We recently had our second family trip to St. Kitts. Our group this year was Mommy, Daddy, Jason, Mimi, Papaw, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Josh, and we were joined this year by Uncle Greg and Aunt Sandy. St. Kitts is such a beautiful island, and is still a bit on the undiscovered side, which makes it nice and not too crowded.
Unfortunately this year we had the terrible misfortune of being in an automobile accident, and had to send half of our group home early; Uncle Greg with a dislocated elbow and Aunt Sarah with a mouth injury that will require extensive oral surgery and braces. We are very fortunate, despite these injuries, that we all walked away, and are thankful that no one was hurt more seriously. We have been relieved to find out that Uncle Greg will not require surgery; and have been proud (but not really surprised) to witness Aunt Sarah's strength and positive attitude as she deals with a temporary liquid diet and multiple doctor's appointments.
After a couple of missteps, the resort staff was very helpful in assisting those of us that stayed for the remainder of the week, sort out things with the insurance company of the driver who caused the collision. We are very pleased that all medical expenses have thus far been reimbursed.
While Aunt Sarah and Uncle Greg have a long road to recovery ahead of them, we can look back now on the moments we did get to share on vacation together. We also look forward to future vacations together.
And now for some highlights (the good parts) from our vacation:
Justin, Jill, Jason and Jeffrey
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Dr. Seuss
The other day we had one of the XM Radio kids stations on in the car, and they played a reading of Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham." You should have seen you Jason reacted! We have read this book together so many times that he has memorized many of the parts, and was chanting in unison with the audio version. Now whenever we get in the car he asks for "Green Eggs and Ham", so I knew I had to track down this recording. I did not find the exact same version, but I think I may have found something better. iTunes has readings by famous actors and I found "Green Eggs and Ham" read by Jason Alexander as well as "The Cat in the Hat" read by Kelsey Grammer. These are both great recordings, and it is so much fun to sit together and look through the book while listening to such expressive readings. I would definitely recommend them to anyone with kids who love Dr. Seuss!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Mavs Game
On St. Patrick's Day, we got to sit courtside at the Mavericks game against the Detroit Pistons. No, we didn't get the tickets from an extremely rich relative, and we didn't follow a rainbow to find a pot of gold at the end. We simply won them in a drawing. We were very fortunate to get the tickets. It was a great way to relax after a long, busy day at the office and it was really cool to be right in the middle of all the action. We also got to see firsthand how truly athletic these players are and how physical the game of basketball can be.
This may rank as one of the coolest sports experience for me. After a little thought I came up with a list.
Justin's Top 10 personal sports experiences:
10. 2003 Cotton Bowl - The year LSU played Texas, the game was still being played in the morning of New Year's Day. It was quite a feat for folks in their mid-20s to make it there in time for kickoff. We're pretty fortunate to have a decent bowl game so close to home. It'll be even closer now that the game is being moved to Jonestown (aka. the New Cowboys Stadium), but it may lose a bit of it's sense of tradition.
9. Suite at the Texas Motor Speedway - While you lose a little bit of the experience by being shielded from the noise of the cars, it's definitely a cool, once in a lifetime experience.
8. Suite at Texas Stadium (Cowboys vs. Redskins) - Again tickets that we won in a drawing. Hopefully we'll get to go to a game in the new stadium next season.
7. Texas State defeating Georgia Southern in the 2005 Division I-AA Playoffs - I'm sure this would be viewed as the most controversial experience on this list. Though Texas State isn't known as a football powerhouse, you have to understand that a) Georgia Southern had been considered a top team at the level; and b) Texas State had never experienced at game of this magnitude at home. So the underdog Bobcats won, and people stormed the field. I think I even recall hearing Al Michaels somewhere saying, "Do you believe in miracles?"
6. Rangers Ballpark (aka Ameriquest Field, Ballpark in Arlington) - I think sometimes we take the Ballpark for granted, but remember Arlington Stadium? Sure, the Ballpark could have used a retractable roof, but they have the Home Run Porch, a museum, and an overall cool look that includes architectural features of various, now-defunct ballparks. (Note that this sports experience ranks below the Fort Worth Cats.)
5. Fort Worth Cats at LaGrave Field - We sat along the third base line, first row. With downtown Fort Worth in the background, the scene just had a really good vibe.
4. Stars vs. Edmonton Oilers playoff game - The Stars won, the place went nuts, and I didn't feel so well the next day.
3. Fenway Park - Sitting in center field, right by the Green Monster. With so many stadiums being replaced over the years, Fenway is one of the last historical ballparks still in use. I couldn't quite figure out why the Red Sox fans were heckling the Yankees while their team was playing the Twins. It was quite amusing.
