We have family scattered about the country, so my kids have grown up traveling. This year we took our usual trip to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. We left at 4:15 EST and it looks like this is going to be a 9.5 hr., one-stop trip.

Here are the weary travelers.

Blogging while going down the road,
Braddog

My girls are not afraid to be individuals. This morning, Mackenzie was chilly so she dressed in socks, slippers, leggings, & “arm socks” to go with her summer PJ’s. It was quite the fashion statement.

Cheers,
Braddog

As I sat down to do a little photo management on the iMac over the weekend, I noticed (okay, I might have complained) that there were only a handful of pictures of me and the girls taken all year. So, Carie marched us into the living room and snapped this picture. I know it’s posed, but I really like it. The girls are very sweet and very photogenic.

The kids had a big week and it’s leading up to be a very busy holiday season.  Early this week, both girls were award solo parts in their respective holiday chorus performances.  Madison will be singing a solo part in “Winter Wonderland”, and Mackenzie has a solo part in “Let it Snow”.  They’ve been practicing for their auditions since before Halloween, so it’s felt like Christmas around here for awhile.

On Wednesday this week, Mackenzie was notified that she has been promoted to play in the 5th grade band with a handful of other 4th graders who are at the top of the class in their respective instruments.  She’s playing the flute and is apparently one of the best in her class.

Lastly, both of the girls are very good students and both received straight “A’s” on their report cards and made the Honor Roll.  In the Middle School, they have an honors program and Madison has long waited to be able to put a “I’m the proud parent of an Honor Student at Wolf Branch Middle School” bumper sticker on her mother’s car.  This week, she finally got to hang one on the back window.  Note:  Carie wouldn’t go for “sticking” it on the car, so it’s taped to the inside of the back window.

Way to go girls!  You’re dad’s very proud of you!

Cheers,
Braddog

After lots of shopping & discussion with my wife, I picked up my new Yukon Denali tonight.  It’s sure gonna make family outings and trips a lot more comfortable.

It’s pretty sweet!

Cheers,
Braddog

After a cold and wet October, we’re enjoying a beautiful 70 degree November weekend. The girls are wrapping up fall parties and soccer season this weekend and thoughts are turning to Christmas already.

We did manage to rake together enough leaves for a little fun too.

Fall Colors on the Corporate Campus

Originally uploaded by Braddog

Just another shot from my iPhone. The colors outside my office window were vibrant today and with the lake so calm, the relfections were very cool.

Cheers,
Braddog

My father & his family have been involved in gospel music for over 40 years and today is the first time that I had the chance to share it with my kids.  My father (singing lead) & my brother (singing bass) are both in the group.

As I sat and listened, I realized that I had a video camera in my pocket in the form of my Canon point & shoot camera so I shot a little bit of video and thought I’d share it here.

Cheers,
Braddog

Caught

Originally uploaded by Braddog

I’ve seen a lot of references to the book “The Best Camera is the One That’s With You” recently. And I’ve had a couple of lunchtime conversations with folks on that topic.

Additionally, I’ve recently downloaded Photoshop Mobile for the iPhone so I have the ability to tweak a picture that I snap with the camera in the iPhone. That’s great because that camera has a few limitations.

As a result, I guess I’ve had my eyes open for cool things to photograph. I happened to see this on the way back from dropping one of the kids off at a school function so I snapped a picture, tweaked it just a bit, and uploaded it to Flickr without leaving my car.

It ’s true, the best camera may just be the one you have with you.

Cheers,
Braddog

While we were visiting Memphis we visited a museum called The Pink Palace. It’s an old mansion made of a stone that had sort of a light pink tint.

In any event, while we there they had a huge model train exhibit set up by a group of enthusiasts from all over the country. They let the girls control some of the trains and they really seemed to enjoy it.

I snapped this picture of Thomas the Train with my iPhone ( and touched it up a little bit with Photoshop Mobile).

Cheers,
Braddog