This months News and Views (November 2000)
- An entire year of the Hughes Family Online
Well, it was hard for me to believe, but I started providing you with a detailed account of our activities last December, 1999. So, you've been able to keep track of our lives for an entire year.
I've enjoyed it very much, and from the feedback I get (J C & T, Aunt Bibbie, Tammy and Dan, etc. etc.) I will certainly continue to keep our home page updated on a regular basis.
- Renaissance Festival
Every year, we've heard about the Renaissance Festival, and yet every year, we've ignored it's call. Until this year.
Bradley attended the Renaissance Festival during a school field trip, and came home talking ninety to nothing about it.
He told us about the jousting, the food, the costumes, the singing, the shows.
So, one weekend, when I didn't have to teach, didn't have to work from home, and didn't have any yard work to do, we planned our day around the Renaissance Festival.
And, we're glad we did. It was actually very fun. It's held yearly about 10-12 miles from where we live, lasts for about 4-5 weeks, and then disappears until next year.
You pay to get into the event, and then certain activities are an extra cost.
Believe me, it wasn't hard dropping $100 during our visit.
But, to be fair, that included admission, the kids playing numerous games, lunch for everyone, and parking, and some souvenir swords for the kids.
We'll certainly be attending next year.
If this show comes to your town, take some time to attend, especially if you've got kids between the ages of 7 and 40.
As usual, we had our camcorder, and we've got plenty to show you.
Click here to see Brad jousting (Size: 2.9 Mb. Length: 12 Seconds)
Click here to see Clint jousting (Size: 6.7 Mb. Length: 27 Seconds)
Click here to see the Jousting show (Size: 5.6 Mb. Length: 23 Seconds)
Click here to see the kids "in costumes" (Size: 1.6 Mb. Length: 6 Seconds)
Click here to see the kids with mother goose (Size: 5.0 Mb. Length: 20 Seconds)
Click here to see everyone enjoy a nice slide (Size: 5.9 Mb. Length: 24 Seconds)
Click here to see our lunch at the festival (Size: 6.7 Mb. Length: 28 Seconds)
Click here to see Micah chow down during lunch (Size: 2.0 Mb. Length: 8 Seconds)
Click here to see Clint shooting an arrow (Size: 2.1 Mb. Length: 8 Seconds)
Click here to see Brad and Micah shooting an arrow (Size: 3.2 Mb. Length: 12 Seconds)
- Clint (finally) looses a tooth
Finally, after 7 years and 5 months, Clint finally looses his first tooth.
We were concerned, as the tooth he finally lost had the replacement tooth growing in slightly behind it, like mine did when I (Steve) was a child.
I never pulled a tooth as a kid - I had all of them removed by a (quack) dentist on an Air Force base.
Anyway, back to a positive moment, Clint's first pulled tooth. The dentist said everything should be OK, and that pulling the tooth would be fine.
So, with Paula in Alabama visiting family, Clint's tooth was ready for extraction. Of course, we had to capture it on video. So, I gave the video camera to Bradley, and he filmed as the event took place.
Everything happened so quickly, even Clint was surprised it was over.
Click here to see Clint's first tooth being pulled (Size: 4.7 Mb. Length: 19 Seconds)
- Thanks, mom, for the visit
Well, Rammy (Yvonne, Steve's mom) finally found some time between work, church, sickness, gardening, and daily life to come and visit us.
We really enjoyed your visit, and we had a great time. I'm glad to got to come, and enjoy the quick snow day we had.
- Snow in Charlotte before Thanksgiving?
Yep.
The forecasters said we might have a slight possibility of seeing some minor snow flakes around the Charlotte area, but nothing to get excited about.
They also said, the mountains a few hours to our west, and north (Hickory and the surrounding area) might see some minor accumulation.
Well, once again, our weather forecasters were "caught off guard" when the mountains didn't have any accumulation, but Charlotte, and the surrounding area received over 2.5 inches of snow.
Because the ground was still considerably warm, the snow didn't last very long, but we enjoyed it while it was here.
Once again, as usual, the camcorder was rolling and captured our frolicking in the snow.
Click here to see the beginning of our snow (Size: 1.9 Mb. Length: 7 Seconds)
Click here to see Clint walking in the early snowfall (Size: 2.2 Mb. Length: 9 Seconds)
Click here to see Brad bean Clint in the head (Ouch) (Size: 1.8 Mb. Length: 7 Seconds)
Click here to see Clint helping with the snowman (Size: 6.2 Mb. Length: 25 Seconds)
Click here to see a snowball fight - Paula and the kids (Size: 5.9 Mb. Length: 24 Seconds)
Click here to see a snowball fight - Rammy and the kids (Size: 4.5 Mb. Length: 19 Seconds)
- Thanksgiving in Birmingham
Normally, this would have been titled Thanksgiving in Fairhope, but, with the admittance of Grandmother into a Rehabilitation Home, plans shifted from Fairhope to Birmingham, as Annette was gracious enough to invite everyone to her house for Thanksgiving.
We woke up early Thanksgiving morning, around 5:00 a.m. and headed for Birmingham as quickly as possible.
Traffic was minimal, certainly less than it would have been the night before.
Anyway, we arrived around noon, and were greeted by Myles, who hugged on Micah, gave him kisses, and didn't let go for a few minutes. As you can see, Jessica was also involved in the hugging and kissing.
Well, the trip for us was dual purposed. Earlier in the year, probably around August, Dan and Tammy had given me some money, and asked me to buy them a home computer.
Theirs was old, slow, their monitor somewhat small, and they needed something quicker, especially since their kids were now becoming interested in computers, the internet, and doing some homework research on the internet.
So, with my employee discount that I get because I work for a company that uses Dell computers exclusively, I ordered them one, and set up software, hardware, EMail addresses, etc. etc. for them.
Not until the middle of November was I able to set aside a weekend to deliver their computer, and train them on it's use. So, I delivered their computer, set it up, did some basic training, and they're now officially online.
They're getting cable modem installed this month, and as soon as I ship them their Intel PC Camera Pro Pack and microphone that I accidentally left behind, we'll be able to video conference with them. I will report next month on how good video conferencing is via cable modem after we've tested it.
And, guess what? We accidentally brought the video camera, and we've got some video of our Thanksgiving activities for your perusal. Enjoy.
Click here to see a warm welcome from Myles (Size: 8.2 Mb. Length: 33 Seconds)
Click here to see the kids dining outdoors (Size: 4.8 Mb. Length: 19 Seconds)
Click here to see Myles and Nanny (Size: 7.1 Mb. Length: 29 Seconds)
Click here to see the Thanksgiving guests part 1 (Size: 4.8 Mb. Length: 19 Seconds)
Click here to see the Thanksgiving guests part 2 (Size: 2.0 Mb. Length: 8 Seconds)
Click here to see Grandmother in the Rehab Center (Size: 3.7 Mb. Length: 15 Seconds)
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