5 Generation Celebration

By: Carmen

This weekend Annley and I had quite a bit of fun.  We went to Pembroke North Carolina to visit family.  I haven't been there to visit for 7 years.

While we were there Annley and I were able to take a few 5 generation pictures with the women in my family. Annley was a total ham.

 

    

Annley and Great-great Grandma Myrtle

Annley & Great Grandma Lowry

We were getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday" to an Uncle who was out of town, via video camera.  Can you see the family resemblances?

We only got to visit for a day and we were sad to go.  We are looking forward to going back for another visit soon.

Gorillas in the mist

By: Carmen

Annley was able to spend some quality time with Uncle B. one morning while we were in Georgia.  Here's a peak at some of the fun they had together.

Starting the day out with a cuddle.

She's investigating the facial hair

 

Bryan asked me if Annley would be scared of the mask.  I told him to try it and see.  Well, as you can see she loved the mask.

Then she wanted to try the mask on.  She was pretty entertained with the mask.

What's in the Box?

By Tyler

One of the bright points of living with the folks (temporarily - let's not forget that bright point) is that Carmen and I live in the epicenter of Kneisly family activity.  It wasn't too long ago that I only found out my Kneisly-related news through other people's blogs or through family prayers.  I tell you, nothing delivers  hard-hitting family news quite like asking for God's blessing on something you "forgot" to announce to the rest of the family before you started praying about it.

"...and please bless all the under-privileged children who are coming to stay a week with us with absolutely no parental supervision or means of getting their own food..."

Huh?  What?!

The best part is that everyone else not giving the prayer has to sit silently and wait for prayer to be over before they can explode with their attorney-style questioning.  Also fun is knowing that while you're still muttering out a prayer, everyone else's eyes have flown wide open at the shock of the news-without-details you just dropped on them; everyone starts to silently communicate by eye contact trying to figure out if anyone else has heard about the news, until everyone consigns to the fact that they'll have to wait until prayer's over to get the details which is the point all eyes move to the prayer giver in an effort to laser-beam-vision them into hurrying up with the "amen".  Which is a pins-and-needles sensation if there ever was one.

But I digress.  There are no under-privileged children staying with us and the last time news was delivered to me like this was when Mom announced Marlyse's and Kenny's pregnancy.

So now I would like to play a new game in which someone monopolizes on their privileged information.  In this game I take advantage of the fact that our nearest Kneisly relatives are no closer than 2000 miles away.  Here's how the game works:

I show you this...

And you have to guess what it is.

This week's package is going to Marlyse.

Feel the pins and needles?

My Fair Lady (from "Election: The Musical")

By Tyler

This week's entry:

I know it seems like I'm picking on Palin quite a bit, but as Lynette pointed out - she's an easy target.  Next week we'll see a change up.

Looking forward to your reactions.

What the Elephants Were Doing

By Tyler

ATTENTION!  All cautious mothers who want to protect their little blog-readers from animal-kingdom-related nastiness should have them moved to a safe distance.  Unless they're into this kind of thing.

===============================================

Our family went to the zoo last Saturday.  It was our first visit to the Greenville Zoo - a small zoo with an admission fee of only $6 per adult.  This was Annley's first visit to any zoo and we were excited to get pictures of the event.

There were monkeys...

There were Kookaburra...

There were giraffes which Annley loved...

 

There were snakes and lizards which Annley tried communicating with...

And all other kinds of watching and playing...

And then... There were the elephants...

At first we were delighted to see the elephants!  They were so big with their goofy ears.  There was a crowd to see them!  People would toss zoo-approved food to the elephants and laugh and laugh...

Suddenly something happened that made everyone stop laughing.  Stop everything because we couldn't believe what we were seeing...

How do I put this in blog-friendly terms???

"Annley?  Don't be scared!  The one elephant is having trouble doing number 2 and so his friend is... helping!"

