Day Memorial

So, after our wet but fun Memorial Day-ing, Gordon and I started looking through some photos on the computer and I said, "This makes me want to blog!"

He responded, "Yeah, about that..."

So, here I am writing a post as we sit in our den listening to the original motion picture soundtrack to Jon Favreau's latest and greatest movie,  Chef.  (Fantastic music, and a fantastic film. For those wondering, the bit of poo in this ice cream is the 45 F-bombs. Without it, Chef would easily be my choice of family film of the year. Seriously, watch it on clear play if you've got to, it's too good to miss.)  After the movie,  we had to have some fabulous food.  Fortunately, CRU obliged us just across the street from the theater.

 Here  are some
fun pictures from
the restaurant.
(Have fun guessing which I stole from the website.) Pictured here are Goat Cheese and Honey Filled Beignets, white truffle oil and  mozzarella grilled cheese, lamb lollipops, and  pear-gorgonzolla pizza. Yum!

Anyway, we had lots of fun Saturday, and more today.  Hooray for holiday weekends!  Grandma Debby had a little shin-dig at her house.  We went all out with our friends the Crawford family: burgers,  hot dogs, potato and pasta salads, swimming (even in the rain), and wrapped it all up with FANTASTIC Coconut Poke Cake and a  viewing of Avengers in the Movie room.  A good  time (and lots and lots of food) was had by all! Below are some fun shots from the day.

 The pictures actually make it look like  there wasn't any rain at all, so hooray!
 Apparently we were all too busy eating to  get a picture of the spread, but the food  and festivities were all most excellent, in  good Gibbs party fashion.  This is a good preview for July 4th!  Can't wait to spend more time in the pool (hopefully with sun)  and the rest  of the fam in the summer!

Pool fun with friends!

Alicia is already giving Johnny kisses. Mayhaps a glimpse of things to come? ;)  

I realize this post is a little non-sequiter, but I really wanted to put up some pictures  from our Disney trip and other fun happenings in the last month or so.  Disneyland  was especially exciting, as  it was the first time  much of the family got to meet Baby John.  So, in no particular order, here are some other highlights from  relatively recent  happenings in pictures:

Waiting for the Backstage Disney Tour to start

with Charlotte and Michelle

 More Fun Shots from the Tour

 Gibbs Cousin Fun! - We ran into Mike, Graham, and Chelsea in Adventureland. It was the first time Graham and Chels got to meet John!

 These are some of my favorite shots from the whole trip!

 Back at the hotel, some people were sleepy, and others were just killing time.
(I love the silly faces here.)

 Tigger is a sleepy boy...









Family dining and pizza at Downtown Disney 

 Chillaxin' at the Grand Californian

 I love the Silly Symphony Swings.  Seriously,  one of my favorites. 

 Family Photos in the Rose Garden

 Parade  fun!

 Ooo, look at the matching stripes!

 Another Favorite:

And a very happy birthday to my brother Robby!  I love their smiles in this picture.  They made this trip happen, and I am so glad.

 Children won't always save Dr. Jones, but  they do sometimes.

Cute little cousins!

Who needs  rides when there are fences?

 Sassafrass!

 Stroller Strolling in CA Adventure

 Closing the Magic Kingdom

 Hilary and babies John and Elizabeth!

 Robbo holds Johnny!

 Elizabeth can't see much back there.

 Birthday fun!

As I said before, this is not blogging at its best, but it's something.  Also, there are more pictures.   Look for future postings on the FB. 

And Johnny tired back home.  :)

Here are some other fun randoms from home since April:

 Gordon models my HS Debate Team's shirt while eating a Reese's treat.

Recently,  John's started sitting up and also really laughing at things that strike  him as funny.
My students have enjoyed me showing some  of these shots to them before class on the projector.

 There has been lots of demand for the "dancing baby pictures" shown here.

 Caney Creek High School's Debate Debanquet at Bucca Di Beppo

One of our debaters won 2nd place in Lincoln Doublas Debate at Texas State UIL! Woo-hoo!

 Johnny and Gordon joined us for the smarty-pants party.

 CCHS Debate Team

(At least, those who could make it.)

And John is still cute, just in case you were wondering.

 Also, he loves  his jungle-gym play mat! (Thanks Grandma Debby)

In other news, Mother's Day happened.  It was great!

 For the first time, I got to be gifted as a mom!

 And we got to send a first Grandma's note to the latest and greatest Grandma Reese!
We love you!

 But for me, Mother's day will always be about this fantastic lady. The person who has for so much of my life been my confidant, my partner in shopping shenanigans, my model of what it means to be beautiful, to be grounded in goodness, my advocate, my playmate, and my friend.
I love you, mom.

