Cold Night

Last night was the coldest night we've had so far this season, as far as I know.  Luckily, I didn't have to work last night because if I did, I would have frozen.  I'm amazed at how cold it gets on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier when it's really not even that cold of a night.

Last night we celebrated Molly and Sophie's birthdays.  It was really nice and I think they both had a lot of fun.  It was cute seeing Sophie's reaction to everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her.  She didn't quite know what to do. 

Anyway, the coffee just finished brewing so I'm going to go pour some for Joy and me.  Later!

A Post

It's Monday.  There's not a lot to say about that.  Of course, it did actually turn out to be a nice day today.  After I got home from work, we ate leftover pizza and took Molly to ballet practice.  While she was at practice, Joy, Caleb, Sophie, and I went to Toys R Us.  No real reason other than to get ideas for Sophie for Christmas.

People have asked me and Joy what to get Sophie for Christmas and we've been drawing blanks.  I mean, it's not like she's asking for anything so she'd probably have fun with just about anything.  She's particularly fond of putting the small objects that she happens across as she's crawling on the floor into her mouth.

Anyway, I just felt like writing something.

Later!

Friday.

Tonight, Joy went with Michelle to a lady's night out, or in.  I guess some of the ladies at the church were making it a bit of a slumber party but Joy is not staying overnight.  I think if she would have stayed overnight, there could have been some complications involving Sophie and eating.  It's times like these that I realize just how much Joy does for our family.  What a wonderful wife and mother!  God has truly blessed me with her.

I guess I should mention that while Joy was gone, Sophie was actually very good.  She wasn't very fussy or anything like that.  Of course, she slept for a portion of the evening but, that's irrelevant.  While Sophie napped, Molly and Caleb watched The Haunted Mansion movie while I was reading.  It was pretty relaxing.

When Sophie woke up, she was great.  The sad/cute thing that she did was when she crawled down the hallway to our bedroom door.  When I opened the door to our room (in which the lights were on, by the way) she crawled right to the bathroom sink area where Joy is sometimes brushing her teeth or doing her hair.  Of course, Joy was not there.  I guess that's what was sad.  But, it was pretty cute.  I think she did this a total of three times tonight.

Well, it definitely feels like fall outside.  Too bad it's raining.  We were planning on going to the pumpkin patch at the Belmont Farm in Matthews, VA tomorrow but, with this weather, I just don't see that happening.

Lastly, my boss told me today that November 1st (a Sunday night) will be when I start third shift.  I'm still pretty excited about it.  It will be nice to be in a different atmosphere.  Apparently, I'll also still be doing some processing at night for different day shift jobs.  It's going to be interesting if nothing else.

Anyway, thank the Lord it's Friday (and I'm off this weekend)!

Pancakes For Dinner

As I was sitting on the floor, Sophie crawled over to me started studying my foot.  She started grabbing at my ankle or so I thought.  She started grasping and pulling at the hair on my leg.  I guess she thought it was something she could just pick up and inspect.  Fortunately for me, she never got too good of a grasp on any of my hairs.  That would have hurt.

A few minutes after that, Sophie was at the patio door and started walking toward Joy.  Not just a couple of steps but more like seven or eight!  It really won't be long now and she is going to be walking.  I really can't believe she'll be a one year old in just a few weeks.

Speaking of a few weeks, supposedly, that's when I'll start third shift.  Well, that's what I was told today.  I heard my supervisor tell someone on third shift that I would be working with them in two weeks.  Then, when I asked her directly about it, she said, "The last I heard, you'll be going some time in November."  This is after she told me "after the first of the year" on this past Friday.  I guess it's one of those things that I'll find out about one week before I'm supposed to start.

Anyway, time to hook up the griddle and make pancakes and scrambled eggs (with cheese, of course) for dinner. 

Later!

Tonight, we started watching the Disney classic Swiss Family Robinson.  We've still got about an hour left and, kind of surprisingly, it's really keeping all of us interested.  The thing that has kept me most interested is the use of animals in the movie.  I'm no PETA member or animal rights advocate but, seeing some of the situations they get the animals into is kind of shocking.  I mean, there obviously were no computer special effects in 1960 so it's crazy to see two dogs fighting a tiger or a teenage boy riding on the back of an ostrich.  And that's just a couple of examples. 

Anyway, Sophie is getting more and more bold when it comes to walking.  She's getting more willing to take a couple of steps here and there.  But, you can tell she still gets scared when she gets slightly off balance.  Of course, I would be scared to walk too if my center of gravity was located directly in the vicinity of my large noggin. 

Well, I'm going to help Molly practice her 12's time tables and then read our nightly devotions.

Until next time...  bye!

Cool Morning

At least it feels like fall again this morning.  It's about 55° right now outside and it feels great.  I like summertime but really, even more so, I like fall and winter.  There's something refreshing about breathing the cool, clean air.  No mosquitoes, no gnats; it's really my favorite time of year.

