Thanksgiving!

Like the sands of Tatooine through the hourglass, so are the days of the Holiday season! I know, Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, but my family can't wait for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The problem is that they come and go so quickly, story of my life since having children. So, Seth wants everything he sees for Christmas (go figure) and Luke is just excited at all the lights which is really cute. I didn't realize how educational Christmas lights could be; however, Luke is learning his colors that way. :) It's funny how your kids really make the season feel so special!

We have several family traditions that we look forward to every year, we have our family over for a big Thanksgiving dinner, followed by a lazy afternoon of naps, video games, and going through the sales paper. We go shopping on Friday and put up our Christmas tree that weekend while finalizing other decorations (again with the Christmas Lights!). On Christmas Day Celena is the first one up and ready to go downstairs. We open presents and have Pancakes and sausage balls (tradition from my family - Mom always made sausage balls for us - yum!). We go to my brother's house on Christmas Day for Lunch and open presents there. We also travel to my parents house either the weekend before or after Christmas with Chris and Michelle which is really fun.

Anyway, just wanted to record some of the Christmas excitement this year, can't wait till next week!

Disney: Day 2

It's 5:30AM, and I'm walking around the Carribean Beach resort. Why, you ask? I have a very grumpy 2 year old that can't sleep and was keeping all 4 of us awake. Being the father, I load up Luke in the stroller and set out for a 2 hour stroll. We covered the entire resort and met everyone who was cleaning the pools, making breakfast, getting the boating area ready, a squirrel and a rabbit, and some ducks. Kinda lonely this early but Luke and I make the most of it. We head back to the room around 7:15 to get Celena and Seth up - early day today! :)

Wow, today is really humid at the park! The plants get misted every morning so they're healthy, but it doesn't work well with the heat. Anyway, we arrived at the Animal kingdom a little past 8am this morning and set right to work. First up was a fast pass to the Kilimanjaro Safari and off to Everest! "Child Swap" is a great idea. This is where one parent gets to go on a ride and leave a ticket with the other parent with the kids. Then, when the first parent is off, the other parent gets right to the front of the line (with up to 3 other passengers). So, you're able to preview a ride and go on your favorie rides and your spouse does too!

Everest was amazing! Forward, backward, in the dark, in the light - it was really a great coaster. After I went on it Celena took a turn. Seth wanted to go but also didn't because of the screaming he heard. He was a little worried while Celena was on the ride and was ready to call Buzz Lightyear to go save her if anything went wrong. :) After we finished Everest we took a ride on Dinosaur - Seth went with me and really liked it even though his eyes were closed most of the time.

We were ready to take a ride on the safari when Luke wanted us to stop so he could watch some street performaers - they were pretty neat to watch. They were a painting team and did some pretty amazing feats - balancing, juggling, tumbling, etc... Luke just loved it.

We all went on Kilimanjaro Safaris next. What a ride! we saw elephants, gazelles, giraffes (the baby giraffe was neat), rhinos, ostriches, even lions! Both Seth and Luke were excited to see all the animals. Luke's favorite were the alligators, at which point he started singing his alligator song (I'ts my alligator, teach him some manners, can you teach my alligator manners?). We got a good laugh out of that!

After the safari we had lunch and then we caught the "Festival of the Lion King" show. Boy was that something! Both Seth and Luke got a kick out of that one. The tumbling monkeys were quite impressive and their gymnastics were really good. Everyone was enjoying the park and after the show we were tired. We went back to the room to hang out and a storm hit. We took the opportunity to go to wal-mart to get more milk and some souvenir shirts and stuff (it's much cheaper at wal-mart near disney!). After wal-mart it was still raining to we decided not to head back to the magic kingdom and instead go to the pool at our resort. Now we're back, fed, and watching some really old disney cartoons before bed. Off I go - I'm beat!

NapTime!

Last night was horrible! I went to bed around 10pm as usual, but lo and behold my stomach was hurting. So, I got out of bed to get some tums and a little bubbly (sprite) and sit in the recliner to catch up on the latest episode of Sanctuary. However, Luke hasn't been feeling well and woke up coughing and was quite upset. Celena was out like a log and so I went up to rock him to sleep. While asleep I had a dream that my wedding ring was coming off my finger to awake and find it missing.....and it is now 1:30am. I slog back to bed and crash until around 7am - to go back to Luke's room as he is now awake for the day.

This afternoon he went down for a nap but had some trouble with his congestion while he was down so I went in to rock him to sleep.....and fell asleep myself. I woke up 45 minutes later a new man! wOOt!

