Well, what have I been up to you ask? Quite a lot!
My
aunt Sylvia, my uncle Gary, and my cousins Nicole, Logan, and Trinity, came down and stayed at Fort Steven the last week of July, so we went and visited them at the campground. I must say the campground has changed a lot since the last time I was there several years ago. Fort Stevens is having a record year for attendance, apparently they start booking spots for the following year each October, and this year they are completely sold out. Strange there would be that many people wanting to come to the coast. We made balloon animals, actually it was more like
balloon shapes, and went to dinner. Had a great visit.
We bought Peyton her
first bike. Got her a little 12 inch bike, "
Little Dreamer" is pink of course, with tassels and training wheels. She also has the pink barbie helmet, knee and elbow pads with matching wristband that she picked out. Gotta say much harder to teach a child how to ride a bike than I thought it would be. I remembered that I have no patience. She can't seem to not try to pedal the opposite direction, which on kids' bikes is the breaks. Bad Daddy!
We bought a
new piece of furniture. I have had my plasma TV for almost a year and had yet to decide what to do with it, mount it or buy an entertainment center. So for the last year it has sat on a black TV stand that Rachelle hated. I wanted to mount it on the wall, but decided with the amount of wires I would need to put into the wall it would just be too difficult. We looked for a long time for a piece to put under it, but couldn't find anything that we both liked. Rachelle found a piece that she really liked at an antique store, but I wasn't about to put my $2500 TV on a flimsy old looking table, and wanted something that could house the DVD player, xbox, satellite box, and Xboxes. But we finally found something that looked nice and was very functional, and matches very well with our cabinets. The down side is that now we need new end tables.
We took my Father in laws new Chevy Tahoe to Portland to get the TV stand. Let me tell you, I would be just fine driving one all the time. I wouldn't even mind paying the gas, nice, very nice. He put in the integrated iPod system and I of course had to try it out with my iPod for the trip. It was a damn nice setup, even has the buttons on the steering wheel that control the stereo and iPod. Well you can bet I had to have one. And now I do. I was gonna buy an adapter for my crappy stock stereo, but it was too old, and the adapter was gonna cost nearly as much as a brand new fully integrated stereo. So I went to the local stereo guy and he found the one I wanted, the
Alpine CDA-9857, which had the integrated iPod system. So I went online and found it for like $150 less including shipping, than Sound Waves and bought it on eBay. I had a buddy put it in for me and now I am totally content.
My 4th generation iPod died, just slightly after having it a year, just happened to be past the warranty expiration as well. I was going to get it fixed but apple wanted $200 just to look at it, so I said screw that. I bought a new
60GB black 5th Gen video iPod. It has a lot of new features that the old one didn't that I like, color screen, videos, pictures, etc. The ability to put videos on it especially has turned out to be great for trips. I found a program to put convert DVD movies so that they can be put on the iPod. Peyton loves watching movies on it so, we bring a pair of head phones and I have like 12 Disney movies loaded on it and she's good for a long road trip. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that Apple did away with firewire connection (only usb 2.0 now) and it never seems to turn off when it is supposed to.
We broke down and finally bought a
new digital camera. Rachelle has been wanting one for a long time so that she can take nice pictures for her scrap-booking hobby, but the one she wanted was not very cheap. But what do you know, Costco carries them now and they are like $200 less than anyone online. It is a
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, it's an 8 megapixel digital SLR camera, and it is great because any standard camera lens will work with it. It really does take great shots. We love it, though it won't exactly fit in my pocket.
Mom and Arnie came down for a visit. We had a nice time just hanging out and Peyton had a blast with Grandma Brenda. We spent the day together and went out to Dooger's in Seaside for dinner, which was very good.
Peyton and I went to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Webb, and their two new yellow lab puppies. Peyton just absolutely loves my Grandpa! My grandma is still going though Chemotherapy, she is a ton better than the last time I saw her and kept pointing out how she had more hair now than both me and my grandpa. It was super nice seeing them and I know Peyton sure liked seeing her great-grandparents.
