Catching up

Well, it's been forever since this dang thing got updated. But here's a video to refresh the time and the hope that regular updates will return sometime soon. Hope. Hope!

2010

Happy Holidays to all. Here's our virtual Christmas card (with sound)!

Xmas2010 from JoJo on Vimeo.

Fall-a-la-la-la

Fall is finally here! For like 20 days and then it'll be winter. Oh, Austin. And we've been busy drinking in cooler temps, Halloween, trips to weddings, and a trip to Denver for a rockin' Rocky Mount baby shower. It'll be easier to just show you the pics -- you'll figure it out.

But, speaking of drinking it in, sampling the various Oktoberfest beers that come out is a fun fall pastime. I ended up jotting down a top 10 list of them because I just like to make lists.

10) New Belgium - sure I love their stuff, and the Colorado brews are always fun (see more later in the Denver trip). But this one was too hopped up for me.

9) St. Arnold - a Houston beer. Probably just knowing it's from Houston affected my rating downward. I had it on draft and it was perfectly fine but kind of weak. I like my Oktoberfest to be a nice marriage of drinkability and complexity. This was pretty drinkable but not so complex.

8) Magic Hat - our friends in Burlington, VT produce many a fine beer. I even had a beet beer when I visited their brewery a couple years back. But their Oktobee wore you down halfway through the bottle. Kind of the opposite of the St. Arnold.

7) Shiner - sure, sure -- the famous Texas beer. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

6) Spaten - Our first real German beer on the list and it was solid but always seemed to fizzle out about 10/12 of the way through the bottle for me. A green bottle no less too. Not a fan of green bottles.

5) Real Ale (bottle & draft) - the bottle was not that good, but the draft version made up for it. Definitely bold, but maybe too much so for me.

4) Boulevard (Bob's 47) - this is the section where I just get picky. I really enjoyed this and had it before in KC. Basically it's the "worst" of the 4 that I really liked.

3) Paulaner - Our truly German winner. I think it was lots better than Spaten in my unofficial, unscientific selection of 2 whole German beers.

2) Leinenkugel - This was tough, but I had to put it second. I had this one early in the fall and never again. Perhaps if I had it later, I might push it to number 1. It's the perfect blend of what I want in an Oktobee.

1) Sam Adams - I know. Lame. Everyone loves Sam Adams and they're always "THE" microbrew you go to. They saved microbrewing in America, right? It was just a littler more perfecter than the Leine...

Anyway, enough about that. Just go out and support Wisconsin and buy a Leine. So, the first thing to report is that Grace had her first Halloween. Kelly got her a ladybug outfit in the mail and since Grace kept "overachieving" the sizes on her clothes, she went big. A bit too big it turns out. So, while we could have put her in it (and did for a photo shoot)...


... we ended up on Halloween going with one of Jasper's (yes, the dog) old outfits -- a bee costume. Grace has long loved when we "buzz" when we play with her touchy-feely book that has a bee on the front. So it was at least kind of tied to her interests since she can't really tell us what she wanted to "bee" (pun!) for Halloween. We had a bunch of friends with babies over and got all kinds of great chaos photos in our 1200+-sqft house.


We also got out for a night for a wedding in early November while Grace slept at home with the grandparents. It was fun. The ceremony featured a small orchestra playing music but not what you're thinking for a typical wedding. They did Journey and all kinds of fun music. It was a festive wedding like that. Good times. And good food! Mmmmm. Here's some of those pics and other random ones from around town.

Caroline & Skip tie the knot!

With Nana & Pops at the pumpkin wagon

Eating her bath toy in the bath

Grace is...not a vegetarian. As you can tell, she gets happy when given meat

Just last weekend we flew up to Denver (Grace rocked both direct flights and did a fair amount of sleeping for us). We left just 4 days after Daylight Savings and then headed one more hour back into Mountain time. Oh boy. Suddenly she wakes up 2 hours earlier?! She already gets up too early for this lazy ass. We're screwed right? But actually she did great. Mainly because we kept her up late at the raucous shower where, I might add, I won the sippy cup tournament. You might recall that from our own shower. I guess I learned a thing or two back then. The beer we had was just one of many fine Colorado brews that are NOT available here in Austin. So if you have the means to pick up some Odells in your neck of the woods, I highly recommend it.