To the disbelief and amazement of all the zoo-goers, the "friend" of the first elephant actually did remove a football-sized piece of waste from his buddy's rear-end.  He then reveled in it by tossing it all over his own back.

I never realized the animal kingdom had proctologists.

===============================================

For more picture of our trip to the zoo, check out Carmen's Picasa album!

DMV Dialogue

By Tyler

No trip to the DMV is ever complete without being subjected to the circular logic of attendants.  I submit as evidence the following exchange:

"Sir, it seems that your license was suspended in 2006."

"Suspended?  Are you sure?  Can you tell me the exact date of the violation or what the traffic violation even was?"

"No sir.  Our system doesn't have any of that information."

"You're saying the department of motor vehicles doesn't have any information on why they're asking me to surrender my license."

"No sir, except that you must surrender your license and are required to pay a reinstatement fee of $100 before you can be allowed to get a new license."

"Ma'am, I hate to argue but I know for a fact that I've taken care of the violations I've had in the past two years."

"You know for a fact?  Do you have receipts or other documents on your person that could prove said facts?"

"Well... no.  I left my house thinking I was a law abiding citizen.  Why would I need paperwork for that?"

"Sir, you're going to have to either surrender your license and then return here with your paperwork proving your violation was taken care of, or you're going to have to pay a reinstatement fee of $100."

"You understand that if I surrender my license I can't drive home to get the paperwork that proves that I don't owe you $100, right?"

"I get that a lot."

"Fine.  Here's $100."

"Thank you very much sir for your patronage!  Would you like a courtesy print-out of your violation so that you can confirm the information you claim to have that proves the violation was already taken care of?"

"Wait, what?!"

"It's our way of making your experience with the DMV easier."

"Which is why you didn't give it to me before I gave you my money?"

"Correct.  Now, before I can reinstate your license, it seems there's an issue here with the forms of identity you've provided me.  Your W-2 needs to be from the last calendar year."

"Why?"

"Because that's our policy.  You're going to have to go home and bring us a more current W-2."

"I can't go home, you have my license.  And what exactly is your policy that says that I have to go home and bring back another W-2."

"The policy says that we can't accept a W-2 from years prior to the previous tax year as forms of identification.  Sir, you need to step out of line if I'm not going to be able to help you finish your transaction."

"But I came with a lot of other proof!  I brought my marriage license, my birth certificate, a current bank statement, a current paystub..."

"If only you could've been as thorough with your traffic violations.  Sir, please step out of the line."

"...And you're telling me that I have to go home because I brought a W-2 from the wrong tax year.  My Social Security number doesn't change from year-to-year.  Why does it matter what year the W-2 is from?"

"You Social Security number?  Oh.  Wait.  Yes.  I see now.  So you're not using your W-2 to prove your current address.  I understand now.  Sir, you're fine.  I have enough documentation here to process your license."

"Oh, well that's great.  Thank you."

"Not a problem.  That will be $25."

Leaves of Fall

By Carmen

The weather here has started to cool off enough that Annley and I can play outside.  We both love going on walks so I thought Annley would enjoy playing outside.  I took a bag with a blanket, some toys for her to play with & a book for me to read. Then we walked out into the yard.  There was just enough breeze that it tousled Annley's hair.  She loved it and started talking while l read.

 

We stayed outside for about an hour.  During that time  Annley discovered leaves.  I was very surprised when she picked up a leaf and didn't put it directly into her mouth.  Instead she inspected it very carefully, looking over every inch of it. After inspecting it she carefully squeezed it and it crinkled and that's when she found her new favorite toy.  That's when she put the leaf in her mouth.  Now when we go out to play, she inspects the ground looking for leaves to play with.

The other day I took her to a tree with some low branches so she could play with leaves that wouldn't crumble upon her "fragile" touch.  That same day was rather windy so I picked up a leaf, got Annley's attention and let the leaf go in the wind.  She had the cutest look of confusion when she realized the leaf was gone. I kept releasing leaves into the wind until she caught on to what I was doing and then she just laughed.