The Ryan RV Express: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

01-31DEC11 - Houma, LA (xmas & still waiting for the stork!)

First, as should be obvious for those that follow our BLOG, we spent the last month of 2011 waiting for the arrival of our first grandchild (aka our daughter’s, Rebecca, & husband Raymond’s first child). Now we will just have to continue patiently waiting in 2012! December was also more routine medical & dental appointments; while preparing for the Xmas holidays. Oh yeah, somewhere during the month was a 30th wedding anniversary!

One of the things we decided this holiday season was not to give each other presents, but to purchase whatever we wanted when we saw it on sale & start using it immediately. So on “black” Friday we purchased an Xbox video game system with a Kinect motion sensor. For those that don’t know, the Kinect motion sensor allows you to control the video game using body movements. Unlike the Wii system we gave Rebecca & Raymond two years ago (which we thought was pretty cool back them), no additional controller is necessary. As with the Wii it is hilarious to watch the bodily contortions of the player as they try to maneuver their on screen avatar. But be warned, the Kinect also takes pictures of you as you play, which it will automatically post to your facebook, twitter, or other internet “space” if you are not careful. Apparently this feature has caused embarrassment for some unsuspecting Kinect users.

Also, during the month our son, Joe, was back from working offshore plugging abandoned oil wells. Joe has been doing so well in his job, that the company told him that they would train him to be a supervisor, followed by a couple break-in shifts to “learn the ropes”. But someone got fired (or “run off” as the oil industry says) & he was immediately promoted to night shift supervisor. Anyway it was great to have him in town for almost all of December, & having over dinner almost every night (including one of the kid’s favorites – steamed mussels)!

Sunday, 04DEC, was our son-in-law, Raymond’s, last day in the Air Guard. With the increased demands of his civilian job (& Rebecca’s) along with the expected arrival of their first child; it was time to fully focus on family & career. That evening after Raymond’s last drill, it was time to decorate the Xmas tree.

As we usually do on our yearly return visits to Houma, we take on at least one major “project” at Rebecca & Raymond’s house. This year’s project is building a 10ft by 12ft storage shed in their back yard. However, Dan calculated that it would take over two cubic yards of concrete for the pad & demanded that someone make arrangements for a professional delivery because he wasn’t going to participate in mixing the concrete by hand. So after much dragging of feet, the concrete was delivered on 12DEC & transported into the back yard via Georgia Buggy.

Dan figured that after the concrete cured, that he, along with Raymond’s & Joe’s assistance, would have the entire shed done in five or so days. Especially since Dan purchased an entire set of pneumatic nailers on black Friday just for this project. Of course this resulted in a constant struggle among the boys to see who got to use the “big” framing nailer everyday. The project also resulted in a refresher course in high school math as Dan would be mumbling things like - A squared plus B squared equals C squared, & side opposite over side adjacent equals tangent. Even with the latest in power tools, the shed is only 90% complete & will need to be finished in the new year. (you might note in the pictures that some days we are t-shirts, some days we are in winter coats; such is the winter weather in south Louisiana!)

Xmas morning, Sunday 25DEC, we gathered around the christmas tree to open presents. The hit of the day was another Kinect sensor we gave Rebecca & Raymond for their Xbox game console, along with the game “Just Dance 3”. As happened two years ago with the Wii video game system, the best part was watching the antics of the game player(s) trying to keep up with the on screen action. Once again it was amazing how much of a work out you get in just a couple of minutes of “hopping around” while standing in one place! We even convinced Raymond & Joe to demonstrate their dance moves mano-a-mano. Their dance off was filmed by Rebecca & immediately posted to her facebook page; within minutes of posting Joe & Rebecca were receiving text messages about the video. As always, the holiday was finished off by another fantastic meal prepared by Corrie.