I took Emily out last night to see a concert from one of her favorite singers, Meiko. Actually, it was a Jewel concert where Meiko was the opening act, but Emily didn't care -- she was only interested in seeing Meiko anyway, and the short six-song set we got to hear was perfect for a 5-year-old's attention span.
We hung out in the lobby for a few minutes after the performance waiting for Meiko to do a meet-and-greet with fans. Emily ended up being first in line and got her picture made with the artist. We also couldn't resist buying a couple of T-shirts for her and Kendall -- they were pink with a dinosaur on them, and they actually had kids' sizes!
We told Meiko that Emily had a younger sister who couldn't come to the concert because she was only 2, but that earlier that afternoon, when I'd played a video from her City Stages appearance, Kendall had recognized the song within two notes and came running over saying excitedly, "That... 'Under My Bed!'" Of course, the singer-songwriter thought that was adorable (who wouldn't?), and asked us to take a picture of the girls wearing their pink dinosaur shirts and send it to her. Apparently, she's just had them printed and hasn't had the opportunity to see any kids wearing them yet.
It was a short night out, but Emily and I enjoyed it. I'd have been happy to stay for Jewel, but I let Emily call the shots, and she wanted to go home. Oh, well... I've seen Jewel before at Lilith Fair. This time I'll have to settle for the concert review.
We carved jack-o-lanterns last night. Kendall's is the one one left; Emily's is on the right. Misty did most of the carving and design, though. The girls and I just scooped the seeds and other goop out of the pumpkins.
Last year we carved our pumpkins too early, and by the time Halloween arrived, the faces had sunken in. Surely we won't suffer the same fate this year, having waiting until only two days before Halloween.
After carving, we sat in front of the TV for another time-honored Halloween tradition -- watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."
During my lunch break today, I headed over to UAB's campus to witness their annual Zombie Walk. It was much more exciting than sitting at my desk to eat.
With Misty still potentially contagious, I took Emily and Kendall to Trunk-or-Treat at church last night. It broke Misty's heart to miss the event, but we were sure other parents wouldn't want us to risk having her around their kids. She reminded me several times that I was to let the other folks who work in the church office know that she has walking pneumonia.
The girls and I had a fun time. Emily went as Snow White, and Kendall went as Cinderella. The two of them were remarkably well-behaved. They never ran off, and didn't get into their candy without checking with me first. We hung out with the members of our Core group for much of the evening. Emily paired up with Tatum (who was also dressed as Snow White), while Kendall was glued to Ashlyn (who was dressed as Belle). It was cute to see all the princesses walking around holding hands.
I tried to take plenty of pictures for Misty. As we were browsing through them on the Wii later on, Emily alerted us to trouble in the kitchen. Kendall had broken her streak of staying out of the candy, and now had four things open at once and was going to town.
I had a busy day yesterday. Misty had been feeling sick, so she went to the doctor in the morning. While she was gone, I made breakfast for the girls, cleaned the bathroom sinks, scrubbed the toilet, vacuumed, swept the kitchen floor, and washed two loads of laundry. Then Misty returned from the doctor to report that she has walking pneumonia. I wasn't surprised, since she's had a come-and-go wheezing cough at night for over a month now. She'd been to the doctor about it before, but it never quite got cleared up, and now it was accompanied by a sore throat and fever.
Misty did her best to tune the girls out and get some rest. Sometimes, though, it's like they can sense that you really need quiet, and they respond with the opposite. They came out in the yard with me and ran around playing and screaming while I mowed the lawn.
After a full day's work around the house, it made it easier for me to get away with going out at night to Bottletree to see A Fine Frenzy. I'd bugged Misty for weeks about going with me (she's usually not a fan of live concerts), and I think she would have really liked the music if she hadn't gotten sick. I enjoyed the show, but it's just not the same standing there by yourself.
A Fine Frenzy - 'The Minnow and the Trout,' live at Bottletree
After the show, I took a moment to talk to Josh Joplin, who was one of the opening acts with the band Among the Oak & Ash. I'd wanted to tell him that his song, "Camera One," was one I listened to a lot when I was going through a rough time about seven years ago, and it had made me feel better. He thanked me for sharing.
