As a precaution we're not sending Vin to daycare this week. Today he went to work with Teri in the Test Kitchen while I was in class and she used a chip lexan to contain him.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Our Weekend - Part I
On Saturday Teri surprised me with an afternoon date to Cirque Imagination's show Montage. Lourdes and Jaime babysat for us and we had a nice lunch before the show. The troope are former members of Cirque du Soleil who have formed their own show. We had a great outing together and then had a few families over for steak and shrimp.
PREDINNER HANGING OUT
DINNER
POPSICLES FOR DESSERT
PREDINNER HANGING OUT
DINNER
POPSICLES FOR DESSERT
Friday, April 24, 2009
Llano Trip
Last weekend we went to Llano to visit my family. My cousin Travis and his wife Meghan flew in from Salt Lake City (no they're not Mormon), my Grandma came in from Spearman and Mat and Jaime came too.
Patty and Terry treated us to a real Hill Country weekend -we ate and played with the locals and gave Travis and Meghan the grand tour of "that part of the country". We had a really great time and Vin was a little showoff which is a side of him we've never seen before.
Llano Crawfish Festival - Teri, Travis and Meghan were so excited about the crawfish while the rest of us just drank beer for lunch. This is an annual town event and they had a washer pitching contest which Mat and Terry entered. They did pretty well considering that Mat hadn't pitched a washer in almost 12 years!
Look at how content Teri is.
Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que - Coopers is a Llano institution and people travel from miles around to get their fill of m-e-a-t. The line was 30 minutes long and when you get in you eat on butcher paper at a picnic table. Good stuff!
Party on the patio - Patty has updated her patio with new chairs and cushions. We enjoyed relaxing out here while Terry Butt cooked out on the grill. On Saturday night we had bacon wrapped jalapenos and bacon wrapped shrimp. Can you tell we didn't go hungry on this trip.
Silvercreek Beer Garden in Fredricksburg - this is another local hang out with a large local beer selection and a wonderful patio.
Vin's First Horse Ride - Some kids might start off on a pony but not Vin. His Grumps saddled up Pecos and took him for a ride. Vin loved every minute of it!
Patty and Terry treated us to a real Hill Country weekend -we ate and played with the locals and gave Travis and Meghan the grand tour of "that part of the country". We had a really great time and Vin was a little showoff which is a side of him we've never seen before.
Llano Crawfish Festival - Teri, Travis and Meghan were so excited about the crawfish while the rest of us just drank beer for lunch. This is an annual town event and they had a washer pitching contest which Mat and Terry entered. They did pretty well considering that Mat hadn't pitched a washer in almost 12 years!
Look at how content Teri is.
Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que - Coopers is a Llano institution and people travel from miles around to get their fill of m-e-a-t. The line was 30 minutes long and when you get in you eat on butcher paper at a picnic table. Good stuff!
Patty has a picture of Vin gnawing on a rib bone that I'll post soon.
Party on the patio - Patty has updated her patio with new chairs and cushions. We enjoyed relaxing out here while Terry Butt cooked out on the grill. On Saturday night we had bacon wrapped jalapenos and bacon wrapped shrimp. Can you tell we didn't go hungry on this trip.
Silvercreek Beer Garden in Fredricksburg - this is another local hang out with a large local beer selection and a wonderful patio.
Vin's First Horse Ride - Some kids might start off on a pony but not Vin. His Grumps saddled up Pecos and took him for a ride. Vin loved every minute of it!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Have You Seen Me?
This is carnival season and I'm on the lookout for the ZIPPER. It's been damn near two years since I've ridden one and I'm long overdue! They are often spotted in mall or grocery store parking lots so I'm putting out a all points bulletin for it. Please let me know if you find one.
For the uninitiated the ZIPPER is a crazy wonderful amusement park ride. You can watch a 20 second YouTube clip if you want a second hand experience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3OiAlvpw2w
For the uninitiated the ZIPPER is a crazy wonderful amusement park ride. You can watch a 20 second YouTube clip if you want a second hand experience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3OiAlvpw2w
At this moment
We’re participating in a challenge from Wendy who blogged us to “take a photo of yourself right now - no primping, no touching up - just take a photo of yourself as you are right this second, and post it.”
We've just returned from a road trip to Llano to visit my family. The baby is down after some minor fussing and Teri is watching Third Rock From The Sun on the teli and I’m catching up on some school work. All the bags, toys and stuff from our trip is surrounding me in the living room. I think the really scary challenge should be to take a picture of your living room and post that. Now that’s really exposing!
Maybe another day.
So for now, if you're reading this - TAG! Go, now, do it and let me know that you did!
We've just returned from a road trip to Llano to visit my family. The baby is down after some minor fussing and Teri is watching Third Rock From The Sun on the teli and I’m catching up on some school work. All the bags, toys and stuff from our trip is surrounding me in the living room. I think the really scary challenge should be to take a picture of your living room and post that. Now that’s really exposing!
