Something amazing happened this morning, and it had nothing to do with wealthy English people. My child slept until 9:00. For those out of the loop, he usually rised between 7 and 7:30. I have to admit that I did check a couple of times to make sure he was breathing. When he finally did wake up, he told me he wanted Cheerios for breakfast. Then he proceeded to eat three bowls. He has been eating pretty well the last few days. Last night we grilled pork tenderloin and he ate nearly as much as I did, along with plenty of peas and mashed potatoes. As for the big wedding, nobody in this house got up early this morning to watch it. Tiffany did ask me to record it for her. Since I personally don't know any of the people involved, I could care less. Piers Morgan said the other night that Americans seem to care more about it than the English. Weird.
A lot has happened since my last post. Because time is a factor here, as it always is, I will do my best to bring you up to speed. My sister, her husband, and their baby came to visit a couple of weeks ago. It was wonderful to see them. While they were here, we had a big family picture made. I am going on Monday to check out the proofs. I will be amazed if any of them turned out. Ethan wasn't in a bad mood, but he also wasn't in a sitting still mood. I hate portraits like this, but I know my mother will love them no matter what. Once again, we had the Murray family reunion at Lake Brownwood. It is always a good time, and this year was no exception. Ethan spent a lot of time playing in the dirt. In addition to the endless amounts of food, it is always fun to see everyone. For most of us, it is the only time of year that we get to spend together.
This past weekend, also known as Easter weekend, Tiffany and I took a little mini vacation to the west coast. Technically we weren't on the coast, but we were on the western side of the country. We flew into Las Vegas and spent a night before traveling to California for The Big 4 concert. I probably mentioned this before, but this was a giant event featuring Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica. I know that you are either thrilled for us, or completely mortified. All I have to say is that heavy music is alive and well in this country. If you don't like it, you're probably just in denial. All four bands were good, and as an added bonus, my cousin Morgan went out for the show as well. We had a good time hanging out with her and her friends while we were there. A couple of interesting things did happen at the show. First, there was a mosh pit with an actual fire burning in the middle of it. We kept waiting for some authority to come put it out, but it didn't happen while we were watching. The other first for me was a guy in a wheelchair who was right up front moshing during Metallica. How he managed to get into that crowd is beyond me, but he was there having a good time along with everyone else. We spent the night in a resort hotel in Indian Wells. If we had been there during daylight hours, we probably would have enjoyed it a little more. Two other things are worth mentioning about California. In N Out Burger is awesome. Gas prices are terrible. We paid $4.23 a gallon to fill up the car, which was easily the cheapest price we saw anywhere. It made me feel a little better about paying $3.69 for it here in Texas. After meeting Morgan and Angie for a late breakfast, we headed back toward Vegas. Along the way, we made a stop at an outlet mall. Tiffany bought something in nearly every store I think. We spent the night at the New York New York before heading home on Monday. Thanks to the weather, we did have some trouble getting home. After spending about seven hours at DFW, we finally got on a flight to Abilene. By the way, while we were out having fun, Ethan stayed home with Tiffany's mom. They hunted Easter eggs and had all kinds of good fun. I will try to procure some pictures of these events. I do have some video. Alas, I didn't even take a camera on our trip to Vegas, but I will leave you with a couple of pics that my Aunt Vicki took while Callie was here.
Bonus blog info: If you are looking for any new music, I will currently recommend Bowling For Soup's Fishin' For Woos and the Foo Fighters' Wasting Light.
I can't even begin to tell you how exciting my life is these days. I would somewhat liken it to Will Ferrell's speech from Old School right before he does the beer bong. You know the one about Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond? Today was family haircut day. I know that got your attention. No? Well, we are having a family picture made here in a few days, and Tiffany thought we should all look presentable. I personally don't think my hair is any shorter than it was this morning. I'm getting to the point where there isn't that much there anyway. Ethan was in bad need of a haircut though. He was beginning to look like Cousin It. He sat in the chair just like any other person without any screaming or kicking. I haven't figured out yet why he behaves so well in front of other people. This may be an early sign that he could pursue acting. Now we all look fantastic. Now a decision must be made regarding clothing for the aforementioned picture. By the way, when I say family picture, I mean all of us. My sister and her family will be here on Wednesday, as well as my parents. I can't see a real point in this picture. If you have access to the internet and are able to read this blog, you already know what all of these people look like. At least we are good looking. If you are lucky, I will post some of the shots on the blog in a couple of weeks. That mostly depends on the photographer I guess. I wouldn't want to do anything unethical. Also, coming up this week is a meeting with a lawyer about a will. Probably this is something we should have done a long time ago, but until now have never gotten around to it. The whole thing seems kind of ridiculous, since I have nothing to leave anybody anyway. If I have anything that you want, you better start sucking up to me before Thursday. Otherwise we are leaving it all to the cat. Oh, I mean the kid. I think. I'll check with Tiffany on that one. I mentioned that my sister would be here. This is our first chance to meet our nephew Murray. I guess he is about four months old, though I will have to consult my earlier post about baby math to make sure. He and Ethan are separated in age just about the same length of time that Callie and I are. Hopefully that doesn't mean they will hate each other for sixteen years. We are excited about spending time with all of them, as well as the rest of the Murray family at the big reunion in Brownwood. The following week, Tiffany and I will be taking a quick trip to Vegas, with a side trip to California. We are going to see The Big 4 (Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, and Metallica) at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. It's the same place they hold Coachella. This is the only show that these guys are all playing in the US, and Tiffany said we had to go. As for life around here, Ethan is beginning to talk more and more by the day. He has nearly mastered the alphabet, he can count to ten, and as of yesterday he can tell you left from right. Two new abilities we are not as happy about are climbing out of his crib and opening doors. We may have to look into one of those invisible fences. I guess that is everything I have for now. I know that these blogs are becoming less and less frequent, but I do try. For more immediate updates, there's Facebook and Twitter. I will clarify that if you follow me on Twitter, you are not likely to read very much. I don't really see the point. Maybe I'm just old. Finally, for those of you who can't get Rebecca Black's Friday video out of your head, I encourage you to check out the Stephen Colbert/Jimmy Fallon version. I posted it on Facebook about a week ago, but I still think it's awesome. I know I said finally already, but one more thing just occurred to me. Ethan and I caught the last of the VH1 Top 20 this morning. Two of the top four videos have the F word in the title of the song. Can you believe what the kids are listening to these days? As somewhat of a connoisseur of music, I can tell you that the stuff our parents listened to was just as bad. They will argue that is wasn't, but they are wrong. Besides, it's hard not to love that Cee Lo Green song.