I think it's a wonderful thing about music that even if a song doesn't mean that much to the artist, it can mean a great deal to someone else (which is one of the themes of a Nick Horbny novel I just finished called Juliet, Naked). In this case, the song was rather important to Josh, as he told me, it was a turning point in his career that helped enable him to be doing what he's doing today.
Since Emily didn't feel well when Misty and I attended the "Wild Rumpus Party" last weekend, we returned to McWane Science Center last night for a "Wild Things Camp-In." Basically, you eat dinner at the cafeteria, see the movie on IMAX, play in the museum after hours, and spend the night there.
I didn't care much for the movie, and neither did the girls (Kendall said it was too scary, and Emily just kept asking, "Can we go play now?" and fell asleep during the last 20 minutes). We did have fun hanging around McWane late at night, though. The girls decorated crowns and got to pet a chinchilla (they skipped touching the snake and hissing cockroach). There weren't too many people there, so it was like having the place to yourself. With no lines, I finally got a chance to ride the High Cycle (it wasn't bad, but I wasn't about to look down).
We didn't make it to the overnight part, though -- as it got later, the girls were getting pretty cranky, and I wasn't quite ready to stay up until the designated lights-out time of 11:30, either. Luckily, all the girls really cared about was playing in the museum, so they didn't object to going home early.
I've aways wanted a candy jar on my desk to fill with M&M's, but I can see now it would be a bad idea.
Initially, my reasoning for avoiding it was that, years ago, a friend of mine had such a jar on her desk at work. I don't remember what she kept in it, but it was always depleted rapidly by co-workers. I didn't want to buy a bunch of candy just to have everyone else eat it.
As it turns out, my coworkers aren't the ones I should be worried about.
Yesterday while I was at CVS getting Excedrin, I also picked up a big 12.6 oz. bag of Peanut M&M's for myself. Supposedly it has eight servings inside, but I'm not sure it's going to last me half that. So, not only would my unchecked consumption make my candy jar initiative costly, but since each serving of M&M's (which I'm effectively doubling) has 220 calories and 17% of one's daily fat intake, it could also proove debilitating.
Misty and I had a nice date last night. We ate an early dinner at Taj India where they were celebrating the Festival of Lights for Diwali, then we went to the BJCC Concert Hall to see the musical version of The Color Purple.
Our food was wonderful. I liked it better than Silver Coin, but Misty disagreed (she merely thought it was wonderful). My favorites included the eggplant, naan bread, chicken flavored with apricots, and of course, the desserts. By the time we were finishing, the restaurant was getting so packed that people were hovering over our table. I guess it's a popular destination during Diwali.
Our experience at the theatre was memorable too, if not for the production (which was very good), than at least for the uncivilized behavior of people around us. I could not believe how poorly some folks acted during the show.
Since I own a phone powered by Google's Android operating system, I'm glad to see it getting a marketing push. However, the ad did lead me to question my own phone, T-Mobile's MyTouch 3G. Mine doesn't have a "real keyboard" (though I like this -- the T-Mobile G1 slide-out keyboard seemed clunky and frustrating to me); mine doesn't take 5-megapixel pictures (though 3.2 megapixels is still better than iPhone, and it's plenty for me); mine doesn't have a flash... The MyTouch is only a few months old... T-Mobile isn't planning to release an updated phone already, are they? That would be something Apple would do.
But close scrutiny of the ad reveals the fine print, "DRIOD is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license. Copyright 2009 Verizon." Whew! So it's Verizon's new phone. There are two good things about that: One is that I won't be annoyed with an on-the-heels release from T-Mobile. But more importantly, with Verizon also utilizing the Android OS, it brings stronger competition for the iPhone. I'm not anti-iPhone -- they're very cool devices -- but the more attention Android gets, the more apps (and better apps) we'll see available for the MyTouch.
We drove the girls up to Hayden, Alabama yestday to visit The Great Pumpkin Patch. It was cold and windy outside, but we still managed to have a good time.
We rode the hay ride out to the field to pick out our pumpkins. The girls enjoyed traipsing through the patch and examining each speimen to see if it met with their strict standards. Their standards weren't very high, of course -- Emily wanted to find a big one, and Kendall wanted to find a little one -- it was Misty and I who had to veto a number of selections that had holes or were rotten.