And the morale of this story is.....enjoy it while it lasts. I know, sounds odd to those of you without kids but I didn't even lose a nights' worth of sleep but was able to hold, snuggle, and comfort Luke for several hours that I wouldn't have otherwise had and I'm thankful for it. I'm really going to miss it when he's older. Bummer.

Disney: Day 1

We arrived at DisneyWorld yesterday afternoon and checked into the hotel. Everything went great, and we unpacked and were able to get to our dinner reservations at the Boma restaurant at the Animal Kingdom. That was loads of fun! The food was intersting (Bobotie was quite good - it tasted like eggs, sausage, and pancakes with syrup but with a different consistency) and the boys even tried a few new things that they really liked (mostly new desserts! All in all it was a good way to arrive.

Today we went to the Magic Kingdom and Seth and Luke could not have been more excited! Luke really liked the "Taple" (a.k.a - castle). Seth went on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with me and had a blast! It was his very first roller coaster and while he was a little scared I think a better description was "Thrilled" - scared and excited all at once. Immediately after the ride he said that he never wanted to go on a roller coaster again. However, later in the day he wanted to go back. Perhaps later in the week he'll get a chance to go back with Mommy.

Seth's favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Boy was he really excited about that one. We went on it twice and he still wanted to go back. We were interrupted by the real appearance of Buzz, which was no doubt one of the highlights of the trip. Seth had his Buzz shirt on and went to meet him. Can you even remember what it's like to have a childhood hero, let alone meet him in person?!? Seth was so excited that he wanted to be a real space ranger. Lucky for him that he told Buzz what a good job he did and Buzz sent a space pistol to our room so that Seth could fight the Evil Emperor Zurg all the time! (Yes, he slept with it).

Luke and Seth both really liked "It's a Small World", "Peter Pan's Flight", and "Winnie the Pooh". We will likely find ourselves back on those before the week is out. Seth would also like to go back and hit "Splash Mountain". It was pretty hot and humid (94% humidity is horrendous) but we made it alright. The rides are air-conditioned and there are misters in many places so it was mostly bearable. We took a break after eating lunch and went back to our room to go swimming and rest.

We went back this evening for the fireworks - they were spectacular! We sat around the corner from the Ice Cream Parlor with our ice cream and had a really fun time watching the Wishes show. Luke kept yelling, "Boom!" when there was a really loud explosion and Seth was making sure that I taped it all. After it was over Seth and Luke both clapped and screamed Horray! - it was really fun to watch them have such a good time!

Ok, off to bed now and to the Animal Kingdom tomorrow!

Luke's 2nd Birthday

Today is Luke's second birthday!! We hope to have Chris and Michelle over for dinner, and tomorrow we're off to DisneyWorld!! Luke is so excited. He keeps saying, "Mickey Mouse" and dancing around. For his birthday, we gave him some Lincoln Logs and a bubble Lawn Mower. He and Seth had a great time playing with those this morning. Well, I'm off to finish packing and then off to vacation!!

-Jesse

While you were out.....

Ok, I just got back from another business trip to Europe, and when I returned I found that Celena had been sick. So sick in fact, that she called her mom to come and stay to help her get around to some doctor's appointments while I was away. The day after I returned, we had to take her to the emergency room due to dizziness and tingling in her arms. After a CAT scan came back clear, the bloodwork showed low levels of potassium in her blood. Seems like that can do odd things to you. Bottom line: tell me next time how bad it is and I'll come home. Some things are more important than work.....

In Paris - Again

Ok, it's really cool the first time, kinda neat the second time, but this time it felt more like a business trip. The wonder of Paris has worn off for me. It's still a beautiful city (as you can see by the pictures), but when you go there and work from 7am until 11pm it's just more work in a better looking place. The good news is that I'm beginning to get really good at taking the underground (Metro) and even booked some places for dinner this time.

It was the anniversary of the Grand Arch in La Defense (50th?) and there were fireworks that evening. It was really nice as the fireworks were during dinner! From the photos you can see that there was quite a view!

Here's to you Paris! I'll be seeing you again one day!I've put some pictures below, you can see more here.

View of the Grand Arch from my Hotel Window.View of the Eiffel Tower at Dinner.

Swimming in the Rain

Seth and I went swimming in the recent rain we've been having (no, there was no lightning!). I got home from work and Seth really wanted to play but it was raining outside. We had the bright idea of going swimming (Celena and Luke would have none of it). So, we got ready and headed out. I put Seth in the water and he said it was really cold but didn't want to get out. I thought he was just being too sensitive, but then I jumped in and he was right, it was really cold!! We played underwater with our snorkels and masks, and then we got out and back in again (the water feels much warmer when you do that). We stayed out there playing for about half an hour or so and came in to warm up. Had a snack and watched the Olympic Swimming in the water cube (Phelps got his 6th gold medal in Beijing!). Good times.

