October 2007

This month I had to go to a conference for a week, so Michelle's parents flew in to help her take care of Lily while I was gone. This worked very well -- Lily latched onto her Papa the whole time and barely noticed I wasn't around! I figured by the time I returned, our digital camera would be filled with pictures of Lily playing with her Blackwell grandparents, but they and Michelle totally dropped the ball and took practically no pictures. Do I have to do everything around here??

We did schedule some formal family portraits while Papa and Lola were in town. The poor people at Portrait Innovations know Lily as a Problem Child. Several past trips there have resulted in no pictures because she cries whenever they try to take her picture. This should be shocking to everyone reading this web site, because by now she should be used to having a camera in her face at all times! Nevertheless, we drove there on Saturday morning (10/20), and Lily was again in a bad mood and we got no pictures. I called the following day to reschedule, and they were about to hang up before I had even identified myself. I said, "Don't you need to write down my name?" And they answered, "Sir, we know who you are." Geez!! Luckily she was in a great mood on Sunday, and we got lots of good photos.


Bill Willis and Mike Peugh helped me celebrate and mourn my 40th birthday this month (Oct. 1st). We rented a limo to drive us to Hooter's for dinner and to a comedy club afterward. The three of us did plenty of drinking at both locations, as well as in the limo. Lily gave me a hug goodbye as I was leaving and very much wanted to come along!


Michelle's 20-year high school reunion was this month. We all flew to Virginia Beach, and Michelle got a chance to catch up with some of her classmates. These four photos show her friends Jeff, Elias and his girlfriend Missy, Lisa and Antonnette, and H.D. Oliver. We stayed with Michelle's parents, which worked out well because they babysat her while we went to reunion events.


Kids were invited to one of the reunion activities, watching a high school football game. Here is Lily sitting in the bleachers and shaking pom-poms.


A week after we were in Virginia for the high school reunion, it was time for my conference, and the Blackwells flew to our house. Lily needed no time to warm up to Lola and Papa this trip, probably because she had just seen them the previous weekend. Within hours of their arrival, Lily was climbing all over Papa and clinging to him and laughing. I "consoled" Pop, saying "Don't worry, she'll warm up to you in a few days!"


Pop played catch with Lily, and she kept moving her chair closer to him so she could catch the ball. The ball was squishy and lighted up whenever you squeezed it. Lily held it and played with it so much the lights or batteries eventually burned out.


Lola got plenty of love from Lily too this trip. I'm sure I would have more pictures if any of these dolts had bothered to use the camera while I was gone!


Some of Michelle's outfits stun me into realizing how much weight she's lost since a year ago. Hubba!!


Our Saturday trip to the portrait studio was unsuccessful, possibly because Lily fell asleep in the car and we had to wake her up once we were there. On our Sunday attempt, we kept her awake and entertained during the car trip, and arrived early so that we could play with her outside and in the studio before it was time for our appointment. To everyone's relief -- especially the studio staff -- this worked out great and Lily was happy and eager to cooperate. We did have to let her keep holding the Legos she was playing with to keep her in a good mood, though!


This was one of our favorite portraits from the studio!


I headed off to San Francisco for my conference, and made sure to stop in at the brewery that makes my favorite beer, Anchor Porter. I went on a tour -- those three large copper kettles are used for three steps of the beer-making process. Anchor Porter is a very dark, strong-tasting beer that some friends have told me is too much like eating a meal in itself. I think the brewery's sign in the third picture is a sufficient answer to those critics! The tour ended with a free "tasting" that I took good advantage of.


One day we dressed Lily in clothes matching Michelle's, which was cute.


We asked Lily what she wanted to be for Halloween this year, and she said "a princess". We picked out this costume for her to wear at school, and got a different one for going trick-or-treating. She loved these princess-looking shoes, so we bought them, but I don't think she wore them with either of her princess outfits.


Michelle bought this very appropriate outfit for Lily to wear under her Halloween costume. The shirt says, "Who needs a costume when you're already a princess?" (She looks so sad here! She wanted to play and didn't want to hold still for me to take her picture.)


Here are the girls at their Halloween party at school: Lily the princess, Madeline the witch, and Cailey the fairy (I think she's Tinkerbell).


Lily dressed in a "Shrek princess" outfit to go trick-or-treating. So I went as Shrek, in a decidedly low-budget costume. She had trouble walking in her long dress without tripping, so I carried her part of the time, and then pulled her in her wagon, where Her Highness could lounge comfortably, when she wasn't complaining that the road was "too bumpy". This was such a different experience than previous years. Last year she freaked out about putting a costume on at all, but this year she loved it. We stayed out longer and went to more houses, and at each one she said "Trick or treat!" After getting candy, she'd say thank you and then promptly tell me, "Let's go to another house!" A couple days after Halloween, she wanted to put her costume back on, and asked to go trick-or-treating again! Sorry dear, but you'll have to wait until next Halloween.


Here is a movie of Lily and I reaching our own house at the end of trick-or-treating. The funny part is that when Michelle points the camera away from Lily to include me in the video, Lily says, "No, take a picture of me!" This is especially hysterical because of a movie of Michelle when she was young, looking sweetly at the camera, but then shoving her father aside because he stepped between her and her audience. Heh! But I love attention too, so Lily's getting it from both sides. (Click the picture to see the Quicktime movie, or download it here.)