Weekend before last Rachelle, Peyton, and I went to the Clatsop County Fair. Peyton got to see all the animals, including a bunch of 7 day old baby pigs. She also got to go on her very first amusement park ride, the ferris wheel. Now I have to tell you I love going on rides, and always have. But for some reason ever since I was a kid the damn ferris wheel scares the crap out of me. But we braved it together and had a lot of fun. Rachelle and I went back that evening and attended the Livestock auction with my boss and some friends from work. We bought 2 sheep, Safeway buys an animal each year, with our allotted funds. We went out for dinner and drinks afterwards and had a great time. I had a few too many, and let me tell you staying out till 1 in the morning when you gotta work at 7 sucks! I think I am getting too old for that.
I watched a couple of great movies over the last few weeks.
V for Vendetta was fantastic. From start to finish, that movie was action packed. I really like the whole idea behind it. Just watched
Inside Man with Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, and Jody Foster. That's right Colin, I said Jody Foster! She looks pretty damn good in too, even if she plays for the other team. Clive is the shit in this movie! I really enjoyed the flick. I know Nathan you think my taste in movies sucks, even moreso than Colin's, but it was good. Watch it.
I just beat
Condemend: Criminal Origins, and it was by far the scariest damn video game I have ever played. Ther e is nothing more scary than drugged out transiants and manaquins. You are an FBI profiler, chasing down a serial killer who is murdering serial killers, all while the Feds hunt you down for the murders. Damn it's twisted good! Fantastic ending too, actually there were two endings depending on the choice you make at the end. "Do I kill the homicidal serial killer or do I let him live?" Tough choice I know. If you have a 360 go get it now! Though you may want to leave the light on while you play. Also just bought
Dead Rising, and it is definately worth the $60. I have never had so much fun killing stuff in any game, and doing it with the most random objects you could ever imagine. I think the rototiller is my favorite, zombie parts everywhere. This Game ROCKS! I absolutely love this game, the mall is amazing, and the photography twist is pretty cool. Who would have ever thought of taking pictures of zombie cleavage? That's original.
Rachelle made a
pink tutu for Peyton last week, and it is huge. Peyton wears it constantly. Something about being a princess really appeals to her. She runs around the house with her crown, fake earrings and necklace, and her big pink tutu, all day long.
Nathan came down for a short visit. It was soo good to see my boy Nathan and his family. I miss that mutha! Peyton showed them how quiet she can be, not really so quiet! Nathan talked me out of my original modded xbox, like he really needed another one. I think I had like 80 games on the hard drive. He owes me big...real big! Seeing Nathan makes me realize how much I miss my boys;
Dan,
Colin,
Jeremy Nathan. We need to get together as a group when Jeremy gets back to the states. Nathan and I both think we may not see big Dan again, that would really suck. Seriously!
After the visit with Nathan, Lauren, and Nadia, we took Peyton to the
Astoria Regatta Parade. Peyton had a good time, but the parade was way too long, over an hour and a half, and there were way too many freaking advertisements, not enough floats. I mean come on, do I really want to see a Big River Excavation dump truck in the parade. No, not really. Peyton made a haul on candy, and she liked seeing my tax dollars hard at work in the form of a coast guard helicopter making several low passes of the crowd. I think each time they fly it costs several thousand dollars. Saving lives, I tell you. I did get to see the
Budweiser clydesdales, they have the
best bud commercial, but they sure weren't throwing out free beer, damnit!
After the Parade we went to my Brother Brian's son Alex's birthday. He turned 10 on the 10th. Drank some beers, just a few too many, had some mixed drinks, should have stuck to the beer, and had B-B-Q. Everyone kept commenting on how much
we looked alike that day, I don't see it. It's still weird to think I had probably met him in the past and never picked up on it. I messed up my shoulder throwing Peyton around, it still hurts today. Peyton really likes their little dog
Diva, its a Chiwawa of course, and very spoiled. We had a great time, as always
So there you have it, we're all caught up. Don't you feel better now, I know I do.