Busy Busy Week

Worked sucked this week. I've spent too much time at work and not enough time with my family. However, the business review is over, the release should be done next week, and I'll be in Disney World in 42 days 5 hours! wOOt!! I'm so ready for some Disney time I can hardly stand it.

The Big 3...0

Ok, yesterday Chris came over to visit as he will be out of town on my 30th birthday this Friday. So, he and Michelle came over and we were having a good time and my alarm on my iPhone went off telling me to go get my prescriptions. So, Chris and I left to go pick it up and ran into Rob and Michelle coming in. They said that they were in the neighborhood and stopped for a quick visit. I told them I was going to be back in about 10 minutes and asked if they would still be around when I came back and they said that they would. So, Chris and I left and when we came back there were quite a few vehicles in front of the house. I began to grumble about people parking in front of the house that they were visiting (not expecting company at our house). We went inside and I saw Scott and Jeremy standing in the front hallway. At this point I was really wondering what was going on. Scott looked at me and grinned and just said, "Happy Birthday". Ok, I was surprised!

Turns out that Celena has been planning this for weeks and we had quite a crowd. We took a count and we had around 50 people over! It was so much fun to see everyone, but seeing all of our kids grow up makes me feel quite old indeed. In any case, 30 is just around the corner for me but it isn't so bad if you have a bunch of good friends and family like we do to get old with! :)

TaPu

Ok, just a quick note on how cute Luke has been lately. I sometimes work from home and it's funny that both he and Seth want to work on laptops just like Daddy. Luke comes over to me today and finally tries to say "Laptop" and it comes out "Tapu". This made me giggle and I wanted to write it down.

Summer Days

It's been a great summer so far, we've gotten lots of pool time and took a short trip to the mountains (pictures here). We stayed at The Inn at Blue Ridge - it was very nice indeed! There was plenty of space and it was situated close to Caverns and Grandfather Mountain. We had a blast! The weekend started with the drive up - it was nice until Luke decided to scream for the last 30 minutes. If you're a parent you know what this does to you after 4 hours of heavy traffic - let's just leave it at that.

After checking into the Inn we unpacked and went to play in the Catawba river which starts here just behind the Inn. That was really fun but about 30 minutes after we went down to the water we heard thunder. We w Linville ent back inside and ate, then went on a short drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was really neat as we were driving right through the clouds! Seth and Luke thought it was really cool to see the clouds and drive right through them. We also took some pictures of the clouds below us - they're in the photo gallery (link on the left). Loads of fun riding and as it got dark we headed back to our room.

The next day we were up early (by "we" I mean Luke was up before 6am). So, we had breakfast and played around a bit before packing everything up to head to Grandfather Mountain. The Mile High Bridge was closed due to the excessive wind and so we decided to go to Caverns instead. We all had a blast. Seth thought that the rock formations were really cool, and felt the need to talk to everyone as we walked through the cave. We went to Duggar's Falls (right by Linville Falls) and Seth and I got out and played in the water while Luke and Celena took a cat nap in the Pilot. After that we went to the output of Linville falls (small river) and Seth, Luke, and I all played in the water and had a great time!

We decided to g Linville ive Grandfather Mountain another try and sure enough, the bridge was open!! So we went up to the Mile High Bridge and it was amazing. Celena and Luke made it about halfway over the bridge before heading back. Seth and I went to the other side and most of the way up to the peak. The problem is that to get to the peak there is a slightly precarious set of maneuvers required which Seth was not up for. Instead we hung out over near the peak and took pictures - but we hung out too long. The wind picked up and it started storming! So, we headed back over the bridge. By this point, it was hailing and raining lightly but the wind was fast enough to make the bridge sing - literally. I took video of Seth and I rushing back over the bridge and you can hear it whistling and rocking, man was that fun!

We went back down the mountain, stopping at the museum to see the animals. By this point we were all quite tired and so we stopped at a little Italian restaurant to have dinner before returning to our room. Luke was completely covered in spaghetti, and his favorite thing to do was to dip the bread into some marinara sauce and then just suck off the sauce before dipping again. He did eventually eat the bread - but took quite a bit of sauce with it. We went back to the room, had baths and all went to bed.

