Refreshed website!

After over a year of neglect, I have redesigned the website!

Port Aransas Trip with Friends

Last October, April, Jacob, and I drove to Port Aransas, TX to visit with our friends and see the beach. The Mungers (James, Deanna, and Zack), the Husligs (Mark, Ayren, and Ellie), and Glenn Griffin all took the drive together. Why Port Aransas, specifically? Well, as it turns out, our good family friend, Ms. Judy Hocott, spends a great amount of time there in the fall. So, we're able to visit with her as well. Here are the pictures:


Pictures from the beach
Pictures from dinner with Judy
Random pictures

Whirlwind Road-Trip DriveTime Challenge Extravaganza 2006

A few weeks ago, April, Jacob, and I embarked on our first long road trip together. Over eleven days, we drove from Austin to Atlanta and back, visiting family and relaxing on the way. Here's how our trip went down:

(Day 1) We stayed at Paw-Paw and Mimi's house in Dallas. That evening, we ate with Uncle Buddy, Vicky, Courtney, Christopher, and Paw-Paw and Mimi (of course). Jacob played with the very same toys I had played with when I was his age! Mimi saved them over all these years.

Since the Balcoms live in Allen, to continue our journey we needed to take some state highways in order to get back to the interstate. At one point, the road shrunk to a 2-lane road, and our progress was hindered by those in front of us. We were about 5 miles from reaching IH-30 when the traffic came to a sudden halt. There was a line of cars, trucks, and tractors as far ahead as we could see. No one was getting through. The driver of the truck directly in front of us started talking on his walkie-talkie. I joked, "Maybe that man in front of us can tell us what's going on." Many of the cars ahead were turning around. The situation looked hopeless. We waited. And waited. I turned to April and said, "Well, what do you want to do?" Just at that moment, the truck in front of us turned around and screeched away. "I want you to do whatever the man with the walkie-talkie does!" April replied. And we were off! The truck quickly turned onto an unmarked dusty gravel road with us in pursuit! Just before we were completely sealed in our very own dust cloud, I spotted two (2) vehicles following us! With sweaty hands, I maneuvered Jonesy through this path, heads bobbing due to the craters and bumps in the rough road. My only guide was two very faint red brake lights ahead of me from Mr. Walkie-Talkie.

Jacob slept in his car seat with his new toy guitar cradled in his arm.

April and I were grinning ear-to-ear, as we were able to use Jonesy in an SUV-like manner. We remarked that we probably looked like a pretty decent commercial for Saturn. After 10 minutes of driving, our caravan finally hit pavement. We saw a sign: "IH-30, 2 miles". We made it!

The moral of this story: If you see a man with a walkie-talkie speeding away from a long line of traffic - Follow That Man.

During the remaining drive from Dallas to Memphis, we stopped in Texarkana and ate some surprisingly delicious mexican food. We also checked out a really cool playground ("Kidtopia") located in a creepy part of town. We played at Kidtopia until April said this: "Yeah, I'm pretty sweaty, and I've only been laying in a tire."

(Day 2) We stayed at the Heddens house in Memphis, to break-up our drive to Nashville.

(Day 3-4) We stayed at Grand-Mommer and Grand-Tony's house in Nashville. We did some shopping, saw Emily's restaurant in Eagleville, and got to visit with Uncle Jason a bit. While at a gas station, I neglected to put the hose back before I drove away. No, gas didn't spill all over the place, catch fire, and burn the place down. Nothing happened. (I was quite disappointed.) I went inside to report the incident to the girl at the cash register between the display of pop rocks and the packets of Energy Pills. I said, "I ripped that hose off right there... with my sheer strength." She said, "... really?"

(Day 5) We met up with the Heddens at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. We saw one of the largest H.O. train sets, then drove to to Blue Ridge, Georgia. We took a long route, passing by the one of the locations of the 1996 Olympic games along the Ocoee River. It was during this leg of the trip that Jacob introduced us to his "burrito guitar" - his toy guitar wrapped in a soft, flour tortilla. Yum! That evening, April and I stayed at a nearby Bed and Breakfast, the Overlook Inn.

