Boston Area Trip

I've gotten quite backlogged on my blogging due to a special project I've been working on. So, I'm going to start trying to get caught up.

I thought I'd start with sharing some pictures that I took while in the Boston area on a business trip (I never actually went into Boston). On the morning after I got there, my work got done a little before lunch time, so I hopped in the car and headed for the coast on an adventure.

I did a quick internet search before I left the hotel to see what the best scenic route would be to check out the beautiful New England fall foliage. Here is a map of the route I took. You can use your mouse to move it around to see the whole route, or enlarge it.


View Larger Map

Unfortunately, I didn't have my digital camera so I bought a disposable. The pictures are pretty terrible, some even have a line down the middle of them where the color changes mid-picture. I'm so glad we have digital now!

I stopped off in a few small towns along the way like Glocester and Rockport. In Rockport there was an area called Bearskin Neck that had lots of little shops.

Here's a couple of the shots I took.





If you're interested, here's the rest of the pictures.

While the fall foliage was pretty, I wasn't that attracted to the area. Everything felt so old. Some of the towns I drove through dated back to the 1600's. I guess if you like that sort of thing it would be perfect.

Halloween Party or 4th of July Party?

We hosted a Halloween party yesterday. Unfortunately, it didn't much feel like Halloween outside as the temperature rose above 80 degrees. Needless to say, chili wasn't the best food we could have chosen for the day, but seriously, how are you supposed to plan for 80 degree weather in October!

We had a large group of friends and family that joined us for the party. I had to cut the guest list off at some point though. We had well over thirty people here!

We ended up renting the bouncer from Bouncertown that I mentioned in my last post about the kids' birthday. It was quite a hit with all of the kids. We also had cornhole set up in the backyard.


The best part, as usual, was the food. Many of the favorites from last year's party made a second appearance, but there were some new goodies as well. My favorite was definitely the "Graveyard Pudding" complete with edible tombstones.


The costumes are always fun as well. Grandma and Grandpa came as clowns! Hannah and Noah were Raggedy Anne and Andy.





Click here if you want to see the rest of the pictures from the party. Thanks to everyone that came, we had a great time and enjoyed your company.

The Two are Two!

It's hard to believe, but Hannah and Noah are two! (Maybe not so hard if you consider Hannah's attitude lately.)

We had a wonderful day last Saturday with Nana, Papaw, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Amber. Everybody came over in the morning for presents, a great lunch (Papa John's), and ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Grandma and Grandpa also stayed to watch General Conference (a semi-annual church-wide conference; we watch it via satellite).

Probably the most fun part of the day was presents! It's so much more fun now that Hannah and Noah know how to open presents and get excited about what's inside. Here's a couple of pictures of them opening presents.




Hannah got a very special present from Grandma. The cradle in the following picture was made by Elizabeth's grandfather for her when she was a little girl. Hannah has loved playing with it now that it has been passed down to her. But now it's super-special because Grandma made a matress, pillow, and blanket for the babies!


On their actual birthday we took them to Bouncertown here in Greenwood. They had a really fun time in the toddler bouncer. We also had some more yummy pizza! Here are a couple of pictures from there.





Click here if you're interested in seeing the rest of the pictures.

Fall Premier

Okay, hopefully I'm back for the fall. I don't really see things slowing down anytime soon, but I've heard there are some readers that are disappointed that I haven't been keeping up. I'm happy to oblige.

I just spent the last hour trying to put a fancy new background on the blog to celebrate autumn (my favorite season by the way). Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out an easy way to change the template HTML without getting rid of all of my widgets I have set up. If someone knows an easy way, let me know. Otherwise, I guess I'm going to have to spend a bit of time getting familiar with the code to pick out the parts that I need to move.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Spokane, Washington on a business trip. I really enjoyed the area a lot. There is the Spokane river that runs right through downtown. There is a very nice park that you can walk around in. Outdoor activities are within a 10-15 minute drive in any direction. Beautiful parks, mountains (even ski resorts for the winter), lakes, rivers, etc. One of the afternoons after we got done at work, we made the 30-minute drive over to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (think the skinny part). It was absolutely beautiful. It is home to the world's longest floating boardwalk. The water is crystal clear. We were at the end of a pier where the water was 14 feet deep and could still see the bottom of the lake! We even got brave and took a seaplane ride over the lake and mountains. For $60, it was awesome! Here's a picture of my colleague and I with the pilot and the plane, a nineteen-fifty-something de Havilland Beaver. The pilot has been flying since 1942 if I remember correctly. Click here if you're interested in seeing more pictures from the plane ride and trip to Coeur d'Alene.


Like many parents of the 21st century, we utilize timeouts as a way to discipline our children when they act...well...two.

Hannah has gotten really into acting out traumatic experiences she has had. It's hard to determine how much diaper rash cream some of the baby dolls have on them at this point, if you catch my drift. Apparently, one of Hannah's timeouts was particularly traumatic. See what I mean.



Here's a few other fun and goofy pictures of the kiddos.

Summer Haitus

Just wanted to pop in and let everyone know we are still alive and having a great summer. With all of the great weather, fun activities, work, etc., I haven't had time to post anything. I promise it'll pick back up as we move into the fall. Perhaps when the good shows like Chuck and The Office come back.