Well, we're getting ready for church: Molly just got out of the shower and Caleb just got in.  Hopefully, we'll make it to church before the choir sings.  Ha ha.  (Sad, but sometimes a possibility.  Better late than never, I guess).

A Dreary Morning

I actually like dreary mornings.  Even though it's already 7:45am, it feels much earlier since it's so cloudy outside.  I wouldn't want it to be like this all the time but, every once in a while, it's really nice.

Anyway, I got up around 7 or7:15.  Joy had just brought Sophie into our room so she could nurse and, since Sophie never stops moving when she's in our bed, I went ahead and got up.  I thought I'd play Fallout 3 for a little while before anybody else got up.  But, as I was unloading the dishwasher, I heard Sophie in our room "talking" loudly.  A few minutes later, Joy came walking into the dining room with Sophie. 

So, Sophie is in her high chair right now eating grapes on her own and Joy is about to give her some oatmeal.  Molly and Caleb are still knocked out but that's okay.  It's Saturday.

Fish Out Of Water

Fish Out Of Water, originally uploaded by mocajomiso.

"The snack that smiles back until you bite their heads off."

Not Yet

I might not be going to third shift until after the first of the year.  I'm okay with that but, it's kind of funny.  I was apprehensive about having to adjust my sleep schedule and stuff but, then I was slightly disappointed to find out that I would have to wait so long.  Weird.  I had to remind myself that I had prayed for the Lord to open and close doors as He sees fit.  So, if in the end this door closes too, then so be it. 

Anyway, here comes the weekend.

The Decision

I told my boss today that I want to go to third shift.  She was okay with it and I'm pretty excited about it.  I don't know when I'll start since it still has to go through our general foreman, but I'll find out soon.  I have to admit I'm a little nervous about it, mainly due to the fact that I'll have to adjust my sleeping habits.  Oh well.  We'll see how it all works out.

In other news, Sophie has another tooth coming in on her top row.  Soon she'll have a toothy grin rather than a gummy, baby grin.  Time keeps flying by so fast...

Third Shift

I'm thinking about going to third shift again.  I guess it's because the third shift supervisor mentioned the fact that if I were to go to third, I automatically get a 7% raise then, in March next year, I will get another 3% increase.  That could really help us out.  Joy and the kids are excited at the thought of my working during the night and being at home all day.  I've enjoyed it the handful of times that I've done it but, when I've done it before, it was with the understanding that I would have the next day or so off. 

Anyway, I am seriously considering this time.  We're going to keep praying about it and see how the Lord leads. 

On the memory lane front: Joy said that Sophie waved and said, "Ba Ba" as Molly and Caleb were going to get on the bus.  Super cute.  It won't be long now and she'll be talking non-stop like Molly and Caleb.

Well, it's time for me to head to bed so we can say our prayers and read our devotions.  If there's time, I'm going to try to read some more of Assassin's Quest.

Night!

Weekend's Over

Well, the weekend is over.  It was pretty relaxing but, as usual, it was over way too fast.  Caleb is apparently getting sick again.  I guess it's just that time of year for colds and constant sickness at home.

Also, I'm once again thinking of making my blog into an actual journal.  In other words, I might privatize this completely.  Of course, nothing is completely privatized on the internet I guess.  Oh well.  Just something I'm thinking about doing.

Until next time.

9 Hours, 45 Minutes

Wow.  I really did not expect the iPod to last for over nine hours.  I'm trying to find out but, I'm fairly certain that an iPod that plays continuously for over nine hours will not be eligible for the battery replacement program.  Oh well.  At least it's working fine.

See ya.

iPod Battery

I've noticed lately that my iPod's battery is discharging faster than it used to.  I guess I should expect this since I've had it for a little over three years now.  Anyway, I started looking up iPod replacement batteries online then I realized somthing: Apple will replace an iPod's battery even if it's out of its warranty period for about $60.  Not too bad considering buying a similar MP3 player (30GB, photo/video capable) would probably cost more than the replacement fee.
     In order to check the battery, I'm following the battery check guidelines on Apple's support website.  These guidelines call for you to select an album with average length songs (3-8 minutes long) and put the iPod on continuous repeat.  Also, you have to turn off the backlight and the equalizer. 
     I did all that this morning so at 7:08am, my iPod started playing Toby Mac's Portable sounds album.  It's now 9:45am and the battery icon is still showing slightly more than half of its capacity.  I'm not sure if this is indicative of how much longer it will last.  I guess only time will tell. 
     According to the Apple site, my iPod should play continuously for 14 hours straight.  I highly doubt it will last that long.  I'm pretty sure the battery has to die before 7 hours of play time.  If it does this, I can send my iPod in for a replacement.  I say "replacement" because they will send another iPod with a new battery.  It will probably be a refurbished one but, what do I care?  As long as it works, it makes no difference to me whatsoever. 
     After setting up the iPod battery test, I sat down on the couch with some coffee and my headphones so I could play a little bit of Fallout 3.  It had been a couple of weeks since I played so it took me a minute to figure out what I was supposed to be doing (other than shoot everything that moves). 
     About forty five minutes later, Joy and Molly got up so I quit playing Fallout.  Before I cut the Xbox 360 off, I decided to check out the Brutal Legend demo.  It was pretty cool, I guess.  Not something I will ever own though.  A little too much on the "evil heavy metal is cool" side.  I know it's all tongue in cheek but still, I will not be purchasing it.
     It's about time for us to head off to the annual Kiln Creek yard sales this morning.  Hopefully, we'll find some cool stuff.  If not, maybe we'll at least find some stuff to sell on eBay.