(Day 6-9) The first part of the sixth day, we checked out the World of Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta. At the end of the self-guided tour, there is a huge room full of soda fountains of the Coca-Cola products from around the world. It was here that Jacob learned he likes both regular Coke and a Taiwanese Mango-Pineapple Coke. (Or something like that.) For dinner, we went to The Varsity, a famous burger joint near Georgia Tech that we have seen featured on more than one Food Network special. They have been serving hamburgers, hot dogs, chili dogs, etc, for 78 years! "What'll Ya Have?!"

That evening, we drove on to the Hedden's cabin on Lake Sinclair, two hours south of Atlanta. The next day, we visited with Uncle George and Aunt Carla and took a small ride on the pontoon boat (a.k.a. "The Party Barge"). Definitely the highlight of the entire trip was the second full day at the cabin - we spent about 9 hours on the lake on the party barge, the fishing boat, and the jet-ski. At the time, Jacob said that his favorite boat of the three was the "small, fast boat". Now, he claims that the big boat was his favorite.

(Day 9) Our last day in Georgia was spent going to cousin Laurie's wedding in Atlanta, staying at Granny and "Captain"'s house in Atlanta, and attending church and lunch with the family.

(Day 10-11) The last two days were spent trekking 19-hours back to Austin. Driving through Vicksburg, MS, we saw a sign for a place called Cowboy Maloney's Electric City. We were intrigued by the store's name since... <-insert your own joke here->. Unfortunately, they were closed for the day.

We stopped in Monroe, LA, to spend the night at a stinky hotel. We had a room with a king size bed, and, as an experiment, the three of us attempted to sleep together in that bed. There was more than enough room, but Jacob repeatedly kicked me in the ribs while I slept. A few times, I would wake up and see Jacob gently patting my shoulder or my arm. It was a sweet and painful evening.

The last day, we drove through the Talladega National Forest Scenic Drive and later tried to find the place where Bonnie and Clyde met their maker. With only 3 hours left of our drive, we stopped at Sonic; Jacob wanted a "strawberry milkshaker".

We made it home in one piece. YAY!

I would be remiss not to give a shout-out to Uncle Ryan, the "Unclessence of Cool". He gave me a small, color tv for Christmas this past year that we used a lot during the slow parts of our trip. At one point, Jacob was watching The Tigger Movie (also a gift from Ryan) in his car seat while April and I shared earplugs to listen/watch "Showtime at the Apollo". Ha-ha, that Mo-nique! She crazy.

Here are the picture sets from our trip:
Dallas / Nashville
Chattanooga
North Georgia
Coca-Cola / Varsity
Cabin
Atlanta
Drive Home

Enjoy!

Fun Times on Memorial Day!

This past May, on Memorial Day, our family got together with the Munger Family for a wonderful time. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, played catch, flew kites, fished, and played on the playground. It was pretty hot, but we managed to stay cool by drinking lots of water and chilling under the canopy the Grandparents Munger brought. Just about the time we were getting fed up with the heat, some dark clouds moved in and the wind blew heavily - it knocked the canopy over and strewn paper plates all over the place.

For some pics of our fun time, click here.

GrandMommer and GrandTony!

This past week, Jeremiah's mom (Jacob's GrandMommer) and step-dad (Jacob's GrandTony) came to visit. While here, GrandMommer taught Jacob a new game inside and GrandTony taught Jacob a game outside! Click here to see the pics!

Jacob Dresses Up; Easter Best

Here are two series of Jacob pics. The first (click here) was taken to show off a snazzy new shirt he got from "Aunt Holly". The second (click here) was taken at Easter this year at UA. You can see Jacob looking for easter eggs and posing with his friends and Gee-Gee.

Welcome to the fam, Jonesy!

April and I purchased a 2006 Saturn Vue to replace Frankie. It is a really awesome SUV. Since we are now a 2-Saturn family, we've named the old car "Sophie" and our new car "Jonesy".
Here are some of its neato features:

* Side Curtain Airbags (and front, of course)
* "OnStar" (Emergency access and satellite phone)
* 250 hp 3.5L V6 "Honda" Engine
* Power Windows, locks, mirrors
* Cruise control, fog lamps, keyless entry
* A fold-away cargo organizer

To see our vehicle, go here.

Happy Drooling!

Poses and Presents

Howdy, all!

Here's a bunch of pictures taken of Jacob in front of the Christmas tree. The last one in the set is of Jacob shortly after his bedtime. In it, he demonstrates his lack of need of clothes while in bed!