Maybe another day.
So for now, if you're reading this - TAG! Go, now, do it and let me know that you did!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
News from the front
I consider this time in our lives to be blissfully uncomplicated when it comes to the “gay thing”. Soon, we as a family and individually, will be faced with coming out with complicated explaining at Vin’s schools, with his new friends etc. etc. etc. Right now I feel we are insulated with a cushion of gay friendliness and it feels pretty good. However, a few weeks ago I was reminded of how the outside world thinks.
At Collin County I have a 71 year old professor friend who teaches math. Carl and I are an unlikely pair who bonded over our irritation of how loud others are in our office. Basically we roll our eyes at each other across the room when someone says something we don’t like. Carl once told me that he “required” his wife to stay home with their kids. When I came out to him he said to me “I knew you guys existed, and I’ve see you on T.V. but I’ve never met one in real life.”
How hysterical is that! The other funny thing about him is that he has tons of questions about our relationship and how Vin was conceived. I happily answer all of them and figure it’s my job to educate the naive. Anyway, I suspect there are a lot of Carl’s in our future, and I just hope they will all be as good natured and open.
In the past few weeks some major events have taken place in the Gay Rights Movement. The Human Rights Campaign reported,
MARRIAGE
“After the Iowa court decision and the historic vote in Vermont, we have DOUBLED – in one week – the number of states that allow loving, committed lesbian and gay couples to marry.
Of course, there is still much work ahead. The California Supreme Court will decide in the next 60 days whether to uphold Proposition 8.”
(Can't seem to make these bigger!)
TAXES
On a less positive note, “ It's tax time. And that means millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans will be painfully reminded that they're unequal under federal law. Forced to check that "single" box again, federal law treats LGBT couples as strangers, denying them 1,138 federal benefits and protections enjoyed by married couples. Even if they've married or legally partnered in their state, the "Defense of Marriage Act" denies them every single federal benefit given to married couples. The result? Same-sex couples are taxed about $1000 on their family health insurance—a tax that straight married couples don't have to pay. And even though LGBT Americans pay into Social Security just like everyone else, Social Security does not provide spousal benefits to lesbian and gay couples. Call it the cost of being gay—the cost of being considered strangers under law no matter how committed a family is.”
OUR FAMILY
Lastly, Teri is in the process of legally adopting Vin with a Second Parent Adoption. Our lawyer has run into some road blocks like the judge refusing to grant us a hearing but we are persevering and hope to have a “walk in” appointment in the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted on our status and we ask for your prayers and support as we pioneer the way for other gay families!
I urge you to take up the fight with us to have our relationships and families recognized by the government. To learn more go to http://www.hrc.org/
At Collin County I have a 71 year old professor friend who teaches math. Carl and I are an unlikely pair who bonded over our irritation of how loud others are in our office. Basically we roll our eyes at each other across the room when someone says something we don’t like. Carl once told me that he “required” his wife to stay home with their kids. When I came out to him he said to me “I knew you guys existed, and I’ve see you on T.V. but I’ve never met one in real life.”
How hysterical is that! The other funny thing about him is that he has tons of questions about our relationship and how Vin was conceived. I happily answer all of them and figure it’s my job to educate the naive. Anyway, I suspect there are a lot of Carl’s in our future, and I just hope they will all be as good natured and open.
In the past few weeks some major events have taken place in the Gay Rights Movement. The Human Rights Campaign reported,
MARRIAGE
“After the Iowa court decision and the historic vote in Vermont, we have DOUBLED – in one week – the number of states that allow loving, committed lesbian and gay couples to marry.
Of course, there is still much work ahead. The California Supreme Court will decide in the next 60 days whether to uphold Proposition 8.”
(Can't seem to make these bigger!)
TAXES
On a less positive note, “ It's tax time. And that means millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans will be painfully reminded that they're unequal under federal law. Forced to check that "single" box again, federal law treats LGBT couples as strangers, denying them 1,138 federal benefits and protections enjoyed by married couples. Even if they've married or legally partnered in their state, the "Defense of Marriage Act" denies them every single federal benefit given to married couples. The result? Same-sex couples are taxed about $1000 on their family health insurance—a tax that straight married couples don't have to pay. And even though LGBT Americans pay into Social Security just like everyone else, Social Security does not provide spousal benefits to lesbian and gay couples. Call it the cost of being gay—the cost of being considered strangers under law no matter how committed a family is.”
OUR FAMILY
Lastly, Teri is in the process of legally adopting Vin with a Second Parent Adoption. Our lawyer has run into some road blocks like the judge refusing to grant us a hearing but we are persevering and hope to have a “walk in” appointment in the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted on our status and we ask for your prayers and support as we pioneer the way for other gay families!
I urge you to take up the fight with us to have our relationships and families recognized by the government. To learn more go to http://www.hrc.org/
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