Once the girls settled on their pumpkins, we rode back with and let Emily play on the inflatables for a while. Kendall claimed she wanted to play, but retreated with fear almost immediately. Instead, Kendall opted for a pony ride. She almost backed out of that too, but once she realized Misty could walk alongside her, all was OK. She was so proud to be sitting on that pony, riding around in a circle.
Misty and I attended last night's "Wild Rumpus Party" at the McWane Science Center celebrating the debut of "Where the Wild Things Are" on IMAX. Unfortunately, on our way to the event, Emily started feeling sick and said she thought she was going to throw up. We turned around and brought her to Misty's mom's house where Kendall was already staying (she said she didn't want to see the movie because "Max is mean").
We had a good time at the party, but not nearly as much fun as we'd have had if the girls had been with us. The decorations the museum had put together to coincide with the movie were really cool, and we saw a surprising number of kids dressed up as characters from the "Wild Things" story. Misty and I worked on a scavenger hunt for snippets of quotes from the book -- some of which I already knew from having read it so many times to the girls.
However, the real reason I was there was to record video interviews kids as they finshed watching the movie. It was so noisy in there (especally because there was a howling contest where you could measure your decibel level) that I thought the audio portion would be useless, but it turned out just fine. Here's what I put together.
Kid critics review 'Where the Wild Things Are'
Misty and I didn't stay for the movie ourselves. We didn't feel right about seeing it without Emily. The upside of her sudden illness, though, is that now we're planning to attend next weekend's "Wild Things Camp-In" at McWane -- and I think we can convince Kendall to go too if she hears that she can stay all night at the museum. That should be a really fun time.
Misty received her first paycheck today from her new job. It arrived on time, and it didn't bounce! For most people, those sorts of things are taken for granted, but in her situation such stability is a relief.
She's now working as a ministry assistant at our church -- a job she was offered mere minutes after turning over her final time sheet along with files and other equipment to her former employer. This new job is such a blessing for our family, and especially for Misty. Every day since she started Misty has come home and told me how much she loves working there.
All of a sudden, she's in a job that offers her health insurance, paid sick days, a retirement plan, paid vacation time, steady hours, and regular pay. She's working with people she already loves and respects (which, of course, is why we go to church there). And she's not taking any of that for granted.
Plus, she has her own office -- which Misty has also reminded me about nearly every day.
Last week we made our fifth and final trip to Disney World since purchasing annual passes last September. It's sad to see them expire, and there was much temptation to renew them at a discounted rate with three bonus months, but we held strong to our plan and let them go.
We had a wonderful time at the parks this past week. It was our longest trip yet -- eight days and seven nights. We've been there enough times that we know which things we do and don't want to do. We know which rides or characters you should skip if the line is too long (and we know what too long is). We know the layout of the parks without having to consult the maps. We know where the best places are to get the most out of your dining dollar. We're comfortable with leaving after a few hours and going back to our hotel for a nap. All of that makes for a much more relaxing and enjoyable time at a place that, for some, can be more stressful than it is fun.
But best of all, on this trip, we tried out a lot of things we'd never managed to fit in before. We visited the Hall of Presidents (and saw the new addition of Barack Obama -- even Emily gasped in awe when the curtain opened up to reveal all 44 animatronic characters), rode the Liberty Belle riverboat, explored Tom Sawyer Island, rode the Carousel of Progress, saw Finding Nemo the Musical, packed in for Fantasmic (a big let down, if you ask me), and lined up along the street for Spectromagic (hands-down the best parade).
Emily was finally big enough to ride Expedition Everest (she rode it 5 times), Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (once was enough for her), and Mission Space (she loved it). She also had multiple turns on Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, and Test Track. She's turned into quite a little thrill seeker.
Kendall, in the meantime, just made it over the height requirement for Goofy's Barnstormer, though she did not enjoy her first mini-coaster experience (she's more partial to It's a Small World).
We met the fairies of Pixie Hollow, the characters from Winnie the Pooh, the cast of "Up," the "stepmothers" (as Kendall calls them) from "Cinderella," and a number of other characters. The face characters (those without costumed heads) really got into their roles and played it up for the girls.