Santa brought Jacob some presents this year: a spring-rocking horse, and sit 'n spin, and a firetruck. Pictures of his reactions and other Christmas extras can be found here.

Our Christmas Decorations!

Here are the pictures of our Christmas tree(s) and house decoration!

Merry Christmas!

The Trail of Lights

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Last Saturday, we joined the Mungers (James, Deanna, Zack, Dan, Linda, and Bill) in checking out the "Trail of Lights". This Austin tradition of decorating Zilker Park with over a million Christmas lights has 42 lighted scenes along a paved path. At the end of the path stands the "Zilker Tree", a man-made cone 155 feet tall with 39 streamers of lights having a diameter of 120 feet. (Fun Fact: James, Bill, and their parents first started coming to the Trail of Lights back in 1979!)

To get to the park, we took a shuttle bus from downtown to Zilker. This was Jacob's first bus trip, and was exciting for him because he traveled in a moving vehicle without being constrained to a car seat!

Jacob enjoyed the "pretty lights" a great deal, but was soon burned out on it. After all, the walk took about an hour to complete!

Pictures of our fun times on the Trail of Lights can be found here.

Goodbye, Frankie!

I sold my truck the other day.

(sniff, sniff)

Thanksgiving 2005

The trip to Dallas for Thanksgiving was fantastic! Jacob had a great time hanging out with his Pawpaw and Mimi, learning to juggle from Cousin Chris, getting tickled by his Aunt Vicky, and being goofy with Cousin Courtney. You can see the pics here.

Back in Austin, as a special bonus, "Aunt"s Holly and Sonya spent the night with us. A cute picture of Holly, Sonya, and Jacob is at the bottom of this page.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Jacob's New Ride

Jacob's Gramps and Granny (Jerry and Emily Palmer) gave Jacob a new "trike" for his birthday! It's an awesome radio flyer with tassels hanging from the handlebars, a little bell, and a nice steering mechanism. You can see the pics here. Jacob loves his "ride" (his words, not mine).

Of course, his most favorite activity is to ride it around naked.

Chillin' with m'boy!

Here's a few pics, taken on Oct 30, that show how Jacob likes to relax. He's awfully cute with his blanket and huge bowl of popcorn!

More 2nd Year Pics!

Well, I finally got around to formatting and uploading the pics of Jacob taken in months 22 and 24 of his life. It's the last time new pictures will be organized the "old way". I'll probably use picasa from now on to format and present pics. It'll be a lot easier on me!

This photo set, from month 22, was taken during a trip through the Texas country. We found a neat little fish tank at a stop and Jacob checked out the neat orange fish.

This photo set, from month 24, was taken at Jacob's daycare's "Fun-Raiser". Jacob had a fun time with his friend, August, in the moonwalk.

Finally, this photo set, from month 24, was taken in the morning while getting ready for school about a week before his second birthday. After I put the long-sleeved jacket on him, I pointed out to Jacob that his jacket had pockets for his hands. He immediately stuck his hands in there; he had to check it out. When he came home from school that day, I found lots of pebbles and small sticks in the pockets. I guess he was trying out his new pockets on the playground at the daycare!

Jacob's Second Birthday Party!

Hello, all! The party was a great success! Fun times were distributed, as well as neat halloween-type kids cups! We're thankful that so many of our friends were able to come.

Here are the pics from the party.

More cool stuff to come!

The missing third entry.

Well, things are really shaping up for Jacob's 2nd birthday party! We're very excited about the event. There'll be lots of tasty foods, a neat pumpkin cake, balloons, prizes, and if we're lucky, TV's Will Arnett ("G.O.B." from Arrested Development) will make a guest appearance and put on a magic show!

Honestly, though, I don't think Will will show up.

The newly redesigned website will be up soon! Expect pictures from this past month and birthday party, and new green-ish scheme.

The second blog entry

Today I began the wonderful (read: dork-happy) process of redesigning this website! Since its inception, it has had different reasons for living. At first, it was a homework aid for my high school math students. Next, it housed several solutions to assignments for which I was TA-ing at UT. Third, it was a repository for vacation and wedding pictures. Now, primarily it is THE place to find the latest Jacob Henry Palmer pics and vids!

Well, back to work.

Welcome to my new blog!

This is the beginning of a new era of me...