The One Where Wii Play

The "kids" got a Nintendo Wii from Santa this year for Christmas and after somewhat of a slow start, it has really grown on all of us. The nice thing about the Wii is that literally anybody can pick up the Wiimote and start playing intuitively. This commercial really says it all:

The other thing we've discovered is that people really enjoy playing the Wii together and we've had several visitors over the past month enjoy a good round of Tennis, or even using carrot juice to keep the scuba diving rabbids at bay.

David takes things seriously. His Wii skills are both mad and phat. Run, David. RUN.

Ethan gets into the action while Josh sits mystified that a small child can actually beat him at a video game. What's even more sad is that Ethan played with his Wiimote upside down the entire time.

Me and Charles are literally duking it out in Boxing. He started good, but he forgot one critical thing: it's a marathon, not a sprint. When he started to tire, I beat him senseless to an inch of his virtual life in the spirit of good Christian fun. I love you, brother.

Not since Amy's odd (and disturbing) fascination with Burgertime in the 80's has she enjoyed playing a video game so much. I agree, the Burgertime fascination is odd, but she also enjoyed to Hang Tough with The NKOTB, so there's no accounting for taste. To this day, when I'm cooking hamburgers, she dresses up like a fried egg and chases me around the kitchen, to which I respond by shaking a healthy dose of pepper on her. Wait. I'm not really sure how I got here, or where I'm going.

Seeju is one of those people that is just plain good at everything it seems like. The Wii was no exception. You can see the fierce determination in her eyes as she is no doubt beating the snot out of a raving rabbid.

Jennifer takes everything seriously. Everything. Once I got in trouble for actually asking a Trivial Pursuit question wrong during a heated trivia matchup. Notice the gritting of the teeth as she slams the tennis ball right down Steve's throat.



Why is it that kids always look more natural doing this Wii thing than the adults?



This is reminiscent of that classic Garth Brooks ditty, "The Night I Called the Old Man Out." In this version of the classic coming of age tale, Colton actually subdues Steve up against the ropes with a blindingly fast barrage of mindless punches. Eventually Steve's virtual self has a seizure in the middle of the ring before he is carried off to a hospital. We all learned a lesson that day, my friend - when Colton calls you out, run.



This is our ex-friend Kandy. She's probably not our friend anymore because this picture is now on the interweb for all to see. It was good while it lasted. She liked the Wii so much that she ordered to David to go right home that week and purchase one. At least that's how David tells the story.

Nintendo, if you're out there, you can send my reimbursement for this free advertising to my home address. Thanks.

The One Where it Freezes in Pflugerville

Yesterday wasn't so bad all in all. We had a little ice, a little snow, a little sleet. We were even able to run to the store last night in relative safety. However, we were not prepared for what we found this morning when we woke up.



Evidently this is what things start to look like when the temperature has been below freezing for 48 hours. People up north may be used to it, but we're soft, gentle folk here in the south.



Rain here is Austin has a tendency to go "sideways," just like Forrest Gump saw in Vietnam. Evidently, freezing rain is no different. This side of the fence was completely covered in a one-half inch sheet of ice.



And now, deep thoughts. Ice isn't so bad all in all, especially when you're thirsty. When you're already cold, though, ice sucks.



Another example of the "sideways" precipitation. This side of the house was complete covered in a sheet of ice. I've never seen anything like this before.



A closeup of the ice on the bricks and even the electricity meter.



I would think that Carrier would pay a lot of money to use this picture. Let a Carrier find the cold air where you live.



I finally couldn't take it anymore. The tires on both cars were literally sagging from the weight of the ice. The Expedition had two days of ice buildup and in some places it was close to an inch. It took about an hour to defrost this window enough to start breaking up the ice.

Our three days in the ice storm of '07 was an adventure, and we're blessed that everyone was safe through it all, even with a reduced ration of Hot Chocolate. But we're really glad its over.

The One Where it Snows in Pflugerville

The last several days the weather has been teasing us with thoughts of ice and snow. It hovered around 33 degrees on both Sunday and most of Monday. Then last night and into today the temperature plunged down to 27 degrees, where it is currently. The sleet we were seeing through the night has just turned to snow.



School was canceled and so was my work, sorta (I'm working from home). I guess it's never really a good thing when it rains for several days and then the accumulated rain turns to ice. The city of Austin and its surrounding areas are all but shut down today. And since the temperature isn't forecasted to rise about freezing until tomorrow afternoon, it doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere tomorrow either.



We're almost out of milk and the fake logs you can buy at the grocery store, but as long as the power stays on I think we'll be okay. :)



Of course, it might be a bit easier to get into the cars and go someplace if I hadn't accidentally left the sprinklers on last night. This morning there was about one half inch of ice on them. Whooops.



We've got a pot of soup on the stove, so we're all good for now. Looks like we're going to be stuck here for a while. Stay tuned.

The One With the Best Birthday Surprise, EVER

I kinda knew something was up - not because I'm psychic, but because Amy is an absolutely horrible secret-keeper. Horrible. This works out for me quite well most of the time as you can imagine. Done imagining? Good.

So there I was on Friday night, getting ready for a long night of partying in bed watching Family Guy and turning in about 8:30 when the front door opened and Josh H, Grace, David, Kandy, and Ethan come rolling in. Sweet! Happy (surprise) birthday to me!

We had a great (but brief) time together, but it was the best ... birthday ... surprise ... EVER!

The One Where Baby Alex Meets the Best Aunt and Uncle in the World

Today we visited our old friend, Hwy 290. It had only been a week or so since we last visited, but we always enjoy our 2-3 hour visits. Our visit eventually came to an end, though, and we said our goodbyes and headed off towards Chad and Andrea's to see our new nephew, Alex.



This is actually the only time during our visit that Chad had his eyes open. Between a new baby, a busy job, and a small child (Gabby) hungry for attention, he's got his hands full right now - literally and figuratively.



It would appear that Reagan's smiling because she's holding her cousin for the first time. The truth is, however, that right before the camera shutter clicked, the timer on the over went off - we were making bierox!



They will probably hate me for posting this picture today, but it will serve as a great reminder the next time Chad and Andrea start to think about baby #3. This picture should hold them off for at least a month or two before they pull the trigger.



Gabby pushes my gut out of the way so that she can give baby Alex a kiss on the cheek. She loves him, but she's still dazed and confused over all the attention that is going his way now.

After an afternoon of bierox and babies, we said goodbye to our new nephew, who informed Amy and I that we were indeed his favorite aunt and uncle. (The kid has good taste, that's for sure.) We hurried towards 290, anxious to see it after our separation of only 8 hours.