The Foundry

Talking about work with people that don't work you work is typically boring but today, was another case where I can honestly say that if Joy or the kids could've seen it, they would have really been impressed.  Today I worked in the foundry again.  I've worked in the foundry many, many times before but yesterday I finally got to see where it all begins.  I witnessed the pouring of several molds/castings. 

It was pretty cool to see the flames shooting up 15 or more feet into the air as the metal was first placed into the container that they would use to move the molten steel.  Even cooler was seeing the liquid metal being poured into molds.  It was so bright that I was unable to look at it constantly.  Also, the metal that spilled down the piles of sand, or sulfur, looked just like lave leaking down the sides of an erupting volcano.  It was very cool.

Even though I don't expect to forget this sort of thing, I felt like writing it down.

Last Day of September

It's hard to believe but it's true.  September is over in a little over two hours.  This year, in retrospect, is flying by.  Joy and I were just talking the other day about how, when we were kids, Christmas just couldn't come soon enough.  Nowadays, it comes entirely too fast.  Wow.  Only 86 days until the big day.  Not nearly enough time to do all of the Christmas shopping we need to do.

Moving on from Christmas as a topic, yet again.  Tonight I helped Molly start her own blog here on blogger.  It's a private blog so only Joy, mom, Michelle, and me will be able to view it.  She was asking me to sign her up after I sent her the invitation to read this blog.  She'll probably have a little fun with it but, it's probably more of a novelty to her.

Anyway, gotta stop writing here and read our devotions for the night. 

Black and White

Black and whites-2-2, originally uploaded by mocajomiso.

This is a photograph I took a few weeks ago that I would really love to have enlarged to 18X30 or something similar. The only thing I worry about is quality and the price. It can be pricey, in my opinion, and I have no idea what the quality will be. Oh well. There's a first time for everything.

Another Post

Yes, another post.  I just put Sophie in her crib for the night.  She is already asleep; no crying.  Right before that, I was helping Caleb make up the earliest draft of his Christmas wishlist.  Actually, he wrote it down himself last night.  Tonight, he asked me to type it up for him.  As of right now, it consists solely of Mega Bloks Halo Wars building sets. 

Is it too early to make a Christmas list?  Not if you're a kid.   I don't remember how the narrator said it in "A Christmas Story" but, he summed it up perfectly for me. For me, Christmas is still the pinnacle of the whole year.  Sure, there's summer and birthdays and stuff like that but, come on.  Christmas is the day.  I think it's awesome that Molly and Caleb love Christmas as much as Joy and I do.  I know that right now, their love of the holiday is mostly driven by "stuff" as it used to be for me.  Now, I just enjoy watching their eyes light up when Christmas is just around the corner.

Soon, we'll be putting up our advent construction paper rings that we enjoyed cutting down last year.  In honor of that, I went over to the Wolfram|Alpha website and plugged in December 25th, 2009.  According to that site, there are 88 days until Christmas.  Seems like a lot, but it's really not.  Here's a link to the Wolfram|Alpha site that has the info.

Merry Christmas (too) early!

It's starting to feel more and more like fall. Maybe not so much today since it got close to 84 or something like that but, this morning I actually used the heater. According to the weather channel site, it was 59 degrees at 5:15am. Tomorrow the low is supposed to be 54. Why am I wasting so much time with this?

Anyway, I just dropped Molly off for her ballet class. Right when I pulled into the parking lot here at home, I realized that she left her water in my car. Oh well. At least it's not really hot today.

Today when Caleb got home from school, I read a book about salmon with him. He is such an excellent reader. Joy and I are very proud of him. And Molly, of course. Oh, and Sophie, of course.

Well, I really hope I can keep this up. I think my posts may be more boring than they used to be (in my opinion) but they may be more frequent. I want to communicate that sense of day to day life that we all tend to forget about as time goes by. We start to forget the little things unless they are associated with bigger, more memorable events.

At any rate, I'm going to at least try.

Tonight

Sophie's asleep now. She's getting much better at lying down and going to sleep in her crib. Tonight, she didn't even cry at all. Such a good baby. I guess I should mention that she is now really getting her top two teeth in. Oh, and she is pulling herself up to a standing position. And, when she doesn't realize it, she will stand without holding onto or leaning on anything.