We got her some snow boots when we arrived. She's kinda striking a pose

Bundle up!

Smoked BBQ that started EARLY the morning of the shower
Moms!

And, evidence of my victory -- so much pride

Finally, dads, this is useful for any of you looking to get a solid workout from home :)

HOW TO WORK OUT FROM HOME - watch more funny videos

Happy Thanksgiving. A report on that after the turkey, ham, stuffing, green beans, noodles, mashed potatoes....(snoring)....mmmmmm

Lucky Number 7

Not Lucky Number Slevin -- some movie with Josh Hartnett. Remember how he was a pretty big deal for a while? Not as much anymore. But he makes the list of "famous" birthdays on Kelly's birthday. In '78. But this is about all 7's. And 33 years ago in '77 yours truly was born. Yes, 33 years old. The same age as El Guapo, right?



Kind of sad to know how much more El Guapo had achieved at 33 than I have. He had a posse, crates of tequila and inspired fear in the fearless Amigos. Oh wait! The joke was that he was older than 33! So I've still got time. Good, good. I will need it. Because now I'm purty busy with a young lady who's rockin' the 7's too.

Little Grace has reached 7 states in her 7th month. Boom! Add Virginia (a name we considered for her) to her list and take note that her first college visit was to her parents' alma mater of W&L. We hit up the 10-year (10 years!) college reunion and the plans came together remarkably well. I was in the DC area for work (incidentally doing some work on the '777' submarine platform -- 7's man, it's crazy) during the week and then Kelly & Grace flew up Friday and we drove down to the prettiest little slice of heaven you've ever seen -- Lexington, VA. Yup, Kelly flew solo with Grace, with a connection in Dallas, on a 6am flight. Boom! Mother of the year; write it in ink. And Yaya and Papa drove over for a little mini-vacation to help us out with Grace as we ran from event to event all weekend absorbing all the splendor, gossip and alcohol we could (but sadly no 7-and-7's).

Anyway, photos aplenty from the festivities to guide us. Friday night started great with dinner at a downtown staple for group dinners in little Lex-tropolis. Although two other places for such events had either gone out of business or burned down. So, kind of sad. That led to our first (and certainly not last) "it was better when we were here" musing that would be muttered to no one in particular. Anyway, good times; then back to leave Grace with her grandparents for a big night out. But, she's hitting a clingy period and so we had a short outing that night. No worries -- tired anyway. Grace slept well and late.


A big breakfast for our big Saturday at another staple on the Lexington gastrointestinal tour -- Redwood Restaurant. Now smoke free thanks to Virginia law, but thankfully not grits or country ham free. We dined with Grace's soon-to-be Godmother Jill and her husband Phil.


Then a big trip around campus to talk at a forum with our host Harlan,

Crazy smiles all around!

followed by some tailgating and not much football game spectating,


and then (after dropping some serious coin at the campus bookstore on swag) we gave Grace a building tour.


The day completed and exhaustion taking over, we dumped Grace off with her beloved grandparents again and headed to an evening on the front lawn of campus with some tasty pulled-pork BBQ not often found (well) in Texas, wine and local'ish beer. Did we mingle with tons of classmates? No, not really. But we took a class photo after a cocktail hour at the President's house. That was fun.


Well, then Grace got a little fussy again and so we had her dropped off at the front-lawn party seen above and strapped her in for a walk home to our fine B&B ...err...professor's house. Wouldn't you know it, though? The old frat house was on the way home and it was just a cocktail party. No crazy loud bands or tomfoolery. Or at least not too much tomfoolery. So we went. With our baby. But we weren't the only ones! So, it's OK!


Old, dear buddies and our famed house mother had a good time and we turned in at a respectable hour.

The next morning it was off to Dulles airport to head home and leave behind the grandparents and the beautiful fall colors of Virginia. With one last goodbye and some hugs for the road, we were off, up I-81 on a beautiful, clear day through the Shenandoah Valley.


