Fall is here and, as Jacqui likes to say, "fall is time to get back to basics - football, Octoberfest, tailgating, going back to school". Since we've moved south, some of those things have changed. Watching Big 10 football has changed to watching SEC games. Yes, I know Arkansas has been getting killed, and I blame it on poor management (John L. Smith coached Michigan State before coming here). Every time he speaks, my management team at work uses his quotes as examples of what LOSERS say. Quote to his assistant coaches last week: "When you are losing, just continue to believe in the things you are doing". That gets re-worked as "When you are not selling, just change SOMETHING". Take a good look at what's not working, and change it. I don't care if it's just your underpants, just change something.
Speaking of changing your underpants, Jillian has been having some outrageous blowout poops, often requiring a bath. She screams like a banshee when she gets cold.
Octoberfest doesn't exist down here. When we lived in Chicago, Octoberfest was a big, big deal, due to the large German population in that area. When I lived in Boston, it was half-way to St. Patrick's Day, so was a good excuse to drink beer outside. Down in the south, it would be considered absurd, and too ethnicky. This is Jillian's St. Pauli Girl dress.
Tailgating is a BIG part of the Arkansas Razorback football experience. We have a tailgate party at work every Saturday. We can do it because 1 hour before game time it's like a ghost town there. EVERYBODY is somewhere else watching the game. Except, for some reason, people from India.
We get some great BBQ, funions and sweet tea. Somebody always brings a bag of apples. I found this one just laying around at home. Jack said "a shit-munk ate it".
Jacqui's maternity leave ended, and the kids are both back to school. Before school started, we took a family trip to the bizarre animal safari. We got too close to an emu here, and also too close to some long-horn cattle. We didn't see one nursing, and she swung her horns at the car, nearly ripping off the passenger-side mirror.
We also celebrated fall by going to a pumpkin patch. Because of the drought, I was very skeptical of the pumpkin progress. As it turned out, they've been irrigating, and prices are about 20 times the retail price of store pumpkins, so the drought hasn't affected them as much.
Here Jack is showing that he's more than "FREE" (3) feet tall.
We went on a hay ride through the fields, past the ghosts and gouls, scarecrows and the alligator pond.
I think Jillian slept through the whole thing.
I talked Jacqui out of wearing heels, so she wouldn't let me photograph her below the knees.
It's a jack-ass
This is a hay tunnel. Jack said, "hey, there's a bunch of stuff crawlin around in here".
It's one of our traditions to pick our own pumpkin. Down here you should watch for big snakes when you do this.
When the pumpkin patch-girl saw us take this picture, she asked if she could take one of our girl too, to post on the patch's Facebook site. They don't have a bathroom, but they do have a web-page and facebook site.
Jack fell here, and hit the back of his head on a rock. It litterally knocked him silly. He's fine now.
I can get Jillian to stick her tongue out and smile. I'll try to get some video next month. She has a shy-girl routine she does, where she looks away and covers her face with her hand while smiling. Then turns back and raises one eyebrow. Very cute.
My parents took a trip from Massachusetts to see the kids and attend Jillian's baptism. My mom did her best to try to get a photo of the two of them together. This is the closest she got. I think Jack's saying, I'll stand here but I'm not touching that baby. Nana, you should put that baby down so you can play with these cups with me.
Pa got familiarized with all of the matchbox cars. Featured here are "star-car" and "Pam-car". Pam car was a gift from TuTu's friend Pam.
Pa tried to get Jack to "play by the rules". An important lesson, and becoming more important at pre-school. During board games, or any other game for that matter, I let him play the way he want's to play. I haven't enforced any rules on games. You want to always roll the number 4? Fine. You want to always land on a red color? Fine. My only rule is that we take turns, and you don't win everytime. We've modified that plan now, and he's working on it, but after my parents left, he said, "tell them I'll play the rule". He's been a bit more willing to play by the rules since then.
We baptised Jillian in September. She wore a beautiful christening gown that my Mom got for her, but you can't see it here, or in any other photo, unfortunately. She was very fussy, and Jack was impatient, refusing to even sit in the church for the service. During the ceremony, while the priest was speaking, he yelled in his best Boston accent "when ah we gonna get ATTAH heah".
.
Jillian's god-parents are Michelle Callahan, Jerry Privasky and Chad & Teresa Donath (Chad above in blue suit with head cut off, and Teresa holding Jillian, below).
That's about it for now. We hope you enjoyed the photos, and our view of life in the south. In October you'll probably finally see some photo's of the all-new re-designed 2013 Honda Accord, a link to my walk-around video of that, more pics of the kids, and if we buy a house, some photos of that.
.