I've decided to note this because I went through some of my older entries and read some stuff that the kids have said or done that, if I had not written here, I would never have remembered it. In particular, today I was reading a post from about four years ago where Molly was playing and chanting "906 O.K.I.R". I just barely remember that.

Anyway, I've pretty much made up my mind that I'm going to "privatize" this blog. I know I've toyed with the idea before but I'm pretty sure this time. I really want to be able to use this as a regular journal.

Well, I have to go now. Gotta help Molly study for her "5's" multiplication test. Zero through twelve is what it covers, I believe.

Bye!

Thanks for the memories... I think.

What to Say

As always, I've wondered: what is the real purpose of this blog? If it's a journal, then it's obviously not a very private one based on what I've written here. If it's a place for me to link to other sites/stories then, I obviously am not doing that. Maybe I haven't closed it for old times' sake. Maybe I just want to see how long Google will keep Blogger around.

Maybe I just felt like posting something today with no real reason.

DSC_0014

DSC_0014, originally uploaded by mocajomiso.

Caleb was messing around while I was experimenting with slow shutter speeds.

For Real?

Yesterday, we went to Best Buy during the "Tax-Free" weekend. In my opinion, the tax-free draw is just a bunch of hype. Why don't we have an "Income Tax Free" paycheck? I think that would go a lot further for everybody. But, I digress.

As we were wandering around Best Buy, we stopped by the Rock Band 2 setup for the Xbox 360. Molly and Caleb were playing through "Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi when we noticed that the game was on sale for $99. Personally, I've had a lot of fun playing Rock Band but I never felt like it had reached a good price point for me. Well, that changed this weekend.

So, while Caleb was sitting on the stool in front of the drum pads, I pulled the box off of the shelf behind him and announced to him and Molly that I was going to buy it. "For real?" he asked excitedly. "Yes," I replied. Then, he cocked his head to one side and gave me his best "I don't believe you" look and said, matter of factly, "For real." Again, I told him we were buying it. Even after the Rock Band 2 box was in the back of the van and we were pulling out of the parking space, Caleb asked again, "Are we really getting it?" It was hilarious. I guess he was half expecting me to say "Just kidding!" and walk back into the store and get my money back.

Anyway, Joy and I thought it was particularly funny that he just couldn't believe we were getting something like that.

Well, I have to go and keep an eye on Sophie.

Goodnight!

James River at Dusk

James River at Dusk, originally uploaded by mocajomiso.

Took this picture at sunset on the James River. I used Lightroom to process this one (as I did for all of the ones that I shot that same night). Lightroom is surprisingly fast even for my three year old Dell Laptop.

Garbage

Why do people litter? More specifically, why do people litter in what could best be described as their front yard? I guess living in an apartment has its disadvantages: some of the children have no respect for personal property. Or where the nearest giant dumpster happens to be.

Growing up, I was always taught NOT to be a litterbug. So it's no small wonder that if I decide to eat food from Wendy's at 1am in my car at my apartment, I'll most likely throw the trash in an appropriate container. Not so for many of our neighbors. Perhaps there simply aren't that many people here that have any aspirations to ever own anything other than their car. So, maybe they have no concept of what it's like to go out into their own front yard and pick up the trash that some hobo-esque moron tossed out.

Well, that's all. Got to go to the library for no associated reason.

SPCA = Sick Pets you Can Adopt

Yes, I know that acronym was a stretch. But seriously, why was my wife able to adopt a cat that supposedly only had "kennel cough" when, three days later the vet was prescribing an antibiotic? The cat is super nice and loves being around people. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure she's miserable. Her nose is very runny and both of her eyes are all clogged up. Hopefully she'll get better.

Hang in there, Zoey.

Lion At Dusk

Lion At Dusk, originally uploaded by mocajomiso.

Another shot I took last night at Lions Bridge. I used to Lightroom to decrease the sharpness and also messed with the lighting and shadows.

DSC_0121

DSC_0121, originally uploaded by mocajomiso.

We went over to the Lions Bridge last night so I could have some more practice with my D60. I got a little experience with Lightroom when I went to process.

Anyway, this is Sophie giving us a big cheesy grin.

Donations, Anyone?

What are the legal implications of getting donations on a website? If I set up a website call, simply, donatetomyvacation.com and I make it clear that the donations will not be going to any charity, what happens? Is it illegal to ask for donations if it's just for personal use? Is it taxable?

I've always wondered about these things...

Been a While

I guess I really haven't posted anything in quite a while. It's not as if I have anything particularly important or monumental to say right now (or ever) but every once in a while, I get the urge to post something on my all-but-forgotten blog.

Like I've stated before, this blog is more of a journal of sorts. I don't treat this as the only journal of events that I ever keep since I have no idea if someday Google will simply pull the plug on Blogger. Who knows?

