We've been trying to get this blog online for over 2 days now, and the internet powers that be have finally allowed us to do so. Sorry for the delay, and please enjoy!
A lot of our time lately has been spent packing. It’s been pretty easy so far, since we’ve been forced to keep everything organized in our little apartment. We’ve packed more books than clothes, which sounds about right to us.
Zoe’s birthday party was Saturday. Of Gabriel and his three closest friends, he’s the last to turn 1. We had a great time at Zoe’s house, and the babies all got to go for a swim. As usual, Gabriel had nervous Mommy right next to him. They had fantastic food - the best was the proscuitto-wrapped melon. Bill, Zoe’s daddy, makes a great sangria! And Patty wondered why she needed a nap that afternoon...
We tried Dad’s and Gail’s recipe for barbeque pork loin yesterday, with a twist. Marinating the pork in Wasabiyaki gives it a slight kick. Even Gabriel liked it. We’re trying to introduce him to more and more grown-up foods. Besides the pork, he ate pasta with sweet potato and mozzarella. We’re almost regretting introducing him to toasted oats/Cheerios. There are days when he eats little else. There are also meals in which he eats more than us, particularly at breakfast. He eats healthier than we do, though, so he is just fine.
Cindy’s left, but Dennis is here. He’s dumping lots of rain on Atlanta, which is keeping the temperature down a little, but it’s also keeping us from visiting the park and the botanical garden. It didn’t keep us from the barbeque grill, at least.
As for Gabriel, well, he’s learned to say “dog” and “truck.” They sound a lot alike, but if there’s doubt, sometimes he pants instead of saying “dog.” He’s also obsessed with lights and the windows at the cathedral (they are quite brilliant when the light shines through them). He’s getting more and more vocal, and he’s keeping us laughing with his “commentary.” He doesn’t understand the concept of an indoor voice yet, so he draws a lot of attention to himself, which is oh-so-fun in church just before communion when everyone is silent. At least they’re happy sounds, for the most part!
We just watched The Incredibles yesterday. It’s a great movie, but there are definitely some things in there that parents might not want their kids to watch, like a guy suing someone for saving his life when he jumped off a roof, and stuff like that. We thought it was hilarious and really graphically interesting. There were a lot of references in the movie to other things, like Jason Lee’s character in Mall Rats, for instance, and two of the original ten Disney animators who voiced their own characters and talked about how it was done "old-school." Bonus points for having a character modeled on Edith Head, Patty’s all-time favorite behind-the-scenes movie industry employee (unless of course you count directors, in which case Alfred Hitchcock gets the title). Also more points for having Wallace Shawn do the voice of Bob Parr’s boss. He played the bad guy, Vizzini, in The Princess Bride, as well as Rex in the Toy Story movies. We were pleasantly surprised that Violet was voiced by Sarah Vowell, from National Public Radio. We give it a solid 59 out of 64 on our movie scale.
Today was a pretty busy day to start the week. Dennis made the drive into work very interesting for Matt, with lots and lots of rain and some pretty wicked wind (nothing horrible, like tropical, but bad for this area). When Matt drove over the river on I-75, he noticed it was really, really high, probably the highest he’s ever seen it. Gabriel and Patty got up and had some breakfast, which included a bowl of cereal for the Chipmeister. Well, sort of. He had some Cheerios and some milk, mostly just a spoonful of Cheerios and then a spoonful of milk. He doesn’t have the finer points of cereal eating down quite yet, but if he’s a true Angle (and we know he is), it won’t be long.
Patty took the little one out to run some errands, including getting a few things straightened out with our new phones. The old number that everyone has works and Patty found out a few things about her new handset. Beware: her caller ID works again, so if you call and she doesn’t answer, well....
CVS sells disposable digital video cameras now, so we're sending one to Jack in Iraq. We can't wait to see what he sends back on it!
