Our trip to Galveston and Houston

Here's our recent trip to Texas in pictures. Overall we had a great time enjoying the warm weather, and seeing lots of family. We had some ups and downs during the trip, but overall it was fun. I won't go into detail about our accomodations in Galveston. I'll just say they were disappointing, and we were all a victim of false advertising. I'll also mention that on the day we were to fly back to Michigan, our flight was supposed to leave in the morning at 8:45. Well...the Dow plane was delayed throughout the day and we didn't end up leaving until 7 at night. Jenny was already back in Michigan (she left a day early because of work) so it was just me and the kids stranded for the day in a rental car waiting on a plane to show up. The 3 of us finally arrived in Midland at midnight. It was such a stressful day and we were all fried at the end of it. But the kids held up well...and Ben especially was a little trooper. He never broke down once. He stayed strong for me the whole time. That day was actually a good experience for me personally. Now when I think I'm having a bad day I'll just remember that day waiting on the Dow plane. If I could get through that day with two little kids all by myself...while living out of a rental car...then I can handle anything.

Anyway...onto the trip.

It's 6 a.m., and we leave cold snowy Michigan...for warm and sunny Texas.


After we arrived in Lake Jackson, TX...Jenny had to take a Dow flight over to Baton Rouge for a short business trip for the day. So the kids and I drove north to Houston to see the Leslies. Ben had fun playing with Wil, Kate, and Hudson.

The next day Jenny had to work in Freeport for a few hours in the morning, so the kids and I killed some time around town. We went to the beach at Surfside, and then we went to the Sea Center aquarium in Lake Jackson. Megan seemed real interested in all the fish...much like when we took Ben to the aquarium in New Orleans when he was a baby.




Time for some fun in Galveston.


We met the Hames family at the Space Center in Houston. This place is so much fun for kids and adults alike. Ben and Jackson had a blast. The place has changed so much since I was there as a kid years ago. There's a scale replica of a shuttle cockpit that you can walk in, all sorts of vintage rockets and modules that you can look at, and a giant playscape that makes anything at McDonald's look pathetic. It was a very fun day.

















Happy Birthday Nana!




Megan steps into the ocean for the first time.

Though the temperatures were in the 70's, the water was kind of cool. But that didn't stop the boys from jumping into the ocean. They both stripped down to their underwear and ran in. The innocence of youth.



Enjoying some birthday cake with Nana and Big Papa and Uncle Randy.





One more dinner before we all leave. We enjoyed an evening by the shipping lane watching the huge cruise ships depart.

Making Cookies

Before we left for Texas we spent an evening making Valentine's Day cookies. Well...Ben kept eating the candies. But for the most part we ate cookies. As you can see here Megan is wondering where her cookies are.

Megan's First Super Bowl

A few weeks ago Megan enjoyed her first Super Bowl. Okay...she didn't really care. But it was a good game to watch right? What a finish.

Megan's 6 month checkup

We had Megan's 6 month checkup this morning. Her recent stats are:

16 pds...12 oz.
26 and 3/4 inches long

So she's still holding onto the 80%-90% percentile for her age.

We also realized she's "technically" maxed out length-wise in her car seat. The seats says no infant should sit in the seat if they are 20 pds, or over 26 inches long. Well...she's still about a month away from being able to sit up in a high chair. And she is technically still under the pound limit in her carseat. So we're going to try to push it another month. We'll see how it goes.

This weekend I'll post our pictures from our Galveston trip last week. So stay tuned for that.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Megan Update

Last night was the first night Megan has slept through the night. She went to bed after 8:30 last night, woke up around 1:30 last night...then put herself back to sleep, and then woke up this morning around 6:30. We were very happy.

For the past couple of weeks we've been working up to this. We cut out her nightly feedings altogether, and then when she would wake up in the night I would go in there and pat her head a bit. The whole idea was to get her calm without picking her up. Then for the past couple of weeks I had been going in there around once a night, but she would quickly fall back asleep. I would sleep on the floor in her room for a bit, just to make sure she would stay asleep. So last night was her first all-night sleep.

The funny thing is we're going to Texas next week. So now that we've got her sleeping better we'll just pick her up and put her in a new environment, bed, etc. I'm sure that will help. HA!

Movie Time

CLOVERFIELD - Well, I saw this over the weekend. I really liked it. It's a very different kind of monster movie, and gives you a perspective you haven't experienced before. Granted, the first 15 minutes are brutal to get through. It was like watching an episode of "The O.C." (uh...not that I would know.) But once the monster appears the movie really takes off. It's basically a monster movie where this big sea monster takes over New York. But you see the movie through the eyes of 4 twenty something's who are trying to evacuate the city after spending an evening at a party. They have a video camera with them and everything you see on the screen is what they are "taping." So the whole movie is the "shaky cam" technique. I didn't get sick, but there were times I was getting a headache. There were a few parts that made me think "why would they be shooting this?" (The guy is getting bitten by a huge bug-like thing and he's still holding the camera?) I thought maybe the gimmick might be more believable if they were a news crew trying to get the whole story documented for the evening news. But anyway, the style still works. At the end of the movie it seemed like half of the people in the theater hated it. I heard all these people at the end verbally complaining about the movie and outright upset about the ending. I thought it was a fun movie, but it's not for everybody.

