Trip to McAlester, OK

Hellooooooo, Internet!

Sorry about the mini-post from last night. I was working on a super-mega-gnarly 'Blog, but the PC gremlins would have none of it! After two hours of work (and research on something that will take this 'Blog into the 21st century), my PC just decided to die.

My work--died with it. This time, I'm going to save this thing every minute or so--just in case. (Thanks for the reminder, Kyle!)

So...here's what we've been up to--Take 2!


Over the weekend, we went to McAlester, OK (home of the Oklahoma Prison Rodeo) to visit Tara's Grandparents, an Aunt and Uncle, a cousin or three, and some family friends.

It was a great trip. Tara had been promising to visit her Nanny and Papa (the Glovers) for a while. Then, Nanny offered a bribe: a Catfish Fry with her new Deep Fryer. We couldn't hold out any longer, and we decided on Monday to take a weekend trip.


On Saturday, Tara's parents met us in McAlester, along with our friends the Bryans (Geron, Kenrie, Kayly, Abby, and Emma) for some Italian food at Roseanna's. I've had a lot of Chicken Parmesan in my day, but this is THE BEST! After stuffing ourselves, we headed over to spend some time with the Bryans. Here's a few pictures from that afternoon:

After that, we headed back to Mr. and Mrs. Glover's house for the Fish Fry. It turns out that Tara's Aunt Vanita and Uncle Joe (along with cousins Lauren, Lara, and Lana) were coming over for some Fried Catfish, too. It was a Glover family reunion--like Thanksgiving only with Tartar rather than Cranberry Sauce.

I don't know what Nanny's secret is...but the fish was excellent. Some Bloggers (they'll remain nameless) made pigs of themselves, eating long after the others had sworn off fish for a long, long, time. Surprisingly, Tara ate her share of catfish, too. I didn't think she even liked it. I think I'll keep her.

Anyway, here are few pictures from that evening:

On Sunday, we went to church in Kiowa, OK (That's Kye-O-wah, by the way...), with Tara's grandparents, the Glovers. It's a small church, and the "New Couple with the Baby" stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone was very friendly, and wanted to tell us how good-looking our son was. I know that Nanny Glover got a kick out of showing off her First Great-Grandson.

From church, we went into town to meet Tara's other set of grandparents, the Edwards. We went to Western Sizzlin' and had a nice visit. Though two of Tara's cousins weren't able to come to lunch, we did enjoy the visit with Great-Grandma and -Grandpa Edwards, and Tara's cousin, Jordan. Between them, they spent pretty much the whole meal holding Jaxson. Tara and I both got to eat our meals before they got cold, which was really nice.

Below are a few pictures from our lunch:

It was a GREAT weekend of food, family, fun, and more food.

Jaxson's too young to understand how great it was to see all his family from that part of the world at one time. He did, however, appreciate a gift from his Grandparents. NoName and Papaw Chucky Ben got him an Exersaucer, and he's loving it.

Once in there, he bounces around, and plays with every toy on there for about three seconds before moving on to something else. He's completely OVER-stimulated by it. Sometimes he gets to rocking back and forth so much, it looks like he's going to go into orbit.

Watch him for yourself in the window below (it's streaming video--sorry Dial-Uppers, but it is reasonably short) :

(Click the "PLAY" button to enjoy the video clip.)

Now that the cat is out of the bag...I plan on including video clips periodically for you to see Jaxson (or us) in motion. I hope that they're not too much trouble for you to download. Truth is, figuring out how to get them to work was probably harder than viewing them (see previous post), but I think they'll be fun for everyone to see.

As you can see, a lot has been going on. We had a good weekend, and this weekend will be just as exciting, as we have my Company Picnic on Saturday. Many people from work will get to meet Jaxson for the first time, which will be a lot of fun.

We'll keep you posted on the latest...so come back by often.

Until then,

Norman