myJaxon

Three more days until we go camping and I’m already trying to think about what needs to be done. If I don’t start thinking about it now, I’ll end up forgetting something and that never ends well. I can’t wait for this weekend, though. That means this week will be over and I should be relaxing. The whole thing that is going to stress me out is having to deal with my pump….and that thing better be working. With all the driving that I’ll be doing over the next couple of days, it’s going to be nice to sit around a campfire and do nothing. There’s going to be good friends, good food, lots of fire, and the beach at sunset. And that is all that is planned at this moment.

However, before I can enjoy the weekend, I need to get there first. That means having to think about the packing and the organizing and the general headache of going away for a weekend. I’m taking Ian down to my mother’s on Thursday, so I have to have him all packed up Wednesday night. Then I need to pack for Jesse and I (yes, I do pack for both of us), plus get all the gear around and I just know I’m going to forget something. Plus we have to remember to leave food and water out for Toby. Why do I see the trunk packed and I can’t think of enough stuff to put in there?

I’m getting ready to start a new project. It has been in the works for about four years now, but I finally have a scanner so I can get started. The project is scanning in 20+ years of family pictures so that both parents can have a copy of them as well as for basic archival purposes.

You really don’t see photo albums any more, at least not like you used to. I do a lot of scrapbooking, but I’m not really adamant about it since I have all of my pictures online. It’s easier to share them online than in albums and it doesn’t take as long. Granted, I tend to do a better job showcasing them when I put them in albums, but it takes longer. Of course, I take a lot more pictures now that I have a digital camera. That is probably the biggest impact digital cameras have had - they can hold more pictures than a roll of film. You can buy memory cards that will store up to hundreds of pictures on one stick where before you would have had to use multiple rolls of film. And even though you’re taking all of the pictures, you can see what they are all ahead of time, there are no more surprise at the photo lab. No more shots of your feet or the sky. You know if your shot came out or not.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. So I’m going to be scanning a ton of pictures and thank god we just updated the server. Otherwise I have no idea where I would put them. I have a feeling this project is going to take me some time since Ian isn’t exactly a fan of sitting next to me in his high chair for long periods of time. Granted, I’ll have nap time and after he goes to bed for the night, but seriously, this isn’t all I’m going to be doing. I’ll be lucky if I have it done by the end of the year. Plus, this is only the first stage of the project. The second stage is converting all of the VHS home videos to DVDs. This I should get done a lot quicker and sooner than the photos. I generally have the TV on for background noise, so I can be coping the tapes while Ian and I play. Plus there are a lot less tapes than there are photos. The only thing with the DVDs is I’m going to be doing an exact copy. At the moment, I don’t have any software/programs that I can use to chapterize and modify the tapes. It would be nice to get rid of the footage that is pointless (aka walking with the camera lens pointed at the street). If anyone can recommend a program, I would appreciate it. Remember, I run Linux at home, so not all programs will work on my machine. We’ll deal with that hurtle when I need to though.

Other news - the Ren Fest trip is this weekend. There is 9 of us going. Plus I think PJ said she had a few people joining us as well. This weekends them is Highland Fling, so there are going to be a lot of kilts there. I know for a fact that PJ said Chris will be wearing his. It should definitely interesting, especially considering we’ll have Ian (6 months) and Zsolt (18 months) there to liven things up. I haven’t been to this one in a couple of years, so it should be fun.

Ian has started a new trend lately. I’m not sure how I feel about it either. Usually I would nurse Ian when he was tired and that would get him fall asleep for his naps. Lately, however, nursing hasn’t been working. What has been working is rocking him to sleep, but you have to start it at the right moment. It also means he is fussy longer because the rocking doesn’t keep his mouth as busy. This is good because I don’t have to nurse him to get him to sleep, yet it’s not so good because it takes him longer to fall asleep. Although, this is the last hurdle to getting him to fall asleep on his own. He’s already figured out that he gets a bath, pajamas, and a bottle at night and once the bottle is done, I can generally put him in his crib (still awake, but drowsy) and he’ll fall asleep within 10 minutes. He still makes some noise, but he’s not crying, just making noises. We just need to work on the whole rocking = nap time routine.

Some sad news….we’re definitely getting rid of Chaos. We’ve been having some problems with her over the last couple of months and originally we were going to try and find a shelter for her or another home. However, I’m at the point where I just want her gone. We’ve made up our minds, so I don’t want to drag it out. If we wait to find her a home or a shelter who will take her, we may end up changing our minds again and who knows what will happen because of that. I’ve already contacted a few shelters and they are full due to the influx of kittens (it is kitten season). I really don’t want to take her to the Humane Society, but we may not have any choice about it. I told Jesse that if we’re getting rid of her, I want her gone by the end of the month. Jesse is having some obvious mixed feelings about it. He really loved Chaos - she was social, he could play with her, and she was starting to sit in his lap while he was on the laptop. It’s just been since Ian came home that she’s been having problems and she’s made it that we have to choose between her and Ian - and we all know that isn’t really a choice at all.