I guess the same goes for Flickr. I really do use Flickr as my photo archive. I mean I keep a local copy and a local back up copy of my pictures but I don't take time to sort them. The only sorting they get at home is by the upload date. On Flickr, I take the time to tag them, put them in sets and collections, etc. But what would I do if Yahoo suddenly pulled the plug on Flickr? I guess I'd just be perturbed. Well, I'll enjoy it and use it while I can I suppose.

Anyway, today is Father's Day. I have had the honor of being raised by two awesome parents. I have never had to wonder whether or not my parents loved me and had my best interest in mind. I have always felt that my Dad and my Mom are proud of me. God has really given me an excellent example of what it means to lovingly raise a child.

The reason I made my Father's Day statements about both my Mom and my Dad is because I don't think I ever posted anything about Mother's Day on my blog. It was mainly due to laziness. It's not as if I was posting everyday in May except Mother's day. Still, I would have felt a little dirty leaving my Mom out in the cold. Happy Belated Mother's Day, Mom! Happy Father's Day, Dad!

On a more journal-esque note, Sophie's first tooth (or teeth, it's hard to tell right now) is coming in. Recently, she has been a little fussy for no apparent reason. Yesterday I did the routine "check the bottom gums for teeth" inspection and, much to my surprise, I could feel a little tooth coming in. It's possible I'm feeling two teeth but I can't be certain. Joy and I have tried to simply look by opening Sophie's mouth but she always moves her tongue to just the right spot so that we cannot see her bottom gum (is it 'gum' or 'gums' when I'm only referring to the bottom row?). Anyway, it's a neat little milestone for any baby.

A funny side note: as I type this, I am really starting to believe that the running spell checker in blogger is actually intended for British English, not American English. Whenever I've spelled words like neighbor, color, etc., I would always get the little read dotted line underneath the words indicating that they are spelled incorrectly. However, when I change their spelling to the British English (neighbour, colour) the little red line goes away.

This morning however as I was writing my little paragraph on my parents, I noticed the little red dotted line under the word Mom. I thought, "That's odd. I'm pretty sure that's how 'mom' is spelled." So I decided to change it to "mum". Doing so eliminated the red line. Strange isn't it? (Spoken with a fake British accent.)

Well, I've got to get the kids up for church. Joy will probably be staying home with Sophie since Sophie's been running a low fever.

Happy Father's Day 2009!

 

I thought I'd try posting a picture from within the Picasa photo editing program. I really like the program but I don't like how it compresses the images way too much.

Reminiscing

I was thinking today that it's been about a year ago today that our house was about to sell. I don't recall the exact date that someone put a contract on it but I do know that we closed on June 13th. We must be pretty close to the year anniversary by now.

I'm just amazed at how fast time goes by. I'm also amazed by how awesome God is. He worked out something that I was really afraid would not work out. By now I should know to trust him and not worry.

The main reason I was writing today was because I was going through some pictures on my flickr site that didn't have tags and I ran across some that I took of our yard sale last year. I remember it being really hot last year when we moved. Miserably hot.

It's kind of bittersweet looking at those pictures of our house. On the one hand, I'm super happy that we were able to sell our house and move when we really needed to. On the other hand, I really miss our house. These apartments are great but I really do miss our house.

Who knows what the future holds? So many things in my life I've wished could've worked out differently only to see later that if I had gotten my way, things would probably have been a disaster. Again, I'm glad God's in control, not me.

Well, today is Mother's Day. I hope all you mothers out there have an awesome day. We got to spend a lot of time with Mom and Dad yesterday which was great. They are truly fun people to be around.

I'll post more later. Right now, Sophie is in my lap and it is very difficult to type.

Later!

Just a Test

I'm just testing how photobucket might work out for me. I'll only be using it for ebay stuff so I'm just trying to find out how it's going to work. I could use flickr for that but I'm really not supposed to. They could technically delete my account if I got caught using flickr for selling stuff.

Anyway, here's the test.



I guess I'll work on how to get a slightly smaller image size.

Oh well!

Just a Picture From Disney World

Just thought I should post a picture of us from our trip to Disney World. We had this picture taken by one of the Disney "cast members" as we were making our way deeper into the belly of the Magic Kingdom. I kind of wish the sky wasn't so washed out in this picture but, overall, I'm happy with it.

The Disney Journal That Never Was

While we were staying at Disney, I decided to write down what we did for a couple of days. I almost made an effort to post this while on vacation but, I just was unwilling this time to pay for the internet connection at the hotel.

Anyway, here's what I typed up while sitting in our All Star Movies Hotel room.

Tuesday, March 31^st, 2009, Disney World Day Four

We spent our day yesterday at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park and had a great day. About half way through the day, we decided to come back to the hotel room so the kids could play in the pool and we could get some laundry done.

Anyway, at the park we rode the Tower of Terror, Star Tours, and the Great Movie Ride. We were able to get Caleb to ride the Tower of Terror and he liked it. He even rode it again with Joy when she was doing the “ride swap” with me. Later, he told me that he took the Tower of Terror off of his “favorites list”. I didn't even know he had a list going!

