Road Trip

I made a brief solo trip down Interstate 45 this weekend. Dave and I took in a Houston Texans game, but the picures are all of little Mia. Here she is in her new throne.

Mia plays behind the couch while Dad watches football.

Yukking it up with Mom.

Hi! My name is Mia.

Dad likes to watch football, but I'm more of a reader.

Check out my new pillow.

This is the dog's bed, but it will do for Mia in a pinch.

Birthdays? We've got that

Our family has become so expansive that virtually every month there is a birthday, anniversary, graduation, or some other reason to get together and celebrate (and eat, as we are prone to do). September is no exception, with both James and Mia celebrating birthdays. Mia has just turned one, and James is already five. It's hard to believe it's been five years since James was so small and trying to squirm away from me and anyone else who held him.

In a rather strange twist of fate, at this gathering, a few pictures were taken. Who am I kidding, it was like a media event. The adults are the paparazzi, and the young ones are the celebrities. Care to see a small sampling of the pictures? I knew you would.

Here, Angela and Grandpa appear to be enjoying a nice adult discussion. The picture and their expressions do not show the chaos that engulfed them.

Here are all the boys enjoying TV and video games together.

James and older brother mix it up.

Here, James opens a present as his brothers look on. Brendan asked the inevitable, "When is my birthday?" It's still a ways off my friend.

Here's Mia doing what she does best: being cute. She did seem to enjoy being around all these rowdy people.

And here she is with her cousins.

Halloween is still over a month away, but Mom let the guys wear their costumes early. Pretty cool.

I couldn't resist putting this picture in. I sure am fond of this little one.

Here's one more of Mia and Uncle John. Thanks to Mom for the contribution.

Here is a movie clip of Brendan demonstrating his karate prowess. He is a serious, focused young man when he's performing martial arts.


Here are the brothers relaxing on the couch. Listen for James to inquire about his dinner.


And here's Mia surrounded by her cousins.


This clip is called "starving for waiting". Brendan coined this expression to express his dismay and that lack of speed with which the gifts are being distributed.

Mom's birthday was this week. The children and grandchildren descend upon the original casa de Chaney to celebrate the Matriarch's birthday. I'd say a good time was had by all. Uncle John was certainly entertained for the duration.

Here's a picture of the oldest child:

And here's the youngest, looking sad or mad. You talking to me? You talking to me?

Grandma yuks it up with Brendan. Brendan's got his eye on that dessert.

And here's John prancing about the living room. Balloon so shiny...

Something's obviously funny here. Probably a picture of Dad (standing in background) from high school.

They all look so nice and innocent.

Mom likes one of her new gifts.

And here are all of the Grandsons preparing for a preemptive strike.

Ahh, and movies. These are unedited, so watch at your own discretion.

Kitchen remodel

Okay - so I know this says "John's Blog" but I tried to do my own and I couldn't get it to work. So, this is Angela horning in on John's blog. Here we go!


Yea! We're done!! We finished the kitchen. Here is a list of the things that we did:

• Replaced the countertops with granite
• Replaced the floortiles
• Replaced the lighting over the sink and in the ceiling
• Replaced the cooktop
• Replaced the sink
• Removed the intercom system that no longer worked
• Added drawers to the pantry to make better use of the space
• Changed out the hardware on the cabinets (should be done tomorrow)
• Changed out the backsplash
• Changed the switch plates
• Changed the faucet

We are having the wallpaper replaced shortly so no pics of that. But, here are some before and after photos. See what you think.



Here is a before picture of the counter tops and the icky sink. You can see the floor and back splash here as well.













Here's a photo looking into the breakfast nook. Also, the island with the old cooktop and the tile countertop. You can also see the old floor tiles here








Here are the old can lights that we had in the ceiling. These needed to go as well. If you look under the cabinet, you can see the old back splash. It's the same kind of tile that's on the island counter top.






Here's another one of the old sink. We replaced the light fixture above the sink and that faucet as well. All the plugs were replaced.









Here's what my kitchen looked like for two weeks! Well, not the entire two weeks but that dust was EVERYWHERE! No joke. It was in my living room and it's even connected to the kitchen. It had to be an inch thick. I went through an entire box of swiffers just to clean it off.






Here's the china cabinet all put back together. Here we only did the granite countertop. All of those handles will be replaced later this week.










Here's a shot of the whole kitchen. I LOVE the floors. They are so nice and clean. It's very bright with the new lights. Notice the sleek new cooktop on the island? It's kind of hard to see the granite and the backsplash.








Here's a pretty good shot of the backsplash. it's some kind of natural stone. Originally, we were going to use the gray stone as the main color and the white as the highlight but we thought it might look too dark. I think this came out great!








Here's the sink area. You can see the new faucet nicely. The nozzle comes off like a sprayer. The light above the sink was replaced. If you look on the backsplash, they replaced the plugs with white and made the switches the rocker kind.