Our new treadmill

Well...we took the plunge. We bought a treadmill. It's a really nice one, and should last us a while. I've been going to the community center to work out, but it will be nice to have something at home I can use for those days I don't feel like going to the gym. Besides, this will be a lot more convenient for Jenny with her work schedule. Anyway, one of the biggest fans of it is Ben. He thinks it's a new toy and he constantly wants to walk on it.

So with the new piece of furniture we had to rearrange the playroom downstairs. Here's our new setup. The whole space really works well.

Movie Time

One of the biggest changes in our lives as a result from having kids is the amount of movies we see at the theater. We just don't get to the theater nearly as much as we did pre-kids. There was a time when we used to go to the theater and we would have seen everything showing. Nowadays when we go to the theater we have to take in effect the cost of babysitters, so anything we see better be good.

That's why we rent movies now more than ever before. We love Netflix. I love the convenience, the selection, everything. Sure it means waiting 6 months to see a lot of movies we would normally see at the theater. But these days when we're tied up with two little ones, being able to watch a movie at home after the kids go to bed is really nice.

Typically Friday nights are my nights. Jenny's usually wiped out from a week at work and off to bed early, so Friday night is my time when I can sit back, stay up late, watch a movie I want to watch, and not think about anything else. Then Saturday nights is usually our "movie" night, where we try to watch something we both want to watch.

Recently we did find a babysitter who's great with the kids, so we're going to try to have a "date night" once a month. So hopefully we can get back to the theater more.

So anyway, this year on the blog I thought I'd try to include my reviews of the movies we rent and see in the theater. Since I'm already almost a month behind, I'll play catch up and bring everyone up to date.


LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD - We rented this one recently and we liked it. I should say Jenny liked it and I loved it. I enjoyed it a lot more than the Bourne Ultimatum. Yes, I know it's rediculous...and over the top...and laughable at times. But come on...it's John McClaine. He surfs a jet for crying out loud. Loved it!


SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK - I am an Edward Burns fan. Not the Edward Burns you see in movies like "15 Minutes," or "A Sound of Thunder," but the one who wrote and directed "Brothers McMullen," and "Looking For Kitty." I guess I like his movies for the same reason I like Woody Allen movies. Interesting writing, dialouge driven, character rich, etc. In fact, I would say with movies like "Looking For Kitty," and this one he might be turning into the Woody Allen of our time. Granted he has a long way to go before he achieves that status. (I don't think Burns writes as well for women as he does for men.) Anyway, this one felt a lot like a number of Woody Allen movies I've seen, and I guess that's why I liked it.


BOURNE ULTIMATUM - We liked it. It's fun to watch and see how Bourne will get out of every predicament he finds himself caught up in. It's also cool to see all the european locations. I still like the first one the best. I think because it goes at a slightly slower pace, so you get a chance to soak in the espionage. With the 2nd and 3rd one you have no time to catch a breath. It's cinema for someone with a short attention span.


EXILED - When I was in college I watched a lot of Hong Kong action movies. I mean really...too many to admit. Well, I don't have the same taste for the genre as I once did, but once in a while one catches my eye. "Exiled" is an asian, gun-toting, action movie that is set in Macau. It's the typical "mafia syndicate hitmen find redemption in a blaze of glory and bullets" movie that gets cranked out in Hong Kong. It's got some great scenes in the first hour, but I eventually got bored with it after I hit the 2 hour mark. Way too long.


I AM LEGEND - We got a baby sitter one night and ran out to go see this. We thought it was great. For those who don't know Will Smith plays the last man on earth, but he has mobs of vampire zombies to deal with night after night. Jenny for some reason had no idea the movie was going to be horror, so half way through she looked at me and said, "what did you bring me to?" But we both loved it. I had read the book before, and I still think it's better. But the movie is intense and worth seeing.


BLADES OF GLORY - We saw this in the theater when it came out, but we thought it would be fun to rent it and watch it again. We love Will Ferrell, and I laugh at basically any movie he makes. This is a funny one indeed, but the extras, deleted scenes, and outtakes are almost as funny as the movie itself.


PATHFINDER - I am a sucker for a good "sword and slash" flick. I rented this based on a recommendation from a friend of mine. That and also I liked the movie "The 13th Warrior," and this reminded me of that. Anyway, it's about a viking raised by indians in a pre-colonized America. He eventually becomes the protector of his tribe from invading vikings. (Sigh) What was I thinking with this one? After the first 20 minutes I said to myself..."Oh oh. This is getting bad."

