We Are The Littles

In my quest to find neat and interesting FREE things to do during the state of our economy, I scan the community websites and papers for the scoop on such events. Yesterday, we took a family trip to Deer Park, Texas, which is in the heartland of Texan refineries and the birthplace of Texas, as their sign states. As soon as you drive into the Pasadena (a.k.a Stinkadena)/Deer Park area, you are greeted with the pungent smells that are the byproducts of the refineries. The reason we braved these smells was for the San Jacinto Festival, held in honor of the Battle of San Jacinto. Admission was free, so was the battle reenactment, bands, some crafts and shows. Since all the years I have lived here and I have never been, I thought it would be a great way to spend our Saturday afternoon, never mind the brewing gray clouds collecting over us. It took us only 45 minutes from where we live to make the trip to the birthplace of Texas.

Upon arriving, we immediately hit a parking lot of people wanting to get in. The actual parking lot to the San Jacinto Monument and grounds was full to capacity. We were slowly turned around, only to park along the side road that was almost 2 miles from the site, so we packed up Gabby and our bags to make the walk. The closer we got to the entrance, the more people we saw walking back to their vehicles. I was almost too afraid to ask. Then, an older gentleman waved us back, telling us that the reenactment was canceled. Surprisingly, I did not lose it (much to the kids relief!). The downpours from the night before had rendered the field reenactment-unfriendly. I then proceeded to ask my lovely, courageous children if they would like to venture on or go home. With brave voices they said. “Let’s go home and watch a movie.” I reminded them that the real soldiers did not let rain keep them from fighting and that I did not drive all this way to not at least see the monument (and did I mention a cool, big battleship?). On we went.

Thankfully, there was still a lot of really cool stuff to see. I am providing the slide show of our adventure below. I am also embedding a Youtube clip of the 2008 reenactment of the 20 minute battle that helped make Texas what She is today; a proud, independent, upstanding State (though some would say still a Republic). I can hardly wait until next year when hopefully we can see the reenactment live!

Here is the clip:

Here is the slide show:

Of course it started to rain, but by that time, I had run to the car (9 minute mile) and came back to get the kids. We had a great time. It was really neat seeing all the grave markers, characters walking around (some even in costume), and just walking to walk. I spent NO money, so all was well. I just love Houston. There is always something near here to do that is cool and FREE.

Here are some sites of the political organizers that were there. I admire them, because clearly they are in the minority, but they braved the weather and snickers to say what they wanted to say. Now, that is freedom of speech at its best.

Are you willing to take a stand in Texas?
Restore America and Remember Our Heroes
Help us return the land of Texas back to the Texian people

God Bless Texas! (Stop rolling your eyes, Gabe)

From Bluebell 10K

James and I decided to show off today and run in the rain. Not just any rain, but good ole fashioned Southern Texas rain. Being the eager beavers we are, we made it to our run early, 6:30 a.m., being held in beautiful Brenham, Texas, home to Bluebell Creameries who hosted the event. This was 2 hours before it actually was suppose to start. Because of the thunderstorms, we were delayed four times before we could run, including one false start. Yes, the police called us back after we ran 3/4 of a mile.

Needless to say, the experience was surreal. I have never been so drenched at once, much less ran with rolling thunder and bolts of lightning in the background. James was awesome! He handled the downpour and the challenging hills (there were four steep ones, the last one took me under) with gusto. He really is my hero. He beat me by two minutes! He finished 5th in his division, while I finished 12th in mine. However, we think that everyone was a winner considering what we CHOSE to run in (and spectate in) and we (even the spectators) got all-you-could-eat Bluebell ice cream, a local Texan creamery. Again James beat me, he ate five ice cream treats to my three!

There were other very determined runners there! Believe it or not, many runners sent their own children into this downpour for the one-mile kid run. They looked adorable and were determined to see it through, the kids I mean. A few mothers ran with their babies! One in a snugly!. The others in jogging strollers. Others were doing it as part of their “lose-weight” challenges. Then, their were those in their 70’s and 80’s braving the weather, as I am sure, they have throughout their lives.

Many will call us crazy, and probably other colorful adjectives, but we did not care. It was fun. I would not trade the experience for anything. It was my first run with my son. He did awesome. I felt like a kid again running with total abandon, and did I mention we got all-you-can-eat ice cream?

Sickeningly enough, we would do it again, rain and all!

Here is the slide show with more details…

Just something to bring a smile to your face!

From Egg Hunting and Such

(The baby in the middle looks like, why me?. While Gabby looks like she is thinking, You better not come near me with that big bow!)

From Egg Hunting and Such

Not too much to this picture except that the Easter Bunny had is head on crooked the entire afternoon! Hey, you get what you DON’T pay for.

Happy Easter everyone, especially to our armed forces stationed overseas and my man who is not so happy since the idiots did not get his internet up and running. I love you, baby, and wish you could have been here with me chauffeuring the kids around town to cheesy plays and egg hunts!

So, MBM, the chirrens, and the folks we gave Elvis to a long time ago went to Wortham Park last weekend. There were quite a few blue bonnets out and Baby Momma took lots of pictures. Too many pics of that nightmare of a dog named Elvis in my opinion… Guess beggars can’t be choosers.

Anyway, Elvis the dumb, destructive, gay, dog is doing fine and dandy. His new owners treat him like their very own baby. Basically, he’s spoiled rotten.

You’ll see from the pics the kids had a good time playing with him and posing for the camera in the little blue flowers. There’s even a rare shot or two of the elusive Baby Momma.

So, go check’em out. Then head on over to Gabe’s Stuff and see my Happy Easter Picture. Hopefully you haven’t just eaten breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

HAPPY EASTER!