Upon our return, I really was too exhausted to think about any kind of birthday celebration. So, on the day itself, we headed to a classic Mexican haunt, I downed 2 margaritas and enjoyed my first birthday as a dad. It was simple and fantastic. I'll never forget it. Grace at dinner. She has a funny look on her face. I think she was caught faking a smile, because (let's be honest) she was bored.


And to finish off the numbers-themed post, the 33rd Chilean miner was rescued on my 33rd birthday. Huzzah! Now remember those were Chilean miners, not Texan miners. Those flags can be confusing as some Texans recently proved. Ciao.

Designing Women

Ugh. Sorry. Another long lapse between posts. But here's a quick catchup and plenty of Gracie goodness to brighten your day as she does ours.

One of the things we finally did was play interior designer and hang up the crib bumpers that Gracie's Yaya Kathy made into curtains. Yaya did a fabulous job and we did an OK job finding some Ikea curtain rods and tying up the curtains. Grace's pink and green room is more complete than ever, with a crib that is also now down to its lowest setting since someone started showing signs of pulling herself up on the sides.

Grace has gotten pretty good at sleeping through the night. There are occasional flukes where she wakes herself up at 1 or 2am (usually on weekend nights since I guess we don't wear her out nearly as much as daycare), but generally to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 and sleeps until 5:30 to 6:30 (lately more on the 5:30 side unfortunately). She's taken to sleeping with her tush in the air, as we captured on the baby monitor.

And speaking of daycare, she's enjoying it a lot. Seeing as a cold front FINALLY (FINALLY!) moved in today and the endless, humid, crappy Austin summer seems to be over, then we suspect she'll get even more time out of doors there too, which she seems to enjoy. Look at her rockin' in the uber stroller with her pals.

And a couple times recently the teachers at daycare have put her in a swing outside and she enjoyed that. So we've been hitting the park on walks to try it out there and she REALLY likes the swing. Which is definitely the nail in the coffin for the mini-swing we have in the house -- only legit, outside swings from now on.

She's starting to eat "real food" twice a day now -- usually rice cereal and then some fruit and/or veggies between bottles. She'll either be really into it and smily (like here where she left herself a sweet potato goatee), or get into what we call "hulk" mode and will get angry with each passing bite since her hunger is not being satisfied quickly enough. "More food! Feed me!"

And as we head toward cooler temps, our usual hookups from friends who have kids just enough older to give us ALL their used clothes have been kicking in some nice threads. Check out the crazy ski bunny parka-onesie Grace inherited. Not exactly a Texas winter necessity but perhaps a trip home to KC will get us to pull it out.

Crawling is just around the corner. Since she's over 20 pounds already, she's got a tough task to move all that weight around. But she's getting closer and closer and just today moved forward across the floor in a pseudo-Army crawl. In one attempt she even started saying "dada" sort of. Listen close. She's officially (to our eager ears) said "mama" and "dada" now ("mama" at about 6 mos. and "dada" at 7 -- dammit! I lose).

Finally, fall apparently means it's raining babies! We've had 2 new arrivals in the past week (one documented here), 2 more imminent, 2 more around the start of 2011. Very exciting stuff and we hope all your good vibes join ours as we send them out to these lucky parents and parents-to-be.

Grace's Daydreams

So, there's this blog that, even as a dude, I must admit is like totally super cute. You can see it here. I swear it is work safe and is not some raunchy youtube video or some such thing. Trust me. Anyway, it's called Mila's Daydreams and this mom always takes very imaginative pictures of her daughter napping during the day on the floor. She'll decorate the surroundings to make it look like her little Mila is in the middle of a grand scene.

Well, while we were in Maine we had to do all kinds of unusual things with Grace since we were out of the house and the routine and did not have a crib. One day she just fell asleep on the floor. Eureka! We should try to stage a daydream picture for Grace. We didn't have too much to work with and we are far short of a patented Mila Daydream, but it was fun. Here's Gracie skipping through the grass under a blue sky. Sort of...


