Uncle Jay

Jay's mom and sister (and baby Parker too!) got into Huntersville around 6pm Tuesday night. They drove the all-day trip from Indiana. The little buddy traveled well. Jay has not been around many babies and had yet to hold one. This made myself and Jessica a little nervous.

This is his first try.

He learned quick... it helps when three women are yelling... "Jay support his head!"

Here are more cute pics of the pair.

Aren't they cute??

Mom in Charlotte!!!

Last week my mom came to Charlotte for a visit. Charlie's parents, John and Erin, went on vacation so mom came to the rescue. The Stubbs' left early Sunday morning and mom flew in at about noon on Monday. Having her around was a great help, seeing as I'm not used to caring for a child 24/7. One of the more exciting experiences of the week was mom seeing what it is like here when it snows. It was only the second snow of the season and it was barely a dusting however, people were afraid to drive, school was cancelled and Charlie's music class was also cancelled. The snow was gone by noon. Mom found this to be as ridiculous as Jay and I did.

Mom was a real life saver. One morning she woke up with Charlie and made him applesauce pancakes while I got to sleep in. Wow I'm spoiled! She also watched Charlie while I went to get my North Carolina drivers licence and plates.

The Stubbs' graciously offered to pay for us to go out to a nice dinner while mom was in town. We chose to go out to Noble's on Wednesday night, it is a southern style restaurant. Jay came after work and joined us for dinner also.

Mom flew out on Thursday afternoon. I was sad to see her leave and miss her very much!

The circus comes to town

Last Saturday night, Marie and I went to the Circus. Marie heard about it coming to town a few weeks ago and we decided to make a night of it. We both hadn't been the to circus since we were about 7, so I was interested to see how things had changed.

Here are my observations.

- We found it funny that all the people we watched were the folks that actually "ran off and joined the circus".

- The circus is more like a musical now. The ringmaster spent most of evening singing and doing theatrical performances with the other circus cast.


- I seriously thought I was going to witness a fatal crash when 7 motorcyclists were riding around in a small steel cage. They pulled it off without a hitch, which amazed me.

- The animals at the Circus were easily the best part of the show. They first had dogs catching frisbee's, then horses, then tigers followed up with Elephants.


- When I was in Elementary School I would laugh if I saw an elephant poop while on a field trip to the zoo. Things haven't changed much since then... it's still hilarious.


- When I was little I went to the circus and was really excited to get a large light up sword. I was surprised to see that they still sell the exact same sword at the merchandise booths.

- There was no alligator wrestling, which was disappointing.

All in all, the circus was fun and definitely worth the price of admission. Tickets were surprisingly cheap. Concession stand prices were unsurprisingly expensive. I figured as much....

Baby Harrison

On Thursday, Jessica had her first baby! Parker Conrad Harrison was born at 6:59pm weighing 7lbs 11oz. Parker is a name that Jess and Ken liked and Conrad is Ken's middle name. I'm not sure who came up with the Harrison part though. We've been expecting him for the past few weeks. Thursday morning she went to visit the doctor and he decided that the baby was coming out then. He sent her to the hospital around 12pm that day to start the fun. Marie and I were getting updates about every 1-2 hours and my dad called a little after 7pm to let us know our little buddy arrived. Everything went very well and there were no complications. Jess and Ken are safely back home with Parker. Here are some photos just after the birth.

A close second for highlight of the week was Marie establishing her domination in Board Games. So far she is undefeated in head to head match up with me in Monopoly, Life, Battleship and Jenga. Battleship was close, but all the others have been pretty significant victories. The more I try to win, the deeper hole I get myself in.

Not to neglect our little guy, Taylor has been doing very well too. He's been going on walks with us around Birkdale Village and being very good. He lets people pet him and hasn't barked or run after the other dogs. Taylor's newfound behavior is probably a direct result of being seperated from Deucey, Lexi and Spencer. Those dogs are the real troublemakers.

We'll be in Indianapolis in February to visit the newest member of the family. Before then, Amy Martin is coming to visit! Both events will definitely be blog-worthy.

Random Week

Okay. So this week really doesn't have much of a theme. Marie and I just ran around and did a bunch of fun stuff. My sister is about 11 months pregnant and literally going to have her first child any day now. I'm looking forward to being an Uncle to an actual person and not just a dog. When that happens, you'll get a good blog entry. Until then you're stuck with just Marie and I.

Last Sunday we traveled to Durham, NC to go watch the Duke Blue Devils play at Cameron Indoor Stadium. We drove to Chapel Hill and had lunch, then spent the day in Durham walking around the campus. Duke's campus is really nice and looks expensive. Cameron Indoor Stadium is surprisingly small though (Capacity is just over 9000 compared to IU's 17500). Duke is one of the top programs in the country and they have been known to be a tough place to play a game. It reminded me of an Indiana high school game with the vintage arena, ethusiastic crowd, and a court full of white kids doing lay ups.

We also hit up the Bowling Alley with a few friends of ours. There is an alley just a few minutes from where we live. We hadn't bowled in a while and were embarrassed to say that we were sore afterwards. I think everyone else was a little more sore than I was since I posted a 192 for my second game. I knew getting my butt kicked by my dad in bowling all those years would finally pay off.

Marie and I also went and saw a movie on Sunday. We went to go see "Marley & Me". It was fairly predictable, but still a funny movie and easy to enjoy. I would rank it somewhere in between the other canine classics "Turner & Hooch" and "Old Yeller".

This week also marked the official "gear up" for LOST season 5. We have been watching the previews and finishing up Season 4 (again). I've probably incorporated LOST into every conversation I've had this week. Speaking of which, go to abc.com and watch the previews.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index

Alright, that's all for now. By the next post Baby Harrison won't be able to use the "I'm not born yet" excuse for why he isn't reading the blog.

- Jay, Marie & Taylor