In the evening we rode Star Tours and, once again, Caleb started to get upset and say that didn't want to ride it just before we were actually boarding the ride. I felt like a mean dad making my son ride and strap in while he was fighting back tears.

Riding the Great Movie Ride was an experience. One that we may not have to repeat again. There was nothing really bad about the ride, it's just that it's kind of... boring. I mean the environments that you ride through look very nice but I'm afraid some of the older movies are beginning to go over the heads of some of the younger visitors to Disney World. I'm not saying they need to update the ride but maybe a little “enhancement” wouldn't hurt. They've obviously already “enhanced” the movie that you watch while waiting in line. It now includes scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Our plan for today was to go back to Hollywood Studios but since there is a greater chance for rain later this week, we have decided to go to the Magic Kingdom today. The Saturday visit to the Magic Kingdom was just a quick visit. This time I think we'll try to hang out a little more.

I'm personally looking forward to tomorrow when we go to the Animal Kingdom which is my favorite park.

Well, it's about 10:00am and we are getting ready to head downstairs to have a little breakfast. Can't wait to blow some more cash on eating. Ha ha.

More updates later.

Yesterday, we spent the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We really enjoyed ourselves. Although, I really forgot just how big the park is. In other words, there is whole lot of walking involved.

Our first ride of the day was Kilamanjaro Safaris which is basically a cool zoo tour with a little bit of a story about poachers involved. Excellent ride. Two years ago when we came, we loved it and it is still a very cool experience to ride in an open air vehicle right beside animals like giraffes and other African animals.

After the safari ride, we made our way over to the Bug's Life 4-D show, “It's Tough to be a Bug”. It was pretty fun but I got a little ripped off. I mean the only “4-D” experience about it was when I was sprayed with water and some short air blasts. There's a scene where a stinkbug comes out and sprays the audience but I didn't see what the big deal was; I didn't even smell anything. Does that say something about me? I don't think so. I just think the seat I had was a little messed up. At the end of the show, your seat is supposed to buzz or vibrate so as to simulate lots of bugs crawling under you but, I didn't feel anything. I mean, I heard lots of other people laughing and screaming but I felt nothing. Joy said she felt it, too. Oh well.

After the Bug's Life thing, we headed over to the Asia area of the park to ride Expedition Everest. We did the “rider swap” deal so Joy could ride after I rode with the kids. I have to mention that waiting in line for Everest and the safari ride was pretty cool. They have so much presumably authentic stuff to look at while you're waiting that the wait goes by really fast. It's almost like visiting a mini exhibit.

Anyway, while we were waiting an announcement came over that the ride might close if the thunderstorm that was looming in the distance hit us. Fortunately for us, they didn't close the ride before we got on. Unfortunately for us, it started to rain as we rode. It didn't just feel like rain though. I'm not sure how fast the roller coaster goes but I do know that it felt like little pebbles shooting me in the face. It stung. After we rode, they closed the ride. After about an hour or so, Joy was able to ride.

After all this, we went to the Dinorama area and rode a triceratops ride. The Dinorama area is like a carnival area with all the typical games and short rides. After that little ride, we ended up going on the Pangani Forest walk and then Camp Minnie Mickey.

The forest walk was very cool. There was a little viewing area connected to the pool where the hippos are. We came in at just the right time to see a hippo swim right by the window. Twice. I was able to get two pictures of its rear end. Oh well.

No, we didn't do too much at the Animal Kingdom. But it was still very cool. In my opinion, the Animal Kingdom is more of an atmospheric experience. So, with that said, I guess it is an actual “theme” park.

Today, Thursday, April 2^nd, is our last full day. Right now, I have some clothes in the laundry room. After we eat breakfast and get our clothes, we're probably going to go to Downtown Disney and possibly the Magic Kingdom.

Hopefully, I'll update later. Probably after we return home.

Monday, March 30th, 2009 (Day three in Disney World)

As I may have mentioned in the last post, we will be heading to Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park today. This is Molly's favorite park and is definitely one of my favorites. The main ride we're looking forward to? The Tower of Terror. Today is the day when we will coerce Caleb into riding it.

It may not be that easy since he started getting upset in line for Splash Mountain but I'm of the mindset now that it's too bad: you're riding. Does that sound mean? I don't think so. If we went along with Caleb everytime he said, "I don't want to ride that", he would ride almost nothing.

Anyway, we just had a healthy breakfast of dougnuts and cookies and we're getting ready to head out. Like I said before, I wish I could upload more photos but the connection here is just too slow.

The weather looking good for today. Right now, it's probably just barely sixty degrees and it's supposed to only get to about 76 or so. Yesterday was a different story. It poured down rain up until about 1:30. It was okay since we had ponchos to wear. They were definitely life savers. Or clothes and camera savers I guess.

Well, I'd better click "Publish Post" before my 24 hour internet access time expires.

See you soon.

