Christmas in B’ham

We spent the Christmas holidays in Birmingham, AL.  We were visiting Letitia’s grandmother.  Although the prospect of spending Christmas in a hotel and a retirement community might not sound enticing, we had a great time.  When was the last time you went swimming on Christmas and Christmas Eve (indoor pool)? or, had an entire hotel to yourself?

That was pretty much the case for us.  At the hotel with us were Letitia’s cousins (2 parents and 3 kids) from Delaware and her parents.  The three rooms we had made up 1/3 of total occupancy on Christmas Eve.  We held little parties in the lobby and took over the joint.  It was a blast.

J and T got presents from mom and dad and stockings from Santa’s elf Quincy on Christmas Morning in the hotel.  In the afternoon we went over to Great Grams’ where Santa had been informed to leave their presents.  They loved this arrangement: instead of only opening presents first thing in the morning, they had two “present times” to look forward to.

The next day, Jonah (the birthday boy), Tobe, Cousin Bryn, and I went to the Birmingham Zoo’s Zoolight Safari event, which featured thousands of lights throughout the zoo.  We had a lot of fun.

The boys highlights were petting the rat, riding the train, and the S’Mores.  My highlight:  When we first arrived Jonah, who is recovering from a cough, started dancing like a madman to the loud Christmas music.  After a while, he began coughing again.  As we passed through the area where the music was loud later in the evening, he says to me:  “We need to go fast; this is really hard for me because my brain tells me that I really want to dance but I know I shouldn’t because of my condition.”  Fun for all!

More Pictures!

For those who care about such things, I posted several shots of the family on a trip to Northern California for Auntie Ing’s wedding from Summer 2005. Toby found an SD card that had a couple hundred pictures on it that apparently never made it to flickr.

I remember the trip well for photographic reasons. We were there for roughly two weeks but the pictures are only the last four or five days. At a Fourth of July festival, I was playing with settings on my then relatively new camera as we waited for the fireworks to begin and I accidentally deleted all of the pictures documenting the first half of our trip–including the wedding (and some fun hiking, birding, and kayaking).  I tried to make up for it by snapping a picture every chance I had in the remaining days in San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and the trip to the Jelly Belly factory.

Visit my flickr account to takea gander at what the boys looked like two years ago.

New Photos: Fall Festival & ArBOOretum 2007

For those who are interested in such things, go on over to my flickr account to see some new pictures of the boys at the Oak Forest Elementary Fall Festival and all costumed up for the Houston Nature Center and Arboretum’s ArBOOretum 2007 event.

Jonah’s (Age 6) Favorite Albums in my iTunes Collection Based Solely on the Cover Art

Spine – They Might Be Giants

Washington Square Serenade – Steve Earle

Chutes Too Narrow – The Shins

Rodrigo Y Gabriela – Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Z – My Morning Jacket

Southern Rock Opera - Drive-By Truckers

Talking With the Taxman About Poetry – Billy Bragg

Four things…(Jonah’s Version)

Jonah wanted to get in on the fun. Here we go...

Four Things Jonah Wants to Do In His Lifetime

1. Collect all the Pokemon
2. Collect all the Frog Webkinz
3. Become an Astronaut
4. Learn How to Swim

Four Movies (DVDs) Jonah Can Watch Over and Over Again

1. Super Mario Brothers Super Show DVD (Discs 1 to 4)
2. Revenge of the Sith
3. Garfield: The Movie
4. Shrek 3

Four Places Jonah Would Like to Live

1. Brooke’s house
2. California
3. Egypt
4. North Pole

Four TV Shows Jonah Loves

1. Ben 10
2. Courage the Cowardly Dog
3. Mythbusters
4. Stormhawks

Four of Jonah’s Favorite Dishes

1. Steak
2. Bacon
3. Chicken Nuggets and French Fries
4. French Toast

Four Web Sites Jonah Visits Daily

1. Webkinz
2. Cartoon Network
3. Nickelodeon
4. Orbitz Games

Four Things Jonah Loves

1. Brooke
2. Webkinz
3. Cartoon Network
4. My Family

The Approaching End of School

One more day of class for Toby and four more for Jonah. I am curious to see how pre-school has changed T-bone and if Kindergarten has had any observable impact on J. I am loading first day picks on my Flickr page and here. I will update with final day pictures later this week. What fun! Can you tell which one is which? A hint, you say? Jonah is five (in the picture) and Toby is two (again, in the picture). Look for comparitive pictures showing the physical ravages of the school year later this week.

A Relaxing Day at the Ballpark

This Saturday, Jonah and I went to go watch the Astros play the Diamondbacks.  I am very proud of myself because I was able to attend a game without following every pitch on my scorecard and–in the process–ignore my family.   In fact, I didn’t even score the game.   Jonah and I spent maybe three innings in our seats.  The rest of the time, we walked the stadium or hung out in the renovated Squeeze Play kids area, which is quite nice now, where they had a TV showing the game and broadcast the radio coverage.  It was a lot of fun.

I think from here on out I will have to look at games differently based on who goes with me.  If I am by myself (usually on a weekday), I can be in intense baseball fanatic mode and never miss a single pitch and watch every shift in coverage.  When I go w/ family, I will attend in family mode and alow the kids to dictate what we do and–this is hard for me–even leave before a game is over if the kids want to.   After-all, I would rather have the boys love to go to baseball games than to view it as a time when Daddy ignores them.  Plus, it is working.  Jonah–and Toby–cannot wait to go to another game.  This is a mojor shift from last season when whenever I suggested going to a game, I was met with shouts of “Boring!”.