Coming home was fine - everyone was happy for the most part - as a side note I love the DVD player in the Pilot. :)

Update: It's Monday as I post this and I have a fever, headache, and complete body ache. Sure do hope it isn't Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever! If I don't feel better in the morning I'm going to the Doctor.

What a month!! :)

Ok, this month has been crazy for me! I've been to New York to speak at a customer summit, then to Boston for some meetings, then we had family come to visit. Whew! We started putting the swimming pool up this weekend on our patio and looks like we'll be able to go swimming after church tomorrow - Seth can hardly contain himself.

Luke has really started talking. I was so proud until I found out today that his word "DaDee" is the same pronunciation he uses for his pacifier. So, for the past few weeks I thought he was calling to me when he really wanted his pacifier (I will note that Celena has been secretly keeping this from me - and having a good laugh). He's growing up so fast - he's certainly not a baby anymore. He's getting mad and making "angry eyes" which is kinda funny. He also can roll his eyes as if to say "C'mon Dad, don't you understand?!?" - this makes Celena and I really giggle.

Seth is becoming the BeastMaster! Well, more of an entomologist really. He is really into bugs! Today he found a lady bug in the backyard. He asked, "Daddy, can I let the Lady Bug take a tour of Seth?" - and proceeded to let it crawl all over his arm. Then, he took it in the sandbox to play, followed by letting it crawl on some of our flowers, he really had a great time. Then, when it was time to come inside, he threw a royal fit! He was so sad to have to let the lady bug go! He was crying and saying, "I love her! She's my best friend and I want to play with her, now I'll never see her again! Oh, no!" By the time his Thomas The Train bubble bath was over he had forgotten all about her.

Ok, Celena is making brownies and I have to go. I pulled up the pond today and am sore and in need of chocolate!

Riverdance!

Last night Celena and I had a babysitter watch the boys and we went to Riverdance ad the Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh. Wow, we really had a good time. We don't get to date as often as we'd like sometimes as we really love to spend time with the boys and just forget to go out. Anyway, we had really good seats and the dancing was awesome! Celena really likes it because she actually clogs - I don't. During the show she really gets into it, whooping and hollering, tapping her feet - it's nice to see her have such a good time. I find myself getting caught up in it too even though I think it is close to criminal to have fancy pant gents dancing on stage in leather pants.

All in all we had a great time and hope to see Lord of the Dance if it comes back. Now to get her to go see Phantom of the Opera again....

Assistant Coach

Today I was the Assistant Coach for Seth's soccer team, it was so much fun!! I learned all the boy's names and had a great time teaching them to dribble and shoot. Ball control was something else we worked on with a game called "Alligator Pit". I was the swamp monster in the middle that tried to get their ball when they crossed; it was great fun. Luke and Celena stayed home and played games and just hung out - it worked out nicely as I could completely devote my time at the practice to playing with Seth. Also, Celena was able to give all her attention to Luke so everyone was happy.



My ankle is healing up nicely; one perk is that I have a landscaper cutting my grass at the moment......I could get used to this! I get to stay inside and play games and throw the ball with Luke. He was really chatty this morning, spitting out about 4 more words that Celena hasn't heard him say yet: fish, fire (complete with sound effects), kitty cat (with a really cute meow), and balloon (we've heard this one before). His vocabulary is growing each day and he seems to be learning quite a bit from us all.



That's all for now, later!

Crutches

Wow, it's been forever since I've used crutches yet here I find myself in need of their assistance again. I was rushing Seth to the bathroom yesterday at Lowe's (we were picking up some bird feeders) and I slipped in the bathroom getting some paper towels. Boy did that hurt!! In any case, I ended up going to the doctor and they took some X-Rays. Seems like there is no break but likely a fracture or two. So, I'm on crutches and I.C.E. (Ice, Compression, Elevation) for awhile (oh, and loads of Ibuprofen).



I'm a horrible patient and am probably driving my wife crazy. I am one of those people who hate to be waited on and need to do everything by myself. She wanted me to play Nintendo with Seth and when I turned around with the Wiimotes hanging out of my mouth hobbling to the couch she was none too pleased. In any case, I just really don't like people waiting on me, especially when they have other things to do. But, I do know that when she is hurt I like to wait on her so understand where she's coming from. So, I've resigned to the fact that she is going to wait on me somewhat. I've also learned that Seth really likes to get me stuff too. I never realized that he has a great heart and really wants to help out whenever he can! He'll get my shoes, crutches, anything I need; it's very nice. Even Luke brought me my keys this morning!

Seth's First Soccer Practice!