In Disney World

I'm sitting in bed in our hotel room at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort. Caleb was just awake a second ago watching an episode of Spiderman. Joy, Molly, and Sophie are all sound asleep. I won't make this long: I am super tired and my legs are killing me.

We spent today at Epcot after getting a sort of nice late start mainly due to rain. It turned out to be a really beautiful day. Yesterday when we arrived we headed on over to the Magic Kingdom and, man, it was packed.

Anyway, I really wanted to upload a lot of pictures but, apparently, the connection here at the hotel isn't so hot. I'll most likely just stop trying to upload stuff until we get back home. It's really that slow.

The plan for tomorrow is to go to Disney's Hollywood Studios Park, which I keep calling "MGM". Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it's been so far.

Heading to bed now.

Molly and Caleb at the airport, waiting to head to Disney World.

Two More Days to Disney

After working 2am until about 11am yesterday, it was nice to get some sleep last night. Work today wasn't too bad. I was just in the office processing a couple of jobs but that can really make the day drag sometimes. Especially when I'm about to go on vacation. I'm sure tomorrow will go by even slower.

But work isn't the point of this post. The point of my posting this is to celebrate just how close we are to hopping a plane to Disney World. It's really hard to believe but somehow, I believe it.

All that really remains right now is for us to go through a checklist and make sure we have everything. Not just the essentials like toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc., but the other essentials like our reservation paperwork and the Disney's Magical Express tickets. What is Disney's Magical Express, you ask?

Disney's Magical Express is an airport shuttle program. All we have to do is put the special tags on our checked luggage before we take off. When we arrive in Florida, we just hop on the Magical Express and go to the hotel. No need to wait and claim our luggage. Walt Disney himself will personally deliver our luggage to our hotel room. Or so I think...

So basically, Disney's Magical Express is a bus.

Anyway, two more days!

Six Days To Disney

We are nearing the departure date: Saturday, March 28th. It's hard to believe that next week at this time we'll be totally exhausted from walking all day in the heat. Well, hopefully not totally exhausted. Maybe the adrenaline rush, which presumably lasts for six to seven days, will keep us going.

Anyway, we tried packing today just to see what we could or could not fit in the luggage we're taking with us. The plan is only to check one bag since the airline charges $15 for the first checked bag, $25 for the second checked bag, $50 for the third, etc. I think we'll be able to do it since our carry on stuff is all going to fall under the size/weight requirements.

Once again, I'll be using blogger in conjunction with flickr to keep the updates from the park rolling in for all of my fans. All two of you: me and possibly my sister.

Have a great night. Here's couple more shots from our last trip to Disney.

This is from our first night in Disney World back in April 2007. We spent the evening at Downtown Disney instead of going to a park that night. Not sure if we'll do that this time...

This is another picture from Downtown Disney. Not sure why they keep the Christmas stuff out in April but hey, who cares?

Twelve Days to Disney

Well, like the title says, we have only twelve days until our trip to Disney World. I'm holding the baby right now and trying to type so this will be a short post.

Anyway, I was reminded that about two years ago, I had a blog post with the same title as this one. It all comes full circle at last.

Within a couple of weeks, I'll be posting pictures from Disney World.

See ya!

Disney 2007 Trip

Continuing my irregular 2007 Disney World trip photo series, here's a picture from the Star Tours ride at Disney Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney MGM Studios). Yes, this is the ride that Caleb was terrified of since he sincerely believed we were actually going into outerspace and he didn't want go.

Anyway, this isn't the best photograph of the ride but it does highlight the quality of the stuff you get to stare at while waiting in line for the various rides in Disney World. (I am not stating this sarcastically; the quality of the stuff in Disney is quite high.)

See you later.

27 Days to Disney

Well, it's official. We are going back to Disney World at the end of this month. We're all pretty excited about it. To be honest, we've been seriously looking into it for a while but we just booked it last week.

I am personally excited about convincing Caleb to ride the Tower of Terror. I think he's going to do it. We've been watching various videos of the ride on youtube. Yesterday, in fact, I ran across a video of a Half-Life 2 mod that someone made to look exactly like the Tower of Terror ride. It was very accurate right down to all the correct Twilight Zone audio that you hear right before going on the ride. Below is the video and a couple of pics of the kids.

The countdown has begun.

Shot of Molly before she knew I was going to take her picture.

Caleb showcasing his lost tooth.

Beautiful picture of Sophie taking a nap.

First Loss

Today, Caleb lost his first baby tooth. Joy was having him brush his teeth when he spit some blood out. Upon seeing this he, naturally, freaked out beyond reason. He was screaming and crying so loud that Joy had to tell him he would either have to calm down or one of the neighbors would end up calling 911.

Sadly, I was at work so I didn't get to witness any of the chaos. Eventually he calmed down and Joy was able to pull the tooth out without incident or any violent outbursts.

Ah, how we cherish moments like this long after the years have softened our minds' focus so we can look back and laugh.

In honor of this event, here's a picture of Caleb before he had any teeth and when he enjoyed chewing on plastic toys.

