It was cold and a bit slippery when we landed in Chicago. Our plane fishtailed down the runway as the pilot struggled to keep us on the tarmac. First serious thought about Thanksgiving—I’m glad to be alive. We got our rental car, stopped for a late-morning coffee at a Starbucks on our way out of town and had a safe trip to Holland despite the inclement weather.
We arrived to find the Ray household looking a lot like a medical clinic. Jamison, Sydney and Clinton all had the flu. Steph was soon among the ailing. Janet and I spent three days nursing everyone through the virus.
Fortunately, we were all in good shape by Thanksgiving Day. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed the day. By evening it was my turn to be ill and I was sleeping restlessly for many hours before others retired for the night.
I felt better the next day, so I was able to watch the kids while Steph and Clinton went to work and Janet spent the day in bed feeling miserable. I took Stephanie and her family out to dinner and to do a little shopping while Janet languished in solitude wrapped in blankets.
It is early morning now. I find myself having a hard time sleeping, so I thought I’d share the details of our misery with you instead of laying in bed trying to breathe (a stuffy nose seems to be the lingering symptom of the virus that has wreaked havoc around here).
Despite the facts, I have enjoyed our time here. Jamison and I spent a delightful three hours together—just the two of us—at a local park. Here are a few snapshots I took with my camera phone:
Jamison made a bee-line for the slide.
His exit was flawless.
Jamison loves to swing.
He thought it was great fun to stick his shoe in front of the camera.
The kid found a new way to enjoy the swing.
I caught this final image of Jamison at the swing set.
His other favorite was the merry-go-round.
It seems Holland, Michigan, is not yet included on T-Mobile’s GPRS service, so I was not able to upload the images as I snapped them, but it was easy to send them to my laptop via Bluetooth, then post them here via a wireless Internet connection I found war driving in a neighborhood close to the Ray’s home.
I also had fun attending Jamison’s Thanksgiving program at his kindergarten class. Here are some photos of the presentation along with a sound file of the kid’s performance that I recorded with the phone:
Jamison's school was very nice, and the kids, parents and teachers were friendly.
The performance was cute to the max. They sang a dozen songs and were enthusistic about each one.
Click here to listen to one of the songs.
The phone is very cool. Other parents and grandparents in attendance seemed envious of the ease with which I captured pictures and recorded sounds with my phone. I passed out a few business cards and told them they could get more details at Gadget Blogger dot com.
With a little luck Janet will feel like joining us in a few hours to take Steph shopping for new work clothes. Steph and Clinton also have plans to install bathroom tile and a new toilet in the downstairs restroom.
We have a few days more here and they will hopefully be free of the bug that has kept us from experiencing unfettered revelry.
