thebuzz

the last time Jill was here before she moved, i took her to the self-proclaimed "happiest place on Earth", Disneyland. it is my serious contention that if it weren't so expensive to get in, it just might be (the happiest place). but since Junior can't handle walking around for the full 12 hours that Dad has paid for, and Dad gets mad because Junior is an ungrateful, whiney little bugger, it actually ends up becoming about the most miserable place on Earth. seriously, have you ever seen so many annoyed-looking people in one place?

but Jill and i had a good time, even when she accused me of cheating on the Buzz Lightyear shoot-em-up game. she claims i was interfering with her shot, but as you can adjudge from the picture, i was simply protecting my girl from the dangers of Zurg's minions. see for yourself:

me doing my best to protect Jilluns from the evil space invaders.

sometimes conventional wisdom isn't so wise, and you have to think about what's really going on. if you'll pardon the indelicacy, might i suggest that Jill was just upset about losing (check out my score on the left)? and might not the Magic Kingdom benefit from my Marginal Hourly Pricing© scheme? let me know if you want the details of this genius plan for rescuing Mickey and pals, and once again thejayfather will give you the tools to decide for yourself.

thebeehivestate

shortly after returning from Taiwan, i was having some pretty bad Jill withdrawals, not having been apart for more than about 15 minutes in the previous seven months. so i headed up to Utah to see her (and my family, of course) and the following pictures provide a mere glimpse of the fun times we continued to generate.



a little AR-15 action, and Jilly throwing a clay for me (or at least posing like she was going to).



first there was the obligatory "go out into the desert and shoot crap up" activity, that was made possible by the kind assistance and decent-sized arsenal of my brother Matt. i had planned this as a surprise activity for Jill, wanting to see how she did, but learned that she was quite an experienced, and an excellent, shot.


first time up, after only five tries.

fortunately, her activity for me, wakeboarding, proved me to be just about competent in spite of my lack of experience. with the excellent tutelage i received from Jill, her dad, and her brother Scott, i managed to get up--and stay up--after just five tries, which they all kindly assured me was not bad. staying up on the "Extreme HO" with Jill's dad driving the boat was another matter altogether however, and ensured that we left the lake and spent the next few days feeling very sore.



Jilluns and I on the ski boat, and me, her and Scott on the "Extreme HO". an interesting, strangely appropriate, name.



other than those fun times, we did get to see our families, and Jill got to meet mine for the first time. they didn't seem to scare her off, and we were even invited to my niece Caitlin's horse riding lesson, where her and her sister, Maren, took a liking not just to the animals but to Jill's lens as well.


Cait and Maren at Cait's riding lesson.

Cait is becoming quite the horsewoman, and Maren the consummate model. good thing Jill always has her camera close by.

thehomestead

a few weeks ago, Jill's parents were traveling through Northwest England and took a short detour to pass through a small but charming village called Tarvin. there they found the very jewel of the place: 4 Park Close, my childhood home. they brought back the following pictorial evidence of their visit, which i now share with you, faithful reader. in the 13 years since i've been there, not much has changed, though i do note the addition of a cheap satellite dish and a small extension to the left of the front door. looks like the new owners didn't much appreciate Mum's red garage door, either. oh, and the weather's a bit better than i remember.


the old family homestead, at 4 Park Close, Tarvin, Chester CH3 8DZ