But, seriously, spend some time browsing Mila's Daydreams. You won't be disappointed.

The Way Life Should Be

As you drive through three states in one hour in the Northeast and pass from Massachusetts to New Hampshire and into Maine (a giddy experience for a Central Texan who needs a flight on the Concorde to pass through three states in an hour when starting from Austin), you'll see this sign:


And I have to agree. We recently returned from 8 days in Maine and it was most definitely the way life should be. Except for the drive out with the HUGE bottlenecks of traffic that happen at the toll booths. But other than that -- yes, it's the way life should be.

Our man of New England, Ben, was getting hitched and it was too tempting to enjoy cool temps and a break from the Austin summer grind. So we indulged and went for the full week instead of the traditional wedding weekend. Plus once you load up the bags with baby gear and get your head wrapped around putting your 6-month old in a long tube for many hours en route to the furthest corner of the continental U.S., you feel like you better get while the gettin's good. Just witness our staring point of packing:


But the Planes, Trains and Automobiles adventure was worth the calculated effort. We arrived Saturday night after baby Grace was a champ on the long flight and the LONG drive from Boston to Bar Harbor, ME. Of course we stopped through BWI and met the President (and future President?...shudder) along the way.


We rented a house that was, uh, fantastic. Very relaxing front porch that got a lot of mileage with the cool mornings (and afternoons and evenings) as seen from bubble-blowing pics:


Anyway, we knew the wedding week would be a marathon, so we didn't want to sprint right out of the gates. You know, being experienced track nerds and all. So we took it easy and strolled around beautious Bar Harbor Sunday. This started the first of many "this is the best place I've ever breastfed" moments of the week.


Monday, in typical Monday-like fashion, was rainy (but it was the only such day except for the following Sunday when we returned home, which is like "so what" you know? Totally). But we still went around beautiful Acadia National Park (I'm having trouble with word variety since everything truly was beautiful). We hit the one sandy beach in the rain (and some crazies were in the 55-degree water) and visited our buddies staying back at a house with a no-fooling polar bear in it.


The next couple days were hermosa again and so we toured the beach, Cadillac mountain and a lovely island restaurant with the wedding crew. Mucho good times.

On a seaside hike with the family and Gracie strapped on.

The sandy beach on a sunny day -- packed with many brave swimmers

Grace hanging with Nana and Pops -- our triumphant baby sitters/vacationers for the week.

Atop Acadia's "Cadillac Mountain" with a view of the sailboat that Nana and Pops were aboard.

Crossing the actual "bar" of Bar Harbor which only materializes during low tide and you can hike across it and hike on the island it connects with. Pretty cool.


Dining on Isleford (another island that most certainly cannot be walked to) after a brisk boatride for a pre-wedding dinner evening with friends.

Then as the wedding neared and more folks arrived, we rendezvoused with many an old friend and enjoyed hanging out and, as usual, enjoying the surroundings.

Grace making friends with Leila, another babe traveling with brave parents and friends of ours. They were also toting 2 more kids...somehow.

Hiking around Jordan Pond with friends. Kelly stopped to breastfeed at a very suggestive viewpoint.

The old crew after the rehearsal dinner. Yours truly messing up the picture as usual.

And on the magnificent wedding day, we were treated to a loving, pitch-perfect ceremony, a (yes, again) beautiful reception and much good fun. It truly capped the entire week (as it should!) and Ben and Courtney were clearly quite the happy couple.

The ridiculously picturesque altar, where the happy groom awaited with the officiant who also happens to be a college buddy. Nice perk for sure to have a friend marry you.

Group photos of the W&L alums, friends and drunkards.

Finally . . . food montage!

BWI aiport seafood. Really not bad, and we really could not wait.

First of many lobster rolls at Gritty McDuff's on the drive up in Freeport, ME

Breakfast at a blueberry pancake mecca - Jordan's - in Bar Harbor

Multiple lobsters (of course!) with and without Grace in attendance. And with and without touristy lobster aprons. Both delicious.

Here's the full album with all the photos for those that are really bored . . .