Family & Friends – Page 120

WoW Get Together

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Jennifer

As most of my faithful blog readers know, James and I play World of Warcraft, a massively multi-player online game. Our small guild consists mostly of friends here in Austin, but we have a small number of guildies who live elsewhere. Back at the beginning of May, Mona and Dean, who both live in the San Francisco area, and Eric, who lives in Atlanta, came to visit. We had a lot of fun visiting, doing touristy Austin stuff, and of course talking about WoW.

Friday night, we went to Salt Lick so our visitors could experience true Texas barbecue. Then we played pool and hung out at Aric’s house. I think we had enough non-WoW conversation that my friend Kristy, Aric’s wife and lone non-WoW player, wasn’t bored with us.

Mona, Eric, Ranger, Dean, Justin, James, Ken, Aric and Kristy

Justin, Mona, Ken and Eric

Justin, Jennifer, Phap, Mona, Ranger, James, Eric, Aric and Dean

Saturday started off pretty early (well early for me who typically sleeps until 10 or noon Saturdays) with Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake followed by visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was too late for bluebonnets and a tad too early for the cacti blossoms, but it was beautiful and the weather was really nice.

Pond

For lunch, we went to the Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin movie theater original that serves food and beverages (what other theater can you buy and drink beer at?) and saw X-Men Origins: Wolvervine, an excellent movie. Then we visited the Texas Capitol. I totally think no visitor to Austin should skip this attraction. The Capitol is a beautiful building constructed of Texas granite and completed in 1888. I especially love the dome: outside with the lady liberty at the top, inside from the ground floor looking up or inside from the 2nd or 3rd floors looking down at the five different Texan crests in the marble floor.

James Outside the Main Entrance

Ranger, James and Eric Looking Up at the Inside of the Dome

Inside of the Dome

Crests on the Floor

Dean, Ranger, Eric, James, Jennifer and Mona

Afterward, we went back to our house where I put Dean and Ranger to work (they offered) helping me prepare the food for the guild party, which was a lot of fun.

Dean, Eric, Ranger, Jennifer, Mona, Aric, James, Phap, Adam and Justin

On Sunday, we went to Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin (which isn’t saying much). You do have some nice views of the Austin downtown skyline and Lake Austin, but the views weren’t quite as good as I remembered. Of course, since the last time I was there was almost 6 years ago when James proposed, tree growth and euphoric romantic feelings could bias my memories.

Pennybacker Bridge

Mona and Jennifer

Ranger, James, Eric and Dean

We then had lunch at Texadelphia, another Austin original that serves a Texas version of the Philly cheesesteak. We then checked out the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. It was the first time James and I had gone there even though it opened in 2001. I really enjoyed the museum, especially the special exhibit about immigration through the port of Galveston (ya’ll know my love of genealogy). It is definitely a museum that I would enjoy spending some more time visiting. Keep in mind photography is not allowed. It is also home to Austin’s only IMAX theater.

Eric, Phap, James, Mona, Ranger and Dean

After dropping Eric off at the airport, we went to Chuy’s, another Austin original (we can’t take guests to any old restaurant) where we chowed down on excellent Tex-Mex and chatted with current and former guildies (it is sad to say, but people do come and go in the land of WoW).

Alex and Melissa

Jennifer, James and Will

Ranger, Mona, Adam, Jennifer, James, Will, Alex, Phap, Melissa and Dean

James dropped Mona and Dean off at the airport Monday morning before work and our weekend came to a close. It was a great weekend and it is safe to say that Mona, Dean and Eric enjoyed their trip to Austin.

Aric & Ranger’s Birthday Celebration

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Jennifer

Our friends Aric and Ranger have birthdays one day apart at the end of June. We finally celebrated last Saturday (first Aric and Kristy were out of town, then Ranger and Clarisse). We went to eat dinner at the downtown location of Mongolian Grille, which serves decent Mongolian barbecue. For those who don’t know what Mongolian barbecue is, you fill a bowl with a wide selection of veggies (or only carrots if you’re my husband), meats, and noodles; top it with a sauce you make (a ladle of soy sauce, a ladle of this, a ladle of that) and maybe an egg or two. Then you hand it to a chef and he cooks it up on a big round grill/griddle.