We ate twice at Boma (our favorite restaurant), watched giraffes and wildebeast outside our window at Sanaa, watched belly dancing at Marrakesh (and Emily joined in), watched fish swim by at the Coral Reef, and had a wild time at Whispering Canyon Cafe. The food is always one of our favorite parts of the trip.
I'm not sure when we'll get to return to Disney World, now that Emily is in school (they granted her an excused absence, but I don't expect that to continue happening). Plus with Misty's new job starting, she won't have as much time granted for vacations for a while. Nevertheless, our run was a blast while it lasted. I'm looking forward to our next trip, whenever that may be.
Misty called me today, very upset, and told me, "I need you to leave work right now. I was just in a bad car wreck." These were grim words that no husband wants to hear, but I was out the door minutes later, headed to pick up Emily from school. Once I gathered Emily (who was in a very cheerful mood), I cautiously explained to her what had happened. She wanted to know if Mommy and Kendall were dead, and I explained that no, they were OK. It was so sad to hear her concern over something like that.
Since we were right by our State Farm office, I stopped in there to go ahead and get things rolling with insurance. I also used their phone to call Misty for an update (because even in 2009, I still don't have a cell phone). She wasn't able to tell me much because she was speaking to the police, but I learned that she'd hit someone else from behind, and she said her car was totaled.
Emily and I got back in my car and went to pick up Misty and Kendall from the scene of the accident. When we got there, the police officer was just finishing up paperwork with Misty, and the car had already been towed. Misty was visibly shaken, but seemed OK for the most part. She said that her nose hurt from where the airbag had hit her, but she didn't think it was broken. Kendall had a cut on her leg, but it wasn't anything major -- it had already scabbed over on its own (how she actually got cut is beyond me). I still haven't seen the car, but the officer shared his opinion that it would probably be considered totaled.
We piled the things Misty had snatched from her car into my trunk, and drove back to State Farm. Since we're supposed to be leaving for vacation this weekend, we were concerned about getting things in order as quickly as possible. Unfortunatly, we learned that our insurance does not cover a rental car (we've added it now, and the cost was next to nothing, but it won't do us any good this time). Now we're debating whether we drive my car (which is even smaller than Misty's) to Orlando or if we shell out the money for a rental.
It's not the best way to start out our vacation, obviously, but I'm trying to look on the bright side. While we're away, Misty has no need for her car, so at least she's not burdened in getting to work. In the hopes that the car can be repaired, the auto shop can be working on it while we're gone. Hopefully, our vacation will also help Misty take her mind off the trauma and stress of the accident. We'll see.
This was the scene this morning as the girls and I lined up at the Galleria for the grand opening of Alabama's first Lego store. The store has actually been open for a couple weeks already, but today they were giving out exclusive Birmingham-themed Lego sets to the first 300 customers spending $35 or more. Thus, the line you see here.
We arrived early by accident. I thought the store would open at 9 a.m., so we got there around 8:30. A few minutes later, we realized that they weren't supposed to open until 10:00. If I'd realized that, I'd have either come a little later or at least not brought Kendall along. At least we got a good place in line, though (you can see Emily in the picture above just where the ropes start).
Despite being anxious and bored, the girls were both real troopers. The Lego employees brought out catalogs for us to browse through, but most of the time we just waited, peering through the window at all the nifty Lego creations inside.
When the doors finally opened, the flood of customers inside was almost instantaneous. We walked immediately to pick up the set we'd selected, picked up a green base plate to go along with it, and turned to look at the key chains for a moment (I currently have a Lego Spider-Man key chain, but all his paint has rubbed off and he's missing an arm). By the time we looked up though, there were already 30 people in line in front of us -- way more than were in front of us for the line into the store. These folks were fast.
As we joined the line, Emily decided all of a sudden that she needed to go to the bathroom. By this time though, the line outside the store waiting to get in had trippled in size -- I knew if we left now, we were likely to miss being one of the first 300. Praying that she didn't wet her pants, I asked Emily to hold it. She danced around for a while, making the most of the drama, until I finally told her to just wander around the store on her own. "You can go anywhere in the store you want," I told her, "and you can look at anything you want. Just don't leave the store, and don't take anything off the shelves." It worked. Her self-guided adventure distracted her enough to forget about her need for the potty, and the store was small enough that I could always see her.
