Short Attention Span Theater

As expected, Christmas this year was a completely different experience than last year. Looking back at the pictures and, by comparison, very amateurish videos from last Christmas makes the change even more glaring than I remembered. Last year I wondered if Taylor was aware of her surroundings, this year I knew she was, the challenge was keeping her focused on the task at hand. Of course for her that is presents!

I touched on the subject of Taylor's play kitchen briefly during the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" post. Being as how it was assembled and sitting in plain view, it obviously was the first item she saw upon being toted into the living room. It would play a vital role in the recurring theme throughout the day. That being to keep Taylor focused and interested in the presents being opened instead of channeling Julia Child. Of course this incarnation of Ms. Child serves every dish in a cup, usually 4 cups and sometimes a handful of flatware. But I digress, let me stick to a somewhat chronological description of the day...

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Being a proud disciple of Captain Obvious, I should first point out the irony of reading a "Twas the Night Before Christmas" post when it's currently 3 days after Christmas. This only seems odd to those who are either visiting my blog for the first time, or those who haven't been paying attention over the past year. As always I have an excuse. I'll pause a moment to allow the shock to subside... Please, stop snickering, it breaks my concentration... Fine, I'll continue. I received some new video editing software for Christmas. While it is much more powerful than Windows Movie Maker that I've been using the past year, and it should allow me to try new things and make better videos, it also has been very temperamental. Causing me much frustration since it's installation. Between random crashes, corrupted files and lost work, I almost gave up. Finally I was able to keep the program running long enough to complete the movie included in this post.

"Just the Facts Ma'am"

Just a quick (well, that's the idea as of right now) post covering Thanksgiving. I figured this was the only way to ensure getting some pictures and quick commentary up about our Thanksgiving before Christmas is upon us. This post will be without fanfare, bells, whistles or snazzy high dollar production value. Okay, maybe that is a bit much, but humor me. Let's just say this is mostly a pictorial with just a bit of commentary. My homage to Joe Friday "Just the facts ma'am."

We were unable to make it out to Kansas City again this Thanksgiving (hopefully we will make it next year, fingers crossed that the housing market turns around and everything else goes well). However, we were graciously invited to spend Thanksgiving with family up in Panama City.

Whatchagot Stew

Well, it's Thanksgiving week. I can't believe how fast time is slipping by. You know all those things people say when you're growing up that you just never believe? Every day I'm finding out more and more of those phrases are true. If only I could turn back time and pay heed to all the advice people gave...

"Enjoy Growing Up, It's The Best Years of Your Life!"

You know, looking back I dreaded that part of my life. But now I think of how great it could have been. If I only knew then what I know now I would have attempted to make so much more of it. Not only the social aspects, in which I utterly avoided. The actual time to just learn and explore interests without worry of money, work and bills. Growing up did include a lot of work. Looking around at other kids I realize that comparatively yes, it was a lot of work, but that taught me many valuable things that has served me well to this day. Heck the way things are going in the world, I may end up needing to rely on knowing how to "rough it". Many people I see out there would be at a complete loss. Anyway, even with that said there was plenty of time to enjoy and just be a kid. I took so little advantage of that time I should be put on trial, because it's gotta be a crime. To think of the free time I had to just practice on my golf game. I frittered so much of that time away. I could have played just half as much and still played 10 times more than I do now, and still I would have had to practice a couple hours a day.

Surfer Girl

Here I sit, once again, staring at a blank screen. It seems to be a reoccurring theme lately. There is "news to report" but I struggle to find a starting point in which to transfer the thoughts in my head into a form more accessible to someone other than myself. My left brain tells me to just post the information and corresponding media, be done with it, and continue with other activities. My right brain says "Hogwash, I'm not going to let you off that easy. You WILL sit here and present the information in a somewhat creative way." Being a southpaw, and therefore held hostage by my right brain, I'm forced to surrender to it's whims. With that being said I will attempt to fulfill my obligation, but would like to make clear I am currently treating my brain as a hostile witness.








A couple of weeks ago... okay that's a lie. Way back over Labor Day weekend we decided to take Taylor for her first trip to the beach. Okay, that's another lie. She had been to the beach one time before while visiting family in Panama City but she was still immobile, basically akin to a piece of luggage. Albeit a very precious and cute piece of luggage. But, this was her first trip where she could be an active participant. Anyway, we packed up the vehicle and headed over to Crescent Beach for the afternoon. It's a nice, lightly populated beach just south of St. Augustine. A great place to avoid the crowds and just enjoy the ocean.



The first thing she noticed was an incredible number of shells to pick up. Now you have to understand that Taylor has yet to meet an item that she hasn't wanted to collect. We've begun to call her the Roomba. I can thoroughly sweep the floors and she will still find every little speck, no matter how minute and either hand it to us, or put in her mouth. Every time we take her outside she comes back with a handful of rocks or hickory nuts. Upon seeing all the shell fragments on the ground you'd think she'd stumbled upon Blackbeard's treasure. After the long trek eastward, stopping intermittently to pick up a prized piece colored calcium, we finally reached the waters edge. Her first reaction to the water was curiosity. The second reaction was confusion as each receding wave washed the sand out from under her feet. She was suddenly reluctant to move as her feet sank. Linda and I took turns holding her hands as she stood in the edge of the surf. On this trip she never graduated to actually walking in the water herself, but she did spend some time walking along the waters edge. She saw some bikes which completely enthralled her and saw a few other children whom she wanted to befriend. All in all it was a very enjoyable day and we are looking forward to our next trip when I'm sure she will graduate to actually playing in the water.

As expected, we took a few pictures and I shot around 30 minutes of video. We all know how tedious home movies can be, especially if they are long enough to require an intermission for bathroom breaks and snacks. With that in mind, I pared down the footage to around 5 minutes and put together a short synopsis of our afternoon. I hope you enjoy.



Here is a photo album of a few selected photographs.

Crescent Beach Photos (well Taylor photos taken at the Beach)

My favorite of the photos is the first one, an action shot where I captured Taylor in mid fall.