Kristy and Ranger

Clarisse and Aric

James and Kristy

Ranger and Clarisse

After dinner, we went back to our house and ate cake and of course sang to Ranger and Aric.

Aric and Ranger

Baby JAM Update

Posted on July 5, 2009 by Jennifer

James and I have made great strides in preparing for Baby JAM. We have purchased the nursery furniture and it will arrive soon. The room is going to have a rainforest theme (similar to my initial thoughts of a jungle, but with no elephant). Once the furniture arrives and we put it together and start decorating, I’ll post pictures of the room, but for now, you’ll have to settle for a picture of the bedding we chose.

Fisher Price Rainforest Bedding

It’s amazing to think that we’re at week 26 and in another 14 weeks, she’ll be here. Wow, the time is flying. At my last appointment (week 24), I had gained 6 pounds since the beginning of the pregnancy, all of which had been gained between weeks 20 and 24. She is a very active baby as I feel her kicking quite frequently with her most active in the evenings. We went and saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (which was excellent btw) at the IMAX theater last Wednesday night and she was kicking throughout the entire movie. I guess because of the loudness of the movie.

I feel like I’m actually looking like a pregnant woman, but I don’t feel like I’m one of those super cute pregnant women you see. Maybe it’s just my hormones making me feel that way. I’ll let you judge. Below are the next three installments of my biweekly photo shoots. James is a pretty good photographer when he actually has the camera. See this post for the previous three installments.

Week 22

Week 24

Week 26

I know a lot of people are curious if we have decided on a name yet. We’ve decided that Baby JAM’s middle name is going to be Ann since I’m Jennifer Ann, my Mom is Mary Ann and James’ Mom is Olivia Ann. However, we still haven’t decided on a first name, but we have a few in the running. Hopefully, with the help of baby name book I purchased, we’ll have decided by the time she arrives.

A Baby Shower and Beany Bling

Posted on July 3, 2009 by Jennifer

Recently, James and I attended a couples baby shower for my brother Jason and his wife Julia. Their baby is due August 9th.

To prepare for the shower, I started shopping quite a while back. In fact, back in February while I was at Target for some other reason, I was browsing the baby section and came across this adorable little pink dress with stars on it and two-tone sleeves. I knew this was perfect for Jason and Julia’s baby, so I bought it. Then I asked my good friend, Jillan, owner-extraordinaire of Beany Bling, for advice on fashion accessories. Beany Bling was born when Jillan’s daughter was born a little over two years ago. She makes leg warmers and hair-bows to go with any outfit. The hair-bows can be purchased with cloth headbands that don’t pinch at the baby’s head for those hairless babies. The headbands are pretty neat in that you can interchange the bow and get multiple looks with the same headband. The below picture is the outfit with the leg warmers and matching bow. I also couldn’t resist this cute little brown and pink bow so hopefully Julia has another outfit or two that will coordinate with it.

Outfit with Beany Bling

The idea for the second part of the gift was born when I read this post at Cool Mom Picks. However, I wanted to put together my own labor delivery bag for Julia. So I bought the diaper bag she registered for and then I bought the following items to put in it.

Lansinoh Ultra Soft Nursing Pads, 36-count
Lansinoh Lanolin Topical Breast Cream, 2-oz.
Earth Mama Angel Baby New Mama Bottom Spray, 4-oz. bottle
Earth Mama Angel Baby Natural Stretch Oil, 4-oz. bottle
Burt’s Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil, 0.15-oz. tube
Avon Naturals Shower Gel – Gardenia, 1.7-oz. bottle
Avon Naturals Body Lotion – Gardenia, 1.7-oz. bottle

Another item I had thought about including was Preggie Pops, but I didn’t end up remembering to look for them at Wal-greens. Now, Julia has a number of recommended items for her labor recovery process in one convenient location. I’ve since then bought the stretch oil for myself and it smells and works great.

The shower was a lot of fun. It was held at Julia’s Dad’s house and was hosted by her Dad’s friend who lives out of town. The light dinner included these little smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwiches that were utterly tasty. We played a game where we had to guess the flavor of baby food. James being the picky eater that he is declined to play, but I had fun. Joe and Sara, two of Jason and Julia’s friends who organized the game, bought 8 different flavors of baby food, some of which were combo flavors such as Pineapple, Ham & Rice. Then we were to taste-test and write down what we thought they were. I didn’t win, but I got half correct, so I feel that I did pretty decent.

