We were showing the boys how to skip at the zoo last week, and Brian really got into it. I took a little movie to show you just how into it he was:
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Happy New Year!
I don’t want to make any resolutions this year; I just want to automatically be a better person and more disciplined.
The Mississippi Pictures
The pictures from the trip are up and organized into sets. Here they all are:
- Day One – This included sledding, and dinner at Leatha’s: the Temple of Pork.
- Max Takes Pictures – I let Max use the camera and iPhoto to take pictures around the house. He loved tweaking all the settings on pictures, and trying out crazy stuff. He really got into macro mode, as you’ll see. There’s some really good stuff in there.
- Dinner Out, and the Lights of Tylertown – Little tiny Tylertown, Mississippi puts on a great light show. Unfortunately, the batteries in the camera died before we could document the whole thing.
- Christmas Eve and Day – Including the requisite tree shots.
- Jen Takes the Boys for a Walk – Some really funny Max and Brian moments in this one.
- The Hattiesburg Zoo – We went to the zoo! It was small, but the kids had fun and got to ride on a train.
- Around the House and Out and About – Random stuff from the trip that doesn’t fit anywhere else. See little Brian pig out, ride a tractor and the Great Sundae Massacre of 2006.\
Enjoy!
Christmas Wrap-Up
The highlights and the lowlights (I will let you decide which is which):
- The kids were SO GOOD in the car.
- Having internet in the car so I could chat and goof off for the long drive.
- The iPod FM thingie didn’t work as well as hoped.
- Anne’s packed goodies for the kids, including stories on CDs, were awesome tantrum-savers.
- Only eating fast food twice the whole time.
- Leatha’s for ribs; my first ever trip to Stone Cold Creamery; some backwoods (literally, it was in the middle of some forest) restaurant for awesome, awesome steak and fried catfish; fried turkey for Christmas dinner, which was surprisingly not greasy at all. As Kevin said, “There is no reason to eat turkey any other way.”; Glazed Heavenly Ham which was better than the Honey Baked Hams I have had; Mom’s home cooking- yum!; Cherry Cordial Kisses, courtesy of my SIL, Jo. Apparently they are in a limited release since I couldn’t find any to bring home with me.
- Seeing my aunt, Edna, my brother, George, his wife, Jo, and his kids, Skylar and Skyanne.
- Watching my kids interact and bond with their cousins.
- Max threw up multiple times the first night we were there. Thankfully, he is old enough to know to head for the bathroom. He didn’t quite make it to the toilet each time though, but the tile was so much easier to clean than the bed or the couch.
- My dad walking in on my mom and me trying to hide the giant present we’d just gotten him.
- The view from my parents’ house.
- The Tylertown light show.
- My mom and Kevin laughing at their many shared jokes and experiences.
- Watching Brian love on my parents’ dog, Buddy.
- Liking each other enough to make plans for another visit.
- The first four places we stopped at after leaving Miss. didn’t carry People or US Weekly. Hello, I need my trashy magazines to supplement the needed twizzlers and peanut M&Ms!!!
- Being smart enough to get Brian a new toy for the drive home. (Cuz his Christmas presents weren’t the kind to be played with while stuck in a car seat.)
- The Country Inn & Suites we stayed at on the way home sucked ass. But, whatever, it is over and we won’t be staying at that one again. The one we stayed at on the way to Miss. was very nice though.
- Looking at pictures on the computer via my parents’ large flat screen tv.
- Brian and Max sharing a bed for the whole visit. They would giggle and tickle at first, usually, then settle down. Kevin saw them spooning at one point. At another, Max was barely on the bed, and Brian was sleeping perpendicular to the mattress and had stolen all of the covers.\
Pictures are coming soon!
Needin’ a Little Camera Advice
My little Kodak 4 megapixel point and shoot is showing its age. It’s never been particularly good at using the right flash mode indoors, and it’s getting worse. The more I look at photos from Cindy, Jason, Elsa and Rannie, the more I want a DSLR. Cindy and Jason go on and on (without stopping, honest) about their rebels. Elsa loooooves her Nikon. With all this love going around – what do I choose? Do I go all out with a digital SLR, or do I go with something easier, but not as full-featured like a Fujifilm Finepix S9000 or 9100? Digital SLRs are expensive, and you then get sucked into buying all the extras like flashes, new lenses, extra special battery packs, etc. Is it worth it?\
The Fuji looks good on paper, and the reviews are solid as well, but the reviews don’t match the love spewed forth about the Rebel XTi. How much should I expect to spend to get the XTi or comparable digital SLR set up? Is it really worth it? Should I start with one step beneath an SLR? Come on, all my photographically inclined friends, help me out here!\
Update: Here’s what I want out of a camera: good in normal indoor situations, preferably without needing the flash. My Kodak is crap in normal indoor light, and the flash turns my pale little boys into ghosts, and I haven’t found a way to “rescue” those pictures in iPhoto. I like taking pictures, but I don’t go out of my way to set up picture-taking outings. I’m usually going somewhere, and happen to document it. So, lugging around an SLR is probably not wise (although little tiny Cindy does it). The G7 looks good, and I’m finding the Flickr camera finder really useful. I’m uploading photos now, and will point out some of the problem shots I want “help” with (thanks, Jeff!).
