherokee Princess Dogwood tree that will someday be 15-20 feet tall and loaded with beautiful white flowers. I also tore out some dead shrubs in the front flowerbed and planted a couple Goldfinger Cinquefoil bushes that will bloom some nice yellow 'Support Our Troops' flowers as I like to call them. All the hard work payed off, as the yard is looking immaculate. I took a few before and after pictures for you to see located just to the right.

After a long hard day's work in the yard, Amber and I treated ourselves to a trip to the Historic Artcraft Theatre here in Franklin, IN. It has been a stronghold in old downtown Franklin since it was built in 1922. For decades folks have been going to the Artcraft Theatre to witness the fine entertainment that was once called the pictureshow. It is still operated today as a historic tribute to Hollywood's past feature films and filmreel culture. Tonight's feature was a 1962 box office hit called 'The Music Man'. We arrived just in time to get our tickets from the gentleman in the box office window. We were escorted to our seats first-class style by the ushers in the theatre. There were about 60-80 people in attendance ranging from young kids to senior citizens. The theater was quite large and had a nostalgic feel. I love this kinda stuff, plus they have a special rate of $4 for military personnel (regular price is only $5). Before the show they had a little skit put on by the Franklin Historical Society that was themed on the feature film for the night. They even had a raffle for prizes based on your movie ticket number! My favorite part was a quartet of older gentlemen wearing patriotic American flag shirts who sang an old-timey tune while harmonizing. They were damn good, and about had me choked up as they sang 'America The Beautiful'. Next everyone in the audience stood up and sang 'The Star Spangled Banner' along with music and words on the screen. Now that we've payed tribute to our great nation's history, it was time to dim the lights and enjoy some theatrical history. There was even an old 'Merry Melodies' cartoon short with Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny shown before the movie. The movie was pretty good as well, with an outstanding story and plenty of good humor despite being 47 years old. The show was over around 10:30pm, having been a 3 hour production. Now that's a value at $9 for a couple! If you ever get a lazy Saturday, check out the Historic Artcraft Theatre. It's a definate winner!

Click Here for the Artcraft Theatre Website
I've also included some pictures in a slideshow to the right of the screen.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so Happy Mother's day to all your mommas out there!

Until Next Time...