I do have good news - my sister is getting married! She’s been with Jayson for two/three years now and have been living together for the past year. He proposed to her two weeks ago and they are getting married at the end of September. Yeah, it’s kind of soon, but the wedding that they are having, there is no need to wait and plan. They are going to be married in a hot air balloon. That is how they met, while crewing for Tim and Missy (or through, not sure which one) and they are constantly at all the balloon rallies in the area (that they can get to). It was only fitting that they get married in a balloon. They are going to throw a reception, but not until November. The balloon ride is hard to pinpoint since there are so many factors to go into it. But now I have two months to do a bridal shower and of course she adds another wedding this year (she’s #6 for me this year). This is going to be a busy fall.

Alright, enough rambling on.

Ren Fest Road Trip - Aug 25th. Let’s meet in front of the gates, in Holly, at 11am. Comment if you’re going, so we know who we’re waiting for.

The weekend theme is Highland Fling - “Kick up your heels with traditional Scottish music and the annual Highland Games.”

Ticket Prices:
$17.95 for Adults
$8.95 for Children
I can get tickets ahead of time at Kroger if you want to give me your money while we’re in town the weekend of Aug 12th. I’m going to find out if tickets are cheaper the younger the kids are. Ian is definitely going after all.

Directions:
The Festival is located in Holly, Michigan off I-75, exit 106, on Dixie Highway between Pontiac and Flint.

I-75 Northbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Grand Blanc), stay in left lane of exit, travel two blocks.
Turn left onto Dixie Highway, southbound. The Festival is two miles
south to the right.

I-75 Southbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Dixie Highway - this is a left exit). Merge to the right.
The Festival is located two miles south on the right.

Website:
Michigan Renaissance Festival

Michigan has a HUGE Renaissance Festival in Holly every year and I really want to go this year. I’ve been to it in the past and it is a blast. It is open for 8 weekends and I have no specific date that I am interested in, so I’m seeing if anyone else wants to go and which dates work for them. If you want to go, make a comment so others can see who’s interested as well. Here is the info:

Weekend Themes:
Buccaneer Beer Fest: Aug. 18th and 19th
Grab your tankard and set sail to Hollygrove for adventure and fun.

Highland Fling: Aug. 25th and 26th
Kick up your heels with traditional Scottish music and the annual Highland Games.

High Seas Adventure: Sept. 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Drown yourself in laughter at the Swab the Deck game or Perfect Pirate Contest

Wonders of the World: Sept. 15th and 16th
Join us as we celebrate cultures from across the globe with International Dances and Song.

Shamrocks and Shenanigans: Sept. 22nd and 23rd
Celebrate everything Celtic during our Irish Heritage Festival.

Sweet Endings: Sept. 29th and 30th
Parting is such sweet sorrow, but we make it better with our tasty Chocolate Festival.

Ticket Prices:
$17.95 for Adults
$8.95 for Children
I can get tickets ahead of time so we won’t have to wait in line, but in order to do so, I’ll need to know who’s interested and have their money in hand.

Directions:
The Festival is located in Holly, Michigan off I-75, exit 106, on Dixie Highway between Pontiac and Flint.

I-75 Northbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Grand Blanc), stay in left lane of exit, travel two blocks.
Turn left onto Dixie Highway, southbound. The Festival is two miles
south to the right.

I-75 Southbound Traffic:
Exit 106 (Dixie Highway - this is a left exit). Merge to the right.
The Festival is located two miles south on the right.

Damn, I’ve already started thinking about our next camping trip. This may not seem odd to you, but we’re not going until September 2007. Now it seems odd, doesn’t it. What got me to thinking about it was Ian. We’re going to need a babysitter for four days and three nights. This will probably be the first time Jesse and I would be away from Ian - there is no way I’m bringing an infant camping, that’s just asking for trouble. Ian would be 7 months by then. That’s not too soon, is it? Although, I have no doubt I will have all sorts of offers to babysit for us that weekend (thinking about my mother and sister).

I’ve also started thinking about things we could do different this time around. Hopefully Jordan, Beth, Brad, and Erin will be up for it again (they said they would be, but it’s not like it’s soon); however, we did learn some things that we can’t do again. One being that we each buy our own snacks. Granted, this isn’t what got me thinking of food though. I was actually thinking about bread. We easily went through three loaves of bread the four days we were there (two of those days consisted of driving the 3 hours to the campsite). I was also thinking, we wouldn’t have to reserve our campsite months in advance. I’ve always heard that finding a campsite between Memorial Day and Labor Day can be a pain (which is true), so we opted for the weekend after Labor Day and it was dead, more or less. We could easily pick out the campsite we want to go to and than wait until Labor Day weekend before making the reservation. Technically, we wouldn’t even need the reservation, we could just show up. The more I thought about this, the more I realize how much our plans could change if we did do this. And I’m not thinking negative changes either. I mean, think about it. We’ve decided on where we’re going camping. We haven’t made any reservations yet, but we know we want to stay in Manistee. The weekend before we’re plan to go on the trip, we check the weather. Oh no! It’s going to rain the entire weekend. All we would have to do is find another campsite in another part of the state that doesn’t have rain in the forecast. Or if it’s suppose to be really cold, we could go farther south instead of going north. The entire weekend wouldn’t be contingent on the fact that we had the reservations already, because we wouldn’t. The more I think about this, the more I like the idea.

I’ll probably forget about this come next summer when we really start to think about it again, but that’s why I’m putting this here. Between Jesse and I, one of us should remember it. Hopefully. Now I want to go camping again. I had forgotten how much fun it could be until I went and did it again.  Now I can’t wait until we go again next year.  And who knows, maybe more people will join us next year.