Today Seth had his first soccer practice, he did really well! They did tons of drills and games, here are a few of Seth's favorites:

• Jungle Safari (follow the leader) - You follow the leader through the jungle and point out animals while you're dribbling. You have to jump over snakes, duck under Monkeys, run from Lions, and squish spiders. Seth really loved this, he even said that when he was jumping over a snake, "Oh no! I landed on him and squished him!".



• Elmer Fudd (dodgeball) - One side of the field are the bunnies, the other are the Elmer's. Elmers get to dribble to their balls to the other side of the field to hunt the bunnies who are running from them. If you get hit with a ball then you become an Elmer and get a ball to hunt bunnies.



• Red Light, Green Light - Green light is when you dribble the ball. Red light is when you stop the ball and put your foot on top; Seth really liked that.



• Bulldozers and Trucks - you dribble the ball around cones and try and use your ball to knock them over.



• Switch - You dribble your ball and when the coach yells, "Switch!" you leave your ball and go dribble someone else's.

I have uploaded some pictures to our gallery here (http://gallery.mac.com/jldavis007#100150&bgcolor=black&view=grid), but included a picture of Seth jumping over a snake because I really like it a lot.

Gold

Seth was riding with Celena to take dinner to one of our friends who is sick and he said, "Mommy, I know where you can find gold!". She was curious, but not surprised. He and Luke have been watching a cartoon that tours all over the world, teaching about different cultures and gold is talked about historically as well as geographically.

So, she asked, "Where can I find gold?"

"Mr. Stacey's and South Africa!"

Celena grinned and told him he was right.

Another Funny Question

On the way to church this morning Seth asked a very important question: "Daddy, let me tell you something."

"Ok." I said.

"Is God with us everywhere?" he asked.

"Yes, God is with us everywhere!" I said.

"Even in a spaceship?"

I am so proud.

Ni-Hao

At Church today I was introducing Seth to the daughters of some friends of mine, it went down something like this:

"Hello, my name is Lauren, what's your name?"

"Seth."

"Nice to meet you."

"Ni-Hao."

Ni-Hao Ki Lan is a neat show.

Rainy Day

Today was a rainy day. We did the usual rainy day stuff: make tents, read books, play in the basement; not much happened except that we went to REI and found a new tent to get for the summer. We'll be able to go camping when Chyleen comes to visit (which will be quite nice). I also found a new piece of software, ecto, which allows me to write blogs offline and then simply hit publish to send them to my blog (I'm using blogger now). I was able to drag and drop all of my old wordpress blogs and import them into the new blogger blog which was quite nice.

In any case, nothing much happening although I'm thoroughly enjoying my new MacBook Pro.

And we're moving....

Ok, I'm finally consolidating my blogs on Blogger. I've got wordpress, blogger, and some iWeb blogs but I really need to consolidate and get them all in one place. I'll be blogging in ecto or macJournal and then using them to upload to the sites. We'll see how it all plays out over time. :)

Belgian Chocolate - From Belgium

I've always loved "Legos". Now that I'm an adult, my pieces just get bigger. I'm basically a technical geek and for the past year I've been working on a vision to expand our company into a new product space. To that end, I underwent some technical evaluation of a small company that resulted in their purchase (new legos). Now, we have to do some planning on how to use these new legos with our current legos to get to something we can sell as a nifty new product.

To that end, I was sent to Belgium for planning meetings. Belgium is a very beautiful land as it rains nearly every day there. The grass is really green and everything is just picturesque! The food is incredible as well. I flew into Brussels Airport and stayed at the Hilton in Antwerp (below are a few pics). I was able to take nearly all day and just walk around Antwerp. We had dinner in Brussels one evening where you simply said "Suprise me!" and they brought out an 4 course meal - each stage was a surprise and that was pretty fun. Along the same lines, much chocolate made it home - made sure to get some for Mom for her birthday as well as maintain a "secret stash". :)

Again, I did to a Skype with the family every day (from the hallway in the Hilton), which alleviated some of my home sickness.

Going to Paris - Part 2

Yet another trip for work, my second trip to Paris this year. I took the red eye flight this time, but was able to sleep about 6 hours on the flight and have a whole day just to tour Paris again. I was able to do quite a lot of sightseeing this time, although I missed Celena and the boys pretty badly.

We made sure to Skype every day. Seth really loved to see me pretend to jump on the bed. I would put the camera focus on the room I was in pointing to the bed, then I would go off camera and appear to "fly" onto the bed - he and Luke really got a kick out of that.

Below is a picture of me at Notre Dame and the eiffel tower. More pictures are in my gallery here.