Five Things
Five Things You May Not Know About Me:\
1- I had the worst C-section in the history of the world. It was horrible and painful and a defining moment for me.\
2- I was in the Engineering Honors College at my University. (Yes, me, she who blabbers on about tv, Blues Clues, and general silliness!)\
3- I am wearing fuzzy, comfy, velour pants right now.\
4- I am horrible at the paperwork of life (forms to fill out, etc).\
5- I don’t think Mr. Pibb and Red Vines are crazy delicious.
Home
We made it home! Splitting the trip up into two even days instead of trying to front-load it like the trip there worked really well. We were in no shape for the long day (although two short days would have been nice). We made it home this afternoon after leaving Knoxville at 7:30 this morning. Jen is dozing on the couch, Brian is being annoyed at everyone’s lack of energy, Max is drawing, and I’m waiting for the pizza.\
I declare this trip a success. We had a good time with family, ate wickedly good food, laughed a lot (sometimes at each other – but we deserved it), hung out, played a lot of games, and no one killed themselves or cried too much. The boys have been promoted from Awesome Travel Kids second class to Awesome Travel Kids first class with honors. They were both unbelievably good – much better than I remember Tim and I being on car trips that long.\
I’m exhausted, though. I’m gonna go crash on the couch until the pizza shows up. Then, I’m going to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special after the boys go to bed, and then go there myself. Tomorrow, it’s presents at my parents’ house. Whoopie, two Christmases!! It’s like Jesus was twins!
Five Things You May Not Know About Kevin
I got tagged by Greg, so here we go… five things you may not know about me, in no particular order.
- I was a TV “star” on a Tucson Public Access TV Show called Tech X. I was a floating head called Otto (they had blue screen and everything) and sat behind the two hosts and said really stupid things. My pal, Diana, sent me DVDs with all of the episodes of the show on them, and I haven’t quite gotten up the nerve to watch them all yet.
- I graduated from Vicksburg High School in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I’m not proud of this fact, but that’s where Dad made us move, so that’s where we went.
- I moved 19 times in 21 years growing up. Since moving out, I’ve moved three times, once in the same town when buying a house. All that moving had done some weird things to me psychologically, which I think I’ve talked about here before, but it was so long ago that hopefully you’ve forgotten about it. I’m crap at relationships. When people leave, or I leave, I’m very good at pretending they no longer exist. Growing up, it was always easier to believe they no longer existed than to believe that I would never see them again. I never wrote letters, tried to never think about them, and did a good job of compartmentalizing my life. I recognized this a little after moving to Virginia, and have been trying to fix it, but it still pops up all the time.
- I’m an Eagle Scout. I earned Eagle at 14, and then maybe went on one camp out after that. I liked scouting, but was pretty much done with it once I got Eagle. If you’re a kid or have kids, and it’s important to you to get it – get it before you get interested in girls, cars or other stuff.
- I’m a big girl for Love Actually. I love that movie. I couldn’t tell you why other than it’s about all kinds of love, very well acted, is really funny, and makes me cry every single time I watch it. I’m not proud of it, but it’s the truth (and you might not know it).\
Since these things are 21st century chain letters, I now have to tag five more people. Let’s see… I’ll tag: Jen, Tim, Heather, Cindy and Jason.
Merry Christmas!
We’ve got limited bandwidth here in Mississippi at Jen’s parents’ house, but we’re having a good time anyway. Max has been taking lots of pictures and playing in iPhoto, there are lots of pictures of the boys playing with Buddy, being goofy, opening presents, and hanging out. We’re having lots of fun eating good food (don’t tell my doctor) and playing games. Max and I have been playing chess every day while Brian stacks up checkers.\
Expect the pictures and more frequent posting when we get back, but for now – Merry Christmas!!
Lacking Bandwidth
Verizon’s high speed EVDO stuff hasn’t made it down here, so I’m stuck at dial-up speeds for the next week. So… there won’t be a whole lot of blogging, but the Sidekick works, so I’ll be updating my Twitter page fairly often, so check that for updates.\
It’s morning in Mississippi, and it was a rough night for the Lawvers. Max had a little too much excitement (and ice cream, and one too many road meals) and spent a good portion of last night throwing up. Jen handled most of it, and is now snoozing on the couch, but it still made for an interesting evening.\
The boys woke up early because we’re still on EST instead of CST, and now Max is playing with the camera and we’re watching The Goonies. Breakfast is around the corner and then hopefully, we have a day of not doing much ahead of us (and maybe a nap).