The Grand Finale

We went to the World Famous Peabody Hotel where ducks live in the fountain. Ben was pretty intrigued.



Of course no visit would be complete without a visit to Beale street.


And finally we stopped at Christian Brothers Univeristy where Momidomi and Uncle Brandon went to school oh so long ago.

 

Memphis Part Two

Ben was in a super good mood once we got back from the party.


He was also especially happy when he woke up this morning. Maybe it was Memphis.....(bah da bah!!!!)


Inspired by our sighting the night before we trekked to Graceland to try to meet up with the King once more. I was suprised at how untacky it was. To me everything just felt extremely dated, but I could see how it was probably the height of fashion at the time.


 

Memphis Day One

The family flew into Memphis on Saturday to go to Cousin Sunshine's wedding. We had some time before we were to meet up with everyone so we went to the American Civil Rights museum in what was formerly the Loraine Hotel. Where the wreath is in this shot is where Martin Luther King Jr. was standing when he was assisinated. The museum was very good and I recommened it to anyone who is going to be in Memphis.


In the evening we went to the wedding in a beautiful old church. It either didn't have A/C or it wasn't very effective. The bride and groom thoughtfully handed out fans. Ben did not have much luck with his.


He mostly slept through the reception. That's Cousin Claire getting a little quality Ben time.


But he missed something spectaculor. Elvis made an appearance at the reception! He tried to teach us the hand gesture, bit I think only KatrinaRun got it.

 

Chocholate?

Well at work our current arch-nemisis phone is the "Chocholate" from LG. So it was a real joy to read some highlights from a NY Times review that was sent to me.

The three people who tried my review unit had amazingly similar reactions...one said he felt like throwing the phone "through the window," another "into the trash," and another "across the room."

It's stunning that nobody in a position of power at LG or Verizon actually tried this thing, tried pressing those infernal passive-aggressive buttons, and realized that the Chocolate is a usability disaster.

Whenever I review a product this badly designed, I just stare at the ceiling and try to imagine how it could possibly have gotten out the door.

I have to say that this agrees completley with my reaction to it when I played with it the VZW store. They do have a really cool comercial though!

Hopefully once we start shipping the KRZR you won't see any of these commercials any more.

Art Festival

The family went to the Long Grove Art Festival this weekend to get a little "cultre"

The fountain was nice, but the art was a little "eh"


I would like to meet the person that came up with the idea to make metalic flowers our of recycled metal and glass pieces. That has to be the most copied idea ever. I think 3/4 of the show was this type of art. They must be big sellers.

Update---The Daycare reported that Ben is starting to "scoot". We don't believe it though because he certainly hasn't managed much at home.

Picture Time

Its picture time for Ben's 6 month birthday!

I can't upload the three poses that we ordered sheets of until we mail them off. (KatrinaRun's rules......),but here are two poses that I can!

First we have Farmer Ben relaxing after a long day of taking care of the back 40.


Here Ben is practicing his school posture. Still got a little bit to work on!

 

Sick Day :(

Ben and I stayed home for a sick day today. In the afternoon I took him to the park because I thought he was feeling better. The photo evidence says otherwise.


Don't worry we went home and took a nap right afterwards. 

Sitting here wasting time.....

Ben is able to sit up in his bath tub now. He really likes it!


Every day there are new things to discover!

 

Peas!!

I promised I would update you on how Ben has responded to peas....he likes them! He also likes squash and sweet potatoes (which are probably his all time favorite at the moment). We are working on increasing his veggies and soon we will get to try some fruit. He has become a much better eater and now actually enjoys it. It is a fun process and we look forward to trying new foods with him.

Can't believe he is already 6 months old...

Home again, and Notre Dame

Sunday morning and it was time to hit the road after Cedar Point.


As soon as we got on campus he was all smiles. You can't see it but that is his fighting irish outfit.



These kids today. He hit the bottle pretty hard as soon as he was at college.


Good shot of the family and the Dome!


 

Top Thrill

Only 3 of us were Brave enough to try the TOP THRILL DRAGSTER. A roller coaster like no other. It launches you at speeds of 120 mph and rockets you up to over 400 feet.

The intrepid adventurers before the ride.


The ride itself

Afterward the victors "celebrate".

Cedar Point

The families went to Cedar Point on Saturday. We had lots of fun. Here some of momidomi's go for a great water ride.


Dad won Ben a giant monkey at the football toss. The only carinval game that I can win.

 

Carrots

I promise you that he managed to eat some of it.

 

TaDa!

Another first! It took me a while to snap this picture.....

 

5 Month Doctor Appointment

We took Ben to his 5 month appointment last week and he weighed in at 15 pounds, 2 ounces. He has officially doubled his weight now and is growing at rapid speed! He got one shot, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. The nurse decided to check his strength by having him grab her fingers and then pulling him from a laying down position to a sitting position. Ben impressed her by refusing to bend his legs, thus pulling up to a standing position! We have done this at home too - he would much rather stand than sit. But we are working on his sitting skills and he can sit by himself for about 10-15 seconds before he falls over. Unfortunately, his "sitting" is actually him bent over at the waist and almost touching his nose to his toes. He is getting better every day though so I am sure he will be sitting up before too long.

We have also been feeding Ben "solids" (if you can call them that) for the past few weeks. At first he seemed ok with it, but then quickly decided he didn't like it and would refuse to open his mouth when he saw the spoon coming towards him. We tried rice cereal, oatmeal, and green beans - all of which he hated. Just when I was beginning to think he was not going to like eating at all.....we found something he likes! Apparently, Ben loves carrots! He was actually grabbing the spoon and helping guide it into his mouth. So it turns out he was ready for solids, he just didn't like what we were giving him. I can't say I blame him either - rice cereal is pretty gross. Sadly, I thought the carrots were pretty tasty too - and I hate carrots! I am just glad we found at least one (so far) veggie he will eat. Stay tuned next week for peas.....

Busy Learning

Sorry no updates in awhile. Been crushed at work unfortunately. And this heat just keeps me from even wanting to turn the computer on when I get home.

Ben has started to play in his exersaucer a little. It's pretty funny because he super concentrates on everything when he tries to make a noise.


BTW...I got acosted at the post office yesterday by some people agitating to impeach the Vice President. That seems a little odd to me as that's not a position of actual influence, and I gave them a curious look.