And then there was Pluto

Ben has a space puzzle that he likes to put together. I guess it was made fairly recently because Pluto is not on the puzzle. Well...everytime he puts the puzzle together we always recap and name all the planets on the puzzle.

Well, yesterday after we finished the puzzle and named all the planets he asked me "Where's Pluto?" We tried to explain to him that Pluto isn't necessarily a planet. Well, I wasn't going into the whole "binary planet system" theory or something like that, so we explained it this way..."Pluto is too small to be a planet."

Well...then he said, "Maybe when Pluto grows up he can be a planet."

Megan tries some pears

Megan lately has shown quite a bit of interest in food...namely the food that Jenny and I are eating. She watches you eat and will try to grab what you're having. This is very interesting for us because Ben was the total opposite at this age. Ben never took an interest in trying different foods (and actually he's still like that). So lately we've been introducing some different foods to Megan to see what she thinks. Here's Megan trying some pears yesterday.

Detroit Auto Show

Ben and I went to the Detroit Auto Show on Saturday. For those of you who don't know it's THE car show in the country. Unlike most other car shows the Detroit show is all about the spectacle. Car companies not only want to showcase their cars, but they also want to attract you with their brand and identity. All the cars are surrounded by huge flat screen panels running flashy graphics and footage of their cars, lights, sounds, etc. It's all about branding. As a graphic designer I get more out of seeing all the branding designs and displays than the actual cars.

I'm not a "car buff" by any means, but I always enjoy the Detroit Auto Show because of the "show" it puts on. And as you can imagine Ben had a blast. He would have sat in every car if we had time. We walked around for 3 hours and he didn't want to leave. I practically had to drag him out of the place. The boy loves cars.

Tough to be a Cowboy fan

I know it's been a week since I watched my beloved Dallas Cowboys lose a sure ticket to the Super Bowl...but I can't help it. I'm still upset. I sat there watching some of the championship games this weekend still thinking about how Dallas blew it this year. Just blew it. Dallas should have been there. It's so frustrating.

Anyway, I came across this video. It's very funny, and worth watching. If you're a Cowboy fan it really sums up how you feel after this season.

It's from the movie "DOWNFALL," which is a German film about Hitler's last days in WWII. In the scene Hitler's generals are explaining to him that the allies are closing in and Germany is about to fall, and he won't accept it. However, someone covered up the original subtitles and inserted some new dialouge pertaining to the Cowboys.

What are the kids up to?

Megan is now 5 months old, and growing like crazy. Jenny and I were commenting the other day that it seemed like Megan gained 10 pounds overnight. At night she still has her ups and down. One week will be great, and she'll only wake up once in the night. The next week she'll have a cold or something and she'll want to get up every 2 hours. This past week she had a case of constipation. We had recently introduced her to rice cereal, and she started taking more formula. Well, for a few days she had a hard time getting the pipes cleaned out if you know what I mean. The three of us would be sitting in a restaurant and Megan would start grunting like an old man. I mean it was uncomfortably loud. I looked at her and she was turning red in the face trying to get things moving. I'm sure everyone was looking at us. Anyway, after a few days (and some swigs of baby prune juice) the plumbing started working again. Everything seems to be fine now. I'm sure her system is just trying to process the changes in her diet.

Ben is doing great. He's still enjoying all of his new toys from Christmas. He likes playing with his new LEAPFROG "LEAPSTER" game. I guess it's kind of a gameboy kind of thing, only the games are all educational. He loves playing it. The problem has been when he's playing it and not listening to us. Whether it's time for a meal, or a bath, or bedtime...sometimes he'll be playing it and won't listen to us. So there have been times when we've had to take it away for a day or two just to send a message. I can only imagine what he would do with an XBOX. But he's doing great overall. In school he's starting to sound out words and read 3 letter words. We'll sit in the kitchen at lunch and make out words with his alphabet pretzels. He'll always try to guess first and then I tell him to sound it out. After that he usually reads the word correctly.

Still a little puzzled

Ben loves puzzles. We got him a lot of new puzzles for Christmas, and he seems to like them all. I help him a little with each one, mainly just getting started. But then I can usually sit back and just watch him put each one together. He's really getting good at them.

Candyland

Okay...here's the deal with Candyland. Ben LOVES playing Candyland. Jenny on the other hand absolutely can't stand the game. Ben loves the candy pictures, the gingerbread men, and all the colors. Jenny can't stand how the game takes forever, and how you reach almost the very end only to find out you have to go back to the beginning.
I am somewhere in the middle I guess. I don't mind playing it with Ben, but I do think the game takes too long for a 4 year old's short attention span.

Anyway, to say that Candyland is a source of contention in our home would be the understatement of the year.