Now this is a sink! I could probably give my niece, Harper, a bath in this sink. It's nice and deep. I can rinse things on one side and stack stuff on the other. It's our dream sink!








Here's the cooktop. In this shot and the one above, you can get a better view of the granite. I think, initially, this was not our top choice but the more we looked at it, the more we liked it. The island looks really good. It's so nice that John wants to do all the cooking and I've decided that I'll let him.





Here's another shot of our light fixtures. These really put out more light than the old ones. They look a lot more updated as well.














And finally, here's where they removed that intercom thing and repatched the wall. This is good because my in-laws gave us their microwave and it needs a little more room than our old one did. This one may be a little bigger but it's a lot nicer and newer than the one we had before. (my old one was the original one I got when I first moved out about 15 years ago!).



Well, that's it! I'll try to post some photos of the wallpaper when it's done.

New York New York

Start spreading the news....

Angela and I just got back from a fun filled week in New York. We stayed very busy, and saw and did lots of amazing things. New York is the most international of cities. Everywhere we went, people were speaking languages I did not recognize. I'm sure many were tourists like us, but certainly many were recent immigrants as well. This is what has always made New York a diverse and exciting place.

Our hotel room was located in the financial district and overlooked the Hudson River. I took this picture the first night, and the rain drops are evident on the window. It was a nice view to wake up to every morning, and I looked out the window every night just before turning in.






















Staying in the financial district, we walked past Ground Zero daily. Here are two pictures I took from a bridge over West Street at Vesey.



Among the first full day's activity, we visited Liberty and Ellis Island. Long lines, crowded boats. It did make for some nice photo ops. Here is my better half with the Statue of Liberty.




Here is the entrance to Ellis Island with the previously mentioned crush of people.








After leaving Ellis Island, we walked (and walked) through Chinatown to a museum. After that, it was time for our first New York pizza! We hopped the subway to Brooklyn for a slice at Grimaldi's. The line was huge. After stuffing ourselves, we walked again. This time we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and back across Manhattan to our hotel.

















The Brooklyn Bridge was constructed before there were any cars, so this is what the original commute was like. There is a walkway elevated above the street. Many times, we were moving faster on foot than the traffic below. This was often the case throughout the City.





This is the view looking north from the Brooklyn Bridge.









Our second day was highlighted by a trip to Yankee Stadium. From our bleacher seats, construction cranes were clearly visible, heralding the end of this landmark. You could feel the history and ghosts of all the past legends, not to mention the rabid fans. On this night, it was the Yankees against the Red Sox, so we got a real feel for that New York hospitality (not).



The outfield view from our seats, with The Bronx in centerfield.












Yankee for a day.













The Bronx after sunset.











Sadly, this was the best shot I could get of the outside of Yankee Stadium. Everything is packed in so close that you'd have to be on the other side of the highway to get a picture of the whole stadium.







Here's Angela in Central Park. We made several trips to the park.









Strawberry Fields is a two acre section of Central Park dedicated to John Lennon. He spent the last years of his life living in a building located just outside this area of the park, and he strolled through the park quite regularly.



















This is The Dakota where John Lennon lived.
The Dakota was built over 4 years in the late 1800s, and was so named because it was considered so remote at the time. This was taken right outside a subway stop, which we took. From here, we went to Rockefeller Center for the best views of Manhattan.




The top of Rockefeller Center has 3 floors that serve as an observation deck. The views are stunning.

This is the Empire State Building.

Behind the Met Life building, you can see the Chrysler Building. At the time of construction, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building were in competition to be the tallest building in New York. The Empire State Building won when a communications tower was added.





And of course, Central Park.















This is Broadway. This picture shows the theatres where Mamma Mia, Les Miserables, and Spamalot are currently playing. Walk to the next intersection of this street, and you're in Times Square.






This is Times Square. I'm not real certain what the draw is. Flashy lights and chain restaurants. I snapped a few pictures and we were on our way.











This is the Shubert Theatre, where we saw Spamalot.
































Wednesday's highlight, and probably the whole trip's highlight, was being in the audience for David Letterman. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside the theatre, so this is as good as it gets. It was definitely an experience I'll never forget.






Here's where Rupert sells sandwiches and T-shirts.














After Letterman, we walked over to Fifth Avenue so I could see the Apple Store. You can get your mac on 24/7/365 here. When you walk into the plexiglass, you descend into the store that's below street level.






This is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It seems neverending. We spent several hours here looking at European painting, and we didn't even see a fraction of what there is to see. We'll have to pay another visit.










Angela enjoys the artwork in one of the hundreds of galleries. Almost all of the galleries were much more crowded.










Here's the lobby of the Met.















On our last full day in New York, we spent time in Central Park, pretending we were locals. Angela went for a run, and I sat on a park bench and watched people go by, always interesting in NYC. This picture was taken as we walked around The Jackie Kennedy Onassis reservoir.




This blog wouldn't be complete without one of our trademark goofball self portraits, so here it goes...