My son, Dylan, celebrated his 16th birthday last Friday (the 16th).

Dylan's birthday wish was for the entire family to get together and go on a camping trip. He was hoping everyone would pitch tents but it was way too cold for that! So the family went in together and rented a log cabin in Jasper, Arkansas, which is a two-hour trip from our house.

Unfortunately, the entire family couldn't make the trip but we ended up with a nice size crowd anyway.

The cabin was nice (click here for the slideshow: photos change every 10 seconds)! The cabin had one bedroom, one full bath, and a loft. Sounds cozy until you realize there were fourteen of us!!! :) Believe it or not, everything worked out great. The bedroom had a double bed and the loft had a double bed, a twin bed and a double futon couch. The open living area also had a couch, three love seats, two of which were twin sleepers.

On Friday night, thirteen of us slept on beds or couches (birthday boy-Dylan-slept on the floor in his sleeping bag). And then on Saturday night, six family members went back home, so that left lots more room for us to spread out.

Should you ever want to vacation in the Ozarks, I highly recommend Deer Lodge Cabins.

The original plan was to do some hiking, some geocaching, and some fishing. There were three ponds on the property filled with bass, bream, catfish and sunperch. Unfortunately, the pond closest to the cabin was frozen solid and it was too cold to go check out the other two ponds. The kids had a blast walking on the ice and birthday boy, Dylan, eventually pressed his luck one too many times and fell through (see the pic to the right). He weighs 245 pounds so it didn't surprise me to see him fall through the ice. Teenagers are sooooo schmaaart!!!

After breakfast, everyone headed out to go on a hike and do some geocaching. I stayed behind at the cabin with Brady and a couple of my nieces. Like a bone head, I didn't pack Brady's hat and mittens, and it was bitterly cold. I took him outside after breakfast and he was miserable, so I knew it wouldn't be a wise idea to take him on a long hike.

The family came back a couple hours later and had many great pictures to show me (that's a waterfall of ice behind the boys!).

Later on that evening, my brothers started a fire in the fire pit and we all sat around roasting marshmallows and making S'mores.

Everybody had so much fun spending time together, that we've decided to plan a fishing trip next!

Thanks for reading!





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At long last, the Arizona Cardinals have made it to the Super Bowl.

That's a huge deal. How big a deal? Well the Cardinals have been in Chicago, St. Louis and now Arizona and have pretty well been rotten far more often than not. The team hasn't been to the Super Bowl, in fact, since the merger between the AFC and NFC created the NFL back in 1970.

Of all the teams that were part of that merger, the Cardinals are the last to make it to the Super Bowl. That's impressive stuff, particularly when you consider the Cardinals were underdogs throughout the playoffs.

Yes everyone knew the Cardinals would fold against Atlanta, then it went without saying that they'd be stopped by Carolina. Of course, the Cardinals never had a chance against the Eagles on Sunday night, right?

The Cardinals made it through the playoffs, of course, and are underdogs in the Super Bowl against a very good Pittsburgh Steelers team. Nothing against Pittsburgh, but I hope the Cardinals beat the odds once again and pull off an upset in the Super Bowl.

Why? I like underdogs and always have. I well remember watching a scrubby, laughable team called the Denver Broncos pull off unlikely victory after unlikely victory in 1977 and go to the 1978 Super Bowl (they lost to the Cowboys). I've been a Broncos fan ever since and this Cardinals team reminds me of that Broncos squad.

Arizona has gotten absolutely no respect all year long and has wound up in a position that many thought impossible going into the season. Hell, the Cardinals have been a laughing stock for as long as I can remember and I've been watching football since 1976 when I was seven-years-old.

It's always good to see an underdog wind up in the Super Bowl. Why? It gives fans of teams like the Browns, Lions, Texans and other teams with no winning tradition hope. Hell, if the Cardinals can make it to the Super Bowl, that means that just about any fan can sit back, grin and say, "Yeah, it'll be our year one day."

So, go Cardinals. I wish Denver would have made it to the Super Bowl, but seeing an underdog make it in is the next best thing.