Finally we made it to the counter, paid for our Lego set, and got our free bag of parts to build a Lego Vulcan. Our trip was officially a success.
As we were leaving, we ran into several people we knew. It seems that my friends love Legos too (though some tried to pin their reason for being their on their kids, I knew the truth). Kendall also insisted that we stop by the Disney Store. Emily agreed, even though she hadn't made it to the bathroom yet, because, after all, it's the Disney Store. We managed to make it through there without buying anything, though.
When we got home, I put together our little Lego Vulcan. He's multi-colored instead of all grey like the real statue, but the colors help distinguish different features that would otherwise not show up. Some have asked me, too, if Lego Vulcan's bare butt is showing, like the real Vulcan statue atop Red Mountain. Alas, the answer is "no." But maybe I can do something about that with a few different Lego bricks.
Emily attended her first school dance tonight. That's right -- a school dance... in kindergarten. It was a fundraiser for the elementary school, though -- nothing too strange. She and Kendall were both really excited about the event, counting down the days until they got to dress up fancy.
When we got there, we ate pizza in the cafeteria and met another girl from Emily's class who was there with her mother and little sister (who was 2, just like Kendall). Once the girls started racing around the lunch room though, we knew it was time to herd them into the gymnasium where the real action was taking place.
Despite the fact that the decorations consisted of a single string of white lights strung across the edge of a stage, Emily stopped short at the doorway and gasped, "It's gorgeous!" If only we'd known sooner, putting up Christmas decorations could have been a lot easier.
Overall, the dance was a pretty low-key event, but the kids sure had fun. There's nothing like a bunch of 5- to 10-year-olds cutting lose on the dance floor with no inhibitions. Misty shot some video because the kids were just cracking us up.
We stuck around for about an hour while our girls danced along to such age-appropriate pop tunes as "Blame It (On the Alcohol)" and "Womanizer." Oh, well -- the kids don't pay any attention to the lyrics, anyway (I hope). At one point, Emily broke away from dancing with Kendall and busted out some wild choreography that made us question just how much sugary soda she'd had to drink. Observe...
Last night I experienced my second Flaming Lips concert -- this time at Chastain Park Amphitheater in Atlanta. The photo above gives a feel for what the atmosphere is like at a Flaming Lips show -- insane. And with tickets in the direct center of the third row, I was right in the thick of it all.
My friend Yancey joined me for the trip over to Atlanta. We hit some heavy rain on the way, so unfortunately we arrived a bit late and missed most of the opening performance by Stardeath & White Dwarfs. We did catch their last song, though -- a cover of Madonna's "Borderline."
Next up was the instrumental band Explosions in the Sky. I'd heard of them before and even listened to a few of their songs on their MySpace page, but seeing them live turned me into a fan. These guys were amazing. I only wish I'd kept my video recorder running a couple more minutes (there was a lull in the song, and I thought it was finished, but they unleashed a fervor of splendid noise a few moments after I hit the stop button).
Before The Flaming Lips took the stage, lead singer Wayne Coyne came out to address the audience. He explained that in order to make possible his usual walk across the heads and hands of the crowd inside his "space bubble," we'd need to cram as many people as possible into the center asile. Luckily, Yancey and I were already right there.
A few minutes later, the show began, and each member of the band emerged from the center of a giant screen and took his place on stage. Wayne then appeared inside the space bubble, and after it inflated, he rolled right across our heads.
Upon Wayne's return to the stage, an army of costumed characters joined the ensemble, the band launched into "Race for the Prize," and a jubliant pandemonium ensued. Streamers launched into the air, confetti rained down, and dozens of huge balloons were tossed into the crowd to bounce up and down. It was fantastic.
I considering making the subtitle of the video something like: "Why my friends need to pay better attention on Facebook when I say things like, 'I'm ordering tickets for The Flaming Lips concert. Anybody interested in joining me?'" Several of my friends bemoaned the fact that they were missing out on the show before it took place. But, seriously, after watching these videos, you're jealous now too, aren't you? You don't have to be familiar with the music to have a good time at an event like this.
