Tag: Family

birthdays

October 19, 2009
ECPA20091018_0269, originally uploaded by [ecpark].
We got an email a couple of days ago, from Auntie Foster Mom Adventures. It went something like this:

I know that new parents don’t have time to do research, so I did some important research for you. Here is the scoop on your daughter’s birthday. As if I didn’t already think she was cool, her stock went up even more now that I know she shares her birthday with Lady Margaret Thatcher!!!

(Note the three exclamation points after old iron britches…)

Oddly enough, we already know at least four friends who feature October 13th as a birthday, and it is just one day off what was my maternal grandfather’s birthday (October 14th).

Anyway, friends not withstanding, here is the list of October 13th luminaries:
- Ian Thorpe (Australian swimmer, 1982)
- Summer Sanders (American swimmer, 1972)
- Billy Bush (E!, 1971)
- Nancy Kerrigan (American figure skater, 1969)
- Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy, 1967)
- Rob Schneider (Saturday Night Live, 1965)
- Jerry Rice (NFL wide receiver, 1962)
- Ari Fleischer (White House Press Secretary, 1960)
- Marie Osmond (singer and actress, 1959)
- Sammy Hagar (Van Halen, 1947)
- Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys owner, 1942)
- Paul Simon (singer, 1941)
- Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister, 1925)
- Molly Pitcher (American Patriot, 1754)
Frankly, I’m jealous. Any list with Molly Pitcher and Sammy Hagar is company that i’d want to be a part of. The lady sparkler’s (May 25th) is almost as cool:
- Anne Heche (actress, 1969)
- Frank Oz (The Muppet Show, 1944)
- Dixie Carter (Designing Women, 1939)
- Ian McKellen (actor, 1939)
- Miles Davis (jazz trumpeter, 1926)
- Mr. Bojangles (actor, 1878)
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (essayist, 1803)
By comparison, my birthday (April 5th) is a little “cerebral”, which is another word for “lame”:
- Colin Powell (Secretary of State, 1937)
- Thomas Hobbes (philosopher, 1588)
Why couldn’t *I* be like Marie Osmond?
guestbook: grandparents

October 16, 2009

Explore the Photo Set:
photos: grandparents, washington, dc
family’s reunion

July 25, 2009

quick trip to williamsburg, today. brother and best man Pop Culture Examiner was down for his 239th high school reunion, brought to you by “facebook” and the “national association of lafayette high school alumni who have been gone long enough to have forgotten why they left.”

we came down because we haven’t seen him (nor wife, niece and nephew extraordinaire) since the lady sparkler got us pregnant. needless to say, we wanted to see them — the little ones especially — to better transition into that little bundle of joy they are going to be expected to coo about over the holidays.

that night, grandma, grandpa, the wee ones, and the sparklers did a very special dinner at Sonic (lady sparkler’s fast food crush) while the reunion festivities raged over at “the hospitality house.” the niece and i got into a pig-tail measuring contest (she won) and super-nephew tried to get in on the action as well.

which makes me wonder … have my classes had reunions? i haven’t heard of one, but then again … if i was throwing a reunion, i probably wouldn’t invite me either.
photos: the best of europe

May 19, 2009

ECPA20090504_1496, originally uploaded by [ecpark].

not everybody has the patience to sort through 800+ photos from a family vacation, so i have distilled out about 70 of my favorites from scotland, london and paris. there is more commentary on the trip to come (UPDATED: it’s here now) but wanted to get the pictures up quicker than my weary brain can draft real blog posts.

Explore the Photo Set:
Photos: The Best of Europe (Slideshow)
british beer

May 3, 2009

on the flight over here from the U.S., i gave my father two goals for his tenure in Britain — either he was going to learn to drink scotch or he was going to learn to drink beer.

he chose the latter.

my father really hasn’t done much with alcohol at least since i’ve been around — there is a childhood story about mixing day old empties together which still gives me the heebs — but each meal i’d pick out something for myself that i thought he’d like, give him a sample and then he’d either order it or something he had earlier in the trip.

i have to say he’s built himself a respectable palette for the darker stuff — mostly brown ales and stouts. the effort was made a bit easier by English beer’s milder taste than it’s American microbrew cousins, but a beer is a beer and now he’s fully prepped up to tie one down at work functions and the like.

i’m so proud 🙂
Westminster

May 1, 2009

we’re nearing the end of the trip — just one full day left tomorrow, and then my parents fly out the following afternoon. i can already hear my parents talking over the next hundred family gatherings about how perfect the trip was (and it really did go off without a hitch) and i’m really glad to have ticked something off my things-to-do-before-i-die list and picked up some great family memories to boot.

See All the Photos on Flickr:
Westminster, London, England
Inverlochy Castle

April 30, 2009

See All the Photos on Flickr:
Inverlochy Castle, Fort William, Scotland
Silver Sands of Morar

April 30, 2009

Morar is well known for it’s sanded beaches — which are a bit of a rarity up here — but also because it’s the home to Morag, Scotland’s second favorite Loch moster after Nessie. Sighting of her are a bit less welcome by the locals, however, as legend says that a member of the local clan dies each time. I’m glad Nessie is so much more benevolent.

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
Silver Sands of Morar, Scotland
Armandale Castle

April 29, 2009

Given how the Donald clan is one of Scotland’s four largest, you’d think there would be a bit of an industry of places for expat MacDonalds to visit but — not so much.

The one big exception is Armandale Castle on Isle of Skye, where there is a Clad Donald museum and the ruins of very late (and questionably significant) family castle.

That aside, now that we are on the Isle, it’s hard to argue with beauty of the land that surrounds us.

See All the Photos on Flickr:
Armandale Castle, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Inverness

April 28, 2009

Inverness was the one part of the trip that we just couldn’t really work into the plan. My mother’s Grandfather was born there, but it was so far north, not much to see, and not exactly the most scenic city of the lot.

Turns out we were wrong on the first part — once we got to where we were staying in Drumnadrochit, the innkeeper listed some places in Inverness as good dinner options, and said it was just under 30 minutes away.

So we drove in for a bit — nominally to find the Old High Church, which would have almost certainly been by Great Grandfather’s Church during his lifetime. We found it eventually (after a small detour to an unmarked neighboring church) and found some MacDonalds in the cemetary.

It’s nice going off the plan every once in a while.

See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
Inverness, Scotland