Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to sit with family and friends and remember all the things your thankful for.  Well, this year we were very thankful that we had a chance to sit with family and friends and remember that we certainly do have much to be thankful for.  One thing quite prominent in our minds that we have to be thankful for is that at least this year isn’t last year.  To quote myself from our Nov. 3oth 2009 blog post, “Well, it sucked.”  Last year Thanksgiving dinner consisted of Ramen noodles and a turkey sandwich from the gas station.  This year Thanksgiving was an awesome fried turkey with stuffing, two kinds of potatoes, rolls, Jell-o salad, pumpkin pie… a REAL Thanksgiving.  We owe a HUGE thanks to our friends the Williams for inviting us over to their house to share the holiday.  It was great.

In addition to getting the meal right this year and spending the day with friends, we also finally got a chance to Skype with my family.  I’m sure most of them wondered if it was really worth the 45 minutes of work to try to get the technology to work, but it was great for us to see how big all the kids had gotten and to fill that spot in the holiday that requires you to get agitated around your family.  Now we just have to keep practicing so we’re all familiar enough with the technology that it isn’t such a big deal for future events.  I must admit, however, that I did at one point confess that it’s probably a good thing that we’ll be coming back for a face-to-face visit around Christmas. 

In addition to being thankful for a plate full of extra calories and a family to make fun of you for eating it all, the other thing we’re thankful for this year is the fact that we had a really enjoyable weekend with the kids.  Last year we spent most of the nights after Thanksgiving in the emergency room with Tyler having a fever of 104.  This year we spent the weekend watching Reagan learn how to sit all by herself.  It was so much fun.  She had been sitting a little before, but this weekend she really figured it out.  We found that the trick was to give her a toy to play with and that would keep her attention forward so she wouldn’t fall backwards.  Here’s a picture of her with some toys giving it a try.  Notice the huge puke rag … I mean burp cloth (ok, puke rag) in the background.  I didn’t say it was a clean experience.

As we continued to work with Reagan we tried a handful of different toys to keep her attention.  As it turns out, her favorite was a big rubber ball.  Tyler would get in on the fun as well – sitting in front of her and rolling the ball back to her as she knocked it his way.  The funniest part was the sound she makes.  There’s no way I could type it so I had to include a video.  The only way I can think of to describe it is that she’s able to make the sound that the old analog TVs would make when you went to a channel that wasn’t broadcasting and just got the fuzzy picture.  Take a look and turn up the volume and you’ll see what I mean.

Baby Reagan learning to sit and playing with a ball.

Tyler’s favorite baby sound was the way he made the sound of a Rainbird sprinkler head.  Between the two of them we’ve got quite a pair of noise makers.

On a final note, as a weekend project I figured I would give our computer a little upgrade and install some additional RAM memory.  Those of you that know me well won’t find this as a surprise, but I figured the best way to accomplish this task was to run to Staples after dinner and just pick up the memory chip and go ahead and install it.  How hard could it be, right?  Well, although it really wasn’t hard, I got a friendly reminder that sometimes it pays to actually stop and think about what you’re doing first. 

After purchasing the RAM, Tyler and I pulled out the computer, popped the side off, tore open the packing, and stuck the chip into the RAM slot… well, almost.  As it turns out, the chip I was sure was the best bang for the buck was the wrong type of chip (DDR3 instead of DDR2, for the nerds out there).  Best Buy has the “Geek Squad”, the show Chuck has the “Nerd Herd”, well Tyler and I were huddled over the computer like the “Jackass Crew”.  Ok, I probably shouldn’t include Tyler in that designation.  After all, I think in the picture below he looks like he knows more about what’s going on than I do. 

When Thesha came over to take the picture she was so excited to see her two guys working together to fix stuff around the house.  Thankfully she took the pictures before the illusion wore off and she realized I had just dropped $60 on something that didn’t work.  Thankfully I redeemed myself and was able to make the exchange at Staples for the correct chip and all was made right.  Our computer is so fast now it can almost open up a program before Thesha starts yelling at it to “just freakin’ work.”

Happy Veteran’s Day

For this Veteran’s Day we decided that rather then celebrate by watching another war movie that we’d actually visit a site where veteran’s performed their heroic acts of patriotism.  We’ve got a handful of places to choose from, but we decided to make it a Baltimore day by visiting Ft. McHenry.  Ft. McHenry is the site of one of the battles of the War of 1812 where Francis Scott Key saw the stars and stripes fly after a 24 hour barrage of bombings by the British Navy and was inspired to write what later became known as the Star Spangled Banner.  Before getting into our experience, enjoy one of my favorite renditions of the national anthem.

Thank you Enrico Palazzo!

Joking aside, it really was a pretty cool site to visit.  Typically on Veteran’s Day we think of men and women who went “over there” to fight for the freedoms of others.  Visiting Ft. McHenry gave us a chance to remember those who went “just right over there” to fight on our own soil to keep our country free.  One of the most impressive parts of our visit was the impressive physical layout of the fort.  Between the large array of cannons as well as the impressive earth structures, it definitely would have been a significant obstacle for an invading force in 1812.  Top that all off with a huge American flag flying proudly and it’s not hard to imagine why it was so inspiring for Francis Scott Key.  Here are a handful of pictures from our visit.

As I mentioned earlier, we wanted to make it a Baltimore day, so after visiting a classic Baltimore tourist location we decided to visit the Café Hon (Hon pronounced like a waitress in a 50’s diner asking you “what kinda pie can I getcha, hon?”).  I heard about Café Hon on the radio and they talked it up like a great place with waitresses dressed up in “Hon” attire – paisley dresses, beehive hairdo, pointy glasses, etc.  We were all excited but apparently we picked the Hon’s night off.  Instead we got the 22 year old college student with tattoo’s up her arms and a nose ring.  “That spike in yer’ nose itchin’, hon?”  At least we got to sit next to the life-size replica of Elvis with a feather scarf wrapped around his neck.

Our Baltimore night wasn’t over yet, though.  In visiting the not-so-Hon café, we had the joy of driving home during rush hour traffic.  Thankfully we weren’t in a hurry but after about 30 minutes traveling 7 miles you start to get anxious for any type of movement.  The monotony was interrupted, however, with one moment of laughter.  Part of the reason for the delay was because there was some construction in the area.  Because of the construction, they had placed one of those signs that shows the speed limit on one side and your speed on the next.  You gain a whole new appreciation for “traffic” when you look at that sign and it says “Speed Limit… 55 mph… Your Speed… N/A.”  C’mon man, at least give me a 2 or 3 mph just to make me feel better about myself.

To cap off the Baltimore night, I watched the Ravens game before going to bed.  I’m quickly becoming a Ravens fan because I hear about it pretty much every morning on the way to work – even during the off season.  They’ll have players on the air talking about the game so you start to put personalities with the names and numbers on the jersey’s which really gives a whole new feeling to the game.  Unfortunately the Ravens lost which gives a whole new disappointment to the game as well, but I guess that’s all part of being a fan. 

All in all, though, it was a fun day giving us a chance to enjoy a few truly American activities – Stars and Stripes… Meatloaf from the Hon’s… Rooting for the home team… Sleeping safely without the threat of tyranny… Thanks to all the Veteran’s who help make it all possible.