Pictures of young Madeline and Lillian, a little commentary on our lives and travels, some history.
After repeated lobbying from our loyal constituency (namely, my mother), we are moving back to blogspot. It’s a long story, but the primary reason is that the picture quality on wordpress isn’t so great. And, anyway, blogger has added a few new features that make it a little cooler.
So, come visit us at www.jennejohnfamily.blogspot.com
We just returned from a nice vacation to Austin, where we met up with our friends Doug and Naomi Killough. Their daughters, Meg and Jacqueline, are the same ages as Madeline and Lillian. As the pictures show below, we went to the Austin Rodeo and the Austin Kite Festival with them.
I just asked Madeline what her favorite part of the trip was. She said, “Going to the fair, because we stayed so long and Meg and I tried every ride.” She added that she also liked swimming in the hotel pool.
As for Rebecca and I, the food was one of the highlights of the trip (Austin is known for its barbeque and Tex-Mex). But most of all, it was just nice to get out of the New York grind for a while, enjoy some warm weather and time together.
I believe that Lillian’s favorite part of the trip was learning how to scream with great effect. She discovered that she could startle people when she let out a good Hollywood scream (and I’m talking blood-curdling, finger-nails-on-the-chalkboard screaming) all of a sudden when things were relatively quiet. She also had good fun playing at the playground for the first time and riding the train at Zilker Park.
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Here are some random pictures taken over the last month.
Yes, folks, after nearly three years of relatively hassle free use, we have abandoned Blogger. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons:
1. This is one of the steps in my new year’s resolution to improve how we record our family memories. The next step is getting a better camera….
2. The URL was madelinesolei.blogspot.com — this is not the sort of address that will inspire Lillian’s confidence that we do, indeed, love her just as much as her older sister.
3. The theme, while colorful, was just getting a bit old, even after a change about a year ago.
4. Emily and Doug set up a wordpress blog a few months ago — since I now follow them in matters of shoe (Merrell) and jacket (Marmot) fashion, I figured I might as well tag along when it comes to blogs. I have my eye on Albany these days.
5. Google owns Blogger. I like Google fine enough, but I’m an antitrust attorney — if I don’t take monopolization seriously, who will?
6. Variety is the spice of life, after all.
So, let us know if you really don’t like the new digs. I think it’s a step-up in most regards. The only downside is that I have to post pictures as thumbnails — if you want to see the full pic, doubleclick on it. The pictures are not saved in a high-quality format; therefore, if you want to print a picture out, please email me for a copy of the original.
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It takes considerable effort to get a decent picture of Lillian. She’s like a little lesson in quantum mechanics: the minute you think you’ve pinned her down, she’s off somewhere else again. This gal loves to travel. Therefore, many of the shots I took of her today end up as pictures of the top of her head, her back, etc. Nevertheless, the pictures here should give you some sense of the growth she’s been experiencing lately.
Madeline has been a big Rachel Ray fan for some time. I’m not sure how it all began. The pictures are of her pretending to have her own Rachel Ray cooking show. Don’t tell her, but those concoctions she whips up are truly foul.
As many of you know, Madeline made a trip to the pediatric emergency room when she fell out of bed a few weeks ago. After waiting six hours, she very bravely received a set of seven stitches in her chin. The picture above is an attempt to display what she refers to as her “New York Stitches.”
We took Madeline to the New York City Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker. She was enthralled the entire performance. The pictures below were taken at Lincoln Center after the concert.
One of the best things we did this Christmas Eve was to attend a nativity service at the Church of Heavenly Rest on the upper east side. They use live animals (a donkey and some baby lambs) in the production. Madeline loved it.