Big Wheel

For my own personal enjoyment, here's another picture from our much ballyhooed Disney World trip of 2007.

Another picture from the Pop Century Resort. In this one, Joy, Molly, and Caleb are walking up to the larger than life Big Wheel (non-functioning, I think...).

Another Two Year Old Picture

For some reason, I suddenly enjoy posting pictures from my flickr site to my blog. It's sort of like a "double post" since I am "posting" information along with a picture that I already technically "posted" almost two years ago.

A view at the Pop Century Resort Hotel in Disney World. Although slightly obscured by trees, you can still make out the gigantic Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and the (very) cool huge Rubik's cube.

A Flashback From My Flickr Archives

I just felt like posting one of our pictures from our uber-great Disney World trip from April 2007. Man, that was a good time. This particular one is from our first full day at Disney World which we spent at the Animal Kingdom. (Plus, I just like the way photos look against the background of this blog. Did you know the background color is called ocher?)

Birthday Eve

Joy went to work this morning and I got up with her. Of course, instead of doing something really productive, I decided to work on organizing some of my photos on my flickr site. I've been putting photos up on flickr for almost four years now but sometimes I wonder, what if flickr suddenly just goes away sometime? I'm sure it won't be that sudden but that would really be irritating considering all of the pictures that I have on there, all tagged and organized. I mean, it wouldn't really be too devastating since I'm not really using it as a real back up plan but I do like the way all my pictures all fairly organized.

On another useless note, I finally adjusted the width on the main body of this blog. Now it won't cut off pictures that I happen to post (which always irritated me).

Anyway, tomorrow is Michelle's and my birthday. I'll be 35 and she'll be 35 minus 7. We're not planning anything extravagant other than going to lunch today with our parent's after church. Also, we played Rock Band 2 last night for a while which was pretty fun. Especially when Caleb was on drums and really started freaking out that he couldn't do one of the songs since it was too hard (he was able to do it by the way).

It was also funny that, while we played the game, we had Sophie lying on her little playmat and she has really started trying to roll over. So much that at one point, we thought someone had repositioned her since she ended up 180 degrees out from where Joy had initially laid her but, no. She is rolling herself around. Although, not really rolling around. It's more like rocking back and forth and slowly moving around. Kind of like the minute hand on a clock: you don't see it move at a glance but if you really watch it, you can tell it's moving.

This weekend has been pretty nice. I don't know if it's just because I'm getting more and more boring but I really like the weekends where we don't have anything in particular to do aside from just hang out.

Good times. Goood tiiiiimes.

Baby Grabbin'

Sophie, three months old, is now grabbing at things. While this may not seem monumental, consider this: her usual hand pattern is a clenched fist. So I was pretty happy to see her to be (apparently) voluntarily opening and closing her hand when she her hands were resting on the table.

Of course, I could be wrong about all of this. Maybe it's just some automatic response. Who cares? It's still pretty cool.

Anyway, here's some photos that I recently uploaded to flickr.

Here I am talking some sense into sense into Sophie. "Listen to me, Sophie. Listen to meeeee!!!" I was really just trying to support her so Joy could snap this piture. Cute, right?

Molly in her creepy plaster mask that she made at school. Creepy.

That's all for now.

Countdown?

Yes, I am looking forward to getting our tax refund. No, it's not just basic materialism. It's just that we rarely get tax refunds. Praise the Lord Joy wasn't self-employed last year. That's what's killed us for the past six or seven years: self-employment tax.

I guess I'm anxious about getting the refund because I want to make sure we get it before the U.S. government goes totally broke. Also, I just want to do my small part in stimulating the economy. So, really, it's not about me. It's about my country. I'm just trying to help.

Honest.

Just a Post

Well I haven't made any entries since something like January 3rd of this year. Not that that is a problem. I was just on my blog reading the posts I made from when we went to Disney World in 2007 so I decided to post something.

Here's my real issue though: should I even bother with the blog? I mean, I want to keep a journal I guess, but I could easily keep one on my laptop. There are plus and minuses to both, I suppose. If I use my computer to store my journal, I have total control over the journal but it's only available when I use my computer.

If I use my blog, there is always the risk that Google could shut it down, effectively erasing my journal. On the other hand, I really like the format. Maybe there's a "journal" format or template available for Open Office. Hmmm...

Until next time...

Bye.

Anomaly or Harbinger?

The following pictures show a dark chocolate M&M (a.k.a. M&M Dark) in its exact condition when it was extracted from the bag. At first I was repulsed by this misshapen mass but I was soon drawn to it. Could this be in the shape of some dead president or other famous person (living or dead)? I wish. It did not seem to resemble anyone, or anything for that matter, so I threw it away.

Do you think it shares any features with anyone? If so, please let me know so I can fish it out of my trash can and list it on eBay.

Thanks in advance.

Check out the cool grey area. I think that's where the words "M&M Dark" were supposed to be. Creepy.