Instead of recording a large portion of the concert (like I did at City Stages), I opted instead to simply enjoy myself and soak up the atmosphere. However, I did pull out the Flip camera one more time to record one of Emily's favorites, "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song."
Emily was sad that she didn't get to go to the concert with me, but it was a school night (and as it turned out, considering our seats, she wouldn't have been able to see anyway). Yancey and I had a great time, though.
I must commend The Flaming Lips, not only for putting on such fun performances, but also for the general care they show their fans. When we bought our concert tickets, the band gave us three free MP3s of songs from their upcoming album and another three free MP3s of selected B-sides. When we left Chastain Park, they had people handing out concert posters to everyone (which would typically cost $10 or $20). Best of all, in a few days they'll be sending us a free downloadable recording of the entire concert so we can relive the experience again and again. That's a band that loves its fans. And we love them back.
Yesterday I became an uncle. My brother Jeff and his wife Kim are now the proud parents of a little girl named Miriam.
They never had a clear ultrasound where the baby's gender could be determined with certainty, but some over-the-counter home test they did had them leaning toward the assumption that they'd be bringing a boy home from the hospital. Obviously it wasn't as accurate as Misty's homemade gender-prediction test, where she peed into a cup of Draino. We're glad Miriam turned out to be a girl, though.
When we picked Emily up from school, she was sitting out front with all the other kids. She saw us but didn't get up. Instead she made a face and turned back around. We waited a couple minutes, but she continued to sit there. I was hoping this was because she simply didn't want to leave her new friends. Wrong!
Upon asking Emily how her first day of kindergarten went, she immediately got weepy and said, "kind of horrible."
It seems that their class did not get to play on the playground today (big surpise -- it was both hot and wet from rain). Worse, Emily did not get to look in the classroom treasure chest today (from what I understand, only one student per day gets to pick something from the chest). She also reported that a boy spit at her hair (raspberry) and another boy threatened to rip her leg off during nap time (I don't know what that kid's problem was).
Nevertheless, she's excited about going back tomorrow, so something must have gone right.
Misty and I looked over the syllabus for the class' first nine weeks, and it's all stuff that Emily knows how to do already. I'm not too disappointed by that. At least it confirms that we're doing things right at home, and I know they'll move on to more advanced topics soon enough, once the teachers assess what each student is capable of.
One thing's for sure, though: The girls in Emily's class are going to have to stick together -- there are only five of them, while there are fourteen boys.
After school, we went over to Misty's mom's house where Kendall had been spending the day. Cathy and Aunt Wanda were also visiting, and all of us celebrated the first day of kindergarten with pizza and cupcakes. As you can see, Kendall really got into hers.
Emily started kindergarten today. She's been very excited about school, and didn't show any reservations about it.
We got to visit on Monday, when she met her teacher, Ms. Veitch, and was able to explore her classroom. It's bright and colorful, of course, and Emily was excited that there was a reading area with big pillows and loads of books, organized by subject (animals, nature, fairy tales, seasons, etc.). She and I sat and read a couple books while Misty got paperwork completed. I was so proud of our little girl -- she was polite to her teacher and friendly to the other kids who came in for orientation at the same time. She's already made friends with a little girl named Abby who'll be sitting at the same table.
Today Emily started off with a good breakfast -- mini blueberry muffins, scrambled eggs, and a homemade fruit smoothie. She got dressed in her new outfit, and put on her clear backpack (which I think looks preposterously large for a girl her age) that Misty spent yesterday decorating up all fancy. We took a few pictures outside the house and then headed off to school.
The road was super-busy, but since I typically leave for work at 6:30 a.m., I'm not sure if it was back-to-school traffic of just regular going-to-work traffic. Either way, it took about 15 minutes to get to school.
We walked inside to where the kindergarten kids will wait in the hallway each day until they're called into their classroom. All the other parents were there too, so it was pretty crowded. When Emily's class was called in, Ms. Veitch showed her where to hang up her backpack each day. She then led Emily to her table where Abby was already sitting waiting and smiling.
Misty managed to hold it in most of the morning, but once Emily got into her classroom, the tears really started to flow. I don't think it's made things any easier that for the past year and a half, Emily's been at home with her. But that's what mom's do -- they cry when they realize that their babies are growing up. As for us dads -- we're crying on the inside.