Brian and Sarah

Julia Opening a Gift

Jason Opening a Gift

Siblings Sarah, Jason and Jennifer

Joe and Sara

Ruidoso, NM

Posted on June 13, 2009 by Jennifer

Last weekend was a long weekend for James and I. We traveled to Ruidoso, New Mexico with James’ parents and nephew Dawson. Initially, his sister Tami was supposed to go with us also, but she couldn’t get off work. The trip was a lot of fun.

Friday, June 5, 2009

We left Midland about 9:45 AM for the 6-hour drive to Ruidoso. Our first stop once we arrived was the Billy the Kid Scenic National Scenic Byway Visitors Center.

Joe, Dawson and James

We stayed at the River’s Edge Cabin. It was a really nice cabin, although the river out back was disappointing since the embankment was under construction. The cabin had games and we played an hour long game of Uno after arriving. I eventually won. Dinner was at Cafe Rio, which had excellent hand-tossed pizza. We then went to Pillow’s Funtrackers, where we played a round of miniature golf.

James and Olivia

Deer (seen near the cabin)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Flowers (seen near the cabin)

Flower Close-up

We lucked out. Saturday was one of two free fishing days a year. So we dropped off Joe and Dawson at Grindstone Lake to go fishing. They had a raffle for the kids and Dawson got a New Mexico button-type pin and a goody bag filled with things like pencils and a Smoky the Bear ruler. While they fished, the rest of us went shopping in mid-town. Lunch was at Lincoln County Grill and it was quite tasty. After some relaxing at the cabin, we drove up to Monjeau Lookout. We climbed the many steps to the top of the solid rock tower built by the CCC in the late 1930s. Today it is used as fire station lookout. At 10,356 ft., the view from the top was spectacular. You could definitely tell you were at a higher elevation since it was 5-10° cooler and quite breezy at the top compared to down in Ruidoso.

View from Monjeau Lookout

Dawson and James

Jennifer and James

Joe and Olivia

Dawson

After driving down the steep, mostly dirt road from the lookout, we went to the Flying J Ranch for their chuckwagon supper and western stage show. They had pony rides and gold panning for the kids. Dawson found 5 tiny pieces of fool’s gold. There was a gunfight between the “sheriff” and the two “outlaws” in the street of the “western village” before we went into the theater/dining hall to find our seats at table C6. After the dinner bell was rang by a little girl named Kate, we were directed table by table to the serving line. Dinner consisted of chicken or beef, beans, a foil-wrapped baked potato, chunky applesauce, a biscuit, and a piece of spice cake. After everyone finished eating, the Flying J Wranglers put on a show that consisted of western singing and some comedy and was very entertaining.

Dawson Panning for Gold

Sheriff During the Shoot-out

Sunday, June 7, 2009

After spending the majority of the morning relaxing at the cabin, we went to Kidz Konnection, an awesome playground where James had as much fun as Dawson.

James Goofing Off

Dawson

Joe and Olivia

We then had lunch at Casa Blanca Restaurant. They served tasty Mexican food and had excellent service. Afterward, we dropped Dawson and Joe off at the cabin since Dawson didn’t want to go to the horse races and it was very windy. The rest of us then went to Ruidoso Downs, the first time I’ve been to a race track. The first race we watched was the 6th of the day. James picked #4 Eyejesslovelouisiana, Olivia picked #5 Jess a Candy Gal and I picked #10 Jess Sippin. If we had actually bet, Olivia would have been richer as #5 won. We also watched the 7th race, a Thoroughbred race before heading to the Racehorse Hall of Fame on the second level of the grandstand. We then caught the 8th race from the second level of the grandstand.

6th Race

8th Race

We cooked Salmon Macaroni Bake at the cabin for dinner, followered by viewing Kung Fu Panda before going to bed.

Monday, June 8, 2009

We left the cool cabin getaway by 8:30 AM New Mexico time and arrived back in Midland at 3:30 PM. James and I had initially planned to continue back to Austin, but ended up spending the night and getting back to Austin on Tuesday.

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