From Bluebonnet pics

Let’em have it folks. When you’re done you can see the rest of the pics on Flickr.

Here are my five contributions:

1. Ren & Stimpy
2. Dorthy & Toto
3. Brian Bosworth & Mike Ditka (not really a pair but you can see the resemblance)
4. Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz
5. Brit & K-Fed

Click to see the rest

The few of you that still read our little corner of the internets have noticed that we don’t put new stuff up at the fast and frenzied pace like we did in the olden days. Baby Momma has her cooking site that she keeps up with and I spend 90% of my working day in front of the computer looking at boring spreadsheets, word documents, PDF’s, & going through a million emails. So, I’m not exactly chomping at the bit to sit down in front of the computer yet again and amaze you with my wit & charm.

That’s not to say I still don’t want to put things up for your amusement. It just takes so damn long to get it done… Especially from Nigeria. First the pics have to come off the camera, resized, captions added, keywords added, and finally uploaded to Flickr. If it’s a video and I work my mojo like I did for James’ StarWars 5k, it could take an hour or more of editing before it’s ever uploaded. Then I have to write something entertaining which contrary to popular belief doesn’t always just jump out of my head. All in all, to post something with pictures or videos it takes at least one hour.

So, where am I going with this??? I’m glad you asked. I have started a Micro-Blog over on Tumblr.com. This will allow me to publish pictures, videos, files, and just about anything else I want at the click of a button and a few taps on the keys. Not only that, but when we do have time to put things up on We Are the Littles, the micro-blog will automatically import that material from all of our sites. That is good for you dear readers because you only have to go to one spot to see if We Are the Littles or Gabby’s site was updated. Also, if I add new pics to Flickr they will automatically show up there, if I add new videos to YouTube they will show there too. You get the point. Anything I put online (which is a lot between blogging, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, etc…) will automagically appear on that page for your perusal and no effort is needed on my part. Time spent updating has gone from one hour or more to 5 or 10 minutes max. Isn’t life grand!

The only site that I haven’t rolled into my micro-blog is Carolina’s cooking site. It has a bunch of readers and followers that are not close family or friends so it’s kind of different.

The other amazing thing about my new micro-blog… It can be updated anytime, anywhere, as long as I have my trusty iPhone handy. I can upload pics, links, audio, etc… very quick and very easy right from my phone. How wicked awesome is that?

Finally, if you look on the right-side of this page you’ll see that I made a few changes. You can now see the latest 3 posts from Gabby’s Virtual Baby Book, Gabe’s Baby Momma, and Gabe’s Stuff. If you’re on this page and those sites are updated, you’ll see the new title appear over there. Click it to be transferred to that post.

So, just so we’re all on the same page, this site is not going anywhere. It will still be updated with Little Family stuff as it comes up. The quickest way to check for updates on this site & Gabby’s VBB is to go to my new blog which will have links to anything new as well as all new material from yours truly. Got it? Have questions? Sound off in the comments if you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. Otherwise go look at the new site, bookmark it, and leave me a comment to let me know you’ve been there. The link is below.

My new site can be found at http://gabe.wearethelittles.com (note, there is no www)

Carolina’s Site is still located at http://www.gabesbabymomma.blogspot.com

Gabby’s V.B.B. is still located at http://www.wearethelittles.com/gabriela

Who can come up with the best caption? My choices are:

1. Mutt & Jeff
2. Dumb & Dumber (from right to left)
3. Hall & Oates
4. Howdy & Doody
5. Walker & Texas Ranger

Caption Contest

I finally escaped the hotel room on Saturday and went to help Tony Staples and his family at a sand castle building contest in Hout Bay. Of course I have no experience in such endeavors but I decided to give it a shot.

After we finished I took my friend Brad to see the rock rabbits up the road. The same place I took MBM, Weezer, & Poppa when they were here. Unfortunately, there was only one little critter to be seen.

So, there you have it. I did a few more things throughout the day, but nothing exciting. I finished up with a BBQ at Brad’s apartment that was awesome. He’s a coonass, knows how to cook like a coonass, and the food tasted like it came from South Louisiana. Good stuff.

Now I’m off to Nigeria. Not good stuff.

So, I made it back to SA after being gone for more than 1.5yrs. For the most part, it’s not much different than when I left. As much as I like being here though, I’m constantly looking forward to getting back to my little bubble in Houston with Carolina and the chirrens.

Q.o.U. is of course still here causing problems. I’ve done my best to give her grief every chance available. This being a safety course, she managed to bring up her nasty fight with the pavement while we were running a couple of years ago. For some reason I was accused of tripping her which can’t be proven in a court of law as all of the eye-witnesses have since disappeared.

My buddy from Nigeria and fellow Louisiana dude Brad Stelly is also in the class. He’s now living the high-life here in Cape Town. We’re going to the V&A Waterfront this evening for some kind of German food that is supposed to be good. I don’t think I’ve ever been to this particular restaurant.

That’s about all I can report right now. The course is taking up 90% of my time. I’ll have a free day on Saturday before heading back to the harsh realities of Nigeria on Sunday. I’ll do 4 weeks there and then I’m back to Houston for my R&R.

O’yea… We got our tile put in! I think MBM is going to put some pictures of our swanky new floors up tomorrow.

Later.

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From Desktop

Everyone congratulate our friends, Brent and Sue, on tying the knot! We are so happy for them. To anyone who knows them, it is so obvious how crazy they are about each other! They are a wonderful, inspiring, couple. I am so excited for them beyond description. They stood up for us at our wedding. The pictures are of them in the top of the lighthouse in South Africa where Gabe and I were betrothed. Look at them, so obvious!

Here is to true love.

From Desktop