Sleeping pictures are fun:

 ...and so are waking up pictures!

Only 12 more sleeps 'till summer, and then I'll be getting ready to work at Klein High School. Happy Days!

Writing Blogs is Hard When Baby

I know it's a lame excuse, especially for those who have multiple children, but...this is my first major disruption to my "routine," such that it was. When I would come home from work, I would expect to spend some time on maintenance and then have the rest of the evening to my own devices. Now I've got a "little tyrant" that dictates my actions throughout the day (Bill's terminology, not my own, but I think it fits).

For those who don't see us on a regular occasion, a couple of months is a long time in baby years. Aren't they like dog years? Except for humans? Wait...I guess that's just normal years. Well, 0.167 years is a long time in any case.

John spent much of it sleeping

We had a couple of friends come and visit during Spring Break, which I didn't really have. Alison had it though, so I burned a vacation day to chill with them.

Getting acquainted with the youngest Reese

It turns out that I'm uniquely inexperienced with babies. Tyler seems to have things well in control.

Our intention was to head downtown and check out the Menil Collection. Unfortunately for us, we chose to go downtown on a Tuesday, which everyone knows is "Menil Collection Closed Day." We learned this when we walked up to the doors to find them shuttered. Nearby was the Mark Rothko chapel, so we made a detour there.

The broken obelisk is supposed to mean something I think. How do I art?

They prohibit photography inside the chapel, so I only got a shot of the outside. There's a very peaceful atmosphere inside, although don't get your expectations set too high. The Rothko paintings are very simple--nothing to really remark upon in terms of perspective or chiaroscuro or the such. As it is, I happen to enjoy simple formations and colors. If you're like me, it's worth checking out. Plus, it's free.

We took a brief stop in the Houston Meteorological Museum, but we decided that $10/head is a bit steep to see a relatively small collection of weather instruments. There's a day of the week where the museum is discounted, but it was not "Menil Collection Closed Day." Instead, I stumbled upon the Houston Holocaust Museum, which I had only heard of but not seen.

A lovely view of its parking lot

There were a lot of interesting stories about European Jews there. It details the history of Antisemitism, up to and including obviously the titular event. I found it interesting that they were so widespread so early in European history--and more remarkable that people felt strongly enough about them to formulate policies discriminating against them in the Dark Ages. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a whole lot of the exhibit because Mr. John was having enough at this point.

He felt better after eating and getting a change

The museum had a library that was open to the public. We were able to duck in there and do baby maintenance. Just outside was an interesting exhibit about H.A. Rey, who escaped the German occupation of France thanks to his drawings of a curious little monkey. Also a Jew. This I didn't know. It's a very interesting story which I recommend you read about at some point.

The big event of the day was the rodeo. The last time I had gone I parked in the shuttle lot. That wasn't too bad to get into the rodeo, but getting out took about an hour and a half waiting in stifling heat. Instead, I chose to take the light rail and make use of the underutilized system. It was quite slick, even accommodating Johnny's DoomTruck Stroller.

Cowboy Burrito: Chili, potatoes, and peppers. Yum!

 We got to introduce Tyler to some of the finer points of rodeo dining.

So...do you use a fork or just fingers?

Just hands with this one.

 Johnny seemed to take the hubub relatively well.

Of course, he needed babying too. We let our friends explore a bit while we got him fed and changed again. This time we actually made it in for the rodeo, which I hadn't seen since leaving Mesquite. It's surprisingly fun to watch, even for a bunch of white-collar folks like us. The concert was a bit much for baby ears (and mine...sorry Jason Aldean fans). We grabbed some fried Oreos and Twinkies, and bought enough tickets to ride one carnival ride. By then it was pushing 11 PM. Time to put this guy to sleep.

Not that he looked that tired.

Now, apropos of nothing, baby pictures.

Ooh stop here--this was where we had our Pi Day celebration. Our friends, the Crawfords, moved into a house just a few minutes away from us. Good times! Too good for me to even get any pictures other than this one.

Alison, offering up Pi to the Geometric God

A rare picture of me and a baby

Sometimes the sunset in our neighborhood is awesome

Me on a good day

This is why you should wrap babies.

Of course he looks happy. Even when he throws up.

This gets us through the end of March. When I get another block of time, I'll attempt to do April, which was a busy month.

Too Lazy to Write Properly

So stuff has happened, and I would write somewhat concerning these things. My soul delighteth in posting one item to summarize. Watch our recent Disneyland video summary below. Well, at least 1/3 of it.