Budding Photographer

http://mediaokra.netfirms.com/okrapics/nfpicturepro/thumbnails.php?album=82

Grandma sent the kids her old Sony Mavica. Lain and Patrick first got their hands on it at Paul's Scout Meeting tonight.

But it was Patrick who really took to documenting the Court of Honor.

Follow the link to mediaokra for the product of his eye.

Hard Rock Liberty City

The Whataburger/Exxon at the I-20 Liberty City exit is full of guitars and Beatles memorabilia... Jake and Elwood guard the door.

Neat... Nicely done... But an odd juxtaposition.

Make sure you look up!

Welcome Home a Hero

Went to DF W today to cheer for returning service members. The flight arrived at 7:40 -- awfully early for a Saturday. But loads of cheering supports were there anyway... Very inspiring.

Why is the world out of focus?

Could it be abnormal dilation due to excessive sinus pressure?

Elephant Racing

Elephant Racing... 'nuff said.

July 21 Dallas Zoo. Treo Camera

she's not my girlfriend anymore

It wasn't meant to be a test, but I guess dragging your girlfriend on a 1,000+ mile trip WITH your three kids to stay as a guest in the home of one of your closest friends can be somewhat daunting...

We went to DC.

With stops, including Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral (Yea! MassTimes.ORG), it took 27 hours to get there.

Our site-seeing party included 5 adults and 8 kids. There was much potential for many problems. By day three, we had been threatened with heat stroke and lightning and deviations from the spreadsheet.

But day three also found us in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (http://www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits/current.html) The Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals (http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/2_1_3_2.html)...
past the Hope Diamond...
and the Tiffany Diamond...
and the The Carmen Lúcia Ruby,
somewhere near the giant beryl crystal. And I said:

All of these gems remind me of what is truly precious in this world and what a gift it is to find you. So to paraphrase our late Pope (John Paul II), will you do me the honor of joining me in the *gift* of matrimony?

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Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church. -- Pope John Paul II

Orange

Today we went to the National Museum of Natural History. We wore orange.

We saw an Arma'posum (or Pangoron?) and mummies and elephants and shiny things.

Ben liked the skeletons. But I think he expected them to move like zoo animals.

Paul held a cockroach.

Yep, we wore orange.

A man with a M16 just told us to have "an exciting day..." but I was so looking forward to a nice sit down at Becca's.