2. Sitting courtside at a Mavs game - (see below)
1. Tiger Stadium, any night game at LSU - The game that really comes to mind is when LSU beat Auburn on a last second TD pass. If you were there and weren't either in a fit of joy (LSU fans) or completely devastated (Auburn fans), then you have no soul or may possibly be some sort of undead zombie.
Honorable mentions: UT/A&M game at Kyle Field, UT/A&M game at Memorial Stadium, Fort Worth Fire Hockey, a at day at the Colonial PGA tournament.
On my "to do" list are:
Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, Indy 500, Daytona 500, Augusta National, (this list will most likely continue to change and grow).
Courtside!
This may rank as one of the coolest sports experience for me. After a little thought I came up with a list.
Justin's Top 10 personal sports experiences:
10. 2003 Cotton Bowl - The year LSU played Texas, the game was still being played in the morning of New Year's Day. It was quite a feat for folks in their mid-20s to make it there in time for kickoff. We're pretty fortunate to have a decent bowl game so close to home. It'll be even closer now that the game is being moved to Jonestown (aka. the New Cowboys Stadium), but it may lose a bit of it's sense of tradition.
9. Suite at the Texas Motor Speedway - While you lose a little bit of the experience by being shielded from the noise of the cars, it's definitely a cool, once in a lifetime experience.
8. Suite at Texas Stadium (Cowboys vs. Redskins) - Again tickets that we won in a drawing. Hopefully we'll get to go to a game in the new stadium next season.
7. Texas State defeating Georgia Southern in the 2005 Division I-AA Playoffs - I'm sure this would be viewed as the most controversial experience on this list. Though Texas State isn't known as a football powerhouse, you have to understand that a) Georgia Southern had been considered a top team at the level; and b) Texas State had never experienced at game of this magnitude at home. So the underdog Bobcats won, and people stormed the field. I think I even recall hearing Al Michaels somewhere saying, "Do you believe in miracles?"
6. Rangers Ballpark (aka Ameriquest Field, Ballpark in Arlington) - I think sometimes we take the Ballpark for granted, but remember Arlington Stadium? Sure, the Ballpark could have used a retractable roof, but they have the Home Run Porch, a museum, and an overall cool look that includes architectural features of various, now-defunct ballparks. (Note that this sports experience ranks below the Fort Worth Cats.)
5. Fort Worth Cats at LaGrave Field - We sat along the third base line, first row. With downtown Fort Worth in the background, the scene just had a really good vibe.
4. Stars vs. Edmonton Oilers playoff game - The Stars won, the place went nuts, and I didn't feel so well the next day.
3. Fenway Park - Sitting in center field, right by the Green Monster. With so many stadiums being replaced over the years, Fenway is one of the last historical ballparks still in use. I couldn't quite figure out why the Red Sox fans were heckling the Yankees while their team was playing the Twins. It was quite amusing.
2. Sitting courtside at a Mavs game - (see below)
1. Tiger Stadium, any night game at LSU - The game that really comes to mind is when LSU beat Auburn on a last second TD pass. If you were there and weren't either in a fit of joy (LSU fans) or completely devastated (Auburn fans), then you have no soul or may possibly be some sort of undead zombie.
Honorable mentions: UT/A&M game at Kyle Field, UT/A&M game at Memorial Stadium, Fort Worth Fire Hockey, a at day at the Colonial PGA tournament.
On my "to do" list are:
Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, Indy 500, Daytona 500, Augusta National, (this list will most likely continue to change and grow).
Courtside!
Bye-Bye High Chair
Jason has decided that since he is such a big boy now, that he is too old to sit in his high chair. He has graduated to having a seat at the dinner table. Unfortunately, Mommy, in her infinite wisdom, had shown Jason how to swing his legs and bounce in the chair in addition to showing him how to slide down in the seat (just like she did when she was a little girl) a couple of weeks ago. Yes, this is the same butcher block table Mommy used to sit at growing up! We're pretty sure he would have figured out how to do all of these things by himself, but we now realize that a prep course was not a good idea. So now, dinner is accompanied by a chorus of: "Jason, sit up!", "Jason, sit still!", "Jason, turn around!", "Jason, stop bouncing." It is a really nice change to be sitting at the table all together, squirming aside. Besides, kids can't help being kind of squirmy. Isn't he cute?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
LSU License Plate Day!!!
Jill's brand new license plates arrived and we had to put them on as soon as we got home. For those of you who don't already know, LSU is the first out of state school to have official plates made in Texas. We can already tell Greg is jealous and wants some LSU plates of his own. Actually, we hear that the University of Arkansas may not be far behind with their own Texas plate, so if he must, we'll let him have a set (ewww pigs....).
Jason's Room v2.0
Wow! We can't believe it's already March. Well, we have a little catching up to do for our entries. A few months ago, Jason upgraded to a "big boy" bed. Along with that, we had some decorating to change his room from a nursery to a boy's room. Take a peek!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)