Xmas 2010

Well, another Christmas come and gone. Here are some pictures of the event. Don't forget to check out Dee Dee's cookies at the end!

++++Pictures of Christmas 2010++++

Lauren's Graduation

Saturday, we rolled on down to Columbia to see Lauren's graduation at the Hearnes Center. After she received her B.S. in psychology, we went to Houlihan's for some post graduation celebrating.

Congratulations Lauren!

+++Pictures of the Graduation+++

+++A Short Video of Some of the Ceremony+++

Thanksgiving 2010

Another Thanksgiving in the bag. We ate, drank, and played Texas Hold 'em on Thanksgiving night. The next day, we played with Beanie Babies and celebrated Celia's birthday. As always, pictures attached. +++Family pics+++ +++Celia's Birthday Video+++ It was good seeing everyone. Until next year...

Ken's 50th

It was Ken's 50th birthday, so Dee Dee invited us out for a party. There was a little mix-up with the caterer, but Dee Dee and Andrea came to the rescue with some yummy salad, Pi pizza, and spaghetti sasquatch.

A fun time was had by all, especially those of us at the bistro table ; )

I'm a little fuzzy this morning as Dee pours a mean drink...

Attached are a few photos of the evening. Bobby, Paula, and son Bobby came; along with Paula's parents; Arlene and Cindy; all the Hedigers including Ringo; Mom and Dad; and Leslie and I.

It's worth looking just to see Mom and Dad in their matching sweaters.

+++Link to Photos+++

Suzanne and Deepak's Wedding

It was a fun time. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

+++Click here for photos+++

Lots of people helped contribute to this album. Leslie, Christopher, Drew, and I all took pictures. Ken even took one of the pictures too.

St. Croix

St. Croix was fun. It was a laid back island that makes rum. We stayed on the beach for the most part, but we ventured around the island a bit. Driving on the left hand side of the road took a few hours to get used to.

I labeled most of the pictures, so the captions should explain most of them. We drove through the rainforest, went on a rum tour, visited the botanical garden, and went to the two biggest towns - Chritiansted and Frederiksted.

+++ Click here for photos of the main vacation +++

I took a lot of seascapes and sunsets from our balcony.

+++ Click here for photos of sunsets and seascapes +++

I took a few pictures at the Botanical Garden.

+++ Click here for pictures of the Botanical Garden +++

Father's Day 2010

Saturday, Leslie and I met Mom, Dad, and Joyce at Trattoria Marcella for some Italian food. Afterward, we met up with Ken, Dee and Drew for some Ted Drewe's and presents. The next day, Joyce prepared a brunch, and we played with her dogs Bubba and Shanna.

*@* Click Here for some pictures of our adventures *@*

Celia's ballet recital

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPkmwj-wY4Y

Christopher's Piano recital

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM_ZkaoCPWo

chicago joyce's 50th birthday

http://picasaweb.google.com/IndyJoyB/ChicagoBirthdayCelebration#

New Orleans

Leslie and I headed down to New Orleans for spring break. We spent a day in Memphis to break up the trip.

In Memphis, Leslie got some Memphis BBQ, and then we stopped by Beale Street. They were having a St. Patrick's parade. We watched a bit of that, and had a few drinks.

The next day, it was time to hop in the car and finish our journey to New Orleans. The long bridge over the bayou brought back memories of the first time I went to New Orleans and signaled that we had arrived.

A little more driving, and we arrived in the city. We quickly found our way into the French Quarter and tried to cross the steady stream of pedestrian traffic on Bourbon. Luckily, a tranny in a miniskirt performing in the street was willing to help direct traffic, and we were able to get to our hotel.

We stayed in the heart of the Quarter (at the Bourbon Orleans). The rooms are a little small, but the location is great. We were seconds from Jackson Square and Bourbon Street. To me, the key is being able to walk around the Quarter, and then being able to go back to your room if you like. If you stay outside of the Quarter, once you leave, you generally don't go back, or don't go back for a while. Kind of a bummer if you get bored and just want to walk around and get one more drink.

"You gotta get out of the Quarter." This is a constant refrain you hear from locals and travel experts, but I'd tend to disagree in a way. Yes, New Orleans is a city rich in culture and diversity, but the Quarter is the most fun place to be. In the past, we went to the Garden District, Magazine Street, took a swamp tour etc., and they were all nice places to visit, but you always want to return to the Quarter. There's nothing like strolling through the streets, finding a bar, getting beignets, looking at the shops, sitting in Jackson Square, and repeating the process again.

Since it was nice weather, the NCAA tournament was in town, and St. Patrick's was going on, there were a lot of people in town that week. We thought about taking our car out a few times, but after thinking about it, decided to have some bloody Marys with breakfast and just walk around instead.

The day of St. Patrick's, there were a lot of people and parades throughout the city. A lot of green could be seen everywhere. That night, some loud engines of some dune buggies signaled that the parade was coming down Bourbon. Next came the floats. It was like a mini Mardi Gras. It was a fun surprise for our last night there.

The morning we left, we finally did get out of the Quarter, and went to Magazine Street for a while. We then made the long journey home, hitting famed Lambert's Cafe in southern MO for some "throwed rolls"

New Orleans is a fun city, and I'd go back again and again.

++++Here are some pictures from the trip++++

(The first few pics are Memphis, and the one beginning with the police station is New Orleans)

++++Here is a video of St. Patrick's in the Quarter++++

Just a Few Notes on Putting Your Pictures Online

In the last article, I talked about how you can put your pictures online by going to the bottom of your dashboard, clicking on "Picasa Web Albums", and setting up a Picasa account.

For whatever reason, when I went to Mom & Dad's, they did not have this link, so here's my solution for you guys:

Go directly to Picasa Web Albums (click here for the link), set up a Picasa account by entering a screen name and a password. (Just like Blogger, when you log in to this account, you'll type your email as your user name, and then your password)

Now you're ready to create albums etc. in Picasa Web albums, just follow the directions from the previous post on this subject.

One last thing. Again, I don't know why Mom and Dad's computer was so different, but Picasa Web albums only allowed them to upload five pictures at a time, old school style. By installing Picasa 3, a free download from Google, they were able to upload multiple pictures at once.

As you can see, this process worked, and they are well on their way to becoming certified bloggers.

Lost and Found

Dee recently gave me back my old set of encyclopedias, so I could bring them to school. I gave my students an encyclopedia assignment, and one of my students came up to me and said, "Um I found this picture in the encyclopedia..." This image was almost lost, but now it has found its way back into our family album.

punta cana vacation

It was very beautiful in Punta Cana. The beaches are exquisite I am going to try to put our pictures, not bets.

***Click here for the first set of pictures***

***Click here for the next set of pictures***

Uncle Al's Birthday

We began Al's 80th birthday Sunday, with some fresh, muddled drinks downstairs at the bar. Two of Al's friends, Ted and Paula, came by to help celebrate. Dinner consisted of beef, a salad by Dee, and some sides. Dessert was a birthday ice cream cake, that the number candles fell over in, so in the pictures it kind of looks like 30, but it's actually 80. We finished the dinner with some "Happy Birthday" and a champagne toast.

*****Here are some pictures of the event*****